Half a second before he said three he opened fire.

Blasts from his DLT-20a hit the barbarian who appeared to be the leader, two more shots from Helena brought him down. As he fell two more took his place. Joamer noticed the rest of the squad take positions around the hilltop, on any other day their combined blaster fire would of made him proud.

At this moment, he doubted it would be enough.

By this time Kanderin had shouted a simple command "Form line of Battle." The squad was somewhat unfamiliar with the phrase, but old Academy days kicked in suddenly and they rushed to stand shoulder to shoulder. The combined firepower of Wraith Squad rained death upon the encroaching army.

But, they kept coming.

"Reconfigure for close range." Kand said over his shoulder, he did not bother looking away from what he fired at.

The terrified mortar team leader could not talk, only give a very small shake of his head.

"We ne..ed.." He said quietly, his voice broke so many times it was hard to tell what he said "Four mi..untes."

"What do you mean four minutes?" Joamer shouted. He flipped the power lever on his DLT-20a to full and fired, the bolt nearly took the barbarians head off, the body fell backwards taking two more men with it. Cursing to himself he exchanged the empty clip for a full one.

"Can't do that to many more times." He said as he brought the power lever back down to mid range. "Might kill one of them, but it also drains the clip. To add to our problems, I'm beginning to run low."

"If you can't see," Helena said, she swung the barrel of his E-11 around and fired on the closest barbarian "We do not have four minutes. Now decrease that time or I will tell Ananzi here he can eat you!"

The men looked at the newest Wraith for a brief second before resuming their work.

The seconds stretched on, the barbarians were over the halfway point by now. The squad had lost track of how many had fallen, but by some miracle none of the barbarians had fired a single shot. They kept firing at one target at a time and the bodies kept falling.

Suddenly the whole barbarian force had stopped, for a brief second the Wraiths had also stopped firing. Crossbow bolts suddenly rained down among the squad.

The sound of a scream was abruptly ended in a gurgling gasp.

"Take cover!" Half the squad shouted in unison. Dodging bolts Joamer and Anival lept behind a boulder. Peering around he noticed the rest of the squad take cover. He noticed one of the mortar team members was down, a crossbow bolt stuck out of his neck.

Surprisingly a sudden fury had engulfed the remaining mortar squad, instead of drawing blasters and laying waste to the barbarians, the only doubled their efforts to reconfigure the weapons.

"I don't think we have four minutes anymore." Anival said.

"I don't think we even have one." Joamer muttered quietly.

A thud, and Kanderin noticed something flicker past his vision and land somewhere behind him. Instinctively, he grabbed anyone he could reach and threw himself out of the way, waiting for the explosion to engulf them all. Helena, Joamer and Anival all shouted complaints and spluttered dirt before looking up at Kand for an explanation. He was preoccupied with what was thrown.

A head stared back at him. the sockets that used to hold the eyes now dripping blood. It was fresh, blood having spewn in a spiral over the area it was thrown. It was over his own clothes as well, but he had failed to notice until now. It made him want to throw his armor to the ground, but he knew doing so would simply make him a bigger target.

Target.

The bolts flew over the space his head had occupied a few seconds before, and he was immediately crawling back to safety. The world may of stopped for him while he was identifying the skull, but not for the Barbarians. They had taken the time to aim their weapons properly, to identify him through his actions as their leader, and to aim for him. The other members of his squad had been far slower to react and were still out in the open, but they seemed to pay no attention. Take the head out and the body would fall, pretty advanced techniques for savages. If it worked, it could spell the end for the squad. Helena had been a squad leader herself and would be capable of taking command quickly, but she was inexperienced compared to himself. He couldn't guarantee she would organise the squad quickly enough. He wouldn't even let her try - He wasn't going to let himself die. He was scared still, he'd never stopped being scared, but becoming a target had changed it entirely. He would beat them or he would die, it was a definite yes or no answer, not the maybe's he had been taking on until now. It made him determined enough to fight.

"How long till you can shoot!" He shouted over at the mortar squads, covering his face from the debris loosened by the bolts.

"One minute, we're working as fast as we can!" The response came.

"As soon as you're ready fire on them!"

"We were going to anyway!"

"Remember you said that" Kand smiled, before jumping over the top of the rock and down the ten feet drop to the road below. He glanced up quickly, the Barbarians were about 50 metres away from him but had grinded to a halt, his sudden movement startling them somewhat. He began to run straight towards them, blaster rife firing shots into them at maximum capacity. The few in the way actually began to dive out of the way, a reaction he hadn't seen the entire mission. The ones further back however weren't as easily surprised, rising their own crossbows and beginning to fire bolts back. A few clinked off of his armor, but he managed to keep himself low enough to not become a suitable target.

Finally, he found his mark. Another mini cave about halfway between the two forces, just low enough for him to be able to hide within. He barely hit the ground before he had managed to throw a grenade from his belt, aiming at what he believed was the centre of their forces. He heard it go off but did not see if it had caused any damage. Raising his head, he saw Wraith now returning to full firing capacity, happy now that their leader was not in danger of becoming a target. A few more cries of pain echoed into his hiding place, before a large pop was heard behind the Wraith line. Finally.

The explosion landed just above his cave, flooding the ground around him with fire and debris. Rolling himself into a ball and digging his way under the cover as deeply as possible, he prayed he would still be alive when the fire stopped.

Helena and Joamer sat Kand down inside the cave behind the launchers.

"Get the launchers reconfigured, we have a mission to complete." Helena said.

Helena went to work on the cuts Kand had managed to aquire while Joamer went back outside. He looked off into the distance where the fighting was still going strong. Around him the members of Wraith squad had picked out spots and sat down, they kept a eye out for anymore trouble, but everything up here was quiet.

"Reconfigure for long range, it is time we helped our friends." Joamer said quietly to the mortar teams. He walked away without waiting for a response. They no longer appeared nervous, maybe seeing how efficient the squad was when backed into a corner gave them hope, or maybe they had passed the breaking point and no longer cared.

Joamer for one did not care, he was happy. The set of objectives was complete, and the squad was in relatively one piece, not counting cuts and bruises and shot nerves.

Finding a particularly comfortable looking rock he sat down. He was covered in dirt, debrie and blood, he was not sure if it was his, but at this moment he did not care much. Placing his DLT-20a against his leg he hung his head and breathed a deep sigh of relief.

He tried to hide the fear when placed into situations like this, he wondered if he was successful in his attempt. Other members of the squad choose to show it openly, others hide it. At the rare quiet times like these they all showed it to a degree, the deep sighs, the looks they had as the stared off into the distance.

He heard a faint whining from his right arm and looked over, a broke shaft from a crossbow bolt had wedged itself inside a flap in his armor. Gripping the shaft he pulled it out and tossed it away, the whining came from a overtaxed servo motor, with the way it was screaming it would give out soon, luckily he had backups in place to take over if one failed.

"You look like hell."

Glancing up Joamer half smiled as Anival grinned.

"You should look in a mirror."

Nothing else was said, that was the way with them. Few words and silence. Both of them were friends, comrades, brothers. All the Wraith were, surviving what they went through made them that way. He heard Anival sit down nearby and sigh deeply, he chuckled under his breath.

Kicking his feet out from under him Joamer slid the small distance to the ground, leaning his head back he rested it against the rock and closed his eyes.

"We need a vacation." Joamer mumbled quietly, Anival grunted a reply.

Soft thuds began emanating from the launchers, Joamer could picture the shells hitting the ground off into the distance, he wondered how the other battle was going.

OOC:

Objectives complete. Continue to post though. Arn said I should do this, so don't yell at me Kand :P We pretty much finished up the objectives posts ago, but we needed a bit of a closer post.

Rogueboy ran his hand over the rifle, it was a bolt-action and for some odd reason Rogue always liked bolt action, and perhaps it was because you could always tell how much ammo you had. Either way, he liked it and that was all that mattered. Currently the squad had two ongoing problems; the first being that they were nowhere near finishing their objectives the second one being that they had lost a member and they were going to find her.

Knowing that Ron had a personal interest in finding Havock irked him for the simple reason that he knew Ron would expend more time and effort in finding Hav then he would in searching for another member. Perhaps that’s not true but the only way to properly tell would if another member would go missing, and frankly Rogue did not want to take that chance.

When the barbarian had attacked the camp, Rogue was pretty sure it was his shot that had taken down the ugly, after his shot he noticed that Grahim’s struck the earth not a foot from the enemy. There was no point in mentioning that to Ron as it would only make RB look cocky and he didn’t need the squad leader to think that. The search for Havock was going pretty bad, they had only found those barbarians and even then only small numbers of them and a few looked to be pretty banged up. Additionally the squad passed by fewer and fewer amounts of dead and displayed soldiers. Under normal times the squad would have called in every single body for pick up but the amount and time constraints said it would be unwise. Every second the squad wasted was time that could be spent trying to insure that Havock would survive.

Looking over his shoulder Rogue could see that Jae was checking him out and he couldn’t help but smile, even though he knew she couldn’t see. Opening a private com channel with Jae, Rogue started some banter. “Sorry sweetie, the meat market doesn’t open for a few more hours.”

Chuckling Jae responded. “Sorry sir, I just wanted a peep to see if there were any specials. No more fooling around though Rogue, I’m really worried for Hav.”

“I am too, but there’s no point in worrying about things you can’t change, Hav’s a good girl and she can take care of herself. When you’re in this business you either die or outlive all your friends, personally I would rather outlive them.” Rogue could tell Jae was looking at him before adding. “I’m sure you would as well.”

All of a sudden there was a slight woosh sound as something ran past Rogue, and it took him a few seconds to realize that it was Star running full speed ahead of the squad. RB ran as fast as he could in an attempt to stay in pursuit of Jaenna, he didn’t know what got her going but he was determined to make sure she didn’t get hurt. Then Rogueboy saw it, a lone stormtrooper running from two barbarians and it was Havock.

Havock tried and failed to stand a few times before giving up and rolling to her side. The ringing in her ears was getting worse, she needed to find Karash or just anyone at this point. Looking back towards the village she could see two barbarians running in her direction.

You have got to be kidding me. Really? You are going to chase me when your village is on fire?

Havock just stared at them as they got closer to where she was. She couldn't stand without falling, she was shaking. The sweat had caused the once dried blood to run down her face yet again. She knew what was going to happen. There was absolutely nothing she could do to stop it. No weapons, no strength left, she wasn't going to make it easy but she had little in her arsenal to make it all that difficult either.

The barbarian that was winning the race to kill Havock, flinched. Havock narrowed her gaze, the ringing in her ears was making it difficult to make out the sounds around her. Then she watched his head snap back before he fell to the ground. Havock thought she was seeing things she shook her head, she could almost swear she heard someone call her name.

Looking off to her side, Hav saw the source of all the confusion. Two stormtroopers were running, full tilt, in Havock's direction. Jae stuttered in Hav's direction then took off towards the remaining barbarian.

Rogueboy knelt behind Havock's head with his rifle drawn, ready to hit any other barbarians that may run in their direction. “You okay there, Havvy?”

Havock tore her eyes away from Jaenna for a split second to glance up at Rogue. “Never better, what took you so long?”

His eyes were on Jae as well as he checked his rifle. “You know, beer run of course.”

Jae jumped at the barbarian, she was shouting something Havock couldn't make out. She grabbed his spear, yanking it from his grasp as she was stomping on his foot as hard as she could. The large man barely flinched, but he did lose his grasp on the spear. Jae rolled behind him, as he turned she jabbed the spear in his neck. Blood spurted and rolled down the poll, Jae kicked the barbarian square in the chest sending him falling to the forest floor. She stood over him, Havock could see her chest rise and fall as she struggled to get her emotions under control.

Rogue was still watching the perimeter for any more barbarians, they seemed to be far to involved in the firefighting to be bothered by an escaped prisoner. “Karash should be here any minute.”

Havock nodded. Jae yanked off her helmet and ran right at Hav grabbing her and hugging her as Hav slammed to the ground. “Ack! Good to see you too, Jae.” Havock chuckled as she winced in pain. Jae must have noticed she promptly let go, pulling away to take a closer look at her friend.

Jae's eyes were searching Havock, taking inventory of all of her visible injuries. She looked so concerned Hav could see her tearing up. “I'm okay Jae, I mean I'll live. I'm in a fair amount of pain right now, but I'm going to be okay, honest.”

“You really need to stop getting yourself into so much trouble.” Jae touched Havock's cheek then put her hand back on her shoulder.

Hav shook her head, a movement that hurt way more than it should have. “Naw, then you'll just miss saving my ass.” Hav smirked when Jae laughed softly.

Karash came running up, “Can you kindly get off my patient please.” Jae frowned up at the PFC, then seemed to come to terms with the the fact that he was the medic and she should listen to him. As Jae knelt next to Hav, Karash came to her side and started to examine her injuries.

Karash was shining lights in Hav's eyes, the brightness made her recoil from him. “So Havock, did you enjoy your little vacation? What have I told you about those wild parties?”

Havock looked from Kar to Rogue. “You boys are just full of jokes today aren't you?”

Karash looked up at Rogue, then addressed Jaenna. “She has a very bad concussion, who knows what else. I need more time, and we need to get out of here.”

Jae nodded, “is it safe to move her?”

Havock had an incredulous look on her face. “Hello, I'm right here. I can walk, I'm fine.”

“Like hell you can.” Ron came walking up to the group. “Karash, report.” Ron seemed to visibly relax when he saw that Havock was safe and conscious.

Karash rolled his eyes, obviously put out by having to repeat himself. “Concussion, its a bad concussion, probably something to do with that nasty gash on her forehead running up her scalp.”

Ron nodded. “Jaenna and Karash you help Havvy. Rogue you and I will cover.”

Jae got up to get her helmet from where she dropped it. Rogue stood and spoke up. “Hang on, what about the barbarians? Don't we need to make sure there all gone before we head back?”

“You missed my work?” Ron pointed to the burning village. “Grahim and the others are shooting any they can see, they are all trapped in the flames. This lot shouldn't give us any trouble for now, we have enough time to get back and meet up with the others.”

Jae walked up snapping her helmet on as she approached, “Sounds good to me, lets go.”

Jae and Kar got Havock into a standing position, each throwing one of her arms over their shoulder. Havock winced, the forest looked like it was swimming around her. She decided just to close her eyes, throwing up was not something she fancied at this point.

Ron turned to Karash just before scouting ahead with Rogue. “As soon as we get back Kar, you check her out thoroughly. And if you need to knock her ass out, you just make sure she gets some rest.”

Kar nodded, “yes, sir.”

Raider’s had set up camp near a brook, the purity tester showed that it was relatively clean water so the squad had taken a break to gather water, eat a ration, and for Hav’s pounding head ache to clear up. Rogue had taken point on the walk from the barbarian’s camp to where they were now. The mental justification for being on point so many times was that Rogue had more experience then the rest of the squad and he knew what to look for. This belied the real reason why RB continuously volunteered, because traditionally if no one volunteers then the assistant squad leader or the squad leader does it. Glancing at Star, RB silently admired how the stormtrooper armour clung to her figure. Running her hands through her auburn hair Jaenna took a sip from her canteen.

Muttering to himself, Rogue finally built up the courage to approach Starfruit. “Hey Jaenna, want go for a walk?” He stammered.

Stupid, you couldn’t ask that properly?

Jaenna seemed to immediately smile at Rogue’s discomfort. “Sure, let me just tell Ron.” Star said as she ran off to the squad leader’s side.

It took Jae only a few seconds before she hurried back. “Ron says not to go too far, so let’s go.” Jae’s smile met Rogue’s.

Taking a romantic walk in a forest full of death was not Rogue’s first thought when romantic walk is mentioned but it will have to do. With his rifle slung over his left shoulder Alex used his right hand to grasp Jaenna’s gauntleted left hand. “I thought you were right-handed?” She asked.

“I’m a semi-ambidextrous.” Rogue answered.

“You just have all kinds of talent don’t you?” Jae said with a grin.

It was a relief to have their helmets off; the large plastoid bubbles tend to make intimacy rather difficult. “How do you feel about this mission so far?” RB asked Jae.

“I don’t particularly like it, I feel that this planet will be more problematic once we conquer it.” Jae said smartly.

Not just a pretty face. Rogue mused to himself.

“I agree with your assessment, the barbarians will definitely harass the local population under Imperial rule. Unless of course they can be converted or destroyed.” Rogue gave a cold smile.

“Enough about politics, what did you want to go on this walk for?” The directedness in Star’s question stunned Rogue.

Gathering his wits about him, Rogue slowly expressed himself. “Jaenna, I care a lot about you, much more than a soldier should for his ASL.” Taking a deep breath RB continued. “I want to know, if we both survive this mission when we get back to base do you want to go out with…” The rest of the sentence was lost as Jae’s lips met his, with enough force that they banged their heads, cutting the kiss short as they both collapsed on the ground holding their foreheads. “Damn it Jae, I didn’t think you were that excited.” Rogue said clutching his head as a wave of pain washed over him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean too, this really hurts!” Jaenna yelled back.

Many minutes later the duo returned back to the brook where the Raider’s were waiting. “How was the “scouting” did you guys find any trouser snakes?” Beta yelled out, to a crowd of giggles.

“Alright guys enough.” Ron said with a grin before adding. “Back in formation we need to continue marching.”

OOC:

Freakin' finally, right? Read the OOC comments THOROUGHLY for a description of time and mission objectives.

Day 14
Passes South of Death Valley, 12.00

Arnaut sagged against the side of his truck. His arms were trembling. There was blood over his armor, splashed haphazardly in crimson, swirling patterns. The smell was overwhelming, even with the helmet. It dripped off, steaming in the cold mountain air, before congealing on the ground beside him. The smell was overwhelming, even with the helmet.

Nausea came on so suddenly that Arnaut was forced to take off his helmet. He gasped, the biting air taking him by surprise. The smell wasn’t exactly better, but the wind took some of the edge off at least. With numb, shaking hands, he went to set his helmet down. There wasn’t a place though. To his left was blood, to his right were indiscernible scraps of meat and blood. He hesitated for a second, finally got fed up and tossed his helmet a good five feet away. It bounced, landing in a puddle of brackish mud.

Kanderin stumbled by, only noticing Arnaut at the last second. His eyes widened slightly, as if he were surprised to actually see another person still alive. He sank to his needs in the mud, not saying anything.

“We should...get moving,” he said finally. He sounded as if he was out of breath. His left hand tremored slightly and he used his right to calm it. “Can’t...stay here. Not safe.”

Arnaut looked away but he knew Kanderin was right. Frig, but they needed to get moving. How long had they spent here already? Twenty minutes? Forty? Sorin’s men had held off the barbarians for a while, but they would be on their trail now. There was no time to waste.

Ignoring his body’s cries for rest and using the sword as a crutch, he pushed himself to his feet. It felt better standing, he thought. He took in a few cold gulps of air, trying to get his body awake. He need to be sharp, not all strung out like this.

“Wildcard, form up. Army units, watch the rear. Wraith cover them.” He pointed with his sword, getting a feel for the weight and balance of it. He was much more used to knives, but the sword felt good in his grip. Almost, but not quite, natural.

“Kand, lead them forward. Almost forgot something.” His adjutant nodded as he stood up. “Get everyone inside and begin to barricade the entrance.”

“What about Raiders? They won’t be able to get in once we put up the barricades, most likely.” Kanderin’s voice sounded genuinely worried. And why shouldn’t he be? They hadn’t seen nor heard a single thing from the Raiders in nearly four days. If they barricaded themselves inside the caves, chances were good that they wouldn’t ever see them again. Arnaut looked up at the sky, trying to come up with an answer.

“I’m sure,” he faltered for a second, “sure that they’ll be fine.” Kanderin nodded, but looked hardly reassured. Thankfully though he didn’t say another word as he went to lead the troops off. Arnaut went in the opposite direction, onto the battlefield. He kept his sword in hand.

Finally he made it to the man he’d killed. The scabbard for Arnaut’s new weapon was still attached to his belt. Just where he’d left it after taking the sword. Slowly, reverently, Arnaut bent down and began to remove it from the man’s belt. Try as he might, though, he just couldn’t ignore the Vast Imperial insignia sewn on the sleeve of the man’s uniform, or shake off the feeling that he was doing something wrong.

Day 02
Death Valley, 16.33


One second. One clear, perfect second. For one second, the sun came out. For a second, the world turned to light and the clouds parted, and there was crystalline perfection. One, shining second.

The sniper round exploded a chunk of the vehicle next to Sorin’s head. The metal turned into superheated fragments that lacerated his helmet, scoring deep gauges in the pristine white armor. He convulsed, adrenaline and natural instinct propelling him to the ground, just in time to avoid two more sniper rounds, both hitting the ground next to him. They ejected a sooty cloud of ash into the air.

Up above, on the ridge, the sniper opened on full auto, peppering the area around his missed target. But Sorin was already gone.

“Wraiths, ten o’clock, on the ridge line! Sniper!”

The Wraiths turned, directing the mortar teams toward the ridge. It began to disintegrate under multiple mortar bursts.

“He could’ve at least said please,” Kanderin breathed under his breath.

* * *

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. It was all so unreal. He had had the shot. Perfectly. Lined it up, measured it out. He had had the shot. The shock of his failure left him reeling. He stopped thinking. He stopped calculating. He sprayed out his entire clip on one target. He was still in shock. He couldn’t believe what had happened. He hadn’t missed a shot since basic. Basic.

The hillside around him was dying. In a last effort of will, the Sniper managed to rally himself into a state of somewhat consciousness and make it out of danger. But the damage was done. They knew he existed. They knew that he could kill. They knew he was vulnerable.

Silently he cursed the scout commander that he’d missed. Cursed him not for who he was, but what he stood for. He was the one that got away, the shot that he missed.

Filled with cold fury, he vowed that he wouldn’t miss a second time. He stalked away from the battle, his knuckles white around his rifle.

* * *

The battle seemed to be ebbing, Arnaut remembered noting. The tide of men seemed to be slackening. Their quick defense of the convoy seemed to be working.

And then it was over. One minute there were men, the next there was nothing. It was like someone had turned off the faucet. In place of the din of battle settled an uncomfortable and eerie silence punctuated by the occasional cries of the wounded and sporadic blaster fire. From the way that some of the screams seemed to end abruptly after each burst of fire, it was safe to assume that not all of it was for the enemy. Looking around, Arnaut could understand why.

The bodies around him were not intact in any sense of the word. They had been rent apart, violently but diligently, until nothing remained but an assortment of mismatched parts. Here was an arm. Did it belong to that torso, the one without a head? Or did it belong to that one? Whose hand was this, whose foot? Did it matter any more?

The ash, once gray had now faded to a sort of maroon color. It was sticky and clumped uncomfortably around the soles of the soldiers’ boots. After a few moments, Arnaut didn’t even bother trying to scrape it off. There was simply too much.

“Officers’ meeting!” An unfamiliar voice called out. Arnaut looked around and found a junior officer waving to him from the back of the command tank. He seemed urgent and annoyed at the same time. Annoyed that Arnaut wasn’t coming fast enough.

“...the hell does he think he is?” Arnaut muttered and trudged over, keenly aware of how heavy the muck made his boots.

“And you might be?” Sorin asked gruffly, arriving before Arnaut.

“I am Cap—Major Antus, leader of Dagger Battalion. You must be Sorin. You came up quite a lot in our conversations.” Somehow, Antus managed to twist the last sentence to sound like an insult. Sorin bristled but Arnaut spoke up before he had a chance to retort.

“‘Our’? And where is Marcus?”

“We – that being Marcus and I –  conversed many times. I was his executive officer. Unfortunately, he died of a fatal blaster shot to the head during the battle. Pity, really.” Antus smiled wolfishly. “He was such a good commander.”

Arnaut finally noted Marcus’ sword attached to the newcomer’s belt and pushed down the strong desire to shoot him in the face where he stood. He knew the sentiment was shared when Sorin’s hand flinched toward his pistol. Arnaut looked at him levelly and gave a small shake of his head. Sorin sneered back, but retracted his hand.

Antus watched the exchange with hungry eyes, smiling inwardly. It all but confirmed for Arnaut that Antus had killed his commanding officer. For power, for money, for a woman, it didn’t matter, but it had happened and that was that. There wasn’t much Arnaut or Sorin could do, not in front of the troops. The Daggers would be on them in seconds and, even with their better training, the Daggers would destroy Wildcard and Alpha alike.

As if to punctuate this point, Antus’ bodyguard joined them, creating a half-circle around the trio. They were the protection from people trying to get to their commander. Or get away from, Arnaut thought sardonically.

“If we may continue inside?” Antus asked, indicating toward the command tank. Sorin muttered an expletive under his breath, but stepped up anyway. Arnaut followed close behind.

The space in the tank, having seemed so crowded before with Marcus and his retinue, seemed even smaller then, with just the three of them. Arnaut was sitting next to a murderer and there wasn’t anything Arnaut could do about it. They’d all killed of course; technically they were all murderers. This was different, though. This was treason.

Antus opened his pocket and pulled out a mini holoprojector, laying it on the floor in between the men.

“Who’s corpse did you steal that off of?” Sorin said, just audible. Antus ignored the jab and opened it up. It displayed a picture of the mountain range they were in. A tap of a button and it was showing the valley that they were currently in. It looked much different in the hologram. Less...burned down. More forest.

“This is where we are right now,” Antus said, pointing to the glowing mark in the center of the valley. “Approximately. Without communications, we don’t have telemetry from the navy ships in orbit, and therefore can’t be positively sure about where we are.

“Now, this is the village we’re heading to. Roughly...twenty clicks north of here, thirty by the path we’re taking. That’s a good, solid three days at our rate through the passes. This is unacceptable.”

Sorin snorted loudly. “And you have a better solution?”

“Actually, I do.” He spun the hologram around. “We’ve found another pass. It goes around, circumventing the village and allowing us to come from the north. They’ll never see us coming.”

“They?”

“The men controlling the village.”

“The men who are believed to number in the tens, according to intel.”

“The same intel that stated that the locals would be of no threat.” Arnaut stared firmly at Antus. There was a tense, silent moment.

“No,” Sorin said finally. “We’ll be going down a longer unknown path, into their territory.”

“We’re pretty much already in their territory! We need to go this way.” Was there a hint of desperation in his voice? There was something Antus wasn’t telling. The Major calmed himself, taking in a deep breath and looking at the floor. “Major Sorin. I am the Commanding Officer of this expedition. Any attempt you make to defy me will be considered an act of treason against the Vast Empire itself.”

Sorin stared at him. “That’s funny, coming from you.” And then he stood up and shoved his way out of the command tank, disappearing amongst the crowds of men cleaning up after the battle.

* * *

They spent the evening camped in the valley. By the morning, the ultimatum had been passed around; leave with Antus, or risk being branded a traitor. In the morning, Antus finally took off with his band of ‘loyalists’. All but one Army Platoon left. Unsurprisingly, all of Wildcard and Alpha remained behind.

“Thanks,” Arnaut said, as Alpha’s commander stalked by.

“Hm?”

“Thanks for...staying behind,” Arnaut said, a bit sheepishly.

“Don’t think I did this for you. Better with a fool than with a backstabbing traitor,” Sorin replied rudely before stalking off. Arnaut took it as a compliment anyway.

Three days later, Sorin and the ‘fool’ arrived in the village. Antus was still conspicuously missing.

OOC:

Ah, the village.

A few things to point out that are not mentioned in my post but may be mentioned as already having happened in yours:

The village is abandoned. Nobody there. We destroy the AA guns as soon as we arrive. It smells like a trap, though. We hold the village.

We found out about the downed bomber. That's where IH's objectives come from.

The village is all wooden buildings, abandoned, rotting. No bodies, nothing like that. Just...empty. It's rather large, for a village in the mountains. We fortify these buildings.

It's day 6 now. The weather is dark and rainy, 24/7. This should add to the mood.


Now, onto the actual objectives:

These objectives seem simple, but they shouldn't be. Make them complex. These are good for character development outside of sitting around a sabacc deck with a pack of smokes. Use it.

Iron Horse: At half a squad, you get a relatively easy mission. There's a downed bomber up a ways from this village we're in. Trek through the forest around and find the fighter and the pilot. The bomber should have a clearer picture of the surrounding terrain and, possibly, enemy encampments stored in it's little...data...thing. Connected to its camera. The pilot, while expendable, needs to be recovered for PR reasons.

Wraith: You'll be staying in the village to fortify. You'll need to secure the western and North-West sides of the village however you can (we enter from the south, so no reason to fortify there). We're expecting mainly infantry, but armor is still a real possibility. You'll have the mortars, so you need to find a good place to set them up. You'll also have an E-webs or two.


Raiders: You're in the village as well. You'll have the North-East and Eastern sides. Like Wraith, fortify it however you can. Mainly infantry, but maybe armor as well. Instead of mortars to place, you'll be given snipers and det-packs (like C4 basically). You need to create a series of sniper nests and fall back points in case we're overrun, and then fortify it all. Think...Saving Private Ryan. At the end of the movie. That's basically what we're doing. You'll have one or two E-webs to use as well.

The whole idea for fortifying the village, for both squads, is to set up fall back points that you can use in case we're overrun. Don't just mention them in passing either. You'll actually be using these things when it comes down to the battle for the village. If you want to capture the mood (and I mentioned this in the Raiders' objectives), watch the end of Saving Private Ryan. I think that's a perfect mood for what we're doing here. I could recommend a few pulp fiction books as well, but you'll probably have less time/desire to read them. So, yeah, SPR.

A map might come out for the village. I may not do it and leave it up to you guys to define the village in your own words. We'll see. If it becomes too confusing, I'll make a map.

I'm out this weekend, so I expect to see lotsa posts when I return. Questions to be directed toward the SLs. SLs...help each other.

They made their way through the forest. Being careful to try and keep a lookout for the enemy. One never knew if they had rear guards and were smart enough. Yet the rest of the squads were heading towards their goal as her com drew some static and Doc's voice came through.

"We have some new objectives that came through."

"Yes sir?"

"There's a downed bomber up a ways from this village the others are all heading or are already at. We need to head in that direction and get to the bomber. The pilot should still be there."

Saph frowned for a moment as sweat dripped down the back of her lek'ku.

"Why there sir?"


"The bomber might give us a clearer picture of the surrounding area. If we're lucky, maybe some of the enemy camps."

" Yes Sir. Regroup and head out together?"


"No. We'll meet you there. Just get going and be safe." Doc replied.


"Aren't I always ?" She chuckled back to lighten the mood. She could hear Doc sigh on the other end.

"That's what I am afraid of. Just see you there." He replied and cut the Com connection. Saph sighed and looked to the others and raised a hand to halt them.


"Alright troopers. We have new objectives...." Saphira started and went on to explain where they had to go. Once done an Alpha trooper spoke up.

"Why that way? I'm not use to this.."


"It's our objectives trooper.. " She said harshly. No on said another word as she waited for any other replies. "Alright then. Doc and the others will meet us there. Keep an eye out for any of the enemy. We don't know if there will be any ahead or not.."


With nods from everyone they headed out. Keeping their eyes open as they came across broken twigs and some footprints. Saphira leaned over and touched the branch. It was fresh. Standing she held her E-11 out.


"Keep an eye out. The tracks are fresh. Maybe within the last hour or so.."

"Only an hour? That thing could be anywhere by now!" Jelly replied as he ran up to her. Saph shook her head as they started walking in the direction they were suppose to.

"Well, lets hope we can avoid them. But keep an eye out for anything." She replied with a bitter voice. It was obvious she was getting tired and annoyed. A few troopers complained about not going to the fight directly. She had half a mind to let them go AWOL and deal with it later. Yet, every body was needed doe the time and mission. Even those that are already lost won't be forgotten. They died and saved those still here.. In her small pouch she carried a couple of the dog tags from the fallen comrades. It wasn't easy, but war was always a mean business.

"I don't like this.." Brock replied as he stepped on a twig and a loud snap erupted from it. Everyone froze as some bird-like creatures flew out from the trees. The sound of silence was heard as heads looked in different directions. After a few moments they moved on. Working around the woods and trying to be as quiet as they could. Chatter was to a minimum and no one could blame that. Whatever the enemy was, it was enough to make everyone nervous.


"Why can't we just do something where it's against rebels and not huge wookie sized human things?" Brock said after about a thirty minute walk.


"That would seem like a dream compared to now.. But don't worry.. We'll get out of here. As soon as we reach our objective and scan out to see what's going on. We'll be informed what's needed next." Saphira replied. She was about to speak more when they heard some movement to their left. Twigs and branches snapped and Saphira held her hand out for everyone to fan out. Whatever was coming their way sure as heck wasn't going to be a friendly.

Joamer had finished setting up the E-WEB, then quickly slipped his rifle together. The targeting systems on the heavy blaster were impressive, but the scope on his rifle was better. He knew Raiders were down there somewhere, but with him on the high ground he felt it was his duty to alert anyone of a potential ambush.

Laying prone he keyed the scope on his DC-15 and began scanning the various buildings of the village. The rain did not make the effort easy, the ceaseless tink tink tink of the drops hitting his armor sounded loud to his ears. The rain was heavy, but he had a clear view of most of the village.

It was of a moderate size, it looked run down, old, wartorn, and deserted. Spotting something moving, he keyed the range finder and zoomed in. Spotting what must be the Raiders, he decided to ignore them until he saw old Rogue on his knees with another trooper in front of him. They shared a brief but somewhat passionate kiss. Shaking his head slightly he began to zoom out until the other trooper stood up and turned around, even at this distance the sea foam green eyes stood out in his scope.

Something came over him then, he knew the feeling was wrong. Having even the slightest feelings for someone he had only seen once was so different for him. He felt jealousy fill him, and for a brief instant the desire to shoot Rogue filled his mind, but only for an instant. Instead his training kicked in and he zoomed out, somehow in the minutes that passed he managed to scan the area around Wraith, as well as the green eyed girl.

A deep joy filled him, he had wondered every day if she had survived the ambush. Now seeing her so close, yet so far away brought him a mixture of emotions he had no name for.

As the time ticked by he kept scanning the village, over time he noticed she gave orders, so she must be an officer of some type, maybe even assistant squad leader. He knew Ron was SL of Raiders, he wondered who was the ASL. He wondered if this girl was it, he still wondered why it mattered to him. Long ago he had made the decision to be in for the career, he knew he would die in this armor, on some lonely planet, given some basic trooper funeral. He knew this, and accepted it.

But now...

He did not have an answer that suited him.

"Head out of the clouds, Jo." Kanderins voice cracked over the comlink. Swinging the rifle around he found Kand who was starring at him from the village, he lowered his A280 and scowled. Obviously he had been using the scope on his blaster to scan the hill.

"Sorry sir. Was.. I'm not sure what I was doing." Joamer replied quietly.

Shaking his head Kand turned around and motioned the squad forward again. Joamer leaned back down and began scanning the village once more. He tried to ignore the troubling thoughts creeping into his head, but every few minutes he would see something green and remembered that moment.

"Kand." He said minutes later. "Who is ASL of Raiders?"

"Is that who you were?... Never mind." Kand's voice came over the comlink. " Corporal Caldwin, I think. Callsign Starfruit, no idea on the first name. Keep your head in the game soldier, you are our eyes up there."

Joamer did not respond, Kand did not expect him to. He knew she was ASL now, the names fit her so well it was obvious. Sighing he leaned back down and kept scanning the village.

The rain continued to fall.

As the hour ticked close, he noticed the desire to go down into the village. Maybe it was the loneliness of being on this hill away from his squad, or maybe it was another desire.

As the hour passed, he still had not come up with a plan for either decision.

Grahim studied the building that his ASL had said that he would be in. "Righteo, mam. Meesa get to it right away."

"Oh no no." Jae shook her head. "Wait for the signal. We are going to finish the fortification at the villages entrances and exits first, bud. Just go scout your nest for right now, and barricade it to your needs."
   
“Okeeday.” Grahim replied before going to the building, to examine it and barricade it to his liking. Grahim went inside the door to the large building and realised that there were no turbolift. Mesa isa going to use theysa damn stairs and the worst part is that itsa the forth and highest level mesa shall be on. Grahim thought and started to climb the stairs. When Grahim had made it to the top floor, he barricaded all windows except for three. With those three windows he could see everything he needed to see because his back was watched by another squad so that was not his problem. Grahim saw that RB was barricading a house too. Grahim looked through the three windows he hadn’t barricaded and decided which he was going to use because he couldn’t run around then he would become a target for sure. So Grahim saw where RB chose to look, then he chose a window on the right side. Mesa have una good view here mesa can look forward and to the right and itsa in the shadows. So mesa won’t be visible. Grahim thought and started to walk down the stairs to help people on the street level. When Grahim was back on the ground he saw that Karash was running around looking for someone.

“Whosa isa yousa looking for, Kar?”

“I am looking for Ron, care to join?”

“Yesa why not.”

“If you go west I go east.”

“Okeeday.” Grahim went to the western side of town and used the time to go and check how RB was doing. Grahim went up the three story building where RB was supposed to be. When Grahim got to the top floor he saw that Rogue was placing his sniper rifle on the floor at the window that he was going to use.

“Hideo RB, yousa need help?”

“No I want to fix this how I like it so if you please could go so I can concentrate.”

“Okeeday mesa isa going” Grahim said and walked down the stairs and looked out the window and saw that Karash was coming back to were they had talked. Grahim went back there.

“Couldn’t wesa just use the comlink?”

“Why didn’t I think of that”

“Mesa don’t know”

“Yeah shush” Karash said and made it clear that Grahim should be silent. “Ron, Where the heck are you?” Karash was silent for a while, then he said. “Well SF want you to come back here she seems to have some problem so come back please.” Karash said. “I found him so lets get back and tell Star.”

Rogue was fortunate for the building he had been given; it was a school with a bell tower. The bell tower was reached through a series of nasty twists and turns, the school itself was pretty small.  The school was perhaps only able to fit about a hundred students, comfortably. RB used his vibro-bayonet to make some improvements to the school’s wooden steps; cutting the sides of five stairs strategically placed after the landings. This would make anyone coming up (or going down) vulnerable to falling through and breaking a leg, or getting stuck on the stairs depending on where they place their other foot.

Currently Rogue was making some improvements to one of his detpacks. Cutting open the thin layer of protectant and removing the putty like explosive gave Rogue two smaller explosives with only one detonator. Inside one of the classrooms RB was able to find many shoes inside small cubbyholes, removing two pairs he took out the laces. Rummaging through the desk of the educator Rogue was unable to find what he was looking for, so he searched through other classrooms until he found two lighters.

Insuring that both were full was difficult but he managed to come up with them. Pushing down the child proof and using tape to hold it down insured that it would not interrupt with the plan. Running his thumb over the flint wheel caused the lighter to ignite, creating a small red-orange flame. The smiling Rogueboy then taped it under a stair, using two of the four shoe laces Rogue was able to fasten one end around the bottom of the hand rail. The other end he ran across the length of the stair through the other rail, making a knot Rogue ran the lace through the flint wheel. Using his hand RB pushed the rope, causing it to go with him and starting the flame. Quickly blowing it out Rogue muttered some incoherent babble to himself about the rope being too tight, and how anyone walking slowly will feel it before it goes off. Praying that anyone who comes up would be running Rogue placed half the detpack under the stair.

Quickly Rogue turned on his comlink and notified his squad not to take the staircase, or if they did to pay extreme close attention. RB was not so simple as to make the school is tomb, or final resort; they would most likely have to retreat to some other building. Using his vibro-knife Rogue removed the bell’s rope and climbed out of the tower, walking on the tiles Rogue fastened one end of it around a pillar and the other leaning off the side of the building. It was the perfect height, not too high enough to cause him serious injury, and high enough that anyone jumping would have to be really tall; even for those barbarians.

The last thing for Rogue to do was set up some slug proof, blaster proof, and crossbow proof material to use as a barricade. Inside the school there was not much  to use so RB had to bring up some student desks and flip them over so the weak metal face the outside. It wasn’t much but it should hold for a few shots. Satisfied Rogue stood at his perch and began to glimpse in all directions. RB spotted two dark figures moving between the houses, however they were coming from the wrong direction. Turning on his comlink Rogue tried to contact Ron but there was only static. Adjusting the rifle for the distance of about three hundred meters, RB looked at the flag pole where a green flag was hanging lazily.

Looking through the scope, Rogue quickly noticed that the two guys were imperial soldiers. No one in their right mind would wear white armour on this planet. Raising his rifle RB chuckled at the sheer stupidity of the two. Sneaking into an area that you know is controlled by friend lies was perhaps the quickest way to get friendly fucked. Now all Rogue could do was wait, but more importantly look in the proper direction and listen to the pitter patter of the rain pelting the roof of the tower.

“Life’s too short; gather happiness when and where you can.” Has been Rogue’s motto since he was sixteen and why wouldn’t it be? The majority of his life he had spent with one foot in the grave, and it didn’t look it would change anytime soon.

Reflecting back on Starfruit, Rogueboy wondered if he would be happy with her. Any doubts he had should have been taken care of before he asked her out, but he was expecting her to say no. Expecting the girl to say no always puts your mind at ease, because you don’t really care if you look like a fool because you’re tired of wondering what the person is going to think when they find out.

Rogueboy’s mind turned back to the thought of dating Starfruit, she was definitely attractive, smart, and she knew how to take the initiative. The first kiss was a good example of that, and there will definitely be many more. A sudden doubt crossed his thoughts; what exactly did she see in RB? He wasn’t particularly attractive one of his best features being his eyes; however he seemed to have the knack to actually listen to people on top of rarely telling lies.

Dismissing self doubts had always been easy for Rogueboy he just had to focus on the task at hand. Looking at the small sack of detonators Rogue contemplated setting up the explosives to bring down the school. Knowing it would be unwise and that it stemmed from RB’s constant fear of someone sneaking up on him while he was sniping which had been created during the Euceron games a few years ago. There had been a nasty melee fight on the catwalk above the games; obviously Rogue had been the survivor.

A dark speck darted between two relatively small stands of trees. The Raider’s sniper raised his rifle and peered through his scope keeping a watchful eye on the trees. “I believe I have some movement.” Rogue said into his comlink.

“Friendly or hostile?” One of the trooper’s asked, most likely in reference to a possible Wraith drill or something similar.

“Well I didn’t see too much of a it, however it wasn’t wearing Imperial whites. I’m going to go with hostile on this one.” Rogue responded.

“Get visual confirmation before you open fire.” Ron said before continuing. “I don’t want to nail any stray army elements or alpha scouts.”

“Yes sir.” Was RB’s response as he wished the person in question would move to a more visible area.
Using the sniper’s scope Rogueboy zoomed out just a bit and caught the large shape of a barbarian lying on his stomach inching forward. “Definitely hostiles, Not too sure on their numbers.” Rogueboy zoomed farther out of the scope and saw many more of the barbarians. “I’m going to put their numbers at approximately twenty, from what I could see. Permission to fire?”

When it came to sniping one should always pick off the officers/leaders thereby reducing the morale of the enemy and having the common soldier tripping all over themselves. With the barbarians it’s going to be harder mainly because they aren’t your traditional army; they don’t salute each other, and they don’t wear differing uniforms or have ranks attached. However there was a subtle difference in the enemy they were barbarians so most likely those wearing precious metals as arm bands had some sort of rank. There were others that had feathers of some sort of bird in their hair; this can also denote some form of prestige.

“Permission granted, let’s get ready for the hell storm guys.” Ron said.

Looking through his scope Rogue decided to pick off a guy who had many arm bands and a feather. Swinging the rifle ever so slightly to the right, the cross hairs pin pointing on where the man’s heart should be. Ever so gently Rogueboy squeezed the trigger.

Anival ran past the gungan suppressing an urge to punch him, instead he shouldered past him, he knew their would be repercussions, he scowled and ran faster. Anival caught up to Joamer, and looked at the spot were wraith was, he couldn’t see anything, he switched to infrared.

“All I can see is two dwindling heat signatures and about ten others, some are clustered together not moving, maybe wraith, the rest are charging and some, falling.” Noted Anival.

“Maybe we aren’t too late.”

“I sure hope not.” breathed Anival.

Anival heard a yell and the e-web stopped. They both ran faster.

They ran onto the hill in time to meet a small group of barbarians, Anival fired his blaster.

Just twelve? Thought Anival, I would have sent more, out of the corner of his eye Anival saw Joamer shot his blaster.

Joamer!” said Anival as he saw one of the attackers flee.

“I see him” replied Joamer, “cover me.”

Anival started firing randomly.

“I have to reload in about twenty seconds, shoot already!”

Joamer Howled.

“Stupid son of a-” he cut himself off, taking a bolt out of his shoulder.

“He got away!”

Joamer got up an took his fury out on the rest of the attackers, Anival reloaded his clip.

It was over as fast as it had begun.

“Scouts?” suggested Anival.

“Probably” muttered Joamer checking his shoulder.

“Let’s look for the others.” They stood up.

A sharp intake of breath was all the was audible, two blood smears stained the floor, as if bodies had been dragged off.

“Either they’re hurt or dead.”

“Let’s hope it was a friendly that dragged ‘em off.”

They headed toward the two stains, more bolts came flying and they took cover.

The bolts stopped pouring over them, they got up, nothing came towards them, but when they tried to make it to the stains the bolts came flying again.

Anival was confused, why would they keep them away from the stains?

Ron turned his head towards the gunfire behind him.  It didn't take long to make the connection that they were under attack, but Joamer's voice over his comlink was a welcome confirmation of the fact.

Ron packed up his equipment as quickly as he could; reinserted his datapad back into his Titian v1 armor chestplate and moved his hand over to his wrist to power his suit...

Dammit.  He had forgotten once again that these suits were the standard ones.  He had no power except in his helmet and temporary chestplate (and those had been three hour jobs in and of themselves).  So instead Ron reached for the switch on the back of his helmet; blinking quickly as the visual screen inside his helmet flashed on.  Now equipped with area schematics, heat seeker, and power levels, Ron rushed off towards the hub of the fighting.  He had in his hand only a blaster pistol (his E-11 had been discarded earlier in one of the previous skirmashes), but this was Ron's area of finese, these blaster pistols, and he weilded it with no less courage than if he had been equipped with an assult gun and more than enough ammo.

Ron rounded a corner to come face to face with Beretz Sonok.  He was sweating profusely, bleeding in more than one area and from the smell of it had soiled himself.  Ron pulled him down as another line of fire came towards them, hiding behind a large embedded bolder for shelter.

"What's what, trooper?" Ron said.

Beretz looked at him blankly, as if he hadn't heard a thing Ron said.  Ron grabbed Beretz by the shoulders to calm him down.

"I need a report, Beretz.  What's going on?" he said, this time slower and directly to Beretz.

But Beretz just shook his head and flung himself away from Ron.  Ron grabbed for him again, but missed.  Beretz jumped from the bolder and ran out in the open, screaming as he did so and firing multiple shots into the foliage around them.

"Private!" Ron yelled.  "For your own sake..."

An explosion not fifteen feet away swept Ron off his feet.  A cloud of earth bubbled up from the ground and rained mud and dirt all over Ron's body as it lay outstreched on the ground.  He blinked and sneezed, wiping away mud and roots from his helmet.  He could tell that he was positively filthy, but that mattered little compared to the damage he could have suffered if he was only a few feet closer to that explosion.

Ron slowly got up and hid once more behind the rock.  He knew he'd have to break for more stable cover soon- he got a visual of a few areas that seemed likely, but by far the safest area was a good thirty feet away...

Ron braced himself and bolted for the area.  It was a dip in the ground, with debris facing the enemy line, and a safe exit back to the Raiders and Wraith combined areas.  As he ran he could hear all sorts of objects following him.  High speed rocks, bullets, and other projectiles. 

He dove for cover and made it safely.  Ron removed his helmet and placed it on the ground, seeing for the first time just how dirty it actually was.  As he pulled at his canteen for a drink of some kind of energizing fluid standardly passed down through the ranks of the army, he reasoned to himself that the fighting had subdued immensely from the beginning of when it started.

"Senior Sergeant Ron, do you copy?"

Ron heard the low pitched frequency erupt from his helmet, and so picking it up gingerly, he donned his helmet once more to respond.

"Ron, sir... are you there?"

"I hear you loud and clear, Jae." Ron replied, easily identifying his Assistant Squad Leader's voice.  "Can you tell me what the hell is going on right now?  I'm under heavy fire on the west side of this hell hole we're in and I'm starting to get a feeling that there's no end to these barbarians!"

Ron turned around and peeked over a rock as he waited for an answer, just in time to see Rogueboy wave to him from his sniping spot.  Ron waved back, ducked as he suddenly came under fire, and prepared himself to make yet another mad dash towards Rogueboy.  Maybe he could make some sense out of this mess.