"So wait, if the whole planet's on lockdown how in the hell are we getting in?"

Havock turned slowly to the RAIDERS ASL. It was difficult for her to stop staring out the small holoscreen providing a view of what the pilot was seeing as the planet, Pariah, continued to grow in size as they approached at impulse. The whole mission had 'bad feeling' written all over it. "The real question you need to ask yourself RK, is what could be so bad that it would cause a mandatory planetary lockdown."

"Why are we doing this again?" Jegora had been pretending to sleep with his feet propped up in the small corner of the crew area she had been talking quietly to RK in. She hadn't been fooled, some part of her wanted his input on this impending disaster.

She rolled her eyes. "Karash!"

The medic glared at her for several minutes before finally muttering to himself and walking over. "You called?"

"What was that vaccine the doc's found at the research lab here do again?"

"Eleoquent as always." Havock gave him a raised eyebrow she hoped he understood as a silent cue to continue. "Doctor Reynolds and Liph discovered an antivirus. This theoretically should have been able to cure many viral diseases, even things such as cancer once the patient's cells have begun to metastasize...."

"Karash!" Havock was pinching the bridge of her nose, as the medic stuttered to a stop.

He let out an exasperated noise before continuing. "They made something good, and I personally don't see anyway that it could have caused all this. Although I did find some reference to a genetic experiment they were doing with the antivirus. Now if when tested the mutation had adverse effects, or the antivirus itself mutated. That could cause trouble I suppose."

Jegora opened one eye. "Lovely, how many medics are we bringing? Please tell me more than just him."

"We all get to be medic's remember?" Havock smirked. The techs at HC had intercepted a message from a group of scientists willing to assist Pariah. Since the techs couldn't identify who the scientist were ARC had already been dispatched to have them submit to further questioning. Or at least thats how the orders she had been given read.

Her eyes flashed up at the locker with all of their gear. The two squads would be posing as the scientists, with some shadow suits underneath the lab coats they would soon acquire just in case. Their weapons would be limited to almost nothing, but she was confident they could find what they needed on the planet should the need arise.

"We are coming up on the shuttle." Brightstar poked her head into the crew cabin from the cockpit.

Havock and a handful of the others joined her and set eyes upon the scientist shuttle floating aimlessly in space just as ARC had left her.

"Well boys lets get our gear on and do some space walking so we can check out or new ride."

Karash shook his head slowly from the back of the cockpit. "Sometimes woman, I really do hate you."

OOC:

Wraith and RAIDERS we will be zero-g walking over to the shuttle (you can pick what kind it is enjoy!) and exploring. On the shuttle you will have some time to try to determine if we know who these scientists were or not, but you will find out somehow that Dr. Liph is the one that contacted them (intriguing, oh yes). We also need to be in lab coats and such and have our identities (we are going to assume the identities of the scientists so we need to find personnel files during our search) before we land. Have fun!

“Love tap my ass.” Bright muttered more to herself than to anyone else. She rolled her eyes at Beta and looked back at RK. She knocked on his helmet playfully, “You ok, Tiger?” She asked teasingly. When RK shook his head slightly she knew she'd done what she'd set out to do: wake him up from his daze. As flattering as she found it that he was staring at her, or at the very least, trying to see through her helmet, Bright wanted RK to remain the ASL and that meant keeping his head in the here and now.

Not that she should be talking. Her hand went back up to where she knew the crystal RK had given her was settled. It had become a habit of hers to automatically reach for it when she was thinking.... or just plain thinking about him. She gritted her teeth to stop herself from shaking her own head. What good was thinking about anybody going to be to her if she got herself hurt.

“Lets go, you two, you can flirt later.” Havock called back to Bright and RK. From the way the SL's head was tilted and her shoulders were quivering Bright might have guessed that she was laughing. That is if she'd known her better. Brightstar sighed and tried desperately to remember something of her friendship with the crazy woman.

“Yes, Mother Hen, we're coming.” RK said jovially.

Ever since RAIDERS last mission, he and Bright had been almost inseparable. They talked of their days in Eclipse Squad and how cool it was the it had once again been revived. They talked and sometimes good naturedly argued about the time that he had spent literally chasing Bright half way across the galaxy. Somewhere in between all of that he had given her the crystal necklace that he had hoped would replace the ridiculous emerald one that Doc had given her.

Bright smiled as she reminisced about the things she could remember. Not that the rest of it didn't bother her. She was constantly frustrated that she suddenly couldn't remember the last two or three years of her life. She wanted to remember Havock and the rest of them. Bright growled shortly and then looked over at RK. “Race you to the others.” She stated and crouched.

“You're on.” The big man said and he was off as fast as he dared in zero-g space. Bright was quick to follow and nearly overshot her target area.

A hand clamped down on her ankle while she laughed hysterically. She knew it wasn't RK's hand but it still made her laugh that she'd done something so seriously funny. It felt good to laugh, like she hadn't done it in so long that it practically burst from her lips unbidden. “Whoa. Slow down, Rain.” Ok so it was Havock that had her by the ankle. “RK, what have you done with our Brightstar. She's literally laughing.”

“I don't see what's so wrong with that.” RK's amused voice said just before he grabbed Bright's wrist and helped her to get reoriented.

“Even I find that disturbing.” Jegora said from somewhere ahead of them. “Brightstar doesn't laugh. Hell she barely even smiles.”

Bright looked over at the man. Had she heard that voice before? Her laughter faded along with her unseen smile. She was sure that she'd heard that voice before. She thought about it and mulled it over in her head while she shuffled and bounced along the few remaining meters to the shuttle that was their targeted destination. For some reason she had latched onto that Deja Vu feeling that Jegora's voice had brought on and she wasn't going to let go of it till she'd figured out why she was feeling it.

“This is it people.” Havock's voice rang in Bright's ears breaking her from her thoughts. “Ready or not, here we go.”

Bloodhound looked around at the other squad. They didn't look tough, at all. He looked at his squad. They mostly looked irritable. A sentiment he, at least, could share. Which wasn't to say he liked them, he didn't. He just liked everyone else even less. Sure, he hated his squad, but they were his squad to hate.

Hond threw himself into a seat and locked his fingers behind his mane of red and black hair, letting his cigarette hang limply from his lips. It was nothing like the infantry, here. For one uniform standards couldn't be enforced on a SCOPE squad, because their mission meant that they often had to masquerade as non-imperials. For second nobody entirely trusted or even liked each other. Sure, there were people who weren't particularly liked in the infantry, but a man that wasn't trusted quickly found himself charging the enemy fortifications by himself or looking for landmines with a magnet.

Fuck you, old man.

Bloodhound looked across the aisle at Jegora, he had no love for the man, and usually he'd have enjoyed egging him on; but this time, this one time (he promised himself) he wouldn't laugh at him once and he'd make an honest attempt not to openly mock him.

Hond blew a tuft of red hair off his sunglasses and cast his red gaze to the RAIDERS. The old man had always spoken highly of them, but he had been out of the game a long time; from what Hond could see they were as jacked up as any support on Tadath, the ones that never left the base. He didn't like where this was going, but he was bored. Boredom and Hond did not work well together.

"We gonna kill somethin' anytime soon?"

"No, if this goes according to plan we should be able to pull it off without any confrontation."

"I guess I'm just lucky things never go according to plan then, eh?"

"Hond." Jegora breathed, he didn't sound happy, his voice colder than the vacuum outside the hulls.

"What? If we're not killing anything why'd you even bring me?"

Jegora just sighed, exasperated, "I really don't know."

"Lovely," Hond was bored, "Couldn't we be doing something, I dinnea, important?"

"This is important," One of the RAIDERS popped in, "This anti-virus could. . ."

"Yes, yes, cure cancer, blah blah blah," Hond mimicked, throwing his hands in the air, "Don't care, killing republic farm-boys is important, blowing up bases is important, orbital bombings are important, even gathering intelligence is important. This? This is bullshit, anyone could do this; why send SCOPE? It's stupid."

"Hond!" Jegora wasn't loud, but his tone left no doubt as to why he was pointing in front of him.

Hond sighed and got up, crouching down in front of the man so that they could talk in low tones, if Jegora didn't need to Hond did. Jegora slapped him upside the head.

"Keep your mouth shut, dog."

"Oh yes master, I just really don't like these guys"

"Whatever, now go," Jegora made shooing motions with his hand.

Hond returned to his seat, closed his red eyes and let himself drift into that half sleep common to soldiers the galaxy over, wishing he was back in the infantry, or even better, that he'd never been returned from his desertion. It was a bad day when he'd rather be on Eyesore than where he was.

RK stepped over to Karash while Hav wasn't looking, gave him a sly grin and slapped him on the shoulder a loud thwack resounded through the cabin, a painful sting spread through RK's hand from the force; Karash just grimaced slightly. "So how would you like to help me find lab coats and equipment, seems like you would know more about that than I would. Also, we can chat, get to know each other."

Karash glared at RK, he just kept his smile, even though he knew the medic wouldn't mind finding the right equipment, after all he knew it better than anyone else on this shuttle. "Yes, Sir."

"Good, sounds fun." RK turned on his heel and looked at Bright. "Check on Havvie for me? she tends to do her own thing, she could use a reasoning voice."He winked at her as she turned to head off to do her duties, but making sure she returned the wink.

"Right away, Sir." She replied.

"Valthir! get over here, Grahim, stop playing and come here as well, I need you to do something for me as well." RK paused and pulled a datapad out of his pocket handed it to Valthir, on the screen was a list of every member of the team, including the R2 droid they had brought along, "I bneed you to find persona for everyone on this list, except the droid, he can pass by without them realizing that he is imperial. Cahnces are the lsit of passengers, or scientists is in the computer, think you can get me that list, and get everyone ID's asap?"

"Yea, be done in a snap, I will need everyone's datapads in order to give them their ID." Valthir Said, his hands working over the datapad.

"Okay, you deal with that once you find the lists and ID's, oh and.." RK motioned a Wraith over to his position, "... this man will help you."

Valthir nodded and the two walked off to the nearest port, the R2 unit in close pursuit. That was one mini-squad down, two more to go.

"Grahim, I need you to conceal all our weapons on this shuttle, wherever you can find a hiding place that's easily accessible use it." RK nodded at Grahim.

"Mesa find you hiding places, Mesa get any help?" Grahim asked.

RK smiled, of course he would, he just didn't excpect him to ask. "Yea, hang on." He turned agin to face Jegora who was behind him, the man didn't look happy, but that was alright he would be by the time they were done with this message. "Jeg, got anyone available for hire?"

Jeg jsut stared at him as if he hadn't heard, and then he twitched his finger and a man walked out from behind Jeg. This man looked worse than Jeg, and his ID tag said Bloodhound on it. "Okay, Blodhound, your helping Grahim conceal weapons, if that's alright." The man just shook his head and came over to help, he looked like he would kill someone.

"Alright I think that's everyone, Havock I'm going with Karash to search for equipment and lab coats, whatever we can use to blend in." RK said, his mind starting to go at fifty miles an hour.

"Sounds good. Good luck." HAv replied.

RK grabbed Karash by the arm and dragged him out of his seat. "Come on, I need your brains, you need my brawn."

"If you think this will help me warm up to you and Bright your wrong."

"Karash, what you need is a girl, I think Beta is available." Rk grinned as he looked back at the dead faced Karash. ah, silence. RK could hear Bright in the background talking to Havvie, she was saying something along the lines of the mission being to dangerous with very little certainty of the situation. RK smiled to himself as he dragged Karash into the cargo area. Oh the places we'll go!

"I thought you were the certified pilot? Why is this pain in my backside driving?"

Havock glared over at Jeg, then winced as she was thrown into the bulkhead for the third time. "Dammit Beta!"

"I told you I hadn't finished my training yet." The trooper whined but she could see the excitement plainly on his face.

"I'm a mechanic Fal, the pilot stuff was always counter-productive since I subconsciously want to crash stuff just so I can fix it. Oh and I prefer speeder bikes to this oversized crap."

He looked stunned in her general direction then muttered to the Nav Controls, "never again am I going on a mission with this bat shit crazy squad, never again."

"Pfft, don't be a baby, woah." Beta commented then jerked the controls to correct his flight path just enough to throw his superior officers off balance so they couldn't comment on his statement but instead collided into each other.

"Flight control to New Horizon, come in?"

All three of them stared at the blinking comm for several seconds. RK bounced into the cockpit slightly out of breath. Havock did not even want to imagine why her ASL could possibly be out of breath. They shared a few raised eyebrows before RK pointed to the starboard side of the ship. "We picked up an escort."

"Great," Havock mumbled. "This is the New Horizon, requesting permission to land."

Brightstar appeared next to RK near the entrance of the cockpit. She exchanged a quick look with Havock then sighed and returned to the crew area.

The squad leaders mind flashed back to the previous conversation the two had endured earlier.


"I don't understand where you're mind is lately Rain, other than floating in the clouds." The cockpit was empty while Beta got his scientist costume on. Havock was not looking forward to parading stormtroopers around as scientist but at least they wouldn't have to interact with the staff...theoretically at least.

"You're right." The response was so quiet Havock almost didn't hear the red heads words. "It's Jeg...I don't know Ayme, my memory is so jumbled since I spoke to him. Its just his voice I know it, but at the same time I can't remember from where or why. Gah it's so frustrating."

"It's okay Rain." Ayme hated herself for the feeling, but a twinge of jealousy escaped into her awareness. She had gotten to know Bright over several missions and the red-head found nothing even remotely familiar about her long time squad leader and friend. Yet Jeg's voice she knew right away. Havock wanted to slap herself for the selfish and inappropriate thought even if she hadn't initiated it consciously. "The medics said things would come back randomly, if they even came back at all. Try not to stress about it, think about the mission and the now."

It wasn't the best advice but it was the mantra that kept Ayme moving when her mind wondered to things she couldn't remember or people she wished were with her.

"I'll try to be more focused."

"You are expected Doctor Calyss, you are cleared to land on dock platform 34-B, Doctor Liph will meet you there."

Havock took a deep breath. "Land this thing, and try to leave the spaceport intact. Time to put on a show."

OOC:

Okay we have landed, we need to talk to the Doctor who will take us to the labs. Basic tour, try not to give yourself away lol.

Jamasis disembarked from the shuttle, conscious of the fact that he was much too young to pull this off. He wasn't even twenty yet, at best they might mistake him for some junior medical student. In that lay the second issue; anyone his age, on an expedition like this, would have to be some sort of prodigy. If anything, he acted moronic most of the time. He knew of cancer, he knew it could easily result in you dying, but beyond that...

Let's face it, you weren't even educated.

I was educated, technically. For a few years in a school, then I helped the old guy out-

Because if you didn't you would have died.

And I learnt some stuff after that as well.

So this is going to be your excuse when you screw things up?

He continued, simply following the troopers in front of him. He made sure to keep himself as close to the middle as possible; this disguised his age to a degree, as nobody got a proper look at him. It also allowed him to look around. In all honesty there was no purpose to that either; everybody wore lab coats and got on with work that made no sense to Jamasis. Small groups crowded around paperwork, quick glances displaying words and symbols that made no sense to him. About all he could work out was that nobody had a gun. Not that that surprised him, but with so many lab coats being worn he couldn't know that for certain either.

Is there any point in me being here?

Yeah, to screw things up.

Last time I listened to you, I ended u-

You screwed up.

So why listen?

Though he hated it, Jamasis always had to let things slide. He couldn't beat himself in an argument, and it wasn't something you could get much advice on. If he started telling people he walked around talking to himself he'd be locked in a padded room.

"Though it wouldn't be much more depressing than this," he said, not realising it was aloud.

"What?" asked Baptiste.

"I didn't say anything," replied Jamasis. Not only was walking down the shiny, too-clean-to-be-true corridors, surrounded by men in white coats and with far too many bright lights scattered across the roof irritating enough, there was another personal problem. Nobody in his squad, with the exception of Jeg, could he actually remember fighting with. And Jeg had been a while ago; and he definitely hadn't earned any respect from him.

I'm used to serving in a fairly random group of people; but if it comes down to it, I don't think there's anyone here I can depend on to do anything but save their own skin. Not that I blame them, for that matter.

"You will damn well listen to me. These guys are just squints, you punks should be able to handle them." The medical coat flowed behind Doctor Packhart as he briskly stepped through the halls of the laboratory. ParLabs were the largest supplier of the majority of the medical facilities in the outer core and Packhart considered it to be mostly his doing. Liph was a fool, as far as he was concerned. The man was always walking around worrying about other people's problems and trying to solve them in some ridiculous fashion.

"Sir, my boys are professionals. These outfits are not necessary."

Packhart skidded to a stop and turned with a menacing glare in the direction of  the merc. He hadn't even bothered to learn the tall man's name he just called him Dogmeat. The rest of the mercs looked like children yanking and pulling at the lab coats and tunics. "The people you are being paid - paid well I might add - to kill are scientists. Liph hired them to find out whats wrong with the antivirus. I know whats wrong with it, I'm the one that altered that morons results. Even spread some rumor about cancer. Thought the negative attention would be enough, but no. Now you deal with them, make it look like an accident. I want them gone. And for the love of Gods look like you've worn clothes before." With that Packhart stormed off down the hall back to his office, he had some security holo's to erase.

-----------

"And these are the labs you and your team will be using." The lackey pointed towards a mostly trasnperiglass door which gave a glimpse at a sterile room with equipment Havock coudln't even begin to try to know the function of.

"Can we wait for Doctor Liph here?"

The skinny man nodded quickly. "Yes go in he'll be right with you."

She nodded, "thank you."

The man looked nervously at the faces around him then slowly backed away looking over his shoulder a few times before finally disappearing around the corner.

"What the frak?"

Havock glared at her ASL then gripped his upper arm yanking him out of the way of an orderly pushing a cart full of more things she couldn't identify. "Save the gripes for RK alone time, ya?"

"Hav, we need to...look like we are doing something." Karash looked around nervously as he spoke in hushed tones.

They all were having trouble finding something to look at as they stood uncomfortably in the hallway outside 'their' laboratory. Havock was about to speak, when something down the hall behind the squads caught her eyes.

Jegora came up next to her quickly. "At the very least can we leave the hallway?"

She wasn't looking at him, her eyes were glued to the flicker of movement. "What? Yes...wait, no. Hold on."

"Havock, please, make a decision or I will..."

The company commander put up her hand and walked back down the hall leaving a very angry Wraith squad leader in her wake. She made her way to the corner and then almost collided with a tall scientist. She didn't notice at first how he was holding his arm, the way it was stiff compared to the rest of his posture. The men behind him who were similarly dressed but looked completely out of place did catch her attention.

Their eyes met and she immediately knew this was not a good situation. "Aw shit."

She dropped to a defensive position and kicked the man hard in the knee causing him to fall against the wall and almost lose grip on the pistol in his hand. She quickly back pedaled and got to a better position with the rest of the squad just before the rest of his team rounded the corner. Scientists shooting at scientist, at least some security guard was being entertained by the security holo today.

Bright was busy ogling the equipment in the lab when Havock suddenly reappeared around the corner. The sound of shots being fired is what drew her attention to the hallway. She found herself cursing at the fact that she didn't happen to have a hold out, something she was sure she'd never been without during that black spot in her memory.

Grabbing her throwing knives from their hiding spot in a belt pouch, Bright made her way out of the lab and hunkered down near a Wraith trooper she didn't know. She waited for him to fire before standing up and throwing one of her knives. She was satisfied when it buried itself deep into one man's skull. However she did have to be realistic, it was a lucky shot and one that had surprised them into a small retreat.

"Nice throw, Bright." Beta rang out from somewhere.

She nodded without looking but instead took a deep steadying breath. Bright suddenly felt as if she hadn't done this in a very long time. She felt rusty, out of practice and scared out of her mind. She didn't remember ever feeling this way while in Eclipse. Then again she couldn't account for the rest of her service time either.

Once again frustration and annoyance bubbled up from wherever she'd decided to bury it last. She looked around for some more adequate cover, if she was going to be angry at something then she was going to be angry at the fools shooting at her and her comrades.

Bright's eyes searched till she noticed a hallway off to the side that seemed to turn toward where the other 'Scientists' were regrouping. They were trained. She didn't know how she'd come to that conclusion but it seemed reasonable to assume as at the moment they were taking up firing positions and beginning their onslaught anew.

"I hate to say this, Ayme," Bright started looking over at her fearless leader. "But I think someone wants us dead."

Havock ducked a pot shot and nodded, "Everyone find some cover!" Havock's battlefield voice was something Bright found surprising every time she heard it. To think that a woman so small could sound so big.

Not one to argue with her squad leader, Bright launched herself towards the hallway that she'd seen. She could only hope that their opponents wouldn't see her and know her plan. She knew that it was quite possible that the enemy 'Scientists' knew this facility like the back of their hands.

Making into the hallway unscathed Bright took off down the length of it till she met with the turn that she'd seen. She was about half way down it when her luck ran out. A red bolt flashed out from around one of the corners and she knew that she'd been made.

"Shit!" She hissed under her breath. This hall had no cover and she was practically a sitting duck. She wondered briefly if this man could hit a wildly moving target. Putting into effect some of her more wild training from her home planet, Bright spun, dodged, zigged and zagged while still moving forward.

"Damn it! Hold still!" She heard the man yell as he abandoned his cover to get a clearer shot.

That was Bright's chance she crouched to avoid yet another red blaster bolt, then exploded up, letting fly another of her throwing knives. With a thud it jammed itself in the man's chest.

His firing stopped as he looked down in surprise. "Oh." He said dropping his weapon and grabbing her knife. "Wasn't expecting that." He jerked her knife out of his chest then slipped to his knees. "Shou.... shoulda worn the.... ar...mor anyway." With that his eyes rolled up and he breathed his last breath.

Bright took a deep breath and grabbed both her knife and the hold out blaster that her opponent had dropped. She didn't look back as she continued forward. A surprise attack from her angle would split the bad guy's attention giving Bright's friends more of an advantage. Taking up her position, Bright smiled grimly and fired of a round, effectively garnering a favorable response. At least in her opinion.

Science has always been a waste of time!!!!! RK yelled in his head as he dove behind the nearest cover, he stripped the gun out of his holster as fast as he could, not sure what to make of the ensuing battle. What did they ever do to them?

"Seriously, we try to come and help, and what do we get in return, a couple hundred bullet sin our backside!" RK screamed as he shot off a couple warning shots.

"Well, to be honest, we are lying to them...." Beta muttered.

"I don't think they know that though, course they could...." Havock said. RK smiled and blinked twice, was it possible? nah, it couldn't be. They obviously didn't want raiders, "scientists" here. Then again, these guys didn't look like scientists themselves.

RK fired off one more warning shot, but decided to aim lower the next time, he fired a round into the nearest guys neck, the mane screamed but all that came out was the gurgling of blood as it filled the mans neck and mouth.

"how much longer until someone stops this? or better yet we get out of here..." Karash asked, he stuck a syringe into his leg, he had been hit, but not brutally. He was a medic, just taking precautions.

I really wish I could get a holo-recording of this. RK thought grimly, as two more scientists seemed to appear out of nowhere. He tried shooting them down, but they were already behind cover before his shots hit. "Seriously, this is really getting on my nerves."

"I'm sure someone will be along soon to end this madness, if not we may die in paradise." Beta said

"I don't know about you, but I don't consider a laboratory paradise....."

"well, it's clean, and there are beaches we can walk on in the after life."

"You need to stop reading so many books on your datapad, I think it's messing with your mind." RK ran across the hall and skidded into the next cover trying to get a better position. "Besides, we aren't going to die, so this conversation is mute." I hope.

The fight continued for a while, and it seemed like both were at a standstill. Why nobody had come to stop it, especially security was beyond anything RK had ever thought up, but he had a feeling something bad was going to happen. "does anyone else notice the syringes they are carrying?"

"No, but I do now." Karash said from behind them.

"They are full, why the heck would scientists carry full syringes?"

"Because they aren't scientists, and if they are, they aren't very smart, whatever is in there is the reason this place is in lockdown."

"Maybe, someone needs to get a hold of DR.Liph, he would know, for now stay away from them, I don't want anyone getting injected." Havock said, her voice carrying throughout the hall. The scientists obviously heard they were all grabbing the syringes.

RK smiled as he shot the nearest man, the man dropped and so did the syringe he was carrying rolling across the floor with a clink.. It's probably just the prototype for the anti-virus. "wait, what's the ?" He pointed with his gun and looked back at Karash, who's eyes had gotten bigger than mellons.

"That's more of the stuff, whatever it is.. but why is it not in a vault or a containment room." then the gears clicked. "Guys, I don't think those are scientists anymore...."

"You don't say." Brights' voice chimed in.

"Alright, watch your fire, don't hit that container, we don't want this to get messy. if that's a prototype it might not be good for anyone." Havock said, adn again the "scientists" seemed to hear.\

time passed by slowly, Rk turned behind him to see a couple shots fly past him and hit two of the men in front of him. They dropped and so did there syringes, one of them broke, the other one  just rolled. "Uh, did anyone else see that?"

"Frak!" Havock grabbed for her breathing device. as did the rest of the squad, RK continued to fire, off as fast as he could, making sure he was the last one to get his breathing device on. Chances are one syringe couldn't affect them all, that was until he realized somehow a stray bullet had hit the container, none of their enemies noticed it, but RK did, it was leaking slowly, but quick enough to empty into the hall fast enough to infect the whole laboratory in a matter of hours. Crap RK grabbed his breathing device and shoved it into his mouth, he could feel the air getting thick, even if it was his imagination.

"THe container has been hit!" RK looked again and saw that the crack was slowly becoming bigger and the liguid was leaking faster. That couldn't be good. Great, Mission critical

“And where do you propose we move to?” Karash asked whilst supporting RK.

“Anywhere away from here would be good.” The RAIDERS ASL tried to laugh but ended up coughing.

“I told you to stay still and stop talking or you could die!” Karash said wildly.

“You said he was fine.” Havock turned her attentions to the medic once again.

“He will die because I will kill him...” Again RK tried to laugh but just ended up coughing, “Don’t think I’ll do it? Just ask Grahim.” Karash spoke with a menacing look.

Havock stormed over to the medic and pulled him to the side, the others were still gathering weapons so they could move on, “Seriously, is he going to be alright?”

Karash yanked his arm from out of the SL’s arm and made a ‘huffing’ sound, “I am not a scientist nor am I doctor but as far as I can tell, at the moment, he is fine but things might not stay that way for very long.”

“Then what the hell are we meant to do in the mean time?” Havock asked looking slightly desperate.

“If you tell anyone I said this...” Havock looked at him quizzically, “I have no idea but the sooner we find out what the hell that stuff was the better.”

Havock chuckled and turned towards the now ready Wraith and RAIDERS troopers, “Let’s find the good Doctor, Bright you’re in charge of watching out for him and there rest of you prepare yourselves for the worst.”

The now better armed troopers moved through the halls of the research facility, each wondering whether they would end up like RK; who could indeed could walk but not easily and needed Brightstar to steady him every now and then. Though the strange thing was, the scientists were continuing to work, they showed sign of panic at the fact a strange chemical had been released or that a gun fight had just gone on. In fact they did not move from their labs, though they did give the troopers a few odd looks when they did actually notice them.

There was a groaning noise from just behind Karash, he assumed it was RK but when it persisted he turned to see that Bright was now looking as bad as the man she was meant to be supporting. ‘Bloody brilliant’ was the medics first thought.

“Is it the same thing?” Bright did not speak with ease.

After a quick inspection Karash said, “As far as I can tell, how you are feeling?”

“I feel strange, not in pain but something definitely isn’t right...” RK’s voice seemed to be higher than usual but Karash did not pay any attention to it.

On looking around their group it was obvious that it wasn’t only Bright and RK that were suffering from this mystery illness, he turned to Havock and said “We can’t go on like this they have to be allowed to go through whatever it is that’s happening.”

“We also need to find out where Doctor Liph is and what the hell that stuff was.” Havock was cut off by blaster shots in the not too far distance. “Anyone feeling strange goes with Karash, the rest of you with me and we will deal with those guys; you find out what’s happening.” The last part was spoken directly to Karash.

The group temporarily separated, Karash and the genetic rejects went into a lab while Havock dealt with yet more scientists with guns. This lab was significantly better equipped than the last and he instantly recognised the analysis droid in the corner, ‘Well I be damned, a bit of good luck.’ He grinned to himself. 

“RK I promise this won’t hurt.” Karash lied as he stuck a needle into the ASLs arm and extracted some blood.

“What the hell was that for?” RK said, whilst rubbing his arm.

Karash did not reply he just stood transfixed by the results of the blood test that the analysis droid was giving out. They should the most astonishing and impossible things, he ran the analysis again and again the same results came back. ‘How the hell...’  

“What? Damnit I order you to tell me what the hell is wrong!” RK shouted.

“I’m sorry... ma’am...”

Ma'am did he just, o no he didn't! RK spun on his heel back to face Karash as he grabbed the man by the neck, enough for threatening purposes but not to hurt the guy, though he looked in shock at the action. "Did oyu jsut call me Ma'am? I oughta...." RK stopped mid sentence as he heard laughter in the background, he turned and glared at everyone trying to figure out what was so funny, but as he turned they all stopped.

"Maybe you should listen to your voice first of all, and second of all your blood is filled with estrogen, more than a normal male should have, also not to mention other various hormones for various things." Karash grinned, RK felt the sweat beed on his forehead as he let go of the medic and let the man drop to his rear end.

"Your joking, righ...." RK stopped and listened, he heard it this time, his voice was a higher pitch. "Hello, hi, how... no.... frak!!!" he squealed as he grabbed for his mouth, his hand covered in sweat, he was beggining to feel different, and his voice was already joining whatever was happening to him.

The whole squad laughed, except for a few who seemed to be feeling the same way he was, only in different ways.If RK didn't know any better, he would have said they were in a science fiction movie, but unfortuantley this was real. "Would you please stop laughing, this is a crisis." His voice sounded like he was hitting puberty, which probably wasn't to far off in the speed he was changing.

"RK don't panic, we will have this all sorted out, in the mean time we will keep an eye on you, if need be we will help you accomodate." Havock said, a grin spreading across her lips.

"ohh..." Bright moaned as she blinked, RK looked at her and noticed her eyes were slightly slit, like a cats. "...I don't like this." she grabbed her stomach and her head at the same time, RK ran over to steady her, he felt a different movement in his hips, but shrugged it off.

"Alright, I guess this means we have to find Liph a little faster than planned, we would hate for this to be irreversible." Havock chimed in.

"Actually, I think the same principle applies in reverse, it a virus, so you destroy it things should go back to normal, it's the virus doing this to them, not there genetics, it's only telling there genetics what to do, basically re-writing them without destorying the old data, like a computer. if that makes any sense, I'm not a scientist, but that's what I gather." Karash said, taking out another syringe to get Bright's blood, he stuck it into her skin, but made the mistake of not telling her.

"What are you doing!!!! gdang it, get that thing out of me!" Bright reached up with one arm and grabbed Ksrash's arm, almost ripping the sryinge out and breaking the needle off. RK grabbed Bright's arm and tried to let her know it was going to be alright.

"Bright, I'm just taking blood calm down, it's okay." Karash pulled some blood, as Bright relaxed.  "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me."

"A mutating virus, if that helps." Beta said, followed by a chuckle, nobody else but Karash found it funny.

RK giggled slightly, not realizing how feminine it sounded. "Very funny Beta..."

"Bright, your going to ummm, I'm not sure, but in laymens terms, your going to grow a tail." Karash said, backing away.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Bright began to charge until RK and Havock grabbed her, RK could feel he wasn't able to hold her back as much as he should have been able to he needed both arms normally it would have taken one, he wasn't as strong. I'm becoming a girl, just great, wait till I get back. "Hey eveyrone you got a new female in the corps!!! names RK!!!" oh gosh, that sounds so lame.

"Alright, that's enough, Bright relax, we can't do anything till we find Liph, RK let us know if you need anything for any reason, I mean anything! you too Bright....." Havock pasued and turned to the rest of the squad. "...If any of you feel any symptoms either, let us know as soon as possible. Right now, we need to find a doctor, everyone grab your gear, Karash stay with Bright and RK."

"Yes Ma'am" Karash replied, weerily heading towards the two 'freaks.'

"Alright Good. Let's go."

"I hate this.... this isn't even possible." RK said, pretending his voice wasn't as high as he heard it.

"It's possible, we are living it, better get used to it Babe." Bright said from beside RK as she gave him a wink through her pain.

Sweat and pain sped through RK's body as they walked, her tried to tough it out, but he didn't know how much longer he would be able to, the virus was taking ahold of him faster than he thought, faster than anyone thought, and it wasn't a good thing. Who knew, in a few more minutes he could be a female hutt for all they knew about the virus. Gosh I hate science. "Does anyone else feel the way I do, I feel extremely hot." RK said as he leaned up against a wall when they stopped. "... and where is Karash?!" He sighed out heavily as he sat down, his rear end landing and feeling more cushioned than normal.

"Don't know, Beta is missing as well." Havock said, her eye on Bright the whole time, who was beggining to look more like a cat, her teeth slightly pointed.

"I hope he's not changing this sucks." RK set his rifle down and began to fan himself, his body felt like it wa son afire, he tried to ignroe it, but the constant feminine voice in his ears remeinded him he wasn't the same RK, he even felt smaller. his arms lsot some of their mass, as well as his legs, yet still he was proportional. It was so slow that he couldn't tell it was happening, but fast enough he felt pain and numbness.

"Oh, quit your whining you sissy." A voice came from behind them, it was Karash, dragging a hairier than usual Beta. "We have a new addition, a wookiee."

"The sad part about your comment Karash is it's true aobut me being a sissy." RK looked up his face feeling flush.

"You better not have meant that to all of.... wait did you say wookie?" Bright turned, her speech a little slurred due to the teeth.

"Yea, Beta here has genetics of a wookiee in him, he can still talk, but who knows how long that will last since his voice is sometimes interrupted by small spout of groaning." Karash pulled out a syringe. RK was getting tired of seeing those things.

"This ... raahhh, surraaacks." Beta said, his voice sounding almost wookiee like, but none the less  Beta. his transformation was going by a tiny bit quicker than RK and Bright.

"take it easy, how do you feel RK?" KArash asked
.
"Talk on the way, we have to keep moving." Havock said, walking ahead.

"I feel hot, sweaty, sticky, and down right awful, and my whole body is achy." RK's voice no longer cracked, and his hair was begginging to grow longer, it was now down past his ears, almost to his shoulders. his physique was also slightly slimmer, he also had a noticeable curve, but nobody told him that, he just knew.

"That's the hormones, partly, no offense ladies. Also, it's the virus, your body can't deal with it, it's fighting it, but losing since it's your genetics, it thinks it's okay. just hang in there." Surprisingly Karash didn't make a joke.

"Yes, Sir." RK said, looking at Karash.

"Bright, you?"

"I feel sweaty, and my skin is itching." she replied, as she scratched her skin, her nails longer as they dug above the surface.

"Same with Beta it's due to the growth of hair on places you normally don't have hair. "

I just hope I don't end up stuck like this, for the sake of everyone.....who know's what I will look like. RK thought glumly as he tried to discreetly touch his stomach, it was slimmer and he could feel his pants slowly trying to come off. All of his clothes where loose on him now.  At least now though if a girl said that he didn't know what it was like being female, he could honestly say, he knew exactly what it was like.

What.. where am I? the world was black, nothing was making sense. He tried to blink his eyes, but still the world stayed dark. My body feels like it's on fire, what's that noise? what's that smell? The man moved slightly, his body fluid like, but still he couldn't see. He continued blinking continuosly, but wasn't sure.

thunk,thunk The man jumped, spinning around without a thought, his head smacking nto the light fixture above. He cried out in agony, he never remembered being able to reach the light fixture, let alone hit his head off of it. He turned to face it, his vision filling with a white light, the blackness had begun to clear. Then he remembered the thunking before he tried to figure out the light fixture problem. "Who, who's there?" Silence. "I can't see, please jsut tell me if your there." Thunk It continued.

The man walked towards the sound, tripping over various objects in his way, including his fet, he felt like his point of gravity was off, he couldn't understand it, and his neck hurt. "I promise I'm no threat." Still silence, only the man was able to see slightly better than ealier, hiw vision was blurry and color was flowing back in, he was blinking faster now, hoping that would bring any shard of hope through.

"Sir, it's just me...." a tiny voice, sounding like a shrunken man, but audible enough for a full sized person.

"Who are you?" The man asked, his vision making the outline of a man.

"Your assistant, Dr.Liph, I tried to save you, but but...." Liph, the man's name was Liph or at least that's what the voice told him. Though, by this point, he thought he was going mad. "By the way, Sir, did oyu know your, taller, and whiter?"

What did the voice mean by taller and whiter? the voice wasn't making any sense, not that anything made any sense now in the first place. "What...."

"Your neck is longer too, abnormally longer."

"Your not makin any sense, who are you, and where the heck am I?" Liph barked, his voice sounding smoother than normal.

"Your in your laboratory, you were knocked out and the Mercs injected you with something, I'm not sure what, something you were working on." the voice said, still not making anysense. Yet, now Liph knew he was a scientist, in reality it was as if he always knew he was a scientist.

"I...I'm a scientist...." His vision ahd fully returned now and he saw a man standing and walking towards him, his face was young, not more than twenty. He was shorter than Liph, but his build was bigger, yet, his voice would suggest otherwise.

"YEs, are you okay, your starting to look almost kaminoan...Sir! what's going on?!" The man said, his voic in a panic fury.

Liph lifted his hand to his head to rub the spot on his head that hit the light, that's when he noticed his lack of hair, he always remembered having hair, but now it was gone. "Excuse me, but I ahve no clue what your talking about, uggggh." Liph bent ove rin pain, his neck grwoing a littl ebit longer and his ears shrinking, his eyes were more fish like and rounder as he blinked. His nose pushing itself into his body slowly. I've been infected with my own virus... what virus? things were coming back, but he still wasn't sure what the thought about the virus was. He just knew he had been working on something good, yet, turned dangerous.

"Sir, are you oaky?!"

"No, not at aaalll...I need a medic."
Liph tried to stay calm, but he himself was worried more than his assistant.

"I'll go find one right away!!!" The assistant ran out of the room, as liph dropped to the ground, his eyes going dark once more.

OOC:

Okay, so this is Liph, yes he was originally human, now the mercs tested the virus on him he's becoming a kaminoan(figured it was fitting due to genetic research.) he has amnesia, his assitant is going to look for a medic, probably a medic droid. Basically this is who we are looking for, and no we willnot run into the assistant..

This must be what it feels like to go insane, Jegora thought to himself as he slowly watched the stormtroopers around him morph into various…things. It seemed that more and more often he was asking himself that question. Events just kept getting weirder and weirder in the Corps, and even though he had seen some strange things during his time as a stormtrooper Jegora had to admit that the last few months had been especially ridiculous. Maybe after this mission he would have to take a vacation. Somewhere far away, isolated, where no one could damage his calm.

The firefight had slowed to a near standstill as the various mercenaries and Vast Empire troopers attempted to deal with the relatively sudden and drastic changes that their physiologies were undergoing. So far Jegora felt perfectly fine, and as far as he could tell most of the Wraith troopers weren’t displaying any signs of mutating. In any case the mutations didn’t seem to be life threatening or debilitating, simply distracting. And if there was one thing Jegora hated above all else, it was distractions. The troopers afflicted by the so-called ‘vaccine’ were, for lack of a better term, freaking out. Their hysteria was overwhelming them, and eventually Jegora had enough. He was tired of being shot at, tired of all this undercover work, tired of dealing with the sheer strangeness of the last few missions.

More or less, he snapped.

Always one to preach discipline and self-control, the mere fact that Jegora lost his wits for any amount of time was astounding. Even more astounding, however, was the rampage that resulted.

Drawing his standard SCOPE DL-77 blaster pistol from where it rested in the tactical holster strapped to his thigh, Jegora promptly threw himself out of cover, brought the sidearm to bear on the nearest mercenary, and began pulling the trigger. It was perhaps the stupidest thing he had ever done, but by the time he reached the mercenaries’ original location the enemy combatants were in full retreat. Jegora had killed one and wounded three during his relentless advance, adding to the three casualties the mercenaries already sustained. The sight of a six and a half foot, gun-wielding, apparently insane giant marching towards them, not to mention the strange changes their bodies were undergoing, caused the mercenaries to break and flee the scene.

Jegora let the half-dozen or so remaining tangos get away, unable to do much else. Instead he holstered his weapon and turned to survey the two squads of stormtroopers. Back in command of all his faculties for the moment, Jegora realized just how incredibly stupid he had been. Nonetheless, he wasn’t about to admit as such to his subordinates. Instead, he kept his face carefully blank, all iron lines and stone planes. When he spoke his voice was just as hard and unmovable as his expression, and ice cold. He spoke quietly, dangerously. He spoke like a man on the edge.

“Get up,” he ordered softly, speaking to the afflicted stormtroopers lying on the ground. “You’re not dying.”

One of the troopers tried to protest, but Jegora promptly interrupted him. “We’ve still got a job to do,” he stated matter-of-factly. “And unless you find yourself incapable of movement, I suggest you get on your feet. Now.”

Slowly, one by one, the troopers complied. Jegora noted that Brightstar looked particularly disturbed by the sound of his voice, but he couldn’t understand why. She had served with him before. She knew what to expect.

Shaking his head, Jegora turned to Havock, who simply nodded. “Jamasis, Hond, on point. We move in thirty seconds.”

Turning to the mysterious Wraith-turned-mercenary-turned-Wraith, Jegora thumbed the melee knife on his belt and studied the man with his incredibly unfeeling, grey eyes.

“I don’t know who you are, or what you’re doing here, but the rest of my team seems to recognize you,” Jegora said, the words coming out as if he were biting off chunks of ice. “But rest assured that if you even show the slightest signs of betraying us, I will kill you.”


The man, the one Jamasis had called Anival, merely nodded. Jegora held his gaze for a few more long seconds before turning away once again. This time he spoke to the two newest members of the squad, recruits that had joined the squad only hours before Wraith had shipped out for this mission.

“You two doing alright?” he said, attempting to soften his voice and failing miserably.

Slowly the two younger men nodded, not looking very sure of themselves in the process. Jegora grimaced inwardly, but kept his face smooth. Razor and Kurl were certainly new, but they were also technically fully trained stormtroopers. He expected they would be alright, even if this mission was a little…unorthodox.

“Well, just stay close, and keep your eyes out. Those mercenaries will be back, sure as shit,” Jegora ordered. Again, the two troopers merely nodded. Jegora grunted, and then moved off to where Havock was standing with Jamasis and Hond.

“Ready to move?” the RAIDERS squad leader inquired, and this time it was Jegora’s turn to nod. Giving a tight smile, Havock nodded her assent. “Let’s go then.”

Jamasis and Hond started off at a comfortable trot, pistols in hand, eyes scanning for any signs of potential threats. Jegora followed closely behind, his weapon still in its holster, but he was no less vigilant. One by one the RAIDERS and Wraith troopers fell in, keeping pace as best they could. Judging from the increased rate of change that the afflicted troopers were experiencing, Jegora figured they had to find an antidote and fast. And that meant they had to find the good doctor responsible for all of this.

Jegora just hoped he was still alive.

is this real, am I really? no can't be this is just a dream, I don't believe it. "Rk hold still, we are in the middle of a war zone! and your fidgeting like you cna't wait to get shot, I need to make sure."

"Make sure!? look at me!!!! there is no reason for these tests! I shoube shooting, i's not like doing this will change the outcome." RK squealed as he motioned at his body, well now here body. The change had been slow at first but near the end it sped up and was sompletly done except for a few minor internal issues, but other than it he was completly female.

"Listen, Sir, I mean Ma'am, whichever you prefer, I need to make sure you are stable, if not thing scould go south, and worse than what it is right now." Karash scolded as he took some blood from RK's arm.

RK keept fidgeting with his shirt, it felt tight around his chest area, and he knew why, he jsut didn't want to come to grips with it. He kept looking down, hoping it wasn't real, but everytime he was faced with the same thing. I can't believe this, I'm a female

"Alright, your stable, your change is official, wuld you like to look?" Karash said, a grin across his face.

"Would I like to look!?" RK grabbed her gun and pointed at Karash as fast as she could.

"Suit yourself" Karash got up and went into fighter mode, shooting at anything that moved. It was amazing how he could jsut change from Medic to soldier in a matter of minutes.

"I think you look good." Birght said, her voice slurred and her skin furry and orange. It was weird, but she kinda looked good herself.

"Really?" RK stood up, his/her center of gravity slightly off from what she was used to as she felt her new hips sways at her movements, she felt different, and in someways he liked it. Other ways it was to weird and foreign for him to want to care. He tried pushing it out of his mind. Yet, the new found side of him was starting to gain control.

"Yea, you got a good body." Bright said with a wink.

RK ignored it and went back to fighting, constantly pulling up his pants since they no longer fit perfectly. That was okay though, hopefully as soon as they found Liph everything would go back to normal. Hopefully.

"RK one more thing, your stable, but your hormones are still active, you'll continue to feel different, but no pain will ensue. I'm just warning you!" Karash yelled over the fire, it had died down some, but whoever this Doctor was they wanted him.

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see!!!"

i> That's can't be good RK thought grimly as she unloaded a clip and then swithched in another, still trying to be a soldier and leader. Regardless of what she was, she tried to push the thoughts aside as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"RK! get over here, we got make a run for it, we need that antidote and fast!"  Havock yelled over the confusion.

"Yes, Ma'am right away!." RK hurtled the cover he was behind and headed toward Havock and slid in beside her.

"Well, hello there gorgeous." Havock said, looking RK up and down. "My, my you do make a pretty girl."

RK glared, at Havock. "I'm glad you think so, but don't get used to it."

"To late, you should consider staying like that, who knows you might like it." Havock said with a giggle.

Weridly enough, RK was sort of liking it, but it was probably the hormones. "Yea right, so what's the plan."

"Easy, shoot to kill, then we run, we have to get to liph, he's our only hope of sorting out this mess."  Havock said.

RK put her weapon down and began fidgeting again, he felt odd like something was changing in him, but he tried to ignore it as he grabbed his datapad from his belt. "According to this Liph is just up the hall and then take a left, then go straight take another left the straight through the decontamination unit and he should be in there."

"Alright, we have a plan. let's do this, Raiders MOVE! Wraith, we are going after Liph! we found him, we have bodies to get back!"

RK picked up her gun again, set against her shoulder and followed Havock as the last two mercenaries dropped.

OOC:

Sorry aobut the constant change between calling RK Male and female, jsut trying to show that he is stil male, with a female body, yea I know confusing, but that's okay it's SCiFI it's meant to be.