The shadows hid the three troopers as they quickly and silently made their way to the location the droid had indicated.  As Jinx neared the corner of a wall missing most of it's top half, he stopped and gave a signal for the others to do the same.  Virius and Eviscares took a knee next to Jinx,"Two voices from the next building up and I heard footsteps just on the other side of this building.  Looks like this wall is the only bad part of the building" Jinx said to them.

"Ok, let's take a look around the corner, if he's there take him out quickly, then we'll take care of the other two." whispered Eviscares.  Both Virius and Jinx nodded in acknowledgment.  Jinx strapped his blaster rifle on his back and removed his silenced pistol.  He quickly glanced around the corner and withdrew his head.  "He's there" Jinx whispered.  "He's yours then" Virius whispered in response.

Jinx took another quick glance around the corner and saw that the rebal was leaning against the wall.  He then rounded the corner of the building and silently took a few steps.  Seeing no response from the rebel soldier he took another few steps and fired two rounds into the soldier's helmet.  The rebel stayed against the wall for a few more seconds, giving Jinx just enough time to grab the soldiers hand and ease the body to the ground.

As Jinx neared the corner he saw two black armored troopers making their way toward the next building.  He joined them as they stopped near the edge of the wall.  With a "good job" nod from Eviscares and Virius, all three troopers rounded the corner and and fired several rounds each into the rebel soldiers.

Angel, HK, and Exar had just rounded the building's right corner as Eviscare's team finished hiding the dead soldier's bodies.

 
-----------------------
TRP/PFC Jinx/1SQD/1PLT/COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]
Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.
- Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

[OOC: Exar, talk to me about your post. We are in the middle of a very urbanized city. There are no grassfields. Refer to the map on the very first page for clarification.

Also, just a reminder. We're a recon squad. We aren't here to engage these patrols, just scout them out and report back to the Wraiths. You are to engage them only if you are spotted. /OOC:]

Eviscare's team met back up with Angel's shortly after they finished their small skirmish. Silently, the black clad troopers slipped into the dark side streets. A loud explosion sounded, and a brilliant orange glow lit up the skyline. Apparent;y the rest of the VE forces weren't waiting to continue their assault.  Angel pulled the team into the darkest part of the alley until the glow disspated, lest they be spotted creeping through the streets.

Waving Virius and Eviscares to him, he pointed at the map on the datapad in his hands. "The way I figure it, we're here." He said, pointnig to a small street just across the North side of the smaller river. "Which means we're about 5 city blocks away from the police station."

"But we don't know what's on that train.." Virius whispered harshly. "It would be stupid to go to the station onl to find our objective isn't there..."

"I know." Angel replied, "This is what we're going to do. Evis, you take HK and the new kid Exar with you. Scout the train as quietly as possible. Report your findings back to me."

Another loud explosion resounded through the streets, causing some loose bricks to fall free from the surrounding buildings. Angel silently cursed the bombardment. Republic  patrols would be on high alert, and the police station was right on the major thoroughfare of the entire city...

"No problem." Eviscares replied. The once green trooper had matured into a solid soldier, filling his role as Fire Team Captain perfectly. "What will you be doing?"

"I'll take Virius and Jinx and haed for the station. We'll complete our mission there. If our objective is not on the train, I'll get in touch with Kami and suggest using it for our evac route. Now lets get a move on. We've stalled here too long."

The two junior troopers nodded in agreement. Eviscares slipped over to Exar and HK, filling them in on the situation. Then all three dashed across the street under the momentary cover of darkness, then were lost from sight.

Gathering his own trio, Angel nodded his head towards their destination, then began his approach.
 
-----------------------
=[Arrogant Elitist]=
AS-2/ASL/SSG Jikkyo "Angel" Nimiichi/Iron Horse Squad/WildCard/Phoenix/Dragon/ Osiris/Stormtrooper Corps/Vast Empire [LoR] [RoM] [BC] [CDS] [WM] [GRoM] {BoA}
------------------------
The Angel of Death
CM/DJK Jikkyo "Angel" Nimiichi/Eagle 1-1/Sith/Dark Jedi/Vast Empire/Lopen [VP:1]
------------------------
I'm the sheep that was lost, madre.

Damnit Evis...Did you HAVE to make the blocks this long? Angel made a mental reminder to give the young corporal a good natured thrashing after the simulator run. He was by no means out of shape, but having to duck in and out of shadows, and run zig-zag patterns across open streets in full armor was beginning to wear on him. A thin layer of perspiration had coated his body, turning the sealed commando armor into a venerable sauna. Angel quietly wished to be back in the free-flowing robes of the Order, reveling in the freedom and flexibility...as well as the light weight.

And damn this rifle is heavy...

Saddling himself up against the wall of yet another shelled out building Angel peered around the corner to scout out the next block. Virius remained a building behind him, rifle drawn to cover their rear. Angel pulled his head back behind the building as Jinx crept up next to him. "The station should be right around the next corner." He said. "There's a strong presence outside the main entrance." Pulling the comlink from his belt, Angel called to Virius. "What do you have on satellite?"

From across the street, he could see Virius jolt slightly at the voice, his concentration solely on watching for enemy forces. The staff sergeant grabbed as his comlink, then produced his laptop from the duffel slung across his back. "It seems that there is a large outer duracrete wall. There are two sentry towers on the corners. Beyong that I can't say. I wouldn't recommend walking up and knocking."

"Roger that," Angel replied. "Bring it up. We'll get as close as possible then set up the sensors to feed data to the Wraiths. Hopefully Evis will have contacted me by then."

"I think I found the perfect spot Angel." Virius said hastily, replacing the laptop carefuly in his duffel. "There's an abandoned apartment complex across the street, it should give you good line of sight on the target, while giving us lots of cover."

"Affirmative. We'll use that. Good work Vir." Angel clipped the comlink back on his belt and turned to Jinx. "I'll be heading for the roof. I need you to stay with Vir while he sets up. Cover his back, you hear me?" Jinx swallowed hard and nodded in response.

Taking a moment to consider the relative silence the city had fallen into, Angel said to himself, Well at least the bombardment stopped...
 
-----------------------
=[Arrogant Elitist]=
AS-2/ASL/SSG Jikkyo "Angel" Nimiichi/Iron Horse Squad/WildCard/Phoenix/Dragon/ Osiris/Stormtrooper Corps/Vast Empire [LoR] [RoM] [BC] [CDS] [WM] [GRoM] {BoA}
------------------------
The Angel of Death
CM/DJK Jikkyo "Angel" Nimiichi/Eagle 1-1/Sith/Dark Jedi/Vast Empire/Lopen [VP:1]
------------------------
I'm the sheep that was lost, madre.

This smell is terrible, Gavyn thought as they made their way down the street. Gavyn looked around, then stumbled forward as he took his next step. Wincing in pain Gavyn looked down at his battered left leg. Gavyn stopped and ripped the long sleeve off his shirt. Gavyn reached down and lifted his pantleg, exposing the wound. Gavyns shin bone was sticking slightly out of his leg.

"Your going to need some thing better than that cloth to fix up that," informed his SL.

"It will work for now," the Private replied.

Gavyn wrapped the sleeve around his leg twice then pinned it of with a handy safety pin. Gavyn proceeded to rip his other shirt sleeve off and wrap it around tightly, then tied it in a knot. "All right lets go," said Gavyn as he readjusted the strap on his blaster.

The team proceeded, more slowly now with Gavyn limping as quickly as he could. The Horseys reached the end of the second block and rested for a moment, mostly for Gavyns sake. "Are you going to make it Private?" asked Kami. Gavyn sat on a small pile of rubble rubbing his leg and grimacing, "I'll be fine," he answered.

Gavyn looked around at the other three Horseys then he looked in the direction they were headed. Gavyn pushed himself slowly to his feet and swayed on the spot for a second. I'm really lightheaded right now, I must have lost a lot of blood... Gavyn limped forward again, the others following up behind him, watching for anything that could be useful for Wraith Squad to use.
 
-----------------------
"A painless lesson, is one without any meaning. One who does not sacrifice anything, cannot achieive anything."

"Do. Or do not, There is no try."

Private First Class Gavyn Kanu
Iron Horse Squad
TRP/PFC Gavyn/1SQD/1PLT/COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]

They were just a block from the station when Kami came gliding silently to a halt, causing the rest of her team to follow suit. Ever since they'd slipped past the security block, the streets had been suspiciously absent of any form of life. Iron Horse had managed to stumble along through three blocks of empty high rise buildings, muttering and cursing; their progress slowed by a wounded Gavyn, and survive...

Slowly turning on the spot, Kami ignored the curious stares of the rest of her team, carefully scanning the shadows at their back. Letting her gaze travel up the width of the buildings, she attempted to see beyond the shattered glass of the high rise windows and into the dark interior. Down here, on street level, one block away from their high priority target, Kami felt as though she was a moving target watched by unseen eyes.

It seemed that she wasn't the only one who had noticed the lack of Republic presence in a Republic base. JR was twitchy, his gloved hand closing about the trigger of his rifle every few seconds only to let it go moments later. Varron was hunched within his commando armor, almost as though he wished he could drop to all fours and scurry deeper into the shadows of the looming hulks of the inner city.

Gradually lowering the tip of her rifle, Kami took one step back, and then another, abruptly aware of the deep feeling of dread settling within her stomach. This was the Horsey's first attempt at a Recon mission, so it was highly unlikely that they would manage to pull off the difficult task Eviscares had set for them.  Similarly, her team's approach to the city had been shadowed by enemy bombardment, which meant that Republic units were more on edge, and more alert than usual. Whilst the aerial attacks would have served to cause widespread confusion, Kami couldn't shake the thought that once again, they were underestimating their enemies.

The Republic had successfully taken this stronghold of a city, successfully captured a high ranking member of the Imperial forces and had so far repelled any rescue attempts. She severely doubted whether they would let their guard up now just so her and her squad could walk right into the perimeter of the base and broadcast all the information needed by Wraith Squad in order to snatch their prisoner from their grasp.

And it was then, with that very thought in her mind, that Kami saw the first of them.

It could have been passed off as wind, a trick of sunlight, or movement conjured by Kami's highly overactive imagination. But high above her, on the fourth floor of a high rise building on the opposite side of the street, the shadows shifted.

Kami's booted feet crunched in the gravel at the side of the road as she took two more steps back, rifle coming back up to her shoulder. JR and Varron stiffened at her back, alerted by their squad leader's stance, and seconds later, Gavyn followed suit. Their reaction went unnoticed by Kami, who was still scanning the building floor by floor.

If she took out her binoculars and examined the buildings she would only act to alert the Republic that she was onto their position, so instead, Kami stayed in place, desperately scanning the darkness for another flash of movement which would confirm her suspicions.

It seemed however, that the Republic forces had little patience.

The stillness of the night sky was abruptly replaced by the high pitched sound of a rifle being fired. There was a flash from the fourth floor of the high rise, followed by momentary blindness as the carefully aimed shot flashed past Kami, and thudded into one of the team members at her back. Suddenly, the night sky was alight with the flashing of blaster fire.

It rained down upon the small group from all sides from above, the Rebels carefully concealed within the high rise buildings having the advantage of surprise and of height.

Kami span about, the air about her burning with enemy fire, screaming at her team to get back, only to find her path blocked by the falling form of a stormtrooper. The body hit her in her chest plate, driving the air from her lungs and sending her plummeting towards the concrete road. More blaster fire hit the body as it fell; its armor peppering with hundreds of small burning holes, before both it and Kami hit the ground and rolled to a halt.

Then...suddenly...the night air was still once more.

Kami lay beneath the body of one of her fellow troopers, unable to breath and unable to comprehend what had just happened. She was vaguely aware that the Rebels had stopped firing, though if they had, that meant that they no longer had any targets at which to fire at. Shock slowly filtered through her system as she realized exactly who was lying atop her.

It was Varron.

The lizard man's helmet visor had shattered when he had hit the road, revealing the blank white of one of his eyes. Both of his large arms were thrown to either side, as though at the very last second he had attempted to break his fall. His neck was twisted about at an odd angel, and now hung limply upon Kami's left shoulder.

Stifling the soft cry which threatened to break free of her lips, Kami attempted to rise from beneath the Trandoshan's form, only to fall back to the concrete moments later. The lizard man's dead weight was huge, all seven foot of muscle bearing down upon her and pinning her to the road.

Claustrophobia began to claw at the very edges of her mind, heightened by the fact that at any minute now the Rebels would come down to the street to check their kills.  If she stayed where she was, there was no way that she could possibly salvage the mission, or regroup with the survivors of her team.

If there are any...

  -----------------------
Iron Horse Squad
SL/SSG Kami/1SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR] [CoR] [IG] [GCA] [BC]
TRN/KAD Kami/Training 1-3/VEDJ/VE
-=Surrender to your darkest dreams, and you'll live as you've never lived before...=-

(o^_^o)

[OOC: I'm currently having trouble at home, so I may or may not be able to post at home. I'll post at school, though.]

Howmi ran, his metalic leg gleaming in the light of the speeders high beams. The armor that they were issued coulcn't fit around the metalic leg, dispite it's proper size in comparison to his other leg. However, it was more durable than any armor they might issue. It was also much stronger, which made running hard to control. His right leg wanted to jump five feet ahead, while his left struggled to keep up.

Howmi ran with all due speed, keeping his squad leader in front of him with little effort. We'll never make it like this... and if they find the other team, we fail... so....

"JR, if you would be so kind as to take our magnificent leader ahead, I'd like to have a word with these gentlemen," He said calmly. He sounded as if he had never been running for his life in the city underseage, "Hey boys," The speeder didn't slow, "I'm your hecktleberry," This seemed to enrage the Rebels even more. The speeder swept by as Howmi rolled to the side. Per his plan, they swept around and took another pass. Howmi blasted at the speeder.

The bolt went of in a wild angle, hitting the side of a concrete building, turning it a putrid black. They were still using Concrete... concrete....
 
-----------------------
TRP/PFC Howmi/1SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/VE [LoR]

Meanwhile on the otherside of town...


Angel lay prone on the cold duracrete roof of the financial building, a black tarp covering his glossy black armor.. His Whisper sniper-rifle remained securely butted up against his shoulder. Through the illuminated scope mounted to his rifle he could see everything that moved at the station perfectly clear. His motions were methodic, sweeping from left to right to left, gently squeezing the butt of his rifle to raise the sights with each pass. As he completed the first sweep of the building, Angel flipped the top of his black tarp from over his head. Speaking quietly into the comlink, he called down to Virius.

"Vir...status report."

After a brief pause, the sergeant answered, "I just finished setting up the SDS and SE-VIGILANT. They should be coming online in just a few..."

A large burst of static, followed by the explosion of an artillary round cut through Virius' last few words. Shutting off the comlink, Angel peered back through his scope...to find at least three dozen troops pouring out of the police station. Two dozen split off from the others and headed out towards the east...Towards Kami's team... I hope they're alright... The other dozen...much to Angel's dismay, headed into the bottom floor of the building they were occupying.

That was when he heard it... the whistling sound of an incoming artillary shell. Abandoning his post, Angel dashed towards the roof access door, trying desparately to get away from the piercing noise of an impending death.

The shell struck the side of the building, ripping through it like a hot knife through butter. The explosion and shock wave sent Angel flyng from his feet and crashing into the lone door. The entire building grouned as support beams were destroyed and tons upon tons of duracrete broke free from the superstructure. Angel picked himself up off the duracrete ground, surpised to even be alive...only to find the entire side of the building gone. The massive amounts of building material had slid down and filled the street, blocking the main access to the police building.

Angel let out a string of curse words in every language he knew..until the realization hit him. He flung the access door open and took the stairs four at a time. His knees began to ache with the jarring impact of reacing down the stairs, but the growing feeling of discomfort in his stomach pressed him on. He could hear the thundering footsteps of the approaching NR troops echoing up the stairwell, and this served only to push him harder.

He reached the floor where he left Jinx and Virius in record time...to find Jinx sprawled on his back. The slow rise and fall of his chest let Angel know that the young Private was alive...but Virius was not in sight. Fearing the worst, Angel strode across the rabble strewn across the onetime office's floor, towards the vast opening that used to be called a wall. Looking down as he reached the open space, he amplified the ambient ligtht sensitivity on his helmet visor...to find a black armored figure laying still on its back...20 stories down...
 
-----------------------
=[Arrogant Elitist]=
AS-2/ASL/SSG Jikkyo "Angel" Nimiichi/Iron Horse Squad/WildCard/Phoenix/Dragon/ Osiris/Stormtrooper Corps/Vast Empire [LoR] [RoM] [BC] [CDS] [WM] [GRoM] {BoA}
------------------------
The Angel of Death
CM/DJK Jikkyo "Angel" Nimiichi/Eagle 1-1/Sith/Dark Jedi/Vast Empire/Lopen [VP:1]
------------------------
I'm the sheep that was lost, madre.

Images flashed and changed like some type of slide show.  His father angry, running from one building to another following his fellow squad mates, first day of training as a stormtrooper, running through his yard playing with other kids from the village.  But the last thoughts that raced through his mind, a flash of lite in the distance, a soft whistle growing louder and louder and then Virius shouting "Incoming" and trying to stand up, seeing a black armored body flying past him, himself being thown back and falling.

"Jinx, Jinx wake up, we have to get moving."Angel yelled, shaking Jinx slightly.  Jinx's eyes popped open, his vision was blurry but starting to come into focus, "what, what happened" he mumbled.  "No time, Vir is on the ground below, we have to get out of this building now" Angel responded.

Angel grabbed Jinx's arm and began to ease him up to his feet.  Jinx gave a slight groan of pain, but stood up.  He tried to catch his breath that had been driven out of him from the fall to the roof's floor. Angel ran over to Virius's equipment, and gathered it up, then began to make for the door to the next level down.  Jinx followed him from one level to the next, running the steps as fast as his battered body would allow.

They came to the lowest level of the building, but saw no door leading out.  The shelling of the building had left it nearly destroyed, but also had sent most of the debris to the ground floor.  Angel quickly looked around for anything that could be used as an exit.  He found a pile of rubble that seemed to be lower then the rest.  "Jinx, over here, help me clear this out" he shouted as he began to grab chuncks of duracrete and toss them aside.  Jinx limped over to the pile and moved whatever he could.  The two of them cleared enough for them to crawl over the pile and leave the building.

Angel took a last step off of the rubble and sprinted around the remaining corner of the building.  Jinx rounded the corner as fast as he could, and saw Angel kneeling next to a body.  He took a few more steps, watching Angel begin to remove Virius's helmet.  Stopping a few steps short of Angel, "Is he......dead" Jinx asked, scared to hear the answer.
 
-----------------------
TRP/LCPL Jinx/1SQD/1PLT/COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]
Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny.
- Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

JR saw a light. It was so close he could feel it's warmth on his cold skin. Reaching out he tried to touch it, it was then that he felt a sharp pain start in his shoulder and extend down his arm, the light started to fade off into the distance and he felt a sensation of air rushing past him as if he was falling. He tried shouting towards the light begging for it to come back, wanting to feel its warmth. All that came out of his mouth was noise and blood as his jaw refused to work, sending an emense pain throughtout his head.

JR awoke with a gasp, which caused even more intense pain to spread throughout his body. He could feel his clothes clinging to his body due to a mixture of sweat and blood. He looked around and discovered that he was trapped beneath a pile of rocks, lifting both arms to attempt to lift the rocks off him, JR felt the same searing pain that he had felt in the dream run through his right arm. After what seemed like hours JR was finally able to clear the rocks off his torso.  Sitting up he looked around and saw that he was all alone.

Good thing I was wearing this shadow armor JR thought to himself It must have hidden me while the rebels were looking for casualties.

Realizing that he could move his right leg and that, other than a few scrapes and bruises, it seemed to be allright, JR began to move the rock that was on top of his left leg. The second he touched the rock he felt the same searing pain he had felt in his arm. After getting the rock off of his leg he saw why. His shin was drenched in blood and appeared to be bent at an odd angle. To make matters worse, his ankle appeared to be broken as well.

Now that he was free to move, JR crawled down the rock pile using any limbs that he had available. When he got to the bottom, he forced himself to stand, and attempted to get his bearings. He finally saw the area that he could thought he could remember coming from. Now that he was standing he could feel blood running into his eyes, blinding his vision. Reaching to his forehead he discovered that it was covered in small gashes.

Knowing that he would need medical attention soon, he started towards the area he had come from.  He didn't care whether he was found or not knowing that he had to leave the area quickly or else his fate would be the same, whether caught by the rebels or not.  Trying his com unit and hearing a bit of fuzziness but realizing it worked, he attempted to contact someone. Realizing that no understandable words were coming out, he took a deep breath and reached up to his jaw, cracking it back into place.  He then struggled into the shadows and tried the com again.

"Kami, Angel," He said wincing through the pain, "Can anybody hear this...I need help..." was all he could manage before he faded back into the dark. 
 
-----------------------
Senior Seargent JR Iron Horse Squad

SSGT/JR/1SQD/1PLT/COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]
"And the battles just begun. There's many lost but tell me who has won." -> U2

Angel blinked twice as the world around him suddently disappeared...replaced by the darkness of his simulator chamber. Sighing, he knew what this meant.


OOC: This story is now concluded. No more posts.

*Stay tuned for a less than pleasant message from your command staff*

/OOC


 
-----------------------
=[Arrogant Elitist]=
AS-2/ASL/SSG Jikkyo "Angel" Nimiichi/Iron Horse Squad/WildCard/Phoenix/Dragon/Osiris/Stormtrooper Corps/Vast Empire [LoR] [RoM] [BC] [CDS] [WM] [GRoM] {BoA}
------------------------
The Angel of Death
CM/DJK Jikkyo "Angel" Nimiichi/Eagle 1-1/Sith/Dark Jedi/Vast Empire/Lopen [VP:1]
------------------------
I'm the sheep that was lost, madre.