Rukver looked up from his terminal; he was designing the latest simulation which would allow troops to spend days in training while being fed through tubes so that they do not run the risk of dying. This project has been a long time in the making as they have run into certain mental difficulties; troopers cannot seem to run for more than three or more days before collapsing from exhaustion and in a few isolated cases this has caused death. It was his job to design a program that would allow troopers to garner some kind of rest while inside the simulation that would allow them to feel refreshed in mind.

Seeing someone approach his glass door, Rukver quickly closed the newest sex simulation that was on his screen and opened the files containing his actual work. A knock on his door caused the Imperial technician to push the button that unlocked his door. Since one of the other techies went crazy and shot up the offices all techies with their own offices got a lock and blaster resistant windows. The man that walked in wore an army commander uniform and his rank denoted a gunnery sergeant.

Gunnery sergeant who’s also a commander? Things have changed since my kids served in the army. Running his hands through his salt and pepper hair before saluting the commander. Tipak, Rukver’s youngest had always told him that commanders always looked older, and it was apparent with this one.

“What can I do for you commander…?” He said hoping that his guest would fill in the blank.

“Rogueboy, I have need of your services.” The commander said as he pulled up the seat facing Rukver without asking.

“I am here to serve, sir.” Rukver said while internally moaning at all the distractions this man will cause him.

“Good, I have approximately forty troops who need to go through a radiation trooper armour simulation on a planet following these constraints.” Rogueboy said as he handed the technician a data cube.

Popping it into is terminal the holograph reader kicked in and showed the planet of Strak with its light gravity and short days. Rukver personally preferred light gravity everything seemed to require less energy unlike standard or heavy gravity.

“I’m guessing from these files there’s a plan in the making to form an offensive on Strak?’ Rukver asked, even though he wasn’t expecting an answer.

“Not allowed to discuss it, sorry.” The commander said flatly.

“I didn’t expect you to, it never hurts to ask. What weapons do you want me to load them with?” Rukver said as he opened a drawer filled with files, pulling out a folder he started searching through it.

The commander raised an eyebrow at the hard copies that Rukver kept. “It makes the likelihood of them being destroyed so much smaller.” He said as he pulled out a sheet quickly scanned the top and emitted a content sound. “This is the one; the squad will need to take a radioactive city while engaging New Republic troopers, well it’s really more of a town then a real city but it conveys what we want to accomplish. Is that satisfactory sir?”

The commander hesitated as he processed what the technician just said. “Yes that will do, I expect you and your team to personally run the simulation rooms. You will send a report to me every fifteen minutes detailing the squads’ progress, and allow them a more unrestricted load out short of their armour. Strak does not have radiation levels that would hamper or restrict weapon choice.” Commander Rogueboy said as he stood up to leave. “Oh and before I forget, Rukvek?” He continued.

“Yes sir?” Rukvek said as he groaned in his mind.

“I was instructed to let you know that you may find yourself rewarded should the training guarantee successful results while in mission, dare I say a boost in your budget to fund additional research?” The commander left the room leaving Rukvek with his thoughts.

Working throughout the night Rukvek had his team assembled and all the simulation rooms prepped when the first of the groups started arriving. They were meeting in an auditorium where the commander would give a speech detailing what was going on, than the teams would follow a technician to a room.

Rukvek hurried to the auditorium as he could hear the commander starting the announcement.

“You will each be assigned to a simulation room, where a member of our technical staff will load up a simulation that will hopefully gain you each some radiation trooper armour experience. I will be monitoring your progress and any I deem unsuitable will not be participating in the upcoming mission. You have your orders ladies and gentlemen I suggest you start filling them out.” As platoon commander Rogueboy left the podium the huge holoplate behind him broadcasted how the groups were to be split up.

The first group filed past Rukvek as a technical assistant carried a huge flimsiplast board with a huge black. “1.” Written on it.


OOC: The squad will start off in an urban radioactive environment, your objectives are to hold the city against an onslaught of NR troops while wearing rad trooper gear.

Marka, having only just arrived on Tadath, was late to the sim room, and was told that his group had already been ushered into their places. Of course, he thought, when does anything ever go smoothly? He was tired, physically worn, and borderline destroyed on an emotional level. And yet, there he was, back again. Violence therapy...
  The next few minutes passed by in a flash, and the newly-returned soldier only caught brief moments of it: being in a hurry, a grumpy looking fellow, a strange room and finally a needle. Everything else before the needle was blurry and unclear. And of course, being in such a hurry, he hadn’t been properly briefed on what he was getting himself in to. So, his expectations were just about as murky as the past few moments.

The distorted and tinny rustle of grass in the wind was a serene sound to wake up to, Marka found as his eyes crept open. He felt very different, and his vision seemed slightly off. Of the assumption that it was simply due to fatigue and whatever the needle contained, he waited for normality to return. But as the moments wore on, and his vision remained subtly distorted, something began to awaken in Marka’s mind.

Interesting... this feels like a rad suit...

And, lo and behold, it was exactly that. His previous run in the Raider squad had familiarised him with all sorts of environmental gear, which had included radiation suits. Of course, he’d not worn one for months, and had to take a few minutes to adjust himself. Stretching his limbs, and rolling onto his knees, Marka felt content with its fluidity. It was also about that time that he heard voices. Instinctively, he threw his right hand back over his shoulder to grab the hilt of his blade. Much to his dread, he felt nothing but air. A horrid sinking feeling washed over his insides... at least until his left hand bumped against the hilt at his side. It had to do, he thought, so he wrenched it from its sheath and held it out in front of him, stepping up to his feet quickly. A little too quickly, he admitted to himself as his head spun for a moment. Fortunately, his body did not betray him, and he fell into stance, blade perched high above his head, without fault.

“Easy now...” came a rough male voice, “we’re on your side here. Put the stick away.”
 
Marka didn’t recognise the voice. But then, even in all his time serving with the Empire, he’d really only been able to recognise a few select voices. It was enough, though, that whoever it was that had spoken was wearing the same rad suit as him. So, deciding upon friend, not foe, Marka re-sheathed his blade and stood at ease. It was then that he took account of his surroundings; suddenly the initial serenity of the place was banished. The air was thick with a sort of washed out haze, and a worn farm was off in the distance. Past that was a towering metropolis that had apparently seen much better days. Even from that distance, he could see the sides of buildings riddled with holes, some still smoking. One of the troopers had apparently already been making their way towards it, though they had stopped, presumably, at the voices... and the sudden materialisation of another troop in rad gear. The sudden influx of information, and the rapid adjustment that Marka had to make was somewhat overwhelming. But his thoughts were broken by a voice that did seem remotely recognisable.

“I’ve seen your stance before,” she said, her silky voice washing over Marka’s consciousness, “but for the life of me I can’t put my finger on it. What’s your name, soldier?”

Giving a tired salute, the newest soldier responded, “Sergeant Marka, ma’am.”

The woman made a strange movement, as if half of her wanted to move forward, and the other wanted to shoot backwards. It almost threw her off balance, it seemed. But she had a grace about her that wouldn’t allow her to be easily taken from her feet. Marka had certainly seen that before...

After sweeping the farmhouse quickly, the squad assembled in the main room; the room in which the corpse of the recently deceased New Republic soldier lay. It was crumpled awkwardly against the wall, one leg straight out in front, the other folded underneath the weight of the body. Not a graceful position to be found it, being somewhat propped up against a wall, sopping with blood and brain matter, with an almost artistic splatter mark behind it. It was a comforting sight to Marka, having seen nothing but the inside of ships and spaceports for over a week. He needed to make a considerable body count to properly get back into rhythm.

“I’ve got next kill,” he said, without a hint of playfulness to be heard.

One of the soldiers laughed; a female, and not the one who had spoken to him before. He knew that laugh too. But he couldn’t place it...
  Of course, the rest of the squad just stood there. Marka imagined their faces twisted behind their visors, sickened at the perverse interest he had taken in the appearance of the corpse. Though, if that was on their mind, they didn’t voice their thoughts. The one who laughed, however, seemed to keep her eye on him a little more often, he found. For what reason, he wasn’t sure; he also didn’t care much either. He had one thing on his mind after the first kill of the day: making his first kill of the day.
  His imagination suddenly raced with the idea of plunging his blade hilt-deep into an exposed chest. It sent chills across his skin. This could be a good day after all.

A few moments wore on as ideas were thrown around. Marka kept quiet mainly, knowing that, regardless of what plan was formed, he’d be killing people, and that was enough for him. Nothing like a bit of slaughter to start the day.

“We’ve not been given specifics,” one voice mentioned, “only that we are to defend the city. So, best bet is to head there as soon as we can. We have no idea where the enemy will be coming from, how many there will be, or for how long we are to defend against them, so I think we should go find the best positions we can.”

This was, of course, the first time Marka had even been told what the deal was with the whole simulation. The concept of defending against an attack was not his favourite; he’d much prefer to hunt the enemy down and wipe them out systematically. But orders were just that: orders. Defend it was. He took this moment to speak up, something he didn’t usually do a whole lot.

“There’s going to be more of them than there will be of us. I hope we’ve got a few combat engineers, or this is going to be very difficult,” Marka grumbled.

One or two of them nodded, though whether that was in agreement, or their way of saying that they were combat engineers, Marka did not know. Either way, they still had to defend the city. And time was wasting quickly.
  The female who had first spoken to him decided to take some action at this point.

“Right,” she said, letting out a deep breath before speaking, “time we get moving, yes? We’ll see what we can do when we actually get to the city. Until then, eyes alert, hands ready, and minds switched on please.”

That was about all everyone needed. Instants later, each member of the squad had filed out what was left of the door, and began advancing through the tall grass towards the city. The sun beat down on them, trapped inside their rad suits, and reflected off the windows of the far-off buildings. The haze grew in density as they approached. But all seemed reasonably well.

Marka wondered, though, just how long it would last.

Before they had entirely comprehended the situation before them, the New Republic soldiers were under a hail of fire. The first few of them dropped before they had a chance to even consider where they could take cover. But they outnumbered their assailants two-to-one, and the few at the back of the group darted back around the corner they had come from. This was, of course, awful news to Marka and each of his squad mates. Not only were their marks left alive, but on that same corner was a rather large building. If their enemy were smart (which Marka sincerely hoped they were not), they would retreat into the building, and head upwards, giving them a huge advantage. Plus, he thought, that cannot be all of them. There’s gotta be ten times that amount left.

There was still no movement, save the few dying twitches of those who had been shot. Luckily enough, Marka was tapped on the shoulder mid-thought. The woman next to him, who he knew only as ‘Lucky’, had apparently been thinking along the same lines. She tapped Marka’s chest-plate, then her own, and then curved her arm out to her right. The male soldier followed with his eyes and spotted an overturned bus on the opposite corner to where the NR soldiers had vanished. He nodded and took off, hearing her footsteps right behind him.
  She must have spoken to the other troops beforehand, as they broke away from the roadblock moments after. So, as they scurried away to less-exposed cover, Marka and Lucky reached the overturned bus. They hadn’t been fired at on their way, but really, they hadn’t expected to be.

“Inside, aren’t they?” Lucky asked, though not needing an answer. Marka simply nodded.

The two took a minute to weigh up the situation in their own minds before speaking aloud. They sat in silence as the wind began to pick up, and whipped around them. Yellowed papers rustled in small cyclones across the street, and the orange haze was now tainted with the earthy brown of dirt.

“Right. They’re inside. We are outside,” Lucky stated.

“And no doubt the rest of them heard the shots and are on their way,” Marka responded, peering down the road in front of him.

“We need to get in there quickly and quietly, get rid of them, and fall back to a more defensible position.”

“I counted two who got away. I can take them,” Marka suggested. He felt the familiar tingling in his hands, and the joints of his fingers. There was blade work that needed doing.

“There could be more. You’re not going in alone yet. I don’t know you, and I do not know what you can do yet. I am coming with you.”

Marka shrugged, and mentally decided to take the lead whenever possible, and try his best to make sure he notched up both kills. Plus, having a leader who wasn’t confident in his abilities was an inconvenience for Marka, as he always enjoyed the faith the Raiders put in him. If there was killing to be done, he’d be free to go about his business. And he was, of course, still standing to remember it. Nevertheless, he felt it would be a perfect opportunity to show her exactly how he operated; as a killer, and as a human being. Perhaps then she would understand.
  Marka nodded at her, and Lucky opened a comm to the rest of the squad, telling them of the plan for the next few minutes. Marka wasn’t paying attention to the conversation; he knew what he had to do. Instead, he was sneaking glances at the windows of the building they were after. So far, he’d not seen any change, any strange shadows. No sign of the enemy. But then, he didn’t believe he would. They couldn’t possibly be that incompetent.
  Very suddenly, a thought entered Marka’s mind of him standing over their shuddering bodies, having severed their hands. The idea of competency brought a crooked grin to his face.

“Are you listening, Sergeant?” Lucky’s voice rang in his ears for a second.

“Am now. What is it?”

“I will not be accompanying you into the building. For some reason, one of the other soldiers has requested to go in with you. Sergeant Namyr said you’d appreciate the request. God knows what she means,” Lucky trailed off, spotting Namyr weaving her way through cover toward their position. The two exchanged nods, and Lucky departed.

“If you leave again, I will kill you,” Namyr said coldly, “I’ll kill you very messily, and it will probably take a long time for me to clean the blood from my boots. But I’ll do it anyway.”

“Missed you too, Nams. Shall we?” Marka motioned towards the building.

The two broke from cover, zigzagging their way past the smoking corpses, taking note of the other-worldly haze seeping into the open wounds. From the mall at their backs, quick bursts of suppressive fire were directed at the windows of the building. Glass shattered and cracked, and showered the road in tiny crystals. Either the suppressive fire did its job, which was to stop the NR soldiers from turning their attention to the two bloodthirsty, sword-wielding soldiers about to enter the building and probably literally dice them, or they weren’t in the building at all. Marka hoped for the former, and he was sure Namyr did as well.

At the foot of the building was a whole lot of smashed glass, as was expected. The doors had apparently been shattered by who knows what, because the suppressive fire sure wasn’t aimed there.
  After assessing there was no immediate threat, the two carefully slinked inside, being cautious about the noise they made. After all, this seemed like a rather large building. They could be anywhere inside it; a hundred levels up, for all they knew. Or they could, of course, not be there at all. It was all up to chance. They decided on the most logical approach: sweep each level, kill anything that moves; Marka’s favourite approach.
  It took ten minutes and seven levels before any other sign of life was detected. Luckily enough, it seemed the suppressive fire had done exactly what it was supposed to. The New Republic soldiers were talking, and they were talking loudly. They may as well have been having an end-of-year fiesta, with all the attention they were drawing to themselves. But again, they probably hadn’t expected that there were two enemy soldiers with only a room and a hallway between them.
  Although Marka had apparently miscounted, as there were three voices coming from the room, it only added to the profound pleasure the next few minutes would bring. And, moments later, he was ready to burst down the door. Of course, it would prove only foolish to go in without some form of distraction, which was why Namyr was perched behind him, flashbang in hand.
  The next second, Marka had booted the door in and the grenade sailed over his head. The two were quick to avert their eyes, and once the clanging explosion was heard, they stormed in.

The three Republic soldiers had all been crouching behind some make-shift cover in the centre of the room; turned-over office tables, slabs of concrete that had fallen through the roof. When the door was kicked in, they had turned to face it, and stood. They were consequently blinded. Marka entered the room and stepped to the left, swinging his blade down and left, slicing across the chest of the first man. He fell without resistance.
  Namyr had stepped right and went old-fashioned: a quick jab through the chest. Another one down. His crumpled body fell backwards, back arched over an upturned desk, legs twitching beneath.
  The third soldier, still quite disoriented, was flailing about wildly with one arm, shielding his eyes with the other. His sense came back to him quickly, and he reached for his holstered weapon. Marka saw this as his first opportunity for brutality. He arced his blade upwards, slicing clean through the man’s wrist. His hand fell away to the floor, and he wailed in pain. He too fell backwards against the desk, his upper body suspended over the edge of it.

Namyr turned and left the room, mumbling as she went, “I do not want to see this.”

Marka shrugged to himself and stared down at the helpless soldier beneath him, still clutching his visor. He looked utterly pathetic; worthless. Edging his way around to the other side of the desk, the Vast Empire soldier stood parallel to the dangling torso before him. Then, with a swift and violent hack, he brought his blade down into the neck of his enemy, and severed his head and helmet from his shoulders. The head fell to the ground and rolled on its side, and as a final act of insult, Marka kicked it along the ground, out the gaping hole in the wall that was originally a window. And he watched it fall, cracking to the ground a few seconds later.
 
A calming rush broke through his body, and he finally felt a little at ease, but as his gaze made its way back up, he spotted an inconvenient sight; more Republic soldiers. There were three groups, looking half organised, advancing on the mall.

“Nams!” Marka called out.

“What is it?” she responded, shuffling quickly back into the room.

She saw them almost immediately, and hastily opened a comm channel with Lucky.

After adjusting to the 'sim' PFC Baraka Kodex had taken stock of how he was outfitted.  Standard Radtrooper Armor, 2 Concussion Grenades, 2 Frags, Stormtrooper Two Carbine, vibroblade, force pike, standard utility belt, survival kit with antiradiation drugs, repair kit for weapons & armor.  Slugthrowers?  Yes, full-auto pistols.  Interesting... he thought.  But a good idea as the heavy carbines eat ammo like no tomorrow. The armor feels right too.  The techs did a great job so far.

Tank also noted he and at least 2 other troopers had SoroSuub F-187 Fusion Cutters.  Good to know we'll be able to fix any veicles wwe can get our hands on. 



Most of the squad was in a mini-mall, picking off the odd Rebel Troopers that came in after us.  It was good to see everyone was making their shots count.

Marka & Namyr are in another building across the street.  Seeing a (for the moment) lull in the number of hostiles on his HUD, Tank was about to confer with Lucky when a burst of static hissed on the comm, followed by Marka "We got New Republic mechanized infantry incoming from the east road!  Looks like a KAAC Freerunner but I can't tell which model.  A few clicks behind that is a sqsuad of three, no, four AATs!"

"Tank, you're the vehicle expert.  Can we take those vehicles out?" Lucky asked.

"I've got a better Idea.  I'll need Alibek, Luna & Doriana.  Marka & Namyr; when the Freerunner is busy trying to blast through the barrickade we made, give them a distraction."

"What are you thinking, Kodex!?"

"Simple Sergeant.  We take take the Freerunner while its crew is distracted, then turn it's guns on the AATs."

"I like that plan.  Let's do it!" And with the Sgt's order, everyone moved efficiently into position as Lucky & Tank worked out the finer details.  Alibek & Doriana each took out a few NR stragglers on the way.

When the Freerunner took position to start blasting away the improvised roadblock, Namyr & Marka tossed a single concussion grenade each; detonating as they struck the vehicle's armored chassis they did no damage, but to the crew inside it was as devastating as flash-bangs!

"NOW!" the Sgt ordered.  Moving en masse like a single beast, the Stormtroopers swarm the motionless vehicle.  Using the fusion cutter, Tank swiftly opens the vehicle for the squad to commandeer.  Lucky & Tank dispatch the crew with a single bullet each.  With equal efficiency Alibek, Luna & Doriana handle the gunners.

Tank finishes his hasty repairs on the hatch in the nick of time.  As the AATs catch up to the Freerunner, Lucky turns the more agile vehicle to face the newcommers.

Alibek & Doriana tear into the first pair of enemy tanks with merciless abandon from the forward cannons.  When the smoke clears they resume firing, slagging the next pair!

"Good work people!  Don't get cocky!  Are we clear to pick up Marka & Namyr?"

"Negative, Sarge; looks like a couple of heavier tanks are coming up behind the building they're in.  A Rebel attack tank with a pair of T3-B heavy attack tanks." Tank said to Lucky.  "Damn!  The rockets on those are plenty nasty Sgt.  What's the Plan?"

Lucky considered her options. Thinking quickly, she gave LunaTick orders as she maneuvered the Freerunner along the building's north side.  Accelerating she spins the combat vehicle around; as the Freerunner's back end comes into the rebels' view LunaTick opens a mean spread of fire. 

Only one of the enemy tanks suffers minor damage, but we got their full attention!  The Freerunner is gone before they can turn.  Lucky guns the repulsorlift engine on the faster vehicle, taking just a few moments to circle the building.  Coming up behind the enemy tanks, Alibek & Doriana start blasting the two nearest tanks.

Pouring blasterfire into the missile magazines rewards the Stormtroopers with a pair of brilliant explosions!  As the third tank starts to accelerate in retreat, Marka & Namyr drop from a second floor window onto the retreating tank!

"Hold your fire!" Lucky shouts, not wanting Alibek & Doriana to blast squadmates.

Marka empties a whole clip from his heavy carbine blasting open the hatch; Namyr drops in, carbine in one hand & auto pistol in the other, killing the crew.  Marka hauls out the dead after Namyr strips them of any useful gear, then jumps in himself.

"Well, Lucky.  Now the fun begins!" Tank smiles under his helmet...

Lucky took Marka's words into consideration. They were doing fine with the tank , but Namyr had a good point.

"Everyone out! Now!"

The troopers who had joined her in the tank hastily left it.

"What's up?" queried Tanks.

"I was just in contact with Namyr and Marka, both will scout an area a little further off than we are. It was suggested that we make this place a little more defensible before going back into the tank. Whcih I agree with."

She looked at all the carnage around them. A lot of this could be used for strengthening their defenses. all the combat Engineers available were already at work. She took her fusion cutters and her portable welding torch and approached a mass of cars.

Using a few wooden beams to help wit hthe leverage, she moved a few cars away from the heap so it wasn't as high and positioned them side by side to start with, but then she went looking for more metal objects and stacked them on top of the cars. Using her fusion cutters, she cut the parts which stuck out of the makeshift barricade. She would weld them onto the other side of the barricade to reinforce the entire thing.

She climbed on top of the mound of destruction and jumped down on the other side. The loose pieces of metal she had just cut were already there, still smouldering but cooling down quickly. wit hher welding torch, she welded the bigger pieces to the weaker points in the structure and used the rest of the metal to build an extra layer of resistance. She scrambled back to the right side of the barricade and welded any loose pieces together. That was all she could do at the moment to strengthen their defenses. Suddenly,  a slew of blaster fire could be heard in the distance. She made her way back to the tank and slid in , hoping that their rough work was good enough.

Lucky watched the groups get to work. Tank walked over to two cars that looked alright considering the damage the others had sustained. namyr walked over to the tank, inspecting it for a good spot to put the explosives.

"I'd put some inside so that when the tank blows up, there are going to be some extra ammo firing at the enemy. There's still five hundred rounds in there for the machine gun."

"Good point." replied Namyr "I had not thought of that."

Lucky went to some of the cars and hoped there were still some fluids inside them. They could use some improvised explosives. She walked over to one of the mildly-damaged cars and ,wit hher fusion cutters, got the gas tank out from under the car. She moved over to the hood and lifted it, hoping to find all the extra liquids a car needed.

The gas tank was only a quarter-full so there was plenty of room still in there. She undid one of the small tubes that fed coolant to the endine and poured the coolant to mix with the gasoline. She looked around for a round, metal object to cap the explosive and found just what she was looking for beside a beat-up Chevrolet truck.

Once capped, she walked over to the tank and placed it in between the loading chmaber of the machine gun and the compartment taht held the remaining bullets.

Once it was secured, she closed the top if the tank and moved back to another car to repeat the same operation , instead of coolant though , she would use windshield washer and engine oil. Again , with a fusion cutter, she cut out the shape of the hole into the side of the car and carefully welded the contour of the metal piece to the other gas tank. This one she gave to Namyr and , Nams placed it on the right side of the tank.

One last bomb left to build

She went further down the street, and got the gas tank out of the car a little ways away from one that Tank was fixing up. For this bomb though, she left nothing out. She filled it to the brim with automobile fluids , capped it and placed it on the left side of the tank.

Finally, she got rid of all her grenades, taped them together with a belt she got from the engine of the first car she had used to build the explosives and set it at the very top of the tank in between two cracks where it would not fall. This would assure that they saw a great big freball and taht everything was demolished.

There would be no tank left, and the enemy defenses would be gone. having finished the job, Namyr walked off to find Marka and Lucky radioed Tank through a secure connection.

"Almost done?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"We're finished wit hthe tank and we're waiting on thise two cars."

"On their way."

She severed the connection and waited. A few minutes later, she heard a whirring sound and saw two cars slowly moving towards them.

Lucky's ears perked up in her helmet at the question. She thought it over for a few seconds before replying.

"It's nt just this building that the New Republic took. They're trying to take over the whole city, remeber? I think that Doriana should stay behind with Tank. They could keep watch over this are while we go on a little further. why don't you and Marka go up ahead and give us the clear, and we'll follow. The idea here is to free the whole city , isn't it? So let's get moving."

With that, the two Sergeants walked off while the rest of the group shuffled their feet, waiting. Not wanting to stand there like a statue forever, Lucky approached the smouldering heap of concrete.it was pretty big, it stood four feet over her, so the heap was bout ten feet high. It didn't look big, but you couldn't forget the fact that there was a bunker situated under there.  luna joined her and looked up at the sky.

"Weird, huh?"

"What?"

"Well, I wasn't expecting to land in this kind of environment."

"What were you expecting?"

"I dunno, something a little more space-like. Here it's like Tadath or the planet you hear about in the history books. You know, planet Earth."

"Well, we've never been on Earth so we don't know if what we read is true. What we read isn't always  true."

"Yeah..."

The small talk was broken by static replaced by Marka's voice.

"Lucky, we neutralised all enemy troops. You guys are clear to go."

"Copy that."

Turning to the rest of the squad, she waved her arm in a forward motion. "Let's move people!"

As the squad ran, she heard the Republic troopers' heavy boots behind them. They ran past the wrecked cars and tank, into the street in which they had fortified their defenses and closed off the smaal gap taht let them pass through with a large metal support beam Tank had found earlier. This would cut off the New Republic from the squad and buy the VE troopers a few moments to get organised more os than they were already.

Lucky looked up and down Namyr's armor. It looked pretty bad.

"Nams, I don't think the armour you're wearing can take may more hits. Which is why I strongly suggest you stay back with some of the new troopers when we'll have gooten rid of these rodents here."

"I probably will. I'll think about it."

They hunkered down behind the barricades and waited for the firing to stop. Everytime there was a pause, they would all break cover and fire off a few shots. Slowly, the NR troops were receeding.Soon, the squad was able to move around a little more and even, leave the safety of the barricades and go a little further down the road.

At one point, Lucky spotted a small odd-looking vehicle an NR trooper was driving.

"Guys, look."

Most of them turned to look at what she was pointing at while the rest of them kept firing.

"What is it?" asked LunaTick.

"It's obviously a vehicle of some sort, I've never seen it before." piped up Namyr.

"Whatver it is, we need to take a closer look at it."

"How?" asked Dorianan who had just joined them.

"Take out the driver and make sure no one approaches it until all the New Republic are dead."

"Good plan, Lucky. But how will we take out the driver?"

"A shot through the windshield."

"How are we going to do that? It's nearly impossible right now."

"Leave that to me, guys. Just try to make sure no one concentrates their efforts on me while I attempt to take him out."

As quickly as they had grouped to look at the vehicle, they went back to their positions and started firing at the enemy again. Meanwhiile, Lucky was looking through her scope and trying to figure out the easiest way to take out the driver. She moved sideways along the barricade and found another hole through which she could put the muzzle of her E-11 through.


Looking over the barricade and trying to look through her scope, she fired her weapon blindly and heard a cracking sound a second later.

"Good job, Lucky. You got him!" came a cry from Tank.

Sure enough, there was a small hole through the windshield and the driver was slumped in his seat.

"Now we just have to make sure they all stay clear of the vehivle. Let's finish'em off, guys."