The sky was clearing up as the seventh day of making camp begun with the rising of the sun. It had rained for six solid days right after they received word the convoy had made it safely into Bastion. They all decided being stuck inside a city would drive all of them mad, so camp was made under a rock outcropping. They waited for six long miserable days as the rain continued unabated. He could see a few miles in the distance the sky crystal clear. It seemed the Gods were laughing at his squad alone.

They spent the first night on the soggy ground, feeling water and dirt creep into every pore of their bodies. Getting clean was easy, stand in the rain for awhile. The second day was spent building a platform a foot above the ground. That is how they spent the rest of their week, sitting around relaxing, thinking about their previous lives, wondering when the end would come.

He knew his squads morale was at an all time low. With news that the convoy had received safety they all kept their eyes to the roadway that ran up to Bastion. Hoping to see a marching thunderhead coming towards them. As the days past no such event happened. Havock remained part of the RAIDERS vanishing act, that team seemed to gain a new member every few days. Luckily they were only at two members right now, he constantly thought who would be the next one to up and quit.

He wondered if any other squads were still alive, and if they were did they suffer the same fate RAIDERS was in. A slow painful death, losing one member at a time till there would be nothing but dust of a once proud squad.

He knew he was failing as acting Squad Leader. Morale of everyone was dangerous close to the boiling point. He was certain now Mox was a rebel spy, the datapad was inaccessible. They had no slicer in the group, but from the technology inside the device it could of only come from them.

Clearwater was lying still, he was certain of it. She might be offering up a few truthful pieces of information, but none of it could be trusted for sure. Keeping Heliwer away from her was difficult. He had tried talking with the infatuated man, when that failed he started threatening him. He saw the boy go to her at night, he doubted anything really was happening. At the same time everything was happening, she was a prisoner, and he was conversing with her. The worst part is he was disobeying his Squad Leaders direct orders, and in times of war that could be considered mutiny.

Which is punishable by death, in extreme situations. The little voice in the back of his head said. Which is exactly what this is. Your squad is falling apart at the seams, and you are powerless to stop it. Fine Squad Leader you turned out to be. He shut the voice off. He did not need his conscience reminding him of the bad job he was doing.

The two saving graces he had were Bright and Grahim. Bright turned out to be the perfect choice for acting Assistant Squad Leader he could of ever hoped for. When things turned bad, she was always there with an idea to help save them. Grahim had matured during the week, he had stepped up and begun working around camp without even being asked. He even offered to do extra night watches when he saw everyone was too tired.

He knew everyone was suffering, Havock was the heart of the squad. No one was denying that fact, without her they were reinventing themselves. With the current situation he did not know if RAIDERS would have a man left in the end. He doubted this campaign would ever fully end, they would probably all remain here for the rest of their lives.

"Sergeant" Joamer closed his eyes and bit his tongue as he heard Grahim behind him. He really was a xenophobe, he liked the Gungan well enough just for some reason the trooper irritated him. "Missa found una bunker no far from here whena mesa were out scout." He heard the resentment and challenge in the voice.

He did not bother to call the trooper to question about why he was off scouting. They both knew it needed to be done, and Grahim took the initiative and did it. Which earned the Lance Corporal his respect, even though he wanted to take the Gungan's single remaining ear and choke him till his eyes popped out, but he kept that part to himself.


"Did you go in?" He kept his voice neutral, but commanding. He kept his body turned away from him, not giving in to the wishes of a subordinate. He knew Grahim was challenging him, it was something that was ongoing come their time in Wraith.

"No mesa isa not datsa stupid. Mesa came back for yousa to besa safe." Joamer turned around when he heard the insolence reach a higher level. He meet the creatures eyes for a moment before nodding once and walking towards the camp.


Walking into the camp Bright looked up from her log stool and smiled briefly before letting her face go blank. She could see by his face he had finally received good news.

"Up and at them boys and girls. Our resident Gungan has found us a nice little bunker to go explore not far from here. At the very least it will allow us to have a little fun, maybe even find some cool new toys. So pack it up, we leave in ten." Joamer walked over to his bunk and began gathering his equipment.

Luckily the week spent here was not completely a waste. It allowed the squad to disassemble their weapons fully and really give them a good cleaning. For the first time in months they finally had weapons that would not break in ten shots. He had spent a long time repairing the A280 to working order, it was an older model. Maybe ten years had passed since it was first manufactured, but with the time spent he was sure it would be a reliable weapon again.

The squad was prepared with four minutes to spare. All of them willing to leave this area and do anything at all. Even Clearwater stood with her pack on, standing with Bright behind her. She had no weapon, nor would he allow her one. He had told her on one of many talks that if she valued her life she would drop the ground and freeze if a fight broke out. He also told her if she picked up a gun even to defend herself he would not hesitate to shoot her.

Smiling slightly as he glanced at each member of his squad he felt the wind shift as the smells of only a long rain can bring filled the area. He breathed a few times slowly, letting his mind settle on a course.

"I know this has been a difficult time for all of you. We've had our share of loses, with Beta vanishing and Havock disappearing a short time later. We've been fighting for too long, with no end in sight." Joamer paused for a moment to let it sink in, he knew this next part was always frowned upon. He was never one to sugar coat anything, he knew what was left of his squad could handle it. "I don't know if any of us will ever get back home. I can not make promises I can't keep. All I can tell you is I will keep fighting till my last breath for those who fight besides me, and not against me." He did not look at the three people challenging him. He did look at Bright and Grahim for a moment though.

"We are what is left of our original group." He could not say RAIDERS, for some reason he just could not say it. "Let's make those who came before us proud, and at the very least leave a mark in the history books when we fall."

There was no cheering, no clapping. Only silence, they were all well trained. He knew every one of them held very little hope of surviving much longer.

As they began walking following Grahim, he doubted his attempt at a pep talk worked in the slightest. He heard thunder in the distance and cursed softly, he knew a storm was coming again. He could feel it in his bones.

OOC:

This is Heliwer's post, I don't know when he will be coming back exactly maybe today hopefully. But, anyways here it is.

Heliwer growled at a mercenary when the latter started eyeing up ‘Clearwater’. As the youngest, it did make some sense for him to be so cock sure of himself. However, this was neither the time nor place to try to be brave. A second later, a fist collided with the merc’s head, a audible crack resounding as the man’s jaw was broken. “Be glad I don’t do more… abrasive things to you, peedunkey” Heliwer snarled. The others just stood there in the corner of the bunker cowering in fear of these terrible men and women and Gungan. Feeling satisfied, he walked over to the crate and pulled out a jetpack.

“Hey, Mox! Ain’t you got a jetpack already? Oh wait, that’s just some scrap metal strapped to your back.” The said trooper gripped his rifle tightly, wanting to blow the large man’s head off… or maybe somewhere more lasting… In any case, Heli strapped on the JT-12 and shifted back and forth to get a feel of it. Feeling quite satisfied, he reloaded his M-509 and walked over to ‘Clearwater’ jetpack in hand. She did not seem to get what he was doing until he explained that there were plenty of jetpacks around for the group and that certain ones could be linked with command packs, like the ones that Joamer and Bright were putting on. Pretty soon, the squad had all got jetpacks on. Now it came time to do something with the mercenaries.

Joamer had an idea. He found the leader of the mercs again and made the men stand up unarmed. Joa then ordered the squad to point their weapons at them, like a firing squad. The Squad Leader leaned close to the merc leader and whispered, “You wanna live? Run.” He did not need to be told twice. The men ran away fast, leaving a dust cloud in their wake and Joamer laughing.

Pretty soon, though, they hit another snag: No one, except Grahim knew how to fly the darn things. It turned into a circus trying not to use up all the fuel while trying to get the hang of the jetpacks. Joamer had managed to hover when Bright, having problems keeping the pack still, crashed into him, the two landing in a mess of arms and legs. Heliwer chuckled slightly at the hilarity of the situation before deciding to go up himself. ‘Clearwater’ was getting ready too, so he decided to say some words of encouragement.

“Hey, you be careful, alright?” He smiled. “Don’t want your pretty little ass blown to kingdom come.” Once again, his mind was five minutes behind his actions and words. As if to prove it, he finished it with giving the prisoner a playful spank bringing out a surprised yelp, followed by the whooshing of his jetpack and the loud exclamation of “Poodoo” as he not only figured out what just happened, but he crashed head first into a tree. ‘Clearwater’ had a look of surprise at the action, mild laughter at Heli’s folly, and concern that he didn’t break any bones.

For all his bragging, Mox couldn’t fly for crap. He ended up going up fairly high, but then coming down through branches and ending up landing on his crotch on a log. Grahim spluttered as he burst out laughing at Mox’s demise. Even Heliwer had something to say, though slightly muffled: “Moxxie, you fly like a rock”

The last one up was ‘Clearwater’. She did alright, better than Mox anyways, but overestimated the period of time that the pack could keep her aloft. She let out a scream as she fell down towards the ground, but by that time, Heliwer had managed to free himself and caught her bridal style. Even as tough as she was, she was shaking slightly from the feeling of almost certain death, so Heli held her close.

“Alright, I think that’ll do it.” Joamer said. “Lets get in the speeder and head to bastion.”

Easier said than done. If ‘Clear’ had not joined them, or had been shot by Bright, there would be enough seats for everyone. Just as it was, however, she had to find a seat. Luckily, she was still a little shaky, so her guardian let her sit on his lap for the journey to the bastion. Bright loaded in the extra two packs, and then took the wheel. Within an hour, they were already halfway there, with Grahim snoring loudly in the back, ‘Clear’s head resting in the crook of Heli’s neck, and Mox fidgeting about

Tviana looked silently around at the other troopers of her new squad, RAIDERS. They were clustered around a landspeeder, except for one man who sat against a wall cradling an injured shoulder. Karash went over to look at it, leaving the Zelosian alone with the others. They were all wearing pieced-together armor just like she was. Frustration, stress, and even some anger permeated the air around her. Pretty rugged group. Trained well, if not on discipline. They've obviously been here just as long as I have, and it's showing. I wonder how much longer they can stay before slipping.

There was an awkward pause for a moment as she stared at everyone. The only other non-human, a Gungan, came up to her.

”Meesa Grahim. Okeeday, yousa see datsa woman with datsa red hair over dere? Datsa Brightstar wesas ASL.” Grahim said and pointed towards Bright. Then he looked around and saw Mox doing something on a datapad. ”Datsa isa Mox playing with hesas datapad. And demsa over dere isa Heliwer and Clearwater, but mesa think dat dey told Hel to stay away from datsa woman.” Grahim said and signaled Bright to take care of it for now. ”Ah have yousa talked with wesas medic?” Grahim said and pointed towards Karash.

”No. I haven't talked to him, but I have seen him here in Bastion a few times.”

”Ah, and yousa have already met Joamer. Now yousa knows wesa.”

"Thanks for the introduction, Grahim."

"No problema, missy Del."

She walked over to the speeder and looked at the equipment they were pulling out of it. "Jetpacks?"

Brightstar glanced at her for a moment. "Yep, we nabbed them from some mercenary cowards earlier. Looks like we might have a pair for you and Karash, actually. Look this one over, would ya?"

Brightstar tossed Tviana a pack, and she caught it before it hit the ground. She checked its electronics and fuel level, everything seemed to be in order. She set it back down.

"This one looks fine. Just a little bit low on fuel."

"They all are. We'll fill them back up before we leave."

Tviana sat down against the wall and rested for a moment. She didn't feel tired, of course, but her body was moving a bit more sluggishly than before. She reached down and took a scoop out of the dirt. Not the best soil ever, but good enough for a light snack. She bit into the pile of dirt like a cake, leaving bits stuck all over her face. The green veins in her skin grew a slightly brighter shade of green, and she sighed in satisfaction.

"You know, the dirt out here is actually pretty good. Must've been all that rain."

She continued eating, ignoring the confused, discomforted looks the others threw her way. I'm sure they'll get used to it.

She looked everyone over again. The only one lacking armor or visible weapons was the woman Grahim had identified as Clearwater. A guide... or more likely, a hostage. Only reason she wouldn't even have a pistol to defend herself. She's looking pretty good for an unarmed prisoner, though...


The next day...


Tviana checked her jetpack and looked around idly at her new squadmates. Everyone else had their packs on and were ready to go.

The squad leader, Joamer, took off first. He was followed by Brightstar and Clearwater. The rest of the squad took off one by one, and finally she took off, being the last in line. Despite a few near-falls, they got the hang of the controls and began making their way up towards the cliffs. They reached a ledge in the cliff face and stopped to refuel.

"Any sign of enemies, Grahim?"

The Gungan stood on the edge of the outcropping and looked upward. "Meesa see noti- Aiiiiiiaiai!" The comment turned to a scream as he fell backward- away from the edge, luckily- and fell to the ground clutching his head where the blaster bolt had hit him. Karash quickly jumped over to his squadmate and pulled him back.

"It missed your eye. You'll live."

The Gungan moaned in pain as the medic began treating the wound.

"We'll need to be more careful now that they know we're coming. Everyone, get those packs refilled now."

Cayla watched Grahim fall to the ground, and immediately she hit the dirt too.  She didn't realize she had her mouth open when she fell, so when she hit the ground, a nice helping of dirt flew up into her mouth and face.  She spat it out and looked around, noticing everyone else drop into a crouch with weapons at the ready.  She looked over and saw Karash helping the gungan.  Apparently, the shot missed his eye, but not by much.

She looked up and saw a hand reaching into her face.  She grabbed it and saw the newest female, Tviana, helping her up.

"Uhhh... Thank you... " Cayla started, uncertain of who it was who was exactly helping her up, and whether or not to trust them.  She is rather nice-looking though... she thought before mentally slapping herself.

"You're welcome. You may be a prisoner, but we don't have to treat you like one."

"Right... I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"Tviana, although my former masters always called me Leaf. Whatever you want to call me, it's all the same."

"Thank you, Tviana... former masters?" she asked, curiously.

"Yes, I used to be a slave. It wasn't so bad, though. I got all the food I wanted.  Including dirt, as you've probably noticed."

"Surprisingly, no... I've been too busy paying attention to orders I might have to follow... such as hitting the deck when the shooting starts, as you just witnessed," she replied, giving a slight smile at the corner of her mouth.

Tviana mirrored her smile. "Joamer's orders are to keep you unarmed. I'll help however I can in other capacities, though."

"Other capacities?  That sounds... interesting..." she said, smirking.

Tviana smirked, then blushed slightly and wiped her sweaty-looking hand on her armor. "Uh... yes. Whatever you need, outside of something that could bring harm to the squad."

"Well, maybe I wasn't asking for weapons..." Cayla said, smiling slightly, taking care for the others not to notice.  She turned around and saw them start moving off towards where the blaster fire came from.

Cayla watched as Joamer kneeled down behind a tree starring off into the woods in front of them. After a second he gave a quick handsignal to Bright, causing her to nod once before picking out a half the squad to follow her. The others would follow him as they circled around the shooters location.

Looking back at Clearwater he sighed before point to Tviana after a second he said "Watch her, but stay down. Keep your distance though, if she tries anything shoot her. You are more important to me than she is."  Standing up he took the remainder of the squad and quickly vanished.

"You heard him. I'm supposed to shoot you if you do anything."

Cayla stared at her and chuckled silently.  "You're a Zelosian, correct?  I've read about your species back on... well, actually, that isn't entirely accurate, but... I know some things about your species."

"Yes, I am a Zelosian. I am surprised that you would know about them. Few outside the slave trade do."

"Yes, I am a Zelosian. I am surprised that you would know about them. Few outside the slave trade do."

"Well... when one does work such as I do... you have to be able to identify many different species, including several plant-species... your's was the most intriguing for me to learn about... and I am quite pleased I got to meet one too," she said, grinning.

"Well, I am glad that you have had a chance to meet one then. If there's anything you'd like to know, I am... obviously available."

Cayla opened her mouth to say something, then stopped.  Hmmm... this is interesting... I have never felt this way... I have memory of similar feelings... stronger ones... but, they are from Cayden... directed at Ashley... no, I can't... she thought, her face starting to lose color.

Tviana paled slightly. "Is something wrong? Do you need anything?"

Cayla felt a small wave of heat wash over her, and she grabbed her head as a reflex.  "No... I'm fine... just exhaustion... I've been held in a tiny cage for six months, with minimal exercise..." she said, before she started to lose her balance.

The Zelosian hurriedly caught her before she fell. "I'll go get you some water."

"No... I can't be left alone... prisoner or not... I'm not letting you disobey orders... one soldier has already done so, and well... he got decked pretty badly," she said, smiling at Tviana.

Tviana smiled back. "I was just going to get some compressed water out of my pack. I wouldn't leave you alone... prisoner or not."

"Right..." she said, before she coughed.  She threw the inside of her elbow against her mouth to prevent the spread of any germs.  She removed her arm and saw several splotches of blood on her sleeve.  "Well... would you look at that?  I seem to have caught some sort of disease, what with all the endless walking, the minimal rest, and poor hygeine at both the camp and with you lot..."

Tviana reached into her pack and pulled out a canister of water. "I don't know if it'll help, but it's just about all I can do until the medic comes back."

Cayla took the canister and took a sip of the water.  "It helps a lot more than you think..." she said, smiling weakly.

"If you think anything else will help, let me know. As long as it doesn't conflict with Joamer's orders."

Cayla smiled and took another sip of the water.  She set the canister down, then noticed she was still in Tviana's arms.  "Ummm... sitting down might help a bit, actually..." she said, blushing slightly.

Tviana blushed at the same time. "Oh... right. Sorry, I lose myself easily. Especially outdoors like this." She gently lowered Cayla to the ground.

"Right..." she said, looking at the cut on her left forearm.  Not too bad... could have been worse...much worse... she told herself, sliding her pack off her back.  She pulled out her first aid kit, took out the gauze, and started wrapping her cut.

"Here... let me get that for you." Tviana finished wrapping the guaze then grabbed the arm. "I believe you're supposed to keep pressure on the wound stop blood flow..."

"Heh... thanks... was never good at first aid... never had to do it ever, really... before... well, that's a story for a different time..."

Tviana gripped the arm tightly for another moment, then slid her hand off. "That should hold until we get you a proper bandage."

Cayla smiled and said "You're the first person who's been nice to me... I mean, sure... there's the one who's always watching me... but, he only wants to get me in bed... you, though... you're genuinely nice... it makes me happy to know someone is at least nice, at the very least, decent."

"I'm glad you are happy. I have no reason to be cruel, especially to someone who clearly doesn't deserve it."

Heh... if you only knew what I was capable of... she said to herself, looking over the wrapping.  "That's a good wrap... where'd you learn to do that, if I may be so bold to ask?"

"I'm afraid answering that may create a security risk..."

"Ah yes... the endangering of the myserious group of people you work for..." Cayla said, smirking.  "I understand classified... all too well..."

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing all the way out here? I mean, you're obviously not a native."

"Well, I have nothing to lose, really... I was examining the architecture of the settlements out here for... practical integration... into modern society."

"If that is the case, why are you being held prisoner?"

Cayla sighed.  "I may have accidentally stumbled into a New Republic camp uninvited... and wound up prisoner for six months straight... I had to do... things... in order to survive... I tried to escape once, and they beat me..."  Tears began to fall down her face, and she did nothing to wipe them off.  "Then, one night, they vanished.  I didn't see where they went, I was asleep... but, the next evening, I heard voices, so... I cut myself, drank my own blood, and screamed as loud as I could... but, by that time, I couldn't coherently put logical words together, so I couldn't explain myself..."  She tried to pull herself together, but couldn't, so she pulled Tviana close and held her tight, as tight as she could, so she wouldn't leave her.  She cried so hard, she didn't hear the boot falls of the rest of the squad returning behind her.

OOC:

Okay... I'm crying... hell, I'm bawling...

next person, please do try to be nice... Tviana already made me cry

================== 5 days ago =================
================== Camp site ==================
Mox woke up. A week went after his last report to Republic Command. Mox sat up, stretching his muscles. Note to self: sleeping in armour on a hard and solid platform is not comfortable. Avoid it in future. Mox laughed and looked around. Most of the squad members were already busy with something, either suing some plates they found to upgrade their worn-out armour or fixing and cleaning their weapons. Mox then looked at Joamer, but immediately looked away. The squad leader had the “evil” look on his face looking on a tree on the other side of the platform. He then reached for the DataPad in his pocket, but found that it was gone. He then quickly looked around, seeing if it have fallen out of his pocket. Impossible Mox thought, trying to remain calm. He then looked at the tree Joamer was looking

“Shit” Mox muttered to himself. “What the hell will I do now?! If it is Joamer who has it, I'm dead!”

================ Now =====================
Mox looked around at everyone. The prisoner just started crying, while Grahim got shot. He then crouched down, took off his fuel canister and jet-pack and refuelled it. After he finished he put the jet-pack on. The prisoner was still crying. Mox glanced at Heliwer. He was looking like he wanted to kill everybody, unless they let her close to her. Mox smirked, although the helmet prevented anyone from seeing it. Joamer looked at Clearwater for a while. He then walked up to her, told her something after which she went quiet, and off they were again. They spent a minute in the air flying towards a mountain, and after a while they saw a big area, which was going up. It had a tunnel inside it. Few seconds later they landed on the cliff. Joamer walked up to the tunnel and shot inside it. The shot was going very deep down.

“Ok, we're not going that way.” Joamer said
“How do you know that in the end it does not go back. I could sprint rea...” Mox started
“I said no.” Joamer interrupted “And don't disobey my orders.”

They looked at each other, and Mox was almost certain their eyes met. He then gave up trying to go this way and instead just turned around and walked away from the tunnel. The squad started quickly moving up the cliff, trying to do so as quietly as possible. They walked a bit until they entered a very rocky area. Suddenly they heard a sound like if a rocket just launched. Then from about 20 meters from them a rocket flew upwards and started falling towards them.

“INCOMING!!!!” Mox instinctively shouted out, but after that Joamer punched him and escaped the area. Mox rolled back-wards and then looked up. The mortar rocket was falling right onto him so Mox grabbed the jet-pack trigger, causing him to fly backwards.

“Shit” Mox said as he lost control of his jet-pack, causing him to fly in all sorts of direction. Mox quickly turned it off, shifted his weight and turned around his body so he was facing downwards. He then swore again as he landed head on, on one of the republic soldiers. Mox the got up but got punched in the helmet. The republic soldier then kicked Mox up, causing him to fly up bit after falling down. Mox quickly pulled out his twin blade, having lost his other one 4 months ago. He rolled away and jumped back on his feet. Looked at the Republic Soldier, and charged at him. The Raiders squad was well in the fire fight with the other Republic Soldiers, but no-one dared to shoot at the fighting pair. Mox jumped at the republic soldier, his blade going deeply into the enemy's flesh. Blood started to spurt out, but the rebel had one more trick in hand. He knew he was going to lose this fight so he set off a grenade. Mox hearing a click, quickly grabbed his jet-pack trigger, and off he was again. As he was flying up, he got shot a few times and hit a big rock. Mox triggered his jet-pack off, and just lied there. Some of the armour absorbed the shots, making them useless.

“God, how lucky can I be...” Mox said to himself, as he got up “Wait.... I don't believe in luck”

Cayla hit the deck hard as blaster bolts started flying everywhere.  She watched the squad return fire, and she started crawling on her stomach towards a large rock.  She leaned against the rock and heard another explosion go off nearby.  Dirt and gravel flew up into her face, causing her to shield her eyes from the debris.  She peaked over the rock and cursed under her breath.

Several of the New Republic soldiers were advancing quickly on the squad's position, and she watched her captors slowly start falling back.  She knew that they were just regrouping, but she also knew that she'd have to do something.  She threw off her pack and took the hold-out blaster out.  She checked the charge and smiled.  I really hope I don't need this she thought, tucking the small blaster into her waist-line and drapping her shirt over it.

She peaked out from behind the rock and saw Heliwer on the ground.  Great... the guy who's infatuated wth me might need my help... she thought, jumping out from behind the rock.  She ran over to where Heliwer was and grabbed his collar.  She tried to drag him and almost fell over.  Damn, he needs to lose some weight she thought, looping her arms under his.  She dragged him as best she could to behind the rock.

He looked up at her and smiled.

"I won't say anything," she said, smiling back.  She quickly scanned his body visually and said "You don't seem to be injured, but just to be safe, we should have the medic look at you when he gets the chance."

"We?  What do you mean, 'we'?" he asked, confused.  He tried to get up, but Cayla pushed him back down.

"I don't have much time to explain, but understand that I am a friend.  I mean no one here any harm," she said, smiling.  She brushed the hair out of her eyes and looked up.  She saw two of the New Republic soldiers on the ground, and one of her captors shot in the leg.  "I'll be right back," she said, jumping up.

She ran to the fallen soldier and started dragging him back.  She looked him over and said "You've been shot."

"Well, no frakking duh!" he said, grabbing his leg.  He started to wave her away when he felt a slight pressure on his shoulder

"Mox, just shut it.  She's trying to help," Heliwer said, placing a hand on Mox's shoulder.

Cayla nodded at Heli and took a closer look at the wound.  "Looks like you've just been grazed... but, the medic should look at that."  She looked up again and noticed that the fighting had died down.

She watched the squad secure the area surrounding the conflict zone.  She watched the leader of the squad, a man called Joamer, inspect a body, and move on to the next one.  After they finished sweeping the area, they regrouped near a tree stump and began conversing amongst themselves.

She ran over to where the rest of the squad was and said "I need the medic over here."

"Why, you look fine to me?" Karash said, looking at her.

"Well, I have two of your troopers over here.  One was just knocked down, the other one grazed by a stray blaster bolt," she said, pointing over to Heliwer and Mox.  She watched Karash head over to check them out, then sighed.  I hope they're alright... she thought before mentally smacking herself.  Why should I care?  I don't even know who they are... But, if I'm ever going to survive this, they should know who I really am...  She turned back to the rest of the squad.  "Sir, I... haven't been completely honest with you..."

Joamer looked at Cayla hard, reloaded his rifle, and said "That's not a big surprise."

Cayla sighed and looked at her feet.  She kicked at a small rock and said 'My name is Cayla Tavers.  I'm a Private First Class in the Vast Empire Army."  She looked around at the faces at her and felt anger hitting her from all angles.

Joamer looked down at his Particle Magnum, his fingers running over the various surfaces as her words sank into his mind. Through out the past months he had witnessed his share of problems, but having a trooper lie to his face twice took the cake. After a long pause of fighting his will to shoot her in the forehead he said slowly "Why the lies then. Why the deception all this time?"

Cayla watched him finger his magnum, then sighed.  "I didn't know if I could trust you.  When you found me back at the camp, you kind of treated me like a prisoner... I has already spent six months in a cage, being the bait and toy of the New Republic.  So, I had to think on my feet.  I had to find a way to make myself seem valuable enough to keep around.  I had to make sure I could trust you enough to tell you who I was, even if it was my true name."  She reached under her shirt and pulled out the hold-out blaster.  She handed it to Joamer and said "I had planned to use this, in case I was threatened.  But, I have no need for it now."

He looked at the hold-out blaster for a long minute, then sighed and shook his head. After a moment he said "I'm Sergeant First Class Joamer Reistlin, Squad Leader of RAIDERS. Go loot the dead for armor and some weapons, Private Tavers."

Cayla saluted and walked off to hunt for weapons and armor.

She didn't go far when Bright grabbed her arm.  As she turned around, Bright snatched the hold-out blaster from Joamer and handed it to Cayla.  "She's earned that one, Joa. If it had been me in her position," she paused to grin at the big man. "I'd have shot you in the ass at least."

Cayla smiled and said "Thank you, ma'am."  She ran off and started searching the freshly-killed New Republic soldiers.  She found one wearing light combat armor, and she grabbed the body's arm.  She dragged it over to the rock she was hiding behind and started stripping the body of it's armor.

Cayla put the combat armor on and smiled at it's snug fit.  Not everyday a dead man has a nice-fitting suit of combat armor for me... she thought, grabbing the soldier's rifle.  She checked the energy level and smiled.  Almost full... he must have not shot much...  She stripped the body of any extra power packs and shoved them into her bag.  She reshouldered the pack and walked over to the rest of the squad.  "Alrighty, I'm ready to go," she said, smiling.  She looked up and saw a small wisp of smoke coming from the cliff above.

OOC:

Look!  I posted! 

Delete me, stupid thing.

Grahim's eye were itching like hell. He was trying not to scratch it. At least not when the medic was watching him and he knew wounds itch when they are healing. So he only had to live with it So only had to live with it until it had healed. But he felt that it wasn't really functioning as it should. Itsa should besa okeeday in una minute. Grahim thought to himself and remembered that Karash had said that it was gonna be alright.

Even though Grahim had been quite self centered since he had been shot, he had noticed that the squad was functioning a bit more as a team now and that their former prisoner Clearwater were in reality Private First Class Sciuridae. Grahim couldn't really pronounce the name so he had started to call here Scurvy and she didn't seem to mind to much.

The squad had now moved up to a cliff were they could look over a small valley. They saw three campfires in the dark. The squad were effectively checking after more groups of enemies. They saw a total of six groups. Three groups were moving a head for a good spot to set up camp.

“Okay, Red you take Karash, Grahim and Hel. You need to take out the three groups whom are moving up. In the mean time Mox, Tviana, Sciuridae and I will take out the campfire groups. But remember we need to do this quiet and fast, we don't want them to alert each other. Dismissed” Joamer said. Bright pulled her group a side for some tactics.

“Okay I want us to use our jet packs to the limit. Heliwer and I will jump so that we land in front of the closest squad and Karash and Grahim will crash into them when they are focused on me and Hel.” Bright said.

“Yes ma'am.” The three subordinates said and looked for the closest of the moving groups through their field macrobinoculars.

They saw one walking group within two jumps. “Bright mesa think wesa should attack demsa.” Grahim said and pointed towards the group.

“Okay the first jump we do together the second jump Hel and I go first and on my signal you go in from above.” Brights said and made the jump. Grahim followed her lead and jumped out from the cliff. The largest problems they could meet would be if the group saw them while making their short jumps. Grahim landed heavily in a small pile of snow. He didn't like water in its solid form.

Grahim made sure that Hel and Bright had left him and Karash alone before trying to say something. “Yousa sure disa eye isa gonna besa okeeday?” Grahim asked.

“It should be at least when I looked at it, why do you ask?” Karash replied.

“Because itsa hurts. Mesa knowsa how itsa feels when una wound heals but disa feels completely different.” Grahim said with a very whiny tone.

“I can take a look at it when we are back at camp, but we need to do our jobb.” Karash said right before the com crackled. “Okay boys drop down on them.” When the signal came both Karash and Grahim left ground in a giant leap. Grahim found it quite hard to steer where he should land in the dark but he managed to land on a man's back and broke it. Grahim made a somersault before standing up and drawing his knife and choosing a new target. When he had found a target within reasonable distance he threw himself at it and started to stab it violently towards the targets head and neck.

Grahim were on his way up when he received a blunt object in the face. He was lucky that he was wearing a helmet else the damage would have been more extensive. But it still hurt like hell. Heliwer jumped the man that had bashed Grahim in the head. When the fighting was over they realised that Karash wasn't among them. Short after they had made this discovery he landed with his  besides his squad mates. “I got blown of course.” Karash said.

“Karash you should probably take a look at Grahim he received a blow to the head and hasn't been standing straight since.” Hel said.

Joamer squatted at the edge of an overhang, and looked out at the valley below him. For the last few hours the squad had moved up higher, getting a better view of the mountain side. Luckily Bright's fireteam had had more success then his did. From what he could tell three groups were left, and all three were separated by roughly a mile left to right of each other.

The helmets they had were equipped with nightvision, as well as infrared. Which allowed them to pinpoint each group after a long slow search. He could hear the squad behind him resting after their last move. Ideas were being thrown around to figure out a way to eliminate all three groups, one was to split the squad into three teams. This idea neither Bright or himself liked in the least. Two was tricky enough, split into three and someone would surely die.

He heard Bright walk up beside him slowly and sit cross-legged on the ground after a moment. The wind shifted, bringing smells of cooking from the city. It was faint, but if you concentrated you could almost make out what was being cooked. Truthfully, with how his taste buds had been acting up, it may of just been the smell of rotting garbage making its way up here.

"Any new ideas, Red?" He asked quietly. He was having a hard time disguising his fatigue. He was worn out, mentally and physically. The squad itself was doing alright, but their leader was on the ropes. He did not have much left to give, which worried him. He had to be strong for them, he had to have all the answers. They looked to him for that, even when they thought they could do it better, they still followed his orders if he told them to. It scared him still he was in command, and he doubted he would ever get used to it.

"None, thing is none of them have the experience needed to run a fireteam." She said quietly. "They are all highly skilled, and very well trained." She shook her head as she tossed a rock off the edge. Joamer watched it fall, it dislodged two more rocks before it came to a stop.

He watched those rocks tumble down, picking up others till finally they were all lost to sight. "If we ever get out of here we need to remedy that problem. We need them with the confidence to run things if both of us are taken out."

She looked over at him, he was suddenly looking up at the mountain above them. "What are you lookin..." She looked at his face, then up at the mountain. After a moment she slowly looked down the edge to where the rocks had fallen.

Finally she looked back at him, he was starring at her, his face calm. "It's tricky." She said nearly ten seconds later. He almost smiled at that fact she could read his mind. They truly were becoming a very good pair.

"We have the mortars we took, don't need to aim much at all. Just lob a few shells at weak points, then run like hell." He said as he looked down the cliff.

"Takes, about twenty seconds to reload those. Set the first ones to a longer arc, quickly reset the next to a lower one to hopefully reinforce. Four shots, two mortars." She pursed her lips as she looked up the mountain in the predawn light. "Thirty seconds till the wave hits us. Would it hit Bastion?"

"I doubt it, the valley curves away. The three groups would be hit at almost the same time, maybe forty five, fifty seconds after it starts." Joamer said as he began working it out.

"We could jump across the valley next to us, it's a long one. Would be on fumes by the time we land." Bright said as she stood up and looked to the left of them. Joamer stayed quiet as he thought it over.

He looked up to see her glaring at him. "Take..."

"Do not even say it, I'm not leaving you behind." She said as she planted her hands on her hips. "How many would we need minimum?"

He wanted to argue, but knew it would do no good. She would not let him get all the dangerous jobs while she flew off to safety. Besides, he knew she was one of the best qualified to do something like this.

"Four, two re-loaders, two to aim." He said as he looked back at the squad. "Grahim has to be one, he's fastest on a pack. Who else has to stay." He did not say it, but the words to die were heard by both. This would require perfect timing, and if anything went wrong they would not live to regret it.

"Moks." She said after a long moment. He nodded regretfully, the young man was undisciplined, but he had more experience in the air then most. Standing up he walked over the squad with Bright a step behind. Everyone looked up to him and the talking ceased slowly.

"Grahim, Moks you two ready the two mortars we have. Use the instructions and set a high flight time for both units. Familiarize yourselves with how to quickly reload and aim. When you are done set your targets for the mountain side that is above us. After that, refuel your packs then stand ready." Joamer said after a minute of silence.

He looked over at Bright, after a second she nodded once. "Karash, take everyone else to that hilltop five hundred yards due east of us. If we are not back right after sunrise take command and find someone to report to. I would not bother looking for remains, there won't be any left if we do not return."

The individuals who made up the squad were not stupid by any means. He watched them one by one as they pieced everything together. When they did he held up his hand a moment before the arguing could begin. "Listen to me, this is dangerous. I know most of you want to do this yourselves, but we four are the ones who have to do it. Bright and I have done something like this before, plus we have prior experience with the packs, as do Moks and Grahim. I want everyone else out of harms way, just in case this goes horribly wrong. These are my orders, don't question them." He said the last looking at each member one by one, his hand rested on his Particle Magnum as he did.


The squad moved quickly, within an hour everyone was ready to go. Grahim and Moks had gotten a decent enough working knowledge of the two mortars to say with variable certainty that this might work, and they might blow themselves up doing it. They showed Joamer and Bright how to quickly reload, it was a simple process really. Open the door, slide out the spent shell, slide a new one in, close the door and seal it.

Joamer nodded slowly as Karash and the others took one last look at the four staying behind before making short jumps away.

Everyone was doing the last minute checks, his breathing slowed as he clicked the last strap into place on his jetpack. The tank was full, everything in place. He heard Karash come over the comlink and report they had made it safely to a small clearing.

He felt the sun rise over the mountain top as he turned to face the two mortars, squatting down he breathed gently as he loaded one of the tubes. Ten feet away he watched as Bright did the same.

"Both tubes are set for a ten second arc we think. Once we fire, we have 10 seconds to reload, aim lower and fire. Then blast out of here before the avalanche rolls over this area." Moks said after he adjusted a knob for the final time.

Joamer looked over at Bright, she looked up as she steadied one of the rounds against her leg. The instructions said clearly to stand ten feet away, they simply did not have that much time, besides this was dangerous enough. They figured a little bit more danger would not kill them, if their numbers were up standing ten feet away would not give them any hope of surviving.

She looked up at him, then nodded once. He nodded as he steadied a round himself.

"Just fraking do it." She said after a second.

"Ready... steady.. FIRE!" Moks shouted.

Both mortars went off at nearly the same time. Quickly all four people began working, Moks and Grahim began turning nobs to lower the mortars angles as Joamer and Bright opened the doors, removed the spent casing and shoved the two shells inside  the hatches were closed a second later. Standing up he grabbed the controls for his jetpack. He went to shout when on some silent signal Moks and Grahim fired again.

"Go go go!" Joamer shouted, a second later they two men ignited their jetpacks and shot away. Bright and himself ignited at the same time, he turned in time to see all four shells hitting the side of the mountain at nearly the same time. Pure luck He thought as he watched the ground go past him.

It seemed to take an eternity to go five hundred yards. The jetpacks they had were designed for short jumps, and they ate fuel up at an insane rate during sustained flights. His pack sputtered out five feet from the ground.

He nearly stuck the landing, but with the weight of the pack his knees buckled and he went down. He felt arms around him and looked up to see Karash and Tviana supporting him.

Standing up he nodded to each of them and turned in time to see Bright land on the edge of the cliff. She smiled triumphantly just as the edge gave way beneath her. There was a pause before she began sliding backwards, he watched as she tried desperately to reignite her depleted pack. Somehow Mok and Grahim had reacted instantly, before she was more than a foot down they caught her arms and pulled her up.

He shook his head as she got to her feet then pushed both troopers away. He would have to remember to thank them both for their fast thinking.

Looking up he watched the side of the mountain making a nuisance of itself as it slid down into the valley. With the amount of debris being carried he highly doubted either of the groups could of survived. From up here it looked like an ocean of rock had come alive.

"Poor bastards." He heard someone say a moment later. He had to agree, it was a bad way to go. "The valley is nearly completely filled, the flow hit something and backed up. Looks like about half a mile past the furthest group it just stopped. Nothing could of survived that. If it had been snow maybe, but not that."

"Rest till noon, then we will go back to Bastion." He turned away from the carnage and began walking. No one talked much after that, killing was one thing. What they had just done was a bit much for anyone to stomach right then.

Joamer wondered, as he unstrapped his jetpack, what were the last thoughts that went through those men's heads right before they were crushed to death. He doubted he was the only one to have such thoughts as the squad set up a basic camp for a few hours.

OOC:

Objective complete.

Cayla stood to the side as the rest of the squad helped Joamer and Bright up onto the cliff top.  She wandered off towards what few trees in the area and sat down on a small boulder.  She placed her head into her hands and sighed heavily.

She noticed Heliwer walking over from her left, so she jumped up and said in a stern voice "Not right now, Heliwer... I'm not in the mood to talk right now."

"Hel, Sci is a squadmate. There are rules regarding inter-squad relationships. Stay away from her, or you will be brought up on charges," she heard Joamer say.

She watched Heliwer walk away slowly, looking back over his shoulder at her.  She sighed again, and let herself drop onto the rock.

I know war is hell, but... damn... it's one thing to watch holo-vids, or see it through someone else's eyes, but to see it in person?  Damn... I'm not prepared for this in the least... she thought, sighing heavily again.

She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, closed her eyes out of frustration, and said "I thought I was perfectly cle- oh... Tviana, it's you... can I help you?"

"I was just going to see if you were okay..." Tviana said cautiously.

"Oh... I- I'm fine, Tviana... just... a little shaken up by the blast..." she said weakly, turning away.

Tviana put an arm around her. "You sure? You don't look fine... Is it because of what just happened to those New Republic troopers?"

Cayla brushed Tviana's arm off and sat down on the rock.  "Not specifically them... it's just... I've never watched war, death, and destruction happen, at least not personally..."

"I imagine it would take quite a while to get used to it... Anything I can do to help?"

"I'd..." she started, before coughing on the dust in the air.  "I'd be willing to talk about it, if you want..."

"If you wouldn't mind, I would love to know."

Cayla scooted over so Tviana could sit next to her.  "I guess you never heard of my past, correct?"

"Seeing as I've only just met you... no, I have not. I must admit I'm a bit intrigued."

"Well, I'm not like most humans... in the respect that they were born..."

"Really?"

"Yeah... technically, I'm a part of someone else's consciousness... in a body grown in a lab..."

"Fascinating... I guess that means you retained the memories from the other someone?"

"Something like that... even memories that neither of us wish to remember..." she said, grabbing the bridge of her nose to prevent herself from crying.

"Go ahead and cry, your eyes need to flush out all that dust..." Tviana hesitantly put her arm back around Cayla.

"I... I mean... he, witnessed the deaths of hundreds of thousands... killed hundreds more... and it's all here, in my head... like a realistic holo-vid downloaded right into my brain..."

"That sounds terrible... I have memories of death, but nowhere near that much..."

"My home... I mean... his home planet, is engulfed by a war that could shatter not just that world, but another as well..."

"...Do you want to talk about it?"

Cayla reached up and grabbed Tviana's hand with her right hand and smiled slightly.  "It's a really long story..."

Tviana looked around, then turned back to look at Cayla. "Well, I'm not going anywhere..."

Cayla exhaled deeply and said "Alright... my... his... home planet has been at war for almost a decade.  He led a sort of rebellion against a rising imperial government, and created a sort of democracy in place of the regular monarchy.  He also led a group of colonists to another planet, in order to help garner resources for rebuilding his home planet.  However, back home, the democracy became corrupt, and collapsed from within, leading to the rise of a new Emperor, and a declaration of war between the two planets.  So, he's been leading the colony in this sort of revolution against his former homeworld, in an attempt to remove the Imperial government in power and restore the throne."

"Sounds complicated... are you worried about him?"

"How couldn't I be?  He's my former companion... and technically, my twin brother..." she said, wrapping her other arm around Tviana.  Cayla sighed again and said "What about you?  How are you feeling about all of this?"

OOC:

Alrighty... some more about Cayla that the tree knows about... and maybe someone overheard?  Joamer, perhaps?

Grahim was quite pleased with their victory over the NR scumbags even if they had used unconventional ways of solving the problem. Everyone else seemed shocked over what had happened. Somehow Grahim felt that justice had been served to them. Probably they were just as him but he had been kept in a cage and tortured for their pleasure. If Grahim could by any means pluck away pieces from the NR army he would gladly do it even if it would be soldier by soldier he would gladly do it. Grahim walked up towards Joamer.

“Mesa think yousa made da right decision for wesas. Wesa needed to get demsa scum dead and yousa chose da fastest way to itsa. And if yousa would order mesa to do dis again mesa would do itsa smiling.” Grahim said so that everyone could hear it. Bright grabbed the Gungan and spun him around, she glared at him daring him to strike her. "Listen, we are all worn out, tired, afraid, and emotionally tramatized. Comments like that do not help, for now keep them to yourself. Or you will find me with a pistol to your head." Releasing him she turned back around and walked away.

“Mesa has spaken mesas mind.” Grahim said with a voice cold as ice towards Brights back. Then he continued. “Mesa isa going for una walken.”

Grahim walked away from the camp. He was furious at everyone. They all looked as if they had committed a horrible crime which they couldn't repent. The worst one was Scurvy, she had been locked up almost as long as himself and she had been treated as badly if not even worse and she looked so guilty. ”Shesa should besa hapy for what wesa did. And still shesa has datsa look on her face. Like all disa was her fault.” After thinking this Grahim punched a large tree with all his might. It didn't do any good but he needed to get his anger out, because he didn't want to risk going on a killing spree on his own squad. Because if he did he couldn't return to his old home and he would lose his new one. But he was so frakking mad. He started wishing he had struck down Bright when she grabbed him. But he knew that he would only strike a superior officer if he was really angry and he hadn't been that mad. Plus if he had attacked Bright he knew that Joamer would probably try to kill him a extra time after Bright was done with him. He continued to throw punches  at the very old tree until he managed to bury his anger. When the anger started to go away he remembered what he himself had done. He had carved of a human head and been beating another person with it and he had been laughing while doing it.

“Mesa will never go back to how mesa used to besa.” Grahim remarked. He didn't know if it was for the worse or for the better. He started to walk back towards the camp.

When he entered camp he saw that Karash was staring at him with disgust. Grahim knew why Karash was staring like that but it still angered him somewhat. He took a deep breath and just let it go. He figured that he can't be angry all the time.

Grahim took a walk around the site trying to find a good spot where he could fall into the land of dreams. He wanted to find a quite dry spot with something fluffy to lie his head on. But this particular place seemed to be lacking fluffy stuff to use as a pillow so he decided to use to lie on his back just starring up at the sky as the sun was rising over the mountain tops. Grahim heard that the squad members was having conversations with each other. He put all the noise in the back of his head and thought about his poor mother he had seen just before this awful campaign began. It had been the final good bye to her. He had told her that he could never return to her again because it was to risky due to the NR presence on Naboo. After thinking about his mother he fell asleep but he was cursed with nightmares.