Resurgence

Cyber Commandos

The invasion of Gannaria goes well. Erlkönig is actually getting on well enough bringing Traytorus into the fold. As the operations proceed further North, they encounter Range Troopers; the larger bases even call in snowtroopers from the pole. Gannarian winters aren't severe, even above the arctic circle. But, there is some light snowfall, even if it's rarely heavy enough to bury the grass or small mountain rocks.

Duggo has issued the Sun Trooper Helmets across the Army and the full body armor prototypes have passed trials. Lack of materials has slowed production, but nearly half of all soldiers in the main attack groups are equipped in this armor. It consists of full chest protection both front and back, small pauldrons to protect the shoulders without limiting mobility, and the icon of Ujjval Ravi is engraved on the chest and pauldrons. 

The construction of the armor is durasteel coated in smooth bronze. While the bronze is smooth, armorers are careful to ensure it does not gleam in light, allowing troopers wearing it to look good and still don a dull enough armor to camouflage themselves in most environments... at least when combined with the Tranch coats, which have had their shoulder pads removed to make room for the pauldrons, had slots sewn into the inside to add inserts as desired by the soldier or needed by the environment. Troopers are issued Trench Coats in more colors.

One day, Master Rael is met with an unexpected development as orbital support comms in, "Master Rael, the base at West 20 Degrees 37 minutes North 59 Degrees 41 minutes just launched a whole ass frigate!"

Rael does an about face and sprints to the hanger, keying in air support to the conversation, "Echo that Starhawk Vermillion Thranta... we have a hostile frigate on the run! I'll be in the air in the Deft Drake! I want that thing as intact as possible!"

Rael leaps into the seat of his custom fighter. A force based machine like the Leviathans, and like Donar and Blitza, it's far more efficient and powerful than conventional machines in the same class. Rael had always hated how poor the Leviathans handled in atmospheric conditions and built a small and sleek aerodynamic fighter as his personal machine. It lacked the ability to summon him if he was near death, but had a similar ability:

It could use the force to create a frictionless aura, negating air resistance and allowing for acceleration far exceeding even the fastest conventional aircraft. He engages the Frictionless aura.

He probes, "Squadron Aurek... what is your time to target?!"

"50 seconds master! We have visual! He's pulling away, and scanners show he has TIE's approaching from that side!"

Rael zips past them, and when his vision clears, the Drake zips straight past the fleeing frigate. He locks onto the TIE squadron and takes out 2 of them. Flipping his craft into a rapid reversal, he braces himself to take 25 Gs for several seconds. He comes out of the reversal a few hundred meters behind them and pushes the engines to their limits to get back into firing range. 

Squadron Aurek ignores the 2 remaining fighters to target the frigate's shields. When Rael catches up, he takes out the last 2 TIE Fighters. The Frigate's guns that lit up the sky around Rael and Squadron Aurek just moments ago go silent. Aurek fires ion torpedoes at the frigate, disabling it. Rael brings the Drake to a dead stop and opens the cockpit, setting it to hover.

He reaches out with the force to ease the Frigate into a soft landing. It crashes into a tall grass field and attempts to reignite its engines, but Squadron Aurek destroys them with pinpoint accuracy from their laser cannons, the danger of it crash landing having already passed.

Rael lands as close as he can and leaps out of the cockpit near the back of the frigate, then plunges his lightsaber into it to carve himself a door. Inside, he sees the floor littered with a few dozen burning RA-7 droids that must have served as the crew. The only humans on board are an Imperial Colonel and his 4 Stormtroopers. The droids seem to have self destructed, just like the droids that counter attacked the day Nym was captured.