Onyx squad? The soldier asked himself, he had been with the army for two years and never had he heard of such a squad. The rest of the message answered his very question.

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Sergeant Rogueboy,

    Congratulations on your promotion. At the request of Colonel Neidermeyer you will be transferred to Onyx squad.

Onyx is a newly formed taskforce that acts primarily in an urban environment; their goal is to tactically complete missions while minimizing damage to structures and maintaining a good relationship with the local populace. You have been recommended by all your commanding officers and we believe that you will be an asset to the squad.
Sincerely Yours,
Major Dumas
Major Dumas
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One thing that Rogueboy noticed was that it didn’t invite him, this was an order and one that he obviously had little choice in. He sighed and penned up a response thanking Major Dumas and that he will gladly join the squad and wondered when he would need to report for duty.

Less than a minute later the Major responded with a time and meeting place, he would report for urban training at 0500 with the squad. Rogue sighed, that would kill his night and leave him with little sleep for tomorrow’s training. The newly promoted Sergeant pushed the stripper off his lap and got up to leave, the girl started screaming at him but Rogue threw some ICs on the floor to quiet her down; it worked, it always works.

The hover bus terminal was empty when Rogue arrived with only a small group of youths there. Rogueboy counted three guys and two girls; this would most likely mean that one of them would be in a bad mood as he had lost his chance of finding his nights squeeze. This posed a small threat to Rogueboy and he took the corner of the terminal, sitting on the floor and leaning his back against the wall to create the facade that he was completely smashed. One of the teens was armed with a blaster and the other two most likely had melee weapons, this was easily identifiable because the eldest of the group kept a hand near his back at all times, and Rogue was assuming that the other two had melee weapons. The guys were talking together quietly signalling that something was in the air, the girls were animatedly talking amongst themselves as well Rogue was unable to understand as they were talking way too fast for him to comprehend.

One of the youths made a move he headed seemingly towards Rogue but veered and entered the bathrooms. Rogueboy tensed, an attack from two angles at once would make this a lot more difficult, Rogue’s hands felt itchy and he began rubbing the handle of his sawn-off blaster shotgun through his jacket. Time seemed to slowly tick by as Rogue waited for the other guy to burst out of the bathroom, eventually the door opened and the teen walked out and headed back to his friends without incident. That was the price you pay for being a soldier; you see daggers when there are none, guns where there are only itches, and murderers in children.

Arriving home Rogueboy threw off his jacket and quickly took off all his clothes except for his boxers; he dropped down and started doing his every day work out; push ups, sit ups, and running the stairs. The latter was particularly easy in an apartment building, if it wasn’t for the neighbours complaining about the noise it would be much better.

The morning arrived and found Rogueboy waiting in a tight room with seven other soldiers and waiting for one more soldier to join them. The door opened and another trooper walked in this one was slightly smaller than the rest the trooper seemed familiar but Rogue was unable to tell while they were all in battle regalia. A small screen lit up in front of them, and a face who Rogue assumed was Major Dumas came on the screen.

“Alright troopers this is your first drill assignment to see how good you guys operate as a group, the scenario is a bank robbery, there will be an unknown amount of enemies, and they will have hostages so watch your fire. The training begins...Now!”
A door slid open revealing what would normally be a green room but was now simulating to look like a bank. The twin revolving doors that were typical with all banks were blocked from the other side, currently the squad had no game plan, no actual leader, and no information on the layout of the scenario.

“We are going to split up, you five.” Rogue said pointing to a group of soldiers. “Divide yourselves into two teams and go around the building looking for alternative entrances, should you run into the enemy as well as civilians switch your weapons to stun to avoid unnecessary casualties. Go!” Rogue turned to the three remaining soldiers. “Anyone of you a demolitions expert or some shit?” None of them shook their heads in the affirmative. Great, should of asked when they were all together, the advantages of hindsight. Rogueboy went over on the comlink. “We can either go in stealthy if you guys find an alternative entrance or we’re going to have to charge in like a rancor.”

“Sergeant…Good news or bad news?” That voice was familiar Rogueboy thought to himself as he scanned the glass entrance of the building trying to discern where the robbers are.

Keeping a stern expression Rogueboy answered. “Delight me.”

The female voice quickly responded. “Good news is, there’s a small light window in the middle of the building. Part of the roof is glass, I’m looking directly at the robbers now…or we could take one of the ventilator shafts which might cramp you bigger guys,”

Rogueboy sighed, always had to jump through hoops to complete a simple objective, and that’s the good news. “And the bad news?”

“Climb like a monkey on the pipes or pray you have some rope to get up here…” The voice said before Rogueboy connected the two.

“Aeos? That you?” The Sergeant asked.

“Was wondering when you would catch on, now move your ass we got a bank to save.” The golden haired trooper said.

“Alright guys, I want one of you watching the front door in case they try to make a break for it. If they do come out engage but do not over reach yourself, let us know and we’ll hit them from behind.” Rogueboy ordered as one of the men volunteered to be the doorman.

The rest of the squad hurried over to where the pipe was and began shimmying it, when it came to Rogue’s turn he slung his rifle over his back and began climbing the pipe and thanking that the bottom of his boots had an excellent grip on the rusted pipe. Reaching the top Rogueboy looked around admiring the job the software designers did on the simulation before turning to the task at hand. There was a skylight  problem was it was a fairly high drop to the bottom, at least four meters; not enough to break a bone but enough to seriously sprain an ankle or two.

“This is what we’re gonna do; drop two flashbangs within a second of each other, breaking the glass will probably have them all look up. Then we drop in starting with Aeos and going clockwise.” Rogue pointed at the men in the order that they will be jumping in. “Be sure that as soon as you hit the ground you get out of the way otherwise we’ll be landing on top of each other. Got it?”

The men acknowledge the plan and began doing as directed. The glass smashed as the first flashbang went through followed by another, the bright flash emitted screams of pain as people (enemy and civies alike) lost their ability to momentarily see. Aeos dropped in with a nice tuck and roll landing, Rogue was next and his landing was much less graceful then Aeos. Pain shot up through his leg and Rogue crumpled to the ground and rolled out of the way as the next stormtrooper landed right where Rogue’s head was a second ago. It was game time.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable Rogueboy told Aeos the truth. “Yeah still in Raiders, Darr still chasing after me with a loaded blaster shotgun. Namyr and I are dating.” Rogue said hastily before continuing, one hand on his cup while the other restlessly toyed around with the chocolate wrapper. “She moved in not long ago.”

Aeos’ eyes only slightly opened in surprise. “How did you manage to get around the rule about inter-squad dating?”

“When my contract expired we decided to...take advantage of the situation, and when I came back to sign up we were able to argue that we had been together prior to my second contract and therefore it breaks no rules or laws. What about you?” Rogue quickly added in a failed attempt to change the subject.

“Quit trying to change the subject, I thought you were supposed to move to Dantooine?” Aeos asked as she played with her long dirty blonde hair.

This put Rogue in a position that he wasn’t particularly comfortable with displaying; he loves Namyr that much he knows however most people find it out of his character. Deciding to skip the truth without outright lying he responded. “Well shit happens, here I am and I’m not complaining.” Giving off a nervous laugh that he hoped Aeos would pick up as genuine.

Aeos joined in the laughter which Rogue picked up as equally fake, however he decided not to press the issue and hoped she would return the same kindness. Before Aeos could speak a tray slammed on the table, and a chair was pulled out. “Hope you don’t mind if I join you guys.” The man quickly sat down, grabbing his fork and knife he set to the nerf sausages like a man who has not eaten in days.

“Racus, what the Sith do you think you’re doing?” Aeos yelled making Rogue jump in his seat, a few heads turned to look at the trio and Rogue made sure to stare them down until they returned back to whatever it was they were doing.

The man named Racus put his hand up and signalized for some time as he finished what was in his mouth, a few seconds later he took a sip of his drink and spoke. “I was grabbing my lunch and as I was looking for a seat I noticed my baby sister talking with a friend.” Racus motioned toward Rogueboy before continuing. “Who she has not told me about, so naturally my curiosity took over and here I am. So A, who is this stranger?”

OOC: If I don’t have Racus’ personality down properly PM me and Ill fix it up

Aeos gave Rogue a playful shove into the briefing room before following him in. A figure standing behind a small poll looked up, it was Major Dumass. The figurehead of Onyx squad nodded as the troopers filed in and grabbed nearby seats. “Alright troops, I had a mission planned but if any of you cared to watch the holonet before arriving here you will of noticed that a group of terrorists from the Fahma organization has seized an office building. They have taken hostages and are making demands that we release their captured brethren. I figured this would be a good mission for Onyx squad, we have a mobile command post waiting for us with our necessary equipment inside. Let’s get moving before they decide to start executing hostages.”

With that the squad followed the Major outside the briefing room and through a series of corridors before a converted transport truck stood before them. The truck was outfitted with a number of satellites and receivers that would allow it to communicate to an army in the field.

“I have a bad feeling about this A.” Rogue mumbled to Aeos as the squad was stepping inside the command center.

“Relax you’re just nervous about fighting in an urban environment, Raiders prepares you for everything else except the most common. Just remember what we rehearsed.” Aeos gave Rogue a two handed slap on the ass when they climbed the four stairs entering the vehicle.

The ride was fast as an escort of local law enforcement officials rushed through the street clearing any traffic that hindered their movement. They had arrived at their location within ten minutes instead of the thirty minutes it would of taken otherwise.  Rogue could tell that he was extremely nervous he trigger finger was starting to twitch a sensation that had not affected him since his gladiator days.

Aeos had noticed Rogue was staring at his hands and she ruffled his hair, this earned her a raised eyebrow from a squad mate but she stared him down. Not saying anything because in times like these words are but chafe on the wind.

Major Dumas was standing behind a holographic likeness of the building. “The tubelifts have been deactivated and to lower the chance of raising the alarm we’re going to drop the squad on the roof via drop ship. The squad will proceed through a rooftop entrance and will end up in a lobby, from there you will proceed to clear out the building. The Fahma are dedicated and would not think twice about killing themselves to further their goals. We’re done, outside is the drop ship.”

The squad hurried out, looking past the police barricades, Rogue was able to see seemingly hundreds of cameras from news crews. This was either going to make or break Onyx squad, he thought to himself as he jumped into the open drop ship and grabbed a handle that would prevent him from falling out. The squad filed in and the drop ship took off.

“What are you guys feeling?” Rogue asked the squad as they were airborne.

“Gonna be a piece of cake, I tag ‘em you bag ‘em mission.”  One of the trooper’s said in a show of bravado.

“Good to know someone is gun ho.” Rogue answered in response.

“Mission is a mission, either we do it or we die.” Another one said as he shrugged his shoulders.

“This is something I’ve trained my whole life for, I’m not gonna pass up the opportunity to prove myself to the Empire.” A third voice chimed in.

“I’m just here for the free ammo.” Aeos said earning a few chuckles and a smile from Rogueboy.

“Thought you were here to protect my scruffy ass?” Rogue said.

“If your ass is scruffy it’s going to need more than me to just save it, dare I say a red Twi’lek?” Rogue could picture the grin on Aeos’ face as she said that, however the helmet didn’t give him the pleasure.

Rogue did not feel like getting teased about Namyr, they had hit a rough patch and while neither of them was willing to call it quits they knew that unless something changed the future offered bleak hope. Kind of like that pit in Rogue’s stomach when he thought about their current mission.