| abstract
| - While such a vast area, there really aren't that many J'rathi in sight - perhaps six at most. What is a little more threatening are two J'rathi battle torpedoes skittering about the hold. Dylar slowly steps out of the cruiser, his rifle up and ready. As he exits he takes a quick look around before he waves for the rest to file out quickly and immediately takes aim at one of the battle torpedoes and fires off two shots. Meanwhile he speaks into his helmet's comm, "I want an E-web set up and ready now! Divide up your fire, 2 per J'rathi, and the rest focus on that other battle torpedo!" he commands. The sudden arrival of Stormtroopers catches the J'rathi off guard, and their duty carbines chirp, but the shots go wild. The battle torpedoes, on the other hand, begin skittering at break neck speed towards the Imperials. Dylar's first shot glances off the armor, the second goes wide. A pair of blaster shots speed towards the Darktrooper in return. Dylar does his best to not allow the fire to distract him. He curses as his shot misses the first time however he quickly double taps the trigger again and sends two more rounds towards the torpedo, praying that his shots will hit this time. Dylar's first shot goes wide, but the second hits dead on - and the battle torpedo crumples to the ground. The second one considers on a crash course towards the Imperials - firing yet again at Dylar. In the meanwhile, the multitude of Stormtroopers have managed to kill all the J'rathi by sheer firepower - only one injured amongst them. Dylar quickly changes his target to the second torpedo and fires off two more rounds, again doing his best to not let the pain of being shot affect him or his concentration. Again, one of Dylar's shots connects. With the hail of fire from the E-Webs, its enough to send the second skittering droid down for the count - leaving the Stormtroopers safe to advance deeper into the ship. Dylar quickly scans the area for anyone targets still alive, "Get the wounded back on the ship, I want an E-web team and 10 troopers standing guard, the rest form up on me." he says calmly. Perhaps the Dark Trooper is ahead of himself, as footfalls and the clamp of metal on metal softly echo. "All security to engineering and hangar bay! All security to engineering and hangar bay!" echoes over the overhead speakers. As if to punctuate the announcement, eight J'rathi enter the bay, carbines blazing away. On the ceiling are another pair of battle torpedoes. Dylar grunts and nods towards the incoming, "Heads up! Take out those torpedoes first!" he barks out as he braces himself for a moment before he launches one of his missiles towards the group in hopes of taking a few out, the main target being the J'rathi soldiers. He then speaks into his comm, "I've got reinforcements coming my way, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get out to engineering." Dylar's target explodes in a hail of shrapnel, though the explosion doesn't do little other than make a mess of the environment. The various J'rathi quickly move to cover, staying safe from Imperial counter-fire for the moment. It seems to be stalling tactics, to cordon the Stormtroopers in this location. In the meanwhile, the torpedo continues scampering forward, a laser lashing out at one of the E-Web teams. Dylar quickly changes targets and immediately shoots one of the torpedoes, "Keep firing!" he calls out. The E-web team changes it's aim to open up on the other torpedo as well as two other stormtroopers while the rest lay down fire to keep the J'rathi in cover. Under a hail of fire, the second torpedo crumples as well, smashing into the ground with a resounding echo. The J'rathi and Stormtroopers continue to exchange fire. One of the STs falls with a groan, clutching a heavily bleeding armor, while two of the J'rathi have their shields overwhelmed by Imperial firepower and meet their end. They continue to exchange fire as eight figures in stormtrooper armor run in to support the J'rathi. Dylar immediately changes his aim to the incoming 'stormtroopers' and locks on to them with his single remaining missile, however he does not fire just yet, instead he chooses to work on the known J'rathis, "Keep firing, if those men in armor open up, return fire, otherwise, focus on the J'rathi." he says calmly, deciding to not take a chance. He then Immediately speaks over his comm, "If there are any troopers in the landing bay they better identify themselves now! And what's your status Davis!?" One of the J'rathi drops, the plasma blast blowing through the shield and frying the poor alien. As the fire is continued to be exchanged, the stormtrooper armored individuals announce their allegiance by firing upon the Imperials. Dylar grunts, "Damnit, open fire on 'em all!" he barks as he fires off his missile towards the stormtroopers. Meanwhile the E-web takes over setting down suppressing fire while the other troopers take the time to pick off individuals. As the Imperials return fire, three of the Storm'rathi become heavily injured, dropping prone and firing rather inaccurately. At the same time, the rest of the more elite J'rathi return fire. This time, the stormtroopers suffer - two of the Emperor's finest lose their lives in the line of duty. Dylar moves his aim to his next target and opens up, "Keep firing!" he calls out in hopes to inspire his troops and keep them fighting, "Will the rest of the 10th please report in." he says over the comm as he shoots. One of the E-Webs has its fire go completely wide, while another sends a Storm'rathi whirling to the ground. Before any rejoicing is possible, however, the J'rathi rising to a crouch and begins returning fire. Of course, the victim of Dylar's plasma cannon won't be getting up. Ever. As the hail of fire continues, another stormtrooper drops to no other J'rathi losses. Several shots even head towards the Dark Trooper. Perhaps even worse, another pair of Storm'rathi enter - each with a large rifle-like weapon in hand, a projectile weapon of some sort. Dylar tilts his head slightly as he spots the incoming storm'rathi with projectile rifles, "Take them out!" he calls out and fires his shots towards one of them while the E-web opens up on the other and and the stormtroopers continue to work on cutting down the J'rathi. Once he fires he speaks into his comm, "It's a war zone down here, we're pretty much held down in the hangar bay, I'm afraid that if we split up we'll be overwhelmed." Dylar and the E-webs all converge on a single target, vaporizing the J'rathi before it can fire. However, the second one raises the rifle and a 'poomph' echoes as a grenade goes careening towards one of the E-Web teams. All the meanwhile, the J'rathi and Imperials continue to exchange fire. A Storm'rathi takes a painful hit and another J'rathi falls to just another stormtrooper injured. Dylar takes aim at the second projectile wielding man and opens fire, ordering the others to return to taking on the remaining J'rathi. The grenade lands right where desired, upon one of the E-Web teams. The resulting explosion tears the weapon to pieces, and scatters its two gunners. The return volley, however, renders the second grenadier dead. Tragedy isn't limited to the E-web team, as another two Stormtrooper fall, though their lives are traded for three of the carbine-wielding J'rathi. Dylar quickly takes aim at the remaining living J'rathi and opens fire, double tapping the trigger to send two low yield plasma grenades. "Everyone pick a target and take it out!" he orders to the group. He then switches over to his comm, "We can probably hold the landing bay for a little while longer, did we get the shield generator off-line?" The last J'rathi falls back, badly injured enough that it won't be getting back up. As the Imperials allow their fire to spread some more, they pick off three of the injured Storm'rathi, and injure another, while another Stormtrooper dies to a well-organized return fire. Dylar takes aim at two J'rathi and fires at both of them, 1 shot per J'rathi in hopes of killing the group off sooner. Dylar succeeds in killing two of the Storm'rathi, and the fire from the other side slacks for a moment. Then, eight running figures come sprinting through. Hundreds of bullets come flying towards the stormtroopers, forcing most to duck their heads. The goal seems to be the J'rathi fighters. A fair amount of the bullets heads towards the Dark Trooper. A little taken back by the sudden barrage of fire coming at him Dylar takes a moment to figure out whom exactly to shoot at. After a short moment he takes aim at the fastest two J'rathi and opens fire. The first two J'rathi disappear in balls of plasma, not but ash and charred limbs remain. Two of the J'rathi lower themselves to a knee, grim looks across their faces as they load a new clip into their carbines. The other four continue at a dead sprint towards the fighters. The pair of kamikaze gunners grimace as they send a hail of 70 bullets at the Darktrooper. Dylar grunts as a hail storm of 20 more bullets glance of his armor, causing small sparks to fly. The other shots go wide hitting the walls behind him. He turns slightly and takes aim at those fleeing for the fighters and double taps his trigger in hopes to taking out two of them, "Gun down those four before they get to their fighters!" he calls out. At the current moment in time, Dylar and a large amount of stormtroopers are a short distance off the ship and currently engaged with a large amount of J'rathi, both attempting to gain control of and hold the landing bay. Halus jogs in from the engineering bay and sighs, shaking his helmeted head. "Sam hell." He unslings his blaster rifle and takes aim at a J'rathi, squeezing the trigger to unleash a couple of bolts at the intended target. The Imperials aren't quite as lucky this time. The Major, although one of his shots goes embarrassingly wide, manages to peg one of the J'rathi in the leg, slowing it down. The Darktrooper misses his first target, but knocks the second one off of its feet - leaving it badly burned but still alive and kicking. The concentrated Imperial fire finishes off the two injured J'rathi and kills another, but it still leaves one nearly to the fighters. The two J'rathi gunners decide discretion is the better part of valor, and withdraw towards cover. Meanwhile, the overhead PA blares to life: All Storm'rathi to the Hangar Bay. Clear out Engineering. Dylar curses as he hears the PA announcement, "Heads up boys and girls, looks like we're gonna be a few more guests." he calls out. He then takes aim at the last J'rathi and fires both his shots at him, "Keep you're fire going, don't give them a chance." he calls out. "Nerf-herdin..." Halus mutters and switches his target to the J'rathi nearing the fighters, pulling the trigger again. The last J'rathi runs as fast as its feet can take him, and its shield glows brightly as a ball of plasma sends it spinning. As it crawls back up to his feet, an E-11 blast pierces his struggling shield to score its chest. But the brave alien still isn't stopped, and continues towards the fighters - a painful grimace across its face. Meanwhile, a small group of Storm'rathi appear in the entrance of the landing bay. Several sprint towards the fighters, while other move to find defensive positions. At least two appear to have rather large weapons - rocket launchers, more specifically. Dylar takes aim at the new arrivals, namely the two with the heavy weaponry. He drops to a knee and takes a moment to steady his aim before he fires off two more shots, one per heavy. He then begins barking out orders, "Take out those ones running for the fighters!" he barks out, "Once they're gone help me take out these heavies!" he barks out. "Damn bag of organs," Halus grunts, firing two more shots at the uncooperative J'rathi still heading to the fighter. "Die already!" The Major's shots hit the J'rathi just as it finally reaches its goal - the nearest fighter. The back of the alien's head is naught but vapor and goo as it slides, dead, to the floor. Bolts fly back and forth as the Storm'rathi and remaining Stormtroopers duke it out. Dylar's shots find direct hits on both targets, and while they burn through armor they don't take the rocketeers out of the game. A twin pair of screams echo through the entire bay as a pair of rockets, turning into huge blasts of blue energy, streak towards the Darktrooper. Dylar grunts as he listens to the comm, "Yeah, we're all still pinned down, and seems like it's going to be even worse soon. PA said they are clearing out Engineering and for all Storm'rathi to report to the hangar bay, our location. So if you would please hurry up, we're gonna need a lot of help soon. What is your situation?" he asks as he taps the stud on his overly large rifle and sends to more gifts towards the J'rathi heavy troopers. Halus takes a few shots at another J'rathi heading for a fighter. "Dammit, shoulda brought grenades..." Another Stormtrooper keels over as the Storm'rathi's covering fire strikes home. A haggard cheer raises in the J'rathi lines as a proton grenade explodes on Dylar's chest, and then quickly dies as the Imperial tank survives the injury with little more than a scratch. The Darktrooper's return fire vaporizes both of his targets. However, two Storm'rathi are quick to throw aside their E-11s to pick up the rocket launchers dropped. On the other hand, the Major's shooting hits, but merely slows, one of the Storm'rathi as smoke wafts from its white plastoid armor. The situation is beginning to look dire for the Imperials. The landing bay is pitted and scarred by blaster, plasma, and missile fire. Debris lies scattered, not only from destroyed J'rathi battle torpedoes, but from various pieces of equipment unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire. J'rathi bodies are piled nearly everywhere, while a majority of the Stormtroopers, true to the Tenth, lie dead nearby the Nova Burst. A group of four J'rathi, one just shot by the major, make their ways towards the fighters. By the entrance, behind a makeshift barricade mostly of supply crates, are a recently arrived group of Storm'rathi, some injured Storm'rathi, and one J'rathi who has managed to survive unscathed to this very moment. Another pair of J'rathi are to the side of the Imperials, hiding in a different group of crates and nursing their little remaining ammunition - the survivors of the first rush to the fighters. An E-Web team keeps the second group of J'rathi pinned, while a surviving group of 5 uninjured and two injured stormtroopers keep the Storm'rathi honest. Corporal Tajen Dylar, the Darktrooper, holds the center of the Imperial line and seems an elemental force to weather any storm - perhaps the only reason the Imperials have managed success so far. Major Halus is nearby, finding no paucity of targets as the J'rathi are continuously reinforced. Another three soldiers stride from the Nova Burst, moving towards Dylar's position, weapons coming up as they go. Gerrin and his two companions remain in relatively close proximity, the only thing noticeably different about the troopers are the crimson pauldrons on their armor. "Protect the Emperors assets. Take heavy weapons first." He reaches into his belt pack, extracting a small cylindrical object, which he looks to throw towards the nearest J'rathi group. Dylar fires off two more rounds towards the new Storm'rathi who picked up the rockets, "Make sure to keep those J'rathi away from the fighters!" he barks out. He then switches over to his comm, "Sergeant Prax, what's your situation?" Halus takes another couple of shots at a J'rathi headed for the fighters. "Coulda been a speeder mechanic," he grumbles to himself. Sergeant Shandon Gerrin's grenade arcs high in the air, exploding on contact behind the lagging Storm'rathi. A flash of light, blinding to anyone looking at it without the proper filters, expands, and when it dissipates there's no Storm'rathi there. The shockwave of the blast sends the remaining Storm'rathi stumbling to the ground. Major Halus' accurate blaster fire burns through one of their helmets, leaving that alien to never get up again. But with good comes bad. Plasma fire kills one of the rocket launcher wielding Storm'rathi, but the second manages to load and fire a missile. While the missile doesn't directly hit Dylar, it sends a massive EMP blast through the hangar - and the powerful armor is forced to shut down, hardened life support and reserve power all that is keeping the shell of a man within alive. Gerrin brings up his own rifle, the sleek weapon swinging to bear on the remaining rocket launcher, "Keep firing." Is the order given to his own men, as his finger tightens on the weapons trigger. The crimson pauldroned troopers are spread out a little more now, each seeking their own cover. Halus shoots at a prone J'rathi. "Coulda been a speeder mechanic," he repeats to no one in particular. The Imperial Guard Sergeant's trio of bursts hammers the rocketeer in the chest, dropping the alien to the ground which ends with a squeak of protest by the plastoid plates. Major Halus' shooting, on the other hand, removes a hand from one of the Storm'rathi send sprawling by the blast. One of the red-pauldron Stormtroopers fires at the pair of J'rathi snipers, freeing the E-Web to focus at the entrance to the hangar bay, while the other finishes off Halus' injured Storm'rathi. The final Storm'rathi rises to his feet and continues to hurtle towards the fighters. Another of the Emperor's finest falls at the hands of the Storm'rathi to no trade. Even worse, four more Storm'rathi trot in to support the flagging J'rathi, one carrying a sniper rifle. Halus turns to aim at the J'rathi headed for the fighter and squeezes off a couple of bolts in its direction. The first of Halus' bolts skims his targets shoulder, but the second pierces its spinal cord. The Storm'rathi flops to the ground like a fish out of water. Gerrin is a little less lucky. While his shots hit successfully, the sniper is merely badly wounded - and now has a target. Another quartet of Storm'rathi enter the Landing Bay, but the chatter of an E-Web rips apart one, and sends the rest skittering for cover. Stormtroopers and Storm'rathi trade fire, but so far all it manages to do is keep everyone's head down. Gerrin ducks behind the gutted battle torpedo that is his cover as the sniper returns fire. His rifle is switched to one hand, and he tugs a bronzed sphere from his belt pouch, rising long enough to lob the grenade towards the doorway. Halus squeezes off two more shots, directed at the J'rathi sniper. Gerrin's grenade doesn't quite do what it's intended to do. As he throws, it slips from his hand and bounces in the middle of a pair of Stormtroopers. One throws himself to the side, the other rises to run and is quickly gunned down. Ironically, the grenade itself is a dud. On the other hand, Halus successfully guns down the sniper, the twin bolts spinning the Storm'rathi around and sending it sprawling on the metal deck. Two Storm'rathi quickly rise, and send four blaster bolts at the Major - attempting to avenge their fallen comrade. Gerrin grunts under his helmet and rises to one knee again, sighting along his rifle and unleashing another automatic burst at the two J'rathi who rose to fire at Halus. Finished with his grenade antics for the moment it seems. Halus falls as he is seared thricely with blaster bolts. "Nerf-herdin'...!" He struggles to get back on his feet, a slur of profanities eminating from his helmet. One of the J'rathi that pops up has its helmet winged, and quickly drops below for cover. The E-Web continues to pound away as yet another four Storm'rathi enter, but are quickly pinned. A red-pauldron Stormtrooper finishes off the pair of sniping J'rathi as they finish off their last clip and attempt to run back to their lines. Another Stormtrooper dies as a lucky blaster shot melts his helmet. Sooner or later, the Imperials are doomed to be overrun - especially if reinforcements continue at the present pace. Gerrin tilts his rifle, checking a meter mounted on the side, showing a bar, sitting at about halfway. With another quick movement he raises above his cover, firing a burst at the nearest abomination. Halus struggles to one knee, picking up his rifle and aiming it at one of the J'rathi. The situation has changed little since the Darktrooper last powered down, except that there are more Storm'rathi present, albeit without all the fancy weapons currently in hand. They are clustered by the entrance to the Hangar Bay, scattered amongst the cover presented there. Although there's one less, missing most of a torso - gift of Sergeant Gerrin. Dylar powers back to life and quickly takes in his surroundings before he raises up his gun and returns to finding a target and summarily destroying it. He quickly takes aim at one of the J'rathi and opens up, after firing immediately looking for cover, "Any J'rathi get to their fighters?" he asks quickly. 3 hits and all of them bounce off the trooper's hardened armor. "Any word from the others?" Dylar asks over the comm as he takes aim and fires again at some poor J'rathi. Halus grunts and takes another shot at one of the J'rathi. The Sergeant and Major both choose the same target, and between their storm of blaster bolts the J'rathi falls to the ground dead. Dylar's plasma bolt removes the upper torso of another Storm'rathi. One of the newly arrived Storm'rathi manages to move quickly past the E-Web cordon, and it begins to aim an A280 at Dylar. Another Storm'rathi, still caught in the crossfire, also begins to draw a bead on the Darktrooper. Not much can bother the Darktrooper, Gerrin is sure, but an A280 might hurt even him, the Guardsman swings his E-11F to bear on the alien with the really big gun, releasing a burst of fire at the creature. Dylar grunts as he quickly watches the A280's arrive and changes his aim to focus on one of them, namely the one that Gerrin hasn't already fired at. He double taps the trigger with hopes of blowing the J'rathi away. Dylar manages to neutralize one of the snipers, but Gerrin only manages to wound the second one. The J'rathi centers the Darktrooper in its scope and squeezes the trigger. Gerrin grunts, "This is a stalemate. We need to do something special, make a hole, if you got any tricks left, pull them out." He fires again at his previous target, the wounded A280 wielding J'rathi. Dylar grunts, "I'm out of missles and grenades." he says calmly. he quickly looks around before he too fires at the other A280 wielding J'rathi. He then sighs, "So I'm out of guesses." he grunts. Plastoid armor is used for a reason, and it keeps the J'rathi unharmed from Gerrin's all-to-accurate shooting. However, plasma fire is a bit more than it can handle, and Dylar leaves a burning body behind. From the ranks of the Stormtroopers hurtles a fragmentation grenade, and it manages to scythe through several Storm'rathi. But, it only kills one. Gerrin shouts, "DOWN!" To his own side as he fishes out and throws his own weapon overarm, only a C-22, but it could provide a fun distraction. After his last attempt with a grenade, the stormtroopers would be unlikely not to follow his order. Dylar grunts as he ducks while Gerrin throws the grenade. Once it's exploded the Darktrooper stands up and hits the first target he spots with two shots from his grenade launcher. While Dylar's plasma grenades detonate prematurely, merely throwing the J'rathi off its feet, Gerrin's fragmentation grenade shreds two of the Storm'rathi. In the meantime, three Storm'rathi rise and quickly move to get a better shot at the E-Web. Two of them quickly perish, but the last one gets a lucky shot that hits the E-Webs power pack, and the massive weapon falls silent. Gerrin sighs quietly, snapping a fresh powerpack into his rifle before rising again, firing at the J'rathi who silenced the E-Web, "They better hurry up if they want anyone to be left when they get here." The Guardsman ducks back behind his cover. Dylar snorts, "And what do we do when they do arrive, being followed by all those J'rathi seeker missles?" he asks with a grunt as he moves to pick off yet another J'rathi. Both Dylar and Gerrin's targets find themselves rather dead. Quite dead, to be specific. But by now most of the other Stormtroopers are dead, and the Imperials are easily outnumbered by the J'rathi. Time of the essence, the J'rathi do as they are ordered - they break cover and charge, blaster blaring. Gerrin chuckles quietly and raises himself once more, firing full auto into the charging J'rathi before throwing his blaster rifle back over his shoulder, into the back harness. With a soft crackle, his grey gloves come to life, an eerie glow surrounding the Royal Guardsman’s hands as he waits for the charging aliens to close. Dylar continues to shoot at the J'rathi with his overly large rifle, not really worrying about close quarters combat just yet. Firing on full auto, Gerrin's shots go a little wide. But one manages to hit its target, knocking it to the ground - although it climbs back up just as quickly. The two other Royal Guardsmen - the ones with red pauldrons - move to back their commander, each taking out a Storm'rathi before removing a force pike from their back - the weapon that they are trained and deadly with. Meanwhile, the three surviving stormtroopers, one badly injured, move to flank the large Darktrooper, who manages to easily kill one of the Storm'rathi. The E-11 fire does little to slow down the charging aliens, but it does injure two and kill another. One of the J'rathi is just in front of the other and jumps a small obstruction as Gerrin steps out to meet it, swinging wide, he attempts to grab the aliens forearm, slamming an open crackling palm into the armored elbow, trying to force the limb to bend, the wrong way. Dylar takes a step back and takes this chance to fire his last shot before moving to hand to hand, this time he aims at two J'rathi in hopes of knocking them both out, or at least seriously wounding them. Crates are scattered by the entrance, and were obviously providing cover at one time judging by the amount of J'rathi corpses piled there. As the Imperials enter, two plasma grenades go arcing through the air, exploding and missing their targets. Their bright flashes glimmer off the ruined hulks of multiple J'rathi battle torpedoes. The only sight of J'rathi are their backs, as they've deserted their cover to swarm the remaining Imperials. One pocket of Stormtroopers, all wearing the red pauldrons of Royal Guardsmen, is led by Sergeant Shandon Gerrin. The Sergeant snaps a Storm'rathi's forearm in half, despite the plastoid armor, in a fearsome display of Tactical Defense. The stun gauntlets on his hands leave the alien an unconscious mess. The two other guardsmen, force pikes in hand, stab and skewer those who get close, and several more bodies lie around them. Tragically for the Imperials, one falls to a point blank blast from a daring Storm'rathi. Another pocket, the survivor's of the Tenth, surround Corporal Tajen Dylar, the Darktrooper. Dylar's armor is scarred and pitted by hundreds of bullets, blaster bolts, and even missiles, but still whole. Only three other Stormtroopers are with him, one badly injured - the Tenth, as usual, did the dying. Another one continues the tradition, but they're giving as good as they get. The hangar has become a slaughterhouse. The position is in the process of being overrun. What sounded like a suicide mission is close to living up to its reputation.
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