Log:First Order: Bastatha Blues

First Order: Bastatha Blues

OOC Date: October 12, 2017
Location: Bastatha
Participants: First Order: Kylo Ren, HV-7822, ST-6582

Special assignment. Special orders.

Serve at Ren's discretion.

The pair of Stormtroopers, ST-6582 and HV-7822 now find themselves in the main crew chamber of a First Order shuttle, a specially modified version used by Kylo Ren on his missions around the galaxy, and receiving instructions from the masked man himself as landing procedures are completed. "You may remember that the Hutts are not the first Cartel the First Order has relied upon for financial backing," his vocoded voice intones in its crunchy notes. "A few years ago, General Organa neutralized one of these backers. It has come to our attention that some of the data left behind may still prove useful. We are going to retrieve that data."

The shuttle's landing ramp extends to reveal a dark cavern without, and only a thin band of light beaming down from the entry far above. "We will split up," Kylo announces, pointing out diverging tunnels leading away from the cavern. "The two of you are to proceed down that tunnel, and I will go down the other. You are searching for any terminals that may have survived, and this one is likely to be hidden somewhere 'safe.' Return to the ship once you have the data in hand, or I give the order." His black visor turns between the two of them. "Do not disappoint me."

Better than guard duty, at least.

HV-7822 marches down the ramp behind Kylo Ren, his Sonn-Blas F-11D Blaster Rifle held in a ready stance. His head swivels as he descends, taking the time to look around himself and get a more proper level of bearings on the current site. He looks towards the tunnel that Kylo points out, before giving a sharp nod of acknowledgement. "Yes Sir. Should we be expecting resistance?" Not the capital R, but just a general investigative query.

He steps to one side as he comes off the ramp, and snaps a sharp salute towards Kylo as the black visor swivels, and the Vader-esqe statement comes out. It's almost everything HV could ever want. The salute is held for a moment, then sharply dropped.

"Understood."

ST seems to have less questions than HV, but she does give a curious peering out at the darkened tunnels, lips forming a tight line beyond the emotionless obedience of the helm she wears. She paces toward the ramp, pausing when she hears the inquiry from her counterpart, a vague turning of her head to catch view of him in her periphery, before her attentions return to their current leader. Her blasters are prepped, but more prominantly displayed are her control baton and vibroblades, ever at the ready.

Her salute is much the same as HV's once she's reached his side, lowering into a roll of her shoulder. "We will not fail."

"Expect the unexpected, HV-7822," Kylo replies curtly, striding ahead past the two troopers towards his side of the cavern. "I was under the impression you had been trained for that," comes a too-loud remark, with a tinge of sardonic annoyance creeping in. The dark figure disappears into the tunnel, leaving the pair behind.

The tunnel ahead of them is dark, dank, and damp. The good news is, they've both been equipped with specialized helmets for the duration of this mission that include low-light vision, at the cost of some added weight. Inside, the tunnel goes a short stretch underground before veering rapidly to the right and sloping downhill.

No response to Kylo from HV, because, well, you don't backchat your superiors. Especially when they're known for swinging around laser swords and being able to do strange warlock nonsense. +roll self-perservation for not dying. +SUCCESS+ (100).

Activating his helmet's low-light vision mode, HV takes the time to allow his eyes to adjust to the difference. His head rolls on its axis, before he raises his blaster rifle up, and he begins the trek down the tunnel. There's a pause as it veers, the trooper taking a moment to poke an eye around the corner - then he begins to take the turn, pausing just before his foot lands on a live wire. He holds the pose for a moment, then carefully steps over. A *click* of his comms is sent over to ST as he steps over, gesturing down at the ground with his left hand before he steps over completely, raising the hand to his rifle once more.

ST stands staring after Kylo Ren as he drifts into the darkness, and once she believes he's fully out of sight and sound's damning range, she snaps her head toward HV before the sudden and unexpected lash of her rib-seeking fist impacts with her fellow stormtrooper's armoured torso with a sharp crack. There are no words that follow, no warning of what's to come; he knows her, he knows what's to come should he ask such questions in the future. He can't see her eyes, but it's assured that they are narrowed in an agonizing promise of a lingering demise.

A slow turn of her head moves her attention to the tunnel that they're meant to secure, and begins to stride in that direction with an easy gait that both minimizes the sound of her admittedly rigid armour and stops her from running face-first into dangers unknown; case in point being the live wire that could very easily have meant their imminent demise. She spots it before that click of the comms, but nods in response to the gesturing before she, too, moves over it without coming into harm.

"Take lead." Her voice comes over the comms, soundless to any but those tuned to their precise frequency, "Perhaps they might batter some sense into you. Save me the trouble."

The natural walls of the tunnel quickly give way to clearly manmade surfaces, as evidenced by the aforementioned wire, evidently with power still running through it. That could be a good sign or a bad sign, depending on your preference. As the two round the corner and head further in, a dull whining hum slowly grows in the background, seeping in through the audio filters on their helmets and setting teeth on edge. It seems this place may be less destroyed than previously believed.

The tunnel heads straight down for a ways, with nary a twist or turn and no side passages to speak of, until a few minutes of silent passage (other than the all-consuming hum) terminates with a door at the end of the tunnel, some continuation no doubt beyond. There is an entry panel for a keycode, but it's hard to tell if the faint power indicator light set in the corner is actually lit or just a trick of the low-light vision.

"Sometimes my mouth is faster than my brain." comes the response from HV, interfering momentarily with the teeth-grinding hum that's starting to slowly fray the troopers general attitude towards anything that isn't First Order into something that's less pleasant than normal. Especially considering that his ribs are already beginning to have a dull ache from the body-blow from ST earlier. He comes to a complete stop as he reaches the door with its panel, his visor staring down at it with a most dubious level of acceptance. He's obviously weighing up the odds on it just being OK to blast it.

Thankfully ST takes the lead on handling the door panel, until it attacks! Deadly door panels! Yet another trick of the Resistance against the righteous First Order! HV promptly hauls himself to the side - smacking up against the wall as the poisoned dart that was for him goes through the air and comes to a stop after it impacts into the nearest wall. In response, he does what any weapons trooper would do: He blasts the door panel.

• PEW* *PEW* *PEW*

That'll teach the damn thing. The blaster bolt hits the panel and gives off a series of sparks in a violent spray, as his comms kicks in again with a click. "Status, ST?"

It's a fine idea, keeping things quiet.

A fine, fine idea.

Until you press the wrong button or turn the wrong switch, guess the wrong number, forget to carry the 1. One of these things is undoubtedly what ST has managed to do, though she's afforded no warning by way of alarm or buzzer, and is thusly sprayed with a collection of poison darts for her efforts. She stands stock still for a few breathless moments, as though they had fully hit their mark and she was done for. Finally, her head ticks down a fraction to look toward the darts sticking out of her armour, scratching the skin, but failing to deliver its dose in full measure.

She'll blame the hum. Ruined her concentration.

... Yeah, that'll do.

"... Better than you." Comes her response over the comms, "Still better than you."

Her rigid posture slumps only slightly as her heart decides it'll start beating again. Nobody saw a god damned thing. Her shoulders roll back and her head tilts from side to side in an idle pressure release, before she begins her gliding gait through the doorway, low in her stance and cautious in her progress. That humming is seriously starting to light her nerves, however, as her jaw muscles tighten and clench, and her eyes squint like they'd somehow block out the sound with their narrower path of vision.

The door, blasted and kicked in, shouldered in, pushed in in some manner has spent its fury with the quartet of poison darts, but evidently whoever laid the trap didn't account for the high-tech betaplast of the First Order's finest. It opens up on a large chamber, the actual floor of which is some distance below, and the door merely a catwalk above it. Down there, the source of that humming becomes evident: rows of generators, doing their busy work. As soon as the door opens, the humming goes up a decibel, going from annoying to almost maddening, and making silent communication that much harder. Across the catwalk is yet another door.

Well, looks like ST is still good and fine. HV promptly charges at the door after blasting the panel, ramming into it at its corner with enough force to dent it in with the added benefit of the extra mass of his armour to add further to his momentum. He then rears back and promptly boots the door in the rest of the way before advancing in with his rifle raised. As the noise blasts through the mufflers in his helmet, he promptly shifts his gaze to look downwards - a moment of vertigo that is quickly swallowed - before he begins to edge his way across the catwalk.

His blaster rifle is swept at long angles below them, pausing as the barrel of the blaster-rifle comes across one of the three red nikto scavengers. He raises a hand, pointing firmly at them before gesturing sharply 'away'. Both hands return to the rifle, sweeping it in a 'Go away' motion towards them. It's a gesture that's universal - you aren't wanted here. Leave.

ST apparently joins in in that stirring pantomime performance of 'Get Ye Yonder', doing her best to insist upon those that look displeased that they should, indeed, get them yonder. It's not a particularly convincing rendition, mind, and the reviews are likely to be mixed at best. Once the gesturing and posturing is complete, her head turns toward HV and her hands fall to her sides briefly.

"... Make yourself look bigger, you dolt!"

With that, her chest puffs up and her arms raise as though she were dealing with some beast in the wilds. It's worked before.

Maybe the Niktos just misinterpreted HV's gesture as a threat, or maybe they don't appreciate the way ST is blowing up her chest and trying to out-do a puffer fish, but after a quick look between themselves, all three of them raise their rifles and open fire, shouting in Huttese while they move behind the various generators for cover and spread out. "Hoohah crispo! D'emperiolo goo moocha!" Blaster fire starts to thud into the catwalk or sizzle through the air, narrowly missing the pair as the scavengers take the first shots.

HV attempts to 'puff himself up' while holding the rifle - but blaster bolts coming his way interrupt that and cause him to utter a curse under his breath. One blaster bolt sings past his torso, while the other impacts into the catwalk by his foot. In response, he brings his blaster rifle up and locks it into place before squeezing the trigger. The rifle gives a small kick from the sheer power in the rifle, as a blaster bolt is violently spat from it, impacting the ground beside one of the red nitko scavengers.

What's going on? Did they win?

Well, the critics agree, it appears. And as the Nikto begin to fire at them, ST scrambles to fire back. Ranged has never been her prefered method of warfare. She's an ambush striker, that hidden blade, but the situation hardly makes that an option at this point. Her pistol is raised quickly, steadied by her second hand before the first brilliant bolt is loosed toward the scavengers and arcs wide. Unlike her companion, however, there is no cursing, but instead a second shot in the dark. There's a crackling connection of bolt to body, that telltale hiss of burning suggesting a solid score that's found its mark.

Once this has completed, she's ducking down ever so slightly behind the vague cover that the railing might afford -- better than nothing, but only by the slimmest of margins. The crackle of comms coming alive heralds her command, "Eliminate my target! Keep low!"

There's not a lot of cover up on that catwalk for the Stormtroopers to hide behind, really, just the catwalk itself. By contrast, the Niktos have hoards of cover, popping up in succession to take potshots at the pair up there and then lowering themselves back behind the machines. They aren't crack shots, but they seem to know what they're doing, one of them sending a real zinger towards HV and the others calling out to each other for encouragement in the guttural Huttese they speak.

The blaster bolt from one of the red nikto group's firing hits home, and leaves a blacked mark on the First Order trooper's otherwise nice and white pristine armour. HV reels from the blast as the energy sears through his torso all the same - leaving an injury that will be smarting for some time, and will probably need some proper treatment in the future. He regains his footing before he begins toppling from the catwalk, and responds in accordance to proper training.

He raises his rifle and returns fire on the target singled out by ST-6582, sending another blaster bolt screaming down towards the indicated target: Another miss, but it leaves a crack and hiss of sparks near the target, hopefully dragging it out of cover.

When HV's shot goes wide (again), ST grits her teeth -- his failure, that hum, that ugly damned language being spewed from their uglier faces, it's all adding up to a loss of a temper more explosive than most would be aware of. Perhaps it's her blood that riles her so, it's hard to say, but what is definite is that she's ready to gain control of the situation. She hisses into the comms, "-Eliminate- my target!" She offers with a low growling to her tone as her pistol is lifted quickly to take aim at her former nemesis.

The first shot, arguably the easiest shot, goes wide. She begins to fear she may end up being the sort of disappointment that Heavy embodies. She squeezes the trigger again, scoring another bubbling, hissing hit on flesh that must be sending out an interesting sort of reeking by this point. With the Nikto distracted by that burning offering, she offers one last blast to take it to the ground. Her eyes dart upward to the space above the catwalk, eyes momentarily squeezing shut as she curses to herself now. Another click as she conveys the information, "Above and below. Eliminate those that claim the high ground, I will continue to suppress below. Do not fail again!"

"Moocha! Moocha!" The Niktos are almost chanting it now. "Neechu, neechu!" Two more are drawn in by the sound of gunfire, funneling in from another entry up above and ducking behind terminal desks and workstations to open fire on the outnumbered Stormtroopers. "Ootmian kung, neechu nee choo!" Blaster shots fly left and right, hurtling through the air, small explosions going off from the impacts. One of the scavengers shrieks in pain as ST hits him once, and falls silent as her second shot puts the nail in the coffin.

HV-7822 staggers as another blaster bolt smacks into his thigh - the armour soaking up most of the damage this time. He turns a bit at ST-6582's decleration, giving a sharp nod of his head before he jerks his elbow towards the cover of the doorway as he begins his immediate retreat to more sound cover. His blaster rifle is slung up as he reaches to his grenade bandolier, pulling a single cryoban grenade from its protective harness. With a flick of his thumb, he activates the grenade and begins the timer - promptly turning at the hip and throwing it up sharply towards the two that are attempting to engage himself and ST in a crossfire.

The grenade detonates, immediately sucking up all the heat from the air - and the two red nikto as well, leaving them both absolutely frozen in place momentarily, before they both collapse, frostbitten and torn up due to the explosion and the heat drawn from them. "Two down. Will engage below once more." Comes his response over the comms - his voice a little rougher due to the two blaster wounds he now sports.

"Finally, a good idea!" ST almost praises. Almost.

She moves to throw one of her own before taking a blaster bolt to the guts, stumbling back and crouching down in the doorway that they had entered from, heaving a breath and pressing against the thankfully cauterized wound. It takes her a few moments to get back up again, only to huck a grenade down at those that're still fighting from below. Unfortunately, they are not quite the easy targets the ones above proved to be and manage to get well out of the way of the blast before it has a chance to detonate. She slinks back again to lean against the doorway with a hard, hollow thump as she sinks downward in defensive apprehension.

"It will give them something to think about," She allows over comms, taking a second or two to breathe through the pain that wriggles through her body the same way that sound squirms through her mind. "Understood. Maintain position, they will give way to the greater force."

The two Nikto who came in from above to catch the Troopers in a three-dimensional pincer go down hard, effectively removed from the fight by HV's grenade toss. ST tries the same thing with the two down below, but with a slightly different effect. Her Cryoban grenade detonates only after the target has had a chance to remove itself to better cover, but the explosive lodges beneath one of the generators before detonating.

For a moment, nothing happens, and then the frigid rush comes hurtling forth from the tiny canister. It seems ineffectual, until a few moments later, that particular generator explodes. The room rocks, the whining hum drops in pitch, and one of the scavengers loses his footing, dropping his weapon to the floor as the tiny mushroom cloud raises towards the ceiling, its base lit by orange flames and blue sparks. It seems the mechanisms don't take too well to being half-frozen in the middle of operation.

And lo, the legend of HV-7822's shooting continues. The Trooper promptly pokes out of cover after the explosion of the generator - having used the cover to brace himself from falling to the ground. He raises his rifle as he wobbles momentarily from the aftershock of the generators explosion, then begins pouring on the fire.

• WHUMP* *WHUMP*

Goes the blaster rifle as it projectile vomits two red beams of hate towards the fallen Nikto. Both bolts slam into the ground near the fallen target, and HV's hiss of outrage is heard even over the noise of the generators. "I'm going to take a week course at the target range after this. Unacceptable."

As the explosion rocks the room and the hum lowers just that fraction, ST comes over the comms once again: "One's down! Capitalise on this rare opportunit--" And then Heavy fires twice, and misses both. She has nothing that she can say to that, and pops up as though she's going to show him how it's done. She lines up a shot, fires twice and misses the same as him, until that third squeeze of the trigger on her lower-powered armament. "Unacceptable, indeed! If this continues, I will have to jump down there... and I -really- don't want to do that." She confesses in the end, still taking cover in the doorway, letting the sting of the shot that actually connected make its lasting impression upon those that still fight.

"Get it done, Heavy, or I swear to you those blaster wounds will be the least of your worries!" Threats always seem to work. It was the Imperial way, and now it is hers.

Perhaps emboldened by the seeming inability of HV and ST to make any real damage against them, the two scavengers come out into the open to get a better shot, even though one is still smarting from a glancing wound to the shoulder. Still, they seem infuriated by their own inability to kill the other two, and intent on changing that, as they scream threats and insults up at the catwalk. "Stoopa Troopa! Jee KEEPUNA!"

"Yes Sir!" comes the barked response from HV-7822, as ST's tone and threat kick his brain into its automatic 'follow orders' mode - after years of indoctrination and training, when you get an order from someone in the FO, you follow it. Even if they're similiarly ranked, but in a high-stress situation, well, someone has to take charge.

HV steps out of cover as he raises his rifle, letting the air out of his lungs just for a brief moment before his finger squeezes the trigger, then pause, then squeeze, then pause, then squeeze. Then allow lungs to inflate. Each blaster bolt is on target, the high-powered First Order F-11D rifle finally showing its muscle now that HV is actually on target. The first of the Red Nikto gets shot twice, and the third gets a blaster bolt in the neck, sending the pair spiralling to the ground in crumpled heaps.

ST hesitates a bit once the blaster fire is over with, slowly leaning to look out the door's opening toward those that had wounded them so. They finally have an answer to the question 'who hurt you?', and surprisingly it wasn't the Order this time. With the relative silence from both above and below, she slinks from her hiding spot to look down, and then up at the fallen or incapacitated niktos. There's a bried period of consideration before she allows over comms, "Find a way up there, and bring me those Nikto scum. If they are not dead, they may have information... and I've a keen wager that the Order will have questions even I could not concoct."

With that, she stands fully and finds a more secure place to stand, staring upward being something that throws her balance if she's not careful. "I will see if there is anything I can recover from those terminals... if you didn't completely ruin it."

The Niktos are dead. Not just the men, but the women, and the childre- wait, no. They're all men. But they are all dead, even those two up high. The extreme close proximity of the cryoban grenade may not have killed them outright, but sometime during the firefight, left untreated, it still got the job done.

Across the catwalk, a set of stairs leads them up to that overlook. The terminals yield their data up to the female Trooper's inquiries, allowing her to siphon the relevant files off onto a disk that's almost comically large, a big old box the size of a fist. With no more interruptions, they're free to head back to the shuttle, as the tunnel seems to have ended here in this generator room.

HV-7822 has to take his time in hauling himself up to investigate the two that were hit by the Cryoban grenades - but yep. They're dead, sir. Very dead. He ensures this after checking for breath by giving each one a firm stomp, just to make sure they aren't utterly faking it. HV is good with treating humans, but aliens can do strange things and you sometimes just can't trust it. He then pauses, taking the time to draw out his medpac and apply the appropriate injection of painkiller and healing stimulants to ensure that his blaster wounds do not worsten on the return trip.

He lowers himself back onto the catwalk and moves up to ST's position, applying the same treatment as his fellow trooper works on the terminals, before the kit is then set away and he draws himself up to his full height. He waits for the big ol' box of data to finish its transfer, and then he leads the way with his rifle raised and ready once more.

"Just as well. That smell would have been with us all the way back to base." ST allows over comms when it's confirmed that those above have, in fact, died. She doesn't offer gratitude nor scorn as Heavy provides that medical treatment, too focused on the task at hand as she goes about her work. It takes some time, but when it's finally done she places that fist-sized thing back into a tactical satchel that's been attached to her belt for just this task. She turns then, makes her way back down onto the catwalk and strides toward the tunnel from whence they came.

"... In the end you managed more than complete failure." She catches in her step to stop briefly, "And for this, I will not inform the Order of your lackluster marksmanship." Pay no mind to the fact that she missed just about as much as he did, all said and done. It's all about who throws whom under the transport first. "I will not be so generous in the future."

With that, she's off and away toward the craft that brought them.

Back at the shuttle, Kylo Ren is waiting for them at the base of the landing ramp. The dark figure eyes the drive ST is carrying, nodding once before he turns and strides back up into the ship. "I was beginning to consider the possibility that you might not return," the vocoded voice crunches from inside. "Perhaps I will have further use for you after all." With the troopers on board, the shuttle ramp rises and seals, and the craft lifts into the air with the whine of repulsorlifts before taking off out of the cavern, headed back to Ziro Outpost.