Strange Bedfellows

[Corth]

From his overwatch position Corth could see the surviving pirates - including the trando - fall back deeper into the canyon. He relayed the info over coms: "Corth to Rux, you there S'arnt major?" "You all know how to make an entrance", Corth muttered to himself. "the pirates are falling back. If we are going into that canyon we need to go soon before they can rally up"

When all hell broke loose the pirate that was carrying the chiss girl to the vehicles diverted and threw himself and the girl in a crater for safety. He held her savagely under his boot as he scanned the chaos with his rifle.
Corth had a good firing angle.
The pirate directed his confusion and anger against the girl - shouting something then hitting her with his rifle.
Corth had made his decision.
He knew shooting from his observation post would potentially give away his position but he figured most beings were too busy trying to stay not-on-fire to notice him.
He centered the crosshairs of his mid-range scope on the center of the pirates head. Corth took a second to wait for the pirate to stop moving. sight alignment. slow trigger squeeze. breathe... The bolt cracked from Corth's blaster. It tore through the falling snow and smoke and slammed into the pirates skull. Superheated brain and blood discharged from the rear of his head and painted the snow. Charred skull fragments fell onto the wide-eyed chiss girl.
Pleased with his results, Corth attempted followup shots on other scrambling pirates with poor results. Most were too far away and the visibility was dropping rapidly.

"S'arnt Major, request permission to join the assault team.", corth said over coms.

[Rux]

((Who's next?))

[Tai]

((Who's next?))

Zigna and then myself.

[Tai]

Tai listened to Rux cry out for them to kill everyone. He couldn’t follow this order even if a gun was to his head. They were civilians and how did this make them any different from the Sith Empire at this point. Tai looked at Zigna who seemed to still have this look of shock and disbelief upon her face as she stared ahead at the fire and explosion she caused.
“Be advised there are civilians in the vechiles!” Tai barked over the comm. “All forces do not open fire belay that order!”

The beginning shots were already starting to ring out. Tai decided to do something foolish without much thought to himself. He slid down the slope him and Zigna were behind and rushed towards Rux. Pure hatred was seen clearly in his face. “Cease fire!” Tai was screaming as he waved his arms as he was running towards Rux. While one trooper was trying to help Rux to his feet, Tai shoved the trooper aside and slammed his fist into the right side of Rux’s helmet.

“Under article 114038-443 of Republic rules of engagement I am hereby ordering all units to stand down and will be taking temporary command as both senior NCOs are unable to act in accordance within regulations!” Tai screamed over the comm. He began pointing to the direction the pirates fled. “I want a defensive perameter around these vechiles and I want to know just exactly how many more possible tangos there are, Corth looking at you and your team get to it.” Tai started slowly in the direction of a wide eyed Chiss female. Her clothes were badly torn and portions of her body were already beginning to show signs of hypothermia as well as the large wound on her kneecap were not looking well either. There were busises on her face and Tai figured perhaps the pirates had been taking turns sullying her for fun just before their firefight broke out. Tai looked at the pirate she was crawling away from as the blasterfire from the republic forces finally stopped. “Medic!” Tai barked looking at Zigna. “Someone get those vechile doors open we are burning daylight! We need to get these civilians to safety and ready to move!”

[Baggus]

OOC can anyone join in or do we wait?

[Corth]

Corth slid down the embankment from where he had been on over-watch. Through the thickening flurry of snow the sky was a dull gray-orange of Hoth twilight. When Corth got to the bottom of the embankment he saw the carnage up close. This is what force-multiplication meant. Their small team had nearly annihilated a sizable pirate force in less than 20 minutes.

Corth joined the others who were clearly involved in something Corth had no knowledge of. There was no time for questions though.

"Quick sweep - damage assessment. Check all the bodies. make sure they are dead" said Corth calmly over his radio to the scouts. "We don't have time to take prisoners but I'll conduct a quick field-interrogation if you find anyone still kickin."
Corth set about checking pirate corpses for intel.
"Sergeant, these pirates carry the markings of the White Maw. As you are aware, they have a huge presence on Hoth. My scouts have located footprints and blood trails leading deeper into the ravine where the smoke is coming from."
"When the area has been cleared, check for Chiss survivors"
A few more traumatized Chiss were found in and around the vehicles. “We need to get the survivors into shelter”, Corth stated with urgency.
Corth carefully approached the terrified Chiss girl. He opened his survival pack and handed her a thermal blanket pack. He set about applying dressings and giving her some kolto jolts.
"She needs better medical attention. I can give her something for the pain for now but she needs to be stabilized and out of this weather."

“Sergeant, the surviving pirates – including that Trando – made their way into the ravine where the smoke were first saw is coming from. If we want to save these people, ourselves, and get some answers we better head into the ravine”, said Corth gravely.

[Rux]

Rux peels his arms out of the hard compact snow print from which they lay. He slowly swivels his visor forward, finally his hands grip into the snow that has encased around him. He listlessly pulls himself from the body print, chest first as he sits up. He calmly brushes the snow from his armor and looks up at Tai, still hovering over him, fuming with rage. Rux shuffles his feet, kicking off the snow from his boots and puts his hands down to lean his weight, finally rising to his feet.

“I’ll deal with you later,” he calmly, yet sternly whispers with a dominant undertone to Tai as his combative stance lowers. He jostles a few buttons on his communicator, still wiping the snow from his armor, the men all stare back from their defensive positions, intent to find out what’s happening next.

“We now know exactly what we’re dealing with, people. Set up into a diamond formation, get our medics in position and up to date with helping the wounded, get our rifleman around that ravine and fill in the gaps. Ambush, no ambush, civilians, no civilians, we need to keep on our toes in here. I don’t want you to turn Hoth into a graveyard. Let’s try and get in there, get what we need, and get out.” Rux switches his communicator to another channel. “We need backup, Hoth, location 2685, 1438, 21.”

He flicks his communicator closed, flings his carbine from around his back, systematically reloading, recharging and getting his head back in the game. “I’ve made the call… we need more help out here, we’re losing men, fast! Transports going to drop in a few more Troops, hopefully some Medicae personnel. Until then, secure that ridge, nothing comes in our out of that damn ravine.”

The men nod as the scatter across the field, weapons drawn, tactically moving into a defensive position. “Secure the landing zone, touchdown in two cycles.” He waves his hand around as a small squad moves into position, circling the designated area as Rux pulls out his tracking flare and lights one off as it sails into the sky, illuminating the stale cold air with a red haze once again.

((OOC - If anyone wants to join in as reinforcements, feel free to do so))

[Skrend]

Skrend sits in one of the many seats of Alpha Company's troop carrier. He's not strapped in, too busy checking his weapon. He scans over every crease of his rifle, making sure that there is no damage from the previous firefight he was in on Tatooine. He looks up at the other members of Alpha, most securing their own rifles. 'Hope this is enough backup, sounds like Rux and his squad are in some heavy shit.' He thinks to himself. He secures his rifle against the wall next to his seat, as he checks the ammo belt running across his chest. He shakes it, making sure it is secure and doesn't make any unnecessary noise. He picks up the brown bag at his feet, opening it up to search through the contents. If one would look inside, it'd be clear it's a demo pack. He pulls the zipper in the opposite direction, closing up the pack. He smacks his hand against the side of his helm twice, stopping when he realizes it's secured. He looks up and listens to _____ , as he shouts out over the loud engine about the situation report.

The red light switches over to Green, and Skrend stands up. He grabs the brown sack, and slings it over his shoulder, snapping it into the loop on the back of his armor. He grabs his rifle, and heads for the exit ramp. The shuttle touches down, and the ramp slams down onto the snow, sinking in a bit due to the recent snowfall. Skrend sprints down the left of the ramp as fast as he can, remembering all the times he's taken fire as he exits a ship. He drops to a knee, leveling his rifle and scanning the area. He looks up to his right and nods at Rux, noticing the defensive formation. He stays quiet, waiting for his orders to be given.

[Tai]

Tai said nothing as Rux got to his feet. He listened to the man basically mask a threat to which Tai only looked at the man with a mixture of disgust mostly due to the fact that he nearly just commanded his soldiers to commit a warcrime. Tai disliked the idea of being brought up on charges of being an accessory to murder. As loyal a soldier to the Republic as he was, he was loyal to his concience first and foremost.

The pilot of the shuttle informed the Sergeant Major that the storm was getting to serious and as soon as the last trooper cleared his ramp his vessel took off and headed back to base. Their sqaud was simply on their own now against an unknown hostile force with no hope of extraction at this time. The air was deathly silent as the Chiss civilians began to move about as if confused as to the why the Republic was there. Mumers and whispers began as Corth began to attend to the young girl’s wounds. She looked at him puzzled and then cried out as he began to dress her wounds. Tai watched and went towards Corth. “I don’t think she’ll be able to walk…..you’ll probabily be of more use with your scope and optics up on point anyways.” Tai said to him as he knelt by the girl who wrapped herself in the blanket tighter as she continued to shiver.
Most of the Chiss civilians were huddling together as the Republic soldiers took up positions as the storm began to pick up and the temperature continued to plunge rapidly. In the distance of the ravine the remanants of a settlement dug into the side of the canyon could be seen. Sparatic blasterfire was now echoing from farther ahead coming from inside the cave. Several pirates were now fleeing from the cave and into the ravine towards the Republic defensive formation. Their siliquetes were visible in the dense snowstorm raging around them. Their eyes grew wide as tracers from behind were now able to be seen. Tai had his rifle leveled on his sector of fire and soon blue bolts streaked from the Republic line cutting the last of the pirates down.

Another pair of siloutes were seen now these seemed to belong to Chiss military by the looks of it. They regaurded the Republic lines and then the civilians with a puzzled look. Finally the Chiss who appeared to be the commander stepped forward his rifle held over his head as he told his soldiers to lower their weapons. “What is the meaning of this?! Who is in charge here?!” The man cried out over the howling wind. He checked a wrist display. “It doesn’t matter at this time….we’ll be taking our colonists back now! You will all be coming with us now into our camp…..or you are welcome to freeze to death out here in the snow!” The man said curtly before turning back to his lines. The Chiss civilians began to push past the Republic soldiers some running towards fimilar faces they could pick out. Tai glanced at Rux then at the Chiss girl wrapped in the blanket and after shouldering his rifle he picked her up and started walking forward with the large group of civilians towards the cave entrance.

Several of the other Republic soldiers exchanged glances but began to follow the Chiss to get out of the storm since it was clear at this point it was their only chance of surviving the night at the moment. The entrance to the cave had become something resembling a large duracrete bunker, there was a large entrance way in which the cave had laregly been blasted and then retrofitted into a sizeable hanger fit for storing light aircraft and shuttles. There were signs of battle as the troopers looked around, scortchmarks and spent powercells dotted the snowscape. There were bodies of pirates and Chiss strewn about being buried by the blizzard now as snow continued to fall from the sky. It was hard to imagine but the automated turrets that lead to the base were largely damaged and from what Tai could tell the firefight they had been having here had certainly lasted awhile even before they arrived.

The Chiss soldiers lead the civilians further inside while a squad stayed with their commanding officer as they finally regaurded the Republic soldiers and came to a hault just inside the small hanger the doorway opened into. “I need to speak with your commander.” The Chiss squad leader said in a flat tone as his soldiers and the other Chiss soldiers who had been waiting on the rafters for the pirates to return leveled all of their weapons on the Republic squad.

[Rux]

((I'll post when I can, bit busy at work))

[Rux]

Sorry. Can't continue guys. Just kill me off and take over. I'm done. Just don't have the time.