Devil In Jersey City [Episode 1] (ADI Mission)

[Cheshire]

"Commander can I go on a reconnaissance mission, to see where various other groups are? I'm the most mobile and I'm the only one with a Jetpack." Kuro said to the commander. Noah turned absent-mindedly out of reflex, trying to hard to focus on too many things at once. He heard more activity pick up in the distance, as PDF and Police no doubt were trying to rally to his position. The tenement they were using was pretty shelled out, and more resembling the shell of a parking garage with stairs and walls rather than ramps and lined parking spots. Most of the internal walls were gone, and every floor felt like one giant space, and the 5-stories were still luckily short enough to be below most of the skyline, avoiding direct fire from the defense turbolasers. A column of bright green smoke carried from two of the roof's opposite corners, signalling the rally point. He thought for a second and pinged a simple indicator to show up in Jaceson's and Arritef's HUD, telling them to return to the rally point immediately.

"Do you need help establishing a location for him or do you want reinforcements in order to kill him?" Again, Jacen was straining and his head was reeling. Gunfire around him overwhelmed his hearing while he was trying to think through the visual puzzle of both the supplies crates being unloaded from the Krakka and the holo-tables providing a 3-D schematic of the city based on preliminary recon scans. His head was spinning as he once again turned his head and half glanced at Kuro in the corner of his visor. He looked at his men. It had been almost 10 minutes since he'd set the Hyperwave transmission to loop, and no response.

"Look..." He met the eyes of everyone around him (as best as people can when wearing full-head helmets). "We did not come out to the ass end of space to get trampled on by some fanatics with guns. We came here to kick ass and save lives, and that's what we're gonna feckin' do!" He walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked down.

The insurgents had backed off, and landspeeders and trucks were streaming towards the tenement, one by one. A few individuals walked right up to the men downstairs, arms raised, and were brought into the structure. Noah felt a Force presence down there, a strong one. He made a mental note to go down and check on it later... or maybe they'd find him. He prayed they wouldn't say anything about it, as he tried to keep it as under the rug as he could. His presence was dark, that much he knew. He was afraid of himself at night. His memory flicked back to his night terrors he had at least 3 times a week, and the times he'd almost killed himself, both consciously and while in his sleep. He remembered the scars on his upper arms, the ones that could normally be covered by short sleeves, and how hard it was for him to expose himself in anything more than ambient lamplight. His attention was brought back to the present.

"We'll wait here for a couple of hours... See how our numbers go up as more people poor in. I'll stay up here and monitor the situation. Someone needs to go down and help set up refugee areas for people to be taken care of while we do our jobs, preferably on one of the upper floors. I want someone else to go downstairs and start getting a warm body count. If they're alive and able to fight, put a blaster in their hands. We need people to help fight for their freedom." He paused, thinking for a second, his expressionless helmet hiding his looks of concern and consternation. "Get us a count on those trucks and speeders. If there's anything we can strap guns to, I want it bolted on and loaded." He gave a last look around at the men before him. Their lives were in his hands. He checked his mission chrono; the time was 1843 Hours. "Unless someone can find me a good bottle of vodka, we roll out at 2000 hours. Dismissed."

He noticed how the Commander seemed to almost Brush off Kuro's suggestion, clearly stressed enough to not be paying attention to his suggestion what so ever. Everyone was on edge, the atmosphere of the soldiers was tense. Kuro had to get away, it was too tense for him around. However he kept the speech on through his comm link. He made his way along the rooftops, scouting around the city to see where the insurgents were based.

"Hey Sal, I copy"

 

[Therakill]

"Commander can I go on a reconnaissance mission, to see where various other groups are? I'm the most mobile and I'm the only one with a Jetpack." Kuro said to the commander. Noah turned absent-mindedly out of reflex, trying to hard to focus on too many things at once. He heard more activity pick up in the distance, as PDF and Police no doubt were trying to rally to his position. The tenement they were using was pretty shelled out, and more resembling the shell of a parking garage with stairs and walls rather than ramps and lined parking spots. Most of the internal walls were gone, and every floor felt like one giant space, and the 5-stories were still luckily short enough to be below most of the skyline, avoiding direct fire from the defense turbolasers. A column of bright green smoke carried from two of the roof's opposite corners, signalling the rally point. He thought for a second and pinged a simple indicator to show up in Jaceson's and Arritef's HUD, telling them to return to the rally point immediately.

"Do you need help establishing a location for him or do you want reinforcements in order to kill him?" Again, Jacen was straining and his head was reeling. Gunfire around him overwhelmed his hearing while he was trying to think through the visual puzzle of both the supplies crates being unloaded from the Krakka and the holo-tables providing a 3-D schematic of the city based on preliminary recon scans. His head was spinning as he once again turned his head and half glanced at Kuro in the corner of his visor. He looked at his men. It had been almost 10 minutes since he'd set the Hyperwave transmission to loop, and no response.

"Look..." He met the eyes of everyone around him (as best as people can when wearing full-head helmets). "We did not come out to the ass end of space to get trampled on by some fanatics with guns. We came here to kick ass and save lives, and that's what we're gonna feckin' do!" He walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked down.

The insurgents had backed off, and landspeeders and trucks were streaming towards the tenement, one by one. A few individuals walked right up to the men downstairs, arms raised, and were brought into the structure. Noah felt a Force presence down there, a strong one. He made a mental note to go down and check on it later... or maybe they'd find him. He prayed they wouldn't say anything about it, as he tried to keep it as under the rug as he could. His presence was dark, that much he knew. He was afraid of himself at night. His memory flicked back to his night terrors he had at least 3 times a week, and the times he'd almost killed himself, both consciously and while in his sleep. He remembered the scars on his upper arms, the ones that could normally be covered by short sleeves, and how hard it was for him to expose himself in anything more than ambient lamplight. His attention was brought back to the present.

"We'll wait here for a couple of hours... See how our numbers go up as more people poor in. I'll stay up here and monitor the situation. Someone needs to go down and help set up refugee areas for people to be taken care of while we do our jobs, preferably on one of the upper floors. I want someone else to go downstairs and start getting a warm body count. If they're alive and able to fight, put a blaster in their hands. We need people to help fight for their freedom." He paused, thinking for a second, his expressionless helmet hiding his looks of concern and consternation. "Get us a count on those trucks and speeders. If there's anything we can strap guns to, I want it bolted on and loaded." He gave a last look around at the men before him. Their lives were in his hands. He checked his mission chrono; the time was 1843 Hours. "Unless someone can find me a good bottle of vodka, we roll out at 2000 hours. Dismissed."

Jace received a ping over his com system, the message read that he was to return to the FOB. Jace knew that he could make to the sniper with just a few more minutes. It was a bad idea to leave her out there, she would just keep picking them off one by one. But for now he would follow orders, but if he was given bad orders he would have to take it in his own hands. Jace looked around for the green smoke and saw it off to his right, he could make it their in a few minutes. So he then used his cables as grapples between buildings, using the gear to pull back each line he shot out so as to not waste it. Jace oing the gaurds with his id as he landed on the roof of the building, he had not wanted to take too long long.

"I copy you sal." Jace replied when he heard the call over coms. Jace sat down and knew he needed treatment, his shoulder was hurting bad. He had not stopped to treat it before this, his mind had been to focused on ending the snipers threat. He knew he needed to have it treated as soon as he could. "Sir I believe I need a medic, or at least a Kolto pack or two."

 

[Prudence]

The general area around the building which ADI had secured was empty. The streets, pitted, charred, and smoking hosted the burning carcasses of speeders and other structures. Half a kilometer out from the building, however, the armies of the insurgents were gathering, chanting various things that from the distance couldn't be heard clear enough to understand.Some of them were even marching, accenting their chanting with the deep thundering bootsteps.

Gorgo was standing on the front lines, shouting the loudest of any of them, and rallying the troops on.

Back at the capital, Yool and Zeh Kando stood atop the roof. Through her sniper scope she could barely make out the crowd, and the building ADI was rallying on kilometers away.

"Zhey are going to come for us sir." Yool said.

"Let them come. Let them die."

 

[Murray Mitchel]

Murray watched as refuges flooded into the safe haven that ADI now called 'base'. "Heros" they called them, "saviors of the night". Many of the refugees began to cheer and be jolly. But at what cost? soon the enemy will come back and be prepared more then ever thought Murray
Murray headed through the crowd to the top floor: where the commander was. There Murray looked to see noah rubbing his head and staring down at holo-maps of the region around him were some of the other captains.

"Unless someone can find me a good bottle of vodka, we roll out at 2000 hours. Dismissed."

" I have what ya need Noah!" he called. Everyone turned around to see Murray enter the floor; his one hand carrying his other busted arm and a tool box. Walking straight up to noah he placed his stuff on the table and pulled a flask from his pants "Finest stuff in this sector I promise ya", he said passing the flask.
Someone behind Murray mumbled "Oh so he remembers to bring his flask but not his gun?"
"SHUT YER MOUTH" He yelled as he threw his broken arm in the general direction of the voice. The arm crashed on the floor, but somehow managed to remain in one piece.

"Noah I'd like to talk to you privately if ya don't mind"

 

[Noah Jacen]

"Acknowledged, Sal. Keep me updated on the enemy's movements." Noah finally peeled his helmet off of his head, removing the earpiece from the inside of it and placing it in his ear to sit there like normal. "And for future reference, do not refer to me as 'Noah'. To you, I am either Commander Jacen, Sir, or just Commander. Understood?"

He turned to Jace, who had come to him with injuries from his wild goose chase. He strained hard not to visibly roll his eyes as he turned around to face the horned Forcer. Noah could practically feel it radiating off of him, and he suddenly became very aware of how he had forgotten to suppress himself again, and did his best.

"Look, Lightsworn," He started towards some stacked crates that were being set up as desks and tables for stuff and things. "If you need a medic, then go find one. I'm fecking busy with other things." He reached down and picked up a datapad off one of the crates as he waved away Murrays flask, giving the man an almost incredulous look. He began scrolling through the files on his datapad while one of his lieutenants came up to the group that now stood under a mesh roof of camo-netting. The sky had begun to darken noticeably in the evening twilight, the overcast dimming the world as the sun dipped below the horizon behind the grey veil.

"Sir, you asked for a warm body count?" The lieutenant spoke with crystal clear tone, very business-like and to-the-point.

"That I did." Jacen looked up from the datapad. "What're we at?"

"So far, we've counted about 200 willing and able fighters..." The lieutenant looked around to gauge how his report weighed with the others. "... And more keep coming in. If we hold off until 2300, I can guess that we'll number about 600, plus our vehicle support from the hovertrucks and landspeeders that're showing up. Bolt some blaster cannons to those suckers and, hell, we might break even."

Noah thought for some time after that. He stood and looked around at the movement; the marines restocking ammunition and cleaning the weapons, the shuttle crews doing field maintenance and repairs, the medics going family-to-family downstairs checking on the refugees. He already wanted this fight over. He would rather smash-and-grab, search-and-destroy, anything that made this feel less like the siege it was turning into. Then he thought, even if they beat the insurgents, they couldn't just up and leave. They had to maintain a presence here, help these people rebuild.

"Ask if any of the fighters want to sign on with us." Noah said, looking to the distance at nothing in particular, his eyes wandering aimlessly.

"More than half have already volunteered. I'm expecting that'll be a trend." He said, confidently with a slight smirk.

"Do you think we can win?" He met the marine's eyes, his own full of concern and worry.

The lieutenant simply cocked his head to the side, almost optimistically, but still slightly dismissive with a hint of 'i dunno'. Noah started to think again. He looked around at his men, thinking about a plan of attack. The attack shuttles needed brevette-repairs, and he needed to organize his men. He depressed the comm piece in his ear.

"Sal, Kuro, you're both on recon, right?" He asked rhetorically, as the datapad in his hand already told him their relative positions in the city. "Find me a gap in their lines. We need a route to the Capitol Building." He strode over to the holo-table with the city map, dropping the datapad between the table's surface and the floating holographic projection with a thud. He leaned his weight on the table, bracing his arms straight. "No guns, no lights, no loud noises. Be as quiet as you can about it. That also means no jetpacks, am I clear? We need a route of least resistance and the slowest response time from our enemies. Report back to me at 2230, that should be plenty of time."

He pushed himself off the table and grabbed his helmet. Noah removed the earpiece and placed it back in the slot in his helmet, brushing his trench coat straight out of habit as he secured the helmet seals. He pointed at Murray as he began walking towards the rooftop stairs, slinging his rifle back over his shoulder.

"You, come help me work on the up-gunning the trucks." He stuck his thumb over his shoulder, indicating for the ex-Jedi to follow him. As he walked he picked up the arm that had been chucked at a sorry marine, throwing it over his shoulder at Murray. "Put that back on." He ceased his stride, turned around halfway and spun his hands in a hurrying motion. "Chop-Chop!"

On the way down to the two garage levels under the tenement, Noah made sure no one was just sitting around. Anyone about to be involved was told to grab equipment and crates of rifles and powerpacks. They began handing them out to the volunteers that needed weapons, and making sure as many of the M91 Tactical Vests got around as possible (which would only be enough for about half of the native-worlders). PDF troopers and Police were already prepping, and mechanics tools were ceaselessly churning sparks about the garage as E-Webs and blaster cannons were welded and bolted to the landspeeders. Some enthusiastic punk kids began graffitiing the vehicles that were being jury-rigged with sheet metal armour. Noah went to stop them, but then realised what they were painting. Roughly shaped symbols representing the ADI Insignia and the planetary banner of Randon, in addition to a motto that Noah would never forget:

MAN YOUR OWN JACKHAMMERS

He didn't understand exactly what 'jackhammers' they were talking about, but at the same time he didn't feel he needed to. It was a call to arms, plain and simple. They were doing a lot more than just saving lives, kicking ass, and stopping an insurrection...

We're going to War...

 

[Captain Canuck]

Reese felt like a real soldier. He waited in line as they handed him a vest, which fit nicely over his old one, and a rifle, which he soon ditched for a pistol instead. It was a basic design, an EB-4 if his guess was correct. He tested the reload and held it at arms height to check it out, this would be perfect. He ditched his old, cheap blaster for his new one. Etched into the side were the small words, "ADI ARMS"

ADI... What could it mean? He had overheard a soldier say the words, and say it on another piece of armour alongside an emblem that looks like a planet. It must be the group that was fighting back against these aggressors, it had to be.

With his new arms and armour, Reese made his way down into the garage and found himself beside vehicles being rigged with weaponry.

 

[Talon maara]

"Ya what ever we have work to do."

Sal mentioned upon the commanders rant of what he should be called.

Sal didnt mind someone asking him to do something. But being told was a whole nother level. He wasnt trying to be rude but wasnt a push over either. Sal respected his seniors, peers and subordinates alike. And treated them as he wanted to be treated.

"Kurro you wanna take the east and il take the west side? To cover more ground? Would be easier than meeting and going together."

Sal suggested

"either way we gotta rock it"

He began to remove his canopy from the radio tower, slowly climbing down trying to remain as quiet as possible.

 

[Therakill]

Jace quickly summomed a medic droid, the commander was clearly over whelmed. There seemed to be something more about the commander, he would have to be careful with him. Jace waited for the droid to finish inspecting him, he knew his shoulder was messed up. But his leg should be fine, at least he hoped it was fine. "Sir you shoulder is torn up, I would suggest you retire from this battle. You would be a danger with as much damage as you have now." Jace listened to the droid, it could be right. But he didn't feel that was the case, he felt as if he had the more to do here. More he could help, at least the people here.

"Just fix me up as best you can, I am not your normal fighter. I can handle the pain and keep myself together at least for now."

"Understood sir, I will use a Kolto injection and a large Kolto pack. It will help you heal the worst in 30 minutes, not all the damage but it will keep you going."

The droid started to clean the wound and quickly injected Jace. The droid then pulled out a pack and laid it ontop of his arm, he used medical tape and secured it to Jace's shoulder.

"Thank you, go see to others that need more help than me." Jace dismissed the Droid and stood up, his shoulder was still killing him. But he knew that he had to get moving, he had work to do lots of it. Jace quickly went to the floor with the civilians, he took his 30 minutes and walked and talked amoung them. From what he was hearing and sensing, this people have been miss treated. Beyond anything that should ever have happened, they needed them here that much was clear. He had a feeling that they would not be leaving the planet very quickly, but that was fine with Jace.

He was worried though, this commander of theirs seemed to be very overwhelmed. That was not a good sign, not at all. Jace wondered why he was that way, should a commander not be better under fire. If he was not given good orders he might have to take things into his own hands. He had been forced to leave that sniper out there alive. This city was the perfect place for a sniper to thrive, plenty of soft and hard targets to take out. With too many places to hide, he hoped the force would lead him to her.

 

[Proleptic]

Arritef slunked up the stairs to meet the commander, and found the man going over some plans. He stood straight up and put his hands behind his back. The action looked silly on him due to his injured arm. He had to swing it into place, as the stiffness wouldn't allow it to bend that far naturally. "Reporting for medical treatment and reassignmenr, Sir. I will find a medic when we conclude our business. What will he my next objective, Sir?"

 

[Cheshire]

"SHUT YER MOUTH"

This amused Kuro as he heard it over the comms, hitting some poor sod in the background. He stifled a laugh as he tried to speak into his comms. "Murray, I think you left your comm on"

"Sal, Kuro, you're both on recon, right?"

"Indeed we are Commander!"

"No guns, no lights, no loud noises. Be as quiet as you can about it. That also means no jetpacks, am I clear? We need a route of least resistance and the slowest response time from our enemies. Report back to me at 2230, that should be plenty of time."

"Yes Commander, i have a good old grapple gun with me, so I should be fine. Am I allowed to dispatch of the enemy if the opportunity arises?"

"Kurro you wanna take the east and il take the west side? To cover more ground? Would be easier than meeting and going together."

"Got it Sal! Ill make my way east, I think I found a good spot to start."

He could see a large sky scraper up ahead and he couldn't help but check it out. He quickly hopped across rooftops, in hopes of reaching it without running into any insurgents below. When he neared the building, he could see some soldiers standing outside it. This was most likely their position for looking over their base.

"Sir, I am dispatching enemies now, I have found an ideal spot for marking an engagement. Transmitting my location now on comms"

 

[Murray Mitchel]

Shit
Murray turned off his com and took out a cigarette as he followed Noah.
"Commander I have a proposition. If this city is like most it has an underground sewage system. I propose that I lead a elite group of men through there to infiltrate the capital building. We would be able to attack their commanders while they are busy dealing with your main force. What do you think?", he said grinning.

 

[Noah Jacen]

2225 Hours, Local Time

Few understand a Commander's struggle. Lives are your responsibility. Everyday of your command, people will kriffing die. If you slip-up even a little bit, that body-count can rise exponentially. Once a mistake is made, and a person dies, there's no reset. No takesies-backsies. No goddamn "Whoops, my bad." That don't kriffing cut it. You pay for our mistakes with blood, regardless of whether its yours or your brothers-in-arms'. You carry every gallon of blood you've spilled across your shoulders, for either as long as you live or as long as it takes to drink the memory away. Noah pulled out a small cream-flavoured digital cigarette (as he was finally trying to cut back on the nicotine), made sure it worked, and then took a nice long drag on it as he looked around the garage.

Noah watched as the hovertrucks were loaded up with volunteers and ammunition, as well as some of the heavier weapons to be deployed once the battle found its rhythm at the other end. He heard Sal and Kuro on the comms checking in. He looked down at his datapad as Arritef approached him in the garage, seeing the highlighted location. He traced his finger on the map and drew a line that he believed to be the most successful route to Capitol Square. He took another drag of the E-Cig before stowing it in his breast pocket as he keyed his commlink to the recon pair.

"Good job, guys. Return to FOB asap, wheels up in fir'y minutes." The commander turned to look at Arritef to see him standing there in his usually austere manner.

"Reporting for medical treatment and reassignment, Sir. I will find a medic when we conclude our business. What will he my next objective, Sir?" In all honesty, Noah had absolutely no idea why this muppet was here. Why would Krass send his goonie to pound dirt with us rock-throwers on some backwater planet? Noah didn't know, but right now, he didn't care.

"Commander I have a proposition. If this city is like most it has an underground sewage system. I propose that I lead a elite group of men through there to infiltrate the capital building. We would be able to attack their commanders while they are busy dealing with your main force. What do you think?" Noah turned and saw Murray standing there with his arm put back on, offering his idea. The commander hadn't given permission to speak, but what the former Jedi just suggested was pure fecking genius. Noah stuck a thumb at Murray over his shoulder, casting a sideways look at Arritef.

"That." He stated, almost unsure of his own orders. He lightly swung the arm back a bit, a more assuring motion with the thumb still pointing. "That's your objective. Get patched up." He lowered the datapad hand and turned more fully to the pair. "You're goin' wiv 'im. Murray, get some men together and show me your route. We gotta time this well, cuz if you get stuck in there and we're too far away, you're dead men. I've lost enough men today."

As the two went off, Noah felt it again. That presence from before, when the civilian entered the building. He turned and saw its owner. A young-ish man (younger than Noah). Handsome, aristocratic-looking, and fresh-faced. He strode over to the man, looking him up and down. He thought about how to play this casually, make it seem like he was doing something for moral rather than investigating a disturbance.

"You, young lad." Noah called confidently as he offered his hand for a firm shake, seeing the naive wanderlust on the boy's face. Several of the nearby volunteers and regular marines turned their heads and looked on as the already-known leader spoke to this seemingly unassuming stranger. "What's your name?"

 

[Captain Canuck]

"Reese Everett." He watched the man's face, eager to see his reaction when he noticed the hand he was shaking was made of metal. Reese was sure he had seen prosthetics before, but he doubted that this man expected it on a civilian. He didn't hesitate to hand out his name, it was a fake name anyway. His heir ring was stashed in his pocket, just in case.

"You must be from ADI." Reese did his best to sound like he knew what was going on. "Can you direct me to Commander Jacen, or one of his luitenants? I've received my arms and am awaiting deployment."

 

[Noah Jacen]

"You're speaking to him." Noah winked to the man's surprise, nodding and taking the hand, which he found to be much stronger than he had anticipated. That's when he realized it was cybernetic. "I am Commander Jacen. How would you like to ride on the vanguard truck with me, Everett?" Outside, the sky had gone completely dark and the first boom of thunder could be heard in the distance as rain began to patter into the mud.

 

[Talon maara]

"Good job guys. Return to FOB asap. Wheels up in fir'y minutes."

He heard the commander buzz on the comms.

"Roger got it, to easy. On my way now. Eta 10 minutes." Sal replied. Jumping off a wall from a west side apartment building.

Sal hustled to get back, tyring to keep a low profile as he jolted building from building.

"How ya doing Kurro?!" Sal questioned competitively. "See you when we get back brother."

Sal hustled assuring he still maintained his gear. Headed back to their foot print.

 

[Captain Canuck]

"Good, then I've come to the right man." Reese smiled at his own luck. He would have liked to think it was his initiatuve that took him to the Commander, but in reality it was Lady Luck.

"Ride with you in a vanguard truck? Well I've never done that before, so the answer is clearly a yes."

Reese pulled out his Vibro sword, with its gold handle and silver blade. "I've got this and one of your pistols, and I know how to use both. Will I need anything else?"

 

[Murray Mitchel]

2245 Hours, Local Time

Noah, Murray and other leaders all gathered around a table; there laid a virtual visualization of the city. Noah had just discussed his plans for the main force's attack strategy and Murray was about to take the floor to discuss his.

"Alright so my plan is simple." Murray activated a program that revealed the underground portions of the city: the map now looked like a virtual transparent layered cake. "If we enter through this manhole the sewers would lead directly to the capital building", Murray said as he pointed into the projection "My team will exit the sewers on the back side of the building. The enemies forces will be gathered and focused on the front so we should be able to infiltrate from the back". He heard mumbling from the others as they seemed to determine the plan's chances of success. He opened up his flask to drink some of his Corellian Whiskey. Ahh good stuff.

"My squad includes three groups of 5 people. Once we get into the building we will then be able to quickly clear each floor until we cut the snakes head off" as Murray finished, he slammed his hand onto the table; the projection flickered and quickly returned to normal. " Arritef, Jace, and I will lead the 3 teams. The remaining members of each team are some of the new recruits who happened to 'volunteer'" As he said this Murray chuckled and cracked his knuckles.

"Any questions?"

 

[Cheshire]

Kuro got to work from his spot, picking off enemies silently, clearing the entrance to the large skyscraper. He made his way inside cautiously just to make sure that there was no one in the lobby. He gave a quick sigh of relied as he scanned the large lobby area, to find no one there. he made his way to the elevator quietly, making sure that no one would hear him. He quickly pinged the elevator, making sure it was functional, which to his surprise, it was. He laughed as he stepped in as he pressed the top button and small elevator music chimed in the background. It was awkward but yet amusing to Kuro considering that he was fully suited up in armour, in an elevator that was chiming away. He finally reached the top, he couldn't help but admire the view that this place had. You could see the full city from here, never mind the enemy base.

he moved over to the side and poked his rifle down, scanning the camp below. It looked heavily guarded but that was probably due to all the insurgents reporting back to camp.

"Sir, I have the perfect shot and position up here! I can see everything! From guard patrols to sewer openings! So I am requesting that I remain up here and pick enemies of high value off"

 

[Proleptic]

2225 Hours, Local Time

Few understand a Commander's struggle. Lives are your responsibility. Everyday of your command, people will kriffing die. If you slip-up even a little bit, that body-count can rise exponentially. Once a mistake is made, and a person dies, there's no reset. No takesies-backsies. No goddamn "Whoops, my bad." That don't kriffing cut it. You pay for our mistakes with blood, regardless of whether its yours or your brothers-in-arms'. You carry every gallon of blood you've spilled across your shoulders, for either as long as you live or as long as it takes to drink the memory away. Noah pulled out a small cream-flavoured digital cigarette (as he was finally trying to cut back on the nicotine), made sure it worked, and then took a nice long drag on it as he looked around the garage.

Noah watched as the hovertrucks were loaded up with volunteers and ammunition, as well as some of the heavier weapons to be deployed once the battle found its rhythm at the other end. He heard Sal and Kuro on the comms checking in. He looked down at his datapad as Arritef approached him in the garage, seeing the highlighted location. He traced his finger on the map and drew a line that he believed to be the most successful route to Capitol Square. He took another drag of the E-Cig before stowing it in his breast pocket as he keyed his commlink to the recon pair.

"Good job, guys. Return to FOB asap, wheels up in fir'y minutes." The commander turned to look at Arritef to see him standing there in his usually austere manner.

"Reporting for medical treatment and reassignment, Sir. I will find a medic when we conclude our business. What will he my next objective, Sir?" In all honesty, Noah had absolutely no idea why this muppet was here. Why would Krass send his goonie to pound dirt with us rock-throwers on some backwater planet? Noah didn't know, but right now, he didn't care.

"Commander I have a proposition. If this city is like most it has an underground sewage system. I propose that I lead a elite group of men through there to infiltrate the capital building. We would be able to attack their commanders while they are busy dealing with your main force. What do you think?" Noah turned and saw Murray standing there with his arm put back on, offering his idea. The commander hadn't given permission to speak, but what the former Jedi just suggested was pure fecking genius. Noah stuck a thumb at Murray over his shoulder, casting a sideways look at Arritef.

"That." He stated, almost unsure of his own orders. He lightly swung the arm back a bit, a more assuring motion with the thumb still pointing. "That's your objective. Get patched up." He lowered the datapad hand and turned more fully to the pair. "You're goin' wiv 'im. Murray, get some men together and show me your route. We gotta time this well, cuz if you get stuck in there and we're too far away, you're dead men. I've lost enough men today."

As the two went off, Noah felt it again. That presence from before, when the civilian entered the building. He turned and saw its owner. A young-ish man (younger than Noah). Handsome, aristocratic-looking, and fresh-faced. He strode over to the man, looking him up and down. He thought about how to play this casually, make it seem like he was doing something for moral rather than investigating a disturbance.

"You, young lad." Noah called confidently as he offered his hand for a firm shake, seeing the naive wanderlust on the boy's face. Several of the nearby volunteers and regular marines turned their heads and looked on as the already-known leader spoke to this seemingly unassuming stranger. "What's your name?"

"Yes sir." Arritef said. He turned on heal and walked aimlessly out the door. He needed to find a medical officer or droid, and he needed to review the most recent reports. Walking down a set of stairs he heard faint moans from the room beside him and peeked his head in, expecting a medical treatment room. He saw men strewn about the room, some in critical condition and some with minor injuries. One man was missing a leg. Another was missing both arms, and seemed to be dying despite the best efforts of the medical teams. This was the horrors of a battlefield. Arritef walked impassively through the throng and towards an area for less-injured individuals.

"I require assistance." Arritef said formally, having found a medical droid just concluding its business with someone else. "I need to be healed immediately so that I may continue my mission." Arritef liked droids. He didn't quite know when he was being rude, abrupt or both, and droid didn't care. Droids were logical and usually emotionless, much like him. This was comforting. Despite his desire to be more human he still was rather uncomfortable with some of them.

"I will begin diagnostics right away, Sir." The droid responded customarily. This was another thing about droids that comforted Arritef. There were no unexpected responses. He was accustomed to having to deal with unexpected circumstances, but he was not comfortable with hearing something that might catch him off guard in a social or conversational setting. He felt the droid go to work on his shoulder first, healing the damaged tissue with all possible haste, and felt the familiar itch that he normally associated with healing. Having been raised and trained as he was, Arritef had a pain tolerance such that any amount of pain that he could imagine receiving was trivial, and he found the most troublesome sensation involving injuries to be the itching feeling he got when he was healing. This was distracting and problematic.

As Arritef let the droid heal him he began thinking on his objective. Assassination was his specialty, but if he got caught in another situation like the one before, it would be best to call for backup. While he was capable, taking on a small platoon of soldiers single-handedly was not the ideal action to take. He would need to either go undercover to get close, or he would need to find a way to isolate the commander. He pondered his options while the droid fixed up his remaining wounds.

 

[Noah Jacen]

The first thing Noah did after releasing Reese's hand was lightly push the sword away, remaining calm with it. Someone so fresh-faced with such a blade made him uncomfortable, but he looked Reese dead in the eye, saw his eagerness to do his part. This boy has never killed a man in his life, and it silently ate at Noah knowing he would basically have to force the guy's hand.

"The vanguard truck is simply the front-most truck in the convoy." Noah pointed towards the mouth of the garage that went out the back of the building, up a slight incline. The trucks were beginning to line up as troopers and volunteers alike loaded up supplies, awaiting to be told their final postings on the assault. "And you won't be needing that." He wagged a finger at the sword. "You'll be on the heavy repeater turret in the driver cabin of the truck. I'll be in the command seat, okay?" He gave Reese a reassuring pat on the back. "Go get in the truck. I need to go upstairs to review the plan before we roll. I'll see you in about 20 minutes."

With that, Noah returned to the upstairs command center, where his officers had assembled and Kuro (@Cameron Foster) had returned without Sal.

2245 Hours, Local Time

Noah, Murray and other leaders all gathered around a table; there laid a virtual visualization of the city. Noah had just discussed his plans for the main force's attack strategy and Murray was about to take the floor to discuss his.

"Alright so my plan is simple." Murray activated a program that revealed the underground portions of the city: the map now looked like a virtual transparent layered cake. "If we enter through this manhole the sewers would lead directly to the capital building", Murray said as he pointed into the projection "My team will exit the sewers on the back side of the building. The enemies forces will be gathered and focused on the front so we should be able to infiltrate from the back". He heard mumbling from the others as they seemed to determine the plan's chances of success. He opened up his flask to drink some of his Corellian Whiskey. Ahh good stuff.

"My squad includes three groups of 5 people. Once we get into the building we will then be able to quickly clear each floor until we cut the snakes head off" as Murray finished, he slammed his hand onto the table; the projection flickered and quickly returned to normal. " Arritef, Jace, and I will lead the 3 teams. The remaining members of each team are some of the new recruits who happened to 'volunteer'" As he said this Murray chuckled and cracked his knuckles.

"Any questions?"

"No questions, only orders on my end." Noah gave Murray a nod. Around the table were the gathered officers. Jacen had cleared Sal (@Sal Falūd) to assume his overwatch position, but told him to hold fire until Jacen gave him explicit permission for weapons free. "You're delusional if you think I'm letting these scrubs go on a mission like this. Those volunteers are not only gonna get themselves killed in an operation like this, they'll get you, Arritef, and Jace all killed because they have no idea what they're doing." Noah leaned back and waved his hand at the display table. He wasn't nearly as amused as Murray was, taking the needless wasting of lives rather seriously. "You take ADI Marines, but you have to remember that's a fourth of our men that landed you're asking for. We already have 3 dead and about 8 critically-injured, with about 11 more in non-critical condition. You're asking for almost half the men I have left. You better make them count."

He tapped some icons on the table's control surfaces and zoomed in on the route through the city, with little green holographic models of marines and volunteers and trucks arranged in formations. He leaned in, pointing his stylus at the models. As his hand passed through the holographic models the fizzled and diffused slightly. Noah hesitated, moving his hand back and forth testingly to see how much disturbance was caused as a couple of those gathered chuckled a little at Noah's lack of technological expertise. He sighed with a strained not-smile on his face and finally settled for simply ignoring the minor disturbance, though the laughter of others had already broken his cool.

"Anyway... as I was saying..." He tried so hard but finally gave into a laugh as the others around joined in. It wasn't that any one thing had been particularly funny, it was simply laughter for the sake of itself. It was little things like this that helped break tension in stressful situations. He settled finally, still letting his own laughter die down slightly as he spoke. "Our Marines can't fit in most of the loaded trucks, so they'll double-time alongside the convoy. I'll be in the Vanguard Truck, designate Vanguard-1. I will be flanked by 2 landspeeder technicals, designate Vanguard-2 and Vanguard-3. The convoy line will then be truck-truck-technical, and then it repeats in that sequence." He then pointed the stylus at the trooper models, his laughter fully gone and replaced with assured coolness. "The Marines that flank the convoy will hug the buildings along the route, and they'll be joined by volunteers to fill out the numbers. Boots on asphalt will be about 1 Marine for every 6 Volunteers, but our total numbers are about 12 Volunteers to every Marine." He paused and looked around to make sure the others were still following him. He leaned his weight against the table as he stowed the stylus, looking down at the display with some intensity and concern. "Our objective is to reach Capitol Square and set up a beachhead. The trucks will fan out arrange in a large circle for use as cover, as most of them won't see use after this anyway, they'll be so irreparable--" And we'll have no one to drive them, he thought but didn't say. "-- That they probably won't run ever again. We'll set up heavy mortars and bombard the building until we either break that fecking gate down or they come out with a white flag tucked in their ass-crack.

Any Questions?"