First page 2 to tally!
 
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SCAP, WADJ/1LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/STCR Doashim/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][CBV][LSM][LoC][BWC][SWC][GWC][LoC-DD][CM-PL]

Having recovered from his coughing fit, Atrick reached over and picked up the box and took caution to avoid disturbing the remaining dust a second time. "It's a palace, palaces are always full to the brim with expensive stuff." He said confidently, holding up the box. Although still unknowing of what lay inside, he was proud that he was the one that found it. Tomas took a second and made a point to look around the room they were currently in before replying.

"Uh Atrick, you do realize we are in a storage closet right? Everyone needs a room to put the junk they don't want others to see," waving his hand about the room, Tomas continued, "seems to me this is that room. Chances are that's a box of bolts. Unless you think even their garbage is better than what we've got?"

"Well...um...no...but..." Atrick stammered, before lashing out. "Ah, to hell with it!" And with that Atrick pulled open the box, the others standing over him just as curious now as he was to see what was held within. Silence filled the room as they all looked at the object, none entirely sure what it was yet. Atrick had picked it up carefully to examine it, holding it out for all to see.

"Atrick...be careful with that...." Jared spoke up finally. "In fact, let me see that." Jared reached his hand towards the object, but Atrick quickly pulled it back close to his body. It didn't take him long to return it to the box. Still holding tightly, Tomas could see the suspicious look that passed from Atrick to Jared. He could also see a sudden uneasiness had overcome Jared, why he wasn't sure. "But Atrick...that thing you've got there...it's a bomb or at least an explosive of some kind." Tomas couldn't help but let out a small gasp-like sound when Jared said this. "So Atrick, hand it over..." Jared repeated, having seemed to regain a bit of his composure.

"What makes you so sure?" Atrick spoke up again. He had yet to calm down from Tomas' comments and what he had seen as greed from Jared. If anything, Atrick had increased his grip on the box. That's just what we need...tension and distrust amongst us. It's all happening all over again. Tomas let out a sigh and for some reason the room went silent once again. He could feel some of the anger melt away, though he wasn't sure why. Perhaps the others had seen what their arguing was doing to them, or they just realized it was time to move on. Whatever the case it was apparent Jared was getting his hands on the bomb for now, and that it was about time they finished with that room.

Tomas opened the door gun in hand, checking both directions before proceeding out into the hallway. With currently no enemies in sight, they moved back the way they had come originally. Covering the walls and floors was a white residue. The mass quantity of the foam slowed the flight down a bit, but Tomas could only imagine what it must have been like for those caught in it. I wonder if Trevor was able to get the warning out to more than just our squadron...I sure hope so. It wasn't long before they managed to get to the stairs they had come down. Examining their options, they crossed their fingers and headed the the other way down the hallway...the stairs the other flights took down had to get to this floor somewhere. This side of the palace was not nearly exciting, though at this point the flight just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Tomas knew that the faster they moved the greater chance they would have at getting a drop an unsuspecting group of natives, or better yet encounter those of the enemy that were still stuck in the aftermath of the sprinklers.

After a few minutes with luck finding a way to get any closer to the ground, Jared started up again. "Atrick, let me see the bomb...I've got training in heavy weapons and explosives. I'll know what we're dealing with if you'd just let me see it." This would go on every couple minutes as they continued their search. The first few times it would respark the anger and protectiveness of Atrick though after a while, he ceased to even flinch when Jared brought it up, but that didn't stop the crewman from being persistent. After a while Tomas gave them each as stern a look as he was capable of, informing them...Jared in particular to keep their voices down. What the hell was a bomb doing in a storage room like that anyways? Don't they have armouries for that ind of thing? Nevertheless, the flight trooped on until they eventually found what they were looking for...a many of minutes later. Taking stock of their situation, mainly what equipment they'd been able to pick up on the way, as well as their ammo situation Tomas decided they were in pretty good shape overall. Thanks to their single skirmish back on the floor above, they had salvaged more than adequate firepower while not having to was much ammo doing it.

This floor was basically deserted. Tomas reflected, did we really make that bad of a choice as to which way to go? On the other hand it couldn't be that bad...we faced minimal resistance. Something tells me its going to be A LOT different down below. Peering over the handraild,, Tomas was very relieved to see these stairs did in fact continue on lower for a number of floors.

"There could be enemy outposts down below, let's keep our voices DOWN and try not to talk if at all possible. Be alert, these guys seem to be incredibly organized. We aren't your run of the mill trooper, we're pilots and I don't know about you but right now I feel like a fish out of water so to speak. I live to fly not fight it out down here. Judging from just how in sync they are, I wouldn't be surprised if the enemy already knew that. Keep your eyes open and your finger on the trigger, and I'll get us all out of here" Tomas encouraged, before motioning for his flight to follow down the first flight of stairs. They had made it down the first section, thankful to see that this particular set of stairs did indeed descend much further down towards the ground. Perhaps even to ground level.

Cautiously moving down the next group of stairs, the enemy below must have heard them coming as blaster fire opened up as soon as Tomas peered around the hand banister, causing him to rapidly pull it back. Given the height advantage, it seemed as if the attackers below would not be able to see a person crawling a cross the floor on the far side of the platform from the stairs. If Casca could just take out one or two by surprise....BAM! BAM! The sound of gunfire went off again in two quick bursts, this time coming from the top of the stairs as Casca did indeed manage to pick off a pair of troopers. The enemy returned fire, but the now multiple targets up top threw them in disarray. One by one they were picked off with bursts of laser fire. Continuing their descent when they were convinced there was no-one left, flight three once again performed a gear raid, taking all they could that seemed useful. Tomas was surprised to note a knife stabbed through one of the corpse's torsos. Looking up, he was met with a wide grin on Atrick's face.

No sooner had they finished than Tomas held a finger to his mouth, signaling the others to be quiet their blaster fire had been heard further down and someone was coming to investigate. The flight members rushed to hide, in hopes of getting the upper hand quickly. It was definitely needed, as nearly a dozen troopers ascended the steps. Their various hiding places allowed the Nazgul pilots to pick off just about all of them before their locations could even be discovered. The cover and spread out vantage points dealt allowed them to deal with the rest. Emerging from hiding, Jared couldn't help but laugh.

"I could get used to this...we seem pretty good at it." He said with a big smile on his face.

"Let's hope we don't," Tomas replied solemnly. Though I'm sure that's not the last action we've seen for today.

The rest of the stairway descent went by without incident...it seemed the enemy had stationed troops every couple floors or so. Having just dispatched of two such teams it was no surprise that no more had come. Judging from his view out the window, Tomas figured they were about two floors from ground level once the stairs finally stopped. That's more like it...we've got a much better chance of finding a hangar down here.

(OOC: I promise we'll get to the hangar in my next post guys. I've got one or two more "surprises" in store before we get there, but they'll all happen in the next post.)
 
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Senior Chief Petty Officer 'Tomas' Dagoram
FL/SPO Tomas/Nazgul 3-1/mSSS Atrus/VEN/VE (=*A*=) (=*SA*=) [SoA] [MC1] [MC2] [VC:B]

"Fight on and fly on to the last drop of blood, the last drop of fuel, to the last beat of the heart."

Clearly Canadian!

Le Tally!
 
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SCAP, WADJ/1LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/STCR Doashim/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][CBV][LSM][LoC][BWC][SWC][GWC][LoC-DD][CM-PL]

They hadn't quite considered at the time how small the speeder actually was. But afterall, in the squad's condition any speeder would be small. Two men lay in the back, trying not to roll into each other. Every now and again these attempts would fail, and one of the two men (usually Darius) would curse.

Skar tried to ignore it, instead focusing on maneuvering the speeder through the hevay traffic. Their pace was getting slower and slower as the traffic built and built. Their speed dropped to barely 100Km an hour, before Sol grew impatient and stood his head out of the window.

"Just our luck" He shouted back in "The police have closed the road!"

Sol placed his head back in the car and almost did a double take as he saw the police car positioned next to theirs. The woman sat in there, a young female was idly talking to Skar.

"There was an explosion earlier" He heard her say "Carbomb i beleive"

"Is there some way we can get around it? We've got these two in the back that need medical help, and fast" Skar asked, pointing a thumb at his flight partners.

The woman looked back at them, and the blood soaked bandages, before turning and pressing buttons on her console.

"This is officer Drasek. I have a car here with two badly injured passengers, escort badly needed"

Skar ehard the response mumble from her earpiece, but wasn't able to make out what was said. But eventually, she turned back to Skar.

"Ok, im going to turn around. Once i get back here, follow me and stay close. I hope you can drive" She sped off without waiting for a response.

Skar smiled to himself.
"Lady, you have no idea"

Sol looked back at Darius and his bandages, and then back to Skar.
"They're not badly hurt are they?"

Skar shook his head.
"Nope. They're fine, just need some rest. The bandages look far worse than they actually are"

Sol laughed and put his feet up on the dashboard.
"You damn liar"

"Got us through though, didn't it"

Sol's legs crashed off the dashboard as Skar pulled sharply to the right, right in pursuit of the police car. It weaved right and left through the traffic, often over and under it as well. The cars were being forced to make a path through by the police sentry's marking parts of the road. Skar was keeping up with the car ahead with ease, for a VE pilot this was simple. The only problem was, everynow and again he would enjoy himself too much and forget about the two lying on the back seat, who would promptly collapse onto the ground.

They spent a good twenty minutes wevaing through the traffic before the road cleared ahead of them. The poilce car pulled to a stop, and Skar pulled up alongside it.

"Nice work back there, made it look simple" The woman smiled at Skar. "You ever considered becoming a pilot?"

"Once or twice" Skar replied "Not my thing to be honest"

The woman laughed. "God some people are too picky. But anyway, im holding you back, the hospitals about five minutes down the road ahead of us. Dont worry about speeding, ive let base know you're coming, they'll any tickets you get. But dont get used to it"

Skar smiled. "No Ma'am"

They accelerated down the road. Sol finally pulled his mouth away from his shirt collar, letting the laughter loose.

"She didn't even notice your uniform"

"Exactly. Some police officer" Skar smiled. "Is she still sat there?"

"Nah, she's gone"

"Good" Skar pulled the speeder right sharply, in the direction of the base.

The rest of the journey went in silence, each man contemplating what could be waiting for them at the base. Every now and again a police car will flash its sirens at them, shortly before noticing the license plate and backing off.

Their diverson had pulled them quite a way away from the base. They were a matter of seconds away from it, if it wasn't for the traffic jam. Regardless, Skar carried on going, driving on autopilot. He wans't really paying attention to where he was going. He knew it was a straight road to the base, and dodging in and out of the occasional speeder was something he had become very accustomed with in training. For much of the journey he drove with one hand, the other resting his head against the window.
 
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Skar Darkanto/ Kanderin Draken
Crewman Skar Darkanto, Nazgul Squadron
FM/SCRW Skar Darkanto/Nazgul Squadron 2-6/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE (=*A*=)

Un autre tally!
 
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SCAP, WADJ/1LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/STCR Doashim/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][CBV][LSM][LoC][BWC][SWC][GWC][LoC-DD][CM-PL]

Jared moaned again at the slow moving craft, swearing that he could run faster than it was going. While exaggerating, the crewman had a point. At the rate they were moving, it seemed like it'd take them all day and night to reach their destination. Trevor had sounded somewhat urgent in his last communication, and as a result Tomas hoped to reunite with the other flights as soon as possible. With no enemy troops currently in view, Tomas lowered the speeders' shields in order to increase their rate of travel across the beautiful grassland that lay ahead.

"That's more like it," Jared said excitedly, though even redirecting as much power as he could to the thrusters, their overall speed failed to increase by too much. After a while, they approached the edge of the rainforest and Tomas was forced to once again charge the shields. They would be far to susceptible to a surprise attack for the flight to keep moving on no shields. In the end Tomas found overall speed would not matter as on several occasions they had to weave the speeder through gaps between the trees.

It hadn't been long after they entered the jungle that Jared insisted on seeing the bomb again. He had been previously distracted by all they had gone through, but not anymore. Tomas heard Casca groan from the back seat, and noticed a similar yet much more annoyed look on Atrick's face who had been sitting shotgun in the speeder. Tomas felt similar feelings, but chose not to show them. He feared if this didn't stop soon they might be making it to the base with one less flight member. The only questions were when and whether the victim would suffer from insanity or a brutal strangling. It took another couple minutes, but finally Atrick snapped:

"Jared...I swear...if you don't stop I'm going to..." Atrick spoke harshly, swinging around to face the back seat. His voice came out laboured, which Tomas could only guess was from the intense frustration his wingmate was feeling at the moment.

"What're you going to do At, old buddy?" Jared responded, egging on the enraged pilot in the front seat. Tomas felt like hitting his head on the dashboard in hopelessness, they're going to kill each other, I know it. The only thing that probably stopped him from doing so was the fact that the current terrain they were going through was not the kind of place you wanted to take your eyes off of for more than a couple seconds. Especially with a large band of enemy troops out and about. Captain Rejal had told him to keep his eyes open, and that from preliminary reports the native army was larger than that of Vast Empire and palace forces. Just how much so, the captain never actually mentioned before the Nazgul pilots had decided to be on their way. Either way, Tomas didn't want the enemy to get a drop on them as they rumbled along through the jungle. Meanwhile the discussion between his fellow pilots had simmer down a little, though just barely. One false step by either participant and Tomas was sure the other would make him pay dearly. The fact that the tension was so high had Tomas felling extremely uneasy and he didn't like it one bit. As he began to listen in on the conversation once again, Jared attempted to appeal to Atrick's logic:

"Atrick, please hear me out...what do you plan on doing with this bomb of yours? You obviously aren't going to just keep it as a souvenir, right?" Jared said much calmer than before. This change in tone seemed to throw Atrick off as he mumbled an "uhh...right..." in response.

"Ok, and since you have no intention of preserving the bomb...no offense, but how much do you actually know about bombs and explosives in general?" Jared said, continuing his train of thought. Once again Atrick was only able to get out a stuttered "um...not too much".

"Right, and were you to try and use this bomb of yours in one of our battles...do you even know how to activate it?" At this point, Atrick simply shook his head solemnly. "Then, if you don't mind...may I see it?" And just like that to Tomas' surprise, Atrick handed Jared the box containing the bomb. All too eager, Jared quickly opened it, plucking the bomb from its container.

"Alright...so you see this here? This would be the control panel..." Jared explained, more talking to himself the instructing anyone of its inner workings. "And this...this is the display, probably to show the user how much time the have left before it blows. To start 'er up all you'd have to do is  oops." Tomas' ears perked up from the sudden change in tone and purpose of Jared's voice. Casca had looked over curiously at the other pilot, while Atrick started into a series of curses. It was Jared who timidly informed Tomas of the situation:

"Uhhh, sir...we need to stop the speeder...now" the newest pilot said, obviously lacking confidence though Tomas did not yet know why.

"Stop the speeder? Why? It'd better be important, we're already going slow enough as it is...last thing I want to have to do is be sitting ducks for whatever is out there." Tomas replied calmly.

"Well, sir...you see...I kind of activated the bomb...accidentally, of course." Jared stammered on.

"You what?!? Atrick, no more sharing of toys with Jared, understoood?" Tomas commanded only semi-sternly, before turning his concentration back to Jared. "Well? Have you tried turning it off?"

"Of course I tried that," Jared replied, sounding more fearful as the time went on.

"Alright then, how much time do we have?"

"Um...according the screen...fourteen seconds..."

Tomas cursed before slowly decelerating, "I'm not risking stopping completely but you should be fine at this speed." With that Jared open a hatch on the speeder and tossing the bomb into the jungle behind them. It seemed to be just in time as the bomb exploded on impact. Atrick had been cursing throughout and looked like he would throttle the careless pilot. Crisis averted, Tomas took the chance to laugh slightly, mainly at the expense of the other two pilots. That was, until the ground shook and a second explosion followed. Whipping his head around, the others doing the same Tomas saw a tree had been toppled by the bomb's explosion...the second explosion meant only one thing...they had company. The fact they had gone undetected to flight three was not encouraging

"What were they waiting for?" Casca thought, deep in thought.

"I don't know, but we're not waiting around to find out." Tomas had quickly accelerated, praying they had been extremely lucky and had somehow managed to destroy the only enemy threat out here in the jungle...though he doubted it.

"Trevor, Tomas here. We've encountered the enemy here in the jungle, we managed to destroy them, luckily...long story. We're moving as fast as we can and should be at the base soon." Tomas kept the comlink open for a response, but did not again. Repeating his message Tomas once again waited for an answer, but to the same result.

"The forest must be interfering with the signal," Casca spoke up. Tomas could only nod in response, they were stranded on their own in a foreign rainforest at the moment with no way to seek help.

Fortunately, the rest of the trip albeit slow occurred without incident. Atrick had calmed down thanks to numerous apologies from the now quiet Jared. Eventually, the speeder emerged  into a second clearing. Not too far away stood their destination, the Imperial base. Keeping the shields up after the attack in the jungle, Tomas figured there was no rush to get to the base if they had to sacrifice shields and protection to do it.

It took a while alright, but the flight finally reached the outpost, though the welcome was not exactly one they had been expecting. On their arrival, about a dozen Imperial Army forces emerged from the base and ordered the speeder to stand down. Instructing the others to follow his lead, Tomas put his hands behind his head and exited the speeder. Further complying, Tomas soon found himself lying face down on the ground. He had just managed to glance up when he noticed Trevor emerge from the base, followed by the rest of the squadron. Good to see everyone made it here safely, Tomas thought to himself, now if they could just get us out of this position.

It took some talking, but Trevor had soon succeeded in convincing the guards that the guys on the ground were with him. As they lowered their guns, Tomas found his way to his feet.

"Where've you guys been? We were starting to wonder if you were alright..." Trevor said, sounding genuinely concerned. To which Tomas could only reply, "it's a long story......"

Word Count: 1517
 
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Senior Chief Petty Officer 'Tomas' Dagoram
FL/SPO Tomas/Nazgul 3-1/mSSS Atrus/VEN/VE (=*A*=) (=*SA*=) [SoA] [MC1] [MC2] [VC:B]

"Fight on and fly on to the last drop of blood, the last drop of fuel, to the last beat of the heart."

Clearly Canadian!

*** After Tomas Arrived ***

Trevor and Tomas were walking back to the base, slightly ahead of flight three and slightly behind of the rest of the squadron who had come out to say 'hi'. They walked in silence for a moment, Trevor not pressing for the story that Tomas had mentioned earlier about their long arrival time. Suddenly it was Tomas who spoke.

"Well, what's the plan now, oh fearless...and indestructible leader?" Tomas said, nodding to the bandages that were visible through a small rip in the side of Trevor's shirt. He laughed at the description of himself and thought for a moment.

"We're going to hijack a shuttle. A shuttle, weapons, armour, medical supplies, everything we need to take down a temple." Trevor explained in a hushed tone, not wanting everyone to know quite yet what the plan was. Tomas looked at him slightly disbelievingly.

"You're joking, right? I mean, we're pilots. Sure we have some training, but that could be suicide!" Tomas whispered back, using an exaggerated hand motion when he said 'suicide'. "Their force outnumbers us a hundred to one probably."

"Yeah, but we don't need another fifty people. We're Nazgul, and we've gotten good at this ground thing over the years." Trevor explained with a grin on his face, Tomas still looking at him in shock as they walked into the base.

*** Shortly After ***

Trevor sighed and shook his head. For a moment he wondered why he had chosen to do this in the lobby and not take it to a more private area, but shrugged when he noticed that nobody else was in the lobby area except for them. He shifted his weight as Skar finished his comment and let out a sigh before looking back and forth across his torn up squadron. The group of people who knew him and knew Nazgul didn't seem to be showing any doubt at what his plan was so far, but those who were fresh to the squadron couldn't seem to help but show their distrust about an unfavorable plan. Trevor couldn't blame them though, not with the amount of injuries in the squadron at the moment.

"Yeah, I understand we're pilots, and nothing more. We have basic military training; we all know how to handle a gun. Some better then others." He grinned, glancing at Darius. The pilot looked bad, bandaged around his knee, the blood soaking through, but Trevor knew that it'd still take a tank to knock the man off his feet permanently. "We're Nazgul, and for those of you who don't know what that means, it means we're unstoppable. Anyone who's been in the squadron for more than one mission can see that!"

He paused and looked at the shocked faces of some of his pilots. They obviously hadn't expected such a forceful way of making them understand that Nazgul wasn't a force to be reckoned with. Trevor couldn't help but let a smile spread across his lips as he noticed the faces of Tokijin, Jack and Darius whom were all taking this very calmly. Even Tomas appeared to not be too worried about things, but his face wasn't completely clear of doubt Something must be getting to the guy. Trevor thought to himself before he opened his mouth again.

"Alright, here is the plan. We've been denied assistance here, but that doesn't mean we need assistance. We're going to split up into flights once again, and work on gathering our supplies. Flight Three; I want you guys to get a bunch of stuff out of the armoury. Make sure to include some explosive stuff. If we can't raid the temple, we can try to blow the shit out of it." Trevor paused and nodded to Tomas who gathered his flight in record time and set off down the hall. Trevor was glad that the base conveniently had directional signs hanging from the roof. Probably to help new people stationed here, not to help would-be thieves. He grinned at the thought.

"Flight Two; medical supplies. They are upstairs, bring back whatever you can that we can use to help cure minor wounds and help keep people who might receive major wounds in stable condition." He explained. He nodded and Darius hobbled off with his group in toe. Now Trevor was left once again to look at his beaten up flight one. Tokijin looked kind of funny with a piece of gauze held down by clear medical tape across her cheek, and Jack had a pair of cotton balls stuck in his nose to make the bleeding stop. He wasn't in such great shape either, and although he didn't taste blood in his mouth anymore, the open wound in his gums tingled every time he took in a breath of air cooler then his body temperature.

"What are we going to do then?" Tokijin asked, stepping up next to him. She was worried about him, he could tell. He knew why too, he had never been this beaten up before. It was a mystery to him how he could still stand, and even more of one how he could still think straight. The room only spun a little bit and he wasn't having as much trouble breathing as before. Someone up there cares about me...Whoever they are, thank them for the adrenaline... He nodded to himself.

"Well," He said, taking her hands and grinning. "We get the most fun job, we get to coordinate the theft of a Lambda-class shuttle." He said, and she grinned weakly. Jack overheard and made his way over, standing next to Tokijin.

"Isn't that kind of dumb though? I understand we need it, but they aren't going to be a breeze to get out of here with." Jack said, waving his battle droid arm around the room. Trevor knew he had a point, but the couldn't just back down from their plan.

"We'll pull it off, just trust me. Lets scamper off to the hanger and check out how much it is guarded, and if they even have one that's fully ready." Trevor suggested, and the other two nodded. The started off down the hall at a walk, not seeing any reason to rush and draw attention to themselves. Trevor was hoping that Tomas and his group would have no trouble in the armoury, as it was sure to be the most heavily guarded part of the base out of the places he sent his pilots. The medical storage area wouldn't be very well guarded, and the hanger was doubtful to have an army in it. A couple of guards and some techs sure, but no one who'd pay any attention to a group of people boarding a craft as if they owned it. They were likely to think that the people boarding we just people being transported to the other base.

As they reached the hanger, Trevor's comm. link beeped and he pulled it out of his pocket. He clicked the switch and allowed Tomas to start speaking to him.

"Uh, we haven't gotten everything yet, but we were wondering if you want us to meet you in the hanger." Tomas asked, and a small commotion could be heard in the background, almost like a rack of weapons falling to the floor and two people arguing over whose fault it was.

"Yeah, meet us down here. We're just going to try and get an estimate on the guards and everything." Trevor explained, almost putting the comm. away before he brought it back up to his mouth, remembering something. "Make sure to grab as many explosives as you can carry. Put one guy to work carrying explosives, one with ammo, one with weapons, and&hell, if you were to find a hover cart this would make things easier."

"Yeah, there's one in here. We'll load it up really good and throw a tarp over it to get it to the hanger. I'll let Darius know where we're meeting too." Tomas explained. Trevor nodded even though Tomas couldn't see it, and then cut the connection. They peered through an open door into the hanger, counting the guards, the techs, and planning different routes to the shuttle that sat quietly on its landing gear in the middle of the polished floor as if it was beckoning them to try something.

"Do you think we'll be bale to pull this one off?" Tokijin asked quietly as she peered through the door, leaning backwards against Trevor to keep herself from falling through. He studied the guards and was pleased to see that most appeared to be bored with their work. They had a table set up in the corner made of an old board and a barrel, and appeared to be playing cards. Only two or three guards were actually out on the floor, and occasionally one of these would trade places with one of the men at the table. None of them carried their weapons at the ready, and Trevor spotted a neat pile of rifles and pistols in the corner on the other side of the hanger. Sometimes you just have to love boring jobs&

Word Count: 1535

 
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SC/ESN/Trevor Evenson/Nazgul 1(1-1)/Wing 1/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=*A*=)(=*SA*=)[VC:B][LSM][BRC][SWC][GWC]

The VEN`s #1 writer as of ESC `06

Clearly Canadian!

A half an hour of relaxation. In the speeder, things seemed to be going smoothly. Smooth was always bad. For Nazgul, 'smooth' was code for disaster. Nothing ever seemed to go right for them. It was a constant deal. But for the moment, Tokijin was going to relax as much as she could. She felt comfortable and content just sitting there. She began messing with the radio station, trying to find something in basic and without the constant static that hurt the ears. But before she could find the right position, all went to hell.

She was jerked away from the radio as Jack made a sudden move, the speeder narrowly avoided a man in the road, but they went he had wanted them to go. Toki was pulled to Trevor's chest, his arms wrapping protectively around her, but she could peal her eyes away from the windshield. Suddenly they were at a 90 degree angle, and she was staring down at the ground. She was sensitive to the movement of the car and could feel as it flipped, her eyes still wide with terror.

Blood had begun to rush to her head. They were upside down; they had finally stopped, as had the horrible screeching sound of metal against concrete. She was breathing heavily; the scare from the bomb had left her holding her breath, and the seatbelt that was pressing against her body felt like if she wasn't going to unbuckle soon it would soon meld with her. She wanted down, but before she could get herself down she heard the thud of Trevor falling against the roof. She grimaced. That had to hurt.

She looked around the speeder, slightly surprised that the roof hadn't been crushed in from the force of the collision; the metal had held up very well. Before Toki had noticed, Jack had let himself down, and after seeing what Trevor had done she was a little reluctant to let herself down. She was in no mood for headaches. But when she saw Jack and Trevor move around to help her down she unbuckled herself, and slowly let herself down while the protective hands guided her. They wouldn't let her fall.

Suddenly her face burst in a fire of pain. Trevor saw her face contorted with pain and he pulled her close. She reached up to touch her face, only to cringe as the hand she pulled away was covered with blood. She hadn't even felt the glass rip through her face. The wound on her face burned, and she noticed blood trickling down her neck. She couldn't see how big it was, but it was a shocker to see her own blood covering her fingertips like that. It was probably the reason Trevor was holding her like this. She was sure she looked like hell.

She looked over as noises came from Jack's lips, but what they said she couldn't tell. Was she still in shock? Probably since his words hadn't registered. But she soon understood when a rifle was pressed into her hands.

She looked around the speeder roof for a moment and spotted the bag filled with their uniforms in it. They weren't going to be able to bring it along so she dug inside and quickly yanked three sets of medals off three different uniforms, stuffing them in her pocket quickly. Jack was starting to shuffle forward when a crashing noise filled Toki's ears and startled her slightly.

Oh right. Time to fight. Trevor had crawled back to the end of the speeder and proceeded to smash out rear window. She was surprised it had lasted up till this point in time, especially since the front window had been eradicated. Toki quickly followed behind Jack, positioning herself in between Jack and Trevor.

Tokijin's eyes locked upon the on coming threats. She felt the heavy metal in her hands carefully, and shot out, testing the weapon, not exactly aiming with expertise. Her face was overtaken by determination, and her eyes grew cold as she stared upon the men. She shot carefully this time, firing at the black targets before her.

She shot at one with careful aim, only disappointed to see she had missed any death blow. But he had thrown a grenade, and she wasn't going to let him get away with anything else. They had had their fill of fire and explosions for the day. After Trevor had killed off the last threat, Toki climbed out of the speeder with haste, wanting to get her hands on the final target to dispose of him, but the moans from coming from the dying man diminished was was left of any desire for vengeance. He was a man. She slowed pace to match that of Jack and Trevor and approached him carefully, wary of anymore tricks he might have.

Trevor crouched down to interrogate the masked man and Toki listened to the conversation intently as she and Jack kept their rifles raised, guarding their occupied commander, wary of any other attackers. When the conversation had stopped Toki looked down and gazed at the  man and watched as he ate one of his teeth. What the hell?

"What did he do?" She was a little slow on the uptake; right after she voiced her question she realized what he had done. She sighed and sagged her shoulders, looking at the speeder. It looked so pathetic. If it hadn't been burnt to a crisp she would have been reminded of a beetle stuck on it's back. But the burnt tinge of the speeder just made it look sad and depressing. They also had to walk to the base. She wasn't really up for walking. She was just about totally drained at this point. It seemed like this whole thing had been going on for weeks, but only a number of hours had passed. She rested the rifle on her shoulder and they began their long trudge.

Usually she wouldn't have minded any sort of by-foot travel, but today was an exception. Her seemed to throb in beat with her walking, which made her want to stop all together if it would stop the throbbing. She felt her forehead gingerly, looking for the source of the throbbing. She located it quickly, up towards her hairline. How in the world had she gotten that? She shook her head, supposing it didn't matter much anyway.

She turned to look at Jack and Trevor, sighing as she did. They looked about as drained as she felt, and they both just concentrated on the road in front of them, watching their footfalls with their guns held at their sides.

After a few moments Toki began to grow tired of the sound of hard boots against stone, the sound of crushing pebble under their heavy weight. Slowly her lips parted, and a soft lullaby escaped Toki's lips quietly. She half mumbled, half sang, singing a few words before simply humming through opened lips. She sang a lullaby song from her childhood, one that had stuck in the back of her mind. She was surprised she still remembered it actually. She had just opened her mouth and out it had come. She felt glances from Trevor and Jack, but ignored them, focusing herself on her quiet little song, thinking of all the verses and notes, thoughts of her childhood and moments in time when this song.

She had been absorbed in this small act that she didn't notice as time began to drift by, and soon the base was within sprinting distance. She looked to Jack and Trevor, and she set out in a steady run, but slowed down so Jack and Trevor could catch up so they would arrive at the gate together.

Tokijin watched as Trevor spoke to the guard and she stuck her hand in her pocket, pulling out their medals, quickly picking one up off the ground as it fell from her hand.

"I pulled these off our uniforms, and I have my ID on me. Our uniforms got burnt, but this has to be enough to prove we are who we are." She stuck her hand through the fence, showing them to the guard. She also pulled out her ID, showing it to the guard as well. She really didn't think much of the guard not letting them in at first. With all these armed maniacs running around with bombs it was probably wise to be cautious as they were.

She returned the rank bars to her pocket, careful that she wouldn't lose one. The three of them quickly went inside and approached a nice big desk. Trevor spoke to the secretary for a moment before motioning Tokijin over and whispering in her ear.

"Can you get my bar rank out again?" He asked her with a sort of sigh and she dug back into her pocket, carefully drawing out a handful, looking for Trevor's own precious rank bar. She handed his to him and stepped back, looking around for Jack. He had the medical kit and he was motioning her over to a bunch of chairs by the window. Toki put her hand on Trevor's arm before she walked over, silently wishing him luck for whatever he was about to do.

She walked over to Jack and they began digging around in the white box for bandages and antiseptic. She felt her neck and winced as the dried blood pulled away some hair as she brushed it off. Her cheek was no longer in throbbing pain, but she figured unless she had a mirror, Jack was going to have to apply her band aid to her face for her. It was like applying make-up: It was best done with a reflection. She and Jack set to work, all the while thinking about Trevor and his current activities. But it wasn't long before they found out what he was up to. He returned looking frustrated, but she could tell the wheels were turning in his head, thinking intently.

She set a hand on his shoulder and voiced her concerns aloud.

"Well, they aren't going to give us a task force or shuttle to raid the temple." Trevor gave her a look that took her only seconds to decipher. Oh no.

"We're going to raid the temple?" Why in the world would he want us to raid this temple? "But we're pilots. . . Just pilots." She shook her head, pulling her eyes away from Trevor's gaze. But. . . We weren't built for this stuff. Why would he. . . ? She looked up at him right as he began to pull her into his arms.

"Yeah, we are. But we're Nazgul pilots. We've been through a lot worse." Tokijin recollected on everything Nazgul had been through and buried her face in his chest, taking in his words. Heh, he's right. It's just a temple. We've been through hell and back. Let's leave Misoo with a bang, shall we? She nodded and pulled away from him, forcing him to let her go, but she gave him a small smile. Even with the petty words she told herself doubt still hovered in the back of her mind like a dark solemn storm cloud. She stared out the window for a moment before figures began to form behind the dark glass. Wait. . . Is that. . .?

"Isn't that Tomas?" She stood up in excitement from seeing her excitement. "And that other guy too!" Oh, god, how can I forget his name! "Skar! That's his name. He's here too. Looks like Darius is hurt though." She pointed out her comrades to Trevor. She watched him turn around and she desperately wanted to pull him out of his chair and take him outside. So looked at him and then back to the window and took his hand, waving to Jack to get up and went to the door to greet her fellow squadron mates.
 
-----------------------
TECH/SCPO Tokijin/Phoenix Wing/Str Doashim/1FL/VEN/VE (=*A*=) (=*SA*=) [BWC] [VC:B]

Again with the medical business...

Skar sighed and lost himself in his own thoughts, as he dragged slightly behind the rest of his flight. He knew they would be weaving in and out of hallways at a ridiculous pace, but that didn't stop him from staring at the ground.

Trevor's speech was strong, he had to allow that, but he still wasn't convinced. He still wasn't sure they'd be able to attack a temple successfully, if at all. They might well get shot down before they get anywhere close. What does it matter if these temple nuts aren't military trained, they still outnumber us one hundred to one. Even his friend Kanderin, a known risk taker would hesitate at those sort of odds. Not to mention he was far better trained in this area as well.

Skar crashed into the back of Darius and mumbled an apology. Darius was too distracted down the hallway to pay any real attention. Skar eventually got the message and poked his head out as well. Two men, dressed in full army gear, were patrolling the path just short of the medical bay.

"Just typical" Darius spat "We always have to get the armed guards"

"One of us could distract them" Sol whispered. Darius looked round, somewhat confused by his idea.

"I mean, if i deliberately get their attention, odds are they're going to chase me. I can lure them away from the door and you guys can creep in, swipe whatever you need and meet me later. They're in full army gear, there's no way they can catch me"

Darius looked down and contemplated the idea. He shrugged his shoulders and admitted he had no better idea. Sol nodded and scampered off in the other direction.

Skar had to see this. He poked his head out down the hallway again, watching the two guards idly converse. Then suddenly, the shouting started. The things he shouted were completely disgusting, but they definitely did the trick. The two men charged down the hallway towards the voice without even a look back.

"Now we move" Darius was already half way towards the room, moving surprisingly fast considering his condition.

Skar jogged down the length of the hallway, only stopping to peek one eye down the way the two men had ran. he then darted into the room, waited for Darius and the other man to join him, and shut the door behind them.

"Kind of lucky we're here actually, my bandage could do with a change" Darius grinned.

He sat down in the corner of the room, and waved off Skar and the other man, who then disappeared off behind the various shelves.

Skar never quite realised just how much medicine there could be in the world. He knew the medical world was huge, but not this huge. The shelves just seemed to go on forever. You'd reach the end of one line, just to find another which goes on for even further. The names on many of the bottles didn't help either. He wasn't able to pronounce half of them, yet alone understand them.

The box of bandages was simple to find. Skar was also able to find painkillers, disguised under one of those fancy labels. He had been given them once, and for some reason had never forgotten the name. Skar really hoped he would never have to take them again, they tasted terrible.

Skar wandered aimlessly among the aisles for what seemed like an age. An age on a different planet. An age on a different planet which smelt kind of funny. That kind of medical smell, the smell of needles, soap and god knows what else. Skar remembered the first time he smelt it, he was barely a child and it had nearly knocked him out. Now he had become somewhat used to it, it was almost refreshing.Almost

He stumbled over a box, lying almost directly in the middle of the corridor. He went to kick out at it anger, but he noticed the label.

'Adrenaline'

Skar didn't even know they were able to inject people with adrenaline. It probably wasn't the adrenaline though, was probably some sort of mixture which gave the same effect. Regardless, it would probably turn out amazingly useful. He picked it up and glanced inside, eager to find out what adrenaline actually looked like. A small tank was filled with a colourless substance, which looked almost exactly like water. It was slightly gloopier, took far longer to roll from side to side when Skar took the box. He was disappointed, he expected something far more interesting. Or for it at least to have an interesting colour. Regardless, he put the box under his arm and carried on looking for more things.

He had almost forgotten about the syringes. Having a large tub of adrenaline and no syringes to put it in was somewhat pointless. You could pour it directly down the persons throat, although something told him that wouldn't have the same effect.

Surprisingly, unlike everything else in this place, the syringes were easily labelled. A huge sign floated above high above the aisles, pointing down towards a huge stock of them. All crammed into boxes, just sat waiting to be picked up.

Skar chuckled to himself. Mass produced syringes...

He had a quick glance around the various boxes. They weren't exactly the strongest things in the galaxy, many of them had syringe spikes sticking out the side of the boxes. Not to mention the hygiene issue Skar was sure this would cause. But after all it was an army barracks, not a hospital. Skar was about to reach out and pick one of the boxes near the front, when his eye caught a gleaming package at the back. The gleam was coming from the plastic layer covering the syringes in this one box. Skar felt far safer about picking these ones, and immediately took that box.

Skar stood around for a while, seeing if he could figure out any more things he might need. Bandages? Check. Syringes? Check. Strange gloppy substance which he only hoped would do some good? Check.

It took Skar a good few minutes to emerge from the aisles again. The other man still wasn't back, so he simply placed his finds down on the ground and propped himself up next to Darius.

"Whats the gloopy crap?" Was Darius' first question, which made Skar smile.

"Adrenaline, apparently"

"Well don't even think about injecting me with any of that stuff" Darius spat back.

Skar laughed to himself, and watched as the staggered footsteps began to come into reach. Darius' comlink also suddenly went off, eerily timing the beeps perfectly with their flight member's footsteps. Darius accepted the transmission, and Tomas' image flicked up on the screen.

"I've just spoken to Trevor, once you're done we need to meet him down at the hanger"

His voice was difficult to understand in places, there sounded like some sort of argument in the back ground. But the message was clear enough.

"We're almost done here, will be down in a second. Hey, did you know they inject people with Adrenaline nowadays?" Darius answered.

"They do? What's it look like?" Tomas answered, somewhat stunned.

"Colourless, kinda gloopy. Looks a little like... Nows not the time, we'll meet you down in the hanger" Darius cut the transmission off somewhat suddenly.

Their flight member had arrived back in the time the conversation took, him also covered in various boxes with strange names. And some less strange. Skar helped Darius back up to his feet, and they made their way back out of the door and down the hallway. How they were going to explain why they were sneaking around an army barracks holding all sorts of strange boxes Skar wasn't quite sure. He guessed they would just have to not be spotted.

Darius threw Skar the comlink and told him to tell Sol what was going on. Skar found himself somewhat relieved that for the first time in his Navy career, he would be using the flight comlink to give out something other that bad news. The whole squadron had become quite used to that whenever Skar uses the comlink, something bad has happened. He was very keen to get rid of this voodoo.

"Errm, Darius?" Skar suddenly looked up again.

Darius grunted.

"How are we supposed to contact Sol? This was the only comlink between the three of us"

Darius cursed, and tried to rapidly think of some sort of different plan.

He didn't have to, Sol leapfrogged over Skar almost the moment Darius' voice stopped echoing around the hallways. Which actually took a lot longer than you would expect.

"Shook them" He proudly stated. "Told you they weren't fast enough to catch me"

"Nice language back there buddy" Skar added, making Sol blush slightly. Skar just laughed and informed Sol of the plan.

The signs down to the hanger were probably even easier to read than the ones to the medical bay. Which made sense really, the hanger would be used far more often. Which might well spell trouble for them once they got there, the closer they get the better the odds they would get caught. To cover their backs, Sol and Skar put as many of the boxes as they could manage up their shirts. It worked surprisingly well, everything but the syringes were bale to find a spot, which neither of the men were happy to give a chance. Sol and Skar looked somewhat overweight, but not out of the ordinary. it would take more than a second glance to realise they were hiding something.

Word Count = 1565
 
-----------------------
Skar Darkanto/ Kanderin Draken
Crewman Skar Darkanto, Nazgul Squadron
FM/SCRW Skar Darkanto/Nazgul Squadron 2-6/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE (=*A*=)

"We're Nazgul, and for those of you who don't know what that means, it means we're unstoppable. Anyone who's been in the squadron for more than one mission can see that!" Tokijin chucked quietly. He was right of course. Nazgul had survived everything that was thrown at them. It was both a blessing and a curse. Tokijin glanced around at the shocked faces of her fellow squadron mates. Some of them were hurt fairly bad, but that was the double edged blade. They would survive, but not without their aches and pains. She reached up to touch her face, rubbing her fingertips against the rough cotton that was attached to her face. It felt good to have something on there.

She stood up as Trevor began relaying orders, stretching slightly. No amount of debating will change his mind. He's dead set, and he's dragging us along for the ride. Her friends still looked incredulous, not believing that he was going to go through with this. This is who we are, my fellow Nazguilians and it's what we do. Might wanna get used to it.

"Alright, here's the plan. We've been denied assistance here, but that doesn't mean we don't need assistance. We're going to split up into flights once again, and work on gathering our supplies. Flight Three; I want you guys to get a bunch of stuff out of the armory. Make sure to include some explosive stuff. If we can't raid the temple, we can try to blow the shit out of it." Toki followed Trevor's gaze to Flight Three, and she watched them go as well and turned back to Trevor as he spoke again, this time directed at Flight Two.

"Flight Two; medical supplies. They are upstairs, bring back whatever you can that we can use to help cure minor wounds and help keep people who might receive major wounds in stable condition. Toki chuckled quietly again at the faces of Flight Two. Apparently some of them didn't think they could get anymore wounds than they already have. Yes, it's going to be dangerous. But robbing a base like this one is just about as dangerous as getting to that temple. I'm worried more about getting in and out of this base rather than raiding the temple. She looked up as she talked to herself, staring at the high ceiling for a moment before glancing out the window. Flight Two had disappeared by the time she turned her gaze back to her commander.

"What are we going to do then?" She moved closer to Trevor, waiting to hear the game plan, curious.

"Well," She looked down at his hands as he took her hands in his own, smiling a mischievous smile. "We get the most fun job, we get to coordinate the theft of a Lambda-class shuttle." She forced herself to grin. She had forgotten about that. Transportation was needed, and they needed to hitch a ride fast. This was another reason why she had been worried about robbing the base. The more they needed, the less likely it would become that their mission wouldn't succeed.

"Isn't that kind of dumb though? I understand we need it, but they aren't going to be a breeze to get out of here with." Toki turned to look at Jack and nodded, understanding his point.

"We'll pull it off, just trust me. Let's scamper off to the hanger and check out how much it is guarded, and if they even have one that's fully ready." Ok, makes sense. In the back of her mind, Toki could tell that there was a small flame of hope that they wouldn't have success in the hanger. Then they could just go home, easy. . . She snuffed out that flame before she could get her hopes too high.

They walked slowly down the halls, taking their time, but had to make sure that they weren't that noticeable. The base wasn't half bad actually. It looked fairly new and shiny of course, and the layout was easy enough to work with that they made it to the hanger faster than the three of them had expected to. But before they could peek in and check it out, Trevor's comm link beeped loudly, and Toki turned to Trevor, wondering who it was. She heard Tom's voice and he wanted to know if they all should meet up at the hanger. Toki rose an eyebrow at the curious sound of arguing squadron mates and loud noises. Trevor gave him his instructions quickly and put his comm link away. Jack and Toki had found the way into the hanger and were taking a look inside when Trevor came over to them. She felt him move behind her and she looked up at him before averting her gaze back to the contents of the hanger.

"Do you think we'll be able to pull this one off?" She whispered as she stared through the open door. It wasn't much of a rhetorical question but she didn't worry about it considering she didn't get an answer anyway.

She looked around at the guards. They weren't doing any 'guarding' but looked quiet bored. It was kind of funny how easy they could step inside without being seen. She looked around for any techs, and from this angle nothing looked like it was being worked on. Trevor tapped Jack and Toki on the shoulder, waving them away from the door, into a corridor.

"So, any ideas?" Jack pondered, glancing over his shoulder at the hanger door.

"I think we should wait up for everyone before we try and get anything. It will be easier for us when we outnumber those guards, if it comes to that. We have the option of either knocking out everyone in that hanger, or confusing them into believing we are someone we aren't." Tokijin nodded, considering their limited options. "I didn't see any technicians in there, did you?"

Tokijin shook her head. "In a base like this they wouldn't have many working in the hanger while everything is idle. Although those chances will probably change here soon. Techs are always on the move. They never stay in one place for long unless their job gets done. All those machines in there looked fine to me. There wasn't any equipment sitting out or anything. So if we were in there and knocking out guards, a technician could come in and alert someone of our actions."

"There's also the security system we would have to worry about. Anyone monitoring screens could see what we're doing, and we don't want to blow our cover quite yet." Jack spoke quietly and calmly. They had to look at their situation from all directions, figure out the flaws and the weaknesses in what they were about to do. After what Toki and Jack had their only option left was to completely fool the guards. That could be easier than conking them out and risking gun fire. Tokijin figured the last thing they wanted right now was a blaster fight. This was a base after all. They would be outnumbered quickly in a matter of seconds. There was only eleven of them.

Toki sighed and looked around the hallway. It was deserted, but someone would probably come along here and if they weren't careful they would be questioned quickly.

"Well, what do we want to steal again?" Tokijin questioned, wondering impatiently where the other members of Nazgul were so they could get out of here soon. Trevor walked back over to the hanger door, peeking in cautiously before waving Jack and Toki alongside to see. He pointed out to them the shuttle he planned on snatching up. Toki recoiled quickly, stepped away from the door, pulling Jack and Trevor away from the door by their sleeves.

"I saw a technician. I don't think he saw us; he was reading something, but he's headed toward this door. So time to hide." Trevor nodded and they looked around frantically, looking for a place to go before the technician found them. They didn't want to reveal themselves quite yet.

They scurried off down a different corridor hoping that the technician would be taking the same path., but that would not be their luck as they heard footsteps resounding on the walls, headed towards them. They went down the hall as quickly and as quietly as they could but Trevor noticed the doors sunk into the wall to create indents in the flat wall instead of the doors just simply being placed in the wall. He didn't speak but pointed Jack to one side of the hall and he pulled Toki into the other side with him. If the technician was anything like Toki was with reading material, he wouldn't look up from the words as he walked down the hall and would be totally oblivious to their presence. They heard the man cough as he started down their hallway, taking his time. None of the three risked a look to see him and they stood as still as statues, slowing their breathing, doing anything to keep themselves from being discovered in the silent hall.

Luckily the technician hadn't looked up from the pages he held in his hand and walked right past the Nazgulians, totally oblivious. He would have surely asked them questions about the civilian-looking people and their activities down these quiet halls. As soon as he turned the corner the three of them came out from their hiding spot and hurried back down the hall, back towards the hanger. As they reached the same door, Toki's head swiveled to look over her shoulder at the sound of a slow hum accompanied by hurried footsteps. She sighed in relief as she realized they were her own kind. Tom and his flight had made it to the hanger, followed by Flight Two.

Trevor smiled happily at his approaching pilots. Time to get to work. 
 
-----------------------
TECH/SCPO Tokijin/Phoenix Wing/Str Doashim/1FL/VEN/VE (=*A*=) (=*SA*=) [BWC] [VC:B]

Don't your wrists hurt from so much writing?

Tally...
 
-----------------------
SCAP, WADJ/1LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/STCR Doashim/1Flt/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][CBV][LSM][LoR][BWC][SWC][GWC][LoC-DD][CM-PL]

Le Tally!
 
-----------------------
SCAP, WADJ/1LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/STCR Doashim/1Flt/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][CBV][LSM][LoR][BWC][SWC][GWC][LoC-DD][CM-PL]

Skar tried desperately to stifle his laughter, looking over at Tomas stamping his foot like a wild animal. The incision it made msut of been aamzingly sharp, not a drop of blood was leaking from it.

The needle was huge, so huge Skar had to wonder what he was thinking when he decided to take it with him.

"We could always pump him with some adrenaline so he doesn't feel it and pull it out." He heard Darius suggest.

Tomas pretty much outright refused that. It disapointed Skar, he was keen to have someone try out the 'adrenaline'. But in all fairness, he didn't blame anyone for not trying it. Adenaline would be injected into your veins, which are very thin. The adrenaline just seemed too thick to be able to fit in without some major discomfort. And thats if you're lucky. Skar sighed. Sometimes he hated being clever, it made him do the stupidest things.

He sat and watched Tomas struggling with some sort of painkiller. For a good few minutes Skar beleived Tomas' was about to bring them back, the look on his face showed far from comfort. The purple one was an interesting choice anyway, they looked by far the least appetising. Which in all fairness didn't say much, it was like picking out the rustiest speeder in a scrapheap.

Thats when Skar noticed Trevor moving towards Tomas with what could only be described as a blowtorch.

"I have an idea, ever heard of cauterization?"

Skar gulped, he'd heard of that. it was, savage to say the least. Skar could remember his teachers explaining its amazingly high death rate. Trevor colnd't be serious, there was no way he would risk something as dangerous as that on one his squadron members. But it didn't look it. he wasn't laughing, he wasn't grinning, there was no facial expression to speak of. He seemed very serious.

Amazingly, Tomas agreed and Trevor moved towards him with the blowtorch. A blowtorch, the thing that was used to weld metal, was aout to be used in an operation. Doctor's all over the galaxy were probably shivering right now.

The metal slipped out, without a single yelp from Tomas. Skar couldn't say the same about him though, he was trying desperately not to throw up. One of the things he had never expected to see had just happened right in front of him. A few people around the ship were simply staring at the needle, watching it slowly turn from a deep red colour to a more purple one.

Skar got up and moved towards the cockpit, he had to go somewhere. Tokijin and Jack were still sat at the controls, idlely talking about anything that popped into their heads. Which Skar found a little strange, thinking this could be their last trip. Ever.

"You're boyfriends sick, you know" Skar gulped, leaning against the wall as to not fall over.

Tokijin simply laughed and replied without even turning around.
"I know"

Skar looked back towards trevor, who was now stood somewhat distant to everybody else. He looked deep in thought about something, something that was troubling him greatly. Skar wandered over to him


 
-----------------------
Skar Darkanto/ Kanderin Draken
Crewman Skar Darkanto, Nazgul Squadron
FM/SCRW Skar Darkanto/Nazgul Squadron 2-6/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE (=*A*=)

Walking through the hanger like there weren't about to steal a shuttle made Tokijin shiver. She didn't like the idea of stealing from their own, but it was going to have to be done, whether she liked it or not. The hardest part was arranging her features so she wouldn't look so nervous about it. She walked behind Trevor, next to the hover cart and they were about to get on board when she heard a guard shout something. She didn't know what he had said, but drawing any sort of attention was bad.

The ramp to the aircraft was starting to come down and Toki looked from the on coming guard to the slowly descending ramp, willing it to move faster. She could feel her squadron mates tense around her, all of them readying themselves for the battle they knew would come. They didn't have enough time to lie there was out, and going into a firefight would be the easiest way out. Considering there were only a few guards, they had a good chance.

The ramp finally made it to the ground, Jack and Toki being the first ones to run up it and Jack made a dash for the cockpit. She looked down the ramp to see Trevor hadn't come up yet so she followed Jack into the small space to the co-pilot. She really hadn't expected this, nor did she want to do it, but she hadn't felt that overwhelming sense of insecurity that she figured would have come so she trusted that she would be able to handle it. She and Jack began to start it up when the sounds of blaster fire reached their ears. They gave each other a quick glance, and worked to get it off the ground. They assumed everyone had boarded and raised the ramp, in time to miss a large number of armed guards to fill into the hanger.

They took off slowly, and then began to ascend rapidly, preparing to high-tail it out of there.

"Keep an eye out. It's more than likely they'll have some sort of air defense weapon." Toki took a look out the window, keeping a sharp eye on the base, but something quickly caught her eye.

"Yeah, you're right. They have a turret, but it isn't active yet. We need to get out of here and fast." I'm a little surprised they only have one though. You'd think a base like this would be better armed. Jack nodded and Tokijin heard someone come in and she turned to see who it was. Trevor stood in the doorway, looking out the view port and then turned his gaze to Toki.

"Ah, glad it's you. We might have some difficulties out running their anti-air defense system." She pointed out to the commander of Nazgul the weapons that would give them trouble. She watched with concern as a regretful look crossed Trevor's face, but only for a second.

"I have a feeling you're right." She looked back to the controls, wondering if he was going to say anything more. If anything he might ask me for my seat. . . She was surprised when the orders he issued were not for Tokijin to rise, but rather to make haste and get them out of her. She smiled slightly at the confidence renewed in her. He trusted in her ability enough to let her continue, and she took pride in that.

"Take us in fast, high, and over top of the anti-aircraft gun there. The other three can still get an open shot, but I hope that we can maneuver out of harms way when that happens." Toki watched the turret carefully as they neared it and heard herself gasp as it suddenly became active and began to aim its guns at them. Uh oh.

"Well, we can be glad it's just the one." Toki heard Jack mutter, absorbed in his current task, not taking his eyes off their current threat. Toki's eyes widened as the first shot was fired and felt the craft take a sudden turn out of the line of fire, barely missing the first attack. It good preparation on Jack's part; he had quickly judged the path of the missile. But it wasn't through with them quite yet, and it began to re-adjust itself to it's moving target, but their craft was too close and it hit the turret, causing problems and made the entire shuttle shudder, also sending a jolt of fear through Toki. They were too close for comfort. They needed to get out of there fast, out of firing range. This wasn't quite going as Toki had hoped.

"Tell those guys back there to cover their heads and hold onto something. Things are around to get evil." Jack said, turning his head slightly towards Trevor, but not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Alright everyone, strap yourselves in tightly and cover your heads. Things are going to get nasty and shit is going to fly around back there!" Tokijin quickly buckled herself, pulling extra tight on the strap and as soon as she had let go she felt the craft go into a dive. The missile kept on their tail tightly, its course unaffected by Jack's move.

Jack's expert piloting skills got the heavy craft through a move that Toki never would have attempted, but a wave of relief washed over her as she watched the missile overshoot them, missing the windshield by inches and exploded as it collided with the forest below them. She sagged in her seat, glad the current danger was over for now. She turned to look at Trevor but he was sitting on the floor now and h e looked exhausted as he rubbed his eyes. The danger he had put them all in was slightly pointless to her and to her surprise she felt angry about what had happened. If Jack hadn't done what he had, they'd all be burned to a crisp, dead before they could even react.

"Are we done being stupid?" Toki glared at Trevor, not exactly happy about how the day had turned out. She looked at her commander. She would follow him to the end of any galaxy, but for the moment she just felt frustrated with the way he had sent them back into danger right after escaping it. She was beginning to grow tired and she longed to sleep the next couple days through.

"Not yet." She shook her head slightly, refusing to let herself sigh. She let herself simmer down for a moment before she unbuckled herself, standing up slowly before taking a seat on the floor next to Trevor. Smiling softly, she gave him what hug they could manage in their position.

"I'm glad for that. I've begun to get used to the stupid things we do together. I don't know if I'd be able to go back to being normal." She gave him a crooked grin before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, still keeping him wrapped in her embrace. She looked him in the eyes, still smiling before she released him and returned to her seat. She glanced at the controls once before speaking. "We have things under control up here now that we're out of range of the turrets. You go back and make sure everyone is fine."

She sat there for a moment, staring at nothing for a moment, sorting out her thoughts, trying to relax a little. She let out a short sigh before stretching her arms above her head, listening for the familiar crack that quickly followed her habitual stretch. She moved slowly, checking the controls before glancing out the window. I'm not sure if I can quite understand why he would want to put us back out there, but he needs support. She glanced over her shoulder at the doorway, staring at the spot where he once stood. He needs my support, and he needs the support of his pilots. I can't understand the stress and pressure he's undergone, and I'm sure it's a lot. . . He needs all the love I can give right now. She stared out the window at the scenery below them. The forest was dotted with all sorts of colors, not only green. The treetops grew flowers of all sorts and she could see the occasional bird escape into the sky.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" She was referring to the lovely sight of the forest below them, and Jack nodded in reply.

"It is, but I'm afraid it's about to get a whole lot uglier. The temple is just ahead." Toki's eyes widened as she spotted their destination ahead. Their now-quiet ride was over quicker than she thought it would be. She must have been lost in her thoughts longer than she thought it was. The temple loomed before them like a dark thought, filling her with dread and anticipation for what would soon come.

"Yeah. . .A lot uglier." She said with a sigh.

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TECH/SCPO Tokijin/Phoenix Wing/Str Doashim/1FL/VEN/VE (=*A*=) (=*SA*=) [BWC] [VC:B]

After Trevor gave them their orders, Tokijin watched carefully as Jack landed the shuttle in the middle of the clearing. And so it starts. She took a deep breath before unbuckling herself and standing up, knowing full well what they were getting themselves into, and wasn't all that excited about it, she had no choice in the matter. They were already here; the damage had been done and there was no turning back. She followed Jack and Trevor out of the cockpit and stood around for a second, waiting for the squadron to gather around their commander to listen to his orders before they set up and headed out into the unknown.

"Ok, so we've landed. We're about two hundred meters from the temple, and most of that is tree covered. We're going to sneak to the edge of the tree line and scout out the temple. Looking for doors, windows, people, whatever. I highly doubt that this facility is going to be left completely unguarded. By now, the people who attacked us at the palace have probably returned. This is good and bad. It makes it harder for us to enter and leave the palace, but it means that if we're successful in planting our explosives we're more likely to catch half their men inside when the temple gets vaporized." Well, seems easy enough. Sneak in, activate a bomb or two, sneak out.

"I want everyone to be on his or her best guard. Only shoot if you're shot at first. Try and use stealth, stick to the shadows, watch for patrols. Getting caught is bad." Heh, just a little bit, don'tchya think? "If you have to kill someone, try to do it quietly, and try to get any information out of them that you can." Toki looked around at her squadron mates, and was quickly saddened. They looked hopeless, and their bandages only added to her pity for them.  Her heart beat faster as she realized what she was about to do. "Let's move out."

"Before we do. . ." She got out quickly, and winced. There was no turning back now, she had to say it. "I'd like to say that I know many of you are doubting our plans. Many of you are new to Nazgul and aren't sure what capable of, nor are you sure that your are capable of yourselves." She could hear her voice growing stronger the more she got out, and she took confidence in that and drove on. "We're pilots, this isn't necessarily what you expected to do on a regular basis. But you're Nazgul pilots now. We do this, and we keep a positive spirit about it because we know we're good at it." She stopped as her rant boiled down and she ran out of words. She shied away from the staring eyes and took a glance up at Trevor. He didn't look angry or anything that she had stepped out of her place, as she figured it.

Then the group of pilots disbanded and shuffled around, gathering their weapons for their mission. Tokijin grabbed a belt for herself, mostly lost in the thought of picking out her weapons, not about what she was going to do with them. The belt felt unfamiliar and heavy against her hips, and hung around her waist at an angle. She slung one rifle over her shoulder and attached a holster to her thigh, the blaster ready and waiting. She picked up her second rifle, and this one she would carry, or use as a blunt weapon if need be. Once look at Trevor's face would remind her of that. Toki stood by the exit of the shuttle, letting everyone descend before she followed them slowly down the ramp.

Trevor then led his pilots into the dense forest. The rough terrain felt unnatural to the pilots who were supposed to have only a pedal beneath their feet. Not that of overgrowth. But luckily their trek didn't last long and they soon found themselves in front of the looming temple. Up close it looked even worse than it did up in the air. Just the sight of it sent shivers down Tokijin's spine. The temple gave off an evil appearance, and it made her wonder what kind of nut jobs would want to come here to learn or worship, or even come here at all.

As they looked on at the temple Toki made her way over to Trevor, tapping Jack on the shoulder as well. She looked at Dar and Tom, hoping they'd get the idea Tom caught her eye and nodded, gathering his Flight members and spoke to Casca, and he quickly ran off. Darius had watched Casca go and he realized where he was going and sent Skar running off in the opposite direction of Casca. The squadron was now divided into their separate flights.

"Changing of the guard. What I'm thinking is that I'll send Flight Two through one of the training doors, Flight Three through the other, and flight one will take the main doors."

Soon both Skar and Casca returned from their scouting assignment, to report that they should have no trouble from getting in the temple on the sides. It was getting in the front door, the one assigned to Flight One of course, would be the trickier part. It was the front door that was going to give them trouble.

"Good. If everyone is ready to go, I think we should run off and begin our attack. Once these two guards slip inside, everyone make a break for their respective doors." Trevor, Toki, and Jack edged closer to the clearing, while staying in the shadows, not revealing themselves quite yet. Five minutes passed in painful anxiety before the guards turned their backs for a minute. That one small move was the lead to their downfall.

Toki pumped her legs as fast as they would go, subconsciously taking the lead in front of her flight mates. As they neared the door Toki slowed down a hair, letting Jack and Trevor catch up before they all slipped inside, first Trevor, ready and poised, followed by Jack and Tokijin. Toki held up her rifle at the ready, and the heavy beating of her heart greatly unnerved her. The first thing she noticed was the slight darkness of this entrance. After being outside for a while Toki's eyes had to adjust to the sudden change in the lighting. But Flight One ran into trouble before their eyes could even adjust.

The pair of guards that were going to switch with the other guards were taken totally off guard as one's forehead met ends with the butt of Jack's rifle. The second guard didn't even have time to react before Trevor beat him over the head with his own blunt object. Toki winced as they both hit the ground with a thud. She had a suspicion that Trevor had let out a little angst on that one guard after getting hit with a rifle so many times. Jack nodded to the left side of the hall and she helped drag the unconscious guards behind large decorative wall hangings that stretched from the ceiling to the floor and gathered in ruffles on the floor. It was also dark here so no one would find them for a while.

The three of them moved on before a thought struck Toki. She tapped lightly on Trevor's shoulder, gaining his attention before she whispered in his ear.

"We only have five minutes before someone is alerted of our presence." He gave her a look but then realized what she was talking about. Another set of guards would come to replace the pair of guards that they had just knocked out. Once they found the their bodies, or realized something was wrong someone would be reported to and the temple would wake up, fully alive with the knowledge of invaders. Their chances of success just got a whole lot slimmer.

Trevor nodded and they continued walking down the vast hallways, keeping to the walls. So far they hadn't run into anyone else, but the first set of guards had vanished somewhere in the hall. They should have seen them as soon as they entered because they wouldn't have been able to go far. The words Toki had told her fellow Nazgulians earlier seemed to have been lost. She was losing confidence in their success. Before she figured they would be able to have some sort of luck, but now they had barely any time to place their bombs before they were caught.

She glanced from Trevor to Jack. Trevor was wearing the face of frustration, but she could tell the wheels in his head were turning, but Jack at this point was just expressionless. They needed to figure out where they were going let the bombs go and quickly. But if they had more of a chance than Toki have first given them, and the temple invasion was a success, then she would never doubt the actions and ambitions of Nazgul again. That much she knew in total confidence.

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TECH/SCPO Tokijin/Phoenix Wing/Str Doashim/1FL/VEN/VE (=*A*=) (=*SA*=) [BWC] [VC:B]