[Rebel Mission] You Scratch My Back

[Hishamori]

Hiru sighed a bit and reaved up the Gatling before pulling the trigger, practically mowing down the raiders, she'd hold of using her sniper rifle until she needed it.

The raiders who had thought about charging the rebels found themselves being mowed down by Hiru's Gatling. Hiru walked forward and continued to just unleash the fury of Gatling upon them. "You guys can move up now." Hiru says off handily over the comm's to her fellow rebels continuing to now down the raiders.

 

[LaPurple]

The rebels ship wasted no time in circling around to the back. A few stray shots flew at the ship, but it wasn't nearly enough to cause any superficial damage. The weapons carried by the infiltration team were sound over shoulders or holstered at the hip as the ship came around to the back.

There was no flat land for the ship to set down and cables were needed for exit. Shun was the first to drop, quickly followed by the other five. During the ride to Sorocco, the Zabrak was trying to decide how they would infiltrate through the back. Ordering his team to follow, Shun lead them to a docking port around the back side.

With the distraction of Cole's team, the raiders were too busy to ntice their entrance. It wouldn't remain like that for long though. For now, the were hidden by the backside of the ship where the men stood tightly up against the wall. Shun whispered loudly behind him "Time to cut ourselves in."

The Twi'lek ran up putting his goggles on. Pulling out a device that most of the men were unfamiliar with, he began cutting a circular hole in the docking port. It did not turn out the way the Twi'lek had hoped because part of the ship was buried in the mountain and at least half of the docking port was buried as well. Turning to reveal his cut, a semi-circle was now cut just barely large enough for the men to fit through.

Darkness was the only thing visible on the other side. Nejan was sent in first. Fortunately for the men, Finec thought the power in the ship may be no longer running and ordered them to bring nightvision goggles. Upon entering Tex saw nothing. The corridor seemed endless and empty. Shuffling could be heard from a long distance ahead and the Kel Dor did not hesitate to raise his weapon as a precaution. He waved for the next man to come through as he knelt down next to the wall.

Each man climbed in the hole one at a time. Finec was the last to go through as he checked the back to make sure their presence was still unnoticed. Shun finally climbing in ordered the men to head down the corridor double time. The shuffling grew nearer and nearer.

Each room passed was empty as the soldiers took turns splitting from the group to check rooms. The only thing found were dead crew members in their quarters. The sights were grisly. Inside each man was wishing they could've arrived sooner.

Down the hall were a pair of raiders; a Quarren and a human. The two had heard the rebels footsteps on the metallic floor. The human spoke up asking who was there pulling out his light. He shinned it just in time to see, Tex and an Umbaran take their shots.

Both men dropped to the ground as the rebels ran up. Nejan stopped only to check his human victim's no longer functioning pulse. Shun ordered they continue down the hall. Much of the ships technical parts and engine rooms resided on this floor.

Each area was searched. Their stealth was compromised when the team realized shouting was necessary to find the surviving crew members. It was confirmed useful when their first survivor was found. The team stood on a catwalk and could hear a man down below yell out that he was a friendly.

Shun was the first to speak to him. "If you're a friendly, you'll move your ass up here and help us find your fellow crewmates." The Rodian crew member from down below began climbing various objects to reach the team on the catwalk. It was learned that he was an engine member, and had nkt sen anyone since the initial sweep of the ship when the majority of the crew was killed.

Speaking up, the Rodian had a suspicion though "There is a room though sir. A hidden room in the command bridge. In fact there are several throughout the ship. They have comms that reach to each room even if the ship losses power. The captain. It was his idea."

Now the team had a start; they had a guide who knew a good amount of the ship's layout.

 

[Tank]

Cole began firing very selectively down into the gulley once the flank was secured. There were about ten men caught out in the open, either talking with Jawas or looking through the rubble. Hiru made quick work of most of them and Cole was able to single out and bring down the three that were left standing. There was a brief moment of silence in which Hiru made an off handed comment over the comm. Cole was focused on the turrets that had yet to open up fire. Cole saw movement and then a split second later their positions were lit up by the raiders. The turrets chugged away with their automatic fire, two of them were focused on the rock out cropping where the Whipid and Mandalorian were, the other two were firing down on Hiru.

Cole tried to lay down some suppressive fire to hopefully draw some of the attention away from Hiru and allow her to take out one of the firing positions. He quickly found himself out of ammo and had to switch out power packs. Trey began firing in Cole’s place to make up for the lack of fire on the line. Cole knew that the raider party was too much for them to handle. They hadn’t killed enough in the initial surge and they hadn’t taken care of the turrets. There was no way they were going to be able to overrun the raiders, but they would be able to hold them off until the other task force was able to accomplish their mission. The Rebels at least had a defensive position and the raiders wouldn’t be able to take them out, bar a full out rush from their men.

“Alright guys listen up!” Since their initial tactic hadn’t worked Cole decided to switch gears. “Selective fire. Zakk, Trey, Tsilo and I will keep up suppressive fire, watch your ammo and only fire at things you can hit. Akt’ul, make sure that rock outcropping stays free of enemies, anyone tries to come up, you take ‘em down. Hiru I want you to book it to the right, get into contact with the crew member on the top of the vessel and put that sniper rifle to good use. Aim for the turret operators. We’ll try and keep them distracted.”

Cole popped his weapon over the lip of the cliff and began firing with the under barrel shotgun. It would be ineffective at this range but the spread would cover more area and suppress the enemy more. He quickly fire off five of the ten rounds toward the turret on the far left. He was surprised to see two men near the turret fall down grasping their midsections. The turret turned on Cole’s position and began chugging away.

 

[Oreus]

"...Akt’ul, make sure that rock outcropping stays free of enemies, anyone tries to come up, you take ‘em down..," the comlink buzzed after the boulder had been secured.

Akt'ul had a hard time understanding and keeping up with the comlink activity, so he held onto that one line that told him his job. The Whiphid hid himself behind the rock to protect himself from the turrets and mass of Raiders firing at the Rebels. After the first brutal slaughter very few braved the hill to flank the Rebellion attack. His instincts told him to charge ahead into the fray and cause a mess, but he knew that he had to stay to guard his new friends. As he caught a break in enemies, he reflected on his time on the bounty hunting crew.

---

"Don't let him get away!" the little one had yelled at him while looking over her datapad.

The datapad tracker had spotted their prey's speeder slipping into a some kind of port that was literally a hole in the ground. Tul didn't hesitate to jump into it, axe first followed by his head. He quickly found himself laying in the remains of the speeder with an unconscious man next to him: their prey. He was scolded for being reckless even though he got the victory for the team. That day he had learned that following orders was more important to making friends than smashing everything to win.

---

The flashback ended as a small group of raiders slipped through the blaster cover and tried to push around for control of the boulder again. Their blasters were focused on him this time, but he had friends. Energy bolts cut into three of them, quickly putting them down while Akt'ul swung his axe wildly towards the others.

"Me guard spot. You die!" he bellowed loudly as their tiny bodies were split two at a time. "Me boulder spearmaster."

Despite the stalemate of the rest of the frontal assault so far, the boulder was a no contest zone. Between the Whiphid and his comrades, no one could offer a challenge. Despite his conscious struggle to act as part of the team, Tul was still unable to really understand the plan. He was content to hold his spot but hoped the others didn't need help. He turned to look at the closest rebel to him. The large human was also taking pleasure in the battle and carrying his weight. Tul considered asking him a question about their plan and purpose up here, but he decided against it, leaving himself staring at the man as he waited for more things to smash.

 

[FrostFall]

Things were going smoothly after all they were just raiders but it made Zakk think how can theses guys take a ship and it's crew down but are unable to stand up against a rag tag group who have only just met. Zakk pressed forward stepping over the fallen heading towards the ship still smoking his cigar Zakk would take pot shots at any raider who crossed him as he marched ever closer to the fallen ship.

Watching Hiru as she pushed the middle ground made him smile "Ha if only I was twenty years younger and she was a Zabrak." His love for this business wasn't the same as when he was younger but after the imperium took his family, His clan and his planet. It's the only time he ever felt anything battle baptised him anew and the more he did the closer he felt to his old self.

 

[Hishamori]

Hiru who had taken cover after some of the gun turrets started shooting at her, put down the gatling and got her sniper rifle, loaded it, cocked it back and popped out of cover aimed and fired at one of the gun turrets, a very loud resounding bang echoed throughout the whole engagement zone, and one of the gun turrets exploded into a giant fireball, Hiru having one of the largest grins on her face, though with her helmet one you couldn't really see it. "I'll see about getting up there quickly, Sir" Hiru said honestly before strapping her rifle over her back and grabbing the gatling and running with it, it was heavy, but Hiru was used to lugging around very heavy objects quickly, and she ran like hell, over the right towards the top of the vessel, waving in almost comedic fashion hi to the crew member that was sitting on top of the vessel, before putting down the gatling, and getting her rifle back out, the raiders from her perspective looked like they were still in shock from her earlier shot, and the gun turret suddenly seemingly combusting into a giant fireball.

Hiru taking aim shot at another gun turret,resounding bang happening again, and the gun turret also exploded into a giant fireball, like the one before. "Let me know if you need support guys, or a turret taken out, this lovely gun of my is perfect for making things go boom" Hish said honestly as she smiled.

 

[LaPurple]

It was time to make it to the bridge. They were towards the lower deck currently, but having just heard that there are secret rooms in the ship, they knew where to look. The closest thing to a way up was an elevator shaft that ran the length of the ship just down the hall.

The Rodian crew member lead them to it and the Twi'lek was back to his job of cutting. Shortly the elevator doors were pried open. Each of the rebels pulled out a tow cable to get up the shaft. The Rodian did not have one and they had no extras. Offering to stay was the human and the Twi'lek.

There were two more hidden rooms that the Rodian knew about. One was only a couple floors below and could be reached through the engine rooms. It was decided that the three of them would head down in search of the other rooms while Shun lead the main group to the bridge.

Parting ways, the team unleashed their tow cables up the shaft. They began walking up the wall. It was a tiring task so do for so many floors upwards, but they were soldiers and not one of them conplained. Realizing that they had been in the ship for a while now, Shun reached out to the other task force leader. "It's Shun. We are in the ship and headed up to the command bridge. Hopefully we will be out soon. Will your team be able to keep the raiders held off until then? There is no victory for us if we try to take them all on."

While the Zabrak had been talking, someone else had been listening. A small group of jawas had been cutting their way through the ship, stripping expensive parts. This search had lead them to the elevator shaft that the rebels were in. Small enough to sit in a ventilation shaft that opened into the elevator, three of them were eating unnoticed by the rebel rescue team.

After passing them by, the jawas could be heard talking in their high pitches voices. By the time Finec had ordered one of his men down to check, the jawas were gone. This was very bad news because now the raiders would know they were on the inside. Hopefully they would only be though of as survivors from the crash.

It was safe to say that the men more than doubled their pace and they climbed through the shaft. Eventually the bridge level was before them. Just now, they realized their cutting man was down below, Shun and the Umbaran desperately pulled to open the door, while Tex stood ready with the Gungan ready to open fire if necessary; for good reason.

No sooner did the two men open the door did Tex have to begin firing. Roughly six raiders were messing with controls and attempting to break the ship's encryption code. The Kel Dor had killed one and wounded another, while the Gungan got one as well.

After their surprise was blown, all of the men got behind the walls for cover since they were still in the shaft. As one of the raiders fired at the shaft aimlessly, he got closer and closer with each step. Finec spun infront of the shaft door and caused him to fall into the shaft with a shot to the gut.

The raider's screams were heard for sometime before he hit the bottom. Two raiders remained standing and now they were panicking havig just heard their ally fall. They began firing all over. In the chaos, the Umbaran rolled a detonator towards the two.

A short moment went by and a blast was heard followed by a silence. It was their que to climb out. Tex guarded the door while Shun searched for the room knocking every foot or so. The Umbaran was setting the bridge up with explosives ready to make sure no one would be aware of this ship's dealings with the Rebellion.

While the bombs were being placed, a wall had opened. Inside were six men with blasters pointed at Shun. An injured sitting on the floor began to speak. None of the men understood the Wookiee native tongue, but a crewman began to translate. "The captain says could this be the long awaited rescue team? The four of you do not look like your rescue team could possibly get the whole crew out. Where are the rest of my men?" the translator finished.

A look of failure washed over the Zabrak as he began to address the captain. "You and one other. It is all we have found. We have more men searching your other hidden rooms and a team outside attempting to distract the raiders. I'm sorry. You must come with us though if we are to regroup and find more men."

Captain Vrutecca shook his head. The translator spoke again while the Wookiee addressed the rebels. "There are only four. Three men in one room and another by himself in the other. Are you to tell me that there are only eleven of my crew members still alive on this ship? I had three hundred and forty two members of my crew and now there are only eleven?" the translator said calmly but it was obvious by the Wookiee's tone that he was not calm, in fact outraged.

The wounded captain stood up walking through the rebels. He typed in a code and brought emergency powers back online. it would be enough for basic functions of the ship. The first used was the intercom. He did not care if the raiders heard. He was tee any crew member left alive to hear this message. In his language he spoke "This is Captain Vrutecca. All hands are to evacuate the ship immediately. This will be your only chance to escape your fate at the hands of the raiders. I repeat all hands are to evacuate the ship immediately."

Shun did not understand the words spoken over the intercom but knew that a Wookiee's native language echoeing throughout the ship may cause alarm among the raiders. Now the situation had become even more dangerous. The raiders would be all too aware that this was an escape attempt.

The Umbaran stood up. "Sir, the bombs are in place. We should leave before the raiders surround us in this room. With the power on the elevator should be working." The Zabrak nodded pointing for the men to get the the elevator.

Nejan pushed the button and at the same moment, the raiders could be heard running down the hall. Vrutecca locked the door that lead into the control room. When the elevator arrived, the men piles in as the sounds of cutting could be heard from the other side of the door.

Out of nowhere a blaster shot fired from the floor. The Gungan had been shot in the chest and fell forward into the men on the elevator. Vrutecca gave the wounded raider no time to react as he pulled the man's arms from his sockets with a loud Wookiee battle cry.

The translator, also the captain's first mate stepped back out if the elevator signaling for Shun to come also. His first mate asked for Shun's account number. Now was not the time for such questions but the rebel realized what the captain was doing after telling him. The Wookiee slid his own chip into the bridge transferring it to the account number.

Again the translator spoke telling Shun that he is to divide the Wookiee's wealth between his own team and the crew members for their brave services aboard the ship. With a respectful nod Finec turned and made his way to the elevator along with the first mate. It was evident that the captain would go down with his ship.

The door of the elevator closed as Vrutecca let out one more battle cry for his crewmen to see.

 

[Tank]

"It's Shun. We are in the ship and headed up to the command bridge. Hopefully we will be out soon. Will your team be able to keep the raiders held off until then? There is no victory for us if we try to take them all on." The voice cut through Cole’s headset as he continued firing down from the cliff toward the vessel and those defending it. It was the other team leader from within the vessel; Cole was glad the man was still alive and it was good to know he was advancing through the ship.

“We got it covered.” A flurry of shots headed Cole’s way and he ducked behind a rock to avoid them. “Sooner is better though.”

Cole popped back out from his cover and took a few more shots with his blaster rifle. Without the appropriate sights it was tough to aim but he was able to take down two men who were attempting to take cover by the left-most turret. A few moments after Cole’s shots the first turret exploded and burst into flames. The raiders looked shocked for a moment but didn’t let that stop them. They were becoming more organized and the shock of the surprise attack had worn off. There was a mass of about twenty or thirty men making their way to the rock outcropping the Mandalorian was on.

“You got men headed your way. I’ll try and cover you; Trey head over there and give them some support.” The man got up immediately and sprinted over to the rock out cropping. As he did so the second turret exploded in a similar flurry. The thirty men that were left near the ship started firing up on Hiru’s position. Cole knew Hiru had a ton of cover but if the rock out cropping was lost most of them would die, so he began firing on the mass of men converging on that position.

 

[Oreus]

A quick peek around the boulder revealed a charge of raiders trying to climb the hill towards the boulder and the small group guarding it. Akt'ul was bad at math but he knew it was a lot. He hid himself behind the boulder again and turned to the Mandalorian friend standing near him.

"Lot enemies. We smash together?" he asked slowly, a bit of drool escaping down his furry chin. "Me stand here. You shoot. When close, me smash. Good plan me."

Akt'ul actually was proud of himself for such a brilliant plan. He smashes, the other guy shoots. Brilliance at Tul's finest. There was not much time for him to ponder how good his plan really was because despite cover fire from the medic guy and his Mandalorian friend, a few already were rounding the boulder again. Excitement rose in the Whiphid's heart as he began his attack. The first raider met the same fate as those who came before him. Cut in half with a mighty swing of the axe. The rest retreated a few steps in pure fear as they watched.

"KILL THE MONSTER!" one of them screamed loudly, making the group of five who had made it that far all turn their blasters towards the Whiphid.

Even the thick headed Whiphid knew these were bad odds, especially with more on the way. He couldn't approach the group because he would lose his cover and only have more blasters coming his way. Bad idea even to him. He knew the boulder was his safety net. Though had he thought about it more he might have realized it was better than what happened next. Each raider open fired on him, and the big guy was unable to dodge them at such range and number. In desperation and anger he threw his axe at the center one, causing him to nearly explode in blood. That distracted the others long enough that they only got one or two shots off each before trying to wipe the debris off their face.

Akt'ul had been hit multiple times, and smoke was rising from his burnt fur in four spots. He took the hit and didn't fall over, his layers of fat and muscle protecting him from the shots being anywhere near fatal. There was mostly pain for now. More shots could certainly prove fatal to him if they came. His only hope now was that the Mandalorian would handle the crowd while they were cleaning themselves off. The axe could be retrieved later. Until then, the Whiphid would fight unarmed and simply smash the enemies against the rocks or each other.

"'Member plan! Shoot now!"

 

[Hishamori]

Hiru, just stayed down as she was shot at, before popping up a bit and firing and HE round Into a group of raiders, the round easily doing it's job in killing the enemy. She then Aimed for another turret and fired, once again watching the turret explode into a giant fireball, she fired at another turret, same result, and then used fired once again into another turret, that had been surppressing her fellow rebels. 'That's not of the turrets' Hiru thought while, she put her rifle down, and picked up the Gatling, and stood up, and fired the Gatling down into the exposed, kinda blob of raiders running up the hill.

"Commander, I do believe I've dealt with most of the turrets, if there are anymore let me know, and I will get rid of them. I'll provide fire support from my position, raiders are a bit dumb to be in the open with a Gatling shooting down into them" Hiru finished with a small laugh over the comm.

 

[LaPurple]

Three of the members of the rescue team had joined with the crewmen from the bridge. There elevator was packed holding all eight of them. It was not a time to get comfortable. As the elevator reached the lower level, the men began unloading into the empty hallway. The only things in the halls were the fallen crew members of the ship.

The men on their way out, Shun decided to speak with Cole again. "It's Shun. We have planted the bombs and are on our way out. There are more enemies than we thought. I need you to get your men to front of the ship and cut.." the explosion racked the whole ship. Fire blew out from the bridge visible for the firefight team to see.

As the fire spread, the explosion blasted into the elevator shaft. As the cables were decimated, the elevator dropped. Not all of the men had been off of the elevator yet. The late captain's translator had jumped but not in time. His shins down were chopped off by the falling elevator. One of the other crewmen hand an arm still in and it was taken off as well.

This added a new element to the escape attempt. The rescue team still had not regrouped with the two others who had moved out with the Rodian crewmates to find more survivors. The injured added a new form of adversity for the rebels to figure out.

The Umbaran rebel picked up the screaming translator. Throwing him over his shoulder, the rebel was happy the translator was human and not a much larger species.

Nejan had barely escaped the translator's same fate stepping off only moments before the lift dropped. The Kel Dor turned behind them to see raiders in the distance down the corridor. "We gotta get moving! Go! Go!" It took a blink of an eye to get the group moving. He had an idea as they neared a dead ended hallway.

Pulling out a pair of thermal detonators, Tex threw them ahead of the group at the wall. It was the front of the ship and this seemed to be their best way out at the monent. As another explosion ensued, he looked throug his goggles for any sign of daylight. Beams if light began to peek through the smoke. Unfortunately they were at least four levels from the ground.

The three rebels in the group knew they had their cables but it would take time to get everyone down. As they each shot, Shun told the crew men to look for the other team and wave them down if they had not already spotted them.

Tex, Shun, and the Umbaran turned and knelt down ready to face the raiders. Blaster bolts began to fly. Tex hit a Nemoidan and two humans towards the front. Shun hit two of them as well as the Umbaran. The crewmen spotting the other rebels began repelling down.

Out on the battlefield, the raiders were not about to let the rebels blow through their lines. Snipers now had better aim on the woman who had been taking out their turrets. If they couldn't hit her, they would at least pin her down.

Advancing men were hauled by a barrage of blaster bolts with good accuracy. They were no rag-tag group of raiders. Each had earned their spot to join this group of scum.