Springpoint: A New Home

[Lex Kyrst]

She was on her belly on the elevated lip of a cliff, gazing through a pair of macrobinoculars. The outpost was guarded heavier than she had expected, “Nine of them outside. They look well armored too. We’ll have to be tactical about this. I think our best bet is to draw some of their attention away by creating some sort of a diversion so we can infiltrate the outpost,” They had a small platoon of Republic soldiers with them that could do just that.

Lex glanced over at her comrade. She had never worked with the man before, and this would be a good enough operation as any to get to know her new team. She may have been leading this charge, but she wasn’t exactly high up enough to be able to hand select who came with her, “What do you think?”

She put the binoculars away and sidled back down to a little dip that put her out of sight from the guards walking around on the outside perimeters. Lex was decked out in her usual gear, her helmet concealing her face from view. She hoped to pick some of the Lanniks out with her rifle, but it would alarm far too many of them and cause extra casualties.

Lex retrieved her pistol instead, deciding that she needed to prepare to rush into the outpost as soon as a diversion drew some of the guards away.

 

[Bishop Cain]

Bishop laid flat on the cliff as well, his jacket wrapped tightly around with him with his hood drawn up as he gazed through the scope of the rifle. He counted all the nine guards she spotted, his crosshair going over each of their heads for a moment as he accessed the situation. They were well armored and even though they may have had better numbers, it would still be a slugfest and they couldn't suffer that many casualties without knowing what was inside. Bishop swung his rifle smoothly to the other side of the base, finding they had a couple of ships parked outside and finding a successful fuse for their diversion.

"Found our diversion, four ships in total." Bishop pulled his face back slightly before glancing over at Lex, "We have the men form a safe perimeter around the ships. Plant some charges and draw them in." He gave her a brief nod before slowly sliding back and keeping a low profile. Turning around and approaching the men, he filled them in on the plan and they immediately followed through as they snuck to the ships. The guards didn't even spot one of them, all of them moving quiet and efficiently towards the ships. A majority of them formed a safe enough distance from the ships, having advantageous vantage and firing positions on the guards. A team of four snuck onto the landing bay, each planting charges on each of the ships before silently retreating back to the sides of Bishop and Lex.

Bishop was off to the side, his rifle at the ready while also ready to make a move towards the base as the diversion went off. It was only a few moments later before their soldiers detonated the charges, each ship turning into a small ball of fire and rendering them completely useless. Instead of drawing just a small majority, it drew each of the nine guards to the burning ships and running straight into their waiting soldiers.

Bishop waited for the guards to have their back to them before calling out to Lex, "Time to move." He set up in a crouched position, giving them protective cover with his rifle in case the guards turned or more showed up. When it was his turn to move, he stood up slightly before following, still keeping the protective overwatch.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

Lex was thrilled to see he thought along the same lines, and he went even beyond that to spot the diversions. A smile crept across her face beneath her helmet and she nodded in agreement, speaking into her comms to issue the order for the soldiers to begin moving. Anticipation and anxiety built up as she watched the men and women rapidly move towards the targets, and she hoped none of them would be seen. She was prepared to intercept if anything happened, but there was little she could do to avoid casualty.

After a few painstaking moments, the team safely made it to the ships and set up the charges. After that, they were set up a short distance away for when the guards inevitably came to investigate. Lex heaved a sigh of relief and quickly began to move into position even before she heard the explosions go off. A visual confirmed that all of the guards began to move towards the ships.

Lex began to move, but she noticed one of the men hesitate and come rushing back towards the compound, “Shit,” She muttered under her breath. He was quickly making his way towards the entrance to warn the others of what happened outside. By then, Lex was closer to range, and as soon as he turned his back, she fired two shots into him.

“Move move move!” She called out to both Bishop and a remaining few soldiers as they rushed towards the compound. Lex stopped by the dead guard’s body to pick up his badge and used it to open the doors and enter the main chambers. She expected to see foes immediately, but this area appeared empty.

“The hell..” Lex whispered softly, looking around, “Clear,” She said before she rushed into the next room, not entirely knowing what to expect. They didn’t have a map of the facility interior and were mostly operating blind. She only hoped she didn’t doom everyone.

 

[Bishop Cain]

Bishop kept pace with the group, his rifle still scanning the base before he heard Lex through his comms. Swinging his gaze over to her, he spotted the guard rushing back to the compound to warn however many people were inside. Raising his rifle and ready to release a shot, Lex was ahead of him and unleashed two bolts into his back, killing him instantly. The other eight didn't notice, now being fired upon by the rest of their soldiers and trying desperately to find cover before getting cut down.

The four formed up behind Bishop, switching to his blaster pistol as well as he slung the rifle across his back. Lex went through first, Bishop right on her shoulder as his blaster scanned the other areas she wasn't looking. He pushed forward as she went into the next room, keeping his blaster aimed down the hallway as he motioned for the soldiers to close in. As they advanced down the hallway with the raucous outside echoing through the halls, it masked the sounds of whatever was inside.

At the end of the hallway they were in, a bandit stepped out from his cover, lifting his rifle immediately and letting loose a torrent of shots down toward Bishop and the exposed soldiers. Instincts kicking in, he immediately barged his shoulder into a nearby door, crashing through it and spinning on his heel to face it again. One of the bolts clipped him in the arm but he ignored the pain for now. The rest of the men they brought weren't so lucky, all of them caught by surprise and being lit up by the searing bolts. All of their bodies collapsed onto the floor into unison and Bishop took cover before touching his comm and linking with Lex, "Tango at the end of the hall, took everyone else out." Hopefully, the bandit didn't catch Lex before so he spoke quietly as he could into his receiver.

From the bandit's bolts, he managed to hit one of the pipes and cause steam to flood in and reduce visibility. Bishop glanced down the hall before spinning on his foot, pelting down some shots towards the bandit blindly who took cover in response before immediately returning cover fire. Bishop did it again and unleashing another round of bolts, hoping Lex caught what he was doing. Hopefully, she would be able to find a shot through the steam when the bandit leaned back out to fire.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

Lex was getting more and more wary of the lack of adversaries in the area. As she made it through room by room, she kept finding them empty. However, as they began making their way down the hall, Lex decided to veer off slightly to investigate a separate hallway on her own. She barely stepped in when she heard a barrage of bolts behind her. Lex quickly rushed to the adjacent wall, pinning herself against it before she peeked over, hearing Bishop’s voice coming through the comms, “Copy that, I don’t have visual.”

She knew right away this was a dangerous enemy. He had done an exceptional job keeping himself hidden, and he made himself sparse. One man being there was almost worse than running into a cluster of them. She heard Bishop fire a few shots, but the man fired back a few seconds later to indicate he was still alive.

“I’m moving in, hold fire,” She spoke into her comms as the man stopped firing. Lex knew he ducked into cover, and she quickly whipped around and darted down the hall slightly before ducking into another room. Lex was about to jump out into the hallway when an explosion rocked it, suggesting the man threw a grenade. She only hoped Bishop wasn’t out in the hallway at the time.

Lex peeked out after the grenade, seeing that he purposely made it so the ceiling and sides collapsed, making a blockage of debris in the way. She couldn’t see Bishop anywhere, “He’s trying to split us up. Can you get to me?” Lex knew the hallway was a no go and they would have to find a way to not only get to one another, but also find the man. She ducked back into the room she was in, spotting another door as she went through that. Meanwhile, the team outside commed in that they were taking heavy damage, only elevating her anxiety.

 

[Bishop Cain]

Thankfully it seemed the bandit didn't have a clue that Lex was there, still returning fire upon Bishop as he took cover once more. Hearing Lex through the comms, he held fire as peeked down the hallway, the smoke finally dissipating enough that he could attempt to see through. Bishoped squinted his gaze slightly, catching some movement in the smoke but knowing if it was Lex or not. Then he heard the multiple tinks as a grenade rolled to him. Immediately turning away and rushing deeper into the room, the power of the explosion made him stumble to the ground as it shook the base.

Dust and other particles covered Bishop as he shook his head before slowly getting up and glancing back out towards the door. Stepping outside, the hallway was completely blocked, making it impossible for him to slip through or climb over. Entering the room Lex went through, the damage was enough to close that way too. "Negative, I'll have to go around." Whether they liked it or not they would have to be split for a while. Heading back into the room he came from, there was another door inside and Bishop raised his pistol before opening it and stepping through.

The room was dark, a couple of desks spaced about with some papers on top. Bishop did a quick sweep before heading into the hallway outside and into another room. There were barely any lights on, the explosion knocking out some of the lights and giving it a dark atmosphere. As Bishop stepped forward to clear the room, he heard something rattle behind him and he turned around quickly. The bandit lunged out from the shadows, tackling Bishop into a desk as they flipped over it and knocked his blaster out of it. Before he could react, the bandit was already up on his feet, throwing a hook right into Bishop's cheek and causing him to fall to the floor again.

The bandit gave a few more kicks into Bishop's side before he finally managed to catch his foot, standing up and pushing forward at the same time to hurl the man into one of the shelves. Bishop took the time to pull out his vibro blade, it extending to its full length as the bandit also pulled out a blade. Bishop kept his gaze locked on the bandit's before they charged forward to each other, their blades clashing in the air as sparks came off of them.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

Lex cursed out loud as Bishop confirmed he couldn’t get to her. She made it into the next room, though thankfully it had a console in it. She still had the badge of the dead guard, and she used it to log into the interface, hoping to be able to access some sort of schematic of the facility. After a moment, she finally found it, and she quickly downloaded it into her datapad just to have a visual of the outpost’s layout.

“Try to stay in one place, I’ll come for you,” She commed Bishop moments before she left the room she was in and rushed into the next. Lex followed the map she had, spotting a room that had connected to the hallway they were in that could be potentially where Bishop ended up. As she approached closer, she heard a bit of commotion and knew that Bishop was engaging the man.

Lex whipped around and leveled her blaster, pulling the trigger. However, to her horror, nothing happened. Instead, it most likely not only distracted Bishop, but it gave the bandit time to react. He leveled his gun and shot at her quickly. Lex ducked, but it wasn’t quick enough, and she caught the bolt directly in her armor. It ate through it and singed skin, and she knew at once the man had an illegal overpowered gun.

She cursed as she ducked back out into the hallway, fiddling with her gun to fix the jam before she turned back into the room again. The bandit in the meantime was engaged with a blade in one hand and gun in the other. He pressed off Bishop’s blade and ducked down below to make a sweep at his legs. Lex tried to find an opening, but it was impossible without potentially injuring Bishop.

 

[Bishop Cain]

Lex's words rang in Bishop's ear but he didn't have time to focus on it, standing across from the bandit having his attention entirely focused on him. Their blades pressed together and that's when he heard the click of another blaster behind, causing Bishop to whip his head towards that direction to make sure it wasn't another bandit. But it was only Lex as her gun jammed before the bandit took the opportunity to fire at her and forcing her to retreat. He couldn't tell whether she got hit or not but he couldn't worry about that now.

Bringing his gaze back onto the bandit, pushing off and ducking to sweep at his legs and damage them severely. Bishop jumped back just in time, immediately rushing forward back toward the bandit before he could get a shot off. The bandit wasn't expecting the move and as Bishop basically tackled him, he sliced his vibro blade across the man's chest. They both fell over onto the ground, a fresh bleeding wound on the bandit as Bishop already rolled into a standing position and standing with some distance between them.

As the bandit attempted to get up, Bishop glanced toward his hand at the gun and immediately kicked his foot forward. It shot the blaster out of his hand, making it slide a few feet away from the bandit before he was able to get up and face the closest threat. He tried to turn with Bishop, get him to stand in the way of Lex and him but he didn't fall for the bait. Bishop launched a strike at an arm's distance away, attempting to give a diagonal cut across the bandit's chest again. It wasn't meant to hit, more to keep him at a distance so he could give Lex another shot at him.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

The bandit wasn’t going to fall for too many antics, and he knew his element well. As the strike came towards his chest, he brought his own blade in to clash against it. He stopped there, however, and pushed off the blade and ducked to the ground, rolling away to grab his gun once again. While on the ground, he fired a shot towards Bishop’s legs.

Lex wasn’t going to waste another opportunity, and she leveled and shot at the bandit when he was on the ground. The man moved lightning fast, the shot only grazing his shoulder. He was back on his feet again, and he shot a few rounds in her direction. Thankfully, she was better prepared this time and ducked the shots, though another grazed her thigh.

Realizing that taking shots was entirely too risky, Lex took out her own vibrosword and rushed in from the bandit’s flank to attack him. The bandit ditched his gun and drew out another blade, not even flinching at the thought of facing them both. He slammed his blade against Bishop’s and pressed down so Bishop’s blade was closer to his own chest and moving in. Once that happened the bandit slid his blade down along Bishop’s, all the way to slice the blade in and converge it with his other blade in the form of an X in an attempt to bisect Lex.

Lex dropped down to a crouch as the blades intersected above her head, and she did a leg sweep. Thankfully, it worked immediately and dropped the man with a heavy thud directly onto his back. Despite that, however, he wore extremely heavy armor and she doubted it would end the fight there.

 

[Bishop Cain]

Bishop had to give the man props, he was faring better then he would have expected the opposition to be as. As the bandit recovered from his tackle and shot at his legs, Bishop quickly dashed to the side and caught on bolt grazing his shin but not enough to do any serious damage. It burned like hell but again he blocked it from his mind, moving towards the bandit as he dropped the gun and pulled out another vibro blade in his other hand and seemed to welcome the challenge.

Their blades clashed again in the air, the bandit pushing it back towards him while Bishop gave resistance. Seeing Lex come in for the attack at the flank, he saw what the bandit was trying to do and positioned his blade accordingly to slow it down and prevent any cuts to him or Lex. She didn't seem to need it, however, ducking under and sweeping the man's legs from under him and causing to fall onto the ground with a loud thud. It seemed to take the air out of the bandit's lungs and Bishop used the opportunity, finding his blaster and quickly going over to retrieve it.

The bandit was starting to stand back up but Bishop already had the blaster trained on him with his finger ready on the trigger to fire. He squeezed off multiple shots, each one hitting the bandit right between the eyes of his helmet before he fired more shots so that it burned through and seared through his skull. The blaster clicked empty as the bandit's body collapsed once more onto the ground and lifeless. Bishop glanced at Lex before back to the body and slid his blaster back into the holster on his leg. He breathed hard from the fight before looking to Lex, "Thanks for the assistance there."

Bishop guessed that was the leader and he was the only one inside since others would have most likely come from all the noise they made. Cocking his head slightly, he no longer heard the battle outside and he pressed two fingers to his ear, checking in with the squad outside and asking for a status report. It was only a few for moments before he dropped to his fingers, "The guards outside have been taken care of. We suffered a few more casualties and some injuries but nothing too bad." Bishop breathed in, able to feel the bruised ribs he had and other sensitive areas from the bandit's kicks.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

Lex heaved a huge sigh of relief as soon as Bishop took the opening and immediately got the jump on the bandit. The man fell back with a thud, his helmet destroyed and his face a jumbled mess. She was in awe of how much of a behemoth he had been, and she began to wonder if he purposely was set up as the only internal guard for this place. Lex grinned beneath her helmet at his words, “We’re a team. I’d expect you to do the same,” She lifted her visor for the first time, wiping the sweat from her face.

She winced slightly at the pain from the shot she took, though it wasn’t anything worse than what she’d had before. Lex looked at his armor, spotting areas where it was dented in, “Are you hurt?” She was happy to hear that the people outside were all right. She had a medpack ready if he needed it.

“This will make a great base of operations for-“ She barely got the word out before the soldiers outside suddenly commed in about reinforcements to both of them. Lex hopped back on the comms, “Can you handle them?” They replied about two or three might rush into the building. Lex sighed and gazed up at Bishop, “Come on, we don’t want them to get the jump on us.”

“Follow me, I have a schematic of the place now,” She looked down at her datapad and led the way, quickly making her way towards the room with the console. It took them moments to reach it, and she could already hear some people rushing in not too far away. She got into the console again, this time accessing the camera feeds. From there, she could see three people entering the building. They came towards the hallway and all split up, each one going a different direction to scan for people in the building.

“One’s coming right for us,” Lex prepared her weapon right as an intruder turned the corner and walked into the doorway.

 

[Bishop Cain]

Bishop caught her observant glance and he also glanced down at himself, finding the dents and where the bolt grazed along his shin. He shrugged his shoulders before sliding his blaster pistol out again and reloading a new magazine into it from one of his pouches. "Nothing to write home about," His eyes went to the medpack stationed on her belt, "Men outside are going to need it more than me." Lex was about to start speaking again before soldiers voice's buzzed in both of their ears about more bandits coming in.

Hearing that three were rushing inside, Bishop swung his gaze towards that direction before looking back to Lex and unslinging his rifle from his back. With her having the plans it could make this confrontation a lot easier and he followed her, his rifle half raised in case there was another surprise attack like last time. When they entered the console room, Bishop posted up by the door, keeping it mostly in his vision and Lex at the corner of his eyes. "Update?" Bishop called out quietly to her before she answered one was about to come in right now.

Bishop slung his rifle back in one smooth motion, drawing out both of his vibro blades in unison as he moved closer to the door. When the bandit stepped through, Bishop was already there, his two blades lashing out quickly. One sliced across his throat, cutting off his chance to yell out as blood spilled out. The other went across the bandit's stomach, cutting the chance that the man could react to the first wound. Bishop reached behind the bandit's head before pulling him inside roughly, the man's body crashing onto the floor with a soft thud.

Sliding his blades onto his back, Bishop pulled out the blaster pistol and put his shoulder against the doorframe and kept watch for anymore outside. "Where are the others?" That's when he heard rumblings from the nearby room and he peered out into the hallway, finding both of them exit from their own rooms before going into another separate again. Bishop looked back to Lex, "I'll take the one on the right." He moved after his words, his blaster pistol raised as he had it slowly switch between both doors while he drew closer to the right one, still hearing the bandit inside and clearing it.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

Lex watched as he sprang into action right away, immediately taking care of the man that was about to step through the door. She had to admit she was impressed by the display – Bishop was ruthless and efficient, and he was exactly the type of person she enjoyed working with. Lex kept her vibrosword and a blaster out, as her favored style of combat included using both.

As he mentioned going for the right, she nodded to take the remaining bandit. Lex stayed closed to him as they made their way towards the other room. From here, she could hear them calling out to his comrade through his comms and a delay as there was no response, “Now,” Lex whispered softly, knowing they only had a short window of opportunity.

She didn’t waste any time, whipping into the room as she fired off a few rounds into the back of the man she was targeting. The surprise worked, the man barely moving away to dodge it before he took a direct hit. He spun and dropped to the ground, though he attempted to level his blaster weakly to shoot again.

Lex sprang to the side as the blaster bolt flew past her, and she rushed towards him, kicking the gun out of his hand. She didn’t stop there, swinging her vibrosword in horizontally in one sweeping motion to cleave through his neck to separate his head from his body. The headless torso collapsed to the ground as Lex wiped her blade off on his clothing before collapsing it and putting it back on her hip.

She looked up to see how Bishop was faring, quickly comming the unit outside that now reported back that the outpost was theirs.

 

[Bishop Cain]

Bishop's shoulder barely grazed along the wall as he neared the doorframe, pressing lightly against the edge of the doorframe as he also heard the bandit call out to his fallen comrade. Their window was now open and going to rapidly close and when Lex gave the order he immediately stepped inside, the sights of his blaster lined up with the bandit and firing a few shots into his back as well. Seeming to have a sixth sense, the bandit spun on his heel, one of the bolts grazing him deeply in the shoulder but for the most part he was fine. The man didn't take aim for his shot, firing wildly into the door which made Bishop dodge to the side before rolling back into a standing position.

The man charged ahead, leaving his pistol with his shooting arm being affected by his shoulder and pulled out his blades instead. Bishop calmly waited in front of him, ducking from a horizontal slash to his neck before stepping back and avoiding another one to his chest. Bishop noticed the wide arc he attacked in and he waited for his opportunity as the bandit seemed to be in a rage and just slashing to his heart's content. When he threw a diagonal slash, Bishop stepped forward and threw his arm into the crook of the bandit's and where his elbow would be. Wrapping his arm around his, Bishop violently lifted the bandit's arm up and they both could hear a few pops as the man's arm threatened to break and cut off his swinging arm.

Without wasting another second, Bishop slammed the barrel of his blaster right against the man's chest, squeezing the trigger off multiple times as the sound of his blaster fire echoed around the room. There was a huge and burning hole in the bandit's chest as smoke slowly raised from it, the bolts completely burning through his armor. Letting go of his arm, the bandit's dead body dropped like a sack of bricks and Bishop gazed down at him before firing off another shot into his head just to make sure he was actually dead.

Turning around, his eye's found Lex's and he gave her a brief nod before touching his comm piece as well, hearing the report that the fight outside was finished. Sliding his blaster into leg holster, Bishop stepped outside into the hallway before glancing back to Lex, "I'll get the men situated outside. Bandits could have smaller posts set up outside the base, not really looking forward to another surprise." Lex could trifle over the information inside with her having taken lead. Bishop turned towards the door before stepping outside, readying the men and telling them this could be their home for a little bit.

/endthread