Chapter 2: Forges of Ithyari

[Rogue 4]

Layla stumbled in tiredly, taking a seat by Tak and Jaim. "Mornin...." She yawned, covering it with a hand as she slouched tiredly into the seat.

"Blast...!" She exclaimed, suddenly patting down her person looking for something. "I think I forgot my datapad---oh, nevermind...here it is..."

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric entered, with Nat in tow. Quieting everyone down, he jumped right into it.

"Sorry to wake you so early, but certain circumstances demand that we leave as soon as possible." He didn't go into further detail, not wanting to tip off Nat. "As you might have guessed, we've got a mission. But first, we've got a little bit of reorganizing to do. Flight Officer Beskar, front and center."

[Rogue 4]

Layla looked over at Tak in surprise, wondering what this could be about.

[Drake 53]

Tak looked up, "Huh?" When he noted the half-impatient, half-amused look on Aeric's face, he said, "Oh, that's me."

He got up, shuffled past Jaim and Layla, and made his way to the front. Standing before Captain Tunon and Lieutenant Riamor, he snapped a salute. "Sir!"

[Chickenman 9]

"In recognition of your leadership skills and in light of your exemplary service in our last mission, New Republic Stafighter Command has seen fit to promote you. Good job, Lieutenant Beskar." He saluted Takeshi, and then offered his hand.

[Drake 53]

Tak's eyes opened in shock. He had received promotions many times before in his career but this time was somewhat of a surprise. He probably should have guessed that they would need a new Lieutenant after Jareth Daragon. Tak just didn't think it was going to be him.

Tak shook Captain Tunon's hand. "Thank you, sir. I will strive to go above and beyond my call of duty and I promise, I won't let you down."

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric grinned. "You better not. Now sit down."

After Takeshi had taken his seat, Aeric continued. "Obivously, Lieutenant Beskar is now Revenant Nine. Flight Officers Brǽnen, Staal and Adarra will be Revenants Ten, Eleven, Twelve, respectively."

"Now that that's over with..." He touched a button on the holoprojector, and the image of a planet came into view. "This is our first real mission. Rather than walk into a fight, we're taking it to the Empire. We're gonna do exactly what this squadron was designed for. Commando missions, espionage, bombing runs, dogfighting, you name it." He paused. "I'd like to introduce Captain Brier Fae, our liason with New Republic Intelligence. Captain Fae will not only be our link with Intelligence, she's going to help us out on ground actions whenever needed. Captain Fae, you have the floor."

[Drake 53]

Takeshi sat back down next to Layla. He looked over at her, shrugged and grinned. He pointed to himself and mouthed the words, Lieutenant? Me?

[Rogue 4]

Layla smiled widely, nodding as she pat his hand. You deserve it! She mouthed back. Congratulations!

[Vergere 1]

A woman in New Republic Intelligence Dress Uniform walked in from the doorway at Aeric's introduction. With pale tan skin, white hair, and ice-blue eyes, she also had ice-blue, almost iridescent tattoos on her face. With her hair pulled back in a severe bun, it was obvious she had delicate features. Instead of only four fingers like most Arkanians, she had modified her features to have five fingers, allowing her to blend into the human population easier.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!" She spoke brightly and quick, with a soft accent and a continual smile in her voice. Although her voice was definitely loud enough to hear, it had a melodic softness in it that made it easy to listen to.

"I apologize for this early hour -- I know you would all rather be back in bed, or at least on your way to bed." She noded and motioned to the planet that Aeric had brought up. "Just as Captain Tunon mentioned, we want to make sure we take the fight to the Empire and keep the surprise on them, and hopefully cutting down on the surprises they give us. This is Ithyari, the planet you will be attacking. Unfortunately, we cannot just attack the planet with pure firepower, although that would be the easiest for all involved. This is why we need you to go in.

"The planet is filled with cities, and we cannot risk killing more civilians and non-combatants than is necessary. We want to hurt the Empire, not the innocents. Instead, we are sending you, Revenant Squadron, to go take out the factories on planet. This leads to problem number two - the entire planet, and the space above it, is filled with factories. They are manufacturing tanks, spacecraft, starfighters, transports, ground based weapons, hand weapons, starfighter weapons - if you can think of it, they can make it, and do. The entire industry and economy of the planet is making goods for the Empire, which they can in turn use to eliminate us. And for some odd reason, no one I know over here in the New Republic really wants that to happen."

She continued to smile softly, and the excitement in her features, voice and posture, were close to contagious. She uses her hands a lot to explain things as she speaks. "Now, everywhere on Ithyari is not the same. There are polar ice caps on the north and south poles of the planet, snow covered mountains, hot, humid jungles near the equator, mixed in with deserts. Between the two extremes are oceans and temperate land masses that vary in temperature during the year. There are forests and plains, jungles and snow covered tundras. You will be experiencing almost all of these conditions at some point. There are cities in every climate I mentioned, all of which are building things that, once finished, will be used against us."

She pauses for a minute to sip some water from a glass she'd brought in with her and let what she's been saying soak in for a moment.

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric smiled. Saying the intelligence officer was enthusiastic about her job was an understatement. She was certainly a better speaker than he was. The squadron seemed to be hooked on her every word.

[Vergere 1]

She waited for a few moments longer before speaking again. "There is another problem with this planet. Let me rephrase that: there is another difficulty in taking this planet. It has been with the Empire from the start, and they are Imperial to the core. They don't want us there. They're not like some of the planets we have gone after, that were either border-line Imperial, warlord-run, or anti-Imperial wanting to be helped. These people are hard-core Imperialists. They will do whatever it takes to get rid of us. I want you to know that before you ever step foot onto the planet.

"There are some major targets that the New Republic want taken out; beyond that, it is Captain Tunon's discretion which targets are hit to hurt the economy and the factories the most."

The holoprojector shifted its image as she spoke to show where everything was as she discussed it. "What we must take out include Elyanti, the major starfighter/TIE fighter factory in the temperate regions; Evyani, the major ground-based weapons factory, located in the jungle; and Ithyar, the major transport factory, located in the space above Ithyari. Coordinates for these strikes have been given to Captain Tunon."

She nodded in his direction, the corners of her eyes crinkling in honest happiness and excitement. "Captain Tunon, the floor is yours." She stepped back away from the holoprojector and the center of the room so the attention was back on the squadron's leader.

[Chickenman 9]

"Thank you, Captain. Obviously the first part is going to be insertion. To get our ships onto the surface, we're going to send half of the squadron ahead of the rest, through civillian transportation. Once they reach the planet, they'll sneak aboard the system's sensor relay, and knock it temporarily offline, making it seem like an accident or a glitch. With that done, the rest of the squadron will slip in, unnoticed, and set up camp. Once the squadron has regrouped, we'll start taking out targets of opportunity. When we've done a satisfactory job of killing Ithyari's manufacturing power and economy, we'll pull out, torching the orbital shipyards as we leave."

[Rogue 4]

That answered Layla's first question: how are you going to slip twelve X-wings unnoticed into a vital and guarded enemy manufacturing world. It still left her with another however. She raised a hand, now wide awake. She had a feeling she was going to have an exciting day. "Captain, who is this forward group going to comprise of?"

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

Atuarre raised a paw. "If it's at all possible, I would prefer to be in the second group. The Empire does not smile upon those of us who can't reasonably pass for humans."

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric grinned. "Eager, aren't we? The forward group will consist of Takeshi, Layla, Aston, Jya, Szen, and Brier."

[Ayingel 24]

Szen realized she had been holding her breath and let it out as quietly as possible.

Well, this will be interesting. My first actual mission with a new group and we're sneaking in.

Pushing a stray hair behind her ear, she looked at Captain Tunon, then at everyone else around the table, finally resting on Captain Brier.

At least I'm not the only one new to this squadron.

Edited August 24, 2007 by Drake

[Drake 53]

Takeshi raised his hand. When he had the Captain's attention, he asked, "Sir, may I ask who will have seniority in the advanced group? Captain Brier or myself?"

Edited August 24, 2007 by Drake

[Chickenman 9]

"You will, Lieutenant, with Captain Brier as second in command."

[Rogue 4]

Lieutenent Riamor spoke up, "I'm sure you all remember the...fun we had on the Revenent once we began exhausting powerpacks, so over the past couple of weeks I've been working on acquisitioning enough ammo to hopefully last us through an entire mission like this." He frowned, taking a look at a few key people. "Some of which was easier to find and purchase than others of course, but you should find that all of your weapons should have sufficient ammunition. Slug pistols and Sniper rifles included. I've also aquired enough demolitions for Officer Orson blow a significant hole through the Empire's war machine, which i'm certain will be helpful. Everything is being brought down to the hanger now, so when you leave here be sure to take what you need. Everything the forward group can't carry with them will be brought along in their X-wings and readily available once we make camp. Any questions?"

[Vergere 1]

Continuing to stand at ease, hands behind her back, Brier looked comfortable and content even as she knew people were watching her. The same easy-going smile on her features the entire time, she shifted her attention between the people who are talking, and keeping any emotional response to anything said unseen, if anything even suprised her to begin with.

Edited August 25, 2007 by Vergere

[Mara 29]

Once the captain had entered and began explaining the rearranging of three flight, Kaden was happy for Tak. He was sure the man deserved the promotion. He also hoped it might help focus the guy more on his role and job and not other things. Either way, he wasn't jealous at all. Kaden had been down that road before and it had all blew up in his face. He just didn't think he was cut out to be an officer.

He took his designation change from 10 to 11 as a small compliment, as usually newer or greener pilots were paired with the flight leads. But he wasn't sure what to think about his new wingmate, Jaim, yet. The guy seemed loose and rash, but sometimes that's what was needed. In all actuality, Kaden thought they might be a good pair.

He listened intently with the others as the new Intel woman relayed all the information about their new mission. It seemed a lot to do with just 13 people, but after their former ideal with the Revenant, this might actually be easier. If there was such a thing.

They were taking out major factories on a deeply Imperial planet. Not too unlike his last mission with the Golden Eagles. Kaden shoved those thoughts away.

This is no time to think on that. Focus, Kaden. New mission. New people. Entirely different.

After it was cleared up how exactly they would be doing it and that he would be in the second group with the captain and the remaining members of the squadron, Kaden was a little wistful. He thought that perhaps his experience would lead him to pilot the transport for the second group, but then again, they needed some experience pilots to sneak in later as well. All in all, he felt the mission would be pretty straight forward. Not exactly easy but not impossible either.

He wanted to go ahead and get started before there was any chance of getting nervous or having second thoughts. His mind starting going into his clear, combat mode. He was ready.

Edited August 24, 2007 by Mara

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric turned to the rest of the squadron. "Any questions?"

[Mara 29]

Kaden remained silent, moving his eyes around at the others, seeing if any of them seemed nervous or wanted to ask more questions of their mission. He felt that the captain and the Intel woman had told them all they needed. Nothing seemed left out; the Brier woman was very thorough, for an Intel officer.

[Ender 8]

Jaim raised his hand. He yawned, before speaking.

"Sorry, sir. Listen, I think it might be better if I were one of the group to go in first. I've been to Ithyar before, on an arms deal before. Yes, I occasionally do illegal jobs," looking at Brier, who was trying to hide the fact that she was frowning at him. "I know the lay of Elyanti, and also of several of the plants near the poles, out in the cold. More importantly, the Imperial customs officer there is, shall we say, running a business on the side. He was one of my contacts when I went in. I think I might be more useful there, is all."