"He... He went into some sort of killing frenzy. I was gonna drop the flashbang to let him get a clearer shot, but he didn't even give me a chance to throw it or stop him. He hopped the cover and ran at the guards, slitting throats and cutting veins as if he was a whirlwind of death! Then, the last guard shot him in the back of the head, downing him. He chucked one of his knives at the guard, jabbing it deep into his throat." Kraytirous took a deep gulp, his throat hoarse and dry. He looked down at the trooper and spoke again. "I heard footsteps, I panicked. I tried to see if the Barabel would survive, but he was dead before I even got to him. No pulse, he'd lost tons of blood. I.. I knew that if they saw me with my barrel to the barabel's head they'd think I was one of them. And if I went along with them, then maybe I could save any imperials that we came along."

Kraytirous was starting to get even more nervous. And having several gun barrels pointing at him didn't keep him calm in the first place. "I didn't kill him, though, I swear!" Kraytirous was pretty damn near to falling to his knees and begging for his life. But he didn't. He knew that if he did, though, he'd look even more guilty then ever.

OOC:

Sorry if this post is a little small.

Beee..........

Verk shut his eyes and clenched his teeth, raising a hand to his head and shaking it, a flashbang having gone off too close for comfort. Once his senses came to he looked around a surveyed what was going on. Maze was behind a durasteel box, peeking out every now and again to return fire down the hall. Kat was sitting in front of Verk, trying to get his attention.

"Hey! Hey, you alright? that flashbang went off right next to you."

"Yea i'll be fine, go help Maze." Verk replied, shaking his head again.

Verk blinked a few times, and when he felt he was ready to go, picked up his rifle, checked the ammo, and stole a peek out from behind his cover. A few of Pascks men behind a makeshift wall. Verk shook his head, and clicked off the safety on his rifle. With one fluid movement, he shouldered his rifle and squeezed off a few rounds. The first took and a bothan right in the head as he stood to return fire, the second hitting him in the chest as he fell back.

The fight lasted a few more minutes, the Jesters easily taking out the remaining mercs. Verk stood and moved with Maze and Kat over to the small wall. Verk was suddenly thrown to the ground as Maze shoved him and fired four rounds into a wounded merc who had picked up a rifle and was aiming it at Verkur. Verk looked from the merc to Maze and back again.

"Thanks for the save. I owe you one." Verk muttered, a ashamed that he had let down his guard.

"Yea, not a problem." Maze replied, offering a hand and helping Verk to his feet.

After the brief scuffle, Jinx and his group rounded the corner on the other side of the wall.

"Nice of you to join us Jinx. Hows your side doing?" Verk asked, smiling at his friend as he climbed over the wall, Jager in tow.

"You always have all the fun..." Jinx said sarcastically, "...it's fine, no thanks to you and your jokes. Come on we need to meet up with the others." Jinx said, reverting back to his corps attitude.

"Right lets move." Maze replied.

The Jesters gathered some ammo and their weapons and headed down the hall, Verk nodding to Jager as they moved. The small group moved quickly ans easily, taking out anyone that was unlucky enough to get caught in their path. They moved effortlessly through the halls, death the only thing in their wake, a group of ruffed up soldiers, and efficient killers, nothing was going to stop them, well almost nothing. Especially if it wasnt for the fact that someone had just, lobbed a grenade at them.

OOC:

Not much I know, but I needed to post something.

Verk gritted his teeth when Jager gave him the news. Pulling away from the fight he sat behind his cover and reloaded his weapon, trying to think of something to get away from this mess.

"Ok, im gonna call for help, in the mean time lets knock some of these boxs over to give ourselves some more cover. Go tell Maze to just sit tight and watch our rear." Verk gave the orders quickly, but not calmly, he was used to giving himself orders, not others.

His mind straining to figure something out, Verk began to knock a few of the boxs over that were stacked near him. With the help of Jager once he returned from Maze, the two pushed the boxs into a makeshift wall.

"I just hope they dont have anymore grenades." Jager said with an uneasy laugh.

Verk shook his head, and hoped for the same. Once things were somewhat set up, everyone reloaded and waited. Verk got on his comm and called for Aeos.

"Aeos come in you there?" Verk called over the comm. No response. Verkur sighed when Aeos did not reply.

"What about Marka, or the guys from Raiders? Jager asked, sitting up for a moment to return fire towards the mercs.

"Ill try Marka, not sure Raiders is friendly with us right now." Verk replied, lifting his comm.
"Hey Marka you there? Its Verk." He waited for a reply.

"Yea im here. Whats up?" The reply came a few seconds later, blaster fire heard in the background.

Verk smiled. "I think we need some help. Me and three others are pinned down, cant go forward or back the way we came. Think you could give us a hand?" Verk asked.

"Im a bit busy right now. Tell me where you are and ill see what I can do." Marka replied.

Verk looked around, trying to find something that could tell him where he was. He spotted a sign on the wall with the room name written on it. East Barracks.

"We are over by the east barracks. that help." Verk said, hoping help would arrive soon.

"Damn. Sorry Verk, thats too far, and ive got mercs to deal with as it is. Sorry man." Marka said, the worry in his voice evident.

Verk sighed an clicked off his comm. A bit annoyed he jumped up and started loosing a barrage of fire onto the mercs behind thier own cover. Those unlucky enough to look out were killed by severals random shots. With his clip emptied, Verk dropped back behind cover. He reloaded, and with a sigh crawled over to Maze.

"Hows things over here?" Verk asked, annoyed that they were all stuck.

"Fine for now, they havent moved much. Those stupid enough to venture over here are dead, but im not sure how many guys are back there. Is help coming?" Maze answered.

"Sadly no. We need to get out of here." Verk replied. He looked at the wall across from him. it was scorched and broken, and he could see into the room beyond.

"Hey do we have any explosives?" Verk asked.

"Uh, why do you need explosives?" Maze asked quizzically.

"Maybe we could use some to blow into a room behind one of these walls. Would give us better cover, and maybe we could find something useful inside." Verk said, a bit of hope evident in his tone.

"Ya know, thats not a bad idea." Maze said, a grin coming across his face.

Xan watched the little guy, Boa, work his techie magic.

  “Hmmm, gotta get me one of those.” He said as he readied himself for yet another assault on yet another fortified position.

  Dante pulled the pin on one of his two remaining grenades.  Xan dropped to a kneel and loosed a steady stream of blaster bolts at the mercs position.  His covering fire was enough for Dante’s frag to arc over the barricade and, once again, do its deadly work.

  This time though, there were still some bodies kicking.  The blast had brought down the ruble and exposed the remaining three mercs.  Xan dove across the hall and into an adjoining door alcove to open up some crossfire.

  Marka, Kray, Boa, and Dae wheeled around the corner, all guns firing, and shredded the remaining mercs.  Xan joined the parade as they stepped over the bodies, adding a few rounds for good measure, and pushing on. 

  By this time the RAIDERS were tired and angry. They were tired of fighting the seemingly endless supply of barely cognitive mercs, and angry to not have already killed Worga.  They cut through the remaining mercs like a hot knife through butter.  Eventually, they stood before the Throne Room blast doors.

  “Now what?” asked Xan as he tapped on the shielded door.

  “Boa” bellowed Marka.

    Tiros stepped forward again.

  “Do your voodoo.”

  “Yes sir.” He smiled as he opened his utility belt.

"What in space..." Dante muttered. Besides the quiet hum of an overhead fan, the entire throne room was silent, and completely deserted. Around him, the other Raiders were glancing left and right, searching for targets but finding only rock and empty air.

"Something doesn't feel right..." one of the new recruits muttered. Dante didn't reply, but he had to agree with the Private. Dante shifted from foot to foot, ill at ease. With considerable effort, he brought his feelings under control and tried to ignore the nagging feeling that there was something he had overlooked. His face impassive, he looked around the massive room.

The gloomy chamber was lit by elaborate, wall mounted glowrods which cast flickering ambient light over the chamber. The ceiling mounted lights had been disabled, and sparks were still flickering from one and dropping to the polished floor. Marka slowly gestured for the Raiders to spread out. There were nods from the troopers and they jostled into a rough vev shaped formation, covering the massive pair of ebony doors that were located behind a massive dais on the far side of the chamber. There was a quiet rustle, and the RAIDERS froze in place, their weapons at firing height. Dante's eyes darted from left to right, looking for the source of the movement. The noise wasn't repeated, but that just made him even less at ease.

Massive, elaborately woven tapestries covered the walls, swaying lightly in the light breeze from the fan. Hundreds of gold and silver threads had gone into the pieces of art, and Dante wondered briefly how much they had cost the Hutt. He shook the thought off. Soon, it would no longer matter to the slimy alien.

As Dante turned back to the door, he noticed a curious bulge in the tapestry. That was curious. None of the other artworks had any sort of defect. In fact, now that he had noticed it it almost looked like...

the barrel of a blaster.

Time seemed to slow down. As Dante opened his mouth to yell out a warning the other decorations seemed to ripple, then were surrounded by a haze as superheated energy vaporized a several inch wide section from each.

"Get back!"

The quartet of stolen and heavily modified EWeb-15 repeating blasters opened fire at once, sending red energy bolts flying in a deadly crossfire. There were a series of loud hisses as the particle beams blew massive holes in the stone floor, the walls, and even chunks of ceiling. The Raiders had made it out of the inital wave of fire in time to avoid being instantly vaporized, but the gunners had begun to adjust their aim.

The last Raider, Kraytirous, stumbled as he ran through the door and was almost hit by a particle beam that flew just past his left shoulder. At first, Dante thought that he had made it out in time, but noticed the trooper's blackened shoulder guard and the half-melted top layer of armourweave. Kray managed a weak grin, but his teeth were gritted in pain.

Even as Marka waved the squad to the corridor they had come through moments before, the E-Webs pumped energy into the wall opposite to the pair of throne room doors. The acrid smell of melted wall paneling and particles of vaporized rock filled the air.

"What in the name of the Goddess are we supposed to do now?" Daesha asked. "There's no way we can take on that kind of firepower."

As if to prove the trooper's point, a bolt of red energy ricocheted off a wall and flew over the Raiders' heads.

There was a long silence, and the guns continued to fire on the area.

"We wait." Marka eventually replied, his voice grim. "Eventually they'll overheat, and we'll be able to attack."

No one raised the possibility of Worga's other men finding them in the meantime.

Dante checked his blaster pistol's power cell, and found the charge had been reduced to 3 percent remaining. Clicking on the safety, he removed the depleted clip and let it drop to the floor before slamming a new one in. The weapon pinged, and the energy cell glowed a pale blue.

Abruptly, the guns stopped. Cautiously, the Raiders made their way back towards the door, only to be met by a withering hail of blaster and slugthrower fire. A trio of merc squads had come through the blast doors behind the dais, and were now charging forwards, firing as they ran. It might not have been a very tactically sound decision, especially when they could have simply let the E-Webs keep the Raiders pinned down, but the numbers were with the enemy. Marka brought his rifle to shoulder height and fired, sending one hostile to the floor in a blackened heap and wounding another. Undeterred, the others continued to charge, screaming insults and curses as they went.

"Return fire!"

Dante watched the conversation with increasing disbelief. Marka mulled Kraytirous's audacious scheme over for a moment before shaking his head.

"These are four heavy gun emplacements we're talking about here, Private. They'd tear us apart before we could get a shot off."

The trooper nodded.

"I know that, sir. But what other choice do we have?"

"We can retreat and try to find that piece of filth, Worga."

The words had just left Dante's mouth when red energy came flying down the corridor they had come from. Taking cover behind a crate, he brought a commandeered slugthrower rifle up to shoulder height and emptied half a clip into the hostile squad that had taken up positions on the other end.

"Not anymore." Namyr commented before clicking her carbine's trigger in short, precise bursts. Aliens and humans were sent flying back, flesh and armour were blackened or simply boiled away, and an unpinned grenade fell to the floor with a quiet ping as its owner fell in a crumpled heap with its insides scattered across several walls. The detonation shook the room, and  several pieces of debris fell from the ceiling in a shower of sparks. There was a quiet hiss as breached overhead pipes leaked coolant and various gases into the room, then a series of clicks as they automatically sealed. Briefly, Dante thought back to X-Ray's comment about the water-tight nature of the facility and wondered what state the complex was in. Between Pasck's assault and the breakout, there must have been significant structural damage. He forced himself to stop thinking about it. It would be a problem or it wouldn't. Either way, there was nothing he could do about it.

Although half a dozen of the hostiles were down from the combination of well-aimed Imperial fire and the mis-thrown grenade, the Raiders were still badly outnumbered. As usual. The mercs obviously knew this, and changed tactics. They came charging in a massive group, firing as they went. Allowing himself a small smile, Dante unpinned his last frag and rolled it towards the corridor. It had bounced into the middle of the group before they realized what it was. It detonated violently, causing secondary explosions as pieces of superheated shrapnel penetrated a pipe carrying some kind of fuel. The corridor was an inferno for several moments, before the automated systems cut off the fuel supply and sprayed a sickly-green fire retardant throughout the corridor. Dante moved his rifle left and right, but no more mercs apppeared. He allowed himself a sigh of relief, which was cut short when he heard dozens of boot bounding as their owners ran towards the corridor. The first of the others appeared, followed by at least another squad, and opened fire. They cut him down in seconds, but more arrived to take his place.
We can't win this.

Marka waved the RAIDERS back before shooting the door-panel. The heavy blast doors slammed down with a shower of sparks, followed by a small fire and the odour of ozone as it crushed a dropped blaster neatly in two. Seconds later though, there was a pounding as the Hutt forces on the other side began to burn their way through.

Marka exhaled, then straighted. Looking Krayitrous in the eye, he gave orders to the squad.

"Looks like your plan is the only one we have left. I hope you know what you're doing, trooper..."

The Jester glanced at the now slightly bulging set of blast doors.

"because the mission, and all our lives, depends on it."

There was a whine as Krayitrous opened fire with the commandeered E-Web. Bolts of superheated crimson plasma melted through armour plating, flesh, and then the humming generators powering the guns. The surprised gunners never had a chance to return fire or even scream as the power cells went up in gouts of flame and smoke, throwing shrapnel and aeresolised particles of melted metal in all directions.

Most of the hostile E-Webs were scattered across the chamber, and only a few of the gunners could even be identified as humanoids. Two of the heavy repeating blasters had survived the barrage, and they now began to return fire. Red energy pounded the area, melting inch deep holes in the rock and durasteel, and one of the remaining overhead lights exploded violently as a reflected blaster bolt impacted directly on it. Transparisteel fragments rained down from the ceiling in all directions from the shattered lgihts, and the chamber was cast into near darkness, with what little illumination there was coming from the blaster bolts now giving the massive room a blood-red tint.

As Dante moved into position behind another doorseal, he heard a scream, followed shortly afterwards by a loud gurgle. Instantly, the rhythm of fire slackened as one of the gun turrents fell silent. The other RAIDERS had knocked the second gunner out of the fight.

One to go.

There was no more time to waste. Enemy forces were doubtless on their way and would storm the throne room at any moment.

Dante stepped out from behind the doorseal, a DC-17 in his hand. The gunner had heard the hiss of the doorseal, and was standing there with a small, draw-out blaster pistol. The wolf-man snarled and depressed the trigger. There was a wave of heat as a trio of bolts flew millimeters past the Corporal's head. Dante held down the weapon's trigger and emptied the power cell into the creatures head. The enemy's weapon dropped to the ground with a clatter as its body melted away under the relentless fire. Dante thumbed the safety on and let the emptied clip fall. Ignoring the acrid smell of burned insulation and fur, he checke the fallen hostile's repeater. It still worked, and Dante was confident he could man the weapon. There would be some loss of accuracy, due to both the absence of his HUD and another trooper to police the generator, but if the mercs could do it he could too.

"Corporal Dante to RAIDERS, E-Web neutralised."

"Copy that, Corporal" Marka replied. "Stay in the cover. We're about to have company."

The blast doors behind the dais hissed, then slid apart with a screech of metal on stone. Dozens of Worga's men rushed out, only to be consumed by the crossfire from the three E-Webs.

"Keep it up!"

The bodies piled up, and the attackers were soon tripping over the bodies of the fallen. Despite this, they kept on coming. Dante bit back a string of curses as a stray bolt impacting on the durasteel doorseal behind him, leaving a half meter wide hole in its surface.

The Sithspawn keep on coming...

There were a series of flashes and the last hostile went down, his armour melted completely away and his chest reduced to blackened slag. The chamber became very quiet, and Dante heard nothing but the hiss of sparks impacting on durasteel and the breathing of his squadmates.

"Looks like that's the last of them." X-Ray ventured.

Dante hoped the Lance Corporal was right. Maybe this nightmare of a mission was over. Maybe they could somehow blow this construct and complete the mission. Maybe they could leave without losing any more Raiders. Unggoy and Voth: already more casualties than the Raiders had suffered on any other mission. Dante's hand unconsciously dropped to the pair of dull and scratched metal rectangles clipped to his waist.

There was a roar, followed by the whine of a bowcaster.

Or maybe not.

Marka sighted through his rifle's scope and fired a trio of blaster bolts. The first slagged the Wookie's helmet and scorched the simian's muzzle. The second and third reduced it's head to ash and skull fragments.

The sound of pounding feet grew louder in Dante's ears as the second wave of Worga's mercs ran towards the throne room. Based on just the sound, the Corporal knew this was a fight they would lose. The E-Webs were running low on power cells, the hostiles were well armed, and the RAIDERS were outnumbered at least four to one. Grimly he turned the barrel slightly and held down the firing mechanisms. The barrel shuddered as crimson energy streamed out and into the human wave. Dozens fell under the crossfire, but even more took their place. Blaster bolts flew in all directions as the enemy returned fire from behind cover.

Marka made his way over to the open blast doors, using the debris scattered around the once pristine chamber to avoid the random fire. Flipping back part of a durasteel panel, he pressed a series of controls. The blast doors slammed together, the metal emitting a series of dull clangs as the laser fire impacted onto it. As soon as the doors had hissed shut, Marka aimed and fired a pair of shots into the controls. There was a shower of sparks, followed by a crackle as the heat of the plasma started a small electrical fire.

"Let's go, Raiders. We can't stay here, and we can't go back."

"We can, however, leave." boomed a familiar voice.

"Sir!"

The RAIDERS snapped to attention.

"So what took you so long?" Namyr asked indignantly.

"Oh, ran into a few snags here and there." Snipes airily replied, carelessly waving the barrel of his blaster pistol around. "but we have to go. Now. Rogueboy's waiting with an entire squad in the docking bay, and Aeos's about to flood this place."

Without further delays, the Raiders moved. They ran into several unfortunate mercs, who were quickly cut apart by well aimed bursts of blaster fire but there was little other opposition. According to the broadcasted orders, most of the potential opposition was busy trying to repair the damage caused by the twin attacks on the base. There were leaks everywhere, and the corridors smelled faintly of ocean water. Several times, the RAIDERS found themselves walking through waist deep water.

After what seemed like an eternity, the troopers found themselves in a well lit room filled with machinery and submarines in various states of sea-worthiness. With a distinct feeling of relief, Dante saw figures in pristine ivory armour for the first time in over a month.

At last.

His relief was short-lived, however, as the nearest trooper brought his E-11 rifle up to firing height.

"Halt!"

"Stand down, Corporal."

Rogueboy emerged from the Vast Imperial submarine, wearing light body armour and holding a heavy blaster pistol.

"Get on board, now. We're leaving."

The RAIDERS quickly filed on board, followed by the pair of stormtroopers and Rogueboy. The officer nodded to the pilot. The sub's repulsorlifts whined and it rose an inch above the floor. There was a quiet hum as it passed through the force field, followed by a series of thumps as the propulsion drives activated. The vessel vanished into the darkness, leaving the base in its wake.