Aphamos came to his feet, looking around the table at his squad members.  Darr-Rann's creativity in simulation choices was always fresh, the constant change in terrain keeping the squad on its feet.  A swamp.  As long as it doesn't smell like crap the entire time, we'll make it out alive.  Though I doubt the smell will be our problem.  He walked over to the door, pondering on the best way to spend his four hours of freedom before another mission.  Cantina?  Nope.  Rachel?  Defiantly not.  He paused for a moment, questioning his last statement.  He hadn't seen Rachel in a long time, but he didn't really want to go through the whole introduction business with her inevitable questions as to where he has been all this time.

Deciding against it again, he exited the briefing room, heading towards his own room while continuing the debate inside of him.  Just go to sleep.  You need it.  Turning to his right, he briskly paced down the corridor, taking a left and going up a flight of stairs.  He took another right, only a turn away from his room.  He came to an abrupt halt, hearing two voices further ahead in a hall to his left.  He slowly walked up to the corner, his curiosity taking the best of him, peeking into the hall where the two people were talking.  There was a man and a woman, both of them holding hands, their bodies close to each other.  Aphamos squinted, trying to concentrate on the couple further, when he froze.

No, it can't be.  Not her.

Aphamos backed away from the corner, stunned by what he had just seen.  He stared blankly at the wall in front of him, trying to comprehend the situation, trying to comprehend why the girl he was seeing was with another man.  He slowly backed away, heading back down the stairs, down to the first floor of the building.  He exited the building and headed off in no specific direction and to no specific place, but just to get away.

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

Aphamos entered the simulation room, stumbling to his squad.  They had already arrived and were waiting for him for quite some time, all of them with stern, concerned looks on their faces.  He made his way over to Rogueboy, holding onto his squadmate's shoulder for support.  Rogueboy looked at him, shaking his head but still supporting his leader.

"What?  I had a bad day," said Aphamos firmly, his voice emotionless and almost robotic.  "Are we going to do this or not?"  Darr-Rann nodded, entering his own chamber, the door closing behind him.  Aphamos walked into his chamber, trying very hard not to fall on the way there.  He closed his eyes, the device lowering itself, his eyes meeting the darkness.

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

Aphamos opened his eyes, squinting not because of the light, but because of the change in terrain.  He took a step forward and looked down, a disgusting sound breaking the silence.  What did I just step in?


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

Standing in the hallway Preditor was talking to his squad leader Darr-Rann and the assistant leader Aphamos. Though hard core members of the army could control their emotions very well the Barabel could almost sense their awe at his bulk and size. His charcoal coloring and red eyes gave him an eerie appearance; add his reptilian tail and he could be down right scary. His muscles flexed under the armor with each movement, and his tail every once in awhile would move.

The conversation was friendly, the Humans were very relaxed which was a complete contrast to the drilling he had done in the academy. They asked him some questions about his past, almost as if testing his allegiance making him think back to the recruiter he had met on Bryx.

*******

The human gulped as he stared into the face of a monster, his brow began to sweat. Though his grey uniform was immaculate it wouldn't hold up to anything that the Barabel could do to him, even though the creature wouldn't last long. Taking out a datapad he motioned for Preditor to sit.

"My name's Gymnal, what can I help you with?" the Recruiter asked, his voice wavering.  Smiling a toothy grin Loctak answered him. "This one wishes to join those white knights he saw save him from the slavers, I was told this is where I could find them." The man scratched his head and took a moment to think about what the creature had said.

"White knights? I don't quite understand what you are talking about." Preditor growled slightly and man quickly spoke up, "Could you describe those white knights you are talking about?" The Barabel nodded and described how men in white armor carrying big black guns came running in the camp he was being held at on this planet. Gymanl began entering some information into his datapad, after a few seconds he smiled.

"Ah I see right here, one of our Stormtrooper squadrons raided an illegal mining facility." Looking up at Loctak he continued "You want to join our Stormtroopers?" The Barabel stood up and the question nodding and slapping his tail on the ground making Gymanl practically jump out of his skin, "Yes this one does."

For thirty minutes they went through some standard questions, there also were some improvised ones as hardly any Barabels were in the Empire. "Ok we are almost done, now just need a name," Loctak paused and said "Loctak" "Is that what you want everyone to call you?" The Barabel thought for moment thinking back to his hatch mates and him hunting. "No, this one wants to be called Preditor" The Recruiter nodded and swore him into the service of the Vast Empire.

*******

Preditor had recounted the story as he remembered it to both of his superiors, they started laughing. "Well that's the first time I have heard the Stormtroopers called the white nights" Darr-Rann joked. The Barabel turned his head to the side not understanding what was so funny. As he was about to speak he caught a whiff of something, it was the delicious smell of fear.

Turning around with the rest of them another human was approaching. Darr spoke up first before Preditor could comment on the scent. "Ah, Squall, I want you to meet the squads latest addition, Private First Class Preditor, as he goes by," Said Darr with a huge grin on his face. Squall seemed to instantly relax.

Letting out a small growl Preditor introduced himself. "This one thinks it is nice to meet you Sergeant" Same to you, welcome to the squad," Squall turned towards Darr, "Uh, this the entrance to the simulation?"

"Yeap, we've been waiting for you and the new recruit.  Let's get in there and get started," said Darr

 
-----------------------
TRP/PFC Preditor/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/VEA/VE/Tadath
AKA:
EFM/CPO/Cyleaf Aehait/Kaph 2-6/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=*A*=)(=*SA*=)[BWC]

Rogue stepped out of the briefing room, he felt like shit and it wasn't from drinking he just couldn't sleep anymore he would do drills until he is fatigued but his mind would wander. His mind would cover the most unusual thoughts, from the latest simulation, to his squad mates, to the pretty waitress that turned him down.

Rogue went to the barracks to catch up on some sleep, if possible, he didn't like the new recruit, reptiles always meant something bad. He wasn't scared of the size of the new recruit or the ferocity of his race, death is but the next great adventure and should not be feared when one lives under a sharp knife. Rogue went to the barracks and lied down in his bunk for an hour, sleep never came so he got up and decided to check out the recreational room. The second newest recruit was there Mak'Tur Josu and he was playing sabacc with a few Vast Empire soldiers, from the stack of money in front of him he was cleaning up. Rogue was impartial to gambling with money, the notion that he doesn't like gambling with money but gambling with his life has always amused him.

Mak noticed Rogue was watching him and he nodded and grinned, and made a show displaying how much he won, Rogue grinned back but knew that in a short while Mak was going to lose all his money, as one of the other players was hiding cards up his sleeves.

"Hey Mak, get your winnings, it's time to go."

"What? We still have some time."

One of the other players gave Rogue a dirty look.

"Well if you want to stay I won't force you to come."

Rogue turned and started walking away, it wasn't long before Mak caught wise to the cheater and Rogue could hear his protests. Rogue decided to go for a walk, perhaps that might put his mind at ease.

Rogue entered the simulation room, Aph walked by pale as a ghost, and unchecked confusion written on his face. Shit, something bad must of really happened. Aphamos walked up to Rogue and put his arm on his shoulder, Rogue shook his head slowly.

"What? I had a bad day. Are we going to do this or not?"

Darr nodded and he turned to enter the simulation room proper, all the troopers turned to do likewise but before Aph could go to his room Rogue gave his shoulder a squeeze, which was meant to say; "We're here for you."
 
-----------------------
Raiders
Faithful To The End
He will give them death, and they will love him for it -Gladiator

TRP/LCPL_Rogueboy/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][ES-FirstClass][CDS]

Mak'Tur jumped down in a nearby ditch that was filled with black putrid water that was waist high he tried to keep his gun out of the water in case it would jam on him. There was one enemy soldier left Preditor was currently in a swamp somewhere trying to kill the other two. Josu's motion sensors picked up movement unfortunately he was not able to identify it was friendly or foe, most likely the latter but he was not sure. A blaster bolt hit the bank not three inches from his head; the shot came from the target he was currently staring at. Josu opened fire using the spray and pray method he missed almost all his shots but saw with a gratifying eye that his target was hit. Josu added a fresh energy pack to his weapon and charged up from his cover, Josu ran to where the downed enemy soldier was last spotted and as he climbed the slight inclination he noticed that there was nothing on the ground.

Weird, usually in the simulations the bodies stay down.

Just than something caught Josu's eye and he looked up the landscaped became blurry, the trees began to sway in ways that were not possible, Josu's eyes widened and all of a sudden the jungle disappeared and Josu found himself in a white room, his weapons and armour gone, he was standing nude. A man appeared in front of Josu a white remote in his hands.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Mak'Tur Josu new recruit to Raider squad."

"That's a pity."

"Why is that?"

"Because now you must die."

Josu openly laughed.

"I can't die it's a simulation."

"Fool, you obviously have no idea the necessary maintenance these simulations require or the coding that keeps them working."

The man pressed a button and the room changed it now appeared as if they were looking at an oversized terminal, the man pressed another button and the words; "System Overload" appeared on the screen.

"With this remote I can control your fate in my hands."

Josu was clueless, he was not considered technically inclined but what he understood was this, this man in front of him could kill him at a whim, he has sabotaged the system in order to further his agenda, the question left was what is his agenda?

"What are you planning to do?"

"Well since you are going to die that goes without saying I guess it is alright if I tell you why you must die. I was paid by a certain individual to kill Raider squad I do not know this individuals name but he is very wealthy, I have a button connected to each of the terminals each Raider squad is plugged in, and with a press of a button designated for each member they will be killed one by one."

"How exactly did you bypass the security in order to appear personally?"

"I helped design those securities, as well as installed a new program which allows me to access from any terminal, oh look at the time I'm afraid you're going to have to die now."

Josu pounced on the man and together they fought for control of the remote each trying to grapple for control.

MEANWHILE

"Where the hell is Josu?"

Darr asked Preditor who was just walking out of swamp with multiple chips in his armour.

"This one last saw the white knight go over there."

Preditor pointed to a slight defile. Darr pulled out his datapad which is how he gives commands to the simulation it showed that Josu status was still "alive" since it is impossible to die in a simulation this shows he wasn't hit by any enemies.

"That's it he's not answering his comlink, I'm canceling the simulation and he is in big poodoo."

Josu almost had the remote until the man threw him off and pressed the button, shear pain spread through Josu's body and he crumpled to the ground.

Rogueboy got disconnected from the simulation; he took off the mask and looked around all the other Raiders were equally bewildered at the form of Josu who was convulsing in his chair, sweat coming down his face and his hair was on fire. Darr quickly ran to the nearby control panel and started pulling data crystals out at a geometric rate but Mak was still getting shocked, Darr began to severely beat the console with his bare hands and eventually the electrocution abruptly stopped. Rogue ran over to Josu and used his hands to beat out the flames regardless of the minor burns, Rogue used two of his fingers to check Mak's pulse.

"He's dead."

 
-----------------------
Raiders
Faithful To The End
He will give them death, and they will love him for it -Gladiator

TRP/CPL_Rogueboy/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][ES-FirstClass][CDS]