JESTER

Mai was almost relatively sure her arm was broken. It was difficult to tell with the searing waves of pain emanating from the varying parts of her body. She’d had to maneuver incredibly close to the skiff in order to ensure her aim would be spot on.  In retrospect, she probably should of considered that the resulting explosion would catapult her skywards and into the path of unforgivable inanimate objects. Unfortunately for her body, the hunt came first, and it was only now that she realized how suicidal and desperate Bright’s plan had been.

“Mai...Jeg....somebody,” Bright’s armored figure was slumped on the ground a few hundred meters away, one hand planted in the dirt as though she was attempting to get up. She seemed completely disoriented and unaware of her comrades when she spoke again, an ominous sign that pointed to intensive injury, “Alfonso is making a break for it. I'm in pursuit on foot but I don't think I'm going to be able to catch up to him.”

Mai’s golden gaze flicked from Bright to the speeder. An extremely corpulent looking man had emerged from one side of the wreckage and was currently tugging with all his strength at his right foot, which was wedged in the corner of a crumpled speeder window. His curses were audible to Mai’s ears as he finally toppled backwards and completely free of once immaculate vehicle. It took a few moments to regain his footing and it was only then that Mai noted the fresh blood streaming down one large thigh. She hadn’t realized that she’d started forward until her left arm flopped forward and about to hit her squarely in her armored stomach. Ignoring that the black spots that momentarily threatened her vision with the resulting burst of pain, she growled deep in her throat and extended her stride until she was moving in a sprint towards the wounded Colonel. Her nostrils flared beneath her helmet, her fingers curling into a claw on her good arm as she closed the distance between herself and her quarry.

Alfonso was blissfully unaware of her presence until he stumbled and almost fell. He groaned and clasped his leg before seemingly realizing that an incensed and battered looking stormtrooper was now only a few dozen meters away. His flabby mouth opened in an ‘o’ of surprise, a blood streaked hand bringing a small blaster pistol around to bear as the Cathar woman closed the last few meters between them. His first shot went wide, sizzling harmlessly past Mai’s helmet. Her growl erupted into a roar of challenge as the second shot hit her squarely in her chest. Fueled on adrenaline and completely oblivious to her own pain, Mai leapt the last meter or so and landed heavily on top of the New Republic Colonel. He cried out as Mai brutally knocked the pistol from his grasp and sent it skittering across the duracrete and out of reach. With another snarl she slammed her helmet forward into Alfonso’s pudgy forehead, feeling the impact strike and jar bone.

“Help!” Alfonso’s scream was directed at no-one in particular, a terrified plea as he realized the hopelessness of his predicament, “Please help me!”

Mai moved to head butt Alfonso again only to reel backwards as the Colonel lay a misdirected punch on her left shoulder. Her arm flashed in response, provoking a shriek of pain as Mai doubled back to protect her wounded limb. Alfonso regarded her blankly for a moment, seemingly stunned by his success, before spinning about of his heel and limping frantically down a side alleyway and into the shadow of a nearby building.

“Lukas, Jeg,” Mai gasped into the squad comm. link, unsure which members of her squad were still standing, “I’ve got the Colonel in my sights, he’s at a dead end and has no-where to run. I need some help to cap him.”

The admission of weakness brought a wave of shame that made Mai droop her head just a little lower. She’d failed to finish the job. To complete the hunt. The thought jarred her enough to start her legs moving into a slow plod after Alfonso’s retreating form. Blood was seeping through the fur beneath her chest plate, suggesting that the armor hadn’t been altogether successful in stopping the Colonel’s blaster fire. She couldn’t see it, but the iron tangy taste was tainting the very air about her.

“On it Mai.”

Jegora flashed past her on his speeder bike like an angel descending from high to aid his charge in their moment of need. He roared down on a panicked Alfonso, extending an arm so it connected heavily with the Colonel’s back as he swept past. Alfonso slammed into the earth with a loud thud and cry of despair. He made to come back to his feet and flee as Jegora turned his bike around only to crash to the ground again as a booted foot pressed heavily into his back. Lukas leveled his rifle calmly at the rear of Alfonso’s head,

“It’s over Colonel. I’d stay down if I were you.”

Mai shuffled up to Lukas’s side as Jegora throttled back and landed before them. Their SL removed his helmet to glance between the two of them, before looking down at the sniveling Colonel.  He paused for a moment before spitting solidly into the dirt near Alfonso’s face,

“You’re under arrest for crimes against the Vast Empire. Say or do anything in the next few moments and I’ll hand you over to my superiors in pieces, understand?”

Alfonso nodded and whimpered under Jegora’s livid gaze. He and his men had almost cost the entire Jester squad their lives.

Jegora sat back on his speeder and leveled his own weapon at the Colonel, “Mai, take a breather. Lukas, go and get Bright would you?”

Lukas nodded and jogged back towards the skiff wreck. Mai slumped down into a crouch, carefully regulating her breathing to keep the pain at bay. She was aware that her species had a higher tolerance than customary for injury but she wasn’t about to risk pushing her limits and knocking herself unconscious.

“Lieutenant,” Jegora keyed his throat mic to command frequency, “We have Alfonso. A ride out of here would be nice.”

ALPHA

Sergeant Barandos motioned for the squad to move through the left corridor.  He didn't like it, the place was deserted and that could either mean that they were walking into a trap or that the Paladin squad was taking most of the heat.  Either option did not sit well with him.

Bender shook his head as he watched Freeway assisting Targus with the explosives.  He decided that he would easily beat Freeway in his challenge.  He was looking forward to getting the first round of drinks for free.  Glancing at Targus, Bender's mind began working on how to get a free drink from the newbie.

The squad moved slowly through the corridor, a steady faint hum could suddenly be heard and Barandos knew that they were getting closer to the engine compartment.  The corridor came to a halt with corridors branching out to the left and to the right.  Barandos held up his fist and the squad came to an immediate halt as Barandos checked out both corridors.

"Hey Whiz" called out Bender.

Koolie moved up to the large man and asked "what do you want?"

"I think the Sarge is lost, you might need to go help him out" replied Bender.

Koolie did not like Bender's attitude towards their leader but he decided he would go and see if Barandos needed any help.

Targus and Nikolai waited patiently at the rear of the squad.  From the back they weren't sure what was going on or why they had come to a halt.

"What do you think the problem is?" asked Targus to Niko.

Nikolai glanced at the green trooper and replied "relax, I'm sure everything is fine".

"I just wish we knew why we stopped" stated Targus.

"One thing you got to learn is that we don't get told everything.  Barandos is a good leader and he will tell us what we need to know" added Nikolai.

Koolie moved to the front of the squad and joined up with Barandos.  The leader was checking both corridors and listened intently.  The steady hum of the engines filled up both corridors.  Barandos had never been on this kind of cruiser before.  He knew that time was critical and he couldn't afford to choose the wrong path.  If the ship jumped into hyperspace before they disabled the engines then he knew that he had signed the death notice not only of his squad but of the Paladin squad.

"Everything ok?" queried Koolie as he stood beside the Sergeant.

Barandos glanced over at Koolie.  He didn't like the fact that right now he didn't know where he was going.  As a leader he had to be decisive but being decisive and going the wrong way would do no good.

"I'm not overly sure the exact location of the engine compartment" said Barandos.

Koolie nodded and glanced down both corridors.  Metal pipes ran from the left corridor and into the right corridor.  Koolie became aware that the pipes in the left side were smaller than the ones in the right side.  He was pretty sure that the engine compartment was on the right corridor.

"That way Sir" said Koolie as he pointed to the right corridor.

"You sure Whiz?" queried Barandos.

Koolie merely nodded and that was good enough for Barandos.  He waved his hand is a forward motion to the right corridor.  Entering the corridor Barandos took the lead and kept care to avoid the pipes which seemed to get bigger.

"Told you he was lost" said Bender as he moved up alongside Koolie.

"Shut up" replied Koolie.

From the back of the squad Targus and Nikolai suddenly became aware that the squad was once again on the move.  Targus had been glad of the rest even though he wished he knew why they had stopped.  Both he and Nikolai grabbed their explosives and set off along with the squad.

"I guess we'll never know what that was all about" said Targus.

"Does it really matter" replied Nikolai, "important thing is the completion of our objective.

Bender did not like the corridor that the squad were now moving through.  His large frame forced him to duck at times as the pipes were quite large in places.

"Hey Bender" called out Koolie.

"What do you want Whiz?" asked Bender.

Bender glanced over at Whiz wondering what he wanted from Bender.  Suddenly Bender staggered backwards and shook his head as it throbbed.  He moved his attention from Koolie back to the front of him and spotted the pipe that he had walked into.

"Look out" chuckled Koolie as he carried on walking behind Barandos.

Bender cursed Koolie and shook his head as if to settle down his vision.

"You alright?" asked Targus from the rear upon seeing Bender stopped.  He hoped that Bender hadn't injured his back.

"Shut up newbie" retorted Bender as he resumed his walking.

"I was just concerned for him and his injured back" said Targus as he watched Bender moving away from them.

Nikolai shook his head and said "kid, you've got a lot to learn".

Targus didn't know what Nikolai meant by that but he hoped that he would learn a lot from the Alpha squad and develop into a very experienced and competent officer.

Barandos had to suppress a chuckle as he glanced behind him to see why the squad was falling back from him.  Seeing Bender clashing with one of the pipes was a sight worth seeing.  Barandos was worried though that the noise might attract unwanted attention.

"Let's keep moving" called out Barandos.

Barandos wanted the mission completed as quickly as possible.  The last thing he wanted was for the ship to jump into hyperspace and for them to suddenly find themselves in New Republic territory with no support.

Barandos wondered just how far the engines were.  He knew that the engines were at the far end of the ship but he hadn't expected the ship to be quite this long as it felt they had been walking forever.  Hearing a noise brought Barandos's senses to the forefront.  Ignoring the pain in his legs from the walking he held up his fist bringing the squad to a halt as he glanced around to see the source of the noise.

ALPHA

Barandos glanced around at the dead bodies littered across the floor.  He knew that they must be very close to the engines as why else where there so many guards down in this seemingly endless maze of pipes. 

Up ahead the corridor opened up into a large chamber.  Dozens of computer terminals lined the area.  Knowing that Koolie knew more about engines than he did, Barandos waved him over.

"Yes Sir?" queried Koolie.

"Is this the engines?" asked Barandos.

"No Sir" replied Koolie, "it looks like the control area that monitors the engines.  The actual engines should not be far away".

Barandos nodded.  He looked around the chamber and his senses gave him cause for concern.  This close to the engines he worried that more guards lay in wait for them.  He was concerned that in a chamber this size that guards could be lying in wait for them.  They needed to secure this area before moving on.  He waved his hands silently, splitting up the squad.

Bender being the most experienced fighter found himself being lumbered with Targus.  Bender was not impressed with having to baby-sit the kid but he waved forward and together they took the right hand row of terminals.

Koolie and Nikolai got paired off and with their blaster rifles raised, proceeded to move slowly down the middle row of terminals.

Barandos decided to go it alone and moved silently down the left row of terminals.  He was aware of the beeping noises that were emanating from the machines but he blocked out the noise.  Instead his senses were scanning for any sign of movement or noise that a concealed guard might make.

"You really think that we will come across any more guards down here?" queried Nikolai.

"I doubt it" replied Koolie, "I think the Sarge wants to make sure this area is safe before moving into the engines area.  Last thing we need is for us to miss someone and find ourselves being gunned down in the back".

"I guess" replied Nikolai, "just seems a bit overkill, especially seeing as how time is not on our side".

"Well he is the squad leader and a veteran, I guess he knows what he is doing" said Koolie.

Nikolai just nodded as he swung his rifle between a gap in the row of terminals.  He wasn't surprised to find the area empty but he was going to ensure that the sweep was thorough.

"This is a waste of time" remarked Bender.

"The Sergeant doesn't seem to think so" replied Targus.

Bender shook his head.  He was still frustrated by being paired off with the newbie, especially considering that the kid thought that the squad leader was this super all knowing trooper to aspire to.

"Listen kid, this is a waste of our time, if I was the leader then I would have taken out the engines by now" replied Bender.

Targus decided not to reply but thought Bender was wrong.  He still didn't understand why Bender did not show any appreciation of Barandos's leadership.  Approaching a gap in the monitors, Targus swung his rifle round expecting to have to fire.  Bender shook his head, not even bothering to check his side.  He couldn't believe that Targus seemed disappointed to find the area empty of guards.

Barandos arrived at the end of his row and was confronted by a door.  He was glad to find no opposition on his sweep but then he hadn't really expected to come across any considering the several guards they had taken out earlier.  He decided to wait for the rest of the squad to finish their sweep before proceeding through the door.

Koolie and Nikolai were just finishing off their sweep.  They had not came across any guards.  Their sweep had taken longer than Nikolai had liked especially considering the fact that Koolie kept stopping at certain monitors to see what was being displayed on them.

Nikolai couldn't believe that Koolie was genuinely interested in any of that but then he guessed that was why the squad had given him the nickname of the Whiz.  They arrived at the end of their row eventually and saw that Barandos was standing by a door waiting for them.  Nikolai was surprised that they had not been the last to finish their sweep.  He was going to have to tease Bender over how long him and Targus were taking.

"Kid this is taking too long, let's just get out of here, there is no-one around" said Bender.

Bender couldn't believe how long it was taking them considering he wasn't even bothering to look.  What was the point, there was nothing here.  Targus on the other hand seemed to be a very thorough sweep, checking everywhere.  Bender was getting more and more irritated with him.

"Are you listening to me!" barked Bender.

Targus glanced back at Bender.  He knew the large trooper did not take this seriously but he wanted to do a good job.  Barandos had ordered them to do a thorough sweep and that was what he was going to do.  Bender still intimidated him and the harshness of his voice sent a chill through Targus.

Targus turned round from his sweep to look at the intimidating form of Bender.  His eyes saw something far worse than Bender.  Just behind the large man was a guard that was levelling his blaster at him.

"Look out!" yelled Targus.

Without even thinking Targus leapt against Bender.  The very movement send Bender stumbling backwards.  It all happened in a flash.  Targus felt an odd stabbing sensation and found his body going cold as he found himself falling forward.

Bender had been caught off guard and was wondering why Targus had sent him to the ground.  A flash of red light struck Targus and Bender looked on in shock as the trooper collapsed.  Bender whirled round seeking out where the blast had originated from.  Locating the guard he sent a volley of blasts at the guard and watched him drop down dead.

Bender rushed over and lifted the body of Targus in his arms.  He pulled the helmet off and was relieved to see the kid still breathing.

"Did I do good?" asked Targus in ragged breaths.

"You did great" replied Bender, " you saved me.  Lie still and I'll get help".

"Don't leave me" whispered Targus, "it's going so dark".

"I won't leave you" replied Bender.

Holding Targus in his arms he watched as the kid drew in a breath and then felt his body go limp.  No further breaths were drawn by Targus and Bender couldn't believe what had just happened.  He lay down the dead trooper slowly and pulled off the explosives and strapped to his own back.  Standing up slowly he finished the sweep.

"Nice of you to join us" commented Koolie.

"What the hell took you so long and where is Targus?" queried Barandos.

"He's probably taking a scenic route" commented Nikolai.

"He's dead" whispered Barandos.

The very news instantly quieted the squad.  The news was a shocking revelation of the dangers they faced as being a stormtrooper.  Barandos was disheartened by the news.  It was such a senseless loss in an area that showed no dangers.  The squad stood there, quietly grieving in their own way.  Barandos became aware that despite their loss they still had a mission to complete.

"Let's move out and get these engines down otherwise Targus will have died for nothing" said Barandos as he pressed the button that opened the door in front of them.

BLACKJACK
***************************************************************************************
Inside the New Republic Headquarters, Eriadu

Tank was quickly tiring of being forced to advance only one room at a time.  Whoever these guys were they were good.  Too good.  Three BlackJacks had been wounded and sent back to the ship to be patched up.  Thankfully Gates and Wrex had taken out the heavy trooper and his missile launcher.  Clutching his M82-G Assault Rifle Tank broke cover to advance the moment the New Republic Elite Troopers had stopped firing.

Tank was hit in the chest by a blast from a concussion rifle, the blow reversing his trajectory as he flew back down the hallway.  Tingling, tremors of force reverberating throughout his armor and the pain in his chest was all the airborne Stormtrooper was aware of as he collided with and through the wall into another room.

"Gyyaarrrgh! *cough*sputter*  Rrgh!"  He struggled to his feet unsteadily, barely managing to stand and sweep the room with his M82-G Assault Rifle.  An Ishi Tib Ensign second-class was stuffing a satchel with credits when the wall exploded from Tank's flight.  By the time Tank's rifle was trained on the Ensign, the Tib had dropped the satchel, raised both hands and lost bladder control.

"That.  Hurt!  You!  Gimme one good reason not to shoot!" he barked at the Ishi Tib.  Shaking like a leaf he slowly reached into the satchel, retrieving a datapad and offering it to Tank.  Warily skimming the info it contained, Tank was both distressed and elated at what he read.  Lieutenant Marin Collesta was a SpecForce Lieutenant, in command of her own personal SpecForce Platoon.  Not only did it have detailed intel on the squads in her platoon and the materiel at their disposal, it had each SpecForce Trooper's real name and the locations of their loved ones. 

Lieutenant Marin Collesta was in reality Eshka Kre'trem.  Her current moniker was fabricated by the reb that recruited and trained her.  I knew that name sounded more Corellian than Bothan!  Now I know why...  Switching to squad-only he hailed Tanus "Sarge!  I got intel you want to see.  Don't worry, I'll take a scenic detour to catch up."

"The sooner the Better, Tank.  Just don't get yourself killed!  That's an order!"

"Yessir!"  Tongueing the helmet back to speaker, "Okay, go on!  Take the credits and run!"

The 'tib blabbered gratitude as he hastily scooped up his loot and ran for it.  Tank kept the alien in sight while punching schematics up on the datapad.  Finding a technical readout of the New Republic Headquarters, he jacked the 'pad into his armor and pocketed it.  As the data was shared with his squad he holsted the M82-G and drew the Stouker Concussion Rifle.  Aiming at the wall ninety degrees left of the one he came through he fired.  Fired again, and again, repeating the process to clear his way through room after abandoned room, occasionally taking out regular infantry that were either left on purpose or trapped.

Switching to his DT-57 and CDEF Blaster pistols, Tank advanced through the improvised door.  Stepping through he faced one SpecForce Heavy Weapon trooper setting up an E-web; his partner unconscious and mostly buried in debris from Tank's redecorating.  In a fluid motion Tank aimed and fired with both barrels.  Yes! was the only satisfaction he allowed himself when the blaster bolts hit the elbow and knee, causing his opponent to drop his own weapon as he collapsed, unable to continue the fight.

Cautiously Tank advanced, calmly explaining to Tanus via comlink.  They way Tank figured it, using the true identities and loved ones we might 'persuade' the SpecForces to switch allegiance.  Possibly arrange relocating their loved ones to VE systems where they'll be safe; after all, how safe can they be on worlds protected by the New Rupublic?  The way Eriadu was protected?

The hard part was trying to sell Tanus on the idea, Not killing the remaining SpecForces but incapacitating them.  But at least he'd think about it.

Tank went over the numbers; so far they had eliminated the Heavy Weapon Squad, leaving her two Urban Specialist squads.  One with her in the Command Center and one trying to keep BlackJack pinned down (or killed).

Most of the rooms were empty, save for a few infantry dead or unconscious.  Finally reaching the last room, Tank found a sweet spot.  He was behind the positions of the squad waylaying BlackJack.  Tossing a stun grenade into the next room over hit at least on of them in the blast.  Dashing into the hallway then diving into the neighboring room, Tank was pleased he knocked out the bastard that conc'ed him earlier, but was dismayed that was the only one in the room.  That left four more for him and the others to take out yet.  Tank wasted no time taking all his foe's ammo and securing him.

This is gonna be a long day...

BANSHEE

Borth Gir'limm felt as though he was going to throw up. The Banshee Squad electronics expert had always had a queasy stomach, in fact, he was renowned amongst the ranks for being the first to go green at the sight of blood or gore. He’d gotten far better over his two years of service but was still partial to chucking his guts up when traveling anywhere at a pace faster than a quick walk. As such, he generally avoided speeder bikes at all costs unless directly ordered to mount one. And Sil had been quite thorough in ensuring the Corporal got onto the bike with a minimum of fuss. That was to say, grabbing him by the scruff of fur at his neck and throwing him haphazardly on the already moving bike as soon as Banshee touched down on Eriadu.

“Form up,” Devin’s gruff voice crackled over the squad channel. The SL of Banshee Squad had remained relatively quiet since they’d broken off from Jester a few hundred klicks back. No doubt he was already obsessing over every small detail of the mission to come. What the man lacked in overall stature he made up for in attention for detail and individual courage. Banshee wasn’t no-where near as well recognized and decorated as Jester Squad, but they maintained a reputation for getting the job done as a result of Devin’s hard work on and off the field.

“How you doing Borth?” Lyna’una, simply called Lyna to her squadmates, pulled up alongside Borth’s bike with minimal effort. The Twi’lek woman was one of his only friends and Borth was still unsure why. Lyna bore a quick wit and was well liked by all the members of Banshee. He was bad-tempered and complained frequently.

“Not so great,” Borth snapped back, barely holding his breakfast at bay, “I should have stayed in the shuttle.”

“Yeah because Sil would of loved that,” Lyna replied dryly, throwing a sidewards glance at the ASL of Banshee, “Just try to focus on the horizon.”

“You mean the horizon that is bringing us closer and closer to imminent death?” Borth glared beneath his helmet, “Noooo thank you.”

Lyna laughed, a musical sound that caused Borth’s heart to skip a beat, “Your optimism is so refreshing Borth.”

“Cut the chatter,” Devin spoke up again, “We’re coming up on the beacon.”

Borth went silent as Banshee closed the distance between themselves and their target.  Cid Shera and his entourage had managed to evade Jester and flee to the last military holdout position in Eriadu City. It was an old barracks building, retrofitted for border use by the militia once more modern establishments had been constructed closer to the city. Despite its age, it was still a formidable looking building, complete with an averaged sized vehicle shed and solid looking gate.

“Looks pretty quiet,” Sil growled in a low bass over the comm., “Sure this is the place?”

“This is definitely it,” Devin said, “Don’t let appearances fool you. They’re definitely in there.”

“They should just come out and fight,” Celos, a younger hot-headed member of the squad snarled, “It’s pointless hiding in there. There’s nowhere for them to run to and no-one to come to their aid!”

“Yeah because I’m sure they want to die as quickly as possible,” Borth answered the Private, the fur on the back of his neck rippling with irritation, “Moron.”

“Enough!” Devin interrupted, “I don’t want to hear anyone talking unless they have something to report. Is that understood?”

Silence answered him as Banshee went completely quiet. Signalling with a gloved fist, Devin throttled back and steered his speeder bike towards the empty barrack yard. The gate had been left open, perhaps by accident as Shera and his support fled at full speed into the relative safety of the building.

“Dismount and spread out,” Devin ordered as Banshee came to a halt.

Borth was up and off his bike within a micro-second, a wave of relief flushing throughout his body as his feet touched solid earth. He brought his rifle up languidly and pointed it at the empty yard. Seeing little worth staying on edge for he turned and bent back over his bike to retrieve his precious military grade laptop. It was that singular movement that saved his life. The sniper rifle propelled laser, intended for his head, flashed above him and kicked up dirt a few meters away. Borth blinked and looked up, unaware that his squad was suddenly under attack.

“Snipers! Move!”

Devin was at Borth’s side in a flash, propelling the Bothan soldier towards the relative safety offered by a nearby security tower. He stumbled and almost fell as a result of the force of the shove, planting one armored hand in the ground to steady himself whilst keeping his other hand wrapped securely about his laptop. Celos crumpled to the ground before him as enemy fire drilled mercilessly into his chest. His breathing panicked, Borth leapt over his fallen comrade and covered the last few meters to safety in a singular stride.

“Check in,” Devin was huddled in the center of the small group, “Who did we lose?”

“Celos and Rhyos are down,” Sil answered him, “Everyone else is accounted for.”

“Christ that was an amateur mistake,” Devlin raged, lashing out with one hand to pummel the metallic structure of the tower. The rest of the squad stayed silent, each dealing with the shock of the sudden attack. None of them had expected Shera and the other NR troopers to mobilize as quickly as they had, not when Banshee had been right on their heels the entire time.

“Alright,” Devlin turned to them, his anger spent for the moment, “Does anyone have any idea how we can get ourselves out of this mess?

BLACKJACK

Blackjack came down the hall, sweeping to cover doors and rooms. Wrex winced as his broken arm hung limply in its armor, but gripped his pistol in the other hand regardless. The well-armored Blackjacks had some bruises and scrapes, but the broken arm was the worst injury yet.

"We've been lucky," muttered Gates, slinging his M-82G, having run out of clips for the standard rifle. He pulled the Tyrant off of his back and readied it, feeding the shells so they hung more directly and wouldn't jam the gun.

Tank whistled them up, grinning broadly as the rest of Blackjack entered his room, a mostly-destroyed computer room.

"What do we have here, Tank?" asked Gates, pacing around the unconscious commando. "You got me a present? You shouldn't have."

Tank grinned even wider. "Well, I did...he's a New Republic-"

"No shit-"

"-SpecForce Commando!" Tank said, waving a datapad. "Collesta's personal squads of SpecForce Commandos, one heavy weapons spec and a squad or two of Urban Specialists. And on top of it all, I know their names, and their families."

"How on earth would that help us?" Gates asked, kicking the SpecForce Commando's helemet off and drawing his pistol.

Tanus spoke up. "We can use the families against them. Get them to turn over the lieutenant or even change sides, in exchange for protecting their families better than these scum can, at least." The SL sounded skeptical. "SpecForce commandos are supposed to be the hardasses of the Republic. I doubt they'd roll over for anything less than the death of the Republic."

"It's worth consideration," Gates said shortly, slapping the commando awake. "Wakey-wakey!"

The commando came back to consciousness with a start, jerking his hand for his belt, where a vibroblade was sheathed. Gates blew his hand off coldly. The man screamed and clutched his vaporized stump. The ASL leveled the pistol barrel, still smoking, right at the man's gulping Adam's apple.

"We're going to have a conversation, and every time you say something I don't like, I am going to have to hurt you, okay mister-" he looked to Tank and his datapd - "Wilson?"

The man nodded mutely. Gates grinned. "Where is lieutenant Collesta? How many SpecForce does she have?"

"Who? And there's only one squad!" Wilson replied.

"Bullshit!" Gates said cheerily. "You lied!" He then proceeded to blow off most of the man's knee. The man sobbed in pain. "Let me ask again..."

"Okay! She's fallen back to the command center! She has two squads left!"

"See? That wasn't so hard," Gates said. "Tank, tie him up. We might like a prisoner or two after this is up, show Command we can do finesse on the occasion."

Tanus laughed, and gestured. Tank moved forward, zip-ties and tape in his hands. The man was dropping back into unconsiousness, the injuries paining him. "And fix him up, just stop the bleeding."

The trooper shrugged and did as ordered. The trussed and patched SpecForce soldier sat limply in the destroyed room. "C'mon, we need to take Collesta."

Blackjack moved out, leaving the commando behind. Gates kicked a couple of spent shells and abandoned weapons as they trekked from the computer room to a set of stairs. "How do we even know we're still following them?" he asked.

Tanus gestured to points of blood on the floor that must have come from one of the commandos. It led to a thick door.

"The Command Center," Gates said, cracking his knuckles.

"How'd you know?" Kestrel asked, watching with her rifle for ambushes.

"It's labled, see?" Gates said, pointing at the thick doors. "Now we just need to get 'em open."

"Do we have any explosives?" Tank asked eagerly.

"No, but-" the door slid silently open, reveling a dark room. Gates' eyes couldn't penetrate the darkness and he swore. Kestrel and Wrex didn't look to happy to go into the darkness, but Tanus gripped his rifle and gestured in.

"And of course," Gates murmured to himself. "It'd be damn impolite not to go in if they open the door."

ALPHA

Alpha squad was in a race against time, running through the paths laid out by the hundreds of pipes and valves that lined them. The engines were now working hard, producing steam, and heating the room. Without the coolants they would not be able to run very long, Sergeant Barandos was very worried for the rest of his squad; he had never lost so many troopers in one mission before. Not only did he lose the youngest and most amateur of his troopers, but he lost two of his very best troopers who had been with him for longer than anyone else. The biggest loss was his right hand man, Bender, he never expected him to die so carelessly and without a fight. Furthermore, he felt like he had failed the squad, on a mission which was supposed to have minimal casualties, he had lost three, and was at risk to lose more.

The squad was able to escape the engine room, but only barely. The rest of the explosives that had already been set started to explode from the heat of the engines. Without the coolant the engines started to overheat, melting the pipes, and causing terminals to explode. Sergeant Barandos stood in the doorway for a moment and watched the damage their hard work had caused. He also regretted having to leave the bodies of Nikolai and Bender in the engine room, this was another brutal reminder that a stormtrooper’s life was hard and consisted of death.

“Sir, we better get moving, the engines could explode at any minute.” Koolie reminded him.

“Right,” Sergeant Barandos said, coming back to reality. “Let’s get moving, we don’t want any more casualties.”

They ran down the hall, getting as far away from the engine room as they could. Barandos could feel a rocking coming through the floor into his body. A sound of an explosion was accompanied by the shaking of the whole floor, Barandos fell to the ground, landing hard on his shoulder, and sliding on the ground a bit. He looked up to make sure all his troopers were okay, and then saw an orange glare coming from around the corner. He helped up the troopers that were on the ground, and then started running again. The fire was spreading toward them at a very fast pace and if they didn’t make it out of there, there would be no more Alpha Squad. He brought up the rear so that he could help any troopers that fell behind.

Another explosion rocked the hallway, causing Barandos to stagger and nearly fall again. He regained his balance and continued after his squad.

“Sir, Watch out!” One of the newer troopers shouted.

Barandos turned around and saw a chunk of the wall coming in his direction. He flattened himself up against the wall and the chunk of debris blew by him. The squad ran faster now, the fire spreading throughout the ship.  Barandos found the shortcut they had taken earlier and quickly ushered everyone inside. They sprinted through the work spaces, knocking papers and computers to the ground. They came out of the other hallway and found that there was no trace of an explosion and the smell of smoke had not yet reached this part of the ship. They quickly ran through the rest of the hallways although they were far enough away from the fire that they probably did not need to run.

The whole ship suddenly rocked, and Barandos could slowly feel it started to tip to one side, slowly but steadily. He looked outside through one of the small windows in the ship and saw a large chunk of the engine floating through space, going away from the ship. That’s not good Barandos thought, as he quickened his pace again, in a hurry to reunite with Paladin squad, and get out of the ship.

“Hangar’s are through that door!” Koolie yelled.

The squad went through the doors and saw Paladin sitting in the badly beaten up hangar with charred bodies around them, and talking. When Alpha squad joined them, Paladin stood and looked them over.

“Where are the rest of you?” Lucky asked, wondering why they were short three men.

“We lost them.” Sergeant Barandos said sadly.

“I’m sorry.” Lucky said, feeling his pain.

Sergeant Barandos sighed. “At least it’s over now.” He said thinking back to all of the good memories he had of Bender, Nikolai and Targus.

BLACKJACK

*****************************************************************************************
Inside the Command Section, near the Command Center, New Republic Headquarters, Eriadu

Activating glowrods as they entered, Tanus and Inyk were knocked off their feet by concentrated fire, but their Katarn armor protected then against suffering anything more than bruises.  Wrex shot the leg out from under one of the SpecForce commandoes, then pounced on his downed foe elbow-first.  The armored joint connected with the rebel's head for a definitive knockout.

Gates and Tank simultaneously bashed in the head of one SpecForce commando with rifle butts; he dropped instantly.  Kestrel delivered a swift and decisive kick to the groin of a male Bothan commando.  Her armor-boot was not well received as he began to cllapse in pain, but to be thorough she followed up with a boot to his head as he went down.

The fourth commando shot Gates point-blank, shoving him into Tank.  Tanus fired at him but he dropped and rolled; the shot hit Kestrel instead, knocking her off-balance but thanfully not breaching her armor.  Suddenly the commando was in Tanus' face with a flurry of vicious blows.  As he was preparing to drive a vibrodagger into a weak point in Tanus' armor, Tank clocked him in the head with all his might.  Unconscious, the commando dropped like a sack of rocks.

Crossing a walkway with a long drop (seemingly to the basement levels), the BlackJacks approached their objective...


*****************************************************************************************
Inside the Command Center, New Republic Headquarters, Eriadu

"Lock the blast doors!: Collesta ordered.

Lieutenant Collesta was genuinely worried now.  Ordinary Stormtroopers would have been at least slowed down by the Wookie Infantry she added to the outer defenses, which in turn would have made them relatively easy pickings for the Berserkers to finish off.  But these Stormtroopers were far from ordinary, having utterly decimated the Wookie Infantry and slaying every last Berserker.  Reinforcements sent to the sewer access arrived too late, finding only broken bodies.  Talffarr's head was three metres from his corpse, the Sergeant had reported before throwing up.

Even worse, two whole squads of her SpecForce Platoon lay dead or dying whereas the Stormies suffered no casualties.  Yet.  At best her men had only managed to to wound three of them enough to make them withdraw.  The other six would be at the Command Center soon.

So much for taking Alfonso's job, she mused, we'll be lucky to survive...  "Look sharp, men!  These Imperial Commandoes are playing for keeps!"  Her voice was confident, hiding her inner conflict.  Her warrior spirit wanted to fight to the death while her Bothan instincts screamed in her skull to negotiate her surrender.  Damn those Imps!  They shouldn't be so cocky as to call on an open com, calmly request I just surrender...  But try as she might, she still had difficulty quelling her doubts and fears.

She cursed Alfonso, the cowardly human that ran away.  Shefervently hoped the Imps would catch him and torture him indefinitely.  As he deserved...


*****************************************************************************************
Inside the New Republic Headquarters, Eriadu

Finally BlackJack Squad had reached the command center.  It wasn't easy, having to fight their way through both a heavy weapons squad then an urban combat squad to get here. Yet here they were.  Imperial Stormtroopers and (mostly) urban combat specialists themselves, clad in dirty, battle-scarred Katarn Commando armor, using Alfonso's own access codes to override the lock on the blast doors.

As the blastdoors groaned open smoke grenades and flashbangs were chucked through the opening.  Impervious to these distractions due to their armor, BlackJack Squad surged through into the command center with M82-G rifles blasting, though they aimed to wound.  Tanks first shot went wild, but the second caught a commando in the shoulder and sent him flying backwards over a console.  BlackJack fanned out as they advanced deeper into the room as more shots were exchanged.

Reacting to movement in the corner of his eye, Tank raised his rifle as he turned.  Lieutenant Marin Collesta brought the blade of her Echani Foil down hard, drawing a line down the front of Tank's armor even as it cleaved his rifle in two.  Dropping the halves of his now useless M82-G as he rolled and twisted to dodge her follow-up attacks.  Too close for comfort or pistols, Tank drew his Ryyk and Toothpick, barely in time to parry and riposte.  She managed to dodge, but not enough to avoid the M32 scratching the armor on her wrist.  She had in the same movement given herself enough breathing room to draw her Echani vibrodagger with he off-hand before charging at the Stormtrooper once more.

Tank locked blades with her, "Hello, Lieutenant Eshka Kre'trem."  It fazed her, but she recovered quickly, kicking the stormtrooper back and attacking again.

*Clang!* "Where did you get that name!?" she demanded eve as Tank and herself traded attacks, parries and feints.

"We already sliced the mainframe." Tank lied, though the 37th was making progress, "We learned all kinds of things.  Where your loved ones are.  You didn't support Alfonso's decision to slaughter Imperials and free traders."  As they fought, blades caressed armor, occasionally drawing thin trickles of blood here and there.  "Your squad doesn't have to die for his arrogance."  *Clang* *ching* *skreeeee-tnk*  "If you're willing to do the right thing," *clang-chink*
"serve the Empire, *pant* I'll even volunteer for the mission of extracting your families, get them safely to an Imperial system."

"So they can be slaves or worse?!?" *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*

"Like they're free and safe now?  Protected by the New Republic?  By the likes of Alfonso?"

*Clang-screee-chn-chnt* She was clearly considering it, her blows growing hesitant.  Tank tried to disarm her and failed, but the attempt was enough to surprise her.  Tank pressed the advantage as he drove her back till her back was flat on the wall.  When Tank locked blades both her weapons and his had embedded themselves into the wall, pining them both.  Her eyes tried to penetrate his expressionless helmet, her hot breath repeatedly fogging the lower half of his faceplate.

"So, what do you say, Eshka?"

BLACKJACK

“Tank, back down! She’s mine!”

Tanus flipped his hammer around out of its back sheath and brought it to bear, charging into the fray to his target. From his right, he saw a SpecForce urban ops commando charging at him knife drawn. Tanus spun the hammer around his hands, its weight nothing to him. One crack on the wrist disarmed his and broke the man’s wrist and hand. As he back off, swearing from pain, Tanus brought the hammer up in an arc, slamming the hammer head into the man’s jaw, breaking it and sending him flying through the air. Several other commandos along the south wall stood up, firing their weapons at the charging, battle mad Stormtrooper. The blaster bolts made his torso turn and bend as they struck his shields, but he did not care about that: right now, he only had one target.

More commandos started to pop up from behind desks. Tanus flipped the hammer into one hand and drew his DT-57, laying suppressive fire on the commandos that Grryll and the others couldn’t hit. Some ducked and ducked again, but one of them simply wasn’t quick enough, and a blaster bolt hit him square in the face. He fell down, a smoking hole where most of his face used to be. He holstered it again and broke off into a full sprint, hammer in his hands and cold determination in his heart. As he closed in for the kill, he drew the hammer back.

“Tank, duck! NOW!”

Tank got out of the way at the last second as the Phrik war hammer flew over his head, aiming right for the Bothan’s heart. She saw it coming though, and back rolled out of the way, her sword and dagger in a ready guard position. Tanus stepped past Tank, eying his opponent and never leaving her gaze.

“Tank, support the others. Keep the SpecForce away from me. I want this one myself.”

“You got it, boss.”

Tank spun around, lobbing a concussion grenade at the remaining commandos, slamming with pure force, knocking many over but not getting any kills. He ran off, rifle raised in to the fray. This left only Tanus and Collesta, the sounds of war beating around, the whole room pulsing with death, carnage and mayhem – which was the only environment a real soldier could work in.

“So Bothan, it looks like the New Republic needs to train its soldiers better. To tell you the truth, we didn’t have much of a problem getting here.”

The Bothan started to circle, and Tanus did the same. The dance would continue until one of them made a move. Hopefully, Tanus thought, it would not be his last.

“Hmph. I don’t believe that for a second. I saw you in the hallway. I watched as you scattered like insects when we brought out that rocket launcher. Only difference now is that you don’t have any cover this time Meatcan.”

Tanus only laughed; Collesta scowled and flourished her blades. Tanus knew it was a show of muscle, but for the moment playing with her head was a little more important.

“So we weren’t supposed to move out of the way of that rocket? Interesting. I seem to recall that you should move out of their way from Basic. No wonder the Rebels got slaughtered at Telay.”

Collesta screamed and charged at him, blades a whir of movement and flashing steel. Tanus caught the blows with ease, deflecting and countering each of them with a lazy elegance. Tanus then brought up the counter attack, bringing in cross strikes and hammer blows from above and below. Collesta tooka  step back and danced around him, but Tanus always knew where to go; this was going to end, and it was going to end soon. A thrust from the spearhead had her jump back to where she began. She stood there, huffing and puffing, trying to regain her breath. Tanus only stood there, a figure of armor and steel, waiting for the next bout.

“You’re good trooper, I’ll give you that. But you won’t take me – alive or dead.”

“Oh, that’s a damn shame. I guess command will just have to settle for ‘dust’ then.”

Tanus charged in and swung the hammer full force. Collesta made and attempt to dance around him, but then again she didn’t know how light Phrik alloy was. The hammer head hit her arm, and an earth shattering break echoed across the room. Collesta leapt back, dropping her dagger and screaming. Tanus came in with several thrusts, making her dance back and forth under the rain of blows. But soon she tired and the dance started to slow. Eventually Tanus just let her move out of range, standing there and watching her as if she were a pitiful zoo creature.

“If you beg politely, I may just end it for you. Unfortunately, that may put bringing you in for command on the back burner; I don’t really know how well you can interrogate a corpse.”

Collesta reached into her back pouch and pulled out a stimulant, jamming it into her arm; the next second, she was moving it perfectly.

“Well then, debriefing may not go over so well either.”

Shit. Tanus got one step back before Collesta was on top of him, sword coming in from almost every direction at once. Her renewed vigor surprised Tanus, and even managed to catch him a little off guard. He made to counter with a cross strike, but she ducked and came up with a vicious kick, knocking off his helmet and leaving his head wide open. Tanus stepped back to regain his balance, but before he could right himself, Collesta came in with a solid punch to the mouth. Oh great. Now I’m on the ground. Awesome. Tanus flew through the air, hitting the ground and skidding as he dropped his hammer on the way. The next second, Collesta was standing over him, blade in hand and cold menace in her eyes.

“It’s over now Stormtrooper. I am NOT letting you take this station.”

As she raised up her blade to the coup de grace, Tanus only chuckled.

“Well, I sure as hell can’t take it as a corpse either.”

As the sword came down, Tanus raised his right gauntlet and ejected the vibroblade. The look on Collesta’s face was priceless.

“Rule number one of combat sweetheart: Always know your enemy.”

He brought his gauntlet across his body, slamming it into the ground, disarming Collesta and knocking her off balance towards him. Then Tanus drew his legs into his chest, catching Collesta on her stomach. When she looked into his eyes, Tanus only smirked.

“I’ll make sure you’re treated well.”

Tanus launched out with all his might, firing her into the air and across the room. Tanus then leapt to his feet, grabbing his hammer on the way, charging towards his prize. While Collesta did land gracefully, she still didn’t have time to recover. Tanus swung the hammer in a cross strike across her face, sending her skidding across the floor. Tanus ran over to her and checked her pulse. Good, she’s alive. Tanus opened the comm to Blackjack.

“We’ve got her. Now let’s get the hell out of here. ‘Nade ‘em.”

Tanus turned around pulling a thermal det off of his belt and looking at the remaining commandos. He primed it and hucked it their way.

“Fire in the hole!”

All he heard was swearing as the det landed in the center of the remaining commandos; when it went off, a blinding flash and consumed them and everything in a five meter radius around them. Tanus turned back to unconscious Bothan at his feet. He picked up his helmet and put it back on as the others came running over. Garryll just looked at his feet and whistled; the others were dead silent. Garryll knelt down and gave her a look before looking back up at Tanus.

“So what do we do now boss?”

Tanus only looked around the room, then back to his men and to Collesta before nodding to Wrex.

“Wrex pick her up and let’s get the hell out of here. Our job here is done.”

OOC:

Objective 3 complete

JESTER

Ripasha Kriters stared down the barrel of his rifle as he followed the others into the third story. He always kept his rifle at the ready, although it was rather hard to make use of his first class marksmen skills with the helmet on. In training they'd taught him the helmet was God, and there was certainly proof to support that theory.

Somebody slapped the back of his helmet, breaking him away from an imminent flashback.

"Ow. . .Who. . .did. . .that?" he asked.

"This is not the place to have a flashback."

"Fine. . ."

It was probably a good thing, mere seconds later enemy fire ripped down the hallway. Ripasha yelled, tossing his gun in the air in surprise and diving behind the most convenient box ever. He cowered a bit and shook. His eyes darted around quickly before he noticed the smoke rising from his breastplate. Eyes widened as he hands traced over it, it hadn't penetrated the armor, but had ruined it. He was pissed.

He pulled himself up to his knees, wrapping his hands around both sides of his breast plate he tore it off with a roar, body glove and all, "RAWR. . .I AM ALL THAT IS MAN!"

He reveled his bright red chest, perfectly sculpted ripply muscles flexed as he reached down and picked his gun up, releasing a spray of fire in the direction of the enemy soldiers. He was forced to cower behind the box once again as the enemy returned fire, completely decimating the level of masculinity he had just won.

People were yelling at him, he was pretty used to it. They were all envious of his bishounen good looks. He ignored them, it was kinda what he did. He pulled the helmet of holding off, defying physics by revealing a twi'lek head.

The fighting continued around him, he did his part as well, firing over the box whenever he got the chance, he couldn't tell real well what was going on, but all the bright lights and loud noises were doing a great job of keeping his attention.

Soon, however, it died down and with it Ripasha's attention span went back into chaos. He wasn't allowed to wallow is his poor attention span for very long, however. Devlin smacked him upside the head, causing Ripasha's head to bounce off the wall.

"Ah. . .my. . .squishy head." Ripasha said grasping his head.

The other just shook his head at the twi'lek and walked stomped away, summoning everyone to follow him, "And put your helmet back on!"

Ripasha's face drooped, they were so jealous of his bishounen good looks; he picked up his helmet and made the laws of physics his bitch by putting the helmet on comfortably. That put him in a slightly better mood.

DELTA/ECHO

The 37th battalion was war weary, Selka knew, but none so more than the members of Delta and Echo squad. They had seen more action in 6 hours than most soldiers saw in their entire lifetime. Now they had to take a mainframe through a hail of gunfire and a full guard of New Republic soldiers. Not like this is anything new, Selka thought as he put his bucket back on. The turbolift went up slowly, each floor ticking by as if they were minutes on a clock. He looked over his HUD to make sure that everything was in order, and then looked his E-11/H over for any kinks. While it was a good weapon, it was sometimes quirky and would jam – or have a catastrophic meltdown and explode. That would mean the loss of his hands, and as a slicer, this was something that Selka could not afford.

As the elevator stopped at the 15th floor, Echo squad’s leader, Velen Bostra, stepped forward. He was a giant of a man, and while in full Stormtrooper armor he was even more menacing. From what Selka had heard of him, he was a hardened combat veteran, and had fought during the Civil War, which made this mission all the more vital for him. Echo squad was the combat detail of the mission. Where the Deltas were slicers and hackers, Echo’s members were all battle hard soldiers, and had a reputation of ripping through the enemy like paper. Before the doors opened, Velen turned his head down to Selka.

“You ready, circuit boy? I don’t want to throw my men into this if you can’t handle the stress.”

Selka could feel the sneer he was being presented with, but it didn’t bother him. The reason he joined the Stormtroopers was to fight, not to play with computers all day. If he had to show that to the boys of Echo, then he would do so gladly and with a smile.

“That depends on if you think you can duck. If your head is scraping the ceiling, you may be at a disadvantage.”

Velen snorted back laughter and looked down at the squad leader of Delta squad.

“At least you know how to fire back verbally. Now let’s see what you can do with a rifle. Echo squad, get ready. Check rifles and get up front.”

Selka moved out of the way as bodies of plastoid and death moved past him to the head of the group. Both Delta and Echo had taken two turbolifts to break up the squads and have them meet up on the 15th floor of the New Republic HQ. When the doors finally opened, Echo squad moved out with rifles raised and into the hall. When Selka came out with his members of Delta, the ASLs of the squads were already waiting. Delta’s ASL, Titrin Vorpe, came up next to him and handed him a datapad.

“Glad you could make it Sarge. This is the detailed outline of the HQ. The turbolifts are here, where are. The mainframe is further in, and between here and there are several security checkpoints. I’m going to assume that we’ll be dealing with soldiers all the way through.”

That made Selka pause; there were more than just soldiers here, and he didn’t want to toss his men against New Republic Special Forces.

“What kind of soldiers are we dealing with here? I know that Special Forces are here, and I’m not about to deal with them, nor do I imagine Echo wants to deal with them either.”

“Speak for yourself, circuit boy,” Velen said, and some of his men chuckled. Titrin continued.

“No worries on that Sarge. Blackjack squad has the SpecForce boys tied up, and from what we know they’re going after their lieutenant. That just leaves the normal soldiers for us, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

Selka nodded. “Good, that should make things considerably -.”

A blaster bolt sailed past his head and struck the wall behind him. He ducked and looked to his right to where the bolt came from. Another bolt came up from the end of the hallway as New Republic troops started to move up. Echo squad swung around and started to open fire.

“Let ‘em have it boys!” Velen shouted as he opened fire, sending up a wall of red death.

Selka raised his rifle and peered down sight at the hopeful sniper. When he peered his head out again to fire, Selka pulled the trigger, putting a bolt right between his eyes. He fell down, and his comrade popped out right after him. Selka then started calling out orders.

“Deltas, base of fire down the hall. Keep them at a distance. Titrin, you take the right hall; Harke, you take the left. Three man fire teams should be good. I’ll move up Echo. When everything looks clear, move up and the last team will cover our rear. Go!”

Selka turned and moved up with Echo squad, who was already carving a swath of destruction in their wake. They had managed to move into two side rooms and established a good cover position for people to move through. Unfortunately for them, the enemy kept coming. Selka managed to get into one of the rooms just as a blaster bolt struck the wall next to his head. When he ducked in, Velen looked at him.

“So it looks like you can fight. That’s new.”

Selka just shook his head. “Can you please put a hold on your ego for two damn seconds? Thank you. If you want to get this over with, we can’t do it waiting here. Eventually we’ll be over run. I suggest something explosive to clear the hall so we can get moving.”

Selen nodded and pulled one of his men aside and whispered something to him. When he let him go, he turned around and made his way towards the back of the room. Selka watched as the back door slid open and the man unhooked the thermal det from the back of his belt and primed it. He tossed it in the hall and slid back inside. It went off with a thunderous boom, shaking the floor and blowing out several lights. When Velen stepped out, he looked up and down the hallway.

Selka was not far behind him. What he saw was both horrific and awe inspiring: Smoke billowed out of the hall, and light fixtures were sparking from the blat. The walls were covered in black burns, and nothing left of the enemy could be seen. When he looked to his men, Delta had formed a three man rear guard, while the others stood ready to move. Velen then looked down Selka and gestured to the carnage in front of him.

“There you go circuit boy. Explosive Solution at your service.”

PALADIN

Zeshaun nervously scanned the halls; it always made Zeshaun more nervous when they weren’t met with opposition on such an important mission. He always as if they had some trap lay out for them, and with the losses from Alpha squad, he was reminded that although Paladin had never lost a trooper since he was admitted into the squad, it could still happen. Zeshaun followed Lucky as close as possibly, with Njall and Alan by his side, he tenderly put his finger around the trigger of his rifle, already pressing the trigger down half the way so that he could fire the first shot. Zeshaun tried to keep his ears open for any noise that could indicate an approaching enemy but the claxon alarms filled the halls making it very difficult to hear anything but the blaring sound that they emitted.

“Let’s take the turbolift, the engineering room should be down on the 5th level.” Lucky suggested, stopping in front of a pair of turbolifts.

They pressed the button for both of the turbolift, and anxiously awaited the arrival of the turbolifts, which seemed to take forever. The bell ringed, and Zeshaun stood in front of the door, waiting for them to open. When they did, a trio of guards stood in the lift looking stunned, Zeshaun raised his rifle and fired multiple shots into the lift, a smokey haze filled the lift, but three bodies lay on the floor now. Alan and Zeshaun quickly dragged the bodies out and left them in another room a little farther down the hall. Paladin and what was left of Alpha squad, squeezed themselves into the one turbolift, and started to descend down toward the engineering rooms. The two squads stood, cramped in the turbolift, waiting for the lift to stop, when it did, the doors slid open, Lucky, Njall and Sergeant Barandos, jumped out of the lift, weapons raised, but found no resistance. The rest of the troopers quickly stepped off the turbolift and they filled the hallway.

“That’s weird.” Zeshaun said, becoming slightly more nervous. “There should be guards down here.”

“Maybe, Omega and Bravo already killed everyone.” Leon suggested hopefully.

“I doubt that.” Alan said. “By the sound of Angel’s message, they had their hands full.”

Zeshaun let out a sigh, although he knew it was unlikely he had hoped that maybe Leon was correct. Lucky led them down a hallway, some of the lights were flickering and there were marks of a battle all down the hall. There were marks of stray shots, creating holes in the wall, and they even passed by a dead guard with a shot in his gut. At least we’re going the right way Zeshaun thought as they silently walked down the halls searching for their fellow troopers.

They suddenly heard blaster shots going off, very close to where they were walking. Lucky stopped for a moment and then started to run toward where the shots had originated from. They turned the corner and ran into a large group of soldiers, Zeshaun nearly pulled the trigger on his rifle when he realized that they were wearing white stormtrooper armor. The four squads now looked at each other confusedly but soon recovered.

“Guards are coming this way, a large group of ‘em.” One of the troopers said.

Lucky nodded. “We’re your back up, get back, we’ll hold off the guards as best we can.”
Omega and Bravo squad saluted and then they ran by the Paladin’s taking cover behind the corner and catching their breaths. Zeshaun noticed that they had also lost troopers, and were looking very tired. He turned his attention back down the hall and saw the guards rushing toward them.

Lucky gave the order to fire and Zeshaun sent a grenade flying down the hall, the guards were running to hard to run back, and the guard out in front was hit in the stomach by the grenade, the explosion devoured the guards body and sent guards flying in all directions. The smoke filled the hall but soon, guards were charging through the smoke. Zeshaun fired his rifle as fast as he could but it seemed that every single guard in the station was coming down on top of them.

“We can’t hold them off.” Alan yelled.

“I know,” Lucky said taking a break to reload her rifle. “Someone go check if the other squads are ready to go.”

Njall ran around the corner and a few minutes later returned with the news that they were ready to go when Lucky gave the order.

“Fall back!” Lucky ordered.

Alpha and Paladin squad back pedaled around the corner, joining with Omega and Bravo squad. The four squads ran down the hall, firing bolts backwards as they did. Omega and Bravo lead the pack, and Paladin brought up the rear. Zeshaun and Alan both ran backwards as they fired at the advancing guards.

“We found them.” Alan muttered. “Now we just have to get out.”

Zeshaun smiled. “That can’t be too hard.”

“Think again.” Alan murmured pointing down the hall.

Zeshaun looked and saw that the group of guards was splitting, probably moving to cut the group of stormtroopers off. that’s not good Zeshaun thought, his eyes suddenly grew large That’s really not good  The guards revealed what seemed like a smaller version of an E-web turret, making it portable. As the squads turned the corner, Zeshaun could feel the chain of bolts coming from the turret almost hit his back.

“We better pick up the pace or we’re gonna get mowed down by that turret.” Zeshaun suggested to Lucky, as the guards followed them around the corner.

DELTA/ECHO

"Sound off, Echo!"
"Sound off, Delta!"

Both squad leaders shouted to their squads to count up men. Rogers murmured he was still alive, and put a ripped-in-half Republican out of his misery with a blaster bolt to the head. Other members of Echo and Delta were restrained, simply acknowledging their continued existence, while others yelled enthusiastic 'Hoo-ah!' or 'Ready to rock'n'roll!'

"We're down two now," Velen grumbled, poking the dead body of Lee with the toe of his boot. "Delta can't find Regis, their best slicer."

"Awful clumsy of them," muttered Rogers to himself, checking his explosives and ammo. "Lose a trooper like that."

Velen grunted back. Rogers sighed at his uncultured and unsubtle commanding officer before checking the map.

"Good news," he said, pitching his voice from its usual mutter, "Mainframe's a few rooms down. They must've run out of men."

"Good, good," replied Selka, raising his E-11 to his shoulder. "Lead the way."

Echo squad made their way over the sprawled corpses of their enemies, twitching their E-11s to cover the hall in both directions. Delta followed along, copying with a reasonable sense of skill, still professional and confident.

"This is the door," Rogers muttered, waving at it.

Johnson, Wilson, and West stacked the door. Velen stood right in front of it. He nodded to his three men, and they nodded back, ready for yet another dangerous tactic.

"Three...two...one...GO, GO, GO!" yelled Velen, kicking the door down. Johnson and Wilson went left into the door, West right, Velen on his heels, and the rest of the Echo pouring into the gap. Delta was tight on their heals.

Gunfire sounded and the Echos blasted a couple techs apart with a flurry of fire. A guard got his hands onto his pistol before he was ripped apart by a burst of fire. An engineer screamed as his uniform caught fire and he burned. One of the Deltas blasted the burning man with his pistol, putting him out.

"Go Deltas!" Selka barked, waving at a half-dozen consoles. "Slice the mainframe!"

A mainframe that was housed in the main Headquarters of a New Republic base had to have very high-level encryption. A squad of elite slicer-soldiers would be able to hack the machine, but it would take time.

Six of Delta squad sat immidietely, setting to work. The rest of Delta set up some crude barriers and took cover. Echo loitered, standing guard.

Selka looked over the shoudlers of his men, gauging the rate at which they could slice, remove and read their codes.

"Twenty minutes."

ECHO/DELTA

West sat behind one of Delta's makeshift barricades, his E-11 pointed towards the door to the mainframe room. He was a simple man, well suited for the army. He always liked firefights and beating the crap out of the enemy. But guard duty always made him bored. He began to whistle an unrecognizable tune.

Velen looked his way. "Knock that off West. I'm starting to get a headache." West nodded to his squad leader and stopped, but the void of sound was quickly filled with panicked voices from the Delta members slicing the mainframe.

Velen looked at them, a slightly worried look on his face. "What's the matter?"

One of the troopers looked away from the hushed conversation he was having with Selka. "We've tripped one of their security countermeasures in their system. We don't think the slicing will take any longer than another ten minutes, but we've picked up two squads moving towards our position. Rapidly."

West saw Velen's face darken, then the emotion was gone as he began barking orders to Echo squad and the other Deltas that were not slicing the mainframe. "Get behind those barricades! Delta! One of you slice the door shut! We need as much time as we can get."

West saw one of the Deltas hop the barricade and pull the panel off the door control. The door was closed within seconds. He hoped he wouldn't have to wait long to fight. He was bored.

Selka spoke up over Velen. "The squads are coming down the hallway now. They should be here in no time. Prepare yourselves."

West had barely situated his gun onto the door when a loud banging came through the door, followed by muffled voices. Velen motioned for the stormtroopers to keep quiet.

West could barely make out what the New Republic troopers were saying through the door.

"-and I don't care if the damn door's sliced closed! Open it or I'll have you demoted to latrine duty!" This statement was followed by several more bangs on the door and a loud curse.

Eventually, the banging stopped and West heard the same voice yell out, almost clear through the steel door. "Get back!"

West ducked as a large hole was blasted through the door, followed by a flurry of blaster bolts. He quickly leaned over the barricade and fired into the hole, laughing as he did. It was almost too easy.

The troopers didn't come in at first, leaving Echo and Delta firing into a cloud of smoke. West heard some yells as the troopers were hit, but the blaster bolts kept coming through the door at a steady rate.

Rogers, across from West behind another barricade, yelled out as he was struck by a stray bolt. It hit him in the shoulder, knocking him onto the ground. West heard him yell, "Medic!" before the New Republic troops began to stream in.

They came in two or three at a time, firing at whatever they could see. West aimed carefully, savoring the kills as if they were a rare commodity.

Suddenly, one of the troopers coming through the door grabbed a small object from his belt and tossed it near Rogers and the medic that was attending him. West had barely begun to yell when it detonated, enveloping them in a bright light. When West looked at them again, he almost vomited. Rogers' charred face now stared blankly at the ceiling.

West tossed a thermal detonator into the gap. That ought to shut them up. He heard wild yells and the gap exploded, screams of pain and death cutting through the air. The bolts came staggered now, the people behind the guns demoralized or dying.

West smiled. They had them now. He leaped the barricade, sprinting towards the gap. Unsheathing his combat knife, he tossed it into the chest of the nearest New Republic trooper, a look of surprise on his face. The next trooper he shot point blank, blasting him onto another dead trooper.

He turned, wildly, expecting another trooper to be standing there, gun raised. He fired. All he shot, however, was the wall. The remaining troopers had fled, chased off by the recklessness of West.

Walking back inside the mainframe, West saw Velen standing over Rogers and the medic. "That's too damn bad. He was one of the better assistants I've had."

He turned to Selka.

"How long on the slice? I want to get the hell off this rock."

BANSHEE


If before Max was filled with burning rage, now he was filled with a cold, hard anger. It was the kind of anger that drove men to tremendous-- or horrible-- deeds, and it was a type of anger that Max wasn’t familiar with. Despite leading an elite stormtrooper squad, Max was not a cold blooded killer. He was one of the few members of the Corps that served because he felt he owed something back the Vast Empire, and not because he liked killing. In fact, the actual act of taking a life had always revolted Max, but he had learned to see it as a necessary evil. So to see one of his troopers literally tore apart in front of his eyes, and not being able to do anything about it, stirred up emotions in Max that he had never felt before: primarily, the desire to kill a living being.

It was inevitable that troopers were going to die. In fact, that was pretty much guaranteed from the get-go. Max had prepared himself for the deaths of his troopers, or so he had thought. When two of his squad had been gunned down by sniper fire, Max had felt their pain as if it had been his own. He was supposed to have led those men, protected them, and now they were dead. To say that their deaths bothered him would have been an understatement. Still, he had a job to do, and he was able to suppress his revulsion in order to carry on with the mission.

Lyna’s death, however, had been something else entirely. To see one of his closest friends tore apart by an attack dog was a new experience for Max, and he was pretty sure it had literally scarred him for life. Never before had he felt so deeply the loss of a trooper, and never before had he wanted revenge as badly as he wanted it at that moment. To make matters even worse, some of his squad were going crazy, and some of his squad were already crazy. Max had to deliver several whaps upside the head before he got his squad in order. Unfortunately, there was no one to give Max himself a whap upside the head. It took him a while, but the Banshee squad leader finally managed to get his squad under control and in pursuit of the enemy troopers. As he chased what remained of the enemy ambushers, Max had one singular thought runnning through his mind:

Someone’s going to pay.

By Max's count, only four of the New Republic soldiers remained, the rest of their force having fallen to the Banshee's withering hail of blasterfire. All the dogs were dead as well, and now the Banshees had numbers on their side. Now they could take the offensive, and they wasted no time in doing so.

Max led the wild chase through the corridors of the militia barracks. Somehow the New Republic troopers managed to keep avoiding the Vast Empire troopers, and they led the stormtroopers deeper and deeper into the facility. At first Max wondered where the enemy soldiers were leading him and his squad, but as they passed checkpoint after checkpoint, he suspected something was up. Each of the checkpoints were empty, and this deep in the facility checkpoints meant that there was something beyond the militia didn't want anyone else to know about. Slowing suddenly, Max took a good look around before leading his squad any further. He didn't know what to expect, but he knew that so fare the militia troops had been craftier than expected, and he was determined not to lost another trooper. He was also determined make whoever was responsible for Lyna's death pay. When Max Devlin caught the poor soul that had set the dog on his friend, he promised himself that the person responsible would literally wish he had never been born.

Inching up on a corner, Max instinctively knew something was wrong. Raising a hand, Max motioned for grenades to be tossed around the corner. Max himself drew a fragmentation grenade, while his XO drew a flash bang, and someone else contributed another frag.

"On my mark," he whispered, even though he was using the secure squad channel.

Pausing a second to settle himself, Max tensed and said, "Now!"

Tossing his own grenade with the rest of them, Max noted that all three had been good tosses, banking off the far wall and clattering down the hall. Then there was no more time for thinking. The three devices detonated almost simultaneously, and Max led his squad around the corner, guns blazing.

As he rounded the corner he noted that the four New Republic troopers the Banshees had been chasing had received reinforcements. It didn't matter, though. Sighting down the barrel of his E-11, Max drew a bead on the nearest enemy trooper and quickly depressed the trigger. He held the trigger only for a second or two, but in that time six or seven red blaster bolts arced out of his weapon and struck his target. Behind his helmet, Max could only smile at what he knew to be an instant kill.

Although the Vast Empire troopers had managed to take the New Republic troops by surprise, now the enemy soldiers were beginning to fire back, albeit blindly. Max gave up on aiming, swinging his rifle around and letting bolts loose at random. He knew it was ineffective, but he simply didn’t care; he wanted to kill as many of the bastards as he could.

Max was still firing wildly when something struck him in the shoulder. Hard. There was an intense burning sensation, and then Max's entire left arm went numb. Looking down, he saw that a blaster bolt had struck him square in the shoulder, decimating his armor. While the stormtrooper armor had managed to disperse most of the blast's energy, the bolt had done enough damage to make Max's left arm useless. As for the numb feeling, Max knew that was only temporary. He was in shock, and very soon the pain would start again.

As his vision blurred from the shock of being shot, Max felt a pair of hand pull him backwards. There was no cover, but at least Max wasn't at the front of the firefight anymore. The hands pushed him down, and as Max fell to his knees he couldn't help but note with some satisfaction that his squad mates were decimating the enemy troopers.

Good, Max thought to himself. Good.