Aphamos walked inside of the cantina that he had just arrived at, taking a look around as ten or so men stood up and said, "Hey, there he is!" in unison.  Aphamos smiled and made his way over to the stormtroopers that were sitting in various areas of the bar.  He was greeted with warm smiles and handshakes from all of Wildcard Platoon, for he had recently been selected as the Platoon Adjutant.  Walking to Rizzit, he watched as Rogueboy climbed up onto a table for a toast.

"To Aphamos!" said Rogueboy, everyone's focus now on him.  "As for my piece of advice to you:  Rizzit likes his coffee dark."  A moment of laughter followed as Rogueboy and the rest of the stormtroopers raised their glasses and finished the toast. 

What would I do without these people?  Aphamos walked over to Rizzit, who was currently in the midst of a conversation with a group of stormtroopers from various squads.  Aphamos shook Rizzit's hand and made his round of greetings to the members of the table.  "How's it going, guys?" asked Aphamos.

"Leon's mouth is on a rampage," said Namyr, staring hard at Leon who was across the table.

"Hey hey, just because I got the kill and you didn't, doesn't mean you should be jealous," said Leon.  The trooper was leaning back in his chair, an aura of swagger surrounding him.  Oh boy, here we go.  "On second thought, it does mean that you should be jealous.  Go ahead.  Be as jealous as you want."  Leon's mouth morphed into a broad smile that stretched almost the length of his entire face.  Namyr's stare changed from its current state to that of an icy glare in response to Leon's countenance.  The glare ripped the smile off of his face, Leon scooting up from his relaxed pose and into that of an uneasy one.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm bored as hell," said Arnaut.  His effort at trying to change the topic of conversation had succeeded, though tension still resided between Leon and Namyr.  "We've been sitting on our asses for a while since the last mission, and we're running out of booze."

"That's impossible!" responded Rogueboy in a shocked tone.  "We still have that unlimited supply stored somewhere in Darr's palace."  Conversation between the troopers started again as Aphamos tuned into the talk between Darr-Rann, Rizzit, and Sam.

"He's right, you know," said Darr-Rann to the Platoon Commander.  Rizzit nodded in agreement and looked up, pondering on a solution.  "I think a simulation is in order to get them back in the field".

"And to keep them from getting at one another's throats," added Sam.  Rizzit didn't nod this time, but instead looked at Darr-Rann with a smile.

"I think that aggression is what we need," said Rizzit, looking over to Aphamos now.  By this time, Aphamos had anticipated where Rizzit was going with the "aggression" matter, and had thought up of a simulation idea for the squad.

"How about a man versus man type thing?" asked Aphamos.  Darr-Rann raised an eyebrow now, the idea having caught his attention.  "We can do it as an infiltration and elimination mission and throw in the every-man-for-themselves idea."  Sam and Darr-Rann nodded and looked over to Rizzit, who had finally decided what to do.

"Now don't think you can save all the fun for yourselves," said Rizzit.  "This will be a platoon mission.  All of Wildcard will be participating in a man versus man enter-and-eradicate mission.  Everyone will be given the same objective and their choice of weapon.  They will be able to form alliances and betray as they wish; everyone will be given one life as well, so there is no room for mistakes or faulty judgment."

Rizzit stood up now, the conversation throughout the cantina quickly coming to a pause.  "Let's go folks," he said, the troopers rising from their chairs.  "We have some fun activities planned for you all this afternoon."  Wildcard Platoon finally assembled, and the mass of stormtroopers headed to the simulation rooms.


-----------------------
Raiders

War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.
--William Tecumseh Sherman--

Alater trodded into the cantina and blinked as he looked around, there was nobody there. The few peices of uniform he wore were almost as black as his scales from the dust thrown up by the artillery peices he had been working on, and some of it was also grease. Alater approached the robot bartended and held his hand out.

"Give me a towel, and where have all the others gone? We were supposed to meet here." Alater asked, and began to clean his uniform off. The bartended took the towel and came back to answer his question.

"Sir, they were all here, but they left to the simulator rooms." The robot bartender responded and went back to cleaning his glasses.

Alater cursed as he busted out of the cantina and headed towards the simulator rooms. He nearly tripped over a plasteel container somebody had been foolish enough to leave about. He leaped over it and swung around a corner and into the simulator rooms, and saw that he was one of the only ones there.

"Damn..."Alater muttered under his breath.

-----------------------
TRP/PVT Alater Osted/2ndSQD/1PLT/1CMP/1REG/1BAT/Tadath/VEA

Aphamos looked over as the Wraiths met with one another and started to discuss strategy.  I have to be in.  I have to do this.  He walked over to Rizzit and formulated the best way to ask the question that was on his mind.

"Yeah, you can be in," said Rizzit before Aphamos could even say a word.  Aphamos smiled and shook Rizzit's hand; he started laughing, realizing the situation he had put Rizzit in.

"Have fun with the gals," said Aphamos as Leon approached him.  Rizzit rolled his eyes.

"Indeed," he said.  Aphamos and Leon turned around and headed to the rest of the Raiders.  Aphamos took a quick count of their numbers; there were six troopers other than Aphamos, which gave the Raiders the number advantage.  Despite this, Aphamos had learned that numbers played a very small role in situations like these.  It was, essentially, a battle of skill and experience.

"So how are we going to go about doing this?" asked Leon.  Aphamos took a quick look around at the other troopers in the platoon.  They had each divided up into their own squads, some of the squads dividing up into teams.  The squad idea won't work.  One man will be able to take all of us out at once.  We have to split up into fire teams.  Aphamos walked up beside Darr-Rann and Rogueboy, telling them of his idea.  After a moment of thought, they both agreed that splitting up into small teams was the best idea.

Darr-Rann gathered everyone in the squad into a small huddle, making sure that nothing could be heard by the other squads.  "We are going to split up into groups," he said, everyone's focus now on the game-plan.  "We have a couple of options as to how many in each group.  We can have one loner with two groups of three.  I was thinking to cut that out because it's best to stay with someone.  Two groups of two and one group of three, and one group of three and one group of four.  So what's it going to be?"

"Let's go with the two two's and one three," said Rogueboy.  "A group of four is way too much.  Now make sure that your weapons compliment one another.  Two snipers is no good, two plain riflemen is no good either.  Rayden, you are going to be with Namyr, Leon, you are with Sayah.  The rest of us will be in a group of three.  Anything anybody else wants to add?"

"Yeah," said Aphamos.  "Don't kill one another until the end.  This is overall a team effort, and if we go off betraying one another from the get go, it severely limits our chances of winning at the end.  We are going to handle this as a squad; as one.  This isn't going to be a one man show, and if you make it a one man show, you are going to get cut down.  I guarantee you that."  The squad members nodded in accord.

"Now split up into your teams and talk some strategy," said Darr-Rann.  "We will have communication with one another during the simulation, so we will coordinate further logistics when in there."  The troopers moved into their separate groups and started discussing their plan of attack.  They didn't have much idea as to how the simulation was going to be like in terms of terrain and their specific tasks, but the subject of weaponry was on the agenda.

"I think we're pretty much set, right?" asked Rogueboy as he, Darr-Rann, and Aphamos entered a huddle.  "Aphamos, you have sniper, right?"  Aphamos nodded, squeezing his right hand into a fist and then relaxing it.  "Darr, you have close range, and I'll take medium with a blaster rifle."

"Grenades and pistols are up to you," said Darr-Rann.  "I know each of you have your own taste as far as those go."  The trio turned now as Rizzit walked into the middle of the crowd and gathered the attention of all the troops.  Briefing time.

 
-----------------------
Raiders

War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.
--William Tecumseh Sherman--

Alater was dropped in a forest near by a mountain, and immediantly smiled. From here he could climb a tree and see the whole terrain, but more importantly, he was in his element. Nobody was going to get him here, especially once he was done camouflaging himself. He opened up the small box he had brought with him.

Inside was his personal collection of explosives and electronics. The first thing he did was load is gun with its anti-armor rockets, and set the gun for later. Next he took off the leg patch of his armor and cut a few wires around the power core, then crossed a few more and added a little device of his own. He looked at it with pride, if it sensed any of a few parameters he had just set, the thing would go off, promising anybody close a big bang.

Next Alater began riging many other explosives, comlinks, cantines, anything that he thought might be usefull, he made them explosive. The only thing that wouldn't go off really was his gun, for that could be dangerous. Alater chuckled as he began placing things away carefully and turned to his case to shut it.

After all was done Alater crossed his legs and closed his eyes, feeling prepared. He meditated a little, centering himself for the battle to come.



-----------------------
TRP/PVT Alater Osted/2ndSQD/1PLT/1CMP/1REG/1BAT/Tadath/VEA

Yillis looked around his squad. He wasn't sure if they could beat the other Wildcardies in a squad on squad battle just by itself, let alone with betrayal lurking in the midst. Who knows what would happen.

Interrupting his thoughts, an announcer's voice came over the speakers. "Please sit back and let the VR module fully cover your head."

A small motor clicked above all the wraiths head, and the VR modules started to descend.

Arnaut spoke up before they dropped down too far, "When staring in the face of death."

The rest of the squad finished the motto, "WE SEE OUR REFLECTIONS!"

The world went black.

Yillis heard Rizzit's voice in his ear, "Go."

Sunlight filled his vision. Dropping to his knees he did a quick recon of the area. He saw mountains to the east, and he could make out water to the west, but most important was what was directly north of him. A large building, which from memory, he guessed was a factory of sorts, was there. Quickly turning his head, he checked out south. Nothing important.

Seeing the rest of the squad appear around him, he hoped the betrayal would start after they kill the rest of the competition. 

"Ok Squad, form up."

Wraith squad formed a line and all took a knee. "None of you need to take orders here. But we all know that we'll do a lot better if we work together to get rid of the other squads first."

The rest of the squad did a nod. "Good to hear boys."

"I presume everyone will try to claim that factory thing, but maybe everyone is thinking that, so none of them will. Confusing.  Either way, we're heading right for it. Kand you are now assigned as squad sniper. Tnepres, I want you spotter. D'har, you watch our backs. The rest just keep a look out. Move out!"

 
-----------------------
Sergeant Yillis
-=Wraith Squad=- -=ASL=-
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +

ASL/SGT Yillis/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/VEA/VE/Tadath [LoR] [WM] [GS]
SH/StationHead Yillis/VER/VE

Clearly Canadian!

Gentle When Stroked - Fierce When Provoked!

Aphamos pondered on what Rogueboy had just told him.  A game of knucklebones.  Oh crap.  He quickly took the cartridge out of his sniper rifle, checking to make sure that it was full.  He slung his rifle on his back and pulled out his dual pistols, making sure that they were full as well.  Good, at least he didn't remember.  He placed his dual pistols back onto his belt and brought his sniper rifle forward, deciding that it would be best to do a scan of the area surrounding them.

"Guys, give me some cover," said Aphamos, moving to higher ground with them.  We're not going to get hit from the outside.  We'll lose because they get in.  The trio finally reached an area suitable enough to stay and look around from.  Aphamos crouched down and moved his rifle up so that he had a clear view through the scope.  He started by looking at his west where there was the short forested area.  Zooming in, he immediately spotted shadows lurking around in the forest.  He moved his rifle down and silently walked over to a different position, bringing his weapon up and zooming in again.

"People in the small forest west of us," reported Aphamos.  "I can see their shadows moving, but I can't see any people yet.  What do you guys suggest we do for now?"  He brought his rifle down again and moved to a different position, doing this to confuse any snipers that may have been scoped in on him. 

"Keep following them-eventually one will have to pop out," said Darr-Rann.  "When he does, take him out."  Zooming in a third time, Aphamos now saw a figure on the ground with binoculars up to his face.  The trooper wasn't looking at Aphamos, so the Raider scoped in further and noticed the color on the troop's armor.  Blue.  That's Wraith.

"Wraith squad on our west," he said.  "I have one man on my crosshairs; he's looking through a pair of binoculars that are aimed at our north, directly on the other side of the complex.  Get ready to move people, I'm taking him out."  Rogueboy and Darr-Rann started to move higher up in the mountain as Aphamos moved to the west, toward the position of the Wraith trooper.

He stopped, moving his rifle up and aiming at the trooper on the ground.  He was still there, staring out into the distance, trying to find a target.  Aphamos inhaled deeply, and then slowly exhaled, aligning the crosshairs to the soldiers head.  He repeated this again, this time with a closer zoom.  His scope was now maxed out.  It's now or never. 

He took a deep breath and let it out at a moderate pace.  He fired.

The shot rang out, shattering the thick layer of silence that covered the entire area.  The bullet struck the troop in the head, a thick puddle of blood now beginning to form around the Wraith.  Aphamos didn't stick around long enough to get the details; by the time the shot hit, he had been running up the mountain, making sure to stay in cover.  Darr-Rann and Rogueboy were out of sight at the moment, Aphamos deciding that it was best to stop behind a large boulder in order to get their positions.

"Where the hell are you guys?" he asked.  There was no reply.  "Where are you two?"  A reply finally came as Aphamos sighed in relief.

"We can see you," said Rogueboy.  "We're a few boulders above you.  Be careful when you're making your way up here, we have four people tracking this mountain from two different areas."

"Alright, I'll get there," said Aphamos.  He reloaded his rifle and slung it on his back.  Looking up, he still couldn't make out where the other two members of his group were.  He goes nothing.  He shot out of cover and sprinted up the mountain, staying in cover for as long as possible.

"Nice to see you're still alive after that absolutely brilliant run," said Darr-Rann in a sarcastic tone as he grabbed Aphamos and brought him in cover.

One down, everyone else to go.


-----------------------
Raiders

War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.
--William Tecumseh Sherman--

Rogue sat behind a boulder and deeply exhaled and inhaled, while it was a simulation it was realistic enough to raise his heart beat and shortness of breath. Hell it was realistic enough for some of the technicians to create a couple of X-rated simulations which, Rogue had heard from other troopers was really well done.

That was neither here nor there and the Raider's ASL resumed his mind calming exercises that were taught to him by one of his many teachers. A lot of troopers get themselves killed because they panic and do stupid things these excercises were designed to reduce the chances of panicking; Rogueboy always felt that fighting was better then fleeing anyhow either you get shot in the front or shot in the back it's the same results.

"I think we should move out from this position." Darr said as he stuck his head out and peered around the boulder.

"Are they moving up the mountain?" Aphamos asked.

"No, but they know where we are, so we need to get the hell out of here." Darr spoke slowly as if he was contemplating their next course of action.

"It would be nice to know where the other squads are." Rogue said absent mindedly.

"It would also be nice if we tried one of those xxx simulations." Aph said with humour in his tone.

This earned a chuckle from the other two Raiders as they climbed down the mountain heading towards the tundra. Rogueboy could not help but wonder if he would be forced into a shower of hot thick oil; the thought was unpleasant, the feeling would be much worse.

The thought of betrayal arose in the back of Rogue's mind causing him to take a look at his two comrades. Darr was a leader and as such would do what is in best interest of the squad, Aph was stalwart and chose the least efficient weapon for a close encounter backstab. Rogueboy knew Aphamos carried the usual assortment of melee weapons as well as a handblaster or two and while this would make him a deadly foe Rogue felt like the two of them could take him should the need arise.

Rogueboy thought about firing into Darr's back and turning around to shoot Aph but two direct problems surfaced; one, there was no guarantee that he could successfully dispatch Aphamos and two, he needed them to eliminate the other squads. Once again there was a problem with waiting until the end, the fewer the enemies the more they will become wary with each other. Rogue decided to save them until the end; it would increase his chances of a victory and as a trooper and foremost a survivor he would do whatever it takes to survive.

 
-----------------------
Raiders
Faithful To The End
Heavy Weapons Specialist
He will give them death, and they will love him for it -Gladiator
Eat a hearty breakfast men, for tonight we dine in hell -King Leonidas, 300
Clearly Canadian!

ASL/SSGT_Rogueboy/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][ES1][CDS][CoR][EW2]