Gates looked at the stock of his rifle as if it had betrayed him. He then briefly considered placing another cordial call to the Wraith ASL, who was apparently coming in as the cavalry. Nah, he figured. After all, they have some problems of their own.

The burnt-out relic of a factory was filled with the sound of gunfire, laser bolts and explosions wracking its rusted frame. Havock was huddled behind another piece of cover, as were the rest of the Blackjacks, frustrated and pinned down.

“Alright,” crackled the comlink - what’s-his-face Wraith ASL. Jamasis. Right. “We’ve killed those suckers. Surprise party in twenty.”

“Oh good,” Gates replied. “I was beginning to fear you’d never come rescue the princess.”

“You?”

“No, the Platoon Commander.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Right. We’re ready for it. Like, whenever.”

“You do know I can hear you, Garryll?” Havock said.

“Yes ma’am. Just reminding him of your esteemed presence...”

Behind their pinning enemies, something blew up. Then, several more somethings blew up. Gunfire screamed from the same direction as the explosions, and swearing and yells came over the short-range combat link.

“Wraith’s here,” Gates remarked casually, as the gunfire lessened on the Blackjacks’ positions and turned to fire on the newly-arrived Stormtroopers. “Up and at ‘em, boys and girls. And try not to shoot the Wraiths.”

The gunfire, cut by half or more on the Blackjacks’ positions, wasn’t enough to keep them down. Rising as one, an imprecise, but enthusiastic and terrifying barrage of laser bolts ripped from their positions at the entrenched enemy. The repeating blaster fired again, more frantically this time, forcing Wrex and Razor to duck back into cover. The gunner howled in victory, tracing the flickering laser bolts across Kit’s and Abalar’s positions, forcing them back into cover too. The enemy youths beside the repeater gunner yelled, too.

And then the weapon jammed.

Gates’ lips, halfway to “Shit” changed their mind and yelled, “Open up! NOW!”

Rising again, they let loose a fusillade of rounds, making the enemy militia duck. Razor tossed a concussion grenade, stunning several of the men on the line. Garryll’s blood was up, and he yelled something unintelligible, followed by a brutal order. “Forwards, ‘jacks! Kill ‘em all!”

With a yell of adrenaline and anger, the Blackjacks hurdled over their cover and charged forwards, firing rifles from the hip and dragging their prefered melee weapons out of their sheaths. Gates was in the center, rifle gripped in his off-hand, firing blindly, basically. His right hand dragged the ridiculous officer’s sword out of its scabbard, a harsh, metallic ringing sound following its movement.

The back-water youths were stunned. None of them looked older than twenty five, and lacked the nutrition or sun or brutal training regimen required to look like a real soldier or, indeed, healthy at all. One lunged forwards, less stunned than the rest, his old, rusted rifle’s butt descending at Gates’ face.

He took it, letting the rifle break against his hardened plastoid armor. He barely felt it inside his nice, comfy protective suit, and then blasted the man’s guts apart with a burst of high-powered laser bolts. The dying man fell back, smoke leaking from his wound and mouth, silent and about to die.

Around him, the Blackjacks were shooting up or slicing apart the screaming, dirty men. Kit was particularly effective, his translator off in order to give him another psychological advantage yelling Wookie warcries and slicing with his Ryyk blades. Razor threw a smaller blade into one man, and when the target flinched and reached for it, butchered him with two more.

The gunner of the repeating turret turned, panic in his eyes. The man had a thin mustache and looked the oldest of the now-dying young men. His eyes widened even further at the sight of the blood-splattered Elite Stormtrooper, smoke wisps leaking from the rifle’s barrel and a meter-long blade in his hand.

“Oh fu-”

Gates swung the blade back-handed, decapitating the unfortunate man. The gunfire had puttered out by then, the Wraiths having dismantled the unprepared men from behind. They were now standing around, looking quite pleased with themselves. There was a hole about a meter in diameter, roughly circular in the floor. Gates looked down it; there were no boxes or a ladder.

“Uh, Khalldryn tossed us up here,” Jamasis said, volunteering the information.

“How the heck is that?”

“It isss I,” hissed a large form behind Gates. The Blackjack SL turned, and faced a Barabel. “There was no time for the stairs.”

At that, Gates laughed, and was soon joined by his entire squad.

"Razor, take a seat." said Garryll as Blackjack and Wraith began to walk towards the odd building they had spotted.

"Yes sir boss man commander guy." replied Razor with a salute that was meant to tell Garryll that he would rather be going into the unknown area with the squad and getting up close and personal. 

Razor climbed onto a pile of rubble and sighted down his I77.  He began scanning the landscape and the small road that lead up to the construct.

When the two squads had moved into Razor's sights they were already halfway to the bunker.  Razor had been listening to the chatter going back and forth between the two squads and resented being put on overwatch. 

Razor had divided the area in front of him into four quadrants and he would study one for ten seconds then move to the next one.

As he watched the third zone he caught a flicker, a movement of shadows against a shadow. 

Instantly his mind went into automatic as yelled into his helmet mike, "GAR!! Movement 50 meters ahead of you. A squad on the left and two squads on the right. Hit the right hard."

Razor sighted the beefy man wielding a large gun.  The large man took aim at the left flank of the squads and Razor blasted his head to tiny bits.  The remaining four men in the squad leapt back with surprise.  Razor did not give them a second.  He pulled one of his Soulseekers off of his back and fired two rockets. 

Then he ran down the road.  He saw the explosions and heard the yell of the last surviving man.  Razor continued to run, upset that when he reached the squads they would have already cleaned up the last of the fire fight.

OOC:

There are ten troopers in total in two different squads off the "road"  The squads are in different places.

There was a fight. That was obvious to Skarr. He stared at the dead bodies. They all had died in different ways. Skarr bent down next to one and examined his clothing. It was the same clothing as the man Tanus had killed was wearing. He looked up at the rest of the soldiers assembled.

They were all doing different things. Either staring at the bodies, examining the room, or guarding the doorways. Skarr stood and brushed his hands on his thighs. Kira walked up beside him and looked at the dead man at their feet.

"Same clothing," she said.

Tanus walked up beside Kira, "We have to get this place runnin'." She nodded and the squads began making their way to the corridors leading away from the room. The corridors were only wide enough to where only two people could walk side by side. Equipment was scattered all over the ground. From what Skarr could see, the equipment was old and broken. Rusted tools littered the ground.

But tools and equipment were not the only things on the ground. There were more bodies. Carbon scoring was all over the walls. A few blasters were fired in the hallway. Skarr walked up to one of the walls and ran his hand over the scores. They were near fresh.

"This happened recently." Skarr announced. He deactivated his smell filters and the coppery scent of blood filtered into the helmet. He turned the filter off, the smell of blood was too much. The squads continued down the corridor.

At the end of the corridor was a set of stairs that led downward. Skarr was first down the stairs. He had almost passed the steps, but he had just happened to turn his head and found them. That meant he was first down. The stairs creaked as Skarr walked down. The corridor he walked into was dimly lit. The lights ran along the floor near the wall. They must be the emergency lights, he thought. The emergency lights were extremely dim. The power was either terrible or the lights had been running for a long time.

A man burst out of the shadows, wielding a baton. Skarr ducked under his first swing and tackled the man to the ground.

"Contact!" he yelled into his comm. Skarr punched the man in his face and felt the man's nose break. The man tried to fight Skarr off, but Skarr was too heavy. He was laughing at the man when he was cracked across the head. Skarr fell to the ground, clutching his head. The newcomer hit Skarr over the head again and Skarr lost consciousness.

When this is over, I'm going to need a stiff drink. Came the almost lazy thought.  Saphira's mind buzzed with utter annoyance as she flipped her Z7 up against her shoulder and peered down the halls that were lined with several bodies. Almost saddened that she couldn't had been the one to take them down as she nudged past one of the troopers.

"Hey!"


Came a familiar voice. Saphira spun and smiled behind her helm and kept going as she knew Madman was scowling at her. She had no time for games right now as she  trotted off ahead. The stench of death reaching through to her nose was enough to make a few troopers' stomachs sour. However, Saph, ignored it. Having seen far much worse as she  reached to her thigh and grappled for her vibro-blade.

The hilt was hard and heavy in her iron-clad grip as she moved up ahead. Catching a glimpse of a decapitated corpse and heard the warning to stay on her guard.

Now, this is a bit more interesting.


The back of her neck started to tingle as she licked her lower lip. They knew the enemy was laying in wait for them.  Boots tapping almost mechanically on the dirty floor, she kept up her pace. Almost separating herself from the others as much mentally as she was physically when  she went down the stairs.

Brushing past her squad leader like a predator on the prowl, she watched as the lights flickered for a moment. Dancing  along, making eccentric patterns that could play tricks on ones eyes. It was then their coms broke silence when the cry came out.

"Contact!"


Saphira moved like a viper. Springing to action as she launched herself forward. Blade in hand, she let her eyes focus as shadows moved and bounced against the walls. Her eyesight better adjusted even in poor light, she saw him.  A wicked smile on her face as she snapped her arm forward and let her blade flew loose. Aime just right it caught the merc right in his left shoulder. He cried out and spun to face her.

it was all she needed as she slammed into him.  Her right hand snapped up as she grabbed the blade and pulled it out as they slammed into the wall with a thud.  His cry was muffled and ended in a gurgle as she flipped the blade and drove it straight into his juggler. Cold and ruthless she  severed his head and turned her back as some blood splattered against her armor.  Sneering under her helm she wiped her blade on the mans tunic and turned to  rush back to see Skarr laying on the ground. Not moving.

"Damn it!"

She cursed and drew to her knee. Placing her weapon down as she pressed a finger to his throat and felt a pulse and felt it's rhythm. Steady and strong.  He was just knocked out and would probably have a nasty headache when he woke up.  Snapping her head up  she saw Lucky, Kira and the others approach.


"He's alive. Going to prob wish he wasn't in a few." 


Came an amused reply as someone approached and helped her turn him over. They took his bucket off and something was th rusted under his  nose as Saph injected something else to help wake him up.

As Lucky rounded a corner, she saw Saph bent over Skarr who appeared to be unconscious. He was breathing which was a good sign, but what or rather whom had knocked him out? This new development put her on high alert, tensing her whole body she scanned the immediate area and saw faint movement to her left, from the corner of her eye. On instinct, she rotated slowly, flung out her arm and fired. The bolt ricocheted off the opposite wall and hit the mercenary square in the chest.

"Nice shot!" she heard Saph exclaim from her position beside Skarr.

As Lucky was about to thank her for the compliment, Skarr moved and Saph had just enough time to get out of the way before his armored arms started flailing, fists flying all over the place.

"Easy does it, Skarr" she spoke gently but firmly.

"What happened? How did I get on the floor?" He queried, rubbing the back of his head before grabbing his helmet, putting it on and slowly standing up while gathering his weapons.

"You got knocked out by a merc, now let's get going. We still have plenty of work ahead of us!" Kira called from over her shoulder as she started walking away from the small group of Troopers milling around Skarr and the two women.

"Where are we going?" Lucky heard someone behind her ask quietly.

Upon hearing this question, she cursed silently, They should know where we're going! We all had the exact same briefing!

She opened her mouth to reply to that silly question but Rogueboy beat her to it.

"We have to establish communication with the outside world. This place is old and clearly hasn't been kept maintained over the years so we have to try and keep a transmission long enough to request for reinforcements"

Easier said than done.... Lucky thought somberly.

Their footsteps echoed throughout the halls. Skarr rubbed his head. He had a massive headache. He figured his head could've been worse, he was wearing his helmet when he was hit. Now they were working their way down the hall towards the comm center. Skarr kept looking around nervously, waiting for the next merc to come out of the shadows.

Kira led the group further into the listening post. Skarr kept a tight hold on his rifle. He wasn't going to be taken by surprise again. Skarr looked at the walls of the hall. Blood splattered the walls sporadically. There was no carbon scoring down on this level. Skarr wondered what that was all about. Did the mercs only have melee weapons?

Skarr wondered what more they would find, especially in the comm center. He figured it would be worse there. It was five more minutes before anything happened.

"Found it!" Kira announced. Skarr peered at the door to the comm center. It was blasted inward. The IATs must have barricaded themselves in the comm center. The two squads stepped through the jagged doorway. The comm center was a large room. Banks of equipment filled the room. And then there were the bodies. Bodies were strewn all over the floor and equipment.

Lucky and Tanus ran to one of the computers. The rest of the squads fanned out. That was when the trap was sprung. Mercs burst out of the shadows. One of them jumped at Skarr, knocking his blaster out of his hand. Skarr jumped back. The merc held a makeshift sword in his hand. It looked to Skarr like a jagged piece of a Star Destroyer's hull.

Skarr unsheathed the sword at his hip and ducked under the the merc's first swing. Skarr blocked the mercs next swing. He couldn't hear anyone shooting blasters. The mercs must've knocked everyone's blasters out of their hands when their guard was down. Skarr slashed out, catching the merc in the throat. Most Iron Horse and RAIDERS had taken out their opponents and had moved on to helping the others.

Soon, all of the mercs were dead or tied up and knocked out. Skarr walked up to the comm unit.

"Any luck?" he asked. Tanus shrugged. Lucky was tapping away at the controls. Skarr looked closely at the display. The comm had very little power. And what power it did have was poorly connected.

The comm was emmitting only white noise. Lucky kept tapping away.

Finally the comm blast to life, "This is Sam, what dya need?"

Blood. Death. Violence. it was all these mercs knew as they had took them down.  The smell of death  grew  as the female sighed when the deeds were done, and done quickly. Almost too easy for her taste.  It was then they had made, and lost contact as she spun around. Her eyes darting like lasers to Lucky and Tanus.

"Help, or no help, this was almost to easy. These Mercs are throwing themselves at us like toys." Saph growled.


Managing to get that one sentence in before the room exploded into arguments. A babble of who wanted to do what in a place that in her terms, could crumble over their heads.  Wouldn't that just be a perfect end? I can see the headlines now. "Troopers killed in action due to faulty building collapsing while waiting for reinforcements."

Yea, perfect. Part of her nearly wanted to put that out and lighten the mood. However, it was then Lucky, managed to have everyone shut up for a moment before ears could be boxed in.

"Well, I for one would rather move around then stand here with nothing better then arguing amongst ourselves." Saphira spoke, breaking the silence.

That, and I'm itching to see what else these mercs have in store. Something isn't setting right with me. Not that she was going to voice that to everyone in the room. Her stance gave that much away as she cocked her hips slightly to the right. Her head tilted to the right as she eyed the door.  The Twi'lek still had her blade in hand, the blaster slung over her shoulder. If the building was in that much disrepair, she would rather a closed combat then risk taking down any weak points.

"Standing here isn't my style. If those mercs are walking around with makeshift swords, there has to be a reason.  Right now this place isn't sitting right with me and theres more places these guys can hide." Saph pointed out as she toyed with the blade in her hand.  Flipping it up as it spiraled in the air. The pale light reflecting off the tip as she caught the hilt and then spun on a heel before walking out of the room.

"I don't know about you all, but I'm going to  at least pace the hall while you  make a decision."

--- Aboard the Proto ---

Sergeant Major Allen Coups stood at the head of the small briefing room aboard the cruiser. His face was somber, yet his eyes were filled with fire. He had many years under his belt to control the adrenaline that came within the few hours before a jump.

He cleared his throat, “Apex squad, this is going to be a first for all of us. We have been called to assist the squads that are deployed on the planet Sump. This is not the first time we have been called to do so. The real difference is where we are going to be making our jump from.”

He began to pace from side to side of the group, “I have been informed by the Commander of Development that we are going to be issued some new gear for this one. We will be making our jump from the docking bay of this cruiser, which will be in high orbit above the planet. It will remain there until we are ready to return home.

The pressure in the room felt as if it had doubled in the few minutes since the brief had started. First they are expected to jump from an orbiting cruiser, land on the planet’s surface, and survive; now they are expected to do all that in the presence of the Commander of Development as well?

“Detail, Attention!” First Sergeant Tarsus announced as the door to the briefing room opened and a tall zabrak entered. The entire room snapped to their feet. Their bodies were ridged the same pose. Eyes did not wander about; they were locked forward as the superior officer entered the room.

“As you were,” the blonde zabrak stated turning and ushering in two others into the room with a covered object in tow, “Please Sergeant Major, continue.” With the command the troopers returned to their seats and resumed their attentions to their squad leader.

“Yes Commander. As I was saying Commander Sam Zur will be joining us on this jump. From what I have been told this planet is a dump. This is where neighboring systems send their refuse. The landscape is covered in toxic pits and large debris. It is going to require your entire attention to make a safe and coordinated landing. We will not have time to take our time in regrouping after landing planet-side. With that I will yield the floor to you sir.”

“Thank you Sergeant Major Coups. Now then, you all may be wondering how exactly it is that we will be surviving this jump. The answer to that is right here,” Sam said as he gracefully stripped off the sheet that was concealing the object on the platform, “The Orbital Drop Armor System or ODAS.”

The armor did not glisten under the lighting for it was a matte black and crimson. It was not the most impressive armor that had been revealed, but curiously there was something else erect next to it.

“We all have been training to utilize the ODAS in a live fire situation. This is our first go at it. I, personally, would have wanted a few more training jumps before doing this, but when duty calls we must respond.”

Apex squad had some nerves, but this mission was something brand new. Each member knew that this was going to be the jump of their lives and there was so much that could go wrong.

“Now then,” Sam began with a long pause, “Who’s ready to show off a bit?”

The briefing room erupted with a solid wall of sound, “Hoo-rah!” Sam gave a grin and a nod. He headed out the door. Apex squad snapped to attention without command as their commander parted.

--- Fifteen Minutes Later ---

“Welcome back to the hanger bay Apex Squad,” Sam announced holding his ODAS cover under his right arm, “You all know how this goes. The Proto will be in position for our jump in less than five minutes. Prepare yourselves. This is the real deal here.”

The brown atmosphere loomed just outside the bay. There were a few notable puffs of dark smoke emanating at different points on the planet’s surface. From this distance, it did not appear to be that terrible of a planet, but still not a sunny vacation spot by any means.

“Sir, we are in position.”

“Alright Apex squad, let’s do this.”

Sam slammed his helmet on to his head and led the squad face to face with the blue air shield. He gave a wave to the controller in the observation control booth and the blue screen fizzled out. He looked to his left and right, “Sergeant Major, give the command at will.”

“Yes sir!” Sergeant Major Coups responded with both vim and vigor, “Detail, on my mark!”

This should be interesting. With all the pollutants in the air, I wonder what color we’ll burn. Sam thought to himself awaiting the mark.

“MARK!”

On command the squad leapt out of the hangar bay into the emptiness of space. The blue screen fizzled back into place when the team cleared the bay.

“Begin the thirteen second burn!” Sergeant Major Coups commanded.

The burners ignited and vibrated the trooper inside as they propelled towards the brown atmosphere of the polluted planet. It was the longest thirteen seconds any of the members had experienced. This was no longer a training mission. They were going into a combat zone and they were going in hot.

Just as the thrusters cut out, Sump’s gravity took over and began to pull Apex squad to the surface. The feeling was like being tethered to a beast of burden that decided now was a good time to run full out. The squad lost all vision. The visor shield closed to protect their eyes from the light they were about to generate. Moments later, the video screen flickered to life in time for them to see the burst of light.

This will never get old! Sam thought to himself with a huge smile on his face.

From the surface, the ten black dots suddenly erupted into falling green gems. Those ten plummeting troopers became the most beautiful things within the atmosphere of the planet. Nobody on the surface was any the wiser as to what those were. It was safely assumed to be some space junk coming to join the rest of its companions on the surface of this garbage planet.

A pair of soft noises came as a limp, lifeless, corpse was carelessly or carefully kicked repeatedly by the pale white boots of a certain troopers SCOPE Armor system “Yup, this guy surely is dead as surely is sure.” The eccentric gabbing rung forth from the internal to external audio relay system in the helmet, alerting anyone in the vicinity to his voice but really, who was around to hear it? Here with Iron Horse, in this high profile mission, subtlety took a passenger seat in his mind, oh for the joy of it all, he got to kill without bias, without discrimination, no one would have their pretty little burials, especially not the fallen dregs on the floor.

Thankfully Madman's erratic behavior was largely ignored or at least no one really voiced their opinions. There were more important things to focus on afterall, though as the mild wounds were tended to, soldiers directed in an orderly and efficient fashion, Madman himself decided to kneel down and examine one soldier's shirt and the fairly unique logo on the left arm, but they wore little to no armor. “This was it? What kind of mercs were these?” He'd ask, to no one in particular until he shifted and turned with his SCOPE helmet fastened firmly to his head as he noticed Saphira on her way “Hey, don't go all alone? I don't want you killing anymore than I do.” He remarked as he walked over. A Patrol sounded like a terrific idea.

---Elsewhere...---

“So, you think those little bootlicks managed to do okay?” A tall man, perhaps of Mandolorian blood tugged up a small cigarette sort of object, and lit it up as the red smoldering rip outlined the rough features of his face, wearing dark metal grey armor with the very same Merc insignia emblazoned on the back, as he leisurely sat and stared over the others “Well without guns? I'd say they were dead or wounded at this point.” a nearby Twi'lek male wearing some sort of armored headgear would reply forth to the Mandolorian “Say, wasn't one of them your kid? I gotta say, pretty cold of you to send your own son to the sharks.

The Mandolorian laughed as he took a drag “That little pencil neck? He couldn't do anything right, be a damn gift if he was blasted into a smoldering pile of ash.” He'd joke, holding little confidence in his own blood “Better off cloning myself at this point. Alright guys, Whites took the bait, let's go and show them what real men can do. Everyone suit up!” The other men, as rough around the edges they were, each put on  a helmet which was common with their body armor and leg gear. They were not the pushovers that the hopeful initiates were.

Blaster fire erupted from several places at once.

It would happen now, right? We split up into narrow corridors, and then we get attac- Jamasis ducked away from a blaster bolt as three troopers appeared in front of him. He fired a quick burst with his rifle, meant to scatter rather than hit, before withdrawing a little down the corridor. The three of them didn't move.

"And now we have the vets," he remarked to Quillia who was just behind him. They both fired down the corridor, and the other troopers did likewise. The blaster bolts came close, very close, on several occasions as he slowly retreated down the corridor. One grazed his shoulder, melting the armour and burning his arm. Jamasis grimaced, but together they managed to get around a corner.

"Quillia, try and keep them from coming around a second will you?" He said. Without waiting for a reply he switched his comm on. "Nightowl, Aeos, you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Yes. We're trying to get back to the MOL's, see if we can regroup."

"Blackjack?"

"Heh, you're worried? This is easy. Don't worry about us, maybe we'll end up helping you out this time."

"Jamasis!" shouted Quillia. He spun around, looked down the corridor at the enemy troopers. He swore, moved out the way of a flurry of shots, and started to shoot back. He got one and Quillia hit another, but typically three more arrived. Abandoning the slow retreat, Jamasis simply grabbed Quillia, pulled her up, then ran back towards the MOL's. More blaster bolts peppered the walls all around him, some shots that should have hit him seemed to sail past his visor.

"So what do we do?" asked Quillia as they reached the MOL's, and, unfortunately nobody else was there. Gunfire could be heard from all directions, and Jamasis simply crouched down behind one of the launchers.

"We shoot them." Jamasis opened fire at the approaching soldiers. And then, as would be expected, his gun jammed. He hammered it against the floor trying to get it working, but nothing happened. On her own Quillia could only do so much, so Jamasis drew his pistol and fired some shots in the general direction of the enemies.

Emboldened by his clear misfortune, one of the enemy troopers made a dash whilst his squad mates kept Quillia busy. Focusing on the other troopers, the first thing Jamasis noticed was his pistol leaving his hand and a fist colliding with his face. Slightly dazed, he turned to his attacker and managed to dodge a blind punch. He struck his opponent in the jaw, once, twice and three times before kneeing him in the stomach. Before he could recover, Jamasis drew his knife and plunged it into his neck.

Pay attention from now on!

He didn't need to be told twice. Using the dead troopers weapon he fired repeatedly towards the hostiles. In the distance the familiar sound of a grenade could be heard.

"Don't use grenades!" Jamasis shouted into his comm. "This is an ammo dump, you don't want it going up!"

This fight might go on for a while, he thought, as he and Quillia finished off the remaining two attackers with their guns and more could be heard approaching.

Jaison raked a hand over the stubble of his chin. Around him the world was erupting in flames, explosions, debris and blood. Despite the position of authority he held over his group, he failed to be at the front-line fighting with them right now. His hands worked fast and expertly, crossing wire to wires. His grey eyes burned with fever that dripped down in perspiration into his neck and soaking the frail rags on his back. His men knew he can’t fight anymore. That didn’t mean however he was less incapable.

Furiously, he tried to press down the thick knot violently bubbling in the back of his throat. Some of these men were still boys he thought with regret. The bunker shook. A stupid fool from the enemy line had decided to toss a grenade.  He himself was barely thirty-three years old. Another vibration shuddered violently and he paused his work till his hands steadied again. They have been trying to fight this system for years. The MOLs or whatever the shipment was called were supposed to be their ticket off this hellhole, for him and his brothers. Instead, it attracted Imperial flies.  They have been dying for years to live life, not by gun but just in peace.  Someone shouted one floor above him. Was it Shigent? No. If they could repel these two squads, it might be easier to drop out of existence. Go into hiding and wait for the storm to blow over.  His family was dead, or they had sold themselves into slavery exported to the far regions of the galaxy. His dignity and pride along with his brothers will not follow in the same footsteps. Not with the prize and the way out so close to their hands. His future was gone. That had been established months ago. He would die for the future of his brothers however.

“Men…pull back.” He commanded hoarsely into his own comm. Mouthpiece.  The device was old, and cracked as were all their equipment.  He leaned back against the wall. The weights hanging from his chest felt right albeit they would end his life in a few moments. He grabbed his jacket and quickly pulled it on not wanting his comrades, his brothers to know of his plans. Shigent would understand. Shigent was ready to take over leadership. It felt cold. The lights flickered as he stood and pressed his hands against the wall to steady his weak frame under his added weight.  Somewhere behind him, boots were thundering down.
“Jay,” a deep yet sharp voice stated.
Jaison turned around to face his second-in-command.

Shigent Raka eyed the older manwith respect. He would easily consider him to be his blood brother and mentor. He would die for this man. His being vibrated in the presence of Jaison. Being his subordinate gave him meaning and will to live and fight.

“Why the pullback?” he questioned though he hated to question Jaison. He shifted the rusted rifle on his back.

“Where are our brothers?” Jaison asked with a weak voice.

He stood slumped against the wall. Damnit, mere months ago he stood tall and proud as the strongest of his men. Now he was reduced to a toddler-like state.

“Upstairs in the first corridor. Enemy position is located at the third corridor.”

“How many of them are down?”
Silence.

“How many have we lost?”
Silence.

“I see. “

Shigent shrank at the anger that seemed to strengthen his commander’s body into a rigid and feral stance of aggression and revenge.  He paled.
“Jay, I’m sorry, its my fault-“

“Nothing could have prepared you boy. They are professional soldiers. We are the sons of miners.”  Jaison spat.

“I want to talk with them.”

“No.” Shigent said in a firm authoritive voice usually reserved for the rest of the group.

“Shigent, stay out of this. That’s a direct command.”
He felt anger, but the feeling quickly dissipated into respect. His commander still had the energy to suppress any revolt or disagreement with unspoken authority. And currently it was that authority ordering him to silence his voice and thoughts immediately.

“You will know what to do, and where to go. I need to reach an agreement with our folks upstairs.”

It felt cold, even in the damp heat of this bunker, his body and bones felt cold though the blood pumping through his veins were roaring in adrenaline.

***



The sudden disappearance of enemy fire and presences had left Black Jack and Wraith confused and baffled along with Havock.  Instinct told every soldier to remain where they were and not press forward.  Garyll raised his hand and lowered it again forcing the squads to remain in their cover.

The sudden silence seemed to be more deafening than the previous volley and screeches of blaster bolts exchanged earlier. 
“Havock. Two-o-clock.” Quillia pointed.
A hand clutching a rag of white yet dirtied cloth was waving slowly and hesitantly from behind a corner of the corridor.

“Throw down your weapons!” Havock commanded, her own rifle still raised cautiously.

A blaster pistol clattered against the beaten floor and skidded over.
Aeos and Kdryn being the closest to the enemy slowly edged closer to the waving hand.
“Come out where we can see you. Hands on your head!”


Aeos raised her pistol resting it on her empty wrist and peered at the corner around which the hand was now emerging attached to a arm, the shoulder and finally the body of a very sick man.  Her guard dropped for a nano-second, instinctively feeling concern. A collective shift of weaponry could be heard as Wraith and BlackJack tensed their arms, training their rifles, pistols and blades.

“I want to talk!” he shouted hoarsely. He suppressed a cough that wracked his body inwardly.

“Procedure Havock?”  Aeos asked, her eyes still on the thin man in front of her.  Once a time, he had been handsome and vibrant with life, but now only a ghost remained in his sickly body.
“Search and proceed.” She ordered sharply. 

His arms clamped behind his head firmly, his fingers fiercely clutched the small black form in between the fingers and his thick brown hair. Hesitantly he walked nearer. Kdryn raised his weapon and hissed.

“Sir, that is close enough.”  Jamasis stated, his face frowned in wary lines of caution and suspicion.

He kept walking as he frowned.

Closer.

They were still a good few meters away from him. His limping pace increased, both Kdryn and Aeos surged forward instinctively in response.

Her world blackened out, feeling a rough shove that pushed her from her course while her world was breaking down in exploding pieces of debris and blood.

OOC:

Basic gist is that Jaison loaded himself with explosives and under the pretense of surrendering or negotiating he got closer to the squads before detonating himself. Aeos and Kdryn some ends up not receiving the full impact of the blast, but given their proximity, they can be possibly severly injured, ask Kdryn though, since he is a barabel. The explosive was a shrapnel explosive, so no big bang that made the structure gave way, but enough for the squads to be caved into this part of the banker by the ceiling that had collapsed or something. Have fun.

Talohn winced as blaster bolts whizzed over his head, screaming past to scorch the wall behind. His squad were all behind cover, darting out quickly to squeeze off a few shots before the receivers could fire back. RAIDERS were doing likewise. Yet no matter how many bolts were fired, their attackers never seemed to stop. It was as if the bolts purposely avoided them, shimmying just out of contact. Needless to say, the Imperials were getting frustrated.

"Why won't these bastards die!?" Someone shouted angrily as another volley of bolts was fired at them. Talohn grinned and swung round the large piece of detached wall that was his cover and fired down the corridor. The bolt skimmed above a head, close enough to split hairs. Talohn cursed. It's as if these bastards are being protected by a goddamn deity! he said inwardly. He whipped back behind cover, catching a small graze on his arm before he could avoid it. Nothing major. Meanwhile, Tanus had snatched up a grenade, biting off the pin and lobbing it at the attackers. A roar of "GRENADE!" was heard as they scattered away from it. A loud explosion, big, but not big enough to demolish another set of walls echoed through the building, but it appeared none of the enemy was injured. They simply returned to their cover and began firing again.

Talohn was getting suspicious. Maybe it was just paranoia, but why did it seem that those invulnerable bastards across the way never seemed to be taking any risks to kill them, like most of the enemy did. They were just taking it calmly, popping up quickly to fire one or two shots before darting back down again. They never even seemed to be aiming for lethal shots. The two squads had sustained minor injuries, even though there seemed to be much more of their assailants than there was of them. It was almost as if--

"Freeze."

The voice had came calmly and confidently, but had a coldness and surprising sharpness to it. It was nothing to be quite alarmed at, it could be just Lucky or someone getting annoyed and trying a different, yet pointless, tactic. If it wasn't for the fact that it had been said calmly, Talohn wouldn't have noticed a thing. Except the attackers from across the way had stopped firing.

And the voice had come from behind them.

Talohn turned slowly. Standing there was a group of armed men, rifles aimed at their chests and fingers on the triggers. The commander of them seemed to be the middle one. The group behind them had hurried up from behind and aimed their rifles at the squads. Totally outmanoeuvred.

"Drop your weapons. You're surrounded."

Tanus hissed angrily, but put his rifle down. Lucky and Kira did the same. Everyone else seemed uneasy, but at gestures from squad leaders, they dropped their weapons also. The man smiled cunningly.

"Good." He gestured to the men behind. "Search them."

OOC:

Up to next poster whether we fight back now or go with them for a bit

Awww, pity that we can't leave the XO! Came Saphira's sarcastic thought as a stray bolt blasted past her head.  Rolling her eyes as she looked over her shoulder down the hall. They had been caught, for the moment as the clatter of weapons was heard. However, she wouldn't go down without a fight. 


While the thugs started to pat down the first set of troopers, a couple others aimed their own weapons on the others. Reminding them to not try anything funny. Too late for that. They didn't have time for games and Saphira knew if they had them tied down, there wouldn't be any time for a super escape.

Fingering her blade, she knew she would have to react fast. A slight head turn and node to Madman was all the indication she would need for a distraction. Spinning to her right, she launched herself into the nearest Mercenary  and flew the blade out to strike the second in the left thigh. Giving Madman  the few seconds to reach and pull loose their weapons. The Mercs reacted quickly however. The one Saphira tackled was stronger then she realised and slammed her back up against the wall.

"Fight Back!"

Someone yelled.  The female wasn't sure who it was as Saph kicked up and twisted in the mans grip.  Bending down she fingered at a weapon hanging in his belt and managed to pull it loose. Flipping it up before he could stop her and shooting him in the side.

"Nice work!" Madman's voice called over as she looked to see he has made work of the one she had injured  with her blade. Pulling her blade from his thigh he tossed it to her. The blade flicking a few drops of blood as she caught it and they jumped back into the fray.

As she was being searched by one of the mercs, she spotted Saphira out of the corner of her eye. The Twi'lek looked like she was planning something, Lucky knew this from the slight change in Saphira's stance. What is she cooking up now?

The next thing she knew, Saph flew into action, madman was right behind her. In the span of a few seconds, a good brawl was under way. Saph had injured a man and lethally wounded another, Madman had finished the job on Saph's first victim. Lucky took this as their cue to join in. The key to  success when outnumbered was the surprise element, you had to wait a bit and had to know when to act. Done correctly it momentarily stunned and surprised your captors or attackers and had the potential to give you the upper hand.

With a gesture, she grabbed the nearest weapon and fired at the merc in easier reach to her. He fell to the ground in a heap on top of one of the RAIDERS troopers, not wasting any time she grabbed the body from on top of whomever it had landed on and flung it in the direction of one of its comrades. As it became airborne, quickly lost speed and altitude, one of the corpse's boots hit one of his live comrades in the side of the head putting him down as well. For good measure she took out her I77 and made quick work of shooting the downed men either in the chest or in the head.

As she looked up from her work, she saw Kira not far away surveying the scene. She decided to do likewise and was pleased to see that the mercenaries had lost a good amount of people bringing both groups down to a fair number. Opening up a private comm channel she spoke to both Tanus and Kira.

"Now that we've gotten our message across that we need more men, I strongly feel we should get out of here. Earlier I felt confident we had this place under control, I was clearly mistaken; we underestimated these guys and their capabilities. Any thoughts?"

"Why not use frags and have a few bangs happen? I mean, look at the place already. It's falling apart, us speeding up the process a bit shouldn't be too bad" someone from RAIDERS suggested.

"Let's get going then!" shouted someone else just as another volley of enemy fire came their way causing a few of them to quickly duck. As Lucky looked behind her, there was a hissing sound and she could see scorch marks on the opposite wall.

"Frags it is" she heard Kira say from beside her. This surprised Lucky a little as the Squad Leader liked to avoid killing or unnecessary force at all cost. So before her SL changed her mind, Lucky got the first frag ready in her hand and in a swift curving motion, lobbed it out into the hallway as another quick volley of enemy fire blasted their way. As she doubled back into the small room they were trapped in, she noticed some scorch marks on her own armor.

"Great...." She muttered to herself as she saw a few people getting their own frags ready.

"Not everyone fire off their frags at once, we'll need some cover fire as we're methodically lobbing these out the door unless we all want to fry our armor and ourselves" she quickly shouted before anyone could do anything.

After she had finished speaking she felt everyone's gaze locked on her form. At this moment she part of her wanted to see the expressions behind the faceplates but part of her was happy that she couldn't see their faces. For all she knew they could think she had gone looney tunes over the years.

"Unless anyone has any other suggestions?" She asked in an irritated tone to no one in particular.

Without a word a few people got their E-45's ready while a few more brandished a fragmentation grenade. One advantage the Stromtroopers had over the mercenaries was that they could effectively communicate silently. After a unanimous agreement involving a lot of finger-pointing, a certain order was decided. Skarr would throw his frag first followed by Atoll, Saph and Tanus. The rest of them would provide cover fire. If all went well they would be able to jump ot of their small unwanted prison sooner rather than later.