“Don’t worry too much about making noise fellas” Giovanni said, in a calm way that made their situation even more suspenseful. “I’m sure that whatever’s out there already knows we’re here. Stop preoccupying yourself with your heavy footsteps and keep your eyes open. Anival and Joamer, you bring up the rear.” And with that, the squad stopped talking for a while.

Yeah, they were all aware that the predatory animals could sense every single one of their subtle movements, but the men of Iron Horse were determined to give them as hard a time as possible to detect them. It was a nerve wracking situation. The olbio trees grew thick and littered the land, densely packed. It was going to be a hard night’s march.

“Hey, isn’t this place supposed to be home to those furry lizards or some weird creature like that”

Joamer, a veritable encyclopedia of knowledge it seemed, was more than ready to provide an answer. He cleared his throat first, more to attract attention than to clear an obstruction in his windpipe.

“Sure, they‘re called the ysalamiri. They’re probably hiding in the very trees we’re walking through right now. They collect all their nourishments from those very trees, and it’s very hard to remove them without them dying… or something like that. Supposed they create this bubble around them that makes them invulnerable to the Force. It‘s how they stay away from those nasty Vornskr.” He shrugged and brought his rifle back up to his hip.

“So really,” he added, “we should be fine as long as those lovely little lizards are around.”

“And if they aren’t?” Hayes inquired, his eyes not ceasing from scanning every tree around him.

“Then I guess we should be finding out soon enough.”

“What do I need this datapad for,” Giovanni joked. “We got Joamer. You know too much to be a bounty hunter. You should have dressed up as a librarian.” The rest of Iron Horse chuckled a bit at Joamer’s expense.

“I’m looking forward to grabbing some drinks with you… Just as soon as we get off of this blasted rock.” Giovanni spat on the ground and kicked a tree branch that laid in his way. It flew flipping, one end over the other, and disappeared a few paces ahead of them in darkness.

Snaaaaaaarllllllllllll.. The low growl brought the squad to a complete stop. The silence of the forest was ominous. It was almost as if everything that lived there went quiet in anticipation. But in anticipation of what?

“Whoever that was, just know that it is unappreciated.” Giovanni threatened his squad, trying very hard to keep his calm. “…and you will be demoted as soon as we land back on Tadath.”
The rest of the squad looked around, but no one owned up to it. They all had somber looks on their faces, hardly recognizable in what little moonlight was able to filter through the canopy of the old forest.

Anival attempted to explain the sound, blaming it on Joamer’s pet creature.

“It’s not the Strill…” Hayes was right in front of Joamer, looking back at the baby strill perched on Joamer’s shoulder. It was fast asleep and wasn’t making any sound. Suddenly, its ears perked up and it took a frantic look around, sniffing the air. It bared its teeth and uttered a low growl.

“I think we’ve got company…”

Giovanni took a moment to ponder his own mortality. Here he was in the middle of a sith-forsaken forest. His visibility was down to a few meters, and slowly deteriorating as the sun sank lower and lower in the horizon. He had, with the help of his squad, dispatched one of the Vornskr. It was a short-lived victory for the Iron Horse squad leader, however. Both he and Joamer knew full well that the predatory beasts traveled in packs. He was almost sure that the rest of the group was lying in wait, waiting for the perfect moment to strike and exact their revenge. It was this foreboding that added more tension to the already electric situation they were in. It didn’t help that the darker it got, the creepier the whole place felt.

Just 15 more clicks…15 more and we’ll be out of one hot spot and into another…
At least smugglers are more predictable than wild animals…or are they?.

The squad’s flashlights, on low power, cut through the trees at awkward angles. They either scared anything that might be in the trail ahead or attracted even more woodland spectators, but having any sort of light was a huge advantage and heavily outweighed the risk of alerting anyone. After all, with no lights they may as well be walking through the forest blind-folded.

Giovanni looked behind him, as he periodically did, to check on his men. Joamer and Anival still brought up the rear. Sandwiched in between them was Sratchet, the promising new private accompanying Iron Horse squad on his first official mission. His jaw was clenched shut and he never brought his rifle down from chest height.

“You holding up okay?” Giovanni had forgotten to ask him after the Vornskr attack. He was much too preoccupied with his close brush with death to tend to his duties as a squad leader. Now however, that the dreadful episode was over and his adrenaline levels had returned to normal, he returned to his role as leader. Hayes turned his head and looked behind him for a minute to hear what the young soldier had to say.

“Never been better, Sarge.” There was confidence in his voice. Giovanni was surprised, and by the looks of it, so was Hayes. They both gave a contemplative Hmm and turned their eyes, once again, to the road in front of them.

The cones of light from their flashlights threw strange looking shadows on the trunks of the trees and the ground in front of them. They couldn’t let that bother them, though, as there were still many predators about. In what was a rare phenomenon, a Stormtrooper squadron with the Vast Empire Army was now the hunted instead of the hunter.

Anival was full of adrenaline first they had been attacked by s ingle bold creature, and now they were being hunted.

Anival couldn’t help but chuckle. Anival and Joamer were half running and half jogging in the rear of the squad. Anival took out his vibroblade he looked around and heard a shuffling sound around them.

“3 clicks” shouted Joamer.

Anival felt a slight chill and felt the urge to stop but his training kept him running.
Just then Anival was clipped by one of the eleven creatures.

He fell hard on the floor as the rest attacked.
Anival wrestled with the Vornskr for a while. Anival looked around and saw that the rest of the squad  was doing the same.

Anival hit the Vornskr in the snout and it appeared that it hurt him more than it hurt the beast.
Anival took out his vibroblade and started thrusting it in the creature.

It took a while for the creature to go down, but Anival didn’t escape unscathed
He had acquired new scars to add to his collection.

Anival heaved the bests body off of himself. He got up and quickly waited for another attack, when it didn’t come he looked around and saw a that there were a couple dead Vorknr’s and no more in sight.

“That was a test attack” said Joamer “they were seeing if we were easy prey.”

“Alright ladies!. Back in formation, we had a nice dance but lets get moving, and double the pace!” barked Gio

After a while Joamer said  “.5 clicks”

Anival felt the anticipation, he was half expecting another attack.

The squad was in chaos. They were only a few hundred meters from the edge of the forest and relative safety, but they might as well have been in the thick of the jungle. The vonskrs seemed to lose all inhibitions, rushing the squad from a myriad of directions. Hayes tried to keep an eye on everyone, tried to keep the younger and less experienced squaddies safe, but it was impossible. Hayes seemed to have a target on his back, drawing the attention of the vonskrs more than anyone else except Gio, who also had his fair share of attention.

Rolling to his right, Hayes managed to avoid death as one of the canine predators took a lunge at him. As the beast flew past him, Hayes felt something whip across the back of his helmet with tremendous force, snapping his head forward. He looked up just in time to see the tail of the vonskr recoil as the creature continued through its lunge.

Thank god for body armor, Hayes thought to himself, quickly drawing a bead on the vonskr with his Bullstopper slugthrower and letting off three rounds. The first round went wide, just grazing the beast and drawing a snarl from its fanged mouth. The following round, only a split second later, cut off the snarl as it caught the canine in the shoulder. The vonskr let out a howl which was yet again silenced as Hayes’ third round caught the beast in the skull. It slumped over, dead almost instantly. Hayes let out a tight smile, congratulating himself on his kill.

An all-too-sudden itch at the base of his spine cut off his self congratulations, causing him to turn around. Even as he did so something struck him in the chest, propelling him to the forest floor and causing him to lose his grip on his sidearm. Drawing his combat knife from where it was sheathed on his thigh Hayes attempted to roll back to his feet but was blindsided by another vonskr, once again propelling him to the ground. He recovered quickly, managing to keep a grip on his knife. Coming back to his feet Hayes watched as the two large canines began to slowly circle around him, forcing him to pick one or the other and leave his back exposed. It was not a good situation.

Hayes tried to keep an eye on each of the vonskrs, but it was impossible. Eventually they circled around him until they came to the point where he couldn’t watch both of them at the same time. It became necessary to divide his attention, and as he did so the vonskrs attacked. Hayes began to duck, but he knew there was no way he was going to avoid both of the beasts. They would rip limb from limb, storm commando armor or no. Closing his eyes, Hayes uttered a silent prayer to the gods he had never worshiped, waiting for the steel claws of the vonskrs to rip into his flesh.

The attack never came. Hayes hit the forest floor safely, and there was no retaliation from the canine beasts. Slowly raising his head and looking around Hayes saw the corpses of the two canines lying mere feet away. Glancing around he saw Anival holding a smoking blaster pistol pointed in his general direction. With a nod to the young trooper Hayes stood up the rest of the way, retrieving his pistol and knife along the way. He began to take a look around and see where he could help out the most, but Gio interrupted his planning with urgent orders.

“Hayes, Sratchet just took off into the woods with one of these things on his tail. Find him, quick,” the squad leader said, pointing out Sratchet’s path.

Hayes didn’t even bother with a reply, instead taking off at a sprint after the newest member of Iron Horse. He definitely was not going to let anyone die if it was within his power. Sheathing his knife and drawing his pistol as he ran, Hayes scanned the forest for any sign of Sratchet. Finding none he switched to an infrared filter on his helmet’s visor, instantly rendering all living objects in brilliant hues of red and orange and gold. He found several smaller life signs, probably small animals and birds, but no larger life signs. Worried that his quarry might have broken off on a tangent path, Hayes continued on into the woods.

After nearly a minute of heavy jogging Hayes was ready to give up. He had yet to see any sign of Sratchet or of any vonskrs, and he was beginning to lose hope. He slowed to a stop, taking a final look around before heading back to the rest of the squad. Seeing nothing Hayes turned and began to jog slowly back to where the squad was waiting. After thirty seconds or so he began to get an odd feeling, like he was being watched. Slowing, looking around, Hayes studied the thick foliage that surrounded him. He couldn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean anything was out there.

Suddenly a heavy object hit him in the back, propelling him to the forest floor. To Hayes’ luck and gratitude the ground was wet and soft, saving him from any injuries he might have sustained. The pressure on his back didn’t let up, however, and Hayes had trouble breathing. After a second of panic that the platoon sergeant quickly suppressed, Hayes used his powerful chest and arm muscles to propel himself upwards. Whatever was sitting on his back (Hayes assumed it was a vonskr, but in these woods who knew) was not so easily dislodged, and Hayes had to buck and roll to toss it off. When he finally succeeded in rolling free Hayes quickly came to his feet, drawing his knife as he did so. His pistol had been lost during the struggle, and he didn’t have time to search for it.

The vonskr wasted no time, diving at Hayes as soon as he got to his feet. Hayes was ready, though, and brought his knife up just as the vonskr jumped. The beast hit him, knocking him back to the soft ground, and was still. After a long second Hayes pushed the beast off of him, drawing his knife from its chest as he did so. The corpse rolled of him, hitting the ground with a dull thud. Gingerly Hayes stood, checking for any injuries and finding none.

Just as Hayes began to relax something moved in the brush, and he was instantly back on his guard. He brought his knife up, ready to lunge at whatever came out of the thick bushes. Much to his surprise, and relief, a black armored figure emerged.

Immediately Hayes’ visor heads up display identified the figure as Sratchet. Letting out a rare grin, Hayes approached the young man and slapped him hard on the back.

“Let’s get out of here, eh?” Hayes said.

Sratchet only nodded, obviously still a little shaken by his encounter with the vonskr. Hayes couldn’t blame him. Underneath his own cold demeanor Hayes was shaking. These vonskrs were vicious, and Hayes’ instincts seemed to fail him in these woods. He was all too ready to get out of this place.

"Now, lets not attract any attention. We're not exactly on Talon's doorstep...yet."

As the squad approached the center of town they tried to come off as normal everyday smugglers. The scene was particularly serene. They had been marching through the thick foliage for the better part of the night, and now the only thing on Giovanni's mind was to find a safe place to set his pack down and rest. It was no use pushing on at  this point. Not after the vicious attacks they had endured over the last few hours. The looks on his troop's faces mirrored his.

The streets, if you could call them that, were empty. It must have been around 0400 hours, and everyone had cleared the cantinas and gambling houses and headed for home. It would be hard not to attract attention, but it was a risk they would have to take.

The intel report Giovanni had acquired from Aldur gave him a lot of info to play with. He knew the names of some prominent smugglers and crime lords in the area, and they had been told to expect Aldur's cousin. Apparently with Talon Karrde taking control of the better part of the intelligence network and strictly enforcing many of the minor and major trade routes in the Inner Rim, many grew to resent him. It wouldn't be hard to motivate them denizens of Hillyard into action.

"Hayes, take point." Liam nodded and slowly made his way to the front of the group, several paces ahead. He peered around corners and kept a quick eye out for anything suspicious. In the meantime, Giovanni pulled out his datapad and reviewed the information Aldur had given him. Pulling up a map of Hillyard, he located an Inn and signaled Hayes to make a left turn. Hopefully they would be open.

"Okay guys, no need to omit any part of our exploits tonight. We were attacked by Vornskr on our way over, and we need a place to heal up and rest for the night. It should be a common enough story in these parts..." Giovanni zipped up his jacket and unbuckled the strap around his pistol in its holster.

Joamer's pet was quietly asleep, which meant they had little to worry about, at least in their immediate future. "I don't know about you guys, but i'd love to get some food in me... Some sleep would be nice too." Joamer tried to spark a little friendly rapport between his squadmates, but none of them seemed motivated to talk.

"Sheesh..." said Joamer. "You guys are more serious than a heart attack right now."

"Alright, keep it down. We're coming up on the Inn now."

Giovanni and the group slacked their pace and approached the building. It was worse for wear, but it would do. Luckily for them there was a light on inside. "Joamer, keep watch. Hayes and Ani, you come with me." The three men, looking a little more ragged than the rest of the group, walked into the lobby and rang the bell for service.

A very old man walked out of a back room, reeking of whiskey.

"Whaaat ken aye doo for yees?" He was having trouble standing and slurred his words. Giovanni almost preferred it this way. He wouldn't ask many questions.

"I need a room or two for my group. We're just passing through but we were attacked by a pack of Vornskr on the way in. Some food to eat would be great too, if you have any." Giovanni tapped his hand impatiently on the counter.

"Shure, shure thing. How many with you?" Giovanni replied and the man scribbled something on a pad. "That'll be five 'undred credits."

Giovanni scowled but, not wanting to argue, paid up.

"That old swamp rat..." whispered Ani behind him.

"The room is the third one down the hall on your left. There are three cots in there. It's the best i can do for ye tonight. There's some bread and fixin's in the back if you'd like it. I'm afraiddd i'm in no condition to fix youse guys anythings." The old man babbled something and walked back to his room.

"Alright, i guess we set down here for the night. Ani, go get the men."

Giovanni walked down the hall, opened the door, and collapsed on a scratchy cot.

Liam was asleep as soon as his head hit the lumpy pillow. It was a talent of his, the ability to fall asleep anywhere at anytime almost instantly. It came in handy on missions such as this where the adrenaline ran thick and sleep was a luxury.

While he was asleep Liam inevitably dreamed. He always dreamed, and some were more vivid than others, seeming almost lifelike. This was one of those dreams, and the sheer intensity of it caused Liam to break out in a cold sweat as he lay on the mat, tossing and turning.

It was dark, as dark and black as deep space, as dark and black as the great expanses of nothingness that existed between stars. Time had no meaning in this great void of shadows, and Liam simply…floated. And then the blackness was filled with pinpoints of light. Stars Liam thought subconsciously. Slowly the lights began to revolve, to spin on some unseen axis. Soon Liam was caught in the spin and was hurled off to some corner of the Galaxy he didn’t recognize.

Suddenly he was in a ship. Not just any ship, but a TIE fighter. He was wearing a black flight suit. What is this? Liam thought, wondering at the scene unfolding before him. Massive warships loomed out of his durasteel viewport, threatening and powerful and deadly. Around him tens if not hundreds of fighters screamed past, most of them TIEs. They were no match for the heavy ships of the Enemy, though, and they were obliterated.

Liam was sitting in the cockpit, but he had no control over his ship. It zigzagged throughout the battlefield, narrowly avoiding death multiple times. Several times he picked off fighters lining up shots on other TIEs, only to watch that same TIE get destroyed only seconds later. It was hopeless. He was doomed.

Watching in horror as his ship drifted closer and closer to the largest warship of them all, Liam struggled to make sense of what was happening. He knew he had to steer away but something was pulling him in. With a cry of despair at his inability to control his own actions Liam slammed the throttle forward, propelling the TIE into what seemed a green wall of laser fire.

Blackness. Pain. Screaming. The Void.

Light.

With a gasp Liam sat straight up, his body dripping with sweat. Running a hand through his hair he tried to make sense of the dream already fading from memory. Shaking his head he dismissed it as a foolish creation of his own over-worked mind, and lay back down.

Try as he might, sleep was a long time coming.

Anival heard a knocking on the door and every one instinctively took out their weapons, then some one stepped in, it was Joamer "If you plan to shoot get it over with, I do not have all day. But, be warned, the one who gets the lucky shot has to deal with Lurk, and Strills are notorious about having their revenge."  Every one eased and lowered their weapons , Giovanni stepped forward and said "Report." Joamer handed Gio a  data pad Joamer started to talk to Gio, here Anival tuned out.
"Good work, get some rest, let us see what the others bring in as Intel before we make any decisions." Gio said as he walked away.

"One other thing, I found a suitable ship for us to make out exit once the uproar begins. It's a modified SC-19 Florian, simple enough to pilot. The registration says it belongs to one Talon Karrde." Joamer said as he sat down. Anival took a seat but couldn’t sit still, he was to anxious, he could taste copper. He went to the bathroom, and splashed water on his face. He was worried, he felt jittery about this mission, something wasn’t right , Anival could feel it.

Gio walked in and said “we leave in ten ladies” . Anival’s hair stood on end, he was anxious to get this certain mission  over with. He checked his equipment and started to pace. He got looks from the rest of the squad, he suddenly felt self-conscious, He sat down, but felt the urge to stand right up, Instead he looked around and saw the squad looking non-chalant. Gio walked in and said, ok lets move. It was dark, when the squad moved out.

They moved silently through the night, silent and lethal. After all they were Iron horse, and this was expected, lethal proficiency. Anival jogged, bringing up the rear. They jogged for a while, when Gio held up his hand, the squad automatically stopped. They walked for a while and then they arrived at a building.
“Ok, you guys know what to do.” said Gio, Anival felt stupid for what he was going to ask, however he preferred  feeling stupid, than feeling a blaster bolt, or causing the failure of the squad.
“What exactly are we going to do besides the usual, “bang, bang, your dead’?”  Gio took a deep breath.
And started to explain………