Great… just great… Mox thought to himself as he took out his DataPad.

The past few days were not pleasant for Mox. The psychologists who were inspecting Phoenix after the return from Shumongi recommended that at least half of the troopers took leave. Mox wouldn’t mind taking off the 2 weeks that the psychologists recommended for most of the troopers except… he had nowhere to go. He was also sure that if he came out of the fighting the past would catch up to him, he knew that he would be tempted to return to his undercover life, as without Joamer or Brightstar it would much easier. But he also had no place that he could call home. He thought about going back to Tadath, but he knew that he wouldn’t find peace there. And so he decided to stay with the RAIDERS. Surprisingly the whole squad decided to stay too and so they soon received the mission they were travelling to now.

He tried to find any data on the planet they were going to but the information was scarce. Unlike some smuggler worlds that are known to everybody but hide their secrets, this world was a secret. How is this possible? Mox thought as he shook his head And who is this guy anyway… Wait… As Mox looked away from the DataPad a revelation entered his mind If he knows the secrets of the VE… he may had access to the secrets of the GALACTIC Empire… Maybe finally I would discover the truth… maybe… Mox looked up with not believing what this mission would allow him to do, his helmet on.

Dusk and Heliwer were chatting, while the SLs discussed something next to the pilot cabin. Him and Karash were the only ones who kept to themselves. He wondered what Karash was thinking about, and why he didn’t take his leave. He was recommended a whole month… Mox thought to himself. Looking back down he continued thinking abou the man they were set up to capture. He knew that he would have to catch the man himself if he wanted to find out anything without endangering his position in VE so much. That was one of the reasons as to why he decided to take on in this mission. He hoped to gain access to imperial records. Guess it takes longer than I thought… getting ranked up. This is my only chance to find out what happened to me… and how was I found by the rebels…

Deciding not to think about the matter too much Mox opened a new tab and searched through the new specialisation courses. Whoever came up with this is an idiot… Mox thought to himself as he seen a couple of his favourite items requiring a course certification to be used. This is the military, not some school… As Mox looked over the advanced Slicing courses as well as the course that would unlock the jump boots, he wondered if there was a free-running course. He searched the page and found one: ‘Parkour Course’. It wasn’t an officially endorsed course, more of activity to get the soldiers minds off the war. That’s exactly what I need… Mox thought to himself as he read through what does the course provides This will allow me to get anywhere I want… I need this and the ‘Experimental Gadget’ spec… When I get back from this mission I’ll apply for them.

Mox locked his DataPad and put it back into his pocket. Unclipping his anti-armor attachment he started thinking about the whole new system of certifications. So am I the only one here with explosives? That’s nice… Having no grenades was terrible as you couldn’t clear out rooms before you ventured into them, but Mox found a way around. The gun wasn’t classified as experimental, future or ‘grenade’ weapon so he was able to use it freely.

Mox turn off his visor and darkness opened before him. He also turned off the mic so he couldn’t hear the mumbles of his squadmates. Having connected his DataPad to his helmet he set it to wake him up as they were nearing the atmosphere of the planet. He was sure someone would wake him up before that but he just wanted to make sure he was awake when they were entering the planet. Damnation… without the undercover bullshit travelling for a long times seems so boring… but maybe I’ll be done with it all after this mission…

With that thought in mind Mox fell asleep.

OOC:

WC: 756

'Well, if Jester fails just send in RAIDERS to clean up. Or at least destroy everything so there's no trace.' Dusk thought as he was walking back to his quarters. He stopped by the ships armory to pick up his gear. Walking in he walked up to his locker and punched in his code. He opened it and began assembling his armor. He clipped his helmet to his belt and walked up to the weapon rack; grabbing his holster with Bull Stopper in place, clipped his FSK to his leg, and slung his DLT over his shoulder. He closed his locker as he walked out.

Dusk walked into his personal quarters and flipped on the lights. He walked over to the small dresser and opened the top drawer full with his personal effects. He grabbed his Imperial locket and clipped it round his neck, slipping that under his chest piece. He moved a few things aside and grabbed his sonic screwdriver, putting it in one of the many pouches on his belt, he crouched next to his cot. Reaching under it, he pulled out a large case. He placed it on top of the mattress and opened it. Dusk lifted the Prowler out of the case and set it to the side. He then took out the harness and clipped it to his back. He slipped the control pad onto his arm. He hit a few keys and the Prowler slowly turned on. It began hovering in the middle of the cramped room. Hitting another key, the droid's assorted things protruding from it began to retract and it floated over to Dusk who turned around as it locked it's self into the harness.

As he was about to step out of the room he snapped around and grabbed his lighter out of the drawer. Returning to the hall, he adjusted his rifle. He was heading to the hanger when he felt the slight twinge in his right arm when he got a call on his private channel. "3PO, what is it? I don't have much time."
"Sir, the task you've requested of me has been completed. The 'meeting' went wonderful, and I am fully in control of the security at Arture Tech's salaries."
"Ok, good. But next time send a message to my data pad. This channel is supposed to be for emergencies when I'm on duty."
"I will make note of that, sir. But I assumed you would want to know of this as son as it was done."
"It's ok, just don't call again over the next few days. Alright."
"Yes, indeed. Good bye sir."
"Talk to ya later 3PO."

Coming into the hanger he saw Heli and sat down next to the man; they soon started making small talk. During a pause in their chat, Dusk looked around the  shuttle. His gaze fell on Mox. He didn't really know the man even though they've been in the squad together for around a year. The trooper hoped to get to know the other man during the mission. Thinking of going over and talking to him, Dusk noticed the man's breathing was slowed indicting that he was asleep. He decided against the thought and try to sleep himself.

OOC:

WC: 542

‘Clearing up the mess of bloody Jokers. . . Jesters, always was a stupid name, how can we be expected to pick up where they left off?’

Karash’s inner thoughts were even more erratic than usual; the past few weeks had been particularly testing though he had refused to go on leave. Without his work in the RAIDERS, the medic had nothing else to do except think and thinking was the most dangerous thing he could do. He had found that thoughts and ideas were far more destructive than any physical actions.

‘I suppose they think just because Coadster is here we have to do their dirty work. Well I will let him know precisely what I think . . . bloody pilots!’ Karash flailed about wildly as ship shuddered heavily, ‘they never could do their job properly I will let those flying morons know exactly what I think off . . .’ This time the medic paused slightly as heard a noise in the near distance, ‘And as for our gallant squad leader, what a mess she is in, again. I said from the beginning that she and Havock would lead to nothing but disaster but would they listen . . .  And Grahim, where the bloody hell did he go off to, I may have killed him once but that is no reason to just disappear. . .’    

Karash needed a distraction and he needed it quickly, his thoughts were falling through his memories at almost terminal velocity and if he was not careful he would soon be reliving his capture on Kalee. The whole reason he had chosen to sit in the common area of the ship, was that he assumed other members of the squad would be there to distract him. As it turned out he was the only one there; the one time he wanted to interact with his squad-mates, was the one time they had decided to play hide and seek.

The noise that he had heard moments ago was now on top of him, it was now recognisable and it sent a shiver down his spin. His nemesis had returned. It had been years since Karash had seen him; perhaps it was destiny that the two would meet again just as the medic needed a distraction. Karash dug his feet into the floor and narrowed his eyes, the noise was now just outside the door, and he could feel the sweat forming on his brow. The door was opening.

Karash licked his lips and said the name that struck fear into his heart, “Rivvett.”

The small bot whizzed into the room, ejaculating a series of beeps in his usual excited manner. The little bot spun around at the sight of Karash as he never could resist a chance to taunt the long suffering medic. Rivvett immediately bumped into him, the noises the thing made were so very annoying; the little machine had always seemed to do its best to annoy Karash, like a sickly sweet puppy dog the bot apparently doted on him. It was of course a rouse, the medic knew that the droid was pure evil, it pretend to be charming and sweet when in fact it was hell bent on destroying Karash and any life form that got in its way.

“Why the hell is that thing still active?” Karash shouted as he swatted his hands wildly in an attempt to shoo Rivvett away.

The temporary scowl on Jae’s face was quickly replaced by a deep smirk, “Leave him alone, he is not doing anything wrong.”

“I can bet that the thing is not officially meant to be here. . . Get away from me you rusty heap of sh. . . .” Karash was red in the face and spinning like a ballerina with a caffeine addiction, still attempting to get the droid to leave him alone.

“Surely, even you, cannot dislike him?” Coadster, stood next to Jae in the doorway, was struggling to hold back hysterical laughter.

Finally Karash lunged for Rivvett in an attempt to put the thing out of action permenantly. The little bot moved quickly and Karash ended up flat on his face, knocking a table and two chairs over in the process. Laying on the floor he could Jae and Coad finally burst into fits of laughter, once again the demonic robot had won, hear the droid letting out a series of empathetic beeps but Karash knew that his arch nemesis was gloating over his victory.

‘I should have gone on leave. Somebody is going to pay because of this, no, Mox is going to pay for of this.’

OOC:

An odd post I know but it helped me get back into the swing of things. I apologise for the erratic nature of it. And sorry to Mox but you are the next one down on the pecking order

The grumble ripped through her throat as they moved out of the embassy. She already wasn't happy about not being allowed her normal amount of weaponry, but now they had to tow along a couple of the embassy's, probably, useless bodies. She figured the grumble didn't go unheard, and as she turned around to check to see if everyone was in tow, she hoped to see what the sound had enticed from the newest tag-a-longs. But what she had hoped to see wasn't there.

She had expected scowls of the worse nature, the angriest of glares or even the flick of an uneasy, flinching fist. What she was met with made her stomach tighten and her jaw fight to drop open. Luckily she was able to control the latter.

At the back of the group stood two lithe women, both with shoulder length, layered hair. One bore onyx locks, while the other had a hair of pure fire. Both of the women's eyes were the darkest shade of green. And both of them were smirking. Not a single trace of anger or apprehension was evident on either of their faces. They stood at attention, their smirks remaining in place even as they took another step forward, almost in perfect unison, and both nodded to Jae, then to Coadster.

"Ulyssandra Blint," said the onyx haired woman.

"Viridiana Blint," followed the flame headed girl.

So they were twins. The only difference was the hair. Jae had to fight to keep her normal scowl, but what she hadn't realized was that her face had disobeyed her moments ago and now she stood with a gaping mouth and wide eyes. It was only when she felt the sharp jab of an elbow to her rib cage that she was roused from whatever hell those two women had dragged her to.

"What?!" She snapped, rather loudly, at Coadster, who stood beside her with quirked brow and bemused face. She held her side with the hand that wasn't clenched into a fist.

Cody coughed and gestured toward the two women. "Did you want to uhm... introduce the squad or...?" He spoke slowly, as if he were speaking with someone who had just come out of a coma.

Jae brows knitted together as she craned her neck towards him in incredulity, her shoulders hunching up. "What? What are you babbling about?" Behind her she heard an eruption of laughter. In a whirlwind of motion she whipped her head around and glared at the, if she could have her way, 'dead man'. It was Mox, who was doubled over and laughing, one shaky hand pointing at his Squad Leader as his other arm cradled his stomach. "What in the ruttin' hells are you laughing at?!" She barked at him, only to be turned back around by Cody's hand on her shoulder.

"They uhm... introduced themselves. You went all uhm..." he twirled a finger around his ear and cocked his head to the side.

Instantly, she felt her cheeks burning, her lips parted and she shook her head quickly, ridding her cheeks of the flush, though it was probably too late and everyone had seen. She turned to the two women, straightening herself and squaring her shoulders as she nodded to them, keeping her chin high. Her palms were still sweating. "Sergeant First Class Jaenna Caldwin, Squad Leader of RAIDERS Squad, Wildcard Platoon, Pheonix Company, Dragon Battalion of the Osiris regiment of the Vast Empire Imperial Stormtrooper Corps." She nodded again and turned, making her way to the hovercars that were parked only a handful of yards away.

As she walked away she heard Coadster introduce himself and the others... and apologize for the Squad Leader's odd behavior. She heard them all turn and head towards the cars as well.

"I've never seen her act like that before..."

"Yeah... even when she's stoned off her gourd..."

The whispers stopped as soon as she turned to glare at Mox and Dusk. With a grunt she put her helmet on, this time successfully hiding the flaming blush that crept to her cheek again and climbed into one of the cars. "Gimmie the keys. Lets get going already." Her voice held the bark of a command and she caught the key that was instantly thrown to her.

Within moments the squad and the two women were racing through the partially dense forest of Pannett.



"Do we really have to leave them in the forest?"

"Yes."

"Why can't we take them with us? I don't feel like walking through the streets."

"I don't care."

"But-"

"Shut up."

"But-"

"No."

"The streets are filled with people who hate us already, taking the cars will gets us to the yard faster."

"They're my cars, I said no."

"...fine." Dusk hunched his shoulders and dropped the key into Viridiana's hand and leapt out of the car. He straightened himself, adjusted his gear and gathered with the rest of the group.

Jae stood there, her helmet still for fear of her cheeks betraying her again. She watched as Heliwer leaned over to Cody and whispered something. Without being noticed, hopefully, she took a step toward them and caught the very end of what Heliwer had said.

"...wouldn't have been able to handle him like that. Holy shit that woman is amazing."

Without warning, Jae's hand connected with the back of Heliwer's head in a not-so-gentle warning smack. She growled at him through her helmet, meeting his glare with her own. With a grunt she turned toward the two women. "So, you know this place better than us. Lead the way."

"You sure you're up for us leading the way, darling?" Viridiana chuckled as she placed a hand on her hip, thrusting it outward.

Jae visibly stiffened and let out another grumble. "Yes, I'm sure. Just lead the way."

Viridiana chuckled again and sauntered in front of the group, Ulyssandra following behind. Though before she joined her sister she leaned close to Jae and whispered.

"Don't worry about her, she likes to tease. But only when she knows it'll get a reaction." With a smile Ulyssandra tottered over to join her sister at the front of the group.

Jae turned to Cody and sighed. "I don't think I can handle this, Cody. She's been gone so long... I miss her..."

Coadster placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Just don't let those women get to you. Especially since I'm sure Havock would kick your ass if she found out you did anything."

Jae's jaw dropped as she fought to defend herself, but before she could say anything Coadster held back a chuckle and patted her on the shoulder, then went off to join the group. In a huff, the Squad Leader turned and joined them as well, still feeling the sweat on her palms.

Heliwer was still glaring at Jaenna as his group made their way out into the streets. He was more relaxed of recently, and was only passing his opinion to Coadster when he was slapped hard in the back of the head by the squad leader. Maybe it had to do with the lack of spice, he silently mused. He hadn’t seen her pull out anything since the mission began, so he began to hope that there wouldn’t be any problems like on Liberty Station. He turned his attention to the two women in front of him, who stopped for a moment to just make sure they were heading in the right direction.
“Why is it I am in the group with two girls?” He asked to Jaenna. “I mean, couldn’t you have gone with Mox and Dusk and let Cody come with me and our fine tour guide?”
Ulyssandra let out a slight chuckle. “Why? Don’t you like being around women?” She jested.
“Naw, ain’t that. It’s just being in the same group as Gunny here. I would be delighted if I was blessed with being in the same group as you and your sis.”
He was cut short by a very hard punch coming from Jaenna into his chest. “Look, I’m here in this same group as you because I need to make sure you don’t do something you’d regret, like getting involved when you shouldn’t be.”
“Hey, take it easy! I’m feeling better, and I just feel that I should try to enjoy myself more.”
“Just don’t get your hopes up.”
The trio resumed moving through the streets after Ulyssandra led them down the right path. Heliwer let out a sigh as he continued through an alleyway, avoiding the garbage left out and ended up next to Jaenna again. “Are you alright?” He asked with sincerity.
“It’s nothing you should worry about.” The woman flatly responded.
“You’re the squad leader. We all need you in top shape to perform, including you. You seem off.”
“Nothing of your concern.”
Another sigh escaped his mouth as he shook his head. “Alright, but don’t think that you’re the only one in this squad with problems. Seems like you almost need one to get into here. Crazy RAIDERS for sure.”
“Hey you two, come on!” Ulyssandra called. “Keep up. We move any slower, and you won’t have enough time to even get into position to defend.”
“You underestimate me. I am rather quick and I’d be able to get a bead on any anti-Imperial bastard who wants to kill us.” The big trooper chuckled , picking up his pace to catch up to the guide. Within a few minutes, the threesome made it to just across a block away from the space port. However, they had run into a problem. “Shit.” The woman cursed. “That’s a well-known anti-Imperial gang right where we need to go. Why the hell are they here?”
“Maybe it has to do that it’s just where they decided to be?”
“Don’t be an ass, Heliwer.”
He ignored that comment and switched on his comms. “Hey, any of you guys made it to the space port yet? We need a little distraction to get rid of this little problem we got here.”
“We’ll see what we can do.” Coadster’s voice came through. “Been waiting here a good minute or two for you guys. Hope the other group hasn’t gotten themselves in more trouble.”

OOC:

First post since coming back. Great to be back, and hoping that I didn't make too many mistakes.

As the trio got settled into position Dusk noticed Mox had a slight anticipation or something about the mission.

“Hey, any of you guys made it to the space port yet? We need a little distraction to get rid of this little problem we got here.” Heli called through the comms.
“We’ll see what we can do.” Coadster responded. “Been waiting here a good minute or two for you guys. Hope the other group hasn’t gotten themselves in more trouble.”

"Well, you guys have any ideas?" Coad asked, looking at the other two men.
"I think I may have an idea." Dusk said, a smirk forming under his helmet.

He stood up and began to turn on his Prowler. It popped off of his back and hovered there for a second as Jacen punched in some information. After it didn't respond he hit the control pad, "Blasted thing," He cursed turning it over to see the manufacturer. "Figures, Arakyd, their stuff never works for me." He pulled out his sonic and did a bit of touch up. Hitting a few more things, "There we go. Now to have some fun."

He flew the probe over to Heliwer's position and located the thing in their way. He maneuvered it over to the group and rammed into one of them. He quickly spun it around and shot off towards Karash; the gang members gave chase. Once at Karash's location he did the same thing to their problem. When the anti-imperials rounded the corner they spotted the second man. "You," the obvious leader shouted. "You gorman little bastered!"

Dusk chuckled as he guided his probe back to their position. "That went better then expected."

OOC:

Short post, I know

As Mox listened to the two girls he couldn’t help but think that their plan was too simple. Two of RAIDERS were to enter the Space Port and confirm the ship’s impounding. Afterwards they would enter the restricted portion of the space port and open a Fire Exit. After that they would contact the group and the whole group would move into the port and manoeuvre in it through the Staff corridors. To Mox it seemed like the whole idea was based off the hope that the traitor did not have spies in the space port. As they were about to choose the pair of troopers Jaenna and Coadster received a comm message.

“What? Wait a minute, now? You’re kidding…” Jaenna said into her comm “Very well.”

“Who was it?” Mox asked, raising his brow under the helmet.

“Werner, the old man in the embassy. We seem to have a new recruits.” Coadster said, slowly moving his hand from his head. “And they're coming in through the spaceport.”

“More of them?” Karash barked as he leaned against a wall of the alley they were in “We still have to deal with this one…”

Mox glanced at the previous new recruit.. The boy did not enjoy the company of Karash, and the feeling seemed mutual. Well, Karash was never too big of a social person anyway. Mox himself however was indifferent about the whole situation. He even felt more relaxed as the income of soldier began to come in More people in, less attention on me.

“Well, in that case, the two troopers will also go and intercept them. Then we will proceed as planned.”

“Me and Dusk will go.” Coadster said as he started heading towards the exit of the valley. “Let’s go.”

====================================

After half an hour of waiting Coadster called the squad.

“The new guys' names are Decius and Lam. Seems like a decent pair.” Coadster’s voice boomed through the comms. “Come on in now, we got Fire Escape open for you. Just on the right of the main staircase.”

The group moved and soon they were in front of the entrance, greeted by Coadster, Dusk and a two man clad in imperial armor. Taller than me... Mox thought to himself. Both of them were at least two meters tall.

“Let’s not stand here, come on.” Jaenna said as she came went through the door way. RAIDERS followed. “Coad, is the ship still impounded?”

“Yeah. The man is also somewhere in this district, but the people here don’t know exactly where.”

“Should be easy to figure out where he went after we search the ship….”

As usual, Dusk, being open to everyone, immediately picked up a conversation with the man named Lam. The other one instead follow the SLs closely, giving an impression of wanting to prove himself. Mox quickly took out his Datapad and checked both of them. The man named Lam was quite old, nearing his thirties. He was also raised in a noble family who supported the Empire. The other man, named Decius, seemed much more grim and RAIDERSy. Mox closed it off, and put it back into his pocket. Few minutes later they reached the hangar in which the shuttle was impounded.

“Very well, let’s get this over with. Let me know if you find anything that could give us his current location.” Jaenna said as she hacked the shuttle doors open. “What a primitive lock…”

The squad quickly rushed into the shuttle and stripped it off any items that could hold info on it. Mox quickly connected himself to the mainframe and checked through the communications, but nothing of interest was to be found. How is this possible? Then he remembered something. The man did not pilot the ship itself. Therefore it was a rented shuttle. Mox sat down heavily and leaned against the wall behind him. We’re not going to find anything here… the ship is just a private transportation system…

He stood up and disconnected his Datapad from the socket. He looked over to Jaenna who was also searching through the logs and the ship’s systems. Mox knew almost for certain that this was futile and pointless. Giving up on the electric systems to give any information Mox walked over to the passenger cabins, hoping to find something there.

And this was supposed to be easy…

OOC:

WC: 718
Kinda proofread.
We're in the shuttle, searching for any goodies(and info about Forlax... >_>).
Also the new guy is with us already :P

Heliwer cast a glance over at the two new members of the squad. Both of them seemed as shiny as their SCOPE armor, fresh out of bootcamp. He could sense that he probably wouldn’t have to babysit the shorter of the two, as the way he seemed to move so fluidly between motions, as if he had already been in some sort of action. Still, he could almost smell the green coming off of them, and would need to see them prove themselves to him before they could be actually useful to the first sergeant. The large group entered the space port, with the two FNGs, Dusk, and Coadster in the front. Lord knows how something so big can be so damn cramped, but it did nothing more than piss off the big trooper, as he kept getting caught on boxes. Eventually they reached the shuttle and in a flash, the antiquated lock was disabled and the squad poured in.

“Sonofa- There’s no one here!” He grumbled, rifle shouldered and ready to shoot. “And I was looking forward to a firefight.”

“We’re supposed to take him alive, Heliwer.” Called out Coadster. “Not turn him into swiss.”

“Well there’s nothing about me not being able to shoot a kneecap or two.”

The RAIDERS spread out to check out every inch of this old vessel. She had seen better days, and if the lock wasn’t proof enough, he swore that he saw an old bloodstain about chest high in one of the hallways. That guy’s gotta be really lucky, piloting this ancient thing and not getting killed. He relaxed, no longer on high alert and put his gun down resting against a wall outside the passenger quarters. Some pounding from inside made him poke his head in, seeing one of them, Hark, the one who decided to telegraph to everyone that he was a newbie via announcing who he was over the comms, on the floor pounding on different sections and listening.
“What are you doing?” Asked  Mox, who was standing over him.
“Thinking like a criminal. It'd be insane for our target to hide anything incriminating in the main computer of a rented shuttle.” He responded. “But just because this shuttle isn't his doesn't mean there aren't a few “extras” you can opt for. Let's check under the beds. Might find a hidden cache under one.”

The two slid a mattress off of one of the bunks and began to search around for anything at all. This made Heliwer chuckle. With nothing to do, he took his helmet off and set it on the ground. “Kid’s got good thinking.” He said as he slid out a cigarette into his mouth and lit it with his lighter. “Might be cause he’s got some criminal background. Takes one to know one.”

He took a deep drag of his cigarette before blowing out a small cloud of smoke. “Sure hope this gets wrapped up soon. I’m missing out on “Double-Shot Day” at the bar back on base.”

“Do you ever do anything besides kill, smoke, and drink?” Came Mox’s name as another mattress came off.

“Well I try to annoy the Hell outta you, and I like flirtin’. You ain’t never gonna get lucky, but me?”

He unclasped a flask from his waist and uncapped it, the smell of strong, hard liquor permeating the air around him. With a flick of the wrist, he took the burning cigarette out and knocked back a shot of the liquid before capping it and returning it to his waist.
“Well, you two have fun looking for dust bunnies. I’ll check out some other place, maybe see to that other new guy.”

One last drag finished the cigarette off, and he tossed the butt into the middle of the room before grabbing his helmet and rifle and walking off. He passed Jaenna sitting in the cockpit checking out the main computer, and turned in for a moment. “Mox and Hark are checking under the beds for anything that may look like incriminating evidence.” He reported. “Just a suggestion, but we may wanna look out for secret cargo holds on this bird. She may be a rental, but doesn’t mean she has no surprises.”

“Alright. Make sure to pass it on.” She responded, engrossed in searching through the bytes of information for what they needed. He gave a quick salute before passing Dusk and Karash, telling them the same thing. After making the rounds, he ended up in the main area where the twins were searching.

“Hey gals, might wanna check for any secret stashes.” He told them. “You need any help?”

“Sure.” Ulyssandra nodded. “Go search around that corner over there.”

He went to his task, not before casting a quick glance over at the two again. Today was gonna be a long day.

OOC:

WC: 806

“I thought that if we look at the problem as if we were criminals…” Lam started lacking his usual eloquence. It was clear the sergeant neither knew nor cared who was speaking.

“Don’t give me the boy scout speech because I really could not care less. Just do try not to get us all killed,” the sergeant hissed as he left the room.

Lam found that it was a rather barbarous statement. Clearly the odds of getting killed on a seemingly routine search of a charter craft were pretty low; even with it being previously used by a criminal. He noticed his body temperature spike with his nervousness. In an attempt to shrug it off, he went back to what he was doing prior to the beetle-browed sergeant’s interruption.

The sergeant’s commotion abided on through the other cabins and erupted more boisterously then was quickly silenced. The hush caught Lam’s attention as well as the attention of the other recruit that was with him. They looked up at each other with quizzical looks.

“Think they found something?” Lam queried. The other recruit nodded silently. The duo proceeded to the cabin that was occupied by the rest of the group. As they entered, they caught only the last few words, “self-destruct mechanism.”

“How much time do we have?” the squad leader catechized with a hint of worry.

“Not long. This is showing less than a few minutes.”

“Blast it! Everyone out and away now! Do what you can to make sure that there are as few people in the area as possible. We need to limit casualties and injuries!”

“You heard her! Let’s move!” one of the regulars shouted. At this point, Lam was sweating bullets.

“What an aboriginal day!” Lam thought to himself. He knew that it was going to be no cake walk in active duty. He hardly expected it to put him in the situation of being blown to bits within the first few minutes of duty.

The team quickly vacated the shuttle craft. With every passing moment, the tension built and became palpable. The greener members lacked the experience to deal with such type situations and it showed. On the upside, they did have the benefit of being able to look towards the more seasoned troopers for support and guidance.

OOC:

Not terribly long, but at least helps move things along a bit.

The squad had managed to evacuate the shuttle quickly and with relative ease; some of the more recent additions to the squad seemed to be slightly more panic stricken but there basic training had told them to stay calm and for the most part that is what they did. Once all of the squad was off the transport they made a dash for whatever form of cover they could find, though considering a shuttle was about to explode in a reasonably small area it did seem rather pointless. At best the RAIDERS could hope for a few broken bones, at worst they could all expect to sent back to Tadath in a zip-lock bag with a shiny new medal pinned to the bag.

‘What a way to go, what an absolutely pathetic way to go. Just think of all the glorious ways that death could have taken you; in the diamond mines, fighting the Noghri, in the ice caves, on the zombie space shuttle. . . Instead you are going to die just five feet away from Mox. Oh the indignity.’ 

In such situations it was usual for time to pass quickly however it was dragging on at its usual monotonous pace. It was a spectacularly boring way to die, made worse by the heavy breathing that was coming from one of the newer members, whose name Karash was even less concerned with now. After a few more moments had passed it had become clear that they may have acted slightly prematurely, after all why would a barely functioning shuttle have a self destruct mechanism? Surely anything worth taking would surely have been taken with Forlax when he left it. 

“Who the hell gave the order to run?” Karash spoke roughly as he emerged from crouching behind a few crates.

“You did.” Heliwer replied just as roughly.

“I did not; I just said it sounded like a self-destruct countdown.” The medic replied quickly.

“You said. . .” 

Heliwer was cut off by Jaenna who was clearly not in the best of moods, “Both of you shut-up. Go and see what the frak is happening.”

The two Senior Sergeants marched over to the shuttle in silence, the two of them had never really seen eye to eye but not through any real dislike they were just very different people. As they got closer to the shuttle they could hear a female voice repeating the word ‘one’, the self-destruct sequence had gotten caught in an eternal loop. The RAIDERS had been saved by the fact that the ancient ship had probably not been able to cope with jolt of excitement it had just received.

“Told you it was going to self destruct. . .” Karash said immaturely.

However before Heliwer could reply the shuttle expelled a great moan followed by an almightily shudder. They both knew what was happening and instinctively dove away from the ship as forcefully as they could, in the near distance Karash could see the rest of the squad returning to their positions of safety. Disappointingly the old craft’s final blaze of glory proved to be more of a hiccough than a roar; a small explosion did happen and a few flames did burst out of the vessel optimistically. The ancient and abused shuttle did not even get the dignity of a cremation as the Space Ports automatic fire protocols leapt into action and put the pathetic blaze out. 

“I hope whatever you found in there was worthwhile.” Karash snapped as he and Heli returned to the rest of the group.

“We don’t have time for any of that now; we have already drawn too much attention to ourselves. We need to work out what we are going to next and we had better do it quickly.” Jaenna was pacing slightly as she entered ‘squad leader mode’.

“I don’t think we are going to be welcome here for too much longer.” Coadster spoke as he too began to pace.

‘Well I suppose things could be worse, somebody could have gotten hurt. Nobody has gotten injured in a long time, not so they required any real help from you anyway. Not since...’ Karash shuddered, ‘not since Havock was placed in charge of military moron control, or whatever it is she does now, I think we can rest assured from here on in things are going to be simple as long as Havock doesn’t appear’

Karash snorted in an attempt to stifle a laugh, “What are the chances of that.”

His laughter was cut short by another shudder; he had decided that it was best not to tempt fate.     

OOC:

I could not think of a way to end the post so you have got that. . .

“Well… that was interesting…” Mox said as he got up to look at the ship. Half of it was destroyed, slowly tipping over as one of the landing legs were ripped away in the blast. “What now?”

“I don’t fucking know…” Jae barked at him as she paced back and forth trying to figure out a plan.

The whole situation seemed useless. Mox was sure that the squad found no information on Forlax, and the shuttle could be rigged with more bombs. He secretly wished for the blast to be larger, to consume Heliwer in it, but he soon realised that Karash would also be killed in that blast, which would be a severe loss for the squad. Not only was Karash the only medic in the squad, but he could also be called what was the final evolution of the RAIDERS sub-humans. Mox was certain that sooner or later, if he stayed in the RAIDERS squad for too long he would become similar to Karash.

“So… did anyone got anything we could use to find Forlax?” Coadster said. Nobody moved or spoke, except for Karash and one of the new recruits “Great… just perfect”

Mox took out his datapad and tapped into the planet’s internet. Mox was certain that the HoloNet would have no info on the planet, for it was not widely known, sort of a back exit for people that were aware of it. The use of paper furthered that idea, making the planet seem less civilised than the planets that were using modern technology. Instead he was checking whether Forlax or anyone of any relation to him could be found on the information banks accessible online.

“It ain’t safe here. We must find a hiding spot…” Jae exclaimed as she began to walk away. The squad followed. “You two, come here. Tell me where could we hide and figure things out.” She continued as she pointed at the twins. They quickly walked up Jae, followed by Coadster.

The medic and the recruit stayed behind a little but soon caught up. Mox was certain that Heliwer would try to bully him somehow but he couldn’t care less, as usual throughout the last few weeks. He surfed through the planet’s connected databases, checking through the DataPads which were using the network. Most DataPad auto-connect to the HoloNet, through the planet’s internet... Mox thought to himself as he waited for the DataPad to display all of the connections in the city If I’m lucky Forlax’s datapad’s also connected.

They group exited the building and the twins led them through the alleys. They were bound to attract even more attention. It was surprising that they were not approached by any of the spaceport’s staff after the explosion, but Mox hoped that they would be able to remain as unnoticed as possible. Mox looked around him. He noticed that the buildings were getting older as they moved further on, and the surrounding more and more dirty. He wondered where were the twins leading them, but he couldn’t care less. We’re more than a match against anyone on this backwater planet…

Mox looked back at his DataPad and filtered the ready results into the ones with a password lock. He was sure that the man who held most of the Vast Empire classified secrets would have his DataPad protected. Surprisingly the search only returned a dozen of results. He quickly surfed through them, cracking some of the passwords after a few tries. But two of them were harder to crack.

“Interesting…” Mox muttered to himself. He was certain that one of them belonged to Forlax, but he knew that the owner of the other one must also be dangerous. Only custom coding could save itself from his first program and only criminals and nerds had custom coding. And he was certain that there were no nerds on this planet other than him and Jae.

“Here we are.” One of the twins said

“Where?” Heliwer asked

Mox looked up and saw a wall made of a weird-looking material. When he looked closer he noticed a rectangle carved out in it, which looked as if it was made with wood, with a metal stick coming out of it

“This is called a door. Did I tell you that this is one of the oldest districts in this planet?” Ulyssandra said as she pressed on the metal stick and pushed. The wooden rectangle went into the building with ease.

“Quickly, get in.”

OOC:

WC: 747
Closing in on Forlax's and possibly Havock's DataPads :P
Squad-wise, we're entering an ancient building, which has doors, handles and maybe even windows...

The dart made sharp sound as it penetrated Karash’s bodysuit and stopped in his flesh. Mox ran over to Karash as he was falling down, Dusk doing the same. While pushing the chair down he shouted out “Someone close whatever that thing is called!”. One of the recruits hurried to do so and while Mox carefully took out the poison dart out of Karash’s back, Dusk checked the pulse.

“He’s alive…” Dusk breathed out as he took out his gun and looked outside, through the closed window. “I think I know where the dart came from. If we’re fast enough we might catch him.”

Mox observed the dart closely and gestured Hark towards him. He knew that Jaenna was in no condition to be able to think straight, even less to recognise darts. As expected she reached out to her pocket but quickly remembered that she had no spice on her. So instead she started pacing back and forth, and you could feel the rage emanating off her. Mox, as relieved as he was back when Jaenna replaced Joamer, was now coming to the same conclusion as Karash. Their SL was constantly relying on spice to keep her mind straight and that should not run in the military. He didn’t mind it at first, being afraid that if Jae was removed Joamer would return but now, when she had no spice on her it was becoming obvious that she had no mentality of her own without the spice. So instead trying to interact with her in anyway, Mox decided to turn his future questions for orders to Coadster.

“What do you say?” Mox said as Hark approached him “Do you think this could be Forlax’s dart?”

The older man took the dart and observed it closely. After a short while he handed it back. “Definitively. This is a custom made dart, which I’ve seen a lot… before Vast Empire.”

“Good man.” Mox took the dart and put it in his pocket “Coads, what do you say? I think me and Dusk could go on our own. You know what RAIDERS are capable off, even if they’re split up.”

Coadster looked at the young man, the helmet concealing any emotion or thinking process the ASL could go through. “Very well. Keep up notified of any findings.” His tone was serious and it was obvious, even in the helmet that he was looking at Karash.

Mox tapped Dusk and approached the doorway. He looked at Jae who was staring out the window, visibly shaking, probably out of fury but perhaps also because of the withdrawal effects were taking control. After that he pressed on what the twins called a handle and exited the building.

Mox closed all connections on his Datapad, but saved beforehand to know where he left off. He could not allow Forlax to use the same tactic to get to Mox’s Datapad. After that he hid the Datapad in his pocket and took out the old mutli-rifle. Following Dusk they ran, opening all sorts of wooden rectangles, trying to get to the building where the shooter could’ve been hiding. When they reached it they pushed themselves against the sides of the ‘door’. Dusk counted to three and Mox kicked the door open. Dusk entered and Mox closely followed. Dusk pointed upwards and Mox nodded. They quickly but carefully went up the stairs and there he was. A man, lying down, with a rifle laying down on the side of a window next to him.

“What the frak…” Mox muttered to himself. As they approached the man they’ve noticed he had tons of bubbles coming out of his mouth. “Damn… a suicide pill…”

Dusk walked up to the man and checked his pulse. Assuring himself he spoke into the com.

“I think we found our assassin...”

“And?” Coadster asked, impatience in his voice. Mox was surprised to hear this, as only a few times was Coadster actually serious. “What’s going on?”

“The man committed suicide. He must’ve done it when we came into the building.” Dusk said. Mox knew that all of them were disappointed. “We will make our way back…”

“Don’t. Check the man, he may have some information on him.” Coadster commanded. Mox crouched down next to Dusk and they started checking the man’s clothes for any notes or Datapads. Mox found a pouch of darts and as he took one out, he also took the one that was shot at Karash. They were identical.

“That’s definitively our shooter… The darts I found on him are identical.” Mox said into his ComLink. “By the way, how is Karash holding up?”

“He seems to be ok.” Mox could hear the change in Coadster’s voice.  “We applied a medpac to him, but otherwise can’t do anything else.”

Mox found the man’s Datapad, and connected it to his own. He quickly accessed the shooter’s files which confirmed him being sent by Forlax. “There we go. Unless this is a bait or a trap we have the location where Forlax’ve been recently.” Recently communicated as well… but no open ports to the man himself. He must know how to protect himself.

“We’ll wait here until Karash regains consciousness.” Coadster commanded “You two check the man over, take anything you consider usefull to our mission and return. Coadster out.”

This must be a trap. There is no way for us to find him this easily… Mox thought as he continued to search the shooter.

OOC:

WC: 911
Me and Dusk are separated from the rest of the group.
We found the shooter and the possible location of the guy we're after. Me and Dusk are going to start returning shortly, after making sure that the guy is has nothing useful left on him

“We’ll wait here until Karash regains consciousness.” Coadster ordered “You two check the man over, take anything you consider useful to our mission and return. Coadster out.”

"Ok," Dusk said with a sigh. "You check around down stairs for anything and I'll poke around up here."
"Alright." Mox said heading down.

The trooper went back to the body and checked all his pockets again. In his breast pocket he had a small, locked, wooden box. Dusk lifted it to his nose and smelled it. The distinct smell of tobacco emanated from it; pulling out his sonic he tried to unlock it. 'Frak, I forgot it doesn't work on wood.' The man thought to himself. He decided to break the lock. Opening it reviled five fat cigars. Thinking Heli might like them, he put them in a pouch on his belt.

Quickly rummaging around the room, to find nothing, he went down stairs to Mox, who had similar results. They left and started back towards the rest of the squad.

"So you think he'll really do it?" Dusk asked.
"What?" Mox replied quizzically.
"Karash, Do you think he'll quit?"
"I don't know. It would really hurt the squad if he did."
"Yeah," Dusk said not wanting to end the conversation "What other insane medic would replace him?" They both chuckled.

They returned with almost nothing to show their higher-ups. Dusk went over to Heliwer and sat down next to him. "Brought ya' something." Dusk said.
"Hmm?" The large trooper inquired.

Pulling out the cigars, he handed them to the other man. "Found 'em on the assassin. Didn't think he would mind." Heli chuckled as he lit one of his new cigars.

OOC:

Another short post, but hey it might help me to get back into the swing of things.

OOC:

It might be confusing but keep reading.

It was dark. Dark and noisy. Dark, noisy and uncomfortable. Karash was contented to be where he was, with the RAIDERS, he knew they were a reliable and strong group of people. If there was any danger or adventure to be had they would the first on the scene and they would get it done to the best of their ability. Karash felt as though his optimism and excitement was about to explode out of him, though he knew this was the same for every young Private; all the others were exactly the same. He was the most senior of the new recruits; in some ways this meant he was senior to them and therefore responsible for them. It was going to be a good mission, Kalee was full of promise.

‘Why are you on the floor? You had better get up.’

The noise was so loud. Grahim had been with the squad a little while now but was proving to be a bit of liability, though not much else was expected from a Gungan, but Karash still found himself liking the amphibian. Jaenna had also been with the squad for a short but explosive time but it was impossible to doubt her skill. The newest of the group was Havock but she had let to reveal her true nature; in Karash’s opinion she looked like she was going to be a handful. Ron had recently been made the Squad Leader but there was no doubting his authority, Karash respected authority and he planned to be as supportive as he could.

‘Get up.’

The noise was starting to die down but it was still so dark and there was a sharp pain emanating from the Private’s legs. Since first joinging the Army a few months ago Karash had undergone basic training and basic first aid training. He knew very little about being a medic, in actual fact he desperately hoped that no one would get injured because he would not have a clue how to help them. For many the army would be a career, for Karash it was just an escape from an uncomfortable home life. Though he would never admit it, he wished to find some friends because he had never really had a friend before; all he had was a dead mother, a missing brother and an abusive father. The army would be a new home, somewhere relatively safe and happy. Karash was the eternal optimist.

It was a struggle to open his eyes; it felt as though he had been sleeping for months. The dim lighting of the room burned Karash’s eyes as they slowly opened, he could fell that he was surrounded by his squad and put his arms out to be helped up. It turned out this legs were in an even worse state than his eyes; he faltered slightly as he got up but was supported by his squad mates. After a few moments wobbling like a new born finding its feet, Karash rubbed his eyes and was greeted by a group of unknown faces all wearing RAIDERS armour.

“What the hell is going on? Where is my squad?” Karash asked earnestly.

“Karash it is us.” An unknown voice spoke.

“No. Where are the RAIDERS? Where is my squad?” His tone was becoming more desperate.

“Karash, it is us” The same strange voice spoke but it did not provide any answers.

“Where is Ron? Gaz and Rogue? Grahim and Havock and. . . and Jae?” Karash tried to reach for a weapon but found nothing.

The Private’s eyes were met with a slightly bemused looking Jae, she looked as though she was going to speak but was interrupted.

“Jae, what is happening, where is everybody, did something happen when we was landing on Kalee?” Karash pushed past the others and asked his fellow RAIDER.

“Oh great. Now we got a deranged medic in the squad.” A slightly more gruff voice spoke this time, it sounded distantly familiar and smelled of distinctly smoky.

“We don’t have time for this now. Karash this is the RAIDERS squad, you were shot with something. I cannot explain everything now. Just pull yourself together.

“But we were on Kalee and Ron was the new SL and. . .” Karash frantically tried to remember what had happened, he could not remember being shot and he did not know the people he was with.

“Listen to me. You are Senior Sergeant Karash, this is RAIDERS squad and you are its longest serving member as well as its medic. Is that understood Sergeant?” Jaenna spoke with a tone of authority that sounded familiar.

“Err, yes, right.” He was not convinced, this must be a dream.

How could this be the RAIDERS? What did that trooper mean deranged? They were just two of the questions that he wanted answered but there was apparently no time. From the smell in the air, apart from the familiar smoke, there had obviously been a gun fight. They were in some way in danger and that was most certainly a known feeling; the whole situation was so bewildering that he just wanted to go back onto the floor and return to the comfortable darkness where the world was as it should be. The faces of his supposed squad mates were bizarre, there was not an amphibian within sight, but there was some feeling stirring in Karash’s mind as though there was something he could not remember.

‘No. You don’t know them. This is wrong. This is wrong. . .’

“We got to get moving again, here is what we are going to do. . .” Jae was interrupted.

“You are in charge!” Karash blurted out.

The group shifted uncertainly as the apparent SL continued to speak. Apparently they had to move and find someone called Forlax.

OOC:

Let's do the Time Warp again! I know, another 'I lost my memory story' but who knows perhaps Karash will turn out to be a lovely optimist this time or he might be exactly the same. . .