Kairo watched the fleeting forms of Angel, Eviscares, and JR disappear in the mist. When Jinx had come around to ask how he was, he told him all he had were a few bruises and little welt on the side of his body from the encounter with the Coway. The scouting group were only gone for five minutes when they returned. Kairo and Zafo met up with Kami and Rizzit to confer with Angel about what they had found.

  "The cave entrance has no defenses, but if the pirates are there, then the tunnel leading down into the main mines will probably where they defend. I have some ideas on what to do, but I don't like any of them or the odds that they give us." Angel finished.

  "Any ideas?" Rizzit asked the group.

  "We can't throw grenades down the tunnel, because that would most likely collapse it." Zafo mentioned.

  "Any ideas on how TO do it?" Rizzit grunted.

"We could send five us down there to look ahead. If there are pirates waiting for them, they can fall back and maybe lure them out. The rest of us could then ambush them and storm the tunnel." Kairo proffered. "Of course, this might not even be the correct tunnel, or there might not even be guards."

  "That sounds pretty good." Rizzit nodded. "Anyone want to add anything?"

  "Sure," Kami said with a grinned. "Who are the lucky people to go first?"
 
-----------------------
Senior Sergeant Kairo
Squad Leader
*DarkDragoons*

SL/SR.SGT Kairo/2SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR][BC]

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always has a way of haunting your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.

    Sam stayed up with the rest of the others. Sam would have preferred to go in. He didn't like all the 'wet' out here.
    "So, I guess we just wait here for some response?" Sam asked.
    "Yeah, that is unless you have a better idea, and even so we aren't going to do it because we've already started this one," Rizzit said.
    "Ok," Sam said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
    Sam started to scan the area just to make sure that no more Coway were hiding about.
    "We should probably keep ourselves on guard for another coway attack," Kairo said, "I just thought about this, the coway that are still out there my stumble upon the dead ones at the old camp. They may begin to go on a hunt for anything that could have done it."
    "You have a point there," Rizzit said, "Should we happen to get attacked again we will need to make sure to clean up after ourselves.
    Sam became a bit uneasy about the realization and began to think of the potential dangers that could come about. This sudden change in attitude was mainly because Sam did not like jungles at all and in fact they gave him the creeps.
    "What's wrong with you Sam?" Kairo asked.
    "I?uh, don't worry about me, I'll be fine," Sam laughed, "I've just come down with a bit of nervousness after those blasted coway attacked us."
    Sam leaned against the outside of the cave opening with his hold-out blaster readied to fire at anything that could be dangerous. He also had his other hand readied on his E-11 to start unloading with both weapons at the same time if needed.

 
-----------------------
TRP/CPL Sandwich Sam 2SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]
*DarkDragoons*
Roses are #FF0000
Violets are #0000FF
All my base are belong to you.

Kami was tensed, one hand clasped loosely about the hilt of one of her curved daggers, the other clenched tightly about the grip of her rifle. She was the closest to the approaching voices, and as such was the most likely to be seen if they continued to walk in her direction. Disorientated by the engulfing darkness surrounding her on all sides, she closed her eyes, stretching out instead with the Force. There were five of them, their presences a fiery beacon compared to the other small life forms that scuttled about at her feet. Each was unaware of their presence, she could sense immediately, which made the possibility of a surprise attack highly appealing.

"...could have been anything," One of the voices was murmuring as he walked within hearing range, "Besides, you know Rosco, that guy hasn't been sober since he was fourteen."

"I don't like it," Another voice hissed, the sound distinctly distorted, as though speaking basic was a difficult task, "I kept telling the boss that we shouldn't target the Vast Empire, they're far more organized and dangerous than the mobs that we usually hit."

"Stop being such a coward," The first voice interjected, "If they come, we'll deal with them. Besides, I've had a run in with some of their forces before, and trust me; they ain't as fantastic as you may have been lead to believe."

They were only bare meters away now. Kami hesitated momentarily; to risk retreat now was to risk giving away their position. Instead...she lowered her rifle softly to the stone floor, drawing her other dagger in its place. Behind her, she sensed Angel ready his throwing knives, knowing that the others wouldn't be far behind in drawing their melee weapons.

Her green eyes flashed open as the first of the men stepped within a pace of her position. Raising her wickedly curved blade, she sent a single order flashing through the minds of all of the men at her back.

Be quick...


-----------------------
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...=-
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +

Storm you better get your ass in gear, cause Wildcard's gonna make it hot in here.

  There were three...

  Dinin planned to change that.  Although he was the farthest away from them, he had equipped his rifle for combat against humans.  This meant an energy cell, and a silencing rod that could deafen even the most powerful energy rifle.  He was too far away to do any damage with melee weapons, and the men were grouped together, making his chances of missing very slim.  But he had not missed ever before when it counted.  Taking careful aim, he waited until Kami began to leap from her position to fire.

  All that was heard was a soft "Click."

  And then there were two...

  Kami reached her target as his partner hit the ground, a smouldering hole in his head.  She was able to push her knife through his throaght as Angel's daggers embedded themselves into his heart.  And before the other man could lift a finger in response, he had been stabbed by Zafo and Jinx.  He slid to the ground, trying to scream through a slit throaght.  Dinin made his way over to where the group was standing.

  Looking around, Kami nodded.  They had been quick, and it had been silent.  Their fears had been correct.  The pirates were here.  And they were attacking the Vast Empire directly.  While they would probably prove no more then minor annoyances, it proved that there were more and more people rebelling.

  A quite voiced creeped through the comlink.  "Should we go back and tell them what we found?  Or should we continue forward?"

  "We should head back and tell them what we found.  We have been down here for a while and they are probably getting anxious.  Besides, now that we know what's here, we can bring more people to help us," Kami said.

  This coarse of action was agreed on, and, after the bodies were looted for anything useful, which included a few grenades and powercells, they made their way back to the entrance of the cave.

Gavyn removed his helmet as the Squad Leaders met with Rizzit. He was now completely covered with the insides of the Wanderella. Gavyn gagged as the stench reached his nose, and quickly replaced his helmet. Picking up his A280 he walked up next to Evis. "Nice day for a walk in the swamp," commented Evis as Gavyn stopped beside him. "Excellent," replied Gavyn with a smile. At the opening of the tunnel Rizzit motioned for the two squads to come forward.

"Alright," Rizzit said as they all stood in front of him. "The Pirates are definitely down there. We will head in and figure something out once inside. Lets go." They formed two lines, this time with the squads mixed and headed into the cave. Once inside, positioned behind Kairo and in front of Jinx, Gavyn switched on his night vision and tightened his grip slightly on his Riffle.

There footsteps echoed slightly though the tunnel as they made there way deeper. The tunnel was slightly slanted downward and the floor was reasonably smooth. Suddenly the floor leveled out and they walked into a dome shaped room. From what Gavyn could see it appeared to be fairly wide, because he couldn't see the other wall. In the middle of the room, a large crystal jutted out from the floor, rising about 10 feet in the air. Angel, who had led the group in stopped in front of the Crystal. Rizzit and the other Squad Leaders grathered together to figure out a plan.

Gavyn sat down on the floor and relaxed for a moment. His side still hurt a little from where the Coway had dug him but other than that he was unhurt. Gavyn relaxed his mind and let go of his worries. If he was going to be of any help to his Squad he was going to have to be able to think clearly and not panic. Gavyn breathed deeply, then exhaled. Feeling better about the battle ahead, Gavyn waited.
 
-----------------------
Storm you better get your ass in gear, cause Wildcard's gonna make it hot in here.

"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."

Lance Corporal Gavyn Kanu
Iron Horse Squad
TRP/LCPL Gavyn/1SQD/1PLT/COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]

The tunnels were dark, dank and depressing. Water dripped in a steady stream from the jagged ceiling to fall upon the helmet's of the soldier's waiting impatiently below. Kami was getting frustrated, she was an action girl, and so far, there hadn't been enough action for her liking. Twisting from where she was crouched before one of the two tunnels breaking off from the main room, Kami met the visored gaze of her ASL.

"There's definitely something done there."

Angel nodded, the movement barely visible thanks to the overwhelming darkness, "I can sense them as well. Quite a few."

The sound of the soft crunch of gravel announced Kairo's arrival. Dropping down next to Kami, he gazed down the void before him, "We'll have to move quickly," He said softly, "Catch them off guard."

"They're not going to be in a concentrated area either.." Kami added, "Probably in small cells dotted about the place. I doubt they would have altered the cave's natural shape, especially with the wandarella are about."

Rizzit was suddenly behind them, "Well, let's go flush them out."

Kami came to her feet, "Two groups for two tunnels, let's mix it up."

After a few moments of silent signaling, two groups of armored troopers weaved away from each other, each headed towards a different tunnel. Kami walked a pace behind Zafo, with Gavyn, JR, Eviscares and Giovanni in her wake. The others, led by Kairo, walked bare meters into their tunnel before being swallowed by the shadow.

"Light feet boys," She murmured softly, despite the fact that her entire group was moving soundlessly. The ground beneath their feet was slowly dropping away, signaling a descent into the bowels of the planet. Soft sounds echoed up from above and behind them, indiscernible, yet eerie none the less.

After minutes of steady trekking, Zafo raised his camouflaged fist, bringing the group to a swift halt. Coming up to his shoulder, Kami noticed the miniscule dot of light visible before them.

"Pirates ahoy," Zafo murmured, grinning beneath his helmet.

Turning back to the soldiers arrayed behind her, Kami raised her rifle,

"Be ready for anything. Lets go."

 
-----------------------
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...=-
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +

Storm you better get your ass in gear, cause Wildcard's gonna make it hot in here.

The Soldiers continued down the narrow passage with great stealth. Even the faintest of sounds would easily echo to any ear that was paying careful attention. The speck of light, which turned out to be a decently sized fire, grew closer and closer. It flickered amongst the total darkness. Zafo brought the group to a soundless halt, once again, just meters outside the fire's light radius. A pirate was seen throwing another log into the burning light source. Smoke and sparks shot out from the fire, into an electronic air filter located directly above the fire. Seconds later, the flames had stabilized and the fire began to feast on its new fuel.

A coarse voice broke through the deafening silence, next to the roar of the fire.

"Delta Squad still hasn't returned." the voice stated. "Maybe something's gone wrong."

"Enough wit daat Delta Shquad crap" A second voice interrupted angrily. Soberness wasn't a road this man currently walking. "She probably got 'em, that's all."

"She got 'em all," Zafo thought "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Don't say things like that." The first voice snapped, "We can't be sure of anything. That was quite the big hit we made on the Vast Empire, they'll be onto us."

At the mention of the Vast Empire, Zafo held up his hand to ready for attack. Swinging his hand down, Zafo unleashed three pockets of energy into a pirate who was within sight. Grunts and shouts of confusion emitted from the small dome where the fire was located as one of the pirates fell to the ground, dead, and the rest were being swarmed by a joint squad of Vast Empire soldiers. It was a very easy fight. Half the pirates were either drunk or not readily armed and the few that were, were taken down instantly.

Once the small area had been secured, the troops searched the small area for anything useful in anyway.

"This is some good stuff." Giovanni said light heartedly, holding up a bottle taken from a dead pirate.

"Too bad you can't take any. Sorry bud." Kami said quietly from the other side of the fire "But I found something that might be of actual help." She held up a worn down piece of paper.

"It looks like a map."

 
-----------------------
~ZaFo
*DarkDragoons
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
ASL/SGT ZaFo/2SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE   [BC]
~Keep on Rocking in the Free World

Gavyn stood silently waiting for something to happen. Suddenly out of a side tunnel a Storm trooper dashed toward the fire. There he stopped in front of Zafo and Kami who were examining the map they found. A few hurried words were said then Kami turned to the rest of the group and said "Lets move." Kami and Zafo turned and fallowed the Trooper the way he had come as the rest of the troop fallowed.

"Whats happening?" asked Gavyn as he came up next to Kami. "No time," she said "You will find out soon enough I expect."

They made there way into a tunnel Gavyn hadn't noticed before and fallowed it into the dark. Up ahead they heard blaster shots ahead. The group quickened there pace and came next to the other group just firing off the last shot. "Awww we missed it?" Gavyn asked to nobody in particular. Nobody seemed to hear him though as Angel leaned down to inspect one of the bodies. "Pirates," he said with disgust in his voice "four of them."

"We met several back there," said Zafo pointing over his shoulder back down the tunnel they had just come. "And this," he said holding out the Map "I suggest we move back to the room we were just in so we can examine it more closely, and possibly catch more Pirates coming back in."

With that they turned and made there way back to the large firelit room. Once there the Squad leaders and Rizzit met again, huddled around the fire examining the map. The troopers were once again left to wander about looking for anything else that might be useful. Gavyn knelled down next to one of the bodies, noticing the large duffel bag next to him. Gavyn reached his hand out and pulled the zipper, to find the bag loaded with bombs of different sorts. Wide eyed, Gavyn sifted through the bag, they all seemed to be from the VE supply. Quickly zipping up the bag he picked it up and carried it over to the Squad Leaders.
 
-----------------------
Storm you better get your ass in gear, cause Wildcard's gonna make it hot in here.

"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."

Lance Corporal Gavyn Kanu
Iron Horse Squad
TRP/LCPL Gavyn/1SQD/1PLT/COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]

  Yet again, Dinin was posted in the back.  This suited him fine, because it gave him the best range for his rifle.

  Angel was in the lead again, using his Force powers to help lead them through the pitch-black tunnels.  They had been sent down the right tunnel, to check out a few rooms on that side of the map that looked almost like a type of barracks.

  They were moving at a slow but steady pace, and they were quiet about it too.  They passed many left side tunnels, but ignored them.  They had a predetermined goal that would be reached.  And shortly, Angel gave the call to halt.  They had come to a dome shaped room similar to the ones before, but it was bigger...much bigger.

  Spread around the room were beds and footlockers.  The room was, for all purposes, a giant dorm room.  But there was no one inside.  Retreating down the tunnel 50 yards, the soldiers held a quick meeting.

  "I've got a bad feeling about this," Sam put in.  No one bothered to agree.

  "This all seems too easy," chimed Dinin.  "Where did all the pirates go?  that room could easily hold 2-3 score people.  And there's another one farther down!"

  "This does seem a little too convinient."  Jinx added.

  Angel remained silent for a few seconds, then said, "We proceed with more caution than ever.  But if I determine that we must go elsewhere, we must move, quickly.  Understood?"

  There was a unanimous nod from the group.  Then, with a few signals, they filtered into the room, very, very, cautiously.

Something is really wrong here... Everything around Angel gave off an "out-of-place" feel. None of these small, round chambers had been here during his las visit. Before the tunnels ran straight to a hanger bay which was concealed by rock covered blast doors.

The pervading buzz of danger kept intensifying in the back of the Dark Jedi's mind as he stepped cautiously through the dormatory. In the darkness he couldn't see much, even with the enhanced night vision his helmer provided. Twice he bumped into a bedpost, stifling a curse at the sounds piercing the deafening silence around them.

Finally he reached what appeared to be the end of the chamber, a small doorway leading to yet more darkness. Reaching out with the hand not holding his silence slugthrowing pistol, he touched the activation panel for the door...and froze.

The Dark Side screamed at him.


"SCATTER!" Angel shouted, diving to his right. Through the Force he sensed the confusion of the other troops, but they never-the-less followed his order. Everyone spread around the room as the door exploded outwards in a shower of metal and rock.

Picking himself up off the ground, Angel dusted his armor off and readjusted his helmet. He pushed his senses out, feeling nothing from the doorway, his nightvision showing nothing as well.

"Ok boys, guess we need to watch f..." Angel was interrupted mid-sentence by a massive right hand slamming into the stomach of his armor.

WHAT THE?!"

The air gushed from his lungs, accomanied by the crack of two ribs. Darkness crept into the corner of his eyes as he struggled to understand what happened. He had felt nothing there through the Force...seen nothing in the doorway...

Razor sharp claws raked across his back before the shocked troops opened fire. "Angel!" Kairo shouted in between randomly placed shots, "I can't see it! What the hell is going on?!"

The claws tore through his armor like a hot knife through butter, sinking into his flesh to send icy shots of pain. Using the Force to push aside the pain, he forced air back into his lungs and rolled away. He pushed himself up off the ground with his right hand, while triggering random bursts from the sidearm in his left.

The room was aglow with the red blaster fire of the E-11's, and one shot finally hit its unseen mark. The unmistakable sound of energy hitting metal hit Angel's ears, followed by a shimmer of light coming from the center of the room, and he finally understood.

A droid appeared out of thin air, sparks shooting from the leg where a stealth generator was mounted.

These were the weapons stolen from the Imperial Center.

 
-----------------------
=[Arrogant Elitist]=
=[Jikkyo the Horrible]=
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.
Storm you better get your ass in gear, cause Wildcard's gonna make it hot in here.

The droids continued to appear and disappear as randomly as possible, making blaster shots miss more than hit their targets. Dinin and Rizzit were side by side trying to hit whichever droid decided to show himself long enough to attack the two troopers. Jinx was only a few yards away trying to do the same, he seemed to be having some luck at actually hitting the droids.

A sudden explosion caught Jinx off guard and made him pause and glance back over his shoulder. The droid that Kairo and Angel had been fighting exploded and now peppered the ground with it's debris. The explosion didn't have the same pausing effect on the droid which decided to swing it's huge clawed hand and send Jinx sailing through the air only to hit the side of the tunnel.

Jinx's vision started to clear but only slightly, and his lungs were sucking in air as quickly as they could. That wall had nearly knocked him unconscious and made his chest exhale every last bit of air from his lungs. As his vision cleared he could see that Kairo had come to help Rizzit and Dinin finish off another droid. Angel had just fired several blaster shots into another droid and caused it to spark a few times and fall to the ground. With a few more shots from all four troopers the final droid sparked, shuttered and fell ungraciously to the ground.


 
-----------------------
Iron Horse Squad

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

Storm you better get your ass in gear, cause Wildcard's gonna make it hot in here.

"Yep, they're ours allright," the trooper Angel came to know as Dinin said, kicking the junked piece of metal at his feet. "Guess we know where all the pirates went."

"This is a big problem." Rizzit chimed in. The troops were all gathered in a tight circle around the last of the droids they took down. Jinx was breathing heavily and favoring his ribs. Angel himself was pretty beat up, blood gushing from the deep claw marks in his back, not to mention the broken ribs he was also sporting. "These droids are IC property, we can't go around blowing them to bits."

"Rizz, its kill or be killed at this point," Angel said. "If we get jumped again I I'm not going for the stun, they're going down."

"I agree with Angel." Kairo added. "Something or someone has made these droids kill anything that moves."

"Shouldn't we alert the others?" Slash asked absently, staring busily at the doorway to make sure none of the droids were coming again.

"Sithspit!" Rizzit swore, "these caverns are giving us too much interference...we can't get ahold of the others."

"Angel can you..."

The rest of Kairo's words wre lost in the sudden wave of lightheadedness that overcame Angel. The world around him began to spin, and the voices of the troops around him faded in and out in garbled tones. His heart beat slowed, and he looked down to see the puddle of blood that had formed under his feet...then he collapsed.
 
-----------------------
=[Arrogant Elitist]=
=[Jikkyo the Horrible]=
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}
------------------------
CM/DJK Jikkyo "Angel" Nimiichi/Eagle 1-1/Sith/Dark Jedi/Vast Empire/Lopen [VP:1]
------------------------
I'm the sheep that was lost, madre.

Storm you better get your ass in gear, cause Wildcard's gonna make it hot in here.

  Once Angel had been cleaned and tended to by Jinx, Angel was carefully carried by Rizzit, Kairo, and Jinx to one of the cots that circled the room. Jinx was left to watch over him until he awoke. He was also told that if Angel didn't wake up in the next fifteen minutes, that he would have to try to forcefully wake him. Meanwhile, Sam and Slash were sent to watch the tunnel that led out of the room, while Dinin was told to keep watch at the door they had all entered from. Each of them had been given a flash light that had been found in one of the chests at the foot of the cots.

  Rizzit and Kairo were hunched over the only droid that was mostly intact, trying to discern what it was capable of doing and how much armor it had. "This is one wicked droid." Rizzit said quietly. "I'll leave you with this one. I'll check the others to make sure they are destroyed, and then I'll check with everyone. We leave here in fifteen minutes, so you better have something to report."

  "I never recall being trained as a droid expert." Kairo groused.

  "You know how guns work. Plus you know how mechanical parts work from your experience with walkers. Make do." Rizzit said over his shoulder as he walked toward Sam.

  "Great." Kairo said as he pulled out a datapad to catalog whatever he could figure out. Looking down at the prone metal figure, Kairo first straightened its limbs so that it laid prostrate along the steel floor. He judged its height to be 2.2 meters tall. Trying to remember back over the fight, Kairo remembered that he had seen one of them running along the ground with all four legs. Much like what a wolf or wild beast would do. Crouching down next to the droids mid-torso, where the legs and body connected, he found that in between what would be the respective areas of a humanoid's hips and ribcage were interlocking metal folds that were pliable and could bend to allow the droid to make bounds like Kairo had assumed. The links could also swivel against each other, giving the droid the added bonus of turning a complete three hundred and sixty degrees. "Lovely," Kairo grumbled as he added the schematics to his datapad. "Someone must have had a lot of fun with the development of this beauty."

  Moving on to examine the over all look of the droid, Kairo found its body to look roughly like the images of a super battle droid from the clone wars. Unlike those droids though, this had thicker legs. Pealing back the outer casing of the legs, Kairo saw that it had metal coils, pistons, gears, micro-fiber, and electrical threads running through the entire core of it. Picking up the outer casing, Kairo put it on the ground and yelled, "I'm just testing something so don't worry about this." Pulling out his blaster, he fired a shot directly in the center of the metal plate. Once the smoke had cleared, Kairo stooped down and found that the shot had only left a circular metal scorch mark. It had dented the metal slightly, but it would take another few shots to completely puncture the armor. "Even better."

  The next thing he examined was the droids head. This also had traits of the battle droids from the clone wars, but again, was much thicker and had a few more gadgets attached. Instead of two camera eyes like most droids had, this had a single black line running across its face. Attached to the right side of its head was a small antenna that Kairo assumed would allow it to contact its fellow droids in a fight. On the left side of the head were three horizontal tubes about five centimeters long that pointed forward. Each one had a different function, but Kairo couldn't tell what. He guessed that they were for visual purposes. Examining the neck of the droid, Kairo found that it could tilt the droids head to look straight up. Why would it do that? After a few seconds, Kairo realized that this was so the droids could see where it was going when it was running on all four arms.

  "Last but not least, the weapon systems." Kairo mumbled. Checking his chronometer, he saw he only had three minutes left. Moving down the arms, Kairo's eyes immediately found the hands of the droid to be its primary weapon. Each hand, which was quite large, had only three fingers. But instead of the normal grip of a metal hand, each finger had been replaced with a twelve centimeter long vibroclaw. Grimacing, Kairo knew he didn't want those ripping into him like they had Angel. Looking for secondary weapons, Kairo found that each arm had an encased miniature blaster. Trying to remember his history, Kairo thought that the super battle droids had much the same weapon. This time though, the weapon was smaller. It would still be able to kill someone if the shot was placed well, but Kairo thought that if it hit a stormtrooper's armor directly in the center of the chest, it might not puncture all the way through. Moving back down to the waist of the droid, Kairo found that on either side of its body were two thermal detonators. "Great."

  Flipping the droid over, which took considerable work, Kairo examined the droids back. He knew what he should find though. At the rear end of the droid, right above the metallic thigh, he found a stealth generator. "Time's up Kairo. What did you find?" Rizzit said from above him.

  "A lot actually, though I would like to find out what powered this thing and rip open its torso, but I have all that we really need. Maybe I should become a droid analyst or something." Kairo grinned.

  "Maybe later, we have to go. Angel has woken up and I don't want to spend too much time in one place." Rizzit said as he led Kairo toward the door that the droids had blown open. "Tell us what we are up against along the way. We still have to meet Kami's group at the supposed supply storage room." Meeting up with Sam, Jinx, Slash, Dinin, and Angel, the seven troopers moved from the room and into the dark, with Kairo explaining the droids structure.

(OOC I hope the droid description is good enough. It took me a half an hour to do it. If something seems wrong with it, tell me, and I'll try to fix it. )
-----------------------
Senior Sergeant Kairo
Squad Leader
*DarkDragoons*

SL/SR.SGT Kairo/2SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR][BC]

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always has a way of haunting your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.

Angel felt like crap. He woke from his haze to find his armor peeled off, and him laying in his stomach on a cot. The cot itself smelled like three week old bantha dung left to rot in the Tattooine sun, making him immediately want to visit the nearest santizing room. He was still a bit lightheaded from the blood loss, and hadn't technically woken up on his own. After the alotted fifteen minutes passed, Jinx had broken out the smelling salts, forcing Angel's mind back into consciousness.

"So what's the prognosis doc?" He asked Jinx.

"Just take it easy for a bit and you'll be fine. I'll tell Rizzit you can't be taking point anytime soon again." The squad's medic replied. Jinx moved off to speak with Rizzit, leaving Angel to fidget with his bandages. Calling upon the Force to refresh him and center his mind, Angel caught a strong wave of concern and confusion coming from Kami, somewhere further down the cave. 

Gently reaching out to her, he sent her a comforting nudge and said through the Force: I'm ok babe. Just a scratch In the short moment their minds were connected, he caught a sense of the desparate fight they were in.

"...Angel?"

Rizzit's voice shook him from the semi-meditative state he was in. Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, he said distractedly, "Kami's group is in trouble. They ran into more of these things."

"There's no way to get to them now. If we can take these things down, so can they." Kairo interjected. "but these thigns are fairly nasty. I'd say Fury spent a pretty penny having these designed and built."

Trusting in Kami's abilities, Angel focused back on their own situation. "So  what's the plan then?"

"We continue into the cave. I'm having Jinx switch from night-vision to thermal so we might be able to pick these things up quicker. Kairo did a complete analysis of what exactly we're dealing with and it's not pretty."

"These things are vicious." the Dragoon SL added.

"Sounds like we've got a plan then." Angel nodded, grimacing as the cracked ribs complained when he stretched. "Where's my armor?"

"Trashed." Rizzit replied, pointing to the heap of black in the corner. "The vibroclaws cut throught all the electronics in the chest."

"Great...now I get to run through a pirate and killer droid infested cave in not but my skivies...

-----------------------
=[Arrogant Elitist]=
=[Jikkyo the Horrible]=
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}
------------------------
CM/DJK Jikkyo "Angel" Nimiichi/Eagle 1-1/Sith/Dark Jedi/Vast Empire/Lopen [VP:1]
------------------------
I'm the sheep that was lost, madre.

Storm you better get your ass in gear, cause Wildcard's gonna make it hot in here.

Since Angel was in no condition to lead the group through the tunnels, Kairo had been given the lucky position. After looking through some of the dressers in the barracks chamber they had been in, Kairo had found two flashlights. This gave them a total of four to use. Strapping his to the side of is E-11/f, Kairo led the way through the next series of tunnels, checking his datapad where a copy of the map had been stored. Senses alert, Kairo walked through the semidarkness that his light created. Sam followed closely behind him, then Rizzit, Angel, Jinx, Dinin, and Slash. A sudden thought occurred to Kairo as he swung around yet another corner to check for any signs of movement.

"Hey Sam." Kairo whispered. "Do you think you could rig one of your explosives that you always seem to love carrying to send out some sort of electric shock?"

There was a slight pause, as the Sam thought about it. The rest of the group were forming up behind them. "It might be possible, but I would only be able to make one with the supplies I have."

  "That is better than nothing. Use it as a last resort against these droids. Dinin might be able to help you with it." With that, Sam moved behind to the middle of the group behind Jinx so that he wouldn't have to be as attentive, allowing him to concentrate on his bomb and discuss possibilities with Dragon.

After a few minutes, the group had made it to another large barracks room. This one had a few computer boards and terminals laid out in one corner. Rizzit motioned for Slash and Jinx to take a look as the rest of the group split into a groups. Sam and Kairo were searching the cots on the left side of the room, when Kairo saw something that almost made him lose his lunch. Five people had been flayed and killed in their sleep on the cots. Blood ran thick along the ground. Three more people were sprawled out farther away. They had apparently been awoken by the screams of agony from their friends. Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to get away. Sam let out a stream of curses as he came close enough to see the grotesque display.

Spinning around, Kairo searched the area around him for any signs of a stealth field. He knew it was very unlikely for him to see one, but it was better than nothing. Kairo motioned Rizzit over after a few seconds. Kairo told Rizzit what he would find if he got any closer to the cots. Rizzit hesitated a minutes than decided he would have see for himself. A grunt was heard in the darkness behind them as Rizzit saw it for himself. "Jinx," Kairo heard through his comlink, which was still on. Rizzit continued, "Get over here, now." Even if it couldn't get through the thick walls of the cave to the other group, the comlinks worked fine in the same room.

Jinx was soon seen through the darkness, followed by two other forms which had to be Angel and Slash. "Check and see if any of them are alive still." Rizzit ordered. Turning to Angel he asked, "Are they working at all?"

  "Nope," Angel responded. "The power has definitely been shut off through the whole base. We might be able to get things running again, if we knew which room had the power generator in it."

  Kairo pulled out his datapad and started to look for any rooms that were labeled or that seemed to be a good place to look. "Rizzit, we have two choices. If we leave this room and head straight through the next two intersections, then hang a left at the third, we will be at that large room where are going to meet Kami's group. But, if we head right at the first intersection and follow that tunnel, there is a room that I think could be the power generator. Unfortunately, that tunnel just ends in that room, meaning we might get trapped back there."

  "Hmm. If we could get the power on, we might be able to see the droids a little easier in the light." Angel added.

  "Do you think we would be able to make it back out of that tunnel if we did go?" Dinin asked.

Jinx then returned and stated, "They're all dead. Nothing I could do. Plus, it appears they have only been that way for maybe the last four hours. Whatever happened here, it happened only shortly after we arrived on this planet."

  "Ok. Here's the deal. We are going to split into two more groups." Rizzit said.

  "Are you crazy?" Sam asked, not caring he was speaking to a senior officer.

"I know it might be a suicide mission, but if we break into a group of three and a group of four, I think we can do it." Rizzit said. "I want Jinx, Dinin, Slash, and I to continue on our way to that large room. Kairo, I'll need your datapad. You seem to know the layout by heart right now. Angel, Sam, and Kairo, you will go to that room and see if you can get the power back on. If the droids think they have turned off the power, that will probably be that last place they will be waiting to ambush us. I want you to do it quickly though. No stopping for anything. If you can or can't get the power on, I still want you to get to that large storage room in fifteen minutes. Everyone clear?"

  Everyone nodded. Then Angel stated, "Thanks Rizzit. You give us the suicide mission, and I'm not even in any armor."

Rizzit motioned toward a row of lockers across the room. "You might find some armor in one of those. It's better than nothing. We move out in three minutes."

  Kairo and Sam walked with Angel as he went to check the lockers. Kairo was lost in though. I shouldn't have opened my mouth. Why did I tell him about the power generator? I might even be wrong. But Kairo knew that the room was the correct one. He also knew that whoever turned off the power, probably wanted it to stay off. Which meant they most likely left someone or something to guard it.
 
-----------------------
Senior Sergeant Kairo
Squad Leader
*DarkDragoons*

SL/SR.SGT Kairo/2SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR][BC]

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always has a way of haunting your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.