Log:Black Squadron: Vlarnya Outreach

Black Squad is deployed to deal with terrorists

OOC Date: October 5, 2020
Location: Vlarnya, Courkrus
Participants: Jessika Pava, Ektor, Elrych Cometburn, Mister Bones NPC, Poe Dameron, Black Squadron

Courkrus is a beautiful world. It's certainly no paradise, but it was one of the more favorable places Black Squadron had been recently. Given their deployment tempo, the squad has not had much time between missions to unwind and prepare for the next. Being a special tasks squad tended to be that way.

Our crew find themselves in what passed for the capital of Courkrus, Vlarnya. It was no metropolis like some of the worlds, but it was in the process of expansion. Intel reports issued to the team highlighted a fragile government, one under a Governor, who was stretched thin trying to hold the peace while directing the world toward a better direction. Black Squadron's presence meant they were facing some obstacles with that agenda.

Deployed in secret, and under the cover of night, the squad infiltrated the sophisticated waterworks, a series of large tunnels built as a foundation to support Vlarnya for when it grew to be a larger size.

Thankfully, there was no stench or smell. Things here were relatively dry, save for humidity. The flooring was metal grated, the walls reinforced durasteel, though lighting was a true challenge. Poe, who was piloting the Ghost, deposited the team on the surface where the Governor told them they had direct access to the waterworks. Once inside, the Ghost returned to monitor things from above, giving tactical command to Major Jessika Pava. With the intrepid squad is the custom B2 battledroid. Its chassis covered in criss-crossing bandoliers of heavy slug and buckshot tibanna shotgun cartridges. It holds its DP-23 shotgun with both hands, its beak like head pivoting slightly one way, then the next. <"I have established a link with our overlord-- General, Great Destroyer. Orders? This unit is eager to spill organic matter.">

Once they've touched down and have disembarked from the Ghost, Jessika lifts her hand to test the throatmic wrapped around her neck. <"Testor to Ghost, radio check."> On sling around her torso, the BlasTech Industries A280 hangs with its barrel angled to the side and away from her -- and the rest of those gathered -- while waiting for her attention. Attention that she's not yet ready to give to it while she checks everyone around her is good. The last of their team, and the latest addition, Jessika's gaze settles on Mister Bone finally. "Our orders are to explore these aquaducts, Em Bee. If we find anything in there that shoots at us first, you're welcome to spill its organic matter all over the place."> Finally, her rifle comes up, and she brings it to low ready. "Lead us out, Mister Bones."

"Sis says this place has been doing okay since the Invids left but... I think people are scared they'll come back." Elrych mentions as he moves through the water works with Jess and Xer, wearing his robes for the mission. He should probably get a pair of black ones, sans OG Luke on the Death Star. Yet... the high boots were proving to come in handy.

Elrych had been party to the destruction of the Booty Full on the heels of their Victory at Carida, causing the Invids to pick up and Hyper to the next sector over where they could solidify their powerbase on Suarbi. "This place just doesn't attract the right kind of people. I mean, it's a nice place." He should really learn to shut up. Looking to the others, he purces his lips and quiets. Perhaps he felt somewhat responsible for the chaotic growing pains. He looks to the B1 and shakes his head, "Hey Bones... did you serve in the Clone Wars? Ever kill a Jedi?"

"No lie: this is by FAR the cleanest sewer I been in all week," Ektor opines with a crooked grin and lazy regard turned over their surroundings. His old civil war era pistol is drawn out lazily, and idly flipped from kill to stun and back to kill.

<<"Got you, Testor. We're doing a scan of the area now. Bee-Bee says he can narrow the scan to the level you are now. Maybe we can highlight where the biggest concentration of badguys are.">> Poe responds.

<"This unit understands. This unit's programming indicates what might pass for organic hope. Hope that the organics in our way are as eager for a fight as this unit."> Mr. Bones pumps the DP-23, racking a tibanna cartridge and priming the receiver with a high-pitched whine. When given a command to take point, the droid raised its weapon to a high-ready position, the barrel diagonal and oriented upward; a curt nod of MB's head followed, its nasally voice uttering. <"Roger roger.">

MB was not a sneaky droid. Where organics often sought cover and shadows, this droid clanked forward at a casual walk, its weapon 'shouldered'. At Elrych's question, the droid's head turned to one side. <"No. This unit has no knowledge of the clone wars. Its earliest memories are of killing organic thugs and living pieces of waste on Akiva. It were simpler times then.">

Looking at the back of Mister Bones with the skeptic concern of someone who fears for her own life, Jessika watches him begin to stomp after after the menacing rack of his shotgun and his eager annoucement for blood. Her gaze flicks to Elrych and then Ektor, and a subtle shrug of her shoulders is all she offers to either of them. "Why am I not surprised you've been in a sewer? Ektor, cover our six. Elrych.. do your.. Jedi.. stuff. Can you sense anyone around us?" Moving forward to follow Mister Bones, Jess then responds to someone not there at all. <"Roger, Ghost. Feed coordinates to our datapads, if you can. Or Mister Bee.">

"He rolls around in worst..." El mentions to Jess with a smirk toward Ektor regarding his smell. "If Xer doesn't smell weird then something is wrong. It's more reliable than Danger sense..." At Jess' request the Jedi nods, "I'll do what I can... it's not my strongest ability." Taking a deep breath despite that moldy misty smell that sewers tend to have, the Corellian Ace lets the force flow through him. He reaches out with it like invisible tendrils. His brows raise, a bit of a surprised smile on his lips. "Four Sentiants not too far up ahead... spread out like a patrol... but there's more... A whole platoon." His brows narrow as his lids open once more. His hand pulls his darkstar and angelshine saber from his belt. He does not yet ignight it.

"Consider your asses covered," Ektor answers, taking the rear of the quartet. As for why she's not surprised, as Ektor surveys the area, he wonders, "Is there *anything* I could say that'd really surprise you at this point, Jess?" A dumb chuckle. Elrych draws a crooked smile, and he adds, "Asses are still clear." Just as Elrych indicates it, the droid picks up on the organics approaching their location. Still unaware of the team's infiltration of the waterworks, the four seem to be smoking and joking.

"--you think Talya is actually gonna do it? Poison the water lines, I mean?"

"Maybe, I don't know. She seemed intent on getting Dremel out of prison. He was one of the big name pirates around here so it's certain his sentence is to death."

"Not if Talya can help it. I feel like she'd see this through if the Governor doesn't see reason."

"Hey, what's that noise? It sounds like a droid or something.."

<"This organic's powers of observation do not deceive them. This droid or something is seeking terrorist scum! If you are terrorist scum, proceed to open fire, for that is the parameter the Great Destroyer gave this unit.">

"What the hell? That thing's busted! Great Destroyer?"-- "Hey, it's looking for us-- I mean.. terrorists."

"Rekk it, blast that damned thing, and someone tell Talya we're under attack!"

<"Silly organics! DID YOU THINK THIS UNIT CAME UNPREPARED! YOUR COMM UNITS ARE MEANINGLESS. SIGNALS JAMMED! PREPARE FOR COMBAT OPERATIONS! ENGAAAGING DEFENSIVE PROTOCOLS! Activating the Great Destroyer's Organic Mural Painting program now. FOUR HOSTILES!">

Sure enough, the sentients have drawn their weapons and begin to fall back. One started cursing about their comms not working. "It doesn't matter. Kill this insane droid!"

"Yeah, but can he really smell weird if he always smells weird?" Thought experiment. And one that might leave a certain member of the group going through circular logic. "There's still things you could say that might probably surprise me. Mayb--," Jess is cut off Elrych beginning to mention that there are sentients. She lowers her voice into nothing and begins to move forward. She moves with a steadiness in hopes that it won't disturb anything as they approach the voices. Whatever element of surprise they think they're going to have, though, is taken away by their pointman. Point droid? Mister Bones beings his screaming, and Jessika might sigh, if not for the fact she expected it. "Here we go again!" Lifting her rifle, Jessika moves into position to deal with this new threat, and a squeeze of the trigger helps resolve the situation.

Elrych blinks, just listening to the banter back and forth between the terrorists. It was strange, odd... kind of entertaining. What was odder though was Mr. Bones trudging ahead and declaring his presence... "Wait what if-"

The red bolts already started slamming into the battle droids armor. Jess fired, naturally. He expected her to do nothing less. his thumb pressed the red trigger. A breeze formed in the sewer tunnel. It hadn't been the before. With a sharp inhale, Elrych lashes out with his blade, cutting through weapons and limbs of the assulting three that wre left. It lasted but moments, his blue blade nothing but a blur of motion and percision. Looking over the carnage the Jedi took a deep breath... "Damn it..." He looks up ahead, expecting more to follow. "They're going to poison the water system."

Ektor snickers at the sudden eruption of violence, "HEY, no shooting our funny droid! Crazy tin can makes me laugh, yeah? 'You think this unit came unprepared??' Rekking priceless." Of course, the quartet is already dead as he scolds them. A glance over his shoulder then back to Jess, "Our six is sooooo secured to get now, yeah?" Helping!

Their problem is no longer a problem in the short skirmish that follows. It's true, Mr. Bones sustained two hits, and as a result, bits of ablative armor plating fell off, revealing the more lean chassis beneath. Being hit twice had affected the droid's aim, and the loud shotgun blast was discharged into the wall beside the droid rather than the enemies ahead. Still, the droid finds humor. <"This unit missed, and yet.. the organics lie dead upon the surface. Poetry. They were destined to die, much like the others who play a role in this plot. Come, organic friends. We have more terrorist scum to obliterate. Executing evil laugh protocol: Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha."> Mister Bones straightened and moved forward at a steady march once again. The compensator for its shotgun is still glowing orange hot and steaming in the humid air.

Fortunately, the remaining 11 terrorists were blissfully unaware of what happened with their patrol. While walking further into the waterworks, Mr. Bones led them to the central hub and filter, a large room of piping and filtration machines that hummed loud. There were two levels to this room, and Black Squad arrived on the higher level. Mr. Bones takes a textbook kneeling position, popping his spiky mohawk beak shaped head slightly over the edge of the solid railing to peek its photoreceptors over the edge to scan. <"Engaging whisper protocol:"> He says in a normal tone, thankfully lost over the sound of the humming. <<"This unit counts eleven hostile terrorist scum eager for justice, Great Destroyer. How do we proceed? Violence, surely.">>

<"Testor to Ghost. It's obvious that they're trying to poison the water system."> The broadcast is the only one she sends. "Good work, Elrych." Another look is thrown at Ektor. "I don't know, maybe they'll still shoot us in the ass." Lowering her rifle from its position at her shoulder, Jessika moves forward towards where Mister Bones is stalking off. Catching up with him is not difficult. She allows her rifle to hang on her sling as she approaches. "You want me to take a look at that, Mister Bones? I might be able to help you, unless you think you're functional." This is, of course, something she whispers to him, much like the droid attempts to whisper to her. She's not let go of her rifle yet. Not with so many targets nearby. But they have a moment, maybe. A moment before all hell breaks loose. "Standby for just a second. Let Elrych and Ektor get into position."

Before they move out again, Elrych kills his blade, the brillian blue light squeeling back into non existance. It left them back in dimmer light or what ever lights they had originally brought in with them. He gives a nod to Jess before moving out with the Squad.

As they come upon the the split in the floors, he moves deeper into the dark, reaching out with the force to mask himself with it...

It was a good idea in theory, but in practice Elrych hadn't really ever used it that much. So there was no surprise from him when the darken mass that started to engulf him disipated. "Stang..." He whispered, lightsaber still in hand, looking down into the pit. Too many of them to trick out of it... Maybe he could jump down there and reason with them?

"He's got a evil laugh protocol!" Ektor cackles, delighted. Swagger-limping along with the others, Ektor crouches upon reaching the hub to reduce the chance of being spotted. "We got them blind, right now. I say we drop them blind, and reason with them when numbers are a bit.. not as drek." A pause. "I got eyes on some drums.. looks like our poison drek. Jess, you see it, yeah?"

<<"This unit requires slight maintenance to return to maximum efficiency. This damage is manageable, though not idea for optimum performance.">> The droid replies back to Jess, turning its head from the view to regard her with an expressive nod of its spiky head.

Poe's voice crackles back over the comms. <<"Roger, Testor. We lost you for a second. I'm assuming Snap's crazy droid had something to do with that.-- We can't risk them putting poison into the water supply. I trust you to make the right call.">> The comms go silent once more.

Down below, the crew is waiting around for an order from their leader. One guy is laid out on the ground just smoking lazily. "Where's those guys at? I thought they'd be back by now.." One says, hopping off a pipe to stretch and walk around. The others don't seem concerned yet…

"I agree with you, Ektor. Elrych, we're going to drop some. When we've taken a few out, you think you can intimidate the rest? With your lightsaber, maybe?" She glances between her compatriots, and finally to Mister Bones. She's not going to ask him to run in as a distraction. "Mister Bee, you need to be careful, but I want you to draw most of their fire if you can. Move around the edge to a position not next to us and then open fire first on my signal." She moves into place, too, and gets her rifle ready to go by lining up a target with the scope on the top of her rifle. Jessika waits for confirmation from all her members, and waits for Mister Bones to get into position. It's not all they're all ready that she says in a quiet word. "Now, Mister Bones." And waiting for the droid to give out the opening salvo, it's only then that Jessika squeezes the trigger of her rifle to try to hit a target.

The Lightsaber was probably just about the only thing antimidating on Elrych. If he was in a Fighter, yeah he could scare the enemy... if he was fighting with his Saber, perhaps he could look somewhat Epic. That detract from the fact that this 6' 1" 'kid' was still a lanky plank of wood. Though, he had toned up a bit in his Jedi training, he was still nowhere near some others in the strength department.

"CHYA, Your arms are like NOOODLS. HAHAHAHAHA. Do more reps, fight chrew the pain. Chya." Elrych's first 'Master' would say to him, the indomnible Jonn Dreyson. He still hadn't picket up a weight since Jonn had left to be with his family.

With a nod to Jess, Elrych perched on the ledge. As soon as the crew started firing, he jumped... right down into the vipers nest. His cloak flowed and whipped about untill his boots landed with a metalic clank. The lightsaber screamed to life, crashendoing into a whispered humm.

"Hello there." Elrych said with a smile before his saber lashed out in a whirlwind of blurred blades. It really looked like he had more than one. Three suffered to the ancient weapon. "I'd give up, please... this really isn't worth it. In prision you'll at least get fed!" Of course that probably wouldn't work. He sighed.

Ektor nods once and moves as discreetly as an Apollyon can into a choice firing position, where he can open fire on those closest to the suspicious looking drums, without risking a hit to the poison. Well, unless his shot goes VERY astray. <<"Ready when you are, yeah?">> he checks in, blaster lined up and ready to roar. As the blaster fire erupts, he mutters, <<"Kid, did you just say 'hello there' and 'please' in demanding a surrender?">>

Mister Bones is compliant with its usual, <"Roger roger,"> and steps off in a comical kneeling walk to lead it to an adjacent position looking down into the pit. Prior to being given the command to fire, Mr. Bones fed a slug cartridge into the breach and rose above its cover, racking the handle back and firing a millisecond after acquiring aim. The organic laying on the ground had enough time to raise up at the sudden appearance of the droid and yell "WHA--" before being drowned out by the loud BOOOOOOOOOM of the shotgun. A single slug-bolt discharged from the weapon hitting the organic center mass. It blew out his center, caking the ground behind and beneath him just as Elrych landed below, likely upon a squishy floor. The terrorist was dead before he laid back on the ground, smoke still burning between his fingers.

The response was sudden as shots rained down from all sides. Mr. Bones was targeted first, he'd drawn the most emotional response from the team, and as a result of the droid's disregard for cover, sustained two more shots that shattered its armor further and spilled the droid backward. He was still functioning, though without armor now. Rising back up, Mr. Bones adopts the use of cover. <"Self preservation protocols activated. Taking cover!"> The droid issues as bolts continue to pelt the thick railing he's hidden himself behind.

Meanwhile, two others fall backward at the sudden arrival of a lightsaber wielding combatant telling them to surrender after cutting down three of their friends. "REKK THIS!" One yells, and the other is fearstruck but reacts on instinct, both firing at the Jedi while scrambling back.

Four remain!

Elrych makes a good effort of it, but it's all for naught. The individuals caught unawares in the initial fight refuse to give up despite the obvious disadvantage in the height of their situation. And attacking Elrych despite his attempts a peace tell Jessika all she needs to know. "Eliminate all targets. Stay in cover, Mister Bee." Yanking her barrel around to a new target, Jessika finds one trying to fire on Elrych and squeezes the trigger once her reticle is in place. The A280 barks, its distinct whine so familiar to her ears that she's not even sure she hears it in the chaos. All she does notice is how her target hits the dirt.

"YES, OKAY?! I'm not good at this!" Elrych says in responce to Ektor as blaster bolts zip past him. He strikes forward, ripping through the remaining three hostiles with his saber. As the smell of ozone stings his nostrils and the smoke of blaster fire and burnt flesh clears, the Jedi hefts a sigh. "They were going to poison the entire water system." He says to himself, as if to reassure the justness in his actions. He felt every single on of them die, the connection in their force severed and vanished as they returned to the great white current. "Alright... guess we call the DPW to haul this stuff out of here or something."

Ektor tracks his aim around the central hub of the water treatment, but swiftly finds all the (bad) pirate aligned saboteurs down. "And just like that, one more war crime averted. DREK, we are good, yeah?" Another check behind him, just to be sure. "But, yeah.. this is no longer the cleanest sewer I been in. Bunch a dead Hutt-suckers and poison drek all over."

<<"The Governor's not budging. It's time we act on our promise. Do it, boys.">> Arrives the voice over the discarded comms on the dead. A moment passes, then another.. <<"Hello, is anyone reading me? Do it.">> Talya says more firmly. Mister Bones answers, picking up a comm and holding it in front of his face, his head tilting. <<"Your terrorist scum regret to inform you they cannot carry out your filthy commands because they have been deactivated. Goodbye.">>