A Bloody Dusk

[Reeat Sacuul]

Sorry if this isn't that great. I'm super rusty at this.

A Bloody Dusk

Reeat grew more anxious as he landed his Sprint-Class craft on the surface of Serroco. Today would be the day all of his skills would be put to the test. No longer would he be hunting down lowly bandits or controlling the population of the local wildlife. Today he would be entering an actual combat zone.

Just a day before, an urgent transmission had been intercepted by ISS satellites, and AMC's Triumvirate council held a meeting to decide their course of action. Shortly after, the order was given for all AMC forces in the nearby area to mobilize on Serroco as soon as possible. Reeat being only a system away, quickly gathered his troops and rushed to the planet. The operation dossier transmitted to him lead with six bold words in bright red.

THE RED DUSK COLLECTIVE HAS RETURNED

Having read the dossier on his way to the planet, Reeat was as prepared as he could be to deal with the threat at hand. His trusty A280 strapped to his back, ELG-3As in their holsters on his belt, and his bow caster at the ready, he exited his ship with his squad and boarded the infantry assault vehicle that had been dropped onto the surface. His vehicle was one of many. A large swath of AMC forces had mobilized for the perilous mission. As they drove into the nearby city in which the RDC had taken, the ground shook as the area was bombarded by enemy artillery.

Taking evasive action, the vehicles split off into small groups, so as to avoid being hit. So far there were no casualties, but who knew how long that would last. Reeat sped his vehicle into the city as fast as it could get there, knowing that the RDC forces wouldn't risk the artillery so close to their own positions. The only problem was, now his squad was on it's own. Radio communications would be jammed in the city.

Docking his vehicle into the nearby starport, Reeat and his squad cautiously exited and began to sweep the area. The floor was clear, but Reeat thought he heard movement from the floor above him. Getting on a turbolift, his squad rose to the 2nd floor and breached from the lift doors.

As soon as the turbolift doors were open, Reeat was greeted by a hail of laser fire. RDC droids had quickly taken aim and started shooting. Reeat ordered his squad to crouch and take cover while returning fire. It didn't take long. The droids were down within seconds, not even bothering to take cover. His squadron exited the lift and began to examine the area. Reeat crouched and picked through the droids they had downed. They weren't very impressive, second hand droids using counterfeit parts. The tactical chips they were equipped with were entirely faulty, like the droids had been thrown together as quickly as possible. Was this really all they were up against?

Reeat ordered half of his squadron to sweep the rest of the floor while he and the other half cleared the 3rd floor main office. He once again boarded the lift and prepared to breach. The lift rose to the 3rd floor, and opened. A hail of gunfire rained down on his team. Reeat rolled out of the lift and took cover behind a desk, the rest of his squad quickly did the same. He raised his blaster and fired, dispatching one of the droids before quickly ducking back down. The pattern continued until the droids were wiped out.

Once the room was clear Reeat's attention quickly turned back to the lift. Two of his troops had been killed in the short skirmish, their bodies still smoking from where the blasters had hit them. Reeat had gotten cocky, rushing in with less than full strength, and it had gotten two of his men killed. Reeat cursed and kicked the head of a destroyed battle droid. He ordered two of his men to take the bodies back to the assault vehicle so they could be buried later, then began to search the rest of the room.

A quick search revealed nothing of interest. Just broken droids, scattered papers, and office supplies. He sighed and started to search the desk he had used as cover. To his surprise, he found a button on the underside. Pushing it opened a panel on the back wall. Reeat raised his rifle quickly, ready to face whatever lay behind it.

To his surprise, what lay inside was completely unguarded. Besides the droids in the room, this inner area was not defended at all. Much to his luck. A quick search revealed an astro-mech droid, hissing and churning with some green gaseous substance inside, and a radio jammer. Reeat opened his pack, pulling out an ISS beacon to mark the droid. This would allow covert teams to safely dismantle the droid without releasing the deadly substance within. He then bashed and broke the radio jammer, clearing up comms for anyone in this section of the city.

He adjusted the communications inside his armor, and spoke, "This is Reeat Sacuul reporting in. I destroyed a comms jammer and marked a viral incubation droid for dismantlement in the starport. Is anyone near my location?"

After a few seconds, the earpiece in his armor crackled and a voice spoke to him, "It's good to hear from you Lieutenant. This General Shivers. Are you enjoying this hunt?"

"I was sir, but I've already taken two casualties to my squad... I made an error, and it cost two men their lives..."

The General's voice came in calm and reassuring, "It's okay Reeat. It should be expected for you to lose men on your first taste of actual combat. But you must continue your hunt in their honor."

"I... I understand sir," Reeat replied, his voice cracked, unable to contain his emotion.

After a brief pause the General spoke again, "If you are done clearing the starport, we will avenge them together. Gather your men and report to me at the entrance of the apartment complex down the block. I'll be waiting."

[Reeat Sacuul]

Reeat gathered his men and returned to the ground floor of the star port. Entering his infantry vehicle, he pulled out from the vehicle bay and drove forward towards the apartment complex. As he drove, he began to hear the plinks and plonks of blaster fire deflecting off the armor of the IV. The armor held up well, and Reeat arrived at the complex in a matter of minutes. He radioed in, trying to reach the General.

"General Shivers? This is Reeat reporting in. I've arrived at the complex."

"I see you Lieutenant. Stay in your vehicle for now. My team has sighted a group of cultists moving to surround you. We'll make quick work of them."

Reeat and his men saw the approaching cultists from the tiny viewpoints built into the infantry vehicle. They were decently equipped, with firepower that could almost match his own squad's weaponry. He thought he could take them, but he wasn't about to disobey orders. And he certainly wasn't going to risk more unnessecary casualties in his ranks.

Reeat saw the glint of the scope barely a second before the shot was fired. A cultist dropped and the rest aimed their weapons wildly at the buildings around them. Across the street, another glint, another shot, another cultist dead. One of the cultists ran towards the IV, only to fall flat on his face when the ground below him seemingly shifted. Arising from a camoflauged position near the vehicle were six AMC troops and a figure moving so quickly Reeat could barely make out their shape. This group of combatants rushed the surprised cultists, and within moments there was nothing left but dead cultists. Reeat hadn't even seen the cultists get off a shot.

He exited the IV, knowing the blur of a person he had seen earlier could only be Logan Shivers, wearing a pristine set of custom armor and a green cloak. The trandoshan quickly turned towards Reeat and his men, an almost feral look in his eyes. He then relaxed, his shoulders sagging, and began to speak.

"Ah Reeat. Good to finally see you in person. Thank you for being the bait for my little trap."

Reeat quickly saluted his superior officer before replying. "It's good to see you as well sir. You have quite the combat technique."

"It doesn't take much to take down a Red Dusk cultist. Most of them are raving mad. As long as you've got a plan of attack they pose little threat to you."

"Thanks for the advice General, I'll keep it in mind. Now, you said you wanted my assistance in clearing this apartment complex?"

Logan seemed to no longer be paying him much attention, instead looking over the cultists he had just dispatched, taking several items as he saw fit. A ring here, and ear there, anything that was a suitable trophy of a successful hunt. Still, he quickly replied,

"Yes, I did. I have it on good authority this complex is full of droids and cultists. As well as most likely containing one of their virus incubators. The rest of AMC's forces should be scattered throughout the city, but until they destroy their respective jammers, we are alone."

Reeat took in his situation, alone in a hostile ridden city. Answering to the orders of one the most famous, or infamous members of the AMC. He had heard the rumors about Logan, that he liked to drink, a lot, and that in combat he was a force to be reckoned with. Some of the troops he commanded who had seen the General before were almost afraid of him. Saying he was more beast than sentient. Having just seen the General in combat did nothing to dissuade the rumors. Still, Reeat steeled himself for his coming assignment and built up the courage to speak.

"So General, what's your plan of action?

Logan, done taking his trophies, walked over and pulled out a datapad.

"I found this on a group of cultists when I entered the city. It contains a map of forces in the area, which gave me the idea to search the buildings with the largest group of combatants."

He fiddled with the datapad, before a holographic map of the apartment complex appeared above it. He gestured and began to lay out a plan.

"As you can see, the complex is quite heavily guarded, with a massive number of droids and cultist squads, especially on the 6th and 7th floor. We don't have the equipment currently to scale the building, so we'll have to take it room by room, floor by floor."

He paused, turning the 3d map and focusing on the top two floors.

"The 7th floor has been modified, with a section carved out for an artillery cannon, but there are still much too many troops for that to be all they are guarding. I reckon an incubation droid is on one of these floors."

Reeat examined the large amount of red and orange blips that converged on the two floors.

"So where do I come in? Surely I won't make that much of a difference in those crowded hallways. We couldn't even fit everyone into them without bunching up and making a huge target."

"Ah but you can be of great help Reeat. We can split up, each taking half of the rooms on a floor before meeting at the turbolifts to move to the next. That way we can cut our search time in half, and not get killed in the process. Surely you want to get revenge for your fallen huntsmen yes?"

The General's final sentence was filled with underlying anger. Something told Reeat the General had seen plenty of death. Lost plenty of soldiers, plenty of friends.

"I do... does losing troops get any easier?"

"No. But you can dull the pain through the hunt. Through avenging them. Now come, we must converge our forces and prepare."

[Reeat Sacuul]

(Sorry the next update is taking a while everyone. I'll get back to writing here soon but I'm going through some stuff right now.)

[Reeat Sacuul]

Logan brought Reeat to his own personnel carrier, and motioned for him to step inside.

Logan spoke, "We won't be using my vehicle for the assault, but I'll need you to stock up on bacta patches in case things get bloody. Oh, and two of my men will be joining your squadron to keep you at full strength. Now gear up, we'll need to do this quickly."

Reeat entered the vehicle and began to restock on medical items. He ordered his men to do the same. After this quick resupply He nodded towards Logan, and they both began to move towards their respective entrances to the Apartment complex.

Taking a quick stealthy approach, Reeat quietly opened the door to the complex, making sure to check the hallways and visible corners for movement. He stepped inside, his men following right behind him. He pointed to the entrance, then back to three of his men.

"You three take that room, hold until I tell you to breach. Then we'll surprise the whole damn floor."

The rest of his squad moved with him down the hallway, breaking off into groups at apartments as Reeat ordered. He and two of his men set up at the final door on his half of the floor, right next to the turbo lifts.

Reeat placed an explosive charge on the apartment door, and gave the order to his men. "BREACH!"

In one smooth motion all the men is Reeat's squadron detonated their charges and rushed into the rooms. Reeat took point on his own door, immediately firing his ELG-3A pistols in the closed quarters. He dispatched the few cultists in the kitchenette. His men moved to his right and firing into the living room, causing two droids to spark from the holes placed in their armor. The final man in his group rushed to the closed bedroom, kicking the door in, only to be blasted backwards and slump against the wall. Reeat, not even stopping to think, withdrew a thermal detonator from his pouch and activated it before tossing it into the room. After a short delay the detonator exploded, and whatever targets were in the room were nothing but ash and blast marks.

Reeat shouted "Turbolift apartment clear! Man down!" Before rushing over to his fallen comrade.

He pulled a bacta patch out of his pouch, activating the patch before slapping it on the soldier's wound. The fire from the surrounding apartments died down, and the rest of his squad were beginning to regroup in and outside his apartment. Reeat's attention was entirely focused on the injured man, making sure he was alright. His injuries were minor, and Reeat helped him up, handing him back his rifle before slapping him on his helmet.

"You almost got yourself killed idiot. Be more careful next time."

Leaving the apartment, Reeat met with Logan at the lifts. Logan looked at him before pulling out the data pad.

"Good to see you're all in one piece," he grinned at Reeat and his squadron "The second through the 4th floors show no signs of life or droids, so we'll use the lifts to the 5th floor and clear it before moving up again."

Reeat nodded, knowing it would only get tougher from here. He lamented, "I'm going to need a stiff drink after this..."

"You and me both. But for now, we must continue the hunt," replied Logan.

And with that, they took the lifts to the 5th floor.

[Reeat Sacuul]

(This is an update to say that this isn't dead. I'll be taking a break from writing at the moment but I will eventually get back to this story.)

[Reeat Sacuul]

(Hey everybody, I'm back to writing again. Glad I could finally return to this story.)

When the doors opened, Reeat and his men ducked out of the turbolift, but the hallways were empty. Reeat moved slowly down the hall, thinking to himself that something was off. It was too quiet on this floor. He looked over at Logan who was exiting his lift and spoke,

"I don't like this. Check the datapad again. This floor seems deserted."

Logan pulled out the pad and pushed on the screen, the holographic map again projected out of it. The 5th floor was now empty besides a few orange blips, while the 6th was still heavily fortified. The 7th floor still seemed nigh impregnable due to the of blips it harbored. Logan holstered his weapon and laughed.

"Looks like they heard us coming and evacuated to the next two floors. I'll send a few of my men to check out those remaining blips. We will get back on the lifts and head to the 6th floor."

Reeat stepped back onto the lift very hesitantly, something about this floor still seemed off to him. However, he was not one to disobey orders, so he took his men to the 6th floor, bracing for an upcoming fight. Before the lift doors opened, there was a massive, building shaking boom. Reeat and his men fell onto each other and then floor. The doors opened and a hail of blaster fire was rained upon them. Luckily most of his men were too low to be hit immediately, but two men who had stayed on their feet were gunned down almost immediately.

Enraged, Reeat rolled out of the lift and began firing upon his attackers, a large group of apocalypto droids, his men following shortly after. Two droids were down, then three, but the remaining four droids lowered their weapons and fired at the prone troops. Another man died before his squadron took out the rest. He looked back at the lifts, the other one yet to arrive. With the hallways seemingly clear, Reeat got to his feet and ordered his men to stand guard while he tried to reach the General over comms.

"General Logan, are you alright? That was a massive blast we just heard... and felt."

His equipment gave nothing but the hiss of static.

"Logan are you there? Don't tell me these damn cultists got you."

Static again, until a faint voice could be heard, "I'm not dead yet. But those bastards boobytrapped the 5th floor and sabotaged my lift. We're back on the 1st floor, but we'll have to take the 6th floor on your own."

Reeat slammed his fist into the nearby wall, cracking it. "Damn. I knew something was wrong on that floor. I can try my best to take the 6th, but we've already had three casualties. They were expecting us. Is there anyone or anything left on the 5th floor? How long will it take you to get here?"

His comms hissed again before Logan replied: "There isn't much of a 5th floor left. We're working our way up now, but I'm betting the stairs are trapped too. You're on your own for now. But you can do it, I know you can."

Reeat sighed and turned off his comms, Logan couldn't help him right now. He had to concentrate on the situation. He ordered his men to spread out, even further this time, one man to each room. He still had three rooms he couldn't cover, so he told his men that once a room was clear to assemble outside the three remaining rooms, and wait till they had three men to breach.

With their charges placed, Reeat gave the command. His men did as they were told without question, even if it could be the last thing they'd do. Reeat breached his own room, entering low so any droids would have to readjust their aim. He saw two droids and fired before they could adjust. He took one out, then rolled forward as the other fired at him. He aimed and fired, killing the remaining tin can. He got to his feet and began to check the rest of the room, when out from behind a door jumped a cultist, who slashed at him with a vibrosword.

Reeat ducked to avoid the blade, and it smooshed harmlessly above his head. He rushed to tackle the man to the ground and began to beat him. He hit him with the fury for all the men he'd lost, not feeling any of the returning blows, he beat the man again and again, not noticing when the cultist reached to his belt, withdrew a knife, and stabbed Reeat in the side. Reeat howled in pain, twisted the mans arm until it broke, and in one fluid motion, pulled the knife out of his side and stabbed him directly in the chest. Life quickly left the mans eyes then.

Reeat stood up, holding his hand over the wound, and applied a bacta patch before making sure the rest of the room was clear. He walked slowly out to the hallway, hand still gripping his side, and saw only 6 men waiting for him. He grunted and spoke, his tone cold and harsh, "Where are the rest of my men?"

One of the troopers stepped forward and replied shakily, "Gone sir. They were taken out when we all grouped around the last three doors. The last of us had to take that room ourselves, and we were lucky no one else died doing it."

Reeat shoved past the man, looking inside the room. Three of his men lay dead, along with a small army of combat droids and cultists. The majority of the forces on this floor crammed into one room. With tears in his eyes and anger on his mind, Reeat moved his fallen comrades out of the room, and splayed them in the hallway.

"We'll pick them up later. Give them a proper burial," He said shakily, not even trying to mask the anguish and rage he felt for the loss of his men.

He took his helmet off, slumped to the floor, and said "Now we wait for General Logan to arrive. We've still got a job to do."

Then, Reeat heard thunder crack, the sound of rain beginning to fall, and he could no longer hold back his tears. He was ashamed that his men could see him like this, but he could not help it. He cried for what seemed like hours, though it was likely only a few minutes, before a hand reached down to his shoulder and a voice said,

"I know your loss my friend. But we must carry on. Steel yourself, you must be strong for those that remain."

And with that, Logan helped Reeat up, he put on his helmet, and the group walked to the stairs as one. Preparing for the final push.

[Reeat Sacuul]

Taking the stairs took forever. There were traps seemingly every few steps, and there were enough explosives in the cramped stairwell to level the entire building. Even with only 12 soldiers left, Logan and Reeat had a hell of a time making their way to the 7th floor. That was only a fraction of the hell awaiting them once they arrived to the 7th floor. The door was blocked, so the men all stacked up and pushed through. They were met with a hail of gunfire unlike anything they had faced before.

Two of Reeat's remaining men were killed instantly, everyone else ducked and dodged as well as they could, trying not to be hit by the massive torrent everywhere around them. In the hallway of the 7th floor was practically an army of droids and cultists surrounding the door to the stairway. Reeat and Logan acted quickly grabbing a table used to block the door and using it as makeshift cover. Two more men went down before everyone was safely behind the table.

They began to return fire, taking potshots at random angles from behind the table, doing anything they could not to get hit. Reeat reached for his belt and pulled a thermal detonator out of a pouch, it was his last explosive, and he had to make it count, he asked one man to cover him while he threw it. They both acted quickly, him standing from a crouch and throwing the device while the other man stood and fired, being shot to the ground a second later.

Reeat was hit too, falling backward, but the detonator went off, and what was once a hail of lasers was now significantly weaker. Reeat was breathing heavily, his modified armor absorbing most of the blast. His man wasnt so lucky, taking several blasts to the chest and head. Reeat shut his eyes for a second and when they opened the blaster fire had stopped. He looked around and saw Logan standing over him from behind the table.

"Thank goodness you're alright! We thought we lost you... the last of those cultist bastards retreated into the interior flatts, so we have a moment of reprieve before we must continue."

Logan helped him up and handed him his weapons. Reeat was in shock, moving slowly. He started coming back to his senses as Logan gave orders, making both his and Reeat's men stack up at the selected doors.

"We're not anywhere near full strength, and I know the sadness and anger you must feel, but we must capture this floor, for AMC." Logan said to him coldly.

"Don't count me out just yet. I'll fight for us till I breathe my last breath. And I'll take as many of these bastards with me as I can." Reeat replied.

They both stacked up at separate doors. There were only 7 troopers left among both of them, leaving a large chunk of 5 doors without someone to breach them.

"Everyone stack up outside a remaining door and breach as quickly as you can. We must be fast here, or we are all dead men." Said Logan, matter of factly.

"BREACH!" Yelled Reeat and Logan almost simultaneously.

Reeat's room was seemingly empty, he ducked down, checking the corners and closets, and after he was sure it was clear, moved on to one of the remaining doors. He ignored the gunfire coming from other rooms in the hallway, knowing it would only slow him down. He breached again, ducking down and taking out an apocalypto droid with his ELGs, and shooting a cultist that ran at him from a bedroom.

With the room clear, he checked the bedroom and found a virus incubator, quickly tagged it, and ran to stack up again. There were only two doors left, Logan and 3 other men preparing to breach. Two men stacked up with Reeat, and he blew the last charge into the final room. He ducked in like normal, but immediately took a blast to the chest.

He shot back at the attackers, killing a cultist in the process. The artillery cannon was located in this room, a chunk of the outer wall and ceiling broken off to hold it. A massive number of droids were crammed into the room, 3 rows of terror aiming at him and his men. He shot and shot, his men doing the same, but they had too much firepower. His men were gunned down soon after, and Reeat felt his armor begin to fail, several hot blasts piercing his abdomen. He could not hold his weapons up any longer, and closed his eyes, awaiting death. He felt more blasts pierce him, and he felt he could hardly breathe, before a massive explosion shook him and he lost consciousness.

Logan pulled Reeat's unconscious body out of the room and tore off his armor. He began to apply bacta patches to the wounds on the zabrak's chest, but new it would not be enough. He activated his comms and spoke:

"This is general Logan Shivers, we require immediate medical evacuation. We are on the 7th floor of the hotel near the outskirts of the city. I have First Centurion Sacuul but he is badly wounded. Repeat I require immediate medical evac-"

Logan's headset crackled as a reply came in. "General Logan, it's Ichiru Hanabusa, I read you loud and clear, we've picked up the signal of the other Incubation droid you found, evac is on the way."

Logan slumped to the floor, knowing that there was nothing more he could do until Ichiru arrived. He was the only survivor besides the unconscious Reeat, and he didn't know if the young zabrak would make it.

He took in his surroundings, blood and droid parts scattered the floor, the hallways seemingly pouring with death and the dark red substance. Thunder crackled outside as rain spattered down into the open building. The sun was beginning to set, the horizon was streaked a dark red matching the environment around him. Dusk had come. A red dusk, a bloody dusk, a dusk filled with death.

As he heard the sound of inbound Sprint Raptors, he decided that the Red Dusk Collective would pay. He would wipe them from the surface of Serrocco, killing any of them that got in his way. There would be few survivors, if any. A sprint hovered outside the ruined building, opening its doors and lowering a ramp. Logan got up and picked up the unconscious Reeat. He and a few other troops loaded the man onto the Sprint and into a bacta tank. His vitals were low, he had taken quite a few blaster bolts, but he would live. Ichiru walked up to him before he left.

"We'll get the rest of these bastards. We'll make them pay." Ichiru said, a fire in his eyes.

"Agreed. Let's get to work." Replied Logan.

With the dead and wounded loaded onto the Sprint, and a fresh squadron of troops under Logan's command, he returned to his Vehicle and left to root out the rest of the Cultist scum. He would be crueler with them now. For Reeat, and for all the men they lost. And with these thoughts in his mind, Logan began the hunt again.

[Reeat Sacuul]

And that's a wrap! Thanks for reading everyone. I hope you enjoyed that little story of mine. A very heavily dramatized version of a handful of events that took place during the siege of Serroco. Please feel free to give feedback!

[Max Ameeno Bacca]

I thought it was excellent! I can write "news report-like" stories but I simply cannot write "dialog based stories" like you and Logan can. Well done! PLEASE keep it up! It adds such depth, detail and fun to this whole experience!

[Reeat Sacuul]

Jul 12, 2020 13:51:30 GMT Max Ameeno Bacca said:

I thought it was excellent! I can write "news report-like" stories but I simply cannot write "dialog based stories" like you and Logan can. Well done! PLEASE keep it up! It adds such depth, detail and fun to this whole experience!

Thank you for the feedback! I personally find dialogue to be the hardest part of a story to right, so I try to keep it basic and focus on events and descriptive writing rather than large stretches of conversation. I'm glad you liked the story, and I'll have to get to work on another one soon!

[Oquan Tangin Bacca]

That was incredible!

[Logan Shivers]

I did DM, but hell, why not post here too....

yes, I loved being part and for once, not knowing what was going to happen!!!

Awesome to have somebody else writing this stuff too, keep it up my friend!!!