Massassi River

Ali glanced up at the canopy of the forest as the artillery canon her commandos had fixed up shook the trees with another shot fired. The weapon's firing mechanisms had been intact, the damage had only shown in the support struts that kept the thing from tipping over every time it loosed a shell. Doom doom doom. The weapon sounded throughout the forest as it fired, landing rounds haphazardly into its designated target area. Unfortunately the distance at which they were from the Great Temple was too far for the slightly damaged cannon to hit with any great accuracy, though the main problem in that had been the piece's targeting instrumentation. The weapon hadn't been calibrated for the moon's environment; yet another thing Ali cursed the Mandalorian Clans for. GALSAF had calibrated their weapon and sensor equipment as accurately as they could based on Yavin IV's data-panel before even leaving orbit around Yavin Prime. Such a practice was a standard for GALSAF forces, and allowed for accurate calibrations to be made upon entering the mission area. Actual calibrations were impossible without physically being on the ground, but certain data such as a planet's size, gravitational strength, average barometric pressure and others, could be used to provide a decent baseline for the calibration of equipment. The Clan forces hadn't thought to bother, which pissed Ali off infinitely. Sometimes her people could be such…di'kute¹.
The end result had been an inaccurate artillery cannon that was basically begging to be destroyed. Because of this, Ali had rearranged their security perimeter, leaving a pair of two-man teams at the woodline by the river's bank and drawing the rest of the platoon East of the cannon's position. This put the weapon between Ali's commandos and the Jedi Temple. Her two-man security teams were holed up in discreet locations to keep an eye on the river itself. They had a 3 kilometer stretch of river to watch from their position on the hill, which ought to give them a wide enough sector of fire to identify any Jedi forces that attempted to cross and destroy the artillery cannon. Keeping her forces East of the weapon itself would protect them from being snuck up on, though Ali knew full well there was only so much they could do to mitigate the effectiveness of Jedi stealth powers and skills. Their helmet systems were top of the line, some of the best in the Galaxy, though even they couldn't pick up a Force User that had cloaked themselves from the various aspects of sight, sound or touch. Her men relied on little besides their own minds and tactical knowledge, but even that wasn't enough more often than not.
Ali shifted her rifle against her shoulder plate, checking her platoon's positioning by their icons displayed on her HUD. The platoon was arrayed in a circle formation roughly 200 meters East of the artillery cannon. The circle formation provided them with all-around security, though the forest's dense vegetation hindered their field of vision, sometimes requiring one of her commandos to walk about the area discreetly. Nothing had come up so far, though Ali doubted that would last for long. She was at least glad the Jedi air forces seemed to be too tied up fighting off Mando's to bother dropping a bomb or two on them.
Sergent He'gai's voice sounded over Ali's comchannel suddenly. We're just sitting around keeping an eye on that cannon then? He asked, audibly frustrated with the situation. I'd rather be moving with the main force towards the Temple. Ali grimaced, turning her head to visually inspect an area of the forest to her left. She tightened her grip on her rifle in frustration before responding evenly. Yep, that's the mission. That shield's too strong for this cannon, but I'm guessing it'll at least force the Jetii to shift its overlapping sections around once in a while.
He'gai huffed quietly over the comm in response. No one in the platoon was satisfied with the situation, but GALSAF could only do so much on their own. Ali knew that at some point, they had to let the Mandalorians carry some of the weight, and if they decided to half-ass their planning and preparation. there was little she could do about it. How her people had survived millennia of war astounded Ali at times, for a great number of their population lacked a great amount of militant common sense. Ali herself had grown up on Mandalore, in Keldabe itself. Her mother had raised her in the fashion of their culture, as her father was not Mando'ad and had never truly assimilated himself, comfortable as he was remaining a sort of aruetii within the community. Ali had known the sort of bravado and general arrogance her people exerted around foreigners, though she had hoped the Clans would approach the war with a better sense of caution.

1: Idiots

"Getting this shit on the road" took half a day. You wouldnt have seen what the mandalorians actually were doing before the sun reached zenith. For a while, all you saw were trees being felled, and planks and poles being carved. Some banging here and there. The woodworking kind. The kind of wood you burn... And then, everyone would understand as they assembled the thing.

They had made an IKEA bridge. After some discussion on how and what so everyone building was in on the plan (because if only ONE person is not in on it, then god damned, this puzzle will suck), the mandalorians started to assemble the bridge from the parts they had created, getting a nice and stirdy wooden bridge witch was well based on each side of the river, and suspended at the middle from ropes hanging from several threes on both banks.
It was not nice, it was not beautifull, but it would be able to hold for guys rolling heavy equipment over, and three soldiers in width if they stood at flirting distance.

During the day, Sherer had come up with the main force bearing with her a half a dozen willing precipitants to being packmules. Finally, Dukes crates had arrived, and nearly killed everyone when one was nonchalantly tossed beside a fallen tree trunk.
Also, a steampunk Trakad flew overhead, trying to find something to shoot at.

Not much else happened before Duke returned. He himself didnt say much on his outing into the woods. He usually just walked walked, then found a spot and made measurements. He tested the soil, tested the trees, the humidity, he scanned and tested some unsuspecting plants. And mind you, these were not sophisticated laboratory experiments, but more like the pregnancy tests. He pulled tiny papers from a folder, put them to surfaces and then waited for them to change colour, followed by trying to interpret if the test was a success or a failure. This kinda had significance. See, Duke kinda reveared himself as a combat engineer, and combat engineers dont just run around placing mines in the enemies motorpool and fixing large metal machine beasts with a tiny blowtorch, they also have to assess the battlefield to better be able to gear up their fellow soldiers.
For one, Duke tested for flamable fauna. See, he once had this teeny weeny miscalculation of using a flamethrower in a cave... that smelled funny. Turns out, some of the mushrooms there expelled a flamable gas if they were let alone to grow and prosper.
An other check he made was to see how hard the soil is, if soldiers should be outfitted with snowshoes (also called Marshboots, for people who doesnt know the difference and would pay for both of the accessories instead of just the one) or their Sci-Fi counterparts. You really didnt want to have a squad of Vode get killed just because they fell in the mud.
Thirdly, he went treehugging. He went around, and hugged trees. He cut them with the combat shovel like a kid that was sent out to play in the yard but really didnt want to.

So, when he got back and saw that his crates had been delivered and every one was still alive, he thanked Anders boys for the escort and sided up with Ashrah when Ashrah was going from point A to point B through path C.

"'Eeey boss! Got me a looksee."

He was dangling a thick tube enclosed in a cirlce, with both ends of a tube entering something that very much resembled a small blast charge and its detonator.

"Got some nice trees in yonder woods, take one off thse boss. Blasttube with a stembreaker. We call em Cockblocks down in the armoury. You basically just adjust the lenght with this little strap here, and strap it around the treetrunk. Press the red button twice, the green once, and then the tree falls either on your foes or to give you horisontal cover, rather then a thin vertical one.

'Nd make sure you put the detonator towards where you want it to fall.

Funny too, once we ran an entire pack of those nasty hound thingies on myrkr mad as we popped cockblocks all night around them. HAH! Those were the times... Anyways, got one for you, and a couple for your boys. Will be dealing them out as much as I can assemble at the moment, but I am working on the Trenchmakers too. Flooring is soft and muddy, could make a couple trenches with some love and enough explosives... other then that, we are ready boss. Most of the heavy equipment is over the other side."

[ Hammy the Jedi Hamster | Shuttle | Massassi River | Yavin IV ] Attn: Maximus Titus [RETIRED] & Halmner Strom

The sense of life, despite what befell the surface, pervaded Hammy's senses, and the hamster was immensely pleased. Allowing the Force to flow from and around himself, Hammy felt strangely at peace despite the challenges ahead. They were going to do good work here.

But first, something probably had to be done about the spider that had taken notice of him, and...being quite unaware of just what the hamster really was, would likely end up the hamster's meal itself. But no, the spider's arrival presented Hammy with a prime opportunity for something much more substantial for himself, the spider and everyone else.

<< A meal, I am not, >> Sent Hammy openly, reaching out with the Force to connect to the keen mind of the creature, << your friend, we are. >>

Hammy sought not to dominate the spider's mind, but rather...he built a bridge, between them, allowing for comprehension and understanding between them. He offered alternative meals to it in it's mind. The Yavin rats were delicious meals, and significantly more substantial than the hamster could ever be.

What Hammy didn't tell the spider was that the people would be grateful if the spider could get rid of the pests that roamed the landscape. Titus would know just what Hammy was talking to and why, since the sentient rodent made no secret of his actions.

[ Hammy the Jedi Hamster | Shuttle | Massassi River | Yavin IV ] Attn: Maximus Titus [RETIRED] & Halmner Strom

Having leapt off the Chistori's shoulder once more, the hamster had found himself honoured by the spider as his personal mount. The spider was certainly large, given that it could eat a Yavin rat in just a few bites, its physiology and style meant it probably needed more substance before too long. Hammy strengthened the bonds of friendship through the Force. The spider would never be the same again forever more. Indeed, it would very well become king of its kind.

“Argowind I name you,” said Hammy, “Ahead to the river, we must go. Another old friend we will meet.”

Mindful not to stab the spider with his walking stick, the hamster used the Force to aid his balance and posture on the spider's back, warding away other creatures that would otherwise pose a danger to a spider or hamster alike. The Praetorian Warriors, bemused though they were by the actions of Hammy and Argowind, followed at a sedate pace. Given their own size, following a spider the size of a dog was hardly an effort.

They were by the riverbanks before too long, and soon, with a watery roar, a massive tentacled beast emerged from from the waters. Only part of the head appeared, but it was clearly far larger and hid the bulk of its mass beneath the murky river. Its skin was a mottled dark green with sickly yellow splotches randomly marking its flesh. It was agitated and in pain.

“Greetings I bid you, River Dweller.” said Hammy, and he reached out through the Force to reinforce the spider's courage, given a single swat by the River Dweller could easily explode the spider's body.