A slow beeping noise emanated from the pocket of Jaenna Caldwin, Squad Leader of Raiders. Setting down her sabaac hand and cursing loudly, she snatched the datapad out of her pants-pocket and toggled the power.

An emergency action message from the Phoenix Company Commander flashed onto the screen, with a recording of Angel's voice stating: "You leave in fifteen minutes."

OOC:

RAIDERS

Phase I Objective 1: I'm Tellin' Y'all It's Sabotage!
Location: Victory-II Class Star Destroyer Inexorable
Equipment:

• Standard Squad Loadout
• One (1) Personal Choice Weapon

Orders: Raiders will travel to the Sentinel with Iron Horse. Once the boarding parties have landed, Raiders will steal a ship and fly to the Inexorable. There they will start by taking out the shield gens.
Opposition: Up to Thirty (30) Active-Duty Security Squads (9-man)
Add'l Equip.: None
NPC Support:

• Five (5) Squads of Star Corps Troops (Marines)
• One (1) Squad of Commandos (Spec Forces)

Max Posts: 15
Additional Information:

• VSD External Diagram
• VSD Internal Schmatic
• VSD-II Technical Specs
• Imperial Marines

The message soared through the invisible data stream that connected all the datapads, bypassing other connections to reach it's only destination. The message was determined to reach it's mark. It had to reach it, it was more important than most messages that it had been passing during it's milliseconds of a journey. Even at light speed it could make mistakes and switch paths. But it couldn't do that no, it needed to stay with the address it had been given by one of the most important officers of the Empire. Jikkyo 'Angel' Nimiichi's signature sat at the end of the urgent message. Just that signature alone, as well as the message's importance, kept the small document from switching it's paths and heading the wrong direction. It needed to reach her.

"Bah! What the kriffin' hell?"

The obviously angered voice erupted from the pale pink lips of the Sergeant as she threw down her sabaac hand, before reaching into her pocket and snatching out her now beeping datapad. The message had reached its destination. After toggling the power, Jaenna Caldwin's eyes widened at the news and the Objectives. Then, a voice came to her ears, her eyes narrowed with a new determination. The fighting spirit was already beginning to flare up within the Squad Leader's chest as she heard the voice of the Phoenix Company Commander say "You leave in fifteen minutes". With the voice still ringing in her ears, she jolted up, not caring about the caf that spilled over the small table and quickly rushed to her room, mind set on getting ready within less than two of the fifteen minutes she had.

"Havock!" She burst through the door of the Assistant Squad Leader's bunk room, ignoring the fact that others in the barracks might be sleeping. But then, the voice of the SL died down to more of a whisper, her eyes softened, and she could have sworn that she felt her heart speed up just a bit as she stood there, now staring at the sleeping form of the younger RAIDER. For only a moment, for that was all Jaenna allowed her mind, the thought of crawling into the bed with Havock and wrapping an arm around the waist of the sleeping girl crossed the SL's vision. "Frack." It was gone. There were more important things that needed to be done, now.

She rushed over to the bed and placed her hands on Havock's shoulder. She shook the girl, saying in a mild tone riddled with urgency, "Hav. Wake up. We got orders. We need to be at the hanger with our gear in ten minutes. Lets move." With that, she left the girl's side and moved to the locker that stood erect in the bunk room. Not caring about the noise it made, she quickly flung open the door and rummaged about, then finally found the duffel in the bottom of the locker. She grabbed it and tossed it to teh floor, then quickly grabbed Havock's Storm Commando armor and her shadow suit as well.

"Huh? Wha..." The tried girl rose slightly in her bed, a palm on her eye attempting to rub the crust away.

"NOW, Ayme!" Jaenna almost roared in panic as she continued to rummage through Havock's things.

Eyes now wide with a slight tinge of fear of her superior, Havock jumped out of bed and through on clothes, ready to finish packing herself.

The two girls rushed down the halls, boots clanking on the steel floor the entire way. The panic in the air was enough to set both Jaenna and Havock into a fighting frenzy, and they were sure to use that during whatever battle they ended up running into. "Dammit, Joamer! Just be at the hanger! You too, 'Credi! Grab Karash and Grahim on your way. Ferris you grab the new girl. BE FAST ABOUT IT! We take off five minutes ago!" Jaenna clicked her comm off then turned her attention to Havock, who had not seconds ago, asked if she was going to fill her in. She did just that. In the fastest way possible. Sighing softly, she tossed her datapad to Havock. "Read," was all Jaenna said before turning another corner and finally seeing Joamer and a few other RAIDERS standing in front of the transport that was going to take them to the Sentinel.

“What, you two decided we needed a vacation?” Joamer's voice reached Jaenna's ears she stopped her rushed walking and placed her hands on her hips. Jaenna knew the moment that Joamer was transfered to RAIDERS, they she had gained a Squad clown. Keeping the want to chuckle suppressed, she scoffed at the Gunnery Sergeant and narrowed her eyes a bit.

"Very funny, Joamer. Is everyone ready to go?" She looked around, not waiting for the GSGT's answer. She saw Bacredi with his shadow suit, she saw Grahim and Karash speaking to one another closer to the transport, their bags next to their feet. Then, she finally saw Ferris, holding her shadow suit along with medical supplies, being followed by the new girl, Kestrel. The squad looked good. Eight members and very strong. Survivors of Hrail, and lead by the two fiercest female's in the entire Storm Trooper Corps. As she looked over the members, Jaenna was proud to be able to call herself Squad Leader of RAIDERS. Her eyes softened as a smile flickered across her lips, then quickly went away. She pressed two fingers to teh green star tattoo on her left cheek, wishing it for good luck on the large battle they had ahead of them.

“Yes ma'am, all here without even one cup of caf, as ordered. I guess we are riding with Iron Horse, they are already on board.” Joamer's voice spoke up again, snapping Jaenna out of her soft trance.

She raised her hand and motioned for the squad to grab their things and boards the transport. "Good. RAIDERS! Let's move!" The squad instantaneously gathered their things and jogged up the ramp and into the Katarn-class transport that was destined for the Sentinel. It was less than a minute that everybody had placed their things, and began to take their seats. Before she started speaking to the squad, Jaenna turned to her ASL and smiled at her. "Do you understand the objectives now?" She asked as Havock handed the datapad back to Jaenna.

Nodding slowly, Havock quietly said, "Yeah, I got it. Thanks, Jae."

Jaenna looked to Hav's scalp, then back to the girl's facea few times before asking, "How's your head?"

Hav just laughed softly and looked at her hand as if she just realized what she was doing. “It's fine, lets get everyone briefed.”

The Sergeant nodded and quickly sat down in her seat, looking at each of the RAIDERS' faces as they gathered around her, waiting for the brief of what the hell was going on. It took only a minute for the question and answer session to end, thanks to Bacredi. Jaenna smiled and chuckled softly, looking at each of her troopers, Havock last. "Alright then. Get ready, coz this part starts as soon as we land on the Sentinel."




ARRIVING

The loud clank of the Katarn-class transport touching down came to Jaenna's alert ears. Her eyes narrowed as she stood, wrapping her fist around the straps on her bag. With one swift movement, the bag fell to the ground and she quickly went to unzipping it. The first thing that came to her was the shimmer of her newly cleaned Treppus II Virboblade. With a smile, she took it out f the bag and hooked it to it's place on her back. That blade is Jaenna's favorite to use during close combat battle. Hopefully, the edge of the blade would be able to taste the blood of Thrawn's troops. Quickly, still, she continued to grab the rest of the weapons she decided to bring along, all from the standard RAIDERS load out. It was a lot, but Jaenna figured she would be able to handle carrying a simple A280 Blaster, an M2 Combat knife, and an M4 "Bull Stopper" Semi-Auto pistol. She didn't like carrying much. She figured it wasn't always needed to carry everything in the load out about. Too much of a hassle. If someone is a good shot, why load up on unnecessary weight? Jaenna's thoughts went to the fact that the RAIDERS had all agreed to wear the Shadow Suits, which didn't really have that much armor. So packing light would be essential if they needed to run.

"Serg," the voice came from 'Credi, "Give us the orders."

Jaenna looked up and smiled as she saw that rest of the squad was finished packing themselves and were all looking at her, patiently awaiting her orders to unboard the transport and make their way through the Sentinel in order to locate a boarding craft to take to the Inexorable, and get the party started. Another smile flickered across the SL's lips as she took one more look over her squad, pride once again filling her veins. "Move out, be careful, be quiet. Follow me. I'm running a search for an empty boarding craft right now." She said she held up her datapad, which indeed was running a search of the specs of the base.

All of them nodded quickly, and made their way to the ramp as it lowered. Slowly, they stepped out of the transport, following behind Iron Horse, who had already begun firing shots back at Thrawn's men as they exited their own landing craft. Jaenna raised a hand, and moved it forward, signaling for the RAIDERS the other 54 men to follow her.

They moved through the craft, Jaenna's eyes were set on the landing craft that her datapad signaled was the safest bet to go and take over. She saw shots fired, the bolts buzzing past here and there, she ignored them, knowing that the main priority right now was getting to that landing craft. She heard the men behind her, the marines and the special forces, firing back as well. Thrawn's men were strong, very strong. With a grunt, Jaenna dropped to a knee behind some crates, signaling for the RAIDERS and the rest of the men under her command to do the same. Bolts struck the crates, slowly picking away at them, wanting to taste the armor and flesh of the Stormtroopers. Jaenna gritted her teeth, and clicked her comm, opening a channel to all of those under her command. "Alright. It looks like getting to the transport is going to take a few more minutes than I estimated. Get ready, guys. RAIDERS, do your best to make it to Landing Craft. Lapel," She now began to speak to the commander of the Marines squads that were assisting RADIERS, "you keep fighting, and cover us. I'll signal when it's safe to board the craft. Jayten," she now began to speak to the Special Forces leader, "You come with us, flank us on both sides, and just watch out." She smiled to herself, loving this feeling of command. "Move out!"

OOC:

I had to leave work quickly, and I couldn't send anything over PM because I was losing connection. My bad for any mistakes. Taht's why I'm editing real quick. Also, it's long because I wanted to put my point of view in the beginning. My bad if that's wrong.

"Keep your eyes open, RAIDERS. 'Credi and Grahim, go man the swivels. We can't be too cautious." Sergeant Jaenna Caldwin's voice was low as a soft smirk played lightly at her features. While her green eyes stayed glued to the view port of the landing craft, she heard the clunking foot steps of the two troopers go off in opposite directions in order to man the guns. It was a necessary precaution. Seeing as how the RAIDERS had just stolen a Empire owned landing Craft and were now planning to go attack one of Thrawn's ships. As that particular thought ravaged through Jaenna's head it almost made her want to abort the entire mission. It was more dangerous than anything else they had ever gone through together. 'We're going against our emperor...'. The thought sank deep into the back of her brain. Slowly, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, touching two fingers to the green star on her cheek once again. 'Daddy Op'ah... Guide me, please.'

She felt a shake from hands on her shoulders. Her fists grabbed the controls tighter, causing the landing craft to jerk slightly as her arms twitched from the sudden surprising shake. "Ugh! Be more careful!" She exclaimed, not caring who it was that had shaken her back from her trance. She turned her head back to look at Havock, who's blue eyes were wide from fear of punishment that the girl was sure would come from her SL. Jaenna sighed and hung her head at the girl. "What do you need, Hav?"

Havock sat down in the copilot's chair, which was now empty due to Joamer going off somewhere to work on one of his explosive weapons. The very expression on the ASL's face told Jaenna what was coming, and she sighed before Havock could even begin speaking. "Please don't sigh at me, Jae. You know what we need to talk about."

"I think that bump on your head is getting to you, darling." Her face twisted in confusion as to why that pet name of all of the ones in Jae's inventory had slipped out. She shook her head and continued speaking. "This isn't the best ti-"

"You think I don't know that?" Havock's voice caught Jae off guard, causing the Sergeant to turn and look back at the Corporal. The girl's voice had come out more stern than Jaenna had been expecting. "Look. We need to talk about it. I know this isn't the best time, but we have at least a few minutes. We are still pretty far from the Inexorable and so far, no body has suspected us. Iron Horse is keeping the guys busy at the Sentinel still. So lets talk."

Jaenna sighed, and looked at the floor, fists still gripping the controls of the landing craft. "Fine. You wanna talk?" Her voice was soft, she continued to looking at the ground. She began to softly nibble on her bottom lip, thoughts like no other shifting through her head, unrelenting on her mental capability to fight. She needed to do something. Something needed to be done in order to shut Havock up for now so that RAIDERS could concentrate on the victory ahead of them. Jaenna didn't want to be mean though. What should she do? Something meaningful. But talking wasn't going to be it. That was it. Jaenna knew what to do.

Quickly, the Sergeant looked up at Havock and grabbed gently under Havock's chin, pulling her forward, their noses almost touching. Jaenna hesitated, she was so close to Havock. Closer than she had ever been. She felt her heart jump, an image of Rogueboy ran through her head. But it was fleeting. Jaenna did it. Their lips touched as Jaenna pushed forward the last half an inch and shut her eyes. It lasted for what felt like several long minutes. She didn't care what Havock thought, did or said. She was just glad that she had finally done it.

Pew! Pew!

The ship shook and jarred about. Jaenna let go of Hav's chin and moved back to her position at the controls. That's when she heard Joamer rush back into the cockpit and stand behind the Copilot's chair. "We're under attack. Four TIEs." He looked around slowly, noticing Jaenna's bright red cheeks and Havock frozen there, sitting in the chair. "Did I uhm, interrupt something?"

"No. Now shut up and brace yourself. I don't think this landing craft will be able to take much." Jaenna growled softly between gritted teeth as her eyes flicked back to the view port, searching for the TIEs. "There they are." She quickly her comm on and spoke to Grahim and Bacredi, "'Credi, take the two at 11 and 9 o' clock. Grahim, you take the two at 4 and 6. Keep your eyes on them. DON'T lose them!"

"Yessa, Jaenna." Grahim's voice said in his usually happy-go-lucky voice.

'Credi's tough and serious voice came through next. "Alright, Jae."

Quickly, Jaenna sped up the landing craft just a bit. They were so close to the Inexorable. They were so CLOSE. All they needed to do was take out those four TIEs before they could alert more to the suspicion, and land on Thrawn's ship. It sounded so easy, and yet Jaenna still had that sick feeling of possible failure. Her face twisted into one of pure determination as she continued to stare at the Victory-II Class Star Destroyer ahead of her. "We're coming for you..." Her eyes narrowed.

Joamer starred at the two females for several long minutes. He noticed the red cheeks Star wore, and the stunned expression on Havock's face. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped. A large explosion outside caused the landing craft to shudder violently, he glanced at one of the screens and swore.

"Havock, I need that seat." Joamer said urgently, Star has spun around and began hitting buttons. Havock remained frozen in place. "Havock, I need that seat!" She still did not move, mumbling to himself he grabbed her under the arms and pulled her gently, but quickly out of the co-pilots chair. He stumbled back as another jolt rocked the ship.

He lost his balance just enough to cause Havock to crash into him. He felt her body heat through the thin material of the stealth suit. He fought the urge to hold her close and protect her from the current danger, but his training kicked in a second later.

He eased her down into another chair just as she came back to the present, he watched as she shook her head several times before spinning her chair around to the screen in front of her. Joamer slipped into the co-pilots seat just as Jaenna finished giving orders to the rest of the squad.

"Four TIE's, looks like three interceptors and one of the standard issues." Joamer said as he starred at the sensor data. "Turn four degrees to port, give Grahim a better firing angle on that TIE." He said as he glanced out the starboard window. He felt the craft turn slightly, a second later one of the TIEs exploded, he watched a dark shape shoot out of the cockpit.

He felt a rather large explosion rock the ship. A few minutes later he heard Star say, "Grahim, are you there?”

“Mesa isa still here, yousa don’t get rid of mesa thatsa simple.” Joamer heard over the comm, “But mesas gun turret isa gone itsa blow to pieces.”

“Okay.” Jae said. “Let Karash see if you are hurt.” He kept his eyes on his instruments as she concentrated on flying again.

"Next one, five degrees to starboa..." Joamer cut himself off suddenly, his eyes got wide as he looked out of the cockpit window. The insignia of the Vast Empire could be seen plan as day on one of the fighters attacking them.

"Oh my god." He said softly.

"What?" Havock and Star said almost at the same instant. Joamer blinked for several long moments before he could speak. He could feel the worry coming off of them in waves.

Hitting a switch Joamer activated the internal comm system "Stop firing! For the love of the Empire STOP FIRING!"

"Why? I have a perfect angle on this bastard here." Bacredi said angrily. Joamer suppressed the urge to go beat the hell out of Bacredi. "Because those are our ships out there!" He shouted loudly. He knew most of the ship had heard him.

The news took a few seconds to hit, when it did he could hear nearly everyone swearing loudly. Another violent shudder rippled through the ship.

"We have to get them to stop firing at us, but we can't use the comm system. We don't have a secure frequency with the Navy." Jaenna said urgently.

"There is nothing we can do." Havock said softly, "Wait I know. Go to full throttle, set course for the Inexorable."

Joamer nodded as he caught the plan Havock had. He felt the craft increase speed. The TIEs were faster, but they had a moment of surprise on their side. He watched as the distance between the two groups increased for a moment before the TIEs broke off pursuit, they had made it within the Star Destroyers firing solution.

"Find us a empty hangar bay." Joamer said over his shoulder to Havock.

"Lower right, looks like it was used for the landing craft before they left. No one on sensors. We have to make this quick."

"Folks, make ready. When we land quick deployment. Do not stay in the hangar long. We need to evacuate the area double quick time." Jaenna said into the ships internal comm system.


"Inexorable hangar control. This is craft P34-B requesting permission for entrance. Our mission is accomplished, we need to rearm to begin phase II." Joamer said into the external commlink, he hoped he got some of the information correct. He was glad he had just found the craft designation codes in the computer, least he knew that much was true.

He could feel Havock's and Star's eyes on him. If they said no this would end quickly, he wondered if he should say what he felt. The comm crackled before he had decided "P34-B permission granted. Land at Hangar B1 for a quick refit."

"Acknowledged." Joamer said into the comm link, flipping a switch he turned off external communications. "I don't think so." He added quietly.

He saw Jaenna smile as she piloted the craft towards hangar B1, but at the last second she made it look like they had lost control. He began working the repulsorlifts to help with the look of the uncontrolled landing. He braced for impact as the ship hit the empty hangars floor and slid to a stop.

Jumping out of the chair Joamer followed the rest of the squad out of the ship. Moving quickly they made use of their training and vanished into the shadows of the Inexorable.

My balls really, really hurt in this bitch suit. Bacredi remarked to himself, he looked over at the snugly fitted females of RAIDERS squad and couldn’t help but feel sorry for himself. The hangar’s large, durasteel doors opened with a satisfying whoosh of air. Jaenna Caldwin walked through the open doors and began to give out orders to the squads. “Everyone sort yourselves into fireteams. Marines: take defencive positions around the hangar. Special Forces and RAIDERS: we’re going to the shield generator, Special Forces, split yourself into two teams. RAIDERS, we’re going with myself leading one team and Havock leading the other. Joamer, Grahim, and Walcroft, you’re with me—everyone else, you’re with Havock. Move out.”

Bacredi, who had been kneeling down with the rest of the squads, got up and rested his M1 LMG “Tyrant” Chaingun onto his shoulder. His chaingun had been modified to blend in with his surroundings of metal, while his shadow suit helped his body do that as well. He moved with Havock into the hallway, along with Griffith, Ferris, and Karash.

“There are five ways—according to the database—to get to the shield generators from here. Each fire team will go a different way, if you encounter enemies, attempt to sneak by. Only engage at the last moment.” Caldwin voiced her orders through her throat microphone, suddenly Havock’s datapad beeped and a shipboard map had been given to her from Star’s datapad. The screen on the datapad turned to a series of connected bubbles, the bubbles turned out to be rooms. Suddenly, a red line went through the rooms and into a large dot—one of the shield generators. Havock's team and a Special Forces fire team would be convening there.

“This way.” Havock held her hand out and pointed up the hallway. “Bacredi and Griffith—take point.” Bacredi and Griffith both had chainguns, they moved ahead in the hallway, their weapons pointed at the ground. They moved ahead about 10 paces, everyone held their breath as close to 30 enemy squads were patrolling this very ship.

“Damn creepy, this is…” Bacredi said to no one in particular.

“Right.” Griffith, who was on Bacredi’s right, remarked back.

They broke through an empty corridor; the lights were all of in the corridor due to the power being routed to the defensive systems. Havock—who’s microphone was able to amplify her voice—spoke quickly and decisively. “Patrol, back up against the wall.” Everyone cut their electronics and they pressed up against the wall. Three men—probably a break off of a squad—came towards the fire team.

Cheeky bastards, I have a shot at you… Bacredi flipped his night vision scope on, and the three men were shown in full resolution. Bacredi’s chaingun could hit all three of them with two shots each. Bacredi watched as Havock flipped the night vision off quickly and Bacredi brushed it off as a mere scratch. The patrol turned down a connecting hallway as they were right next to RAIDERS, not realizing that they were a second away from sure death. Waiting for the patrol to move down the connecting hallway and opening and closing a durasteel door, the fire team moved on.

“Have a knife at the ready.” Havock ordered. She didn’t want a small skirmish to alert the entire ship of their presence. Bacredi flicked the safety to his modified Tropov, as it had a silencer. He wasn’t the best with a knife.

Two more hallways had passed and RAIDERS didn’t need to reach for their knives. Their coms burst, however, as a SpecOps Fire Team broke com silence: “We’re at one of the shield generator connecting doors. Awaiting confirmation, over.” Havock’s fire team met up with the SpecOps fire team, and Bacredi and Griffith were ready with their crowd control weapons. They had three doors ahead of them. The first room was the security center to the generators, the second was a connecting hallway probably filled with guards, and the third was the shield generator. Caldwin's team probably was at the other side of the ship at this time, at the same door on the opposite side.

Joamer stopped at the edge of darkness at the end of one corridor. He waited for a small patrol to go past, then did a slow twenty count. Peeking his head around the corner he signaled the all clear and moved forward again.

For the last fifteen minutes they had slowly but silently made their way to the second shield generator. By consulting the map Jaenna had, he figured they should be nearly at their destination. Stopping again Joamer glanced behind him as Jaenna crept closer to him, more of a defensive tactic then anything.

Hearing a soft double beep he flipped frequencies as he heard Star's voice "On my private channel, short range. Nothing can overhear us." Her voice came out as a whisper even with the added security.

"What's up boss." Joamer said just as softly. His eyes scanned the corridor in front of him as a rather large patrol kept going past. He got somewhat comfortable as he saw the patrol would take a few minutes to go past, luckily they were all well hidden.

"What do you think our chances are? Raiders are not exactly used to missions like these. I know you have experience in situations like the one we find ourselves in." Her voice sounded worried towards the end. He knew her well enough to know she feared for those who would not live to see the end of this mission.

"Right now, pretty good. It was almost a bad idea to split the squad up. We should of had the Spec Ops group go to one of the generators. We work better as a full team, that was our first mistake. It won't be the last." He said softly, his fingers were gently tapping against his Frontier Model B pistol.

Several long minutes passed before he signaled for them to continue on. The hallways intersecting this one began to grow less and less. Within a minute only three doors stood in front of them.

He started to raise his hand to give the signal to split up when he felt a hand on his arm suddenly. Going absolutely still he began scanning the area, but he saw nothing to give cause for an alarm.

Star's voice filled his head suddenly "What do you think of me?"

His mind went blank for an instant, he began to say the obvious but stopped. Instead he said softly "I like you as more then a friend, more then a trooper should like their squad leader." He knew he was not overheard by anyone, but it felt like everyone was listening suddenly.

"What do you think of Havock?" The same voice asked a moment later.

Sighing softly he said "I like her as more then a friend, more then a trooper should like his assistant squad leader." He felt as if a great weight had lifted from his chest, and another heavier one took its place.

Several long moments passed, he noticed the spec ops group move away from the two of them to take up covering positions.  They were experienced enough not to ask for an explanation, maybe they figured the two of them were trying to come up with the best game plan. He watched as Grahim and Walcroft moved a short distance away, a short time later. He wondered how the newest member was doing.

"Who do you like more?" The same soft voice said quietly.

He paused in mid thought, he knew what she wanted to know. He knew the truth in his own mind, it was so obvious to him who he cared more for. Instead of answering he said, "I don't know." He could feel she doubted the truth of his words.

He felt her move away a short distance, switching frequencies he heard her begin to give orders, "Three doors, four men in each room according to the duty roster. Use silencers, or other ways. Do not make noise when you deal with them. I'll kill the power in twenty seconds, take your positions."

Nodding slightly he walked off to one of the doors and squatted down. Flipping on night vision he draw out a thin wire and wrapped it around his palms. He noticed the other spec ops people who had joined him do the same. He wondered what they thought of him doing it this way.

Counting in his head he pushed on the door just as the power was shut down. Stepping into the room he quickly made his way to one of the men, he knew the others were taking out their targets. Sneaking up to one of the workers who had just begun to turn around, he wrapped the wire around the mans throat and pulled both on both ends.

He felt the man start to panic, but it only lasted an instant as his enhanced strength from his cybernetic arms pulled the wire clean through the mans neck. Joamer stepped aside as the headless body slumped to the floor. The head continued its journey, finally coming to rest in the center of the room.

  He looked down to see his armor covered in blood, he glanced at the other men in the room and noticed them cleaning off the gore. He did the same quickly while he waited for the all clear.

He heard  single clicks on the comm link begin to sound off. Clicking his once he waited for the final signal. A minute later the power came back on and Joamer slipped the wire into a small belt pouch.

"Code, 014B. All clear." He heard Star's voice over the private channel the squad used. This one was not as secure, so no names were given.

"Code, 015B. All clear." Havock's voice sounded a few seconds later.

"Proceeding to Phase 1C now, hold your positions. Rendezvous at Delta 4." Star said, he stepped into the hallway and followed her to one of the rooms.

"Now, watch me work my magic." She said softly

The door slid shut. Havock watched it go, the image of the two most important people in her world burned in her brain as she looked at the white durasteel. Taking a deep breath, and holding back tears, Havock turned to look at her group. Karash looked sympathetic but frustrated with Hav, Bacredi just looked like he was ready to go, Grahim was shocked but ready, the marines just looked confused.

Havock sighed and grabbed her weapons. “Keep the silencers on, we don't need the whole security force on us. Lets get to the backup targeting controls as fast as we can. This is not a short trip people, so stay sharp. Karash you stay to the center of the group, I don't want our medic injured.”

Glancing on the floor, Havock noticed a small item on the floor. Squinting, she knelt down and looked at the package it had a note attached. Havock smiled when she read it, "To: My Hav From: Joa. Use with care." Hav shook her head.

“Okay where is a combat engineer?” She looked over the marines and special ops men. One of the marines stepped forward.

“Riley, ma'am.” He looked stiff and very young.

She smirked and tossed the package at him. “See that you put those to good use, Riley.”

B-team, as Hav's group was called moved out. Havock could hear scuffles of boots in the distance, and some weapon's fire not so far away. Jae's group must have found some random security force in their way. Hav's group would be going another way, even though all Hav wanted to do was run full speed towards that sound and help them.

“Let's go.” Havock muttered quietly into her comm. They made a turn, heading starboard but would make a another turn aft very soon.

Hav could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Her heart rate had nothing to do with the mission at the moment, it had everything to do with the two members of her squad that were in the other group. Gah, she cared about both Jaenna and Joamer more than she should have. Jae had been her friend for so long, and Joamer there was just something about Joamer. Every time he looked at her it was like the room froze. But then there was Jae. Havock's head started to hurt, she had to stop thinking about this. In a way her prayers were answered, as a volley of blaster fire sent Hav diving to the ground.

Bacredi was returning fire, standing above Havock, while she knelt firing with her pistol. Grahim was taking a position on the other side of the hallway with a marine at his feet. They needed to advance down the hallway. Hav watched as the security squad started to falter and fall back. With a hand motion she waved a squad of marines forward, while the rest of them held their position. They opened fire, but the encounter was not without losses. Havock fell back as a marine collapsed on her after being shot in the chest. She pushed him off of her and got a concerned glance from Karash who was standing behind Grahim around the corner from the fighting. She nodded and got back into position. It was over in another minute.

Bacredi touched her shoulder as she stood. “You okay?”

Havock nodded. “Lets keep moving.” Apparently Joamer's threat was going a long way with everyone, she noticed a few more concerned eyes on her as she made her way back to point.

They made their turn towards aft, heading now right for the backup targeting systems. As long as the security teams didn't catch on to what they were doing it would be fine, they would catch a few unlucky patrols. But if they did catch on, it would be one hell of a trip.

Havock paused at each intersection to check for roaming troops. They managed a slow but steady pace.

Joamer stood up as the blaster bolts stopped flying over his head. One of the marines nodded from down the hall. He looked around and surveyed the damage done. Everyone looked alright, nerves were frazzled, considering this was the fourth group they had run into since leaving the rest of the squad. He leaned against the wall as the other people quickly collected ammo and power packs from the downed patrol.

"This is not going to work." He said quietly to Jaenna. She was consulting her datapad about other possible routes to the main targeting control systems. "We need to move quickly, and not be seen anymore. We are getting closer, and they might find out what our intentions are. If that happens we are screwed."

She began nodding slowly and replied "You're right, if we keep on they will have hundreds of people protecting those areas soon." She put down her datapad and motioned the marine commander over. "Get your men together, we are splitting up. I want you to create a diversion, set off explosives and take out other systems. Just get them to think you are us."

"Yes, ma'am." The man said, Joamer watched the Marines broke away. He knew soon they would hear explosions sounding throughout the ship. He wondered how many of them would make it back alive.

She clicked on her comm, set the secure mode and said "Group B, split up again. Spec ops to go at it alone, target other systems."

"We need another route." He heard Ayme reply over the comlink, he fought the urge to ask her to say something again. This was not the time nor place to lose control again.

Star starred at Joamer for a long moment before smiling "Use the airways. Group A out."

He thought over her comment for a long moment before realization hit, he looked up at the various airducts running through out the ship. A smile crept slowly to his face, as he remembered his old days in the Wraith, they had been known to use airducts quite often.

He heard a soft click and then “Mesa isa captured. Mesa can’t talk to much. Mesa isa fine, mesa is in una cell mesa isa unharmed.” The line went dead before a reply could be made. Joamer swore softly, his link clicked again and heard Ayme's voice, "Frak us. I don't think we have time to rescue his hairy ass."

"Agreed," Jaenna replied. "Continue with original plan, we will relay the information to him." She paused for a moment and said half to herself. "Luckily we installed those upgrades to our comm links, even if he turned it off he will get this message."

After a short pause between switching frequencies she said "Proceed as if working alone. Help is going to be an issue. Meet up with a group when you can. Don't get left behind." She hit a small red button in her comlink and nodded. "Once he activates it again he will receive that message. Alright, let's find us an access hatch and get moving. we've got work to do."


"One should be in the next room. We need to make sure we don't leave evidence that we are using those ducts." Joamer said as they entered the indicated room.

Walking to the entrance Joamer looked up, the vent was standard in just about every Imperial designed thing in existence. He mumbled to himself as he climbed up on a chair to get at it easier.

"You know how to open that thing?" Akilaa said quietly.

"I was a Wraith for a long time, we tended to use ducts as a means to get from point A to B without being seen. This is just like old times for me." Joamer said as he bypassed the security grid and opened the vent.

"Alright, Akilaa you're up first. Kestrel you are behind her. I'll go next, then Jae. I'll have to pull you up because you need to move that chair out of the way. Up you go ladies."

He moved back towards a wall and began reloading his pistol. He saw Jae move over to him, he knew the next few moments were going to be bad. He should of made sure that door was closed before he kissed her.

"I care for both of you, more then I should. I don't want to see her, or even you hurt." She said very slowly and quietly. Joamer glanced down and saw her hand tighten on the grip of her pistol. "If you hurt her, you answer to me. Not to the squad leader, to me Jaenna. You will pay if I see her cry."

He finished loading his pistol and looked at it. He waited several long moments before saying "If I see her cry I answer to myself first."

He saw her smile before turning around and walking to the chair, he thought he heard her say "But, the fight is still not over."

He holstered his pistol and joined her. Climbing onto the chair he pulled himself up into the air duct, he had forgotten how tight of a squeeze it was. Positioning himself he reached one arm down through the opening and watched as Star put the chair back in its place.

He nodded once and she gracefully jumped up, gripping her out stretched arm he pulled her slowly into the duct. He stayed where he was as she used his body to get inside the crawl space. He tried to ignore the fragrance she put off but was momentarily distracted.

Seeing that everyone was out of the way he reached down and resealed the vent. Quickly enabling the security features he nodded to Star and they continued on.

Grahim sat in his cell and thinking on the message he had received from Jae. The message made it clear that he had to get out on his own. Luckily his gear was stored in a locker in the same room as his cell.

Two guards stepped into the room. One of them opened his mouth to start speaking but he was interrupted by a speaker. “I want to interrogate that prisoner myself so I suggest that you leave him alone.”

The two guards walked out again. “Could yousa get mesa una glass of water?”

“Sure I will be back in a sec.” The last guard said. Grahim started fishing after his knife that was placed in his boot. He got it up and he hid it in his hand.

The guard came back with a glass of water. He stretched out his arm so Grahim could take the glass. “Here yo…” He did not have a chance to finish the sentence, Grahim sliced his throat.

Grahim took the key card from the guard. Grahim put the card in the lock so it would unlock. When the door was unlocked he ran to the locker and broke it up. He took out his gear and put it on. Grahim used his silenced pistol to break the camera.

The second guard stormed in. Grahim closed the door behind the guard and put his knife to the guard’s throat. Grahim heard the guard’s radio asking if they got him.

“Yousa will tell themsa that yousa got mesa and yousa will live.”

“Okay I will tell them.” He took out his radio. “I shot the gungan bastard he is dead. Send some troops if you don’t believe me”

“We believe you and we can’t spare any forces because of the boarding.” Grahim knocked out the guard as soon as the radio went silent. Grahim ran out of the room.

He ran along the hallway. Grahim stopped to get the commlink out of his boot. Grahim had some trouble to get it out. But after a while he got it out. He started the commlink on the secure channel.

“Mesa has got out. Mesa isa running down una hallway.” Grahim said. He ran so that he would come back to the main corridor. Mesa thinks thisa isa the right way

“Aren’t you left on the detention block?” Havocks voice crackled over the commlink.

“Nosa mesa gotsa out mesa isa on the main corridor.” Grahim said as he got out on the main corridor. Grahim saw some marine corpses and signs of battle. He ran up the corridor.

Grahim saw the spec ops in front of him and they heard him and turned around to see who it was luckily they recognised him.

“Where isa RAIDERS squad?”

“We split up. Didn’t you hear that?”
“Mesa heard it but mesa thought yousa knew were theysa are. Mesa will stay with yousa until thisa mission isa complete.”

Star looked down and swore softly, Joamer looked up but held back the grin when he heard the words coming from her mouth. She motioned for him to come over, he crawled slowly towards her careful not to make any noise. He looked down through the vent and began swearing himself.

It appeared twenty heavily armed guards were stationed at the primary targeting array. He knew more would be outside the door, just waiting for a single noise to give them away.

Joamer mouthed the word Marines, and moved back slowly. Jaenna scrunched her forehead in thought for a moment before she nodded and smiled. Keying on her mic she whispered very softly "Group A, looks like we need some help here. Would the M boys care to help out? Location at primary."

Several seconds passed before they heard a single click on their comms. The small group settled into wait, Joamer let his mind drift. He went back to the last week, during the squads relaxation time. For him it did not turn out very well. On one hand he was beyond happy someone he cared deeply for had a moment of happiness, on the other hand he felt betrayed. He still could not figure out why he felt that way, she did not belong to him, or he to her. He wished it was so, but he had begun to believe it would never be.

"M boys in position. Twenty count starting now." His comms buzzed interrupting his thoughts.

Quickly moving forward he pulled out two stun grenades and armed them. Nodding to Star she gripped the edge of the vent and pulled. A suddenly piercing shriek filled the area, the men below had no time to react as Joamer dropped both grenades into the room. Covering his head he counted to five and heard two soft thuds. A few seconds later he heard a multitude of sounds, some ranging from glasses breaking, to what sounded like wet thumps hitting the floor.

"Time to move." Jae said to the fireteam. Ripping the vent out of the way Joamer dropped into the room feet first, he stood up with his Frontier Model B at the ready. Switching to single shot he began firing. He knew it was unsportsmanlike like conduct, but these were the enemy. They would not spare his friends lives if given the chance, so why should he spare theirs.

He heard the rest of the group drop into the room a few moments later.

"Inside clear, hold position outside until we are done here." Star said into the comlink. "Well, what are you waiting for? You're the engineer, blow shit up." She said to Joamer, the usual playful banter was not in her voice.

Nodding he unhooked his backpack and got to work. He knew by he time they got clear someone would stumble into this room. So he quickly set a proximity charge on the door. He then got to work with the terminals, computers, and the targeting array sitting in the next room.

Why they called it a targeting array he never cared to figure out, all it was was a very expensive looking data terminal. One about to be blown the hell up.

Using most of his explosives he set charges on anything that remotely looked important. Luckily he had the insight to hide the charges so they would not be detected. Looking over the room once more he nodded to himself and walked back to Jaenna. She was standing in the middle of the room tapping her fingers on her hip, she had a dangerous glint to her eyes as she watched him work. He stopped halfway to her and nodded.

He saw her grimace and hit her commlink "Primary ready, all forces meet at Delta 6."

She motioned for the squad to enter the airducts. Joamer was third like usually, he leaned halfway out if to offer his hand to Star. She glared at him for a long moment before jumping up and catching his hand, he pulled he gently into the airduct before turning and making his way down the tunnel.



He figured thirty minutes later they arrived at their destination. He saw Akilaa, and Kestrel drop down through a vent. He followed them a second later, when he noticed the Marines and Spec ops people in defensive positions. Walking to a far corner he sat down and waited for the last team to arrive.

Minutes passed, and his worry level began to rise. Suddenly he heard a soft clattering in the vents above him. Looking up he saw the rest of the squad quickly slip through one of the vents and await orders.

He saw Jae place her hand on Hav's shoulder then moved closer. They stood only inches apart, the look on Hav's face answered his question. He felt his heart crack, he thought the whole room should of heard it. No one else moved, no one seemed to notice.

He saw Havock look up in time to see him walk out of the room. He found an empty one and stepped a few feet inside it. After those few short feet his own feet refused to move. His whole body felt like it was moments from shutting down. How he held onto sanity was beyond him, he did not know how long he stood there the whole ship could of blown up and he would of not cared.

He heard soft foot steps behind him, he did not bother to turn around. He was fighting the pain from becoming overwhelming, he knew it was a losing battle though. It would not take much for him to crack under the emotional weight bearing down on him.

"Jo I..." Her voice pierced the defenses he had set up, his whole body convulsed. Only by strength of will did he remain standing. "I feel I should explain... maybe then it would be better." She stopped then, maybe coming to the realization it would not do any good.

He kept his eyes closed, he could not bare the pain of seeing her just yet. He felt her walk around him slowly, the movement of air sent her scent into his nose. His whole body shook again. He opened his eyes slowly, he managed to hold back what he was fighting but only just.

He starred at her face, he saw the emotion behind her eyes. She lasted only a few moments before throwing her arms around him. He lasted a half second more before he wrapped his around her. He placed his head on her forehead. He knew they only had moments left together, when he released her it would be over. Whatever it is they had.

He heard her say softly "In time the pain will fade. You will find happiness with someone else." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself as well as him.

He shook his head slowly, and said very softly, "No, you are all that I've ever wanted. Before you came along there were brief moments of light in my darkness, but nothing lasted." He placed his lips to the top of her head for a moment and removed his arms. "When you go, my darkness will be eternal." He whispered softly. She looked up then, he smiled a brief heart breaking smile.

She nodded slowly and released him. She took one slow step, and then another. He heard the echo of her foot steps fade into the distance. He felt the wall against his back suddenly, he slid slowly to the floor. He felt the pain beginning to take him but he fought it, he had one last thing to do.

Reaching into his pack he pulled out a remote detonator. He keyed in both sets of triggers and armed it. He waited a long moment before he flipped the switch, a half second later he heard more alarm klaxons begin to sound.

He dropped the remote detonator to the ground and leaned his head against the wall. He breathed slowly, evenly.

He felt his heart break piece by piece, he longed for death.

OOC:

Phase 1, Objective 2 complete.

"Reports from the outside confirm that the Inexorable is now attempting to pull out of the fight." Sergeant Jaenna Caldwin said softly to her squad mates and the other Marines and Special Force troopers with them. A look of excitement was splayed across her face, causing her eyes to shine in the dim light of the meeting room they had all converged in after blowing the targeting systems. Of course now with the alarms blaring louder then ever, it was quite obvious that RAIDERS and the other troops with them needed to get out of there before all of them were cornered and gunned down. 'That's not gonna happen though.' A new confidence had been sparked inside of her as she heard the explosions from moments before, as she felt the simple touch that Havock had given her, and the very idea that she was leading all of these troops through this. Looking around at all of them, the Squad Leader smiled and gave a sharp nod. Now she needed to set out the new orders that would get RAIDERS and the others out of this place.

That's when her comm chimmed at her.

Moments of silence passed as Jaenna held a solemn expression, her eyes narrowing as she listened to what was being said to her through the personal channel in her comm. She nodded and spoke softly, her voice full of respect and authority at the same time. "Yes sir. Will do, sir. Thank you, sir." Another nod and she clicked her comm off and turned back to her troops, her eyes not as bright as they had been. "Apparently, good ol' Angel didn't think that just having the Inexorable pull out of the fight is enough. We have to shut her down, THEN get the hell out."

Even through the blaring alarms, everyone was still calm. Bacredi and Grahim were keeping a look out and would alert the rest when they needed to move. But then, with the new orders from their Company Commander, the calm faded quickly.

"Shut her down? What the hell?" Jaenna heard one of the Marines ask in a rather urgent voice full of worry.

A few others pipped up as well, shouting their obvious dislike of the new plan. The commotion grew quickly, but only the RAIDERS seemed to be okay with the changes. They stood there, guns in hands, looking more ready than ever to go through with it. It was Havock that stepped up and decided to shut down the annoying voices from the Marines.

Her voice rose above all the others, and Jae just smiled at her, knowing that the younger girl now had it under control. "Listen! They were direct orders from the CC! Maybe not YOUR CC, but OUR CC. Meaning we follow the orders. Plus, last time I checked, you were under mine and StarFruit's command during the duration of the mission. So just chill the hell out and shut up."

A soft twinge poked at Jaenna's heart as she watched her Assitant Sqaud Leader calm the Marines down. The way her brown hair curved around her face, the way those blue eyes just shinned so brilliantly. Her smile. Her laughter. Her body itself. Everything about Ayme Katash drew Jaenna to her. A smile spread across the Sergeant's face as she thought about the fact that she didn't have to hide it anymore. They were together, and she was more happy than she could ever be. Jaenna would do anything for the girl. Anything at all.

Finally, the Marines were calmed down. RAIDERS and the Special Force troops just looking at them like idiots now. With a chuckle, Jaenna stepped up to stand next to Havock. A smile drew her cheeks up and brightened her face. "Look. Angel has a reason for the change. Without the ship being shut down, they could easily retreat and repair quickly. But if we shut the engines down it will take longer for them to repair, giving our guys more time to go in and blow even more shit up. So just deal with it, alright? We can handle it."

"Boss! We got company." 'Credi's voice resounded through the durasteel lobby of the meetings room as Grahim came jogging into the room. "About... Shit... well fifty troops." Jaenna heard him curse again before he followed Grahim back into the room.

"That's our cue, troops." Jaenna smiled to herself and quickly set to work giving out orders again. She looked at all of them. There were twenty-seven Marines left out of the fourty-five they had in the beginning, and there were seven of the Special Force guys left. Jaenna did the math in her head and smiled to herself ocne she was done. "Nine Marines with each Havock, Joamer and I. I get three Spec Forces, and Havock and Joamer get two each. Karash and 'Credi, you're with Havock. Grahim and Ferris, you're with Joamer." Quickly, the groups got together and stood there, ready for more orders. Jaenna needed to hurry up, she could here the approaching footsteps of the soldiers coming. "I've sent an internal map of the ship to Havock's and Joamer's Datapads. Get to the Central Core as fast as you can." The footsteps were closer. "We go through the vents again, for as long as we can. Once inside, Joamer's group will stay behind for a second so that Jo can drop one of his little grenades into the room once the soldiers get in here. Now go. Lets move quickly."

Havock looked at Jaenna, her blue eyes soft with worry. Quickly, Jaenna stepped up to her, and wrapped an arm around the girl's waist, pulling her against her own body before kissing Havock right there, all the passion she could muster behind her lips. She let go, and Havock had to shake her head a bit to get rid of the soft shock. Hav smiled at Jae then nodded and made her way into the vents with her group. Jae turned to Joamer, who was standing there, head down and looking at the ground. "Jo." He looked up. "I'll keep her safe. No matter what. She won't ever get hurt when she's with me. She means more to me then my own life. You don't need to worry about that." She tried to muster a smile, even through the anger that she still held for the man in front of her.

He scoffed and had his group go up into the vents. He looked up at Jae. The Sergeant was taken aback by the hurt that filled the man's eye. "That's not what I'm worried about." He followed his group.

Jaenna sighed and looked down. "Dammit, Jo. I still care about you..." Her voice was less than a whisper. Then, she shook her head and quickly climbed up into the vents where her group was waiting for her. As she climbed through them, she heard the commotion of the soldiers finally reaching the meeting room. There was shouting and bangs. Then, the signature soft 'thud' of Joamer's granade going off. She smiled to herself as she looked at her datapad. She clicked on a comm that was only to her troops, Havock's and Joamer's groups included. "We can only travel these vents for so long. About another 20 yards and we need to get back down into the hallways and face whatever come sat us." She smiled and a chuckle rolled over her lips. "We got this."

OOC:

Pay attention to the numbers of our forces available and the groups guys. Just pay attention, please. Keep track of the numbers of Marines and Special Force troopers left with us. I think we might need them in Phase II

Joamer crawled slowly towards the open hatch team one and two had exited from. He went beyond the turn he was supposed to make so he could peer down into the pitched battle taking place below him. He heard Ferris grumble something to herself as she squeezed up next to him.

"You can't help them now. We have our job to do, they have theirs." She looked down as Havock and Jae came into view, both woman went back to back for a second and continued fighting. He could see the battle was nowhere near being over, it even looked like they might be at risk of being overrun.

His right hand went to his pistol without him thinking about it, the move was not lost on Akilaa. She shook her head again and whapped him on the shoulder "Hey, big fella, time to move." She said playfully. He mumbled something and motioned for her to back up.

He looked behind him at his team, most of them were starring at him. He knew he had caused a decent scene a few times. At this point he did not really care anymore, he had lost something more valuable to him then air. He shook his head again to clear it and swore under his breath. He needed to get it under control, he had people who were depending on him.

He took the correct left turn and started crawling again. The map Jae had given him showed what was probably the best room to try to rig the escape pods. She told him it was just like hot wiring a speeder, well not exactly, but it was close.

He took three more lefts, and two rights before stopping at a grate. Consulting his datapad again he nodded to himself, it appeared the information was correct. He could see two large mainframes, and three computer terminals spaced around the room. According to the information the room seemed to be an auxiliary control room, one rarely used. If their luck held the door would remain sealed, and no one would think to come investigate.

He doubted it would last long though, his luck had a way of turning bad rather quickly. Pulling the grate off, he quickly slid into the room and went into a squatting position. His eyes scanned the semi dark room several times before standing up and motioning to the waiting team.

Safety lights were on in four places on the walls, the glow of sleeping computers allowed them to make out most of the room. Joamer pointed at both doors, he held up three fingers at each of them. Instantly three men took covering positions at each door, the remaining men found spots around the room.

"I'm not sure how long this is going to take, it's been a long time since I've done anything of this nature." Joamer said quietly. He walked over to one of the terminals and sat down. He heard Grahim and Ferris take positions to either side of his desk.

He tapped the screen once to bring the computer out of hibernation. While he waited for the program to come online, he leaned back and sighed slowly.

"Whysa yousa doning thatsa crapsa?" He heard Grahim say a minute later. "Whysa wants to hurts boss ladiesa?"

Joamer tried to block out the voice, but did not entirely succeed. In his current state hearing pretty much of anything would push him over the edge, specially a Gungans voice. The sound grated into his nerves and caused his old eye twitch to return.

He did not notice his right hand go to the pistol at his waist but Ferris did. She placed her arm on his shoulder gently and spoke over his head "Grahim, why don't you go help them set up for a possible fire fight?" She said softly, her hand was soft but firm. A clear warning for Joamer to get a grip before he did something stupid.

"Yousa nots bossa of mesa." The Gungan said in a impudent voice.

"No, but I am. Just, please, do what she says." Joamer said slowly, he starred at the computer screen trying to make sense of the information scattered on it.

He heard Grahim mumble something and walk away. He did not look up at Ferris, but he wanted to. He knew now how close he had come just then. He sighed again and got to work, hitting a few keys he brought up a ships system diagnostic page and began reading through it.

"You know, I think you need someone in your life. Someone that would take care of you, when you do stupid things." She said slowly, evenly. Joamer starred at the screen and digested her words, he knew she was correct. He had just not been able to locate his sister yet, or the rest of his family.

"Someone like a sister you mean?" He said slowly, he keyed the code to what appeared to be maintenance programs. He felt her nod suddenly, he added halfway under his breath, "I have a sister, somewhere. She's out there in the vast emptiness of space."

"You need one now though, what you are going through is terrible in the best of times. Times like these though, it's beyond horrible." He could not help but nod at the wisdom of her words. She added a few seconds later "I'm sure there is someone out there for everyone, maybe she was not the right one."

He refrained from commenting that Havock was his someone, he felt it in every part of himself. Every fiber of his being, every beat of his heart told him she was the one.

"I need some time before I let someone in." He said softly instead. "I could use a friend though." He felt her hand tighten on his shoulder, he reached around with his left hand and gripped her fingers gently before letting them go.

"Oh my, what is this." He said suddenly. Looking at the screen he keyed what appear to be a service program. He scrolled down the list and came to something called EP service.

"EP service?" Akilaa said over his shoulder. "Escape Pod service? Can't be, too easy."

Joamer keyed that program and chuckled humorlessly, he said a moment later "Yea, that was too easy. This is the service program docking bays use to eject all the pods at the same time. They use a multitude of arms and hooks and such to take all of them off simultaneously."

He brought up his datapad and began uploading the codes for the program. He sat back after he was done and shook his head from side to side.

"Looks like this even overrides the command codes. I'm not sure how much luck we used up getting that. If this works every escape pod will blow at the same time, without needing any authorization codes." He put the pad into one of his pockets and switched the computer off.

Joamer turned to the sound of a door beginning to slid open. Grabbing Ferris he went to the ground and looked around for the other members of his team. He could see them hiding from what he hoped was only a brief patrol. He saw the figure slap a flat pad on the wall, and swore to himself.

So much for luck. He thought.

Drawing his Frontier Model B he got to his knees. In the same second it took for the lights to come on his shot took the man square in the chest. He watched as he fell backwards into the hall. Joamer did a slow three count before he heard the sound of running footsteps in their direction.

"You were right." He said as he began firing at the men entering the room. "This was too easy."

Havock could see Joamer pop his head out of the air duct opening then nodded and slide back in. The blaster fire was making his message difficult to make out on her comm. She squinted at him then saw Jaenna's team round the corner in her direction. After then all hell broke loose.

The security details came from both sides, flanking the two teams. Jae slid across the wall landing against Havock's back. Hav didn't even have to look to know who it was. They both were firing their weapons. Havock had her personal DE-10 pistol and a M4 pistol from the RAIDERS armory both sending red bolts down the corridor at the security teams.

Havock half turned to get closer to Jae's ear. “Where is Joamer?”

“He took his team to rig the escape pods for us to use later on.” Every other word had a pause has she had to dodge blaster bolts hitting the wall behind them.

The fight was not getting any better. The marines and spec ops were holding their own. From what Havock could tell none of them were dead yet, but a few had some minor injuries. The hallway was filling up with smoke making it more and more difficult to see the security teams attacking them. They needed to clear one of the ways out and fast.

Jae nudged Havock in the side and she immediately followed Jae into a crevice made by a doorway. Hav had to pull her knee in quick as a bolt nearly hit it, but it did hit the corner spraying her with sparks. “Gah.”

Jae looked up with concern for a split second, but Hav was already turned and firing her blasters down the hall. They alternated firing more bolts at the enemies and falling back into the crevice. The smoke was still increasing but Havock could see the other RAIDERS with them, Bacredi and Karash taking cover in a position across from Jae and Hav.

It was starting to seem like the group down the hall in the direction of the engine room was actually thinning out. If they could move in that direction, Bacredi could toss a grenade at the group behind them and they might actually be able to get out of the hole they had found themselves in.

“Jae.” Havock had to yell to be heard. Jae turned a second later and nodded. Hav gestured towards the hallway that was clearing out. From what she could tell, which was not much, there could not be more than three security troopers blocking their way.

Jae smirked and got to work yelling into her comm to order the marines and spec ops troopers to back-up in that direction, neither of them wanted people getting injured when Bacredi threw the grenade. Havock on the other hand yelled into her comm at Bacredi to make sure he knew what was going on. Once everyone got the plan, Hav nodded to Jae. They looked at each other for a split second before Jae spoke.

“We need to make a run for it, the engine room is not far from here.”

Hav nodded. “Right.” She smirked then fired a few more bolts at the security group. “So hey, I was wondering.” Jae turned to face Hav with a puzzled look. “Later on, you want to go get a cup of caf or something?”
Jae laughed for a second and rolled her eyes. “Yea sure, just make sure you keep up with me when we run.”

They had to turn back to keep shooting. “Keep up? I bet I can beat you to the engine room.”

“Fine, your on. Now go!” Jae grabbed Hav's shoulder as she passed her. Havock fired behind Jae, covering her. Another second and she saw the grenade soar over her head in the direction of the security team.

The marines towards the front of the group easily took out the remaining security troopers in their path, the grenade dealt with the rest. They were far from finished. They all ran full speed down the hall, firing their weapons down hallways and behind them as they saw anyone who looked like security.

As they approached the door, Jae immediately got to work on opening the door. The others took positions in the hallway around her and Havock knelt down directly behind Jae to cover her. Their position was not as good as the one they just left. They needed to get that door open as soon as possible.

The security teams did not need long to find the two teams, and the smoke and noise was back.

The comms crackled. "Team three, back in the area. Where do you need us?"

Jae quickly answered, she was distracted and seemed almost out of breath. But Havock could not spare the look, the fire was taking over the hallway. "Split the group up, send half of them north of us, the other join us on the southern flank."

Now they just had to get the damn door open.

The gleaming white lights in the hallway flickered as the star destroyer was hit by more allied fire. Bacredi, Karash, and nine marines were covering the hallway. Bacredi’s chaingun had half a chain left, and he was hiding in one of the doorways. One of the marine folk quickly pushed out a crate from another doorway. He moved it forward a little and kneeled down, readying his rifle on the crate. Bacredi moved his wrist up to his mouth, and began to speak into his mic: “Can you spare any more? We’re getting a bit lonely.”

“No,” was Havock’s stern answer. Bacredi cursed under his breath. The two marines that were the farthest up in the hallway were kneeling into a crevice of the wall that doubled as a control panel. They both had their rifles out and ready, pointed at the closed doorway, even though they each had about half a clip left. Karash and three marines shuffled out of a doorway on the other side of Bacredi’s, Karash kneeled by the doorway while the marines hugged the wall.

The last three marines were hiding in a external hallway, that was close to the front of the main hallway. When the enemies moved by the external hallway they would be mowed down by their blaster fire. The door at the end of the hallway was abruptly opened by an explosion that ripped the ears of every man there. Two more grenades popped through the now open doorway, landing with a clunk. “Flashbang!” The marine at the front screamed as he covered his ears and closed his eyes. Bacredi popped out of the doorway and everyone ducked, it was too late, however, and the flashbangs turned everyone mad.

Ten seconds had passed, Bacredi quickly tired to open his eyes to a blinding light, it faded a few seconds later. His head was still throbbing. He popped back into the doorway to see close to twenty enemy Stormtroopers enter the hallway, the first marine had recovered quickly enough and was firing. He let half of his clip empty and immediately switched to his pistol, but was killed as he flipped the safety off. The marine next to him mowed down a Stormtrooper and injured another before they killed him as well.

Bacredi kneeled, placing the but of his chaingun onto his shoulder and pulled the trigger with a satisfying sound. Two Stormtroopers were ripped down and hit the ground as the bullets impacted, their advance had been stopped by Karash and two other marine’s fire as well. The enemy had made it halfway up the hallway—they had reached the external hallway. The three marines that were hiding in there let loose an entire clip each and reloaded quickly, the Stormtroopers that had been unlucky enough to have been in their range was long gone. The group had killed close to four more troops until a troop smart enough to throw a flashbang did so. As the flashbang erupted Karash and the marine next to him attempted to fire enough shots at the enemy to keep them from entering the external hallway.

It almost worked.

Three enemy troops entered the hallway, why the six troops before them had been killed by Karash and his newfound friend. The three marines were dead within seconds. “Someone report!” That message had been relaying for the past minute, and it was Caldwin’s voice, constantly ringing into everyone’s ears. Bacredi squeezed his trigger again, taking down four more enemy troops as they moved into a disarrayed advance. Bacredi moved out of his doorway and into the open, with the covering fire from Karash, and let loose the last fifty shots of his chaingun. He dropped the gun with a loud clank and dove into another doorway, at the same time drawing his silenced Tropov.

“We’re being dominated, orders?!” Bacredi spoke into his throat mic as he hid in the doorway. The marines that were hugging the wall began to backpedal, one of them firing his StA-3 Stova Machine gun and the other firing a “Tyrant” Chaingun. They lasted for five seconds until one of them hit the ground and the other dove into the same room as Bacredi. 

“Hold position.” Caldwin’s voice came back this time instead of Havock’s. “Okay, we’re in! Fall back, we’ll get you covered once you ‘round the corner.”

“Copy,” Bacredi commed back. “Fall back!” Bacredi screamed into his mic, Karash and the marine next to him popped up after suppressing the enemy enough. The marine next to Karash dashed to the finish line and rounded the corner. Bacredi and the marine in the other room quickly followed, both of them firing. As they rounded the corner they were met by four marines and a member of the Special Operations team. They quickly ran past them and as the first Stormtrooper rounded the corner he was taken by chainguns and machine gun fire. Everyone quickly moved into the room, followed by the marines and special operations who were backpedaling and firing.

The door closed without a sound. Blaster fire and machine gun fire pelted the door.