One Month Later…
Cook has spent the last month experimenting with food. He can make some consistently decent stuff! He’s still learning, but he’s also gained the cook profession!!
Rat has spent some time with Tycho testing out the Stargazer. The two of them combined with some repair crews are able to iron out all the kinks, aside from some aesthetic dents and scratches. This bad boy is flight ready! Rat also gets a boon to checks associated with piloting the Stargazer! He also spends time making some additions to the starship. There is a small kitchenette as well as a living area with a radio. He does this in hope the fleshy meat sacks will approve of him more when they see it.
28 Decides to spend his time learning binary! With some help with the other droids around, he’s able to learn the basics. He also spends a lot of time practicing with his gun, gaining himself an armorer profession.
Tower does a lot of squats.
The crew gets updates from the prisoner they captured. The Quarren was able to give some more information on the Free Dac Legion as well as the insurgents popping up around the system. Their specific goal seems to be to make a decent foothold in this region due to its strategic location along a hyperspace trade highway. Carrick Sternn is a name that comes up as an individual worth finding. He is from the Free Dac Legion and seems to be supporting the rebels. Free Dac has some vested interest in this system remaining independent.
The crew get together for a meeting with Sarge and Commander Frost. There’s been a lot of ambush attacks on some of the security patrols by the nearby mountains. They suspect there’s a group of separatists holed up around there. The 18th company will be searching for the insurgents with the crew! They’ll take the Stargazer, find where their hideouts are, and flush them out. Cook is able to requisition some extra grenades, but 28 isn’t able to get any kind of thermal scope to help with searching. Cook attempts to help him get something better, but only ends up with a grappling hook. This is a surprise tool that will help us later.
The Mission
The party loads up on the Stargazer to head out. Cook and 28 are able to get acquainted with the ship. 28 doesn’t trust the droid to properly fly, but he takes off, flies, and lands with flying colors. They meet up with the rest of the troopers in their AT-TEs in a beautiful wooded area. Cook and the others get to work securing the perimeter and ensuring the clearing is safe. While 28 gets distracted by some odd creatures. They seem to be deer, but with some avian features. They have large beaks, brightly colored feathers, and forward facing eyes. They watch the clones as they work before quickly running away in fear.
The Stargazer is needed for aerial reconnaissance. Rat scans the area and finds no lifeforms other than the clones and random critters. 28, Cook, and the others pick a direction and begin marching alongside the AT-TEs. After several hours of hiking along, 28 spots with his binoculars something odd in the local plants. He sends a message to Rat to check it out from above and it looks like a very clear and deliberate path had been cleared and maintained. Rat also finds a large metallic object in the area. Squad 20 are sent ahead to scout while the rest of the clones set up a secure perimeter around the area. 28 is able to find a wide metal square, a manhole leading further into the ground. Its locked electronically, but it is possible to brute force it. But with needing Rat’s assistance soon anyway, might as well get him down now. They leave some clones to guard the ship while Rat hacks through this trapdoor. Rat’s able to break it open and the crew head down to scout the area before 28 can get Rat down with the grappling hook. It’s a short, narrow hallway barely lit by some dim red lights. They mark their path using their glow rods at each intersection.
BREACH
After some time of walking through these tunnels, the group finds a door as well as several crates of supplies that have been dropped off recently. 28 steps toward the door, listening closely. He hears at least two Quarren and at least four B1 droids speaking. Cook takes control, opening the door, tossing two frag grenades inside, and closing it. He lobs the grenades perfectly, killing everyone inside quickly. The droids seemed to be carrying crates. It looks like a large storage area mostly taken up by these large crates. The crates are filled with standard blasters and scrapped B1 parts. There’s another door leading further into the compound. 28 hears another person cautiously walking toward the room. Cook readies an action to slash at him with his vibrobayonet, though this isn’t enough to kill the Quarren. His suction cupped fingers reveal claws scratching on Cook’s helmet and bracer. 28 takes the final shot and dispatches the Quarren. This base is the separatists’ armory. They are storing weapons, armor, and droid parts and are shipping it out to other separatist depots. They are also able to get a map of the area.
28 is able to find that they have night vision and thermal scopes! But those are stored deeper in the lower levels of the base. They can keep moving through the next rooms, coming across a locked door and no clear indication of what is beyond it. Rat is able to hack, unlocking the door, giving him access to the security cameras in the following room, and disabling the emergency alarm in that room temporarily. They have Tower and 09 set up their gun in front of the door, and Cook and 28 ready actions to shoot the first hostiles they see, Cook dispatching a B1 and 28 nailing a Quarren hard in the shoulder. In a large burst of activity, the other clones are able to kill or incapacitate all hostiles but a singular B1 who proceeds to shoot Cook in the chest. He responds by shooting its head off. Hal, Cook, and Rat breach the reactor room while the rest of the crew watches their six in the previous room.
Hal and Cook set their guns to stun as they attack the Quarren engineers, Cook missing his shot, and Hal able to take out one. Another begins running for a panic button and the third drops after dodging Cook’s stun blast. Rat is able to hack into the reactor distributing power from the reactor to overpower the lights, making them even brighter than before - being borderline blinding to the Quarren. In the meantime, Quarren begin breaching in the preceding room. Tower, 28 and the gang begin returning fire. Rat attempts hacking to turn security systems off, but finds the task even more difficult and is unsuccessful. A B2 super battle droid enters through a door on the opposite side of the reactor room. Cook shoots the Quarren going for the panic button, but is incapacitated by the B2. 28 and Doc give Cook and Hal some backup as Doc heals Cook and 28 begins taking shots at the B2. Now that Cook is finally standing, he takes another shot at the B2. 28 and Hal attempt taking some pot shots at it, but are unsuccessful. Rat tries stunning it. Rat is unsuccessful.
The B2 begins overclocking itself, shooting several wrist rockets out, one hitting Hal, and another hitting the reactor. Fire and oil begin spewing out from its broken body armor until 28 is finally able to finish it off with one final shot. They hear some large explosions behind them and 28 asks Sarge for a status update. Sarge orders them to meet back with the group in the other room as the hostiles have breached through. Quarren and several B2 droids are entering the room. Luckily, Rat has set the reactor to explode in 10 minutes with no hope of fixing it!
The clones begin making a break for it. Several of them taking a few pot shots. Doc takes some heavy damage from various explosions and blaster shots. Cook picks him up under his arm and uses shared recovery but he’s unconscious! They make it to the ladder they entered in from and are able to get everyone up and safe. Sarge commands everyone to run back to their ships. The squad makes off in a dead sprint to the Stargazer, many of them tumbling down the hill landing right at the Stargazer. Several other clones pile into the AT-TEs as a series of explosions ricochet out from the mountains. Unfortunately, a few ships fly out from the hangers escaping in the opposite direction the clones are travelling. They ascend off the planet, appearing as if they’re ready to kick on hyperdrive at any moment.
Outro
As they are taking off, the squad receives a ping from their comms system. They see a shadowy figure that says, “This is not the last you’ve seen of me. I will have my revenge, and you will know of it when you hear of Carrick Sternn.”
Rat rattles off every slur he knows in binary. Carrick Sternn does know binary and is now a sworn enemy of Rat.
The explosions from the mountainside trigger a series of snowy avalanches on the AT-TEs. The clones are able to masterfully drive their ways out. The company is now donned as Avalanche company. In honor of their first mission as a company where they left few survivors and suffered no casualties, also the ensuing avalanche. The squad is also renamed from Unlucky 20 to Havoc Squad for their ability to quickly and quietly dispatch the hostiles in a blast of fiery chaos.