It never ceased to amaze him just how fast the squad could gather their things and throw themselves into a shuttle, ready to assist with whatever task was needed of them.

It had only been a little over 30 minutes since they got word of the terrorist attacks in Bakura, and they were already on their way. Who the hell did these guys think they were, attacking such an important city in such close proximity to Tadath? Did they not think they would incur the wrath of the Empire?

He sat in the back, next to Aeos. Tanus sat in the row behind them, alone, with his trusty duffel bag in the seat next to him.

"Finally a little action, eh Tan-tan?" Gio commented as he eased the seat back and made himself comfortable. "I was afraid the guys were getting a little restless," he finished, motioning over to LK and Alhzen, who were more fidgety than usual.

"Good. We need eager bodies on the ground. We'll have to strike hard and fast before the Black Dawn gets a chance to hole up inside the capital city. If they do...you know as well as i do it'll be a much longer time before we can rid Bakura of them." Tanus spoke, his voice confident with his experience in urban ops.

"And what's this turbolaser pulser? I can't say I’ve ever heard of it?" Giovanni inquired. This time, Aeos responded and handed him a data pad with some schematics.

"well, that would certainly screw things up for us..." He skimmed over the data pad and handed it back to Aeos with a thank you. She nodded, stowed the pad away in her bag and settled back in her seat once again.

Once they entered space, the seatbelt light turned off, and they were free to roam about the cabin. Giovanni took this chance to try and get to know his troopers better. He hadn’t been assistant squad leader for long, but he was eager to get to know each one of the soldiers in Blackjack.

He walked down the aisles and nodded at Orobos and Garryll. The rest were either too busy talking amongst themselves, checking and re-checking their bags for equipment, or in Alhzen’s case, sleeping.

He walked back and saw that Aeos and Tanus we’re deep in a conversation, so he took this chance to go into the cargo hold to check his bag.

It wasn’t hard to find. It was easily the most worn and weathered bag there, turned from jet black to a dull charcoal color after years of use and misuse. Inside was a vacuum-formed case he had especially made for his E-11 carbine. His R-88 was stowed elsewhere. He saw little use for it, and after years of honing his skills with the E-11, it seemed bulky and awkward in his hands.  The shorter and lighter E-11 carbine was his weapon of choice.

Underneath the case was a smaller case, containing his DC-15s pistol. This trusty sidearm had helped out of many sketchy situations in his Army career.  He made sure he had plenty of blaster packs, and IC’s in case he needed to stock up on anything.  He locked his cases, zipped his bag up and went back to his seat.

Tanus and Aeos were still talking, so Giovanni just found his seat and dozed off into an uneasy sleep.

When he awoke, they would be in Bakura. His armor would be back on and he would be back in business.

Gates listened carefully to the briefing, mentally cheering when the squad lead told them they could bring some other gun apart from the R-88. Extra baggage, the thing was. Better for guards, not Stormtroopers putting down terrorists.

The squad jogged down several hallways, making their way to the armory. Gates first found his set of armor, and did a quick check to make sure everything still worked.

His suit worked perfectly, with even all the scuffs and blaster scars from Balmorra out of it.

Garyll smiled, then fitted the suit on, becoming the intimidating, faceless, ruthlessly efficient Imperial Soldier. He grabbed his E-11 off the rack, and turned to the rest of the armory; inside were dozens of guns.

"Hmmm, 500 squad repeater, or Whisper? Decisions, decisions."

He flipped a coin. Heads. "Whisper," he picked the sniper rifle off the shelf. You never know when you might need some long range hurting.

Gates grabbed a tripod for the rifle, fitting it onto the barrel, as well as his personal multi-range scope, a dozen 8-round clips, ammo for his E-11.

He put the extra ammo in his belt, plus a few dozen more clips he was carrying for some of the others, just in case.

Then he looked up to see the last of his squadmates leaving. "Crap!"

He hauled the pack up onto his shoulders, then ran out the door, catching up to his squad as they filed onto the shuttle. He sat down next to Orobos.

1 hour had now passed and the Blackjack ASL was growing restless.

He was tossing and turning in his seat trying to get comfortable, trying to catch just a wink of sleep, but was unsuccessful.

Scanning the area, he picked out two troopers who weren’t asleep and tried hard to remember their names. The medic, LK, was gazing around the room sheepishly. Orobos, having just finished talking with TX a few minutes ago was also looking around the room for some way to spend the last hour or so of the flight to Bakura.

Giovanni unbuckled his seatbelt, and slipped out into the hallway, doing his best not to awake the slumbering Aeos. There was an old saying about not waking up your platoon commander. He had forgotten most of it, but it wasn’t good.

He strolled out into the hallway and flashed a smile at LK.

“How’s it goin’ soldier?” Giovanni grabbed a seat across from the young medic and tried to strike up a conversation.

“Comfortable in that armor?”

LK, aside from his helmet, was decked out in his imperial whites. It couldn’t have been terribly comfortable, but he seemed to not pay it any mind.

“Yes, sir. You grow used to living in the confines of the Stormtrooper armor. Maybe…a little too used to it.” LK shot a quick retort, keeping his voice so as not to wake up Alhzen, who was next to him and now began to snore softly.

“I personally don’t feel quite right unless I’m suited up. How are you feeling about the mission?” Giovanni shot him another question and glanced to the back of the shuttle at Tanus, who was asleep with his mouth open. He tried to suppress a chuckle but was unsuccessful.

“…so, I’m really not too worried about…um…” A concerned look came over LK’s face. Giovanni stifled his laughter and waved him on.

“I’m sorry, continue!”

“…Yeah as I was saying, we’re a well-trained group. This mission is exactly what Blackjack is here to do, so I’m not at all worried. Just another chance for Blackjack to bring glory to the Empire.” LK finished with a smile on his face.

It was a typical new recruit type answer, but he’d take it.

“Good answer.”

Orobos stepped away from the window he was looking out of. There hadn't been anything interesting to look at since the planet was out of sight. He had been looking at the stars for the last twenty minute, twinkling away at him light years away from there position, seemingly insignificant.

He returned to his seat and looked around the passenger compartment of the shuttle. Half the squad was asleep. The others where talking or cleaning weapons. Orobos checked his gear making sure everything was all in order. He had enough clips for his heavy blaster rifle. Hopefully that'd be all he'd need because all he had apart from it was two frag grenades.

He double checked his equipment and cleaned it for a while. Once finished this he moved forward to join in the conversation of his fellow squad members. Tanus was talking, giving directions to the fire teams.

".....and fire team three," Tanus said addressing Zolos,"You'll be going after the turbolaser. Once secured let us know. Got that?" All the fire Team Leaders nodded.

"If we get there before them it'll be easier defending," Orobos said to Zolos,

"Yeah, they have the advantage of being on the planet first though,"

"Suppose," Orobos said ," but when has that stopped us?"

"As long as they don't shoot us out of the sky with the thing we'll be ok," Zolos said,

Orobos laughed at this and then thought for a minute. "What's stopping them blasting away half the city when they get it?"


* * * * * *


"Twenty minutes," the pilots voice echoed around the room awakening any of the squad who'd been asleep.

People who'd been asleep sat up quickly. Helmets went on and guns where checked and loaded. Nine stormtroopers sat in the compartment. all of them in grey camo shocktrooper armour. The only way of distinguishing them from one another was with the proper equipment built into the helmet. Aoes went over to talk with Tanus. The rest of the squad returned to there conversations

"Alright, get ready," Tanus said loading up his weapon.

Everyone moved to there position around the exit ramp preparing for the drop. The shuttle started shaking as it entered the atmosphere. Flames lapped by the window as they started to descend.

"Once down move out in your teams."

---- Before the Landing ----

“Dangit, that’s the last time I ever eat fast food,” mumbled Leon who now sat in the close confines of a bathroom. The last couple of hours hadn’t been the best for Leon. Just a short while ago, he was on the other side of the Galaxy, headed to Endor with his new squad Iron Horse. He was looking forward to getting to know his new squad, and taking some time off, but all this soon diminished when he found himself face to face with what is known as a ‘Spook.’ Leon wasn’t too fond of Spooks, and he had only met a Spook once or twice throughout his career in the Corps. From what he knew, they were shady individuals, not to friendly and obsessed with whatever they were sent out to do. Things ranging from information warfare, sabotage, and sometimes even assassination.

“Leon Flast?” Asked the Spook, talking just loud enough for Leon to hear.

“Yes sir, is there something I need to know?” Leon asked, his eyes scanning the black clad Spook.

“I have received orders to escort you back to base, you’ve been reassigned,” replied the Spook, his blue eyes surveying the civilians on board the shuttle. “Your Squad Leader has already been informed; there is no need to tell him, now if you’ll please follow me.”

After that, everything had happened faster then Leon could have ever imagined. In a matter of minutes he found himself boarded on the shuttle that would take him back to base, and in what seemed like no time, they were in Tadath’s orbit. The Spook had been nice enough to get Leon some unknown food which he found extremely delicious, but had now put him in this very embarrassing situation. A couple of minutes later, Leon walked out of the bathroom relieved of the heavy load he had been carrying.

Now it was time to meet his new squad.

As he walked down the narrow corridor that led to the main holding area, he found himself feeling quite nervous. He stopped in front of the door that would reveal his new squad, and took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” Taking another step forward, Leon watched as the automated door slid open before him. He took another step, now bringing him into the main holding area where his squad mates were, and snapped to a salute before even scanning the area.  “Senior Sergeant Flast reporting for duty, sir!”

Leon stood there for another two seconds, the holding area completely silent. Then finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a female voice broke the silence. “At ease soldier, welcome to Black Jack.”

Leon turned to face the voice, his face lighting up in surprise when he saw that it was a rather cute looking soldier, something rare in the STC. “Are you my Squad Leader ma’am?”

She grimaced at this. “Be glad I’m not. I’m actually your new Platoon Commander; this man right here however is the one you’re looking for.”

Leon followed her outstretched hand, his eyes coming to rest on a very familiar face. “Well I’ll be damned! Tanus Solvona, I couldn’t ask to serve under a better Squad Leader,” Leon shouted, his face glowing with delight.

“Yeah it looks like the tides have turned my friend haha. How does it feel to be serving under me now?” Asked Tanus, an evil grin placed on his face.

“I’m pretty sure its going to suck,” joked Leon.

Tanus looked out the window and watched as the ground got closer. He opened up his duffel bag and took a look at the Samurai Edge, its black and gray plating gleaming in fluorescent lighting. He checked the duffel and made sure that he had six clips, plus a seventh already loaded. He took it out and pulled back the slide, making sure that there was a bullet already in the chamber. He holstered his pistol and attached the clips to his belt. He slung a bandolier of blaster cartridges around his torso and looked out the window one more time. He estimated that they had ten minutes before they landed. He looked around at all the squad members, including Aeos, and saw that they went from being slightly gleeful to totally and completely stone faced as they approached the ground. Tanus looked out again and saw several fires coming up from the streets. Tanus only grimaced and shook his head as he knew that they would be in that soon.

Tanus grabbed his gear and stepped up in front of the squad for a get ready speech.

“Okay boys, here we go. What’s going to happen is we’re going to hit the ground running. When that happens, we are going to find the highest military operative we can and get them to take us to HQ wherever that may be. From there, we’re going to break up into teams and see what kind of hell we can dish out. Got it?”

The squad nodded in unison; now it was time to strike back.



The door opened with a hiss and Blackjack squad ran out, weapons at the ready. They didn’t have to wait long for a firefight either. As soon as Tanus’ foot hit the metallic floor, a blaster shot rang out and struck the paneling of the shuttle. Tanus dove for cover as the rest of the squad opened fire on the terrorists. Aeos was behind a pillar, her DC-15s sending out blue plasma bolts, her Neuronic Whip resting coolly at her hop. Gio and the others were busy laying down suppressive fire at the terrorists nearest the doorway to the outside. Tanus got up and flicked the switch on his E-11/F to full auto and layed down a volley of blaster fire. Blackjack squad moved forward in one tremendous wave, blaster fire raining down around them. The terrorists seemed to be either terrible shots or very much surprised that fully clad Stormtroopers were charging them; either way, Tanus was thankful.

Aeos rolled behind some barrels as blaster fire hit the wall behind her, shattering the duracrete foundation. Tanus ran towards her, strafe firing on the terrorists as he got to Aeos. Aeos looked up at him with a look of disbelieve and anger.

“What the hell are you doing!? I can handle myself!?”

Tanus nodded as he turned around and started to fire on the terrorists; he watched as three of them dropped under the combined firepower of the Blackjacks.

“I don’t doubt that Aeos. But you’re unarmored and in a hostile environment, and I don’t feel like having a replacement PC just yet.”

Aeos got up and started to fire over Tanus shoulder as they made their way for the door while the others were taking firing positions behind crates and pillars. A loud explosion rocked the building as Tanus saw a terrorist with a rocket launcher out of his visor. Tanus commed Gio.

“Gio! They have ordnance! We have to take them out before they can get another shot!”

Tanus watched as Gio, Leon and Alhzen leveled their rifles in the direction of the terrorist and opened fire. Seconds later there was a deafening roar and a blinding explosion as his rocket launcher and spare ammo went up in smoke. As they neared the end of the building, a tank came into view. Tanus watched as it rolled up next to them and a man popped his head out of the top.

“Who the hell are you!? And what the hell are you doing here!? This is a warzone!”

Tanus walked forward, his gun still in hands. “Well, we didn’t come here for a tea party. Take us to HQ so we can get this all straightened out.”

The man yelled something down to his crew. He stuck his head back up and looked at the men of Blackjack one more time before pointing to Aeos.

“You! Get in the tank! The rest of you can ride on the outside. The shield should protect you from anything we may run into.”

Tanus watched as Aeos jumped up and climbed into the tank; Tanus grabbed onto one of the side mounts and hung off with his blaster rifle resting in his hand. The other took positions all over the tank. Tanus looked back in the hangar as flames jumped from all directions. He looked back forward with a grimace as they jumped into Hell itself.



The trip to HQ didn’t take long; only about ten minutes. But those ten minutes were some of the most hellish Tanus had ever been through. Off to his left, he saw troopers and terrorists alike mowed down by heavy weapon fire. He watched as women and children lay dead in the streets. Tanus looked up again to see heavy police gunships rolling through the sky. From what he could tell, the terrorists had the surprise advantage. They tank stopped and Tanus hopped off to catch a glance at the HQ of the army, which he guessed was a military garrison. As he strode up the stairs, two armed guards stopped him. The men of Blackjack reciprocated by leveling their own arms at the men, Aeos putting her pistol to the man’s temple.

“That would not be a smart thing to do. Now let us in.”

They opened up the doors and inside was utter chaos. Soldiers were rushing the wounded and dieing to the med bay, while others were busy getting reports and giving orders to the men on the outside. Tanus took off his helmet and shouted above the din,

“Excuse me! Can one of you lovely people direct me to the head of operations here?”

A few of the soldiers pointed to a man at the far back with a large blue coat. Tanus bowed his head and walked back with Aeos and Blackjack in toe. The man looked up at him with a look of mixed anger and confusion on his face.

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my city? You’re obviously not terrorists, so explain yourselves.”

Aeos stepped up. “We are members of the Vast Empire Stormtrooper Corps. This is Blackjack squad, led by Gunnery Sergeant Tanus Solvona, and I am Aeos, their platoon leader. We came here because these terrorists are a tad too close to home for our tastes and we want them ousted.”

The man nodded. “Sorry for sounding so angry. My name is Dorian Kollsa, and I am the head of operations for the military. The attack has been going on for only about two hours, and already I have over two thousand men wounded and at least 400 dead. The whole thing started in the inner city and mushroomed out to here in a matter of hours. From what reports I’ve already gotten, the Bakura Repulsorlift Corp is already under siege, and the troops are fighting a losing battle. The turbolaser pulser is being kept under surveillance and continuous guard now, but I don’t know how long that will all last.”

He took a seat and took a swig of what Tanus guessed was hard liquor. The man stared back up at them. “But, it gets better. The terrorists are holed up in a factory somewhere north of here and are using the railway as a system to cart ammo and men to destinations all over the city. To make matters worse, the men that they already have are making their way to the outer city to the living districts, and God only knows what their plans are for the people there.”

The man put his head in his hands and started to whimper; it was the most pathetic thing Tanus had ever seen. The Aeos stepped up and shoved the man’s head up.

“Look, I understand that you were taken by surprise and that this is probably the most harrying situation you have ever been in, and I can sympathize. But I will NOT condone this childish behavior when lives are on the line. You are the head of operations, so you had either step up or step aside, because there are too many lives at stake for you to wimp out now.”

Kollsa looked up at her with sad eyes. “Well, what the hell do you expect me to do? My men aren’t prepared for this type of warfare.”

Tanus stepped up this time. “You’re right. But we are. Give us orders and we’ll take out the terrorists. If you’re not going to do it, let Aeos do it and stand aside so we can do our jobs.”

Kollsa looked between Aeos and Blackjack squad several times before getting up.

“Alright, here we go. The main problems right now are the factory to the north supplying arms and troops for the terrorists, the turbolaser pulser and the BRC, and the outer city and the living districts. Now I’m not saying this is going to be easy work, but-.”

Aeos and Tanus silenced him. “Save it,” Tanus said. “We’re Blackjack squad; we were designed for urban combat. If we can’t do it, I can assure you no one else will either.”

Tanus nodded to Aeos, who in turn nodded to Kollsa. “I’ll be your advisor for the mission, and since I’ll be the one relaying information to Blackjack squad, I’ll also be their eye in the sky for whatever comes their way. I will be needing access to any and all military channels you have open.”

As Aeos walked away with Kollsa, Tanus turned to Blackjack squad.

“Men, its time to get started. Gio, you take Alhzen and Orobos and head to the tram line and stop them from moving anything else, save to the afterlife. Leon, you take Garryll and Zolos and stick to the outer city and help the military and people any way you can. I’ll take LK and Tank and head to the BRC and see what we can do about them getting that pulser. Failure is not an option gentlemen, Move out.”

The three men of Fire Team 2 had been sprinting for 8 minutes when Gates saw a vibrating speeder. "Boss!"

His old SL stopped, turned. "That speeder's active. Someone must've forgotten to take the keys out."

They jogged over to the vehicle, weapons off safety and aimed. They came to the front. The windshield was gone, and there were a couple of dead bodies; one was in a seat belt and looked to be a civvy with a blaster shot in his chest, and the other was a terrorist, still clutching an assault rifle. The terrorist looked to have crashed through the window.

Gates felt the engine move. "Good! This thing's operational!"

They dragged the bodies out, laying the civvy in some semblance of peace, but just dumped the terrorist. They jumped in. Leon was driving, Gates jumped into the passenger seat, and Zolos. The speeder had no roof.

Gates pulled his sniper rifle out, and peered through the scope.

Leon punched the gas, and the speeder flew forward, heading towards distant fire from the east.

They came up on a surrounded apartment building; small-arms laser fire was coming from upper story windows, and the sound of blows and melee fighting from the lower levels. There were a dozen small speeders surrounding the building, firing rifles at the upper levels.

Gates quickly sighted at the speeders; there was a single man not firing, he was standing behind a speeder and quickly talking into a comlink, and occasionally stood and yelled what looked like orders to the others.

Garryll blew his head off with one well-placed sniper round. He collapsed.

Leon screamed the landspeeder to point-blank range, and the stormtroopers leaped out, firing their weapons on full-auto.

Leon quickly jumped out of the speeder, his finger depressing the E-11’s trigger, sending a volley of red bolts towards the enemies’ location. Zolos and Garryll did the same, cutting down anyone in their path. Some of the surprised terrorists had turned to face the new threat, their wide terror struck eyes coming to rest on three armor clad troopers. It was too late for these men however, who found themselves being shot at from both behind and in front. It only took a matter of seconds before their bodies were riddled with blaster fire, their dying life forms convulsing as they fell to the floor.

“Good shooting boys! Garryll, I never knew you were such a good shot with that thing, you pulled off some special forces shit just now,” Leon said rather enthusiastically, motioning the two troopers over to his location. Garryll and Zolos quickly jogged over to the back of the Landspeeder, huddling around their Fire Team Leader. “Looks like we have a situation on our hands. These damned terrorists have the building surrounded; luckily they don’t know we’re here yet. I’m gonna try and open a channel with the troopers who’re inside, hopefully we can get some info on the surrounding forces,” finished Leon.

Leon brought his right hand down to a small black device that lay on his hip. He closed the Fire Team channel with the click of a button, and then depressed another button which patched him to HQ. “This is Team 2 Lead to Command; anyway we can get connected with the troopers inside that building?” Leon asked, checking his six just to make sure they wouldn’t get flanked.

“Hang on a second Leon, I’ll get you patched up in no time,” came the reassuring reply, Aeos’ brow furrowed in concentration. “Comm. Sergeant, get my team linked up with the men inside that building,” commanded the authoritative female PC.

“Yes ma’am, give me a few seconds.”

“Make it quick Sergeant,” Aeos said with a scalding glare. “Leon, I’m going to cut the channel, expect to be connected in a few seconds, over and out.”

Leon signaled Garryll and Zolos to take up defensive positions in the meantime. He wanted every angle of attack to be secured; he didn’t want what happened to those terrorists to happen to them. Seconds later, static crackled in his headset, along with what sounded like heavy breathing. “Hello? This is Corporal Jaan, can you read me?”

“Loud and clear Corporal. You’re speaking to Senior Sergeant Leon, BlackJack squad. I have a team of two troopers besides myself, and we’re here to get you out of there. What floor are you on Corporal?” Leon asked, peering over the Landspeeder.

“I’m on the third floor; I have a bird’s eye view of the surrounding forces.”

“Ok,” Leon said, projecting his voice. “If you’d do me a favor and walk over to the west window, that’d be great,” Leon asked, his eyes scanning the war torn building and coming to rest on a single window. Three seconds later a head popped into view, Corporal Jaan. “Very good Corporal. If you look down into the alleyway below, you’ll see a civilian landspeeder. That is where we’re currently located. Now I need you to pinpoint every enemy location, their armament, and if you could, give us a way to get there without being revealed to the enemy.”

“Yes sir. East of your location, on the next block, we have about twenty terrorists with assault rifles. They’re all over the place. There’s ten on the street, but they’re covered pretty good. We can’t get a good shot. The other ten are in the buildings, trying to get angles on us, but we’re giving them one hell of a fight. Now two blocks northeast of that location we have about fifteen terrorists. The bastards have managed to set up a turret that’s just ripping us to shreds. Every now and then they send in an assault team, and they’ve already taken control of the ground floor. We’ve managed to thin out the rest of their forces, but we’re running low on ammo and troopers. I’ve taken over as Squad Leader and I only have nine able bodied men left from other squads. We have a couple of injured soldiers and citizens, but I have a Medic and Doctor who are doing the best they can to keep them alive,” Jaan paused, taking some time to catch his breath. “We’ve managed to barricade the staircases, but they’re not gonna hold for long. We need your help, and fast sir,” finished the battle weary Corporal.

“Alright. We’re gonna get you out of there, just try and hold them off for as long as you can. Keep it together Corporal; you’re doing a good job. Now from your position, what looks like the fastest way we can reach the enemy undetected?”

“Ok. If you look behind you, the alleyway leads to a street that will put you behind the enemy. There may be sentries, but these guys don’t look one bit organized.”

“Roger that Corporal. Hold on tight, we’re coming.”

He wasn't aware that the rails ran topside. There was a lack of communication, due in part to the fact they were stuck in a storm of gun fire. This, in some ways, was a blessing. It would be a nightmare trying to neutralize the enemy in a confined, underground environment where there was little cover. With the tram running above ground, it would be a simple matter of destroying the tram lines that led to BRC (Bakura Repulsor Corp.)

"I have an idea..." said the Blackjack ASL. "But first...let's take care of these stragglers." He jerked his thumb over the wall of sand bags that he was using for cover. With his back turned to his attackers, he perched his E-11 carbine and blind fired with one hand while he prepped a concussion grenade with the other.

He threw the heavy orb back with all his strength and turned around to face the enemy. Three seconds later, there was a deafening roar. The group of terrorists had been hit hard by the well-placed grenade. However, they didn't scatter and make easy targets, like Giovanni had hoped they would.

No. These were trained individuals. They weren't a rag tag force like the one they had faced in their previous mission, on the streets of Balmorra.

Instinctively, those that weren't incapacitated by the concussive blast took cover behind chunks of concrete and metal knocked loose by their now deceased tank unit. From there they took pot shots at Giovanni's fire team, occasionally nicking one of Kollsa's men.

With this relative lull in the action, Giovanni took the opportunity to relay back to HQ, and his platoon commander Aeos.

"Aeos, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, Gio. What's your status?" Aeos sounded off. Some chatter could be heard in the background, no doubt some planning being done on the part of Kollsa and his subordinates.

"We're slowly but surely cleaning up the group at barricade...uh...let me get the coordinates." He read the nav display that came standard with his shock trooper armor and relayed the information.

"Also, Orobos noticed that there's an area around here where the tram lines run above ground. Instead of taking things station by station, I've decided it would be a better use of our resources if we tackled the segments that are out and wide open. That way we can cut the supply line to the heart of the industrial district without endangering ourselves, fighting groups of terrorists with huge stockpiles of weapons and supplies..." Giovanni waited for a confirmation of his plan. It all depended on whether Aeos found his deviation to plan feasible enough.

"I don't care how you do it, Gio, Just make sure no more supplies get to BRC. Tanus and his team have enough on their hands as it is..."

"I'm glad we're on the same page. I'm gonna need you to relay the coordinates of the sections of rail line that lead to BRC and run above street level..."

"Understood, but it might take some time. I'm having some trouble getting this lumbering idio..." She paused to scream some obscenity at Kollsa.

"Give me some time. You'll get your way points."

"I hear you, Aeos. Over and out." Giovanni closed his com link and peeped out over the sandbags once again to take out anyone stupid enough to leave their cover.

By this time, the superior marksmanship of Alhzen and Orobos, coupled with the dumb-luck and indiscriminate firepower of Kollsa's laser turrets, had turned the small terrorist force of two dozen into twenty-odd lifeless bodies.

The crumpled shell of the makeshift tank was still burning when they mopped up the remaining few that stuck around to fight till the end. He couldn't help but feel surprised at the professionalism and fierce loyalism of the Black Dawn.

If these guys were just cannon fodder, he would hate to see the kind of men protecting Black Dawn's leader.

Giovanni touched his hand to his temple as the data from Aeos came in. On his heads up display he could see the locations. Five of them, located in a circle around the industrial district. The closest one was 6.5 km away from their position.

"Alright guys, let's move."

LK-486 and TX-47 followed Tanus to an aging LAVr QH-7 Chariot command speeder.  It was likely part of a unit assigned to the Bakura Garrison before the Empire started building the Death Star II, but was kept in working order by the Bakuran security forces.  Of the four still in the oversized garage, it was the least used, and the match to the ignition codes given them by Kollsa.

"Tank, check her out.  If she'll hold together start her up."

"HMn...Looks grim.  Let me try something..." Tank answered as he popped the hood and got to work on the engine.  Checking system integrety and making adjustments with his hydrospanner, he periodically switched tools to make minor modifications.  He wouldn't settle for barely up to specs; neither would BlackJack.  A few minutes more and all was set.

Closing the engine hood "She's all set, Sergeant."

"Alright men let's move!  Tank, your driving!" as he took the commander's seat, leaving LK to take the gunner's seat and man the vehicle's lone Laser Cannon.  The Chariot was a featherweight compared to the Strikebreaker, and only had a flight ceiling of eight meters, but it had more speed and maneuverability!  They would need both to reach Bakura Repulsorlift Corp in time.

The Stormtroopers strapped in and Tank punched the ignition codes; the repulsorlift engine rumbled to life and purred beautifully.  In short order Tank navigated out of the garage and onto a main street.  Increasing power to the repulsorlift Tank amped up the speed and altitude to the max!  Gliding over makeshift barricades and checkpoints with ease.

Soon they entered an area controlled by the terrorist; punctuated by the rocket launched at them by terrorist whose checkpoint the Chariot flew over.  The rocket fell short, hitting another terrorist checkpoint and killing them instantly.  The second rocket was shot out of the sky by LK on the laser cannon.  Rocket number three overshot the Chariot and took out the mortar that was aiming for the command speeder.

Out of range of any of the checkpoints' artillery the Chariot revealed new threats in it's wake: mines lining the road detonated as the Chariot zoomed overhead!  The blast weren't large enough to reach the Chariot's flight ceiling of eight meters and by the time any debris or shrapnel reached that high the Chariot had already passed two more mines!

LK swallowed hard as two duracrete blocks, each the size of an AT-ST, smashed together in the intersection they just flew through!  Had the Chariot been there they'd all be a lot thinner now; they'd be dead!  "Heads up!" Tank called as the Holographic Tactical Battlefield Displays indicated a skirmish being fought outside the BRC between city police (reinforced by local militia) and terrorist forces.

Tanus made a quick study of the tactical data provided by the advanced Battle-Assistance Programs, and assigned targets to LK; "Now the Fun begins..."

OOC:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/QH-7_Chariot_Light_Assault_Vehicle/repulsorlift

The primitive munitions of the terrorists guns sparked and bounced off the metal plating of the tram. Giovanni, Alhzen, and Orobos scrambled for cover, inching their way to the tram.

"I have an idea," said Gio over the com channel.

Orobos and Alhzen stopped firing for a second and took notice. The tram was beginning to speed up, although at a very slow rate. It carried behind it several cargo compartments, and it was weighted down significantly.

The fact that there was a decent sized terrorist group so close to this tram let Gio know that it was probably full of supplies.

"I think this tram is headed to Bakura Repulsor Corps," he finished his sentence and popped out of cover to dispose of a few terrorists that took their lull in activity as a sign of surrender.

"Orobos, do you have any of those det packs from the barricade?"

He replied with a tap to his utility belt. He had two det packs left and he wasn't afraid to use them.

"Alhzen, provide us with some covering fire. Orobos, on my lead, throw one det pack at the group of terrorists. We're gonna hop on this tram and ride it to the way point." Giovanni popped a fresh ammo pack into his E-11 carbine and readied himself.

"Ok, GO!"

The Blackjack ASL and Alhzen popped out of cover and began to rain indiscriminate laser bolt fire wherever anything was moving. This did well to suppress the terrorists, who were now too busy trying to find adequate cover to pop off blind shots at them.

Meanwhile, Orobos was prepping the first charge.

"Ok, Gio. I'm ready."

Orobos tossed the det pack in a high arc and it landed with a thump right in front of the makeshift cover the terrorists were hiding behind.

They ran towards the tram, which was now nearing full speed, and jumped with all their might, hooking on to whatever they could.

Before the terrorists could react and shoot them off, the detonator pack ignited, sending them to a quick and theatrical death.

They were now on the tram, scrambling to get on top. It began to elevate from ground level to about a dozen meters off the ground and pick up speed. It was getting a little difficult to cling onto the slick metal alloy that made up the hull of the tram and the precious cargo it hauled.

They could do with just destroying the tram, but jumping off of it from this altitude and going as fast as they were would certainly be a last resort. The last thing he or any of them wanted to do was to break their legs and have to limp back to HQ through what was quickly becoming enemy territory.

No, they would wait a little longer. The tram would slow back down and lower itself soon before it came to a halt. At this stop, there would no doubt be terrorists to unload whatever cargo they needed and send the rest straight to Bakura Repulsor Corps.

That would be the perfect time to strike. They would be down one tram, several dozen comrades, and a ton of weaponry and amunition.

For now, the fireteam would bide their time and enjoy the view.

It wasn't every day that they got to see a city skyline, bright and orange with flames.

Tanus sat at the commander’s chair, staring down at the holodisplay of the outside as terrorists began to take fire positions against a building about forty meters away. He flipped a switch on the console and a targeting computer came; for such and old model of Chariots, the vehicle had a remarkably good amount of new tech on the inside. But Tanus did not have time to marvel at the new toy he was playing with. He pulled up targets on LK’s screen, mostly those with heavy rocket launchers. When it he finished he looked back at LK and TX.

“Alright, what we’re going to do is rush them, take out as many as we can, and ditch this thing before the terrorists can even can a chance to hit us. From there, we’re going on foot to the BRC; I don’t want to chance that taking any more vehicles is going to make us a target. You saw some the smoldering tanks on the way here. I’d much prefer to live through this.”

Tanus slowly revved up the drives on the Chariot as it lumbered forward just behind a wall facing the terrorists. Tanus looked back at LK and TX; they nodded to let him know they were ready. Tanus turned around and took one more look at the holodisplay: The terrorists were busy firing on a combination of civilians and army personnel while taking out the building that a bulk of them seemed to be hiding in. Tanus turned his eyes into slits and launched the Chariot forward, yelling at LK to fire as they moved. Bolts of yellow blaster fire pelted the terrorists as they fell under the barrage of speeding metal and energy. Tanus pulled the vehicle to a stop and opened the side hatch as the last of the terrorists fell back into counter positions. Tanus, LK and TX piled out just as the terrorists fired on the Chariot with blaster and heavy ordnance. Within seconds, the speeder was nothing but a smoking, flaming ball of slag.

Tanus ducked behind some rubble as LK and TX found some cover behind a wall; the rest of the military was evacuating the citizens. Tanus was okay with that; they could handle themselves now the numbers were a little more even. Tanus looked up from his position and counted eight terrorists, two of which still had some heavy ordnance left. He opened a comm channel to the others.

“Okay, we have our targets. The two remaining terrorists with the big guns are still hiding in the building, and we need to take them out before they cause even more damage. The first target is two windows over to the left, and the second one is three windows up and to the right. If we can slot them, the others are done for. Do not charge them at all; I don’t want to have to bring either of you home in a body bag. Pick up your targets and let’s give ‘em hell.”

Tanus flipped the stock back to its full extension and flicked the switch to pulse fire. He started to pick out his target when an explosion knocked him off of his feet. He looked over and saw a crater where a small statue used to be. When he looked up, the other terrorist was aiming to get another shot. Not in this lifetime, Tanus thought. He got up and sprinted to the next position as blaster fire and bullets rained down on him. The seconds terrorists missile missed by a large margin, but collapsed part of the house that the Blackjacks were using as cover. Blaster and projectile fire were now streaming out of the other building like a broken dam, pelting the building and surrounding area with shrapnel and destruction. Tanus and the others returned fire, hoping to get a kill on one of the two heavy fighters in the upper reaches of the building. The shootout must have gone on for five minutes, between salvos from the heavy terrorists in the upper portion of the building; it was times like this when Tanus really wished that he had a grenade launcher to work with.

The men of Blackjack were beginning to get angry, Tanus especially as rocket salvos annihilated the cover around them; they needed to get to those two missile users, but how? Tanus watched as Tank threw a grenade into the breach, sending up a wave of dust and shrapnel, hearing the terrorists scream orders to fall back. And Tanus took his chance. He leapt over his stone barricade and charged the lower area, searching for targets. He turned on his thermoscan and saw two terrorists heading up the stairs. As the dust cleared, Tanus saw a terrorist get up and start to charge him. Tanus grimaced and ducked as the rifle butt went clear over Tanus’ head. He then lifted the man off of the ground and threw him into a wall, took out his pistol and shot him in the chest twice. Tank and LK came running up, and both took a look at the man Tanus had just dispatched. Tank poked Tanus on the shoulder.

“I thought you said we weren’t going to charge them.”

Tanus shrugged. “I lied. And it had to be done, or we would have been here for another hour. Now come on. We have to exterminate the pests. Split off into the house; I’ll take the upstairs, I saw two of them go up there anyway. Tank, you stay on the main level and go through the ground floor. LK, I want you to take the second floor and kill anything that moves. If you find any civilians, call in medical teams immediately. When we’re done here, we’ll move on as fast as we can to the BRC. Now move.”

Tanus put his rifle away and kept his Samurai Edge out at the ready; he still had quite a few shots left as it was. He walked cautiously up the stairs and put his head around the corner to make sure nothing was coming at him. When he saw no one, he walked forward and directed LK into the rooms behind him; LK nodded and proceeded in. He looked back down the stairs and saw Tank looking outside, his gun trained carefully. He looked back up and Tanus gave him a thumbs-up. Tank turned on his heel and walked inside the first floor kitchen. Tanus looked out the window at the remaining carnage and destruction: he could hear weapon’s fire coming from down the street, but it wasn’t going to give them any problems for right now. He walked forward quietly and stuck his head around another corner, carefully surveying the area: There several open doors, most them with bodies in them, and a thick blanket of dust and rubble covered the floor. Tanus took out his silencer and attached it to his pistol and walked forward, his sights trained on the doors.

As walked by one of the doors, he saw a twitch of movement. He swung the pistol around and saw that there was small child there, crying and holding the body of her mother. Tanus walked forward and the girl looked up, startled and frightened. He put his finger over where his mouth would be to silence the child. As he did that, her eyes turned wide. When Tanus saw that, he realized he was looking past her. He turned his head slowly to see a man standing there with a rather vicious looking machine gun looking down at him. Tanus carefully slid the Samurai Edge under his arm so that the barrel was facing one of the man’s legs. As the man started to shout, Tanus pulled the trigger once, sending a 9x19 parabellum round into his leg. The man shouted as he fell to the ground, using his gun to support himself. Tanus run up to him and spun him around, getting his head in his hands. As the man tried to resist, Tanus twisting, using the force of the man’s struggle to break his own neck. As he fell lifeless, Tanus turned to the little girl and put his finger over his lips again and ushered her to lie down on the ground. She nodded, and Tanus stepped out of the room, his body filling with rage. It was time to take this fight to another level.

Gates hummed some tune that he'd remembered from his childhood.

He was carrying a crate of high explosives, and while that might make men balk, he was an Imperial Stormtrooper, and he feared no weapon.

The pair of ex-Dragoon non-coms reached the roof, Zolos a step behind, watching their six.

Gates set the crate of grenades down, then took off the duffel bag full of clips. Gates peeked over the rim of their building.

"Idiots. No one was even watching their six. We are gonna kill 'em all."

Leon grinned wickedly. He pulled a strip of heavy-duty tape from his pack, and held out his hand. Gates gave him a half dozen grenades. The other stuck one after another onto the tape, then bound it all together.

Gates and Leon quickly made another few. Each Stormtrooper picked up a grenade cluster. Leon and Zolos stood, and chucked the grenades into the terrorists firing at the building. Eight of them collapsed- dead or unconscious. Gates fired a shot the last two with his E-11.

Gates nodded to Leon, then ran down the stairs, carrying a couple of the clusters. He placed them near other explosive munitions, and set them for 'remote detonation.'

He ran back up the stairs, then the three stormtroopers rappelled down the building. A few dozen meters from the building, Gates detonated the bombs. The entire building crumbled.

Gates grinned. He loved blowing shit up.

Tanus rounded a corner and saw the semblance of a shadow move out of the way. He looked back to the door with the little girl and said a little prayer for her as he looked around the corner one more time. Sunlight filled the room and the dust and rubble formed a thick blanket on the door and knocked over furniture. Tanus viewed the entire scene as somewhat ominous, but in the middle of a firefight, he didn’t have time to question what bad omens there could be. He hugged the wall tighter as he walked forward in a crouch, his Samurai Edge in the ready position. Several doors were smashed open, and all manner of bodies lay dead in the rooms. He shook his head as he look around the corner at the end of the hall and saw a rifle pointed right at him. Tanus pulled back just in time as three bolts of red energy slammed into the wall, shattering the wood and plaster. Tanus turned off the wall and fired two shots from his Samurai Edge, leaving two neat holes in the wall where the terrorist was; he had already retreated further back into the building. Tanus commed in to the others.

“Guys, its me. What’s your status?”

A number of blasts and swears could be heard from LK’s end of the comm. Tanus could only assume that he was still alive at any rate.

“I’m alive. Got grazed by a blaster bolt, but I’m alive. I have no prisoners, and to be completely honest, I don’t plan on taking any.”

Tanus smirked; for a medic, LK was pretty bloodthirsty.

TX’s end was static, then a voice came in. “I’m fine. The prisoners I have are out for the moment, but I’m not sure how long that’ll last.”

Tanus nodded. “Got it. Tanus over and out.”

Tanus cautiously moved forward and stopped short of the entry into what appeared to be a living room. From what Tanus could tell, there were at least three terrorists from his infrared scan of the area. Tanus counted off the shots in his Samurai Edge; he still had ten, and he hoped that he had enough. Tanus drew in a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. He removed his silencer and put it back in his secure pouch. Then he turned around the corner. Tanus ran across the room, firing as he did. Three shots fired, two of which hit one of the terrorists in the arm and chest before he fell over, dead. The remaining two got up to fire as Tanus dove behind a fallen bookcase. Shots ripped into its solid wooden and steel frame and the wall behind him; Tanus just hoped that they would keep missing. Eventually the shots stopped, which told Tanus that they had retreated once more.

Tanus swore under his breath; this cat-and-mouse game was beginning to get old. He got up from behind the bookcase and looked himself over. E was no worse for wear than when he entered, save now he was covered in dust. As he looked up, one of the terrorists was standing there with a rather vicious looking machine gun. Tanus swore audibly as he pulled the trigger. A stream of high-impact rounds slammed into Tanus, forcing him to stumble, and eventually he fell down under the force. He could hear footsteps coming towards him, but from what he could tell none of the rounds had pierced his armor. Better thank the armor smiths back on Tadath when this is all over, Tanus thought. He knew from his breathing that he had at least a bruised rib, maybe two. I’ll get LK to give it a look later. As Tanus looked back up, he saw the terrorist level the rifle at his face, and a smirk crossed his lips. Tanus’ face contorted in rage as he knocked the rifle away just as the terrorist pulled the trigger, sending a spray of bullets in the wall, sending fragments of plaster and wood into the air and onto the ground. The terrorist stumbled back as the force of the machine gun sent him into a slight whirl. Tanus got up and smacked him hard across the face with his pistol. He came in for an uppercut and planted it into the terrorist’s stomach. As he faltered, the terrorist came up hard with a rifle smack across Tanus’ face that sent him really. While the helmet took most of the impact, the concussive force sent Tanus into a slight headspin. As Tanus turned back, Tanus terrorist was charging again. He came in with a hard thrust from his rifle. Tanus sidestepped it and got in close for an elbow cross across his opponent’s face. As the terrorist stumbled back from the hard impact, Tanus charged in with a heavy tackle, ramming the man into the wall. Tanus backed up and grabbed the man by the arm and threw him into the adjacent wall. As the man looked up, his face turned red with anger. He charged Tanus, pinning him to the floor. His Samurai Edge flew out of his hand; it was now vicious hand-to-hand combat.

Tanus put his hands up as the man started raining blow after blow down on Tanus’ armor. The blows weren’t doing much to him, other than pissing him off, but Tanus figured that headshots would still do quite a bit of damage. Tanus waited for his counter, and it came when he raised his arm for an elbow smash. Tanus came across hard with a slap that sent the terrorist rolling off of him, holding his face. Tanus got up and walked over to him and kicked him in the ribs a few times. As he was going to deliver another kick, he got tripped. To prevent being on the ground for long, Tanus bounced straight up and punched the man hard in the jaw. Both men were covered in blood and breathing heavily. Tanus lunged forward with a heavy forward kick to the chest, sending the man reeling back against the wall. The man walked back and picked up a chair. He swung hard. Tanus put up his arms to block, but the force of the blow knocked him back. As the stumbled, the man reached for his helmet and ripped it off. As he did, he punched Tanus – hard. This sent Tanus back, and as he did, he wiped his hand across his mouth and saw his own blood on his gauntlet.

As the man charged him again, Tanus met him. He blocked and incoming punch and planted a swift jab to the throat. As he fell back, holding his throat, Tanus performed a spinning back kick. That planted him just shy of the window that led to the ground three stories down. Tanus charged one more time and shoved the man hard out the window. He heard a scream, then a thud as he hit the ground. Tanus looked over; sweat was dripping from his face, and blood drops hit the ground, turning it into a dark brown. His opponent had landed on his neck, dead. He reached for his helmet and put it back on and grabbed his pistol. He rounded the corner and saw a terrorist with an A280 leveled at him. Tanus dove off into one of the open doors as red bolts of energy flew down the hallway. Tanus turned his head out to see the terrorist run up a flight of stairs. Tanus swung his pistol out and fired off three shots. Two of the shots hit the stairs, but one of the shots managed to hit his target in the back of the leg. As he started to fall, Tanus rushed him. The terrorist tried to turn around and fire with his rifle, but Tanus simply knocked it out of his hand and leveled his Samurai Edge right between the man’s eyes; Tanus’ sides were killing him, and his breathing was beginning to get strained. Fear filled the man’s eyes as Tanus picked him and set him on his feet.

“Move it, or I blow your mind all down this hallway,” Tanus muttered.

The man listened and started to limp forward. Tanus commed in to the others.

“Okay, I’m done up here. Meet me in the main area downstairs and we’ll get all of this stuff sorted out, including the terrorists. Tanus out.”



Tanus had already called in the military for clean-up and medical aid by the time he got downstairs. As he passed the door with the little girl, he looked in and saw here huddling there, crying. Tanus walked in and made sure the terrorist was still in his sights. He looked down at the girl and she looked up through tears and strained eyes. He offered her his hand; she couldn’t have been more than eight years old. She appeared to be holding a stuffed animal. They walked downstairs, the girl behind Tanus as he continued to hold the gun to the back of his head. As they got downstairs, Tanus could see LK and TX holding the terrorists they had captured. TX was sitting down, nursing the injury to his leg. They both looked up as Tanus threw the terrorist to the ground.

“All right, I called in the APCs to transport them and for medical aid wherever they can give, I know that Tank and myself need some. After that, we can start interrogating them.”

Tanus sat in a chair, the little girl in relative proximity to him. The terrorists looked frightened, and Tanus was happy about that. They deserved every single nightmare they could get for the rest of their lives. Tanus looked up and heard the rumbling of the approaching APC. Tanus got up to greet them, and hopefully for someone to work on his ribs.

Gates heard the Bakuran soldier breathe a sigh of relief. "Thanks, now we can focus our fire in other directions."

"Boss!" Gates drew Leon's attention. "Let's take out that turret. Shoot that thing enough, it'll knock out a wall."

The former Dragoon SL sprinted crouching, towards the heaviest fire, an E-WEB and a dozen soldiers, and three manning the gun.

"Old generation E-WEB, boss. No shields."

Leon considered this fortuitous development. "Get into a sniper post, and give me a sight on those gunners. Blow the gun, then we'll go in. Cover us."

"Yessir."

Gates sprinted back to a relatively unmarked townhouse. He kicked the door open, then ran up the stairs, finding a window. He set his rifle up on someone's desk, then sighted.

"Sarge, in position."

"Excellent. Fire when ready."

A pair of muffled shots came from Gates' silenced sniper rifle. One shot hit the gunner who was firing in the hand; the other hit him in the chest.

Another shot; the man feeding ammo collapsed with a bullet hole through his ear.

The last man stood, and then Gates blew up the coolant line. The gun instantly overheated, and exploded into shrapnel. The man died instantly.

"GO, GO, GO!" ordered Leon, and the two others burst from cover.