Robert McNamara

Robert bristled at the interruption from the Grand Admiral. In all his years in the Imperial Forces, he had never seen this Grand Admiral. What was his claim? He looked like a chump, and the way he interrupted this meeting with anyone else other than Raven, he would have had his head removed from his neck. But Raven was no Sith, that was obvious. So it was business as usual. Robert stood there- he had no role in this meeting other than muscle if things went south. The Jedi's donation of three ships of supplies did indeed drop out of hyperspace- Lisa was feeding data into his neural link- he was visualizing data as the meeting went on. Ships were coming in and out of the space around Carida as you would expect- construction, supplies, workers, shippers, and aid assistance. The ysalamir offer by Raven surprised him, and it frustrated him after the hard work and sacrifice that his men had given in order to obtain these lizards, and she just offered the Jedi some? What if they find a way around the effects? Their tactical advantage would be gone. Soldiers from the landing bays sent up a message and Lisa pulled it as "unusual" some bounty hunter pressing his luck for payment. Communicating with his ships AI, he made a recommendation to the Spaceport control to pay the man and let him leave. A Sith bounty- and he claimed he had a former Jedi in the form of ash. Sorry, we aren't a trash disposal facility. he thought- and sent the message to the troopers to secure the Sith and be about typical business. ~~~~~~~ Spoiler is nulled. - Aryian

Robert eased his stance as the Raven gave the guards a dismissal gesture, and they left the room. All the while his vigilance heightened and crested as- if Robert wasn't in front of guests or Raven he might have gasped as a dead man walked through the door. My, my, how old bones learn how to walk again. He thought- all the while keeping a eye devoted to the Jedi.

Robert cleared his throat. High priority visitors seemed to be coming out of the woodwork all of a sudden. "I'll have Adams start doing the ground work for the retrieval. And... a few guards should be here with a Ysalamir shortly. Hopefully soon they train the vornskyrs up to par, shortly, I hope. Meanwhile, I'll stay here. If they try anything..." his voice trailed off- already thinking about who, what, where, what's their plan, what is going one, how to get this Mazzari, and how he wished he had one of those Force-Sensitive Beasts here with him- the predator. He swallowed and eyeballed the room with how to fight inside it, should he need to. Within a few minutes, however, he would have six troopers walk through that door with two Ysalamir inside nutrient frames, and a response squad one floor up that held another Ysalmir and plenty of stunning weapons for Robert's liking. Half ready to rappel down the outside of the building. If it came down to it, he would have ample backup against their VIPs. Lisa was patched into his neural link, and Robert just had to think in order to communicate with her. She was onboard, and helping get things ready.

Something tingled in the back of Robert's mind. Like his danger sense when going into battle, but this was different. He knew he was not Force Sensitive, so this was a natural gut feeling that every solider felt- or died. It was a cautious moment, glittered with confusion. "Raven, I-" He stumbled for words, picking them very carefully. "Might I make a recommendation that you have Imperial Intelligence dig into that? Combat Troops do stick out like a Wookiee at a Noghri family reunion... I don't mean to question your orders. I just have this feeling that there is something that will fit the puzzle piece you're trying to find. You think they- the Galactic Alliance- would be so foolish to attack us? We are no laughing matter..." His wrist buzzed- the chrono there was like a mini-datapad, he could view important reports sent to him. For Lisa to push one through while he was meeting with Raven, it must be important. Shooting a quick glance to the chrono, then back to the Head of State, Robert was unsure of whether or not to smile, or get his armor. Old habits did die hard, after all, and it was only one shuttle. "And speaking of which, a Jedi Shuttle has just landed in Forty-b. Life scans indicate two humanoids. Should I have my troops mobilize with the Ysalamir to be ready for the visitors?" His gaze went back to Raven, whatever this was, he was ready to fight in order to get her to safety. His mind wandering to the familiar weight of the blaster at his hip.

Robert walked into the room- looking around to see how she had chosen to decorate. All suggestions of design directed the onlookers eyes to the desk. The shiny desk. Of course, the strong willpower of Mistress Zinthos naturally grabbed your attention as if yanked from hyperspace by an Interdictors Gravity Well Generators. The blue skinned alien that had been escorted out- interesting, but now forgotten. With his cap under his arm, he walked towards the desk. Then his body snapped to attention- saluting, "Mi'Lady, I am well. I'm glad to see you are as well- seems we missed something big happening up there." His eyes motioned to the sky, as he settled back down to an 'at ease' stance. "Myrkr was... an irritant, but productive. We harvested and kept One Hundred and Nine of the yslamiri, and Forty-two Vornskrs. Most of the Yslamir have been placed around the capital. Most still in the landing pad in the third section, should you want them elsewhere. I have positioned five onto my ship, if that is alright. My troops- " a slight hesitation in his voice as there was a practiced way he claimed ownership- but also pride there, lurking. He was proud to be a Imperial, he was happy with this so far... He had been a pirate for just a few years, these were not corrupt bastards- they were his men, in The Galactic Empire- good people, mostly. It was always shameful for good men and women to die, and of course, Death Star was a slaughter of his entire crew- entrusted upon him by the former Emperor. "-will need six prosthetic limbs and one eye. But all have expressed their deepest desires to remain active in the Empire, which I've granted." With a slight reservation in his tone- a noticeable change this time. "I apologize for missing the battle, what else have I missed?" And there was the relaxed- ol' typical Robert tone.

Robert, dressed in a clean and pressed uniform, made his way down planetside- summoned by Raven. Making his way through security checkpoints, and other red-tape. He made his way to her office lobby, but he would have to wait it seemed. It didn't bother him, he was late himself so naturally the schedule continued forward through the day. Waiting for his turn, he toyed with a datapad showing the status on his injured crew.

Robert had shed his armor and showered after the threat was neutralized on the other side of the planet. Which was for the best- he didn't want to see that action, he would rather want to relax and not do a microjump to the other side of the planet. Those microjumps were always so tricky. Running over the battle reports flowing in, he wanted to get going on some other assignment. But here they sat- surveying anyone that jumped in system. Ordered into a patrol pattern his corvette drifted silently through the vacuum of space in an effort to control the perimeter. Providing scanning and real-time video data to Space Traffic Control, no one would be able to get past his ship- or the other ships in the area who were now coordinating their sensors and weapons. The ysalamir had, mostly, been transported off to the city. That was included in the reports to Raven. What he did next was up to her now.

"By the Force, I can't believe we just did that!" V-Two called out, as the wyrm crumbled to the ground- and crumbled into ash. It just dissolved, flabbergasting the pilots who had slowed to watched their quarry burn. They were seeking satisfaction, as they had been out of the main fight. "Gozantti One, cancel approach. Threat neutralized. Situation, by all accounts is secure. Someone should go pick up that Knight down there, do we have any shuttles in the area? Or are we still in Search and Rescue mode?" The wing leader called, half requesting orders- half giving them. The four ships collected themselves and fell into patrol pattern. "Copy that V-One, continue to patrol the area. Call out anything of note and we will respond accordingly- we are still in SR mode, and will continue to do so. Friendlies and hostiles." Gozantti One responded back. Relaying the orders via their private comm- V-One eased back in his seat a bit. The adrenaline was purging from his system and it was a sobering ordeal. Something else seemed to sap away their strength as well. Soon, they would all feel what passed for normal.

Suddenly it was as if they had all been on pause- V-3 saw the other ships, even the VT49, yaw a bit. Then there was a voice and he knew what had to happen. They all did. ~~~ V-1 was in the lead- he and his squadron had just discussed what just happened- but to no details. There was something down there- a Jedi- that had touched their minds. They each broke off the pattern and folded back- but not in sync. Staggered, they unleashed another volley- but One shot straight past the beast- while the others provided harassing fire. Steadily drawing its attention away from where it had emerged. One knew she didn't call to them over the comm, but there would be some way to see the woman that spoke to them, even if from the air. It was slow, but progress was being made. Shifting his gaze- he realized there was a small luminescence on the move towards the creature. That was light from a lightsaber- his astromech scanned the area and managed to put her into a way point that the pilots could track on their displays. Nodding to himself, he pulled the ship over and up- heading up to his left- an arc over the Jedi below. Leveling out- he line up a shot that would follow the beast up its front portion. His discipline kept a smile from his face as he pressed down on the triggers- green laser fire shot into the giant serpents flesh. Increasing the thusters a bit with the help of the droid- he shot forward his body falling into the seat and shot under the arch of the beast. On his radar he saw the VT unleash another few rockets towards the creature- out of the area the Jedi was occupying. "Gozanti One, V-One, how copy?" "This is Gozanti, good copy, go ahead, V-Leader." "ETA on firing range? Friendly in area- they have a plan. Are you equipped with a harpoon, netting, or a tractor beam?" He would have liked to see the expression on the communication officers face, even V-One would pay money to see two cruisers drown a worm- or fling it into vacuum. "Firing solution is in progress, negative on the other items. Your best bet would be a cliff that leads down to the water about 3 clicks south by southeast of your position. We'll have the One-One-Five in orbit soon, firing solution on the cliff will be completed soon." Two Gozanti and the c90? Hm, they were about to put this worm on a skewer- he thought as he circled around- letting two shots go wide but striking 3 more times where the cluster bombs had just exploded. This thing was going to be a bloody mess.

Two Gozanti Cruisers dropped out of hyperspace, and before you could sneeze- four additional craft would appear on sensors. The small bounty the cruisers carried- three V-Wings and a VT-49 Decimator. The four ships dropped and swooped to get around the debris from the ships that had been blown apart. In coordination the three V-Wings took up a wing flight pattern in front of the Decimator- vaporizing small bits of debris for target practice. An alert went out and was silenced. "Pilots, divert attention to target marked at the coordinates uploading to your fighters. Alpha priority." A cool female voice called to pilots, a subtle note of concern in the AI's voice. "Copy that, adjusting trajectory. V-One, moving to intercept. V-Two, V-Three, V-T, acknowledge and follow." The lead pilot called to his squadron. Three green lights blinked twice- they had all followed. "Gozanti One, any details on our target?" He asked back to the cruisers- which were moving down as well to the surface coordinates. "Standby V One..." A different female voice called back. V One watched his chrono count down all the while dodging space debris and taking shots when he could. They had jumped close to the surface, but still high enough to be in orbit- a concession of the hyperdrive it seemed, you couldn't preform a micro-jump into the surface. "By the stars, you see that?!" The VT49 pilot called. V One was about to reprimand him, but let it slide after his own jaw dropped- what the hell was that thing?! They could see it from space as it wiggled and whipped through the sky. Calling to the astromech droid- he had it make the calculations until the thing was within firing range. "Gozanti One, Gozanti Two, what are we looking at here?" "Unknown, but take it out- weapons free- danger close. Seems as if it's a Sith Creature of sorts. Reports are still sketchy at this time." He gritted his teeth, but he considered they did rarely fly into something they didn't know what it was capable of. He was just volunteered to lead his squad into some decent trouble. Switching back over to the squad channel- "Alright, you heard her. Weapons free- Danger close- so we have assets on the ground there. Deci- break off and accelerate- come in at vector One-Eight-Zero. V-Two, break off and approach from vector One-Five-Zero. V-Three, approach from Vector Two-Seven-Zero." The ships broke off and in true fashion- the Decimator did accelerate and shift vectors- they had all switched their flight path. "V-Three, Priority One. V-Two, Priority Two, V-T, Priority Three. V-One, Priority Three. Weapons hot." Acknowledgement lights once again- the command identifying their assigned attack pattern. A bit confusing granted they hadn't been flying that long together, but V-One had confidence about as much as he could muster with the unknown threat- which now looked like a worm coming up on their screens. A quick communication and time calculation and he felt they were ready to take the worm. They didn't have to know what it was in order to kill it. They would be able to coordinate this perfectly. V-Three launched his bombardment- the worm wiggled to chase it with it's giant gapping mouth, but Three leaned heavy on the thrusters- and shot out from the creature- then Two went- a blaze of green light filled the sky as Two barrel-rolled through and out of the way of the creature- completing his path through the circle and out the other side- and increased his altitude. One squeezed the trigger at the back of the creatures apparent head- just enough to get it turning to face him a barrage of missiles from the VT impacted the area- cluster missiles that would cause superficial damage, nothing of substance- just to clear some forest area, from their previous mission to Myrkr- but it would still boil the flesh of whatever this thing was. The VT pulled vertical- and back its original vector in- One banked hard to the left and spun to the side- drawing low over the trees- a bit lower than what he would have liked but it was better than getting caught in the shockwave of the blast. One had only seen two rockets impact the creature- but the thing was massive there was plenty of target to hit. "Gozanti One, Two, Are you in range?" "Affirmative V-One, but the creature is too close to our assets- draw it to the Southern Pole- that will allow us to open up." Gritting his teeth- "Swoop Attack- Harassing Firing Pattern. Southern Vector. V-T, engage at will, but be considerate of us." A set of lights winked in agreement. The four small fighters would try to pull the creatures attention to the south.

"Orders coming in, sounds like a request for fighter support." A cool, crisp, modulated voice came from the corresponding hologram that was being projected a meter away. His hands rubbed over what looked like some beard stubble, Robert silently nodded his head against his hand. The three dimensional map that was laid out before him projected the battle on the other side of the planet. They had been suggested to stay here above the capitol for the time being, but now- they were calling. Hundreds of drop pods were making a line to the surface of the planet- so many pods and chunks of debris that it overloaded the sensors with how much was coming down. Robert sat in the briefing room along with Adams, Spook, and two Liaison Officers from the surface that had come aboard to supervise the offloading of their Myrkr bounty, which was mostly done. He had requested that enough remain on board to cover his ship. There were times where he did feel he was too paranoid. "Gozanti One? Gozanti Two?" Robert calmly called out to the room, his eyes locked on the map displayed in front of him. "Yes, sir?" "Here, sir." The two voices called in unison- the holographic projections of each of the cruisers captions appeared, leaning over the table, but with heads turned and their eyes fixed on Robert. "Hyperdrive status?" "Hyperdrive is spun up, and pre-loaded. We can just in a moment." One replied confidently, but a bit nervously. "Hyperdrive took a dip in power, but we will be able to jump in a moment. The VT is a bit heavy, and we are drifting." A subtle tone of embarrassment was in this captain's voice. Robert shook his head in acknowledgement- his fingers still playing with the stubble, eyes fixed on the map. They had all been preparing for this- but weren't expecting to leave their flagship- Robert's Corvette- behind. But, the cargo did have to be unloaded. Soon the last batch would be bound to the surface, the injured had already been offloaded. "Pilots are ready? Gunners?" His eyes looked up for their responses. Both just nodded. Nodding back- "Make the jump, remember, you're jumping into a debris field, your shields on all ships are your priority after your exit. The One-One-Five will follow shortly. Standard procedure- if there is anything harassing Imperial Forces- engage. Save any Imperial lives you can. Lots of people are out there, prioritize and don't waste time. Jump when ready." Robert looked back to the map after the two holograms saluted, and vanished. He watched the two cruisers break formation, gain speed and disappear. He had just told them to jump into a post-battle clean-up action. And abandon anyone who was not worth the effort to save. Wishing for an Interdictor cruiser, he sighed. Tractor beam most of that debris and escape pods to safety. His brow wrinkled as the two Gozanti ships reappeared on the other side of the planet. Where is Raven? He wondered and sent a communication to her, asking her where she was and if she needed assistance.

Three little winks in the space around Carida and a Vigil Corvette along with two Gozanti Cruisers flanking it. Communications were brought up to the Space-Traffic Control, and were permitted into a stationary position above the planet. Robert communicated up the line of command that he had returned with a plentiful harvest- the wounded were taken care of- but they held off on restocking anything- it seemed there was a military engagement going on, and Robert wanted to be ready to assist, if requested. For now- he let his three ships sit in orbit- awaiting orders.

Robert let his blaster dangle at his side. He was showered- fed- his thirst quenched- and eager to leave this place. Looking over the final numbers, he looked to see what the final tally was. One hundred and nine ysalamir. "Dang, we should get six more, you know?" Robert said as he sat in his seat on the bridge, Adams was off to the side- messing with some sort of report himself- perhaps the wounded that Robert just passed him a few minutes prior. It was Lisa who responded- taking a visual form on one of the projectors. Her frame was that of a human female- her skin- or shell- or whatever was just a haze of digits. She was calculating the take off- and was running the numbers. The hum of the engines was growing stronger- any second now... "If you want to stay for just six, I can turn off the engines that cost a few hundred credits in fuel that we just wasted..." She narrowed her eyes, and put her hands on her hips. An AI with sass wasn't ideal, but Robert liked it- it kept him from getting too cocky. He snorted a laugh- "I wish, but no, continue take off, please." He also always remembered to use his manners, he wasn't a heathen. Her image flashed away. "We have a lot to make up for-" the countdown came on interrupting Adams. Robert finished the rest of the sentence for him. There had been a lot that transpired between the time they landed, and now. "Take us to orbit, link with the Gozanti and let's be about it then. We need to get to Carida." Robert finished off- and with no surprises- no ambushes- no enemy at the last minute- just the same old boring lift off and into space- then the model blue visual of hyperspace to fill the front screen. Robert watched as it cycled through the blue and black mixture. One hundred and nine that survived the transplants. That was a lot of ysalamir. Then the compliment of 42 Vornskrs. Their time here had been worth it after all. With a relaxed body- he sunk into the chair, put his feet on the railing, he took a gulp of his water and started to see what they needed for restocking.

After a mysterious event erased two hours of Robert's life in the field, he wasn't quite sure how to shake this feeling of deja vu- the feeling where you've done this multiple times, but you just keep getting a restart. Apparently his troops felt it also as they all stood there- looking around. Their confused expressions hidden under their helmets. By the stars... Robert cursed with escalating vulgar comments to be made. He didn't care- he was hot- and was tired of being on this planet. Tired of whatever atmospheric laws of physics made this planet so hot. Cursing the cooling factor in his armor as well, as it would drain the power supply faster than he could walk back to the ship to recharge. He had called in for a speeder to come assist their crew- they had captured several vornskrs in their spray nets- some had to be put down due to their velocity and immobility causing injuries. One was so bad that the bones in its leg were sticking out. A shot to the head quickly silenced the creature. They had a handful of the powerful predators- once again with the feeling of deja vu- and Robert was pleased. The crew was still under threat of the tiny herd of these predators- and it seemed like it wouldn't end. Time after time, they shot the spray nets over the creatures, as well as outright killing the ones that were injured or that they couldn't get their nets over them in time. His mind wandered as he raised his blaster and shot a beast off of Spook- who recoiled under the dead animals velocity striking him. Robert wondered what else was going on in the galaxy. Something called to him to get off this planet and back to Carida. He had been gone too long in order to capture all these- ysalamir and vornskrs. Unsure of the real numbers, he made a note to get back to the ship. The speeder showed up a few minutes later- considering the terrain was not kind to bigger vehicles, they loaded the stunned and netted predators to the vehicle and watched it float back to the ship. He wished they all could ride on the vehicle back to the ship- but with that much weight the speeder would break down and they would all have to walk and carry the predators themselves. Activating his cooling mechanism for a moment, Robert felt some relief as they scaled the next hill. The whole squad he was with was scratched and banged up- but no lost limbs and no dead soldiers. Considering that a win, he moved on. He knew some men and women died out here, but he would be okay with that once he got off this planet, conducted their funerals, and returned back to Carida. Once he got in range almost thirty minutes later, he had Adams and Lisa start collecting everything they deployed. Their whole camp was to pack up and get ready to leave the planet. He wanted final numbers, and to be off the planet within the next day. He hoped the engineers and the troops had collected enough of the force-absent creatures as well as their predators to augment the next phase of the plan. The plan they had so many weeks ago... that has undoubtedly changed by now. As the camp came back into view, Robert paused for a moment, and surveyed the scene. The ship- the camp- the dozens of moving little bodies of his company- and the cages filled with vornskrs to the engineers and zoologists that had been hired to get the ysalamir off the planet alive, and that would help them in their coming battles. Scaling the boarding ramp, he spoke to Lisa and Adams- everyone was either returning, or preparing for dust-off. Still no word from Carida. (OOC: After the board has eaten five of my posts, the IR is leaving, and a ruling is requested.)

The campaign on Myrkr was coming to a close, that much Robert knew. They all had spent days here, weeks even. Progress was slow, but steady. Three more had died out right by vornskyrs, two were left disfigured in ways that made Robert cringe. One would need a robotic leg, and another would need a robotic arm. Even more had been stung by the vornskyr's tails- between the armor plates- those lucky shots. Everyone was tired and bruised at the very least. The commander was anxious, so he decided it was time to get his boots muddy. It would give moral a good boost as well- seeing the commander on the field always boosted his spirits, whenever he was a grunt. Also gave him a bit of anxiety- knowing he had to protect the commander. Lacing up his boots and fitting the armor pieces was always a therapeutic exercise. Once that mask came down over his face and the brief second of darkness lifted, he felt empowered. Not overconfident, but solid. The faceless mask was who he aspired to be- just a suit of armor and a blaster. A damn effective suit of armor and blaster. A mirror was across the way so soldiers could inspect their armor if something wasn't right. Also so they identified as a storm trooper. But were they storm troopers anymore? They were now the Imperial Remnant, they were striving for something better. It seemed as though years passed as he stood in front of the mirror, analyzing himself. The clock on his Heads Up Display inside his helmet tracked it as 90 seconds, before Spook's armored fist bumped him in the shoulder- bringing him back to reality. Spook remarked how ugly Robert was, and that's what caught his gaze for so long. Robert made a hand gesture that was offensive. Something about a rancor and his mother? Either way, it was time to move along. Robert, Spook and three others that had seen action, but were new to the squad were about to be sent out. The rest of Robert's crew were to stay on board. A sliver of Lisa AI was put into his helmet- a companion of sorts. Robert would feel a bit lost without her around. Relying too much on technology would be his downfall eventually. But wasn't it everyone's downfall? One break through would outweigh another one.... so on and so forth? But the five headed out into the jungle, along with the standard column of troops, but they were going further than they had previously. After about a mile into the jungle, the encountered the first vornskyr that was an issue- Spook had shot it mid-leap. The beast still had velocity to it and knocked the one trooper to the ground. Now covered in blood, they had lifted the dazed trooper to his feet- his blaster had broken in the fall. A roar from the jungle wasn't uncommon as they all well knew at this point, but it was how many reverberations there were now. They had their spray nets in their other hand, holding it under their blasters- acting as a stabilizer now. Both barrels pointed outward, they moved cautiously through the jungle.