Essien, Sunday late morning [FHT]
Everything had changed now that the Jedi were in the war. The Mandalorians took Essien weeks ago and the Republic was helpless to stop them. Now that Jedi were following Revan's cause to help the Republic, there was a chance to take the planet back. But even they couldn't do it alone. And they weren't the only new arrivals to the war....
Before the ships had even finished landing, the Jedi were out in force on their swoops. They could jump out ahead. The Republic Navy was great, but it didn't have a formal army. Instead, ships like the Reciprocity carried local militias outfitted with whatever was handy. The new soldiers and militia didn't have swoops. They barely had body armor. Nearly all of them had blasters.
"It's your lucky day, rookies!" the squad sergeant shouted once the ramp dropped. "Stay well behind the Jedi and you may see tomorrow! Hit the beach!" They only had a few dozen meters through knee-deep water to reach the beach. "Everyone on shore! It's all clear to the--"
Even though the water was shallow, the Mandos were able to hide it in long enough to launch a surprise attack that cut down the sergeant.
"Ambush!" one of the rookies, Garcy, called out in a panic. "Sarge is hit! We need the Jedi back here! We need--" He was briefly interrupted by the snap-hiss of a lightsaber blade coming to life, then the sound of deflected blaster bolts. "... Zayne Carrick?"
Zayne's sidearm was safely holstered on his belt as he pushed forward, deflecting any blast that came near him. He didn't care much about the battle. He was just trying to keep his squadmates alive. They were young and scared, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just like him. Again.
Zayne closed in on the Mandalorian troops, getting close enough to slice one blaster rifle in half, then Force pushing two Mandos into each other.
"What do we do, Zayne?" Garcy asked as the rest of the militia started to pull back while the Mandos ran off to get help.
"We move, Garcy! Now!" Zayne ordered. "Hurry, those Mandos are returning with.... help?" It wasn't the Force that clued him into the Republic command skiff moving in. Really, it was the sudden darkness as the skiff's shadow fell over him. It was with horror that he realized what was about to happen. "GET DOWN!" he yelled as he dove for the water just ahead of the skiff opening fire on the Mandalorians.
Zayne didn't appreciate the skiff firing with its own troops nearly in the crossfire. He also didn't appreciate the killing of unarmed, retreating enemy soldiers. But it made sense when he saw who was commanding the strike from the skiff. Dallan Morvis. Zayne figured that there could be worse captains to get assigned to, but he couldn't think of one.
"STOP!" Zayne yelled over the sound of blaster fire. "STOP! They're retreating!"
"Who's the yelling, Shipmaster Scrope?" Morvis asked from the skiff as Zayne started to run towards the ship. "You're supposed to be in charge of the Phaeda militia wretches."
The Dashade, Scrope, sighed. "Like to turn the cannon on this one myself, sir. It's Private Carrick."
"Zayne Carrick? The Jedi washout?" Morvis asked, panic rising in his voice. "You didn't tell me he was aboard! I know that boy! He's a jinx!"
"Worse than that, Captain. He's a coward! He's been trouble for the trainers since he was drafted. Won't first his weapon!" Scrope explained. "They thought if they let him carry that Jedi bantha prod of his he might actually hit someone with it."
By the time his name was done being sullied, Zayne Force jumped to the top of the skiff. "Cease fire! Cease fire! The Mandies on the beach aren't a threat anymore!"
"Cease fire?" Morvis repeated. "What in blazes for? This is payback, Carrick! For Serroco! For the Courageous! And everything else the Mandalorians have done! They showed no mercy, neither will I!"
Since they wouldn't listen to reason, Zayne took matters into his own hands and pulled the gunner away from his controls. "I said STOP FIRING!"
"Stop interfering!" Morvis ordered. The guns were silent, so Zayne stepped back for the moment. "Get out there and fight like a soldier or I'll have Scrope show you a real slaughter!" Just to emphasize the point, Scrope held up his clawed hands menacingly.
"There's a better way to do this, Captain!" Zayne pleaded. "You've just got to..." Zayne trailed off as he saw a large object flying through the air toward the skiff. "Got to... GET BACK!" He held out a hand and Force-pushed Morvis and Scrope out of the way just as a Mandalorian Basilisk War Droid landed on the skiff, driven by a female Mandalorian and what looked to be a small child in armor.
The impact was too much. Not only was the skiff damaged, but the Mandos on the war droid were flung off and thrown into the water, seemingly with their helmets knocked off. Zayne, naturally, started to climb down to help the downed Devaronian Mando. "Hold on," he said, pulling her out far enough that she wouldn't drown. "I'll get you out..."
The Mando started muttering in Mando'a before reaching up to backhand Zayne. Once he staggered back, the Mando started calling out, "Gheedor! Gheedor!" before spotting her son and pulling him out of the water."
Apparently recovering on the deck of the skiff, Morvis started ranting, "That blasted jinx brought that war droid down on the skiff! Where did he..." He paused when he saw the Devaronian hugging her son. "A Mandalorian! SHOOT HER! SHOOT HER!"
Hearing that, Zayne hurried over to the Mandos and ignored Morvis's pleas of "Carrick! Get out of the way!"
"Hang onto the kid, lady!" Zayne shouted as he hit the ignition switch for her armor's jetpack. Scrope drew his weapon and opened fire, but it was useless as she flew off.
As he watched her fly to safety, Zayne rubbed his face lightly. He was going to have a bruise there. "Why does everyone I help punch me in the face?"
He was answered with a punch to the face that knocked him down, courtesy of Morvis. "That's what you get for helping the wrong side, Carrick! That's woman's our enemy!"
"That woman had a child, Captain!" Zayne reasoned. "Or didn't you see?"
"They're insane, bringing their younglings into battle," Morvis countered. "She's probably training that whelp to put a missile into the Senate! And they didn't worry about our children on Serroco! Why would the Jedi ever train someone like you?"
Picking himself back up once again, Zayne's voice turned cold. "They were training me. Until my crazy teachers saw the future and decided it'd be better if I weren't in it. I lived but my classmates didn't. And that's when I learned, killing people doesn't save the future. It destroys it. So you can draft me, but you can't make me fight. I don't trust myself to decide who should live or die. I'm sure not going to trust you. I don't even think the Jedi are smart enough."
"Sounds like something I once said, son," a kindly voice said from behind him. Zayne turned to see the Jedi from the strike team standing there, three alien women flanking an older man. The man continued. "No one was a bigger iconoclast than Dorjander Kace. But I'm more agreeable in my old age." Kace turned toward Morvis and nodded. "My Jedi have secured the beach, Captain Morvis. Who's our young critic? He looks familiar."
"Him?" Morvis asked. "He's nobody. Fine work on the landing, Master Kace. Let me say again what a pleasure it is to be working with a Jedi High Councilor!"
"Former Councilor, Captain," Kace swiftly corrected. "If I hadn't stepped down, I wouldn't be here, helping to stop the Mandalorians. And they have stopped. This lot, anyway. They've taken refuge in the forest. It helps that they're superstitious about Jedi." Kace turned to point toward the distance. "My team will fly over to secure Mount Savage, but we'll need ground troops to root out the Mandos hiding in the forest."
"That could be time consuming," Morvis argued. "I have a better idea. Let's just burn it down. We've got plenty of Tibanna Six. We can remove the forest in less time than it takes to prepare the shells."
"Burn?" Kace asked, sounding shocked for a brief moment. "Yes. Yes, that would work."
"Why do you have to do that?" Zayne demanded. "They're already hiding from you! Why can't you just take them prisoner?"
Kace let a small laugh escape. "Now that is a strange concept. Whatever would we do with Mandalorian prisoners? You can't win a war set on stun." Kace shook his head. "Proceed at nightfall, Captain. And bring every hand from Reciprocity with you. There are prize vessels at the shipyard!"
"Excellent!" Morvis said. "I'll take command of the militia personally. You can count on the Republic Navy!"
"I'm sure I can, Captain," Kace said as he and his team mounted their swoops. "I'm sure I can."
[OOC: Adapted from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - War #1 by John Jackson Miller and Andrea Mutti. I don't think all of the posts I'll be scattering across the next couple weeks will be this long. Especially not when I have another post set later that day. Like today!]
Before the ships had even finished landing, the Jedi were out in force on their swoops. They could jump out ahead. The Republic Navy was great, but it didn't have a formal army. Instead, ships like the Reciprocity carried local militias outfitted with whatever was handy. The new soldiers and militia didn't have swoops. They barely had body armor. Nearly all of them had blasters.
"It's your lucky day, rookies!" the squad sergeant shouted once the ramp dropped. "Stay well behind the Jedi and you may see tomorrow! Hit the beach!" They only had a few dozen meters through knee-deep water to reach the beach. "Everyone on shore! It's all clear to the--"
Even though the water was shallow, the Mandos were able to hide it in long enough to launch a surprise attack that cut down the sergeant.
"Ambush!" one of the rookies, Garcy, called out in a panic. "Sarge is hit! We need the Jedi back here! We need--" He was briefly interrupted by the snap-hiss of a lightsaber blade coming to life, then the sound of deflected blaster bolts. "... Zayne Carrick?"
Zayne's sidearm was safely holstered on his belt as he pushed forward, deflecting any blast that came near him. He didn't care much about the battle. He was just trying to keep his squadmates alive. They were young and scared, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just like him. Again.
Zayne closed in on the Mandalorian troops, getting close enough to slice one blaster rifle in half, then Force pushing two Mandos into each other.
"What do we do, Zayne?" Garcy asked as the rest of the militia started to pull back while the Mandos ran off to get help.
"We move, Garcy! Now!" Zayne ordered. "Hurry, those Mandos are returning with.... help?" It wasn't the Force that clued him into the Republic command skiff moving in. Really, it was the sudden darkness as the skiff's shadow fell over him. It was with horror that he realized what was about to happen. "GET DOWN!" he yelled as he dove for the water just ahead of the skiff opening fire on the Mandalorians.
Zayne didn't appreciate the skiff firing with its own troops nearly in the crossfire. He also didn't appreciate the killing of unarmed, retreating enemy soldiers. But it made sense when he saw who was commanding the strike from the skiff. Dallan Morvis. Zayne figured that there could be worse captains to get assigned to, but he couldn't think of one.
"STOP!" Zayne yelled over the sound of blaster fire. "STOP! They're retreating!"
"Who's the yelling, Shipmaster Scrope?" Morvis asked from the skiff as Zayne started to run towards the ship. "You're supposed to be in charge of the Phaeda militia wretches."
The Dashade, Scrope, sighed. "Like to turn the cannon on this one myself, sir. It's Private Carrick."
"Zayne Carrick? The Jedi washout?" Morvis asked, panic rising in his voice. "You didn't tell me he was aboard! I know that boy! He's a jinx!"
"Worse than that, Captain. He's a coward! He's been trouble for the trainers since he was drafted. Won't first his weapon!" Scrope explained. "They thought if they let him carry that Jedi bantha prod of his he might actually hit someone with it."
By the time his name was done being sullied, Zayne Force jumped to the top of the skiff. "Cease fire! Cease fire! The Mandies on the beach aren't a threat anymore!"
"Cease fire?" Morvis repeated. "What in blazes for? This is payback, Carrick! For Serroco! For the Courageous! And everything else the Mandalorians have done! They showed no mercy, neither will I!"
Since they wouldn't listen to reason, Zayne took matters into his own hands and pulled the gunner away from his controls. "I said STOP FIRING!"
"Stop interfering!" Morvis ordered. The guns were silent, so Zayne stepped back for the moment. "Get out there and fight like a soldier or I'll have Scrope show you a real slaughter!" Just to emphasize the point, Scrope held up his clawed hands menacingly.
"There's a better way to do this, Captain!" Zayne pleaded. "You've just got to..." Zayne trailed off as he saw a large object flying through the air toward the skiff. "Got to... GET BACK!" He held out a hand and Force-pushed Morvis and Scrope out of the way just as a Mandalorian Basilisk War Droid landed on the skiff, driven by a female Mandalorian and what looked to be a small child in armor.
The impact was too much. Not only was the skiff damaged, but the Mandos on the war droid were flung off and thrown into the water, seemingly with their helmets knocked off. Zayne, naturally, started to climb down to help the downed Devaronian Mando. "Hold on," he said, pulling her out far enough that she wouldn't drown. "I'll get you out..."
The Mando started muttering in Mando'a before reaching up to backhand Zayne. Once he staggered back, the Mando started calling out, "Gheedor! Gheedor!" before spotting her son and pulling him out of the water."
Apparently recovering on the deck of the skiff, Morvis started ranting, "That blasted jinx brought that war droid down on the skiff! Where did he..." He paused when he saw the Devaronian hugging her son. "A Mandalorian! SHOOT HER! SHOOT HER!"
Hearing that, Zayne hurried over to the Mandos and ignored Morvis's pleas of "Carrick! Get out of the way!"
"Hang onto the kid, lady!" Zayne shouted as he hit the ignition switch for her armor's jetpack. Scrope drew his weapon and opened fire, but it was useless as she flew off.
As he watched her fly to safety, Zayne rubbed his face lightly. He was going to have a bruise there. "Why does everyone I help punch me in the face?"
He was answered with a punch to the face that knocked him down, courtesy of Morvis. "That's what you get for helping the wrong side, Carrick! That's woman's our enemy!"
"That woman had a child, Captain!" Zayne reasoned. "Or didn't you see?"
"They're insane, bringing their younglings into battle," Morvis countered. "She's probably training that whelp to put a missile into the Senate! And they didn't worry about our children on Serroco! Why would the Jedi ever train someone like you?"
Picking himself back up once again, Zayne's voice turned cold. "They were training me. Until my crazy teachers saw the future and decided it'd be better if I weren't in it. I lived but my classmates didn't. And that's when I learned, killing people doesn't save the future. It destroys it. So you can draft me, but you can't make me fight. I don't trust myself to decide who should live or die. I'm sure not going to trust you. I don't even think the Jedi are smart enough."
"Sounds like something I once said, son," a kindly voice said from behind him. Zayne turned to see the Jedi from the strike team standing there, three alien women flanking an older man. The man continued. "No one was a bigger iconoclast than Dorjander Kace. But I'm more agreeable in my old age." Kace turned toward Morvis and nodded. "My Jedi have secured the beach, Captain Morvis. Who's our young critic? He looks familiar."
"Him?" Morvis asked. "He's nobody. Fine work on the landing, Master Kace. Let me say again what a pleasure it is to be working with a Jedi High Councilor!"
"Former Councilor, Captain," Kace swiftly corrected. "If I hadn't stepped down, I wouldn't be here, helping to stop the Mandalorians. And they have stopped. This lot, anyway. They've taken refuge in the forest. It helps that they're superstitious about Jedi." Kace turned to point toward the distance. "My team will fly over to secure Mount Savage, but we'll need ground troops to root out the Mandos hiding in the forest."
"That could be time consuming," Morvis argued. "I have a better idea. Let's just burn it down. We've got plenty of Tibanna Six. We can remove the forest in less time than it takes to prepare the shells."
"Burn?" Kace asked, sounding shocked for a brief moment. "Yes. Yes, that would work."
"Why do you have to do that?" Zayne demanded. "They're already hiding from you! Why can't you just take them prisoner?"
Kace let a small laugh escape. "Now that is a strange concept. Whatever would we do with Mandalorian prisoners? You can't win a war set on stun." Kace shook his head. "Proceed at nightfall, Captain. And bring every hand from Reciprocity with you. There are prize vessels at the shipyard!"
"Excellent!" Morvis said. "I'll take command of the militia personally. You can count on the Republic Navy!"
"I'm sure I can, Captain," Kace said as he and his team mounted their swoops. "I'm sure I can."
[OOC: Adapted from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - War #1 by John Jackson Miller and Andrea Mutti. I don't think all of the posts I'll be scattering across the next couple weeks will be this long. Especially not when I have another post set later that day. Like today!]