---  0200 hours, Horn Genetic Telecommunications, Abridon ---

Verk, or as he was known to the HGT, Morgan Geist, sat with his feet kicked up on his desk and one of his swords across his lap, a sharpening stone methodically being dragged across the already razor sharp edge. The room was small yet comfortable; Verk and the leaders of HGT were the only ones who had access. Twenty-five computer screens hung from the far wall; each showed a different image with the time and the number of the correlating security camera in the bottom right hand corner. A dual screen computer on the desk controlled each screen and each camera.

Several weeks ago Verk had been assigned the task of infiltrating HGT. He was the first step in finding out who was siphoning off money from the VE. In due to he knew Wildcard would be right behind him and this group would be brought down just like every other that had attempted to harm the Vast Empire in some way.

It was by no means easy gaining the trust of Horn, but he weaseled his way in. The Company was looking for a new head of security, and with the numerous contacts and allies Verk had gained in the past; he was easily able to come up with a new identity that was more than qualified for the job. Changing his appearance was another story altogether but not too hard. He let his hair grow out longer then he usually let it, but only a few inches or so. As well he let his facial hair grow out which he kept in a neatly groomed goatee. Green cargo pants, black military boots, a leg holster, and a black tee were his everyday garb, along with the sheaths for his swords crossed on his back and a black military cap situated comfortably on his head. He was pleased with how everything was going, and knew his disguise was top notch. Not even those who knew him in the VE would recognize him.

So here sat Morgan Geist, Head of Security at Horn Genetic Telecommunications, ex-military security with all the credentials and all the needed knowledge to uphold and protect the goings on at HGT. Verk smirked at the thought.


--- 1354 hours, Several days later, 16 hours before the abduction of the Wildcard Squad Leaders ---

Morgan sat at his desk, his feet kicked up as he scanned each and every screen for any changes at all. Dropping his feet to the floor Morgan raised a hand to his face and attempted to rub the sleep from his eyes. Everyone had been running around like madmen the past few hours which required Morgan to work double overtime to make sure nothing went astray and his bosses were not disturbed.  I need some coffee. This is getting ridiculous. Standing Morgan left the security office, making sure to lock the door behind him, and made his way to the auto caf for a well deserved mug of warm caffeinated liquid.

Morgan picked up a large mug and poured himself a generous amount, adding sweetener and milk since he liked his coffee light and sweet. Stirring the contents with a spoon Morgan lifted the cup to his lips and took a long drink. The hot liquid felt good and he could already feel the caffeine and sugar working its magic. Feeling more awake then he did several minutes ago Morgan turned on his heel only to find himself coming face to face with his employer, Hector Horn, owner of Horn Genetic Telecommunications.

“I am glad to see you are keeping yourself awake Mr. Geist. I must apologize for having you work so much the past two days, but it has all been necessary in light of some news I received early yesterday morning.” Hector said. His voice was calm and he spoke with his chest puffed out.

Hector Horn was skinny man, and by no means was he physical. But what he lacked in brawn he more than made up for in brain. Hector was extremely smart and quite devious as well. He also had no need for any muscle himself for he had numerous guards in his service that he was paying quite handsomely to say the least. Hector was short, only 5’ 7” with short combed hair and a small pair of glasses that he always wore for his vision.

“Of course Mr. Horn, it’s not a problem at all. Besides, the pay is good and I get to sit on my ass all day.” Morgan replied with a laugh.

The two men shared a good laugh before Hector set a hand to Morgan’s shoulder and his other on his own chest to stop the fit of laughter.

“Ah… ha ha… yes I would have to agree with you on that one. While everyone else is running around preparing for our visitors getting everything ready, you get to sit down all day.” Hector said fighting off the last few chuckles.

“Visitors? I was not aware we were having visitors. With the way my guards have been running around I thought we were preparing for a war.” A quizzical look came across Morgan’s face.

“Well I guess I should tell you now that we are in the same room together. I received word recently that the Vast Empire is sending one of its platoons here. We are not sure why but we can only imagine. So my men  are going to kidnap the squad leaders and we are going to have ourselves a little party.” Hector said standing straight and brushing his suit jacket with both hand.

Even though he was not showing it on the outside Verk was shocked at this news. Even more so he had no way of warning Wildcard that they would not be coming in unexpected. All he could do was nod and agree with the plans that Hector was telling him.

“So as you can see Mr. Geist, our unwelcome guests will be arriving in a few more hours. I hope you will be ready with security and on top of your game?” Hector asked looking at Morgan and raising an eye brow.

“Of course sir. Everything will be locked down and tight as a can of nerf pellets.” Morgan responded, his voice calm even with the thoughts swirling around his head.

“Good to hear. Now I must be off. Enjoy your coffee.” Turning on a calculated dime Hector Horn turned and left Verk in a daze, his coffee cup still in his hand.


--- 1200 hours, Head Security Office, Moments after capture of Squad leaders ---

Morgan sat at his desk, his gaze glued to his monitor as he watched the four unconscious bodies of the Wildcard Squad Leaders being dragged into the complex. He watched closely as they were dragged through the building and finally to their holding cell. Morgan watched for hours as one by one each officer began to awake. Morgan could hear everything they said, and see everything they did. One of them looked up, a red skinned twi’lek, Saph, and stared hard at the motionless camera that stared back at her. She made a rude gesture, and then drew a line across her neck and pointed at the camera. Well, she’s pissed. Morgan thought to himself. For the next few hours he watched as each was dragged one by one into the interrogation room and beaten to within inches of their lives. It tore at Verk knowing he was so close and yet could do nothing to help his fellow soldiers. Sighing he turned away from the screen.

--- 2358 hours, Attack on Horn Genetic Telecommunications has begun ---

Morgan looked like a madman in his office. He still had to keep his cover or at least for awhile longer. He was hitting buttons and setting off alarms, shouting orders into comms, and trying to keep himself seated as explosions rocked the building. Glancing up at the screen he could only smile. He watched as the troopers of the Vast Empire assaulted the complex. It was going to be tough with security beefed up as it was, but they would get through eventually.

More importantly he was following the squad leaders. He watched as they blew their way to freedom, and eventually happened upon Kane Gaddesh, Head of Interrogations. Morgan shook his head at the brutality Saph showed the man. Prick had it coming I suppose. With the squad leaders well on their way, and their troopers making slow progress outside, it was high time Morgan dropped the charade and went to help the SLs. Dazed and confused, they could probably use some help getting outside.

Checking the slugthrower in his leg holster and the swords on his back Verk took one last glance to see where the SLs were and dashed from the room to find them. Everyone was running around like chickens with their heads cut off, or at least not the military types were. The guards employed by Hector were running around in groups of threes, guns in hand trying to get the situation under control. Knowing every well the troopers would be firing from the outside in, Verk thought it best to stay away from the windows and keep to the stairs.

Verk moved as quickly as he could through the building, bracing himself up against a wall every now and again as a grenade or a mine would go off. Shaking his head Verk made his way to the cell where the SLs had been, knowing they weren’t there he began to make his way in the direction they went. He knew these halls like the back of his hand, and did his best to find the SLs before they got into something they couldn’t blow their way out of. It wasn’t too hard finding them, bleeding wounds always left blots of blood on the floor, and in this case it was no different. Every now and again along the trail he would come across a body, a guard who was unlucky enough to cross paths with the group.

Verk knew he was getting close but he had to hurry. He knew most of the guards were on the western side of the building dealing with the troopers outside. But since leaving his office there was no telling who had strayed from the battle. Picking up his pace Verk finally reached the SLs, however he was not the first.

Saph, Havock, Garryll and Anival were corned by five heavily armed guards. The group had nowhere to go, backed into a corner like rats. Havock sat on the floor holding her head which was bleeding, though it looked like it had slowed. The groups weapons were on the floor, probably out of ammo and thus useless. Verk knew he was good, but he knew there was no way he was going to take down all five guards alone. If he could take at least one or even two tops, the SLs would be able to take the rest. Reaching over his shoulder Verk drew one of his swords, the keen edge singing as it was unsheathed. Verk still had the essence of surprise, and he would use it to his advantage like he always did.

~*~

The four Squad Leaders stood with their backs against the wall, nowhere left to run, nowhere to hide. They had used all of their ammo taking down several guards as they made their escape, but now they were empty. Garryll had his hand on blade which was still out of sight for the moment. He would have attacked, but the guards in front of him had more ammo and a bigger gun then he did.

Saph clenched her fists. She was pissed and wanted to beat the skulls in of the guards standing mere inches away from her. Anival was tending to Havock the best he could who was still holding her bleeding head.

“Well, looks like this is the end…” One of the guards began but was cut off as he lurched forward slightly.

Everyone stopped breathing and the other guards looked at their mate in confusion, and then in shock as slowly a blade tip emerged from the center of his chest and slowly continued through until a good six inches of the blade had pierced the man’s chest. Taking advantage the able squad leaders jumped their captors and quickly dispatched them.

~*~

Verk pushed the blade as far as he could through the man’s back and out the front of his chest, piercing his spine and killing him quickly. Pulling the blade out the body dropped to the floor limp. In seconds Anival, Garryll and Saph bum rushed the other guards. With a quick slash Garryll took the throat of one and rushed the other. In moments the fight was over.

Unexpected to Verk however, the Squad Leaders did not recognize him in his disguise, and he soon found himself with his hands in the air and three rifles pointed in his direction.

OOC:

Squads: SLs

Summary: Just getting myself into the story. Its good to be back

Words: 2,186

Corvin was smiling. The guard wasn't.

"Chapter Eight of the Imperial Army and Planetary Defense Operating Manual covers proper interrogation techniques and procedures." Corvin explained, a strangely cheery tone to his voice. "More particularly, it goes into limitations on treatment of prisoners, and the rights of those prisoners. Good thing we're not Army troopers, eh?"

Corvin paused, helmet tucked under one arm, and leaned forward. Loran was still keeping his rifle trained on the prisoner. There was a screech from nearby, followed by panicked babbling. Ice was evidently as efficient as ever.

The Blackjack and Wraith troopers not occupied with the prisoners were keeping watch, weapons raised as they scanned the rooftops for any surviving snipers. Not that they didn't trust Iron Horse to do the job right, but some things you never could be too sure about.

"Am I boring you?" Corvin asked pleasantly, after judging the man had taken enough time to think about it.

The man didn't reply. He didn't move at all, in fact. Still alive though, judging by the way his eyes kept darting to the rifles the stormtroopers around him were carrying. Corvin sincerely hoped he wouldn't be stupid enough to make a grab for one of them. It would be a waste of time and a perfectly good blaster bolt.

"Guard locations. Compound layout. Where the prisoners are. Now."

Sullen, the man remained silent.

Corvin shot him.

The man's lower leg vanished in a ball of flame, the wound self-cauterizing almost instantly, and the air suddenly smelled of roasted meat. The man screamed, then started to whimper as he went into shock.

"Stim please." Corvin said over his shoulder. Loran handed the autoinjector over, and Corvin stabbed it into the man's neck. He jerked about for several seconds , then groaned, and started to babble incoherently.

"Locations. Layout. Prisoner locations." Corvin said, slowly and clearly, irritated. Interrogation wasn't exactly his strong suit.

Maybe they'd have been better off if Loran had been the one doing the talking.

The prisoner looked up, eyes wide, and started to talk nonstop.

"Don't know, oh force, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts..
"How many guards?"

"It hurts, it hurts..."

"How many!"

"Twenty..."

"Where?"

"Don't know, dunno, dunno, please don't, please..."

Corvin sighed, glancing at Loran. The other trooper shrugged.

There was a quick argument between Zehaun and Abalar, followed by a pair of stun shots, and Abalar rose to her feet.

"We have what we need." the Blackjack squad leader stated, then turned away, evidently transmitting the information to the other squads. Corvin replaced his helmet on his head, sighing.

"What about this one?" Loran asked.

"Put him down."

Sighing, Corvin flipped the charge setting on his carbine's side, and fired.

There was a thump as the now-headless guard fell over. Corvin noticed there were now flakes of ash on his boots.

"At least three squads or so inside, roughly twenty five targets. Well armed, with decent body armour." Abalar explained over the com. "If they were telling the truth, of course. No news about Garryll or the others, although they did see a group of prisoners taken inside a few hours ago."

"You got all that from the one guard, ma'am?" Corvin said, incredulous.

"Ice helped. He was surprisingly cooperative."

"That...doesn't..." Corvin began, then stopped.

Zeshaun was gesturing to the other Wraith troopers, waving them forwards.

Abalar glanced over at her counterpart.

"How do you suggest we handle this, Gunnery Sergeant?"

Missing the show, two troopers finished breaking into a back door to a building. It was a mere 3 stories, but at the top the Sharpshooter had managed to evade detection up until now. Madman would take point, as he’d rush in, a soldier turning down the stairs and aiming down at the two intruders “Oh boy, we got company.” He’d carelessly explain to his partner for this, as he’d lift his blaster, and let a couple rounds shoot up, one managing to strike the militiaman’s trigger hand, blowing right through the middle and sending chunks of bone and flesh as the automatic rifle fell down and as it bounced down the stairs, let off a few stray rounds that shot up and managed to strike a man in the calf.

Tr0y wasn’t o sure he could rely on the slightly more experienced Iron Horse as he opted the go and bludgeon a grunt guard’s own head in before the order’s came in  Grabbing the wounded fellas up, he and Troy would return, dragging the men with little care for they’re physical well being. Lucky was they’re but she didn’t seem happy – on top of that, those red guys were here, seemed like it was a party now “Hey Lucky, you remembered how much I love parties. Though not a damn person left to dance with – well no one that’s not already bound and ready to go.” He’d reply as Lucky shook her head, recollecting just how much he hated parties from the last gathering the Stormtrooper corps. Had some time back.

Soon they all moved out, soldiers forming into small groups with a fluent contact to they’re leaders via built in comm. Channels, as they efficiently worked to take out security and anti-personal forces stationed in a new building. Things were moving smoothly, easily…but that was never a good sign – a battle that was too easyusually meant…

“Back up! It’s a trap!” a Trooper shouted out as he rounded around a corner but it was too late as rocket exploded, the force, the shrapnel, the heat, all of it and he almost came out one piece…well, except for the bleedin’ stump that  was once his right leg. It seemed that there was a particularly nasty group of heavily armed militia armed with unusually powerful gear such as rocket launchers that might discourage any thoughtless advances toward the target location.

Gates glared at Saph, who was still grinning. The fact that an officer would kick a soldier in the head for no particular reason other than they felt like it. All it did was reduce soldiers' trust in one another, fragmented command authority  and made you look like you treated your fellow Stormtrooper like crap. Gates looked at the non-com that had joined them. He was rubbing a red welt on the side of his head, a bruise quickly forming.

"You okay, mate?" Gates asked in an undertone. "You'll have to forgive Sergeant Striker, she's in a rather poor mood."

"Yeah, I coulda guessed," the man replied. "Look, I'm sorry I couldn't get you guys out sooner; I had to keep my cover and I actually didn't know where you were."

"It's all right," Gates said. "Thanks for pulling our asses out of the fire."

Anival nodded in agreement and Verk grinned crookedly. The Resistance sniper walked quickly, leading the Stormtroopers back to the rising clamor of battle. They spread out, each raising his or her weapon. Garryll's A-280, battered with use and age. Despite it, he'd kept the weapon in tip-top shape and had gotten a host of quartermasters, tinkerers, armorers and mechanics he'd met over his career to upgrade the barrel, stock, scope, body and power flow. It was deceptive in its age and use, unlike its owner, a lean, mean, killing machine.

He grinned at the mental metaphor, and replaced his crimson helmet, becoming the faceless, anonymous Stormtrooper that was the fist and hammer of the Empire. His HUD appeared in his peripheral vision, giving him a basic city map, IFF icons and suit integrity. It felt good to be home, and he could say whatever he wanted as long as the comm was off. He muttered a few basic combat mottoes to calm his nerves in the approach of imminent combat. Verk was throwing side-along glances at the four SLs, apparently envying the fact they actually had body armor.

"Comms check," Gates said suddenly. "Can any of you hear me?"

Silence answered him. Gates sighed; they hadn't been working together long enough to require anything but the universal hand-signals, and hadn't moved all of their helmet comlinks from the personal squad channels to a higher one, like the Wildcard Platoon channel. He pulled his bucket off.

"Hey," he whispered. "Get your comm channels onto Wildcard. We'll need it to communicate with whoever we meet first, and I don't feel like learning Raiders, Wraith and Iron Horse's comm channels."

Gates caught the end of Anival's chuckle as the newly-minted Wraith SL switched channels. Havock was next on, easily blinking through the menus of her HUD and flicking onto the Platoon-level communications. Saph was apparently having problems. She removed her helmet and cursed, the head-tails of her species falling out of the modified helmet.

"Keep your voice down, Saph," Gates cursed to himself, willing the fiery woman to speak softer. "Emperor knows what they've got in there and in the city."

Viad held up a fist, the universal signal for "Hold." The Stormtroopers stopped dead; Saph almost walked into Havock before she realized they were stopped. She immediately slammed the helmet back on. "Contacts," whispered the Resistance man.

The Stormtroopers scattered; Gates knelt in a shallow depression, rifle raised to his shoulder and sighting. A couple dozen men were moving towards the Horn building, weapons in hand, a few hundred meters in front of them.

"Shit, looks like the boys and girls of Wildcard are getting some more company," Anival said.

"Yeah, just us," Gates replied. "Let's take 'em out. Ambush 'em and keep them from joining up."

"I'm just dying to shoot something," Saph added.

Gates muttered something sarcastic under his breath; "Oh, really?"

"Well, we'd better get closer, then," Havock said, adding her vote to the attack. "Viad, give us some cover with your long-blaster. We'll move up and get on their case."

The Resistance fighter saluted with the rifle and went prone on a slight hill, flicking the rifle's bipod out to give him a greater sense of balance. The Stormtroopers started forwards, backs bent in a combat sprint, rifles ready but unfired, moving from depression to depression, trying to keep out of sight.

A militiaman turned and gaped at the Stormtroopers for a moment. Gates raised his rifle and said crisply; "Firing."

His blaster shot was a beauty, a running shot at twenty-eight meters that took the man in the upper chest and burned right through him in a millisecond. The other militiamen dove for cover but not before Viad, seeing the gunfire, picked off another with a well-placed head shot. The Stormtroopers dove for cover as well, rifles spraying to prevent the militia from rushing them or getting even a chance to regroup.

"Ah, battle," Gates said lightly. "Makes me feel alive."

OOC:

Squad: SLs
Summary: We've gotten into combat with some militia reinforcements

And then suddenly two pairs of hands yanked the three troopers back. Jae and Aeos glared at Mad, Lucky and Troy angrily.
“Are you crazy?” Aeos hissed to them softly.

The three Hories gulped at the furious faces of the Raiders. They could have compromised a lot of things had they continued to barge in without any prior agreement of backup from Raiders.  They had charged without any thinking setting off a booby trap in the process while revealing their location stupidly and getting injured. Aeos clenched her fists.

She sighed and kneeled down, leaning on her rifle while thinking a schematic which ensured all their arsses in good quality at the end of this little adventure.  A very slim chance if you counted the combination of Jae and Havock into the equation. 

“Okay here is what we will do. Jae. You and Madmen will stay at the back and cover us. You both are headstrong and have a tendency to rush and I can’t have two troopers to rush into a building which looks like its boobied.  Lucky, you should have some of your CE items with you if I’m correct. We’re gonna need it. I only brought half-my kit. Rightio guys. Lucky and I will be in the front trying to detect the boobies. The rest of you will need to cover us while Madmen and Jae will cover your backs.”  Aeos ordered bring herself upright again.

“I suggest we use the stairs. Who knows what they would have done to the elevators.” Jae suggested.

“Agreed Jae”  Aeos muttered while detaching some of the small little jammers and detectors she had clipped to her utility belt earlier. Next to her, Lucky was doing the same.

“Okay Lucky. I cant garuntee that our detectors or jammers will work at one-hundred. The mines at the back were foreign design. I couldn’t even jam them. So I’d say its going to be same for the booby technology.” Aeos warned.

The Horsies and Raiders rearranged themselves into the sequence Aeos had ordered. Lucky and Aeos at the front with Madman and Jae at and the rest in the middle covering a three-sixty radius with their scopes and targets.

“Chances are also that we won’t have to undo the boobies. The guys had to plant them while allowing themselves maneuverability. We just need to know what the trigger is and avoid that.” Lucky muttered to Aeos while keeping her eye on the front as they started easing forward again.

“That makes sense. If the path splits up. Horsies go left, Raiders right. Agreed?”

Lucky nodded with a frown concentrated on her face. Working now as a team will hopefully increase their chance of survival in this building.

OOC:

A favour to the Horsies please. If you're posting please include us Raiders in your posts. We've been paired together, so lets try and make that work?

Razor leapt forward with the rest of the two squads and jumped from piece of cover to piece of cover, firing his E-11 the whole time.

He leapt behind one piece of cover and sat there a minute to catch his breath when what seemed to be a bear in human clothing leapt over the scrap of metal and smashed his fist into Razor's faceplate.

Razor attempted to roll away but them man grabbed his head and pulled him back. 

Razor's vision was slowly clearing and he reached out and kicked the man in the chest  and heard the satisfying rush of air as the mans breath left his lungs.  Raozr rolled to his feet after the man dropped him and had hardly enough time to brace before being slammed down by a flying tackle.

The man sat on Razor's chest and began pummeling him.

Razor punched the guard again and again but it was no use this bear of a man was overpowering him, his blows slowly loosening Razor's combat helmet.  His HUD flickered with anothe crushing blow and then blood spurted all over the front of Razor's armor as the combat knife of drxhel exploded through the guards chest.

"You alright?" asked Drexhel

Drexhel swayed dangerously on his feet and Razor shook him yelling "Shake it off and get firing!"

Razor released Drexhel as he rolled sideways and took cover behind another small barrier. 

Frak, what am I doing here? I just got out of the academy

Razor lifted his rifle and fired over the barrier, its cold steel almost reassuring against his hands.  The blaster bucked as shots repeatedly flew toward their attackers.

Razor scored a hit and watched as his target fell smoking to the ground.  Abalar was shouting encouragement while hauling Drexhel behind one of the ramparts.

Then Razor's E-11 suddenly stopped firing.

"Frak!" he yelled casting the weapon aside. 

Carefully he drew his rodian repulsor throwing razor and peeked out from behind the piece of steel that was his temporary shield.  Blaster fire filled the air around him but the picture he had snapped with his HUD camera told him all he needed to know.

There was still a good number of militia men standing on the other side of this hallway.  Wraith and Blackjack were in trouble and his training and close range weapons were all he had left.

His eyes locked with his temporary squad leader and he rolled foward and out at the same time as his training mate tripwire and one of the other recruits from wraith who he hadn't had time to meet.

Tripwire went down.  A blaster bolt punch a hole the size of a fist through his stomach just as Razor and the other recruit rolled amongst the militia men. 

Razor unsheathed his vibroblade flicking it sideways and through the legs of the nearest militia man.  As he fell the other militia members had time to react to the surprise attack.  Razor quickly drew out his grapling gun while he viciously hacked at another militia man.

The other recruit was slicing away and took down three of the militia members before being bashed down with clubs and sliced by vibrodaggers. 

Razor fired his grapling gun and dove foward as the coiling piston inside pulled him toward safety.  The guards fired but their shots went wide except for one that landed so close to Razor he actually felt the heat from it in his leg as he zoomed back into the small barrier he had started from.

"That was incredibly stupid." said Abalar

Razor knew that he was ok though and drexhel grinned up at him. 

"Good job mate." He said. 

Razor only hoped that the brief respite he had gained by spending two lives of good troopers would be enough to keep the small advantage the Wilcard Platoon members had gained in this fire fight.

_

Craven paced in his office on the top floor of the Horn Telecom building. The sound of gun-fire just kept getting closer and explosions more frequently rocked the four-story building. The large man growled and punched his mug of ale off his desk, sending it clanking and spinning to the floor. Everything had gotten so far out of hand.

When the VE troops landed he knew that they had found the leak, but it could have been handled quietly. He sent his best men out there to meet with the squad leaders, to invite them to come to the office out of uniform so they could talk without alerting anyone who didn't need to know to the situation. After all, every man and woman had their price. Now he had every damn media asshole calling him and his face was all over the news. A platoon of angry stormtroopers shooting at your building can cause that effect.

It would have worked, he just knew it, if that two-timing idiot Gunner hadn't shown up and spooked his men. Like his father had said, 'once a blaster is fired you can never silence it'. Like good little soldiers they went to plan B, and took the SL's by force. He could have shot them all on sight when they rolled up with four unconscious stormtroopers in full armor right through the blasted parking lot. It's really true, you do get what you pay for.

Craven always had a knack for numbers, he had been an accountant in his younger years. Then he traveled the galaxy working for a pirate. He discovered quickly that pirates no longer buried their treasure in the dirt, instead they buried their wealth in accounts and under paperwork. It was a brilliant system, one that he utilized in his current situation.

All good things, must come to an end...that one was his mother. He never liked that woman.

An indicator light on his desk started to blink. "Great, what's gone wrong now?"

He had worked with an architect when they designed the building. He wanted the flexibility to conduct all of his business under one roof so he had special rooms and security features installed. Many of them were borderline ridiculous, but generally just the thought of them were enough to keep his clients in line. Now these troopers were setting them off, and his idiot militia men were using things not really knowing what they were. The whole mess was getting out of hand and just the mere thought of that got his blood boiling.

He stepped behind the large desk covered in an impressive collection of papers, datapads, and half-drank cups of caf from various days. He had to push a stack of flimsyplast aside just to read the screen that told him what had caused the light to blink.

"Oh no. no, no, no, no, NO! Dammit." He scrambled to thumb on his comm then took him three tries to force his fingers to type the right combination to get the man who was now in charge of the militia in the building. "Come on, dammit."

"Mister Craven?" A voice finally crackled through, Brinks was yelling over the blaster fire.

"Brinks you bleeding idiot, where are you?" Craven started to pace again, a sweaty hand ran through his long black hair.

"Second floor, we ran right into some idiots wearing red armor and they have us pinned down at the moment. I'm sure we can get by them sir." The words sounded confident but his voice betrayed him.

"Screw that, we have bigger issues Brinks. I need you to get up here to the fourth floor mainframe room." This was bad. Brinks was typically one of his employees who happened to be decent with a blaster, a slicer he used to maintain his computer systems.

The entire security system had one major flaw, the failsafe. It started as a neccessary precaution. If someone tried to hack the system, the system would shut down. At least that was how it was supposed to work. Instead of shutting down his system would arm every explosive in the structure, effectivly blowing up the building. Brinks had been working on fixing the problem but had not yet succeeded, and now they had twenty minutes to find a way to stop it or get out. Craven was not interested in losing his business, not today.

======

The red wire that ran from the top of the door along the frame ended up leading to a young woman in glasses who looked up and glared at the equally shocked stormtroopers. They all stared at each other for several minutes before a loud beep coming from her computer terminal cause her to curse loudly.

"Stupid jarheads." She began to type furiously on the keypad.

"Ma'am the city is in the middle of a fire fight, now if you come with us-" Garryll stepped in tentatively and kept his hands visible as a show of his non-violent intent towards the woman.

She didn't look up, she kept typing and started muttering. "Do you know what you did? No probably not. You just grab the biggest gun you can find and start shooting at things." She slammed the screen down and screamed. "Great now the whole damn building is going to blow up. Happy now!!"

"Wait, what??" Havock had been firing her pistols maintaining cover from the door. She quickly stood and walked over to the woman who had started to tap her foot in frustration.

"I have been waiting for the opportunity to hack into that bastards systems for years. You guys get here and I have my chance. Then you jarheads smash through every door you find. Except that door happened to knock out my cable and now has activated the idiots broken failsafe which arms all the security systems." She paused feeling every eye on her, and every eyebrow raised. She sighed expressively. "Which, long story short, means the building will blow up in...19 minutes now." With that she threw her hands in the air and plopped into her chair.

"So, fix it." Anival shrugged.

She used her foot to rock the chair from left to right and shook her head as she stared at the ceiling. "Really? No way? I would have never thought of that." She slammed the palms of her hands into the desk. "I can't fix it." She screamed at the stormtroopers then resumed her frustrated leg rocking. "Not remotely anyways. Maybe from inside the building, in the mainframe room. But thats a big maybe. And the clock is ticking. Tick, tock, tick, tock."


======


"Come on, Guys. The blasterfire is this way." Lucky ran ahead of the group as they rounded a corner on the second floor.

They came to a halt when they saw the door that should have been a wall was now wide open. "That....was not....there before." RK panted. He was carrying Madman in addition to his gear and they had been at a full run since they dealt with their issues on the first floor.

The noise of boots comming up the stairs put the squad on alert. Aeos and Jelly Bean dropped to one knee and aimed their rifles at the door that would soon open. The sounds of the boots slowed then came to a stop just as they reached the doors. "Look alive people," Lucky whispered.

The door shot open with the force of a boot kicking it. A pair of rifles flew through the door and came right at the Horses, then everyone stopped. "Hi there." Abalar holstered her weapon and looked around, her eyes lingered on Madman for a moment. "Whats your situation?"

"Looking for RAIDERS, and I think we found them." The blasterfire could still be heard down the hallway.

"Hostiles? Finally, lets go." Corvin threw his rifle on his shoulder and started for the door, but he didn't get too far. Drexhel tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to see Abalar shaking her head with eyes that screamed, if you do it i'll shoot you.

"Ha, nice try." Loran laughed from the other side of Corvin.

Razor looked annoyed with everything. "So are we doing something or what?"

Lucky cleared her throat. "Abalar and I will take point, the rest of you stay with us but not too close, I don't want to be ambushed while we are ambushing someone else."

===

"I swear if your necks not broken I'm breaking it Beta."

The younger trooper grumbled something that sounded like it ended with, "sorry." Zeshaun couldn't be sure and frankly didn't care, they fell through the floor which made them look like idiots.

Bacredi moaned about hurting his balls and then realized it was dark as hell. "Doesn't anyone have a blasted glow rod?"

The basement, as far as the Wraith troopers could tell, was one large rectangular room. It spanned the entire building and was full of boxes and file cabiniets. It also appeared to need a good cleaning.

"Hey whats that?" Jamasis pointed to something that could have been a turbolift on the other side of the room.

Zeshaun wiped the dust off his hands and squinted trying to see if it was a door or indeed a turbolift. "Let's go see, maybe its a way out of here."

P1dge0n walked right up to the thing, which thankfully did turn out to be a turbolift and pushed the retrieval button before the members of his squad could yell loud enough to get his attention. "What?"

Jamasis whacked the back of the rookie's helmet. "It could have been trapped."

"Oh...I didn't think of that."

"Obviously." Zesh and Bacredi answered at the same time.

The lift arrived and the door slid open as if there wasn't a war zone happening all around the device. It felt eerily out of place. Zeshaun shot the private a 'don't move' look and scanned the inside of the tube. To his surprise, everything looked...normal. The lift showed no signs at all of being tampered with, but there was one thing that struck him as odd. "This lift doesn't go anywhere."

"What?"

"I mean it must go somewhere,  but there are no floor controls, no control panel. All it has is a single unlabeled button."

Jamasis shifted his weight to his other foot. "Yea, I'm going to vote no on the turbolift."

Bacredi scoffed. "Hate to break it to ya, but this isn't exactly a democracy."

They had seen no other way out of the basement, short of piling unsteady boxes and climbing out of the hole in the ceiling. "Okay, lets go. No,  I don't want to hear it. There is no other way out of here."

No one made a sound as the doors slid shut and the turbolift rose to its destination, somewhere in the building.

=====

"Twelve contacts, dead ahead." Drexhel spoke calmly into his comm. Blackjack and Iron Horse made their way through the door and down the stairs  to where the militia was firing on RAIDERS. They had managed to get all the way into the secret area

Luckystar came up next to him and nodded. "Alright, lets show them how its done." They opened fire which immediately dropped three of the militia guards before they even knew what hit them. Half of the guards frantically jumped for cover and attempted to fire back at the new arrivals on the stairs. The numbers of the guards quickly decreased under the heavy fire of now three squads. Two guards jumped out from behind some crates. They had been firing on the cell that contained the RAIDERS but apparently decided to mix up the tactic. It unfortunately couldn't have come at a worse time, for them.

Razor was about to nail one of the guys in the head when he suddenly dropped from an impossible angle. Through the haze of blaster fire the squads could make out Wraith running out of what looked like a turbolift door on the other side of the hallway. Now with only three guards remaining the end of the fight came quickly.

"Together again, how romantic." Aeos muttered with a smirk.

"So we are all here then? What about our SL's?" Abalar looked around at the familiar and unfamiliar faces searching for an answer.

Zeshawn shrugged. "Don't know, we've been down a hole for the past half-hour." His eyes turned to glare at Beta.

"Well it looks like they are stuck outside, our guards may have called in the boys that were off duty."

Jaenna cursed loudly drawing everyone's attention. She was working on a terminal she found in the hallway trying to get any information she could while they had a moment. "We definitely have a problem."

"Why is that counting down? Counting down until what, Jaenna?" Karash spoke from the other side of the terminal, he did not look pleased to be in such a large group.

"According to this. It's counting down until the security system overloads, which...yea, its going to blow up the building. Great."

"Jae...that timer says seventeen minutes." Brightstar spoke slowly as she stared at the screen.

"Yep. Thats what it says."

Abalar, Luckystar and Zeshawn spoke at the same time. "What?!?"

====

"You heard me. Gather all of the resistance men you have and lets get into that office building. I'm not letting my squad blow up." Garryll yelled into the comm at Vlad.

Havock was ahead of them all, firing off shots at anything not in the resistance camo or stormtrooper uniforms. They trotted up to the entrance of the office building and poured into the lobby.

"I can't believe you dragged me along. Hey, be careful with that equipment!" Krista, their civilian hacker who was possibly the only one that could shut down the ticking time bomb in the building, was with them. She may not have been very willing but the stormtrooper holding her equipment until she helped seemed to do the trick.

"Let's move, the mainframe is on the top floor. We'll head there and hope we run into everyone else along the way." Havock practically growled the words and didn't slow down a beat as she walked.

======

"We need to get to the mainframe room, its on the top floor. I may be able to shut it down, but it has to be there." Jaenna punched the wall next to the terminal in frustration.

"Sounds good to me." Lucky nodded.

"Can we please use the stairs." Jamasis whined.

======

Craven stood over Brinks in the mainframe room, the remainder of the guards had been regrouped there as well. He didn't know exactly where the VE troops were but he figured they would be heading for this room soon enough. Brinks worked at the terminal furiously trying to get the failsafe shut down so they didn't blow up. The men with the guns started to pile up any non-essential equipment they could find to use as barricades.

Craven glanced at the door and his eye locked for a moment. "Good thing I like the smell of blaster fire."

OOC:

Squads: ALL, Everyone, Like seriously everyone.
See discussion topic for summary and info.

Razor was getting tired of everyone standing around bullshitting each other so he broke in and said, "So are we doing something or what?"

Lucky cleared her throat. "Abalar and I will take point, the rest of you stay with us but not too close, I don't want to be ambushed while we are ambushing someone else."

They emerged into the room where the firefight was going on and immediately they blasted away three guards. 

"WOOO. Eat it taint lickers." yelled Razor.

He rolled behind a pile of crates and let his E-11 cool off before he started shooting again.

Razor fired again and again just missing the guards aiming at him as the blaster bolts wizzed around him.  He popped around the other side of the crates and took aim at one of the guards who was shooting at the pinned down Drexhel.

"I got you, you son of a..." Razor was cut short as a blaster bolt took him high in the chest.

Drexhel rolled into cover right behind Razor's prone form.  The hole in Razor's armor didn't look bad.  Drexhel assumed the excess charge from the blaster bolt had "short-circuited" Razor's nervous system.

"Damn.  All the doors are locked up tight." yelled Abalar.

Just then a small contingent of militia guards burst through the door and began wildly firing at the squads ammassed in the second floor room.

It didn't take long for all five of the guards to be put down by the well placed shots of the trained troopers. 

The sudden silence after the firefight was eerie and it took a moment for most troopers to realize it was over.

Lucky jumped up and said, "Lets move out!" and led the charge into the open stairwell from which the most recent group of guards had finally come. 

Drexhel grabbed Razor by the waist and threw him over his shoulder as he followed the now slow moving procession cautiously goin up the stairs.

A few bold members of the guard militia attempted to stop the large group moving up the stairs but other than that they avoided the single tripwire and arrived in what appeared to be a medium sized computer bank on the third floor.

Abalar walked over to drexhel and asked, "What happened to this idiot?"

"Probably just fell asleep when it got a little boring down there." casually replied Drexhel his sly grin hidden under his Helmet.

"Right well lets wake him up." Abalar ordered.

Drexhel dropped Razor on the floor like he was a sack of potatoes and quickly turned him over.  The suit could shock him slightly and that would probably be enough to wake him up. 

Drexhel activated the shock battery and Razor sat p with a jolt and started rubbing the spot where the bullet had hit him.

"Welcome back to the party." said Drexhel.

Lucky ordered them to prepare to move out.

Razor swore to himself that he would serce those bastjaks a mean plate of blaster when he next faced the guard militia.

OOC:

All squads and SLs are on the same floor now.  We do not yet know where you SLs are but you probably heard the stop of the gunfight and are curious as to whats goin on.

Razor was seriously in the shit now.  He had not fully recovered from his wound and believed that he was becoming a serious liability for his squad.  Even talking made him light headed.

They formed up and Razor took his customary position at the six of the squad.  He would have been happy to see Blackjack taking point anytime but right now.

They marched up the stairs and as they rounded the corner onto the final flight before the fourth floor you could actually feel the tension ratchet up about twelve hundred notches as everyone prepared for what would be one of the hardest slugfests of this whole battle.

Razor checked his three then his nine.  He was beginning to feel better.  Maybe he could knock a few heads in this battle himself. 

They came to a large double door made of ornate glass.  They were on a wide landing and could see movement through the door.  The whole platoon was now standing on the landing. 

The Squad leaders ordered their troops into two wings on either side of the door.  If the doors had been opened you wouldn't have seen Iron Horse, Blackjack, Wraith or the militia men standing on the sides.

Havock had ordered her troops into the middle of the landing and they stood in frint  of the stairs.  Havock jogged forward and opened the doors then tore ass back into formation with her squad.  As the doors parted Raiders saw the mass of guards and militia members in the room. 

Most were hunkered down behind crates or ready to shoot the newcomer while a few in their rear ranks were just setting up their makeshift bunkers.

Raiders turned and sprinted back down a flight of stairs and waited on the third floor. 

All of the sudden out of the room came a mass of what must have been fifty guards all charging straight for the stairs.

"Wait for it." growled Garryll, "Fire!" he exclaimed as he saw the group reach the top of the stairs.

Their blasters roared as the combined firepower of wildcard platoon and the militia men ripped the guards apart with blaster bolts. The few that weren't taken down in the first volley were shot as they turned and realized what was happening.

The Raider Squad charged up the stairs and led the assault on the large chamber that the militia and guards had set up.  Not only had their trick nearly halved the militia's fighting force it had also opened up the first few layers of barriers that the militia had created giving Wildcard a strong foothold to start with.

Razor dove behind an overturned crate as the blaster fire flew through the air.  This was already one helluva fight.

Militia men would occasionally charge forward swinging vibroblades only to be cut down moments later by the storm of blaster fire.

Razor thought they were doing ok until he watched members of the militia and wildcard takes bullets and get dragged back onto the landing by the stairs.

Razor rolled behind a different piece of cover and blindly fired over the top of his bunker.  He grabbed one of the frag grenades off his belt, prayed that this building was stable, yelled, "Duck!" and hurled the grenade the length of the room directly into a mass of militia men and women.

His vision went black from the effort he had exerted.  His wound was finally taking its toll on him and he knew he was in serious shit now.

They were ripped to shreds.  The other Heavy weapons specialists quickly followed suit blowing the frak out of a large chunk of the militia of guards.

Abalar quickly yelled through the coms, "Theres only ten left, up and at 'em Wildcard."

The whole platoon jumped up and charged forward.  Some drawing their vibroweapons as they went while others in the front ranks fired to keep the remaining guards pinned down.  Needless to say the platoon made short work of the remaining guards.

Abalar ducked under Razor's arm and pulled him up.  Slowly Razor's vision cleared.  The platoon advanced toward what they knew to be the set of doors that led into the mainframe room.