Conditions like these always brought out the worst in people, and RK was starting to feel it's affects. Ever sine they had stepped foot on this planet he knew he was going to hate this trip, and his thoughts hadn't changed anymore when he found out they were going back outside. Man, did I pick the wrong mission to return for.

“Alright men, make sure your suit's are pressurized to keep out most of the cold, and every thing's working properly. I don't want anyone losing limbs to frost bite, understood?” Kand said, a grin plastered on his face.

RK was already way ahead of Kand's orders. His helmet was already perched atop his head, followed by a hissing sound, which was probably the only comforting sound that he had heard in a long time. After the helmet was sealed he made sure that the heating unit was working properly and that there were no leaks, luckily nothing showed up, but RK knew from experience to never trust technology. 

“Everyone ready?” Ron's, wraith's new ASL, filled RK's helmet; followed by eight green dots that blinked on his HUD, indicating that all of wraiths were alive and in agreement.

-_-_-_-

In only, what seemed like, three seconds every single wraith was standing outside in the tortures of nature. The wind seemed to slow down some, but still it bit at everyone like a rabid gurrcat who hadn't eaten in months. Luckily, RK's suit was beginning to adjust the heat inside itself, even if it wasn't burning, it helped. Still it was good to have some cold weather, it kept you alert.

“Man, what I wouldn't do for a hot cup of water.” Anival said, his voice wasn't even close to sarcastic.

“Stop complaining, Anival...or I'll give you...” RK stopped himself, realizing that he was going to say something that he regretted later on. What's the matter with you lately? He wasn't sure, but ever since he had gotten back from leave he had gotten a short fuse. So until he figured it out he was going to have to keep his mouth shut.

OOC:

just a short post to get us outside, and so I can get back into the swing of things from my leave and long drought of writing.

The RAIDERS walked single file up to the stadium's gates and stopped while Helena began to argue with the droid manning the ticket booth. It looked down at the squad from its position behind the transparisteel window and gave what sounded suspiciously like an electronic sniff.

"Do you wish to purchase a ticket?" it asked, its vocabulator doing a passable impression of disdain. Idly, Dante eyed the droid's joints, wondering which bit to shoot for maximum effect. "The tournament is in two standard hours."

"Open the gate please." Helena replied, her voice turned into a sinister rasp by her helmet filters. The droid showed no visible reaction to her request, although the RAIDERS appearance alone had to be setting off most ,if not all, of its threat avoidance circuits. Instead, it flashed its photo-receptors on and off in an imitation of a surprised blink and leaned towards the booth's window.

"I am sorry. To gain admittance, all non-employees must purchase a ticket. You may buy tickets here from me or the half dozen other booth droids, using Dendros Planetary Stadium's Comlink channel, or by using our HoloNet site. Otherwise, you are not to be permitted to enter."

Helena sighed, her hands clenching and unclenching, then tried again.

"Look here, droid, we're acting as security personnel for Dendros Planetary Statium's owners. We have their permission to enter. We're not spectators, or fans, or members of the general public. For the last time, may we enter?"

The droids eye lights flickered for a second as it analyzed Helena's argument, then remained on as it shook its round metal head.

"I am sorry. Non-employees are not to be permitted to enter without first purchasing a ticket to an event or a season pass. You may purchase a ticket or pass from me or..."

As the droid reactivated its preprogramed apology, Dante walked up to his Squad Leader and tapped her on the arm. Helena looked at him, startled.

"Ma'am, may I try?" Dante whispered. Helena shrugged.

"Droid," Dante barked, and saw it turn to face him. Grinning under the helmet, the trooper strode towards the glass until he was less than an inch away from the droid. "Let us through."

"I am sorry, but all non-employees must..."

Dante raised an armoured fist and rapped on the transparisteel with his right hand, leaving a hair-thin crack in its surface. The droid stopped.

"Droid, we are supposed to be inside. You will let us through, or I will use this ion blaster,"

Here Dante raised his DC-17m to firing height and deactivated the safety.

"to shoot you. I will then deactivate the controls and we'll enter anyway."

Dante stopped, and waited for the droid's response. It wasn't what he'd expected.

"I am sorry, but all non-employees must..."

Dante surprised even himself with the string of profanity that erupted from his lips.

OOC:

Let's get this show on the road, finally.

Kanderin watched the fireworks light up the rapidly darkening sky, transforming the dull red into a mixture of purple's, gold's and green's. It was the opening ceremony for the tournament, and for a while he thought he wasn't going to make it. The cold was sharp even through their heavily armored suits, every latecomer sprinting past them staring in disbelief at the squads sheer audacity to just stand around.

"Think we should get moving?" Ron called through the comlink.

"Yeah, might as well. If you take RK, and Anival around to the side entrances and get status reports from the guards there, I'll take the rest and hole up at the main gate"

"Is there heaters at the main gate?"  Lukas shivered, standing a little close to Kanderin.

"Yeah..I think so"

After batting him away, Kanderin shook Ron's hand and took his half of the squad out of the city alleys and onto the main plaza, upon which the fireworks were even more impressive. The sound was perfectly audible now, large booming explosions doing their best to rattle the entire stadium and it's neighbouring streets. To either side of the plaza families could be seen either stood in their doorways or leaning out of their windows admiring the spectacle. The tournament was truly a great thing for relations between the two planets, if it went without a hitch the people on either side could actually relax their guards. Both planets communities had been blending for well over six hours now, and the security forces had yet to report even a single incident, not even the smallest shouting match. Things were peaceful and exciting at the same time, and that was more than enough of a reason for people in nothing more than nightgowns to take to the streets.

The squad watched the show until it's climax,,the last of the fireworks dropping out of view, before proceeding across the plaza to the row of entrance booths into the stadium. Through it the pitch was just visible, a vibrant green that was somehow managing to survive despite the horrible conditions. There was a man shouting through an intercom, his voice just about audible from where the Wraith's were stood. He as introducing the players, the shouts from the crowd growing or receding depending on the popularity of the individual. One thing that was particularly noticeable however, was the lack of a single boo. Not one.

"So, where are we settling?" Joamer shook Kanderin's shoulder and threw him out of the trance.

"Just take up spots next to each of the entrance droids, make sure no one is causing trouble" He replied, pointing out every other terminal.

"Not likely tonight, you must have felt the atmosphere" Haldaz chimed in.

"I know, but we have to get at least some work done tonight"

Marching over to the middle terminal, Kanderin removed his helmet and nodded at the droid staring at him.

"Mind if we stand here? We're security for the complex"

"Not at all sir" The droid shook his head frantically "In fact I'd like it very much, a group of people came through here earlier that were incredibly rude, and one pointed a gun at me!"

Kanderin glanced at the droid with one eye while leaning up against his booth.

"Their leader wasn't a woman by any chance was it? And did the man pointing the gun at you appear incredibly aggressive?"

"Why yes they did actually! You must have dealt with them before!"

Kanderin laughed. "I suppose you could say that, yeah"

There were less and less people now filing into the plaza and through the gates, and very soon they would be shut. Greenputt was a game that required a large amount of concentration, and the players had requested the doors be shut when they began to play. They had however apparently forgotten they were playing in a large scale stadium, where silence was a very, very rare thing.

As the last four or five names on the commentators list were being read out, the droid in Kanderin's booth and the one by Joamer jumped out and moved to the gates to shut them. They only just managed to place the lock down on them before the fireworks started again and they were sent reeling away from the noise.

The first blast shook the entire stadium and pushed a huge section of the wall to Kanderin's right into the complex. The second struck the booth two down from him, catapulting him into the air and tossing him into the opposite wall. He just saw the third strike the middle of the field through the gates before he blacked out.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kand! Wake up!"

For a while he couldn't see anything, but he slowly managed to force his eyes open just enough to see Ron standing over him, shaking his shoulder.

"Thank god, thought you were a goner! We need to move, right now"

His eyes still weren't fully open and Ron was already dragging him to his feet. He saw his ASL's blurry image disappear off back towards the plaza, and instinctively he ran after him. There was now thousands of people screaming wildly and pushing their way past and over each other, Kanderin was only able to get through himself by pushing back. Another strike struck somewhere behind him, but he didn't look back. His head was pretty much back together by now, he remembered where he was and what had just happened. The peace emnating from the stadium was all but gone, huge fires and alarms taking it's place. Pushing past another group of people, Kand toppled out of the mass of bodies and into the side road Ron had went down.

"Where's the rest of the squad" he gasped, pushing himself back up.

"They're all okay, waiting for us back at the base. Everyone reported but you, so I came out searching"

"Thanks" Kanderin sighed, before realising they weren't alone. "What about RAIDERS?"

"There's the problem" Ron grimaced. "We've been trying for the past half an hour, we haven't heard a thing from any of them"

"You're joking, right?"

He shook his head. "I wish I was"

"Then we go in and find them, we have no choice!"

Kanderin pushed himself to his feet and ran past Ron back towards the base, where he would gather Wraith and start the search.

"We cant go in there Kand, it's madness!" Ron shouted, chasing after him "They're still hitting it with shells!"

Explosions all around them met with the loud and agonizing cry of the wounded all about them.  Kanderin fled throughout the complex, his eyes racing to find RAIDERS at any cost with Ron hard on his heels.

"Kanderin!"  Ron yelled.  Above him a steel beam squealed as it bent against its will, crashing downwards where Ron was standing.  Ron hurled himself foward, managing to get most of his body out from the wreckage, leaving only his leg caught.

"Kand!  For God's sake!" Ron yelled again.  His leg was caught in the small space between the floor and the steel frame where the angle in the "T" shaped metal allowed.  Ron tried to pull himself free, but to no avail.  He yelled for Kand again- no answer.  Finally he saw Kanderin push himself through the crowd towards Ron.

"Ron!  What the hell..." Kanderin uttered a few more words of the same kind before reaching down and pulling Ron in an attempt to set him free.  The work was slow, but after a few minutes Ron's leg was pulled out of the wreckage.  Kand inspected the bloody appendage carefully, turning it about and looking it over on all sides before assuring Ron that he would not lose the leg.  Ron winced in pain as Kanderin eased his leg onto the ground; and winced again as he stood on it.  Miraculously enough, the leg was struck in such a way that the bone stayed in tact. 

"How's it feel?" Kanderin said.  He had to yell to be heard over the fray, but Ron knew he was calm.

"It's bleeding like hell." Ron groaned.  "And it's sore."  He shrugged his shoulders and hopped about a little until he felt the circulation return.  "But I'll live."

"Good." Kand said.  He ducked again as another explosion sent fragments flying in their direction.  Picking up his blaster rifle, Kanderin fired into what seemed to be a likely spot as the source of the firing.  To his satisfaction, the shells subsided somewhat; allowing them time to think over the situation.

"They're not here." Ron said. 

Kanderin shook his head and plugged forward, refusing to believe that he could do nothing more for the RAIDERS squad. 

"Ron... we left them in there, I left them in there..."  Kanderin shook his head again.  "I can't leave them in there, I just..."

A spray of rock knocked them both off their feet, sending a ringing noise to both their ears.

"If they were here," Ron yelled, "We would have seen them by now... they would have found us..."

Another explosion, another sea of concrete and metal flung in every direction.  This was madness, pure madness.  Ron pulled out his OmniNode set and roared into the miq.

"Ron to Wraith!  Has RAIDERS returned to HQ???  Ron to Wraith, can anyone read me??"

A short buzz followed, Ron could hear RK reply,

"Wraith reporting!  No report from RAIDERS still!  Are you alright?  Is Kand..."

A shattering explosion sent both Ron and Kanderin on the ground, before Ron yelled back to Kand,

"RAIDERS are still inside!"  You were right!  We've got to get them out of here! We've...

Kanderin rushed closer so that he could hear over the din.

"RAIDERS... still... inside..."  Ron screamed.  Ron screamed no more.  A blinding flash sent them both wheeling off in opposite directions... blinding Ron for minutes.  When his sight and hearing returned, several suited men appeared in the mist of the flash and smoke grenades they were throwing.  Ron rushed and hid himself behind a concrete pillar along the wall.  He peeked around the corner, only to confirm the fact that there were six... no, seven of the lightly armored men; all of them striding towards the wreckage where Ron was hidden. 

Ron pulled out his Heavy blaster pistol from his belt- his E-11 had ran out of ammo hours ago.  Holding the pistol close to his head, he peeked around the corner one more time to see if he could get a glimpse of Kanderin.  A blaster bolt stopped his view and left a burnt mark on the corner of the pillar.  Ron waited another minute before he jumped clear of the pillar and fired a heavy salvo into the thickest part of the group.  He was yelling himself hoarse; cursing everything and just about everyone he knew as he threw himself away from them.  But Ron was still alive, the strange men were still coming; and he thought he saw Kanderin behind them, before Ron landed with a thud behind yet another pile of wreckage.

That retarded fight between her and Dante, the flight here, her initial fear of the mission ahead. All of that was now gone as she laid there, staring up at the now crumbling ceiling, emerald eyes as stoic as one’s eyes could ever be. Yeah, she had been thrown off of her feet by the first shell, and fell to the floor along with bits of rubble, but now, she was conscious, looking up and trying to go through a best plan of action. Her comlink crackled with static. Her right thigh hurt pretty bad, the armor around the area was scuffed and slightly cracked from a bit of rubble that had fallen on it (she had pushed that off a few minutes before). A soft groan rolled over her lips as she turned her head to look at her right arm, the cybernetic one. Flexing her fingers and her wrist, she smiled. She was fine. Of course she would be fine. With the amount of adrenaline rushing through her veins right now, it felt as though nothing could stop her.

And so with this confidence in herself, she stood, groaning as she did so, and straitened her helmet out  a bit. She rolled her shoulder forward, loving the sound the pieces of armor made as she moved. A smirk played across her pale pink lips as she looked around, seeing small pillars of smoke rising from bits of rubble. It took a few minutes for her to calculate just where she was. Raiders had taken the inside of the stadium, that she knew. She also knew that she had been positioned not too far away from Dante, and a couple of other guys.

A sigh, and she looked around some more. Rubble surrounded her. This would be the perfect time to use her FreeRunner skills. And she would, she needed to find the others. Even if it was to be Dante she was trying to find. Oh well. It was some one.

Private Jaenna Caldwin grunted as she took off at a brisk run, aiming for a broken wall of rubble that had a corner in it. A jump and she planted her right foot on one side of the wall, she pushed off and planted her left foot on the opposite side of the corner, and pushed off on that, then grabbed onto the top edge of the wall with her hands, and pulled herself up with ease. She stood on the wall, and looked around, making more calculations.

Something moved off to the left of her.

Turning, she crouched and drew her E-11 blaster from its holster and took aim. It was a man, carrying a pistol to his side, a comlink on his head. He was saying something. Jaenna strained her ears to listen in.

“It looks like we hit this place pretty good, Boss.” The man said.
That did it for Jaenna. That’s all she needed. Placing her blaster back in its holster, she took off at a crouching run, luckily the man’s back was facing her. Once she reached the edge of the wall piece, she jumped, landed, bent her knees and rolled over her shoulder. As she came out of the roll, she threw her right fist into the back of the man’s knee, sending him off balance. The man turned as he began to fall and aimed his pistol at her as he caught himself with his free hand on another piece of rubble.

“What the hel-“ The man didn’t have time to finish, for Jae stood, and used a blocking motion to knock the pistol out of his hand. She picked up her left leg and gave him a swift side kick to the diaphragm. With a grunt, he fell to his back. He looked to his right and grabbed his fallen pistol, but right as he had taken aim at Jae’s head, her own blaster let loose a bolt into his head.

She stood there, staring down at the body. She grimaced and kicked it a bit, then looked up and around once more. With a sigh, she crouched behind a bit of rubble and took a breath. She needed to try and contact someone through her damaged comlink.

“Jaenna to Raiders. Come in. Raiders, come in.” There was only static, then, a voice came through.

“Hey, rookie. Nice to see you’re still alive. Got nay kills yet?” It was Dante.

She scoffed. He’ll have to do. “Yeah. One. Where are you?” She asked him, looking around from behind her piece of rubble.

“Inside the stadium. Duh. I’m with Carter. Bacardi was with us, too, but he got separated after going off to search for survivors. What’s your position, rookie?”

“Right in front of you.” Jae said as she stood and saw the three troopers in front of her. Her E-11 in her hands, and her posture showing self-confidence.  She was going to prove herself to deserve a name other than ‘rookie’ from this guy. She needed to.

Andar “Gaz” Bacardi raised his modified StA-LAR rifle, two of the attackers hit the ground with the combined fire of Gaz, Carter, and Asana. They all trotted across a broken part of the stadium chairs, the former sturdy stands were now creaking under the three men’s weight. As Gaz took the first step onto a broken flier, his leg fell through the stands. He screamed as he hit the ground ten feet below, Dante and Carter yelled at him.

“You ok, sir?” Carter screamed, shining the light of his assault rifle onto him. Gaz looked up, his knees were scraped, back bruised, and hands shaven of their skin- but he was alive. He opened his mouth and felt a searing pain in his ribs. Dante looked down as well, both of them began to think of ways to get him back up to were they currently were.

“Fine, here... do you guys have a rope?” Bacardi asked, he already knew that they didn’t and wouldn’t have a rope. Suddenly, machine gun fire seared over Carter and Asana’s head. They both took cover, but out of the blue, a rocket fired from the other side of the fields. Dante and Carter flew back to were they came from and Bacardi got up quickly. The giant bleachers on top of him collapsed and Gaz ran towards the nearest exit... or what was left of it. Bacardi took cover as a splinter nailed him in the back, yelling in protest as it dug farther into Bacardi’s back.

His StA-LAR was clipped around his back, he was currently holding his pistol, and worst of all- he was trapped. He quickly observed his options, he could run back out and jump down towards the bleachers were the enemies were probably patrolling, or, he could take his chances and follow down these halls in hope of finding the exit. He still held the enemy radio, though.

“...” The radio blew static. “...” More and more static, “... Granger and Luttenin, you take the other seven and search these hallways- that has to be were they are hiding. If that rocket didn’t finish hem off, then we will.” The supposed leader that he had earlier just signed Bacardi’s death warrant. But he wouldn’t let that happen, he began to run down the halls- his blood dripping as he walked down.

As he turned the corner, one of the enemy mercenaries with red hair and freckles turned around raised his weapon. Bacardi shot once- the silenced bullet nailed the red haired man in the chest, he dropped his gun as he threw another shot into him. This shot was a through-and-through and it nailed the chest behind him. He ran down the hallway, stepping over the man’s body as he did so. The sound of the radio buzzed on his belt, they had obviously heard of this man’s death.

Bacardi jumped out into the wide open air, he was at the destroyed emergency exit. Two dead guards from the stadium sat on the floor. While the exit was covered by massive piles of rubble- only one solution. Bacardi jumped onto the rubble and began to dig, nails, staples, wood, and everything else could be felt as Bacardi hovered his hand over the rubble. He eventually was able to make a sizeable hole, then his radio buzzed on again.

“Only one last place, exit three. Converge on the location now, trap him in.” Bacardi froze, the hole was almost big enough. He couldn’t be caught- there was only one solution. He un-clipped a thermal detonator off of his belt and threw it in the hallway. The hallway came down quickly, and they had almost no way in... he had no way out, besides this hole. Digging quicker in the hole, the hole became bigger in the next minute. He was able to crawl out and he was out in the wide open, in front of him were two troopers dressed in Katarn armor.

“Good to see you, Asana, same for you, Carter.” They both nodded.

The attack had been sudden and devastating. Some kind of artillery salvo slammed into slammed into the stadium, sending people and debris flying in a flaming wave across the green. Seconds later, the dome was hit and everything went black under the crushing shadow of tons of rock and metal.



Zorgn regained consciousness in darkness, wedged between a massive metal beam, spiking from the ceiling at an angle into the floor in front and storage crates behind. He flicked on low-light vision mode and slammed the crates away from him before taking full stock. What passed for the ceiling was really the remains of the stadium's dome, probably fallen through the floor, taking him with it, and all held up by pushing against the metal beam.

He reflected that he'd been lucky not to be crushed beneath the rubble, but had been separated from the rest of the squad instead, a fair enough trade. He'd fight another day. As he searched the room, it turned out that fortune had smiled on him in leaving the bag of grenades unharmed, his E-11 in reasonable order, and his armor in good condition aside from a tightness of breathing space he figured had something to do with the fall. The light would tell more when he escaped.

He grabbed the bag in his left hand and drew his E-11 with his right. He had to figure out what basement he was in and make his way to the surface, get orders...

Could just call them.

He nearly smacked himself for not calling in already. Instead, he sighed, chinned the com switch and spoke.

"Zorgn here. Anyone hearing me? I'm in a basement... Or something... It's hard to tell, power's off and the light sucks. Heading upstairs, need orders. Maybe a map, as well."

He hoped against his fears that the call would get through the rock and metal to reach someone. Wandering around in the dark, hoping the ceiling didn't collapse was not what he wanted to do while there were people above that needed killing. He kicked a small crate in frustration and jogged off down the tunnels.

Famus ran through the complex holding his E-11 tight to his body. He had been transported into the mission late due to his reinstatement into the Army. Now he had not been able to get a hold of them on the com-link. The stadium was a madhouse sine the mortar fire started. “This is private Famus, any RAIDERS there, report!” He heard loud gunshots around the corner. The young trooper took out his vibro-bayonet and attached it to his rifle. He crept around the corner and saw two men firing at Corporal Bacardi.

“Get that imperial bastard,” said on man with some five o’clock shadow on his chin and a cigar hanging from his mouth. Famus aimed his gun at the man’s head and fired twice. The man slumped to the ground with a thud. Then Famus ran towards the other man and as he turned around he stabbed him in the chest. The man struggled for a few more seconds before Famus using his street fighting expertise kicked the man in the knee and as the private’s foe began to fall Famus punched him in his nose killing him instantly.

Famus got on his com-link, “Bacardi it’s me, Private Famus. I was sent in after you all to assist you on the mission. Where is the rest of the squad?”

Bacardi replied, “Nice of you to show up Private, I’m not sure where the rest of the squad went.” The two began walking toward the hall when mortar fire blew up there exit.
“Son of bitch…how the hell we getting out now,” muttered Famus. Bacardi walked a run looking very frustrated. Famus kicked the wall and his foot made a loud ding which was unusual because these were concrete. “Sir,” said Famus, “I think we may have found our exit.”

The two troopers hid behind pieces of debris. Famus grabbed a thermal detonator and tossed it at the wall. A loud explosion of twisted metal and rocks soon followed. The men stood up and saw a rock tunnel.

“Lets go Famus, this is our best way out,” said Bacardi in an orderly manner.

“Yes sir,” replied Famus, “ I’ll take point."

The two troopers went in the tunnel and as mortar fire kept raining down the complex the tunnel began to lose security and rocks began to crash down on Famus and Bacardi. They reached the door marked exit and ran out into the open just in time.

They heard the structurally unsound tunnel collapse behind them.

Anival tried to concentrate on the mission, but his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking of the crowd, and, what he considered to be, nice change from the norm.

No sooner had he left his guard when a loud explosion rocked the stadium, Anival thought it was more entertainment for the crowd, but when two more explosions in rapid succession sent chunks of a far off wall flying. He turned to get a full look at the damage.

There was twisted chunks of metal, and several pieces of, what looked like durasteel, obliterated. A figure walked over to them, he got close enough that Anival could see a terrified expression on his face, and blood coming from several wounds.

“RUN!!” screamed the nameless man, “run, or-” he was hit by a blur, it sent him thrashing into the wall, his body was annihilated, and the wall flew out spraying shrapnel all around, Anival ducked.

Anival turned to face Ron, and RK. Ron wasn't there, and RK was barely visible, by his boot sticking under a small pile of rubble. Anival rushed to RK, he threw away his E-11 and started to take chunks of debris, trying to get RK out.

Three more impacts shuddered the ground, adding to the chaos that had started. When RK's helmet came into view, Anival increased his pace. After laboring for what seemed like hours, Anival had uncovered RK, his armor was cracked in some places, but it held.

Anival rapped RK's helmet, try to awaken him, when he didn't, Anival picked up his unconscious form,and started for a clearing up ahead, knowing that he had to protect RK, and catch up with the squad.

Going into the stadium with the unconscious RK, would be stupid and foolish, all it would accomplish would be to get them both killed.

He set RK down near a small closet like clearing that stood, surrounded by the fallen building that had stood, apparently there were some stray projectiles.

He stood near RK, looking around for glimpses of the other squad, when nothing came he turned back down, only to find an empty patch were RK had been. RK came into view behind Anival, standing groggily.

“What happened?” he asked with a slight slur. Anival pointed at the decimated surroundings, and said “we just couldn't catch a break, but we have to find the rest of the squad, and find out what the hell is going on here.” RK nodded in agreement.

OOC:

Hey btw I changed my name a while ago from Frank “Virius” Carter, to Faolan “Virius” Knight to go with my old callsign FlyingKnight sorry about any confusion I should have made that more known before and I know that changed it in both my profiles. If anyone sees my old name anywhere else just tell me and I will change it. Also this is just a short post because I am really tired but I want to show that I am in the story.

    Another mortar round impacted against a concrete support and rained the group of imperial soldiers with fast flying shards of the concrete. They all ducked and shielded their heads with their arms and ducked away from the debris.

    Gaz stood up and motioned for everyone to create a quick 360 degree cover so he could make a decent radio transmission without being horrible interrupted with a bolt to the face. Everyone moved behind cover as did Gaz in a ragged but effective formation to cover all angles.

    “Helena…This is Bacardi…where do you need us were on the southern end of the stadium and we picked up Famus, he just got here when the action started.” Bacardi radioed whilst scanning the stadium that had turned into a battleground.

    “Bacardi this is Helena…roger I just got word from the local security here that the two greenputt players and their security detail are trapped near the eastern exits and need an immediate evac.” Helena responded with a rushed but stern transmission.

    “This is Bacardi, roger were on our way. Out.” Bacardi ended the transmission with a burst of static.

    “Did you guys all hear that were headed towards the eastern exits, you guys are going to be meeting two celebrity sports players, well we will be saving there asses anyways. Everyone got it.” Bacardi received two nods and a thumb up from Famus.

    “Awesome, let’s roll!” Virius said loading a grenade into his M82’s grenade launcher.

    “Move out, Famus you take point.” Bacardi said motioning toward where the eastern exits were located. The group of imperial troopers tactically moved off towards more sounds of gunfire to save the two sports stars.

It was more than a local militia group, they were too numerous and too smart. The mortar strike had been a giant success, hitting the perfect points on the stadium with which to bring the entire thing crashing down on itself, not many of their specialists could work out that. What was more worrying however was the tactics being implemented by the groups they ran into. It wasn't a frightened youth pointing  a rusty gun at them, it was highly trained units flanking them on all sides.

They'd dealt with worse of course, and although the strikes were perfectly aimed the falling of the rubble wasn't, making what lied around the next corner difficult to predict, and even harder to prepare for. Common ground for a former special op however, Kanderin smiled.

He drew a halt to his and Ron's advance the moment he heard the patter of feet turn the next corner. They took cover in the gap between two large piles of rubble and watched the two soldiers run through the ring of stalls. They were hoping that spying on the two instead of just killing them would give a clue as to what exactly was happening. The pair stopped briefly out in the open and spun around, as if looking for something, but then darted off back in the direction they came. It was enough for Kand to recognise the insignia on the larger one's shoulder however.

"This isn't a battle, it's a terrorist strike" Kanderin called, yanking a datapad out of his pocket and quickly scouring through it for the information he wanted.

"What do you mean?" Ron replied.

Kand found the page he wanted and shoved it into Ron's face, allowing him to read it. While he did so, Kanderin narrated.

"The symbol on their shoulder is that of the 'Unification theory', a group focused on destroying the planets and cities they deem 'unacceptable to the new world'. They're a terrorist milita that have been underground for some time now, but I'd had some warning they might show up. We knew their numbers were made up of ex-soldiers - Some of them from the VE - but we had no idea they had become this organised"

"So what exactly do they want?" Ron was still flicking through the pad.

"Dendros is one such planet they have an issue with. They were threatening a revenge attack for some time now, furious with the damage it's residents have done to the planet. They just knew no matter how organised they could do very little to change anything without"

"A diversion" Ron cut in. "The game gives them a perfect opportunity to cause wide scale damage and blame it on the other side. They incite a war which neither side would win without major casualties"

"Read my mind" Kanderin winked "Let's move out, we still have RAIDERS to find. Keep trying that radio too, Wraith and any RAIDERS you can get in touch with need to know what's going on"

"What should I tell them to do if I get contact?"

"To get back to base and wait there till everyone is organised. Then we'll develop a plan"

OOC:

Very wordy, and I apologise for that. However, I felt some clarification on what exactly is going on would be needed.

Explosions, gunshots, and screams could be heard outside of the HQ were most of Wraith squad was waiting. Lukas didn't know how much longer he could wait holding out for his Squad Leader and Assistant Squad Leader to get back. It had been quite sometime after the conflict had started that he and a few other Wraith members had made it back to base. Kanderin, Ron, RK, and Anival were still out in the combat zone, not to mention that the Raiders hadn't shown up to base either. Sounds of gunfire and people running past the base were getting closer and closer, making Lukas feel like the enemy were breaking into house after house, scavenging for valubles and people.

He walked over into the main part of the base were only the single door stood between the outside and inside itself. It was an old door that could easily be kicked open and run through by anyone at anytime, friend or foe alike. Lukas stood at the far end of the room and readied his pistol aiming towards the door, waiting for an enemy to try and enter. He gathered up with what few Wraith members were in the base at the time and had them positioned on either side of the door, just incase Lukas missed his target. The only good thing about the base is that the windows were all boarded up and no one could peer inside.

Lukas had hoped that Wraith and Raiders were trying to get back to base as fast as possible because he didn't know how much time they would have until someone tried to get in.

Anival was holding in a guffaw. When he had told RK that the dead body might be a zombie he said it so serious that Anival surprised himself.  He looked at the bodies for a while then, turned to face RK.

“I think I was related to one of these men” he said jokingly, RK let out a sigh “We, like I said before we should go, and by go I mean walk.”

“And here I was going to fly” he replied, toying with RK.

“OK,  lets focus. We need to join up with the rest of the squad, or get back to base.”

“Aw, but I cant focus, I'm hungry.” said Anival with a whiny tone.

“Har, Har” said RK as he walked forward. Anival followed RK, weapon leveled.

“Should we go find Kand, and Ron, or just head back to base?” inquired Anival.

“Well, you heard Kand, head back to base.” responded RK

“Ah, ok then back to the comfy ol' base tis.” said Anival trying to ease the tension.

Three men cam into view, and started shooting at them as soon as they spotted them. Anival flung himself to the left, a blaster bolt whizzing past him.

He saw one man fall clutching his chest, then the other, Anival took aim, when a thermal detonator gleamed in the sunlight, as it arched thought the air, Anival screamed “Grenade!” and he ducked out of the way.

He wasn't fast enough. The blast sent an aftershock, and pieces of dirt and turned the fallen beams, and other material into little flying daggers.

Most of the debris was blocked by his armor, but a piece about the size of his thumb had bit into his shin. Anival stood grunting in pain, and looked for the grenadier, he was dead five holes in his chest.

RK walked from the bodies, and looked at him. “You look beautiful” he said eying his shin, blood was sluggishly oozing out.

“I feel like a prince” he said forcing a smile. He tried to walk, but waves of pain emanated from his leg, he placed an arm around RK and they headed back to the base.

They could see the base from a distance, closer than before, Anival relaxed and spoke. “Do you think the ones we saw in pars were sentries, or scouts?”

“Most likely scouts” replied RK his mind clearly elsewhere, as was Anivals, he stopped the conversation right there his heart not in it.

The rest of the way was walked in silence, with the occasional burst of static coming from the helmets.

Once at the door, RK  rapped it once then twice, and cracked it open a bit, he placed his armored hand, through the crack so they wouldn't be shot at and walked in.

He saw Lukas walk towards them, he looked at Anival and then hurried to shut the door, Anival took a seat from from the entrance and surveyed his leg, something was still in their, and bits of the armor were stuck in his leg.

RK explained the situation.
“Then we should wait here” said Lukas in the end.

OOC:

Erm, I'm going to go ahead and post what I already wrote... it works out all the same.

They were all gathered there, Wraith and RAIDERS, all ready to listen to the new plan that was being laid down by Kanderin.

"Right." Kand said stiffly.  He nudged Ron next to him who pulled out his laptop- hooked up to a computer of the area schematics that Kand had pulled out of the ruined stadium.

"We have been assulted, as I am sure you all know, but a group of terrorists who are determined to lay this planet to waste.  They are a highly dangerous group made up of mercenaries and ex-soldiers from the vast empire.  I'm sure I don't need to tell you all to be careful out there.'

A chuckle rose up from the group, but only half-heartedly.  Some of them knew only too well what damages those ex-soldiers were capable of.

"Fortunately for us." Kand continued.  "We got one of them alive." Kand reached down and grabbed the captured soldier by the back of his collar.  As he lifted the man up, his eyes blinked and adjusted to his new surroundings.

"So now what?" Gaz said. 

Kanderin reached by his side and withdrew a long knife from its scabbard, grinning at the helpless man.

"We find out everything this poor devil knows; or else we'll teach him what Imperial Soldiers are capable of doing."

Kanderin's laugh was so disgustingly evil that even some of his own squad members were slightly disturbed.  Ron chuckled along and got the rest of the crowd going.  The sooner this guy was sure they were going to mutilate him the sooner they would get the information they needed.

The man looked around helplessly, trying to find a friend in the crowd; and finding none to his dismay.  As Kand pricked his nose with the knife, the man finally squealed.

"Alright! Alright!  I'll tell you!  It's an old warehouse, in the Drysbon section of the main city..."

"Ron?" Kand said.

"Latitude 29, Longitude... about 104." Ron replied without looking up from his laptop.

"Excellent." Kanderin said.  Looking down at the sweating man, Kanderin tickled his ear with the knife.

"You're going to tell me everything I want to know.  What kind of weapons you have, how many of those weapons you have, where you get those weapons, how much you pay for them, who you work for, who you worked for before that...

The man could only gulp and reveal everything to Kanderin; fearing the worst if he failed to do so...


"Ron... Gaz." Kand said.

It was good hour after Kand got everything he wanted from the captive.  Ron grinned as he saw the other troopers' expressions at Kanderin's cruel demonstrations.  Let em shake... Kand was only doing what he had to.  As Kanderin approached them, he threw two garments of light armor towards them.

"Put those on." Kanderin said.  "I got some undercover work for you to do."

Ron and Gaz grinned at each other as they donned their new outfits.  They were light and easy to move in, though sturdy and tough to break, each of them received a wad of papers that they were told were needed to get past the sentry, along with some cigarettes and beer if the sentry demanded some payment.

Kand threw Ron's stormtrooper helmet at him and a small pint of red paint.

"Turns out that some of the vast empire deserters like to piss off their former allegiance.  They go around with red painted designs on their white helmets to show that they are as deadly as one of us, just not affiliated with us.  Paint what you want on em, just make it look gruesome."

Ron grinned as he dipped the brush into the paint and layered the front of the helmet with a thick image of a red skull on the front.  He grabbed a handful of the red dust on the ground and sprinkled it on the dry paint to make it look worn.  It had the desired affect.

"Think I might just keep this helmet afterwords." Ron grinned.

"Time you left." Kanderin said.  "I'll give you your final instructions.  Once you are in Ron, your job is to deactivate any shields, weaponry, or other mechanized defense systems.  After that you must signal back to us your success.  We won't even be able to get through to get into the base unless those are offline."

Ron nodded, and Kand turned to Gaz.

"Gaz, you're job is to get acquainted with the boss of the terrorist group on this planet... a hutt named Croska.  Your job is to get as close as you can to him, find out his strengths and weaknesses, so that we can capture him, and if necessary kill him."

Gaz grinned at his new assignment and saluted.

"Right.  Under no circumstances are you to leave the building for any reason, once you're in... you stay in until the rest of us come.  Got it?"

Ron and Gaz nodded again before heading towards the exit.

"Oh and one more thing." Kanderin said.  "You might want to get rid of those helmets once the rest of us are in.  "Don't want to accidentally take you as one of the traitors."

"Damn." said Ron.  "Really wanted to keep this thing too."

Ron and Gaz finally got going towards the enemy base under the cover of night; preparing themselves for one of the most dangerous encounters of their life.

The first task that was entrusted in her hands.

A task that could possibly determine one of the many outcomes of this mission.

Jaenna stood there, a pile of Coms on a table in front of her. A Hydrospanner in one hand, and her calibrating-wire laser in the other. Next to the large pile of Coms, was her tool box. This would be the first time she would have to put her 'slicing' skills to use. But that's the thing, they aren't necessarily slicing skills. They are more than anything self-acquired hacking and technical skills that she picked up while being the active leader of her hacking gang on Coruscant.

"By the gods...." She groaned as she grabbed the first Com that she was going to work with. She placed it front of her after putting her two most favored tools down. Bringing the Com up to her face, she peered at it with those bright emerald eyes of hers. This work was impossible to do with her helmet on, and so she had tossed it next to her tool box.

"Hmm. A lot of the Coms were damaged...." Her voice was soft and almost a whisper.

While doing this type of work, she had a tendency to talk to herself, to make sure that she was doing the right bit of thinking. This type of work... It required a lot of thinking, and a lot of trial-and-error work. Jae has had her fair share of errors. But this time, there was no room for error. She was in the Imperial Army, and this task that had been set before her was for her first mission. A mission that the citizens of Dendros relied on... more or less....

The Coms being damaged was her first problem. When the intial blast from the first shell hit the troopers, a lot of debris fell, either blocking and scrambling the signal, or just straight up damaging the Coms, which is why a lot of the troopers were lucky to pick up even static. And so her first task, was to repair the Coms. But not all of them were damaged. Luckily. The most damaged ones were Helena's, Zorgn's and a few others from raiders since they were on the inside of the Stadium when the shell hit.

"Time to work." With a sigh and grabbed her Hydrospanner and went to work, repairing Com after Com and setting them in a new pile. If she came across one that was still in good condition, she tossed it into the same pile. For she had something else to do to the Coms after repairing them.

After a good fifteen minutes, the repairing of the Coms was complete and a new pile had been created. Now, for the second task... But... Jae didn't know what the second task was just yet. Sitting down on the chair that she had neglected while fixing the Coms, she sighed, running a hair through her auburn hair. The problem was being able to know the Militia's next move. The squads had been left wodnering where they were going to strike next, not knowing how to defend, where to increase their defenses... How to-

"That's it!" She exclaimed as she shot up out of the chair and grabbed her wiring laser.

Quickly, she picked up a Com, took off the power source, unhooked the wire cover and stared in at the wiring, a quite serious and determined look on her face. She pointed her laser at one of the wires and moved it and played with it, connecting it here and there, reconnecting other wires, and doing more with the main sound wiring. After a good three minutes, she smiled down at her work. "Time for a test" She placed the Com on her head and switched it on...

"The east side of the main city.... That's where we are goi-" The man's voice cut off as Jae switched off the Com. She had done it. She had been able to capture the Militia frequency from their radios.

Another thirty minutes of work, and Jaenna rushed to the main room where everyone else was, Coms in her arms, a smile brightening her face. "I've done it, Kand, sir!" She rushed over to him, and placed the Coms on a table. She picked one up, but then stopped and look at Wraith's SL. "Sorry for interrupting, but I'm sure you're going to want to hear this."

Showing him the Com, she smiled. "I not only fixed them, but I was able to recalibrate the frequency wiring to pick up on the radio frequencies of the Militia. But I was also able to place our Coms on mute, so that our voices don't carry through to their Coms. Case in point, we can hear them, but they won't be able to hear us. We can even switch back to the Squad frequencies when need be." Smiling, she held the Com in her hand, beaming with happiness and excitement before Kanderin.