Ask Flashpoint Eriadu My Life, for Eriadu

[Erisa Harro]

The Battle of Eriadu​

War had come to the Sith Empire. The Independent Systems Consortium fleet had arrived with little warning except the cries of a lone watch station near the edge of the system as a massive force appeared on their sensors moments before the fleet dropped into the system. A desperate defense had been mounted over the planet that was critical to the Empire's control of the Outer Rim Territories. A pitched fleet battle quickly developed over the planet, the invaders breaking through with landing transports to lay siege to Eriadu City.

Captain Erisa Harro stood aboard the bridge of the Infernal, the Victory-class Star Destroyer that she commanded. An old ship from another age, but the girl still held her own, giving as good as it got. The Imperials fought hard and Captain Harro fought harder, her commitment to this battle absolute as she fought to defend her homeworld. The Empire was holding it's ground as ships on both sides of the line burst into flame. Starfighters puffed into tiny funeral pyres by the score, clouded the lanes between the two fleets. Corvettes that got caught off guard exploded into balls of flame. Frigates gutted out by ruthless turbolaser fire to leave floating and flaming carcasses to further complicate the battlespace.

The Inferno stood firm as the formation around it began to dissolve under heavy fire by the Consortium fleet. It stood firm, resolute... up until an ISC TL-2 Battlecruiser turned its attention on the aging destroyer.

"Incoming fire!" A crewman yelled, just as the battlecruiser opened on the Star Destroyer with overwhelming fire, pounding its shields out of existence in moments.

"Take evasive action!" Erisa shouted, a hopeless last ditch effort to stay in the fight. The Star Destroyer veered, turning its flank to the TL-2 to spread the damage out, but it was little use. Explosions rocked the bridge and Erisa found herself facedown on the cold durasteel deck plate, blood trickling from a wound on her forehead.

"Damage report! She shouted over the howling claxon of alarms that rang throughout the bridge and the rest of the destroyer, a steady flashing red glow bathing every surface with its urgently warning light. There seemed to be a collective gathering of wits as the bridge crew pulled themselves together. They were still alive. Their duty didn't end until their last breath was ripped from their lungs.

"Decks nine through twelve are venting atmo-"We've lost engines One and two-""Fire on decks one through eig-""-imary fire control is dow-" The clashing of various voices over the blaring alarm was enough to make Erisa's head spin. "We're losing altitude fast." The words struck the Captain and she managed to take a look out the viewport for the first time as she found her footing.

The Infernal looked more like a wrecked inferno than a star destroyer, fires raging across its gutted port side. The whole tip section of the bow seemed to be sheared off entirely, whether by turbolaser fire or the strain of maneuver after the support structures had taken a pounding. The evasive maneuver had brought them out of the line and the remaining misaligned engines were sending them careening towards the surface of Eriadu. "Fuck." Was all Erisa could say as she stared dumbfounded at the rapidly approaching surface.

"Navigation, steer us clear of the city!" as best you can, the words didn't need to be said as it was doubtful what level of control the bridge retained over the ship at this point. Erisa stumbled over to the PA system, leaning on it as she began to issue a ship wide order.

"This is Captain Harro. All hands, abandon ship. We are on an immediate collision course with the surface of Eriadu. I repeat. All hands, abandon ship." She spoke as urgently and as confidently as she could muster, trying not to let the rising panic in her chest slip into her voice. Turning away from the console, she looked around the bridge as the command crew continued their best efforts to keep the ship in line and carry out damage control. "Did you hear me?! All hands!" She shouted at the crew, waving at them and towards the hallway out of the bridge. They were too fine a crew to be smashed across the surface of Eriadu and there was no way in hell that she was going to be going down with the ship. She would fight rather continue the fight to defend her home, to the last, than give in to useless honorific platitudes.

@DonutResuscitate

 

[Kilios Thadon]

Troopers were scattered about the crew berthing, prepping equipment as well as small and heavy arms and general pre-mission tasks. Assault packs were loaded and organized for needs of the potential missions and individual preference. Crates of weapons' power packs were being loaded into crates to be brought out to the waiting shuttles. Officers were shouting orders at their subordinates to be heard over the various noises and the NCO's were doing likewise, because shit always rolled downhill. Thadon's platoon had finished going through their con-op, which essentially boiled down to "Be ready for anything" considering the chaos unfolding on both theatres of battle. Thadon always found space battles to be mesmerizing from a distance, but only from a distance. Being in the middle of one caused nothing but anxiety. He was beginning to suspect he was agoraphobic to some degree, but either way the mission came first. So Thadon continued chugging along.

Thadon and Jaquez checked each others equipment, making sure optics were securely fastened on their rifles and ensuring each others' chest rigs were tightened and all loose straps were taped down. "Sir, what could you possibly eat on this ship to get this fuckin' fat? Last time we geared up I was able to tighten your rigs' straps down way further." Thadon feigned an indignant look at Jaquez, "First of all, what else is there to do? We've been too busy with logistics and grunt work to do any real physical training. And secondly, you're one to talk about getting fat," Thadon playfully punched Jaquez lightly on the shoulder and continued, "I've seen those jeans you wear off duty. Too damn tight for ya' bud. Either that or you stole them from your little sister."

Incoming fire began raking the Infernal causing some troopers to lose their footing. "Ronin, on me. Grab your shit and get into the hangar bay." Both Thadon and Jaquez shouldered their assault packs slung their rifles and began a brisk trot towards the hangar bay with the rest of the platoon. Out of habit Thadon rechecked his pouches, making sure he had a full combat load of ammunition and all the gadgets one needed to run a platoon in the field. The Star Destroyer lurched too hard for Thadon's liking as both he and Jaquez along with several other troopers lost their footing. "I fuckin' hate space!" was all Thadon heard from Jaquez as he fell, letting loose another string of curses as he hit the deck. They soon found out why the ship had lurched so violently as seconds later they felt the blasts from the incoming fire they were taking. Half the platoon got past the thick durasteel doors leading into the hangar bay when another barrage hit, gutting the ship and more importantly, the hangar bay.

Ray shielding that once protected the open hangar from the coldness of space sputtered and died as more blasts rocked the hangar bay. Crewman and troopers alike were vaporized along with the all the ships that were on standby. A few outliers survived the blasts along the outer perimeter of hangar. But those were under maintenance and were now being sucked into the void due to decompression. As Thadon's platoon was just exiting into the hangar, half his platoon was sucked out into space and several others nearest the doors went along with them before the emergency airlock activated and slammed shut. "Holy sh-" was all Thadon managed to say as the ship rattled again with more blasts. "This is Captain Harro. All hands, abandon ship. We are on an immediate collision course with the surface of Eriadu. I repeat. All hands, abandon ship."

"Jaquez, you alive?" shouted Thadon over the warning claxons while trying to stand back up. He new he was but he didn't want to have to drag him to an escape pod if they could avoid it. "God I hope not." Jaquez easily got up with Thadon's help, and took count of the remains of Ronin platoon. "Ronin sound off!" he barked, anxious at how many would actually asnwer. Five responded, and two were out cold. Between the decompression sucking them towards the hangar and the subsequent airlock slamming in their face rung their bells damned hard when they slammed into it. They ran through the halls looking unlaunched escape pods, but most if not all were already gone. Along the hallway Thadon came by a holoterminal in its emergency power mode. Quickly flipping through a few different screens on the terminal Thadon found what he wanted, a list of active escape pods and their locations. "Damn..." he muttered to himself. The screen showed all the escape pods towards the bow of the ship on both sides were already launched and several destroyed during the pounding the Inferno took. They needed out fast and the longer they waited the more desperate the situation would become. Zooming out on the escape pod data screen, the only escape pods that were left on the starboard section -where the remnants of Ronin were currently located- were all further astern towards the command bridge. They could cut across the midship and get to the portside escape pods. However considering the pure gutting the Inferno took, there's just no telling what path was traversable. The only other option was to cut across midship and get to the portside hangar bay. More blasts rocked the ship and the terminal cut out, leaving Thadon with no way to access damage control logs to find a viable path. "DAMNIT!" he yelled and thrashed the terminal with his boot, denting the panel that held all of its wiring. Thadon activated his commlink and hoped for the best. "Net call, net call, net call. Any station this net, Ronin Actual. Are there any viable ships in the portside hangar bay? Asking for a few friends. Over."

​

 

[Erisa Harro]

Erisa Harro waved her crew out of the bridge, watching them race down the hallway and towards the section where the nearest escape pods were held. Despite the pounding headache that was threatening to split her skull she counted heads as they went past. She came up one short.

Eyes shooting back to the bridge, she located a boot sticking out from behind a console and rushed over with an unsteady gait to the comms station. The communications officer was out cold but a quick pulse check revealed that the man was still alive. Erisa was in the middle of hauling him to his feet to carry him out of the bridge, when a voice crackled from the console.

"Net call, net call, net call. Any station this net, Ronin Actual. Are there any viable ships in the portside hangar bay? Asking for a few friends. Over.""

Ronin actual, one of the commanders of the IAF platoons stationed aboard the Infernal. Lieutenant Thadon if she remembered correctly. Or was it Bradon? Shaking her head as it attempted to swim away, Erisa let the comms officer slump back against the seat as she leaned onto the console.

"Ronin actual, this is Hawk actual." She spoke into the com through labored breaths as she brought up the port side hangar bay on the console display, readouts indicating what ships remained. The seconds ticked by, every one of which that was spent put Erisa closer to a flaming death smeared across the surface of her home world with the wreckage of her ship. The situation wasn't looking good for the Lieutenant as the hangar bay had been completely vacated between the battle and the evacuation order. Until.

"Ronin actual, there is a single Kappa-class shuttle docked in the repair station of the port side hangar. Crew chief signed it off this morning. Good luck and godspeed, Hawk actual out." Harro spoke loudly into the console before turning back to the unconscious man and pulling his arm up over her shoulder to begin dragging him out. Ronin's survival was up to them now, them and luck.

Erisa dragged the unconscious comm's officer towards the blast door, wondering just how many extra helpings the man got at mess every day when Lieutenant Bragg, her first officer, came rushing back to the bridge. "Thought you were going to go out the old fashioned way." The man said as he got under the unconscious man's other side and helped her lug him down the hall as the ship was rocked by an explosion, sending them careening into the hallway's wall for a moment.

"Go down with the ship?" Erisa said with a pained smirk through gasping breaths as the two of them found their stability and continued the slower-than-she'd-like progress to the last remaining escape pod on the floor, another crew member standing in the access port to the pod on watch for the two commanding officers. "You aren't getting command that easily." She finished with a joke as they began to climb into the escape pod, a bit of gallows humor in what was probably the darkest situation they had faced together.

@DonutResuscitate

 

[Kilios Thadon]

"Ronin actual, there is a single Kappa-class shuttle docked in the repair station of the port side hangar. Crew chief signed it off this morning. Good luck and godspeed, Hawk actual out." This was the best opportunity that Ronin platoon had. Getting to that shuttle on the other side of the damned ship was gonna be dicey as they continued taking fire and not knowing which sections of the ship were completely voided. Better than dying outright so I'll take it, Thadon thought to himself. Thadon relayed the information to Jaquez to pass down to the handful of survivors they had left, and so they sprinted forth down the hallway making a left at a four-way intersection onto the main hallway. Leading to the port side of the ship, this arterial hallway was fed into by dozens of branching halls and into various mechanical, storage and admin rooms for the daily functions of the ship. "What about other survivors, Sir?" Jaquez huffed, "We're not leaving them are we?" Thadon thought for a moment. Maybe a moment that lasted longer than some may be comfortable with given their situation, but he had come to a decision. "We rescue who we can within a timely manner. If we reason that it will take too long to get them out, then we move on or risk getting spaced ourselves. Assuming we don't get atomized first." Feeling like that was the most reasonable course of action despite actively wanting to get out as many as possible, Thadon new some unfortunate concessions had to be made. This was war after all.

By this point the remnants of Ronin platoon had entered into the midsection of the ship, right across the mechanics bay which was underneath the ground vehicle bay where shuttles would pick up and drop off various forms of death. They had reached a point where they couldn't continue much further down the main arterial hallway due to the blast doors 200 meters away having been shut. Reason dictates that there was a breach beyond those doors therefore they had to find a bypass. Just after making a left at the intersecting hall right before the closed blast doors, a faint banging could be heard behind one of several sealed doors dotting the long hall. They all slowed to a slow jog as they listened harder for the banging until they came across the door where the banging came from. "Hang tight we'll get you out!" Thadon called while knocking on the door a few times. A muffled response was all he got in return. The sealed door was jammed, likely caused by the opening mechanism being jostled around so much during the continued shelling of the Inferno. Thankfully it didn't feel like they were being directly targeted anymore considering the ship was already making landfall. From space. Not a good situation indeed. "Jaquez, grab my breaching bar from my pack." "Got you." He replied, opening the side pouch and pulling out the thick heavy breaching rod and handing it to Thadon. Grabbing the bar, Thadon thumbed the button that released the breaching end of the bar. A thick flat-tipped edge poked out of the end reminiscent of a giant flathead screwdriver. Which for all intents and purposes, it served as such too. He slammed the tip into the center of the door where the two sides came together, and wrenched it towards him while Jaquez and some Private grabbed one side of the door and pulled it back into its housing. With the door mostly opened Thadon and Jaquez pushed the left section of the door into its housing as well and made way into the room. Laying on the floor of what appeared to be a makeshift breakroom/storage closet was vehicle mechanic trapped underneath a fallen shelf with crates of spare tools covering most of him. Sticking out of the fallen detritus was a single arm holding a hydrospanner that the poor fellow was banging on the floor, probably begging or screaming for help still though the noise was still muffled. Without a word the remnants of Ronin began pulling boxes off the mechanic and freed him.

The mechanics nose was bloodied and smashed and his left shin was broken with bone sticking out of the mechanics fatigues. "This is gonna fuckin' hurt, man. Suck it up." Jaquez quickly yanked the lower portion of the mechanics left shin bringing the bone back inside, and after the mechanics' screech died down some Jaquez began twisting gently pushing the bone back in, hopefully, the right place. It wasn't perfect but time was of the essence. After a few turns in the right direction they managed to make it back onto the main hallway, successfully going around the breached section of the hall. Blast doors now behind them they continued their mad dash towards the port hangar bay as Thadon and Jaquez alternated between fireman carrying the broken mechanic that by that point had fainted and drooled all over the both of them. Even though Thadon was slightly annoyed at the viscous mix of blood and drool running down his armored arm and somewhat seeping into his inner bodysuit, it was just another day in paradise. Up ahead was the hangar bay. Just a few hundred meters to go. A few explosions began rocking the Inferno meaning their time was almost out. One of the team leaders took the broken mechanic off Thadon's shoulders and huffed on by as him and Jaquez slowed down once they entered the hangar. The shuttle was parked in the maintenance section right where it should be and there was a handful of others there already. With the lower enlisted of Ronin hopping onto the shuttle as the current occupants shouted that they hurry, Thadon and Jaquez stepped onto the dropped ramp closely behind.

"Any of you know how to fly this shuttle? And this mechanic needs serious medical attention." "The pilot's up front already started emergency takeoff procedures and fuel is low since it wasn't slotted for action because it just finished repairs earlier in the day but we have enough to get pointed in the right direction and hope for a not-so-deadly landing," the man said all at once before deeply inhaling. "Closing ramp for takeoff, we're moving time now." Crackled the pilots voice over the shuttles PA. "Jesus man, take a damned breath before you suffocate yourself," Jaquez chided him for a second before continuing. "You're a flight mechanic right? This shuttle will make it?" "Yes Sir- I mean- sorry Sarn't- yes. This ship is good to take off. But like I said... Fuel is the issue." The flight mechanic looked to be about 20 years old and a fairly new addition to the Imperial Armed Forces, but that was just something for Thadon to note down for now. "As long as it's enough to-" "Taking off now." The pilot stated as the shuttle lurched upwards on its repulsors and steadily moved towards the bay doors leading towards space. "-enough to get us planet-side, is what I was trying to say." The broken mechanic was already strapped in as was most of Ronin other than the two troopers that were busy strapping him in. "After you, Princess." he joked, gesturing Jaquez to sit down. The ride down to the planet was going to be more of a controlled fall given their fuel, all they could do was hope for the best and plan for the worst. "If I'm a princess, then that makes you my eunuch manservant, ya'?"

@Arcangel

 

[Erisa Harro]

There was a frantic scramble to buckle in the unconscious Lieutenant. Another explosion rocked the ship and Erisa stumbled for a moment before grabbing an empty seat and strapping in as the pod sealed itself off. She hoped everyone was accounted for, had done her best to make sure it was so.

"Now would be a very good time to leave!" Lt. Bragg shouted as the ship rumbled again, the sounds coming closer with every moment that passed.

"Punch it." Erisa ordered the crew member at the piloting console of the escape pod, giving him an nod.

"Aye aye, Ma'am." The crewman sounded off, slamming the button to launch them away from the ship with a violent pop. The escape pod hurtled away from the ship just in time as an explosion consumed the hallway, spitting fire out after them and sending debris clattering against the escape pod.

Red lights flashed and alarms blared as the escape pod's flight path destabilized. Erisa's knuckles went white as she gripped the restraints, silently praying that the pod wouldn't go tumbling through the atmosphere. There was a brief moment where she thought her prayers had been heard, only for that thought to be dashed as another piece of debris collided with one of the pod's stabilizers, sending it tumbling.

The pod careened uncontrollably towards Eriadu City. The world spun and Erisa felt herself flung again and again against the restraints. Somebody hurled. Erisa caught a glimpse of the city skyline before a tremendous crash roared through the pod, sending her jerking against the restraints before her head snapped back against the cushioned headboard.

The world went black.

@DonutResuscitate

 

[Kilios Thadon]

Getting the ship out of the hangar bay was somewhat of a chore considering all the debris floating around the broken Star Destroyer. Even more so since it was being pulled towards Eriadu along with the rest of the Inferno. It wasn't long until the shuttle started taking fire from all the stray ordinance being flung around space but the further they descended towards the planet the less they had to deal with. Fuel being the premium that it was, the pilot opted to coast the ship much of the way down to the planet, preferring to save the fuel to ease their landing. There seemed to be very few escape pods intact as they coasted down, several of them being either torn open due to all the detritus caused by the carnage or outright blown out from stray turbolaser fire. There were even a few that were wildly careening towards the surface with the occupants likely knocked unconscious from the centripetal forces acting on the pods as they spun madly into the atmosphere.

There was nothing that the remnants of the Inferno could do but plot their course and that of the few escape pods they had on their scanners. Risking using "secured" communications was also out of the question for various reasons as well. All anyone could do at this point is shut up and wait. Hopefully once they made planetfall they could use the nav-point data and recover what other survivors there were. Despite the hodgepodge crews' silent contemplations of finding survivors and finding relative safety, those thoughts were steadily becoming more harried as the shuttle trudged along and towards the surface. No one said a word as the shuttle was buffeted around entering the atmosphere. Or when the Inferno began it's brilliant and fiery display as portions of the great Star Destroyer broke up and streaked across the sky, like the wrath of some omniscient being prepared to smite everything in it's path. That's foreboding, Thadon thought to himself, what was once a symbol of Imperial Might, what should have been decommissioned long ago yet pressed into service anyways, something about it doesn't sit right with me.

Thadon continued his solemn thoughts as he was jostled severely in his seat and watched through his helmets' camera feed linked to the pilots external cameras. Something large clanged harshly against the shuttle knocking everyone out of their sullen reverie as it violently jerked before rotating, threatening to take the shuttle into an uncontrolled roll. Though it wasn't fully leveled out the pilot managed to bring it back under control by using the last of their fuel to correct the shuttles' tilt and firing the reverse thrusters as they continued their descent. "Impact in five... four... three..." Thadon was not alone in the fact that he felt his teeth rattling in his skull as the turbulence rocked him around and flipped his guts, on the verge of spilling the contents of his stomach into his helmet. "... two..." Thadon saw more chunks of the Inferno on his helmet cam as he was throttled in his seat, "... one..." watching as small bits of the Star Destroyer break off into molten slag and spread out across the sky, looking to Thadon like the wings of a Pheonix in its death throes.

"... Impact."

​