Wet, cold, damp. Was it raining? She couldn't tell anymore. The freezing sweat that dripped from her pours had soaked her hair and clothes just like a rain storm. The running was causing a burning in her calves and thighs. It was enough to make her no longer care about the weather or her appearance for that matter.

Noma Klavan had managed an above middle class life in her fifty some odd years. She married a good, but somewhat inattentive, man named Doctor Roget Klavan. Roget was a scientist, and he was brilliant. His expertise lied in invention, and his innovations gave way to new technological advances in droid production and mental mapping. It was an odd combination, but Roget did the majority of his medical research in neurology. Artificial intelligence was more of a hobby. He enjoyed spending time in his laboratory tinkering with his droid trying to apply his neurological research to the machine's intelligence.

A week ago her life was changed forever. Now, her husband was dead, a victim to a degenerative disease that claimed his body but could never touch his mind. Noma was just a woman running in the damp night air through the woods surrounding Torrance the capital city of Hadabbanon. She was probably going to die and she only barely knew why.

A branch, invisible in the darkness, slapped Nomas' face causing a gash and warm blood to mix with the sweat. Tears involuntarily fell as her heart pounded in her chest. Her reflexes screamed to use her hands to stop the blood, yet she knew she couldn't, not without dropping the box clutched in them.

The box was yet another unanswered question in Noma's mind. A component to some device her late husband spent his last moments dithering over rather than resting, rather than doing anything the doctors ever told him to do. She was looking at it as she finally got the will to go through Roget's never-ending drawings and unfinished projects in the basement lab of their large home in Torrance. Noma couldn't guess what it would do, only that as soon as her small hand closed around the object the hot breathing on her neck started. She tried to turn and before her eyes could behold the terrible image behind her, the screeching growl emitted by the creature sent her muscles flying as fast as they could to move her legs, sprinting towards the exit.

She never looked back, yet she knew it was still there. The sound of tree's being abused by a large body bashing into them at a startling pace, the vibrations as over-sized feet slammed into the foliage on the forest floor. All the signs whispered in her brain to keep running, don't stop, don't look back, the nightmare is upon you.

It slashed at her, and she heard herself scream before she even knew the sound had left her lips. The fabric that covered her back ripped against the powerful claws that were disappointed at the lack of flesh under the sharp nails.

The target of her flight was in her sights. Illuminated through the trees she could only barely make out the small cave she used to play with her sisters at as children. Her body dived for the alcove landing on broken branches and rocks bruising her petite body. She grunted with effort as she squirmed towards her target. A sering pain stabbed at Noma from her thigh as the sword-like fingers dug into the soft skin and pulled her back towards it. Now she had a purpose, she was at her goal, and even if she was ripped in half she would complete her task.

Noma didn't make a sound she clamped her teeth down on her lip, drawing a small measure of blood. The metallic taste didn't dissuade her, she continued to shift and scoot up to the small cave. A full grown person couldn't even stand in the opening, and in the light anyone could see that it was less than a meter deep. With her last bit of effort she tossed the box and let her head fall in exhausted triumph to the forest floor.

====~~~~====

50 years later

"This should be a short hop." Havock stood in the cramped briefing room on Tadath addressing the troopers of Blackjack and RAIDERS that had been assigned little more than messenger duty as far as she was concerned. "Both squads will travel together to the planet of Hadabbanon. Once there we will land in the capital city of Torrance. The mayor claimed there was a safety issue which is why there will be two squads on this mission, before I have to deal with any groaning about being together."

The squads had gone through a number of changes in the recent weeks and none of them seemed to have settled into their new positions yet. Skarr was now ASL of RAIDERS and Havock had returned to play a duel role as SL and PC for the mission. Tanus was now wearing a Blackjack uniform and was functioning as their ASL for the mission.

"So they are sending in two squads to cover one guy? Politicians, pfft, way to jumpy." Havock rolled her eyes at Decembrist and continued.

"Like I was saying. The mayor is supposed to have some intel for us something to do with one of the old abandoned houses in the area transmitting a signal. Regardless we are to check out whatever this guy has convinced high command is worth our time and get out of there. Standard gear, personal items are fine, I want everyone on that transport in fifteen. Dismissed."

OOC:

Everyone is on the same transport, can be one of our squad transports, your call. I want to see a few CD posts and they must include someone from the opposite squad. Talk on the transport, discuss your choices of weapons, totally up to you, but I want to see some interaction between the squads here. RAIDERS has a slightly out of date but useful CD section on the RAIDERS wiki to help on that end.

Once we land in the small but established spaceport on Torrance we should be greeted by the Mayor, name/description/personality i leave to your creative minds, have some fun with that. He will point us to the mansion just out side of town that has been abandoned for about 50 years (gee I wonder which mansion THAT is ) In regards to the safety issue, seems like whatever was attacking Noma may have a long lifespan or been breeding. The mayor is a politician that likes boardrooms and offices, he will know little if anything about the creature other than people are dying and the stories are fantastic. Any relation to Noma or Roget would be told by the people of Torrance the way we would tell an Urban Legend here, and be believed about as much.

Remember we know nothing about this place or the legends we are just here to gather the intel from the mayor and leave, so no acting like you made a 20 on your knowledge local check and suddenly know it all.

Have a spooky good time.

Hassar finished placing the last piece of his armor on himself. It was a new polished white, although he had no doubt he wouldn't come back with it looking so pristine. It's just the way it always worked out.

He picked up his helmet and stared at the reflective surface on the back of it. He remembered when he used to wear the red armor of Blackjack. He actually was pretty weirded out by the crimson red armor, but it had grown on him. Now it felt like a relief to don on the fresh white of the Stormtrooper armor.

"Hey, Hassar. Don't space out on us, yet," Skarr said, not looking up from the weapon he was tending to.

Withdrawing from his reminiscence, Hassar glanced over to where the rest of Raiders were getting ready. "Oh, we wouldn't want that, now would we?" he replied in his usually soft voice, typical for any Zabrak.

He picked up his blaster rifle and slung it over his shoulder. "I'll meet you out at the shuttle."

"Alright."

Hassar exited the room and headed down toward the hangar. On his way, passed the Blackjacks quarters. Checking his chrono, he shrugged and turned into the barracks. He looked around to see some familiar faces. Closest to him was Garryll, and he was just finishing up with his own gear. The bold red of Blackjack's armor seemed to compliment his own white armor. Hassar thought briefly of how the two squads would look working together. No doubt we'll make quite the impression.

Gates picked up what looked like an old officer's sword and attached it to his side. Hassar smirked at the incongruous object. He walked over to where Gates was standing. His back was faced to him when he spoke up.

"Over-kitted, sarge?"

Garryll cocked his head in his direction. "Hassar," he smiled and returned to inspecting his sword. "Yeah, ready for war. Doubt we'll see any, but Havock knows how to pick 'em, that's for sure." Looking up from his sword, he asked, "How you been, Private?"

Hassar shrugged. "You know; seen the galaxy, met some people, shot 'em."

"Same here. Seems to go with the job."

Hassar chuckled. "True, true. Seeing Blackjack from the outside has shown me just how... totally crazy you lot are," he said, shaking his head a bit.

"Also true," he admitted. He flicked away a piece of rust  from his sword before sheathing it.

"Remember, transport in ten!" he called over his shoulder. "Don't miss it, or I'll give yuo a stern talking to, and you know how much I hate those!" He turned and started making his way through the barracks.

Hassar rolled his eyes, smiling.

"Hassar! Back from the dead, I see." He looked over to who had called him. Corvin stood there, grinning at him.

"Corvin. I see they decide to keep you around, eh?"

He laughed and replied, "I was starting to think the same about you, too."

"Hah. Well you know how it is."

"Sure, yeah."

"I heard Tanus is taking orders from Gates, now, huh. How's that working out?"

Corvin grinned again, "I don't think he's ever gonna let it down. They're fine, though. You know. Business as usually."

"Hm, nice. Where's Abby?"

"Oh she's getting ready here, somewhere."

"Alright. Good seeing you, Corvin."

"Yeah, you too."

Hassar walked down through the rest of the barracks and exited out on the other side, and continued down towards the hangar. Dec was walking down the hallway as well, and he watched Hassar come out of Blackjacks barracks.

"Making friends, are we?"

Hassar laughed. "Right."

The shuttle hummed as it was getting ready to take off. Skarr stood on the boarding ramp. They were waiting for the all clear. He thought on about the mission they were about to embark on. Hadabbadon. A weird name for a planet, but Skarr couldn't complain, at least he could actually pronounce it. He continued to stand on the ramp, waiting. Havock had asked him to make sure everyone was on the ship and ready and then to make sure the ramp closed.

"So, it seems High Command just keeps wanting us together on missions," a voice declared from behind Skarr. Skarr grinned, he knew that voice and probably would hear it many more times. He turned to find Razor smiling down at him.

"That's because High Command knows we're just that damn good," Skarr laughed. Razor walked down the ramp and the two bumped fists. The two of them had worked together on quite a few missions and would even bump into each other at the garrison. The two of them had attended Academy together and from there on, they were fast friends.

Skarr and Razor stood at the bottom of the ramp, talking to each other about what had happened to them since the platoon mission. Finally, the all-clear rang. Skarr slapped the button to close the ramp, and Skarr and Razor retreated further in to ship. The ramp closed with a resounding thump. The ship gave off more of a hum as it rose off the ground.

The ship was a bit crowded. It wasn't much bigger than a regular squad transport. And even with all the vacancies in the squads, it was still over-crowded. Skarr made his way to the lounge. He wasn't sure who was piloting, but if they needed him, they'd call. The lounge had only a few people in it. Decembrist, Kand, Abalar, and Havock all sat in the lounge, talking quietly.

Skarr and Razor sat in the vacant seats and found that the conversation was just about what had all happened since the platoon mission. Both squads had undergone massive changes since then. Leadership changes, roster changes, even personality changes. They had all changed in some way since then. A grueling mission such as that would change people. Skarr knew, he didn't feel the same way about himself as he used to. He knew he had changed, he just couldn't figure whether it was a good or bad change.

"Anybody up for pazaac?" Skarr asked.

"Oi, oi, yousa gonna get shooted at," Corvin mimicked over the squad com. He snorted, gripping his rifle tightly. "Coming from stalk eyes, that's rich. And what's with that stupid gun he's packing? It's as tall as he is!"

"They're called sniper rifles, Corvin." Razor said, mock-lecturingly. "You know, the ones they wouldn't let you touch back in IOT?"

Corvin snorted again.

"Fourty-Fives are good enough for us, should be good enough for the art critic outside. What's he planning to pot with that thing, avians? Hah! Target practice, I'll give him target practice..."

Corvin's hands were tightly gripping his rifle's grip now, knuckles turning white under the bodyglove. There was a pop over the squad-channel as someone opened a connection, but he ignored it.

"Was that frakker even around for Tadath?" he ranted. "Smug little stalk-eyed son of a Sith har..."

Someone cleared their throat.

"Corporal Sarn."

Corvin blinked, seeing 1st Lieutenant Havock standing at the base of the boarding ramp, her helmet on. She was looking right at him.

"Ma'am." he replied, tone sheepish.

"Lance Corporal Sad's comment was out of line." the Raiders SL said, her voice cold. "But if I hear you refer to him, or any of my troopers, like that again, I'll have you drummed out of the Corps. Blackjack or not. Do we have an understanding?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Corvin replied quickly, averting his gaze and staring at the grating at his feet.

Havock looked at him for a moment longer, then turned and walked back down the ramp. The ship's engines rumbled as they powered up, making the deck-panels reverberate.

Corvin quickly looked away as Havock walked back up the landing-ramp, Grahim in tow. A moment later, the ramp hissed closed, gas venting from the sides as it rose.

The ship rose, repulsorlifts humming, and left the spaceport behind.

Corvin sat there, eyes fixed firmly on the floor. He was still holding his E-45, left hand wrapped about its prop-up stock. Nearby, several other troopers had started a slightly shaky game of pazaak.

The shuttle shook, and one of the Raiders players dropped his hand. Holocards flew everywhere, fluttering across the deck as the player swore colorfully and his comrades laughed.

Corvin looked away, his gaze skittering past Grahim and Havock. The Raiders SL had removed her helmet, and was looking around the passenger bay. He was careful not to make eye contact. Abalar just looked disgusted with Corvin, and the other squad members were busying themselves with various tasks.

From his position by the door, Garryll suddenly looked up.

"All right, boys and girls, he announced over the comlink. "According to our friends up here, we're leaving the planetary gravity well."

There was a pause.

"As soon as we get past the defense network, anyway. They're working on it."

There was a crackle a moment later, and Corvin saw that the Blackjack lead had opened a two-way channel.

"Corvin." Garryll said, somewhat wearily. "You pissed off Havock. That's not good."

Corvin opened his mouth, struggling to reply.

"Sir..."

"Just listen. I can't say anything that Havock hasn't said already. You want the Raiders respect? Show them what we can do."

"Yes, sir." Corvin replied.

With a sigh, the Blackjack SL closed the channel. Corvin went back to waiting.

The shuttle glided past an angular defense station, engines flaring. Light gleamed across Tadath's as the sun started to edge past the planet. It was dawn somewhere below, and a new shift cycle was starting on board the defense network stations.

The shuttle's viewports polarized, there was a long whine from the hyperdrive, and the ship was away.

Bright had only landed a mere ten minutes before the RAIDERS, along with the Blackjacks, had boarded the shuttle and taken off. She'd managed to make it just before the landing ramp was closed, though. Her gear from her last mission set to her by Havock was still draped over her shoulder. The moment she boarded, the report she'd been rehearsing in her head on the run over from the other side of the compound, simply faded out of her memory.

She swore under her breath and feebly tried to bring the details back. There lay the problem. She glanced around at the gathered troopers and locked eyes with Havock for only a moment. She glanced away quickly and made her way to a dark and deserted corner. She noticed Decembrist was back among the RAIDERS again and that Skarr was the new ASL. The corner of her mouth twitched.

She recognized a few BJ's including Tanus. She gave him a respectful incline of her head and plopped down in a seat with barely enough time for her to do up her seat belt. She glanced around the cabin once more and closed her eyes. She was still panting from her run, but her mind felt like it was still outside the ship.

Bright put her head back and took a few deep breaths. When her breathing had calmed and her body had relaxed as much as she could get it to, they had already made the jump to lightspeed. She took advantage of the time she knew she now had. She ran through her mission in her head and shuddered involuntarily.

=====14 days earlier=====

The office was far more disorganized than Bright had ever seen it before. Behind a stack of paperwork sat the source of such disarray. The red haired woman nearly laughed but cleared her throat instead.

Havock didn't look up from her paperwork. "Two things, one I'm coming back to RAIDERS. Its a long story, don't ask me now." Havock sifted through her pile with a scowl. "Second, I need to you to do something of a sensitive nature." Bright could almost see where this was going. Havock wouldn't call her into her new and cluttered office for something that someone else could do. "Need you to investigate this lead we got on Pentastar, I want to know more about these bastards. They chased us off Nivek then off the Pandora, I don't like being chased."

Bright raised a brow, crossed her arms across her chest and casually leaned a hip against the edge of the desk. "Ok I've heard the good news and the bad news in about three sentences." Bright said. She leaned forward slightly, "why do I get the feeling that I'll be doing this solo." The last was a statement, not a question. The gunnery sergeant didn't like where this was going at all. She remembered her experiences on Nivek and the loss of her eye on the Pandora was still as fresh in her mind as if it had happened the day before.

"Because you are perceptive." Havock said, a note of amusement in her voice. The platoon commander looked up after carefully stacking several official looking documents. "I know you can do this, Rain. Just follow the trail and see if you can pick up any crumbs." She tossed Bright a data pad, "That's what Intel has so far."

Bright locked eyes with Havock before looking down at the data pad and scrolling through the information available. "Outstanding." Bright muttered sarcastically. And though she already knew the answer, Rain asked, "And why me? I mean other than you know that I can."

"I trust you not to get distracted, you've done this kind of work before. That and you'll miss me too much not to come back" Havock ticked her points off on her fingers. When Bright's brows arched at the last point, Havock winked.

=====End flashback=====

Bright grabbed for her bag, and took to checking her weapons. She tried to forget the events that had happened next. The memories wouldn't stop, however, and she simply sat there avoiding the glances of the other troopers.

She could hear Havock already. She would want to know why a five day mission had taken her fourteen. Bright didn't want to have to tell her either. She pursed her lips and closed her eyes to steady her breathing again.

=====5 days earlier=====

"Brightstar?" The voice behind her was female and vaguely familiar. Bright didn't turn around or even acknowledge that she had even heard the woman. Instead she tried to remember a name that went with the voice. "Brightstar D'Jonoc? Is that you?"

Bright kept walking, she almost had it. A hand on her shoulder stopped her and she looked back into the heart-shaped face of a brown haired woman with green eyes. Shit! Bright thought. The woman was one that she had once saved from the interrogation techniques of one Jegora Fal, before he had become a member of the AHC. Jana. Bright stopped with the knowledge that her mission had suddenly taken a much more complicated turn.

"Jana," she said keeping her voice calm. Her eyes darted in every direction she could see looking for a quick escape.

"Bright, what are you doing here?" Jana said her hand was still on Bright's shoulder. "Please don't tell me you're here for something other than as a customer."

Bright could plainly see the worry in Jana's eyes. "Why would I be here for any other reason?"

"Gods Bright, you're still with the VE?" She whispered harshly. "You need to leave now. I'll give you ten minutes but thats all I can give you. I have to report this. I won't let the VE do this do me again."

"Jana--" Bright started but was cut off by the other woman.

"No, don't make excuses for them, I have a good thing here and I'm respected. They won't take that from me." The two of them stared at each other for a moment. "Look I'm repaying the kindness you showed me, but ten minutes is all I can give you. Now go!"

=====End flashback=====

Bright growled and put her sidearm on the seat next to her. What had happened next she'll never forget and she would do anything to be able to. Her body was still stiff from those interrogation sessions. Jana had been true to her word, she'd given Bright exactly ten minutes. Bright had just been slow getting back to her ship and had been taken down from the shadows.

She'd been released only twenty-four hours earlier under the belief that she had played her part well. She'd said nothing of any importance to the Alignment and so she was allowed to live and was set free. She hadn't wasted anytime getting away from them.

The sound of the ship-wide comm system brought her back to the present. "ETA to Hadabbanon, one hour."

Bright stood and made her way to a locker with spare armor inside. She'd made sure to put spares on most transports that RAIDERS used just in case they might be needed. Now was such a time.

"I still don't see why we're needed for this one." Corvin griped over the squad com as he walked. "Even planetary guard should know how to use a scanner properly. Frakking idiots. And if the mansion's a problem?"

Corvin paused, gesturing for emphasis.

"Burn it! Problem solved, they get some overdue urban renewal done, and we don't waste the Empire's blaster bolts."

Someone snorted in amusement.

"Corvin." Garryll said wearily. "Civvies don't like torching their own buildings."

"They don't know what they're missing, then." Corvin panned his rifle left and right, miming the use of a flamer. "Whoosh. Problem solved, and we can get some local..."

Garryll shot him a sharp look, noticeable even from under the helmet.

"Right, sir. Sorry, sir." Corvin said, slightly sheepishly. "Scratch that last bit."

After an incident in a Sianat City bar and the resulting fiasco, Garryll had forbidden him from visiting any bar or cantina until further notice. Corvin didn't resent the ban; he understood the man's reasoning perfectly.

Still, his mind tended to slip at times.

"Less talk, more walking." Tanus put in. Just because this is meant to be an easy op doesn't mean you should let your guard down."

Garryll glanced at his ASL, but didn't say anything.

The Blackjacks and Raiders strode down the path in a double file, weapons held at ease. Citizens turned to look at them as they passed, eyes wide in surprise and, occasionally, fear.

The squads had set up position at the top of Jaberwock hill, part of a local park on the capitol's outskirts. It was one of several pre-arranged RV points with Drexhel.

That made the second former Blackjack in Raiders, and two of their people Corvin could trust to watch his back. He wasn't so sure about the others. He vaguely remembered a few from previous joint missions, the Gungan was... the Gungan, and Lieutenant Havock was a Lieutenant. Who was rather annoyed with him. That was all he needed to know.

Drexhel was jogging ahead of the two squads, hands in his pockets. He still didn't quite fit in, his posture and stride parade-ground straight. The Raider was wearing a comlink headpiece, and had a pistol holster tucked into his belt. It would be hard to mistake him for anything but a stormtrooper, or at least ex-military.

The squads had left the small park and were now on a small street. The Raiders were evidently chatting among themselves, judging by occasional twitches and gestures, while the Blackjacks had moved ahead. Citizens hastily moved out of the way as the squads marched down the sidewalk, armour gleaming in the afternoon-light.

The buildings here were more worn and dirtier than those around the spaceport, and sprayed graffiti covered most of the cracked holoscreens. Corvin looked more closely at the slogans, and didn't like what he saw.

The Empire sent the Beast!
Where is the Empire now?
Down with the Imperial lapdogs!

The messages were sprayed everywhere, letters shaky but readable. It wasn't a good sign that there were so many, and that no one had tried to remove them.

Corvin opened the squad channel.

"Look at the walls." he spat. "Rebel-loving traitors."

"Well, well..." Garryll said thoughtfully. "Looks like the mayor wasn't being quite open with us."

"A lying politician. Who'd have thought." Razor said, straight-faced.

"Quite." Garryll replied, turning to look at Havock. The two SLs talked over a private channel briefly, then Garryll turned back to his squad. "This complicates things, but it'll keep for later. Keep moving."

"Yes, sir." Corvin said reluctantly. "Would be nice to put this lot in their place though."

"There'll be plenty of time for that once we're done, and I'm definitely having words with Patterson later. It can wait."

"Yes, sir."

The squads continued, now much more alert. The troopers were holding their weapons more tightly, and they'd spread out slightly. The squad chatter had stopped, replaced by terse reports. The squads had dropped back into a combat mentality.

There were fewer people in this part of the capitol, the occasional pedestrian or speeder giving the stormtroopers a wide birth. Ragged figures watched the squads from dark alleys, muttering to each other. This was Torrance's underbelly, the dirty little secret Mayor Patterson had been trying to hide.

The buildings were soot-stained and crumbling. The permacrete sidewalk was shattered in places, and the glow-posts were rusting and crooked. Holosigns advertising various unsavory services flickered on and off.

"Sir, why are we taking the scenic route through the slums?" Corvin asked over the Blackjack channel.

"It's the quickest way, Corvin." Drexhel interjected, evidently having been listening in.

"Besides," Garryll said thoughtfully. "This might give some of the republic-lovers second thoughts."

"That too." Drexhel nodded.

Corvin saw a glint of red, and turned his head to look at it.

"Frakking hell." he swore, pointing with one hand. "Rebel-loving scum."

Painted across an entire wall was a massive, circular logo. Two impressionistic wings spread on either side of a round head. Crudely sprayed or not, it was unmistakably an Alliance starbird.

There were muttering from the troopers, and not just the Blackjacks.

"It'll keep for later." Garryll said coldly. "Keep moving!"

"Sir..." Corvin began.

"That was an order."

"Yes, sir." Corvin replied slowly, taking one last look at the traitorous logo before continuing to walk.

The squads kept walking, and, after half an hour of marching, passed out of the slums. An overhead hovertrain rail cast shadows across the troopers, the regular humming of passing trains echoing in the streets below. The traffic lanes were filled with speeders.

There were standard Imperial shops here, and pedestrians. The slightly-false, overly-done calm had returned. The people seemed to smile slightly too widely, and there was too much laughter. It rang false, sounding like a holoshow's laugh track.

"Never thought I'd say this, boss," Corvin said over the com. "But I think I preferred the slums. This place just seems wrong."

Garryll just grunted.

Several streets down, the squad ran into something unexpected. One of the lanes was blocked, several police speeders surrounding a grey transport truck. Uniformed men wielding stun batons were standing around, keeping back the growing crowd. Several crates were on the ground.

Havock walked briskly up to the nearest man, Brightstar trailing in her wake.

"You there! What's your name?"

The man looked irritated for a moment, then realized he was speaking to a stormtrooper.

"Screb, m'am."

"Well, Officer Screb. What's all this," Havock gestured at the crowd. "about?"

The police officer paused.

"Weapons smugglers, ma'am."'

"Weapons smugglers?" the Raiders SL asked.

"Yes, ma'am. This lot, you see," the officer explained, gesturing to three surly-looking men guarded by several other officers. " was driving this truck. A crate fell off, and it turned out to have weapons inside. Officers were on the scene, secured the area, and called in back-up."

Corvin whistled, having walked over to the crate while the two were talking.

"This is some serious kit." the trooper commented into the inter-squad com as he rummaged through the open crate. The officers who'd been assigned to watch it just stood there, unable to work up the courage to protest. "E-11s, DH-17s, the works. Even a flame projector or two. Nasty stuff."

"Corvin," Garryll said, irritably. "Stop messing around with their evidence, and get back here."

"Yes, sir." Corvin replied, hurrying back towards the Squad leader. "Although a flamer would be nice for the mansion..."

"We're searching it, not torching it." Garryll snapped, clearly rattled. "And then we're having words with the kriffing mayor."

"Is this the first time this has happened?" Havock asked Screb, who was completely oblivious to the tension among the stormtroopers.

"First that we know of. Similar thing happened a few weeks back at the docks though."

Screb paused. "Rod...Officer Roderick, thinks it's the Beast, you see? People are afraid and want something a bit nastier to defend themselves with. Hunting blasters just don't cut it, see."

"Military hardware for self-defense?" Drexhel murmured into his comlink. "Seems unlikely."

"How many crates were there?" Havock asked, exchanging a significant glance with Brightstar. Most of the two squads were now helping the officers keep the crowd back. The sight of the stormtroopers was enough to discourage most of the citizens, but some were still curious enough to try and get a glimpse.

"Six, all packed with blasters. All three of the suspects are known criminals. One's a smuggler with a rap sheet a parsec wide and glitterstim charges over on Sal Kor. Nasty piece of work."

Havock nodded.

"Do you have a storage facility for these?" she asked, gesturing to the crates. Nearby, Grahim was gesturing wildly at a particularly obstinate civilian.

"Yes, ma'am. We're taking them down to the station armoury for storage. Safest place in the city."

Havock nodded dubiously.

"Take them there as soon as you can, and keep those three safe. We'll need them later."

"Ma'am," Screb started, then spun around as a commotion broke out behind him. The civilian from earlier was shouting at Grahim, holopad in hand. Behind her, a holocam was hovering, eye lens whirring as it flew around the scene.

"I have my credentials here! The Torrance Daily-"

"Excuse me." Screb said, sprinting over to the stand-off. The reporter was waving her mike in Grahim's face, and assaulting him with rapid-fire questions.

There was a moment of silence, broken only by the three-way verbal fight near the cordon.

"Well," Garryll said at last, "that was interesting."

"Should we continue?" Brightstar asked, then shrunk under the glare Havock gave her.

"Yes." the Raiders SL said at last. "The mission still comes first. Squads, move out."

The boots of the stormtroopers beat a staccato rhythm down the street. The dark mansion loomed closer now. The two squads made their way down the now deserted streets. This part of the neighborhood was completely dark and empty. All the holographic signs were flickering or totally dead. Doors were locked or unoperational. The buildings were the victims of poor maintenance and vandalism. Grafitti was scrawled over the walls, warning them to turn back.

Skarr scoffed. Did they really think that the mansion was evil? He thought the notion was ridiculous. Sure it creeped him out, but he was sure that was the point. An "evil mansion" would be a great tourist attraction. So, the locals let the area around the mansion go to waste, make it look like they were completely afraid of it, and soon enough researchers and curious galactic citizens would come here to see the mansion. It was a great scheme to create revenue for the city.

Havock led the small group down the street, closer and closer to the mansion. Skarr looked around at both the RAIDERS and Blackjack members. They were all good people. Too good to be wasting on superstitions, but who was he to question the leadership? He took a look at the mansion which was now close enough to pick out details.

The mansion was much like the buildings around it, decrepit and falling apart. No grafitti was written here, the mansion was the source of their fear, why get that close to it? It's shadowed windows were curtained and provided no view inside. A once elaborate garden lay outside the large house, overgrown with weeds and shrubs. The gate leading inside the mansion grounds was an old thing. It was rusted and half of it's hinges was broken. The fence around it was in about the same condition, only worse, which meant the gate had to have been used recently.

The assembled squads walked up to the gate, peering in through the bars. The mansion must have creeped them out, Skarr thought. He walked up to the gate and pulled on it. The gate came fully off of it's hinges, clanging to the ground.

"We may now enter," Skarr announced. He looked back up at the mansion and could've sworn he seen someone peering out the window at him. Skarr's eyes must of been playing tricks on him because the person was not there anymore. He pushed that thought to the back of his head as RAIDERS and Blackjack began making their way down the path leading up to the foreboding door nestled into the house like a black portal to hell.

Cold. It was impossible to explain with logic, but the air suddenly felt colder as they entered the gate to the mansion's grounds. The building loomed before the pair of squads like a statue, frozen in time as a capsule of its owners last days. Only the weeds and weather had not been as kind as they could have on the structure. Overgrowth climbed up the walls and covered the once ornate windows. Shutters that used to protect the owners from harm in storms, creaked and whined to their current lack of purpose. The paint had long faded, its color only barely visible in the chips that littered the ground like pedals from a dead flower.

Havock touched the door handle that surely shined its brass smile at its owners comings and goings, now it looked brown and dull under her gloved fingers. Pieces of wood and paint snowed down upon her as the door opened with a weak scream, as if to warn would be trespassers of the houses evil intentions. Havock didn't care for ghost stories or legends though. The stories about this place were just stories, that was evident by the fact that it was transmitting a very current and modern signal from within. That meant that someone tangible and real was making a transmitter work, not some fifty year old spirit that had nothing better to do.

With a flashbang they were in the building, they had already blown a droid to bits,  and the teams were regrouping in the large entry. The droid looked like a service model, probably some ancient butler that was running on reserve power for all these years. From the state of things he was definitely not a cleaning droid.

"The readings are all over the place, Havock." Hassar practically hissed the words as he slid next to her. She couldn't tell if he was whispering from concentration on the datapad in his hand or to go with the general ambiance of the mansion. "I can't even tell if we should go up or down to track it."

She nodded and thought about what could cause such interference as her eyes continuously swept the stairs and alcoves just past the atrium of the mansion. "If we got closer to the source could you sort it out then?"

"Doubtful he could zero in on it." Garryll looked at the readings over the zabraks shoulder. "But we could get a longitude for the signal, the latitude would probably require splitting up and checking the floors above and below that location."

"I don't want to split up in this place, I get the feeling its easy to get lost. Not to mention our sensors are obviously not working at optimum." Havock's eyes started to fix on the crooked paintings and half fallen tapestries adorning the grand entry hall. These people had money, but were not made wealthy in their life time. This kind of wealth you're born with, you and probably all the ancestors you could name off the top of your head. Since nobody had inherited the mansion or its secrets, she concluded that they didn't have children or other family with children to pass it down to. Their only legacy appeared to be the legends their death's had spawned. Legends made for terrible housekeepers.

"Hav's right, we need to stay together and just search as much as we can while we have the daylight." Skarr glanced at his chrono. "Which we should keep for about another, six hours."

The rest of the squads had broken off into small clusters as they quietly glanced in each of the rooms off the main atrium. Brightstar was staring into a room with particular interest, which made Havock curious enough to walk over to her location. "Found something Rain?"

She looked past the red head into the barely lit room. The walls in the room were covered from top to bottom in books. Havock had to smirk, her Uncle was an avid book collector and bound flimsy books were not easy to come by. Almost every thing was held in some kind of digital form, and the reason was assaulting her senses as the two women stood at the threshold of the library. Cobwebs covered the spines of the faded bindings, distorting their colors. The smell of the decaying books made her nose itch.

"You mean other than the crazy scratches on the wall? Have you ever seen anything like this?"

Havock leaned against the wall and peered in to see more of the room. "In a smaller, less dusty form, yes. My uncle, Jed, collected these. Always seemed like a waste of time to me. They always fall apart eventually."

Bright smirked and looked over at Havock. "Well I've never seen anything like it."

Hassar was wondering around the entry to the rooms trying to pinpoint the signal. He found it, near dead center in the atrium. "Well its not on this floor, thats for sure." Corvin commented gravely.

"Fine, we have half the information we need. Since nobodies found a way to go down, lets go up. We have about four floors to cover and only six hours before its too dark to work in here. Lets move people."

OOC:

Think about ever horror film you've watched that deals with a house and pretend its this house. It should be spooky and freaky as hell. You will not encounter anything ghastly that moves (ghost, zombie, Frankenstein's monster), mice, bugs, etc are fine though. If you decide to go into a room, describe it in detail. The house was left hastily by Noma (see first post) so things should be left undone (tea stained in the tea cup from being left, books left open to pages, clothes left to dry, etc, etc.) Fifty years may have passed but nobody has been in his house since Noma left - remember her husband had died a week before her race to the forest. For now we are in one group searching, we can move away from each other but stay in sight/earshot and surely on the same floor. No splitting up. You will not find the signal either, not until I post again that is, but seriously nobody find the signal in your posts