"Uh guys, we have some unwelcome company entering the lobby." Verk's voice crackled through the channel.

Bright didn't need to look to confirm, she trusted Verk's eyes as much as she trusted her own. "Frak!" She said under her breath as she thought. She looked toward the elevators and back at the stairwells that Angel's fire team had taken. "Well then lets go give them a warm Jester welcome boys." She said turning back toward the elevators.

Verk and Jori followed Bright back into the elevator and they shot back the way they had come. "Verk, give me a rough count." Bright said as she checked the charge on her weapon. Still green she was good for a good while. She looked up at the floor numbers as they ticked down.

"I estimate about five to ten per transport, I counted at least three transports." Verk said rattling things off. "Thirty to thirty-five in the minimum." He finished as Bright stopped the elevator at the fourth floor.

"Ok." Bright said as she exited first, her weapon at the ready. No sign of anybody. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. " Eyes open you two. I noticed down in the lobby this was the only elevator actually working they'll be taking the stairs." She stepped forward slowly. "They'll have likely reached the third floor which means we need to hold them here. Find some cover. A DO shows his or her face blast it into oblivion."

After getting confirmation from both her boys, Bright nodded and took cover behind a durasteel desk that had been previously turned over. It had a great view of the room behind her and it allowed her to bend around the far side of it with a clear shot without presenting herself as a target.

It wasn't long before the first of the DO's made their presences known. They were shot down by Verkur, who had managed to find his way up into a ventilation shaft to shoot from. Bright got a few of her own as more DO's made their way into the room. Before long though Jester's ASL lost count of how many had been taken out. She did keep a close eye on her weapon's battery charge though. She didn't want to waist more than she had to. Perhaps she should have kept her eyes on her opponents.

Bright wasn't sure what had happened exactly but she was sure of one thing. She was three feet from where she had placed herself. The wind had been knocked out of her lungs and she could feel an odd sensation around her left shoulder and the back of her head felt as though someone had smashed it in with a sledge hammer. She managed to roll out of the way just as another shot whizzed by her head. Her opponent was dropped a second later from a blast from Verkur. Jori was making his way toward her from his own position and she had the sudden urge to kick the young Private.

"I'll kill you myself if you ever give away your position like that again, Jori!" Bright coughed out yanking her helmet off so she could breathe. She was secretly grateful to the kid as it gave her a moment to regroup and see the damage. "Frak!" She coughed again as she saw the back of her helmet. Glad I was wearing the helmet. Bright thought as she set it aside with her right hand. It was still hard to breathe and when she saw the hole in her armor just a couple centimeters below her shoulder it was no wonder why.

Bright's head swam but she pushed the threatening blackness away, her work wasn't over just yet. Apparently the tide of DO's was beginning to thin as well. She wasn't going to let her guys take all the glory though so she grabbed her side arm and fired off a few more rounds herself. Two of her targets fell with holes in their chests but the third and fourth she needed more than one shot to take them down. Shock was settling in despite her not wanting it to.

Yep, here it comes. There goes all of the little food I've had all day. Bright thought as she heaved onto the floor to the right of her. Her cybernetic arm the only thing steadying her. By the time she was done the shooting had stopped and Jori was checking to make sure all were dead. Verkur had managed to post himself beside Bright in a hurry too. "What are you staring at?" She asked looking up at the taller man. All she got out of him was a grin followed closely by a concerned frown.

"You're bleeding all over the place." He said matter of factly.

"Thanks for that observation, Verk, I don't believe I would have noticed without you to point it out." Bright said sarcastically. She would be mean for awhile now. Not something she liked about her situation, but something that her enemies would like even less. "Should be some Bacta patches in my belt pouch on the left hand side." She said.

As Verkur helped Bright with her armor and the Bacta patches she borrowed his com unit. "Angel we're all clear down here for the moment. How are you doing up there?" She asked and waited for a response.

OOC:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a upper word limit of 500? Jager, you still might want to talk it over with Riqimo, as it would be a shame to see such good posts deleted for something as trivial as that.

The turbolift suddenly stopped, and the whistling from the roof died. Dante shuffled from foot to foot, WESTSAR blaster pistol out and clutched in both hands.

There was a moment of awkward silence as Dante looked first at the control panel, then at Vox.

"Um...Sergeant Major, the door?"

Vox blinked, then nodded.

"I'm on it."

Again, he plugged his datapad into the door, and Dante steeled himself for a repeat of the earlier incident and another unconventional exit. This time, though, Vox stopped after a few seconds and the lift doors slid smoothly open. Stepping back out into the dank basement, Dante scanned for any signs of life, but found only pipes and torn strips of insulation. Vox moved in the other direction, charges tucked under his free arm, and Dante got to work.

He crawled into the access tunnel, dragging his satchel behind him. The low ceilings made movement extremely uncomfortable, and Dante found himself scraping the ceiling even when he was as low to the ground as possible. His helmet shook as he brushed the duracrete surface yet again, and the headgear's HUD flickered.

The deeoh tech was a lot more primitive than its Imperial counterpart, but the terrorists made up for it with sheer numbers and fanatical devotion. The half dozen squads that had fallen to the Deltas were evidence enough of that combination's success.

The ceiling curved up ahead, and Dante came to a wire grating. Just beyond, he could see three pillars, quite literally the hospital's foundations. Fumbling at his suit's belt, and trying to pry upon the unfamiliar clip, the Gunnery Sergeant withdrew a vibroknucker and got to work. The alloy blade hummed to itself in the darkness as it cut through the grating, leaving a hole large enough for Dante to squeeze through. A half meter wide piece of the mesh dropped with a clang, and Dante opened a channel with Vox.

"In position and placing charges."

Time to earn that paycheck...

There were showers of sparks all around Dante as his armour scraped against jagged durasteel edges. The Gunnery Sergeant felt a bent piece of grating jab into his thigh as he squeezed through, and hissed quietly in pain. He pulled, ignoring the stabbing sensation and he was through. Getting up from his half crouch, and enjoying the higher ceiling in this subsection, Dante looked from left to right. The lights appeared to have been deactivated along with the sensors, and the glowrods had failed completely here. Dante raised one hand to the side of his helmet, and gave one of the touch-pads a gentle push. The word turned into shades of red, then grey-black as he cycled through the options.

Yet another failing with the Delta Ohm helmets; and this was meant to be a higher level set. It was very fortunate for the rebels that they didn't rely on technology. As he cautiously advanced into the area beyond the tunnel, Dante wondered if that was an asset or a weakness. He himself had slaughtered the Ohms when wearing even light armour earlier, but knew he wouldn't stand a chance now. Spotting his objective as a tower of white against a field of white and grey specs, he pushed the speculation to the back of his mind and focused on the task at hand.

Opening his satchel again, the Gunnery Sergeant pulled out a squashed-sphere shaped charge and held down the three buttons at the centre of the shaped charge's control panel. A light, visible even with the night vision setting, flickered on and off three times, signalling a successful activation and readiness for Dante to set det times. Quickly, Dante set the explosion to be centered on the pillar it would be attached to, then arranged for a remote detonation. He then pushed the bomb firmly against the nearest pillar and flipped a small switch on its side. The bomb gave a loud beep, then extended sets of clawed limbs from its sides. The durasteel claws dug into the pillar's duracrete outer layer, securing the charge. Dante repeated the process three times, making sure each device was set to remote and not timed detonation as he worked. Finally, as the third bomb gave off a shrill squal, Dante commed his Squad Leader.

"Platoon Sarge, charges set and ready."

"Vox here. Devices placed."

"Get up and to the RV point,and for Force's sake hurry. They're breaking in." There was blaster fire, and Snipes fell silent.

"Roger that." Dante said to the closed channel. He stood there for a moment, until Snipe's words sank in.

"Stang..."

Abandoning stealth to the four winds, he ran like hell.

Dante pushed through the second grate and was instantly aware of the dozens of emitters blinking out and the beams fading into them. He heard an alarm beginning to whine from somewhere above him, and began to swear violently. The muffled screeches motivated him to hurry as he crawled through the tunnels, setting off more alarms as he went. After what seemed like an eternity of crawling through tunnels and bumping into jagged protrusions, Dante pushed his way out of the final grate and found Vox doing the same on the other side.

"I thought you said the alarms would be off."

"They were, for a while. We're getting out of here."

"Yes, SIR!!" Dante sarcastically shouted.

"Stow it, Gunnery Sergeant."

Vox strode purposefully over to the lift panel, but stopped. The lift icon was already falling, even though Vox hadn't called it. That meant only one thing, something even a Gungan could have figured out.

Oh, joy. More guards.

Vox made a hand gesture, then retreated to the lift's left side. Dante mirrored his movement, and the two troopers trained their weapons on the twin doors. The area would be a killzone in a few minutes, and they had to reduce the investigators to a more managable number before they lost the element of surprise.

There was a loud ding as the lift reached the bottom of the shaft, and the doors slid open. Dante forced himself to be silent and compltely still, breathing as quietely as possible. Vox was almost invisible against the grimy walls, his position revealed only by the glint of his rifle barrel.

A blue armoured guard stepped out, one hand on his holster and the other at his temple as he looked around. He saw Dante and was about to draw his sidearm when both of the RAIDERS shot him. As the human fell, two more rushed out and met the same fate.

There were still nine stunned guards in the lift, however, and if the RAIDERS didn't resort to drastic measures things would get very unpleasant for them. With the both the prospect of capture and the charges sitting a few dozen meters behind him to motivate him, Dante decided to deal with the problem the best way he knew how to: with an explosion. He rolled his last frag around the corner and into the lift. For two seconds, there were a series of screamed obscenities and shouts for someone to grab the grenade. Then the frag blew, and body parts flew from the lift.

Dante waited to be sure that there weren't any groans or screams signifying survivors, then rushed into the turbolift. If the floor had been bloody earlier, it looked like a scene from Hell now. Otto pushed the ground floor holoicon, and the lift thankfully rose. Placing his last power pack in his WESTSAR, Dante steeled himself for the ordeal that doubtless awaited the two RAIDERS in the lobby.

It could have been the heat or the smoke, but the last few minutes had been a blur; what RK did know as he was on the ground, struggling with the man that had threatened Helena's life only moments ago. RK regretted his decision as soon as he figured out how strong the man really was, and the fact they were quickly running out of time didn't help him any more.

“So, you'd rather die than live?” the man taunted, swinging his fist up and connecting with the right side of RK's face, giving the man enough time to lift RK off and throw him like a rag doll.

RK slid about a foot before stopping under his own willpower. Everything hurt, not one part of his body was without pain, which didn't shock him. What did was the fact that Ror or Helena hadn't shot him yet. Then he saw it, the man had drawn a pistol. When do the twists stop? We don't have time for this, any second were going to be burned alive.

“you guys are idiots, one wrong move and your friend here dies, that I if the fire doesn't get to him first. “ The man wouldn't stop taunting, it was his advantage, he knew his limits.

“Fine.” Ror said, dropping his only gun to the ground, Helena doing the same. The man watched them closely.

RK on the other hand used the moment to make another move. He spun while still on the ground, kicking the man hard in the shin, this was the chance he needed. The man fell hard into the ground, his pistol clattering outside of the tent. Now. “Helena, Ror, Run!”

He saw Helena move first, probably half out of shock; Ror was following soon behind. RK was already moving though, grabbing his knife back off the ground and lunging for the man, who now laid on the ground, in one quick movement. As the blade struck the man, he could feel it dig deep into the man's flesh. The victim screamed out in agony, while RK quickly gave him a nice punch to the face. The man dropped fast, clutching at the spot the knife had entered, but failing since it was behind him.

“And stay down.” RK told the dead body, knowing it didn't matter. Better get going, before... then that's when it happened, he saw it, an explosion went off right behind him. Then another blur, as he was blown forward through the air.

"RK, Ror, report! What the hell was that?"

Kanderin smacked his comlink angrily, he was repeating the same message over and over again but there was still no response. The explosion had been huge, reaching several metres into the air and throwing the closest tents into them. The remainder of the enemy unit had scattered, fearing another explosion.

"Sir, what do we do?" The soldier he was next to shouted.

"Our job's done here, far as I can see" Kanderin sighed, checking his comlink was working properly "You and the rest of the squads should fall back to the Dewback's and wait for us"

He wasn't surprised that he didn't wait for a confirmation of the order, the young private simply running off to the nearest exit, barely stopping to signal everyone he passed.

"Rk, Ror, anyone, I order you to report immediately!"

"Kand, It's Helena. Ror is with me." The response was crackly, verging on killing the line completely.

"It's time we leave, everyone get out immediately" Kanderin replied, a smile stretching across his face at the fact that at least one other person was alive.

"I cant do that just yet Kand...." The crackle responded "Rk was caught in that blast, we cant just leave him..."

The last thing he wanted to hear was that one more person could of been killed. Not that it was a surprise, even his new plan was a state, looking back. He could imagine the look on Darr's face when he explained how he ordered Wraith to charge into a burning camp.

"You have five minutes, if you dont find him you get out of there"

RK limped about a third of the way back out of the flames. His whole body ached from the landing and the beating that he had sustained; if it wasn't the adrenaline that was keeping him from falling over, then RK didn't know what was keeping him up. 

“Just a real quick thought; the next person who says that humans can fly, I'm going to punch him in the face.” RK said, trying hard not to laugh at his own joke, it hurt enough that he was running.

The flame continued threatening to drop every single one of them, even if they were outside of it by three feet; the heat could still be felt on every one of their backs. Again it was time like these RK wished he had his dewback, or at least some sort of STAP.

“Hello, is anyone there, are you guys alright?” Kand's voice came of the commlink, it sounded worried, but at the same time like he was trying to keep calm.

Helena was the first one to grab her radio, RK would have,but he was still clenching his ribs, knowing he broke a couple. Helena brought the radio up to her moth, and spoke, “yea, were all alive and good, almost at your position, trying to let RK keep up.”

“Alright, were getting the dewbacks ready, by the time you get here we will be all set to move out.” Kand rplied, breaking the link.

It took them about two minutes to get to Kand's position, but they ade it without much trouble. And just like Kand had told them, the dewbacks were ready to go; allt heyw ere missing were their riders. Which soon changed.

“Glad to see your alive, RK. Think you can ride?” Kan asked, his back to RK as he mounted Gizmo.

“Should be able to, I'm bruised not dead.” RK barely got out his words, coughing in between a few words.

“That's the spirit.” Helena said

“Yea, but just a warning, the net person to say human's can fly, they are getting a fist to the face.” Rk grinned, not even noticing the laughter that was spreading. Instead, he just mounted his dewback and got ready to ride.

The elevator doors slid open and Jager had just poked his head out before Angel pulled him back, narrowly avoiding a blaster shot which continued into the wall. Jager quickly scrambled back to his feet and replied to the shots with a few blind shots of his own.

"Luth, Out. Squall, We're heading up a floor." Angel ordered, shielding Terval.

Jager got low and made a dash for the large greeting and information section in the middle of the lobby. The think bench gave excellent cover but obscured the door.

"Bright, I'am leaving Jager behind. We're taking Terval to the first floor." Angel announced over the Comm. Bright tapped her Comms and went back to firing at the fresh Delta Ohm troops. The first wave were quickly put down, which caused the next lot to wait back and rethink their strategy.

Jager checked his weapon and scattered a few cartridges on the floor.

"Sitrep" Bright asked, taking a few deep breaths while she could.

"Jori, A-O-K",

"Verk, fingers are getting tired."

"Jager, My balls itch, My feet are sore and I need a smoke"

"Good to hear, Check your weapons and get ready for the next wave." Bright replied, followed by each trooper tapping their Comm in acknowledgment.

Jager lent against the wall and ran a hand through his hair. There under the bench was an answer to his prayers, a crumpled packet of cigarettes. Excitedly he slid forwards and checked the packet, "booyaa" he murmured retrieving the last two cigarettes.

"Jager, Scratch the smoke request. I found some."  he announced over the channel,

"Fifteen credits says he didn't bring his lighter." Verk stated. Unfortunately for Jager he was right. Slamming the wall with his fist he lent back and stared at the cigarettes when something hit him.

Taking his E-11 he aimed at the ceiling directly above him and squeezed off a shot.

"Hold you fire, dammit" Bright hastily ordered over the Comm,

"Salright, Just me... Needed to light a cigarette" Jager replied.

The barrel of the E-11 was now nice and hot. Carefully he pressed the cigarette against it till it started smoldering. "heh, deserve a medal for that" he mumbled as he quickly took a drag.

"Now if i could solve my other two problems, then we'd be in buisness"

Dante ran through yet another doorseal, hearing the blaster bolts fly past him. As he and Vox made their way through the facility, they'd kept on running into groups of guards. As a result, they now had two or three squads on their tail. Between their own flight, the actions of the other RAIDERS, and a lack of communication, the hospital was in chaos. Instructions were shouted over the hospital speakers, only to be contradicted a few moments later by another commander's words. From the queries and reports he heard while running, Dante gathered that the two other RAIDER groups had been busy in his absence; at least if the damage reports and section search results were any indication. 

The RAIDERS sprinted through a pair of blast doors, part of the hospital soon to be unnecessary security system, with the lead security  trooper only a few feet away. Dante fired the last three shots in his sidearm into the azure-uniformed human, slagging his face and sending his weapon spinning from his hands. As the rest of the hospital personnel came to a sudden and surprised halt, Vox took advantage of the opportunity to take three steps over to the door control panel, slam a gloved fist down on the emergency activation button, and then fire a shot into the controls as the heavy blast door came down. There was a shower of sparks from the falling door, and the now slagged panel spluttered.

Finally granted a respite, Dante crouched panting with his hands on his knees. He heard the dull ping of blaster fire hitting the other side of the door, and smiled to himself. There was no way for the guards to melt through a quarter meter of solid durasteel, and they'd soon figure that out. Doubtless, they'd find a way around the doorseal, but the RAIDERS would be long gone. Hopefully.

Vox made a slicing gesture, and Dante nodded. Reholstering his now useless WESTSAR pistol, the Gunnery Sergeant picked up a guard's E-11 from where it had fallen and continued to running. They were only a few corridors away from the agreed RV point, and Dante had no intention of dying in his own explosion, not when he was this close to escape.

Helena gulped loudly, turning Flora around the bending corners of the path. She seriously wasn’t sure about this at all. The Dactillions weren’t ready, even the two she had that were in training weren’t close to passing the initial trials for safety. She’d just come off one and almost seriously injured herself.

“Uh, Kand you sure about this?” She questioned with a slight quiver in her speech.

“Of course I’m sure. Now pick your people.” He said with a warming smile, trying to reassure her.

“Okay, let me think. RK is far too clumsy for the untested creatures, Ror could handle it. We need Kand on the ground. I’m sure RK can manage on ground with a dewback, he seems to be handling his well.”

As she said that, she turned her head to face him, only to find him in a bush and his dewback trying to catch up on the skipped lunch.

Helena face palmed. She didn’t know what to do.

“Kand?” She called out.

“Yes?”

“I’ve made my decision. I’ve chosen Ror to come with me, you need to stay on ground to work out ground operations, and I think RK should stay with you. That way we won’t lose him or risk getting him killed.”

“Well chosen” Kand smiled.

Helena loved it when she impressed Kand, she felt an extra burst of energy run through her body.

Dante jumped over a jagged piece of duracrete lying on the dust and rubble coated floor, ignoring the rush of pain that suddenly grew in his right leg as it brushed against a severed durasteel support protruding from the larger chunk. He heard cries and shouted orders from behind him, and knew that the guards had caught up to him. He tried to continue running, but found that his left leg was refusing to respond and that he couldn't go any faster than a hobbling walk. Desperately, he looked for Vox, but the Sergeant Major had vanished.

Cursing the ASL and most of his extended family, Dante scrambled for cover as fast as he could. He felt something smooth and wet making its way down his leg from the point of impact with the pole's edge and knew he'd never make it out in time.

"Stang, stang, stang, stang..."

Dante heard footsteps echoing just ahead, and raised his head. A Bothan guard was running through the doorseal, yellow eyes scanning the room as it jerked its furred muzzle left and right. Dante pulled the E-11's trigger twice in rapid succession, putting two rounds through the alien's grey-white face. The noise attracted other, and Dante fired the E-11 in rapid bursts as the guards came through the door one by one. The only thing he could think of was exactly how he was going to kill Vox, if he survived long enough for that to be an option.

The Rodian twitched as the energy bolt’s energy coursed through its system, melting organs and connective tissue as it dissipated. What remained fell, with a yellow-orange goo where its head should have been. Dante smiled, an expression which was almost instantly distorted into a twisted grimace of pain as his leg brushed against a chunk of fallen ceiling and the open wound came in contact with the grey Ohm leggings. The wound continued to throb as Dante groped at his waist pouches for another power cell.

Removing one of the rectangular devices from the container, Dante turned it in his hand, feeling for the connector. The clip glowed a bright blue at it’s centre and was slightly warm under his touch. The Gunnery Sergeant found the protrusion and firmly shoved that end into its gaping counterpart on the E-11. The rifle chimed, and the sight reactivated as it registered the new energy source.

There was a clatter as debris shifted just beyond the doorseal, and Dante’s attention instantly returned to the portal. At first, the guards had come through the narrow doorseal one by one, and he’d picked off five of them with well aimed bursts. After a trooper with the red-black uniform of a higher-up had fallen to Dante’s fire, they’d stopped coming. Now, two of the “blues”, as Dante now thought of the regular guards, came into view.

“Osik!”

Dante pulled the trigger and one of the blues went down with his chest smoldering. The other one managed to get a few shots off before the RAIDER could adjust his aim, and a series of craters appeared in the duracrete Dante was using as a support. Dante emptied the remaining shots in the clip into the Quarren, sending particle beams ripping into the amphibious creature’s vocal cords and mouthparts. Two of its long mourg-appendages dropped, smoldering and blackened, as the dying creature tried to speak but only managed to emit a choking gurgle. Its round, black eyes stared accusingly at the Imperial for a long moment before it topped over backwards and into a wall.

Dante didn’t like killing the guards but he had no choice. The mission briefing had been very specific, and he knew better than to disobey orders. For the doctors and original group of guards, he’d reasoned that they were traitors and deserved what they got. The first doctor had all but confirmed that, and he’d felt no remorse in wiping the scum out. The newer hostiles, though, were a different story. They’d been brought in from the outside and were guilty of nothing more than suffering bad luck. When Dante looked at them, try as he might, he could never see them as anything but innocents. It was with a heavy heart, then, that he continued to fire at the guards.

OOC:

Word really, really sucks.

The guard in Dante’s sight seemed to waver, and there were suddenly four humans firing at him. Dante blinked, and the illusion vanished. He was tired, although he was loath to admit it even to himself. Tired of this pointless killing, of fighting his own side, of finding out that the Vast Empire wasn’t infallible, would sink to the level of its enemies. Somehow, Dante’s conviction had lasted through years of seeing the unpleasant underside to the glittering spires, the discovery of the Empire’s fragmentation, the sterilization of Garg II following his squad’s failure there. It didn’t look like it would last much longer.

Another tug on the lever, another hiss, and another scream. Another blue-suited figure falling with its head missing. Another clip discarding and clattering on rubble. Dante repeated this until his fingers were numb. At first, he’d wondered where the other RAIDERS where, why they weren’t helping, but the confusion passed soon enough. Dante understood Snipes well enough to know that he was a man of great loyalty to his squad, but a greater loyalty to the mission. The Platoon Sergeant would do his duty. Dante supposed he couldn't fault him for that. If their positions had been reversed, he would have done the same.

There was a rustle of movement, and Dante readied himself for another shot, another kill, another murder. Then he saw the sentient and froze. It was a stormtrooper. An alien one, sure, and one that had a blaster trained on him but it was still a stormtrooper. A vod. Guards were one thing, but a brother? For a moment, Dante froze, his finger paused on the trigger. Then, the stormtrooper shot him and the world flickered and vanished.

Lucky moved off with Hassar walking silently behind her. It had been determined that each group would keep rack of one another's progress via ComLink.

people stole glances at them, some even tried to spot the Stormtroopers faces behind the polarized visors of their helmets. One particular man was constantly snapping pictures of the duo as they were walking by and looking at the end result of his photos. Annoyed, she decided to intercept the man. he started to jog away, but she managed to catch his arm and squeezed. With a yelp of pain, he struggled but stopped trying after a minute or two, seeing as he wasn't going anywhere. Not under her watch in any case.

The man just stood still and stared at the ground.  "can I see some ID?" she asked the man as politely as circumstances would permit. Seeing that he didn't want to cooperate, she had Hassar search the man while she made sure he stayed rooted in place.

"He's got no ID on him"

Hassar finally said after he thoroughly searched the man.

"Are you a Delta Ohm?"

The sneer that appeared on his face was a good enough answer for her.

"Let's lock him up."