Sayah's mechanical right hand was pierced by rock shards, which shattered the stromtrooper armour and some of the limb's protective plating, causing a shower of sparks to emerge. He swore out loud in Rodian, in which he was fluent, and returned fire with his good hand. A speeder pilot was hit in the chest and his eyes went wide with suprise as his armour vaporized and his speeder exploded in a blazing fireball. Nearby, the rest of the speeder pilots, most of whom obviously had never undergone basic training, were quickly and efficiently silenced, leaving only the job of burying their burned limbs and smashed speeder parts.  (will expand to word limit)   

-----------------------
TRP/PFC Sayah/1SQD/2 PLT/1 COM/1 RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA
[Black League]
SM/Com Sayah/Task Force 1/Eta Squad/2nd Platoon/Red Company/1st Battalion/KBcC Helsa/OFF/Army/RDA(L)

"And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."

http://bd1.battledawn.com/referx.php?serv=2&ref=5755

I wonder what that is... nothing I've ever seen before... Thought Leon as he inspected the machine from afar. It looked like a beacon of some sort, but Leon couldn't really tell for sure, and went back to his sweeping duties.

"Leon... my leg hurts so... bad," Rogue said  through stifled breaths, "I hope I'm able to last for the mission, but from the looks of it, I'm going to have a hard time."

Leon turned to look at the limping Rogue, trying to think of something to say that would reassure him. "Don't worry Rogue, I have your back. I'll make sure not to let you fall behind."

Rogue smiled. "Thanks Leon, and if I start whining like a little girl, just slap me or something," Rogue said, trying to crack one of his trade mark smiles.

"Yea don't worry man. But remember, if you really feel like you can't continue on, then we'll call for E-Vac. No, I'll, call for E-Vac. I don't want you getting killed out here because of your stupid leg."

Rogue stopped dead in his tracks. "Leon, no. You can't do that to me. I can't do that to you. You don't understand..."

"I do Rogue. I do understand. If you were to get lifted off this rock, and leave us here, and we died, you would be ashamed of yourself. You would probably go into depression, not being able to handle the fact that you left us here to die. I completely understand Rogue, but your in more danger then anyone else here. If anything, you're the one that we all need to be worried about."

"So your saying I'm a burden..."

"No! No Rogue I didn't mean it that way. What I'm saying is, you can't always be so damned worried about everyone else. Your gonna get yourself killed! If you were to die, it would hurt us much more knowing that we, Raiders, were the cause of your death. Your to selfless, and its gonna end up hurting you worse then back there," Leon said, his chest heaving with anger.

"I understand where your coming from Leon. Its just that... I can't stand to watch someone I care about suffer, let alone die. If you,  Darr, or Nam's were to get seriously injured or worse! I don't know how I would be able to live with the fact that I let it happen. Its my duty not only as Assistant Squad Leader, but also as a friend to keep you guys from getting hurt."

"Your forgetting one thing though Rogue. Its our responsibility just as much as it is yours. I just don't want you pulling stunts like that, you had us worried sick! But the point is, I just want you to think next time before you act."

"And let those guys get away? What would of happened then? The loss of my leg for just a day or so is better a price to pay then us losing our lives. Don't you agree?" said Rogue, a hint of venom in his tone.

Leon had just realized that Rogue was right. If it wasn't for him doing what he had done, then the squad probably would have been dead by now.

"Your right Rogue. I was wrong."

"No, your not wrong. Your totally right for acting the way you did, and it shows that you care about us. I'm glad that you have my back Leon."

"Same here Rogue."

The two smiled at each other, and just as they were about to resume talking, there squad leader keyed the comm. "I think we've found the base guys, and it seems to be clear of guards."

Leon quickly scrambled up the dune's side, and peeked his head over the edge. What stood before them was a very simple structure, or at least appeared to be from what they saw. It was a dome shaped building, completely made out of Dura-Steel. It had a few view ports, and that was about all. No one could be seen from the squads position, and there was a good 100 meters of flat terrain separating the Raiders from the base.

"Thats it?" Asked a stunned Sayah.

Darr turned his head towards the young trooper. "No... not even close. The rest is under ground..."
 
-----------------------
Raiders
May god have mercy upon my enemies, for I will show none.
TRP/SGT Leon/3SQD/1PLT/1CMP/1RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA
And so we go.
I am the one...The one who made the 100,000 post.
Football is the best sport ever, and no one can change the way I feel about it.
Proud title holder of the most homosexual things said on IRC

The squad approached the Dura-steel building with caution a quick glance at the viewports showed that they were too dirty to see through them. The squad stacked up on both sides of the door a quick nod from Darr and Rogue tried the lock it was locked. Darr pulled out some electrical mumbo jumbo from his pack. "This may take a few minutes." The Squad Leader said as he began pressing buttons.

A few minutes later and the door was now unlocked Rogue nodded to Leon who pulled the pin on a flash bang. Rogue opened the door and the grenade was in; the movement was perfectly executed through painstaking hours of practice. "The more you sweat here the less you will bleed out there." Darr had said as he forced the squad through urban breach, bang, and clear tactics. A brilliant white flash told the squad the grenade had gone off and in a second they filed into the room.

"The left side is clear."

"The right side is as well."

Rogue surveyed the complete room there were a couple of empty boxes lying around the room as well as a tubelift in the middle of the room. "Guess we're going down?" He said as he looked at Darr.

The SL nodded his head the domed top of the helmet catching the light. "Listen up boys, this could easily be a trap so keep your eyes peeled. If you notice anything is out of whack don't hesitate to point it out or call it in, I shouldn't have to tell you this but its just a reminder a shy trooper is a dead trooper. If you see any scomplinks or anything tell me we need a map for this damn place too bad Patch didn't come with us."

The squad went to stand on the tubelift and Darr pressed the button to lower it. Rogue looked up and saw the light from the viewports beginning to disappear and wondered if it would be the last time he would ever embrace sunlight again.

The tubelift touched in a hallway that was dimly lit from lights that were spaced fifteen feet from each other running along the side. There were some crates stacked up along the side of the hall a quick glance at the walls showed that they were made from stone and that the floors were made equally of stone and were equally as filthy. Using hand signals Darr told Sayah and Leon to scout up front while we check what are in the crates. Darr carefully approached the first crate of three and gently knocked on it; nothing moved inside and it did not blow up. A crowbar was lying upright against the crate; Darr inspected the crate searching for anything that might set off a bomb before using the crowbar to open the crate.

Inside the crate lied disemboweled parts of a human with the head standing on top of the chest. Darr replaced the lid of the crate with a disgusted look on his face. Sayah and Leon returned and said that the way is clear. The squad moved further into the soon to be Garra's tomb.

 
-----------------------
Raiders
Faithful To The End
He will give them death, and they will love him for it -Gladiator
Eat a hearty breakfast men, for tonight we dine in hell -King Leonidas, 300
Clearly Canadian!

ASL/SGT_Rogueboy/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][ES-FirstClass][CDS][CoR]

"Commandos?" Darr-Rann said, reviewing the small video clip Leon had sent him from his helmet camera. "The VEI briefing gave no mention of any commandos being deployed here  I'm thinking they might be Thrawn forces."

That would be bad news. If Thrawn was involved, then they were probably interested in getting a hold of those intelligence officers. As far as he knew, those agents knew a lot of things that the Vast Empire would not want Thrawn getting his hands on.

Darr-Rann spoke. "We don't know what exactly these guys are doing, so we're going to keep an eye on them for the time being while continuing on with the mission. Chances are, they're heading towards our targets, so we might as well tail them."

"Roger." Leon replied. Sayah crept forward to join the trooper. They watched as the lift descended, until it reached the the floor. Leon reached to hit the control panel and summon the elevator, but Rogueboy took a few steps forward and stopped him.

"It'll catch their attention." The trooper said. He turned to face Darr-Rann, who nodded. "Rappel lines."

Rogueboy, Leon, and Sayah took out cables, clipping them onto their belt and attaching them to the edge of the lift. Jumping over, the three troopers' feet hit the inside wall of the tube. Simultaneously they keyed the release, sending them falling further down. They halted just before their feet hit the lift.

Ahead of them, there were two doors, on each side of the room. They caught the last of the commandos walking through each of the doors. They waited for the passageways to close, and for a few moments to pass, before detaching themselves from the lines. They cleared out of the lift, and the other Raiders began to climb down the cables.

"They went off in both directions." Leon said, motioning his hands at the two doorways. Darr-Rann nodded to the troopers.

"Leon, take Sayah down the right way and follow them that way. The rest of us will take the left. Leon and Sayah headed over to the door, taking out fibre-optic cables. After ensuring the hall beyond was clear, they opened it up and walked through.

"Remember, check in every five minutes." The squad leader told them over the squad radio. He waved for the remaining troopers to follow him, then headed towards the door on the left.

They found themselves in long hallway, At the end of which there was another door. As they went ahead, Darr-Rann  looked around for a computer junction  It'd be great to find some sort of map they could use to figure out exactly where everything was. It was likely that at least one of the groups of commandos was heading to the where the agents were kept, So this was probably their best way to find them.

He had a bad feeling though  Like things were going to go wrong any minute, like they were in the calm before the storm...
 
-----------------------
Raiders
SL/SSG_Darr-Rann/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/VEA/VE/Tadath [LoR][CoR]
|WO2_Demonic/Reserves| (=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=*ee*=)(VC:B)(MC2)(VEB)(DSM)(LoM)[SWC]{O1}-=TOP PILOT=-
SENIOR SERGEANT, SQUAD LEADER/ASSISTANT COMMANDER OF TRAINING
WARRANT OFFICER, 2ND CLASS
Communications Technician
Part time Webmaster Guy
"DICTATOR DARR"
Clearly Canadian!

Darr-Rann watched the commandos leave the room through his fibre-optic cable. It was a large area, filled with more crates and about a dozen Rodian guards.  "One minute, then we're going in." The squad leader said, putting up a mission clock on the top of the fire team's HUDs for emphasis. He wanted the commandos to be too far away to hear the combat, but close enough that they could catch up.

The time ticked by, and the Raiders anxiously awaited the oncoming skirmish. Darr-Rann checked his ammunition, while Rogueboy adjusted the sights on his rifle. Namyr just tapped her fingers impatiently.

The clock hit zero.

"Fire team gold, execute!" The Senior Sergeant said,  kicking the door hard and bashing it in. The raiders stormed in, their A280s belching burst fire and cutting down four of the Rodians flat-footed.

One of the Rodians said something in it's language, incomprehensible to the squad leader. The alien raised it's heavy blaster pistol and fired a shot in his direction. Darr-Rann shifted his feet and tried to dodge the shot, but it grazed his arm, burning through plastoid and just managing to singe flesh.

The stormtrooper gritted his teeth, centering his sights on the center of the Rodian's mass and squeezing off a burst. The alien cried out and fell backwards, sizzling holes burning in it's torso. The squad leader turned his head to see Namyr had switched to fully automatic fire, and was spraying a hailstorm at a set of Rodians that were trying to regroup. He then turned to Rogue, who was fending off one of them with his Gladius. The trooper ran the alien through, throwing the body to the ground before stumbling slightly as he landed on his wounded leg.

Suddenly a Rodian was right in the Senior Sergeant's face. Damn, keep focused on yourself. The squad leader thought. The alien stabbed him in the stomach, but the knife the Rodian carried with dull and without vibrocutting. Darr-Rann wrapped his hands around it's neck, holding it in front of him as a protective shield to anyone who would get the idea to help. The Rodian dropped the knife and raised it's hands in an effort to pry the squad leader loose. It struggled for a few moments, then fell limp. He threw the body the the ground and drew his pistol, firing a few shots at it's head, to ensure it was out of combat.

He looked around for another opponent, but they were all downed. Namyr helped Rogueboy with his leg, giving him a fresh injection to keep it sturdy. The Squad leader walked around through the bodies, watching for any that would attempt to feign death. All twelve, confirmed kills. Good, clean work.

He turned to the rest of his team. "Rogue, are you going to be able to proceed?" He asked, stepping over to the trooper, who was just getting up.

"Yeah, Namyr's drugged me up again. I should be able to manage." The Assistant Squad leader said. Darr-Rann nodded, admiring the trooper's determination. If that determination became foolish, though, he'd have to deal with it.

"Then let's keep going. We've got a bit of catching up to do."
 
-----------------------
Raiders
SL/SSG_Darr-Rann/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/VEA/VE/Tadath [LoR][CoR]
|WO2_Demonic/Reserves| (=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=*ee*=)(VC:B)(MC2)(VEB)(DSM)(LoM)[SWC]{O1}-=TOP PILOT=-
SENIOR SERGEANT, SQUAD LEADER/ASSISTANT COMMANDER OF TRAINING
WARRANT OFFICER, 2ND CLASS
Communications Technician
Part time Webmaster Guy
"DICTATOR DARR"
Clearly Canadian!

Rogue grimaced as he grappled down the tubelift the pain in his knee forcing him to wince with every jump. Finally he touched down and the burning sensation in his leg subsided until he was forced to walk again. Darr divided the squad and Rogue was designated to go left along with Darr and Namyr a quick glimpse of the storm commandos as they entered a nearby door.

"One minute, then we're going in." Came the order from the Squad Leader.

Sergeant Rogue carefully watched the ticking in his HUD as it slowly counted down. For a second the ASL thought about calling the missions quits and heading up to the surface to get a med evac but the thought was quickly dismissed as he thought of what might befall the squad that he has come to respect. The clock reached zero and the Senior Sergeant kicked open the door and stepped through it followed by Namyr and finally Rogue.

    Inside the trio found a couple of Rodians, mercenaries judging from their dress and choice of weapons; cheap. Rogue rapidly pressed the trigger to his gun to fire individual bolts as quickly as he could and maintain his accuracy a Rodian jumped out from behind a crate and pushed the barrel of the Sergeant's rifle and took a swing at his helmet. The blue fist connected with the white helmet and sent Rogue reeling the ground because of his busted knee. The ASL pulled his gladius from out of it's scabbard and used it to parry the Rodian's dagger as it was aimed to remove his sweet jugular vein. Rogue took a step back to keep the Rodian out of reach whilst allowing his gladius enough room to swing and connect. The first attack that Rogue made connected with the Rodian's dagger arm and the second drove right through the chest of the Rodian who fell, the momentum brought the ASL down with him until he was able to dislodge the gladius. Looking arround Rogue realized the battle was over and used the dead alien's vest to clean his blade before resheathing it.

    Namyr approached Rogue with a syringe in her hand. "Time for your second dose." The teal coloured liquid seemed to disappear through the black undersuit of the plastoid armour.

    Rogue looked around and saw a door at the end of the room that lead to a short staircase. The squad approached the stairs and Darr lead the way followed by Namyr and then Rogue. They entered a chamber that was void of anything living and a quick glance showed that this was Garra's private audience chamber. The lack of armed mercenaries and bounty hunters seemed to put the squad on edge as they checked out every likely place for ambush before proceeding through a door that led into Garra's bedchamber. The hutt was seated on a pavilion of cushions two Twi'lek pleasure slaves passed out next to him.

"Stay outside unless you hear me calling." Darr said over the comlink as he shouldered his blaster shotgun and withdrew the fibre wire that he kept on his belt at all times and approached the sleeping hutt.


OOC: Roll 1d6+4 for successful sneak attack


-----------------------
Raiders
Faithful To The End
He will give them death, and they will love him for it -Gladiator
Eat a hearty breakfast men, for tonight we dine in hell -King Leonidas, 300
Clearly Canadian!

ASL/SGT_Rogueboy/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][ES-FirstClass][CDS][CoR]

The squad filed in, safeties off, as they had been for awhile. Sayah watched, not willing or able to believe the Hutt would have been so absymally foolish as to allow them this far in. By now he was certain that the creature was allowing them to penetrate, as even minor crimelords had the sense to post regular patrols and many mercenary squads in their base. Even more ominously, there were no guards in his audience chamber, indicating that either the commandos had doen their work for them, which was unlikely becuase a deserted post was a cause for alarm for the justifiably paranoid Hutts, or that the squad was strolling into a trap. The squad leader paused for a long moment ,considering, before saying "Stay outside unless you hear me calling." Sayah was hardly surprised, as Darr-Rann struck him as considerably sharper than some of the imbiciles he had served under and as the objective was to rescue the prisoners, not kill the bloated Hutt, it would be quicker and more efficient to be(hopefully) taken directly to the prisoner area. There was a risk that the Hutt would simply decide to kill him, but if all else failed they could fall back on plan B: vaporize every being in the chamber. Darr-Rann calmly crept towards the bloated mass of the corpulent being, deciding halfway there to use a silenced pistol instead of his E-11. Not surprisingly, as Darr was about to fire an energy barrier went up and enemies leapt out from behind the curtains, which were obviously shielded. Sayah heard the massive being laugh, a disgusting noise, and say "Look what I have here. One of our intruders, caught. A stormtrooper too. is this some sort of attempt at a double cross, lieutenant?" Under the helmet Sayah's eyes widened. The storm commandos were probably Thrawn and they were allied with the Hutt. Sayah watched dispassionately as the commandos took the Squad Leader captive as they had no intention of allowing things to degenerate futher. Without realizing it, the Hutt had made a serious tactical error. He heard one of the commandos say "This is a good quality of weapon. I think I'll keep it." before dragging Darr-Rann away.
Namyr attempted to leave her place and rescue Darr-Rann but Leon, quite sensibly, held her back. On Rogueboy's suggestion, she hacked into a terminal and downloaded a map to theirs HUDs. Examining it, Sayah noted the prisoner cells were two floors down. As the squad was leaving the room ,they heard footsteps. They could only be storm commandos. The squad moved to either side of the door and the two newcommers were quickly neutralised, one with a good view of Namyr's blaster, the other with Sayah's vibroknucklers at his throat. Then, Sayah noticed the Raider Squad logo on one captive's shoulder and realised they had almost killed their own reinforcements.
"Love a challange,", Sayah heard one of the newcomers say, to which Rogueboy replied "You're going to fit right in, let's go" The squad headed through another pair of doors, down into the bowels of the building towards a trap.




-----------------------
TRP/PFC Sayah/1SQD/2 PLT/1 COM/1 RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA
[Black League]
SM/Com Sayah/Task Force 1/Eta Squad/2nd Platoon/Red Company/1st Battalion/KBcC Helsa/OFF/Army/RDA(L)

"And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."

http://bd1.battledawn.com/referx.php?serv=2&ref=5755

There was something satisfying on turning her blaster on full automatic firing. Namyr stood her legs apart to give her enough balance from the recoil to continue firing to into a no longer trying to regroup Rodians. She winced as she missed several times but in the end she got most of them and stopped them from regrouping and trying to attack them again. Namyr's hands shook a little as she shouldered her blaster, she figured it was mainly because of the blaster recoil. Though the power felt through such a weapon was incredible, maybe she should raid the Raider's weapon room and find a blaster that she liked more then this standard issue.

Namyr then glanced over at Rogueboy and checked her watch, time for the second installment of the pain-killers. Last thing the squad needed was for Rogueboy to be out for the count, going into shock because of pain never settled right with anyone.

"Time for your second dose," Namyr told Rogueboy as she pulled out a syringe filled with a teal liquid, mostly anti-inflammatory, something to keep the infectious bugs at bay, and anti-pain. Though the medicine she was giving him would help Rogueboy it could also become addictive if Namyr used too much off it. Namyr helped Rogueboy to his feet, then they were off again, going up a fight of stairs, and Namyr went still as Darr took off around a corner.

"Stay outside unless you hear me calling," Darr said as the rest of the squad put a feed into his visor to watch what was going on. Namyr watched as Darr seemed to get cocky and try to fire on the Hutt, the Hutt's shield flickered and Namyr bounded forward to assist Darr only to Have Leon grabb her by the arm and shake his head.

"If anymore of us get caught we're dead, come on we have to regroup," Leon said, Namyr blinked a few times, for a moment wondering if this more leader-like Leon was who he was before he lost his memory. The remaining Raider's quickly backed away and crouched behind a group of crates in a corner near the main door of the room.

"First thing first, we need to get a map of this place," Rogueboy said looking around at the group.

"Saw a computer terminal on the other side of the room, I can try to hack into it and get the map," Namyr said and Rogueboy nodded and she snuck around the crates and headed for the computer. What had Darr been thinking trying to take Garra on his own? There had been a computer right here, most likely used to schedule smuggling runs, they could have gotten a map, found another way in and thought of a better plan. Namyr's thin fingers flew over the keyboard of the computer, she easily got past the first barriers and after a couple minutes finally broke into the system and downloaded the map into everyone's visors.

"Good work Namyr, now we hae to break Darr out, the prison cells are two floors down," Rogueboy spoke as Namyr crossed the room. she froze as she heard the heavy footsteps of Stormtrooper armour. More of Thrawn forces no doubt, instantly Namyr was by the door, blaster in hand. One of the armoured troops crossed the door only to have his head knocked to the side with the butt of Namyr's blaster, another got a kick into a stomach. Namyr stepped over to the trooper whose Helmet was now skewed to the side giving him visability in only one eye. Namyr kicked the trooper over onto his back and stepped on his chest to keep him from moving. "Should I kill you?" Namyr asked.

"Wait! I'm one of you, we've been sent as reinforcements!" the guy said pointing at the emblem on his shoulder a freshly painted Raiders Emblem. "PFC Anndrew Miller!" Namyr opened her mouth and tasted fear and also truth in Andrew's statement

Namyr let out a long line of curses in Twi'lek and took her foot off of PFC Miller's chest. She holstered her blaster and glanced over at Rogueboy and almost could sense his grin, "He's telling the truth," she grumbled walking back to the rest of the Raiders, not bothering to even apologize to the newest Raider.

"I'm Tal, this is PFC Andrew Miller, we were sent to help," Tal said, shaking Rogueboy's hand.

"Thank god, we could really use the help. Let's get to work then, Darr-Rann has gotten himself captured, we have to break him out, then kill Garra," Rogueboy said.

"Love a challange," PFC Miller said a hint of a grin in his voice.

"You're going to fit right in, let's go," Rogueboy said leading the squad through another set of doors and down further into Garra's tomb.



Darr was thrown into a rather harshly into a primitive cell. If the guards hadn't taken his armour and weapons, leaving Darr in only his undershirt and shorts, he would have been able to escape quite easily. Darr glanced around his cell to see any weak points for escape, only to find a skeleton of some creature laying in the corner. Darr curled his nose in disgust and continued to look around the cell, he then glanced at the cell across from his and caught the purple eyes of a green Twi'lek.

"They caught you too?" the Twi'lek asked from her cell, she glanced up and down the corridor to see if any guards were coming.

"Yeah, they did, who are you?" Darr asked suspiciously.

"Cerine, been here a while. Are you in the Vast Empire? You're hair is cut like a solider," Cerine asked curiously.

"Yeah," Darr said, no use in hiding what he was everyone in this place knew he was a Stormtrooper, let alone a prisoner like Cerine could spread the word around.

"Hey listen, if you were trying to kill Garra consider me in, if we work together we can get out of this place," Cerine said glancing around again, 'I just have to know if there are any people coming to help free you," Cerine said looking at Darr innocently.

"Four," Darr said and Cerine's cell door opened and she bounded out.

"Thanks for that," Cerine said, a glittering ring on her wedding finger distracted Darr, "Garra will be pleased to know, we can just tell the guard to be ready to kill on site," she added with a sound of snobbishness in her voice.

Darr's eyes grew large, he had just doomed his squad, in a moment of trust he had given away that they were in the compound, now they couldn't walk two feet without being attack. Darr hung his head low and said a short prayer of what he could remember.




 
-----------------------
"Rogue, just so you know if we die, I hate you."

SGT Namyr

Forget me why don't you.  Oh well, I guess I'll go explore by my lonesome.  Aphamos turned and walked back through the door that the squad had just entered through, turning around momentarily and looking at the troopers about to head in to battle.  Ahhh, they'll be fine.  He turned again and headed through the corridor, stopping for a quick moment to take inventory on the weapons he had on his person.  Let's see here; one sniper rifle, couple cartridges, dual slug thrower pistols with silencers, two flashes, and one explosive pack.  I'm a goddam army.

He walked over to one of the crates containing the small packets of drugs.  He took off the lid to one of the crates, revealing the contents.  White packets filled the crate in a very organized manner, the packets being stacked nicely on top of one another.  How organized of you, Garra.  He picked up a few of the packets, opening them up and spilling the contents onto the floor.  He dropped the packets on the ground a picked up a few more, stashing them in a compartment on his utility belt.  For Rogue, he thought to himself as he smiled, heading out of the room and into the next.

He entered the room where they Raiders had confronted the enemy troopers.  He walked over to one dead soldier who had been mauled by Namyr's blades.  He moved the man's arm over with his leg, seeing the full extent of the ruptures that Namyr had struck on the man.  Ok, you don't want to get on her wrong side of her.  Aphamos went to his knees, searching the man for anything that might be useful.  He took a comlink off of the man's belt, as well as some identification.  He didn't bother reading the name on the tag, for he figured it was best not knowing who it was the he had seen murdered.  He felt much more comfortable referring to his enemies as just "enemies", not real people with real lives that he may had ended.

Aphamos turned the comlink on and listened as a voice started shouting orders.

"GO GO GO MEN, THEY'RE IN THE RED ZONE AND ARE APPROACHING THE HOSTAGE!" yelled the man.  Quite the accent there, Aphamos thought to himself, pulling his comlink from his belt and pressing the button to direct the message to the squad.

"Guys, watch your backs, they know you're there and they are about to move in," he said, still heading further away from his squad mates.  He entered another room, not receiving any answer for the message he had just sent.  Aphamos switched on the other comlink, listening for any further transmissions to the enemy troopers.  No messages were sent; the only sound that filled the room was silence.

What the hell am I doing?  I'm leaving them staring at the face of danger.  Dammit, it's too late anyways.  If they enemies are already there, then they may or may not be captured.  If they aren't, well I warned them.  Now I'm going to kill this bastard.

 
-----------------------
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--

"You are all lucky bastards, you know that?" asked Aphamos in a sarcastic manner as the squad of stormtroopers made their way to the barracks.  "Really though, knowing Rogue, you would have all been dead or close to dying if I hadn't come to the rescue."  His squad mates laughed at the comment, Rogueboy giving Aphamos a little shove.  He laughed a bit, realizing that he was in the wrong mindset for where they were about to go.  Cut the jokes unless you want to die, he thought to himself, debating about whether or not he should go with his squad mates or go journeying out alone.  He walked up to Rogueboy to discuss the situation with him.

"What's up?" asked Rogueboy, sensing Aphamos's question.

"When are we going to get Darr out?" asked Aphamos, trying to lead into where he needed to get.

"Well, seeing as how the 'barge in and extract' plan didn't work, we're going to go in the 'barracks' and see what's in store for us."  Aphamos turned the timer that was programmed into his headset on and setting it to a time of two hours, having already made up his mind about what he was going to do.

"Well, there is a large chance that you get Darr out in time," he said, "but there is an equally large chance that you don't, and by now they've probably taken him to a specially guarded area.  I can get him out if you distract them for me."  He looked at Rogueboy as the squad finally reached the doors to the barracks.  "I know its risky and all, but I need to get him out, and anyways, you guys will be fi-"

"Go do what you have to do, Aph, go do what you have to do," said Rogueboy, "and we'll help you out all we can from over here.  Keep in touch in case you need any help or anything, and don't forget that the shadows are the way to go."  Aphamos nodded his head, pondering on the last piece of advice that his friend had given him.  The shadows are the way to go.  The shadows&.

"Thanks.  I'll be with you in two hours exact, no more than that.  If I'm not back by then, I'll see you on the other side." said Aphamos, pulling a smoke and a flash grenade off of Rogueboy's belt and attached them to his own.  "For good luck.  I'll see you all later."

"Where are you going?" asked Namyr as she was readying her weapons for combat.

"Just for a little stroll in the park." answered Aphamos, checking the ammo in his guns to make sure he was ready.  He turned around, heading in whichever direction felt right to him.  So, two hours to find Darr and maybe kill fatty G.  Time is precious, isn't it?

He turned the timer on as the first few seconds started ticking away, each second getting him closer and closer to the enemy.

 
-----------------------
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--

{Not to sure exactly what I need to be doing as I dunno who I need to be following }

Miller had his rifle drawn as different patterns and ideas filled in the back of his mind. Training had taught him to be prepared for the expected and unexpected, but dont over plot as it could lead to a swift defeat. The last thing Miller wanted to do on his first mission would be to get killed, or worse cost the lives of any of his squad mates. His nerves were shot already as the past thirty minuets had been a rush and his memory of it was almost blank. Yet his mind was still alert to the situation, and he knew that the target needed to be eliminated but he also knew in the back of his mind that Darr needed to be assisted. He wasnt sure which to handle and the pressure flowed on to him further. Being a Combat Engineer he was not use to having to rush into such situations as he'd have much rather plotted the whole attack out, but time wasnt working with the Raiders nor was anyone's life becoming safer.

Damn her. Darr-Rann thought, striking his fist off of the metal bars. She had fooled him. He thought she was a slave punished by Garra, and that she could be trusted. Should've known better.

The sound of screaming echoed out through the the jail - Someone unfortunate enough to victim to Garra's torturers. He felt the rage burning inside him build. He would escape somehow, and he would kill the slimy bastard. He'd kill the Twi'lek too, if he got the chance.

A pair of men came walking down the hallway. One had his face covered by a cheap-looking combat helmet. The other man was a Twi'lek, who had his long blue Lekku headtails warapped around his neck. Both carried slugthrower rifles casually. The helmeted one said something that Darr-Rann couldn't understand - sounded Rodian. However, he could understand by the way that it pointed at him, he was the subject.

The Twi'lek grinned at Darr-Rann. "Your being transferred. Please don't resist." It said. Darr-Rann saw the man's hand rest on the hilt of another weapon worn at his belt - An shocker club. He grimaced  The voltage from such a weapon usually wasn't lethal, but they hurt like hell.

"Where?" The squad leader asked. The Twi'lek's grin widened.

"Your being taken out of the jail block for when your friends arrive. It would be dearly unfortunate if somehow you complicated our little surprise for them."

Darr-Rann's hands tightened into fists for a moment, before he forced himself to relax. The squad would know that they were probably walking into a trap. They'd be ready.

"Come on. We've got something fun planned for you - Garra's been looking for some entertainment." The Twi'lek said, opening up the mechanical lock on his cell door. The Rodian raised it's slugthrower level to the center of the squad leader's chest, while the Twi'lek slipped around to grab him by the wrists. He walked along willingly, but the Twi'lek still shoved him when it got the chance as they walked along the cells - Seemingly for the fun of it. Darr-Rann mentally marked down another for his death list.

Darr-Rann was brought into a small locker room. He found his armor there, minus the helmet. "Your giving me back my gear?"

The Twi'lek sneered. "You'll last longer with it. Now shut up and put it on." Darr-Rann complied, first slipping on the underarmor, then attatching the various plates. The familiar fit of the plastoid armor felt good.

"Get out there." The Twi'lek said, pointing to the door. Darr-Rann reckoned his armor could stop a slug or two, but his head was unprotected. The man was about seven feet away from him - plenty enough for it to squeeze off a few shots before he got a hold of the bastard. He complied.

Darr-Rann walked out into a large chamber. The ground underneath him was sand, and walls about ten feet tall surrounded him. Above those about a score of various humanoids sat in stands, with Garra resting on a luxurious mat in the middle. There was a door at the other end of the room.

Darr-Rann saw a crude looking vibroblade resting a few feet away from him, so he walked forward to pick it up - The other door opened as he did so.

A man walked through, grasping a similar blade. He wore a crude assortment of plates, from various sets of armors. The man stepped forward menacingly. Darr-Rann realized where he was.

An arena.
 
-----------------------
Raiders
SL/SSG_Darr-Rann/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/VEA/VE/Tadath [LoR][CoR]
|WO2_Demonic/Reserves| (=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=*ee*=)(VC:B)(MC2)(VEB)(DSM)(LoM)[SWC]{O1}-=TOP PILOT=-
SENIOR SERGEANT, SQUAD LEADER/ASSISTANT COMMANDER OF TRAINING
WARRANT OFFICER, 2ND CLASS
Communications Technician
Part time Webmaster Guy
"DICTATOR DARR"
Clearly Canadian!

Darr-Rann shot his booted foot upwards into the gut of his assailant, disrupting the downward stab that was intended to kill him. Rolling backwards, he picked up his fallen sword and raised it to block an incoming overhead slash. He stepped forward and pushed his opponent back, blade against blade. The vibroweapons made a slight hissing sound as their activated edges crossed.

"I'm gunna enjoy this, stormie." The gladiator said, feinting an upwards cut, which he twisted into a stab. Darr-Rann caught the manuver in time and swatted the blade away with the flat of his blade. The man continued to pressforward, not giving the squad leader much time to recover before he had to deflect the next swing. Up in the stands, Garra laughed.

Just wait you turn. Darr-Rann thought, stepping forward in an uppercut slash. He caught the man across the arm, hitting an unprotected spot. The stormtrooper grinned with satisfaction as the blood hit the sands below, and the man flailed back, swearing. He had a few cuts himself, but nothing serious  He was starting to think he had a good chance of winning.

Suddenly the man's sword shot forward out of the flail, catching Darr-Rann off guard  the blade bit into plastoid armor and through flesh. Darr-Rann felt a burning pain in his side as the blade was withdrawn.

Darr-Rann gritted his teeth and threw his weight forward, slamming his shoulder into the man's chest and knocking them both to the ground. The unexpected attack left his opponent disoriented and unarmed, while Darr-Rann still had his sword. Rolling to his feat, he ran his blade through the man's chest, pinning him to the ground.

Darr-Rann cried out in triumph as the man coughed up blood. He withdrew the blade, and sliced it across the man's neck, ending his life. He breathed in and out deeply, letting the battlewrath settle down enough that he could think rationally again.

"Very good, vast imperial." Garra chuckled. "Watching you fight for your life is entertaining... Let's continue." He waved a pudgy arm in the air, and the door at the end of the arena opened again.

Well, damn it. Darr-Rann thought as he watched shadowed figures walk out of the entranceway.

"I hope you don't mind if we let them both fight you. It's just we need to get back to business, so things must be hurried along. I hope you understand." The hut said, his long mouth twisting into a grin.
 
-----------------------
Raiders
SL/SSG_Darr-Rann/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/VEA/VE/Tadath [LoR][CoR]
|WO2_Demonic/Reserves| (=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=*ee*=)(VC:B)(MC2)(VEB)(DSM)(LoM)[SWC]{O1}-=TOP PILOT=-
SENIOR SERGEANT, SQUAD LEADER/ASSISTANT COMMANDER OF TRAINING
WARRANT OFFICER, 2ND CLASS
Communications Technician
Part time Webmaster Guy
"DICTATOR DARR"
Clearly Canadian!

Perfect& Darr-Rann thought to himself as the gladiators circled him to either side, attempting to flank him. The squad leader had been in enough fights to know it was a really bad idea to let that happen.

"Hey, bastard!" He said to the man on the right, picking up the sword of the already-slain opponent. "Catch this" He tossed the sword blade first towards the man. The gladiator parried, but it gave Darr-Rann time to sidestep to his right and position himself so that they were in a line in front of him. He stepped forward, stabbing towards his opponent's gut.

The man twisted to the side, saving him from being ran through - However, the blade still crossed flesh and left a painful looking cut across his side. Darr-Rann continued forward and pressed the powered blade into the wound, and he felt it severing through bone and flesh. The man screamed out in pain and pulled away from the blade, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. The man coughed, expelling more of it - His insides were like severely damaged after the event, but somehow the gladiator stood.

By this time the other had advanced, and Darr-Rann saw he was holding the sword he had thrown just a few moments ago. One blade was held close to the man's body like a shield, while the other was extended in front of him.

Darr-Rann parried the first blow quickly, backpedaling. The wounded man fell back and let his accomplice take over. Blades flashed as a flurry of cuts bombarded the squad leader, who only barely managed to fend them off.

Screw it. Darr-Rann thought. He swung his sword horizontally with both hands, the powerful sweep jarring the man's right blade out of his hand and into the sand. Darr-Rann was awarded with a jab, which glanced off of the plastoid plate over his bicep and into the pouldron. Darr-Rann felt the edge of the blade cut across the top of his shoulder, leaving a stinging wound.

He pressed on, lowering his shoulder to avoid further damage from his enemy's blade and bringing the point of his sword to the man's chest from the right, which was now unguarded, and thrust. The powered weapon sliced through the thin leather cuirass, severing a few organs and the spinal cord before emerging through the back.

The squad leader gritted his teeth and withdrew the blade, and the man slumped to the ground, slain. His victory was short lived though, as he felt a surge of pain crawl across his back from lower-left to upper-right  The wounded gladiator had snuck around to flank him during the fight, and stabbed at him as soon as his partner had fallen. The man's stab deflected off of the plastoid before biting, running over Darr-Rann's back and biting deep enough to pierce flesh. Darr-Rann swore and span around, when the man kicked him in the chest. Darr-Rann landed on his back, his head hitting the sand hard. He crawled backward and to his feet.

His opponent winced and held his side, having apparently worsened his wound during the kick. Darr-Rann took a few quick steps forward and flicked his blade at the man's neck. The parry was too slow, and his target's head hit the ground with a thump, followed a moment later by the rest of the body.

Darr-Rann held his blade loosely and breathed heavily, feeling the blood seeping from his wounds. He didn't think he could take much more.

As if Garra had read his mind, the slug waved his hand once more. "Very good, stormtrooper. I'm sorry to tell you that time is up, however. Now you die."

Both entrances opened, and men filed out. Eight in all, armed with swords, stood in a circle around the wounded soldier. Few times had Darr-Rann ever sworn as much as he did then.

Come on guys. Now would be a very good time to drop by.
 
-----------------------
Raiders
SL/SSG_Darr-Rann/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/VEA/VE/Tadath [LoR][CoR]
|WO2_Demonic/Reserves| (=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=*ee*=)(VC:B)(MC2)(VEB)(DSM)(LoM)[SWC]{O1}-=TOP PILOT=-
SENIOR SERGEANT, SQUAD LEADER/ASSISTANT COMMANDER OF TRAINING
WARRANT OFFICER, 2ND CLASS
Communications Technician
Part time Webmaster Guy
"DICTATOR DARR"
Clearly Canadian!

Darr-Rann sat at the dinner table, reading over the extended details. On the table was a package given to him by VEI  They called in an "emergency tracker", to boost their signal when they were underground in the bunker, so that they could keep in contact with the ship.

Darr-Rann didn't notice Dawn enter the room, a package of fast food in hand. "Your shipping out already?" She said, sitting down at the other end of the table and setting the food down. He jumped, startled, then answered.

"Yeah. Some VEI lieutenant approached me about an emergency mission. Rescue op." He said, setting down the package. He nodded his thanks as Dawn handed him his lunch.

"You just got back from that brewery raid  Which is still on the holonet news by the way. Couldn't you have asked them to find another squad for the job?" Dawn said, her eyes drifting to the datapad sitting on the table.

"Why?" He asked, popping a few fries into his mouth and picking up the PDA computer once more. Dawn sighed and shook her head. He took a moment to register this, and reacted quickly. "I know it cuts our time together before your next mission a bit short, but Raiders looks like the perfect squad at the job. If we don't get this done it could be a serious threat to the Vast Empire's intelligence networks."

Dawn was silent for a few moments, and Darr-Rann started to become absorbed once more in his work.  Then she spoke. "Are you doing these because of Evani? Because of her death?" Darr-Rann stiffened for a moment. "I know you and her were close, but you can't let yourself do this. Your become more distant, spending all of your times preparing for missions or working as an ACoT. We hardly see eachother anymore. What if you got killed in mission? What if I got killed? I don't want to look back and remember that our last times together were eating lunch together while you go blind staring at that thing."

The squad leader sighed, and shut down the datapad. Maybe he was isolating himself. Ever since Evi had died, he had been much more focused on his work, and combined with Dawn's timetable he hardly saw her anymore. "I'm sorry, your right. I wont allow myself to become a human battledroid."

"Thanks." She said. He looked at the time  Fourty minutes until launch  he had to go. He told her as much, heading over to the coat rack and selecting his jacket. He walked back over to her and gave her a goodbye kiss, before heading out into the hall and towards the door, just before he got there, he heard her approach.

"Be careful." She said, giving him another kiss. "For me."

Darr-Rann nodded, "I will." He began to open the door, when she said something else.

"I love you."

He was stunned for a moment. He knew he loved her, but for some reason they had never spoken the words. Darr-Rann hadn't said them since the last time he had spoken to Sarah...

He paused for a second, then spoke. "I love you too."


Darr-Rann swayed on his feet, blood hitting the sand of the Arena floor. The eight gladiators stood around him, menacing him with their swords and tormenting him with light jabs. He was felt everythign getting a bit blurry around him, and he caught himself slipping off into unconsciousness. He shook his head and tried to steady himself.

He thought about Dawn, and their last exchange. He had to live, for her. Mustering his remaining strength, he raised his blade and charged forward.
 
-----------------------
Raiders
SL/SSG_Darr-Rann/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/VEA/VE/Tadath [LoR][CoR]
|WO2_Demonic/Reserves| (=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=*ee*=)(VC:B)(MC2)(VEB)(DSM)(LoM)[SWC]{O1}-=TOP PILOT=-
SENIOR SERGEANT, SQUAD LEADER/ASSISTANT COMMANDER OF TRAINING
WARRANT OFFICER, 2ND CLASS
Communications Technician
Part time Webmaster Guy
"DICTATOR DARR"
Clearly Canadian!