Log:TFA: The Battle of Takodana
TFA: The Battle of Takodana
OOC Date: January 4th 2018
Location: Takodana
Participants: Han Solo Rey Finn Kylo Ren Poe Dameron Leia Organa Sar Yavok Gren Delede Hazar Jast Maeve Zavir Sapphira Solari David Ironside The Resistance
"Han Solo!" Maz Kanata's voice boomed through the main chamber of her bustling castle cantina.
It was a party night at Maz's. A popular band was on site for the night, preparing to play some of its currently most popular music. Throngs of attendees had parked their ships out along the shoreline's docking spaces, and the Castle's interior itself was filled with visitors for the big event and the party atmosphere was building by the hour.
But when Maz shouted like that? Everyone stopped, even he jivin' music was cut
Eyes upon eyes turned to see who-and where-at-Maz had shouted, and many of them even instantly recognized why. The name. The aged face. He was a legend in the stars, the Smuggler turned Rebellion Hero who helped push back against the oppressive Empire and who aided in restoring the Republic, restoring a democratic state to the galaxy. He'd just walked right in, with two kids on either of his arms and a rare orange/white BB-8 unit trailing behind them, with a chipper curiosity to its roll.
Maz escorted the group through the cantina and to a private table beneath the eastern windows where she'd entered into a conversation with them.
Throughout the busy building now, an uneasy apprehension has fallen across the party night's attendees and many are whispering about this trio and why they're here.
Finn
This had all been such a far throw than the life he was used to, conditioned to, that Finn continuously found himself shell-shocked by the diversity and color of it all. Red. Black. White. Human. Very little of the First Order is reflected in the beautiful chaos of Maz Kanata's castle - and Maz? Well, she's just disconcerting. Like an over-ripe peach that he would love to call 'grandmother'. Following to the table and nervously adjusting his jacket, it's hard to focus on precious peach granny when he's trying to eye everyone and everything at once - any of them could be in cohoots with the First Order. This isn't his fight - he doesn't /want/ it to be, at least. "How long will this take?" He mutters at Solo from the corner of his mouth.
19:15:18 Gren Delede
A trio sits at one of the bars, two older men, and a certain lady Doctor. A collection of glasses before them indicate that they have may have downed a few beverages. "I..." Gren looks up from the glass of booze that's he's in the process of nursing. "Look like's it's the night for fallen Rebels, Yavok." The Resistance Major looks toward the sound of Maz's voice, and looks over the old Rebel hero. "General Solo. Haven't seen him since your short-lived casino venture, Sar." He's speaking low, and pauses to take a sip from his rum, and glances at Maeve. "Yavok's got quite the crush. But, I'd imagine you do too, being a Corellian, aye?" A small smirk, but he can't help but keep a sideeye on the party that has arrived. It's certainly not something that one sees everyday.
19:17:25 Sar Yavok
"It's not my fault that Acolyte Cannon blew it up," Sar answers Gren with a frown before reaching for his own glass. He's still wearing his armor, having gone out on a job earlier that day, and his heavy repeater sets on the ground in front of him, the coolant tank being used as a prop for his foot. He sniffs and says, "Don't think he likes going by General, anymore. Makes two of us."
19:18:42 Rey
Sensory overload was an understatement for the young Jakku native. An array of emotions were swirling around inside her, smells she'd never experienced, sounds that confused her and excited her, the feelings were coming at her a kilometer a minute. Rey's eyes searched the bar's interior, she nervously watched and followed after her fellow companions. A look sent back to the BB-Unit following her. "Come along, BB-8." She told the droid before her eyes went up to Finn and then quickly forward to the back of Han's head, she dutifully trailed to the table and sat down.
19:19:54 Sapphira Solari
Sapphira Solari missed everything. She missed the shout, she missed the sight of the infamous Han Solo
(though would she even know him, when she saw Leia she mistook the General for an actress on a space soap), she missed the tension. No, she comes in a few minutes after all of that has occured, wearing a tight-fitting red cocktail dress with artistic cutouts around the back and at the navel. It's fashion or something. She's wearing heels, and has a suspiciously misplaced-looking brown satchel bag over her person. Her red hair is down save for the side that she's shaved away to be stylish and to let the hair grow in to cover her new scar.
She heads straight for the bar, finding what she's looking for with relative quickness and ease. "There you are," she says to the trio of two men and the doctor, slumping against the bar next to Sar Yavok
. "Listen, Sir, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, but we were doing a job and Hex got arrested by a bunch of casino goons on Ord Mantell. I've left you like ... 11 messages, don't you check your messages, sir?" She finally looks up, sweeping her hair back out of her face.
19:21:37 Maeve Zavir
In the processing of pouring out more of the booze into the glass she's holding, then casually topping off Sar's glass and offering more to Gren before she'll even glance toward the entrance. "Acolyte Cannon?" Maeve wonders as she glances toward the focal point of the current disturbance then rests one elbow on the edge of the table again. "If there's three generals in one room, does that make three of a kind of a sort of royal flush?" is wondered with a distinctive gleam of amusement in her eyes before she tips the glass up again and takes another long drink while eyeing the redhead who asks about Sar and his familiarity with comm devices; almost but not quite smothering a laugh as she looks down into her drink.
19:31:03 Han Solo
Han Solo's eyes went to the two young kids following after him as they all gathered around the table. "As long as it takes, kid." He sent his gruff response back to Finn before Maz's visage shoved itself up over the edge of the table and she reached up to adjust her goggles-aiming them at all those who'd come with him...
The conversation at the table proceeded, Han made eye contacat with a few people in the Cantina that he recognized, but made no other motion of acknowledgement.
The music returned to the castle, the chatting and socializing picked up again and all seemed normal, as it was prior to the notorious Smuggler's arrival.
But it only lasted a few moments. The conversation at the table got a notice bit more tension-filled and it culminated when the young man at said table leapt to his feet!
He charged away from Han, Maz and the young girl... But she tailed after him and the BB-Unit after her.
Many eyes were on the group, traveling between the table they'd been at, to the two young ones who'd rushed away from it.
In the darker corners of the Castle, radio transmissions were being sent out across the galaxy, to contacts within the Resistance and the First Order. Calls sent to converge on this location.
19:35:28 Finn
Any of them could be reporting the trio to the First Order then and there, Finn thinks with mounting unease. The older guys and women far too attractive for their company earn a long, suspicious, searching look from the man - they're staring too long, muttering to themselves... His fingertips drum anxiously along the tops of his knees and he shoots a desperate look at Rey. They have to leave. Finn, leaving with or without Rey and the others, is going to save himself - raised in groupthink, his selfishness could almost be... Admirable. The First Order would find them, and he planned to be far, far away. A hastily argued agreement for transport with a pair of sentients nearby turns quickly to an emotional plea to Rey, punctuated by nervous looks at those around them. "...Take care of yourself." He grieves with an air of finality as they part. "Please." He can't stay - he has his escape, his chance.
19:40:05 Gren Delede
"It's better to call it your failed venture..." Gren mutters, recalling the lost, and raising his glass briefly. He nods to Maeve as she offers more rum, and then sighs. The arrival of Sapphira draws his attention away from the small group for a moment, and there is a distinct frown when Hex being arrested is mentioned. He likes Hex, more or less. "Sounds like Yavok...letting folks rot in prison." This is muttered with a pointed look for his old friend. He takes another look around the room. He doesn't like the atmosphere, either.
19:41:15 Sar Yavok
Sar's eyes widen as he looks over at Sapphira who's rattling off a bunch of stuff. "Kriff, you gotta slow down, Solari. I'm half-cut, already," he says, lifting his freshly-filled glass to show the young woman that he's done doing stuff for the day. "Hex'll be fine. This ain't the first night he's spent in jail. We'll get him in the morning. Have a drink." His eyes turn to fall on Gren at Delede's snide comment. "Keep talkin, Imperial. It's where you belonged, anyway." He takes a long sip from his glass, ready to throw down with Gren at a moments notice.
19:42:59 Rey
Rey rushes after Finn with her desert attire swirling around her legs. She was confused by his actions and behavior. Finn was a Resistance member, why would he want to run from that goal of getting to them? What was causing that look of terror in his eyes. But then, when she confronted him after he'd hastily made his deal with those Outer Rim types, he told her... and her face fell even more flat. He was a Stormtrooper?
Finn's words resonated in her, she'd been disappointed so many times by others in her young life. To be abandoned now by her new friend? "I don't understand..." Rey muttered under her breath, watching Finn leave toward the exit they'd arrived through only minutes ago.
A child's scream woke her from her confused-state and Rey jumped a little in startlement. She spun around, her eyes falling on a darkened stairwell. With a shakey breath, she started toward it. Partially to investigate, and partially just to get away to a quiet place to think.
19:48:35 Sapphira Solari
Two people not much older or younger than Sapphira hurry past, and the redhead gives them only a passing glance before she's looking back at Sar. "It's not Hex I'm worried about; it's my fault he's in there and Kasia's gonna murder me," she confesses, but Sar seems pretty chill about the whole thing, so she scoots her rear onto a chair and heaves a sigh of defeat. "Well alright," she agrees, reaching out with the relexes of sobriety and sliding his half glass from the spot in front of him to the spot in front of her. "I suppose it's not real jail anyway, it's just casino jail." She sips, and then seems to notice Gren and Maeve. She knows one, but the other? Not so much. "Hi," she says, offering her hand across both Gren and Sar (she'll have to stand on the crossbar holding the barstool together to reach) for Maeve. "Sapphira Solari
, ma'am. Nice to meet you. Hope I'm not ruining a ...date?" She looks between Gren and Sar. Who's the lucky man?!
19:52:10 Maeve Zavir
Laughing down into the glass of rum that she's holding, "It's not real jail, it's casino jail? Does that mean he still gets to gamble while in there?" she wonders even as she's casting a wary look between Sar and Gren. "If you guys are going to fight, I'm taking back the bottle of booze and selling tickets," she warns only to exhale a chuckle at Solari's words and question. "Maeve Zavir
," she sets her hand in Solari's for a brief shake then sits down again, a grin forming on her face. "I'm Sar's personal physician, and you are not interrupting any kind of date. Though if they're going to fight, it could be drinks and entertainment."
19:52:49 Finn
"It's fast, right? Your ship? Like... Fast, fast?" Finn's questions rattle after the pair that seem wholly uninterested in the conversation. Instead, once outside, a metallic hand waves at the ship itself - a beat-down freighter with an aged and weather-streaked coat of paint. There were crates piled at the entry ramp, and his meatier new captain grunted at him to start dragging them aboard. It is a language he doesn't understand, but Finn has a feeling that 'lift with your legs, not your back' is a universal thing to say to someone if you really want to be a dick. He is getting right to work, it would seem.
19:54:33 Han Solo
As the young woman descended into the basement, Maz Kanata separated herself from Han's table after a short conversation with the smuggler in private. Maz spoke to a few people on her way, but ultimately she disappeared down the same staircase that the girl had gone down...
Han stood up from his table, he walked over to a couple of people who he recognized and started to chat casually with them. He owed a lot of people money in places like this... so he made sure to be damn sure those he interacted with were ones he didn't owe anything.
...
It wasn't long though, before the young woman burst from the basement stairwell. Again she was rushing, again she was making a little scene with hastey movement and a clear desire to get the heck out of the castle!
She rushed out the front door into the courtyard and others outside would turn to watch her vanish into the woods to the west.
Only a handful of minutes would go by there-after before sounds came from outside.
Screams!
People inside the Castle were now standing up, moving toward the exit. Han and Maz with them.
Outside again...
A red hue filled the sky outside, intermixing with the greens and blues of Takodana. Everyone outside was looking skyward, to a streak of brilliantly blinding light in the far off reaches of the galaxy, lancing its way across the stars from the outer rim toward the core!
All eyes outside aimed toward the skies, watching in terror at a sight like none over the galaxy-at-large had ever witnessed.
19:58:58 Kylo Ren
High above the planet's surface, a dark wedge rips into orbit as the Finalizer exits hyperspace. In the launch bay, TIE fighters and troop transports fill with personnel, bucketheads of all sorts preparing to launch toward the planet's surface. A dark figure strides through the ordered chaos, boarding a shuttle with tented wings.
19:59:47 EM-1710
EM-1710 was...nervous. Was that it? The sniper hadn't been nervous since her first day out of training assigned to overwatch a unit. She'd even pulled solo operations to rescue captured troopers and officers from slavers. She wasn't alone on this mission today, there was a legion of troopers and Lord Ren himself with them...so why did she feel nevous? This was the first time she'd been sent to kill one of their own. Tracing her fingers over her blaster rifle yet again, the blonde woman's features were hidden behind her helmet, but that red-glow blast brings the trooper shocked to attention and she looks out one of the viewing ports, eyes wide. The general infantry hadn't known about the base's full power after all, too easy for them to be captured and interrogated, now the sniper was getting brought up to speed in terrible fashion before she turned back away to stare at her rifle once more. Any emotion she might feel? It was masked by the white helmet of her mask. Programming and instinct both kicked in. No time for emotion, time to act or die. Time to cover her unit.
20:06:33 Gren Delede
"If I fight you, Yavok, I'm doing it from a cockpit." Gren replies, half-standing and glaring at his former Corellian comrade. He tugs his gunbelt, adjusting it after a long day of sitting. Anything else is lost at the sounds of alarm. "What the piss...?" The Coruscanti turns away from the bar after looking quickly at their little group... and heads off for the front doors without having anything else to add, he hurries. Major Delede stares silently at the sky for a long moment, before digging for his commlink. <<Get the ship ready, you little junk pile.>> He's able to mutter that, but still stands transfixed by the sight in the sky. That really cannot be a good thing.
20:07:55 Sar Yavok
Sar Yavok looks over his shoulder as the kerfuffle begins. He spins on his stool and stands up, shoving his way through the crowd until he's outside and can get a clear view of the sky. There's not many things that left in the Galaxy that can shock Sar Yavok
, but destruction on this scale is one of them. He comes to a halt next to Delede, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. "Gren, we gotta go."
20:09:14 Finn
The civilians in the castle pour out with mingled grief and fear. Among them, a shorter, stocky woman is bodily shoving a taller one toward the landing pads. "Jehni'va, why does this happen /every/ time you pick where we stop for drinks?! Go, /go/!"
"It was the Republic!" Finn cries uselessly as he comes upon Han and the rest of Maz's castle. He has abandoned his new comrades and means of escape for reasons that he can't immediately place. Maybe it really is, as he had once lied to Poe, just 'the right thing to do'. He recognizes the blasts, not from memory, but from promise, planning, and the manic brilliance of blindly homicidal greed. "The First Order, they've done it." He pants out before he pauses, realizing, with a sinking feeling, that someone is missing... "Where's Rey?" But it is too late. With the whine of familiar engines, the former stormtrooper knows that the First Order has caught them.
20:10:33 Maeve Zavir
Never one to waste resources, especially booze, Mae quickly corks the bottle again, drains her glass and is rising to her feet to follow in Sar and Gren's footsteps. "Where ever Sar is going, I'm going to," she explains to Solari and urges the woman to come along with. "Hurry," said in a low voice as there's a general rush if not outright stampede for the door.
20:12:48 Sapphira Solari
"Wait, Sar!" Sapphira calls after the retreating older man. Maeve, at least, gives the young woman some direction, and Sapphira takes it without hesitation: she shoves to her feet and begins to follow after the doctor, the sound of her footfalls lost among everyone else's as she pours out onto the grassy knoll in front of the castle. She shields her eyes and squints upward, staring without comprehending for a long, few seconds. She at least seems to have the good sense to have stopped only when Maeve stopped, and not off by herself. She may have lost track of Sar in the crowd, but she won't lose track of ... what's her name again? Doesn't matter.
20:17:53 Han Solo
The red hue remained thick in the sky, bursts of energy expelled from their tips suddenly ceased their progression through the galaxy! And then the red beams started to fade, and the glow falling across Takodana returned to normalcy.
Murmers were filling and spreading through the civilian crowd out in the courtyard of the castle.
"That was Coruscant! Coruscant is gone!"
"No, you fool, Coruscant is in Quadront Two! That was Quadron Seven! Thats where the Republic is on Hosnian Prime!" A gruff voice shot back.
When Finn reached Han, his eyes were skyward like the rest. But he just looked down to the kid. There weren't words for moments like this. Han Solo
had lived through similar events in his life... he thought things like that had been taken care of already. Clearly not.
"Come on, kid." Han turned and rushed back toward the Castle. Maz was waving them inside!
...
TIE FIGHTERS! The squeal of their engines were unmistakeable! But there was little time to do anything about it...
Explosioned rocked the peaks of the Castle! Green laser blasts squealed through the sky and began to pepper the building! Rocks and debris launched out in all directions.
Civilians all around began to stampede toward either the interior of the castle or toward the south to the landing pads...
Right in the direction that the TIE Fighters and Troop Transports were headed, lasers peppering the ground!
20:22:13 Kylo Ren
The distinctive wail of the TIEs fills the sky as the horribly familiar craft swarm around the castle, blasting chunks of rock from the castle in cataclysmic chunks. Troop transports swoop low over the forest, setting down near the landing pads. Repeating rifles mounted on the side hatches begin to strafe the civilians headed for their craft on the ground and Stormtrooper boots trample out onto the ground. A few specialized shuttles come in hot behind the troop transports, depositing imposing walkers to stomp towards the castle before rocketing back up into the atmosphere.
20:22:35 EM-1710
When the troops hit the ground EM-1710 was already on the move, her cloak coming to life and obscuring her from sight while the other troopers charged and began their assault. Her combat was a little more...precise. As far as she knew, only a 'Jedi' would be able to tell where she was moving as she moved to take up her position, at least until she opened fire. Setting up while the Order's ships reign their hell, the woman behind the helmet exhales and looks down her scope. There was plenty of criminals here, combatants who would try and engage the other troopers. This was normal, 'comfortable' even. She'd observe for the primary targets, but for now? Her finger moves to the trigger rest as she begins her task of overwatch.
20:28:11 Gren Delede
"Agreed. To the shi..." Gren starts to reply, but as the TIEs begin their strafing run, he plants his left hand on Sar's chestplate. "Cover first. Ships second!" He shouts over the noise of the developing battlefield. Delede starts to move toward a chunk of old masonry, doing his best to weave through fleeing civilians, and falling rocks. Nevermind the laser blasts tearing up the ground in their vicinity. Habit has him drawing the sawed-off EE3 from it's low-slung holster, but he's certainly not taking potshots at the arriving walkers. Head turns so that his eyes can dart over shoulder, looking for Maeve and the other lady that'd approached Sar. Not dead, hopefully. "You convinced yet?!" This is shouted at Yavok as he moves. Never one to give up the hard sell, is Gren Delede
.
20:29:59 Sar Yavok
Sar Yavok stumbles as a shot rocks the castle and sends chunks of stone rocketing everywhere. The Corellian looks to the sky and breathes a heavy sigh. He knows what's coming. It's everything he's been running away from. "Find the girls! I'll be back!" Sar shouts. He turns and marches back into the castle after Maz, Finn, and Han. He's not going to the basement, though. He's going to the bar.
He knocks a few more people out of his way and reaches down to grab his MWC-35c repeating cannon. He slings the coolant tank onto his back and the maglock activates with a thunk. Running a hand over the long ammo belt connected to the gun, he grips the cannon in-hand and turns to march back out the door, hefting the large weapon up and flicking the safety off. The cannon thrums to life and with a fluid motion, he racks the slide, ready to fight once more.
20:35:05 Maeve Zavir
The distinctive wail of the TIEs that fill the sky may be horribly familiar to some, but to Dr. Zavir, it's just more noise to accompany the ground rattling boom of something else that's getting even louder once she pushes her way through the fleeing throng of people. Losing sight of Sar and Gren, the surgeon decides instead to keep pace with Sapphira, safety in numbers and all that. The sound of screams immediately follows the sound and feel of old masonry falling, bits of rubble exploding into the air and spraying down to create even more chaos and confusion. The Corellian surgeon has one hand on the medpac at her side, the other holding on to the bottle of booze, and has taken cover for a moment beside a bit of stone wall as she coughs, scanning the open area for wounded.
20:39:11 Sapphira Solari
Sapphira, like the good doctor, is rather at a loss for the noises the TIEs bring. She just blinks, and stares for a few more seconds, not quite sure what it is that is happening around her ... at least not until death and distruction rain down on them. No, that she's becoming more familiar with each day, working for the likes of Hex and Sar. So those bright green eyes widen and she turns, starting to run as much as she can in heels. She gets a few steps, stumbles, and sees Maeve pinning herself behind some cover off to one side. The redhead steps out of those shoes and sprints to the doctor, crouching down nearby and beside her.
"We can't stay here," she says in quick nervousness to the other woman. "They've got those Walkers and they'll walk right over us and blow us in half, just like Raim." Who's Raim? Doesn't matter right now. "We've gotta go, scatter in the woods or something!"
20:43:13 Maeve Zavir
"What's a Raim?" Maeve wonders in a tense aside as she glances over at Sapphira then realizes, "You left your shoes? Never leave shoes!" sounding aghast at this realization. "Here, hold this," she pushes the bottle of booze into Sapphira's hands then darts back out, using some choice words she's picked up along the way, snags Sapphira's shoes and brings them back, "Where ever do you shop?" she demands in a rush of breath as she crouches down again. "And have you seen Sar or Gren?"
20:45:21 Han Solo
Make no mistake, ladies and gentleman... this is a slaughter.
The First Order's forces are striking with deadly precision and the number of civilians that are falling to the destruction is massive. Ships along the edges of the landing fields are already detonating in balls of flame and debris, the transport Finn had nearly boarded is left a smuldering wreckage.
Maz's Castle, an established rest stop for weary galactic travellers for the past thousand years... is crumbling to the onslaught of First Order wrath
The spires collapse, the central building falls in upon itself and explosions send massive walls of rock in all directions, crushing any unfortunate souls that are unable to get out of the way...
...
Movement from the rubble. A pile of rock shakes and falls apart, rocks roll away from one another and a hole is created to what was once the basement.
Chewbacca, Han and Finn emerge! Maz rolls her way out from beneath the debris and then the hole seals itself back up again. Han and Chewie do what they do best, draw weapons and begin to fight back!
Maz reaches to Finn, and slaps his hand, pulls it up. "You have one!" She return-shouts to him, the lightsaber in his hand gleaming in the daylight.
20:50:07 Sapphira Solari
"Leave them, I can't run in them! Oh Krif," Sapphira swears, ducking down behind the stone pillar for cover once again. When the doctor comes back, she will be rushing into Sapphira's open arms, encouraging her to hurry hurry hurry. "What? My ex bought them for me at this boutique on Nar. But don't mention my ex to Sar, Sar blew his arm off, they have a very tense relationship." All of this is said very distracted, very hurried. "Take my hand, we have to go-" and just as Sapphira reaches to take Maeve's hand, the whole of everything seems to collapse around them. "Go go go we gotta go!" And she'll start to drag Maeve away from the crumbling buildings at a run, if she can. They might die today, but it won't be by getting smacked with a rock!
20:50:32 Kylo Ren
"TRAITOR!" A vocoded voice shouts the word to the skies, and a stormtrooper with a shield and blaster tosses both into the rubble to swagger down the crumbled pillar towards Finn. His gloved hand drops to his waist and jerks the Z6 riot control baton from his hip, extending the menacing weapon with a jolt and a crackling howl of electricity.
In the forest near the landing pads, a shuttle lands, long wings folding into a durasteel tent as they slide into a smaller profile like tectonic plates, and a dark figure strides down the ramp through a cloud of steam and ventilation, the chrome lining his mask gleaming dully in the light of day as he heads for the nearest YT-1300.
20:57:14 Finn
Finn stumbles from the rubble, his confusion thrown to the wind as the lightsaber is indicated. The scene is a sickening one, but he can't run away: he has to find Rey. The lightsaber ignites in his hand, a blue blade of pure, whirring energy illuminating his face. He rushes into the fray and sinks the weapon clean through the armor and flesh of a nameless, faceless trooper, ignoring that part of him which is so numbed to the action. Desperate to fight his way through to the forest, he is only stopped by the bone-chilling cry of "TRAITOR!". He had wondered how long it would be before they met again - he hoped it would be longer, but he doesn't have much time to ponder before the trooper rushes him.
With a stony-faced growl, Finn swings to parry the trooper's attack; there is old anger and new that bubble at his adversary - at Nines, his old friend. Blow upon blow upon blow clash between the two weapons and his arms ache with the strain and trauma of it. He's pushed back with each blow, doing all he can to keep his defensive stance - but it isn't enough. Battered back and stunned, the baton slams into his center and throws him several feet back to land in a crumpled heap, gasping for air.
20:57:45 Gren Delede
Gren leans out from behind his chunk of rock, and swears under his breath as Sar hurries away for his shiny new toy. "Son of..." The Coruscanti pilot takes a deep breath, then charges into the fray, running toward the last place that he'd spotted a hint of the ladies that he needs to collect. Blaster bolts zip past him...apparently a stormtrooper or two might have recognized his flightsuit(or face) as Resistance, and taken to trying to burn down the Rebel officer as he sprints. "There you are!" he shouts, managing to nearly collide with Maeve, and tripping over his own feet in an effort to slow his body. Delede hits the dirt hard, effectively dodging another blaster bolt. The spry old man comes up fighting like the experienced gunslinger he is. The EE-3 barks in his hand. A pair of bucketheads earn nasty holes in their armour, and join the man by falling on the ground.
20:58:39 Gren Delede
Sar stumbles again as the castle is destroyed and just barely makes it out of the way of the falling rubble. He sprints to take cover near Gren, nodding to the man. "I guess we're doing this!" he shouts, because he has to be heard over the ruckus. The old Corellian stands up, halfway in cover and raises the 'Staccato Lightning' repeater to his shoulder, squeezing the trigger. The cannon barks to life, sending a flurry of bolts at an approaching group of stormtroopers.
21:00:15 EM-1710
Breathe, aim, fire. Breathe, aim, fire. EM-1710 had fallen into a smooth rythm of death. She wasn't maintaining her usual training of shooting and moving, it was a principle she had to forgo in the madness of the falling castle and the ensuring fight. Unlike some of the troopers, the trooper wasn't merely blasting away at anyone and everyone she saw, instead her eye and her trigger were acting on any who raised a weapon to engage the advancing troopers. As one of the bar's patrons comes tumbling out of the rubble and raises an extremely illegal disruptor pistol at one of the heavy troopers, her blaster bolt tears through the man's weapon and his head all in one. Probably for the best he was dead instantly before the detonating weapon disintergrates that arm and a section of Torso. 'EM' had already moved on to her next target.
Of course, there was no missing the blaze of a lightsaber, no way the sniper couldn't spot the melee. Her scope moves to Finn as he begins his battle with another trooper, the angle was wrong and the other man was blocking her shot...but she'd made harder shots than that before, right? Her finger tightens on the trigger for a moment and she exhales a breath, lining up on the face of the same man she'd seen as a panicing and nervous trooper alongside her, a scared man wracked by indesion. In her mind, there's an echo of a voice, her own speaking words.
"Being good at something doesn't always mean it's right."
An exhaled breath, her weapon moves at the last moment and she opens fire, her bolt instead slamming into a trandoshan who'd just brought up a heavy blaster cannon on a squad of troopers. Finn wasn't her objective after all, right?
21:03:07 Maeve Zavir
Maeve is running, or more accurately scrambling, at a good pace alongside Sapphira, so when she jumps over the next bit of rumble to keep going and almost slams face first into Gren like a comedy sketch gone wrong, she ends up flailing her arms and losing hold of Sapphira's hand at the same time. Gren hits the ground, then several other of those armor wearing first order types, the doctor gets her balance back in time for Sar to arrive. All of which is all done a few heart beats before she dives for the ground again. "Please tell me," she says with a cough, "that ONE OF YOU has a plan?"
21:06:27 Sapphira Solari
"Hey!" Sapphira cries out to Maeve as she feels the other's grip slip away. She turns and is already grasping for air, when she sees the problem: Gren has arrived, and now everyone's just falling flat for cover. So Sapphira follows suit, landing flat on her face with her hands covering her head for a few breaths. Then, staying low, she digs around in her satchel bag for her own pistol, drawing it out and flicking off the safety. As for a plan? "I'm an Engineer, ask him! Wait, where's Sar?" By now, Sapphira has slid back against some fallen boulders, using them for cover. One deep breath, then two ... and then she turns, lifting her weapon to level at an approaching trooper. She squeezes the trigger. Then again. And again. She's mad now, judging by the look on her face.
21:09:27 Han Solo
Stormtroopers rush away from Kylo toward whats left of the civilian craft on the main landing fields. They move right toward the only YT-1300 on the field. "That ship!" One of the troopers announced over his comms. They each plant explosives to the underside of the hull... then back away.
It wasn't the Millnnium Falcon though, Han had parked his YT-1300 off to the further south in a small clearing next to the lake's waters...
The explosives were planted on the hull of the Dusty Jawa II! And the troopers who planted them were running backward now, to get away from the explosion they would soon set off with their remote detonators!
Just as the stormtrooper who had shouted at Finn, and seemingly defeated him in melee combat... was about to bring his dangerous weapon down in a powerful swing...
BOOM! His chest was impacted by a sizzling green Bowcaster bolt and it sent the unfortunate (and very talented melee combatant) trooper's body hurtling through the air, only to land in a seemingly deceased clump of armor on the ground.
Han and Chewbacca moved to Finn, they picked him up and got him back in order. But the win was only momentary...
The group was promptly surrounded by Stormtroopers who began to take all weapons from them and escort them out toward the wreckage of the castle's courtyard and beyond.
... but something was happening. A wave of sound and a tickling of airflow on the horizon across the lake to the east!
A cloud of hazey water and mist was filling the sky like a tsunami.
"Its the Resistance!" Han Solo announced to those around him.
21:13:00 Poe Dameron
Over the lake by Maz's castle there is a growing mist in the distance. This mist is kicked up by a couple of Resistance squadrons of X-wing fighters, In the lead is a black and orange fighter piloted by Poe Dameron
. As the fighters S-foils lock into attack position the pilot calls out over the coms "Alright lets head straight for them, don't let these thugs scare you." he jams the throttle full forward and continues with a bit of an in flight briefing "Lets get the air clear of Eyeballs, focus on the ones that are attacking those civilians down there and lets get the upper hand. Call out help when you need it." As he says this last bit he flies into range of the enemy craft and begins letting lances of red energy surge out toward the enemy fighters.
21:13:53 Triz Dermout
Red 1 and the rest of her squadron has entered atmo of Takodana. <<Roger that, Poe. Tighten up Red Squadron. Lets get these bastards.>> Triz coms out before she dives her ship, the one with the Corellian flag just below the cockpit, down towards the water, leveling out just meters from the calm surface, sending a rooster tail up behind her. S-foils deploy as she lines up her first target "Max power to the lasers, Tin. Give me basic shields even fore and aft." She calls out to the BB droid that flies along with her.
Triz lines up the TIE fighter and lets loose with her 4 Taim & Bak KX12 laser cannons leaving an expanding ball of bits in her wake. Pulling up she climbs for altitude before nosing her craft back over to find another target. With the numbers of TIEs present it is pretty easy to get another lined up in short order.
21:14:58 Kylo Ren
Han isn't the only one who notices the newcomers on the scene, and the wails of the TIE fighters intensify as they whirl up higher away from the castle to meet the incoming Resistance crafts.
At the landing pads, the First Order continues to assert dominance on the ground, spreading out in small fireteams to suppress the remaining civilians and any Resistance troopers that might try to land.
Watching as the YT-1300 that isn't the Millenium Falcon is rigged with explosives, the masked man suddenly turns his head towards Sar, Gren, Sapphira, and Maeve, staring wordlessly at the group from behind the black hole of his visor, and then his heavy boots begin to stride towards the forest, and them by extension.
21:19:13 David Ironside
The sound of his fighter's signature S-foils locking into position mixed with the sound of water spraying up mask the sound of battle at the ruined castle in the distance. David pulls his X-Wing away from the surface, up into the sky, into battle. Immediately, several enemy dots are marked on his targeting computer. "At least one.." he mutters to himself. Beeping from the intercom, his R2 droid encourages him to do more than one. "Relax, R2. We get one, then we get the next one. Always one. There's no need to rush things and get shot up. These are essentially Imperial pilots, but bred from childhood to do this. We can't let them catch us off guard." Some beeps and whistles indicate R2's satisfaction with the answer as David gets a single TIE dead to rights in his view. A few laser bolts later, the left panel flies off, sending the TIE into a tailspin towards the water. "Next one." David says grimly to his astromech companion.
21:20:56 Gren Delede
"Aye. Back to the Jawa and Last Call. Now!" Gren calls out, when asked if they had a plan. And, that was a fun jog, while Han and Co were being captured. The arrival of the Resistance fighters draws a brief smile from Gren, and his astromech aboard the Last Call II begins to transmit Resistance IFF codes, flagging the former Imperial ship as friendly to the dogfighting X-wings. Just in case.
The troopers jogging away from the Jawa draws Delede's attention, and he draws to a stop, huffing and puffing a bit after that brisk sprint. Still, they're targets, and they're around one of their exit options. The sawn-off blaster is sighted, and he starts to squeeze off accurate shots at the white-armoured Imperial troops near the Jawa. Only then does he spot Kylo Ren's approach. "This can't be good, people." Understatement? A brief side-eye toward Sar and the ladies.
21:22:16 Sar Yavok
"HEY! THAT'S MY SHIP!" Sar says, stepping over the cover he was standing behind. He lands on the opposite side, kicking up dirt.
He marches towards the demolition troops, hip-firing the MWC-35c. BRAKA BRAKA BRAKA. A few more of them go down, but the 1300 isn't out of hot water just yet.
21:24:02 EM-1710
Second to last time she'd tangled with the resistance? She'd managed to take down an entire squad, cripple their team and had almost killed certain high-ranking Grey stom...right before they'd called an X-Wing in to airstrike her position. This time? There were many X-Wings. That sudden realisation and the knowledge she probably needs to move RIGHT NOW is what throws off the shot that was intended to hit Sar and his laser MWC-35C in the face, instead the single bolt tears through his flank and glances across the tank. Now it had a leak and was going to be running out of coolant a lot faster. It was all she could do before her cloak was reactivated and she started running, hoping to be far enough into the trees before her former hide exploded.
21:25:07 Finn
The trooper Finn once bunked with, once went on missions alongside, laughed with - and fought - is blown back, dead. "Thanks." He stutters out as Han and Chewie come to his aid and get him back on his feet... Just in time for capture. It's going exactly how he pictured it - it would just be easier if the First Order killed them, but no... His death would be a message, it would be unbelievably painful, it would be - another day? His brain numb, it takes him a moment to realize that the tide has turned dramatically. At Han's urging, Finn drops to the ground to retrieve the rifle from a dead trooper - he's much more comfortable with this than the lightsaber - and quickly fires upon a couple of FO troops. The fire from the X-Wings above, the skill of their ranks visible even to him, instills hope and... Something else? He can't help but focus on one of the ships, acting with such aerial grace that he can't quite help but feel the tug of familiarity - but it couldn't be...? Still firing shots at the troopers that launch into his range, Finn spins to follow the movements of the ship. "That's one HELLUVA PILOT!" He whoops victoriously - it couldn't be, right?
21:25:56 Sapphira Solari
Sapphira follows, bare feet cut up almost immeidately as they pick their way through rubble and debris. She does her damndest to keep up, though, even if she is bringing in the rear of the group. She arrives behind the cover with Gren and Maeve just in time for Sar to go all Rambo on shit. She watches him, and then turns her attention to the ship, peering over the stone that protects them. Then she ducks back down. "Remote detonite charges," she reports to the group. "If I can get close enough I can get them off the ship, but I need time, can you ...." she turns away then, as Sar continues to fire and the sound of X-wings swoops in. "That's good enough. Cover me, yeah?" She's going in!
21:28:49 Maeve Zavir
"Did they just.." is as far as Mae gets when she shares a sidelong look with Sapphira and then Gren that's more than just a little alarmed. No. Nix that. A lot alarmed. "You're hit!" the surgeon blurts out this obvious statement and is reaching for her medpack as Sapphira explains what kind of charges are stuck on the ship. "Who is that?" she demands of Gren in a breath of a voice, followed immediately by a look toward the approaching dark clad figure with the mask.
21:34:00 Poe Dameron
Poe has been rolling his fighter in and around the enemy TIE fighters the pilot dispatches several enemies in quick succession. One... two... three... He turns his attention to a trio of stormtroopers hiding behind a wall. Four... Five.. Six.. Strafe the enemy troopers and provide a little bit more of an open patch for the approaching landing craft. Seven.. eight... nine.. Ten. "WOOOOhhhoooooo!!" the pilot grins happily to himself "Lets show these sleezeballs what it really means to fly, keep it up gang." eyes flick to enemy walkers and then says "Lets make sure we get rid of the rest of this fighter screen so we can take care of those walkers."
21:35:31 Triz Dermout
As Red 1 dives down the next victim for Triz gets steady in her sights. "Ready or not," she says with a grin right before she pulls the firing trigger and another Tie goes spinning down to the forest below erupting in a fireball. As she begins to pull up the blaster fire aimed at the civilians is spotted but the shooter isn't. So a quick shot is fired into the forest edge where she spotted the shot being taken from. Filling the air with bits of trees and ground. She continues her climb, already searching for the next target and there it is so she begins to twist her ship to line up the shot.
21:37:39 Han Solo
An additional wave of TIE Fighters sweeps in from above the clouds and they lay down a line of green laser fire across the ruins of the castle before arching up and over to engage the X-Wings.
A TIE Fighter's wing is severed and it roars wildly out of control before slamming into the hard deck where it sends a wash of burnt soil and fresh mud up in all directions!
The landing fields were still under assault from Stormtroopers as well, trying to keep the civilians from getting to the craft to keep them landlocked and grounded until Kylo Ren had given the all clear.
21:40:29 Kylo Ren
When Sar is hit by EM's shot, the man in the mask just keeps coming at a quick walk, the cowled hood billowing around his mask, a few scraps of black fabric blowing behind him. The gun Sar is using is massive and spraying blaster bolts everywhere, but the figure doesn't hesitate or change his direction, growing implacably closer, until around fifty feet away, his arm shoots forward like a punch. The air twists with sudden protestation, and Sar's body is flung backward like a doll, hurling up into the trees until one stops him above Gren and Maeve's heads. It doesn't stay there, falling two stories through a few branches to thump down among the leaves and rocks. Throughout all this, the man in black hasn't even changed pace, headed for the woods with a seemingly unstoppable, inhuman inevitability.
21:42:43 Hazar Jast
Called upon to board the transport, Hazar Jast
takes only a moment to get over his surprise before doing as ordered. The young soldier looks around nervously in the vehicle as he unslings his rifle and loads it, taking his time to make sure he does everything right on the first go. His breathing is studiedly even, in and out, trying to fight the butterflies in his stomach that accompany his first chance to see action.
The landing craft follows the X-Wings in at as safe a distance it can manage. Once there's a clear enough area for it to land it swoops in and pulls up rapidly, ready to disgorge troopers into the battle.
When his vessel touches down and the doors open Private Jast rushes out, the first one to do so, his rifle shouldered and ready. His eyes widen as he takes in the devastation but his training takes over and he dashes for the nearest cover, slamming into a stone block and immediately leveling his rifle around the side of it.
Suddenly, Hazar has a figure in white armor in his sights and he's breathing out... holding his breath... pressing the trigger... A bolt flies from the end of his weapon's barrel and strikes the Stormtrooper in the center of their torso, sending them spinning to the ground. There's a shocked look on the shooter's face for a moment, but as a blaster bolt smacks into his cover he finds himself back in the fight, aiming and firing again and again whenever he can get that distinctive white armor in view.
21:45:01 Sar Yavok
"Kriff!" Sar shouts as he's hit, falling down to his knees for a moment and clutching at his side. He grits his teeth. "VRAAG. THIS ARMOR'S BUSTED, YOU MANDO SON OF A-" His attention is drawn by Kylo, and his hand moves to the blaster in his holster. It's a Theed Arms S-5, and is a far sight smaller than the one he had been using, but it'll do the job. He waves Maeve off and gets back to his feet, his free hand still putting pressure on the wound.
A trooper with a stun baton swoops in to try and rock the man upside the head, but Sar dips under his attack and presses the barrel of his heavy blaster pistol to the soldier's armor, firing a blast that sends the assailant to the ground. Sar's S-5 is then pointed in Kylo's direction. Is it finally time for the Old Man to strike a blow against the figure in the dark mask? No...no it's not.
Sar is rocketed backwards by the Force (as indicated in Kylo's pose), and, upon reaching the ground, lays there limply, face bleeding from the flurry of branches and bark. The rest of him seems to be okay, though, so maybe his armor isn't /too/ busted.
21:45:01 Hazar Jast
Hazar Jast says, "Did they just.." is as far as Mae gets when she shares a sidelong look with Sapphira and then Gren that's more than just a little alarmed. No. Nix that. A lot alarmed. "You're hit!" the surgeon blurts out this obvious statement and is reaching for her medpack as Sapphira explains what kind of charges are stuck on the ship. "Who is that?" she demands of Gren in a breath of a voice, followed immediately by a look toward the approaching dark clad figure with the mask."
21:46:12 EM-1710
The explosion of her former position isn't so much seen as felt, the heat and the small bits of debris pelting the trees and EM-1710's armor alike. The blonde woman actually lets out a little breath of relief. She was no Jedi, but her intincts had sure served her well in that one. Still, the fight wasn't over and she couldn't really provide overwatch from a burned out ditch. Forcing air into her lungs from behind the filter of her mask, the woman starts running for a new position, her cloak once more fluctuating and then rendering her white and black armor invisible once more.
21:46:20 Gren Delede
Gren shouts, as the other man starts to act like an idiotic hero...something that Gren has never done. Really. But, his head is remaining somewhat cool, for the moment. A quick glance to Maeve. "Looks like some asshole with a lightsaber, Doc. I'd rather not get aquainted...oh...!" He ducks down behind what cover he can find, forgoing killing stormtroopers with his own blaster. <<You pile of bolts...patch me bloody through.>>> There is a brief pause, as the Major's astromech gets to work aboard the Last Call II, and then it bloops an affirmative.
<<Resistance fighters....this is Major Delede, and I could use some bloody help. There's an asshole with a red lightsaber on the landing pads. Fire support. Now. Immediately! We need to exfiltrate.>>
Screw it. His brief call complete, Gren stands and begins to lay down suppressing fire, and making himself a tasty target for what's left of the demolition squad. He's got to save the likely dead Sar's ship. It's his inheritance.
21:47:54 David Ironside
Coming up behind a TIE, David waits patiently for his targeting computer to indicate a hard lock. Suddenly, a green bolt flies from the TIE in the direction of David's fighter. Reacting on instinct, David jerks the control stick, the bolt whizzing right by his cockpit but thankfully missing. "What fresh hell is this?" he mutters, prone to talking to himself when nobody is around to hear it. A quick readout on the display indicates a Special Forces TIE Fighter having a turret that swivels and can therefore shoot any pursuing craft. "Thanks, R2.." David says aloud to his companion. Glancing at his targeting computer, he finds a new target and speeds off to add another TIE to his tally.
21:49:11 Sapphira Solari
Sapphira just misses Sar's failing attempt at heroics, and the broken hip that likely follows. Old people have brittle bones, like birds. No, she's young and spry and carrying her fit bones at a quick bare-foot sprint to the Jawa II, ducking behind one of the landing gear once she's there. Clear? Clear-ish? Sure, why not. Let's call it that. Trusting Gren to do whatever it is that he does, she digs into her bag and pulls out a multitool. A single deep, calming breath, and she's moving again, scurrying to the first of the charges. She inserts the multitool into Slot A, presses the arming button on the top, and turns the tool. The charge lets out a farting beep noise and the blinking light stops blinking, just before the charge detatches and thunks harmlessly to the ground. Sapphira stands over it, waiting for a moment while holding her breath. Nothing happens. No imminent death from the disabled charge. She moves on to the next one, focused entirely on her work. Quick quick quick, girlie!
21:50:03 Finn
Throwing himself into cover, Finn peeks over the rubble of a fallen spire in open horror at the masked figure. He hears Sapphira's proclamation and, breathing heavily, clutches his stolen blaster to his chest, the foreign lightsaber tucked at his belt - he isn't aware of EM-1710's presence, nor that he owes his breath to her mercy, he's just aware of the smell of burnt components and flesh, the smoke, the chaos... "I'll cover you!" He shouts at Sapphira, aligning himself with the small knot of civilians, and pressing his back to the stones. He springs up to fire a shot, taking a trooper through the neck.
21:51:51 Triz Dermout
Lined up and just as she is about to pull the trigger Triz's ship is rocked. Tin, her BB unit starts squaking "Yea yea," she says calmly as she quickly goes wing over and heads right to the TIE that had fallen on her tail. Thank goodness for shields. A quick snap shot and the side wing of the TIE goes spinning off to one side and the rest goes flying out to the other. "How bad are we hit, Tin?" She asks the droid that is in motion and beeping, fixing what it can. "Okay, no rear shields, got it." Reversing course she heads back into the fight, ready for another target.
But that is interrupted as the call comes over the open channel. Her head jerks to look at the landing pads as she begins to turn her X-Wing <<Get your heads down there, Bossman, on the way.>> And the landing pads are lined up, and her 4 lasers are fired in ripple shot.
21:51:58 Maeve Zavir
"Thank you," Maeve says to the young man who joins their little clutch of humanity in the sea of chaos. "She's trying to disarm the charges," she explains even as she's scrambling over the debris and bits of tree that have landed everywhere to reach Sar's side, muttering to herself as she gets there and starts checking him over for actual damage, not just to his pride and armor.
21:52:22 Leia Organa
Leia, aboard the Raddus, stands watching the display of the battle projected on a holographic table in front of her. Small green lights wink and swirl across a topographically representation, "Provide covering fire for landing craft." She says to the weapons station who engage the tracking turbo lasers to lay down enough lance of green to offer the Resistance fighter Transports enough time to get dirt side.
"Stay out of range of that Dreadnaught." She orders helm, freezing as she hears confirmation of what she'd felt all along by way of Gren's affirmation that her son is, in fact, down there. "Ben..." She murmurs, the sole crack in her determined expression. It returns quickly as she continues to coordinate between Fighters and ground forces from the relative safety of her Flagship.
"Major Delede, I have ground forces inbound to your location." She cannot bring herself to tell him to engage Kylo, however. "Take command of the squad and establish a landing zone for more troop carriers."
21:57:02 Poe Dameron
Dameron surveys his instruments as he flies through the debris of yet another downed fighter. He checks the position of Leia's incoming command ship and the landing pads that Major Delede just called for support from. <<Red 2 I want you and your wingman to keep your eyes on those landing pads. Help our troops out down there. The rest of the squad we have to keep our attention on the fighters coming from above. Don't let our troops have to worry about fire coming from above!>> The pilot pulls back on his flight stick and his fighter sails toward another wave of incoming TIE fighters.
21:58:43 EM-1710
No more could EM-1710 simply remain in one position and cut down anyone who raised a blaster at the First Order. The X-Wings could zero in on her or the resistance backup on the ground could rush on her position. Time to move to more traditional tactics: shoot and move.
Her cloak ripples to reveal her form between the trees as she fires, cutting down a target, then another, then she's rolling off the rock she'd fired from and reactivating the screen. There was no time for her to utilize traditional stealth, this battle was an outright slug-fest and even she could see the Resistance had the upper hand. Out of the edge of her perception, another lightsaber glow catches her gaze. Kylo was advancing into the trees alone? Already having been fighting from the woods she starts to alter her path towards that way. Surely the man in black knew were he was going, right? Besides, if the man got gunned down in the back she very much doubted a warm reception would be waiting for her back on the Finalizer.
22:05:23 Kylo Ren With Sar crumpled in a heap and none of the others trying to stop him, the black-clad figure that tossed the old man like a child's toy heads deeper into the woods while the First Order transports take a beating from Triz's strafing run. Gun placements whirl, returning fire on Spark One, fending off the fighter's attack on their position while ground crews continue to rig the civilian ships to blow.
22:03:39 Sar Yavok
Sar Yavok takes in a /big/ breath, very much like he had just had all of the previous air knocked out of him. His eyes shoot open and he swats at Maeve's hands, "Save it for the bedroom, Doc!" He rolls onto his side and switches between coughs and quick inhales for a good while before he wills himself back up to his feet.
Where's his pistol? Who the hell knows? His cannon's busted thanks to Emma and his S-5 is somewhere in the woods. He'll find them later. For now, he releases the maglock on his coolant tank, pries the battered chest piece off of his torso, and slides his combat knife out of its sheathe.
He shouts a deep, guttural roar and begins marching quickly past Maeve towards one of the final members of the demolition team. One of them is unlucky enough to draw Sar's initial ire. The Corellian grabs the man from behind and jabs the knife into the small opening between the waist and torso pieces. He does it several times before the knife flashes once more and digs into the soldier's throat. Sar grips the face of the Stormie's helmet and jerks it to the side, sending him spinning down to the ground.
22:07:08 Hazar Jast
There's a Resistance major in trouble and Hazar Jast has just received word that he needs support. The young man shouts "ROGER!" at the voice that issues the order to help and he starts to move, darting from his current piece of cover to the next heavy bit of rubble on the way, sliding to his knees behind it and pointing his weapon at the next enemy, letting off a shot that downs the Stormtrooper. Suppressing fire from the enemies force his head down for a moment.
When Hazar gets a chance he rolls out from behind his rock into the prone position and snaps off return fire that swiftly cuts down the men who pinned him down. Pushing up to his feet he presses on, head on a swivel for more targets, breath coming fast.
When he finally nears Major Delede's position Private Jast calls out at the top of his voice: "FRIENDLY COMING IN!" He looks around and realizes that he's the only trooper there, taking a deep breath to keep himself as calm as possible, "I'm here to support you, sir."
22:10:48 Sapphira Solari
Gren, Finn, and others are joining in the mission to keep Sapphira from getting her ass shot off. It's a good mission, top knotch. As the barefoot redhead in the cocktail dress moves from one charge to the next, shorting them out so they drop like stones, she doesn't yet pay attention to who is shooting to protect her or why. Just that it's happening, and she knows it's happening because she's able to go to the next charge. And the next one. And the ne-WHAT THE HELL, SAR?!
She ends up face-to-face with Sar the madman knifing a soldier in front of her, sending a spray of arterial blood through the air like a crimson rainbow. The redhead just stares a moment, and in that moment she's lost track of where she's standing with regards to the charges. This one shorts and falls right on her foot. Crunch. "Ouch!" she yelps, giving Sar and the dead trooper another bewildered look before turning her back and moving on to the next charge. "Get ready to board!" she hollars to those civilians hovering nearby, who might yet be saved.
22:11:52 David Ironside
Executing a picture-perfect barrel roll through what was formerly a TIE fighter, David takes the opportunity to scan the ground. "A Sentinel-class lander.. a YT-1300.. another YT-1300.. bunch of debris.. a Wookiee and some old guy.. A First Order scout walker. Bingo." David rights his fighter, lowering down to the lake's surface. Just as the walker turns its cockpit, or head, towards David's fighter, he squeezes the trigger. The cockpit explodes, leaving behind only two legs which fall over soon after. Strafing left, David rejoins the fight for the skies.
22:12:12 Finn
The battle isn't relenting, and Finn has yet to find Rey in the chaos - he's too focused on the fire and return-fire and has lost track of Kylo... He fires another shot of cover for Sapphira, and gapes as Sar goes commando to butcher one of the troopers like a thick nerf steak. "Damn." Finn breathes out softly, dropping to the ground to re-load... To realize he doesn't have ammo. It takes the him a moment to scramble to a downed trooper and slide a powerpack from their belt. A shot snaps past Mae to burn its way into another set of white armor. He is needed here - Rey will have to take care of herself. "Roger that!" He shouts over the din to Sapphira.
22:14:03 Han Solo
Han was backing up Finn, at least a little bit anyway. "Good shooting, Big Deal." He said to the young former Stormtrooper. He rushed past the kid with his blaster pistol in hand and a look over their cover. "Chewie... There!" Han jabbed his pointer finger in the direction of a detachment of white clad soldiers.
How many times was he going to have to fight these bastards in his lifetime? A heavy growl rolled out of his throat and Han stood up, lined up three shots... his firing arm extended, his DL-44 Custom Job BLASTED each trooper in the back of their head, two more spun around but were summarily devestated by the angry bolt from Chewbacca's bowcaster!
"Roooooowwwr-ro-ro-rowwl!" Chewbacca shouted before lowering back down behind their cover.
Han glares at his companion through all these years. "Why have I never fired that thing before?" He asks Chewie, who shrugs his furry shoulders.
22:17:05 Maeve Zavir
Closing up the medpack that she's carrying, Mae rises to her feet again, snags the bottle of booze that has somehow survived all this chaos intact, and follows in Sar's wake. The passage of the scary man in black is noted but, as he continues ON and doesn't stop for more throwing of people around and up into the trees, the doctor just exhales a sigh of relief and keeps a wary eye on Gren and Sapphira as the latter continues to remove the explosives from the ship. The sound of a body tumbling over and hitting the ground has Mae staring toward the fallen trooper and only then realizing that she'd almost been shot, her face going even more pale somehow and she manages a nod of thanks to the young man helping them out. "I think we should make for the ship, though," looking around at all the fleeing people and starts trying to herd those that want a lift out of this mess toward the ships that are still intact.
22:17:48 Gren Delede
A blink as Leia's voice comes over his commlink, and Gren replies quickly <<Understood, General.>> A frustrated shake of his head as he sees Sar up to his old antics despite flying without the aid of a jet pack, seconds before. "Keep your head down!" He shouts at Maeve, and then starts into the general melee on the landing field. Though, he isn't going to get all bloody and use a knife. His blaster takes a stormtrooper attempting to lay down fire on the incoming Rebel transports in the back, before a second shot takes off most of another bucketheads left arm.
Hazar's arrival has Delede turning, and pointing at the private with his left hand. "You! Private! With me! We're setting up a bloody perimeter. Watch the west quadrant!" Which happens to have a few stormtroopers still standing. Gren's blaster hasn't been lowered for a fair few moments, and his arm is getting tired. Still, he pops off another few rounds, dropping some white-clad hostiles to their east. <<Thanks for the support, Red Squadron. Appreciated.>> He's not retreating toward his ship, any longer. He's got a position to hold.
22:19:43 EM-1710
A line of erant X-Wing fire comes tearing through the woods, the small explosions sending EM-1710 diving aside right before a wrecked TIE slams into the forest near her position. Alright, so she wasn't following Ren either. Raising her rifle as several resistance troopers come her way, she fires once, twice and then...nothing. Her rifle was out of power. Crap. Ducking the return fire, the sniper scrambles behind a tree trunk before slinging her precious sniper weapon and then drawing her backup blaster pistol with one hand, a small grenade with the other. Tossing the charge, she comes out blasting at the detonation. Time for her to get scarce and fall back before she got surrounded and killed or captured. Chucking her second grenade in the direction of the ships and the ground fighters drawn her way, she starts to retreat back towards the First Order lines.
22:21:07 Sapphira Solari
- BeepFart* *Thud* *Beepfart* *Thud* *Beepfart* *Thud*. Suddenly, Sapphira finds herself standing underneath the Jawa, bright green eyes scanning the underbelly. "That's all of them," she says softly, to no one in particular. "That's all of them!?" She shouts, turning to the group that's been covering her. Wait, is she asking them or telling them? She's telling them. Because she knows. Right. "That's all of them! Get everyone on board!" Yeah, apparently now the Jawa is going to carry everyone, or everyone who's left who wants a ride out of dodge. "Sar, Gren! Get everyone!" Her eyes settle on the stranger who'd been covering them. She waves him over. "Come on!" She encourages Finn. "Let's go!"
22:21:54 Leia Organa
And what a line it is for EM-1710 to retreat to.
"Ground forces aren't doing as well as our fighter squadrons, General." One of the other commanders aboard the Raddus informs her as if she's unable to see that for herself. She doesn't say anything, at least nothing condescending, though she really wants to. It serves nobodies interest, not right now.
Instead she keeps her cool brown eyes focused on the considerable task at hand. They do not have nearly the manpower the First Order has to bare, no matter how it might look, and few replacements for the ones that are being dropped beneath the superior firepower; specifically the walkers which are bound to bare down on her entrenched soldiers.
Another troop carrier lances in from the deck of the Raddus, bound for Gren's position, but it takes heavy fire from one of the lurching walkers crashing through the debrie field. The carrier goes into a wild twirl and smashes into the water upon which the X-wings arived, trailing smoke and sending up bits of broken, firy durasteel as it hits at a dead drop.
22:24:08 Finn
"Thanks, Solo! Mr. Solo! Han!" Finn, as always, stumbles over his own tongue, and presses his back to the cover once more. At Sapphira's urging he hesitates, and then waves her on. "I can't!" He hollers back, notching a mock salute to the redhead before ducking back down. The heat from the crashing Resistance carrier sets his teeth on edge as he shoots a panicked look between Chewie and Han. "We have to find Rey!"
22:24:34 Triz Dermout
Lasers from everywhere seem to be reaching out directly to Triz after her run on the landing pad. She twists and turns and fights her ship as her shields take hits and she dodges the worse of it. Once cleared her BB unit beeps "Okay, so no shields. Well we can't let them hit us then, right?" The little droid gives and exasperated sigh-beep. Spotting one of the FO's transports she quickly fires two proton torpedoes into it as it begins to take off.
<<No problem, but watch your six, got walkers headed your way." Triz replies back to the ground troops just before she spots one of said walkers and fires her lasers into it.
22:25:33 Poe Dameron
The black X-wing roaring in the skies rocks back and forth a bit by blasts from two AT-AT walkers that are approaching the castle from the opposite direction "Ahh Sithspit." the pilot squeezes the trigger and sends twin laser bolts scorching through the cockpit of a TIE before he breaks and heads toward the approaching heavy walkers << Blue 3 and 4 take out that AT-AT to the south. Blue 2 you're on my wing.>>
The black X-wing dips low flying just above treetop level as it heads for the huge land craft. The pilot flicks a switch with his thumb and he grins as he swings his craft around the incoming fire from the enemy walker. As soon as he is within point blank range the craft shoots above the neck of the walker and two proton torpedos shoot directly into the neck fo the craft blowing the craft up from the inside. Blue 3 and 4 use laser cannons to effectively decapitate the second walker that Poe had directed them to.
22:26:59 Hazar Jast
"Roger, sir!" Hazar calls out to Major Delede, moving to take up position in as advantageous a spot as he can manage, using what's left of a tree to provide as much cover as it can manage. Dropping to a knee he keeps his rifle raised. He's a methodical shooter, taking just enough time to make sure his shots are lined up before firing. Men drop in front of him as he works his way from one side to the other. A glance over his shoulder is given to the Resistance Officer to make sure that they're in good positions to provide covering fire for one another. A blaster bolt passes by Hazar and the young soldier shifts his position and engages the shooter.
22:28:43 Sar Yavok
Sar Yavok kicks another stormtrooper's rifle to the side as its pointed in his direction and lunges at the man. Jabbing the blade into the the shoulder of the stormie's gun-arm. The FO soldier clutches at the open wound, leaving Sar a window to toss the knife to the ground and wrap his hands around the man's throat, forcing him down to the ground. Kneeling over the trooper's chest and pinning him down, Sar shouts again as he chokes the life out of the poor man. Once the duraplast boots stop kicking, Sar grabs the downed soldier's blaster rifle and stumbles his way towards Gren, his battle frenzy failing and giving way to the immense pain that he's in. In addition to the hole in his side, he's definitely got some broken ribs. He pants quickly, before he stumbles left. Then stumbles right. Then collapses onto the tarmac.
22:32:27 Sapphira Solari
"Wait, where are you going?!" Sapphira shouts after Finn, but already the man is turning toward the other geezer and the Wookie. She's left blinking after him for a moment before the sounds of Sar's massacre behind her force her to turn. She sees him just as he goes down, and her feet carry her quickly to the landing platform of the Jawa. With a slap of her hand, she opens the door to the ship. "Gren, ma'am! Get him on board!" She shouts, looking around as a few other Resistance soldiers come up to start defending their little bit of ground, here. "Everyone else, load up! Let's go let's go!" Apparently they're resucing civilians, today.
22:34:08 Gren Delede
Gren can't pause to argue with Sapphira, nor will he try. He looks in her direction. "Not leaving. I've got bloody orders. Get the Jawa into the air, if you can. If you can't get into those quad turrets, and give me some suppressing fire." The Major slams his left hand against his leg, when he spots their reinforcements splashing into the drink. Fanfreakingtastic. Atleast the First Order troops appear to be thinning on the ground, thanks to the X-wings and what defences that the folks stuck on the ground have been able to throw together.
Sar's collapse next to him on the tarmac has Delede cursing once again. <<<Open the hatch, junker. You're getting company.>>> "Cover me, Private!" He shouts, to let Hazar know that he's leaving the firing line for a moment, and grabs his old friend by the collar of his arm, and drags him up the ramp of his own ship, Last Call II. It takes a moment. "You got fat, old buddy." Gren's huffing and puffing, and he's none too gentle with the battered old Corellian. He dumps him on the floor of the bay, and gives him a kick in the ass. Literally. "Get those blaster cannons working, you lazy bastard. We need the cover." Sorry Sapphira! Jawa doesn't have drop-down cannons to help mow down Stormtroopers.
22:38:44 Triz Dermout
With the Air picture thinning out Triz turns her attention to the ground and those walkers. A group of non FO is spotted and behind them is a Walker headed their way. A wicked grin as she flips Red One over on it's wing and turns oh so tightly till the nose of her craft is pointed at it. A pair of lasers fire, the first taking out a leg and before it can fully fall the second strikes the body sending it's armored hide in all different directs. Triz levels out and flies over top the ground troops and gives a little wing wag to the, before climbing back to the skies and looking for more targets.
22:38:55 Maeve Zavir
"Not really an option right now!" Mae shouts in reply to Gren even as he's going back to .. well the doctor really can't describe all of it and instead she's turning to help someone else move toward the ramp to the ship now that Sapphira has it opened. There's a lot of walking wounded, and a lot that are being helped along by others, and the realization that they -aren't- leaving has the doctor staring at Gren with a sort of open-mouthed shock before she sighs. "Don't kick him while he's unconscious, he won't remember it," is advises as she checks on the next wounded person whose made it this far. "Sapphira, can you fly this rust bucket, if it comes to that?"
22:39:45 Hazar Jast
"Yes sir! Got you covered!" Hazar yells back to Gren as he rises to his feet and steps over to stand near the old fighter so he can get a better view of potential threats. Private Jast's rifle spits bolt after bolt into the approaching enemies and Hazar if forced to quickly reload, going through the motions with a smooth, practiced ease. Once reloaded he goes back to firing his weapon as quickly as he can pull the trigger, trying to keep the First Order at bay.
22:42:58 Sapphira Solari
"What?" Sapphira follows Gren until he dumps off the broken Sar, blinking at the sight. She shakes her head at Mae. "No; I'm an engineer not a pilot." She points a finger to Mae and what's left of Sar. "Get the blaster's going, I'll get in the quads." And with that, the redhead is running off Gren's ship, heading for the Jawa, which is being loaded with Civilians who are not actually going anywhere. But it's safer in a ship, right? As Sapphira runs, she mutters to herself. "Never good enough for him. 'Sapphira, you're not dressed like a mechanic.' 'Sapphira, mechanics are better than engineers.' 'Sapphira, get in the quad gun turrent.'" She's mocking Gren as she runs. Because why not, in this particular moment? Either way, she climbs into one of the Jawa's gun turrets, pulling on her headset and scanning for open channels; hopefully she'll tap into one that's in use and useful, just now. "Right, how hard can this be?" Let's find out, shall we? Hazar and the other Resistance fighters will suddenly find one of the Jawa's turrets spring to life, firing thick blaster bolts at the retreating FO line. Vaugely at them, but you know. In that general direction.
22:43:14 Leia Organa
"Prepare medical teams." Leia says with her brow furrowing suddenly, much to the dismay of the commanders organizing the fight from the stars beyond the planets atmosphere. She regards their confused look with a fixed stare, "It's almost over." She murmurs as a slow breath is exhaled through her flairing nostrils. Her hands come up to kneed at the trembling knuckles of her right hand.
The Raddus tracks then fires its heavy turbo lasers down on the planet, proving that war sucks and even the good guys will mess you up for screwing with their people. One of the AT-ATs baring down on the landing pad and the civilians/soldiers defending the Dusty Jawa errupts under the bombardment. Ever seen what capital ship weapons do to ground forces without any kind of shielding?
And the sound.. It's like a canon going off as the beams smash against the plating with enough force to knock it over on its side before rendering it little more than smoking, twisted, metal.
Her brow continues to furrow as she leans forward onto her palm placed against the edge of the holo-desk. General? "Are the medical transports ready?" She redirects concern with a hard stare. Transports start out again now that the FO fighter screen is thinned out. Transports carrying more troops and medical teams to help with securing the wounded.
22:45:03 Han Solo
At this point the grassy hilly fields that lead up to Maz's picturesque Castle were nothing like they were the morning that broke on this island.
What was here now, was a burning mess of ship and stone wereckage. There were gruesome sights of dead civilians that had come here for a party promised by the Castle's owner, and instead... they were gone from the galaxy.
Fires were nearly everywhere, flameable materials ignited from all the destruction being brought down upon the island's shoreline.
Han marched through it with Chewbacca at his side, if a white-domed helmet showed itself... one of the two of them blasted it with a fresh air-hole to drop the soldier down.
TIE Fighters and X-Wings sweeping through the airs above, the disaster was overwhelming.
22:48:53 Maeve Zavir
"Get the.. " Mae stares after Sapphira as the engineer takes off running. "I'm a surgeon. Not a..." she actually looks around slowly like there's an answer written on one of the walls that'll make any of this make sense. "Get the blasters going," she says it nice and quiet like, because maybe that'll make sense. "She's kidding, she has to be kidding."
22:49:57 David Ironside
Spotting a hostile dot lining up behind a friendly dot on his radar, David yanks the control stick to line himself up behind the TIE fighter obscuring his fellow Resistance pilot from view. It turns to space dust with just the press of a button. And another press on the same button. "Double tap every time you go for a kill shot", David's dad sounds in his head. As the fire dissipates, David waves to the.. black.. X-Wing as he joins up with it briefly. Quickly giving Poe Dameron a salute, he pulls away and starts tracking his next target.
22:50:55 Sar Yavok
Sar Yavok writhes in pain as he's thrown on the ground and kicked. He groans and mutters some curses at the older Coruscanti. He rolls onto his side and begins dragging himself along the grated floor to the turret controls.
It's a Herculean task, but he manages to pull himself up into the chair, and press the series of buttons that sends one of the turrets sliding out of the bulkhead and spinning around.
"Now...I reckon, it's this one?" he asks himself, pressing another button. Outside of the ship, a big bolt of heated plasma rockets towards a stormtrooper, hending him flipping backwards into the lake. "It's that one."
22:52:07 Triz Dermout
Another TIE gets spotted by Triz and she pushes the throttles full as she climbs only to roll inverted and dive down at the FO craft. She waits till the last minute, there can't be a miss with this, before she firies two of her lasers into it. One wing goes off to the right, the other goes off to the left and the body goes straight down into the thick woods starting a small fire.
22:57:07 Maeve Zavir
It may not be the best location for it, but since Sar has hauled himself into the seat of some sort of weapon system, Mae goes to work tending to the minor wounds of the people who are huddled just inside the ramp taking shelter from the fire fight happening outside. If it sounds like the fighting is moving off, and boy howdy wouldn't that be a nice thing, the doctor's hands become a little steadier the less it sounds like the fight is going to roll back over this ship and keep on going.
22:58:36 Gren Delede
"Nice shooting, Yavok! Don't die. Keep killing." Gren shouts over the din of battle. And then, Delede is disappearing out of Last Call II, and onto the landing field, once again. Spotting the Jawa's quad turret going to work, he shoots a big thumbs up Sapphira's way...hopefully she can see his approval. <<<General. We've got a nice base of fire on the landing field. Ready as we'll ever be to accept friendly troops. Delede out.>> He takes what cover he can behind the big armoured slab that makes up the Sentinel's ramp, and slaps a fresh power pack into his blaster. A glance to the deadly Private Hazar, and he gives the enlisted man an exhausted looking smile. "Nice to meet you, kid. Pretty sure we've got this." The walkers noisy deaths, and piles of dead Imperial wannabes seem to support his current conclusion. He snaps a shot off at a white helmet that peeks out from behind a blasted tree.
23:01:45 EM-1710
Ask a soldier outnumbered and being hunted if they feel like the good guy or the bad guy. For EM-1710 ? She doesn't really care right this second. Each one of her kills had been carrying a weapon, firing at the squad she was responcible for protecting. Civillian? Sure. But pick up a blaster and you're no-longer a non-combatant...and yet she still hadn't shot FN-2187. She could ponder morality later, for now? She was fleeing through the woods, out for grenades and only with her blaster pistol still charged. Shooting down another of her persuers she was heading for the FO line. It wasn't the first time she'd had to escape and evade, but her own people had pretty much ensured there were no ships for her to steal and escape in. Either she got back to the FO shuttles or she was going to have to ditch her armor and hide in the woods till she could pretend to be someone else. Or she ended up dead, but EM-1710 wasn't keen on that last one.
23:04:07 Hazar Jast
The gunfire now coming from the ship close to him has Hazar letting out a little cheer, "Yeah!" They certainly make his job easier and increase the likelihood of his survival. The young soldier joins in with the ship based weaponry, aiming for those that manage to escape it's wrath and ending them with well placed blaster shots. When Gren speaks his way Hazar looks to the older man for a moment and returns his smile and with enthusiam in his voice says, "Private Hazar Jast, sir. Good to meet you, too." His attention swings back around to the rest of the fight and his blaster goes back to firing.
23:04:48 Leia Organa
<<Understood, Major.>> Leia says with her hand still squeezing at either temple, the other resting against the holo-terminal. Indeed, it would appear things have begun to turn around for the Resistance. For the time being, anyways.
Fresh, eager troops come in on the landing pad security by the civilian/resistance fighters there. All make their way over to take up position further securing the landing zone as unarmed medical transports follow in with a small X-Wing escort. Immediately the medics start to errect a traige center to assist civilian and soldier alike.. including Stormtroopers, for what little pleasure that seems to give them.
"Get my shuttle ready.." She says and starts towards the turbolifts.. There's still concern in the other commanders faces, but they know that look.. Good way to get a tongue lashing, a painful, berating, tongue lashing. "Yes Ma'am."
23:11:09 Sar Yavok
Sar Yavok groans again and slumps back against the chair, hand pressing against the tender, burnt flesh on his side. He reaches up and presses the magic button again, sending another bolt into a random enemy comatant. "What am I doin' here? This ain't my job," Sar mutters to himself, before hoisting himself back up and wandering his way back toward the ramp, grabbing some stray blaster pistol from Gren's collection. He steps back out onto the tarmac and shouts, "Delede! What's going on!?" He squints as he looks around and spies the newly-arrived deluge of Resistance soldiers.
23:11:22 Triz Dermout
Listening to the coms, Triz replies right before she climbs till she is out of sight. Lazy circles as she waits for the shuttle that should be descending momentarily <<Skies should be clear,>> she reports to the larger ship way above her <<Standing by for the shuttle at ...>> and she gives the coordinates where she waits.
23:11:58 Poe Dameron
There is one final walker bearing down on the castle of Maz Kanata and Poe Dameron has it in his sights with Blue 2 flying on his wing. <<Alright two when we get within .5 clicks I break left and you break right. Come back in and hit it at its neck.>> the two x-wings are practically flying wing tip to wing tip <<Break.>> The two craft break apart and in a coordinated move they circle out away from each other before converging in on the neck of the AT-AT firing with all of their laser cannons at once. The neck of the craft heats up to a molten red before the head falls to the ground from it's own weight. <<Last of the Walkers is down General.>>
23:13:54 Kylo Ren
On the outskirts of the battle, the figure in black emerges from the trees, a cowl pulled over his masked face. In the tall man's arms, a young woman is cradled, her body limp and seemingly lifeless. He strides wordlessly toward the shuttle with its long folded wings, flanked by white-armored troopers on either side that split off from him as his boots begin to ring on the ramp. With a sigh and a blast of steam, the panel rises behind him, sealing them both from view.
As the shuttle's repulsorlifts flare into life, the remaining stormtroopers quickly begin to regroup near the transports, breaking off from the fighting wherever possible and returning to the ships, as if the order to evacuate has finally come down.
23:17:34 Han Solo
Han Solo emerges from the fiRey
wreck, the Stormtroopers were thinning out, the First Order was pulling back.
With blaster pistol in his right hand grip, Han's eyes cast over the battlefield toward the man in black. He knew who he was carrying, he could see the girl's body in his arms... Han's boots came to a slow halt on the crusted burnt earth and he just watched as his son moved toward his shuttle. He was too far away, with too many fires and too much chaos between the two of them. He couldn't help Rey, not right now, maybe not ever. Just as he couldn't help Ben.
Chewbacca joined Han at his side, bowcaster up, but even Chewie knew they were too far away and any shot with his gun could harm Rey. Chewie just quietly 'Roooooowlled' at the sight.
23:18:33 Finn He can feel the battle winding down, can see retreat and... No... "Rey!" Finn screams, abandoning his cover and sensibilities. He's too far away, despite his reckless advance. He doesn't accept Han and Chewie's distant defeatism. "NO!" He cries out, lightsaber in one hand and blaster in the other until he thrusts the blaster to the ground, still chasing after them. "NO!" He shouts again, unable to reach the ship in time - unable to save her.
23:20:46 Maeve Zavir
Helping the last of the civilians who'd taken refuge in the entry area of Sar's ship, Mae emerges with a measure of wariness. Healthy wariness, seeing all the resistance fighters and crew suddenly on the ground and heads for the triage center once she identifies it in all the mess.
23:23:16 Gren Delede
"Pretty sure we won....more or less." Gren replies to Sar, as he stumbles out next to him. Delede shoots a retreating stormtrooper in the back, and stands, finally. He puts a hand in his back, and stretches. "Sit your ass down, Sar. You're back in the Resistance now. We need you whole." The Major's head turns toward the sound of the upset Wookie, and he frowns. "He sounds pretty upset." Still, he's got a landing zone to help prepare. He points at Hazar. "Private, make sure this old salt doesn't hurt himself. I'll owe you one, if you can manage it." And then he heads off to meet some of the landing Resistance troops, and give some orders regarding a perimeter to off-loading troopers. Officer type stuff to occupy his time.
23:27:29 Hazar Jast
As more of his Resistance allies arrive, Hazar Jast lets out a happy "Woo!" The threat is still present so the young man keeps shooting, moving forward to another piece of cover to push out the line the best that he can. As the Stormtroopers fall back another exclamation escapes the Resistance soldier's lips, "Yes! We beat them back!" Of course, he's still firing his weapon at the retreating enemies. When Delede gives him a fresh order the young man moves from his position towards the other old man and calls back, "I've got it, sir." To Sar he says, "You need a hand over to triage, sir?"
23:29:10 Triz Dermout
Once the Shuttle is down safely Triz keeps Red One overhead in a figure eight to protect the General and those still on the ground. All the while BB-10, or Tin as she calls him, continues to try to do what he can to minimize the damage the ship has taken during the battle.
23:31:29 Sar Yavok
"Of course you won. I was here," Sar answers Gren with a groan. As Hazar rushes over to him, the Corellian looks the young man over, shaking his head and reaching into one of the pouches on his belt. A cigarillo is produced and is quickly lit. "Nah, I'm fine. I got some business to take care of," he answers, wandering over to where General Leia's shuttle has landed. He'll wait in line, of course. She's got more important things to attend to at the moment.
23:35:22 Poe Dameron
Poe Dameron circles the airspace in Black leader following the exit of the FO spacecraft. <<Check your fuel reserves. If you can float around the area for another ten minutes do so if not get yourself back to the base.>> the black x-wing slows to a crawl and he circles the landing area scanning for enemies.
23:39:04 EM-1710
EM-1710 breaks the treeline, her cloak flickering as she dashes for the last shuttle. That immaculate white armor was smudged, her weapon was dry and her blaster pistol was nearly the same. Sprinting up the ramp just before it begins to close, she tumbles into a seat and leans her helmeted head against the wall, trying to catch her breath. There was a lot to think about; the destruction of the republic and her not shooting Finn, but right now it was more immediate. "I...need to start carrying more blaster packs."
23:26:20 Leia Organa
The Transport descends down upon Takodana with the General flanked by a small squad of soldiers. It takes up escort position with Triz leading them down to the remnants of the Castle where it settles just outside the destruction of one of the AT-ATs. She remains seated for a few seconds, eyes closed, thoughts elsewhere until one of the soldiers touches her shoulder with a whispered, General?..
She smiles up him with tight lips and stands as the right side of the transport opens to deposit the soldiers who immediately move off to link up with the others providing security as the last of the First Order transports take off towards atmosphere.
Leaving her alone to step out onto the battlefield with her dark eyes casting over all the faces, some familiar, others not... until they fall on ONE face in particular. A smirk forming at one corner of her mouth.
"Same jacket.." She says sardonically with a crooked little grin.
23:35:39 Han Solo
Han was already walking toward the landing clearing that he knew that Resistance shuttle was vying for position to claim. He took a second to look back out over the water, and then up toward the First Order shuttles and starfighters as they were disappearing up into the sky... Han looked at Finn. He had a brief exchange with the kid (as did Chewbacca) but he had somewhere to be...
By the time that the Resistance shuttle had unloaded its passengers, Han was already there, sun on his right and a calm expression on his aged face.
There she was... great, was she going to punch him? She wasn't going to punch him, right?
When she spoke, he felt an internal relief that she wasn't!
Once Threepio got the heck out of the way, Han exhaled. He commented on her hair, that was the nice thing to do right? But when she spoke of his jacket, Han's eyes fell down to himself quickly, then back up to her. "No... New jacket." He'd bought it on Nar Shaddaa right before he'd left to Jakku, in fact!
Chewbacca approached Leia, growling out a series of affectionate noises, embracing her and moving off to the side.
Han stared on. "I saw him." He told her. "Leia. I saw our son. He was here..."
Kylo and Rey
Rey was running for her life. She could hear the combat and -feel- it too, reverberating through the world around her. She was sure Stormtroopers were after her, she'd seen a whole swath of their white armored bodies moving into the darkened woods.
Heavy breathing, running at full speed! Rey soon found herself in a tangle of rocks and moss covered tree roots. She had her blaster pistol out in her sweaty palm, her teeth were gnashing and her eyes were panic-stricken... she felt ILL like a sickness was washing over her... She wanted to be -home- back inside her felled AT-AT... but that wasn't going to happen.
Rey jumped down off a rock deeper into the crevace of roots and mud.
'I can hide here!' she thought to herself. 'They'll rush past me!'
With a snap and a hiss, the air fills with a rush of burning ozone that rankles the nose as a figure out of Rey's nightmares strides into the crevasse almost a shamble as he steadily devours the space between them, his lightsaber's blade writhing with persistent red light as if in a kind of agony. The mask that stares out of her is set in a permanent chrome frown, the visor a black hole where eyes should be. He brings the sound of war with him, a sense of dread that fills the air and tightens the throat as he comes on wordlessly toward her, the mud of the battlefield still clinging to the fringes of his garment.
With a snap and a hiss, the air fills with a rush of burning ozone that rankles the nose as a figure out of Rey's nightmares strides into the crevasse almost a shamble as he steadily devours the space between them, his lightsaber's blade writhing with persistent red light as if in a kind of agony. The mask that stares out of her is set in a permanent chrome frown, the visor a black hole where eyes should be. He brings the sound of war with him, a sense of dread that fills the air and tightens the throat as he comes on wordlessly toward her, the mud of the battlefield still clinging to the fringes of his garment.
A shout escapes Rey's lips and she darts backward as the lightsaber is ignited... it was an un-natural color of red, like nothing she had ever seen before and it had a feeling all to its own, a feeling of dread and rage!
Rey's gun had already been drawn, she'd 'felt' him coming even before he'd appeared... but when he did--
Rey's blaster open fired immediately! She started releasing shot after shot at him! She back stepped, retreated, searched for more room within the roots and rocks all while still firing shots at Kylo! The man from her nightmare!
Rey turned and jumped up a ledge, panting and gasping for humid forest air! She spun around to take more blaster shots at him as he appeared yet again!
The man in black moves forward with that characteristic inevitability, advancing like a flow of lava with the sword of spitting fire held in his fist. Some shots he moves subtly to the left or the right, a few are batted away with an almost lazy indifference, his pace never really changing despite the momentary distractions, and when she goes up onto the ledge, he drags himself right after her, moving with deceptive ease for a man so large, although the side-vents of his saber melt a gouge of glowing igneous in the rock as he passes and hauls himself upright again.
Then, with almost shocking instancy after the deliberate movement up until now, his hand rockets out toward her, shoving the blaster and her whole arm back with an invisible force. "The girl I've heard so much about," he states in a flat, processed voice, unsettlingly loud for its tone.
It was unlike anything she'd ever experienced! The closest she could relate it to was those times where she was laying half-awake-half-asleep in her hammock back inside her tiny hovel... aware of both dreams and the waking world...
He grabbed hold of her kept her so stiffly controled that she felt as though she were frozen in dried duracrete! She could still breath though! Her eyes could still move around! Rey panted heavily and she stared at the man with sweat pouring down her brow!
She twitched, about the only movement she could muster, her breathing was strong and deep as she could manager it... she was filled with terror and it was evidence on her face.
"The droid," the vocoded voice begins flatly, almost conversational, as he begins to step closer to her, almost a stroll. The thick layer of seeming indifference can only do so much to hide the simmering rage and conflict coming off of him, and with the awakening stirring in Rey, she's bound to sense it a little more clearly than the average person might. "The droid from Jakku. He had a map. We know you helped him escape." From behind her, he whirls with vicious intent, only stopping the murderous blade just short of her face, spilling its red glow over her vision. "Where- is- it?"
Rey's face was able to move just enough to look down at that gnarled energy beam that came sizzling down beside her face and neck! She stared at it as though she were looking death in the face and it terrified her even more. Her breathing increased more-so, she struggled to move, desperately wanting to flee! But she couldn't. She was held in place by that invisible force around her. Rey's eyes were locked onto that laser beam, she slipped her eyelids shut and tried hard to calm herself... but this was all too real, all to overwhelming on levels she couldn't even understand yet.
The blade swerves back away from her face, and abruptly goes shuddering back into its hilt. Gloved hands hang the weapon from the thick belt around his waist, and he continues to pace around her, sure-footed on the mossy rock. "I /will/ get an answer, one way or another. I know you know where the droid is." The man in black steps around in front of Rey then, stooping low to peer into her eyes from behind his visor. "If you tell me now, all of this will end."
Rey's eyes opened again when the laser sword deactivated and she then swept them over to him, the Nightmare, as he came around to stare at her and demand her to speak. She panted continously, her dark eyebrows lowered over her angry glare. "I'll never tell you anything." She spat out at him, hatred for the Nightmare was clear on her face, even if this was their very first meeting. She remembered him from her vision in the basement, he'd murdered someone... someone in the dark, someone who'd trusted him... He was bad, the worst kind of person. "You'll have to kill me!"
"I'm not going to kill you." The statement is made flatly, his voice harsh by default. "Not until you tell me where the droid is. You might wish you were dead before then." The figure straightens up again, the dappled light filtering down through the trees glinting against the chrome mottling his mask. "This could all be over, you know. You can go home to whatever rock you crawled out from under." It seems he's grown tired of the gentle approach, however, as his hand reaches out towards her again, and an uncomfortable sensation will creep into her head through her eyes, like fingers running over the surface of her brain.
Rey wanted to scream, but she couldn't, her voice was strained by whatever it was he was doing to her... whatever power he had over her. She could hear his voice, his words made her want to shoot him, but that blaster was on the verge of falling right out of her frozen hand now, having slipped down to the tips of her fingers where it wiggled back and forth. "The droid is... gone!" Rey fought more.
The sounds of battle were growing fainter in the distance though and stormtroopers were rushing out into the woods to find Kylo.
"The map. You've seen it," Kylo breathes, even as a pair of stormtroopers appear below them, one with an officer's epaulet on his shoulder.
"Sir, Resistance fighters. There are too many. We need more troops."
The masked face stares at the dynamic duo for a moment before nodding. "Pull out the division." He turns towards Rey again. "Forget the droid." A hand lifts to the side of her head. "We have what we need." His fingers spread wide, draw closed, and she collapses unconscious into his arms.
