| abstract
| - The battle had intensified. The Imperial stormtroopers of the 501st Legion - "Vader's Fist" - were dug into the starport, with E-web repeaters and other makeshift fortifications set up hastily in order to properly secure the port. As expected, the Republic marines, Army troops and the Griffon SATs counter-attacked and ran into the well-prepared Imperial stormtroopers. Up above the battlefield, TIE Interceptors and Scimitar assault bombers had run strafing runs and launched missiles into the Republic lines as they came onto the starport proper. And throughout the chaos, the Imperials were still being Imperial: Lambda-class shuttles flew over the battlefield, especially the Republic lines, with large speakers attached to them, blasting the Imperial March, the Empire's national anthem, in an attempt to demoralize the Republic troops, and bolster the spirits of the Imperials. Shortly after the Republic launched their counter-attack, the Empire deployed their secondary force - the Imperial Army and CompForce, the fanatical troopers of COMPNOR. Four AT-ATs and eight AT-STs filed out of dropships admist hundreds of Imperial infantrymen and CompForce Assault troopers, all -behind- the Republic lines. This new force advanced upon the Republic rear, the Republic troops already battling it out against the Stormtroopers in the starport; but, to the Republic's good fortune, air support had FINALLY arrived, in the form of Ghost Squadron. A lucky torpedo shot hit a weak spot in the lead AT-AT, causing it come crashing down and stalling the AT-AT line. But, nevertheless, the AT-STs and troopers continued on. Now, though, Sergeant Tanis Cadell is at the front lines in the starport, crouching behind some hastily formed defenses made of sandbags and whatever junk the Imperial stormtroopers could throw together. He fired his ST-II, trying to hit any of the Marines or infantrymen, as an E-web positioned behind him fired over his head. Reports were finding their way down to the ground troops about the situation in space. The Gabriel had been destroyed, the Griffon fleet scattered; the Republic fleet was now engaged against the Imperial fleet. Tanis wasn't worried about the Imperial fleet; he knew they would pull through, and in return for the fleet's assistance, Tanis would make sure he completes his mission. Kintor sits crouching, poised to jump from behind his small bit of shelter to attack a Stormtrooper running ahead of the rest of the pack. He peeks around the corner of the debris covering him from enemy fire to check the distance of the ST, but the target had dissapeared. Snorting to himself, he moves back to the gun leaning against the "wall" of his encampment, putting the vibroaxe in it's holder on his waist and wielding the E-11. Crouching low, he looks at the incapacitated form of Sandor laying next to him. Taking several seconds to calm himself from his rash and angry attitude, Kintor looks up at the back of the defense lines and swears at the sight of the Imperial war machines. The falling AT-AT is a beatiful sight to the near-human, and he can't help but give a soft smile. Kintor turns back to the battle ahead of him and rests the E-11 above the foxhole and opens fire on any white-armored figures he can see. Pressing a button on his headset, he opens a line of communication between himself and the inside of Candor's Redress. "Cassie, get me the frequency those X-wings are using above us to communicate, ASAP." After he is finished, he puts all his attention back to the stormtroopers in front of him, aiming the best he can while avoiding incoming fire from all directions. Even as Mbeki's company is being overwhelmed, and as Sandor is sitting idle, unable to do something for roughly another twenty-eight or so minutes, a more determined defense is being mobilized elsewhere. Things aren't going well in either the sky or on the ground, yet there are still some advantages left, and a motor infantry company is making it's way toward the starport as quickly as it can. Twelve vehicles, eight of which being little more than hovertrucks with additional army soldiers, and the remaining four a lone platoon of Freerunners. At the head of one such Freerunner is 1st Lieutenant Tiboor Stasio, who it turns out bears zero relation to the Tibor Stasio serving in the Imperial Starfighter corps in this same battle. Inside the fast-moving light hovertank, however, he's all but a fighter pilot himself, were it not for the fact that he's neither one of the gunners nor a driver, nor even one of the infantrymen carried along for the ride. At least at the company level, he's the commander, and that's more than enough responsibility for the man to handle in so chaotic a situation. "Control, this is RT-3291, responding to situation at Starport. From where we're at, it's looking like we're going to need more air support. Send any birds you have available," Lieutenant Stasio relays through his headset, fortunately connected to the more powerful radio tranciever on his Freerunner. Still a little over 1.5 kilometers out, he doesn't want to risk opening up just yet, but then at that range it's difficult for the man to tell how truly dire the situation is for the ground-pounders. But then again, drawing too much fire from the walkers wouldn't exactly help them, either. Cassie scrambles back to her feet inside the Candor's Redress, having been thrown to the floor from the concussion wave of an explosion that happened somewhere outside the ship. She curses, looking at her bloody knee and grumbles. Getting back up to the communications console, she again tries to access the NR comm net so Kintor can communicate with the rest of the fleet...and again gets an 'Access Denied' message. She slams the console with the palm of her hand, damn Fleet, they never bothered to share their frequencies with the NRI. She starts over again, this time uploading a program that she came up with herself just for this situation. A couple seconds of apprehension and...SUCCESS! The data stream from the NR net comes onto the display. She punches a few buttons, and hits a button on her own headset. "Got the freq Kintor!! Uploading it to your headset...NOW!!" Yelling as he dodges an explosion, the slender form of Greiko Lornan dives into his cousin's makeshift trench, his shout silenced by an emphatic 'oof.' His face covered in dust and his rifle pushing uncomfortably at his stomach, the agent grunts and rolls over. "'I've got the ship,' she said. 'Go help the gunners,' she said. Why we didn't help the gunners WITH THE SHIP?!" Greiko sits up, taking a few shots at a random instance of white armor and dropping again, an unusual hip motion that the Corellian notes he should remember. Lying down during firefights is becoming Lornan's trademark. "You have a plan, sweet cheeks?" "RT-3291, we are responding, we're getting calls all over the board, give us a couple minutes to route you something." This was the response from the Air Support Control Center.. It takes a few minutes, but the call is clear and concise... "Arr-tee three two niner one, Ee-ees-Oh Zero Three Dagger Squadron on station to provide Close Air Support. We're coming in, stay low, keep your heads down." It had been a long time since Captain Johmac "Hammer" Mabru had flown a Y-Wing. Colonel Archilles had ordered him to land in mid-battle, and he had ordered him to take the Daggers down planetside. Switching the channel off after announcing the Y-Wing squadron arriving in the middle atmosphere, Johmac glances out his canopy toward the Y-Wing on his left - apparently the normal squadron CO, flying Dagger 5. On his right was the third flight's leader, probably the normal XO, flying Dagger 9. He points downward, signalling toward them both, and the Y-Wing squadron begins to nose down in unison. "First Flight will start making runs on the AT-AT line. Rock-man, take the second flight and start making runs behind the AT-STs, take out some of those ground pounders. Third Flight, start giving those Chicken-walkers some Hell. Break, break, break!" The three flights of Y-Wings split into their four-ship formations and proceed onto their tasks. Leading up Dagger's First Flight, Johmac makes a B-Line for the AT-ATs at the front of the Imperial assault. "On three, prepare to drop the load. Lets show these kids we mean business, Daggers. Three.." They were still closing. "Two..." A few hundred meters above them, but still closing. "ONE! BOMBS AWAY!" Releasing a pair of concussion bombs from his own ship, the other three fighter-bombers follow suit. "HANG ON!" he cries back to his gunner, a poor flight officer in the back, as he banks a hard left to get out of the way of the explosions. THIS was Mabru's element, right here - Fire From The Sky. Mako Tokitar, a young Twi'lek who recently joined the NR Marines, was wondering if he could survive to his first battle. There was nothing in common between his training and the reality of war. He was following as close as he can his superior, the 1st Lieutenant Stasio, who seemed sympathic in the ambiant chaos. In the confusion of lasers blasting everywhere, he was just trying not to be injured. An energy beam flying too close to him burnt his left sleeve which ignite instantaneously. He rolled on the ground to shut the fire off, and, luckily, it worked. But his arms was painful. He approached his leader: "Hey Lieutenant ! I'm not sure but it seems we got problems..." At this moment a stream of loudness flew over their head and many detonation resonated from the walker's bearing... "So the cavalry is not too late..." Blood rushed through the viens and brain of Kensle Gradvitz as he pulled hard on the flight stick of Ghost 6, augmenting the overwhelming sensation of elation coursing through him, mixing with the adrenaline - his shot had been a direct hit! Ghost 6 screams as it slams upward, its nose seeking the sky - the three other X-Wings right with him as the concussive rumble of explodion and twisting durasteel follow closely behind. The image of the the port, advancing AT AT's, AT STs, ground Imperials and defending New Republic Marines falling away as the thrusters kick into high gear. Behind the sunshades adorning Kensle's brow and nose, the near human's eyes squint against the encrouching sunlight of the morning dawn on the horizen, and a light headed sensation theatens his momentary post torpedo bliss.. and the the R2 unit squeeled a warning suddenly as hot laser fire speared past his fighter and threatened to end his involvement in this Cochran affair altogether.. "I see them!" Kensle responds, twisting Ghost 6 into a short series of evasive manuevers. He shakes his head to brush away the G-force enduced confusion from his mind and attempted to focus - TIE fighters barreled down on Ghost squadron - a fierce and empassioned responce to the destructionof the lead AT AT and the momentarily halted armored lines. The air lights up with laser fire, a new cacophany of noise, blasts and displaced atmosphere drowning out the sounds of battle below. The arrival of the Daggers is not an unwelcomed sight.. Kensle flips on his com as he swings Ghost 6 around, "Attention Ghosts, Y-Wings are on board, I am going to fall off the AT AT assault and provide cover for the Chicks. Keep an eye on your six and watch for Spike Mud." Ghost 6 flows through the air, kicking as much atmosphere possible out of its way as it seeks a positive lock on one of the TIEs doubtlessly seeking to defend the armored lines. Another com switch is flicked patching him through to the lead Dagger, "Watch your six, Daggers, we've got multiple TIE contacts in this Furball painting us all- Coming in to cover you now.. nice splash by the way." narrowing his focus, Kensle concentrates on the task at hand, manueving into line behind a TIE Interceptor and bringing the scopes to green. Trigger pulled, Ghost 6 sends a hails of hot death after the Vassily Korolov strides forward from where his TIE Scimitar landed, clasping a small cylinder in his hand as he orders the vanguard of the 501st into action, as they begin to close within close combat range of the attack Republic and Griffon Forces. He switches to the internal command frequncy, "Have your squadrons bounce the rebel pilots. They are chewing up the Walkers, I will not have those troopers die because of a failure to bring Anti-Aircraft Artillery." Switching back to the tactical frequency, "Form a battle line. I want the griffons to hemorrhage for what they have brought upon themselves." It is with that that the Imperial Warlord ignites his lightsaber. The crimson red blade springing to life as the 501st and the Republic Lines almost disappear into a maelstrom of red and green blaster bolts. As Stormtroopers go, TK-7530 is pretty average. Clunky, blindingly white, and dogged in his approach. He has been crouching behind the makeshift fortifications surrounding the starport with the rest of his squad, firing off as many rounds with his ST-II as its heavy battery allowed. He waves his white-armored hand in agreement when the order to approach is sounded, and withdraws from his crouching position behind the piled debris. He grunts in a low voice, and fires at the approaching enemy lines. Ghost 5 takes up a post near Kensle, he's in charge of this round. Gene nods, since they are so close, when he gives the orders. "Copy Ghost 6" Not really used to fighting in an atmosphere either. His borrowed droid chirping and whistling, waiting for orders. Though they don't come. When Ghost 6 is fired upon, he moves out of the way for Kensle to manuver, and keep out of the way of the blasts as well. An approaching TIE gets his attention. Trying to manuvre as well, so that the TIE doesn't get a lock on him, and if he's lucky, get a lock on it as well. Above the ongoing fight, a lone mantaray was flying, overseeing the battle status; SF-4239, a Mantaray-class fighter few in circles above the city to get a rough overview of what was going on down there; Apparently, the imperial forces were pushing hard on the starport, which didn't make much sense to the pilot, which was none other than the former Griffon Alliance Armiger, Gyzen Bel. To him, if the Empire really wanted to take over the city, they'd have landed outside the shields' radius, north of the city and close to the military facilities underground, where the shields generator were located, in order to take it down and enact a full assault from within the city. 'Are they buying time... or what?' he thought, which in itself wasn't much of a possibility, given the Empire had some space superiority over the planet... The Mantaray, that seemed unscathed from previous and successful dogfights with the Scimitar assault bombers, landed west of the starport, close to Old City where the shields didn't prevent from landing. Many SATs had already moved to the starport and other strategic places for defence, but there, there was still a presence. The cockpit opened and the man climbed it down, immediately met by a SAT coming for him, gun raised. "State your status?" and then coming to attention, recognizing GB, "Armiger." Even though he was no longer holding any rank, he was still recognizing a living figurehead of the Alliance... GB nodded to the SAT, and dropped his flight helmet and started removing his flight suit, "Sergeant, the bulk of the imperial forces is in the starport. There's no sign of any incoming forces in the surroundings of the city..." he stated, with a nervous tone. He pushed a button on the Mantaray and a compartment opened, revealing an enhanced armor and an EKX rifle. "We need to move inward to the city... nothing is gonna happen here. Help me put that thing on." The SAT nodded and proceeded in helping Gyzen put on the heavy suit of armor. Soon, it activated with a *hiss*, as the exoskeleton got online and allowed the suite to be virtually felt as a light piece of cloth, even helping GB with handling the rifle. "Let's go..." and with that, GB, the Sergeant and the small platoon of heavy SATs started to make their way to the east of their position, namely the strategic place the stormtroopers would have to go through if they wanted to go to the Lion's den, but also allowing GB and the SATs to go south to the starport if they wanted... Grand Admiral Danik Kreldin was laying back on his medical bed, which was now moved closer to the view port in the wake of the Republic's order to retreat in space. The battle had quieted down a lot, although Imperial warships continued to persue Republic ships as they prepared to escape the gravity well. But, now that the heat of battle was over, Kreldin was able to more properly go over reports that had been sent to the Malevolence, the Imperial commandship. Apparently Imperial Intelligence was wrong; dead wrong. There was no planetary shield generator, just a shield over the city itself. If Danik could move his neck, he would shake his head right now. What an awful mistake. Already several divisions of Imperial troops had been committed to the planet. But now, apparently, it was not necessary. All those boys that had died for no reason... sighing, Danik calls for his aide. "Tell General Stasio to prepare for a withdrawal from Cochran. Redeploy the dropships with renewed fighter escorts; we can spare a lot of ships now. Order the 'Selene' and the 'Emperor's Will' to enter orbit and lay down cover for the ground troops. I want every last soldier, dead, wounded and alive, brought back to space. Understood?" "Yes, Grand Admiral." And so the order is prepared for transmission to the Imperial makeshift headquarters on Cochran, where General Tibor Stasio is bunkered up with his command staff. Nevertheless, the battle still rages. Another AT-AT came crashing down as proton torpedoes slam into it from the Y-wings, making many of the Imperial troopers wonder just where the hell their air cover was. And so the Imperial TIE Interceptors renew their air cover, intercepting enemy fighters and bombers to give some relief to the troops below. With only two AT-ATs remaining, they begin spreading out, with whatever room was available to them, to make them less easily targetted, and instead of firing their laser cannons at the rear of the Republic line, they turn their heads upward and begin opening fire on the X-wings and Y-wings above. The eight AT-STs continue onward, oblivious to the Republic cavarly and motorized units moving in on them, launching their concussion grenades into the Republic lines. Tanis rushes across the battlefield, keeping his head down as explosions erupt around him and blaster bolts pass by him. This was to be his grand stand against the Republic counter-attack; so far things were going well for the Imperial stormtroopers, although he has heard reports of a great many casualties on the other side of the battlefield, including no less than two AT-ATs. Grumbling behind his helmet, Tanis takes aim from behind a pile of rubble and shoots off a few blasts of his ST-II in Kintor's direction. Aiming his rifle carefully, Kintor shoots a bright blaster bolt at what he thinks is some sort of leader in the Stormtrooper lines, though he can only guess. "Army o' godam zits, I swear," he grumbles to himself as he takes a sweeping view of the battlefront. A sudden, much welcomed crackling voice is in his ear, bringing with it the frequencies for the fighters above. "Ah, Cass, I could kiss yeh! Thank yeh much." He quickly ducks down from the line of fire and switches the channel of his headset to address and listen to all frequencies. "'Ello? Testing, testing. Birdies above, d'yeh hear me?" He waits for several seconds, taking the time to stand back up and shoot at the advancing Imperial soldiers. "This is Commander Kintor Roberts, on the ground. We need as much Air Support as you can give us. Give us a strafe on the advancing Imperial Ground Ops; we're being overwhelmed." A flying object behind him and a sudden *Thump* heralds the arrival of Lornan, and at the sight of the other man wielding the gun, Kintor promptly ducks down and out of the way. "Oy! What the /hell/ are yeh doin' with a gun?!" He reaches for the other man's gun and points it upwards and away. "Y' never were Gramma's favorite, were yeh?" Shaking his head, he gives a short glare in Lornan's direction before looking back and shooting at the various enemies. At his cousin's question, Kintor gives a quick look to the sky at the fighters on each side, then the back lines and the falling AT-ATs, then forward again at the advancing Imperial lines. Eyes narrow for a moment, followed by a nod. "Aye, I think I may have an ace or two up my sleeve." He winks at the only man beside him who is conscious, and then begins speaking into his headset. "Candor's Redress, this is Roberts. Cassie, I need you to slice into the Imperial communications. We're gonna create a little bit of havoc in the Imperial lines." He falls silent as a noise above attracts special attention. The ever-circling Lambda shuttles continue to boast the Imperial March in some sort of symbolic scare tactic. He mutters to himself, "Well, we can /certainly/ give them symbolic." He utters another command into the mouthpiece of his headset before firing at the neverending waves of Imperial troops. "Air Support, this is Commander Roberts. Check your scanners and you'll see two circling Lambdas with an odd sensory signature. Shoot them down." A sudden blaster bolt comes from an Imperial trooper and hits the man in the chest. Kintor is sent reeling before regaining his balance, and then leans against the wall, opening fire on the ST that just shot him. As he shoots, he grunts into the commlink, "And somebody send a combat medic, I've been hit, and we got more with holes what need fixin'." As the motorized company approaches, it splits into three seperate yet equally important groups. While the CSA holodrama 'ESPO and Legal' comes to mind, in fact what Lt. Stasio's group is attempting to do is far from legal, even by the standards of the NR Military. Leaving the hovertrucks unprotected is probably not the safest idea, but with key anti-air installations having been taken down in some of the early strafing runs, and by the Stormtroopers that landed afterwards, there really aren't any options left. One parks itself and dismounts it's men onto a ridge about 1.2 kilometers from the spaceport, whereas the other four trucks are re-directed towards the shield generators, along with substantial forces from the SATs. This, after all, is not the first time the NR has been forced to weather an Imperial Assault, and key targets are fairly easy to identify. With the generators gone, Imperial reinforcements can arrive twice as fast, and it allows for nastier things such as VSDs and orbital bombardment to come into play. As for Tiboor's group, however, it slows to fourty KPH as it makes it's way to the one kilometer mark from the remaining walkers and arriving Imperial forces. "Gunners, designate 'AT-AT'," the man crisply informs his headset comlink, after changing the frequency to the one utilized by his specific platoon. Just as the 1st Lieutenant says this, his laser rangefinder homes in on one of the AT-ATs, transmitting the data to the other hovertanks, and to the commander himself, who clarifies in case someone can't read. "Range Zero-One-Decimal-Zero-Three. Fire at will!" It's more than enough for the gunners, who relying on targetting data open fire with the anti-vehicle weaponry maintained onboard each freerunner. Meanwhile, Captain Mbeki tries his best to simply stay alive, letting out a silent cheer as each AT-AT is blown away. "We'll see, soldier," Mbeki replies to Mako, firing a shot at one of the AT-AT's still remaining in an attempt to help bog down and confuse the pilot and gunner onboard. "We'll see.." He adds, a bit more quietly, consciously worried about complete and total annihilation under the onslaught of the remaining walkers, CompForce elements, and Stormtroopers. Already most of his company has been wiped out, and the Marines and SATs aren't faring much better, so unless the cavalry really is in time to get them out of there, perhaps Mbeki and his men won't live to see anything after all. (Sandor) Shelkin's head nods as he receives directions. He peeks over the debris again, he then hops to his feet and surges forward towards a pile of burning rubble several meters infront of him. As he moves he opens fire with his rifle towards the rebel line, squeezing off two surpressive shots. As he approaches the burning rubble he takes a knee and comments into his helmet comlink "This is BHC 10-90. What are our priority targets?" Cassie grins, hearing Kintor's comment over the her comm speaker. She listens to the communication frequencies through her headset, ground frequencies through one ear, fleet frequencies through the other. She punches a few more buttons on the communication console. Another blast close by knocks her onto her butt again in the command center. She glares grumbles, pulling herself back up. She goes back to the console, her fingers flying over buttons on the console, now trying to slice into the Imperial communication network and upload it to the rest of the NR forces. Lornan grunts at his cousin. "A'least she showed up to me graduation, you half-breed sack o-" the man cuts himself off as Kintor is hit, tapping his comlink and kneeling. The unit's field medic is incapacitated at Greiko's feet, so his only real option is to treat the chest wound himself. "Cassie, this is Greiko. Listen carefully. To the left of the navicomputer, under the dockin' lights, is a blue button labeled 'Sec'nderry Cargo R'lease.'" The medpack opens to reveal an assortment of bandages, bacta canisters, painkillers, and tools with which Lornan has only been semi-trained. "Press it until it lights up." In theory, what he's just ordered Cassie to do should unlock the ship's rearmost storage area, allowing someone outside to open and access it. But first, Lornan's got to see to his partner in crimefighting. "Y'know," he mutters as he begins loosening Roberts' armor, "this'd be a lot easier if you gun people were awake." He ducks at the sound of another nearby explosion, checks the security of his cover, and looks Kintor dead in the eye. "This is gonneh sting. Shuddup about it." starts applying bacta to the wound as best he knows how. "OW! I'm takin' fire! A little cooked, but I'm okay... Good shootin' boys!" Johmac grins a little bit, watching in the rear mirrors mounted on the top of his canopy on the inside as he flies away from the now burning rubble of the AT-AT his flight had bombarded. "Line up for the next one." He taps on the communications panel, and chimes into the Ghost frequency. "Ghost Five, do you copy? Take your men and start giving some close strafing support with your laser cannons. Also, send a couple to start shooting at the incoming carrier shuttles. We can't let them land more walkers!" The four Y-Wings begin their wide arching turn, and Johmac adjusts his targetting computer.. "Closing, mark five three.." .. The same AT-AT they were closing on takes some virtually non-exsistant artillery fire... Interesting. Oh well.. "Begin countdown.. Three." They were closing again... Here it goes again. "Two.." They were on it! "BOMBS AWAY! Break left!" The bombs were let loose from the four Y-Wings again, and the flight broke hard left, to avoid the concussion. "Give my regards to Tha Emperor!" The other Y-Wings continued to rain their own personal fury down upon the enemy troops, and AT-STs, trying to thin the numbers for the poor NR Troops on the ground. "Ghosts, can you spare a couple to give those Y-Wings a hand?" he calls over the radio.. "See if you can get one or two to help my boys get at those chicken walkers." The Stormtrooper's lines seem to be holding for the moment as the Warlord pushes forward, making his way along the battle line till he is near Tanis's postion. He uses his ignited ligthsaber almost as a field marshal would use a swagger stick to direct squads into position, "Good Shooting Trooper." He barks out through the modulated speaker in his helmet, "Now press forward, leave no survivors. Today is the day we punish these Griffon trash for their treason. Imperial Justice may not always be swift, but eventually all who betray the Empire shall meet the same fate." He roars out as the intensity of the battle begins to draw forth the dark energies swirling around the Sith's soul Gene pulls away, and still tries to get a lock on that incoming TIE, however Johmac's voice comes over the Com, "Ghost 5, I copy." he then turns to the Ghosts, alright my little Ghosties, Crystal, you take ghosts 7 and 8, and take out those carrier shuttles, Kensle, you go and assist with the AT-ST's. The rest of you follow me." Swinging around to take care of the Strafing support. Two a pair of his Ghosts he says, "Mitch and Nick, go assist the Y-Wings instead." Though durring his commands, the TIE eneded up getting a lock on him, the warning goes off and he tries to menuvre to get out of the way once more, before he's hit. "Roger that, Ghost 5, starting my run now." says Kensle, pulling away from the others in his squadron and gunning thrusters toward the distant ground once more. Leveling off near the water, Ghost 6 strafes the vast body of liquid, forming a repulsor wake aft of the quickly moving fighter and the pilot hopes dearly he does not get picked off by one of the defending TIE's as he lines up the targetting reticle on the lumbering armored AT ST's. He was in no danger of going Winchester as he notes the many remaining proton torpedos in their bays within his X-Wing, and so quickly thumbs the controls, queing up another one as he flies along. The distant sight of the battle looming ahead at the starport, smoke spiralling up from various places, red and green blaster fires flying in every direction and explosions rippling amidst it all bring a sense of dread to Kensle as he lines up his shot.. the New Republic was hard pressed indeed. In a moment of clarity, the scopes going green and a lock on one of the AT ST's in place, Kensle lets fly a deadly torpedo to sail along the waters to hopefully careen into its intended target! TK-7530 does as he is told, pushing the assault along with the rest of his buddies, and continuing the relentless stream of blaster fire. So far he has been unspecific about who he's shooting at, but now that he is closer to the enemy lines, he can choose his targets a bit more carefully. The stormtrooper raises the scope up to his visor, locking in on the elusive, but still stationary figure in the Espo armor, Kintor. He's the one that seems to be giving orders into his mouthpiece. He takes a quick intake of breath, and halfway into his exhale he shoots. Gyzen and the others arrived at Sivel Square, north were the heaviest military installation of Cochran and staright south were the waterfront and the starport, the sky was quite red over those directions. Apparently, the base had not seen much action, contrary to the starport, which was getting - utterly - destroyed. There were some civilians who had no weapons, panicking crewmen who had survived the Gabriel's destruction and whose escape pods had made it to Cochran surface, running all around and in the general direction of the lion's den north. "WHATS HAPPENING TO US ??!!!" most of them panicked - and they were shown the installations. Not many ships were left; except military ones; so they couldn't expect any extraction from the planet, yet. "Barricade yourself at home or defend yourself!" GB shouted. Yes; that was the worst day he'd experienced perhaps in his life, and on the inside, Gyzen was crying - seing a years work being ruined in a single day, was a killer. But if the jewel of the Griffon fleet had been destroyed, the city was still quite uncomprised - save for the starport, which was why Gyzen was now on the ground. Sivel Square was a strategic place; It was right in the path from Starport to Lion's Den and the other way around; close enough to the Lion's den to reinforce its defence and quite close - but not as much - to the Starport to reinforce it as well. Here, there were anti-ground platforms deployed and ready to launch their torpedoes at any incoming heavy ground units, from the south, north and west of their position. "Sergeant..." GB asked, "ETA to deploy those units at a close enough range to assist the starport ?" The sergeant hesitated and answered, "2 to 5 minutes... But, Sir, we'd have limited support in case of a full out assault against the Den if we do so." After a few seconds of thought, Gyzen replied, "There are ATATs in the Starport. We need to break their lines and prevent them for advancing. For now there are NR fighters but I feel they'll soon go with the rest of the fleet..." the Sergeant nodded, not questioning Gyzen's ability to issue orders, "Alright, Sir. Trusting your judgment." Soon, a couple heavy ground torpedo-launchers undeployed from Sivel Square and started moving south towards the starport, accompanied by GB and the group of heavy SATs under the Sergeant's comand; under the umbrella of the shields, they couldn't be attacked by bombing runs; only ATATs or troopers could destroy them. A few minutes later, the two heavy tanks started to deploy themselves and pointed their torpedoes to the starport and locking the AT-units there; launching a volley of torps at the sick imperial vehicles; the SATs squad formed up and advanced closer to the starport to get at firing range of the imperial troopers there, taking advantage of the debris for cover.. Seven glowing orbs rain from the sky as Wolf's Squadron, 'War Shrike' is deployed as air support for the Imperial ground forces. He was still sore from his last battle over cochran, now it was time for battle once again. As the red glow dissapates from his front viewport, he looked down at the ground below as the TIEs dropped head-first. The events clearly showing, as the damage is still mounting at the starport. Wolf calls out to his squadron, "Alright Shrikes get straight in there, I want those Rebel pilots to crash and burn!" He didn't bother with anything else, he knew that his squadron knew what todo. Almost imediately, the squadron broke off in twos and began targetting the Rebel fighters. The orders are received in the Imperial command post in the starport. "Withdraw now? Bu--" General Stasio is cut off by the grand admiral's aide, and the orders are more clearly laid out for the general. Reluctantly, Stasio acknowledges his orders and sends a communication to the Imperial troops throughout the starport: start withdrawing. As he gave out these orders dropships started to pierce through the skies to collect the troopers, flanked by more TIE Interceptor squadrons, freed up from the battle that was more or less ending in space. And behind the dropships came two Victory-class Star Destroyers, the 'Selene' and the 'Emperor's Will', ordered to provide cover for the ground troops until they were clear to escape from Cochran. One front of the battlefield was swaying heavily in the Imperial's side: the stormtroopers, dug in and well defended against the Republic troops. On the other side, however, things were going slightly different; CompForce and the Army were unable to punch the hole they needed to break through the rebel lines, partly due to the fact that now a third AT-AT had succumbed to proton torpedo fire. Imperial air cover was just lax today. Nevertheless, the AT-STs continue to press onward, launching their concussion grenades into rebel formations as infantry and CompForce assaultmen try to breach a hole in the lines. Tanis is a bit shocked to see the Warlord, wielding his lightsaber. And more than that, he -spoke- to Tanis. He was flattered, naturally, and was at a lost for words. Good thing, too, as hte Warlord takes off and charges. Feeling a burst of morale, Tanis stands up from behind his cover and charges out, at the rebel lines, yelling his war cry as he fired a few bursts from his rifle at Lornan. After his shots go wild from their intended Imperial target, Kintor lets himself slide down into a sitting position as Lornan pulls a medpac from the unconscious combat medic. "Oy. That damn well hurt. Hurry it up, Greik. We ain't got all day." He grimaces as the other man applies the medical treatment, but says nothing. When Lornan finishes, Kintor re-tightens the armor and twists his torso from side to side. It still stings, but it doesn't effect him, for the most part. Tapping a finger into his headset he says, "Cass, you into their communications yet? Hurry up on it." He looks at Lornan with an eyebrow raised. "The Secondary Cargo Release? But that's where the s-" Kintor pauses, and then smiles. Nodding, he looks at the other man. "Aye, that should be about right." Looking up over the top of his little piece of cover, Kintor takes another sweep of the advancing lines. Eyes widen as he spies a figure unlike all the others. Crimson clad and wielding... could it be? It is. A lightsaber. Kintor freezes for a moment, but ducks back down under cover when a barrage of blaster fire speeds rapidly towards his face. The man gulps slowly, then speaks into his headset. "Air Support, this is Roberts. We need someone here NOW. We are being overrun!" He spots another AT-AT falling with some joy, but the feeling passes quickly. "Cass, hurry up and tie into their communications. We need to do something to slow down this charge." He stands back up to fire at the Stormtrooper who had just fired at him, meanwhile muttering something to Lornan about hurrying up and getting to the ship. Sandor, it turns out, is still unconscious and laying somewhere nearby Kintor and Lornan. Hopefully, if they do evacuate to a ship, they won't leave him behind, but Sandor is a little too busy being immobile to really think about anything, and much less actively worry. The marines elsewhere, however, are another story. The news of the Fleet trying to fight it's way to a withdrawal is more then enough to convince a number of Army and Marine commanders that it's time to pull the plug. None are especially happy about this fact, given that their victory is being robbed right at the sweetest moment, but whatever damage they have inflicted so far will be for naught if they're cut off from the fleet. Coming to the same conclusion, Lieutenant Stasio orders his own company to regroup and head to the nearest remaining transport as well. 'Just a bit longer.. those fighters just need to protect us just a bit longer,' he tells himself, keeping the moral reinforcement in his own mind, rather than offer any tangible doubt of escape or ultimate victory to his men. Not all of the commanders are following this example of course, but then not everyone is so willing to be left behind. If only the planet's shield generator's had been on a larger scale, perhaps none of this would be happening at all. Cassie slams her fist hard against the metal console, seeing yet another 'Access Denied' message show up on her status screen. She's been trying to slice into the Imperial communications net, and has been turned back anytime. She steps away from the console for a second, hearing explosions all around her, even though she's kinda safe inside the Candor's Redress. She takes a moment to think for a second, trying to find another route through the net, a route that she's never tried before. A second later, she lights up and walks back up towards the console, trying one more time to slice into the Imperial net and upload it over the NR network. She bites her lip nervously as her fingers fly over the keys, if this doesn't work, then nothing will. With a nod to his cousin, Lornan takes a deep breath, then turns- to see a flash of red! The agent ducks just in time to avoid an injury of his own, rolling in the process and ultimately winding up on his side a few meters closer to his ship. Looking back to Kintor, then to the Candor's Redress, then to Kintor, Greiko is faced with a decision and has very little time to make it. He swears profusely, then, with an emphatic sigh, rolls onto his stomach and pushes his way to his feet, running with every ounce of strength he possesses. "CASSIE!" he shouts. "I need that door!" He is reminded briefly of his escape from Sigma, his cover exploding around him, vaulting all obstacles and reaching the home stretch only to take a shot to the chest from his own bodyguard. Hopefully, there will be no such betrayal awaiting him here. Lornan dives as he reaches the ship, hoping to avoid any further assault, and stands, frustrated, behind the locked cargo door. He dances a bit, clapping and awaiting a response. "BLUE BUTTON!" Then a click. There it is. Lornan grabs the door and throws it open, launching himself inside and throwing himself onto the first bike he sees. "Bluddy damn it." Johmac knew the moment that his torpedo left the ship that the targetting computer had screwed up the vector. The other three ships had scored hits.. but they were insignifigant, hitting around the feet for the most part. "Bring it around!" The Dagger flight comes around, and Johmac nods, furrowing his eyebrows. "Adjust your computers, and lets hit it home this time," he calls, the Y-Wings continuing to close.. Johmac nods finally, when the computer comes back with a firing solution. "Three," he begins the countdown, the four Y-Wings closing on the AT-AT. "Two." They were even closer. They'd be over 'em soon. "One! Bombs away!" he calls, releasing his own torpedo, along with the other Y-Wings. They break, as per usual.. The other Y-Wings continue their assault on the ground forces, and on the AT-STs, with the aide of the Ghosts. Crystal nods to Gene and sprints towards her ship....as well as Ghosts 7 and 8. before too long, Ghost 2 takes off, even though two engines are pretty well shot on her fighter and her R2 unit isn't much more than a smoking trash can....she pushes her fighter to a good speed.......trying hard to line up a torpedo shot on one of the shuttles. Gene takes his small squadron and makes for the front lines from behind his guys. Three X-Wings lined up, lowering quickly as they fire, with several laser blasts aimed at the ST's. Then pulling back on the throttle, leveling it off, a good distance up yet, before they drop the torps. Ghost-5 and the others also drop a few torpedos in or near the trenchs. Trying hard to knock out a few hundred of them at least this round. War Shrike hit the battle hard, coming in from above. A spray of green as the TIEs begin firing in their groups of two. "Pick on the wounded ones first, get them out of the way. Then concentrate on the more able ones." Wolf said into his comm. As his squadron replies, he turns off his comm. 'Time to find a target..' Wolf said, flicking through his target computer. A Y-Wing appears, 'HMmm..That's not good.' Wolf targetted it straight away, he brought his TIE in range, he didn't expect to hit him at this distance, but it was worth a shot anyway. He pulled the trigger and let out a few sharp bursts of green laser fire. The proton torpedo slams into the AT-AT, shaking the walking behemoth up, but fortunately for the crew and gunners inside, she does not fall over or explode. But the pilots notice a serious fault; she was barely responding to controls, and was hardly moving. All the men aboard the last remaining AT-AT could do now is pray and return fire on the Y-wings that were harassing them so, and hope the damn TIE Interceptors do something about them. The order to pull back is received by all troopers on the starport, even the damn rebels, as they've patched into Imperial communications. Tanis, who had charged ahead firing his blaster, stopped in his tracks and looked around, trying to find out just why they were retreating. But orders were orders, and if high command wanted them out of here then so be it. Firing a few blind shots at rebel marines, Tanis turns around and starts running in the direction of where Imperial stormtroopers were rallying, preparing for the dropships that would get this off this planet... And those dropships have arrived, with a renewed assault by the Imperial TIE Interceptors as more squadrons join the fray. Shipboard laser cannons and E-webs attached to the sides of the dropships open up on the rebel troops, laying down suppressing fire for the retreating Imperial soldiers. And, now, finally here, were the two Victory-class Star Destroyers, casting a shadow upon the entire battle field as they loomed ahead, providing cover for the troops below with their concussion missiles and turbolasers, aimed at the rebel troops and starfighters and bombers. As the last AT-AT makes its final stand, the AT-STs and Imperial Army infantry and CompForce troops begin falling back to the recently arriving Titan dropships and MT/191s, a squadron of Interceptors flying overhead to provide some cover. And, back in the starport proper, where the stormtroopers are retreating to their dropships, the X-wing that swoops down low and launches its proton torpedoes becomes the target of an intense Imperial counter-attack; the torpedoes impact, sending Imperial stormtroopers flying in the air and killing many more. But the Imperial stormtroopers were well trained, and knew not to bunch up, thus minimizing casualties. All Imperial stormtroopers were wondering just why they were retreating; they had the upperhand, could wipe out the rest of the rebels at the starport. But orders were orders, from the Grand Admiral himself. The two VSDs launch missiles at the X-wing, while the Interceptors swoop in on it and fire green bolts at it, doing anything to save the stormtroopers from any more torpedo blasts. A voice is heard in Kintor's ear belonging to Cassie. The message brings good tidings, especially at such a critical moment. "Alright, Cass. Very nice. Keep me updated on what you hear them saying. If you can, I want you to give them as much false information you can. Confuse them, for the New Republic's sake." Staying low under the cover so as not to be seen, Kintor begins to prep the body of Sandor Woden for easy loading onto the swoop Lornan should be bringing soon. There is a sudden tap on his shoulder, and Kintor turns, bewildered, ready to fight if whatever had tapped him happens to be unfriendly. His muscles relaxe at the sight of three marines crouching low behind him. Another two are not far off, dead on the ground; shot in the mad dash to the foxhole. A scrawny looking man in front eyes Kintor, obviously a little confused. "Sir.. we heard you over the radio, saying you were hit, sir." His eyes lower to look at two burn marks in the ESPO armor still hanging somewhat loosely off the man's torso. "Sir.. we can fix that armor. Bizacs here has been trained special for armor repair." Kintor nods, peeling off the torso piece of the armor and laying it down for the men to repair. Feeling somewhat naked without it, Kintor huddles low to the ground with Sandor's incapacitated form next to him. He watches the three start their work on it and flinches slightly as one stands up too high and is shot down immediately. "Hurry it up, you two. I got people to kill." Gradually, non-essential Army and Marine soldiers are bleeding away from the battlefield, taking as many movable casualties with them, but otherwise being forced to leave dead bodies behind to maximize space. Envisioning little beyond an Imperial occupation of the planet, however, most assume that the bodies will simply be buried by the locals in defiance of the Imperial establishment of control onto the planet. Tiboor's only hope, at this point, is that the populace will simply prove so unmanagable that the Empire will eventually be forced to give up on the planet entirely. A repeat of Caspar, to be sure, if only the unique conditions of that case could be reproduced. As for Sandor, however, he still lies in place, though is now prepped for transport as best as can be expected. While his life is firmly in the hands of others now, his position is not entirely unenviable, as it means that he won't have to experience the cruel feeling of life and one's hopes and dreams passing from a body into nothingness. Hopefully it won't come to that in any case, however, as the Marine and Army withdrawal is moving at a remarkable pace given the fact that there is still a battle going on, and that men are still fighting, dying, or getting wounded and bogging down the entire effort. Already the most mobile assets are aboard their transports, however, and it's only a matter of time before they make a run for it. Lornan gets the bike's engine going, and has his hand on the throttle when he stops and notices the Star Destroyers looming above the Griffon world. "Cassie. Drop what you're doing, it's too late. Get in here and grab a bike." With those words, Lornan kicks the swoop into it's highest gear and jets out the bay, weaving between ships, bodies, and exploding objects as he charges for his companions' little bit of cover. He prays to Casohav, the Force, to whatever, for some kind of salvation, and that his skills from the track won't fail him now, when they really count for something... Cassie ignores Lornan's warning "Hold on!! I HAVE to get this message out!!" She's been studying the Imperial authenticator codes for the past few minutes, and thinks she may be able to get a message out giving false targeting information to the dropships and VSDs about to rain fire on the starport. She pushes the last button and drops her pad, sprinting towards the remaining swoop, jumping into its seat charging off, following Lornan to their companions. "I think we screwed it over enough to keep it from moving. Leave it." Johmac orders. The flight of Y-Wings move along to the front of the line near the troops. "I've picked up a fighter! Someone, clear my six." He maintains his calm, though - these things are slow, but they take a beating. Johmac brings his ship around with the rest of his flight, chewing on his tongue. "Lets take out that other one." He adjusts his targetting computer, furrowing his eyebrows slightly, trying not to worry about the Imperial fighter that's definately trying to kill him. Someone will handle it. "Three," he calls, initiating the bombing countdown. "Two!" They're closing... here it comes... "One! Bombs away! Break, break, scatter and form up to attack that other one, and lets finish it off!" he calls, his own torpedo releasing, the flight beginning to scatter apart.. Two head toward the very front lines, spraying the enemy troops with laser cannon fire from that top-mounted cannon, as well as the two mounted in the noses of the ships.. Crystal, in Ghost 2 now banks away from the exploding Shuttle that her team just torped. "All right. one down...one to....." Then Ghost 7 speaks up. "Ghost 2.....we've got outbound and inbound dropships." Now Crystal had a choice.....smoke the all ready damaged dropships.....or help the ground forces by damaging the dropships as they came in. of course, Crystal gets an idea. "Form up. we're hitting the inbound shuttles." She says banking and turning the formation towards one of the inbound dropships...and firing their torpedoes. Gene has to hurry to get out of the fire of those TIE Interceptors, and yet smartly, veering this way and that... He swallows hard, and pushes on the throttle even quicker. Though also watching the Stormtroopers scatter when his laser blasts and torps hit. The others in his line made it through, but he is slightly off course. Talking to the droid in his well, a few minor adjustments are made. It's really a good thing he wasn't hit, his shields were toast and his hull was a bit damaged from the battle in space. Ok where is he, his watching the troops scatter had been a bit of a foolish move there at the end, as well as his piloting skill, it's improving though. There is the battle he sent Kensle to take care of earlier against the AT-ST's, so he is way off, and begins to circle around. A command given to him over the com "Copy that." and instead of making another pass, swirves again, heading for the AT-ST's himself. To the other Ghosts that were with him. "Boys, form up, we are going after the AT-ST's, increase to full throttle, and watch those TIES. War Shrike One, still on the tail of the lead Y-Wing. Wolf smirked.. These things we're slow, and easy target practise. "Take down those Y-Wings." Wolf spoke over the comm. He weaved behind the Y-Wing, eventually stabilizing and placing his targetting reticule over the Y-Wing's aft quarter. He had decided to fire up the middle of it's engines, hopefully blowing it into a dive. He pulled on the trigger again.. Smoke grenades are thrown and detonated, providing a smokescreen for the Imperial troops as they board their dropships. Some dropships, however, are not so lucky, victims of Crystal's squad's attack. Nevertheless, it does not halt the Imperial withdrawal. General Tibor Stasio himself had already boarded another Lambda-class shuttle (one not playing music) and was preparing to leave the planet under TIE Interceptor protection. Elsewhere, the eight AT-STs start moving up the ramps of their respective Titan dropships under the protection of the Victory-class Star Destroyer 'Selene.' The battle was quieting down as both sides started falling out. Cochran, for all intents and purposes, seems saved for now, although Imperial dominance in space remains. Was the Empire going to just give up on total domination on the ground? Time will tell, of course. Tanis sighs heavily as he emerges from the smoke screen and up the ramp of one of the waiting dropships. Inside the dropship, it was a depressing scene. The stormtroopers seemed.. distraught. They were winning. They -could- have won. But Grand Admiral Kreldin still called them back. Why? What was up the old man's sleeves? Tanis knew better than to question it; something big was going to happen. Tanis sits down on one of the benches in the back of the dropship and takes his helmet off, getting a long awaited breather. From SW1ki, a Wikia wiki.
- The battle had intensified. The Imperial stormtroopers of the 501st Legion - "Vader's Fist" - were dug into the starport, with E-web repeaters and other makeshift fortifications set up hastily in order to properly secure the port. As expected, the Republic marines, Army troops and the Griffon SATs counter-attacked and ran into the well-prepared Imperial stormtroopers. Up above the battlefield, TIE Interceptors and Scimitar assault bombers had run strafing runs and launched missiles into the Republic lines as they came onto the starport proper. And throughout the chaos, the Imperials were still being Imperial: Lambda-class shuttles flew over the battlefield, especially the Republic lines, with large speakers attached to them, blasting the Imperial March, the Empire's national anthem, in an attempt to demoralize the Republic troops, and bolster the spirits of the Imperials. Shortly after the Republic launched their counter-attack, the Empire deployed their secondary force - the Imperial Army and CompForce, the fanatical troopers of COMPNOR. Four AT-ATs and eight AT-STs filed out of dropships admist hundreds of Imperial infantrymen and CompForce Assault troopers, all -behind- the Republic lines. This new force advanced upon the Republic rear, the Republic troops already battling it out against the Stormtroopers in the starport; but, to the Republic's good fortune, air support had FINALLY arrived, in the form of Ghost Squadron. A lucky torpedo shot hit a weak spot in the lead AT-AT, causing it come crashing down and stalling the AT-AT line. But, nevertheless, the AT-STs and troopers continued on. Now, though, Sergeant Tanis Cadell is at the front lines in the starport, crouching behind some hastily formed defenses made of sandbags and whatever junk the Imperial stormtroopers could throw together. He fired his ST-II, trying to hit any of the Marines or infantrymen, as an E-web positioned behind him fired over his head. Reports were finding their way down to the ground troops about the situation in space. The Gabriel had been destroyed, the Griffon fleet scattered; the Republic fleet was now engaged against the Imperial fleet. Tanis wasn't worried about the Imperial fleet; he knew they would pull through, and in return for the fleet's assistance, Tanis would make sure he completes his mission. Kintor sits crouching, poised to jump from behind his small bit of shelter to attack a Stormtrooper running ahead of the rest of the pack. He peeks around the corner of the debris covering him from enemy fire to check the distance of the ST, but the target had dissapeared. Snorting to himself, he moves back to the gun leaning against the "wall" of his encampment, putting the vibroaxe in it's holder on his waist and wielding the E-11. Crouching low, he looks at the incapacitated form of Sandor laying next to him. Taking several seconds to calm himself from his rash and angry attitude, Kintor looks up at the back of the defense lines and swears at the sight of the Imperial war machines. The falling AT-AT is a beatiful sight to the near-human, and he can't help but give a soft smile. Kintor turns back to the battle ahead of him and rests the E-11 above the foxhole and opens fire on any white-armored figures he can see. Pressing a button on his headset, he opens a line of communication between himself and the inside of Candor's Redress. "Cassie, get me the frequency those X-wings are using above us to communicate, ASAP." After he is finished, he puts all his attention back to the stormtroopers in front of him, aiming the best he can while avoiding incoming fire from all directions. Even as Mbeki's company is being overwhelmed, and as Sandor is sitting idle, unable to do something for roughly another twenty-eight or so minutes, a more determined defense is being mobilized elsewhere. Things aren't going well in either the sky or on the ground, yet there are still some advantages left, and a motor infantry company is making it's way toward the starport as quickly as it can. Twelve vehicles, eight of which being little more than hovertrucks with additional army soldiers, and the remaining four a lone platoon of Freerunners. At the head of one such Freerunner is 1st Lieutenant Tiboor Stasio, who it turns out bears zero relation to the Tibor Stasio serving in the Imperial Starfighter corps in this same battle. Inside the fast-moving light hovertank, however, he's all but a fighter pilot himself, were it not for the fact that he's neither one of the gunners nor a driver, nor even one of the infantrymen carried along for the ride. At least at the company level, he's the commander, and that's more than enough responsibility for the man to handle in so chaotic a situation. "Control, this is RT-3291, responding to situation at Starport. From where we're at, it's looking like we're going to need more air support. Send any birds you have available," Lieutenant Stasio relays through his headset, fortunately connected to the more powerful radio tranciever on his Freerunner. Still a little over 1.5 kilometers out, he doesn't want to risk opening up just yet, but then at that range it's difficult for the man to tell how truly dire the situation is for the ground-pounders. But then again, drawing too much fire from the walkers wouldn't exactly help them, either. Cassie scrambles back to her feet inside the Candor's Redress, having been thrown to the floor from the concussion wave of an explosion that happened somewhere outside the ship. She curses, looking at her bloody knee and grumbles. Getting back up to the communications console, she again tries to access the NR comm net so Kintor can communicate with the rest of the fleet...and again gets an 'Access Denied' message. She slams the console with the palm of her hand, damn Fleet, they never bothered to share their frequencies with the NRI. She starts over again, this time uploading a program that she came up with herself just for this situation. A couple seconds of apprehension and...SUCCESS! The data stream from the NR net comes onto the display. She punches a few buttons, and hits a button on her own headset. "Got the freq Kintor!! Uploading it to your headset...NOW!!" Yelling as he dodges an explosion, the slender form of Greiko Lornan dives into his cousin's makeshift trench, his shout silenced by an emphatic 'oof.' His face covered in dust and his rifle pushing uncomfortably at his stomach, the agent grunts and rolls over. "'I've got the ship,' she said. 'Go help the gunners,' she said. Why we didn't help the gunners WITH THE SHIP?!" Greiko sits up, taking a few shots at a random instance of white armor and dropping again, an unusual hip motion that the Corellian notes he should remember. Lying down during firefights is becoming Lornan's trademark. "You have a plan, sweet cheeks?" "RT-3291, we are responding, we're getting calls all over the board, give us a couple minutes to route you something." This was the response from the Air Support Control Center.. It takes a few minutes, but the call is clear and concise... "Arr-tee three two niner one, Ee-ees-Oh Zero Three Dagger Squadron on station to provide Close Air Support. We're coming in, stay low, keep your heads down." It had been a long time since Captain Johmac "Hammer" Mabru had flown a Y-Wing. Colonel Archilles had ordered him to land in mid-battle, and he had ordered him to take the Daggers down planetside. Switching the channel off after announcing the Y-Wing squadron arriving in the middle atmosphere, Johmac glances out his canopy toward the Y-Wing on his left - apparently the normal squadron CO, flying Dagger 5. On his right was the third flight's leader, probably the normal XO, flying Dagger 9. He points downward, signalling toward them both, and the Y-Wing squadron begins to nose down in unison. "First Flight will start making runs on the AT-AT line. Rock-man, take the second flight and start making runs behind the AT-STs, take out some of those ground pounders. Third Flight, start giving those Chicken-walkers some Hell. Break, break, break!" The three flights of Y-Wings split into their four-ship formations and proceed onto their tasks. Leading up Dagger's First Flight, Johmac makes a B-Line for the AT-ATs at the front of the Imperial assault. "On three, prepare to drop the load. Lets show these kids we mean business, Daggers. Three.." They were still closing. "Two..." A few hundred meters above them, but still closing. "ONE! BOMBS AWAY!" Releasing a pair of concussion bombs from his own ship, the other three fighter-bombers follow suit. "HANG ON!" he cries back to his gunner, a poor flight officer in the back, as he banks a hard left to get out of the way of the explosions. THIS was Mabru's element, right here - Fire From The Sky. Mako Tokitar, a young Twi'lek who recently joined the NR Marines, was wondering if he could survive to his first battle. There was nothing in common between his training and the reality of war. He was following as close as he can his superior, the 1st Lieutenant Stasio, who seemed sympathic in the ambiant chaos. In the confusion of lasers blasting everywhere, he was just trying not to be injured. An energy beam flying too close to him burnt his left sleeve which ignite instantaneously. He rolled on the ground to shut the fire off, and, luckily, it worked. But his arms was painful. He approached his leader: "Hey Lieutenant ! I'm not sure but it seems we got problems..." At this moment a stream of loudness flew over their head and many detonation resonated from the walker's bearing... "So the cavalry is not too late..." Blood rushed through the viens and brain of Kensle Gradvitz as he pulled hard on the flight stick of Ghost 6, augmenting the overwhelming sensation of elation coursing through him, mixing with the adrenaline - his shot had been a direct hit! Ghost 6 screams as it slams upward, its nose seeking the sky - the three other X-Wings right with him as the concussive rumble of explodion and twisting durasteel follow closely behind. The image of the the port, advancing AT AT's, AT STs, ground Imperials and defending New Republic Marines falling away as the thrusters kick into high gear. Behind the sunshades adorning Kensle's brow and nose, the near human's eyes squint against the encrouching sunlight of the morning dawn on the horizen, and a light headed sensation theatens his momentary post torpedo bliss.. and the the R2 unit squeeled a warning suddenly as hot laser fire speared past his fighter and threatened to end his involvement in this Cochran affair altogether.. "I see them!" Kensle responds, twisting Ghost 6 into a short series of evasive manuevers. He shakes his head to brush away the G-force enduced confusion from his mind and attempted to focus - TIE fighters barreled down on Ghost squadron - a fierce and empassioned responce to the destructionof the lead AT AT and the momentarily halted armored lines. The air lights up with laser fire, a new cacophany of noise, blasts and displaced atmosphere drowning out the sounds of battle below. The arrival of the Daggers is not an unwelcomed sight.. Kensle flips on his com as he swings Ghost 6 around, "Attention Ghosts, Y-Wings are on board, I am going to fall off the AT AT assault and provide cover for the Chicks. Keep an eye on your six and watch for Spike Mud." Ghost 6 flows through the air, kicking as much atmosphere possible out of its way as it seeks a positive lock on one of the TIEs doubtlessly seeking to defend the armored lines. Another com switch is flicked patching him through to the lead Dagger, "Watch your six, Daggers, we've got multiple TIE contacts in this Furball painting us all- Coming in to cover you now.. nice splash by the way." narrowing his focus, Kensle concentrates on the task at hand, manueving into line behind a TIE Interceptor and bringing the scopes to green. Trigger pulled, Ghost 6 sends a hails of hot death after the Vassily Korolov strides forward from where his TIE Scimitar landed, clasping a small cylinder in his hand as he orders the vanguard of the 501st into action, as they begin to close within close combat range of the attack Republic and Griffon Forces. He switches to the internal command frequncy, "Have your squadrons bounce the rebel pilots. They are chewing up the Walkers, I will not have those troopers die because of a failure to bring Anti-Aircraft Artillery." Switching back to the tactical frequency, "Form a battle line. I want the griffons to hemorrhage for what they have brought upon themselves." It is with that that the Imperial Warlord ignites his lightsaber. The crimson red blade springing to life as the 501st and the Republic Lines almost disappear into a maelstrom of red and green blaster bolts. As Stormtroopers go, TK-7530 is pretty average. Clunky, blindingly white, and dogged in his approach. He has been crouching behind the makeshift fortifications surrounding the starport with the rest of his squad, firing off as many rounds with his ST-II as its heavy battery allowed. He waves his white-armored hand in agreement when the order to approach is sounded, and withdraws from his crouching position behind the piled debris. He grunts in a low voice, and fires at the approaching enemy lines. Ghost 5 takes up a post near Kensle, he's in charge of this round. Gene nods, since they are so close, when he gives the orders. "Copy Ghost 6" Not really used to fighting in an atmosphere either. His borrowed droid chirping and whistling, waiting for orders. Though they don't come. When Ghost 6 is fired upon, he moves out of the way for Kensle to manuver, and keep out of the way of the blasts as well. An approaching TIE gets his attention. Trying to manuvre as well, so that the TIE doesn't get a lock on him, and if he's lucky, get a lock on it as well. Above the ongoing fight, a lone mantaray was flying, overseeing the battle status; SF-4239, a Mantaray-class fighter few in circles above the city to get a rough overview of what was going on down there; Apparently, the imperial forces were pushing hard on the starport, which didn't make much sense to the pilot, which was none other than the former Griffon Alliance Armiger, Gyzen Bel. To him, if the Empire really wanted to take over the city, they'd have landed outside the shields' radius, north of the city and close to the military facilities underground, where the shields generator were located, in order to take it down and enact a full assault from within the city. 'Are they buying time... or what?' he thought, which in itself wasn't much of a possibility, given the Empire had some space superiority over the planet... The Mantaray, that seemed unscathed from previous and successful dogfights with the Scimitar assault bombers, landed west of the starport, close to Old City where the shields didn't prevent from landing. Many SATs had already moved to the starport and other strategic places for defence, but there, there was still a presence. The cockpit opened and the man climbed it down, immediately met by a SAT coming for him, gun raised. "State your status?" and then coming to attention, recognizing GB, "Armiger." Even though he was no longer holding any rank, he was still recognizing a living figurehead of the Alliance... GB nodded to the SAT, and dropped his flight helmet and started removing his flight suit, "Sergeant, the bulk of the imperial forces is in the starport. There's no sign of any incoming forces in the surroundings of the city..." he stated, with a nervous tone. He pushed a button on the Mantaray and a compartment opened, revealing an enhanced armor and an EKX rifle. "We need to move inward to the city... nothing is gonna happen here. Help me put that thing on." The SAT nodded and proceeded in helping Gyzen put on the heavy suit of armor. Soon, it activated with a *hiss*, as the exoskeleton got online and allowed the suite to be virtually felt as a light piece of cloth, even helping GB with handling the rifle. "Let's go..." and with that, GB, the Sergeant and the small platoon of heavy SATs started to make their way to the east of their position, namely the strategic place the stormtroopers would have to go through if they wanted to go to the Lion's den, but also allowing GB and the SATs to go south to the starport if they wanted... Grand Admiral Danik Kreldin was laying back on his medical bed, which was now moved closer to the view port in the wake of the Republic's order to retreat in space. The battle had quieted down a lot, although Imperial warships continued to persue Republic ships as they prepared to escape the gravity well. But, now that the heat of battle was over, Kreldin was able to more properly go over reports that had been sent to the Malevolence, the Imperial commandship. Apparently Imperial Intelligence was wrong; dead wrong. There was no planetary shield generator, just a shield over the city itself. If Danik could move his neck, he would shake his head right now. What an awful mistake. Already several divisions of Imperial troops had been committed to the planet. But now, apparently, it was not necessary. All those boys that had died for no reason... sighing, Danik calls for his aide. "Tell General Stasio to prepare for a withdrawal from Cochran. Redeploy the dropships with renewed fighter escorts; we can spare a lot of ships now. Order the 'Selene' and the 'Emperor's Will' to enter orbit and lay down cover for the ground troops. I want every last soldier, dead, wounded and alive, brought back to space. Understood?" "Yes, Grand Admiral." And so the order is prepared for transmission to the Imperial makeshift headquarters on Cochran, where General Tibor Stasio is bunkered up with his command staff. Nevertheless, the battle still rages. Another AT-AT came crashing down as proton torpedoes slam into it from the Y-wings, making many of the Imperial troopers wonder just where the hell their air cover was. And so the Imperial TIE Interceptors renew their air cover, intercepting enemy fighters and bombers to give some relief to the troops below. With only two AT-ATs remaining, they begin spreading out, with whatever room was available to them, to make them less easily targetted, and instead of firing their laser cannons at the rear of the Republic line, they turn their heads upward and begin opening fire on the X-wings and Y-wings above. The eight AT-STs continue onward, oblivious to the Republic cavarly and motorized units moving in on them, launching their concussion grenades into the Republic lines. Tanis rushes across the battlefield, keeping his head down as explosions erupt around him and blaster bolts pass by him. This was to be his grand stand against the Republic counter-attack; so far things were going well for the Imperial stormtroopers, although he has heard reports of a great many casualties on the other side of the battlefield, including no less than two AT-ATs. Grumbling behind his helmet, Tanis takes aim from behind a pile of rubble and shoots off a few blasts of his ST-II in Kintor's direction. Aiming his rifle carefully, Kintor shoots a bright blaster bolt at what he thinks is some sort of leader in the Stormtrooper lines, though he can only guess. "Army o' godam zits, I swear," he grumbles to himself as he takes a sweeping view of the battlefront. A sudden, much welcomed crackling voice is in his ear, bringing with it the frequencies for the fighters above. "Ah, Cass, I could kiss yeh! Thank yeh much." He quickly ducks down from the line of fire and switches the channel of his headset to address and listen to all frequencies. "'Ello? Testing, testing. Birdies above, d'yeh hear me?" He waits for several seconds, taking the time to stand back up and shoot at the advancing Imperial soldiers. "This is Commander Kintor Roberts, on the ground. We need as much Air Support as you can give us. Give us a strafe on the advancing Imperial Ground Ops; we're being overwhelmed." A flying object behind him and a sudden *Thump* heralds the arrival of Lornan, and at the sight of the other man wielding the gun, Kintor promptly ducks down and out of the way. "Oy! What the /hell/ are yeh doin' with a gun?!" He reaches for the other man's gun and points it upwards and away. "Y' never were Gramma's favorite, were yeh?" Shaking his head, he gives a short glare in Lornan's direction before looking back and shooting at the various enemies. At his cousin's question, Kintor gives a quick look to the sky at the fighters on each side, then the back lines and the falling AT-ATs, then forward again at the advancing Imperial lines. Eyes narrow for a moment, followed by a nod. "Aye, I think I may have an ace or two up my sleeve." He winks at the only man beside him who is conscious, and then begins speaking into his headset. "Candor's Redress, this is Roberts. Cassie, I need you to slice into the Imperial communications. We're gonna create a little bit of havoc in the Imperial lines." He falls silent as a noise above attracts special attention. The ever-circling Lambda shuttles continue to boast the Imperial March in some sort of symbolic scare tactic. He mutters to himself, "Well, we can /certainly/ give them symbolic." He utters another command into the mouthpiece of his headset before firing at the neverending waves of Imperial troops. "Air Support, this is Commander Roberts. Check your scanners and you'll see two circling Lambdas with an odd sensory signature. Shoot them down." A sudden blaster bolt comes from an Imperial trooper and hits the man in the chest. Kintor is sent reeling before regaining his balance, and then leans against the wall, opening fire on the ST that just shot him. As he shoots, he grunts into the commlink, "And somebody send a combat medic, I've been hit, and we got more with holes what need fixin'." As the motorized company approaches, it splits into three seperate yet equally important groups. While the CSA holodrama 'ESPO and Legal' comes to mind, in fact what Lt. Stasio's group is attempting to do is far from legal, even by the standards of the NR Military. Leaving the hovertrucks unprotected is probably not the safest idea, but with key anti-air installations having been taken down in some of the early strafing runs, and by the Stormtroopers that landed afterwards, there really aren't any options left. One parks itself and dismounts it's men onto a ridge about 1.2 kilometers from the spaceport, whereas the other four trucks are re-directed towards the shield generators, along with substantial forces from the SATs. This, after all, is not the first time the NR has been forced to weather an Imperial Assault, and key targets are fairly easy to identify. With the generators gone, Imperial reinforcements can arrive twice as fast, and it allows for nastier things such as VSDs and orbital bombardment to come into play. As for Tiboor's group, however, it slows to fourty KPH as it makes it's way to the one kilometer mark from the remaining walkers and arriving Imperial forces. "Gunners, designate 'AT-AT'," the man crisply informs his headset comlink, after changing the frequency to the one utilized by his specific platoon. Just as the 1st Lieutenant says this, his laser rangefinder homes in on one of the AT-ATs, transmitting the data to the other hovertanks, and to the commander himself, who clarifies in case someone can't read. "Range Zero-One-Decimal-Zero-Three. Fire at will!" It's more than enough for the gunners, who relying on targetting data open fire with the anti-vehicle weaponry maintained onboard each freerunner. Meanwhile, Captain Mbeki tries his best to simply stay alive, letting out a silent cheer as each AT-AT is blown away. "We'll see, soldier," Mbeki replies to Mako, firing a shot at one of the AT-AT's still remaining in an attempt to help bog down and confuse the pilot and gunner onboard. "We'll see.." He adds, a bit more quietly, consciously worried about complete and total annihilation under the onslaught of the remaining walkers, CompForce elements, and Stormtroopers. Already most of his company has been wiped out, and the Marines and SATs aren't faring much better, so unless the cavalry really is in time to get them out of there, perhaps Mbeki and his men won't live to see anything after all. (Sandor) Shelkin's head nods as he receives directions. He peeks over the debris again, he then hops to his feet and surges forward towards a pile of burning rubble several meters infront of him. As he moves he opens fire with his rifle towards the rebel line, squeezing off two surpressive shots. As he approaches the burning rubble he takes a knee and comments into his helmet comlink "This is BHC 10-90. What are our priority targets?" Cassie grins, hearing Kintor's comment over the her comm speaker. She listens to the communication frequencies through her headset, ground frequencies through one ear, fleet frequencies through the other. She punches a few more buttons on the communication console. Another blast close by knocks her onto her butt again in the command center. She glares grumbles, pulling herself back up. She goes back to the console, her fingers flying over buttons on the console, now trying to slice into the Imperial communication network and upload it to the rest of the NR forces. Lornan grunts at his cousin. "A'least she showed up to me graduation, you half-breed sack o-" the man cuts himself off as Kintor is hit, tapping his comlink and kneeling. The unit's field medic is incapacitated at Greiko's feet, so his only real option is to treat the chest wound himself. "Cassie, this is Greiko. Listen carefully. To the left of the navicomputer, under the dockin' lights, is a blue button labeled 'Sec'nderry Cargo R'lease.'" The medpack opens to reveal an assortment of bandages, bacta canisters, painkillers, and tools with which Lornan has only been semi-trained. "Press it until it lights up." In theory, what he's just ordered Cassie to do should unlock the ship's rearmost storage area, allowing someone outside to open and access it. But first, Lornan's got to see to his partner in crimefighting. "Y'know," he mutters as he begins loosening Roberts' armor, "this'd be a lot easier if you gun people were awake." He ducks at the sound of another nearby explosion, checks the security of his cover, and looks Kintor dead in the eye. "This is gonneh sting. Shuddup about it." starts applying bacta to the wound as best he knows how. "OW! I'm takin' fire! A little cooked, but I'm okay... Good shootin' boys!" Johmac grins a little bit, watching in the rear mirrors mounted on the top of his canopy on the inside as he flies away from the now burning rubble of the AT-AT his flight had bombarded. "Line up for the next one." He taps on the communications panel, and chimes into the Ghost frequency. "Ghost Five, do you copy? Take your men and start giving some close strafing support with your laser cannons. Also, send a couple to start shooting at the incoming carrier shuttles. We can't let them land more walkers!" The four Y-Wings begin their wide arching turn, and Johmac adjusts his targetting computer.. "Closing, mark five three.." .. The same AT-AT they were closing on takes some virtually non-exsistant artillery fire... Interesting. Oh well.. "Begin countdown.. Three." They were closing again... Here it goes again. "Two.." They were on it! "BOMBS AWAY! Break left!" The bombs were let loose from the four Y-Wings again, and the flight broke hard left, to avoid the concussion. "Give my regards to Tha Emperor!" The other Y-Wings continued to rain their own personal fury down upon the enemy troops, and AT-STs, trying to thin the numbers for the poor NR Troops on the ground. "Ghosts, can you spare a couple to give those Y-Wings a hand?" he calls over the radio.. "See if you can get one or two to help my boys get at those chicken walkers." The Stormtrooper's lines seem to be holding for the moment as the Warlord pushes forward, making his way along the battle line till he is near Tanis's postion. He uses his ignited ligthsaber almost as a field marshal would use a swagger stick to direct squads into position, "Good Shooting Trooper." He barks out through the modulated speaker in his helmet, "Now press forward, leave no survivors. Today is the day we punish these Griffon trash for their treason. Imperial Justice may not always be swift, but eventually all who betray the Empire shall meet the same fate." He roars out as the intensity of the battle begins to draw forth the dark energies swirling around the Sith's soul Gene pulls away, and still tries to get a lock on that incoming TIE, however Johmac's voice comes over the Com, "Ghost 5, I copy." he then turns to the Ghosts, alright my little Ghosties, Crystal, you take ghosts 7 and 8, and take out those carrier shuttles, Kensle, you go and assist with the AT-ST's. The rest of you follow me." Swinging around to take care of the Strafing support. Two a pair of his Ghosts he says, "Mitch and Nick, go assist the Y-Wings instead." Though durring his commands, the TIE eneded up getting a lock on him, the warning goes off and he tries to menuvre to get out of the way once more, before he's hit. "Roger that, Ghost 5, starting my run now." says Kensle, pulling away from the others in his squadron and gunning thrusters toward the distant ground once more. Leveling off near the water, Ghost 6 strafes the vast body of liquid, forming a repulsor wake aft of the quickly moving fighter and the pilot hopes dearly he does not get picked off by one of the defending TIE's as he lines up the targetting reticle on the lumbering armored AT ST's. He was in no danger of going Winchester as he notes the many remaining proton torpedos in their bays within his X-Wing, and so quickly thumbs the controls, queing up another one as he flies along. The distant sight of the battle looming ahead at the starport, smoke spiralling up from various places, red and green blaster fires flying in every direction and explosions rippling amidst it all bring a sense of dread to Kensle as he lines up his shot.. the New Republic was hard pressed indeed. In a moment of clarity, the scopes going green and a lock on one of the AT ST's in place, Kensle lets fly a deadly torpedo to sail along the waters to hopefully careen into its intended target! TK-7530 does as he is told, pushing the assault along with the rest of his buddies, and continuing the relentless stream of blaster fire. So far he has been unspecific about who he's shooting at, but now that he is closer to the enemy lines, he can choose his targets a bit more carefully. The stormtrooper raises the scope up to his visor, locking in on the elusive, but still stationary figure in the Espo armor, Kintor. He's the one that seems to be giving orders into his mouthpiece. He takes a quick intake of breath, and halfway into his exhale he shoots. Gyzen and the others arrived at Sivel Square, north were the heaviest military installation of Cochran and staright south were the waterfront and the starport, the sky was quite red over those directions. Apparently, the base had not seen much action, contrary to the starport, which was getting - utterly - destroyed. There were some civilians who had no weapons, panicking crewmen who had survived the Gabriel's destruction and whose escape pods had made it to Cochran surface, running all around and in the general direction of the lion's den north. "WHATS HAPPENING TO US ??!!!" most of them panicked - and they were shown the installations. Not many ships were left; except military ones; so they couldn't expect any extraction from the planet, yet. "Barricade yourself at home or defend yourself!" GB shouted. Yes; that was the worst day he'd experienced perhaps in his life, and on the inside, Gyzen was crying - seing a years work being ruined in a single day, was a killer. But if the jewel of the Griffon fleet had been destroyed, the city was still quite uncomprised - save for the starport, which was why Gyzen was now on the ground. Sivel Square was a strategic place; It was right in the path from Starport to Lion's Den and the other way around; close enough to the Lion's den to reinforce its defence and quite close - but not as much - to the Starport to reinforce it as well. Here, there were anti-ground platforms deployed and ready to launch their torpedoes at any incoming heavy ground units, from the south, north and west of their position. "Sergeant..." GB asked, "ETA to deploy those units at a close enough range to assist the starport ?" The sergeant hesitated and answered, "2 to 5 minutes... But, Sir, we'd have limited support in case of a full out assault against the Den if we do so." After a few seconds of thought, Gyzen replied, "There are ATATs in the Starport. We need to break their lines and prevent them for advancing. For now there are NR fighters but I feel they'll soon go with the rest of the fleet..." the Sergeant nodded, not questioning Gyzen's ability to issue orders, "Alright, Sir. Trusting your judgment." Soon, a couple heavy ground torpedo-launchers undeployed from Sivel Square and started moving south towards the starport, accompanied by GB and the group of heavy SATs under the Sergeant's comand; under the umbrella of the shields, they couldn't be attacked by bombing runs; only ATATs or troopers could destroy them. A few minutes later, the two heavy tanks started to deploy themselves and pointed their torpedoes to the starport and locking the AT-units there; launching a volley of torps at the sick imperial vehicles; the SATs squad formed up and advanced closer to the starport to get at firing range of the imperial troopers there, taking advantage of the debris for cover.. Seven glowing orbs rain from the sky as Wolf's Squadron, 'War Shrike' is deployed as air support for the Imperial ground forces. He was still sore from his last battle over cochran, now it was time for battle once again. As the red glow dissapates from his front viewport, he looked down at the ground below as the TIEs dropped head-first. The events clearly showing, as the damage is still mounting at the starport. Wolf calls out to his squadron, "Alright Shrikes get straight in there, I want those Rebel pilots to crash and burn!" He didn't bother with anything else, he knew that his squadron knew what todo. Almost imediately, the squadron broke off in twos and began targetting the Rebel fighters. The orders are received in the Imperial command post in the starport. "Withdraw now? Bu--" General Stasio is cut off by the grand admiral's aide, and the orders are more clearly laid out for the general. Reluctantly, Stasio acknowledges his orders and sends a communication to the Imperial troops throughout the starport: start withdrawing. As he gave out these orders dropships started to pierce through the skies to collect the troopers, flanked by more TIE Interceptor squadrons, freed up from the battle that was more or less ending in space. And behind the dropships came two Victory-class Star Destroyers, the 'Selene' and the 'Emperor's Will', ordered to provide cover for the ground troops until they were clear to escape from Cochran. One front of the battlefield was swaying heavily in the Imperial's side: the stormtroopers, dug in and well defended against the Republic troops. On the other side, however, things were going slightly different; CompForce and the Army were unable to punch the hole they needed to break through the rebel lines, partly due to the fact that now a third AT-AT had succumbed to proton torpedo fire. Imperial air cover was just lax today. Nevertheless, the AT-STs continue to press onward, launching their concussion grenades into rebel formations as infantry and CompForce assaultmen try to breach a hole in the lines. Tanis is a bit shocked to see the Warlord, wielding his lightsaber. And more than that, he -spoke- to Tanis. He was flattered, naturally, and was at a lost for words. Good thing, too, as hte Warlord takes off and charges. Feeling a burst of morale, Tanis stands up from behind his cover and charges out, at the rebel lines, yelling his war cry as he fired a few bursts from his rifle at Lornan. After his shots go wild from their intended Imperial target, Kintor lets himself slide down into a sitting position as Lornan pulls a medpac from the unconscious combat medic. "Oy. That damn well hurt. Hurry it up, Greik. We ain't got all day." He grimaces as the other man applies the medical treatment, but says nothing. When Lornan finishes, Kintor re-tightens the armor and twists his torso from side to side. It still stings, but it doesn't effect him, for the most part. Tapping a finger into his headset he says, "Cass, you into their communications yet? Hurry up on it." He looks at Lornan with an eyebrow raised. "The Secondary Cargo Release? But that's where the s-" Kintor pauses, and then smiles. Nodding, he looks at the other man. "Aye, that should be about right." Looking up over the top of his little piece of cover, Kintor takes another sweep of the advancing lines. Eyes widen as he spies a figure unlike all the others. Crimson clad and wielding... could it be? It is. A lightsaber. Kintor freezes for a moment, but ducks back down under cover when a barrage of blaster fire speeds rapidly towards his face. The man gulps slowly, then speaks into his headset. "Air Support, this is Roberts. We need someone here NOW. We are being overrun!" He spots another AT-AT falling with some joy, but the feeling passes quickly. "Cass, hurry up and tie into their communications. We need to do something to slow down this charge." He stands back up to fire at the Stormtrooper who had just fired at him, meanwhile muttering something to Lornan about hurrying up and getting to the ship. Sandor, it turns out, is still unconscious and laying somewhere nearby Kintor and Lornan. Hopefully, if they do evacuate to a ship, they won't leave him behind, but Sandor is a little too busy being immobile to really think about anything, and much less actively worry. The marines elsewhere, however, are another story. The news of the Fleet trying to fight it's way to a withdrawal is more then enough to convince a number of Army and Marine commanders that it's time to pull the plug. None are especially happy about this fact, given that their victory is being robbed right at the sweetest moment, but whatever damage they have inflicted so far will be for naught if they're cut off from the fleet. Coming to the same conclusion, Lieutenant Stasio orders his own company to regroup and head to the nearest remaining transport as well. 'Just a bit longer.. those fighters just need to protect us just a bit longer,' he tells himself, keeping the moral reinforcement in his own mind, rather than offer any tangible doubt of escape or ultimate victory to his men. Not all of the commanders are following this example of course, but then not everyone is so willing to be left behind. If only the planet's shield generator's had been on a larger scale, perhaps none of this would be happening at all. Cassie slams her fist hard against the metal console, seeing yet another 'Access Denied' message show up on her status screen. She's been trying to slice into the Imperial communications net, and has been turned back anytime. She steps away from the console for a second, hearing explosions all around her, even though she's kinda safe inside the Candor's Redress. She takes a moment to think for a second, trying to find another route through the net, a route that she's never tried before. A second later, she lights up and walks back up towards the console, trying one more time to slice into the Imperial net and upload it over the NR network. She bites her lip nervously as her fingers fly over the keys, if this doesn't work, then nothing will. With a nod to his cousin, Lornan takes a deep breath, then turns- to see a flash of red! The agent ducks just in time to avoid an injury of his own, rolling in the process and ultimately winding up on his side a few meters closer to his ship. Looking back to Kintor, then to the Candor's Redress, then to Kintor, Greiko is faced with a decision and has very little time to make it. He swears profusely, then, with an emphatic sigh, rolls onto his stomach and pushes his way to his feet, running with every ounce of strength he possesses. "CASSIE!" he shouts. "I need that door!" He is reminded briefly of his escape from Sigma, his cover exploding around him, vaulting all obstacles and reaching the home stretch only to take a shot to the chest from his own bodyguard. Hopefully, there will be no such betrayal awaiting him here. Lornan dives as he reaches the ship, hoping to avoid any further assault, and stands, frustrated, behind the locked cargo door. He dances a bit, clapping and awaiting a response. "BLUE BUTTON!" Then a click. There it is. Lornan grabs the door and throws it open, launching himself inside and throwing himself onto the first bike he sees. "Bluddy damn it." Johmac knew the moment that his torpedo left the ship that the targetting computer had screwed up the vector. The other three ships had scored hits.. but they were insignifigant, hitting around the feet for the most part. "Bring it around!" The Dagger flight comes around, and Johmac nods, furrowing his eyebrows. "Adjust your computers, and lets hit it home this time," he calls, the Y-Wings continuing to close.. Johmac nods finally, when the computer comes back with a firing solution. "Three," he begins the countdown, the four Y-Wings closing on the AT-AT. "Two." They were even closer. They'd be over 'em soon. "One! Bombs away!" he calls, releasing his own torpedo, along with the other Y-Wings. They break, as per usual.. The other Y-Wings continue their assault on the ground forces, and on the AT-STs, with the aide of the Ghosts. Crystal nods to Gene and sprints towards her ship....as well as Ghosts 7 and 8. before too long, Ghost 2 takes off, even though two engines are pretty well shot on her fighter and her R2 unit isn't much more than a smoking trash can....she pushes her fighter to a good speed.......trying hard to line up a torpedo shot on one of the shuttles. Gene takes his small squadron and makes for the front lines from behind his guys. Three X-Wings lined up, lowering quickly as they fire, with several laser blasts aimed at the ST's. Then pulling back on the throttle, leveling it off, a good distance up yet, before they drop the torps. Ghost-5 and the others also drop a few torpedos in or near the trenchs. Trying hard to knock out a few hundred of them at least this round. War Shrike hit the battle hard, coming in from above. A spray of green as the TIEs begin firing in their groups of two. "Pick on the wounded ones first, get them out of the way. Then concentrate on the more able ones." Wolf said into his comm. As his squadron replies, he turns off his comm. 'Time to find a target..' Wolf said, flicking through his target computer. A Y-Wing appears, 'HMmm..That's not good.' Wolf targetted it straight away, he brought his TIE in range, he didn't expect to hit him at this distance, but it was worth a shot anyway. He pulled the trigger and let out a few sharp bursts of green laser fire. The proton torpedo slams into the AT-AT, shaking the walking behemoth up, but fortunately for the crew and gunners inside, she does not fall over or explode. But the pilots notice a serious fault; she was barely responding to controls, and was hardly moving. All the men aboard the last remaining AT-AT could do now is pray and return fire on the Y-wings that were harassing them so, and hope the damn TIE Interceptors do something about them. The order to pull back is received by all troopers on the starport, even the damn rebels, as they've patched into Imperial communications. Tanis, who had charged ahead firing his blaster, stopped in his tracks and looked around, trying to find out just why they were retreating. But orders were orders, and if high command wanted them out of here then so be it. Firing a few blind shots at rebel marines, Tanis turns around and starts running in the direction of where Imperial stormtroopers were rallying, preparing for the dropships that would get this off this planet... And those dropships have arrived, with a renewed assault by the Imperial TIE Interceptors as more squadrons join the fray. Shipboard laser cannons and E-webs attached to the sides of the dropships open up on the rebel troops, laying down suppressing fire for the retreating Imperial soldiers. And, now, finally here, were the two Victory-class Star Destroyers, casting a shadow upon the entire battle field as they loomed ahead, providing cover for the troops below with their concussion missiles and turbolasers, aimed at the rebel troops and starfighters and bombers. As the last AT-AT makes its final stand, the AT-STs and Imperial Army infantry and CompForce troops begin falling back to the recently arriving Titan dropships and MT/191s, a squadron of Interceptors flying overhead to provide some cover. And, back in the starport proper, where the stormtroopers are retreating to their dropships, the X-wing that swoops down low and launches its proton torpedoes becomes the target of an intense Imperial counter-attack; the torpedoes impact, sending Imperial stormtroopers flying in the air and killing many more. But the Imperial stormtroopers were well trained, and knew not to bunch up, thus minimizing casualties. All Imperial stormtroopers were wondering just why they were retreating; they had the upperhand, could wipe out the rest of the rebels at the starport. But orders were orders, from the Grand Admiral himself. The two VSDs launch missiles at the X-wing, while the Interceptors swoop in on it and fire green bolts at it, doing anything to save the stormtroopers from any more torpedo blasts. A voice is heard in Kintor's ear belonging to Cassie. The message brings good tidings, especially at such a critical moment. "Alright, Cass. Very nice. Keep me updated on what you hear them saying. If you can, I want you to give them as much false information you can. Confuse them, for the New Republic's sake." Staying low under the cover so as not to be seen, Kintor begins to prep the body of Sandor Woden for easy loading onto the swoop Lornan should be bringing soon. There is a sudden tap on his shoulder, and Kintor turns, bewildered, ready to fight if whatever had tapped him happens to be unfriendly. His muscles relaxe at the sight of three marines crouching low behind him. Another two are not far off, dead on the ground; shot in the mad dash to the foxhole. A scrawny looking man in front eyes Kintor, obviously a little confused. "Sir.. we heard you over the radio, saying you were hit, sir." His eyes lower to look at two burn marks in the ESPO armor still hanging somewhat loosely off the man's torso. "Sir.. we can fix that armor. Bizacs here has been trained special for armor repair." Kintor nods, peeling off the torso piece of the armor and laying it down for the men to repair. Feeling somewhat naked without it, Kintor huddles low to the ground with Sandor's incapacitated form next to him. He watches the three start their work on it and flinches slightly as one stands up too high and is shot down immediately. "Hurry it up, you two. I got people to kill." Gradually, non-essential Army and Marine soldiers are bleeding away from the battlefield, taking as many movable casualties with them, but otherwise being forced to leave dead bodies behind to maximize space. Envisioning little beyond an Imperial occupation of the planet, however, most assume that the bodies will simply be buried by the locals in defiance of the Imperial establishment of control onto the planet. Tiboor's only hope, at this point, is that the populace will simply prove so unmanagable that the Empire will eventually be forced to give up on the planet entirely. A repeat of Caspar, to be sure, if only the unique conditions of that case could be reproduced. As for Sandor, however, he still lies in place, though is now prepped for transport as best as can be expected. While his life is firmly in the hands of others now, his position is not entirely unenviable, as it means that he won't have to experience the cruel feeling of life and one's hopes and dreams passing from a body into nothingness. Hopefully it won't come to that in any case, however, as the Marine and Army withdrawal is moving at a remarkable pace given the fact that there is still a battle going on, and that men are still fighting, dying, or getting wounded and bogging down the entire effort. Already the most mobile assets are aboard their transports, however, and it's only a matter of time before they make a run for it. Lornan gets the bike's engine going, and has his hand on the throttle when he stops and notices the Star Destroyers looming above the Griffon world. "Cassie. Drop what you're doing, it's too late. Get in here and grab a bike." With those words, Lornan kicks the swoop into it's highest gear and jets out the bay, weaving between ships, bodies, and exploding objects as he charges for his companions' little bit of cover. He prays to Casohav, the Force, to whatever, for some kind of salvation, and that his skills from the track won't fail him now, when they really count for something... Cassie ignores Lornan's warning "Hold on!! I HAVE to get this message out!!" She's been studying the Imperial authenticator codes for the past few minutes, and thinks she may be able to get a message out giving false targeting information to the dropships and VSDs about to rain fire on the starport. She pushes the last button and drops her pad, sprinting towards the remaining swoop, jumping into its seat charging off, following Lornan to their companions. "I think we screwed it over enough to keep it from moving. Leave it." Johmac orders. The flight of Y-Wings move along to the front of the line near the troops. "I've picked up a fighter! Someone, clear my six." He maintains his calm, though - these things are slow, but they take a beating. Johmac brings his ship around with the rest of his flight, chewing on his tongue. "Lets take out that other one." He adjusts his targetting computer, furrowing his eyebrows slightly, trying not to worry about the Imperial fighter that's definately trying to kill him. Someone will handle it. "Three," he calls, initiating the bombing countdown. "Two!" They're closing... here it comes... "One! Bombs away! Break, break, scatter and form up to attack that other one, and lets finish it off!" he calls, his own torpedo releasing, the flight beginning to scatter apart.. Two head toward the very front lines, spraying the enemy troops with laser cannon fire from that top-mounted cannon, as well as the two mounted in the noses of the ships.. Crystal, in Ghost 2 now banks away from the exploding Shuttle that her team just torped. "All right. one down...one to....." Then Ghost 7 speaks up. "Ghost 2.....we've got outbound and inbound dropships." Now Crystal had a choice.....smoke the all ready damaged dropships.....or help the ground forces by damaging the dropships as they came in. of course, Crystal gets an idea. "Form up. we're hitting the inbound shuttles." She says banking and turning the formation towards one of the inbound dropships...and firing their torpedoes. Gene has to hurry to get out of the fire of those TIE Interceptors, and yet smartly, veering this way and that... He swallows hard, and pushes on the throttle even quicker. Though also watching the Stormtroopers scatter when his laser blasts and torps hit. The others in his line made it through, but he is slightly off course. Talking to the droid in his well, a few minor adjustments are made. It's really a good thing he wasn't hit, his shields were toast and his hull was a bit damaged from the battle in space. Ok where is he, his watching the troops scatter had been a bit of a foolish move there at the end, as well as his piloting skill, it's improving though. There is the battle he sent Kensle to take care of earlier against the AT-ST's, so he is way off, and begins to circle around. A command given to him over the com "Copy that." and instead of making another pass, swirves again, heading for the AT-ST's himself. To the other Ghosts that were with him. "Boys, form up, we are going after the AT-ST's, increase to full throttle, and watch those TIES. War Shrike One, still on the tail of the lead Y-Wing. Wolf smirked.. These things we're slow, and easy target practise. "Take down those Y-Wings." Wolf spoke over the comm. He weaved behind the Y-Wing, eventually stabilizing and placing his targetting reticule over the Y-Wing's aft quarter. He had decided to fire up the middle of it's engines, hopefully blowing it into a dive. He pulled on the trigger again.. Smoke grenades are thrown and detonated, providing a smokescreen for the Imperial troops as they board their dropships. Some dropships, however, are not so lucky, victims of Crystal's squad's attack. Nevertheless, it does not halt the Imperial withdrawal. General Tibor Stasio himself had already boarded another Lambda-class shuttle (one not playing music) and was preparing to leave the planet under TIE Interceptor protection. Elsewhere, the eight AT-STs start moving up the ramps of their respective Titan dropships under the protection of the Victory-class Star Destroyer 'Selene.' The battle was quieting down as both sides started falling out. Cochran, for all intents and purposes, seems saved for now, although Imperial dominance in space remains. Was the Empire going to just give up on total domination on the ground? Time will tell, of course. Tanis sighs heavily as he emerges from the smoke screen and up the ramp of one of the waiting dropships. Inside the dropship, it was a depressing scene. The stormtroopers seemed.. distraught. They were winning. They -could- have won. But Grand Admiral Kreldin still called them back. Why? What was up the old man's sleeves? Tanis knew better than to question it; something big was going to happen. Tanis sits down on one of the benches in the back of the dropship and takes his helmet off, getting a long awaited breather.
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