Andar "Cursed" Bacardi slowly strolled along the path given to him... or at least the path to the warehouse. His SSK-7 Heavy Blaster Pistol was strung into his shoulder holster, his pinstripe suit was as clean as a autopsy table, and the local security force had not found him yet. And with the population of the city, and the estimated size of the security force - they most likely never would. Bacardi looked around, no one, and he quickly grabbed his Comlink out of his jacket pocket. Cocking his head back and forth again, he noticed no one - again, he clicked the Comlink three times, signaling: Location. A second passed and Bacardi had gone a half a stride, and the Comlink clicked five times: At Base. Paladin was at the warehouse, he shuved the Comlink back into his jacket pocket and began to set course to the warehouse.

Three minutes and two blocks later, Bacardi turned up at the warehouse. It looked the exact same as it had earlier, and Bacardi's tall and fit figure looked like a dot on a map. He went over to the front door, stepping on the gravel with his Corellian shoes, the gravel made a crunching sound every stride he took. Standing outside the door, grabbed the Comlink out of his pocket again and clicked it once, a blaster immediately came to the door. It opened. Stepping inside, Brightstar was the one holding the blaster. "Its good to see you to," Bacardi said with a smirk, he turned around and closed the door, then padlocking it - Brightstar did the rest.

"Bacardi, we are moving out." Hassar said as he came up to Andar, Hassar's tall and slim body was in line with every other body around him and Andar. "You, Rex, and I are going as a team, and Lucky, Sam, and DoomBlade are as well. Load up." Hassar walked away from Bacardi, and Bacardi looked after him. In the distance was two unarmed Seraph-Class Speeders, inexpensive speeders, but able to haul a load. The back turret had been replaced with one passenger seat and a cargo hold. Bacardi was excited. Moving over to the crates again, opening the lid to a crate he reached in and to his surprise came out a DC-15S Blaster Rifle. "Great," he thought, he searched the room again. His eye got caught on a rack of Sniper Rifles, pacing over to the rack he grabbed the once that appealed most to him - the DC-15x Sniper Rifle. Now moving over to the speeders, he loaded his weapons in the hold and after checking that Rex's and Hassar's weapons were in there as well, he shut it.

"Clear?" Brightstar asked the speeders, they all gave a thumbs up and an affirmative nod in reply. Brighstar raised her blaster pistol at the warehouse garage door and took cover behind a barrel, on the other side of the speeders the Falleen and another human trooper did the same with themselves. The door opened and a whoosh of fresh air came in, and as soon as that came in, Hassar hit the speeder's engines and they were out. The other speeder was close behind. The garage door closed in a blink of an eye. Now at the outskirts of the town, the two speeders split. Bacardi, who was sitting in the back seat began to look over his gun as Hassar pounded the engines towards their destination. Giving up on his gun, he cocked his head back up, his hair swaying in the wind. Their destination was straight ahead, over a few hills and rivers. They had to stop about half a kilometer from their target so no one else could find it. Hassar pulled into a patch of brush that concealed the speeder perfectly. Luckystar, Sam, and DoomBlade's speeder had gone the other way, to their target.

"Lets move out," Andar said as he hopped out of the speeder and opened up the cargo hold. Deciding not to bring his DC-15S and x he brought his SSK-7 out of his shoulder holster, his hand still on the cargo hold door. He checked if Rex and Hassar had both gotten their weapons out, Bacardi slammed it shut. Bacardi still in his pinstripe suit was a little bit less lenient to trod in the mud than the others, so insead he took huge strides onto rocks and other things that would keep him from getting his clothes dirty. Now standing outside the target, the sun began to fall and they got on their knees and they began to observe their target. A large collection of stone buildings and wood sheds, equipment littered the place. Two large cultivating trucks sat, off, outside the smallest of the stone buildings. Rex pointed at the trucks and raised his blaster, and he sprang from their hiding spot.

He ran towards the first truck and slid under it. Bacardi stood back and motioned for Hassar to go as well. Hassar sprinted towards the second truck and moved under it. Soundless sparks began to fly out of the trucks as they worked and Bacardi stood guard, his SSK-7 Silenced Blaster Pistol raised at the ready, no one was coming. Rex sprang from his hiding spot and caught cover by the truck, and Hassar did a second later. They both motioned for Andar to come, Andar moved his hands to dodge the bushes and sprang from the hiding spot. He was now alongside Rex, Hassar's footsteps came from behind him as they went farther into the complex. Grassy patches came and went as they moved farther into the complex, no one had stopped them yet.  Rex aimed his blaster rifle towards a door as sounds came from it, Hassar jumped for cover and Bacardi moved by a barrel and raised his SSK-7. Rex slowly paced backwards and moved behind the same barrel as Bacardi, a slightly bulging site from the average bystander. The door opened.

"Well I'll be damned," a man said as the sound of the door opening came to Bacardi's ears. "No one out here on a sunny night, jeeze these people need to get outdoors more." The man's footsteps came closer to Hassar, Bacardi tracked him as he came into sight. He was three paces from Hassar's hiding spot. "What the?" Bacardi sprang, Rex did as well. Rex raised his blaster rifle but Bacardi hit it down, not wanting to attract attention. Bacardi raised his SSK-7 and fired once - it missed. The man turned around and reached for his belt, there was a Blaster Pistol attached to it. Hassar sprang to soon and the man dodged him and at the same time punched him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. The man had thumbed the blaster's safety and aimed it at Hassar's body that lay on the ground. But Bacardi was a step ahead, he had fired twice, they had yet to hit, they hit. Dead center. The man fell to the ground dead, and with a scream from his dying self - three lights flickered on in the windows that were near the door.

"Go, go, go." Bacardi whispered at Rex, he pulled out a fake New Republic ID of some random joe and threw it on the ground. He motioned for Hassar to go as well. They were all on a sprint now. Bacardi heard voices behind him but didn't dare to look back, they had cleared the stuctures and were now halfway to their speeder, running through patches of mud Bacardi keyed his Comlink: "This is Gamma team to Beta team, mission is a partial success. Retreating from premisses." Bacardi saw the speeder and hopped in the seat, Hassar and Rex were on step ahead of him. Bacardi reached down into the cargo hold and grabbed a Com Headset. He began to flick with the controls.

"*static*...*static*... This is Pemk Co. Security Force, we have a worker by the name of... *static*... down... *static*." Hassar had ignited the engines and they were flying towards their destination, Bacardi keyed the switches again. "*static*... *static*... Anyone out there?" Bacardi gave up and set the Com set down. The speeder flew down a stony road and they were near the garage, the garage automatically opened and to there surprise Lucky, Sam, and Doomblade's speeder was already present. They entered and the garage door closed, they all got out and saluted.

Luckystar walked over and opened her mouth to speak: "What happened, how many were you able to sabotage?" Bacardi, Rex, and Hassar hung there heads in shame. None of them wanting to speak the truth, they had only gotten two trucks, that was close to complete failure. Rex took the initiative and paced forward, most likely in Rex's mind his steps were heavy and he walked one pace. It felt to all three of them like minutes. "Well?" Luckystar spoke, wondering why none of her troopers were speaking a word. Her eyes were filled with wonder at how many they had actually sabotaged.

"Two, we sabotaged two." Bacardi walked away, as did Hassar. They saluted and relieved themselves, both of them heading to a cantina. The only one Bacardi could think of off the top of his head was that restaurant in the hotel lobby, two minutes later - they were there.

The dull drone of freighter engines and the sound of machinery filled the air as Daniel and Jager neared the city's landing pads. Jager was slowly beginning to hate D' and his inane chatter about nothing really in particular, this coupled with the grinding and humming noises that emanated from the pads made Jager's hangover that much worse,

"I thought you said some fresh air would clear my head... I cant even hear myself think" Jager managed to state when D' went to take a breath.

"I did... but, uh.. sorry" was all he could say as he stopped outside a small repair shop.

"Hey Listen, I gotta head into here and pick something up... mind waiting outside?"

"Whatever, just... hurry" Jager grumbled, relieved that he finally had a break in the one sided conversation that started back at Ma's. Taking another cigarette out of the quickly diminishing packet he contemplated his next steps.. He knew that these people were important, that much was obvious... but he had no idea how he was gonna get any information out of them. And what about Bright and the Jesters, if these people were involved with the NR they'd probably be keeping tabs on him and if he suddenly disappeared for a brief period someone might put two and two together and see through Jagers weak, yet passable disguise.

Guess I'll just see where this take me he mumbled to himself,

"Alright, i am done... who were you talking to?" D' asked as he emerged from the shop with to medium sized packages under each arm,

"What's that?" Jager said, raising in eyebrow and motioning towards the packages

"These, starship parts..." D' responded hastily, it was clear that they weren't starship parts.

"You dont have a starship..."

"Did anyone ever tell you that you ask to many questions?"

"Anyone ever tell you that your a terrible liar?", Daniel was clearly starting to sweat

"SHUT UP" he shouted Agitantly, Jager quickly backed off. if he was going to gain these peoples trust this was the wrong way of going about it.

"Right..." Jager sighed, taking another drag on his cigarette, "Where to now?"

"Back to Ma's" D' mumbled as he walked off, still hugging the packages under his arm.


=======


The apartment block was oddly quiet when the two returned, the place seemed even more run down from the street. Daniel hurried upstairs, Jager on the other hand took his sweet time. The moment they entered the apartment D' raced off to one of the rooms and locked the door. Zed was throwing cards aimlessly onto the table and both Jess and Mae were curled up on the couch asleep.

Jager pulled up a chair next to Zed and introduced himself,

"Jager" he stated, holding his hand out

"Name's Zed" he replied, quickly yet lazily shaking Jagers hand. Zed was a big guy, probably 6'5" and buff. He's stature reminded Jager of a few imperials he knew back on Tadath, in fact everything about Zed from the way he looked to his posture to his overall personality seemed to say ex-military.

"There a problem spacer?" Zed said gruffly catching Jager off guard,

"Uh.. no, why?" 

"Your staring at me, listen... I don't swing that way", Jager paused did he just call me..

"no, no no.. that's not what... never mind" Jager stammered, quickly getting to his feet, Zed smirked

"I was just messing with you... In any case, I think Ma' wanted to see you. Back room, knock"

"Thanks" was all he could really say.

========

The door opened before he had a chance to knock,

"Come in, take a seat" Ma's voice offered. Walking in Jager was startled, the room was properly carpeted from wall to wall in a dark red, the walls had wallpaper and a bookcase lined the read wall. Ma' sat behind a large desk with a monitor on it and a few files scattered around. She seemed a farcry from the tired old women who he shared some smokes with on the balcony earlier that day.

"This is nice..." Jager stated in awe.

"Just take the seat," she repeated in a stern manner. Jager sat down slowly, this could be some sort of trick after all

"By now, i think you've already figured out that something is going on with my little family... Am i right?"

Jager simply nodded, she seemed a bit pissed and Jager wasnt about push her,

"Well, you have a choice... We either continue here, or I have Zed escort you to the nearest spaceport and you leave the planet"

"In other words, Zed'll take me to a dark alley somewhere and off me?" Jager corrected her, smirking sarcastically. She returned the smirk,

"Well.... yes, that's one way to put it.", Again Jager paused... this entire thing stunk, and he knew if he accepted it that there would be no backing out.

"Alright, I am in" he stated

"I can tell you a few things, its better that no one know the whole picture..." she began, "Have you ever heard of a group called 'Chaos'?"

Jager shook his head, "Cant say I have... Sounds New republic"

"You'd be right on that one... This little 'Family' is an active cell for Chaos"

Jager mentally began pumping his fist in the air, "So... what do you guys do?"

Ma' shook her head, "All in due time".

"So where do i fit into this, i mean... you've only just met me" Jager questioned, it seemed a bit odd that he was just plucked off the street and offered this,

"To tell you the truth, it was never my choice... Zed seems to like you, Same with D' and Jess..."

"Thats not the question, Why me?"

Ma' paused and sighed, "Necessity... the local security force got a lead on one of the our members and he killed himself in their custody. A functional cell needs four members, you'd be the fourth"

"Sounds fair enough... how do you know I'am not part of the KSF though?" Jager queried

"Jager, the KSF are nothing but thugs... they would of killed us the moment they got a hint of NR involvement. And the fact that you are an off-worlder adds to that. The KSF don't trust off-worlders, and they don't use them as agents"

"Cant argued with that logic" Jager stated sarcastically

"Of course, I dont trust you fully either...." She finished, shooting Jager a cold stare, "If i ever think your not who you say you are... no one will ever hear of you again"

"If you thought that, I wouldn't be here..." Jager corrected as he got up and left the room.

Back in the living room things hadnt changed much D' was still locked in his room, Jess and Mae were still alseep and Zed was still playing his card game. Again Jager pulled a seat up,

"How'd it go?" Zed asked, still focusing on his card game

"I'am joining"

"Welcome aboard then Spacer" Zed replied, handing Jager a few cards.

Gates was kneeling on the roof of the hotel. He'd been there for several hours. He had a spotter's scope that he occasionally peered through, looking at the streets and alleys around their hotel. He also had a datapad on the lip of the building, which was keyed into the security cameras of the hotel.

Gates and Orobos had set it up earlier. No one expected a big, hairy, being, that frankly looked primitive, to be a brain. Even less would they expect a tall, earnest-looking young man to be in cahoots with such a person. This helped when Gates talked to the female clerk whilst Orobos hacked into their computers.

The bigger stormtrooper had finished, given Gates a quick nod. The human wrapped up his going-nowhere conversation and walked away. The clerk had been hanging on his every word.

"Nice," Orobos said sarcastically. "I didn't know you were such a charmer."

"Hey, I can read that romantic crap I get from my cousins when I'm not blowing shit up or killing people."

"Wait, you actually read that stuff?!"

"Skimmed it. What?"

The other left the elevator shaking his head. Gates shrugged, continued to the roof, where he set up the watch outpost. A spotter scope, his datapad, and a sidearm were all he needed, and a packet of smokes if someone came up. He had proximity sensors to watch his back.

After an hour or so, Gates' comlink buzzed; it was one of his squadmates.

"Gates, this is Helena. You're relieved. Take all your gear with you; no one can see in this darkness."

"Yes ma'am."

He packed up his spotter's scope, slid it into his jacket; the datapad was turned off.

He wiped the dirt off his pants and walked down the stairs.

Garryll stopped at the hotel suites, dropped off the datapads and scopes. He then turned to leave.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Inyk, who'd been reading something.

"Smoke." he rattled the box of cigarettes.

The other nodded. Gates went downstairs. He left the building, going into a nearby semi-lit park. He lit up a cigarette.

He was just about to put it into his mouth when someone screamed.

"God damn it. Just when I was about to get some peace and quiet."

He stubbed out the smoke, crushed it with his heel, and sprinted towards the scream.

He turned a corner and saw this; a trio of masked thugs smashing into a convenience store; the lady behind the counter was screaming as one pointed a gun at her.

Gates sighed. He took off again, running quickly and silently, and body-slammed the first man into the sidewalk. He fell unconscious when his head hit the sidewalk. Gates pried his gun from his grasp, fired a shot into the legs of the next thief.

The last turned, arm hooked around the clerk, using her as a human shield. Gates lowered his gun, dove to the side, barely dodging several laser blasts.

They chewed apart a bench. Gates threw the now-useless gun at the robber; it hit him in the face. He let go of the girl. Gates smashed into him, giving him a good clubbing.

Several cops showed up. "Perfect timing." Gates muttered.

Helena heard her comlink buzz frantically; she panicked and didn’t hesitate to pick up.
It was Gates.

“Helena, there’s cops here, there was a robbery and I need back up. There are several of them and I can’t keep them occupied for long” He whispered in his own comlink.

“What hold on, what happened?” She questioned.

“I just witnessed a robbery, no time for chatter... CHHH” the comlink ended.

Helena smirked to her self, tossing an old badge from the NR she had found on one of her travels, around in the air.

I have plans for you little guy.

She hurried off to the street; it wasn’t far, so Gates didn’t have to occupy them long.  The sound of distant chatter meant Helena was close.

“Right Gates, I’m nearby, don’t let them notice I’m here, I have a plan, once I give you the okay, you can show them the bodies, up until then, keep them talking. Knowing you, you’ll think of something” She whispered into the comlink, trying not to be heard.

The broken glass shards from the windows where they had broken in were scattered across the pavement, the shops contents and packages were opened and smashed. Gates nodded towards one of the police men, and told them to gather round him and the clerk, as if he was about to leak some deadly information. Taking the opportunity, Helena quickly rushed to one of the unconscious body’s which seemed vulnerable and searched his pockets; she took his wallet, and pocket knife, along with a few other items he seemed to be carrying.

I’ll be taking that thank you.

She smirked to herself before putting the badge deep into the mans pocket. She quickly but silently crept away, making sure she was hidden in a nearby bush.

“All set, you may show them now” Helena gave off a slightly evil giggle before sitting back and watching the event unfold.

In the warehouse, Lucky picked out her weapons carefully. She took an SS-K7, a DC-15 Blaster Pistol which she holstered inside her dark suit jacket and some spare clips and a silencer. She looked at the binoculars, debating whether to grab  a pair or not. In the end, she did take one and slid them into a concealed pocket in her jacket.

Once Bright opened the door, she immediately jumped into the Speeder and took the controls as Sam and NoVa jumped in after her. They sped away, heading to their target area and getting to work. She knew that Brightstar was watching their every move and that comforted her in a way for an unknown reason.

Once they had reached their target, their sabotage operations immediately went underway and soon, they had completed their task and hopped back on the speeder only to stop a short while later at a rendezvous point the squad had given themselves once their task was complete.

While they waited, they sat in the speeder in silence, someone occasionally tried to make small talk with everyone else but after realizing that it wasn't working, they resumed their dead silence as they waited for Bacardi and the rest of the squad to join them.

When the trio arrived, they all looked disappointed. After Lucky had queried a few times on how they did, Bacardi spoke up  "We only managed to get 2." She had to admit that was disappointing news, but they would do better next time around.

"Let's get back to the hotel then, I assume that we will be getting new instructions shortly."

Hopping back on their speeders, they zoomed back to the warehouse, making sure they were not being followed and close to an hour later, they were all in the hotel lobby.

When they got there , it was buzzing with activity, through hearing gossip and asking a few innocent questions, they got all the details on the murder, all of which they already knew of course but they didn't want to blow their cover.

When she got to her room and had shut the door, she got a message on her data pad from Brightstar. She and her team had to investigate the murders in the hotel. that would be done in the morning as they were all drained and were in desperate need of some rest.

OOC:

Cursed, could you edit your posts to exclude Wrex and DoomBlade as Wrex is in reserves and  DoomBlade is AWOL and include Alan on your team instead please and thank you.

“Another drink?”

Kami jumped from where she had situated herself near the buffet table to catch a breath. She turned to see the dark gaze of the NR delegate Jon Orquis. Her lethargic state immediately vanished,

“No thank you. I think I've had enough.”

“Suit yourself,” Orquis delicately grasped a long stemmed flute of champagne, stepping sidewards and effectively pinning Kami in place, “You look like you're enjoying yourself, but I know better. These kind of assignments are much more wearing than those on the battlefield don't you think?”

Kami forced herself to remain calm, schooling her face into a neutral expression. This man, despite his easy smile and clean cut attire, was her enemy, “Actually, I'm having a great time. The people of Kolstor are most hospitable.”

Orquis frowned, the clear cut reaction a sign that the alcohol provided at the luncheon had hit its mark. For someone who had spent the last few hours carefully picking his conversations and avoiding Kami and Vasili, he had grown bold enough to confront her.

“Jon!” The other NR official was abruptly at Kami's shoulder, one hand latching possessively onto her companion's arm, “I''ve been looking all over for you!”

Orquis's frown deepened at the obvious anger in his partner's stance, “I was just getting a drink.” The woman, Mika Saprin if Kami remembered correctly, looked pointedly over her shoulder. Kami followed her gaze to see Ardric Riles watching them, an anxious expression on his face. Orquis seemed to give in, his shoulders dipping as he sighed and took a large swig from his glass, “But of course, duty calls.”

He turned, walking back towards the dancefloor, leaving Saprin in his wake. The other NR delegate turned on Kami, her words icy, “You do our job. We'll do ours. Leave Jon alone.”

Despite herself, Kami smiled. Possessive indeed. And on a first name basis.

Mistaking the gesture as a challenge, Saprin scowled, storming off to rejoin the Chief Minister and her partner.

“Making friends are we Kami?” Cyneques walked up, deftly depositing a fresh glass in Kami's hand. He waved away the beginning of her protest, “You've done the hard yards now, most of the ministers have already made up their minds.”

“And?” Kami questioned, her eyes still following Ardric as he led the NR duo away.

“We have more friends than we originally thought,” Luan's voice was softer now, even though they were in a relatively secluded spot, “Though whatever additional support your men can scrounge up will be most welcome.”

“Give them time, they'll do their job,” Kami answered, the mention of the other VE forces causing a spike of anxiety to flare up in her chest. What she would give to be out there with them.

Cyneques offered an understanding smile, “You burden yourself with your thoughts. Care for a dance?”

“Maybe later,” Kami apologized, “I should really go and track down my wayward date.”

Cyneques let out a snort of laughter, “Best of luck. Last I saw he was in the company of a virtual gaggle of young ladies.”

Cursing under her breath, Kami gripped her drink tightly and swept off into the milling crowd.

*        *        *        *        *        *        *

Ardric Riles pulled Mika aside as she emerged from the ladies bathroom, leading her down a small corridor and onto a wrought iron balcony overlooking the dance floor. The Sergeant allowed herself to be led, pulling herself free of his grip only when they had reached their destination, “What is it?”

“I've just received some strange reports,” Ardric hissed at her, “Unmarked men, moving about the streets at will. They're not locals, and their behavior is extremely circumspect.”

“We already talked about this Minister,” Saprin still seemed disgruntled from her run in with the VE Sergeant moments before, “You and I both knew that the Vast Empire would have a hidden agenda whilst on planet. As we ourselves do.”

“You were supposed to be monitoring them, stopping them from doing...whatever it is they're doing!” Riles paused, lowering his voice to an acceptable level, “I have far too much riding on this deal for it to all go wrong now. And Sharpe and Cyneques now have far too many allies for my liking.”

“Politics is your arena Minister, not mine,” Saprin bit back, “We'll deal with Sharpe and her men. You control your party, you are, after all, their leader are you not?”

Riles growled deep in his throat, “It's not that simple, and you know it.”

Saprin sighed, “Look, I'm sorry, but I need to go and find Jon. He's had too much to drink and he could embarrass himself.”

Riles nodded and Mika swept past back into the corridor, forsaking her usual farewell in her haste. He thought for a moment, contemplating all possible actions. Finally, he raised his comm and keyed it over to a private channel. Rasta, the head of his personal security force answered immediately,

“Yes sir?”

“I want Sharpe and the other one killed,” Riles ordered calmly, “A speeder accident or something equally as discreet. We don't want to anger the Vast Empire.”

There was a momentary pause, “Of course sir.”

“Contact me when it's done.”

Both Gates and Helena walked into the elevator, giggling away at each other.

“Good work there Gates, I mean that” She smiled.

“Thank you, Now are you going to push the floor button or not?” He smirked, looking at Helena who seemed to be in a world of her own, finger hovering over the button.

“Uh, yes, sorry about that”

They both waited a few floors in the elevator, listening to the highly annoying elevator music.

“Seriously, who comes up with this crap?”

They both laughed before feeling a slight judder as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. As they both stepped out, they exchanged a quick smile before heading off to their rooms.

“I bid you a farewell until the morning then” She smiled lightly.

“Indeed” He saluted, before turning his back on her and heading off in the other direction.

Each of the squad members rooms were close, just so Tanus and herself could keep and watchful eye on things.

The rooms weren’t posh or high class by any standards. Helena dug into her pocket for the entrance card; she swiped it to let herself in. Her room contained one double bed, a random chair in the corner, a rotten downed dresser and a stale smelling bathroom. She was rather disgusted at the fact she didn’t even get complimentary soaps or bathrobes.

She emptied her pockets out onto the dresser’s surface. She smiled to herself as she placed the knife, wallet, and other things out in a neat line. She began rummaging through the wallet, examining the cards it contained and the money the person had on them. It wasn’t a lot, but Helena wasn’t that bothered, it was money to her.

She sat on the edge of the dampened down bed, with stained sheets, and pulled out her datapad. She typed a message out to all squad members to meet in the lobby in the morning at 0900 sharp.

She gazed out to the window, daydreaming into the city lights, before finally drifting off to sleep.

***0600, Tadath***


Verk’s eyes popped open from the turbulence caused by re-entry of the Tadath atmosphere. Shaking the sleep from his head he grabbed the controls of his Belbullab-22, taking it out of autopilot. It had been a good month and a half since Verk had last set his eyes on the planet of Tadath, home to the army of the Vast Empire. As he smiled to himself and readjusted the controls, Verk headed the shuttle towards the landing pads, hoping to find a familiar face and get back into the groove of things.

The comm. Buzzed slightly, “Unidentified craft, you are entering restricted airspace. Please state your name and purpose or be shot down.” The robotic voice said over the shuttles comm.

Verk shook his head, “This is Corporal Verkur returning from leave.”  He said over the comm.

There was silence for a moment before a human voice came over the comm.

“Welcome back Corporal. Proceed to landing pad B9. An escort will be waiting for you there.”

“Much appreciated, out.” Verk sighed to himself and clicked off the comm., heading towards the designated landing pad.

Verk landed the shuttle easily, the hiss of the landing gears hydraulics spewing some excess gas as the pistons compressed. Shutting everything down Verk popped the hatch and hopped out of the cramped shuttle, taking a deep breath of the cool dawn air. Damn it’s good to be back. Been long, too long. Before he got two steps, Verk was approached by three suited troopers, and a single officer. The officer motioned to Verk.

“Follow me.” The officer stated, obviously annoyed that she had been selected for such a menial task.

Shrugging Verk followed the tensed woman towards HQ. I have not been back for a few minutes and already I’m in trouble.


***0630, Army HQ, Just outside Rizzit’s office***


Verk sat in red and black arm chair just outside General Rizzit’s office, waiting for his turn to be seen. His feet crossed at the ankles, stretched out before him while his hands, linked at the fingers cushioned his head from the wall behind him. His eyes always on the move, Verk scanned the office, settling on Rizzit’s secretary who had a scowl on her face, generally upset with Verk’s relaxed manner. Verk sat up when the speaker on her desk crackled to life.

“Send him in.” The voice said.

Verk was already up and moving, stopping just before he opened the door to take a deep breath. Cracking his neck, he opened the large wooden door and stepped inside. The office was large and open. A few chairs dotted the black carpeting, and a half full book case stretched across the wall to his right. In the center of the room, was a large wooden desk, opposite that was a large window overlooking the grounds of the facility below, the General sat at his desk, a pile of papers strewn across its surface. Taking a few steps forward, Verk clicked his heels and saluted.

“Please, have a seat.” Rizzit said, waving one hand and rummaging through the papers with the others.

Verk relaxed slightly and took a seat, waiting patiently to be acknowledged. Rizzit sighed and looked up, nodding to Verk, accompanied by a brief smile.

“Welcome back Corporal. How was your leave?” The General asked, even though Verk knew he could care less.

“Nothing special just glad to be back with the army sir.” Verk responded, keeping it short and sweet.

“Good, now on to business. Storm was sent off on a mission just the other day, and as I recall, you were the ASL of Jester for a short time before you went on leave, correct?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well, now that you’re back, it is time you went back to work. You are being put back into Jester, but as a trooper again.” Rizzit said, picking up a file from the mess on his desk, he handed it to Verk. “The rest of the platoon has already left, but a shuttle will be provided for you. As a quick note, you are to go in civilian clothes. This is not the usual mission. Your squad is currently on the planet Kolster. You will be briefed accordingly once you arrive and find Jester. Good luck and welcome back solider.” Rizzit spoke quickly and once finished he stood and held out his hand.

Verk stood and shook the Generals hand, stating that it was good to be back. Saluting Rizzit, Verk turned on his heel and quickly left the office, making his way to the Jester barracks and his old room.

Verk took his time as he crossed the main grounds of the military installation. As he walked, his mind drifted to his time away from the VE, his trip back to Nar’Shada to visit his friend Nagado, and take care of some important business concerning the deaths of his parents many years ago.

Verk took a deep breath as he neared the Jester barracks, the cool morning air rushing into his lungs. Moving closer to the doors he pushed his way in, only for his mind to be flooded with old memories. Everything looked just the way it had when he left. The lounge and bar, as well as the meeting room which Verk passed on the way to his room.

Verk stopped momentarily to examine the metal door, running his fingers over its cool surface, just before it slid open, revealing a dark space within. Stepping inside the lights fizzled to life. It looked just the way he had left it when he first left. Not a piece out of place. Verk smiled and dropped his bag on his bed. Snapping back to the task at hand Verk quickly changed his clothes, donning his assassins outfit once more, mixing two of the suits to make a black and gray one.

Sliding his ryyk blades into their respective sheaths, Verk  quickly looked over his room and swiftly left, darting down the hall and out the barracks doors towards the hanger. Within a few moments Verk arrived, looking around till he found a shuttle pilot and ask him for directions to the shuttle that would take him to Kolstor. With directions in hand, Verk made his way down the line of shuttles till he came to his, a simple yet effective ship that would get the job done.

Stepping inside the craft Verk found the pilot napping on one of the ships bunks. Verk shook his head and jabbed the man in the ribs. Jolted from his nap, the pilot rubbed his side and looked up at Verk.

The pilot groaned, “What was that for you prick!? And what do you want?” He said.

Verk shook his head, “You were napping, and I have somewhere to be. You are supposed to take me to Kolstor, and I suggest you hurry up.”

The pilot grunted as he stood, making his way to the cockpit and sitting down in the pilot’s seat, strapping himself in. The pilot fiddled with the console, the ion engines humming to life, and the loading dock folding away, the back hatch sliding closed. The landing gears hissed and lifted, and the craft took off.

Verk sighed to himself and took a seat towards the rear of the shuttle, sitting down and strapping himself into the lightly cushioned bucket seat. Pulling up his cloth mask, and the cowl of his cloak low, Verk hunkered down and waited for the shuttle to arrive at Kolster.


***1351, Kolstor, Landing pad Y7***


Even with the added hyperdrive, the ride still took a few hours. Verk stood at the rear of the shuttle, waiting for it to touch down and the rear hatch to slide away. The ship jerked and shifted as the landing gears engaged and made contact with the durasteel platform below, Verk held onto a low hanging bar to stabilize him during the rickety landing.

As the metal door slid away, and the exit ramp rose, the sun of the backwater planet snuck in, trying to blind the newcomer and catch him off guard. This time though, its efforts were useless. Verk’s cowl and mask did well to help keep the light low, and stop the sun from temporarily stealing his vision. Sighing he stepped from the shuttle, quickening his pace to find a crow, and then matching the pace of the others around him.

Verk had been on Kolstor before, and new the lay of the land, its people and ways to lose a pesky follower. Granted it had been many years since the day he had assassinated one of the planets previous diplomats, but it had seemed a good business opportunity, and the planet had fared quite well since then.

Moving with the crowd, Verk made his way through the city, his black and gray robes hiding his ryyk blades beneath, and within easy reach. The first task at hand was to locate the landing platoons that Storm had used for their own crafts. The pilots knew where to find the squads, and that would be Verks link to the others.

Verk moved quickly yet cautiously, taking great care not to draw any unnecessary attention. Since he had a basic idea of what was were, Verk took his time in making has way to the Storm landing areas, taking notice of how things had changed since his last visit, and remapping the area and committing it to memory. After his half hour of walking in circles and refreshing his memory, Verk finally made it to the landing pad. Two of the three shuttles had missing pilots, and the third was fiddling his thumbs as he watched a holo recording.

Verk coughed to clear his throat, “Ahem. I am looking for the Storm? Know where I can find it?”

The pilot turned his head and looked Verk up and down. “Industrial district’s been getting some bad weather recently. People been using the warehouses for shelter.” The pilot turned his attention back to the holo recording.

“Thanks for your help.” Verk said.

“Yea, yea. Now le…” The pilot turned back towards the robed figure, but he was gone, nowhere to be seen.

Verk moved silently through the shadows of the alleys of Kolstor, making his way to the industrial district. The smoke and smog grew thicker and thicker as Verk drew closer to the warehouses, then without warning it quickly faded, not that the air was cleaning, but visibility increased. Moving through the buildings one by one, Verk took notice of each, trying to locate the other VE troopers.

The last warehouse he came to was nearest to the water, one side facing towards the shipping roads, two to other buildings and the last towards the water. Since it was the last one, it had to be the one being used by Storm.

Verk was surprised when he stepped into the large metal and wooden structure. Unlike the others, this one was well lit, and one wall was set up with monitors and all sorts of other computer equipment. Off to his left he saw gas lines, most likely used for filling up speeder bike tanks. To his right were piles of boxes, empty, yet so many. In the middle sat massive amounts of weapons, ammo, and armor.

There were a few others in the warehouse; one was sitting next to the weapons pile, a look of satisfaction and accomplishment spread across his face. That kid needs some attention. Shrugging Verk moved towards the computers and radios, hoping to find someone he knew.

Verk stopped, a hand moving towards a ryyk. “I don’t think so. Both hands up where I can see them.” The voice said from behind, as well as the distinct noise of two rifles clicking and waiting for a trigger pull.

“Turn around, now, and take off that mask so I can see your face.” The voice said.

Verk sighed, “I want no trouble, I am here for the same reasons you are.” Verk said as he turned, pulling back his cowl, and the face covering down. “Names Verk, used to be in Jester and was once its ASL.” Verk raised his hands once more.

The green skinned man looked Verk up and down. “Well, if you are who you say you are, then one of the SL’s or member of jester should be able to identify you.” The fallen tapped his comm., “I need an SL or a long time member of Jester back at the warehouse. I have a man here saying his name is Verk, and I need conformation.”