"Morning boys. Nice to be up this early, isn't it?" Merrick merely got a groan from each of her two new recruits. She grinned. It was 6am, and as much as she hated being up this early, it was alright if someone else had to suffer too. "Today, we get to head out to a planet in the middle of nowhere, and do some nice hard training for a couple of weeks.. or until we are needed again. Sounds fun huh?" More groans. "Yeah. So, 15 minutes. Get your gear, get back here, and we will head out. No weapons, they'll be issued to you when we get there. Go." Vulture and Firefrog ran back to the barracks to pack. Merrick wandered off to check that all the equipment she had requested was being stowed in the shuttle and that her own gear was on board as well. By the time she got back, Vulture was already waiting and Firefrog was just returning. "Both early, good start. Let's go." They bot picked up their packs and followed Merrick to the shuttle.

The shuttle had been launched before either of the men spoke. Firefrog had wandered off to bug the pilot, despite Merrick's suggestion not to, and Vulture was merely sitting there staring at the floor of the craft. "Where are we going Sir?" Merrick looked up from her datapad. "Ah, you do still have your tongue. Ciutric." With that, Merrick returned to her work and Vulture fell silent again. Firefrog returned, muttered something about the pilot and sat back down. He tried a few times to talk to Vulture, but didn't have much luck and soon gave up. After a while, Merrick put down her datapad. "Did it ever occur to you to enlist under a false name, Vulture?" Vult looked up and shook his head slightly. "No, not really, heh." Merrick laughed a little and yawned. She looked at Firefrog, who seemed to have fallen asleep, before wandering off to talk to the pilot.

Merrick returned a few minutes later. "We'll be landing in a few minutes. Ah, you're awake Firefrog." He nodded slightly and yawned as the shuttle headed into the space port at Ciutric. From there, it was a short ride in a land speeder to where they would be doing their training. When they got to their destination, Frog and Vult looked around. "Not much here is there?" Merrick nodded at Frog. "Aye but it's home. Let's decide where we're going to sleep and all that fun stuff, and then we can get onto the training." Frog looked at Merrick. "Home?" Merrick nodded. "This is where I was born and, unfortunately, grew up. Was glad to be out of here, and then somehow ended up in the army. Get a move on." Vulture and Firefrog sighed and got to work, while Merrick stood around and "supervised".
 
-----------------------
TRP/SSG Merrick/1SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE
-----------------------
Jester Squad's chick with a sword
To thy protection fear and sorrow flee, and those that weary are of light find rest in thee.
If you love something, set it free. If it doesn't come back, hunt it down and kill it.

Don't people ever actually talk to each other anymore? Frog sat on his bedroll, watching the other pair sleep. He remembered his early days in the academy well, recruits tended to be a talkative bunch, with grand ideas of where they would end up, and little time for the harsh realities of battle. He didnt expect much conversation from Merrick, it was her job to be the hardarse at this point, he thought with a chuckle. This Vulture was a quiet one though, it was kinda unnerving having no one to chat with. The boy was definately still human though, judging from the glances her threw Merrick's way.

Reaching into one of his pockets, Frog pulled out a small tube and began rubbing some cream on his wounds. They were nothing serious, but at his age these things tended to be sore none the less. He wasn't entirely looking forward to doing front-line type work, and he almost found it sad that all the way out here, his thoughts were centered mostly around the rifle hidden in his bunk back at base.

Somewhere in the distance some of the local fauna made its cry to the moon, and Frog decided he may as well try and rest a bit, truth be told he never slept much these days though. He slipped the ammo pack out of his carbine, then dropping the carbine with his things, clipped the ammo pack into his pistol and lay down the sleep, with the side-arm snuggled tightly in next to his leg.

"So what exactly do you think is going on?" Vult mumbled as he crouched next to Frog.
"Buggered if I know, shes been gone about an hour, but I see no reason why--" Frog was interupted as a stun bolt found its mark on Vult's side. Tracing the line of fire back up the hills, Frog only just had enough time to make a guess at its origin before an identical bolt struck his arm.

Frog lept to his feet, and was about to leg it for the closest cover when he remembered he should probably help his fellow victim in this shooting. Vult was on his feet, with a wince and a hand on his side as Frog yanked him over behind a few trees.
"This should keep us out of line of sight..." Frog said, just as a shot lanced into the trees in front of them, quickly followed by one half a meter from their feet.
"So shes moved, great, what say we do the same, eh buddy?"
Vult raised an unseen eyebrow at Frog as they started running again. "She? You think its Merrick, why?"
Frog let an equally unseen grin slip, "Because I don't think shes one to miss a shot that easy."

A couple of hours later the pair found themselves holed up in a ditch, somewhere god knows where in the middle of the hilly forest. Panting slightly, Frog scanned the forest for any sign of movement, while Vult crouched behind him, fumbling through his pockets.
"I coulda sworn I stuffed one of those ammo packs into my pants, where is the damn thing?"
Frog pulled the pistol from his holster and chucked it at Vult, "Take this if it makes ya feel better, but do you really plan to shoot her?"
Vult sighed and threw the pistol back, "Yeah, so the question is, just what DO we do?"
"I'm not exactly sure... we weren't exactly briefed on this, and shes not making it easy for us to win."

Just as Frog said that, Vult spotted something in the distance, just the slightest rustle over by a tree. Quickly pointing it out to Frog, they both pulled themselves deeper into the ditch. Huddling down for a minute, the pair talked tactics, and then crawled off in seperate directions.

From her vantage point up in the branches, Merrick watched the two recruits through her scope. Taking a shot at them from here would be even easier then they probably imagined, but what would be the fun in that? Humming to herself, she watched them scuttle off in seperate directions.
"Splitting up? Two targets might be a bit harder for my to track, but the lesson is teamwork here, silly boys."
Clipping a new ammo pack into her rifle, Merrick lay and waited to see what the two would do.

Frog stood with his back flat to the tree, Merrick's tree was just 50 meters or so from the other side of this tree, he'd kept to cover on the way to here, but only enough so it looked like he was trying to. Leaning around the tree, he fired three shots, each landing just left of Merrick, into the tree trunk. Ducking back behind the tree, he shoved the pistol back into his holster, and readied himself.

About the same distance on the other side Merrick's tree, Vult saw the three shots lance out.
"Thats my cue," he thought to himself, "I really wish I'd kept that damn pistol now though."
Leaping from the bushes, he swung his make-shift bola around his head, and launched a rock up at Merrick.

Grinning to herself, Merrick reached out with one of her pistols, two quick shots turning the rock to dust. Swinging her rifle around, a few well placed blasts with the new stun pack had Vulture on the ground.
"Spose its fun, but it really is past time for breakfast, might as well end this quick."
Getting up to a crouch, she swung her rifle around to see where Frog had gone.

"Maybe this idea wasn't quite so bad as I thought after all," Frog thought to himself. Aiming his pistol directly up, he fired off a couple of well placed shots, severing Merrick's branch from the tree, right at its base. The branch fell to the ground, and Frog side-stepped, pistol back in its holster, ready to catch his commanding officer. He felt slightly put off, when no commanding officer fell with the branch.

Looking up, he spotted Merrick floating up approximately where the branch used to be, a rifle pointed right at him, and his last thoughts of were of exactly how much of a headache those stuns caused him, just before the bolt caught him right between the eyes.

Hanging from a rope tied to a branch not much higher then her's had been, Merrick smiled, "Not too bad after all, I've certainly seen worse. Now how the hell did I plan to get myself down again?

Vulture groaned anew as Merrick turned off and started to head back into the woods.  After returning his eyes to the job at hand, he quickly slung his carbine, holstered the pistol on his belt, and huffed along after her, a ration pack bulging his pocket just in case.  He painfully caught up with her, and started keeping pace with her one step behind and to the right.  Realizing this position could easily get him killed, he quickly relocated directly to her side.  Merrick elected not to notice with an inner chuckle and a mental note to stun Vult once more before the day was out. 

Vult noticed Firefrog trudging along behind him, but he caried only his pistol.  He could feel frog's question coming, so he side-stepped it with his own to Merrick.  "Sir, where are we going?  If we leave the camp too far behind we might come back and find everything gone."  Merrick laughed.  "You forget who's home this is.  The locals, what few there are in this part, know me and know not to mess with things they find here." She saw Vult beginning to think of another question, and stalled him.  "No more questions.  In fact, shut up for now period." 

After a half an hour of walking, they came to an old speeder sitting tied to a tree. She had them stop, mounted the speeder, and gave their instructions.  "Im going back to camp.  You have to meet me there.  And hand over the weapons."  With a groan, the two men surrendered their arms.  "As Im sure you've heard at night, there are some less than friendly creatures here.  Your objective is stealth, not combat.  Just so you know, Vladimir is out there.  And if there's so much as a hair scratched on him, Ill skin you both."  Frog and Vulture gulped simultaneously.  They had been aquainted with Vladimir before heading out for training.  Apparently Merrick was the only human alive that could get near her pet Nexu without risking dismemberment. 

Without saying another word, she kicked on the speeder's engine, and launched away.  Frog and Vult turned in the direction of camp, and started walking.  Frog seemed detirmined only on the direction he was heading, but Vulture had done this exersize before.  Never with a live Nexu, but he knew how to move quietly in the open.  "Frog, we cant be more than 3 miles from camp.  I saw you taking mental notes of landmarks as we went, so you can play guide.  I just need you to try and be a little quieter.  Walk how I walk." 

So the two of them walked and skulked on for about 15 minutes before Vult's ears perked up at the sound of something big roving around nearby.  "Oh hell... this isn't good."  Frog looked at him.  "What do you-"  He heard it.  "Oh hell is right.  OK...  Nexu have claws the size of small knives.. so climbing will only trap us.  We cant run, and we cant hurt it.  Id say we're kinda screwed."  Vult looked around.  "I saw a big hole near a tree base not far from here...  but I cant remember where."  Frog perked up.  "It's 5 trees toward camp.  Was one of my landmarks."  Vult led the way briskly, silence forgotten knowing they were already targeted. 

When they reached it, Vult listened for a moment to hear where it was.  He heard a bush rustle and then quickly tested the wind.  "We're downwind of it...  quick, in the hole.  It looks like it can hold us both."  They dashed in, covering the opening with some loose dirt and twigs.  They heard the animal approach the hole, fortunately still staying upwind.  They heard it smiff, then leap over the hole and into the tree.  It tore around for a bit, then leapt back down in front of the hole.  It pawed around for a minute or two, then made an abrupt noise and jerked around.  Vult thought for sure they were Nexu food... but it took off at full run back into the jungle. 

They waited 10 full minutes before emerging, listening, and then running at full tilt the last half mile to base.  When they reached the sleeping rolls, Vladimir was lying on his side with Merrick playfully scratching its head.  "He had twigs and burrs all in his furr.  his ear got nicked.  Who's responsible?"  Frog was first with an explanation of what happened.  Merrick turned to Vult.  "So getting in the hole was your idea, which caused Vlad to leap into the tree to look for you?"  "Yes sir."  "Thought so."  She pulled out her blaster and stunned him. 

The last thign Vult saw that night was Merrick's face inches from his, whispering "From now on... you walk in FRONT of me."
 
-----------------------
Vulture


TRPPFC Vulture/ISQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LOR]

Slipping the last few pieces of equipment around his shoulders, Frog started off at a brisk run, after Merrick and Vlad, Vult followed as soon as he had his straps tightened.

Deciciding to try once more at civil conversation, Frog managed to somewhat engage Vult in normal conversation as they jogged along.
"So, good fun, being cadets and all, ain't it?"
Vult snorted before replying, "Without a doubt, you'd think we were training for the Imperial cross-country team at this rate."
"Feth! I knew I grabbed the wrong forms at the recruiment center..." Frog laughed.
Silenced passed for a couple of minutes before Vulture posed another question, "So um, whaddya think of Merrick?"
Frog raised a slightly mocking eyebrow, which Vult failed to see, "Oh she seems nice enough, I'd say shes quite keen on you too."
Vult stubbed his foot on a root, and nearly fell before replying, "What um, makes you say that?"
"Oh just a feeling, y'know, I mean she keeps shooting you and all."
"Shooting me? How would that make you think she liked me?"
"Eh, I know her type, thats their way of showing affection usually."
Vult put on a thoughtful face, and the conversation stopped there for quite a while.

All of a sudden Vult pulled up short, and Frog turned around to raise an eyebrow at him.
"The tracks end here..." Vult said, pointing down to the gound.
"Hrmm, they don't just end, they're a fething mess."
"You're right... it looks like Vlad launched himself from this spot."
Frog sighed, "I was almost beginning to enjoy the brisk run, and now shes making us do thinking again, good-o."
Vult let out a slight chuckle, and bent down to inspect the tracks a little closer, "Now this... is interesting..."

 
-----------------------
TRP/PFC Firefrog/1SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]

The stupider people think you are, the more surprised they'll be when you kill them.

"So where exactly are we going now, if I may ask?" Vulture queried after about 20 minutes of walking.
Merrick briefly looked over her shoulder, "We're almost out of supplies for the camp, we're just going to get some more."
"Wow, that almost seems mundane after what we've been doing," Vult replied.
Frog leant over to Vult, "After she so specifically stated we're going to need our blasters, I doubt we're going to the local store to get these supplies."
Vult opened his mouth to say something, then closed it an just nodded.

Frog closed his multitool and replaced the small side cover on his blaster, "There, all better now, you sure made a mess taking these things out Sir."
Vult chuckled, but both recruits shuddered slightly when Merrick's only response was to stroke Vlad a couple of times.

Eventually the three came to the crest of a hill, looking down into a valley with several smallish tents surrounding one larger one.
Merrick looked back at the pair, "These lot make themselves a minor pain for the people in the area, small raids, supplies and people taken, used to be alot worse before the people worked out how to best defend themselves against 'em."


Pulling out a pair of macrobinoculars, Merrick scanned the camp below them, "I'm sure they won't mind if you pair take back some of the supplies they took."
Frog grinned at Vult, who chuckled and smiled in return. Turning around, Merrick threw a small rifle scope at Frog, "Remember the pair of you have differeing talents, and teamwork doesn't always mean you have to be back to back." She gave a significant look to where Vult had his knives hidden, "You should have all the equipment you need, you'll both find comlinks in your packs. There's a small clearing just south-west of here, I'll meet you there when you're done, make sure you bring something tasty for dinner." With that, Vlad and her headed off at a brisk run, leaving the pair to work on their plan of attack.
 
-----------------------
TRP/LCPL Firefrog/1SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]

The stupider people think you are, the more surprised they'll be when you kill them.

In the valley before the stunned pair lay several rows of small tents, with cook fires placed at even intervals up the rows. At this point, men were scrambling out of the tents, and grabbing armour and weapons from nearby piles.

"Maybe we should've been a bit more careful," Vult muttered.
"Oh c'mon, would it really be as much fun if we didn't have to kill things?" Frog grinned as he turned 90 degrees and sprinted along the ridge.
Vult turned to try and gauge just how serious Frog was being, then ran after him.

They reached the highest point of the ridge, and stopped to risk a quick glance behind them, and although it occured to them later, they found it a little hard at this point to find the humour in having a couple of hundred armed men chasing down the mere two of them.

"We really need to keep moving Frog, come on, lets get the hell out of here," Vult tugged on Frog's sleeve, and was surprised when he didn't move.
"Chances are these lot know these woods a whole lot better then us, and do you really want to try and track Vlad's life signs with all of that lot prowling around us?"
Vult frowned and looked down at the oncoming small army.
"If we surrender, at least we have a chance to think this through, and get back the element of surprise," Frog winked at Vult, "They're gonna search us pretty well I'd say, got somewhere you can hide those knives?"
 
-----------------------
TRP/LCPL Firefrog/1SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]

The stupider people think you are, the more surprised they'll be when you kill them.

Vulture watched Merrick scramble up the hill adjacent to the cave, noticing how carefully she was avoiding leaving a track.  While frog planted himself in a natural bunker of rock near the cave mouth, Vulture found cover in some thick brush about 50 yards in front of the cave.  No sooner than he'd been sure he was hidden, than he saw Vlad tearing past, streaming blood.  He noticed a nick on the animal's tail and thought to himself "someone's gonna pay for that..."  His last thought before the mob finally started to pass him struck him as odd... he found himself sincerely hoping neither Merrick nor Frog had noticed how badly he'd had to keep from hugging her. 

As if on cue, as soon as the last of the mob had passed Vult, a double stream of blaster fire cascaded upon them, taking out a good dozen of the 50 or so that remained.  As the men dove for cover, another barrage came from two different locations.  At this point, 3 men dove into the brush where Vulture was hiding.  He'd hoped this would happen.  Swift as lightning, but silent as a ghost, he whipped out his knives, neatly bisected the throat and vocal cords of two of the men before driving both into the chest and trachea of the third.  Not a sound escaped them. 

While the random barages continued from the hill and cave, Vulture methodically hunted the men who sought cover in the woods, hearing occasional snarls and screams that indicated Vlad was doing the same while Frog and Merrick's sniper fire claimed even more victims.  His knives found chests, backs, throats, and chests until only about 10 survivors gave up hiding and just ran away.  Two of them met swift ends as thrown knives caught and stopped them mid-stride.  Only once did a shot get off, glancing Vult's armour and leaving a nice black streak across his chest. 

He watched the stragglers run as he heard Frog scrambling down to meet him.  His weapon wasn't raised, but then a fusilade of blaster fire cut the survivors down at a range of almost 5oo metres.  As the dust settled, Merrick climbed down to Vult and Frog muttering rather annoyedly to herself with Vlad walking besides her, a bandage fastened on his tail.

Vult used one of the corpse's canteens to rinse the blood off his knives and armour, not anxious for a repeat of his last encounter with Vlad.  When he was finished he noticed that Frog was looking very worried, and Merrick was looking nearly irate.  Vulture began to worry. 

"Ya know...  Ive been in this army a long time, but Ive never seen anything like this.  A simple supply raid and recon mission turns into a bloodbath.  And which of you two idiots had the brilliant idea of stopping when that horde was chasing you?"  She considered stunning whoever answered, but quickly realized she still had live bolts in her weapon.  Frog slowly raised his hand.  Merrick looked mildly disappointed.  "Alright... but understand, if you EVER do anything even resembling surrender again, it wont be the enemy I gun down."  She took a deep breath.  "Alright... enough excitement for today." 

After the long trek back to the camp, Vult and Frog quickly peeled off their armour, inhaled a ration, and fell into their sleeping rolls like felled trees.  As she peeled off her own armour, she again felt the familiar itch of Vulture's eyes on her.  Almost as soon as she noticed, she heard a rustle and looked to see that Vult had turned with his back to her.  She swallowed a chuckle, then allowed herself to fall snugly to sleep, Vlad curled up next to her roll.  It was gonna be a cold night, and she was glad for the extra warmth.

 
-----------------------
In can almost taste the Rebels being destroyed... ITS DELICIOUS!!! 


TRP/LCPL Vulture/ISQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LOR]

You don't love someone because they're beautiful; they're beautiful because you love them.

While he admired the other cadet for trying, there was little, if anything, that could be done to lift Vulture from the funk he had fallen into.  All day his mind swam with thoughts he knew made no sense, yet he couldn't restrain them.  Physical exersize was never one of Vult's preferred activities. His day to day life, expecially since setting down on Ciutric, had provided more than enough activity to keep him in shape.  But he copied Frog's movements and followed his instructions anyway just to try and occupy his mind. It failed horribly, but he took some consolation in the fact that this would make Frog feel somewhat useful during this little... whatever the hell it was. 

The fact of the matter was that he felt as if his purpose had been ripped from him.  Yeah, he knew about serving the emperor and all that, but for the moment his sole purpose of existence was to keep his CO, to keep Merrick, pleased with him.  And somehow, he had managed to turn that into a major Charlie Foxtrot.  THe worst of it was that he knew it was more than her being his CO, which made her disappearance all the more of a blow. 

When Frog had had enough exersize for the day, and after they had sat in silence through the meal as Vult had since morning, Frog passed out in his cot as if struck by a sedative dart.  Having been waiting for this, Vult quickly and quietly grabbed his blades, carbine, and a small scanner and headed out into the woods.  He found himself a spot on a hill just barely close enough to still make out the camp and the tiny glow of the fire Frog had built for warmth. 

As he settled down by a tree he reflected on how little the slight chill was bothering him now that had plagued him most of the day.  It wasnt particularly cold, but for some reason the night itself seemed to purge it from his senses.  He had always seen himself a night creature.  It was as if he could hear better, see farther, and move faster once the sun was gone.  He knew this was nonsense, but he still enjoyed the feeling.  As the night began to permeate his mind, he was suddenly overcome by hunger.  He had been unable to do more than pick at food all day, so he figured since sleep was not going to be a likely ally tonight, he could correct it.

Spotting a decent sized rodent on a neighboring tree, he pinned it to its perch with a flick of the wrist and the throw of a blade.  Pulling it down, he scanned it and detirmined it safe to eat.  After skinning and cleaning it, he spotted another and seeing how tired he had become of packaged rations, killed and cleaned it as well so he could bring Frog some fresh meat come morning.  He built a small fire, containing the heat with a circle of rocks and trying to shield the light in the overhangs of the trees.  He fashioned a spit, and as he waited for the fire to really get going, he located a few plants that would suffice for herbs, even something that struck him as very similar to garlic.  These he chopped with a knife, caked into some fat he scraped from the skins, and rubbed into the flesh before putting it on the spit and cooking. 

Immediately the smell of the meat cooking made him absolutely ravenous.  He felt drool accumulating in his mouth, then his mind cleared as he heard the unmistakable cry of a hungry meat-eating animal.  He shoved worry aside, knowing he could deal with anything he found on this planet with his carbine, then froze solid in fear.  He recognized the sound... it was Vlad!

He was immediately bombarded by emotion.  Joy that she was close, curiosity at why she was so near, yet refused to make contact, and finally fear of being discovered here.  Her orders had been specific, don't look for her, and he wasn't.  But how else would she interpret him being this far from camp at night?  as he contemplated all these thoughts, he didn't notice he was practically burning his dinner.  He also didn't notice the footsteps approaching the fire until their owner was standing with one foot on his blaster.  The figure was cloaked and Vult was quite terrified, gripping one of his knives and expecting to fight off revenge for their massacre of the raider camp.  Then a voice spoke.  A female voice.  He was absolutely frozen in fear, confusion, and every other emotion he had ever known. 

"I hope you have enough to share, corporal. I think We need to talk."
 
-----------------------
In can almost taste the Rebels being destroyed... ITS DELICIOUS!!! 


TRP/LCPL Vulture/ISQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LOR]

You don't love someone because they're beautiful; they're beautiful because you love them.

When he finally caught up with her, Vult began to silently probe his mind as to what these plans of Merrick's might entail.  Nothing he thought of made any sense whatsoever, so he just kept up pace as they headed down the hill and toward the camp.  As they neared the foot of the hill, he noticed that her ears had been twitched by something, a sound from the brush off to the left.  As he used his peripheral vision to investigate, he heard a similar sound from the other side.  Reaching down as if to scratch beneath the shin guard of his armour, he very discreetly drew one of his blades, sliding it into the forearm of his uniform. 

Finding a convenient root, he deliberately tripped to disguise the movement of removing his blade.  When he righted himself, he saw what he had been expecting to see... one of the smugglers.  He recognized the man as having been in the command tent, a commander of some kind.  He was crouched in the brush aiming his rifle at Merrick.  Using the motion of righting himself to hide the movement, he let the knife fly from his hand into the bush.  He saw the satisfying glint of metal and spray of blood as it sliced through his carotid artery, then his spina cord causing him to fall as a dead weight on the ground. 

Started by the sound of the motion, and the near-miss of the man's blaster as he died, Merrick sent a barrage of fire into the adjoining bushes.  Multiple screams told of hits, and Vulture took no pause in sneaking behind the chaos and finishing the job in his own manner.

"Good gods, Vult... how many times in a week can one man get himself drenched in blood?" Merrick said almost playfully as she tossed back his other dagger and holstered her own weapons.  "Must be a lucky week, sir." he replied matter-of-factly.  The heat of battle always brought him such distinct pleasure that to keep form bursting into celebration he often had to keep himself stoically solid. 

With no more words, only a few shared and deflected glances, they returned to basewhere frog remained sleeping peacefully, Vlad keping a watch from a short distance.  Upon sighting her, the beast bounded over and allowed himself to be scratched, then sniffed Vult rather closely and took a few licks of his blood-soaked tunic. 

"You'd better get some sleep, soldier." Merrick informed him.  "He's already a few hours ahead of you, and this is a game where you cant afford to fall behind.  While my plans may have been delayed, we still have a great deal of work to do.  We Have to move up my plans a bit to account for the change.  Now.. get to sleep now or Ill sedate you."  Vult simply smiled, peeled off his remaining armour, and climbed into the sack.  Not realizing how tired he was, he didnt even have time to steal his usual glance, and simply passed out.
 
-----------------------
In can almost taste the Rebels being destroyed... ITS DELICIOUS!!! 


TRP/LCPL Vulture/ISQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LOR]

You don't love someone because they're beautiful; they're beautiful because you love them.

Frog rubbed at the scuff marks on his chestplate a bit harder, he'd had the damn thing for years, and it was getting to the point where some of the worse marks just wouldn't clean up. Merrick and Vult's absence had given him an interesting opportunity to do a little recon of his own. He felt somewhat bad snooping through his fellow soldier's gear, but its not like they were friends yet, he'd only known them a few weeks now, and he'd always been decidedly suspcious and curious of people around him.

Vult's gear hadn't produced anything of use, several blades of varying makes, some personal gear, and a few decidedly... interesting... journal entries. Of those last, he hoped they stayed at journal entries, office romances always became that much messier when your office was a battlefield.

Merrick's gear seemed even more sparse by comparison, several sets of clothes, all almost identical, a couple of toolkits, and a spare hold-out blaster. No personal touches what-so-ever, most curious. He was going to give up his hunt as pointless, when on a whim he decided to have a dig around Merrick's bedding, and was rewarded with a small datapad hidden within the pillow.

The datapad contained a few documents, and seemed set up to link back to a private port in the Army's comnet. The most notable item on there was a request for a shuttle, to be scheduled to land in a clearing not far from their camp, a couple of nights from then. Note was made of a passanger, but it wasn't clear whether said passanger was coming or going, was she shipping one of them off? Or were they getting some company? The document mentioned some extra supplies for the camp as well, including a new tent, but that could just be a replacement for Vulture's, as Vlad had torn the side one night, after Vult had been slack in cleaning his armour properly.

Frog sighed, and decided his chestplate wasn't going to get any cleaner. Dropping it back with the rest of the gear, he met eyes with Merrick for a moment, frowned at her lack of expression, and went to grab a nap himself.
 
-----------------------
TRP/LCPL Firefrog/1SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]

The stupider people think you are, the more surprised they'll be when you kill them.

Private First Class Hashi shifted uncomfortably in his seat in the speeder, shrugging off most of Firefrog's and Vult's seemingly endless barrage of questions. Where are you from? How old are you kiddo? He answered them curtly, irritated by their constant inquiries. Vader take them! He wasn't in the mood for any casual chit-chat! Hashi glanced nervously at the woman in the driver seat. Merrick was as silent as a rock, it was hard for him to try and get a feel of his new squad leader. He didn't know much about her, except by reputation. The folks back at base said something about an axe and a pet, and that made Hashi wonder much...

The rookie stormtrooper turned away to look at the dark wilderness, his mind preoccupied with dark gloomy thoughts about his first mission out of Drill squad. He had checked and rechecked his gear aboard the shuttle, making sure every single piece of equipment was in perfect working order. He had also spent the previous nights in the shuttle vigourously polishing his armour to perfection. The thing was as shiny as spit. A dark thought entered Hashi's head and he silently cursed himself. What if his gleaming white armour became the perfect target for an enemy sniper? Damn.

The speeder finally stopped at the campsite and the four of them got out. Merrick told Firefrog and Vult to help Hashi with his luggage. Hashi looked aghast as Firefrog and Vult just simply threw his gear out of the back of the speeder.

"Damn it! Be careful with that!" he snarled.

But the two of them merely shrugged and wandered back to camp as they finished flinging his gear to the ground. Picking his stuff up, Hashi made his way to the center of the camp. He unpacked his bedroll and rolled it on the ground close to the other three bedrolls already there.

He noticed Merrick was already sitting cross-lapped on the ground, her eyes focused on a datapad in her hands. Hashi wondered if it was a good time to bring up the matter that had been bugging him throughout the ride in the shuttle.

"Uhh sir... when will I be issued my weapons?" he asked, nervously clearing his throat. Merrick turned and looked at him for a moment, then got up and rummaged through the camp supplies for a small bundle. She tossed it over to Hashi.

"There they are Private. You'll be needing them before long," grunted Merrick with a glint in her eye.

Hashi gulped. Merrick did not elaborate, but instead went back to her datapad. He opened the bag and hungrily pulled out the Stormtrooper Carbine in it. He inspected the pack too see if it was loaded. It was. Hashi held it tight in his grip, his finger caressing the trigger. Holding the gun lightened Hashi up. He was secure in the knowledge that with it, he was a match for any opponent.

Feeling better, he ambled over to where Firefrog and Vult were, and quickly started a conversation with them, his earlier annoyance with them gone. Hashi wanted to know what the hell they had been up to before his arrival.

When Hashi asked about Merrick's pet, the both of them just chuckled sinisterly...

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TRP/PFC Hashi Shiyun/1SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]
"I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with the law" - David Dinkins

After a few days spent training intensively, Merrick got a call. It was in the middle of the day, but she kept it to herself despite the naggings of Vult, Frog, Sokudo and Hashi. That night as they ate dinner, Frog started to bug her again. "It sounded important, what was it?" Merrick finished eating and finally gave in. "That was the great Fury. Says he thinks we have had enough fun out here goofing off, and we should get back home. So the plans I had will just have to wait for another visit. Maybe next time I retire. So, tomorrow morning the shuttles lands and we head back to base." None of them looked disappointed. Though Hashi had only been with them a few days, he was already tired of all the work Merrick made him do. Plus, despite her efforts to prevent it, Frog and Vult were ordering him around. It was the first chance they'd had to, having been promoted to Lance Corporals while on Ciutric. Frog, Sokudo and Vult spent that night fooling around, happy to finally be going back to living indoors, sleeping in beds and eating something slightly more appetising than rations. Merrick just went to bed, as she hated falling asleep on shuttles.

[OOC: As requested, consider this runon over. We're home, back in our barracks, and I'm getting rid of Kip's stuff so I can have my SL quarters how I like 'em.]
 
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TRP/SSG Merrick/1SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE
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Jester Squad's chick with a sword and Squad Leader
To thy protection fear and sorrow flee, and those that weary are of light find rest in thee.
If you love something, set it free. If it doesn't come back, hunt it down and kill it.