“I should have let the wolves eat me.” Bright muttered.

Sergeant First Class Brightstar was having one of the worst weeks of her career. First Platform 86-Alpha, and then Snipes leaving. She was acting squad leader for Jester, but that didn't mean she knew what she was doing. To her comfort though, Havock would be with Jester for this campaign. She looked over at the Company Commander and felt her insides tighten. What if she screwed up?

Her violet eyes flicked to the other woman that had joined them: Jana Sleicer. Bright thought back to the first time she'd met the woman. It was true that Jester squad had taken her hostage, and Bright would be the first to admit that it hadn't been pretty. She'd done everything she could do to make sure that Jana remained safe while in her care. She did not want to see Jana end up like some of her colleagues. She shivered and pushed the image of a man on fire out of her mind.

In the end, Jana was willing enough to help bring down the company she worked for, but she was still an unwilling hostage at the mercy of Jester's squad leader at the time. Seeing her walking into the briefing room and blatantly say what she said had made Bright flinch almost visibly. The red head did still have her honor and dignity, but that comment stung.

Having Jana with them wasn't the only thing that had Bright thinking and on edge. Aeos was with them as well. For as long as Bright had known her she had looked up to her and aspired to be as successful as she had been. It felt strange.... no, it felt wrong that she was now Ae's squad leader. In addition to Aeos, Abalar, a trooper from Jester days past, had returned. A bit of happy news that seemed to balance out the nerves. It was just as well that the woman was also a medic. After all, Havock was with the Jesters, someone had to come and play doctor for that reason alone.

Taking a deep cleansing breath, Bright looked down at the floor before looking back up. “This is the Commander speaking. We have reached Anteevy. Prepare to disembark.” Bright felt sick for a moment before looking back at her squad. My squad. Gods that sounds weird. She thought before pulling her helmet over her head. As Jester disembarked from their shuttle, Bright made sure that she was the first one on the ground. She knew instinctively that Havock had been right behind her.

They had disembarked their shuttle, less than three klicks from the base and Bright almost seemed grateful. However, she knew the dangers of having landed so close to an enemy base. She had to worry that they had been spotted by some sort of security measures. That was if they had any security measures. Bright recalled that part of the base had been destroyed the last time they were here.

She looked around noticing the snow and how heavily it was falling. Not much for cover. She and her troopers were in SCOPE armor. They could still be seen through the snow fall. Through habit she almost looked to Havock for orders. Shaking her head inwardly she called for her people to check in.

“Everyone here?” She asked. After getting a confirmation from everyone, Bright nodded and took to her knee. “Ok listen up, we don't have much time, but I want you to be aware of how we're going to do this. Jana, you have a map?” She asked the tech.

Jana nodded. The woman was wearing combat armor that matched the color of the SCOPE armor that the Jesters were sporting. Bright had made sure that she wouldn't be confused with the enemy should it come to shooting at things. She had not expected the woman to look so comfortable in it. Before they had left for Anteevy, the acting SL had done her homework. She knew that Jana was now skilled in both armed and unarmed combat and that the custom blaster at her hip wasn't just for show.

The tech produced her data pad and brought up a map of the base and the surrounding area. “We're right here, roughly anyway.”

Bright had never thought of herself as a great strategist, she'd always let others do that for her. Now she looked at the map carefully. “We'll move along this ridge here for as long as we can,” She said, “if we're lucky we can avoid any security patrols, if we are unlucky we'll have to fight through it. The surface elevator we need is on the ground floor of the facility. At that point, it is highly likely we will be fighting to get to it. Abalar I hope your supplies are well stocked, as you can see, Havock is with us.”

The medic nodded patting her med pack. “THX, Lukas I want you two to take point.  Abalar stick close to Jana. I'll let our ARC brethren watch our backs.”

Aeos' helmeted head turned to look at her. Bright could almost feel the steel in the other woman's gaze. “They may be new to ARC Ae but in order to get there they had to prove themselves as troopers.” Bright said before indicating that she, Havock and Aeos would take spots to the right, left and in front of Jana. Abalar had already placed herself at the other woman's back.

“Lets go and hope they haven't sent us a welcoming committee.” Bright said signaling for them to move. And hope they don't shoot us all to the seven levels of hell. Bright thought silently.

OOC:

Okie dokie Jesters. We are currently three klicks away from the base. It is likely that we will meet a recon/scout security patrol while on our way to our objective. You may have one personal weapon and one only. Other than that it is standard SCOPE gear.

Abalar wasn’t terribly happy. Sure, things were going well so far, but if she knew anything, Jester was going to run into some major trouble pretty quick. They always did.

Oh sure, she was thrilled to be back with Jester, don’t get her wrong. Aeos and Brightstar were two of her very first squad-mates. Snipes wasn’t around to ditch her in an alleyway in the middle of a war zone. The rest she assumed were dead. She couldn’t ask for much more. Abalar hated the cold though. Why did she always return to combat just in time to be shipped off to a frigid planet? Seriously, standing almost knee deep in snow was not her idea of a good time. However, what else could the young sergeant do? All hail the Emperor and what not.

Abalar vaguely remembered Jana Sleicer from a couple years ago.

“Its funny how the world comes full circle,” Abalar thought to herself. “And you still have a gun pretty much pointed at your back.”

In the foot deep snow, Jana seemed to be having a hard time. If Abalar had been in a better mood, she’d sympathize with the woman. Abalar was certainly finding it not easy going, and when she quickly glanced around, she could see everyone’s head bowed as the focused on where their feet were going.

For about a click, coms were kept on minimum chatter. It was clear that the main focus of all Jesters was to get where they needed to go as fast as possible, and avoid as many mercenaries as possible. Abalar still couldn’t believe her clone, Harlequin, had disappeared with the rest of ARC Theta. Known only as Harlequin, Abalar thought of her almost as a sister, though the two had only met once, just before Harlequin set out on her first mission. Abalar had always assumed they meet again, though that assumption seemed to be more like a glimmer of hope now.

Brightstar suddenly stopped and knelt down, and though she used hand signals for her squad to follow, everyone did so without a glance at Bright. Abalar was surprised that she didn’t need to drag Jana down with her, for she too dropped with the rest of Jester. In the silence, Abalar could pick up the sound of roughly three men, walking in the fresh, crunchy snow. They were either far enough away not to be too much of a threat, or light footed. From her almost three years of experience, Abalar assumed the later.

Bright motioned Abalar and Aeos to fan out and precede a little ways ahead, in the hopes of determining where they were. Both nodded in understanding and headed in opposite directions, away from the rest of the Jesters. They kept each other within sight as they slowly made their way forward. Very quickly the sound of the mercs in the snow got louder. Aeos suddenly stopped. Abalar mimicked her, and watched as Aeos signalled that she saw tracks. Quickly glancing ahead, Abalar scanned the snow for tracks. Within moments she saw one line of freshly disturbed snow, heading right to left. However, Abalar couldn’t hear any more sounds. The mercs, or merc as it appeared, had stopped. Chances were they were doing exactly what Jester was doing: waiting and listening.

The hair on Abalar’s neck stood up. Aeos apparently had the same feeling, because she signalled to head slowly back to the rest of Jester. With every carefully placed footstep, Abalar cursed the snow. Every snowflake compacting under her boots seemed to resonate a hundred times louder than it should have. They had half the distance left when Abalar saw them: three mercs, trying to circle around Jester on Ae’s side. Abalar clicked a warning over the comlink, and Jester assembled on their position in a matter of moments. Of course, the sudden movement and sound alerted the mercs that their presence was known. They sent off a warning shots in Jester’s direction. Abalar knew right away they were up against well trained mercs because all three shots came within a couple feet of Jester members.

Jester returned fire, but the snow suddenly picked up, blinding both sides.

“How are we supposed to fight in this?” Abalar heard Jana say.

“Very carefully,” one of the men said. Abalar didn’t know either of them, so she couldn’t determine whose voice the comment belonged to.

“Keep quiet and focus,” Brightstar said.

“Its not like they’re much threat,” Jana continued. “There is only three of them.”

As if the mercs heard her, three well placed shots were fired over Jana’s head. If she hadn’t almost lying in the snow, they certainly would have hit. That kept Jana quiet.

In the following minutes, Jester managed to hit one of the mercs because the blaster rate dropped. In another long moment, Jester heard a loud yelp of a merc being shot and injured. Abalar could understand, blaster fire hurt. Just as quickly as the blaster fire started, it ended.

“Hold fire,” Brightstar said. By the tone of her voice, it seemed she wasn’t used to the command position, at least from Abalar’s perspective. Maybe she was wrong.

In the silence, Jester could hear receding footsteps.

“Shouldn’t we go after them?” Jana asked, annoyed.

“It wouldn’t make much difference in this heavy snowfall. We’d be more blind if we were running in this. At least we know they are expecting us now,” Bright said. “Well, check your clips, and assume positions.”

Jester did so as Brightstar spoke, and the soon carried on. Com silence was maintained for the next two clicks, until they reached the entrance. No one wanted to be ambushed, and now that their presence was known, it was certainly a real risk of happening.

“Lets just hope RAIDERS has turned on the power,” Abalar thought as they cleared the last ten feet.

"I served with Whiskey yanno."

Havock had slowed her pace once the base was visible. She was confident in Brightstar's ability to handle the squad and watch over Jana for now. The skills of the ARC troopers they attached to Jester was another matter though.

"What was your callsign again? I'm pretty awful with names."

"Especially expendable ones I'm guessing ma'am." The young man crouched with her behind an embankment of snow. The entry to the elevator was only five meters in front of her, several troopers had already started to work on making their way in. "Sergeant Meyers, callsign Shield. When I saw you in the briefing ma'am, I've gotta be honest, I thought you were a ghost."

"I actually get that a lot Meyers."

ARC had only three ranks. Sergeant being the lowest, followed by Lieutenant, and finally Commander. Even though Meyers was the lowest rank you had to be a trooper, and an exceptional one at that, to be chosen for ARC. It was an honor in and of itself, which most troopers would love to take advantage of. The armor alone was fairly awesome, as far as Havock was concerned.

"I'm not Whiskey." She muttered somewhat sadly.

An explosion shook the ground sending waves of snow falling on Havock's helmet. She rolled to her back, making sure Meyers was on look out. "What in the name of frak just happened?"

The comm crackled for a second before the reply. "THX opened a door for us."

"Bright, he also send a gorram postcard to everyone in the base that we are here. I'm going to kick his blue ass back to Tadath."

Aeos broke in on the conversation. "We need to move, now or never."

Havock slapped Meyers on the shoulder and they both stayed crouched and ran for the now open door. Doing a quick visual count, she could tell they all had arrived in the lift. Lukas had already gotten to work on the keypad.

Jana made eye contact with Havock then addressed Brightstar. "The lift will take us directly to the upper command level. Its going to be heavily guarded, and we will be backed into a corner fighting."

"Sounds fantastic, don't suppose we could opt out?"

Havock shook her head to indicate a solid no.

Jana continued. "The computer systems can be easily accessed from that room, you can lock down whatever you want from there."

"Okay we are good to go." Lukas chimed in.

Havock grabbed a the side of the lift. "This isn't a quick trip, its several floors, so hold on and get comfortable. I hope you all showered."

After Brightstar’s speech, the past came flooding back. Abalar remembered Anteevy. She remembered it well. She remembered the bloodshed, she remembered Jana. Abalar also remembered . Abalar quietly leant up against the elevator wall to steady herself, thankful that she was on the outside edge. She knew all to well what would happen to her if the past continued to flood into her mind. It hadn’t been pretty, and Jester had seen her as damaged goods for the rest of her time with them. Brightstar and Aeos had been there. If both didn’t remember, Brightstar surely did. She had been the one to bring Abalar out of her coma-like state.

Abalar reached up with her bare cybernetic arm and touched her helmet, remembering Brightstar’s saving slap. Never had she been so happy to be slapped, before or since.

“Two metres.”

All of Jester straightened and readied their guns.

“Eyes!”

Abalar squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head slightly to one side. As soon as the bang went off, Jester charged out of the elevator like mynocks out of Hell. Before Abalar had the chance to take cover, Bright had already shot two. One more went down by the time Abalar reached her cover: a turned over table to the far left of the room. It had been one of the few tables without computers. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and spun towards it, flipping onto her back so she would slide up against the table, and placed her cybernetic finger on the trigger. It was Jana. Thank the Emperor she shot with her right hand. Her finger released from the trigger before she even thought about doing so.

“Shit, I almost shot you!” Abalar yelled. Now she remembered why she hated civvies. They always seemed to move just within your blind spot, and Abalar was particularly jumpy with things in that area. Her cybernetic arm was a testament as to why.

“I’m sure that wouldn’t have bothered you.” Jana replied, her tone cold.

Brightstar’s words echoed in her mind. Abalar was sure she was trying to avoid a repeat of Jester’s previous mission on Anteevy. The bloodshed that Angel had brought had been over the top, and completely unnecessary. Abalar herself had avoided the SL and ASL as much as possible to prevent murdering the innocent. Sure it had been a violation of a direct order, but Abalar knew that if she had carried out those orders, she would have jumped out an airlock as soon as she had left Anteevy all those years ago.

Abalar didn’t respond. She didn’t know what Jana was trying to goad her into but Abalar was sure it wasn’t going to work.

The flashbang was starting to wear off. Abalar could hear a decrease in movement from behind her cover. They were good, she would give them that. The mercs knew they were making noise and stopped doing it.

“Its only been that long?” Abalar thought, her heart sinking. It felt like it had been hours since that grenade had been left off.

“Alright Jesters, let the fun begin,” Havock said over the comlink.

Within seconds the room was filled with blaster fire. Computers exploded left right and center as mercs and Jesters alike dove and weaved behind the desks. Eveytime Abalar popped her head out to shoot she was met with heavy fire.

“There has to be at least twenty five of those mercs Brightstar!” Abalar said, hiding the panic in her voice.

These were not good odds at all. Someone was going to get shot sooner or later, and Abalar really hoped it wasn’t Jana, though odds were it was going to be the civilian.

“Just keep at it!” Brightstar and Havock said in unison.

Abalar half smiled under her helmet and managed to get another one down. THX was also lucky enough to shoot one just as the merc was bringing his head up to aim.

“Twenty more to go,” Abalar thought to herself.

It was then something inside her awoke. A nervous feeling, overpowering anything she was feeling. Abalar glanced to her left where Jana had taken cover beside her. The bloody woman was standing up!

“Get your ass down!” Abalar yelled at Jana. Of course, Jana ignored her.

Furious, Abalar quickly half stood and hauled Jana down to the floor. Blaster fire grazed her back as Abalar was ducking back into cover. A series of shots fired through the very space that Jana had occupied moments ago.

“Havock, Brightstar, I can’t take this anymore. I’m sending the civie over to you. I need cover fire.”

Jester clicked they understood.

“Now!”

As Jester stood to give cover fire, Abalar grabbed and half dragged, half threw Jana to her feet and over towards Havock, who, thankfully, was only a few feet away. Being at least half intelligent, Jana didn’t try to turn around or stop, and even started running towards Havock. Abalar didn’t see her finish for she turned to aid in the cover fire.

Abalar say five more go down, bringing the number down to twenty.

“FRACK,” roared a male voice. Abalar still couldn’t tell the men apart. Instinctively the blond crouched behind the overturned table, ready to make a run towards the injured trooper.

As the medic, she was the first to respond. “You alright?”

“Yeah, the bugger nicked my armour.”

Abalar sighed, what a baby. “You’ll live, but it’ll sting like hell for the next while.” Abalar wasn’t trying to sound cold, it was just that she had better things to do than to run over and patch up a nonexistent wound.

“Some medic you are you…” The rest was cut out either from the sudden increase in blaster fire, or the owner of the voice had realized the com channel was still open and had promptly closed it.

Abalar shook her head and returned her focus to the fight. The mercs had settled themselves if well. She assumed the two mercs that escaped them on the surface had made sure of that. They even had a good barricade set on the far side of the room.

“Next time, no merc escapes,” Abalar thought to herself grimly. “We can’t keep going up against odds like this.”

Graded to here; 12/7.

Lukas looked around the room and surveyed the carnage that had just gotten over with. Blaster bolt marks pock marked the walls, shot through computers, and over turned desks that had been flipped over without hesitation. There were papers everywhere either torn in half or scattered all over. Lukas watched as Bright took off her helmet and talked to them, not taking his eyes off of her until she stopped talking and giving them orders.

Before walking over to the door way he an Therex were going to cover he decided to check himself to see if he had been hit during the firefight even though Abalar was going to come around and check him. He ran his fingers up and down the armor he had, had since the beginning of his Vast Empire career. Blaster scorch marks scarred various parts of the under armor, some had even faded so he wouldn't really be able to tell if he had been hit or not since they all looked the same.

He had 4 frags attached to his belt on the left side, 4 flash bangs on the right, towards the back of his belt he had a small pouch that contained some grey metallic spheres with crossbones etched into them that when thrown hard they would explode and cause smoke to come out. He had had these since bringing them to the Vast Empire and they had saved him and his squad mates countless times so he never left his barracks room without them. His fingertips brushed over the knife hilt, making sure his Heib and Stitch knife was still there as well. Last but not least he had brought his old and trusted friend, Whisper, his Sniper rifle he had back in his Wraith days, it was placed on a sling attached to his back. This thing had seen more action than most green horns did in there life time for war, if they were lucky to survive there first firefight of course.

Lukas returned an overturned table to its upright position before setting his sniper rifle down on the table. He broke it down, cleaned it, and reassembled it in a matter of minutes. He also made sure that his blaster pistol was reloaded and armed before returning to its holster on his side. He then flipped the table back onto its side just in case some more mercenaries try to rain on the Jester's parade while the civilian was working.

He leaned up against the wall near the entrance he was to cover and waited for Abalar to come to him and check him for injuries. His eyes glided over the room once or twice more to study escape routes and took other mental notes. Abalar came to him after a few minutes and checked him over.

"Looks like you only have a few blaster marks that grazed you during the firefight, other than that you look fine and perfectly good to me." Abalar stated. Lukas nodded in return to acknowledge her.

He then turned around and looked at the door that stood between him, the squad, and the enemies. It didn't look so sturdy, like the door on the other side of the room. Lukas had Therex take two over turned tables and put them on there sides facing the door way so they could be behind cover in case the door were to be blown open or kicked in. Lukas knew that there was more action to come, it was only a matter of time because with all the explosions and what not, there would be more men to come rushing to there deaths.

And with that, Lukas sat behind one of the overturned tables making sure nothing would get past him if it came through that door.

Finally they were doing something that was normal, at least normal for Bright. She smiled to herself and wondered if she had spent too much time sneaking around with the RAIDERS and just sneaking around in general. Shaking her head she watched as Meyers, one of their ARC attachments, climbed into the vent first. It was a tight fit for him and he'd even had to remove the shoulder pads of his armor to even get inside.  When Bright had asked if he was claustrophobic, he had simply shrugged and inspected the vent.

“Tell me again why the big guy is going first.” Abalar asked, a tone of worry in her voice.  She watched as he disappeared for a few moments then reappeared.

“Your tech was right about the dimensions,” He said climbing out of the vent and waving Bright over, “it opens up wider  about nine feet in. A good eight inches I'd say, and gives about six inches of more head room.”

Bright nodded and handed her rifle to Aeos while she climbed into the vent herself. As vents, air ducts, small service areas, and such were her specialty, Bright had declared that she would be taking point this time. Once she was in she had Ae hand up her rifle and she was off. As she made her way forward she listened for sounds of the rest of the squad joining her.  She hadn't set an order as to who would follow and when, but she was certain that smaller of them would be going first. That meant that the sound behind her was likely Jana or perhaps Abalar. Both women were roughly the same size, with the exception of the fact that Abalar wore armor. 

Feeling the sweat forming on the back of her neck, Bright stopped for a deep breath. She refused to focus on where she had found herself.  It was not something that she generally focused on at all. Now however, she was stuck underground and reduced to crawling through vents to achieve her objectives. Moving forward again, she noticed the spacing begin to widen just where Meyers had said that it would, and she felt a little bit of her fear dissipate. It was not common  knowledge, her fear of tight spaces, or even her fear of being underground, she'd always had something else to focus on when in situations like this. Now she was the leader, and had to be calm and collected. A task she was finding increasingly difficult the farther into this base that they went.

“Bright.” So it had been Abalar that followed her. “Jana wanted me to tell you that when we get to the four way, we want to go left.”

“Understood.” Bright said as she continued to crawl on all fours.

Breathing slowly and steadily, and using a technique she learned as a child on Bakura, Bright started to recall her language tutor. He had taught her to count in five different languages and up to five thousand. She whispered those numbers now, in Basic and in Bithian, Bothese, Huttese, Bocce, and Durese. She was just becoming impressed with how much she remembered when she spotted the four way split in the vent.

Silently she turned to the left one and sighed happily. It looked as though this one was a service vent, built for specialists to make their way in and make repairs to this sector of the ventilation systems for the facility. “Ayme, we have ourselves a service vent. Does Jana have any idea where it leads?”  For a moment the red head cursed herself for not finding Jana a headset at least.

The slight crackle signaled Havock's answer, “Leads to  a stairwell on the level below the one we just vacated.” Havock replied.

Now why can't I be calm and focused like her? Bright asked herself. By this point her pulse was pounding in her ears and she was ready to just blow the base to hell so she could just go home. Her personal issues warred with her sense of honor and duty to the VE and to her squad. She was stubborn though, and so far honor and duty were winning.

“Rain, when we get back to Tadath, I'm taking you cave diving.” Havock  said, the smile on her face evident in her voice.

The acting squad leader swore colorfully and started to think of a retort when she heard a series of panicked voices ahead of her. Bright signaled for the squad to stop moving.  She did not want their presence known.

“Frak! Even the service doors are locked down.” An angry male voice growled as the sound of his fist, or maybe his foot connected with the service stairwell door. “Total lock down. Everything is locked from this floor and  up by three.”

“You mean they locked us down here to rot?” A female voice questioned. She sounded older calmer than the others, but there was still an underlying trace of fear in her voice. “Are there no fail safes to override the lock down procedures?”

“We've tried those codes already. They seem to have been either changed or a system virus was unleashed that burned through them making them unusable.” Another man said, his voice dry.

Bright grinned. Jana had done it again. She was practically shouting in there faces that she was the one that had done it, just like last time. She waited until she was certain that the people had gone back to whatever room they had come from and she continued forward slowly until she came to a vent grate. Shifting to be able to see if there was any security posted in the stairwell, Bright was unable to see beyond a few feet in the direction she was looking.

She sighed and keyed her comms again. “Ok looks like the stair way is clear but I can't be sure. I can only see a few feet in either direction.” Bright said quietly, “It looks like we're going to have to take a chance.” She finished.

OOC:

Ok Jesters, I got us to the service stairwell, you choose whether it is guarded or not. As a side note I would like to remind you that I will be the first one out of the vent. Don't get me killed.

Graded to here.

Havock looked at Brightstar. Their objective was to lock down the upper level, and now they were there, staring at an objective that they didn't have any obvious way out of. In almost every scenario, she saw them trapped and dead.

"We find the lady a data terminal, and fast."

Brightstar nodded and walked in pace with Havock with the others following. They slowed at each doorway searching for a terminal or a fight. It was debatable if they would shut down the security feeds before or after they killed all the personnel on the level.

The lights flickered which only perpetuated the madness of what they were doing. Now they had to walk in a group with flickering lights and an entire station converging on their location. That was why they needed to hack the security systems. If they had to be blind in this fight, then Blanchard damn sure was going to be blind too.

"Ayme." Havock looked expectantly at Brightstar but only got a confused cocked head. She blinked and turned to her other arm and was shocked to slowly realize the voice was owned by Aeos. "The base, there are things you need to know."

"Everything was in the dossier Ae, relax. Other than being here a handful of years ago, what has you all tense...you never get tense. Actually now that I realize that I'm getting kinda nervous. What is it you need to tell me?"

The long pause that followed only served to increase Havock's anxiety. She could count the number of times her older sister actually used her first name on one hand, and none of them were pleasant conversations. Yet every time in the past Aeos was more angry, instead this time she seemed almost scared. Frankly for Aeos to exude any emotion probably meant someone was going to get the brunt of her ire, today Havock could only hope those would be members of Blanchard.

“Found one.” Jana whispered from the entry way to a small office. The room probably belonged to some high level analyst. It was bigger than most single suites with a desk in the center and several chairs around the room for meetings, most likely. The most important thing was the terminal that sat ready and waiting on the desk.

Havock grabbed the shoulder of the suddenly eager tech and did a quick sweep of the room. Standing in the far corner was a man searching for something with a distracted look on his face. The company commander raised her rifle and was about to bark a command at him when he interrupted her.

“Oh good.” He held up a cup, half filled with caf. “Do you know if they switched to decaf in the lounge? I’ve been looking everywhere for another caf machine and just can’t seem to find one.” He shook his head. “Its just not the same yanno.”

Havock blinked and looked over at Brightstar who was already lowering her weapon. “I don’t think they changed it, but maybe you should ask someone else.”

“Hmmhmm.” He nodded and took another sip, then raised his glass as a sign of thanks. “I’ll do just that.” As he walked down the corridor past all the stormtroopers he just kept muttering to himself about the quality of caf.

“Oooooookay?”

Havock shrugged. “Let’s go Jana.”

She nodded and bounced behind the terminal. Soon the security holos would be out and they could move more freely. Although Havock had to wonder where their opposition was, with the exception of the merc who had an issue with his caf. The whole thing just gave her a bad feeling.

OOC:

Okay Jesters, Jana is hacking the computer, we need to set up defenses so that she can finish that task. Assume someone knows we are there and that we will have company before she finishes. Once she is done we will be scouting the upper levels to see what we have found.

The three android bots were hulking with solid plated armor and were menacing looking but looked like they could barely fit in the corridor. Although they were blocking the only path that Jester could go through, besides going back the way they came which wasn't exactly the best option. With Lukas being in the rear anyways he could hear footsteps coming.

"Looks like we are going to have company before our friends get here!", Lukas said diving to the ground, firing off some rounds, downing some merc patrols heading there way. The two ARC troopers with him along with THX began laying down covering fire to the rear of the squad holding the incoming mercs at bay. Meanwhile it was Lukas, Havock, Jana, and Bright looking at the walking fortresses coming through them.

Lukas remembered seeing these kind of droids on a Wraith mission he had done a long time ago. "Since the armor is so thick we have to hit them on the inside when they open up there sensor slots", Lukas spoke into the comm piece to Hav and Bright. To give the rest of the squad time, Lukas took one small sphere from his pouch and threw it as hard as he could at the droid infront of the three. It slammed into its hulking chest and exploded into a swirl of instant smoke, at this opportunity Lukas ran up and slid down through between the front droid's leg and fired his sniper rifle and close range right through one of its knee caps and it went down, lucky shot Lukas thought to himself.

However he didn't have very much time to think about that because as soon as the one in front went down, the other two droids opened up him as he dove into nearby room, the  wall lining and door were pocked with blaster marks. Lukas had a feeling that the droids were pissed and were coming after him so he took up cover behind one of the few desks in the room.

"Lukas! The droids are coming after you....whatever you did, you pissed them off bad!", Hav hollered into the comm piece. With that being said Lukas decided to not stick around in the room so he got up ran straight into a window, shattering it as he dove through it and back out into the hall where the battle was going on. Havock and Bright were firing at the droids while Jana was hiding and staying in cover behind what little there was.

Therex had already fired several rounds down the hallway at the oncoming mercs. However, at this distance his typical shots were useless. And he was running low on lead slugs. Behind him, he heard the groan of metal on metal. He turned just in time to watch one of the droids drop down on one knee. While it tried to recover the other two turned the other direction. It was at this point he noticed that Lukas wasn't anywhere to be seen.

  Looking down at his ammo, he remembered that he had some explosive slugs. However, they wouldn't be enough to punch through the thick armor. Loading a full clip into his shotgun, Therex braced himself against the wall. Taking a quick breath, he ran down the hallway towards the droid that was slowly standing, using the wall to support itself. Jumping up, Therex found a small opening in the armor, a joint that had been blown open by the thermal detonator. Lowering his weapon, Therex fired two quick shots through the gap.

  The droid lurched forward, stopped, and toppled over with a loud bang. One down, two more to go. With the loss of their comrade, one of the remaining droids turned away from Lukas. Panicking, Therex threw himself behind the hulk of the downed droid, using their thick armor against them. Peeking over the top, Therex noticed that one of the E-Webs on the droid he was hiding behind, looked to still be operational.

  Reaching around, Therex found the hole he had fired into, and prayed that he hadn't destroyed what he was looking for. When he reached around, his hands struck a hardened metal object. Looking in, Therex saw that the power cell was still intact. He pulled out his knife and started to try to wriggle the box free. Once you got inside the droid, the armor wasn't that thick. The box eventually slid free.

  Checking the squad, he saw that on of the droids almost seemed to be slowing under the constant fire. It's armor was pockmarked and dented countless times, yet they still couldn't punch through. Grabbing a handful of cords from inside the droid, he began to jury-rig the power cell into the E-Web. Once it was set up, Therex pulled the massive gun around and pointed it at the weakened droid. Attaching the wire to the power cell to complete the circuit, he ducked down lower.

  The E-Web opened up, firing wildly. Because the servos no longer had power, Therex had to constantly re-adjust the aim of the gun. Slowly but surely, the repetitive shots began to puncture the armor. Moving one of it's E-Webs toward Therex, it began to spray it's dead companion with laser bolts. Not sure what to do, Therex remained behind the droid's dead body, until slowly, the firing quieted down. Peeking tentatively over his barricade, Therex saw that the other droid started to finally buckle as it's armor caved in under fire.

  Jumping up, Therex threw his arms up in excitement. His victory was short-lived. Because he was using an impromptu power system for the gun, it was rather unstable. He didn't need his cybernetic eye to tell him that the pack was heating up quickly. Flailing madly, he ran back towards the squad, yelling, "Get down, now!" The explosion that ensued was quick and violent. After the debris stopped flying around, Therex looked back up the hall. The droid he had been hiding behind was completely gone, and the remaining one had taken quite a bit of damage. Switching on his com he called out, "Lukas, you all right? Lukas?"

  Swearing, Therex ran past the temporarily stunned droid and found Lukas slumped against a wall. He had no visible wounds, but he was out cold. Checking his vital signs, Therex let out a sigh of relief. Lukas was alive, probably just thrown against the wall by the blast. Switching his com on again, Therex saidto Bright, "We need to end this quickly. Lukas might be hurt, and we still have that droid between you and us."

  In reply, Therex could hear several laser blasts as the squad tried to take out the last droid. While he waited, Therex did a once over on Lukas. He had no broken bones, and his skull was still intact.

  Maybe I should have stayed in medical school.

Havock rolled into a doorway, cursing at several shots that sent drywall dust into her eyes. She wasn't sure when she lost her helmet. She had pinned it down to after they saw the battle droids and before she'd gotten herself into this mess. Jana screamed and then flew into Havock's lap.

"Oof, aren't we suddenly friendly?"

The technician turned captive, turned back to a technician for the Vast Empire frowned with a look of utter confusion in her eyes. "We are going to die and you are flirting? What is wrong with you?"

Havock held a finger up to Jana's face. "Not flirting, just making conversation." The company commander reached up and felt for the door controls. She managed to push them seconds before a bolt fried the controls and singed her hand through the glove. "Frak."

Havock rolled with her arm clenching Jana into the room and pushed the tech up to her feet in the direction of a remote terminal. She stayed on her knee swallowing the curses in her throat as she checked her hand. Jana gave her a few concerned glances then got to work.

Therex flew through the door being jerked into the room by Brightstar. The trooper sprawled to the floor next to Havock. "Hey Rexy, bad day?"

The Chiss man raised his head slightly, she didn't need him to remove the helmet to know he loathed the nickname.

"Havock, one is diverting to our location."

"Right."

The blond jumped to her feet and grabbed a bar that was once attached to some piping in the room. She still had to wince when she used her burnt hand. "Bright, tell me when the bastard coming for them is right by the door. Or whichever one is first and close. I need to get it to hold still and keep those damn guns off us."

As the battle droid came past and Havock jammed the metal rod into the gears and listened to the whine caused by the gears.

"Ayme, that's not going to hold it for long." Brightstar was right, the giant droid was already twisting around towards their position. It was fighting for its existence and ready to blow them apart to make sure it survived.

"Then we better work fast huh."

OOC:

Terribly sorry for this post. But It moved us along...I guess. If anyone in the other group happens to still be here feel free to post about the battle in the hallway and what you are seeing.

Graded to here, 12/31.

Therex was moving quickly up the hallway, leading what remained of Jester squad out of the base. As they turned a corner, alarms started blaring, the shrieking noise hurting Therex's ears. Obviously they weren't getting out easily. From down the hallway, he heard sniper fire. Lukas was having fun, that was for sure. Therex raised his shotgun, and approached the end of the hallway slowly. Peeking around the corner, he saw several mercs charging towards them. Signalling to the rest of the squad, he slipped behind a support pillar and waited. When the first merc cleared the corner, the squad opened fire, mowing down their surprised targets in no time. After the chaos calmed Bright took point and checked the corner. Giving the all clear, she had Therex take point again.

  "We need to pick up the pace," Bright commented. Nodding in approval, Therex double-timed it down the hallway. He realized his error a little too late. As he rounded the corner, a large blunt object came up and met Therex in the face. While on the floor, Therex noticed that the tree had run into, was actually the arm of one of the mercs. Standing behind him, was several more mercs, with their guns trained on him. Mere seconds later, Bright came around the corner and started firing over Therex's head. However, this group was better prepared than the last. One of the mercs had a slug thrower. His shot caught Bright in the shoulder and threw her onto the floor. Havock and Jana were at the taking cover further down the hall waiting for an opening.

  Slowly, Therex's vision started to blur, and he began to drift. When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in control. Reaching behind himself, Therex slid a small cylinder out of a discreet holster. Hitting a release on the side it extended to it's full length and the ends surged with energy. Swinging the electrostaff, Therex caught the large merc who had knocked him to the floor, between the legs. While he fell to the floor, Therex used the upward force of his swing and jumped up, catching another merc in the face. The first merc was trying to stand, so Therex brought the back end of the staff up to the merc' chin, and shoved him back down, vaulting over the merc with the staff jammed into his throat. Just before landing, Therex heard a crack, as the merc's neck snapped under the extreme pressure.

  Joining him, Havock and Jana started firing down the hallway, taking out the remaining mercs. Bright recovered and checked her shoulder. The bullet had dented the armor, but it didn't appear to have penetrated. Standing, she patted Therex's shoulder.

  "That was-" she started. Therex grabbed her wrist and spun himself around facing Bright. However he was slowly coming out of his haze, so his grip slackened. The next thing Therex felt, was a feeling of floating. Turning, he noticed a large flat object coming up to meet him. Too late, he realized that Bright had picked him up and threw him down. When he landed, Therex's head came down pretty hard and cracked against the permacrete floor.

  "What the heck was that all about?" Bright asked. Therex groaned and sat up.

  "I was just about ask you the same thing." he said, grunting with effort, trying to stand. Looking around the hallway, he reached for his electrostaff. Bright slammed a boot down on his hand, stopping his progress.

  "You gonna go crazy on us again?" she asked, reaching for her sidearm. Nodding slowly, Therex was fighting the urge to scream. His hand was throbbing two beats faster than his head. Reluctantly, Bright lifted her boot up and let him go. Grabbing his staff, Therex collapsed it back down and slid it into the holster.

  Motioning down the hallway with a sweeping motion, Therex looked back at the rest of his squad.

  "Shall we?"