Log:The Hunt
First Order - The Hunt
OOC Date: Feb 29, 2016
Location: Bayuir
Participants: General Hux EM-1710
The First Order base on Bayuir is well known to most troops aboard the Finalizer by this point. On the northern reaches of the planet, it is a multilevel facility positioned atop and down the side of an icy cliff positioned in the midst of a similarly frozen landscape as far as the eye can see. The base is well out of sight now, the village target that had been passed down to the First Order sniper EM-1710 supposedly about a ten mile march to the south. It is a long hike and quite dangerous for a lone soldier on an unknown planet.
It's a long march indeed, but at least her armor keeps her some reasonable semblance of warm, the white metal camoflagued well enough against the frost, but the addition of her stealth field for when she gets closer? That'll help. The lone trooper silently muses to herself that perhaps next time? She'll have to ask for a swoop to speed the journey, but that's not a great help to her right now...
Trudging with only the smallest stops to preserve energy the trained sniper scans the surroundings, looking for signs of danger and risks of discovery.
As EM-1710 walks along, the terrain becomes evident as not simply snow but a great deal of ice underfoot. The ground is split in places, creating dangerous foot grabs that could wrench an ankle or worse, break a leg, with one ill placed step. As the lone sniper walks along, she can see tracks in the snow a short distance west of her, and upon closer inspection, she would be able to discern them to be made by a regulation Storm Trooper boot. The tracks continue on south, uninterrupted.
Taking a knee to inspect the tracks, EM takes her time to work out the directions, the numbers...then it's onwards, following the tracks very carefully. This is where they disappeared, after all. Careful of her footing, the trooper continues on, in the chase for the trail of the wayward troopers.
As EM-1710 walks along, she can discern the trail of the missing Storm Trooper unit easily enough. They appear to have been all moving along at a fairly easy march, each print clear and distinct within the snow and continues on for a good five hundred yards, and then there is the first sign. What had appeared to be an easy and routine march suddenly seems to have gone awry, the ten some odd troopers that had made up the unit stopped, and judging by the prints in the snow, there was a good deal of action in this area. The prints are scattered and unorganized, running here and there and even what appears to be several places where bodies had "hit the deck." Closer inspection will reveal a few splotches in the ice that are now pink, but were once likely a deep red, watered down and faded by the snow falling atop and freezing.
Whether it is the sudden havoc that appears to have found the missing patrol, or the signs of what was most likely spilled blood fading into the snow, in any cast the hairs along the back of EM-1710's neck begins to lift and stand on end, skin prickling eerily, and then she is compelled to move to the left and she can hear the WHOOSH of a fire round whizzing just to the right of where her head had been.
She'd been about to call it in, mark the position and go from there...then she ducks on some unknown instinct and the shot whizzes by. Crap. The trooper ducks, moving and activating the cloak on her gear while she tries to move and locate the source of the shot at the same time. They'd been caught by an ambush, that lost patrol, and it looks like there's still some left over for her.
As EM-1710 activates her cloaking device and hits the snow, she can feel and see as two more rounds arc into the snow and ice beside her, pelting her helmet with small shards of ice as the crack into the surface. As she begins to search for the source of the shots, she can see through the light snow and gray fog that has settled into the area what appears to be the beginnings of a small civilization. A few snowy buildings rise out of the fog, catching the light of the setting sun.
Well, that narrows it down. A small settlement like that offers cover certainly, but it also points to a hide. Trusting her cloak and her ability to move, EM-1710 peers down the scope of her customized rifle, searching for whomever it might be that dared take a shot at her. She could call in, request backup or even a strike...but this is almost personal now.
As Emma peers down her scope toward the village it comes into sharper focus. Though it may appear to be a sleepy if not outright abandoned village from a distance and casual observance, the detail of her high powered scope allows her to discern that it has definitely seen action in the not so distant past. The snow is disturbed by what would appear to be a decently large force that had passed through the roadways between the buildings. A few anti-aircraft weapons can be seen camouflaged in wide expanses between buildings. There is sign of a good deal of activity, but the large force cannot be seen now. Whether that mean that they are hidden somewhere within the village or out on their own patrol cannot be fathomed. There are no more shots fired out at EM-1710 as she begins to move toward a better vantage point, and for now it would appear that both hunters are seeking one another.
Pride is pride, but there's still quite a bit of duty hardwired into stormtroopers and EM was no exception. Technically speaking her mission had been recon, not elimination anyway. Activating her commlink in her helmet, the woman speaks to report in, but her eyes continue the hunt for signs of the other hunter.
"This is EM-1710. I have located our missing patrol. They appear to have encountered an ambush force near a small settlement. High levels of activity sighted, force size unknown." A pause for breath as she peers through her scope. "I am under fire by a hostile sharpshooter."
There are still no shots fired from the village, but similarly EM-1710 has no luck as of yet in catching a glimpse of the enemy shooter. The town ahead are eerily quiet with no sign of the enemy forces or the First Order patrol. A few moment pass before the comm crackles and then a voice is in her ear, "Affirmative EM-1710. Do you have eyes on our patrol? Are you calling for an air strike?" The wind whistles with a sudden gust, sending a buffet of snow toward EM-1710, obscuring her view of the buildings for but a moment.
"EM-1710 advises, hostiles appear to have some sort of anti-air emplacement on-site. Risk for airstrike may be high." EM breathes. The wind might not interupt her voice thanks to the helmet microphone, but it's not doing her vision any favors. "I will continue and report. Should contact be lost for longer then 20 minutes..." she pauses, lips a grim line. "Assume KIA."
Onwards the hunt continues...
"Affirmative, EM-1710. Proceed with caution," crackles across the comms and then there is silence once more, except for the rising wind that is sweeping across the icy landscape. As she pauses to peer through her scope once more and performs a sweep of the buildings at first there is nothing, just the same snowy and forgotten buildings. And then... there he is, the shooter. A lone Trandoshan rises above the edge of a rooftop, the gun leveled and directed directly at EM-1710, she has been spotted!
Triggers pull and bolts cross through the air, but Emma was a second quicker. Her shot hits the Trandoshan, wounding him just enough that his own shot seems to go high and hit the snow behind her, but the Sniper trooper is already preparing to fire again. "Found you," she practically purrs, zeroing in for her next shot. They might both be hunters, but the lizard is 'cut and bleeding'.
EM-1710's shot strikes the enemy Trandoshan in the shoulder, knocking it beneath the edge of the rooftop and out of sight, but it was a square hit. The Trandoshan does not pop back up in the same spot, but it has to be close.
EM-1710's target doesn't reappear in the same spot. Obviously the lizard is smarter then that...but she knows what she's looking for. Shifting her position, the trooper takes a breath and scans, looking for her prey or signs out of place that might let her know where the other sniper is hiding. Her finger rests against the trigger guard as she exhales a breath.
There is a brief few moments where the Trandoshan is unable to be found, a heartbeat that stretches on for what seems like an eternity. Finally, as the wounded are oft to do, he makes a mistake. The wound in his shoulder is substantial, if not fatal. The Trandoshan shooter is getting sloppy and when he slings his blaster back over the edge of the roof and tries to locate EM-1710, it is with a bit too much force, a bit too carefree when stealth is needed, and the movement draws Emma's eye. She spots the Trandoshan, and he isn't even looking near her.
A breath, a slow exhale...
Heartbeats slow as one big blue eye behind the blackened visor of the trooper's helmet peers down her scope. That movement might as well be a signiture on a death warrant for the trandoshan. Fingers tighten on the weapon as she lays in the snow, her mind making calculations at a frantic rate for every last adjustment and yet at the same time feeling perfectly calm. He hasn't seen her, he'd made a mistake and now she had all the time in the world to collect on it.
The woman's gloved digit squeezes the trigger and her rifle sings that short sound of death. It'll be the last thing the Trandoshan hears...but it won't hurt. The bolt is too fast-moving and well aimed. It passes through her target's head right at his left eye and ends his existance before he'd even realised he'd been seen.
The force of the bolt snaps the Trandoshan's head back on his shoulders and EM-1710 can see through the scope as the now lifeless body is tossed limply away from the blaster it held, the weapon falling over the roof of the building to fall into the snow far below. A fine red mist of blood is launched into the air from the wound, clouding the sky in a scarlet drizzle for a few moments before settling behind the wall. The growing dusk is still, there is no movement, no sound other than the breathing of EM-1710 inside her helmet. After a few moments, there is a crackle inside her helmet and her comm comes to life, "EM-1710, report. What is your status?"
Stillness, no movement at all. Had one sniper really done so much damage to the patrol? It's not unheard of, in truth it was her own usual MO, but that doesn't mean she's not cautious of being attacked by more. "EM-1710 responding. Sharpshooter has been neutralized. No further movement or contacts. Logging position and requesting further instruction. Am I to recon the settlement further or return to base?"
There is a long pause in the comms before the crackle is heard again and the voice says, "Negative, EM-1210. Return to base. We will send in an air strike to bomb the location and then send in a squadron to search for survivors."
“Orders confirmed," the trooper moves. It was a long hike out, it'll likely be a long hike back to her extraction site. One last look is given to the seemingly unoccupied settlement and then to the faded bloody traces of the slain patrol before she turns. A good soldier following orders, one who'd completed her mission and managed to survive a trap. Now she just needed to make it home.
A white-armored figure trudging through the snow, EM-1710 disappears into the landscape like a ghost.
