Alan ran his fingers through his hair, dislodging the bits of wood that had gotten caught up in it.  He was glad that Kyrus had killed off the soldier that had nearly put him down but now he wanted this floor cleared so they could take down the jamming device.

Nearby blaster fire attracted his attention and he scanned the area to find out where it was coming from and by whom.  Alan soon noticed that Saphira and Novocaine were pinned down by blaster fire coming from three enemy soldiers.  Alan wasn’t sure whereabouts Kyrus or Lucky were but he knew that Saphira and Novocaine needed help soon as from their position they were never going to be able to take out those soldiers.

Damn cursed Alan as he decided that to get to them would take too long.  Then he remembered that he still had his sniper rifle slung over his shoulder.  He quickly slid it off his shoulders and looked through the scope, locating the first enemy soldier.  Squeezing the trigger he noticed that the trooper dropped instantly.  He picked off another soldier before the remaining troops turned their attention on him and Alan had to duck down as blaster bolts rained down over his head.

Alan tapped his com and said “Saph, Novocaine, the rest are all yours”.

“Roger that” replied Saphira as Alan heard numerous blaster bolts.  He sneaked a peek from his hiding position and was satisfied to see that the remaining troops in that area were down.

Alan’s com chattered to life and Kyrus’s voice came through although it was hard to hear over the noise of blaster fire but Alan could definitely make out the words “I could use a little help here”.

“Where are you?” queried Alan.

Alan waited and was starting to get worried when no response came back.  Finally his com crackled to life as Kyrus’s voice said “I made it down to the jamming device but there are four soldiers camped in there and they are not giving up easily”.

“Stay there” replied Alan, “we’re coming there now”.

“Understood” replied Kyrus.

Alan got on the com and instructed the squad to rendezvous with Kyrus immediately.  Alan looked through the scope of his rifle and watched the members of Paladin make their way slowly to the far side of the room where the jamming device was.  Despite having to shoot down one enemy solider, there trip to the jamming area went uneventful.

Once Alan saw they had made their way safely, he slung the rifle over his shoulder and moved quickly to their position.  Although he knew that they had been met with no resistance, Alan still had his blaster in his hand and his wits about him in case of any surprises.

Arriving with the rest of the squad, Alan sneaked a peek at what Kyrus had reported.  true enough, in a small confined room were four well concealed soldiers guarding the jamming device.  This is not going to be easy thought Alan as he tried to come up with a plan.

“I guess we are all out of grenades” said Alan, more of a comment than a question but he still looked round at all the different squad members, each of them giving him a blank look or shaking their head.

Damn cursed Alan inwardly, he knew that a well placed grenade could end this nice and easily, instead he was going to have to come up with a different plan.

Poking his head round the corner, Alan shouted “give yourselves up, there’s nowhere to go and no-one to help you”.

Several blaster bolts shot out and Alan ducked as they sailed past and over his head.  Worth a try he thought to himself.  Alan snuck another look at the room and noticed that the only way in or out was through one door, the rest of the room was shielded by glass.  That’s it thought Alan as he started to smile.

“Kyrus, you take the left flank, Saphira you take the right.  When I give the signal shoot at the glass” said Alan.

“The glass” commented both Kyrus and Saphira almost simultaneously.

“Yes, the glass” re-iterated Alan, “it will cause them something to worry about if glass starts raining down on them.  It will hopefully give us a margin of distraction for us to storm the room and take them out. Now go”

Alan watched as Kyrus moved over to the left and Saphira over to the right.  I hope this works thought Alan as he gave them the signal to attack.

Kami forced herself up to a sitting position, one hand rising to clutch her head where it had connected with Angel's chest, “Ow.”

“Ow?” Angel's expression was indignant under layers of blood and dirt, “Ow?”

Kami flashed him a smile, before climbing back to her feet and immediately refocusing on the vehicle bay. Poor Bertha was now a virtual tunnel of flame within the metallic hanger doors, lighting the interior of the vehicle bay and the still living Delta Ohm members retreating frantically to the rear of the facility.

“We didn't get them all,” Bright's voice sounded over the comm, startling her, “Are you alright Kami, that was one hell of fall.”

“I'm ok,” Kami answered, extending a hand to Angel as she did so, “We'll have to leave the mechs, we won't be able to get them in now.”

Angel dusted himself off with both hands as Bright's AT-ST stomped up next to them. The hatch popped open, Bright's flame red hair appearing.

“We can't just leave them here,” Angel noted, “I don't want to have to run from our own gear when it gets hijacked.”

Kami grimaced, thumbing the comm again, “Bright, I'll need you to stay with the ST. Maze, you with the tank. Keep an eye out for incoming, if we need backup we'll call you in.”

Both the troopers nodded, Maze spinning on his heel and clambering back up into the tank. Jori, Verkur and Jager formed a loose semi circle about Kami and Angel, rifles at ready. Kami gestured for Jager to take point,

“Alright. Let's go deal with the survivors.”

"OH FUCK YEAH!" Jager hollered as Bertha burst into flames. This was possibly the second greatest day of his life, over thirty confirmed kills and an AT-ST explosion... all it needed now was a scantily clad women handing out free cigarettes and alcohol and it would have been perfect.

"I... I think I need a towel..." he added, taking a few deep breaths

Bright glanced over at the ecstatic Corporal, "Finished?"

Jager nodded as he retrieved another cigarette. The AT-ST halted abruptly next to Kami and the rest of Jester. He quickly reached behind the seat and grabbed a carbine before climbing out to meet the others.

““Bright, I'll need you to stay with the ST. Maze, you with the tank. Keep an eye out for incoming, if we need backup we'll call you in.” Kami ordered before gesturing to Jager to take the point, he replied with a casual salute and began moving towards the Vehicle bay.

Now Ex-members of Delta-Ohm littered the exterior of the facility. The group fanned out into an arrow head formation and began to slowly advance, checking for survivors as they passed, occasionally letting off a shot to finish the unfortunate ones.

The group were almost at the hangar door when the fire
suppressant system kicked in with a high pitched hissed.  The arrow head collapsed to the left as Jager reached the door.

“Check the corners Move on Jager’s call” Kami ordered, the corporal took a deep breath to regain his focus,

“Three, Move” he called back as slipped into the hanger, sticking to the left wall. The inside was almost as bad as outside, the bodies of Delta-Ohm members were scattered across the hanger floor and the smell of charred flesh hung with the slowly dissipating smoke from the burning walker.

Jori was the first to let a few shots off at several Deltas’s who were trying to drag a wounded man to the rear of the facility. The men quickly cut their losses and dumped the wounded man; one was cut down immediately while another was hit in the back as he tried to escape.

Seeing this Verkur began advancing towards the rear, signaling Jager the others to follow. Again the group formed an arrow head and slowly made their way to the rear of the facility, firing at any movement in the haze.

The heavy weapons drove the last of the Rebels deeper into the mining complex. Tanus gestured to hold fire.

"Showed 'em, eh?" one of the tank commanders yelled.

Tanus made another gesture. BlackJack squad jumped from their gun positions. "Commander! I need you to post six men on this vehicle and hold it for us until we return!"

"Why? Where y'all goin'?"

"We're going into the breach. We have to secure the munitions."

The commander shrugged, got onto his comm.

Meanwhile, BlackJack squad had entered the building. Gates, already burdened with his Stormtrooper-II Carbine, Pistol, DC, and the StarCat, decided to ditch his carbine. He left it in the weapons locker.

BlackJack entered the building, to a surprisingly wide and uncluttered room. It was also rather dim; the powerplant was likely out, and the only light came from the hole in the wall.

Tanus made another gesture; the squad flipped down their thermal imaging. A couple dozen bodies showed up; about half were 'hot' and some weren't bodies - just little patches of 'warm.'

"An ambush. How typical. I'll bet you they didn't know we can see in the dark," Gates remarked snidely, quoting an old commando's ideal.

Tanus made the 'shut the hell up' gesture and then to spread out.

Gates slid behind a bit of cover; he put the bipod on his DC and poked it over his cover, setting it up.

The stormtroopers opened fire. Hundreds of rounds smashed into the 'hot' targets, but the thermal was now hopelessly confused at the laser blasts.

Tanus barked, "Hold fire!"

BlackJack stopped shooting. Gates stood up. "Those dumb-"

A shot tore from an upper floor, right into the tall stormtrooper.

The rest of BlackJack returned fire. The Rebel fell from the second story and crashed to the ground with a sickening crunch.

One of his comrades moved over to help the other stormtrooper.

"Ahh, don't worry about it. I just took a shot to my shoulder- not even dominant hand!"

"Fine. Move your left fingers."

Gates tried. They gave a half-hearted twitch. "Just give me some bacta. I can keep going."

A bacta patch was slapped on, and a few painkillers were administered.

Then, BlackJack moved on.

Hayes and Joamer had picked off the patrolling men near the southwest gate once the fighting had begun. A few well placed shots had cleared the gate, Rio had sent a brief data burst informing command of this, and now they waited for anyone to come running out.


The rest of the squad was positioned around them, creating a nice little safe area for the two snipers to do their work. Just then the gate had lumbered open and five speeders had shot out, the drivers pushing the engines as hard as they could go, as large explosions occurred within the facility.


"You think it's time for mop up?" Joamer asked as he got a decent lead on one of the speeders.

"Looks like it." Hayes said. As he watched the range finder grow steadily greater.


"Good, time to use one of my new friends. A modified EMP-stun missile. It can be fired from your standard sniper rifle, usually. Let's capture us some speeders."


Joamer and Hayes loaded the mini missiles into the magazines and got solid targets before firing, instantly two of the speeders lumbered to a halt and stopped, after a few more well placed shots the last three stopped just ahead of them. 
 

Gio had walked up quietly and was looking over the field with a pair of Macrobinoculars, nodding slowly he keyed his mic "Command, this is Iron Horse. Five speeders immobilized outside southwest gate. Occupants unharmed and unconscious. Iron Horse out."


"Good work guys, very nicely done."

  Swinging his rifle back towards the compound Joamer watched as the rebel base had begun to fall under Imperial control.

They moved further into the building. The Thermal sensors were showing nothing. They continued on past a large stack of vacuum sealed, durasteal crates. There was movement above them but they weren't able to get a clear shot at the enemy and could only watch them scuffling around on the upper floor. They reached the other side of the room were a series magnetically sealed doors led into several room.

The first one they tried was locked. They continued on in this fashion trying seven more doors. The eight and final door they tried buzzed and the magnet holding it in place switched off. The eased the hatch open which led into a corridor. They stepped inside leaving the door open as not to be trapped inside.

Orobos was at the front of the squad and moved down the corridor. It was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side and so he took up most of that space by himself. There was the sound of footsteps and human like shape on the thermal sensors appeared. The walls in the building must've been thick enough the hide the body heat of the individual. They opened fire cutting him down.

They continued on down the corridor and came across some more hatches that weren't magnetically sealed. A few of them led into empty rooms and a few more had cases of ammunition piled up to the ceiling.

"I wonder how many of these there are?"

"We need to secure all these chambers. There can't be many more."

Alan and the rest of the squad exited the power plant facility and they were met with a scene of confusion.  Enemy soldiers were running around in a state of panic.  Looks like the rest of the squads have been causing as much disruption as we have been thought Alan as he targeted a rebel soldier and fired.  The soldier was running and then his body skidded and collapsed as the neat shot impacted his skull and dropped him immediately.

“Nice shot Sir” commented Kyrus before his blaster pistol spat out bolts of blaster fire, killing a soldier.

“Let’s see how many of these rebel scums that we can eliminate” said Alan as he pressed on with the attack, wanting to kill as many rebel scum as he could.

“Roger that” replied the various members of Paladin as they all raised their blaster pistols and started firing at the rebel soldiers.

Fresh screams were heard as several enemy soldiers dropped down dead.  Other soldiers now panicked and tried desperately to evade this new threat, a troop of black clad Imperial stormtroopers with the sole purpose of killing them.

“Run!” shouted a panicked rebel soldier, panicked by this new threat.  His shouts did not last long as mere seconds after he shouted a call of warning to his comrades, he was shot and killed.

Oh this is all too easy thought Alan as his blaster let off several volleys of blaster bolts which impacted on rebel soldiers killing them where they stood.

Black Jack Squad continued deeper into the facility. They turned a corner; Tanus held up a fist. The BlackJacks halted. Gates' thermal was blinded; there was a high-heat power source.

"Flashlights." Tanus whispered.

Gates flicked his thermal off and his helmet flashlight and DC-15's flashlight on as well. They carefully inspected the power source that was running so hot.

It was a reactor, hooked up to nothing, but running hot anyway. It looked to be the same size as a Imperial Star Destroyer's, if memory served correctly.

"Hot damn. This thing keeps running for a few more hours, and half a continent could be flattened." Someone remarked.

The Black Jacks looked around the room. "Boss, a terminal."

Orobos walked over and accessed it. He shut the power source. He also downloaded a map.

"Geez, this is too easy. The Rebels aren't even putting up a fair fight," remarked Gates.

That's when they heard the sound of running and stamping of metal boots on metal.

"God damn it, Gates! Why the hell are you so bad at this?!" asked Tanus, preparing himself for a fight.

"You know me, sarge," Gates smiled. "I'm always bad luck."

"No signal from command for another squad to secure those speeders. It's up to us." Gio said. "Pack up and move to your bikes, make haste and secure the area surrounding the immobilized vehicles. Terval could be in there so be careful."

Quickly packing up the squad jogged to the awaiting speeder bikes and punched the throttle. A matter of minutes passed as they slowed down and quickly began securing the surrounding area near the five downed vehicles.


"Hayes, Joamer, check the compartments for Terval, stun anyone else you find, they should be nearly awake by now. The rest of you fan out and secure the area." Gio said as he jumped off his bike.

Quickly the two troopers began searching the vehicles, stunning anyone they did not recognize. Checking the last speeder and stunning the two rebels in it, they both shock their heads.

"He's not here, Terval is not here. This was a decoy of some sort, but nothing else came through that gate. He's either inside the complex still or he was never here in the first place." Hayes relayed to Gio.


"Command, this is Iron Horse. Target was not in the escaping convey, twelve rebels under guard, looks like five of them are high command. Requesting pickup for prisoner extraction." Gio said into his commlink.


"Squad, extract the prisoners and move them into that thicket off the road, bind their arms and legs. Hayes, Joamer, find a spot and take cover, watch that gate, I want to know the second anything exits it, friendly or not."

The squad made short work of the prisoners, quickly moving the stunned forms into the thicket, and binding both arms and legs.

"The rest of you create a perimeter and hunker down. We can't go have fun inside the complex until we get pickup for these prisoners." Gio said just as one of the two squadrons flew over the complex and began bombing runs.

Orobos turned from the terminal he was in the middle of accessing to face the threat which was just about to come through the door after them. They all took up firing positions just was a flash grenade wa thrown through the door. The lenses of there helmets protected them from the flash but there was nothing to protect them against the bang which deafened them for a few seconds. Luckily they didn't need to hear the enemy as the rebels stormed into the room they opened fire cutting them down.

There were a few remaining outside the reactors control room and as there hearing returned to them they could here the rebels running further down the hall probably to take up better positions. They followed quickly stepping out the door rifle raised Orobos checked the corridor then turned around to check the other direction. There was a flurry of movement and a burst of laser fire flew in his direction. Dropping into a crouching positions he returned fire dropping the man leaning out of cover. The squad followed taking the rest of the group of enemies down.

The sound of more rebels coming reached their ears still aching from the flash bang and they turned loosing another volley of controlled sustained fire down the hallway. A man moving around the corner was cut down immediately. The others knowing better stayed protected and hidden behind the wall. The tip of a rifle emerged around the corner and a few shots were fired vaguely in their direction but they spattered of the walls ceiling and floor.

Pulling a grenade from his belt Gates tossed it down the hallway. It bounced of the floor and wall and then rolled into were the rebels were taking cover. A few shouts and them the crump of the explosion. They moved further down the hallway. Tanus held up a fist as a radio came to life and a voice from one of the commanders outside the complex started to announce something.

"Rebel forces spotted retreating on the far side of the building. Forces move to engage."

"We've got 'em running now."

Luten sighed to himself as he grabbed his tenth cup of coffee from off the table and leaned back in his chair. They were being attacked from all sides, and for some reason his command still wanted him to sit and play guard. The only source of entertainment he had in his very, very small office was the coffee machine, and the occasional flicker of gunfire.

The good news was, it seemed the attack from the northwest was crumbling. The eight man squad spotted making their way up to the hill, at last check, were missing three riders. And even better, their leader appeared to be one of the missing men, leaving them now led by a women, of all things. Luten snickered to himself at this thought.

His radio crackled into life, suddenly a blaze of rushed voices and panicked cries. Placing it to his ear, he just managed to catch the most important piece of information.

"Dewback's sighted at the top of the hill, they're charging!"

Grabbing his rifle from behind the coffee machine, he sprinted out of the door and around to the northwest wall. Just as the radio had said, the dewback's were clear as day, just beginning a sprint down into the last hundred metres before they hit the lumber yard. A detonator went off near to them, illuminating them long enough for the riders to be visible. A woman led, and three dewbacks still lacked riders, it was that squad alright.

The shot on their leader seemed pretty simple, she's slowed to a crawl as she helped out another team member. He raised his rifle to shoulder high, and aimed at her chest licking his lips as he aimed.

The shot hit high, puncturing the windpipe and cutting off their inability to take any air. Slumping to the side, clutching his neck, he saw another shot release itself from a nearby tree. The man in it looked down at the dying guard and waved. The same man from the photos, their leader. He used his last few seconds of air to grab for his radio, but it was shot away from his hand by another man in another tree. They'd been tricked.

Within a matter of seconds the quiet scene of the forest had turned into mayhem, fire coming from all directions, going wherever it wanted. Wraiths had it under-control, or at least that was how it looked. RK, however, wasn't so sure, with the continuous hail of fire, even moving a bit would be suicidal, but even being here was suicidal. Guess I have no choice.

Another volley of  fire came in RK's direction, he instinctively kept low while firing in the direction of the oncoming fire. He then quickly started moving, heading towards the closest cover; once he was within two feet of the tree he crouched down and got into a quick roll, landing directly behind it,keeping himself into crouch, and waiting again.

10.9.8.7,6,5,4,3,2.. Now! He jumped up and turned, trying to keep the tree between him and the Facility as much as possible, firing of a couple shots in the direction of the latest enemy fire. Then repeating his past maneuver to get to the nearest tree, keeping himself down.

“God damn it.” RK heard Ror say, even over all the noise. He seemed to be reaching for his pistol, throwing the gun off to the side; RK wanted to know what had happen, but he figured it was better not to ask

“Hang in there!” Kand yelled as he dodged to a huge boulder that was sitting just off to the right of his previous location., firing a few times before ceasing, trying not to give his position away.

After a while RK finally realized he had been in the same position for more than half a minute. Now. He leapt and fired clumsily, then ran to the next tree over, crouching then rolling to keep himself low.  I just hope everyone else is having better luck than us. he thought glumly while letting of a few more shots, then moving once again.

The radio had finally managed to get the warning message out, and the reinforcements were spewing out of the logging camp, as well as from nearby buildings. Kanderin recalled something he had heard issued to him in the orders - 'Resistance will be heavy, but not unmanageable'. Yeah right.

He dropped down from the tree, firing off another handful of shots and downing another two men, before climbing his way into another. He shot a look back towards Helena and the rest of the squad, who had finally found their way to level ground. First task completed, the second was to clear the area so it was safe to leave the Dewbacks back, allowing them to work inside.

"Everyone dismount and push forward towards the facility, drive them back!" Kanderin shouted over the crackle from nearby enemy radios.

Jennabelle responded by working her way over to Kand, a volley of red from her blaster managed to down what seemed to be an entire squad closing in on Kand.

"That was lucky" Kanderin smiled, firing at another closing in behind Jenn.

"No luck in it, all skill"

RK made his way over to them, and Helena gathered the squad on the other side of the dewbacks, and after a volley of hand signals, they rushed forward in unison, the severe barrage of gunfire causing every guard around the building to dive for cover. A grenade was thrown from both groups, exploding together and sending several bodies flying. A few ran loose but were immediately cut down by more gunfire. Kanderin pointed out a fallen tree just ahead of them, and the squad gathered behind it.

They took up a offensive wall, with alternating members firing until their clip ran out, before reloading and letting their neighbours take over. That way four people would always be firing on them, and they never had time to breathe. Eventually, they gave way and fled their position, holing themselves inside the building.

"We broke them!" Kanderin called, holding up the hand for the ceasefire. "RK, Jenn and Ror, follow me through. Helena, take everyone else and hole up the Dewbacks somewhere, then follow us in"