Anival glanced at his data pad, he was walking towards the hangar, the text didn’t make sense to him, perhaps it was the pre-battle jitters, taking a deep breath, he shut off the data pad and filed in with others in armor. The room was silent, all of them eagerly awaiting Jegora’s words of encouragement, Anival was thankful that there were commanders who took the time to try to motivate their audience of underlings, even if it barely worked. Having heard it all before Anival feigned interest, the only part that caught his attention was the fact that they were occupying instead of merely shooting everyone insight.

With Jegora’s last words they boarded their transports Anival looked at the other two squads with them, they looked battle hardened and tough. Anival was glad to have extra support, it wasn’t that he didn’t trust the men and women of wraith, he trusted them with his life, but who covered their backs? Anival would certainly try, but he knew it wasn’t enough, and with a mission like the one they had ahead it would be tough.

Anival took a seat next to Karl and Jamasis, they seemed to be relaxed but their eyes betrayed them, the looks they had were mixed anxious, scared, excited?  Anival braced himself as the transport took off.  Clutching his rifle harder brought some minor comfort, the last time they had tried the mission had ended up with a dead wraith, and the determination to not let that happen again ate at Anival.

“Pumped?” Anival asked Rykin who seemed to be crunching on something white.

“Yea, can’t wait.” Rykin replied and took a sip of Darth water.

“And you?”

“Same” repeated Jamasis as he looked down.

“Entering Planetary atmosphere.” came a stoic voice from the speakers over head. “Estimated Time till Objective, five standard minutes.”

“Oppressor and Crater.” said Anival.

“What?” asked Joamer.

“The other two squads, I saw you eyeing them, Crater and Oppressor.”

“Yea, whatever mumbled Joamer.”

Anival frowned and let it be. The clicks and clinks of weapons being primed, or inspected was the only thing audible.

“Anything we need to know before we land?”

“Yes. Don’t get killed” Anival answered with a hearty laugh.

The answer was received with a frown.

“Yes, not much opposition, move fast,  longer we linger the more we are prone to heavier resistance, and remember we are not here to eradicate the population.” Ron directed the last comment at RB.

“Got it.” came a chorus of voices.

“Objective reached.” Anival jumped, the voice had come without warning, no lurching of the ship, no sign of their landing, a testament to the talent of their pilot.

“Alright look alive!” Yelled Ron as they started to pile out of the shuttle and onto Arkania for the first time. Everything was going as planned, so far.

The planet was cold, even through the climate-controlled armor, Anival could feel a chill, no one in wraith had seen an Arkanian, well as far as he knew.

“Where to?”

“Star port Control.”
“Lets go!” shouted Rykin and they made their way through the short walkways. Having gone almost a Kilometer without any opposition felt weird, wraith being used to a shoot off, after nearly fifteen minutes they encountered the first victim of the day, or firsts, ten Arkanian Civilian Police members started shooting at them, the blasters seemed incredibly high-tech, Anival frowned as a volley missed him, all but one, which the armor dispersed  harmlessly.

Anival didn’t even worry about the ten wouldn’t last long against three storm trooper squads, He saved his ammo and let Oppressor Squad take them down. He was right they quickly went down, and they again continued on their way, Anival stopped and took some extra blaster-packs, you just never knew when they would come in handy, he silently thanked the dead Arkanians, they just happened to be in the way, in time they would learn to live with the new regime.

Anival took a small second to look at the Arkanians, they had white hair, white eyes, they looked beautiful in short, shaking the feeling Anival ran back to the others, and stopped abruptly they were pinned down, a small speeder was in their way, it seemed to be a civilians careless mistake,  and the Local police had quickly capitalized on the small advantage and were shooting at the storm troopers in relative safety.

Anival smiled it meant they hadn’t contacted the Military, or if they had, they were engaged somewhere else, either way it was good news for them. A bad shot brought him back to reality, he ducked and looked around,  their was a small pathway to their left, obscured by a hover-van.

“Jamasis, Rykin and Zeshaun, go around and flank them, but be careful, don’t let them see you going that way.”

The three men nodded and crept towards the path, Anival and the other squads laid fire on the speeder, they ducked, and the troopers ran for the path, they were now gone and heading to flank the men behind the speeder.

Anival aimed down his sights and fired four shots, all but one founds its target. After reading the digital ammo count, showed only thirteen shots had been fired, leaving eighty-seven shots left, and four clips, apart from the ones salvaged from the dead Arkanians, all in all, it was going better than they could have hoped.

“Clear.” a breathless Rykin said through the shared comm channels.

“Alright, lets get moving, and keep up the pace, they won’t know what hit them!”

“For the empire!”

The three squads again resumed their relentless pace, they had a way to go, but determination coursed through their veins, and a cause burned in their hearts, there was no way the mission would fail, and no way anybody was going to die, except for whoever got in their way, if that happened, may their gods have mercy on them, because they certainly wouldn’t show any mercy, at all.

OOC:

Sorry for the late posts, posts your heart out.

NOTE: We are to secure the Space port, sqauds with us are crater and oppresor,and to make it up to you guys Click!

A hand came to Helena’s face, covering her nose and mouth from the smell and inhaling any of the  fluids that were oozing out of the bodies. Sure she was a Combat Medic and should be used to it all, but the initial sight was still a bit too much for her. Helping Rykin sling the two bruised bodies into the ally way, she dusted her hands off and made sure she still had her standard medical equipment.

It was strange for her to be back with Wraith, she had only been transferred a short time before the orders came down. What’s more she was the only medic. ”They’d bloody not die on me. Can’t have that tarnish my reputation”  she softly mumbled under her breath, smirking at the cold water vapour flowing from her parted lips.

Stamping her feet in her child like manner she curled her lip up into a pout. She absolutely hated the snow trooper armour. She found it heavy, and not to mention unfashionable. Plus her Star Slasher blaster was not exactly the most reliable thing in the world. She cared too much for her custom made Dust Angels, but orders were no custom weapons. She knew Joamer was beyond annoyed at that order.

The sound of a light crunching filled her ears as she felt the snow crumble under her boots. Softly panting to herself, she looked around to the other troopers. She knew most of them, but that Rykin just seemed… Strange to say the least. She smiled, gazing around at her surroundings. She’d never been to this planet before and was rather excited, given the circumstances.

Moving the squads through to a clearing, Ron motioned his hands to get to the right. Everyone filed single file in an ally way, much to their surprise they were actually approaching a clearing of a semi-built up area.

Kanti was one of the major cities on Arkania, but parts of it still seemed subpar in comparison to some of the cities she had seen in her long years serving the Empire. Almost randomly you could spot a building that had been designed and cost a lot of money, then right next to it was nothing more then a pile of scrap wood held together by spit and glue. Least, it looked like scrap to her, but she was used to much better places.

Not bothering to turn her head she said into the comlink "How much further we have to go?" She did not expect anymore but Joamer to really answer her, he was the only one left from her early days still in the squad. Even now he acted like a bodyguard to her, something he picked up when he first joined them.

"Couple minutes maybe, problem is we've lost the element of surprise. I figure we have ten minutes maybe a few more before these defenders here." She detected a hint of disgust in his voice when he said defenders. He continued on without pause "Will have set up a better defense, even civilian police are not slow when your home is being attacked."

"Quiet down, you two." Anival's voice came over the comlink a second later. Helena refrained from mentioning they had secure private frequencies, and she doubted anyone on this planet had the knowledge to break it, she would put her money on even High Command having a difficult time breaking Wraith's combat codes. One old rule of hers that, thankfully, was still being used. Was to never give anyone outside the squad the ciphers, that even included your superiors.

She heard Joamer grunt behind her, he was still not used to having to follow Anival's orders, in truth neither was she. It was all still so confusing. A minute later she saw Ron motion with his hand, instantly Rykin followed by the rest of the squad shot, one after the other, across the small road and ducked into another ally way.

They went dead silent while they listened for any alert, twenty seconds later they moved off again as Ron nodded at Rykin and continued on in the direction they had been traveling in.

"Now we have a problem." Anival said suddenly. She looked up to see the clearing in full detail, three hundred yards of open space, not a single piece of cover to be found, stood between them and the inner part of the city.

A strong smirk spread across the medic’s lips as she swung her legs back and fourth more vigorously. She loved moments like this. The whole waiting game. Her eyes narrowed as they scanned across the room, making sure they were actually not in danger. The room seemed to look like an old office. Something Wraith were used to hiding away in. Some filing cabinets occupied the one corner, whilst a desk filled up the other. By the looks of things it had been abandoned for a while as she assessed the stained metal walls and the pulled up flooring. Biting her lip, she jumped from the table and strutted over to put a hand on Anival’s shoulder reassuringly. Something she always knew how to do best. Smiling sympathetically, she glanced over to Ron who seemed to be rubbing his hands together.

Briefly closing her dark hazel eyes, she felt something. Something she had felt before but was more of a gut thing more than physical. Her heart quickened in pace slightly as her gut feeling was becoming stronger. Getting down to her knees she looked up to the others, who quickly followed suit. Joamer knew exactly what she was doing but the others looked blankly in her direction. It was kind of signature for her to do so. She was known for her weird actions without words. People just learnt to copy her. A few mumbles of “what the hell is she doing” filled the air, only to be hushed by Ron. Helena placed her arms over her head as she heard it coming.

The sound of minor explosions filled the air of the room as the squad felt the whole earth tremble with the force. Once again, Helena smirked as she looked out of the window from her position to see the sprinkling debris falling from the sky. As a trooper began getting to their feet, she pulled them down with a thud, ushering everyone not to move as a second explosion took place. No one actually knew how she knew about the second one, neither did she truth be told, but reassuringly, it happened.

Now, slowly getting up from her position she nodded towards Ron and Anival. She bowed her head as she whispered a soft thank you to the lost souls. It had been a long time since they had bothered her last, not that she complains about it. She quite enjoys their company now and again only if they aren’t asking for her help to cross over, which they both knew couldn’t happen.

“I’m telling you, it’s just a gut feeling. You’ll think I’m weird if I explain it any more than that.” The medic smiled proudly.

“You’re lying. You’ve got some sort of connection haven’t you?” Rogue chuckled, getting to his feet and rubbing his knees from the pain Helena caused him.

Ron softly smiled towards her, nodding a quick thank you before gathering everyone around in a huddle. Everyone knew this couldn’t be good. They were currently standing in an old building needing to find a way into this bio dome, only to be blessed with a clear open space…

“I need everyone to spread out, but enough to stay together if you know what I mean. I don’t want to be losing people along the way. We need some new tactics. This is a hard one.” Ron coughed.

“What if we some how get some Civilian clothes? Maybe that would be a bit easier not to be seen?” A voice spoke out from the back of the huddle.

“If you can get some, by all means use them. But we don’t have any here. Just don’t make it obvious what you are doing guys. I don’t want any injuries.”

“Too right we don’t” Helena sighed.

As the squad leader and his assistant lead the squad out of the building, they all rushed into different ally ways, far enough apart to just been seen by the others. The snow made it hard for them to stay quiet as it crunched under each trooper’s boots.

Each ally way seemed very narrow, only enough room for double file if they encountered something. Each winding off path got the trooper’s questioning if they were in the right one. Rykin pointed up to the sky, in the direction of the bio dome. It seemed to be easing it’s way closer as they took different paths. Helena knew this was just too easy and something was bound to come up in front of them.

“You lot carry on, I want to see if I can find some Civilian clothes. I can’t wear this any longer, I’m not used to it.” Helena whispered over the comlink, only to be responded with a nod by the squad leader.

This was her chance to excel at something and impress people more than she already had done. She had no clue and what she was doing or where she was going. All she knew was the way back to the building, and that’s when it hit her. She’d seen some homeless woman asking for change in one of the off streets. Maybe if she was clever enough, she could in some way get the clothes and pause as a homeless person. Would be more believable than what she was currently wearing.

Sneaking up in the side street, she spotted the poor woman asleep on an old ragged cloth. Surely this would be a better way to go than starving to death. The medic, going against every she had ever said in her life, pulled out her rifle and aimed it. Her hands shaking with fear. Only finding herself pulling the trigger and letting it shoot her clear in the temple, the only place Helena knew would kill her instantly with no pain. She hung her head in shame as she watched the body twitch with the brain’s last impulses.

She quickly stripped the woman of her clothes and changed into them. For a homeless person, they weren’t that bad. Sure it was a thin, hole ridden shirt and pair of thick trousers, but at least the woman left her a shawl Helena could cover her shoulders with. Knowing she shouldn’t leave the body in that state she quickly cleaned up the blood and stitched up the shot wound, making it look like a natural death.

The morbid side of her caused a sadistic smile to infect her lips as she grabbed her medical supplies and rifle, sprinting back to the squad proudly of her efforts.

Lead shell casings twinkled merrily as they fell upon the hard metal flooring of the Door Vel Ost company tower.  Raasaa was in her element.  A sniper stationed upon the highest tower in Kanti can see a lot, especially the whereabouts of those blasted Imperial bastards; Raasaa grinned devilishly as she lightly rubbed the trigger with her index finger, looking for another victim to kill.  Her eyes narrowed with discovery as an Imperial trooper showed his head.  With deadly accuracy and speed she sent him to his unwitting death, and another lead shell danced on the floor with merriment.

A message from her commander wiped the grin from her face.  She wasn't killing enough of the enemy leaders; these insignificant trooper kills weren't delaying the bastards as much as the Arkanians wanted.  She was ordered to kill commanders now, especially Imperial squad leaders.  She gritted her teeth with impatience, squad leaders were difficult to kill- battle hardened and experienced as they were.  They knew how to keep their heads down.

"Raasaa." a voice rapsed behind her.  Raasaa kept her eye on the scope, and ignored the Arkanian she knew to be her commander's personal messenger.

"Listen to me, Raasaa." the messenger hissed.  "Visallo is getting impatient.  You're not hitting enough of them."

"Quiet, Sensack." Raasaa snarled.  "You can remind Visallo that he hired me because I never miss; I never miss because I'm the best there is.  If Visallo isn't happy with me, he can have one of his 'thirty percent rate of kill' greens do it instead."

"He said you'd say something like that." Sensack sneered.  "And he wanted me to tell you that he found Demortis."

Raasaa turned away from her gun and stared hatefully at Sensack.  "Demortis is getting old, shitsack.  You better go back and tell Visallo to check his eyes and make sure they're still working."  She turned back to her scope and excitedly whispered, "And you can tell him that I've killed a squad leader."

"No you haven't." Sensack said.  He craned his neck over the edge of the parapet as if he could see for himself if she had killed someone.

"No, but by the time you get your scrawny ass back to Visallo I will have."  she made eye contact one last time to assert her point.  "So get goin!"


Wraith Squad had spread themselves out in an arc, Ron and Anival holding the sides.  The opposition was thinning out fortunately, and all of them could see the biodome clearly.  It would simply be a matter of finding the sector of the city in control of the biodome, and from their finding information useful to their mission.

Ron heard Helena's voice come over the intercom.  "I'm getting another one of those feelings, Ron." she said.  "I'm not sure what it is, but I'm getting a feeling."

"Alright Helena, send my regards to Anival to tell the rest of the squad to keep their heads down, even more then they are..."

Ron stopped.  Something caught his attention.  It was a datapad, of foreign design and make that appeared to be functional and working.  Hopeful that it could be useful in recovering information on the biodome, Ron slowly and cautiously moved towards the datapad.  Exposing himself temporarily from cover.

Helena was at least three hundred feet away from him, but she knew something was wrong when she got that feeling again.  But this time she knew he was in trouble.  "Ron." she said over the comlink.  "Something's gonna happen, I know it.  Can't we stop and wait for a minute."

"Not yet." Ron replied, with some subtle excitement in his voice.  "I've almost got it."

"Got what?" Helena asked.

No reply.  In her frustration she looked upwards for inspiration, anything really.  It was to everyone's advantage that she did.  High up she thought she saw a dim red light, it could be a signal light for aircraft, or it could be...

It moved.  Sniper.

Ron bent over to pick up the datapad.  He was convinced now that it was a miraculous find, and could potentially end their objectives.  As his fingers wrapped around the pad, he became consciously aware that his comlink was intercepting a message.  He turned his head slightly, moving his entire body three inches more to the left than it was half a second ago.

Helena's message of "Sniper get down" and the actual sniper shot itself happened simultaneously.  Upon impact, Ron fell backwards, consequently out of site from the sniper, and held his glove to the side of his head where the left ear used to be; now a bloodied mess of steaming hair and flesh. 


"Hellfire!" Raasaa cursed.  She actually missed a shot!  The fool must have known, probably at the last second, that he was in danger and flinched.  She threw her gun down and waited for the inevitable messenger that would arrive. 

She saw Sensack coming within the minute.  He was grinning, the fool probably thought she had killed the man.  As he approached, the Arkanian was about to congratulate her, when she cut him short.

"I wounded him." she said.  "The fool evaded my shot and is lying wounded somewhere down there."

Sensack curled his lip with impatience.  "Visallo doesn't like having to take prisoners."

Raasaa growled back a response.  "Then bring him up here and I'll make sure he won't have to."

Ron yelled out as he faintly saw through the red mist his enemies take him captive.  Every one of his squad mates heard him too, but when the arrived at the spot they were all to late.  The Arkanians had taken their squad leader alive for torture, information, and most likely his life.

It was likely that Ron would die in less than twenty-four hours.

OOC:

Take your time and work it out.  Work together as a team.  You may kill anyone you find inside the Door Vel Ost building except for Visallo and Raasaa.  Demortis is not inside the building.

Anival weighed the options, it would be better to proceed with the mission and return afterwards, and hope Ron was alive, they only had hours to capture the star port command center, on the other hand, Ron was the Squad Leader of Wraith, and as such took greater importance than the current objection,the path was clear, rescue Ron. Eventually they were in-front of the  Door Vel Ost building, a building towering the others around it, Anival turned to face the squad.

"Helena, right now you are the less conspicuous walk in, unarmed." Anival put emphasis on unarmed. "And ask for someone, anyone make up a name, just check out lobby, they will kick you out, of that I am sure, we will be here, with your report."

Helena nodded briskly and set her weapons down, Joamer looked at her, Anival watched Helena go.Four small blips notified Anival of an incoming comm signal, yet another private line, only this time it was Joamer.

"You better hope nothing happens to her."

Anivla knew what was at stake, but more importantly he knew what had to be done, he took all of this in before answering Joamer. "So do I." A "hrmph" came through the comm, and the line went silent, another couple beeps signaled the troopers were having a conversation, he switched back to the squad channel, and waited for Helena. Time crawled by incredibly slow, the display said only five minutes had passed, but it felt as if they had been there for days. After a while two security officers were escorting Helena out the building, they threw her on the floor and walked back inside. Joamer took out his plaster pistol.

"Don't" Anival said sternly. "You'll get your chance."

"Alright, but they're mine."

Helena brushed snow off her shirt and seemingly walked off to nowhere, she headed to a spot that seemed inconspicuous and sat there, after ten more minutes passed she walked over to them.

"Basic security, about six guards, four of witch are sitting down."

"And surveillance?" asked Anival mentally jotting down small facts.

"Yea, a couple of cameras, no clue were they head to."

Anival bit his lip, he had always had someone to lead them, he hadn't lead since the incident back home, he sighed and faced the squad.

"Alright, we are going in, anything moves, kill it, civilians as well, they need to know who they are dealing with. Only exceptions are children, only, the children. If you have reason to think one of them could harm the mission.........then kill it."

Four of the members sucked in their breaths, Anival didn't care, he had been on missions where hate population used women and children, he wouldn't loose anyone on his watch, the squad had to be whole for Ron's return.

"Ready up, we are going now, Helena, you stay a bit back, since you are not wearing armor."

Helena seemed as if she was going to say something, she eventually nodded and walked to the back of the squad. The aligned in a three by three formation, and walked into the building. The shock on the guards face was evident, they stared at them jaws dropped, eyes peeled back. Shots fired from the squad, the first two that died were Joamer's chosen targets, the entrance was smooth, barely any resistance, but now they were alerted.

The fight lasted only two minutes, the unsuspecting men had been no match to wraith, but surely that was the only easy part, if they had managed to take Ron, they had to be good. A flame licked at Anivals belly, an anger he hadn't felt since he had first seen the Gungan Grahim.

Anival picked up one of the guards, the guard had been shot in the leg s and chest, he was still alive, barely, walked up to one of the cameras, took of his helmet and looked into the lens. "We're coming for you." he said then raised the guards head so it could be seen, and sunk a single blaster bolt under the mans chin, his head exploded, droplets of blood fell on Anivals face, he didn't flinch, instead he donned his helmet, and ordered the squad to scoure the first floor, they would press on until they found Ron, death wasn't a choice. By the time they had finished searching the lobby, there were many upturned tables flimsi-plast littered the floor.

"Empty!" Growled Joamer.

"Wouldn't expect him to be in the first floor would you?"

"No"

"Alright men, to the second floor, and remember the longer we take, the greater the chance we won't find him alive, and the longer we take to find Him, either Alive or dead, because we will find him, the greater the chance we won't be able to take the star-port base."

The crimson blood spread out in a clear puddle. Closing her eyes briefly, Helena breathed deeply. Her body began tingling as she felt it just wanting to drop. She shook her head vigorously. She knew exactly why she felt like that, but right now it wasn’t the time to listen to it. Raising her rifle, she began making her way to the stairs, only to feel herself being pulled back on the shoulder. A man towered over her with a sly smirk, pulling at her long blonde hair. Grabbing her in a headlock, he covered her mouth to muffle her screams.

The sight of the walls reversing on her made her heart race, trying to get the screams out and biting at his hands. Luckily she remembered what happened the last time this occurred. She stopped dead in her tracks, causing the man to literally part his legs in a stance and rock her back and fourth to move her. Slyly, she wrapped her left leg around his, and on the last rock she pulled it forward, causing him to trip. The man thudded on the ground backwards on his rock. Quickly raising her second rifle to his head, she placed a foot on his chest and aimed. Pulling the trigger without even looking, she’d hit him square between the eyes.

“Bulls eye. 180 points to moi” she winked.

Picking up her dropped gun, she joined the others in the shoot out up the stairs. She then got the faint feelings again. Calling to Joamer and Anival, she began making some hand signals, indicating not to go near the one room at the end of the corridor up the stairs without back up. She had a feeling they were waiting for them. Almost like a surprise attack to beat them at their own game sort of thing. A quick nod in response gave her the relief feeling she’d wanted.  She could then hear them tell the new troopers what she had said. They all looked back and nodded, closing in the gap as they shot each man up the stairs. The domino effect built up as each body fell down them followed by a blood fall.

Clearing the landing, they formed a circle so 360 degrees were covered. They stood and waited. Helena knew it wouldn’t be long before an ambush came. A few doors could be heard opening. Not in sight, but close enough to be heard. She smirked, as she was in the middle of the circle so she couldn’t be harmed. Almost like a prized possession. She loved having everything evolving around her and this was one of the missions she seemed to be enjoying.

As a few shots were fired they were soon followed by the sweet sound of a fallen dead body. Knowing full well they’d soon come Helena ducked below Anival, who was leading the operations.

“You really need to do something about that room. I know it’s risky, but we need to take them down. They know we’re here, and I have a feeling they don’t think we know they’re there.” She whispered, pausing to think quick on her feet.

“Maybe we should just kick it down” He responded brashly.

Helena shook her head violently and stood up.

“You can’t go and do that. You know you can’t. Maybe there’s another way in to surprise their surprise attack? Seems simple, but maybe it’ll work. But you know… Don’t ask me. I’m just a female trooper, what do we know eh?” She pouted sarcastically.

Anival pondered for a moment, shaking his head in disagreement. He quickly motioned his hands to the others to stay close behind him as he pulled his rifle out. He quietly muttered to himself, calculating the weakest point in the indicated door by Helena. With that he pulled the trigger, cutting a perfect hole in the door. With quick thinking, Joamer pulled the ring on his hand grenade. The loud blow caused Helena to bring her hands to her ears to muffle the sound. Rykin then kicked the door down, opening fire with the last few men that were left standing. Quickly followed by the others. The last man put up a fight, causing Joamer to back him up next to an open window. Seeing his opportunity, he shot him in the abdomen causing him to fly backwards and cascade down to the ground. Helena shook her head as she noticed him following up his actions with a cheesy grin and a peace sign. She face palmed as she turned to Anival for further instructions.

“Good job guys, but it’s not over yet. I have a feeling that was one of the easier ones” he sighed, obviously contemplating about things.

Zeshaun was still sour about being stuck to the floor, he didn't enjoy not being able to move in the middle of a fight, especially when they were in a hurry to get somewhere. I just got jacked of at least two kills Zeshaun thought as he referred to his kill counter in his head, he always had competitions with himself to see how many kills he could get in a mission. The competition had grown into quite an elaborate ordeal, almost to the point of becoming an obsession. Zeshaun kept his rifle unlocked and loaded a grenade into his grenade launcher attachment, he saved his flash bangs for a moment when the squad wouldn't be in as much danger of being affected as well.

The squad skipped the elevator this time, not wanting to run into any kind of ambush attack again. They found the emergency stairs and began to go up cautiously, not wanting to rush into another attack blindly. They got to the top of the stairs, no one was in the room that they had shown up in. The squad stopped moving, only half of them out of the stairwell, they had been expecting anything, but they didn't expect nothing.

"Whats happening. . ."Rykin called from the back of the group.

He was quieted by the others out in the room.

The room was silent for a second before a soft metal click was heard, something hit the ground and then the whole squad saw it all at once a metal ball, blinking with one sole red LED light. It was the size of Zeshaun's fist, but it had wires and little stubs sticking out of it. The device emit a low beeping noise, confirming Zeshaun's fears.

"Oh shit." Zeshaun whispered under his breath.

"Take cover!!" Anival yelled.

Half the squad scurried back around the corner of the stairwell, the other half jumped behind cubicles. Zeshaun ducked behind a cubicle and covered his head. The blast shook the room, and the walls of the cubicle behind him fell on top of his head. Zeshaun gritted his teeth as the heat wave hit them next, It finally ended, leaving a ringing sound in his ear, and flashing lights in his eyes.

"Whenever you get over the after effects of that frackin' bomb feel free to get back into the fight." Anival said, nearly yelling, clearly he had also been hit by the blast pretty hard as well.

The Wraiths in the stairwell came rushing out into the room, blasting their rifles. Zeshaun couldn't see anything from his position lying on the floor, but apparently there were now adversaries firing back at them. Still in a daze, he accepted help from a hand and was dragged back into the stairwell, where he sat up and tried to shake the head ache. This mission just keeps getting better,  gotta love these icy planets. Zeshaun grabbed his rifle from his shoulder, made sure it was still loaded, checked for malfunctions and then quickly went back out into the fight, Time to get my kills Zeshaun thought maliciously, thinking of getting revenge on the people that had set the bomb.

Rogueboy gripped the handle of his rifle tightly, as the bomb exploded and popped the tweeter on his external audio sensors of his helmet causing him to be unable to hear minor sounds. “Piece of shit.” The soldier mumbled to himself as he brushed off the flimsiplasts that were raining down on the squad.

“Contacts!” Someone yelled as blaster fire confirmed their report.

The A280 felt right in Rogueboy’s hands, the rifle was much more compact as opposed to Wraith’s medium blaster that was their standard load out. Additionally the A280 had a short-medium range scope that could facilitate in the shooting.

A bolt crashed into the desk that Rogueboy was using as cover, melting the cheap metal and creating toxic fumes and large amounts of smoke, causing a smokescreen that Rogue was unable to see through. Afraid to hit his own squad mates the veteran soldier held his fire and kept his head down. Something came crashing into the desk from the opposite side causing it to bump into Rogue, who fell over. Quickly picking himself up, he pulled out his vibro-bayonet and launched himself over the desk. The neck strap of his A280 prevented it from being lost behind, but not from getting in his way, as soon as he cleared over the desk and slammed into the body of an ACP officer.

The sudden switch in momentum caused Rogueboy’s rifle to come up and slap him in the face causing his neck to snap back. The officer quickly reached into his holster and pulled out his sidearm, reacting fast RB’s left hand was on the man’s right wrist in an attempt to force the blaster away from him. The man’s left hand was around Rogue’s hand holding the vibro-knife and he was trying to force it to the ground. Together the two were locked in struggle with Rogueboy holding the upper hand simply because he was on top of the fight. 

That quickly changed as the ACP officer used all the momentum he could to roll over and positioned himself on top. The vibro-bayonet quickly found its way buried into the ground and the man attempted to raise his knee in order to pin RB’s arm to the floor, using the slight pause when the officer moved his knee over the arm, and letting go with his own hand so that it doesn’t become trapped, Rogueboy was able to raise his hand and squeeze the man’s testicles as hard as he could. The effect was instantaneous as the man jumped off of Rogue, bringing the hold-out pistol with him. RB grabbed his A280 and squeezed the trigger, blindly firing at the man who was mere centimetres away.

The man toppled over as Rogueboy fired off half his clip into him. Ever so slowly Rogue got himself up to a knee position, looking around he saw that the other officers were dispatched and that Anival was gathering the squad to quickly go up the next flight of stairs.

As fast as he could Rogueboy joined the rank and file, right behind Anival who was leading the pack.

The squad reached the top of the tower and the sight that greeted them caused them to all stop in their tracks. A pool of blood was situated perhaps a meter away and from it there was a trail that led to the edge of the parapet. Even more interesting was another pool of blood and yet another bloody trail that led off the parapet, yet a pair of hands were clinging strongly to the parapet.

Anival rushed to the pair of hands but his boot slid on the blood and snow causing him to crash heavily on the metal floor. Rogueboy was right behind him, and he jumped over the fallen Anival and landed on his knees and he slid towards the parapet, stopping centimetres away before plunging to his death. “Thank the Maker.” He whispered.

“Oh…what did you do to our squad leader?” Rogueboy called out as he played with the thought of stepping on the bitch’s fingers.

“You foolish human!” She screamed.

“You’re the one dangling on the edge of a building, and you call me foolish?” Asked Rogue.

“Your leader is hanging on to me. If you guarantee my safety I won’t let go and kill us both.”

“You mean I can’t just save you? I have to save him, as well?” Rogueboy joked before adding. “I guarantee your safety.” Turning to the squad Rogueboy barked out commands. “Zesh! Come sit on my legs.”

While lying on his stomach, and Zesh sitting on his legs to act as an anchor Rogueboy was able to aid the Arkanian woman into climbing on top of him in a very awkward way with Ron still attached to her.

“It would seem we have a very unusual situation on our hands.” The woman said to Rogueboy.

“That we do…and Anival take it from here.” Rogueboy said as he grabbed Anival from the shoulders and placed him in front of Rogueboy so that Ani would be facing the woman.

The room fell to a dead silence, as their eyes averted to the woman’s lips. They curled slightly in her words, almost smug yet still toying with them. She liked the game, keeping your enemies off balance was an art. Watch them so you can find that one opening, that perfect moment. She was a master at the game, spent her whole life at it. Some said she had been a man born in a woman's body, she seemed more man than most men.

“I hope you know what you’re doing. She seems to know what she’s doing. We don’t. Toy with her, but only if you know what you’re talking about. She’ll find ways to break you down. Trust me, us women know how.” Helena whispered to Anival when she noticed the look he was giving the prisoner.

The young woman looked straight to Helena, slowly walking up to her and placing her finger upon the medic’s lips. She then made a hushed sound roll from her lips. Her eyes going hard, almost as if she enjoyed the feeling against her fingers.

“You seem to have your men under control. I like that. We seem to have things in common young lady. I like you. In fact I like the lot of you.” she smirked, as the men careful watching her eying Helena up and down. She kept her finger on Helena's lips for a moment more before stepping back.

A single long noise was heard escape the medic's throat. It was a growl, a deep ominous thing. The sniper only looked over at her and smiled again. Helena took a step forward but was stopped by Rogue's arm around her waist.

Joamer, Anival, and Ron then heard the words they’d been dreading to hear. “I want to tag along.” This caused the group to shudder. Helena was still in shock about a woman touching her, let alone take all the focus and attention away from her. She shook her head sternly and pouted her lips before stamping her foot against the hard flooring, causing a strong and heavy thud. Her face then glowed a deep red in anger.

“Temper temper young girl. You know, it doesn’t look pretty on you.” She toyed, curling a lock of hair around her finger. "I tire of this game, release me and you might survive my tender mercies." She said with sudden strength in her voice. Helena slapped the hand away and went to rip the woman's head off but was stopped as Rogue grabbed her wrist.

"We would, but you are a prisoner, sorry but that's the way it is." Anival said as he took a single step forward. Maybe if you offered information we could work up a deal?" Joamer looked at Anival and almost threw something at his head.

"You wouldn't want someone like her." Helena said, picking up on what was happening. "She is not a real woman, she is one of those manly girls who are utterly confused. Bet she has diseases too, she looks half dead to me." The sniper turned to stare at Helena, her right hand clenching and unclenching into a fist. At that moment she looked like a man, but it was quickly gone. Her calm shattered only for an instant before she continued the game.

The two women continued to have a stare off before Ron broke the deadly silence. He came between them both, and sternly looked at them. He sent Helena off to cool down in the corner whilst he had a final word with the sniper. A few moments had passed before he finally called everyone back in a line. He nodded confirming she’d be following them around for a while. He’d hope to get some form of information out of her by the time they were done with her.

Each member nodded in agreement, hoping he knew what he was letting himself in for. They then one by one began picking up their weapons and placing them in their holsters. Helena still kept her eye on the woman. She totally wasn’t looking forward to the time ahead of them. Picking up her medical supplies she had used on Ron, she packed them accordingly before following the others to the stairs. Her rifle still packed and close to her body as she liked it.

“I’ll have you know, when I get my gun back you’re so dead” Raasaa replied with a slight demonic laugh.

Filing out, they kept Raasaa in the middle, sure not to lose her.

Anival looked at the oncoming police men, he judged the odds, and suddenly, he wasn't so sure, the self-assurance that he was making all the right moves had suddenly left him, now devoid of confidence, Anival was forced to judge his actions, Zeshaun, Joamer, RogueBoy, Elektra and himself, against the advancing law enforcers. Sure they were almost topped by no one in battle, sure they had plastiod armor that could diffuse most blaster fire, but there were factors to consider, Ron's well being, Helena's life, and more importantly the missions success, finally he decided.

"Alright guys, follow my lead, and stay close, and I mean really close, you fall or get stuck, you're on your own."

Anival looked to make sure he had been heard, he waited for the police enforcers. Anival tensed, his muscles clenched, waiting for what lay ahead.

"Rykin, tell Helena and the others to hide, and I mean hide!"

"Copy that."

Anival couldn't help repress a chuckle, that was the most standard line, and it brought back a small aura of confidence, if the rest of the squad was confident, then he didn't have a reason not to be. The police were finally close enough to discern some minor features. As they ran their white hair swayed, held in place by headband, or visor.

"Run!" Screamed Anival as he turned and ran the opposite direction in which Ron and the others lay hidden, the others in the small party stayed close behind, apparently they had taken his warning to heart.Anival looked behind his back to see if they were being followed, they were, fifteen yards behind them the law enforcers where pumping their legs furiously, trying to catch the hated invaders. The group took a left and ran a few more meters,Anival mentally mapped the route they were taking.

"Time to end this." muttered Anival

"Zeshaun hand me one of your thermal detonators." Gasped Anival, it was harder than he thought running through the snow with about thirty pounds of armor. Zeshuan fumbled through his belt, searching for the explosive, Anival mentally reminded himself to berate the trooper, he had to be more organized. Finally Zeshuan took out the small prized orb, and tossed it to Anival. After setting it to explode after a set amount of time, he let it fall, another glance behind his back confirmed their pursuers were on track.

"STOP!" yelled Anival, they all stopped and looked at their enemy, the people they were about to invade.

"We're lost!" said Anival, taking in a deep breath, the confused look on the Arkanians face was almost enough to make the run worthwhile, little did he know they were about to die. Anival donned a grim smile under his helmet, the visor stopped the overpowering snow, and it helped to slow down the overpowering explosion that came from the thermal detonator, theArkanians died in an explosion of blood, snow and limbs.

"That settles that" mumbled RB

"Back to Ron and the others" ordered Anival.

They retraced their steps, as Anival passed the bloodied snow, it smeared on his boot, the effect made it look as if his bottom foot was missing. Eventually they made it back to Ron, Helena and the other two, as well as Raasaa, who was on the floor with a red cheeks, and Helena was sporting an incredible smile. Anival didn't even ask.

"Ron we can make it but we need to move fast, me and Joamer are going to carry you alright?"

Ron looked at them with glazed eyes Helena had taken the time to further the medical care administered to Ron, now he wore a patch on his ear, and gauze was rolled around the side of his head, he looked much "neater".

"Helena did you give him more pain killers?"

"Yes, and as you can see I wrapped him up."

Anival nodded.

"Alright come on Jo, lets do this."

Joamer walked over to them, they picked Ron up gingerly and looked at the other squaddies, and Raasaa.

"Let's move it!" muttered Joamer, echoing Anival's thoughts. They immediately got up and got in a formation, once again walking into the open parapet that was the field of snow, that kept them form their ultimate goal, the star port.

The sound of a bolt being thrown over the door sounded loud in comparison to the pitter patter of the blaster bolts, and occasional ping of a solid projectile, hitting the control room outer wall. Ignoring the sounds of men yelling on the other side of the door Joamer sat Ron down gently and looked around the small room.

The squad had spread out covering both doors, Anival opened the door leading into the city only to meet by ruby red flashes shoot over his head. "Not going that way." Anival said as he slammed the door and slid the long bolt into place.

It was small, two tables with monitors on both walls, with a filing cabinet or two thrown about for good measure. The squad barely fit inside. Most of them knew what it was like to fight in close quarters, if those doors opened they would stand very little chance of surviving.

"Trapped, like rats." Raasaa said with a laugh.

Walking over Joamer shoved a rolled up cloth ball into her mouth, and quickly tied a gag to hold it in place. Muttering to himself he walked back over to a wall diagram and began studying it. The sound of pounding began a few seconds later as guards on the other side of both doors began ramming them with heavy objects.

"Time for ideas folks." Anival said as he stepped away from the door and looked over the squad one by one. The group remained quiet, the veterans began checking weapons and slapping in fresh clips as they waited. They knew the most likely outcome, and none of them enjoyed being prisoners.

Joamer wondered why the wall was suddenly getting closer as he finally felt the impact on his back. Bracing himself he crashed into the wall a moment later, but stayed on his feet. Turning around he grabbed Raasaa just as she tried to make the first step into round housing him in the head.

"Alright you little minx, I see a simple gag is not enough." Joamer said as he spun her around and grabbed both her arms. Pulling a length of rope off the nearby table he quickly wound it several times over and through her interlaced arms. Reaching forward he wrapped it around her waist then secured it with a knot that might hold her a few minutes.

"Now, that is strike two. Third strike you are out, and I shoot. It won't be stun either, now behave." Joamer said as he pushed her against a wall. "Stay." He commanded her like a bad dog.

He could feel the glare she gave him as he turned back around to face the diagram on the wall. Putting his finger on a box he traced a long line leading to what seemed like a large building almost in the center of the city.

"I think we just caught a break." Joamer said, the rest of the squad looked up and Anival walked over to look at the diagram. "Service tunnel, leading to the port control building, or pretty damn close to it. Entrance is in this room, middle of the floor."

"Alright, find the entrance quickly." Anival ordered. "You got your fusion cutter right?" He asked Joamer a second later.

"Always, we need to hurry those doors won't hold long. I'll need a few minutes to weld the shut shut when we leave." Joamer said as he unclipped his bag.

The squad quickly found the door and opened it, two of them instantly dropped inside and vanished into the brightly lit hallway. Aniva supporting Ron went next, quickly following by Helena. A few moments later Rogue almost shoving a ticked off Raasaa down the steps before him vanished from sight.

Reaching into his pack Joamer pulled out two motion triggered grenades and put them next to both doors. It took less than a minute for the whole squad to enter the tunnel. All the while the ramming of the doors continued to sound throughout the small room. Being the last one down he closed the hatch above him.

Slipping on a pair of dark goggles, since his helmet went missing sometime in the fighting, Joamer activated his fusion cutter and set it to weld. Quickly going to work be began sealing the door, opting for a fast weld than a pretty one. He knew it would not hold forever, but it would hold long enough for them to get a good head start.

He heard a distinctly different sound almost at the same time. The loud shriek of metal on metal sounded as the doors were opened. He heard the thud of foot steps as men entered from both sides of the room.

"I suggest taking cover." Joamer said half a second before twin explosions went off. Dust and rock particles rained down around the squad as the noise slowly died down. "Too late." He said a second later.

"Time to move." Anival said.

Zeshaun was in awe of the large artificial city. He didn’t know it was possible to fake such an environment when the outside was so drastically different. His thoughts were cut short by a rough voice, blasting through a megaphone.

“Drop your weapons and surrender yourselves!”

There was least a squad of armored men standing in front of them, blocking the main road, along with a jeep of some sort that had a mounted turret on top, it was all very menacing. Anival gave a quick look to everyone in the squad and they all understood from the simple gesture. A few of them gave a quick burst from their rifles to force the soldiers to take cover and then ran down a side street. Unfortunately they didn’t get very far, before they ran into another smaller group of soldiers, blocking the exit. Luckily they weren’t caught off guard this time. The Wraiths immediately began to fire as they ran, but the soldiers were better trained than everyone had assumed. They stood their ground and returned fire forcing the charging Wraiths to come to a skidding stop and take cover behind some crates and trash cans.

“Well that went well.” Rogueboy said sarcastically.

Joamer was trapped behind a larger trash can, still taking care of Ron, who was still looking drowsy and very much out of it. Joamer was trying to fire back but the constant stream of red bolts didn’t give him a chance. Their technique was flawless, shooting in a staggered moment so there were almost no breaks in the rain of bullets. The rest of the Wraiths tried to provide a distraction by firing back at the soldiers, but they were so well entrenched that it was hard to hit them, or hit them for that matter. The Wraiths had gotten so used to taking out the pathetic police force outside of the bio-dome that these well trained soldiers caught them off guard.

Zeshaun rammed another clip into his rifle, frustrated with the fact that he couldn’t do anything to help, he then suddenly remembered that he had that special attachment how could I forget about you Zeshaun said, smiling and stroking the grenade launcher attachment at the end of his rifle. He quickly loaded a flash bang into the end, and loaded it. He aimed carefully, trying to get a ricochet effect and have the flash bang land behind the boxes that most of the troopers were taking cover behind. He made some quick calculations and then yelled a quick warning to his squad mates.

“Flash bang!”

He pulled the trigger, and a soft thump, announced the launching of the round projectile. It bounced off the far wall but it landed right in front of the boxes. Zeshaun cursed to himself for missing his target but he knew it would still have an effect. Zeshaun closed his eyes at the last moment, and the flash bang exploded with a soft bang and a bright flash of light. When he opened his eyes again the firing had slowed down but had not stopped, some of the more veteran soldiers from the other side had taken cover or had closed their eyes in time to not be affected by the flash bang. Luckily this gave Joamer enough time to move to a safer, more secure area behind most of the squad.

“The longer we are stuck here, the longer they will have to get more reinforcements!” Anival shouted as he shot a few more shots, only to have them hit the wall where a soldier had been standing moments ago.

“What do you suggest we do?” Jamsis yelled back, “We’re pinned down, and if we go back we’re only going to be running back into that turret.”

The squad squabbled over a plan. Not being able to come up with a single idea, they felt lost, but still blasted away. The enemy soldiers didn’t show any signs of slowing down as their red bullets drilled into the crates and trash cans.

“Let’s fall back; I’ll stay here in this.” Anival said, pointing at a large trash can.

“What are you planning…” Rhykin asked, confused as to why they would leave Anival behind.

“Don’t worry about it.” Anival said with a sinister smile. “Just be prepared to run.”

The Wraiths covered for Anival as he snuck into a trash can and put the lid on over his head. Anival gave the signal through their comlinks and the Wraiths started to retreat, slowly moving back towards the main street. As they did so, the enemy soldiers started to advance, and as they passed Anival in his trash can a single shot came from within the trash can and caught one of the soldiers in the thigh, causing him to crumble to the ground grabbing his leg in pain.

Anival uttered a single word. “Charge.”

The Wraiths stopped their retreat and ran toward the enemy, rifle blasting, the soldiers were so confused that they started to run away, throwing away their years of training. Some of the veterans tried to rally them to stand their ground but the young ones wouldn’t listen. The veterans were giving menacing shouts at the newer soldiers as they ran as well. The Wraiths managed to miss every single soldier as they ran, but for the moment they seemed safe and problem free, Anival came out of the trash can, made a face, and a comment about the smell, and then finished the job he had begun by putting a bullet a through the injured man’s head.

“Let’s keep moving, we don’t want to be stuck like this ever again.” Anival said, reloading his rifle and moving out toward the end of the side street.

“Does anyone else hear that?” Helena asked, as she stopped to listen closely.

Zeshaun strained his ears and heard the sound of rolling wheels and an engine, that better not be what I think that is Zeshaun and the Wraiths began to sprint as the Jeep with the mounted turret rounded the corner into the side street.

As Visallo approached the Consul and assembly of the city of Kanti on the fifth floor of the bio-dome, he immediately regretted the fact that he was still without the aid of Demortis, and until then would be at a severe disadvantage in the grand scheme of things until the legendary mercenary showed up.  Visallo grunted uneasily when the assembly announced his entrance, and grumbled even more when a seat at the assembly council chambers was uncovered for him.  Although quite close in proximity to the head of the council chamber room, where the Consul was placed, he still recognized that his seat was a relatively unimportant one.  He growled with disgust even more at this show of what he thought to be discourtesy, and wished even more for the presence of Demortis, the man whom he figured would make everything right for his side.

The assembly was discussing negotiating peace with the Imperial detachments that, until recently, had penetrated through the city's defenses with nary an obstacle.  It was thought that a peaceful surrender would be better than complete and total annihilation by many of the assembly members; an idea that was swiftly becoming more and more popular.  Jarr Yordin, five times an elected member of the assembly, was the propagator and defender of this popular opinion.  An old Arkanian, stubborn, thoughtful, yet not as wise as many thought he was- Jarr at least knew when he lost a fight.  With this particular fight, there was no doubt left in him.

"I propose," he started magnanimously, "That we meet with the enemy head on, with a party under the guise of truce.  There we shall demand to be lead to the leader of this invasion, where we will properly negotiate the faculties necessary for a conditional and reasonable surrender of the city of Kanti!"

A boisterous, angry response was given in exchange for those bold words.  Many of the assembly members had served in the New Republic and had risked their lives against the Imperials.  To surrender without exhausting all means of resistance simply went against the grain of too many assembly members.  Yet there were not so many against the idea of an early, perhaps premature surrender. 

Jinn d'Ford was next to speak.  She was young, pretty, and arrogant; elected to the city council as the representative of the youth of Kanti.  She was the most outspoken of the assembly, and had done a fine job of establishing herself as an Imperial sympathizer.  She also was in favor of the plan for surrender.

"I second the motion!" she said.  "And I'll say this as well, that Arkania has long suffered under the oppression and economic bondage of the New Republic.  Why don't we free ourselves of this choking hold on our resources and people?  Let us ally ourselves with the Vast Empire!"

For a moment, the room erupted into total chaos as the entire assembly went head to head on the subject.  It did not last more than a minute, though, for right as violence nearly shattered any hope of a mutual agreement- three bodies hit the ground almost simultaneously, a burning hole of flesh in each of their skulls.  The poor souls of Jarr Yordin, Jinn d'Ford, and another sympathizer never spoke another word. The assembly was hushed instantly, and turned towards the source of the shot.  A grizzled, older Arkanian carrying a heavy repeating blaster rifle (heavily modified) stood in the doorway of the assembly hall.  Everyone thought his name at the same time, though few actually said it out loud.

"Demortis."

He was a legend among Arkanians; a bedtime story, a myth, a popular character to tell stories about.  He was the kind of person that everyone loved to hear about but nobody wanted to meet.  And even though everyone in the assembly hall was well acquainted with him, most of them were instantly hushed in a fearful respect of him.  Which actually suited Demortis just fine.

"I'm temporarily dissolving this assembly." he said simply.  "You can all return to your place of residence until we have successfully held off the full Imperial invasion."

"Wuh...we?" asked a timid councillor.

"We." replied Demortis.  "I have gathered a large force of over seventy independent mercenaries, all of them willing to defend this bio-dome until hell itself drags their life away from them.  So you see, we won't be needing you boys anymore."  He quickly added sarcastically to the dead body of the young woman, "Or you ladies."

Demortis motioned for them to be ushered out before any objections could arise.  He left only Visallo in the room.

"You're late." Visallo hissed.

"I was collecting an army." Demortis replied.  "Each of them a willing killer, should you be able to meet their needs financially."  Demortis chuckled to himself as he said this.  Turning back to a fellow mercenary, he gave his orders for the protection of the Bio-dome and the city of Kanti.

"Kill them all." he said coldly.

"Raasaa is among them." hissed the Mercenary.

"I know."

OOC:

That's right.  We're about to be bombarded by a small army of hired guns.  Most of these guys are trained killers, so there can be no more of the mass killing.  We are going to have to progress very slowly if we are to make it to the fifth level alive.

Time seemed to slow down as Rogueboy hip-fired his A280 at an enemy that was taking cover around the corner of a building. It never really occurred to Rogueboy that there was absolutely no cover on these streets, no convenient crate, or box, only lamp posts and small garbage cans that perhaps only a Jawa would be able to use cover behind, and Rogueboy questioned as to whether or not the thin material would be able to effectively stop a blaster shot. For now the squad was using the side of buildings as cover.

Firing from the hip was perhaps the worst way if one wanted to hit a target as the shots seemed to spray everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. Why was RB using this ineffective method? Because he was running from one cover to another and he preferred to add to the suppression fire.

As he was running Rogueboy tripped over the body of one of the fallen, he didn’t get a glimpse to see if it was friend or foe but he quickly scrambled back to his feet and ran to the middle of two buildings that was intersected by a narrow alley. Further down the alley Rogueboy could see one of the members of Oppressor shooting at the enemies. “Anival we need to get the hell out of here, they’re flanking us from two angles and I don’t think that door that Joamer welded is going to hold out any longer.”

“Give me a sec!” The acting squad leader yelled. There was a few moments of radio silence and Rogueboy used that moment to fire a burst of his A280 at the enemy, achieving nothing but scoring some shots on a building, turning the white stone into black. “I got it!” Anival shouted. “Oppressor and Wraith, we’re going into the sewers!”

A few comical groans emitted over the comlink causing Anival to ask. “What?”

“Well you know Anival, no one likes smelling like shit, more importantly someone else’s shit.” Rogueboy answered.

“You would rather die?” Pointed out Anival.

“I would rather die and smell clean than die and smell like shit.” Retorted Rogueboy.

“Just get in the damn sewers before I shoot you myself!” Anival screamed.

“Are we using the same sewer or separate ones?” Asked Helena.

“Just grab the nearest one; we’ll meet up in there.” Confirmed Anival.

The Oppressor soldier looked at Rogueboy who in turn pointed to the sewer between the two of them, together they both nodded and headed towards it. The Oppressor got there first and he quickly lifted off the cover and threw it to the side and used the ladder to go down. Rogueboy followed suit, being mindful to replace the cover.

“What’s your name?” RB asked of the other soldier as soon as he touched down into the murky water.

“Corporal Noob123.” The man said.

“Interesting call sign.” Rogueboy said as he made a face and wondered why the hell recruiters let the men pick their own call signs.

“We’re in the sewers.” Noob123 attempted to notify Anival. “Nothing but static, must be the thick walls.”

“I never did understand why we get so much interference.” Commented Rogueboy.

“Remember, your gear is always made by the cheapest bidder.” The Oppressor soldier said wisely.

“Let me guess, you had a desk job before this?”  Asked Rogueboy as the two started moving down the sewers, heading into the direction where Anival was before they decided to hit up the sewers.

“How did you know?” The man paused as he looked at RB.

“You’re not romancing your rifle; it’s something they drill into your head. My A280’s name is Shirly, and my six shot launcher is Helga.” Confessed Rogueboy.

“You gave them names?” The man said incredulously.

“Of course I did, they’re more reliable than any woman I have ever met so I decided to give them names.” Confirmed RB.

“I can’t wait to meet up with the other members of the squad.” He said hurriedly.

“I promise you, I’m not crazy. If you survive this mission yours will have a name as well. What happened to the rest of Oppressor? And Crater squad?” Inquired the Wraith trooper.

“Well…” The man started off embarrassingly. “You know how Crater was a demolition squad?”

“Yes…” Rogueboy said slowly.

“Well, let’s just say if they were having sex they popped too early.” Noob123 said with what sounded like an evil chuckle.

“So…they prematurely exploded, is what your telling me?” Rogueboy said.

“Well one of them did, injured two others next to him, a few got cut down by security personal, a few by a sniper. All in all this is all that’s left.” He said.

“Shh! I hear voices.” Rogueboy said as he silenced the man. “Sounds like Anival, and it’s coming from around this corner. “Anival is that you!”

“It’s the ghost of forgotten children!” Anival yelled back.

“Good I hate fucking children.” Rogueboy said as he turned the corner.

Nick Draxen slowly progressed south,  through the complex and filthy sewers. By now, Wraith and Oppressor had retreated into the rotting, infested tunnels below ground.  The mercenaries would be on everyones tail soon enough. They would have to regroup eventually. He had only barely made it out of his post alive. He was sure he couldn’t stay in one place for long. Each step, every breath he took emitted an echo that could easily give away his position to someone with a decent pair of ears.  He had to take the risk in order to find his squad mates. He activated his ComLink.

“Team.” He whispered . No answer. “Damn it, these walls must be interfering with the transmissions.”

He silenced the static filled comlink and continued to walk. Only then did he realize that he heard steps that were not his own.

“Those Imperials can’t hide down here forever. Why do we gotta search for ‘em anyway ?”

“We have our orders,” a voice replied.  “You know how the boss can be sometimes..”

Two merc’s  conversed just right around the corner.  Draxen didn’t have any trouble dispatching them. He gripped onto his Combat System in sniper mode and aimed down his sights. In a flash, they were dead.  Nick submersed each of the bodies into the deeper waters of the sewer tunnel. Now, nobody will find you.

“Drop your weapon, Soldier.” A voice said directly behind him, with a rifle aimed for the back of his head.

Nick didn’t take orders from the enemy. He ducked, turned and grabbed the man by the arm, slowly twisting it. After a few seconds he realized this wasn’t a mercenary.  It was just an Oppressor.  By the looks of it, he was just a rookie.

“State your name and rank, kid.” Draxen commanded for a verification.

“Private Axis, Oppressor Squad.” 

Nick let go of his grip, “Sorry.”

Axil nodded. Nick wasn’t really sure how he could be mistaken for a mercenary. He was wearing Stormtrooper armor, wasn’t he ?

“Where is everyone ?” The private asked.

“No clue, somewhere closeby i’m guessing. So Lets find them before they find us, okay ? ”

Once again, the private nodded. They once again began to progress through the foul  sewer tunnel. After a while, they still had not found anyone.

“I think we should head back up to the surface. But just keeping a low profile.”

He had a point. Draxen nodded and their new objective was to find the closest way back up and out. Either way, they continued to head in the same direction: South. The tunnels were dark, and the light up ahead was what the duo used as a guide. Come to think of it, why is there a light ? Nick wondered to himself.

It couldn’t be a patrol, they made no sound or movement. Neither did the light.  The Lance Corporal continued towards the light. He had his sniper rifle prepared in case it was some kind of trap just waiting to spring. He hated traps and clearly anyone with a right mind would to. That would include this Oppressor private. 


Then, they saw where the light was coming from. On the ground leaning on the wall upright was a motionless body with a plasma torch lit.  Confusion and will surged through Draxen. He was almost sure this was a trap now. Private Axis went closer to the corpse in order to examine it, uncaring of the consequences.  Nick scoped the watery and filth immersed tunnel. In the distance he saw another body. This one standing and clad in stormtrooper armor.


“Finally, i’ve been looking hopelessly for someone to find me.” Zeshaun stated.

“Hope I didn’t take too long.” Draxen joked.


“Not at all, I doubt  theres much hope in staying down here. Those mercenaries from our good friends the Arkanians will be here soon enough if they aren’t already here.”


Nick slowly nodded. Zeshaun was right about that. They needed to get back to the surface and complete their task.  The Trio now headed up the ladder, with Axis nearly tripping over the body. Privates seemed to be getting less intelligent each passing day.