Kantar Walked into the briefing room, seeing only Christina and Alan, he assumed that he wasn't late for the Briefing.

Approaching the two, he spoke up, "Hey, Christina, Alan, i haven't missed anything have I?"

Alan was the first to respond, "Actually Kantar, Gunnery Seargent Kairo just left, you had better report to Training room Twenty Three within the hour, Oh and make sure you have all the supplies you need, as well as some ratty clothes, Gunney promised this was going to be quite a workout."

Kantar's face lit up with Glee, "You mean we finally get to do something?!?  It's about time, I was getting extremely bored."

You keep talking like that Kantar", Christina chimed in, "but I bet you'll change that tune after going through one of Kairo's training sessions."

"I guess we'll see then wont we, I'll see you two there." and with that Kantar proceeded to the barracks to write up his list of requested equipment for the training that would son be happening.  After getting everything prepared, Kantar changed into his PT clothes from Basic, and started Heading toward Training Room #23.

-----------------------
It's a Good Day to die in the Empire's name, but it's also a better day to kill in the name of the Empire.

Finally thought Alan some action.  Since Alan had qualified from the Academy and placed into the Nightstalkers squad he had seen no action whatsoever.  Now he sat in the briefing room waiting eagerly to hear what Sergeant Kairo was going to say and finally where they were going to go.

After being bullied by the ASL, Tina, Alan had queried why they were assembled.  His look of shock was evident when Kairo had told them they were to go on a training sim.  Christ Almighty thought Alan I've just finished training and instead of an assignment, we get shafted with yet more training.

Shaking his head dismally, Alan departed the briefing room.  On the way out he bumped into Kantar and told him about the training sim.  Tina looked at him leave with some concern on her face.

"What's up with him" queried Kantar

Tina shrugged, "I guess he's not a fan of training sim's"

Heading back to his bunk, he collapsed on the bed and sighed.  Taking his blaster from his back holster, he twirled the weapon around thinking about shooting Rebels, heck, shooting anyone he thought.  Not today it seems he said to himself inwardly.

Looking at his watch he realised that there was not much time left.  Better get this over with he thought as he headed towards the training room.  He spotted Tina ahead of him and he raced forward to see her, at least she'd be there.  That should brighten things up he thought.  Looking at her he realised that she still looked as lovely as the first day he met her even though she was wearing a few tatty clothes as ordered.

Tina asked him if he was looking forward to the sim.  He replied "yeah" to her, even though he put on a slightly sarcastic tone which he thought she hadn't picked up on.  "At least we're doing something" he said to her, which was true, he felt like he was going crazy being cooped up with no action.  He patted his blaster reassuringly; at least he'd get to shoot at something, even if it was just training targets.

Tina walked into the simulator room as Alan held the door open, he followed her inside and noticed that the remainder of the Nightstalker's squad were already assembled.  They listened to Kairo's instructions as to what was going to happen.  Not giving too much away thought Alan.

Suddenly the room was plunged into darkness, so black was it that Alan couldn't see anyone or anything, even though he knew that the rest of the squad were right in front of him.  He began to think that this training sim was going to be whether or not they could find the exit when a list of equipment scrolled in front of him.  He noticed that they were being given the standard DC-15 blaster pistol.  He grimaced and wished they would upgrade their standard issue to his more preferred DL-44 heavy blaster pistol. 

Before he had time to reflect about it the world started shimmering before his eyes.  Finally he thought.  Then all hell broke loose.  An earth shattering explosion rocked his senses as he dove down for cover. 

"Christ almighty!" he exclaimed, barely hearing himself speak as he ears ringed.

Alan barely heard his friend Kantar exclaim "What the hell".

The squad listened as Kairo explained to them where they were and what their objective was.  He was glad to hear that he was being paired up with Tina.

Pulling out his riot gun, Alan fired up his rocket pack and followed closely behind Tina.

  After switching Kantar's weapons around, Kairo scanned the area up ahead to make sure things were going to plan. "What now Gunney?" he heard Kantar ask from behind him.

  Ducking behind a piece of concrete which had been blasted up from the ground, Kairo responded by saying, "You tell me. I know how to finish the objective already, so I want you to give me a plan of attack. You have fifteen seconds. Otherwise, I take over." Kairo couldn't see Kantar's face through his helmet, but from the loosing of his grip on his weapon for a moment, Kairo could guess he had totally thrown Kantar off balance. "Ten seconds." A laser shot skimmed by Jayson's head, causing him to jerk down farther behind the slab.

  "Uh, We should...." For a moment, Kairo thought Kantar was going to fail, but then a shift in Kantar's stance gave Kairo a reason to smile. Good. That only leaves five to test in a command position. "We'll fly as close to the ground as we can all the way up to the tower, shooting any ground troops we can, but our main objective is the building. Once we arrive, we'll make a sharp pull up, and skim across its surface to the top. We'll make a pass by the main turret hole, getting a glimpse of what's inside and also to throw any grenades we have inside it. We'll pull back around and fly into the chaos. Hopefully, they'll be off balance enough that we can take them out." Kantar finished breathlessly. He hadn't stopped through the whole thing.

  "Nice work," Kairo said as he shot over the slab with his Kylon-3 and hit a trooper who was making a break for them. "Lucky shot," Kairo explained. "You hear that Tina?" he asked into the comlink.

    "Most of it. We going to do it?" Christina asked.

    "Yes, but I want you guys to climb the tower from the other side. That way, we'll be hitting it from both sides. I also want you to launch a few seconds after us. If the ground forces or turrets turn most of their attention to us, we may have to break off, but you'll be able to get through."

  "Roger." Tina responded. Kairo looked across the area to the other team's position and saw them preparing to launch.

  Sending them a hand signal, Kairo said to his team, "Get ready, we launch in five. Four." Kairo slid his Kylon-3 back into its holster and grasped his riot gun. "Three." He then positioned a thermal detonator where he could easily reach it. "Two." A flick of his wrist initiated the jet packs launch settings. "One. Launch." Kairo flew over the slab of concrete and dived as close to the ground as he was comfortable with.

  The world had now switched around him. The ground was now a wall; the Capital Building became a far off ceiling; and the sky reached up behind him. Firing a quick burst from his gun at an approaching outcropping of rubble, Kairo allowed his eyes to methodically move across the area ahead of him. Any area which could hide an enemy soldier popped out at him. If anything moved, he would shoot, not aiming to actually kill, but distract them long enough for his group to fly past. If one of his shoots made contact then Tina's team would have an easier time.

  Kairo jinked to the right to dodge an incoming missile and noticed he had placed himself in line with a pole sticking out of the ground. Throwing the controls to the right, he rolled to safety. That was close. Unable to look back, Kairo could only assume his team was still with him. A quick shot to his right ended an enemies life as they continued their approached on the building. Half way there.


(OOC Relatively short, but I figured you would actually want some form of direction for how to proceed. At least, that's what I got from the end of your post Kantar. Anyways, keep up the good work guys. )
 
-----------------------
Gunnery Sergeant Kairo
Platoon Commander

PC/GSG Kairo/2PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR][BC][CoV][IH]

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always has a way of haunting your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.

The jetpack was an odd device to Tina. She honestly would have prefurred running around over flying, but considering she had no other choice, she would have to make peace with the heavy equipment on her back. As they first took off she drifted clumsily to the right, but managed to straighten up and hoped that nobdy had noticed her issue.I suppose that being an ASL means I`m supposed to have good control over everything and everyone I work with...whoops... She thought to herself, slightly annoyed because of her lack of knowledge and experiance with the jetpack.

Unlike Kairo`s group, Tina`s group had headed off to the left of the Capital building. They had been placed in two seperate groups for a reason, and that reason was to help confuse and thin the enemy forces. If they had to concentrate on a pair of groups insted of a single group, their forces would be spread thinner and less likly to do serious damage.

They zipped along low to the ground, beginning a wide arc which would eventualy lead them around to the side of the Capital building. For the most part they seemed unopposed, and the little opposition they did run into was quickly dispatched by skillful shots from the group of Imperials. Tina spotted a pile of debries ahead of them, and quickly slowed down.

"Alright, we`re going to stop up there for a minute to figure out some sort of plan." Tina explained quickly as they shot towards the pile, before pulling herself into an upright position and landing behind the pile of rubble. She turned to watch the rest of her group land in a similer style, and behind her she could hear the sound of blaster bolts burrying themselves into the debries.

"Any ideas?" She asked, eyeing up the group. She couldn`t see any facial expressions due to the helmets, but was kind of thankful for that at the same time, considering she probably didn`t look one-hundred percent confident at the moment herself.

Before anyone could reply though, she was hearing a plan being discussed by Kantar and Kairo, and was soon told that that was the plan they would be following. She quickly relayed it to her group and then took a peek around the corner of their barrier. A bolt whizzed past her head and she ducked back in.

"looks to me like they have us covered. I saw maybe four or five of them sitting out their. They might not know how many we have in here though..." She said, quietly racking her brain for anything they could do next.

"Tina, you guys were supposed to be moving already!" Kairo told her over the comlink, sounding slightly frsutrated. he had looked over towards where they should have flown up from and hadn`t seen them yet.

"I know, I know! There are four or five of them and they`ve got us pinned down." She explained quickly, wishing she had thought to ask for thermal detonators. It was too late now, and asking for one might be considered cheating. If this were to be a real battle and she were t forget thermal detonators, she wouldn`t be able to just 'poof' one out of no where.

"Fine, but hurry up, otherwise this plan might end up not working." He said, still continuing on his path towards the building. Tina nodded to herself and looked around. She passedover it once, but on the second time managed to notice some large chunks of conrete, but still small enough to be carried by a single person.

"Nobody has any ideas? Alright, well, in that case, I`ve got one." Tina said quickly, before anyone was able to jump in. She walked over and picked up a large chunk of concrete and held it close to her chestplate. "We`re gunna fly up with these and drop them on the people shooting at us. Hopefully it will distract them enough for us to get out of here. Any bojections? No?" She asked, looking around the other two men, who had started towards the pile.

"Good, lets go."
 
-----------------------
NightStalkers
ASL/LCP Christina Deneke/3SQD/2PLT/1CMP/1RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA

Before Alan could get a chance to make any form of suggestion, Tina chirped in with her idea of throwing rocks at the rebels.  Oh great thought Alan what next, we substitute our rifles for bows and arrows.  As ordered though, Alan grabbed a large rock and rocketed up when he saw Kantar's accuracy drop the lead rebel.

The rebels, spying Tina's group started shooting upwards at them, trying to get a target.  Another rebel dropped. 

Alan hit his comlink "Kantar ole buddy, you want to leave some for the rest of us?"

"Don't take too long" chirped back Kantar over the com.

Suddenly Alan's rock shattered as a well aimed blaster shot hit it.  To hell with this thought Alan as he took out his riot gun.  Usually Alan hated the riot gun as it shot out several blaster bolts; he preferred a one shot blaster pistol, going more for accuracy than quantity but the riot gun would suffice for now.  Aiming down at the rebels, Alan fired numerous blaster shots amongst them.  He was satisfied when they dropped leaving only one remaining.  The rebel looked around at his dead comrades and shouted as he fired upwards.

"Kantar, want the final rebel" said Alan.

Looking down he saw the rebel drop instantly.  Nice shot, when this is all over, me and Kantar are going to have to have a sharp shooting contest thought Alan.

Now that the ground troops had been taken care of on their side Tina tapped her com "Kairo, what's your situation?"  She listened but only static came as her reply.

Tapping his comlink, Alan said "Kantar, you there?"

"Sure am, what can I do for you?"

"What's happening with the rest of your squad?"

Several seconds passed before Kantar replied "Seems like that tower has a nasty blaster cannon which has Kairo pinned down".

Alan looked over at Tina, "permission to take it out?"

Tina smiled at him "let's get it done".

Tina, Alan and Leon fired up their jetpacks and flew up the side of the tower, the blaster cannon focusing on Kairo's position.  They arrived inches below the cannon's placement.  Tina held up three fingers, Alan and Leon got their weapons ready.  Tina dropped a finger to show two fingers, then one finger then none.  At that moment they flew up to cannon emplacement and opened fire.  Blaster bolts flew relentlessly into the position.

"Cease fire!" shouted Tina.

The blaster bolts ceased and they waited several seconds to let the smoke clear, their fingers resting on their riot gun's trigger.  When the smoke cleared, the floor was littered with dead rebels with none standing.

Hitting her com Tina said "Kairo, the blaster cannon has been taken out; you're all clear to come up".

"Roger that" said Kairo.

Tina looked over at Alan "Nice work trooper".

Alan smiled, even though he knew Tina couldn't see.  Making a silly mock salute to her he replied "you didn't do too badly yourself".

Tina's squad rested whilst they waited for Kairo's squad to arrive.

  After letting the squad reunite for a moment, Kairo said a word into his personal comlink to the technician. A moment later, they were standing in a stark white space with just their armor. "Woah, Kairo, you need to warn us when you are going to do that." Kantar gasped. For a moment, it looked like Leon was about to sick up inside his helmet.

  "Oh, sorry," Kairo said. "Anyways, you completed the last mission quite well. That was a very good job, especially since none of you were seriously injured except for a few nicks and scratches here. Hopefully, you will do just as well with this next one, though that might be a bit harder. The entrance will be the exact same. You'll see your equipment scroll by, but you will also be given a short bit of information on what has happened to make you be where you are. That may sound a bit weird, but you will understand as soon as we begin. Do any of you need a breather?"

  The squad was starting to understand how Kairo was testing and realized this was another one. "We're ready to go, sir. That last thing was just a warm up," Christina replied.

  Smiling under his helmet, Kairo responded, "Good. Simulation start in three, two, one, initiate."

  Once again the world went black. A moment later, Kairo saw the familiar text scroll down in front of his eyes.

Standard Equipment:
    1x Storm Commando Armor
    1x Depleted Jetpack
    1x DC-15 Blaster Pistol
    1x Damaged Hush 98 Comlink
    1x Datapad with a map of Tadath

  Personal Equipment:
    1x Kylon-3 Blaster
    10x Knives
    1x Flash Bang Grenade

  Kairo waited a second for the next wave of information to scroll by. This time it was accompanied with Kairo's voice, which was disconcerting at first to here his own voice speaking to him.

  "Mission details: A surprise invasion force has struck deep into Imperial territory. Now, their main objective is to destroy the Army's headquarters-Tadath. Invasion forces have already landed and begun their march toward the Imperial base. Nightstalkers and Jester squads were sent out to examine the force and determine how large the enemy force was. During their recon, the squads were attacked at dispersed. Now, no one knows if anyone else is alive except for the people around them. Only a few members are still with each other, while some are wandering the forest alone. Luckily, each person knows the whereabouts of the enemy and the size of the force. Only one person has to get back to the main base alive. If luck holds, some one will reach headquarters before the enemy does. But if the Republic forces don't catch up to them first, Tadath's other native wildlife may also pose a problem."

  A moment later, a list of names began to roll by Kairo's vision, showing who was with who.

    Kairo - Alone
    Christina and Lion - together
    Leon, AlanRJ, and Jayson - together
    Kantar - Alone

  Kairo's voice rang out into the darkness, saying, "Simulation beginning." Unlike last time, as Kairo materialized in the new environment, he found himself alone. Good, it's working correctly. Checking to make sure he had everything, Kairo took off the broken jetpack and dropped it onto the forest floor. He pulled out the comlink and popped the casing open. After he quickly rewired it, he reattached it to his helmet and set off into the jungle. Good thing I set the enemy forces to migrate randomly, otherwise this would be too easy for me. I wonder if anyone else in the squad will bother keeping the jetpack on them the whole way? Pulling out the datapad, Kairo glanced at it to make sure he was headed the right direction. Jumping over a jutting root, he slipped out his Kylon-3 and continued his quick sprint.

  (OOC So, you should have been able to surmise what to do from that. Basically, your jetpack and comlink are damaged. The comlink may be able to be fixed, but only if you happen to be a good communications technician or know how, which is Kairo's case. The jetpack isn't broken, but its energy is depleted. If you some how find a way to recharge it, then you may be able to get it working again. So, have fun with it. If you have any questions, let me know. Oh, and your personal equipment can be anything really, since we are on Tadath and you would have been able to bring what you wanted. Please put what you brought at the beginning of your post like I did. This will let me know and see how much you think you can actually carry, plus it will limit what you write in future posts. You won't be able to just pull out another weapon this way. Good luck. )

 
-----------------------
Gunnery Sergeant Kairo
Platoon Commander

PC/GSG Kairo/2PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR][BC][CoV][IH]

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always has a way of haunting your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.

Alan looked over at the Tech and asked "do you have my list of personal items?"

The Tech pushed a few buttons and Alan's personal items materialised by his feet.

His trustworthy DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol
His newly acquired LJ-90 Sniper Blaster Rifle
A couple of thermal detonators
His new armour

His armour shimmered and the bright pristine white darkened until it was a deep dark black, so black that it looked like you were staring into the night.  Well it is the NightStalkers thought Alan besides which, when off duty I am never out of black.

Alan looked over to see Leon and Jayson getting equipped with their own personal items as he put the detonators in a secure pouch on his belt and holstered his blaster pistol.  Lying down on the ground, Alan looked through the viewfinder of his rifle to see if he could see any of the other squad members.

Prying open his comm. link, Alan tinkered with it until he was sure that it was working.  He tried calling the other members of the squad but nothing.  Either they're out of range of we're being jammed thought Alan.

"Wait a second" murmured Alan as he looked closer into the viewfinder of the rifle.

Jayson crawled over "What do you see?"

Alan zoomed in closer and yes, he was right, scanning the vicinity his brow creased slightly before answering "trouble".

Leon got out his weapon, preparing for the fight.

Jayson queried again more urgently "What did you see?"

Alan slung his rifle over his shoulder before answering "I saw Tina and Lion at least a half days walk away and they're being followed by a small rebel force".

"So" said Jayson "What are we waiting for, let's go to them"

"No" replied Alan "we must consider the mission, we have to get the information back to the base, Jayson, you and Leon get back to base as quickly as you can, I'll go warn Tina's group and help them out".

"Now wait just a damn minute" replied Leon.

"No time to argue" replied Alan, "Now go!" he shouted as he leapt into the jungle and disappeared into the dense forest.

"Damn fool" said Jayson, "Well let's get going then, and may god have mercy on his soul"

Alan ran as fast as he could through the jungle as his mind raced I'm coming Tina, I'm coming


 
-----------------------
TRP/PFC AlanRJ/3SQD/2PLT/1CMP/1RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA

After walking a bit towards the base, Kantar, came across a small bluff looking down a little ways, he decided to scope out the area, in hope of either spotting some of the enemy, or finding his seperated squadmates.  He spied a small group of Rebels who seemed to be following something.  He looked in the direction they were facing, and spied Christina and Lion Heart, with said rebels inching their way closer nad closer.

"Not Good", Kantar mumbled.
Taking sight on the Rebel closest to his squadmate's position
'If that rebel gets too close, those two will be the last thing he ever sees', Kantar thought.

But, right before took the shot, his helmet's HUD picked up more movement, when Kantar panned to get his sights on it, he spied a familiar suit.
"Hmmph', he thought, 'Its a good thing I remembered what Alan's personal suit looked like." But before Kantar could react, a strange beast had tackled Alan to the ground, positioning itself to strike with its tail, which by the looks of it, was probably poisoned. 

As the beast brought downs its tail in a swift motion, Kantar's reflexes were just a little bit faster.  Squeezing off a few shots, Kantar's shot connected with the beasts tail causing it to embed in the ground, inches away from Alan's head.  Squeezing off a few more shot's, the beast toppled over dead, the holes from the blasts still smoking.

Alan quickly got up, and recovered his blaster, he looked around, seeing if he could find where the shots came from.

"Damn, that had to be Kantar, thank God he's on our side," Alan said with a slight grin.

Then suddenly he remebered 'Tina and Lion.
"Damn, I better hurry and get to them, As he began running towards his squadmates position, Alan heard more rifle blasts and some indistinct shouting from the rebels, obvious sounds that Kantar had decided they had gotten a little too close to 'Tina and lion Heart's position.

"I better hurry", Alan said, "'Tina and Lion might need my help."

-----------------------
It's a Good Day to die in the Empire's name, but it's also a better day to kill in the name of the Empire.

Alan looked up at the creature as it raised its tail up high.

"Oh yeah, this isn't good" Alan said.  Seconds later the tail came crashing down, but instead of being on the receiving end of the tail, it crashed down beside his head.  Then Alan heard the distinctive sound of blaster fire.  He watched as the creature took shot after shot before collapsing down.  Alan crawled out from under it and wrinkled up his nose.

"Man, that thing stinks" he said.

Alan looked around to find out who it was that had killed the creature but saw no-one, then he smiled to himself as he said "Damn, that had to be Kantar, thank God he's on our side, good work bud". 

More shots were suddenly heard, this time in front of Alan.  Damn thought Alan that's coming from where Tina and Lion are.  Alan raced as fast as he could to lend his assistance.

Nearing the scene of the battle, Alan crawled forward to get a better look at what was going on.  Alan spied Tina, Lion and Kantar together and it looked like Tina was limping slightly.  Damn, how the hell did he get here before me pondered Alan.  He was about to go to them when four rebels suddenly appeared from behind their positions.  Alan watched as they lowered their weapons, he knew that there was nothing they could have done.

Slowly crawling through the dense jungle, Alan moved until he was directly behind the rebels.  Well here goes nothing he thought as he stood up and approached the rebels from their rear with his blaster pistol raised.

"Excuse me, I don't suppose you'd mind letting my friends go would you?" Alan said.

The rebels spun round surprised at the sound of this newcomer, weapons raised.  Before any of them could get a shot off, Alan's quickness and accuracy had dropped all four rebels to the ground, a neat smouldering hole showing in each of their foreheads.

Tina, Lion and Kantar turned round at the sound of the blaster fire to see the dead rebels and walking towards them was Alan.

Lion growled and Alan assumed it was a thank you growl.  I must take some time out to learn some basic wookie language thought Alan.

"How did you find us?" queried Tina.

"Now you didn't think I was going to let you go wandering around the jungle without me did you?" replied Alan.

Tina smiled, "nice suit by the way".

Alan smiled back "Thanks, I thought you'd like it".

"Kantar old buddy" said Alan, "I take it that was your handy work with that creature back there"

"You bet ya" replied Kantar

"Creature?" queried Tina

Kantar and Alan exchanged glances before Alan said "long story, I'll tell you about it later, what say we all head back to the base, hopefully Leon and Jayson will be back there by now"

"What about Kairo?" queried Kantar.

They all looked at each other and shook their heads.

Tina spoke up "I hope he's ok, but the mission comes first, lets double time it back to the base". 

With that, Nighstalkers headed out unaware of what was to come.


-----------------------
TRP/PFC AlanRJ/3SQD/2PLT/1CMP/1RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA

As the team was booking it throught the jungle, Kantar heard a distant sound, but when he strained to hear it better it quieted down.

"Nightstalkers, I heard something, did anyone else?"
The squad gave different variations of "Not really".

Kantar spoke up again, "I could have sworn I heard something." He approached a sturdy tree, and began to climb the tree.

"Kantar, what are you doing?" Christina asked.
"I'm going top-side to see if I can see anything, I'm getting a bad feeling, and I believe that knowing our surraoundings would make it harder for anyone to suprise us, be right back."

Kantar reached  some branches at the top, which formed into a sort of make-shift seat.  Looking through his  viewfinder, doing a sort of 360 pan, he stopped when he faced the way that they came from a few trees swaying. "Not good." he said as he began to head back down the tree.

"Whats taking him so long?" asked Christina. "Don't worry", interjected Alan, "It's what he does, its just one of his little quirks."

Almost instantly, Kantar dropped back into the group, breathing heavy, "Not good guys, we got more hostiles following us, alot more than should be normal for a regular scouting team. We had better hurry up, as well as stick to the thicker brush, just in case they have vehicles, it'll be harder for them to follow us."

"But ultiamtely, it's your call 'Tina."

-----------------------
It's a Good Day to die in the Empire's name, but it's also a better day to kill in the name of the Empire.

Alan watched as Lion smashed one of the soldiers jaws.  Damn, he's good thought Alan.  He didn't have long to watch Lion's handiwork as all hell erupted.  Soldiers appeared around them and started blasting.  Alan grabbed his blaster pistol and started shooting, smiling as his accuracy hit several soldiers neatly in their heads.  A loud noise suddenly was heard as Alan thought to himself oh no!

Kairo looked on as the Nightstalkers engaged the enemy soldiers.  He smiled as he witnessed many soldiers falling down from the blaster shots.  Oh, this should be good he thought as he watched several speeders approach their positions.

Alan looked up and his fears were brought to life as the noise he heard erupted through the trees in the form of several speeder bikes.  Lion immediately leapt in the air and bowled the rider off one of the bikes, the bike whirled out of control and slammed into a nearby tree.  The rider, stunned slightly, reached for his weapon and aimed it at Lion who was lifting himself up.  No you don't thought Alan as he aimed and fired, the soldier dropped instantly.  Lion roared appreciatively.

More speeder bikes roared in and the ground erupted into flames as Alan dove for cover.  The speeder bikes weapons tearing up the ground.  Alan quickly climbed a tree and waited, he knew that if this was going to work it would require precision timing or this was going to hurt a lot.

Alan looked down from his position to see Kantar and Tina firing continuously into the throng of enemy soldiers, many were dropping and the occasional speeder bike exploded from well placed shots.  Wait for it he thought to himself, now, and without a second's thought he leapt from the tree.

"What the hell is he doing!" shouted Kantar as he watched Alan leap from a nearby tree.  He watched, expecting his friend to shatter every bone in his body landing from that height.  Instead he witnessed Alan landing on the back of one of the bikes and the rider being flung off. 

"Son of a..." said Kantar, not finishing his statement as more blaster shots landed close by and he responded with lethal force.

"We have a friendly on one of the bikes!" shouted Tina.

I really hate these things thought Alan as he threw off the rider and geared up the bike, firing its weapons into the throng of enemy soldiers and at the incoming speeder bikes.


-----------------------
TRP/PFC AlanRJ/3SQD/2PLT/1CMP/1RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA

"Take it easy bud" said Alan as he watched Kantar head out with Lion.

"You too" replied Kantar.

"Let's head out" said Tina.

Kantar and Lion moved off and Alan moved alongside Tina as they headed off, weapons raised.  Both groups moved slowly and methodically through the jungle, getting closer to the base, yet coming across no enemies.

"Maybe we got them all" commented Alan as they walked.

"Perhaps" replied Tina "but I don't like it".


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Meanwhile, out of sight several sparks flew from a console as several technicians swarmed around it.

"What seems to be the problem?" queried Sergeant Hawkins

The senior technician looked up at him with a concerned look "there's a malfunction in the primary processors, I'm afraid the safeties are no longer in effect".

"Well, Kairo isn't going to like it but you'll have to shut down the training simulation until we get this fixed" replied Hawkins.

The technician looked up at him, panic strewn across his face "We can't, the problem won't let us terminate the program, the only way to stop it is for the program to finish naturally, either the squad reaches its objectives or they all die".

"My God!" exclaimed Hawkins, "Nightstalkers had better be as good as what Kairo is expecting, otherwise this will be their last mission, keep trying to shut this down or re-establish the safeties".

The technician nodded and resumed working, knowing in his heart that is was a futile attempt yet trying nonetheless.  He had helped Kairo set up the simulation and knew that Kairo had set it up so difficult that he didn't expect Nightstalkers to end it successfully.


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Commander Munro of the Republic army looked through his viewfinder spotting four imperials walking slowly through the jungle.

"Is everything set?" he queried to one of his Lieutenants.

The Lieutenant nodded, "yes sir, this squad of imperials is heading directly into your trap"

The Commander smiled "excellent, we will see the end of this wretched Nightstalkers squad and then we will lay waste to the imperial base and every last imperial on this wretched world"

"Yes sir" replied the lieutenant, smiling.


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Kairo watched on, knowing what the Nightstalkers were walking into and wondered if any would survive and who they would be.  He had run this simulation on many recruits before and seldom did anyone survive.  Little did he know that if anyone died, it would be a fatality.


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TRP/PFC AlanRJ/3SQD/2PLT/1CMP/1RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA

  Outside of the simulation, the room had gone into a minor panic. "How is it even possible? It's a simulation. How can you die from a simulation?" one of the technicians asked shakily.

  "It's simple," Sergeant Hawkins began to explain, using this to divert his attention. "Normally, the computer is sending the images and reality into your brain. To prevent weird things from happening, only a certain amount of information is allowed to reach the brain. This means that even though you are shot in the simulator you don't feel it. Plus, the programming won't alter your brain waves. Now, sometimes the safeties can be lowered to an extent that the brain still feels the pain of the wound you receive, even though you don't physically. What's happened now is that the safeties have completely malfunctioned and if the brain receives too much information from-let's call it mental harm-it will actually go into shock. You will have a seizure and your heart will stop. That is how it will kill them. Of course, everyone has their own extent to which they can receive mental harm, before they seize. Some only have to receive enough cuts and blaster wounds. Others can withstand having an entire limb removed. Haven't you gotten the safety up yet?"

  "No sir," Another technician replied.

  "Can you at least patch a communication through to someone in there?" Hawkins demanded.

  "Wait, we can. Kairo allowed for that loop hole in the programming, that way he could tell me to alter things if he wished."

  "Then why haven't you contacted him about this yet?" Hawkins retorted.

  "We, uh. . .that is to say, I. . "

  "Just get me through to him!" Hawkins ordered.
_______________________________________________________________________

  As Tina and the rest of the squad began moving out into the jungle, Kairo's comlink buzzed in his ear. Who could that be? "Kairo, sir, we have a problem." That's the technician outside.

  Moving to the side and behind a tree, Kairo asked, "What is it?"

  "The simulator has malfunctioned. The safeties are completely off." Hawkins voice said in Kairo's helmet.

  Kairo stood there a second, speechless. "Turn the simulation off."

  "We can't."

  "What do you mean you can't!" Kairo yelled.

  "We are working on it sir, but it may take a few minutes, maybe an hour. The best thing for you guys to do is finish the simulation. Then the program will shut down." Hawkins said quickly, realizing his job may be on the line.

  "You just get it done soon. Let me know if anything changes." Kairo ordered, running through the trees to catch up to the squad.

  "Understood," Hawkins replied.

  Can there ever be a day when my life is not on the line? Kairo pondered, as he continued to run toward the squad. As he came up behind them, four blasters turned to point at various parts of his body. "Put those down, and come back with me."

  "What?" Alan asked.

  "I'm assuming command of this squad for awhile. Tina, I'll let you know why later." Tina nodded. Kairo was glad she hadn't argued, even if he was a superior officer.

  "There are forces converging on us from ahead and behind, sir," Kantar informed Kairo. "There is no where to go back to."

  "Yes, I know that. I did program this simulation." Kairo responded, running back through the foliage until he found the remains of the speeder and tank from the earlier fight. "Kantar, Lion, go the speeder and see there is any part of its fuel cells that didn't blow up when you crashed it. Tina, Alan, guard the perimeter." They all nodded and set off to do their tasks. Pulling off his helmet, Kairo reached inside and removed his comlink. Pulling off an added attachment, Kairo placed it back into his helmet and turned it to the squads frequency. "Leon, Jayson, come in, this is Kairo. Where are you?"

  "Kairo, I thought you said the comlink was. . ."

  "No time Leon, where are you?"

  "We just passed this huge bluff in the jungle, and are heading toward the base. Why?"

  "You heading for the base directly from the bluff?" Kairo asked, pulling out junk from the tank that had been melted from the explosion.

  "Yes."

  "Then pick up the pace. An enemy detachment is probably right behind you. If you keep heading the way you are going, you should see a smoke stack rising from the jungle. Head towards that. It's from a downed tank. We are there. Do you happen to still have on of your jetpacks?" Kairo asked.

  "We both do." Jayson answered this time.

  "Good, keep them and get here as fast as you can." Kairo ordered, pulling out what remained of the tank's energy core.

  "Roger."

  Kantar appeared next to Kairo, asking, "What is this all about?" He dropped a piece of machinery on the forest floor.

  "That's a back thruster." Kairo said when he looked. "Basically, we're going to make a little present for the forces coming at us."

  "Right, well, Lion's bringing what we think was one of the fuel cells," Kantar explained. "It appears it got blown off the speeder. I let him carry it, because it was heavy, and I figured it might explode at any minute."

  "That's thoughtful. Here, help me with this." Kairo motioned for Kantar to hold one end of the energy core off the ground, so Kairo could move underneath it.

    As his arms began to strain, Kantar decided to distract himself by asking, "Don't you need tools or something? And if this thing is blown up, what do expect to get from it?"

  "Tools would be nice, but I'll make do with this," Kairo waved his right hand from underneath the core. He was holding a bent piece of metal. "It's from the tank. It works just as well as anything else. And yes, this thing has been blown to bits when the energy core was punctured. Thankfully, the fuel which was still being processed wasn't hit. All I'm going to do is, combine the fuel cells of this, the speeder, and the two jet packs that Leon and Jayson are bringing. Then, I'll all attach any grenades or detonates we have left and set them to be motion sensitive. When one of the forces get here, well, you know."

  "Won't we be stuck here as well?"

  "Ah, there is the beauty of it. We won't be exactly here. We'll move as far ahead as we can without being seen by the forward force. We'll then climb into the trees and wait for them to pass below us. Hopefully, they will miss us, but if we are noticed, we'll move quickly and silence anyone who spots us. When the first group of people gets here, they'll get blown to bits. This will also 'give away' our position. The two forces will then converge on this spot to find nothing. We should be half way to the base by then. It will then be a race between us and the speeders they are likely to send after us." Kairo finished his explanation right as Lion dropped the fuel cell on the forest floor with a grunt. "Thank you Lion. I know that was heavy. It's quite handy having a Wookiee around sometimes."

  Five minutes later, Jayson and Leon ran into the small clearing, panting from their trek. "Here you go." Leon gasped, holding out the jet packs. "The... force is only.. a few minutes.. behind. . ."

  "I understand Leon. Take a quick breather. Tina! Alan! Form up!" Kairo ordered. It had taken a little help from Kantar and Lion, but the two fuel cells had been combined. "I'm just going to prop these against this. We don't have time to connect them. They should also explode when punctured. Even if they are depleted, there should still be a little fuel left. Just not enough for flight." Grabbing the three detonators the group had left, Kairo set them for motion and backed away.

  "How do you know how to do all this?" Tina asked encredulously.

  "I've been trained as a vehicles crewman. We don't just learn how to pilot things. We also learn how to repair them. With that knowledge comes the power to also blow them up." Kairo explained as he placed Kantar's comlink on the forest floor, which he had asked for during the repairs. "Now let's move out. We don't have long, and we'll still probably have to silence a few people to remain undiscovered."

  Running into the jungle, Kairo checked through everything he had done earlier in his mind's eye. He hoped it would work. He didn't need anymore people dieing on his hands. "Remind me when we are done with this, to have you show me what you did back there, step by step," Kantar said.

  "Sure. When we get out of here." If we get out of here. Kairo thought grimly.

  (OOC Kind of a long one. Not one of my best. Anyways, if you have any questions, let me know. Basically, we'll climb into the trees when we get close to the main force, then wait for them to pass. Once the bomb goes off, the NR forces should head towards it thinking we are there. We'll then use that chance to dash for the base perimeter. They'll figure out what happened and race after us. From there, it's basically running while trying to stay alive. If you have any questions, let me know. )

 
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Gunnery Sergeant Kairo
Platoon Commander

PC/GSG Kairo/2PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR][BC][CoV][IH]

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always has a way of haunting your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.

They had been running for what seemed like hours, but Tina knew in the back of her mind that it had only been a few minutes and they probably wern`t getting anywhere closer to the base. The roar of the speeders could be heard in the distance behind them, slowly gorwing louder as if the speeders were having trouble with the forest, which seemed to be getting denser. Tina tripped but managed to catch herself with her hands and push off again, keeping pace with the rest of the group.

"You don`t think they`re gunna get us, do you?" Alan asked, breathing hard, doing his best to keep up the quick sprint they were at.

"Save your breath for running..." Tina advised him, then with a quick check over her shoulder, replied with a quick 'no'.

She did not know that the Republic troops had found the trees to be to think for their speeders, causing it to be much more dangerous, if not impassable. The Republic troops were now embarking on foot, doing their best to catch up with the Vast Empire troops.

A moment later, Tina noticed something flicker ahead of her, followed by a few more flickers. Apperently the rest of the group had noticed as well, because Kario quickly yelled get down, but Tina had been a step ahead and had thrown herself to the forest floor, dragging Alan with her.

A second later, red bolts ripped past their heads and into the foilage behind them. Kantar swore and mumbled something about this hell never ending, and Kairo lay still, apperently thinking something over in his head. He waited a second before turning to face the group.

"Alright, here`s the deal. Once again, they have us from both sides. The most we can do is make our way out to the side and try and go around them. I totaly forgot about this part of the sim, but the group ahead of us is the last team before the base. After them, its only 500 meters or so." Kairo explained, doinging his best to keep the situation simple, not wanting to worry his troops yet by telling them what was going to happen.

"Alright, well, lets get moving then?" Tina suggested, half rising and beginning to make her way to the side, followed by the rest of the squad. Once they had gone about one hundred meters like this, Tina stood up straight and began jogging again, once more followed by the rest of the team. She let Kairo get ahead of her, so she could follow him, seeing as he had taken control fo the squad.

"We should almost be around them now, but we`ll kind of make it in a big loop, so the we put more space between us and them. I bet that if we keep up this pace, we`ll make it to the base in another 5 minutes." Kairo told her, jumping over a root as he ran. "Switch over to a private channel for a sec though."

"Alright, what`s up?" Tina asked as she did what she was told and switched channels. Kairo didnt say anything for a moment, but then replied -

"Well, we've got a bit of a serious situation." He told her. Tina was about to speak, but he cut her off. "Not just in the sim. Something is wrong with the machines, and if any of us dies, or if we fail the mission, those people die in real life too." He explained, and Tina`s mouth dropped open inside her helmet. She didn`t want to belive it, but knew that he was right, and that such problems had arisen before with the simulation technology.

"Well, what are we going to do?" She asked, quickly checking over her shoulder and making sure that the whole squad was still there.

"We`re going to beat this mission or die trying...Litteraly. And they arn`t going to find out about this until after." Kario said in a warning tone.

"Got it." Tina replied, before switching off the main comm channel and back onto the helmets main speaker. "Double Time team! Lets get this one finished up ASAP."
 
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NightStalkers
SL/LCP Christina Deneke/3SQD/2PLT/1CMP/1RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA