A soft whisper kept prodding at Jaenna’s mind as her chest rose and fell slowly with her much needed sleep. That whisper… it was beginning to annoy her. She was in the middle of such a good dream and she didn’t want it to end. She needed this dream. After Thrawn’s attacked, Storm Platoon’s dissolvement and then what happened on Coruscant, sleep and a good dream was a nice change for the Squad Leader. But those damn whispers kept prodding at her mind, at her sleep, trying to wake her up, trying to stop that good dream from making her happy. Jaenna wanted to be happy. For the past month it was hard for her to be happy, and now whoever was whispering in her ear was taking a spell of happiness away from her.

“…wake up, hun…”

There it was again. Jaenna felt herself roll in her sleep, not caring where she rolled to, or what she rolled over. It felt like she was the only one in the bed though. Odd. She could have sworn somebody else had fallen asleep next to her last night. Unless it had just been a dream, part of this dream. A dream where happiness radiated from a person that she had met not too long ago. A person that taught Jaenna that showing feelings wasn’t a bad thing. The person that Jaenna had fallen for so quickly.

“Jae, wake up, hun.”

The voice struck her in full this time, and Jaenna stopped rolling in her sleep. Slowly, her dream faded, but she didn’t want to open her eyes just yet. She needed to adjust to being awake again. Something hit her though, the voice of the whisper that had finally woke her up, was the same voice of the person from her dreams. Slowly, Jaenna rolled one more time, making her way towards where she felt warmth coming from on the bed. She reached out a still tired hand and groped at the air for a few moments before she finally felt it touch something, someone. She rested her hand there, and she knew. The memory came back to her.

“Finally awake?” The voice chuckled softly as Jaenna felt a hand touch her cheek, the cheek with the green star on it. Jaenna smiled, her eyes still closed. She no longer needed the dreams of that certain person to stay happy. The person was right here, with her now.

Those seafoam eyes opened, not easily though, and looked up at the girl that made Jae’s life so much better. “I don’t want to be. But hey, with you here it still feels like I’m in a dream.” Of course she had to say it. It was the truth and Jaenna had learned to speak it more often with Havock. Even if what she ended up saying was more corny than corny could get. She heard Havock chuckle again as she yawned and sat up in the bed. She brought her fists to her eyes and rubbed them softly. Once she finished that little morning task, she looked back to Havock, who had risen and was now standing in front of the bed in a large t-shirt. “Hrm. So what do we have planned for today?”

Havock smiled and shrugged. “Well I wanted a shower first.” She said she looked down at Jaenna. “I was waiting for you to get up, though.” The smile changed to something a bit different than any normal smile.

The Squad Leader tilted her head to the side a bit, slightly confused. “Well you could have taken a shower while I was sleep- oh wait. You sly girl you.” She chuckled as she finally got the hint. She rose out of the bed, wearing a tank top and shorts, and made her way over to Havock, she took the girl’s hand and walked towards their condo’s refresher, smiles on both of their faces.

~

“Okay, so give  me the list of the newbies that just got thrown to us, please.” Jaenna’s voice echoed in the living room of the condo that she had bought months ago. Havock had moved in not long after they got back from Coruscant. Jaenna smiled to herself as she sat at her desk, looking through her messages and other bits of information about the breakdown of Storm Platoon.

Havock was sitting on the couch, holding her datapad and scrunching her eyes a bit in slight frustration. “Yanno, I can’t believe they would just toss others into our squad. It’s gonna be hard to get them whipped into shape before our next real mission.” Havock and Jaenna had spent the morning after their shower planning a new mission, but this was just to be a training mission, in order to get those new to the squad used to the others and see how well they worked with one another. “Looks like we have a squad of ten now.” Jaenna scoffed. “Calm down. They seem to be good troopers. Only one real newb though. Katie, just got out the academy as a Private Second Class. We got a vet, too. Decemberist. Beta apparently came back out of reserves. Karash is back! That’s awesome! We got Njall and… No. That can’t be.”

“What is it?” Jaenna asked as she turned around to see Havock staring down at the datapad with wide eyes. “Hun?” She stood up from the desk and walked over to stand behind Havock, looking over her shoulder at the names that the datapad were displaying. “No fracking way!” She exclaimed, making Havock jump slightly. Jaenna was smiling from ear to ear now, her eyes wide with excitement. “Ron! He’s back, Hav! He’s back!” Jaenna leapt over the back of the couch and tackled Havock to the floor with a hug. The two girl giggled and laughed.

Havock chuckled then and sat up, Jaenna moving off of the girl to sit beside her. “Heh. He’s coming back to his old squad with his old Assistant as the Leader.” Havock smiled at Jae, knowing it would worry Jae in the cutest way.

“Oh shit! Crap that’s riiiiight.” Jaenna fumbled with herself as she stood back up and jogged over to her computer again. She quickly sat down and got to typing up a message that would be sent to everyone in RAIDERS. Her fingers were moving at lightning speed, her eyes wide as she stared at the screen, a mix of worry and excitement spread across her face. She heard Havock come up behind her and then chuckle.

“What are you doing, babe?” The girl asked softly with another chuckle as she placed a hand on Jaenna’s shoulder.

Jaenna smiled wider and continued to type for a few moments. Then, she clicked ‘send’ and the message was on the way to the other eight members of RAIDERS. “With Ron back I gotta straighten up. Show him he taught me well, show him I was the right choice. Yanno?” Havock simple chuckled again and patted Jae on the head. “That message, it was the specs on the mission. We split up into groups of five, and play extreme capture the flag in a simulation at Sexton. I think I forgot something though…” She said to herself, placing a finger to her bottom lip in a thoughtful expression.

Havock looked to her datapad again and then started laughing. Jaenna looked up, confused. But Havock cleared it up in one simple sentence. “We have to a chose a Fire Team Captain.” Both of them started laughing then. “I guess we let the lucky person know face to face now.” Jaenna nodded and chuckled some more. “Oh, Jae. When did you schedule the sim?”

“Eight hours from now. We have some time to kill.” She said, smiling.

Havock smiled right back and clicked off her datapad, then set it back to her belt. Her smile made Jaenna’s heart melt. She loved Havock’s smile. It always made her own lips twitch into a smile involuntarily. It didn’t matter if Jae was mad, or upset, or depressed. Whenever she saw Havock’s smile, everything would be okay.

“RAIDERS is going through a big change, huh?” Havock asked softly as she turned to look out the viewport of the nice sized condo.

Jaenna looked out the viewport as well and simply nodded. She knew that she didn’t need an audible answer. It was obvious enough to everyone what RAIDERS would be going through for the next few weeks.

OOC:

Okay. Here we are. Our first story in a while. Story wise, we have eight hours to kill before we are due at Sexton for the simulation. This is just a training mission. So don't get all sklgjhldfkjghdf at everything, alright? Teams will be decided once everyone is at Sexton. For now, try out some CD. It's fun. Seriously... Anyways. Have fun with this guys. It's a Mission, yeah, but I made it to be FUN.

"Senior Sergeant Ron, is it?"  Platoon Sergeant Jegora said with surprise.  His astonishment came from a few sources, primarily being his knowledge of Ron's retirement, but also that of his utter shock at Ron's disheveled appearance.  Ron was much older than when he first joined Raiders squad (about 28) and now he was clear into his late thirties.  Jeg checked the charts just to make sure.  Yup, there it was: thirty-five.  Ron's hair was much longer now, it fell about his ears and eyes- and his face was darkened by the sun and with a light layer of stubble.

"From what my chart tells me," mumbled Jeg as he flipped through Ron's papers on his notepad, "you're lucky to be alive.  Seems you got caught up in a legal scrape.  Kill someone did you?"

Ron grumbled to himself, in what he thought was inaudible tones, but what seemed to Jegora as otherwise.  "I see." he said.  "Well lucky for you, the army is always looking for volunteers..."  he stressed the word volunteers.  "even if they're of criminal origin.  But you know that right?  Right."  he paused once more to see Ron's reaction, but being dissapointed with nothing, he continued.  "Your old squad has an opening, Raiders?  Is that right?"

Ron spoke for the first time, "Yes, sir."

"Mhm." Jeg said more confidently.  "Your old ASL is now the Squad Leader.  You wouldn't have any problem serving under her, would you?"

"No sir."  Ron replied.  "That's why I picked her, she was the best 'un for the job."

"Exactly, exactly.. very good." Jegora said.  He handed Ron a paper with some item orders on it.  "You should see the armory before you go, get your uniform and armor and such."

"Yes, sir." Ron said.

There was a few moments of awkwardness that followed.  Jegora knew, as everyone knew, that before Ron left for retirement he was one of the most prospective men in the army.  Many had suspected that Ron would rise up in the ranks and create a great name for himself, and increase the already good reputation that he had by tenfold.

Jegora broke the silence.  "Well, it's good to see you again, Sergeant.  Best of luck to you in the days ahead."

"Thank you, sir." Ron said submissively.

Ron left the room and slowly closed the door behind him.  Another trooper in the room, a staff member serving in the office, sneared to himself saying, "Ol Ron isn't so great now.  Looks like Ron the fool now."

Jeg heard the remark, but was too pensive to remark.  He was too busy wondering what had happened to Ron of the army...

OOC:

Here goes nothing, guys. Don't hold back, I need to get in form.

Quiet now. No clamor from the blocks or the yard; none of the barred windows with speeders blasting by, no music blasting from the recreation hall. Just the faint sound of incineration, the only sound desired to be heard. The quiet brings darkness, too. Breathe in and the atmosphere bleeds that dull orange. The all too familiar calm of inhaling washes over and cleans the mind of erratic thoughts. This locked room with no source of light and his meticulously acquired stash of smokes was all Vasili needed. Going AWOL and landing himself in this place provided him protection, food, and serenity at the mere cost of giving up his deviance. Life here was worth it - better than sex, better than booze, and most definitely better than life in the Corps. Freedom of thoughts was more liberating than freedom of body.

The convict formerly known as Decembrist had gotten used to these weeks of contemplation upon KS-414, the mining colony he drunkenly crashed an escape pod onto. Getting caught while smuggling in alcohol granted him the rest of his stay in solitary, and he had never been this happy (just a tad more-so than usual) to break the rules. And of course it would be better with some whiskey and a woman or two, but the bottle would just run out and the women would talk too much and then this little piece of heaven would quickly transform into some realm of hell.

“While I’m thinking of ‘freedom of body’,” the shipwreck of a man spoke through the quiet to himself, pulling down the bottom half of his jumpsuit, flicking the stub away from his mouth and squatting over the hole in the floor “I do believe it’s time for a…”

Of course with Vasili’s history of luck, a bright light shone down upon him just at that moment. The door to his dark, quiet heaven created a rift and disturbed the order of things there. He squinted up to see a couple silhouettes, one wearing a hat distinct of a military officer.

“… shit.”



“Do you know how much money you cost us getting you out, Rustam?!”

“Mmmm.”

Some new face in Army Command was sitting on the opposite side of a table provided by the prison. “You should be thankful that we got you out of there before they found out who you work for.”

“I’m on the payroll? I don’t ever remember getting paid for this. In fact, didn’t you guys take my stuff from me? I would like that back, by the way.”

“You get NOTHING, Rustam! NOTHING!” The new guy seemed hysterical with the resistance Vee was giving, who was giving himself credit by this point for driving the last one away. “In fact, Command is making you earn it all back,” sliding a datapad over from his pocket. It showed a logo known throughout the Vast Empire: the one that indicated RAIDERS.

“But I want Kami. This isn’t Jester,” a puppy dog face morphing oddly onto Vasili, who was quite likely impossible to be cute.

“Retired. Dissolved.”

“Is Arturus still on the Doashim? I could do that again, I guess.”

“You don’t have any say in this, Rustam. RAIDERS, as soon as we get back. You’ll report to Sergeant Caldwin and Sergeant Katash.”

“And if I don’t? I kinda like it here.”

“Then you will be brought to the RAIDERS barracks by force, tied to a pole, put in front of a wall, and shot upon until dead. We won’t be getting our money back, but getting you out of our hair is a small cost to pay.”

With a big sigh and an equally large stretch, the ex-convict once again known as Decembrist resigned himself to his fate. “So am I allowed to have alcohol again?”

The new guy was standing, ready to leave, speaking as an annoyed adult to a nagging child, “No, Rustam, the ban is still up.”

Vasili stood up now too, ready to walk with him. “How about cigarettes? You guys have those rationed off for me, yeah?”

“Yes. You will get your cancersticks.”

“Alright then, tell these dudes - Caldwin and Katash? – that I’m ready, but not necessarily willing…” his smoke- and liquor- strained voice trailing off as the two Imperials head home.



Back on Tadath, feeling like he never left, Vasili awaited his new commanders, the mind behind his cigarette imagining what the chumps got themselves into. These dudes’ll have me outta here within two weeks- no, one week. Caldwin and Katash? Bet they’re in bed together… hehehe. Whole army’s probly got stories for me about the men from RAIDERS, cuddling in their foxholes.

“Sergeant Rustam?” another unfamiliar voice spoke and Vasili realized the door had opened behind him and was now closing. Two women entered, one on each side, and took seats opposite him. Quickly he realized the trap he had been set up in.

“I am Sergeant Caldwin, this is my Assistant: Sergeant Katash.”

Those BASTARDS! They put me in a Squad with TWO women as Leaders? I s’pose they’re finally learning their lesson.

“We’ve heard plenty about you. Are you willing to behave?”

Vasili couldn’t help but feel so smugly disappointed here, glad to have two strong women as his leaders but knowing that he was about to be the army’s bitch once again since he had been in Jester under Kami and Aeos, “Yes ma’am… I’ll behave.”

It was safe to say Fiori wasn't nervous, despite what she was about to do. Her face showed signs of determination, but she still had her usual carefree air about her as she neared the RAIDERS barracks, gear in hand. Curious, maybe a little excited, but certainly not nervous. She knew that what she was about to do was dangerous, that this wasn't a game... but she couldn't help feeling relieved as she walked toward her new home. This is what she wanted, and she was finally here.

Soon, she was standing before the door, thinking about what had brought her to this point. She looked down at the ground. A smile came over her face, and she gave a small laugh. "Silly girl," she thought, and laughed again. "I'll probably die on my first mission."

She straightened up, reached her hand out, and opened the door to the barracks. She stood there for a second or two before entering. It seemed rather empty. She walked around slowly, wondering if someone was sleeping in a bunk, but there wasn't a soul in sight. She sighed, dropped her gear next to a bunk that looked like it hadn't been used in months, and sat down. Her mind was blank. She didn't know what to think. She stared at the wall opposite her, hunched over, resting her forearms on each leg, wondering what she should be feeling at this moment in her life. After about 10 minutes, she sighed, and buried her face in her hands, and for the first time, she wondered if this was the right place for her. Feeling tired and drained, she needed somebody right now. Anybody. She hated being left to her own thoughts... second-guessing herself, doubting her life... thoughts that usually led to a lot of whiskey and even more recklessness.

But she snapped herself out of it before things went downhill, took off her jacket, and laid down on the bed, passing out within minutes.

***

She woke up slowly, barely hearing the voices coming from the common room. She didn't recognize them. She lay on her back for a short while, eyes closed, not wanting to meet her new family looking like she just woke up. When she finally opened her eyes and looked around, she saw a man standing a few feet from where she had been sleeping, watching her.

"Watching me, were you?"

"Of course I was watching you. I was pleasantly surprised to find such a pretty girl sleeping in my bunk, disturbed that I don't remember it."

"Your bunk? Don't they separate the men's and women's bunks in RAIDERS?"

"Well, you're welcome to stay in my bed... but the women's bunks are across the way."

Fiori covered her face with her hand and groaned, obviously embarrassed. "Of course they are," she sighed.

She removed her hand from her face, and looked at the man again. "I'm sorry, but I don't sleep in a man's bunk unless I know who he is..." She paused. "... unless I'm drunk."

He was fumbling around with a pack of cigarettes, the one between his lips running dangerously short. He took one last drag before throwing the cigarette butt on the floor, smashing it with his boot, at the same time drawing two more from the pack. He lit one, inhaling deeply, before offering Fiori the second. She leaned forward, taking the cigarette from his outstretched hand. He lit it for her, and they sat for a moment in silence, smoking together.

"Name's Vasili," he said, obviously focused on his smoking.

"Fiori, but everyone calls me Katie or katiedid. It's... a long story," she finished lamely, picking up that he couldn't care less what she was called.

They finished their cigarettes in silence. It wasn't awkward, though. Both people seemed to enjoy smoking with someone relaxed. They heard more voices from the common room, and Vasili turned and looked.

He nodded in the direction of the door. "Shall we?"

She stood up from the bed, and let him walk out first. "Could've been worse," she thought, and left the men's bunks.

In a nutshell, the recent time on Tadath since the end of his leave had not been super good.  Njall had gotten back from a leave that spanned almost two months to find that entire army was away fighting the forces of Grand Admiral Thrawn.  Then, he had sat through Thrawnist bombings, which left Tadath in a very sorry state.  Njall had thought that the miseries were over when the conflict was resolved and Paladin squad returned home, allowing him to greet his comrades and fit in to the Paladin family again.  However, the sense of happiness and victory quickly came to an end, when it was announced that Storm Platoon was being closed, and having it’s members spread throughout wildcard platoon.  Njall was assigned to RAIDERS Squad, and he left behind the comrades that he had fought together with and grown close too.  A small stoke of luck kicked in however, when Njall found out that his friend, Steven Rythoran, was back in the army and had been assigned to RAIDERS. 

Although he had seen some of them around Tadath, Njall had never really gotten to know the RAIDERS.  Upon arriving, he had met the Squad Leader and Assistant Squad Leader, Sergeant Jaenna Caldwin and Sergeant Ayme Katash, and had been given the introductory lecture on RAIDERS rules and policies.  He was then sent to the bunk room to settle in.

Along the way, Njall had bumped into one of his fellow troopers, Senior Sergeant Ron.  Njall vaguely remembered Ron, as the highly successful former squad leader of RAIDERS.  However, Ron had retired, and Njall hadn’t heard of him since.  Apparently, Ron was back and read to roll, although Njall was a bit taken back by his appearance. 

Njall also saw Sergeant Vasili Rustam, the new platoon adjutant and RAIDERS trooper, but was somewhat intimidated by his appearance and expression, even though he knew that the sergeant was a veteran, and was tending to keep his distance.

Njall was wandering around outside trying to find Beta when he ran into another RAIDER, Private Second Class katiedid.  Katie was a new trooper, fresh out of the academy, but already making a name for herself.  However, Njall was looking for Beta so he continued on without saying a word. 

Njall found Beta in the Tadath Cantina, which was still doing well despite the bombings.  Njall sat down beside Beta and ordered a Corellian Whiskey.

“Hey, d’you think you’ll be staying in the army this time?” Njall asked, in reference to the two AWOL’s that Beta had received throughout his career.

“Can’t say for sure, but I’ll try.” Beta responded

“Anyways” Njall said, “The sim that Sergeant Caldwin is organizing should be pretty fun, don’t ya think?”

“Yeah, it’ll give me a chance to kick your ass in a combat situation.” Beta said

“You won’t if were put on a team together.” Njall pointed out

“Why will that matter?” Beta asked, with a gleam of mischief in his eye.

Njall sighed, finished his drink and left for the barracks.

"Ron?!"

The stubble faced man squinted his eyes at young Sergeant Katash, before breaking out into a rare smile.  His face and eyes were significantly darker than Havock may have remembered, so was his hair, which had been cropped close to his head within the past hour.  But the one thing that was most distinguishable about him was his roguish smile, and the low chuckle that erupted upon his discovering her.

"Miss Havock,"  he started.

Havock laughed, but then put on a face of mock serenity while she turned her shoulder so that Ron could read the insignia on her sleeve.

"Oh!  Well then, ma'am." Ron laughed.  "Allow me to introduce myself as Senior Sergeant Ron, the newest addition to Raiders Squad."

"Nonsense." Havock said back.  "You're about as new as an old dime."

"Hmm, yes." Ron replied.  He lowered his eyes and said to himself, "and worth about as much as well."

But Havock hardly took notice of this and sat him and herself in the passageway.  It was clear that Havock was brimming with questions, and excitement.  Ron knew that she would have the stories out of him before too long; he just wasn't sure if he was up to telling all of it just yet... most of the memories were still in his mind.

"So... you left without a word eh?" she started.  "Not very responsible for one of my favorite Squad Leaders."

"I thought it would be best." Ron replied.  "I served my twenty-five year term and was ready to get out."  he grinned as he lit a cigarra.  "Not that it didn't do you any good!" smoke poured from his mouth and nose.  "With you as the ASL..."

"And Jae as the Squad Leader."  Havock added, after clearing her throat from the smog.

"Squad Leader!"  Ron started but then noticed Havock's coughing.  "Sorry." he said.  He inhaled once more, then smothered the cig beneath his boot. 

Havock ignored the smoke, instead eagerly asking questions.  "But... you're back?"  She meant to ask it as a question, but it came out more as a statement to Ron.

"Aye." he replied.  "I'm back.  Turns out I wasn't born to live a free man."  Ron chuckled to himself, not a laugh full of mirth but full of self disgust.

"What happened?"  Havock said.

Ron was dreading this question.  Havock was ever a sister to Ron, ever in danger- always asking for help or advice, or another opinion.  He would always help her then, he had no problem with helping others.  But helping himself?  Depending on Havock to sooth the woes of past?  Nonsense.  It was a cruel enough thing to have left her without his guidance, it would be better to spare her the truth.  But what was he to give her?  Lies.  She's a sharp girl, Ron knew she could see through lies.  What then?

"Was it... very bad, whatever happened to you?" Havock said, while unintentionally interrupting Ron's thoughts.

Ron nodded.  "It was."

"But what was it..." Havock started.  Ron was about to answer, but he turned his head as he noticed someone else coming down the hallway towards them.

"Ron..." Havock said.

"Another time," Ron said.  "Someone is coming that I think I should like to meet."

A few moments revealed a short girl, younger than Havock, who stopped among the pair to introduce herself.  Ron cut her short.

"Raiders always was stocked full of women." he laughed.  "Name's Ron.  You are?..."

OOC:

Sorry for the length, please bear with it. It's a multi-day post.

Huh. They sure do keep becoming cuter and cuter around here. Dunno how long she’ll last being that naïve, though. I’ll have to keep one of the others around to throw in front of her when shots start firing.

The others can worry about her. Soon as my ‘debt to society’ is repaid these guys will be lacking the fine expertise of the best damned thing to walk into this Army. They will lust for me once I’ve ditched them, and things will finally go my way.

Caught in his own dreams, Vasili broadcasted his cigarette clenching, goofy smile to the troopers around him. The conversation lulled as they set their eyes upon the dope, his smile and his eyebrows raised above the sunglasses covering the normal bloodshot eyes made him seem like some sort of odd bug. Too preoccupied to acknowledge the onlookers, Vee stumbled away to prepare himself to go back to war. Perhaps, more importantly, to find some booze that had maybe been left around.

Apparently reacting to his flopping hand, the woman Dec just met got up and started following him after sharing some parting words with their comrades. Katie jogged some to catch up and trotted alongside Vasili’s leisurely pace. “Katie, right? Or was it Fiori?” through a new cigarette.

“Katie’s fine. Is it still Vasili?”

Vee stopped and pulled out his pack. “You can call me Vee, miss.” He popped out a fresh smoke and pushed it towards her, blowing out from his mouth as he did. Katie hesitated and coughed as the smoke reached her lungs. The pack was quickly withdrawn.

“You’re not a smoker, are you?”

The jig was up, and the suspicious tone relaxed her. “Can’t make any good impressions refusing the first cigarette, can I?”

They started walking again. “It’s a terrible habit, Katie. Just like drinking and sex. I recommend all three.” Though the sentiment was expressed, another cigarette was not offered.

The two stepped outside and through a small lawn between the barracks and hangar of the area of Fort Sexton they were occupying. The hangar door was wide open to grant access to the various dropships and speeders and their respective crews entry and exit as they scrambled to rebuild. Decem, even with his glasses on, shielded his eyes from the sun and groaned. He had borrowed a bottle of wine from his parole officer’s office the night before.

“Let’s move inside,” complaining, “my fair complexion can’t handle this.” Katie snorted and continued with him.

“Where are we going?” she asked, a little lost.

“Eh,” he responded, completely lost.

Truly Vasili wished to just find the armory. His toys were waiting for him, and, he remembered quite foggily, preparing a gun while sober was safer than preparing a gun while drunk. Vee’s umpteenth cigarette of the day was disposed onto the grass prior to entering the hangar hallways. The walk indoors was awkwardly silent between the two. Surely the rookie was overwhelmed by everything going on and not paying mind to talking much. Vasili was too busy missing sex (now that he had thought of it) to bother some idle chatter with a potential.

Katie jumped ahead for a moment and pointed out a sign, turning a corner. “Oh, the armory is up ahead, do you think we could stop by? I wanna see what they have for…”

"Raiders always was stocked full of women,” Thank the maker, you nerdy suit you. Take her away!  "Name's Ron.  You are?..." He was standing with the woman Vee understood to be the ASL, a perfect distraction for him to slip away. This was a solo mission, one that would not be slowed by Katie. She was caught off guard but responded. Decem slipped past, giving a mobile, hasty salute to Havock and power-walked it out of there.


Gadgets galore inside one of the most technologically advanced Squad’s armory. Most recently an Extreme Environmental squad before their ambiguous “Unconventional Warfare” designation, the armory was stocked with experimental hazard suits, zero-gravity blasters, underwater grenades, sonic rifles, and other (non-coincidentally) unconventional tools of warfare. There was only one item that interested Vee however: the locker of plain, old fashioned, pump reloading shotguns. The little hand-cannon was the only weapon in the inventory that held his trust more than his canteen.

Muscle memory took over and he deftly assembled the pieces, clicking together all but the energy cell container in less than two minutes, inspecting each piece as he went. Visions of mayhem came back to him as well once he held it, the weight pleasantly familiar. He smirked and reenacted a fight, ducking down, spinning around and…

“Crazy bastard!” Havock cringed as Vee pointed his gun right at her face.

“I know perfectly well were I am going and do not need any instruction from you, now if you’ll excuse me!” Karash barked at some official at the desk.

Karash was just returning from reserves so the official had been told to show him the way to the Raiders barracks but he was not in the mood to be dealing with any bureaucratic nonsense and just stormed off towards his destination. There were many new faces walking around the corridors, probably due to the fact a lot of the people Karash knew were killed when Thrawn attacked; though he failed to notice that was in fact going completely the wrong.

“Where the hell am I?” Karash accidently spoke the words out loud and drew the attention of the people around him.

Trying to hide his embarrassment by just turning around and walking back the way he came, Karash’s thoughts once again drifted to the words scribbled on the note he had been left on Kuat. Could it have been from his long lost brother? Was it really him or just a cruel practical joke from someone that Karash had managed to anger in the past? Before long Karash had reached the Raiders the barracks and for a moment he just stood outside and waited; he did not like meeting new people and in the barracks there were multitudes of them.

He pushed the door controls and entered the room scanning over the people who were in there, some he knew and others were just names and faces. As a medic Karash had seen all of their medical files and was able to recognise all of them, but judging by their reaction no one even noticed he had entered the room.

“Well it’s good to see you all too.” Karash said in a sarcastic tone.

This time several people glanced over but only a few made any real gesture of welcome, most of which were just general welcomes.

“Good to see you Karash.” Recognisably the voice of Havock.

“Dear lady it’s good to see you’re still alive.” People looked over expecting to a sarcastic expression on his face, but Karash was perfectly serious.

“Well doesn’t look like you’ve changed much.” Havock nodded and got back to what she was doing.

“And you look like you have recently died...” Karash was now referring to Ron, Raiders former squad leader.

Ron simply nodded as turned back to what he was doing, Karash just stood and took everything in and prepared himself for what was likely to be an interesting time.

Gym socks, and sanitation supplies. The smell in the barracks always struck Havock as the oddest combination possible. The common room was small and informal, and damn near perfect for the RAIDERS. Pictures of random people and places were on the walls next to the plaque commemorating the Ghost squad that had been the ones to extract the RAIDERS during the Thrawn attack. Every now and then Hav caught Joamer looking at the plaque with an odd expression. It was difficult for Havock to identify what was going through Joamer's mind when it came to the Ghost squad. What happened to them still affected him so much, and she respected the men and women who gave their lives but she would never really understand completely. The squad went though many changes since Thrawn's attack, and that was evident on the new and old faces around Havock.

Jaenna and Ron were talking as the others filtered in the room. Joamer and Karash were still near Hav, none of them were saying much after their initial greetings. They were all overjoyed to see each other, but they did not seem to need much more than physical proximity to prove that point anymore.

Havock looked around at the other members of RAIDERS. She sighed, so many of them were smokers. She had gotten used to being around smokers, and the smoke they produced. That did not mean she ever had to like it.

The troopers settled into their seats. Joamer eased in next to Havock near where Jaenna was standing preparing to address the squad. This was not a difficult mission to they were about to go on, just a training exercise to get used to working together. Havock looked forward to something relatively easy to do with her squadmates. The last few missions still weighed heavily on her mind.

Jaenna smirked as she set up her holoprojector on a small table in front of her. Drawing herself up to her full height, Jae cleared her throat and began. “We are going to be splitting up into fire teams. Each team's objective is to capture the flag” She punched the buttons on the holoprojector in front of her, a glowing image of an electronic flag rotated in front of everyone. “You have weapons, so use them, you can even set up traps if you are so inclined.  If you are unfortunate enough to get hit, the sensor will let you know. And its not subtle people. Anyways, you will stay down for forty-five seconds then you can resume the sim. Once your team captures the flag, then your teams objective becomes defend the flag. The training exercise will end after thirty minutes have passed. The terrain will be rocky and cold, very cold. The winners will not be paying for their drinks tonight. Any questions?”

Jae looked around the room, meeting each troopers eyes. She paused for a split second when she  looked into Havock's then continued. “Good then. Havock, Joamer and I all have our fire teams loaded to our datapads. We can split off when we arrive at the training center. Let's head to the transport and get this show started.”

Karash leaned over towards Hav. “We better find out if there is any way to take the safety's off in the program, cause if there is I'm sure it will happen when things are shooting at you.”

Hav rolled her eyes as she turned to look at Kar, she could hear Joamer chuckling under his breath next to her. “Karash.” Havock growled, then smirked. “I'll make you a deal, if I get shot I'll shoot you too. Then you won't have to fix me this time.”

Karash actually looked freaked for half a second, then shook his head and got up heading towards the exit.

“He does have one good point you know.” Hav turned to glare at Joamer. “You do have a knack for finding the booby traps for us.”

“Havock will not be getting injured. End of discussion.” Jae grabbed Hav by the forearm and pulled her up. “You, walk with me.” The two of them walked towards the door, Havock almost looked back at Joamer but she knew the look he would have on his face. It was the same look he always had with Hav and Jae were together, the look he fought hard not to have every minute of every day.

OOC:

Fire Teams are on the RAIDERS wiki, Clickah . Once everyone is on the transport feel free to move us to the training ground itself then Jae, Joa or I will start the sim.

Roberticus was strolling down the streets of Mandalore, at the side of his father.  Today was the day of the ritual.  The ritual of manhood.  Roberticus put on his helmet, and stood firm at the entrance of the crevasse.  Suddenly, a huge creature rose up from the depths.  Pandemonium ensued and the witnesses ran screaming from the scene.  Roberticus gasped as the creature bore down on him, and his world turned black as the creature’s mouth closed.

Njall woke up, covered with a thin layer of cool sweat.  He had gone to have a quick nap before the mission, hoping that it would rejuvenate him, not terrify him to death.  He got out of the bunk and walked over to the closet where his bag was stowed, and opened the bag.  His Mandalorian helmet stared back, bringing memories of the good old days back at home, before this never ending war.  Njall looked at his watch.  The transport was scheduled to leave at 1600 hours, and it was….1555.

“Holy hell!” Njall exclaimed out loud.

Njall scrambled into his armor, grabbed his blaster and ran out the door.  In a sense he was running for his life, because if he didn’t make the transport, his pay would get docked.  The ground seemed like it was flying by underneath his feet, and Njall was still gaining speed.  The clearing came in too view, and the Lambda class shuttle with it.  Njall glanced at the time, it was 1601 hours.  He could just imagine the engines powering up, ready to leave him behind.  Njall came in to the clearing and leaped towards the seemingly moving entrance of the shuttle.  Njall crashed onto the hard floor of the shuttle, and kept on moving, sliding through the passenger compartment.

“Hi Njall.” Havock said, as he slid past. 

Njall kept going, until he flew out the doorway on the other side and landed on the grass.

“I’m okay.” Njall breathed, as the stood up and climbed into the shuttle. 

“What’s the rush Njall?  We’re not leaving for almost another hour.”  Bloodhound said, snickering. 

“But…..but…my watch says 1603.” Njall exclaimed

“Bloodhound’s right Njall, it’s 1503.  Someone must have set your watch ahead.” Aeos said.

Njall had a sneaking suspicion who had done it, which was confirmed when he turned around and saw Beta rolling on the floor, laughing.

“Classic.” Beta said, gasping for air after his laughing fit. 

“Classic Jackass.” Njall muttered.

“No matter what, we’re all here.  Let’s get his baby in the air.” Havock said

“I call driving!” Joamer yelled, as he bounded into the cockpit.

Havock followed Joamer into the cockpit, while the rest of the squad buckled themselves in for the journey.  Nothing happened.  After a couple minutes, Jaenna yelled into the cockpit,

“What the holdup Hav?”

“We have a slight problem.” Havock responded, “The damn shuttle is out of gas.”

“Screw this, we’re walking there.  It’ll be shorter.” Jaenna said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The squad arrived at Fort Sexton one and a half hours later.  They crowded around Jaenna, Havock and Joamer for the briefing.  Jaenna started the briefing.

“Alright guys, here’s what’s going to happen………

The walk took longer than expected. That was mostly due to the fact that they had to keep stopping to separate Joamer and Bacredi as they continued to argue over who was the better pilot. Havock had to fight the urge to stun them both and carry them the rest of the way.

The training facility was a rather large building. Each floor had a different room that could be programmed to damn near any combat scenario a twisted SL could come up with.  Of course that is if they can get the terminal to cooperate first.

“Fracking hell!” A clank sound echoed through the hallway as Jae continued to fight with the terminal that  just would not listen to whatever she wanted it to do.

Hav was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, just waiting and keeping an eye on the restless troops that were starting to pace. Ron nodded at Havock as he made his way over to Jae to find out what the problem was.

Bacredi fell against the wall next to Havock with a huff. “I was in the navy, you know.” He was talking to Hav but his eyes were glaring across the hall at Joamer.

“We are in the hallway, so I can shoot you both, you know.” That got Bacredi's attention away from Joamer, he turned with a curious expression and looked at his ASL. Hav just nodded and placed her hand on her DE-10 blaster. Bacredi looked mildly concerned and scooted a few inches away from Havock.

“Almost time to go?” Njall walked up, not even looking at Havock. He was holding a standard A280 Rifle and checking all the components of the weapon with bored interest.

Havock glanced over at the com techs working on the computer terminal. Jae had her arms crossed and Ron was typing something in a frenzy of hand movements. Hav turned back to find Njall looking up at her. “It looks that way, just relax Njall, you really don't want them to screw up the safety protocols.”

Karash was walking towards the rest of the group and seemed to be off balance from all the gear he was carrying. He lost his balance completely when he tried to stop walking and would have slammed into Bacredi if the older man didn't catch the medic. “Whoa, watch were your going there, corporal.”

“Karash, why do you have so much stuff? It's a sim.” Havock reached over as well to help steady Kar.

“Why do I have so many medical supplies? You, you are asking me why I have so many supplies?” Karash continued to mutter under his breath as he got the equipment situated in a way that would not cause him to fall over constantly in the sim.

Ron cleared his throat as he moved to stand next to Hav. “Nothing to it.”

As the last word was spoken the door next to the terminal slid open, and Jaenna stood back with a victorious smile.

“Cold climate guys. My team will head due north, Hav can take east, Joamer's team west. Find the flag then defend it, the sim will end when the time runs out. Your weapons will sting a little and will activate the timer in your comm device, that way you will know when you can get back up again. Good luck, lets move.”

Jae gave Hav a subtle nod before running into the door. Joamer's group went next, he glanced over at Havock but did not make any motions. Finally, Havock's group went through the door and turned towards the east.

The first thing that Havock noticed was the blistering cold air that hit her as soon as she crossed the threshold. The ground went almost straight up as they entered. It wasn't a very tall mountain, possibly you couldn't even call it a mountain. More like a hill that wishes it was a mountain. There was a thin layer of snow on the ground and sporadic trees, that could be used as cover.

As they walked the snow crunched under Hav's feet. They would not encounter any of the others for a little while, this was the part where they get their barrings.

“Njall, get out your datapad and take a look at the map. Lets make sure we don't backtrack, unless we intend to.”

“You got it, Sarge.”

Havock shook her head, and kept walking. Something blurred to her left. She couldn't make out what it looked like a second ago, but now it was nothing more than a tall well developed tree. Hav was no stranger to head injuries, but she also had not gotten hit recently so she was pretty sure what she saw had really just occurred.

“Everything okay, Hav?” Bacredi was walking the closest to Havock and must have noticed her sudden interest in the tree.

Hav nodded. “Yea, sure. Let's go.”

OOC:

And there you go its sim-tastic people! Just split off into your fire teams. And yes its possible that something odd is going on, but I'm so not telling what. Have fun guys.

OOC:

Jae's Team

For a moment Aeos’ lack of vision had her panicked. It had been quite a stretch of time since she participated in Simulators, and she had forgotten some of the side-effects they had on her, such as temporary blindness. She shouldered the blaster sniper rifle into a more accommodating position across her back. She grabbed it on their way from one of the armories they passed.  She was no qualified sniper, but she did consider specializing into being a marksman once she completed her qualifications in Combat Engineering.

Her vision had finally cleared after blinking several times, and she coughed on the surprise of the sudden iciness that sliced through her lungs upon inhaling the frigid air. If she had been graced to work without the cursed metal white bucket on her head, Aeos would have reveled herself in the texture of the snow feathering across her face while it spiraled and swirled to the ground. But, alas, she had a metal white bucket stuck on her head, and so could only enjoy the polarized vision of the snowflakes spiraling playfully about the air with the light breeze that passed through.
They stood a piece of hundred meters away from the foot-end of a small mountain hill. Joy.

When Aeos faced herself away from the mountain, she could see nothing but a landscape that faded into mist, subtly telling her to turn around again to tackle the obstacle she could see.  It stretched quite a bit into the air, and Aeos failed to see the top which was been hidden by a heavy bout of fog drifting across their vision. 

Jae stood next to her, quietly muttering to herself while she studied the surroundings.

“Impaired vision will be a bitch, we want to keep an eye on the others,” Aeos murmured.  The faceless mask of Jae faced her momentarily and nodded.

“I know,"

Jae slung down a small bag which Aeos hadn’t noticed before.

“Bag of magic?” Decembrist asked bemused. He was flexing his fingers while turning his head in all directions. Weight continuously shifted from one foot to the other. He wanted his cigarettes popped and blazing between his teeth. Removing the helmet would impair communications between them as a team however. 

“Yep, my little bag of magic. Katie-“ the fourth member in their group shuffled a bit closer into the midst of their planning.

“You’ll be our eagle eyes.  Keep the lookout. Vee, I can trust you to be our navigator, and I will need you to be our eye electronically as well” she glanced at him with what Aeos could only assume was a scrutinizing stare. Damn these helmets

“You can trust him Jae, he used to be a Navy pilot. Star and field navigation was material compulsory for us to learn,”

Aeos held her hand over Rustam’s helmet pushing him away. Jae meanwhile was digging through her little bag again and retrieves the items necessary for Rustam.

“Don’t speak Rustam, it hurts my head,”  Aeos muttered while shifting again the weight of her rifle.

Jae shook her head suppressing a soft sigh. 

“Aeos,  I see you brought a nice lil toy with, I assume you will keep them incapacitated, from a distance.

“That’s right ma’am, “

“Good, I’ll be bundobashing the path for us, Stay alert people,” Jae shouldered the small, and significantly lighter backpack, which Aeos assumed was empty now and started heading for the Northern. Towards the mountain thing.
Decembrist groaned and activated the small compact disk in his hands.

OOC:

I just couldn't resist...

A great, hazy fog had settled over the area of the west.  The AT AT sat in disuse, had been in disuse for the past hour or so; and the general company of the group was in shambles.  But an hour ago they were the greatest force in the land, but now...  now they had been reduced to a patheticly useless, yet satisfied group.  They were high.

"HEh.. hey... HEY!  This was a... THIS is your best idea EVER, Ron." spewed Beta as his took another pull at the illegal, intoxicating, smoking roll.

"Now listen..." Ron replied.  "No, just... jUSt listen!  This, none of this, would have been possible wit'out Big Blue!"  Ron pointed wobbily over towards the defunct AT AT, and then got up and slowly walked towards it.  Then, embracing it with both his arms, he continued: "Thank you, Blue... you will always be my friend."

"Woa, woa... hold on!" Bloodhound interruped.  "I... I think I'm losing it guys!"

"Wha.. whats the matter, man?" Beta said.

"Yeah, yeah- just... just take it easy Bloodie..." said Ron.

"I.. I'm sorry guys." he apologized.  "I think I'm dead."

"I'm not a pilot!" Joamer mumbled.

"I just..." Bloodhound continued.  "I try, you know.. I try!  But every time.. every time I see Big Blue... it looks... it looks almost, grey, you know?  Like... it might have been blue, like.. when I was alive, but man... I swear it's grey."

"You know... you know.." Ron said.  "I think, I think I might be dead too, Hound."

"Yeah?" Bloodhound said.

"Yeah." Ron replied.

It was silent for a while.  It was a strange scene for a passerby to see, if a passerby would happen to pass by; to see four troopers a akimbo puffing away at exotic, smoking illegal drugs with each other.  They had, obviously, ordered the drugs from Polonius, the simulator system administrator; probably as a joke at first.  But once the first one was lit, it became so infectious that after a while the entire fire team engaged themselves.

"I'm not a pilot." Joamer mumbled.

"What?" Beta said.

"I'm not." Joamer said.  "I mean, I know I am but... at the same time I know I'm not."

"I.. I'm not getting this, Jo." Bloodhound said.  "Say it.. say it slower maybe."

"Look, I can... I can be a pilot if I want to right?" Joamer said suddenly.  He was getting a little excited.

"Just... just say it slower, Jo." Snipes said.

"That's right!" Joamer exclaimed.  "I can do it!  I just... I just have to believe in... in you!" 

"You... you mean like, me?" Bloodhound said.

"No, no..." Joamer stammered.  He shook his head and pointed towards the AT AT.

"I mean... Blue."

"No!  That's, that's it."  Beta said.  He got up and made a heroic pose.  "WE... we might not be... we might not be able to take on the rebels by ourselves!  But... but with... with Big Blue..."

"NO!" Ron said.  "What about Blue?  What... what about BLUE?  We.. we cant just use him... thats... thats not right."

"Why, why don't we just ask him?" Bloodhound said.

"Bloodie," Ron said.  "You're, you're like... my smart mother."

"Not only that." Bloodhound said.  "Smart-est, mother."

"Yeah." Ron said.  He walked up to the AT AT and said,  "Bl.. Blue?  We want to know if... if you can, like, bring US to THEM. You know?"

There was, obviously no response.

"Guys!" Ron said.  "Oh man, oh man... guys!  Guys, I... I THINK HE'S DEAD!"

"Dead?"  Joamer said.

"Guys, I'm like... I'm freaking out.  Just... just... just make him come back, you know?  Help him... Blue is, Blue is everything to me!"

"Just take it easy, Ron... just.. it's alright." Bloodhound said.

Joamer put his ear up against the metal and listened for a while, then he retracted his ear and squinted his eyes professionally as if he was procruing a doctor's diagnosis.

"He needs an operation." Joamer said.

"Oh man." Ron said.  "Is it, is it his appendix?"

"Worse." Joamer said.  "It's his brain.  We have to remove it before it causes any more damage to his heart."

"Alright." Ron said.  "Alright, how.. how do we do this?"

"Just follow me." Jo said.  "We, we just gotta find a door or something."

Ron walked over to the entrance panel to the AT AT.

"Hey, hey I think I found it!"

"No no." Joamer replied.  "The door is supposed to be blue... and and.. that one's grey."

"Oh, right." Ron said.  "I'll just...I... I'll keep looking."


To be continued...

Joamer sat on a rock and starred at the sky. He knew it was a false image, but still, the view of the galaxy lazily sprawled across the night time sky was simply breathtaking. He looked over at his fireteam and sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time. They were still trying to find the 'blue' door.

Shaking his head he tapped the body of his ARMAT M41-A Pulse Rifle softly several times, he felt the wind shift. A second later a soft pop echoed behind him, sliding off the rock he spun onto his stomach and peered into the gloom, no movement or sound came again to justify his reaction.

A few seconds later he heard Ron shout "Aha! Found the blue door." This was when things began to go wrong.

He turned around to see big blue begin to slowly stand on it's own, the cockpit windows glowed an ominous dark red. He stood up and walked over to Ron, Beta, and Bloodhound, Ron looked at him and shook his head. He could see every ones eyes were completely clear now, the effects of whatever it is they were smoking were suddenly gone.

"Ron, please turn off the red window glowing AT-AT." Joamer said very softly.

"Tried, it's not working anymore." Ron said just as quietly. Bloodhound only remained quiet and starred at the towering monstrosity.

A second later the head swiveled down and paused. Joamer could of swore he heard a deep growl emit from the transports belly, but that would of been crazy. Right?

"Run."

He was not sure which of the four of them said that. But, they all took off in the same direction as the MS-1 heavy laser cannons, and the medium repeating blasters opened fire. Joamer could feel the air increase in temperature as the three men ran. They did not bother to stop and try to find cover, nothing they had would even dent the armor of that thing.

"What about... explosives?" Bloodhound suggested between gasping for breath. He leaped over a small boulder and kept running. Ron was dodging trees and he pounded on his datapad. A long string of curses was coming from his mouth every few seconds.

A few seconds later Joamer said "If I had time, maybe. But, that thing seems like it wants to kill us. Maybe even eat us." He knew it sounded crazy, but for some reason it made sense. Tapping his comlink he switched to the squads open frequency and said "Rendezvous point anywhere. We have major problems."

Joamer slammed into a tree that was not there a second ago and crashed to the ground. He looked up to see a long line stream across the sky. The night and day cycles seemed to speed up extremely quickly, as well as the weather going from hot to cold to rain every few seconds.

"Ron, what the fraking hell did you do?" The voice of Havock came over the commlink a second later.

There was something wrong with the system.  Something terribly wrong.  But it wasn't a bug, or a virus; it wasn't a worm or poor coding, nor was it anything that technically could be labled as a programing mistake.  It was simply that the entire system had hinged off of the wildly high mind of one of the most unstable troopers in the squad, Ron.

It wasn't to say that Ron wasn't a good trooper, on the contrary he was one of the best comtechs and battle slicers employed in the vast empire's services.  It was just... well what can one do when one is under the influence of drugs?  Just about anything under the moon is feasable.

Needless to say, an AT AT with fourty-four turbo laser canons, a luxury yaht, and six hundred sixty-three female sex slaves all on top of one huge hovering beach platform was way too much for the system to handle, never mind Ron.  But the worst part of it was the fact that he was still ording up more from Polonius, the system administrator.  And the rest of the team was asking him to order stuff as well.

Suddenly it happened.  Blackout.  The entire simulated world crashed in one foul swoop when someone (it is thought to have been Joamer) asked for a two hundred foot tall chocolate fountain.  It crashed the system, there was a black out, and then suddenly everyone found themselves in the simulation waiting room.

"What happened?" Joamer said, rubbing his head.  The blackout had seriously messed with their abilities to think, as the transition from virtual to the real world had been drastically sudden.

"I think I overloaded the system." Ron apologized.  "Too much stuff."

"Well." Jae said.  "What have we learned?"

The group was silent for a while, mostly because they all had terrible headaches.  It wasn't until Ron started laughing to himself that they all started to feel a little bit easier.

"Don't do drugs."

OOC:

Tada.