===Slasher's Quarters===

Slasher was just finishing replacing the dressing on his stab wound that he suffered on the mission to Ator, he had refused bacta treatment, believing his wound to be less important than some of those that his various pilots had sustained, and aside from that, he tried to keep those scars that he had sustained honorably in hand to hand combat, both as reminders of the fights, and as reminders of times he wasn't quite fast enough, which made him practice all the harder for future engagements.

Hearing his pad beeping, Slasher walks over and pulls up the message he had just recieved.

...

Slasher looks at the information that had just arrived on his pad. Initially the orders that were contained in the message had made him do a double-take, but when they didn't change the second time he looked he just shrugged and began to look up the information on the location and the mission, and then began to prepare to brief the rest of the squadron on the mission.

===Briefing Room===

Stepping up to the Podium in front of the small room filled with the pilots of Nazgul Squadron, Slasher clears his throat and calls for the attention of the assembled pilots.

"All right guys, gals, and myriad aliens." he begins, but he doesn't get very far before Hunter-Morrell interupts him,

"Just get on with it Slash, we'll be to old to fly by the end of your speech-making," this is met with some laughter from the assembled pilots, and a good natured smile from Slasher.

"All right Hunter, by the way, Driver wants me to thank you for volunteering to run maintenance checks on all the fighters at the end of the mission, I'm sure the techs will appreciate the help." This is met with further laughter, and Hunter shrugs in a 'See what I have to put up with' gesture.

"Anyway, getting back to the point of this briefing, we have a new mission." hitting a button on the podium, Slasher activates the holoprojector, which shows the image of an asteroid field, and zooms in on a particular asteroid with a small structure on its surface.

"This is where we are heading, a small mining operation on an asteroid in a field near the Anoat system, on the surface it is just a regular small privately owned mining operation. However, beneath that surface, lurks something much more sinister, we have been able to track the pirate group which has been responsible for attacks on several convoys recently which were carrying raw materials and weapons shipments to our shipyards and various bases." This information is met by some murmurs among the assembled pilots, who had all been feeling the strain of this shortage on their recent missions, and who were very unhappy about it.

"We have also discovered that while this pirate group initially was operating on their own, they have since been receiving support from the 'New Republic' in terms of fuel, weapons, and also with a group of 'Advisors' who have been responsible for several sabotage missions against various VE installations in recent months."

"Why not just send in a Star Destroyer and level the base?" Asks Ruwe, "Why are we being sent into an asteroid field and risking our necks to do this?"

"A good question," Slasher responds, "and one which I am about to answer." he hits another button, and a convoy appears on the edge of the asteroid field.

"Our objective, is going to be to get the NR 'Advisors' who have been causing trouble for us. In order to do this, we are going to need to get inside the base's perimeter, and land." Slasher zooms in on the convoy with the holoprojector. "This convoy, made up of a Nebulon-B Escort Frigate, and several transports and freighters, will drop out of hyperspace near the edge of the asteroid field, and will serve as bait to draw out the Pirates from the field."

Manipulating the holoprojector, Slasher moves the view to the other side of the asteroid field. "We will insert from the opposite side of the field, we will fly through and land at the base while they are busy with the Convoy. we will then split up into two groups once we land, Gshlecc is going to take myself, Goth, and Albinostorm, and the four of us will attempt to infiltrate the enemy base and take out the NR 'Advisors' with the goal of capturing a few of them for interogation. At the same time, Hunter will take the rest of the squadron, and they will provide a diversionary infiltration. Our goal is going to be to sabotage as much of their equipment as possible, and then to blow the atmospheric units on our way out."

Hunter, noticing a flaw with the plan, asks "How will we be getting out the prisoners? Our fighters don't have room for a second person."

"Good question, we will be exfiltrating with some help from the convoy, the Nebulon-B will dispatch a Combat shuttle over to the base when we are ready to pull out, they will carry a small number of troopers to guard the prisoners, and they will escort them back to the Nebulon-B."

After a series of nods from the assembled pilots, Slasher goes into the final section of the briefing. "After we complete our mission, we will exfiltrate, embarking on board the Nebulon-B for the trip to the Shipyards. Any further questions?"

Seeing that there are no questions, Slasher nods to Hunter, he stands up, turning to the pilots, and says,

"All right, get ready, draw whatever you wish to take with you on the mission from the armory, but remember, you will be carrying them with you on board your fighter, so pack light, we can pick up anything else we need on the way."

OOC:

All right guys, I've created the overall design for this mission, for the time being, we can write about everything up to the point where we leave the escort frigate to jump to the edge of the field. Driver and I will co-ordinate and decide when we will continue to that part of the mission.

Stepping out of the hanger after getting the explosives from the Petty Officer, Slasher heads off to the armory to prepare himself for the mission. Normally he would have preferred to carry his own weapons, but because this is a squadron mission, he has to use weapons from the armory.

As Slasher walks through the corridors of the Atrus, he is recognized by various members of the crew, various off-duty personnel, and younger ranking crewmen making way for the Senior Chief, he nods to many of them, stopping here and there to speak with various other command level personnel about various parts of their business.

Finally he arrives at the armory, and as he enters Marine Gunnery Sergeant Blirgin Vrold looks up and recognizing Slasher he greets him warmly.

"Slash, I'm surprised to see you here, normally when I get a special order that isn't in stock I'm coming to you to get some beauty, what brings you here today?"

Slasher laughs lightly at Vrold's comment and responds, "I'm going out on Navy business, have to use their equipment, otherwise command get's ticked off, and I don't need them or the supply guys any more pissed at me than they already are."

Vrold turns to the shelves and lockers behind him, beginning to pull out Slasher's normal load-out, and asks as he does, "So what did you do this time to piss off the brass?"

Slasher picks up a piece of a weapon that was on the desk that Vrold had been working at, and continued the cleaning which he had been doing as he began to explain.

"Well it started on our last mission, simple Honor Guard detail for a Navy Officer returning home for his father's funeral. We got jumped on the way there and I ended up having to ditch my Avenger, which was about to explode from the battle damage. So Command is pissed about having to replace the Avenger. But I have also had some run-ins with the NTO, which have made things a little strained between Command and myself."

As he received his weapons from Vrold, Slasher thanks him and starts to head out toward the hanger to go check on his fighter, as he is leaving Vrold calls out after him,

"By the way chief, if you break those, you buy them."

"Fair enough"

"Good Luck"

"Thanks"

Leaving the armory, Slasher retraces his steps to the hanger, where he walks to his new Avenger, and begins to look around the exterior of the hull, frowning. Seeing Slasher looking troubled as he examines his fighter Hunter walks over to him and asks,

“Slash, something wrong with the new fighter?”

looking up, Slasher sees Hunter and says, “Just one thing sir, this fighter is so damn new, I loved my old fighter because it had memories, evidence of combat I had been in. This one is so new, it has no character of it's own.”

“Well then it's a good thing you have enough character for the both of you.” Hunter hands Slasher a pad and begins to turn away, “Apparently driver intended for you to be responsible for the pre-flight checks of all the fighters to prep them for this mission. Have fun.”

OOC:

543 words

OOC:

This is my first add-on to a story, but.. apparently it's my duty to continue. The fact that I am new and unexperienced will probably show up heavily in my writing, though I'll try to make sure it doesn't impede my writing. Well, here goes...

====Just After the Briefing====
Stewart--Power sat sullenly on his bunk. He had field striped his DL-44 Blaster Pistol and it was now laid out on his bunk. His apprehensiveness showed in his shaking hands. It was his first mission as Nazgul 15, and he felt out of place during the briefing. Stewart-Power didn't know much about the last mission, but he knew that many members got injured. The looks Stewart-Power received from other Nazgul members told him all he needed to know about how they thought of him, just a new unexperienced pilot.

"Well," Stewart-Power thought to himself, "It's time to prove my mettle..."
Although this helped to calm his shaken nerves, Stewart-Power still could barely re-assemble his blaster by the time he decided to familiarize himself with the TIE Avenger. Stewart-Power had barely memorized the holo-specs for the TIE fighter after he'd been promoted, then was pushed immediately into a TIE Avenger.

===The Hanger===
Stewart-Power ducked his head as he quickly paced through the hallway to the Hanger. As he entered, Stewart-Power observed four Petty Officers exit the Hanger. Dropping down into his fighter Stewart-Power instantly calmed, as he always did when he held some serious firepower in his clammy palms. Stewart-Power noticed to minor adjustments made to the seat in order to accommodate his Mon Calamari Bulk.

Stewart-Power was relatively fit, though years of monotonous activity on Trandosha and added another "layer' to his frame. Though those years hadn't all been loss, Stewart-Power had gained incredible accuracy and a knack for for hunting large 'game'.

As Stewart-Power climbed out of the TIE, he reflected upon what he was about to do. All he he probably would have to do is keep in head head high and follow orders, simple. But, anyway, before he cleared everything up with Slasher, Stewart-Power would visit the armoury and see just what he could get.

OOC:

Well, thereis my first story, I know it's a bit short but I hope it's quality over quantity. You can PM me with any tips you have (please)

Goth was somewhat surprised at his promotion. Everyone in the squadron had done their part on the last mission, not that he was complaining. He also felt honored to be moved up to 1st Wing, now flying as Nazgul 3.

At the briefing Goth had to smile, hearing that the squadron was going after pirates.

How Ironic.

He thought to himself.
He also thought this could quite possibly get very interesting. Especially if he ran into someone he knew. It didn't bother him though, he had a job to do and he was fragging going to do it. Though an ex-pirate himself, his loyalty was to Nazgul Squadron now. And as everyone knows, most pirates will put a knife in your back if it suited their greedy purposes. He knew from experience that there was seldom honor among thieves, and that went double for pirates.

The first thing Goth did after leaving the briefing was to order up the maps of the area that the operation would be conducted in. Then back at his room he studied them until he knew the areas inside and out (in space, on the ground, and under it). Keeping in mind that the maps were most certainly inadequate at best. He also kept in mind any possible secret locations he could possibly find and check out when they were there. Nazgul was going into a pirates lair after all.
The only thing he requisitioned was an auto-mapper, it was the only thing he really needed. Just a little insurance incase a quick get away was necessary, since he knew how easy someone could get lost in a tunnel complex. He was going to buy one, but none were available at the store. He would probably only need it for this mission anyway. Upon receiving it he slipped it into his flightsuit pocket.

Once back in his room he started getting his gear ready. A vibro-knife up his left sleeve, one in his right boot, and the small custom blaster (he took off a merc on the last mission) in the other boot. His standard DL-44 in the holster on his belt and the spare to be strapped behind his ejector seat, along with his toolkit and copies of the maps for the area they were heading for.
After looking down at the equipment and thinking a moment, he ran down to the store and bought a shiny new M5 Blaster Rifle. Also to strap behind the seat of his fighter, just for good measure.

After dropping the new blaster rifle in his room, Goth went down to the flight deck and had a discussion with the deck commander. When Goth walked away the commander smiled, then turned and gave orders to one of his deck crew. After receiving his orders the man smiled, then dashed off to take care of it.

Leaving the flight deck Goth returned to his room. After double checking his gear and going over the maps again, he grabbed a datapad and and studied starship identification, while he waited for the mission launch time.

Slasher looked around as he finished running the checks on all the fighters, looking for Hunter, not seeing him immediately, Slasher shuts the panel on the fighter he had been checking, and pulling out his commlink, he calls Hunter.

“Nazgul 13 to Nazgul 5”

”This is Hunter, Slash what's up?”

“I just finished my checks on the fighters, we're good to go, and the space has been made for the men to put their equipment.”

“All right, have control call all pilots to the flight deck. Everyone should be provided with Commando Fatigues, no rank flashes, or anything. Get those from the quartermaster, and join us back on the flight deck.”

“Yes Sir,”

Moving quickly from the flight deck, Slasher heads to the Quartermaster to get the fatigues. Once he has requisitioned them, and had the all the rest other than his sent up to the pilots, he stops by his quarters to grab the equipment that he will be taking on this mission.

What should I bring on this mission...

Slasher walks over to his cabinet of armaments, and opens it, rummaging through he makes a mental note to get a larger storage unit for his weapons, and begins to pull together his equipment for the mission.

Hmm, of course I'll need the DL-44, and my trusty S-5, and also a nice collection of knives...

after getting all of his equipment together, Slasher changes into the commando fatigues, and pulls on his flight suit over the fatigues. Holstering his two pistols, as well as grabbing his backup piece to store underneath his ejection seat, Slasher heads back toward the flight deck.

===Flight Deck===

Hunter was giving the final orders to the men as their fighters were moving above them from their storage hangers to the launch rails.

“All right, follow your Flight Leader, no one is to fire unless the order is given by Driver or myself, and remember, the goal here is to infiltrate, we don't want them to know that we are there until the time is right.”

Hunter takes one last look around, he sees Slasher returning from his quarters, geared up and ready to go. Turning back to the rest of the pilots of the squadron he says,

“Nazgul Pilots, man your fighters!”

Quickly every pilot started running to their fighters, jumping into cockpits and stowing their equipment on board, they began to report in, once the entire squadron had reported and they had been cleared for launch by Flight Control, Driver came over the comm in every ship and said,

“Good luck men, let's go out there and show them why you don't mess with the Vast Empire Navy. Nazgul Squadron, Launch!”

Slasher put his engines into full forward thrust, dropping out of the launch bay with the rest of Nazgul Squadron, and once they have accounted for everyone and they watch the decoy convoy disappear into hyperspace, Driver gives the order to jump into hyperspace, and orders comm silence into effect, Text Messaging system only until they land at their target.

=== Nazgul 13, Hyperspace===

Slasher sits back in his cockpit as the fighter flies through hyperspace, and suddenly he is transported by a vision, not much more than a jumble of images and sounds, from his past,

A freighter, disabled near the edge of an asteroid field,

A young woman in her early twenties, who looks so familiar, running a sword through his parents and laughing maniacally,

a man in his early 30s, staying her hand as she prepares to strike him...

“I want to keep this one, I have need of a servant.”

being taken to a base on the surface of an asteroid.

Slasher's eyes fly open and he exclaims “Sithspit!” his hand drops to the blaster at his side and looking out of his cockpit into the swirl of Hyperspace, Slasher yells out,

“I WILL GET YOU, I SWEAR, IF IT IS THE LAST THING I DO, YOU WILL PAY FOR MY PARENTS”

the image of the woman's face, which had haunted his dreams a lot when he was younger, was now once again burned into his mind, and he knew, somehow he knew, that she was waiting on the surface of that base, sharpening her sword, and preparing to finish the job.

Slasher reaches down and begins to type up a message to Driver and Hunter, carefully wording it, because it will be red by the rest of the squadron as well as those two men.

Sirs,
I have just had a vision, in which I saw my parents killer, she is on that base, for some reason we have a mental connection, which has allowed me to sense when she is near at times. I pursued her for a long time, but she always escaped, I can only assume that she somehow knew I was coming, and managed to escape each time. However this time she is making no attempt to hide, she is there, and she knows I am coming.
I do not know whether or not she knows I am accompanied but hopefully the decoy attack will keep her distracted long enough for us to land. However this may give us better cover, she will believe I am coming only to take revenge for my parent's death, and that you all are following me. I hunted her for 4 years before joining the Navy, and when I saw her, she was wearing an old version Rebel Alliance uniform. Which makes me think she may be one of our targets.
Orders on how to proceed?
Senior Chief Petty Officer Rorran “Slasher” Gorma

OOC:

About 940 words or so, a couple of updates on the storyline at this point. We are all on Fighters in transit now, we will not enter the asteroid field until Saturday. As far as the plot twist above, there will be more introduced about this character throughout the story, but she will feature very heavily in the rest of the mission. At present I expect people to be taking the transit time to go over their maps, prepare and decide on attack routes, etc. Have fun, but no one can do anything more with this woman until I release her for everyone to write with, right now she is mine. feel free to speculate about her, and about that memory I just sent to Driver and Hunter, because it goes over the entire message network.

As the slight tug of entering hyperspace faded, Albino sat slightly forward and yawned. He was still quite tired from the last mission and the deep wounds would never really heal; However, as far as Albino was concerned, he was lucky, many of the members had been sat in bacta tanks for hours on end, and many also had psychological scars to deal with.

Albino attempted to neatly fold away the fatigues he had been offered, but ended up making a mess of it and so simply tucked them behind his seat. he carefully checked over all the soft spots on his armour and checked the weapons he had brought with him. All seemed to be well, but he had done his pre-combat nerves a favour.

Albino was to be one of the four infiltrating the base, which had made him wonder, as he was probably one the most inadept members of the flight for the job, but Albino did not dare question orders, that had been drilled into him at an early age. Another thing that was key to the success of the mission was communication, which was another skill Albino lacked in.

as Albino sat there and wondered why he had been chosen, a message flashed up on his screen, from Slash, sent to everyone involving his parents killers. Albino knew what it was like to lose one's parents. his mother murdered and his father... well his father's mind died when his mother had died, only his body seemed to stay alive.

Albino looked at the floor of the cockpit and sighed.
First a small tear ran down his face.
Then another.
finally he couldn't hold it back, he clenched all his muscled and roared so hard and loud it nearly shook the TIE apart.

Albino wiped his eyes dry then put on the helmet to match his armour and sat back in his chair. He typed a small message to only Slasher.

'I'll leave the **** to you, mate'


Albino opened up the cartographer, and looked at the holomap of the asteroid field, carefully following the route they would take, then the route the decoy would make. He searched for the schematics of the base itself but found nothing.

Albino picked up his slugthrower, checking the scope, making sure it was accurate by cross-referencing it with the Fighter's own crosshairs. and that lifted Albino's mood a little bit.

Huh Albino thought to himself. Who thought of calling them 'crosshairs'. What a random word.

Albino replaced the weapon and sank back in his chair, extremely uncomfortable with the jetpack he had added onto it, he would probably have bruises all over himself when he got back.

Albino thought back to his rock climbing and his sniper training and all the things he had enjoyed with black sun. Then he looked back in contempt at himself when he had been a slave of the Hutts. He hummed deeply, the closed his eyes and set the alarm for when they were 5 minutes out.

As he drifted off to sleep, he thought to himself:

Thank..god...for....au-to-pi-lot.....

OOC:

515 words

The engines checked out, life support was green, and his blsater cannons showed fully charged. When it was Drac's turn to launch he called, "Nazgul 9, away." Moments later he was clear of the hangar, holding position above One flight and at their five o'clock. He twisted in his seat, nodding as the other two members of Three flight settled into place on his five and seven. Keying his comm to the flight frequency, he spoke, "How're you doing, Eleven?"

"All green, sir," came back through the speakers.

"And you, Ten?"

"Nothing's gone wrong yet, Nine."

"Good to hear." Switching over to the squadron channel, he called out, "Leader, this is Nine. Three flight is good to go."

Minutes later Drac leaned back into his seat, relishing the peace of the cockpit. He sat there for a few minutes, meditating more or less, before straightening up and keying up the maps of the asteroid field.

The field was one of pretty good size, and would definitely provide a challenge for any pilot. He just hoped that the new pilots -especially Mobarin, since he was in Three flight- wouldn't panic in the field. They might not have had enough time to sim such runs and become comfortable with them. For that matter, they weren't exactly old news to him either, but he knew how to take it in stride.

After studying the plans for some time Drac did a final check on his personal weapons, making sure none were loose to fly about the cockpit. The Mon Cal was satisfied that he was ready for the mission. He adjusted his position in his chair, settled back, and reviewed some of the flight level tactics he'd managed to research before the mission began.

He didn't get far before a text came through from Slasher. Reading it, Drac found himself quite surprised and concerned. Then again, he was quickly learning that battle plans never stay intact very long. They would receive whatever welcome came to them once they'd exited hyperspace. There was nothing for it but to deal with the enemy response however neccessary.

Getting back to his previous train of thought, the Petty Officer concentrated on his preparations. After a while, though, his mind wandered to his time at the Academy, from there continuing back to his family.

The day he'd left had been...awkward, to say the least. He'd been excited and nervous, of course, but that wasn't the problem. Nor was it that he'd never been away from home before. He'd signed on as crew for a couple of short trading runs in the past few years, so space voyages weren't a novelty any more. Even the fact that he was joining the military did not unduly trouble this parting...well, not exactly anyway. The problem actually lay more in his destination.

Dac, as the Mon Calamari people's home planet, had quickly become a hotbed of rebel sentiment ever since the Emperor's death. It had only gotten worse with the recent victories on the part of the so-called New Republic. Every day he could not help but hear Rebellion-this, or New Republic-that. The violence that movement had caused in the galaxy and the turmoil it engendered on his home planet were increasingly frustrating for him. Finally, he'd decided he could take no more of it.

When he told his parents he was leaving to join the military, they accepted his news equably enough. His father even offered to come with him to the nearest New Republic recruiting office. Just the thought of those words got Drac angry, even months later. Of course, his parents were just as angry when he soundly rejected that and added that he was joining the Vast Empire. They'd argued all night, until his mother left the room in tears and he stormed out of the house...

Why couldn't they understand? Yes, the Rebellion had fought the oppression of the Empire and had lifted it from many worlds. But once the Emperor was dead the rebels should have dispersed, their job done. That they continued, doing their best to conquer the galaxy and rule it themselves, was beyond incriminating. They were no better than the Empire had been; they caused at least as much strife. Life was no better now for all their efforts, and quite possibly worse.

He'd fought with his parents for all the days leading up to the day he was scheduled to leave. His father pleaded with him to at least reconsider and join no military at all, but he was steadfast. The Vast Empire was a beacon of reason, moderation, and stability in the galaxy, and that was where he wanted to serve. His siblings were quiet and grave, but offered no opinion in the matter.

Their parting was tense, but Drac took some comfort in the fact that he had not let his emotions rule him to the point of refusing to give his parents one last embrace, one last avowal of shared love, before he left.

OOC:

Word count: 835

Alarms Woke Albino from his slumber, causing him to almost jump out of his seat. At First he began searching for hostiles, but then realised it was just to wake him up, and it had done so 4 minutes late.

Albino sat back in his seat and tightened the straps around himself, he turned off all lights, save his helmet display and a small dim red light giving him just enough light to see the various workings of his cockpit. He also turned off the annoying siren. Albino checked all the navigational equipment and shot a quick TXT to Drac, his flight leader, asking if anything had happened just to make sure. Everything was going as planned

Then came the decant point and albino pushed back into his pilot's seat, bracing against the hyperspace exit. They were just outside the asteroid field, And Albino was arranged neatly at his flight leader's seven o'clock, above and behind, with flight 3's newest member, Mobarin, at his 3.

Albino took the safety off his lasers, but he had no missiles to make himself lighter. Besides, he wouldn't be in the dogfight long if all went well. He also set up the targeting system and made a small note in the bottom left corner of his helmet's HUD: 

No close combat. Leave the woman to Rorran.
He quickly exchanged Rorran for Slasher, slapping himself playfully at his stupidity

Albino closed his eyes for a second, but it seemed to take a decade. He ran through his life, from when he joined up with the Hutt Cartel, through Black Sun and all of his chaotic, yet warming time with the Vast Empire Navy. He was happy here, and he was happy for the first time in his life. He wasn't a tool, but a human being.

Albino smiled then returned a TXT to driver saying he was ready. A grin covered half of his face, and his head lowered. This weapon was going to war.

Although the fighters were relatively small, Albino still didn't like the idea of flying through an asteroid field. As far as he was concerned, they should have gotten a couple of ISDs to blow the place to high hell. but it wouldn't look good when it came to political prisoners. Albino surprised himself by slightly enjoying the ducking and weaving and barrel-rolling through the asteroid field, and was feeling quite childlike when they came to land on the asteroid they were looking for.

Albino slung the FA-3 flechette that came with the EVO suit over his shoulder and grabbed his TI-47 Sniper rifle. Albino loved showing off with the technical names of the things he used. He popped the hatch and jumped out of the TIE, staring down his scope and making a quick sweep of the area. Albino also quickly turned on the crosshairs linked to his wrist lasers. As Driver, Goth and Slasher split off and began to make their way across the desolate asteroid, Albino followed, with the intention of giving cover fire and holding their back.

by the time they were at the perimeter of the base, an explosion averted the attention of the four man party, and behind his visor, Albino smirked. That was the distraction, and judging by the shouts it had worked.

Albino spotted a couple of perimeter guards running towards them and quickly showed one the colour of his own brain. the other turned and tried to run, but slipped on the blood that was spraying everywhere and fell. Albino quickly unloaded. first into his back, right on his spinal cord, then in the back of his head. He then turned and caught up with the rest of them, who hadn't notice any of the goings on. So his silencer worked. He brought up the kill counter in his visor and put two marks under the letter A. G, D and S were all on 0

OOC:

654 words this time

Drac's text screen was the first thing he glanced at when his alarm woke him. At first it was blank, then about twenty seconds later a message appeared from Driver requesting a report from each pilot. The Mon Cal waited for his wingmen to report, then added, "Nazgul 9 is green; Three Flight is green."

Having finished that, Drac patted each of his weapons to reassure himself one last time of their positions, pulled on the commando fatigues he'd been issued, and took hold of the hyperspace lever. He watched the counter spin down...5...4...3..2...1...Now. He pulled it back, exiting smoothly from hyperspace.

A quick glance showed Three flight to be in good order, their formation unmarred by the decant. It also showed something else: an errant chunk of asteroid that'd been knocked out of the field...that happened to be heading their way. It was only about the size of a human, but that was plenty big enough to down an Avenger. He tapped out a quick text, hating the gag on communications, "Three Flight: Dive, evade incoming asteroid at your two o'clock."

The moment his finger tapped the send button his other hand twisted the controls and hurled the fighter down relative to the plane of the field. The other members of his flight followed, Albino wiggling his wings as he skittered around the incoming projectile. Mobarin made it too, though thankfully he tried no fancy moves. The danger now past, Drac led his flight back into position.

It took only another few seconds for the squadron to be ready, then the order came in from Driver to move out. The Petty Officer watched first One Flight, then Two Flight, enter the asteroid field before pushing his throttle up and taking Three Flight in. Sensors showed Slasher's Four Flight bringing up the rear.

Asteroid fields are treacherous waters. One never knows the currents. When you think you do they may quickly change and kill you. We must all be wary here. Drac mused as he dodged the first group of rocks. Here, at the edge of the field, the going was easy. There were large gaps, smaller and fewer rocks, and few or none hiding behind others. That would change soon though, as the squadron penetrated the field. Drac soon found himself twisting and turning his ship, keeping one eye on his front viewport and the other on his monitor in an attempt to spot incoming threats.

The difficulty of the task before Nazgul Squadron was compounded by the neccessity of complete stealth. Shooting a rock to clear a path wasn't an option if they wanted to make it to the target undiscovered. The only thing they had going for them was the fact that they entered Anoat's asteroid field from "upstream" of the target rock. This allowed the squadron to fly through the field in the same direction it was orbiting, appearing to be nothing more than a group of faster rocks bouncing through the area. Even then, it was hard and dangerous flying.

As they neared the target rock they entered an area of especially large obstacles. One of these loomed up before the Mon Cal, forcing him to pull up to fly around it. As he did he rotated into an Immelman, intending to skim around the rock. When he reached the highest point, though, he was met with another huge obstacle. This one was heading straight for the first, and a collision was imminent. Drac quickly rolled out to one side and, still on his side relative to the field, climbed away from the impending impact.

The rocks did hit, smashing into one another with collosal force. The smaller of the two, the second one to appear, cracked into several large pieces, while both were pulverized where they impacted. Fragments of rock blasted out in all directions, threatening everything in the area. Drac felt his ship lurch as one of the mid-sized rocks slammed into his shields. They drained to twenty percent and an alarm started screeching in his cockpit. He silenced it, happy that the rock hadn't been any bigger than it was. Then a new alarm started up...the Petty Officer gritted his teeth in annoyance as he shut it off too, then pulled up the reason on his screen. His shield generator was damaged. It would hold charge still, and would even recharge, but it couldn't recharge at more than half the normal rate. It was clear that another such impact woud kill him, and he felt his heart racing in his chest as fear tried to claw its way into a full-out panic.

Drac knew he couldn't allow himself to panic, so he checked the status of the rest of the squadron and Three Flight in specific. Some others were showing asteroid damage, though none so much as he. That was a relief.

Finally the squadron reached their target. Hunter quickly reported finding one of several possible landing sites they'd chosen before launch and Nazgul headed in: a sheltered flat area inside a cave in the huge rock, which would provide the best possible protection for their ships. After landing in good order they gathered on the surface. Driver and Slasher gathered the rest of their group and headed out as soon as they'd finished a final chrono-syncing and frequency check.

Drac watched them go for a moment, then turned to the rest of his own group. Their portion of the squadron would be providing a distraction, as well as doing as much sabotage damage as they could. They'd enter the base through one of the smaller caves branching off from this one, which should eventually lead them to an inhabited part of the base.

OOC:

Word count: 952

It didn't take long for the other group to disappear around the curve of the asteroid. As soon as they were gone the distraction team moved into the tunnel. They advanced through the darkness for a hundred meters, then came upon a place where the tunnel branched off into a handful of other paths.

When they got to the intersection Hunter caught Drac's eye and nodded. They stopped there, readying their attack. Hunter spoke first, "Ruwe, Catachan, and Darian: keep those tunnels locked down. We don't want to be ambushed." The pilots acknowledged the order and turned, covering the tunnels with their weapons as they listened in. Hunter continued, "Okay, Nazgul. We've got to provide a distraction for the strike team, but we need to damage this base as well. Best case scenario: we get the prisoners, we kill the base, and we get away. In order to do that we're going to hit several key locations. Now, we don't have intel on where these are located, but they're something every self respecting base has. Here's the list: hangars, command center, armory, shield generator, and lastly the atmospheric units."

Mobarin piped up then with a question, "Shield generator? We didn't detect one coming in, did we?"

Blinking, Drac replied, "No, we didn't. That doesn't mean they won't have one though. Odds are that they do but are keeping it off to decrease the chances of detection. There's the maintenance factor too: it's not worth it to run them all the time if they'll get beat on constantly by the other asteroids. Better to just let them hit the rock's surface."

Hunter continued, "We're not sure what order we'll find these locations in, but make sure you get the word out if you find one. Just remember, the atmospheric units go last. If possible, we want to hit the hangars first to prevent them launching more ships to patrol the system after we attack. Drac?"

Drac stepped forward, pulling a pouch from his belt and holding it up for everyone to see, "I've got explosives packed in here. I'll be handing them out as neccessary, as will Hunter. Here's how you use them: When you're ready to use a bomb, slide the chip I give you into the slot on the datascreen. After that just type in the number of minutes until the bomb should go off. To activate it, remove the chip. Just make sure you put the chip back in the bag or in some other place where you won't lose it. As to where we want to put these little beauties, there are two possibilities: One, support beams and critical intersections within the base. Two, anything that looks like it will blow a decent hole in the surrounding area."

The Mon Cal proceeded to hand out a chip to each pilot, but didn't hand out explosives, "We don't have an unlimited supply of these, so the Chief and I will hold onto them until we need to use them...Also, when we do, don't place them in an area with extreme heat. A lot of heat, even a blaster bolt, can set them off."

The group was equipped and ready, so Hunter sent them out, "I want three man teams to scout the first, second, and third tunnels starting on the left. Go two hundred yards unless you find something first. Maintain comm silence and report back here with what you find. Good luck."

OOC:

Word Count: 575

Okay, distraction team. The other group's moving and they've heard our first explosion...now we've got to make that happen. Go to.

OOC:

Second post! (Will lengthen it soon...ish) I think I'm part of the distraction team so...

Stewart-Power's heart thudded in his chest, not out of fear, but anticipation. His time on Trandosha taught him many things, one of them was to take on situations as they came and shape things as they where happening. Another was that he more often then not, He referred to himself as Thel. Thel is is what Thain (one of Thel's only friends) called him.

Now it as Thel crept though the various hallways and caves that led to the the heart of the asteroid complex, he remembered crawling though caves and swimming through underwater trenches , on Trandosha and Dac respectively. Of course then he just hunting creatures with his bolt rifle (which he used as a sniper) and the feeling was much different.

===In the Armoury before departing the Hanger===
Thel browsed through the armoury in order to see what was available. What he really wanted was some sort of long range blaster rifle but the closest thing they had was sort of ion carbine, Thel decided in wouldn't do, so he simply picked a blaster and a knife. It was a SR combat Pistol Thel decided that he could use it to compliment his current side-arm, a DL-44 blaster pistol. H also chose a knife roughly the size on a small axe, for any close range or any amount of situations where a good hacking knife was needed.

If you have it you won't need it

This saying always amused Thel but through experience, this has almost never been the case. He had been in enough situations before, and could usually judge what would be needed. Thel desperately hoped he wouldn't be fatally wrong.

===Anoat System, Asteroid Complex===

He was comparing the different attributes of hunting in a pair and with a squad of other people. Thel kept contemplating until he almost walked into a wall. After quickly correcting his direction and looking sheepishly around, Thel realized that he was straggling.

After catching up with the rest of his group, and thankfully realizing that the others most likely couldn't read the embarrassed look that had registered on Thel's face He once again fell back in step with the others.

OOC:

Around 400 words right now. Will edit to make it longer later. Threw in the Amoury part to delve deeper into my thinking (might use it for personal, if I make one).

It took a few minutes for them to all gather behind a wall that had been erected some time before. It was cracked slightly in several places and had a worn look to it.

“If we’re lucky, they don’t have an air supply like we do. Even one as limited as ours.” Darian said, looking balefully in the direction of the E-Webs.

“But we aren’t that lucky. Not by a long shot. We’ll have to make our own luck. Any ideas?” Hunter said, even though he was already forming a plan in his head.

As he looked around at the silent group, another E-Web opened up on their cover. Hunter was slightly alarmed as bits and pieces started to chip of the top and fall down on them.

“We’ve got to take out those E-Webs before they overwhelm us. We need a distraction which will allow a few of us to slowly sneak up on them. Any volunteers for the distraction?” Hunter said, smirking mirthfully as a pained look come upon the face of each one of the Nazguls, except for Drac, who sighed and nodded to Hunter.

“Looks as if we do. I’ll take Darian and Catachan with me while Drac takes the rest of you for the distraction. By my count there are two E-Webs currently up there. If we can take out the gunners, we can keep the E-Webs for ourselves. I’ll leave you to figure out what kind of distraction you want to use, Drac.” Hunter said quickly, looking up at the wall as slightly larger pieces started to fall.

As Drac’s group ran across the cavern in an attempt to draw the fire, Hunter tried to recall all he knew about E-Webs, which wasn’t much. He knew that they were operated by two people and that they took a while to set up. They were prone to overheating which could be a crucial factor in the upcoming fight. Looking up, he saw that Drac’s group had reached the other side of the cavern and had taken cover behind a large pile of rocks. This allowed them to shoot through holes between the rocks, giving them more cover and drastically lowering their chances of being hit.

We need to get close enough that we can hit them, but not too close because they could easily pick us off or send troops out to get us.

Peeking around the corner, he saw two E-Webs set up about twenty feet apart. Smiling, he saw that there weren’t but one person per E-Web.

Perfect. They won’t be able to operate at maximum efficiency without that second person. But it’s also bad because that means we haven’t drawn enough attention to be worth the time of more than a few troops. Well, it’s time to change that.

Turning to Catachan and Darian, he told them what he saw.

“What we need to do is to take the long way around, hugging the wall to stay out of their line of site. If we can get behind them, we can take one of them out without alerting the other. Lets go.” Hunter said, moving off.

Albino smiled wickedly to himself as he dropped a pirate to one knee, also causing him to break cover, and was about to finish the scum when a bolt from over his shoulder popped his head like a water balloon. Slasher smiled to himself slightly, then returned his visage to its usual look when Albino glanced over his shoulder. Albino let out an aggravated growl and stood up to one knee, pumping three shots into the craniums of three pirates. Albino returned to his prone position.

"The distraction doesn't seem to have fooled them, sir. more and more keep coming, we may get overrun."
commented Albino.

this was met by a nod from Slasher, who then quickly dispatched another three men that were coming through the door on the other side. By this pint the pirates had stopped trying to push forward and were massing in the rooms on either side of the corridor. Albino adjusted his scope slightly and took another pop at a pirate's kneecap, dropping him to the floor and spilling him out into the corridor. This time Albino got the kill.

Albino and Slasher lay at the open doorway, behind a small barricade on the end of the corridor for what seemed like an age, picking off any newcomers and some of the Pirates that were lurking in the other doorways on either side of the corridor. A large, congealed, dark red spray had appeared on the far wall, and on the opposite door from where Albino's slugthrower had been popping skulls.

After drilling a hole in the eye of yet another foolish pirate, who had decided to peek around the corner, Albino revealed to Slasher that there was a noticeable lack of pirates coming through the door now. Slasher had noticed this too and between them they decided to move and try to link up with Goth and Driver.

"Lack of reinforcements means one of Three things" Albino whispered knowledgeably "Either the distraction has worked, They are setting up an ambush further ahead or we are being flanked. They all give us some breathing room for a short while"

Slasher nodded and then jumped out of cover, to albino's surprise and began quickly picking off many pirates. this also surprised quite a few pirates, and as they flicked out of cover to make a shot, Albino beat them to it. after dispatching all of the pirates who were here, and there were less than Albino thought, the two of them grabbed some breathing equipment from the corpses, and clipped them on to Albino's Armour, in case their own oxygen ran too low.

Albino looks at Slasher as they exited the place they had been holed up in, and pauses for a moment.

"Slasher, um... well, I've heard that some Falleen can live for nearly 300 years, and, well, how old are you... Sir?

Slasher turned and looked at the Senior crewman, trying to hide a smirk and replied

"I'll tell you later"

This provoked a smirk from Albino as they pressed on further into the base

OOC:

511 words

As the strike team moved through the base, things are way to quiet.

When they reached their first objective, the team split into two man teams. Goth and Driver took the front, and Slash and Albino took the back.

With things so quiet, Goth was getting a bad feeling. It didn't matter though, they had a job to do. But things were going to easy, he didn't like it.
Entering the building, Goth and Driver follow a hallway leading into a briefing room.
Finding it a dead end, they turned to go back, and saw men entering the hallway from the other end (all wearing breathing units). Goth who was closest to the door hit the lock panel, then helped flip some tables over in the room for cover.Noticing the air apparatus on the enemy, Goth ran back to the lock panel. Standing next to the door he could hear pounding on the other side.
Pulling his vibro-knife from its wrist sheath, Goth saw Driver looking at him questioningly. Without a word, Goth opened the door.
As the door opened Goth grabbed the nearest man there and flung him into the room. He was dead in an instant as Driver shot him down.
Then Goth buried his vibro-knife into another and flung the corpse into the room, with blaster fire flying by.
Goth hit the door panel re-locking the door. As it slid shut, Goth watched two more pirates go down from Driver's covering fire.
Goth grabbed the breathing units from the corpses, throwing one to his SC.

'It they're wearing these, we are going to need them, sir.'

Goth said.
Driver nodded and said,

'Good work.'

Goth was trying to think, but the intruder alarm was distracting him. So, firing his new M-5 for the first time he blasted it.
Then an even bigger explosion than the first rocked the asteroid. The explosion left yet another crater to the asteroids surface. and sent up a small chunk of the asteroid spinning into the asteroid field. More than a few craters around the base lit up for a moment.
Goth was thrown to the floor by the quake, while the SC was still down on one knee behind the tables. Goth was feeling lightheaded, so he put on his air mask. Then got to his feet.
As he ran back to the door controls, Goth looked at G,

'The distraction team is doing good.'

And smiled.
Then suddenly he opened the door and five pirates were standing in the doorway. Driver opened fire as the door was opening and took out one before it completely was.
Goth also opened fire with his M-5. Blasting someone he knew. Who definitely recognized him. ''A tale that would never be told.'
Three shots hit the table in front of Driver, and the one aimed a Goth was way off, thanks to the SC's crack shooting.
The Nazgul team both took out the other two before the pirates could get another shot off.

'That's five for the SC, and three for Goth.'

The SC jumped over the table and they moved into the hall.

===Before the briefing===

Rocket woke up in a room to his right he saw a monitor with his heart rate on it and other information on it.  Rocket sat up and saw a file on the desk next to the bed he was put in.  On the file it read reassiment.

Well I guess I have been in here longer than I thought.  I wonder how I got here in the first place last thing I rember is talking to Stormz and then I told him I was gonna help him with his droid I guess I must have tripped on the way back to the barracks.

Rocket opens up the file to see who his new squadron is.

==Reassiment

Hale Fireforge you have been put on recovery status until such time to as to when you are ready to go to active duty when such time comes you will be assigned to Nazgul Squadron.

End Report==

Rocket could not believe he had been reassigned to another squadron again. He was just starting to get used to being in Kaph.

Well at least it won't be that hard this time.

===After the briefing===

Rocket starts to head to Nazgul's barracks so he can start getting ready for the mission ahead.

Well at least I know what I need to do on this mission. I know that I need frags and decent amount of clips and a knife well I at least have time to plan.

Rocket gets to the barracks and gets all of his equipment together which includes eight frags and clips.

I will never be unprepared for a mission again.

===At the hanger just before the start of the mission===

Rocket just looks at the Tie Avenger after five minutes he decides to go over his preflight checks and all of his other systems so he knows every thing works.

"Nazgul squadron get ready for launch"

This is Nazgul 1-2 ready for launch.

===At the Asteroid Belt===

Rocket comes out of hyper ready to go he ducks,swerves, loops, and dives to avoid asteroids and debre. He follows the rest of Flight One until they land. Once they land he follows everybody once they get to the tunnels he does a quick check to see if everyone made it.

Good at least everyone is still there let's just hope it stays that way. Becuse I don't want to see anybody get left.

When he heard the shot he squzeed off the trigger three times in the direction the shot came from to confuse the enemy and took cover behind a rock that was not much bigger of his height in the kneeing position. And starts to look for everyone else. He find a couple off people that he remembers seeing and decides to sprint to their cover and follows their plan.  When he heard the order for the charge it took him a couple of seconds to figure out what to do but he took off blasting at the enemy as he did to provide coveeing fire to the rest of the squadren.
He went to a full sprint and took cover behind a rock and contiud laying down covering fire.

OOC:

506 word count