Not sure how I feel about this chapter. Felt like I repeated certain words too many times. That, and conversations are hard to get right.
I'm trying to establish characters' personalities, meaning I've got to think through everything I have them say and make sure it fits with the image I've got in my head. Even worse is using explicatives and expressions. I'm not sure if I should use things like, "god damn it!" or "holy hell!" cause I don't know if that'd be used in the star wars galaxy. I know they use the term "god" in the RWBY-verse, but that's about it. Likewise, using star wars curse words just frankly feels ridiculous. I mean seriously, Kriff? Karabast? Bantha poodo? I've seen kindergarteners spew more interesting insults.
Adding military speak on top of that is just the torture icing on the pain cake.
Oh, and for reference, Bishop Squad-
[Bishop-1] King -Squad lead
[Bishop-2] Code -engineer
[Bishop-3] Dairmund -demolitions
[Bishop-4] Rules -Recon
Unknown planet, Temporary Designation- Solum A1-03
Low orbit
Sentinel shuttle E1-137-4
"Intel. Kriffing intel."
"Don't be so dramatic, it's not that bad."
"NO, it is that bad! We're Kriffing Imperial Commandos and they're sending us on a recon mission? A bloody probe droid could do this!"
"Command doesn't want this screwed up. Besides, I'd have thought you'd be happy with this. A milk run like this is the perfect way to relax. Definably better than the suicide missions they normally throw us at."
"I shouldn't be able to be relaxed! WE shouldn't be able to be relaxed! If we're relaxed then we're on the wrong bloody mission!
"Then just view it as a paid vacation!"
"PAID? We don't get- "
"Stow it, the both of you! Rules, I ever catch you relaxing on a mission, you're going to be scrubbing data stacks for a month! And you Diarmund, command doesn't send us on 'milk runs'. If we're on it, then it means that its important enough that mistakes aren't allowed!"
"But cap, surely you-"
"It came direct from Thrawn himself."
"…"
"…"
"…aye sir"
Seeing that his unruly subordinates was chastised for the time being, ITC-1904 turned to the only one of his squad that hadn't yet spoken.
"Anything to say Code?"
The commando was silent for a moment, before shifting in an almost imperceptible shrug.
"So the objective is some sort of comms array?"
Rules interjected, "More like a transmitter array, but yea."
Silence once again descended on the group, and for a while there were no sounds save muted shrill of the wind buffeting the craft as it descended into the atmosphere.
The quiet was broken as the shuttle bay's intercom crackled.
"Approaching LZ. ETA one minute."
Dairmund's voice crackled in 1904 ear, "Hey King, you going to brief the stormies? Or we leaving them in suspense?"
Idly snorting under his breath 1904, or King as is now revealed, stood up.
A quick blink disconnected him from the comms his squad's comms, with two more blinks turning on his helmet's speakers. Shifting, he addressed the 38 stormtroopers also assembled in the craft.
"Troopers, listen up! Command wants access to this world's version of the holonet and doesn't feel like getting it the hard way. Which means our job is to give them a direct shortcut. This global network is maintained via series of transmitter towers dotted across the planet. Command has selected one tower that happens to be a significant distance from any nearby settlements. We'll secure the area and upload a data-mining program directly into network. A few minutes and this program will give the techies all the intel they could ever want. As of such, our primary objective is to defend the transmitter tower while the program does it job. Estimated time to completion is between 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the complexity of the local network."
One of the troopers spoke up, "Expected opposition?"
"Non-existent, but command has rated this a priority one objective, so stay alert regardless. Any more questions?"
"Likelihood of interference from the locals?"
"Negligible, as I said this, this tower was chosen specifically due to its remote location. The nearest settlement is almost 100 clicks southeast. Anything else?"
The stormtroopers exchanged glances. Coming to an unspoken agreement, the trooper's commanding lieutenant shook his head.
"We're good to go sir."
"Good, everyone, prep up!"
The shuttle's comm crackled to life, "10 seconds!"
The sound of wind buffeting their shuttle -a sound that had been constant since they entered atmosphere- rapidly began to die down, before cutting out completely. A moment of silence, before the ship rattled and a series of dull thumps sounded out. With a creaking hiss the ramp began to lower.
"Go, go, go!"
King sprinted down the ramp, his HUD analyzing the surroundings and rapidly updating with any relevant information about the local area – a relatively peaceful looking forest- they found themselves in. Around him the other troopers spread out in a loose semicircle, blasters up and ready for anything.
Nothing, -save for the sounds of insects and the occasional bird.
Glancing around, King spoke into his mic, "Bishop-1 to all squads, sound off."
"Squad Enth, clear."
"Squad Onith, clear."
"Squad Nen, clear."
"Squad Krenth, clear."
Rules voice pinged through his helmet, "Bishop-1, this is Bishop-2, area confirmed clear."
"Roger, Bishop-1 to all squads, objective is a click and a half to the east. Move out."
With that, the troopers turned and began a swift jog towards the objective.
The forest was unusually quiet. Not totally so, there were the expected sounds of various birds and rodents, but overall the area they were advancing through was almost silent. King also noted that despite it being almost noon local time, the shadows were unusually long, and seemed weirdly eerie. The further from the landing zone they when, the more uneasy King felt.
Dairmund seemed to share his sentiments.
"Something ain't right," the commando muttered.
"Just keep an eye out," he replied.
"Aye sir."
Despite their shared unease, no threats emerged, and after about 10 minutes of cautious advancement the transmitter tower came into sight, its top sticking out from the surrounding trees. Sure enough, moments later they broke out of the trees into a decent-sized clearing, the tower situated directly in the center.
It was a squat little thing, the main body being only about 4 meters wide and 1 meter tall, with only the 7 or 8 meter tall antenna allowing it to extend above the treeline. The structure itself seemed rather bare, with only a softly glowing control panel breaking up the slabs of steel it seemed made of. It was fairly obvious that its creators prioritized function over form in its design. Its utilitarian make combined with its extreme distance from nearby settlements indicating it was intended to operate for long periods of time with little to no maintenance.
Idly, he also noted that it was remarkably well-armored for such a presumably isolated structure.
"Objective reached. Troopers, defensive positions around the tower. Nen- your north, Onith, you'll take east, Krenth's on south, and Enth's on west." King ordered, "Bishop-2, upload the program."
"On it."
The steel-colored commando pulled out a small data-chip off his belt, moved up to the tower, knelt and began prying away the control panel. Moments later a soft click sounded out and Code stood back up.
"Program uploaded. Time to completion -21 minutes, 13 seconds."
King nodded, "Alright. Everyone, set your clocks and stay sharp."
A few blinks linked his helmet's interface with Code's, causing a countdown to appear on the upper right hand of his hub. With his timer set he preceded to take his own advice, and, toggling his aiming reticle, shifted his DC-17 rifle towards the forest.
And so the wait began. The 5 minute mark had just been pasted when one of the troopers spoke up.
"Onith-3 to Bishop-1, we, uh, got some local wildlife here."
King tilted his head, "Wildlife?"
Onith's sergeant spoke up, "Yes sir. Some real big ack-looking creature, seems real angry too. Just the one tho- scratch that, picking up more on motion tracker."
"What are they doing?"
"First one's just looking at us, the rest are staying out of sight -looks like they're trying to creep up our flanks. I count…..34 of them."
Deciding this warranted his presence, King jogged over to their eastern perimeter.
The sergeant greeted him and pointed towards the forest, "There sir. See it?"
Looking towards where he pointed, King arched an eyebrow. "Big" didn't cut it. The creature was almost twice as large as a man, it was primarily black, thanks to the fur covering much of its body. Not all of it though, it also had boney white protrusions situated to protect vital organs, seemingly acting as some form of armor. Even weirder was that some of the bone seemed to be painted, with intricate blood-red designs decorating its head.
Combined with almost molten gold eyes that seemed to radiate pure hate, it made for a very intimidating sight and King had absolutely no doubt that this creature was a predator.
This, combined with its tactics…
"Pack hunters. This one's probably bait -keeps us focused on it while the rest surround us."
One of the troopers gestured towards the creature again, "So… hostile?"
King shrugs, "Probably."
It was definitely hunting them, but… even the most vicious predators could recognize when they were outmatched and flee, especially when faced with something new and unknown.
"Fire a warning shot, see if you can't scare it away."
"Aye sir."
Aiming his weapon a bit to the side of the creature, the trooper fired. In an instant a burning red bolt impacted the tree next to the beast, blowing a hole in it and sending smoldering splinters flying onto the beast, whereas they bounced off its bone armor.
That was where it when wrong. The creature flinched from shards pelting it, but instead of fleeing as was expected, it let out an earth-shattering roar. A second later over a dozen roars answered in in unison, and the forest shook as the entire pack began charging out of the foliage.
"What the- contact east side! Open fire!"
The troopers of Onith squad immediately let loose with their blasters, filling the air with lancing plasma.
King's focus however, was on the big one right in front of them. Numerous blaster shots had hit it within seconds of its roar, burning away chunks of flesh and fur and scorching its bony armor, and yet it barely seemed to notice, continuing its hateful charge right at him.
Realizing that shots to its armor were just pissing it off, and that it was only a few seconds away from mauling him, he shifted his focus to crippling it. His stream of shots tore through its unarmored back left leg, causing it to trip and fall, its panicked claws ripping into the ground in an attempt to halt its momentum. Realizing that this was his chance, King shifted his fire to its chest, burning away its armor. The beast rolled across the ground, getting pelted by shots the whole time before sliding to a halt almost right in front of King.
The beast, realizing it was about to die, lashed out with its remaining back leg, causing King to stumble. His deciding shot missed the creature by mere centimeters, the residual heat igniting some of its fur.
Far quicker than such a large beast had any right too it jumped back on its feet and lunged at him, claws bared in rage.
King rolled under its blow, turning and unleashing a trio of shots into its less armored backside. The creature roared in pain and fury, and a swift backhand knocked his blaster out of his hand. Not willing to lose the initiative, King jumped at it, barreling into its stomach and slamming it to the ground.
The impact disoriented the beast, allowing King time to draw and lash out with his vibro-knife, burying it deep into its throat. Even with such a brutal wound, the beast refused to die, its claws desperately scratching at his armor. With one hand keeping his knife buried in the creature, the other reached down to his hip and grabbed his DC-15s. Slamming the barrel of the pistol underneath the beast's snout, he emptied all seven shots of the energy cell, the plasma bolts burning a path into its head. The last three shots broke through, searing into the ground beneath the beast. The beast twitched a few times before finally going limp.
Then something strange happened. As he wrenched his knife from its body and stood up, the creature began to dissolve before his eyes.
'What in the-'
"Kriff! Another pack! West side!"
The shouted transmission startled him out of his shock. Looking towards the western perimeter he could see blaster bolts lancing into the treeline, and sure enough there were more of those ack creatures darting between the trees.
Glancing back towards Onith he saw that most of the first pack had been killed during his fight, 'with what was likely the alpha,' he realized, 'seeing as how most of the beasts went down a lot easier than mine had,' leaving only a few stragglers remaining.
Seeing the situation on the eastern perimeter well under control, he began running towards Enth's position. He had barely taken a few steps before another transmission crackled in his ears.
"Contact. South side, another pack. Engaging."
"North side has contact as well. Opening fire."
King's eyes widened in realization and he turned back east and had his fears confirmed. A second pack was closing in, this one far bigger than the first. Onith had already spotted them and was forming back up into defensive positions.
Cursing under his breath he spoke into his coms, "Bishop-1 to all squads, we are surrounded. Objective remains, we hold the line until the download finishes. Do not let them through!"
Switching to his squad's coms he spoke, "Code, Rules, switch to sniper configuration and target alphas. They're the big ones with the most armor. Dairmund, switch to grenade configuration and thin out the treelines. Acknowledge?"
"Confirmed, 1-acual."
"Roger that, cap."
"Affirmative, Bishop-1."
Confirmations received he went over to pick up his DC-17. Hurriedly switching it over to the grenade configuration he glanced at the countdown on his HUD.
14 minutes, just 14 minutes to go.
He sighed.
'This is going to be a long 14 minutes, isn't it?'
Center of Solum nebula
Deep Space
Rakatan Security Station
Corridor C/22001, Point 02, Section 1
"There, up ahead!"
"Karabast! Blast them!"
Bles nearly joined in on the cursing. Just as feared, there were droids in-between them and their hanger bay. So close too. The doors to the hanger bay were just around the corner a few feet beyond the inconvenient group of droids.
Thankfully there didn't seem to be many in said group, two dozen at most. Few enough that they had a chance to break through, rather than detouring.
So they would go through.
The droids themselves were skittering towards the hanger as well, and had barely turned around before blaster blots began ripping into them. Half a dozen fell before they could utter a screech. The survivors rushed to meet them. The two sides met in a clash of flashing steel and burning plasma.
One droid was tackled by at least three troopers and perforated by vibroknifes. Another found the butt of an E-11 slammed into its face, bowling it over, and was promptly finished off by a flurry of bolts. Many found themselves bodily shoved to the side as troopers tried to simply maneuver around them, attempting to avoid the fight altogether. Not all succeeded. One unluck trooper was carved in half by a scything claw, another was speared through the chest and unceremoniously thrown to the side. A few others found themselves crushed between the corridor's walls and angry droids.
Bles himself sprinted towards two of the droids, both immediately spotting him and rushing to meet his charge. Seeing the fates of the troopers who tried to meet the droids head-on, he elected a different strategy. Clutching his E-11 to his chest, he dived and rolled underneath the first droid, coming to a crouch right behind it. The second droid let out a surprised warble as it came face to face with a blaster far sooner than it had expected. To its credit, its confusion only lasted a second before it lifted a clawed leg, arching it back in preparation to strike. Unfortunately for it, that second was more than enough time for Bles to fill it with blaster bolts. The droid tumbled backwards in a shower of molten metal and sparks.
The first droid, having realized what happened, seemed to panic. Not even bothering to turn around it lashed out with a flailing legs. The frantic attack caught Bles as he was turning to face the droid, the blow tossing him through the air and slamming him into the wall. Still, he managed to hold onto his blaster. Fighting through the pain; "bruised rib" his mind supplied, he put his sights on the droid intent on killing him and opened fire. The blots tore through the corrupted machine, leaving it to tumble into a smoking heap.
Pausing to look around, he realized the little skirmish was over. Over twenty sparking wreaks were scattered throughout the corridor, with half a dozen bloodied troopers lying among them.
Glancing over his three surviving troopers, Linch focused on Bles.
"ET-4344, are you mobile?"
Painfully clambering to his feet, Bles replied through gritted teeth, "Bruised rib sir. I'll be fine"
Linch made to reply before a series of maddened shrieks echoed behind them.
Cursing, he aimed at the door the shrieks were coming from.
"Damnit, they're almost on us!" jerking his thumb at another trooper he ordered, "ET-4399, assist 44. Troopers, into the hanger, now!"
Scrambling to escape the oncoming hoard, the four imperials half sprinted, half stumbled around the corner. The hanger doors were right infront of them, and they could hear the sounds of a firefight just beyond. A series of echoing screeches, sounding far closer than they had any right to be encouraged them to move faster.
The doors slide open and the small group sprinted through, directly into the middle of what could only be described as an absolute warzone.
An ever-present black fog filled the cavernous room, broken only by the bright flashes of blaster fire raking through the air. The vermilion bolts lancing into the dozens of maddened droids as they emerged from the mist. The crazed machines echoing shrieks barely drowned out by the chaotic roar of battle. Their charred chassises littered the ground, intermixed only by unmoving stormtroopers; iconic white armor stained with crimson.
Towards the head of the hanger, their backs to the thin atmosphic shields that was their only protection from the black of space, close to two-hundred stormtroopers crouched behind a hasty barricade of crates and machinery, firing at every shadow that dared show itself beyond their protective wall. Hovering above the center of said barricade, a single Tie-fighter spun to and fro, emerald beams lancing into the mist.
As the group began sprinting towards the defensive line Linch screamed out,
"Friendlies coming in! We need cover!"
One troopers turned towards the shout. Spotting the 4 panicked figures, he gained the attention of the surrounding troopers and gestured towards them. The troopers aimed and began laying down covering fire, crimson bolts lancing to the side of them. Immediately Bles could hear the enraged shrieks of the droids chasing them.
Under the suppressive fire of two full squads, the survivors of Victor finally made it to the line, where they were immediately hauled over the barricade by the defending troopers. Pausing to catch their breath, Linch grabbed on of the defending troopers.
"Who's in command here?"
"Captain Trammer sir", pointing further down the line, he continued, "He's over there, towards the center of the line!"
Nodding, Linch signaled the rest of Victor.
"Stay here and help defend the line, I'm going to go find out what the situation is!"
After receiving affirmations, Linch nodded and headed off, leaving Victor alone.
Climbing to the top of the barricade, Bles saw what they had so narrowly escaped. The horde of droids that had been following them for the past half hour were streaming into the room, clambering over the corpses of their fellows, barely pausing before launching themselves at the barricade. At this point the tie-fighter had spotted the horde and as Bles watched emerald beams began ripping into the droid's ranks, turning the area in front of the hanger entrance into an inescapable killing field. The droids barely seemed to notice. If anything, it made them even more furious, maddened shrieks reaching a new intensity.
All around the hanger, blasters screamed and droids exploded. Hunks of metal and scrap layered the ground, being added to by the second. Yet the hordes seemed innumerable, more and more emerging from the connecting corridors every moment.
With little else to do, Bles added his blaster to the mix, praying that the number of droids would run out before their ammo did.
Continental-class planet, "Solum A1-03" -TD
Temperate forest
Native Transmitter Tower #0247
The forest burned.
The treeline surrounding the transmitter tower was covered in flames and smoke, and the sounds of blasters echoed through the choked air. Every few seconds, the whine of lasers was interrupted by a louder, sharper crack.
The noise attracted the attention of the pack's leader, crimson eyes easily spotting the lone commando at the tower's base. Its maw opened wide in a roar of unrestrained fury, claws digging into the ground in preparation of a charge, only for its head to vanish with a loud crack and a spray of black mist.
Lowering his sniper's scope, Code mentally added another tick to his count.
Glancing around the perimeter, he realized that that was the last of the alphas, the remaining of the ack-like creatures being the smaller unarmored versions. Still not good, as there were still a couple hundred attacking all along the burning perimeter, but at least they weren't being directed anymore. Those damn alphas were annoyingly intelligent.
With the high-powered nature of the DC-17m's sniper configuration no longer needed, he switched it back to the standard auto-blaster. Idly noting that Onith looked in danger of being overrun- 'again', he recalled with irritation- he turned his blaster towards them. Picking his targets he fired shot after shot, barely a breath in-between them, each one finding the head of one of the beasts. With mechanical precision he thinned the herd, reducing Onith's status from "about to die", to, "might die if really unlucky". Pausing as he saw an abnormally large group of the beasts approaching, he quickly pinged it with his HUD.
Moments later a series of frag grenades arced over his head, slated to land directly in the middle of pack threating Onith. The beasts, who by now had gotten to observe the effects of the grenades numerous times against their fellows, scrambled to get out of the way. Like always though, Dairmund had timed them perfectly, and they detonated a moment before they would have hit the ground, perforating the surrounding creatures. Code grinned as he saw the creatures thrash around in pain before lying still and fading away.
With that situation handled he glanced at his timer. 3:48 to go. Looking back towards the battle, he spotting a beast trying to sneak up on a lone trooper. Lining up his shot, he spoke into his comm.
"King this is 2, all alphas down. t-minus 3:45 to go"
The beast lunged, and Code smiled grimly as his shot pierced its head, leaving the body to thump lifelessly in front of the startled trooper.
"Roger 2, assist as needed. Prioritize conserving- Enth LOOK OUT!"
Code turned toward Enth squad just in time to see a burning tree smash into them, crushing a few and bowling the rest over. Looking in the direction the flying log came from he heard a mighty crash, then watched as yet another arced over the treeline. This one was aimed towards Nen, fortunately they had seen it coming and dodged just in time.
The attack's failure was received by a series of each-shattering roars. Massive thumps then sounded out, each getting closer by the second.
King's voice rung in his ear, "Something big's coming! The second we've got eyes on, let loose with everything you've got! Aim for anything that looks like a weak spot!"
The thumps continued to sound out.
Idly nodding, Code switched back to sniper configuration.
The thumps kept getting closer.
He aimed.
Closer still.
His finger rested on the trigger.
The treeline exploded outwards, sending burning wood flying everywhere.
He held his breath.
The beast emerged. It was massive, standing over 10 meters tall, 4 trunk-like legs supported a gargantuan body topped by 9 separate serpent-faced heads, each sporting a maw filled with teeth the size of his arm. The head's mouths were open in a cruel mockery of a grin, wiping around each-other, crimson eyes glaring at the humans before it with mind-breaking hate. The entire thing was covered in bone-white armor, broken only by the blood-red designs marking its hide, invoking images of pain and slaughter.
Even as his conscious mind reeled from the horrific sight in front of him, his instincts still piloted him, his rifle giving a sharp tug as it fired.
His sniper shot impacted one of the heads, causing it to jerk. Then everyone else began firing too. Dozens of blaster bolts slammed into it, scorching the thick bone plates. Frag grenades detonated, the shrapnel pinging uselessly off its armor. Incendiaries lighted, igniting its fur. The beast took a step back, roaring as it tried to shake off the attack. A meters long tail, even more heavily armored the rest of it snaked around its body, protecting itself from the furious barrage. Said barrage continued nevertheless, nobody letting up.
King's voice crackled in his ear, "We're not scratching this thing. Dairmund, you got anything that might help?"
"I got a thermal det, but if that doesn't work we're screwed."
Code heard a faint curse from King before he continued, "Alright, do what you can. I'm calling in air-support with our evac. Just hold the thing in place."
"I'll do what I can boss."
It was at that point the beast seemed to get fed up of being on the defensive. Multiple heads lashed out, each grabbing one of the many burning trees around it and flinging them at the platoon. The stormtroopers scattered, barely dodging the hunks of flaming wood. The beast immediately capitalized on the opportunity, breaking into a ground-shaking sprint. In moments it was among Krenth squad, a massive foot instantly crushed one trooper, a head lashed out and grabbed another, swiftly biting the screaming figure in half. Its tail speared ahead, goring two more, before sweeping to the side, sending several troopers flying while simultaneously flinging the two impaled figures away.
It turned to Onith squad, only for a for a flashbang to detonate right in front of its face(s), causing the beast to stumble back.
"You like that you overgrown pile of bantha dung? Here's another!"
Dairmund's shout preceded another bright flash stunning the creature, causing it to stand on its hind legs as it stumbled back. When yet another orb rolled beneath it, it turned its heads away, obviously anticipating another flash. Only this was no flashbang, it was a thermal detonator, a grenade so destructive it commonly finds use as a demolition charge. And this one was set to full blast.
"The imperial commandos say hi!"
The 6-meter wide detonation completely engulfed the creature's lower body, its roar of pain barely drowned out by the ground-shaking boom. When the smoke cleared the creature's hind legs were gone, its armor shattered and scorched, and its backside charred.
But it was still alive.
A fact it made readily apparent as it began to claw its way forward, eyes glowing with furious hate.
"God damn, what does it take to kill this thing?"
The beast turned at the noise, hissing a threat, only for it to completely stop. It glanced up at the sky, before abruptly turning around and trying to crawl away into the forest as fast as its shattered body could move.
As the ties' distinctive whine slowly became audible, Code's comms crackled and he could hear the grim satisfaction in king's voice.
"Time to fine out."
The two bombers streaked overhead, their passage buffeting the trees below them and causing the ground team to let out a cheer. Then their payload hit.
If a thermal detonator could be described as a mallet, then a proton bomb was a Warhammer. The two bombs, each designed to sunder capital ships, hit the crippled beast like the fist of god. It and the surrounding 20 meters of land were utterly pulverized, consumed in the distinctive blue tint of a proton weapon. When the blast cleared, the beast was gone, and the top layer of had been seared into glass.
The blast largely singled the end of the battle, as the remaining creatures fled into the forest, the few that were dumb enough to stick around were swiftly picked off by the vengeful stormtroopers. As the bombers came back around for a second pass they patched their comms to the ground team's.
"Ground team, this is Firehawk-1, be advised, no hostile units in your immediate AO, but scanners are picking up multiple groups closing in fast. ETA 30 seconds. I advise you get a move on."
Code, checking his HUD saw that the download had finished during the fight. Swiftly removing the data-chip from the tower, he jogged over to King and gave a quick thumbs up. King nodded and looked up at the bombers flying overhead.
"Firehawk-1, this is Bishop-actual. Many thanks for the assist. Objective is secured and we're heading to the evac sight. Requesting escort till we're off this rock."
"Roger that Bishop-actual, we'll keep them off you. Just get moving."
"Wilco Firehawk-1, much obliged."