Topic: RPG: The Naltoon Assault

‘Ghost’ shook his head.  There were three dead storm troopers lying in front of the apartment’s open doorway, and the stoned Rodian was still inside ranting at the others to come in and get him. 

“An entire squad of the Empire’s finest, and you can’t deal with a single, deathstick using alien.”  *sigh*

“He’s much more dangerous..” the corporal who was now in command and his squad ducked as the Rodian threw a light fixture out the doorway, which crashed against the opposite wall.  “He’s more dangerous then he appeared sergeant.”

57’ stopped and slowly wheeled around to face the corporal.  “I’ll remember you said that, corporal.”

Shoving one of the stormtroopers away from the entrance point, ‘Ghost’ pulled a flashbang and his disrupter from his belt.  Flicking off the grenade’s safety, he counted down to the last second before throwing it inside.

As the grenade detonated with a scream from the Rodian, 57’ rolled into the apartment under the blind fire that was coming from the green stoner.  Rising up, ‘Ghost’ leveled his disrupter and fired, catching the Rodian in the hand.  His appendage and most of his blaster disintegrated in an instant.  The storm troopers quickly rushed in then and grabbed the screaming alien.

“Take this thing and yourselves out of my sight…private

“Yes sir” responded the trooper weakly. 

As the troopers walked out, an explosion rocked the building.  Bracing himself, Ghost could see the detonation coming from the Imperial research building’s southern side

DAMN…

Kicking over a small table in frustration, ’57 walked back out into the hall.  Pacing back and forth, he considered his options.

He’d lost the leader of the annihilated team, who would have been his best chance of telling him how strong the enemy presence was on the planet.  If only I’d…

Ghost froze as he caught sight of a strange looking mark at the corner ahead of him.  Slowly moving toward it, he could see the finger shaped marks where someone had held their hand there to brace themselves.  The stain was the color of…

Ghost’s Disrupter was out again in an instant.  Quickly moving around the corner, however, only revealed a dead end.  Checking the mark, it was surely blood; less this time then before, as it seems to have been almost dried when it was pressed into the wall, but it was still fresh.  Switching his viewing settings to heat seeking, Ghost could see the tempeture difference on the back wall ahead of him, which was covered by an old tapestry.  Tearing the decoration away, he discovered a ventilation port with the same drying blood marks on it.

So the hunt isn’t quite over…

The ventilation port was not one of Gemma’s favourite options to take but she couldn’t see a better way out at this stage. Her armour although fitting was not exactly designed for such cramped quarters. She shuffled her way along, praying that they vent wouldn’t suddenly turn vertical. Thankfully it forked, Gemma turned right and saw a faint light from another port. She looked into the room to see a pair of old Twi’leks watching a holovid.

Gemma pivoted and kicked open the port cover and leapt out of the opening to land in the transmission. Both Twi’leks squinted at her with mouths agape. “I wasn’t here, you didn’t see nothing,” Gemma informed them. They continued to stare at her as she peered out their spy hole in the door.

With all clear Gemma made a run for it, she found the stairwell and bolted. On the next floor she saw that it was clear of Imps and continued downward. She heard shouting behind her and was certain that they’d heard her. She grabbed her com, “Dodger?”

“Yo,” came the response.

“Get ready with the delta charges,” Gemma told.

“Oh I love it when you talk dirty,” Dodger chuckled.

Gemma jumped down the next landing. “I’m in quadrant 4, building Q.”

“Well you’re about to be evicted,” Dodger told, “You’ve got a minute.”

“Inform the Colonel for me,” Gemma said as she made it to the foyer.

”You better have something for me ‘57” the Colonel’s voice hissed over Ghost’s helmet com as he made his way down the stairway toward the lobby.  ”My position is still very unstable.  If we can’t get control of this situation, we won’t be able to justify our move against Darsmon!”

“I understand that, colonel, and I do have something.”

“Oh??  What do you have?

“I have what I believe is the Rebel staging area in the city.  I tracked the leader of the failed attack to the Royal Apartment Complex in the Bravo sector.  I have all available units on the way to surround and then search this and all the nearby buildings.”  At the third floor Ghost stopped and scanned what he could see of the lobby below; the squad of stormtroopers was only just reaching the front door, the Rodian having either passed out or stunned.  Starting back down the stairs, he made a mental note to have the unit assigned to cleaning the Rancor lair.   

”That is……excellent……if true.  If you need more men I have..”

POW

The blaster shot came from the first floor.  Flashing his blaster over the edge, he saw the Rebel sergeant fire another shot into a second trooper as she crashed past the corporal who’d moved to block her escape.

As she burst through the front doors, ’57 holstered his disrupter and let himself drop from the second floor landing to the ground.  Pulling his blaster from his boot holster, he charged out the door.  She was already some distance down the street headed for an ally way.  He only had time for a single shot, and his hurried attempt to only wound ended with just a miss at her feet before she turned the corner.

Chasing after her, he had just turned down the ally when all hell broke loose……

Gemma ran like a dark lord of the Sith was on her tail. Blaster bolts were splattering at her feet and then she heard the hum of a speeder bike, “Sith spit!” she cursed. She knew of an escape route but it would lead the Imperials to the network of tunnels that the Rebels had gained access to.

She heard the groan of the building, the explosives had shaken the buildings foundations and chances were that she was going to come down.

Gemma looked up to see that the Colonel and Griffin were holding onto R2-D8 as he flew them to the next building. She snorted, “I had no idea the little toaster could do that.”

Her glance cost her, she missed the turn down a tight alley but she decided it was for the best, it would have been too easy for someone to shoot her. Her shoulder was most certainly bruised from the early shot that had smashed her armour plate against her clavicle.

Gemma pushed on but the speeder bike was getting louder. Gemma grabbed a grenade from the belt around her torso. She wasn’t going down without a fight. The speeder bike rounded the corner in front of her, Gemma activated the grenade and threw it, the grenade exploded on impact. Gemma lifted her arm to shield her face but her face plate was ample enough. She ran through the smoke and the carnage.

“Griffin, if you’re on the roof I could use some cover fire,” Gemma shouted into her com.

The explosion of the apartment complex had come as a surprise, so much so that it knocked 57’ from his feet completely.  Looking back down the street, the entire area was a disaster zone, filled with a mass of dust and debris from the building’s crushed walls and foundations.  A speederbike flew out of nowhere up to Ghost. 

“Did you do that sir?” asked the scout in amazement.

Idiot thought 57’ as he shook his head clear.  The Rebel!

"Fly this thing around the corner STAT!  There’s an armored female on the run who’s got to exit this ally there.  I want her ALIVE!”

“Yes Sir!” shouted the trooper and he punched the execrator and zipped around the corner.

Running full tilt down the ally, he gritted his teeth in frustration at having let the explosion disorient him and giving her time to flee. 

Making his way down the winding, twisted turns, he heard another explosion, though this one was much smaller; more like a grenade going off.  Rounding the last corner, he saw the blast zone and what was left of the scout and his speeder.  Just past the smoke, the Rebel continued to flee.

“STOP!!  STOP OR I’LL BLAST YA’!!!”

The rebel turned and fired a couple of bolts in his direction, none coming dangerously close.

Running into the street for a clear shot, he fired a couple return shots on the run.  One caught her in the right thigh, causing her to stumble, though her armor seemed to have held against the smallish scout pistol.

Stopping to take careful aim, he was just about to squeeze the trigger..when suddenly his left shoulder bell was struck…hard.  It felt like he’d been slapped down by a Rancor.  The force of the impact spun him back and down onto his face

Sniper….

Hi there, I am taking a chance. I'd like to participate, so I'll be posting a character sheet and my first post. If anyone thinks I should edit, please tell.

So here it is.

NAME
Old Vik

GENDER
Male

RACE
Human

AFFILIATION
Simple citizen of Naltoon, not by choice, *Hates Empire*

JOB
Unwillingly retired Republic/Empire Warrior

AGE
Don't ask.

WEAPON OF CHOICE
Anything heavy and dangerous

OTHER WEAPONS
Shh, don't tell, but he has "a thing or two" in his attic.

APPEARANCE       > Old Vik <
Not too tall as man, long beard (grey), messy hair (grey), big wide hands, aged but tough looking. A big red nose.

PERSONALITY/HISTORY
Used to work for the Republic/Empire as a soldier, a good one. One night among others he's carried a wounded man on his back through a long way, for several hours, in a bad environment. But he never got rewarded for it. They always kept him at low rank, while the man he saved kept piling up the promotions. He endured that for several years, but a bitterness kept growing in him about it. A day came where the man he had saved decided they didn't need of him anymore, and sent him to his retirement. That was the last straw that made Vik turn his back to the Empire forever.

Old' Vik is a simple mind. He has good intentions and he can be a really good fighter, incredibly strong and very resistant. Stubborn, he refuses to admit his own flaws (NOT old, NOT short). He's always the first to come to fists, even with friends, even just for fun. He fights with a great pleasure and he is not afraid to die or get hurt. Not afraid to take part in things considered illegal either.

As much as he'd want to, Vik doesn't have what it takes to make a leader. He is not a man of details or strategies. He fights for the fun he gains from it, and to hang out with friends. At the moment it's a long time he didn't have an occasion to fight or prove his worth. He spends most of his time at the tavern, rumbling about vengeance at anyone fool enough to listen. Any offer, any event would be enough to snap him out of that numbness... he's been waiting for that for years.

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

It's dark, dry, and cool. We're late in the afternoon, indoors. In the air, a mix of smells. Sweat, beer, wine. Stronger mixtures. Some blood, some tears. A slight memory of yesterday's Chef's Stew. A lot of people. Many just have passed, many come and go. Many come to stay. Like a new home. What else is there, when you're lonely in your heart, deceived by life, less than you could be?

Old'Vik was so bored. Such a long time. Several, several years of waiting. Hoping. How can a man love fights so much? It's not a hate of the others. He loves people. It's more like a need for action. He's always been an active man. A strong man. Very strong. His mother wanted a strong son. So he trained his body to be as hard as steel. He achieved that before even being an adult. His mom didn't live long enough to see it. She would have been proud of him then... so proud. He's nearly an elder now.

His dad would have been proud of him too. Old'Vik had lost his dad before even losing his mom. When he was little. His dad died in a war, while serving the Republic. Old'Vik (he was called Lil'Vik then) was so proud of him, and so was his mother. He grew up wanting to be part of the same Forces, and die fighting too, like his dad. At the front!

He had made up so many fights in this very place, this very joint. With no reason at all, just out of boredom. With random people. He was so sick to just sit there and wait for the pension check to get in. He wanted to shake that feeling of being vain and useless. But none of those little quarrels was leading anywhere. There wasn't anyone he hated enough to really fight with all his heart. And no one was a match for him, except maybe the doorman he was friends with. That guy was so sad each time he had to kick Old'Vik out. It was happening often lately. Then Old'Vik would spend the night sleeping on the closest bench. Wasn't any lonelier than his empty home.

Strange thing to say, but Old'Vik needed a war, and to take part of it, as fighter. No wife, no children to take care of. He has no one holding him back, he could fight without caring about what would happen. But no one wanted him. No one would give him his chance. He had this strength in his hands, ready to serve anyone or anything worthy. No one would think of trying him. All to waste. He wanted to show them. He wanted to make them see. He was still as strong and courageous as always. But no one would listen.

They would all see nothing else in him than the wreck he became. Could he really blame them? Ah, if only something could happen. A situation needing real strength and courage, so he could show them once and for all. Ah, he's been waiting for that since so long...

.

Time to pack up, Alaya thought.

Now that the rebels were invading, it was time to take charge. She needed a better sniping postition and fast. A few blocks down, she noticed an apartment building. However, it was what was on the roof of said apartment building that made her especially notice it. The roof had durasteel fencing all around the roof, as if it was used for sightseeing, and the building was unusually short, only about 15 to 20 stories high. It was a perfect sniping position. Now the only problem was getting there undetected.

She moved out of the garden and into an alley way. There she crouched and pressed her back against the wall. She sat there and listened for five minutes. When she was sure the coast was clear she jumped out of the alley way and ran for two blocks. Alaya spotted an entrance into a building a block away from her objective. She decided that it would make sufficent cover. She went over to it and sliced into the terminal that would open the door, with ease. She stepped inside and jammed her vibro blade under the door so the door would stay half open when it went to close. She listened and observed. She could hear blasterfire in the distance, but nothing near her position.

On three, I'll make the last sprint to the apartment.

She readied herself.

One. Two. Three!

Alaya bolted out the door and grabbed her vibro blade and she ran. When she made it to the terminal outside the apartment building, she heard the clanging of a thermal detonator bouncing near her. She turned to her right and saw it rolling toward her.

"Slag!"

Alaya did the only thing she could think of at the time: she kicked it toward the direction it originally came. She immediatly turned back to slicing into the terminal. As she did so, she vaguely heard the screams of the rebel soldiers as the detonator went off. Alaya got inside as the remaining rebels opened fire. Before she closed the door she smashed the outside terminal to preved the rebels from getting in from that door.

That'll hold them for now.

Alaya turned and went toward the lift. When she got up to the roof, she went to the side of the building where the rebels had attacked her. She got out her sniper rifle and took aim.

There were the four rebels that opened fire on her, packing charges to blow the door into the building.

Make every shot count.

She fired at the one who looked to be in command of the others.

Headshot.

She quickly rained blaster bolts on the three remaining rebels. Each shot dead with one bullet either to the head or neck.

They never knew what hit them.

(Great post, terra)

Pol was alone, trying to sneak through the city. His squad had been wiped out, and he was the only survivor. His tough old sergeant had died in his arms, telling Pol to run away and hide. He was searching for fellow Rebels now. Pol finally found a some, but unfortunately they were in the middle of fighting Imperials, some of which were on speeder bikes.. He saw one fall to a shot fired by a rebel on the roof.

Pol drew his blaster rifle and took cover behind some rubble. He saw several familiar faces, but some were lying dead on the ground. He saw Gemma frantically dodging blaster bolts, and he ran over to help her.

Suddenly, a thermal detonator exploded, sending Pol flying into a wall. He was still alive, but the fight was getting too vicious. He climbed a ladder onto a roof, and he walked to the edge to snipe. An imperial threw another thermal detonator at him, causing him to fall off the building and land on the back of something brown and rough.....the rancor!

Pol clung to the back of the rancor, which didn't seem to notice him as it ran straight through the battle. After he got over his fear, it was actually kinda fun. He was a racor-riding Rodian! Wooohoooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pol and the rancor reached the edge of the city, and the rancor stopped and sniffed around....

(Take over from here, regimas!)

tal stopped running and sniffed around...his prey had run into the woods. tal walked after him, pushing trees out of the way and being stuck with stray blaster bolts from the city.un-aware of the hitchhiker riding on his scaly back. As tal pushed and trampled his way into a clearing he saw the creature scramble into a small base, barely as tall as tal was.

tal bent down to try to look into the strange dwelling and was met with blaster bolt after blaster bolt in the face! enraged tal reared up and slammed the tiny base with both of his fists. the small base crumbled and collapsed inward from the force of the hit. more creatures scurried around in the base. tal crammed them into his mouth, handful after handful, until the base was nearly empty. all that was left among the rubble was a white armored man. the man got up off a stretcher and tried to run past him. a flurry of blaster bolts flew from somewhere above tal, striking the fleeing man in the leg.

taking this strange occurrence as an opportunity, tal bent down and chewed off the mans legs above the knee.
the man uttered a hight pitched shriek and started to crawl away. the legs of this man did not taste as good as the rest...too crunchy. tal, now satisfied, headed back to his home,back through the battle...

Raina had finished showing Commander Raylor her quarters well before Sarge had come in contact. She turned to the other Commander, "send your troops to the front lines, they will report to the Sergeant." 
"Yes Ma'am," was the only reply as Raina walked back to her office. 

Getting back to her office, she found that the Captain was back to report in.  "There are no prisoners, just like you requested ma'am," he said.

"Thank you Captain, and now another request," she said. "I know that I said your skills would be put to much more use than body guarding that old man, but seeing as how my position is rather unstable, and that  there are many people who would like it or would at least like to see me out of it, perhaps for right now it would be best that I should have a guard.  What do you say?"

Shalashaska stepped out of the makeshift dining hall reloading his AAS pistols, then promptly sealed the door behind him.

"That's six less the Empire won't have to deal with." Blaine said coldly.

Footsteps could be heard running down the stairwell above, as well as a familiar voice yelling down at him.

"Colonel! They're gonna blow the charges! We gotta get outta here!"

He spun the AAS pistol back into it's holster. "How long!?"

"As soon as we're clear!" Griffin shouted back.

...perfect cover up... "I'm on my way." The Colonel sprinted frantically up the stairs to the roof where Griffin and a dilapidated looking droid were waiting for him.

"Sir." Griffin nodded. "We have to to get across."

"How do you propose we do that?"

"...I-" Griffin was cut off by numerous beeps and whistles made by the R2 unit. "You can?"

Just then, four rocket boosters flipped out from the droids legs, emitting a pale blue flame.

"Can you hold the weight of us both?" Griffin asked. *The R2 unit responds with more whistles and beeps*

"What'd it say?"

"Yeah, but it'll be close." 

The two held onto the droid best they could as it barely lifted off the duracrete roof, then seamlessly floated over and across the street to a row of buildings on the other side.

"Gemma, it's Griffin. We're clear." About five seconds later, the apartment building on the opposing side collapsed on itself, pluming smoke and dust. "Colonel, we best make contact with Squad Three. Four floors down, across the connecting bridge, I'll lead."

Blaine and Griffin walked to roof acess door and down the stairs to the connection bridge reception area. The entire place was abandoned, as expected. The rich usually flee when gunfire and explosions are heard.

"Griffin!" The comlink chirped. "Griffin, if you’re on the roof I could use some cover fire!"

"Will do. I'm with the Colonel, we're about to meet up with Squad Three. I'll deliver him there, then give you some sniper support." Griffin rushed across the bridge with Shalashaska. "Sir, they're in room fifteen-oh-five, down that east corrider. Think you can find it?"

Blaine shot Griffin a look.

"I'll take that as a yes..." The Corporal ran up the stairs pulling the A-280 off his back.

As soon as he heard the roof door slam shut, Shalashaska unholstered and spun one of his AAS pistols a few times, then followed Griffin up the stairs to the roof.
___

Blaine opened the door very slowly, peering out to see if he could spot the Corporal. Griffin was prone on the roof corner, with alot of new attachments on the A-280 that were definitely not factory standard. He silently walked up about 10 feet behind Griffin, who had just taken a shot on a stormtrooper-looking figure 14 stories below, and lining up another shot.

*Chaclick-click*

*?* Griffin looked over his shoulder to see Shalashaska with one the signature guns pointed directly at him. "Colonel?" he rolled to his side to get a look at what the hell was going on. "What are you doing?!"

"You were a good soldier, Corporal."

*KOWW*

Griffin slumped over and didn't move, blood began to pool where he lay. The Colonel held his aim with the AAS pistol for a few seconds before twirling it and reloading the spent shell.

Shalashaska turned his back and walked back down the stairs, locking the door behind him.

...Now I can never go back...

((Nigzy, I think you may want to re-post. Griffin isn't dead, so we can assume he was shot in the chest or something..he will need immediate medical attention...))

Jaith nodded "Yes ma'am." He understood her concern, violence was breaking out in the streets, and, though Jaith was confident in her abilities, she would need protection nonetheless. He suddenly noticed her watching him, he looked over, seeing the worry and concern in her eyes. She took a step forward and fell into his arms. He took her in his arms gladly, for once hating the armor that had saved him so many times in the past.

Slowly making his way up the small hill to the city entrance, closlely guarded by four storm troopers, Novus decided to make his move.
Whiping to his left he backhanded the trooper breaking the mans neck, before his body had even fallen to the floor, Novus had taken his E-11 and opened fire on the other three. Then sprinting down the hill threw the return fire of the sentrys, he grabed up his old weapon and dumbed fired two missiles into the overlooking watch-towers, reducing them to ruble. The return fire ceased.

Going back up the hill Novus noticed a Comm officer, half covered in debris trying to relay a report through a comlink, though he was hacking up his own lungs trying to do it. Novus admired the bravery but he did not hesitate. He reached over and crushed the comm and clones hand along with it, then fired a cannon bolt threw the mans chest.

Novus muttered solemnly as he surveyed his work: "No one most know of my presence...The Dark Trooper project must remain a secret...."

Raina looked up at the Captain, who now had her in his arms.  Never before had a man held her like this before, and especially not one that she barely even knew.  She reached up, not caring about that anymore, and took off his helmet, revealing the display of tattoos that she had first noticed upon meeting him.  Without even thinking about the consequences of being found with a coworker, especially a trooper, she leaned forward and kissed him.  He did not pull away but instead pulled her closer, softly stoking her hair as he returned her affection.  She placed her head on his chest plate, feeling the cool surface on her cheeks as the realization of what she had just done came to her.  She looked back into his eyes, "I'm sorry, that was completely wrong for me, I..." she stammered, but he smiled softly, and she realized that he was not bothered by her actions in the least bit.  "Well," she straightened as he let go of her, "We better get back to work." As she went to the desk to start checking operations on the front, she saw him go and stand in the corner, putting his helmet back on, and she felt herself smile softly.

(( Bow chicka bow wow... :P ))

**Rev - not another bloody Imperial! Okay if anyone else joins they can't be an Imp (unless they're a double agent), we have enough as it is! **

Gemma made her way to the nearest open door and bolted inside. It was a bar of some kind and the bouncer was heading her way. “Imperials with guns are coming, run for your lives!” she shouted.

There was immediate panic as the bar patrons began to scramble. Gemma almost ran into a short stocky older man. “Excuse me sir, but I’ve got to run.”

“Rebel?” He asked.

Gemma nodded, “Yeah but I’m going to be a dead one if I don’t keep moving.” She darted away from the grey haired bulk and found the back door. To her disdain it was solidly locked, she was going to have to go back out the front door. The thought didn’t please her.

She cautiously made her way back out into the bar and saw that a single trooper was standing at the doorway arguing with the bouncer. She saw a stairwell that lead to the seedier part of the building and made a beeline for it. She took the stairs two at a time, which was hard with her bruised leg.

A scarlet Twi’lek spat curses at Gemma as she knocked her over in her haste. Gemma found the nearest window and prepared to dive through it when she heard someone yell “WAIT!”

‘Ghost’ clenched his teeth at the stinging pain in his shoulder.  He lay perfectly still for a moment as he reoriented himself, playing dead.

Just before making his move to run for cover, he heard a shot.  He knew if it was meant for him, he’s never have heard the shot before it struck him, and it sounded like a different type of weapon.  Looking up from where the sniper had been, he barely made out a figure in a long coat walking away. 

No time to thank him…whoever he is he thought as he rolled onto his stomach and looked down the street.  The Rebel was just turning into a bar down the block.  Shoving himself back up onto his feet, ’57 started back on the chase.

As he got near, he saw why she had picked that place.  It had been fairly crowded, and whatever it was she said or did sent the patrons pouring out into the street, and into his path.  Both making sure none of them was her and moving forward made things slow going. 

Fairly confident that she wasn’t in the escaping crowd, ran in the door, blaster out.  A tall, large, and burly bouncer stood in his way.

“In the name of the Empire, I order you to stand aside.”  Ghost’s finger was tight against the firing stud of his blaster.

“The bar is closed” he growled.

“Get out of my way…”

“The bar is CLOSED!”  A massive fist came up and almost took 57’s head off.  Ducking the blow, Ghost drove his glove-blade into the man’s thigh.  As the monster of a man bend down in pain, Ghost cracked the grip of his blaster hard into the back of the bouncer’s head, knocking him cold.

Rushing in, he saw the Rebel fleeing up set of spiral stairs. 

Shoving his way past grizzled yet well built bar fly who spilled his mug at the impact, Ghost raced up to the stair well and took aim.

With time for only one well placed shot, he caught her shoulder just under an already carbon scored armor plate.  This time he burned flesh, knocking the Rebel out of sight with a scream of pain.

Gotcha…

Before he could start up after her though, a heavy hand fell on his shoulder, and a powerful voice behind him said “Wait!”

(Thanks a lot, Appo :D)

Yet another night under the stars for this old man. They are starting to be nothing new anymore now. He could almost write his name on that bench. Yet another quarrel. A bad one this time. Hell, he needed a bath so bad. He was starting to stink.

Back to his home, Old Vik took a few minutes to climb to his attic and check his little arsenal. He was pretty satisfied of all that he had gathered over the years of serving the Republic then the Empire. Blaster rifles, carabines, a few highly illegal disrupter pistols, as well as some grenades and other explosives, all well encased in unidentified boxes.

No one knew all that stuff was there. He's never needed to use any of them over the years, that was nearly saddening him. But he was glad to have them close. You never know when you'll need one of them... or many.

Later on the same afternoon he was at the bar again. He was wondering if he should try something, maybe make a plan. It would be fun if he could find that bastard again and let him know what he thinks of his retirement. Maybe he could do that. Would be fun, would change from his everyday boredom.

As he was examining the idea, rumors started to get heard from the street. The little people were a bit noisier than usual. Not just in the bar, all over, it seemed. That was funny. Curiosity got it over lazyness for once in a long time, and he decided to swallow the rest of his beer, get up and go see what could excite them this time.

It wasn't a simple thing to get up when you're drunk, even more to walk to a window without stumbling into each table, chair, person, thing in the way. But he made it. His new idea had put him in a good mood, and he thought it could be funny to check and see what was going on. But as soon as his red swollen face got close enough to the window, a huge echo filled the air, and the whole place got shaken badly.

The sounds of breaking glasses and mugs and panicking people couldn't reach him anymore. His eyes, usually numb and glassy, suddenly became wide awake and very bright. An intense smile started transforming his face completely. He was becoming so immensely joyful. He could smell it. This was the moment. Something WAS happening. He could have laughed loud because he was so happy. Indecently happy. He wanted to go there and see if he could take part. Could be fun! But then he saw somebody run towards the bar, then someone run after them.

The first one was a woman. As she rushed into the place, she nearly ran into him, apologizing quickly.

"Rebel?" He asked.

She nodded, "Yeah, but I'm going to be a dead one if I don't keep moving." Then she went for the backdoor, finding it locked. The person that had been running after her had a black suit, it seemed to be a trooper of some sort. Empire, he thought. I see.

As the woman was making her way up the stairwell, the other guy seemed to have trouble with the bouncer, but then managed to shoot at her again, and hit. She fell. Vik for a moment wondered if she was ok. The trooper was about to start up after her, but unfortunately for him, Old Vik was in the way.

As the imperial tried to walk past him, Vik's deep tenor voice boomed "WAIT!" at the man, he grabbed him solidly by both ends and just sent him through the window as hard as he could. As hard as Vik could usually means VERY hard. The guy got instantly stunned. Was he dead? Old'Vik couldn't care less, but he didn't think so.

He reached for the second floor and found the woman laying unconscious. She was beautiful although strong looking. "She must be one of importance. Who knows where this could go?"

There was no more trace of any numbness or drunkiness on Old Vik's face, he seemed like a totally different man. As fast as his age let him, he went to the backdoor, broke the lock open, he was out. It's been a long time, he thought. Let's hope this one won't let me down, he thought, about the rebel.

Taking the still unconscious woman on his back, like he had done for a companion several years ago, he started to walk the way to his home. "This is going to be interesting", he thought. Strange how all that happened the very day he was about to go for his own chase.

((AH!  So sorry for not letting everyone know I was taking a leave of absence.  This will be a bit of a make-up post.  So I'm going back a bit...))

Havrim and his squad had gotten the covert work of the mission.  They were to infiltrate the lower sections of the base and steal the plans.  If they failed the possible slaughter up above was to be a complete waste.  The sound of blaster fire was not comforting.So far they were unnoticed.  Their plan was take the R2 unit through the air ventilation shafts and find the nearest output.  Seemed simple enough, but there were rumours the Imps had become quite unorthodox when guarding their access points.  But that was a rumour nothing more.  Two of his squad mates were looking at the blueprints.

"Are you sure this will get us in undetected?"

"I'm positive, these blueprints say there should be an air shaft near the base of the compound, this must be it."

As they both walked into the door a clawed hand came out of nowhere and scooped up John.  A kriffing Rancor!  They weren't kidding when they said unorthodox. 

"FALL BACK!"  Harvim tried to get them to listen but only the slicer Frent (sorry kind of unoriginal) who was so timid he never led the way anyway heard.  The rest charged headlong into a rancor den.  Shouts and roars were heard from inside as the slaughter proceeded.  Fierfek.  There goes the droid.  Suddenly the rancor bolted out after one of the troopers who was sprinting out of there.  A small pudgy man (rancor trainer stereotype) followed the rancor screaming the name Tal over and over again.  Harvim looked to Frent as they peered inside.  Nothing.  No one was left.  The schematics were sitting on the ground.  Havrim picked them up but couldn't make hide nor hare of what was on it.

"Hey Frent, can you figure this out?"  Harvim handed the scribbles over to Frent.

"Yessir.  These are uh just like electrical schematics.  Follow me."  Harvim followed Frent into the air shaft.  It was a tight fight but they managed.  After maining turns and backing up and trying again Frent paused over a vent.  He whisper to Harvim.

"This is it.  The main terminal is in the room right below us.  The model is quite old and outdated.  It shouldn't take me long to find plans.  We just need to dispatch the guards."

"How many are there."

"Uh...One..two...three...  That's all I can see.  Two stormtroopers and tech.  No auto-defenses either."

"Sounds good.  Let me go first.  You follow immediately after."  Havrim squeezed past Frent and positioned himself so he could pull the screen and jump down fast.  He waited for one of the stormtroopers to pass under and quickly pulled up the screen and jumped down.  As soon as his feet hit the ground he had his vibroblade out and in between the neck plating of the stormtrooper.  He chucked his knife at the tech impaling him in the chest.  Frent followed and fired at the stormtrooper dropping him.

"Fierfek Frent!  Now they'll know shortly that we are in here.  Get to that terminal now!  Lock the doors."

Frent quickly scrambled to the terminal and plugged his datapad in.  After a few moments he looked to Havrim.

"I'm in.  Locking the doors now,"  A reassuring thud was heard.  "Looking the plans now."  Havrim could only pace back and forth as Frent did his magic.  Suddenly banging was heard on the door.

"Pick it up Frent.  We ain't got all day."

"I found em!  Superlaser for the Death Star II.  This is it.  Downloading now!"

Gavrim hoisted himself up into the shaft and waited. 

"I'm done!  Now let's go before..."

An explosion was heard as the doors were blown.  Frent looked from the approaching troopers to Garvim.  He sadly gazed at Gavrim.

"COME ON FRENT!  GET YOUR CARCASS OVER HERE!"  Frent shook his head and tossed the datapad to Gavrim.  Within nanoseconds he was mowed down by blasterfire.  Gavrim averted his eyes and quickly scrambled back out the air shaft.

Once outside Gavrim sprinted off into the city his precious cargo in his pocket.  He ended up finding a ritzy hotel where he decided to stay.  The clerk gave him his card to suite 1505 on the tenth floor.  He quickly headed up and settled in.  Pulling out his back-pack he began pulling out his comm and worked on a encrypted code to be sent out to the rebels.  This may take awhile.

((Sorry for the long post.  Needed to get in the action.  :P))

Griffin lay, semi conscious on the building he was sniping from, he grit his teeth "Ughh....what a bastard" The shot had hit him in the chest, top right, about 1 inch from his heart, and it hurt like hell He put his hand to his headset comms
"Sarge?...This.....this isss Gr...Grif...Griffon, Man...man Down!" He said into the comms, finding it hard to find his breathe. He tryed to get up but it was too risky and the fact he had no power what so ever didn't help either. He grabbed for his A-280 and propped him self up, slouching against a metal pipe protuding from the roof, covering the door, if anyone came in...they where getting ripped in half....hopefully he could still manage the power to shoot this thing. though he didnt want to try.
"That bastard best not get the sarge" Griffin thought to himself. also despratley checking his armor for the cigars he had brought. Finding one, he popped it in his mouth, and lit it up. The wound on his chest had stopped bleeding, the heat from the shot must of sealed it a bit. so god knows how long he was out for.

The combination of being jostled and the chatter from her com brought Gemma back to the land of the conscious, she drew her lips back in a snarl as she felt the burning pain in her upper arm. She suspected she as being carried by an Imp until she noticed that the legs below weren’t covered in Stormtrooper armour.

“I’m awake,” she said and the being stopped he lowered her to the ground.

“Can you stand?” He asked as his hands held her shoulders.

“I think so,” Gemma replied as she reached for her com. She caught the end of the transmission “...man down.”

Gemma fumbled for the com and tried to answer but her fingers on her injured arm were somewhat numb. She swapped hands, “Griffin, this is Tuks. Who’s down?”

“Me,” came the response.

“I can’t get to you right now, I’m hit and for some reason I seem to be attracting a lot of Imperial attention.” Gemma replied as she touched her wound with her good hand, she immediately flinched.

“Oh a word of warning, the Colonel is a no longer an ally.” Griffin told.

Gemma’s brow furrowed, “What? How can that be?”

“Dunno but he’s the one who shot me,” Griffin growled.

Gemma shook her head, “What of the droid? Is R2-D8 still functional?”

“Yeah as fair as I know, he was on the roof but I’m not sure where he went.” Griffin said and then Gemma heard the familiar trill of a droid beeping in the background.  “Okay I take that back, I do know where R2-D8 is.”

“You’re going to have to get him to Harvim’s crew,” Gemma informed him.

“I’m in no shape to roll,” Griffin said in response.

Gemma let out a sigh as she looked to her bulky companion. “I’ve acquired a friend?” she said as she looked questionably at her rescuer.

He gave a nod. “Okay we might be able to get to you,” Gemma said as she pointed back to the roof to inform her new ally where she was thinking of going. Then an idea popped into Gemma’s head, “Just hold a sec,” Gemma switched frequencies and hailed Dodger, “Where are you?”

Dodger’s response was a chuckle, “You’re as bad as a nagging wife.”

“Well if you actually played nice I wouldn’t nag,” Gemma replied sarcastically.

“Ah a bite, now I’m happy. I’m almost done with fun and games, you want me to play hero?” Dodger asked.

“Affirmative,” Gemma answered, “You got time to rescue Griffin?”

“Only if he’s got one of those famous cigars of his,” Dodger said teasingly.

Gemma scratched her chin, “Well you’d have to ask him that. How about you go blow up some more Imps for me?”

“I’m ready for the big job,” Dodger said cryptically.

“Not yet, I-” Gemma stopped as her stocky friend pivoted her around to see some stormtroopers in the distance. “Gotta go, contact Griffin. I’ll get back to you.”

(10-4).........P.s. Fett_II, I'm taking us to the action.)

Vince flew at full speed through the streets of chaos. There were blaster shots and explosions around every corner and surrounding Vince. Yet he glided easily on his speeder and paid them no heed. He whistled a cantina tune to himself as he made his way to his lovely cup of caf.

Vince turned a corner into a public clearing where there was a particularly large battle being fought. He continued whistling his tune and heading towards the HQ. A flaming Stromtrooper helmet flew by him and a Rebel cry announced that another one bit the dust. He yawned and stretched and caught sight of something that no man should ever catch sight of....a Rancor with a Rebel Rodian riding upon its back.

"Looks like they brought their heavy artillery." Vince muttered to himself and turned another corner just as the Rancor disappeared into the city.

Vince finally reached the HQ and saw Davik waiting for him, leaning against his speeder as a battle raged around him. One thing Davik and Vince had grown accustomed to was an air of confidence as a fight was going on since they had miraculously survived so many of them. Vince pulled Ol' Rusty up and parked next to him. He got off and a stray blaster bolt hit the floor an inch away from his foot.

Davik stayed there leaning against his speeder, still cleaning his DC-17. He looked up when Vince arrived and said "Check this out." He slammed his fist against the back of his speeder and a panel popped open. He didnt even look, and continued cleaning the blaster.

Vince cocked an eyebrow from beneath his helmet. He bent down to the panel the had popped up and looked inside. There was a tiny cup currently being filled with piping hot caf. Vince turned to look at Davik to raised a cup to him own lips, lifted his helmet open and took a sip. Vince lifted his helmet.

"Well....let the big dog eat." He said and grabbed the cup as it finished pouring. They each leaned upon their respective speeders sipping caf with their helmets open and paying to attention to the explosons and blaster bolts and the increasingly annoying Rebel with no legs that crawled passed them moaning for help.

They finished their caf and tossed their cups aside.

"Shall we?" Vince asked. Davik stopped cleaning his blaster and looked at it. Perhaps he had finally finished cleaning it.

"We shall." He said and got on his speeder. Vince hopped on his own. Davik closed the caf panel and sped off. Vince kicked Rusty like you would spur a horse and it blasted off throwing some fire from the exhaust that finished off the poor Rebel with no legs.

Griffin finally got word back from sarge, she was hurt and with an unknown, apparently a friend though.Griffin had managed to inject him self with some morphine, a very small dose though, enough to make the pain die away a bit but remain full operational awareness. with hopefully dodger on his way, he knew he had to either hide his cigars, smoke them all or.....give him one. He could hear voices below him.

"Dam, looks like imps are here" griffin cursed to himself

"This is charlie two, moving to roof top now, This is the roof where that sniper shot came from right?" The lead imperial soldier said to his section

"I dont know! your the one who gets told what to do! you meant to be a section commander not a lackey!" A soldier replied to him

"OI! less of that or i'll hit ya'!" Another one joined in

"Yeah!? like to see you try.....<Thump> Ouch! no need!" He replied

"Oi lets just keep quiet" the commander then opened up to them

The door rattled,

"Locked! corporal!" The soldier said

"WELL BLAST IT OPEN! jesus! start sparking gentlemen!" The section commander said with a heavy sigh

<BOOM!!!!!>

The door was blown off it hinges. Griffin readied his rifle and took aim......

"Screw it, they know im here......." he said before pulling the trigger on his A 280 UGL, releasing a thermo into the door way...

"Oh.....crap!" One of the imperial soldiers said, quietly too the other ones

"Kriff it all.  I couldn't encrypt something even if I had the how-to book."  Havrim leaned back on his chair and stared at the mess in front of him.  He wasn't prepared to send out a long-range communication that wasn't encrypted.  Gemma knows how to do these things, his first thing was to find her.  Havrim wasn't exactly the most techno savvy person.  He got up from the desk and stared out the window at the chaos in the distance.  So many...    Gone.  He went over to the caf machine and made himself a cup.  Letting the hot liquid slid down his throat he sat back down on his bed and contemplated on how to find her.

Jaith was thinking about what had just happened. He was unsure what to do about it. He looked down, he found himself unconsciously checking his weapons. Raina looked over, "What are you doing?" Jaith replied calmly "The situation out there is not as good as it could be. I could be useful." He reloaded his railgun, checking the power level on his disruptor pistol, after some thought he set it to maximum. Next he checked the seals on his helmet, found they were good and began to head out.

Raina watched him leave, almost confused.  She sat there for a moment, thinking.  Then, without any hesitation, she went back to her bunker, finding her sniper rifle and a decent blaster.  She strapped the sniper to her back and hurried to find where the captain had gone.  As she approached the main exit to the base, the guards looked her over. "Ma'am," said the first, "I really don't think it's a good idea for you to be going out into this, I mean, an officer as important as you..."
She did not remain to hear the rest of his little speech as she was already running out, scanning the grounds for the captain.  Stray blaster bolts were flying closer and she ducted behind a building to get cover.  Pulling out her sniper, she lay down, raising the scope to her eye and finding a target. *POW* the shot went straight into his skull, and he was dead before he hit the ground.  Raina quickly moved to another building, before anyone realized where the shot had come from.

Then, she spotted him, amongst a full swarm of rebels stood the captain firing off shots although even more were being returned.  Putting the scope once again to her eye she started firing, making each shot count.  The rebels stood no chance, the Captains expertise weapons and skill combined with Raina's helpful sniping soon left only one rebel standing, whom she blasted with a pistol as she walked towards the captain.

Jaith turned around quickly, to see who had assisted him. He saw Raina calmly walking to him, blaster pistol in hand, seemingly oblivious to the battles taking place around them. "Why the hell are you out here? Its not safe." She stared at him confidently, "I was worried about you."  "Damn it, they could have snipers out here. Snipers that are trained to target high risk or importance targets. You need to get inside and let troopers like me and Ghost handle situations like this." As if to prove his point a shot cracked past her head, hitting Jaith in the shoulder and knocking him down. He rose quickly, firing randomly in the general direction that the shot came from. His shoulder was paining him greatly, but he did his best to shut it out. "You need to get inside now!" "Not without you." she said. He swore, still firing back at the hidden sniper. "Go, I'm right behind you"

Raina ran to an apartment building, kicking down a locked door, pointing her gun around the small room.  Luckily, there was no one in it.  After a few seconds, the Captain joined her, panting, and looking rather mad.  "I'm sorry," she said quietly, looking down at her feet.  The Captain looked back at her, "It's all right, but I don't want to see you get hurt either, my job is to protect you, not get you killed out here."

There was silence as both stood at opposite ends of the room.  Still staring at her feet, she softly spoke, "You're hurt, we  should at least bandage you up until we can get medical attention."  She walked into a small bathroom that connected to the room they were in.  Looking, she was able to find a med pac with some bandages. When she came out, she saw that he had sat down on a small couch where he had taken off the armor around his wounded shoulder along with his helmet.  She sat down next to him and unwrapped the bandage. Looking at the wound, she saw that it was not the worst, it was scorched but not terribly deep, and the heat from the blast had stopped any bleeding.  She pressed the bandage to the wound noticing him shudder slightly.

She turned to get up and put the extra supplies away, but he grabbed her hand lightly. She looked back at him, into the green eyes, his hand still lightly wrapped around hers.  She sat back down, putting the supplies to the side.  She tilted her head, curious as he still looked at her.  He leaned forward, kissing her.  As they broke apart, she smiled softly, and put her head on his chest, wishing they could be in a better place, with no battle taking place.  They stayed for a while, just resting, listening to the battle taking place outside, like it was as far away as Coruscant....

With a groan and a shake of his head, ‘Ghost’ picked himself up from the curb.  FOOL!  You let yourself be caught by surprise just because of that gray hair.  It wont be so easy for that old meddler the next time…

If there was a next time.  Checking the crono in his HUD, ’57 saw that he’d only been out a couple minutes, but that was as good as a couple days in this mess.  He’d lost her.  Returning his scout pistol to its boot holster, he began to search the bar for any clues as to where they had gone.

As Davik and Vince set off to actually go into battle, Vince suddenly made a sharp right before entering the scene, cutting off Davik and, thus, losing Bess to a wall.

"BESS! DAMN!"

Vince came back to see if Davik lived or not, and when he saw Davik sitting on the ground with his arms stretched out, he opened his helmet, spat on the ground, and said "Come on, soldier. Get up, this is no time to cry. It could have been worse, the caf machine could have been - BESS! NO! Well, 'least I still got Ol' Rusty" with a satisfying clogging sound coming from his speeder bike.

As the two sat there, thinking 'Well, it was fun while it lasted', and 'Damn, there goes free caf for life', reality hit them, and they realized they were still sitting on the ground near the battle. Getting up, Davik and Vince went into a local cantina, where it was crowded with civilians. As the two took a table, they noticed several cloaked figures, and a Rebel trooper helmet sitting on the table.

Gemma was tired of running. She lifted her blaster and fired at the oncoming stormtroopers. She watched as they fell from the barrage of blaster fire. Some sort cover and moved to the side. With her bad arm, Gemma reached for one of her two vibro blades and handed it to her new companion, “I better not regret this,” she said as he took it.

“By the way, the name’s Sergeant Gemma Tuks,” she said over her shoulder as she continued firing.

“Vic,” replied her bulky rescuer. “But most call me Ol’ Vic.”

“You any good with a blade, Vic?” Gemma asked and watched as Ol’ Vic stalked one of the nearer Imperials.

-

Meanwhile Dodger made his way through the chaos, he was dressed as a stormtrooper however his armour was a pail shade of grey rather than white. So far he’d gone undetected which wasn’t surprising as he had once been a stormtrooper.

The Rebels knew he was one of theirs by the shade of his armour and the fact that he tended to carry a lot of explosives on his person. Most of it he had already used. He had quite a number of thermal detonators he was keen to use but for now he relied on the blaster rifle.

He was already in the building that Griffin had told him off. He’d gotten in with little trouble. Now he was almost to the top of the last flight of stairs, a loud boom a of rifle made him pause and grin, it seemed that Griffin was still alive and fighting.

Dodger decided to help. He grabbed a thermal detonator from his collection and threw it with precise measurements and watched as the remaining stormtroopers were turned to a messy pulp. He grabbed his com, “Honey I’m home.”

“Took your time,” Griffin replied.

“Hey I’m a busy man,” Dodger told as he got to the roof.

Griffin raised his blaster then relaxed as he realised it was Dodger, “You’ve got to stop wearing that crap.”

“But it flatters my figure,” Dodger replied heavy with the sarcasm. “Now where’s that cigar I was promised?”

-

One of the other survivors of Gemma’s squad was Quarry. He was busy shooting and running when he came across a pair of Imps that seemed more intent on each other than the actual fighting.

Quarry decided to send them a little message of feeling of his own. Grabbing a grenade he threw it through the window and waited to hear a boom.

Jaith looked down at Raina, her head was resting on his chest. She looked up and kissed him briefly reluctantly pulling away after a moment that seemed to pass to quickly. She put her head against his chestplate again, and they sat for a moment, glad to be away from the fighting. Suddenly the window behind them shattered, and a small metal ball bounced across the floor. Jaith reacted instinctively,  diving forward and grabbing the grenade, he rolled and threw it back, rolling again to shield Raina. He tucked his head down, closing his eyes.

He began to count, expecting the grenade to go off at any second. There was a loud explosion, the couch they had been sitting on flipped, almost landing on Jaith, he felt a sharp pain as a piece of shrapnel hit his leg, After a moment he let Raina go and stood, his helmet was on the ground four feet away, there was a small crack on the rim above the visor, he moved to retrieve it quickly, clamping it on to his head, and gathering his weapons. Raina was up as well taking cover behind the flipped couch. "Are you hurt?" she shook her head, still dazed from the explosion. "We need to get somewhere safer." she looked at his leg, "Your bleeding...." she said, completely calm despite what had just happend. "And your in shock, come on we need to move."

Jalera heard the din of the blaster and detonator fire outside, even while still inside the base. She hurried to her troops, which were thankfully by this time inside and inside the general assembly/ staging area. She was appalled by the lack of command of the normal staff stationed at this facility. There was no apparent battle plan, or direction for the poor troopers assigned here. She already could tell that they had suffered stupid and pointless casualties. She refused to let that happen to her men, or let the name of her Empire be smeared in the dung of a rebel victory.

"Men. I have been advised so "send you to the front" so to say," she began to addressed her squadron."But will i send you out to blindly fight? Where is the so called commander, head, director of this out fit? She does not focus on the fight, only her own interests. Is she here doing her job to serve and protect the Empire?" Jelera paced dramatically before them. " I know we are better than that. We will see that the rebels do not leave with what I am sure they are here for. Do not engage unless you are fired on first.  I will want prisoners to interrogate.  I want you to secure the facility and make sure no rebel scum makes it into these walls, less near a dataport. Understood!"

"YES MA'AM"

The Sound made her proud. Soon enough she might send her men to fight, but never at the cost of the mission. She went in search of the command center, as to better ascertain the situation outside. Her orders never said about blindly following orders, just getting an objective done. If that meant taking someone else's abandoned command, then so be it.

Raina and Jaith set out, evidently, the bomb thrower had scattered when he realized his plan had backfired. They walked down a deserted ally way, and seeing that it was a local bar, they stepped inside, raising their weapons should there be any rebels.  Sergeant looked up from across the bar.
"Ah, Sergeant," began Raina, "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question," was the cool reply.
Jaith sat down, checking over the injury he had received to his leg.  "You know what we need right now? We need some ice cold beer," he said, grinning in spite of himself.
Raina chuckled as 'Ghost' continued to look around the bar.  "Loose something?" she asked.  "Actually yes, our little rebel leader seems to have a few tricks up her sleeve," he replied.

Alaya finished setting up her "camp", as she had come to call it, and started to look for targets. The first thing she spotted through her scope was a Rodian riding on the back of a Rancor. She couldn't help but snicker.

I'm not completly cold hearted. It looks like he's having fun, I'll let him live out the last minutes of his life that way. Besides, that Rancor is bound to kill him eventually.

Her smile faded.

Besides, if I try to take out the Rodian, the Rancor is bound to notice and then come after me.

As Alaya looked for other targets she began to think of all the friends she had in the Imperial Army who have possibly been killed off already. Especially her best friend Garthan Co'tana. He had helped her so much since she had joined the Imperial Army and they had been especially close ever since.

I wonder how he's doing out there... Alaya thought solemly.

She then spotted a group of Rebels fighting off a couple of Scout troopers on speeder bikes. She took aim at a Rebel, and fired. The bullet grazed his shoulder. As soon as he was hit, the soldier hit the dirt and rolled out of range.

I missed!

Alaya saw the rest of the Rebels scatter and heard shouts of "sniper". As she took cover behind the thick durasteel fencing around the edge of the roof, she muttered every curse she knew. She then slid the barrel of her sniper rifle throught the small gaps in the fencing.

This is going to make my job a lot harder. Good thing I like a challenge.

"I better not regret this", said the female rebel as she was handing him one of her vibroblades. "By the way, the name's Sergeant Gemma Tuks", she said, as she kept firing at the stormtroopers coming towards them. There were so many of them all of a sudden.

"Vik", he said. "But most call me Ol'Vik." "You any good with a blade, Vik?" the Sergeant asked, watching him as he stalked one of the nearer Imperials. "They are not bad", he said, stabbing with a sure hand and grabbing the enemy's blaster in the same move. "But I prefer guns", he added, starting immediately to shoot away.

He wasn't the fastest, but his big hands were quite clever. He rarely missed his shot, especially this close. He didn't lose his aim after all these years, he was amazed. His new friend was pretty good too. Much faster than him.

Imps bursting and blowing up all over, falling like flies. He was smiling wide, all merry at the carnage. Both of them kept shooting away, cutting through here and there with the blades when they had to. Ol' Vik was having a party. "Where are we headed, Sarge? Got any plan?"

Raina nodded, she had seemed to recover quickly. "We need to return to base, I'm sure you can handle this." Ghost nodded "Of course ma'am." She stood, moving to the door. "Captain?"  Jaith stood and followed. "We need to move quickly, we dont want you to become a target. I can provide cover from above if you wish, or I can stay on the ground." She looked up at him, her gaze seeming to pierce his visor. "Stay with me."  He nodded and headed out the door, moving quickly in the direction of the imperial compound, Raina directly behind him.

They quickly arrived at the base, and entered. Raina took Jaith to the medbay, and waited while the droid cleaned and  applied bacta to his wounds. It then did a quick check on her, finding she was fine. Jaith stood, replacing the armor he needed to remove for the droid, and followed Raina back to her office.

Gemma paused in her shooting at Ol’ Vik’s question. “I’ve always got a plan, whether it works or not is yet to be seen,” she said with a cheeky grin.

“So where to now?” Ol Vik asked.

“We need to get an R2 unit to one of my colleges. I’ll see if I can hail him first,” Gemma told as she retrieved her com. It seemed that the last remaining stormtroopers had left, probably to get reinforcements.

“Havrim, do you read?” Gemma called and hoped she hadn’t caught him in a tight spot.

“Tuks is that you?” Came the response.

“Yeah, it’s me. How you doing? We’ve got an R2 unit that wants a date with you. Are you available?” Gemma asked with a cheeky grin.

Havrim was jerked out of his stupor by his comm.

"Havrim, do you read?"

“Tuks is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. How you doing? We’ve got an R2 unit that wants a date with you. Are you available?”

"Well as much as it pains me I'm going to have to turn down that hot date.  I have the plans."

"WHAT?!  How did you manage that."

"Frent and I snuck in.  The entire squad was killed."

"And Frent..."

"Dead."

"Another good life wasted.  Now we need to get those plans to the base-"

A noise perked Havrim's ears.  He hushed Gemma.  He carefully peered around the corner and saw the door creaking open.

"Someone's coming in.  I'll comm you back."

Havrim snuck around into the foyer and watched as the intruder entered the kitchen.  He snuck up behind him and leveled his rifle.

"Freeze!"

Shalashaska walked down the numerous hallways trying to find room 1505, and finally found it. He inserted the cardkey lockpick device into the door, and it worked it's magic.

*click*

The Colonel unholstered one of his AAS pistols before slowly opening the door, then cautiously stepping in.
He surveyed the large foyer and connecting hallway before proceeding, revolver in hand. He took a few more steps forward into the kitchen, noticing the Mr. Caf was going through a refresh cycle.

...There's someone in here...

He drew out his second AAS pistol and spun around to find a man pointing an A-280 blaster rifle dead at him.

"Freeze."

"Don't move."

Gemma stared at the com for a moment in dumbfounded wonder. Havrim had the plans. But for how long, “It sounds like he’s got trouble.”

Ol’ Vik nodded, “We’re going to get it too.” He pointed at a stormtrooper in the distance, “How about we go back to the bar and I get the big gun off the bouncer?”

Gemma nodded, “Why not? I think we’re going to need it.”

So the odd pair snuck back to the bar only to find an Imperial speeder out the front. “Damn more Imps. Guess this calls for a grenade.” Gemma took her one of her last grenades and threw it at the speeder and grinned with satisfaction as the bike was thrown to the ground in a crumpled heap. She thought it weird that the smell of caf was so strong.

Griffin was sitting awating the stormtroopers to come up and finish him off. Hearing heavy footsteps approaching him he braced himself.....then they stoppped......all that Griffin could make out was a light mettalic ding then his comms went off,
'Honey im home......"
"Bloody hell dodger, took ya time!"
which was shortly followed by a huge explosion, griffin jolted a bit dropping his rifle, he grabbed it immediatley and raised it at the door as a Grey armored figure walked through, Griffin gave out a relieved sigh.

“Hey I’m a busy man,” Dodger said as soon as he got to the roof with a shrug of his shoulders

“You’ve got to stop wearing that crap!!” Griffin replied to him

“But it flatters my figure,” Dodger gave his classic sarcastic answer. “Now where’s that cigar I was promised?”

"Dam it!" Griffin whispered to himself before tossing him over a cigar

Then out of no where the R2 unit made his beeps

"Oi there's the little coward! Hiding was ya! was wondering where you got to as soon as you heard the imps!" Griffin moaned at the R2 unit, which made its answer fairly obvious

"Jesus, and they said robots cant have mood swings!" Griffin chuckled, coughing up some blood
"Give us a hand dodge you lazy git!"

"Will do once i finished this!" He answered pointing to his newly aquired cigar
Griffin let of a sigh. Shortly after it Dodger picked up Griffin

"Guess we need to find Havrim and give him this!" Griffin told Dodger

(Mel, i THINK youre talking about Vince and Davik there. If so, Davik's speeder has already been destroyed. And if you plan to destroy ol' Rusty, prepare to face the wrath of Vince Glortho)

**I have amended said post, and yes I have attempted to destroy ol' Rusty :D **

Raina led the way back to her office, Jaith following quietly behind.  They walked in, as the door closed, Jaith pulled her closer to him, putting his helmet on her desk.  She looked back at him, lightly touching his face with her slender hands.  He reached to kiss her, pulling her even closer to him.  He stopped suddenly, "Did you hear something?" he asked softly. "No," she replied, going back to the kiss.  She put her head against his armor as he gently stroked her hair.  She noticed that he was still looking around the office, trying to find the source of whatever noise he may have heard. 

He suddenly lifted a hand to his ear, "I gotta go, they need me in the hangar real fast," he said to her.  She looked up at him, "Alright, report back to me when your done?" she asked him, smiling softly.  "You can count on it," he said with a grin, and with one last kiss, he walked out of the room, stuffing his helmet back on his head and leaving her to sit on her desk, thinking of ways that this situation could possibly work.

Jaith made his way to the hangar, entering the room, unsuprised  that the room smelled strongly of motor oil. A man in a grease stained jumpsuit walked over. "We were doing routine maintenance, but theres something wrong with the engine on your speederbike. "Let me see." Jaith hooked up his datapad to a port in his bike. and ran a diagnostic. "I dont see anything wrong." The mechanic raised his eyebrow, "Well its not standard." Jaith stared at the mechanic blankly. "Its not supposed to be standard, think a little before you call me down here pointlessly again." He sighed and walked away, finding he was hungry and stopping to get some food.

((How do they know who jesus is? :P))

While Novus was making his way around a corner, Solus suddenly said: "Novus, we have an incoming encripted transmission from home, opening the channel:"

"Dark Alpha, are masters are growing impatient from are lack of visible progress. We must show them what you are truly capable of: I am ordering you Dark Alpha Number 412, to completly remove both the Rebel presence, as well as the Empire's, to prove that are efforts for this project have not been wasted...To prove you true power."

"Your will shall be done my Lord"

"I know you will not fail me Dark Alpha, Command out."

Novus loaded his weapon with another round of rockets, and cocked his weapon.

"Lets kick some ass." He said said with a grim smile.

Dodger looked at the droid, "That is a very average looking droid."

R2-D8 bleeped something insulting at Dodger.

"My mother does not smell of elder berries and my father was not a wamprat," Dodger growled. "Let's get this hunk of junk to Harvim as soon as possible."

Havrim laughed as he saw the face.  "Hello Uncle."

Shalashaska smiled.  "Nice to see you are still alive Havrim.  I promised my sister I'd keep you alive."

Havrim produced the datapad and his Uncle's eyes went wide.  "Is that the-"

"The plans yes.  I got em."

"Well give them to me!  We need to make a copy right away."

Shalashaska took the datapad and settled down at the desk and began his work.

Old Vik watched as the grenade exploded on the bike, then pulled his companion towards an empty alley nearby. "There might be another option.", he said, trying to talk unloud. "I used to work for the Empire, I might have a thing or two in my attic, that I kept fresh and ready for use."

The idea of showing his little collection to somebody made excitement sparkle intensely in his eyes. He's been keeping his stuff hidden and unused for a long time, but kept cleaning each piece regularly and ensuring everything was ready for an immediate need.

"Weapons?", she asked. "Yeah, big nice things that do lots of damage", he said. "If we follow this alley we should get there in no time. So what do you say?"

(Mel, tell me if I need to edit this one. Not used to make my posts on my own. Thanks :P)

**It's fine Terra, I just expect Val to retaliate :P **

Gemma grinned at the prospect of bigger and better weapons. She was almost out of grenades and her blaster had certainly had a good work out so far. "I say let's go raid the attic."

Ol' Vik nodded and started to lead the way. It would only be a matter of time before someone came out to inspect the speeder bike Gemma had remodelled.

Gemma turned to Ol' Vik, "I think we need to get out of here fast."