Orobos, Tank and Alzhen stood outside Tanus's room. He reached out and knocked on the door. Tanus appeared looking at them through the crack of the door. He then pulled it back and a small puff of smoke flew out into the hall. There were to chairs int the middle of the room and a table with an ash-tray on it. In one of the chairs sat.

"Alater," Orobos said smiling though he didn't exactly know why. He hadn't got to know Alater that well before he was transferred but he did remember the bag full of explosives.

Alater nodded removing the thick cigar from his mouth and blowing a mouthful of smoke towards the ceiling. They all stood waiting. There was a knock at the door again and Tanus walked over hand on his holstered pistol.

He pulled the door open and Garyll walked in laden with boxes muttering a quick apology to Tanus before walking over to join them.

"Well I have called you all here because Leon has been giving orders from General Rizzit and has been sent off-world. I am now acting squad leader and Alater is now Assistant Squad Leader."

After a few congratulations to both Tanus and Alater they all sat back in their seats and an awkward silence enveloped them. Garyll stood up placing the boxes on the floor and opened them revealing a lot of sponge. He pulled some of it out. Buried under it was a dis-assembled sniper rifle. There was several ammunition clips as well. They all stood back and admired them.

"Got 'em off the street. Could be useful."

OOC:

***before being dismissed***

"Sar- er, Tanus; the escape route has a pair of Mines Alhzen & I made.  They aren't armed yet so we can get the Squad through safely.  I'll be the last man; I'll arm them & catch up to the Squad.  No Man Left Behind; that'll be my mission.  Any other orders, Sarge?"

OOC:

***after disnissal***

"Garryll? Tank here. Let me know if you find any good blasters, or at least serviceable ones, okay?  I don't like this, running around unarmed. It's not natural."

"But Tank, you know we can't carry weapons in the Stock Exchange, right?"

"I know, I know; i just want to seed some hidden locations along the escape route.  Blasters & ammo.  Grenades would be nice too, but don't ask for those.  If you happen to find a supplier great.  Weapons are like friends; the more the merrier!" 

"alrighty then!  Be careful scouting out advantageous positions then!"

Tank switched off his comlink as he scanned the streets; seeing the area was clear, he headed toward the marketplace [between Tanus' apartment & the Exchange district]....

Alhzen, Alater, Tank and Garryll finished their exploration of the open-air marketplace, meeting near the fountain in the center of the marketplace.

"Okay.  Lets review; The Main Fountain here is Rally Point Aurek-0.  It is centrally located & lower profile than the statue of a ship.  Rally Point Aurek-1 os the Pottery Vendor nearest the NRSE. Rally Point Aurek-2 is is the the Repulsorlift Vendor's Lot.  It is the most convenient wypoint between the Fountain & the Alley with the old building.  If need be a landspeeder can be commandeered; do so only as a last resort-they can be tracked by most surveilance systems more easily than random sentients in a crowd." Tank stressed for emphasis...

"Rally point Besh-0 is the Junk Dealer, about half-way from the Fountain to The Hideout.  Besh-1 is Cantina 2/3rds of the way from here to the Starport.  Besh-2 is the Neimoidian Droid Vendor.  Is that everything, Alater?"

"Good job, Tank.  How did the search for munitions & secret ares to hide them go?"

"Great!" responded an ecstatic Garryll, "I got a great deal on 6 Merr-Sonn Stun Grenades from a Kubaz vendor.  I got some low-grade Sonic Pistols & Grenades from a Geonosian merchant, and a dozen Czerka 411 hold-out blasters with plenty of blaster packs to spare!"

"I took the liberty of helping Garryll hide them in secret areas near each of the Rally Points..." Tank takes 20 to go into fine detail so each squadmate knows exactly what to look for along the escape routes.

"Now to update Tanus, and get ready for the next phase" Alater states before leading the group back to the Hideout...

"BTW, Alater, can I ask you something?" asks Tank.

"Yes?"

"I already call Alhzen 'Al'; If I call you 'Al' too it'll get too confusing.  What should I call you?" Tank querries...

Alhzen nodded "Good luck." he said quietly as he left Tank and Garryll he sneaked up the stairwell quietly walked in the hallway trying to not make even the slightest sound. He walked past a few doors which were un-marked but he heard some laughing coming from most of the rooms he past.

After walking a short bit further and almost walked straight into the view of a camera but luckily he flung himself back in time. That was close... he thought as he saw the camera move back and forth. He timed it just right and dove past the camera in the nick of time. Alhzen sighed when he passed the camera.

1 Hour Later

Alhzen checked his watch with a sigh. It has been an hour and I haven't found a single thing. he thought as he turned a corner. The only thing he had seen was a guard which had been patrolling the halls. He turned a corner and saw a dark blue door with a sign that said "Security Room" in light grey letters. There has to be something in there. he thought as he opened the door.

He looked about the room and saw 3 security guards. One was sleeping in a chair the other reading a large book and the third was headed for the washroom. Alhzen snuck behind a couch as the one entered the washroom. He looked on the desk beside the screens which showed different parts of the building. What he saw there looked to be important documents. Alhzen began to edge slowly towards the papers and eventually reached them. He looked to his side and saw the man reading the book who seemed to be off in his own world. He quickly peeked on the sheet which read "Guard Schedule" on it. He snatched the documents and headed towards the door. Halfway there he head the flush of a toilet. He saw the door open just as he left room.

1 Hour and 30 Minutes Later

Alhzen had the stolen schedule in his back pocket and so far has avoided all contact but had almost bumped into several guards. He continued down the hallways and whipped the sweat off of his forehead. I seriously don't think missions where we get to shoot a lot of things are harder than this... he thought as he turned another corner. He had explored most of the hallways where he was and has been in over 6 different rooms one of them which was actually important.

He sighed as he past another few rooms and at the far end of the hallway he heard talking. Holy Sithspawn! he thought as he heard the talking come closer. Two guards had just turned the corner when he dove into a nearby washroom nearly escaping detection. He walked back out of the washroom and sighed I better head back... he thought as he bagan to work his way back to the stairwell.

1 Hour and 30 Minutes Later

He arrived back at the bottom of the stairwell to see he was the last to arrive. Phew glad to see everyone made it back safely... he thought as he re-joined the group.

"Good since everyone is here we should be heading back." said Alater as he began walking back to the apartments with Garryll, Tank and Alhzen behind him.


30 Minutes Later

After the group arrived back at Tanus's room they all placed what they found in a pile on a desk near the door. The things they found consisted of Camera Locations, Exit and Entrances, Guard Rooms and the Guard Shedules.

Tanus was still sitting in his chair, looking from the blueprints to the slicers every so often. The quiet was starting to get to Tanus; he had been on a similar mission with the ARCs a while back, but he hadn’t been taking on the Stock Exchange before. Well, there’s a first time for everything, Tanus thought. Just as he finished the thought, he heard a knock at the door. He motioned the slicers to move behind a wall, and Orobos to get the door. Tanus flexed his hands to get them loose just in case. Orobos opened the door and Alater and the rest of the troopers walked into the room. Tanus let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank God it’s just you; wasn’t looking forward to a slaughter just yet. So, what did you find on your excursion?”

Alhzen gave Tanus a sheet labeled ‘Guard Schedules’. Tanus smiled at it; this would prove most useful. Next, the others came forward with placements on cameras and sensors, including guard stations and positions. Now it was about time to get started.

“Alright, boys, here’s the plan: Alater, Tank, and Garryl will be the first shift; take these comlinks in case you need anything. Orobos, Alhzen and myself will be your effective outside eyes for the time being. Now when you get inside and past security, take notice of everything around you, and I mean that wholeheartedly. Now, you won’t disable everything I’ve labeled directly; you’re going to set timed devices for the shutdown, like this little gadget here.”

Tanus held up a small tab, about the size of a thumbnail. It was clear in color and had distinctive pores outlining it.

“This is a small ion discharger. Basically, it will short circuit electrical devices it’s placed on, and can be set to a timer, which is this device here.” Tanus held up a device about the size of a datapad. “Now, you’re going to have to this discreetly, or this plan is a bust. When we go in for the graveyard shift, which is 12 standard hours from now, we’ll set them off. We’re going to get the slicers back in via disguise; we can’t be blowing this by some secret agent screw up.”

Tanus looked around; the apprehension was palpable. Everyone was tense, and probably none more so than Tanus.

“Now, I’ve drawn up some plans on this blueprint on what you should take out; basically, key hitpoints. The rest of you have added your escape routes, so it’s really up to you on how you want to do this. I recommend you study that sheet; it will be your life for the time being. And you can divide up your roles, except for you Alater. You’ll be in the room with the two slicers. We need some eye candy in the room,” Tanus said with a wink and smile.

The rest of the squad chuckled; Alater only hissed in indifference. Tanus looked his men; they were ready for whatever the New Republic had in store.

“Now, is there anything else... Oh yes, rally point. Where did we decide that to be?”

Alater answered: “It’s going to be back here; it’s the easiest place to get to and everyone knows where it is. When we get back from our shift, we’ll show you what we’ve taken out and what ever else we’ve done.”

Tanus looked his men over again and nodded; they were ready.

“OK, gents, you all better get ready then. I’m assuming you all have your disguises and such. Now its time to put them to use.”

As the men started getting ready, Tanus pulled Alater aside.

“Listen, Alater, I want you to watch out for Tank and Garryl; they haven’t done a mission like this, and I’m not having two troopers die on me, let alone two troopers that barely got their feet wet.”

Alater put a claw on Tanus’ shoulder.

“Don’t worry, boss, I’ll watch over them. It won’t be the first time I’ve had to watch over the hatchlings.”

Tanus nodded and went over to the slicers. They were looking around, quite amazed at the efficiency of the squad.

“Alright, guys, you two had better get ready. When they finish, we’re going to go over the plans one more time.”

Within twenty minutes, they were ready and set to go. Tanus gave all some final words of advice and went over the plans before looking them all in the eyes. He knew that this would work; it had to.

“Dismissed.”

And with that, the slicers, Alater, Tank and Garryl left the room, leaving Tanus, Alhzen and Orobos behind. Tanus turned to them and stared.

“OK, we’ll give them about thirty minutes to get ahead of us, then we’ll go. Take these comlinks and remember: remain discreet.”

Tanus threw on his coat, and he watched the clock’s minute go idly by. When it hit thirty minutes, he stood up and gestured to the other two Dragoons.

“Let’s move.”

With that, the three of them left their room and went outside, taking in the sunlight in the bright blue-violet sky. Tanus took a deep breath before putting on his sunglasses and walking into the crowds, Alhzen and Orobos flanking him, then fanning out into the populace. Tanus took a look up and saw two statues that led into the New Republic Stock Exchange. Tanus just smirked. Put whatever defenses you want up, fools. When you’re being gutted from the inside, there isn’t much that can save you.

This had better work... Tank sulked quietly.  The technicians' uniform didn't bother him.  Dying his hair blond & adding insta-tan to his skin making him look like a half-baked farmboy, that bothered him.

The moment of truth: time to see if the disguises & performance coaching the ISB provided will pay off...  The dialogue was hokey; inane to a mind-numbing-tee.  As the three technicians casually made their way through the secure areas (Staff Only) they were completely ignored.

This is actually working, thought Tank as the Fire Team cleared their 3rd Security Door.  If we all get home alive I'll buy a round of drinks for the Slicers.

What he couldn't believe was the wealth of data he had copied earlier.  The slicers had explained one of the datapads he copied not only had a full roster of certified techs authorized for the systems they needed to access, but detailed info on the Key Cards used & their encoding set. 

He was still amazed both the New Republic & the Galactic Empire buy code keys from SoroSuub; the same models at that!  With the encoding set for NRSE, one or to more black ops might use that intel within the next month, if this op goes well...

Now inside the mainframe-complex under the NRSE, it was time for Alater, Tank, and Garryl to start seeding some of the gear the slicers had made, preparing for the time we'd actually bring them in...

Alhzen sighed as he finished the fruit and threw it out. Definetely a lot better than I thought it would be... he thought and cracked his knuckles looking at the New Republic Stock Exchange building. He sat down on a nearby chair and sighed. A man walked up to him wearing raggedy clothing and with a limp in his left leg.

"Money for the poor?" asked the man his breath which smelt like alcohol.

"No, I don't have any spare change." replied Alhzen expecting the man to leave but he just stood there waiting.

"Please give me some money." said the man.

"Alright then..." said Alhzen as he reached into his pockets grabbing a few ICs and he gave it to them.

"Thank you sir." said the man as he walked away with a toothy grin.

Friggin drunks, some people just need to shape up and get jobs. thought Alhzen as he adjusted the hat he had on. He lifted his legs and put them on a nearby stone while he watched the NRSE building. He pulled his hat further down so his face was shaded. "Might as well relax since I am doing nothing." he mumbled to himself with a sigh.

He looked at all of the passing people loads of men, Twi'leks, Rodians and a whole load of other species were flocking towards the NRSE building. At least it will be easy to get lost in a crowd if something goes wrong. he thought and let out a yawn.

He scratched the side of his head as he heard a shopkeeper and a fat human argue over something. "Heh." snickered Alhzen as the two exchanged insults in a variety of different languages. He got up from his chair and moved in closer to the conversation to listen. He leaned against a pool and looked at the two people arguing. Interesting.... he thought with a smile.

Orobos flipped through the different tools in the small lock pick he had bought. There was a knife, a few different lockpics, a sort of file and a small light. He put the item into one of the pouches on his belt.

"Everything good up your end?" Orobos asked over the comlink,

"Yes" Alzhen Responded,

Yeah," replied Gates,

"Nothing much seems to be going on around the outside of the building apart from a few minor disturbances,"

"Yeah and no one seems to be in the alley with the exits leading to."

"It might be a bit dangerous coming out that way,"

"Yeah it's sort of out in the open,"

Orobos walked further through the stalls. One of the guards seemed to have taken an interest in his argument and was fallowing him. It would be sort of easy as Orobos was the only two meter tall person in the crowd apart from a wookie who was yodeling in the distance.

Orobos took a quick turn and another one moving further into the crowd. He bent low moving quicker through the crowds standing in a small gap in between two stalls he watched a few people bargaining with the trader.After about ten to fifteen minutes he walked back out into the square.

"Guys, things might get a bit dangerous," Orobos said, "One of the guards seems to be a bit curious and I'm afraid to take him out because when the next shift comes around they might notice he's AWOL,"

"Better find somewhere away from the guards then,"

After the comlink conversation Alhzen turned to where Orobos was and sure enough he was being followed by a Zabraki security guard. Hmm... he thought as he saw the large Whipid weave through the crowd looking for a hiding spot. It is kinda funny because we have the 2 largest soldiers in the empire and our squad is based on stealth. he thought with a chuckle as he noticed Orobos weave past a few people.

Alhzen sighed and turned back to the arguing pair which were still going at it. Maybe if I can distract the guard and bring him over here. he thought and started to run towards the Zabraki guard. When he reached him he put on a fake act on panic "Sir...sir there is a pair of people fighting in a shop." he said trying to make it sound worse than it really was.

"Really? Where?" questioned the guard.

"Follow me, I'll show you." said Alhzen as he headed for the shop with a grin on his face. When he arrived back at the shop the two men were throwing things at each other. Perfect... he thought. "Those are the two men that are fighting." he said pointing at the pair.

"You two stop!" shouted the guard as he whipped out his club like weapon and ran into the fight smashing the weapon on both of the men's head not giving them a chance to stop. When he knocked out the two he seemed pleased and handcuffed the 2 men signaling for two more guards to come and help him carry the pair.

Alhzen grinned as the two men were dragged off. He reached for his comlink still with the gring planted on his face. "There you go Orobos, the guards won't bother you for a while they have been entertained." he said.

"Good and thanks by the way." replied Orobos.

"No problem." said Alhzen as he turned off the comlink. Hmm they would do anything just to beat something up. he thought with a grin and walked to the fruit stand he was at earlier, bought another light red fruit and began eating.

Gates watched as the other two soldiers of the sabotage team quietly stalked off. He mentally wished them luck.

He made his way down his chosen hallway, occasionally stopping to consult his datapad. It showed he was a few meters away from a corner; and around that corner, there was a camera, placed right into a nook as to be hidden.

Gates smiled thinly the note next to it pointed to an older-class of surveillance camera, and it was slow to rotate. He walked down the hall- it had a stripe of color placed at about head height, that said, “New Republic Stock Exchange” every dozen feet, unless there was a hall, where it pointed the way to somewhere else, like the ‘security’ or ‘front desk.’

Gates got to the corner, and slipped an insanely thin wire-cam around the corner, waiting for the right moment to sneak around and place his little toy on.

Right about…. NOW! Gates leapt around the corner, managing to get right under the thing, and placed his ion bomb. He flipped the ‘remote detonation’ switch to ‘on.’

Then he stealthily opened the door. ‘One down,’ he muttered, ‘fifty to go’

He walked down the hall, and took a left, following the helpful directions; he found himself in a relatively empty room, just a few workers replacing a light. He nodded, smiled, passed along, carefully timed to be out of the camera’s view.

He reached up on the pretense of scratching his head, and placed the bomb on the camera. He walked along.

He came up to a control room of sorts, where half a dozen technicians were working, oblivious to the outside world. He smiled. They couldn’t hear a thing. He reached up to the camera viewing the room, and placed another bomb. He smiled and walked back out, silently sealing the door.

Gates found a mess hall, and, making sure that there was noone in sight, he scurried past, picking up a coffee on the way. He sipped the drink, and then finished it and dumped it in a trashcan.

Gates wound his way through the building, placing bombs, avoiding guards, and generally admiring the total lack of competent security.

He came up to an atrium, where he snuck around to sabotage the camera there. There was a pretty fountain in the middle that depicted a few business men handing out money to a trio of poor children. Awwwww. How sweet. “Want to blast the damn thing with my E-11.”

He reached up to put the bomb on the camera when it slipped. Damn fountain…! He thought.

He caught it about an inch above the ground, saving himself from discovery and embarrassment. “Whoo!” he whispered. Then the door opened.

“Damn!” Gates thought, turning away and walking out a nearby door. He ran behind a corner.

A security guard followed. “Idiot.” Gates whipped around, catching the man in the gut, whose breath went out ‘huck.’

Then he hit the man in the forehead, and he went down without a noise. Gates dragged the wide man into a nearby service closet, and hid him behind a few mops. He found some tape, so he taped his hands together, the same with his feet. He felt sort of sorry for the sorry guard, so he also left a sharp thing pretty close.

He shut the door, and went on his merry way.

Alater, Tank, and Garryl let the slicers in to the restricted ares they should not have been.  Tank was particularly impressed with how well things were progressing.  Even though Garryl had been late to the party, he arrived in plenty of time to start planting the remote sequencer charges he'd obtained previously.

The disguises worked like a charm; we are practically free to tresspass unmolested, as long as they believe we belong here..

By the time we leave, all records, especially those or our being here, will cease to exist...

Alater finishes his tasks, and double checks the rookies' for good measure.  Good.  They didn't blow themselves up; both the demolitions & slicegear are well-concealed.  They will make excellant hunters, if they live...

Alater will make sure they do; it was more than pride or duty now.  Comraderie.  They were a unit now.

Checking the Slicers, all was set.  "Time to go boys..."

Gates was walking in the market now, having completed his part of the mission. "Green one, detonate now." Alater's voice came over the comm. "Copy, detonation, now"

He flipped up the detonator cap and pressed the little red button. Now all those little EMP bombs would explode, and all those little cameras would go pfft. Unfortunately, no big explosion, which Gates would have preferred. Ah, well.

He roamed around, taking note of Alhzen's and Tank's postions. After all, he was team leader of the support squad, benefit of rank, unless Tanus showed up. Gates pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it up. He puffed while he walked around, careful to stay out of the guards' visual line.

He continued on. His comm crackled up again.

"Contacts!" growled the sergeant's voice through the comm.

Then, "Neutrilized" from Orobos. Their mission continued on. So did the outside team's.

Gates walked past a vendor trying to sell him something; he looked over. It was a box of god-knows-what. "What the hell is that?"

"Ah, yesh. Ye see? Ye see? Ye like? Eh? Eh?" The man spoke with a huge lisp. "Ah, best beer in the sector, yesh. Secret blend."

"Right. I'm not into 'secret blends'" the stormtrooper grunted, then continued on.

Alhzen stopped and sat on a rock which was around 79 feet away from the NRSE building. As he sat he could hear voices over the comlink about what was happening inside of the NRSE building. He watched the two new guards one was a freakishly tall human who had a very large jaw. The other was a rodian with no right eye, and a mean looking face.

He sighed as he saw the two guards talking. He was trying to read their lips but sadly that wasn't one of his strong points. Alhzen reached to his side for a water but had forgot to bring some with him when he left from the hotel. "Eh, might as well just go get another ale from the place I was at the last time." he said quitely and began heading back.

When he reached the small drink stand he ordered another corellian ale from the twi'lek vendor and when he got the drink walked back to the rock. He took a few sips and smiled while he pondered about what the next chapter in his book will be, the next mission the squad will be on and a few other non-important things. "Thinking of my story I might as well write since nothing is happening." he mumbled and reached for the datapad in in his right pocket. He patted around there but he couldn't find it. "What the?" he exclaimed. "I must of dropped it somewhere." he said and looked around the rock.

Alhzen took another sip of his ale and still couldn't find the datapad. What the hell? he thought and began tracing his steps back to the vendor. When he reached the drink stand he saw a glint come off the ground and looked closer. About 20 feet away was his datapad right beside a small cleaning droid which was sweeping up everything around it. "Oh no..." he said quietly and dove for his datapad. He had just snatched it before the droid picked it up and did who knows what with it. He sighed and took another sip of his ale and sighed. "That was a close one." he said as he walked towards the rock again.

When at the rock he opened up his story and his hands were a blur as his fingers tapped the letters. He was writing about how disassemble and reassemble a datapad for further help. He was writing with remarkable speed to. A little bit of the drink always made him have more creative ideas in more than one way. He downed the last of his ale as he finished the last sentence. Alhzen sighed and placed the datapad back into his right pocket. He turned his head towards the NRSE building. The effect of alcohol and no sleep were really wearing him down, he had a hard time keeping his eyes open but still persevered.

Then he saw the guards run out from the building. They were swinging batons at everyone looking to kill something. "Holy shit." said Alhzen as he reached for his comlink. "Uhh do you see that!?" he said over the comlink.

"See what?" he heard the reply from Tanus. After a short pause there came a sigh. "If we don't get to the apartment soon our cover might be blown so hurry!" he shouted over the comlink.

Alhzen looked to where the apartment building's were and bolted. On his way he saw Tanus and Tank burst out from thier hiding places. The three made a beeline towards the apartments. On his way he saw 2 large figures in the crowd with guards around. He saw one furry and one scaley figure towering above the rest of the people in the crowd. I hope they can get out of there. he thought as he reached the apartment building.

Tanus sat at a small café, sipping at some coffee he had ordered and taking small bites out of a pastry. He was getting anxious; he wasn’t used to going this long in a mission without pulling a trigger and watching something drop dead. He looked around, seeing that the sun was starting to set. Tanus pulled out his chrono and looked at it. Its almost time. Better call them out. As Tanus put his hand to his ear, a shout came from across the street. When Tanus looked up, he heard the sound of blaster bolts coming from a shop and two men running out, firing into the shop’s open door. Tanus got up like a flash, turning around hurriedly looking for Alhzen. Tanus found him, and their eyes locked. He merely nodded, and Tanus leapt from his table and into the street through the crowds. When Tanus got within five meters of the men, they shot off in the opposite direction. Tanus didn’t give any thought to anything else, and bolted after them; Alhzen was coming from along the side. Tanus’ heart was beating in his throat. Damn it! This is exactly what I did not need today. Tanus started taking longer strides, sprinting his hardest to keep up with the vandals. Tanus was surprised that he was working this hard; he hadn’t actually gotten a good workout in the field in quite a while.

Tanus was drawing close, but he had lost Alhzen in the crowd. Just as the vandals started to edge away, Alhzen flew out of the crowd and slammed into one of the vandals, pinning him to the pavement. Tanus didn’t look to see what happened; he leapt over the twisted bodies and continued the chase. Tanus was edging closer to the man. He appeared to be running out of steam, but Tanus was just getting started. The chase had already gone on for about five minutes, and the crowd of onlookers was beginning to grow. All Tanus heard were the cries and shouts of the pedestrians running in all directions. Luckily none of them got in Tanus’ way. Soon Tanus was in range. When Tanus got within six feet of the vandal, he leapt up and tackled him around the waist, bringing him down to a skidding halt. Tanus grunted as they made impact. The man tried to struggle out of his grip, but Tanus wasn’t about to let go. But the Tanus realized what he was trying to do. Tanus’ hand shot up just as the vandal brought the blaster to bear. Tanus started to force the grip back down, and eventually he got him just where he needed him. Tanus squeezed the man’s wrist at a nerve cluster, causing him to cry out in pain and sending the blaster flying through the air and landing on the ground.

Tanus leapt off of the man and went for the gun, but was pulled short, falling to the ground. He watched as the man tried to get up and go for the gun, but he snapped his leg out and tripped him. Both men got up and stared at each other, hate filling them both. The man charged aiming some very high swinging punches for Tanus’ head. Tanus easily blocked or dodged the punches, which were sent out too far to do any real damage. Tanus laid a few quick punches to the man’s center, sending him reeling back. It didn’t seem to stop him, but Tanus didn’t care; he liked to play with his toys before breaking them. Tanus was just waiting now, and he was starting to get irritated. Either the man had learned, or he just didn’t know how to play the game. Finally the circling ended and the man charged again. Tanus landed a vicious kick to the man’s ribs, but it didn’t slow him down; his adrenaline was working too hard. He landed a solid punch to Tanus’ mouth, splitting his lip and sending him backwards. When Tanus recovered, he wiped the blood from his lips and stared back at the man. He flipped his fingers in the air to clean them off, and then he charged. The man tried to put up a partial defense, but Tanus easily broke through it with a jumping kick to his center. This sent the man back, but Tanus wasn’t done. He leapt into the air and spun, delivering a devastating back kick that launched the man into the air before he skidded to a halt on the ground. He walked over to the man and picked his head up off the ground.

“Now the law gets to deal with you, punk.”

Tanus got up and walked towards where Alhzen appeared to be. There was a circle of spectators around the two, which meant that Alhzen must have done something vile. When Tanus managed to get to the front, the man Alhzen had dealt with was lying on the ground, twitching and not much else. Tanus looked over to Alhzen, who was rubbing his knuckles, which appeared to be split. Tanus walked over to him and took a look at his hand.

“What the hell did you do? You nearly killed him!”

Alhzen merely shrugged, going back to looking at his knuckles in a sort of admiration.

“The bastard got what he deserved. Just don’t try and stab me.”

Tanus let out a sigh and commed Alater on the squad frequency.

“Alater, this is Tanus. Pull out now. Your shift is over in twenty minutes, and I want out of there as soon as possible. We got in a little bit of a scuffle, and we don’t need the police asking any questions. Click twice if you got all of that.”

Tanus heard two clicks from his comm set, which confirmed his request.

“See back at the rally point.”

Tanus nodded to Alhzen, both of whom sneaked out of the crowd, which was beginning to ensnare them.

--- --- ---

Tanus was in the bathroom, cleaning his lip; Alhzen was sitting in a chair, wrapping gauze around his hand when a knock came to from the door. Tanus walked over to the door and looked through the peep-hole – it was his men. Tanus opened the door and they slowly started to file into the room. Alater took his place by the wall and Garryll closed the room’s shades. Tanus walked out of the bathroom, his lip still split but clean and no longer bleeding.

“So, how’d it go?”

Alater hissed. “Well, we did our job. The ion charges have been planted and all in the positions you said, so as far as that goes, we’re set. All that’s needed now is to get in and finish the job.”

Tanus nodded, then he looked to the slicers.

“So, what did you two dig up?”

Karken tossed Tanus a datapad with several different files on it. They appeared to all be numbers.

“That’s what we managed to turn up. Most of that is stock for newer companies or ones that just happen to be supplying the New Republic at the moment. Also in there are a few personal accounts to senators across the galaxy. I figured it’d be good to have a bargaining chip in the future should we be caught.”

Tanus nodded; everything was starting to fall into place. Now all that remained was the endgame.

“Okay, so here’s the plan. Alhzen and I are going to hit the NRSE soon. The slicers are going to come with us disguised as night crew as well. When the place shuts down for the night, we’re going to move in and mess them around. After we do that, we’re going to get out of the predetermined escape route and meet at the shuttle. I want everything on there and ready to go by 0100. When we’re on, we’ll blow out of here and keep going till we see lines. You all got that?”

There was a cavalcade of emphatic nods around the room, with Alater simply raising a clawed hand. Tanus nodded and looked from Alhzen to the slicers.

“Let’s get ready.”

--- --- ---

Tanus put on his gray jumpsuit over a black one-piece ops suit before getting the rest of his disguise ready, which only consisted of a fake beard. When he stepped out of the bathroom, the others were all ready to go. He walked forward to Alater and put his hand out. Alater grasped it – no words were spoken; they both knew what had to be done. Tanus grabbed a duffel bag, which was only filled with clothes and a datapad – which was carefully concealed in a secret pouch. Tanus then turned and nodded to the others and they headed towards the door. They went out and headed for the public transit line that went to the NRSE building. They bought their tickets and stepped on to the magrail car which was a direct route to the building; no stops in between. It didn’t take long for them to reach the building either. When they got off, Tanus had to admit he was impressed. From the outside, the building looked huge. But at night and standing right in front of it, the building was most definitely larger. However, Tanus was not concerned with outside appearances. He was concerned with what was on the inside. He slung the duffel over his shoulder, being sure to keep a close tab on where the others were.

Tanus walked into the main entrance; he glanced at his chrono. It was 8:00. Security should take an hour alone. As long as the wait doesn’t kill me. The line was moving slowly, but it was moving nonetheless. However, staring at the back of the same bald man’s head for twenty-five minutes was annoying Tanus. Just when he thought he was going to snap, he finally put his bag down on the pad that brought it through the x-ray machine. Tanus then walked through the metal detector, but didn’t set it off. Tanus smiled inwardly to himself. He then picked up his duffel and went to the worker’s entrance on the right side of the building, which had additional security measures. However, Tanus simply bypassed these as well. When they got into the locker room, Ivor walked by him, and Tanus slipped him the datapad. Both nodded and went on their way. Tanus put on his hat, even though he detested them, and walked out to his assigned floor to start “work.”

Hours passed by slowly. Tanus worked carefully on each floor monitoring all guard switches and personnel walking the halls. He said hello to a few of them, just to not blow his cover. Although, he didn’t really hate them; he just hated their ideals. You couldn’t run a galaxy on peace and love. There had to be some backbone to it. Tanus quickly shoved the thoughts out of his head when he glanced down at his chrono, and saw that it was 10:30. It was almost time, and Tanus just prayed that it went as smoothly for him as it did for Alater.

--- --- ---

The time was twelve AM, local time. Tanus looked up and down the hall to make sure no one was watching him. He then looked up to make sure no cameras were around.

“Okay, its time we got started. Find the main corridor. When we get there. Let’s finish this. Go!”

Tanus moved for the nearest elevator and hit the button for the main floor. It took a few seconds to reach it, but he was patient with the time lapse. When the doors opened, he flew out in a rush, flying down the hall and landing in front of the window to the stock hub. He looked around for the others, and saw Alhzen coming from one direction and Karken and Ivor coming from the other. Tanus nodded.

“Let’s do this.”

Tanus opened the door silently and saw a lone janitor mopping the floors. He crept up and hit him at the base of the neck, knocking him out cold and he crumpled into heap on the ground. Tanus took the datapad from Ivor and hit a few commands, initiating the ion charges to detonate, knocking out the power for the security. Tanus opened the door to the stock computer room and nodded for Karken and Ivor to do their work. Tanus stood guard by the door, while Alhzen remained lookout by the window. All Tanus heard for several minutes was the clicking of computer keys as the New Republic would be waking up with one of the worst surprises ever. It took several minutes for them to do what they needed to do, but when it was over, Tanus knew that the job had been done right. They exited the room and went towards one of the predetermined exits. They waited for some guards to pass by before opened the door and launching themselves into the night.

--- --- ---

It took less time running to the shuttle than Tanus had guessed, but that was irrelevant now. Tanus saw Alater walking up the main ramp from a distance. Either Alater heard the huffing and puffing, or he was psychic, because he turned, saw Tanus, and ran up the ramp. By the time Ivor had reached the top of the ramp, it was already closing. Tanus didn’t even look back. He just sat down and closed his eyes while they broke orbit.  Hours passed by in mere seconds it seemed. Before Tanus knew it, they were in hyperspace and halfway back to Tadath. Tanus decided it would just be better to sleep for the rest of the way; right now he needed it.

Tanus woke up just has they were exiting hyperspace. He looked around and saw that the others were in the back, most of them sleeping as well. Tanus smiled; they had done a good job. He looked at his chrono, and saw that they’d be landing soon. He got up, stretched, and then proceeded to wake up his men. They were groggy, but they didn’t argue. The re-entry to Tadath was a tad bumpier than Tanus recalled, but it didn’t matter: they were finally home. When they got off of the shuttle, they were still a little bowlegged, but they stood straight up when Rizzit started walking towards them. The entire squad gave a rigid salute.

“At ease gentlemen. I’d just like to congratulate you on your mission. We’re already getting reports from the Comnet of what happened. You caused quite a bit of trouble it seemed.”

Tanus smiled. He was very much pleased.

“Thank you sir. And sir, I have one request before we go.”

“What’s that sergeant?”

“Can you PLEASE say the magic words?”

Rizzit merely smiled. “Yes I can sergeant. Mission accomplished.”

OOC:

That's it boys! We've finished! Good job to all of you. I am really impressed with how this went. Stay tuned for our next adventure!