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An Acquisition Run
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| Major_Jaksun | Date: Monday, 22 Jun 2015, 2:53 AM | Message # 1 |
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| It was easier with his eyes closed. He could pretend he wasn't moving.
It was only when Major Alexis "Lex" Jaksun opened them that he became aware of the Imperial freighter moving slowly, but surely nearer to him. Or so it appeared; in fact, it was he who was approaching the cruiser, with nothing more than his enviro-suit to protect him from the ravages of space. The freighter, as full as it probably was of Imperial stormtroopers, wouldn't be much safer. But Jaksun would take his chances with blaster bolts, as he'd done many times before. First, however, he had to get inside...
"I can't see behind me so I'm just going to hope you're still there," he grunted into his helmet communicator, probably to distract himself from the sound of his own breath, quickening as the cruiser appeared larger and larger before him. "Remind me the next time the Princess asks us to do one of these 'blue milk runs' to say no," he said, quoting Princess Leia's words sardonically. Jaksun wasn't the type to be nervous; indeed, he'd accepted the job as enthusiastically as he did any other for the Alliance. But now, a week later as he dangled helplessly in the void of space, he appreciated just how much he preferred to do his fighting in the dirt.
He thought he'd had enough dirt after Felucia. He was wrong.
"Okay, here we go."
He held tightly to the handles of a rectangular, datapad-sized device—the MLC-50 Magnolock. It was small and appeared simple, but in fact the Magnolock was a powerful device capable of attaching to metal surfaces with a strength that almost rivaled molecular bonding. Jaksun held it out in front of him, took a deep breath, and braced for impact. A moment later, Lex Jaksun's world was a crash of light and noise. The air was knocked out of his lungs as he hit the hull of the Imperial ship hard, and his nose hit the visor of his helmet and began to bleed. Only his years of discipline and sheer strength kept him from losing his grip on the Magnolock and bouncing off the hull and back into space. Instead, the Magnolock held firm and so did he.
It's only polite to knock before entering, he thought to himself as he took a moment to regain his breath, knowing that Anubis Xerxes was right behind him and would be performing the same maneuver any second now. The thin, filtered air from his suit was unsatisfying. What he wouldn't give right then for a breath of warm, tropical air from Yavin.
Alexis "Lex" Jaksun
Major, Gundark Squad
Alliance Special Operations
Message edited by Major_Jaksun - Monday, 22 Jun 2015, 2:55 AM |
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| Anubis_Xerxes | Date: Tuesday, 23 Jun 2015, 0:36 AM | Message # 2 |
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| “Relax. I’m still here, verd.” Anubis would respond in Mandalore accent. Verd is a word that means soldier in Mando’a. A small chuckle
would soon follow via the helmet communicator. Instead of wearing an enviro-suit,
he already had his personal Mandalorian Shock Trooper Armor to protect himself
from the breathless void known as space. The idea was derived from the Clone
Wars, when clone troopers had to fight in space in dire situations. Anubis was
hardly nervous, but rather excited.
He may have had his share of warfare against the Empire, but this was the first time doing a mission with the
rebellion. There were options Anubis could have easily taken like many of his people did: either be a Mandalorian Protector and patrol their own
space, or become a bounty hunter and earn lucrative amount of credits. However,
money can never buy the freedom he so crave for his own people. He did not join
solely to fight for other Mandalorians, but also a chance to gain honor and
glory. Anubis was not far behind Major Jaksun, and he was packed with his usual
choice of weaponry. For Mandalorians, that could mean be a one-man army. In addition to the guns and thermal detonators, he brought a canteen of water.
Anubis came prepared, in event they happened to run into one of those
Inquisitor son of bitches.
The young Mandalorian wanted to prove to his new allies that he was a worthy warrior. Once Major Jaksun landed relative safely, it was his
turn to do so. He did not possess a MLC-50 Magnolock, but he did possess a
magnetic gauntlet on each wrist. While Jaksun’s enviro-suit might not make any
sound landing onto the outside surface, his armor might. Utilizing the magnetic
gauntlets to touch down, he may not have nosebleed or winded lungs. However, he
almost lost his grip in landing. Anubis did not have the years Jaksun had, but
he became a warrior at birth. Anubis was preparing for this day, as well as
several days ahead. Letting out one heavy sigh, “Let’s make some noise, Major.”
~Anubis Xerxes
Mandalorian warrior/rebel soldier
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| Major_Jaksun | Date: Tuesday, 23 Jun 2015, 1:33 AM | Message # 3 |
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| Jaksun glanced at Anubis Xerxes out of the corner of his visor, and nodded. It was his first time working with the Mandalorian, and Lex wasn't sure that he trusted him just yet. Mandalorians had a reputation for being guns-for-hire, and the most famous one of all—Boba Fett, of course—was rumored to be on the payroll of the Empire. But Anubis seemed different; a quiet man, he seemed to feel the pain that the Empire had inflicted on his homeworld of Mandalore, and hated the Empire just as much as Jaksun did, and possibly more. He could trust the Mandalorian at least this far, but what Lex didn't know was whether he could trust Anubis in a fight. The Mandalorian craved "honor and glory," and Jaksun had seen plenty of glory-seekers get themselves killed in this war. Hopefully, Anubis Xerxes was different. Time would tell.
"Check Evasive-13's," he said into his helmet comm, looking down at the small device on his belt as he did so. Both of them had been assigned with Evasive-13 individual field disruptors, a device which allowed them to pass through energy shields. Without it, they would have been burnt to a crisp on contact with the freighter's shields, and never so much as touched the hull. So the Evasive-13's were working so far, but it didn't hurt to be sure. "Check," he said.
On his back, Jaksun wore what appeared to be a large, durasteel canister, slung over his shoulders like a backpack. Along with the Evasive-13's and the MLC-50 Magnolock (or magnetic wrist gauntlets in the case of the Mandalorian), it was the final piece of technology they needed to get inside the Imperial freighter; an MM-40 thermal charge. Essentially, it was a limpet mine. But whereas limpet mines exploded with a highly-concentrated blast capable of blowing open a blast door, the MM-40 was capable of destroying an entire building.
General Tagge had been right all those months ago on the Death Star when he insisted that the Rebel Alliance was "well-equipped."
Jaksun, however, didn't enjoy wearing such a hugely-destructive device on his back and he was happy to remove it. He did so carefully, inviting Anubis to help him secure it on the freighter's hull. The ship (a Mobquet medium transport, manufactured ironically by a TaggeCo subsidiary) was mostly hollow. The placement of the MM-40 charge, therefore, didn't need to be precise; wherever they put it, the resulting hole would almost certainly be large enough to get them inside a cargo bay.
"We won't want to be too close to this thing when it goes off," he explained to Anubis as he retrieved a length of synth-rope from a satchel at his hip. By far the most low-tech item on this mission, he looped the cord around one of the handles of his Magnolock, handed one end of the cord to Anubis and clasped the other to his enviro-suit. With both of them tethered to the freighter, they'd be able to drift a good fifty meters away from it when the MM-40 detonated and the air inside the ship blasted out into space. "Care to do the honors?" he asked Anubis, having handed him the detonator.
Alexis "Lex" Jaksun
Major, Gundark Squad
Alliance Special Operations
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| Anubis_Xerxes | Date: Wednesday, 24 Jun 2015, 1:25 PM | Message # 4 |
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| The Mandalorian would look down at his belt, and simplynodded at the Major as a sign of confirmation that the field disruptor was
working. He took a couple steps forward to help the man set the charge up,
putting his hands down to ensure the bomb was secure. Once the bomb was safely
secured, Anubis proceed to grab the end of the synth-rope handed to him. “I’m
aware of that, Major.” The warrior would not be a Mandalorian if he did not
know to keep distance from a blast radius.
Just as Jaksun did not trust Anubis completely, so did he.
Anubis would never go into a mission without digging up some information with
people he has yet to work with before. He knew Jaksun came from Corulag was a
world that was the best model for “Imperial Excellency.” However, he would put
all reservations he has on hold until after the mission. Anubis believed that
to study a person’s true intentions is to see how one fights. Actions speak
louder than words, which is one of the reasons why Mandalorians tend to revolve
around warfare.
Tying the synth-rope firmly to his belt, he shifted his
attention toward his new ally. “Sure. I prefer close quarters combat to
exploding osik though,” osik meant dung in Mando’a, which he basically meant
shit. Anubis would grab ahold of the detonator, while another hand of his would
grasp the synth-rope tightly. “I don’t care if we get the damn ropeburns. We will
only have a few moments before those or’diniise regain their footing. Alright?”
Or’diniise meant morons or fools in Mando’a. The truth is, he have never felt
necessary to talk more than it is needed to. Anubis pressed the button, and
soon thereafter, a hole was created.
That is when Anubis would toss the detonator aside, and
grasping the snyth-rope firmly as quickly in an attempt to rapidly move toward
the newly-created hole. Obviously, he was intensively prepared for combat.
~Anubis Xerxes
Mandalorian warrior/rebel soldier
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| Major_Jaksun | Date: Monday, 06 Jul 2015, 3:47 AM | Message # 5 |
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| (( Sorry about the delay. I haven't been feeling great. ))
The blast made no sound in the vacuum of space. Neither did Jaksun feel it, for all of the concussion from the blast was directed into the ship. But the detonation made for an impressive sight as a large section of the ship's hull appeared simply to implode, followed by a violent release of air and blackened debris from inside the ship. One cargo crate in particular might have posed a danger to Jaksun were not he and Anubis a safe distance away from the ship. A moment later, a couple of tugs on the synth-rope would bring him, too, into the ship's cavernous cargo bay.
It was as badly-damaged as one would expect, with many cargo crates having been blown open, their contents floating chaotically in the sudden absence of gravity. The cargo bay itself appeared to be clear of hostiles; a Mobquet medium transport could expect to have perhaps a squad of stormtroopers aboard, perhaps more but certainly not less. By now, they would know that a boarding action was in progress and, if they were smart, would take up strategic positions on opposite sides of the ship, in the engine room and on the bridge. Not that stormtroopers were particularly smart, in Jaksun's experience, but the Imperials would probably want to avoid engaging them in the cargo bay and risking more damage to their precious cargo.
"Okay, meet me on that catwalk there," Jaksun said to Anubis, pointing out a durasteel catwalk that traversed the length of the cargo bay, with doors on either side of it leading fore and aft. Jaksun produced a knife from a satchel on his hip and used it to cut the synth-rope free, then turned off the field disruptor—he didn't need it now that they were inside. "And remember to turn off your Evasive-13," he added, "I don't want to get fried by it."
He planted his feet on an intact section of wall and launched himself cautiously toward the catwalk, pushing small pieces of debris clear of his path as he did so. A moment later, he'd meet up with Anubis, grasping a hand-rail on the catwalk with a gloved hand. "Well, they know we're here now," he said, and explained to Anubis where he expected the stormtroopers to be. "Since time isn't on our side, I think one of us should go for each target. Why don't you take the bridge, if you think you can handle it, and I'll secure the engine room? And watch out for sentry droids, by the way. Looks just like a friendly R2 unit, but if you get too close it'll just as soon shoot you as make friends."Added (06 Jul 2015, 3:47 AM)
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Within 20 minutes, it was all over.
The stormtroopers Jaksun had encountered on his path to the engine room had been of the smarter variety, falling back from one corridor to another and using each as choke points that Jaksun had to fight his way through. He wasn't usually the boarding party in a boarding action, but he was well-trained in how to repulse a boarding party and was able to recognize the tactics that the stormtroopers were using. More than once, he was able to force them back by tossing a power pack behind their cover—naturally, they assumed it was a grenade and ran for it. They figured it out eventually, though, and one of them tossed one of those actual, pesky stormtrooper grenades at him; but it wasn't like Jaksun to be slowed down by a piece of shrapnel in his leg. Just a flesh wound, he told himself.
By the time he pushed his way to the engine room, he'd only managed to shoot one of them, a bone-colored form moving through the smoke who received a fatal shot from Jaksun's A280 rifle. But once in the engine room, it was clear the stormtroopers had no further plan, and once in the open Jaksun made short work of them--five of them, in all—with his A280 and one of the stormtrooper's E-11 blaster rifles. The E-11 was notorious for poor accuracy, and gave stormtroopers an unfair reputation for having poor aim. But Jaksun loved its high rate of fire in close-quarters. The stormtroopers, not so much.
Meanwhile, he could hear the sound of blaster fire from elsewhere in the ship; the Mandalorian, it seemed, was making good. Once the ship's repeatedly-blaring alarm fell silent, Jaksun knew that Anubis had command of the bridge. After checking the engines for any sign of sabotage, and finding none, he re-joined the Mandalorian on the bridge. He had encountered only two sentry droids on the way; one of them had got the jump on him and added another scar to his collection, this one below his right arm. But the droid had got the worst of the fight, decorating the corridor with its metal remains.
"Nice view you found here," Jaksun said admiringly as he gestured out the bridge viewport at the stars outside. "I'd rather look at space then be in it," he said, making a safe observation in present company.
The Major made his way to the navigations console, noting the corpses of three-man bridge crew on the floor. He probably wouldn't have killed them, personally, but it seemed the Mandalorian had other ideas. Jaksun couldn't even guess the number of Mandalorians that Anubis had seen disappear into slavery, his friends and perhaps even his family among them. He couldn't blame the man for being as punishing to the Empire as it had been to his planet and people. He looked away, programming a hyperspace jump into the nav console. "Good to go!" he announced to Anubis as the Mandalorian took up a position at the helm. An instant later, they were in hyperspace. "Green grass, blue skies. I'm going to be happy to have Barkhesh under my feet," he remarked.
"Now let's see what we have here," Jaksun grumbled to himself, loud enough for Anubis to hear as he accessed the ship's computer and pulled up its cargo manifest. "Bacta tanks—looks like Mon Mothma's intel was good. Got to hand it to the Bothans," he said as he continued looking through the manifest. Since the loss of Yavin Base, the primary focus of the Alliance was on replenishing its supplies, often with the plunder or theft of Imperial freighters such as this one. This shipment of bacta tanks, and the accompanying supply of bacta, would be much needed in the Rebellion's new base. He was less-convinced about the next item on the list: "T-47 airspeeders? Not good for much else than moving cargo," he mused. "But you never know, they might come in handy."
Jaksun shut down the console at joined Anubis at the helm of the ship, taking a seat beside him and putting his boots up on the control panel. "Seems you did all right for yourself," he said as he rolled up his blood-stained pant leg to get a look at the shrapnel wound in his thigh. Aside from an occasional wince, the pain didn't show on his face, or if it did, it was indistinguishable from the grimace he usually wore. "Did you get hit?"
Alexis "Lex" Jaksun
Major, Gundark Squad
Alliance Special Operations
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| Anubis_Xerxes | Date: Friday, 17 Jul 2015, 10:44 PM | Message # 6 |
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| Indeed, Anubis knew his way around warfare. Thosestormtroopers the Empire had employed were far less formidable opponents than
their former clone counterparts. It would have been a little harder to fight
the clones, though. It was not the fact they had the abilities to possess
superior fighting skills. It was the fact that they were the template of the
infamous Boa Fett’s father, Jango Fett. Technically, to some Mandalorian eyes,
they were brethrens. Somewhat, he was relieved he did not have to kill a clone.
The young Mandalorian may seems like his only expertise wasin warfare, but he knew very well survival against the Empire requires
extensive knowledge of everything about the Imperial Society. Anubis had agreed
to attempt to take over the bridge. He had expected the smarter, the more
talented soldiers would defend the bridge with their lives. Unlike star
destroyers or cruisers, where they could afford to send hundreds of soldiers to
utilize their policy of overwhelming enemies with sheer numbers, security were
much less tighter. Jaksun had the experience advantage over the Mandalorian,
but his advantage was technology Anubis possess at the moment.
With the HUDs imbedded within the helmet, he was able to uselifeform detector to get a read of the defensive barrier as the last line of
defense before breaking into the bridge. He decided to use the WESTAR-34
blaster pistols as primary choice of weaponry, to provide himself flexibility
in combat. There was a team, four in fact, of stormtroopers stationed at the
door. They didn’t seem to be too bright by simply protecting the door too close
to each other. Anubis would use his free hand to grab ahold of a thermal
detonator.
Patiently waiting behind the end of the corridor, andfinally, he would activate the detonator and threw it toward the stormtroopers.
However, he did not wait until it had reached the doorway. He didn’t have to do
so. From that point on, he used the pistol to fire at the detonator. It would
give his enemies less time to react. Once hit, it would blow up in three of
four whites’ faces. The last one Anubis would shoot with his own pistol. Moving
to stand in front of the door, he would take a portable version of a thermal
bomb to stick it on the door. Activating it, he moved far enough back not to be
impacted by the explosion radius.
His HUDs already indicated the bridge possess a three-mancrew. Because of noises he made, element of surprise is gone but not completely
out of picture. An explosion would be heard, and rocked the ship a little bit.
Looking through his HUDs, he barged through a temporarily-held smoke screen and
shot two of three men to death in an instant. The last crewmember remaining put
himself on his knees, begging to be spared. Without any hesitation, he blew the
man’s brains away. “Why should I?” Anubis sneered at the final corpse.
When Jaksun had reached the bridge, he would see Anubis hadreceived less damage. Mostly there were evidences of his armor grazed by a few
laser bolts. Obviously, the stormtroopers were shooting badly. They didn’t
manage to hit the weak areas of his entire armor. If Jaksun had paid attention
closely, the rebel would see the third corpse being killed in an execution
style. That showed how much hatred he had for the Empire. Anubis shifted his
attention toward his new comrade-in-arm, “Yes. When we are in this position,
staring at the stars feels peaceful.” The warrior spoke in response to Jaksun’s
reference to space.
Acknowledging their next stop was at Barkhesh, he moved tothe helm at indirect request of the Major. Anubis certainly was not a man of
many words, keeping his helmet resting on his head as he still did not trust
the Major completely just yet. Bacta Tanks were the priority of the rebel
alliance, and he could see why. However, he wasn’t sure about the Bothans. “Bothans?
Why should we trust them? They have a tendency to play both sides of war in
order to gain maximum profits.” Now, it appears Anubis like to dig up extensive
informations.
The Mandalorian raised his eyebrows, and decided to inquireabout T-47 airspeeders a little bit. “What would we need them for? The Empire
has AT-ATs and AT-PTs. They’re made of heavy armor, no doubt some of them from
mining in my space.” He snarled a little bit when he reminded himself of
Imperial occupation of Mandalorian Space. “I sure hope Mon Mothma knows what
she’s doing.” Anubis had no problem expressing his opinions, one of several
little things he hold closely to his heart due to the restrictions of freedom imposed
by Galactic Empire.
The warrior shrugged his shoulders, “Well, the whites aren’tthat impressive anyway. Then again, it might not take long before they send
someone more formidable for us to deal with.” The young warrior would point at
the scratches all over his armor from blaster hits, “Nothing that would matter.
Is that thing bothering you?” His asking was a reference to the shrapnel embedded
into Jaksun’s thighs.
~Anubis Xerxes
Mandalorian warrior/rebel soldier
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