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Post by MikDaTv on Apr 4, 2013 9:07:02 GMT -5
The Razzle Dazzle exited hyperspace in an unmarked stretch of nothing. The only thing occupying the area for the next thousand lightyears was a single space station, antique in design and bearing the colors of the Republic.
Hawkins information on the facility was slim. Most of it was withheld due to being classified above his level of clearance. All he knew was that it was a factory of some kind back during the first Mandalorian War and it was abandoned when the Mandalorian lines pushed forward too far.
His mission was three fold. Determine what happened to the merchant ship sent here a month ago, complete the merchant ship’s mission, survey the facility to determine the feasibility of occupying it again. “Captain, do a circle of the space station and do some scans. Let’s see what we can see.”
The captain of the ship nodded. “Very well. We’ll be done in no time.”
Hawkins nodded and departed the bridge to get his men ready. The marines had given him a team for this mission. A squad of 8 men instead of the usual 12. Hawkins was in charge of the mission and the only officer. His second in command was a Sergeant Mat’ura. A Twi’lek who Hawkins originally distrusted due to his non-human status but had grown to depend on during the trip here. Mat’ura was in tune with the men and incredibly knowledgeable in both military subjects and non military subjects.
The Foray Class blockade runner was a small ship, it didn’t take him long to reach his squad bay. “We’re here men. Gear up, we’re heading over to the facility in 45 minutes.”
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Post by MikDaTv on Apr 5, 2013 8:20:26 GMT -5
“The Merchant Vessel Rancor’s Mouth is docked at one of the facilities docking ports but scans so far have picked up no life signs and only minimal power to the station. It looks like Rancor’s Mouth hooked their own reactor into the station to provide power to minimal systems.” The Captain explained.
“Dock at one of the other ports and we’ll investigate the station first. If you detect any threat, any threat at all from that ship, disengage and turn the Rancor’s Mouth to dust.” Hawkins said. His armor made fitting on the bridge difficult but he managed.
The Captain nodded. He looked pale. Hawkins suspected he thought this was supposed to be a milk run and didn’t expect to have to use his guns. Hawkins detested the man. This was a military ship, its captain should be prepared to take military action. “Aye, we will.” The captain said with a gulp.
Hawkins departed the bridge and headed down to his men. They were gathered at the docking port airlock doing final checks on each other’s gear. Hawkins immediately noticed the difference between his men who were prepared and efficient and the man up on the bridge who seemed to get nervous about blowing up a ship without any people on board. “Alright men, get ready! Team one will head straight for the merchant vessel and secure that docking port. Team two head for the facilities control room and try to bring the stations power online.”
A round of acknowledgements rang out from his men. They were ready to go. Minutes passed in silence, checking and rechecking their weapons and gear. When they heard the loud clang of the ship docking, they red light over the airlock changed to yellow. “Everyone on the line!” Hawkins barked. The marines lined up and prepared to journey across the docking arm to the station.
The light turned green and the doors hissed open. “Charge!” Hawkins ordered. It was a silly order, no one did charges anymore but Hawkins still liked it. A long time ago in some past life Hawkins had been a calvary commander and had issued the order hundreds of times.
Hawkins lead the way bursting through the door with his men behind him. He was going with Team Two on their way to the control center. 9 men in armor and armed to the teeth ran onto the facility and found it empty. They took up cover positions and waited. The excitement of the initial 5 second rush began to wear down as they looked for any sign of threat. There wasn’t one.
Hawkins counted to 30 and when they were greeted by nothing more than the silence of the decks he hand signaled for the teams to continue on mission. They split up and went about their business.
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Post by MikDaTv on Apr 9, 2013 13:31:42 GMT -5
“Reactor’s 2 and 3 are caput. I’m bringing reactor 1 online. It should give us enough power for lights and computers.” Mat’ura said. The Twi’lek was working on the command center main systems computer. Everything in the room was running on emergency power. There was barely enough juice left to keep the central computer running.
Hawkins watched the twi’lek work. Computer were not his thing, but Mat’ura made it look easy. “Find lots 58A through 67B. See if they’re still in the cargo bay.”
“Roger. Reactor coming up now.” Mat’ura replied.
Slowly the lights in the control room started to kick on. Computers came back online as well. Mat’ura’s fingers flew over the keyboard as he started looking up information. Hawkins looked over to his other men who were protecting the door. There was no reason to assume the station had hostiles on board but the crew from the merchant ship had disappeared to somewhere and Hawkins didn’t like the unknown. He would assume there were hostiles until he proved otherwise.
“Colonel, this is team one.” The voice on his com spoke. Corporal Ralem was in charge of Team One. “We’re at the ship. No signs of life. I dispatched Kirby and Little John into the ship to scout inside while me and Hansen secure the airlock.”
“Good thinking Corporal. Let me know what your scout team discovers.” Hawkins ordered.
“Lots 59A through 67B are still aboard the station but are on the cargo loading tram, not the cargo bay.” Mat’ura reported. “According to the logs 58A was loaded aboard the merchant ship and then the loading tram was shut down for undisclosed reasons.”
Hawkins looked over Mat’ura’s shoulder to review the data himself. “Team One, have your scouts look in the cargo bay for a crate of cargo recently loaded.”
“Aye Colonel, standby one…”
Hawkins waited a few drawn out moments before he got his status report from the Corporal. “Kirby reports a crate was loaded. It’s about the size of a speeder but it’s empty. He knows it’s new because it doesn’t have as much dust on it than everything else. Also, before they were in the cargo bay, they were in engineering and reported that the place was a mess. The engines were smashed beyond recognition and the hyperdrive was torn out and looks to be blasted into bits.”
“blasted? Roger that Corporal, maintain your security of the ship and hold position.” Hawkins ordered.
“Roger that Colonel, Team One holding position.”
“Sergeant, lets get to the cargo tram and take a look at this cargo.” Hawkins said.
Mat’ura logged off the console and grabbed his rifle. “Aye Colonel. Team Two, you heard the man, move out!”
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Post by MikDaTv on May 2, 2013 10:16:46 GMT -5
“Come on men, put your backs into it!” Hawkins yelled. He and his team were gathered round one of the unloaded cargo crates trying to get it open with a pry bars. The four of them put their weight into it and crate cracked open with the creak of rending metal as the clamps bent open.
The cover fell open and dust plumed up from the floor. Hawkins turned the shoulder lamp on his command armor on and peered into the container. The container had four separate racks built into it and hanging from each rack, all folded up and inactive, were war droids. Ten war droids per rack made 40 droids per container. Hawkins whistled. “So the Republic wants us to bring back a shipment of antique war droids.”
“Why?” one of his men asked. “These are so old, they can’t be that deadly.”
Hawkins reached forward and rubbed the buildup of grim from the skin of one of the droids. “They were never deadly. Machines like this have no place on the battlefield. They rob good men and women, hero’s, of the challenge and glory of battle. They turn combat into a soulless game of numbers.”
“Even if every container had a full load of droids there isn’t enough here to warrant a full scale operation like this. It’s barely enough droids to secure a landing zone.” Mat’ura said.
“That’s why they sent the merchant ship. They didn’t sent us until their first plan went wrong somehow. The merchant ship probably was sent here to pick up the droids and assess the facility for possible reactivation.” Hawkins explained. “question is, where did the crew of the merchant vessel go.”
“Colonel! This is team one! We’re registering movement aboard the facility!” came over the com.
Hawkins switched channels to a squad wide frequency. “Marines, fall back to C and C. Consider any non friendly contacts to be hostile and shoot on sight.”
“Colonel! Team one is engaged. It came out of nowhere! Falling back! Little John is down… *static*”
Hawkins tried to raise Team one almost a dozen times before giving up. “Ok Team two, lets get to C and C. Plant a motion sensor mine on this crate before we leave. Safeties off, fire on anything that isn’t us. We have a confirmed enemy on aboard.”
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