Serenno

[Delta73]

Snip

 

The corrupted rose bud slipped from its stem and fell with a thud to the earthen ground. Another judicious snip and the rest of the stem, with its thirty odd poisonous barbs fell after it. Burying itself in the dark loam of the Serenno gardens soil.  Small, nimble hands plucked it up from where it fell, and an answering thump from the stem and bud hitting the inside of a gardening pail told the Castellan that his charges were busy at their tasks. He ran a black gloved hand across the equally black flower of the next rose bloom and leaned close, opening himself to the force to detect any corruption. There was nothing, but he felt another presence instead. He spun around swiftly enough that the two children behind him cowered for a second before regaining their composure. He reached out again with his mind and his face showed a mix of fear and rage.

 

One of the children looked behind him but could only see the distant air traffic of the spaceport. She cowered again and lowered her eyes, setting the garden pail down on the ground beside her. 

 

“Spast.” Came the gruff voice of the Castellan of Serenno. “We finally have our incursion.” 

 

Without another word, the man walked off, leaving his charges utterly alone and confused. So they simply went to the kitchens for an early supper while they could. 

 

The Castellan, with a call from his comm to Sith High Command, informed the Sith military of the possible presence of saboteurs, but what could there possibly be of interest in the small kingdom? And why would the Sith care? He could not answer such a question, so he and his guard began preparations for the defense of Serenno. Dispatching a guard force to the spaceport, while he tried to track them down using him mind. 

 

Should actual forces arrive, then the Sith would respond, but a few paltry Jedi? The Sith could not give a damn. So these Jedi, whoever they were, were the responsibility of the Castellan to deal with.

[Delta73]

“And we trace the footage back and bingo!” 

 

The security officer, Sara Cruise whispered excitedly as she zoomed through the security footage inside the bank after a high security badge had been reported missing. That unfortunate guard was busy explaining away his multiple violations of security protocol to both of their bosses, but Sara had found the culprit. All she had to do is search for unreported access to security systems, and any possible badge swipes on the mainframe and viola! Two shady looking individuals had waltzed past security like it was nothing and did nothing to cover their tracks. She immediately expected it to be part of the yearly penetration “Red Team” tests that the bank conducted, but this was far too easy. She shook her head and took another bite of the offered doughnut from her partner who was busy correcting the security override on the bank's mainframe. 

 

“Why did they not disable the cameras Sa?” The rodian whispered to her as his suction cup fingers flew over his modified keyboard. 

 

“I don’t know Dee. But they pickpocketed Robb pretty swift eh?” 

 

"Right? OK so you are new, like almost right out of school right?" The Rodian did his best to blush, but Rodians did not have the ability, so his bulbous eyes just stared at her. "So list off the protocols for a data breach." 

 

"One. Identify the intrusion."

 

He checked these off on his fingers, leanign back from his control console. 

 

"Two. Assemble your response team, in this case us and the police." 

 

He looked back at his keyboard and seemed to be thinking before he spoke as confidently as able. 

 

"Three. Inform police and Administration. And if necessary customers." She smiled as she went back to writing her report. "Four. Secure all systems. That's what I am doing right now. Then we last but not least evaluate. How did I do?"

 

She laughed. "Just fine Dee. Get back to it."

 

She thumbed her screen over to her bosses’ comm. With a swift conversation, and another few calls out to the local authorities, soon almost all the local police knew that there had been a break-in at the bank. And of course, the Castellan and his men were also informed. Following standard procedures, and for the safety of their customers and their assets, the bank closed for business early, the staff evacuated and the mainframe isolated from the holotranscievers. The effected mainframes were prepared for investigative forensics. No transactions would come in or out of the facility while the Castellan lived. 

 

The Jedi were really after credits? Did they not escape with the Galactic Alliance treasury? The Castellan did not know, but what he did know he sent to the Sith High Command. Who dutifully informed him that his request would be shuttled further up the chain of command. He and a platoon of guards made their way to the bank, where they set an ambush for the Jedi Knights. For how dangerous were the Jedi really? 

[Delta73]

The dark painted star destroyers of the Sith Imperial Taskforces slipped out of hyperspace with all the eagerness of a pack of hunting wolves. The gingerly formed a screen at the edges of the planetary gravity well but did not encroach upon the sovereign kingdom of Serenno. Though their presence would cause alarm among the planetary defense forces, they were allies, so no fighters were scrambled even when one of the Victory class star destroyers spat out a half dozen assault shuttles that slipped into the upper atmosphere in a bright line that resembled, at least from the planet’s surface, six shooting stars. 

 

To anyone skilled in war, it could only mean one thing

 

The Sith had arrived. 

 

The Jedi could feel the spike in tension all over the planet if they reached out. And any that looked skyward would see the telltale sign of a special operations group insertion. This was a Sith planet, there was no reason to go in with guns blazing. 

 

__________________________

Fleet Group: Anaxes Garrison 

 

Sith Empire Destroyer Group [Turbolasers]

Taskforce Experience Green (1xp)

- Assigned Callsign - 

Hunter

KDY Victory II-class Star Destroyer Hellkite |9/9| 

KDY Victory II-class Star Destroyer Hellequin |9/9| 

 

Sith Empire Precision Strike Carrier Group

Taskforce Experience Green (1xp) 

- Assigned Callsign - 

Bow

KDY-Lancer-class Frigate Stormsea |3/3|

Raider-class corvette Oden |2/1|

Raider-class corvette  Herla |2/1|

Raider-class corvette Frea |2/1|

Raider-class corvette  Phol |2/1|

LC-Strike-class medium cruiser-carrier Nidhöggr |9/9|

 

Sith Empire Rapid Intervention Escort: Timely Response

Taskforce Experience Green (1xp) 

- Assigned Callsign -

Shield

KDY Kyber-class Star Destroyer Nástrǫnd |20/20| 

[Delta73]

The civilian populace of the world of Serenno cowered at the transmission. What did the production of foodstuffs, rations, and support equipment such as bandages and underweave even threaten the great Jedi order? No munitions were produced on Serenno, and so those in the private industries who fulfilled military contracts did not dismiss their workers from their posts. What threat was there? The Jedi order were monks that upheld goodness and peace in the galaxy, they were not the kind of people that would order a bombardment. Such were the beliefs of the civilian contractors, police officers, and workers in the main cities. 

 

They were no great seat of power in the outer rim. The lords of the great six houses responded to the Jedi order with defiance and confusion. But did not evacuate the industries that kept their people from starving. They relied on the good mercies of the Jedi order, and their civilian police departments did not scramble their fighters in response to the incursion of the Jedi order. 

The Sith however. They were judicious in their response. Within a minute of the arrival of the Jedi Order’s fleet, a new set of calculations was pumped into hyperdrives and navigation consoles, and the small defense fleet microjumped to the other side of the system, turned their ships around, and microjumped back. It was then that they began to engage the Jedi Capital ship Justice's Mandate while dumping out a fighterscreen to engage the bombers planetside. It would only be a few minutes before the great guns of the duel cruisers Hellkite and Hellequin would engage the sleek nebula-class star destroyer.

[Delta73]

A ragged cheer came from the command decks of the Victory Star Destroyers, and while they did not score any heavy hits On the larger Mon Calamari Warship, it still felt like a victory. The skies were now open for a counter attack for the Sith on the distant starfighters and bombers that had been left behind. Space Superiority was now cleanly in the hands of the Sith Empire. 

 

In the skies of Serenno it would be easy to pick off the Rebel Bomber groups one by one. With full and utter control of the skies, the Imperial Fightergroups conducted a classic turkeyshoot of the stranded rebel fighters and bombers. And while some of them might achieve escape velocity in the heavy atmosphere while dodging missiles and diving TIEs, then break through the cordon of Sith starships and escape, it would likely be very few. With control of the Serenno skies surrendered to the Sith, the Sith fleet began to regroup for the next rebel attack. A few squadrons stayed behind to identify EV pilots and assist in pilot recovery for the abandoned Rebel pilots. 

 

There would likely be no interrogation, they had fought well, if futility. Such seemed the luck of the erstwhile Rebel Alliance. 

 

When the majority of the Sith Starfighters had reformed, they alongside the fleet, began to accelerate towards the side of the planet where they had left their Imperial Marines. It would take a half hour or so to reach the capital cities’ side of the planet, but that gave them enough time to conduct refueling operations on the starfighters. From the mouthlike hangerbays on the bottom of the star destroyers came a stream of Sith Assault Shuttles. Glittering in the setting sun’s rays like a field of dew sodden grass. 

 

____________________________

 

“An explosion sir.” Came the voice of the helmeted pilot, crackling through the assault shuttle’s intercom system. Spurring Delta to lean over his seat to look through the forward canopy screen, where the billowing cloud of smoke could just be seen over the rooftops of the city. Backlit by a flashing fireball that dissipated nearly as quickly. Delta grinned and slapped the man’s shoulder pauldron. 

 

“Set us down behind that lane of small buildings a block southeast.” 

 

“Copy sir.” 

 

He turned back to his command team and nodded firmly. They returned his grin and placed the T-visored helmets upon their heads. Delta strode back to his crashwebbing and sat down next to Lieutenant Haylee Langraf. She gave him a side eye and resumed loading and checking her old style E-11. While they had not been issued the weapons Delta believed they should have been in regards to fighting Jedi Knights, Delta’s confidence was still high. The logistics officer’s grim reply upon the Hellkite to the request for slugthrowers and sonics had been a quick ‘Kriff No’. Not only did the Hellkite not carry such outdated equipment, any that could be rustled up from belowdecks were of uneven calibre and not battle ready. This had been concerning for the team, but they all knew that a blaster, when properly aimed and used was just as effective against a Jedi Knight as a sonic rifle. The Emperor expected them to do their duty, and they were the best that could be found for this particular duty. Their commander had killed plenty of Jedi Knights in his day, and many of them had been there only a week before when the red faced jedi had eaten a handful of bayonets and flechettes. Their confidence was high. 

 

Delta ran his gloved hand down the word stock of the E-22 blaster rifle, and checked the readout in the stock for gas pressure and the ammunition amount left in the energy magazine that he had just slapped into the blaster’s receiver. Both readouts read ‘FULL’ but he still triple checked them, and the microreadouts on the magazines that were stored on his belt. He opened the double breach of the underslung launcher that was fastened to the bottom of the rifle and slipped in two green tipped concussive shock grenades. 42 mm. With a myriad of others on his belt. He took in his squad of men with a single glance and then stood with them as the shuttle settled onto its landing struts. 

 

“Langraf, you take the south streets with Alpha Team. Frostwin, North streets with Beta team, Sergeant Trefey, take Delta to the West. Hensi and Echo fall in with me.” 

 

Each commanding officer and their ten men would begin to form a cordon with whatever responding men the local authorities were bringing. Delta and his men would take the cordon closest to the Bank. And with them he set off at a run. 

 

His SCI scracled to life, a double beep indicating that the incoming transmission was from the command element on the Hellkite. 

 

“Darkhand actual, Command.” 

 

“Go for Darkhand.” Delta’s voice was terse with the sprint. 

 

“Notice incoming enemy EI. Three shuttle’s ETA unknown. BLUFOR reinforcements ETA one five minutes.” 

 

“Copy.” 

 

Everything always went to Corellia’s seven hells whenever they went boots on ground, or at least that seemed to be his personal destiny. The dark walls of the Bank loomed out of the dusk and Delta fel to a knee behind the engine block of a parked landspeeder, the distant flashing of emergency response vehicles coming closer as his men began to set up. If these were regular colonial police, then their presence was going to be useless. But even useless could be turned into an effective meatsheild. 

 

________________________

 

Inside the vault, a lone red lightsabre sprang to life, its blade impossibly thin and held by a darkheaded man in his early forties. A lightfoil, an old and elegant design, perfected by duelists in the Tapani sector hundreds of years prior. The man fell into the easy and relaxed dueling form and smiled a grim smile as a dozen blaster rifles behind him pointed up at the Jedi. 

 

“Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; The worst is death, and death will have his day!” 

 

It was a sonnet he had learned in his youth, and though it was melodramatic, it seemed to fit. But his grin of theatrical triumph was lost as the blaster rifles fired with a thunderous applause

[Delta73]

“Darksun Actual. EI landing ETA updated to ten seconds.”

 

The SCI inside his helmet buzzed as the connection cut and with it went a good deal of hope that this mission would be an easy one. Lancelets of red and green fire shot up from the turrets on the Assault Shuttles that had dropped Darkhand off and Delta’s eyes followed the coloured streams up to where he saw three shuttles barrelling down for a close approach. The Police units that had responded were just arriving to strengthen the Sith cordon as the first ground based fire started to head their way. Inaccurate at first, as all covering fire usually was, Delta knew it would tighten down when enemy infantry got into sight. 

 

“Reverse position, prepare for flanking attack, Delta, Alpha send five men to reinforce Echo and fill voids with local colonial troops.” Delta leapt over the grounded hoverspeeder as did the men closest to him and crouched behind the engine block. It was then, as his eyes adjusted to the flow of blasterfire that he saw a singular lightsabre. Not a traditional colour such as Red, blue, or green. No it was as orange as the deepest fire. As orange as the surface of Dathomir had been a decade ago. The colour of wroth. The colour of righteous anger. And it brought a bitter smile to his face. 

 

“Lieutenant Hensi, Johnson, Kolo, and La’ten. You are with me. Remember, place your shots well, and keep the rate up. See her?” A chorus of acknowledgements echoed through the comm link in his helmet. “Lets see if we can bag and tag another one for his royal majesty.” 

 

He let the sight picture clear, then he flicked his barrel up a fraction of a degree so that his eye caught the secondary sights and pressed the forward most trigger. Just a light tap, twice, and twice the gun recoiled into his shoulder as the small explosive charges in the 42mm concussion grenade’s shells launched them in a tight arc towards the elegant woman. They were impact explosives and should they connect, it would swiftly end the fight before it began. Not the most elegant way of dealing with Jedi Knights, but they did their job. With that opening salvo, the rest of the men on the Sith cordon opened up with their own blaster rifles. The three surrounding soldiers that were spread out among the parked landspeeders began to open up on the Jedi and the men around her. While they opened up with withering streams of red baster bolts, Delta slid the breech of the grenade launcher forward and with a practiced precision, let the empty casings fall to the duracrete before sliding two red nosed grenades into their place. He closed the breach again with a snap and checked the readout of his HUD. The readout of his shields and the armour were still at full, like they had been since the beginning of the mission. He sighed and brought the rifle back to his shoulder, letting the holographic sight picture settle

 

((1)) ((Three round duel between Adenna and Delta. Delta is bringing 4 tactical NPCs))

[Delta73]

If the situation could have gotten much worse Delta did not know how. Seeing the two grenades detonate prematurely with a flick of the Jedi’s hand brought a grim smile to his lips and he could hear the muttered curses from those beside him as many of their bolts were simply reflected harmlessly away or caught unfortunate Rebel soldiers instead of their prize. Still, their advance had been temporarily halted, which was an advantage all to itself. Other than the fact that the Jedi trapped within the vault were now hurriedly escaping. It was a damned mess, and there was not much he could do about it now other than to pray that he and his soldiers made it out alive. 

 

The cover he was using began to shift under his elbow and he took a step back, watching with a mixture of awe and anger as his cover flew beyond his reach. A blaster bolt crackled by his head and he took in the situation with a glance. With no cover, or at least the cover rapidly becoming the Jedi’s cover, there was only a single other tactical option for his commandos. Find new cover, and in the process flank the damned Jedi Knight. 

 

“Split.” 

 

But his men were moving before he even spoke the word, and Delta and Hensi took a step and sprinted through the chaos. Sigrid dumped an emptied energy magazine and quickly fed in another as they ran. While the other three, Johnson, Kolo, and La’ten went the opposite direction. Like a sliding bulkhead in a star destroyer, the two groups of commandos fell quickly to either side of the front line of Sith and colonial police. Leaving a visible and intentional gap in the front lines that was further accented by the whirling explosion of a fragmentary grenade. Its blast, though it kicked up a storm of small shrapnel and small chunks of rock that easily killed a few of the colonial police, it did little to the heavily armoured commandos who were already outside the grenades' kill radius. 

 

The Darkhand commandos were used to working in small squads and in pairs, they had demonstrated the tactic on Mon Calamari, and would do so again, speaking in low tones to each other through their squad comms, picking out each individual target. But here they only had very few targets they needed to eliminate, and the squad of rebel soldiers with their Jedi Knight was easily the most important target on the field. Kill the command element, and the rest of the troops, especially poorly trained, mismatched rebels, would fall to pieces. Delta reassessed the scene as he skidded to a halt behind a permacrete planter box that came up to his waist. They had left a gap, and were now perfectly set up. His HUD told him that the Darkhanders on the other side of the line found similar cover. So it was time for them to begin their grim work yet again. 

 

With the quick dash to the side completed, he and his men could now begin to harass both flanks of the approaching speeder-covered Jedi strike team. Effectively ignoring the makeshift shield, he knelt and brought the blaster rifle to his shoulder. With a quick flick of his right thumb on the selector switch, he flipped the rifle into automatic fire and depressed the trigger. Letting loose a stream of controlled red blaster fire from the duel reciprocating barrels of the E-22 towards the woman with the orange lightsabre. Beside him and across the line, the four Darkhand commandos also let loose a chaos fire towards the embattled Rebel position.

 

((2))

[Delta73]

((Requested OPFOR for Aidan)) 

 

In the storm of steel and discharged tibanna gas, the Sith soldiers and colonial police that had come to interrupt a bank robbery found themselves not only judiciously overwhelmed but almost outgunned. The fearsome daggers of light that marked the pair of Jedi knights and their unique weapons, drew fire from both local forces and the Sith who were not currently engaged with the assaulting Jedi troops. Two of the local police, their underpowered sporting blasters deemed useless, retrieved high powered repeating blaster rifles from the trunks of their police speeders and laid a withing wall of fire towards the Jedi knights, while those within the sabre's reach quickly backpedaled to escape what could only be seen as certain death. 

 

Afterall, there were only a few bags of credits being manhandled by the Jedi, who wanted to die for cash? Very few when faced by spinning sabre and blasts of the force could stand tall. The banks data center had been closed and sealed for hours. Spast the cash, if they wanted to get away with a few million credits let them. Or at least that was the attitude of the persuing sith and police. So most kept their distance, letting the shock and awe of the fight in the north cover their own trembling hands. 

 

The Castellan however, still persued. He flicked the lightfoil up and with his spare hand let loose a storm of force energy intending to knock the pair of them flat. 

 

[Delta73]

The firefight lit up the dimming streets outside the bank with furious hues of red, punctuated here and there with the orange-white glow of an explosion that rocked the darkening sky. As the rebel charge was mostly halted and the leading element pinned down behind a landspeeder, the morale in the Sith and colonial lines was high. And when the Rebel’s cover shifted to obscure them from one flank, with all fire directed at Delta’s element, a new opportunity arose. With all of their concentration locked in on where Delta and Hensi were crouched, this was the perfect opportunity for the other three of the Darkhand to make their move. A counter flank to cut off a command element was far too great a target to ignore. 

 

“Push.” 

 

Was all Delta needed to say and the trio a dozen meters away lept from their cover and bolted towards the pinned down Rebel troops. First they launched a hail of grenades to destroy the cover that the rebels were bunkered behind, and then Darkhand would clear the target with rifle fire. They pushed from both flanks of the Rebels in an effort to surround and cut off any that had lived through the explosive destruction of their cover. But for Delta and Hensi there was another problem. The Jedi Knight had gotten to them, as wounded as she was. It was a respectful thing, something only the bravest would have attempted and Delta let a smile of respect touch his lips. The woman must have been a shining star in the Jedi Order and the courage she showed only highlighted it.  But now she was far too close for comfort and the Darkhand pair began to move. Though they were taking a slackening fire from the front, staying where a Jedi Knight could cut you down was simply not tenable. 

 

He pushed off the cover as the woman landed and the orange lightsabre cut through the arm of Hensi as she tried to move. Perhaps she thought that the blade would stop against the armour? Delta would never know and her shout of surprise ended as a blaster bolt caught her falling form and finished her jump for her. Her blaster rifle dropped from her lifeless fingers as her body hit the ground with a sickening crunch, the rifle spinning off a few more rounds into the sky before it too fell silent. 

 

But there was no time for grief, or to reflect that every time that he deployed, another friend was snatched from him in some ultimately useless venture. How long had she been with him? She had been one of the Black Sun lieutenants that had loyally followed him into the Sith Empire. But he had no time for remorse, and though he was shocked and a little scared, his training would take care of him. He skipped back from the Jedi Knight, keeping his rifle level with her as he kept his finger on the trigger. Dispensing what justice he could for Hensi from both barrels of the the blaster rifle in a waving motion from head to feet. To force her to react and slow against the stream of bolts. Anything to slow her down. And as he moved he measured the space between them in his mind. It was close, but not deadly close to him, and she would be slowed by whatever his last blaster bolts had given her unless she wanted to absorb even more of the blistering rounds. 

 

So he simply pressed the second trigger on his rifle twice as his rifle panned down towards her groin. Spitting out two impact, high explosive 42mm grenades at the ground at her feet. Would he get some backblast? Of course. But this was do or die, and he could not let her get any closer. Plus she had just killed a good friend of his, what more could he loose? 

 

((3))

[Delta73]

One of the Darkhand commandos went down with a gasp over his squad comms, spitting blood into his mic from a shot to his neck that came spinning from one of the embattled rebel troopers behind the speeder. But the rest of his squad fought on, relying on their grenades, blasters, and flanking maneuver to carry the day, and by a flood of fire, drive the men of the Alliance out of the capital of Serenno. 

 

To their commander, the task of defeating a Jedi Knight seemed the most impossible yet. As he saw his blaster bolts disappear into nothing he set his jaw, and when the high explosive grenades went off,leaving her steadfast, he resigned himself to the fact that more was likely to come. And when he saw the shimmering wave coming for him he threw himself out of its path. He gathered what strength remained to him in his legs and jumped to the side, letting the brunt of the wave pass him by while taking the trailing edge. 

 

His vision turned a hazy blue as his shield generator took the brute force of the wave and shunted it into the capacitor. With a distinctive whine and a pop followed by a bright red alarm in his helmet’s HUD, the shield generator attached to his Katarn class armour failed. The remaining energy buffeted him and he could feel the heat of it singe his underweave and blacken the grey paint of his armour. For while the blow was powerful, it was dispersed along an entire flank of men and women. 

 

It shocked him how much power the Jedi held in her grasp, it had not been a fatal blow, but had he not been wearing his armour or his shields, it would have likely ended with a very dead Clone Commando. He landed heavily, the duracrete smacking heavily into his armour as he turned the fall into a well practised roll and came up into a crouch. His HUD was going crazy and his armour  was smoking with thick curls of ozone and burned polish, but he was alive. Armour and shields were designed for this kind of blow. The colonials down the line likely fared very poorly but Delta was up and ready. If not awed by the power the Jedi had shown. 

 

((4))

[Delta73]

Hellfire! 

 

The infernal touch from the young exorcist was just a graze, a brush upon the bare skin, but it was enough. The blue white fire pulsed up the Castellan’s arm, spreading along the viens of his arm as fast as the blood pumped, boiling and busting vessels as it passed. Until a pump later the atrial valves filled with the consuming fire, and the man’s heart burst in his chest. He opened his mouth to spit a defiant curse, but the only thing he coughed up was a bright stream of liquid fire that coursed down his armour in bright rivulets. A moment later his eyes too were filled with the burning and he collapsed. Dying silently. 

 

The way was now open for the Jedi to retreat, though the armed forces of the Sith were now firmly pushing the Jedi ground troops back. The door for escape would be closed soon. But for now, they could escape. 

 

__________________

 

The jedi knight, standing strong as she had upon her release of the force, stumbled once, twice, then fell to the duracrete with a sickening thud. Delta let his breath slowly leave his lungs and he could feel the fuzzy feeling of absolute tiredness creep into the corners of his vision. And he took a moment to regain his breath, his shoulders heaving as the nerves took him. He shuddered for a moment, basking in the sweet release of a victory, before he found the strength to push himself to his feet. He was unsteady for a moment before one of the commandos grabbed him by the arm to steady him. He leaned heavily on the man and shook his head. 

 

“She dead?” 

 

But before they could check on the body, a surge of rebel troops had pushed forward with heavy losses to retrieve the woman. The commando’s of darkhand kept their heads low and when the fire slackened enough Delta crawled to Hensi, who was laying in a stagnant pool of red-black blood. He reached to her helmet and found the clasp under her chin. A simple twist and pull revealed blood soaked brown hair and listless green eyes. The bolt had caught her in the neck, smashing through the underweave and burning from one side of her neck through the other. She had lived a few more minutes, bleeding and choking into her helmet, and had likely only recently expired. 

 

He reached and with two fingers closed those haunting eyes. He held up one hand as he commed the medics. “Extraction and two vials.” And like before it was a quick brutal thing to scan the brain matter and harvest DNA. Only when that was done, did he let her head come back to rest on the duracrete. 

 

“She could be sleeping Commander.” 

 

Delta nodded and stood. For there was more to do.