HeySeuss

Staring Back with Chrome Eyes [Cyberpunk/Vampires]

He who fights with monsters should look to it
that he himself does not become a monster.
And when you gaze long into an abyss
the abyss also gazes into you.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
"Beyond Good and Evil" (1886)


Cybersurgery...

TL;DR Summary:

• Near future, year 2026, modified Earth setting (to account for a variation in technological development.)
• Vampires exist, as they have for a long, long time, ageless and hard to kill and thus fancy themselves apex predators who use their resources and influence to ensure that they cannot be assailed by common humanity.
• Society does not know this, or the way the Eternal, as the Vampires call themselves, have maintained a policy of culling humanity but not destroying it, to profit from it. Through the long centuries, the initial cull policies of removing the brightest, the most creative for turning have morphed into a policy of turning beautiful people into vampires. The eldest were the great minds of their time, but they've also become set in their ways.
• The Vigil has also existed from ancient times in a variety of forms, collecting information as best it could against Vampires, though it found few successes in hunting them. They have, instead in secret, cultivated the wealth and resources necessary to eventually confront vampires when the opportunity arose. Vampires have long since dismissed the Vigil as being a passive organization and a non-threat, as a second-rate Illuminati that focuses on economic interests and corporate affairs. They never bothered to crush the Vigil and the Vigil has been very good about masquerading as an organization that has long since abandoned its original goals in preference of simply pursuing profit, while faking scientist deaths and undertaking other operations to 'move the needle' toward their actual goals.
• Through the course of the 20th and early 21st century, the Vigil has been content to continue this policy of appearing harmless, even as it took to the bleeding edge of technological research; a combination of extensive corporate espionage and sponsored research and development have yielded considerable leaps forward in a variety of technological fields. The Vampires, in their arrogance, do not realize that the plan is to advance to a point where they can level the playing field against vampires and fight them toe to toe.
• The recruits are your characters -- they have a variety of skills, backgrounds and reasons for associating with the Vigil; they are all victims of vampires who have survived their encounters, and have been modified to be able to even the score.
• These characters are sent forth, armed with the best equipment their very rich patrons can provide as a kill-team; their orders are to assassinate vampires. Ideally, they are to preserve their secrecy as much as possible, but killing vampires is the priority.
• Oh, and the first operation will be killing an Edward Cullen type. How cool is that?
• Specifics of technology will be discussed, but I have a general idea of where I want to draw the line.
• Inspirations; Movies - Munich, Blade Runner, Blade, The Lost Boys, Escape from New York. Books - the works of William Gibson, Dracula and Twilight, at least for the idea of killing an Edward Cullen type first. :)
• No thank you on half-vampires and daywalkers. This is about the victims.

In Character Info:

Vampires have styled themselves the apex predators, the ones that take the predator that kills all the other life on Earth, and have fallen into this pattern of considering humanity prey. Some of them try to view humanity as a threat, but the oldest, the ones in charge, are set in their ways and sometimes have a hard time adapting to the idea of humans advancing beyond the means of the time that they were made into a vampire, a time when they were rampant over the earth. Hunters have come and hunters have gone, but with limited means to do damage to the Eternal, their name for themselves.

Organizations too, have come and gone, hunters trying to eradicate vampires under the auspices of the church and some kings, but they have failed, largely due to the inability to match the vampires unparalleled strength, speed and powers; the natural abilities that make them the predator and humans the prey.

One organization has watched and waited, understanding that until the day arrived that they were able to match these strengths and perhaps overcome them the fell rule of the Eternal from the shadows would continue unabated. Through the long centuries, members lived and died, compiling and securing information on their enemies, but not moving against them hastily. They invested assets wisely, cultivated research and learning, infiltrated institutions, worked with a slow purpose and a goal that spanned many lifetimes of effort, waiting for when science would allow them to match or even outmatch the vampires. The vampires, in addressing more overt threats, violent threats, derided the Vigil as timid scholars. The Vigil played the long game, looking for a time when there would be a means to fight the vampires effectively. The world slowly changed, but the Eternal did not change with the times as well as the Vigil did.

Now, in 2026, that reckoning has come.

Out of Character Info

The characters are essentially a team of hunters enhanced with cybernetics that are hunting vampires; the cybernetics are still a prototype phase, but they work and the enhancements are considerable in their performance and scary in their implications -- the characters are giving up their humanity to fight the inhuman, and that Niezstchean element of the RP should not be forgotten. They are more like what they fight than they wish to admit.

Characters are selected for many reasons, but they boil down to the basic imperatives of 'skills' and 'motivation.' Vampires are more visceral and are not, generally, creatures of training and self-discipline. While a few are brought into the fold for their skills, they are more often picked by their masters out of some sort of lust, and so there are quite a few artist and beautiful people types among the vampires. The Vigil, by contrast, looked at their recruits carefully for the skillset and mentality of those they are enhancing to fight the vampires -- they can build the body, after all.

Therefore, the characters are picked for what's in their heads; not just military types, but sharp investigators, cyberwarfare and hacking experts and people that can move easily through most places and speak the native languages. The implants enhance these abilities, but the characters quickly come to realize that the implants give them a fighting chance, but they do not assure victory. Only creative thinking and their skills can do that.

All the same, for a variety of reasons ranging from wanting revenge to desiring the ability to walk again without a wheelchair or even an idealistic desire to free humanity of this scourge, the characters signed on for the long haul, with their flesh and blood as down payment.

Foreign Legion - First Contact is First Contract

Vogel stepped right in, keeping everyone under direct control when Park went down. Veterans knew to stay in their lane and let the medics do their job. Robson shifted back to take over Lang's assistant role, putting eyes on the situation and firing as necessary. Madsen had the machinegun and Browne had a grenade launcher, so that meant that Robson was the assistant and the spotter, as necessary. As soon as it was reported that Park was hit, he was cut into Lang's old access privileges on the network; he had access to the fire support net and other resources, which created a different set of menus on his augmented reality HUD.

That also gave him insight to a location that looked like a definite danger area; Grathik specs revealed that the squat, rounded buildings, with holes gouged from stray fire and fragmentation, were part of a service access system that could be a potential means of reinforcement if the enemy were feeling crafty. There was no real way to process every bit of available network data on specific features, and so the sudden realization of that vulnerability in their line was a priority, as the maintenance shaft were rail lines, not powered, but definitely a way for infantry to move. It was sheltered, and probably would need to be cleared once higher command processed that info. If the Grathik were amenable, they could just demo the fucker, but do the tentacle monster overlords consider their infrastructure more important than their mercenaries?, the cynical part of his mind asked. It'd take a lot of explosives to collapse the tunnel properly, and it might not be structurally viable...but then again, it might be worth doing.

He flagged it for Vogel, even as he made a snap decision on how to cover it. "Dieter," he radio'ed Vogel, "I'm shifting my team to cover those maint buildings," referencing the indicated position.

"Browne," he panted a bit in the lull of firing that suddenly cropped up, "I want you to be ready to reposition left. Madsen, stay put and cover, that way," he gave a pointed direction on where to keep an eye, "And top off, frag, incendiary, smoke, electronic beacon, 2 more frag. We'll move once you are loaded, mate." The M32 allowed them a degree of utility in picking grenade loads, but it took time to reload. It was fine equipment so long as you paid attention to the load and made sure it was 'topped off' with the right mix. The beacon was to quickly provide a marker for fire support on everyone's augmented reality visors and the network, giving them a common point of reference once engaged. Rapid fire and magazine capacity meant they could dedicate one of five rounds to such a function.

He had a couple of LAW-type rockets, whatever the Grathik did to make them viable on this battlefield. They were higher velocity and considerably more potent, but still could do the same work -- good against vehicles, some armor and fixed positions. Those squat little maint buildings could become very dangerous little bunker systems with only a little bit of work. He was anticipating infiltration.

"Okay!" Madsen shouted, and that was when Robson made the first shift forward, with his gunner and his grenadier covering. He slid into place behind some broken-off structure, and leaned carefully in with his carbine, watching the corners, the doorways and the general area, eyes off the optic on his weapon, a holo sight and magnifier, but never far from it. Browne came behind him once he was in position and quickly set up his M240B without such close supervision needed -- the man was a professional and knew how best to set up his weapon for the job.

He was breathing heavily, but that was the normal. The tempo of the fighting had him already wearing out a bit, but in the lull, he was able to suck down lukewarm, tasteless hydration fluid, just as the others were able to. But he was wary, knowing that lulls could be deadly. In place, hydrated and waiting, he quickly switched out to a full magazine and checked everything else that he could think of, running a mental count of grenades and other essentials while waiting for the expected unexpected.

Foreign Legion - First Contact is First Contract

Beckett

Name: Casey Beckett
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Ethnicity/Nationality: United States
Service History:
- Rank: Petty Officer 2nd Class (equiv to Sergeant)
- Field Hospital Corpsman with Co. A, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion
- Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman with the Force Recon Company

Role: Medic (former Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman)

Physical Description:

Faceshot

Casey Beckett stands at about 5’9” and weighs around 152 lbs, coming in short and lean. He has somewhat tanned skin and a naturally rosy complexion. His hair is chocolate brown and kept in a medium-length parted fashion, and his eyes are green. He has no visible scars, and has a tattoo of a caduceus in dark black ink along his spine on his upper back.

Skillset:

- Served as a SARC and regular Corpsman in the Fleet Marine Force
- FMF Corpsman certified by the Navy Field Medicine School
- Expert qualified with Rifles and Pistols by US Marine Corps standards
- US Army Airborne School
- US Navy Combatant Diver School
- USMC Basic Reconnaissance Course
- US Navy Level C SERE
- US Army Land Navigation
- Languages: Native English, Basic Pashto
- Proficient with inner workings of cars

History:

Casey Beckett was born in Queens, New York City, New York in 1993. His father worked as a car salesman and under-the-table mechanic, and his mother was a trauma nurse at Bellevue Hospital. Beckett’s childhood was average for a kid in the city, attending local public schools. He grew up an avid Yankees fan, and overall grew to love baseball, playing on local kids teams.

Once out of high school, Beckett had made his decision to go into medicine, but had been debating which college to choose. He’d already been accepted to Hunter College’s medical program when he was approached by a Navy recruiter, impressed with his high school ASVAB scoring. Debating his options, he made the decision to enlist, especially with the promise of tuition assistance once his contract was up. He attended basic training at Naval Station Great Lakes, and went on to pursue a career as a Hospital Corpsman.

As part of a volunteer program, he attended the school at the Navy Field Medical Training Battalion, certifying him to deploy with a Marine Corps unit. He was slotted in with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion in time for its deployment as part of Task Force Leatherneck in Afghanistan. Deployed to Helmand, the unit participated in Operation Khanjar, where the 1st Recon Battalion provided real-time intelligence to Marines participating in the assault phase. Soon after, 1st Recon would be part of the massive Operation Moshtarak, known as the Battle of Marjah, involving some 15,000 ISAF troops. These two operations constituted Beckett’s baptism by fire.

Returning from his deployment, Beckett made his decision that he enjoyed being embedded with the FMF, and attended the Basic Recon Course to continue his embedding with 1st Recon. He instead was approached by his CO to talk about returning to a Navy posting to acquire SARC certifications. With a letter of recommendation in-hand, Beckett was slotted into the Special Operations Corpsman Program. After a rigorous course followed up with qualification schools in all sectors of learning, Beckett became a certified SARC and was returned to the 1st Recon Battalion soon thereafter.

Finishing out his enlistment by 2012, he re-upped with the understanding he would be attached to the Force Reconnaissance Company. With them, he did two of the standard two-year stretches. Most operations under them were peacetime, although he did undergo two deployments with them, one to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. He finished out his second enlistment by 2017, before finally retiring from the Navy.

He no sooner had begun drafting another application to Hunter College before he received an invitation by Centurion to reprise as a medical professional. He’d have been insane to pass over that sort of paycheck, and packed his bags.

Psychological Profile:

Corpsman’s Pledge

I SOLEMNLY PLEDGE MYSELF BEFORE GOD
AND THESE WITNESSES
TO PRACTICE FAITHFULLY
ALL OF MY DUTIES AS A MEMBER OF
THE HOSPITAL CORPS.
I HOLD THE CARE OF THE SICK AND INJURED TO BE A
SACRED TRUST
AND WILL ASSIST THE MEDICAL OFFICER
WITH LOYALTY AND HONESTY.
I WILL NOT KNOWINGLY PERMIT HARM TO COME TO
ANY PATIENT.
I WILL NOT PARTAKE OF NOR ADMINISTER
ANY UNAUTHORIZED MEDICATION.
I WILL HOLD
ALL PERSONAL MATTERS
PERTAINING TO THE PRIVATE LIVES OF
PATIENTS IN STRICT CONFIDENCE.
I DEDICATE MY
HEART, MIND, AND STRENGTH
TO THE WORK BEFORE ME.
I SHALL DO ALL WITHIN MY POWER
TO SHOW IN MYSELF AN
EXAMPLE OF ALL THAT IS
HONORABLE AND GOOD
THROUGHOUT
MY NAVAL CAREER.

Beckett is a hard-headed but jovial man first and foremost. His first and foremost concern as a medical professional in the field is his squadmates and patients. His sheer stubbornness leads him to exhaust every ability he has to keep his teammates and, indeed other patients, even EPOWs, alive. His conduct outside of combat is humorous at best, always trying to get a laugh out of his squadmates, albeit if provoked he will go at length to prove his point, a hard-headedness he doesn’t generally show outside of his practice of medicine.

Equipment:

- HK416 Carbine w/ 14.5” barrel, Trijicon ACOG sight (4x32, illuminated reticle), AN/PEQ-15 laser-light (IR capable). Carried are eight spare polymer 30-round magazines (all Enhanced Performance 5.56 Rounds, with tracers every five rounds). Mounted along a dual-point padded sling.
- M45 MEU(SOC) Pistol w/ 5” barrel, night luminescent iron sights, Streamlight TLR-8 laser-light (non-IR capable). Carried are three spare 7-round magazines (all Jacketed Hollow Points). Mounted in a polymer thigh holster.
- Mk. 2 KABAR Combat Knife mounted in a polymer sheathe on the hip.
- Gerber Multi Tool lashed to his vest.
- Uniform: Beckett often is seen wearing a reproduction of the MCCUU (Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform), of which he possesses a version in both the Woodland and Desert patterns of MARPAT. It consists at the most basic level of a set of slimmed trousers and a combat shirt/UBAC. He wears a pair of Oakley SI-6 boots and a pair of woodland Oakley Pilot gloves. Accessories include a set of knee pads and elbow pads.
- Helmet: Beckett wears a reproduction of the Enhanced Combat Helmet (ECH) in tan, paired with a reversible cover printed in the reproduction MARPAT. Mounted on the helmet is an AN/PVS-14 Monocular NVG on a rhino mount, a SureFire HL1-A Helmet Light, a set of Sun, Wind, Dust (SWD) Goggles with a tan cover, and a set of headset-ear protection combination muffs linked to his squad net radio.
- Vest: Beckett’s vest is a Crye CAGE Plate Carrier fitted with ESAPI Type III Plates in the front and back, with soft inserts along the side pockets. The vest itself is fitted with a multitude of pouches including: magazine pouches, an IFAK, a general purpose pouch (containing a broken down MRE), two grenade pouches (containing one M67 Fragmentation Grenade each), another general purpose pouch (containing a set of sharpie markers, a lensatic compass, a weatherproof pen & notepad set), and two canteen pouches with insulated canteens (one for personal use, one for patients). Fitted on the outside of his vest is an AN-M8 Smoke Grenade, clipped to one of the grenade pouches. Fitted through one of the PALS loops is a bottle of milspec Cleaner, Lubricant, Preservative (CLP). He also has a set of medical shears tucked into a PALS loop, and various implements of medicine, including a couple squares of hemostatic gauze and a packaged Emergency Trauma Bandage.
- Pack: 5.11 Tactical RUSH72 backpack. Carries two MREs, a poncho & liner kit in olive green, 200-foot roll of 550 foot-lbs paracord, heavy duty locking d-ring w/ climbing & rappelling harness, a Gerber folding entrenching tool w/ cover, an extra set of whatever current fatigues he’s wearing, a set of civilian clothing, and plenty of extra padded-sole socks. Might be some misc items forgotten.
- Aid Kit: A comprehensive aid kit put together by Beckett himself. Includes:
- IV Catheter & Line Kit (various gauges)
- 2x 1000 mL (one-unit) Fluid Tubes (saline)
- 4x Combat Action Tourniquets
- Emergency Trauma Bandages
- Gauze Squares
- Hemostatic Gauze Squares
- Hemostatic Powder Packets
- Chest Decompression Kit (decompression catheters, chest seals)
- 2x Nasopharyngeal Airway Tubes
- 2x Oropharyngeal Airway Tubes
- Cricothyrotomy Kit (disposable surgical tools, etc)
- 12x Pairs of Black Nitrile Gloves
- Band-Aids
- 10x Combat Casualty Cards
- Diagnostic Kit (Pulse-Oximeter, Tactical Stethoscope, etc.)
- 4x SAM Splints
- Coban & ACE Bandages
- Morphine, Antibiotics, Narcan, Epinephrine, Adenosine, Atropine, Tylenol, Benadryl,
even things like Pepto-Bismol and stool softeners.
- Probably missed things, will add if I can think of it.

@CaptainBritton

Looks groovy to me!

Foreign Legion - First Contact is First Contract

Hover vehicles were a new sensation still; a layout done on the basis of human designs, and conforming to the role of an IFV, so that was familiar.

Rather, it was the way it moved, floating and bobbing, rather than rumbling and rattling. He muttered, "I guess it's a fucking Mercedes Benz war..." got a rueful chuckle by another squadmate that got the drift. His hands went over the equipment, his eyes visually checked on everyone else. He had a carbine in hand, a human-designed but Grathik manufactured weapon that essentially upgraded what they had into something that put them in a similar category of lethality to Salvesh weaponry. The limitations came from being chemically-propelled, but the Grathik and human commanders reckoned that the advantages of familiarity outweighed the limitations of the tech.

The weapons and uniforms were fairly familiar, but dropping down without a parachute or rope and then loading into a hover vehicle? That brought home how different it was, just as the impact of that alien weaponry did as well.

In the course of the ride, he quickly added a single shot rocket launcher, similar to a LAW, to his loadout, same as the others who were replenishing ammo and adding weaponry to their loadout; apparently, they'd felt the same way about the Salvesh fire when it came in as Robson did. When Park told them to get ready to move, he shifted slightly and got ready to hit the buckle that held him down. When the signal came, he was up on his feet and out the hatch fast; the first thing they'd drilled on as soon as the new vehicles came was getting out of them and into the fight quickly.

They had good cover to dig into, in the form of Grathik-built prefab cover as well as the boulevard's fixture itself. Other units were tasked with the clearing, and Squad Park's turn would surely come, but for the moment, they were providing fire support. As soon as the drones and various other cameras and sensors established contact, they would engage, but then the electronic target designation would fuzz as enemy countermeasures took effect. Then the Humans' equipment would gain the upper hand. It came down to eyes, ears, reflexes and instinct.

At least a couple of the enemy were laying down far, effective fire, and it seemed to be striking, as far as he could tell, from an elevated position; close enough for Robson, he didn't need a fucking shave from the enemy. He thought he saw some sort of origin of fire.

"Brown, shift the fire left onto the dildo tower," he was just trying to describe it accurately, "halfway up the shaft!"

Unsure of the enemy's combat dispositions beyond Grathik information sources, he told Park, "Unknown number of sniper quality riflemen, about 700m from us, elevated position," he reported to Park, even as he tried to get better eyes on the enemy, calling out adjustments to the fire...

Star Wars: Liberators

Stack, breach, clear. There was a rhythm to the close quarters fighting that COMPFORCE troopers were not terribly familiar with but Jenk Beskad was; he'd been in the fighting in Lorya, on Uslam, that was street to street and building to building, holding to cover the evacuation of key leadership and people.

He managed to get on one of the last transports out with fellow Uslamer troopers that made it too.

His squad wasn't all Uslam, but they had enough veterans of the siege that the knowledge was trained into the replacements. But the way the Rebellion was going, he wasn't sure there'd be any Uslamers left in the Uslam Liberators by the time it was done. Every operation, no matter how well-planned it was, resulted in risks that took one more of their comrades away and replaced them with a new face. The Rebellion's recruits had the hearts of nexu tigers, but did not know enough, and there wasn't enough time to get them ready, if there ever was a way to make someone truly ready for war and all its encompassing horrors.

The most worrying replacement, however, was Lieutenant Grann Ulgo, an Alderaanian. Besk couldn't fault that the man tried and might grow into the role despite being a Core Worlder from "a planet where peace and beauty are common preoccupations," but the man wanted to be in the breach team when he probably should have been helping keep the perimeter. There was a time and a place for "Lead from the Front" and this operation was not it. Ulgo wasn't as bad as ex-Imperial officers who often looked at the Liberators and cringed a bit, because they were used to the crisp paradeground and propaganda-vid appearance of the Imperial Forces, which were positioned as a visual prop to the regime's terror -- Stormtroopers in white, walker vehicles, a mass of indomitable force. All the same, he was green.

He should have let the veterans lead the breach. He got a smoking hole in his chest. The man behind him got the trooper that did it, but the damage was done. Besk got down on a knee, when it was his turn in, as the others moved to secure the first section of interior, slowly and deliberately. He checked the man to see if he was still alive, which meant that he'd need treatment, or if he was dead. Then, establishing that he was killed, moved him aside so they could collect him later.

There wasn't much sentiment in it; the young man's eyes stared up into nothing. The next room in the facility was up, and his squad was already preparing to enter. They could see the sparks from a torch on the other side. Someone was trying to seal it. Besk glanced at the tell-tale sign and then nodded to another trooper, who placed an explosive charge on the door. They'd brought plenty of those. With the charge placed and less than half a minute to the explosion, the Rebels fell back.

The charge went off, the door was blown off its guide-rails, and two grenades went right through like clockwork. When those went off, the squad started to move in, covering corners and looking to make sure anyone left alive didn't get back up. There were a couple of mangled bodies and one screaming officer to show for the effort, but no one was taking chances. A blaster bolt silenced the officer.

Unlike Rebel bases, Imperial facilities had a common layout due to the manufacturing complex behind the Imperial regime; standardization of equipment was an economic measure to drive costs down, which meant that as much as could be pre-fabricated was. That made it easier for Imperial Forces to be familiarized with the layout of a base anywhere.

It meant that you had a reasonable expectation of what the layout was in a given Imperial facility and knew where to go. Besk's squad wasn't the only one in there, Green was also in the building, tasked with command and control. Besk's job was different; powerplant, engineering. Hard reboot of the power systems to give Intelligence a window during which they could slice through using the command consoles. That meant that they were going down a set of stairs, not trusting a lift.

Meanwhile, they could hear the sound of intensifying combat outside. "Tick Tock" here was "Boom boom." The Liberators needed those fixed defenses and fast.

Foreign Legion - First Contact is First Contract

I rewrote my last post. It is slightly different than the first. I have a pet peave about writers who excessively use that, had and have in ways that can be written better. I am guilty of doing this on first drafts, but am compelled to change the words when I edit.

@Gunther

It's all good. I often redraft my first posts too as well.

Foreign Legion - First Contact is First Contract

<Snipped quote by HeySeuss>
Yes to all of the above. The only thing that is very different from what I am accustomed to is the addition of the dismounted .50 caliber MG on the hover rig. It is an innovative use to new technology. Dismounted infantry can now bring heavier weapons into combat at the lower levels.

@Gunther

I would also assume the same sort of rig is available for other heavy weapons, including Mk.19's, M134's and a number of other weapons systems. It's probably a boon to the mobility of a weapons platoon especially.

The Grathik design principle was to make it user friendly to already-trained troops rather than retrain the troops, so there's that as well. It's easier for them to integrate into their tactics that way.

Foreign Legion - First Contact is First Contract

Is the weapons loadout on the APC similar to a Bradley's loadout? Some sort of autocannon and ATM's? I can see there being drone/remote weapons systems in play to reduce the number of crew involved in the operation.

Also, do we have a sense of what the squad loadout looks like? I figure they might well have taken a couple LAWs apiece or similar, or extra ammo for rifles and automatic weapons for this fight.

Star Wars: Liberators

The operation was far more than just the squad sitting in the bay of a U-Wing transport, the doors left open and troopers in seats ready to drop off them in a pre-trained order, to keep the ships hovering in place for as short a time as possible. There was no light in the cabin, except for a red shade that allowed enough vision for them to move about without bumping into one another. The landscape of the planet below, of metoerite-pocked, dusty tan rock, was muted by the light of three moons.

The ship, one of several, followed the jagged contours of Kol Jagoth's surface, using the cover of an A-wing's jammer to provide a further buffer against detection. Despite the weeks of preparation by local forces, the Empire was not expecting a heavy strike force. Timing and coordination between disparate elements of the task force were crucial to the success of the mission, but that was not unusual in the Rebellion. Stretched resources and constantly evolving strategic and tactical considerations required a constant shifting of resources on an ad hoc basis. Experienced units became used to the need to adapt and improvise.

The larger picture was of a distant concern to Gold Squad, 1st Platoon, Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Uslam Liberators Regiment who were mostly concerned with the crucial first moments of the planned engagement, getting off the ship fast and hitting the Imperial forces on site hard enough and fast enough to overwhelm the opposition.

None of that was guaranteed. Plans did not always survive the first contact. But experienced helped; Rebel HQ held a reserve of experienced saboteurs and operatives in reserve for crucial strategic operations, but the bulk of the work doing raids and combat fell to Sector Forces, local Rebel guerrilla groups that lived and died by the element of surprise and by getting out before the Empire could hammer them. Where the enemy was weak, they hit. Where it was strong, they avoided battle. When the enemy reinforced, they melted away.

But sometimes, a bigger stick was required for actions where the enemy forces were of a known quantity or quality, or the position was hardened. Sometimes, the risks were necessary. In this part of the Galaxy, near Hutt Space, the quick reaction force, or force sent to plug the gaps and add extra muscle were the Uslam Liberators, the same regiments that gave the Empire a bitter three month siege that ended with the remanants of the Uslam Defense Forces being evacuated.

1st Liberators were still fighting a guerrilla action on Uslam, despite the pressure. The 2nd were now fleet troops, broken up into platoon-sized elements across a number of ships in the Rebel Fleet in the Outer Rim.

Occasionally, more than one platoon came together for larger scale operations; Kol Jagoth's political prisoner camp was one such operation.

It was a large ISB holding facility for political dissidents with COMPFORCE recruits training nearby and getting experience in the field hunting escapees and running realistic patrols in a low-intensity environment, providing muscle as a local garrison, which was a necessity because Kol Jagoth was also mineral rich and had <insert mineral> mining and refining operations that were vunerable to sabotage by insurgents and escapees. The security risks were worth the profit margin to certain conglomerates that helped certain officers wet their beaks. Occupational safety was not a concern; such work was brutal and had a high turnover rate from accidents and punishments. That helped keep the operating costs down -- it turned out that seasoning green troops with guard duty and patrols was cheaper than workplace safety; it made sense with the margins.

These were enemies of the Empire who were not coming back.

Intelligence determined that certain individuals needed to be rescued. The work that went into it was reconaissance by local guerrilla networks which had way more eyes than guns, counting heads, noting times of patrols and patterns. Reporting the raw data out to Intelligence, who then compiled maps, charts and timetables. They had operations officers working on the plan. Those beings determined, based on the gathered information, that a small extraction team would not be sufficient given the size of the security force and the risks involved. It was a stark choice; bring enough firepower or go home.

The decision was made to use assets on the planet, but also to bring in infantry. The Uslam Liberators were considered "light infantry" and were ship-based. They had a degree of firepower, capability to be landed by various means from their ship and delivered, if viable, with fast armored speeders called Freerunners, that could carry a squad apiece into the fight with heavy weapons in support. But they were not a match when the Empire brought in slower but much heavier walkers and started a sustained bombardment.

The Liberators knew that, they'd been there. But Task Force NEXU command then brought in starfighter support from the 7th Roving Line, which was essentially a heavily refitted cruiser called the "Kashyyyk" that carried three squadrons; Buccaneers Squadron (Blue), Gambler Squadron (Red) and Gunslinger Squadron (Gold.)

What it boiled down to was a battalion of troops, a flotilla of small ships protecting the Kashyyyk along with Blue Squadron, Red providing top cover against TIE fighters and anything else in the air and Gold hitting selected targets.

Weeks in the gathering of resources, staging of logistics and, of course, acquiring sufficient transport for the people being liberated from the Kol Jagoth camp. Only a couple people were being extracted from the planet via a fast courier for the task, they were key individuals. The rest would be lifted if possible, or given the option of joining the Rebellion's local forces and dying with their boots on.

It was considered a 'recruitment drive.' The Liberators were tasked with taking the perimeter and securing the compound while Intelligence's technicians sliced the command center (once taken by Liberators) and started opening up barracks. Meanwhile, there were COMPFORCE troops that might come back from patrols and they were to be dealt with. The idea was to hold long enough to spring prisoners and then extract. Violence of action was expected to carry them through.

The upshot was that when Besk felt the U-Wing brake hard, he knew the cabin light would come on without looking. He knew that they were descending as soon as the braking started or it would have taken him by surprise - it was not a gentle landing, but a stop in mid air and a sudden stomach-clenching drop even as he yelled, "GOLD READY!" There was no exhortation about the Force or any quippy battlecry, there was a focus on getting out of the vulnerable vehicle as quickly as possible so it could get topside and start supporting from the air with laser cannon, repeating blasters, manned by door gunners, and additional rockets added on as a modification for close air support. The doors were extra large compared to stock and folding benches reconfigured to make it easier for a squad, nine beings, to land quickly under fire, without door gunners having to get out of the way, and without benches blocking access to either side.

They hit the dust of Khol Jagoth already with the weapons firing and explosions going off, inside the compound and headed for their designated strongpoint.

The COMFPORCE fire team on watch in that quadrant, holding down the area saw something different from the typical Imperial propaganda vid of Rebel troops, who were often cast to look like Huttese palace guards, thuggish and dirty and mean. These Rebels wore camouflage uniforms and load bearing equipment over loose smocks, colored for the dusty tan terrain they were working in. They had helmets, they had goggles, they had blasters with optics. A lot of this was modified by ingenious quartermasters trying to keep their people ready to fight, and a lot of it was sourced hiking gear and private market stuff, which was sometimes much better in quality than the Imperial Issue stuff, even for COMPFORCE, who got the cream of the equipment. One thing the vids got right was just how many of the Rebels had beards. The idea was that you didn't shoot someone with a beard, because the Imperials shaved. It was a rough and ready rule of thumb that made ex-Imperial military types nuts. The Liberators didn't care and it saved the Rebellion money on shaving kits.

They shouted to each other over the din of battle, no longer worrying about being overheard, but in a shorthand that was meant to quickly and clearly convey only the necessary communications; "Shift fire!" "3 at 12!" and so forth.

The last thing they'd see was the blast of coordinated fire as Liberators fired in their assigned sectors, carefully coordinated by experienced NCO's. The Assault Troopers were there to get seasoning, but instead wound up cooked. Similar fights were breaking out all over the base. Comms were reserved for coordination between units, but so far, things were on schedule. The platoon had a specific objective; once the dust cleared and the COMPFORCE troopers were confirmed dead, they shifted into the corridors of the command facility while other units took up position as blocking forces. This was where the casualties would happen, the cornering and the breaching, the chaotic close quarters fighting.

Besk knew that the plan involved the Liberators taking on the Imperial forces within the compound and clearing the way for the Intelligence guys who would prance in and start disabling security systems. It didn't mean he had to like it.

Like, love, hate, he brought enough sonic grenades to the party and they came in as soon as the grenade went off, taking surprised COMPFORCE troopers by surprise, but he didn't expect the luck to last. This was going to be a hairy one, especially as soon as someone decided to use their head and suck the Liberators in rather than come out to meet them...

@Jackdaw

Foreign Legion - First Contact is First Contract

"Shit!" exclaimed Robson, from behind cover, as the suppressive fire came in from enemy positions. They were a squad of combat veterans, but the way the fire came in with hypersonic booms and tore forth chunks from their position was a new and unpleasant experience, even as the debris rained in on them in dangerous splinters and other hazards. They'd been prepared for the scenario of having the observation position compromised, but not quite prepared for the kinetic energy behind the enemy's attack.

Nonetheless, he quickly stowed his equipment, the light fifty, onto a grav platform that the Grathik designed to assist infantry by lessening their carried individual loads. It was derived from the concept of programs that were shelved by various militaries for lack of the technology base to follow through with a viable piece of equipment for battlefield use.

Just as the Grathik mounted heavy machineguns on drones that could be converted over to manned use by humans, they also equipped humans with these cargo units.

It made a difference; Robson was down to his rifle and the equipment necessary to fight for several hours, while leaving anti-material rifles, anti-tank weapons and the like to be carried by an autonomous vehicle that essentially was their pack animals...the first time they heard one talk, it was dubbed, "Donkey!"

And then some joker reprogrammed their squad's Donkey to sound like Eddie Murphy.

"Now I'm a FLYIN' donkey!" it sang out as the last gear was loaded on and it sailed down on counter-grav tech, the same exact tech that the squad's emergency escape equipment had. Once Robson had his carbine ready and saw others making their jumps, he made his; it felt like a parachute drop, something the Grathik added so as to psychologically reassure humans used to parachute drops. It was a gentle, rather than steep descent.

Donkey let them concentrate on setting up their perimeter, concentrate on their movement and freed up people that'd be humping heavier gear from even worrying. Indispensable, because, down on the ground level, they could focus on the rifleman's job.

That job was vital, because now they were on an alien street, on an alien station, with alien buildings blocking a lot of the line of sight, which provided alien soldiers concealment. The sounds of other fights off in the distance were present, but the silence of their position was overwhelming...