Yea, it's good to be back...." Verk stopped suddenly and turned towards the door.

In walked Jager, beated and battered, dried blood was caked to his clothing and a bit of his face. Verk watched as his friend was stopped by Aeos, then he went wide eyed as he side stepped her adn continued on his way, finally stopping at a table and resting his head on his arm, a small trail of smoke making it's way toward the roof.

"If you'll excuse me." Verk nodded to Maze and stood.

Crossing the warehouse quickly, Verk took a seat next to Jager, and tapped him on the shoulder. Jager sat motionless, his breathing heavy, and the cigarette still burning. Verk put his hand on Jager's shoudler, and shook the man slightly.

"Jager. Wake up it's Verk. Jager?" Verk whispered, sahking him again.

Jager lifted his head, groaning, "Oh, hey. Long time no see. Where you been?" Jager said, dropping his head back to his arm but tilting it to face Verk. He lifted his hand to pull the cigarette out from between his lips to blow the inhaled smoke, then placing it back where it was.

Coughing, "Been alright. Had to take care of some unfinished business, but I'm back now." Verk waved his hand around to get rid of the smoke.

"Well thats good. Hey listen. I really need to rest, mind if I had some alone time?" Jager asked.

"Yea, not a problem. We can talk when you're feeling better." Verk patted jager on the shoulder and stood from his seat.

As Jager rolled his forhead back onto his arm, Verk amde his way over to Aeos, who was sitting in a metal fold up chair, using her foot to lean the chair onto it's back legs. Verk grabbed a seat and took a spot adjacent to her. Before he could start up a conversation, the comm crackled to life.

"Uh... anybody who is listening. I have someone out here that might be real happy to come in. Should I bring him in?" The voice said.

Verk looked at Ae with confusion.

"Who is that?" Verk questioned.

"His name is Jori." Ae relpied.

"Ah. Be right back. i'll take care of it." Verk added, getting up from his chair and heading out the door.

Verk spotted Jori and the mystery captive off to the side in the shadows, Jori had his boot on the figures back. Walking over to the two, verk went over the captives figure. He had on an old trench coat, and worn fingerless gloves on. Verk stuck his boot under the mans stomach and flipped him over. It was an old bum. His face was wrinkled adn covered in long dirty brown hair.

Sighing, "I'll take care of him. Head inside Jori." Verk said to the recruit.

"Uh, ok?" Jori said, moving away and heading back into the warehouse.

Verk pulled on the shoudler strap of his rifle, moving it to his back. Grabbing the mans arms he pulled him up, putting one arm around the bums back, and taking his left wrist and pulling it around his neck. Starting off slow, Verk dragged the man away from the warehouse, for a good 10 minutes he walked, taking him away from Storms location.

Without warning the bum jerked away, pulling a blaster from his coat. Verk dodged the first few blasts, rolling back and to the side. In the same motion he unclipped his M4, pulled it from it's holster, and clicked off the safety. Coming to a stop on his knee, Verk quickly took aim and fired off four quick rounds, all landing decent hits on the mans chest, dropping him to the floor.

With a sigh Verk watched the man fall, his blaster skidding away and falling into a sewer grate. Holstering his pistol Verk moved over to the dead figure, and knelt down beside it. Verk went through his pockets and found nothing. Grabbing th mans arms, he dragged the body to a large sewer grate. Verk lifted the lid and slided it out of the way. Grabbing a handful of worn coat, verk rolled the body into the sewers, it landed a good twenty feet down with a loud splash and a slight thud. Shaking his head verk replaced the grate and made his way back to the warehouse.

Stepping inside the warehouse, Verk saw those who were present sitting around Aeos. Verk took his earlier seat, nodding to Jori, Maze and Jager. Not five seconds after he walked in, the door opened once more, and in walked Brightstar. Verk smiled at the female, and nodded his hello. Nodding back, she took a seat.

"Well, now that we have at least one full squad here, let's begin." Aeos began.

OOC:

About 14 hour earlier...

Kyrus Hassar woke up disoriented and confused. He sniffed and opened his groggy eyes, wiping away crusty eye boogers. Ughhh..., he thought to himself. He had only a vague recollection of the events that had transpired since his arrival on Kolstor. He scratched his chin, trying to remember, and after a minute, finally gave up and shook his head.

He looked around his room, and for the first time noticed the steady beeping that had aroused him from his slumber. He had slept rather deeply, but he couldnt recall dreaming anything. In fact, he couldn't recall the last time he had dreamed.

Focusing back at the source of the beeping, Kyrus found his datapad lying on a night stand. He scooped it up and opened up his messages, and saw that he had recieved a message recently from Luckystar. Frowning, he opened it and read:

Waky, waky people. It's 700 hours, please meet at the hotel restaurant as soon as possible. We have business to attend to. Look for ...

Kyrus tossed aside the datapad, and got up from his bed. He quickly hopped into the sanisteam, and when he got out, he took a look at his closet. Aside from the KSF uniform that he had recieved upon his arrival to Kolstor, he had packed his traditional Tusken Raider robes, which he usually wore when he wasn't in his black stormtrooper armor. Having grown up on Tattoine for the first couple years of his life, he had grown accustomed to wearing them as everyday robes, although he dispensed with the face mask. This simply made him seem anonymous in a large and diverse crowd, evenn if his robes were slightly sandier than the average robe.

When he was dressed, he picked up his datapad and grabbed the two vibrodaggers that he kept stowed away in a drawer, and tucked them away into a hidden fold in his robe. He had smuggled them onto Kolstor, despite their secret provided supplying them with weapons. He was never a big fan of blasters. To him they seemed so... uncivilized. Yet he always carried one, just in case he was caught in a situation that did not require stealth.

When he was finally satisfied that he had not left anything behind, he left his apartment.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Opening the doors to the restraunt, Kyrus strolled in and looked around to the different tables, until he saw Lucky waving at him. He also noted that there were two others with her; Bacardi, and another man that he did not recognize. Nodding towards her, he walked over to their table and sat down, being sure to keep his back to the wall, so that he could face the entrance. Despite this being a nice restraunt and not a run-down cantina, he was still weary.

Old habits die hard.,,

Bacardi tipped his mug towards him. "Caf?" he suggested.

"Nah, I dont drink that stuff."

Bacardi just shrugged and resumed taking steady gulps from his drink.

The second man that he did not know looked at Kyrus and said,"So you must by Hassar."

"Yup," he stated.

"Kyrus, this is Alan. Alan, Kyrus." Lucky took the liberty of introducing them.

Kyrus nodded and said, "Pleasure."

He didnt bother asking what this was all about. He trusted Lucky enough to know this wasn't just another friendly get-together. They were probably just waiting for the rest of the squad to come.

So Kyrus just sat their with his arms crossed and waited.

Nova sat motionless by Lucky and Sam. His posture was perfect. The Wookiee had taught himself how to be comfortable even in the most uncomfortable positions. He listened intently as Aeos gave her speech during breakfast.

"Dismissed!" He heard Aeos say. Everyone stood up and began working towards the exit.

[When shall we starrt Lucky?] Nova growled.

"Well right now. We have a lot of water to contaminate and not much time."

[Yes ma'am.]

Nova, along with Luckystar and Sandwich Sam continued out the door and began searching for the few Paladin Squad members who had gotten lost in the discombobulated lines moving out the doors.

Gates was blowing shit up. And therefore, having the time of his life at the same time. He wiped a bit of sweat off of his slightly painted face, just enough to throw his skin tone off; he wore glasses as well, a look that he actually enjoyed. He was slightly shorter because of his gait.

But that was a moot point. He vaulted to the top of the fence, it wasn't designed to stop someone determined. He pulled a slug thrower from his jacket and fired some rounds into the air.

Full-auto blazing in one hand, Gates reached into his jacket. An image appeared in his glasses; it was a built-in HUD.

"No time now, ma'am. Blowing shit up." He tapped the 'record' button. His hand went back into his jacket; it held a reload for his rifle and a flashbang. He ejected the spent magazine, letting it fall to the ground. It didn't have his prints on it, and therefore couldn't be tracked back to the VE.

He primed the grenade and side-armed it towards the barracks. It exploded just as the NR soldiers began coming up.

Gates laughed like a maniac, firing a few shots into the disoriented soldiers.

"Hot damn!" He yelled.

"No chatter on the comm!" ordered Helena.

He pulled another party cracker from his jacket; a pair of flash-bangs tied together with a concussion grenade.

He threw it through an open window. "Ooops, that's got to be someone's paperwork."

Gates spent another clip into the embassy. He tapped Helena on the shoulder.

"What now!?" she asked, firing a few more suppressive rounds.

He slung his rifle, and pulled his last two toys from his jacket. And smiled.

Helena let a grudging smile cross her face.

"Hell yes!" he muttered, pulling his lighter from his pocket. He lit the two moltov cocktails and threw...

Kami was absorbed in the latest report from VE intel when the sleek armored speeder struck them side on. She had no warning. At one moment they were sitting calmly at the lights, and the next, the world was turned upside down. The first sign that something was wrong was the strangled scream from the front of the speeder. The driver, caught completely off guard, must have seen his death catapulting down on him.

The armored speeder hit the ministry speeder directly on the drivers door, caving the brittle metal inwards with the force of the blow. The whole vehicle collapsed, the frail roof crumbling as the left side of the speeder billowed into the right. Kami had strapped herself in on the right passenger side, and had she not, she would have most certainly been crushed. She felt herself scream, though the sound was drowned out by the horrible cacophony of roaring engines and tearing metal.  Kami's left arm slammed violently across her body, her head connecting and smashing into the viewing glass at her side.

Then, abruptly, it was over.

Silence, except for the gentle ticking of the speeder's engines. Her ears ringing, Kami forced her eyes open only to see the splattered remnants of the driver before her. The entire weight of the speeder's frame had torn into his soft flesh and effectively turned him into a human pancake. Later, when Kami was capable of sane thought, she spared a thought for the man. He had been a pawn, an effective tool, but a victim none the less. His superiors had sacrificed him in order to get a shot at her.

Biting back a scream as she tried to move, Kami looked down at her arm, which was bent at an obscene angle. Broken most likely. Forcing herself to pull in a calming breath, she mentally assessed the rest of her physical condition. Nothing else was causing her pain, although the warm liquid trickling down her face and obscuring her vision suggested a head wound.

Voices sounded outside the speeder, followed by shouts and the sound of military grade engines. Her attackers most likely, coming to confirm the kill.

Kami forced herself to reach for the seatbelt clasp, biting her lip as the movement triggered a wave of fiery pain from her mangled arm. Somehow, she managed to get free on the first try, before rolling onto her stomach to crawl out of the shattered window and into the street. It was torturous progress, her arm slamming down each time she pulled herself forward. Glass and shreds of metal caught at her face and body as she maneuvered out towards the small gleam of daylight.

Finally, she was out, cool fresh air billowing about her as she came unsteadily to her knees. The noise was clearer now, a series of shouts, men arguing a few meters away.

“... you get out the bleedin' way!”

“My wife!” A thoroughly distressed voice, “Please! She's been run over, please help her!”

“Get out of the way!” The sound of a fist hitting flesh, followed by the thump of someone or something hitting the ground. A civilian, obviously a hindrance enough to give Kami a few more seconds to get free.

Using her good arm, she reached into her right boot, pulling free the small holdout pistol concealed there for emergency occasions. Checking the charge, she made a break for it, limping away from the wreckage and into the gathering crowd. A few faces turned to follow her, but Kami slipped out of sight before they placed her.

The previously beautiful day now seemed eerie. Kami stumbled along, her green gaze darting from shadow to shadow as she made her way into the relative safety of the alleyways of the city. She had to get away. Whoever wanted her dead had risked an awful lot attacking her in broad daylight. They would risk much more to ensure that she was found before she could initiate an investigation and expose the players.

Dizzy from pain, nausea and shock, Kami chose another alleyway at random, charging down it as shouts sounded behind her. She had to get to the ministry. Only there would she be safe. Her political immunity wasn't solid protection in the streets. She still had her comm, but was afraid to use it in case it had been compromised. Her once guarded fear was now irrational. She needed to stop panicking and think calmly.

Another deep breath, another wave of pain from her arm. Kami forced herself to slow, to move less suspiciously. A roundabout rout to parliament house perhaps. Anything to keep herself alive just a little bit longer.

OOC:

Incomplete; working around RL to finish...

Tank selected the DL-44 with massive modifications.  Stripping the casing revealed a surprise; inside was the guts of an Aratech Ionmaster heavy blaster, slightly more powerful than the Blastech's DL-44 without mods.  Yet modified it was, with the scope and other components from the '44.  The firing chamber was more than twice the size it should be.  Hmnn.. The construction is good, parts are top quality and properly connected... I think I'll keep this one...

Tanus broke Tank out of his reverie, "Tank, take Inyk

Flashbangs, smoke grenades and other FX gear cleverly disguised in the gutted casings from rebel IEDs, recovered by the Empire when the rebel base and its hidden cache was found.  Now they are mostly harmless props that will serve the Empire.  This'll be fun... was the thought the Stormtroopers shared as they prepped their packages for delivery.

Gates stumbled home with his squad. He was beat; waking up in the middle of the night after staying up past midnight on watch and then attacking an embassy?

Too much without adrenaline. He flopped down onto his bed.

"Just a few hours' sleep..." he muttered, then fell into a deep sleep.


*****A few hours' sleep later******
Gates jumped to his feet. There was someone banging on his door. Gates looked carefully into the little eye-hole. It was a waiter.

"What the hell? What d'you want?!?"

"Room servise!" the man said with a thick accent. "Zis is for a Mr. Jonzan?"

"What the hell?! I'm not Johnson! I'm one of the Imperial soldiers, not one of your damn tourists!"

"Of course, zir."

"GO AWAY!"

"Okey-dokey, zir."

Gates slammed the door, fell onto his bed again. He'd like to shoot the entire damn hotel staff at the moment - or just blow the entire damn thing to the ground.

He sighed. He unfortunately didn't have enough explosives.

He turned to his bathroom, shaved, dressed, etc.

He decided to re-calibrate the weapons at his disposal again; sniper rifle, pistols, a few knives of different styles, a few grenades.

He cleaned and checked every weapon. He slid a slugthrower into his shoulder holsters, knives into their usual positions.

He then trotted out of the room. Once the non-com reached the lounge, he realized that his SL was there, conversing with his ASL.

Tanus looked up, waved him over. Gates mimed eating, pointed to the buffet.

His boss nodded, went back to his conversation. Gates grabbed some coffee, eggs, bacon, and other heart-killing food, slapped it onto a plate, and took a couple slices of bread as well.

He walked over to his SLs' table, sat down.

"What y'all doin' up so early, if I might ask, good sirs?" Gates said, digging into his food.

"Well Gates, we're watching you eat." Tanus replied, swiping a piece of bacon from his plate.

"I wanted that..." Gates complained.

"Insubordination?!" Helena joked.

"Of course not, ma'am. The soldier exists only to follow orders and fulfill the wishes of his commanders."

The two leaders of Black Jack smiled and laughed, depending on their mind set.

A hand tapped him on the shoulder.

"'scuse me?" Gates asked, turning around.

"You're a stormtrooper?" asked the owner of the hand, a boy barely ten; his mother was walking rather briskly over to them.

"Yup." Gates replied, dabbing at a spot of grease on his lip.

"I thought that all stormtroopers had armor and wore it all the time...."

"No. We're just human. We've got to eat, drink and sleep with the best."

The boy's mother caught up to him. "What did I tell you about talking to strangers?"

She caught his arm and walked away. The boy stared at the trio of Imperials as he walked away.

"Weird." Gates said as he continued his meal. He quickly polished off the last of it.

“You lost?”

Kami jumped where she had collapsed momentarily against an alleyway wall for support. She had been on the move for an hour, constantly changing direction and doubling back to lose her pursuers. The homeless beggar questioning her now was the first person to get a good luck at her. She hesitated, her finger tightening about the trigger on her pistol. He'd more than likely point the men chasing her in the right direction. Innocent as he was, he would have to die.

“Kams!”

Kami almost sobbed aloud in relief as Vasili abruptly appeared at the end of the alleyway, a trio of Cyneques personal bodyguards on his heels, “Vee! How..?”

“I knew something was wrong when you weren't at the hotel,” Vasili slid an arm beneath Kami's shoulder to support her, “I called Luan, and then checked with the doorman. Then it was simply a matter of finding the wreck and tracking you down,” He paused to smile, “And I know you far better than the morons chasing you.”

“You don't know a damn thing,” Kami automatically countered, the fire in her reply lost as shock began to settle in.

“This way,” Vasili steered her past the now confused looking beggar and into a side door, “You're safe now.”

*        *        *        *        *        *        *

It was, Kami later reflected, somewhat ironic that she had accidentally managed to hurt the New Republic's campaign more than the combined efforts of all of the VE forces. After Vasili had whisked her safely back to Cyneques office, details about her speeder accident had emerged. The driver was a local man, distantly related to the bulky commanding officer of Ardric Riles personal security force. After only an hour or so of questioning, the security chief had admitted to engineering the attempted assassination after receiving direct orders from Riles. He had realized that his silence would ultimately mean a life sentence, and wasn't prepared to throw away his life for his employer, now matter how well he was paid.

Cyneques moved quickly. Ardric was arrested publicly, timed perfectly so as to have maximum exposure. Orquis and Saprin were also arrested under the justification that they might have been willing accomplices, although ultimately no-one involved in the process believed the claim. It was simply another blow to the Republic and their supporters, as the hundreds of Kolstor locals at parliament house saw the officials cuffed and lead away.

Kolstor's government was in chaos. The press reacted to well timed statements emerging from Cyneques office, newspapers flooding the streets with hard hitting headlines such as 'Chief Minister Riles Disgraced!' and 'New Republic: All a Scam?' In comparison, Kami had been cast as the well meaning victim, the Vast Empire representative out to win support in a legal and helpful manner. The death and destruction caused by Storm platoon was too precise to cast blame.

Cyneques stood up temporarily to the position of Chief Minister until elections could be organized, although there was little doubt in the minds of the Kolstor people that he would legally acquire the position once the paperwork was pushed through. He managed to take time out of his busy schedule to ambush Kami and Vasili as they made their way towards the shuttle that would take them back to Tadath.

“Kami my girl!” The smile was as wide as Kami had ever seen it, Cyneques blue eyes crackling with new found energy, “To think I almost missed saying goodbye!”

Kami smiled back, pausing mid platform to allow the Minister to catch up. He clasped Kami's hand gently, flashing his megawatt grin at Vasili before speaking again, “Your men have already left?”

“Earlier this morning,” She confirmed, “Thank you for arranging everything so quickly.”

Cyneques waved a hand, “I owe you far more than that Sergeant. Perhaps you could return for a visit when I'm sworn in? It would be nice to negotiate an alliance with a familiar face.”

“Perhaps,” Kami allowed, aware that she would probably be assigned elsewhere by that time, “It would be nice to see more of Kolstor.”

“Sergeant!” The pilot from the shuttle was hovering uncertainly at the bottom of the ramp, “We have to lift off if we want to make good time.”

“Of course,” Cyneques swept into a bow, “Have a safe trip. And thank you both again for your support.”

Kami and Vasili snapped a salute simultaneously, a motion that obviously pleased Cyneques and the small group of Ministers at his heels. Turning, they jogged up the ramp and into the interior of the shuttle as the roar of the engines intensified.

“Well, you went ahead and made it a little too easy for me,” Vasili drawled as he leaned back into one of the plush passenger chairs, the shuttle rising into the air as he did so.

“Apologies,” Kami replied, her sarcasm unmasked, “Next time I'll just lock myself in my room whilst you go off gallivanting hey?”

Vasili offered a crooked grin, “Sounds like a plan.”

OOC:

Alright, that's it for the thread. Thanks again Storm, let's look to the Quick Write Competition from now on

Dude... the story is over. If you think you can get a last minute post in, then forget it.