T'daali on Vort was once a port city of great importance before Tallum's rise on the homeworld. A center of commerce and trade across the planet. Now, many residential and commercial buildings had since been demolished as a large maximum security prison went up in its place. Many such facilities were under construction on Vort with a monorail system under construction linking them to the now Imperial controlled citadel in Tallum and the various spaceports across the planet. While much of the ruined city and sea port still remained, the only real active facility in T'daali was the prison complex, including the city's Vortian-built jail repurposed as a reception building.
Vaukt and his armored troops set down at an old mining town outside of T'daali. Contact with Byte before landing would see the local resistance alerted and a mutual exchange made: Vaukt pulls his prison break and he extracts this local resistance cell, which mostly consisted of civilians with only three VDF regulars and a Navy officer among them. It would mean needing to take them to Krata after a stop to Haven, but that was no major issue.
The General and his men stepped off their transports. Their power armor remaining much the same except for two red lines of fresh paint going diagonally across the Empire's insignia on their armor. Vaukt decided to cross the Ulnrah, there was no going back, his hand was forced. Much like the supposed Despot of the Vairian Republic in the history books where the legislative arm forced his hand to act and depose them to form an Empire…probably one of the few facts of the pre Empire Irken history that made it through into the Empire's history books.
The troops quickly covered the shuttle with fallen foliage and scraps of lumber to camouflage them as the armored General looked around before walking inside an abandoned general store. Much of it had been looted but some items remained. He reached down and picked up an intact bottle of spirits. It was a low end brand as far as the Vortians went, but it was a welcome sight for him.
He was about to unscrew the bottle as he heard the cocking of a hammer right behind him.
"Hands up, bugman."
Vaukt didn't move. "Thunder."
The Vortian hesitated. "Flash."
Vaukt turned around to face the Vortian, a civilian male with mostly civilian clothes but wearing a VDF issue jacket and hat. He was holding an old ballistic revolver, all the chambers loaded apparent to Vaukt's eye.
"That wouldn't have done a thing, you know."
"Maybe I'm glad you're the one the Commodore spoke to the Admiral about."
"A flag officer this high is still at large?"
"No thanks to General Cagir actively hunting for us." The Vortian motioned for Vaukt to follow him. "Not to mention you're not like any other guys I've seen. And why the-"
"We're rogue."
"Rogue Irken? That's a first."
"Long story." One of Vaukt's subordinates offered, stepping forward. "Gladly give you all the details in due time. All intents and purposes, we're on the same side."
The gaunt resistance fighter's expression seemed none too convinced.
"...I'll let the Commodore be the judge of that. Follow me."
"Yes, hopefully Admiral 'Narr already reached out to him." Vaukt and the subordinate followed, the General using a hand signal for the others to secure a perimeter and take up positions. As he and his senior enlisted followed the Vortian to a mining elevator and down into the shaft. A wise choice for a command post. Some tunnels and twists later, they were in an underground chapel where the Commodore set up his headquarters.
A scene of stalwart, steadfast desperation. A refusal to kneel to their invaders. Men, women, and children in various states of health. Entire families huddled together for warmth around pathetic fires. Every adult, regardless of gender or strength, carried both VDF and Empire weapons alike. These people had their entire civilization crushed before their very eyes…and yet they still persevered.
"Commodore, these are supposedly the Irken that you said the Admiral called about."
An older Vortian man, withered with age and anemic as stores were running sparse, wore a filthy, tattered Vortian Navy field uniform. An odd sight tucked beneath the body armor and gauntlets of the Irken Elite with combat webbing. A VDF rifle slung across his back. Weary bronze eyes looked up to see Vaukt and his men making many of the people shirk in fear and place the more able-bodied ones on-edge. Armored Irken? Here?
"I haven't seen any Greenskins in this garb yet." His graveled voice observed. "Which one of you is in charge of this outfit?" His finger searched.
Vaukt raised one hand. "That'd be me. I'm the one who relayed to Admiral 'Narr asking for assistance on pulling a prison break. Said your cell would help us out in exchange for an extraction of your cell to Krata. I agreed." The General sighed as his helmet split and retracted into his neck armor, revealing the face of the man who headed up Special Operations during the invasion.
"General-"
He held up a hand to his subordinate. "The Empire has put an order out for any of their forces to kill me on sight. I have zero loyalty to them at this point, they have someone I care for deeply in that prison. I'm going to liberate her, her staff, anyone who can help my cause, and any of yours who are in there too. But my men are just one team. Even with our gear we can't do this alone."
"Everyone has someone they care about within those walls." The Commodore sneered with contempt. "No thanks to your masters, former or otherwise. You would get further tying your antenna to an anchor and throwing yourself into the sea."
He paused, studying their amalgamated map briefly.
"...I'm not going anywhere until Cagir's head is on a pike."
"Perhaps there's a way we can help each other out…there's a High Marshal who was recently transferred to this prison by Internal Affairs. I'm sure the General is keen to come personally to make sure everything is in order with security and that nothing will go wrong with such a high profile prisoner. We'll need to figure the details, but we'll get his head on a pike on the prison walls and pull off perhaps the single largest jailbreak the Empire's ever seen."
Equal parts in awe as he was containing his fury, the Commodore's filthy palms planted on the map as he leaned forward with emphasis, glaring at Vaukt.
"I'm not helping you do anything until you help us." He defiantly spoke, clearly holding a great deal of resentment. "Did all of you not pay attention to your surroundings on the way in? You see how all of these people live? The sick? The wounded? The starving? All because of you…you will fix this…or get the fuck out of my command post and crawl back into whatever hole you came from."
Vaukt nodded, turning to his senior enlisted subordinate. "First Sergeant, the prison aside, there's an outpost for the Imperial Troopers over in Canigoris to the south of here, correct?"
"Yes, General, that was part of the occupation strategy for the importance T'daali has."
"Well why don't we go pay them a little visit and liberate some much needed supplies for these people first?"
"Yes, General."
Vaukt reached into a pouch, pulling out his own rations and some field issue energy bars, holding them out to the Commodore. "Take these. Have your men go dig through our shuttles where we set them down. We bought maybe three weeks of supplies. It's not much we have on hand but it's a start."
"Your three weeks of supplies may last three days for my numbers here." He acknowledged, swallowing his pride for the time being. His people were suffering and needed the aid, no matter where it came from. "...we've had intentions to raid the Canigoris outpost but we lack the numbers and firepower. Every firefight we end up in is one less that returns and two more unable to continue fighting. Attrition grinds us into dust and they know that."
The Commodore growled in frustration, slamming his fist into the table with a rattle.
"It is infuriating they are simply waiting for us to die off like a minor annoyance. Ever since Tallum fell, every day that followed…its a game to them now. Cagir intentionally ordered his troops to toy with us. Live-fire exercises, as if we're of no consequence or threat to him, letting us retreat and laughing at our plight."
"We got the power armor and the gear. Let us handle that outpost. We'll even drive the trucks with food and medical supplies back. Let us take the stress off you guys for this. You guys take a much needed breather until we get back."
"...you get my people the relief they need and we get our strength back, we'll work on getting you inside the prison so long as you hold up your end of the bargain and get these people to Krata. Admiral 'Narr speaks highly of you and your ilk…I can only give you the chance to impress me the same."
"Consider those supplies yours." Vaukt gave a polite bow. "We'll be back once we have them." With a signal from the Commodore the few who followed their General took their leave with him, Vaukt's helmet extending once more as he walked.
"So what's the plan?"
"We'll formulate one with the rest."
They were only a few steps out of the elevator when one of Vaukt's men ran up to him. "General, we've got the big man on the line."
"Big man? Sko?" Vaukt stepped out of the cave as his radio switched to Sko's frequency. "Sko, what in the blazes are you doing here?"
"Oh, you know, Kiz and our small entourage happen to be in the neighborhood."
"I told you to-"
"Yeah, I know, but it looks like you need the help."
"Urgh, what do you need."
"LZ, fast."
Vaukt pulled up a holographic map, surveying the terrain between their position and Canigoris. Nice halfway point between their mining town and the village turned outpost was a large clearing. He marked it on his map and sent the coordinates to Sko.
"We'll meet you there, out." Vaukt signaled to his men. "All right, going for a run, come on." The SpecOps Irken in unfamiliar armor took off running towards the clearing. Sko and Kiz would be a welcome sight and a chance to strategize on their next move to get the supplies their Vortian allies so desperately needed.