Shazm thought to himself that sending two of his naval pilots down a hall to 'check things out' may have been a bad move.  Already said it though...  And the two were off, Darius giving him a dirty look all the while.  Why didn't I send him?  Man- he's going to hold that against me if he doesn't get to kill someone...  Moments later they were down the hall and Atrick was waving toward them in excitement.

"Yea?" Shazam whispered, taking to one wall of the white corridor.  It'd been totally abandoned save two remnant hopefuls that had dropped in on the meeting earlier, but Shazam wasn't about to take chances. 

"All clear, Shaz- you should get a look at this stuff: its great!"  Shazam lifted an eyebrow at the efforvescent youth before waving on to the rest of the group and jogging up the aisle, taking a glance down the left alley as they passed it and made their way into the armory. 

"They certainly don't call it an armory for nothin..." Trevor muttered as they stepped into the bright white light.  It was as if the trader had come to town and had specials on everything: FREE!  Normally, these things would have been locked away and some glass would have been shattered or locks melted in an attempt to free the lethal weapons, but since the base had just been attacked attacked by none other than themselves, cabinets were left open and drawers put to the ground as men had reached for rifles and picked for grenades.  Most of the 'branches' of grenades were completelly stripped, but a few concussion grenades and other of the explosive like were left behind.  Dar and Jran seemed to have an interestin in these while Art and Shazam made thier way to the gun racks.  Most had been taken, but plenty of E-11s hung on racks and even a few precision pistols sat on desk and looked freindly enought to touch. 

"I hate to say it- but guns just look good: don't they?" Shazam said.  In truth, he hated having to use the weapon, not that he was come gungho martial artist, but he just found them cheap.  Whatever works though... he thought and couldn't help but smile.  They do look kind of cool...  He crabbed a belt with an attached holster and slung a pistol in it- he'd given his Dl-44 to Toki after all.  Or atleast I think she has it...  Who has my gun?  No matter...  The thought also occured to him that they probably only had a good fifteen minutes to find the bomb and defuse it- perhaps this had been a bad idea after all...  Only if we squander the opportunity... 

"Alright guys- that's all the time we have.  Let's move!"  He said, picking up a grenade off the remaining branches and slinging an E-11 around his shoulder.  "Calm down man- we'd have gotten pinned down eventually: if we're going to die I'd rather it be by the freak explosion than in a gun fight anyways..." He whispered to Art who scoffed at the pretense of an unkept death. 

"Yes well- I've got some things on my list that need taken care of yet, so I'd rather not be taken out in a fire ball- even if its for the glory of battle." Shazam thought he heard a chuckle, possibly killed away by the fact he wanted to be serious.  Art was a serious man after all and his humor was sometimes few and far between.  Shazam could pick up on most of it but his girlfriend, and really she was more like a wife in Shazam's eyes, seemed to be the only one capable of fully getting him.  Shazam thought Art was following a similar path to Darius, except he was slightly more amiable to humor and comrodery.  Darius just let in bits and pieces of it. 

"How we doin?" Jen was beside the two men suddenly and she looked calm enough.  She had a flair for these type of things, probably thriving off the pressure of a death.  Shazam honestly didn't know what to think of her at times.  In some ways she was like the calm religious girl you'd lived next to for years, and yet in others she seemed to spice the situation up, as if nothing was too much for her to handle.  Some had thought of her as an emotional rollercoaster, but Shazam had faith in her and her abilities.  She wasn't XO for nothing...

"Everyone seems to be taking this well enough: time to speed things up though."  He made a point of this by making his way toward the door at the same time, the rest of Nazgul filing out before him.

Art interjected- "That or we're dead- I prefer the former but to everyone their own."
 
-----------------------
*Flash Was Here...*

CMDR/LtC Shazam/Nazgul 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=*MA*=) (=*FOCE*=) [LoM] [LSM] [VC:S] [DSM]

NazgulSquadron

Commander of Nazgul Squadron, Phoenix Wing and Training

"Down this staircase and straight ahead should be a set of double doors where the supply depot is."  Art informed the squadron.  He had Aldur download the facility's map onto his military grade datapad so that they wouldn't wast etime trying to find their way around.

"Do you think the place is armed?"  Toki asked?  Art thought for a second.

"Toki has a point, it would make sense that a supply room would have some sort of emergency defence mechanism and given the fact that the platform is at emergency status, it would probably be active."  Art replied.

"Aldur, where would the override system be for an internal security system?"  Shazam asked.

"It's probably run out of the mainframe.  When the station goes onto high alert or emergency mode in the event of a boarding there is probably a station wide program launched to activate all of the security with each sector sergeant in charge of overriding it when troops pass on their way to battle."  Aldur replied.  "Pass me that datapad for a second."  Aldur said to Art.  Art handed it over and Aldur studied it for a second.  "This is probably a security sector so the override is probably nearby.  There is a door one hundred meters from the supply depot, let's look there."  He continued handing the datapad back to Art.  The squadron quickly checked out the room and it turned that Aldur was right.  Within seconds he had disabled the internal security system and unlocked the supply room door.  From inside the room they could hear the loud hiss of the double doors flying open.

"Good work Aldur."  Shazam said praisingly.  One thing for sure, Aldur was talented at this.  "How much time do we have left.  You said half an hour was the timeframe Aldur?"  Shazam asked.

"That is correct."  Aldur replied.

"Was a timestamp encoded with the transmission to active?"  Art asked.

"No, I was unable to decipher it.  These guys are good at keeping secrets."  Aldur replied.  Art's face suddenly lit up as if he had the answer.

"Shazam, how long ago were the missiles launched?"  Art asked.

"No more than twenty minutes ago."  He replied.

"Then we have about ten minutes."  Art said, his voice a bit hopeful.

"Why do you say that?"  Jen demanded, curious as to how Art seemed to pull a time out of the air.

"Simple.  If they activated the self-destruct, why fire missiles at the platform?"  Art asked rhetorically.  Before anyone could reply he continued, "the missiles were never intended to hit the platform.  They were launched at the same time as the self-destruct was activated as a clever little ruse.  If we had interpreted the missiles as the self-destruct attempt and we destroyed them then the gamble was that we would think it safe to board.  Our teams board, other ships come near to cover.  Once everyone is in the middle on the control deck trying to get control, the self-destruct, time delayed for thirty minutes, detonates destroying the platform, killing the assualt team and all ships covering it from the outside.  The platform was going down and they tried to catch us in it."  Art concluded.hy do you say that?"  Jen demanded, curious as to how Art seemed to pull a time out of the air.

"They might have done that but hitting the Righteous makes sense too."  Shazam countered.

"Logically this has the higher percent change of success."  Art replied, raising the stakes slightly.

"Perhaps you are overestimating their strategic thinking.  It seems to me that you are almost picturing them as a robot working within a strategic framework that puts forward the parameter of using the strategy with the greatest possible success.  However, people aren't like that, life is more unpredictable than that as are people."  Jen replied, a certainly level of her anxiety in her voice.  She was clearly worried that time was being wasted.  "Let's move along."  She commanded exercising her role as XO.

"It's a debate for the lounge after."  Art said and Shazam nodded.  They were going to agree to disagree until later when they would have fun debating it over a good drink.

The squadron ran into the supply depot and found it empty.  Looking around, Art noticed that there was no one inside, the floors were a very shiney black, and everything was behind sealed doors meaning there was a large empty central area.  It wasn't exactly like anything he had seen before for a supply depot.

"So where's the bomb?"  Trevor demanded.  Before Art could open his mouth a deep voice shouted from behind them.

"Freeze.  No one move; lower your weapons slowly.  The man bellowed."  Sithspit! Art thought to himself.  How could I be so idiotic.  Dammit!.  He had been in such a rush to get to the detonator and so confident of his decision that he had forgot to think it out completely.  He assumed that there would be no one guarding the supply depot as they would be up fighting.  Since no one would know about the self-destruct, no one would guard it.  However, he forget to consider the fact that it was likely that one trusted person would know of its location so that it could be disabled in the case of a malfunction.  How could I be so bloody stupid?
 
-----------------------
WAJ/2LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/M-SSD Atrus/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][LSM][LoC]


"The way of war is a way of deception. When able, feign inability; when deploying troops, appear not to be. When near, appear far; when far, appear near. Lure with bait; strike with chaos. If the enemy is full, be prepared. If strong, avoid him. If he is angry, disconcert him. If he is weak, stir him to pride. If he is relaxed, harry him; if his men are harmonious, split them. Attack where he is unprepared; appear where you are unexpected. This is victory in warfare; it cannot be divulged in advance. Victory belongs to the side that scores most in the temple calculations before battle. Most spells victory; least spells defeat; none, surer defeat. I see it in this way, and the outcome is apparent." -- Sun Tzu

"Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting." -- Sun Tzu

Yet another tally!
 
-----------------------
WAJ/2LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/M-SSD Atrus/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][LSM][LoC]


"The way of war is a way of deception. When able, feign inability; when deploying troops, appear not to be. When near, appear far; when far, appear near. Lure with bait; strike with chaos. If the enemy is full, be prepared. If strong, avoid him. If he is angry, disconcert him. If he is weak, stir him to pride. If he is relaxed, harry him; if his men are harmonious, split them. Attack where he is unprepared; appear where you are unexpected. This is victory in warfare; it cannot be divulged in advance. Victory belongs to the side that scores most in the temple calculations before battle. Most spells victory; least spells defeat; none, surer defeat. I see it in this way, and the outcome is apparent." -- Sun Tzu

"Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting." -- Sun Tzu

OOC: Screw thoughts, time for actions

BIC:

Trevor let out a sigh of relief as people started back out of the hole. From what he had heard of the discussion, the bomb`s timer had frozen due to the electromagnet. The majority of the team was now walking slowly out of the room, towards the hanger.

As they came around a corner, Shazam almost walked head on into the commando leader. He reached up with one hand and put it over his heart, inhaling sharply and chuckling lightly.

"You scared me commander. Don`t do that." Shazam said quickly. The commander didn`t look to happy though, a scowl spreadign across his face at the site of the naval personel.

"I thought we sent you back to your fighters." He demanded, gesturing too some of his men to lead them out for a second time.

"Well, its pretyt good you didn`t." Trevor replied as he pulled his arm loose from one of the trooper`s grips. "While you and your batch of idiots here were wandering around, we found ourselves a pretty damn big bomb."

"Idiots?!" The commander roared and pushed Trevor out of the way sharply. "Where is this 'bomb'?!" He demanded, spittle spraying out of his mouth into Shazam`s face. Reaching up and slowly wiping it off his face, Shazam replied -

"In there, bucko," And thumbed towards the room they had exited. The commander sent two of his troops to inspect and they returned after a moment, confirmering that there was infact a bomb in the room, with the time frozen at 0:34.

"I appologise Luietenant Shazam. We`ll go disarm that. I guess we owe you a thank-you actually." The commander told Shazam, changing his attitude offly quickly. He stuck out his hand to Shazam, but before Shazam could shake it, Art did insted.

"It was really him that lead us to where it was. Well, these two." Shazam explained, motioning to Aldur and Art. Art nodded and Aldur grinned slightly, the commander nodding to each of them.

"Alright, well, I guess you flyboys and girls can head out now, we`ll go disarm this thing and then make our way out." The commander informed them, before brushing past followed by his squad, into the room.

*** A few moments, and closer to the hanger later ***

"For pilots, we sure spend alot of time running around." Jran said absent mindedly as the group made their way to the hanger. This resulted in  a good amount of laughter from the pilots who were more 'vetran' to the group.

"Ha, you should have seen us on Nar Shaddaa, most of that mission was on the ground." Shazam laughed, to which Trevor pointed out that for him and Jaden, Cepany was a bit of a ground mission too. Neither of them came out flying their original fighters.

"And then there was aboard that awful corvette." Tokijin muttered, shuddering slightly at the memories of that. That had probably been one of the worst situations they had been in as a squadron, but it helped them rely on each other more and built alot of trust.

"Thats for sure." Jen sighed. They were now just down the hallway from the hanger, when Aldur asked -

"So, do you think they got that thing defused yet?" Just as he finished speaking, a large explosion rocked the station, knocking most of the Nazgulians from their feet.

"What the hell was that!" Trevor exclaimed out of surprise as he pushed Tokijin off of him. He got to his feet quickly and gave anyone near him who was still on the gorund a hand up.

"I think they didn`t defuse it right..." Atrick stated, getting a few murmers from the rest of the squadron. "But," He continued, "If they didn`t, shouldn`t we be dead?"

"Maybe it didn`t explode all the way, or it didn`t blow up all the tanks." Nel suggested, which seemed logical enough for the rest of the squadron. Jen had turned to go back and find out but was caught by the shoulder by Shazam.

"Nope, we better get to the hanger just incase it did something really bad. If any of them survived they`ll make their way out." He told her as Nazgul started off down the hall at a sprint. As the scrambled into the hanger, a good number of them had to stop and stare in horror out of the hanger bay doors.

"Uh...." Trevor said, his mouth hanging open.  Darius had started walking closer to the hanger doors, and then quickly sprinted back to give Shazam the report.

"Yup, that blast took out the repulsors. We`re falling, and with only 20,000 feet to go, I suggets we get out. Now!" He said ugrently, pushing Shazam slightly in the direction of the fighters.

Trevor sprinted off to get into his own, and could see a good number of the pilots who wernt already int heir fighters getting in them.

Within a few seconds everyone was in and buckled, ready to launch. Just as they had started their roll call, a group of stormtroopers limped into the bay, probably about 4 or 5 of them, and headed to their shuttle.

Suddenly, equipment and machines started ot roll or slide across the hanger floor towards the opposite wall. One of the troopers didn`t get out of the way of a peice of machinery, which proceded to push him along the floor until it curshed him against the wall.

"Whats going on?" Tokijin asked quietly.

"The station must be tipping. Ever launched sideways?" Shazam asked, dropping himself from the rack and throttling up, launching himself out of the hanger and away from the plummating station, followd by Tokijin, then Art, then the rest of the Nazguls in order.

When flight three`s turn came, Trevor dropped form the rack and the fighter fell a little ways before launching forward out of the station. He was followed by Atrick, and thenthe other two pilots in his flight.

Nel had hardly pulled out of the station when he could be heard over the comm.

"What the hell? The clouds are eating the fighter. Oh God....No...Help me someone, Help!" He could be heard screaming, before most of the squadron flipped off their comms to avoid having to hear the grusem death of the pilot. He ha dlaunche dout right into a heavily concentrated cloud of acid, which had immediatly started eating away his fighters metal skin, then the frame, and then sadly, his human flesh.

That was...sickening..." Trevor said slowly, dissapointed by the loss of a pilot in his flight. He had had a perfect record so far this mission, and had wanted to keep it that way.

OOC: Alright...I guess people can post their point of view during the station falling and everything, then hows about someone decides maybe we should talk to the Righteous and find out where those missiles came from earlier, so we can go make an attack.
 
-----------------------
FL/SCPO/Trevor Evenson/Nazgul 9(3-1)/Wing 1/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=*A*=)

Art raced into the hanger and climbed into his fighter as fast as he possible could.  He didn't even bother with the safety belts, just the life support systems.  Before leaving the fighter, he had put his systems on emergency standby and in seconds the fighter roared to life.  The hanger was rattling as the platform plummeted and the tilting made it very difficult for him to align himself.  For the first time in as long as he could remember, he was absolutely petrified of what was about to happen.  The second the rack released his fighter, his fighter was going to slam right into the roof unless he dove down immediately and kept a downwards angle.  In addition, the tilt meant that he couldn't just fly straight out anyhow.  It could very well be the toughest manouver he would ever have to do in a fighter.

"Ancient protector, spirits of the ancestors, I pray you protect me now in my time of struggle."  Art whispered softly, not bothering to check to see if his comm was on.  He was tempted to grip the small medallion he secretly wore around his neck but knew he didn't have the time.  At this point it no longer mattered what anyone thought.  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly in a technique he had learned in an ancient religious text.  An instant calming sensation came over him.  Not even hesitating to get his bearings, Art, instead of engaging the repulsorlifts, turned up his engines causing his fighter to roar and shake in the rack.  With a press of a button his fighter lurged forward and down.  Without thinking he flicked his rights hard and dove, his fighter doing a perfect barrel roll through the tilted hanger door.  He cleared the it with a mere twenty-centimeters to spare but it no longer mattered, he had made it. 

The entire sequenece had only taken seconds but it had felt like an eternity to Art.  He couldn't remember the last time he was as scared as he had been just then.  Putting the fighter into cruise for a moment, he quickly did up the safety belts and tried to calm himself as his heart nad begun beating rapidly again after he left the hanger.  Thank you he prayed to the ancestoral guardians.  Art believed that death was not an end but rather a re-awakening with a new body and a blank slate.  However, while he believed in re-incarnation, he did not believe it occured right away for everyone.  The spirits of those who had gone before and had not yet come again watched down as protectors of those who still continued life in the galaxy.  In a sense it was a blend of ancient religions he had studied.  Every the history lover, Arturus had come across some old documents at an auction for the last survivor of an old family on some planet he could no longer remember.  Amongst the items of the estate that were auctioned off - which was everything as no heir had been stated and none had come forward to claim it - were some very old books.  Arturus' love of history and old things had led him to bid for the books which he had gotten for next to nothing.  What he had read transformed him and in his hunt to find more, he had found the small medallion hanging around a strange statue in an old half-buried temple.

Religion seemed such a strange pursuit given Arturus' character.  No one knew about it although Art had always suspected that Taylsha did.  He didn't mention it at all because it did not fit with the image he put forward as a man who believed fundamentally in reason and not what many would call superstition since none of it was proveble.  Rationality was something he had prided himself on and he had found these documents the most rational description of the universe although he knew he would never be able to convince anyone else of its rationality.

Taking another deep breath, Art cleared his mind and fell back into a tight formation and got himself ready for the next objective.
 
-----------------------
WAJ/2LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/M-SSD Atrus/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][LSM][LoC]


"The way of war is a way of deception. When able, feign inability; when deploying troops, appear not to be. When near, appear far; when far, appear near. Lure with bait; strike with chaos. If the enemy is full, be prepared. If strong, avoid him. If he is angry, disconcert him. If he is weak, stir him to pride. If he is relaxed, harry him; if his men are harmonious, split them. Attack where he is unprepared; appear where you are unexpected. This is victory in warfare; it cannot be divulged in advance. Victory belongs to the side that scores most in the temple calculations before battle. Most spells victory; least spells defeat; none, surer defeat. I see it in this way, and the outcome is apparent." -- Sun Tzu

"Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting." -- Sun Tzu

After Darius warned everybody of the stations current situation, and everybody else began running to their fighters, Darius tore his flightsuit off.  "I'm not dying in an uncomfortable Imp pilot uniform," he muttered to himself.  Another small explosion went off and the station began to tip, pointing the hanger to the near abyss below.  Cloud cover was too thick to see the planets surface.

The young Imperial activated the jetpack that was built into this armor he wore on every mission.  Within seconds, he was pulling the hatch of his TIE open and starting it up.  He jumped into the seat, but pulled himself out after hearing a voice scream.  He poked his head out of the fighter and watched as one of the commandos began to fall, not able to make it into the shuttle in time before the stations tilts became too great to casually walk on.  The bomb had destroyed the emergency artificial gravity generators that all repulsor stations and skyhooks were equipped with.

"He's lucky I'm a good guy," he muttered to himself and jumped off his TIE and began to fall out of the hanger.  He maneuvered himself with his jetpack and caught the commandos arm before he fell out of the hanger.  "We're gonna need you after we're done here!" he yelled at the man, and engaged his jetpack to full power.  He tried to keep the boosters pointed toward the hanger floor, but it became harder to climb to the shuttle as the station tipped even more.

Then, he heard the sound he feared when he flew his jetpack.  Nazgul was disengaging from their docking claws and taking off.  Tokijin was first, and she set the throttle at full and blasted out of the hanger, right at Darius and the commando.  Darius kicked himself so the boosters hit the far wall, and they blasted out of the way of Toki.  He turned himself back towards the shuttle, but it was too late, the station had tipped past the point of no return.

Use to thinking under extreme pressure in extreme situations, he threw the commando as far forward as humanly possible, and shot a cable from the launcher in his armor, located at the wrist.  He grappled onto the shuttle, and began to swing towards the ceiling.  The commando began to fall from the throw, and Darius caught him with his legs, wrapping them around the commandos chest, under his armpits.  They began to climb, using the winch, and in fifteen seconds, they were to the shuttle and inside.  Flight one had taken off, and and two was beginning.

Darius gave the grateful commando a quick salute, and shot off with his jetpack, back to his TIE.  He quickly crawled inside and closed the hatch. 

Immediately after, the claws released him.  He spun his fighter so he was facing the hanger floor, and dropped out, using his main engines to keep him away from the ceiling and collision.  As soon as his fighter cleared the hanger, he dove and pulled away at full throttle.  Within moments, Nazgul had cleared the hanger and the Crash followed behind, barely getting out alive.

Darius quickly changed com channels to the open frequency, "Crash, one of you owes me a drink, for the rest of the year."

-----------------------
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men to do nothing. --Edmund Burke
-----------------------
FM/MCPO Darius Pursius/Nazgul 2-2/mSSD Atrus/Defensive Fleet/VEN/VE (=A=) [VC:B] [CB*] [CBV]

Touche... Shazam thought as the station rocked and he was taken off his feet for the moment.  As he floated through the air before he hit the ground he thought about a couple of different things.  Right off the bat was death, of course.  Rather than be anxious or scared, there was only serenity, a calm that can come only from certain knowledge of one's fate.  I am going to die... He thought, and maybe there was a smile on his face right before he felt himself go practically limp upon impact.  As he realized how hard the 'groud' was on the interior of the platform, his mindset suddenly changed to- Am I giving up?  Everything he could be missing began flashing through his head- the white, shaking walls of the station no longer concerned him, only the gentle nuances of his life he'd probably been taking for granted.  There were the obvious things he was in contact with every day like the Squadron, his good freinds within it like Art and Jen and the job he was beginning to love.  Beyond that was the respect he had for his life and the beauty within it- would he never see another new planet?  Smell those first scents of fresh organic beauty surronding him?  See a sunset?  Corny perhaps, but he was differnet now. 

Words no longer concerned him as the ground sent a shockwave through his body, the initial surprise gone and his nerves like lightning.  Throwing himself up from the ground he found himself bringing his squadron mates to thier feet and looking for anyone unable to do so.  He found that everyone was just as quick and that none of them seemed to be in the mood to die either- perhaps there was hope of survival.  Atrick and some others exchanged ideas on this as they scattered and sprinte toward the hanger.  Have we got everybody?  The others hadn't seen it, but they hadn't been the only ones running for the hanger- remnant forces burst into the hallway from a seperate corridor.  At least five with guns, the entire eight or so were crawling back up from the initial shock the grounds surged through them. 

Shazam turned to run when he heard something that made him stop in a heartbeat.  Jen?  The feeling there wasn't totally understood, but it was inhibitory and stopped him in his tracks.  In the confusion of those first moments, they'd left Jen on the ground.  She was just now rousing herself awake and crawling from the ground as Shazam spun on his heel and started throwing any and all fire-power he had into the men behind her.  This blaster-fire awoke her instantly and she looked up from under the red light to make eye-contact with Shazam as if to say "thanks..."  Then she was up without question and running, Shazam still firing back. 

He couldn't see any of the men any more due to the bright light reflecting off the ozone and smoke flooding the hallway.  The pistol and blaster rifle suddenly went dead and Shazam was defenseless once again.  Totally blind he found himself turning on the same heel and running as he'd never run before...  Man I hate running... he thought as he picked up speed and the hallway jumped from underneath him and it appeared as if he'd skipped for a moment.  The groud jumped once again as he met it, causing him to tumble, the world turning around in circles.  He felt pressure on his left side which caused him to look left and see the face of a remnant solider; apparently he'd been on his way out when he'd fallen as well.  The two looked at eachother for a good second before Shazam came to his senses, the left arm of the man swinging high to knock him out.  Instead of of simply blocking it, Shazam caught the arm and used it as an anchor to pick himself up and fling himself toward the hanger.

Just as he began to think- Man, I'm ganna regret leaving him concious, he passed a hallway junction that linked the one he was in to a parrellel hallway.  As he looked right to give it a glance he realized the lone, sprinting figure with the knees practically to his chest was that of the man he'd left only seconds ago.  Whoa- he's fast...  Where's he going?  Then he wondered if the hallway he was in led to the hanger as well...  How many entrances were there?  Only one, right?  Or was there two?  There could have been two...  But how many re-maining fighters?

Suddenly he was heaving as he realized that he was running faster than he'd ever ran before- and I hate races...  It wasn't long until he could distinguish the border of the doors for the hanger and that it was wide open when he felt himself begin to peel left- oh crap...  He slowed down just enough to feel the entire platform tilt sideways; it wasn't totally verticle yet, but it would be soon enough and he didn't want to be there when it began its spin.  He placed his right arm against the wall, which was formerlly the ground and began to run.  Finding a comfortable way to pick up speed, he finally reached the hangerbay and took a look outside to see how the weather was doin.  Awesome he thought as the wind whipped his face and clouds swished past, exploding and imploding as they met the edge of the collapsing, free-falling platform.  However, he couldn't simply walk out and run to his fighter- unless he was intent on sliding down the shiny metal floor into the durasteel wall to his right.  Instead, he'd have to climb up the right side to reach the craft...  He looked around for something he could use to get to- that's not good...  Shazam sat in silence as his fighter crashed against the wall, several others following suit...  I won't be using those...  He had to pull himself in behind the protective barrier to keep from being nailed by sharp debris flying from the crashes that ensues.  Three seconds later the last fighter met its end...  He glanced back out of the hanger to see Nel disintegrate in the distance; there was a breif moment of remourse before something else caught his attention-

You gotta be kidding me...  The same man he'd been racing before came through a side exit.  Giving him a look and then a smile as he realized Shazam had no real weapon at his disposal.  He took a look around, clasped the door he was next to and slowly lifted himself down so that he could crawl away from the exit and toward the nearby stairs.  It looked like a day at the park as the remnant pilot monkey barred his way to the stair case and Shazam followed suit, wrapping himself around the first wall then looking for leverage as he climbed.  The remnant pilot gave him a look back and started to hurry, looking for footholds and anything he coud use to throw his pursuer off.  It wasn't long before he'd reached the stairs and was on his way up those, Shazam just getting past his own door and having to find a way past his companions entrance.  As the two slowly made thier way up the sounds outside began to change- we must be within about eight thousand feet from the ground- time to hurray... Shazam wasted no time in grabbing hold of the door frame and throwing all of his strenght into pushing himself forward at high speed.  This wasn't enough though- the other pilot was already on the stair case and staggering upward.  Give me something... He said it into no one inparticular but they must have heard him because he lashed out toward a cable that'd caught on the wall as it's fighter had fallen toward the ground below.  Giving it a god tug he found it un-attached and in his eyes- useful...

He held his position against the wall as he felt for an end of the cable, wrapping it around quickly to create a moveable knot- a lasso.  He leaned out to get a good look up at the second floor and tossed the lasso upward toward the decript railing only to see the lasso fall to his side again, the knotted end falling back toward through the destroyed fighters below.  Knew I should have practiced this type of random activity more...  The whole coin in the eye thing hasn't done crap for me...  He tried again and was surprised to see that his tug was a firm one.  Might as well, he thought as he jumped out on the cable and began to dangle.  Pulling himself up he could see himself catching ground on his opponet who was struggling up the railing toward the last remaining fighter which was a- TIE Fighter?  Crap...

He was over the railing and lassowing the railing above that so that he could begin a true climb upward at a rate destined only by his arms.  He was on an opposite railing from his opponent once again and he felt the adreneline pump as the race began.  To his far left was a bland white wall, roughly three hundred meters off while the hanger entrance was about fifty up with another twenty five to the TIE Fighter.  Crap- I'm not ganna make it...  Gotta speed this up more...  The other man was abou ten feet above him and thirteen feet across-so how long is this?  He felt the rope and his lasso as he decided on a whip to toss it across and meet his foe.  The loop swung around his head first but made contact with his shoulders, Shazam giving it a good tug, to force him to grip the railing.  Without any warning, the commander jumped from the wall and used the remnant pilot as an anchor to swing him toward the opposite railing, then pull himself up.  All the while the remnant pilot struggled to hold on while attempting to purge himself of the aggressor.  Within a five seconds he was to the man and giving him a good set of punches to the left ribs, the man just struggling to keep hold now.  Grabbing the man's shoulders, he pulled himself over and across to bring him to a set of bars slightly higher.  The man latched out now that Shazam was off of him, onto his leg and took hold.  Shazam dropped a bar and landed both of his feet into the chest of the man, forcing him to tumble downward, the loop release its hold on his shoulders and making itself snug around the mans neck as the other end caught on the railing.  It unwound steadilly until it was quiet and tant, a sharp whipping sound letting Shazam know that his enemy was no more... 

That's four thousand... He thought as the cloud cover disappeared and barren lands could be seen out the hanger...  He struggled up the last of the railing and grabbed hold of the wing array of the TIE Fighter, the entire side panel shaking violently along with the rest of the ship and platform as air-bumbs became wicked.  The commander let go of the railing as he dangled helpless form the lurching TIE Fighter, slowly pulling himself around the array so he could sit on it as he found the hatch release on the cockpit.  He couldn't hear that comforting hiss, but he felt the cool air flood out toward him as he stuck a leg in and gave it some weight so he could leap into the gaping hole.  Darkness enveloped him as he ran down the side of his consoles, smashing a couple of buttons as he closed the hatch and didn't take even a second to look for the corpse of his former enemy.  Inside the fighter things seemed to quiet down, although its hull was constantly shifting and vibrating.  Although he'd rather have not, Shazam strapped himself in as he found his bearing in the pilot's seat, using his feet to keep him from falling toward the left side.  His chest unable to move, he peeled his legs back and began latching them in, his left hand activating the ship all the while, bringing the repulsors to life and looking for the claw detachment assembly.  Wow- its been a long time since I've flown one of these... 

"This is Nazgul One- how we doin out there?" He asked as he flipped the in-cockpit com switch to on- he'd lost his helmet in his TIE Advanced... 

"We lost Twelve, but I think everyone else is okay..." Art said, apparently breathing a sigh of relief for the safety of his own life as well as Shazam's.  "Where are you- I don't see you..."

"I'm not out yet..." Shazam said calmly as he completed the leg straps and clicked the disengage as the claws bent back and released the TIE Fighter sideways. 

"You're not out yet?" he practically yelled as Shazam felt his craft lurch forward.  He'd had the throttle up before he'd let himself go apparently so that he wouldn't go smashign into the railing or other hook emplacements.  He was still going sideways, but the initial shove had brough him out into the open of the hanger.  Still free-falling his pressed gently on the right pedal, rotating the ship so that he could see out the hanger.  The rear sensors went crazy as the distance between him and the damaged fighters against the back wall closed at full velocity.  Satisfied with his angle, Shazam kicked the throttle up to feel himself become useless, pushed into the back of the seat as the craft switched direction.  He felt like he was on a runway at the walls flew past in streaks of grey and white, the hanger exit moving slightly though.  We're starting to spin... he realized as he tried to correct the course of the craft at high speed. 

"Now I'm out..." he said, the hanger shaking and warping in as the platform hit the ground, flames erupting form its sides as the fuel tanks finally met their match.  "Next objective..."

(Thought I'd match Darius's jetpack )

-----------------------
*Flash Was Here...*

CMDR/LtC Shazam/Nazgul 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=*MA*=) (=*FOCE*=) [LoM] [LSM] [VC:S] [DSM]

NazgulSquadron

Commander of Nazgul Squadron, Phoenix Wing and Training

Go TALLY!
 
-----------------------
WAJ/2LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/M-SSD Atrus/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][LSM][LoC]


"The way of war is a way of deception. When able, feign inability; when deploying troops, appear not to be. When near, appear far; when far, appear near. Lure with bait; strike with chaos. If the enemy is full, be prepared. If strong, avoid him. If he is angry, disconcert him. If he is weak, stir him to pride. If he is relaxed, harry him; if his men are harmonious, split them. Attack where he is unprepared; appear where you are unexpected. This is victory in warfare; it cannot be divulged in advance. Victory belongs to the side that scores most in the temple calculations before battle. Most spells victory; least spells defeat; none, surer defeat. I see it in this way, and the outcome is apparent." -- Sun Tzu

"Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting." -- Sun Tzu

"I've got a lock, One" Tokijin sounded surprised at how calm her own voice sounded. At first she had been really nervous about being put into flight one, and Nazgul 2 had always been Art.

She felt someone more qualified should be where she was. But it didn't take her too long to figure that there was nothing she could do about it and being nervous about it wasn't helping anyone.

Either way being in flight one had boost her confidence and she was glad for that.

She followed behind Shaz and Art while Jen and her flight had taken out the rest of the platform. They were already heading toward the tower.

Shaz fell behind Art and Toki and they began to work on the tower. Toki smiled when she heard a not-so-distant boom.
Bye-bye platform.

She and Art had been circling the tower, him going clockwise and her going counter.They began locking onto the tower when it started doing something weird.

Toward it's base, two small hidden turrets popped out of the ground and began firing at them.

"Ah crap, didn't see those coming." Toki wasn't too happy about that. The turrets were faster than the first one's they had faced. They seemed to be smarter too. A few seconds or of the turrets playing with them and Toki sensed that something wasn't right. She looked off to the side and realized she was on fire.

"Ah frick! Guys, I'm on fire and its getting close to the cockpit." Wind or fire surrpresion system would be helpful right about now. Appartently luck wasn't on her side.

Thoughts of dying here flashed through her mind. She wasn't ready to die. They had all defied death so many times already. She would miss so much and all because of a stupid freaking turret. She loved the navy and then she knew death would have to wait for another day.

"I'm gonna have to eject! I'll go find something and see you all later!"
"Becareful Toki!" Shaz called out before she pressed the eject button. One last thing she did before she got out was aim her fighter right around the base of the tower. She began her short desension to the ground. She landed quickly and began a race to the palace.
"Bad luck just loves me doesn't it?"

-----------------------
Nazgul Squadron

SC/FM Tokijin/Nazgul 7/Wing 1/mSSD Atrus/Denfensive Fleet/VEN/VE (=*A*=)

~ Tokijin ~

The lift had started dropping at an amazing speed, but slowed down as Terry pressed with all his might against the emergancy stop button. It had been deisgned as a pressure sentative button so that if someone got trapped in a falling lift, they could use the brakes to get themselvs down to a certain floor, insted of being stuck and having to wait for a repair crew to find them.

Prim dropped down through the missing panel in the lift roof, followed by a shower of sparks, and watched the numbers lit up above the door drop slowly. Finally the letter 'B' was lit up and Terry pressed the button in hard enough for it to lock itself, and Prim hit the button to open the doors.

As the pair of moffs stepped out into the hanger, one of the techs turned to look who had arrived at the lift and then rushed towards the control room.

"What was that all about?" Terry asked as they started towards the shuttle. The hanger bay doors were open all the way now, and before they could reach the shuttle the engines fired up and it began making its exit. Prim shouted to the nearest tech -

"Whats going on?! Close the hanger bay doors, don`t let them get away!" with increasing volume, as the tech ran towards the control room, following his counterpart who had started running their before. Apperently that previous tech had seen what was going on and had explained quickly, the hanger doors starting to slide shut before the second tech had even reached the room.

Prim had grabbed a wrench from a nearby workbench and had thrown it at the shuttle, but missed horribly and was now fuming, trying to figure out what to do. The bay doors were closing, but the shuttle was almost out by now.

***

"Uh oh..." Tokijin said to herself as the bay doors ahead of her began closing. She wasn`t ging to fit through, and if she did, it was going to be very close. She had managed to get the cockpit and front area of the shuttle out of the doors, but as before she could celebrate she heard a sickening crunch and the sound of tearing metal.

"What was that?" She asked over the comm, quickly checking the shuttles systems over to see if she could tell what had happened. She was scanning through the outer damage check when she realized what had happened. The hanger doors had closed just enough that when the wings of the shuttle tried to fit through, they didn`t, and just ended up sheering off at the contact points where the doors had met the wings.

"Yeah Toki, you`re missing half a wing on each side. You think you can fly that?" Trevor asked as his flight made another pass, dropping a few more missiles into the side of the building.

"I think so." She replied, sounding somewhat unsure. The majority of pilots wouldn`t be able to or wouldn`t want to fly a craft that was damaged in the way Tokijin`s shuttle was, but she stuck with it anyways. "Its a little difficult to steer, but not incredibly hard o0r anything. I don`t want to be stuck in this long though, so the sooner we finish this up..." She started, but was cut off by Shazam.

"Don`t worry Two, we`re just wrapping stuff up here. We`re going to take out this palace, and then I think we`ll be having to go back and re-fuel." He said, checking his own gauge, which was now reading on the low end.

"Yeah, but how did we go through so much fuel?" Jen asked, and the rest of Nazgul began to wonder the same thing. They hadn`t been flying nearly long enough to drain their fuel, yet the guages for almost everyone showed that they would have to re-fuel shortly.

"I think it has somehting to do with the density of this atmosphere." Dairus said, flicking his fuel guage before continuing on. "The atmosphere is thicker than what we are used ot, and it causes us to burn more fuel to keep up our high speeds."

"Seems logical." Art replied, himself looking at the guage a little bit worriedly. They didn`t have much fuel left, and the building seemed to have hardly moved. Sure, they had put some holes in it, but not apperent structural damage that could cause it to collapse.

***

Terry had slumped against the wall, wincing with every explosion that shook the building. Occasionaly a tile would fall from the hanger roof, or a chunk of stone used to build that actual building, which gave it much of its strength.

"What are we going to do? There is no way we can escape now." Terry said, his head burried in his hands as if he was trying to think of a wonderful escape plan, but nothing came to his mind.

"I`m not sure..." Prim said as he dissapeared into a changing room, a small black something under his arm that he had picked up from one of the nearby tables.

"Yeah, well, We`re going to die, thats what. Maybe we should have called in Gara-Gara for help." He said, sounding reluctant even as he said it. Prim could be heard moving around in the changroom before he reappeared in a tight black flightsuit with a shiny black helmet under his arm.

"No, I refuse to let them win that easily, and calling in Gara-Gara would have showed weakness. This situation can still be delt with if we can make our way to the other side of the planet." He said, sounding very calm. He had started walking towards the only remaining fighter in the hanger.

Terry took a moment before catching on to what was going on, and immiediatly sprang up from his position to chase after Prim. Getting close enough, Terry made a leap and wraped his arms around his neck, bringing the two of them to the ground. For a moment, Terry was on top of the scuffle, throwing a pair of punches at Prim, before Prim managed to push Terry off of him. Terry landed with a loud thud on the ground, and his ribs were met by a few kicks from Prim`s combat boot, before Prim sprinted off and climbed into the TIE, closing the hatch behind him.

Terry slowly sat up, anger and pain filling his eyes as he clutched his ribs. Prim had dropped the TIE from its holding claw and quickly shot out of the hanger. Moments later, another missile struck the building, this one making its wayt deep enough in to cause the destruction of a main support beam.

This beam had held up the floor above it, which crashed down onto the next floor. The force of this was enough to cause that level to collapse, and so on, until the cieling of the hanger was hit by the plummeting pile of stone and debries. Terry looked up and let out a cry as the cieling above him crashed down around him. No one heard his screams though, the crashing of the building loud enough to drown out his hollars of pain until they ceased, which was quite quickly, his body being crushed just seconds after the rubble had hit him.
 
-----------------------
FL/SCPO/Trevor Evenson/Nazgul 9(3-1)/Wing 1/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=*A*=)

Trevor reahced up with both hands to hold his head steady. He had been shaking horribly the last few seconds and felt as if he was going to throw up. Reaching down with one hand, he undid the helmet and pulled it off. He quickly undid his seatbelt and leaned off to the side, becoming sick all over the floor of the craft. Moments later a smell of burning appeared in the fighter, almost enough to bring him to puke again.

"Shaz, I`m getting pretty bad, this heat is getting to me....I feel cold now." Trevor said, beginning to shivver. He was begining to suffer very badly from the heat of his fighter`s cockpit.

"Don`t worry man, hold it together for another couple of minutes, we`re going to be out of the atmosphere soon, then your fighter will cool down a bit." Shazam assured him, followed by a back up 'uh huh' from Art, who was flying along side Toki`s shuttle.

"Alright, I`ll do my best." Trevor said, wobbling slightly and dropping back a little bit from his flight, incasehis flying became erratic. He didn`t want to take one of them out because of his own stupid mistake early on into the battle.

"Alright people, if we run into any trouble, I want flight Three to escort Trevor and Tokijin to the Righteous while Flights one and two cover them." Shazam ordered as they broke through the atmosphere, Trevor`s fighter cooling slightly right away as some of the heat from the cockpit was sucked out by the cold of space.

He could see the Righteous waiting ahead of them, looking to him like a saviour out to rescue the wayward band of pilots. For a moment, he thought he was going to be fine from the heat, but then just as quickly, found himself throwing up again.

I feel sorry for the tech who cleans this... He thought to himself weakly as they neared the Righteous. They were given landing permission right away, and Tokijin piloted her broken down shuttle into the hanger, landing it skillfully on the polished black floor, followed closly by Trevor who somehow managed to get his fighter docked on the claw, only bumping into a couple of walkways as he made the attempt.

The hatch popped and he slowly pulled himself up before collapsing on the walkway, a pair of tehc surshing over and kneeling beside the downed pilot.

"Quick, we need a medic over here, this guys in trouble!" He could hear one of them shouting before he slipped out of consiousness. The last thing he saw before blacking out was the last of Nazgul landing their crafts and getting out, most rushing over to where he had fallen.

*** An hour or two later ***

Trevor awoke and found himself lying in the medical wing, a small tube stuck in his arm dripping some sort of medicine into him. His vision was blurred, but as he looked around he could make out the distinct shapes of people, at least two, sitting around him.

He reached up and rubbed his eyes with the hand without the tube in it before sitting up. It took him a second to realize who was sitting on either side of his bed. Tokijin was on his left, and Shazam on his right. Tokijin had been fiddling with her sleeve and hadn`t noticed Trevor had woken up, but Shazam had been watching, and quietly smiled when Trevor sat up.

"Good to see you`re awake. The medics said the heat got you pretty badly." Shazam said calmly, as if nothing had gone wrong at all. The sound of his voice caught Toki`s attention, and she noticed Trevor had woken up. She quickly reached over nad gave him a hug.

Trevor was somewhat startled and gave Shazam a look of confusion, but all he got back was a shrug and a silent chuckle. Tokijin let go and drew herself back.

"Next time, don`t be stupid." She said, leaning back into her chair and crossing her arms, frowning at him but not breaking eye contact.

"I have to agree with her Trevor, staying in there like that wasn`t very smart. If you had passed out during combat, you woulda been gone." Shazam said, now sounding serious insted of calm and easy-going. He pulled a small datapad out of his pocket and set it on the small table next to Trevor`s bed. "The medic said you`ll be in here for a few days, so we went ahead andhad the debreifing. Its recorded on there, view it when you`re ready." Shazam instructed before standing up and turning to leave.

"Uh, Shaz?" Trevor started, and the commander turned to look at him. "How long was I out for?" He asked, pushing his hand through his hair and proping himself up on his elbows in the bed.

"You were coming up on 2 days. Something like 40 hours." Shazam said with a shrug before exiting the private room.

"And how are you?" He asked, suddnely changing his focus from The closed door to Tokijin.

"I`m fine, but I was a little worried." She admitted, leaning back in the chair and stretching her legs out under the bed.

"Ah...I see..." Trevor said, somewhat lost for words. He was still trying to get his thoughts straightened out.

OOC: Woot! 4 in a row for me.
 
-----------------------
FL/SCPO/Trevor Evenson/Nazgul 9(3-1)/Wing 1/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=*A*=)

"Nazgul take it easy out there!" Toki just fell down again. Nazgul was shaking it up pretty good. It was hard to keep her footing and it would be nice to be able to get out before the whole place fell down on top of her. She jumped down a flight of stairs and went farther down the flight than she thought she would. She landed with a buzzing feeling in her feet but ignored it and bounded into the hanger.

"I found the hanger, but there isn't much here. Just a fighter and a shuttle." She stood catching her breath and was glad not many people could get in her way. Techs were just scrambling around, taking multitasking to the max.

"Take the shuttle." Shaz's voice sounded and she trusted him enough to do it, but in the current situation she didn't want to do that. She was about to argue but a tech decided other things.

"Are you part of Moff Terry or Moff Prim`s personal security?" A small tech assumed as he pushed her towards the ramp of the shuttle. Ok that was easy enough. "They haven't arrived yet and you're the first security to show up. Here, get in the shuttle. They'll be lifting off soon." He gave her one last push but he didn't have to tell her twice. 

"I guess I`m taking the shuttle." She said as she ran up the ramp and tossed herself into the pilot`s seat of the shuttle. The building rocked once more, and after a moment or two, she flicked on the unit`s comm.

"This is Security shuttle One, requesting liftoff." She said, taking a wild guess at the code name for the shuttle.

"I didn`t see Prim and Terry board, did they?" The command asked, as Toki hit the button to lift the boaridng ramp up. She didn't have time for that

"Yeah, they got on right after me. C`mon, lets go." She said, trying to sound worried and impatient at the same time. It helped that she truthful of both of those things at the moment.

"Alright, give us a minute, we`ve got to open the hanger door." The deep male voice said over the comm, and shortly after he finished saying it, the roof ahead of her slowly started to spread apart. Part of the hanger went out from underneath the palace, and from the sky it looked as if the ground were opening up.

"Here we go." She whispered to herself but as the doors finished opening, the began to close.
"Uh oh." She knew it was now or never and she picked now. She began to go up and out but she was being slowed and heard the shocking and sickening sound of tearing metal. She shuddered and hoped she would make it.

"What was that?" Toki close her eyes for a moment in hope that the news wouldn't be so bad.

"Yeah Toki, you're missing half a wing on each side. You think you can fly that?" Trevor asked as his flight made another pass, dropping a few more missiles into the side of the building.

"I think so." She replied, sounding somewhat unsure. The majority of pilots wouldn`t be able to or wouldn`t want to fly a craft that was damaged in the way Tokijin`s shuttle was, but she stuck with it anyways. This sucks. "Its a little difficult to steer, but not incredibly hard or anything. I don`t want to be stuck in this long though, so the sooner we finish this up..." She stopped herself to hear of other news.

"Don`t worry Two, we`re just wrapping stuff up here. We`re going to take out this palace, and then I think we`ll be having to go back and re-fuel." He said and that gave Toki a little confidence.


 
-----------------------
Nazgul Squadron

SC/FM Tokijin/Nazgul 7/Wing 1/mSSD Atrus/Denfensive Fleet/VEN/VE (=*A*=)

~ Tokijin ~

(Just putting down a post i didn't get to put up last night that i had already written.)

Toki was glad to hear that she would get an escort but she wasn't gonna wait till they caught up with her before she started.

Seconds before they reached the atmosphere, Toki heard that Trevor was having a hard time with the heat. Come on Trev, just a little further. The Righteous was in their sights and they were aloud to land. Toki quickly but carefully put down the shuttle and pressed the ramp button as she unbuckled herself and ran down the ramp before it had finished coming down.

Toki had started running toward the small group that huddled around Trevor as she heard "Quick, we need a medic over here! This guy's in trouble!"

She had been waiting in Trevor's room for a while and Shaz soon came in to join her.
"Hey are you gonna get any sleep here soon?" Shaz sat down on the opposite side of his bed and looked at her with concern. Toki held back a yawn and shook her head. She had followed the medics and Trevor into his room and only left for food.

Ever since they had left the hanger Toki was worrying herself to death. The medics told her he would be ok but that didn't ease her fears.

Shaz looked at her and sat back in his chair. It didn't take long after Shaz came in before Trevor woke up. She heard Shaz move around in his chair but didn't look up because she had started to fiddle with her sleeve, pulling at some loose strings.

"Good to see you`re awake. The medics said the heat got you pretty badly." Toki heard Shaz speak and looked up excitedly. She reached over and gave him a slight hug not wanting to touch any of his wounds.  She leg go and sat back in her chair.

"Next time, don`t be stupid." She said, leaning back into her chair and crossing her arms, frowning at him but not breaking eye contact. She had realized that she was angry at him for being so reckless but she smiled quickly as the angry vanished and changed into joy at the fact that he was alive.

"I have to agree with her Trevor, staying in there like that wasn`t very smart. If you had passed out during combat, you woulda been gone." Shazam said, now sounding serious insted of calm and easy-going. He pulled a small data pad out of his pocket and set it on the small table next to Trevor`s bed. Toki realized she had missed the briefing. She forgot she had even bothered to go."The medic said you`ll be in here for a few days, so we went ahead and had the debreifing. Its recorded on there, view it when you`re ready." Shazam instructed before standing up and turning to leave.

"Uh, Shaz?" Trevor started, and the commander turned to look at him. "How long was I out for?" He asked, pushing his hand through his hair and proping himself up on his elbows in the bed.

"You were coming up on 2 days. Something like 40 hours." Shazam said with a shrug before exiting the private room.

"And how are you?" He asked, suddenly changing his focus from the closed door to Tokijin.

"I`m fine, but I was a little worried." She admitted, leaning back in the chair and stretching her legs out under the bed. She didn't really want to explain anything at the moment. She realized she was tired.

"Ah...I see..." Trevor said, somewhat lost for words.

"Yeah, so what happened out there, why`d you pass out?" Tokijin asked as she handed him a glass of water that was sitting on the table, just out of his reach. He took a sip before answering, then set the glass back on the table. She looked at him intently, waiting for his answer.

"I lost a coolent hose and overheated by the time we got back. I threw up twice in the fighter." He explained quickly. Toki nodded as he layed back down.

"Well, at least you`re alright. I had a bit of a brush with death myself." She said.

"Really, I know you crashed your fighter, but what else?" Trevor asked her. She didn't mind explaining it.

"Running around on the ground wasn`t all that fun. And I almost got crushed by a hanger door while stealing that shuttle." She said. She was a little paranoid about that move. "whoever suggested to take the shuttle wasnt that smart."

"Yeah, but we prevented all those people from escaping. You did good, trust me." Trevor re-assured her.

"Maybe, but still....I was on the ground." She said in a mocking angry tone, as if pilots were supposed to use their legs for pushing the rudder pedals and nothing else. But she soon regretted her malice and calmed herself. Everything had turned alright and she had no other reason to be angry.

"Yeah, thats usually where I end up..." Trevor said with a weak laugh. Toki smiled.

"As if we hadn`t noticed! You`ve probably got the most fighter crashes for all of Nazgul since you joined." Toki said with a laugh as she went to punch him in the arm but changed her mind as she noticed the bandaging on it. She wanted to do nothing if it would hurt him more than he already was. She stopped for a moment before speaking again, thinking about her next words. "You really don`t look that good. You had me pretty scared, you know that?" She said slowly, her voice coming out in a whisper.

"Yeah..I`m sorry, it won`t happen again." He said, sounding pretty bad about it. She half-smiled taking her feet off the bed and leaned forward, hugging Trevor once more. Trevor returned the hug and she then broke the embrace by moving away and sitting up straight.

"I`ve got to go...I need some sleep. I`ve been sitting here waiting for you to come `round for most of those 40 something hours." She said weakly, grinning slightly not really wanting to go. "I`m probably going to sleep for a whole day. See you when you get out." She said laughing at herself as she stood up and headed for the door, giving a quick wave before walking out of it and closing it behind her.

She walked slowly but before she knew she had reached her room. She plopped down on her bed and pulled off her shoes. She sat there for a moment and realized she was crying. All the tears she had held back were all coming out now. She quickly whipped them away because there were no reason for tears. Everything was fine. She laughed at herself again and layed down, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

 
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Nazgul Squadron

SC/FM Tokijin/Nazgul 7/Wing 1/mSSD Atrus/Denfensive Fleet/VEN/VE (=*A*=)

~ Tokijin ~