Nolac was quite surprised that one of these things were actually laying around. He hadn’t thought to include it into the battle plan, considering he had it played out almost perfect. He began rooting through the wreckage quickly, looking for the weapon’s tri-pod. His comm began to crackle as he did so.

“Sir, we’re on the roof. The shuttle is being prepared,” one of the grunts reported. Nolac almost screamed into the comm with rage. He had not thought anyone had survived. Luckily, he’d be able to hold off the Imperial Squad just long enough to make the dash to the landing pad. Or he could tell them something else. He wanted to know desperately who these soldiers were because they were very finely trained. Nolac was angry that he had even thought that, but his opponent had bested him in this fight. But luckily, the Dead Man would live to fight another day as he found the weapon’s tri-pod.

***

Eclipse Squad carefully made their way up the winding stairs leading to to the 34th floor. The emergency lights had finally flickered on, giving the office space an eerie appearance. The red lights cast long shadows and it made Eclipse Squad nearly invisible in their golden and black armor. Skarr knew Nolac was still alive, the man had somehow survived a knife to the throat, he could survive a hailstorm of blaster bolts. They rounded the corner and the death machine fired. As Skarr fell back, he knew what the weapon was. It was a tri-pod mounted E-Web blaster. But Nolac couldn’t operate it alone. Someone had to watch the battery pack to insure it did not overheat. Which meant that Nolac had someone helping, or he wouldn’t be operating it for long.

The Senior Sergeant decided it was the latter. His squad was pinned down and he ran his options through his mind. None of them would be smart. They would just have to stay behind cover. Njall looked over at Skarr and the comm came to life.

“Orders, Skarr?” Norith shook his head. There were no orders he could give. Except for one.

“Stay behind cover. We’ll wait him out. Chances are there’s no one else operating the E-Web.”

Clicks came over the comm, sounding an affirmative from all of the squad. This was the last building. He should have just ordered the squad to bomb the armory and he would go after Nolac. But they couldn’t turn back now. Jared Nolac had made sure that they would stay under cover or die trying anything else. And then, suddenly, silence. The E-Web stopped its earth shattering cry. And the sound of running footsteps could be heard.

Skarr broke out of cover, running after the man who had taught him how to be a soldier. His heart pounded faster as he came closer to Nolac, the rest of his squad behind him.

“Nolac! Stop!” Skarr called out, turning the audio output all the way up in his helmet. Nolac skidded to a stop, the Bakuran cityscape outlined behind him in the windows that ran the length of the wall. He turned, a confused look on his face.

“Do I know you?” Nolac asked, breath coming out steadily. Skarr knew this was the moment of truth. He reached up and popped the seal on his helmet, lifting it clear of his head. The helmet dropped to the ground and his face was illuminated enough for Nolac to see. The man’s eyes widened and he smiled cruelly.

“Norith Skarr! What a pleasure to run into you again. I should have guessed it would be you ruining my plans again. And with the Vast Empire too! You’ve moved up,” Nolac exclaimed. Skarr could only scowl. And his blaster came up. His squad stepped up around him.

“Orders, sir?” Balac asked tentatively.

Eclipse’s squad leader held up his hand, “No one shoots until I say so.” Nolac smiled even wider. And began laughing.

“You should shoot me now, but then again, you don’t know if that would kill me.”

“Jared Nolac, you are under arrest by the order of Norith Ska...”

“There will be no arrest!” Nolac screamed and he jumped out of the window before anyone could react. A ship rose into view with Nolac standing on the landing ramp, “Until next time Norith!” The shuttle began making its way away from the building, leaving Skarr to stand there, staring at the ship. Valthir walked up next to Skarr and patted his shoulder, “Time to go Skarr.”

***

The bombs were planted in the armory where they were set for 10 minutes. Eclipse had no qualms about using the elevator this time and they exited the building with time to spare. The building exploded in glorious light, bathing the surrounding night in light and fire. Emergency crews arrived on scene along with police vehicles and personnel. The police found Eclipse standing outside of the burning office building and raised their blasters slightly.

“Stand down!” A voice commanded. It was the intelligence officer. The police immediately backed off of Eclipse and the intelligence officer grabbed hold of Skarr’s arm. “This way, Sergeant.” He led them to a large vehicle with the intelligence markings. It made its way to the Defense Force barracks at top speed.

Once it had stopped, Eclipse unloaded from the transport. Skarr asked the rest of the squad to head to their rooms and to get some rest. The Senior Sergeant entered the compound alone. He made his way to the HQ building that Ron had been using to find both Ron and Auslaut in their office.

Ron looked up and smiled slightly, “You look like hell.”

Skarr saluted, “Sir. The objectives have been completed.”

“So it was a success?” Auslaut queried.

Skarr nodded in annoyance, “If Blackjack secured the target, then yes, mission successful.”

Ron nodded, “Any unusual resistance?”

“Jared Nolac, sir. I can give more information on him at my debriefing, but can I request the rest of the night for myself?”

“I think you’ve earned it, Skarr,” Ron said.

OOC:

I think 1011 words is good enough for the final post. There was going to be more, but I decided to omit it. It was already long and it was just more of Nolac.