Operation Mech Madness

[Crazy O]

Johana made her way form the her office onto to the bridge. She sat down and looked out at the swirling blue vortex. "Exiting hyperspace in three, two, one." The navigator said and then the computer deactivated the hyperdrive so that both the USS Enterprise and the USS Eternal exited hyperspace in the Mustafar system together. Johana stood up and walked over to the sensor operator station. "Traffic Report?" She said on her way. When Johana got there the sensor operator already had started a detail scan.

She spoke to the captain but continue to watch her screen. "Light, five mining ship in the asteroid field, and two transports in orbit about the planet." Reporting her findings.

Johana walked over to Miki. "Take us to the planet and enter a geosycronis orbit above the factor." She said to her and then headed back to her seat. "Tell the Eternal to do the same and have them start a detail scan of the facility once we are in orbit. I want a direct uplink to the Eternal's main computer. I want to see everything they see." She said to the communication operator as she picked up the receiver and turned on the PA system. "To all Air Calvary personnel. Mission update. Exited hyperspace and begun scanning the planet. Mission begins in an hour. Report to hanger bay in forty five minutes for Intel briefing." She said into the receiver. She put the phone down and waited for the scans to come in.

[Sir Lord Ash]

<sub>Miki was already hard at work when Johana started handing out orders. By the time the Captain told her what to do, it was already half way done with it. She was

Heading there now, Captain.</sub>

[/color]

Miki didn't even look up as Zero walked in, clothes over mandalorian armor. Out in the hallway was a pile of daggers, two blaster pistols, a blaster rifle, and the Feather Blade. He remembered to remove all his weapons before entering the bridge, but the guard outside still had a shock expression that he had when Zero first started to remove his weapons. He walked up near Johana.

No need to yell. Anything new came up?[/center][/sub]

[Crazy O]

The Enterprise and the Eternal took up position above the planet and began this scans. really quickly thermal and electromagnetic scans of the factory came in. They counted 148 different B1 battle droid signatures along with a lot more protocol and maintenance droids. Johana did not like the looks of them, but there was no reason to turn back now. She turned to Miki. "Take into the planets atmosphere, maximum deployment altitude for the Hawks and Albatrosses. And this time, lets not put undue stress of the frame. She is our flagship after all." She said with a smile to Miki before downloading the data to a datapad and heading down to the hanger bay.

Johana arrived in the hangerbay and signalled all the AirCav men over to her. She uploaded the data to a screen and gave them the quick and dirty. "Okay, we count 148 B1 battle droids. They seem to move in groups of ten to fifteen and are fairly evenly dispersed throughout the factory. The landing spots should be clear, however Hawks well still go in first." She said calmly looking at the soldiers. "One last thing." Johana zoomed in on several cluster of the protocol and maintenance droids. "I think they set a trap with these droids. While they read as protocol and maintenance droids, don't believe them. If it is not organic, I want it shot. We can work out what was defective and what was just fine later. Is that clear?" She said waiting for any final question or comments. If their weren't any, they would proceed with the operation and she would return to the bridge after wishing Zero good luck.

[Sir Lord Ash]

<sub>Yes mam, taking her down, and if you say so.

Miki grinned as she slowly brought Enterprise down into the planets atmosphere, and held it still at the right place for deployment.

Ash meanwhile had left the bridge and quickly gathered all his weapons, with didn't really seem to weigh him down too much, especially counting the large sword on his back. It was easier for him to carry it like this rather in six different pieces. Save for a pistol and his ICWS, everything else was hidden.

When Johana gave them a quick talking too, he stood against the wing of Normandy and listend quietly. He had no extra words to say.</sub>

[/sub]

[Crazy O]

Johana nodded. "Okay, sense there are no question, get to your birds. We drop in a few minutes." She said as she turned around and headed back to the bridge. As she passed Zero she placed hand on his chest, stopping both of them from continuing. "Be careful down there." She said softly before moving on towards the turbolift.

Johana took the lift up to the bridge and sat down in her command chair. She looked at data on her monitors and smiled. "Good work Miki. That was a nice smooth ride." She said with a smile. Miki was a hell of a helmswoman, it was a shame that she wanted command of her own vessel. Johana had looked up her physiological profile while in hyperspace. She then pulled up a receiver and punched in the AirCav frequency. "Launch." She said, giving the go for the mission to begin.

[Sir Lord Ash]

<sub>Don't worry. I'll take them down first.

Zero grinned and gave a thumbs up before taking off to a nearby dropship. He was the only one who didn't look armored, but he was, not that it was too important on this mission. He had to wait only a few minutes before the signal for them to launch was given, then they were plumiting down towards the planet's surface.

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Miki looked up when the Captain walked back into the bridge. When he was praised, Miki gave a huge grin before turning half way to face Johana.

Thank you, mam.</sub>

[/sub]

[Sir Lord Ash]

<sub>Half the hawks were the first to reach the factory, and began to fire on groups of droids that were unlucky enough to be out in the open. Though it may be cooler than moust volcanic worlds, it was still hot enough to easily buff the incoming crafts around.

By the time the albatrosses arrived, landing zones have been secured and troops were released. All but 3 albatrosses, which one on the roof took off for a failure of landing gear deployment were in the air; the rest wanting to fight, or were there for wounded or some firepower if need be.

Zero was one of the first ones off, rifle at the ready he set a knee to teh ground for stability. His eyes were sharp as he looked for anything that looked out of place to him. Seeing none, he continued forward, first platoon forming around him. The OPSAT/SHP (opperational Satalite/Ship uplink) on his arm twiddled at him, and brought up a 2D map of the factory on its screen, and a green dot showing all members in every platoon, a red dot for knows battle droids, and yellow for any unknowns. A blue dot showed him where his main target was at, this case it being the mainframe. A tap of a button brought up a 3D model which slowly revolved, showing everything there was on the factory thanks to the data from the orbiting ships.

Alright, platoon. We have are target. Watch each others back. Keep it nice and clean. Move out.

Moving quickly, the team moved towards the target three floors below, nearly at the center of the factory where it would be the most protected from attacks and the enviroment.</sub>

[/sub]

[Sir Lord Ash]

_{This is second platoon, reporting contact.
Third platoon reports same.
Fourth platoon, clear now. Moving forward.}

[/color][/i]

Everything was moving like a dream so far. Updates came in whenever a platoon came across battle droids or took them down. What made it even better was no deaths or even injuries. Zero's OPSAT twilled at him, signaling that droids were within 20 meters of them, a quick checked showed just around the corner.

Alright boys, lets have some fun.

Zero raised his rifle shifted the Feather Blade, and knelt down, aim right at the corner of the turn. Seconds later, the first of the battle droids turned, and were blown away before they could open fire. Three men, including Zero, rushed forward and took out the last 10 droids in a hail of blasterfire. Zero reloaded his clip and the team continued forward, looking for a lift to the lower levels.[/center][/sub]

[Sir Lord Ash]

<sub>Its not that they were hard to kill, its just that there were many of them. The other platoons reported in saying much of the same thing. Zero had to forsake his rifle, which was now slung across his back, and was using the Feather Blade for offensive and defensive combat. Though the blade may have seemed very heavy, it was quite agile, and easily smashed through droids that Zero neared. The blade was nearly as large as Zero, and that reach was great for taking down droids.

In Zero's left hand was one of his blaster pistols so he could hide behind his sword, which was wide enough to hide his body. Work went by fast between him and the rest of the people in his platoon.

Shortly after the fourth wave of battle droids, they came to a lift, and took it down two levels to the room with the control area. A short walk and two more waves of droids later, Zero replaced his blade and pistol with his rifle, and placed a small charge on the door, and blew it wide open. The team rushed in, but were no where close to being ready for what they saw: The room was filled with battle droids, and in the very center of the room was a large charge. The flashing timer didn't look too good, either.

There must have been a camera setup somewhere, because a voice sounded over the loudspeakers.

Good afternoon, soldiers. So happy you could join me here this day. As you guys in the control room could see, there is a large bomb set to explode here in a about seven minutes, and I will be far away. I have enough droids to do my job, which, thanks to some outside help, have more droids than this plant could produce. I was hoping for some more, but the "mishap" was no problem. Now, you don't have enough time to escape.</sub>

[/i][/color] The battledroids raised their rifles to the platoon. Have a nice afterlife, soldiers.[/i]

Nothing was spoken as the entire group turned away from the mass fire and ran. Zero felt a blaster bolt strike his shoulder, but his armor there took the blunt of the blast, and he kept running. Over the tactical channel that the entire strike team and the orbiting ships shared, Zero spoke to all who could hear.

The entire place is a big trap. Mission scrubbed. Everyone get back to the dropships. Take off without me. I need to stop this person before he can take off. I have him pinpointed, and hes close. If I'm not back here in five minutes, leave without me.[/i]

Before anyone could do anything Zero shot off from his platoon and ran down the hall. He heard calls, but he just ignored them. If there was outside help, and rigging this place with enough explosives to easily be seen from orbit, then there must be some large ships here to carry everything.

Zero checked his OPSAT and knew that he had to get down as far as he could. This led him to make his way outside and jump over the safety railing. It was a full 20 feet before Zero landed in the soft gravel slope and slid down the side of it, heading towards the lava pools. Above him, he could hear rotor's and jets sound off as the hawks, albatross's, troops, and whatever survivors, if any, were found.

Hidden away from sight was a large hanger-like cavern embedded in the side of the hill. It must have been somehow connected to the factory that was far above him now. The place where Zero landed was hidden by boxes, but he could still see the 3 action IV transports and 4 GR-75 Medium Transports. If enough droids were loaded on them, they could easily have a small army of droids. The only organic around was a humanoid, but they were blocked by a small group of battle droids.

Zero didn't wait long before he was on the move again, heading deeper into the hanger. The last of the visible droids, besides the bodyguards, were being loaded up. Off to his right was a Longsword gunship which may be the only way out of here before the bomb went off, but first he had to take care of these ships, which were beginning to power up. Zero estimated he had about five minutes left.

After 30 seconds, Zero popped out of his cover and mowed down the bodyguard battle doids, leaving him and the humanoid alone in the hanger. It turned out this man was an Echani, and what he wanted to do, Zero didn't wanna find out.

How did you find me?
Call it luck. Shut off the bomb.
I cant do that. Its going to explode rather you want to or not.
What are you planing with these droids, and how did you get all of this?
You think I would tell you anything? Hell no. You will never find out anyway. Sense you found me, Looks like I can set off the fireworks early. I hope you team is far enough away. That single bomb you found was one of four spread around the complex.

From his pocket, the Echani pulled out a detonator. Zero took aim and shot the man in the wrist, and he dropped it in pain. It was pure luck that it didn't land on the detonation button. Zero rushed forward as the man pulled a slugthrower pistol and shot at Zero, hitting him in the leg and abdomen, before the soldier drilled the droid leader in the head with the but of his gun, knocking him out cold. In paid, thanks to the wound to his gut and leg, Zero slowly drug the man to the nearby gunship, and laid him on the deck. There was about 2 minutes left before the bomb went off. Because their leader wasn't on the ship he was suppose to be on, the droids weren't going anywhere.

Zero didn't bother going through the entire checklist, and managed to get the gunship running, and began to take off. His vision flickered due to pain and blood-loss, but he managed to get away just before the bombs went off. As the gunship flew towards orbit, the explosion washed over it, engulfing the ship in a cloud of fire, smoke, and ash. It was a couple of seconds before it flew out, heading in a strait shot to space. He put the ship on a slow autopilot, lasting long enough to get into space before engines were shit down, then opened a link with Enterprise.

Mission done, I suppose. I have a new friend here, and I think we both need a bacta bath. Drag me in when im in range... I'm taking a nap.[/i]

One could tell Zero's voice was straining hard as he spoke, and his vision was nearly gone. Blood welled around him as he began to black out. He was close enough to help that he wouldn't die, but he would be out for at least a little while. He needed plasma and a good patch up, and he would be good after a while. At least he has a new gunship to join his small collection of them. In his world of darkness, Zero felt the tug of a tractor beam lock, and then nothing as be blacked out.[/center][/sub]

[Sir Lord Ash]

<sub>Zero's gunship was brought on bored, and when the medics made it to him, they didn't worry much about him bleeding out. The shot was clean, and missed his organs. He was lucky for that. He wouldn't need to be set in bacta for very long, mainly the distance to Mon Calamari would do. Quickly, they brought him him and the echani that he captured to the med bay, and hauled Zero into bacta.

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Once all the ships were secure, Miki started to head away from the planet so they could enter hyperspace. Within minutes, Enterprise and Eternal jumped into hyperspace, heading right for Mon Calamari.

((I was bored of waiting))</sub>

[/sub]