Katarn pushes a button and turns the hologram off. {b]"I believe they intend to catalog it, find a cure, and destroy it, but that's all above my paygrade. As for exposure, the intelligence is rather slim, but the weapon sample should be in a weapon-grade durasteel container, not prone to an accidental discharge. Just make sure not to light it on fire or throw it off the skyhook or hit any unknown buttons."[/b] He salutes them, signaling the end of the meeting. "You're expected in Hangar 4510 in 53 minutes. Any equipment requests can be made and filled in transit. Dismissed!"
Sho stands and salutes the senior officer as the meeting concludes.
"I have all that I need in my quarters. I will meet you all there at the assigned time. May the Force be with you."
Urirawa gets up and used a PDA to put a request for items.
Raal snaps a salute at the dismissal with a "Yes sir!" then goes to the PDA and sends a requistition order after Urirawa.
Raal snaps a salute at the dismissal with a "Yes sir!" then goes to the PDA and sends a requistition order after Urirawa.
EDIT: Ah, nevermind, good job Raal!
Hangar 4510 is a nondescript hangar in a nondescript military complex, built as one of many. Plain durasteel walls surround the hangar, with heavy blast doors separating the hangar from the skies of Coruscant. It is a testimony to the efficient homogenuous nature of military facilities. The ship it houses, a YT 1300 similar to Han Solo's ship, is similarly nondescript. It would fit in just fine at any spaceport in the galaxy.
The inside the ship is another matter. Gleaming, polished chrome implies that the ship is new, its grubby exterior nothing more than camouflage. Several technicians are still working and installing systems, but it looks ready to fly. An astromech droid is waiting at the top of the loading ramp. It has a display screen for communication, which reads, "GREETINGS. I AM R4-O9. I AM TO ASSIST YOU AS AN AUTOPILOT. THIS SHIP IS YOURS, AUTHORITY OF IMPERIAL COMMAND."
Sho is taken back by the grand gesture. A YT 1300 ship for them? In a little over a day, he has gone from a simple run-of-the-mill ensign in the grand army of the Empire and is now rubbing elbows with the Emperor and the Crown Prince! He is pulled from regular duty and given special assignments. He shakes his head to remind himself that he is here, now, and not simply imagining or dreaming this.
He takes note of the droid. "Greetings R4. Take me to the cockpit and let's prepare this ship for departure."
Sho then follows the little mech to the cockpit and prepares for liftoff. While going through pre-flight checklist, he asks R4, "Does this ship have a name yet?
The R4's communication display reads, "NO SIR, NOT IN MY RECORDS. I HAVE EACH OF YOUR PERSONNEL RECORDS IN MY SECURE MEMORY, BUT I DO NOT KNOW WHICH OF YOU IS MY OFFICIAL LEASEE. PLEASE ADVISE." As it 'says' this, the droid plugs into the ship and begins pre-flight checklists.
Urirawa comes jogging up to the ramp of the ship with a backpack filled with mission appropriate gear.
Call follows after Urirawa, holding his beloved rifle, now newly armed with a underslung grenade launcher and low-light scope. He wears his bandolier across his chest, stuffed with power packs and with his new Corporal's insignia on his polished uniform.
Raal takes a moment to admire the ship before entering, taking a tour of it to familiarize himself with it before heading into the cocpit.
With everyone aboard the ships, the technicians finish up the installation. They put a cargo container in the cargo hold with a manifest list of the items requisitioned by the squad. As the launch deadline approaches, the new astromech droid performs the pre-flight checklist.
With a hydraulic whoosh, the blast doors to the hangar opens. With the R4 unit and Raal assisting, Sho Larn pilots the ship out. As they enter Coruscant's atmosphere, air control hails them. "Imperial Military Ship Code 180571310-X, you have been cleared for priority access to the hyperspace jump point." It generally takes between 10 minutes and an hour after reaching atmosphere that a ship gains access to a proper jump point in Coruscant's busy orbit.
Sho Larn pilots the ship to the designated jump point and hits the hyperspace jump button. The stars stream around them in a blinding display, the familiar glow of hyperspace. It will be a few hours through the most minor of hyperspace routes before they arrive on Ord Mantell, a planet of ill repute.
Inside the Rebel-controlled territory in the galactic North, Ord Mantell is a supply world. The origin of those supplies is up for debate and usually not a concern to the highest bidder. (Relatively) loyal to the Republic during the Clone Wars, it followed Corellia into the Rebellion. Largely independent of the Rebellion proper, it mostly functions as a no-mans-land and bounty hunter's paradise.
Settling into the cockpit for the trip, the crew goes over the entry plans and their limited information. Most of the information will have to be learned and processed on the ground, but they have a few facts: they will perform a high-altitude atmospheric entry from the ship, use jet gliders to maneuver to the designated point on the 29th level of the skyhook, make entry, locate and obtain the biotoxin, locate and eliminate the Vigo, and use the jet gliders to return to the rendezvous point on the planet's surface, where R4 will pick them up. It certainly sounds simple.
Urirawa manipulates the controls on the computer to see what information that he can call up on the planet. He does what he can to scan the Holonet when they are out of hyperspace to look for local papers to gather information on their target and their target's network.
Looking over Urirawas shoulder Raal realizes what he is doing, leaning over he paoints out an interesting tidbit Urirawa seems to have missed.
Arrival in Ord Mantell's atmosphere is uneventful. The ship's false transponder gains them entry with ease. The “authorities” on Ord Mantell don't spend a lot of effort identifying the incoming ships, something that works to the squad's advantage.
The squad stands in the cargo hold of their ship, its loading dock open. The cold air of the upper atmosphere whips through the hold, barely dulled by the heavy anti-friction jumpsuits they are wearing over their normal clothes. Everyone but Sho Larn shifts uncomfortably in their breathing masks, a necessity of jumping from high atmosphere to a planet's surface. Rarely used since the Mandalorian War several thousand years prior, no one will be expecting it.
With a leap, they jump one by one out of the ship. The automatic guidance system of the jet gliders activates, piloting the squad towards the skyhook. The planet surface seems small below them, the curve of the planet visible from their vantage point several miles above. It will take several minutes of falling nearly at terminal velocity before they reach the target.
Raal was nervous for the jump. He had no experience with these things. The controls looked simple enough, and he knew the system should haldle the jump by itself, but he was still nervous.
Talking in quiet murmurs as thay get ready Raal was uncertain what to expect. Trying not to let his nervousness show his movents nevertheless became stiff and heavy. As the jump approached his nervousness transformed into numbness.
As the airlock opened for them to jump, the rush of air roaring in his ears and the gravity of the planet pulling him, his mind went quiet. Falling back on kensae tecniques Raal controled his emotions. He felt them rising and ebbing, he turned tham and used them.
Turning his fear into exhileration he threw himself out the airlock.
For a moment all was quiet. Raal felt as if he floated in zero-g, the surface of the planet looking calm and sereene, and then it hit. The roar of the wind, the powerfull tug-and-pull of crashing through the atmosphere.
Nearly loosing control of the glider sent a rush of panik through Raal but then the automatic guiding systems kicked in and the slow spiraling down became a plesant ride.
Heights and falling are a sport to Wookiees.
The live to compete on how far they can sky dive down the great trees as the crash and catch themselves.
Bravery is measured in which levels that you would pass through before grabbing a limb to pull yourself out of your dive before starting the climb back to the top.
The elders would post flags on the trees to remind children of the limits that they might leap past before being required to stop their plunge and head back to the top.
If there were two wookiees matched for diving into the depths then the competition was measured in how fast one could get down and get back up again.
The breathing gear and wings are unbalancing along with the gear that Urirawa carries but once he is in the air it is like being a youngling on Kashyyk again.
He yowls with the pleasure of the heights and the thrill of the dive.
For Sho, it is about duty. Gliding down from this high on a small glider and infiltrating a criminal organization is his mission and in that he will do all that he can to accomplish that. No fear, no elation, no panic, no thrill - just duty.
Sho jumps and then lets the glider do the work - slicing through the atmosphere and spiraling down to their objective.
Falling from great heights always seemed like a bad way to die for Call.
However, after Urirawa leapt into the wind with such joy, how could he refuse to follow? Still, his jaw is set and his hand sets on his trusty rifle. For Call, there was nothing more real and more present than violence. And that was his center, his calm place in the storm. Others might take joy in the fall, or in the Force, or in the flight, but for Call, the joy was in the job.
The heroes of the Empire plummet towards the planet and a hostile skyhook filled with criminals intent on selling a deadly biotoxin to the highest bidder, possibly one that just blew up a planet. They are about to make a dramatic entrance, intent on saving many lives.
Just another day in the Imperial military.
They fall for several minutes in relative quiet, their suits taking most of the atmospheric friction. The planet is getting quickly larger and larger, with the small skyhooks visible above Worlport, the planet's capital. Their targeted skyhook is owned by a dummy corporation, Scrap Metal Intergalactic, a frequently-used front for the Black Sun.
As they come within half a minute's fall of the skyhook, the planet surface is fully visible. Small streaks of red appear from below, rapidly becoming larger. It appears that the automatic security system has noticed you. While mostly used to deter a larger-scale assault of airspeeders coming from below, they apparently have a few batteries pointed upward.
Pilot plus FR 1/6:
Seeing the red dot coming his way tries to vear away from it. Raal easely steers clear.
A quick peek at altitude meters shows that the squad will be at the entry point in exactly 24 seconds, but the automatic cannons are ramping up their attacks.
Sho deftly maneuvers his glider to avoid the incoming fire.
Pilot checks = ,
Pilot check!
Call grits his teeth as the orbital bombardment of his suit begins. So much for the armor polish... Here comes the carbon scoring.
Over the roar of the wind, the squad might be able to hear the alarms on their jet gliders. The laser cannons are beginning to fill more and more of the air with blaster shots, making it more difficult to maneuver.
Urirawa continues to howl with joy as he speeds down through the flak.
He looks over at Sho catching much of the trouble and thinks, 'The great tree loves, babies, fools, and little wookiees named Urirawa.'
Sho is happy to take the majority of incoming shots due to his Force defenses.
He lazily avoids the ill aimed salvos.
Pilot checks =,
Although a close call, Raal expertly guides his glider out of the lasers path.
With the altitude meter marking only 12 seconds remaining, the skyhook's defenses are firing heavily at the attackers. The entry point, a small external entrance on a side patio, is barely visible.
In addition to the normal fire, the smell of ionized blasts fill the air. Normally intended to knock out attacking airspeeders, the ion damage will knock out the jet gliders.
A large shot sweeps by Urirawa with inches to spare.
He realizes that he had better pay more attention to his flying rather than how the others are doing.
It is hard though as he sees guns open up and put Call in their sights.
Pilot check:
Call's glider takes the hit, and begins to smoke as the propulsion ceases and he begins to fall.
Yes, falling is a pretty sad way to die.
Sho seems to be the focus of shots fired but is wondering if the droid responsible is defective or something since the shots are quite bad.
He makes a minor adjustment and easily clears the incoming bolt.
Pilot skill check=
Raal banks right narowly escaping the Ion bolt, seeing another blast coming his way he dives quickly, and the blast sails harmlessly by, never coming near him.
Seeing Cal hit he watches him carefully for signs of him loosing control of his glider. "Are you all right Cal?" he asks into the helmet radio.
Krassus's jet glider sputters and tries to function, barely holding on. If he takes another hit, he will likely fall to the planet's surface, a very painful prospect.
The sky is filled with two things: the skyhook and blaster bolts. More and more of the defenses are aimed towards them. It would be a good defense against a large attack with airspeeders, but largely inefficient against a small team on gliders.
The afterburners fire up, slowing their descent and giving them the opportunity to make the landing on the patio.
Eyes wide Raal tries desperately to wear away from the bolt, seeing he's not going to make it time seems to slow down for him as his force enhanced reflexes try to twist around the blast . Those watching see Raal twist his body around the blast, miraculously avoiding it.
Coming out of the twist he immediatly banks hard to the left only to wear straight into the coming ion bolt.
His glider sputters a little but Raal quickly gets it under controll again.
Urirawa has to focus now as the defenses open up and try to bracket him in fire.
He manages to weave away from the one burst but the other touches the edge of the foil and the energy ripples into the machine. Smoke flows from the housing as Urirawa feels the engine start to sputter.
He quickly hits a few switches and re-balances the batteries directing some of the power from the left engine to the right engine. It wasn't a perfect fix but it was better than attempting to glide like a brick.
Pilot:
With a spot of piloting so effective that it could be misconstrued as fool's luck, Call avoids the first shot.
Pilot: plus FP 2/6:
And then the true pilot comes out... And the backpack fails. And Call plummets.
Urirawa lands first, a heavy thud against the solid marble floor of the patio. The jet glider takes most of the velocity out of the fall, but it is still very jarring. Sho Larn and Raal land right behind him, heavily striking the floating building. The entry door is about 10 meters away, leading into the skyhook. The patio is adorned with several expensive-looking pieces of furniture and a high, iron railing that appears equally expensive. The view of the planet is fairly impressive in scope, if not subject matter.
While the three land, Krassus continues downward as his jet pack sputters and shuts off. Without assistance, he will likely plummet to an untimely death.
Urirawa distracted by Call continuing to crash downwards doesn't care on the landing and instead reaches for his utility belt where he keeps the liquid cable dispenser with grapple hook.
Urirawa, while prone, aims and fires the grapple at Call.
Fireing his thrusters up Raal tries to soften his landing, gliding in on the patio he lands gently and gracefully.
Seeing Cal plumet past the patio he quickly makes his way to it's edge, ready to leap off after him.
Sho glides in, maneuvering his wings to provide for the most efficient landing possible.
As he glides in, he narrowly avoids Raal's braking thrusters and then Urirawa's prone form.
Looking back to Call, Sho reaches out, using the power of the Force to halt the trooper's fall and move him to he deck.
Sho continues to concentrate on moving Call to a safe position while barking orders. "Raal, Urirawa. Form up a defensive wall. It will take me a few moments to get Call down and we are both vulnerable until then."
"Right!" Raal begins stripping of his glider, taking up his lightsaber he ignites it and takes up a postition in front of Sho.
Krassus, slowed by Sho Larn, reaches out and grabs Urirawa's grapple. It is a literal lifeline for the newly-minted corporal. He arcs down towards the side of the building, hitting it with some force. It jerks Urirawa towards the side, testing the Wookiee's strength.