He sat at his desk, and tried to get rid of the hangover that plagued his head.  The Imperial Ball had occurred the night before, and he was still suffering the effects of it.  He leaned back in his chair, and winced as his back popped.  Glancing around he saw that all of his work had been done so he grabbed his coat.  Wanting to get home he quickly put things in order.  He had his weekly sabaac game to get to after all.  It was going to be held at Snipes' place tonight.  He glanced around one last time, and headed for the door.  Before he could reach it however, he heard his office comlink kick on.

"Sergeant Slick." came the muffled voice.

"Crap." turning around he headed back to his desk.

He reached the desk, and glanced at the monitor.  A perfect picture of Lieutenant Colonel Rizzit stared back at him.  Slick quickly snapped to attention, and saluted his superior.  The company commander returned the salute, and ordered Slick to sit down.  The Wraith squad leader sat, and wondered what could be so urgent.  It wasn't like Rizzit to call him in the evening.  He frowned at the screen, and raised an eyebrow.

"What have you got for me boss?"  Slick asked quickly.

"Well...." started Rizzit, "You're not going to like it."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Two hours later

    Slick sat in the conference room fully dressed.  He watched in silence as one by one all of his soldiers came in, and none of them were happy.  No one enjoyed being dragged out of bed, and he could relate.  They saluted, and he quickly returned it.  As always gunnery sergeant Snipes was the last to enter.... and still half drunk.

"Wassa big idea Sick?  Why we gotta get outta bed fo?" said Snipes thickly.

Slick grinned as he looked at Snipes. "We have a mission.  Have a seat sergeant."

Looking around Snipes noticed all the other troopers were seated, and he did likewise.  One of the troops gave a small chuckle, and Snipes ordered Yoder to do push-ups.  The trooper quickly dropped.  Frowning Slick started the holo-projecter, and a planet quickly came into view.  The troopers stared at the screen.  For many of them it would be a first combat mission.

"Alright guys.  This is Corellia.  You've all heard of it, and Snipes and I hail from there.  We have just received word that one of the rogue Imperial elements have started a science facility there.  Our intel confirms that these rogue's have set up here." he pointed onto the screen.  "It's located in a small valley in the mountains inside the village of Agtylin.  Only one way in, and one way out.  A small inlet here.  We are to go in, and steal whatever information they have.  We know they have something because it's been kept so secret.  We'll be going civilian on this one troops.  We don't want them to know that they're being raided by fellow Imperials.  So grab what armor you have, and your normal weapon load-out.  Our ship will be leaving in..." glanced at his chrono-meter, "three hours.  Be there.  Dismissed!"
 
-----------------------
Sergeant Slick
-=Wraith Squad=--=SL=-
SL/SGT Slick/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/VEA/VE/Tadath[LoR][CoR][CoH]

    Arnaut muttered a small curse as he fumbled with the wires in his hands. Know your weaknesses, train up on them while we're on a break. He been training in mechanical and electrical engineering ever since the squad had gotten back from their last mission. He had become fairly good with it, but working with a ship such as this was a huge task. He looked at the ground where he had about ten metal plates arranged out carefully. Each one was another panel of wall that had covered more and more clumps of interconnecting wires. He had to determine which wire or group of wires went to the crew quarters.

    Tracing through the wires, he finally found a group of ten that were fed into a small hole in the wall marked "Crew Quarters" with a little fading sticker. Sighing he picked up the bundle of wires and traced it back to the circuit breaker. The circuit breaker had no labeling whatsoever so it made it a pain to try and rewire it. He took out his fusion cutter and started cutting through the wires. Half-way through it his fusion cutter slipped and cut a purple wire in two. Oh great.

    After finishing cutting through the rest of the crew wires, he reattached them to what he thought were the repulsa-system and port thruster circuit breakers. Hopefully it wouldn't overload them. Now he had to determine what that purple wire had done. As he was tracing the purple wire, he heard Snipes from down the hallway, screaming incoherently.

    "Bloody Hell! Frakking ship." It sounded like he punched the wall.

    Arnaut rounded the corner and saw quite a sight. At the end was a turbo-lift leading to Snipes' quarters. The turbo lift apparently had stopped halfway, as Snipes' head and the top of the turbo-lift were visible. There wasn't enough room to climb out up top and the lower level doors hadn't even opened.

    "Uh, I'll try and go fix this, sir" Arnaut said, rather obvious to the fact that he had caused this problem. Before Snipes could reply, Arnaut had gone back in the other hall, with the circuit breaker, and tried to connect the small wire he accidentally cut. He ripped off some of the protective rubber of the wire and twisted to metal ends inside together. I should've just done that when I cut the wire. He went back to check on Snipes.
   
    "Try the lift now," He told Snipes. Snipes pressed the button and with some groaning sounds, and the sound of metal scraping on metal, the lift descended.

    "Thank you," came the muffled reply from Snipes over his comm link. Arnaut strode over to the crew quarters to see if the power would work on the new circuit breakers. He entered the first dark room, and groped for the light switch. There wasn't one. Muttering a small curse about how much he already hated the ship, he took out and turned on his glowlamp. Upon inspection of the wall, he discovered that the light switch had been torn off the wall. Only limp wires still hung out from the hole where it used to be. Arnaut muttered another curse and inspected the rest of his room. Finding two, only moderately used glowlamps in the corner, he turned them on and hung them from the ceiling. That should provide enough light until I can come and add a proper lightswitch. And then he looked at the ceiling, and to his dismay, the light had been taken as well. Yelling off a long string of curses, he kicked the wall repeatedly. Only two hours left 'till we leave and I have to make a trip out to the store for a new light!

    He walked out into the hallway and met up with CJ who had been placing his gear on his bed. Together they walked toward the door to the ship lounge...also the only door leading from the crew quarters.

    Arnaut pressed the button for the door. Nothing happened. He pressed it again. Still nothing. And he pressed it a third time, this time so hard that the rusty old control panel almost broke. And the door still refused to budge.

    "Is there another way out of here?" CJ asked anxiously.
   
    "No...I already checked." he said defeated. Gathering up all his hate toward the ship, he kicked the door. As his foot collided with the metal, the rusty frame gave way and the door fell down. Arnaut stared at it with a face of utter shock.

    CJ merely stepped past it and said, "We should get an Imperial crew to fix this up before we leave." Arnaut still didn't know what to do. He gaped at the broken door. Finally, Arnaut stomped off and out of the ship looking to grab any poor hangar crewmember he saw. This ship needed a quick fix in two hours. And the squad wasn't going to be the only ones doing it.


-----------------------
Private First Class Arnaut
Wraith Squad
Vast Empire Army
TRP/PFC Arnaut/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/VEA/VE

    Arnaut looked at the newly repaired door with satisfaction. He walked over to it and pressed the control panel. The door slid open without a sound. At least something works correctly on this ship! He stepped through with silent glee, a light in one hand, a toolbox in the other.
   
    He made his way to the end of the hall where a crew cabin was located. Shifting the weight of the light under his arm he made his way in. The light had been delivered ten minutes ago by some crewmembers. Setting down the light on the floor, he took down the two lamps he had hung on the ceiling earlier and set them on the floor. Taking out his hydrospanner, he set the light in the hole in the ceiling and bolted it in. He then attached a small light switch to the wall. Ahhh...Nice and fixed up, he thought, turning the light on and off.

    Collecting up his gear he proceeded out of the room and into another hallway. As he turned a corner, his boots made an unusual clopping noise. He stopped. Stepping backwards, he heard the floor ring out hollow. There was definitely something under here. He jumped a few times just to make sure he was hearing correctly. BOW BOW BOW! Yup, the floor is definitely hollow. He jumped one last time, but this time something else made a noise. It sounded like a crunching noise. Uh-oh. With the screech of stressed metal, the floor beneath him gave way. He didn't have any time to react. Arnaut let out a bloodcurdling shriek as he fell into the darkness below. He landed on his back, with a loud "THUD!" amidst tons of rust and scrap metal.

    "Ugh...." He groaned. Trying to catch his breath, he sat up and looked around him. Large pipes and tubes filled his vision along with wires galore. And just when things were starting to look better for this ship! He stared bleakly up at the hole he had just created in the floor some ten feet above him. A small dark object started to teeter off the edge of the hole, finally falling. Arnaut squinted up at it, the light streaming from above hindering his vision, too dazed to realize that it was coming straight for him. His toolbox hit him with such a force that it almost knocked him unconscious. He hit the floor with his face and tasted the coppery taste of blood in his mouth.
   
    Spitting out a bit of blood, he stumbled to his feet and looked up again. Satisfied that nothing else was going to fall on his head, he looked once again at his surroundings. Pipes, tubes, and wires. That's all there was down here. I must be in something like a maintenance area right now. Then he noticed that everything down here, unlike the wires up on the other level, was labeled. The wires that immediately caught his eye were a bunch of frayed ones with the tag "Ion Cannon". Well, this shouldn't be too hard to fix. He started reattaching wires together, using some duct tape to hold most of them back together. Duct tape solves most everything. Then realizing he was still stuck in this tiny hole, he grabbed his comm and yelled through it.

    "This is to anyone who hears this." He yelled into it, broadcasting over his squad's channel. "I was going through the ship and the floor gave way and now I am stuck in a hole. It's near the crew quarters, be careful because it's a big fall. Also, bring some rope." Minutes later he wasn't being pulled out of the hole via a rope and the combined strength of Snipes and Slick.

    "Heh, thanks guys," Arnaut said gratefully, but noticing the look on Snipes face as he stared at the hole he quickly added, "Uh...Sorry about what I did to your floor. I'll go get some people to fix this up. I do think I fixed the ion cannons though." Snipes' face went from shock, to anger, to thoughtfulness, and finally to glee as he ran to the cockpit to see if his ion cannons were working.

    Arnaut ran through the halls of the ship, looking for a spare worker. Upon finding one, he gave him the task of installing a hatch and a ladder that led down into the maintenance hole. Arnaut was sure he'd be going down there eventually.


-----------------------
Private First Class Arnaut
Wraith Squad
Vast Empire Army
TRP/PFC Arnaut/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/VEA/VE

After handing Snipes his loadout list, D'har wandered around the ship for quite some time before finding an empty room to practice in.  He made a mental note of the location, when he felt the ship jump to hyperspace.  He decided it would have to wait.  As he made his way to the lounge he suddenly realized exactly what he was doing.  He thought that this was it, his first mission.  He was exited to say the least, but also a bit scared which was odd, not having been scared since the age of 14.

D'har and the rest of Wraith Squad piled into the lounge to be briefed.  Finally Snipes came in and booted up the holoprojector.  "Alright, we're headed to Corellia to steal whatever information we can from a rogue imperial science facility.  We are to enter through this inlet here.  We'll then make our way to the facility and silently get rid of all the guards we encounter.  Once we arrive at the building, we break into three teams: Red, Blue, and Green.  The front hallway breaks into three corridors, Red will take the left, Green will take the center corridor, and Blue will take the right.  Once one team locates whatever secret they're keeping, they are to tell the other teams where they are. Once their, we will find a way to get our hands on the prize.  And no drinking 'til after the mission!"

The squad then departed to various parts of the ship to prepare for the mission.


 
-----------------------
And so we fight,
so we live,
so we die,
as they chant the litany,
of their demise,
death is not and end nor is it a beginning
it is the best part of our lives.

{D'har Leth}
TRP/PFC D'har Leth/4SQD/1PLT/1CMP/1REG/1BAT/Nar Shaddaa/VEA

** In Cockpit **

    Snipes jumped up and instantly hit a faded red button on the rusty control panel. After a few seconds, the emergency systems kicked in, the working lights all around the ship dimmed to a red hue and emergency klaxons and sirens sounded off.
    The emergency button also started to power up all combat systems and readied the laser cannons, and powered up the shields and ion cannons.
    Snipes hit the intercom panel and yelled, "All crew, hostile ships inbound be prepared for anything," Snipes snapped off the intercom and sat in the pilots chair to prepair for evasive manuevers. Arnaut sat in the co-pilot's seat and strapped himself in.

    Around the ship the other Wraith squad members started to run about the ship finding something that they could do to help. Virius ran to his quarters and grabbed his BMC carbine with attached M-203 grenade launcher. He also donned his combat harness with ammo power packs and shells for the 203. Lukas Yuy burst into their shared quarters and grabbed his whisper sniper rifle following close behind.
    Virius opened up a comm channel to the rest of the squad, "Anyone that isn't doing anything, report to the docking hatches to repel boarders."
    Virius and Lukas bolted from their quarters and toward the docking hatches. When they arrived Yoder and CJ were both coming down the opposite hall with their rifles.
    "Okay guys be ready for anything," Virius said nodding to each of his squadmates and leaning against a bulkhead.
 
-----------------------
Staff Sergeant
Frank "Virius" Carter
Combat Slicer & Spotter
-=Wraith Squad=-
FTL/SSG Virius/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE[LoR] [ES1] [WM]
George Luz: [imitating Gen. Maxwell Taylor] "Now the thing to remember, flies cause disease, so keep yours closed!" -- Band of Brothers Quote.

    Static and words came over the intercom, "False alarm my friends, just more. . .friends."

    CJ and Yoder looked at each other then down at the floor and groaned, "Dang, I thought we were going to get some pre-mission action," Yoder said turning around and going back to his quarters with CJ following slowly after.
    "Well that was fun," Virius said turning to Lukas.
    "Thats what drills are for," Lukas said responding giving Virius a smirk.
    "Do you want to join me for a game of shoot the gungans," Virius said pulling out his gamedroid.
    Lukas's smirked turned into a full grin, "Why not, I've already cleaned my gun two times."
    Virius smiled then moved down the corridor to where the two staff sergeants quarters were located.

*** A trip through hyperspace and however long it takes to get to corellia with a ship that is acting up... ***

    Static filled the intercom, "Everyone we are coming out of hyperspace and entering Corellian space, secure all uneccesary cargo and prepare for landing," The gunnery sergeants voice boomed over the intercom before filling with static again and shutting off with some feedback.

[OOC: Well we are finally in Corellian space, lets get this mission started /OOC]

-----------------------
Staff Sergeant
Frank "Virius" Carter
Combat Slicer & Spotter
-=Wraith Squad=-
FTL/SSG Virius/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE[LoR] [ES1] [WM]
George Luz: [imitating Gen. Maxwell Taylor] "Now the thing to remember, flies cause disease, so keep yours closed!" -- Band of Brothers Quote.

    Lukas and Virius sat in their quarters, smearing on camo facepaint, when the ship landed. The duo was already packed and was waiting for the go ahead to move toward the landing ramp. The ship thudded and hissed slightly as it pressurized to the planet's atmosphere.
    The intercom hissed with static, "Alright Wraith squad. We're here. Get your gear, and meet me by the exit ramp. We have work to do, and I want to be in that village by nightfall. I HATE fighting in the dark... it's scary you know." The intercom filled with static and snapped off.
    Knowing it as their queue, Virius stood and then he started to don his personally made ghillie suit, basically it was a tan jumpsuit with sewn on hessian straps that can be used to attach the surrounding foliage to. Lukas zipped up his suit and hefted his rucksack onto his back and he also shouldered his whisper sniper rifle.
    Virius lifted his ruck onto his back and picked up his BMC carbine with M-203 grenade launcher attached underneath the barrel. Lukas nodded and the two were off toward the landing ramp.
    The other squadmates were surprised slightly when the two walking bush-like figures came down the corridor leading to the planet's surface. The duo just nodded to the other squadmates. Lukas had a smirk on his face and Virius just walked with a rigid face of battle readiness.
    The two walked toward the group of waiting soldiers and stood while Slic k ran down from the cockpit. Slick nodded to Lukas and Virius then he looked at the rest of the squads faces.
    "Okay everybody knows the basic plan, but I will go over it one more time so everything is clear. Sergeants Lukas and Virius are our scout/sniper team for this mission they will head off and find a good observation post and provide tactical overwatch while the squad secures the main objective. I see that everyone is equipped with civilian gear except for the sniper team, they will make it their duty not to be seen as it is one of their jobs as a scout sniper.
    The sniper team will be name badger for this mission and the main team will be split up into two subgroups their callsigns will be fox and rabbit teams, Everyone clear?" Slick looked around seeing no problems, "Well then teams fox, rabbit, and badger, move out."
 
-----------------------
Staff Sergeant
Frank "Virius" Carter
Combat Slicer & Spotter
-=Wraith Squad=-
FTL/SSG Virius/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE[LoR] [ES1] [WM]
George Luz: [imitating Gen. Maxwell Taylor] "Now the thing to remember, flies cause disease, so keep yours closed!" -- Band of Brothers Quote.

Arnaut shifted the weight of his pack on his shoulders uncomfortably. He had quite a few explosives in his pack, and they were weighing him down. He looked around, scanning the tall, ominous mountains looming before him. There was a small space in between two of them that was the mouth of the valley. That's where they were heading. Slick joined the rest of the squad from the entrance ramp sporting a large pack.

"The sniper team will be name badger for this mission and the main team will be split up into two subgroups their callsigns will be fox and rabbit teams, Everyone clear." Slick stared at his squad making sure they were all ready for the test ahead. "Well then teams fox, rabbit, and badger, move out. Fox will be Snipes, Arnaut, and CJ. I'll be with Yoder and D'har for the rabbit team. Let's go!"

The three teams hoisted their packs onto their shoulders and started the long haul towards the town. Arnaut had plenty of time to think over all that could happen in the mission. Nobody talked, but instead just kept to themselves, silently wondering about this mission.

Arnaut kept his head down, trudging along through the tall grass that made up the field separating them from the valley. Suddenly, a slight whirring noise could be heard. He glanced at CJ, but he just cocked his head quizzically.

Slick raised his hand up signaling for everyone to stop. Everyone slowly, quietly slid down into the grass from view, bringing their rifles to bear. The whirring noise increased in volume. As soon as the whirring noise reached its crescendo, a small, black, flying object shot over the troopers. All rifles were trained on it as it flew away from them.

"Lukas..." Slick whispered, eyes glued to the black object, "...can you tell what it is?"

"Looks like a...seeker droid, possibly from the facility.  I want to get a closer look," Lukas said in reply, staring through his rifle's scope.

Arnaut thought that Lukas was referring to zooming in more with his scope, and therefore was startled when he heard the slight hiss of the sniper rifle firing. Arnaut looked out to where the droid was. It faltered in its path and fell to the ground. The squad hurriedly rushed through the grass, keeping themselves out of sight below the grass, to where the droid had fallen.

When the squad finally reached the object, their eyes were treated with the sight of some smoking droid parts scattered across the ground. Slick ordered everyone to get the pieces and see if they could determine where it had come from.

"Well it's definitely a probe droid scanning the area. It has Imperial markings on it..." Lukas said, throwing a large piece of smoldering metal down to the ground, "...but I can't tell much else due to the obvious destruction of the droid."

The squad threw down their pieces of metal, covering them with brush, and moved on. They were more alert the rest of the way, jumping at every small sound. Finally, just as the sun started to set behind the mountains, they reached the valley's opening, and could see the town not far below.

"Alright, badger, set up a watch and keep our backs covered. Fox and rabbit...let's go check out the town," Slick said as he broke into a trot towards the town. The squad followed.




-----------------------
Private First Class Arnaut
-=Wraith Squad=--=TRP=-
TRP/PFC Arnaut/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/VEA/VE

"Take care of your equipment, and your equipment will take care of you"

The squad was slowly trudging forward, and getting closer to their objective.  Althought they had had no trouble so far, Slick couldn't help but feel an uneasyness that he hadn't felt before.  It felt as if all their lives were in danger... and yet... and yet nothing had happened so far.  He shrugged it off as pre-combat nerves, and kept marching.  The Wraith soldiers followed closely behind.  Many were glancing around nervously, and Slick supressed a smile.  Only two combat veterans were in the field... the rest were rookies straight out of the Academy.  He remembered being that nervous once.

Fox team was in the lead at the moment, and Slick was surprised when Snipes called a halt.  He quickly moved his assistants position, and looked at him.  Snipes was wearing a frown which was very unlike the normally happy pirate.

"What is it Snipes?" asked Slick slowly.

The gunnery sergeant pointed his finger, and Slick followed where it pointed.  Straight in front of them was a makeshift barrier of durasteel.  Large holes had been gouged through it, and blood covored the area.  Streaks of blood covored everything in site, and Slick felt a chill run down his spine.  He motioned for the two teams to advance, and he himself took the lead.  The reached the barrier quickly, and they stared at the carnage around them.  A few human limbs littered the area, and the stench was nearly unbearable.  The squad leader stood motionless for a moment, and then called Lukas forward.

"Lukas, I need you to zoom in on the town.  Tell me what you see."

"Can do." replied Lukas as he raised his rifle.

They all waited for a few moments, and finally Lukas lowered the rifle. "There's nothing alive down there."

"What happened here!?" CJ asked in a voice that was near panic.

"Where are the bodies?" asked Leth quietly.

Slick shook his head slowly. "I don't know... I just don't know..." he quickly came back to himself, and he faced his men. "Let's get into the town, and get inside one of the buildings.  I want fifty percent security tonight.  Tomorrow we find out what the hell is going on here."
 
-----------------------
Sergeant Slick
-=Wraith Squad=--=SL=-
SL/SGT Slick/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/VEA/VE/Tadath[LoR][CoR][CoH]

    The squad got situated in the 2nd floor of the building so Slick posted badger team on the rooftop to scan the area and take out any hostiles, and to provide a good warning system.
    Lukas and Virius got comfortable near the edge of the building by laying out padded mats on the northeast and southwest sides of the building so they could provide almost a total scanning area. Lukas had his rifle and Virius set up his spotters scope and started to scan a field to the west side of the city.
    Lukas layed prone and scanned the area with his rifle and noticed something odd. A rustling in the underbrush to the northeast. He zoomed in farther and noticed a slight movement of black in the darkness. He keyed his throat mike, "Hey Virius, I am noticing some strange movement in the woods to the northeast."
    "Affirmative, be right there," came the reply from Virius.
    A few moments later, Virius appeared almost silently next to Lukas crawling with his macrobinoculars in hand. Lukas motioned toward the area of activity and Virius put the binoculars up to his eyes.

** In the brush to the northeast **

    Striker tried to pull himself free from a type of active vine that twisted slowly around his ankle as he was peering at the objective where Wraith squad was supposedly located. He was starting to get angry so he pulled out his vibrobayonet and flicked it on with a hum. With a few quick slashes the vine was wretched free and Striker stumbled out into an open area between the tree line and the village.

    A moment later a black clad imperial stumbled out of the tree line and fell into the open field. Lukas instantly had his sniper rifle trained on the unidentified soldiers head.
    "Wait!" Virius said putting up his hand, he keyed his mike on the squads personal radio frequency. "This is badger team, we have an unidentified presumably hostile person wearing black scout armor, over."
    "Hold one sec, do not engage, I am going to have fox team converge and hopefully capture the bandit," came the reply from Slick.
    Lukas and Virius watched as fox team bolted out of the building silently and over to the edge of the village, using the buildings for cover. The black clad soldier didn't even knew what hit him when three stun blasts collided with his chest.
    Fox team was instantly on the soldier, policing his weapons and dragging him back toward HQ.
 
-----------------------
Staff Sergeant
Frank "Virius" Carter
Combat Slicer & Spotter
-=Wraith Squad=-
FTL/SSG Virius/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE[LoR] [ES1] [WM]
George Luz: [imitating Gen. Maxwell Taylor] "Now the thing to remember, flies cause disease, so keep yours closed!" -- Band of Brothers Quote.

Arnaut stepped nervously back, eyeing the halls warily, gun at the ready. Every flickering shadow, every dark corridor that surrounded them seemed to hold an invisible enemy. Slick finally decided to take the corridor to the left. Taking off in a slow jog the team made their way down the corridor, finally leaving the blood-soaked lab.

"Alright, if intel is correct..." Snipes said, just barely audible to the squad, "...we should take the next left down to a service hallway, from their it's a few short hallways and stairwells to the private testing facility. There should be an emergency escape exit there, as well as more information on this little 'project' going on here." The squad started to jog down the corridor.

Arnaut jogged along slowly, when he slipped in a pile of human entrails. Flying onto his back, he found himself staring at the ceiling where a small ceiling tile was missing. Two yellow, beastly eyes stared back.

"Oh..." Arnaut said as the ceiling collapsed, almost in slow motion, revealing a rather large creature. Arnaut pushed up with his arms, landing on his feet and jumped out of the way of the beast and the rubble. He rejoined his squad at the end of the hall. The squad members backed up nervously holding their weapons up.

The beast turned around so it was facing the squad. The bulk of its body was so large, it tore parts of the walls off. Massive claws extended from large, muscular feet. It sat on all fours, and the entire frame of its body bulged with muscles. In its domed head there sat two small yellow eyes and jaws that looked wide enough to chop a tree trunk in half.

It let out a very inhuman snarl and leapt towards the squad. Arnaut once again dropped onto his back, this time picking out his knife. As the beast lunged over him, he shoved the vibroblade upwards. To his surprise, and dismay, the blade broke off in his hand and the beast kept flying through the air, barely noticing.

CJ, unfortunately, was the closest to the beast's landing point. He stared stunned as well over a ton of muscular mass. The beast saw his opportunity and took it. Monstrous jaws opened up and clamped down onto CJ's unprotected leg. With a sickening crunch, and a splatter of blood, CJ's leg was torn apart. Letting out a scream of rage, both Lukas and Slick fired round after round into the beast. It was enough to distract it, but not hurt it.

Dropping the mangled limb to the ground, and laving a screaming CJ bleeding on the floor, the beast started towards the rest of the squad. Both the beast and Slick jumped at the same time. Slick, halfway through his jump, tossed out a small metal canister into the beasts opened jaws, and fell underneath it. The beast landed, gulped the canister down. Everyone backed away, mentally counting the three seconds it took for a grenade to explode. Suddenly the creature shuddered, and one thousand metal shards poked their tips through the beast's skin. The team breathed a sigh of relief as the crippled beast gave one last groan and sagged to the floor.

Arnaut mentally crossed the dead creature off his list. Twenty-seven to go.

"Now we know how to kill them," Lukas said defiantly, spitting on the corpse. Slick ran over to the aid of CJ who was on the floor, and grabbed his medical pack. After two morphine injections, a little bacta to start healing the amputated leg, and a whole lot of bandaging, CJ could hobble along with the squad. The team rushed on as fast as they could, more aware of the ceilings now than ever. Apparently the beasts controlled the upper stories.

Two hallways down, the gore increased. No longer was it just blood on the ground, but vital organs also splattered on the wall. They came to a rather extensive blast door that had been torn apart. These animals are vicious. Mangled bodies of Imperial stormtroopers and scientists. No creature bodies though. Arnaut continued on, eventually the horror of all the bodies turned into disgust as his initial shock faded. By the time they had come to the stairwells, his and the rest of the teams boots were deep crimson.

Helping CJ, Slick told them to move down the next two floors while he and CJ slowly made their way down.

Arnaut trailed behind Snipes who took the lead. Quietly they made their way down. Snipes stopped short as he peered around the corner at the bottom of the steps. He quickly brought his head back behind the wall, his face white. With his hands he slowly outlined the shape of the creature and pointed down the hall. Arnaut took out his small handheld mirror and held it slightly out in the hall. Sure enough a creature was their, busy gnawing on some poor scientists corpse. It hadn't noticed them.

As the squad quickly thought of how to get past it, a crash came from the stairs. CJ had slipped on a patch of blood and fell down the stairs, right at the feet of the squad. The creature's roar could be heard as it realized there were intruders nearby. The squad didn't have time to run away. The creature charged around the corner, and gave out one long roar, ready to pounce on the squad. Slick took this momentary roar to lob two grenades into the creature's mouth. The squad was momentarily relieved. Arnaut almost crossed a second creature off his list. The creature held the grenades in its mouth for a second...and then let out a snarl, spitting the grenades out down the opposite hall. They exploded in a flurry of debris.

What!? The last one swallowed the grenades. Arnaut thought as he recoiled back up the stairs with the squad. Slick grabbed CJ by the arms and ran. The creature bent down on all four of its legs, looking as if was going to pounce.  The squad was halfway up the second set of steps, when the creature flew over their heads and landed in front of them. The squad came to a halt as the beast stepped slowly toward them. There was no way they could get past this beast. And suddenly, Snipes yelled out in surprise. Raising his weapon, he shot past the creature at two containers of methane gas laying propped against the wall. They had apparently rolled out one of the "Creature Enhancement" rooms during one of the scientists' futile attempts to hold the room. The containers exploded, causing the creature to be blown apart. The squad ducked as chunks of the creature flew into the wall behind them.

Arnaut leaned his back against the wall, breathing heavily. They had killed two creatures, but the second seemed to be by luck. What would we do if we face a third? Arnaut hoped they were as lucky as they had been so far.

CJ was back on his feet now, cursing at all the blood on the stairs. The squad waited for him to readjust himself, and then they went silently down the stairwell and into the hall.

Twenty-six left. Arnaut thought as he hefted up his gun and jogged up to walk alongside Snipes. Hopefully their luck would continue.




-----------------------
Private First Class Arnaut
-=Wraith Squad=--=TRP=-
TRP/PFC Arnaut/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/VEA/VE

"Take care of your equipment, and your equipment will take care of you"

"YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO GIVE ORDERS!" Snipes yelled at Yoder just as snarls of anger, and fury filled the corridors behind them.

"No time. Move." said Slick. Seeing no one moving he shoved Arnaut towards the exit corridor. "MOVE TROOPER!"

The squad rushed on, and quickly came to the exit of the science facility.  The beast's had been gaining on them, and one of them could be seen racing towards them.  Before it could reach them however Virius had the durasteel doors down.  The creature slammed into the doors, and a large dent appeared.  Lukas looked at Slick, and the squad leader shook his head. 

"To the ship.  We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

They began to run back through the village.  They didn't stop for anything, and the building flew by in a blur.  Everyone's andrenaline was pumping, and the pace never slacked once.  As they were running Slick stepped into a hole, and nearly fell.  The fall would have easily broken his ankle, but at the last second Arnaut grabbed him and jerked him upright.  Slick nodded in thanks, and they trudged on.  The fear motivating them, and driving them towards the ship.

When they reached the village gates Snipes let out a cry, and the squad came to a halt.  The gates were barricaded by all kinds of debris.  The way out was totally blocked, and the squad could find no way to get through.  They were trapped in this village.  Within moments panic was beginning to set in.

"What the hell are we going to do!?!?  We can't fight those things!" exclaimed Yoder.

"We're dead!  We're going to be ripped apart!" someone else cried in alarm.

"Shutup damn it!  The comm array is out so we can't get a message out, and our way is blocked!  So let me think!" said Slick angrily.

Just then he heard a familiar growl behind him.  The squad leaders eyes bulged, and his body stiffened.  He could hear the creatures heavy breathing from behind him.  Glancing at his squad, he could see them making a skirmish line in front of him, facing the beast.  The squad leader quickly eased his DL-54 from it's holster, and felt his heartbeat quicken even more.  With lightning quick speed Slick turned... and was thrown aside as a muscular arm caught him in the chest.

He was thrown through the air, and landed hard on his side.  His vision blurred, and he fought to hold onto consciousness.  His vision cleared, and he saw Snipes, Arnaut, and Lukas thrown aside.  Yoder, and Virius opened fire but were quickly tossed to the ground.  Shaking his head Slick slowly got to his knees, and could hear Striker screaming.  Looking up he saw that the beast had picked the young trooper up, and was studying him.  Then it threw him aside, and grabbed CJ.  The creature latched it's jaws upon his other leg, and proceeded to drag him off.  CJ was screaming in agony, and pure terror.  Blood flowed from the fresh wound, and was staining the ground a reddish-black.

"NO!" someone screamed, and after a moment Slick realized he himself was screaming.

The squad leader took off running, and leapt at the creature only to be caught in it's grasp.  The squad leader struggled, and cried out in pain.  Within a seconds time Yoder, and Lukas were upon the creature.  The creature barely even noticed them, and shook itself.  All three stormtroopers were thrown to the side.  They hit the ground in a pile, and watched helplessly as one of their own was quickly dragged away... screaming for help the entire way.

The squad got their gear back together, and simply stood looking at each other.  Slick quickly noticed that nearly all of them had shed a tear, and he quickly wiped his own away.  Virius handed him his pistol, and the squad leader quickly took it.  He holstered it once more, and faced his men.  He had no idea what to say to them.  They all knew they were in over their heads.

"What now Slick?" Leth asked softly.

"Back to the village.  We're going to the stormtrooper barracks... We need better weapons."  was all he said as he turned away.

-----------------------
Sergeant Slick
-=Wraith Squad=--=SL=-
SL/SGT Slick/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/VEA/VE/Tadath[LoR][CoR][CoH]

The squad hurriedly broke off in a run down the field of the village, not even stopping to finish off a wounded creature. Arnaut lowered the E-Web to a firing state so he could blast anything that got in his way. To the side of him, D'har had the energy generator strapped to his back for the E-web. They were connected by a long, black cord. Not the safest way to carry it, but it would have to do.

Arnaut ran tirelessly on, only feeling a slight pain in his leg from his still almost healed shrapnel wound. A roar came from his left and Arnaut ducked and rolled as a creature leapt on the spot he had just vacated. A dozen ear-splitting shots rang out as the squad's anti-armor guns pegged the creature. The creature shrugged off the small wounds the bullets were making and charged straight for Arnaut.

Guess they can't be taken down by armor piercing rounds, Arnaut observed as he, once again, jumped out of the way of the creature. This time he wasn't so lucky; a paw came swiping up while he was in the air catapulting him haphazardly higher into the air. He landed in a crumpled and dazed state, the cord of his E-Web blaster disconnecting from the power supply.

As he sat up, he tried to get his bearings, but everything was blurry. He faintly heard yells of people, but it sounded as if they were far in the distance. He looked ahead and saw that something big was coming for him but he couldn't quite remember what it was. It was a fuzzy, black blob in his vision.  The thing was almost upon him now, and it seemed to fly into the air. Then Arnaut realized what it was and rolled, the creature landing behind him. He sprinted as fast as he could, grabbing the E-web off the ground, with the creature looking around behind him, surprised it had lost its prey for a third time.

Arnaut ran, not noticing the pain that had entered his legs. Bushes, rubble, and bodies flew past his vision. As soon as he had passed the squad they started running too. The creature, realizing its prey was getting away, put up chase.

"Alright...explosives, now!" Slick yelled in between breaths as they ran. Priming a dozen grenades, the squad dropped them onto the ground, and continued running. As the creature passed over them, they exploded in fiery balls of shrapnel. The creature was thrown forward five feet, bleeding slightly, but shakily regained its footing and continued the chase.

Breathless, the squad reached the barricade, and hastily started deploying explosives. The creature was only a few seconds behind. As Arnaut set one last explosive, he wished he had his backpack of explosives right now. He could've blown up the barricade much faster with those. The pack had gotten lost in the complex somewhere, and they were now stuck using military protocol explosives. They weren't as strong.

He joined the squad and jumped behind a piece of rubble at the side of the barricade. Once the creature made it to the barricade, they would blow it. The creature came charging in...but suddenly stopped. Raising up on two legs, it started to sniff the air. The squad looked on with half awe half confusion. Still standing on two legs, it let out a long, dreary howl. From behind buildings, six other creatures jumped out from hiding. Bowing their heads all down, the creatures sat totally still for a second.

"Should we blow it?" Yoder asked in a whisper.

"No," Slick replied, "They're still out of the blast radius."

All of the creatures jerked their heads up together. Staring at the cliffs that surrounded the city gates, the creatures broke off in a trot. They were still out of the blast range. Then, lowering down to pounce, they jumped farther than the squad had ever seen them do before. They landed halfway up the side of the cliff, claws digging in to make handholds. The squad watched in amazement as the creatures scaled the cliff up to the top, and jumped off on the other side of the barricade.

"Dammit...now we have be the animal control as well," Slick muttered, "Blow this thing and let's get those creatures back. Who knows where they're doing right now."

Snipes clicked the detonator. With a boom, part of the debris barricade was blasted into the air. The squad stood up, hoisting their weapons up with them, and walked ran out of the village. They were finally free, but they still had a job to do.


-----------------------
Private First Class Arnaut
-=Wraith Squad=--=TRP=-
TRP/PFC Arnaut/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/VEA/VE

"Take care of your equipment, and your equipment will take care of you"

Kanderin anf Arnaut kept glancing back at Slick, expecting some sort of signal to fire. Slick eventually noticed but shook his head, making all three soldiers again turn to face the beast. It appeared to of just sat there, as if it knew what was coming.

"Sir, could it be possible that these things are actually smart? This one appears to know what were planning" Kanderin enquired.
" You never know, with the day i've been having it probably has" Slick answered, trying to add a slight chuckle.

Arnaut then momentarily took his eyes off the creature,  and noticed a tool left on the floor, about two feet away. He leaned over to reach it, almost falling over. After picking it up, he judged the weight in his hand, then threw it at the creature. The throw was judged to perfection, and it bounced right off the beats head, creating a startled cry of pain. This was enough to encourage the creature into an attack. It dived forwards, aiming for Kanderin.
"Now!" cried Slick, and all three opened fire.

The combined fire was enough to knock the creature back, making the three troopers move forward, keeping the fire up. The thing rolled about in pain on the floor, as if having a seizure, before slouching on the floor, dead. Kanderin breathed a sigh of relief, another metre and that thing would of been chewing on his face.
"Well done lads, one down, about another thousand to go" Slick smiled. "Arnaut, see what you can do about that door, Draken, get that mess out of here"

Both soldiers nodded and hurried forwards to their jobs, while slick moved over to a control panel. After about five minutes the creatures body was moved into a corner, and the door was slightly better than it was. Arnaut and Draken then moved over to Slick, who was now sat in a chair, watching the floor. He looked up when he heard them approaching.

"Well, remind me to but you guys a drink when we get back to base" Grinned Kanderin, sparking a laugh from the other two.

"Well, we cant sit around here all day, we need a plan, any ideas?"
enquired Slick, again looking at the floor.
"In my opinion, we have two options, one: we find someway of fixing the ship, or two: we find some other way of getting off this planet" answered Arnaut.

"Arnaut, I remeember hearing from Rizzit just before we left that you had some techincal knowledge?" asked Kanderin, to which Arnaut answered with a nod.
"Ok then, i have a teeny weeny bit of skill when it comes to electronics, and i understand that Snipes does as well. So i say that we work out way down to where snipes and the rest are, and then try and sort this piece of junk out. If that fails, then i guess its up to our squad leader.

Slick leaned his head on his hands and thought for a moment, and then answered.
"Ok its not the decision i would want, but it will have to do. Lets go"

All three soldiers then collected up any armour and weapons they had put down, equipped themselves, and then ran down the hallway, with Kanderin and Arnaut leading, and Slick covering the flanks.

(OOC: My first squad story post, i hope you guys like it. I know its short, mainly because im new to squad stories, and secondly because im using a lot of time on my training)
 
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War is simply a big game of dodgeball. You hit the opponent before they hit you, but you'll end up with much more than just a nosebleed, especially when your staring down my barrel.....

Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain, or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!  - Auron, FF X