Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
Because this is getting a lot of talk, and is a rather big deal, I'll start another thread to discuss it and related things. Will link it here when I do.
For the Empire (Star Wars SI)
- Thread starter Fulcon
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
-
- Tags
- star wars self insert empire
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
Ok, here's that new thread. Federation Design Safety Discussion.
Commandeered
- Location
- USA
The Following is a Fanbased work of fiction. Star Wars is the property of the Walt Disney Company. Please support the official release.
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It was at the exact moment when Tori jumped into the hatch that the door into the maintenance bay was blown open and two super battle droids marched in, red blaster bolts pouring from their wrist cannons and going wide because these droids can't really aim.
"Oh, perfect!" I said with a smile before we both ducked down. I waited just a second for Tori to go ahead.
"Go on, I said I'd follow you!" Tori barked, shooting several bursts off.
Alright, well I guess she wants to get her hits in. Respectable. I got down on my hands and knees and started crawling forward. After a few blaster shots, I heard the hatch behind me close and Tori shuffling after me.
"You know, you were right," I called back to her. "Putting the crate on the maintenance access was a bad idea."
"You think they'll follow us?" Tori actually sounded a little pleased with herself.
"Nah, they just wanted the droid bays," I replied, shaking my head even though no one could see it. "Fix up their fallen units, you know?"
"Oh," Tori replied. "Alright, where are we heading?"
"Down a level, there's a security office," I answered. "I'm hoping to use the security network to assess the situation in the hangar. If it looks easy to infiltrate, like if there's droids in there but they're distracted or something then we can head inside, grab a flight suit and take a bomber to that cannon. And if it's not a good spot, then we call Lt. Dallus and tell him we were forced to move."
"Right, good plan," Tori answered from behind.
I'm desperately hoping that the urge I had to go do something was me misunderstanding the prompting that I needed to move before we got ambushed. Like…really. That was a cadre of super battle droids, if we weren't starting to move right when we were, we would've been killed immediately.
Pop the hatch, push it open. Two battle droids, their heads shot and a blaster bolt barely misses my knee. I crawl out. "Okay. Let's see what state the hangar is in."
Standing up, I lend my hand to Tori to help her out. She takes it and stands up with a huff. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Move over to the console, check the cameras. Check the hangar and…hoo, boy… "That's not good."
"Figures," Tori grunted. "How bad is it?"
"They torched the remaining fighters," I explained, gesturing to the screen which showed burnt heaps of metal and scraps where bombers and fighters had hung, awaiting deployment. A trio of vulture droids were floating around, using their four legs as stilts and battle droids were securing other areas.
Part of me wondered why we hadn't kept that kind of technology the vulture droids had. The ability to shift from fighter to ground would be very useful. Ooh, now I'm thinking that having a fighter that could switch between fighter for high-atmosphere operations and attack helicopter for urban operations would be cool…
Focus. "Alright, let's call the Lieutenant."
"A shame," Tori sighed. "Here I thought we were going off to save the Highlander, but our plan is dead in the water."
"…wait, do we have jump packs?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't be ridiculous," Tori's eyes narrowed.
"Right, bad idea," I replied with a sigh, raising the Lieutenant on the line.
"This is Lieutenant Dallus," Came the strong voice of our commanding officer. "Plite? Orton? Is this you?"
"Yes sir, we had to move," I answered with a sigh. "The droid maintenance bay was seized by supers."
"Figured," Dallus sighed. "Alright listen up. The High Colonel's taken stock of our numbers and the two of you are being conscripted into active duty."
"Understood sir," I replied with a nod.
Tori made a sound like she was about to gag.
"Did Orton make it?" Dallus asked.
"Yes sir, she was securing the door," I replied with a nod.
"Very good. I'm going to put you in contact with the Corporals and I want the both of you to assist them in clearing out the corridors," Dallus explained. "Keep watch over them on the security terminal and alert them to threats."
"Yes sir," Tori and I said at the same time.
"Very good," Dallus said before three over comm units went live.
"I'll take care of that," Tori said quickly. "Can you keep watch over the door?"
"You got it," I replied with a nod, letting her have the terminal.
I took a post by the door, rifle at the ready and I started to think, my eyes never off of the door.
You know, I'm actually disappointed. I'm really, really disappointed. I thought that I was finally being forced off of my comfy couch and sent on my hero's journey. But no, I'm actually getting what I wanted all along, just the ability to cruise along while everyone else did the heavy lifting.
But I was sure. I knew that if I didn't move, this whole ship was going to go down or at least have significantly heavier casualties. But…the plan I thought of, stealing a bomber? Nipped in the bud before I even came up with it. Why did I feel like we needed to move? What purpose did we serve?
Am I delusional? Or am I just confused?
"Squad two, you're coming onto a trio of supers," Tori told them. "Be advised, they have a pair of normal behind them. Squad three, you've got a..."
"Droideka?" I offered from my spot.
"Yes, a Droideka wheeling in from your six," Tori explained. "Don't let it deploy if you can."
You know, I'm thinking that my disappointment comes from the fact that I was thinking I'd be forced to leave without ever actually joining a command of Storm Troopers. Actually, in my haste to emulate Kyle Katarn, the quintessential Star Wars character to me, I didn't actually look for any alternatives to the Empire.
"Jet, we've got a squad of five closing in on us," Tori shouted at me, causing me to ready my rifle reflexively. "Normals. I'll assist…"
"Negative, Orton," Came the order from Lieutenant Dallus. "Stay on the line and keep helping the platoon. Plite, defend as best you can. Squad 1 is in-bound to provide backup."
"Yes sir," Tori and I replied immediately.
Well, alright then. Now we can see if they're coming for us at least. I partially opened the sliding door and saw the droids rushing toward us. It's a womp rat shoot, fairly simple. Shoot one, shoot another, miss the third thanks to the recoil of the rifle throwing me off and I close the door.
"Where's the droids at?" I think they took cover, but I want to be sure.
"They've taken cover behind a storage crate that was left in the hall at the attack," Tori confirmed for me. "I think they're signaling for assistance."
"Fantastic," I breathed, looking around. Of all the times to not have grenades handy. I should've grabbed a pair while I was still in the armory. Well, there's always next time. "Alright, I'm going to charge them. There's no one else coming, right?"
"You're in-," Tori shook her head. "Fine, go. But if you die, I'll kill you."
"I'm sure the second death will be much worse than the first," I replied with more than a little snark as I slid out of the security room. Look both ways, nothing. CHARGE!
My legs pumped as hard as they were able as I charged the box where three droids were waiting. My first target was about to peek around to investigate the noise of my boots on the floor. Aim, fire! It went down. Jump to the side as come up to the crate. Take out another, then miss as the recoil threw off the final shot.
The final droid took aim at me as I fumbled to aim back at him from my position on the side. I swiftly shifted to lay on my back, causing the droids blaster bolt to miss me by mere millimeters, my uniform getting a burnt spot where it passed over. I hit the droid with a shot, the rifle nearly flipping from my hand and bruising my fingers thanks to my poor grip on the weapon.
Okay, got to get back to the security office. Get back, get back, get back, get back…
"Plite are you always that lucky?" Tori was looking at me from her seat with an incredulous look in her eyes.
"No. Usually, I don't miss," I replied with a sigh, shutting the door behind me. "How are the squads?"
With a shocked expression, she whirled around to look at the console. Then she hissed in shock. "Squad two, you've got droids ahead and behind, be advised. There's no droids in the adjacent barracks, you can take cover."
Makes sense she was watching me the whole time. If I went down, it would just be her here. A little annoying.
"Jet, get the door," Tori barked at me. "The Lieutenant is here with the squad."
I opened the door and there was the cadre of Troopers. I sprung into a salute. "Lieutenant, sir!"
"At ease, Candidate," Dallus ordered, his voice carrying the tin of a speaker. "You took out those droids by yourself?"
"Yes sir," I nodded.
"…Good shooting," Dallus replied after a moment. "Alright, here's what's going to happen. Private Idra here let a Droideka deploy behind him and he's lucky it's scanning software malfunctioned. He's got radiation poisoning from the shield, but he's otherwise fine. He's going to lend you his armor and you're going to take his place."
"Yes sir!" I nodded, not even going to ask. "Thank you, sir."
"Sir, what do you mean by 'malfunction'?" Tori asked by the console.
"We hit it with blaster bolts before it deployed," Dallus responded. "Idra was scouting forward and the droideka came between us and him. That answer your question, Candidate?"
"Yes sir," Tori nodded. "Thank you, sir."
Idra sat down and just started taking his armor off, his motions slow and sluggish like a man who was seasick and had trouble moving.
"Lieutenant, permission to help the Private undress himself?" Brigand asked irritably.
"Granted, Master Sergeant," Dallus responded.
Brigand, whose cybernetic limbs I could hear moving underneath his armor, moved fast, taking the privates armor off more than helping him and…yeah. Idra, a man with tanned skin and black hair, looked nauseous. I'm pretty sure he was going to start vomiting and we didn't have time to get him to a med bay.
The black body-glove came off, revealing the black t-shirt and trousers that most non-coms wore, which left me to put the darn thing on. It was smelly and uncomfortable because these weren't my juices stinking up the place but whatever. I'm guessing I've proven I'm a much better shot than this Pvt. Or I wouldn't be getting his armor for the duration of this combat operation.
"Sir, how's the situation looking?" I asked as I started piling pieces of armor on.
"Master Sergeant, brief the candidate while I take the rest of squad 1 to secure the immediate area," Dallus ordered.
"Yes sir," Brigand nodded and the squad followed Dallus out. "Alright, to answer your question. The bombers took out the cannon-"
Figures. We hadn't had a power outage in a while, so it makes sense.
"-and the droids took out the bombers. Now our Fighters are Fighting Their fighters and the Highlander's laying into the asteroid base with it's remaining weapons," Brigand finished. "Good news is that the droids are mostly scrubbed from the ship. Bad news is that the Asteroid has Hyperdrive and we need to get on board and disable it before it jumps."
"What if it jumps while we're aboard, sir?" I asked, sliding the helmet into place. The holographic display on the lenses turned on, giving me tags on the HUD identifying Brigand and Tori behind me through the narrow lenses of the helmet. Huh, visibility really is limited in this thing. Guess I'm getting a crash course in seeing through the force.
"Then we're kriff'd, Candidate," Brigand replied seriously. "We need to go."
…man, why couldn't I have gotten the blinder and the remote and the lightsaber to learn this trick? Like Luke did? I would've way preferred that.
I just realized I'm technically older than one of my child-hood heroes. Not even counting both of my lives.
Tori stood and walked up behind me. "Jet?"
"Yes?" I turned to face her.
"Take off the helmet for a minute?" She requested, placing her hands behind her back.
I turned to Brigand.
"You've got a minute," He said, turning around. "Report to me when you're ready."
"Yes sir," I replied, sliding the helmet off and turned to face her. "Wha-"
Didn't get to finished. She grabbed my breastplate with both hands and pulled me in, planting her lips on mine, causing my chest to explode like a firework display and my brain shut down to pull a full system restart. After I regained my senses, I broke off because I had to go now before the thing jumped with or without us.
…even though I really wanted to continue.
"You come back, alright?" Tori pointed her finger at my chest. "And come back alive."
"You got it," I replied, sliding the helmet back on.
Well. Did not expect that – okay, I kind of did but it was in the back of my mind. I came around the corner, seeing Brigand waiting patiently. "Officer Candidate Plite reporting as ordered."
"Before you turn your comms on, Plite," Brigand pointed at me. "I want to be very clear – don't either of you do anything until you're on leave. You understand?"
"Yes sir," I nodded. Anti-fraternization rules were clear. And quite strict.
"Very good," Brigand nodded. "Turn on your comms and update your IFF. it's time to report."
I flipped them on with an affirmative, taking just a brief second to change Idra's IFF to my own.
"Lieutenant, sir? You sure you want the kid along?" I think that was Corporal Rex. Understandable that he'd be hesitant to have an academy grad along who hadn't even been through Storm Trooper training.
…you know, this armor is really uncomfortable.
"He has a higher kill count than Idra did," Dallus replied. "Far higher. So yes, Corporal. I do want the kid along."
Why do I get the feeling I was picked because I was a tad more expandable as well as being very competent? Because I've got the feeling I was picked because I was both competent and expendable.
Then again, the Empire does prize merit quite highly, so perhaps this was just par the course. I guess Pvt. Idra's just lucky he didn't get shot to expedite the process.
"Candidate Plite reporting as ordered," I said, standing at salute.
"At ease Candidate," Dallus barked. "Troopers, we're rendezvousing with the 4th and 18th platoons to take the hanger. Zipir wants us there yesterday. Move out!"
And just like that, we were moving. I was hefting my rifle in the back alongside everyone else. I was a little worried that Tori now had a sick, nauseous storm trooper with no armor for a guard but I guess since we've mostly cleared the ship of droids it shouldn't be too bad. And she's got the escape hatch.
Not going to say it's a guarantee she'll be fine…but I hope.
If this turns out to be a 'women in refrigerators' scenario, I'm going to be upset.
While we were heading down to the hangar, the Lieutenant was giving everyone a pep-talk. "Keep the pressure on the enemy, report if you see an opening and don't let any of them get away with this!"
"Yes sir!" We barked in unison…so glad I've been skill-thieving from everyone since I got here. I think I've learned more from the platoon than I did in the academy. Well, I got more practical skill here. I also find it odd that there wasn't a battle-cry. All the militaries in my previous life had one. Oorah, hooah, that sort of thing. Actually, did the air-force have a battle cry? I don't remember if they did.
Anyway, we grouped up with the squads in our platoon, and then with the other platoons and I was able to get a count of our numbers and we had clearly lost people. The whole group was about half of what it should've been, but I was happy to see that some rocket launchers in their number.
"Plite!" Dallus barked.
"Yes sir?"
"Stay with the Master Sergeant, he'll show you what to do," He ordered.
"Yes sir!"
The seconds before the battle were tense. I felt my grip on my weapon repeatedly tightening and re-tightening itself. A tension had fallen on the group as we assumed ready positions outside of the hangar's blast door. On the other side of that door was a huge number of droids, including vulture droids which could easily wipe all of us out with a single shot of their cannons.
Take a breath. Let it out.
Take a breath. Let it out.
Take a breath. Let it-
The blast doors opened and we surged forward. Rockets surged overhead, striking one of three vulture droids, two to break through their shields and two to actually bring it down. We took cover, the smoke of the hangar surprisingly not providing much of an impediment thanks to the helmets hardware and the HUD made picking out targets easier.
Take a shot. Two shots, take cover. That's two droids. Bolts from the vulture's cannons hit the ground behind me, causing an almost blinding flash of light and leaving a large, black mark on the floor, with a single flame in the center that quickly went out.
That thing almost took out my legs.
More rockets shot forward and I stood from cover. Another vulture went down, but not before incinerating a large group of troopers. I fought off the urge to wince as I felt each of their lives go out in smoke. Out of cover, take another shot, then another. One droid down, two shots to a super that didn't bring it down. Fun.
"Squad 2! Bring those supers down!" Dallus ordered.
Oh, they're the ones with the rockets. I see.
Take a shot, then another. We're winning, slowly but surely. I think the droids with a red paint-job are the ones in 'command' or at least the one that acts as a signal booster for the other droids to receive orders, I made those my targets. Take out one on the ground floor, standing on the force-fields to space below and another standing on the catwalks above. Bring them down, bring them down.
I need to get to safety. A jolt of adrenaline shot through me and I ducked beneath the large crate I had been using as cover, opening it and, seeing it empty, I crawled inside and shut the door. No sooner than I did that did the whole crate rock and it was sent flying forwards. Backwards. Someway. I was on my back and with a groan of irritation, I stood up and shoved the door open.
Oh. Well.
I made it to safety, barely, but two other members of my platoon, Bargens and Myers were completely vaporized by the final shots from one of the vulture's blaster cannons.
That sucks. That sucks all of space.
We weren't close by any means but…still. It sucks. I hopped out of the crate and took more shots at the droids.
Slowly, the shooting petered out. I looked out from cover and saw that, yes. The droids were scrap metal. We had scourged them from the ship, now all that remained was to seize the asteroid base.
"Boarders repelled, troopers," Dallus told all of us and we let out a victory shout.
"You did good, Candidate," Brigand told me.
"Thank you, sir."
"Orders from the High Colonel," Dallus barked. "Look alive – all squads are to board the remaining troop transports. Master Sergeant, you're to collect the candidates and begin efforts to account for the damage to the ship."
"Yes sir," Brigand replied with a salute. "Come on, Candidate, let's go get Orton and get you out of that armor and into your normal uniform."
"Yes sir." Finally. "Thank you, sir."
---
Not going to say my first outing as a Storm Trooper wasn't fun, it was, but…that armor wasn't meant for me. I had a different body type and it smelled. I don't think the Private who owned the armor was too strong on hygiene. Blegh.
After I got out of that thing, I had donned a fresh uniform and met up with Brigand and Tori down at the entrance to the Armory. Brigand was out of his armor and in his Quartermaster Uniform. "Officer Candidate Plite reporting as ordered."
"Welcome back Candidate," Brigand said.
"Plite." Tori gave me a welcoming nod and was it just me or was she a little pink? "I'm glad to see that you made it back in one piece."
"Thank you, Orton." I nodded back to her in turn.
"Alright, cut the chatter," Brigand ordered off hand. "We were able to check the armory already – we lost everything inside. So, we're moving on to the droid maintenance bays and storage rooms in this block before we move head to block nine."
"Sir? What about blocks four through eight?" I asked.
"There's other crews already working on those areas already," Brigand responded. "Besides, we're just logging the damage for a credit estimate of repair, not actually fixing everything."
"Yes sir," I nodded. "Thank you, sir."
A beeping came from Brigand's belt and he pulled out his comm unit. I had mine fit snugly on my belt. "Master Sergeant Brigand."
"Master Sergeant, this is High Colonel Zipir," the words of the commanding officer of our entire Legion came through. "I called to inform you that the Asteroid has jumped to hyperspace with your platoon on it. They were getting close to the bridge, so the Highlander will wait for one hour to see if they return. If not, I'm afraid we must consider them KIA and we will jump back to Kuat for repairs."
"Yes sir," Brigand replied crisply. "I understand sir."
"Zipir out."
Kriffing Force-eating Mynocks.
---
Author's Notes: Well, this is the end of the Highlander story. A little interesting with the fake out, thinking that Jet was going off to save the day when his plan had already been shot in the water. It's interesting because if he hadn't moved to take the security station, the droids might've used it to take out the entire platoon. And then Jet was able to tag along anyway because Dallus decided to gamble with bringing on a better shot once the option became available.
Also, I do apologize for taking so long to get this out – a lot of my effort has gone toward the rewrite of SHINOBI: The RPG, where I started over just before Daisuke's chunin exams. Some of you may have seen it, and been confused but it is a rewrite. If you haven't already, go ahead and check it out. I think I'll be able to get back to a weekly schedule, both with this and with Shinobi since things are starting to look up for me, but we'll see.
Anyway, a welcome to Miu and to Super-patron Tim Collins-Squire, you're both awesome and I thank you guys for your contribution and for helping me with this. Shout out also goes out too Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, makopaulo, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Tomer Zwighaft, keefe owens, Jiopaba and Hackerham. You guys are the best and your continued support means the world to me.
Until the next time!
~Fulcon
---
It was at the exact moment when Tori jumped into the hatch that the door into the maintenance bay was blown open and two super battle droids marched in, red blaster bolts pouring from their wrist cannons and going wide because these droids can't really aim.
"Oh, perfect!" I said with a smile before we both ducked down. I waited just a second for Tori to go ahead.
"Go on, I said I'd follow you!" Tori barked, shooting several bursts off.
Alright, well I guess she wants to get her hits in. Respectable. I got down on my hands and knees and started crawling forward. After a few blaster shots, I heard the hatch behind me close and Tori shuffling after me.
"You know, you were right," I called back to her. "Putting the crate on the maintenance access was a bad idea."
"You think they'll follow us?" Tori actually sounded a little pleased with herself.
"Nah, they just wanted the droid bays," I replied, shaking my head even though no one could see it. "Fix up their fallen units, you know?"
"Oh," Tori replied. "Alright, where are we heading?"
"Down a level, there's a security office," I answered. "I'm hoping to use the security network to assess the situation in the hangar. If it looks easy to infiltrate, like if there's droids in there but they're distracted or something then we can head inside, grab a flight suit and take a bomber to that cannon. And if it's not a good spot, then we call Lt. Dallus and tell him we were forced to move."
"Right, good plan," Tori answered from behind.
I'm desperately hoping that the urge I had to go do something was me misunderstanding the prompting that I needed to move before we got ambushed. Like…really. That was a cadre of super battle droids, if we weren't starting to move right when we were, we would've been killed immediately.
Pop the hatch, push it open. Two battle droids, their heads shot and a blaster bolt barely misses my knee. I crawl out. "Okay. Let's see what state the hangar is in."
Standing up, I lend my hand to Tori to help her out. She takes it and stands up with a huff. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Move over to the console, check the cameras. Check the hangar and…hoo, boy… "That's not good."
"Figures," Tori grunted. "How bad is it?"
"They torched the remaining fighters," I explained, gesturing to the screen which showed burnt heaps of metal and scraps where bombers and fighters had hung, awaiting deployment. A trio of vulture droids were floating around, using their four legs as stilts and battle droids were securing other areas.
Part of me wondered why we hadn't kept that kind of technology the vulture droids had. The ability to shift from fighter to ground would be very useful. Ooh, now I'm thinking that having a fighter that could switch between fighter for high-atmosphere operations and attack helicopter for urban operations would be cool…
Focus. "Alright, let's call the Lieutenant."
"A shame," Tori sighed. "Here I thought we were going off to save the Highlander, but our plan is dead in the water."
"…wait, do we have jump packs?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't be ridiculous," Tori's eyes narrowed.
"Right, bad idea," I replied with a sigh, raising the Lieutenant on the line.
"This is Lieutenant Dallus," Came the strong voice of our commanding officer. "Plite? Orton? Is this you?"
"Yes sir, we had to move," I answered with a sigh. "The droid maintenance bay was seized by supers."
"Figured," Dallus sighed. "Alright listen up. The High Colonel's taken stock of our numbers and the two of you are being conscripted into active duty."
"Understood sir," I replied with a nod.
Tori made a sound like she was about to gag.
"Did Orton make it?" Dallus asked.
"Yes sir, she was securing the door," I replied with a nod.
"Very good. I'm going to put you in contact with the Corporals and I want the both of you to assist them in clearing out the corridors," Dallus explained. "Keep watch over them on the security terminal and alert them to threats."
"Yes sir," Tori and I said at the same time.
"Very good," Dallus said before three over comm units went live.
"I'll take care of that," Tori said quickly. "Can you keep watch over the door?"
"You got it," I replied with a nod, letting her have the terminal.
I took a post by the door, rifle at the ready and I started to think, my eyes never off of the door.
You know, I'm actually disappointed. I'm really, really disappointed. I thought that I was finally being forced off of my comfy couch and sent on my hero's journey. But no, I'm actually getting what I wanted all along, just the ability to cruise along while everyone else did the heavy lifting.
But I was sure. I knew that if I didn't move, this whole ship was going to go down or at least have significantly heavier casualties. But…the plan I thought of, stealing a bomber? Nipped in the bud before I even came up with it. Why did I feel like we needed to move? What purpose did we serve?
Am I delusional? Or am I just confused?
"Squad two, you're coming onto a trio of supers," Tori told them. "Be advised, they have a pair of normal behind them. Squad three, you've got a..."
"Droideka?" I offered from my spot.
"Yes, a Droideka wheeling in from your six," Tori explained. "Don't let it deploy if you can."
You know, I'm thinking that my disappointment comes from the fact that I was thinking I'd be forced to leave without ever actually joining a command of Storm Troopers. Actually, in my haste to emulate Kyle Katarn, the quintessential Star Wars character to me, I didn't actually look for any alternatives to the Empire.
"Jet, we've got a squad of five closing in on us," Tori shouted at me, causing me to ready my rifle reflexively. "Normals. I'll assist…"
"Negative, Orton," Came the order from Lieutenant Dallus. "Stay on the line and keep helping the platoon. Plite, defend as best you can. Squad 1 is in-bound to provide backup."
"Yes sir," Tori and I replied immediately.
Well, alright then. Now we can see if they're coming for us at least. I partially opened the sliding door and saw the droids rushing toward us. It's a womp rat shoot, fairly simple. Shoot one, shoot another, miss the third thanks to the recoil of the rifle throwing me off and I close the door.
"Where's the droids at?" I think they took cover, but I want to be sure.
"They've taken cover behind a storage crate that was left in the hall at the attack," Tori confirmed for me. "I think they're signaling for assistance."
"Fantastic," I breathed, looking around. Of all the times to not have grenades handy. I should've grabbed a pair while I was still in the armory. Well, there's always next time. "Alright, I'm going to charge them. There's no one else coming, right?"
"You're in-," Tori shook her head. "Fine, go. But if you die, I'll kill you."
"I'm sure the second death will be much worse than the first," I replied with more than a little snark as I slid out of the security room. Look both ways, nothing. CHARGE!
My legs pumped as hard as they were able as I charged the box where three droids were waiting. My first target was about to peek around to investigate the noise of my boots on the floor. Aim, fire! It went down. Jump to the side as come up to the crate. Take out another, then miss as the recoil threw off the final shot.
The final droid took aim at me as I fumbled to aim back at him from my position on the side. I swiftly shifted to lay on my back, causing the droids blaster bolt to miss me by mere millimeters, my uniform getting a burnt spot where it passed over. I hit the droid with a shot, the rifle nearly flipping from my hand and bruising my fingers thanks to my poor grip on the weapon.
Okay, got to get back to the security office. Get back, get back, get back, get back…
"Plite are you always that lucky?" Tori was looking at me from her seat with an incredulous look in her eyes.
"No. Usually, I don't miss," I replied with a sigh, shutting the door behind me. "How are the squads?"
With a shocked expression, she whirled around to look at the console. Then she hissed in shock. "Squad two, you've got droids ahead and behind, be advised. There's no droids in the adjacent barracks, you can take cover."
Makes sense she was watching me the whole time. If I went down, it would just be her here. A little annoying.
"Jet, get the door," Tori barked at me. "The Lieutenant is here with the squad."
I opened the door and there was the cadre of Troopers. I sprung into a salute. "Lieutenant, sir!"
"At ease, Candidate," Dallus ordered, his voice carrying the tin of a speaker. "You took out those droids by yourself?"
"Yes sir," I nodded.
"…Good shooting," Dallus replied after a moment. "Alright, here's what's going to happen. Private Idra here let a Droideka deploy behind him and he's lucky it's scanning software malfunctioned. He's got radiation poisoning from the shield, but he's otherwise fine. He's going to lend you his armor and you're going to take his place."
"Yes sir!" I nodded, not even going to ask. "Thank you, sir."
"Sir, what do you mean by 'malfunction'?" Tori asked by the console.
"We hit it with blaster bolts before it deployed," Dallus responded. "Idra was scouting forward and the droideka came between us and him. That answer your question, Candidate?"
"Yes sir," Tori nodded. "Thank you, sir."
Idra sat down and just started taking his armor off, his motions slow and sluggish like a man who was seasick and had trouble moving.
"Lieutenant, permission to help the Private undress himself?" Brigand asked irritably.
"Granted, Master Sergeant," Dallus responded.
Brigand, whose cybernetic limbs I could hear moving underneath his armor, moved fast, taking the privates armor off more than helping him and…yeah. Idra, a man with tanned skin and black hair, looked nauseous. I'm pretty sure he was going to start vomiting and we didn't have time to get him to a med bay.
The black body-glove came off, revealing the black t-shirt and trousers that most non-coms wore, which left me to put the darn thing on. It was smelly and uncomfortable because these weren't my juices stinking up the place but whatever. I'm guessing I've proven I'm a much better shot than this Pvt. Or I wouldn't be getting his armor for the duration of this combat operation.
"Sir, how's the situation looking?" I asked as I started piling pieces of armor on.
"Master Sergeant, brief the candidate while I take the rest of squad 1 to secure the immediate area," Dallus ordered.
"Yes sir," Brigand nodded and the squad followed Dallus out. "Alright, to answer your question. The bombers took out the cannon-"
Figures. We hadn't had a power outage in a while, so it makes sense.
"-and the droids took out the bombers. Now our Fighters are Fighting Their fighters and the Highlander's laying into the asteroid base with it's remaining weapons," Brigand finished. "Good news is that the droids are mostly scrubbed from the ship. Bad news is that the Asteroid has Hyperdrive and we need to get on board and disable it before it jumps."
"What if it jumps while we're aboard, sir?" I asked, sliding the helmet into place. The holographic display on the lenses turned on, giving me tags on the HUD identifying Brigand and Tori behind me through the narrow lenses of the helmet. Huh, visibility really is limited in this thing. Guess I'm getting a crash course in seeing through the force.
"Then we're kriff'd, Candidate," Brigand replied seriously. "We need to go."
…man, why couldn't I have gotten the blinder and the remote and the lightsaber to learn this trick? Like Luke did? I would've way preferred that.
I just realized I'm technically older than one of my child-hood heroes. Not even counting both of my lives.
Tori stood and walked up behind me. "Jet?"
"Yes?" I turned to face her.
"Take off the helmet for a minute?" She requested, placing her hands behind her back.
I turned to Brigand.
"You've got a minute," He said, turning around. "Report to me when you're ready."
"Yes sir," I replied, sliding the helmet off and turned to face her. "Wha-"
Didn't get to finished. She grabbed my breastplate with both hands and pulled me in, planting her lips on mine, causing my chest to explode like a firework display and my brain shut down to pull a full system restart. After I regained my senses, I broke off because I had to go now before the thing jumped with or without us.
…even though I really wanted to continue.
"You come back, alright?" Tori pointed her finger at my chest. "And come back alive."
"You got it," I replied, sliding the helmet back on.
Well. Did not expect that – okay, I kind of did but it was in the back of my mind. I came around the corner, seeing Brigand waiting patiently. "Officer Candidate Plite reporting as ordered."
"Before you turn your comms on, Plite," Brigand pointed at me. "I want to be very clear – don't either of you do anything until you're on leave. You understand?"
"Yes sir," I nodded. Anti-fraternization rules were clear. And quite strict.
"Very good," Brigand nodded. "Turn on your comms and update your IFF. it's time to report."
I flipped them on with an affirmative, taking just a brief second to change Idra's IFF to my own.
"Lieutenant, sir? You sure you want the kid along?" I think that was Corporal Rex. Understandable that he'd be hesitant to have an academy grad along who hadn't even been through Storm Trooper training.
…you know, this armor is really uncomfortable.
"He has a higher kill count than Idra did," Dallus replied. "Far higher. So yes, Corporal. I do want the kid along."
Why do I get the feeling I was picked because I was a tad more expandable as well as being very competent? Because I've got the feeling I was picked because I was both competent and expendable.
Then again, the Empire does prize merit quite highly, so perhaps this was just par the course. I guess Pvt. Idra's just lucky he didn't get shot to expedite the process.
"Candidate Plite reporting as ordered," I said, standing at salute.
"At ease Candidate," Dallus barked. "Troopers, we're rendezvousing with the 4th and 18th platoons to take the hanger. Zipir wants us there yesterday. Move out!"
And just like that, we were moving. I was hefting my rifle in the back alongside everyone else. I was a little worried that Tori now had a sick, nauseous storm trooper with no armor for a guard but I guess since we've mostly cleared the ship of droids it shouldn't be too bad. And she's got the escape hatch.
Not going to say it's a guarantee she'll be fine…but I hope.
If this turns out to be a 'women in refrigerators' scenario, I'm going to be upset.
While we were heading down to the hangar, the Lieutenant was giving everyone a pep-talk. "Keep the pressure on the enemy, report if you see an opening and don't let any of them get away with this!"
"Yes sir!" We barked in unison…so glad I've been skill-thieving from everyone since I got here. I think I've learned more from the platoon than I did in the academy. Well, I got more practical skill here. I also find it odd that there wasn't a battle-cry. All the militaries in my previous life had one. Oorah, hooah, that sort of thing. Actually, did the air-force have a battle cry? I don't remember if they did.
Anyway, we grouped up with the squads in our platoon, and then with the other platoons and I was able to get a count of our numbers and we had clearly lost people. The whole group was about half of what it should've been, but I was happy to see that some rocket launchers in their number.
"Plite!" Dallus barked.
"Yes sir?"
"Stay with the Master Sergeant, he'll show you what to do," He ordered.
"Yes sir!"
The seconds before the battle were tense. I felt my grip on my weapon repeatedly tightening and re-tightening itself. A tension had fallen on the group as we assumed ready positions outside of the hangar's blast door. On the other side of that door was a huge number of droids, including vulture droids which could easily wipe all of us out with a single shot of their cannons.
Take a breath. Let it out.
Take a breath. Let it out.
Take a breath. Let it-
The blast doors opened and we surged forward. Rockets surged overhead, striking one of three vulture droids, two to break through their shields and two to actually bring it down. We took cover, the smoke of the hangar surprisingly not providing much of an impediment thanks to the helmets hardware and the HUD made picking out targets easier.
Take a shot. Two shots, take cover. That's two droids. Bolts from the vulture's cannons hit the ground behind me, causing an almost blinding flash of light and leaving a large, black mark on the floor, with a single flame in the center that quickly went out.
That thing almost took out my legs.
More rockets shot forward and I stood from cover. Another vulture went down, but not before incinerating a large group of troopers. I fought off the urge to wince as I felt each of their lives go out in smoke. Out of cover, take another shot, then another. One droid down, two shots to a super that didn't bring it down. Fun.
"Squad 2! Bring those supers down!" Dallus ordered.
Oh, they're the ones with the rockets. I see.
Take a shot, then another. We're winning, slowly but surely. I think the droids with a red paint-job are the ones in 'command' or at least the one that acts as a signal booster for the other droids to receive orders, I made those my targets. Take out one on the ground floor, standing on the force-fields to space below and another standing on the catwalks above. Bring them down, bring them down.
I need to get to safety. A jolt of adrenaline shot through me and I ducked beneath the large crate I had been using as cover, opening it and, seeing it empty, I crawled inside and shut the door. No sooner than I did that did the whole crate rock and it was sent flying forwards. Backwards. Someway. I was on my back and with a groan of irritation, I stood up and shoved the door open.
Oh. Well.
I made it to safety, barely, but two other members of my platoon, Bargens and Myers were completely vaporized by the final shots from one of the vulture's blaster cannons.
That sucks. That sucks all of space.
We weren't close by any means but…still. It sucks. I hopped out of the crate and took more shots at the droids.
Slowly, the shooting petered out. I looked out from cover and saw that, yes. The droids were scrap metal. We had scourged them from the ship, now all that remained was to seize the asteroid base.
"Boarders repelled, troopers," Dallus told all of us and we let out a victory shout.
"You did good, Candidate," Brigand told me.
"Thank you, sir."
"Orders from the High Colonel," Dallus barked. "Look alive – all squads are to board the remaining troop transports. Master Sergeant, you're to collect the candidates and begin efforts to account for the damage to the ship."
"Yes sir," Brigand replied with a salute. "Come on, Candidate, let's go get Orton and get you out of that armor and into your normal uniform."
"Yes sir." Finally. "Thank you, sir."
---
Not going to say my first outing as a Storm Trooper wasn't fun, it was, but…that armor wasn't meant for me. I had a different body type and it smelled. I don't think the Private who owned the armor was too strong on hygiene. Blegh.
After I got out of that thing, I had donned a fresh uniform and met up with Brigand and Tori down at the entrance to the Armory. Brigand was out of his armor and in his Quartermaster Uniform. "Officer Candidate Plite reporting as ordered."
"Welcome back Candidate," Brigand said.
"Plite." Tori gave me a welcoming nod and was it just me or was she a little pink? "I'm glad to see that you made it back in one piece."
"Thank you, Orton." I nodded back to her in turn.
"Alright, cut the chatter," Brigand ordered off hand. "We were able to check the armory already – we lost everything inside. So, we're moving on to the droid maintenance bays and storage rooms in this block before we move head to block nine."
"Sir? What about blocks four through eight?" I asked.
"There's other crews already working on those areas already," Brigand responded. "Besides, we're just logging the damage for a credit estimate of repair, not actually fixing everything."
"Yes sir," I nodded. "Thank you, sir."
A beeping came from Brigand's belt and he pulled out his comm unit. I had mine fit snugly on my belt. "Master Sergeant Brigand."
"Master Sergeant, this is High Colonel Zipir," the words of the commanding officer of our entire Legion came through. "I called to inform you that the Asteroid has jumped to hyperspace with your platoon on it. They were getting close to the bridge, so the Highlander will wait for one hour to see if they return. If not, I'm afraid we must consider them KIA and we will jump back to Kuat for repairs."
"Yes sir," Brigand replied crisply. "I understand sir."
"Zipir out."
Kriffing Force-eating Mynocks.
---
Author's Notes: Well, this is the end of the Highlander story. A little interesting with the fake out, thinking that Jet was going off to save the day when his plan had already been shot in the water. It's interesting because if he hadn't moved to take the security station, the droids might've used it to take out the entire platoon. And then Jet was able to tag along anyway because Dallus decided to gamble with bringing on a better shot once the option became available.
Also, I do apologize for taking so long to get this out – a lot of my effort has gone toward the rewrite of SHINOBI: The RPG, where I started over just before Daisuke's chunin exams. Some of you may have seen it, and been confused but it is a rewrite. If you haven't already, go ahead and check it out. I think I'll be able to get back to a weekly schedule, both with this and with Shinobi since things are starting to look up for me, but we'll see.
Anyway, a welcome to Miu and to Super-patron Tim Collins-Squire, you're both awesome and I thank you guys for your contribution and for helping me with this. Shout out also goes out too Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, makopaulo, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Tomer Zwighaft, keefe owens, Jiopaba and Hackerham. You guys are the best and your continued support means the world to me.
Until the next time!
~Fulcon
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shadow shinobi
I survived getting stabbed, TWICE!!!
- Location
- uk
Dun dun dun a wild update has appeared
- Location
- Canada
This is good stuff, though the romance seems a little fast it's also part for the course in star wars. Otherwise great action scenes and an alright plot, though I'm waiting on that sabotage storyline since their gear was already tampered with ahead of time.
- Location
- USA
To be fair to you, they've been very subtle since she wasn't really planning on acting on those feelings...but he might've died in the next ten minutes for all she knew so...why not, right?
pharaoh122
*Insert witty title here*
- Location
- Imperial Manila, Asian Mexico
It's sad that I noticed the signs but I'm as dense as a neutron star in real life.
- Location
- Error 505: pending move
.....I can ship it.
But really, I expected it to take longer to take back the SD I mean they have so many nooks and cranies to the point that I have heard of crew getting lost and dieing in them only to be found years later.
Out of curiosity is Tori based off any one? her full name seems familiar for some odd reason.
But really, I expected it to take longer to take back the SD I mean they have so many nooks and cranies to the point that I have heard of crew getting lost and dieing in them only to be found years later.
Out of curiosity is Tori based off any one? her full name seems familiar for some odd reason.
- Location
- Error 505: pending move
Maybe? we will have to see if this goes beyond "Spur of the moment Kiss" as for all we know she might just fallow him if he shows her what the Empire is TRULY like in the future.
Alot of Imperial Stormtroopers defected before and after the Destruction of Alderan due to the Empires Cruelty to not only it's own forces but to the General populence and Aliens too.
They've known each other for at least a few days, that's not unusually fast to become attracted enough to someone to kiss them (and hope they don't die horribly).
I couldn't even tell you the names of most of the people I've reached that point with, it's hardly a declaration of undying love.
- Location
- USA
Part of the reason the droids were as effective as they were was the fact that they had knowledge of troop movements and could track people. The problem they had was that they didn't have the advantage in numbers and Storm Troopers and the more effective unit.
Also, they get lost and die like that? Really? What is this, 40K?
I don't believe so.
It's been a few weeks, actually. But yeah, it's a spur-of-the-moment thing.
Lone Courier 6
Devilish Fool
- Location
- United States of Quests
I don't know about that, but Star Destroyers are big enough that it could take WEEKS to clear out the remnants of the crew if you're trying to capture the ship.
- Location
- Error 505: pending move
It was from an article back in.....god 2004? I remember it saying that for the size of the Imperial-I class (1,600 meters standard) made the likelyhood of getting lost in the cracks and crawl spaces that came with such a large ship that is was possible that it happened more often then not and it likely took years before they were found and that was only due to the ships having refits and rebuilds.
Edit: I looked for the Article after Fulcon posted but I can't seem to find it, likely it got deleted since then.
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Orion Zete
[verify weaboo]
- Location
- Malaysia
My money on Tori is gonna died somewhere in the future.
- Location
- USA
I agree with that.
Maybe yes...maybe no.
- Location
- Error 505: pending move
.......Her death is gonna be the catalyst of his defection isn't it?
Lone Courier 6
Devilish Fool
- Location
- United States of Quests
Look at you fishing for spoilers so hard, come on man, he's not going to give it up so easily
- Location
- USA
Maybe yes...maybe no.
See YOU get it. Have a cookie.
Daraken
Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens
Who says that there's even going to be a relationship?
For Jet at least, there's the specter of his future defection looming in the background. Getting involved with someone, while knowing he's planning to desert in the future kind of puts a damper on things and would just leave him feeling guilty. Let's not forget he knows almost nothing about Tori except that she's a fellow cadet and Coruscant native. Is she a diehard Imperial fanatic? An idealist? Someone who just wants to make a name for themselves? Who knows?
Tori herself might pull back. Sure she kissed him, but it was a heat of the moment thing. And again, how much does she really know about Jet? He probably made a good impression with how he handled himself against the droids, but fraternization is a tricky thing to deal with.
Buuuuuuuuut on the other hand, the both of them are a pair of hormonal teenagers. So I give it a 50/50 chance they go ahead and their relationship ends in some kind of spectacular flaming wreck. (The image of ex-girlfriend Captain Tori furiously yelling and shooting at Rebel officer Jet years in the future makes me laugh.)
For Jet at least, there's the specter of his future defection looming in the background. Getting involved with someone, while knowing he's planning to desert in the future kind of puts a damper on things and would just leave him feeling guilty. Let's not forget he knows almost nothing about Tori except that she's a fellow cadet and Coruscant native. Is she a diehard Imperial fanatic? An idealist? Someone who just wants to make a name for themselves? Who knows?
Tori herself might pull back. Sure she kissed him, but it was a heat of the moment thing. And again, how much does she really know about Jet? He probably made a good impression with how he handled himself against the droids, but fraternization is a tricky thing to deal with.
Buuuuuuuuut on the other hand, the both of them are a pair of hormonal teenagers. So I give it a 50/50 chance they go ahead and their relationship ends in some kind of spectacular flaming wreck. (The image of ex-girlfriend Captain Tori furiously yelling and shooting at Rebel officer Jet years in the future makes me laugh.)
- Location
- Logan, Queensland, australia
(The image of ex-girlfriend Captain Tori furiously yelling and shooting at Rebel officer Jet years in the future makes me laugh.)
Hey - look who just explained the Empire vs Rebellion in a single sentence.
It is now my personal head cannon that, Shreev Palpatine was a decent guy and junior Senator's aide; Until a really, really, really bad breakup with then junior secretary Mon Montha
- Location
- Canada
Well that was a fun update and the romance option sneaking up like that is interesting. I approve. Thanks for the fun read!
- Location
- Error 505: pending move
Off-screen? if you can't write it then you can't write it. other then that pass it to some one who can do it, but that would lead to issues in inconsistant writing styles.