Ask Operation Zuri: From The Shadows

[Jonathen Baize]

Operation Zuri had begun, and Imperial troops had been delayed all over the region and were engaged with enemy forces. Commander Joanthen Baize had been tasked with leading a small strike team behind enemy lines and taking out two shield generators that were protecting their target from aerial and artillery bombardment.

This was a critical mission; Imperial infantry and armor divisions would be left out in the open to slog it out with a much more entrenched enemy if they failed.

He had already gathered the team, some of the best soldiers he knew, and asked for an ISB slicer to tag along. They greatly increased their chances of success if they could bypass any security system and get into the base quietly. The Commander stood in front of a holotable, giving their last briefing before they moved out.

"Any Questions?" he asked as he finished the briefing.

@Xorism

 

[Guinevere Delevigne]

It all seemed so crazy to Guinevere how quickly her life had changed from being a technical agent stuck behind a desk some months back to now representing her department officially in an imperial exercise. Agent Klara as she had called herself, was not the kind of ruthless assassin or beguiling diplomat that a cipher may have offered.

Instead, she brought a set of very particular skills, which when applied in a very particular way, could mountains or in this case droid armies, much easier than by brute force alone.

For the day's activities, Guin opted to wear a suit of light armor for protection, but also to blend in with the group that she was working with. Alongside that, she kept a number of slicing tools, and a basic firearm on her person as well as a portable computer held securely in a backpack behind her.

Although Guin had only met Commander Baize once, that wild night at the rusty rifle, she quietly hoped that her actions today would make a good impression and erase any doubts that he may have had about her, if indeed any existed.

With no questions to the briefing, Guin patiently waited with the others before the mission would commence.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

None were posed, and so he dismissed the briefing. "We move out in 10." he said, image fading from the holotable. As the soldiers dispersed, he spotted their ISB agent for the day.

A spark of recognition crossed his face. He had met this woman before, though, at the time, she had hidden the fact she worked for the Empire. Now, that made a little bit more sense. Jon knew she was a friend of Kalique and then bought some trust in his book.

"Agent." he said with a nod. "Glad you could make it." he said with a nod. She certainly didn't fit the mold of someone about to deploy on a battlefield, but he had worked with ISB agents before; they rarely were what they appeared to be.

"Your part should be simple enough; we will figure out the best way for you to sabotage the generators once we are inside." he said, pulling on his helmet. "We'll be home in time for beer pong." he said with a laugh, his helmet modulating his words slightly.

@Xorism

 

[Guinevere Delevigne]

If Guin was known for anything by now it was her persistent smile, even in the worst situations she was seldom seen without one. An air of excitement and buzz filled the room as the final preparations were being taken, there had to be so many pressing matters on his mind about how the day would go and yet, despite the pressures and concerns, Commander Baize still took the time to check in on her.

"Commander." she softly spoke with a little Liannan accent. While the mission itself wasn't particularly dangerous owing to its simulation, every movement, action, and roll of the die would be made under a watchful eye and recorded. Guin knew her place wasn't on the frontline trading blows with the enemy, but recent experience had also shown her just how much she could achieve when given the right opportunity to shine. And she suspected that Commander Baize, was just the man to give her one.

Nodding as he spoke about the role that she would play in the mission, her main concern was whether she would be able to do everything fast enough. But she couldn't help but giggle at his closing comment either. "Oh, already wanting a rematch, Sir?"

With a flick of her hair, she went back to business. "Well if you can get me within 20 meters of a terminal, I can do quite a lot for you. The only limiting factor is how much time you're willing to hold the position, and of course what defenses may be encountered. I uh, took the liberty of compiling some programs that I thought might be helpful, considering we're competing against droids."

Suddenly the voice of a lieutenant piped up from across the room. "Commander, a message from above. Operation Zuri is a go." And with that, the ball was in his hands.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

"Do well today, and I might even let you win this time." he said with a smile. He nodded as she spoke about her capabilities and what she was bringing."We'll hold the position as long as you need, ain't that right, soldiers?" the soldiers all yelled their agreement. "See, nothing to worry about!" he said.

He turned to face the messenger, "Thank you." he said, picking his helmet from the chair beside him. "Time to send these bags of bolts a love letter from the Emperor!" he said as they made their way outside and loaded into the transport.

The driver saluted as he approached. "Sir, I hope you don't mind me saying this is going to be a bumpy ride." he said, seeming nervous. "Your platoon leader says you are the best driver he has. Gomez is a good soldier; I trust him. I trust you." he said, clasping the man on the side of the arm.

"Let's load up!" he said.

Within minutes they were moving across the plains. "We will dump out a click to the south. Alpha Company should be provided a distraction for us so we can get in cleanly.

@Xorism

 

[Guinevere Delevigne]

Guin cracked a faux shocked face before breaking into a smile when Jonathen referenced their super close beer pong game. She wasn't about to complain about that fun night and would certainly take him up on his offer of a rematch. With everything else sorted, the agent tagged along and popped herself into the transport for the ride ahead.

While she knew that they had an important task ahead of them, she couldn't help but admire the beautiful landscape they were driving through. Her datapad hadn't done the planet any justice, the tall trees, brushes, and the occasional wildlife pausing in its trek to watch the rumbling imperial war machine from a distance.

The group of soldiers sitting nearby was busy completing their last-minute checks over the equipment. They'd already done this several times, but the actions seemed to help calm their nerves. Guin turned to Jonathen and nodded. "I don't imagine it will be terribly difficult to get past a handful of walking patrols, so long as they don't have any surprises planned for us."

It wasn't real combat but that didn't stop the nerves from building up for the agent as well. There was a little bit of pressure on her to perform when the time was right, which would stay in the back of her mind. But if there was one thing that the empire was good for, it was always prepared with backup plans in case the first didn't pan out.

In that case, victory was almost assured.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

They had taken some fire from blasters as they cut in behind enemy lines. "Shouldn't be too difficult." he agreed. The transport rumbled and shook as they took fire. "Uhh Comander." the driver shakily said from the front.

Jon moved to the front of the transport and looked out the viewport. "As long as its blaster fire, we are fine." he said, trailing off as he spotted the tanks along the hill.

The driver had taken them off course with a couple of clicks, and they had wandered into an armored droid patrol. The droid tank turret swiveled as it shot. "CUT LEFT." Jon shouted, and the driver did so. The shot only just barely missing them. "Make for that ridge." he pointed off.

The tank shot again; this time, there was no cutting out of the way. It hit the back of their transport, sending the thing rolling on its side. Jon braced himself but ended up sprawled out on the floor.

His head ringing, he pushed himself up. "Everyone, out of the transport, we are gonna be swarmed by droids any second." he said, pulling the driver from his seat as they all managed to recover and pile out. They needed to make it to the ridge; they could lose patrols there and get back where they needed to be.

"You were saying something about surprises?" he said to Guin as they started running to the ridge.

 

[Guinevere Delevigne]

The sudden sound of blaster fire proved that they had definitely advanced outside their safe perimeter and into the metaphorical lion's den. The sharp sounds flying overhead indicated that they weren't far off the mark and it was only a matter of time before the transport was truck, however, thanks to its protection, the only thing they would be worried about was...exactly what found them.

Guin barely held onto her seat as the driver swerved left and only on account of Jon screaming out the command a moment prior. The centrifugal force pulled heavily upon the agent, giving her just enough time to think that she had managed it well before the truck was hit and sent flying.

She was certain that she had felt a knee or was it an elbow whack her in the back as they tumbled about in the aftermath. With curse words galore the soldiers started pulling themselves apart and helping each other from the busted-up vehicle, one such in particular making sure their agent was relatively unharmed and still had her stuff. "Thanks, a little bruised but I'll be okay," she said as they booked it to catch up with the others.

Spotting Baize, she pulled up beside him and chuckled at his remark. "Fair but that was just plain bad luck!" a seemingly recurring theme when it came to the blonde.

Just beyond them, they would spot a small clearing in the brush and the ridge just past it. Behind them, they could definitely make out the sounds of droids pulling apart the truck that had been left behind and they could also certainly assume that they could be followed.

Re-enacting her favorite holovid, Guin ran to the top of the ridge before coming down on her side in a sort of sideways combat slide and fumbling to pull out her blaster pistol. She watched as the other soldiers took up defensive positions along the same ridge and held, cautiously waiting to see if they had escaped being followed.

But unfortunately, a lucky droid had picked up their trail and brought a handful of his companions to investigate and made a decent noise of it too as they approached.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

The strike team ran to cover as the droids approached. "It ain't war if something isn't going wrong!" he said with a bit of a chuckle as they slid into cover. You could plan all you wanted, but they usually died pretty quickly on the battlefield. The difference between winning and losing often was who could best improvise.

He crawled on his stomach to the top of the hill, just barely peeking over. "Shit.." he said, spotting the droid who had picked up on their trail and was calling the other ones over. They only had a few seconds, so he moved backward. "Alright, everyone spread out along this ridge. I am going to draw them in. Agent, once they are close, you give the word, and everyone will open fire on the droids. Got it?" he asked; soldiers nodded and started passing it down the line.

"You know how to shoot one of these?" he asked the Agent, sliding the rifle from his shoulder before pushing it into her hands. She would need something with a bit more range for what was about to happen.

Jon popped up and made his way over the ledge without giving any time for further discussions. "Alright, I give up!" he shouted, raising his hands. "Hands up!" the droid shouted as they approached. "Uhh.." Jon sputtered his hands already in the air.

"On your knees, Imperial Scum!" one of them commanded as the group approached. "Yeah, yeah. I send I give up!" he replied, dropping to his knees. As they closed in range, he waited for the 2nd part of the plant to unfurl.

@Xorism

 

[Guinevere Delevigne]

Guin was only partially relieved by the fact that they were in a planned drill operation and not a real combat situation. She barely had any time to say anything before a rifle was thrust into her hands leaving her only to watch as the brave commander pushed himself up over the ridge and into the danger zone.

Fumbling with it for a brief moment, she managed to get it under control and held onto it tightly as the squad watched and waited for his signal to engage. The experienced sergeant laying next to her was zeroing in his sights upon the lead droid, waiting for the right opportunity to knock their droid commander out. His calming words helped keep Guin quiet in the tense seconds it took for Jon to take a knee and for everyone else, that was the signal.

Blasters erupted along the ridge as precise fire poured over it and into the handful of droids that were attempting to reach the commander. With a thump, the lead droid took a hit to the noggin and promptly fell in place. Guin didn't dare try firing over Jon and instead opted for taking on one of the flanking droids, missing the first couple of shots but eventually landing one or two as the rest of the squad picked the rest off.

A quiet cheer came over the ridge as the group of soldiers could see no further hostiles to deal with at the moment. One of the combat medics jumped over the ridge and slid his way over toward Jon in a hurry saying, "Commander, are you hit? shit was pretty wild man."

The sergeant looked to Guin and checked over her himself, finding naught but dirt and sweat to worry for from the earlier exertion before turning to his other subordinates. "No muckin' about you lot, be ready to move when the commander gives the order you hear me?"

For the moment the coast was clear but eventually, the other party of droids would come looking for their lost comrades. The agent hoped that they'd put a lot of distance between them before that happened but without their truck, it would be a little bit of a hike still to where they needed to go.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

The droids approached the kneeling Commander when blaster fire erupted around him, several shots uncomfortably close, spaying dirt onto Jon.

Within seconds that droid squad had been cut to slag, and Jon stood as the Medic approached. "Right as rain, doc." he said, smiling, clapping the younger soldier on the shoulder. They regrouped with the remainder of the squad. "How'd she do, Sergeant." he asked the grizzled old soldier. "She took out two herself, Sir." the man reported before preparing the rest to move out.

"Good job, Agent." he said, holding his hand out for the rifle. "Not shooting me is a quality I greatly enjoy in those fighting alongside me." he said with a grin.

"Alright, Soldiers," he said, keeping his voice down so it didn't carry. "We need to head two click west to get back on track. Stick to the ridge. We will need to move quickly, so we can't afford to get bogged down in a firefight." he said. "Sergeant, take point." he said.

Distant sounds of fighting and explosions sounded from all over as the operation began in full; a squadron of fighters flew overhead as they began moving quickly along the ridge.

@Xorism

 

[Guinevere Delevigne]

Everything happened so very quickly and just like that it was over. With everyone rushing about Guin sat there for a few seconds collecting her thoughts, in the heat of the moment she had been able to pull herself together and act, rather than freeze up. It was an exciting change for her, although something that she would likewise keep to herself for now.

As Jon approached, Guin pulled herself up and quickly dusted off her jacket. "Thank you, sir." she said, handing back the man's rifle. The compliment filled her chest with pride after a job well done, followed by a hearty chuckle at his remark. "Oh, I'd never live that down if I did, Commander." Jon would probably take it in stride aside, but their mutual acquaintance? she'd never drop that one in a million years, Guin internally mused.

Gathering back up in line with the other soldiers, the agent found her position next to Jon and marched along. The quiet sounds of soldiers marching filled the nearby air, masked only by the distance vibrations and action going on all around them. The agent's device vibrated as a status update arrived for their mission.

With a quiet groan, Guin looked over to Jon with a stressed look on her face. "The droids are reacting faster than we are able to match when it comes to jamming their communications. They may already know about our vehicle being spotted, but we still have a window of opportunity before they find their disabled droids. This also means that when we attack, we won't be able to just fight an isolated pocket until I'm able to breach their security and shut it down internally."

While the agent was quite confident in her ability to do so, the risk of where and how long they had to do so made the already difficult job that much harder. But if there was one thing she was ready to do, it was to trust in Jon's plan and see it through.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

He laughed at her comment. He knew the Agent was friends with Kalique. He wasn't sure who she would be mad at in the situation, Guin for shooting him, or himself for letting himself get shot. Either way, they didn't have to find out today, thankfully.

As they moved out, he listened to Guin's concerns. He had been hoping to sow some confusion in the droid ranks, disrupting their communication. This surely made their mission more difficult. They would have to get in, likely alarming the droid forces to their presence and then jam their communications. "That will be our priority then once inside." he said

They continued along the ridge, approaching their target. There was no way to sneak up on the base as fast and quiet as they were. "The quiet way is out of the question. We go hard, and we go fast. We are going to rush the base and get our Agent a place to cause a little chaos, then set the charges before getting out of there." he said. Soldiers nodded as they prepared for the assault. They were going to take fire on the way in.

He nodded, and the squad rose from their position and began to charge to the droid outpost.

@Xorism

 

[Guinevere Delevigne]

The squad listened as their commander spoke, drawing confidence and inspiration from his example of leadership. With a final hurrah, the group departed down from the ridge and made its way toward the base. Guin stayed alongside Jon, at least as long as he'd hang back but would stay behind if he instead went into the forefront of the battle with his men.

By now they had gotten sufficiently close enough to see the facility in a bit better detail firsthand. Their target was protected by duracrete bunkers, dug-in droid positions and a scattering of anti-air guns could be heard in the distance. There was a medium amount of cover between the two groups, but the final stretch would be in a relatively open and dangerous position to run through without disrupting their field of view.

Chaotic sprays of blaster fire erupted on both sides as the droids took notice of the impending attack, although this did provide something of an opportunity. "Commander," the sergeant said with battle-hardened experience behind his voice. "The easiest path to the generators is straight through those bunkers, do we have any assets that we can call upon to neutralize them?"

Going around with a distraction was also a possibility, probing to find a weaker point. But doing so would take longer and cause delays they could be risking more than just their mission if it didn't work out. In either case, Guin did her best to avoid getting knocked out by some stray blaster fire, staying well in whatever cover she could sneak behind.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

They needed to move or risk getting pinned down long enough for the droids to call in reinforcements.

"Negative." he answered the sergeant. They were the resources sent to neutralize these bunkers. "Tell your soldiers to prepare to use their smoke grenades to cover our approach. You take someone and clear out the bunker on the left, me and the agent will take the right bunker" he said, shooting a glance over to Guin.

He gave the command a moment later, and a dozed smoke grenade flew through the air. Within seconds, they filled the area with smoke. "Lets go!" he said, first to stand as he started to charge up the hill leading to the bunkers. Blaster fire broke through the smoke, they last several soldiers on their approach, but losses could have been much higher.

As the team hunkered down outside the bunkers, the two strike teams made their way to the bunker entrances. "You ready?" he asked the Agent behind him. "Its going to be tight in there, will likely have to resort to hand-to-hand combat," he said, pulling out a flash grenade. A second later, he opened the door at tossed the grenade inside. That would buy them a couple of seconds of distraction.

Roll:6
@Xorism

 

[Guinevere Delevigne]

Without air support their assault would be direct and to the point, literally. But with such risks come great rewards, perhaps they'd sooner get through the defenses of the droids and to where they needed to go without fighting the whole damn army. Guin held back a look of concern as Jon ordered the assault forward, knowing they would shortly be taking casualties. Even with it being a training exercise, these decisions would still likely weigh heavily, she thought.

Following closely behind Jon, blaster pistol at the ready, the agent did her best to keep up despite the rapid pace. The fumes of the smoke were both distracting and broke the line of sight for the defenders allowing their squad to move up into position. Looking up at Jon, she cautiously nodded. The sweat beads formed on her brow, beat only by the rapid breathing that she fought to keep under control.

Hand-to-hand wasn't her forte, in fact, neither was combat really. It was true that she had passed her qualifications and on paper was quite capable of handling herself, but the difference between qualifying for some task and actually applying theory to reality was another thing entirely. But if there was anything that people would come to learn about Guin, it was that she never let that fear of the unknown stop her from trying.

The entry teams entered the bunkers simultaneously, pressing forward into the hectic and enclosed spaces as the brutal melee got underway. For her part, Guin followed in close behind the commander to watch his back as he swept through. Suddenly, a hidden entrance in a wall opened up next to the pair allowing a droid to lunge at Jon with its heavy arm, intending to knock him into a wall.

Without thinking, Guin pushed Jon forward so that the blow wouldn't hit him and just dodged it herself, unfortunately putting herself in its reach. The droid's second hand reached out and grasped Guin by the neck causing her to scream, easily lifting her into the air to throw the tiny woman, in what would undoubtedly be a very painful experience.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

Jon entered first, blaster pistol in one hand. As he did, the droids sprung their trap. He felt a push forward, sending him stumbling further into the room. The droid's initial attack missed. As he recovered and dropped the droid on the mounted machine gun overlooking his squad's approach.

The second of the three droids raised a blaster at Jon, and he stepped forward, pushing the droid's hand away as the blaster went off. He pulled his knife from its leg sheath and rammed it up through the droid's head. It twitched slightly as it sparked before falling to the ground.

The final droid still had Guin by the throat. Jon raised his blaster, and with one shot to the side of the head, it released the agent.

He breathed heavily. "And another save....I think you joined the wrong branch of the Empire." he said. "You should have been a soldier. Thanks again." he said, clapping her on the shoulder.

"Let's re-group; we need to move further into the compound." he said, stepping back outside.

Roll: 17
@Xorism

 

[Guinevere Delevigne]

The panic set in as the droid held her aloft so effortlessly, Guin hadn't anticipated this line of attack nor the sudden drop once Jon had taken care of her would-be captor. With the large hunk of durasteel dropping to the floor, the agent stared at the talons before shifting her focus back to Jon with a worried look scratched on her face. "Speak for yourself, commander, I wouldn't have made it this far without your help."

Her expression shifted into a smile, she had never considered a career in the army but perhaps that was something to keep in the back of her mind. Collecting her thoughts, Guin fell in behind Jon and joined the others outside of the bunker. The other team hadn't been as lucky as they had been, with a few casualties being reported which would reduce their numbers slightly, but not enough to endanger the mission.

Taking a brief opportunity to survey the area around them, she searched for useful signs for a few moments until spotting what they were looking for. "There, that building over there." She pointed to a taller building with a large antenna array above it, about a quarter of the way into the compound. "If we can secure the top floor of that one we should be able to both disrupt their comms and with any luck, disable any security around the objective."

The hard decision was for the commander to make. Split the teams and ensure speed at the risk of coming up on a manpower shortage or doubling up to sweep them one at a time. The latter would be slower but much safer for everyone involved, but again, the risk of going slower would be obviously playing into the enemy's hands.

@Raydo

 

[Jonathen Baize]

He smiled beneath his helmet. "We are all on the same team, agent." he said warmly before they re-joined the rest of the squad, which was smaller now. They needed to finish this quickly, or they were going to lose due to simple attrition.

He listened as the Agent offered her opinion. "Good. We will do it then." he said. "I'll take half our soldiers and storm the objective. The Sergeant and Agent will take the comms building. Let's get it done." he said before moving out.

As his soldiers broke for the shield generators, they moved quickly, dispatching droids as they went. It seemed they had still caught them somewhat unaware. After a few minutes of heavy fighting and they were on the generators. Now they just needed to open the doors. "We are in position, we need these doors open now." he radioed the other team.

"Form a defensive line and engineers, prepare your charges. We are going to need to move fast." he said.

Roll: 19

@Xorism

 

[Guinevere Delevigne]

Guin was quite proud of herself that the commander liked her suggestion, grinning ear to ear. There was still plenty of work to do before they could celebrate but at the very least she'd be able to focus on the task at hand and not endlessly worry herself about being in the thick of combat. Fortunately, she'd have a solid backup in case anything went awry.

As one team went off to secure the generators, the agent's team made their push for the communications building. With all the action that had been occurring, its security attachment had been whittled from being pulled as reinforcements down. Their first attempt was met with stiff resistance but with fierce determination, the Sargent rallied his men together to power through the enemy's last line of defense.

Guin could only look on with amazement as the remaining droids scrambled away to regroup, undoubtedly they would come back but she hoped that they'd be able to complete their injective before that would happen. Following the group inside as the rooms were being cleared, she heard the good news that the control room had been seized. With her signature grin, she pulled out several pieces of tech to complete the task that she had spent her entire life preparing for.

"Commander, we have the comms room. You just have to hold a little longer." the sergeant coarsely spoke into his com unit. Unbeknownst to either of them though, another wave of droids was en route to protect the generator from these intruders.

@Raydo