Simulation 23

[Allu'rah Danan]

Field Marshall Kiada Atar leaned over the central console of the holodeck control room and accessed the simulation she had been preparing. The simulation was based off of an old map she had prepared for herself from her days in boot camp, showing the layout of the vast shipyard in Bastion's capital city. The rest was based on memory. It was only a rough copy, certainly not identical to the military base, but it was a good enough likeness to start taking people on simulated missions to teach them the tactics behind attacking a heavily-guarded, high value Imperial naval base. Aerial strikes, bomb strikes, infiltration... this new simulation had it all, and these young pups were going to learn a hundred different ways to strike at their enemy's vitals.

"None of you leaves this simulation until the objective is complete or you're all dead," she said coldly over the comm channel into the room. "You'll watch how your friends proceed without you, and you'll learn from your own mistakes as well as theirs. The objective is to slip in, split up into two groups, plant a bomb in a hangar while using a second bomb to punch a hole in the anti-aircraft guns, rendez-vous, steal a ship, and escape. If you need to change the plan along the way, do it. Plans almost always need to be adapted, and you need to be adaptable. Remember, you will have no resources beyond what you can carry and what you find on the way. You have no reinforcements. If you are captured, you will likely not be rescued. You are on your own, troops. Good luck, and begin."

She closed the channel and the doors opened to allow their people inside. Kiada meanwhile gave a knowing nod to a few of the senior officers and Knights standing in the observation room. The programming was excellent, but Kiada had specifically requested that a Knight or two be on hand to simulate a very realistic Sith encounter at some point in the mission, something to test any Prospects who had decided to run this sim. She wanted this to be as brutal and real as possible, because as they had already seen, there was no mercy in the Sith.

The holodeck brought the hangars and barracks that were so familiar to the Field Marshall alive. The simulation was programmed to have twice the security detail that had been routine on base before she had defected. Perhaps, if they made it through this someday, she would increase it to triple. By all rights, this was a suicide mission, but with the Empire poised to conquer all, this sort of challenge was necessary. These could not be ordinary soldiers and Knights. every single one of them had to be the best, elite trooper they could be, and even that was not about to save them all. Maybe, after a few missions in this location, they might even have a mild success. It was certainly something Kiada could dream for.

 

[BZenwrath]

Rorick stood, shoulder to shoulder, with his fellow Imperial Knights. The doors opened an the Knights moved silently into the room. He knew that this was a simulation but it still looked real. He and a few others found their place lying in wait among a few crates stacked up next to a wall. He had no idea what he was doing, this would be his very first taste of any kind of full scale combat, even if it was just a simulation. leaning against one of the crates, Rorick quietly asked the others...

"Any plans?"

 

[Syn]

Mistral looked at Rorick and smirked as he turned and had his back to the crate partially leaning on them. He liked the likeness of the hanger and checked his gauntlets and swords while speaking. "Well I would go with get the first patrol out of the way and get to the hall then split up and plant the bombs."

 

[Allu'rah Danan]

"We are a small group," Akira said quietly. The young Togruta looked up at the two men as they tried to come up with a strategy for their operation. Both were a fair bit taller than she, and the Prospect was sure that both outranked her, even though the slightly sorter man appeared to be of an age with her. It was so hard to judge with Humans. "Because we are few," she continued, "perhaps we all work together to plant the first bomb. One stays to guard it and ensure no person disarms it, and two go to plant the second bomb. We... rendy view?" Akira butchered the pronunciation. While her Basic had drastically improved over the past eight months, she had never heard that particular term before, but she was able to grasp its meaning. "We join again, and we all escape together. Is this sound?"

Akira was nervous about this mission. Even though she knew it was a simulation, everything looked so real. She had been training and drilling herself arduously for weeks and weeks now on how to use her powers and manipulate the world with the Force. But she had not had as much lightsaber training yet. Her reflexes were quick, and her spatial awareness incredible. Because of the evolution of hollow montrals in her species, she had a special edge over Humans and many other species in that regard, and over the course of her training had worked to expand her field of awareness. Even when she was on the defensive, she was learning quickly. She was especially good at the blaster deflection exercises. But her offensive technique was sloppy, and her defense techniques against a single opponent were not strong yet. She often left herself exposed and vulnerable. However, Akira had requested to join in this operation. Simple drills only helped so much. She wanted to start applying what she had learned. And unlike so many of the other Imperial Knights, Akira had never been subject to the tyranny of the Sith before joining, and wanted to see what their enemy was.




In the control room, the Field Marshal engaged the enemy character generator. Where programmed, the simulation planted the patrols, and also generated a few random groups of off-duty troops that would follow likely paths between certain locations. Kiada then positioned herself so that she could observe the camera display as well as watch through the window. The cameras in the training room had even been taken over to take the place of security cameras in the simulation, and she wanted to be able to give the go-ahead to the Sith stand-in when they were caught.

The Twi'lek also had special interest in the outcome of the mission. It was doomed to fail the first time, especially with such a shoddy team. While she probably had more than she should have in the Captain, she seriously questioned having two kids with him. Sure, she knew one of them was a full Knight, and yes, she herself had started flying TIEs by that age, but Kiada was in serious doubt of this decision. If they did succeed though... well, that would certainly be interesting.

 

[BZenwrath]

Rorick was amused by the girl's mispronunciation of the word rendezvous. He laughed quietly to himself, she wasn't the first one he met that had troubles with basic. That was beside the point though, her plan was sound and he agreed that it would be their best bet. Rorick replied to her idea quietly...

"I think you mean rendezvous," he smiled to Akira, "If we go with this we will have to split our forces, while I strongly disagree with doing this I see no way getting past it. But who will stay and guard?"

After he finished talking he peered through some of the crates to see guards on patrol just beyond the corner and a few security cam's they would have to avoid somehow.

 

[Syn]

Mistral listened to Akira and gave a grin as he got ready. He moved over to her and spoke carefully to not alert and gave a nod. "With a small team that can work." Mistral looked out and then spoke for Rorick. "Rorick the camera tilt it up so it doesn't see us. Then we are going to go slow and cover the two points the patrols are out of each others lines of sight. Grab them and take them out. Hide the bodies and continue on. Any objections?"

 

[Allu'rah Danan]

"This is good. No objections. Now move!" Akira said in a hurried whisper. "Someone comes, move now!" She dropped into a narrow niche shrouded in shadows, squeezing her slender body into hiding as a patrol of eight guards approached. They were still a little ways off, but they were coming their way, and there were too many of them to be able to take them out quietly without raising an alarm.