“Orobos, Zolo, your with me. We’ll head back down toward the station and see if we can get our hands onto another armored vehicle."

"I'm following!" Zolos said as he followed Urakai across the street, divided in two parts, which kept a small distance between them. Suddenly the rioters reached them and Urakai was attacked by one first. The squad had time to realise it and turn to fight. Zolos quickly took his gun out and fired to the rioters that were using anything they could find in the street as a weapon, from guns to pieces of debris. Some of them were even throwing bombs made of alcohol.

Boy, they sure know how to riot the right way, he muttered as he picked a bomb and threw it back to them

I don't want to get killed by alcohol, do I?

“Take out the sniper!” Alater yelled. Zolos turned his gun and aimed quickly at a person who was peering out of a window. He was a few storeys up, and he was a danger to the squad. Zolos tried to kill him, but his shots missed a few inches away, as he had quickly turned his gun, which wasn't very practical for a successful killing. Urakai threw an alcohol bomb to the sniper. It blasted and sent the sniper into the building. A drop of blood splatted on Zolos' foot.

Just great.  A red mark on my armor.  Just what I wanted.

He heard the voice of Alater again.

“Quick, in here!”

Alater had entered a building. Zolos followed, taking 3 sets of stairs and going down a fire escape. While the squad was moving, an explosion was heard from inside the building they have just left.

Looks like they lit the bomb too early...

But a blast hit the wall, missing Zolos' head.

"The rioters are reaching us real fast! We gotta find cover and quick!" he shouted and hid behind an empry barrel.

Tank was still pretty sore from the recent 'accident' but he was sure nothing was broken so he simply worked thru his pain, using it.  As Lieutenant Robert Garner and SGT Solvona took half the squad, delegates & their reinforcements in one APC, SGT Orion & LCPL Tank took the controls of the 2nd APC with the rest of their contigent filing in.

Why in the Nine Hells did we abandon the Strikebreaker and the E-HWB Cannons? Tank wondered.  He knew better than to question orders in the field, especially under fire, but not knowing what his SL ans ASL were thinking and recent actions unnerved him.

"Urakai, I need you and Tank to clear us a pathe to the following coordinates!"

"You got it, Tasnus!"  "Alright, Tank, you heard the SL; Let's do this!"
With that Urakai's APC swiftly accelerated to the treaded vehicle's top speed, right into the mob!

Though slightly smaller than the Strikebreaker the APCs were easily twice the size of a TIE Mauler tank; screams of terror and threats of bloody vengeance are drowned out by the wet crunch of rioters under the APCs' treads, and merciless blasterfire from the Stormtroopers & local sodiers firing their weapons from the tiny gunports arrayed in neat rows along the APCs' sides!

Nearly half an hour of wanton carnage later, the pair of APCs reach the Beta Site!  Rioters stop short of the old Armory as it's massive gates close behind the APCs.  It should be impossible for the rioters to lay siege to the restored fortress, but only Time will tell.....

“Zolos, Gio, are you all right?” Tanus ask in the comlink, hoping for an answer.

“Yes sir!” Zolos laughed through the comlink, obviously finding it humorous, “Just Urakai having some fun with the launcher!”

Tanus relaxed in his seat a bit more and resumed his confident posture. Meanwhile, Zolos was quickly setting up the E-HWB while Gio was preparing to fire. Urakai, however, was lobbing grenade after the other, but ultimately wasn’t helping them with the crowd advancing on them.

“Hows that E-H’ gun going, guys!” Urakai asked, watching a launched grenade hit a man in the forehead and bounce off into the crowd.

“Almost done!” Zolos respond as he and Gio quickly loaded it.

Waves of rioters were at full pace after them, throwing metal pipes and other things that they could get their hands on. They were lucky the rioters were such bad shots, or else they’d already be frying and at the mercy of the ones that actually had blasters. Suddenly, the Strikebreaker circled around and swept over a wave. The hovering repulsorlifts force them all to the ground, if not, crushing them against each other.

“Go!” Zolos yelled.

As soon as this was said, an enormous array of blaster fire swept down, mowing everything in its path. Urakai quickly got behind Gio as he began to do a 360 degrees sweep. As he was doing this, rioters suddenly gripped Urakai and Zolos from behind. Urakai desperately tried to reach his vibro sword but failed. Using his legs, Zolos quickly hit a man in the head, stopping him from reaching Gio, but how long would that last?

Suddenly the Strikebreaker was heard behind them and the hovering breeze confirmed it. Then blaster shots were heard, ripping through the air and mowing down a load of rioters behind them all. Quickly breaking free, Urakai grabbed his sword and spun around, gashing one man in the throat and piercing another through the heart. While also firing his own blaster to help Urakai out, Zolos quickly pushed with Gio to turn the E-HWB around.

“Drop!” Gio yelled out at Urakai.

Knowing his intentions, Urakai quickly fell onto his back, letting his hands and armour absorb the shock. As Urakai fell to the ground, he looked up and saw half a clear blue sky and half a massive dark wave of clouds. It was a magnificent moment for a while, but then red blasts suddenly brought him back. Blasts ripped overhead of him, burning, exploding and mangling corpses.

Once it was finished, Urakai slowly got to his feat and looked around. In the roadblock area, bodies were littered everywhere he walked. A few stragglers could be seen running off in another direction. Others were just fleeing the blasts from the Strikebreaker. Urakai was a little deaf from the roars of the E-HWB but it soon returned to him. From the ravaged roadblock emerged two stormtroopers, walking out slowly to take a good look at the scene. As the strikebreaker roared to a stop, the hatch was opened. Urakai helped Gio and Zolos pack up the E-HWB before going over to where his squad was gathering, just outside of the strikebreaker.

“Took you all long enough.” Alater said with a grin.

“Looks like we arrived just in time to me.” Tanus replied with humour, “Alright, Alater, Gio and Urakai, head back down that road and retrieve the tank. We’ll need it for later on. Orobos, come with me, we’ll go and get some information and updates of the situations around the city. Garryll and Tank, guard the strikebreak. Let’s go.”

As Orobos jumped out of the strikebreaker and Garryll jumped in, Alater, Gio and Urakai headed down the street at a jogging pace. Their armoured boots clanked on the hard road as they ran down. On either side of the street were smashed windows or burning buildings.

One thing Urakai noticed was a small girl about the age of six or seven hanging out of a window, “This place really went to hell…”

“Yeah, and we’re right in the middle of it.” Alater responded.

As they neared where the tank was, small bangs and shouts could be heard.

“Come on, didn’t we just clean up this mess?!” Gio cursed under his helmet.

They were soon under the cover of the tank, but as they looked over it, sixty to seventy rioters could be seen from the outside of the prison complex. Some humans and other races could be seen in green suits, obviously prisoners.

“This is not good.” Gio said, quickly pulling his head back down.

“Well, at least they can’t see the tank over the rubble.” Urakai responded, trying to be optimistic.

They both could see Alater bore a grim face as he brought his comlink up to his mouth, “Tanus. They’re back at the prisons. Seems like while we were gone they overpowered the guards and militia forces there. Prisoners are escaping, but we have the tank. What do you want us to do?”

As Alater said this, the clouds above were directly over of them, leading to a massive downfall of dark, heavy rain.

Gates fingered the trigger guard of the set-up E-HWB, Tank on the other gun.

"I hate baby sittn'," grumbled the trigger-happy sergeant. "It's like R & R with no damn sleep."

Tank threw a look over. "Least we're not getting shot at," he said optimistically.

"That's, 'Least we're not getting shot at, sir," corrected Gates sarcastically.

"Right, sarge," Tank replied, a grin in his voice.

At that point, the rain started. Gates tapped into the local command channels. The militia were inconsistent; uptown, they held on to the major police stations and prisons and armories, but downtown was a hell. The forces were spread thin and had little to no support.

Already, a trio of small prisons and the large prison that had been the focal point of resistance had fallen. But the stormies were back, and they had a tank...

Gates found himself drifting off at the buzz of communication, then shook himself awake. "Sarge," said Tank behind him, "I've got a few contacts."

Gates looked at his scanners. "Damn. If they take this tank we might as well kiss our asses goodbye. Range?"

"200 meters and closing slowly. Looks like a looter crowd mixed with the fanatics."

"Copy. Gimmie some cover, I'm settin' up a mine field. Move the Striker back a few yards, give 'em one way to come to us."

"yes sir," the lance copied, ran over to the pilot's seat, and started fiddling with the controls; the StrikeBreaker moved a few yards back into small parking lot in front of an abandoned warehouse. Gates hopped out, grabbing a crate of grenades and remote dets.

He ran to the mouth of the lot, and strung together a few dozen grenades, then stuck a detonator to them and threw them into the street. He did this four times, then dropped a couple more on the way back.

"Tank, man that gun. And help me move this one."

The two soldiers snapped the E-HWB apart, moving the gun to the side of the strikebreaker facing the street.

Gates manned his gun, and Tank did the same on his. Finally, the looters came around the corner, spotted the tank, and started firing some slug throwers and blasters. "Let 'em have it, corporal," Gates ordered, firing his gun, and carefully watching his datapad that depicted the locations of his grenade mines....

Alater eyed the few remaining prisoners as they tried to bolt between the monster of a tank and the wall that had been made by its entrance into the courtyard. The heavy machine gun mounted atop the tank unleashed a roaring storm of blaster bolts into the bodies of fleeing detainees. None of them lasted very long, and the courtyard was nearly empty when Alater noticed a sort of rumbling coming from the insides of the small compound. The prisoner's cages must have failed.

"The birds are out of the cage!" Alater barked down into the interior of the tank.

The response was a series of muffled curses and some scuffling as Giovanni removed himself from the driver's spot to give command of the vehicle over to Urakai. Gio emerged from the hatch of the tank, Taserstave in hand.

"What you wanna do Alater?" Gio asked the ASL as he cranked up the setting on his weapon.

"We've got to secure that prison. One riot with one purpose is one thing, but two separate mobs is not my ideal Hunt. Moving inside we have the complete advantage with both our armor and our tactics. No mercy, put them all down." Alater said, powering his own weapon as he lept from the armored vehicle.

Gio and Alater sprinted to the main entrance to the prison, doors that seemed to be caving from the inside as if somebody was making a half-hearted attempt to break it but had recently stopped. Alater watched as Urakai moved the tank into a position that would allow for the one man crew to eliminate any sort of opposition that might escape. With a nod to Gio, Alater slammed his huge shoulder through the door.

Immediately the two stormtroopers spread out to cover the most area. Small waves of prisoners made cautious attacks against the two men, but their advanced armor made any sort regular melee attack pointless and their Taserstaves, set to kill, swept aside the would-be assailants. As they stormed through the small building, a more organized force seemed to gather in small three or four man groups to attack them from afar to no avail. Small arms fire bounced off their armor from such longer ranges, the weapons obviously confiscated from the overrun prison security.

Now moving on opposite sides of the prison, each on the second level, Alater and Gio were making considerable progress against pacifying the prison when a large blast of the main tank's gun cut through the small group that had gathered in the lower floor of the prison. Obviously somebody had thought that attacking the main gun of a large tank was a smart idea. Somewhere his ashes were floating in the sky. Alater motioned for Gio to continue just as he cracked open the skull of another pitiful scum.

Tanus put down the radio and turned around the Zolos and Orobos: both their armor and their weapons looked like they’d been thrown into a mud pit. It was caked with a combination of dirt, carbon scoring and blood. He was proud of all of them; for a first mission, this had been hell, but they did very well. He put his helmet back on and grabbed his rifle. The others quickly followed suit. Tanus commed in to Alater.

“Alater, its Tanus. Listen to me. There is a lot more going on that we need to handle, specifically City Hall, which is currently being over run. If this keeps up, we’ll have to pull the plug on this mission before the week ends, maybe even in the next few days. When you’re done in the prisons, I want you to take the tank over to the security depot near the prison and leave it there. We’ll pick you three up in the Strikebreaker when you’re all set.”

Tanus heard a hiss, followed by gunshots and a muffled scream.

“You got it. See you in thirty.”

Tanus nodded. He motioned for the others to hurry up. The distance between the outpost and the Strikebreaker was just under a kilometer, and Tanus had a feeling that they would run into some trouble before long. He kept his rifle poised and ready, the shoulder stock wedged into his armpit. He had left his R-88 in the Strikebreaker; he figured since social order had all but broken down at this point, what was the point in keeping another gun on him? They ran back to the Strikebreaker, stopping every so often to take up cover just in case there were any rioters around. After about thirty seconds, they moved out and advanced another 50 feet. Eventually, they came within sight of the Strikebreaker, but what Tanus saw he didn’t like: it was surrounded. He radioed in to Alater:

“Alater, its me. Get the tank to where the Strikebreaker is. We have a slight problem, in the form of a large circle of angry rioters. We could use some backup.”

A small bit of static followed by a hiss confirmed that the message had gone through.

“Aye, you got it. We’re coming down now. Expect us soon.”

Tanus knelt down and got behind a stone barricade. He raised his rifle and looked to his left and right; Zolos and Orobos had taken up similar positions. He flipped the switch on his rifle to ‘single’ and looked down the sight. He got a rioter in his crosshairs and pulled the trigger. A bolt sailed into the back of his head, and he dropped to the ground. At that point, the back row of rioters saw Tanus and the others. They started to move toward him. Tanus them switched the rifle to ‘full auto’ and took aim. A got up and started moving back. He started firing selective bursts into the crowd, dropping rioters in groups of four at a time. He slammed a new power pack into his rifle as he started to move back, but soon found himself against a wall. He shouldered his rifle and took out his taser stave and ignited it; it didn’t seem to faze any of the rioters. They kept getting closer and closer, and Tanus felt the occasional hit of a rock against his armor. Just as they were about to close in, the tank appeared to Tanus’ right. He looked over and sighed in relief. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to see Tanus. The tank’s main cannon leveled at the group. Tanus swore as the cannon fired, launching an orange projectile into the crowd. The shockwave knocked Tanus into the air and several feet back, skidding across the ground. He came to a halt and opened his eyes as he saw someone getting out of the tank. He blinked his eyes and saw that Gio had propped him up against the wall; Tanus also noticed that his helmet had been blown off. Gio handed him the helmet.

“Looks like you had fun. Did you bring home something for the kids?” he asked sarcastically.

Tanus merely scoffed. “Just get the tank to the outpost and meet us at the Strikebreaker. We’re going to city hall and then to the delegates.”

Tanus walked over to the Strikebreaker and took his seat at the controls and powered up. He waited for the others to get there. After about five minutes they took their positions and Tanus lifted of into the twilit sky.



They arrived at the city hall, where rioters and corpses controlled much of the street. Tanus brought the Strikebreaker in low enough to survey the situation. It was the typical scene that they had been to all before, with the exception that the Town Hall had a pretty well set up defense, with various antipersonnel and anti-vehicle turrets set up in banks of three. The doors were closed and guarded by several marines, while two tanks were off to the sides, blocking the street entrances from being breached. Tanus counted at least five hundred soldiers in the area. The shouting was beginning to him. He turned to the others.

“Well gentlemen, it’s been one hell of a day, but we finally did it. Lets head to the delegates and do what we came here for. We can get some rest too.”

Tanus blasted off towards the complex where the delegates were staying. He landed the Strikebreaker on the roof and walked out with the rest of the squad. A soldier with a rather large rifle stopped them. Another soldier took him by the shoulder and pulled him aside:

“Don’t worry. They’re with us; they’re the guard detail.”

Both nodded to him and Tanus nodded back and had the others follow him inside. They went down several flights of stairs before coming to their floor. When they walked out the door, Tanus saw three guards raise their guns towards the squad. Tanus removed his helmet and put it aside.

“Relax. We’re here to relieve you guys for the time being. Take your gear and head downstairs for new orders.”

The men obliged and walked by them without a word. Tanus then turned to the squad and spread his arms out.

“Gentlemen, this is where we’ll be staying. Now, we’re going to have guard duty in shifts of two, and we’ll switch off every four hours. The staff will bring food for us. There are beds in the room to the right, and the desk is the main security checkpoint. Urakai and Gio, you two are up first. As for the rest of you, grab some rest. Alater and Zolos will be the next shift, followed by Orobos, Tank and myself. After that, we’ll see what needs to be done in the morning after we talk to them. I don’t really feel like doing do right now. Dismissed.”

Tanus grabbed his helmet and walked into the room. There were several cots waiting for them, and while Tanus knew that it wasn’t five-star living, he also knew it was better than sleeping in the Strikebreaker. He took off his armor, but kept his weapons in arms reach. Then he sat down and laid back and closed his eyes. Within minutes, he was fast asleep.

Orobos awoke at the sound of Gio and Urakai coming in from their shift. He heard Zolos groan slightly and get up. Alater was up and moving towards the door making to sound apart from his talons tapping on the marble floor. He heard the door shut and the clacking of armoured feet faded away as the pair walked further down the corridor. Orobos drifted back off into a light sleep.

An hour or so later Orobos woke again. The fires still burning outside caste a flickering light into the room as well as the dim lights out in the hall which shone in under the crack in the door. Orobos dragged himself out from the bed and stood up rubbing his eyes the the hell of his hand.

He walked out of the room and down the hall to find something to eat. His armour sat swinging awkwardly from his frame and his E-11 hanging loosely from it's holster. He had his helmet in one hand. He reached a large room which had been converted into a temporary mess hall for the amount of officers keeping guard.

There was no one else in the room but there was some light coming from an open door. Orobos walked through to find a dozen or so people in chefs uniforms. One of them stood up grabbing for a large knife but then realised it was a Stormtrooper.

"Hey," Orobos said to the man,"Can I get anything to eat?"

The man nodded. He grabbed a large ladle and dished out some soup from a large dish. It contained some meat and some sort of local mushrooms. Orobos sat with the staff and ate his meal before returning to the stormtroopers room. He passed Alater who just blinked at him in response to his hi.

Orobos walked in trying to be as quiet as possible managing not to wake any of his squad-mates. He sat back down and rolled over trying to get back to sleep.

Zolos woke up at the sound of footsteps approaching. He out up, stretched and wore his armor. He got out of the room and went with Alater to the stairwell. It was quiet. Very different from the battle they had earlier. But the building wasn't necessary dark because of the night. Bright lights filled every spot. The building would be bright always, no matter if it's day or night, its inside was always in a white color.

It was raining. The rumble of the rain outside wasn't helping Zolos stay awake. He didn't have all his sleep today, just like the Academy. Fortunately, nobody came from the stairs, so all he had to do was just standing there.

After his shift was over, he went up the stairs and followed the corridor where their room was. He went past it to see if he could find something to eat. As he was walking slowly, he came accross a man.

"Hey, is there any food available now?"Zolos asked him.

"Yes, follow me", the man replied.

He guided Zolos in a relatively big room with a lot of tables. Zolos took a seat near the exit and the man entered a door. After a few minutes, he returned with some soup. It was warm and it looked delicious, so Zolos ate it all in a few minutes. The soup was very different than he used to eat but, it had a good taste and Zolos was pretty hungry, so he didn't have much choice.

Then he went back to the room they were staying.  He took off his armor and took a piece of cloth and rubbed it for a while. Then he put it near his bed and went to bed, slowly dozing off.

Giovanni was woken up by the scuffle and he wasn’t happy. If it wasn’t for the fact that tank had damn near flipped his cot over trying to wrestle this mysterious figure, he’d probably still be asleep.

By the time his vision had come back into focus and he had yawned and stretched a handful of times, the interrogation had already begun. Urakai was also awake in the cot adjacent to his. He also looked beat.

The captive man, still clad in a chef’s uniform was holding his arm, which lay limp across his side. No doubt, Tank had gone to work on him.

Tanus, Alater, Tank and Gates were all facing the newly-made prisoner of war, guns in hand, and eager to dish out punishment if they were met with even the slightest hint of resistance.

Giovanni yawned one last time, and looked over to Urakai as he headed out, presumably to get a bite to eat. The sergeant closed the door behind him, to keep prying eyes out of the room. The sounds of the fight had attracted a few soldiers as well as some staff from the dining commons.

Giovanni’s attention switched back to the interrogation and Alater, who he could tell was having an immensely hard time keeping himself from ripping this man’s windpipe in one calculated swipe of his claw. Tanus on the other hand was keeping his composure: the trademark of a good squad leader. After all, someone had to keep a level head.

“Just kill me now,” spoke the chef. “If I tell you a thing, the boss will kill my family.” His eyes started to well up with water and his bottom lip began to quiver.

“Chief, if you don’t tell us right now who you put up to this, we’ll send a couple star destroyers and blow up your whole city.” Giovanni towered over him and summoned his most menacing tone. He was totally bluffing, but in his heightened state of fear, the chef bought it. He broke down and confessed it all.

“Well, that was easy,” He scoffed and stumbled half-asleep to his cot, put on his boots and holstered a pistol. “I’m gonna get some chow and find Urakai.”

His squad leaders nodded, but the rest hardly paid any attention. They were too busy jotting down names and addresses. Whoever had put him up to the task of delivering this deadly message to Blackjack squad was obviously a little peeved and had taken notice of the dust this group of storm troopers was kicking up all over town. This crime boss was trying to use threats and coercion to sway the delegates. Gio and the rest of Blackjack, however, had other ideas. Now with the situation almost under control, the Boss’ only chance was to eliminate the urban warfare squad and plunge the capital city back into chaos.

-------------------------

The crowd outside the door of their room had been cleared long ago. The few soldiers and staff members that were enjoying a mediocre meal of soup and bread had long ago returned to their posts, back to the street level where the wreckage of cars and all other types of debris sat smoldering, partially extinguished by the torrential downpour that had, for the moment, let up.

Giovanni walked into the dining commons and sat down, placing his head in his hands. Someone walked up, placed a bowl of soup in front of him, and walked away after a few moments, apparently annoyed at the stressed soldier’s lack of manners. He lifted his head up and looked down at the soup, moving his spoon through it, trying to decipher just what the hell was in this bubbling liquid.

He looked around, saw no-one. “that’s funny,” he said slowly to himself. He brought a spoonful of the soup up to his lips and stopped himself when a sound coming from the stairwell outside caught his attention.

He put the spoon down and turned just in time to see a pair of legs kicking frantically, clad in the black fatigues of the VE, being dragged up the stairs. With no regard for anyone’s safety, including his own, he leapt up over his table and knocked down the bowl of soup. As he approached the door, some thug with a club in his hand stood between Gio and his exit out of the mess hall.

The two made eye contact, and the thug, some humanoid species with burn marks across the left side of his face brought the club down. Giovanni tried to sidestep, but wasn’t fast enough as the club made contact and brought a dull, burning pain to his right shoulder. He had struck first, but this left the thug wide open. Giovanni slipped his left arm under the man’s left armpit, and secured an underhook. A swift hip throw followed by a strike to the temple put the thug out of commission.

He ran up the stairs as fast as he could, with the sounds of Urakai’s struggling and the shuffling of footsteps seemingly just out of his reach. He didn’t want to even think about what could happen to his fellow squad member if they didn’t get him back. Prisoners of war weren’t always treated with love and respect.

His thighs felt like they were about to explode, but he pushed on and made it to the top floor of the city hall. He searched frantically but saw no-one. They had gotten away.

The whispers of the city: the crackling of the fires, the distant pops and hisses of blaster fire, the dull thump of concussive grenades…

It all sounded off ominously.

Gates readied his rifle, following second in line of the stromtroopers as they ran towards the delegates' quarters. The building was across a road. "Sergeant, get that APC that was in the main hanger. And get it now, we need to RV with Tank, Orobos and Zolos pretty soon with the strikebreaker!"

"On it Chief!" The junior non-com ran back, tapping a couple of MP's on the shoulder and a couple men in the uniforms of pilots. The five men made their way to the hanger, where Gates directed the pilots to the APC and two armed speeders, and the MP's to mount the speeders' turrets. He climbed into the APC's turret.



"Pilot! Here are the co-ordinates of the delegates, get us there ASAP!"

"Copy, sir."

The three vehicle convoy sped out of the hanger, then took a sharp turn to the delegate's private building. The APC screeched to a halt, and the other stormtroopers piled in. Several of the delegates close-in body guards also joined the party, taking seats in the speeders, having realized the elite stormtroopers were much better armed and armored and all-around capable of protecting their charges.

Tanus tapped the pilot on the back of his helmet. "Here's the place we're meeting the rest of our squad, get us there."

"Yes, sir!" The pilot nodded. The two speeders took up escort positions, and the rest of the squad readied weapons for an inevitable fire fight.

Gates fingered the triggers of the APC's turret, awaiting more orders.

Tanus sighed under his helmet; his comm was off and he saw the others shuffling about the Strikebreaker, getting systems ready and weapons armed, reestablishing shield cover in the battered areas. Tanus saw Daesha and LK on two separate gun turrets; Alater was manning the grenade launcher, swinging it back and forth, keeping their starboard side covered. He turned back to the HUD on his main board and gave it a look: they were coming up on the main command center in about 5 minutes. Tanus heard a slight beep come from his right. He pressed a few buttons and a small hologram of General Halcor appeared before him.

“Sergeant, I understand you’ve lost one of your men. I’m sorry.”

Tanus grimaced beneath his helmet; he hadn’t expected the loss of Urakai to come down the line so soon.

“Thank you General. It’s appreciated. Now, I’m guessing you wanted to tell me something, so with all due respect, what is it?”

Tanus heard shuffling on the other end, and someone handed Halcor a piece of paper; from the reaction, Tanus could tell it was big news. He looked back up and appeared somber.

“I have news regarding your lost soldier. It seems he was kidnapped by the rioters and is being held for ransom. Apparently, they will let him go if the delegates leave the planet. But as always, I don’t buy it. If you want to see your friend again, I’d recommend you go to pay the rioters a visit now.”

Tanus was absolutely speechless; at least he knew that Urakai was alive, albeit most likely not in the best of shape. He was scrambling at the controls, getting ready to lock in coordinates.

“When did you get this information?” Tanus asked exasperated. He was for the most part dumbstruck, unable to move.

“We got the ransom holo about ten minutes ago. We triangulated the position to an abandoned warehouse about 6 miles from where we are. We’ve already sent out two APCs to aid you in your rescue, one of them being overhauled for medical duty. We’re sending an additional twenty troops to back you up. I’m guessing you’ll be using your own men for this op, so my men will act as a security force around the perimeter. Beyond that, it’s totally up to you. I’ll transmit the coordinates now.”

Tanus looked at his screen and saw coordinates light up the screen. He hit the autopilot and turned to the squad.

“Men, last night, we lost one of our own. But now, we have a chance to get him back. We’re going after Urakai now. Lock and load.”



Tanus landed the Strikebreaker next to the set up APCs. There were two E-WEBs set up, and each trooper was wearing heavy armor and had an equally as heavy looking rifle. Tanus got up and grabbed his E-11/F; his R-88 was going to do no good here. As he stepped out, Alater and the others closely flanked him. He walked up to the commanding officer, a human in a gray military uniform.

“We’re Blackjack squad, Genral Halcor sent us here. Our friend is inside. My rules are simple: stay back, keep our vehicle safe, and when we get our friend out, keep him alive. Do you understand?”

The human nodded. “Thos were our orders from the beginning. Good luck sergeant.”

Tanus turned to his men. “Gentlemen, I don’t need to give a speech; you know what needs to be done. Shoot anything that moves. When we get Urakai, get him out here and onto the MedEvac; we’ll cover them from the air. Both of these APCs are armed, so ground threats will be left up to them. Depending on how serious his wounds are, we’ll move him offplanet and back to Tadath. Let’s get moving.”

Tanus ran forward behind a brick wall and peered around. When he saw no one there, he waved the squad forward. Their weapons raised, they moved in towards the main gate. Just as they were about to open the doors, blaster and projectile fire scattered the ground in front of them. Tanus dove for cover and watched as rioters started from the doors and blown out windows. Tanus set the weapon to burst fire and pulled the trigger, sending out a three burst shot of blaster fire. His target went down, and soon many others followed as Blackjack squad opened fire from all directions. When all were down, Tanus moved towards the door. He waved Garryll forward; Garryll placed a charge on the door and primed it, stepping back. Tanus moved behind a wall and waited for the explosion. It came soon after, blasting the door apart. Tanus turned off the wall and into the room, turning on his helmet light and looking around.

There wasn’t anyone around, but it was incredibly dark; the only other light in the room was the light coming from the other Blackjacks. He looked up and saw stairs that lead up. He waved the squad forward. He made his way up the stairs, being sure to keep his movements and sounds to a minimum. When he got to the top he ordered the squad to fan out. He peered down the hallway, and saw nothing there – at first. Out of the corner of his eye, Tanus saw a gleam in the darkness, but it was Alater who saw the most clearly.

“GET DOWN!” he roared. As he did, a grenade came whizzing past Tanus’ head and off the stairway, landing and an earth-shattering explosion rocked the decrepit warehouse. Tanus turned back and set his weapon to full auto, sending waves of blaster fire down the hallway. Soon, the others were joining in, and a symphony of death engulfed them, lighting up the halls with dazzling red light. Tanus saw shadows among the bursts and saw each of them fall. Tanus charged forward and turned into a room, his weapon poised and ready. The room was dark and dank, and clanks of old rusted metal could be heard everywhere around him. Gio turned into the room and Tanus turned around.

“Tanus, we’ve got something. You may want to give it a look.”

Tanus walked out of the room and looked down the hall. He saw a small amount of light at the end of the hall. That wasn’t there earlier… Tanus thought. Just as he made his way forward, there was an earth-shattering explosion and the building began to shake. When he looked back, fire was raging in the main room and the ceiling was starting to crumble. Tanus swore and started to run. “MOVE!” he shouted. The squad sprinted towards the light. When they got out, they were standing on a catwalk, and beneath them stood a very large number of angry rioters with guns pointed at them. Tanus took up his rifle and fired. Red blaster bolts sailed into the crowd. Tanus ran along the catwalk, firing from side to side, trying his best to keep the rioters down. When he got to the other end, he stuck the rifle out the door and crouched down, giving the men some cover to run for. Alater and Garryll were tossing grenades into the crowd as they ran, and when they all got to the other side, Tanus and Gio got up and started to fire heavily into the crowd. As Tanus turned to move, Gio stayed.

“You go on ahead. I’ll be with you in a bit. I want to teach these twits a lesson they won’t soon forget.”

Tanus nodded and ran forward to the squad. They were already off at full sprint, but Tanus could still hear the faint sounds of Gio’s rifle and the screams coming from outside. Not soon after, Gio caught up with them, and the Blackjacks were racing through the facility at a breakneck speed. Any rioters they found were soon dealt with. At this point, they had been in the warehouse for almost an hour, and Tanus was starting to get anxious. If Urakai was already dead... Tanus soon chased the thought out of his head. Urakai was alive; he was sure of it.

The group soon came to a door, locked by three separate locks and barred shut; yelling and hard hits could be heard from inside. Tanus turned to Orobos and nodded. Orobos walked forward and kicked the door, but it didn’t budge. He did it again, and still it didn’t move. Then Alater stepped up next to Orobos, and both of them planted a swift stomp on the door, snapping it off the hinges and crashing to the floor. A man looked up, surprise on his face, and on a chair bound behind him, was Urakai. He looked no worse for wear: both of his eyes were bruised, blood was dripping out of his nose, and guessing from the bruises on his sides, Tanus assumed he had some cracked or broken ribs. The man raised his pistol and as he was about to fire, Tank planted a shot between his eyes. LK walked over to Urakai and unbound his hands. He got up and started to rub them.

“Looks like I’ve missed quite a bit. But we can talk later. Right now I’ve got some broken ribs that need attending to.”

Urakai picked up the pistol from the dead man and nodded. Tanus nodded to Zolos in turn, who gave his support to Urakai, enabling him to move a little bit faster. Tanus turned around and looked out the door to his left or right. Then he walked out, followed by Zolos and Urakai, then by Alater, Gio and Tank; LK, Daesha and Orobos took up the rear. Tanus kept his weapon ready. The Blackjacks had managed to get into the warehouse, and they got Urakai. Now all they had to do was get out.

LK-486, Tank and Daesha slammed fresh blaster packs into their E-11/F rifles as they formed a line on Tanus' right flank, Tanus helping Urakai to walk.  Gio, Garryll and Orobos took positions to Tanus' left as Alater took point ahead of Tanus and Zolos took rearguard position.

Moving as an armored block the troopers mainly used rapid shot for suppressing enemy fire.  The rioters were foolishly high on courage, breaking cover to fire on the squad, only to get blasted as one or more Stormtroopers drilled them with rapid shot blasterfire until the dropped!

A band of rioters were using metal drums of volatiles as cover; Zolos exploited their tactical error with a single sniper shot to the central barrel...

*KA*BOOM* disintegrating body parts blazed a short trajectory as part of the warehouse collapsed, trapping and killing more rioters inside.  The troopers unrelentingly doled out death and destruction in all directions.  There was no mercy.

Finally reaching their backup at the APCs and the Strikebreaker after what felt like an erternity on carnage, the squad made for the medical APC as the other troops efficiently gunned down all the rioters foolish enough to persue BlackJack.

Tanus carried Urakai onto the APC, staying with his massively wounded soldier her ordered Alater to take the rest of the squad in the Strikebreaker as planned.

The other troops loaded into the APCs as the Stormtroopers boarded their Strikebreaker.  In a tight formation the Strikebreaker and APCs spen to the secure army base at top speed, gunners obliterating any resistance they encountered...

Orobos brought his hand up to shield his face as the barrels exploded. He'd been crouched down firing into the rioters and was closest to the explosion. He felt the extreme heat on his face. The hair on his hands had been burnt and he had fallen back from the force.

Garryll half pulled him, half dragged Orobos up as they made the mad rush to the perimeter pushing there way through small, blockades which were in shambles. Some rioters who had been caught somewhere in and out of the explosion were in sitting positions cradling severe burns on the arms and faces. The squad sent shots in the directions before they could recover if they were ever going to.

They were in open ground now and didn't pause to fire, ignoring the pot shots that spattered off their armour. They kept their heads down and ran to the nearest piece of cover they could find supporting Urakai as best they could. Once they reached the crates did they chance a look around.

Swarms of rioters from the half-collappsed,burning building were heading their way as well as from what appeared to be a large ammo dump. Equipped with long ranged weapons and some with armour their fanatical resolve had strentghened and they were charging headlong at the squad ignoring the amount of people being shot down by the stormtroopers and the local police force.

An APC drew closer and a Sergeant of the local police force jumped out and motioned to them to get in panic plastered on his face. Urakai moved towards the APC supported by Zolos and Gio the rest of the squad held back until they reached the open door an provided suppressing fire. Once they were safely away the rest of Blackjack squad moved forward and mounted up the door closed but didn't block out the furious screeches of the rioters. The vehicle turned and started moving back towards the perimeter.

Finally the Strikebreaker and cluster of APCs made it to the Army Hospital!  Constant laser blasts kept a small safety zone (enough to maneuver) around the vehicles.  AT-STs and AT-RTs were keeping the mob at bay, unable to reach the Hospital itself.

Mutilated corpses and random body parts were everywhere.  As they approached an transmited their clearnce codes the walkers blocking the main gate stepped aside to admit the APC/ambulance carrying Urakai and other wounded.

Tanus surveyed the situation; some of the turrets on the Hospital's perimeter were not operational.  There was a real possibility theses scout walkers could be eventually overwhelmed.

"Okay team!  It looks like we'll have to earn our caff break today!  Let's clear out these crowds!"  With the Strikebreaker leading the charge and the APCs  following in an orderly formation, advanced on the nearest mob!

The Strikebreaker scattered them and the APCs finished them off.  After using all guns (the Morter was out of ammo) to widen the clearing they had made, the Strikebreaker turned right to move onward; moving in a large circle, counter-clockwise, the Strikebreaker and APCs systematically retook block after block of blasted urban landscape.

Hours later the area was secured for a six-block radius from the Army Hospital.  Checking in Tanus got good news!  Not only were the wounded troops we brought back going to make it, but the delagates' talks were nearing completion!

This mission may just be a success yet...

OOC:

WE NEED MOAR POSTS!

So it was, through a blur of munitions fire, rocks, fallen rioters, and debris, that they made it to the police building. It was the place where General Halcor was making his last stand.

With a tap on the shoulder and a brief hand gesture, Tanus gave the signal to destroy all vehicles approaching the building. The strikebreaker’s gun came to life as it tore relentlessly into the two civilian vehicles, previously packed with rioters, but now reduced to a pile of smoldering metal and smoke. A few of the rioters who pounded on the entrance saw the explosion and ran for their lives.

A few, whether from sheer stupidity or simply too intoxicated by the anarchy around them, stayed behind and continued to pound on the door. They had to be subdued.

“Bring the strikebreaker down! Gio, TX, and Alater. You know what to do.”

Gio nodded and waited for the strikebreaker to come closer. As soon as he could, he jumped out of the hatch and ran up to the small group of rioters. From behind his shoulder, one of his squad mates launched a concussion grenade, knocking out half of the thugs and alerting the rest to their presence. It didn’t matter. The group of three didn’t need the element of surprise, as military training and superior skills with their shock staves were more than enough to put the rest down.

Behind them the Strikebreaker was still humming loudly, the gunner keeping all approaching enemies at bay.

“Alater, call the general. Tell him to let us the hell in before I blast a hole through this damn door.” Gio kicked the door. Meanwhile, TX was tying up the rioters that had been knocked out. They wouldn’t be causing trouble anytime soon.

Alater hissed a confirmation to Gio and the door opened and closed as the three troopers piled in. Behind, they could hear the Strikebreaker speed up and swing around to the back.
Now their main concern was to provide Halcor with a little help, get Urakai, and then get the hell out of dodge.

And from the looks of it, Halcor’s men needed the help.

On either side of the building were lines and lines of cots. The injured and the dead numbered in the dozens, and those that still lived didn’t seem to be too enthused about it. They were fighting a tough battle, and their superior weaponry could only begin to make up for the dramatic difference in numbers. Out on the street they were easily outnumbered 20 to 1.

Good odds for any soldier of the Empire, but this was just a young, relatively inexperienced bunch. Aside from Halcor and his sub commanders, there wasn’t a face in the crowd older than twenty-five years.

Gio and TX let their ASL Alater take point as they made their way deeper into the compound and up a flight of stairs into Halcor’s command center.