The New Republic told Eclipse that they would be treated well, “out of respect for your surrender” - a half truth. Stripped of all equipment, armor and weapons, Eclipse stood and sat in the house that was designated their prison. They were there waiting for anything - Imperial or Republic - that told them their next move. Though nothing happened, no real interrogation whatsoever, the New Republic forces just kept them there. All across the Bastion, Imperial forces were either still fighting, or waiting for orders from command. The area designated by the New Republic for a prison sat within the Bastion, in areas that they were turning into their fortress.

Although outside the house, there was activity - an operation was underway. While a “stand-down” order has forced a cease-fire, prisoners were still being taken by the New Republic. This was a fact that Army command was not okay with, and would not let stand. For this reason, and for many others, they gathered Troopers - the best they could find - the resolve the issue... quietly. However, Eclipse knew nothing of this, as all of their communication equipment was confiscated when they were captured. The operation began in cover of darkness, the Elite Troopers entered the Republic camp under nightfall. They made it to their points of interest, some were there to make contact with imprisoned Troopers - others though had surprises to place.

Rawr stood there in the house, distraught at what had happened. Their Squad Leader was alone, separated from the group when he went out fighting. It should have been all of us, Rawr thought to himself, We never should have let him go alone. He looked across the room, and saw the looks on the faces of Eclipse - it was obvious they all thought the same thing. The squad as a whole agreed with him, it was in their eyes. None of them knew where he was, what he was going through - they were not even sure if he was alive.

Quietly they talked among each other, trying to keep the morale up. Rawr could see the brotherhood that was growing in the Squad, a group of people put through the same hell become like a family - this was good, it would give them the will to carry on.

“Hey, I hear someone coming!” A member of the Squad whispered to Rawr.

The Squad had mixed reactions, some were nervous as to what was to come, and others wanted to attack the person who entered. Rawr gave a hand motion to stay put, and silent, it was better not to agitate the Republic Trooper who was coming in - there was no need to deal with the repercussions that would come from it.

“Sergent First Class Norith Skarr? Are you in there?” A voice said, as the door slowly opened and the man walked into the room.

There was nothing but silence, as the Squad started at the giant that had just entered the house. Odd stares were the other thing that the entire squad made, the man was puzzling to them.

“Skarr, where are you?” He repeated.

“You know damn well he isn’t here.” Rawr boldly said, expecting to get his head bashed in for speaking out to his captors.

“What?” The man said, as if he was completely unaware of the truth. “The Intel said Eclipse was here.”

One of the squad members stood and said “What Intel?”

Rawr agreed, he wanted to know. “Who are you?” He said to the man.

“My callsign’s Lancer, I’m here to get Eclipse out. Now what do you mean Skarr isn’t here?” The man, apparently known as ‘Lancer’ said - though annoyance could be heard in his voice.

Rawr, and many members of the squad just started Lancer down - after what they had been been through with the campaign they were not in the most open mood. The main question was ‘who’ this Lancer was, a Republic operative or an actual Imperial Trooper. Rawr was slightly suspicious, but decided there was really nothing to lose. If he was a New Republic operative, he already knew anything Rawr would say.

“Okay, following the stand-down order our Squad Leader decided to go on a charge to the Republic lines - alone. He was wounded, and we saw him carried off.” Rawr started.

“Shit. Do you know where they took him.” Lancer said.

“No idea, I would assume a medical facility of some type.”

“Damn, our Intel was wrong. Either way, we have to get you out of here. There are Imperial landing craft halfway to the mountains, my orders are to get you all there. From there, off world to debriefing.” Lancer stated.

“We are not leaving without Skarr,” Rawr started, “We already let him go alone once - and we shouldn't have. We are not doing it again.”

“How exactly do you presume you get to him? If you notice, you are unarmed, and do not stand a change. Follow the orders, Trooper.”

“Frak,” Rawr started, seeing Lancer’s point as he looked over at Eclipse, “Alright; how are we getting out of here.”

Lancer gave a chuckle, “Just wait. You’ll see in about three, two...”

As he counted down, an expolsion was heard within the New Republic Bastion compound, it slightly shook the building that Eclipse was in - the building was likely not as stable as it was thought.

The squad quietly exited the house, to see the New Republic running around in circles tring to find out what exactly was happening. Lancer motioned for Eclipse to follow him, slowly, as he slid through the shadows towards the lower levels of the Bastion. The goal was to exit silently, without any Combat - they would not stand a chance - and get to the Shuttles that were placed near the mountains outside the Bastion. Their mission was simple, and saddened all those in the squad who wanted to find their SL, but orders were orders. They would follow them, for now - those “orders” were getting them out of their prison at least. They would follow thier orders, as long as it helped them accomplish their goals.

OOC:

This entire post was written while listening to the Nyan Cat in an endless loop. Sorry if it is a bit confusing.
To clarify, Lancer is breaking Eclipse, and various other VE Troopers, out of their prison. We are to Escape the Bastion, as quietly as possible, and get to the transports. More details to come as the story progresses...

"All right then, stick to the shadows and do try to keep up, if it's not a bother," the newcomer, Lancer, said.

Balac held back a retort. Returning to Thyveck from leave, and then being placed in Republic custody for any period of time wasn't what he'd had in mind when returning to the group he long ago began to consider a family. Their squad leader being in Republic hands didn't help the situation any either. Listening to their arrogant rescue party leader was detrimental to Balac's mood as well.

Could be worse, Balac thought, I could still be working for the Republic... hah.

Along with Ion, Balac and another made their way up to merge with Lancer's men. Balac was hoping for a chance to crack a few NR skulls, but stealth and subtlety were of course absolutely needed. The sirens blaring around the camp made it difficult to listen for footsteps, a critical problem for their escape.

"Hold it!" Lancer snapped quietly, "Republic patrol ahead. They look a little too nervous. The camp isn't too far away, and I don't want to risk them dropping in on us later"

Looking ahead, they saw the patrol, two men of medium build, with fairly nervous actions. In the dimming light, they could see each member of the patrol, quickly pivoting their heads, trying to look everywhere at once. They were likely newer members of the Republic's military, their biggest mistake.

"Alright, you and you," Lancer said, pointing to Ion and Balac respectively, "I want you two to get ready, hit them from the behind."

Balac and Ion moved quietly around the small building the rest of the group were using to shelter their presence. Meanwhile, Lancer and his men were slowly making their way out to distract the two-man patrol.

"Hold it!" a nervous voice rang out. "What are you doing here?"

"Easy, we're with the Republic. We're one of the scavenger teams sent into the city." Lancer replied easily.

"Do you have any identification?" a second nervous voice asked.

"Oh yes, right here, of course." Lancer replied again, with an edge to his voice. Within the time of the conversation, Balac and Ion had moved within 10 feet of the patrol. Lancer had started searching through a pocket in an attempt to stall the patrol.

"How long have you been here in Bastion?" Lancer asked nonchalantly.

"Just show us-" one of the patrol members started and was abruptly cut off as an arm latched around his neck, another arm wrenching the blaster from his grip. The second Republic troop turned in astonishment at the comparatively huge figure of Ion. Before he could move, Balac launched himself at the other trooper, hitting the man in the back, forcing him face-first into the ground. Quickly recovering, he grabbed the stunned man's head and swiftly snapped his neck with a satisfying crunching, watching the light fade from his eyes as his head lay back on the ground at an odd angle. Next to him, the other NR troop was on the ground with his head at a similarly odd angle, an expression of disbelief on his face. Balac and Ion each picked up their load, and moved them under some debris in a nearby shattered house.

"Now that that's taken care of, can we continue?" Balac asked.

"Hmm, impressive." Lancer replied quickly. "We should be near the next holding area, come on."

After a few minutes the group took cover amongst some houses.

"Wait here, the camp is right over there. Some of my men should have sprung some more troopers. They're likely hiding nearby." Lancer announced, and quickly made his way in the general direction of the next camp, two of his men in tow.

"So far, so good." Rawr stated.

Balac shouldered one of the blaster rifles borrowed from the patrol. "Anyone else want this?"

OOC:

OK. Eclipse, and a few of Lancer's men are taking cover in a fairly well preserved building. Lancer, along with two of his men, have gone to make contact with more of his squad, and any VE troops they have released from their holdings. Enjoy!

Blood. Blood everywhere. The smell of it was heavy on the wind. Inescapable, uncontainable. He couldn't run, couldn't hide. It filled his eyes and clogged his senses, a drowning pool of crimson. Bodies, strewn about, stared up with sightless eyes. Unnatural holes in their bodies dripped scarlet life. Thengil hid his eyes, held his breath.

The patrol was dead. All of them. He hadn't participated in the slaughter, hadn't become consumed by a blood rage. Wouldn't be. He had killed one of their own. He had murdered a brother. How could he fight? How could he live? He shouldn't live... Thengil hissed. He should be dead.

How he had survived that leap into darkness he didn't know. Vague bits and pieces of that final fight at the blast doors came to him. He remembered moving fluidly among the enemy, a golden blur. Something had hit him over the head and all had gone dark. He'd woken up in stuncuffs, but it hadn't been long before help came from this... Lancer.

Thengil listened silently to the conversation between Lancer and Rawr. They'd leave the weapons behind and then move to this safehouse. Stealth was key. That was fine. The Cathar were feline. And felines always had that eerie ability for stealthy movement.

The Cathar drank in the air. It felt good without having a helmet on its head. Claustrophobia was a problem for the free ranging Cathar. Thengil let the wind scrape away his soul. But even after he let it all out, a dark spot still sat on his heart. It ate away at him, ever so slowly. Murderer. It whispered. But Thengil ignored it. He had to, to stay sane.

"I will scout ahead," Thengil growled. Without further notice, he was gone. The only thing visible of him as he slipped through the darkness were his golden eyes, flashing with sorrowful fires praying for redemption.

His paws padded softly against the natural ground. The Cathar made sure to avoid skylining and stuck to the shadows cast by clouds. In the black thermal suit he wore, Thengil blended in nicely with the terrain. Those who watched his progression would see him appear for a moment as he looked around and then disappear amidst the surroundings. Swaying with the wind, moving as slow as the rock.

Eventually, Thengil came upon the safehouse. It didn't seem to have been intruded upon yet. He hadn't seen any hostiles. That made sense, this far from Bastion he wouldn't expect to see anything short of a platoon patroling. The safe house blended into the surroundings, seeming to be only a large rock. Thengil found the hidden latch and flicked it. With a hiss the door slid back. Stairs were revealed, going straight down into the darkness of the earth. Thengil retreated a step. Small space. He growled.

At that moment the rest of the squad arrived. Rawr motioned for Thengil to go in. "Come on, we don't have much time!"

Thengil shifted uneasily on his feet, "I think I'll just wait out here, Corporal Kristof O'Neil."

Rawr grunted, "Oh no you don't." He shoved the large Cathar inside.

Reluctantly, the Cathar moved downwards. Slowly at first, then faster. It seemed like the walls and ceiling were closing in on him, growing smaller with every step. It reminded him of a Kiltik nest. He shuddered at the memory. Insects.... he hated them. To his relief, the ceiling widened out until he reached the bottom of the stairs and stood in a small room. Thengil went straight to a hologram of the area and activated it. A display of the region leapt into the room. A blinking red dot pointed to where they were.

Lancer stepped into the room and picked up a piece of flimsy that Thengil recognized as a map.

"What now?" growled Thengil. They needed to rescue their commander, but Thengil thought that they might need some transportation before that.

Eclipse was ducked into the brush on the side of the road leading south to the transport, which... may not be there. Another patrol had stopped them. Ion clutched an all-purpose knife stolen from an officer's corpse a few clicks back.

If this keeps up I might get to use this.

"Well, I suppose, seeing as your papers check out..."

"All right then," Lancer shifted unconfortably. "I suppose we can continue?"

The Republic captain glanced at Lancer and his group once more, then returned to his path North towards the city. Ion stood from his cover aloung with the rest of his squad. He took headcount. He was missing one trooper, Thengil.

Dammit, where is he.

A shiver ran down Ion's spine as he glanced across the path and two shining yellow orbs blinked in the shadows. Thengil slinked onto the path.

Cats...

Ion had always been a dog person anyways.

"Alright, move south men, we need to reach that transport and get back before sunrise." Rawr announced.

                                ~      ~      ~

  Yet another patrol squad had held them up. They didn't seem to be convinced of Lancer's story. The skinny Republic Sergeant shifted uneasilly.

"Uh-huh. So if your part of the scavenger group then why aren't you with the rest of them back closer to Bastion, eh?"

"I told you already, we're supposed to be scouting the outskirts for anything of value. Check in with command if you want."

Zane was buying time, letting the rest of Eclipse surround the enemy. This was pushing it a little close.

"I think I will. Flay, hand me the..."

His sentence was cut off as Ion wrapped his fingers around the Sergeant's neck, lifting him a full foot of the ground, his other hand gripped a knife sheathed in the New Republican's spine.

Simultaneously Thengil leaped high slashing one soldier, Rawr dived for another's knees, Balac ripped the gun out of another's hands and avoided a right hook. Ion tossed the Sergeant down and moved onto the soldier, apparently "Flay",  charging at him. Thengil leaped from his first victim and flipped the soldier rushing him over his back. Rawr knealt over his man and pounded his face. Balac danced with his unarmed oponent dodging blows till he grabbed the NR man's fist and countered with an elbow to the temple.

Short and sweet, the best kind of fight.

Flay was pinned under Ion's foot, scrabling for his gun just a meter out of his grasp.

"So Flay, tell us anything you know about any base..."

                                    ~      ~      ~

Anival powered up the transport as Rawr leaned back in the seat next to him. The last hour or so had been more productive than expected. They'd taken down another squad and reached their transport. More importantly they had captured one the enemy's officers, interrigated, and later killed him. Their reward was added info on their location and a nearby base that, if the captive was to believed, housed the majority of soldiers on both sides needing medical attention.

He sighed, Now we only have to convince Lancer let us infiltrate the base.

OOC:

Eclipse managed to capture a low-ranking officer and, through the magic of field interrogation, locate a med-base that could house Skarr.

Months of fighting, bleeding and dying passed since the Vast Empire cleared the Thyveck campaign yet the only good news in the present was the fact that the long and tiresome campaign was finally coming to an end. A rather disappointing end considering the VE would have nothing to show for all its efforts...

At least we can just sit back and relax, Kyra thought as she sat down in a corner admiring her long fingernails. The Onderonian feared she'd be treated a whole lot worse than this after her entire squad got captured. Pictures of cramped quarters, force fields with high energy output, even metallic bars kept on running through her head before being thrown in the small house. It no doubt lacked quite a bit but at the same time no one could really call that a proper prison.

She was quite bored and not really in the mood to do anything - kind of a model prisoner in that regard - when a huge NR trooper stepped inside the room. She was expecting the man to take one or two Eclipse members and interrogate them someplace. If nothing else this way the New Republic would have a proper idea of whom exactly they captured in the first place. This would also help make any subsequent prisoner exchanges... well a whole lot smoother really.

The female human was rather surprised to learn that the big guy was in fact their way out. Or so at least the man said - believing him just like that was otherwise something Kyra just couldn't bring herself to do. The girl had some serious trust issues after all. Although she worked fairly well with the other members of the squad, trusting them fully was something she just couldn't bring herself to do.

"This way", Lancer said and following the explosion Kyra and the other members of Eclipse stepped outside and started sneaking around. For someone like her this wasn't particularly hard. For someone like Lancer and even a few of the other members of the squad however... well let's just say that it was one thing to miss a supple figure dashing from one shadow to another and it was a whole different matter to miss a heavy looking fellow that no matter how one looked at it just stood out like a sore thumb.

"What are you doing here?", a nervous NR guard asked the approaching giant. From her hiding place Kyra could see the two guards facing Lancer as well as Balac and Ion slowly flanking the unsuspecting fellows from behind. The Onderonian watched as the nervous guards just got jumpier and jumpier until the two Eclipse members took care of them in a permanent manner. Simply knocking them out would've sufficed as far as she was concerned but then again she could see the issues such a course of action would bring should the men eventually regain consciousness and sound another alarm.

"Eclipse, fall in. I just got word from Operational command", Lancer announced and the rest of the squad got closer in order to hear whatever this update was. So the boss is still alive, good for him, she thought as she listened to the giant. Her smile quickly faded however as some of her teammates suddenly suggested going after Skarr rather than following Lancer's original exfiltration plan. Granted the fellow was a decent enough squad leader but Kyra for one didn't really like him enough to further risk her life just for his sake. Then again it seemed her opinion on the matter wasn't really shared by the other members of Eclipse. Although disappointed the trooper chose to keep quiet. At least for the time being anyway. She knew well enough that bringing that up and stopping to argue about it could only make things worse for everyone involved given their unfortunate circumstances...

Lancer's new plan however seemed quite flawed the way Kyra saw it. The fellow asked those that managed to arm themselves to drop their weapons and instead just rely on luck basically. No matter how she tried judging this the Onderonian could only label such a decision "reckless". Assuming they'd be spotted then not even the most idiotic trooper would think that they were in fact New Republic forces. Lack of NR uniforms for one thing was a rather huge giveaway straight off the bat. Furthermore, the previous explosion and alarm would've surely led to new orders being provided to all teams on site. Thus a bunch of suspicious looking fellows led by only a few individuals wearing NR gear would in fact only match the whole "escaped prisoners aided by infiltrators" alarm. Even so Lancer was apparently asking them to drop their weapons... If Kyra had doubts about the man before well those doubts only increased after such a decision.

Luckily the way to the safehouse was clear which was both a good thing and a somewhat strange thing from a slightly paranoid point of view. After all it made perfect sense for there to be no more trouble on the way if everything was in fact just one big hoax. But if the latter was indeed the case then what might've been its purpose however? Not like them grunts had a bunch of important information or anything like that...

The safehouse somehow seemed even smaller than the house they'd been thrown in by the New Republic. It might not have been necessarily true but the underground room definitely felt that way alas. Whilst everyone either checked out the map, strategized or otherwise just rested, Kyra played around with the broken comm unit. She opened it up, looked around and after a few minutes recognized the problem. Unfortunately with this also came the realization that there was nothing around that they could use as spare parts. Damn, Kyra disappointedly pushed back the broken comm unit and after waiting for a few more minutes joined the rest of the squad as they made their way south, to what they assumed would help them eventually find some clue as to Skarr's whereabouts. A slim chance in the trooper's opinion but she wasn't really going to be the one to break everyone else's bubble.

To her surprise things didn't really go too bad after that. A little deception here, a little killing there, some interrogation and savage coldblooded murder too - all the ingredients needed for a daring or maybe just plain reckless plan. Kyra sighed as she lied back in the small transport pretending to be unconscious. She poured some blood on her head previously so that her disguise would appear even more convincing.

Seems we managed to fool them, she thought as she heard Lancer given permission to proceed past yet another NR checkpoint...

OOC:

(sorry it's short. Didn't have much time to write and wanted to advance the story further)

Thengil purred. It didn't matter whether or not they were seen. They were in new republic uniforms. Anyone would think they were simply wounded men wandering through the med bay.

Pointing to his own tattered uniform, Thengil said as much. "Our uniforms will disguise us for a time. I suggest we secure weapons at the soonest opportunity."

Lancer shrugged and motioned the squad inside. A guard stood posted in front of the entrance. Thengil knew they couldn't hope to sneak around all the time. Glancing over the surrounding area, Lancer nodded. No cameras.

"Take him out," he whispered.

Slipping off to the side, Thengil inched closer to the guard while the rest of the squad approached him directly. It was important that no shots be fired to sound the alarm. As Lancer struck up a conversation with the man, Thengil bounded from the side and took the soldier by surprise. An elbow to the throat and a swift open-palm to the jaw laid the soldier low in unconsciousness. Thengil tossed the blaster to Lancer and they entered the next corridor.

"We need to neutralize the guards in the control room, otherwise they'll spot us taking out the desk secretaries," Lancer singled out members of the squad and sent them to eliminate the control room guards. Thengil among them. "We'll be looking for prisoner records. Got it? Go!"

Moving swiftly through the hallways, Thengil and the others followed the directories until they reached the control. They blasted the door open with a well placed kick and charged into the room. Two guards, seeing soldiers in New Republic uniforms, looked about in confusion. Their hands fumbling for their blasters. Ion snapped the neck of one while Thengil smashed his elbow into the other's temple. They collapsed motionless.

The one with the most experience in electronics amongst them, in other words not Thengil, stepped forward and began shutting down all the cameras and alarms. The soldier pointed to what seemed to be prison cells on the screen.

"Unlock them," Thengil growled. The prison cells flew open.

"I bet that's where Skarr is," muttered Ion.

"Let's go find out."

“Pack it up.” Rawr said to the ‘wounded’ Troopers of Eclipse. “He’s not here, but we know where he is.”

That sentence first started with distraught, though the second part lit up their eyes - their leader had been located. Slowly, and carefully, the Troopers loaded back into the transport. As they did, Rawr walked slowly over to a communication device left near an open hatch. Fiddling with the device, he attempted to contact the Landing Zone.

“‘Drop Point Nine’, this is med-transport ‘Thirty-Three’,” he began, taking Nine from the comm. relay, and pulling thirty-three from his rear, “We have wounded Troopers, requesting permission to relocate to your grid point for extraction.”

A voice came over the communication channel, [[Um... Thirty-Three? We had a report you were caught in crossfire. What’s your status?]]

“We were caught in crossfire, that is where most of the wounded Troopers came from. They need assistance.”

[[Understood, Thirty-Three, permission granted - relocate to Drop Point Nine.]]

“Acknoledged.” Rawr said, as he closed the channel and headed back towards the transport. Ion has hopped in the transport pilot seat. With a laugh Rawr asked, “You know how to maneuver this thing?”

“Aye, Sir.” Ion replied, “This isn’t my first go at it.”

“Excellent, relocate the transport to the coordinates for ‘Drop Point Nine’. Everyone else, hang tight and get ready. It’s time to get Skarr out.”

Eclipse loaded the few weapons they had, ready for action - waiting for the order. A very disciplined unit, and loyal - even to the point of not following High Command’s orders. At the best, Skarr would be at the Medical Transport and all would be good. At the worst, he would not be there, they would be forced to withdraw, and the Squad - along with Lancer - could all face the court martial together.

OOC:

... I was going to wait until tomorrow, but why wait. I'm back, and ready to post - let's get at it!

OOC:

Sorry about the previous post, I was using his computer and forgot were I was.

Ion sat in the back of the rumbling transport as they pulled out of the all-but-abandoned med base. Lancer had a short range com unit and was yelling at some New Republic techie on how his "wounded" squad had been misdirected and deprived of the attention they so vitally needed.

"I don't care if it was a last minute decision to move to the landing field, half my squad is in need of bacta and you guys fail to so much as check in with my guys."

"Sir I understand your anger and I'm glad you were able to find a new com at the old base but your previous link said it had been terminated."

"Yes under Imperial fire! And here I thought we had taken this planet."

"Alright sir, seeing as your squad is in need of immediate care I can fit you in on our next ship off-planet. The Keeper's Vengeance, it's mostly full of wounded prisoners but... it is next on schedule."

Lancer looked at Rawr who nodded, "That will have to do command."

The link crackled out as it was cut off. Ion resumed checking his commandeered gun in silence and smiled to himself. The faceless man had just unwittingly placed them in the same transport as Skarr. They should have a clear path to the ship and their leader now. Their plan had only one foreseeable problem. How would they get out?

Ion spoke up, "We have ours guns, and we know where Skarr is but there's still a problem. We don't have a ship and we're on a Republic planet. How in hell are we getting off?"

Dust and small pebbles scattered over the ground as a transport of wounded troops pulled into the shadow of the Keeper's Vengeance. The ships com flipped on as the driver notified the pilot of their presence.

"Keeper's Vengence, we have a squad of wounded ready for boarding. Knock, knock."

The pilot leaned forward and flicked the mic switch on his left, "This is Keeper's Vengeance, your the last squad we can take. Do your men need any immediate assistance?"

"Negative Keeper's Vengeance, we just need some bandages and rest."

The pilot sighed, "Alright squad, you'll have to pull up to the second bay for Republic troops, hate to have you mixed in with Imperials. A doctor should be there before we take off."

"Thank you Keeper's Vengeance, on our way."



Ion closed the channel and turned the transport toward the opening doors in the side of the large ship. Their lie, as simple as it was, could buy them enough time to reach the prison section of the ship. With any luck they could find their Sergeant and find a way off this rock.

The doors sealed behind them as they pulled to a stop in the belly of the ship. Rawr stood as the transport's doors opened.

"Remember your roles."

Eclipse squad exited the transport some of them limping, others clutching feigned wounds. They walked to the upper level leading into the rest of the ship.



Eclipse had managed to keep a low profile so far. With the help of an unguarded console, they had found their way into the rest of the ship. Down the left hallway were with bunks, closets, and small med-rooms. Down the right hallway stood two guards and a blast door, the only things keeping them from their commander and who knows how many wounded Imperials itching to fight. Outside of busy medical personnel and engineers, they had only seen four guards, two in the vehicle bay, and now these two guarding the blast door to the prison-hospital section.

The blast doors slid open slowly and the two guards straitened up a bit. An officer and four more New Republic soldiers walked out once it was fully open. They took an immediate left. Into Eclipse.

The guard went to hit the button sealing the blast doors when a tall man in a New Republic uniform walked down the hallway. His finger hesitated over the button thinking perhaps the commander had forgotten something and had sent someone back.

Ion stepped over the two unconscious guards and into the cell-block.

"Clear."

Eclipse walked down the hallway, Lancer in front comenting "Today's your lucky day Skarr, your nearly free."

Ion thought to himself, Perhaps we have been lucky, or the Republic has just focused its guards in the prison area. After all, who would expect an attack from a transport full of grievously wounded troops.

Always problems, Lancer thought as he worked on the lock. It was a moderately simple one, but it required finesse, or else he’d fry the circuits. New Republic tech was touchy. He thought that it also did not help that there were people coming towards them. The thought of it worried him, but Eclipse was going to be found out sooner or later. There was no hope of escaping without the New Republic finding out. But they could not fail now. Skarr was on the other side of this door, failure would amount to nothing.

Rawr and Ion stood closest to Lancer, preparing themselves to keep the ARC trooper safe. The rest of the squad had fanned out along the corridor. The cover was meager, sadly and if it came down to a firefight, there was a good chance someone was going to feel it. The radio had fallen silent. The commanding officer had since given up trying to get a report and had sent men to investigate.

In the distance the boots were heard. The patrol would be at the corridor at any moment. Lancer worried away at the lock, and knew that it would not be done before the patrol arrived. He had hoped that they would be able to slip inside the medbay and again, act as if injured. Granted, that was one of the flimsiest hopes he had, but it could work.

“Hey Rawr. Why not give them some of that element of surprise bull that they feed you at the Academy?” Lancer said over his shoulder. Rawr shrugged slightly and motioned for Thengil and Balac to move forward. The two soldiers moved to the junction of the corridor and took cover. With a quick movement, the two of them leaned out and sprayed fire down the corridor. Lancer wished he could have seen the effect. He heard it though. Under the loud trigger of the lasers, he could hear swearing and various other tidbits. Only one of the patrol had seemed to keep their cool and was now yelling into a comm unit.

An alarm klaxon triggered and Rawr swore harshly under his breath. He looked at Lancer pointedly, “Could you, oh I don’t know, hurry up?” Lancer would have stopped what he was doing to glare at Rawr if it was any other situation. Instead, he did not answer, knowing the question was more rhetorical than anything. The panel sparked a little and he huffed. He was close.

“Just a minute left,” Lancer said through gritted teeth. Bootfalls sounded closer. And from the sounds of it, there were a lot of boots. The New Republic was coming to defend their ship.

Sparks erupted from the panel and the door slid aside with a swoosh. Lancer pumped his fist in victory and began waving the squad in.

“Move your asses!” Lancer ordered. He grabbed his rifle from where it was laying on the floor. The NR soldiers were storming down the hall still. Eclipse Squad filed into the room while Lancer provided covering fire. The last trooper in was Zippy and Zane followed, tapping the button to close the door. One shot was all it took for Zane to burn out the panel. It would not last long. He turned to see the room they stood it.

The med lab was a vast room filled with beds and equipment. There were various people laying in the bed. Most of them looked like New Republic troops. None of them looked like Skarr.

Rawr looked at Lancer and shrugged, “Further down? Skarr?! You here?!”

A call came from down the row of beds, “I might.” Smiles broke out on the faces of the Eclipse troopers. They rushed towards the voice as the door began raising upwards, slowly. They found Skarr laying in a bed, a sling around his arm.

“What the hell are you doing here, Lancer?” Skarr asked incredulously. Lancer came over and began taking the IV’s and other tubes out of Skarr’s arms.

“Well, you know, I was just around,” the ARC trooper answered as he helped Skarr to his feet.

***

Skarr stretched his good arm. He was stiff from laying in the bed so long. But he was glad to see Eclipse Squad and Lancer in the medical frigate. Of course, they looked a bit battered and bruised, and some of them were covered in blood, but all of them seemed to be in good shape.

“So, how are things with Thyveck?” Skarr questioned.

“Shot to shit,” Rawr told him. The squad leader nodded. He had expected as much. “So this is a rescue operation?”

“Yeah, it is. The prisoner camp has been clear, all that remained was retrieving you, Skarr.” Lancer explained. Something was wrong there. It did not seem like protocol.

Skarr nudged Lancer in the shoulder, “You weren’t supposed to come get me.”

“We made him,” Ion answered.

Zippy cleared his throat, “Umm, we need to get going soon. Their going to be coming through the door.” Lancer handed Skarr his blaster pistol and began ordering Eclipse to overturn the empty beds. There was going to be a fight.

OOC:

Not a good post, but I need to get you guys moving. Carry on, my friends.

Anival took everything in with one glance, and thought of all the possible outcomes, in almost every one of the situations, they died, albeit in a glorious finish. They were low on ammo, a handicap in any fight, they were outnumbered, again, a setback, the only thing that eclipse had, was discipline, and even more discipline, that and their lives were on the line.

The NR soldiers, clearly scenting victory started to press the attack. His ammo was gone. Anival was weaponless. A second scan revealed an alternative. Anival sighed, and grabbed an injured soldier, he didn’t know which faction the man was, only that the man would die.

Walking with his human shield Anival grabbed a scalpel lying on a table, he edged to the wall and crept up towards the door, by the time Anival was ten feet away the soldiers spotted him, and started shooting at him, the man shuddered at first, then felt limp, his body kept shuddering, but only by the impacts of the enemies fire.

With a roar Anival heaved the body towards the door, the soldiers caught of guard momentarily stopped shooting,  Ani took the opportunity and stabbed a man, took his weapon and an ammo clip and dived behind an upturned bed. Anival could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, his heart pumping the blood, and spreading the sweet energy over his entire body, rejuvenating tired muscles, and making him more alert.

Once again he resumed to fire at the massed soldiers, delighted by the fact that he was killing them with their own weapon. Then he frowned, the soldiers were starting to gain ground. Anival was close to the door.

He panicked, and started to run a bit further down. A shot was fired towards him, he jumped, but not fast enough, the shot hit a bed, and sent superheated metal towards his arm, he felt the sting, and his pinky go limp. It had hit his fake arm, it was still functioning, but the pain was there, as if it had hit a real nerve. At that moment Anival cursed his stupidity at insisting on feeling pain.

He rolled and sprang to his feet, only to duck again. The battle could hardly be called even, they couldn’t last long, not at the current rate, Anival took a look at the rest of eclipse, his fellow soldiers, and his brethren of the empire. He knew then, they wouldn’t die there, on a lost world, on a shamed defeat in some failed operation, they would succeed. They would die in the glory of the empire, in a great battle were the VE would gain supremacy of the galaxy.

“Skarr! Orders?!”

OOC:

Sorry for the small post, but a post as promised. Continued the fight, etc. any questions pm Me.

Zippy and Ion continued to joke around about the amount of kills each of them were acquiring. Zippy kept a close eye on his blaster bolts that shot down individual troopers and kept count closely. He could see out of his peripherals and could tell that Ion was doing the same thing as he was. Ion gave a smirk back to Zippy, more then likely thinking he was doing better then him. He knew that he could get more then him and what was wrong with a little friendly competition an ways? Of coarse, they were in the middle of a deadly battle of life and death, but hey, how often were they not in a mess like that any ways?

"So Zippy! Ion yelled out in a cocky tone over the yelling of enemy troopers. How many you racked up so far Zip?"

"More then you I'm sure Ion! Zippy joked back. I bet you I've got more then you could get in two months time!"

"Yeah we will see about that Zip! I bet you a whole crate of storm trooper ale that I will get the majority of the kills here!" Ion joked back

"Zippy, Ion! Quit messin around and focus on those guard will ya?! I don't feel like dyeing here!" Skarr yelled in an aggravated tone.

"Hey! I've got out way out over here! Anival yelled out to the rest of his squad. There's an emergency hatch over here that looks as though it leads to another portion of the ship and it's just large enough for the squad to fit through, but we are going to have to go through one at a time."

"Alright squad, get your ass's moving now! The sooner we get the hell out of here, the sooner we can find a way off this ship!" Skarr announced in a stern voice.

Zippy ran over to the hatch and noticed it was sealed shut. He quickly shot out what was holding the hatch in place and once the smoke had cleared, he pried it open with ease. Zippy crawled into the hatch down about fifty feet or so until he came upon an air vent right in front of him. He removed the vent as quickly as could and leaned over to see what it was. It was another room that looked as though it was some sort of armory. It had a few blasters lying around a few sets of armor hung around on the walls of the room. It was starting to look more like a soldiers quarters than an armory. Across the hall looked like more similar looking corridors and a longer hallway that looked as though it was heading to a larger area on the ship.

"Squad leader, send the other squad members in, its safe to come down through!" Zippy yelled out.

"Good work Zippy! I will send them down one at a time! Just keep an eye out for enemy activity so we don't have any more surprises! I will make sure we have cover fire from at least one person as we move the squad down through!" As Skarr yelled out over the fire fight.

Will do sir! I will do a bit more recon until the squad gets down here with me! Don't get yourself killed in the process huh?" Zippy confirmed to Skarr.

Zippy hopped down in the room and opened the door in the armory looking room. The hallway was clear and there was no sign of any trooper activity in that particular portion of the ship. This might be their only chance of escaping at all. Zippy was just hoping his squad would get down here as soon as they could because it wouldn't be long before the New Republic would catch on.

Ion fired two more shots down the corridor before he entered the dark hatch. The groans and echos of the ship's internal mechanisms could be easily heard. He headed down the corridor toward the faint light at the end of the tunnel as he reloaded his clip.

He grouped up with Rawr and the others at an intersection as Lancer sealed the hatch behind them and shot the control for good measure. On their right was another hatch with a small window. Through the hanger lay a small hanger bay with the med-ships modest complement.

"Allright," Rawr said, "this door leads directly to the in-ship hanger. It has at a few starfighters and at least one transport from the looks of it."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Anival questioned.

"There's also a reception party of at least twenty soldiers, guns ready. They know this is the only way out." Zippy said.

"Then what's the plan?" Ion asked.

"The plan, is to try to storm them before they can have us in their sights. If we can make it that far, then we'll use whatever explosives we have to destroy their fighters, can't have anyone shooting us down once we're in the air."

"So?"

"So," Skarr said, "let's go, pick your targets and stay on the move."

Zippy grinned at Ion, "Try to keep up."

The door opened and Eclipse sprinted out firing on their way. Ion shot down one trooper, then another. He fell to a knee as his right thigh took a hit, real blood now mixed with the fake. Ion killed the offender and hobbled to some cover by a former NR soldier. Grabbing a grenade from the corpse he pulled the pin and tossed it into the waiting cockpit of a y-wing.

Zippy came along side him and helped him to his feet, "Come-on, if you die here then who's gonna buy my ale?"

Ion sat down hard in the back of the old Theta-class shuttle, Zippy was giving covering fire from the door. Powering the ship's rear cannon, Ion focused on the task at hand. His wound could wait, there were rebels to kill.

"Lancer, get us out of here!" Skarr shouted over his shoulder as he closed the doors to the ship.

"Already on it."

"Ion, get comfortable we're not out of here yet. Eclipse, please remain seated for the duration of the flight. We're expecting minor turbulence on account of Republic AA guns, nothing to worry about though... probably."

OOC:

And we're off! Into the wild, blue yonder, flying high into a sun! (Hopefully not.) We have our transport and can return to Imperial space, or we can get shot down... Sorry for the delay, AP sucks.

Skarr was sitting in the co-pilot’s seat when a familiar voice crackled from the comm.

“This is the freighter just in front of you, and I know your all Imps. I’d suggest you move because the AA guns are going to start up again any second now.” It took Skarr only a few seconds before he realized it was Jamasis.

“Acknowledged,” Lancer stated, and accelerated.

Skarr sat forward and adjusted the comm, “I assume you’ll be getting back on your own, Jamasis.”

“Skarr?” the man asked incredulously from the other side of the comm unit.

“The very same. Now let’s burn outta here.” Skarr ordered. He hoped Jamasis would be able to make it to Tadath. As it was, it sounded like he had everything under control. The AA guns started up again and Skarr clutched at the crash webbing a little tighter. Every jolt sent pain through his shoulder, but he clamped it down. Lancer was a fair pilot and the squad leader trusted him to dodge the fire.

The rest of the squad was currently in the back of the shuttle. Except for Rawr, the young man had settled himself in the navigator’s seat. And he seemed to be sleeping. Skarr could not hear any snoring, so he just may have had his eyes closed. He heard Zippy and Ion trading excited chatter. They all seemed to know that the AA guns would not hit them. The freighter was being piloted by an ARC trooper. That meant a safe trip. Skarr looked out of the view port to the atmosphere of the planet and beyond to the stars. Eclipse was leaving Thyveck behind. It had been six months since the squad had stepped foot off planet.

The squad leader could not care less that they had lost the planet. He was done with it. His only concern was that of the other troopers of Phoenix Company. What had happened to RAIDERS and Blackjack? The last Skarr had known, RAIDERS had blown Bastion to hell, and Blackjack...well Blackjack was doing their own thing.

He was looking forward to getting back to Tadath. There he would find out the company’s fate and the fate of Thyveck. He could get medical attention. His squad could get medical attention and much needed free time. He would get something good to eat. Even if it was mess hall food. But most importantly, he could rest.

OOC:

Really short. But after Ion's and Jamasis's post, there wasn't much more to be said. So this story is over and done with. New story by tomorrow.