Log:Saber Squadron: Thyferra: Greystorm's Last Stand

Saber Squadron falls under heavy fire in the race to evacuate a warzone.

OOC Date: May 6, 2022
Location: Thyferra
Participants: Ax, Jax Greystorm as Self/GM, Kael Greystorm, Karas Darkwing, Nerys Greystorm, Sesti Greystorm, Shemar Eisley, Vega, Zelo Parrai, Saber Squadron

[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]

The mission had been to escort some civilians out of a village by a convoy of hover bus, hover truck, and whatever they could find to get people out. The village had been inaccessible by air due to enemy guns, air patrols, and location. So in front of the advance of Sith column it was decided to extract the civilians over night and the early predawn morning. Things had went well till they didn't.

Five clicks out from the village, one of the hover buses started to act up, dragging down the speed of the convoy. Ten Clicks out it was decided to abandoned the hover bus and plans were started to be made to ditch the bus. Fifteen clicks out the hover bus died. It every bit of space on the rest of the vehicles for the civilians. Sacrifices had to be made and people had to be left behind. Those people were members of Saber Squadron.

So it was midmorning, in a jungle clearing, probably the worse spot in the galaxy to be caught with the approaching enemy army. They had a busted hover bus for cover, so they had that going for them.

Jax was currently parked behind the bus, with a holographic map reading of the area. "Alright good news and bad news. NR Intel satellites are showing the convoy getting out of the area. Bad news the Enemy should be on us in moments. No word on extraction... and my maps gone."

[ Ax (A)]

Ax had never wished his wife were on a mission with him before now. While he was decent with a wrench, hoverbusses were far from his specialty, and with greasy hands and a smear of black on his forehead, he mutters a few curses under his breath.

Moving to cover, Ax looks to Jax. "Alright, boss. No extraction, no map, lots of baddies coming up behind us, we can sit here and try to fight off an army or we can keep moving."

Looking about, taking in the terrain, Ax shudders. "Well, we've got plenty of cover at least, should keep aerial patrols from spotting us, but what lives in this jungle and can we cross it without just ending up more lost?"

[ Shemar Eisley (Shem)]

Being left in a bad situation is nothing new to Shemar. Not after his ops with Black Squadron - but here he's the Rookie with a new squadron. And no longer toting the really nice rifle he used to have. So the Lieutent JG has to make due with his stantard military issued rifle that nobody bothered to make him turn in. Garbed in his Trooper armor with ballistic goggles, his kit even blends in with the jungle modestly well. Mostly greens and black.

A frown though as he listens to Jax, "We could hoof it through the jungle instead of standing around waiting. Unless it is your intention we cause a diversion?"

Several people here he doesn't know. Shem keeps his baritone low and waits to find out what their orders will be.

[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]

"I'm the map," came Nerys' voice, from back behind the transport, which she had been trying to hammer into submission. Or at least to get it working again. She had managed limited success, and it was unlikely the thing would be anything but a very large boulder to hide behind for far too long to offer them a way out of the range and strength of the enemy. And so, she kept her gun out. Which did not make working on the thing easy, but then, Nerys rarely did easy. "Just give me some time to calculate another escape path. The most reliable one's been washed out by a research storm surge."

[ Zelo Parrai (Zelo)]

Escort missions... They're never simple. It's not a surprise to Zelo Parrai when the bus begins to show signs of protest. It's nearly expected when plans turn to abandoning the vehicle. It's basically pre-written when the bus gives up its ghost entirely, leaving the tail end of the convoy - and Saber Squadron - dead in the line of pursuining enemy forces. The Mandalorian opts away from the bus, taking a low stance behind a conveniently-proximate tree. Gleaming blue beskar, polished after a recent outing in a swamp, is softened by the shade of foliage and a strategic eye for concealment.

<"Tucking in over here until we get signs. May as well get comfortable and roll out the reception if we're going to be waiting here, right?"> The trusted E-11 carbine is at his shoulder, barrel resting on the joint of a broken branch just about shoulder height, and the Nautolan's H-visor scans for all comers. The first group looking for trouble is going to find it.

[ Kael Greystorm (Kent)]

Kael's drawn his pistols as he turns to look back towards the direction the enemy will be approaching from, "Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine Crabby." He moves off the side of the road as he fades into the shadows, "It's time to hunt."

[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]

The Iridonian embassy yacht had been in the area, coincidentally, when the convoy was called for, and the Iridonian Senator had sent down a small squad of her security detail, along with herself and some medical supplies, to aid in the effort. Now the Iridonian team is split up. Sesti has two of her shadows with her, while the other two had gone with the civilians and to assist in the evac prep for the Squadron.

Of course, all four of them thought that the Senator had gone with the civilians and the two escorting them, because that would be the responsible thing for someone of her pay grade to do. But, this particular politician isn't known to behave like other Senators. She had ducked around under a bush at the first opportunity. Now, she is back, staying low by the conked out metal boulder. Pulling out a pouch, she takes some hardened jerky bars, and offers them to those who are still lurking around the cover of the vehicle.

The two zabrak gaurds look disgruntled, but there is nothing they can do. The other two will find out far too late in the game that one of the civilians is wearing her coat.

[ Vega (Ve)]

Vega wrinkles her nose as the bus breaks down and the gremlin gives a huff as she hops down and rushes around to see what she can do. She rolls up the sleeves of her ebony robes and then wiggles her fingers before she pulls her repair kit out and starts to narrow down what is going on...but there are so many red lights blinking that it's hard to find out what's wrong. Because A LOT is wrong. She manages to fix one of the power converters...but just as she does there's a puff of smoke from something else that pops up. "I might track down the mechanic that 'fixed' this after we're done here." she grumps to herself.

[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]

Jax sits there for a moment, "Sorry I've been working on developing a cheerful disposition." There's a moment of hope from Jax at Nerys talking about trying to find a way out. Then the bus briefly comes to life and then smoke and sparks. That's when the shots start to come in. Long distant blaster bolts raining on them randomly. One of Sesti's guards gets hit and then the other one takes a blaster bolt meant for her. Jax calls out, "Take cover and take your shots. We got incoming. I don't think they're going to let us fade into the jungle. Anybody got any ideas?"

[ Ax (A)]

And, the enemy was upon them. Blaster fire peppers the bus, punching through it with ease. "Next time, armored craft dammit." Ax mutters, drawing the heavily modified Sentinel IV from his holster. Not a great weapon for this kind of range, but better than running into an army of Sith troopers with a lightsaber at the moment. He'd have as much to worry about from his teammates as the enemy.

[ Shemar Eisley (Shem)]

All drek starts breaking loose and Shemar ducks down half way behind the bus - at least until he can see who's starting to shoot at them and where they are. He lays his rifle over the hood of the bus to steady it for the longer distance and lines up his targeting recticle on a .. they look like Stormtroopers! On the exhale he fires a single shot and hits what he's aiming for.

No telling if he dropped the trooper as there is a lot of foliage and he doesn't have the clearest line of sight. No arguing but he glances back over his shoulder at the jungle.

[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]

Nerys, who was still behind the truck, set aside beating said truck into compliance and peeked out, three quick bursts from her pistol yielding no good results, before she pulled back, catching sight of Kael's familiar armor as he dashed out to meet the enemy. "Now he's just trying to make me look bad." She shook her head, clearly giving things a hard thinking over. To stay or go.

[ Zelo Parrai (Zelo)]

Zelo stays as still as he can behind the tree as the blasterfire breaks out, ruining the relative quiet of morning in the Thyferran jungle. Bolts scatter in his direction, but it seems that as much as anything, the oncoming enemy are doing their best to scattershot the road ahead at a great distance and just... Hope something sticks. The Mandalorian has something else in mind though.

<"Pick your targets. Shoot for someone behind the first one you can see. Always a chance the close one will cross just as you pull the trigger..."> Just like Zelo's unfortunate history with birds. And if they don't... Well, then they'll be closer for more effective return fire. As if to illustrate, the Nautolan's black-pool eyes settle on a target in distinctive red armor, shooting just over its shoulder to a running figure just beyond, dropping it into a stunned heap. The trooper in front jumps, wheeling about to look at the crashing sound behind, leaving it planted still for a stun bolt to the spine and its own one-way ticket to naptown. To anyone who didn't see the blue bolts, it may have looked like something from the jungle took them. Just then, a figure charging at the enemy from... Somewhere nearby.

[ Kael Greystorm (Kent)]

Kael just chuckles to himself for just a moment then he draws the sword out as he takes a breath and decides to start playing with their emotions some. Breaking into a run he slices into one of the Sith Troopers watching the body fall from his combat sword as he maneuvers further out of the way of his own friendly blaster fire heading into the thick of the enemy troops, clicking over to the Saber comms, "Keep working you're doing great! I'm sure it'll get better." Then he looks up at the sky, "If we can't fade could we hot extract?"

[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]

No sooner had all the zabrak gotten the fortifying chunks of jerky into their mouths and pulled their helmets back on when the bus sparks, smokes, and sputters out followed by the hail of blaster bolts around them. Sesti's attention was drawn to making sure none of the smoking bus ended up on her when the fight started, and before she can blink both of her guards have singe marks, one from diving between her and the incoming blaster bolt. "Yhasu," she mutters, and anything else she says is unheard as she switches immediately to an Iridonian channel. She pulls a hypo out of her bag for the one that had taken the bolt for her, and makes sure they are both able to take care of each other. Pulling at sheet of metal that had fallen from the bus she covers them as best as she can.

"Where are you going?" one of them asks on regular comms as she draws her sword without turning it on.

Sesti glances back, then echoes her Cousin-in-law's earlier word. "Hunting." She disappears into the trees.

[ Vega (Ve)]

Vega gets shot. Not once, but TWICE. The white haired woman gives a hiss as she ducks around the bus and tries to will the force into giving her some shielding from the incoming onslaught. "Drek!" she shouts as she can't seem to focus. Vega's hands shake as she fails in connecting with the Force for the moment. "Well, you need to get back to fixing the bus. So either get something going or get out there and fight." she mutters to herself.

[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]

The sudden return fire form Saber Squadron was enough to cause the enemy to back off for a moment. They may be fearless mercs in the employment of the Sith. It didn't mean they wanted to throw their lives away against a force of people that seemed capable to fight them. So they hold back for a moment firing only sparingly. It's supposed to be suppression fire before they launch an offensive.

Jax is busy working on his data stream and it pops up in a moment and mostly on a fritz. "I getting a picture. Sorta." That and above all the sound of blaster fire is when Jax can hear it. The distant thuds in rhythm. "WALKERS INCOMING!"

[ Ax (A)] ~ The range was too far for a pistol, at least for Ax with a pistol, so he holsters it and draws out his saber. With a flick of the wrist the elongated hilt hinges and locks to its full length before a pair of dull silver blades emerge with a hiss. A quick spin in hand, and the Echani is stepping out from behind cover, maybe he could lob bolts back at the enemy, or give them something other than his teammates to shoot at, not everyone here was a jedi and capable of feeling the incoming attacks to get out of the way. Besides, the paper-thin materials of the hover bus weren't doing anything for cover.

Then, there's a call out for walkers. Was it even possible to deflect one of those cannons? He didn't know, and unless he was very unlucky, he wasn't going to find out.

[ Shemar Eisley (Shem)]

While the others are running out with swords, light sabers, firing away with pistols, or impersonating trees, Shemar continues to use the bus to steady his rifle. And for cover as well. The pilot turned ground pounder in his trooper armor takes his time to line up a shot and lead a target very slightly, as he sees a Stormtrooper run from one tree to another for cover. The brown skinned man from Tatooine nails the Sith Empire trooper, dropping that one for certain.

Calmly, as the distance continues to close, Shemar keeps focused on shooting as many of these troopers as he may before he's going to have to turn tail and run through the jungle

/Cue music/.

[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]

Nobody made the murderhobo look bad. Nobody. Not even the love of her artificially created life. Knowing Nerys, as many here did, that was probably exactly why she left the truck repair to Vega and took off at a run, keeping her weapon drawn and shooting as she moved, picking off three of the enemy troops incoming as she moved to catch up with Kael, the hand not holding her pistol reaching back to pull a rod from her bag, "Want it?"

[ Zelo Parrai (Zelo)]

Zelo's carbine continues to sent shots down-range, only one finding quick purchase as more of Saber Squadron is engaging up close and personal, leaving shots to be pulled so as not to disable friendlies. The Mandalorian makes note of it, starting to look for cover to move to, away from the advancing foe. He starts backing quickly for the next tree, briefly in the open before finding another willing tree to shelter him from the wild fire of the oncoming enemy.

<"Those of us who aren't getting right into the middle of all that, maybe we want to find a fallback position? I've got you covered if you want to make a move for the trees!"> Running AT the enemy. Not this Mandalorian's style. <"How big a walker are we talking, Jax?"? He calls out, hoping the vocoder will boost his call across the distance.

[ Kael Greystorm (Kent)]

Kael starts to weave into the troopers his sword dancing into the gaps of their armor before he raises his pistol with his left hand and squeezes off a shot at one of the others a bit out of sword range watching it shatter a tree behind them... But at the call of walkers he sighs, switching over to the external speaker, "This has been fun but I think my dance card is a bit full. Maybe you all could keep your friends back there company for us?"

[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]

You could almost say her progress was single minded as the zabrak followed the pinpoint on her helmet display that showed where the shot that had felled her guard came from. The shot that should have hit her. Her feet skim the ground, her head ducking under the leaves to keep them from rustling and her lower body twisting so as not to disturb the vegetation around her as she closes on that spot. The merc was certain of his cover keeping him from being shot as he looked to site in on his next shot, he barely had time to raise his head and look over his shoulder when the whir of the vibrosword flicked on. In two rapid slashes it was done, that sniper was not getting up again. Crouching low next to the body, Sesti hears Jax's warning and places a hand on the ground to feel for the vibrations of the walker. She looks at the trees around her speculatively.

[ Vega (Ve)]

"Screw it!" Vega shouts as she scoots around the bus and goes back to working. Hopefully if anyone tried to shoot at her they'd be too distracted with the other stuff that was going on. She just wanted to get this big hunk of junk moving again! Also, who let kids work on this wire harness?! She mutters obscenities under her breath as she works.

[ Karas Darkwing (Kar)]

Karas was kept back and honestly he didn't mind it at all. It was time to get acquainted with his new X-Wing, it was a T-70, still they are still damn deadly. Spark was scanning the area as they stayed parked in a location that kept them hidden. Though after a bit of time, Spark get's his attention. "Yeah." he says as he looks to the data screen and he gets the incoming message from Saber Squadron, he raises a brow, "Alright, time to get ready." he says as he begins strapping in. The engines were warmed, but it wouldn't take him long to get to his team. <<Saber 07 is on the way. Hang in there.>>

[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]

Jax listens to them for a moment, "Enough and they didn't tell me!" Is Jax's response to the question about the walkers. Jax over fire at a couple of troops but misses. The Hover bus is one more step to getting us out of here and it's soo close.

It's then that in a flanking maneuver a large force of troopers emerge from the forest opening fire on Saber Squadron trying to catch them in a cross fire. Sabers are getting injured.

Off in the Distance a trio of AT-STs can be seen to appear and they're marching toward the team in their clanky chicken walker way. They would be in range soon. Jax frowns and calls out, "Load up in the bus! Get the injured out!"

Karas had wind of what's going on and he's on his way. Though what did Jax and the rest hear, "07.... hang. " In between Static.

[ Ax (A)]

With injured, and the bus maybe drivable, Ax moves to cover those gathered. It was more about protecting his squadmates than it was hurting the enemy. "Get on the bus!" he yells out to those still around, hoping those that weren't could hear him. "We've gotta bolt!"

[ Shemar Eisley (Shem)]

He can /hear/ the AT-ST walkers and see them coming through the trees in the distance. It distracts him and just then, some of the Stormtroopers are flanking them and shooting from the side - at a much closer range than expected!

Shemar is hit, a bolt taking him in the side and scortching a hole in his Trooper armor. It throws him against the side mirror of the hover bus and the pilot almost goes down, more surprised than near dead. Shem grabs at the bus with one hand and lets his rifle fall on it's tactical sling, "Son of a Hutt!" The former Black Squadron SF officer pulls a grenade from his kit, "FRAG OUT!" and even though he's just been shot and hurt, the shock of it and adrenaline hasn't allowed the pain to kick in yet. Clearly.

The throw is far and right at the extreme range but Lt. Eisley manages to land that frag right in among some of the advancing troopers, blowing them into the air along with much dirt.

Sucking a breath, the injured pilot starts to try and get his ass up into the bus as ordered.

[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]

"Why are we moving people to the truck? Aren't there some jedi here? Didn't Vhe teach you guys anything?" Says the murderhobo who was once yeeted to safety by said Vhe Tanara. "Throw them in and let's go!" Except Nerys was not going. Mostly because they did have to cover their retreat, and becuse there were some skills even Nerys Greystorm did not possess. She could walk back, at a slow and steady pace, but that was as far as saving herself went.

[ Kael Greystorm (Kent)]

Kael hasn't really waited for them to respond to being asked to dance with the walkers instead of him however one trooper did show that he can shoot a blaster and hit a target... A hiss of pain as Kael staggers a back, "Ouch! You shot me!" He moves to stab two of them and shakes his head some as the sword bounces off their armor before he starts to head back towards the bus rotating just long enough to fire one last friendly shot in their direction.

[ Zelo Parrai (Zelo)]

The endless waves of blaster fire. That's the trouble when a squad fights an army. Your numbers don't renew, but theirs always do. Zelo's looking everywhere, to cover squadmates, to spot advancing walkers, for any sign of backup. As his HUD points out enemy after enemy, there's an information overload and in that one... Distracted second, a blaster bolt DEFINITELY not set to stun takes the Mandalorian in the left arm, neatly impacting inside the durasteel armplate, causing a gout of blue blood to spatter into mist and muddle the gleaming blue beskar's fresh polish. There is likely swearing inside that custom beskar helm, and at the joints where helm meets suit, a faint red light may be spotted. <"Moving for the bus. If Vega doesn't have it running in a second, I'll push it with my rocket pack. If that's what it takes."> Each step is determined, ignoring the blood loss as twin shots each find targets, dropping more red-armored troopers to the jungle floor. Hopefully they'll be stepped on by those walkers. The Nautolan doesn't much care right now.

[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]

Hand still on the ground, Sesti looks up as the Walkers begin to appear. She hears the call to fall back to the truck/bus, whatever it is that's sort of working, now. She looks between the brokenish vehicle and the walkers, and figures that vehicle isn't going to be able to travel too fast. She looks at the trees and branches around her, looking for vines or anything... She finally decides that maybe, somehow, she can pull some saplings down, and tie the tops together so that they will tie up the legs of at least one walker and slow it down. She pulls the strap off the dead merc's rifle, and jumps up to grab a sapling a little ways up. She pulls it down towards her, and loops the end of the strap around the tap, holding it down as she reaches to try and pull another sapling down to meet it, she jumps... and her feet leaving the ground lessens the weight on the sapling she already has in hand enough for it to straighten back up rather rapidly. Sesti's still hanging on to the strap and wraps her arms and legs around the tree until she gets her bearing enough to jump to the ground when it bends back again under her weight. That didn't work, and she's got some nice scratches, now. Nobody saw that, right?

[ Vega (Ve)]

Vega's going to have a talk with whatever connection she has with the Force and ask for a refund. Maybe because she has to share with her twin? Who knows. She's turning her wrench when she gets shot again and the white haired woman feels her knees turn somewhere near the consistency of jelly. "Be lucky I'm occupied!" she shakes her head at the incoming. When the bus starts up she shoves the hood down and crawls her way onto the bus, "I live here now..." she mutters as she finds a place to crawls under. Her bb-unit warbles at her. But she bats it away from under the seat.

[ Karas Darkwing (Kar)]

Dusting off, "Hold on Spark, this is going to be like flying through Sullust in Spark 3." he says. Karas grins, and Spark gives warning whistles, "It wasn't that bad. The Tie Maulers barely hit us." he says as he glances back to his long time friend.

Upon getting to the right level then power flows through the engines of the T-70. Karas knew he had to get to his squad mates, he wished he could be there with them but he knew his role very well and the X-Wing hurtles through the sky, using the clouds as cover, to hide his approach from their foes. Spark turns on one of Karas favorite music beats as they fly. With the natural cloud cover and smoke coming up from the ground, the T-70 X-Wing is hidden pretty well. Though as he nears the location where the rest of the squadron is, the cloud cover and smoke were light and heavy. "Here we go."

Karas flips the s-foil switch and the strike foils of the iconic starfighter opens up into the traditional X position. A smile comes over Karas face, "Damn I missed flying in one of these!" he says as a loud tottle erupts from Spark as the AT-ST's appear on the sensors. <<Fire in the hole>> he calls out to Jax. A loud "THWEEP!" can be heard coming from the sky then twin pinkish/purple light streak through the clouds bursting them open as they dive in towards their target, then the trademark screams of the quad Incom-FreiTek 5L5 fusial thrust engines roars through the area, followed by red energy blaster bolts streaking in as well. The X-wing is in a steep dive, and as it fires it's powerful quad laser cannons, the fighter rolls between a set of large buildings!

[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]

Jax mission was now to get everyone on the hover bus. He raced out to help Kael, the furthest away of the injured troops. He moves forward with his pistol just past his cousin and opens fire at the enemy forces. That's when Saber 07 goes racing past in a strafing run of laser canons and torpedoes. Dirt and mercs go flying. AT-STs are burning ruins from Kara's shooting. Jax actually looks confused for a moment at his blaster and the carnage. Then it sinks in what happened. He holsters his blaster and helps shoulder Kael, "Let's get out of here and when did you get so heavy?"

When everyone is loaded up and the Hover bus is moving. Jax opens up the Saber Squadron's com unit, <Thanks 07. Better get back home before the Daggers show up.>