Space Trooper Info: The most heavily armed and armoured unit of stormtroopers in the Empire are the Zero-G Assault Troopers, known commonly as spacetroopers. These elite soldiers wear large powered suits of armour that give them the firepower of a light tank. Though standard stormtrooper armour does provide limited protection against hard vacuum, only these soldiers have been extensively trained for combat operations in space. Their primary missions involve the capturing of enemy vessels intact and the pacifying of rebellious crews. Spacetroopers are typically deployed in units of 40 aboard assault shuttles. This platoon of soldiers can overtake capital ships with their determined assaults. Spacetrooper armour functions as a personal spacecraft and attack vehicle. A spacetrooper wears a standard stormtrooper shell, and then plugs into a larger set of power armor that stands over two meters tall, and is twice as wide across as an unarmored man. For this bulky appearance, spacetroopers are sometimes called "walking tanks." Powerful weaponry lines the powersuit armour. Paired grenade launchers are shoulder-mounted and magazine-fed, and are capable of launching concussion, stun and gas projectiles. On the right gauntlet is a powerful blaster cannon, while the left gauntlet features a miniature proton torpedo hurler. The gauntlet features laser cutters or rotating sleeves, allowing the spacetrooper to penetrate armoured hulls. Spacetrooper armour is too cumbersome to operate within planetary gravities. A variety of models of spacetrooper armour have been developed over the years, with the latest generation being far more sleek and manoeuvrable than earlier iterations. http://imperialcenterstore.com/index.cfm?cfid=196626&cftoken=34729658&scat=6&cat=52&product=829 Armour Mk2     Raziel Yanked on the fingertip controls and, with a hiss of expelled gas, swung his spacetrooper suit around. His intelligent HUD quickly picked out a B-wing bomber bearing down on his squad.     He twisted his head within its suit and looked back at his squad. Slick and Hellra were busily cutting through the Starcruiser's hull, whilst Revan hung back, ready to board. Zar was firing torpedoes down the length of the capital ship at a cluster of turrets that was firing on them.     Lifting his left arm, Raziel brought his mini proton torpedo launcher to bear. Taking note of the readings on his HUD he fired a pair of torpedo's as soon as the B-wing was within range.     Looking through the bubble of plasti-glas that separated himself from the deadly vacuum, he couldn't help but feel a tad vulnerable. The B-wing's laser cannons fired wide, before the two torpedoes impacted on its side. One of the ship's S-foils was ripped off and the pilot pulled away.     A mammoth chunk of Dura-steel hull flew past Raziel, his HUD informed him that it was automatically stabilising against an external force. For a moment he lost visibility as the whole squad was engulfed in a giant, white, plume of gas escaping the capital ship. The suit quickly changed visual modes and Raziel found he could see, to an extent, through the gas. A few moments later it was over, the breach sealed from within the ship. As soon as the gas had stopped flooding out of the ship, Revan launched his suit forwards into the hole.     The rest of the squad followed quickly, their boots thudding as they magnetically sealed themselves to the floor. Raziel felt a brief sensation of giddiness as he felt a slight tug of artificial gravity, but hours of High and Low G training meant he recovered quickly. The first obstacle the squad faced was a set of doors that had slid shut to maintain air pressure on the far side. Zar's blaster cannon ripped through it with ease. Each of them stood still, as they had been trained, as more gas rushed past them. Their suits automatically held them firm to the floor. One the area was fully depressurised they moved on. Raziel brought up a map of the ship and checked their position. Always the objectives were the same  head for the bridge or engine room and disable of take control of the ship.     A few moments later the suits told them that the area they were in was being re-pressurised. A door had obviously sealed behind them. Once the area was up to standard pressure they would probably meet resistance from the ship's crew. On the next corridor a pair of automated blaster turrets blocked their path, but with computer enhanced accuracy the squad took them out quickly in a flurry of cannon fire.     "Troops on our six!" Raziel heard through his comms. He quickly twisted around to see Revan, who had been bringing up the rear  his suit walking backwards  opening fire as troops filed in from a side corridor to attack.     "Revan, Jakrieth, hold here! Everyone else press on!" Raziel barked out orders. Jak's suit turned on one foot and fired a pair of shoulder mounted grenades into the soldiers behind them.     The rest of the squad hurried forwards, not far from the bridge now. A pair of blast doors blocked their path, and Raziel's suits instruments told him several squads of republic marines were forming up on the other side.     Their laser cutters made short work of the door and Raziel waded forwards, blasting away. Blaster fired bounced off of his suit, doing no damage and he ignored most of the enemy soldiers. Instead his in-built computer scanned for threatening weapons, instantly synchronized with the rest of the squad, and assigned targets. The marines had brought two repeating rifles and some portable missile systems to try and stop the spacetroopers, but they were destroyed by cannon fire before they could do any damage.     Then Raziel screen went blank. He panicked for a moment, he hadn't seen anyone about to fire on him, his computer had given him no threat warning . . . A message flashed across his screen:     Lieutenant Raziel. You have been temporarily removed from simulation. Report to training commander.     With a hiss, his simulation suit opened up. He slid out into a large, cuboid room. all around him were more simulation suits, but only five were active, their arms swinging forwards and back. He hoped his squad was still doing well without him. For a moment he regretted leaving Jak behind as a rearguard, before realising that the suits communication systems would instantly bring him progress reports and allow him to give orders now that he had been designated leader.     Raziel looked up to the control room high above them, suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the room. sure enough, the supervisor of Zero-G training was standing there, waiting. He had taken a liking to the supervisor, he had a no nonsense approach to the training and rarely did things "by the book" often giving them hints and tips that were in no training manual. Last week he had shown them how the cutting lasers would be adjusted to create metre long cutting beams, that were awesome close combat weapons.     Raziel headed for the central lift. They were currently stationed aboard Tadath orbital station 9, which was entirely given over to Zero-G training. In this simulation room, the artificial gravity could be instantly adjusted with a flick of a switch. Jon, their supervisor, had told them of a particularly arrogant group of trainees who he had left, stuck to the ceiling, for a whole day.     "Ah things seem to be coming along nicely," Jon greeted him as he reached the control room. With a wave of his arm he indicated the multitude of screen spanning to walls. Indeed the raiders were doing well, most of the suits were functioning at over 90% combat efficiency and they had almost reached the bridge. "Not that I wouldn't expect that coming from Pheonix company members. That of course coupled with my excellent training regimes, sixteen hours 'in-space' zero-g, twenty hours simulation training . . ." the supervisor smiled widely.     "Anyways, what's up?     "Aha! Well I think I've found a great training aid for you all. Only a few days ago we found out about an Old Republic attack cruiser drifting through the edges of our space. Thought it would make for an interesting exercise you see, you can only get so much of a 'feel' for fighting in powersuits from simulations you see?" Raziel nodded in agreement. "So, seeing as this ship is just a lifeless hulk now, I saw no reason not to use it for some exercises. You should have seen the amount of forms I had to fill in though? Putting your trainees at risk and all of that lot, 'course they've completely scanned the ship to make sure its structurally safe and there's nothing dangerous on board."     "Well it sounds good to me, how soon?" Raziel asked, not allowing himself t get bogged down in unnecessary chatter.     "We've already got an assault shuttle ready to go, we're just going over the final mission parameters. 'Course I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise," Jon said, tapping one finger to his nose and winking. "Oh, looks like your lot just finished off!" Raziel turned around to see the view from Zar's POV. He saw a group of Republic officers being sucked out through the bridges blasted viewscreen.     "I'd best get back to them," and with that Raziel turned on his heel and took the lift back to the floor of the room, where his squad were emerging from their simulation suits.     Before they could begin questioning him on his sudden disappearance, he retold the details of their next mission. He glanced over his shoulder, back up to the control room to see a short man, decked out in black, leave the control room. He hadn't been their before, and Raziel knew imperial intel officers were not frequent visitors of the station . . .     As per Jon's promise the mission was arranged very quickly and within a few days the squad found themselves suiting up, en route aboard an assault shuttle, but still no wiser as to what the exercise involved. As Raziel powered up his suit, he felt the ship drop out of hyperspace. As his suit was designated as squad leader his HUD quickly filled up with information on the status of his squad mates. Jon had told him that Spacetrooper platoon commanders spent more time reading information that actually fighting on missions.     The squad filed out to departure room, where a group of technicians waited to check that they were properly suited. With a great shudder one of the walls folded away from them, opening up to the space outside. A magnetic field kept the atmosphere within the room. The republic attack cruiser was only a few miles away, it looked surprisingly intact for a drifting hulk. Perhaps it had been taken over from within by droid troopers he wandered.     The Jon walked into the room, flanked by two assistants. He looked down at a datapad in his hands, as if confirming something he wasn't completely sure about.     "Well, we have got something good in store for you all!" he shouted above the noise of the wall sliding out of the way. He waited until it came to a stop before continuing.     "Well as you can see we have been provided with an excellent training grounds. Now, let me fill you in on the exercise goals. You primary goal here is to make your way to the bridge of the ship and restore power from there, I've been told that the ship is only in a dormant state. Of course we're not going to make it easier. Firstly you're only allowed to enter the ship halfway down its length and no nearer to the bridge. Secondly, we have a wing of Y-Wing standing by to simulate an attack run on you all. Obviously we haven't provided you with live proton torpedo's instead just fight them off with laser cannons. They'll be firing simulated shots only, so we'll let you know if you've been hit. Next as soon as you enter the ship your suits have been programmed to lose communication with us, of course in a real battle the enemy ship would likely jam your comms. Finally we've dug up a load of old droid soldiers and we've loaded them all onto the ship, you'll have to fight through them all to get to the bridge.     "I fully expect you not to have much trouble completing the mission, but it'll prove invaluable to give you real battle experience. As soon as we have deployed you we'll pull back out of the attack cruiser's range, just in case you accidentally activate any weapons. Any Questions?" The squad was silent. "Ok then, off you go!" he said indicating the Cruiser through the open port.     "Ok squad, Revan up front, Jakrieth, Zar, Slick and Hellra cover a direction each, I'll cover the rear." Raziel said into his comms, reminding himself once again that space was a fully three-dimensional combat zone. The squad shuddered into action, stomping forwards, through the field and out into space. It was a strange sensation as they left the artificial gravity of the shuttle. The squad orientated themselves with their jetpacks as Jon's voice sounded loud and clear through their comms,     "Ok Squad is launched, pull back." Then he added, "Good luck Guys!"

  -----------------------
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
PL:A/1LtRaziel/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/{EW1} (WoS1) 2x(VP:1) {IG} {CDS} {BoA} {PoC} {BC} {GRoM} {SoS}
Assistant Squad Leader - Raiders
"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.

"God does not play dice with the universe" - Albert Einstein
"Who are you to tell God what to do with his dice?" - Bohr
"God does not play dice with the universe. He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time." - Terry Pratchett
CM/DJK Raziel/lion 1-5/Krath/VEDJ/VE (WoS1) (VP1) (VP2)

Hearing Revan's yell, Slick whirled to face the younger troopers direction, and muttered a string of curses.  The rebel fighters were indeed bearing down on their current position.  The emotions of the squad ranged from stunned, to nervous, and to downright frightened.  Slick's own was downright frightened.  He hated this, stupid bulky Zero-G armor, and now had no idea if this was a training excercise or not.  Best to assume the worst he thought to himself.  After a moment Raziel called for the squad to move into a defensive fighting position.

"Wedge-formation everyone!  Keep those ships back!" Raziel yelled to the troops.

Raziel took his place at the front, with Zar slightly left and back of him.  Revan did the same on the right, and Slick took up his position, slightly right and back of Revan.  Jakireth and Hellra moved to make the second team, but with just the two of them it was awkward.

The rebel fighters came straight at the squad, and they waited for Raziel's signal. As they waited all that entered Slick's mind was the knowledge that they had no proton torpedoes.  He grimaced under his faceplate... this was going to get ugly real soon...

Finally the signal came. Raziel opened fire on the lead ship with his laser cannons hoping to at least faze them.  With the first shot fired the rest of the squad fired as if their lives depended on it.  In a way it did.  No proton torpedoes, simulation laser cannon rounds... if this really is a rebel attack Slick thought then all this training has gone to waste!  He felt that black laughter rising in his stomach, but he didn't give voice to it.  The squad layed down a heavy stream of fire, but it didn't seem to be doing anything to the ships.  The ships headed straight at the Raiders as if on a collision course!

The Raiders quickly moved out of the way.  The ships blasted through their formation only moments later.  Slick found that he was beside Revan and Jakireth.  The three men watched the ships leave, and wondered what was going to happen next.  Revan gave out a sigh of relief, and the other two looked at him.

"Do you think those fighters will be back?" Revan asked.

"I have no idea kid. I hope n....." Slick started, but then Jakireth yelled. "They're making another run at us!"
 
-----------------------
TRP/PFC Slick/3SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA[LoR]

"Even the best soldiers will fall if they stand alone."

"If you question your actions in war... you know that you are still sane."

Jakireth stumbled on his words, even he was becoming a bit scared with the barrels of ship-mounted blasters bearing down upon him. Come to think about it...that would scare anyone. Looking around, he noticed nearly everyone had a slight look of terror on their face. Apparently, everyone realized the severity of 4 working Rebel fighters approaching their position, a great time to come back to reality.

"Wait for it...wait for it..." Jakireth muttered, almost beginning the maneuver before he declared it, "Evasive tactics! Front line troopers: Revan, Raziel, move up and provide some cover and a decent distraction! Everyone else split up and flank 'em!"
Slick was on his right, providing a large amount of laser fire as he began taking shots. Jakireth was more of a 'Get it right the first time' soldier at the moment, working at more accurate, powerful shots then a flurry of blaster rounds.

Revan was being threatened by a massive amount of enemy fire as well, but was still able to notice what was happening behind him:
"Hellra, watch the Y-Wing coming around of your left!" Revan shouted almost heroically, seeing his fellow squadmate fall out of danger's grip. Although his attention was still focused behind him, while 4 laser bolts flew past his armor, 2 nearly centimeters away from a grim death.

Raziel didn't seem very talkative after seeing the fighters come into view, and Jakireth began wondering what was running through his mind. "Raz, you alright over there?" The ComLink was silent for a while, and Jakireth felt that something was out of place, and after his response, it appeared that there was, "Yeah Jak, fine over here. These damned suits are constricting though..."
The entire squad laughed over the communications system, almost forgetting what was happening around them. 'Interesting...' Jakireth thought...a "constriction" joke that induced forgetfulness in a combat situation.

The moments occuring after that showed how well the squad operated under high-stress conditions. Slick and Jakireth managed to drive back 3 of the remaining fighters, while the other troopers damaged their shields and sent them scurrying away.
"Nice job everyone!" Jakireth shouted, very proud of what they had accomplished.

"The Cruiser is coming into direct view, prepare to activate magnetic clamps!" Raziel said as the last Y-Wing was removed from view.



 
-----------------------
Lance Corporal Jakireth
- Raider Squad -
Assistant Squad Leader
Army of the Vast Empire

"Faithful to the end..." Raiders squad motto

have another go at the stubborn hull again.

"Merde!" cried Hellra out in frustration, as it didn't to work so effectively as they hoped it would.

"Slick, stop, let take this towards the left part of the ship, if Revan is right about the hull being thicker here, then I am not wasting my time if we can get the job done faster on a weaker spot.
Revan raised an eyebrow at Hellra's suggestion doubting the greenhorn Raider's suggestion. He had no time to question as blasts almost ripped them from life.
Uncomfortable Hellra swung backwards, she swore inwardly in her spacetrooper suit, still used to the Lancer squad's techniques, or maybe it was because she was a close-combat trooper.

Her myopic eyes stared in the black space, not really analysing what there was to be seen. A voice over her comlink bought her back to reality.
"hellra, job, hull, do you remember?" asked Jakireth sarcastic over her comlink.
Jakireth shook his head at the distracted Raider.

She bought her focus back to the attachment and saw Slick and Revan motioning her to follow them to try the attachment at a different angle of the hull. Her thoughts gathered, as her mind worked overtime.
"Guys, wait, we can still cut through here, but instead of adding another attachment, we must take it off"
Hellra noticed their confused and annoyed glances.

"Sorry guys, I just remembered, we should have done the exact opposite of what Revan suggested. The thicker the attachment is the harder it will be to cut. Bit how smaller the surface of the attachment is, the more pressure will be put on the hull"

Slick sighed irritated,
"Hell, you could have made up your mind earlier"
Hellra held her hands up defensively,
"Hi guys, I was just suggesting, and thinking." She said grinning nervously.
Slick sighed again as he and Hellra removed the extra attachment along with another attachment.
"Should we have another go?" asked Hellra
"It wouldn't hurt," replied Slick hastily as he saw Jakireth nearing them,
"But maybe we should take up your earlier suggestion also, as Rev is right about the middle being thicker the part" he continued.

"Guys, I don't want to pressure you, but we are really needing speed here" said Jakireth's voice over the ComLinks.

Hellra and Slick nodded to each other and started cutting again, right on the spot where they were. Their magnetic claps kept them firmy planted, but Hellra still could help but feel dizzy whenever she gazed in the depthless space around her.
Her stomach jolted as her hands lowered very suddenly. They have broken through the hull. She gave a relieved laugh over her comlink. Now they only had to cut a opening big enough for them to go through.

  -----------------------

Hellra gazed at the massive hall they entered in. This wasn"t her first time landing on a ghost ship. She turned towards Jakireth and Raziel.
"Which way guys?"
Raziel glanced around, before his voice crackled through the Comlink.
"We take right, up to the bridge obviously"
Hellra blushed furiously, embarrassed for asking such obvious question. In the corner of her eye she saw Slick and Jakireth moving back to cover the rear while Raziel started moving in the direction of the bridge.

It was coincidental that Hellra and Slick have sliced their way in not far from the nearest door. The grey durasteel halls clashed horribly with their white armour.
Raziel walked towards the access pad lined on the left side of the door. He typed in a code to open the door while the rest of the Raiders pushed themselves against the wall, not wanting to be caught in the middle of the hall.

A few seconds passed while Raziel was trying to open the door, though his attempts have proven to be futile.

"I don"t know why the codes wont work, Jon gave it to me personally" said Raziel frustrated over the ComLink.
"That could mean that someone&." Jakireth didn"t finish his sentences as most of them finished it in their thoughts.
"It cant be possible, but we should keep that scenario open" said Raziel abruptly as he continued his futile attempt to open the door.

Hellra trudged slowly and carefully to his side. She glanced over his shoulder to see the pad. In the bottom left corner of the pad a small symbol was roughly engraved on the durasteel, it had a snakelike form, but ended like a pitchfork. She actually expected it to there and wasn"t surprised at all.

"Sir, if I may?" she asked to Raziel who was still having difficulty opening the door. He frowned but let her have a look at the pad. Hellra gazed intensely at the symbol for a few seconds before she hesitantly entered a code. A hiss followed immediately as the door opened softly. But no one heard the hiss as blasts immediately erupted from the other side. Raziel and Hellra pushed themselves along with the others against the wall taking a breather before returning the vicious assault.

Jakireth made a mental note to himself through the small war of blasts to ask Hellra how she knew the code.
"Revan, how about a grenade!" shouted Slick through his Comlink, as he ducked back to avoid damage.  Revan nodded as he readied his suit to launch the grenade.
"Rev, use an EMP!" shouted Hellra forgetting she was speaking with him over a Comlink.

"An EMP? & I wanted to use the Proton," said Revan.
"Hellra launch your own grenade, Rev do what you want" ordered Jakireth through their ComLink. Hellra shrugged and readied the grenade launcher in her suit. On the count of three she and Revan quickly shot the grenades through the door from where the blasts emitted. Shortly afterwards blue bolts reflected on the halls and their armour casting dark blue shadows, courtesy of her EMP, followed by an explosion covering them in light soot.
Hellra poked her head around the corner of the door to see if there were any surviving droids.
"Hell, get back and let Raz give clearance" said Jakireth over the Comlink. She could dimly make out his form through the hazy smoke filled hall.
Raziel walked through the door while scanning the area on his HUD. A few seconds passed silently. Considering the fact that no blasts were sounded when Raziel walked through the door was an immediate assumption for the squad that the druids were destroyed. Their assumption was confirmed a few seconds later over the ComLink when Raziel gave clearance.

Hellra got up from her kneeled position and quickly trudged through the door.
She was surprised to find her ASL suddenly at her side taking long strides to keep up with her short ones.

"How did you know the access codes?" he asked getting straight to the point.
Hellra sighed,
"Ask me, when we get back at the barracks, we have training to now" she answered avoiding Jakireth"s question. She quickened her pace to reach Raziel.
Jakireth narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He will get to the bottom of this.

"Raz, I hate to point this out, but doesn't these suits only have five hours of power, and six of life?" asked Hellra nervously, not very comfortable with the thought of running out of oxygen while still in the black void of space.

"I know, that is why we have a little time pressure on us, we have about four and a half hours left of power" said Raziel.
"Oh, umm, okay," replied Hellra not sure what to think.
"Okay guys, lets keep moving!" ordered Raziel sharply as the squad gathered in the droid filled hall.

 
-----------------------
Lance Corporal Hellra
- Raider Squad -
TRP/LCPLHellra/2SQD/1PLT/1CMP/1REG/1BAT/Tadath/VEA[LoR][ES2C]

I wonder what that droid did on the other side of the door, Slick wondered to himself as they continued the mission.  He snapped out of his own thoughts as he heard Revan's yell across the com.  Hearing the panic in the kid's voice, Slick spun on his heel, and nearly toppled over.  He turned just in time to see Zar fall, and knew that trouble had just reared it's ugly head. 

"Raz! Jak! Man down!" yelled Slick over the com.

Not waiting to see if the rest of the squad noticed what was happening, Slick moved into action.  Waving for Revan to follow the two troopers hurried to Zar's side.  Slick raised his right gauntlet, and crouched in the corridor to present a smaller target.  Before he had even fired a shot, he took two blasts in the chest.  He began to fire at the oncoming droids, and at the same moment Revan was dragging Zar away from the firefight.  Another shot hit Slick's suit high in the right shoulder.  Snarling he turned and took down the irritating droid.

"I HATE DROIDS!" yelled Slick as Raziel joined him to covor the corridor.

"Jak, take charge for the moment. Slick and I will join you at the next junction as soon as we finish up here."  Raz said into his helmut com unit.

"Got it. Don't die on me you two!" Jak said as he lead the squad away from the battle.

The two men were outnumbered, but their armored spacesuits made up for it.  The droids numbers seemed to be unfathomable.  For everyone they took down it seemed as if two more took its place.  The stormtroopers were holding their own however.  Suddenly the droids moved to the side, and the troopers looked at what appereared to be a mounted heavy weapon.

"What is that....." Slick trailed off as Raz muttered, "Uh-oh."
 
-----------------------
TRP/PFC Slick/3SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/VE[LoR]

Slick says, "I suggest we leave him behind. We must make our way to the bridge ASAP."

Slick adds to what he said, "I am saying that if we bring him along, it would slow down us! So what should we do before more Droids come!"

Revan replies with anger, "Sorry, Slick but I am not leaving any man behind. We need Zar to get him in a Bacta Tank after we leave. If we don't The Droids for sure will heal him and interrogate him! We are taking him along, Right Raziel?"

Slick gives Revan a glare, then says, "Why do you disagree Rev? He isn't any use of now."

Revan says to Slick, "He is a good soldier and we don't leave good soldiers behind!"

The Damaged Raziel, "If we leave Zar behind he will definitely be interrogated."

Jakireth responds on the WristCom, "I agree with Slick, We can't carry around the almost dead weight of Zar's Unconscious body!"

Hellra yells, "I am through with arguing just Take Zar's Body and Carry him so we can have him healed! Also, in the hands of Safety!"

Revan replies, "Ok I will carry Zar around for us and still keep on firing at these damned Droids!"

Revan rushes to Zar's Body, picks him up but is struggling to pick him up. He doesn't give up and picks him up. He then throws him over his shoulder with struggle. The Whole Squad continues to the Door. Revan goes up to the Door.

Revan says, "May I have the codes Jakireth?"

Jakireth hands Revan the codes. Revan puts in every damn code.

Revan Yells at the door and kicks it. Next, he looks over at Jakireth with a glare.

Revan says, "Why don't they work and do we have to do something specific to open it?"

Raziel replies, "Put in the codes and press the enter button."

Slick suddenly interrupts the conversation, "We got 25 Droids coming towards us!"

The Squad goes into engaging the Droids.

Revan starts rapidly firing blaster shots. Slick and Hellra are launching EMP grenades. Raziel and Jakireth are firing also but with both blaster and grenade launcher. They all go into a full force attack. They keep on going at the Droids for a while with out casualties. Raziel finds cover since he is near death and starts launching Grenades like Crazy. Revan and the others keep on firing.

Revan then says, "Find some cover 25 more Droids coming, they are the reinforcements!"

He looks over and Sees the squad finding cover and firing back like there was no tomorrow for them. He finds cover and lays Zar down behind him. He goes over to Raziel.

Revan says to Raziel, "You think the squad could to keep them at bay long enough for us to find a way in?"

Raziel replies, "Just long enough, I will figure out a way just keep hammering into them!"

Revan and the Squad keeps firing at the droids. Raziel gives commands from behind the line of fire.

Raziel commands, "Revan fire at the droids at the head, Slick and Jak launch some grenades between firing, Hellra Keep on cutting through the door.  While, Provide Protection for me."

Jak and Slick are argueing over how many kills they have.

Jak says, " 52, 53, 54, 56, 57,.... lets see ya beat that."

Slick starts hammering them, "103, 106, 110,... well die you metal piece of trash."

Jak and Slick keep on hammering the droids and they get down to the last few droids. Jak hits 5 droids, then Slick 10 droids, Jak hits the 3 to last 4 droids. Slick gets the last 4 droids.

Slick tells Jak, "Pay up Jak I have 10 more kills than you Jak."

Jak gives Slick 20 plus 10 credits for bonus of 10 more kills credits to Slick. Then Hellra gets throught the middle of the door when the Squad gets overwhelmed.The Squad knocks half of them when more droids come.

Hellra says, "I have cut throught the door. Lets go and Revan pick up Zar."

Revan picks up Zar and the squad goes through the door.

Raziel says to Jak and Hellra, "You two stay here and guard the door."
 
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TRP/PFC Revan666/1RGT/1BAT/1PLT/3SQD/Tadath/VEA/VE[LoR] HWS
- Raider Squad -

In all of his time in the Empire, private first class Slick had never felt as much fear as he did now. It seized his insides, and gripped his heart in it's icy clutches. Just the thought of that thing was enough to make him sick. The fear threatened to overwhelm him, and put his sanity on the line. He looked at all the others around him, and saw his own thoughts reflected on everyone's face. Raider squad was now preparing for the greatest battle... the battle for their lives.

Raziel looked at his troops, and gave a small, sad smile. "Everyone ready?"

Turning to face him, Slick replied, "Hell no! but let's get to it. I'll take point."

With that decided Slick walked to the door. Very slowly he stuck his head out, and glanced around. He silently cursed the red emergency lights... the lights made visability poor. Seeing nothing he motioned to the rest of the squad. As Slick stepped out into the corridor, Hellra, and Revan were close behind him.

If the abandoned ship was scary the first time through... it was terrifying now. In the dim red light, the lifeless droids could be seen. If those things are smart... they could be hiding behind the droids bodies Slick thought to himself. He quickly banished those thoughts however. It scared him to much to even think about it. Their footsteps echoed down the corridor as they walked.

"Slick?"

"Yeah? What is it kid?" Slick answered as he walked.

"I'm terrified right now." said Revan with a slight tremble in his voice.

"I am too... but we're going to get out of this. You might even get a medal for it!" said Slick, and Revan gave a small laugh.

As they came to the end of the corridor, they found a ladderwell that led to the lower deck. Slick glanced back at Raziel, and the squad leader nodded. Looking into the well, Slick grimaced. Little could be seen from his vantage point, and the fear threatened to grip him once more.

"Alright... Revan you're with me. We're going to scout ahead, and make sure the area is clear." Slick said with a grin that he didn't feel.

Revan nodded slowly. Slick activated his cutting laser for a quick melee weapon, and started down. It was an awful thing to have to turn his back to the floor, and with everystep he waited to feel razor sharp teeth tear into his body. As his feet touched the floor he turned, and waited for Revan to join him. Within seconds Revan had joined him, and they continued down the corridor.


 
-----------------------
TRP/PFC Slick/3SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/VE[LoR]

Darkness surrounded them. A few seconds' later lights flashed in circles against the walls, the joy of wearing the suites.  The walls that were displayed in red alert lights were now a ghostly white and grey whenever their flashlights illuminated the designated targets on the walls and floor.

"What now?" asked Slick in a hushed voice. No one replied, the silence hung thick in the air. The ship itself sounded alive as the distant sounds of sparks, and small crashes accompanied with explosions echoed through the empty halls and corridors.

"Keep going, next turn on your left Hellra" ordered Raziel. His voice was firm and loud giving a silent sense of security and spirit for the scared troopers. Hellra carefully and slowly started trudging on the tiled floor down the corridor, Slick and the rest of the squad shortly afterwards.

"Speed up guys" said Jakireth over his comlink. They soon understood as the alien sound of the 'things' increased their intensity.
"Don't they chase power?" asked Hellra all of a sudden as she sped up.
The force of her question the squad hard.
"Guys, I think we are in major crap, we have power suites" stated Revan the obvious.
"You figured that all by your self?" asked Hellra rather out of character.

Jakireth's head snapped this.
"No need for sarcasm now Hellra" warned Jakireth as he strode to her side.
"Fine" mumbled Hellra, her eyes darted around the whole time never ceasing, never resting. She took a sharp turn to the left as Raziel ordered earlier. She stopped for a few seconds and flashed her light down the corridor. It didn't bounce against the opposite end of the coridor.

Slick look up bewildered as he heard something scratching above him. They were standing direct under airshafts. And at the moment they were burning volts and power at an unbelievable rate.

"Maybe we should power down for a few minutes people," suggested Slick nervously,
"We power down, we don't have the strength to fight them off, we stay like we are currently and they will stalk us" mumbled Hellra. Everyone looked at Raziel expectantly, awaiting his next order.
He stood still for a few second while the sound gnawing and scratching suddenly sounded.

"Run"
It was a simple three-letter word, but it was enough to set them off literally running for their lives through the corridor as part of the airshaft gave way under the 'thing's' gnawing. The duratseel clattered against the floor, but the reptile-like thing ignored it as he flew towards his victims.

Raziel readied himself in a split second and slammed his back against the wall letting the 'thing' pass. He aimed his blaster quickly. Blasts sounded as small droplets of blood splattered against the wall and his armour.

But the wounds didn't seem to stop it, as it went direct for Raziel's face this time with the goal of eliminating him. It never got the chance as a trooper's hand grabbed it for a few split seconds and pulled it back. It coiled around to face the assaulter and sank his teeth in the glove-covered hands.

Jakireth screamed in pain as electricity short-circuited through his arm due to the damage inflicted. Seconds after, he felt the razor teeth grazing his numbed hand.
The rest of the squad was shooting furiously at the 'thing' now; scorch marks littered the floor and walls, accompanied with blood.

It let go Jakireth's hand quickly to attack its new assaulters but it became confused at how many there were. It fell to the ground with a high-pitched squeal emitting from its mouth.  Everyone stared in shock at the small creature for a few seconds.

"I think that was plead for help, the thing cried," commented Slick.
"Means, the other knows where it is, they must be honed on each other movements," stated Raziel.
"At least we have found a weakness" said Hellra while she inspected Jakireth's hand, smoke was emitting from the damaged gloves, and the gashes seared around the wrist, destroying his HUD screen and ComLink.

"Weakness?" asked Zar confused, his shock wearing off.
"When we attack together on one of them they become confused and don't know where to attack," answered Jakireth through clenched teeth.

"I suggest we movein groups of three now people, keep your eyes open" ordered Raziel raising blaster, determination set in his voice.


  -----------------------
Lance Corporal Hellra
- Raider Squad -
TRP/LCPLHellra/2SQD/1PLT/1CMP/1REG/1BAT/Tadath/VEA[LoR][ES2C]

Even though blood was splattered against their armour, and pieces of charcoal burned meat clung to their heavy boots the squad gave one big group hug, their armour- covered arms gripped each other around the shoulders. It was a bit difficult with the big armour, but it was a moment of silent spirit and comfort.

Their moment was soon broken when squeals filled the air. The small war that took place a few seconds, it was then  only the offspring still developing. Raziel immediately backed Jakireth, with Hellra backing him. They could the things speeding down the corridors towards them

Back to back the two groups sped towards the end of the corridor. Raziel's eye caught the ladder he saw on his map that lead down to another deck.
"Hellra, how bout you and Rev give another grenade show?" asked Raziel in a hushed voice. Hellra nodded and motioned Revan to get his proton grenade while she got EMP grenade. She loves the EMP grenade.

While the squad quickly climbed down the ladder Hellra readied her EMP to throw it at the 'thing's as most of the squad dubbed it. Dimly she could make their dragon like heads out through the darkness. With hesitation she threw the EMP and scrambled down the ladder, while Revan readied his explosive. They were going to blast this ladder's entrance out of commission, and he intended to take a few 'things' down with it as well.

Hellra and the squad waited worriedly for Revan to get down the ladded. He soon came with the explosive still in his hand. He ignored their confused looks as he carefully placed it on the second highest step of the ladder.

'Run!" he ordered as he activated it on a timer. The squad didn't need to ask twice and blindly dove in the next level. Raziel took the first left turn he could find, and pulled the squad to a halt behind it. Revan joined them seconds later. They waited in a tense silence for the explosion. The 'things' that survived Hellra's EMP have already made their way to the ladder. Just then an explosion shook through the corridor. It's shockwave rippled outwards destroying another part of the corridor, sealing entrance to the top level from that part of the ship.

"Well, nice training we have" commented Hellra dryly as she checked to see if she still had EMP grenades left.
Raziel shook his head at her comment and looked at his map.
"We are moving to slow, there must be hundreds of levels still to go before we can get out. We have to cover more ground " said Slick worriedly. His back was pressed against the walls, his blaster rifles ready for anything that might come their way.

"How good are the shock proof on these suites?" asked Helra to Raziel since Jakireth had no way of communicating to them, except if he tried shouting through his suite to them.

"Pretty good, why?" asked Raziel.
"We would cover dozen of levels if we go down to the elevator shafts. I believe all of the evaluators are at the top, so they wont prove to be a obstacle when we jump down the shaft" suggested Hellra.
"What! You mean jump a few hundred meters down?" asked Zar clearly not very comfortable with this.
"Whatt about the power cables?" asked Revan. He gripped his blaster tightly.
"That's a risk we have to take, but I am beginning to believe they would corner us on hour way down at the speed we are going now, all I will do while falling is dropping EMP grenades, Rev could also drop a few Proton, it clears the way at least."

The squad looked in amazement at Hellra fr suggesting something so risky and crazy.
"She has a point, we are moving to slow," agreed Raziel. He quickly looked down at his map again.
"Nearest shaft around the next corner on the right" he said seconds later. They tensed suddenly when something dropped in the middle of their circle. The squad looked at the power-eating creature. It had a malicious smile. Like one man they raised their blasters and aimed it at the 'thing'. Hellra could have sworn she saw it's face turn to fear, making it look almost cute. They pulled the trigger on their blasters.

"Anyway, there must be dozens of them in the shafts" pointed Slick out.
"Well, that's part of life, and come on, it's going to be fun," said Hellra almost mischievously.
"Hellra, it may be fun for you, but do think of the lives involved, and not just your own" stated Raziel.
"But she does have one point, reaching the turrets is taking to long. We only have limited power left for our suites, squad move, shafts now!" ordered Raziel sharply.

They reached the elevator door without any assaults and attacks miraculously. They forced the doors open with little difficulty. Revan quickly threw a explosive down the shaft, soon followed by an EMP by Hellra.

"That should clear the path for a few meters, go guys, remember these suites have flight control but we want speed, so we are simply free falling" ordered Raziel.
"Wait, wait" stopped Hellra.
"What now Hell?" asked Zar tiredly.
"Rev, you and I go down first, since we are dropping grenades every now and then, we don't want to kill one of own accidentally, and remember these creatures can and will attack from ANY direction, so look out for your heads" ordered Hellra to Revan.

He nodded silently. Hellra took a swift leap through the doors down the shaft soon followed by Revan. The rest of the squad jumped after shortly, Raziel and Jakireth the last to go.


  -----------------------
Lance Corporal Hellra
- Raider Squad -
TRP/LCPLHellra/2SQD/1PLT/1CMP/1REG/1BAT/Tadath/VEA[LoR][ES2C]

For the next two lengths of corridor Raziel had his hand gripping the trigger mechanism sop tightly he began to get cramp. His finger wavered, shakily, over the firing button. For those, seemingly eternal, moments when the squad paused to cut through wreckage his heart was in his mouth. Yet still, they did not come.     As they dropped down the next few floors they could all hear movements around them. They were all just sounds that the ship was creating, but Revan still firing once at a sparking wire.     Whilst Raziel silently reprimanded Revan, and paused to listen for sounds of the creatures, he noticed that there was no artificial gravity down here in the bowels of the ship. Signalling the squad, his switched off his boots electromagnets and floated into the air. Using their thrusters the squad manoeuvred down the hallways with much greater speed. Raziel was more relieved that they were no longer stomping around noisily.     "Fighter bays," Jakrieth whispered into his comm unit. The squad approached a huge set of blast doors. On the other side, they all knew, would be a huge maintenance bay filled with ARC fighters and bombers suspended from the ceiling. Raziel couldn't shake the image of thousands of aliens writhing around in one huge mass from his head.     "Open it!" Raziel ordered, and the rest of the squad lined up behind the doors, weapon arms aiming dead ahead. The door shuddered open to reveal . . . nothing. Just a huge empty bay, with a few fighters on the ground. Raziel couldn't recognised the ships, but they seemed to be some kind of scout ships, which would fit seeing as the cruiser had been on a recon mission.     Raziel floated up into the air, the bay was around sixty feet high, and getting off the ground would put space between himself and any hiding aliens. The rest of the squad did likewise, slowly lifting up gracefully.     "Right, map says we're just a few levels below engineering now, we could cut our way up, but that would probably gather attention . . .we need an alternative route . . ." Suddenly Raziel was cut off.     "Watch it now!" Jak shouted in warning. The squad twisted around to see one of the creatures slither though the blast door they had opened. Despite the lack of gravity it seemed able to grip onto the floor.     "Stay still!" Raziel hushed. It was strange, watching the creature from a safe distance. It didn't have the same element of fear as it did marching through a dark, narrow corridor.     The creature was soon joined by a pair of others. Maybe they had been trailing the squad for a while. The creatures slid forwards, but seemed unaware of the squad above them. They seemed confused by the lack of prey.     Then somehow they sensed the squad, with a gut wrenching screech the first one alerted the others, all three turned up to look at the squad.     "Hold you fire!" Raziel said. The squad was out of reach and he wanted to see how they would react. One of them drew itself up to it's full height, coiling its tail beneath it. Realising what it was doing slick cried out:     "Watch it!" The creature launched itself upwards, rocketing towards them. The squad used their thrusters and spread out. The alien passed between them, but lashed it with its three pronged tail as it passed, almost catching Revan.     Worse still several more creatures were sliding into the room and the other two prepared to launch themselves at the squad. Looking up - or was it down, Raziel couldn't tell  he saw the first alien attach itself to the roof and prepare to go again.     "Hellra, Revan, Slick  keep moving, try to keep them distracted, remember they cant manoeuvre in mid air and we can. Jak, Zar come with me, we'll get that door closed!"     An alien launched itself at Raziel, giving him a split second to react. He lurched to the side, activating his cutting laser, before the tail could swipe him, he sliced the creature's head neatly in half with the laser. The dead body carried on, rebounding off the far wall. The sound of laser cannon filled the air and yet more aliens came sliding through the doors. Against the flow of aliens, three of the Raiders pressed forwards, realising they would have to get closer to the creatures to reach the door controls  . . .

 
-----------------------
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
PL:A/1LtRaziel/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/{EW1} (WoS1) 2x(VP:1) {IG} {CDS} {BoA} {PoC} {BC} {GRoM} {SoS}
Assistant Squad Leader - Raiders
"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.

"God does not play dice with the universe" - Albert Einstein
"Who are you to tell God what to do with his dice?" - Bohr
"God does not play dice with the universe. He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time." - Terry Pratchett
CM/DJK Raziel/lion 1-5/Krath/VEDJ/VE (WoS1) (VP1) (VP2)

"Whilst not a bad idea for a quick escape I'm afraid that according to those memo's the ship is automatically targetting all external targets. If we can't get to engineering and shut off the power then it'll probably be our best option," Raziel paused for a moment. "Though if we took a ship each i reckon only one, maybe two, of us would make it through." Raziel stopped talking and looked at the ships around them, so close, yet so far. He realised that they didnt actually have any real proof that the ship's weapons, only the ships computers assurances that anything within range would get blasted.

A crash behind him, made Zar jump. He caught his suits controls and lurched forwards. Raziel reacted immediately, twisting in mid-air, bringing his rifle to bear on the blast doors.
"By the Emporer they're coming through!" Jak shouted. Sure enough a slight indentation revealed the source of the noise. There was another crash and another dent was added to the door.
"Fall back!" Raziel shouted. The squad maneouvered its way down to the ground and thundered for the door. Raziel backpedalled, his eyes on the blast door opposite them. A three-pronged tail pierced the door, the tail dissapeared from view to be replaced with an eyeless face. Raziel wated no time in firing, he couldn't tell whether he had hit, but the next moment there was no face in the breach and the area was scorched.
"Go! Go!" he shouted, his voice beginning to tremble.
In a moment Revan was through the door, then Hellra. Raziel continued to backpedal slowly, still several metres from the door.
Soon nothing could be heard over the noise of the blast doors being hammered constantly  and Raziel was still ten metres from the door. Soon another tail pierced the door, and another. Raziel kept his fingers held around the trigger and fired a constant stream of laser blasts. He couldnt see if he was even hitting something, just had to hope he was slowly them.
"They're cutting through a blast door! I mean a real, thick, blast door!" Jakireth shouted, just before he too walked through the door. Raziel silently cursed the Spacetrooper suits lack of ground speed.
His eyes opened with shock suddenly, without warning the huge, double blast doors began to slide open. He swore loudly into his comms, still firing constantly. They started to slither into the room, immediately making a beline for him. He was the last one in the room now, and fear threatened to overtake him. Despite years of combat and training, the sight of uncountable creatures rushing towards him unabated was almost enough to overcome him.
Still, he didnt panic. He thumbed the grenade control and launched two plasma rounds into the path of the creatures whilst his laser cannon fired. His HUD informed him that his cannon was close to overheating and that he had limited stock of grenades remaining. But then out of the corner of his eye he saw that frame of the door around him. Whilst he still fired the doors slid shut in front of him.

"Double seal this one!" Jak shouted. Raziel turned around to face his squad, seeing Zar at the door controls. A second set of blast doors slid down to cover the portal, but the banging sounds soon started.
"Well, what do we do now?" Revan shouted.
"Look, why don't we just do as the intel officer wanted. Head back to the bridge, pick up one of those creatures on the way and send out a signal too him?" Jak said.
"Bridge is that way," Raziel said plainly, indicating to small door behind them. He didn't much fancy trying to fight back through the hangards.

"This is what we're doing." Raziel said, cutting through all disagreements. Now was the time for descisive action, he figured. "We have three floors to go up to the engineering control station. It will be a large room, maybe twenty metres in all dimensions. We know the clone troopers made their last stand there, so  we need to be prepared to quickly cut through any barriers they made. The creatures seem to suckly on power cables, now the main power sources are around fifty metres to the rear of the control rooms, hopefully we wont be breaking open a nest of these creatures. All we have to do when we get there is access any console for a moment and deactivate all power across the ship. Failing that we will have to use explosives at the powercables running behind the control station, but that entails dealing with a nest full of these things. As soon as the power is down all we have to do is get off this hulk - By whatever means necessary. I mean it, as soon as that power is down get off this ship any way you can, run, cut, launch, anything. I suggest you don't head back down this way however." Another bang at the door behind him accuntuated his point.

"Now careful, as gravity may be restored a couple of levels up. Squad, move out!"
 
-----------------------
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
PL:A/1LtRaziel/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/{EW1} (WoS1) 2x(VP:1) {IG} {CDS} {BoA} {PoC} {BC} {GRoM} {SoS}
Assistant Squad Leader - Raiders
"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.

"God does not play dice with the universe" - Albert Einstein
"Who are you to tell God what to do with his dice?" - Bohr
"God does not play dice with the universe. He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time." - Terry Pratchett
CM/DJK Raziel/lion 1-5/Krath/VEDJ/VE (WoS1) (VP1) (VP2)

They managed to find the control station, though as Raziel predicted, its was filled with a small nest of the creature, Hellra barely poked her head through the door before they hurled themselves at her, Raziel saved her life when he pulled her back rather harshly, damaging her suit in the process while Slick managed to find a way to shut the door again with only a few managing to escape. It was ironic how difficult they found it to kill one when the first encountered them, but now it was easier as they got more experienced.

"Any suggestions?" asked Raziel tiredly.  No one said anything for a few minutes though ideas started forming, inspired by the shrill battle screams of the creature that neared them. It echoed through the empty ship, bouncing in the walls and corners back to their ears.

"How about we throw a explosive in their, it would cause the control to short circuit killing the things, and maybe then we could find a way to shut the ships down, there is usually a emergency box in the control station, grenade won't damage that" suggested Hellra. Raziel frowned as he thought the suggestion over.

"I'm in for it" voted Slick,
"Same here" agreed Revan and Zar as well, Jakireth could only flail his arms around indicating his thoughts were mutual as his microphone in his headset were damaged.
"Lets do it then"

Shortly after they rid the room of the creature by means of explosives, they quickly and feverously looked through every nook and corner to find the power control box. Suddenly the ship darkened as Slick flipped the switch to off, a big grin settled on his face before his expression slackened again.

"We need to get off now!" he yelled, almost blasting him self in super speed to the door with his powered suit.
"Slick, better idea" said Hellra pointing to the window behind them. Behind a small window stood tall and proud stretching from the ceiling to the floor, big enough for two people to ft in, big enough for them to get through one-one with effort because of their suits. Within minutes they managed to broke through strengthened plasteel window, leaving shattered bits on the floor, electric bolts reflecting in them from the panel that were still short circuiting. Squeezing them selves through the popped from the gap one by one, leaving those still waiting to get out in a state of panic. Their small fortification attempts to keep the creature trying to get through the doors at bay.

Within minutes of their departure from the control station, shrills of screams bounced on their backs that emitted from the broken window.

As they neared their base, their communication signals reactivated. Though Hellra couldn't hear what was going on, she was sure Raziel were have a huge argument with the officer, while in mid drift Raziel talked with his squad.

"There're sending a shuttle to pick us up, we have a mission coming up, Slick you are transferred to Lancers, as their new SL, you are working with us on the mission actually, Hellra you are Fire team leader now"
The squad gaped at Raziel, 
"Will get to the guys right away" said Slick, hiding his surprise,
"Whoa, a mission? My first one since joining you guys, and thanks for the FTL, and congrats Slick!" Murmurs of congratulations soon sounded over all the COM units. The squad was tired they need a break&

STORY FINISHED

00C: Sorry, but HAD to finish this, so I made quick posts.

 
-----------------------
--Corporal Hellra--

.../CPLHellra/3SQD/1PLT/1CMP/1REG/1BAT/Tadath/VEA[LoR][ES2C]
Storm, you better get your ass in gear, cause Wildcard's gonna make it hot in here.