Root of all Evil - Bunkering Down

[Harkus Viaken]

How the hell did I end up here? he thought, staggering to his feet as the soft tinkling sound of broken glass accompanied his rising. Gently he suppressed the button to open the night shutters on the main viewing portal of the ship in which he found himself.

Balls. God damn Yavin. he said, his memory returning.

Checking his comms unit, which was very much dead, Harkus Viaken cursed the oddity of his situation. He'd arrived (or at least tried to) a few hours ago, his Shuttle bringing him low over the planet, the recently graduated pilot attempting to prove himself to his dignified cargo, flirting with the tops of trees as he flew all to low in an attempt to impress.

The only survivor of the crash that has resulted from this brashness, Moff Harkus staggered out of the crash site, standard issue pistol in one hand, broken comms unit in the other. Spying the nearby base, he limped around on corner, and froze, a look of total defeat on his face, as he saw the strike team of the GAR before him.

"Frakking Hell!" He deplored, his day was getting better and better....

OOC - Here you go @Fyreleader

 

[Nor'baal]

OOC -

@Chuck Owens @Taz @Gamov you're in this one.

@Poop Fairy @Breezy Breezer and @Voren Makr you're not.

Also here is some light reading for you.

 

[Taz]

"What the Frak do you mean they're gone. It's a shuttle carrying a Moff not a Kriffing smugglers light freighter", V was not shouting but he was definitely not calm as he spoke into the com-link of his hidden helmet. The stern even tone of his voice was hiding his anger, he wanted to reach into the tiny earpiece and pull the man's eyes from his head. "listen to me very very carefully. If you do not find me a beacon, a heat signature, a fraking smoke signal leading to his location I'm going to feed you to the Barabel", and with that he cut the connection.

Vash was not pleased. He was sent here to protect the Moff, Harkus Viaken. Who was himself here to oversee the installation of a few more anti-starfighter batteries that were being placed around the base. It was an Acolyte's work at best but with the War on it was deemed that the masterfully skilled Sith assassin would be required to escort the would be senator. With little left to do V decided to follow a feeling. It was weak, almost nothing in fact. But he could swear there was a disturbance in the force.

" A Jedi ! " , he said allowed with a sudden sadistic smile.

 

[Fyremage]

Dietrich trained his rifle on the form of Moff Viaken as he approached him, albeit cautiously and slowly. The darkness of night clung around them, thankfully, but there was no telling if a man decked in the uniform of a Moff was truly alone. In fact, it was likely there were guards milling about.

It was only when Dietrich noted the crash site behind the Moff, and the corpses of several of its occupants littering the field around it, that he realized this was a golden opportunity. The GAR Operative glanced around, seeing no obvious disturbance before pushing forward and demanding: "Drop your weapons and put your hands up."

 

[Chuck Owens]

Following Dietrich's lead, Deen held his saber outstretched, eyeing up the man in front of them unscrupulously. While his partner made demands, Deen paced around the Moff and checked through the wreckage. The pilot lay a yard from the debris, eyes staring lifelessly into the dark night, his features distorted by injury. Deen shuddered. He couldn't have been much older than the Padawan. Having confirmed that no one posed a threat, Deen returned to Dietrich and his new captive.

If this man was truly a Moff then reinforcements couldn't be far away and with them, Sith. Deen shut off his lightsaber and threw up a flimsy shield to protect him from Sith detection. It would probably only hold fast if no force sensitive probed too hard, but not much more than that. Deen's lightsaber stayed in hand and he set up a position behind the Moff, his back to the crashed shuttle.

 

[Gamov]

Yavin...

What a horrible world. Just a bunch of decrepit Sith temples and acres of tangled, humid rain forest as far as they eye could see. No one in their right mind would ever want to call this place home. Which kinda explained why the Sith were so in love with the damned place. People said it was the energy or whatever. That the whole place was some sort of... "nexus of dark power" that the Sith drew on for their magical powers. The how or why of it didn't matter much to Lexi. What did matter to her though was the music currently thrumming in her ears as the Two For Flinching broke the dense cloud deck and banked towards the temple off in the distance.

She belted out a few off-key (to put it kindly) bars as the ship swayed gently. "Hiiiighway to the DANGER ZONE! Take it riiiiiight into the DANGER ZONE!" RIGS - her every trusty co-pilot and part time sympathetic ear on those long, lonely drunken nights - seemed to twitch visibly, a small spark followed by a wisp of smoke trailed from the side of his head.

"Please. Every time you sing that song, it feels like a thousand knives in my soul."

Lexi leaned towards the droid, practically shouting: "you'll never know what you can do, until you get it up as high as you can goooo!!" A proximity alarm chirped inside the cockpit, mercifully interrupting her as some general comms chatter from the planet's surface filtered through the music. Of course she only half listened at first, but when she heard mention of a Moff, well that perked her right up. "Whoa whoa. You hear that?" The message looped back on the channel, confirming her suspicions. "Well well well. Looks like some Sith big wig's got their ass in hot water. You know what that means right?" She was positively beaming as a wide grin spread across her face.

"PAAAAAY DAAAAAY!! WOOOOO!!"

"I hate to interrupt you... but it seems your "pay day" has already attracted some company." RIGS noted the extra life signs that were currently reading on the ship's instruments. Obviously it couldn't be said if they were friendly or not, but he knew the threat of imminent danger had never stopped her before. If he had been programmed with the capacity to sigh, he might have.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Just like... home in on that signal or whatever and get us close." Lexi hopped up from her seat, nearly sprinting back to her personal armory and began prepping her personal gear. Why? Because APPEARANCES! Duh! That and Lexi was never above taking any excuse - no matter how flimsy - to play with her guns 'n armor. They were like the only things she really, truly loved.

As the ship skimmed over the tree tops and circled to make a landing a couple hundred meters away from the crash site, Lexi finished strapping on the last of her armor and loading up her weapons. Her pistols sat snugly in their holsters on her hips, her XPC-71 carbine primed and ready for action. She'd even made room for a couple Firespray grenades, just because she thought they'd make her look extra mercenary-y. And of course, she wasn't going anywhere without her jet pack strapped on. The thing was heavy as balls, but she'd grown used to lugging it around so it was kinda no biggie for her at this point. With her gear all prepped and her armor properly strapped on, she was practically giddy as her ship touched down and the loading ramp came open with an audible hiss.

Stepping out into the humid night air, Lexi was beyond thankful for her armor's insulating properties. No doubt while everyone else would be dealing with a major case of Level 12 swamp ass, she'd be comfy-cozy behind her layers of durasteel armor plates. "Okey dokey RIGSy boy, keep the engines hot. I don't plan on sticking around." Setting off through the jungles, she meandered towards the crash site but took it slower as she neared the flaming wreck.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands up."

"Well that voice didn't sound friendly." Sticking to the denser vegetation and trees to conceal her approach, Lexi took a moment to survey the crash site from afar. Flipping her range finder down, she pegged her distance at a good 200 meters or so from the shuttle. She silently cursed the fact that her helmet's visor didn't have any enhanced vision modes. "Ugh... I hate CQB." But she pushed her lamentations aside as she crept in closer, rifle at the ready to deal with whoever crossed her sights first.

Unless it was that Moff dude, obviously. Corpses couldn't pay debts.

 

[Harkus Viaken]

Rolling his eyes and wincing in pain as he turned his pistol so that he held the barrel, the handle directed at his enemy, slowly - so as to not be seen as a threat - the Moff produced his identification document from inside his top pocket, one of the two data probes found there, the other acting as his personal keys (for shuttles and the like). Fortunately he didn't carry sensitive information with him, and thus they would find none of any real use.

Upon opening the data spike they would read the following:

Moff Harkus Viaken - Ord Radama | Supreme Commander of the Planetary Defence Council

Combined with a shed load of authentication codes, it would easily confirm that the man was a high value prisoner, a Moff of a world not some rank and file trooper. The slate presented, his pistol held in surrender, he spoke "In accordance with Imperial Protocol Sigma 7119.45, I hereby surrender into your custody." with a dry tone. There was little point in fighting with a rifle aimed at his face after all.

 

[Fyremage]

Dietrich cautiously approached the Moff, grasping his sidearm and storing it appropriately in his pack, keeping his eye and rifle trained on the man with his trigger hand should he get the wrong idea. When he was offered the identity spike, Dietrich inspected it cautiously as well. This all seemed rather too convenient, and Dietrich's paranoia was beginning to win out over their apparent 'victory.' He switched the view setting of his helmet to thermal controls, hoping to scan a bit more as to whether they were being watched, or if there was a trap lying in wait.

Needless to say, the burning ship at his left distorted near all visual analysis to the jungle in that direction, and although it was quite humid on the surface of Yavin (which Dietrich wasn't suffering quite so harshly considering the climate controlled internals of his armor), the darkness of night served to cool the normally sweltering surface of the planet to a degree where his thermal imagery wasn't completely useless. He skimmed the area to his right, more specifically around 3 to 4 o'clock, and noted a small, prone figure in the jungle. It was still disrupted, as the most Dietrich could discern was perhaps some prone or crouched entity, but it was enough to cause the Commando's nerves to go on edge. For all he knew, it could have been some feral animal, and the absolute last thing Dietrich wanted to tango with was some beast when they were supposed to be involved in a covert operation. On top of that, he didn't exactly have time to put the Moff in restraints, which was the procedural thing to do, and he didn't like being so out in the open. So, nodding to his Jedi companion, and switching to a minimized view where his thermal view soon was replaced with normal sensors,

He reached out, grasping the moff firmly on his bicep in order to shove him along so they could return in the underbrush. With a hand gesture, Dietrich motioned to the treeline to indicate Chuck needed to be aware that something was amiss. Although it was probably nothing, and hopefully nothing, Dietrich didn't stay alive this long without acting upon some of his paranoid instincts. And so he urged the Moff forward so they could get moving, careful to keep a weather eye behind him occasionally so as to keep from being caught unawares, and hopeful his Jedi companion was capable enough to help with that as well.

 

[Chuck Owens]

Deen turned slowly in the direction Dietrich gestured. He couldn't see anything and didn't dare risk losing his concealment by focusing on the treeline with any sort of conviction, so for now he took his companion's word for it. At the moment the mission was going fantastically well. They arrived on Yavin to disrupt a shield and would leave with Moff Viaken. If he made it out in one piece, he'd probably be made a knight, maybe get his own Padawan. Deen could see it now, the young Padawan bringing in the infamous Harkus Viaken. He'd become a legend.

But first, they had to get out alive. Keeping one eye on the Moff and one eye on the trees, Deen followed behind Dietrich and their captive, making his way to the dense foliage. His lightsaber remained unlit in his hand, ready to spring into action if necessary.

 

[Taz]

Vash's comlink would pulse, alerting him to an incoming message. "What is it? " The Sith was still not pleased he was having to do a one man search and rescue on what he could only guess was a downed shuttle. With a shaky voice the SBZ tech would educate the Sith on the last known area of the Shuttle before the signal was lost. There had also been some kind of fluctuation in the area only moments before but sensors from the bunker did not deem it a threat. V was not even more heated. A Jedi was planet side and a Moff was missing. Even though the slip up was the tech's doing, V would be the one punished if the Jedi and the Republic were allowed to capture such a high value target.

"Launch probe droids to the area fine me that shuttle, and put the bunker on high alert. I think we made have stumbled onto a Republic search and destroy mission" , V commanded. V would than drop the visor of his UAI armor and call the force to fill his body. Filling all of his senses, setting his musicals a blaze with power. The Sith would then start to run with lighting speed in the direction of the suspected fallen craft. At this point it would be obvious to any force user that there was a rise in the dark side. Even the Padawan would feel that something was coming.

 

[Gian Greydragon]

Q'san was hired on, in reserve, to the defense of Yavin IV's artillery batteries. His affiliation with Ha'rangir's Chosen was obvious, due to his choice on armor, though, that aside, he had proven his loyalty many times to the Sith. He was on the ground among the SBZ and Vash Condorro, a Sith Assassin, when they received word of the Moff's capture. After hearing the transmission through his helmets commslink, he immediately primed his blasters and readied his other weapons; his lightsabers, each marking early kills in his career, one of a Jedi, and a Sith, that was arrogant enough to attack the mercenary. As the Sith took off, Q'san commandeered a speeder bike, as he was not Force Sensitive, and could not run nearly as fast as the Sith could, much less so in his medium-heavy Mandalorian armor.

"Let's knock another tick on the kill counter..." Q'san said to himself, underneath his helmet, making it to the outer perimeter of the crash site with the Sith. A man who he'd yet been able to speak to, but the nature of the mission left little time for small talk.

"I'll flank 'round, 'link me if you find anything," Q'san said, before taking his small, personal arsenal and running into the dense wood, activating night vision as the light of the planet's moons could night shine through the dense foliage.

 

[Harkus Viaken]

Absolutely no class, thought Harkus as he was roughly cuffed by the Republic Goon. Pretty sure this does it for some people, he mused to himself, before shaking his head at his own jokes crassness. Being pushed around by the Goon, he remained silent, not wishing to displease his new captor. House arrest, that would be nice. considered the Moff as he did as instructed and embraced the cold barrel of the rifle shunted into his back.

As long as it's a nice house of course, he noted.

 

[Fyremage]

The subtle clicking of cuffs could be heard as Dietrich rounded the bend within the treeline of the former clearing, and went about securing the hands of his prisoner behind his back. Then, Dietrich went about carefully proceeding with his prisoner in tow, careful to conceal his tracks, and indicating to his Jedi companion to help in masking their tracks as well. He didn't expect their Sith prisoner to be compliant in doing so. After they had proceeded a short ways, Dietrich paused to gain his bearings. If he surmised their location appropriately, the crash site would still be roughly a mile out from the first battery, and the rising smoke would likely attract unwanted attention. It was highly likely they would run into some sort of patrol, or at the least a search party.

This further meant their target would be at a heightened state of alert, considering it was rather close to the last known position of their prized military commander. Dietrich's mind raced to think of a solution. He could always force the Moff to contact the station and say he was ok, but it was altogether likely he would give them some secret panic code to alert them he was captured by enemy operatives. Plus, if the garrison was aware of the possibility of a Republic strike team, they could likely triangulate the signal to try and find their commander and the enemy who had him.

Staying in one place for too long was also out of the question. They had a timetable to keep, and it was likely the other team was in stricter keeping with the timetable than they were. Dietrich had to act fast, and the more he thought on it, the more he rationalized that keeping this target no matter how high value he was, was more of a hindrance to their mission as opposed to a boon. Regardless, they needed to actually make some headway. Dietrich glowered at the Moff, and said flatly: "If you get in the way of our primary objective, I will shoot you without a moment's pause and claim you tried to escape." The GAR Operative looked over to ensure his Jedi companion wasn't looking. When he was for certain, he continued: "If you cooperate, I'll see to it you are taken care of."

Without waiting for a reply, Dietrich pushed on, with the small team making headway to the bunker as silently as possible.

@Chuck Owens

 

[Deen Jacmin]

Was this really a good idea? Deen checked over his shoulder, paranoid, listening out for any noise, looking out for any movement in the bushes. He was around eight feet behind Dietrich and kept his centre of gravity low, keeping the noise of each footstep to a minimum. Obviously capturing Moff Viaken would be a great achievement, but if it put the mission and possibly their lives at risk, then was it really worth it? He brushed past the trees, the dense foliage forming a thin veil of cover.

The Padawan cast his mind out while he walked, focussing on the blips of energy. Blip, blip. Two came back almost instantly. Then nothing. Then suddenly a torrent of force came rushing over him and he stumbled, holding onto a branch to steady himself. he kept his voice low and called out to his Republic partner.

"Err, Dietrich? We need to get a move on. Can't we just ditch this guy and go? We really need to hurry."​

 

[Taz]

Vash stopped just short of what he thought to be the target area where the Moff's shuttle had met the planet's surface. Taking a breath to regain himself and allowing the force to flow away and free of him. The probe droids would be in position and searching by now. V would tap the data pad and start to receive the probe's transmission. The droid was outside of visual rage of the Republic assault team but well within it's own sensor range when it locked onto the crash site. V would tap a command key and the visual sensor would take a still shot in three different modes. All would show signs of a mass casualties. Not a good sign for the Sith.

A second probe would lock onto the movement of three humanoid lifeforms. V would switch controls and continue to investigate. Two were carrying weapons and the third was being drug around by the one. "A survivor, the Moff perhaps ?" , Jett spoke aloud. The Chosen merc would chime in at that moment as alert the Master Sith to his movements. "Perfect, continue your plan of attack, I will draw their attention. Once your in position leave the Jedi to me, also be advised they have a survivor they must not leave the planet with any intelligence assets." V would order the merc.

Once rested V would than continue the last leg of distance between himself and his prey. Using the force once more he would reach out and feel the three men. The force would create a picture within his mind, more powerful and clear than any night vision optics. Now knowing the location of the men V would move closer into range of the Republic party. A saber hilt in once hand and a flash bang in the other. The Sith would toss the grenade toward the men and duck his head a moment until the explosive went off and hopefully stunned all three men. Vash would than ignite his saber and leap toward the Jedi, his weapon in a defensive guard just in case and if his prey wasn't ready. He would soon swing for the Jedi's sword arm.

 

[Gian Greydragon]

The Mandalorian nodded and carried on his own way, moving in a 'zig-zag' pattern through the woods. It would take him longer to get into position, but this maneuver had been done by the man many times, in both hunting game and on missions, where stealth was necessary. Keeping logged in to the probe droids, through his HUD, he was able to move around the target's positions, setting up wire traps around a perimeter near the targets. They would do little more than trip up the targets, but a small fall in the pitch black forest, could be the undoing of one unlucky soul. He did not have the time to set up any other traps, as he was making his way around to flank the men. If the Sith had attacked the men from the North, Q'san came in from the West.

From the cover of darkness, about 20 meters away, the Merc let loose three shots from his XPC-71 Particle Beam Rifle, at the GAR, who towed the Moff behind him. Q'san compensated for the slightly slower bolt speed by shooting, just inches in front of the soldier, aimed at his center of mass, remaning behind the cover of the trees.

 

[Harkus Viaken]

OOC: Not sure what I am meant to be posting here. So....well, I'll just kind of walk a bit and skip this turn until the fightin' starts.

 

[Fyremage]

The forestry around the trio was quiet. Too quiet. While the group proceeded through the dense woodlands, Dietrich skimmed the area with his visor. He would periodically check their surroundings with his night vision, cycling it on and off every so often, and they had seemed by and large in the clear. That was, until he caught a slight glimpse of motion, followed by his audio receptors catching the 'thud' of the flash grenade landing nearby, though he wasn't entirely sure what it was at the time. But his training kicked in, and although he only had a spare split seconds to make a decision, he made the right call at the time. "Get down!" Dietrich shouted as he pulled the Moff down with him, tucking and dropping to the ground. Almost as soon as he did so, the explosion from the flash grenade effectively shattered the silence around them.

If it weren't for the helmet the commando was wearing, he would have most certainly been unable to hear anything. Of course, the grenade still had somewhat of an effect as his audio receptors overloaded and gave a loud screech in protest. Unbeknownst to the trooper, the blaster bolts meant to take him off guard harmlessly flew past where he was mere milliseconds prior, though the muffled sound of blaster fire could be heard. Without a moment to lose, and with his helmet serving it's purpose, the commando pulled his helmet from his head and scanned his surroundings. He was slightly disoriented, that much was fact, but he was thankful that his helmet had thus far saved his senses (at least for the most part.) He had taken cover behind a rock, which provided adequate protection while he peered over to get his bearings. Whoever fired those shots was trying to remain hidden behind the trees, at least that's what Dietrich would do.

For now, the most immediate threat was the Sith that barrelled through the forestry and went about attacking his Jedi companion. And it had just occurred to him Dietrich had the upper hand in one manner in particular. Grabbing the Moff rather forcefully, who was only a few feet away from him, Dietrich pulled him up in front of his own body while carefully keeping the rock at his back to protect himself from a shot from behind. He held one of his blaster pistols to Viaken's head, and with a firm, authoritative shout, Dietrich said: "Drop your weapons and put your hands up, or I will kill your Moff."

He briefly redirected the barrel to shoot near the Moff's foot, which would hopefully gain the attention of both their attackers and the Moff himself, and quickly replanted the barrel to the temple of his captive.

@Chuck Owens

 

[Deen Jacmin]

Deen heard a clunk and a shout and hit the deck, light filling his eyes and a sharp squeal rushing into his ears. He felt a dark presence come rushing towards him and he scrambled backwards on his back, igniting his lightsaber in a defensive position across his chest.

The Sith's strike grazed past Deen's left leg, cutting half an inch into the skin, and the Padawan yelped out in pain. Keeping his saber held across his chest, he stood up quickly, defending against any further attacks. He took a quick step forward with his right foot, shifting the weight off of his injured leg and slashed forwards with the blue saber, aiming for the shoulder of the Sith's sword arm. If this was deflected he would then slash across the other side and take a step back.

Deen heard a muffled noise coming from his companion behind him, but his ears were still ringing and all noise was dampened severely. He would continue in a defensive stance against the Sith.

 

[Taz]

Vash's strike was more of a graze to the Padawan's leg rather than the arm he was hoping to take, but the young Jedi was stunned and stumbling about. V would hammer a second and third strike against Deen's blocking saber with the full might of both hands. The assassin was not intending to land a blow, rather the point of the assault was just his fighting style. The Jedi would back peddle to his feet, fending off another swing in the process. Once to his feet the Padawan would give a strike of his own, but from his defensive stance is would be more of a back swing while pushing forward.

V would block the Jedi's attack, blocking vertically with his saber as the blue blade swung horizontally. The assassin would than counter spin to the Jedi's weaker left side as he stepped in. The Sith's reverse spin would put him at the Jedi's back, while he spun around he would leave his saber in his left and flick his right wrist to ignite his wrist saber. The Republic soldier was no sooner demanding the Sith's surrender as he held the Moff. V had his assassin blade plunging toward the Padawan's lower back. If it hit correctly the Jedi would only lose the use of this legs for the time being, nothing a little surgery and machine legs wouldn't fix. A little farther right however, and the blade would plunge into a through the kidney and into the liver, death would follow soon after if that was the outcome.

There was a sliver of a chance that the Padawan was skilled enough in the force to find an ability to save himself from the's Sith's blade but in that split secant it hadn't crossed Vash's mind. Instead the Sith stood fast and retrieved his blade from the Jedi's backside. He stood cocky with a smug grin as the Jedi slid away like sand on Tatooine.

The assassin's saber was still ready in his left hand, though in a reverse position. Common among the Sith of his chosen expertise. A thin string of smoke would surrender to the air from his right hand, evidence of the Sith's hidden weapon.

"Shoot him, if you don't I might. The weak fool managed to allow his shuttle to crash into the planet." The Sith let out a grunt of a laugh and then continued. But something was different in his voice, Something reached out from his next words as if you 'force' the soldier to listen, to obey. "Shoot him, free yourself of the baggage. He is only holding you back. He's slowing you down. Shooot him and you can complete your mission". It was a devious move, and there was no guarantee it would work. But if it did... If it did than the Sith may just assume the Moff's position after he finished dealing with the soldier.