Easily matching their moderate pace, Khalldryn jogged parallel to the grav sleds. Keen hunting instincts processed all sensory input on a barely conscious level as they advanced. Slit eyes shifted back and forth, scanning the darkest of crevices in the junk heaps for signs of movement and heat, his tongue regularly tasting the air for signs of life amongst the particulate detritus.

A stiff breeze blew across them and for a short while some of the smog cleared. A flash of light caught Khalldryn’s attention as he scrambled up another heap of trash. Scanning his surroundings to make sure he was clear and then crouching behind some cover to be extra secure, he raised his binoculars from his utility belt and scanned the sky. Their ship was still in low orbit and was moving across the sky rapidly, but he could make out a second ship abeam to their own, bright laser blasts being exchanged between the two. Several of the other troopers around him had noticed already, but he signalled skywards anyway.

Jamasis moved up to his side and gestured to borrow his binoculars, Khalldryn passing them over without protest.

“This doesn’t look good,” he murmured. As the scene moved across the sky and away from directly overhead – the orbital period at the ship’s altitude was necessarily low – it became more obscured by thicker smog. The next breeze brought thicker air again and the space battle disappeared.

Khalldryn started to stand, but as he did so his view of the world seemed to distort and he fell forwards, halting his fall with an outstretched arm. He took a deep breath before getting back to his feet, this time his head stayed clear and his balance true. Jamasis was already waving one of the medics up towards them.

“I’ll be fine,” he grunted. “Just the knock I took earlier.



***Back to the suicide bomber***


Khalldryn moved alongside Aeos as she cautiously approached the surrendering man. Not familiar enough with humans yet to sense the method of deception, his instincts still told him something was wrong with the situation and the actions of his comrades were quite obvious. He had never encountered even the concept of a suicide bomber before, so he began to rush the last few meters to the target, aiming to bundle him to the ground before he could enact whatever plan he had.

It was at that moment the bomb was detonated.

Khalldryn’s vision was a sheet of pure light for just an instant. He was vaguely aware of some other sensory experiences, none of them pleasant. The view faded to black.



“How is he doing?” The words entered Khalldryn’s consciousness from an unknown source.

“Physically? He’s not too bad, but that’s not the main problem” another voice replied. I’m unconscious Khalldryn realised. I cant feel anything, that cant be a good sign he briefly considered whether this death would be an honorable one. Death by suicide bombing was hard to place in his black and white world of honorable and dishonorable actions.

“Is he just unconscious?”

“Unfortunately no, you see he’s taken a pretty nasty blow from the wall he hit, but it wasn’t so bad. Problem is he’s suffering a natural reaction from the shock. Reptilians often have this evolutionary throwback where they react by going into a sort of hibernating state. His body temperature drops and because he’s cold blooded it keeps him from moving further and causing any further harm whilst he body heals.”

“What’s the plan then Smilez?” asked the first voice.

“These are,” came the reply. Khalldryn was able to string along enough conscious thoughts to realise that this really couldn’t be a dream and that his squadmates were working to help him. At least that meant they had survived the blast, but the Captain had been stood next to him. She was a small person and in khalldryn’s mind that equated to fragile. “I brought these when I was told we were getting a cold blooded member, they’re thermal packs. Help me apply them around his core, hit them to activate and then press them down. Don’t hold on for too long, Barabels sit soaking up radiation for hours to get moving, so these packs get damned hot!”

Khalldryn was relieved when he realized that he could feel the warmth spreading from his midsection. The warmth brought back other sensations too, most of them painful.



“Ok, easy now,” Smilez warned as even the big man struggled to help Khalldryn to his feet a few minutes later. “You might be ok, but your head took a good knock. You’re probably going to suffer some concusion for a while so I’d suggest staying out of the line of fire for a while, at least until . . “

“I’ll be fine,” Khalldryn interrupted. He steadied his balance and with a grunt from the exertion started walking forwards.

“Alright, if you think so, but be careful, remember I can relieve you of duty – and I will – if I don’t think you’re fit,”

“I’ll be fine,” Khalldryn reiterated, even more firmly, he wouldn’t be branded a coward. Not again. Not after the heavy cost of last time.

“Right the others are chasing after the mercs, whilst we were distracted by the blast they doubled back around us and went for the MOL’s,” Khalldryn and Smilez caught up to the group as Garryll explained the plan. There were four times the stormtrooper’s numbers up ahead making good with the MOLs. Khalldryn was assigned to assist Anival in an attempt to try and even the odds a bit.




Khalldryn took up a firing positions some thirty metres away from the opposition at an intersection. Anival was going to attempt to draw some of the enemy away from the main group into an ambush to even the odds round the MOLs

On garrylls command of "Go" Anival fired a few wild shots at the group. A full spectrum of blaster bolts heralded his retreat. As he passed Khalldryns position, down a side corridor at the intersection, he turned and fired a few more shots, shouting some insults for good measure.

"I've drawn of 6 of them," his voice whispered calmly over the comms. "You ready K?"

"Abssolutely." As the 6 men moved into view Khaldryn popped up from behind cover and unleashed a burst of fire. At the same moment, out of Khalldryns view, Anival turned and fired. This time taking up a serious firing position and accurately returning fire.

The six men were caught in the crossfire of the ambush. Two of them were downed in the initial volley, as the sounds of firing from behind them indicated that battle had been joined back at the MOL chamber.

Disaster struck then, just as it seemed that Anival and his own part in the order of battle had been carried out flawlessly. The gas chamber on his rifle overheated, as he tried to remove it quickly the seals failed and a superheated plasma discharge sealed the cartridge in place.

Cursing his luck, Khalldryn through the useless weapon to the side. Ducking behind cover he reached for his spare only to find he had made a rookie mistake in leaving it unloaded.

Ahead of him the four remaining men reorganised themselves, one of them was clearly one of the few vets of the group and he pushed and shouted his men into something resembling order. One of them took cover and took the odd pot shot towards Anivals position to pin him down and the other three all advanced on Khalldryn as he struggled to loads a power pack into the E45. This was why he preferred a DC15, the small and fiddly components of an E45 were troublesome for his large, clawed hands. In his still concussed state the spare power pack dropped from his hands and clattered out from behind his cover.

"Out from behind cover, hands up," called the leading veteran. The two taking up positions at his side. Khalldryn burst from behind cover, charging wildly in defiance. The two youths flinched at the sight, but the veteran held his nerve and should have killed Khalldryn. At that moment the now familiar sound of an overheating warning punctuated the sound of Khalldryn's charge. A little red light showed that the veteran’s weapon’s cooling system was overloaded.

Luck saving his life, Khalldryn bundled into all three of them men. The veteran and one youth were thrown to the ground. He sprung to his feet grappling with one of the youths. He quickly overpowered the man, forcing him back towards the wall. Behind him Khalldryn noticed the veteran pulling something shiny from his pack, whilst the second youth charged him. A single tail swipe halted the charge, whilst he smalled the youth in front of him into the wall. Khalldryn had aimed to merely incapacitate the kid, but the dull wet thud of his head striking the concrete wall showed that he may have done so fatally.

Khalldryn turned to see the veteran facing him down, the shiny object turned out to be a vibro bayonet now attached to the overheated rifle. The veteran rushed him, whirring vibroblade never deterring from its aim of Khalldryns midsection.

Ignoring the youth who had recovered from his tail swipe Khalldryn took the charge of the veteran. One clawed hand managed to avoid being severed on the blade and grasped the rifle, lifting it high. He tussled with the veteran for the rifle, the dangerous vibro blade scything through the air between them. The second youth lept at Khalldryn, one arm wrapping around the Barabels kneck, his other fist pounding on Khalldryns already painfully head.

The two men managed to drag Khalldryn to the ground, but using all five powerful limbs to his advantage he forced the veteran down underneath him. Using all his strength he twisted the rifle around and forced the bayonet down towards the soldier, whose teeth ground together with determination. Still the solider held out, locking his arms in place, whilst the youth did his best to hold Khalldryn’s arms down he kept the blade a few inches above his chest. Try as he might, the eight foot barabel could not bring the blade down on his enemy, but then the little red light on the side of the rifle went out . . .

The veteran’s eyes went wide as he realized what that meant; the cooling cycle on the rifle had resumed. Khalldryn reached down to the now operable trigger and fired. At point blank range the blaster burnt straight through the soldier’s chest, killing him almost instantly. Khalldryn rolled, knocking the wind out of his remaining assailant. Pinning him with both arms, he instinctively bit down around the man’s neck, severing flesh with an arterial spray.

There was something liberating about giving into to his violent instincts as most of his species more frequently did, but there was something almost embarrassing about it too. Taking the veterans bayoneted rifle, he turned to see Anival approaching him, the soldier who had been pinning him down lay prone on the floor, a neat burn mark through his forehead. The sounds of battle from the MOL room had died right down; hopefully it was a good sign.

“Let’s get back to them,” the senior NCO instructed Khalldryn.



*** Back to the present ***



“Private Khalldryn, I’m relieving you of duty for the time being,” Smilez declared upon reaching the struggling Barabel who had refused his advice of taking a break. “You’re clearly suffering the after effects of the concussion,”

“No,” growled the Barabel.

“It wasn’t a request,” Smilez warned. Khalldryn hissed something in Barab under his breath. “Look big guy,” Smilez continued, changing his tone to something more friendly. “There’s no honor in dying needlessly because you could barely stand. Go sit on the gravsled, take on board some fluids and clear your head. That way your head might be clear by the time we reach the action.” These words effected the required change in Khalldryn’s temperament. Accepted his orders as not being a form of cowardice he shuffled down towards the grav sled with the medics aid and sat down.

OOC:

Sorry I know I havent advanced things much but I had some stuff already written down about the battle that Razor finished in one post and wanted to finish writing it up and posting it!

Almost free reign to make things go boom? What more could a trooper ask for?  Of course, the temptation to chuck her 'naid early was there, along with probably several other troopers. Who could resist  seeing the pretty explosions and things that go Boom? With the sound of crumbling wall and laser's shooting past, it made a very impressive scene. Much better then a holo-video.

Cries erupted from down the hall. Mingling with the explosions. It brought music to the troopers ears at it started to confuse the enemy. Giving them time to push forward as  the troopers  fought their way out of the hovel of a hall.


Heck, this is an improvement. I could get use to re-decorating dumps like this. Saphira mused as she tossed her detenator down the hall. It clanked once, twice and exploded in a brilliant shower of light. Crumbling the wall as debre and wire fell. Shattering the wall as it split upward and drove sparks from loose live wires that were poorly built and lazily placed. One snaked, and snapped out like a whip over three feet.

"Live wire!!"

Someone yelled. Saphira wasn't sure who as they danced down hall.  Backing away as the conduct would spread and ground a few feet more. It would die out after a few moments. Buying them precious time as the mixed squads back tracked and made their way towards the landing site.


"Anyone else want to see this place turn into a scrap heap?" Saph called out over her shoulder.

"I thought that was a pretty good start." Atoll replied.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Madman muttered as he pressed up.

Lucky rolled her eyes amongst the chatter. Even in the height of danger there was no stopping the fun for the troopers.  They ran on, only managing a few more feet before another explosion rocked their feet. A few troopers stumbled and  looked behind them.

"Looks like we're in for round three." Saphira replied with a smile. "How about we bring down the house?"

"Neither are you Tanus!"

Someone barked in the group. Everyone went dead silent for a moment. Nothing else had seemed to matter in that moment as Tanus looked over each trooper as if scanning them.

"Who...said that?" He growled. Not caring the least that they had trouble rushing up from behind. Nor that the building was coming down even faster about their heads. No one of course answered. "I said who!" He demanded.


Now who looks like he's almost whining. But boy, I don't envy the trooper who said that. Saphira thought as she gripped the handle to her Z7.

"Tanus, no time. You can skin them later." Lucky pressed. Now really wasn't the time for this stuff.


BOOM


Another explosion rocketed through the building. Something clanked a few feet near them and exploded a second time.  A bright light  as  the  enemy had tossed a flash bang  in effort to slow them down.  Saphira screeched out a few mangled curse words as she stumbled back  and into Madman.  Fumbling for anything as she tried to force her barrings.


Shit.  I must have took the hardest of the blow.. this hurts like hell..

"Everyone, keep moving.." Saph managed to squeak through.  Her free hand  pressing up to the troopers chest like a newborn babe.  She needed to be lead out now while her eyes gave time to refocus. As sensitive as they were already. The light from that was nearly devastating.  "Just keep moving.."  Swinging her weapons up she aimed blindly back down the hall and shot a few off. Several other troopers followed suit as they kept moving forward.


"Look for anything to stall their path. Block the halls." Lucky shouted.


Having them get only a few feet  down to see Madman half carrying  Saph on his shoulders.  Knowing very well how well that was playing out, she couldn't do much about it right now.

"Atoll, blow out that side panel and  bring that door down." Lucky ordered. 


The trooper nodded. It would only slow them for a moment. But any time gained, would be enough for them to think of something else they could do besides blow themselves up to take the building down with them in it.

Jamasis watched the grav sleds ease their way out of the bunker. Unfortunately they had had to leave the damaged one behind; but with the damage they had done to the mercenaries so far, that wasn't going to matter much.

He looked back up to the space battle, sometimes visible and sometimes obscured by smog. It was soundless; for a while there was nothing, and then suddenly the wind would pick up and flashes and explosions from different weapons could be seen, then once again it would be obscured by the smog. Jamasis gestured to Khalldryn for his binoculars. In the brief instances that he could see the battle, it seemed simple what had happened. The vast empire ships was much lower than it should be; it was also the one that had dropped Wildcard earlier. It had been ambushed in its next descent, and from the comm. broadcasts they had received, the people on the ground had been ambushed as well.

So now I'm confused. The snipers were bait to the bunker, the first level of the bunker was bait to get us ambushed further in; now those guys were a diversion to draw us away for the others to be ambushed? Or an ambush aimed at us. Somebodies a good tactician on their side; although not a very nice one.

Incredible. Do you want a medal?

Very funny. Just sayin' that somebody is a bit ruthless.

Well, you have a prisoner. You have guns. You, in particular, can hit people pretty hard. You could just ask him politely.

Suddenly noticing Khalldryn was in trouble, Jamasis gestured one of the medics over. Khalldryn mumbled something that he couldn't quite hear, before he was examined by the medic. Jamasis walked over to the prisoner and began talking to him quietly. Right now, he didn't want a proper interrogation to get started.

"Why did you take the MOL's?" he asked.

"Is this the grand interrogation from the empire?" he asked sarcastically. Jamasis rolled his eyes; this probably wasn't going to be fun.

"I talked to one of your friends in the bunker," Jamasis continued, "he said you just wanted to leave this planet."

"In a way," the man said.

"What's your name?"

"Does it matter?"

"No."

"Shigent."

"Be honest. Who is it that really wants the launchers?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not completely stupid. You all have the same tattoo, you all stick together. So why do you keep offering yourselves as bait. Surely you're not clever enough to lay traps within traps within traps, whilst not intelligent enough to realise that sending three five man squads against us was a bad idea. You're being bossed around by someone else."

"We might be."

"And those launchers don't get you off planet. Unless you want to fire yourselves out of them, they are more or less useless."

"So you think we have a deal of some kind."

"Yes. I'm asking you what it is."

"And if I knew all the details, I might tell you. But I might not tell you, and I might have all the details."

"Seriously. You must have guessed how we interrogate."

"I know one tactic is to train somebody to act the way you do. Convince them you are on their side, then take the information and interrogate them anyway."

"I'm just trying to he-" Jamasis paused. Clearly this wasn't going to get anywhere, not yet. But it did pretty much confirm that whoever this was, and whoever had blown themselves up in the bunker, wasn't the brains behind the operation. Therefore, the landing zone was a very serious threat. This day seemed to be getting better and better.

"Aeos. Just been talking to our friend over there," he nodded to the prisoner, "and there are some things I've managed to confirm. Not that he was talkative. Anyway, I'll tell you in a second. It's about ten kilometres to the landing zone, well out of range. You can still talk to him before me, if you want."

Their prisoner looked on, weary and alert, as the grav-sled bobbed along.

"You're lucky I'm still partially blind!" The Twi'lek growled under the press of Madmans gentle, but firm grip. She knew he was throughly enjoying this. Her discomfort level at having to be half carried by him.

"You say such the sweetest things Love." Madman cooed as he slammed them back up against the wall to avoid a few stray bolts. Saphira could feel and smell the ionised burn in the air. Still, the comment earned him a quick jab in the ribs by her right elbow.

Walk in the park. Sure thing...


Saphira thought as her eyesight was slowly coming back to her. Things were defiantly getting interesting as she looked to her right and nodded to Lucky.

"When this is over, I will be needing a stiff drink." Saph shouted out.


"As long as it ends with a set of clean clothes and a bed, I'm game." Atoll added as another round of explosions came from behind them.


The lights dimmed again for a moment and a few people stumbled over corpses as they made their way forward. The coherent sounds of boots tapping, mixed with cries and shouts of the enemy getting closer. 


"Looks like we're going to have to stand off again before too long." Lucky growled.


Yet, they couldn't risk blowing anything else up in their path up just yet. Not without taking out any of their own. No, they were going to have to try and make it nearly out to the landing zone, or nearly there and then finish the fight.

"Run as fast as you can troopers. We need as much room between them as us.  If we take this place apart now, this might be where we are staying forever." Lucky shouted.

As they hurried to the broken doors, a deep rumbling sound could be heard and slight vibrations felt as another explosion occurred deep within the facility.

"Let's get moving, watch your step for bodies, debris and what have you...We don't need a pile-on now that the place is going down" Skarr spoke to no one in particular as he hurried past disabled equipment and bodies slumped in chairs or on workstations.

It was much darker here, this section of the listening post was completely without power. The  lights were out, terminals were dark, ventilation systems were offline as was the main generator. Without the constant humming of these machines, there was only a deep, steeling  silence save for the sound of boots steadily making their way down the halls.

"Almost there guys!" Lucky shouted encouragingly as she watched her squad stumble onward. Not far off she could smell the air of the outside world. The stench in the atmosphere was so strong that their filters couldn't filter out all the impurities in the air which included all the odd, foul smells that lingered everywhere they went.

As she thought about all the various information her senses were sending her, they emerged out of the listening post and found themselves in the outside world once again. Taking a minute to get their bearings and to make sure that they weren't being ambushed, they set off back to the landing site with Tanus taking point and Kira bringing up the rear.

Kira staggered as she reached the exit of the bunker.  The latest explosion was the most destabilizing yet for the bunker's structure and all around her pieces of the ceiling began to collapse.  Sounds of metal moaning as it twisted and collapsed began to drown out the yelling of the mercenaries behind them.

Outside, the foul, dusty air of the planet stung as Kira ran clear of the bunker.  The sounds of the collapse intensified.  From the outside they could watch as the bunker slowly collapsed in upon itself.  A loud crash rang out a second latter as the front entrance collapsed, blocking off that path as an exit.  That should buy us enough time to escape if they manage to find another way you.  She thought as the two squads hurried away from the bunker.

Slowly the pain set in as the adrenaline form the moment dissipated.  She had barely felt her injuries during the escape despite the falling debris and being bounced around by the explosions.  As they hurried away though, the pounding of her feet reverberated right through her body including her left shoulder where the pain intensified and was made worse by the air making contact with the wound.  In the melee that followed the ambush near the interstellar comm controls, her poor hand-to-hand skills had failed her and one of the attackers managed to land a blow on her shoulder, partially breaking between the armor.  She was positive it was broken or dislocated, and from the fresh blood staining her armor, it was clear that she was losing blood from something more than a minor flesh wound.  The range of motion and the usefulness of the arm were completely gone, but she managed, not without pain, to gently slide her hand into the gap in her armor by the waist so as to at least give it some support and prevent it from flapping around as they ran.

"Lucky come to the back for a moment."  Kira ordered over the comm.  The squads continued to make haste toward the landing site and Lucky filtered her way to the back.  As soon as she saw Kira she realized that the bloodstains weren't from one of the mercenaries but from Kira herself.

"Kira-"

"Don't start."  She cut her off.  "Ok everyone rest for a minute.  Snipers, scope the area behind us to ensure we are not being followed.  The rest of you get a bearing on our surroundings and spread out."  Kira ordered.  She turned back to Lucky.  "Take what you can find in our two medpacks and shove it in between the shoulder and upperarm plates.  At the moment they are close enough together that it should hold it in place and provide some pressure to slow the bleeding until we make the landing zone."

Lucky set off to work opening their med kits.  Meanwhile Kira took a deep breath and pulled her helmet off with her right hand.  The sand in the wind stung her faces and eyes as she revealed them to the planet's atmosphere.  Big mistake.  The ensuing coughing only worsened the pain in her shoulder.  She hooked her wrist in through the straps and delivately maneuvered it so it wouldn't hit her in the face as she drank from her canteen.  Once balanced, she emptied the entire canteen and returned the helmet to her head.  She knew the fluids would help her stamina as they retreated.

"Ok this is going to hurt."  Lucky said now that she was ready.  Kira braced herself for what was now to come.

If it was madman, he would loose the arm on purpose to get an arm with some sort of attachment that would destroy some kind of being. Saphira thought. Though, of course, she kept it to herself as they set off again.

At least they were out of the cursed bunker. Not that anyone would miss that blasted hell hole anymore then a trip to the medical bay. More sounds met her backside as the building collapsed and a large smoking pile of rubble would be all that was left.  At least they didn't have to pay for the damages!

"Almost there!"

Someone shouted. Tapping of feet resounded as troopers rushed with renewed vigor. Getting out of there was never so close. To taste freedom and get home with everyone still alive was a great feat. Other then a few injuries, things were not all that bad.

"Last one there buys the first round!" Atoll shouted.

Saph rolled her eyes as she rolled her right shoulder and blinked back a few times as her eyes cleared. At least her sight had returned when  Madman tripped on something on the ground.  It was enough to clatter her teeth. Jerking her forward as she felt her stomach contents slosh about.

"Watch it!" She growled as they stumbled. He swore and let go. About to say something when stray bolts shot by where her head  would have been.  Grazing her left shoulder as she hissed out in pain. Burning through her armor as they looked back to see they were still being followed by a couple more of the mercs.  "Damn it! Don't these guys know when to quit? or die?"  Saphira cursed and pushed past the pain as they kept running.  The pain that licked up like lightening, Poking each nerve as she kicked up dirt with her boots.


Raising her weapon she shot off a few bolts that missed the couple rogues by a long shot. Pain laced her shoulder as she bit her tongue. The others turned and wanted to stop and fight as Lucky shouted more orders.

"Keep moving! They can't stop us now!" Lucky barked. "We can finish them off at the end."  Knowing very well they were in a vulnerable spot if they stopped now.  There could be more out hiding and they needed to arrive safe where they had more back up.  As much as they wanted to stop, they couldn't give in.

Screaming like enraged monkey-lizards, ragged Army troopers charged towards the Vast Imperials, firing as they came.

Apex Squad's return fire cut them down. Renegades staggered back under multiple impacts, their tattered uniforms smoldering, then collapsed with their chests reduced to blackened slag. One of the Army troopers took a bolt to the ankle, tripped, and took two more hits to the back as he fell. The others continued their charge, expressions frenzied.

Standing behind a ruined speeder, Corvin raised his E-45 slightly, aimed, then squeezed the rifle's trigger. The weapon shuddered, its stock jerking back against his shoulder pad, and one of the charging troopers fell with most of his head missing. Ignoring the stray blasterfire, Corvin remained standing and squeezed off another burst.

There was a gurgle as the last of the charging troopers fell, an Apex trooper's knife protruding from the back of his neck. The Apex troopers were more or less unharmed, with their injuries from the panicked firing limited to moderate burns and badly scorched armour. From his position near the ruined tower, their Sergeant Major seemed to be shouting something.

"..down! Get down!"

Corvin blinked in surprise. His training kicked in a moment later, and he dropped to the ground.

The air was suddenly filled with energy bolts. Corvin risked a glance from behind his cover and saw that the Army squads that had hung back, roughly forty or so troopers, were now spread out in a loose V-formation.

Troopers with repeating blasters were set up on whatever space they could find, spraying the area with fire. Bolts riddled the destroyed speeder Corvin was behind, passing right through the wreck, and he decided it was time to move.

He reached over to where Apex's Sergeant Ooomba was crouched and tapped the man of the shoulderplate. The man's bowl-helmet turned to look at him, hiding his face from view.

Corvin gestured at the speeder in front of him.

"This scrap-heap won't hold for much longer. If we make a dash for that," he gestured at a Headhunter chassis. "We should make it before they adjust their aim."

The Sergeant remained in his crouch for a moment, externally silent but doubtless confirming it with his squad leader, then nodded.

"You go first, kid. I'll cover for you."

Corvin bristled at both the label and the suggestion, but Oomba's statement had the force of an order.

"Yes, sir." he eventually replied, and the Sergeant nodded.

"Go!"

Corvin vaulted over the wreck, stumbling slightly as his right boot nearly caught on a jagged piece of metal. One foot dragging slightly, he sprinted across the exposed area, blaster bolts flying back and forth. Behind him, Oomba was firing his Z7 in short bursts, the blaster gun chattering as it spat bolts at the Army formation.

Corvin skidded under the Headhunter's nose, blaster bolts pinging off the starfighter's rusted fuselage as he did so. A moment later, Ooomba dropped down next to him, a scorch mark burned into his bowl helmet's visor and chestplate armour crumbling away in places. Silently, the Apex trooper removed the headset from the ruined helmet, then clipped the damaged piece to his belt.

"Frak!" Corvin swore wholeheartedly. "How many repeaters have they got?"

"Five, kid." one of the Apex troopers said calmly. "Keep your head down."

There was a crackle, and the inter-squad channel opened.

"I see, sir." Sergeant Major Coups was finishing. His voice hardened as he addressed his squad and Corvin.

"The Commander can't reach the ship, but he managed to get through to Wildcard. They should be on their way as soon as they've solved their own problems."

The Sergeant Major's tone showed he was none too happy about needing help from another squad. Corvin knew exactly how he felt.

"We have to hold the area until they arrive. We can do that, Apex."

There were affirmatives from the Apex troopers.

"Hold positions. Keep them busy, and take out those repeaters. Show them what Apex is about."

OOC:

If something's wrong with this, let me know.

“Hurry up!” called Abalar, over the crackle of laser-fire in the earbud. “This crap has got to get over with!”

Gates lowered his head and sprinted, his feet automatically dancing him into a zig-zagging serpentine pattern. At three meters, he let his feet fall from under him, sliding smoothly (in his mind) into cover. Mud and trash splattered the first soldier to arrive there, Havock. She barely glanced at him, concentrated with trying to raise the Apexes on her comlink. Finally, she got through, and Garryll listened in, between that and popping up to fire a few laser blasts at the Imperials down range, maybe twenty meters away.

“Apex, Apex! Wraith and Blackjack here and ready! We are on the Western front of the LZ! Please respond.”

The Apex squad leader replied calmly - “Good to see you, Wildcard. Pull some of them off of us, eh?”

Jamasis rolled into cover a few meters over, beside one of the Wraiths, obviously not the Barbel (any idiot could tell that). “Eventful run?”

“You have no idea,” the Wraith ASL replied, as if his lips were swollen or he’d bitten his tongue.

Gates rose again, only to a tall half-crouch, and blasted his E-45, a trailing burst that chased an Army soldier back into cover, kicking up bursts of incinerated dirt, mud and trash. One of the man’s comrades responded with a long burst from an auto-repeater. Gates ducked back down.

“This is idiotic!” he snarled, mud and trash disintegrating around him as his cover fell apart. “Move it, boss! I got you covered!”

Havock moved without a second thought, as Garryll tried his luck once again, this time raking the auto-rifle’s position with a full-auto burst of blaster fire that emptied his power cell. Cursing again at the inopportune moment to run out of ammo, he ducked back down a yanked a grenade off his harness. Gates fiddled with a clip with his other hand, pulling one out and jabbing it into the feed of his rifle. He picked it up again, and then lunged out of cover.

Laser fire kicked up steam around his feet and cut the air into hot, boiling pieces around him; he felt like he ducked a blaster bolt outright, it zipped so close to his head. He chucked the grenade and flipped on his helmet speakers to throw some choice curses about the Imperials’ parents after it. He finished off with an off-handed burst from his rifle, more for the feeling of doing something productive than to actually hit anything.

The grenade exploded in front of a pile of trash, but the concussion was enough to send an Imperial flying out from behind it, bleeding from viciously thrown pieces of trash. Gates skidded to a stop and sighted briefly, before firing a three-bolt burst to finish the man off.

The pause was enough for the Imperials to get a good shot off on him, though, and his capitalization on his grenade earned him a stitch of laser bolts across the left arm and torso.

Garryll swore explosively and fired some more, but his fingers weren’t working right. “Shit!” he yelled and switched hands and then dove into cover.

“Jamasis, hey!” Gates said into the link. “I can’t say I haven’t been shot today anymore! Medic!”

The Blackjack SL propped his E-45 up on the trash pile he was huddled behind and let loose, using the trash pile as a second hand to steady his aim. Rubbish flew from where he blasted, and a lucky shot managed to scrape close enough to the Imperial he was shooting at to make the man flinch out of cover and get conveniently shot.

Wrex dodge-rolled into cover beside him and pulled out his med-pack. “What seems to be the trouble today?”

“Minor blaster damage, chest. Major impact, definite damage to the left shoulder and tricep,” Gates grimaced, firing his rifle again. “Bastard hit me right in the shoulder body glove, burned right through it, easy.”

The Blackjack medic peeled away the cauterized armor, and looked at the wound. The man whistled, and Gates cursed once more, with feeling. Havock crackled across the link: “Let’s keep the link clearer of profanity, shall we?”

Gates shut the link off and then kept up a steady monologue of curses, promises and muttering. “I’m gonna....shit....screw this...kill him...soon. Now...right now. Kill him and leave his corpse in the mud...GOD DAMN IMPERIALS!”

He’d yelled the last bit as Wrex sprayed disinfectant all over the gaping wound, heavily cauterized but still leaking burnt blood. In order to distract himself, he gritted his teeth and emptied the last of his clip into a distracted Imperial soldier. All of the bolts missed, and he let go of the carbine without another word; he was bone-dry ammunition wise, but he was carrying a half-dozen power cells for his pistol, and he was determined to use ALL of them.

Decided, he yanked the pistol from his belt holster and popped a few shots off, hoping for a hit. “All wrapped up, boss!” Wrex said into the comlink, his medic-everything-is-going-to-be-okay voice. “Can you walk?”

“It’s my fricking shoulder, not my leg, you idiot,” Gates murmured, chuckling. “Move it. Let’s move.”

Again, he rose, clutching his dead shoulder and arm around the make-shift sling Wrex had made up and blasting with his pistol blindly, hoping not to get shot again. The rest of the Stormtroopers were still exchanging gunfire, and the battlefield was criss-crossed with laser bolts, steaming trash and smoke. “They’re too damn persistent,” Gates cursed into his re-activated link. “We’ve got to break them soon.”

“Agreed,” Havock replied. “Any plans, Ae, Gates, Abs, Jamasis?”

Jamasis fired off the final shots from his clip, before throwing it away. That was his last E-45 clip. Thank god for the bunker,he thought to himself, as he placed one of the E-11 clips he had found into the gun. Whilst having the utmost respect for the regular model, it had smaller clips. It also used less ammunition, compared to this new model. And two clips wasn't much with any gun.

"Any plans, Ae, Gates, Abs, Jamasis?" called out Havock.

Jamasis tried to swallow the blood in his mouth, but couldn't manage it. He quickly removed his helmet and spat it onto the nearby ground. "I've got nothing!" he shouted as he fumbled to replace his helmet.

"Iron Horse and Raiders here. We've brought some new friends along with us as well. How are things?"

"We're in a pretty intense fight. We need to repel these hostiles, buy us some time. They are too persistent. These new friends of yours, are they nice?" asked Havock.

"Not particularly. Any ideas for driving them back?"

"None this end. Call me if you think of any."

Jamasis was forced to stop listening to the talking as a small group of enemy troopers came around another piece of junk. He shot one of them, but ducked as several bolts came his way. Luckily he was behind part of some old machinery. Risking a quick look up, he was once again greeted by a flurry of shots.

This looks good. He brought his rifle to his hip, and spun around the machinery, fired twice and moved back as quickly as he could. Unsurprisingly, shots followed him and he managed to hit nobody. He quickly closed his eyes and pictured what he had seen. Four of them, plus the one he had just shot. Moving towards him. No idea what kind of guns. Indistinguishable from the rest of the horde. Opening his eyes, Jamasis looked around for some other cover. He sprinted to what was left of a speeder, and flattened himself instantly behind it. Then quickly pulled himself to the side, aimed his rifle and fired at a pursuing trooper. That left three. Jamasis tried the tactic again, rose and sprinted towards a couple of Apex troopers behind a small barricade of rubbish. A shot thudded into his back, knocking him to the ground. He briefly saw the Apex troopers firing at his pursuers.

Dazed, Jamasis pulled himself up. He stumbled behind the small barricade, wondering how he could move at all.

"My back. What is it?" Jamasis managed to get out.

"Uh, not a blaster bolt. Projectile, made a small hole in your armour. You're ridiculously lucky," said one of the troopers.

Don't I know it, Jamasis thought. He looked over the barricade, ignoring the throbbing pain from his back.

"Uh, anyone got any plans yet, because right now things don't seem to be improving," he said into his comm. Looking up, he saw a lone enemy trooper ducking behind cover as someone to Jamasis' left fired at him. He looked back through his sights and waited until the hostile looked up. A quick pair of shots and he crumpled back down.

Jamasis quickly looked behind him, to the launchers. A trio of hostiles was closing in on them. Jamasis fired a half dozen shots, spraying them in their general direction. Smilez was still next to the grav-sleds, and used this distraction to take care of one of them. Taking a more careful shot, Jamasis hit another in the leg. He followed up by firing at him three more times to make sure he wouldn't get up. He had to quickly move out the way as the third fired at him. Jamasis looked back towards the launchers, but couldn't see Smilez. Aiming his rifle where he had last seen his attacker, he waited for him to appear. A second passed. Then another. Then another, and suddenly he stepped out, seemingly oblivious to Jamasis, to fire at some Apex members. One quick shot took him down.

Quickly jogging over to the launchers, he looked for Smilez. He was on the floor, slightly dazed and missing his pistol.

"Hey, come on, get up," said Jamasis. He helped him up and rested him on the sleds. "Just try to protect the launchers. What happened?"

Smilez nodded towards where Shigent was. Where Shigent should have been.

"Oh crap," said Jamasis.

Lucky was happy about the medic's initial diagnosis, Skarr would most likely have to make a trip to the medical bay once they were back home  but for now after the medic had finished tending to him his condition, she knew would only slightly improve which would have to do.

As the medic kept working on Skarr Lucky kept watch over the two as Aeos and the few others who had joined them now ran back to help others who probably needed more help than they did right now. As she was surveying the battlefield it occurred to Lucky that she hadn't used her rocket launcher as of yet, she was debating whether or not to use it but decided against it: too many clusters of people fighting close together, if she let one rip it would most likely deplete their troops and cause useless casualties than affect the enemies' numbers.

"That will have to do" she heard the medic mutter behind her before she heard him stand. She waited a few seconds before turning around and facing him, glancing down she saw Skarr sitting up on the ground looking a little better than he had been initially.

"He'll be fine, though he should be sheltered from enemy fire as that armor of his is just about finished and I fear a blaster bolt to one of the areas most damaged would likely finish him off in a matter of seconds"

Lucky agreed on that point as she looked the Corporal over and found herself to be bewildered by how much carbon scoring covered the armor. Helping him up she sheltered him from cover fire and helped him to a group of Troopers whom he could help.

"Gimme a holler if you all need anything" she said looking at Skarr and briefly surveying the few other young troopers he was with. "Watch one another's backs and you'll be just fine. When this is all over I suspect we'll all be checked out by the medical team for possible respiratory parasites or whatever and afterward we might go out for drinks en masse.

The tides of battle were changing. As Skarr sat, surrounded by numerous soldiers, he watched the battle. Someone had handed him a rifle, and for that he was grateful, it meant he didn't have to use his blaster pistol. His wound pained him, both his left arm and his stomach, but the medic had looked over both. He was happy to be behind cover, but hated not being able to enter the battle. That was his place. Blackjack had now reached Apex Squad. Rengar's troops were beginning to disperse as the Squads made their way further into the battlefield. Wraith and RAIDERS had met up with each other and were making their way towards Apex as well. Iron Horse stayed behind RAIDERS and Wraith, cleaning up the remaining stragglers.

Skarr layed down as much cover fire as he could, but the Squads were moving away from Skarr's position. He turned to the soldiers around him. Most were injured like him and didn't have very many of their weapons left. They were a ragtag group. Full of bandages and missing pieces of armor. Skarr smiled warmly, he guessed he looked pretty bad himself.

"What I'm about to ask you is dangerous, so if you wish to stay, I don't blame you." Skarr started. The soldiers looked at him expectedly, no one spoke.

"I want you to come with me closer to the battle and find cover there, we're still in this, mates," Skarr shouted. He didn't have his helmet, nor a headset. The soldiers nodded their heads and stood, shouts of jubilation ringing through their helmets. Skarr grinned and led the small group through the wasteland towards Apex Squad. There were many bodies that littered the wasteland. it made running even more treacherous. Some trash piles were on fire, some were completely disintegrated.

The sounds of battle rumbled closer as Skarr and the rest of the soldiers followed. The battle was much more intense here. Smoke filled the air, both from blaster discharges and flaming scrap metal. Skarr wished he hadn't dropped his helmet somewhere. The Imperials had taken up positions all over the battlefield and were firing into the crowds of soldiers. Some were down on the ground fighting hand-to-hand, one of them being (of course), Atoll.

The soldiers who had followed him were now swept up in the tide of battle and ran to join their friends. Skarr hoped they would be fine. He would never forgive himself if something happened to them. Norith looked over the battlefield, searching for any of his friends. Skarr smiled as he found two of them. He ran up to take cover next to Havock and Aeos, the two women he admired most. Both of them former RAIDERS.

"Helluva day, innit?" Skarr asked. Havock and Aeos both nodded and the three of them fired at Rengar's troops. The battle was definitely going the platoon's way. And then, Skarr seen something he wished their enemies didn't have. Five soldiers, wearing a ridiculous amount of armor, had procured PLX missile launchers. They were deep behind cover and they were aiming at various targets around the battlefield, one of them being Havock, Aeos, and Skarr.

"Just like old times, huh?" Skarr had time to ask, as the three turned to run. The soldier depressed the trigger and the missile flew their way.

Hadick stared out the viewport at the shit hole of a planet below him. The crewman buzzed around him like bee's in a hive. He barely flinched as the durasteel floor under his boots vibrated from another laser hit on the ships shields. The voices and movement dissolved into a blur around him as he chewed on his cigar and continued to stare.

He hadn't planned on getting into a firefight today. He woke up, had his caf, worked out in the officer's gym and came to the bridge to watch his new toys be delivered to him. The zabrak had paid good money to those damn mercs so they could acquire the Multi-Ordinance Launchers, yet here he stood watching explosions dot the small landing zone on Sump.

"Sir, the Launcher's were secure. My boys left them at the coordinates that you requested. Nobody saw us."

The sniveling pissant of a man shook next to the man who was once a Moff in the Empire, when there was an Empire. Of course, Palpatine was a man with a since of humor for non-humans. He made the zabrak a Moff and then shipped him off to the unknown regions to rot. At least he had been smarter than most of the fools he worked for and managed to dodge all his infrequent inspections and cultivate a decent reputation in the trade lanes. Hadick realized that he was closer to a pirate than an officer but at the moment he could live with that.

"Get off my bridge." Hadick's voice was muffled from the cigar clenched in his teeth but his quiet demanding tone left no room for debate from the merc. "You are leaving and going straight to your chosen bank. Once there you are going to get money wired to my account, about lets say...the same amount I paid you plus ten percent."

"What!?!"

Hadick took the cigar out of his mouth with one hand while the other shot up grasping the merc's neck and slamming him into the viewport. "Now now Kattlou, you know how much I hate to repeat myself."

The buzz in the bridge didn't even pause. It was as if Hadick was the eye of the storm and all he had done was dragged Kattlou into his calm while the rest of the storm raged on. A few security guards near the entrance did seem to twitch towards their blaster pistols though.

"Alright, geezus. Let me down."

Hadick smirked then released his grip on the human stepping out of the way as he collapsed to the floor in a coughing heap. He returned his cigar to his teeth and restarted his vigil on the viewport.

His XO had to studderstep to not trip over the still recovering merc on the floor. "Moff sir, have a sit rep for you."

"Report Major." Why he continued to use ranks he wasn't sure, it was an outdated system for their purposes. He made a mental note to correct that in the near future.

"Our ground forces are taking a pounding but the Launchers have been visually confirmed by Alpha squad in forward position. They reported in that the launchers were being set up for use by the enemy forces."

"Found the ammo did they? Resourceful, thats surprising." He glanced at the Major and motioned for him to continue.

"We are engaging the ships in space but they are using hit and run tactics that are wreaking havoc on our sensors. The gunners just can't get a clear shot at them." The major grimaced at that, he had to mentally prepare himself for the onslaught of anger. To his surprise it never came.

"Tell the ground forces to retreat, we will pick them up at the fallback position."

Major Tomin stared for several minutes before quietly responding. "...sir?"

"This is a tactical nightmare Major. I'm not wasting anymore resources, nor do I plan to meet my demise in a planetary sized dump."

===~~===

Firing into trash heaps it was bound to backfire eventually. Something combustible, probably a tank of some type used on mining equipment. Havock could hear the plinks of blaster fire against its surface seconds before the explosion sent a cloud of debris up into the air. Her eyes immediately went up to futilely gage where the larger pieces may fall. It was a wing from a small ship, maybe even just a land speeder, the rust made it difficult to identify. It hit max altitude and seemed to pause there for a second, then dropped with new found vigor towards the repulsor sled ten meters or so from Havock's covered position.

Her eyes flicked from the sled to the wing several times before she cursed loudly and all out ran for the sled. Aeos was still layed on the sled which was in decent cover as long as she didn't get up and start jumping on the thing she would have been fine. Havock hadn't planned on raining trash though. She grabbed Aeos by her shoulders and they both went spinning through more trash landing against a large and Havock belatedly realized sharp piece of machinery.

Aeos was somewhat aware of what was going on and not very happy. "Ayme, what the hell...wrong with...you?"

Havock didn't have the chance to answer as the loud crunch of the wing slamming and destroying the repulsor sled filled both women's senses. "Saving your ass."

She reached her hand behind Aeos' back to help her up then felt something sharp against her hand. "Ow what now?" She felt around for the piece of garbage that was probably between the two women and paused when she grabbed the shrapnel and Aeos screamed. "Geezuz Ae, what's wrong?"

Havock had to adjust her HUD the smoke from the battle was making it difficult to make out anything, she just assumed that the piece of metal was stuck under Aeos but upon further examination and almost a fist to the faceplate she realized that it was actually stuck in the squad leader's back. "Hold still."

Aeos turned in what must have been a painful way and grabbed Havock's arm. "Relax, Zasati, I'm not an idiot, I'm wrapping it to stop the bleeding and slow the infection. That has to be removed in a sterile environment not a damn trash pile." She grabbed some bandages out of her sack and wrapped the wound, securing it in place. "Okay, its good for now, stay low and try to stay conscious. You probably look like hell under that helmet. One thing you've got going for you, you are quite possibly the one person more stubborn than I am, so don't effing fall asleep on me, got it?"

She nodded feebly and Havock gently slapped her arm before heading over to Quillia. "Oh great, so Jamasis is down too then."

"Well he's not going to be much use to you at the moment thats for sure. And I've got their guy over there knocked out with drugs over there." Havock gently pounded the side of her helmet. Being on a battlefield was so much easier when you tended to be the one who was unconscious, this being awake and not injured crap was no fun at all.

She took stock of the current situation. Half her troopers appeared to be in some state of disrepair, BJ had the MOL's up and firing which had opened up a line in the Rengar's defense enough to get Apex through to a better position. IH and RAIDERS were taking a beating as well but their flank also looked strong. All in all she really didn't see what these guys could be planning. Then her eyes slowly rose to the shadow of an unfamiliar ship that was passing over their position. "Oh right...that. Frak."

===~~~~====

"Fall back? Sir repeat?"

Major Tomin sighed and pressed the com button again. "Fall back Crosby, we are making a tactical retreat. The Spirit Age is there to retrieve you so double time your squads to the coordinates now."

Crosby scratched his helmet, his guys had come to this battle on the offensive. They had the position, they had comparable equipment. Who the hell were these people? "Acknowledge retreat."

"What?" The red head standing next to him nearly deafened him with the screeching tone in her voice. "We are retreating? Fuck that. My squad is engaging, you can run all you want Dex."

He reached out and grabbed her shoulder pad. "Launa don't be a pain. We are under orders, I want to show these guys what we can do too. Boss says leave we leave."

She snatched her shoulder away from him. Her eyes were glaring he could feel it through the helmets they wore. "Fine, but we will be discussing this later."

===~~====

"Where are they going? Half the damn squad we were fighting just backed up fifty paces."

Havock stepped behind Tanus and looked through her macrobinoculars at the slowly retreating squads across the debris field. "Its a tactical retreat."

"Lets go get them then."

"Woah, that damn ship isn't firing at us and I'd like to keep it that way. Maintain positions, I'll call in our ride." Havock rolled on to her back and attempted to get a link to the Carrack cruiser that was dealing with a star destroyer which had similarly disengaged from the battle.

With a final comm to the squad leaders that were still standing Wildcard began backing up in a similar fashion and within the hour they were on there way.

The tension was high on the cruiser but once the drives engaged and they were on their way back to Tadath three MOL's richer everyone started to relax.

"So first stop medbay huh?"

Havock smirked and looked at Skarr. "Yea they are going to be shocked that I'm not on the injury list. First time for everything I suppose."

OOC:

The End.