Arnaut listened to the hum of the LAAT as he stared out at the vast landscape in front of him. The plains rolled on and on into the distance, only stopping when they hit the base of distant blue tinged mountains. A great view. Arnaut was in one of many LAAT landing crafts heading toward the surface of Devaron. Except our mission is different, Arnaut thought to himself.

They would be setting off from Mantera Port, throughout marshlands, to a hidden cache of weapons. And hopefully with those they would be able to destroy a convoy of supplies heading toward the New Republic base. Hopefully.

He glanced over at his squad members. All of them had their helmets on, the black visors of the storm commando armor reflecting the rising sun coming up on the horizon. It was a calm morning, hard to believe that, only miles away, the New Republic and the Imperials were ferociously fighting.

A slight slow in the speed of the craft brought Arnaut out of his thoughts. Arnaut noticed that they were not over plains anymore, but a small town on the edge of a beach. Mantera Port.

Two men in regular civilian clothes awaited them on the landing pad. The taller of the two stepped forward to greet Slick.

"Hello, my name is Tareeth Sakeer. I am one of the guides that will be taking you tonight," he said, holding out his handing.

"Sergeant Slick," Slick said, taking his hand. "Do we have a place to drop our gear for the day?"

"Most certainly. We will be staying in a local hotel for today. If you will follow me, I will show you to the hotel."

Slick nodded, motioning for the squad to each grab a pack and follow. Arnaut hoisted the pack on his shoulders and followed the two men. Slick and Tareeth conversed quietly at the head on the group, but the other man stayed unusually silent.

After taking many narrow streets, they finally arrived at a rather large hotel. Large compared to the building around it, anyway.

They had individual rooms on the sixth floor, the top floor. A good place, away from the bustle of the streets below. Arnaut dropped his pack onto the bed in one room and was about to turn on the holovid in his room when his comm crackled to life.

"All Wraiths, report to the hotel's main lobby." Arnaut sighed wearily and set off downstairs.

The lobby was a rather large room with two giant wooden doors at the front and a long steel-gray table running the length of the room. Arnaut dropped down next to Leth and Virius and awaited the briefing.

Once everyone had assembled, Slick cleared his throat.

"We will be leaving after nightfall, approximately an hour before midnight. Our guides will lead us to the hidden supplies, but we first have to traverse some marsh terrain. We will be leaving in these," he punched a button, and immediately a large picture of an inflatable boat appeared out of the tabletop holoprojector.

After the squad had gotten a good look at it, he tapped another button, bringing up a map of the land around Mantera Port. A red dotted line appeared, leading out of the Port. It stopped at a small red flag on the other side of the river. Slick pointed toward the flag.

"This is the location where we will intercept the convoy." He pointed to another point on the line, unmarked. "The hidden supplies are here. We will go here and take the shuttles the rest of the way to the convoy. The convoy should only have light defenses, so it shouldn't be a problem. After we have destroyed the convoy, we will regroup at the supply cache, and finally trek back to Mantera Port."

"Any questions?" He asked. The room was silent. "Alright, we will meet here at 2200 hours. Until then, you are dismissed."

Arnaut stood up to go, but  Slick stopped him.

"Arnaut, I wanted a word with you." Slick said and motioned for him to sit down again. Arnaut sat, very confused. Was Slick angry at him? He looked up into Slick's face, but all he saw was a smile.

"You've been promoted, Arnaut. It's good to have you in the squad, Lance Corporal Arnaut."

Arnaut grinned and shook Slick's outstretched hand.

"Thank you, sir," And with that they hurriedly walked out of the lobby to join the squad, enjoying the fading hours of freedom in town.



(OOC: We're finally started, let's start posting Wraiths!)
 
-----------------------
Lance Corporal Arnaut
-=Wraith Squad=--=TRP=-
TRP/LCP Arnaut/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/VEA/VE

"Take care of your equipment, and your equipment will take care of you"

Arnaut's alarm stabbed through his head like a knife, it's shrill call resonating around his room. It was time.

He quickly jumped off his bed and began putting on his jet-black commando armor with one hand while packing his weapons into his pack with the other. He wasn't very successful and ended up falling down on the ground. Looking up at his clock, he found that he still had an hour before they were scheduled to meet...he could slow down.

Twenty minutes later he was fully suited up, helmet resting in his lap, pack at his side, eating a small bowl of cereal. He flipped on the holovid and was immediately assaulted by Mantera Port's late night news.

"Montellian Serat has come under siege at last, Rebel forces charging at the Imperial defenses." The woman reporter in front of him was talking from a panic stricken road. Civilians were running every which way, carrying their personal belongings with them.

"The people are fleeing the town as I speak, gathering personal belongings, families, whatever they can grab. Imperial reinforcements have arrived, but they might not be enough..."

A knock on the door forced him to shut off the holovid. He opened the door to be greeted by Kanderin and Striker.

"Thought we'd be able to get down there early, don't want to be late." Striker said in a rush. Arnaut chuckled to himself as he agreed and went to grab his pack. Together the three went downstairs, into the deserted main lobby. The pale light of the moon shone brightly through the large, glass windows that made up the front of the hotel. The light of the moon could help them spot enemies tonight. On the other hand, they had a more likely chance of being spotted.

Arnaut walked outside and sat on the edge of the hotel's fountain while Kanderin and Striker chatted about the mission inside. The running water from the fountain helped him collect his thoughts, and so he just sat there just thinking about the mission ahead until Kanderin's hand shook him out of his thoughts.

"Time to prepare, the squad is here," Kanderin said, jerking a thumb toward the building. And sure enough, through the glass Arnaut could see the other members of the squad busily running around, supplies in hand.

Arnaut and Kanderin joined them in carrying the packs of supplies out to the docks. There Kareeth and the silent guide awaited them. Two inflatable boats gently bobbed on the ocean's waves.

"If you will load your packs onto these boats here," Kareeth said motioning toward the boats. "We can set off earlier than expected."

The boats were filled quickly, with both people and supplies, and soon they were off into the dark of the night.

The boat ride across the water was largely uneventful, only the occasional spooks from jumping fish, and the sorts. By about two thirty in the morning, they were rapidly approaching the shores. All rifles were out, trained at invisible enemies just outside their view. When they finally did make it to shore, they were relieved that there were no enemies in sight. Their relief didn't last long.

After running onto shore with their supplies, the squad formed up into a line behind the guides and quietly started making their way towards the supply cache. Arnaut took up on the back of the line, the guides, Slick, and Snipes in the front.

As they trekked onward, Striker noticed something in a bush, something small and metallic so that it reflected the moon's light. He went over to investigate.

"Striker..." Slick said quietly glancing back. "Striker, what have you...Striker back away NOW!" And as he yelled, the mine exploded. Everyone dropped, except Striker who was sailing through trough the air. He didn't stop until he hit a tree with a loud WHACK! His limp body slumped to the ground, not belying whether he lived or not.

The squad jumped up off the ground and weeded their way past shredded stumps that had just been trees, over to the fallen Striker. He was breathing fast, labored breaths when they arrived. His armor was cracked in many places, other places had holes exposing his skin.

"Striker," Slick said worriedly kneeling down beside him. "You okay?" Slick pulled out a morphine injector and stabbed it into Striker's leg.

"Ju-just got the w-wind knocked out of me," Striker said, in a daze. He propped himself up on his elbows a bit and looked at Slick. Slick applied bacta and inspected the wounds a bit more.

"Am I going to live, doc?"

"It's not life threatening, but I'd bet it hurts like hell?" Slick said, and Striker nodded. "The morphine should kick in any second now...can you stand?"

Striker nodded dumbly and shakily came to his feet. As he tried to take a step forward, though, he fell forward. Slick managed to catch him. He and Virius helped Striker to stay steady, and soon Striker could limp around on his own.

The squad, having learned from Striker not to stray off the path, kept in a close line, marching onward to the supplies.

---Two Hours Later---

They kept on marching, wrapped in their own thoughts, and almost stumbled right into a Rebel camp. They didn't notice it until they were not more than fifty meters from it and the glow from the campfire could be seen through the high grass surrounding it. Four Devorian rebels sat around the fire chatting.

Slick crept up silently, the guides behind him, to the edge of the camp. He placed a small listening device and started to creep back toward the squad to hear what they were saying.

Suddenly there was a click and someone screamed a loud, blood-curdling scream. The click was a switchblade coming out and the scream was Tareeth's. Slick jumped up in surprise, as did the four Devorian rebels. The guide, who had been silent up until now, stood above Tareeth, a bloody knife in hand. Almost instantaneously, the squad had blasters up in hand.  He jumped back to the relative safety of the rebels, who, Arnaut assumed, knew him and had been waiting here for them to come.  Both sides fired.

Slick scooped up the fallen Tareeth and brought him behind the squad to rest next to Striker, who had had to sit down due to his pains. Slick grabbed his own blaster and fired on the rebels, rejoining the fight. Tareeth sat watching the battle in stunned silence. He only had a cut along his stomach, but he was dizzy from loss of blood.

The rebels were good, but outnumbered. The first one tried to dodge out of the way of Arnaut's blaster, but took a shot to the knee. He went down with a crunch, and two more bolts ended his life. The second rebel took a bolt to the head, courtesy of Lukas' rifle and the third took eight bolts to the gut and fell with a defeated sigh.

The fourth rebel, out of ammo, rushed the squad with his rifle in the air. He managed to ram the butt of his rifle before he was cut down. Literally. As the body collapsed, Snipes wiped his bayonet clean and sheathed it.

The traitor cowered behind one of the camp chairs as the squad approached him.  Snipes stared at him with a stone face and brought his pistol to bear on the coward's head.
"Please...mercy..." he whispered. Snipes started to lower the pistol...just as the man lashed out, hitting Snipes pistol out of his hands. Snipes had anticipated this and pulled out a second pistol, shooting him in the forehead. Snipes kicked the body over and spit on it.

"Traitorous scum..."

The squad rushed over to the aide of their only surviving guide. He was unconscious from blood loss, but not entirely dead. Slick applied bacta to the cut on his stomach and wrapped it up. He would wake up soon, and until then they would carry him down the path they were on. Hopefully they wouldn't come into any more contact.


-----------------------
Lance Corporal Arnaut
-=Wraith Squad=--=TRP=-
TRP/LCP Arnaut/4SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/VEA/VE

"Take care of your equipment, and your equipment will take care of you"

Aphamos's entire body was shaking violently.  Ever since his childhood, he had hated being in water.  Even while inside his aquatrooper armor, he could still feel the water; the vacuum that could immediately break in and consume his into its infinite depths.  He closed his eyes for a second, trying to sort his emotions and kill his fears.  He was wasting his time.  He could never get rid of the fear.  It was always there, everywhere he went, whatever he did, it was always beside him constantly flashing its mocking smile at him.  Fear.  A friend.  Everything was dark, cold; large objects slowly approaching their position, smaller ones approaching them even faster.  Aphamos concentrated forward towards the approaching figures and pulled out his harpoon gun.  This should be fun. 

Two shots whizzed past his head; Aphamos could feel the water that  pushed upon his helmet.  That was way to close.  The figures were in range now, rebels in aquatrooper armor guarding the approaching anti-aircraft gunboats.  Aphamos knew that these soldiers wouldn't be as easy as the ones on land, especially since he was unfamiliar with his armor.  Darr-Rann fired his harpoon gun, sending the first sparks that lit the fire, signaling the start of the battle in the belly of the ocean.

"Aphamos, Daminga, you two take the ones to the right, Sorica, Squall, take the ones to the left.  Marka, you help me out with the center.  We cannot, I repeat, CANNOT let them pass us troopers.  Men on the edges, watch your flanks; we don't want a repeat of what happened on our last mission."  Aphamos and the rest of the squad jetted to their positions, about to meet the enemy head on.  This is going to be great.  It is the  first time I get to use this equipment, and it just happens to be on a mission.  Have to start some where.  He quickly glanced around and noted the position of his squad mates, specifically Daminga.  He pulled up his rifle and switched it onto harpoon mode.  He aimed it at the rebels head.  Staring into the deep abyss, he could only make out a black figure coming closer and closer, having no distinct features whatsoever.  Aphamos had his rifle aimed now; he closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger.

Moments later he opened his eyes and saw the figure in front of his again, now hanging limp and falling into the never ending hole of the ocean, a spear-like object protruding from the rebel's head.  Heh.  This is kind of fun.  Aphamos pulled a harpoon from his back and reloaded his weapon.  Seconds anyone?  He diverted his attention to a rebel that was quickly approaching him from the east, not stopping to aim his rifle, but rather, trying to impale Aphamos with the spike on the front of his propulsion unit.  Aphamos feinted to the side as fast as he could, dodging the oncoming rebel.  Before the rebel could get any further, Aphamos aimed his rifle at the head of the rebel and fire, instantly piercing the armor, killing the rebel. 

Another rebel made his way towards Aphamos, this time getting off of his propulsion unit.  The rebel soldier aimed his rifle at Aphamos's head; Aphamos saw this and naturally ducked, the shot gliding past his head.  He straighted up again, this time holding on his propulsion unit and riding to the rebel.  Aphamos corrected his trajectory and shot forward, soon enough, skewering the helpless rebel.  God, how am I going to get him off.  He turned, putting his two feel on the rebel's chest, each foot on the opposite side of the blade that was inside the rebel's body.  He pushed with his feet and pulled with his arms, finally freeing the device.  Aphamos could see a faint hole in the trooper's body where the blade had been.  There are easier ways to kill, but certainly not anymore fun. 

Aphamos looked around, trying to spot any rebels that were coming towards the squad.  The approach had calmed down, now only the anti-aircraft boats visible.  Using his transportation device, he glided towards Darr-Rann, who was looking in the direction of the AA gunboats.  Aphamos came beside the squad leader and looked out at the enemy forces.  AA gunboats littered the water like corpses on the ground after a battle.  There was no gap that was visible.  No space to sneak into or get around in through, or at least not one that could be seen from that distance.  The entire area in front of them, or the entire area near the top of the water was black, getting larger and larger. 

Aphamos turned to his squad leader.  "How are we going to do this Sir? We can't go over, we can't go around, and we can't hit them from behind.  What else is left?"  Darr-Rann didn't answer for a moment; Aphamos could tell that he was deep in thought.  This was a good thing; when Darr-Rann didn't answer immediately.  It meant that he had a plan.

"There is one way left Private.  We're going down-under." answered Darr-Rann.  Aphamos smiled.  Now we get to blow stuff up.  The squad gathered around their squad leader for a briefing on their next maneuver.  "Here is the plan, ladies.  We split up into sub-groups.  Daminga, you and Squall will be red team, Marka, Sorica, and Tallanvor, you all will be green team, while Aphamos and I are blue team.  All teams will dive deep under water, and will be stationed directly under the gunboat that they choose.  Teams will them swim up and swiftly take care of the enemies guarding the gunboats, and proceed to blowing the goddamn hell out of those trash piles.  Do you understand?"

Each member of the squad nodded and rallied with their partner.  When the teams were ready, Darr-Rann gave the signal, letting them know to start their descent into the darkness.  Aphamos read down into the ocean, still staring at the anti-aircraft gunboats that wound soon be above them.  They weren't very large in size, but Aphamos knew that they packed a punch when used to their full potential.  He had been lectured on them in training, but had only briefly paid attention to what the instructor had been saying. 

God, we could be walking straight into a trap for all we know.  This better work, but Aphamos knew that it would.  It always did, maybe not at first, but they always prevailed.  That's why they called them stormtroopers.  The rebel gunboats had made their approach in waves, six to seven boats in each wave.  There were no rebel forces where the teams were; they were all above, prepared for any sort of attack, except this specific one.  The teams were now in their positions, waiting.  Aphamos's body had started shaking again.  he had figured out when it would shake, but still didn't know why.  It always happened before battle; before the kill, but never during.  That would be suicide.  Their squad leader raised his fist.  Aphamos glanced around while each member of the squad raised their fist.  They may have been in teams, but they were always one.  Always united. 

Aphamos raised his fist, and looked at Darr-Rann.  Their leader gave the signal for them to start their ascent towards the anti-aircraft gunboats.  Aphamos followed Darr-Rann up, trying to spot rebel soldiers.  As they got closer to the gunboats, he could make out rebel troops guarding the boats, spread out with two to three troopers for each boat.  This should be easy.  Aphamos stopped his ascent and reloaded his harpoon rifle.  He moved in a little closer to the enemy, taking aim with his rifle. 

"Teams in position?" asked Darr-Rann over the headset in his helmet.  The teams all answered and were all ready.  "On my mark men.  Three, two, one, MARK!"  Aphamos fired his harpoon at the rebel trooper, the blade entering and lodging itself in the rebel's head.  Darr-Rann took out the soldier next to Aphamos's prey, leaving the ship with only one of its original guards.  Aphamos placed his hands onto his propulsion device and sped towards the rebel.  He landed directly adjacent to the rebel, who was frantically trying to reload his rifle.  Aphamos aimed his rifle at the troopers neck and stared.  The soldier kept trying to get the harpoon in, but he couldn't.  His hands were shaking, and he couldn't concentrate.  Aphamos pulled the trigger.  Hey, I did him a favor. 

Aphamos reloaded his rifle again and watched as the two guards from a boat next to Aphamos's came to defend it.  One of the troopers fired at Darr-Rann, and apparently missed due to the fact that he was met with a shot to the head by the squad leader.  Aphamos aimed his rifle again at the trooper, who at the last minute, raised his arms in surrender.  It was too late, and Aphamos had already killed him.  This first to surrender is always the first to die. 

Aphamos looked at Darr-Rann and waited for further orders.  "Aphamos, you take the next boat that is unguarded, I'll take this one." said Darr-Rann.  Aphamos signaled in agreement.  He placed his hand on his propulsion unit and traveled to the next gunboat.  He landed next to it and stared.  Hmm, where to blow it up from?  Ah, yes, the propeller.  Aphamos rode near the ships propeller.  He pulled out an explosive pack and examined it.  Wonder what's inside of these things.  Better off not knowing.  He placed the pack as well as two other packs for extra fun onto the casing surrounding the propeller.  He turned and rode away from the gunboat until he was a safe distance away.  He looked at the gunboat again.  Before....  He pulled out the detonator and pressed the button.  The area in front of him erupted into a roaring inferno, a fire in water that created a reverberating noise that shook the water.  It was swallowed by the crushing claw of the water, but was met by many explosions around the area.  When all the bubbles cleared up, there was nothing more than debris in the place where the anti-aircraft boat used to be.  ...and after. 

Before Aphamos could turn around to see what Darr was doing, five harpoons whizzed past his body, all coming from the same direction.  I think they're angry.

-----------------------
Raiders

War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.
--William Tecumseh Sherman--

Aphamos smirked as he turned to face the direction of the shots which had just barely missed him moment earlier.  I love when they do this.  Get all puffed up and angry.  They can't think, they're animals, nothing more than savages.  That's why they burn.  Aphamos looked forward and saw a mass of darkness approaching him.  He aimed his harpoon rifle at the pile and fired, knocking one of the troopers down.  Two more shots whizzed from behind him and collided with the pile, and in response, two more figures were slaughtered.  Aphamos pulled a harpoon from his back and looked at Darr-Rann.  He was coming towards Aphamos's position while reloading his rifle.  Aphamos aimed again and fired.  Another down.  he reloaded his rifle yet again.  Two shots slid past his head, inches away from his helmet.  He sighed.  So close, yet so far away.  Heh, maybe they will hit one day. 

Aphamos was soon joined by Darr-Rann, Daminga, and Squall.  The next wave of anti-aircraft gunboats were approaching their position fast, and this time were more heavily guarded.  He didn't know how many there were in the wave, and how many more were coming.  God, they probably have hundreds of those little bastards, just coming and coming, dying and dying, until we finally get tired and give up.  This is just how it was up there.  They just forgot one thing.  We aren't giving up. 

"They have more troopers this time, ladies." said Darr-Rann.  "Looks like they ha-SPREAD OUT DAMMIT!" he demanded as a flurry of harpoons went past the troops.  The soldiers immediately obeyed their commander and spread apart from each other, knocking four more rebel troopers along the way.  "Now where was I-." he said while nailing another rebel.  "Ah, yes, it looks like they have five to six troops at each transport this time.  Get into your groups again, but this time, tread with caution.  We don't want anyone dying in the middle of... well, nowhere."  The next wave of gunboats were now in range.  "Alright ladies, lets see some action.  You know the plan, split up and move out."

The troopers met with their corresponding teammates and again dived deep under the position of the enemy.  Aphamos and Darr-Rann made their way down into the darkness; into invisibility.  Aphamos turned to see his squad leader.  There wasn't a hint of emotion on his face; it looked as if it were made of stone.  Focus.  Sheer focus.  Wish I could be like that.  Aphamos snapped to reality again and continued on his way down, down below, into the belly of the beast.  He was reminded again of how he hated the ocean, how he hated water in general.  His suit was warming him, but he was still cold deep inside of him.  A coldness that had been with him since the start of the battle; a coldness that, no matter how hard he had tried, would not go away.  A coldness, that at the same time, was a raging fire.

Aphamos saw Darr-Rann's hand go up, and in response, came to an immediate stop.  He looked up and could see the familiar black objects in the distance which, in a few moments, wouldn't be there anymore; or so he hoped.  He looked back at his squad leader and waited for the countdown, but was this time met with a warning.

"Be more careful this time, Aphamos." said Darr-Rann, this time in a more serious, straightforward tone.  "Now that they have this many troopers, we can't separate like last time.  We need to stay together and hold the position.  You know the routine, wait for my count and move on my mark.  Uh, try not to die." he ended with sarcastically.  Aphamos cracked a small smile, not wanting to make it visible to his leader.  He needed to loosen up a bit, and Darr-Rann was the best at helping him do that. 

"Three, two, one, MARK!" he yelled.  On that note, Aphamos, hands on his propulsion device, sped up towards the enemy line.  Remember the plan.  Take it slow, get ev-.  His thoughts came to a screeching halt when three harpoons barely missed his body.  He stopped his propulsion unit and looked up.  Dammit, they knew what we were doing.  The rebels had somehow figured out the Raiders plan of attacking from under, and had set up guards in that area.  It's going to be fine.  We drill past them, then we take out the gunboats.  Shouldn't be too much of a challenge.  He quickly glanced back behind him to see where Darr-Rann was.  He was about then feet to the right of Aphamos, aiming his rifle at one of the rebel troopers.  Aphamos looked up to count the numbers.  Four directly above us, probably four to five at the boat.  He aimed his rifle at the head of a rebel and fired.  The rebel was pushed back by the force of the harpoon shattering his scull and putting a hole through his brain.  Aphamos reloaded his weapon while scouting out for more rebels that were advancing.  He aimed his rifle at the last rebel that was near him and fired, piercing the rebel's armor where his heart was.  He looked back at his squad leader's position, and watched as he gave the signal for Aphamos to continue on the advance.

Aphamos took control of his propulsion unit and jetted to the gunboat that was waiting there, surrounded by troops.  they hadn't noticed him yet, so now was his chance.  He reloaded his rifle, aimed and fired at the first rebel, knocking him out.  The enemies around him were slapped in the face by reality, and searched frantically for where the shots had come from, giving Aphamos time to take another one of them down.  One of the troopers had spotted Aphamos, but was cut down by Darr-Rann before he could even get a shot off.  Aphamos felt like having some fun with the last one.  Before the last rebel could aim his gun, Aphamos was on his propulsion unit and heading straight towards him.  The rebel aimed his gun and looked up to be met with the front blade of the propulsion unit right in the face.

Aphamos looked at the anti-aircraft gunboat, then at the explosives packet that he held in his hand, then back to the gunboat.  These two will make a great couple.  He placed the explosives packet onto the casing of the propeller, and added another one, trying to conserve the number he had left.  He went to his propulsion unit when an idea struck him.  He looked towards the next anti-aircraft gunboat which was swarming with troops.  Aphamos grinned, amused by the genius of his new idea.  He aimed his rifle at the head of a rebel guarding the next gunboat, and fired.  The rebel died instantly, Aphamos quickly reloading and firing again.  The rebels had finally noticed him, and were coming his way fast.  He took the corpse off of his gunboat and placed another packet of explosives onto the front of the gunboat.  He took his propulsion unit, turned, and headed toward Darr-Rann who was waiting for him.

"Why don't you blow up the damn thing?" he asked.  Aphamos nodded, giving his squad leader the signal that he had a plan.  The troops were about twenty feet away from the gunboat.  Fifteen.  Ten.  Five, four, three, two-.  Aphamos pressed the detonated as the gunboat erupted into a huge fire, the muted fires that only took place under water.  Aphamos could again feel the water shake with the explosion.  He hoped that his plan would work; having his shots be the bate to the rebels, having them come into range, and blowing the shit out of ever single one.  Aphamos watched as the explosion cleared up; the debris becoming visible.  Aphamos smiled as he saw the bodies that surrounded the explosion.  This is way to fun to be war.  Aphamos looked at his squad leader to see what his reaction would be.  He could see the smile on his squad leader's face; the smile that meant success. 

The next anti-aircraft gunboat was visible, and was being approached from the far side by Daminga and Squall, as well as Tallanvor, Sorica, and Marka.  A moment later, the gunboat erupted into a mass of flames which were instantly feasted upon by the water.  The squad met with each other, the first time in a rather long while. 

"Alright, ladies, no chitchatting or flirting amongst one another, we need to act fast." said Darr-Rann.  "They have stopped coming with the anti-aircraft gunboats for now.  Intelligence has told us that they have troop transports that are heavily guarded by rebel aquatroopers coming our way, three to be exact.  We need to take them out quickly so they can't hurt us.  We will remain in our teams, treading with even more caution this time.  They have seven or eight guards this time on the transports.  The transports have a weak spot on the front side, so make sure to take advantage of that factor."

"Sir," said Aphamos, "Sir, I'm down to two explosive packs, does anybody have anymore?"

"Here," said Daminga, "take these." He handed Aphamos three more of the explosive packs.  Aphamos turned and viewed the oncoming transports. 

"What's the plan this time, Sir?" asked Sorica, "We can't hit them from under anymore, they have that area well guarded.  Where is left?"

"Here," said Aphamos, "Watch."  Aphamos took all five of his explosive packs and put them on his propulsion unit.  He held on his unit and went full speed towards the transport closest to him. 

"APHAMOS, WAIT, GET BACK!" yelled Darr-Rann.  The squad leader held onto his propulsion unit and sped after Aphamos, and was followed by the rest of the squad.  Aphamos was closing in on the rebel transport.  This goddamn thing better work or I'm gonna die.  Aphamos closed his eyes and said a word to himself over and over again, like he always did when he needed it the most.  Perfection.  Perfection.  Perfection.  He opened his eyes again, set his propulsion unit to lock, and let go.  The transportation unit slid in the water towards the front of the transport that was flooded with troops.  The world had stopped for Aphamos, everything was happening in slow motion, his breath, his heart had stopped in time. 

The real shot him in the head and he snapped up.  The area in front of him cast out in a huge concussion which seemed to have broken all balance that had once existed in the ocean.  There was nothing left of the transport for the propulsion unit had landed perfectly on the weak area of the transport.  Aphamos stood motionless, staring at the area where the vehicle used to be.  He couldn't believe what he had just done; the impossible he had just accomplished.  He turned, knowing exactly who would be there.  He looked at his squad leader who was, for the most part, in the same state of shock that Aphamos himself was in. 

Darr-Rann sprang back to life.  "Don't just stand there trooper," he said, "we need to take the other two tran-."  He cut himself off due to the sight to his left.  The other two transports were gone, replaced by corpses and debris.  The rest of the squad came forward to meet Aphamos and Darr-Rann.  "Troopers, HQ just sent me a transmission saying that we need to retreat back to the shore ASAP.  Let's head out."

"But Sir-" said Aphamos, to be cut off by Darr-Rann.

"Dammit Private, what have I said in the past about 'buts'?" said Darr-Rann.  "Now unless you want to swim back to shore on your own, you will remain silent.  Now hold on; it's gonna be a bumpy ride."  Aphamos nodded and held on the side bar of Darr-Rann's propulsion unit.  Back to home sweet home.  Or at least as close as we are going to get to it for now. 

Shortly after, the squad arrived at the shore.  The squad was given time to rest up for their next objective.  Aphamos took his aquatrooper armor off; it felt as if he were removing a layer of filth off of his body.  He walked to his tent, wanting some rest after the tedious task.  He closed his eyes and also closed the door to reality, opening the door to his own world, where everything revolved around one word.  Perfection.
 
-----------------------
Raiders

War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it, the crueler it is the sooner it will be over.
--William Tecumseh Sherman--