Drop and Roll

[MoreThanSane]

Aelianus Atratinus cursed. It was a pleasure he rarely allowed himself, but he needed the endorphin rush.

He cursed again, violently this time.

He continued down the corridor toward the briefing room, ignoring crew members' startled glances as he rattled off every swear word in his extensive repertoire. The endorphins were indeed pleasant, but not sufficiently so as to take his mind off the idiocy demonstrated by the huttspawn at Command. Giving him the kriffing reigns? What in chaos were they thinking?

"Oh yes, I'm sorry, I'd forgotten," he muttered under his breath, rounding a corner and shouldering past a crewman, "you don't think, because you're just as blasted stupid as the next man." He noticed a group of crewman standing in a circle staring at him. He made a face. "Oh up yours."

That had felt good, he realized as he past the group. Vulgar insults seemed to work better than the most violent of curses. He looked at his chrono; four minutes until the briefing was scheduled.

He turned around and walked back over to the crewmen.

Three minutes and forty-five seconds later he slid through the heavy sliding doors and into the briefing room fully expecting disciplinary action as soon as the stunned crewman overcame the burning in their ears and reported the incident. Now, perhaps, they'll not put me in charge of a team of kids.

"Don't," he said, scowling at the men as they started to stand up. "Sit the kriff down." He sighed, walking over to the holoemitter at the front of the room and doing a quick headcount. Eleven, as expected. "I am, as you may have worked out in those inferior little minds of yours, Sergeant Aelianus Atratinus. I'll be your squad leader for this mission. And, with any luck, only for this mission. Why Command has deigned to stoop low enough so as to insult me with the responsibility of leading you lot is, quite frankly, well beyond me. Do not take that lightly; very few things are beyond me."

He tapped a key on the holoemitter, powering it up to standby. "I don't expect much of you. Do what I say, when I say it. Period. If I don't say anything, then use your blasted imagination. In combat, you think fast or you die." He looked out over the men. A few were frowning, a few more looked rather angry--Aelianus smiled--and one was suppressing a smile. That was odd, he'd have to follow up on that later.

"Just don't die, and we'll all be happy." A chuckle ran through the room and Aelianus frowned. That hadn't been a joke. Odd. He flipped the holoemitter on, plugging a datacard into it. He grimaced. This was it, he was committed. For better or for worse, he was stuck with these men now. They'd slow him down, certainly, but Command had spoken, and that was that.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

A hand raised. The man who'd been smiling.

"Yes?"

"Sir, shouldn't we wait for the Jedi?" the man asked.

Aelianus raised an eyebrow. He hadn't been told of any Jedi assigned to this mission. "Jedi, you sa--" he stopped himself as the door slid open.

 

[Cassanova]

Outside the briefing room, leaning up against the wall was the Jedi that the troopers had been discussing. Juno Armstrong had been waiting just long enough to make an entrance. She had been briefed thoroughly on her way to the ship, and was ready to fulfil her duties. Unfortunately for her, she was to follow orders from the NCO, a Sergeant Aelianus Atratinus. However, Juno knew she would quickly put him in his place if he made any sour calls.

Dressed in her usual blue Jedi tabards, her dark hair hanging over her shoulders, Juno swiftly and silently moved into the room. "Sergeant," she nodded, and then had a quick look over the eleven troopers that sat in the briefing room. "I've been appointed to this mission by the Jedi Council as support. If there are issues, we can address them after the briefing," she nodded to him, and politely added. "Please, continue."

 

[MoreThanSane]

Aelianus watched as the woman walked through the door. She was obviously a Jedi. Not only did her lightsaber and clothing make this rather obvious, but her grace and movements made just as large of an impression on Aelianus' exceedingly observant mind. Her body language immediately taught him several things, foremost among these her confidence and resolve, both aspects which were then reinforced by her speech.

Aelianus sighed. If he was going to be thrown in charge of eleven bland soldiers, why not toss a Jedi into the mix too? Even if she proved to be trouble, her skills were not to be overlooked. Hopefully, though, she would prove competent.

He inclined his head to her. "Very well." He tapped a few keys on the holoemitter's control board and an image sprang up. "This," he said, "is the target, home to a rather impolite group of mercenaries and various undesirables that have been terrorizing local shipping and occasionally venturing far enough to raid villages and such on other planets and moons in the sector. The base's location, that is, the southern island-jungles of Lorta, make it easily-defensible and keeps the mercenaries within striking distance of various sensitive targets. As you might guess, Command isn't particularly thrilled.

"However, the Alliance can't spare the resources to deal with the situation properly, nor can we afford not to deal with it. So, in short, we're the answer." He flipped the base diagram, causing it to rotate slowly. "No politics here. We drop in on the island's North side, make our way to the base, plant and detonate charges, and return to the exfiltration point here," he zoomed out and pointed to a location south of the base. "Simple, clean, and most importantly quiet. We'll arrive in orbit soon. Hit the hangar five minutes before we drop to realspace." He looked over the men, waiting for questions. "Very well. Dismissed."

 

[Cassanova]

As the men shuffled out, most of them headed directly for the hangar bay, Juno went against the flow and moved towards Aelianus, and extended a hand out to him, "Happy to be working with you, Sergeant. Hopefully we can get in there and end this decisively."

Juno held a strong exterior, having been told that a lot of the Alliance Soldiers believed Jedi to be 'all talk' and not having worked on an Alliance Mission before left her unsure of things. From her understanding she ranked equally to that of a Sergeant, but her inexperience in the field was highlighted by her being assigned to the mission, as opposed to the mission being assigned to her. A subtle difference, but she knew why it was wired like that when she was informed of the post. Even if the NCO, Atratinus, clued in on the subtle wording, she was not going to be pushed around for the sake of it - he would learn that quickly.

"We should get moving down to the hangar bay, and gear up," she nodded and gestured for the Sergeant to lead the way to the mission staging area.

 

[MoreThanSane]

"Please," Aelianus said, removing his datacard and shutting down the holoemitter, "drop the facade." He took her hand and examined her face thoroughly for the first time. Hair as black as his own, eyes strikingly blue--these were facets that the common man would notice instantly. But Aelianus focused on the subtle play of muscles beneath the skin, their dance confirming what the Jedi's body language had already hinted at.

He held on to the hand and locked eyes with her. "I'm not stupid. You were assigned to this mission as support, and leadership was thrust--as it were--upon me. Perhaps you should be in charge. Regardless, you're not." He cocked his head slightly to the right and paused for the briefest of moments. "Let me assure you, I've not the slightest intention of disrespecting, nor bullying you to assert my dominance. Such would be exceedingly immature and not deserving of my attention. I expect nothing more of you than the other soldiers, and certainly nothing less."

He released her hand. "So again, don't feel as if you have to maintain some sort of tough exterior. This mission will be dangerous, and we can't afford to allow anything to take away from our concentration." He nodded, and forced one of those half smiles that he'd found to usually put people more at ease around him. He paused, glancing quizzically back at the Jedi. He actually felt a desire to put her at ease. That was odd indeed. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, allowing himself to mull over it passively. The active portion of his mind needed to be focused on more immediate matters.

"Very well, I believe that we should get to the hangar, as you said." He cocked another half-smile and keyed open the door. "Oh yes, and I don't believe I caught your name."

 

[Cassanova]

Following Aelianus, and falling in suit quickly. She was slightly put off by the Sergeant's clear disdain for being responsible. As the pair walked down the hallway, she turned to him, still holding a strong exterior up. The pair rounded a few corners came to the hangar bay, where Juno eyed off the eleven men who had been assigned to the mission. Through the magnetic field which held back the vacuum of space, the stars, blurring into lines blew by. Suddenly however, the lines jerked back into their circular shapes. Juno's head pivoted instantly, looking towards the bridge. Her demeanour, now no longer just strong, but now very serious she passed a look towards Aelianus. "We're in trouble. We need to get off this frigate now."

Completely ignoring the chain of command, Juno broke into a sprint towards the men who were filing onto the dropship, and began urging their speed, "Move, move, move! Double time, boys. Deployment in thirty seconds!" she yelled towards the pilot of the dropship. Suddenly the entire frigate, with the dropship skidding around in the hangar bay jerked sideways. The familiar sounds of explosions, screams, and blast doors slamming could be heard. Shortly thereafter, red flashing lights and sirens began to whirr and add to the chaos. Juno paused at the boarding ramp to the ship, and waited for Aelianus to join her.

"Come on, Sergeant!"

 

[MoreThanSane]

Aelianus' first thought was one of mild anger as the woman took off toward their assigned dropship, but as the sirens began their uncomfortably loud blaring he realized her prudence. He sprinted toward the ship. "You heard the woman," he shouted to the troops, "let's get out of here."

His mind sped up as he calculated dozens of possible scenarios and reasons for their current situation, but could confirm none. There was simply not enough evidence. He halted next to the Jedi as the men hightailed it up the ramp. The sound of explosions from the frigate's fore sections sounded loudly across the hangar. He saw men sprinting for their fighters, and hoped that some of them would make it out. They were under attack, obviously, and the only way they'd survive was through action.

"All right, come on," he led the way into the ship. "Ramp up," he ordered the pilot. The soldiers were already engaging their restraints, and he moved to where Juno was and sat himself next to her. He had a feeling that she may be somewhat impulsive, a trait that often got people killed. And, interestingly enough, a trait that he himself had demonstrated a great capacity for.

"Through the shield," he yelled to the pilot. "The mission is still a go. Get us to that island." He grabbed the tangle of straps and buckles hanging above him and began to buckle himself in.

 

[Cassanova]

Juno sat down, and strapped herself in in the co-pilot's seat and nodded to the pilot, who was frantically strapping himself in. She quickly assumed the role, flipping a series of switches, and activating commlinks. Meanwhile the pilot sat in disbelief that the young Jedi knew what she was doing. Juno clicked her fingers and pointed to the console in front of him, "Fly-boy. Focus."

Between Juno and the pilot, the dropship quickly raised off the ground, and rocketed out of the bay. Clear to anyone near a viewport was that the frigate was getting pummelled. The frigate exploded as the dropship banked, avoiding a small group of fighters which began forming up on the squad's ship. The fighters began to shoot at the dropship, forcing the pilot into a panicked frenzy. Juno looked at him, waiting for the word.

"Help!" he squealed, and in a blur, Juno took up the co-pilot's stick and forced the dropship into a nose-dive.
The fighters, which Juno had determined to be of mercenary design, opened fire, battering the dropship's shields.
"Crap! Hold on!" she nudged the dropship into an atmospheric dive, as she tapped on a console, activating the forward shields to maximum, drawing power from nearly every other system, including life support.

 

[MoreThanSane]

The troopers looked worried, most of them seated in the row opposite Aelianus. The dropship shook a bit as it absorbed fire, and then there was a brief sensation of weightlessness as they made a sharp dive before the inertial dampeners adjusted properly. One of the men vomited all over himself, the putrid odor making its way around the cabin a an impressive rate.

Aelianus grimaced and looked toward the cockpit, then back to the men. He began searching his memory for every comforting psychological technique he knew. He settled for a simple one. Spreading his lips and showing his teeth, he grinned.

"Don't worry," he said, maintaining the ridiculous expression, "everything will be all right."

 

[Cassanova]

The ship shuddered one final time, as the joystick leapt out of Juno's hands. Her head, on a swivel she quickly assessed all the flashing lights on the console, and tapped her commlink, "Mayday, mayday. Drop ship 12-22T going down."

Turning back, yelling louder over the rupturing pipes and sparking wires, "Not quite, Sarge. We're going down. Brace, brace, brace!"

Juno, released manual control, as it was doing no good anyway, and tightened her flight harness over her tabards. Taking a moment, she paused, checking her lightsaber was securely fastened to her belt still, then she dove into the force. The young Jedi closed her eyes and began a deep, deep meditation. It took a few moments to clear her mind, and become fully aware of the dropship which was losing altitude fast.

Juno was aware that she had no hope of successfully stopping the craft, however, the task of decreasing the angle of descent was not completely unachievable. The ship slowed its spiralling rotation, and began to level out. Juno grimaced as the dropship pierced the cloud cover, coated in a smoking, flaming assortment of damaged parts, missing plates, and ruptured hoses and cells.

Pausing only to look back at Aelianus, Juno frowned and mouthed the word, Sorry.

 

[MoreThanSane]

Aelianus released the facial muscles pulling his cheeks and lips into the horrific expression he had hoped to be somewhat reminiscent to a grin and quickly calculated every known variable in their current descent. He had no instruments, so nothing was certain, but it was immediately obvious that surviving a near-vertical unpowered descent in a severely damaged dropship was very, very unlikely.

The former professor-turned-soldier grimaced, knowing that these were likely their last few moments. He had no desire to die, in fact he was quite willing to kill many people in order to live. But according to his crack-calculations, there was nothing he could do to defuse this deadly situation.

Aelianus sighed. There had been so much he'd wanted to teach. The ignorance of the galactic community was astounding, and there were very few beings qualified to eradicate that ignorance. He'd always considered himself among them. But now they'd have to get along without him. That was fine with him, he realized, so long as they did indeed succeed. Knowledge was the only way to the prevention of wars as devastating as this. Hopefully the galaxy would indeed embrace that knowledge one day.

Despite his racing mind and the deafening sounds of men screaming and metals shrieking, Aelianus noticed his body being slowly pushed back into his seat. Directional change, he identified the sensation, we're leveling out. He looked toward the cockpit in amazement, but noticed that the sensation had stopped. Their angle of descent had changed, certainly, but they were not under power. He saw Juno turn around just long enough to mouth Sorry.

But the woman had absolutely nothing to be sorry about. Aelianus ran through a complex series of calculations and within seconds came to the conclusion that survival was now a possibility.

He grinned, and this time it was genuine.

Sparks erupted overhead and a piece of tubing whipped down into one of the soldiers. The man's head snapped backward, his neck obviously broken. That would not, Aelianus knew, be the last casualty. He tightened his restraints and prepared his body for impact.

 

[Cassanova]

As the ship careened downwards, it began kissing the treetops, shaking the ship violently. As they dipped below the gentle, leafy canopy and started making contact with the tree trunks themselves, the ship began to shear apart, the sound of twisting and ripping metal could be easily heard. For Juno, who was sitting in a contrastingly state of complete calmness, her eyes closed, this was all about slowing the ship down as best she could. Using an ability that she was taught by her master, Luthair al'Thor, involving the basics of levitation, Juno had been attempting to make the entire ship, and all it's occupants levitate. Now, she knew that with her skill level and understanding that this was a tall order.

However, the fact remained that Juno trusted in the force, and knew that whatever happened in the coming seconds was that of the Will of the Force. When a tree speared the cockpit viewport and impaled the cockpit, Juno admitted silently to herself that this wasn't going to be a particularly good landing, but nonetheless, she was doing her best.

The shuttle slammed into a series of trees, slamming the rear section of the ship sideways, followed closely by a brush with a smaller tree throwing the ship into a sideways roll. After a series of other not-so-pretty collisions with trees, and what appeared to be an ant-mound of some description, the ship touched down. It bounced back into the air and continued skidding along the forest floor for the better part of another fifteen seconds, but it touched down.

Juno, seemingly unscathed with the exception of some perspiration, dirt and grease that had some how made its way onto her person during the crash, unbuckled her harness, slumping sideways in her seat.

Ship's on an angle... bugger.​

She was slightly dizzy, and a little disoriented. She had gone the entire crash with her eyes closed, deep inside the envelope of the force. Taking a moment to collect herself, she yelled out, "Head count!"

 

[MoreThanSane]

"Head count!"

The shout seemed to pierce through the hazy fog surrounding him. He grabbed onto it, an anchor to reality, and started pulling his mind from the gloomy realm between consciousness and unconsciousness. Slowly, Aelianus' eyelids flickered open and the scene around him began to take on clarity.

"Here!" yelled a voice.

"Alive!" yelled another.

Someone else screamed.

Aelianus snapped fully awake. He was still strapped to his chair, yet he seemed to be laying on his back. He hit the quick release on his harness and rolled over backwards, coming to a kneeling position on what had once been the dropship's starboard bulkhead.

The screaming got louder.

Aelianus looked to his left and right. He spotted two dead soldiers immediately--one with a piece of shrapnel in his abdomen and another whose skull was crushed in from a poorly buckled harness. But three others were rolling out of their seats as he'd just done.

"Uh, Sarge?"

Aelianus looked up. Seated against the opposite bulkhead were the majority of his troops, some dead, some near-dead, and a couple others completely alive.

The screaming stopped.

"We lost him."

Aelianus looked at the man who'd spoken, then to the soldier next to him. The man's abdomen had been hewn open at the belly, entrails clearly visible. His limp form was draped over the harness, blood trailing from all four of his members. Aelianus scanned the rest of the row, spotting two other dead men--a twi'lek and a rodian--and two visibly wounded.

"All right," he croaked, coughing suddenly through the dust in his throat. He looked to the three soldiers who'd been seated against the starboard bulkhead and were now standing next to him and gestured to the men hanging from what was now the ceiling. "Get them down. Leave the dead."

He started walking toward the cockpit, making his way around jagged pieces of metal and even a large splintered trunk of wood that had pierced the port side diagonally and reached almost all the way to the opposite wall. Tubing and wires hung randomly, some swinging together and sparking. With any luck they wouldn't ignite any of the coolant forming into small puddles as it trickles out of severed hoses. His back ached, as did his neck and head. But it was nothing serious. Rather fortunate, he thought.

He clambered over a large tree trunk that had sliced through the cockpit viewport and crouched on the side of the copilot's chair. He dusted himself off and peered over the edge at Juno. "Are you all right?"

 

[Cassanova]

Juno slumped forward in her chair, sitting on the armrest, rather than the base of the seat itself. She looked up to Aelianus, "Yeah, i'm fine."
She stood up, the crash had taken its toll on her, a combination of grease, oil, sweat and dirt had made it onto Juno's usually perfect skin, making it very clear just how lucky they were to have this many survive the crash.

"How many did we lose?" She stood up, and politely brushed past Aelianus heading into the trooper area, gently laying a hand on each of the troopers who were still alive, silently doing a triage assessment of them. While not particularly brilliant with physiology and surgical anatomy, the Force gave Juno all that she needed to know. Juno looked back to Aelianus, her eyes momentarily brooding with a sour, depressed look of someone who knows how little hope there is. As quickly as the look came, it vanished, and was replaced with a serious, assessing look as she continued to apply pressure onto wounds as instructed by the squad's medical officer.

 

[MoreThanSane]

Aelianus looked over the rest of the cockpit, as Juno made her way aft. It was--and not unsurprisingly--completely destroyed. Gauges and displays hung from their sockets, some shattered and others severed. The metal keeping the control board in place had been bent and twisted. But the majority of the damage was no doubt caused by the tree that had sliced its way through the dropship's nose and then viewport. As Aelianus examined the trunk, heavily splintered with huge grooves marking where it had slid past hard metal, he noticed something running down its side.

Slowly, he stood and, taking a few steps toward it, looked closer. It was blood, he realized. He followed the trail up the trunk a bit further, and then stopped. Gruesome, he thought.

The pilot's body had been almost completely buried by the tree, and there was no doubt that he was dead. A single leg was visible from beneath the tree's crushing weight, pale and bruised, a single line of blood flowing steadily down and onto the trunk before dripping to the floor.

Aelianus shook his head and turned, making his way back toward his troops. A shame, he thought, we certainly could have used a proper pilot. His mind pored over the data from their tragically short flight, running through every possibility for the immediate attack and every thinkable scenario for the coming days. If, that is, they survived days. Most of the projected scenarios predicted they wouldn't.

There was a chance, though, and Aelianus was determined not to squander it.

As he neared Juno and the surviving soldiers he didn't fail to notice the hopelessness present in their movements and blank stares, nor did he miss a flash of the same feeling that made itself manifest in the Jedi's own eyes before she pushed it away. Aelianus quickly referenced all he knew about the human and several alien psyches. Psychology had never been his forte, but he'd learned enough to understand most common emotions, even if he'd never experienced them.

Now, he realized, was the time to say something comforting. The two soldiers who'd been most heavily wounded were stabilizing with Juno's help, and the others were simply standing or sitting, frozen. Slowly, Aelianus moved to the weapons locker located at the aft end of the starboard bulkhead and stood atop it, giving him a very small but useful height increase.

He locked eyes with each of the men as they looked up at him, and finally with Juno. Their faces were plastered with grime and blood. One of the injured men was moon-faced from a severe concussion, a few others had small cuts over their faces and arms where debris had sliced through their MCUs. Juno, it seemed, and only one of the soldiers excluding Aelianus himself had come through unscathed.

"I didn't want you," he started. He wasn't entirely sure where his speech would go, but he was sure that it was needed. He only hoped his words didn't make things worse for the soldiers, as his speaking often did succeed in making people feel uneasy under the best of circumstances. But these men needed to be emotionally sound and extremely efficient if they were to survive. According to military history and doctrine, a rousing speech by the unit commander often accomplished that very thing. Aelianus couldn't imagine how exactly that would prove effective, but recognized it as his best option.

"Ah, perhaps I should correct myself; I didn't want to be your commander on this mission. Quite simply because I'm not a good commander. I was a blasted professor until just under a year ago. A teacher. As soon as I joined the Alliance, I made sure to get myself assigned to the Infiltrators specifically so I wouldn't ever be put in a leadership position." He paused, realizing that he was indeed making things worse judging by the troopers' body language. "Yet here I am, leading a highly-trained, extremely inexperienced group of young men on a disastrous mission near the fringes of the galaxy. And here you are, stuck on an alien world with half your unit dead, under the command of a Sergeant with no leadership experience and a Jedi Padawan." He forced a wry chuckle. "Not the best of circumstances, I think you'd agree."

His face grew serious again. "But it is indeed here that we are. Miraculously, we've survived this long." He looked at Juno, knowing that she alone was responsible for that, and hoped that his appreciation was obvious in his expression. "Our lives revolve around long-term and short-term goals. The short-term is easily-definable, embedded clearly in our minds. The long-term is often more vague, sometimes only a hazy idea. Oftentimes the long-term is considered most important. But there are occasions wherein the short-term outweighs the long-term," he looked from man to man. "This is one of those occasions."

He paused, taking a breath. "Our long-term goals no longer matter. All that matters right now is that we live. The mission be damned. There's someone up there who'd like very much for us to be dead. Now we have one goal. It's short-term, it's easily-definable, and it is all that matters."

He looked around. "We're going to ruin that someone's whole kriffing day."

 

[Cassanova]

Juno turned, as she listened to Aelianus' speech. Initially she grimaced with the abrasiveness that he addressed the men, the tactless reality of his words may have been a bit too extreme. However, he ended on a high note, and Juno was a little proud of him, she stood up next to him and quickly began to address a few of the men.

"Corporal, we're gonna need a watch outside, if you could. We are still in enemy territory," she looked to the Medical officer next.
"We'll need you to set up in here, let us know if there's anything you need."

Finally, she turned to Aelianus and placed a hand on his shoulder, whispering to him. "Sergeant. With your permission, i'm going to go outside and scope out a perimeter. We need to know how much trouble we're in."

She paused, and eyed him off. Her delicate blue eyes jumping from detail to detail, but not moving. At the end of the day, Juno knew that at this point in time she was the only one who was able to scope out a perimeter quickly enough to make it worthwhile. Being behind enemy lines was certainly not the ideal place to be, but thats where they were, and there was very little to do but secure a perimeter and then set another goal.

 

[MoreThanSane]

Aelianus watched as the men got back to work. His men. He still hated the sound of that.

He met Juno's eyes as she spoke.

"Aelianus, please," he murmured. "Titles are so extremely tedious. And yes, go." He hopped off the weapons locker, then reached down and pulled it open. Inside were two M15 MDEW blaster rifles, three ER64s, an ER40, and three K8 blaster pistols. The inside of the locker door contained a pocket, a variety of grenades inside.

Aelianus grabbed an ER64 in each hand and tossed them to two soldiers. "Like the Jedi said, we'll need a watch. You two first." He tossed them each a grenade and then turned and grabbed an M15 for himself.

He'd always preferred slug-throwers to blasters, but he supposed these would have to do. He'd left his customary equipment back on Coruscant before taking on this mission. He slung the rifle over his shoulder, slid two grenades into a pouch on his belt, and then made his way toward the boarding ramp at the ship's rear. He wanted to get a look at their surroundings himself. Oddly enough, he trusted Juno to do a decent job, despite having only just met her. Yet he still wanted to impress a visual image of the surrounding jungle on his own mind. It increased efficiency, he found, and efficiency would be paramount if they were to survive.

 

[Cassanova]

Juno nodded at the Sergeant, and as she stepped outside the ship she pondered to herself, First name basis? Interesting.

Upon exiting the dropship, the humidity of the jungle hit her in the face, and it took a few seconds for her lungs to adapt to the moist environment. The heat wasn't a concern for her, not after the near-death experience of burning up in atmosphere anyway. Performing a quick check on the equipment she had on her, she established that all the usual gear was there; lightsaber, small med-kit, commlink, and compact datapad - unfortunately not much else. Her Jedi robes were a little tattered in some parts, but were holding together - they were, however, dirty and grease-stained.

The jungle surrounded Juno, towering trees, branches high above the cratered landing site, shrubbery, leaf litter, and a trail of debris and smouldering vegetation and upturned soil. Identifying a nice high point, Juno broke into a lazy jog along the cratered runway for the craft, and then stopped 25 yards away and turned around. She closed her eyes momentarily, and took a deep breath, dipping consciously into the force. Breaking into a sprint, Juno quickly leapt up to the top of the dropship, then using her momentum, rocketed higher into the air. Soaring aimlessly directly up into the canopy, she quickly lost sight of the ship in the undergrowth beneath her, as she held out her arms, collecting a branch in her grasp. Using her upper body strength, she pulled herself up onto the branch, crouching upon it.

This high up into the canopy, hand and footholds were plentiful, so Juno was spoiled for choice as she quickly moved her way up to the canopy. Supporting herself on a series of branches, she poked her head and upper body above the treetops, seeing quite clearly the lay of the land - or island in this case. At least we landed at the site for the operation... Juno pondered the thought of salvaging the mission as well as making it out of the situation alive...

Dismissing her fancies, she pulled out her data pad and activated it's camera and filmed a panoramic viewshot, highlighting landmarks, and approximating distances in her head. Upon completion of a complete 360 degree analysis of the island, Juno tucked the data pad into her pocket, and began climbing down a few small steps into the lower canopy, where she then compared the image to the underbrush and the ship's crash-site. She knew that it would not be easy, whatever was decided, but she would attempt to make the job easier on all of the soldiers stuck in this situation with her.

 

[MoreThanSane]

Aelianus strolled through the surrounding jungle, matching local flora with memorized species, checking and cross-checking their uses and possible dangers. It was best to be prepared, he knew, especially considering the fact they could not stay at the ship for long. Search parties would no doubt be dispatched soon, and the men weren't yet ready for a prolonged firefight. Or a firefight of any kind, for that matter.

He rubbed a hand over his face, smearing grime and sweat and moisture collecting from the humid air. Moving in this climate was going to be difficult, especially in MCUs with wounded tagging along. But hopefully it wouldn't be too far before they reached some kind of natural shelter where they could recuperate. After that, it would be time for revenge. Plain, simple, and certainly most necessary revenge.

Aelianus made his way back to the dropship and crouched near one of the soldiers he'd assigned to sentry duty. The other was off patrolling the ship's opposite end. He swung his M15 in front of him and leaned backward, sitting down on the squishy soil. He examined the gun as he waited for Juno's return.

 

[Cassanova]

After making an assessment of the lay of the land, and mentally querying her knowledge of woodcraft, she leaned forward off the branch, falling gracefully and directly in front of Aelianus, Juno followed into a crouch and pulled her data pad out, and laid it upon the ground, and gently stuffed some dirt under one side of it, levelling it out. "We don't have long."

She pressed a button and the data pad's internal holo-emitter buzzed to live, creating a 3D image of the island. Some sections were depicted in more detail as Juno had used a merging program to compile the briefing folder and the panoramic she just took. "Based on this, if we continue along this way, we'll come to a field which has a creek running through it," she pointed out a small section of the landscape.

Juno shifted her weight awkwardly, as her finger moved towards a ridge, which appeared to have a small facility embedded in the side. "Four clicks from that field is our original objective. Assuming they're looking for us, and we move now --" She paused, and looked to Aelianus. "Assuming they track us with ease -- we'll have about three hours until they find us. If we move fast, we'll be able to get to the field in about an hour and fifteen minutes."

Juno, before coming on the mission, had studied the planet's landscape and natural resources, and spent several hours committing the local flora and fauna to memory, so that she would be very valuable in worst-case scenarios... which this was, essentially.