Garqi's Open Orbit

The 3-Z slowed rapidly as it came out of hyperspace, Demarus feeling almost like the system in front of him was a dream. He had thought of nothing but getting back here while he was stuck in that hell on Lianna. As the purple planet grew larger in the viewsceen, he felt his breath catch in his throat.

He could remember that last night in Pesktda before he shipped out. He and Lorta and the Botanical Gardens. She had looked radiant that night, her blonde hair spilling out of the updo in curls around her face. He could remember ever smile, every scent and exactly how she fit in his arms. He had promised her the moon in the sky, the stars for jewels and every other romantic gesture that he could imagine. The comlink had sounded, and she begged him not to take it but he couldn't ignore his duties. They both knew that. Urgent distress call. He had to go. She made him promise to come home.

The bittersweet taste of her kiss burned on his lips for as long as he was captive. He vowed that no matter what they did to him, he would make it back here. Now, almost 3 years later, fate was so much crueler than any mortal torture master. His grand return home. It was ashes to him now. Lorta was not down there. His old life was as dead as he was believed to be. He felt the pain in his hands, looking down to realize that he had been gripping the yoke far too tightly. He eased his hands open, leaning back in the chair.

Just get through this. One foot in front of another.

The traffic command contacted them promptly and he radioed their falsified information. They were cleared down and Demarus pushed the controls forward, taking the ship down through the clouds. Ghosts of his past were clouding his mind, and shifting uncomfortably in his seat, he tried to get his mind off things by turning his attention to Mel Tervho and Galdaart Fel.

"We're gonna be on ground in about 35 minutes. From the spaceport, we're heading to a nearby warehouse to meet the boss. This is it, boys and girls."

An ISB operations ship drops out of hyperspace - essentially nothing more than a Guardian-class light cruiser with sensor baffling plating and sensor jammer / baffler electronic countermeasure suites. Normally equipped with six twin double turbolasers, this particular ship was equipped with four double turbolasers - and two ordnance launchers, one fitted for concussion missiles, the other for ion torpedoes. Like most Guardian-class light cruisers, this one was fitted with an external vehicle rack - but, instead of a complement of tie fighters, this cruiser was equipped with four Rapid Deployment Airspeeders. Modified with rappel line hard points on the interior passenger bay, the customary double sliding bay doors had been mounted on the bottom of the speeders rather than on the sides. In complement, the light cruiser itself had twenty commando soldiers, with ten commandoes in the troop bays in each airspeeder - which, consequently, had been modified to be airtight - for a total of sixty commandoes.

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Commander Cormac Quincy stood in the troop bay of QS-100 - the name of their guardian-class cruiser - amidst the other twenty soldiers. They stood in four rows of five, all wearing combat boots, shata leather pants, regular civilian clothing over which armored plastoid plates were worn on the chest, shoulders, and arms, with a final armored spacers leather coat complemented by an armorweave battle scarf. Odd dress for sure - the most distinctive thing about their wardrobe was the black goggles each and every one wore, along with matching rebreather mask and oxygen tube. They carried an assorted amount of weapons, primarily light blaster repeater and blaster scatterguns - as well as a grenade belt with various gas grenades. Eerily, they waited, silent except for the faint rustling of feet, their goggles reflecting the red light of the troop bays. "Prepare for orbital insertion. Weapons hot, weapons free, time to contact - thirty seconds." Cormac said into his rebreather's comm. The ship was fast, and practically silent on sensors - while it was true that, visually, it could be seen, there were (as of yet) no forces in place or fleets and such to spot it. More than likely, the ship would make it to the surface due to its countermeasures package. From there...things would be played fast and loose.

*Keith had chosen the perfect time to show his face in the galaxy, for now a war was brewing, and his skills could truly be put to good use. As they would be here on Garqi, hijacking and looting a maglev train for its goods and put them to use for the fledgling Alliance that Aerandir had begun to form, along with Alpharius, the Commanding Officer of this whole operation. Once Keith got wind, he was one of the first to sign up, to no one's surprise; this was where he could be useful.

What he was raised to do.

Curiously, he also had a charge: Young Morgan Calmcacil, who had almost begged to come along for the mission. There was some understandable reluctance in allowing a small child to come along for the mission, but she'd been give the endorsement of her own father, as well as Keith himself, who swore to protect her; had even pointed out that she had once protected him. So she had been welcomed into the boarding party, which meant Keith now had even more investment in the mission. He had failed her once before, he did not intend on doing so again.

The two of them had been offered lodging within the Aurelian during transit to Garqi. Keith had spent much of the journey inspecting and cleaning his equipment, checking his ammo packs, and ensuring his armor was in excellent working condition. Morgan hadn't sat idle either, moving about the vessel, keeping herself loose with stretches, exercises, and practicing with that new whip of hers. Keith had even volunteered to assist her, teaching her some additional martial arts moves that could be used in conjunction with her whip. It definitely showed she was new to the weapon, but she was a quick learner; if all else failed, she had her other training to fall back on.

But as they drew ever closer to Garqi, Keith knew that he would have to establish some ground rules, for her safety and to ensure the mission went smoothly as possible. He entered the crew quarters to find her seated crosslegged upon the floor, deep in meditation, no doubt attempting to calm and center herself before the mission; to her credit, she hadn't shown much anxiety leading up to the mission. He watched for a moment, taking in the scene, her hair rippling with an unseen wind as her effects slowly revolved about her. Her lightsaber gently tumbled, her whip curled around an invisible structure, her bow and arrows danced about their quiver. Keith hadn't truly studied the Jedi, so this was still quite a sight to him.

Still, he had to speak with her promptly.* "Morgan," *he called firmly to rouse her from her meditations. She raised her head, gently letting go of her hold, her effects easing to the ground; even the arrows fell properly back into their quiver. Keith was impressed, but he didn't let it show in his voice as he requested,* "I want you to face me and stand at attention. There's something I need to discuss with you." *She briefly tilted her head to the side curiously before she did as requested, only with her head raised, looking at him. He shook his own head.* "Face forward. Not up at me." *She furrowed her brows in confusion before, yet again, doing as told.

Now it was time. The Keith she knew as a friend was no more; instead, he was now Master Sergeant Keith-070.* "Until this mission is concluded, I am not your friend, I am your commander. This is no game; this is battle, and you are a soldier. From this moment forth, you will address me as 'sir.' Is that understood?"

*Her expression said it all: Shock that someone she considered a close friend was suddenly forcing her to listen to his commands, and perhaps a bit of defiance as well. Morgan was an independent child, but she was a smart one; he could see her nearly break her stance and look up at him in disbelief, but she managed to still her head, heard her literally swallow her pride as she loudly declared,* "Yes, sir!"

*Good. This was off to a solid start already.* "You are to follow every order I give promptly and without question. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" *she declared again, even more loud and obedient than the first time.

He again began to feel pride for her, but he kept it restrained.* "Very good, soldier. Now let's see you salute." *And salute she did, snapping as crisp a salute as he could have expected from a child her age. Keith then returned the salute, before at last commanding,* "At ease, soldier. Get your gear together. We'll be preparing for departure soon."

"Alright— er, yes sir!" *Morgan replied, before gathering her things together. Keith left her to this, returning to the lounge.

It was about this time Corinne chimed in, speaking directly to Keith via his comm system.* "You whipped her into shape very quickly."

*Now Keith allowed his pride to show in his voice.* "She respects me, and she knows how serious this is. I have faith in her, but she'll need to follow orders as any good soldier should."

"You're falling back into old routines," *she replied wistfully.

Keith didn't answer, silently smiling beneath his helmet. This was where he belonged, and he felt a lot more comfortable here than he did during the meet-and-greet back in Felucia's hangar. The cougars had hardly qualified as a real battle; now, they were up against intelligent beings, with actual weapons, reinforced security. Here, he had to work for his victory, and he would relish the opportunity. And even as he and Morgan stood at the ready while the Aurelian was occupied by Alpharius and the forward infiltration party, on its way down to the planet's surface to engage in first contact with the Garqi Imperials, he smiled greedily, hungrily.

He was back in the game.*

*We popped out of hyperspace and continued on toward the planet surface. I'd let Veep fly for a bit as I headed aft to prepare my hasty decent to the planet surface and, if my information was right, a crate of pure cortosis ore. I was out of fancy bullets for my revolver and had to rely on the plain Jane durasteel pinned core, armor piercing variety. I keyed the intercom*
"Veep! Line me up with the first car and I'll handle it from there!"
*Veep's response was something to the effect of the foolishness of this endeavor and how I was doomed... Something like that*
"Just do it and meet me with the ship at the end of the line"
*I checked over my gear for the third time. Blaster: check. Revolver: check. Armor weave trench coat: check. Goggles: check. Personal shield: check. Three thermal detonators: check. And handy shattergun assault weapon borrowed from newly hired yet under cautious crew member with scary voice: double check!*
"Launching in three, two one"
*Then I hit the launch button on the once escape pod, now rocket propelled rapped deployment...escape...pod. The thing was way to fast!*

On the Ekundayo's bridge, the captain of the Brayl-class bulk freighter originating from Agamar, issues the orders to bring the freighter onto it's assigned course and increase speed so that the freighter is soon bound for the loading yards on Garqi's surface after being granted permission from the world's planetary traffic controllers.

In her quarters aboard the freighter, Vashity Lokshin, an undercover Jedi Investigator who has been acting as the crew's engineering officer, hastily packs her few belongings so that she is ready to disembark as soon as they set down. Having sent word to her superiors about what her intelligence gathering mission on Agamar had revealed of a possible First Order military invasion soon to occur via an encrypted holonet message, Vashity was told than arrangements had been made to have a ship ready for her in Pesktda Port, a ship she intends to use to journey to the world where a combined Jedi and Alliance force is being assembled to oppose the First Order fleet she learned is already making its way towards Rendili.

As the Ekundayo begins its trip to Garqi's surface, Vashity finishes her packing and sets out for the boarding ramp, having already made the freighter's captain aware of the fabricated family tragedy that she is using as a means of maintaining her cover and explaining the need for her hasty departure.



Not long after the Ekundayo has left orbit and continued on down towards the loading yards, a YT-2000 light freighter, piloted by Vashity, makes its way up into Garqi's orbit and then enters hyperspace once it has moved far enough away from the planet's gravity well.

After the initial salvo of laser fire, there was chaos aboard the Avenger. Alarms were blaring, men were running to their battle stations, and the officers in the pits of the ship were reading out various data readouts from the holoscreens. Throughout all of this, Vlusu paced back and forth along the central walkway. Barking orders to the crew.
"Raise the shields! Charge the cannons! Get me the captain of the Discovery! Tell them to launch all fighters! Captain! Get me a damage report. What is the status of the fleet?"
He turned to face Berserker.
"Well don't just stand there! Lead the fighter squadron. You aren't doing much good standing here at any rate. Gunners, pick your targets. You may fire when ready."
Within a few seconds, the ships began to fire back. The Vulture Droids and Heyena Droids began to swarm over the fleet as the Clawcraft were launched. The various fighters began attacking each other. It was now that the damage report came in.
"Sir, we have the damage report. We've lost an Interdictor and a frigate. All the ships have suffered some damage, but we are fighting back. Their sheer quantity of ships. I don't know if we will make it through this."
"We will turn the tide. Our forces will overcome them."