Log:New Republic: Use Your Instincts

A battle in Hollowtown!

OOC Date: August 10, 2021
Location: Centerpoint Station, Corellia System
Participants: New Republic, Ban Iskender, Chani Tahn, Yuun, Xavier Harcourt (NPC Mathias), Aryn Cortess

The checkpoint is taken, the Republic has a secured path out, but ahead is an ever changing environment made possible by the simulation emitters that create the 'sky' above. Terrain, buildings, even people become augmented in a way that's disorienting. The team expected to go into this maze called 'Hollowtown' is being led by Aryn Cortess herself. She arrives in time to give them a brief of the situation.

"The situation is not as we expected it initially. When we came here, we were under the impression that the station was controlled by the First Order. We were wrong. The Corellian A.I. is in control here, and it has initiated its defenses to protect the inhabitants by changing the city around to constantly pit our forces against the First Order in some weird orchestrated conflict."

Shifting her stance, Aryn motions to the city. "I was able to communicate with the A.I. and come to an agreement. If we bring an end to the conflict, it will disengage the defense, but the First Order must be defeated. To facilitate this, we are to head into Hollowtown and find their convention center. The AI will route forces to that location until there are no more. If we can hold out against the troopers, then the engineers and A.I. have agreed to grant us a boon. I explained we are not here to conquer, we are here to help. The A.I. replied simply; 'show me.'"

Aryn unhooked her lightsaber and looked to Hollowtown where the sounds of conflict seemed to come from every place. "I am not eager to do this, but I see no other option forward. Lord Ban, are you able to lead us forward?"

Ban Iskender inclines his head at Aryn's final query. "I am, your Highness. If strife must result, I am relieved to learn that the civilians will be kept beyond the reach of our foes." The gentleman was *not* looking forward to a street by street fight in a population center. His own sword is drawn and reignited, as the armored swordsman bows once and starts into the holographic labyrinth.

Yuun was able to fly his fighter to the Redemption and come here with the others. Now standing with the small group of defenders here, with Aryn leading, Yuun is quiet, taking in the information and he also unclips his lightsaber holding it unlit for the time being. Stretching a little, he looks to everyone, "I don't want to either, but this must be done Knight Aryn." he says. Taking a moment and looking over to Ban who is going to lead this group, he quirks aa brow and nods his head, "Im' ready when you are."

The initial run-in with the First Order went about as well as expected. There are fewer First Order now and his team is still standing. Holding his rifle with the barrel pointed downwards, Mathias keeps to the back of those assembled and watches their six. He is simply the extra gun; that extra bit of muscle and one more target to help spread the heat.

Still, he cannot help but listen in on the briefing beyond the orders of 'kill the First Order.' Well, that's just a given, isn't it? Though the rest of the information he finds terribly intriguing and no small amount frightening, too. This whole place run by an AI that can switch, shift, and basically kite anyone and anything is deems necessary anywhere it deems necessary. Yeesh.

It makes the brown-haired man extremely uncomfortable. The snap of Ban's saber is like the bark of an officer to him and Mathias readies his rifle and follows behind, his grey eyes scanning as he goes.

"I stand with you, Captain Iskender," Lady Kiko announces as she primes her weapon to take a place slightly behind him. Brushing her cape back, the retired Commander gives the team a once over before turning to join Ban into this precarious situation. Aryn may have been trusting of the AI, but Kiko still held prejudice given her experience in the Ash Worlds. The nervous tick that often accompanied the dark haired noble into battle manifested, and a shaky breath was taken to steady her nerves as she followed the Green Knight of Alderaan.

"So it must," Aryn agrees with Yuun, and she falls in with him, sparing a glance to Mathias. She has not brought her weapon to life just yet, but the curved hilt is held in her gloved grasp poised to activate the moment she required it.

The path into the city was like walking through a transparent tunnel that was underwater. They saw distorted images of fighting and yelling as they moved past the streets where conflict was being instigated by the hologram program. Their path took them straight to the convention center, into its main atrium where the darkened ceiling began to form into the image of a stormy sky above. Around them, the ground transformed into something muddy, beaten by rain, and water began to fall from the 'sky'. Behind them, a city burned, illuminating the night horizon in orange as they waited for their enemies to arrive.

Aryn took to watching the change command their surroundings all at once. It was fascinating and terrifying all at once. An AI with such amazing power.. defenses that kept everyone disoriented. It could go.. indefinitely. Praying to the mother that this wouldn't become their fate, she turned just as a squad of disoriented stormtroopers came charging into view.

Heavy armored steps splish-splash the ground beneath as they're forced into open conflict with the Republic forces. Aryn, who is soaked now, wipes her hair from her face and brings her weapon to life with a snap-hiss. "I give command to you, Lord Ban. This is not my arena, sir."

Twelve (12) stormtroopers charge right at them, eager to put an end to their constant fighting.

Ban Iskender gives a short dip of the head and shoulders to Kiko with the word, "Commander," as the otherworldly trek begins. The simulated rain is a curiosity to the nobleman, catching his attention in the way an exotic bird or flower might intrigue others. His brief amusement passes as the burning city and battle hardened foes are beheld. Green blade hissing and popping as it's struck by rain, he raises it in salute, voicing with an officer's austerity, "Troopers: the engagement ends only with your submission or death. I invite you this once to submit and survive." He hadn't had high expectations for the appeal, but voicing it gave him a moment to ensure the blaster armed among their company were placed near to the protection of a Jedi, before the shots begin. He parries one, and strikes down the nearest of white armored veterans, before falling a step back nearer the Aldi.

Allowiing the force to flow through him, Yuun could feel the force flowing through him, around him, he could feel teh team he's with as well as those of the Stormtroopers. Yuun watches as Ban tries to reason with the troopers, though the moment he hears Commander, he looks to Ban. Then remembers and smirks a little, though as things don't go their way, Yuun sighs. "Never fails."he grumbles a little bit, taking in a deep breath, Yuun activates his lightsaber and he quickly moves in. Seeing a blaster bolt being deflected, Yuun comes in at the nearest trooper and swings his blade horizontally, bisecting the trooper at his waist. He moves to lunge at his Fireteam partner and misses. Still Yuun doesn't stop nor does he loose his footing as he turns his back to another trooper lining up a shot and he stabs backwards stabbing this trooper through the chest. Spinning around to face the others.

"It's a war of attrition. Even if they kill us all, there's no way to win. They'd be better off surrendering and allowing us to take them into custody. No one needs to die." After months of saying the same thing, Chani finds herself on the strange precipice that is the dichotomy of believing the stormtroopers will choose the opposite of what she wishes them to with every fiber of her being. Words do not sway them. The indoctrination is too deep, or their zeal too resolute. She defends herself, and by extension, others around her not by cutting down the enemy, but by removing the instruments they use to hurt others. Two blasters are cleaved in twain by the vibrant blade she wields, and rather than collapse to the floor in white armor, like the members of their unit around them, the two troopers simply find their weapons absolutely useless.

It's a spectacular display watching the environment shape and morph dizzingly around them. The 'sky' changes. The 'rain' falls. The 'ground' squelches beneath his boots. Such an incredible advanced technology. The artificial intelligence is on a level Mathias has not yet seen until this day.

And it fills him with dread.

"I hate this." A man of few words, he keeps it concise and to the point. Thankfully he isn't given much more time to ponder the Skynet-levels of awful this place presents because a more familiar and squishy enemy presents themselves. Steeling himself immediately, Mathias' rifle rises and he fires indiscriminately towards the white-shelled vermin. Disoriented and soaked, he misses. But warning shots are still useful, aren't they?

As the battle begins, an explosion rocks the battlefield with a concussive blast. Almost immediately, the Stormtroopers begin to experience loss. Their squad is reduced in short order by either getting killed or by being incapable of fighting. Two were disabled by Aryn, who cut as precisely as a doctor might, targeting locomotive functions and limbs that prevented them from moving. Lady Kiko blasts a foe in the chest with her shotgun, the spread blast shattering their plasteel cuirass both front and back before spilling them to the ground. She primes her weapon with a loud CHIIK-CHOONK, ejecting an orange hot cannister from the breach before ducking under two shots by tumbling past Ban.

More troopers begin to pour onto the battlefield, routed by the AI to this section and given the task to fight their greatest enemy: The Jedi! Twelve (12) more charge into the fray, reinforcing the four remaining from the first squad. The two troopers who were disarmed, move back from Chani to reach their fallen and try to collect their weapons to start anew. This gives a grand total of eighteen (18) (2 are searching for discarded weapons).

Ban Iskender advances the few steps needed to re-cover the mobile Commander Aldi, deflecting a short-range blast and riposting with a swift thrust through the torso plate of a stormtrooper, the blade cutting loose to strike down a second with a swift cut, before a third trooper narrowly escapes a final lunge.

"Just leave them on the ground!" Chani has a slim moment to spare the two troopers she left weaponless, but she tries to extend the amount of time she has provided for their lives to go on. If they choose to pick up their weapons and attack again, there's nothing to guarantee that Chani will be the one to confront them this time. As it is, with the swarming troopers, she is slipping by white-clad soldiers and making similar quick, short bisections that leave other weapons in the same useless state. She does so with every other spare bit of attention paid to the placement of her dark leather boots around the fallen that litter the ground. Blaster fire exchanged on both sides find their marks, though Chani has yet to see their own casualties.

Mathias spits out a curse as two more shots fail and he actually takes a moment to check a few components of his rifle. Barrel straight. Sight seems clear. Maybe there's something going on inside that is pulling his shots to the left? He gives the rifle a slap slap slap and tries to shake some of the water out of it as a flurry of blaster bolts are returned in their general direction. One manages to catch him in the right shoulder as he tries to spin away; the hit turning that spin into a bit of a twirl that almost has him falling to the floor with an audible grunt. "Kriff me..."

The conflict is becoming a little more unmanageable when an additional ten (10) join the remaining twelve (12), making it 22 against the scant number of New Republic forces. "Are we to be over run?!" Inquires Aryn, who is having a hell of a time with a trooper using a Z6 stun baton to bat her blade aside. Sliding across the mud and landing a fatal blow spills the soldier to one side and Aryn back tracks just as Kiko is victim to a fire team focusing fire on her when she tries to kill their Sergeant.

Kiko cries out, collapsing into the mud and scrambling back. She discarded her shotgun and pulled out her blaster pistol, prepared to fight from her weakened state on the ground.

The AI seeks to level the odds though, and New Republic soldiers begin to join the Jedi lines. A sergeant screams for the soldiers to hold the line and open fire, and the soldiers do just that. The battle has become a chaotic brawl now. Rain continues to fall as the two sides meet. The only thing marking locations now are the lightsabers.

The Jedi are given a wide berth in the chaos, both by foe and friend to choose their targets or be chosen as one! It's no longer clear how many of each side there are.

Ban Iskender plants himself near to where the Republic wounded have landed and takes what targets err near enough to him. One is cut down, but no more. Aryn's cry is answered, "No! We endure." Chani's adept efforts at disarming the enemies are commended with a raised brow. "Adeptly done, mistress Tahn."

Yuun takes a breather and honestly as he sees more of the stormtroopers coming, and the mud sloshing and sticking to his boots. Yuun glances at the others, "We can do this. Watch out for one another." he says and he turns and sees Ban and goes quiet as he speaks. Yuun nods his head and he is then a whirlwind, leaping over and slashing at one trooper, missing another and taking down another. Yuun's blue blade moves continuesly as he works to protect the troops with them.

The added chaos of the fray necessitates she abandon the surgical precision of going for the weapons at their middle and now focusing on simply cleaving the barrels off in quick motions that are supported by the momentum she needs to go from facing one target to the next. It's becoming difficult to find sure footing, and, more so, the ability to hear anything going on as the din of the battle turns into a cacophony of shouting from both sides. Chani's not sure where the New Republic reinforcements are coming from. "Are they even real?" Given what she's seen of the AI's technology, Chani can't help but wonder what is a ruse and what isn't. Lord Iskender's compliment doesn't go unnoticed, but unlike the Green Knight, Chani has yet to master her stamina in the kind of way that allows her to both speak and fight at the same time. She's long since abandoned trying to breathe through her nose and, instead, takes deep mouthfuls of air meant to help her fatigued muscles.

The shot to his shoulder must have hit the reset button. That or it just really pissed him off. With a hiss of pain, Mathias brings up his rifle once more and squares it on the first target he can make it. There, in the haze of failing 'rain' is a flash of white armour reflecting the green and blue lights of flashing lighsabers. Two pops of red joins them: a flash of purple in the chaos and Mathias' aim falters to the burning in his shoulder.

Throwing her cape off, Kiko rises back up with a bloody vengeance and steps forward with the soldiers. She levels her blaster out like a soldier would, not a duelist, and puts two discharges into the midsection of one trooper before ending a second one's life with a succinct blast to the helmet. Injured, she shows her grit and holds her ground near Ban.

Aryn is having a difficult time navigating the chaos of their situation. With the rain falling, and the crisscross of blaster fire, she feels mentally overwhelmed by it all. Still, some inherent sense of danger guides her weapon to not only intercept blaster bolts intended for her, but she counters with definitive accuracy that unfortunately spells doom for her foe.

The fight continues on like this for more than a hour before signs of the chaos begin to let up. Only a handful of First Order troops remain, and the New Republic soldiers fan out to seek out the last pockets of fighting. The Jedi stand in their own sections with more room to walk and soldiers watching them with curious and frightened gazes.

The simulation begins to fade and flicker though, and what once had been a field of battle returns to the atrium of an event center and around them lay the defeated First Order force.

An insect like voice begins to click and clatter before a translation in a monotone voice follows. "It appears you are true to your word, New Republic." The owner of the voice is projected into a holo image that takes the shape of a Killik warrior. More clicking and noise, and the voice follows. "The station conflict has been resolved. All enemy forces routed and destroyed or captured. Now you must leave to resolve the larger conflict in the system. Return once it's concluded, and we will discuss compensation. Goodbye." The image fades, leaving the group to take in the toll of the conflict. Aryn had come to a realization just how 'in control' the AI was, and it prompted a chill to climb up her spine.

Mathias looks up at the vision in front of them and it takes every bit of his willpower not to raise his rifle and fire upon the monstrosity. Maintaining his composure, the man flicks the switch of his rifle to power it down and slings it onto his good shoulder; the right one smelling of burnt flesh and melted armour. "Permission to get the hell out of here, sir," he bites out to Ban and is already looking for the exit. Wherever /that/ is.

"Granted, with emphasis, Sergeant," Ban answers Mathias' request. Still breathing heavily after the intensity and duration of the hellish skirmish, his sword is deactivated, and- after two attempts- successfully socketed into the sheath at his side. "Let us attend our wounded and withdraw."