The two made their way slowly down the hall.  The odds were that the ship had only a skeleton crew, if that, so most of the rebels would be accounted for.  Still, they had yet to find a superior officer and even though the ship was small, there could be some rebels lurking around waiting to cause trouble.  The two reached the other end having searched two rooms and not coming across a single rebel.

"If the commander is on board, odds are he has gone to either an escape hatch or some place where there might be a communications system to access."  Afyon said,keeping a sharp eye down the hall for enemies.

"Figure the core of the ship then?"  Rema asked.

"Maybe, probably the middle section of the bottom floor is my bet, odds are this is an escape hatch there."  Afyon replied.

The two moved through their side of the ship quickly but methodically, not wanting to skip over any potential hiding spots.  The two finally reached a stairwell that led down to what they believed was the final floor.  Rema went down first while Afyon covered him in a sniper position.  Once at the bottom, Rema took cover while Afyon quickly ran down towards his position.  Afyon then made his way to the corner of the hallway and looked around only to be rewarded with a burst of enemy fire.

"We've got company."  He whispered to Rema who had reached his position.  "We have to take them quickly before they can alert anyone else."  Afyon instructed.

"A firefight here isn't what we need." Rema agreed.  Afyon signalled for a grenade and Rema pulled one out.  Rema lobbed it down the hall.  The thunderous sound came out of the hallway followed by smoke and shrieks a second later.  Afyon raced to the otherside of the entrance to the hallway and the two soldiers let loose with a burst of heavy fire from the powerful A-280s.  They neededto knock out the enemy quickly.
 
-----------------------
*DarkDragoons*
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
SL/SFC_Afyon/2SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/[LoR][IH][CoH(2)][SoA]
"No I expect to leave you on some beach with no name at all while I say away on my ship...and then I'll shout the name back to you...saavy?"

Pulling back on the flight stick as hard as he could, Phoenix sent the sluggish X-wing into as tight a vertical loop as he could manage. Emporer's black bones, how do the Rebs WIN in these things. Phoenix was so used to the agility and speed of his TIE advanced, or the sheer firepower of his missileboat, that piloting the X-wing felt like trying to fly with a Hutt on your back.

Right now only his relfexes and his rapidly deteriorating Force connection were keeping him alive. Two more interceptors had appeared from nowhere, making a swarm of five buzzing around the X-Wing. With Fury's ship outbound, and the Nova Cruiser not far behind, Phoenix was running out of options.

A split second warning through the Force made him pull out of his loop, slamming his left foot on the etheric rudder. the craft side-slipped to the left, as two quad bursts flashed past his viewport. Shit. These warnings are getting shorter and shorter.

Inverting his craft and diving again, Phoenix came out his his roll behind one of the interceptors. Lining up the targeting recticle, Phoenix triggered two sets of quad blasts. One set missed completely, but one of the second four punched through the engine, causing a brilliant explosion...which Phoenix casually blasted through.

He noticed one of the interceptors was taking a long path around, trying hopefully to make the Sith think he had bugged out. Switching over to missiles, Phoenix acquired a target lock, then a radar lock as the rectile went red. Pressing the trigger he sent off his last pair of missiles. He immediately rolled his ship on it belly and looped around, not wanting to hold the same path long enough for someone to get a clean shot. His IFF display showed one less fighter on it a few seconds later, leaving Phoenix now with three problems...
 
-----------------------
Dark Jedi Knight Gunnery Sergeant Phoenix
Cult Member (CM) - Sith Knight - Eagle Sect -
Squad Leader (SL) - Demolitions - Raider Squad -
VEA Recruiting Staff
CM/DJK Phoenix/Eagle 1-4/Sith/VEDJ/VE/Lopen
AS-2/SL/GSG Phoenix/3SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/Tadath [LoR] [RoM] [BC] [CDS] [BoA]

    Dragging the two prisoners to the bridge they knocked on the door. "State your Callsign and business." A voice called out from inside.
    "This is Kami from housekeeping, just wonderin if you needed your mint." Kami said winking to Virius.
    The door opened with Rizzit at the ready with his rifle. "So where are the prisoners?"
    "We decided to drag them maybe losen their mouths a little." Virius said pulling the prisoner forward and ploping him down in front of the Major. Flicking off the platimum droids power Virius also mentioned the droid.
    "Good work, for now search the ship and see if you can find anything useful." Rizzit ordered then pulling the prisoners inside the bridge and closing the door.

    "So where should we look first?" Kami said in a puzzled voice.
    "Hmm, where would I hide if I were a hiding republic officer." Virius responded looking around.
    "Well I read in a report from the last year's mission that there was an officer hiding in the ventilation system." Kami said looking for a vent cover.
    "Sounds like a good idea, lets find the environmental systems and mess with anyone else in the ship." Virius smiled checking his datapad for a room that contained the controls for the temperature.

    After sneaking through the hallways checking every corner and open doorway they duo finally made it to the Environmental Control room. The solid plasteel door was adjacent to engineering that, after checking was locked.
    Opening a comm to the bridge Virius commed, "Major, is engineering under Imperial control?"
    "Not yet but it would be very nice of you to secure it for us." Rizzit responded in a interesting tone of voice.
    "Roger that, clearing engineering."

    Looking at the door again he felt for any type of access panel and after short examination he found a hidden panel at the base of the doorframe. "Thats interesting," he said motioning for Kami to take a closer look.
    "I can pop that open for ya," she said pulling out a small amount of plastique and smushing it on the panel. Attaching a small detonator they both looked away and Kami triggered the explosive.

    The plastique fizzled and melted away the metal and circuits beneath it. The door then unlocked and rose about a quarter of an inch.
    Virius took out his fiber optic camera and carefully slid it under the door to check for enemy contacts. Seeing none, he signalled for Kami to help open the door. Prying it open the two walked in and cleared the room.

    Finding a computer terminl Virius plugged in his created slicer tool. Accessing the environmental controls he lowered the atmosphere in engineering. Timing for about eight minutes he programmed it to return to normal.
    "That will make even a wookie go unconscious."

    Following Virius out of the room Kami readied her weapon and waited for the atmosphere to return to normal. Watching Virius check his chronometer he pulled out the keycard found off the briefing room guard and slid it through the reader.

    The heavy blast door creaked open and inside there were five unconscious technicians and three marines. The two NCOs nodded at each other and moved in to secure the now breathing NR techs and soldiers.
    "Major, we have secured engineering. We have eight knocked out prisoners. I would like to ask for permission to sift through the ships computer." Virius commed to the ships bridge.
    "Permission granted. Kami is to stay and provide any support if needed." Rizzit responed closing the comm.

    Virius pulled off his helmet and gloves and started to work. Kami pulled the prisoners up to the wall for soon interrogation.
 
-----------------------
Senior Sergeant
Frank "Virius" Carter
Combat Slicer
Squad Leader - Iron Horse Squad
SL/SSG Virius/1SQD/1PLT/COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR] [ES1] [WM]
TRN/INI Virius/Training 1-3/VEDJ/VE
"Dear humanity, we regret being alien bastards. We regret coming to earth. And we most definitely regret the corp just blowing up our raggedy-ass fleet."
"Hoorah!"--SGT Johnson and Corp pilots in Halo 2

Kami pulled up an uncomfortable looking chair, then straddled it backwards, her gaze focused on her charges as she did so. Behind her, Virius's fingers flew over the keyboard, the soft tapping of the keys the only sound breaking through the quiet thrumming of the room.

One of the Rebels, a Marine, stirred slighty, his eyes lolling open. Pushing off the ground with her feet, Kami rolled forwards on her chair, smashing the butt of her rifle into his temple. The soldier let out a soft yelp before dropping back into his slumber.
The soft tapping behind her paused momentarily as Virius glanced over his shoulder.
Kami offered a look of innocence, "Found anything worth a second glance?"

Virius flicked his eyes back to his screen, "Not just yet..."

Kami turned back to the Rebels in time to see a technician snap back to reality. Pushing off the ground again, she shot forwards at the tech, catching the side of his face with a booted foot.
The technician let out a loud groan, then collapsed sidewards to land facefirst in his comrades crotch.

The soft tapping paused again, "Kam..."
Virius's eyebrows rose as he took in the recently coupled Rebel, "...I think you're having more fun than you're suppose to."

She grimaced, then tilted her chin at the screen, "Any luck?"

Virius nodded, "A few things that I can go through later." He rose from the terminal and looked down at the unconsciousness Rebels. "You think you can lug them back to the bridge?"

Throwing a wink at her squad leader, Kami nodded to the drooling Marine at Virius's feet
"You're the man Vee. You drag em."

 
-----------------------
Iron Horse Squad
-=silly caucasian girl likes to play with samurai swords=-
-=pretty...what do we blow up first?=-
ASL/SGT kaMi/1SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR] [CoR] [IG] [GCA]

[OOC: Wow this is bad...]

Charging through the smoke, Rema fired a barrage of A280 fire. The sound of a thud on the floor, and a quick scan with his infrared sensors showed the area was clear. Ahead of the two Dragoons was a small, sealed hatch. Moving to either side of the door, Afyon readied to open the hatch. On the count of three, he pressed the door release button causing the hatch to slide open. Expecting a hail of blaster fire, Rema squished himself as best he could against the wall. After a few seconds of eerie silence he looked through the hatch. Inside the room, which appeared to be a small cargo hold, were a dozen small, metal crates. No hail of blaster fire. Slamming his last clip into his A280, the Dragons XO turned to his CO.

As the CO was giving his orders the ship shook causing Rema to fly across the hall and smash into him.

"I guess that means we are out of Sluis Van," Rema announced smiling under his helmet.

"Get off me." Afyon growled pushing Rema away.

"Sorry."

Picking up his rifle, Rema moved through the hatch and into the cargo hold. Shouldering his A280, he began to weave through the maze of crates. A shuffling noise caused the Dragoon to freeze. A shape flashed at the edge of his peripheral vision. Spinning to bring his gun to bear, he saw a red blaster bolt fly past his head. Dazed for a second, the attacking Rebel charged the Dragoon screaming madly. Noticing the uniform the rebel was wearing, Rema guessed it was the commanding office. Quickly turning his A280 around, he slammed the butt of his rifle into the chest of the rebel commander. Rema could hear a crunch as his rifle connected with his attacker. The officer was tossed to the ground.  Leaning over the screaming rebel, the Imperial delivered the knock out blow. Within moments Afyon was at his side.

"Ouch. Nice job Remmy."

"Thanks."

 
-----------------------
*DarkDragoons*
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
ASL/SGT Rema/2SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][OPE] [AM-B][AM-S][AM-P][IH][SoA][CDS]
"Only Trust your Allies as much as you can Predict your Enemies."
"Do you expect me to talk?" "No Mr. Bond, i expect you to die."
"Luke, I am your Fasha."

Raziel kept the turret powered up and aimed behind them right up until the moment Rizzit launched the ship into hyperspace. He paused for a moment and took a deep breath, slowly relaxing his hands and taking them from the controls. For him that had been more than a little tense, whilst most of the non-coms were busy on the ship and ignorant to the events outside, he had been keeping an eye on the victorious Republic fighters whilst Rizzit steered them clear. All the while visions ran through his head of one of those fighters slowly turning about and heading after them, before calling rogue squadron, or some other X-wing group down on them. However, it had not happened, the ships had never turned to follow them and they were clear now. Every second watching the distancing ships had seemed like an hour to Raziel.

He slipped off the chair and clambered down into the main body of the ship. On his way to the cockpit, he sneaked a peak into some of the cargo on board. It was a fairly impressive cache of weapons, blasters, explosives and heavier personal weapons. There was also a crate of parts, which appeared to be the components of a stationary turret. What the shipment lacked in quantity it made up for in quality, who the shipment was headed for he could not hazard a guess at, but it was all mundane stuff. The New Republic lacked a strong transport network so older rebellion ships like this were still running cargo.




"Hi there," Rizzit said, not getting up from his chair.
"How're things?" Raziel asked as he stepped into the room and took the nearest chair, swivelling it to face his commanding officer.
"Not too long before we get to the dominion now, the dragoons and horses are still searching for the captain of this pile of rust."
"Not too impressed with it?"
"Oh it'll do, it's just seen a few years this thing, and by the way you didn't happen to take anyone alive did you?" Rizzit asked
Raziel shrugged. "We've got the ship now,"
"Yes, but we still need Republic codes if we're going to get through any military lines, the computer says the codes were downloaded from the computer and then wiped shortly before we came aboard."
"Oh,"
"Yeah, you probably noticed Otto and Cyanus having fun with the four outside."
"I'll see if I can help," Raziel said. Torture was not a favourite of his, but interrogation techniques had been part of his training and telepathy was his main strength. "Got a med kit in here?" he asked.
"Sure," Rizzit pointed to a green box on the cockpit wall. Raziel opened it and rifled through the contents, picking out a small syringe.



Outside Otto had his lightsaber held in front of him, edging it closer and closer to a crewmember's neck. The pilot was pressing back against the corridor as hard as he could, leaning away from the saber. Otto deactivated his saber at the last moment, leaving a small burn mark on his neck.
"Any luck?" Raziel asked.
"Nothing useful," Cyanus replied.
"Mind if I try one?" Raziel asked, holding up the syringe and nodding towards one of the unconscious prisoners.
"Be my guest, but what is that?" he pointed at the syringe.
"Oh a mild sedative, as you wake up from this one you tend to be susceptible to probing,"

Raziel dragged the unconcious man by the scruff os his uniform around the corner, away from his comrades. He unloaded a third of the syringes contents into the man's body. Hopefully that would keep him down for a couple of minutes.

Raziel layed the man down confortably ion his back and waited for him to rouse. As the man's eyes started to part Raziel started to talk.

"Nice to see you awake . . ." Raziel probed the man's mind quickly, "Ghant," Raziel noted that the mind was also more susceptible to suggestions through the Force in this semi-alert state.
"Er, who's . . . who's . . ." Ghant murmured.
"It's me, the captain," Raziel delved into Ghants mind and conjured up and image of his commander. "It's ok now, we'll be heading on our route soon,"
"The engines, i must prep the engines," Ghant repeated.
"It's ok, it's been done. You just relax now. We'll soon be heading off for . . . " Raziel let his voice trail off. He probed the engineers mind as he recalled the details of their next shipment.
"Good man, good man," Raziel said soothingly, resting the palm of one hand on Ghants forehead.
"But, but the stormtroopers!" Ghant shouted. Raziel pushed down more forcefully on Ghants head, keeping him in place. The man' was quickly recollecting recent events and Raziel had to act fast.
"Ghan, listen. We've lost the codes, where did i put the codes?"
"No, captured! I was captured!" Ghant said as he regained counciousness. His eyes snapped fully open and he looked straight at Raziel for the first time.

In a last ditch effort Raziel forced himself into the engineer's mind, searching for the information he needed. Ghant screamed as Raziel probed him through the Force. He gasped as his mind was torn asunder,

Raziel looked down in shock as Ghant's eyes stopped moving, and rolled up. The engineer went limp. Raziel realised that Ghant hadnt even known about the codes. He hopped to his feet, away from the body, in shock.

Power, without control he thought to himself. A similar even had happened on Bestine. All his life he had complete control over his body and knew all of his limits and potentials. The thought of not understanding his new found strength terrified him. He would have to be far more careful in future, control would come in time.

He walked back to the cockpit, Otto through him a lopsided salute. The other prisoners looked up at him in fear, they had heard the screams.
"Get anything useful out of him?" Otto asked.
"'Fraid he didnt know what i wanted," Raziel replied, before going in to talk to Rizzit. As the door shut behind him he heard Otto say:
"Now, who wants to go with him next? Oh, you'd better start talking then!"

Otto and Cyanus would use whatever means necessary and Raziel held no doubts they would get anything out of the remaining prisoners, Raziel had lost the heart to join in now after losing control. He was just afraid that these crew members didnt know what they needed.
"Any luck?" Rizzit asked.
"None on the codes, but i know where they were headed next,"
"And?" before Raziel could replied Rizzits comm unit beeped.
"Rizzit, this is Afyon, we have the captain!"
"Excellent, search him for a data disk and then bring him here!"
 
-----------------------
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
PL:A/SGMRaziel/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/{EW1} (WoS1) (VP) {IG} {CDS} {BoA} {PoC}
Assistant Squad Leader - Squad4 Wraiths
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989.
CM/DJK Raziel/lion 1-5/Krath/VEDJ/VE

The prisoner screamed in fear as Raziel grabbed him by the collar and took him away. He had heard the screams before, and knew that the man who had gone before him was dead. Oh god the body is still there! Raziel tossed the pilot down next to Ghant's dead body. The pilot screamed again and furiously scrambled away from the body, a look of agony was etched on the lifeless face. Raziel raised a blaster pistol.
"Be still," he said, and the pilot was. After a few minutes Raziel shook off the shock of losing control and getting nowhere with Ghant. But afterall, if he didn't try again he never would learn control.



The pilot looked across at the engineers frozen corpse once again, they had been good friends. And this...thing...tortured him to death The pilot regained some of his nerve, this thing with horrible piecing eyes could do as he pleased, he wouldn't talk. The Sith, or Stormtrooper, or whatever he was, slowly slid a knife from its sheath. The black blade came lose from the bandolier and the Jedi held it up for him to see. The blade was dark and lifeless, no light reflected off of its surface, it absorbed everything and it was hungry for life. The pilot's nerve faltered some then, he shied away as the Jedi brought the blade down close to him. The flat side of the blade was run along his chest loosely, it trailed down to his waist. In a flash the Jedi lifted his shirt and was down at his side, holding him down with his free hand. The Sith's grip was like iron, though he looked slender. The pilot tried to struggle, but to no avail. There was a tearing sound and he hoped it wasn't his skin, he looked down to see his shirt ripped up the middle, his chest exposed and the knife hovering ominously above it. He felt a tingling sensation in the back of his mind then, but paid it no heed. He could only stare into the darkness of the knife's blade, and despair.

He could only remember thinking one thing afterwards, as the knife plunged down towards him. He didn't even ask any questions raced through his mind as the cold blade touched his skin. And then came the pain. The blade sliced his skin as if it were paper, he could only watch as a thin line of blood rose as the knife ran up the length of his stomach. It was so surreal, like a dream, he just couldn't believe it was happening. And then he screamed. A horrible gut wrenching scream. He tried to tear his eyes away as the blade plunged into his stomach, but he could not. Searing agony ripped through his body as flecks of his blood sprayed over his chest. He watched as the Sith opened his stomach with the knife and rammed the knife into his gut. He wrenched and twisted in the Jedi's grip, trying to free himself from the pain. He didn't even ask any questions

And then it stopped. He continued struggling for a moment and then realised that the pain had stopped. Maybe he was dying now, his life force slowly slipping away. But no, he could still feel his body, could still feel the loose tattered remains of his shirt on his chest. He looked up to see the Sith smiling, holding the clean knife menacingly. He looked down at his body, to see that it was not ruined, there was no slash down the length of his body, there was nothing. The Jedi released him from his grip and his hands went to his stomach, memories of the pain still lingered.

"That was a taste. We can do this all day if you want," he kept the knife in his hand, waving it slowly in front of the prisoners eyes. He had never felt pain like that before, yet it had not been real. "I know you were headed to Alzoc three, I want to know why and I want to know your route. Exactly." Raziel felt pleased with himself, he had exercised his power with complete control.




"What's the story then?" Rizzit asked as Raziel came back into the bridge.

"They're all spilling their guts now, I played some mind games with them and now they're all confessing the world to Afyon. They think he can keep the "Nasty Sith" away. Got to love good cop, bad cop. Basically they were headed to Alzoc III, spooky huh? But none of them know why, but the cargo contains a standard set up for fortifying a base they say,"

"That's mildly worrying, but we cant think about that now. What about the codes?"

"The captain's handed them over and explained their use fully, when he saw the rest of his men after me and Otto were through with them he 'fessed up quick."

"Good, we're coming up to the Dominion now," The ship dropped out of hyperspace , the Dominion a spec in the distance ahead of them. "I think Fury has been busy whilst we were away."

"Excellent, the men should be anxious to get going."




"How long did you say the storm would last?"

"Around two standard hours sir," the private replied, only glancing over his datapad to look at Commander Boyd.

"Issue the order to lock down then, send out a speeder to bring our men back from the outposts and ion cannons. What about that meteor shower, is that over now?" the commander reached up and rubbed his chin contemplatively.

"Yes sir, they landed around fifty miles from our location," he replied

"You know imperials often use meteor showers to hide the deployment of probe droids." The strange figure at the other end of the room piped up. The bald headed man stood up and straightened out his newly acquired robes. Heavy metal binding drubs had been pumped though his system and had removed some of the toxins present in his system, the rest of the drugs had worn off over the course of his long trip. He was now back to his pompous, overconfident self. "Also I recommend you do not recall your men. We could be attacked at any time and we would be left defenceless!"
Commander Boyd did not enjoy Vic'tahr Buschelle's company. His remote base had been chosen as the staging point of "Saviour's " regrouping. He thought the bald headed man looked like a fool, and acted as much like one. And yet his men followed him fervently and higher ups seemed to be willing to throw resources his way.

"May I remind you that the conditions out there will be too dangerous for any man during the storm,"

"Well then, place remote turrets at the eight outposts and have the men stay in the Ion cannon control rooms, I've read the specifications and those things have environmental control,"

"Yes, but during the storm only the bunkers own environment is without risk of compromise, leaving men out there will hardly be without risk and they will not be comfortable. They are my men."

"They are my men now commander and they will do what it needed of them to bring down the Imperial remnant." He elongated his vowels and talked slowly, drawing out each word. Boyd almost felt humbled in his prescence, even though he didn't really believe Vic'tahr as competent as he made out. The private looked up to Boyd for confirmation.

"Very well, leave four men at each ion cannon and leave remote turrets at each outpost Although the long distance communication system will be able to penetrate the storm to some extent we will probably lose short range comms during the storm," Before the private could leave though Buschelle had more to add.

"Oh and find Colonel Shansta for me, he should be ready for command now,"

"So General, may I enquire about your greater plans for the Empire?" Commander Boyd asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Vic'tahr Buschelle seemed ignorant of it. "Well much has happened since I was last active. The Vast Empire has gained momentum now and are on a push for the core. No-one ever thought this possible, I knew all along and no-one believed me." Boyd wandered just how long "Saviour" had been screaming that. Probably he made up the story after hearing the news. "We cannot simply smash them head on, no as usual their overconfidence is their weakness. You must remember commander, the Empire likes order. So we, must seek to destroy that order. We must let the advance continue and take out their supply lines. I will assemble a crack force, the equal of theirs in battle, using imperial training and attack behind their lines."

"And are you entirely sure that you can bring them to their knees this way?" Commander Boyd felt like laughing out loud at this pretentious man, did he think it was that easy?

"Tell me commander, when a brawler charges at you do you stand in his way, or step to the side and take his legs out from under him?" With that Vic'tahr span around, his purple robe flying out behind him and stormed out of the room. Commander Boyd found himself wandering why he was immune to the man's persuasive charm.




The team at Ion turret 2 looked out at the encroaching storm. A great wall of white that was slowly getting closer, swallowing the terrain as it went. They had no idea why they were being kept out here during the storm, the v-180 Planet Defender was able to keep them warm under usual conditions, but they had no idea how it would cope in a snow storm. What confused them more was that the Ion turret could be remotely controlled from back at the base. Were they expecting a ground attack? In this storm?

The squad leader gave up on contemplating such a move, he put away his macro binoculars and stepped back into the Ion cannons underground control room. The hatch shut closed behind him.




"We sneaked in a probe droid during the meteor showing, this is what we learned," A holo image came up behind Fury displaying a single bunker. "Around the bunker are eight defensive outposts, arranged in a square at a distance of around two miles. Each outpost is manned by three or four men and is armed with a laser cannon, a repeater and a missile launcher. A mile to the north and a mile to the south of the main complex are planetary Ion cannons. These pose a problem and are our first priority. Interestingly a storm is approaching the complex, during this time they will be almost blind. Their long range antenna will still function and there is a warning satellite in orbit, so they will still be aware of any ships in the vicinity. The Ion turrets will however be operative, so we cannot move the dominion in straight away.
"During the storm Iron Horse and Jester will be deployed ... here" A point on the map came up a mile to the west of the base. "The outposts will be unmanned during the storm, however the Snowtrooper suits will be able to withstand the storm. Visibility will be around ten metres and short range communications will be inoperative. Unfortunately we couldn't get a sled into the transport. You will have to ground pound through the storm to each of the ion cannons and disable them, they should be unmanned.
"Once this is achieved the dominion will move in. A sentinel class shuttle will land ten miles out from the base and deploy Wraiths, Raiders and Dark Dragoons on the sleds we used last year. By this time the storm should have abated and a full assault will follow. The base itself doesn't seem as elaborate as what we encountered last year. The probot didn't get close enough for a good like, but it seems like a simple structure, possibly underground with a fifteen foot defensive wall.
"So to summarise. Iron horse and Jester will be deployed within the perimeter during the storm and destroy the ion cannons on foot. The rest will be deployed, along with sleds, after the storm to commence the attack."
Fury looked around the room, waiting for questions. There were none. "Well then, don't stand here looking at me. Get suited up!"

"Oh sir?" Raziel asked

"Yes?"

"About the weapons on board the stolen transport. If such weapons ended up in the hands of out platoon would the Army logistics or whoever get involved? After all it's only good distribution of armaments."

"Lalalalala" Fury said, placing his hands over his ears. He didn't want to get involved in the theft of stolen Republic weapons, but didn't care much where they ended up either.

"Excellent," Raziel smiled as Fury walked away.




Raziel slipped into his black two-piece temperature control glove, before starting the long process of surrounding himself with the outer shell of a snow trooper suit. Finally he put the breather hood over his face and looked around at his colleagues through the polarised visor. The suit didn't allow for many complex movements, but in the tundra he doubted that would matter. He clunked down to the stolen transport along with Iron Horse.
It was Showtime.




The Sojourn dropped into real space outside of the planets gravity well. Well out of range of the ion turrets, Raziel reminded himself. He looked out of the viewscreen at the bleak, white planet.

"So how bad will this storm be again?" Raziel asked.

"You probably wont see your hand if you waved it in front of your face." Rizzit exaggerated. Virius groaned.

"How exactly do we find the Ion turrets then?" Varron asked from behind them.

"We rigged the suits with a map computer. It'll have the co-ordinates of the Ion turrets and our landing point plugged in, it should lead you to them."

"Or it could send you to the north pole," Raz put in. Then the comm unit crackled into life. The signal came from the a satellite orbiting the planet, but was weak. Obviously it was being relayed from the planet.

"Transport ship. State your business in this sector." Crackled a male voice.

"The is the Republic ship Sojourn Rizzit replied. "We are en route to Alzoc three, we're just having a bit of trouble with the nav, we'll be off shortly!" Rizzit transmitted the Republic codes. Hoping the captain hadn't scrambled them before downloading them.

"Understood, we're having a bad day down here, the weather gets . . . " the signal fizzled out.

"Kerest? Do you receive?" Rizzit asked.

"Yes, we're here. I was just saying we're in the middle of a storm right now. It's pretty bad." The voice came back more strongly. Rizzit looked at Raziel and winked.

"Kerest are you receiving us? Do you need aid?"

"No no, proceed on you're current heading we're locked down good and tight,"

"Kerest? I'm still not receiving you? It looked like a bad storm. I'm going to move in closer to see if you're ok,"

"No, I repeat do not come closer to the planet. We are fine, we've had ..." the signal faded out again and before the operator could boost the signal power Rizzit cut the communications short. He steered the ship towards the planet and hit full thrust.




"Sir, a republic transport just entered the sector. Our transmission was too weak and we lost contact, I think they're coming in to check if we're ok, I've lost the signal again and I cant see where they are. Last position was here," the comms officer pointed to a location on the map.

"Oh well, let them, if you can, try and signal that we're fine down here," Commander Boyd laughed. There was a groaning noise as the structure shook under the weight of the storm. "Although I'm not all that sure we really are," he joked.




The small transport circled around the planet until they were overhead the Republic installation. A great swirl of white and grey surrounded the base.
"Looks nasty," Raz commented, looking down at the storm.
"Care for a closer look?" Rizzit laughed and hit the controls hard, dropping the ship towards the atmosphere, before levelling off for a slow descent. Raziel released his grip on his chair and shot Rizzit an angry glance. Since the prison Rizzit had been probing to see what other fears Raziel might have.

The ship bounced up and down through the turbulence. Visibility was zero so Rizzit relied on the Nav computer to get them down safe. Raziel was almost bounced out of his chair as the transport touched down.
"Nice landing," he commented.
"Nope it was terrible, but the snow is nice and soft," Rizzit smiled. "Ok guys we're here, play times over." Merrick and Virius entered the bridge. "We have around thirty minutes before the storm subsides, lets get moving."

The landing ramp slowly descended and the blizzard swirled inside the ship, depositing mounds of snow. The two squads of Snow troopers slowly descended down the ramp, their armour the only protection from the harsh, storm environment. Virius waved goodbye to Jester, as the ramp lifted up behind them. Iron horse moved away as a tight group, sticking within visible range of each other. Raziel turned back, and realised he couldn't see the shuttle, or even Jester any more.

Kami checked the instrument on the inner forearm of her suit, whilst trying not to be blown over. She pointed in the direction of the Ion turret and Virius waved them forwards into the storm.


And with that, the story is open!
 
-----------------------
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
PL:A/SGMRaziel/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/{EW1} (WoS1) (VP) {IG} {CDS} {BoA} {PoC}
Assistant Squad Leader - Squad4 Wraiths
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989.
CM/DJK Raziel/lion 1-5/Krath/VEDJ/VE

Afyon finised typing some notes into his datapad as the two Dragoon commanders left the briefing and made their way to the squad area.

"No point in giving the briefing quite yet, it could take the two squads a little while to disable those guns."  Afyon said as they made their way towards the Dragoons' area on the Dominion.  "That being said, we should go over some cold weather proceedures and the specs of the sleds.  Only three of us have used them."  Afyon continued as they reached the door.  Rema entered the code and the two entered the squad area.  There they saw the squad lounging around, playing cards and drinking.  Zafo looked up from the couch where he was sacking out and jumped with a start.  Zafo popped up to his feet, staggering slightly as he woke up from his sleep.

"Don't bother, as you were."  Afyon said to Zafo.  The rest of the squad looked up and were slightly startled to see the two leaders there.  "Glad you guys got some relaxation time, you're going to need it.  Iron Horse and Jester have been dispatched on a mission, we will following with Raiders and Wraiths in a few hours.  For now, gather up your cold weather gear and meet us here in two hours for a briefing."  Afyon ordered.  "And no more booze until end of mission, water and health food until we leave."  Afyon mentionned as a follow up.

Afyon left the room and headed towards the referesher.  After he finished the shower he would gather up the cold weather gear he thought he would never have to use again after the mission to Alzoc III a year ago.  Ah well, I prefer the snowy cold weather anyhow.  Afyon thought as he entered the refresher.

***On the Planet***

"Alright lets move out!"  Merrick ordered to her squad.  The team formed up with her and began to make their way through the vicious snow storm.

"Dammit its cold out here!"  Hashi complained over the commlink.

"Can it you wuss and stay off the air!"  Merrick barked back.  "Don't use the radio unless you get seperated from the rest.  In these conditions they probably won't be able to intercept but its standard safety procaution just incase the damn rebs managed to acquire enough intelligence to buy proper communications gear."  She continued.

The squad continued slowly towards the ion cannon, the snow storm filled in their tracks as they marched.  If the rebs had anyone out there, they wouldn't know that someone was marching towards their most important defensive facility.
 
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*DarkDragoons*
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
SL/SFC_Afyon/2SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/[LoR][IH][CoH(2)][SoA]
"No I expect to leave you on some beach with no name at all while I say away on my ship...and then I'll shout the name back to you...saavy?"

The storm blew wildly and Varron clenched his fists with the unfamiliar weather, being cold blooded certainly did not help, everyone stopped moving suddenly and Varron crouched ready for an attack that did not come. After a loud burst of static Raziels voice came through "She sensed something, as did I", Varron swore at the snow trooper helmet blocking his acute sense of smell, He growled into the com" We can't just stand here."

Slowly but steadily the squad continued forward, everyone straining therir eyes trying to see what the jedi had sensed, Virius motioned with his hand and everyone crouched and moved up to him "Ok we should be relatively close to the outpost now, we know something's out there let's go find out what it is."

As one the squad stood up and advanced towards the outpost and Varron had to admire the calm a silent way the handled walking into an enemy base which may cost them there lives, they were soldiers and from the look of it damn good ones, He felt pride well up at being part of this unit and made a vow to himself that he would do all he could to keep the worst from happening.

They reached the perimeter of the outpost without incident and they still were not picking up any life forms, Varron wondered to himself just how accurate the force was anyway and whether it sometimes gave off false warnings, he wondered this for about 2 seconds before Telfaris let a cry and threw himself behind the nearest cover a stream of red lasers cutting the air where he stood, all at once all hell broke loose and the horses found themselves lying in the snow behind what little cover they could find, "What is it?!" Kami managed to yell as the wall she was sheltering behind was raked with fire, Trike picked himself up slowly and took a peek, immediately answered by a stream of heavy laser fire "A remote turret! he yelled back and nearly everyone in the squad swore to themselves. Varron bared his teeth menacingly in his helmet "Any suggestions?"


-----------------------
Iron Horse Squad
.: Bringing peace through violence:.
TRP/PFC Varron/1SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]

Stonefish looked at the snowtrooper suit hung in his locker with distaste. A whole string of "if only..." thoughts buzzed through his consciousness and he sighed.

Ah hell, it's been a while since I saw a stand-up fight like this, he shrugged inwardly, ought to better than all that sneaking around.

The ageing Imperial picked up the inner body-glove and began to struggle his way into the tight black garment when an alert went out across the internal comm system.

"Wildcard platoon, ready stations in thirty."

Damn, I hope I can get into this damned thing in time, Stonefish thought.

Eventually, the Wraith trooper pulled the skin-tight suit on, and began to piece on the thickly padded white armour segments, connecting the heat exchange hoses and controls as he went.

I forget how much the damn pack weighs on these suits, he thought irritably as he pulled the combined heater/power pack on to his back.

The only thing remaining now was the masked helmet, which sat on the bench in front of the grey-haired soldier. Stonefish took this moment to survey his weapons and select appropriately for the mission.

He quickly grabbed concussion and flash grenades and hung them on his belt, along with a small explosive charge, and then pulled the E-11/F and A280 rifles from their racks, wondering which to take down to the planet. After a few moments, he put both back, and pulled an E-11/C off the shelf. In the confines  of a bunker, the smaller weapon would be better. To round out his gear, the Wraith man stuck a DL-54 auto-pistol in a hip holster, and spare packs for both in belt pouches.

Properly attired, Stonefish paused and took a deep breath - the last free breath he would take for a while - and placed the helmet on his head. Finally, he connected the last hoses to the helmet that would keep him alive down on the icy planet surface and made his way to the launch bays.
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Ramon Stonefish

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Kami struggled forward once again, her eyes on Virius's back, the blizzard hiding the outpost behind them from view. A gust roared past and under her, knocking her down to her knees for the second time in as many minutes. Stifling a curse, she pushed her feet up under her, and rose back to her feet on the slippery surface.

"....right...Kam...?"

She flinched at the crashing of static inside her helmet, turning to glance to her right to where Raziel was now questioning her through the force. Unable to see a meter beyond her face, Kami nudged him gently with her mind.

Iron Horse pushed on, their resolve solid, their bodies aching.
Their formation closed slowly as the storm got worse, until they moved as a small huddled group, a dangerous arrangement, but a necessary one now that their comm links were cutting out.
Virius slowed in front of her and raised a clenched gloved hand. Motioning with two fingers, he pointed directly in front of him, then motioned to his map reader.
They'd found their Ion Cannon.

The squad immediately broke into a light jog, their fatigue forgotten as they approached their target. As the distance between the cannon closed, the storm died down slightly, its ferocity whipping about the solid sheet of gray which sat squarely in its path. Kami took in the huge structure through her shielded helmet, already focusing on the four life forms faintly visible through the force inside.

Turning to her non-Force sensitive squadmates, she flicked up four fingers, then signaled towards the outline of the hatch. Nods and thumbs up answered her, before Iron Horse split up, moving quickly to surround either side of the hatch, their movement easily shadowed by the screaming of the storm...

 
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Iron Horse Squad
-=silly caucasian girl likes to play with samurai swords=-
-=pretty...what do we blow up first?=-
ASL/SGT kaMi/1SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR] [CoR] [IG] [GCA]