Emperor's Hammer: Dark Sentinel

It started as a routine mission to inspect some of the far flung installations of the Emperor’s Hammer territories. Admiral Frodo March, the Tactical Officer, decided to travel in a non-descript freighter instead of a heavily armed cruiser. Frodo had just finished his inspection of the facilities at the border with the Rebel Squadrons, on our side of the Border near Greeop.

In a quick strike mission, Rebels jumped the border and disabled Frodo’s’ ship. A special group of Rebel Naval Troopers then boarded and captured all on board, but not before they had gotten off a partial distress call. They then took Frodo back across the border and are holding him at the planet of Blerthmore. They are awaiting a heavily armed taskforce to arrive before they move him back further into their territory.

“… and that was the last time we had any contact with Frodo’s ship,” Colonel Abel Malik was finishing up his briefing. He looked out over his pilots and saw that they were to a man itching to go and rescue their Prae brother.

“What type of defenses are we looking at, boss?” Colonel Ric Taldrya asked. Ric was a new Colonel, having just been promoted.

“It is a Command Complex and Garrison, so expect a heavy force being stationed there. However, we are going to go in and get Frodo out, but we’ll do it quietly. Looks like we are going to leave the Praetors here at home. Well, most of us will anyways,” Malik activated a holo map showing the area that they would be operating in. It showed the system as well as the defense s. Intel had provided the locations and strength estimates.

The pilots moved closer to get a better look. Drak, Morgan, Torres, Deimos, Malik, and Ric would be flying into the system by way of New Republic Space. The other Praetorians would wait on the Emperor’s Hammer side of the border to assist in the extraction. The Praes going in on the ground would divide into three two-person teams, each team would infiltrate by different routes to the target.

Ric would team up with Deimos, Drak with Morgan, and Malik with Torres. Ric and Deimos would leave in a few hours with the others leaving over the next five hours. They got the plan down and then headed out for their ships.

They met up one last time in the hanger. Each man shook every others hand, each also gave good luck to each other and then they parted. Ric and Deimos walked up the ramp of Ric’s YT-1300. After a short start up, it lifted gracefully from the deck and shot into the darkness of space. Once it was clear of the planet, it made the jump into lightspeed.

The two stumbling New Republic pilots drifted in and out of bars around the spaceport all day. They became more and more of a nuisance until they were picked up by the Shore Patrol.

“Wait until their commanding officer gets a hold of them,” the other snickered, imagining the punishment that would be dealt out.

The two pilots had passed out by the time that they were placed on the shuttle. Upon arriving at the holding area, the two men were carried into the holding cell by a hovercart.

Ric glanced over at Deimos as they were dumped onto the hard cell floor. His eyes, mostly closed, he could still make out the features of the room. Once the guards had left, Ric felt out thru the force and found the hidden cameras and microphones that dotted the walls. He used a small part of his power as a Sith Warrior to destroy them all. They would notice soon, but by the time that they did, they would be gone.

Deimos sat up and glanced around. Ric could tell that he wondered if the plan Ric had come up with would even work.

“I hope that you know what you’re doing. Won’t take long til they figure out that we are not who those identification cards say we are,” Deimos rose to his feet and went to the door.

Ric also rose and moved to the exit. He closed his eyes and tried to sense anyone out in the corridor. After feeling no such presence, he focused on the door lock that held them in. With a pop, the door silently slid open.

Ric peeked out into the hall way, he knew that there were cameras all around but he just needed to distract them. He reached out to another cell and felt that its occupants were Gammoreans who had a little too much to drink. With a nudge, their cell door popped open and they went rampaging down the corridor.

During the commotion caused by the rampaging Gammoreans, Ric and Deimos slipped out. As they turned the corner, Ric ducked into a small alcove and pulled Deimos in after him.

Ric watched as the patrol of security guards tried to catch up to the drunken laborers, they were armed with stun sticks and nets. He found that amusing that the only weapons they possessed would only enrage the hog-like beings even further. As they made their way down the corridor, the two pilots slunk out of their hiding place and crept the opposite way.

As they neared the checkpoint, Ric began to walk like he had a purpose towards the guard. He got within arm reach and struck like a coiled Gundark. The first guard never knew what hit him and he was down before the second could get to his feet. Deimos ran in and headed towards the console, slightly fumbling with the new toy that that agent had given him for this task, and find the location of the captured Tactical Officer.

The other guard moved towards him and Ric reached out and gave him a push thru the Force. As the guard hit the ground, Ric leapt towards him and landed on his windpipe, stopping any further resistance.

“Not too pretty, but got the job done. Any luck finding Frodo?” Ric peered down the corridors for any sign of more guards.

“It looks like they have him in the maximum security wing. It’s three floors up and that way,” Deimos pointed. Ric handed him the blaster that the guard nearest him dropped in the struggle. Now armed, both pilots made there way to the lower level elevator.

After riding for a few seconds, the elevator slammed to a stop, almost throwing both pilots to the ground. The only thing that saved them was the fact that they were pilots and were used to sudden stops and turns.

As the doors slid open, the two men started face to face with… two more Praetorians. Malik and Torres stood there clad in service tech uniforms. With a sigh of relief, Ric holstered his blaster and welcomed the two onto the elevator.

“Wondered when we’d run into you two,” Ric said as the lift began to move upwards again.

“Nice uniform,” Malik said. He had to restrain his laughter, but it was a little too infectious and the group gave in to a short giggle fest, releasing the pent up stress and emotion. Then they were all business once more.

They entered the cell bay of the high security wing guns blazing. Ric and Malik took the lead and used their Force Powers to cut a path thru the enemy guards. Once it was secured, Deimos once more hooked into the computer console and looked for Frodos cell. He pointed out where it was and Malik made his way there.

Malik set a small charge on the controls for the door and stepped back, he took cover behind the shield near the door and pushed the button. With a pop, the door flew open sending smoke and sparks flying.

“You should talk,” Malik replied with a grin. They made their way into the corridor, heading for the elevator. With a pop, the doors slammed shut and it shut down.

“Looks like the lifts are being overridden and locked down. We need to get to the stairs in the next corridor over,” he said and pointed out the way.

The group made their way to the next corridor, and they began to take fire from the walkway on the next building. They ran to cover and watched as a small shuttle zoomed into the way, blocking their attackers’ field of fire.

With a start, the pilots made their way to the stairway and began to climb upwards. Once at the top, the battered YT-1300 that sat on the roof landing pad began to power up. The whine of its engines increased as they boarded and it lifted just after Torres and Deimos ran up the ramp.

Ric and Malik ran to the cockpit and Ric took his pilot seat back from Morgan. He immediately punched the power and headed straight up towards the safety of space.

The ship leapt out of the atmosphere and headed for the jump point back to the Minos Cluster.

Glancing at the threat display, Ric saw that a squadron of fighters had launched from an MC-90 sitting in orbit. He watched as the ships types came thru, X-Wings, A-Wings, and E-Wings had been launched and were on an intercept course. They would be on them before they made the jump point and he began to charge the main guns.

“I need two volunteers. Deimos, you and Torres go back and man the quad turrets. Its about to get sticky,” Ric went back to flying.

With a beep, a new set of signals showed up on the threat screen. Ric worked to identify them and found that his scanners couldn’t. They formed up on the enemy ships and began to destroy them in an orderly fashion.

“Those are our guys aren’t they?” Ric had a feeling that the call he had made had been to the rest of the squadron. As soon as they finished with the enemy fighters, they formed a shield around the YT and escorted it to the jump point.

The sounds of a party echoed thru the corridors of the DGN Lichtor V. It was a great occasion as the pilots of Praetorian celebrated the successful rescue of one of their own from the clutches of the enemy.