"Good. I look forward to some downtime, hopefully after this mission, so I can show you the ropes. Keep your head down and your power cells charged, okay?"

Condor entered the room with a salute a few minutes behind Camoflauge, before making his way over to the holomap. He was a bit disappointed he'd missed most of the planning, but there were other things to be done and he'd just come off the back end of assignment. Most of his time had either been spent drilling the shiny's, sparring with Mireska, or scouting the enemy forces on BARCs. He'd been pleased with how disjointed the clankers had been after they'd crashed a ship into their central base, but there were so many of the blasted droids that they hadn't been able to push them without air superiority. Now with the fleet pushed back, the droids were finally about to push them back. All the more reason they needed a good plan to gain the upper hand on the ground.

The plan seemed pretty solid to him so far, although he was concerned with the risks they'd be taking. He didn't mind it himself, and his skill with vehicles had let him outfit the BARCs Balyeg had been using to scout with bigger weaponry. Putting the Generals back on the front lines again, going behind enemy lines. He supposed it wasn't any more dangerous then boarding the enemy capital ship to take it from the inside, but that had nearly cost Wraith his life.

" If I may, Commander, " Condor began, waiting for a nod of approval from Cody before continuing. " I can concur with the Lieutenant's plan. Crashing the landing craft to block this assault path would be ideal. However, even if we draw off enough forces to board, I'm uncertain if separating the assault teams so widely is ideal. The targets are masterfully picked, but I'd like to propose a different strategy for the full assault. "

He expanded the holomap, highlighting the lines of assault from their side of battlefield, making careful note of the approaching lines as well. " We should begin by inserting ourselves quietly into these locations," Condor began, marking the two bridges and the two buildings. "The Generals can approach the bridges quickly with their BARCs, and blow them before the clankers have time to react. The resulting explosion should be enough to get their attention and draw them out. Meanwhile, I can insert Camouflage and My own squads, as well as the BARCs we'll need via LAAT. If I stay low enough, I should be able to avoid enemy radar and insert us behind this building, out of their line of fire. From there, Camoflauge and his men can rig the explosives, while I lead Balyeg out on the BARCs to lure the CIS forces into an ambush between the buildings. Once we draw them in, we can evacuate with the LAAT and drop the buildings on top of them. The resulting smoke and dust from the collapse can give us a smokescreen on approach, and with their forces disoriented, I'll land the LAAT directly into the landing craft. It'll be a hot drop, but if we can secure the troop bay while we take the bridge, we can deploy explosives, fly the landing craft to the last chokepoint, and blow it sky high while we exit on the LAAT. If our exfill plan falls through, then we can have the General's personal squads on standby with ground transports to get us out of the line of fire. "

Condor knew it was bold of him to make those claims, but he was certain he could do it. The Battle of Geonosis had tempered his confidence in his abilities as a pilot. He knew the risks, and he knew that if they were going to do this and get out alive, they needed a better plan for exfill if things went wrong.

Camouflage's brow furrowed as he contemplated the Commando's suggestions. If we hit the buildings first, they'll have time to deploy many of their forces... Landing the gunship straight into the lander, if he can even pull it off, would bypass a lot of that, but if they've got their tanks out, or worse, their tanks still sitting in the mouth of the thing, we'll be in for a whole mess of trouble. If they've got any AATs out in the front of the lander, the flak while incoming could very well just knock us out of the sky. If they've got tanks in the entry, it'll be even more dangerous, especially for the troops if we jump off inside the ship or jetpack in. My original plan required us to hit pretty much as soon as they landed and opened the shell, before they'd have a chance to disembark any of their tanks... Blitz what little active droids they had and cut a path to the bridge...

He came to a decision and nodded. "It's risky (even riskier than my original plan , he thinks) , but it could certainly pay off. Speed is our ally here. If we stay still for more than half a second, their armor can blow us out of the sky. If they'll risk shooting towards their own ship." he concedes. " As a backup plan, we should bring a fusion cutter. If they've got armor in the entry and you have to abort, you can drop us on the top of the lander and we'll cut our way in."

“ The mass driver missile launchers should be enough to soften up our landing zone, and we don’t need to stop to fire them. But you’re right to have a backup. As you said, speed is our ally here. Take some shaped thermal grenades, a fusion cutter would be too slow, but a shaped thermal grenade will punch a hole through the ship plating big enough for you to drop through. ”

Cody shook his head, Negative Lieutenant Condor, the Laat won't be able to loiter while waiting for Lieutenant Camouflage's team to set the explosives. However, Varactyl squad could fly in on their jet packs set the explosives and comm for an exfil. Since Varactyl squad has jetpacks they could board the Laat mid air enroute to the lander. The Laat can soften up the ground forces outside the lander with munitions, prior to landing, Varactyl squad can deploy from the Laat prior to its touch down and land directly in the lander before the droids have a chance to react, while the laat momentarily touches down right in front of the Lander's ramp to deploy you and your man to reinforce Varactyl squads boarding action and defend against droids seeking to retake the Lander.

After some discussion with the QM, Mireska emerged with the necessary explosives, specialised detonators (cameras, lasers, comlinks, etc.) plus two pairs of long-range infrabinoculars.

Once she reached the garage, she inspected the BARCs to be used, then loaded the charges and related gear into the speeder bikes' limited "cargo" panniers. Seeing Jorin, she tossed him a pair of long range infrabinoculars.

"Here, I suspect that - like me - you don't have the ability to see details at a distance or through materials, unlike Ker'see."

Jorin inspected the device, No Master, he admitted, But if I come across a Force technique in my studies, I'll let you know. Jorin smiled.

"It's a simple enough technique," Mireska told Jorin, "But the more advanced variations do require some time to learn and I haven't mastered them all. For example, I don't need a microscope in a laboratory, but I can't see through walls or do really advanced variations like 360 degree vision or seeing halfway across the planet. Ker'see's more the expert there than I am."

The ARC nods to the commander, and salutes "Yes sir. I'll go requisition the explosives and shaped charges from the quartermaster and we'll deploy ASAP." With that, he turns and hustles to the quartermaster's office to acquire the needed explosives.

"If you can get me in the right place I should be able to scout enemy lines safely as General Mireska is alluding to."

He was stuck. His hyperdrive ring was destroyed during the battle, making him unable to jump with the fleet. He was now heading for the surface with two droids on his tail and one to his right, limiting his movements. He closed his eyes, he could still see the fighters right behind him. Laser bolts hitting his engines, He pulled up and did a quick barrel roll. A laser bolt hitting near the landing gear, He flipped upside down. If only they put hyperdrives on these things, then I wouldn't be in this mess. Suddenly he was knocked out of his thinking. He quickly looked down at his damage report, he had taken a bad hit, and was losing the rear deflector. He winced, I probably should only do that when training. "Well buddy, if we're going to lose the shields anyway, might as well be now. Reroute all power to the engines!" The engines burst to life, giving them a pretty good distance away from the droids. He activated the comm. Hope it's not fried. "Mayday, mayday, this is General Shin Ethan of the Republic. Requesting emergency landing. My ring was destroyed during combat, and I have droid fighters on my tail." A clone answers "We read you General. We're lowering the shield, but you'll have to make it quick." Shin responded "I'll take it." The shield starts going down just ahead of him, and then starts going back up quickly. Almost there. He made it just in the nick of time, before doing a reverse maneuver, and then landing. He sighed, he knew he would probably get caught up in their mission, and he wasn't really looking forward to it, especially because it wasn't going to involve his fighter anytime soon. Let's go see what's up.

Two clones approach Ethan as he climbs out of the cockpit of his damaged delta 7, one of them says Greetings General Shin, the other Generals and Commander are in the garage. The clone points to a nearby hanger. They're about to go out on a foray but you can catch them before they go if you hurry. Looking over the aethersprite, the clone continues good naturedly Your delta 7 seems to have taken quite a beating on the way in .... Spanner says he can fix anything but he sure has his work cut out for him if he's going to get it combat worthy again ... he chuckes as he gestures over his shoulder at a fellow clone in the hanger, one wearing a mechanics overalls rather than armor.

Shin gives a polite nod, "I know what you mean." looking back at his fighter. "Just tell him to take care of it." Not that I did. "I'll go talk to them. Thanks!" with that he ran for the garage.

Meanwhile, in the garage Mireska's comlink gave a discreet buzz, indicating an urgent text message from the garrison's HQ. She checked it and raised an eyebrow.

"It appears that Jedi General Shin Ethan has joined us. A broken hyperdrive sled kept him from leaving with the rest of the fleet, so he landed here instead."

Shin ran into the garage. "Generals," he gives a quick bow. "I apologize if I'm getting in the way of anything."

Just in time for the fun to begin. Jorin smiles, bowing to the Knight in greeting, I'm Padawan Jorin Cass.. I'm new as well.

After rushing to the quartermaster's office to get the explosives, he speedwalks back to his squad where they and the commandos are waiting near the gunships. When he gets close to the group he sets down the crate, "Varactyl Squad! There's been a change in plans. We're going to rig a pair of buildings to blow first, that'll block one of the routes. Then we'll jump into the LAAT and make straight for the lander at speed using the dust from the buildings for cover. Condor will use the gunship's ordnance to soften up the defenders, then thread the needle and hot-drop us right in the lander. If that approach is blown, we'll jet out and land on top of the ship and blow our way through. Ghost, Shadow. You take these shaped charges. You're our backup plan. The rest of you take these demolition charges, these are for the buildings. Since we need to keep our weight down, everyone except Ghost and Shadow have to leave the vibroswords behind and send them back to the barracks. The shaped charges are light enough that you can take both. "

As the clones of Varactyl Squad step up to take the charges, Fury whistles, "Ghost, if you ain't a ghost after this mission, I want your secrets."
Ghost shakes this head as he picks up the charge, "The only ghosts made on this mission would be the clankers, if they had souls."
"And none of that en route," Camouflage says, "we'll have to maintain radio silence until the buildings come down."
"Where's the kid?" Hawk asked, glancing around as if expecting to see Jorin approaching.
"He's going with the generals on their own mission. It's just us and the commandos for this one." Camouflage responded.

Once the Varactyls had revised their loadout, Camouflage and Condor briefly conferred to confirm the plan and set a timetable, then rejoined their squads. As Condor warmed up the LAAT's engines, Camouflage and Varactyl squad took off on their jetpacks, making a beeline for the first site and doing their best to conserve fuel.

Ker'see nods curtly briefly turning from Duchess. "Greeing Ethan," she says. "I suppose more of us should be helpful..."

"Welcome, Ethan," Mireska smiled at the newcomer. "I'm Healer - and Knight - Mireska Tanohdi. You've arrived at an interesting moment."

She gestured towards the waiting BARCs. "We're about to embark upon a sabotage mission. Care to join us?"

Shin gives a slight grin back at Jorin. He then turns to Ker'see, and her Nexu. Hmm, I didn't know those were pets. He looks at Mireska, then to the BARCs. Nexus, BARCs? This does sound interesting. "I would be glad to join you. Just brief me in on the way."

As the tight formation approaches the towers at high speed, the ARC gestures to his squad and they split up, going low as they decelerate and land at the base of the buildings, rushing towards the predefined locations to deploy the charges. Anakkona takes Hawk and Shadow into the left building and Camouflage takes the others into the building on the right. Shadow in the left building and Ghost and Camouflage in the right move out ahead of their groups to screen against any potential opponents as the others set the charges.

Midway through their sweep, they come to a set of stairs near an exit and Camouflage turns to his companion, "Ghost, head up a couple levels and see if you can get a good view out the front of the building. I'll keep sweeping this level and meet back with the others in... 10 minutes. Keep alert." Ghost nods and gives the ARC a jaunty salute, "Yessir. I'll watch out for 'em. Rule number one, kill them before they kill you." He runs up the stairs three at a time, keeping low with his carbine clutched across his chest.

Camouflage shakes his head and chuckles as he continues on, eyes flicking back and forth as he checks for threats. He comes to the front entrance, daylight streaming through the big windows - and the big holes - illuminating the lobby. As he steps into the lobby, he hears the sharp report of blaster fire and dives forward as a burst of crimson bolts zip past his head, shattering what was left of the window just behind him. He scramble-dashes for cover as he searches for the shooter. He ducks down behind the receptionist's desk as a burst of blaster fire pocks the desk right next to his head, but he caught a glimpse of the shooter: a badly damaged battle droid of a still-experimental model; firing through the busted-out wall of an office overlooking the lobby. He waits a second for the proper moment, and gets it when the droid sticks its head up to get a better angle. Spinning out of cover, the ARC sends a single brilliant blue bolt straight through the droid's head. The dead droid's blaster fires spasmodically for a moment before ceasing.

He mentally weighs the risk of yelling versus the risk of breaking comm silence and decides better to warn Ghost the old fashioned way, yelling and hoping the clone can hear him, "05! Code Z, BX!" After a moment, Ghost yells back, "Copy, boss." As the blaster fire below him had ceased, he already knew that his lieutenant had taken out the offending droid, and if he was still maintaining radio silence, then he didn't think their cover had been blown. He adjusts his grip on the deece and continues on, keeping alert for any movement. If there was one half-dead droid, there could be more. Rule number 17: always make sure they're dead. He thought. Somebody didn't do their job...

Camouflage glanced around the room again, checking the droid corpses for any sign of life, before standing back up and continuing on his way. He glanced at the chrono in his helmet and decided it was about time to head back. So far, so good.

Ker'see persuaded Duchess to get into one of the sidecars and hunker down without too much fuss.

The Jedi checked their coms, then quietly departed the GAR garrison on their BARCs. Using a stealthy route through a blue-green crystalline forest park, they made their way into the labyrinthine streets of downtown Chaleydonia and began to look for a promising sniper's nest. Half an hour's reconnaissance of the western riverfront area yielded an office building which had been only mildly damaged during the bombardments. Still structurally sound, it afforded a view of both the northern and southern bridges across the wide river to the east.

The speeder bikes were parked out of sight inside the ground floor lobby, and the Jedi (and nexu) ascended the stairwell beside the broken turbolifts. Although the building had five floors, Ker'see pronounced the third floor to be the most suitable sniper's nest, with the best angles to cover both bridges - particularly when shooting at targets under the bridges. (At which point someone was heard to mutter "So long as you don't shoot us ." ) The only drawback was that the watchers' attention had to be split between the northern view and the sourthern one. Eyeballing the distances involved, Ker'see estimated that there were approximately two and a half klicks to either target zone from the nest. Towards the extreme of her range, but certainly not an insurmountable distance.

Mireska looked consideringly at the internal structure of the third floor, then called the others over.

"If Ker'see can confirm the presence or absence of loadbearing elements, then maybe Ethan and Jorin could do a bit of quiet Force-assisted renovation. A more open floor plan would allow Ker'see quicker movement from one side of the building to the other, not to mention easier non-comlink communication between the two sides when the rest of us return from laying the sabotage charges and start keeping watch too."

They agreed, and the corporate headquarters of Crystal Forest Tours were quickly and creatively "remodelled". Duchess wisely kept out of the way, occasionally sneezing when the duracrete dust blew in her direction.

Ker'see then settled into a comfortable position overlooking the southern bridge, with Duchess keeping an inquisitive eye (and other senses) on the open floor behind her Jedi companion. Mireska, Jorin, and Ethan went downstairs to retrieve two of the BARCs, and slipped quietly into the streets. Their first target was the southern bridge.

As Anakkona and Hawk were beginning to set the explosives, Shadow was beginning to circle back. He steps silently through a blown-out wall and spots a BX droid (minus legs) army-crawling towards the hole on the opposite wall in the direction of the other Varactyls. Shadow pulls up the carbine and carefully squeezes off a shot, right through the back of the droid’s head. "Easy" he whispers. He ducks into cover before yelling to the others, "Code Z, BX!"
"Aww, kriff." Anakkona mutters as they begin placing the charges. "Hurry up and let’s get this done."

Ghost carefully makes his way through the office building, looking for any sign of movement. He hears a scraping sound to the right and dashes through the door with his carbine already panning the room. He sees a maimed droid on the floor pulling up its blaster to shoot when a metal arm slips around his throat. Ghost instinctively grabs the new droid’s arm with his left hand as he shoots at the legless droid with the blaster, sending multiple bolts into its head and neck area. As Ghost struggles to shake off the remaining droid, another droid tries to shoot at him from the floor above through a hole in the ceiling, but it's target acquisition malfunctions and instead it shoots the floor out from under its own feet, falling in front of the clone trooper.

Two floors down, Camouflage hears the shots and decides to step it up, moving back towards the clones setting the charges. Rule number eighty-nine, one’s an anomaly, two’s a trend. "GHOST! Group up!" he yells as he rounds a corner, running smack into an armless droid, barely managing to plug a bolt straight through its head at point-blank range. He only stops for the half a second it takes to disentangle himself, making straight for the stairs Ghost went up in the first place.

Fury and Havoc hear the blaster fire and hastily begin setting up the charges "Do you think we brought enough?” Fury grumbled. Havoc hears something and half turns, swearing a blue streak as he dives for his blaster and cover, having seen four of the zombie droids exit a door just five meters from their position. Fury does likewise, scrambling for a nearby room as he scoops up the blaster. The droids are slow to react, but the two that have blasters begin firing at Fury as the other two charge forward to jump on Havoc. Fury yells in pain as one of the bolts takes him in the side, but the armor absorbs most of it. Havoc kicks off the first droid, but the fourth brings him down and jumps on top of him, ripping off his helmet and slamming a metal fist into his face. Havoc grabs at its sparking head as they grapple, but misses and the droid slams its fist into the side of his head.

Shadow dashes forwards from his position, making swiftly for the team setting the charges, carbine at the ready.
At a noise, Anakkona snatches up his carbine and spins into a ready position as Hawk keeps working feverishly to prime the charges. Four maimed droids drop through a hole in the ceiling ahead of them and dash towards them. Anakkona sprays the corridor with fire, taking down one of the droids, as Shadow fires through a wall taking down a second. The remaining two, both armless, charge forward and the first one tries to jump on Hawk, but Anakkona intercepts it, shoving it off down the hall, where it rolls before trying to stagger to its feet.

Ghost bashes his helmeted head against the droid holding him from behind and spins back into the room, spraying fire at the droids. He obliterates the one on the floor, but the other droid dashes in under the barrage and goes for his legs. Ghost dodges out of the way and staggers back as he tries to regain his balance, yelling to Camouflage "Little busy, ‘65!" But Camouflage had already left the bottom of the stairwell by this point, having heard blaster fire coming from Havoc and Fury’s position. He double-times it, sprinting towards them at top speed, ignoring a crippled droid that snatches at his ankle from a pile of rubble.

The droids pinning down Fury advance, but they can’t land a hit through his cover. The droids on top of Havoc keep pummeling him until he falls unconscious. Fury ducks out from behind the door jamb, spraying fire at the advancing droids, dropping them both.

Shadow busts through a weakened section of wall as Anakkona riddles the droid he just bodyslammed. The remaining droid trips and sprawls out on the floor of the hall as Hawk finishes the first charge and moves on to the second, trusting his comrades to keep the clankers off his back. Anakkona executes the last droid, glances around, and announces "Looks like the last of them. Hawk, you about done with the charges?" "I’m working on it, keep your pants on. Now is it red, red, green, or red, green, red..."

As Ghost prepares to finish off the last droid, another droid grabs his leg, dragging him to the ground. He slams onto a weak spot and crashes through, falling to the floor below and taking both droids with him. He stands and plugs a shot into each of them, following the precepts of rule seventeen. Clutching his side where a piece of jagged metal protrudes from his armor, he staggers off towards Fury and Havoc’s last known position.

As Camouflage runs, he passes under a hole in the ceiling and the droid waiting there. The droid fires, hitting the ARC trooper in the back. Camouflage grits his teeth through the pain and keeps running, anxious to cover the clones planting the charges. He turns the corner and fires off a couple shots, taking out one of the droids on top of Havoc. Fury shoots the last one as it charges towards him, then instantly moves over to Havoc to check him for serious injuries. Camouflage turns on his heel and turns back to eliminate the droid that shot him on his way here, best to save Ghost the trouble of getting hit like he did. Making his way down the hall, Ghost shoots the one-armed droid when it tries to grab at him, and gives a tired wave as Camouflage comes around the corner, but is surprised to see him exchange fire with the ceiling. Camouflage neatly plugs the droid, who slides forwards and falls through the hole.

Keeping an eye out for more droids, they hustle back to where Fury is checking on Havoc. They find him working on the charges, "Havoc is out cold, took some nasty hits to his head. Nothin' I can do, you got a stimpack? I could use one too if you don’t mind." "I think we all could." Ghost replied. Camouflage nodded and pulled a couple out of his pouch. "Yeah, I’ve got a few. You first Ghost." After injecting them each with a stim, reviving a still groggy Havoc who complained of a massive headache, and finishing placing the charges, they headed to the rendezvous with the commandos.

Across the way, Hawk had finished planting the explosives and their team was already in position, surprisingly unscathed.

Varactyl squad began warming up their jetpacks as they heard the distinctive sound of a LAAT approaching, Condor right on schedule.

.