"Not a chance! I own the field Haha!" Gundark says in response.

" Commander I suggest you take the lead with Doc by your side as we progress through the vents, both he and I know a good path through but my choice in weaponry will likely slow me down..." 9182 says to Anler as he walks toward the ventilation shaft. " I will take up the rear going behind all of Acklay squad as to only slow myself down. "

Doc, satisfied the encounter went towards Cyclone and Acklay, lowers his blaster carbine and heads towards the rest of squad.

Doc takes a look at Oss. Aside from some bruising, Oss is fine. At least the helmet took most of the impact. Speaking of, the helmet still lies on the floor. "Maybe Data or I could get this working so that we'll be able to hear through their comms." he thinks, picking it up for Data.

Doc heads back to the rest of the squad, now gathering to the vents. He notices Lana following Gundark. "Where in the bloody **** did she pop out from?" As far as Doc knows, she was a no-show during the fight. But considering her specialties and today's events, Doc decides not to pursue the matter any further.

As he approaches with the helmet in hand, Doc notices that 9182 is talking to the commander about the vents and how he'll stay back and letting Doc take the lead.

"I would be fine with that." Doc says, still holding the helmet. "Oh, right, Commander, permission to let Data or I try hacking into their comms?"

After Anler answers, Doc decides to have a go at it. After fiddling with it, Doc decides that Data is more likely to get in and calls Data up. "Here, see if you can hack into it."

Afterwards, Doc approaches 9182, who seems to have a bit of trouble after that swing. "Careful, Slugger, don't want to make that a trip to the med-bay." he says to 9182, concerned the weight of the rotary cannon may have been too much for the heavy weapons specialist to swing without problems.

He hears Gundark and 5472 talk about drinks. It seems like in the confusion, the friendly fire that hit Gundark came from 5472. Doc decides to give another name to 5472 . "Drinks are on you, huh, Gunslinger...or rather, Raker? Just make sure to sweep up everyone's tabs, especially Gundark's!"

2 minutes ago, satkaz said:

After Anler answers, Doc approaches 9182, who seems to have a bit of trouble after that swing. "Careful, Slugger, don't want to make that a trip to the med-bay." he says to 9182, concerned the weight of the rotary cannon may have been too much for the heavy weapons specialist to swing without problems.

He hears Gundark and 5472 talk about drinks. It seems like in the confusion, the friendly fire that hit Gundark came from 5472. Doc decides to give another name to 5472 . "Drinks are on you, huh, Gunslinger...or rather, Raker? Just make sure to sweep up everyone's tabs, especially Gundark's!"

" Slugger, I like it... Don't worry about my back Doc I've done worse, especially when I've had to wrestle Gundark." Slugger says to Doc as he smacks Gundark on the back, " I'm the only one crazy enough to challenge you. As for the drinks I'm up for anything as long as Gunslinger is paying!" Slugger laughs, but cuts it short before it could give their position away. " But drinks are for later we've got a battle to win."

Data grabs the helmet from Doc. Playing with technology is something he's always up for. After unplugging a few connections he pulls out the comlink. "Got it Commander, we should be able to listen into their communications now" , he reports.

Anler is relieved to see that the clones have managed to bring down the rest of them, but dismayed that his lightsaber seems to be damaged. He fiddles around with it a little and makes sure it will still work, and is satisfied it will, as long as he's careful.

"Good job everyone, I don't think we gave them time to call this in, but this puts a time pressure on us to finish this before they figure out we took those clones out," he says to the others. When one of the clones, the one the others seem to call Doc, suggests another, this one apparently called Data, take one of the comlinks off the downed enemy he nods in agreement. "Not a bad idea. Perhaps we can get some intel, if not, possibly we can bluff the enemy, make them think these guys are still operational and have encountered no threat up here."

As he speaks, the Padawan gets out a toolkit from his belt and quickly opens up the hilt of his weapon. He frowns when he sees that a component has come lose. He looks around before tearing a small piece of cloth from his robe and stuffing it inside the hilt. It won't hold the component in the right place for long, but hopefully the lightsaber will work for the rest of the training exercise.

When another clone suggests they get a move on, Anler nods again. "Yes, I'll take point, but I want all of you Cyclone guys up front, Acklay behind. You have to get used to working as a squad, and that means sticking together. And make sure our specialist keeps up, will you?" he says as he moves towards the opening, peering glumly at his weapon.

"Summers. Up front with the Commander. Your time to shine- stealth and access. I'll be right behind you."

"Slugger. Bring up the Cyclones' tail. Acklay is going to split, enter from a separate duct."

As the slope of the dome lessens, Gunslinger (or Raker?) draws his other pistol in readiness.

Jackpot readies to move and as he doesn't have anything to say, stays quiet.

The vent near the top of the dome had been left open by Oss, probably not concerned with masking his trail. The grate had been tossed to one side, and the low hum of a fan turning slowly could be heard from within the inky blackness. A simple inspection by poking a head into th whole would show only one fan had stopped moving, presumably the direction Oss and his team had taken. That direction seemed to head further into the dome, the direction the team wanted to go.

Kee and the rest of Ackaly squad would crowd around the commander and Cyclone squad, Kee look up at Gunslinger with a puzzled look. 'I thought the commander said we were all sticking together, we didn't plan a second route on the holomap. We go in their blind we won't find our way out till spring time'.

As Kee raises this concern, a loud bang could be heard from the ground floor. It would seem that Law's flanking team had begun their attack, and in quite a spectacular fashion. A bleeping noise could be heard from Anlers comm as Zombie contacts him. 'Commander, we've breached the outer defenses, but these guys are dug in like ticks! It's going to be a real slug fest down here, so I hope you can make it to the command centre! We think we saw their slicer, he isn't in the command centre, I think he was heading for the docking area!'

After a moment there would be the crackle of a comm activating, not one of the clones though, this was Oss's comm. 'Sergeant, status report'. Drummer's voice would ring out clearly through the comm, he clearly didn't know what was going on atop the dome. 'Oss, come in! Have you begun your attack?'

Mass Combat : 3eP+2eA+2eB+2eC+3eD+1eS 2 successes, 1 advantage

Advantage spent to locate enemy slicer.

"Roger that, Major, we are a few minutes out," Anler replies into his comlink. To the clones he says: "The flanking force has engaged, we need to hurry. We don't split up, we need all the manpower we have to storm the HQ. Cyclone in front with me, Acklay guards our rear. Let's hope those boys left the way to the HQ clear for us."

He is about to enter the vents when Oss' comlink comes to life. "Ah, not good," he says, looking at the clones. "Fortunately, you guys all sound the same. Quick, one of you, tell him you got lost in the vents but you have found your way again and will be in position in a few minutes."

"Fine. Give me the commlink." Jackpot swipes the comm, "We are moving into position now, we're repelling dowb the dome. Wait, a second. Sir the Jedi is leading a small force in a flanking maneuver through the landing bay. It looks to be four or five squads, and it looks like this is going to be their attepmt to breach our defenses. Should me and my men continue with our attack, or do we have new orders?"

There would be a long pause before Drummers voice returns. 'You should have already been in position sergeant, you are making things very difficult for us down here! Don't worry about the Jedi, I'm sending troops to the docks now. You focus on your job, and disrupt that attack! If I don't see any progress soon I'm going to have to send another squad to assist, and I don't want to weaken the defense line. Drummer out'. With that the comm would go dead.

Songbird would sigh, looking around at the others. 'So who wants to go and attack our boys downstairs? I bet their slicer has access to the buildings cameras by now, Drummer's going to see Oss and his team make a no show, he's not stupid'. Kee would nod, looking across to their commander. 'Well at least he's wasting troops in the docking bay, that'll buy the major some time. Any new orders commander or proceed as planned?'

"No, that's too risky. We can't risk the confusion and potential friendly fire," Anler replies to the clone the others knew as Songbird. "We need to move quickly through the vents towards the HQ before they send reinforcements."

"You," he says, pointing at one of the clones from Cyclone squad. "Call Major Zombie and inform him of the development." Without waiting for a reply, he enters the vents, looking at the correct way to go on his datapad.

" Brothers I'll do it I need to be in the back anyway..." Slugger says as he gestures for the rest of Cyclone Squad to get into the vents, " Major Zombie this is CT-9182 'Slugger' we just intercepted enemy communications and have told Drummer to expect an attack from the Docks, since there are no actual troops there. Sir I think this is the perfect opportunity for your squadron to make some headway while the Commander and my Squadron deal with the HQ sir!" Slugger awaits a response from Zombie before he tries to squeeze himself into the Ventilation with his Rotary Cannon.

The response from the major would almost be drowned out by the terrific chatter of gunfire. 'Really, thank you cadet, and here I was just sitting on my hands!' Zombie would snap back, clearly agitated. 'We are taking a beating down here! They've adjusted to Law's attack, and are holding their positions! We're barely in the door here! We need something to distract Drummers men or we are these cadets are going to crumble!' There'd be a pause as it seems that there is a muffled argument on the other end of the comm. 'Be advised, Drummer has set up barricades at regular points, we think as far back as the command centre, expect heavy resistance when you pop out of those vents!' Zombie would seem to become distracted, focusing on the battle at hand. 'Focus on the barricade, pull it apart!' With that the comm would go dead, leaving the troops atop the dome to consider what was said.

Poison would look down, scratching his neck for a moment. 'Sounds like things are bad down there. We're going to have to move fast or we're going to get no support when we try and take the centre'.

Meanwhile the jedi commander would find that the fans that had been deactivated by Oss's team seemed to go in the direction of the command centre, at least part way. How far it would be difficult to say, but it was a start.

Mass Combat : 3eP+2eA+1eB+3eC+2eD+1eS 1 failure, 3 advantage

Lose a green dice due to 2 overall failures. 3 advantage spend to destroy defences.

Doc worries about the situation. The main force was starting to take more hits than usual, and it wouldn't take much to knock both Cyclone and Acklay out of the fight once everything was on them.

He remembers making a way through the vents and into the command center during briefing, and now it was time to show it.

"Commander, I suggest this as the way to go." he says to Anler, drawing a path on the datapad. He does note one more thing, though.

"There is a shortcut that could buy us some time. Only problem is that it'll take longer to do so, since there's a set of fans rather than just one in that corridor. But if we can get through them, we can cut out a corner or two. Your thoughts, sir?"

"Yeah, the shortcut," Anler replies, thinking about it for a moment. "I was planning to pick the safe route, but the way things seem to be going we need to hurry. Let's do it."

"You heard the Commander. Let's do this." We are not ready for this. Assaulting a superior, entrenched force.. that is anticipating us. I hope this exercise is just to test our mettle, and the war has not become so desperate that they would use resources like this in an actual scenario...

"This is what we're here for."

"So who's first?" Gundark says walking up to the entrance.

"I'll lead the way." Doc says.

The vents would be narrow and cramped to say the least. There was little to no room to maneuver, and the attackers were forced to belly crawl nearly the whole way. The vents were unsurprisingly made for small maintenance droids, not heavily armed and armored soldiers. The initial journey was relatively easy. Oss and his team had fortunately finished his no reactivated the fans they had passed, but there could be heard the low hum of fans twirling in the not so distant path before them. They had passed many different pathways and vents, but soon they reached the crossroads relevant to them. To the left, the longer path, no fans in immediate sight. To the right, the 'shortcut', barred by a large dull coloured fan, spinning lazily. 'Can we hurry up' Songbird would hiss. I'm stuck right over one of the vents. If the Drummers boys look up this whole thing is a bust'.

"Doc, remember you have to change the system setting to maintenance mode before you can switch off the fans" , Data advises over com as he sees Doc is struggling a bit with the console.

Being the first, Doc goes towards the control panel and starts working on it.

"Let's see here..." he says. He gets the info from Data to set the panel to maintenance mode and goes to work.

After a few seconds of typing, he mutters on the comms, "...and there we go."

The fans still move. After a few seconds of silence, Doc says something on the comms. "Checked it, pressed Enter too early, whoops."

After everyone groans, he tries and this time, gets 5 of the fans stopped in quick succession.

The strike team would make good time thanks to Doc's quick work with the fans. Each one they pass through the tightly round air vents. Occasionally they would pass over a narrow grate, allowing a rare ***** of light to reveal their surroundings. the square vents were made of dull galvanized metal, held together by simple rivets. The grates would also allow a quick view of the corridors below. It was a blur of action. Cadets were running back and forth, shouting instructions and such to each other as they carried all manner of equipment with them. As well as guns they were dragging chairs, tables, monitors, whatever they could out of nearby rooms. They were erecting rapidly constructed barricades, ready to fall back onto if the attacking force ever made it through.

As they reach the next fan, the sound of gunfire had quietened. They were well on the way to the command centre, behind enemy lines. As Doc prepares to deactivate the next fan, there would be a loud clang behind them. Someone had dropped their rifle, and in the tight metal box, the sounds echoed like a gunshot. 'Hey, you hear that?' This question wasn't from anyone in the vents, but from a clone down below. This fan happened to be just above one of the manned barricades, and at least one of them had heard the noise. There must be at least two full squads down there. If they heard the attackers, it could be a quick end to the mission.

'Hear what Brick? Focus on the firing line'.

'I definitely heard something, just shut up and listen will you?'