Civilians.

Decem didn’t care to question the moral implications that the Army was facing. In fact, he kind of enjoyed the thought of waging war against poorly armed, untrained riff-raff. He was tired of getting shot at. I’ll have to thank Command for this one. And here I thought they wanted me dead. There was no limit in him that stopped at “killing civilians,” especially if it meant life or death. So when Havock ordered him to take point, Decem gladly eased the minds of everyone struggling to handle their task. Gripping his A280 (though the armor-piercing weapon was hardly necessary at the moment), he moved forward in a slow jog with great anticipation.

The commotion of the citizenry scrambling away under the blaring of warning sirens made it hard for Vasili to focus on what was threatening and what wasn’t. Every time he knelt around a corner to take a peek he pulled his rifle up and twitched towards the trigger, aiming at a group of kids running for shelter or one of the native domestic animals. The further they moved towards the rendezvous, the more jumpy he got. He was itching to pull the trigger.

Sgt. Caldwin, who was close behind, noticed this. She easily caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him down to a kneel at the end of an alleyway. Sgt. Katash saw the conference and held the squad further back, coming up to join the two.

“You alright, Rustam?” Jaenna Caldwin asked, having to help Vasili put his gun down. “Take it easy with that rifle.”

“Just… itching for more combat, ma’am,” the man replied, not taking his eyes off the street they were coming out to.

Havock slapped the back of Vee’s helmet lightly, to get his attention. “I know that voice, Sergeant,” she said with the authority only a Squad Leader could voice, “I heard it back on the Andreadis. I’m sure that woman you butchered would remember it too. These aren’t trained killers or hired guns, Vasili. We don’t have the kill order yet, so ease that trigger finger.”

A pair of screaming boys across the street alarmed all three of the troopers at the point and, ignoring Havock’s words, each reflexively lifted their rifles. “Don’t shoot,” muttered, catching her breath and dropping her gun. The youths ran out of view.

Don’t shoot, a voice echoed in Decem’s head and lowered his weapon reluctantly. He was gripping it so tight that when Havock pulled him to the pavement by his collar it didn’t fling out of his hands. As his head collided with the ground, he saw Havock throw herself on top of StarFruit.

Next was a quake and a boom.

Havock had realized this before anyone, and if it wasn’t for her quick thinking and martyrdom, both Decembrist and StarFruit may’ve been seriously injured by the explosion. Vee was slid along the ground by the shock of the blast, the rest of the squad rocked downwards behind him.

Vehicle alarms were going off all around them and debris fell from the sky when the explosion settled. Somehow Vasili was lucky enough to remain intact. He stood up cautiously in case his adrenaline was hiding some sort of injury and when he decided that he was fine, scanned to see if the Squad suffered any casualties. Havock was down; Jae was checking her out. Kanderin wasn’t moving, which was great considering he was the only experienced medic. Leon was already up and checking himself for blood. Aeos, Njall, and Beta all were slumped on a wall breathing heavily. Brightstar was squirming around, probably got the wind knocked out of her. She tore her helmet off to gasp more freely, her red hair flowing out. Demented and Grahim were helping each other up, the former looking towards Sgt. Caldwin, who was making her way over to the group.

“Defensive positions,” an obvious ‘I’m pissed now’ order, “Decem, Leon, Demented, make sure everyone is ready to go when I get back. Grahim, on me. I’m going to see what the hell that was.” The Assistant SL helped Havock, who wasn’t moving, up against a wall as she made her way away from the alley with Grahim.

Small bits of debris were still falling and the dust hadn’t settled. The squad looked physically shaken, scattered about the alleyway. Leon, being the ranking trooper, pointed for Dec to grab Draken as he himself ran for their Leader. Demented started helping folks get to the wall some of them were already pressed against.

Kand came about with Dec’s help, and the squad started to mobilize as Caldwin returned. Katash was on her feet once more, grabbing her side where a large dent had formed. As Kanderin noticed this, he fought his own grogginess and went to check her out. She waved him away and addressed her squad, obviously laboring for breath.

“Ok, so… we’re close to the rendezvous now. We have to keep moving. If you’re injured, they’ll have proper medical facilities on our ships. Let’s get moving, RAIDERS.”

And so they did. Many of the troopers had to carry one another, including Katash and Caldwin, but they managed to reach the area of the city not far away that had been overrun with the Corps. Tanks, heavy weapons, and most impressively a Company of Stormtroopers awaited the RAIDERS. The color of their under-armor immediately signified who they were: Gold Company. Whereas RAIDERS and every other soldier in Phoenix Company wore the traditional Black, Gold Company adorned Yellow under their white plasteel armor.

The Regiment of regulars was elsewhere in the city, mainly as a show of force. The Corps. would be doing most of the work.

The tattered looking RAIDERS received a few nods from the mobilizing Gold Company Stormies as they passed. StarFruit stopped a Private for directions to the Company Leader, Major Tara Oulith. He pointed in a direction towards a group of tanks and said that she was briefing the Platoon Leaders. RAIDERS made their way over.

In a sea of helmets, Tara Oulith let her graying blond hair shine under the artificial lighting of the dome. She was the embodiment of Gold Company, one of the longest active Company Commanders in the Corps. The ‘Gold Lion’ she was called. She was proud, tough, aggressive, logical, calculating and strong. Her armor has heavily adorned with extra plates, just to signify how high she held herself above others. On one shoulder was the Gold Company insignia, on the other was a lion’s head. Queen of the jungle.

As Havock and StarFruit approached her in the middle of the caravan of tanks, she sent her two Platoon Commanders away and shut down the tactical holos. Both of the RAIDERS leaders removed their helmets and cradled them under their arms (Havock gingerly). “Major Oulith, RAIDERS Squad reporting for duty, Ma’am,” Havock stood straight, saluted and uttered with all the formality her training offered.

“About time, Sgt. Katash,” Oulith replied without turning to face her. She did return salute however, as she was looking over the last of the blueprints for the city. Confused at this lack of respect they were receiving, Katash and Caldwin lowered their arms and waited for Oulith to turn. When the Major was finally satisfied with her preparations, she did.

“Orders, Ma’am?” Havock repeated.

Oulith looked at the Squad, tired and shaken in their Snow armor, literally holding each other up. She sneered and returned her gaze to Havock and StarFruit. “Where are Dagger and Rampage?”

“Rampage is 50% KIA and Dagger is 50% AWOL, Ma’am,” fighting annoyance, Havock replied.

“AWOL? Deserters?”

“It appears that way, Ma’am.”

Oulith grabbed a nearby rifle (the size of a small child) and paused in thought, “The only thing your raggedy squad is good for is taking blasts for my Gold boys, Sergeant. We’re the best in the Corps., and I’m not going to let your out of breath-excuses-for-soldiers bleed all over my battlefield. You’re to return to the Starport and rest yourselves on board our ship. Maybe you could get the champagne ready for the victory parade?” Oulith added a smirk and went to retrieve her helmet.

Caldwin threw her helmet to the ground. “Bullshit!” she yelled.

“That’s ‘Bullshit, ma’am!’ to you,” Oulith spun back to face her.

“We went through all that hell to get sidelined?!” Caldwin continued. Katash was at about the same point, so she let her Assistant continue. “No! We’re going to finish this whether you put us out there or not!”

“Shut up, Sergeant,” Oulith said with tiredness in her voice. “Your Commander is injured, your Squad is fatigued. Can you even pick up your weapons?”

Havock grunted in pain as she demonstrated her ability to hold up her rifle. She was clearly struggling, but the feat amused Oulith.

“You RAIDERS really are crazy,” she remarked dryly, finally donning her helmet. “Report to the front. You want action? You’re getting the first. Just remember that if you can’t handle those civilians, priority is to get in between them and my boys. I’ll have you all executed if Gold blood is dropped because RAIDERS can’t handle the operation.”

Major Oulith mock-saluted and shouldered her enormous rifle. Caldwin was practically growling and Katash stood stunned at the orders. They got what they wanted, but how lucky could they continue to be, dodging death like they did? Oulith looked down on them after climbing up onto her tank. Underneath her helmet she was probably smirking still, pleased with herself for the position she was putting Phoenix in. She banged twice on the hull of the tank and it crawled forward, leaving RAIDERS to face the reality of their new situation.

Ferris Genetics loomed over the battlefield, the building itself acting as a support for the giant dome above head. It was a tower filled with labs and offices, executives and scientists and experiments which no civilian eye would ever see. On a peaceful world, Ferris Genetics was sponsored by militaries and mercenaries from across the galaxy. They were the perfect target for under-the-table contracts, being on the outside of the inner-rim. Among the highest levels of the tower were the most classified experiments in the most secret labs - Joel and Jeremi Ferris’ personal playground.

The two brothers and founders of Ferris Genetics were in complete seclusion, unaware of the battle about to happen in the streets far below. They huddled over a table in a dark room, each with chunks of machinery and bottles of chemicals that they were tinkering with. Holo-imagery digitally illuminated their workspace with displays of schematics and equations that every now and then one brother reached over and edited.

Their isolation was interrupted when a loud buzz emanated from under a flashing orange light on a nearby wall. It was a beacon that pierced the darkness with its distress. Joel Ferris tore off the sets of goggles that covered his eyes and moved with anger to the sound. He banged on a button (which ceased the buzzing) and barked into a communicator that was hidden in the darkness. “What is it?” He didn’t enjoy being interrupted.

“Joel,” a worried feminine voice, “we need you and your brother down on the security level.”

“Dammit, Yolanda!” Joel responded aggravated, “How many times do I have to tell you not to bother us with this shit? We have deadlines to meet, take it to Herder!”

“Sir, Herder is requesting you.”

Jeremi lifted his head, the gear over his face covering everything but his mouth. “Shit, Joel.”



Police Chief Sloan watched the footage of outside scenes on the live-action monitors inside the Ferris Security center. He was bruised and scraped, but his encounter with the strange people who claimed to be mercenaries left him with no sort of serious injury. Standing behind him were five proud policemen, all in their uniforms, standing silently waiting for the Ferris’ to appear. Sloan gave a slight smirk to himself despite the situation forming in the city. This plan was hopefully going to give them the advantage in the battle.

“What the hell is going on, Herder?” Joel’s voice boomed from the hall before he appeared in the room. “Why are you calling us down-“ he stopped short as he entered the room and saw the six policemen. “Mr. Sloan. What is it this time?” Jeremi slinked in and hid by the door.

Sloan didn’t extend his hand for a shake, keeping them on his hips beneath his lab coat. “I know we’ve not been on the best of terms, Joel - Hello, Jeremi,” Sloan nodded to the man in the shadows who shyly waived back, “- but the city needs your help.”

“Please, Mr. Sloan. Don’t waste my time with this pro bono sithshit.”

“You do know that they’re coming for you, right?”

“What’s he talkin’ about, Joel?” Jeremi asked with a twitch of his neck. Joel looked between his brother and the Chief.

“The Stormtroopers?” Sloan said with a tone of disbelief. “You two really need to get out of your labs more. There’s a battle outside!” Sloan pointed to the monitors.

“Dammit! Where’s Herder? I’m gonna wring his neck!” Joel rushed over to examine the screens.

There were explosions and fires all over the city, as well as a firefight right at the base of the tower. Like Sloan said: Stormtroopers. From which splinter of the Empire Joel had no idea, but there sure were enough people that would have reason to come after him and his brother.

One of the Security personnel stepped forward and spoke, “Sir, Captain Herder wanted me to inform you, once you and Jeremi exited your labs, that he’s been coordinating with the Militia General about defending the city. Herder’s been down in the battle since this morning.”

“Shit Joel!” Jeremi shouted again, his entire body starting to twitch.

“Take it easy, Jeremi,” the other brother attempted to calm him, before turning back to the Security personnel. “How’s the battle?”

“It’s a battle of inches with the Empire’s Regulars. The Stormtroopers, though… they’re tearing us apart. They’ll be inside the tower within 10 minutes.”

“SHIT JOEL!”  Jeremi yelled as he ran out.

“Jeremi! Ah, hell,” Joel resigned. “So what do you need us for, Mr. Sloan?”

Sloan raised a hand to his mouth and coughed. He pondered the best way to present this situation. “Joel, it’s no secret that you and your brother, em… run a pretty shady program here. Now I know you have contracts to keep those secrets just that, but I doubt you’ll be capitalizing on them if our guests get to you.”

“Spit it out, Sloan!”

“I’ve brought you a gift. My boys managed to capture five Stormtroopers before the main force arrived. They’re crazy sons of bitches, they were causing havoc all over town. I don’t know what you do all day in those labs up top, but I’m sure you have some nice toys to give them. They’re incapacitated at the moment; Captain Herder already brought them to the labs for you. I don’t care what you do with them to help us out, but damnit do we need the help.”


Jeremi was already three steps ahead. He had run out in a panic to do something about saving his work. Unlike Joel, who was in it for the money, Jeremi felt a personal connection to his subjects. His first instinct was to get to his Animal Lab and protect what he could. Given the situation, that meant giving up a lot.

With an armful of genetic augmentations Jeremi opened some of his dog cages. He sedated ten of his pets and put them in a crate, whispering things like “Defend yourselves!” and “Do me proud!” to them. Then he proceeded to stab each and everyone with multiple auto-syringes. By the time he had gotten the crate to the ground floor of the tower, when the Stormtroopers were just about entering the building, they were hardly dogs any more.

Bright fired reflexively keeping her eyes open. Her vantage point gave her excellent visual and nearly everyones positions were clear to her. As she fired she kept one eye on Havock and the other on Aeos. The blond woman still seemed in a daze but not so much of one that she wouldn't fight back. Bright smiled faintly ducking back behind cover.

What was that sound? Is that...barking? She asked herself. She peaked out from cover and looked toward the sound. There on the last landing of the stairs was a hug malformed...creature.

"Oh Shit!" Bright said over the sound of blaster fire.

She brought her rifle up only barely in time to blast the thing as it jumped for the first thing that moved, Jaenna. Incredibly the thing got back up and launched into another attack. The next instant the ASL disappeared in a flurry of abnormally large claws and sharp white fangs. Bright felt her stomach cramp with fear. She could hear more of those creatures coming and over it all she could distinctly hear Havock calling Jaenna's name. Bright tried for a bead on the dog/creature.

"BRIGHTSTAR!! TAKE THAT THING OUT!" Bright was trying to her credit she was also doing her best not to panic. "NOW!" Havock's voice carried over the sound of the battle and settled like a weight over Bright's shoulders. The red headed warrior couldn't risk a shot though not without taking Jae's head off.

"Damn it!" Bright hissed and she jumped out from her cover and made her way to the writhing mass of human and creature. Somewhere along the way she had ripped her helmet off and had thrown it into the face of a security officer shooting at Kand, whom she realized was by her side.

Seeing a hint of silver, Bright realized that Jae was fighting back. Good girl! She thought. The next thing she knew Jaenna was throwing the thing off of her and letting out a low growl herself. She didn't even seem to have been phased by the attack. She had seen and Arkainian taking aim at Havock. While she launched into the battle with blades slicing, Bright grabbed her own blades.

There it was the second dog-like...thing already on the last step. It had to have been genetically altered. No animal looked like that without genetic enhancement. What they were didn't matter to Bright. They had just attacked a RAIDER and she was in no mood to be nice.

Fangs flashed and in those black eyes, Bright was certain she could see some sort of intelligence. It growled low and barked once before it was in the air. Bright dodged to the right bringing her left Ryyyk Blade up in a slash across the dog's stomach. It let out a loud yelp and landed hard on its side. It struggled to its feet and launched at the nearest person to it. "Not this time!" Bright said through gritted teeth. Fear again gripped her at the possibility that the thing would reach its target.

Maybe on the inside, Bright had known that Jae would be able to take one out, but she was not willing to test the theory with Havock. She swiped out just in time to stop it short of the SL's unprotected side. Bright could feel her features contort. This was something new for her. Fear and anger had never before controlled her actions so completely. For the first time since the death of her mother on Dathomir all those years before, Bright felt like she was fighting for something worth keeping. A family. Of course she was certain that she would later never admit it to anybody, but for now it was enough that she understood why she was doing what she was doing.

Moments later she felt a large something land on her back and shoulders, slamming her face first to the floor. She grunted as the air left her lungs and then she felt the punctures on the back of her neck. For a moment she thought that it was the end. Those jaws looked to be able to apply about six hundred pounds of pressure. That would normally have meant that her puny human spine would have shattered under such an onslaught. But the end never did come. Instead the thing on her back began to shutter and squeal. It's long claws dug deep furrows into her armor and she could feel the tell tale tingling that meant feeling was returning to her arms.

The first thing she noticed was that her hands were empty of her blades and the next was how quiet it had suddenly become. And then the pressure was lifted from her back and someone was turning her over. "Bright?" The face she saw swimming before her was Kand's. The medic looked concerned and pale.

Bright blinked several times and smiled. She felt giddy and almost like she was floating. "What took you so long?" She giggled.

"Kand, did she hit her head?" Aeos asked. Havock furrowed her brows and Njall and Grahim looked at each other.

"I don't know." The medic whispered. "Bright are you alright?" He asked helping her to sit. He lifted her hair in order to better see the semi deep puncture wounds on the back of the Sargent's neck.

"I'm fine." Bright said her grin fading as the enormity of what could have been hit her. "We have somewhere to be don't we?" She said as someone helped her to stand.

Kand applied bacta patches to those he could including Bright and Jae. He pulled Bright's Ryyk Blades from the body of a very dead creature. "We made it as dead as we could." Havock murmured when Bright looked around inquiringly. Bright smiled faintly and nodded.

"Alright everyone up the stairs." Havock roared. She eyed Bright for a moment then Jae. "Beta why don't you take point. Bright, you and Aeos take the rear. And don't get yourselves killed."

Bright just nodded and felt the beginnings of shock settle in. She pushed the feeling away. Not now. She had work to do. Still feeling light headed and giddy, Bright took the rear of the group headed up the stairs.

Bright swayed a bit looking at the creatures in the cages and tanks. This was disgusting. She had always known that Arkanians were geneticists by nature, as was shown by there treatment of the Yaka. But she had never imagined anything like this before. She shuddered slightly and turned away from the creatures and went to stand by the doors. Now she had a reason to want whatever Arkanian she came across dead.

Bright watched her squad leader as she replaced her helmet on her head and ordered the move out. The disgust evident on Havocks features were mirrored on everyone else's faces. Bright gripped her weapons tighter and followed the rest out.

The next three floors were virtually empty. Just regular security guards that stood no chance against fully equipped and trained stormtroopers. As they entered floor eight, Bright, though not feeling any better from her last attack, felt like she was being watched. It was something she could always feel, a deeply unsettling feeling that Bright had always paid attention to.

Still at the rear of the group, Bright stopped and looked around. There were definitely shadows enough to hide in and the flickering lights on this floor weren't really helping matters either. She crouched as low as her armor would allow her too and looked deep. As a hunter and warrior child on Dathomir, Bright had learned the feeling of being hunted, and she knew instinctively what to do in those cases.

There! A flash of red that had caught the light. What was that thing? It was small of that Bright was certain, but as quickly as it appeared and disappeared again, it was most likely fast and agile. She raised her gloved hand and signaled Demented who was now watching her with great interest. In fact all of the RAIDERS had stopped to stare at Bright. She blushed and hoped that they couldn't see it. Somewhere she had lost her helmet.

"What is it?" Decembrist asked in little more than a whisper.

Bright shrugged and held her finger to her lips, a signal for all to be quiet. She scooted forward slightly, when nothing came at her she continued on. This game continued for a moment or two and Bright could hear the impatient sighs coming from her squadmates. It didn't matter in the next instant because the red... whatever it was, shot out of the shadows straight at Bright's unprotected head. A shot rang out in the corridor and the creature dropped from its mid-air position.

Bright looked over at the rest of the squad and saw that Grahim's weapon was the one smoking. He lowered his weapon and nodded at Bright. The red head fought the urge to shoot the Gungan. But the reflex passed as quickly as it had come. With so much of her past coming back to haunt her, Bright was surprised that she hadn't already tried to kill Grahim. Now she found herself owing him something.

She nodded in return and took a deep breath, then looked down at what had shot out of the shadows. It was red and small as Bright had thought, but instead of hands it had razor sharp scythes. She looked around and found a loose piece of tile. She rubbed the tile against the sharp scythes and cringed at the deep cut that was made. "I think we had best look out for these things." Bright said holding up the tile.

Havock's hands clenched into fists. "Come on everyone. We still have a long way to go." Bright stood and took a step. As an after thought she turned and cut the the sharp limbs off of the creature. That done she turned and hurried to catch up with the others.

Jalis cursed silently as he paced the lab, carefully avoiding the various traps that he and Wicked had placed in placed in strategic spots throughout the lab. Lente was sitting calmly against a wall near the turbo lift entrance. She was just one more surprise waiting for the RAIDERS.

He of course was the bait. Though he should have been worried about the entirety of the squad gunning for the Ferris brothers, Jalis was more worried about four RAIDERS in particular. If he could somehow separate the two squad leaders he might actually have a chance at survival. The man, Decembrist, was legend in Phoenix Company and many troopers from other companies prefer not to tangle with him. He was commonly known as an anomaly, a riddle, that couldn't be solved. A contradiction just by being a trooper.

Paric may not have believed that Jalis was capable of intelligence of any sort but the private knew it was better to know people than to shun them. The only other trooper Jalis was not looking forward to facing was Sergeant Brightstar. The woman was a fighter. Jal had poured over files and medical records and even unreliable reports of someone fitting her description causing trouble for the NR in the Mid-Rim territories. Brightstar it seemed just didn't know how to die. There had even been reports that the woman wasn't even human. Jalis didn't know, but he didn't want to be the one fighting one on one with her. He wasn't a coward he was just smart. The rest of RAIDERS he believed would be no problem.

"Jalis!" Lente called across the lab. He looked up, "Stop that. You're driving me insane."

"Sorry." He muttered and he leaned against a desk. "Just wish they would hurry up, I hate waiting."

"They are on their way up as we speak, just please, calm down." Lente took her position as the turbolift reached the lab and opened.


========

The first thing Bright did when the turbolift door opened was lay down a cover fire, and in the process inadvertently set off an explosive trap near the middle of the room.

"Watch it guys, could be trapped." Bright said as she leaned against the doors to keep them open. To her right she saw him. She recognized him from Dagger squad, and now he appeared to be taunting the RAIDERS just by being there.

When Demented and Grahim broke from the turbolift after the renegade trooper, Bright realized too late that the whole set up was a trap. She reacted quick enough to pull Grahim back from the spraying fragments of all sizes flying through the air. That was when she saw the second rebel Dagger. This one she did not recognize.

"Die RAIDER!" The helmeted woman called as she fired her rifle.

Bright dodged a lot of the deadly beams, but a couple hit her in the side and ricocheted off her armor. She could see the rest of the RAIDERS filing into the lab, firing as they came. Somehow Bright and Grahim ended up side by side as they tried to both avoid getting shot as well as shoot the two troopers firing at them. Bright didn't even seem to care that Grahim was a gungan. All she cared about was surviving this blast fest.

"Kand!" Bright called over the sounds of blasters. She was not really surprised to see that he was close at hand. The man seemed to have a talent for avoiding fire. "Demented," She shouted pointing to the young private who was sliding along the floor shooting in one direction while ducking fire from another direction. It was apparent that he was wounded and badly but he was still fighting.

Kand nodded and looked in both directions before he dived for the wounded trooper. Bright shot in the direction of the female Dagger trooper while Grahim shot in the direction of the male Dagger trooper.

It smelled of sterile smoke and burning flesh. Beakers and computer terminals smashed around the room as the two parties fired at each other. RAIDERS had taken defensive positions around the room, keeping close to those positions as to avoid anymore traps. The Dagger's background in combat engineering had certainly served them well in their trapmaking skills.

She couldn't tell who had been hit, who was injured, if anyone was dead. The smoke made it hard to see, the noise made it sound like a bad comm connection every time she tried to hear what Kand was yelling to her, and well she was kinda busy at the moment.


“I really wish they would hold still for just a damn minute.” 

That Havock heard. “Yea, Jae, cause that would be tactically intelligent of them.”

“Well I can still wish they would, can't I?”

Something exploded over their heads, spraying the two of them with glass and liquid. Havock grabbed the other woman's arm. “You okay?” She nodded and they both turned to get back to work. She could see a blond man cowering and yelping every time a bolt came to close to him, then he would laugh and fire more shots. The dark haired woman that was trying to ambush them when they first came off the turbolift was yelling something into her comlink.

“What are those idiots doing now?” Jaenna nudged Havock and pointed. She looked and could just make out two stormtroopers in their white armor crawling towards the center of the room. Their ambition was to be admired but the fact that the two of them were fairly certain to set of another trap that was frustrating the two women.

A blast shook the room, the comlink in her ear screamed from it. They missed the trap, it was that twitchy blond trooper tossing a badly aimed low yield detonator. Luckily for Beta and Leon the brunt of the blast took out an examination table and sent the two troopers sliding across the floor of the lab into the far wall. Shaking her head, Havock dived for the two men to try to pull them to a safer position and check their injuries.

She yanked off Leon's helmet to find him conscious but breathing hard. “So just where did you think you were going?”

“Was...that a trap?” He managed to get out.

“No, but you probably were going to. If that area wasn't trapped that insane guy and the police would already have advanced on us.” He yelled as she tied the gauze around a puncture wound on his calf. Beta was still unconscious but he had no real injuries, and should have been up and around soon. “Cover him until he wakes up. But he's going to be fine.”

A new noise caused both of them to look up. “What the frak is that?”

Havock continued to blink and listen, everyone must have been doing the same, the noise in the room reduced significantly. Taking the opportunity she slid back over to where Jaenna was checking her blaster rifle during the lull in activity.

Looking towards the far end of the room, a main turbolift door could be seen. Mirrored on either side two smaller doors seemed to appear out of nowhere. “Lente?” Twitch yelled nervously across the room.

Once the doors locked into place an eerie silence fell upon the lab. Four police men could be seen spread out along the wall opposite Havock's position. One of which was probably way to close to one of those small doors.

A growl could be heard then, a second later a dog-like creature with oversized head and claws jumped ripping the police officers throat before he could even scream. The first dog was followed by six more, sending a total of twelve extraordinarily ugly hungry beast into the room. They didn't seem to discriminate against their prey either, this was obviously a last ditch effort to take out the RAIDERS at the expense of their own men. Which on a positive note probably meant there were not as many traps to contend with.

“Well, this just got a whole lot funner, didn't it?”