| abstract
| - The military base is abuzz with activity, thanks to the System Defense Initiative. Ships are in transit between orbit and the planet's surface at all hours, as refittings, repairs and personnel transfers take place. Now is no exception. The NRCV /Audacity/ sits on its landing pad, a short walk from the FleetOps control center. Her CO, Commander Jared Starwind, is standing near the foot of the craft's aft boarding ramp while its quartermaster oversees the arrival and storage of new equipment. Starwind isn't really paying much attention to that, though, his eyes locked on the incoming air traffic, his arms folded across his chest and his lips drawn back into a thin, pensive line. The Bothan known for his cold disposition slowly walks out onto the massive landing zone, wearing his usual clean uniform. His walk is slow as usual, his piercing eyes sweeping the field to locate where everyone is, as if calculating where any possible threat could be. As he walks towards his ship, he notices the position of Starwind. He changes his direction slowly before he stops a few feet short of the Commander and comes to attention calling out, "Sir, do you have a moment?" A grizzled man with maybe a few more years behind him than he'd like, and *definitely* more fights behind him than he'd like, Master Sergeant Merreck Pelx, Bandit Company First Platoon's senor NCO, wades through what crowds there are at the landing area, working his way towards the Audacity. He's a large man-- not really all that tall, but solidly built, with the kind of square jaw recruitment posters aspire to. His uniform is that of a Marine-- a set of simple fatigues in a dark midnight black, the Republic crest on one shoulder, and his unit patch on the other. He pulls up even with Starwind, and does a quick little brace to attention. "Commander. You sent word." It's a question, but not, at the same time. "Nothing but," Commander Starwind replies easily, his gaze staying on the incoming traffic a moment longer before he looks down towards the Bothan. "At ease," he says first, smiling wryly and arching a questioning eyebrow at Askrut, his arms remaining folded. "What do you need, Mister Melan'lya?" he asks, even as he turns his head and nods in response to Sergeant Pelx. "I did." He pauses a moment, eyeing his stance, and quickly adds, "You relax, too. Your Lieutenant'll hurt me if I let you sprain something." Looking towards Starwind for another few moments, it is rather hard to get an impression of his disposition. The Bothan then slowly stands down to a more comfortable position before he raises his paw in which he has a datapad. He slowly extends the pad towards the CO before he slowly adds in, "Sir, this is the latest intelligence report from HQ that you are to read. It is sufficiently...updated." The Bothan's ears then slowly flatten against his head, the eyes staring towards his superior. Pelx snorts derisively at Starwind. "Just lookin' out fer your delicate naval officer sensibilities," he growls, completing the image of a terminally grumpy NCO. Starwind reaches down to accept the datapad from Askrut, bringing it up so that he can peer at it critically. "Cool. Thank you, Mister Melan'lya." He looks to the Bothan again, gesturing at the datapad questioningly. "Anything in particular you think deserves my attention, or the whole nine yards?" he asks, tucking the datapad into his jacket pocket to be read in a more private setting. His eyes flick sidelong to Pelx, one side of his mouth twitching upwards into a grin. "My delicates appreciate it," he replies lightly, inclining his head. The wookiee pilot lands his A-Wing in the Landing Zone, along with his wing mate, a human man with close-cropped black hair. Popping open the canopy, he swings his way out of his fighter with easy, going to speak with the man briefly, who claps him encouragingly on the shoulder. The jaunt had a simple training mission, and his commanding officer assures him that after looking over some data from the data recorders, they would meet later for a debriefing. For now, however, Cheko is on his own on the base. After promising (in grunts and growls, of course) to meet in the man's office the next morning, the wookiee makes his way around the landing area, gazing curiously at some of the ships and side-stepping the occasional astromech droid or technician. Looking towards the CO for a few moments, the Bothan has the same expressionless look upon his muzzle. The eyes do another sweep of the area before the Bothan says slowly, "As you know, I believe everything to be of vital importance. However, for your current situation I do not feel anything is so demanding that requires your specific attention, Sir." The Bothan's hands slowly fall back to his side, looking serene except for the cold and calculating eyes. Aranzael appears on a walkway, his white and red half-cape fluttering gently in the breeze. His helmeted head slowly scans the landing zone, occasionally pausing to scrutinize someone or something that grabbed his attention. Eventually, he moves away from the edge of the walkway and descends onto the landing field to walk among the ships. The marine Master Sergeant makes a vague, non-committal noise that might charitably be called an agreement. "You Fleet types. Going to talk all night, Jared, or tell me what's so karking important that I stopped beating up recruits for it?" Pelx asks. "Super," Starwind replies to Askrut, nodding once and lightly patting the pocket he'd tucked the datapad into. "And thank you again." He pauses a moment, his eyes squinting slightly. "Just, ah. Out of curiosity... when's the last time you took some time off?" he asks, his brow furrowing as he inspects the Bothan. "Took in some recreation?" He pauses when Pelx speaks up, swiveling around to give him a patiently amused look. "As soon as I know Mister Melan'lya is taken care of. You could go arm-wrestle someone 'til we're through. Like..." His eyes scan the landing zone and he claps his hands once, pointing towards the very difficult to miss Wookiee. "Him!" He, Pelx and Askrut are standing near the boarding ramp of the NRCV /Audacity/, while new supply crates are being brought on board. The man in mandalorian armor, passing by a nearby B-Wing, catches the wookiee's attention. It's not everyday you see a man dressed like that, after all, and it does demand a moment's consideration. It was a mighty fine cape, after all. Cheko nods to the man as his helmeted gaze sweeps in his direction, growling out a simple comments. "I saw you on the news feeds a while back, I believe." Hopefully he understood Shryiiwook, but not all beings were enlightened enough to understand such a beautiful language, after all. The Bothan's ears remain close to his head but, his canines are shown slightly as the marine speaks. He remains quiet for several moments before the Bothan looks back to his commander and says coolly, "If you include my interrogation of the Imperial pilot...several weeks." The voice has a mixture of disinterest and an all-business sort of zeal. He waits a few more moments before he says slowly to Starwind, "Sir, while the Empire exists my duty is to annihilate it in any way I can. I wish to make them feel pain..." Pelx just rolls his eyes, scowling at Starwind. A big meaty hand points a finger at him. "You," he declares pointedly, "are not funny." A pause, and the man adds, "At least, not as funny as you *think* you are." Aranzael nods slowly at the wookiee in passing, not understanding the speech, but optimistically perceiving the growls as friendly. Again, he turns to the ships in the field, scanning once more as if searching for something. "And that's very admirable of you, really," Starwind replies to Askrut, returning his gaze to the Bothan. His expression and posture have changed, though it's subtle - his gaze is a bit sharper, jaw a little more tense. "But our job is not to annihilate the Empire, Mister Melan'lya. It's to protect the freedom of the Republic's people from their violence and oppression. There is a difference, and if you have lost sight of it, I'd recommend you take some of that R&R time we just talked about. Take the opportunity to see someone about your wish to cause them pain, maybe. Reevaluate." He leans down a touch. "My officers know their duty. If what you've just said is accurate, you've forgotten yours." After a pause, he straightens again, but it's a long moment before he looks away from Askrut to again regard Pelx. "Heard from Ipex yet?" he asks, his expression unchanging. The sergeant shakes his head at the question, only sort of listening to Starwind talk to Askrut. Not his business how the commander deals with his command. "No," he grunts irritably. "But I'd assume you'd know about the strike force getting back before I would, so I assume you're not too surprised about that." Right definitely not enlightened enough. Ah well, most wookiees that find themselves out and about in the galaxy quickly pick up a talent for everybody's favorite game: charades. Plucking at his shoulders and gesturing in a sweeping downwards motion, to indicate an imaginary cape at his shoulders, Cheko then offers the mandalorian man a thumbs-up gesture. It is possible that he's teasing the man at this point, but who's to judge? Wookiee facial expressions can be tricky for the uninitiated. Slowly looking towards the Commander again, the Bothan slowly covers his canines again before his piercing eyes sweep the Republic base one more time. He lets the information sink in as he also hears what the ground pounder says, still thinking about what his boss said. Several moments pass before he slowly looks at his superior one more time and says in a silky voice, "I see. I make that comment because in the Republic Navy...my duty is to help destroy them. People have said I am...single minded. It does help me perform my duty, sir. I do not think a week on break could change my demeanor..." The Bothan slowly wrinkles his muzzle as if pondering if anything could change him. Aranzael's helmet cocks to one side as he watches the wookiee. Glancing down a bit, he catches a glimpse of his cape, then nods, and in a pleasant, but accented Basic, responds, "Why thank you. It is a clan..." he stops abruptly as augmented sensors pick out a name and his head snaps to the person who spoke the name 'Ipex'. He turns back to the wookiee and says softly, "Please, excuse me...something has come to my attention." He then marches purposefully towards Starwind. The wookiee growls something that /might/ be a polite affirmation of the man's departure. Then again, he could have said something quite impolite and Aranzael would never know the difference. Cheko follows the movement of the mandalorian's departure to the group of three standing in the shadow of the large ship and, with nothing better to do at the moment, wanders idly in the same direction. "Your duty is to defend the Republic," Starwind repeats, looking at Askrut with a patient expression. "With and without explosions. Single-mindedness won't see you become a very good officer, Askrut, so you either need to work on that, or become comfortable with the concept of never finding your CO willing to trust you with command decisions." He shrugs a shoulder, and then turns to Pelx. "Surprised, no," Starwind confirms, lips drawn back into a thin line. "But I'd been hoping. The team is far too overdue, I don't like it..." He trails off when he sees a Mandalorian walking in his direction, blinking once and quirking a brow questioningly. The wookiee trailing him is met with a polite nod and a brief smile. The Bothan remains quiet as the Captain speaks, inclining his head for a moment to show that he understands exactly what Starwind says. Askrut slowly looks over towards the ground pounder and listens to everything that the man says. The Bothan stands up and slowly shifts from his former stone posture to one that looks at sergeant and then fixes his attention fully onto the exchange between the grunt and Commander. Pelx follows Starwind's gaze as he trails off, making an assortment of grumpy-sounding noises in his throat for Jared's statement of... well, the obvious. Merreck had expected the Lieutenant back a day or two ago at the latest, and it was making him nervy. And cross. "Moyat," the sergeant identifies the oncoming armored man, quietly. He hasn't met the Mandalorian, but he's seen him, and Wrista's spoken about him. Aranzael approaches the human, and recognizing the rank insignia, says, "Greetings, Commander," he says. "Forgive my intrusion," he says politely, the visor looking directly into the Commander's face. "Wrista Ipex?" he asks in his thickly accented voice. Cheko pauses as the commander nods to him, saluting the man politely and waiting to be invited closer, or dismissed. The wookiee is curious and eager to make new friends in his new home, for however long he may be there, but he has no desire to step on any toes while he's doing it. No one likes it when a wookiee steps on their toes, even if it is a relatively small wookiee. Starwind thinks a moment before he gestures for the Wookiee to approach, waving Aranzael's apology off with the same hand. "Ambassador. If it were an intrusion, there'd be gunfire," he replies brightly, loosely clasping his hands behind his back. "Lieutenant Ipex is away at the moment, I'm afraid. This is Sergeant Merreck Pelx," he adds, nodding to the NCO standing next to him. "He works closely with her. Maybe he can help you out?" Aranzael nods curtly to the Commander, replying, "My thanks, Commander." He turns to the Sergeant and nods in greeting. "Well met, Sergeant. Tell me...has something gone wrong?" The indicated Sergeant Pelx simply nods a greeting, and then shrugs laconically. "She went with Second Platoon on a mission to Dathomir. They wanted her to coordinate between the marines and fleet. They're all late getting back. Very late. That's all." Cheko accepts the Commander's invitation to approach, saluting again when he's within polite conversational distance and introducing himself, using his shortened name. "Flight Cadet Cheko, Sir," he growls out, hoping that /someone/ in the assembled group might know at least a little Shyriiwook. Starwind offers Cheko a broad smile. He doesn't understand a word of it, but his earpiece translator does. "Good to meet you, Cheko." More than that, however, is interrupted. A freighter that had begun to taxi onto one of the three capital-scale landing strips rather suddenly halts in its tracks, and a short moment later, the gravelly voice of a Mon Calamari sounds over the loudspeaker. "Clear the landing strips! Medical staff and all repair teams to the landing zone! Repeat, medical staff and /all/ repair teams to the landing zone!" As organized chaos erupts throughout the facility, Starwind narrows his eyes and shoots a look at his quartermaster. "Get me a headset. Now." The Mirialan nods crisply in response, bolting up into the /Audacity/ to track one down. Starwind turns to Aranzael, respectfully inclining his head. "Ambassador, I'm going to have to ask that you be on your merry. I'm sure you won't get in the way, but, you know." He signals for a security officer to provide the Ambassador with an escort. Aranzael looks away at the field for several moments. He slowly turns his head back to the Sergeant, then mutters, "Thank you, Sergeant. That will be all." Once more, he faces the landing field, his hands clasping behind his back as he simply watches for several long moments. Without a word, he turns from the group, slowly walking back towards the military compound, occasionally giving the landing field a glance. The massive Sergeant nods absently to as things erupt in activity. He knows what to do when these sorts of things happen, and he doesn't need the loudspeaker disc in his breast pocket to make himself heard, either. "CLEAR THE PADS!" he barks like a drill sergeant. Not surprisingly, people move. "YOU!" he points at a sullustan that looks a little confused. "TAKE *THAT* CARGO TRUCK, OVER THERE." Motivating soldiers into a semblance of orderly, purposeful motion. That is the Way of the Sergeant. Cheko turns sharply, to be sure that his A-Wing isn't in need of being moved. To his relief, he sees that it was already attached to a hauler that was taxi-ing it to a more appropriate position when the chaos erupted. That taken care off, he jumps to lend a hand shifting a few heavy crates that need to be removed from one of the strips. The quartermaster returns in short order and Starwind takes the headset with a crisp nod of thanks, stepping away from the boarding ramp to look skywards as he tugs it on and just... listens. Whatever he's hearing over the frequency, he doesn't seem to like it, and he very pointedly does not look away from the sky. The urgency with which the landing strips are being cleared soon becomes obvious as a heavily damaged CR-90 comes into view over the horizon, a plume of smoke drifting from its bulk as it lines itself up with one of the strips to try and land. And then another. And another. Pad cleared, Pelx jogs back to the Audacity, tilting his head towards Starwind inquisitively. "I've got a bad feeling about this," he grumbles. "What've we got? Aside from three smoking corvettes making emergency landing, I mean." Sitting in the crew lounge aboard the Audacity, Ohao was in the middle of a rather fierce game of Uglukian Chess when the call for medical and repair staff came through. He was playing against his toughest opponent, himself. With a sigh, he stands and hurries off to engineering to find out what is going on. Most likely yet another drill. As he reaches engineering, the chaos there indicates that this is most likely not another drill. Finding the senior non-com on duty, he is advised that there is something big coming in to land trailing lots of smoke. Rushing to a locker, he retrieves some emergency equipment and follows the large group with similar gear that seems to be heading toward a hatch leading to the landing pad. With the crates shoved hastily onto a sled and carted off, Cheko makes his way back to the Audacity, and the Commander he had been speaking to a moment earlier. With his own commanding officer not on deck at the moment, he figured staying around this one he had already introduced himself to (and who apparently understood him when he did so) would be his best bet if he wanted to come in handy. He glances up occasionally at the incoming injured ships, before looking to Starwind expectantly. As the first CR-90 successfully lands, an explosion rocks the second in line, sending debris from its port side plummeting down into the Antilles Sea and flame shooting out of the craft. It maintains a steady course for the second landing strip even as crews on the ground rush to fire control craft, rocketing into the air to go fight the fire almost before their co-pilots have even had a chance to strap in. Commander Starwind is silent for a long moment even after Pelx has spoken to him. Finally, he looks to the NCO, his expression grave. "It's the strike force, Merreck," he replies, his voice quiet. "These three are all that got out. It was a trap." Working his jaw, he casts another look to the sky before his gaze drifts to Cheko, and he points towards the craft that has already managed to land. "Go see if they need a hand bringing people off the ship, Cadet. I'm sure they could use a strong pair of arms." "Sir," is the cadet's only response, as he turns and runs with long wookiee strides towards the downed craft. It didn't look a pretty sight, not anymore. It was always a shame to see nice ships in a state like that, but that was more or less what they were designed for. He does find himself put to work in short order when he approaches the craft, helping crews muscle-open a hatch that was jammed, that would allow those inside the craft one more exit to evacuate through. The group Ohao is following pauses as they reach the hatch and step out into the sunlight. The harsh transition from ship lighting to natural lighting takes a moment to get used to. As he was checking part of his equipment and not looking at the group in front of him, Ohao crashes headlong into the tech in front of him, who barely seems to notice, with all the action around them. Finding what he was looking for, Ohao pulls his visor down over his eyes. While his large dark eyes are excellent for working up close, they are useless for seeing anything even moderately distant. Looking around, he spots his new CO. Rushing up as best he can through a quickly forming crowd, he approaches Starwind and throws a hasty salute, saying, "What is the situation, Commander?" Pelx rolls up the sleeves at Starwind's reply, scowl deepening darkly. "Well. That's just great, isn't it." There's an entire conversation in the short statement. The big marine then goes stomping off, to wade through firefighting foam as it's sprayed over the second, stricken corvette, and he joins three landing pad crew to help them force a hatch on the corvette to get the crew out before there are any secondary explosions. The firefighting craft stick to the second CR-90 even as it lands, continuing to spray foam onto the flames, its touchdown a great deal more rough than the first ship's. Still, it's one that can be walked away from. The third and final CR-90 on approach seems to be in better shape than the other two, though still obviously damaged, its approach towards the last available landing strip unsteady. Without a word, Starwind pats Pelx on the back before the NCO starts off, then he turns to Ohao and waves off the salute. No wisecrack of levity come, unlike their first meeting - the Commander's posture is perfect, his voice crisp, and his expression dark. "These are the only surviving ships from the attempted raid at Dathomir, Mister Ohao. Help the damage control teams get these ships evacuated; make sure the medics have enough room to do their jobs. If anybody over there gives you an order - follow it." With a last, bellowing cry (everyone knows that bellowing cries get the adrenaline flowing), Cheko manages to get the hatch open, and quickly moves aside to let the people aside evacuate their downed craft. Looking around, he searches for the next task he can be put to most use accomplishing, and sees some men trying to push a long ladder into place to give better access to a hatch further up on the ship. That also looked like something he could help with. Some few minutes after the three corvettes make their wounded landing, another shape drops from the sky on an approach vector. The small shape quickly resolves into the round, stubby shape of a Calamari-style atmospheric shuttle, which sweeps down onto a clear landing pad, a safe distance from the corvettes. The loading ramp deploys quietly to the ground, and the reason for the shuttle is soon made apparent, as non other than Admiral Ackbar himself steps down the ramp, flanked by a uniformed human female, who appears to be acting as an aide. Turning toward the second, more heavily damaged, ship, Ohao motions for the group of Audacity technicians to follow. He manages to jog most of the way there, which is surprise to even the pudgy Bith himself considering that he was also talking at the same time. The tech at his side, the leader of Audacity's damage control team Alpha, listens as Ohao issues some orders. He says, "You heard the Commander. The first order of business is to get everyone off the ship. Then we will head to their engineering and see if we can lend a hand. Send Beta over to that one (indicating the third ship)." He spends the rest of the trip wondering why he brought all this heavy equipment. Commander Starwind passes his headset back to the Audacity's quartermaster, his eyes on the landing atmospheric shuttle. "Keep moving this stuff aboard. If you're approached for assistance, give it." When the Mirialan nods, the Commander takes off at a jog towards the landed shuttle, stopping whenever he needs to in order to let emergency response teams pass unhindered. Cheko grabs a hold of the large ladder device, helping to muscle it into place. One of the humans helping with the task finds himself, unfortunately, in the wookiee's way. With a growl, he encourages the man to move out of the way, giving Cheko the leverage he needs to force it closer to the ship's hold. Now, just a bit to the left, and it should be right in place. All Ohao and company can do is stand aside and let the crew pass and the medical staff triage casualties. When the flow out of the ship has subsided enough, they are able to pass through the hatch and make their way to engineering. Luckily, one of their team had his first assignment aboard a CR-90, so they make no wrong turns. The interior of the CR-90 is chaos. Even with the path to engineering evacuated, the ship looks lucky that it made it back at all, with sparks erupting from light fixtures and the lifts blocked off, forcing people to rely on stairs and emergency exits to get out. Engineering itself is a mess. It's clear that the crew were forced to do a great deal of jury-rigging in order to bring their bird home. They're lucky it worked. Cheko shoves the ladder with his shoulder, edging it to the side and into position. Clearly the wookiee if a fan of brawn over finesse, and it seems to work for him, as it works for most wookiees. That done, he pats the ladder before moving onto his next task: an injured Sullustan that is shoved into his arms. He blinks in surprise then, after taking a moment to look around and gather his bearings, he moves towards an emergency first aid area that had been hastily constructed. As Ohao's group enters the engineering section, he suddenly is glad that he brought along all of that heavy gear. He drops what he won't need, which is most of it, and places a breathing regulator over his face, knocking his visor askew in the process. When the visor is back in place, he looks for and finds the officer in charge. He approaches and says, not bothering to salute given the situation, "Lieutenant, I have a damage control team from the Audacity at your disposal." The lieutenant looks up, his own face covered in breathing regulator, and points to a display board behind him. Without preamble, he indicates a couple of spots and says, "We got fires here and here. Teams are putting them out, but we could use your folks to seal up control conduits just past them." Ohao nods, seeing that his folks were listening. He motions for them to do as asked, saying, "Split up, give the fire teams room, but get in there quickly." They quickly leave to do as ordered. Seeing Starwind headed his way, Ackbar raises a dismissive hand before the man can be bothered to salute or speak. "I want the crews to do only what is necessary to stabilize the ship. I would suggest shutting down the reactors. And then I would like them out of there. That corvette will need to be stripped down anyway, there is little sense in risking more than necessary," he says in a grave, gravely voice as he continues to walk towards the mess on the landing pads. The group at the first aid station see Cheko coming, even in the chaos, quickly making room for the sullustan as one medic splits off from the rest to assist the wookiee. Not that he needs it, but, well. Medics. "Thanks! Put him here." He regards Cheko thoughtfully for a moment, then nods towards the other end of the first aid set-up. "Help them get people transferred into speeders? We need to get some of them down to medical fast." Commander Starwind falls into step with the Admiral and his aide, nodding in response. "These crews know a lost cause when they see one," he agrees, his tone similarly grave as he surveys the chaos ahead of them. He starts fishing in his pocket for a loudspeaker disc. Offhandedly, he adds, "The Audacity could be in space within a day. Three, if we needed to properly outfit some support craft." Ackbar holds up a hand. "I understand your eagerness, Commander. But we must review the flight recorders. There may be very little point to anyone going anywhere. But before you ask, no, I do not believe that. Regardless, we have two squadrons that have not returned. The Audacity shall not be going even remotely by itself. The Commander seems to find this perfectly acceptable, running a hand back over his hair as he watches the second craft be boarded by firefighting personnel while the evacuation continues. "I'll make sure the Audacity is prepared. Just in case." He glances sidelong at the Admiral. Cheko nods sharply in confirmation, after maneuvering the Sullustan into position. He pats the Sullustan on the shoulder as the being mumbles what he interprets to be words of thanks, then hurries to where the injured are being transferred onto speeders. He finds an injured wookiee there, and reassures the man as he helps carry him onto one of the arriving speeders. "No worries, cousin. The medics here will have you patched up and climbing trees in no time. Before I get this orange dye washed out, no doubt." "So my eyes are not failing me after all," the injured wookiee replies. He looks like he would laugh if he wasn't certain the medics would chastise him for jostling his injuries, whether or not he thinks he could deal with the sting. Instead, he settles for clapping a wooly hand against Cheko's shoulder once he's been settled into the speeder. "Unfortunately for /me,/ no. Your eyesight is as strong as ever." Cheko touches the wookiee's shoulder, somewhat gently, in return before hurrying to help load the next being. This one, a woman, seemed unconscious from a head injury. Probably not a good sign. But bacta does work wonders, in the hands of well-trained medics. "Strength," he wishes the unconscious woman quietly, before turning to the next person waiting to be loaded. How long before he was one of the people being loaded onto speeders like these? It's a sobering thought. Ackbar bobs his head, eyes swiveling to take in the damaged craft. It's not easy for most to read Calamari expressions, but those who can could see the underlying sadness in the great Admiral's eyes. "Do so, Commander. Your ship will be among those to do so, should it prove we have anything to gain from it. You can further expect a cruiser squadron as soon as we can free one up, in that eventuality. I do not care to see this sight again any time soon." Made all the more sobering by the number of people in need of help - though considering there are three full ships to deal with, it could have been a great deal worse. Many people are managing under their own power, and some aren't even injured at all. They're helping where they can. "I doubt you'll find any disagreement on that score," Starwind replies to Ackbar, drawing the loudspeaker disc from his pocket. He eyes it a moment, then eyes the landing field, before he offers the disc to the Admiral with a questioning quirk of a brow. "You or me?" he asks simply. Ackbar gestures. "If you would, Commander. I'm afraid my speech becomes quite incomprehensible to most species if I use a loudspeaker disc." Unfortunate, but true. Cheko takes a moment to help a being limping on an injured leg into one of the speeders before he helps the next incapacitated crew member. A commanding officer, this time, Cheko notes almost idly as helps load him into a speeder. He was burned, pretty badly, and it seemed fresh. He must have been caught, somehow, in the blast the second craft experienced while landing. He was lucky he didn't get sucked out into atmosphere. "I don't know, sir, I've always found it oddly soothing," Starwind replies, giving Ackbar a brief grin before he looks out at the landing field. After a moment, he draws in a deep breath before bringing the disc up, projecting his voice quite clearly across the base. "Repair teams, retrieve the flight recorders off of these craft and shut down the reactors. We'll worry about the ships after our people are taken care of. The rest of you, assist in the evacuations. Pull people off of the ships, help get them to the medical facilities, make use of whatever first aid or medical training you have - whatever." He pauses a moment, glancing sidelong at the Admiral, before he adds, "These people have had a very harrowing trip against odds we cannot yet begin to fathom. Give them the respect and compassion they've earned, and welcome them home." Ackbar simply gives Starwind a nod, but it conveys volumes. He turns to his aide, gesturing oddly. "Captain, see that we decorate the crews appropriately for their brave determination. And see that we also reward those that have rushed to their aid here, for the risks they have selflessly taken." He looks back to Starwind. "Commander, I must go speak to General Madine, now that I have seen this for myself. Please bring the flight recorders to us as soon as is reasonable. We must move quickly, though cautiously." Seeing one of the injured crewmembers helping his badly injured friend towards the first aid station, Cheko hurries towards the pair, loaning them both a sturdy arm to lean on as he helps them towards the medics. It was brave of the dug to help his friend like that. Stupid, but brave. It was the sort of behavior that Cheko could respect.
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