Joamer walked the corridors slowly as he wrapped his wrists. After Havock and him had gotten back from Coruscant he had spent the last few days alone in his house. Now, though, he needed to burn off some energy. So he came to the squads barracks to find something to punch around. He had to pass through the Platoons executive offices to get to the gym.

He came to a stop as the door to Jegora's office slid open and out stepped Havock and Jaenna. It took them a long moment before they noticed him standing to the side of the hallway. He looked at how they were dressed and grinned. Judging by the amount of perspiration on both of them, they had already been sparring. Neither looked worse for wear, but they both tended to go easy, atleast on each other.

Havock's face lit up as she smiled, after a second she said "Hey Joa."

He watched as Jaenna saw the smile, her face grew from annoyance to open anger. He looked down to see her right fit open and close slowly. He finished wrapping one of his wrists and began working on the other one as he stepped closer to both females.

"Where you been hiding yourself?" Havock said quietly, as they began walking down the hallway.

"At my house, I needed some time alone." Joamer said as he studied how his wrist wrapping was going.

He heard Jaenna say softly under her breath "You should of stayed there."

Havock seemed to ignore it and continued to walk as she nodded slowly. After a second she said "We have a new mission now, some deep cover thing. Details will be later, the meeting is in a few hours. So you should come back with your equipment soon."

Havock stopped walking and turned to face Jaenna and Joamer. They had been muttering back and forth to each other quietly. Most of what was said could not be heard, but a few things she did manage to catch.

"You two knock it off. I'm not some helpless damsel that needs rescuing every second." Havock said angrily.

Jae and Joa both turned to stare at Havock, their faces were mirror images of each other. The only thing that stopped them from saying "Yea, right." was Havock's sudden glare to both of them.

"Hav, why don't you go to the condo and get our bags." Jae said softly as she looked over at Joamer. "I want to be alone with Joa for a few minutes." After a long silent second Jae said "Could you also, please, send a message to the squad. Tell them we have a new mission, briefing in two hours."

Havock turned her glare on Jae, but quickly let it drop from her face. She shook her head and stomped away, Joamer could hear the footsteps fade down the corridor long after she had gone. He turned to face Jae and instead met her fist making contact with his face.

The weeks of annoyance and anger over her vanishing without a single word came instantly to his mind, a second later he punched her in the stomach. He blocked the next jab and grabbed her by the neck. Hurling her into the gym door he stepped in after her and got kicked in his chest for his troubles.

"That's how it's going to be then." Joamer said as his fist made contact with her face. She staggered for an instant before she swung a quick left, he blocked it but missed the right swing as it hit his side.

"You, do not get to be alone with her, ever!" Jaenna shouted as she smashed his nose with his fist. "She is mine!" The last word was gargled as Joamer made contact with her mouth.

Joamer grabbed Jae by the throat and slammed his fist into her face. After looking into her furious eyes for a second he said "We were alone." He punched her again. "For two weeks." Hits her again. "Nothing happened!." He shouted as he punched her one last time, this time letting go causing her stagger backwards, she regained her footing and wiped the blood from her lip.

She rolled her neck a few times and spit out blood that had been building up from her cut lip. He smiled as she motioned with both of her hands for him to step forward.

Taking three steps to the left he swung low and watched as she dodged the hit, only to miss his other arm making contact with the side of her head. He also missed the low jab to his stomach.

"You know, you are really stubborn sometimes." Joamer said as he grabbed Jaenna by the wrist and made a quick jab to her side.

She smiled as she spun around and out of his grasp. Shaking her head she stepped forward and brought her arms back up.




Havock walked the corridors half angry and annoyed at Jaenna and Joamer. On her shoulder were two bags, with what she hoped they would need for the mission ahead. If not, they could always go back to the condo.

Besides, the shower there was more private. She thought to herself.

She smiled as she remembered the night they had returned from Coruscant. Jaenna had been furious with both of them, but the long hours spent convincing her nothing happened was almost worth the trip. She felt Joamer and her had reached a decision finally. She knew he would always be there for her, standing just to the side just in case she needed him. If he survived Jaenna that is. She was not sure what those two were doing, but she figured it was not talking calmly.

After a long minute of remembrance she came back to the present and mumbled to herself. She had almost forgot to contact the squad about the mission. Reaching into her pack she pulled out a datapad and quickly recorded a message. "New mission, briefing in two hours. Do not be late." Hitting send she replaced the pad and continued walking.

She stopped in her tracks as she saw Jaenna and Joamer sitting on the floor of the sparring room wiping blood from their faces and laughing.

"How about that time she got captured by the Barbarians?" Jaenna said as she tried to stop her lip from bleeding.

"That was just before I joined you guys." Joamer said as he grabbed his nose and realigned it with a sickening crunch. A second later he grunted and closed his eyes as the pain hit.

"What the frak did you do." Havock said as the shock wore off.

Jaenna and Joamer both looked up and smiled. A second later they laughed quietly.

Fiori seemed to have settled in nicely after her first day in RAIDERS. She was spending a great deal of time with Vee, who had apparently decided that the little redhead amused him. She had slept in the bunk next to his in the men's barracks the last few nights. With Havock and Jaenna having their own place to live, the women's barracks now consisted of Fiori and Aeos, the latter being unusually quiet in her sleeping habits. Fiori didn't like the feeling of sleeping alone. She was used to sleeping in a room with her brothers, staying up past bedtime, talking about their adventures during the day, and pulling the occasional prank on whoever fell asleep first.

"I just can't sleep in there. Aeos is so quiet, I can barely hear her sleep. I need to hear someone breathing or shifting in the night... or better yet, snoring."

Vee looked at her with a quizzical look on his face, trying to figure out if she was joking or not.

"What? My brothers snored. After you sleep in the same room with 4 boys most of your life, you just get used to it. Then when it's gone, you start to miss it." She shrugged and smiled.

He gave her an odd sort of half-smile. "Don't get too comfortable in there. I don't like getting jumped in my sleep."

While it was true she liked the noises of other people near her while she slept, she was still more comfortable around guys than girls. She didn't know how to talk to other members of her gender, much less be friends with them. Her relationship with Aeos would take time to develop, and in the meantime, she spent most of her time with the boys of RAIDERS.... they didn't seem to mind much.

Her slight shyness had worn off, and she was starting to feel like herself again. After getting shot in the training sim, she had upped her personal training. Mostly out of competitiveness, but the boys had also been hinting that she was still fresh, and even though she got through basic, she had a long ways to go before she'd be up to snuff. It was for training that she had been awakened by a pillow to the head. She was a heavy sleeper, and Vee had taken to finding new ways of waking her up in the mornings. He was standing over her, first cigarette of the day already half-burned in his mouth, the offending pillow gripped in his hand.

"Get up, you. I'll drag you out of that bed if I have to."

"Mmmmmmppphhhgoaway"

Another blow to the head by the pillow, and Vee ripped the blanket off of her.

"We have a briefing in 2 hours on a new mission, and you need to get some training in before we leave."

"Alright, alright. I'm getting up."

She turned over, and almost instantly fell back asleep. Vee smirked. He grabbed her arms, and dragged her off the bed and onto the floor, then pulled her up on her feet. She didn't object. He marched her to the showers, and turned on the cold water, soaking her tanktop and shorts. She fully woke up in an instant, and stepped to the side of the stream of freezing cold water as fast as she could.

"Okay, I'm up. I promise. Now get out of here so I can take a proper shower."

"5 minutes. Then we leave for your training."

Havock sat hunched down in the chair, crossing her arms and trying not to scowl every-time she looked at Joamer or Jaenna. The two of them had been fighting...over her?!? Havock was mad, but it was so damn hard to be mad at either of them since for the first time in over a month they were talking and laughing again. It still irked her that they acted like that.

Jae sighed and sat down next to Hav. The majority of the squad had arrived. Bacredi patted Joamer on the shoulder as he passed the group and headed towards his seat. "I'm sorry."

Havock shook her head and turned to look at Jaenna. Her eye was bruised and Hav could still see all the cuts that she had wiped the blood away from just an hour before they arrived at the briefing together.

"I know. I don't understand why you two can't just talk. But whatever, as long as this non-sense is over with." Havock started to stand and Jae put her hand on her shoulder gently pushing her back down into the chair.

"I mean, I'm sorry I thought...you and Joamer..." Jae squinted as she searched for the right words but gave up when she saw Havock smiling at her.

"Okay, it's okay. I can get kinda stupid when it comes to you too"

Jae smirked, which must have hurt because she immediately grimaced, then shook her head. She was about to say something else when a figure leaned over the chairs in front of the two girls.

Decembrist lit a cigarette and blew out a large puff of smoke before he spoke. "So you ladies just gonna flirt all day, or we going to have a mission? Not that I'm complaining."

Havock coughed a bit from the smoke and waved her hand in front of her face. Jae just shook her head. "Right."

Jaenna stood at the front of the room with Joamer and Havock on either side of her and pushed the buttons on a small holoprojector bringing up a picture of a green and blue planet.

"This is Qiilura, We have received intel that their Viceroy is going to be kidnapped by a merc group. The group goes by the name, Nyimins Watchers. Our job, for now, is to go to the capital city in civilian clothes and try to gather some intel of our own to find out who hired these Watchers, and to stop the kidnapping from happening. You can take your personal weapons, but we need to be inconspicuous. We will be leaving from the hanger in exactly an hour from now, so you need to head in that direction after the briefing. I've sent information that we do have to your datapads. The Nyimins are an interesting people. It appears that they're human, but in their culture only women hold positions of power, men are second-class citizens. They should be interesting people to run into." Jae smirked and looked around the room. The grimaces on the men's faces were priceless. "And we are dismissed RAIDERS."

The groups quickly dispersed, a few of the women gave winks to the men in the room that only got them more aggravated. Joamer walked up behind Havock. "We have a ship yet? You know we can't take the RAIDERS transport unless we want this to be the shortest undercover mission ever in VE history."

Havock turned and glared at Joamer. "You know you already told me that, and I told you I would take care of it." Havock sighed, and nodded towards Bacredi. "He is letting us borrow one of his ships, it will get us where we need to go."

Jaenna came up behind them both and clapped them on the shoulders. "Well come on you two. We need to get the ship prepped and ready to go."

OOC:

Sorry about the length guys, still not feeling my best. Get your butts on the ship, once we are all there feel free to take off. I'll find out from Bacredi later the specifics on the transport. PM me if you have any questions, until my laptop is returned to me from the evil repair gnomes I'm limited in my access. 

The room got quiet after Aeos had left him to his thoughts. Truthfully he was not thinking about Havock, well, not all about her. His mind was going over possibilities and contingencies for the mission. It would be his first time as FTC officially while on a mission. Even though the title held no power until the group separated, it cemented his place as third in command. Something, that had never happened before.

It had been assumed for months now that he was third, but nothing was said to confirm it. Now the squad would look to him for decisions when the other two were busy. He could see it in their eyes, the question on would he fail them. Until you were tested you never knew your worth, or ability. His old mentor had said.

Back during Hrail he had become the acting assistant Squad Leader of Wraith. Kand had not given him that title, but he just assumed the position when Helena had up and vanished on them. Those were a few weeks he wished he could forget. Most missions with Wraith were like that though, he had had more then one nightmare from past Wraith missions over the years. He was just waiting for the next one.

He heard the door open and looked up, a low ranking noncom stepped into the room holding a datapad. His eyes seemed to dart back and forth nervously. Obviously the rumors that were going around the Academy had gotten to the young man.

"Yes, Corporal. What is it." Joamer was not really in the mood for surprises right now.

"I am to deliver this to the Raiders squad leader, or her assistant." The young man said shakily.

"They are.. busy right now. " Joamer said. "I'm the next best thing, just give it to me."

The young man walked up and paused as he looked as Joamer's face. Holding out his hand for a long moment the young man placed the pad into his palm and began quickly walking away.

Feeling playful Joamer said "Don't look into their eyes, they usually don't attack if you don't look in their eyes." He said,  the young man increased his pace.

Chuckling softly to himself he activated the pad and keyed in his access code. The message began decrypting after a few seconds. He read over the short transfer orders and swore softly. After a second he said "Yea, always with the surprises."

Standing up Joamer walked out of the briefing room and down the hallway. He passed the general sleeping area for fresh recruits, and began walking down the corridor of separate rooms for the older seasoned members.

Pausing at one door he knocked gently. He heard a soft "come in" a few seconds later. Hitting the door button he stepped inside to see Aeos glaring at several articles of clothing, and a few blasters. She looked up at him, her expression changed to something softer for a second before she peered back down at her bed.

He went to say something but she said first "I am not calling you sir, so don't even ask me that." He saw the small smirk form on her lips before she glared at one pistol in particular.

"I actually hate being called sir, but that's not the point. Be careful out there, our missions tend to have a way of... going bad on us." He said softly, she nodded as she picked up one of the pistols. It looked battle worn, but still useful. She tossed it on the bed, and sighed again.

He stepped out of the room and started walking again. Stopping at his door he hit the door key and stepped inside. On his bed lay a change of clothes, pieces of light body armor, a weapons belt, a long leather coat, and a rifle case.

Quickly stripping off his clothes he began slipping on the light body armor. It would not protect against a straight shot, but it might just deflect that one round that would do him in. It was basically only thin energy resistant material. For deep cover missions such as these, it worked well.

Over it went black pants, a black sleeveless shirt, two long wristbands that had a few hidden accessories in them, his weapons belt with his MG-1 Particle Magnum in it's holster, and his jack-boots. Picking up his coat, and the rifle case he stepped out of the room and made his way quickly to the hangar.

A few minutes later he walked out of the backdoor and into the squads hangar area. Jaenna and Havock were standing near the entrance to the Ye 4 gunship, their bags resting near their feet. Their hair was slightly damp, and their clothes were fresh. He smirked slightly, it caused them to grin after a second.

"Figures he would choose this ship. The Starry Citadel, temperamental to fly. If she does not break down on us, we should be in good hands." Joamer said as he walked up.

"You know her?" Jaenna said. He nodded as he handed her the datapad.

She quickly activated it, after a second she began swearing to herself rather loudly. Havock looked over at him and he shrugged. After a few moments he said "I'm always the one to give this transfer orders to you two. Ron is being placed as Squad Leader of Wraith."

Havock growled softly to herself. Joamer set the rifle case on the ground and crossed his arms to wait. He began thinking contingencies again, after a minute he said "You know, I've lead squads full of new Cadets into missions before. I've helped lead squads full of seasoned troopers before. Never had a hand in leading a squad mostly full of vets though. This should get very interesting when everyone's opinions start to come out."

Jaenna was still glaring at the datapad, he knew within a few minutes she would hurl it across the tarmac, it was only a matter of time. Havock watched her out of the corner of her eye as she processed what Joamer had just said. After a moment she quietly asked "You think that will happen?"

He nodded in answer. After a long moment of watching Jaenna Joamer said "Too bad this is not like last time, no human shield moment now."

Havock turned to glare at him, she playfully popped him on the shoulder. A second later the tell-tail sound of a datapad smashing into the ground was heard.

They both looked up to see Jaenna glaring at the offending destroyed pad. She turned around to see both of them begin to laugh.

The voices had been temporarily silenced as Karash prepared his things for the mission that lay ahead, which he was not looking forward to, not at all. It did not take very long for Karash to prepare himself; he was wearing a shabby looking shirt and jacket, had medical supplies packed (and lots of them) and his KYD-21 blaster pistol tucked away.

“Carrying this lot of medical kit away with me...” Karash sighed. “... Look like some sort of missionary.” It took quite some time for Karash to realise he was on his own and there would be no reply.

Karash left and began to make his way towards the Starry Citadel, the ship in which the Raiders were travelling in and there was no doubt in his mind that the ship would be a cut below what he was used to. Suddenly a cold breeze rushed through him, it felt as though it passed straight through, it was more than a breeze. The sensation flooded over him again and again until it finally stuck within him and suddenly Karash was filled with anger, hatred, sadness...

“Are you alright?” the voice came from an unknown woman in the corridor.

Karash had turned a ghostly shade of white, was sweating profusely and had removed his gun from its holster. “I am fine! Now get out of my way!” Karash barged passed and ran off down the corridor not really paying attention to where he was going.

‘Look at you, acting like a fool. Never will be any better...” the voice within Karash’s head almost sounded like a hiss.

Karash tried to ignore it but it would not go away, it was there echoing throughout his mind, it wouldn’t stop it wouldn’t go away and then in an instant it was gone again; nothing but a misty memory that could or could not have happened. But what worried Karash the most was the fact that he had once again gotten to his destination without knowing how he had done so. He stood on the spot panting and shivering, trying desperately to work out what had just happened and what he might have done.

There were voices that were coming from just behind a group of crates that must have been a few of the Raiders but Karash did not approach because he was worried about what he must look like. He was just a little stressed that was all, nothing was seriously wrong; he would be fine; wouldn’t he?

“Hey Karash, you alright?” said the voice of the squads ASL, Havock.

“Perfectly, thank you very much.” Karash said in his usual manner.

“Karash, can I ask for your help? ” Havock looked a bit uncomfortable.

‘Can’t be bothered to carry on the fine name of Norgath! But will help these pieces of slime!’ The voice of Karash’s father spoke with a cruel malevolence.

“Stop it! Get out!” Karash had once again lost control of himself and seemed to look on at the scene from a different point of view.

Karash knew that something was not right within himself and he knew that he should stay away from the mission and get help. However he refused to believe that he needed any help, refused to believe anything was wrong but eventually the demons within would surly break free; one way or another.

OOC:

I apologise for any spelling or grammar mistakes but I am really tired.

The Ye-4 Gunship shook as it exited hyperspace. Havock leaned over the pilots chair to get a better look at the scene of the planet filling the viewport. It may have just been her current mood, but Qiilura was a beautiful sight. The combination of the green forests and the grey mountains, clashed with incredible symmetry to the blue oceans.

"Need something, Ayme?"

With a sigh, she smirked and raised her eyebrow as she turned to look at Joamer. "Just admiring the view.” She blinked and thought about what she just said. “...of the planet." The last three words were rushed out as she realized that he could take that another way if she didn't add them.

Bacredi had been kind enough to lend them the vessel for the mission, even after he found out about his transfer. Now the RAIDERS were able to get planet side without even the local security knowing. This could be a good or bad thing, depending on how things ended up going in the capital city.

Ayme glanced at Joamer in the pilot’s seat. She had to help Jaenna with some last minute planning, so she decided to give up the pilot's chair just this once. Joamer was flipping switches and getting the gunship ready to land. He must have noticed her standing there, because he paused and turned to her, then he winked.

Havock shook her head and rolled her eyes at her friend, before she turned and made her way back to the main compartment with the rest of the squad. She had no doubt that Joamer could handle port security.

She was so lost in thought as she made her way through the crew area she tripped over Njall’s blaster rifle that he had slightly in the walkway. “Geeze Njall, trying to kill me here?”

Beta next to him started to laugh, which Havock silenced with a glare. “No Sarge, I didn’t know it was in the way.” The PFC stumbled over every word as he reached down to try to fix the position of the rifle.

“Relax Njall. I’m not really mad at you. I tend to trip a lot.” Another glare silenced Beta’s laugher and nodding once again.

“How much longer will it be until we land, Sarge?”

She glanced at her chono before turning back to Njall. “Not much longer actually, once Joamer clears us through security we should be on the ground in no more than fifteen minutes.” With one final nod, Havock made her way back to her seat to prepare for the landing.

Falling into the seat next to Jaenna, she glanced at Karash who was sitting on her other side fiddling with a datapad.

Jae didn't even look up from her datapad. "Everything okay in the cockpit?"

"Yea, Joa can handle it. Although if he keeps cursing at the ship, she may start to take it personally." Joamer had been complaining about the ship since he saw it docked in the hanger.

With one final nod, Jaenna put the datapad down and flashed Havock with her green eyes. "Everything alright with you?"

"Me? Yeah I'm fine." The ASL ran her hand through her hair and laughed a bit before smiling.

Jae looked up and down at the civilian clothes the girl sitting next to her was currently wearing. "Seriously, what's with all the pockets? I don't think you own one thing that doesn't have pockets."

Havock laughed, which prompted Karash to look up from whatever he was doing and glare at the pair of women. "I like pockets, you never know when you might need a place to put something."

Jae smirked, and Havock couldn’t help but notice how easy it was sometimes to derail her thoughts. They stayed like that for a long minute just looking at one another, the sound of the squad seemed to die down. The two were slowly drifting towards one another. Karash cleared his throat, just in time, and both girls jumped.

Hav shook her head and rubbed the back of her neck, nervously. "Heh."

Jae had to stifle a laugh, she put her hand on Havock's knee and leaned over to get a better view of the squad’s medic. "What's that you’re working on Karash?"

"I'm compiling medical information, basic first aid right now, if you must know." Karash grimaced. He had been becoming more and more distant since they returned from their leave after the Thrawn attack, and Havock for one was getting concerned.

She frowned. "But you know all of that. What would you need with that kind of information?"

Karash shook his head and raised his very tired eyes to look at his ASL. "It’s for her not me." Havock frowned even more, and now Jaenna was raising her eyebrows as well. Karash growled and looked like he wanted to start ripping apart the room for some reason. "I'm the only medic in this insane squad, and you get injured by far the most, Sergeant. So a rudimentary knowledge of medicine, thereby at least knowing when you need to tell me things seemed like a good idea."

"Heh." Havock blinked at the man, now noticing how dark the bags under his eyes had become. "Thank you Karash."

"That's not a bad idea at all. You really are a disaster magnet." Jaenna nudged Havock with her elbow.

"Am I now?" She pushed her back playfully. They both laughed and Karash rolled his eyes and got back to work.

The members of the Raiders squad sat in their transport as it landed, below them a whole new adventure or possible disaster laid before them. They sat and planned out what they thought would be the best course of events, it rarely ever went the way planned but Karash wasn’t really listening to what was said; he looked like he was but really he just sat with nothing but his own mind for company. Lately all he could think about was his own mental and physical health, the voice that had plagued his entire life and the brother that haunted his every dream. But he wasn’t going to let it get in the way of this mission; Karash would get the help he needed just after the mysteries this planet held had revealed themselves. 

“Karash we need to get going.” Havock loomed over Karash as she spoke, looking down at him.

“What? Oh yes, sure.” As he spoke Karash began to move off of the transport.

The RAIDERS all stood in a small group trying not to draw attention to themselves but every now and then one of them would nod and look around, to make it look like they were tourists of some sort. They looked different from usual as they were all stood in civilian clothes, Karash was used to seeing them in full armour either that or in some sort of trouble that needed medical attention. ‘They’re all looking at you’ whispered a shrill voice, Karash looked around but no one was there.

“Alright, just go and try to find something, anything that might be useful to us.” The squads’ leader finished speaking and they began to disperse in their own little groups. 

Karash did not really feel comfortable around other people at the moment and just tried to slip away unnoticed. As he moved away he caught a glimpse of Havock bumbling with some of her new medical equipment, she had recently joined the medic spec and from what Karash had heard she was a little accident prone; no different from her general self really. Karash was glad that she could not hear that last thought because she would be less that happy about it.

The city was generally the same as any other that Karash had been in before; building, people and traffic but set in what Karash had imagined being an idyllic backdrop. ‘There watching you, they are following you now!' The voice within his head was louder and more urgent than before, Karash could almost feel the words inside him. As he turned around there was something that appeared to duck out of view when he turned but there couldn’t be anything there, could there?

“Do you mind?” Karash spoke without thinking; he had bumped into another person.

The other person did nothing but grunt and continued to walk on but Karash instantly got the feeling that he could have compromised the whole mission. He wandered the streets for a few more minuets heading to a cantina that he had heard mentioned whilst he was on the squad transport. Once he had got to the cantina in question something immediately caught his attention.

“She said… Watchers are…” Karash could not hear or understand the full conversation as the two people entered the same cantina which he was about to enter.

He still had the feeling that there was someone else watching him, not that same ‘crazy’ feeling he had been getting recently but a real feeling as if someone was actually there. Never the less Karash entered the building and tried to be as inconspicuous as someone like him could be. But he was sure that what ever awaited him would either help to make or break this entire mission the RAIDERS were on.

OOC:

Woooooow. I'm sorry for complaining about my writing all the time, but it keeps getting worse and worse. Cheers for activity.

Free reign. The Raiders’ Leader just handed Vasili free reign. Apparently it was amateur hour in the officer’s lounge when Jegora decided to elect these two women as command. He wouldn’t ask a third time if they were serious. Not like he had the opportunity with Ae pulling him off anyways.

“So what’s the deal? We playing tourist-couple or Boris and Natasha?” Vee asked mockingly at her as they walked off, referencing the myth of the two rebels that infiltrated Palpatine’s Empire and brought it down one Moff at a time. He dipped his hand down and flicked the ash off his smoke.

“We’re playing nothing D-“ she hesitated as she started to say his callsign, wary of giving away their intentions. “-Vasili. And for the love of God, our command has enough fist fights for the whole squad. Don’t start anything with me. Not this time.”

Vasili was taken aback that she responded this way. Usually she just hits him. Supposedly it was the civvies they were wearing that kept her from acting on her threat. All business, no fun for the female half of the duo walking towards the market.

Tinkering with his lighter now, not really paying attention to what Aeos was peering for on the sides of the streets (probably these ‘Watchers’ he kept hearing about), “So what do I call you?”

She shrugged it off, “Just ‘Aeos’.”

“That’s not your name.”

“It sounds like a name, though. Nobody’s gonna think ‘Decembrist’ is your name.” She picked up her pace, head transfixed towards a certain something.

“We should find some beer…” he trailed off as his head transfixed on a certain something, stopping himself from uttering out loud about the pistol tucked into the back of her shorts.

Aeos stopped a bit ahead and all of a sudden Dec was aware of the surrounding market. There was always something about the sight of the woman in her business mode that straightened Vee’s demeanor. He caught up with her.

“So what now?” he asked, a bit of seriousness now in his voice.

“The Cantinas are already being covered, you’ll have to wait for your alcohol.”

Vee handed her a small flask, reeking of alcohol with the cover off. She looked incredulously at him and he put on a face behind his sunglasses that said “What? Katie’s been a good mule for me.” Aeos took the flask without further investigation.

“So… if I were the leader of a crazy woman-cult, what stores would I want to go to?” Vee took the opportunity of Aeos drinking to start the process.

“Guns,” she uttered, pulling the flask away from her lips.

“Really? Because I was thinking dresses and jewelry.”

Aeos slammed the drink into her chauvinist’s chest. “They’re women looking for political uprising, not a nice date.”

“So we go to the gun shop first,” taking his flask back and lighting another cigarette, “then you use your feminine senses to scope out some girly places.”

"I don't want her to be mad at me, Joa... I don't want you to be mad at me. I..." Jaenna took a deep breath as her entire body seemed to quiver as she wept into the chest of her friend. It was so odd, to be held by Joamer despite her deep anger at him. It felt good to be held, though, as she cried into him. "I can't stand people being mad at me." She whimpered softly, as she lifted her head to look at the man holding her. Her green eyes were made brighter by her tears, her cheeks flushed from the crying itself. Her shoulders continued to quake lightly as she looked at him. She didn't know why she was even looking at him. She was so mad at him. Even after their little spar and laughing with each other again. She was so friggin' mad at the man.

Joamer tried to smile, but in all actuality, he just couldn't. He hated seeing his good friend upset like this. Those eyes. It made Joamer still for a quick moment. The same eyes that he had noticed during the mission on Hrail. "Jaenna..." He was caught of guard suddenly as she pressed her forehead against his chest again, with a little bit of force this time, causing him to stumble for only a second. He sighed and wrapped his arms around the girl, squeezing a little tighter.

"I'm sorry Joa." Jaenna said quietly, slightly muffled by Joa's chest. "I'm so sorry. I can't... I can't stand being mad at you. You're my best friend. You've helped me through so much, and yet. I'm mad at you because you're close with Havock. I know you're in love with her. I know you would do anything for her. But I'm still just so ehffin' angry with you!" At the last few words, her volume raised a bit.

Joamer chuckled nervously as he looked towards the entrance of the ally way and saw a few passers-by standing there watching the two troopers with rather confused looks on their faces. Joamer chuckled nervously again and waved them by. The watchers shrugged and continued on their way. "Jae-" He was cut off by the girl's crying again. This time, it wasn't just crying though. Joamer stumbled back into the wall behind him as he felt her fists gently hitting his shoulders as she seemed to go into a sort of fit. It was obvious to him that she was very upset. He stood there, holding her tightly as he let her take anger out on him with the light hits from his fists. "Sssh. Calm down." He spoke softly, planting a light kiss to the top of her head. The fists stopped hitting him, and he felt her slump more into him, though tht sobbing was beginning to quiet down. "I got you, hun. It'll be okay."

Jaenna whimpered softly, tears still slowly trickling down her cheek, her green eyes bright with emotion. She looked up at the man holding her, the expression on her face making her look like a lost child who had so many regrets. Her voice was soft, almost inaudible, but she knew that Joamer would here her. That's all she cared about. "I'm sorry I assumed you and Ayme... I'm sorry, Joa." She said quietly as she rested her cheek on his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly, taking a deep breath to further calm herself down. She sighed and kept looking out towards the street, thinking about Havock and about how she feared talking to the girl about her decision to step down from Squad Leader. "Do you think she hates me?" She asked quietly, knowing that Joa would know exactly what she was talking about.

"Shush about that right now." He retaliated. He put his hands on Jae's shoulders and pushed her back a bit to look at her, but she kept her head turned, refusing to look him in the eyes. "Look at me, girl. Don't be stubborn." Jaenna huffed and turned her head to look at him, her cheek puffed out in slight annoyance. "Oh stop it. Now listen. I'm not mad, Ayme be mad. I'm sure nobody will be mad. We just worry about you. Ayme and I have been noticing changes in your... attitude. How you move. How you act. We were getting really worried. We knew that you needed to eventually take a break. Now you have that break. Sure, you're still an ASL, but it's not as hard as being SL. You made the right choice. No body is going to be mad at you. If anything we are happy you made the decision." He put a finger to Jae's lips as she began to speak, cutting her off. "Oh don't you dare say it's because you were a bad SL and people will just be glad to not have to serve under you. Because that's not it at all." Jaenna smiled and leaned back into Joa's chest. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her tightly. "And it's okay. Don't be sorry."

Jaenna nodded, but stayed quiet, happy to just be held by her best friend again.

OOC:

Yaaaay! Crappy CD that was needed. I'll get more into the story with my next post. This was all I could do right now.

“Show me the F D-double Tee at the back to the left,” 

The large twilek grunted in response, his muscular frame twisted around, and snapped back to face them, this time a deep crimson-tinted pistol in his one hand. He pushed it over the holotable at them. The images of weaponry that displayed through the glass whizzed into black and white as the strange metal compound interacted with the frequency before righting itself. That was the problems with these backwater shops. They employed backwater technology, security and client-confidentiality. 

“How many credits for this baby” Decembrist asked eagerly, his eyes glinting with the red of the pistol.

“Tsk tsk” the dealer snapped, his lips pulling together as if berating a child for his over-eagerness. He slammed his fist softly on the glass, images of guns scatting and whizzing again before spreading his palm.

“I’m not trading in direct credits brother,” Aeos murmured.

“No credits, no deal lady,” he snapped at her in a heavy accentuated basic.

“Sithspawn” Decembrist muttered dejectedly. Aeos rolled her eyes.

“Jewel shop?”

“Third corner from here if you take a right at the left across the street at the yellow light,”

Decembrist walked shaking his head and slinging his arm around Aeos’ neck casually.

“Talk about confusing directions, and I thought it’s bad on Coruscant!”

Aeos unhooked herself from his arm to whack him across the head. Hard.

“I get it, no secrets” Decembrist muttered, his hand gingerly patting at the back where fingers had burned into the skin that got whapped at.

With some little difficultly from Aeos’ part, they found the little tuckshop squeezed in between all the rest of the semi-glorious buildings surrounding it. It was always ironic for Aeos how the shops that made the backbone of criminal empires were often those that seemed less like it.

“Joam…” she pointed Decembrist to the large frame of their Fire Team Captain who despite his giant frame had trouble poking his head above the sea of crowds. Decembrist who somehow for once had the intention of taking her semi-seriously in-mission nodded and headed off towards the direction of Joamer. Well, maybe there was some intention and conditional involved for which she had to pay. He was fresh out of credits and he really wanted that red toy they saw earlier. She quirked her eyebrows and sighed.

“Men,” she muttered to herself softly and entering the shop.

Inside was nothing at all what Aeos had expected from an illegitimate jewel dealer. In fact, there was nothing of any worth to be seen if monkeys didn’t count. Aeos’ mouth hanged slightly agape at the huge variety of monkeys she saw hanging from the ceilings and various poles which protruded from the wall.  There the brown and black ones, but among them she even spotted, blue and red. Bald, and furred and even scaled.  Various chitters and chatters emitted in various frequencies from their little mouths all varying in different shape, sizes and teeth.  A feminine cough from the back interrupted her moment of awe.

“Yes?” a voice croaked at her.

  Aeos turned around and it was with difficulty she managed to hide her surprise at the sight of an old lady with grey and tinted red hair that stared at her through a set of designer holo-glasses which balanced unaided on the high and knobby bridge of her crooked nose.  The woman had lost the posture of her physical elegance many winters ago, but it still shone through her piercing gaze and for a moment Aeos felt as if she was back at dance class, expecting the smack of a wooden pole against her calve for failing to straighten it.

“Pet-shop or jewelry?” Aeos asked slowly with wide and confused innocent eyes. Her face scrounged up in sincere bewilderment.

“How did you find this place?” the lady croaked again.

“Makiyo from the arm-“

“Ah! Makiyo, in that case dear, whichever you want. Pets or jewels,” the croak in her voice lifted slightly and she shuffled over to her desk which was cramped into the one corner vacant of cages.  She gestured enthusiastically for Aeos to take a seat as well.  All pretense of strictness suddenly gone.

“Oh Palpatine! Sod off!”

A black and grey monkey hopped off her desk to the floor and scuttled away in rapid motion. Aeos found herself half-way stuck between humoring the situation and laugh or just to allow her bewilderment to grow.

“Errr, well, if my rough estimates are correct, these chips should set me good,”  Aeos scratched around the satchel she carried at her hip and took a seat. She pulled a hand full of square centimeter plated objects from it. The chips were decorated in a spidery threads of gold cybertronics encoded onto the surface.

“The name is Dorus” she muttered while taking one chip from Aeos’ hand.

“Glass!” she snapped an index finger and thumb together and from the wall a small open whirred open before a magnifying glasss spurred out. She pulled the mechanism closer to her face to study the chip Aeos handed her.

“Well dear, whatever your business is, I’ll keep my nose out of it, I haven’t seen this model of chips yet, only read a bit of it on the Holonet. Quite expensive what you’ve got here,”

“And none-traceable,” Aeos said in a matter of fact tone.

The lady glanced up at her.

“Of course”  she muttered in response softly.

“Let me just make these calculations and I’ll hand you some stones,”

“Naturally, and err…if I may ask Ma’am…where does the  monkeys come in?” Aeos asked, a monkey dropped onto her shoulder with a surprising yet pleasant add of warm weight that nuzzled into her neck.

“I actually do run a pet shop as well dear,”

Aeos turned her head around and scratched the back of her head, her eyebrows scrounging up in confused curiosity. The adorable little piece of weight dropped off and spurred away.

“You need to be off as well, I’ll have your stones read in the afternoon, we can conclude the transaction then,”  Dorus muttered her eyes still studying the one chip she took from Aeos. Aeos nodded.

“Of course, of course, “she muttered hastily. The chair scraped as Aeos got up. She made for the in haste. Decembrist and Joamer were waiting outside for her. 

“And Aeos…you might want to be a bit more discreet with that little face of yours, you haven’t changed in the fifteen years I had seen you last…”

OOC:

Please do not post on the NPC Dorus till I write the 2ndpart.  I haven't finished of the post as I wanted to, and I intend to post the second part tomorrow, ran out of time for it, thank you!

The cantina was what you would expect for the slums of Coruscant, not a more refined capital on Qiilura. It was dirty, dank, and smelled of sweat and old alcohol. Havock's hair was pulled back in a pony-tail and she leaned against the bar with her hands in her pockets. She could not have possibly looked more plain and broody if she tried, as she talked to Jaenna and scanned the room at the same time.

“You thought I would be mad at you? Heh, no babe I'm not mad.” Somehow Jaenna had convinced herself that Havock was angry at her for stepping down as SL, which was pretty far from the truth in fact. Satisfied, she could allow her attention to stray off the patrons, she turned to look at the woman she cared the most about. “Look, it was a shock that's all. I mean you didn't say anything to me about that thought even crossing your mind. And I really wish you would learn to talk to me about stuff like this, even stuff with your gang. I'm worried about you and then here comes Joamer with another datapad. Which, by the way, why does Joa always get that information?”

She chuckled. “I...don't know actually.”

They both shared a laugh at the ironic fact that their friend had been the one to always seemed to get the notifications regarding position changes and promotions in the squad. A familiar figure entered the bar, he was distracted and may have even been talking to someone who wasn't there. Karash bumped into three patrons on his way to a table, then he bumped into that too before he managed to sit down. Havock was getting beyond worried about him, he just was not acting himself lately. They would have to talk on the trip home about it, not because she was the SL now and needed a medic far more qualified than herself around, but because Karash was her friend.

Jaenna shook her head and shot a glare in Karash's direction, before softening her eyes and looking back at Havock. “You're going to make a great squad leader, Ayme. And honestly, after what happened with the noghri I don't know if I could order you off out of my sight.” The last word was choked as Jae tried to speak it aloud.

She sighed and ran her hand through Jaenna's auburn hair, then she pulled her the final inches necessary and kissed her gently. “I didn't die.” She kissed her again. “I'm not sure about this squad leader thing, but I trust you.” Havock kissed Jaenna softly. “And what happened to me during the Thrawn attack was not your fault. It was my own damn stubborn fault. I should have told Karash what happened right away instead of being so stupid and trying to tuff it out. I could have gotten everyone killed.” She leaned her forehead against Jae's and just relaxed for the first time in what felt like ages.

Suddenly, Jaenna grabbed her fiercely and, almost knocking her off the bar stool, yanked her into a tight hug. She buried her face into Havock's neck and cried quietly. She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, she did notice that when she looked back over at Karash she could see three empty glasses in front of him that were not there before.

Havock's eyes went wide as the town erupted with noise. Sirens could be heard all around them as the three troopers seemed to be the only people in the cantina who were not scrambling around frantically. She sighed. “I'm going to kill Joamer.”

The comm in her top pocket crackled. “Ayme, please tell me that is not you.”

“No dammit, I assumed it was you.” She looked up at Jaenna and they locked gazes as Karash walked up next to the two women. The three of them were standing silently in the quickly emptying room.

A ragged man pushed his way through the crowd trying to leave the cantina, knocking over a woman and almost getting himself knocked out by the man with the lady. “Cam,its the viceroy. That old fool is gone." He was falling over, tripping on the tables as he made his way towards the bartender. "They don't wanna say what happened but he is gone, taken it looks like."

A muscle twitched near the green star tattoo on Jaenna's face. They continued to stare at each other while listening to the man. She didn't need words to know what the other woman was thinking. The message was loud and clear, it was time to go. They joined the crowd and made their way out the door, Havock yanked the comlink out of her pocket and dialed the frequency for the squad.

"Code Black, repeat, code black back to delta." A window smashed in a store front as they passed. Several rioters were making their way down the street doing nothing more than causing enough mayhem for the RAIDERS to make their way to the transport docked at the spaceport. Patrol ships buzzed above them, firing at an E-9 Explorer transport with an odd marking on the side.

---~~---

Havock leaned against the bulkhead watching the door as they waited for Beta and Njall to arrive on the transport. Joamer was in the cockpit getting the ship ready for take-off, Decembrist was fiddling with some new rifle he bought in town, and Aeos was watching the crowds from a viewport opposite him.

"Putting the intel together?" Jaenna gently sat down next to her and glanced at the datapad in Havock's hand.
She just nodded in response. They had missed the kidnapping, how could that have happened? She wanted to throw the datapad, punch the wall, just scream.

A hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality. "Havvy, this isn't over."

She smiled weakly at the one person who could always make her feel better no matter how down she may feel. A noise just outside the entry ramp put her back on alert. She grabbed her DE-10 pistol off her lap and clicked the safety off, the rest of the squad did the same. They all collectively relaxed when Njall and Beta came jogging through the entrance and quickly sat down. Returning the pistol to its resting place Havock got back to work on her datapad. "Hav where is katie?"

She didn't look up. "Katie found a lead, its not bad actually. I gave her permission to stay on the planet for now and continue to send us intel as she gets it. Good resource since we have to leave." Joamer walked past the squad and hit the controls on the ramp. "Now's as good of time as any Ayme."

"Right." She got up and made sure she had everyone's attention before continuing. "In case you haven't heard, Jae and I have switched positions which makes me your SL. I've looked over the intel we managed to gather before the kidnapping cut our trip short. It looks like the leader of the Nymins Watchers is Lianne Madagan. She appears to be popular in town so she must visit here often."

She glanced back down at the datapad to scroll to the next screen. "Looks like they ride in an older model E-9 Explorer and it can be identified by a symbol they have painted on the side. There are men in the gang but it would appear that the women have all the positions of power and don't treat the men very well either. One of them seemed to be complaining about that rather loudly the other night. They must have used some drugs to subdue the Viceroy, and they seemed to have a system worked out with the jewelry dealer in town. These women are well connected here, so whoever hired them must have known that." Havock paused to meet the gazes of the rest of the squad.

Decembrist shrugged. "So we are going after them, right?"

"No. Our orders are to return to base, we have another situation that we need to deal with. Jeg will send our intel to the proper places to see if they can pick up on the Watcher's trail. Once they do we will be pursuing them."

She looked over at Joamer and nodded, he smirked in response and headed back towards the cockpit, she followed him. He didn't speak just flipped controls and kept scanning the area for more patrol ships. He seemed angry about something, but she did send him on an errand in town that sent him away from both her and Jaenna. She knew how much Joamer hated to not be able to keep an eye on the two women.

"The spaceport is locked down, I need your help." He still wouldn't look at her, she silently slid into the co-pilots chair. "I'm not mad at you. I'm physically incapable of being angry at you Ayme. But I hate not being able to protect you."

"I just needed to talk to Jae-"

"I know." He took a deep breath and finally turned to look at the blue eyed girl sitting next to him. "I know."

The comm beeped and a hectic young voice filled the cockpit. "Spaceport control to unidentified transport, we are closed until further notice, please power down and remain in dock."

They looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. "Spaceport control this is the Starry Citadel we have permission to take off under protocol 67-B"

Havock raised an eyebrow. "Protocol 67-B?"

"Yep, the one that says we are going to do it whether they like it or not."  He flipped the final switch and in seconds the ships engines roared to life and they were on their way. They managed to make it through the atmosphere before the patrol ships that had been diverted from their pursuit of the Watchers caught up to them.

She flipped the internal comm control. "This is going to get bumpy you guys better strap in."

The ships started the typical comm traffic, attempting to get the RAIDERS to turn around and submit to the authorities. They had a decent lead on the patrol ships, their engines were far superior and Havock knew that they didn't have hyperdrive capabilities so just as soon as the slow nav-computer decided to cooperate they could get away.

Havock slapped the display. "That is not going to make it work faster Ayme."

"Got it, coordinates locked in." She reached over and grabbed the controls, pulling back she had never been that happy to watch the stars blur and streak in front of them in the viewport. They both fell back against their respective seats and breathed a sigh of relief.

OOC:

And that's the end of Part I people.