CMDR'S Log 22
11 Aug 2024User377553
03/07/331015:00 Galactic Standard Time
Location: Schmid Nutritional, Onyama 1B, Onyama System
CMDR Eric Vons POV
We got close to the settlement and I air dropped myself and my SRV from the ship down to the planet surface. After about a 15 meter drop. I have all my wheels on the ground. "Hull integrity at 75%." The computer says. I was already dismissing the Hubward. "Wh-what? What are you doing? I must follow the given orders." Tetco practically screamed with a hint of panic in her voice over the commlink. "Tetco, Prevent them from getting reinforcements down here. That's the best way you can execute the given orders and you can do it more efficiently than me." I tell her firmly. "I will handle what they already have here." I added. "Yes Commander." Tetco answered sounding a lot less panicked and stressed now that she had a way to comply with, instead of fighting the order. The edge and tone in her voice was also slightly unnerving. I pushed those thoughts aside as I parked my SRV a fair distance away from the settlement so it wouldn't be targeted.
I disembark and make my way into the settlement. My HUD automatically marks out the allied forces in green. I walk forward with my Manticore Tormentor drawn. I shoot the first enemy I see as he was about to throw a grenade. The shot takes his shields go down and he dropped the grenade. It went off at his feet. "Target eliminated. Keep it up Commander." The combat coordinator for the Royal Praetorian Guard forces calls out. He also pings me with a combat voucher for 5,000 with a note. 'Extra thousand credits for a stylish entrance and making a shot at a distance of 100m with a Tormentor as the target was about to throw a frag grenade.' it reads. I laugh as I continued to make my way through the settlement taking out enemy forces and working on finding Senator Aurora Rebia.
Satisfied that I would be able to get my SRV through the settlement. I turned and started back towards it. We had just cleared the settlement out and found nothing. The Pilots were sending more forces to retake the settlement. As the only settlement in the system under their name it made sense that they were shipping in forces from other systems. A huge amount of them. To the point that the Royal Praetorian Guard are not committing any other forces to the settlement defence as they have other settlements to defend. So what we have was what we got. All we got. I still need to search the place properly for the Senator. All the intelligence says that she is here. And I need to get my SRV inside and keep it safe so I can drive her out of the settlement instead of having to carry her. Unfortunately, it's a Scarab and not a Scorpion model. Tetco is busy shooting any ships aligned with the enemy faction. They have noticed her efficiency in execution and she is now marked as a priority target for their fighters. The war continues. Current data indicates that it will end soon.
I park my SRV in the middle of the settlement by the main hydroponics building. I continued to search the settlement. I eventually discovered intelligence from a enemy I cornered in the power building. He was waiting for his shields to recharge. And after he got them back I brought them back down with one shot from my Tormentor. He was very willing to answer questions after that. He told me that the Senator is held in the hydroponics building. Or more accurately in the section underneath it. One that runs parallel to the wide open road area that connects the habitat section to the rest of the settlement. And the access point is in one of those infuriatingly sealed buildings in between that serve almost no purpose. One that I can't get in to. Yet.
I have the guy lead me to the building taking my SRV to it. He opens the doors as the conflict rages around us. Plasma, lasers, explosives, and bullets fly around the SRV so I park it behind the building. Not that it would do much but maybe I would be able to get halfway through before it gets blown up. The commando I had taken hostage leads me through the halls and then stopped. "She's down there." He said gesturing to the other end of the hall. "Just let me go." He said. "I can't do that." I said. "What? Why not?" He asked. "I have my orders." I said raising my Manticore Tormentor and pulling the trigger twice. Two plasma rounds hit him point blank in the chest. The first one took out his shields and the second took his life. I reload the gun then switch through a few menus on my wrist panel. Satisfied with the results I press the confirm command.
03/07/3310
23:00 Galactic Standard Time
Location: A Containment Center, Secure Sector under the hydroponics building, Schmid Nutritional, Onyama 1B, Onyama System
Aurora's POV
I am wrenched from my slumber as klaxons start blaring. The PA system crackles to life. A vaguely familiar male voice makes an announcement. "You have taken something that doesn't belong to you. Imperial Honor demands Retribution. I will deliver it. The Senator will be freed. She has rung Hell's Bells and Hell has answered." It said. Then I hear a long low gonging sound that is slowly repeating itself. After a few times I hear something else a rhythmic strumming sound before I realized that it must be some sort of music. After a few seconds it transitions to a vocal singer as well. A different male voice singing about Hell's Bells. I notice that there's also a commotion going on outside my rather pitiful accommodations. A cell by any other name. The sounds of weapons fire, explosions and the vibration they give off. I tune it out. Until one particular explosion sounds louder than the others, accompanied by people yelling and screaming. At least one screaming with pain before it is silenced suddenly by a gun. I hear people by the door to my cell. "Get her out of here. Well hold him back. They paid us handsomely to take her and bring her here. He can't get her back until they say." Someone yelled. "On it. You 6 with me." A male voice says. 7 pairs of boots move in my direction. I press myself back against the wall.
I heard the slow sound of footsteps and caught the briefest glimpse of the person as the rounded their corner. A man in a flight suit. Mostly white with some black and gold accents on it. On the shoulder plates were the symbol of the Empire emblazoned in black. With a black Manticore Tormentor in his hand. One that had a scope. "Commander!" I yelled as the other guards pushed me forward. "Keep moving, and don't speak again." The leader said as he grabbed me and pressed something that I couldn't see to the back of my head. "Or I may find out if Senator brains look like anyone else's." He added. The group made it about halfway down the hall before the rhythmic clack of the boots turned the corner and the low thrum of the Manticore Tormentor being fired twice is followed by a flash of violet light. "Fire again and I blow her head off." The leader yelled. After a minute no more shots were fired. However, my captors were down a person. Permanently.
"Now, don't follow us." He yelled at Eric. As he started to push me along with him. We were heading for a exit. One that led us to a landed ship. Where a ship was waiting for us. Eric waited before slowly following us. "Hey, what did I say!" The leader shouted. "Keep it up and I will pull the trigger." He shouted. "I need to know what ship you plan to get on. So I can order my pilot to let it leave." Eric said casually. "That is unless you want to die in a ship explosion?" He added. "Not really, no." The leader said looking at his friends. "I thought not. Carry on." Eric replied. The leader gestured to the rest of the group and then pushed me right along with him. Eric followed at a distance. Slowly and carefully. The leader of the group digs something out of his pocket and puts it on my face. I initially tried to fight it but Eric's voice stopped me. "Senator, let him put that on your face. It's a Remlock. It'll help you breathe." Eric called out. After the mask was in place I yelled back. "Just whose side are you on anyway?" He didn't reply. The wall at the end of the tunnel rumbled and slid open. We stepped out and I saw the ship landed at the bottom of the Crater. As we moved towards it nothing happened but the sounds of combat was now mixed with the roar of engines. And the blasting of ship weapons.
Once we reached halfway down I glanced back. Eric was standing at the entrance to the tunnel. Not moving. Then there was a increase in the roar of engines. I briefly saw a Cobra mk lll. Painted white, orange, black, and grey thundering towards us. My captors grabbed me and ran to the grounded ship. The second I was dragged aboard they closed the ramp. My last view of the outside world was of the Cobra mk lll landing and Eric firing his Tormentor in protest at the ship I was dragged into as he made his way aboard his Cobra. The leader merely laughed at his futile actions. "That Scrap heap won't be able to catch us." He said as he chained me to a bulkhead. Satisfied I was secured he yelled at the cockpit. "Get us off this blasted rock. And out of this damn system."