The briefing was over, and all that remained in the previously cramped meeting room of the entire company was Riqimo Pershaw, the newly appointed Company Commander.  New positions seemed to find the man far too easily.  He never complained, although deep down he longed for the simplier days of the past, the days when he could simply relax and not carry a cup of caf down every hallway as he was doing now, datapad tucked neatly under a creaseless uniform.  But nostalgia would have to wait for another time… he had a Company to command and a politico to rescue.

Both Kami and Darr were away assisting with getting the squads ready as quick as possible on the short notice of deployment.  Kams of Storm Platoon would be staying with her Jester squad, as would her adjunct Angel.  Darr and Arnaut of Wildcard Platoon on the other hand would be meeting Riq at their little mobile center of command shortly after they finished with their platoon duties.

The techs were in a flurry activity as Riqimo walked past the transparisteel plate that viewed the garage.  With a soft roll of his neck and pulling a hard hat off a hook on the wall nearby, Riqimo opened the door to enter the busy vehicle bay.

The mobile base looked quite unimpressive with its two shades of grey; a lighter coat that was apparently what was the main coat, along with the significantly darker patches that probably covered recent repairs.  All in all, the machine had probably been in service for at least four years and was returning to use after maybe a two month rest based on the amount of dust on the windows.

But Riqimo was assured by the fact it certainly looked like it could take more than a few direct hits, perhaps even five heavy hits if they didn’t hit the same general area.  Despite its worn down look, the machine was quite sturdy.  The interior wasn’t much better as Riqimo soon found out as he headed up the rear hatch.  Streaks of rust could be found along the walls, but not along the exterior walls which was a large relief. The only object that looked fairly modern was a small holoprojector in the middle of a large room adjacent to the cockpit.  It would be here that Riqimo, and any other personnel would be located for a majority of the time with the holoprojector displaying the troop movements and engagements.  Riq settled into a chair, the Wildcard Commanders should be there soon enough.

Everyone started filing into the briefing room.  Alan looked around and saw some familiar faces amongst the crowd, especially those from his former squad Iron Horse.  He was glad to see the faces and was hoping to link in with them during the mission.

Alan listened intently to the briefing.  He was glad to be getting into a fire fight once again.  The last mission, with all the sneaking around did not suit him at all.  Give him an enemy to shoot any day and it would always bring a smile to his face.

During the briefing a screen came up detailing all the squad’s different weaponry and what they would be taking.  Alan scanned through the listing and decided to raise his hand.

“Yes?” queried Riqimo, noticing the raised hand.

“Excuse me Sir, but are we allowed any personal weaponry on this mission?” queried Alan.

“Yes” replied Riqimo, “you can bring reasonable stuff.  The listing is just the basic loadout”.

Alan smiled and thought to himself excellent, I can bring my trusty DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol.  It had never let him down in a fire fight yet and he never expected it to.

The briefing was soon at an end and Alan was glad to be out of the room, it had felt far too claustrophobic for his liking.  Time to go get ready he thought as he headed back his new accommodation that Lucky and he had purchased.  He hoped he could find his blaster easily as he was still getting used to the new abode.

Joamer was excited, well, excited as a Trooper can be when about to be deployed on short notice. He was a sniper, or at least called himself one, and was rarely given the opportunity to put his skills to the test, and now with this mission he would have the chance. He had walked out of the meeting happy, being cooped up was not his idea of a good time. He liked the open air, he liked the quiet right before a tricky shot, he liked the darkness.

Jumping into his XP-2000 Raptor speeder he engaged the repulsor lifts and headed for the barracks. It was only a short ride, and his weaponry needed tending to before the shooting began.

Shutting down the bike, he hoped off and made his way to his room. Hitting the wall light switch, he walked to the center of the room amidst stacks of cases, weapon stands, crates, ammo boxes, and walls filled with hundreds of weapons.

A small baby Strill glided down from a perch in the corner of the room, and landed on his shoulder, a soft chirp echoed in the room as she rubbed her head against his ear.

"No Lurk, this mission is not for you. You stay here and guard our toys. It is time for me to do what I do." Joamer said as he stroked the Strills head gently.

Walking to a lone weapon stand in a corner of the room, he picked up a highly modified DC-15 blaster rifle and began disassembling the weapon. A sniper always checks his rifle before going into battle, he knew this would not be the only time he took apart this weapon before the battle began.

Yes, he thought, time for a simple rescue mission. He wondered how many people would die this time.

Liam Hayes suffered through the short ride back to the Iron Horse barracks with a smile on his face. He had just attended a briefing for a mission that looked to be Liam's idea of fun. Too often Iron Horse played the part of the prey, often having to escape the enemy after penetrating their lines. This sortie looked to be switching things up, turning Iron Horse into the predator.

Liam loved it.

Once back at his barracks he quickly began to suit up in the black Storm Commando gear that was so feared throughout the galaxy. Although not technically part of the Empire any more, the VE still retained the same respect and fear that the old Empire under Palpatine had established, a fact that Hayes was both aware and appreciative of. In his experience, having the enemy be afraid of you was always a plus.

After the body glove and interlocking plates were in place Liam headed down the hall to the armory. As he approached the gun cage the quartermaster looked up from the holovid he was watching and eyed Liam's approach.

"ID number?" the quartermaster asked casually. Liam recited the nine digit number from memory, which the quartermaster verified. When all was cleared the man nodded his head and spoke again.

"Regular load?" he asked.

Liam nodded his head. "Aye, but change out the E-11/M for the Whisper, will you?" the ASL of Iron Horse asked. The quartermaster nodded absently as he retreated back into the armory. A few minutes past and the man returned, this time pushing a cart loaded with gear. He handed a ledger to Liam, who signed for all the equipment, and then began passing things over.

"One SH9 Silenced slugthrower, one Whisper Subsonic Slugthrower rifle, three hundred sixty and seventy five rounds each, respectively," the quartermaster said, taking a moment to pass the respective gear over and waiting while Liam slung each over is shoulders. He then continued on. "One M-4 Bullstopper pistol, five ten-round clips, by special request. One Hush-98 military-grade comlink. Anything else you need, sarge?" he asked, handing the rest of the gear over.

"I think I'm good, thanks," Liam said, giving the man a nod and turning, gear in hand.

He was looking forward to this one.

Entering his new accommodation, Alan quickly set to work on locating his blaster.  He knew it had to be around somewhere.

“Is there anything I can do for you sir?”

Alan looked around and spotted his Betty droid.  He was surprised that Lucky had been happy to have it around knowing how quirky it could be at times.

“Yeah, perhaps you can” replied Alan, “I’m looking for my blaster, and you haven’t seen it have you”.

“Of course Sir” replied the droid, “it is in storage area five, section two”.

“Right” replied Alan, “where else would I have put it”.  Now where the hell is storage area five section two pondered Alan as he tried to look for it without showing the droid that he had no idea where that was.

Betty looked at him and sighed inwardly “I believe you might find it in the drawer by your bed Sir”

“Thanks” replied Alan as he dashed off to his bedside table.

Humans thought Betty as she saw him rush off.

Opening the drawer he found his trusty blaster.  Now we’re talking thought Alan as he took it out and fastened it securely around his waist.  He felt a whole lot better and more ready than ever for the mission.

Betty moved past the bedroom and noticed that Alan had found the blaster.  “I see you found it Sir”.

“Yeah, right were you said it would be, storage area five, section two” replied Alan.

Betty simply sighed and carried on with her duties.

Though he was eager to get to the briefing on the next mission, he took his time donning his armor. Slowly backing out, he closed the door behind him and walked out into the hall. On the way to the briefing, he noticed an absence of people moving about. Hurrying up, he ran to where the briefing was to be held. When he arrived, he saw that it was nearly packed full with Phoenix Company. In the far corner he spotted Angel, Jager, and Maze talking. Hurrying over, he said hey to them and settled down in a chair as the briefing started. When Riqimo was finished, he dismissed everybody and as they left, Jori followed Angel and Maze. When they split up, he decided to follow Angel to where the AT-STs were. While Angel leaned against one of them, Jori climbed inside to check it out.

Hmmm… this is nice. I like it. I’ll man the guns so I can shoot something.

Jori was about finished when he heard Kami yelling. Sighing, he turned and jumped off, crouching and rolling to absorb the shock. Getting up, he walked over to where Kami and the rest of Jester were standing.

“Okay. We are leaving soon, so go and get all your things up and head back out here. When everybody gets back, we will go to the shuttles and settle in.” Kami was saying as he walked up.

As Jester split up, Jori nodded to Kami and walked back to his quarters to gather his stuff.

Walking down the hall towards his quarters, Jori noticed a frenzied air about the place. Everybody was preparing for the upcoming mission by gathering up their equipment and making sure they were prepared. Reaching his quarters and opening up the door, he walked in and looked around for some weapons he could carry along on the mission.

Since we can only carry reasonable weapons, the heavy equipment is out of the question. I can probably carry a rifle or something like that.

Looking over everything, he picked out three things: the MM9 Rocket System, the DC-17M with all three attachments, and the trusty shotgun. He slung the shotgun over his shoulder, slipped the DC in a holster, and attached the MM9 to his arm. Then he looked for the ammunition to the weapons and put them in a little pouch. Satisfied that he was prepared for anything, he locked his quarters and walked to where the AT-STs were.

I hope we get going soon. I’m ready  to get this mission started.

Jori almost laughed when he noticed Angel leaning against the AT-ST in the exact same position as before. Walking over, Jori noticed that Angel seemed to be asleep, but as Jori got close, his eyes snapped open. Jori jumped backwards as Angel doubled up because he was laughing so hard.

“Jeez, man. Don’t do that. You almost gave me a heart attack.” Jori said as he edged back over.

“Sorry, but I just had too.” Angel said, grinning as he straightened up.

Shaking his head, Jori climbed up into the other AT-ST and immediately noticed a weird smell.

Whoa! What happened in here? Smells like someone threw up and they let it bake for a couple days in the hot sun. Jeez. I have to get out of here.

Climbing out of the AT-ST, Jori was feeling a little lightheaded. After landing, he walked back over to Angel.

“I’m definitely getting in this one. That one over there smells. Wait… what’s wrong?” Jori said as he noticed Angel grimace.

“You don’t want to know.” Angel said.

Jori just shrugged as Angel walked away. He settled into the same position Angel was and crossed his arms, waiting for the rest of Jester.

Liam reached the squad ready room at the same time Joamer did. Upon seeing the young sergeant Liam just shook his head. He was wearing armor that must have been thirty years old, and wielded multiple weapons that were at least that old or older. Liam himself was considered a ‘heavy dresser’ by his squad mates past and present, but Joamer had Liam beat in that department by far.

Despite the bulk of equipment he carried Joamer moved with relative ease, slipping inside the door just before Liam. Following him inside, Liam looked around to see if anyone else was present. Immediately he couldn’t see anyone, but then he noticed Gio standing in the far corner of the dimly lit room, apparently typing something out on his datapad. Not wanting to bother his squad leader Hayes quietly took a seat, waiting patiently for the rest of the squad to arrive. If it was one thing he had learned through his time in the service, impatience served nothing. Liam tried to always remember that things would happen, or they wouldn’t; most of the time, you couldn’t do anything about it.

This was one of those times. While Liam took a seat and closed his eyes, running through the information presented at the briefing, Joamer paced around the room. The sergeant was skilled, gifted even, and was a good lad, but he was still young. Liam opened one eye and had to grin at the impatient posture of his squad mate. Liam just wished he could see the other man’s face.

No matter, the ASL of Iron Horse thought to himself. I’ve got a job to do.

With that thought Liam reclosed his eyes, trying to remember every little detail he could, and then checking it against his datapad to make sure he was right. The last thing he wanted to do was screw up and get killed, or worse: get someone else killed.

Angel smiled as he watched as Kami paced back and forth in front of the box he plopped himself on. Trying to find SOME position his armor didn't rub, pinch, prod, or otherwise annoy him.

"Ok...the shuttle leaves in 10 minutes, where the hell are they?" Kami asked, her ire obviously rising. Jager and Jori shot a nervous look towards Kami, but turned away before she noticed.

Angel smiled again. Kami had always been on edge before missions, and the fact they were back in the hated mecha only added to her trepidation. Just before he felt Kami about to yell again, three figures came streaking down the corridor towards the squad.

"Hey babe, here they come." Angel muttered, poking Kami with his foot.

"FINALLY." Kami exhaled.

"Sorry we're late." Brightstar said, trying to catch her breath. Maze and Verker both nodded their apologies as well. "We had some trouble with the quartermaster, and now Maze doesn't have a rifle."

"Aww Sithspit." Kami cursed. Turning towards Angel she ordered "Give Maze your rifle."

Angel, who had been taking another swig from his flask, spit the whiskey out of his mouth in shock, covering Jori in fine alcohol. The glare he got from Kami however, shut him right up before any words escaped his mouth.

"You always win..." Angel muttered, handing the E-11 over reluctantly...

Relief flooded through Kami as her small squad gathered about her. As diverse as each of the individual Jester members were, they were her family, and she feared for them every time a mission with hidden dangers arose. Outwardly, her expression was impassive, her voice calm. Skittish squad leaders could spread anxiety to an entire squad, and throughout her service, Kami had mastered the cool calm required at all times to steady the nerve of her men,

“Alright. We'll be dropping onto Cepany shortly along with the other squads of Phoenix. They all have specific targets, so there's no guarantee that we'll see any friendly faces once we move out to secure the vehicle hanger.” She paused, looking towards the mechs before continuing, “We'll be split into two groups when we land. Angel, Jori and myself are taking Bertha. Bright, you, Jager, Maze and Verk are in Goldie. Now intel isn't specific on the forces we're going to encounter once we reach our objective, so we're going to have to deal with issues as they arise. Additionally, we have no clue what they'll have up and running in the vehicle bay.”

“Here's hoping we won't be outgunned then?” Verk spoke up, his brows creased.

“Chances are low,” Bright replied, seeking to reassure her comrade, “This rebel group doesn't sound like it would have high tech military equipment.”

“Best not to assume when we don't know for certain,” Kami stated simply, “I want us to go in expecting a high level of resistance. If we have an easy time of it, so be it,  but I don't want to be caught off guard.”

“So this diplomat,” Jager began, “Is he really worth all this hassle?”

“Cepany is an extremely important planet to the VE,” Angel answered, “We've been there before. Alliances constantly shift, and our presence on planet is tolerated at best by a significant proportion of the population. Without Terval in his advisory role, we stand to lose a great deal of political ground.”

“If he's so crucial will they be expecting us then?” That was Jori, carefully following the flow of the conversation.

“I'd imagine so,” Kami spoke again, “Though we know a lot more about them than they do about us.”

“I hope that's the case,” Angel said quietly, almost to himself, “Cepany has screwed us over before.”

Kami met Angel's gaze, catching his hand in hers and giving it a brief squeeze before letting it drop. Out of all the planet's in all the systems in the entire galaxy, Cepany was the one planet which the duo had never wanted to see again.

Cepany... Memories flooded back into Angel's mind of the last time he stepped foot on that God forsaken political cesspool. Half of his squad was killed in an ambush, and they lost any leads they had into the political insurgence with the death of a General's daughter in their protection. He could almost smell the rancid rancor of charred flesh radiating from his squadmates as they were gunned down...and had to take another swig from his flask to quiet the memories.

That was why he had retired, and that was the reason behind his vices. Now he was back, and he just hoped that he wouldn't get anyone else killed.

A claxon blared loudly overhead, interrupting Angel's revelry. "10 minutes until drop, all squads report to your transports."

"You heard'em boys, pack'em and rack'em, we're planetside in ten." Kami barkerd at her squad. Bright ushered her team towards the transport as the techs finished loading the AT-STs on. Pausing by Angel, she briefly rested her head on his shoulder. "Let's make things right here this time,"

"We can't make it right Kams, " Angel said, suppressing a shiver with another shot of whiskey. Tussling her long black hair, he gave her a trademark lopsided grin "But we can make sure we kill every last Hutt-licking one of them as payment."

Grabbing her hand as she slid off his shoulder, Angel added with a toothy grin, "C'mon leader lady, let's show these kids how us old folks used to roll."

The pair walked into Jester's transport, the ramp raising and door closing behind them.

After fifteen minutes of watching Joamer pace, Liam had had enough. "Take a seat, sergeant," he told the younger man. Joamer reluctantly complied, taking a seat across the table from Liam.

"Have you ever been to Cepany?" he asked, examining a datapad he had pulled out of somewhere.

Liam shook his head. "Not that I remember," Liam said. Joamer nodded, understanding the meaning behind those particular words. Liam very well could have lived on Cepany and he wouldn't remember it. Such was Liam's fate. So far, Liam had learned to deal with it. However, he did fear that there would come a time when his lack of memories would inhibit his duties, and that was not a day Liam looked forward too.

There was an awkward moment of silence as both Liam and Joamer dealt with their inner thoughts. Eventually Liam broke the ice, inquiring into Joamer's weapons.

"You know how to use that rifle?" he asked, pointing at the DC-15 the sergeant carried.

Joamer unslung the rifle and sat it gently on the table. "Aye," he said. "The sights make it easy to use, and it's a good weapon. My effective range is just over a thousand meters, but I can usually hit targets anywhere from fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred meters away. "

Liam nodded, thinking. Iron Horse's job would be to provide covering fire and to prevent enemy retreats along their path. A long range sniper rifle may prove to be just what the squad needed for both situations. It was always helpful to be able to pick off and enemy at long distance, hence Liam's decision to bring along the whisper sniper rifle instead of an E-11. He was hoping that it would turn out to be a good choice.

Over the next few minutes the rest of the squad slowly filtered in. When everyone was present Gio pushed off the wall he was leaning against and came around to stand in front of the squad.

"You all were at the briefing," he said, "so I won't bother you with details. A few key points, though."

Taking a moment to bring up a hologram of the target, Gio continued. "First and foremost, identify your targets. You kill this guy, someone's killing you. That simple. Second, we work as a team. No solos, no heroes. We follow orders, get in, do our job, and get out. Easy."

Gio looked around at the squad, waiting for questions/comments. There were none. With a small sigh that Liam felt more than heard Gio turned, waiting like the rest of the squad for orders. He didn't have to wait very long as a voice came on throughout the whole building, ordering all squads to report for transport planet side.

Liam followed his squad leader out the door, leading the rest of the troopers towards their first (and easiest) objective. So far, so good.

"Breaking sky..., Three minutes" a voice announced over the Sentinel shuttles Comms. The tension was slowly building with the heat inside the cramped confines of 'Goldie'.

"These things weren't designed for four people..." Bright muttered, wiping her brow. Slowly a rancid smell began to emanate from the AT-ST's interior. Jager was sure he was the first to smell it, or at least let on that there was something but after several moments it was clear that the walkers other occupants had caught a whiff.

For a moment he contemplated revealing the origins of the odour to the rest of his squad mates, but he took more pleasure in holding it back and smirking suspiciously.

"Two minutes" the voice announcing again over the Comm. It was clear to Jager that his smirk had drawn the attention of the rest of squad and it didn’t take long for someone to speak up.

"When we get back, I am taking you to medical... Nothing smells that way if it’s healthy." Bright stated, placing a hand over her nose. Maze and Verk simply shook their heads and held their breath.

Jager simply smirked and put his feet up on the dashboard. Before boarding he had taken off the top half of his armor, seeing that he was gunning and wasn’t going to leave the AT-ST why would he need all that cumbersome and hot armor, so apart from the smell he was quite comfortable in his singlet.

“Funny thing is YOUR stuck with me for the entire operation...” he exclaimed, receiving a swift punch in the shoulder from Bright.

“One minute, Repeat, One Minute” The voice announced, both Maze and Verkur checked their weapons again as Bright powered up the AT-ST.

“You do know how to use that don’t you” Bright queried as she examined the semi-clad Corporal pretending to operate the weapons.

“How hard can this be? Point, shoot, Shit dies... repeat until dead or out of ammo” Jager replied, taking a cigarette out of a crumpled packet that he stuffed into one of the empty pouches on his belt and lighting up.

“Final ten, Mag-locks release on green” The voice announced as a red-light mounted on the dash began blinking.

“Follow my lead, good luck” Kami called over the Walkers Comm,

A subtle thud followed by a loud hydraulic hiss notified the Occupants of the Sentinel that they had reached planet side. The red-light on the dash beeped and flicked to a green.

“Welcome to Cepany, Happy hunting" The voice announced as the walkers stepped out onto the planet.

"I'm sorry, sir. My orders were quite clear."

Dante gritted his teeth, then tried again.

"Look here, Sergeant. I am a member of RAIDERS Squad, you've seen my identification, so let me through." He kept his tone civil, but his fingers drummed his deece's barrel.

"That weapon is not listed on the register of standard weapons, sir. Under Regulation Karn D1, you're not allowed to bring non-standard weapons without a permit."

"I have a permit, for Force's sake!"

"For another DC-17 combat system. This weapon is unauthorized and is hence subject to confiscation until you obtain a permit."

Something snapped in Dante's mind, something that he was fairly sure was the last bit of his self-restraint. The Gunnery Sergeant took a step forwards, much to the guard's dismay.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

Dante didn't look back as he replied.

"Under Article Seven of Stormtrooper Corps Standard Operating Procedure, I hereby overrule your orders due to a higher priority mission."

"Wait, you can't do that..."

The Sergeant began to follow him as he tried to remember if there was indeed such a procedure. Dante ignored him and continued to walk towards his barge.

"Stop! Stop!"

Wondering what they must look like to a bystander, Dante walked up the barge's boarding ramp. The logistics officer kept on coming, and he wondered if the man would follow him into the ship itself. The Sergeant stopped just short of the vessel though, and, muttering under his breath, returned to his post.

Sighing with relief, Dante replaced his helmet on his head and placed his deece on an empty seat nearby. None of the other RAIDERS were here yet, meaning the ship was almost completely silent. Absently, Dante reached up and touched the top of his helmet. Even that was different. He'd never used this armour before, and he felt uncomfortably exposed in it. Still, it was better than no armour at all. Hopefully.

The rest of the squad soon arrived at the transport and the trip to Cephany was uneventful.  Several of the troopers did indeed play sabaac but Alan declined gracefully, knowing that if he did participate his first galactic bank account would be significantly lighter.  Instead he opted to have a quiet chat with Lucky in one of the corners of the ship.  When he wasn’t with Lucky, Alan also spent some time in the cockpit, chatting to the pilots and also piloting the ship for a bit.

Upon landing at Cephany the squad quickly filed out.  Then their com units sparked to life as they got their orders that Phase III had begun and to move out.

“All right people” said Alan, “you heard him, we have one and a half hours to make it to the northern gate so that our assault can begin, so let’s double time it”.

With that, the squad started to move out at a quick pace, they knew that other squads would be counting on them completing their objective and that the air strikes depended on them taking out the jamming device.

Despite the squad moving quickly towards their objective, Alan was also cautious.  He did not know whether any enemy troops would be patrolling this area and he didn’t want to suddenly find himself up against enemy troops without any prior warning.  Despite his blaster still being holstered, Alan knew that in mere seconds it would be in his hand, ready for action.