It was hot; without question this was the hottest it had been in days. And it was driving Tanus crazy. While the feel of being home after two weeks in a now-populated military base was nice, the feeling of sentimentality for being home had soon worn thin. For the nonce, he had had time to relax and nurse his wounds, which weren’t as bad as first imagined, but now he was going stir crazy. I need something to do. To that end, he reached under his desk and pulled out a bottle of smoke whiskey and poured himself a tall glass over ice. The next ten minutes were quiet and peaceful as Tanus started to slowly drink his boredom away… then Jegora walked in. Jeg had recently been promoted to the position of Platoon Commander, with Angel off to the job of Company Commander. With Tanus off on a mission, Jeg hadn’t really had time to get acquainted with his squad. Well maybe that’ll change now. Tanus looked at Jeg and turned to face him.

“Tanus, I have a mission for you and Blackjack.”

Tanus put forth mock hurt, as if Jeg had hit him; if he were a different man, he may have gon further, but the effect was still funny at the sudden intake of breath.

“Jeg, I’m hurt. You don’t call, you don’t write. And now you just hand me a mission? What will the children.”

Jeg just scowled and threw the folder at Tanus like a frisbee. He put his hand up and caught in the flat of his hand and slammed it back down on to the table.

“I don’t much care about what the children think, and for the record all I want to do is go back to my office and do a lot of nothing for a while. So just read the folder so I can do that.”

Tanus flipped open the folder and took a look over the pieces of flimsy in front of him; initially nothing looked very interesting. The he saw the planet. Why are we going there? As he flipped through he soon figured out why. He closed the folder and rubbed his eyes and took a long drink from the glass of whiskey before looking back at Jeg.

“Jeg, what the hell is this? Felucia? Thrawn? Isn’t this something better tasked to ARC?”

“Well, I don’t see them around, do you? And besides, I can’t have my walking tanks get too comfortable around here. I think this is perfectly suited for Blackjack, Tanus. That’s why I came here.”

Tanus flipped through the documents a few more times before looking back up at Jeg wide-eyed.

“How the hell did you get this information? WHERE the hell did you get this information? This is something I wouldn’t expect to see. I’m surprised it even got out of the AHC.”

Jeg chuckled and shrugged. Tanus just kind of stared at him.

“You can thank Jester squad for that. When we infiltrated Thrawn’s unit, we got our hands on some pretty useful information, and all of it went up to the top brass. They’ve been siphoning through for at least a month and a half.”

“Bloody hell. So what’s so special about Felucia that Thrawn’s mounted a scientific expedition? I mean, ya know, besides the plants that eat people and the animals that people and the diseases that wipe entire planets out?”

“Mostly the last part. Thrawn wants to get his hands on a biotoxin that could take out all of Vast Empire space, and thus eliminate us as a threat. But Thrawn doesn’t have much in terms of botanists or plant biologists, so he hired a team out. And now, thanks to CorpSector, they’re working on that toxin to bring us down. The whole thing is a mess really.”

Tanus shrugged and finished what was left in his glass; the smokiness and the burn felt good all the way down. He set the glass aside and looked over everything once more.

“When do we leave?”

“In about four hours. I recommend you in fill in the rest of the squad. Good luck.”
The squad was in the ready room in a few minutes; the message was only sent about ten minutes beforehand, and the squad was all present and accounted for within five. This was a good thing, because besides the squad getting a new mission, there was an introduction to be made. When everyone settled down, Tanus began.

“Well folks, it seems we have another mission, and this time we have a new face to present. Gentlemen and lady, I present to you Rogueboy, the former Raider. Give him a warm welcome. Now, for the reason we’re really here. The mission profile this time is a bit different, but in the end it’s something Blackjack is suited for.”

He pressed a button on the remote and the lights turned down, and then a picture of a hazy, multicolored orb was emitted from the holoprojector.

“This is Felucia, a planet on the Perlemian Trade Route. Back in the day, this was a CIS stronghold and then for the most part remained uninhabited, save for whatever locals reside there. The planet is home to very angry animals, very angry plants and diseases that can kill each of you in a matter of hours. And this is where we’re headed.”

He pressed another button and the planet faded away and up came the face of a blue humanoid with red eyes.

“Folks, I believe you all know our good friend, Grand Admiral Thrawn. He has an interest in Felucia, and thus so do we. From what intel we have, Thrawn has a team of botanists and biologists on the planet doing research for a new biotoxin that will, in effect, kill everyone in Vast Empire space. We, of course, cannot and will not allow that. Unfortunately, the mission profile is little bit less simple than it looks, and this is no exception. After we get past the angry fungi and killer animals and super diseases, we then must deal with a division of Thrawn’s special forces, a platoons worth of men that were bred to fight in the jungle. Our mission is to kill off the entire group, and when we’re done, take whatever research they have and bugger off before we all end up Acklay food.”

The lights turned on and the hologram faded. As they got up to leave, Tanus held up his hands to halt them.

“Hold up! I forgot to mention that we’re getting something new to play with this time. So we can move through the jungle mostly undetected and that way off of the ground and away from angry predators, command has given us a new toy for the mission.”

Tanus opened a door and then pulled out a large looking backpack – except that it had a thruster at the end of it.

“Kids, I present to you the AJP-400 Hush About jetpack. It has 10 charges in it, and can launch you up 200 meters vertically and 500 meters horizontally. It has an effective range of 5000 meters. That said, we’ll be air dropped at 2000 meters via shuttle and then work it out from there. Each of you will be taking one more fuel cell, but be careful. If you run out of charges on both, you’re screwed.”

He put the pack down and gave everyone a good, stern look.

“We leave in four hours Blackjack. Get ready.”

OOC:

Okay, kids, fire it up. Just have us get to the shuttle and whoever posts after that will have us entering atmosphere. Have fun with it.

The engine was a dull roar as the ship pulled out of the hangar, immediately climbing towards the sky. Wrex looked out one of the many portholes that lined the interior. He watched as the base slowly became smaller, eventually disappearing as the ship climbed into the clouds. He sat back, trying to ease his tension.

He hadn't slept well since returning from their last mission. Frequent dreams of the fighting on Eriadu had plagued his mind, forcing him to spend countless hours pacing and reading near his bunk. He had gone to see the resident doctors on base, but none of them had a straight answer for him. Some thought he had shell shock. Others just thought his body and mind hadn't been ready for jumping back into war so fast. Either way, the ordeal had left Wrex with dark rings under his eyes and a yawn every couple minutes.

As the ship jumped to hyperspace, the stars outside blurring together into white lines, he looked over his gear for what seemed the millionth time that day. He reached for his M-82G, checking to make sure the slide worked. He ejected the ammo cartridge, inspecting the ammo to make sure it wouldn't jam when he fired.

Setting the gun down, he inspected his new medic backpack. The backpack had several medpacs inside, along with surgical equipment that Wrex hoped he wouldn't have to pretend to use. He had only just started his medic training and hoped that what little he knew was enough to keep his squad safe.

I'll have to thank Yint if I ever see him again. Wrex thought, his mind drifting to the Delta squad medic who had fixed Wrex's broken arm on Eriadu. What Yint didn't know, however, was that he had implanted a longing to become a medic in the trooper.

Closing the backpack, Wrex sat back, closing his eyes. He needed sleep and now was as good a time as ever to get some. He stood, arms stretched above his head, as he spoke to Tanus, who was deeply involved in a sabacc game with Garryll and Rogueboy.

"Tanus, I'm getting some sleep. Make sure you don't forget me when we get there."

Tanus didn't look away from the game, only giving Wrex a slight nod.

Moving towards the back of the ship, he found several bunks. He took the closest one to him and almost instantly was asleep.

----------

In what seemed only moments later, he was shaken awake by Garryll, none to lightly.

"Wake up. We're coming up to the planet in a few minutes. Make sure your gear is accounted for so we don't have to turn this tub around." Wrex groggily nodded as Garryll left.

I'm still tired as hell. Wrex thought, rubbing his eyes. He rose unsteadily to his feet, almost wishing he could just lay on the ship for a few days.

Unwillingly, he dragged himself to his gear, still in it's position next to his chair. The other members of Blackjack were suiting up, the clanks of their armor filling the confined space. Wrex followed suit, soon confined to the suits sealed atmosphere.

"Ten minutes to atmospheric entry." The pilot's voice came over the ship's intercom, slightly tinny due to some age of the wires inside.

"Alright Blackjack, this is it." Tanus said, giving the troopers some motivation. "Expect the unexpected down there. The entire planet is alive. Anything and everything will try to kill you. For the sake of the retrieval crew, don't die."

There were some chuckles as the squad buckled on their helmets, pneumatic hisses filling the silence that followed. Tanus was the first to move to the cargo bay, his jetpack already strapped on. The others followed, Wrex in last, still fumbling with his medic bag.

The pilot's voice came through their suit's radio this time. "We've entered Felucia's atmosphere. Reaching drop altitude in 30 seconds."

Wrex shifted uncomfortably, the jetpacks weight pushing down on his shoulders.

"15 seconds." The cargo bays door dropped open, revealing a primal world stretching out below them. Wrex had never seen more plants in his life.

"Prepare yourselves Blackjacks." Tanus said, bracing himself to jump.

"5 seconds." Wrex closed his eyes.

A green light appeared in Wrex's hud.

"GO GO GO!" Tanus said, launching himself out of the shuttle.

Wrex and the rest of Blackjack followed, a feeling of weightlessness enveloping him as he plummeted toward the green landscape.

Blackjack flew in a loose Delta formation in the air, flying proficiently for men who had little or no practice with jetpacks. A small light began winking in the corner of Gates' HUD.

"First charge is half empty," Gates reported. Similar reports came across the squad comm.

"Okay. Moving in to land. See that clearing?" asked Tanus, circling slowly around a clearing, descending. The squad responded with a chorus of affirmatives. Blackjack circled as well, dropping one by one into the clearing. Each landed with varying degrees of proficiency.

At ground level, the heat and humidity and riot of color was oppressive. Gates' armor fanned him in sympathy, keeping a constant temperature in the suit.

"At least," Gates said, fingering the trigger guard of his flamethrower, "It's a dry heat."

Dry chuckles came across the comm, but it was silenced as they prepared for another jump.

"Jump in three, two-" Tanus began.

"What the hell is that?!" yelled Gates as something flickered in his peripheral vision.

"Felucia," spat Orobos, recently returned from the Reserves. "The entire planet's alive."

"Well, let's jump-" Gates started before a shriek came from behind him. A massive, six-legged insect-like creature stamped through the wall of foliage, stabbing at the Stormtroopers with long clawed legs. Blackjack hesitated a moment and then opened fire.

Rifle fire filled the clearing, and the thing's screaming intensified as it charged at Orobos. The large Stormtrooper dove to the side, narrowly dodging the scything claws of the giant insect.

"What is this thing?!" Gates yelled, flicking on the flamethrower's small frontal flame.

"An Acklay!" yelled back Tanus. "Didn't you read the brief?"

"I don't have time for that shit!" Gates yelled back, spraying a spear of flame at the Acklay, and wreathing the head and long neck in an inferno. The shrieking intensified, and it flailed all the more desperately. One of the randomly spinning claws slashed across Gates' armor, knocking out his shields and denting the chest plate.

"Kill it, kill it!" yelled someone, and Blackjack moved in for the kill, firing their rifles into the thick, leathery skin of the giant insect-like creature. Rounds thudded thickly into the creature, and it finally died, collapsing heavily into the fungal dirt.

"Dammit," Gates muttered, "Hope we don't meat too many more of them."

The jungle was dense and thick with insects the size of a human arm. The Acklay had been daunting on its own, but this was something else entirely. Little bastards are too small to hit with the rifles. We’re going to have to rely on Garryll’s flamer if anything else gets too close for comfort. Tanus was hacking through the underbrush with his M32 combat knife, which he had tweaked to be more suited for hacking and slashing. Good solid back-up now if I need it, Tanus mused. Truth be told, besides the killer bugs and then the really big killer bugs, the planet was gorgeous. The light shown through the trees and giant mushrooms at just the right angles to bring out the planet’s true beauty. It was shame they now had to wash the ground in the blood of men. I won’t doubt the planet will use it for… something. Probably horrible. Just then a fly the size of a fist with mandibles the length of Tanus’ forefinger flew out of some plants, only to be devoured by a large fern-looking plant. Tanus only shook his head and sighed. Yep, definitely something horrible.

The undergrowth began to get a little lighter as the squad trekked in through the jungle. This made Tanus pause. He held up a hand to stop the squad. Garryll came up to him flamer in hand, looking around cautiously.

“What is it boss? Why’d we stop?”

Tanus took a quick look around, and saw that they were almost on a path. A wide path. This cannot be a good thing. He looked up at the canopy above and saw a few large mushroom caps above them.

“You see all this? This is undergrowth, the crap we’ve cutting through now for a kilometer and a half. Notice how it’s starting to recede? That means that something’s been through here, or a lot of somethings, and they’ve been through here recently. This is a hunting ground.”

Garryll shrugged; Tanus wished he could have his cavalier attitude.

“So what? This entire planet is a hunting ground. Remember the Acklay?”

“Yes, I remember the Acklay. But there are bigger and meaner things on this planet. And I don’t want to run into them. Now what the hell -?”

A thunderous roar from behind them snapped them all to attention and rifles raised. Tanus heard the crashing even from where he was. He wasted no time.

“Blackjacks! Up top to the shrooms! Now!”

The heavily armored troopers all shot up off of the ground in a stream of burning fuel and underbrush. They all got up to the mushrooms, landing with weapons raised and ready. Tanus looked around, listening for where the noise was in relation to them. Garryll commed him, agitated that he was no waiting on a giant fungus.

“Tanus, what the hell are we waiting for? If it’s a predator, I’ll flame it. I’m sure the squad will appreciate roasted Acklay.”

“Oh yeah? Good luck flaming that.”

Out of the fungal growths marched one of the largest Rancors Tanus had ever seen. Luckily for the squad, they were well out of reach, lest the Rancor now had a canned meal on the go. It let out another thunderous roar, swung its arms around in anger, and then trampled off back into the forest. Only once the footfalls faded off into nothing did anyone speak again. Of course, Wrex voiced his concern for the squad.

“RANCORS!? They have frakking Rancors!?”

“I can see no one here reads. Yes, they have Rancors; quite a few actually. We were just in its path, possibly a mating ground or feeding ground or something. Either way, I don’t want to cross one of those big bastards again.”

Tanus took a look around and activated his macrobinoculars in his helmet to get a better look around. When he finished, he looked back to the squad.

“All right, we’re still about 3 or 4 hours out from our objective, with maybe 5 charges left a piece for each of us, plus an additional ten from the spare fuel cells. That means we need to conserve. When we get back down to the ground, I want us quiet as possible. I’m not about to become a Rancor’s appetizer. Now let’s boogie.”

Tanus jumped off the mushroom, hitting the ignition button as he did so to slow his fall. When the squad all landed around him, he drew his M32 and continued onwards through the undergrowth. Oh, this is going to be a long day.

Orobos stood with his weapon resting over his shoulder in a typical heroic looking pose of a veteran soldier depicted in almost every propaganda poster or advertisement found in the Empire. He surveyed the massive insect which lay crumpled and still burning. Smoke rose up through the air but was kept particularly low by the thick canopy of trees.

"At least it was smaller then the other one," Garryll said his flamer still held ready in his hands the soldier was looking around for anything else willing to get close so he could cook it.

"It's going to attract more," Orobos said,

"More what?" Wrex asked,

"I dunno, more of any other predators that are lurking out," Orobos said swinging his assault rifle out at arms length across the tree line, indicating practically every beast out there in the night. "If they weren't attracted by the noise we stirred up they'll be attracted by Chef Gates acclaimed cooking."

Garryll managed to look bashful at his sarcastic compliment and swung his flamer around pretending to be shy.

"Oh you're just being nice,"

"No, what I'm saying we need to get out of here. Rancors are not just hunters. They'll scavenge just about anything and will definitely be prepared to challenge for it," Orobos concluded pointing at the Acklay which thankfully was still lying in the same place along with it's compliments of brain matter and flesh nearly a metre from the corpse.

"That's good enough for me," Tanus said,

"Us too," Rogueboy added,

"I'm glad you agree but either way it wouldn't have changed the fact that we're getting the hell out of here," Tanus said jerking his thumb over his shoulder, "Pack up, 5 minutes."

"We might have to leave sooner," Wrex said pointing out somewhere behind Orobos.

Turning Orobos looked in through the blackness. He blinked and his helmet responded by switching to night vision. Several acklay were there, about three of them and something else. There backs, if they could be called that, were facing towards them. They meanwhile were facing off against something a lot bigger.

"Oh god,"

"It looks bigger then a rancor,"

"Bigger then a rancor?!"

"That's it we're moving," Tanus said swooping up his equipment, "Take your food, weapons and essentials, anything else leave it!"

Several of the squad had shoved things into packs and clipped items onto belts when the first of the Acklay which had been some way away started retreating into there clearing. Blackjack pulled out of the makeshift camp. Jumping over some bushes and spiky plants they were clear of being sighted by any of the beasts. They moved further away into thicker vegetation.

They passed a wide variety of plant life, some reacting violently and some reacting as all plants should, not at all. Orobos walked pased a pant which began spitting, if it could be called that, a purple oozing liquid. He dove away as the liquid spatted across the trunk of a tree. Several samll holes were burnt through the tree in a matter of seconds.

"Note to self, stay away from freaky oozing plants,"

"Does anyone here that rustling sound,"

"Sounds like.... bugs?"

"Contact!" Gates yelled to Blackjack. Weapons rose wearily and twitched to cover new angles of movement. The night sky was bright, and the two moons and stars gave a good amount of light, unhindered by development pollution.

"What is it?" asked Wrex nervously - everyone's nerves were shot from the constant attrition that the jungle was throwing at them.

"I don't know; too small to be an Acklay or a Rancor, too quiet to be a swarm of those damn bugs," Gates replied, counting off previous encounters. "I haven't seen any Thrawn Stormtroopers, but we're still a good way away from the base. That leaves one of a zillion different things that wants to kill or eat us. Including plants."

"Well, if it hasn't gotten to us yet, give it a wide berth," Tanus ordered.

"Aye, sir," Gates replied, keeping his eye on his scanners and continued covering Orobos and Tanus as they hacked their way through the underbrush. The plants continued to try to kill them, but still failed.

"It's like the entire planet is out to get us," Gates remarked, playing his gunsights over the area, resting it on a moving plant. "Contact, boss."

"Same thing as last time?"

"Yeah," Gates replied. "Think it's stalking us?"

"Hmm," Tanus mused. "Let's confront it."

"Sir, may I remind you we don't have an unlimited supply of ammunition?" inserted Orobos.

"Good point. Corvin, Rougeboy, keep an eye on our stalker," Tanus ordered.

A pair of affirmatives and the squad continued on its way. A half-hour of hacking and slashing later, Tanus called a halt at a small clearing. "They still following us?"

"Yes sir," replied Corvin, "They're still following us."

"Alright, well then-"

"Sir, it- whatever it is- is coming out," Rougeboy inserted, raising his rifle.

A half dozen tall, twisted-looking creatures burst from the undergrowth and roared a war cry.

"Dammit," Gates said, "Why can't anyone be happy to see us?"

"Are they hostile?" asked Wrex hesitantly.

"Probably," Orobos replied gloomily. "Considering everything else on this green rock is."

The things brandished swords and stalked closer. Blackjack raised their rifles to their shoulders and aimed. The creatures stopped, and hissed at them. Standoff.

"This is idiotic," Gates said after a minute. "They're waiting for backup."

"They're just creatures," said Corvin, "Sir. Non-sentient, by the looks of them."

"Anything in the brief, boss?" Gates asked, eyes darting from the six in front for any rustling plant life that could spell a flanking maneuver.

"Could be the natives, the Felucians," Tanus began.

"Damn clever name," Gates responded, clicking his rifle's safety to 'auto.' "Are they hostile, dangerous?"

"It depends on their mood."

"Great. Are they in a happy, rainbows and flowers mood, or an I'm-in-Hell-with-people-cutting-down-my-jungle mood?"

"Probably the latter."

"Then let's just jet out of here. Lose 'em."

"Good plan. Everyone got your gear?"

A chorus of "Yes sir"s came back. "Jump on my mark- three, two, one. Jump."

They punched their controls, instantly a dozen feet over the clearing and climbing.

"What an adventure!" Gates said mockingly, "Giant animals, crazy natives and plants that want to take a bite out of my leg! What a wonderful world!"

Tanus liked sleep; it felt good to stretch and catch up on it, even if he was clad in full armor and in the middle of a forest crafted from the stuff of nightmares. The dream he was having was a good one, too. Of course, the red-headed twins started to fade out as he was violently shaken awake. He was not a fan of this, immediately reached up and grabbed, and from the sound issued from the body, grabbed the throat. He jerked his head up and looked around and saw the others attempting to get up too – and they were grabbing their weapons. When he looked at trooper, he saw a small man in large armor. Corvin, the new guy. He got up and shook out his body and cracked his neck, back and knuckles.

“What’s up kid? How long was I asleep and why am I not still doing that?”

Corvin was looking around with a sense of urgency, and even raised his rifle a few times before turning to answer Tanus.

“I’m sorry to wake you, sir, but Orobos picked up movement on the outskirts of the camp, and from what he saw, there are a lot of them. I just hope these antique cans will keep us alive to see through the first wave.”

Tanus stretched out his legs and grabbed his hammer from the ground before looking back to Corvin, who looked absurd in his armor.

“Two things, kid. One is that this ‘antique’ has kept you alive through freefall, flesh eating disease, killer plants and giant killer crab monsters coming to tear our faces off. Two is that when we get back to command, I’m getting you some armor that actually fits.”

He walked past Corvin and up to Orobos, who was staring intently at the tree line, axe in hand. Tanus flipped on his own night vision and gave a look around. There certainly are lot of them. Tanus looked up at Orobos then back to the wall of natives.

“So how many are we talking here? 40? 50?”

“Maybe more. I dunno. They could’ve followed us from our little spat earlier.”

“I wouldn’t surprise me if they did. You keep a look out. I’m going to take care of the others.”

“Will do.”

Tanus walked back to the others, who were currently loading their weapons and checking their armor. He walked up and looked them over, hammer over his shoulder. He flexed his right hand, popping the vibroblade out once and then back in before he started.

“So, by now, you all know what’s going on here. Looks like the locals aren’t happy with us being here, and want to give us a welcome to an early grave. Well, I’m not cool with that in the least. So we’re going to give them back to the forest for compost. Garryll, I need you to keep them at bay with the flamer. It’ll be a good deterrent and will funnel some of them to the others. Rogueboy, you cover Garryll and make sure he survives. Wrex, Corvin and Durandal, I need you three to grenade and lay suppressing fire. Orobos and I will take the front and give them a taste of cold steel.”

Tanus watched them all fan out and get to their positions. Garryll took his place on top of a large stone with Rogueboy standing off to his left; the others took their spots around the high ground. Tanus walked up next to Orobos once more and brandished his hammer for a battle.

“You ready?”

“Aren’t I always?”

“Good answer.”

The Movement beyond the tree line then ceased and all fell silent; not even the men of Blackjack moved. The silence stretched on forever, and then the rustle of movement began once again. Except this time, it was getting closer – and closer – and closer. Then the rustle became more than a rustle: it became a full charge. When the first of the Felucians broke past the trees, Tanus didn’t even think twice. He swung his hammer at full force, striking the creature in the head and sending him down to the ground, now food for the forest that was its home. Soon one more took its place, and then another. Soon the wave had begun to form. Tanus just kept cleaving through the ranks, vaguely aware that Orobos was somewhere next to him, slashing through the oncoming Felucians like a warm knife through butter. And now for the battle cry.

“Blackjacks! Bleed ‘em dry!”

OOC:

How not to use a rifle 101. Probably going to be stunned and hurt, but since he's wearing Katarn...

Corvin took a moment to sight through the rifle's green scope before opening fire. The slughthrower rifle jerked in his arms, spraying half a dozen rounds at the Felucian running towards him with what looked like a pair of Imperial combat knives.

The anti-armour rounds didn't drop the unarmoured alien so much as shred it into foul-smelling goo and ichor, sending bits of flesh flying in all directions. Somewhere to Corvin's left, another patch of jungle and alien mob vanished in a fireball, vaporized by the heat and flame, and the squad ASL, called Gary Gates or something to that effect, cackled madly.

"Silly buggers! Want some more, do ya?"

The Felucians were seemingly all too happy to oblige, bellowing war cries as they charged into the Blackjacks' fire. Gates incinerated the front of the crowd with a quick spray of flame, and the rest were quickly brought down by bursts of rifle fire. The Felucians didn't seem remotely discouraged, instead attempting to surround the squad.

This prompted the Blackjacks to form a circle around Gates: whenever the Felucians charged en-masse, he would simply use the Tyrant or flamethrower to cut them down, with the others finishing off the survivors. Corvin fired in bursts, turning as ordered by Tanus. The enemies blurred together in Corvin's mind, becoming little more to him than the targets in basic Army training.. Aim and fire. Watch the clip. Aim and fire.

Felucians twitched and dropped as they were cut apart by Tyrant or rifle fire, fell in pieces as humming vibroblades sliced through them, and in one case were reducing to a thick paste as Tanus tore through their formation with a ridiculously oversized power hammer.

Turning his rifle over in his hands in a brief lull in the fighting, Corvin removed the curved, empty clip from the back, shoving an emptied one in its place in a gesture that was already becoming familiar. An inhuman bellow signaled the start of the next wave, and the Private sighed. This entire affair was unpleasantly reminiscent of Gergan VII and the embassy on Heras, both of which had been disasters and incidents he'd rather forg-

Corvin's thoughts were interupted by something large and heavy hitting him in the chest. Staggering back, dazed by the impact, the Private saw the Felucian raise its axe again.

All around them, Felucians were dropping from the trees, weilding their crude axes or holding knives in each hand. At the same time, still-more of the aliens were rushing towards the squad, ignoring their casualties as they bellowed a bizarre, liquid war cry.

The Felucian growled, and Corvin noticed that it was wearing what looked like a cracked stormtrooper breastplate. It swung, and Corvin threw himself to the side, holding his rifle out as he did so. There was a dull clang, and the axe glanced off the slugthrower's barrel, leaving a sizable dent in the durasteel. The alien roared in victory and started to bring its weapon down on Corvin's helmet.

Corvin had recovered from his shock and surprise, however, and his training took over. Pointing the slugthrower at the savage, he squeezed the trigger.

The rifle exploded in his hands.

Corvin shifted from side to side, the armour plates grinding uncomfortably against each other. His SE-14c was clippped to his belt, as were several grenades. He'd been forced to discard his M-82G: his foolish attempt to fire the damaged weapon had turned it into an impromptu frag grenade.

The only bits left of the slugthrower rifle had been an inch-long fragment of the barrel, the handle, and the butt. If he'd had a grenade attached at the time, they'd have been scraping him off the Katarn armour's broken plates.

The Felucian warrior would probably have gutted him if it hadn't been for Wrex. The Corporal had saved his skin at the last moment, and given him the chance to recover from his mistake. Corvin realized that he hadn't thanked the squad medic yet and made a note to do so at the first opportunity. The man's intervention, along with the Katarn armour had saved his life.

Appearance aside, it had indeed been as effective as Tanus had said it would be: the armour had only been slightly dented by axe swings that would have ripped him in half if he'd been using Nexu's stormtrooper plates.

Still, the plastoid had several distinct advantages over Katarn rig. For one, the redesigners hadn't thought to change the hip and leg plating from their original Kaminoan design, meaning they offered excellent protection but were very uncomfortable when he sat down.

Added to adreneline from the attack less than half an hour earlier, the stim he'd injected during the fight, and the lightening sky, it meant it was simply impossible for Corvin to sleep. He briefly considered using a sleep-inducer, then decided against it. The last thing he needed was to be unwakable if the savages tracked them down again.

Instead, he got to his feet and walked over to where Wrex was standard. The medic was slightly taller than he was, his rifle held in both hands and pointed at the ground. Smoke drifted up from the squad's former position, where fires sparked by Gate's flamer still burned.

Corvin cleared his throat.

"Corporal?"

Wrex turned around.

"Yeah, kid, what is it?"

"I just wanted to say," Corvin paused, suddenly unsure. "Thanks for saving my skin back there."

The medic shrugged.

"No problem, kid. Just try not to do something stupid like that again, all right?"

Corvin nodded, and was about to sit back down when the mushroom shook.

"What the..." Wrex muttered, raising his rifle. Corvin pulled his SE pistol from its holster a moment later, flipping off the safety.

Looking over the edge of the mushroom, the troopers saw that there were dozens of man-sized blobs trundling arout the forest floor. As they watched, one of them bumped into the mushroom the squad was resting on, causing it to shake again.

"What the frak?" Corvin muttered.

"They're gelagrubs," Wrex answered. "Saw them in the briefing data. Harmless, even ridable."

The mushroom shook again.

"Wish they'd stop doing that, though..."

"Piss off." Corvin called.

The gelagrup raised its head slightly, seemed to decide that the strange grey-black thing on top of the mushroom was no threat and continued to graze on the lichen patch at the mushroom base, causing it to shake again.

So much for getting some frakking sleep. Corvin thought.

Thrawn’s soldiers were definitely better trained then the Felucians but Rogueboy couldn’t help but wonder how the Felucians seemed to lack any sign of decent tactics when they were forced to survive on such a hostile planet. Then again perhaps the Felucians are not used to dealing with humans equipped with blasters? Either way a grenade exploded behind Rogueboy, most definitely overthrown by a Thrawnist.

Snickering Rogueboy decided to show the Thrawnist how to properly use a grenade, setting his rifle on the ground RB swung out his six shot grenade launcher, peeking his head up from the fallen tree that he was using as cover he counted the enemies. There were six total, two straight ahead of him, one of which was lying on his stomach, the other was crouched on the side of a small rock, the latter’s rifle was hanging off to the side. The other four RB did not particularly see but the squad called them out as they spotted them. Taking careful aim the platoon sergeant gently squeezed the trigger, the kickback was something RB could never get used to on a grenade launcher; the shot went a bit higher than the intended trajectory however this was compensated for by the grenade bouncing off of a rock.

There was an explosion and small pieces of plastoid took off in the direction of the Blackjack squad. The Thrawnist that was hidden behind the rock was taken done by an advancing Blackjack soldier who had received cover fire from Wrex. All in all the battle was fairly one sided as the Thrawnists forces were cut in a third while the VE forces as of yet haven’t suffered a casualty. In all likelihood that should change once they get into the facility.

As if to mock Rogueboy’s thoughts the pale blue of a shield lit up covering Garryl if to signify that he would be the one to die. For some fairly unknown reason the thought of Starfruit lying in a makeshift wheelbarrow came unbidden to his mind and he felt guilty. Why did RB feel guilty? Because he had asked for a transfer right after a huge campaign when Raiders had needed him the most if for no reason other than for his presence. Instead he had transferred platoons and jumped right back into the fire. Currently RB was unsure about his relationship status with Starfruit while he had assumed it was considered off because Jaenna would perceive what he did as a form of betrayal and a part of RB agreed with her. If anyone asked Rogueboy why did he leave Raiders he would not have an answer that he would be able to justify in his own mind.

Leaving those thoughts behind Rogueboy jumped up from his cover and sprinted towards a tall, thick, standing tree. Crouching on his knee RB took a minute to catch his breath; needless to say he didn’t feel like he was getting any younger. Only four more guys to go, he thought to himself.

I was hoping we could avoid this if possible. Well, so much for my optimism. Held his place behind the tree, being careful as the last three Thrawnists scrambled for cover. Well, at least with their communications out, we don’t need to worry about backup. A blaster bolt grazed the tree Tanus was using as cover, causing him to jerk his head back. Tanus responded with a short burst from his M82. He looked over at Garryll and Wrex, putting up his hands to move forward. They got into position behind some trees, looking over and around, waiting for the magic words. Tanus moved over to the left and slightly closer to his targets. When he got there, he activated his comm.

“All right, kids, we’re going to establish covering fire. The rest of you get in there route them. Leave one alive. We need information.”

Tanus flicked the switch on his rifle to full auto and raised it to his shoulder, staring down the sights and waiting. Now or never.

“Covering fire! Blackjacks, move!”

Tanus pulled the trigger, unleashing a hail of bullets down on the Thrawnist soldiers. Tanus spared a glance to his right and saw Garryll and Wrex raising some hell of their own while the others moved in from the sides. Corvin leapt through a bush. Hurling a grenade as he did so.

“Fire in the hole!”

A brilliant flash took up the firefight, and for a half second everyone stopped shooting. Tanus turned on his filters to get through the intense discharge of light and sound as the others got their footing back and charged. A flash bang. Good call, but that may call more attention than we need. Through the din, Tanus heard screaming, and then sounds of skulls splitting and up close and personal executions. When it was done, Tanus ran up, rifle raised at the last trooper of his group. He looked around, anxious and his trigger finger itching. Tanus just chuckled as he looked him over.

“Drop the rifle. You’re done now. Unless you want to join your friends, I recommend you listen to me.”

The rest of Blackjack formed a semicircle around him and started to close in on the lone trooper. He was up against a rock wall and had nowhere to run. He’s frightened, Tanus mused. Well, let’s see what he does. What he did do, however, was something very stupid – he shot Tanus. The blaster bolt fizzled out as it hit his shields. He tried for another shot, but Corvin shot the rifle out of his hands with his pistol. Then the man fumbled around for his pistol. Garryll took two large strides to the man and ejected his wrist blade, holding it up to the man’s throat.

“If you deign to shoot any of us again, I will open you up ear to ear. Do you understand me?”

The man sputtered out an eventual “yes” and then the interrogation began. Garryll, of course, did the honors. From what they found out, the Thrawnists had set up shop about three months ago, nut research had been slow, what with Acklay attacks, the occasional Rancor movement and interference from the local population. On top of that, the scientists were having difficulty splicing a successful toxin from the plants, which had a natural defense against transgressors; many of the original crew was already dead, and Thrawn had to keep pumping more men into the project. All in all, the toxin was coming together, but it was happening slowly, since the toxon was so hard to find, isolate, extract, synthesize and the test; They were using the local Felucians as test subjects, which was the reason the patrol was out in the first place: to gather more test subjects.

“Well, how close are you now to getting your prize?” Garryll asked, pistol in hand.

“We- we- we’re close, from what I’ve heard. They said maybe another two weeks and the toxin would be done with, then they could test it on large scale populations.”

“That’s sweet of you. So what of your military strength?”

“Wha- wha- wha- what do you mean?”

Garryll sighed and pulled the trigger, sending a blaster bolt careening into the rock next to the man’s head.

“Oh gee, I dunno. Maybe your compliment of soldiers? Or if you have any armor? Or possibly some artillery I should know about?”

“Well, we have, uh, two tanks to deal with the ack- acklays and some E-WEBs for everything else. But we don’t have anything for that rancor. The best we did was keep it at bay with the tanks and cannons firing at the same time. Even then, it tore through the front line in seconds… The screams… They were horrible…”

“I bet they were. Well, I think we have everything we need. Thanks for playing.”

Garryll raised the barrel to the man’s head, and as he was about to pull the trigger, Tanus stepped up.

“Garryll, let him go.”

The entire squad, inclusive of the prisoner, all looked at Tanus. Garryll lowered his pistol.

“Tanus, what in the hell are you going on about. We don’t need him anymore. He’s dead weight.”

“True. But I have something else planned for our friend.”

Tanus walked over to him and pulled him up off the ground.

“Give me all your ammo and rations.”

The man did as he was told, until all he was carrying was a vibroknife. As he tried to hand it to Tanus, he declined.

“No, you keep that. You’re gonna need it. I decided to be nice and let you go.”

“Let me… go? But all I have is a combat knife. What the hell am  I supposed to do with that?”

“That isn’t my concern now.”

Tanus heard some rustling behind him; it was time to go.

“Well, it’s been a blast, really, but we have some stuff to do. Blackjacks, let’s move. We’re gonna need as much as we can for tomorrow.”

As they blasted off, Tanus heard the bushes clear. He looked down to see the Felucians surrounding the poor, doomed soldier. As they flew higher into the night, a single solitary scream echoed throughout the forest of nightmares beneath them. It was going to be a long night.

OOC:

Gah. Starts midway through Rogueboy's post.

Corvin deactivated his jetpack, bending his knees as he did so. He landed heavily, crushing a nearby vine-bush with one armoured boot as he dropped to a crouch. The other Blackjacks landed around him, scorching away the patches of forest they landed. Waving one gloved hand irritably, Tanus gestured for them to advance.

"Move it, Blackjacks. Won't take long for our friends back there to get bored with helmet-for-brains and start hunting us again."

The squad sprung into motion, strongly motivated by the prospect of having to face down another alien mob. Corvin and Garryl took point, with the rest of the squad following in double-file, rifles raised and ready to fire on any attackers.

Wielding a short durasteel sword liberated from one of the Thrawnists, Corvin pushed and hacked his way through the thick Felucian jungle. Vines whipped through the air as they were chopped from their stems, small trees fell in pieces or snapped as the Katarn-clad troopers pushed through them, and oversized mushrooms collapsed into puddles of stinking goo as they were stepped on.

The squad pushed through the jungle, silent except for grunts of exertion and occasional curses at a stubborn patch of vines or bush. Insects and other creatures Corvin had only seen in the briefing holo swarmed around the squad, crawling over the troopers' armor and trying to bite through their bodygloves and armour plates.

"Frak this," Corvin muttered, pulling a large, many legged thing off his visor and crushing it between his gloves. "Why is it that the only things that haven't tried to kill us are the mushrooms?"

"Actually," someone chimed in. "their spores are toxic."

Corvin sighed and was about to reply when Tanus joined the conversation.

"Cut the chatter, troopers."

"Yes, sir."

The squad  continued in silence. What felt like hours later, Rogueboy's sensors detected a structure of some kind. Typically, they didn't report whether the structure was the research facility or an armoured bunker. The latter would bring a quick and messy end to the squad's mission, Katarn armour or not.

Tanus held up a hand, and the squad came to a stop. Reaching for his belt pouch, the squad leader pulled out a small, black sphere and activated it. A steady blue light came on inside the sphere and it hovered upwards and through the bushes. Tanus keyed several buttons on his right wristplate, and a hologram feed from the probe appeared above it. The probe pushed through bushes and leaves, emerging in a medium-sized clearing. Rows of barbed wire surrounded a small compound, with several rows of mines also buried in the clearing if the probe's sensors weren't malfunctioning.

A stormtrooper sentry was pacing back and forth on top of the compound, rifle held in one hand and helmet under the other. Remarkably stupid for a supposed elite, Corvin noted, especially in an environment as lethal as Felucia's.

"That our target, sir?" he asked. The Gunnery Sergeant shrugged, removing an empty clip from his slugthrower rifle and shoved a reload into place.

"Only one way to find out. We take out the guard, then blow the gate. After that, we get inside and kill everything that moves."

Tanus had taken one of the Stoukers up on his little wall top jaunt, so leaving Gates' group down a support weapon. Orobos slung the other Stouker over his shoulder and moved forward to set the explosives. The rest of the squad stacked the facility walls, backs to the large, heavy-metal plates. Rougeboy had his grenade launcher prepped, Kestrel was stacked beyond him, rifle raised. Gates and Corvin covered the other side, Corvin still sporting his appropriated E-11.

"You ready, Private?" Gates asked, readying the flame thrower again.

"Ready sir," replied the trooper, nodding sharply. "Ready to seriously screw up some Thrawnists, sir."

"That's always good," Gates said, returning his attention to the large alien combat engineer. "Almost ready? My trigger finger is getting really itchy."

"Ready when you are, boss."

"Alright, blow the fuckin' doors to hell and back then, my furry friend."

"I wish you wouldn't call me that."

"It's a privilege of command, sonny."

The facility's doors exploded inwards. "Alright Blackjack, move, move move! Get into cover!"

Blackjack exploded into the facility, weapons ready and willing. Gates dove behind a crate of materials marked 'fragile.'

Concussion beams blasted across the open space, throwing several Thrawnist Stormies into the air, screaming. The bark of solid slugs barked across the open area from Blackjack's positions, throwing up dirt, duracrete, and smoke. Gates peeked over his cover and stood up confidently. A poorly-aimed E-11 blast ricocheted off of his shields, quivering them a hair off the max.

"A pathetic attempt," Gates sneered over the squad comm. A stifled snicker came back in the cries of orders, positions, advisement, and swearing. "And now, it's my turn."

A tiny click came from the flamer as Gates pulled the trigger. Liquid inferno spewed from the muzzle, incinerating a man, armor and all, that had the misfortune of being within a dozen meters of Gates' fiery wrath. The flame traced across the facility area, lighting another screaming torch. The rest of the Thrawnists dove for cover, and yet more poured out of the barracks.

"It's like they want to die!" crowed Wrex, making his first kill of the engagement, a beauty of a shot that pierced the visor of a Stormtrooper's helmet. More screams came as men were hit but not killed; slugs were known to cause huge flesh wounds, especially deadly hollow-points and armor piercing ammunition. One man was trying to crawl away, legs turned to paste by a close encounter with a concussion bolt; another was clutching at third-degree burns all up and down melted-away armor and flesh; still others were clutching at gaping holes in their plastoid armor where M-82G rounds had punched through.

But still they fought. E-11 blasts slammed into the Blackjacks' cover, chewing into the crates and occasionally damaging a shield. Despite the huge difference in equipment, the Thrawnists were very well trained, determined, and numerous. They'd only give up when they were all dead.

Gates had no problem with that; he swept the flame over another cover position, driving a couple men away from their protection and into the guns of Wrex and Tanus, who enjoyed a significant overwatch position.

The two factions of the Empire fought on, slashing at one another with lasers, flame, explosives and lead. They fought one another to a standstill, Blackjack yet to break through and the Thrawnists determinedly fighting for every centimeter.

"We have to break the deadlock!" howled Gates as a laser burned the last of his shields away. "Or we'll be here until the god-damn judgement day!"

"You got any bright ideas?" Orobos yelled back, blasting over a large metal box to deprive a couple men cover.

"Not a one!" Gates roared, "except for this!"

On 'this' Gates dashed from cover to cover, spewing a carpet of flame at every position he saw, taking shuddering hits directly to his armor from panicky shots. More men collapsed, screaming, burning. One or two actually turned and ran; the others dragged burned comrades and put up a virtual wall of laser fire as they retreated to more promising defensive emplacements.

"That got 'em," Corvin cried enthusiastically, blind-firing tracers after them.

"It did," Gates sighed, and sat down heavily, feeling a trickle of blood inside the upper portion of his armor, and the ebbing adrenaline levels revealing a painful shot in the shoulder mesh. "Ahh shit. Medic!"

A blaster bolt flew across the dark garage and hit Corvin square in the face. As he was wearing Katarn armour, the only effect was his head being thrown back with a clang as the helmet hit the backpack and his staggering back a half step. He dropped to one knees as more shots slammed into his chestplate, bringing his E-11 up as he moved out of the line of fire.

Ignoring the pain in his lower neck and the brief sting of the suit administering bacta, the Private aimed at the Thrawnist who had poked his head above the crate to fire and squeezed the trigger.


A torrent of red blaster bolts poured from the rifle's barrel, throwing the stormtrooper backwards with half a dozen holes in his chestplate and boring a scattered row of craters in the wall behind him. There was a clack as the clone slumped against the wall, his half-melted helmet dropped to the floor, then silence. Corvin could still hear automatic blaster fire from outside. Apparently, Thrawn's pet clones had no idea when to run for it.

Over the squad com, Corvin could hear his squadmates yelling tactical information and orders.

"Garage clear." he reported. An outline appeared at the doorway, blocking out the light from the central room. Corvin's HUD blurred for a moment as it identified the newcomer, then binged green. A line of text at the top of the display identified him as Durandal.

The doorseal on the opposite side of the room hissed open, and something small and round flew through the opening.

"Grenade!" Durandal yelled, backpeddling as he spoke. Corvin took one step backwards, and then the thermal blew. There was a roar which tore at Corvin's ears with a painful intensity, followed by a high-pitched buzzing as the Katarn's audio systems shut down in reaction to the noise. Corvin's visor turned white as the explosion ripped apart his shield, then threw him backwards into a durasteel wall. He hit the wall backpack first and fell, stunned, to the ground.

Moments after the initial blast, there were a series of smaller explosions as the damaged engines of the skyhooks and speeder bike parked in the garage blew as well. Metal flew in all directions, pinging off Corvin's armour as he staggered blindly, hands extended and reaching out for something to guide him. Part of him noted that his armour's breach warning was ringing and that his arm hurt when he moved it. The visor slowly depolarized, letting him see again.

The garage was a smoking mess, workbenches in pieces or in a smoking heap with the remains of the vehicles. Corvin saw movement and tried to raise his E-11, then realized he'd dropped it. The figure resolved into a suit of Katarn armour holding a slughthrower rifle. Durandal.

"You all right, Private?"

"Yeah..." Corvin groggily muttered, dazedly trying to pull himself up. "I mean, yes sir."

Whatever Durandal had been about to say was cut off by the volley of E-11 fire that slammed into them both, cutting through Corvin's regenerating shield and leaving still more black streaks in his Katarn plates. It seemed the Thrawnists were rather determined to get their kill.

The Squad moved slowly across the Garage. Tools lay scattered around the room and filthy oil rags lay strewn across the floor. An engineer lay in the corner the unmistakable cauterised wound of a blaster bolt on his back.

"Killed by his own side," Tanus said shaking his head,"Obviously he got caught in the middle of the firefight."

They moved past the bodies of Thrawnist stormtroopers and through a side entrance from the garage. They walked out into a smaller storage area filled with fuel batteries, spare tank tracks and tires stacked. Crates lined the walls and several doorways lead from this.

"We have stormtroopers flanking," Rogueboy said looking back through the doorway they had just come through.

"Seal the doorway. We'll move out this way," Tanus said pointing to one of the doorways.

Heavy durasteal doors slid closed blocking the stormtroopers from view. Rogueboy slid the small panel from the wall that was next to the door and pulled a few of the wires then fired a shot into the panel.

"Should keep 'em a while."

The squad moved through the doorway indicated. Before Orobos stepped through the doorway eight more enemies slipped in through the doorway opposite the one they had just sealed. Taking up firing positions Orobos and Garryll covered the squad until the rest were though. He then slipped through and Gates followed.

"They're re-organising, we need to find those labs quickly and get out of here."

The squad moved down the hallway they were now occupying, they reached the first intersection and stopped. Members of the squad covered the other three hallways leading off from the intersection. Rogueboy and Wrex knelt and aimed their weapons down the hallway they'd come from.

"Alright move," Tanus gave the order, the rest of Blackjack fell into position behind him the squad running along the hallway.

The heavy stamping of boots followed them as the their pursuers spilled out into the hallway behind them.

"Throwing grenade," Orobos announced spinning around and pulling the pin.

The rest of the squad continued at there pace to escape the inevitable blast. Swinging his arm down by his leg he gave the small weight in his hand a little toss. It bounced twice on the floor and continued on it's journey rolling down the hallway. Turning away from the weapon he ran, his heart leaped and he ran faster anticipating the explosion and wanting to be as far away from it as possible.

Shrapnel followed him down the corridor when the grenade went off. Luckily none of it reached him. Orobos laughed as he ran, the sheer rush of adrenaline still pumping through his system and the relief of escaping their pursuers, then the wall next to him exploded.

"Get in cover!"