"Where's Rougeboy?"  The question lingered in the air like a foul smell, nobody seemed to know.  Ron swore under his breath and looked at his watch, it was nearly dawn and Rougeboy was nowhere to be found.  Ron looked up at the star filled sky, suddenly made brighter by a falling star.  A falling star; well if that's the way it had to be then there's no use argueing about it.

"Corporal Jaenna!" Ron snapped.  Jae came forward in full military fashion, although slightly quizzical at the moment.  She couldn't tell what was on her Squad Leader's mind, but from the look on his face she could tell that a descision had been made.  "Let's get this show on the road!" Ron said.  "We have to get to the weather tower before we lose our target."  Jae smartly saluted and turned away; perhaps hiding some dissapointment in her eyes?  Ron couldn't tell.  As much as he hated to be the source of dissapointment in his squad, it was somthing that had to be done. Rougeboy, Jaenna, even Ron himself: they were all replaceable.  In order to act with the best efficiency worthy of an imperial squad, Ron had to show these troopers that sentimentality and offroad missions were simply unacceptable.  The only road to take was the straight one.  They had a mission to follow.

Ron lead at the head of the squad, keeping silent and observant for a few reasons.  The first was obvious, to make sure they weren't being followed or that they weren't stumbling into an ambush or trap.  The last thing he needed was a skirmish in an undefenseable area.  He pulled out his D-11 Heavy Blaster pistol and reloaded it nervously, just in case.  Didn't want to risk anything.  The second reason for his unusual silence was because he wanted to observe his squad members.  Troopers have an uncanny way of showing discomfort or anger when they are troubled, usually by unintentionally avoiding the squad leader or by absent mindedly messing up some task or another.  Ron had to make sure that he was not pushing them too hard, but at the same time he had to keep the appearances of a strict leader.  The moment he showed any signs of inner weakness, Ron figured he could kiss his future military career goodbye; that he would remain as a squad leader for the rest of his days until he was too old to lift a blaster rifle.  That would be a terrible, tortuous life, Ron thought.  No, Ron would have to be strict about the whole business.  Even if it meant the loss of a hard working trooper...

The weather tower was now in sight.  Ron halted the squad and motioned for Jaenna to come up towards him.  She quickly ran up to where he was, but he motioned to her to get down quickly.  When she finally approached him close enough to whisper, Ron said in a low voice,

"See the tower?"

Jaenna nodded as she followed the line of his arm, pointed directly at the weather tower.  Ron moved his head back to indicate the rest of the squad behind them, Jaenna looked behind her and then looked back at Ron for directions.

"The datapad requires me to come alone to the tower." Ron started.  "But I want you to follow me at a safe distance from behind.  When we get there, hide yourselves, and then keep a close eye out for any danger."

Jaenna shook her head doubtfully.  "This sounds an awfully lot like a trap." she said.

"It very will might be." Ron said.  "But so far, its the only way I can think of to get us close to the Rain Maker." 

Ron could see that Jaenna was still doubtful, but he knew that she would do it whether she agreed or not.  Perk of my job, Ron thought to himself.  He organized the weaponry on himself one more time before slowly walking up the hill to the weather tower, alone.  Jaenna waited until Ron was out of sight before rushing back to the others, she had to warn them... she had a very bad feeling about the weather tower...

OOC:

Story is back up.  Plot twist hasn't come just yet, but I wanted to get you guys back into it, and give you a chance to post before it comes.

Havock followed behind Ron with the rest of the group. They were walking thorough the city streets towards the Weather Tower. Havock was nervous, she knew they were about to get in another combat soon. After Kalee this would be her first real experience fighting with the squad and she did not want to freak out like last time.

She looked at the rest of the squad. Ron was seven or eight paces ahead of the rest of the squad, Jae was the next behind him. Karash was looking better than he had earlier in the mission, but he still seemed troubled by his thoughts. Grahim was looking at the sky, as if he was trying to see if it would rain again, possibly he was hoping it would rain again. Raelene looked positively terrified. Havock couldn't shake the worry in the back of her mind for Rogueboy. She hated the fact that they had to leave him behind for the time being. Although Hav was certain Rogue could take care of himself, she still just hated it.

Havock slowed to keep pace with Raelene. “Hey Raelene.”

She seemed to snap out of some random thought, and had to blink before looking at Havock. “Hey Havock.”

They walked a few more steps in silence before Havock turned to the new Private. “It's not much farther, its not going to be all that bad, should be back at the ship in time for Grahim to cook us dinner.” Havock hoped the fact that she didn't believe a word she was saying wasn't noticed by Raelene, she even made an attempt at a feeble smile.

Raelene just nodded and kept walking.

Taking a deep breath Hav started to walk a bit faster. She passed next to Grahim who tapped her on the shoulder. “Nicea try.”

Havock matched his pace and squinted at him. “What, with Rae?”

Grahim nodded and Havock smirked back at him. “Thanks Grahim. Think it helped?”

His expression was just slightly sad as he shook his head. “No.”

Surprising herself, Havock chuckled at that. She clapped Grahim on the back before moving up her pace yet again.

Just as she reached Jae's position, Ron signaled for the squad to stop and motioned for Jaenna to move up to him. She glanced at Havock for a fraction of a second before moving up to speak with Ron.

Havock leaned against a building, looking off at the Weather Tower now visible in the distance.

“Is that it?” Havock heard the voice come from behind her, she had to turn to see Raelene looking in the same direction Hav had just been.

“Yes, I think so.” Havock looked back at the Tower and awaited her orders.

A few minutes passed before Jaenna walked back to the squad, she made eye contact with Havock just before she leaned on the same building next to her and addressed the troopers.

“Ron's going ahead, he's going to make contact as detailed in the datapad.” She paused for a second to make sure no civilians had noticed the conspicuous grouping around her. “We are going to cover him. You all split up and take positions around the Weather Tower. Stay in contact, nobody moves in without my okay.”

The squad were moving out from their camp and going to weather station where they would finally get the Rain Maker, or so they hoped. They had to leave with out Rogueboy who was still missing, nobody wanted to do so but unfortunately the mission was bigger than anyone member of the squad.

“Nicea try.” Karash could hear Grahim talking.

As Karash turned he could see Havock and Grahim discussing something but he was too deep in thought to really care about what they were saying; Karash was still concerned about his behaviour earlier on in the mission. He knew that he had treated Hav and Grahim badly, killed innocent people and nearly got the three of them killed but his main problem was ‘would it happen again’. As he walked through the forest thoughts of his family and how he was going to deal with these thoughts of superiority that he was blaming on his father.

It was then that Karash was pushed from his own mind as he heard Grahim’s voice and said “Did you say something?”

“Mesa just said thatsa mesa hoped itsa would be rain now” Grahim answered.

“Why do you want it to rain?” Karash couldn’t help but smile at the Gungan at this point.

Grahim gave some reason as to why he wanted it to rain but Karash was not really listening because he was joking to himself about the Grahim had asked if they were going swimming.

Grahim then bought him back to reality once again “Mesa hope that we find RB before the attack.”

“I hope that too.” Karash replied.

Grahim just nodded at Karash as he moved over to talk to Raelene and try to comfort her about the impending battle; Karash just walked on and stared at the sky hoping that nothing too bad would happen. It was not too long before the squad reached its destination and Ron and Jae spoke about the plan, the rest of the squad just stood and tried to not make themselves look to obvious.

“Ron's going ahead; he's going to make contact as detailed in the datapad.” The ASL then paused to see if any civilians had noticed the squad gathering. “We are going to cover him. You all split up and take positions around the Weather Tower. Stay in contact, nobody moves in without my okay.” With that the squad moved out.

Ron was walking towards the weather station, Jae and Hav went off in one direction and Rae and Grahim went off in another that left Karash standing on his own in the middle of the street on his own. It wasn’t long before he realised what a idiot he looked as people were starting to whisper so he moved on and tried to keep sight of the weather station at all times.

As he paced around the streets of the city trying to not get himself noticed, Karash looked up at the sky and saw something sinister look down at him.

He felt the ship drop out of hyperspace, instantly warning klaxons reverberated throughout the vessel. The plan was to exit hyperspace as close to the planet as possible, but with the gravitation force they could only jump in so close. So, for the remaining distance they went full throttle and hoped they could spin around, drop off their cargo and get away before they were detected.

It took them twenty seconds at full burn to reach the correct position, spinning the craft around 180 degrees they let gravity pull them in closer while they prepared to punch the engines and accelerate away from the planet.


Sitting in the back a man looked out the front view ports as the ship made its turn, deciding now is the time he stood up slowly and looked over the high altitude thermo suit one last time. The suit was designed to protect the wearer in extreme environments, and being in the zone between space and a planets atmosphere constituted an extreme environment. Picking up a backpack he hooked the straps around himself and positioned it on his chest, it held his equipment he would need if he survived the free fall. Picking up another pack he started clipping the multitude of harnesses and straps around his body, this was his lifeline when the time came.

He heard someone walk up as he clipped the last harness into place, picking up his helmet he stopped and took a deep breath, the suit would recycle his air, but he knew from experience it would not taste the same.

One of the crew looked him over for a long minute before mumbling something. He raised an eyebrow at the crewman and said "See something funny?"

"Not really, just an insane man. A HALO jump? High altitude low opening, has not been done in the corps in what five maybe ten years? I know they still teach it at the Academy, but this is still insane. We could land the ship and take off before anyone detected us." The man muttered.

"Probably, but this is more fun." He said as he slipped the helmet on and engaged the seals, he heard a soft click as the subsystems came online. The HUD indicated 100% seal rate, nodding to the man he stepped to the back of the shuttle.

"For the record, you are crazy." The pilot said as he glanced towards the back of the ship. Shaking his head he hit a sequence of buttons to seal the rear half of the vessel. Five seconds later the rear hatch opened revealing the planets cloud cover far below the ship.

"We are in position, good luck." His comlink buzzed.

Taking a few deep breaths he jumped forward, he hung for an instant before gravity pulled him downwards. Kicking his feet up and his head down he did a quick front flip.

  "Oh-Rah!" He shouted into his comlink.

Several seconds passed before a voice answered him "Good luck and god speed, we are making our exit now."

He swiftly spun on his back and watched the ships engines flare and begin to pull away from the planet. He looked at the stars for a long moment before spinning back around and angling down into a head first dive. Tucking his arms tight to his side, and his feet as close together as possible, he began to pick up speed.

The heartbeats ticked by, twenty seconds into the fall his speed reached 321 km/h, it stayed at this rate. He mumbled angrily that this would be his terminal velocity, then he reminded himself he is falling really fast. Using eye movement to communicate with the HUD, he keyed in a topographical map, last known reports had the Raiders in a city called Tyclofen. Looking over the map he adjusted his angle slightly, a green line indicated he was now on course.

Falling at this speed it would take him roughly ten minutes to make the journey. With the sound dampers built into his helmet, he could not hear the wind rushing by his head, he also could not feel the cold. He could see it though, ice crystals would form on his helmet for an instant before the suits deicing systems would kick in.

He tried to breath slowly, but it was almost pointless, he could feel the adrenalin pumping throughout his system. Watching the timer tick below one minute he glanced at the altimeter on his HUD, at three hundred feet he extended his arms and legs. A second later he pulled his rip cord, and felt a moment of worry before the parachute caught air and began slowing him down.

Grabbing the handles he aimed for a small clearing and hit the ground hard, he had slowed down enough not to kill himself, but the landing still hurt. He absorbed the impact with his knees, then rolled a second later onto his back to dissipate the force of the fall. Waiting a long moment he stood up and disconnected his harness, quickly bundling it up he shoved it under a bush and removed his equipment pack.

Ripping off his helmet he tossed it down and opened the pack, reaching inside he stopped as he was jarred from behind, it felt like the tip of a rifle. He curled his fingers around the grip of his frontier model B pistol and breathed slowly, he clicked the safety off. He heard two soft clicks and looked up, two more men were pointing crude but deadly looking rifles at him. Letting go of his pistol he took his hand slowly out of the pack and stood up, with both arms above his head.

One of the men slung his rifle and stepped forward, he had a deep scar running up the left side of his face and he made the rifle look apart of him. Reaching down the man grabbed the pack and stepped back slowly.

Another motioned with the rifle and said "What is your story? Go ahead and get the lie out of the way, so we can then work on figuring out who you really are."

"I am a thrill seeker and adventurer." Joamer said "Me and my brother do this all the time, get dropped off in some unknown are and find our way back." He shrugged like this was a normal thing. "Last time took him four days to find the way back. I'm trying for a shorter run."

He held back a grunt as scarface pulled out his Armat M41-A1 pulse rifle. The man held up the deadly looking rifle and sighed slowly.

"An adventurer with a pulse rifle." He said simply.

Joamer bit his tongue and shrugged again. The man mumbled something and put the rifle back in the pack. Starring at the prisoner a long moment he motioned to the others and began walking away. Joamer ignored the rifle muzzle being jammed into his back and followed the men.




Joamer saw the fist coming and braced himself. The man was not hitting hard, but after over an hour even light hits started to sting.

They had marched him inside some building, down a multitude of hallways and into a room. When the door was closed and locked he was ordered to remove his clothes. Luckily they let him stop when he was still wearing his boxers. They then set him down in a chair and began interrogating him. After they searched his suit they began with his pack, the simple looking frontier model B pistol was explainable, but the pulse rifle and his twin vibro saber knives were not. That is when the beatings began.

"Who are you, who do you work for, and why are you here?" The man said again, he did not wait before punching Joamer in the chest again.

He doubled over, not in any real pain, just to hide the activation sequence his fingers made on his palms. They had tied him to a chair, but neglected to wonder why his arms had scars on the shoulder area. He was about to show them.

Hearing two soft clicks and two thrums from his forearms he leaned back and said "I am Joamer Restlin. I am Death."

Pulling his hands away from his body he felt the rope strain and snap under the pressure exerted by his cybernetic arms. The men in the room turned to stare, they were frozen as they watched him stand up. That instant was all he needed. Tapping his palms once more he smiled as twin wrist blasters emerged from hidden doors in his skin grafts. He cocked his head to the left and began firing, the men did not have time to scream, as blaster fire claimed them.

Walking forward slowly Joamer watched scarface fumble with his Frontier Model B pistol, his hands were trying to disengage the safety but nothing was happening.

"You have to hit the power bar, then hit that gray slider on the other side." Joamer said.

The man did so and smiled as he began bringing the weapon up. A stunned expression crossed his face as he looked down, twin blaster burns sat off center in his chest. His knees gave out as he collapsed to the floor.

Tapping his palms again, he rubbed the hidden doors after the wrist blasters had deactivated. Mumbling to himself about morons he began getting dressed.




The minutes passed as he locked the clasp on his weapons belt.  Checking the condition of each of his saber knives he slowly rubbed the wrap around blades. He tapped the saw back serrations on the back ends, then slipped them into their sheaths and picked up his Frontier Model B pistol, checking the magazine he flipped the safety on and slipped in its harness. He wore a sleeveless black shirt with black fatigues covering his legs, his old trusty jack-boots were covering his feet. He went to pick up his rifle when he heard the door open, spinning around he watched as a blaster rifle came around the door jam.

Moving without thinking he kicked out his left leg sending the chair towards the door. The first figure ducked out of the way, but the second one took the chair directly in the chest. Sliding forward he grabbed the first figure and ripped the rifle out of his hands, tossing it behind him he gripped the young gungans head and slammed it against the wall.

Turning towards the doorway he saw an arm move into the room, reaching out he gripped the wrist and pulled the person inside the room. Spinning both of them into the center of the room he quickly stripped the DC-15S out of the woman's hand and tossed it away. Pulling out one of his saber knives he placed it against the woman's throat, and his forearm against the back of her neck. His other hand drew out his pistol slowly.

He watched as the rest of the group stopped in the doorway, breathing slowly he said softly "Now, I frown upon killing a woman." His nose against her throat, he inhaled her scent deeply. Traveling the length of her neck slowly, he stopped just above her ear and murmured. "Especially pretty ones. So, do not move, and we both may survive this."

He watched as the rest of the group quickly slipped into the room. They had their rifles half raised and angry scowls were on every face. Another figure entered, she was small, young and looked to be at least partly in charge. Her face wore an expression of disgust as he she lowered her E-11. Joamer grunted as he recognized Jaenna Caldwin.

Moving the knife away from the woman's throat he whispered something to her. He froze as she spun around, her hand reached out but hesitated as she saw the expression on his face. His eyes were fixed on a half hidden mark on her right hand.

She lowered her hand and stepped quickly away from him, her left hand pulled down the sleeve of her shirt. The rest of the squad instantly brought their weapons to bare as she moved out of the line of fire. Sheathing the saber knife and the pistol he crossed his arms and mumbled something.

Jaenna waited a long moment before motioning the group to lower their weapons. She walked forward and looked at his arms, her face scrunched up as she looked at the muscles expand and contract slightly.

"Experimental skin grafts, look real don't they." Joamer half mumbled, she smiled slightly before stepping away.

A second later Ron entered the room with an expression of worry on his face, when Joamer nodded slightly the squad leader of Raiders sighed.

"I have orders." Pulling out a datapad Joamer handed it to Ron." To inform Senior Sergeant Sobaccus Ron, Squad Leader of Raiders that he is hereby retired from active duty. You are to report to high command for reassignment."

Ron hooked the datapad into his own and quickly decrypted the orders, he nodded a few times and looked up. The squad were starring at him, you could see the pleading in their eyes. Jaenna and the unknown female walked up to Ron, they started talking so softly he could not hear what was said. He watched as he placed a hand on each of their shoulders, his eyes glared from between the two woman several times, the gaze was directed at Joamer.

Both woman turned around suddenly, Ron stayed a half second more and walked away. Joamer could sense the fury in their eyes as they glared at him, Stars cybernetic hand was opening and closing every few moments.

They took one step forward but stopped when Joamer raised his hand.

"I also have other orders." Joamer said slowly, holding up a datapad he continued "I am hereby given the rank of Squad Leader of Raiders, until such time as another can be found to take the position."

The squad remained silent for an instant, then they all started shouting. He watched as they grouped around Jaenna, their fists pointing at him. He waited for them to die down, but nothing happened. Jaenna crossed her arms slowly and smiled.

"Over my dead body." The unknown female said through clenched teeth, he watched as she stepped forward with fist raised.


Joamer waited a moment before saying "I also have orders to elevate Jaenna Caldwin to position of squad leader it if is shown she has the loyalty of the squad, so consider it done."

Havock was still marching towards him, Star smiled again and said "Is that anyway for my assistant squad leader to behave Ayme?"

She stopped in her tracks on spun on her heel, she glared at Star until the news sunk in. She blinked a few times before gasping, when Star nodded and returned the smile she broke into a quick laugh.

"Who are you to have orders like those?" Someone said. He felt the eyes that did not know him turn to stare. He glanced at Havock briefly before smiling.

"Restlin Joamer, Senior Sergeant, Trooper number 36706." He said.

The squad was utterly confused, a few of them exited the room to take defensive positions when Star motioned for them to. Someone who looked to be a medic kneeled down and pressed something to the Gungans nose, a second later the medic helped him to his feet and they both walked out. The two new leaders of the squad stayed in the room and watched as Joamer finished getting his gear together. Havock rescued her pistol and holstered it while she waited.

Grabbing his Armat M41-A1 pulse rifle he began inspecting the launcher under the barrel. The soft clicking sound of grenades being loaded filled the silent room, he could feel two sets of eyes on his back. He cocked the hammer and gently slid in the last grenade. Slapping in a clip he placed the sling around his head and under one arm. Picking up one last article of clothing he slid his arms through the long sleeves and settled the floor length leather jacket on his shoulders, breathing slowly he turned around.

"What do we do with you?" Havock mumbled half to herself.

"That bit is up to you." Joamer said, "I left Wraith almost three weeks ago, I was hoping another squad would pick me up."

Star turned to her ASL and shrugged, Havock mumbled something and grimaced. Grudgingly she nodded, Star nodded a second later and walked out of the room.

"You will pay for what you did to me, and what you did to Grahim, luckily his hard head saved him from a cracked skull." Havock said. "Welcome to the squad." She added sourly.

She began turning around but stopped as she noticed him starring at her right hand. He raised his head and locked eyes with her, he nodded once. After a long moment she nodded once as well and walked out.

Joamer looked around, the dead bodies that had been ignored were still there. He cocked his rifle quickly and walked out to join his new squad.

“So, I guess all the women in RAIDERS are hot.”

Havock glared at Joamer, remembering the comment he made while he was still holding her hostage. Her hand reflexively rubbed the tattoo on her right wrist. He gave her the strangest look, she wondered if he knew what it meant. This wasn't the time to think about that, she grabbed her shirt sleeve and yanked it down as far as it would go again.

“So what do you think?” Havock snapped her head back to Jaenna, who had been talking to her. Unfortunately, Hav had not been listening. Havock looked at the new SL, her eyes darting back and forth trying to reconstruct the conversation she was totally zoned out for.

Jaenna put her hands on her hips. “Havock, were you even listening to me?” Jae shook her head slowly, she seemed to sympathize with the fact that Havock's brain was in overdrive with all that had just happened. Everything around them had just changed in a matter of minutes. What Havock hoped her friend didn't notice was the fact that Havock wasn't thinking about Ron leaving, Jae becoming SL, or even herself becoming ASL. No, she was thinking about that brute Joamer.

“Okay so your paying attention now, right?” Havock nodded keeping her eyes away from the Senior Sergeant standing talking to other members of the squad. “Good, we need to figure out if any of these guys are the ones that were supposed to meet with Ron. Lets have everyone check the bodies.”

A commotion coming from the floor above ended Jaenna's train of thought.

“Take cover!” Jaenna yelled. Havock just stared at the men running towards them. Bolts zipped past her head causing her to blink. Jae grabbed Havock by the shirt collar and yanked her to the ground. “I said take cover, now snap out of it Hav.”

Havock shook her head and looked at Jae. “Right.” Then she crawled a few feet, grabbing a blaster rifle. Another volley of fire made her roll forward and take cover behind what used to be a desk, right next to Joamer.

“Hiya cutie. How nice of you to drop by.” Havock watched him through a sneer as he winked at her.

“Would you shut up and shoot them.” They both turned at opened fire at the men. These were not your basic lackeys, they actually had some skill. That meant that the Rain Maker could not be too far.

Joamer twisted back to the floor to reload. “These guys are actually trained, they are not like the guys I encountered.”

Havock joined him on the floor, taking a quick glance to check on the others. “That's because they are probably the Rain Maker's private guard. He can't be far away. We need to get rid of these ass holes and find him.”

They both jerked around and opened fire again. Havock could hear Joamer over the blaster fire. “Who's the Rain Maker again?”

Havock rolled her eyes and had to dodge a bolt aimed for her shoulder. “That's who we are trying to find, we need him. Once we find him we can deal with the damn communication issue.” They both hit the floor together. “Didn't you read the mission brief.”

“I skimmed it, I found the personnel files far more interesting.” He smirked and resumed firing leaving Havock with a distasteful expression on her face wondering what in the world she was going to do with the man sitting next to her.

Havock looked around, the others were dug in around the stairs but she and Joamer actually had the best position to get up those stairs once the coast was clear. Havock grabbed Joamer's shoulder. “Listen, when we get an opening, you and I need to get up those stairs and find the Rain Maker. I don't want him to get away and I think these guys are stalling us.”

“You got it, beautiful.” Joamer turned and opened fire, Havock growled and did the same.

Joamer crouched behind the desk as several blaster bolts zoomed by over head, Havock ducked an instant later as more entered the empty space she had just vacated. He checked the digital readout on the right side of his rifle, and mumbled as he read sixteen rounds left.

Breathing slowly, he brought the rifle above the table and fired off sixteen quick rounds, he heard a decrease in return fire as he took cover again. Ejecting the clip he slapped in a new one hard.

"Now's our chance." Havock said as she peered above the table. Joamer nodded and stood up, quickly they both made a B line for the stairs, and took them two at a time. They heard the squad open fire again below them.

Joamer walked slowly to the end of the small hallway and held up his left hand, he leaned around the corner for a brief second before ducking back around. He gave a semi complex hand signal and waited. He turned to look at Havock, she was starring at him with a peculiar expression. For a minute he had forgot he was not in Wraith.

Guess they don't know our hand signals. He thought. Will have to find out if they have any.

"One guard, coming this way slowly." He whispered, she nodded slowly and moved back a small bit. He slung the Armat M41-A pulse rifle around his back and pulled out one of his saber knives.

He waited several long moments, barely breathing as he listened to the sound of approaching footsteps. Waiting a half second more he suddenly spun out into the hall and grabbed the guard. Pulling him back behind the wall he pressed the serrated tips of his knife into the mans unarmored shoulder.

"Tell us where your boss is, and I won't have to kill you." Joamer said quietly, Havock moved up to watch the hallway.

"He's not here, he left some time ago." The guard said. Joamer mumbled something and Havock rolled her eyes. He embedded the sharp tips in a bit deeper, the guard gritted his teeth but did not cry out.

"Last chance, tell us where he is or your time is up." He said again. The guard glared pure hatred at his attacker, but went limp as Joamer flipped the knife around and embedded it into his chest. He removed the knife and stepped back as the body hit the floor, a small dagger clattered to the floor.

"Stupid fool." He said as he leaned down to clean the knife on the guards clothes. Standing up he sheathed it and moved to stand beside Havock.

"How did you know he had that, you never even looked down." She said quietly, her eyes continuously scanned the hallway.

"Heard it, he hadn't oiled the sheath in some time." Joamer said. He walked into the hallway and drew his Frontier Model B pistol.

Stopping at one of the doors he leaned his ear against it and waited before moving on to the next one. Havock started doing the same on the opposite side of the hallway.

They continued like this for several doors until Havock motioned him over. He leaned his ear against the door frame and heard a low rhythmic sound coming from the room.

"Opera?" He said. "Strange to find that on a planet like this."

Havock did not say anything only looked at him again, this time with a slightly less peculiar expression. He held up three fingers and she nodded, he stepped back, counted to three and slammed into the door.

It gave way effortlessly, he rolled into the room and blinked at what he saw, he heard Havock spin into the room then stop.

A short middle aged half balding man stood at the far end of the room, he was dressed in a pink frilly dress. He held up a light blue floor length gown and twirled around in slow circles to the opera music coming from a small music box sitting on a stand in the corner of the room. Other then five six foot tall mirrors, and a large dresser the room was otherwise empty.

Joamer stood up slowly and holstered his pistol, Havock holstered her E-11 and blinked several times. The man noticed their entrance but only continued to twirl in slow circles.

After several long seconds Joamer held out his hands to Havock. She looked at him in disgust, but after a long moment she took his hands. They began to glide about the room.

She was a feather in his hands, it was like they were born for this moment. It was effortless to spin her around the room, he became lost in the moment. A slow smile began appearing on her face, her eyes held general amusement as she spun in slow circles with him.

A large explosion downstairs brought them back to the present. Breaking the spell suddenly, she spun out and away from him. Their reaction seemed perfectly coordinated as they both drew pistols and shot once. The music died as his shot took out the music box. A soft thump sounded as her stun round caused the dress wearing man to fold to the floor.

"Havock to Star." She said into her comlink, she turned to look at Joamer. "Rain Main in custody."

"Copy, we are cleaning up here." He heard Stars voice over the comlink.


  Neither of them said anything for a long moment. They only starred at each other with odd expressions. Joamer smiled at a sudden thought.

"Dance with her, and she will forgive much; dance well, and she will forgive anything." He said quietly, he smiled at her expression.

"Wasn't that good of a dance." She mumbled half to herself.

That was a very old saying. Very old. He thought.

Joamer walked over to the stunned pink dress wearing man and kneeled down. He mumbled something to himself and shook his head slowly. He holstered his pistol right before Havock tossed him a pair of shackles. He caught them then quickly secured their prisoner.

Moments later they heard the gunfire below them cease, the comlink crackled and Stars voice said "Area secure, bring down the prisoner and we can get out of here."

Joamer frowned as he looked at the man laying prone on the floor. He started to mutter something but Havock stopped him when she cleared his throat.

"Time to go newbie." She said.

He grabbed the man and hoisted him up on his shoulder, then walked across the room. Havock narrowed her eyes as she noticed he had almost no difficulty carrying what must be an extra one hundred kilos.

He stopped near her and said "Technically I'm not a newbie, and I have some of the same enhancements Star has." He smiled suddenly and walked out of the room. Havock mumbled something to herself and followed him.

A few minutes later they descended the stairs and rejoined the squad. Joamer sat the man down and rolled his shoulders a few times, he ignored the smug look Havock suddenly had. Rogue and Grahim walked over and took up positions around the Rain Man.

"Alright, here's the game plan. We take our prisoner back the way we came. We stick to the outskirts of the town and head toward our transport." Star said, she waited for everyone to agree before nodding herself. "Joamer, take point. Rogue and Grahim carry our guest."

Joamer slung his pulse rifle around and began walking, he flipped the safety off a few seconds later.


They emerged from the weather tower and headed for the south side of the town. With all the gunshots that had been fired the village looked deserted. Doors and windows had been shut and locked, not a soul was seen on the various roads.

He had begun stopping at every crossroad and waited a long moment before moving on, the squad stayed about fifty feet back. He did not like taking point, but as the newest member it was his duty to act as ambush springer. He wondered if they knew he was a former Raider, he knew Ron remembered him. He had doubts if Rogue remembered his stint as one of them.

He kept walking through the village, a bad feeling had begun to creep into his body as he quickly crossed another road. He was about halfway across when his body suddenly refused to respond to his orders. He lost control of his arms and noticed his rifle go limp in its sling. He tried to blink as the ground seemed to rush up to meet him.

As he hit the ground he watched off in the distance some solitary figure stand up and look at him. His last thought as blackness engulfed him was to think So this is how it ends.

Havock squatted down at Joamer's feet. Jae was talking to the smartly dressed spooks whose purpose on Praexus had yet to be explained. Karash was kneeling opposite Havock near Joamer's head. One of the men noticed that he was a medic and muttered something about it being a short blast stun, and he should be up and around in another minute. 

Jae, Karash and Havock all shared knowing glances. When Joamer woke up, someone was getting punched. None of them wanted to be anywhere near him when that happened. But they needed to figure out what the deal was with the three newcomers, and why they decided to take shots at the RAIDERS point man.

“So if he's going to be awake in one minute. I guess that means you have less than one minute to explain why you are stunning our people. And for the love of all things, take those ridiculous glasses off. You all look like rejects from an old holovid.” Havock growled up at Bacredi, as she ran a tired hand through her brown hair.

He raised an eyebrow at the young girl, then shook his head. They all removed their glasses and revealed eyes full of anger and something else Hav was sure she wasn't allowed to know.

“We are assigned to watch you. Make sure you insane troopers stay out of trouble. Its not an easy job.” Havock rolled her eyes as he spoke and thought to ask if he'd requested hazard pay, but decided not to get herself into too much trouble.

Havock looked down, Joamer's eyes were starting to flutter. Jae looked up at Bacredi. “Watch us? If you are supposed to just watch us, why do I have an unconscious trooper in the middle of a damn city street?”

“He was coming right towards me, I...” The other man who was standing next to Bacredi was silenced.

Taking a deep breath, and looking thoroughly annoyed at the whole situation, Bacredi continued. “Obviously we have a problem, you're not supposed to know we are here. That's done and over with, now the question is what do we do about it.” 

Havock started to look around. They were on a fairly deserted roadway, but there were shops and some of the window dressings were fluttering from something other than the wind. “We need to move. Joamer is about to wake up, we need to get that one.” She pointed back at the prone figure of the Rain Maker. “We need him back on the transport and secured. You can come with us or stay here. I really don't care.”

Joamer groaned and reached up using his hand to rub his forehead. Jae nodded. “Yeah, what she said. And keep those blasters in the holsters, I don't need anyone else getting shot. Let's move. Get up already Joamer, no more sleeping your supposed to be on point.”

Joamer felt the Arrow-23 Tramp Shuttle lift off the ground quietly. Havock was at the controls, while he was sitting in the seat next to her manning the few weapons this thing did have. The rest of the squad was sitting in the back relaxing, they had posted Grahim to watch the still unconscious Rain Maker. Star and Rogue were sitting dangerously close to each other, while Karash looked on in disdain.

"Set course for Rask's base." Star said after they had left the confines of the town. Joamer flipped on one of the rear monitors and saw the other speeder keeping up with them. He mumbled something quietly to himself and Havock took notice.

"What do you think of them?" She said, her eyes scanning the area in front of them as she increased the speed to 378 km/h. Trees whipped by so quickly it was a miracle she did not plow into any of them.

"I've never trusted the VEI, if they are even who they say they are. I don't know, they give off a strange vibe." He said as he tapped the rear monitor, starring at the speeder still behind them. He did not like the fact their guns looked like they were trained on them.

"So, since we have some time what's your story?" She said after a few minutes of silence.

"I've been a Raider before, back when your specialty was space walking. Interesting times those, my last mission we barely made it out alive. We lost a good friend on that Golan II." He said quietly.

"I don't care about your history as a Trooper." She said almost annoyed. "I want to know where you came from." She very deliberately kept her eyes on the road, but he looked down at the half hidden mark on her wrist and knew what she really wanted.

"I was the right hand man of someone very powerful once. The story about me being in the Yashuvhu security force is part way true. I did work for them once, but it was when I was young. The whole carbonite freezing incident is a lie, I was actually captured by a rival group." He trailed off suddenly as he noticed the rest of the squad had gone silent.

He heard someone move up to the front and sit down, turning around he saw Jaenna starring at him with a odd expression.

"You know." She said quietly. "After the last campaign we looked at your service record, it looks pretty empty for someone claiming to be a Senior Sergeant." She went silent and began starring at the faded upholstery.

He held back a smile and said quietly "Most of the missions I've done are classified above top secret. No awards, no medals. Only thing we are allowed to have publicly is rank."

He looked at Star as she picked her head up to stare at him for a long moment, she asked quietly "Where do your loyalties lie? You show up suddenly, with encrypted orders leaving us without a leader. Your promote me, to the position. Then these Intelligence morons show up, and one gets his head blown off. Not very professional if you ask me." Her hand had dropped to her side during the last bit, she was still starring into his eyes.

"Always faithful. I took that oath once, and I still hold to it." He said simply.

She continued to stare into his eyes for a long moment before nodding and moving to the rear of the shuttle. He looked at the rest of the squad one by one, they each nodded slowly except for Grahim, he still had a dangerous look on his face.

Must still be ticked I got the best of him so easily, He thought. Not my fault I was well trained.

"Rask's base straight ahead, less than one kilometer." Havock said suddenly.

Joamer turned back around and checked his rifle. He knew this was usually when missions went south. The double cross usually happened right now.

Joamer turned his head and watched as Karash walked to the very back of the shuttle. He furrowed his forehead in thought then just shook his head slightly. He knew a few members would not be very welcoming with his arrival, specially not after he beat a few of them so quickly. He had tried in the past to downplay his abilities, but it never worked. So now he just ignored the rules and tried to not show off, that also never worked well.

Turning around he looked at the rapidly approaching base, he glanced at the rear monitor and saw the other shuttle move along side of them.

Least someone on that thing has common sense. He thought. He knew if a double cross was coming this was the time for it. Delivering prisoners rarely went off well, a old feeling he had learned to trust had popped up a few minutes ago. He knew something bad was about to happen.

"Fast deployment, but be casual, take covering positions. Havock, Joamer you take point." Jaenna said suddenly. Joamer closed his mouth as he had been a second away from giving nearly the same orders. He could feel his squad leaders eyes on him, and he glanced to his left and saw the small smile Havock had. He tried to ignore both of them and only clicked the safety off on his pulse rifle.

He gripped the door handle as Havock readied the shuttle for a fast stop. He looked to his right at the possible cover. The base was just a large multi-storied complex, out front was several hundred feet of duracreted landing pad. Every ship or vehicle usually sitting outside had been moved to the far edges, or stowed inside. They would exit the shuttle with no cover for hundreds of feet, this was bad.

Joamer shared a look with Havock, they both knew being the first ones out of the shuttle meant they would get hit first. Joamer watched as two guards signaled them to halt about thirty feet from the entrance to the building.

Havock brought the shuttle to stop, Joamer noticed the other shuttle stop to their left. He sighed once and opened the shuttles door. He stepped out into bright afternoon sunlight, the guards had left their A-280s strapped around their backs, but he did not miss the half hidden muzzles of some long range rifles on the second and third stories pointing in their direction.

He did not raise his M41-A, only left it hanging from his sling across his cheat. He did keep both hands close though. He side walked several feet and motioned with his left hand, his eyes always scanning, he watched Havock step in front of the shuttle and walk slowly over. The side door opened and the rest of the squad piled out quickly, but slow enough to appear somewhat casual.

They formed a square around the Rain Maker and walked up to the two guards. Both men nodded and did an about-face and walked inside the building. Halfway to the door the other shuttles occupants took up station behind them.

Joamer heard the giant blast doors close shut behind them, he always hated the sound they made as they locked shut.




A few minutes later the squad had delivered the Rain Maker into a cell and stepped out. They had begun shutting the door but Havock stopped them.

"He won't be truthful with us at first, it's going to take along time to get him to cooperate." She said slowly. The rest of the squad begun to nod, Jaenna mumbled something to herself.

"Too bad we don't have any sodium pentothal." Bacredi said, "We left ours back at base."

Joamer kept a straight face as he unhooked a small container from his belt. He opened it and begun preparing a syringe.

"Don't tell me." Havock said. Joamer only smiled and shrugged.

"Better then the base crap the VEI uses." Joamer mumbled softly, "My own concoction, more potent, and less of those nasty after effects." Joamer had locked eyes with the man known as Bacredi during the last part. This motion was not lost on the squad as they all looked at him as well.

"Not my fault, he was snooping around." He half mumbled. Joamer only shook his head and entered the cell, he grabbed the Rain Makers arm and stabbed in the syringe, then injected the fluid quickly. Walking back out he slammed the door shut and picked up his small box.

"Takes about an hour to work. Still working on getting the time down." Joamer mumbled to himself. The squad filled out of the room and left the Rain Maker to his thoughts.



The squad had picked a medium sized room and gotten comfortable. Joamer handed Jaenna a small datapad and walked to the window. He waited while she logged into the private server high command had set up for them to use. She cleared her throat and Joamer walked back over, she nodded at him to read what was on screen.

"First off, a few promotions from the last campaign. Havock is now a Corporal. Jaenna is now a Sergeant. I'm now a Gunnery Sergeant. Further promotions, medals, commendations ecetera to be announced later." Joamer said. He heard congratulations and back slaps going around as he scrolled down a small bit.

He sighed as he read over the short transfer report. He stepped back and let Jaenna and Havock read the next part for themselvs. They both read the short report several times before looking up. Rogue was starring at the three of them, a odd expression on his face.

Jaenna shook her head several times, her face set into a hard mask and her hands clenched into fists. She stormed past Rogue, nearly knocking him into one of the walls as she did. The door slammed shut behind her, as she left the room.

Havock sighed slowly and said "Transfer request by one Platoon Sergeant Alex Gorjan is hereby granted." The squad had gone deathly silent and starred at the former Raiders member.

Havock walked up to Rogue and starred at him for a long moment, she said softly "I assume you can find your own way off planet." She walked past him and to the door, she said over her shoulder "Gunny, you are in charge." The door shut behind her.

The squad sat in stunned silence, in turn starring at Rogue and Joamer. He wondered what had them more worried. They fact Rogue was leaving, or the new guy was in charge with the squad leader and assistant gone.

He shut down the computer, then walked up to Rogue and met his eyes for a long moment. He nodded slowly and walked out of the room, someone he cared about was more important then being in charge right now.

The Vast Empire Intelligence agents slipped away, they immediately headed for the hijacked speeder. Finnegan had already called in the three reserve and undercover agents—two pilots and a backup agent. They pulled the speeder around and headed towards their safehouse—the main one had probably already been raided. Bacredi was at the passenger seat, his rifle in hand, with Finnegan in driver and Carmichael in the back. They went around the underground safehouse and moved eighty feet away from it, Finnegan set a pack of C4 under it and moved away. Once they were 50 feet away, he detonated it. Carmichael had run ahead and opened the underground-access door, and they all slipped in.

“Good to see y’all,” one of the pilots said as Bacredi closed the door. The other pilot holstered his pistol and turned around to the LAAT/I that had been stripped of the rear gun and had bunks placed in and a small medical center. The backup agent was already in, his sniper on his leg and sitting on the hovering speeder. Bacredi nodded to the pilot and went over to the armoury—their armour sets were already set out. They stripped themselves of their suits and put on the camouflage gear, and ten minutes later they were all set. Bacredi wasn’t wearing his helmet, but the rest of them were.

“Where is the main transport?” Carmichael questioned—referring to the GR-75 that was usually stationed here.

“The other backup agents—James and Pogger, I believe—took it out into space. We’re meeting them there.” The second pilot said, moving up into the pilot seat. Bacredi readied himself and jumped on the LAAT/I. The rest of the agents jumped on as well, and Finnegan took a seat on the opposite side of the backup agent, his sniper ready as well.

“Got it.” Carmichael said, finishing his train of thought.

“Lets break out of here…are the explosives set?” Bacredi ordered and asked.

“Yes,” the agent said.

“Got it. Once we’re 2 kilometers up in the air, blow it.” The base would have to go as well. The patch of “grass” opened up and suddenly the LAAT/I flew up into the air. The patch closed as they left and flew up into the air some more…and then it went into ashes. “There that goes.” Night was falling, and they were heading for their rendezvous point. They kept a steady gear, but they were also in sight from the ground.

Ten minutes passed until they actually saw something on the hill side, they were somewhere near where they had first met RAIDERS, as it was in sight. The city’s lights had been turned off due to sleep, but a gleaming, straight line that was found to be a missile caused the squad to panic. “Fuck! Launch countermeasures!” the pilot said, the countermeasures left a moment later. The missile didn’t buy and kept on for the LAAT. “Hold onnnnnnnnnnnnnnn,” the pilot’s last words were uttered in long syllables, and the missile impacted. The LAAT/I went down without a fight, and it began to spin out of control.

“Hold on!” Bacredi said as the transport hit the ground, sending the backup agent flying and Carmichael spinning. Finnegan was dead before they hit the ground, getting hit by shrapnel from the pilot’s seats—who were also dead. Bacredi had survived by holding onto the bunk, which was firmly planted onto the ship. Bacredi quickly got out and raised his rifle, he checked the pulses of everyone—they were all dead. Bacredi laid down on the solid ground for a few seconds, taking in what just happened, before he realized—they’d come to check if there were survivors. Bacredi picked up his radio from his belt and began to speak “Sergeant Caldwin…come in. This is Special Agent Bacredi, requesting assistance at my rally point.” Bacredi clicked the com and then flipped a switch saying “reveal location”.

In the distance, a small transport—hover—was visible. Bacredi gathered up the weapons he could carry—Finnegan’s weapon, Carmichael’s grenades, and his own rifle. The other agent had a rocket launcher but Bacredi found it to be too heavy. He ran towards the hill, panting and feeling the urge to throw up. He had a bad pain in his shoulder—obviously from the crash. He was about seven-hundred feet away from the LAAT/I when the speeder ran it down, Bacredi took a leg near a bush and raised the sniper. He looked through the scope and turned night vision on, the scope showed seven men moving towards the speeder. He began to peer around and didn’t feel the urge to shoot…Finnegan had a tracer on his rifle.