He could hear the light breathing of his squad in the small room. The lights were dimmed down as the holovid replayed a recon tape of the Anteevy base. He knew his squad was ready, even after the nearly disastrous mission on Observation Platform 86-Alpha. Everyone still carried the wounds sustained from that mission, he could tell a few members still favored certain parts of their bodies. Regardless of all that, they were ready.

"From what we can gather, the guards are well trained, well armed, and highly resourceful." The older of the two newest members of the squad said as the holvid showed an graphical overlay of the base. "Your... our mission is to go through the front loading dock."

Joamer grumbled quietly as did a few of the older members of his squad. "Always the same, get the squad who are designed for infiltration and make us break down the front door." He closed his mouth for a moment as he shook his head. Looking back at the holovid he said "Standard loadout boys and girls, go for the heavier S.C.O.P.E gear this time, I think we are going to need it. One personal weapon each, anything more exotic clear it by me first. Those of you cleared to use heavier weaponry please consider bringing it, this ones going to hurt."

He turned back to the holovid as the squad made their way out of the room. He looked over at his assistant squad leader and good friend Jaenna. Ever since their friendship had disintegrated a few years back they had worked to get back up to the friendship they once had. Now they had finally formed into a seamless unit, one capable of leading this unorthodox squad through hell and back.

"What are you not telling us Sergeant?" Joamer said a minute later as he switched views on the holvid. "This place does not sit right at all with me. I know ARC training, no way should a bunch of guards take out a whole team. Not without some communication getting through first, unless something went very wrong."

"Or they were betrayed." Jaenna completed the sentence as he starred at both of the young ARC troopers.

He did not move his hand closer to the particle magnum that sat on his hip, but his body changed as he noticed both of the ARC troopers take offense to her statement. The atmosphere in the room seemed to grow very heavy quickly as the two sides looked each other over.

"We both know everyone has their traitors, even in the ARCs. To deny it would be foolish, and very costly. Right now we don't know what has happened, so we can't rule out anything." Joamer said quietly as he looked back to the holovid. After a moment he said "On this mission you two will answer to me, and to my second here. If you hesitate to follow my or her orders for even an instant I will shoot you. This is war time, I have the right to be judge, jury, and executioner. If you think I won't do it, just ask Havock. I've been demoted in my career three times now."

He could feel the seconds tick by as he continued to study the images on the holvid. After a moment Jaenna stepped up next to him and tapped a spot about five klicks from the base. "If we come in low, have the shuttle land here we can hump it the rest of the way." She seemed to be ignoring the two men now, giving them even more reason to glare at her.

Joamer looked up at the two men still standing in position now glaring at both of them. He knew they had hurt the pride these boys felt in being an ARC trooper, but he did not care. His squad came first, and if some pumped up hotshot got someone killed he would have his revenge. "You two go get your gear, we leave in one hour." He said offhandedly. Until they had proven to him they could be a RAIDER he would treat them like a new recruit. He hated tag a longs, they always got someone hurt. Even well trained ARC tag a longs.

He heard both men leave a few moments later. Shaking his head he breathed out slowly as he looked over at Jaenna. "You know, sometimes I wonder why I let Ayme leave in the first place. I should of tied her to that truck and forced her to stay with the squad during Thyveck." Grinning at the face Jae had suddenly made he said "No, don't even say what is on your mind. I really don't have time for that right now."

"We should of lost someone on 86-Alpha, one of us are on borrowed time. We've both been doing this long enough to know it." Jaenna said a minute after she half playfully punched him in the arm.

The mood in the room changed to somber as he shook his head. He knew it was the truth, all of the squad was battle hardened and experienced. He still knew they were going to lose someone eventually, too many dangerous difficult missions in a row and people get tired, worn out, and begin to make mistakes.

He sighed slowly as he turned the holovid off. He knew the day was coming when he would have to bury one of his squad mates. It had started as just squad members, now after so many missions together he called all of them friends. Even the more unstable members of the psychotic family he called home.

He stood at the rear of the shuttle as the hatch lowered slowly. The frozen winter land of Anteevy stood goading them to step off their safe shuttle and into the insanity that would follow. Looking around slowly he watched as snow drifts collected around the lowered ramp as the fierce winds tore through the small clearing they had landed at. Off in the distance he could see the tree line through the white mist that circled around them, the wind seemed to moan at them beckoning with icy fingers to come out of the safety of the shuttle and into the unknown.

He ignored the cold, it felt good to him. Part of him knew he would eventually have to put his helmet on but he welcomed the feeling. Letting his M41-A Pulse Rifle hang from the combat sling he picked up his helmet from the bench beside him and turned to face his squad. These were the worst moments for most of them, the waiting right before the training kicked in and things started moving again. This was the time when even the most well trained snapped and lost their minds.

The cold unforgivable masks of the S.C.O.P.E. armor starred back at him. Through the open commlinks only he and Jaenna had access to he could hear slow and mostly even breathing from everyone. They were his, blood and bone, life and death. He knew they trusted him to see them through everything, so far he had lived up to that expectation. He had bloodied them yes, injured them often. So far everyone had made it back in sort of one piece.

"This mission is going to test us, I won't lie to you about that." No one moved as far as he could tell, but he knew a few of them were grimacing. He could probably point out that ones that were now grinning in anticipation. "No one gets left behind."

Turning around he stepped out onto Anteevy and trotted forward quickly making for the tree line. He knew the pilot was cursing at them for making him wait for so long but he did not care. If would be the only moment during this mission that man was in danger, in ten minutes he would be safely in hyperspace on the way to a warm meal and a soft satin bed.

Through the commlink he could hear the quicker breathing as the squad trotted behind him. Luckily the snow was not deep here, or at least not deep enough to slow them down as they made for the tree line and took shelter in the thin forest.

In his comm link he could hear idle chatter from several of the squad. However one response caused him to second think what he had said minutes earlier. "Frak me man, why did he have to say that. He has never said that before." The response the statement got were less than enthusiastic in return.


Glancing around he motioned for the squad to spread out and take cover. Everyone did so as the area was quickly searched and the places of cover and ambush located and reported in. Through his HUD he could see his squad spread out within a hundred yards of him in every direction. Their breathing was more excited now as the adrenalin was pumping slowly through their bodies.

"Recon has us five klicks north northeast of the base. It's mid afternoon, sun down is in six hours. I want us to hit the loading dock under the cover of darkness for more of a surprise assault." He glanced at the datapad he had taken out of his belt pack and flicked through a few screens before continuing. "I want two recon groups for now, split up as you see fit and canvas this area. Two mile circle in every direction. Any scouts you see report back in, but do not engage. I'll give you the word when to eliminate them."

Hearing a soft beep over the comms that indicated Jae had switched to the private frequency he smiled as he heard her say "Why wait so long? The loading dock will be easy to take, sure we will find resistance being troublesome but we can do it."

"The other squads are hitting the base too, we landed further out so by the time we arrived they would of gone on high alert. If we time our attack much later, we will catch them just slightly off center. It's a bad plan I know, but it's the best I can create in such short notice. We should of been here a week before everyone, this is not how you use our squad."

He looked at the datpad again and read the private message slowly. It made him smile thinking about it, he just hoped it would give him the strength to see this mission through till the end.

OOC:

Quick and thorough scouting trip boys and girls. Then back to camp for some resting and planning.

If there were two soldiers that he hated the most right now, they would have to be those ARC troopers. They were an unknown factor, people that no one really knew about. When the meeting was over, Heliwer stood up and rubbed his neck, a slight pain shooting up from his back. The fall on the station that alerted the squad to his presence was now coming into effect with multiple other injuries that he staunchly refused to have patched up. Enriko called him sometimes the “Patchwork Man” because of the many injuries that he had suffered, the scars sustained, and the constant refusal to get fully checked out by the doctors on base.

With that, he went off to the armory to locate weapons, ammo, and whatever else he might need. Of course, his two M3 revolvers hung by his side, polished to a shine and loaded with the standard ammo. Unfortunately, since the load out for this mission was SCOPE gear, he could not take his baby: an M-590 with a custom master key attachment. However, as soon as he saw what else was on the list when he got to the armory, he pretty much believed that today was Christmas. He knew he’d take some thermal detonators and charges for whatever got into their way, but the M327 Grenade Launcher practically spoke to him. He gently grabbed the devastating weapon and examined it closely, admiring the destructive potential. His mind set, he grabbed up as much ammo for the weapon as possible and walked out feeling eighty percent happier about his day.

The other twenty came when he saw Jaenna getting on board. The two had gotten into a strange friendship, but a friendship nevertheless, and liked the fact that he could talk easily to her. Honestly, she was the only woman in the whole of the Vast Empire that he would willingly follow orders due to the fact that he respected her a lot. He saw the big vibrobrades hanging on her back as she climbed aboard the shuttle and her shotgun and pistols on her side. As soon as she climbed aboard, Joamer followed close behind and so did the rest of the squad.

Onboard the shuttle, the RAIDERS chatted amongst themselves to pass the time. Heliwer and Jaenna seemed to have the same mind as they both took out cigarettes and smoked them. However, this “idle” time was made a little tense when the squad leader walked over to the assistant. The sergeant noticed Joamer saying things to Jaenna, then the assistant squad leader stood up. He got the idea of why Joa wanted to talk to her. Aside from Joamer and Havock, Heliwer was the only person who knew that the Lung Blasters she carried had spice in them. Surprisingly, Joamer took a drag, then crushed the drugstick. The two spoke to each other, and then he walked away. Heliwer stood up and gently laid a hand on her shoulder.

“Oh well that sucks.” He said in a soft voice. Jae scoffed up a reply. “No kidding. Stupid asshole doesn’t even know what he’s done.”

“What has he done? Other than kill your high.”

“Quite possibly doomed the squad…”

She took a few steps back to her bench and made sure that everything was ready. The half gone cigarette still hung in Heliwer’s mouth when Joamer informed the squad that they had arrived and to put the environment regulators on warm and toasty. The big trooper cursed silently. He hated the cold, abhorred it with a passion almost as much as he hated Mox. Speaking of which…

“Warm and toasty? Why? Is it going to be cold?"

The hatched opened, and bone-chilling cold air swept in, answering the question and making Heliwer groan. I will kill that idiot…

Joamer was the first one out, followed by Jaenna and Heliwer. The “Thumper” was tight in his hands and felt good despite the cold. Heliwer had lived on a lot of warm planets: Nal Hutta and Tatooine to name two. He never liked the cold and never wanted to like it. His hatred for the planet increased as pain shot up through every bone in his body, especially those bones that had been broken in the past (which was pretty much all of them). The pain got worse when he made it to a tree and the momentum of his body carried him into the large plant, causing his body to scream at him for being such a stubborn idiot that he wouldn’t get his injuries properly checked out.

“Recon has us five clicks north northeast of the base. It's mid afternoon, sun down is in six hours. I want us to hit the loading dock under the cover of darkness for more of a surprise assault.” Joamer spoke. "I want two recon groups for now, split up as you see fit and canvas this area. Two mile circle in every direction. Any scouts you see report back in, but do not engage. I'll give you the word when to eliminate them."

After a while, Coadster and Jae went with Heliwer to scout the perimeter. The sergeant could hear Coad grumbling about the cold and the big man chuckled silently.

“Maybe we should just call in for an e-vac for him, Jae." He joked. As Jaenna responded, he noticed the shakiness in her voice. He kept his eyes on her for a moment, then went off on point, following her orders. He took the time to also crack a joke about the assistant squad leader, resulting in him getting growled at.

A few minutes later, they discovered two oxygenation plants in the distance either side of the recon squad and the loading dock. The problem was, however, the lack of guards. Coadster attempted to lighten the situation, but it did not help. The recon squad ran very quickly back to the encampment, ending up with Heliwer tripping and falling into the snow a few feet from Joamer.

“…..ow…..”

"Mount up everyone, it's time we get this show on the road." Jae said after the whole thing was settled. There was no point in waiting another five hours since they were not going through the front door anymore. "Out by twos Coad, and Hel take point. We will keep a distance of two hundred yards behind you."

Joamer looked up at the sky as the clouds swirled up above. He could feel the wind on his face, and smell the clean crisp air. Sure it was cold, but no colder than a winter on his old home world. To him it felt good, finally for the first time their white armor would allow them to sneak around some. The problem came once they were inside the facility.

Minutes later after the squad had started walking towards the left ventilation station he heard the ARC boys talking softly behind him. "I heard about him, three demotions in his career. Some sort of rogue Black Sun agent or something like that. Mostly cyborg, probably why he can stand this blasted cold so well."

Slowing to allow them to catch up he said "Not fully cyborg, just the arms. Carbonite freezing is a right pain specially after spending about two decades in the fraking stuff. In regards to the Black Sun thing, well... that was a long time before either of you were born." He noticed then that they had stopped suddenly, both of their hands were resting lightly on their rifles as they watched him from within their ARC helmets.

"What are you then, really? So many stories center around this ecliptic group you've assembled it's hard to know what is the truth and what is myth." The younger man said as they both waited. Joamer knew the squad had stopped a short distance away from the three of them, enough to give them the privacy needed to talk.

"I am Reistlin Joamer, Sergeant Major trooper number 36706. Squad Leader, RAIDERS." He said slowly and clearly. His Pulse Rifle was slung behind him on its combat harness, but his right hand rested lightly on the handle of his particle magnum. "Now, are we going to have a problem?"

The seconds ticked by as snow flurries flew between the three men. Off in the distance he suddenly heard a large explosion, it sounded muted from this distance but it caused him to grunt softly. "Sounds like one of the other squads have made their presence known." He said as he turned to look at Jaenna. He gave a nod as she got the squad moving again. "We need to move now."

Turning back around he looked at the two ARC troopers for a moment before saying. "You can either join us, or freeze here. We are on a mission to save your friends if you had forgotten." Turning around he jogged to catch up with his squad.



"You think we can trust any of them?" The younger man said as they watched the squad begin to vanish into the white mist like ghosts.

"Probably not, undisciplined, unruly, insane, and very much crazy. However, also well trained. Spec ops training from a few of the more secretive squads in the Empire too. Joamer is former Wraith, so he knows how to get inside without being detected." Shaking his head the lieutenant was at a loss of what to do. They both knew they needed RAIDERS, but trusting them was another matter entirely.

"You do out rank him, but none of them would follow you. You've seen the way they follow that bloody man, he's gotten them out of hell before. You can't buy that type of loyalty, that's earned from being in hell and surviving it. I've read some of their after mission reports, I know he low keyed what really happened. What they all put down is some frightening stuff." The sergeant said as he looked over at his superior.

"Loyalty is a good thing to have as Squad Leader." The lieutenant said as their decision was made. Breaking into a run both men hurried to catch up to the rest of the squad. For now they would follow orders, if things got dicey and went sideways anything was possible.


"What do you see?" Joamer said quietly into a hand held commlink. He knew Coadster and Heliwer were at the tree line scanning the are around the ventilation station. Coadster was probably half frozen by now, why anyone would consider this weather cold was beyond him however.

"Besides snow?" Heliwer said back a few seconds later. "I see a half frozen Coad next to me, don't think he can work his lips anymore. Part of his face is turning blue too. Kinda amusing to watch though."

Joamer refrained from saying again that this weather was not cold and instead said "How about guards? Any patrols, or signs of patrolling being down?"

"Nothing, not even security cameras. Do however see signs of foot travel, but with this snow fall it is about forty minutes old. Everyone was probably called over to one of the main entrances, guess no one thought anyone would be crazy enough to enter the facility through here."

"Guess it's time to prove them wrong. RAIDERS, double time forward. Take positions near that door, we need to get inside as quick as possible. Light steps, I don't want evidence of us being here to show up." Joamer said as he gave the signal.

Time for the real fun to begin again, maybe even find something to defrost Coadster with. If not maybe we could use his body as a sled, that might be fun. Joamer thought to himself, none the less it brought a slight smile to his lips.

Graded to here

The pinpricks of the permeating heat bothered Coadster a little bit, making his newly thawing hands feel like they were filled with sand and making them awkward and stupid when it came to holding his rifle. It was also a pain how the rest of him shivered like an epileptic at a strobe convention. Oka, maybe not that bad… He made fun of it, but it was a pain in the ass to be the only one to be feeling the cold. He kept it under wraps, though; complaining would certainly get him nowhere with Jae or Joamer. With anyone, in fact. Except maybe the ARCs.

They seemed to almost want the squad to mess up, and the way they watched all the RAIDERS kind of peeved Coadster. It’s like they don’t know we’ve gone through bootcamp too, He thought as he pushed open a door along the long hallway that made up most of the building and led to what Coadster assumed was the maintenance room. It was empty, but for a large machine that exuded steam. Fighting the urge to go hold it, he swept his rifle around the room, his head swiveling with it. He pushed the comm button on the side of his helmet and spoke in whispered tones.

“All clear.”

He closed the door tightly behind him and continued to the next one. The squadmates had moved ahead, and he made a light jog to catch up. His feet felt stupid, too. He had to slow down and deal with his slogging, still-numb and thrice-damned feet. He only wished he could lean on the walls, which he couldn’t due to the uncovered piping lining and covering every side of the hall, most of them hot as hell, even considering the frightful weather outside. Maybe that’s why it’s so delightful in here…

‘All clears’ came through the mike one at a time, from each of the squad members and the ARC members, too. The rooms were all searched, one by one, the threats neutralized by quiet round or muffled hits to the solar plexus. All was going well, and by the looks of things they might actually have a stealthy way in without actually being compromised. Knock on wood.

“Alright,” Joamer said, pointing to the last door in the building. “Mox and Heli, take it.” The two moved into position, and Heli pushed the door open a tad. Mox pushed the rest of the door quite forcefully with the bottom of his foot, and everyone rushed inside after Mox and Heli. Surprised yelps could be heard, followed by the jangle of metal bits bouncing about as everyone ran to keep the element of surprise useful in neutralizing those inside. By the time Coad loped in, four maintenance workers were detained and effectively silenced, by force or by their own will.

The room was a tasteful one, probably where most of these technicians worked all day. A vast array of computers lined the walls, and on the far wall was the vent, a huge tube that could have fit several Hutts in side by side. Posters lined the walls, most motivational ones that depicted a broad selection of swoopers, animals, fighter pods, and lovely views of mountains and valleys at dusk. The white-collar feel to it was to a point ruined by the tied and gagged employees, but Coadster could deal with it.

A single conscious man was picked out among the rest, and was tied to a chair and placed in the center of the room, Joamer on one side, and Jae on the other. Underneath the helmet, Coadster smirked. No one could pay me enough to be in this situation.

“You seem like a reasonable man, and we’ve got an appointment very soon. Your cooperation would be most appreciated, and if not we can throw you down it and see where it leads together.”

The man gulped and nodded his head, losing the wide rimmed glasses off the bridge of his nose. “I-I-ah-I’ll help.”

“Good. Glad to see someone so cooperative. Seeing as we’re short on time, how about you tell us where this vent leads to below?”

The man stumbled on his words for a moment, before Jae glared and ran the flat end of her fancy knife against his Adam’s apple. He gulped and tried again.

“I-it leads down to the base-“ He stopped to lick his lips. “It leads to the very edge of the base, though, and it’s pretty big down there…”

He stopped when he felt the cold metal of Jae’s knife against his cheek. Joamer nodded at the hostage. He looked at the computers around the group, and his gaze returned to the interrogatee.

“Well, that’s much appreciated, but we don’t need to get qualitative answers. We know one of these computers has a map of the base. And seeing as we need to get to know this place a little more than we do…”

He leaned in close to the man, stone cold stare piercing his soul, seeming to dig beyond what the man could know himself. “Which one is it?”

He shook a little bit, then a lot a bit. A mental battle went on in his head, against Joamer’s stare and the company he worked for Coadster had no doubt. It raged for seconds until, red faced and guilt stricken, he pointed with his head toward one of them. Joamer looked deep into the man for a while longer, then nodded first at the man then at Jae. She went to the computer, splicer in hand, and Mox went to help. The rest of the squad secured the hostages, tying them to chairs with spare Syntherope.

“Someone cut a hole in that vent. Let’s get this show on the road.”

“Oh, good.” The medic spoke as sarcastically as he could.

“What’s the problem now?” Heliwer asked not really wanting an answer. Like most people, they were working out how they were getting down the ventilation shaft.

“The problem is the two hundred foot… no, two hundred and fifty feet drop that we are now faced with. The only people who have any real experience have decided to jump down. Knowing those two, they want to complete the mission themselves.” As Karash was ranting the two ARC troops also jumped down.

He had had basic climbing training at the Academy, but that was years ago and he had done little climbing since. Karash was not the most graceful of people at the best of times; in fact it was a miracle he could function as a soldier at all. He was fairly average in all areas of physical fitness, his military strengths were that of observance, logic and experience; none of which would help him now.

“One of us as got to go. It has been was too long now.” This time Mox had spoken up.

All of the RAIDERS had realised that they could use the rope and the carabiner that was attached to their uniform to slide down the vent. However none of them had quite worked out how to stop before they crashed into the floor at the bottom. Someone had to take the plunge soon, neither Joamer nor Jae were known for their patience.

‘It might as well be you. No one else is going to do it. You are far more senior than Mox, Dusk and  Coadster. Heliwer does not look like he’s relishing in the opportunity to slide into the abyss. It will have to be you.’

“Well, I suppose it is going to be me then.” Karash spoke sternly.

“I am not going to stop you.” Heliwer seemed to perk up slightly, sensing that Karash had no idea what he was doing.

The Senior Sergeant took a deep breath and stepped up to the shaft, “It’s now or never.”

He clipped his carabiner to the rope, took a deep breath and began the descent. He held the rope so tightly that it felt like the thing would melt into his hands; his eyes were also tightly shut not wanting to see the floor before he smacked into it. He was going faster than he expected but he had jammed his feet into the sides of the shaft, in the hope that it might slow him down.

‘This is never going to end well. At best you are going to look like a complete idiot, and at worst you are going to die. What a way to go, left with Joamer and Jae poking my likeness as they would an unwanted doll. At least as we climb or rather we fall down here, there will be no angry dog people waiting at the bottom.’

Karash had almost reached the bottom but he was nowhere near stopping; he was going to hit the ground. He tightened his grip on the rope and he tried to push his feet further into the sides of the shaft. The gloves on his hands were wearing away and his boots were also beginning to fall apart due to the extreme fixing. He was not going to be able to slow to an entire halt. Karash was going to hit the floor.

‘Let’s hope that no one is in the way. You will have to carry out a medical examination on yourself let alone anyone else. Just wait until I get my hands on who ever decided to enter the base like this....’

Karash did indeed hit the floor with a bump. His basic training did tell him how to fall without breaking anything, from what he could feel there was nothing broken but there would be a few nasty bruises. On surveying his surroundings he could see very little of interest; the ARC troopers were grinning, Jae was busy doing whatever it was she did with computers and Joamer had a rather exasperated look on his face. Karash decided now was the time to get up, someone else was likely to fall on him.

“Which one of you two idi... people decided we would get in like that?” Something made a large crack as Karash moved.

“It was the best way to do it. We aren’t Blackjack, you know.” Joamer said with a wry grin.

“If that is the case, then remind me to send in for a transfer when... if we get back.” The medic snapped through pursed lips.

There were noises coming from the shaft but Karash did not want look at his squad mates gracefully enter. He did not want to suffer the indignity of seeing everyone else glide down with poise, to be honest he wanted to see them fall flat on their backsides. Knowing the squad, he would not be disappointed.

Dusk, after seeing Karash almost fall to his death, decided to find an alternative method down. He stepped over to the captured worker.
“Would you be so kind to point me towards the nearest fusion cutter?” Half-way drawing his Bullstopper.
“Maintenance, third door on the right heading further into the complex from this door.” Said the worker, with the visibly pulsing vein on his forehead.
“Thank you.”
Leaving and turning down the hall, Dusk noticed that the bodies were still there in plain sight. Grabbing one of the mercs he dragged him into a nearby room along with the other. Stepping out, listening for footsteps, the private walked to the third door. The sign on the door said maintenance. ‘Easy enough to find.’

Opening the door cautiously, Dusk stepped inside. Stepping up to the desk with tools on it and a wall with supplies hanging on it, he grabbed the fusion cutter from amongst the clutter. Searching through some of the drawers, Dusk found some magnets. Seeing a metal plate on the wall, he placed the magnet on it. The private tried his weight on it, the thing slowly placed him back on his feet. He grabbed a welding mask of the wall.
“This’ll be fun,” Dusk said a s he loaded the supplies into a satchel he saw in one corner.

Coming back to the computer room, he saw Heliwer had already gone over and Coad still standing there nervous.
“Um… What are you doing with those?” Coadster asked with a befuddled look on his face.
“Climbing materials,” Dusk said quickly then left.

“Sheet metal, sheet metal, where in this sith spawned world am I going to fin sheet metal?” Dusk started saying.
Hearing footsteps coming down a side path, he jumped into an open door. He flipped onto his back and kicked the door closed. Ripping off his helmet, he pressed his ear against the door to see if the mercs noticed. Hearing them pass, Dusk let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He reached into one of the pouches he had on his belt and brought out his lighter. Flicking the flame on,the privat found the light switch and turned it on. Turning around he saw what he had been searching for the last 5 minutes, Sheet metal.

Dusk brought three sheets back and set them on the floor. Looking up he saw a rope slightly moving. ‘Coad must still be working his way down.’ Dusk thought with a chuckle.

Wiping the hair from in front of his face, the private adorned his welding mask. Placing one of the sheets in front of him, he began to cut the sheets into strips. He left the last sheet intact and created a weave with the strips of metal and attached the two together. He cut an area of so that it would fit a little loose on the edge of the duct. Welding the magnets to the edges finished off the platform he was constructing. Seeing how Cody was still making his way down, Dusk grabbed on of the metal chairs from one of the computer terminals. He welded it on and attached it to the side of the duct.

Drawing his grappling gun, Dusk hooked the line to the edge of the vent and sat on his platform. He started to descend at a good pace. He passed a struggling Coadster and shouted, “Need a lift!”
Glancing over the edge of his platform he saw light, Standing up, Dusk started to dial down the feed of the line. He eventually touched down, and with bemused looks from the rest of the squad. One of the ARC’s were so amazed that the cigarette he was smoking fell from his mouth. Tugging twice on the line caused the cable to start to retract.
“What,” Dusk asked innocently “You said to get down here any way I could.”
“I meant with climbing gear.” Joamer said still shocked by the entrance.

Suspecting that Karash and Heliwer had made less than good entrances, Dusk went over and patted Heli on the back and whispered, “Better luck next time.” To this he glared at him, but Dusk gave a smug smile in return.
Dusk walked over to the ARCs, who he really wanted to punch in the face right then, and picked up the cigarette. “I believe this is yours,” He said as he flicked it onto the trooper’s armor. The ARC lunged at Dusk, but was held back by the other. “Stuck up sith spawn,” he said and then spat at him.
Looking towards the rest of his squad he saw a slight smirk on Heli’s face which he tried to hide.
“Now, what is taking Cody so long?” Dusk asked to break the silence that followed the dispute.

OOC:

Just under 800 at 786, but I wanted quality not quantity.

As she watched Coadster, the woman with the one good eye chuckled, though the sound was still laced with what seemed to be light disappointment. The slight narrowing of her eye probably didn't help.  "Right after we finish up this mission, I'm teach all of you how to do what Joa, Hav and I can do with pure ease." Her tone was... almost dripping with that same disappointment, her lips twitching slightly as she fought to keep some semblance of a smile on her face, now visible since she had attached her helmet to her belt, sick of having to look through that stuffy visor. 

"You mean your free-running thing?" Coadster asked as he looked up from once again staring at the new black, skid mark decorations that adorned his armor.

Again, Jaenna's lips twitched and it caused a barely visible jump from the man who had questioned her. The look that set into her eye now, was one of pure poison, venomous, slowly her eyes began to turn a light shade of steel blue, her original sea-foam color losing it's vividness as the two colors seemed to swirl about each other, a mirror into what the woman's mind, a slightly look at what her emotions were doing with the absence of their bindings. Her hands began to shake slightly, and her breathing grew deeper, longer. She couldn't feel anything, only a burning sensation that was rising up into her throat, stinging the delicate flesh as though it were pure bile and stomach acid determined to break through and leak through her very pores. To her, hours were passing by as she fought the urge to lash out and tear Coadster from the world of the living, but to her squad mates it had only been mere seconds of awkward silence.

A stray hand reached out and landed on the woman's shoulder, squeezing firmly yet gently, calling her back from the whirlpool of emotion she had suddenly found herself drowning in. "Jae, hun..." It was a simple whisper, barely audible to the rest of the squad, though it was just enough to act as the last gentle pull that brought the woman back into reality.

With a snap, surprise in her eye, which was back to its normal sea-foam hue, the ASL looked at Joamer, moments passing by when words themselves had seemingly entirely left her, leaving her unable to speak or even form noises. Joamer seemed to understand however, for all he did was nod, a look of friendly worry and concern in his eyes, lips turned into a smile, fueled by confidence in the fact that he truly believed his friend and second could control herself. 

"Yeah..." At first it was a whisper, though a moment later she turned to look at Coadster, and nodded twice, then once more as if to make sure she was herself again. "Yeah, my free-running thing.  It'll be useful for all of you guys." She took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders back, rolled her head - multiple small cracks coming coming from her neck - and squared herself. You got this... You GOT this. "Anyways, who are we missing-"

It was then that a great crashing sound was heard, the clanging of plastoid armor against the steel of the chute, the sound of muffled grumbles and yells, and finally the sight of a synthrope came into few, followed shortly by the crashing form of Mox. He landed with a loud thud, looking as thought he was a balled up piece of flimsy that had been tossed aside to be left to it's fate of eventually decaying and being given back to the planet. Soft grumbles and muffled groans came from the crumpled man as he tried to move and straighten himself out to sit with his back against the back wall of the chute. Once he had, somehow, accomplished this the wonderful, opinionated medic made his way in front of the trooper, kneeling down with his flash light in hand.

Karash sighed as he began to examine the injured trooper. "The tumbling must have slowed him down a bit, I supposed that's the only reason this moron is still-"

The loud clang of a door flying open broke the medic's speech. "Everyone to the floor now!" The guard shouted as he raised his rifle, seven other men quickly filing into the room after him, all of them with blasters raised.

It took only half a second for all of RAIDERS to react the way they had been trained. Joamer, who had luckily been standing by a table, landed a swift lifting kick to the underside of the furniture, sending it to it's side and landing in front of Karash and Mox as a make-shift shield. The Squad Leader then ducked behind a steel desk, particle magnum raised over the edge as it released multiple well placed shots, the bolts landing with sizzling thuds against the armored guards.

The other reacted just as swiftly, Coadster, despite his injuries, leaped for cover just in time to grab his own weapon and begin shooting at the well. The ARC troopers even had taken cover, their own weapons discharging bolts of energy aimed at the men who seemed to think that RAIDERS would go down easy.

Bolts were flying through the air, landing with that same, tell-tale sizzling thud against anything it could hit. The SCOPE armor took hits, the smell of burning reinforced plastoid rising into the air. They landed against bits of flesh, instantly coagulated blood burning and filling the air of the small computer room with the scent of a true battle. RAIDERS shouted, the guards shouted back, all having taken their own forms of cover by now. The ARCs were in their own fire-fight mindset, tending more so to themselves than the troopers they found to be ill-minded and unfit for the Corps itself. It was chaos, where normally it would have ended quickly at the hand of the RAIDERS, but these armored guards had been an unexpected entity.

The fight lasted what felt like hours to the squad who normally felled their enemies with ease, the air was filled with the scent of burning blood, the scent of burning plastoid, the scent of death as the bodies of the few guards that had been felled began their dooming cycle of decomposition. "We need to end this!" Joamer shouted to his squad, though it was sent back by the sudden landing of a bolt in his shoulder, a great growl erupting from twisted lips as he turned back to fire more bolts at the guards that he refused to let take his and his squad's life.

Next to him, Jaenna's lips were twisted into a scene of pure fury, pure rage, pure thrill as she watched the bolts of her DC-15 land against the slowly degrading armor of the men her mind was filled to the brim with hatred for. Her eye had gone pure steel blue, a grin lining her face with a terrifying expression of the joy she felt knowing that within moments the men that had tried to stop the RAIDERS were going to be taking their last breath. She watched as, slowly, the men began to fall to their doom, their armor useless against the combined might of the RAIDERS well trained and determined troopers.

"This is getting ridiculous!" With a sudden growl, she allowed her pistol to drop back to her side, still attached to it's strap, as she reached back and drew her Treppus-IIs. Joamer saw this, and stood as well, his particle magnum at his side as well now. The two of them leaped over the desk that had taken refuge behind, each of the deadly troopers keeping a man in their crosshairs.

Joamer veered right, jumped and using his left foot to bound of the wall, his right foot landing on the connecting wall that had cornered to it as he turned his body around, now behind the guard he had targeted. A growl pierced the room as he readied his fist for the assault it would take on the guard's head. A moment later and the well placed punch, combined with the power and momentum of the Squad Leader, as well as the steel of his cybernetic arm, sent the guard to the ground, a bloodied and splintered dent in the back of his head.

As if they were connected by some celestial tie, Jaenna accomplished the same wall hoping move at the same time as her leader, instead, her eyes were full of joy, not fury, as they came to bare down on her target and mental dinner. With her blades drawn, and a force that was being driven by not only her desire to survive, but also the dependency she had on spice in order to keep herself under control, she came around the back of her target, and landed both blades with a swift slice and the squelching sound blood splatter, against the man's back, sending him falling to the ground in a convulsing fit as he bled out.

The two looked at each other, then around the room, and then back to each other, and all they could manage was a smirk.

OOC:

Feel free to fill in your own personal fights in your coming posts. I wanna see your unique ways of finishing off some of these guards. Please just make sure they all tie together relatively nicely. And please, don't take me only giving Jae and Joamer detailed fights as me hating you guys. I did it on purpose. I wanna see what you guys can write.

Red lights dazzled Coadster, green streaks floating in his vision where they passed. Heli tried to look down the hallway and almost lost his helmet for his troubles. Both hallways leading to the room the RAIDERS were in were full of oncoming fire, and Coadster had a sinking feeling they were moving up toward them. Joa and Jae were at the other end of the hallway, and motioned for them to go. One of the ARCs remained with them, though, the other with the rest of the RAIDERS trying to break through.

“Did you get a good look, Heli?” Coad said, on the other side of the doorway.

“Not a damned thing.”

It felt very much like a trap, and it was not something he enjoyed. But then, who would enjoy it? He inched toward the doorway, and got into the prone position. He popped his head out at the edge of the doorway, in a place with a little less ozone in the air than above, and took a half second survey. There were four mercenaries firing at them, and they were slowly moving forward, using their fire to suppress the RAIDERS, and it was working quite well. The barrel of a gun was pointed at him, and he decided it was time to get out of dodge.

“Alright, there are four of them, and they’re moving up. We gotta move quick, guys…”

He got up and leaned on the door, creaking on its hinges as he put his weight against it. How long would they have until they were popped like a zit in between these two doorways in this damnable vent? He wondered if that table would work for cover… That thought was dashed as he realized that the thing was made of wood, Space knows where from, and it was smoking from the hits it had already taken. It seemed almost impossible… maybe he’d just run out there, try to just rush them, block them for everyone else. He breathed deep and sighed. He might have only been with this group for a few missions, but they were his siblings already.

This was the first time that it just seemed that there was no exit. He felt the ache in his shoulder deeply, felt his sore ribs, felt his strained eggs, felt his pounding head. He wondered what it’d be like to feel nothing. He brushed against the door knob, his armor clinking hollowly against it. He took a double take.

Coadster nudged Dusk, and he turned, pulling his rifle from the doorway. “What, Coad?!”

Coad ignored the venom and pointed at the door, then the hinges. “Help me out, here! I’ve got an idea!”

He pulled on the edge of the door, hanging on to the top of it and putting pressure on the hinges, which he motioned toward with his rifle. Dusk caught on, and fired a blast at the top one. It turned into a molten mess, and once Dusk shot at the bottom hinge the door fell to the ground and came toward Cody on its corner. Mindful of the melty bits, Coad grabbed both sides of it, long-side up, and moved toward the edge of the hallway.

Karash scoffed, and shook his head at what Coad intended to do, but the RAIDERS prepared themselves all the same. Cody tried to keep thoughts of how little the door might actually help, but it was too late to back away now. He got into the doorway and tilted the door toward him, trying with some difficulty to get the damnable thing through the doorway. Blaster fire bounced and sizzled against it, and Coad pushed forward. The hallway opened up, and the RAIDERS used the makeshift shield as best they could. “The first set of doors we get to, get the hell inside!”

The pace seemed infinitely slow, and the doorway got ever hotter against Cody’s face as they went. While Cody couldn’t feel the hits against the thick piece of metal, the sounds of the rounds leaving the mercs’ rifles were all too audible. The shoulder was screaming again, but the adrenaline was beating it down as much as it could to keep it from letting go. He certainly wouldn’t want to be the one who killed his whole squad.His fellow RAIDERS tried to lay suppression fire down behind him, their rifles going off as well. Someone down the hall let out a yell. Definite good news,Coadster thought to himself.

In what seemed like forever, they got to the doors. At a tug, Coad scooted the door to the left side door, trying to ignore the fact that it now felt like his face was pressed against a skillet. Beta tried the handle, to no avail. A boot worked a whole lot better, and with the third kick the latch broke and the door yawned open. Three RAIDERS ran in and made sure the area was secure. Mox and Dusk remained with him, and he picked up the door and moved toward the other side of the hallway.

“FRAKKIN’ DAMMIT!”

He felt searing heat, and a second later the door hit the ground with a thud. The door leaned up against him in the middle of the hallway, but he hardly felt it. In fact, he didn’t even think about it. All there was in the world was the molten fire lacing its way from his fingers up to his arm. With the other shaky hand he used to first try to wipe the burning, running plastic off of his hand and after a second of that tried to rip the gauntlet off. Simply pulling it didn’t work, so he had to slow his brain down to work it out.  Space, it was intense! After an eternal moment, the gauntlet came off, leaving a white piece of plastic that came off of the finger plate. Bloody Hells, it hurt so much!

Dusk grabbed his arm roughly, waking him from his spell. “Dammit, come on! I know, but admire your hand later!”

It shook Coad out of it and with his good arm he pulled on the side of the door; with Dusk’s help the door scraped along the floor to the other side. The door was red hot, and Coad could feel the heat through his glove, but there was no time to stop. The ARC trooper threw his shoulder into the door once, twice, thrice before the lock broke. The trio spilled into the room, and Coad helped them look for hostiles. The mother burned like fire, but all he could do to help, he realized, was to ignore it. The ARC trooper took point at the doorway while Dusk inspected it, limited though he was in these things.

“I think you should leave this plastic in, Coad,” he said, flinching at Coad’s impulse to pull away from Dusk’s rough examination. “Burns are worse when they hit air. We’ll get with Karash soon enough, and he knows more about it. Probably got stuff to help with it, too.”

Coad nodded and breathed out. He looked at Dusk, and tried to smile. “This trip’s going to cost me a bundle in medical bills, you know.”

He could feel the smile behind Dusk’s visor, and the trooper gave him a cuff to the shoulder before joining with the ARC trooper at the doorway. Coad took a second before getting up  and doing the same.

Why didn’t I switch my coverage when I had the chance…?

“Dammit, how much ammo do these guys have?” Dusk said, reaching around the edge of the doorway to fire into the hallway. Right across from him, Beta was firing the same way. It seemed very much like a stalemate, and it might come down to who had the least ammo. Coad sighed and wrapped his hand with a strip of his shirt underneath the armor. All this and all he could do is keep from being overwhelmed with the nerves flaring in pain with every heartbeat. Sweat beaded on his brow, and he licked his lips.

Alarms suddenly filled the air, and red warning lights added to the general redness of the hall, brightening and dimming in an almost hypnotic way. He wondered if reinforcements were on the way, or if his leaders had been overwhelmed on the other side, and it was a matter of time before they were flanked. An odd emptiness settled in his belly, a terrible icy rush shot through his spine and fought against the throbbing fire.

Then, Coad noticed Heli out the corner of his eye. He had a thermal in his hand, and was motioning strangely to him after he’d got his attention. Heli made a box around him with his hands, and put the thermal against the invisible barrier. Exploding motions ensued with his hands. At first, Cody drew a blank, and after a moment widened his eyes in realization. With his left hand he pulled out his own thermal and nodded at Heliwer. He jogged to the wall and peeled the strip concealing the sticky side of the thermal off, wincing as he concentrated on using just the pinky and thumb of his crispy hand.

“Thermal set!” He yelled to Mox, Dusk and the ARC trooper he’d yet to learn the name of. He set it, and hit the detonator buttons on the opposite sides of the explosive. The light on the front turned red, and began to blink every second. “Eight! Seven!”

He scrambled to the other side of a desk and kicked it over. The ARC Trooper flipped the desk nearest him to shield him from the blast, and continued firing down the hall to keep the mercs from realizing what was going on. On the other side was the hallway the enemies were stationed in, and if they could blast a hole farther in, the group could flank them from three sides at once. Dusk and Mox knocked the computer terminals from another desk and tipped it on its side. Cody covered his ears, .

“Three! Two!”

The explosive beeped loudly three times in quick succession, and it exploded. A roar like the loudest thunder pushed its way into his ears, and the desk pushed Coad over. Silence and debris encompassed a full second, and a second later, just as Cody lifted his head to the ringing in his ears, Heli’s explosive went off.

With that, Mox yelled in triumph and ran through the hole in the wall, Dusk in tow; The ARC rounded the doorway into the hallway, and Coad followed behind Dusk. He stepped over a dead mercenary before seeing that another one was wiggling under Mox’s foot, barrel of a rifle resting against his head. Heli’s charge was placed right at the corner of the room, and had knocked a second live mercenary to the ground, now being tied up by Beta with a bit of syntherope. The hallway was now full of debris, and all the fluorescent lighting was knocked out, leaving only the bright red lights to view the scenario, softly dimming and brightening in the aftermath.

“Damn,” Dusk said, looking at the scene before him. “One hell of a way to break a tie. Why are we the sneaky ones, again? This seems to work way better.”

Another figure was moaning in the debris, moving the gravel around him as he writhed. It looked like he had something underneath him, something he was hunched over. Coad walked over to him, and flipped him over with his boot. The man looked around and blinked rapidly with wild eyes, blood pouring from the scratch along his brow into his green eyes. His face was grizzled, an experienced man, a square jaw to match the burn marks lining his cheeks; Coad’s hand throbbed in painful sympathy. It was a face of a man that had been in as many scraps as Coad would imagine himself in during his career. But he was scared now.

“Oh damn.”

What Cody had thought the man was hiding was a long metal rod stuck through the middle of his chest, penetrating the man’s chestplate and oozing blood. It was an odd thing, blood on plastic, and it ran thick like warm red syrup on a ceramic plate. Cody knelt next to the man. The man locked eyes with Coad, and his hands grasped at the rod vainly with slick red fingers. The man convulsed and swallowed painfully, licking his lips with concentration. Wet breaths were taken in the time that the man’s shaking hand fumbled into his pocket and grabbed a white enveloped-sized piece of paper. He winced and coughed, maroon tinging his lips and running through the ridges of his laugh lines and scars. His paper was pressed into Coad’s burnt hand, and the man grasped it solidly, holding on with all his might.

A single long breath rattled from his throat, and his hand went limp. He no longer looked at Cody, but somewhere far off, seemed to lose the shine of life in them. Tears threatened Coad’s eyes, and a hand on his shoulder pulled him from the scene. It was Heli. He seemed to know when he looked into Coad’s eyes, and directed down the hallway the mercs had come from.

“Come on. We’ve got to go. We might be able to flank the mercs attacking Joa and Jae.”

He pulled on Coad’s shoulder, gently, and lifted him from the body. There was no resistance, and Coad turned away with Heli, to follow the rest of the squad. As they jogged, Cody looked at the note the man had pressed into his hand. It was covered in blood, though, dark red streaks covering almost all of the tight, square scrawl befitting the man who’d written it. At the end of it, pure white underneath, read:

With Love,
                Jaik.

Cody gripped the piece of paper and ran with Heli, basking in the pain of his clenched hand. All his aches, all his pains, all his bruises, cuts, burns and scrapes, were not even close to the grief he felt now for Jaik, a man he’d never had the chance to meet, a man whose last words may never be heard.

Breathing evenly he stepped around the corner with his pulse rifle leading the way. Quickly glancing around he clicked his tongue as he took in the damage the squad had achieved in the short time Jaenna and him had been gone. Three bodies were on the floor, one had a nasty looking pipe through his chest. Joamer could see foot prints in the pooling blood as if someone had kneeled down for a moment over the corpse. It had not begun to congeal yet, which meant it was fresh and probably still warm.

There was a light smoke in the air, not to mention the stale taste of ozone and high explosive. If he did not know any better he would of figured Black Jack had stopped by for a party. The short hallway seemed to indicate a large scale battle had happened in less than six minutes.

Looking at the walls he sighed and vowed not to give his squad anymore thermal detonators, specially not while in the barracks. Looking at one wall he took in two large holes, the ends of metal sheeting, pipe work, and wires were hanging loose. No doubt one of those pipes found its way inside the corpse on the floor.

Looking up he saw a man standing at the end of the hall looking at them for a moment before retreating. Reaching out he grabbed Jaenna and shook his head to discourage her following him. He knew the man was retreating, for now they had room to breath but they needed to make the best of it and leave as quick as possible.

"Puppies, oh puppies." Joamer said with a smile. "It's safe to come out now, you scared them all away."

Looking over at Jaenna he gave a quick hand signal after no one had responded. Moving forward slowly he kept his rifle up as he moved down the hallway. Stopping at a half closed door he glanced at the lock and signaled to Jaenna. Listening for moment he heard low cursing inside and someone mumble something a moment later. He knew it was Karash, probably tending to some new wounds one of the squad had received during the insanity.

Knocking on the door after a second he said "House keeping, you want mint for pillow?" He looked at Jaenna as she turned away while biting her bottom lip.

"What the frak? No, I don't want no damn min..." A voice from inside the room said, he cut off as he poked his head out a moment later. Joamer thumped the top of Dusk's head with his knuckles. The young man grimaced and stepped back inside.

Slinging his rifle Joamer looked inside the room to see Coadster leaning on a table while Karash pulled melted plastic out of his arm piece by piece. Shaking his head he said "So, I leave you alone for five minutes and this is what my puppies do without me." Looking at Jaenna as she consulted her holomap he said. "Since you decided to blow up half of a wall we need to move, it's time we went down a level and see what new chaos we can cause. Mount up doggies, time to go play."

Reading a hand signal Jaenna gave him with an annoyed look he motioned for her to lead as he fought the urge to laugh. He could hear from the boots clicking softly on the floor behind him the squad was following slowly. Everyone knew the place was now on high alert, which meant more fun times ahead of them. He hoped each floor was nearly self contained, which if they were lucky they could get down there ahead of any security deciding to form up.

After a long few minutes they reached a unguarded stairwell. Joamer looked back and signaled Coadster and Heliwer to go first this time. Both young men grunted but complied as they quickly worked their way down the stairs, he was glad he could see them treating each corner like an ambush. He figured neither of them wanted to be injured again so soon. Hearing a click on his commlink he followed them down a moment later.

"Now that's a fraking big door." Jaenna said as she stepped up to the very large blast door. "I can open this, give me a minute. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves." Joamer grinned as she stepped to the side and began pulling a panel off the wall.

"You do know the Squad Leader should not leave the squad right? Especially not to go do something truly heroic and stupid at the same time." Coadster said as he checked over his bandaged hand with a frown. "Bet you had fun though, all I got was melty plastic imbedded in my skin."

"Better than an arrow in the knee." Joamer replied as he watched the door begin to swing open as Jaenna smiled victoriously. Motioning the squad forward he wondered what knew insanity awaited them on this level.

Coadster looked down at the burnt hand, now wrapped and plastic free, courtesy of Karash. “Oi, speak for yourself,” he muttered to Joamer, drowned out quite thoroughly by the large blast doors opening up, apparently responding to Jaenna’s technical touch. The group walked through the double doors together, everyone wary of an ambush.

The room was large and spacious, filled with computer terminals set up neatly on long tables that were separated by five foot walls to make miniature room-looking compartments. These compartments filled the rooms, side by side and facing each other across narrow walkways in between them. Pillars rose to the ceiling, supporting it as well as sporting what Coadster assumed were symbols that represented what area was what in the room. Behind them was the stairwell they’d come from, and next to it was another blast door, probably the stairwell to the floor below. Screens gave a stark white light against the red warning bulbs. It seemed to be devoid of life other than the RAIDERS, though.

“Well, at least they know we’re here. No nerds here,” Heliwer commented, smiling a bit. “Oh wait, I almost forgot we have our own nerds.” He chuckled, right up until Jae had his arm twisted up behind his back.

“Care to rethink that statement?” She said back to him, with a sweet tone and a sweeter smile.

“Uh… Yes?”

She let him go, and Joamer harrumphed. “Come on, let’s not fool around until after we’re done here.”

The group looked at Joamer and quieted down. He continued. “Alright, let’s split up. There are a lot of terminals here, and we’ve got to find the one that’s attached to their power grid. Since we’ve got two Splicers here, we’ll split up to save time. Karash and Dusk, go with Mox on the left side of the room.  Jae, you’ve got Heli and me to back you up on the right side of the room. You two-“ He looked at the ARC troopers.  “You’ll be watching the stairwell with  Coadster.”

He looked at the squad intently, and then nodded. “Well then, let’s get this done.”

The group split up, and Coad took the far side of the stairwell they came down, not looking forward to moving quickly with his bad hand. That was fine, since apparently the crispy RAIDER wasn’t the favorite to be guarding with the ARC troopers and they’d decided to put him exactly where he wanted to be himself: away from the biggest potential danger.

While the other groups fiddled with the computers, Coad was busy fixing his laser rifle’s strap so he could fire with his left. He practiced aiming, balancing the barrel of his rifle and looking through his scope. He pretended like there was recoil, trying to steady his aim on the light fixtures up above, and the symbols posted on the pillars. After firing with his right hand all his life, it was really difficult for him to do the same things with his left, burnt hand or no.

“I wonder if any of our units are still alive down there.”

“I don’t think they’d just kill them off. What would be the advantage in that? I bet you they’re holding them for ransom.”

“Well, these guys are pretty serious. Lucky we didn’t have to go through the front, or we probably would’ve had to fight a whole lot more…”

He looked at the troopers he was stationed with. They talked amongst themselves and watched the other RAIDER groups carefully. Honestly Coad didn’t feel much like conversation with people he didn’t know, but it was kind of frustrating being the odd man out of it. He sighed, and rested his head against the wall. My squad’s out there finding power grids, and what do I get? Guard duty.

Looking at how quickly Jaenna and Mox were moving through the computers, he was kind of glad he was just standing around. He certainly couldn’t do that; he was no good with the more intricate details of technology. He knew how to use the stuff, but no way in Hell did he know how it worked. All the better, he thought. Best find my own thing; Space knows how I’d hate to feel useless. Ironic thinking, considering that’s how he felt at this particular moment. How would he fare in the next firefight? He only hoped they’d get their objective done before that happened. At least then they’d be working themselves out of the scorpion pit.

The room went black.

“Jesus, who turned out the lights?” Coadster said, trying vainly to see some sort of light somewhere in the room, to no avail. He readied his rifle against the blackness around him. Funny how much bigger the room seemed with the lights off.

“Looks like they got the power offline,” one of the ARC troopers said somewhere to his right. “What’s next, Joamer?”

At first Coadster wondered what was wrong with his visor and why he still couldn’t see. Then he remembered that his helmet was discarded at the bottom of the vent, broken beyond usefulness. Coadster grabbed at the macrobinoculars around his neck instead, and turned on the night vision. The world popped into green clarity, and he was suddenly very happy he brought it. He took a step up onto the nearest table and climbed up, paying no heed to the clatter of electronics falling to the ground. For a moment there was nothing to see, the room was just as before. “Hey, could you say it out loud for me? My helmet’s gone, along with the headset-“

The wall facing Cody exploded outward, spilling eight… ten men into the room, 4 more behind them. Luckily the groups had only got halfway down the room, or the explosion might’ve… Coadster tried not to think about that. Mox kicked over the table he was facing for cover and fired over cubicle wall at the broken wall, a streak of grey in the macrobinoculars that illuminated everything for a moment once it touched down. A soldier was down before The mercs moved down the walkway in the middle and spread out, looking for the RAIDERS.

“What the frak was that?!” One of the ARC troopers yelled behind him. He could hear their armor clinking hollowly as they jogged up to his vantage point.

“There’re mercs that blew a hole in the wall.” Coadster responded, continuing to watch what was unfolding. Mox searched for a target, and a couple of mercs spotted him first. His head would have been toasted well had it not been for Dusk pulling him down. Laserlight flew up over the wall where Mox had been a moment before. From this vantage, Coad could see it all, but the others would have a problem with it. He turned to the ARC troopers, who had since begun running toward the fight.

“Wait!” He called, getting one of them to stop. “I can’t fight, but let me scout out. The walls block everyone’s field of vision, and we’re outnumbered. If you give me your headset, I might be able to use it as an advantage.”

“Hell no! It’s dark as hell in here; I wouldn’t want to be deaf, too!”

“Stick with your friend, there, and I’ll tell him where they’re at.”

An explosion went off in the darkness, and someone seemed to leap three feet into the air. After a moment of deliberation, the ARC trooper relented and tore off his helmet, pulling his headset off underneath to give to Coad. He couldn’t see, though, so he ended up tossing it underhand in Coad’s general direction, which was caught and equipped. The band felt sweaty and warm, but he ignored the annoyance and pointed the man in the right direction. Taking account of the situation, he exhaled slowly and pressed the intercom button, using his bandaged hand to hold up the macrobinoculars.

“Alright squad, I’ll do my best to relay where the mercs are down there; just remember, for reference North is where the hole in the wall is.”

Coadster was tense about the situation; it was almost like playing a strategy game, but with actual people. He hoped he could keep his squadmates alive and unharmed; it’d be a hell of a thing to have on his conscience. He pushed that aside, as Joamer responded in a quiet tone, nodding in Cody’s direction.

“Give us a count, Coad.”

“ There are thirteen units still up, all of them to the North of you right now. Five to the Eastern portion of the room, four to the Western side, and four down the middle walkway. Mox’s group, the middle mercs are coming up in just a moment. Get ready.”

Unlike when the firefight started, it was quiet, like an odd game of hide and seek with both sides being the seekers. Mox, Dusk and Karash crouched low and moved into the cubicle nearest the middle walkway, Karash in the one second to the middle, and they waited. Meanwhile, some of the Eastern Merc group was hopping over the cubicle walls, looking over and pointing their rifles down before hopping. It was certainly distracting, not to mention nerve-racking; all it took was for one of them to spot him across the way. Coad supposed he seemed like part of the wall behind maybe, stationary as he was. It wasn’t a very comforting thought.

“Joamer’s group, three of the Eastern end is jumping over the walls. They’re seven rows ahead, I’m sure you’ll see them before they do you. The others are coming around the outside, probably hoping to catch you with a flank while you attacked those coming over.”

He didn’t have to remind Joamer that they were outnumbered. There was a static and then silence, a quick sign of affirmation from his squad leader. He tapped Jaenna and Heliwer, motioned with his hands, and they separated. The ARCs caught one merc in the middle group’s eye, and he elbowed his partner before motioning with his gun. They sped up their pace.

The Western end was by far the slowest moving, but perhaps the most efficient. The group split up into partners, working their way through same aisles in the opposite directions and then going to the next one, converging in the middle of the aisle, then repeating indefinitely. It allowed them to look under and around tables and look over the walls to see what they could see at eye level. He relayed the info.

“Western group is taking their time and weaving through the aisles. Group Mox, I suggest moving out of your aisle after dealing with the middle mercs to avoid being swamped by the other group. You’ve about ten seconds until contact with the middle. ARCs, take note that the middle group’s spotted you.”

He wondered if there was anything more to say. After a moment of deliberation over the battlefield, he decided there wasn’t. He waited for an opportunity to duck down without being seen, and sighed, wondering what would happen next. He stepped down from the table carefully, avoiding any run-in with the electronics he’d thrown to the floor. He slid to the floor, and let the macrobinoculars rest on the strap, darkness and silence surrounding him. After another thoughtful moment, he hit the com one more time.

“Good luck, RAIDERS. I’m rooting for ya.”