== On board the Adjudicator  - Joint Forces Command Center ==

The Adjudicator completed her hyperspace jump and slowed its engines to impulse as they arrived in the Bestine system that would be their staging ground for the coming assault. The Imperial-II-class Star Destroyer was the lead ship of the Second Fleet, and probably one of the nicest ships in the whole Navy but Brigadier General Ayme ‘Havock’ Katash just found it disorienting. Command staff had been transferred to the Adjudicator three weeks prior and the Prefect found herself still having to  ask for directions to her bunk. The others mentioned that there was a grand gym and the view from the observation deck was to die for, but Havock decided it was best just to stick to the Joint Forces Command Center, Cafeteria, and her bunk.

“Report.”

Colonel Garryll Gates looked up and nodded. “Not much yet, Phoenix is tucked in on their transport and in route to Shumogi.”

Havock looked around the crampt but effective command center. The walls were lined with displays and read outs flashing information surrounding a central holoemitter display where the commanders stood.

The head of the VE Expeditionary Forces, High General Armin Sturve could always be found near the command display as he cycled through reports from both the Army and Navy forces. He was a large imposing man with a burly brown beard that hid any expression he may have had. The few words that passed through his lips were loud and boisterous but not to be ignored.

High Colonel Raziel kept his attention on the comm station just below and slightly off of the main central console. The new Tactical Officer could hear the commander’s conversations from his vantage point as well as keep his eyes on the incoming reports. His newfound comrade was Lieutenant Evir Norith, the Adjucator’s communication’s chief who was on loan from the main bridge.

Commodore Wyl ‘Trick’ Trykon walked through the doors of the JFCC at a brisk pace. He was flanked by a thin woman, with jet black hair and a persistent scowl on her otherwise beautiful features.

“General Stuve.” His eyes glanced over to where Havock was standing and nodded to indicate the information was for her ears as well. “Sir, I can’t stay long but my second officer Commander Minia Wolfe will be remaining in the JFCC for the remainder of the offensive.”

Wolfe snapped to attention and saluted sharply, Havock just knew they were not destined to get along.

“I shall be brief then Commodore.” Stuve cleared his throat and pressed the display controls, bringing up the image of two planets. “Your targets may seem trivial, separate they are pointless specs but together they give us our foothold into the real game at hand. Trykon and Katash, you both know your division’s roles in this offensive and our main goal, Corellia.”

Havock swallowed her mind processing the excitement and dread that simultaneously set in when she allowed herself to think about her second homeworld as a battlefield. She may have been born on Ansion but her earliest memories were of the orphanage and her uncle’s gang on Corellia. All of those places were now only inhabited by whispers and ghosts yet still something about being the catalyst of their inevitable decent into rubble bothered her.

“They are playing into our hands then, just as expected.” Trykon mused to himself as he looked at a datapad that had appeared in his hands. Havock realized she had missed something important that had happened on the Navy side of the fight and brought her focus back to the matter at hand.

The image on the holographic display swirled and changed into the face of Grand General Creighton Cierva, the Chief High Council Military Advisor. Cierva was a gaunt man, more skeleton than flesh and blood. His eyes could make a stone wall feel uncomfortable.

“I am only here to remind you that the High Council is watching and waiting for your reports. I will be advising them as they come in and report back to you anything that you need to know.”

The image shrank into the emitter and left an empty space in its wake.

“Brief your people, dismissed.”

Trykon nodded and returned to the main bridge at the same quick pace he had arrived.

== On board the Looking Glass – Command Briefing Room - Phoenix Platoon ==

Commander Alice Carroll glared at the display showing the hangar filled to the brim with Stormtrooper grunts. Her mind drifted back fondly to the time when she commanded a Destroyer with a whole wing of fighters. Now she was the master of a glorified gun boat.

The Looking Glass was nothing to be ashamed of though. The Jannik-class Imperial Escort Cruiser had been modified to remove the TIE clamps that would have held one squadron of fighters into an extra bank of turbolasers. She would need every inch of firepower to make it to the surface of Shumogi if things went south.

“Captain, permission to enter.”

Alice jumped at the sound of her ‘rank’, then smirked and half turned to see Lieutenant Norith Skarr enter the briefing room.

“Granted Lieutenant, and its Commander. Captain is my position, ground pounder. How are your boys settling in?”

The combined forces of RAIDERS and Blackjack along with two squads of Army regulars all slowly started to arrive from their makeshift barracks. The journey had been a two week zig zag across half the galaxy leaving the majority of the men and women of Phoenix completely stir crazy.

“No casualties yet ma’am. Do we have command on the uplink?”

“I wouldn’t have called for you if I didn’t LT. The room is all yours.”

Skarr sighed and gave Dusk a nod as he entered with the rest of RAIDERS. The squads took their seats in the front with the Army regs making up the rear of the semicircular room. Skarr pulled up the comm controls and smirked as the miniature image of General Katash projected from the emitter.

“Hey bosslady.”

Havock nodded to her former squadmate and turned her attention to the rest of the Platoon.

“Phoenix, for years now we have been biding our time while our enemies attacked each other and we provided the only safe haven to their refugees. Some of you may even be refugees from the fighting I’m talking about. We now are done waiting.”

Several shouts filled the chamber for a few seconds. As the sound died down the display expanded to include a rotating orb.

“Our mission is not easy, but you aren’t in Phoenix because you like to do things the easy way.  This is Shumogi, that name should sound familiar. We came here before on a mission to destroy a research facility, before that ARC was here, and now we are returning for the last time. Shumogi is a mining planet but its better known as the premiere location to test military hardware. Rothana Heavy Engineering is the largest and has a full line of walker tech being manufactured by the Fry-Urquhart Fabritek Workshop in the industrial district of the Commergi Spaceport town.”

The display zoomed to show the large hanger and over a dozen buildings of various sizes that made up Commergi town.

“Your job will be to infiltrate this town by taking over one of the companies here and find everything you can about the prototype AT-SE walker. Skarr and Dusk will have your specific assignments. Army regulars you will be spreading out for now in the town and reporting back any sightings of NR snooping about. I also need to make two things very clear. Fry-Urquhart is not our enemy in fact most of the companies on Shumogi lean in our direction, we need to keep it that way. Two, ARC Kappa is already on ground and engaged in their mission, do not interfere with them if you cross paths.”

== ARC Kappa, Shumogi, PowaTech Factory ==

Aryana ‘Whiskey’ Graves sat on a crate smoking what was left of her cigar. It was as good of a way to spend her daily fifteen minute break as any. The PowaTech Corporation jumpsuit itched at the collar and no part of the thing seemed to fit right. ARC Kappa had arrived on Shumogi three weeks ago on a transport vessel that was originally holding a group of new workers for PowaTech’s distribution facility. The transport arrived, with workers, just not the same ones that had originally boarded.

“Whiskey.” Orr called from the back door of the warehouse. “Break’s over.”

Aryana flicked the butt of the cigar and stood to look up at her commander from the bottom of the small flight of stairs. “You sure you should be calling me that Mr. Orr?”

“Now you sound like your sister.”

Aryana frowned and walked up until they both were under the door frame. “Low blow Commander. How’s  Bill?”

The Trandoshan sniper of the group had been assigned to the janitorial staff. A fact that the man hated but Orr had convinced him was the most important of all the jobs. Bill had the chance to look at what others in the company think of as trash, examine desks alone and be invisible to nearly everyone as he made his rounds.

“He keeps complaining about the lack of honor without battle and I really don’t know why the man is so obsessed with hunting, but so far so good.”

She nodded and moved to return to the boxes of inventory that were her life until the end of their mission.

“Ary.” Her blue eyes narrowed at the whisper that was his voice. “I know how much you hate this planet, I know it’s where Theta fell apart, but that wasn’t your fault Commander.”

She smirked and nodded a silent thank you before sticking her hands in her pockets and returning to her work. Phoenix would be planetside soon and they would need ARC’s recon intel to plot their move. They had to use their positions to determine the NR’s influence over PowaTech, and not lose their minds in the process.

OOC:

===~~~===

Enemy: Corellian League

Location: Fry-Urquhart Fabritek Workshop on Shumogi (owned by Rothana Heavy Engineering who are responsible for prototype Walker Tech).

F-U Fabritek has several clients that manufacture parts for them, the largest being PowaTech (PowaTech has now started to lean towards the NR)

Target: All-Terrain Shock Enforcer (AT-SE)
NOTE: AT-SE has a fatal flaw in that the Kuat Drive Yards FW-72SE Compact Fusion Drive that comes standard does not have the power to operate in difficult terrain and still be able to power weapons systems. Without the engineers from PowaTec that developed the new Fusion Drive or the plans for the Fusion Drive the AT-SE will not be functional for use by our military.

Equipment: Civilian clothes, pistols and light carbines only until Objective Aurek is completed. It is imperative that the relationship with Fry-Urquhart Fabriteck is maintained. 

MISSION OBJECTIVES:

Objective Aurek

There are many small port facilities throughout the manufacturing district. Most are privately owned, some corporate, others are local small business ventures. Keep in mind, if we are planning to take a prototype either it will be in a distant testing facility, in a vehicle on the move, or in a hidden crate. To facilitate intelligence gathering we need to pose as one of these small business ventures.

RAIDERS: Secure a safe house in one of the abandoned underground testing bunkers of the Meteorite Corporation, once a rival to Fry-Urquhart before they were run out of business. The bunker will have a small guard complement for an unexplained reason from F-U. Secure the bunker (take extra effort to ensure that all witnesses are eliminated), assume the identity of the guards, and ensure that no one is aware of your presence.

BlackJack: Locate and target a small business, one that has been in business for less than a year and has dealings with F-U directly or through PowaTech. Infiltrate undetected and assassinate all employees (take extra effort to ensure that all witnesses are eliminated) assume their identity and gather intelligence.

ARC: Infiltrate the PowaTech Corporation  and pose as employees, gather intelligence on power plants of as many military and industrial machines as possible, especially any stationed on Corellia. Determine how influential the NR has become to the Board of Directors.


**As you start posting you should be arriving on planet, it’s up to SL’s if you are starting on the shuttle or on the ground, but I don’t want more than four posts on the shuttle total.

Raiders had returned from Tadath and gave in the captured chemical containers to command. Shortly after They were assigned to an Imperial star destroyer known as Adjudicator. a few days after boarding the Destroyer a meeting was called by the army command. During the meeting Sharp was granted a new promotion. She was now a First class private. Sharp must have done something that impressed Dusk or the commanders but she didn't mind the reasoning she liked the promotion. Sharp didn't mind the Starships many corridors. It reminded her of the academy and her old life aboard her old freind's ship. Sharp was mainly seen in the shooting range and didn't do much of anything else. She wasn't a great fighter so she stayed away from the gym and there wasn't anything else that interested her. So she was at the range when the call came from Dusk that she was to report to the Raiders bunk room to get the cloths she was to wear for the mission. Sharp had gotten the cloths on quickly and went to the armory to get her weapon set. A few stormtroopers from the regular army forces were there too and they had been told to only bring small arms weapons and light carbines. Sharp didn't grab on of the carbines but she gladly took her DC-15 blaster pistol and her combat knife. She clipped them to her belt then marched off to the hangar.

There she met her squad who dressed in other civilian clothing. Sharp took up a spot next to Trix the new girl of the squad. Sharp was happy to no longer be the only girl on the squad. Although she didn't really know Trix that well. Sharp waited as she watched the Army regulars file into the carrier. Next was Blackjack and Raiders which fell in together as they entered. Skarr entered first followed by his second in command. The rest of the squad followed suit. The Blackjacks took the next row in front of the Regulars. Raiders followed after them and took up the seats in front of them. Sharp sat next to Mox on the carrier. Mox looked at her for a bit when she initially sat down but he looked away a few seconds later. Sharp guessed he didn't mind sharp all that much although Sharp hadn't exactly worked with him like she had Dusk and Anival. SHe respected the man for his skill set and glad to have him as an adversary. She wondered what it was like when Mox was in her place as a green in the squad. Eventually Sharps thoughts were interrupted at the sound of General Katash's voice. Although when she did Sharp snapped her attention to the small hologram of the commander. Sharp listened to the briefing of the mission then waited for Dusk to tell the squad what their objective is. When General Katash disappeared from her position on the holo-projector, Dusk summoned a Datapad.

"Okay Raiders our mission specs are to take an old underground bunker. The bunker will serve as our base of operations on the planet's surface. The bunker will have a small defensive team of guards assigned for protection." Dusk said as the engines kicked in and the carrier left the Hangar.

Dusk continued shortly after. "If at all possible we want to keep it quiet so we don't alert enemy forces of our infection on the planet. Now Raiders this is our specialty I want it to be done and over with with in a few hours." Dusk concluded.

Sharp grinned this was what she had been training before. Before the Raiders had left Sharp took a small class on infiltration. This was going to be a great time to try her new abilities in the real world. Sharp grinned as she sat back into her seat and waited for Arrival on planet side. Sharp looked at Crimson who sat between Anival and Trix. Crimson's anger towards Anival was easily noticeable since Crimson sat glaring daggers at the man. Obviously Crimson wasn't very happy with his bunk mate. Especially since Anival kept telling those jokes about Crimson's people. Crimson had said it many times while the Raiders had been quarantined although he never said it to Anival's face. Sharp looked at Dusk who had taken a seat on the other side of Mox. Sharp wondered if Mox or Dusk noticed the hostility between the two squad mates. Sharp guessed it best to let her squad leader and his assistant deal with the issue. As the ship neared planet side Sharp began to wonder if anyone would notice her from her days as a bounty hunter.

"Excuse me Dusk if you don't mind my asking, do we have a plan for taking over the bunker?" Sharp asked. Dusk looked at her and shook his head meaning that he hadn't devised one yet.

"I have an idea for one if you wouldn't mind listening." Sharp said calmly.

"Fire away" Dusk responded.

"Well sir we know that their is guards correct. Well they have to have some type of armor or clothing so that they can tell each other apart from invaders. well we  wait for a patrol to come out of the bunker. Then we could use our combat knives to take out the patrol silently. Then we could take the uniforms from the dead patrol. We could have a few raiders slip into the uniforms and have them open the doors to the bunker then they can walk in followed silently by the rest of the raiders. Then we can annihilate the left over guards since we'll have control of the door." Sharp explained to her SL.

Sharp left Dusk to think about whether to use that plan or not.

Dusk sat right by the entrance ramp of the shuttle, his kawokian sat on his shoulder watching the rest of the cabin. 'This ones gonna be big' He thought to himself. 'This is the next step coreward.' Scratched the monkey lizard at the base of it's skull, getting a slight sound of enjoyment from it, as he looked around the room. He glanced Sharp and smiled, 'The green's turning out alright. Glad the promotion went through, she handdled herself well last mission. Let's see how she does in full scale missions.' He thought, pulling his data pad out. With a few strokes he pulled up the tactical information on the bunker. It was on the outskirts of the town and was of a decent size. He looked over the rooms and plans jumped around in his head. 'I need more information on troop placement and movements before I can think of anything difinitive.' He pulled the edges of his trench coat closer togeather and quickly fell asleep.

*                                                *                                            *

Standing, Jacen grabed one of the support straps hanging from the shuttle compartment roof. He twerked his head in a gesture for Crumbly to climb up to his shoulder. The kawokian quickly aknoledged and scappered up the SL's arm. As the shuttle touched down on the planet, the exit ramp hissed as it broke the air seals and equalized presure between the cabin and planet atmosphere. The ramp desended before Dusk and the man started walking down it, placing his wide brimmed hat on his head and tinted specticles on his face. He looked at the average spaceport like he would anywhere else he was unformilliar with, a perfect place to be ambushed. He pulled out a cigar and put it in his mouth, Crumbly quickly took Dusk's lighter and lit it. Looking at the arid planet's sun, the SL juged that they had roughly 4 hours before sundown.

"Alright RAIDERS, listen up." He said turning on his heel towards his squad. "I'd say we've got 4 hours till sundown. Let's find this bunker and do some recon, figure out the troop placement and movement, and have the place all set up and pretty for BJ and the regulars."

The man once again turned on his heel and adobted a brisk pace. 'Let's get er done.'

*                                *                                *

RAIDERS squad was poitioned in a building about 200 meters away from the entrance to the bunker. It wasn't really anything special, just a duracrete structure with a blastdoor entrance. Looking through the macrobinoculars, Dusk could see there were two guards; both were armed with A2-80 rifles. Jacen handed the macros back to Mox and went back to his datapad. He punched in the guards on the bunker scematics.

"Alright, get ready. I will aproach the guards and take them both down. Mox, I need you to than quickly get over there, open the door, than kill the lights. We'll split up into two groups; Group Auresh will be myself, Mox, Crimson, Trix, and Sharp. Group Besh will be everyone else. Auresh will be clearing out the bunker while Besh makes sure no one gets out and that no one disturbs us while inside. Any questions."

OOC:

Well, lets get rolling. Plan is in the post.

Crimson had a grand time aboard the Star destroyers since a few of the regulars were his old friends from the academy.Although Anival became even more of a problem as the mission carried on. His jokes to Crimson weren't funny but he wouldn't tell ti to Anvial. So he did his best to ignore him on the way to the planet Shumogi. Crimson couldn't help but glare at the man as they flew down to get planet side. Crimson heard the Blackjack leader as he gave his orders to his squad. He listened a bit and overheard what Skarr said about chiss. He would pass the message onto Sharp when they hit planet side. Crimson hated this mission. He was known fairly well in the world underground. His tattoo was known as a fighter under the Hutts. He didn't like it but he had to deal with it. So when they hit planet side he thanked that his overcoat had a hood that he could cover his head with. He listened to Dusk's plan and looked around the squad to pick a partner he didn't hate but knew enough to trust them. He didn't want to go with Anival for the same reason that he hated the man. He wouldn't pick Trix he didn't know her well enough. That left him with Sharp. When the Raiders split up Mox and Dusk took off first. Crimson and Sharp followed suit shortly after.

"Sharp cover your features. Chiss aren't very common and we don't want any attention drawn to us.We don't want to take any chances." Crimson said under his breath as they walked at a brisk pace to the rendezvous point.

Sharp nodded and pulled on her hood over her head. Crimson watched and all you could see when the hood was up was her red eyes. Crismon and Sharp continued till they were at the alleyway. Sharp turned in first and Crimson followed until they wer standing with Mox and Dusk who arrived frist.

When all of the Raiders had assembled the plan kicked in. Crimson and Sharp took up positions behind a boulder. Sharp had her pistol in her hand waiting for the plan to begin. If something went wrong Crimson guessed she planned to cover Dusk and Mox as the did a tactical retreat. Sharp stood silent as always until Crimson heard blaster bolts erupt. Sharp kept his fist in the standard stop formation the whole time.

"Enemy down move up." Sharp whispered as she stood and sprinted from her cover to the bunker door.

Crimson followed suit until he heard Dusk's order to remove the Guard's body. Crimson Stuck his hands in the mans arm pits and dragged him behind a rock. When he was done one of the regulars took  the mans helmet off. Crimson nodded as he guessed the regulars would wear the uniforms to throw anyone who ran outside off guard. then together with the other regs they would ambush the escapees and kill them. Crimson returned with the doors lifted. The Raiders entered the bunker silently. Once inside Crimson put on the thermal goggles. He then looked to Sharp who's distinct eyes gave him an idea.

"Sharp hold up I got an idea. See since your eyes have that red glow to 'em. So if I use the goggles to spot them perhaps you can scare them while I sneak up. Then we can kill any one we see and they won't see what hit them." Crimson explained to his squad mate.

Sharp nodded and together they took the left corridor. Crimson kept a watchful eye out for any thermal readings. While Sharp moved forward carefully Crimson carefully jumped from cover to cover until he saw something. a Group of  three was sitting a few steps a head of them. One of them was using a torch to get a panel off. Probably to try and fix the lights Crimson thought to himself.

"Three of them just ahead of us." Crimson whispered.

Crimson slammed his blaster pistol into a crate then dodged forward into cover. a light passed Crimson's position and fell on his companion. at that instant Crimson and Sharp both opened fire. Sharp took out the light first which would make it hard for her and the enemies hard to see. That moment Crimson heard the clutter of objects falling meaning that sharp had taken cover. Crimson waited till he heard careful foot steps. He watched the heat signatures until one was next to him. He grabbed his knife and stood up. He Stabbed the man next to him in the hand. His blaster rifle fell to the ground as he gripped his hand trying to stop the bleeding. He looked around desperately to see his assailant. in that instant Crimson stabbed the man and ducked down to grab the rifle. The man fell to the ground as crimson stood with his new toy. He opened fire with the rifle and brought down the left over guards.  Crimson pulled a comlink to his mouth.

"Three down" Crimson said softly into the devise.

Crimson continued forward and waited for Sharp to join him. Sharp was there within moments. She grabbed one of the blaster rifles from the corpses. Now that the enemy knew Raiders were here there wasn't any surprises left. Sharp put on her goggles and searched the dead technician's datapad. She =found the map and showed Crimson were the command center was.

"just in case of our HUDs having problems." Sharp said as she put the datapad in her backpack.

Crimson nodded and together they moved forward. They stopped out side the door of the guard's barracks. Sharp opened the door and together they crept into he barracks. Crimson saw that there were two heading their way. Together Sharp and Crimson waited in silence and when they were close enough both of them took out the men with a quick stab to the neck.

"Take the rest out silently." Sharp whispered.

Sharp took off and began silently killing the guards in their bunks. Crimson ran to the farthest bunk and began taking out guards as he worked his way back towards Sharp. Eventually they had finished all guards in the vicinity.

"Dusk we've taken over the barracks. Sir I think we should grab some uniforms before we take on the command center." Crimson said into his comlink.

"Crimson has a point there might be lights in there that have a different power source and aren't hooked into the main power grid." Sharp commented after him.

"good idea grab a few uniforms, maybe we can use that to trick them into a false sense of security. Then we do a surprise attack." Dusk said.

Crimson nodded and together Crimson and Sharp stripped off six uniforms. Crimson and Sharp quickly changed into the uniforms and put the other four into Sharp's bag. They then walked to the corridor just out side of the entrance to the command center. the corridor was a small section where all the paths crossed into at one point. Sharp and Crimson took up positions to watch for any movement coming out of the command center. they waited a while until the rest of the squad arrived.

"Here change into these." Sharp said as she handed a uniform to the squad.

Everyone quickly got into the uniforms.

"Raiders let's get this done." Dusk said as he walked to the door controls.

Dusk opened the door and together as one unit they walked into the command center.

Terre sat in her seat, studying a map of the city from various angles. She pounded the overview into her head, making sure she could orient herself, then began to study the different places she could potentially find herself. Once she was finished with the streets, she began studying the sewer systems, public transport systems, different businesses, even building structure and history. She got so wrapped up in it, she completely lost track of time. Suddenly checking, she realized she was about ten minutes behind everyone else. Grabbing her bag from under her seat and running to the fresher, she changed into a black button-up shirt, dark slacks, and a black denim jacket. To finish the outfit, a pair of brown leather boots was pulled on. Terre surveyed herself in the mirror, then brushed her hair into a high ponytail and pushed a pair of silver wire-rim glasses onto her nose. She studied herself in the mirror, then nodded, put her personal items back in her bag, which she stowed under her seat again, and headed down the ramp, the last one off the ship, fifteen minutes behind everyone else. She paused at the bottom and inhaled deeply, the smells of a city and people, of asphalt and oils, of slums and food, the smell of a thriving community.

Glancing around, Terre grinned at the busy crowds, stopping and going. /Oh, this will be fun,/ she thought, her smile wide. She trotted off in her heeled boots, then slowed to a brisk walk, keeping her chin high. She remained fairly aloof as she assimilated herself into the crowd’s flow, letting them pull her along. She had a map in her head of where she needed  to go, but she wanted to take her time getting there. Using the people’s flow to her advantage, she slipped in and out of the foot traffic, barely staying in front of one person for very long.

Eventually, she slipped to the median of the sidewalk, between the crowds heading for the heart of city and those heading away. She raised her eyes from the ground long enough to see two slummy young men eyeing her from across the street. One of them, the shorter and skinnier, though not by much, of the two headed over, checking for any street traffic before sidling up to her.

“Hey, baby,” he said, grinning. Terre quirked an eyebrow.

“Can I help you?” she asked, continuing to walk at her previous pace.

“Well, you just looked like you might have a bit of pocket change to split with me and my buddy over there... Thought I might ask you for some.” The young man’s arm went around her waist. Terre gave him a long stare, but he only laughed. “C’mon, a pretty lady like you couldn’t be stingy.”

Terre was about to scoff when the young man pulled his jacket back slightly, displaying a couple of sheathed knives. She scanned the crowd quickly and saw a small cluster of guards standing not too far away, some discarded food boxes at their feet. Biting her lip, she thought of her options, then suddenly pulled away from the man, screaming and bumping into the people around her.

“GUARDS!” she shrieked, pointing to the now terrified young man, who took off in the opposite direction, his friend in hot pursuit. Three of the guards took off after them while another headed for Terre.

“Are you alright, ma’am?” the guard asked.

Terre smiled inwardly, then turned on the waterworks. “No,” she blubbered. “He had.... He had a knife... And he was threatening me...” She sniffed, then let loose another sob. “I didn’t even know him... I’m new here, I just moved five months ago, and that’s never happened before...”

“Don’t worry, ma’am, we’ll find them. Don’t you worry. We’re good at what we do.”

/I hope not./ “Oh, that’s wonderful, that’s so... That’s just fantastic...” Terre took off the glasses and wiped her eyes. The guard turned around to talk into his comm, and Terre flipped the hood of her jacket up, walking into the crowd and losing herself in it. She had long mastered the art of becoming invisible when needed. She heard the guard asking some people near him if they had seen a woman with... /Glasses/. She smirked to herself, clutching them in her pocket. She passed by a small restaurant bearing the same symbol as the boxes of food the guards had had. She barely paused, smelling the sweetness of it, then let the people sweep her away again. She went into a small roadside cafe and ordered a caf to go. She then swept into the bathroom and took down her hair and draped her coat over her arm. She went back to the counter and retrieved her drink, then sat down outside, sipping her caf and enjoying the view.

OOC:

812

With jet-black hair, and at little over 1,7 meter, Trix made a striking feature with her outlandish clothes as she strolled through the corridors at leisure pace. Her Raider comrades have just taken charge of the command centre and she had been sent out as one the scouts to take care of any remaining businesses that might still walk alive, around and well.
She played with her combat knife in agitation, this whole mission a waste of her time as far as she was concerned. Anything not related to the OSK and Snipes the Pirate King was a waste of her precious time.

She had been plucked from her comfort zone of the OSK and dropped straight into the Vast Empire Army where her spit-fire tongue got her more into trouble than her insatiable lust for adventure. She had considered herself before joining the Vast Empire to be quite docile and soft of speech in comparison with her rowdy pirate companions with whom she had spent the last four years. However, here her foul mouth and attitude was met with much more resistance and contempt while it was a welcome breeze of laughter at OSK. She was seventeen, still a kid according to the Vast Empire but she considered herself to be quite capable, at least in terms of getting her own ass out of trouble. She was very much tempted to take the first route away from the Vast Empire and Raider should the opportunity present itself.

Her companion was as annoying as she thought of this whole fiasco. Rilyo was a short but barrel-chested Corporal with a deep trembling laugh and a spirited joviality that clashed with the horrors he has seen in his service time. In short he pissed Trix off but she could at least stand him…for a short time. Their first meeting had been quite a shock for the poor man, but he had taken to Trix’ spunk with laughter rather than shock and dislike as most of the Raiders has.

”Let me extend a warm hand of welcome to you, newest Raider in the cage!” Rilyo had bellowed from accros the room, his frame followed the loud sound of his voice as his hand already extended towards Trix. Instead Trix arched her eyebrows and showed her fist to him.
“Let me extend my finger to yours.” She replied in a cocky grin in which the room quieted, shocked by the foul-mouthed arrogant private.

Trix perceived her squad to be quite uptight and tense in comparison with the people she had spent time with at OSK, which is why she preferred the scouting briefing after they had taken the command centre which was surprisingly empty save one or two poor souls who ended up at the wrong end of their blasters. Which begged the question...where was the command? That's when Dusk had tasked them with scouting which she chose gladly over...doing whatever they would do. Hack, slice, shoot, kill, bla bla.


Poor First Class Sharp would just frighten any soul with her creepy eyes, Mox and Dusk both would just awkwardly attempt at coming across as normal such as the fiasco that had happened when they spun a story about being lost and Crimson, well heck, the man seemed to be driven by some sort of honour for which Trix had almost as little time as she had for everything else.  Her lax attitude and cocky nature had given her knack for smooth talking and blending into conversations, lulling most into a false sense of security which made the lies easier and the drinks cheaper and…well… her old captain would not appreciate her recent indiscretions but Snipes would get a good laugh.

“Perimeter cleared. No enemy in sight, we will now scope out toward North-“
Trix grabbed the comm-unit from Rilyo’s hand-

“Nothing here, gonna check whether there are some other dudes. Out.” Trix shoved the unit back into the shorter man’s hands.
“I should have you reported for that Private.” The corporal said stiffly.
“Bullshit, who will cover your lousy ass?”
“Raiders who I’ve known for quite a while now.” Rilyo said, slowly edging with her down the corridor, their lights bouncing against the ceiling. The lights had been switched on again, although their grid had been compromised leaving only a handful of lights flickering through the corridors of the cold duracreet halls.

“Raiders who prolly like everyone else who holds a gun and knife in their hands, will die pretty soon.”
“Saying that is nothing short of treason.”
“So the Empire considers even philosophical truth to be treason. God, your propogando must be insane. That’s treason.”
“You’re not as dumb as you look Shortshit. “ Rilyo said in barely contained amusement at the younger Raider. He had an idea of her background, the OSK tatoo on her back a dead-giveaway which is why he has been tolerating her so far. She just needed a firm, guiding but understanding hand.

“Who the fuck you calling short?” Trix asked, imposing her height over him.

“The one who is your superior.” He said in a smirk.

There was a door on the left to which he pointed as he kept talking. From behind the door there was  rowdy chorus of laughter, music blaring through the eery silence of the corridor in the dark bunker. Trix nodded, her hand readying itself at her waist within a finger’s reach of her knife. She was smiling however, unlike the saint next to her, she could already guess as to what was happening on the other side of this door. She could hear a fragment of her own world, smell the smoke and cheap liquor oozing through the crack at the bottom. She surprised Rilyo by grabbing him around the next and tumbling through the door.

Several clicks of different blasters sounded, the music still cheering in jazzy blues through the room. Two male humans and a twi’lek male looked at them suspiciously, their faces shadowed in the dramatic flickering light that swung above their heads.

“Oh my….I thought we’d get some privacy over here.” Trix said jovially, her hand snaking around Rilyo’s waist as she pulled him closer leachourously. Her drunken ease seems to have settled the men, or at least convince them that she was as stupid as she sounded and that Rilyo was a lucky as he looked with her hands roaming over every part of his muscular back.

“No, this is no place for your plaything, piss off. You have no authorization here.”

“That’s sabaac, are you playing?”
“Private party, piss off.” The men were already settling back into their chairs around the round table. Several bottles littred the floor around. With all the years she had spent with pirates trying to skip their shifts, she has come to know the body-language of someone bunking on guard duty.

“Nu uh! I wanna play, let’s play.” She said pushing Rilyo towards the back, and plumping down on an open chair. She shrugged her jacket off in a smooth motion, dropping her loose shirt to drop over her shoulder exposing the naked flesh for the whole of the room to see.

Besides, I could always tell the boss about you naughty boys…” she said wagging with one finger and reaching over the table for the bottle of whiskey and took a swig of it with other hand.
“….OR! We can keep it a secret and I play.” She continued with a wide grin and eyes that sparkled with mirth.

“What about your boy?” the twi’lek asked, his eyes roaming over her restlessly.
“Oh, Riles, mind fetching some more beers? I wanna fish these poor blokes for everything they have.” Trix said, her message quite clear to her partner. He shrugged in mock disappointment, made a few mumbling curses and left Trix alone with the three skiving guards. She needed to be alone with them if she wanted to get some information.

“Guess, I’ll report to the boss and then come back to guard here.” He mumbled to himself absentmindedly hoping the private knew what she was up. He didn’t like the look of the men, then again the youngling has basically grown up with people that made these guards look like dear sweet saints.

"Corporal, you there?" Dusk's voice crackled over the comm.
"Yes, Sir. Trix however is...engaged."
"We have found some documentation on the computers here, we're still decrypting some of it, but I don't think we're in the bunker." Dusk said.

Rilyo frowned, surprised at the outcome. However, that would explain an almost virtually empty command centre. This bunker would have been a ruse, a cover up to trick whoever came in.

"I don't think I can get anymore from the current files, but if this is not the actual bunker, there should be a hidden passage. We need to find this place. I'm not sure we still have the element of surprise, but we should be subtle.Report back with Trix ASAP. "

"Err....Sir, First Class Trix...is kinda...in the middle of sabaac game."
Rilyo pulled the comm away from his ear the string of curses through followed through. Yep, explaining to the bossman why one of his privates were gambling and drinking on the job would not go down well, even if it was a disguise to get some information.

OOC:

OOC:
No killing my NPC, and for the love of what's good, dont pew pew my interrogation yet unless you think it's important XD Sorry it was so short in terms of action, but kinda needed to get a sense of the setting.

The objective, the mission, frak! the same three thoughts circled Drexhels mind as he stood in wait at the end of the alleyway. His chin rested in half on his shoulder as he watched the others move up to meet him, Skarr threw him a nod which Drex returned the man knew his thoughts and shared them for the most part. No matter how difficult the motive he was right, this had to be done, Drex paused for a moment to survey the squad then turned to Skarr.

“Where’s Therex?” he queried with a note of concern.

Skarr kept his eyes forward as he replied “He’s already in Ellisai we’re heading there now”.

Drex frowned then quickly thought around it “forward scouting could be useful?”

“That may be Drex but it’s still out with orders, we have them for reasons” This time he looked over with an almost reassuring smile.

The ASL stifled a chuckle and instead smirked “One by one to regroup on Therex then?”

“Correct, just across the street” He replied.

Drexhel nodded to signify his understanding; Khalldryn had been first to cross the street masking his huge frame well closely followed by Terre. Drex moved up behind them with a casual stroll across the street, it wasn’t a main road and it yielded a few routes to the back of the Ellisai building. His sig scattered a few embers as he flicked it aside before ducking down into an alleyway almost parallel with the one he’d just left. The building itself wasn’t exactly big; they’d be able to manoeuvre throughout it and eliminate their targets quick enough. 

The entrance was as specified, quite literally a backdoor propped open with a small rock, this seemed efficient to Drex, it was likely whoever used this door that had thought of it. He’d seen it before during his time drifting, a man or two would just leave the door open for easy access saving time on key cards or security codes, it was a major security fault and one that had been exploited. It then dawned on Drex that the men who’d been behind it where now most likely corpses on the other side of the door.

The room beyond looked like storage for smaller inventory at first glance as Drex slipped past the half ajar entrance. The Barabel looked to be checking the boxes for what the ASL didn’t know, if it had been mentioned he’d missed at as he didn’t actually know what they did here. Terre had cozied herself on a larger box by Therex who was standing next to his two confirmed kills, Drex side glanced it then eyed the scene. Hammer had just slipped by the door; there were a few scuff marks by the door Therex was a large man he’d probably made his first move with strength alone, a few meters away there was a small patch of drying blood, the second was probably weapon handy. It looked to have been over in seconds, they wouldn’t have suffered, Drex sighed with relief as Jamasis entered next, Drexhel threw him a wave before crouching down to wait.

Only a few moments passed before Skarr came through the door, he stood for a moment peering round to drink in the scene before stepping to the rooms centre “Blackjack fall in”.

Therex spoke quickly as he stepped forward “two confirmed kills, I’ve stripped them down and laid the bodies behind some boxes” he ended holding up the two uniforms he’d taken.

Skarr nodded “We’re all accounted for and we know what comes next, take out all occupants with no witnesses and don’t let them suffer” his expression on the final note was as serious as ever.

A wave of cold flooded through Drex as his heart rate climbed, he took a swift look around Blackjack, waved and then walked for the far side door.

“Drex!” the SL called on him but he only gave another wave before he slithered out the door.

The corridor beyond it was well lit, a bit industrial looking although that was expected it was that kind of estate. Drex took the left with his hands in his pockets he marched, his breaths where heavy and that cold feeling remained. The corridor split yet again this time he took a right still at a fast pace till he hit the end yet again, this time he could hear the echo of footsteps coming from round the corner. Drex didn’t want the man to have thoughts of panic in the end; the idea struck him and involuntarily acted on it as he stepped out to meet a man who looked at him with a quizzical expression.

“Who the hell are you?” the man raised his eyebrows.

Drex raised a hand to settle him “My names Nathan, I’m here for induction, I just got lost, big building”.

His brow lowered as he replied with a smile “Hey that's my name to, induction eh? I can take you to someone that might be able to help with that, pleased to meet you” the man named Nathan extended a hand to shake Drexhels.

Drex gave him a grim look before stepping in and swinging his elbow at the man's head, with a dull thump the man fell unconscious. Standing for a moment he took a look around, a door marked supplies caught his attention so he dragged the sleeping employee towards it. The door opened with a button push and Drex placed the man inside, crouching down he stole the man’s jumpsuit “I’m so sorry” Said Drex before he pulled out his blaster and fired a single round into the head of the man.

Nathan, I’ll remember that Drex thought to himself as he smashed the door control.   

OOC:

WC: 962 Blackjack

For many of the PowaTech employees, the work day. For others, the day wouldn’t end for several hours. For the Imperial ARC troopers, their work had finally begun.

The ARCs were scattered across the level, each devoted to their job. Orr was ‘fixing’ a ‘broken’ air conditioning vent, their carefully planned earlier sabotage reaching to minor details that would let them be conveniently placed.

A dozen meters, in an executive’s office, Zenner was hacking into the executive-level server, under the pretense of fixing a malfunctioning personal shredder in the room. Fortunately, the security cameras had been looped hours ago, and showed Zenner working diligently on the problem that he was there for.

Elsewhere in the facility, Whiskey was hacking into the loading dock’s manifest. The ARCs had learned several days ago that several of their objectives had indeed gone through this very facility, but they were long gone.

Finally, Bill and Tasha Yarr had broken into the office of the PR representative. They were mixing anti-Republic data into the records - mixed deals, broken promises, and hints of other misdeals.

Orr let a tiny small play across his face for a moment. Their infiltration had been textbook; they’d slipped in one by one over the course of a week and a half, picking up underfoot jobs that had let them sneak effortlessly into the very deepest parts of PowaTech.

Despite this, Orr still had to let a tiny burst of pride cross his mind - no other purely military organization could have done as well. Perhaps the military intelligence agencies could have done as well, but this operation was purely controlled by the soldiers.

The comlink in his ear crackled softly. “Boss, Z here.”

“Go, Z,” Orr replied softly.

“The records here don’t say a damn thing about the fusion core - looks like it wasn’t this guy’s bit of the pond,” Zenner replied. “But I do have a location for the walker prototype.”

“Perfect,” Orr said, twisting his screwdriver to open up a piece of the AC. “Where?”

“A warehouse in downtown, if you’ll believe that,” Zenner said. “Big old place. Looks like they’d have room for a couple prototypes. Two levels, big old cargo turbolift.”

“Alright, pipe that to command,” Orr replied, and switched the link. “Tash, how’s it going?”

“Fine,” the woman replied flatly. “Bill’s got the dirty laundry in the system, and we’re pulling out.”

“Good,” Orr said, and switched again. “Ary, tell me something good. We need eyes on that power core.”

“Found it,” Whiskey replied triumphantly. “Fusion core and all personnel attached to the project came through here a month ago. They were headed to another off-site project house. Looks like a research lab near the spaceport. Large guard contingent too.”

“Large guards means they prioritized it,” Orr replied. “Or that not every engineer and scientist on the roster really wants to be there.”

“I’m betting on the latter,” Whiskey replied. “The security view of when they came through has the guards walking closely with the eggheads.”

“That should be good, then,” Orr said, opening his channel to the entire squad. “Disengage, wipe our tracks and let’s get that intel where it needs to be. We’ve got more jobs to do after this.”

Sniffing quietly, Therex tried to drive the stench of the alley from his nose.. Even though few people were down these alleys, he wasn’t going to take a chance. Pulling up the collar on his trench coat a little further, he tried to hunch himself down as he passed a humanoid alien that was so sickly looking, it was hard to determine its species. The creature looked up at him, one eye flashing yellow, the other bloodied and scarred. It uttered a single grunting noise, it’s voice sounding like sandpaper being dragged on a bedsheet.

Shuddering slightly, Therex gathered the coat around himself one last time and walked towards where he had marked the business on his implanted eye’s map. When he was about twenty feet out, he scanned the area. From his vantage point, he saw two figures working in the backroom, and an unknown number of heat blooms were emanating from the shop’s main floor. Therex searched around and found the one door in the back, but cursed when he saw that it was locked with a keycard system.

/Maybe this was a bad idea.../

A clicking noise brought him back, and he ducked behind a dumpster as the door swung open. Peeking over his cover, Therex spotted one man wearing a white t-shirt, covered in sweat stains, and reeking of the brand new plasti-crates he was moving. He shut the door behind him and moved a small cart towards the door, and picked a box off of it. Just as he was opening the door, Therex jumped from his hiding place, moving quietly until he stood right behind the worker.

“Hi.”


Whipping around, the man’s eyes grew wide as Therex removed his glasses, revealing his glowing red eyes. The poor worker opened his mouth to scream, but got a fist to the throat for his trouble. As the man reeled from the hit, Therex caught him, grabbed the badge from his uniform, and snapped his neck. All before the man hit the ground with a quiet, muffled thud.

“Hey, come on Linn. I told you to be more careful.”

The voice was coming from the other side of the door, and Therex saw a definite image of a man approaching the door on the sonar filter of his eye. Jumping up the three steps to the door, Therex waited for the lock to click back, and the door to open just enough, before reaching in and grabbing the unsuspecting worker.

With minimal effort, Therex was able to throw the skinny man across the alley and heard his skull crack on the wall. Wincing slightly, Therex checked for any movement, or indication that someone had heard the bone splitting sound. When he was sure no one was coming, Therex slid to the partly open door. Peeking in, he scanned the room. No one had entered and the room was empty. Nodding, he ran back into the alley and grabbed both bodies, slinging one over each shoulder and entered the door.

It was rather dark now that he was out of the alley, and the one light in the room kept flickering. Picking a stack of boxes, Therex dumped the bodies behind it, and began field stripping them. He removed their uniforms and security badges, noting the names.

Linn James

Darren Phirrin

Two more sods who got in the way of completing their mission.

Therex felt no remorse over his actions. He had killed countless civilians and innocents working for the Velkyries. Being a trained killer meant that he had no space for remorse. In it’s place sat a beast that was stirring, hungry for more blood. Therex felt his adrenaline surge slightly, but he kept control. Partly. But he put up a facade as the squad started showing up. If he could maintain a semblance of control for now, he’d be okay.

After the squad had gathered and Skarr had briefed them, Therex found a small side hallway and ducked down it. After walking for a bit, Therex was happy with the lack of people, and shot Skarr a short confirmation. Scanning a few more halls, Therex spotted Terre and walked over to her. Just as he was about to surprise her, he saw the two people she was watching. Some woman and a kid.

More obstacles.

Suddenly, Terre turned and collided with his chest. She seemed startled and was clearly ready to deck him.

“Problem?” he asked, his smile turning up in one corner.

“Maybe. Why? What are you gonna do about it?”  she spat at him.

Therex stopped listening to her, and instead focused on the two people behind her. He could feel that surge of adrenaline again, and instead of stopping it, Therex let his hand drift to his silenced revolver. Unclipping it, he pulled it out, and aimed it straight for the woman’s face. One clear shot was all he needed.

Suddenly he had no gun, and his arm was pressed against the wall. A little stunned, Therex looked around and saw that Terre had pinned his appendage. She glared at him and replaced the revolver in it’s holster, making Therex jump slightly.

“I think you dropped this,” she said, her teeth almost gritting.

Her resistance was... Intoxicating to Therex. Without thinking, he lifted her and pinned her against the wall, his breath coming out raspy and short. She continued to glare at him, and it was pushing him closer and closer to that edge. Things were happening so fast, the next thing he remembered was picking himself up off the floor. Terre was standing over him, her voice like steam escaping an open pot.

“You listen to me,” she hissed, “You don’t harm a hair on either of their heads, or I will deal with you. Personally.”

Picking himself up, Therex brushed his clothes off and glared back. Terre’s eyes widened in slight fear, as realization dawned on her.

“Jenerin,” she whispered.

Grinning, Therex made a move towards her. He didn’t know if it was the adrenaline crash, or something else, but the next sight he had was of Terre’s neck. Standing straight, he shuddered slightly, clearing his head. Shrugging he kissed her on the nose

“Hello,” he said, shrugging off the temporary fatigue he was experiencing.

“Glad you’re back, Rex,” she said while putting his hat on his head. Therex really didn’t remember taking it off, but that was okay.

“Let’s go.

“She’s drunk.”
Dusk sighed, and rubbed his hand into his face as he regarded the newest addition to Raiders.
“She got us some information at least.” Rilyo muttered, not sure whether he should give the girl a good slap through the face or chuckle at her current state of soberness.

The others Raiders glowered at Trix who tried to keep herself as still as possible to not further worsen the impression they already have of her. She had returned only fifteen minutes ago, spending the previous forty-five minutes gambling with some guards who’d been skipping their shift. The poor blokes did not make it out of the room alive; seriously underestimating Trix’ capability as a drinker, and even more as a soldier.

“This will be the first and last time this is happening. I should have you discharged for dishonourable conduct.” Dusk said, glaring at Trix’s pale face. The young girl didn’t much care for rules and regulations but she was terrified of the Prefect who held a personal interest in her errr...development.

“Won’t happen again, Sir.” Trix murmured trying to come across as sober as possible.

Between Trix’ investigation and meticulous slicing done through Mox they have discerned the actual location they had been looking for. The results were worthy of a migraine for the assitant squad-leader. They had stormed the wrong location. It would seem this base was used as a cover for another base located several hundred meters below ground with an entrance located in a secondary shed outside.

Dusk pulled himself from where he seated on the edge of a table and motioned for the squad to form a circle around him.

“Okay, here is what we’ll do. We’ll gear up in some of the guard uniforms and use the passwords Trix extracted from the guards. The passwords changes every three hours, so we can move around freely for about three hours. That should give us enough time to find out the next set of passwords, and get a gist of what is going on down there. Time to move out guys, the clock is ticking! Sharp...please....help Private Trix sober up. Get some water onto that face or something before I totally lose it Be ready in 10 before we move out.”

OOC:

Totally too short, but need to leave.

A deep sigh escaped Skarr. “Very well. We’ll get it done.” Word had just been passed down of the next objective. Infiltration was never much of Skarr’s forte and he had rarely ever been a part of a squad that specialized in such operations. Objective Aurek had gone off without a hitch, by some miracle of the Force. Objective Besh, however, sounded as if it was going to much tougher, especially after some of the hushed conversations he had been hearing about. He had caught Therex and Terre whispering about some incident during the sneaking, but had not heard much more than that. It did not help that Skarr found Jamasis and Drexhel arguing ethics not five minutes later. This mission was proving to be more of a headache than Skarr needed. Dangerous situations involving civilians always gave Skarr a headache. Thyveck stood out in his mind as the forerunner for those sorts of headaches.

He slid off the chair that he sat in. The bodies had been cleared and stuffed into the back room, arranged as respectfully as possibly. The rest of the squad were diffused through the shop, but luckily, it was unneeded. No customers visited during their stay. Skarr took the steps down two at a time, his squad would have to hear what bit of devilry was set up for them next. Stealing a prototype AT-SE sounded fun, so Skarr guessed that made up for it. He walked into the sales room and crossed to the door. He flipped the open sign over, locking the door as well.

A meeting was called and the squad gathered in the salesroom. They all took their places around the room in a semicircle around Skarr, waiting for him to begin. He didn’t know where to begin. The next objective was certainly a handful. A warehouse full of security protecting the prototype, stealing the prototype, then destroying evidence, and framing the New Republic and PowaTech. Not the kind of objective Skarr had hoped for especially after hearing that Raiders was getting the chance to blow things up.

“Well then. Glad to see we’re all here. Newest batch of orders came in. And this one sounds like fun. We’ve got the job of stealing the walker.” Skarr announced.

“Do we get the honor of joyriding it through the city?” Drexhel asked excitedly.

Skarr shrugged, “Not sure about that yet. Command hasn’t quite told me how we’re getting it out just yet. But we have a wealth of problems to get through first. First off the warehouse is huge. Two stories, a giant cargo elevator, the works. And it’s heavily guarded. Simple security really, but enough numbers to be a problem. So we’re going to do this the stealth way once again. I’ve already thought of an idea on how to get in, but after that maintaining our cover will be difficult. We have to be quick, quiet, and ready to shoot if it comes to that.

“Once we have the walker and hopefully, the plans, we are to destroy all evidence and frame the New Republic. So start thinking of ways to frame our good friends. So get ready, make sure everything’s on you and that you’re wearing your coveralls. We’re going in disguised as Ellisai Services. That should get us through the gate. Get moving.” The squad nodded their heads and went about making sure everything was in order. Skarr went to the back room, gingerly stepping over the bodies to the door. The truck was a wheeled vehicle and had enough room in the back for the whole squad. Skarr decided that he would drive. He had a small bit of experience with wheeled vehicles. He looked back as the squad filed out of the shop and began directing them to the back of the truck.

After everyone was loaded up and Drexhel had taken the passenger seat, Skarr keyed up the map of the city and climbed into the driver’s seat. The drive would not take too long. The warehouse was slightly over fifteen minutes away. Once there, the job could begin.

“Would you stop fiddling?” Trix muttered under her breath at Rilyo who kept trying to fix the collar of the uniform that sat too big on her lithe frame.

“Gotta look the part, Kid.” He said chuckling.

The Raiders have managed to infiltrate the actual base after donning the uniforms from the dead people around them. No alarm had been setoff in their skirmishes with the enemy and as such they remained thus far undetected and at ease to move around.

The underground space was a cold and damp, the duracreet already sweating water that it absorbed from the earth around it. This was a bad yet clear indication of the haste with which the bunker had been built.

“How much time till the next set of passwords?” asked Aeroth from the back.
“We have another two hours. Plenty of time to retrieve the password as well as perform our next set of instructions.” Replied Sergeant Dusk not yet worried about who heard them.

This part of the bunker was still relatively deserted and the Raiders did not have to worry about blending in just yet. Currently they were still trying to find their way down toward the core instead of walking around in circles as they’ve been doing so far. The only fact they could gauge was that this underground bunker was massive and intricate. Not much personalization had gone into the construction leaving everything at rustic charcoal grey, flickering lights and dull furniture most likely dragged from some diseased widow’s house. The wood was already rotting at the bottom due to the dampness and the cold air smelled like wet air that’s been contained for too long in the same space.

They rounded another corner, completely lost, their tracking devices completely useless when suddenly;
“Hi! You lot!”

It took everything of every single Raider not lock and load, their instincts roaring at them to silence the source of the voice. Slowly they faced the man at the end of the corridor.

“We’ve been waiting for you for ages. What took you so long? Follow me, I’ll give you a tour and a  copy of your shifts. Seriously, you arrived at the top like 3 hours ago, ya’ll should’ve come straight down.” The speaker was a lanky forty-something balding guard with an wiry athletic build to his stature. He didn’t look like much of a brawler but Trix suspected his aim was deadly as she gauged his body language. As they headed deeper into the underground maze, life started picking up. Men in white lab coats were running and walking around muttering in numbers and formulas with following at the backs at a safe distance.

His scolding did explain the unusual amount of armed men they fought above however. How convenient that they were expected. Trix smiled wryly.

They followed their new plaything where he hustled them into a small room with another few other security guards who eyed Trix and Sharp with way more enthusiasm than what good.

“Good, welcome to our midst!” the lanky bald man said, his voice suddenly booming over the chatter of the room, quieting everyone instantly.
“I am Dirat, your new boss until you die or change contracts. We’ll will finish your paperwork tomorrow to review and confirm your clearance, but today we’ll give you your shifts and your bunks. There’s a mess-hall, a recreational room and that’s where you’ll stay except when you’re working. Any questions so far?

Trix’ hand shot into the air, her face already animated with questions. Dusk tried to jab her with his elbow but it seemed to have little effect on her.

“No bar?” Trix asked sweetly eliciting a roar of a laughter at her cheeky question.
Dirat narrowed his eyes as he focussed on her.
“You seem to be at the wrong place, Miss.”

Dirat concluded the meeting by assigning everyone to their rooms and new bunk mates with Dusk, Aeroth and Mox already up for the first guard duty in four hours’ time. All the Raiders eyed each other indiscreetly. This should be more than enough time to scope things out first. They’d need to do some recon before they could take out the guards, of which there seemed to plenty. Quietly everyone dispersed, some to check out the recreational rooms, others to claim top bunk or try and gamble out of their shifts.

“Where you heading?” Sharp asked quietely as Trix tugged her by the arm to follow her.
“To the kitchen.” Trix said with an impish grin.
“Everyone’s gotta eat at some point, maybe we can help the cook later tonight.”

Crimson was beign pushed towards the recreation room and he could already guess why. They must recognize my tattoo Crimson thought to himself as the group finally reached the door to the room. One of the men opened the door and the group poured in.

"How 'bout some arm wrestling kid" hissed a voice behind Crimson.

Crimson turned and looked up at a trandoshan. He had met the trandoshan before he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Agreed" Said a man next to Crimson.

Crimson turned and saw the man. He was a human of a natural lithe build. His hair was a soft bleached blonde and it's bangs hung down till their abrupt endings just before his eyes. I know them both I believe I met them before I met the hutts. Crimson watched closely at the trandoshan as the two took off toward a table. Crimson could make out a single tattoo and he knew it. It was a tattoo of a mandalorian. Crimson followed after them and sat at the table they picked. The two began their arm wresteling Crimson grinned.

"I got winner" He said softly.

the trandoshan looked at Crimson which made him lose focus and lose the match. 

"You blasted buffoon, you cost me the game. " The trandoshan growled at Crimson.

Crimson looked the Trandoshan dead in the eye.

"What's wrong Rexy gonna take a bite at me?" Crimson said in a mocking tone.

"Your fast kid I'll give you that. I bet you that if I would Had wrestled you you would have lost. I am a mandalorian we don't lose easily." The trandoshan said.

Crimson could see the frustration in the Trandoshans eyes and he knew a croud was massing.

"Okay Rexy..." Crimson began as he stood up.

He cracked his fingers and his neck then walked calmly to the other mandalorian.

"Me and Rexy got a little bet mind moving?" Crimson said to the man.

The man nodded and removed himself from the chair. THe trandoshan sat down and Crimson took the seat on the opposite side.

"Let's go Rexy." crimson said with a grin.

Gently Crimson laid his Elbow onto the table and lased his hand around the trandoshans.

The Trandoshan began pushing and Crimsons hand began moving inch by inch. Crimson yawned  then watched the trandoshan. It's eye gave Crimson the hint when it was time to fight back considering the look of triumph began showing in the perplexed Yellow eyes of the trandoshan. Crimson grinned and easily began pushing back. The Scaly hand eventually crashed onto the table with a loud thud.

"Blast it what are you." the trandoshan hissed

"Well rexy, like you said I am a mandalorian . I worked as a fighter. It's simple to beat a trandoshan when their no less smarter then a Nexu." Crimson said grinning from ear to ear.

With that said the Trandoshan Roared and slammed his fist onto the table. Crimson stared him directly in the eye and eventually the Trandoshan backed off. He growled and began walking away. Crimson looked at the crowd.

"Who wants to arm wrestle?" Crimson asked calmly to no one in particular.

Therex hopped up into the truck bed, feeling the suspension collapse slightly underneath him. He was having his doubts about how sturdy this particular vehicle was. Finding a spot on the bench, closest to the opening in case of emergency, he sat down, and pulled at his coveralls. An issue of being 6’ 6” was that most things didn't fit you when they were... “Secondhand.” A small crawling feeling spread across Therex’s skin. The clothes on his back had belonged to a rather large human, who had died by Therex’s blade. The only evidence was the smallest splash of red on the inside of one of the straps.

Tugging at the fabric one last time, Therex wriggled in his seat and finally was comfortable enough to slouch down and relax his head back. The truck had that lingering smell of fresh crates, packed with a stabilizer foam for transport. The smell was tickling his nose, but Therex kept himself from sneezing, instead contorting his face and exhaling loudly, drawing stares.

“Sorry,” he said, shrugging and smiling sheepishly.

Terre hopped in and found a spot across from him. The only acknowledgement she gave him was a small scoff and scowl. Things were a little tense between them right now. Therex thought back to their confrontation in the hall. Apparently there were those on his squads whose conscience was bothering them. He had no issue with killing Civies if they were in the way of a mission, or part of it. Killing people was part of both his day job and his “less than legal” work for the Velkyries.

Sighing, he brought both hands together, laced the fingers, and propped his head up from behind with them. Letting his eyelids drift closed, Therex slid down in his seat as the roar of the ancient engine kicked in. The rumbling was a little disconcerting at first, but he grew used to it quickly. Looking out the back of the truck, Therex watched as they pulled out and made their way to the objective. They were maybe 15 minutes out according to the map Therex had saved in his prosthetic eye before leaving. Therex had never been much of a planner, preferring the all-guns-blazing approach.

Back in Jester however, he had been assigned to a lot of different scouting and recon missions that required stealth. Other times he could forgo that veil and was called in for demolitions advice. Therex was a literal Jack of All Trades. Except for vehicles. He had always preferred to be under his own power, often forgoing speeders for a nice walk. In the back of the rickety truck, Therex was remembering why. Every bump shot up his spine. Every rattle shook his head, and whipped his neck around. Scoffing, he slid down the bench a bit, moving away from the open back, and tapping on a small window between the cab and the back. Several seconds later, the panel slid away and Drexhel poked his head through.

“Enjoying the ride Corporal?”

Therex shook his head, and saw that Skarr was very intently focused on the road. Almost enough to think he was ignoring him. Leaning in, Therex watched out the front windshield.
“However,” he said, getting jostled slightly by a dip in the road, “Could you try to at least only hit every other pothole in the road?”

Drexhel smiled at him and gave him a quick nod. Therex pulled his head back, threw the ASL a quick two-finger salute and sat back down on the bench, trying not to look out the back.

Scoffing at the gravel as it shot past the back, Therex wished for solid ground again. As his eyes drifted around to random things around the truck, his zoning was cut short with four words.

“We need to talk.”

OOC:

Blackjack

A grimace crossed Skarr’s face as the truck shook and rattled again. It was not the best mode of transport Skarr had ever driven. The suspension was slagged and he was sure that the wheels were nearing their blowout point. He didn’t get why a company would ever use a vehicle like this to move their parts around. Repulsors were the smarter move, they did not jump as much. He growled as another bump rattled up his spine.

“Arrgh, do masseuses cover ass massages?” Drexhel muttered.

“If you tipped them nicely, maybe.” Skarr answered. “I wonder if Ellisai has ever heard of the new age of the repulsorlift.”

“No shit.”

Skarr heard a small tap from the back. Drexhel leaned over and slid the covering back. From the voice, Skarr could tell it was Therex. Figuring Drexhel could take care of whatever the Chiss wanted, he shifted his attention fully back to the road. They weren’t far from the warehouse and for that he was glad. Everything from the waist down was going numb. He could only imagine it felt worse for the squad members in the back. The cover to the back was shut and Drexhel moved back to a slightly more comfortable position.

“You know the squad doesn’t like this mission, right? Odd taste to it, if you ask me.” Drexhel stated.

Skarr glanced over to Drex quickly before returning his eyes to the road, “I don’t like being out of armor and sneaking around anymore than they do. But it has to be done.”

“Some of them don’t like killing civilians.” Drexhel continued.”

“I know.”

“Some of them do like killing civilians.”

“I know.” Skarr’s voice lowered slightly. “I can’t help that Drex. And there’s no way I can reprimand them for it either. It’s not insubordination if they’re following orders.”

Drexhel grunted, “I never took you for the die hard following orders type.” Skarr sighed and turned his attention fully to the road once more. He never took himself for the type either. The Empire needed this prototype, however, the push towards the Core depended on it. Killing civilians was a nasty business. He’d recommend Raiders for the job next time. The whole of them were nuts, they could handle it. Probably even relish in it. He pushed the thought of his mind. War was atrocious, there would always be the despicable thugs and the murderous thugs that loved it. This was why Skarr had no trouble following the orders. There needed to be men like him in war. Principled men that would remember the innocent lives he had taken. The men that did not like the dirty work, but realized it was war. War had no rules.

He broke out of his thoughts as the truck rolled up to the security gate. He glanced over at Drex and smiled nervously, settling his blaster in his lap where the guards couldn’t see. Skarr leaned out of the truck handing the guard the pass card. Luckily, it did not have any sort of ID on it. It was merely an indication that he had clearance into the warehouse.

“Why’re you here?” the guard asked.

“Parts. Last minute order came in.” Skarr answered.

The guard looked Skarr in the eye for a second before blinking, “Alright. I’ll log this and pass you through.” He handed Skarr the pass card and turned to his console, tapping a few keys before hitting a large button. The gates parted to let the truck through. Skarr thanked the guard and withdrew into the cabin. He shifted the truck’s gear and drove through the gate and into the loading dock area.

There was no one else offloading shipments in the docking area so Skarr sat there a few minutes just looking around. The warehouse was a very blocky and imposing. Several catwalks ran across the outside of the second floor and over the roof. He could see several guards on the catwalks already. The walker was very important if the warehouse was this heavily guarded. He could not be too sure of their numbers, but they were enough to be worrying. Security cameras were placed where they had a good field of vision. Skarr grimaced, it was becoming a common expression on his face this mission. Infiltrating the warehouse would not be easy. He rapped on the back of the cab and hopped out. Therex and Terre opened the back doors of the truck.

“Alright, this nut’s going to be tough to crack. Jamasis, Therex, find the security room. Get all of these cameras offline. Terre and Hammerhead, the two of you are going inside. Recon the area a bit. Pose as workers, find out where everyone is. Khalldryn and Drexhel, up on those catwalks. Get rid of those guards. I’ll see who I can clean up out here. Be careful with your cover. It’s not perfect, but it should hold up in quick passing. Be careful, mates. Move out.” The squad threw him quick salutes before breaking off into their pairs and going their separate ways. Skarr watched them go before moving into action himself.

OOC:

WC: 853

You heard the man, hop to it. :P