Testimony, A Journey in to Hell (Game Event: 3-9-17)

[Akirapryde]

Testimony, A Journey in to Hell
An Eye Witness account
Outer Rim World of Olivan
Date: 2919 AOK (Eight months, one week after Auro’s Birthday)

The holo image came alive as a Republic Trooper came in to focus. He was wounded and had this sense of pain and anger in his eyes. The interviewer was out of the image, and his voice could barely be heard.

“Who am I, huh? I am a survivor. I am lucky, or just one of the many walking dead from that day. Okay, okay… I am Corporal Reci Vose'lor. Trooper Third Class, Rifleman. Assigned to Third Squad, Forth Platoon, Charley Company, Second Battalion, Tenth Division.” He laughed, “I guess I am really just one of many ghosts.”

“What was it like before the order came down? Well we were all hanging out in the mess. We were sitting down for dinner. It was already a long day. We had two patrols that day down in Meụ̄xng Kār kæ̂khæ̂n,” He paused a moment before adding. “That’s what those refugees call their little town in our shadow.” He fell silent once more. “It means City under Vengeance, or something like that. Each day Demaya has us running multiple patrols through the town. I remember the day the city was set up. She made it clear to everyone that this would be Lord Sembla’s shining legacy.”

“Her orders were clear. We would maintain law and order, and help however possible. Ask me, it’s a mud bowl filled with rats and other pests. We should clear the entire settlement out and send those treacherous free loaders on their way. We are a ship of war, one of the most elite units in the Republic. We are not some pansy, Jedi Healer ship.” He paused a moment before letting out a deep laugh, “you don’t get it. We don’t question Demaya. She wants us to be a refugee haven, then that is what we are.”

He looked down, “Yeah it was already a hard day for us. I remember looking at my dinner. It was some local delicacy. It tasted as nasty as it looked. Ask me, it's more like shit in a bowl....”

Another paused, “oh right, sorry. This is for the historical record. Okay, keep it clean.”

“So where was I, oh yeah in the mess. We were just talking and laughing when Private Benn rushed in to the mess. The guy looked like he had been running across the entire dang ship. He didn’t even wait to catch his breath. He told all of us that those dang partisans had shot down Commander Demaya's shuttle down. For a moment, I don’t think anyone in the mess breathed. I mean,” he slapped the table he was sitting at, “They shot down our commander.” “So yeah we were all in shock. It took a moment for the situation to sink in. I looked across the table at Vic, um, I mean Sergeant, Victoria Mils. She was our platoon leader. We just looked at each other in disbelief.”

“What did I think at the time? I don’t think I thought of anything. I was just numb. I mean, this was Demaya we are talking about. She doesn’t do stupid things. She always makes sure that she is careful in her actions. I think at the time, we all were thinking about that spy that the upper guys were looking for. Maybe that spy found out about her trip to the twenty seventh. I don’t know.”

“Then anger set it. We all know that Lord Sembla has this, well soft handed approach to everything. I mean hell, we heard that he let that pregnant woman go not too long ago. Even gave her one of our own shuttles. Sure, he had it cleared of anything sensitive but still. (OOC: this is a correction from an in-game mistake that I made) So yeah, Lord Sembla has a kind heart, I guess. But again, not the place for that kind of thing.”

“I don't think more than a few minutes passed when we heard the announcement. The Battalion was about to go to war. We all left our plates and things where they were and just took off running for our station. The XO was going to lead us in to combat. It was about time, we took a side in all this crap anyway. Time for the gloves to come off and show these green haired, green blooded crybabies what a real war looks like.”

“Everyone was running, the lights were all flashing. This was it. They shot down Commander Demaya after all. Those bast.... um I mean, those guys were going to pay for what they did. But I don’t think I was prepared for what I saw down on the flight desk. I know no one else was either. We expected to see the entire battalion ready. We expected to see the XO, ready to lead the charge. We didn’t expect to see Lord Sembla at the head of all of this.”

“Again, Lord Sembla, well he’s more of a political guy.” He waved his hands, “whoa whoa whoa. Look I ain't saying that he is not the commander of the Tenth Division. But really, its Lord Sembla after all. This is the guy that always looks for the peaceful way of doing things. And that’s great and all. But, I mean, we are not peace keepers. We are soldiers. A lot of people, their people, were going to die. And well I guess no one expected to see Lord Sembla being part of this, let alone leading it.”

“We formed up on the flight deck, the entire company. Other units were given their orders and formed up outside with the walkers. Knight Platus, our Company Commander, gave us our mission briefing. Lord Sembla had given the order to execute the rescue mission. I guess that was when it finally sank in that, he was becoming one of us.”

“What? Oh Knight Platus is, um was a holdover from when we belonged to the Jedi. Hell of a guy, wait, can I say hell? Yes? Okay. Good. Well he was a hell of a guy. After we were transferred from Jedi Command, most of our Jedi leaders decided to remain with the Jedi. Knight Platus and four....hold on...Demaya, the two Stachaser brothers and Platus. Yeah four, decided to stay with us.”

“What of Lord Sembla and his people? Well unlike the Starchaser, they aren’t really us. You know, they’re not really Jedi, or Republic. More like, along for the ride I guess.”

“Yeah they were part of the mission.”

“Yeah, I am sure Knight Demaya would have done the same for them. I mean sure Lord Sembla is kind of aloft sometimes and his heart is too big for his chest. But he means well. And truthfully, I must admit, it’s fun watching him get under Demaya’s skin. And that happens quite a bit.”

“His friends, well you know about the Starchaser brothers. Their Jedi, so their good.”

“The other two? Ashla and Unna? I guess their part of our family too. Okay so there is Ashla, Hot chick, I give her that. I know there are more than a few guys in the Battalion who would like to hook up with her. She is more of a bobble headed, goof ball from time to time. You remember that Jedi turned porn star? Yeah kind of like that. But without the whole I am so much better then you attitude. Yeah that’s Ashla, you can just talk to her.”

“Do I like her? She’s good natured and pretty and all. But sorry, my heart is already spoken for.” He smiled, “and she is a ghost true and true.” Once more he paused, “yeah, Vic. Now that is a woman. The kind of girl that can put the fear of death in you and unlock some real passion. Ashla ain’t got nothing on Vic.

“Then there is Unna, yeah there is something wrong with that one,” he said tapping his head. “When she is around, you don’t really know which Unna has shown up. There are days where she can be just as fun and open as Ashla. Then there are times where she is just a cold hearted, yeah yeah I know. Keep it clean.” He paused a moment. “She sometimes comes across as full of herself.” He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest, “she is some kind of walking lie detector. And she doesn’t seem to hold back in her version of the truth. That sets people back, you know. But that doesn't matter. Because like the others, she is one of us.”

“You know, like those family members that you have over for the holidays. You roll your eyes at their actions, but it doesn't change the fact, they’re still family. And on this day, those three were boarding their shuttle like the rest of us. I give them that. On that day, their cred just improved, well at least in my eyes. No matter what they are like between missions, in that moment, on that flight deck, not even one of us doubted any of them.”

“Knight Platus choose our platoon to take the shuttle while the rest of the company had to hoof it. No one wanted to hoof it. After all, we were a striker company. We deployed with our shuttles. I looked over at a good friend of mine, private Zelk. He was in First Platoon. I flipped him off and mouth, ‘losers walk.’ He laughed and returned the jester. At that moment, I didn’t realize how lucky he really was.”

“Why were we strapped on shuttles? Well there weren’t enough shuttles. Over the past few days, the Partisans had been doing a good job at taking our shuttles down. They would set up gun positions outside our perimeter and fire on the shuttles as they were coming in to land. It got so bad that Demaya ordered special hunt and destroy patrols to find these gun positions. Nah, we didn’t loss many, but the damaged ones had to be repaired. That meant that today we were strapped for assault shuttles. Could we have used the regular shuttles? Sure, but man I am glad we didn’t. I don’t know who made the call to keep them out of this, but thank you!”

“The Deck Monkeys got as many airborne as possible. I think there were seven or eight assault shuttles available that night. We loaded up in to the number two shuttle, right behind Lord Sembla's assault shuttle. The XO would lead the ground forces while Lord Sembla would lead the air assault mission. I remember looking up in to the night sky and thinking about the rain. Did it ever stop raining on this world? It was like it always rained here. The night was so dark, and the rain just made it so much darker.”

“The trip to the crash site wasn’t as rough as we had thought it would be. Lord Sembla really had this planned well. The big wigs took pages from the Twenty-Seventh. I mean they had been fighting this as…..I mean people for months. We had the Fly-Boys firebombing the buildings the hell out of the buildings ahead of the ground forces. From behind the ground column, we could see entire neighborhoods in flames. Those Fly Boys were taking no prisoners. Anything that moved on our route was hit and hit it hard.”

“As the Battalion moved forward it was with pretty good ease. I mean after all; the XO was on the ground calling in fire support from the Vengeance. So yeah, we had no problems moving forward. Normally the Partisans only deployed a few handfuls of their fanatics. But we weren’t taking any chances. If it was in our path, it got hammered and set on fire. So, we didn't think anything of the moderate resistance we were facing at the time. Yesterday was a lesson well learned, or so we thought. As we got closer to the crash site, no one knew what those ba….I mean Partisans has in store for us.”

“The shuttles were flying low to avoid long range weapons’ fire from any anti-aircraft gun sites. It was a normal operation up to this point. We did everything by the book. Hell, it was a picture prefect deployment. Sergeant Mils was sitting across from me, we were the last two seats in the back of the shuttle. I love watching her get ready for combat. She has this little music player tapped in to her helmet speakers. She had her helmet tilted back so her face was showing. She was mouthing a song as we were flying.”

“I don’t know what the song that night was. But she was lost in her song as I watched her. Her long blond hair was pulled tightly in to a bun, and her face was just relaxed.” He paused a moment, “well it’s something that we all do before battle.”

“Me? Oh well, I just remember my father. He was really a bastard,” said then paused. “Sorry sorry. I didn’t like him very much. In fact, I could never forget how much I hated him. He was an Drill Sergeant back home, and had these big strong hands. When any of us would step out of line, he used those big strong hands on us. Or on mom when she would defend us. Yeah, I hated him. And remembering that hatred was what I did to get ready for battle.”

“Mils, she listens to music. I remember looking up at her as she was lipping her song. She likes these club, dance songs. Our last R and R we spent the entire time clubbing. It was my first time clubbing and she had to teach me what to do and all. Well hell, I didn’t even know that there were things that one had to make sure he didn’t do at a club. I really loved her…”

“Then we heard the order! Our flight of shuttles was going to bunny hop over the ground column and move on the crash site. I mean, things were about to great real. Knight Platus ordered the three door gunners in to action. And wow, they did just that. The rear gunner between Vic and I started to go to town. He was spraying blaster bolts in to anything that moved down there. I think he even hit a few critters. Vic smiled at me and told me to keep my sexy um…butt, down and stay close to her.”

“She pulled her helmet down just as I did. We were all getting ready for combat when it happened. I don’t know what it was. Maybe a rocket or something. But it blew part of the wing off. I know because I saw it out the back door. Whatever it was, it plucked us from the sky hard. The shuttle hit on my side hard and slide. Everything was all blurrier at that moment. We skidded in to or maybe through a building. Yeah I think it was through a building.”

“When the shuttle came to a stop, Vic was fast. She cut her restraints and dropped down next to me. I don’t know, maybe I hit my head or something. But I was pretty dazed from the crash. She grabbed my restraints and cut them. She started yelling to everyone to get out of the shuttle. I think Knight Platus was injured in the crash. He was seated near the front of the shuttle. We started to exit the shuttle and form up a defensive line. Everything was going to shi….crap…everything was going to crap.

“As Vis was trying to get the Platoon in some kind of order, I saw a group of Partisans. Moving on our position. They had this Olivan special. I heard some guys from the Twenty-Seventh call it a Burp Blaster or BB for short. This weapon is built mostly with common items you can get at any home improvement store. It’s a water-cooled blaster that uses standard combine rounds. These small rounds only do very light damage at any degree of range. But the damn thing spits them out at an incredible rate.”

“I think I heard that the ammo drum on the BB is forty or sixty rounds. And it burns through that very quickly. Ever seen what Republic armor looks like after a BB lights it up. Sure, a single shot doesn’t do much, but after about thirty or forty of these hits, the armor doesn’t offer much protection. I would say about half of the partisans carry a version of the BB.” He pauses a moment. “No, no two BB’s are the same. I mean they’re basically the same in function. But they don’t always look exactly the same. I think that they are made by the person carrying it.”

“The other majority of them carry hunting carbines and other older weapons. The Partisans with really good shots get blaster carbines with improved sights. They hold back and pick off the leaders. A friend of mine from the Twenty-Seventh said that he heard that these sharpshooters go to classes to learn how to identify the officers, Non-Coms....Non-Coms? Those are Noncommissioned Officers like Vic.”

“We were getting hit so hard. It was all we could do was to keep them at bay. Another group of partisans joined the engagement and forced us to divide our fire. I guess that they thought we were weakening. Maybe we were. A group of nine charged us. I remember hearing them screaming as they ran across the street at us. We fired at them and cut a few down. There just wasn’t enough time. They were on top of us. One of them stabbed Sergeant Mils in the side with a bayonet. Yeah, I know, I mean really a bayonet at the end of some old ass carbine.”

“Another one had leaped at me. We struggled and I killed him. The guy that stabbed Vic went to pull it out. That was when Vic grabbed the barrel and yelled at me. I didn’t think, I grabbed a short shovel from the guy I just killed. I spun and hit him with it. I’ll be a son of a bitch. I know, but seriously. This guy that just charged across a battlefield was just a kid. I am sorry but seriously, a fucking KID! At the end of that bayonet carbine was just a kid....”

“What do you mean, what did I do. I fucking hit him. Over and over again I hit him till his green brains were oozing down the street with the rain. I didn’t stop hitting him till I was sure that he was dead. Another green haired freak leaped over the piece of the shuttle we were hiding behind. I hit him with the same shovel. Broke his face, then I drove the side of the shovel in to his back. I think I split his spin. A third hit with the edge of the shove to this shoulder left him a mess. We drove back the charge and got some breathing room.”

“I helped Vic up as Knight Platus ordered us to fall back in to a nearby hardware store. We could see the partisans regrouping on the other side of the street. We didn’t have much time. We moved with propose. We lost five to the crash, six more from the Partisans attack after the crash. Knight Platus gather us together and we set up lines of defense while we also treated the injured. Vic was hurt pretty badly, the bayonet had ripped through her armor and she was bleeding heavily. Not that she would have shown it. I managed to control her bleeding, but our night was just about to get much worse.”

“Knight Platus tried to order some direct fire support. But something was wrong with all of our comms, they were just dead. It didn't take Knight Platus to realize that this was getting bad to worse. The Fly Boys, all backed off and our artillery support stopped. Knight Platus figured that the communication issue was much broader than just our platoon. He said that without communications, and with the rain and limited visibility, they would have to stop the aerial support and artillery. Less we would drop bombs on our own troops.”

“Knight Platus said that for the moment we were on our own.” He paused for a moment, “that was when one of our scouts reported seeing Lord Sembla’s shuttle going down somewhere near the crash site also. The rest of the shuttles were pulling back due to increasing fire. There was little we could do to help anyone. I mean forty plus; six flight crew went aboard that shuttle an hour before. Now, we were down eleven.”

“From across the street, we saw the partisans moving from building to building. They were getting ready for another big push at us. We tried to thin their lines some. I am pretty sure I got a few. But it was like a wave. Yeah, that’s what it was like. A wave. Ever been to the beach? Try to hold back the wave. Get a hundred men and try to hold back a wave. That’s what it was like. They would start to move across the street and we would kill five or six dozen of them, and more would come. They tried to breach the back, we fought them back.

“Twice they overran us. Twice we fought them back. Knifes, guns, hell I even picked up that small shovel again and bashed some female clone’s face in. I think she was one of those sex models. She wasn’t so pretty, after caved her face in. It didn’t matter though.” He slowed down as he said the following line, “They just kept coming at us.” His speech returned to normal. “Once they tried to get close enough to toss a fire bomb in to our lines. Vic popped the man in the head. He set his own people on fire. Funniest thing I had ever seen. We watched them dance in the street as the fire consumed them.”

“I don’t know how long it was. Two maybe three hours. It seemed like a life time in hell. But we heard them. Our walkers had finally broken through the lines. All I could think was we were saved. Everyone started to cheer as the first one came in to view down the street. Ricci, leaped up and screamed to get their attention. Ricci and four others had taken up position in the store next to ours. His whole squad was leaping up and pointing in the direction of the enemy.”

He looked down, “He got their attention alright. The lead walker fired at the same time, Knight Platus was calling out for them to get down. The whole store front where Ricci and his squad were, just vanished in smoke and debris. I couldn’t make any sense of what just happened. Knight Platus pointed out they were coming from the wrong direction. Sure, they looked like ours. Pained up and everything with our markings on them. But we weren’t.”

Vic screamed for everyone to fall back in to the store as the three walkers lined up at us. They just laid in to the store with volley after volley. They killed ten of our platoon. I guess one was lining up on us directly. Knight Platus leaped up and swung his Lightsaber at the blast. The explosion was so bright, it blinded everyone. When I could see again, all that was left of Knight Platus were his lower legs. They were just there as if he was standing on them. Smoke was rising from them where they had once been connected to a body. All I could think was what the hell was going on. We were one of the most elite units in the Republic and we were being served by a bunch of over rated civilians. How did they get our walkers? What the hell was going on?”

“Vic grabbed me and order the rest of us back. Our lines were broken, and we didn’t have any other choice. Their infantry waves started again. We carried out a prefect fighting withdraw. But the fact was we were getting our asses kicked. Vic said that we had to warn the rest of the Battalion of those walkers. She said we needed to get to the roof, that she had a plan. We fought them back as we started moving up the stairs. I half carried Vic while the others gave cover fire.”

“I tell you, they were like cockroaches. You would kill one, three would take their place. I remember thinking how many more of these bastards were there. If I only knew the truth.” Once we got to the building, those walkers were still out in front blasting at our building.” He let out a bit of a laugh, “Vic got free of me and tossed a grenade at the lead walker. It landed somewhere near the main gun and the cockpit. The explosion killed both gunner and driver.” He smiled and laughed again, “I told you, she was my lady death.”

“We had to leap to a nearby building under fire. Vic laughed when we got to the other side as she looked at me. She said that the only way this night could be more prefect if I would propose. I told her that if we lived through this, I would marry her in the morning.” His voice drew darker, “I didn’t really think we would survive the night.” After a pause, “Vic pointed out a communication relay tower. Sure, it was damaged, but half of it was still up. She said that was where we needed to go.”

“I could tell that her wound was starting to take a toll on her. But she wouldn’t stop. She wouldn’t even let us redo her bandage. No, she said that there wasn’t time, that those walkers would being moving for the rest of the Battalion at any moment. So, we kept moving forward, roof top to roof top.”

“I don’t know where the rest of them fell, but by the time we reached the communication tower, it was only Bran, the copilot from the shuttle, Private Carlos Pren from our platoon, Vic and myself. Yeah, we were the last survivors of our platoon. Sure, they gutted us, but they paid a high price for it. I know I killed thirty on my own. I swore in that moment that I would kill twice as many more before this was done.”

“From this roof top, we could see this part of the city. It was only then that we realized the degree of the situation. The entire battalion had been nearly encircled. With the fires that we set behind them, the battalion was unable to fall back. There must have been twenty, or even as many as thirty thousand partisans out there. The fly-boys were doing everything they could, but the fire was just so intense. I remember watching a 170 come in for a run only to be blown from the sky.”

“I called out to Vic, to have her see what was going on,” he said. “She turned to me and snapped at me. She said, we had to job to do. And if we didn’t do it, everyone was going to die. I guess that snapped me out of the moment. I took up position and guarded her as she went to work. She couldn’t get the comms to work. Nothing she tried worked. Then I don’t know, I guess she just got it to work. But the comms all came back. It was like the Force smiled on us. Or I am sure that is what Lord Sembla would have said, maybe.”

“Vic started to call in fire missions on those enemy walkers. It wasn’t long before Big V’s guns were making short work of them. Then Vic turned her attention to the rest of the enemy. Vic was giving coordinates for Big V’s guns, and her marks were true.”

“I guess the partisans figured out that we were the source of the new fire control. They launched an attack on us. But they were led by this blue Twi’lek with a red lightsaber. Her eyes, that’s all that I remembered about her were those eyes. Reddish with yellow eyes.”

“You ever seen someone cut down by a lightsaber. There isn’t any blood. It kind of just turns to a red mist. Carlos’ body just slid apart and Brans tried to stop her. She waved her hand and he flew off the roof top. It was the last time I ever saw him alive. I knew better than to fire at her with my blaster pistol. Demaya taught us better than that. I pulled my shovel,” he said and shrugged. “It was all I had left.”

“She attacked me and disarmed me,” he said holding up a robotic arm. “That was when Vic grappled her. I didn’t see what happened right after that. I think Vic used her last grenade. The explosion blasted that bitch off the roof top. I ran to Vic’s side. She was dying in my arms. I couldn’t save her. I tried, but I couldn’t. In the end, I just told her how much I loved her. How much I would miss her. I held her in the rain as we set there on the roof. I held her till a shuttle picked us up. I guess the battalion was saved.”

“What now? Demaya is in serious condition. So many have died already. The XO is dead, and Lord Sembla is running the show. I don’t know what we are going to do now. I guess Lord Sembla will find a peaceful way to resolve this.”

“What do I want?” he said softly looking down at his arm, “I want them all dead. I don’t care about protecting the weak or the helpless. To hell with them. I want to kill them all. Burn this damn world for all I care. After all, we are the Ghost Division. Our home is in hell. We were brought here to bring hell to these people. It’s about time we do just that. I hate them. All of them!”