Sharp had just loaded a new clip into her rifle wen she saw crimson reach for his vibro-sword. She turned to find herself face first into a blaster barrel. Obviously the small band of troopers the two containing crimson and the once before her weren't as stupid as the grunts They had just dispatched. 

"Get up! weapons down and Hands on your head." one of them barked at Crimson and Sharp.

Sharp rose along with Crimson. Sharp quickly put her weapons down and glanced toward where Dusk had disappeared to.

"How did three soldiers kill so many of our own?" one of the NR troopers

"I don't know. Now the two of you get a move on." The man said as he hit crimson in the back with his rifle.

Sharp followed after her squad mate. The men didn't bother to hit her they guessed Crimson was higher in rank since his weapon set was different from Sharp's. They marched them until they could see Dusk who also was being contained by a NR trooper. Sharp began wondering how they would get out of this. Her eyes tarted abut glancing for a moment in all different areas searching for Mox. When the commander sprang to action she was astonished. Dusk killed all the NR troops within moments. Crimson was ready and the moment the troopers dropped he sprinted for his weapons. Sharp quickly followed. When she returned she quickly checked the NR for more ammunition and any communications devises. 

"Commander what should we do with these." Sharp asked as she held out the coms for Dusk.

"Destroy them, keep one so Mox can take a look at it when we meet up." Dusk said as he attached his belt.

Sharp destroyed three and hooked the last to her belt. when it was all said and done Dusk lead the group further into the combat zone. Sharp saw movement to find a man who had been crushed by rubble. He was missing his lower half as it was buried completely in rubble. Sharp could see by his clothing and the mud that clung to his shirt that he was a farmer. She guessed he was a friendly and so maybe he might need help.

"Commander come here." Sharp called to Dusk

Blackjack squad trudged through the blackened area that the mortar had created. Skarr had suggested that they move up and begin scouting the area. There were a few buildings in the area still standing, but one portion in particular had taken the most beating from the mortars. All that was left was craters and ruins. Skarr grimaced. Mortars were an awfully messy way of taking care of enemies. It required some collateral damage and Skarr hoped it was worth it. His squad mates were spread out slightly from his position. They were all still in earshot, but they had taken up defensive positions around him, keeping an eye out for the enemy.

Skarr clicked on his helmet comm, “Dusk. Anything new on your end?”

The comm crackled in response, “We’ve found a farmer by the looks of him. Command’s requested we interrogate him to find where he lives. He might be linked to the virus.”

“Keep me informed, we’ll search the area for any survivors and keep any baddies off your back.” Skarr replied. He motioned for his squad to form up, he liked to keep things personal and preferred to dish out his orders without the comm when possible. “Alright, we’re going to split up and scan the area. I want to know if we have any remaining hostiles and I especially want to know if we have any survivors. Now pair up.”

Drexhel strode up to Skarr, “I’m with you, buddy.” The squad leader nodded and watched as the rest of the squad began fanning out in different directions. He took a quick survey of the area and decided to check out the ruins. It seemed highly unlikely that anyone would have survived the mortars, but Skarr wanted to be safe. Drex followed him to the cratered area of the field.

There were no sounds as the two men waded through the loose dirt that had been thrown up by the explosions. Skarr waved for Drexhel to head into one of the ruined buildings before ducking into one himself. He stepped carefully over fallen bits of debris. A part of the ceiling fell nearby, causing Skarr to wince. He was afraid of the whole building coming down on top of him, so he began edging his way back out. The floor beneath him gave out, causing him to yell out. His rifle left his grasp as he latched onto a bit of the floor still left. He cursed himself for not having strapped the rifle to himself before struggling out of the hole.

Skarr rose slightly to his feet, trying to stay as low as possible to the floor. It began to groan under his weight and cracks started appearing. He maneuvered himself closer to the door, gritting his teeth as the cracks in the floor widened. As the floor started to fall away, he flung himself out the door to the building. He heard a loud crash from inside the building. Drexhel appeared out of the building he had entered and rushed over to Skarr.

“What the hell was that?” Drexhel asked.

“Floor collapse. Lost my damn rifle.” A snort escaped Drexhel and he started laughing. Skarr threw him a quick glare before picking himself off the ground. He dusted himself off and walked a good distance away from the building. His comm crackled to life again.

“Skarr. This is Therex. You’re going to want to see this.”

***

It only took Blackjack squad two minutes to converge on Therex’s location. Terre and him had, unsurprisingly, paired up to scout a cluster of buildings to the east. In one of the buildings was a group of survivors, much to their joy. However, that joy dissolved when they found out that the survivors were sitting in a trap. There were only six survivors in the building, but they were being contained in a cage. Therex had almost opened the cage, before Terre had discovered it. There was a wire at the top of the cage that junctioned with a fuse box. From there, the two had not done anymore, but called Skarr. He walked around the cage now, trying to find another way in. The squad didn’t have a pair of fusion cutters which would make this easier on them. It seemed that the terrorists had very little time to set up the trap and had hoped that whoever would come to the farmers’s rescue would open the cage door.

The squad leader began tracing the wire from the fusebox that trailed down into the floor. “Somebody see if there’s any stairs that lead down to the basement.”

OOC:

And now you have your post. I'll leave it to you guys as to what we find in the basement. What is the trap that has been laid for us?

Crimson was about to try and remove the rubble form the man. That way they could treat him to some relief. That was when a flash of movement caught his eyes. It was Dusk obviously getting a call. although Crimson didn't know if it was Mox calling for assistance or checking in, or if it was new orders from command.  Crimson waited for Dusk to say something. He didn't bother to help the man and Sharp wasn't going to do any thing until the rubble was moved or Dusk gave an order.

"Don't touch him" Dusk finally said.

Crimson and Sharp both took one quick step away from the farmer. Crimson pondered on why they weren't to touch the farmer.

"He's poisoned with some chemical or another. We're to interrogate him and see if we can get info on how he got poisoned. Specifically where he lives encase that's where the chemicals are held." Dusk said calmly.

Dusk walked away probably to give Mox and Anival  a call.  Crimson looked at the farmer wondering how they would interrogate him if they can't touch him. He then got an Idea. He ran to find one of the bodies of the NR troopers Dusk had killed. He checked over their bodies for knives and gloves. He found that the leader who had been killed by Dusk first had a pair of gloves.  Crimson pulled them off the dead trooper and pulled them on over his own gloves Along with it he stole the troopers knife just in case. He then move back to the farmed and knelled beside the him. Crimson Smacked The man to see if he was asleep or knocked out cold..

"Are you alive?" Crimson asked politely.

The farmer didn't move but his eyes flew open and he looked at Crimson.

"You got a name guy?" Crimson asked kindly since he didn't want to start with painful interrogation.

"It's Meric, Meric Cloaser."Tthe man commented after a moment of stunned Silence.

"Meric, your very sick with a special poison from the men who had been hanging around here. We want to help you and your fellow Farmers by destroying what caused your poisoning. Might you tell me where you live." Crimson stated to him.

"I live two miles east of here. Now please help me." Meric begged.

Crimson nodded and pulled off the gloves then turned to Dusk.

"Well we know where to go, what do we do with him Dusk?" Crimson asked.

Agathius made his way towards the set of buildings alongside his squad. On the way, Agathius was able to witness firsthand the results of their mortar bombardment.

Badly mutilated corpses and body parts lay strewn across the field. Their shelling had not only torn up these men, but the ground that stood beneath them.

It was a gruesome sight, he felt a tinge of guilt for killing these men in such a terrible way, but he knew that they would have done the same if they were in his position.

But he had no time to think about that. There was still a task at hand. They were now being ordered to scour the area for any signs of life. He paired up with Karash and together they began to search through the ruins. The first few minutes were uneventful. They had gone through several damaged buildings, finding nothing but rubble.

They then neared what appeared to be once a barnyard. The roof had caved in during the bombardment, turning the barnyard into a flattened mess of wood. But what caught his attention was what lay near the ruins.

Two figures lay motionless in front of the destroyed barnyard. One of them was substantially smaller than the other. Agathius suddenly realized that it was a child. He panicked  and darted over to the pair.

"Wait!" he heard Karash shout over his Comlink

Karash darted after him, but Agathius had already made his way towards the two. He came across the bodies. The little one was lying face down, while his father lay on his back, with his mouth gaping open. Both of their bodies were lined with shrapnel. It appeared that both had been dead for sometime and he realized that there was nothing he could do.

Karash came up to him.

"Look, there's nothing we can do"

Agathius nodded silently and the two went back to surveying the ruins.

***

The rest of the squad had went over to Therex's location. They found themselves looking at a cage filled with six survivors. Agathius had felt numb at the sight of the two dead civilians, but now this turned to anger. He was outraged that their enemy would actually use civilians as bait. He thought that even the New Republic had standards.

“Somebody see if there’s any stairs that lead down to the basement.”

Agathius volunteered and went around the building search for a set of stairs. He was much relieved to find one and slowly descended down the stairs.

As he neared the bottom of the stairs, he heard something click. He quickly darted back up the stairs as the trap went off. A loud boom went off, and flames quickly began to engulf the basement and the staircase.

"Shit! An incendiary went off!"

Sharp had stepped away and was listening for any chatter over the NR com. She tried to ignore Merics message and focused on listening in. it wasn't much use so She put it back when Dusk had finished what he had been doing.

"Let's get to his house and stop these bastards." Dusk said as he walked between Crimson and sharp and headed towards Meric's home.

Sharp nodded and followed along with her fellow recruit, Crimson.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sharp looked out at the expanse of buildings before her.  It felt better having the squad together again.  The squad walked together as a group everyone eyes peeled for any more NR troopers. From what Sharp could tell the NR had their best hidden away to protect the virus canisters. Sharp pulled her Scope up and watched the roof tops to make sure there wasn't any snipers taking aim. Since what happen with the last batch of NR troopers she was prepared for anything. Sharp took her eyes from the scope when they reached the largest building.

Sharp took cover next to the Door way just in case if the NR were waiting. Silently Dusk pulled open the door and Mox and Crimson charged first followed by Anival then Sharp and Dusk. It was Dark and quiet, the room was empty of blaster fire. So Sharp guessed no NR had been spotted and neither had any Raiders. Sharp switched to Night vision and scanned the room. It turned out it wasn't a room but a corridor. At the end was double doors and the side was marked with doors.

"Storage will be through there. Mox, Crimson, and Anival check it out. Sharp, help me clear out these rooms. Move it!"Said Dusk

Sharp watched Mox, Anival, and Crimson leave. then she turned to Dusk and nodded. She waited for him to take the lead and show her which room to clear first. Dusk pointed to the first door on the right. Sharp nodded then Crossed to the door. She switched to infrared and peered into the room. From what she could tell their was two bodies of heat within the room. Silently Sharp taped the door so it opened slightly. She peered through the crack and saw a few crates. She opened the door small enough to fit herself through and worked her way over to hide behind the crates. She peered over the Crates to see two men Working around a black cage. A third walked in from a side room carrying a box  of wires. One of the men reached into the box and pulled out an explosive.

"If they try to break into the cage they'll get fried." Said the man as he began Tracing the wires from the explosive and Making the cage into a trap.

Sharp Pulled up her rifle and looked into the scope. She aimed for the bomb and Shot. The bomb went off Killing two troopers and sending the third one flying into a wall.He crashed then slid to the ground. She shot him in the elbow then leaped over the crates and walked to the cage.

"Look out their setting up traps for us sir." Sharp said over the com to alert Dusk and the other RAIDERS.

Sharp then turned on the left over trooper and shot him in the other elbow. She walked to him and took off his helmet.

"Where are the canisters." Sharp barked as she shook the man.

The man looked up at her and knew he was done for but he wouldn't talk.

"I'll die before I tell you anything, you imperial scum!" The man yelled.

Sharp had already shot out his elbows so she nodded.

"I guess I'll resort to more painful methods." Sharp said as she Shot him in the knee.

He bit his lips to stop himself from screaming.

"Screw you!" He yelled.

"Guess I won't need to do this. But hey Don't worry I'll let you die painfully and slowly." Sharp said as she grabbed him by the scruff of his armor.

She then proceeded to throw him into the cage and Locked it behind her. She began walking away and exited the room. Sharp noticed that two men were exiting on of the rooms. So sharp pulled up her Scope and shot one in the head. He fell to the ground as the other turned  around his weapon in hand. Before he could shoot sharp shot again and hit him in the hand. He dropped his weapon to the ground.  She then shot him in the knee and watched as the man fell to the ground. She ran to the dead body and searched for a knife. She pulled one and turned to see the man grabbing his gun. She Stepped on his arm with her right leg then kicked the gun away with her left foot. She put her hands in the mans armpits and began dragging him toward the room she had exited from. She stopped in front of the cage where the man sat. She grinned as she put the man before the cage. she shot him in the elbow and pulled off his helmet. She grabbed him by his hair and held his head up.

"Tell me where the Virus canisters are or I'll kill him." She said trying to sound cruel.

"Go ahead I know your bluffing." the man said in response.

"You want to bet." Sharp said as she Wiped the knife blade down the mans cheek leaving a cut as it passed.

"Okay okay you win. Don't kill him. there is two of them in the main storage and one is hidden behind the vent in the next room over." the man said in shock.

"Thanks now here is a view of your future if you've lied to me." Sharp said as she cut the troopers throat.

She tossed him forward and his face slammed into the cage. she then walked over and stabbed the knife into the mans head. She then turned and began walking away.

"You'll get yours imperial scum." the man yelled from behind her.

"Mox there are two canisters in the room where your at. Dusk I need your help getting the next one." Sharp said into her com.

She then walked out of the room and walked to the room two doors down. This had been the room the other troopers had exited from. She opened the door and shot the man who stood there. She then walked out to see dusk reloading his bullstopper. Sharp nodded to the door that lead to the room, where the canister was supposedly hidden.

Dusk pulled out a basic grenade and Sharp nodded. the took cover at either side of the doorway. Then Sharp pushed open the door and Dusk pulled the pin, and tossed the grenade into the room. When the explosion went off Sharp and Dusk both charged into the room. the troopers were disoriented and a few were on the ground. Sharp shot anything standing that wasn't Dusk. When nothing stood she began pecking off anything with a heart beat. When all opponents were dead sharp looked for any vents. She found one. She wished she could shoot it but she couldn't risk destroying the canister.  Sharp got down on one knee and began bashing the vent. Eventually it bent enough that she could pull it out. She did and threw it to the side. She reached in and her hand tapped all over the bottom of the ventilation shaft. She didn't find anything. She looked in and noticed glinting metal attached to the top of the vent shaft. She reached in and grabbed it. Sharp and Dusk had gotten one canister.

"One captured, lets go and help the rest of the squad." Dusk said.

Sharp nodded as she popped the clip from her rifle. She then loaded a new one. She put it into the pack on her back. She could carry it there and it was safer there as well.

The CIC was filled with movement as the Navy liaison arrived. General Katash rested on her hands as she leaned over the holographic console. The number of enemy blips had exploded over the display and quickly been squashed over the past twenty minutes.

Tyne nudged his assistant then turned to Havock. “You’ll never get those troops out of there before they drop their payload.”

Sergeant Nayad, a slender Twi’lek with green coloring was on his rotation as comm officer. Nayad was a good man, dependable, but not bright. “So what, it’s just the anti-virus the squints cooked up. That won’t hurt them.”

“Your comm officer never passed basic biology lab did he?”

Havock ran a tired hand through her damp hair. The room was cool but the pressure was rising every moment that passed. “Forgetting your boot vaccines there Nayad? The anti-virus will work as a vaccine in the civvies that are not infected, which helps but also could infect them. A vaccine is an inert form of the virus itself.” 

“I still haven’t heard a thank you for developing an anti-virus with only blood samples from the dead Army regs, in less than eight hours.” Tyne sang to his assistant.

“Shut up Tyne.”

Garryll approached the command console in the center of the room with a datapad in his hand. “Okay Raiders have found their canisters spread out under the farm, they are all neutralized and I’ve ordered them back to the shuttle.” His eyes scanned the display as he spoke. “Blackjack is in a less ideal situation, they are pinned down but fighting their way out now.”

“Shit.”

“Don’t worry I’ve handled that too.”

Havock glanced over at Garryll with a raised eyebrow.

“ARC was on leave.”

Havock leaned back to her full height letting her hands drop limply to her sides. “ARC…I thought…”

“Yea Iota’s last mission was a disaster, lost almost the whole team. Actually one of them is still in the med bay. But we did have three trainee’s on deck.”

Havock stepped forward and folded her arms. “So that’s Orr and three trainees? We never launch ARC less than full, that’s suicide, they work as a team.”

Garryll kept his eyes on the display. “Well there was a fully trained former ARC commander in the brig.”

Havock blinked as her mouth slowly opened. The commander of the Army’s eyes glared into the side of her Tactical Officer’s skull. The former ARC Theta commander had been in the brig for the past six months during an inquiry to her last mission to Shumongi. It was a situation in which Ayme couldn’t use her position to sway the internal affairs department. They wanted to know how a mission could fail so spectacularly that an entire ARC team could request a transfer and their command could be captured by thugs and require rescue by Orr’s team.

“We need her, and she wasn’t charged with anything other than being a PR nightmare. The IA creeps gave her one year and then she would be reinstated, I just requested they change that to time served so we can get our guys out of there. Orr is in command, she’s his second.”

===~~~===

Aryana ‘Whiskey’ Graves scanned the area using the infrared in her HUD. The farm looked like the aftermath of a tornado, with broken windows and torn buildings. It always amazed her how structures that took months to build could be ripped apart in a matter of moments.

She had taken up smoking Corellian Cigars during her time in the brig. At least they gave her a room with a window for her yearlong stay. The Shumongi mission was necessary but the fact that they could tie it back to the VE and they needed it to be an unauthorized mission to make everyone happy meant that Whiskey took the fall. Hazard of being in ARC she mused.

“Spoke to your sister yet?” Orr spoke softly over the private comm channel.

Whiskey knelt behind a large hay bale as they watched a squad of NR troops enter a building on the property. “Havock tried to visit twelve times, and tried to call every day.”

“Tried?”

Her sister was the prefect of the army and did not need to be spending her free time in the brig, yet her stubbornness seemed to know no bounds.

One of the recruits stumbled and made awkward motions with his hands towards the farm house. Whiskey raised her eyebrow and nodded calmly. “These greens you found, if one of them gets me killed, I’m holding you responsible Orr.”

“I’ll be sure to keep my guard up in the afterlife.”

Orr clicked his comm to the squad channel. “Alright ladies, this is the easiest thing you’ll do today after your morning shit. We go in BC10 and A12 blazing and get those Blackjack pansies back to their momma’s.”

Four comm clicks were his silent oorah as ARC Kappa moved out.

“Confirm Raiders made it to the hovercraft.” Whiskey reported.

Orr didn’t deviate from his crouched run to the structure. “Tell the crazy ones to stay put on that craft on standby, and get Skarr on the horn so our people don’t shoot at us.”

“Aye commander.” Whiskey whispered then switched her comm to Phoenix’s channel to relay the messages.

Orr took point as they entered the building, he scanned each room before motioning the team to keep up the pace. Whiskey kept the rear in check and made sure none of the recruits pissed themselves on their first mission in the dark Kerberos armor.  Movement caught the veterans eye and Whiskey flawlessly drew her A12 and fired one round into a NR troopers skull that was guarding the doorway to the basement level. The man spun and dropped just ahead of Orr’s position.

“Found them.” Whiskey muttered.

“You are a cocky one you know that?”

Whiskey shrugged as she approached the door. “I haven’t fired a gun at a target that wasn’t paper in six months, forgive my pure excitement.”

The sound of blaster fire and yells filled the basement as the ARC team approached. The youngest of the greens, a Trandoshan man barely old enough to have been in the corps longer than a year, darted for the high ground over some crates. His ability to converse left something to be desired but his aim with a sniper rifle held the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel. Orr and Whiskey found cover using a work bench, keeping an eye on the squads medic and combat engineer who was in position to trap the exit should that become necessary. The movement was synchronized, practiced, and flawless like they should be in ARC. The sniper dropped three men before anyone in the room had even noticed Kappa’s arrival. Between Orr, Whiskey and Blackjack the others were on the ground in less than sixty seconds.

Orr stood up and nodded to Skarr. “We need to go, the Navy is going to make sure the area is clear with some test tube bull shit.”

The Blackjack Squad leader grabbed Drexhel’s arm to get him on his feet and started to bark orders to his squad. They all were running towards the hovercraft and on their way back to Fort Sexton with enough time to watch the Navy shuttles fly overhead and dump their payload.

OOC:

The End. If you would like to post anything about the hover craft journey or something of a flashback if you are in Blackjack, I will not stop you. Good work everyone now get ready for Chapter 9.