The Halberd

Engineering Deck

“Quickly! On me!” Called out a voice amid the chaos. Four hours ago, Tarentum had succeeded in sending the first boarding party to mark the beginning of the grand assault aboard the Halberd, yet they had quickly found themselves easily outmanned and outgunned by the sheer volume of personnel resisting their attempts to take control of the flagship. The most perplexing of all was the recent lack of a fleet defending the Halberd. Instead, any surviving ships of the mercenary fleet had either escaped back through hyperspace, or had been ripped and torn apart by the unrelenting bombardment of Tarentum’s own fleet. Which could only mean one thing.

We’re out of time.

While the main assault was stalled by the sheer numbers of resistance, the diversionary team found themselves faced with a much larger issue. Only minutes ago, the stage three alarm had been sounded as the remainder of the crew had begun attempts in scuttling the ship in one last desperate attempt to repel the invaders, even if it meant costing them their own lives.

“This is Kaira Rohana of the diversionary team to Jason, there’s no time left. Tell your troops to pull back to the shuttle bay.” Called Kaira through her personal comlink through an impenetrable layer of static. They’ve blocked all communications. There’s no time.

Taking a deep breath, she surged forwards in a final attempt to buy the main assault more time.Switching her posture to conform to the offensive stance of Ataru, she lunged into the thick of the action, her only goal to buy the assault some time. Able to keep her emotions under perfect control, she made her advance towards the engineering deck, carving a bloody passage as she unleashed flurry after flurry of overwhelming strikes at her opponents. Blaster bolts zipped overhead as she succeeded in swatting away volleys launched directly at her. However, her advance was cut short at the untimely arrival of yet another group of reinforcements, weapons loaded and ready for the kill. Suddenly outmatched and out-maneuvered, Kaira caught a glimpse in the corner of her eye at the mercenaries surrounded her on all sides, blocking off her only way of escape.

There is no death.... There is only the Force.

Kaira remembered these words; she had recited them countless times when rehearsing the Jedi Code. There was no escape as she stood with her lightsaber raised, it’s emerald blade casting reflections off the rugged armor of her would-be executioners.

“No!” Shouted a voice beyond the circle of mercenaries. In confusion, the mercenaries turned their heads to the source of the commotion, briefly forgetting the Jedi before them for a second. A second was all Kaira needed as she swung her lightsaber outwards in wide, swift strokes. A lightsaber arced through the passageway, streaming behind it a cerulean trail as it continued on its trajectory towards a group of enemy soldiers. Suddenly, it became clear as the figures became visible over the extensive carnage littering the room. The Jedi of Odan-Urr have arrived, along with a handful of the Tarenti. Like an unstoppable tide, they rushed headlong into the battle, severing limbs as they stormed the engineering deck with the Ratchets Maintenance Department in tow along with Tarentum’s own combat engineers.

Halberd

Outside Bridge

The crew of the Halberd were indeed putting up an effective defense. Much better than Jason Hunter had expected from mercenaries, simply hired soldiers who typically tucked tail and ran when it became evident that the credits didn’t cover the kind of offensive that Tarentum and Odan Urr were presenting. True, the majority of the merc fleet had done just that, but the forces on the Halberd weren’t rolling over and giving up. In fact, they were buttoning up and trying their damndest to defend the ship.

To make matters worse, rumor had it amongst the men that they were making ready to scuttle the ship. Thusly adding to the urgency with which Jason and his squad were battling their way towards the bridge.

“Any progress on comms?” Tarentum’s Aedile queried as he batted a blaster bolt back towards a mercenary, sending the crimson energy projectile screaming down the corridor towards its point of origin. It ended its flight with striking the soldier square in the chest, dropping the man to the deck amongst his comrades. They looked down at the dead man in shock then turned wide eyes on the lavender-haired man with the cybernetic arm and the red lightsaber--who flashed them a toothy Corellian grin from the other end of the hall--and they broke into a dead, chaotic run in the other direction and around the bend that lead to the bridge door.

“No, sir,” replied Jason’s communication’s sergeant, a pair of fingers to his ear. “They’re jamming all frequencies ranging from comlinks to HoloNet Nothing coming in, nothing going out.”

“Great. Sounds like we’re on our own.”

“At least we have a Tarenti with us, sir,” the sergeant said with a wry smile on his lips as he hefted his carbine in his hands.

“Yes, we do have that going for us,” Jason agreed, returning the smile. “We’re pressing on, squad; that bridge isn’t going to open up for us on its own.”

Twelve blaster weapons of various types were raised into the air to signal confirmation of Jason’s order. He knew these men would follow him regardless, such was Oberst’s training. I’ll have to mention to him how well he’s trained our people. Too bad he already knows that.

The thirteen of them carefully picked their way towards the bend in the corridor where the mercs had fled earlier. Upon reaching the apex, Jason held up a hand and curled it into a fist, signaling his team to halt. Reaching out, he probed ahead with the Force and found that the door to the bridge was heavily defended with infantry and a pair of E-Web turrets positioned on the other side. Outside, however, were a handful of soldiers that were apparently set up to be little more than a delaying tactic.

“They’ve got it defended heavily inside,” the Corellian said, glancing over his shoulder as his mechanical fingers fidgeted on his armory lightsaber. “Outside the door are five sentries, and they’re nervous. They’ll make for easy pickin’s. We take them out fast, then move on the bridge, which I’m sure is shut down tight.”

Just then, a volley of blaster fire erupted from behind them. The two rearmost of Jason’s soldiers fell with smoking holes in their backs, their bodies inadvertently acting as shields to buy the others time to throw themselves to the deck and allow the rest of the bolts to zip past overhead. A group of mercenaries--two squads worth, from the looks of it--had circled around to Jason’s rear and effectively caught them in a dangerous pincer maneuver between them and the forces in the bridge. If they made it through, Jason was sure Oberst would have a few select words about his tactical oversight.

As it was, if his group didn’t get out of the corridor, the Marshall wouldn’t have his opportunity to berate the Aedile.

In one direction, there was the twenty some-odd mercenaries that had just arrived, and that had just now come under fire from Jason’s squad. They had spread themselves across the corridor and at an adjoining one to provide themselves some cover from which to fire upon the Tarentum forces, but the invaders had already fallen a few. That way was the path of retreat, but one that would have to be dealt with in any event.

The other way, was the most heavily defended. More foes, and with heavier weapons. And with the clock running down to the assumed destruction of the Halberd, Jason was quickly coming short on time to make a decision. Either way meant death, but only one would make progress towards completing his objective.

“Sergeant!” He called towards the man he spoken with earlier, who had the communications bud in his ear. “Hold off their rear guard while I take the bridge. Feel free to join me when you’re done here.” He hardly gave the man a chance to respond before he sprinted off towards the frightened men guarding the door to the bridge, lightsaber grasped firmly in his hand.

I only hope there’s enough left of me to join, Jason thought as he leapt at his first target.

Halberd

Engineering Deck

“That’s the last of them.” Said one of the Tarenti, the crimson blade of his lightsaber still lodged in between the shoulder blades of his latest victim. Meanwhile, the Ratchets were hard at work tearing the engineering deck apart to find the armed bomb before it was too late. It was unknown how much time was left, but it was evident that their time was running out. And quickly.

“I got something!” Shouted one of the Ratchets as he removed one of the wall panels. Deep inside, the faint pulsating glow of the mercenaries’ last gift to the invaders grew steadily in speed. Almost immediately, Tarentum’s combat engineers set to work, pooling together whichever tools they were able to carry aboard the flagship as one set about inspecting the device.

“We have a problem.” Echoed the combat engineer as he along with a handful of his comrades pulled the bomb back for a better view, “If this goes off, we’re all vaporized. Along with the rest of the fleet. Let’s work double time, gentlemen, there’s no telling how much time we have left.” He said as they set to work with examining the bomb.

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Just a reminder that all week 2 events end tonight. You have until Tuesday to do any ACC matches, the wiki event, or the graphics event. And that will be it. We're waiting on the judges at that point, and then we can release the results.

We'll have a final fiction for you by the end of the week to wrap things up.