With a shudder, the Dominion slammed back into realspace. In the cruiser’s bowels, Stormtroopers barely paid it mind. Most went back to what they’d been doing; smoking, playing cards, buffing their armor or checking their gear. A few, however, had a other things to worry about.

Garryll Gates stood in an auxiliary hangar of the huge craft as the small transport scooted through the field generators. The transport landed heavily, and the ramp descended almost immediately. Two soldiers in matte black armor walked briskly down the ramp, rifles slung and still kitted up. They held their helmets under their arms.

One face was far more familiar than the other, but Gates remembered both from their briefing, barely more than forty-eight hours ago. Havock stepped forwards.

“Where’s the rest of the team, Whiskey?” she asked. “Dead?”

“Not last we saw,” the ARC Commander replied. “Orr sent us out of there when the situation went to hell.”

“Well, we better get you debriefed then. No time to lose, if the emergency pulse you sent was telling us about this,” Gates said, then turned to the squad of Stormtroopers they’d brought as guards. “Briefing room one, sergeant.”

“Roger that, sir. Corporal, you have the guard.”

The other ARC trooper, the man who called himself ‘The Duke,’ had slipped into and back out of the transport without Gates spotting him, and had a half-dozen odd datapads in his hands. The two Army officers wheeled about and led the ARCs deeper into the embrace of the Imperial cruiser.

*** *** *** *** ***

Gates leaned back, cursing softly. Havock nodded in agreement. “This is big. I’m glad we brought Phoenix. We need to figure out what the hell is going on here.”

Havock stabbed at a button in front of her. “Get me the squad leaders in here.”

Gates threw a suggestion into the mic. “And get a platoon leader from the shipboard Stormies in here, too.”

One by one, the asked-for soldiers appeaered; Eclipse’s leader, Second Lieutenant Skarr arrived first. The newly-elevated Corporal Crest of Blackjack entered discussing something with the Raiders squad leader, Sergeant First Class Jaenna Caldwin. The last arrival was an unfamiliar face, a scarred and middle-aged man with lieutenant’s bars; his chest label said ‘Cortez.’

“Phoenix. Good to see you all again,” Gates said in greetings. “I wish I could greet you under better circumstances, but as usual, we’re going to be calling upon you to be the tip of the spear.”

He clicked a button on the table, and for the second time that week, the planet of Shumongi rose before him. “This is the planet we’re currently in-system of. We’re concerned with a facility in the mountainous region.”

The hologram zoomed in, highlighting a sprawling facility.

“Intelligence says this is a base owned by the organization ‘Flail.’ ARC troopers have investigated, and that’s true. It’s also home to some pretty screwed up shit,” Gates said carefully. “Most of the ARC squad we sent in has not returned. Two-thirds of it, to be exact. We’re going in and getting them out, and we’re going to finish their mission, and, if the facility poses a threat, we take it out.”

“What kind of opposition are we facing, here?” Skarr asked.

“ARC says that Flail forces pulled out when the containment alarms went off, but if they return, they’re basically a private military company. Training, weapons, gear; they’ve got it.”

“Did you say ‘containment?’ What was being contained?” Crest asked.

“These,” Gates said, and pressed another button. A helmet-cam view of one of the ARCs - the ID in the lower corner said ‘Duke’ - floated by hologram. Gunfire spat from the rifle that was held before the view, and its targets -

“Gods,” muttered Cortez, making a brief motion with his hands. “What are those things?”

“We don’t know,” Gates said simply as Duke’s shots slammed into the shambling human-sized creature in front of him. “But they’re persistent and tall in numbers. Their vision is...lacking, but they can hear pretty damn well.”

The creature rose in the cam, but got put down with another shot. The Duke ran forwards and kicked it in the neck on his way past.

“So how are we going to play this?” Jaenna asked, leaning back in her seat.

“We have three goals: the ARCs, figuring out what the hell is going on here, and securing the facility. One squad will have each goal, and Cortez’s forces will secure secondary objectives, Gates said, and flipped the hologram back to imaging of the facility.

“Blackjack: you will insert via the roof; we need control of this facility. That means that we need control of their command center. That’s your job. Secure the center and get our techs eyes and ears.”

Gates shifted to a different part of the facility. “Eclipse: you’ll be following in the ARCs’ steps, so you’ll enter here or here and get into the hot labs. ARC didn’t get a good look at them, so you need to do the honors. Expect a lot of resistance once the lockdown is lifted.”

The Tactical Officer shifted the view again. “Raiders: we need to get the ARCs back. Orr said he’d take them into the bowels of the facility, where they’d have room to play hide-and-seek with these things. You need to get down into the storage facilities and find them, and prep them to get out.”

“Cortez, I want you to send some squads to secure parts of the facility along Phoenix’s routes. Insert with the Stormtroopers, but you’ll break off and take defensive positions and explore the facility. I also want your guys to lift the lockdown. That’ll give us free rein of the facility.”

The SLs seemed in agreement. “Got it? Good. Transports are being prepped right now. We deploy in an hour. Let’s do this.”

OOC:

Raiders: Get in via the lower level access. There are several options, ranging from the sewers, as proven by Whiskey, or by lower maintenance hatches or the vehicle hangar. Once inside, Orr said he would lead the other ARCs deep into the facility. The bottom levels are a likely bet to find the ARCs, and are made up of storage facilities.

ARC trooper intelligence suggests most of the mutants are trapped by the lockdown. It is unlikely you will face too many before Cortez’s squads raise it.


The lockdown will be raised on Wednesday, July 4 at or after 11 PM EST. Look out for a post from me then.

OOC:

2/15

Silence crept through the transport like a decease festering in an open wound on a more than blisteringly hot day. It wasn't anything like the calm silence that was normal, it wasn't like the quiet thinking and reflecting on the briefing that the troopers had sat through for the first few moments of their flight. It had the stench of fear and of apprehension. If one were to look into the transport, they would hear only the muffled breathing of a few troopers, their helmets already on, and the deep, slow breathing of the others who had yet to done their black head gear.

Slowly, the squad leader lifted her head from staring at the floor as she had been for what felt like the last twenty minutes. Her helmet sat on the bench, resting against her thigh. It was only then that she realized that she spice spiked lungblaster that hung lazily in her lips had burnt out. With a grumble to took it from her lips, staring at the dead end of it. It had been wasted. Right when she had lit it up, she had fallen into another one of her dead stares as the laughter of Vanni, sadistic leader of the Tekcor Corporation, slammed into her mind once again.

With how often that laughter had been playing over and over again in her head... Jaenna knew that she wouldn't be able to block it out without some sort of help. Whether or not a promise had been made to her squad she knew that she would need what lay nestled in the pouch on her hip. She also knew that if she fucked it up at all, she would lose the small amount of trust she hoped she had with the rest of RAIDERS.

Control had to be on her side. Jaenna hoped it would be.

Another grumble. The woman flicked the wasted stick to the side and ruffled around in the pouch on her belt for another one of her spice spiked lungblasters. The sound of the rumaging brought the head of another trooper around to look at her. His helmet was on, but she could tell from his voice that it was Dusk.

"That smart? Ya just had one." His voice was like a thousand stones as it broke the silence.

Jaenna shrugged, the only answer she thought was appropriate at the time. It was only when someone else spoke up that she realized it was because she didn't have any words.

"I was watching her. She lit her last one and it faded out. She never took a single drag of it." Coadster's voice seemed more hopeful than confident.

With a tentative smile Jaenna looked up to him, he was sitting across from her. With a simple nod in thanks to him she pulled out her new stick, set it in her lips and lit it. The woman took a long draw from the drug and tobacco mixture and released the blue colored smoke with a satisfied purr.

"Touch down in ten." The voice crackled over the intercom of the transport.

The squad leader looked around at her squad. They weren't nearly as beaten down as they had been in the past. All the injuries sustained on Randa had been easily fixed. New cybernetics, some time with bacta patches. Everything had been healed in the two weeks since they had returned. Physically they were fine. But mentally... emotionally... All of them were damaged.

Jaenna time in RAIDERS had allowed her to see many deaths. The deaths of enemies, of innocents and of others that didn't matter enough to even have a title in her train of thought. She had even seen her own troopers die. Her blades had been the end of one. Losing someone was normal, it was life. It was the Corps. The more she tumbled the thought over and over in her head, though, the more she came to the conclusion that it wasn't the fact that they had lost someone. It was the way they had lost her.

The one eyed woman would be lying if she said that she didn't think any single one of her troopers didn't blame her for Whiskey's death. She had been the one to place the cuffs around her wrists, after all.

Once again, it was as if her assistant squad leader could easily read her mind, for when she looked up all she saw was him mouth the words 'Don't blame yourself.'

Slowly, she nodded and took another drag of her stick. She leaned back and listened to the painful silence of the transport as the blue smoke lifted up to the ceiling and circled about her head.



AN HOUR LATER :: ON PLANET

"We're never going to get this smell out of our armor."

"Shut up, it's plastoid, smell doesn't stick."

"Tell that to your B.O." Dusk chuckled.

Heliwer tightened the grip on his A280. "Boy, I will smack your shit silly if you don't shut it."

The bickering between Heliwer and Dusk had been going on for the past ten minutes. Their voices were hushed, almost drowned out by the sound of the wet sloshing of her boots through whatever sludge that had been trudging through.

The sewers were dark, damp and obviously quite smelly. Even with their air filters on, the stench of the planets bowels continued to find its way through their armor and fill their helmets. Many of them had gagged when they first found their way into the large pipes.

"I said shut it."

"What are you gonna do? Punch me?"

"That's a possibility."

"Both of you cut it the frak out." Jaenna turned just in time to see Heliwer rearing back for a hefty punch. "Otherwise I will deck the both of you." Her good eye glared out from the lit up, sea-foam colored visor of her helmet, her grip tight on her own A280. "The map I lifted from the scouting station up top says we have a few more meters until we hit the entry point. So shut it, deal with the smell, and keep moving." With a grunt she turned and continued walking.

It felt like her squad was falling apart, and Jaenna was doing her best not to let it effect her. It was a sorry attempt, however, for even Karash could see through his veil of apathy and notice how tight she was gripping her blaster.

The private com clicked on, causing Jaenna to almost jump. "I have the syringes Cody brought with him. Just so you know." Even the reassuring comment was full to the brim with his normal, apathetic tone. Jaenna nodded and heard the com click off.

The squad continued on for another few moments, the silence not as deafening anymore due to the small quips and jabs that would come from Dusk or Heliwer, the sound of Naast's annoyed breathing (for he had the most sensitive nose) and from the now slightly hurried sloshing of their boots in the sludge. Even with those small sounds filling the large pipe and echoing around them, no one could miss the sound of something shambling across the floor above them.

"What the frak was that?" Mox looked up to the ceiling, hands tight on his blaster.

Jaenna looked up as well, then back to the map that was lit up on her wrist mounted datapad. "Whatever it is it's in the facility. We're right under it now. The hatch we need to climb through is right up there." Despite the commanding tone of her title and position, there was still a slight wobble of fear in her voice. "Lets move."

She started at a trot down the pipe, and the rest of RAIDERS followed, sloshing through the sewage and spraying the the sludge about as they ran. Within moments they came to a large grate on the ceiling, with a ladder leading up. They all stopped beneath it and all looked up. Finally, in what seemed like far too long, the entire squad broke out into a chuckle.

"Convenient, huh?" Coadster laughed as he motioned towards the ladder.

"Maybe too convenient." Even with the thought of it being too easy to be true, even Heliwer was laughing as he spoke.

"Alright, alright. Calm down." Jaenna chuckled as well as she fished along her belt for the mini-torch that would allow them to remove the grate. She climbed the ladder and torched the locks, causing the gate to fall into the sludge with a sickening splash. "Oh yeah, watch out I guess." She chuckled again and inclined her head up, looking through the entrance. "Alright. Lets go."

Moments later, they stood in a hallway, a blinking red light the only source of light other than their helmet visors. The hallway was lined on each side with multiple blast doors. The sound of angry shambling and pounding could be heard from behind them. The entire squad looked at the door closest to them. It shuddered as whatever was behind it pounded against it, growling and muttering incoherent curses in whatever language the mutant could.

"That is sickening." Dusk mutter softly.

"Well they'll be coming for us soon. Cortez and his boys and girls are probably already working on getting the lockodwn lifted. So lets move." She looked at the map on her wrist again and took off down the hallway, the rest of RAIDERS following close behind.

OOC:

Okay. So we are in the facility now. We are already in the lower levels, now we are just looking for the storage areas and what not. Keep an ear out for sounds of the ARCs and assume that Jaenna and Mox worked together to hack into their com channel in order to try and make vocal contact.

Cortez’s First Squad dropped down their lines a minute after Blackjack did, their dropship neatly sliding into the vacancy left by Blackjack’s.

They entered via the same doors that Blackjack had, but quickly turned off of the Phoenix squad’s route. Theirs was a different mission. As they entered, a couple more of Cortez’s squads dropped in. They’d spread through the facility and secure key positions and take up defensive formations to keep some of the pressure off of Phoenix while the cream of the Stormtrooper crop went about their business.

The First Squad found an access shaft and went down a level; they moved quickly, scanning warily for the monsters they’d been briefed on. One stumbled into the hallway before them, but the squad gunned it down quickly. It twitched on the ground as they passed it, burning from the dozen blaster burns it had suffered.

The security station sat before them. The emergency lighting led up to it like some sort of guiding light, and the squad leader ordered a stack-up. His troopers dutifully assumed their positions, and on his mark, slammed the door open.

Point men scrambled inside and scanned for hostiles. They found none, and shouted ‘clear,’ one by one. The squad leader waved half his squad in, and deployed the rest in a defensive position to cover their backs. Their slicer moved forwards and hooked into the defense grid of the facility. His gear hummed and beeped for a few minutes as it chewed over the codes that Flail had used to guard the facility against such an incursion. Finally, it beeped positively.

“Control achieved, sir. We can lift the lockdown,” said the slicer.

The squad leader nodded and tapped his comlink. “This is First Squad. We are lifting the lockdown. Be ready.”

“Do it.”

*** *** *** *** ***

Fourth squad wasn’t in position by the time the lockdown was lifted, and the squad leader cursed. “Damn! How were we supposed to get to our position in that time?”

Their emergency lights had not been working well, even. There had been only one in five working at all, and that one light was frequently semi-broken. They had hoped the normal lighting would fix that problem, but no luck; just as many of the regular lights had been damaged as well.

They had had to stumble in the darkness, their night vision settings trying to paint the way. As such, it had slowed them tremendously.

“Alright, we’re almost there. Keep an eye out for those damn shambling creatures,” the squad leader said.

A grunt came over the squad-link. The squad leader shook his head - “What? Speak up!”

The rest of the squad was silent but for their breathing. “Qualls? Was that you?”

Qualls had drawn the rear position. One of the squad turned to prompt him, but cursed.

“What the hell! Qualls is gone!” gasped the trooper.

“Halt,” the squad leader ordered, holding up a fist. “Viper, Holden. Backtrack to the last split and see if he went the wrong way.”

“Roger that, sir,” said the two men, turning and cautiously walking back.

“Sir. Found his rifle. Looks like he dropped it...oh shit,” said one of the men.

“Gods damn. Qualls’ hand is still attached to the rifle...no sight of Qualls. Is...is that a helmet?”

“Let me check...fuck. It is...and- oh gods!”

“Contact! Contact! I don’t know what the fuck that was, but it just grabbed Viper and -”

The rest of the link was filled with blaster fire.

“Holden! Holden!” yelled the squad leader. “Move back, troopers. We’ve got to save them.”

OOC:

Lockdown’s done, and here they come. You’ve drawn a different type of mutants than what was in the briefing; check the info page - “Class-III mutants”  - for what you’ll be facing. The link is here!

OOC:

5/15

Oh Space, what fresh hell is this?

Cody thought the werewolves were bad, but the thing on the floor… It was truly awful. Not even a nightmare, it was simply something that shouldn’t be. The basic shape was human, it was obviously human first. But the thing was huge and misshapen, the head permanently fixed forward by the hypertense muscles in his neck that sloped down to his shoulders and back. Pale scales seemed to be grafted to its right arm, and the arms from the elbow down were replaced with ivory blades that stuck right out of the forearm, the flesh around the protrusion grafted shut. What caught him most though were the unblinking brown eyes that were inserted into the man… thing’s temples, one of them seeming to stare into and through Coad. To assist with the fact that the neck was nothing but a wall of brawn, maybe. Cody didn’t know.

Breathing deeply, he pushed back the wall of nausea that threatened to spill over. Nothing they could’ve said could prepare me for… this. A moment after regaining his composure, the red lockdown lights were replaced with brilliant flourescent white. “What in Space was that?” Cody didn’t have to ask; metallic thrumming and hissing filling the air with the kind of synchronicity that only machines could accomplish, and ended just as quickly. The lockdown was over. The doors were open. 

All of them.

“We still have our mission to complete,” Jae said, taking a few steps toward the door to lead the way out. “Let’s get the ARCs and get the hell out of dodge.”

“Alright RAIDERS, let’s get moving,” Coadster called over his shoulder, wanting to get away from the dead freak and out of the facility that facilitated it‘s creation. As he stepped into the hallway, the suppressed cries of triumph, crazed rage, and agony filled his ears. Talons and horned heads poked out of the now open cell doors, tentative footsteps into the hall for most while the more manic threw themselves out. Oddly enough, though, they didn’t attack one another. In fact, it seemed to be a fresh discovery for the majority when they spotted one another. Thy came together and analyzed each other in a careful way, a birdlike curiosity abounding.

Jae motioned for the RAIDERS to move the other way, leaving the mutants to their own devices. Cody couldn’t agree more; As long as they were preoccupied, they wouldn’t have to deal with them. The ARCs were somewhere on the level, and getting into it now might not be a good idea for either party. Down the hallway they went, double-timing, Cody hoped, to get the hell out of dodge.

A high shrill of surprise bounced down the hall. Cody, surprised, turned and looked back at the corner of the hall. A mutant, seeming to be female even beneath the medical apron and sparse feather covering, had  him in her gaze. Mutants with ears turned to look at the squad, then a full range of emotion seemed to go through the crowd. The bird woman concluded what every one of the things must have seen in the squad in one terrified, alarming word.

“MONSTERS!”

Like it was a cue, the mutants moved into action, a bustling activity capturing the definition of chaos. Some ran the opposite direction, while others barreled right down the hall at them. Cody ducked back behind the corner and fumbled with the thermal pack he was carrying.  He peeled the backing to it off and stuck it on the wall, giving ten seconds to get out of dodge.

“Go guys, move!” he called to squad, which halted ten or so paces ahead. He pulled a flash bang out just before setting the charge, and threw it a few feet from the corner. Pressing the switch, he turned his head and ran down the hall after the other RAIDERS. Three seconds went by before a stark white flashed behind him, but all he could think of doing was to keep running. He’d get thrown at this rate, but at least he wouldn’t be plastered by the explosive. Or eaten.

That was his last thought before the explosive went off. The invisible hand of the explosive pressed against his back, and he crossed his arms across his face to cushion the fall. It didn’t really help, but it kept his face from meeting the floor, with only a thin layer of glass to keep his face from looking a lot less pretty. His feet came up over his head, and he landed on his back. He could feel the plastic of his suit give way to the metal guns on impact, and then suddenly he wasn’t moving.

A piercing ring filled Cody’s ears, and he floundered a few moments while trying to get back on his feet. One of his hands met someone else’s, and he was pulled to his feet. Slowly, as they moved, the world came back into focus. He took four or five steps, then was able to get a bearing on his balance.

“-kay? You okay?”

Heliwer had his hand on Coad’s shoulder, and Cody nodded, the fuzziness fading fast. “Y-y-yeah,” he said, shaking his head to clear it. He began to walk alongside Heli, getting a bit faster as his senses came back. “Yeah, I’m alright. Let’s get going before more of those freaks catch up.”

OOC:

Conditioning's fun, eh? Have fun running and gunning!

Onboard the Dominion, the tactical screen was flashing a dozen different colors. Indicators rapidly moved to and fro. The Stormtrooper officers and two ARCs pointed at various indicators occasionally and had something to say.

Cortez was orchestrating his squads to cover one another like a master. “Third squad: withdraw thirty meters and cover eighth squad’s retreat.”

The indicator for the named squads converged, flashing to show that they were in combat. “These damn things are a hell of a lot bigger than what was in the briefing, sir!” crackled the comm from one of the squads, the voice on the link gifted a background of heavy laser fire.

“Keep at it, men,” Cortez replied calmly. “We must hold the line.”

Gates raised an eyebrow at the two ARCs. “Are you sure these creatures hadn’t been here when you were down there?”

“Aye,” the Duke grumbled. “Damage to the facility during our insertion or the lockdown lifting must have caused the other experiments to be released; you’ve seen our helmet feeds. We didn’t see anything like these creatures the squads are talking about.”

Two of the squads were closing in on their objectives; Blackjack and Eclipse. Raiders had gone too deep into the facility for the scanners to pick up on anymore.

Gates clicked a pair of controls, and the display tracked the two squads. A few notes flickered under them, detailing their second objectives. He clicked open the comm channels to the two squads.

*** *** ***

“Glad to see some Stormtroopers,” said the ARC leader as he emerged from his hiding place. “We were beginning to think that we were never going to get rescued.”

“Well, they’re here,” Smokes said, waving at RAIDERS.

“And I’d prefer if we didn’t linger,” replied Jae. “Have you seen these things?”

“Damn right we have!” Charge said, bouncing from her own hiding place and digging explosives from random places around the Stormtroopers. “But Commander’s got different ideas.”

“Sorry Raiders,” Orr said, removing a holo-device from his belt.. “But we found something damn unpleasant while we were down here.”

A small hologram rose from the device, displaying the base near them. “This is a cryogenic freezer. Long story short, this has some of Flail’s prime samples inside. We need to destroy these abominations.”

“Do we have the ordinance?” asked Coadster.

“Aye. Charge’s got enough bombs to blow a hole ten meters wide in a Star Destroyer’s hull. A freezer shouldn’t be tough.”

OOC:

ARC Commander Orr has identified a priority target: a cryogenic freezer in the local area of where Raiders made contact with the ARCs. Find it and destroy it.

OOC:

2/15

“This is a cryogenic freezer. Long story short, this has some of Flail’s prime samples inside. We need to destroy these abominations.” one of the ARC troopers presented the new objective using his holographic datapad.

“Do we have the ordinance?” asked Coadster.

“Aye. Charge’s got enough bombs to blow a hole ten meters wide in a Star Destroyer’s hull. A freezer shouldn’t be tough.”

“Well then, it should be easy, as long as the mutants don’t rip our hearts out.” Mox cut himself into the conversation. “Just plant the explosives and run.”

The experiences on the space station and on Randa made him much colder than before. The medics at Tadath diagnosed him to be just as normal as he was before, but he knew that both missions changed him. Being confronted with a werewolf, and then after couple of weeks with trained beasts rarely leaves a man unscarred, and Mox didn’t belong to that group.

“Yes, but getting there, and out, is going to be hard. We also don’t know what kind of defences await us there.” the ARC commanded responded.

Mox walked away, as the SLs were arguing about the shortest and the safest way. He couldn't be bothered to listen, as he would have to follow Jae's orders anyway and was in no position to change her mind. We could do something Wraith style... but hey, we're RAIDERS, not Wraith...

“Guys, we better get moving now! There’s a group of them coming this way.” Mox exclaimed as he saw something blocking the flashing light he had been staring at.

“Alright, let’s move.” Jae commanded, as she put away her DataPad and reloaded her rifle.

Having downloaded the objective’s location, Jae motioned her squad towards the other door, opposite to the one from which the mutants were about to burst into the bunker. The ARCs followed, closing the rear. As the mutants entered some RAIDER and ARC troopers gave away shots, surprisingly killing a few mutants. An argument between Heliwer and Dusk came into hearing, but Mox knew it wasn't regarding him, and so didn't listen.

As they moved closer to an intersection of corridors, Jaenna ordered her squad to stick to the wall, as she peeked around the corner. She signalled ‘clear’ with her hand and went into the corridor.

After a minute of silent walking, with surprisingly no encounters with any mutants they entered a hall and suddenly a dozen of the half-human, half-beasts burst out from the other side of it. Immediately the RAIDERS, and the ARC, fired upon them. Mox attempted to aim for their heads, as he imagined that these would be the weak points of any biological creature. But some of the mutants didn’t have heads. The most unnerving part of them for Mox, except that each of them was disgusting and gross, was that no mutant was the same. Each one was different, and so required a different strategy to eliminate, though one tactic worked always, but was insanely dangerous: shotgun to the face. Surprisingly shotguns ripped them apart, the M4 pistol worked in a similar fashion, but the danger came from having to be up-close to the victim for it to work.

“Damnation, they’re getting closer!” Mox shouted, as he changed his attachments.

He didn’t trust anything he did not use too often, and while he could trust a shotgun to do its job, he didn’t think a pistol could rip apart a 3-meter, steroid-pumped mutant. Mox loaded up his anti-armor attachment and fired onto the nearest mutant. The beast jumped onto a wall, but Mox already reloaded and shot again, aiming where he thought the mutant is going to land. The explosion ripped the monster into pieces, and sent the remains away. Mox moved backwards, as he changed his attachments again. Come on… Mox thought to himself as he attempted to force the blaster attachment into the slot.

“Clear!”

Mox looked up, having just inserted the attachment. Everywhere you looked you could find either a body or insides of a mutant, and the whole place was stained with blood.

“Everyone’s ok?” Jaenna called out, and almost in unison, the RAIDERS responded positively. “Good, lets continue to move, there is no telling when the next group of these monsters come around.”

The moment she finished that sentence a mixed of weird sounding voices came from behind them. “Frak…” Mox cursed under his breath.

“Everyone, move!” Coadster yelled.

Immediately the two squads started running away. The voices neared and soon the shadows of the mutants could be made out. Mox grabbed one of his thermal detonators, primed it for timed detonation, and simply threw it behind him, hoping that all of the beasts would get caught in its blast radius. He didn’t look back, only continued to run. This… armor… is so annoying. Mox muttered to himself  as he attempted to speed up, but was unable to, being accustomed to his flexible and lightweight CompForce armor Plus all this gear is making it even more heavy… damnation… The explosion send blood forwards, and ahead of the troopers, satisfying Mox, who looked back to see if that eliminated all of the mutants. Unfortunately, some of the freaks miraculously saw the detonator before it exploded and jumped away, managing to get away from its 20-meter blast radius. How the hell… Mox thought. Some of the ARCs stopped and starting gunning down the remaining mutants. Mox joined them, and soon all of the beasts were dead.

“Let’s go” Jaenna called

As they approached yet another intersection, Jaenna checked the map to see which way to go. “Why couldn’t you trap yourself a little closer to that mutant freezer?”

Some of the ARC chuckled, while they and the RAIDERS were securing the intersection. “Clear” a voice sounded through the ComLink.

“Great, we’re going straight.”

Suddenly something huge jumped into the squad from the ceiling. “What the hell?” Mox said as he stumbled and fell onto a wall. He looked behind him and saw the biggest of the mutants yet. Pushing himself away from the wall, he followed the some RAIDERS and ARC, who were making their way back to the junction of corridors. The monster allowed them to move to a better position, after which he screamed and charged. Does he think we’re toys?

“Damnation.”

OOC:

WC: 1050

OOC:

4/15

Cody sighed and lowered his blaster. He would have enjoyed a minute to catch up with his beating heart, give a moment for the adrenaline to settle. But the hallway was open on one side, and the blast door behind them would keep them from retreating if they were overwhelmed. He followed close behind Jae as the party began to move, stepping over one of the dead mutants, now mutilated far beyond what had been originally done.

"Man, we really gave the full rainforest treatment to these guys," he mumbled to no one in particular. Jae pulled out the datapad again, several new and  glaring scratch along its otherwise pristine glossy surface. With a large sigh and angry movements she brought the map out once again for the group. The light caught a few eyes, which made Coadster a bit nervous.

"Keep your eyes peeled guys, we've got to make sure we're still going the right way. Let's keep moving."

"Alright," Jae said, focusing the map on their level. The maze of hallways and storage units enlarged, and with a wave of Jae's hand the image flew to the left of the screen until a  brilliant blue dot came into view. At the edge of the screen was a red X in the middle of a room seeming to have no entrance on the map. "We're almost there. A few more twists and turns, and then we'll bury this glorified fridge and get the frak out of here."

"We still have enough charges, right?" Cody added, hindsight kicking him in the ribs for the alarming amount of ordnance that had just been wasted on a few muties. There were dozens more where they had come from, he was sure, and there wasn't a more dreading thought than running out of ammo with one of these... things bearing down on him. The StA-2 rifle had already been fairly crushed by one of those brutish mutants, and if his count wasn't off all of the RAIDERS flash grenades and thermal deonators, mistakenly and blessedly given to the squad while preparing for the mission, had just been used up.

To Coadster's relief the ARC, Charge, nodded her head. "Yup. The Star Destroyer's hull might be a little less worse for wear, but the freezer should still be a piece of shrapnel by the time we're done with it."

As the group continued down the hall, the flourescent lights suddenly went dark. Dim red ones then came alive in the pitch darkness, fading in and out like something alive. Oh god,, Cody thought, snapping his rifle up to his face. Does everything in this place have to resemble a gorram horror vid?

"Keep sharp," He said aloud for everyone, as if the tension in the group wasn't so heavy it could give lead a run for its money. Soft laughter echoed through the hall, and Cody fought every nerve in his body to keep from firing into the darkness beyond when something clanged loudly through the vents.

Space, what have we gotten ourselves into?

OOC:

WC: 517! It hurts, but pushing any further might end with an aneurism. That and probably a hard-to-read and harder-to-respond-to post. Anyway, the suspense builds as the muties close in!

OOC:

1/15

The short trip to the cryogenic freezer was made much longer by the mutants heckling the squads. Emboldened and hidden by the darkness,  they were like demons come from hell. From behind, from ahead, from above and beside the mutants came, throwing themselves at the group with all their might when chance allowed and fleeing again just as fast.  Claws, teeth and momentum were their weapons, and with the ferocity and cunning the mutants employed made them very effective. For his part, Cody’s helmet visor now had a frustratingly large crack in the center right of it and his right pauldron was missing. The three or so dozen that ebbed around the perimeter of the troops  were unnerving. And persistent.

The room where the cryogenic freezer was enclosed was finally reached, a plain door with a plain façade in the middle of the hallway. The group may have actually passed it up completely if it weren’t for the fact that it was the only one not thrown open, and upon inspection by Dusk revealed it to be locked. A follow-up investigation by Orr’s foot resolved that issue. Within a large metal box resided, a heavy white fog escaping from its openings and hanging over the ground. The ARCs rushed into the room and Charge got to work.

“Form a perimeter outside the door!” Cody yelled over the cacophony of  gunfire and inhuman wails. “Let’s give them a taste of the hell they belong in!”

The RAIDERS took position, and in response  the mutants redoubled their efforts to break it. But unlike when the group was moving, there was no chance to sneak attack. There was either one side of the hallway to come, or the other. Even so, they were undeterred. They seemed to be in a frenzy as they threw themselves at the blaster bolts raining down on them. Cody took aim and began to fire into the coming crowd, the recoil of the powerful blaster becoming a beat he focused his attention on while he dealt death to the human silhouettes coming ever closer. Kick kick kick kick, went the gun as its red bolts bored holes through the crowd, filling the air with the smell of cooked meat, char, and burnt hair. Kick kick kick kick, came the strikes just before nearly human faces turned from rage and determination to surprise, fear, and pain; if his aim was on, there wasn’t a face to examine.

A particularly large brute of a mutant ran ahead, a wordless battlecry in its throat as it charged against the deadly fire against him. But the beat continued and eventually the thing slid to a halt, some of the enemy using him as a blockade ducking behind his bulk to avoid the bolts that now flew free through the air again. And then, surprisingly, they began pushing the body forward, tipping the large meat shield to the side and sliding it across the floor. 

And then, with no more than twenty feet between the perimeter and the slowly advancing unit of mutants, a thermal detonator flew over the line and to the far side of the crispy corpse.

“Take that you bantha fodder!” an ARC called behind Cody, just before the group of mutants was no more.

“Charge is set, let’s get the hell out of here!”

It was all Cody hoped for. “You heard the man, RAIDERS! Let’s move!“

ARC blaster fire added to the cacophony of light filling the unexplored end of the hallway before the entire group began heading the way they’d come from. Unlike the steady march the first time, the looming threat of the explosion made it more like a mad dash, the mutants in the way little more than obstacles to fire upon then hop over. And once they turned the corner, Charge let the charges blow with a press of a button. The blast carried debris right up to the troopers’ feet as they ran. Significantly lowered in numbers and morale, they went virtually unchallenged the rest of the way back to the blast doors that sealed the way to their exit.

Cody scanned the hall like everyone else but Jae, who kept eyes glued to her data pad as she worked on getting the doors open again. The detachment he’d developed remained, and his mind began to wander back to the missions he’d been on. What an odd service he’d had, certainly not the one he’d ever imagined he’d have. Rebellions and infiltrations and adventure he’d dreamt of, of course; it’s a turbulent galaxy, after all, and there is plenty of trouble to put a stop to. But the creatures he’d fought insofar was hardly the enemy he’d expected. Werewolves, genetically altered animals, and now the mutants… It was all so wrong, and yet in the end it seemed all the same thing, with the abominations ended and Cody present when the triggers were pulled. At the time it was all he could do, of course, to be there if not pull a trigger himself. But the lives he’d taken… Was his worth all that? What was the price on his own life compared to a mercenary’s, or a scientist, or a civilian, or even one of these mutants who were nothing more than morbid caricatures of the human forms?

Bastion came rushing back to him, his lungs filling with acrid smoke and the sounds of a riot erupting once again. Jaenna was on the ground, just knocked out by an NR officer, his hat lost at some point and his beard, probably at some point neat and trimmed, now wild looking and unkept. His jaw clenched and unclenched as he looked down at Jaenna, then up to Cody, who had thrown down his megaphone. Blue eyes locked onto green, and as the blaster came to line up with the man’s face as his adam’s apple bobbed up and down. His nostrils flared, then Cody squeezed the trigger--

“Cody.”

Heliwer was in front of him now, his hand holding Cody’s wrist. Wariness was in the older trooper’s look, and with a start, Cody realized his hands were shaking. Badly. “You okay?”

With an effort, the shaking subsided, moving instead to his voice as he said, “Y-yeah, I’m good.”

“Got it!” Jae called triumphantly.

Heli nodded, taking his hand from Coad’s wrist and patting him on the back as he passed by him to head toward the doors. Cody turned with him.

“Alright,” Jae said while they still had time. “We’ll move quick, and if we get pushed by these creeps we shove back harder. If you keep them out of arm’s reach, then their claws and teeth are useless! Now, get ready to move!”

The sound of the blast doors coming to life filled the hallway, and with a hiss they began to open. Cody prepared himself for a horde of these intelligent predators to cut a path through, double checked his field knife was still attached to his belt in case one got too close. Here we go again.

OOC:

Alrighty  guys, we're heading back from whence we came! The Flail forces are out there now along with the mutants, so this should be a good go. Let's rock this objective guys, I believe in ya!

Cody felt searing pain first on his shoulder, then his leg, then his hand. As soon as he ducked behind the corner with everyone else, he tore at the pieces of armor that had been hit, the melted plastic scorching the skin beneath. Mox and Heliwer caught a few shots too, dances ensuing to get the molten armor off.

“Suppressing fire!“ Orr yelled, Charge and Smokes joining him in firing back into the hallway at the mercenaries, a move sure to push the mercs back to the other side of the hall as opposed to in the middle o it. All well and good, if he could just get the scalding plastic off of his body.

Karash helped the afflicted RAIDERS with their armor, but by the time he got  the gauntlet, pauldron and shin guard off, Cody felt feverish and nauseous; it was all he could do to keep from passing out from the intense pain of the wounds. His hands were shaking as he put pressure on the burn on his thigh, undoubtedly the worst burn he received; anything to keep the cold sting of open air off of the cooked flesh. Blessedly Karash came over and wrapped a bandage around his thigh and gave him a shot, the pain deadening a bit. His mind cleared as the screaming nerves subsided,  and he had yet another opportunity to thank the stars that the SCOPE armor was so effective. He may have been burned, but he counted himself luck there were no holes showing daylight to his insides.

“Dammit, we can’t hit them from here,” Orr muttered, his squad still squeezing of rounds into the hallway. “They’re snug at the far end of the corridor, which is good. The problem is…”

He gestured to the VE group assembled. “So are we. We‘re pretty much at an impasse, only as far as I know we didn‘t get them like they did us. With injured, we’re at a disadvantage.”

“Is there another way we can take to get around them, Sergeant?” Smokes asked Jaenna.

Jae slung her rifle across her back and brought her data pad out again. After manipulating the map for a bit, she nodded. “Yes, we can still get back to the sewer if we go back to the last intersection, and follow the corridors East… Or maybe we can take the vents, and  cut right over them, if they don’t hear us trying.”

“Wait,” Cody said, stepping forward drunkily. The drug that Karash gave him was effective or sure, but it made things… fuzzy. He mentally pushed the cotton out of his head for the moment, and moved the view of the map, centering it on the edge of the facility, where a hangar lay. “They didn’t sneak in this facility, and I’m sure they didn’t go through the sewers like us. Look, this elevator would bring us right up to the hangar; I bet you a hundred credits this is where they came from. And I’m sure they didn’t shut the bay doors.

“We don’t know how many mutants are still around, but I know for sure that these things are intelligent. And  if even a few found the sewer entrance and figured out we came through there, they might be waiting to ambush us while we‘re making our escape, right now. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’d rather try my luck in the lit hallways than in the dark, wet and echo-y tunnel underneath the ground.”

After a moment of thought, Jae grimaced and nodded. “Alright, we’ll get out through the hangar. It would be pretty much a straight shot if it weren’t for the mercs. We’re still going to have to backtrack, though, to the last intersection-”

From the other end of the blaster bolt-ridden hallway came several inhuman screeches, and shortly following was a very human wail. The incoming fire stopped, and the ARCs gave cries of triumph.

“Damned time these mutants did something useful!” Orr shouted. “Now let’s close the gap and send the lot of them to Hell!”

The ARC squad rounded the corner and charged, followed closely first by Dusk and Jae, the injured party bringing up the rear with Karash. Red lights dazzled the intersection ahead, erratic and frequent shots fired at the ceiling and floor, and every angle in between the two. From somewhere near where the  blaster fire originated a thermal detonator went off, a mutant flung into the middle of the intersection with it. Most of it, anyway.

The ARCs turned the corner  and opened fire on mutant and Flail alike. Round after round after round flew from their rifles, lighting up everything in front of them in dazzling red. What little return fire there was this time ended relatively quickly. By the time the injured party caught up, the fight was over, and all that was left was charred bodies, smoking barrels, and silence.

“Hostiles, neutralized. Now, let’s get the hell out of here.”

Jae nodded at Orr, and led the way to the elevator. It slid open and the group squeezed in one at a time, making Cody wonder just how much the elevator was meant to hold. All the same it snicked shut, and after a long, long moment of silence during the ride up, they arrived at the hangar. It was open, peaks of mountains and afternoon sky showing through.

With a ragged exhale of relief, Jaenna brought her hand to the com button. “Command, this is the RAIDERS, ready for extraction.”

OOC:

Aaand, we are outta there. Show's over folks, nothing to see here.