Wookie Wysteria (Kashyyyk)

Kashyyyk

Wookies.

Loud, snarling, grunting, wicked beasts.

Tall beasts, full of fur, whose form of speech sounds like someone coughing and whining at the same time.

These beasts that love to fight, wrestle, climb their tall and thick trees.

And of course...

To aid the Rebellion in it's fight against the Galactic Empire.

To Admiral Park Kraken, standing on the bridge of the Dominion, a Super Star Destroyer, all of the former was excusable and ignorable. Except...except for that last little bit.

He turned slightly, gesturing to the commander standing to his left. He nodded, and the Commander nodded in return, turning around as he spoke into his comlink. A few moments later, Park could detect a slight shudder in the ship as the massive hangar doors opened down far below where he stood. Out, ahead of the ship in flanking formation forward, the Imperial Star Destroyers Indomitable and Inflexible began disgorging flights of Imperial shuttles escorted by TIE Fighters. Other shuttles and fighters, from both the Dominion and the Impervious and Implacable, which were cruising behind him, started to appear, heading down to the planet below.

Twenty shuttles from the Dominion, ten each from the rest of the destroyers, escorted by a total of six squadrons of TIE Fighters, would provide a total of 2,400 Shriiywook Shock Troopers, stormtroopers with specially equipped climbing gear, and heavier than normal weapons, to subjugate the first and most Rebellious city on the planet, as an opening gesture of what was to come if the Wooks didn't surrender peacefully and quietly.

"Admiral, scanners detect energy readings in the destination city. Power signatures indicate Turbolasers and Ion cannons powering up," spoke up the sensors officer from his console.

"Weapons, have Turbolaser clusters three and four engage those power sources," ordered Kraken.

A mere moment later, a green flash lit up the ship as twenty heavy turbolaser batteries fired from beneath the ship's bow down towards the planet below. Several flashes could be faintly seen as the turbolasers struck their targets, obliterating them. Yet even as the planetery weapons died, a single azure blue ion bolt swept up from the planet below, striking one of the Sentinel class shuttles. That shuttle, disabled, nosedived into a large lake near the city, it's occupants of forty troops, two pilots, and three gunners almost certainly dying upon impact.

First blood had been drawn against the Empire. As the other shuttles began strafing and landing their troops, it was time for the Empire to strike back....

“RRRrrruurgh! Arrggg!”

“You can say that again.”

Bellowing out another roar, the seven foot wall of fur pushed past Dash Starborn, scattering a handful of chairs to the floor in the process. With that single gesture, the relative calm in the room was gone and their meeting with Snopirr of Hoorrkhukk was over. As the Wookiee snatched up his bowcaster and ducked out of the room, Starborn cast a glance at the array of electronical items Snopirr had left behind - the evidence of their now stalled attempts to secure some radical new technological wizardry for the Alliance - before looking to each of his team-mates.

One stood by the door, readying her weapon even as she peered carefully out after the grey-furred Wookie who was loping his way along the walkway that connected one wroshyr tree to the next. The second stood against the wall opposite Starborn, her expression all but indecipherable, arms crossed over her chest. Somewhere in the distance, the scream of turbolasers could be heard.

“...plan?”

"Since when do we work with plans, Saucy?" Charles ducked her head back into the room, the continued sounds of chaos in the distance ensured that the sidearm remained in her hands and a quick check was made to the readiness of her other one.

She remembered the slightly disapproving looks that Col. Starborn had given her when she had insisted on bringing along what might have been considered a small arsenal of blasters to the supposedly peaceful meeting. The smug self-satisfied grin the 2nd Lt. held couldn't help but be self-congratulatory at that point, even if the majority of her equipment was back on the Mitternacht.

Charles nodded at the items on the table. "As much as I'd love to say we snag the tech, bail out, and let Dorn's R&D guy sort 'em out, I don't think that would be really good for our relations with the Wookiees. Especially not if those lovely sounds happen to be from the lovely mass idiocy of a couple of blaster magnets that thought they'd go bucking for a promotion by blowing up a piece of Kashyyyk. Frakkin Imps never take a holiday, do they?"

Kashyyyk. What in the hells was she doing here?

Truth be told, it was a far improvement over being chained to her own ship while the 'big kids' went out to play. Some of whom, it seemed, were younger than her. Catch the irony in that. Selinica Miriya knew the objective of the mission, but overall there had seemed to be an undercurrent of shock and disbelief when the members of Dorn Force found out she would be doing more than just piloting. Did the Rebel Alliance know something about her that nobody else did?

Pssht. Not likely.

But, intelligence departments tended to be a little eerie that way. In any case, so far she had barely uttered a word, retaining her typical demeanor of utter displeasure. She was in fact pleased to be out from under the eye of John Glayde and the interest of Oran Jsorra, for once. Reclined against one wall of the room, arms crossed, Sel observed the exchange, thumbing mentally through ways that she personally might have handled that better. Well, better in her opinion, which... well, Chuck was right. She did have to consider things like how certain actions (like those of her former occupation) might affect the supposedly amiable relations between the Alliance and the Wookiees.

Sel glanced up at Chuck, tearing her enamoured gaze away from the electronics and diverting her mind from estimating their cumulative value on the black market. Old habits die hard. She slipped one hand out of her crossed-armed pose and rubbed it down her front, coming to rest over a secured blaster pistol there. One of only three firearms in her entire arsenal and none of those three did she like the feel of. That was another thing the 'force found surprising, albeit only just so - the collection of non-ranged weapons in her possession. Not that any of them had seen her use them. That time would come, soon enough.

"Sure they do. How else do you think they spawn, Chuckles?" She smirked. "No intelligence needed for that and I'm certain that's not exactly easy to do in stormie whites." She glanced at the collection of electronic devices again, frowning. "It would be so much easier to just grab and go, though."

Selinica looked to Dash, crossing her arms again, comforted by the fact that she had managed to attach a few smaller non-firearms items to her person. "So, what exactly is the problem here? I apologize if I'm not exactly proficient in wookiee."

“Sounds like they're firing the big guns, and big guns usually means big trouble.”

All in all, the Wookiees weren't a species especially known for their dominance in the air. On land, they would bowl you head over heels and foolish was the man who thought he could take a beating from a Kashyyyk native in hand-to-hand combat. A clever, yet ultimately cowardly, enemy would blast the beasts from orbit. An enemy like the Empire.

With only a side-arm to his name, Starborn suddenly felt woefully under-dressed. As a group they had come prepared for difficulties, but difficulties didn't quite cover what Dash imagined was unfolding in the distant forests. “Best we find our who's in charge, see what we have to work with and against?”

As opposed to nearly any other time the others had seen him, Onashi was looking positively cheerful as he walked into the room, despite the fact he wasn’t packing much more than two SSK-7 pistols, one in a shoulder holster, and the other hanging from his hip. Usually he wasn’t grinning unless he was carrying a rifle around.

“Sounds like a plan,” he nearly cheered. The prospect of a good battle was quite visibly making his day. “While I’m asking them about that, I’ll see if I can’t get a hold of a bowcaster. Always wanted to try out one of those.”

Within the mayhem caused by the arrival of a full Imperial battle fleet, an unassuming sensors officer diligently at work picks up an energy fluctuation in the midst of the Imperial lines. Immediately, the man speaks up as any officer the Imperium was trained to.

Clockwork.

“Vessel emerging from hyperspace, 23.4-mark-4.7 … “And a snag in the gears caused him to stumble. “…vessel is broadcasting no IIF codes; hull configuration is unknown, actively scanning now.”

An odd situation drew the attention of a senior officer above the crew pits. After a brief pause, the sensor operator looked up to his superior with concern in his eyes.

“Sir, our sensors are barely returning anything. I think only saw them because they jumped on top of us.”

“Thank you, lieutenant. If it’s not Imperial, terminate it. Instruct the gun crews to…..”

At that instant crackling static erupted over the Destroyer’s comms. An authoritative, but more surprisingly, female voice pierced the bridge.

“Imperial Forces, this Inquisitor Lymia. You will mark the Velker’s Talon as friendly. Classification codes are being broadcast now.”

When the transmission finally cut out a strange silence hung over the crew. None of them had actually encountered one of the nearly mythical agents of the Inquisitoriate.

By the time any of the Imperial commanders had a chance to respond, the strange ship was already blazing a trail into Kashyyk’s atmosphere.

Velker's Talon

Standing up gracefully, he dropped his cloak to the floor, revealing the Inquisitor uniform underneath. His cap would remain in place. Although he was in full uniform, he would not be injured easily, for the size he was wearing was two sizes bigger than his normal fit, in order to conceal the specialized body armor and gear he wore beneath it.

Flexing his hands, the leather gloves making an appreciative squeaking sound, Shadow looked around him, at the other INQ agents and soldiers in the passenger compartment of the freighter.

A small smile crept it's way up to his face. Soon, very soon, he would be able to fight wookies, on the ground, in hand to hand combat even, if he so desired it.

Yes, this was going to be fun.

The corvette, as soon as it entered the atmosphere, was tracked by the ground batteries. A smirk wound its way across the battery commander’s face.

“A corvette? First mistake on the Imps’ part! Lock on and fire at will. Let’s show those arrogant nerfs not to underestimate us,” he ordered.

“Yes sir!” the gunner grinned. The replies of the other flak-cannon gunners filtered through the speakers, all of them just as confident and sure. It did take some time to lock on, however. The scanners and the computers had a hard time reading the ship.

“Odd class of corvette that is,” the commander murmured.

“We’re locked! Firing!” the gunner called, depressing the firing switch. The batteries unloaded their volley and continued with sustained fire on the corvette as it blasted its way into the lower atmosphere.

“They’re not even trying to evade,” the commander said, watching as several direct hits brought spouts of smoke and flames from it. “Arrogant bastards, aren’t they?”

“We’re getting readings on larger craft entering the atmosphere, commander. These are actual troop carriers, it looks like.”

“Got the bridge!” came the triumphant shout from another battery through the communications array. The commander grinned. “We’re seeing pods being dropped.”

“Focus fire on the landing craft; ignore the pods. Tell some of our Wookiee friends that we have some easy pickings coming up in the...”

“Dorn-4, Dorn-6, and it looks like Besh-3. Close to some settlements. About two pods per sector, it seems.”

“Locked on to landing craft. Firing!”

***

The Wookiees were quite pleased about the news that the rebel communications officer had given them – first blood would be theirs. Farrhak, Towbacca, and Errha, the leaders of the groups of warriors that were being sent out to slaughter the invading Imperials, were disdainful of the fact that there were nine or ten warriors per group.

But some of the Wookiees were old enough to remember the last attempt at an insurrection, and the results of it. They wanted to be sure that there were no surprises. But even so, nine or ten warriors was considered more than enough for the small groups of survivors they’d find. The true fighting would be against the legions of stormtroopers that the Empire would be landing in the tree cities and the ports along the coast.


Farrhak and his group reached their designated positions, and were getting under cover as well, just as the pods were hitting the ground.

“Spread out, find cover!” He commanded the other warriors. “Prime your weapons. Let them see the faces of their deaths and then cut them down!”

The pods hit the ground with a great crash, spraying dirt and debris everywhere. There were two of them. All was silent for a moment, and Farrhak took his time studying the black pods that rested in their small craters. For some reason, a sense of unease took him. He glanced at the others, and saw that they weren’t even crouched behind their choice of cover; they were on the outskirts of a larger city made for the traders and those uncomfortable living in the trees (mainly smugglers and rebel sympathizers mixed with the Imperial garrisons and such that were there to enforce “order”), and there were a number of buildings and debris in the streets that provided good cover.

The hissing of de-pressurization warned them that the pods were opening. A small cloud of mist obscured the entrances of the two pods. Farrhak and his fellow warriors roared their defiance, and started to fire into the now opening hatches.

The mist hung there for a moment when the pods’ hatches had opened completely; but suddenly, in one of the pods, came a sudden snap-hiss, and a low humming. A bar of light could now be seen from one of the pods. Holding that bar was a woman, small, wearing black body armour of a light variety that Farrhak hadn’t seen before. She was obviously Imperial; and skilled as well, if her ability to deflect the bowcaster bolts fired at her were any indication.

And then there was a thunk sound, and a small sphere blasted from the other pod.

“Grenade!” Farrhak roared, though in vain. Chomarr and Frobac were both ripped to pieces by the unusually powerful fragmentation grenade. The rest of the Wookiees ducked for cover and continued firing into the second pod and at the woman. Out of the other pod stormed four stormtroopers in black armour, bearing larger rifles than the standard E-11, and the first bearing an activated personal shield generator on his forearm. The Wookiees’ bowcaster bolts slammed into the shield, but it held. The shots meant for the woman were still being deflected almost absently by her blade of light.

The stormtroopers began firing back, and to Farrhak’s surprise, Shobocc was cut down immediately by their fire. That left seven warriors; three cut down within the first minute of battle. He roared in anger and pulled a thermal detonator from his bandoleer. He activated it, and tossed it at the stormtroopers.

But even in this, the Wookiees’ fortunes were grim; with a gesture of her hand, the woman cast the detonator back over to where Lowmacca was crouched behind a stack of cargo containers. The detonator exploded, and Farrhak couldn’t see Lowmacca for the smoke and dust it kicked up.

“A witch!” he roared, and aimed for her exclusively. The stormtroopers were now behind their own cover.

For a moment, Farrhak cast his thoughts to Towbacca and Errha, and hoped that they were having an easier time of it than he and his warriors. But soon, he was back to fully concentrating on bringing down the witch.

He would try for the next two minutes exactly, before her blade of light cut him down, and he died along with all the other warriors who had thought to massacre the survivors of the corvette.

Chuckles... Charles wasn't quite sure why she hadn't made any move to attempt to break Selinica's nose right then and there. Rather the name was met with a sickly sweet smile before she turned away, fully engrossed in believing the pilot had only been sent along by Glayde as a further attempt to get under her skin and with her usual Corellian stubbornness, Charlotte was determined to not show that he may have just succeeded again. Especially not with Onashi making his entrance.

Starborn's idea sounded relatively per-guidelines, and it was for that reason alone that Charles wanted to question it. But given the fact that it sounded like the whole of the Empire was going to be coming their way none-too-slowly, she'd run with it for the time being.

Her head nodded towards the door. "Shall we then? I rather not keep our glorious gamorrean-headed would-be overlords waiting. Can't let the Wookiees have all the fun, can we?"

The bright greenish glow of the massive gas giant Alaris filled the entire view from the cockpit of Lieutenant Jaertins Y-wing. He grew tired of the view as it was all he had seen for the entire three hour patrol. The small moon of Alaris prime hovered off in the distance to the left slowing making its way behind the horizon of the gas giant. Gamma flight had been given the chore of scanning and maintaining surveillance on the Wookie Colony on Alaris Prime. The small colony had been left alone by the imperials since the last battle over Kashyyyk and maintained a small blockade only to keep the Wookie population in check.

“Gama three, Report.” Came the voice of Captain Mantin over the flight com channel. His X-wing sat powered down and dark except for life support. Both he and Gama two had escorted the Longprob on this mission.

“Same as it has been for the last three hours, the last three weeks also. The Vic seems to make no effort to patrol, and as far as I can tell has not moved a week.” Jaertin heard Lieutenant Kell let out a short coughing laugh from behind him in his seat at the rear of the Y-wing cockpit.

“Yeah, yeah we know three just checking. It’s about time to fire up and head to beacon two. Let us start up and move into formation with you. Two Form up on threes rear I will take point.” Captain Mantin began his powering up his navigations and weapons systems. The low hum grew louder as the engines warmed and came to life. He heard the familiar beeps of his R5 unit and smiled.

“Ok g6, I know it seems like a useless waste of time but we have our orders.” The R5 unit beeped and warbled and began his duty of preparing the X-wing to fly. The lights came on and the X-wing began to move slowly. Mantin gave the controls a bit of thrust and moved his ship slowly to a position hive hundred meters in front of Gama three. He waited till his sensors showed two moving into a position behind three.

“Ok flight let take it nice and easy until we are closer to the gas giant. Our proximity to this big ball of gas will keep us hidden but let’s not take any chances.” The three craft moved towards the planet and made a synchronous turn to orbit the giant and set up to scan Alaris Prime as it moves to the far side of Alaris in its orbit. The trip did not take long and the short ranged beacon set up lead them to the scanning position.

“Ok you guys know the drill. Same thing different day.” The X-wings moved off away from the Y-wing and began to power down. The Longprob moved into its position and Kell began to set up for his scan. The Y-wing finally came to a stop and the running lights and engines powered down.

“OK Four, time to make the big bucks” Kell laughed and turned on the short ranged scanners. The lights from his console cast an eerie glow into the cockpit and reflected off the canopy. He hated recon duty. He was a pilot and much preferred his X-wing to the decrepit old Y-wing he and Gamma three were assigned for this gig. He looked over the scan and peered out the right side of the canopy to see the small blue green glow of Alaris prime moving into view. As he finished his preliminary scan he took high resolution pictures of the same Vic sitting in the same location. Out in the distance Kashyyyk could be seen as a small ball of light. And past that Transdoshia. Then the Star of the system, which cast its light dimly out to this distance in the system.

“Everything seems ten by ten, sir. Nothing but the same old Vic in the same old spot.” He stopped the scan and continued his normal routine. All the data he was seeing was nothing new. He had seen it time and time again and was growing tired of gamma squadrons’ assignment. As he finished the communications frequency scan he stretched his neck and engaged the long range sensors. Kell pressed the switch and engaged the scan and immediately things were not right. Jaertins R7 unit began to chatter and chirp and data began scrolling across Kells console.

“Whoa…. Verify this for me j8.” The R7 unit checked the data and ran a diagnostic on the scanner. Seconds later it warbled and the same data scrolled across the screen.

“What’s up back there Kell?” Jaertin could not help but notice the confusion behind him. Kell and his R7 were running diagnostics and rescanning for a third time.

“Cap, we got a problem.” He opens the flights com channel and broadcasts to the entire flight to hear. Captain Mantin had just decided to get some rest and closed his eyes when Kell opened a flight wide channel.

“What’s up four?”

“We got some trouble at Kashyyyk sir. Looks like an all out assault on the planet.” All four of the men had sat up straighter and were more awake and responsive then they had been in hours. Kashyyyk had been under block-aide since the first assault after Endor. Rumors from Alliance Intel had said the imperials were having trouble on the planet. Now is seemed the rumors were true. Immediately without words or orders Gamma flight were powering up and preparing to act.

“Three, you and four jump to Triumphant and report. Two and I are going to jump to Kashyyyk and assist the Opposition and provide recon data to anything out here that moves to assist.” Kell disengaged his scans and began powering up the hyper drive. R7j8 plotted the jump and before another word was said they watched as Gamma one and two made their micro jump to Kashyyyk. The Y-wing learched as Jaertin kicked in the thrusters and moved into an exit vector. Within seconds the Y-wing slowed as its thrusters were disengaged and vanished into a flash of light heading to Triumphant deep into space somewhere in the Maytaranor sector.

The half-dozen drop pods screamed through the air, leaving the Velker’s Talon to crash into the planet bellow. Breaking by pairs, the pods’ rudimentary tracking systems blazed a trail through the flak fields far faster than any of the guns could track.

Inside her own pod, Inquisitor Sarah Lymia bit down hard into the gel padding that barely kept her jaw from breaking and strained against the heavy restraints keeping her from flying loose from her chair.

Where Inquisitor Val Aath’s pods turned away from the deep Kashyyk jungles, Lymia’s team steered a path directly into the massive forests. Their target? A small facility that the rebels thought to be secret from the Empire. But the Inquisition had access sources far more obscure than those available to the military.

Tree branches shattered as the metal coffins tore through the canopy. In a heartbeat the occupants found their stomachs rising into their throats as the retro-thrusters slowed the pods down just enough that they wouldn’t smash themselves to pieces amongst the wookie platforms.

Even as she spat the gel out and the restraints cut free, Sarah slowly lost herself in ebb and swell of the force. She felt the precision and determination of the four soldiers she had chosen for this mission. Outside the steel walls the fierce defiance of the wookie defenders already closing in on the two pods drew near.

She drew on the swirls of emotion from both, channeling the energy through her body and filling herself with a strength few ever experienced. It was an addiction.

With a hiss and pop, the doors to the pod burst open and Inquisitor Lymia tore head first into the hail of bowcaster quarrels lost in the rush. In the pod next to hers, the four Inquisitorial soldiers clad in black stormtrooper armor advanced behind the cover of portable energy shields…….

Action, finally.

She was more than happy to agree with Chuck's suggestion, managing to once again tear her eyes from the layout of gadgets to peer out the door. She ignored Onashi completely. Guy had a slimy quality to him, as far as she was concerned. Not that some of the other men on the 'force were much better.

"Wookies, strong they are, but us, they are not." Sel nodded her agreement, unfolding her arms and hooking one thumb through a beltloop, the other hand coming to rest over a cylinder largely obscured by her jacket. Nobody had seen her take this piece and attach it to her person, but she would use it if it was necessary. She hoped it would be, regardless of the fact that it was a larger threat to her continued existence than using a ranged weapon would be. "I agree, let's blow this hut. I want to kick some ass."

The sounds of distant conflict spurred Starborn onward, as he side-stepped out of the tree-hut. He pressed himself close to the buildings outer walls, taking the small amount of cover he could. It seemed unlikely that the tree cities had been compromised already, but there was no telling what they were facing. Tur'enne moved into point position with practised ease, whilst Serasai Onashi took the rear. The groups translator, a protocol droid, hobbled between Dash and Selinica, who kept their eyes on the tree-line as they stalked towards what looked to be this particular cities largest cluster of huts.

As they neared, Wookiee's poured out of doorways, many of them armed and roaring – though whether for blood or mercy, it was hard to say. A group of about ten rallied up around a brown-furred Wookiee, who was gesturing emphatically towards the west. Starborn looked to the droid for an explanation.

“He says they have destroyed a hostile shuttle, but lost contact with the group who went to investigate the crash site. The last messages received were not encouraging, however,” the droid said, with a sympathetic tilt of his silver head.

“Alright. So, worst case scenario... whoever went after the ship is dead and the survivors are loose in the forest. Could be they're meant to scout ahead, see what orbital can't thanks to the cover provided by the forest.”

The door to the pod opened, and as it did so, Shadow allowed himself to fall forwards, out of the pod and onto the ground below. He remained there, not moving a muscle, purposley allowing his breathing to remain shallow, as if gravely injured.

The dozen or so wookies sent to investigate his pod moved forwards upon seeing him, to stand just before him. As one started to reach down torwards him, Shadow barely moved, the index finger on his right hand depressing a button on a small concealed remote in the palm of said hand.

Inside the pod behind him, the directional fragmentation grenade that he had secured to the rear wall of the pod detonated, spraying thousands of pieces of metal shrapnel outwards, over his head, and into the forest. Each of the wookies caught at least a hundred of the pieces, shocking them, and driving them backwards. Some of them fell, others just stood there in silent shock.

Acting like nothing had ever happened, Shadow stood up, and brushed the dirt off the front of his uniform. Sparing the wookies no glances, he strode past him, heading off into the forest. Three of the least injured wookies turned, raising their bowcasters, but before they could fire, the combination neurotoxins and poisions laced into the shrapnel took it's effect, and the bowcasters dropped from their hands as they collapsed to the forest floor and began spasming, blood drooling out from their lips.

Meeting up with the rest of his team from the other pod, Shadow accepted the jetpack from one of them and equipped it. With five roars of blasting fire, the five of them ascended from the forest floor upwards, torwards the Wookie city above...

"Sir, assault forces report reaching the main city. Landings have begun, but very heavy resistance is being reported. Colonel Volderhant reports that ten percent casualties have already been sustained," reported one of the communications officers.

Park turned his head slightly away from the viewport, looking not torwards communications, but torwards sensors.

"What happened to that strange corvette?" asked Park, being mindful not to mention the part about it being a INQ vessel.

"It was destroyed by the wookie's ground batteries, sir,"

His eyebrow twitched, before a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Either it meant the Inquisitors aboard were dead, which was always called for a celebration among Imperial naval crews, or that a little bit of subterfuge was underway, and the Wookies were about to experience a nasty suprise. Which also called for a celebration. Either way, it was the only piece of good news to come about so far.

If a colonel was reporting about the status on the ground, then it meant the general in charge was either dead or incapactiated, more likely the former. Thus the troops would be in disarray for a while, and it could give the wookies the opening they needed to conduct their effective combination of gurellia warfare and front up battleline tactics to great effect against his leaderless and probably disheartened ground attack force.

His small smile tugged downwards into a sneer. The wookies would be dreaming if they thought they would survive this assault as the victors. Perhaps those resisting were smart enough to know that the only way they would be free is if they died. Park wished they would just jump off of their village and go splat on the forest floor to save him the trouble that their resistance was currently giving him...

“Alright. So, worst case scenario... whoever went after the ship is dead and the survivors are loose in the forest. Could be they're meant to scout ahead, see what orbital can't thanks to the cover provided by the forest.”

“Does that mean we’re going after them?” Onashi asked, one heavy pistol held loosely in his right hand. “Or are we heading for the landing sites to back up the Wookiees?”

Charles glanced back at the others, eying each of them. Some part of her was hoping that Onashi would make the call, he did technically outrank her. She could feel herself biting slightly at the inside of her bottom lip before letting out a breath of air from her lips in a short burst that caused a stray strand of her hair to tussle slightly.

"The Wookiees should have the main landing sites covered well enough for now, at least well enough that the four of us aren't going to make a huge difference at this point. If they did send out scouts, they need to be handled immediately."

Another glance around confirmed what she suspected. "It seems like this area may end up becoming a base of operations of sorts, let's give the Wookiees a chance to get organized before the plastics figure it out."

It was funny how she could go from her usual nature into actual soldier mode when the need arose. One thing was for sure though, there was a wonderful sense of giddiness arising from it all, not that she was showing it. Each word was coming out with cold confidence.

"Onashi, you want to see if you can get the two of us a bowcaster each? I think you and I might be happier if we have some variety to our arsenal if it comes to darting around trees trying to nail scouts and something tells me they'll just look at me as some little girl if I make the request. I rather get a weapon from them instead of laughter."

Her gaze was next leveled at the Intel agent. "Starborn, you're welcome to come along... though it might be best if you hang back here with the droid to see if we can't get some solid answers on what we're all up against. I doubt we'll get such information from the survivors if we come across any."

Lastly she looked to Miriya and frowned. "You... urhm... stick with Starborn if he's hanging back. He'll need some backup that can actually speak our language if the Imps manage to get back this far. We didn't exactly come here to fight a battle, so we also may need to bug out if it gets too bad. If we do have a full invasion on our hands someone's going to have to get word back to the Colonel so he can get the higher ups' attention on this if they haven't already figured it out. I rather not have to send you running back if things get ugly with the crash site."

Not bothering to see how any of what she had said was taken another glance was given to Onashi, the back of her mind again reminding herself that he probably should be calling the shots as far as she was concerned. And kriff if she knew if they all shouldn't be listening to Starborn instead of either of them.

"Unless you all have better ideas?"

The smell of scorched fur and ozone was heavy in the air. She wrinkled her nose in distaste, but gave it no other thought. She’d smelled burnt flesh before. This was different, but in no way worse. She nudged the dead Wookiee with the toe of her boot, pushing it from its side to its back.

“Inquisitor,” the black armoured stormtrooper said, saluting as she turned around. “We have secured the area. Most other hostile combatants have gone to the main landing points for the Army.”

“Very good, Sergeant,” she replied. “Most likely our quarry is on the run now. He will searching for a place to hide that will give him a good chance to escape after the battle is over. We must go, and quickly. We must complete our objective and make it back to the main body of our forces before they retreat and return to their starships for orbital bombardment.”

“Yes, Inquisitor.”

The other Inquisitorial Troopers had gathered around, alert and silently sweeping their surroundings for enemies. Vel Aath thought for a moment, and then searched her feelings, letting her instincts tell her where their target was hiding.

She turned to the nearby tree city. She and her squad had landed near a city by one of the seas. This city held a spaceport on its outskirts, making it an objective to take for the Imperial Army. As of yet, however, the Army was bogged down in fighting further to the south and had not made it this far. In the distance, the sounds of the battle were clear, signalling that though progress was slow, it was moving. For how long that would continue was still in doubt.

“He’s hiding in that city for the moment. He is there. Follow me.”

“Yes, Inquisitor.”

The way Tur’enne looked at him had him curious for a moment before he realized that he was the ranked officer here. That fact surprised him greatly; he’d jumped at the chance to come to Kashyyyk, but had fully expected that either the Captain or someone else would be coming along to order him around, like they usually did.

“I like the way you think,” he said, only half lying. He’d much rather have gone to the battle, where he could revel in the chaos and sheer loss of all anchors to life. He wasn’t as bad as some mercenaries, but while some felt lost when they were surrounded by death and destruction, he, like most others in his profession, had inured himself to it. More than inured, in fact; he’d embraced it. He was not a Mandalorian, but his views were quite similar. War was his preferred environment.

But the thought of getting his hands on a bowcaster buoyed his spirits greatly. Not too far off, the Wookiees had all but dispersed, only a few remaining to speak with the brown-furred one. He turned to them.

“You,” he said, pointing at the protocol droid. “Come with me.”

The droid seemed to regard him with surprise – how could machines without facial expressions manage to do that, anyway? – before turning back to Starborn, as if looking for permission.

“No, he’s not in charge, I am,” Onashi said. “Unless he’s higher-ranking than a Lieutenant. So follow me. Questions go to me.”

The droid lowered its head and reluctantly followed the mercenary.

***

The talk with the Wookiee hadn’t taken nearly as long as he had thought; only five minutes, and he was walking back with two bowcasters and two bandoleers with ammunition for them, and a vibro-blade strapped to his back. A few moments into the discussion, the protocol droid realized that Onashi actually could understand the Wookiees, and was quite miffed that he was brought along for no reason. Onashi had ordered the droid to say nothing about this fact. He enjoyed being the ‘simple mercenary’ for these Rebels, and didn’t want anything to really change in the dynamic as it was.

“Here,” he said to Tur’enne, handing her a bowcaster and shrugging a bandoleer to her after she had taken it. “You’re right. Big Boss over there says that the Imperials are advancing, but it’s only a matter of time before they’re halted. About half an hour, he estimates. So far all three groups sent to wipe out the survivors of a corvette have been incommunicado for some time. They’ve either got numbers or are tough, because the groups of Wookiees were about ten each. And they’re all in different areas, so it’ll be tough to go after them all.”

His smirk once more changed in tone to one of satisfaction.

“But there are reports of Imperials nearby using jet-packs to get into the tree city south-east of here. I figure a quick ride on a speeder or a few bikes and we’ll be able to do a bit of hunting.”

Moment after the 2 X-wings jumped they re-entered sub light near the Green ball that was Kashyyyk. Before them was a nightmare in real time. They were the only non Imperial craft to be seen. The mass of the Imperial fleet sat looking over a large tree city with small Picket vessels patrolling the main forces flanks. IN the center of the formation of ships lay the massive form of a Super Star Destroyer.

“OK two let’s see if we can blow thru that picket formation to the left and head down to assist the ground forces. We can do no good up here with all these Imperials.”

Captain Mantin set a course straight thru a small group of vessels with a Strike cruiser at the center. He diverted his shields to double front and pushed the throttle to full and banked into the Imperial formation. Gamma two did the same and fell into formation behind one.

…Twenty seven light years from Kashyyyk…

General Forlon Stood looking over the holo diagram of the upcoming attack on Imperial Convoy IAC10405. The display showed the twenty cargo ships and the Carrack Lancer escort. His people had put together a plan for hitting the convoy and capturing three of the transports which were known to be carrying weapons. He had just come aboard the Triumphant three hours ago and had yet to get stowed away and fully briefed on Triumphants operations thus far.

“This looks well and good Captain but I do not see any measures being implemented in case the Imperials have increased the Escort. I Know the Imperials and if they suspect any action against their convoy they would have doubled the escort."

Forlon began to enter data into the control panel of the Halo display. A second Carrack and Escort carrier appeared in the hologram. The men standing around the table began to type data into their data pads and mumble to each other.

“I want whatever force we send in to be able to get in and out without any casualties. Remember were not here to engage the imperial escort were here to grab those Freighters. In and out in less than ten standard minutes."

Forlon closed the hologram and looked at his advisors. They were still reorganizing their data for Forlons changes. He dismissed them and walked to the command deck. He was saluted as he entered and immediately told his crew to stand at ease. He walked to the row of three chairs centered in the middle of the Deck. Captain Hesston Sat to the left of the center seat where Forlon was headed. As he sat Hesston handed him a Data Pad and turned to order an officer to send the fleet a message. Forlon looked over the data then out the large viewport at the Ship Docked between the Triumphants Docking rings. The odd looking calamari vessel had been his home for three weeks and his ride to the Triumphant. He had been aboard Calamari Cruisers before but none like this. The ship was crewed by humans and other beings rather than the normal Calamari only command crew. The normal humid wet hallways were dry and comfortable. Even the Command deck was set up with sensor displays and tactical panels for non Calamari crew. All these things had impressed him but more than this was the tactical possibilities of these new cal cruisers. They would be very useful in the days to come. His attention was drawn away from the Odd ship locked in the grasp of the massive Ring of the Triumphant to the tactical station.

“Captain, we have a lone contact reverting from hyperspace. IDCFF has it as gamma three and four.”

Captain Hesston nodded and informed the officer at the communications station to open a channel. The communications officer contacted the Y-wing and quarried for a report. Lieutenant Jaertin answered the Communications officer with his IDCFF pass phrase and began setting up for a data transfer.

“Situation Dire, I repeat Dire. Kashyyyk is under attack by a massive imperial force which has begun a planetary assault. Gamma One and Two have engaged the imperials and are offering support for Alliance forces planet side. All data is compressed and ready to transmit.”

R7j8 began the transmission and then beeped to let Kell know it had been sent. A few seconds later the Communications officer cam over the channel with instructions.

“Gamma three Hold position and await clearance to land."

As the Small shape of the massive Cruiser grew larger Kell could see a smaller ship docked between the rings of the ship and blocking the main hanger doors. As they closed on the ship and slowed to wait the massive form which was a ship class Kell had never seen but knew right away was of Calamari construction began to move away from the Triumphant. After the ship had cleared the hanger doors Gamma three was informed to land in bay one and report to Flight Ops and Colonel Dodsol.

Forlon looked over the new information transmitted by Gamma patrol and then to Captain Hesston. The captain was still studying the information and did not notice the general looking at him. A moment later he looked up and returned the look Forlon had given him. He knew What the General was thinking. The last time he had gone up against a fleet of this size he was captured and almost died. The tactical situation at Kashyyyk was bad. Both men knew it. The planet had been under blockade for some time and an attack like this seemed pointless.

“Captain, The best we can hope to do here is assist the few who make it off world. Reshmar and the bulk of the fleet are off on the other side of the galaxy. And Starborn does not have the force to take on an Imperial fleet of this size. Get me a fleet wide channel open and find any and all forces within a hundred light years of us.”

The captain rose from his command chair and began to carry out the order. Forlon thought of the situation and of the people on Kashyyyk. How they would need all the help they could get to make it off planet and out of the grasp of the Imperials. He knew he had to act and act fast. He had an idea but deep in the back of his mind he could not shake the past. The time he spent on Kashyyyk as a prisoner of the Imperials and the massive battle against Grand Admiral Desaria and his Super Star Destroyer. He had faced the beast which was the super star destroyer three times now and each time had lost men and material against them. He had hoped never to be in the situation again but now that did not matter. He had to help the wookiees and alliance commandos on Kashyyyk escape and do it without playing games with the imperial fleet and the beast at its heart.

She'd waited until Tur'enne and Onashi left before sliding her cool gaze back over to Dashiel Starborn. This was the first time she had ever been in the man's company and so far, she didn't have an opinion either way. To say, he'd yet to do anything stupid or anything the opposite of that. He sat further away from 'stupid' as it went, so she figured she might get on with him, well enough. So long as he didn't try to exclude her, make her sit on her hands like everyone else in Dorn had done. It was getting her nowhere and it was very dull. It was making her word very hard to keep.

"Alright." She drew the middle vowel of the word out. The first word she had spoken since before it showed in Charles' face just how much she didn't appreciate the nickname Sel had elected to use on her. She almost didn't like the other Corellian woman, but there was something that kept her from outright hate of her. Just something. "What do you propose we do with ourselves? I vote for not sitting around with my thumb..."

She glanced out the door of the abode, then back to Starborn.

"...up my ass. I'd like to know if there are any other options. Don't let the fact that I'm just a pilot fool you into a false sense of responsibility. I mean, Force forbid I actually do something useful."