All the regulars piled out of the ship being sick from the ride down they all secured the area on the rooftop and sat down. FlyingKnight and Rizzit walked toward the edge of the hotel roof and looked around. Knight took out his 1020/A Field Macrobinoculars and looked around the city. Rizzit stuck out his hand as Snipes came walking out of the ship after he powered it down. Knight handed the Marcrobinocular to Rizzit then took out pieces of his M82A1M .50 caliber Rifle and snapped them together.

    "You and Snipes stay on the roof with a spotter each and cover the regulars and me as we try to take some command structures and capture the spaceport for this city so some more troops can land." Rizzit ordered.

    Rizzit ordered the regulars to move out to take over the hotel. The two spotters walked over to Knight & Snipes pulling out a macrobinocular each. Snipes pulling out a Deathwind sniper rifle walking to the other side of the building.

    "You take that corner of the building and I will cover this side." Snipes said.

    Knight nodded as he popped in a clip of AP rounds. He peered through his NV/IR scope and looked for some targets. He saw a group of NR troops coming down the street toward the hotel and zoomed in on an officer. Knight fired and the officer dropped suddenly the enemy squad stopped and scattered. Snipes was pinning down a patrol of NR troops and fired occasionally as the soldiers tried to find the sniper. Knight saw that the squad of NR soldiers was trying to move forward and fired into their mists.

    "We're going to exit the building is it clear." Rizzit commed to Knight.

    "Yeah but I have a group of NR troops pinned down about one click west of the hotel." Knight responed.

    "Ok good, cover us and check the rooftops for enemy snipers and take them out." Rizzit said as the commed switched off.

    "Snipes you hear that," Knight commed.

    "Yeah and I will cover the back side of the building." Snipes responded.

    Knight's spotter pointed out a sniper team running out to the edge of a building across the deserted street. Knight zoomed in on the sniper and took him out then he took out the spotter. Knight smiled as the regulars and Rizzit walked out of the hotel and securing the street and surrounding buildings.
 
-----------------------
Lance Corporal
Frank "FlyingKnight" Carter
-Raider Squad-
TRP/LCPL FlyingKnight/3SQD/1PLT/COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]
"Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet."--USMC Rules of Gunfighting

The only thing allowing Kuroishi's hit and fade attacks against the fortified positions to work was the fact that the rebels seemed to have a tough time keeping track of thier stolen tanks.

The moment of indecision to figure out if the tank Kuroishi captured was legit or the bringer of thier dooms had let Kuroishi blast a fair amount of opposition with little threat to the urban warfare vehicle his team was cruising around in.

"Drat looks like we got them so spooked now they are blasting any tanks that come thier way, pull us back before we get obliterated."  Kuroishi ordered as the next fortification opened up with light anti-tank fire.

A few shots of the lighterAT weapons bounced off the armor while the heavier stuff went wide of the target as it raced behind cover.

Wraith was now effectivly deadlocked.  They could not continue thier distractions without help and sufficient help could not come to them until the spaceport was opened up.  Unless Kuroishi could come up with a brilliant plan to take on 15 to 1 odds.

Sitting there for a moment only one crazy idea hit him and it just might work.  They'd loose thier ride but with the rebels shooting at any tank that moves they wouldn't have been able to keep it for very long anyway.

"Move us out of range of thier weapons but on a beeline with that emplacement."  Kuroishi ordered.

The tank moved slowly at first to avoid rubble but once on flat ground the tank made it into position in no time.

"Allright everyone this is where we get off."  Kuroishi ordered as the other Wraiths disembarked from the tank.

Kuroishi grabbed Stonefish's uniform then set to work on fixing the steering into a straight position then fixed the throttle to delay for a minute then engage to maximum by using an ingenious system of elastic straps.

Placing a blasting block on the ammo doors Kuroishi knew this was going to be impresive even by his standards.

Pulling out the comdet trigger Kuroishi watched as the tank raced down the road nice and straight until it was shot down.

Kuroishi chuckled to himself as a squad of troopers left thier positions to investigate.

"Not as many as I hoped but it will make our job easier."  Kuroishi as he pressed the trigger.

An explosion larger then Kuroishi anticipated engulfed the entire squad and appeared to knock out the forward most guns.

"Dang, thought we used more ammo then that."  Kuroishi said mostly to himself as he marveled at the fireball.

"Now what boss?"  Mandor asked.

"You two get to cover before thier snipers pick us off.  How far would you say they are from us?"  Kuroishi said as he ran to cover.

"About 1000 yards, why?"  Mandor replied from his cover.

"Good, I don't need a spotter until about 1200, or for smaller targets."  Kuroishi replied.

Taking his sniper rifle in hand and working the bolt with the other Kuroishi used the scope to find his first victim.

The first to die would be the NR snipers, they would be the only viable threat at this range.

Kuroishi scanned where he would be if he were a sniper and was rewarded with three.  Since most snipers worked with a spotter Kuroishi was relatively certain that he had not found them all.

'No time.'  Kuroishi thought to himself as he eliminated a sniper that appeared to have found him.

With the first shot fired Kuroishi had little choice but to make short work of the ones he knew were there.  The second was looking the wrong direction as Kuroishi put the pullet into the indistinct form.

The third returned fire and hit the rubble Kuroishi was hiding behind.  For his troubles Kuroishi returned the shot with the precision only found in nearly thirty years of honing what his instructor had called the greatest natural talent the galaxy has ever known.

The fourth made his presance known by making a near miss on Kuroishi's left shoulder.

"Frak I can't spot him and if I poke my head up again he'll definately get me."  Kuroishi said.

Time to think.
 
-----------------------
Kuroishi Wraith VEA
Daishi Raptor VEN
Assistant Writer Why Project Copyright Infringment
Ich bin hessliche amerikaner.
Nehmen mir zu dein frauen von vernunftig preis tugendhafte.
"And the sound of many heads hitting many solid objects was heard throughout the land." me

Kuroishi kept to cover.

The fire had become more speratic and less focused.

They were pulling back.

"Either Argon or Stonefish have pulled something off that is forcing the rebels back or they are baiting us for a trap.  Either way keep your heads down until we hear from them."  Kuroishi said to Mandor and Sandwich Sam.

"Hey boss, think you can arrange a few pyrotechnic supplies?"  Came Stonefish's voice over the comm.

"Well it's a spaceport, I should be able to come up with something.  Any word from Argon?"  Kuroishi replied.

"Not yet, got to go."  Stonefish blurbed.

A few more moments and it would be time to see if the rebel troops had set a trap, though somehow that seemed less likely now.

Kuroishi was still unsure if he should contact Argon and call him off or if Stonefish was still working his miracle.  Best to at least delay him if possible.

"Kuroishi to Viper, Fish has something cooking.  May be able to take objective intact.  Advise holding on delivery of packages until further update."  Kuroishi commed.

Kuroishi began to contemplate the next target Wraith should secure.

Pulling out his datapad and tourist brochures Kuroishi began to go through the list of possible targets.

The planetary shield system was already allowing VE forces to touch down, so taking out the rest seemed to be a waste of time.

Kuroishi hadn't seen any sign of Surface To Orbit weapons yet and with the number of orbital platforms such an investment would be redundant.

So that left numerous military bases and various power stations and transportation systems.

A planetary mass freight system was in place and would prove to be an easy target.  It would at least make Argon feel better getting to watch something blow up.  Best case scenario it would wind up stranding personel and supplies in the system and make them have to take alternative methods of transit.

Kuroishi stood blatently making a target of himself.

Indeed the rebels had withdrawn from thier position or Kuroishi would have been hit by sniper fire.

"Gentlemen we move."  Kuroishi said as he lead the squad to the space port.
 
-----------------------
Kuroishi Wraith VEA
Daishi Raptor VEN
Assistant Writer Why Project Copyright Infringment
Ich bin hessliche amerikaner.
Nehmen mir zu dein frauen von vernunftig preis tugendhafte.
"And the sound of many heads hitting many solid objects was heard throughout the land." me

Now for a bit of an illusion, thought Stonefish, as he saw the last of the republic transports take off.

He quickly moved out of the control tower, and headed to the fuel dump. Passing a large number of containers of the volatile fuels used in modern engines and reactors, he approached a container of a more appropriate substance, happily with a hose attached. Stonefish grabbed the hose and dragged it out as far as it would reach, which was long enough that it would seem to be across most of the base from a distance.

Stonefish then walked back along the length of the hose, piercing it at regular intervals with his combat knife. Along the base of the outer walls, he placed several explosive charges, shape to blast away from the walls, carefully arranging a small area which would be unaffected by any of the explosives. Stonefish returned to the fuel dump and opened the hose valve at the tank end, pressurising the hose, and allowing jets of volatile fuel to spray up from the holes.

The imperial flicked his commlink over to the republic frequency, "Captain Kerzon, are you all away?" he said.

"Yes, sir. All transports clear and away. Are you coming, sir?"

"Someone has to set these charges off, and I wasn't about to let someone else do a thing I was not ready to do myself."

"Understood, sir. It was a pleasure serving with you."

From the retreating transport, the only sight Captain Kerzon saw was a massive explosion, and the starport engulfed in a ball of flame.

"A brave man," he said to the transport pilot.

On the ground, Stonefish picked his way carefully through the small amount of rubble. Even hugging close to the wall he was more than hot, this close to the flames. When he was clear, he made his way to a locker room in the starport, and changed his republic colonel's uniform for a more non-decript coverall and commed Kuroishi.

"Okay, boss, you can bring the boys in now. The New Republic troops have all left,"  he said.

"Roger that, you want to tell me how you did that?" was the response.

"Later, boss, much later."

--

Kuroishi looked at Mandor and Sam, "Well, let's go see if they have anything good to eat there."

The three men jogged up the approach to the starport, just in time to see a wall of flame across the south side suddenly just cut out.

"I wonder what that was," said Mandor, curiously.

"I'm sure Fish has one hell of a story for this," replied Kuroishi.

"Fury to Wraith, I just saw a massive explosion along one side of the spaceport, and all the republic transports have up and left. Am I seeing things or has this actually happened?"

"No sir, Fish seems to have convinced them to leave, and was putting on a little show for them," was Kuroishi's repsonse, "You can start your landing any time now, the area is secured here."

"Not for long, there's around five divisions of republic troops coming in from the east. They're about three and a half klicks out and closing."

"We could do with some help down here. We have a wonderfully fortified starport, but only four people to man it, five if Viper gets back any time soon."
 
-----------------------
Ramon Stonefish

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GCS/ED d- s:+ a-- C++++ UL P+ L++@ E---- W+@ N+ !o w--- PS PE t+ 5++ X-- R++ tv+ b+++ !DI D++ G e>++ h! r-- z-
-----END GEEK CODE BLOCK-----

As Kuroishi feared the Wraiths were now bogged down in urban fighting.

The bright spot of the day was the arrival of fresh VE troops now that the planetary shields were open enough to allow a few transports through.

Kuroishi began to formulate his plan on how to deal with the five NR divisions bearing down on thier position.

"We got two choices, devide and conquer or the gauntlet.  The latter we are not well set up for but could provide better results with the forces we have on hand.  The first option is a little riskier but if we can spread thier forces out we might have a chance.  The planetary shields are still operational enough to limit large organized drops but Fury has promised us reinforcements.  So far we have gotten a company in the starport itself and a battallion is coming in from the south.  To facilitate either plan we're going to have to demolish these buildings indicated on the map with red markers, the ones with green markers are for gauntlet demolision.  Blue markers will be the killing field positions.  If we can buy enough time for the regulars we will set up the gauntlet.  The regulars will be doing the bulk of the demolision and barricade construction.  Our jobs will be to take these perimeter buildings and buy the regulars time.  This is a developed urban area around the space port, take advantage of that fact gentlemen, it means they are not going to be able to send in all thier forces at once.  If we can get this gauntlet constructed and shut the door behind the rebels, we can take them with the reinforced battalion on station.  Don't bother making plans that count on further reinforcements."  Kuroishi briefed the combined regulars and Wraiths.

Grabbing three replacement blasting blocks and fresh blaster cartridges, Kuroishi knew this was going to be a race against the clock.

Kuroishi indicated a civilian hover van and began to walk toward it.

"Our ride gentlemen."  Kuroishi said as he pulled a can of spray paint out of his pack and painted 'TRAP!' on the sides of the van.

Hotwiring the controls took but a moment then Wraith was on thier way.

"Gentlemen let's get to work.  After this we get to cause a trainwreck, if we survive.  Mandor, Sam take watch, let us know when the rebels are getting too close for comfort.  Fish, with me."  Kuroishi broke the silence as they reached the edge of the city.

Kuroishi began work on the first objective while Stonefish split off to start wiring the second for demolition.

Double clicking his comm to get Argon's attention Kuroishi coninued to wirk with his free hand.

"What is it boss?"  Argons voice came over the comm.

"Get that place rigged if you haven't already and set a failsafe of two hours, but make sure if we do pull this off that you can deactivate the countdown.  Once all that is complete come on out to the perimeter and join us in our demo work."  Kuroishi replied.

"Be there in a few then."  Argon cheerfully replied.

There were few things creepier then a cheerfull whiphid.

Kuroishi only needed one blasting block for the building he was working on since it had a nice big fuel depot right next door for refueling civilian freight vehicles.  Kuroishi had chosen as many targets with such conditions as possible for Wraith to target to extend thier ordinance.

"One down, too many to go."  Kuroishi muttered to himself.
 
-----------------------
Kuroishi Wraith VEA
Daishi Raptor VEN
Assistant Writer Why Project Copyright Infringment
Ich bin hessliche amerikaner.
Nehmen mir zu dein frauen von vernunftig preis tugendhafte.
"And the sound of many heads hitting many solid objects was heard throughout the land." me

Argon was placing the explosives when one of the comms on the dead republic soldiers beeped.

Curious, he picked it up and answered.

"Power Station three-one," came a voice, "we need you to preform sequence five-alpha-eight to provide power to the southern defenses.  The spaceport is already lost, there's no point in powering it any longer.  We'll be sending troops to help defend you in a few minutes."

"Understood," replied Argon.

As soon as the comm switched off, he pulled out his own comm and hit the transmit button.

"Kuroishi," he said, "tell Fury he's got a short window to put troops down in the middle of their southern defenses.  They want this station to power them, but I'm sure they'll switch to another station if this one stays down for a bit."

"Sounds good," said Kuroishi, "how's your situation?"

"Well," he said, "most of the people at the base don't realize I'm here, so I should be safe for a while.  However, the Rebels are sending reinforcements, and they'll want to talk to the commander, who I conveniently killed.  I'll have to get out soon, because this is going to be in Rebel hands in a few minutes."

"Got it," said Kuroishi, "is the thing rigged to explode?"

"Yup," said Argon, "as soon as I hit the switch, I've got ten seconds till any heat source in the control room or the generator room blows the whole thing."

"Good," said Kuroishi, "hit it and get down here, we need some help with demolitions."

"On it," replied Argon, hitting the switch and running out the door.
 
-----------------------
Argon Viper
Sergeant Major/Senior Writer, VE Today
IW COL Argon Viper{ret}
Fallen Angel and Proud of It!
"History is on the move, those who cannot keep up will watch from a distance, and those who get in our way will not watch at all" - Grand Admiral Thrawn
"Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses" - Carl G Jung

Eight men lost Dimwar sullenly reflected. Looking at the remaining five troopers in his squad, he sighed heavily. Eight men. I knew them all He mentally ran over the names and ranks of the eight men. Eight men with families, friends, loved ones

This seemingly endless Civil War had taken many things from the First Sergeant. He lost his wife in a rebel attack on a platform above Sluis Van. His son, a Remnant pilot was shot down and killed during the taking of Coruscant.

"Are you okay sir?" One of his privates asked.

"War is a terrible thing. First it takes everything from your, then it becomes the only thing you know. Without war, people like me are useless. Soldiers cast aside in the name of peace. I hate war. I hate fighting. But I do it because I love it...its the only thing I know how to do...."

The Private stared back at his commander, dumb struck as to what to say next. "Sir...I...uh..."

"It's ok private. Don't give any precedence to an aging warrior with his end in sight, lets regroup with the others before reinforcements come."

Signaling the remaining members to move out, Dimwar lead them to the warehouse Rizzit had taken cover in.


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

"One is a captain, and the other appears to be a civilian contractor." JR reported to Rizzit. "One of them was carrying this."

Rizzit, attempting to secure the exit to the building, stopped and looked at the object laying in JR's hand. A small cylinder, it had a small red button on the top, and an antenna on the bottom.

"Snipes, how close are we to the spaceport?" Rizzit asked through the comm.

Static bursts came back, followed by Snipes strong voice, "Less than a klick, Knight and I are moving up, We'll cover your exit."

"Hold up one second. Does the roof of this place have a good view of the spaceport?"

"Roger that," the sergeant replied, "clear view."

Shutting off the comm, Rizzit's eyes widened. "JR get a link to the Wraiths, that spaceport is wired to blow!"
 
-----------------------
Senior Sergeant Jikkyo "Fallen Angel" Nimiichi 
Assistant Squad Leader (ASL) - Raider Squad -
AS-3/ASL/SSGT Fallen Angel/3SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/Tadath [LoR] [RoM] [BC] [BoA]

Dark Jedi Acolyte Phoenix
TRN/AC Phoenix/Training 1-3/VEDJ/VE/Lopen
"You need guys like me." - Tony Montana

Afyon climbed onto his bike slowly, it was difficult getting on the high bike without using his left arm.  Once he was on, he looked over at Zek and turned on his comlink.  "Alright Zek, stay tight with me.  Full throttle when you can and in the darker parts of the forest use the night vision feature of your helmet.  Remember, our goal right now is to find rebel strongholds, ambush points, and patrols.  We will destroy them once we have a better idea of the situation so be careful and avoid being trigger happy."  Afyon ordered.  He began to give another order when Rema blew by the two on his way to his patrol area.  Once the bike had passed, Afyon wished Zek luck and started up the bike.

The two quickly made their way up one of the rocky hills and into the thick vegetation.  Afyon made a hand signal to Zek for him to go higher and the two lifted up a few meters in order to get a better view through the vegetation.  Afyon made another signal for the two to split up and Zek veered away towards a darker part of the forest.  In order to avoid radio detection, Afyon and given Zek a quick run down on hand signals.  He wanted to avoid slip ups at all costs, especially since they were going to be fighting a large force in a superior defensive position.

Afyon switched from the squad frequency to the main one for a moment in order to tune in to the communication between the platoons.  All seemed to be in order and Afyon was about to change frequencies when he heard gunfire over the comm.  Afyon flipped back to the squad frequency in time to hear Kami shouting something about platoon B under attack in an area near them.  Afyon broke his communications silence and ordered Zek to form up with him.  He also ordered Rema to continue his patrol near the other platoon in case there was a planned ambush on the other group.  Once Zek joined up with Afyon, they sped off towards Kami's position.
 
-----------------------
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
ASL/GSG_Afyon/Dark Dragoon Squad/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/[LoC][IH][CoH][SoA]

Argon moved on to his third building.

Kuroishi wanted this whole area detonated by the time the Rebels arrived, but Argon wasn't sure they even had enough explosives for that, let alone time.

The route back had been pretty easy once he left the power plant, luckily they seemed to be focusing on protecting that one spot until their new troops arrived.

The demolitions for each building didn't take too long either; Argon and Kuroishi had dealt with explosives long enough to know where and how each one should be placed to bring down each one with the minimum amount.

There, another explosive placed, with that, Argon quickly left the building.

As he entered the next one, he hit the remote detonator, and had the pleasure of watching the last building crumble in on itself as the explosives destroyed key parts of the interior structure.

Three down and only a hundred more to go...
 
-----------------------
Argon Viper
Sergeant Major/Senior Writer, VE Today
IW COL Argon Viper{ret}
Fallen Angel and Proud of It!
"History is on the move, those who cannot keep up will watch from a distance, and those who get in our way will not watch at all" - Grand Admiral Thrawn
"Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses" - Carl G Jung

Argon stopped dead as he heard a slight skidding sound.

Spinning rapidly, he dropped to the ground and drew his blaster pistol.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the source of the noise, a man dressed in urban camoflauge, dropping to one knee and bringing his own blaster to bear.

Argon's shot caught the man in the temple, sending him sprawling to the pavement.

Getting up, he brought out his IR detector and swept the area.

Luckily, he and the dead man were the only ones there.

Going up to him, Argon saw one thing embroidered quite plainly on the uniform sleeve.

"Kuroishi," he said into the comm, "contact has been made with Republic forward scouts."

"What kind of contact?" came the reply.

"Violent," Argon said, "he's down, and I don't think anyone heard me.  It looks like we're hitting the wire though."

"Got it," replied Kuroishi, "forget the demolitions, see what kind of traps and random distractions you can rig up before they get here."

"Yes sir," said Argon, already moving toward the last manhole he'd seen.
 
-----------------------
Argon Viper
Sergeant Major/Senior Writer, VE Today
IW COL Argon Viper{ret}
Fallen Angel and Proud of It!
"History is on the move, those who cannot keep up will watch from a distance, and those who get in our way will not watch at all" - Grand Admiral Thrawn
"Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses" - Carl G Jung

[OOC: time to jump on the NPC bandwagon, just read about the defel in dark forces rising]

    There was the faintest of creeks as the wooden door opening, barely a murmur of hushed voices carried on into the abandoned house.
    Rhorh groggily opened one eye and looked about, he had removed all the lighting in the apartment and was perfectly safe just as long as he kept still. His eye flicked to the side to observe a pair of republic commando coming up the stairs. Each was garbed from head to tow in the bland grey hues of urban camouflage. Rhorh watched the pair walk straight past him and head for the open window, neither seeming to notice his proscenia. For Rhorh was a Defel Wraith and appeared as nothing but shadow to a humans limited optical senses.

    The smaller of the two held a device to his eye and started reeling off numbers to the other. The larger took off his helmet and dropped his kit to one side of the window, he un slung a wicked looking long rifle and proceeded to set it up at the base of the window. A sniper pair it was then, this area of the capital city was crawling with veteran republic commandos. From the snippets of conversation Rhorh had overheard on his way in, the civilians in this sector of the capital had been evacuated when the first Golan had dropped and a large proportion of the republic forces had immediately moved in and turned it into a veritable fortress.

    The floor rumbled once again, the whole apartment shaking. "There goes another one," said the young spotter. From the sound of it when the politicians had given up on the republic, the disgruntled forces here had started demolishing the surrounding sectors, trying to make a kill zone. The Wraith spy had yet to find out why they were barricading this particular sector, the sun was going down now and in anything less than perfect light he could move again. As soon as he had completed his recon he would report in to Fury and move onto the next area.

    "Team seventeen are you in position?" buzzed a nearby comm unit.

    "All set up," answer the taller, older commando.

    "Good, scout troopers have been tearing up the last of the militia and there's a fair force of regulars moving this way."

    "Understood lieutenant. Are we set? ETA?"

    "We're all set. We are expecting company in around twenty. Out."


    "Stormtroopers? I thought the Empire was low on them these days?" the younger solider asked, a slight tremble of fear underlining his voice.

    "Well some of the imperial factions still have a good number of them. They don't waste them, but this is a fairly major operation. Don't sweat it," he said hefting his rifle. "I eat Stormtroopers for breakfast."
    From what Rhorh had seen most of the military here were carrying armour piercing rifles and had a fair number of grenades. They were obviously prepared for the white faced menace of the Empire's elite.
    "I didn't fight on a hundred worlds against this lot for my freedom just to get taken out by an overconfident Stormtrooper today!" the sniper continued.

    The Wraith watched the two closely for a moment, letting his senses fully recover from slumber. He only had a Defel pistol on him, and he didn't like his chances against any soldiers, let alone a veteran commando. He briefly reflected on how he had ended up in this mess, he had no idea how that smooth talking assassin had managed to con him into signing up for the imperials. He was used to watching criminals and thieves, not fully armed, trained and alert soldiers. Here he was today though, in the middle of enemy territory, reporting to General Fury himself.
    Apparently his details had been forwarded onto imperial intelligence, but he didn't like the idea. They'd never got their hands on a Defel before, and the image of imperial scientists pulling him apart to see how he worked kept on playing through his mind.

    "Some heavy fighting going on at the high rise sector,"
    "That'll be the Moorja guards tussling with the stormtroopers then,"
    "Can't we move up and help?" the younger soldier asked.
    "The imperials would love that, and anyways, whatever they have going on in zeta six they don't want the imps getting their hands on it."

    The shadow behind them that was Rhorh raised it's eyebrows. He put a three-clawed hand to the black pistol hidden in his fur. That and the secure comm unit were all he carried, anything larger would give him away. He drew the long, black, shimmering pistol and levelled it at the older commandos head. The wicked looking Defel pistol was barely more visible than himself. He weighed up his options for a moment. As far as military training went he didn't fancy his chances against just two of the commandos. He could quite easily miss, or his pistol could jam. He wasn't one for taking chances.
    He noticed a bunch of thermal detonators hanging from the spotters backpack and considered that option. Then again the resulting mess would probably attract a fair amount of attention. Attention that Rhorh was hoping to avoid.

    He slipped his pistol back out of sight and edged towards the stairs. Cowardice it was to be. Suddenly, the sniper whirled around, pistol in hand. He scanned the room, looking for the target he was sure he had heard. His instincts had been screaming at him since just after they had arrived and he could have sworn he'd heard something just then.

    Rhorh edged down the stairs, surprised at just how quick the soldier had been. He really wasn't cut out for this, he was sure that the commando would hear his heart beating. He had never had to look down the barrel of a pistol from this direction before.

    "Humph," the veteran holstered his pistol and then looked back out of the window. The purple dusk sky highlighted by streaks of orange as the rebel forces out in the city clashed with regulars under Timm's command.



    The Wraith slipped out into the city, his shadowy outline going unnoticed. Whenever his large ears heard another task force jogging towards him he simply stayed motionless where he was, at the side of the road. Whatever this zeta six was, he figured, it would be deeper into this sector. He paused at an intersection between several roads and observed the patter of troop movement. After a few hours he came to the conclusion that at least a few groups were moving in concentric circles, whilst the other troops were moving up to bolster the defensive front.

    He shadowed an intelligence officer who was headed in the direction of the republic centre. At least that's he recalled the uniform to be from his brief training. At the centre of an open square stood an imposing, stone building. It was obviously quite old and highly decorated, possibly the town centre of the district. Surprisingly the intelligence agent ignored the well defended centre and headed for a small nondescript building off to one side.



    The Defel's light absorbing fur ruffled in the wind and he headed around the side of the open square and headed for the entrance to the structure straight ahead. In the gloomy evening he had no trouble slipping past the guards and taking a look around inside. The place had obviously been hastily changed into a makeshift control centre. It wasn't a bustling high command post, but instead seemed to be the current base of operations for the outlying regions.

    Noticing the insignia on a captain's shoulder he followed him up to the top floor. With a slight startle, Rhorh realised he had walked in on a meeting. Fortunately a hollow display was running and the lights were dimmed. He made his way over to the far corner of the room, closest to the windows.

    "Ok, as you can see the imperials have struggled to get sufficient arms down to the city so far, but they've held out and we've received word from the from of artillery and armour landing. Also a significant proportion have been causing havoc with their typical rapid assaults, the likes of which the local militia has never seen." A major, for some reason still dressed in combat wear rather than uniform, had started speaking.

    "Any more word on our shadow suited assassins?" The captain Rhorh had followed put in.

    "No sign of them recently, but it serves the high general for staying so far out in the civilian sectors. We'll be able to take things from here though." Surprisingly no one argued.

    "We lost an armoured division that was bearing down on the imperial bases, reports show that their defences were quick, but they lacked massive firepower. I've had my tanks fall back to this region and instructed my gunners to unleash hell on the imperial position." Another officer put in.

    "Look, I have to remind you all that the defence of the planet is not our main priority. The government have already disowned us, so lets stop thinking about how we can smash the imperials from out position. Regardless of out feelings toward the intelligence division, we have to look at the bigger picture. They have information on all the surrounding systems, including Bestine. They built Zeta six here because they didn't suspect an imperial attack here and now it is our duty to defend them to the last, I've already called for shuttles to get them out of here fast. We can level that place after they've gone and vaporise the remains of the detained.

    "My commandos have set up a perimeter defence that can hold off almost indefinitely, they've dealt with these situations before." The Major looked around at everyone, looking for someone to argue. The shadow in the corner of the room listened carefully. This man was obviously the leader of the veteran division in charge of the defence of whatever this zeta six was. His scars betrayed his previous experience and Rhorh could instinctively feel the strong presence he had.

    "I'll keep my gunners firing on the imperials then?" the officer who had spoken earlier put in.

    "No silence the guns for now, we don't want any more attentions. If we can keep the imperials out for the night there'll be nothing for them to find in the morning."

    "And then?"

    "We show the imperials what we're really made of, or go down fighting in the process." There was a quiet rumbling of agreement from the room. One younger officer went so far as to slam his fist down on the table. The holo image floating above them flickered off.

    "Ok, lights. . . "

    Rhorh panicked, he eyes went from the array of lights over his head, to the junior guardsman heading for the switch at the door.

    "Thank you. Now I want constant reports of what's going on out there. As soon as those stormtroopers show their ugly faces I want to hear about it. Adjourned." The officers filed out of the room, leaving only the junior officer to pick up the papers and folders left behind.

    There was a scraping noise behind him and he swung around towards the window. There climbing out of the window was an oddly shaped shadow, brandishing a black pistol, that shimmered in the bright light.

    There was a hiss as the weapon went off and a semi-transparent blaster bolt sliced through the air towards his chest. The blaster bolt, that was only truly visible in the ultraviolet spectrum and appeared merely as a disturbance in the air optically, left a neat hole in his chest. The Defel climbed back inside and reached out with a long arm and rapped his triple jointed fingers around the officers arm. He dragged him to the corner and tossed the body into a closet.
    It was time to find out just what was going on around here.



    Captain K'wislin looked up to the High General from the control pit. "We've just run that message through the megabit decrypter sir, it reads: 'Message from the shadows. Rebel commandos have made sector 12 unavailable. Direct assault not recommended, veteran troopers prepared for you. Suggest artillery or air strike. . .' The message has the typical bad structuring I've come to expect from the source. It reads something about a republic intelligence base and Bestine, the source says he is moving to investigate now. He also asked if he can have a codename? He says he likes 'nightshade.' There are some co-ordinates for the outer edges for the rebel defence as well as some numbers and. . ."

    Fury ran out of patience. "Kindly send the full message up to my screen captain. Thank you." So this associate of Raziel's was turning out to be quite useful. He read the message through. He was annoyed at first to see the details of the commandos who had obviously done a good job of walling off the section and turning it into an urban deathtrap. However, the sketchy details of some kind of republic intelligence group they were protecting intrigued him, especially the word 'detained'.

    "May I ask about this obviously amateur source that's been reporting for the last few days sir? Did you manage to bribe as rebel officer and why aren't intelligence involved?"

    "Captain it would be a good idea NOT to ask anything more on this, or even mention in for that matter."

    "Sir."

    "Return this message. Tell the agent to investigate this matter further. Completely in fact. Tell him that the next section up for investigation on the list has become inaccessible and after reporting back he will be assigned a squad of stormtroopers to scout for."

    "Sir," the captain saluted.


-----------------------
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
PC:A/SGM/Raziel/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/ {EW1} {WoS} {VP} {IG} {CDS} {BoA}
Assistant Squad Leader - Squad4 Wraiths
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989.
CM/DJK Raziel/lion 1-5/Krath/VEDJ/VE

From her vantage point at the top of one of Moorja's spiky leafed trees, Kami looked out atop the seemingly endless green of the forest, straining her ears to pick up the sounds of distant gunfire... and hearing nothing...
Fighting down her frustration, she slid down from the branch then shimmied down the trunk and dropped the last two meters to the ground. "Nothing." She announced to TK, who was shaking his helmet around in a vain attempt to get it working again. "Forest for miles in every direction. That Rebel chased us for longer than I thought... I can't even hear Platoon B anymore."

TK sighed, and dropped his helmet, "Did you manage to com through to the Gunny?"
Kami shook her head in negative, "Only before we entered that clearing where Platoon B was battling it out."
TK sighed again, "Well let's hope the others got the message and can go help the platoon out."
He glanced down at the Sniper Rifle Kami had hoisted into her arms, "Can you use that thing?"
Kami threw her sergeant a wry grin, "My father taught me back on Kuat, but that was a few years ago, so I might be a little rusty."
TK rose an eyebrow in the direction of the private, surprise evident of his face "That's the first time you've mentioned you're family."
Kami opened her mouth, then abruptly shut it, as dormant emotions welled up into a lump in her throat.
Damm it...now is not the time for this...

Kami dropped her eyes from TK's now concerned gaze, and kicked her useless stormtrooper helmet aside, fighting to regain control of her thoughts. Breathing a little easier, Kami bid the dented lump of armor a silent farewell, then straightened and handed her E-11 to TK, "Here, I can't carry this and the slug thrower at the same time."
TK looked as though he was about to say something, but seemed to think better of it, and took Kami's outstretched weapon instead, "We need to move, we've been here to long."

As if on cue, a whine sounded from the trees around them.

"What the..." TK turned about in a circle, Kami's E-11 held ready, trying to determine the direction of the sound.
The whine increased in volume, and was suddenly joined by the sounds of numerous other high pitched drones.
"Speeder Bikes." Kami whispered, her hands tightening involuntarily on the sniper rifle.
TK's face had gone deathly grim, "Sounds like five or six at least" He gestured almost angrily towards the crumpled mass of the Rebel Speeder bike, "...no doubt of friend here told them our position..."
The two Dragoons looked at each other almost helplessly.

They were surrounded on all sides by dense forest... on foot...lost... and being chased down by half a dozen Rebel Speeders...

Kami resisted the urge to swear...
..Could this day get any worse...?

 
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-=silly caucasian girl likes to play with samurai swords=-
-=pretty...what do we blow up first?=-
TRP/PFC kaMi/2SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR]

Argon lay in the rubble section Kuroishi had chosen for them and readied his sniper rifle.

If all went to plan, he'd be too busy planting explosives on command vehicles and random "targets of opportunity" to get a chance to use it, but long years of experience had taught him that if anything ever went to plan, it was a trap.

Kuroishi and Fish were doing the same thing next to him, they were the designated snipers.

Mandor and Sam would be working as spotters, making sure the enemy didn't come to close, and if the situation called for it, heavy weapons guys; with any luck they could give any strike force a run for their money.

Sniper rifle ready, Argon began to ready his explosives, with any luck, they could blunt the force of the Rebel attack, allowing the spaceport to hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Now all that was left to do was wait.
 
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Argon Viper
Sergeant Major/Senior Writer, VE Today
IW COL Argon Viper{ret}
Fallen Angel and Proud of It!
"History is on the move, those who cannot keep up will watch from a distance, and those who get in our way will not watch at all" - Grand Admiral Thrawn
"Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses" - Carl G Jung

The only nagging feeling Kuroishi had on his mind was where were the Raiders and what were they planning?

No choice time to break comm silence.

"Kuroishi to Raiders.  We need to coordinate a deffense here.  We'll be disrupting the command structure.  We've managed to set up a funnel but we need bait to draw the rebels in.  There should be heavy forces landing at the spaceport soon."  Kuroishi commed.

"Copy that.  Myself, JR, and some regulars are enroute.  We'll draw them into the guantlent."  Rizzit's voice sounded dubious.

Kuroishi had little choice but to give the signal, waiting much longer would mean having to duck the assault forces just to get out of the city and into position.

Thier target would be well guarded, but stealth and guile were no strangers to three of the Wraiths.  They had been fighting these kinds of odds for years and were almost psychotic enough to love every minute of it.

Kuroishi arose first.  Checking with his NV, a quick sweep confirmed thier path to be clear.

The squad moved as quickly as they could while checking for patrols and scouts.  Ducking such things was easy work while in an urban environment.  Once they got into the gulley it would be more difficult but at least they wouldn't be spotted until a patrol was right on top of them.

The squad kept moving as they heard heavy vehicles rumble past, both conventional and repulsor lift.  Meant the assault was inbound and Wraith should not be far off from the command post.

A quick double tap on the Raider's frequency alerted them to the inbound enemies.

Kuroishi peeked up over the edge to check his guess work and was somewhat frustrated.

"They didn't go as far up the hill as I expected but that makes Argon's job easier while we snipers will have to figure out new firing positions."  Kuroishi gathered the squad.

Kuroishi marched the squad into the best position he could.  Argon detatched to go give his preseants to all the good little rebel boys and girls no matter what species or religion.

"Our turn."  Kuroishi said as he hoped over the edge to find some sniper spot to scurry into.
 
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Kuroishi Wraith VEA
Daishi Raptor VEN
Assistant Writer Why Project Copyright Infringment
Ich bin hessliche amerikaner.
Nehmen mir zu dein frauen von vernunftig preis tugendhafte.
"And the sound of many heads hitting many solid objects was heard throughout the land." me

Kuroishi crawled with Sam to his chosen sniping position.  Without someone with some binocs spotting for him he'd have plenty of accuracy to hit anything in the camp.  The far side he might drop to less then 90% effectiveness in removing enemies from the fight depending on enemy armor, but with his skill and specialized ammunition there would be many enemies removed from the battle this day.

Infact that train of thought brought another interesting quirk of many armies to Kuroishi's mind.  Most armies tend thier wounded.  Doing so almost always slows them longer then having to bury the dead.  It might prove to be the key of keeping the enemy in position long enough for the forces holding outside the city to be counter attacked.

All the gambles Kuroishi had made in his life, this was the biggest.  His idea could make them all heroes or dead.  There would be no capture after the firestorm that was about to ensue, not unless the universe decided to re-write human nature.

Kuroishi began to pick through priority targets and make his daigram of guard positions and patrol routes.

Kuroishi swept and reswept the area with his scope.  Nothing would escape his notice.

Kuroishi watched Argon's path through his scope and consulted his mental table of who would be where, and when.

Then suddenly a guard stopped.

Kuroishi had to choose between eliminating him, breaking comm silence, or letting him spot Argon as he readied to leave the roof of the fourth target.  At least with the shot there was the chance of suprise being maintained.

To Kuroishi the crack of his rifle was loud through his helmet's external pick ups, but to anyone down at the base it would be a barely noticable crack.

'So far so good.'  Kuroishi thought to himself as none of the guards seemed to notice thier missing compatriot yet.
 
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Kuroishi Wraith VEA
Daishi Raptor VEN
Assistant Writer Why Project Copyright Infringment
Ich bin hessliche amerikaner.
Nehmen mir zu dein frauen von vernunftig preis tugendhafte.
"And the sound of many heads hitting many solid objects was heard throughout the land." me