A drafty wind whistled through the crack in the window; hissing in a high pitched tune that was silenced in a brief moment.  The boarder of the apartment grabbed a blanket off his low and dingy cot in the corner of the room and threw it up against the window, offering himself temporary relief from noise that has so far ensued.  He groaned and leaned back in frustration, throwing his fists up into the air and back down onto his face, where the fists flattened out and grasped his face- his long fingers dragging over his eyes and nose as his pulled his hands downward in agony. 

He reached in front of him towards a memo on the table, and then retracted his hand.  His grey eyes were bloodshot and the deep circles over his eyes indicated a lack of sleep and health.  His finger twitched on the table, his mouth hung open at one corner, and his nose shriveled as he sat in delayed suspense.

"Dammit to hell!" he said to himself.  "I had no time! No time at all!"

Quote:To Rask Templar,

It is our sincere regret to inform you that as of midnight last, your son was found dead outside of the Chiller Bask cantina and nightclub.

It is however, more regrettable that a particular item of worth that he was carrying, a small black datapad containing a letter of marque, has not been found on the body.  We are most displeased and discouraged at this news and we advise you, if you value your life and your social position, to find this letter of marque and to make sure that its contents are either destroyed or safely returned to us.

You have forty eight hours to find the letter.

Signed,
The Rain Maker

Rask, for the letter was to him, crumpled up the paper in his hand; lowering his tear stained face as he squeezed the written document in his fist.  Rask threw it against the wall and sat on his cot, running his fingers through his hair.  If he could not find this letter of marque- if he could manage to pull off this near impossible feat he would be as dead as his son in a matter of days.  Rask jumped suddenly as he heard a knock at his door.

Rask said nothing.  He walked over to the door and listened to see if the unwanted intruder would leave.

The knocking persisted.

Rask ran over to his dresser and dug through the clothes within it, until he found a wrapped item hidden deep within the folds of a heavy shirt.  As he unwrapped the item, he walked over to the door and stuck a chair underneath the knob of the door.

"Open this door!" said the voice behind.  "Or we'll open it for you!"

"Go to hell!" Rask yelled.

"Have it your way then." the man said.  "The Rain Maker sends his regards!"

Suddenly the door exploded into thousands of splintering, shattered pieces of wood.  Rask was knocked back towards his cot in the corner of the room, making a puddle of blood where he sat limply.  As he lifted his head, he saw through the settling dust a man walk through the doorway. 

"Your time is up." he said.

"It was an... impossible thing to ask..." Rask choked.

"The Boss was more than merciful." the man said as he raised his blaster pistol.  "He says to send your boy his regards as well... and to tell him a bullet was waiting for him anyhow..."

"You bastard!" Rask shouted.  He whipped the cloth off his wrapped object, a blaster rifle, and pointed it at the man in front of him. 

Suddenly a heavy flow of blaster fire unloaded into the room from the doorway.  The man in front of Rask fell to the ground, covered in steaming holes of burning flesh.  A man walked into the room behind him, covered from head to toe in white armor.

"Storm... Stormtroopers?" Rask coughed.

The man pulled off his helmet and revealed his human face beneath. 

"Sergeant Ron: Raiders Squad." he said.  Behind him followed eight other similar troopers, all who removed their helmets as their leader did.

"What the hell do you want?" Rask said.

"We heard that you have experience working for the main base of communications here." Ron said.

"Long time ago." Rask replied.  He got up slowly and sat on the cot, resting his head against the wall behind him.

"We need the access codes to get in there." Ron finished.

Rask coughed and shook his head.

"I'm in deep trouble as it is." he replied.  "I've got a royal bounty on my head, I'll be dead in a matter of hours.  If you want the codes to the communications system, you'll have to find them somewhere else..."

"What did that man want?" Ron said.

"My life, you fool." Rask answered.

"Show some respect for an Imperial Officer!" Jaenna said menacingly, pointing her gun at him.

Ron motioned for Jae to lower her gun before turning back to Rask and saying, "Look. I can promise you protection from whoever is after you, as well as a possible solution to whatever mess you're in, if you give me those codes."

Rask looked at Ron and then at the others before answering.

"I used to work for an illegal smuggler's group, known around here as Jonah.  Jonah's run by a billionaire dealer, a real professional, from Coruscant.  I don't know his name, but most people call him The Rain Maker.  He's the one who's after me; he would have killed my son too, but someone else beat him to it...

"My son was carrying a small black data pad that carried illegal information regarding the docking codes here in the city.  The Rain Maker needs those codes so that he can safely commandeer them without exposing himself too much to danger.  Without those codes his business here is ruined."

Rask looked at the squad.  "You get me that datapad, I'll give you access to the communications main base."

Ron nodded.  "It's a deal then.  Get your things, we leave immediately."

Ron turned to the rest of the squad.  "Get ready to pack up again, we have to find whoever killed this guy's kid."

"Great." Bacardi said.  "That won't take long at all."

"Especially on old evidence and probably no body." Rogueboy answered.

"Finding the killer is harder than getting the communication access codes in the first place." Havock said.

"I don't even see why we need em." Jae said.  "I'm a Communications Technician, Ron's a Slicer... lets just hack into it."

"So much for confidence." Ron said.  "We can't just hack into it... there's only one access consul and it only accepts one password.  Furthermore, tampering with the system causes it to shut down.  No there's only one way to get it, and it's through this guy."

"How do you even know he's got them?" Karash said.

"Yeah, he might be lying to you." said Grahim.

Ron ejected his battle laptop from the shell that contained it on his chest plate, and showed the information on it's duo screen projector.

"The empire's been looking for this guy for a long time." Ron said.  "He was one of the creators of the modern inter-planet comm system used by most of the planets in this system.  He can access just about any computer in this planetary system."

"Woa." Jaenna said.

Ron turned towards Rask who had his few possessions packed away in a backpack.

"All ready." he said simply.  Ron ordered him to walk in the center of their group as they left the apartments and headed out towards the exit of the building.  As they came to the entrance, the sound of heavy thunder and a flash of lighting met them.  Ron hurried them onwards to the safety of the covered shuttle that awaited them.

"Let's move!" Ron said.

Rask was the last to get on the shuttle.  As he stepped up into the shuttle, he looked behind him and shuddered.

"Looks Like It's Going to Rain." he said.

OOC:

Story is finally up!
Your objectives are fairly simple right now, but they will grow as we progress in the story.  It's going to be a long one, but very interesting so you guys just take your time with this one.  I would like to see some more use of description, really try and paint to me what you're talking about when you write.  I would rather have a few good quality posts than many poor quality posts.

Go ahead and start writing about tracking down these murderers.  Talk to civilians, have us go to cantinas or nightclubs or even get us into some brawls or shootouts.  Be creative in getting us to find whoever killed this guy's kid.  That's all for now, start writing!

“The Rain maker”, Karash had heard that name once before he couldn’t remember where or what relevance it had but it was there none the less.

Karash looked out onto the miserable little city and wondered why the empire was interested in such as horrible little place, but it was not his job to concern himself with these things he just had to work. The rain began to hammer down even further onto the ship it even began to sway a bit in the wind.

“Okay let’s get into civilian clothes; they will be more willing to talk to us if we don't walk into the local cantina wearing Stormtrooper armor. Bacardi stay and protect Rask. Let’s go.” Ron ordered.

Karash did not like wearing the civilian clothes they made him feel insecure as they would not protect him from a stone let alone a blaster shot; he continued to dress and finally tucked his blaster pistol away and conceal his combat knife, he had a feeling he was going to need both.

Karash noticed that there was something the matter with Havock. “Don't feed me that load of crap, what is your problem?” he asked.

Havock continued to deny any problems and Karash decided not to pursue any further because it was not wise to talk about trooper problems in a less than glamorous cantina.

“Everybody watch what you say and try not to start anything, other than that go and find what you can. We’ll meat back at the ship later.” Said Ron.

The inside of the cantina was full of degenerate, no good bottom rung of society; there was filth everywhere and Karash dared not stand in the place for too long in case something started to grow on him.

“Grahim I’d watch yourself because the people here do not look very Gungan friendly.”

Grahim just nodded and went off into the crowd; Karash made his way towards the bar because he really needed a drink and just hoped that they had what he wanted.

“What d’ya want?” the ugly little man at the bar said.

“A double Kareas brandy.” Said Karash.

The man waddled off to get the drink and Karash took in a few people that were currently surrounding him, one off which seemed to be dealing spice.

“Hey you want to buy some Ryll?” the seedy little man said.

“No thanks but I’ll take your name just in case I need it because I could put a lot of business your way.” Karash said with a smirk on his face.

“Yeah, yeah me name if Rogol, just ask around to find me.” The dealer said.

With that the man just slipped away back into the crowds of people, the barman just brought the drink back. There was something swimming in it.

“Gotta a clean glass?” Karash said sarcastically.

“Watch your mouth, now get out of it!” The man spat as he spoke.

It was then that Karash noticed some silly drunken fool standing on a counter rant ing on about how he knew the ‘Rain maker’. Karash’s ears pricked up instantly and he began to make his way over.

“I think he’s going to useful.” Karash whispered to himself.

Some cantinas needed a serious cleaning. This one, was definitely one of those in need. As Jaenna walked into the place, her dual viroblades crisscrossed on her back in their sheaths, her blaster pistol at her side, her face instantly went from happy-to-get-a-drink to… holy-hell-what-am-I-doing-in-here.

“Geeze… This place is grody.” She said under her breath as she took a few more steps into the place, her sea-foam green eyes wondering about from humanoid to humanoid.

Havock came up behind her and place a hand on her shoulder. A soft chuckle rolled over the LCPL’s lips as she too looked around the cantina. “Heh. I’m going to need a drink after coming to a place like this.” Havock continued to look around, an odd sort of smile on her face. A smile that said many things at once… a smile that Jae needed to find the reasoning behind.

The CPL turned and looked Havock in the face, those sea-foam green eyes narrowed. She placed her hands on Havock’s shoulders and stared at her for a long, silent moment, attempting to draw the answers without having to be verbal… But it soon became obvious that Havvy wasn’t to crack this easily. With a sigh, Jae shook her head. “We talked about this back home, hun.”

“I know we did… But it’s still hard. I could see you having problems on the ship here anyways.”

“Yeah yeah. I know. But still. I can hide it. You look like you’re about to cry at any moment. Either that or kick our little Gungan buddy in the ‘nads.” Havock chuckled at Jae’s last remark.

Havock then sighed and leaned forward to rest her forehead on Jae’s shoulder. “I don’t know, Jae… I just need to keep focused.” Jae nodded and hugged her friend tightly.

“I’m here for you Hav. And if you need get back on focus, just-” Just then, the sound of a man’s yells came to Jae’s ears. He turned around, Havock following the action. The man was yelling at Grahim. The poor Gungan looking utterly confused. Havock sighed and looked at Jae. Jae shrugged and nodded, knowing what Havock was thinking.

With that, Havock left Jae standing there to go try and help out Grahim.

“Geeze…” The word left Jae’s pale pink lips with a sigh as she stood there, wondering just what to do know. Her eyes showed confusion, her posture showed confidence. But above all, what couldn’t be seen was her fear. Havock wasn’t the only one that was having trouble staying focused. Jaenna Reed Caldwin took a deep breath, using that action as a threat to the monster of rage that she feared to ever let loose again. It just couldn’t happen again. It couldn’t. And she wasn’t going to let it. With a sigh, the CPL ran a hand through her auburn hued hair, letting the hand fall back down to her side. She squared her shoulders and made her way to the bar.

The best way to get answers was to be quiet and just listen.

“Hey. Barkeep.” She said, assertiveness ringing out in the melancholy tune of her voice.

A small Sullustan man turned around and inclined his head towards Jae. “Whaddya need, miss?” He asked her with a surprisingly pleasant tone. His small hands were working their way over a glass that he was cleaning with a deep gray colored rag.

“Eh. Just anything with a nice strong brandy in it will do.” The Sullustan nodded and ducked down behind the counter for a moment. Not a second later, he came back up with a glass full a deep purple liquid, a suspended clear liquid floating within it, making it seem more like a primitive Lava Lamp than a drink. Jae’s lips twisted into an odd smile as she inspected the drink, her sea-foam eyes running over the glass with a soft look. “Hey… Nice work there, guy. I’m going to enjoy this.”

The Sullustan nodded and smiled at Jae, before turning towards another customer to help them.

With a steadying breath, as if preparing for a test, Jae tipped the glass’ rim to her lips and allowed the stinging liquid to slide down her throat slowly. Chills streamed through her body as the liquid burned her throat. As she took the glass away from her lips, a smile drifted across them. “Heh. Wow. This is great.” She chuckled to herself, and sat silently at the bar, waiting for anything interesting to come up.

Jae’s ears were open. Her eyes were set forward. Her guard was up. She wasn’t going to let what happened on Kalee happen again. It couldn’t happen again. It would send Ron into another fit, and he possibly end up worse than he was before leaving Kalee. Slowly, she turned her head to look at Ron, an sighed. “You’re doing such a good job as SL, Ron… Don’t give up.” She said to herself.

Her wrist com went off. “Jae. Grahim just took out a civy in the back of the Cantina.” It was Havock’s voice.

“Frack. Do you have him contained?”

“He went somewhere in the city… I’m going to go look for him.” Havock said, worry evident in her soft voice.

Jae sighed. “Alright. I’ll meet up with you as soon as I find something here, hun. Jae out.”

She switched off the com and sighed. “Dammit, Grahim…” She chuckled to herself. She didn’t know why she chuckled… but she did.

This mission was sure to be VERY interesting.

Considering Rogue was on a planet that he knew practically nothing about except that it was infested by smugglers who worked for one main man called the “Rain Maker”. Apparently no one knew what this man looked like except there was a file on him longer than Rogue’s arm and yet still no positive identification on him. Then again almost everyone seemed to have a file longer than his arm, honest men were a short commodity. The same applied to RB if there’s one thing he started to notice was that he cared even less about the life he was leading than he did before if this was even possible, maybe it was the drugs or perhaps he was just giving up. Either way it made no difference to him while he knew he would not commit suicide as it impugned his sense of honour accidentally overdosing was still a suicide in his mind.

Rogue needed to quit his drugs he definitely noticed he was slowing done and sometimes after doing an injection he would just feel paralyzed for an hour or so. The sad part about his wanting to quit is that he had no one he could trust; he was relatively friendly with his entire squad however he had no close friends. Opening up to a squad member would also risk him throwing away the only life he knows now whether or not that is a good thing Rogue wouldn’t be able to tell.

As it turned out Rogue was looking for a link between some spice smuggler and the dead son of a communications technician. The ideal location to look for a spice smuggler would be to start from the bottom and work your way to the top, the lowest form on a spice deal is the user. Well that would mean Rogue, so the second lowest form on a spice deal is the dealer.

RB would now need to find a dealer which is usually not hard if you have some local contacts however Rogue had known, and therefore ran the risk of getting arrested. Additionally trying to quit thruster head while hanging around drugs was never a good idea but the world was full of bad ideas that had led to many good things and many good ones that had brought about bad things.

The logical place to look for a dealer would be a bar, or so the average person would think many dealers avoided bars because bars tend to be under constant scrutiny from the local forces. The next question was where one gets drugs from someone who is willing to risk selling to a new customer that he never heard from before, and it has to be a small quantity otherwise Rogue would be looking at the ports.

Public parks in the most heavily populated areas, this was something Rogue could easily do without drawing too much attention to himself. First off RB needed to look more like a user and less like a soldier which was easy to do with his pale complexion and shaky hands which he had procured from his addiction with TH. Rogue was determined to quit even if it should kill him, the medical flimsiplasts had said that he should slowly wean himself off of it but he was determined to go cold rycrit no matter what the price.

Hav was making her last trip around the building. There had been no movement in or out of the building for the past few minutes. She headed back to where she left Grahim. It wasn't easy to cross the street. The majority of the foot traffic was going up or down the street, across was not a popular trajectory. This lead to many bumps and sorry's and excuse mes before Havock reached Grahim.

“Okay, any sign of Namyr?”

Grahim shook his head. “Nosa not yetsa.”

Havock clapped her hands together. “Okay, well I think I've got a plan. I know the layout and those guys should be pretty comfy by now so...”

Havock had been looking around and out of the corner of her eyes saw a familiar figure. “Karash?” she whispered softly. Looking back at Grahim, “be right back.”

Havock walked across the street and down a little to meet up with Karash. “Hey, good to see you Kar. Found Grahim. Karash? Wait are you okay?”

Havock became aware of the fact that on top of being soaked, beads of sweat were formed on Karash's brow. He was breathing ragged as if he had ran the entire way from the cantina.

Karash took a few more deep breaths and looked around a bit erratically. “Is that the place, lets go, we should go.” He tried to push his way past Havock, to which she put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back.

“Umm yeah, no.” Karash was looking at Havock's had with a bit of indignation then shook his head as if to clear some random thought. “Listen to me, I've got a hallucinating Gungan, its about to rain  like hell and not to mention I wasn't doing so well to start out with today. So I need you to tell me what happened in that cantina...please...Karash.”

He blinked a few times, and took a deep breath. “There was this guy, this drunk.” He paused to sniffle. “I don't know what happened, he was jerking me around. So I...I...killed him.”

“You WHAT!” Havock yelled without thinking, drawing a few looks from the pedestrians walking by. She took a few steps making a circle, rubbing her forehead with her hand. Then she lost it with a fit of uncontrollable laughter. She held her stomach and put her hand over her mouth to try to stop. The whole time Karash looked at her with a horrified and somewhat angry look. Havock tried to catch her breath. “Sorry, sorry.” She slapped him on the shoulder. “You know what, I don't even want to know what the others are up to.”

Then Hav took a really good look at Karash, he almost looked like he could cry. She still had her hand on his shoulder, “Alright, I've got a plan. We can do this. You can do this. You with me?”

He nodded.

“Good, great. Come with me.” Havock led Karash to Grahim.

As she approached she looked around, “Still no Namyr?” Grahim shook his head to indicate no.

“Heyo Karash, whatsa I missin?”

“God no, don't ask, you don't answer. No updates, we finish this now, before I completely lose my mind. Listen you Karash go to the rear exit its here see on the datapad. Okay and Grahim you watch the front. I'm going to go in the front and try to grab some intel. And that's it then were going to go back to the fraking ship. And nobody is going to kill anyone. Got it?” Havock was breathing heavy, she was pretty sure she didn't breath the whole time she was speaking.

They both nodded and looked slightly scared of Havock at the moment.

The three made there way across the street. Jae wanted her to wait but Karash was here, what could go wrong?

Havock looked up at the sky, it was dark gray. She heard thunder off in the distance. Here comes the rain.

“Yes but…” Grahim did not have time finish his sentence as Karash pushed him to the floor.

Grahim slide along surprisingly well and managing not avoid most major obstacles, they reached the end of the oil slick and stood for a moment wondering what to say to each other. Grahim did not wait too long before deciding to kick Karash in the stomach, although Karash knew that the kick was perfectly reasonable that same sense of superiority engulfed him.

Once the Gungan ran up the stairs Karash whispered, “Little cretin.”

There were blaster shots coming from the upstairs but Karash did not run to the aid of his squad mates he just slowly walked up the stairs, in a daze wondering what was happening to him. He reached the top and the stairs and looked around him seeing two or three enemies with weapons and his squad mates behind some cover; however Karash did not reach for his weapon or dive for cover, he just stood there looking at the men who were taking aim.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Boomed Havock, before yanking Karash behind the cover.

“Karash snap out of it and start shooting back… NOW!” Havock continued to shout and shoot at the same time but Karash didn’t seem to pay much attention.

The shots whizzed past them all and at one point Grahim said he had managed to kill one of them, which was quickly answered by Havock telling them they needed the enemy for questioning.

“What?” Karash blurted out a random question, to which no one answered.

“Just shoot.” Grahim answered.

The second man was incapacitated shortly afterwards but unlikely for the squad he stumbled backwards and fell out of a window, presumably to his death and it was then Karash noticed that the fire started downstairs was getting worse.

“Fire.” Karash said quite calmly.

Havock then leaped out from behind cover and knocked the final man to floor and took his weapon from him and they seemed to have finally gotten their man.

“Grahim go and see if there is another way out. Karash get over here and help me.” Havock ordered.

Grahim ran out of the room to find another way out of the building but Karash stood for a minute and thought “How dare that orphan, who is nothing but a jumped up gangster to speak to me like that, I am a Norgath and need to respect!” Thos thoughts were flooding through Karash again and he was trying to repress them but it wasn’t working.

“Karash help!” Havock was shouting again now.

Karash slowly walked over to the where Havock and their prisoner were but the prisoner managed to push Havock away and get to his feet; he stood in front of Karash and spat in his face. Without a second thought Karash took his blaster and shot the man three times in the stomach.

“Oh great all that work, why did you do that?” Havock stood there looking as though she might burst.

“It does not concern you.” Said Karash trying to raise his head in a superior way.

“Wesa not that high out, wesa can jump. Whatsa happen?” Asked a confused Grahim, that re-entered the room.

“Don’t worry Grahim, come on lets go.” Havock was visibly trying to hold back her anger.

Grahim jumped out first and then Havock, Karash was last; by this point the building was oozing with smoke but something caught Karash’s eye before they left and for a moment ‘the old’ Karash returned.

“Look there is that one that fell out of the window, he has only been shot in the arm, might need to be carried though.” Said Karash.

“Yes sir we’ll get right on it.” Said Havock with obvious sarcasm in her voice.

Grahim let out a little giggle and Karash returned to being in foul mood he had been in all day. Karash looked over at Grahim and just pointed to the man who was trying to get away but could not walk; Grahim now had a foul look himself and went over to the body cursing.

But the real problem was Havock who could not take Karash acting like this anymore and she was about snap herself.

Grahim was staring at Karash.

“Why are yousa so mean against mesa?” Grahim asked

“Learn to speak basic fish face” Karash answered. Grahim was getting angry he wanted to attack Karash. Grahim went outside the ship to clear his mind and to feel some water on the skin. Rank came out of the ship.

“Why did thatsa thug came to your home?” Grahim asked.

“Because my son have a pair of codes on a black datapad” Rank answered

“Okeeday, mesa isa going to take walk be around Kaash and don’t talk to him if he don’t talks to yousa first” Grahim said. Grahim took a walk in the forest were the ship was landed. Grahim liked the rain because it made him feel like home. He actually missed Naboo but he can’t return. Grahim was out in the woods thinking on what the things that happened under the day. “Mesa is sure mesa meet Namyr but she didn’t come back.” Grahim thought. Grahim was confused and Karash was mean against every one. “Mesa should talk to him when mesa comes back to the ship” Grahim said to himself. Grahim was almost at the town again when he started to walk back. When Grahim was back in the ship he saw that neither Rank or Karash was there. He tried to call the rest of the squad over the comlink but no one answered. Grahim couldn’t go out searching because then the ship would be unprotected. Grahim stayed at the ship putting up a camp outside the ship because he had nothing better to do. Grahim first put up a wind cover and then put beds in them. Grahim took out his bag and put it under one of the beds. Grahim looked inside the ship and found a note from Karash that he and Rank had gone back to the town. Grahim didn’t know what to do because Rank had a bounty on his head and Karash was crazy. Grahim hoped they both would survive.

OOC:

I know it is short

Ron grabbed Grahim and Karash and pulled them apart, staring them down until they both calmed down to a level at which he could calmly and firmly separate them.

"Look you two." he started.  "We don't have time for this right now; a murderer is on the loose, and I'm going to bet that we only have a few days until the Rain Maker tracks us down.  So if you two don't mind... keep the crap to a minimum."

Ron let them go and saw their downcast eyes and humbled looks.  He felt a twinge of regret for the harshness in which he spoke to them, so to make it up he grabbed for the hostage that the squad had taken.

He reached down for the strong black tape that covered the man's mouth, but before he ripped it off he looked up suddenly.

"Where's Rogueboy?"

Jaenna nudged Ron to continue with the hostage,

"I saw him walk into some strip club or something like that; looked like he had a good lead so I let him be."

Ron nodded, "He may surprise us yet." he mumbled.  Then reaching down he ripped off the tape from the man's mouth.  Pulling out his Rodian's ceremonial dagger, he held it a few inches from the man's throat. 

"We need you to answer some questions for us.  Answer them to my satisfaction and you get away with your life.  Not to my satisfaction..."

Ron menaced with the knife.

"...well, I'll leave that answer up to you."

The man gulped.  "What do ya want to know?" he said.

"Do you know this man?" Ron pulled Rask out in front of the man.

The hostage looked quickly at Rask and then diverted his eyes with a smug grin.

"Well?" Ron said.

"Yeah, I know 'im." the hostage said.

"Who is he?" Ron asked again.

"Rask Templar." he replied. 

Rask looked at him closely and then recognized him as well.  "Jay?  Jay Nobat?"

"Aye." Jay replied. 

Ron held the knife closer to Jay's throat.  "Rask just lost a son to some murderer, and the killer took something of value on him..."

"I... I know who killed him." Jay said with a laugh.

"Who?" Ron and Rask said together.

"Me." Jay said.

"Why you...!" Rask said suddenly.  He launched himself into the man with the intent to kill him.  Ron held him back.

"Hold on, Rask." Ron said.  "He's lying to us.  He won't tell us who the killer is."

"Or where the data is." Jay laughed.

"No, no." Ron said suddenly as he turned back to face him, holding the dagger just inches from his eyes.  "You'll tell me, and you'll want to tell me."

"Never." Jay said smugly.  "Not gonna happen."

"Right then." Ron said.  He turned to Havock who was standing beside him.  "Hav, you take out his left eye, I'll go for the right one."

"You won't." Jay said.

"Won't I?" Ron growled.

"Ron..." Havock whispered.  "You're not going to... are you?"

Ron held the knife just inches away from Jay's right eye.

"Where... is... the data?"

Jay looked straight at him without flinching.

"Up... your..."

Ron plunged the knife in the man's eye, making Jay scream and howl with pain.  Blood spurted out onto the metal floor.  Jay got up and hopped about the room screaming,

"What the hell man!  My eye!  I can't see!  My eye!"

"Shut up!" Ron growled.  "Shut up now, or I'll take the other one!"

Jay stood in the corner, his right hand covering the bleeding wound in his now useless eye.

"Where is the data?" Ron said.

"Right here." Jay said.  Suddenly he threw the datapad onto the floor before the squad's feet, and broke free of them.  As he ran, Karash raised his gun to fire at the man, but Ron held him back.

"Let the man go.  We have what we want."

Ron picked up the datapad and turned it on, the message that appeared was all that they needed.

"The Rain Maker grows impatient.  Meet by the old weather tower outside of the city three days from now.  Come alone with the money."

"Looks like we have a new destination." Ron said.

Havock stood, the knife still in her hand as the man…Jay ran out the main doors of the transport. Karash raised his blaster and Hav just looked away.

She felt a hand on her forearm, the same arm still clutching to the knife. Frowning she looked down as if she didn’t believe someone was actually touching her. Satisfied that the hand was a hand she looked at the person whom the hand belonged to.

“Karash didn’t shoot him, Ron stopped him.” Jae said.

Havock looked past her and nodded. “I know.” She smirked a little and pointed to her ear, “didn’t hear the blaster fire.” Then she smiled a bit more convincingly.

“Heh, funny” She swatted Hav on the arm playfully. They both laughed a bit.

Havock bent over and put her combat knife back in its sheath on her leg, then fixed her pant leg and returned to standing. The rain had stopped.

Karash seemed to be in deep thought and Grahim was resting. Ron still had the datapad in his hands and was looking for more information. Havock couldn’t decide if she agreed with how Ron had dealt with the prisoner. They got their information, and quickly, but was it worth it to permanently scar that man? At least he didn’t kill him.  Havock had definitely had enough of the killing people.

A thought crossed her mind and Havock walked outside and started to scan the city. Jae must have wondered what she was doing, she was right behind her.

“Are you okay?”

Havock squinted and turned to look at her friend. “Huh?”

Jae raised her eyebrows.

“Oh no.” Havock smiled. “I wanted to look and see how far that old weather tower was.” She turned back to the city and pointed. “I think that’s it, but I’m not sure.”

Hav smiled and looked back at Jae, then nudged her with her elbow. “See, I’m fine. But thanks, you know, for checking.”

“Okay, just talk to me before you start punching the ship again. We need to fly this thing home you know.”

Havock genuinely laughed at that and shook her head. “Deal.”

What was happening to the squad?

Those sea-foam eyes watched as Ron stabbed Jay in the eye, blood spilling from the wound, along with the white fluid that rested behind the eye, that helped the brain recognize the image it was seeing. Jae flinched. Not because of the wound itself, but because of the lust for blood that seemed to be gripping Ron. It was odd, but then again… It was so understandable.

Jay began to run.

“Let the man go. We have what we want.” Ron had said to Karash, stopping the trooper from pulling the trigger of his blaster, sending a white hot bolt into the man’s back. Karash dropped his arm back to his side and nodded slowly.

“Karash didn’t shoot him. Ron stopped him…” Jae’s soft voice rolled over her pale pink lips as she placed a hand on her friend’s arm.

Jae looked at Havock, her eyes wondering over the figure of the girl. The younger trooper was tense, it was obvious. The days after Kalee had been hard for the girl, and Jae wanted nothing more than to help Havock through it. She cared for the girl… maybe a little more than she had originally though…  Jae shook her head again, waiting for a response from Havock.

The girl nodded. “I know.” She then pointed to her ear and smiled softly. “Didn’t hear the blaster fire.”

Finally, Jae was beginning to believe Havock’s feeble attempt at a smile. “Heh. Funny.” She playfully swatted at Havock’s arm as she chuckled softly, Havock joining in on the chuckle.

The two friends quieted down and Havock then walked outside of the transport. Deciding to leave her be for a few moments, Jae made her way over to Ron, was searching through the data pad, his eyes sincere and locked onto whatever text or data he was currently soaking up from the black piece of equipment in his hand.

“Ron… Is everything okay?” She asked, her voice soft, as she stopped in front of him, standing only about a foot away, so that the others wouldn’t hear the conversation.  She watched him stare at the datapad, and sighed softly.

“Hrm? Oh yeah, I’m fine, Jaenna. Thanks.”

His voice wasn’t very convincing. “Look Ron. I know you’re lying. But I know how men can be with their… yanno… feelings. If you need someone to talk to, you have me. And if you need a break, just ask. I can handle the squad for a while you take a rest if need be.” Ron just simply nodded and continued to work on the datapad. Jae scoffed and turned around, only to see Havock still deep in thought, staring out at the city. She made her way over to the younger girl and stood behind her.

“Are you okay?”


Havock squinted and turned to look at her friend. “Huh?”

Jae raised her eyebrows.


“Oh no.” Havock smiled. “I wanted to look and see how far that old weather tower was.” She turned back to the city and pointed. “I think that’s it, but I’m not sure.”


Hav smiled and looked back at Jae, then nudged her with her elbow. “See, I’m fine. But thanks, you know, for checking.”


“Okay, just talk to me before you start punching the ship again. We need to fly this thing home you know.”


Havock genuinely laughed at that and shook her head. “Deal.”

Then, lizards showed up.

“What the frak?” Jae spractically shouted as one of them hopped in from outside of the transport. More of them began to show up. More and more.

Karash and Grahim went to killing them, Havock bent down and picked one up and began to hug all over it.

Jae, in the meanwhile, just stood there and watched the craziness unfold. “Uhm… Ron?” Jae looked at their SL, who was standing had grabbed both Grahim’s and Karash’s arms, stopping the slaughter of the Gizkas.

“Let them live, we can’t exterminate them anyway. We need sleep before we go confront the Rain Maker in three days. So rest up. Everyone.” He let go of the two trooper’s arms and made his way to the cockpit, probably to do some more research on the Rain Maker, or even the man whom he had permanently blinded in one eye…

Sighing, Jae watched Karash and Grahim began to gather the Gizka corpses. “Wait… what the hell are you guys doing?”

“Cooking them.” The two males said in perfect unison as they went about setting the small bodies on a small grill type grate thing that they had set over the fire.

“Ugh.” Jae slapped her hand over her face and dragged her hand down, sighing. With a shrug, she sat down on the ramp of the transport, watching the Gizkas cook over the fire, and listening to soft, playful bickering from Karash and Grahim. Havock had sat down next to Jae. Looking over at the girl, Jae smiled and nudged Hav’s side playfully with her elbow. Hav nudged back and chuckled. The two continued this play for a while. Playfully hitting and slapping eachother. Jae had pushed Havock off of her seat, sending the girl into the dirt.

“Hey! You little nerf herder!” Hav said as she glared up at Jae, sticking her tongue out.

“I’m a  what now?” Jae laughed and stuck her tongue back out at Havock. The two laughed and giggled, Jae’s cheeks flushing slightly with a pink color. The two were having such a good time, that they didn’t notice when RB came back and walked into the transport to speak to Ron.

“Hey, Jae. The Gizkas are almost ready. You mind serving them?” Karash asked as she poked at one of the little lizard things with a stick.

Sighing, Jae stood and shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Why not?” She made her way over to the fire and grabbed a large tray from their cooking supplies bag that was resting next to the fire, and took a two pronged fork and stabbed the reptiles, placing all four of them on the tray. “I don’t think Ron and RB are eating… so the other two will just sit there for now.”

“Uhm. Hi. I’m Private Raelene. I’ve been assigned to RAIDERS. I was just dropped off for the mission.” The voice came from a girl who was standing a few feet away from group outside of the transport. The four troopers looked up, their expressions obviously confused.

“New trooper?” Grahim asked, chuckling slightly.

Jae glared at the gungan for a moment, before turning around to look at the new arrival. She placed the tray of reptiles down next to Karash and walked over to the girl. “Hey there. I’m Corporal Jaenna Caldwin. Assistant Squad Leader of RAIDERS. Welcome to the squad. You were dropped off at a perfect time. We have three days until we move out to complete our next objective, so you can talk to Ron and get briefed on the mission at full. In the mean time, just relax and have something to eat.”

It was nice to have another girl on the squad.

Karash was standing outside of the transport where everyone lay asleep, he moved over to the far end of the camp and looked over to the town that was ablaze with lights and noise; the city really did seem to ‘come alive at night’. Karash stood there thinking about those stupid little lizard things that were jumping about earlier and why the hell did he start killing them, he supposed it was just a way of managing the stress. The little Gizka things tasted horrible and they still repeated on Karash every so often.

“Ah!” A voice came from the ship that sounded as though it was Havock, Karash did not go to investigate because he could hear voices talking so he took everything to be ok.

Karash leaned against a tree and continued to stare out at the lights of the city, he was acting as a moth drawn to an open flame but he dared not stray to close to it in case he gets burnt. The noises that enveloped around the camp were a mixture of creaking from the forest and extremely loud music that travelled well considering the distance. At one point Karash could have sworn he heard talking coming from within the trees but he just took it to be some animal or his eats playing tricks on him.

“Why can’t you just sleep?” Karash asked himself but he did not come close to getting any sort of reply.

There was a noise coming from the transport and as Karash turned he saw that someone was coming out of the ship, he darted behind a tree because he really was not in the mood for chatting to anyone now. Havock emerged but did not notice Karash and just walked off towards the city.

“Wonder where she is going?” Karash said, once again speaking to himself.

He thought for a moment that he should go after her just in case she got into any trouble but he was confident that she could look after herself and to be honest he really did want to. Karash could once again here a noise coming from the forest and this time he went after it with his blaster pistol in his hands.

“Who’s there?” Karash said, there was no reply but he was getting closer to the noise. “Who is there? Reveal yourself.”

Karash jumped out from behind a tree ready for a full blown gun fight but there really wasn’t anything there, accept for two Gizka’s mating and they continued despite Karash’s presence. He want back to camp and once again leaned up against a tree and looked over to the direction of the lights and loud music wondering what Havock might have been getting up to.

“Hang on a minuet.” Karash was speaking to himself again. “Weren’t they foot prints?”

He did not focus of it for too long but came to the conclusion that they were there from himself or some other member of the squad; if anyone was there they would have shown them selves. As he leaned against that tree in the moist air of Praexus Karash found himself slowly falling asleep. 

---Some time later---

It was still dark when Karash was awoken by the noise of foot steps hurtling towards the camp; he did not hesitate and drew his pistol. The person who ran out from behind the trees revealed them self to be Havock, Karash had forgotten that she had gone into the town earlier.

“Hav, you’re lucky I didn’t shoot you!” Karash said quite sternly.

Havock looked quite startled and clutched something in her hand; it looked like a napkin with something scribbled on it.

“What’s that?” asked Karash.

Havock put it in Karash’s hand and as he looked down at it he could not quite believe what he was reading, “Jay says hi.” Karash looked up at Havock and mirrored that same look of shock.

“Some guy in the cantina left it there and he knew my name.” She said.

“You go and show the others while I… well I’ll just wait here.” Karash replied.

He watched as his squad mate walked up into the ship; Karash stood and wondered about those foot prints he had noticed earlier and thought “They couldn’t be, could they?” Without a second thought Karash began to walk back to the area where he had found the footprints.

A few moments later Havock came back out the ship and looked for Karash. “Karash!” she called, but she had no answer. “Damn it!” she exclaimed.

Grahim was bored because he didn’t have nothing to do except go around in the camp. Jae was walking towards Grahim.

“Would you like to have a practice fight with knives?” Jae asked

“Yes why not, mesa have nothing better to do anyway” Grahim answered. Grahim took out his FSK-7 Combat knives. Jae made an attack against Grahims right side. Grahim tried to evade the attack and attack on the same time so Jae and Grahim got cut each other. Grahim looked over the terrain so he could find a spot were he had a advantage. Jae did a attack when Grahim was looking on the terrain. Grahim saw the attack in the last moment. Grahims left ear got wounded by Jaes knife.

“Thatsa going to be a scar” Grahim said

“Yeah I am sorry for that but its as much your fault” Jae answered

“Mesa going to give yousa una scar as well” Grahim said as he performed a attack with the knife in the right hand. Jae blocked the knife but exact the same second Grahim cut Jae over the back. Jae shouted in pain. Grahim felt the adrenalin kick and apparently Jae felt the same thing. Grahim and Jae clashed together again trying to do so much damage on the other person as possible. But Jae did a very powerful attack which made Grahim drop his knives because of the power in the blow.

“Yousa good, could yousa teach fight with knives?” Grahim asked

“Maybe when we are back on Tadath” Jae answered. Grahim and Jae went to look after their wounds so they would be fit for fight when they should take the Rain maker. Grahim met Raelene when he had mad Karash look at his wounds.

“When am I going to be briefed about the mission?” Rae asked.

“Don’t ask mesa. Ask Ron” Grahim answered. Grahim went to get som sleep because he was tired.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
”Grahim wake up” Karash said.

“What isa it?” Grahim asked.

“Ron wanted us to scout ahead to see what kind of weapons and such they got” Karash answered. Grahim put on his clothes and took a binocular. Grahim and Karash went out from the camp without waking up the rest of the squad. Grahim and Karash went towards the weather tower.

“How far isa it to the weather tower from here” Grahim asked

“About 3 kilometres, so we need to go at least 2 kilometres” Karash answered

Havock sat on the 74-Z speeder bike they had found on the outskirts of town. The thing was a hunk of junk at the moment. Repulsor engines burnt out, some of the controls in pieces. Hav was using some other spare parts to see what she could do with the thing. If anything the project kept her mind busy.

The sun was up high enough for it to be mid-morning. Karash and Grahim  had left a bout a hour before to scout the route to the Weather Tower, which they would be going to soon. Every now and then Hav would look up at the path to see if they had returned.

Hav needed to re-integrate the drive shaft into the engine. “Ugh Frak.” She climbed off the drivers seat of the bike and knelt by the engine, pulling out some more tools from her sack. Has she used the ratchet to undo one of the bolts she could see a figure coming towards her over the seat of the bike. She smirked, must be the new girl.

Raelene walked over to Havock, tilting her head slightly to see the girl hidden behind the steering mechanism of the speeder bike. “Hello there.”

Havock looked up, adjusted her hat with the hand still holding the ratchet. She had to squint a bit the angle the girl was coming from was just perfect to get the sun right in her eyes. “Hey, you must be the new private, Raelene right?”

Raelene shrugged and smiled. “Yep that's me.”

Havock stood up, realized she still was holding the ratchet. She dropped the tool to the floor and it fell with a thud to the earth. Taking a deep breath she wiped her hands on her coveralls and smirked. “Welcome to the RAIDERS Raelene, I'm Havock.”

Raelene chuckled. “Thats not your real name, is it?”

Havock raised her eyebrow, no, no Hav remember what Jed always said. It's wrong to hurt someone before lunchtime. . “Heh, yes it is. I was a terror as a baby, always crying and tearing up my toys. You know I remember this one story...”

“Hav.” Jae walked up behind Havock shaking her head.

Havock smiled and shrugged. “What?”

She looked at Havock sternly, but Hav could tell she was partially joking. “Stop messing with the new girl.” Jae looked at Raelene. “Everyone calls her Havock, its not her real name no. But if I were you I would just call her Havock, okay?”

Havock looked at Raelene who was nodding an affirmative. Hav rolled her eyes “Sorry.” Then she looked back at Jae. “And your no fun.”

“Well I'm actually visiting on business. Ron wants us to go to the Weather Tower as soon as possible, he thinks the trail is getting cold. So finish up whatever your doing here.” Jae squinted somewhat disapprovingly at the mess of a speeder Hav had been working on.

Hav put her hand on the bike, as if to comfort it. “Hey, don't look at it like that. You'll hurt it's feelings. I'll get it back in one piece...you know...eventually.”

“Riiiight.” Jae nodded slowly. “So let me know when Karash and Grahim get here, we need to know if they find anything before we head out. And Raelene let me know if you need anything.”

Raelene nodded, “Yes ma'am.”

Jae looked at Havock and twirled her finger in the air over the speeder and its various parts. “Make sure you get all of that cleaned up.”

Hav smiled, “Yes ma'am.”

Jae shook her head and thwacked the bill of Hav's hat down so that it covered her eyes and rested on the bridge of her nose. Then chuckled as she walked back to the inside of the transport.

Havock left it like that for a few seconds, took a deep breath, then raised her hat back in the proper position. She looked at the entrance of the transport for a few seconds, glanced back at the trail Grahim and Karash should be emerging from any time now then back to Raelene.

“Guess its time to clean up.” She smirked and started collecting her tools.

Grahim and Karash had been out scouting the weather tower on Rons request. First they only had seen the usual mafia thugs but then they saw something that disturbed them. It was  a lot of mercenaries and it looked like some kind of heavy machineguns. Grahim could count to five machinguns. “Hata hata, why so many mercs? And why isa themsa equipped with big guns?” Grahim thought.

“Frak why mercs and why so many of them?” Karash asked

“Mesa don’t know” Grahim answered

“It was a rhetorical question, and we should get back to camp and report what we discovered” Karash said. Grahim and Karash was making there way back to the camp. Grahim and Karash crawled most of the way to not be discovered. The weather tower was a perfect spot to sniper from because you had a great sight over the rest of the terrain from there.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Grahim and Karash came into the camp and went directly to Rons tent Grahim and Karash went into the tent directly to report to Ron.

“Sir” Grahim and Karash said wile saluting.

“What do you have to report?” Ron asked.

“The Weather tower is heavily fortified and is crawling with mercs, Sir.” Karash said.

”Approximately how many?” Ron said

“About twenty” Karash replied.

“Okay, you can go now.” Ron said. Grahim went out from the tent with Karash right behind him. Grahim went to collect his gear. Grahim put his gear next to his bed and then looked around the camp to see what was happening. Grahim saw that Havock was fixing a speeder bike.

“Should mesa help yousa?” Grahim asked.

“Yes, could you hold this part up so I can put it in place and make sure it will stay on the right place” Havock answered. Grahim took the part and held it where Hav asked him to hold it.

“Thanks I don’t think I need more help right now but thanks for the help” Havock said. Grahim went to check for a gizka because he wanted some more food. Grahim found a gizka and killed it with his knife then he put it on a stick and barbecued it. Grahim ate it and then went to bed to get some sleep.

A warm foul smelling liquid splashed on Rogue’s unconscious form bringing him to consciousness, RB slowly opened one eye to see a man zipping up his trousers. “Good morning sweetheart.” He said a tone too loud than what Rogue would have liked to hear.

Rogue was feeling cute today and decided to test the man’s patience. “Good morning babe, now go make me some fucking pancakes.”

The man’s fist was a blur as it struck RB square in the cheek, making his head shoot to the side causing RB to have whiplash. It was the usual interrogation setting, Rogue was tied to a chair, a desk in front of him, and a set of tools.

The only choice RB really had was if he should go through some unnecessary pain before being killed, or just answer the questions truthfully while with holding as much information as possible. Ideally he had to sell his captor that what he said was all he knows regardless of the amount of torture.

“So Freda tells me you’re a thrusterhead junkie.” The man said as he walked around the table.

“Yeah.” Rogue said not to proudly.

“I wasn’t asking, I was telling! Now, who do you work for?” The man asked loudly.

Rogue winced inwardly at the tone. “I’m a Vast Empire soldier on leave, visiting family.” The man could have easily have found out who Rogue worked for by looking through his datapad, but as to his purpose Rogue would have to keep that a secret.

The man pulled out a knife and took a menacing step toward Rogue. “I don’t believe you’re on leave, why were you looking for the Rain Maker?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you because I already believe you’re going to kill me, now it’s just a matter of how much pain you dish out. That said, I’m a junkie, the quality of thrusterhead I tried with Freda was par to none that I’ve ever had, if I sell this on Tadath I could make a pretty penny. In order to get that much quantity I would have to see someone a little higher than Freda. Ask her about it, she would know.” Rogue said as he flexed his muscles testing his bonds.

The man walked behind Rogue and turned the chair to face the wall that was behind him. “I already asked her.” He said as Freda was sitting on the floor blood oozing from her bruised and beaten face, and a bloody smile was staring at Rogue from where her neck used to be. The man buried the knife into Rogue’s knee.

Four hours later Rogue was released but not before been injected with fifteen hundred milligrams of thrusterhead, a most definite overdose for beginners and most addicts however Rogue was considered a hardened addict since the amounts he used to dose were not much lower. The hole point was to make Rogue look like an overdose case come the morning and he was too damn stoned to really think straight. The sky was purple he had never seen a purple sky before, why was that man staring at him? Why are there insects coming out of his eyes. Rogue was scared the impossible was happening yet he was seeing it with his own eyes.