Training Operation 3.08

Alright, before I post the intro and get everything going, I'm wanted a write in a few rules/tips for writing in run-ons. PLEASE pay attention to all of these when you do your posts. Since this is for a Clan competition and I like my RO's to look nice, I will NOT hesitate to edit/remove posts that do not follow the rules. So here they are:


1) When you are going to post, first go to the MB and create a new post that says posting". Then go back and edit that original post with your full text. This is to stop people from posting while someone else is writing something, which could screw up
the storyline. Make sure to edit over your "posting" post so that we don't have excess crap clogging the RO.

2) Remember to remove your Signature from all of your posts (Exception: If your MB nick is different than your DB nick, you should show your signature ONCE) This helps keep the story flowing so it is not interrupted by large sig images and ID lines

3) Follow the commands of your leaders be they battleteam, House Summit or Clan Summit. Run Ons are done in-character and in-character you wouldn't violate a direct order given by your superior - that makes you dead

4) No God-Moding (i.e. making yourself invincible). Everyone does this in their writing though younger members seem to have more trouble with this. Even though we are Dark Jedi we are not invincible. Don't take on situations you wouldn't survive. Work as a team to overcome large obstacles.

5) Stick with the main plot. Don't create random spin-off adventures for yourself unless a Summit member has directly told you to do so. This keeps the continuity going strong and makes for a more enjoyable story.

6) No double posting (posting twice in a row. If you really need to add something right away edit your previous post instead of creating a new one)

7) Have Fun

Thats all I can think of right now, I might add some if they come to me (or if I notice things in the Run-on).

As for how this competition will work - the run-on will go until it has come to a satisfactory conclusion. Then I will read all of the posts again and choose winners based on the quality of their posts, and how those posts contributed to the flow of the run-on as a whole. They will be awarded crescents for their efforts.

I STRONGLY encourage everyone to participate. Most every DB competition has a run-on in it, and beyond being fun...they're good practice. ALSO - some members are mentioned by name in the introduction. If your name isn't mentioned, that DOES NOT mean you can't post. The intro also says that "volunteers" came along with the other members. So EVERYONE can and should post.

Good luck!

Part I – Prelude

The Headquarters of Clan Taldryan was bursting with activity. Numerous members of both houses had been called to Karufr by their Consul, and the majority of the shuttles had just arrived.

“Anybody know what in the hell is going on around here?” asked Primarch Sithspawn, more affectionately known as ‘Ziggy’.

“I haven’t heard much, rumor has it there’s some training sim for us to do” Battlemaster Crix Madine yelled back.

Exarch Swiper stood at the bottom of the Shuttle’s ramp waiting for the slower Dinaari members to catch up, “If it’s just a training sim, why in Sith’s name do we need all this gear?” The Exarch motioned towards the cargo shuttles being unloaded nearby; crates full of weapons, armor, ammunition, and all the intricacies of war had been quickly packed in what most would call a logistical miracle back on Altur.

A yell came from the Ektrosis shuttle unloading nearby, “Man do you Dinaari guys like to bitch, for big bad warriors you sure are a group of whiners.” This immediately drew the attention of everyone nearby, but the affront had come from none other than Ektrosis Aedile Chaosrain, who was known to hold his own in battle.

Ziggy uttered some choice expletives and said, “Sure you can be quiet, you probably know what’s going on, Mr. Big-shot Aedile.”

Chaosrain nodded and laughed, “I have a vague idea, I do know for sure that we need to be in the HQ in ten minutes or Kir will fry all of us.”

Ziggy smirked, “Let him try, just let that bastard try.” The group laughed and picked up the pace, eager to find out the reason for their arrival.

****

“Briefing room is beginning to fill up, sir” reported the Cohors Praetorian.

Consul Kir Taldrya Katarn turned and nodded, “Very good, wait outside until we are finished here.” The bodyguard bowed and left the Situation Room, leaving the Consul alone with the others gathered together. At the large central table sat Proconsul Shadow Taldrya, Dinaari Quaestor Benevolent and Aedile Duga, and Prelate Shaithis Var’rek. Kir looked at the group, and then at the chrono on the wall, “Anyone know where Chaosrain is?” A moment later the door slid open, and Ektrosis Aedile Chaosrain hurried in and took his seat.

Kir smirked and began the leaders briefing, “As most of you have probably assumed, our forces gathering here today are going to be taking part in a large training-op. We’ve pulled members from both Dinaari and Ektrosis, specifically selecting some members for various reasons, with other volunteers taken from both Houses.” The Consul paused and looked down at his Datapad, “The selected members are: Adept Flechette, Primarch Sithspawn, Exarch Swiper, Exarch freshjive, Archpriest Nexusmage, Battlemaster Crix, Knight Kraval, Knight Tiberius, Guardian Armagedon, Guardian Vodo, Protector Zhilvinas, Protector Taigikori, Acolyte Aevin, Novice Jaysen. They, along with those gathered here, will either be commanding or operating among our own armed forces selected for this op. Any other volunteers that have come along will be embedded in various units to support the operation.”

Benevolent spoke up, “Aren’t some of these guys a little new? I know it’s just a training-op, but are we really taking an Acolyte and a Novice?”

Shadow, having planned the event with Kir, explained, “The best way of learning is to experience the real thing. I know our House training programs are top-notch, but we want to expose our members to new situations.”

Kir nodded, “The lessons they learn here they’ll take back to their Houses with them, and it will help prepare everyone for events in the near future.” Kir let that last part hang for a moment, partially to let everyone know that only he knew the whole story here, and partially for fun.

Just then the door slid open and the Cohors Praetorian bowed to Kir, “Sir, all of the arrivals are assembled in the briefing room.”

Kir nodded, “Very well. During the briefing assignments will be given out, and then we will break into smaller groups for mission-specific instructions. Dismissed.” The leaders stood and filed out of the situation room, leaving only Kir, Shadow, and Shaithis.

“So when do we drop the full story on them?” asked Shadow.

“Right before things get going, I want to see how seriously people take our training. That and I want to see how well people think on their feet” said Kir. “Shaithis, have all the preparations with our contacts been completed?”

Shaithis nodded, “They are getting into position as we speak. I’m going to check their preparations later this afternoon.”

“Excellent,” said Kir, “make sure they have the best intelligence we can offer.” Shaithis nodded in agreement, and the three left to meet the others.

****

The briefing room was only about half-filled, but even without the aid of the force you could feel the energy coming from inside. Taldryan had built its fearsome reputation through years of combat, and while the House training programs were carefully designed to maximize all members potential…a large training-op always got people excited.

Dark Jedi Knight Kraval kicked the chair in front of him, and Nexusmage turned to face him, “Why exactly did we hustle to get in here just to wait?”

“Not sure,” said Nexusmage, “Kir’s usually pretty strict about being on time.”

Ziggy turned around, “Maybe he’s just doing it to ice the newbs. I mean look at them! Hey, Jaysen,” he yelled to the Novice in the rear, “feeling nervous yet!?”

The veterans laughter was cut short as the Consul entered the room, “Quiet down everyone, let’s get going.” Everyone found their seats and the room fell silent, while Taldryan members enjoyed messing around, they were quick to put their game-faces on. “Tomorrow at 0500 we will be launching Training Operation 3.08. The op will simulate an attack on enemy-held territory, the specific target being a small city and the surrounding areas. For more specific details, here is Prelate Shaithis.

The Barabel quickly made his way to the podium. Kir had brought Shaithis into the planning to make use of his knowledge as a former Obelisk High Commander. He was an excellent field tactician and amazing warrior, the natural leader for Taldryan’s army. Shaithis tapped the command console and the blue haze of a hologram map materialized in everyone’s view. “This is the target area. The city itself is five square kilometers, with the surrounding area adding another twenty. The area is defended by a very well-trained force; their strength is estimated to be four to five thousand, along with armor and support vehicles. We estimate the civilian inhabitants at nearly twenty-thousand as well, and civilian casualties will be avoided at all costs during the operation.”

Shaithis continued on, providing a very thorough briefing and finished by handing out assignments, “Kir and Shadow will be the operational command with freshjive attached directly to them. Flech, Ziggy, Swiper, Nexusmage, Crix, and Kraval will operate as squad commanders. Tiberius, Armagedon, Vodo, Zhilvinas, Taigikori, Aevin, Jaysen, and all of our other volunteers will be embedded with existing units as support. Beyond all of you gathered here, we will be committing one-thousand Army and SpecForce personnel, as well as intelligence units. There will be no air support of any kind. This operation is going to be as real as it gets folks, so be prepared.”

As Shaithis finished, Kir returned to the podium, “An extra detail. Shaithis went over weapon inventories, but I want to make this point very clear. Lightsabers shall be brought into combat, but shall be used only when absolutely necessary. The objective is to allow few if any civilians to know we are anything other than a normal invading army. Any witnesses to lightsaber or overt force usage should be detained if possible, or killed. That is all.”

Everyone stood to attention as the leaders left the room. As soon as they were gone the chatter exploded. “Damn man,” said Crix, “no air cover, why the hell am I here?!”

“They probably thought your fat-ass needed some exercise” Ziggy shot back.

Aevin finally spoke up, “Not to sound too newb-ish, but when the Consul says ‘kill’…?”

Still posed quietly in his seat, freshjive replied without turning his head, “All personnel involved in training-ops wear sensor equipment over their armor. Blasters and lightsabers have their power settings drastically reduced, and the sensors report hits by these blasts as ‘wound’ or ‘kill’, in which case you act accordingly.”

Nexusmage looked over, “Yeah, what he said.”

“Alright you lazy-asses, let’s get moving!” said Flech, who was the defacto senior squad leader. “Get organized, go over target lists, and hit the sack. Gear up is at 0400.” Everyone got working on their individual tasks as ordered, and the massive Taldryan war machine was on the move once again.




Part II – The Switch

It was 0400 and the men were stirred. Veterans awoke easily and began to get into their gear; newbs had hardly slept and could barely keep from shaking. Kir donned his black commando armor over the climate-controlled body suit, remnants from his days in the Imperial SpecForce. Along with his gear, he gathered his lightsaber, modified BlasTech E-14 carbine, backup pistol, combat knife, and concussion grenades. The Consul had been a soldier for a long time, and he enjoyed when he had the opportunity to hone his skills on the battlefield.

Kir left his quarters and took the Turbolift down to the hangar sublevel. The doors opened to reveal Proconsul Shadow in his customized black battle armor. The Primarch had his two lightsabers clipped to his belt beside Frag grenades. He held his modified Bryar pistol and his gear pack had trip mines attached. “It’s been quite awhile we’ve been all geared up like this, eh?”

Kir smirked, “Not since the last Great Jedi War, feels good to escape the administrative stuff for some real action.”

“What, sparring in the training areas not enough for you?” Shadow asked. The Consul looked at his old friend and smirked, they were both lifelong warriors, and only real combat truly satisfied their tastes. The two turned a corner and entered the main hangar bay, which had been turned into the meet and gear point for the morning.

The bay, which normally housed a squadron of TIEs along with various other ships and equipment, had been emptied to make room, although it was hardly empty now. Half of the one-thousand army and SpecForce troops to take part in the op were gathered here, the other half having already departed for their launch positions. Along with the soldiers, the bay was filled with AT-STs, speeder bikes, troop transports, mobile artillery, Chariot LAVs, and all the various instruments of war. A platform had been assembled at the rear of the bay, and the summit quickly made their way to its base.

Shaithis waited there for him, the large Barabel wore his battle armor like a second skin and was talking into a commlink. Kir waited for him to finish, “Is everything prepared?” Shaithis nodded and motioned for Kir to climb the platform. He then ordered the assembled troops to stand ready to receive orders. The Consul and Proconsul looked out across their forces, and Kir began his address.

“It is now 0445. In fifteen minutes our operation will begin. Having reviewed the preparations I am confident this will be the most successful training-op in recent history. I do, however, have a slight change in plans.” The Consul looked glanced back at Shadow and Shaithis, currently the only two people smiling in the entire Hangar Bay. “You may have noticed that the sensor gear has not yet been issued, and if you check your blasters, you will notice the power settings remain at normal levels.” Kir could feel the anticipation growing in the chamber; the fear fed the massive Dark Side energy already present. “Waiting for us in our target area are four thousand highly skilled mercenaries who have been hired to defend their ground. They have the latest weapons, including armored vehicles and advanced communications. They also have no means of escape due to several ‘accidents’ in the past few days. Have no doubt that these very skilled soldiers will stand their ground.”

Kir paused a moment to let the information soak in. He had spent months with Shadow and Shaithis planning how to pull this event off. Hiring the mercenaries, shuttling them in, manufacturing a series of incidents that kept them secluded and yet motivated, it had all gone perfectly. Now they were going to test their armed forces against a numerically superior force without air support of any kind. The risks were high, and many of their own would die in the upcoming battle, but Taldryan’s leaders firmly believed only the toughest training would allow their Clan to keep its razor-sharp edge. Returning his attention to the crowd, he continued “You know your assignments, you have your equipment. Operation begins….now!


Out of character -

For everyone's use, I have included this map (which will be mentioned in upcoming posts). You can use it to get a better idea of the city we're fighting in. Up is North, as indicated on the map. Also, the black sections on all sides aren't just black holes...they're the city outskirts, that eventually meld into a forest. For what the colored areas mean, you'll have to read my next post.

Thirty minutes later…

A Chariot LAV command speeder and its escort sat parked in a small dell while its occupants surveyed the target zone. Three figures lay prone on the top of a hill, Kir and Shadow looking through pairs of macrobinoculars, while freshjive viewed his world through the scope of a BlasTech E-17D sniper rifle. “Contact west grid, elevation 2.5, distance 740 meters” Kir said. Freshjive moved his rifle towards the target area and saw a squad of Taldryan forces about to enter a courtyard next to a security building.

Shadow had his eyes on the target building as well, and he saw two figures slowly entering an area across from the courtyard, putting them in a perfect position to fire on the friendly force. “Next building right, second floor, two marks.”

“On it” freshjive said, and within seconds two bolts lanced across the landscape.

“Good hits, targets down” Kir confirmed. The Taldryan force from the courtyard was now entering the adjacent building, thanks to the cover from their angels in the rear. “Ok, let’s get back to the LAV and check the progress.” The three packed their gear and headed back to their command speeder, where Shadow brought up the holomap of the entire area. Forces reported their positions and along with the sensors in the gear that tracked their positions, the map was constantly updated for the commanders.

“It looks like the only place we’ve broken into the actual city is the west side” Shadow said, indicating the area on the map where they currently were. “Enemy vehicles have the eastern forces pinned in the forest outside the city. It looks like Flech and Ziggy’s advance has bogged down.” The problem was not unanticipated, for the eastern half of the city held a key bridge crossing the enemy wouldn’t want to give up easily.

Kir nodded, “Alright, have Crix bring two units around to help that push. Are the Northern forces near the Red zones yet?” Before the battle, each field commander had been given a detailed map of the interior portion of the city. There were four “Red Zones” that were the first areas that needed to be secured by Taldryan forces. Beyond that, the “Yellow Zone” was where the bulk of the mercenary forces were suspected to be, with the “Green Zone” containing their likely command post.

Shadow zoomed in on the northern advance, and small blue numbered dots could be seen moving towards the upper Red Zones, “It looks like Swiper, Nexusmage, and Kraval’s units are making good progress, they should cross into the city very soon.”

Freshjive stepped out of the LAV his face emotionless as usual, “Reports just came in, and apparently none of our newbs have bitten the dust yet.” Unit commanders to whom Dark Jedi had been assigned had been told to report in periodically on their condition and performance. “Apparently they’ve adjusted well to conditions thus far.” That meant the specially-selected members and volunteers were doing well in their combat roles across the area, good news for the summit.

Kir looked at Shadow, “Bring up our summit member positions.” The Proconsul keyed in a few commands, and the southern and western sides of the map lit up in several areas. Beneveolent was with a small SpecForce demolitions team moving into position to cut power to the western half of the city. Duga was leading the platoon the summit had seen earlier in their macrobinoculars in their assault, and Chaosrain was leading an assault team four blocks to Duga’s right. “Now zoom to all Jedi involved.” The map zoomed out, and dots appeared all over the perimeter, showing the various Jedi embedded in combat units in various fights.

“Everything seems to be going well so far” commented Shadow. Just as he said that, two GPT-117 troop transports rolled up next to the LAV. “Looks like our team is here” said the Proconsul.

“Let’s get loaded up so we can hit this post here,” Kir said, indicating a small enemy outpost a few hundred yards away. “After we open up this street, we can move the next three teams in with vehicle support.” The Consul and Proconsul were making their way back into the speeder when Kir turned, “jive, take one of the speeders and a spotter if you want, go cause some trouble and report back to us when you can.” With that the two leaders climbed into the Chariot LAV and sped away.

Crix got his orders from Kir and turned to his troops, muttering under his breath about wanting a TIE. "Looks like we have a change of plan. We're gonna be helping Flech and Ziggy's squads on the east side." He checked his weapons one last time, he carried his lightsaber clipped to his belt as well as his sith katana and a blastech E-14, as well as a DL-44 pistol. Everything seemed to be in order and he waved his troops on. They were only about a klick from Flech and Ziggy so they didn't bother with speeders.

When they got there Crix watched the scene unfold before him. Smiling, he walked up to Flech and said "So how's it hangin?." Flech grinned and pointed to a bridge running north just inside the city. "They have some Chariots up there that are keeping us from getting through."

Crix just grinned and yelled back at the troops he'd brough up with him "Gimme the BFG!" Flech looked puzzled for a moment, then almost fell over when a soldier ran up carrying a very large rail gun. Crix took the gun and aimed at the lead vehicle. He fired and a projectile flew out of the gun, which kicked hard enough to knock Crix back a step or two, and into the first Chariot before it exploded. "Damn, maybe I can have a little fun on the ground too." He said, grinning at the destruction he caused. Turning back to the soldier he said "Finish the job." Then walked off with Flech.

As Kir and Shadow moved off in the LAV, freshjive pulled out his map to establish a plan. The western assault was going as planned, the east would be moving along shortly as soon as Zigs and Flech got rid of the rust they were carrying around from too many nights at the bar.

The north side of the city had no major objectives that the clan needed to capture and looked like a good spot to infiltrate the inner sections. freshjive figured he'd take a speederbike and go around to the north and see what he could do.

The trip took him nearly fourty five minutes to go around all the action and arrive at the north side of the city. Taldryan was clearly geared up and causing mayhem in as many ways possible. The arrival of Crix at Ziggy and Flech's position returned the initiative to that thrust and the bridge crossing should be taken in a couple of hours. freshjive was stalking through the northern outskirts of the city, moving along alleyways and avoiding any patrols he came upon. While not used to operating in daylight, freshjive had learned long ago how to slip through enemy lines undetected. First though, he had to find a uniform he could borrow. His opportunity came in an unexpected way. The alley he was using to move towards the enemy lines was narrow and smelled of garbage and fuel. The mercs seemed to know of this problem and avoided the alley at all costs, except for one.

"Hey Korba! I gotta take a piss!" yelled one of the mercs on the street over.

"Hurry up ya louse! We've gotta move out in two minutes, you ain't here, I'm leavin yer ass!" came the reply.

freshjive moved himself against the wall of a large brick building and slung his rifle over his shoulder. He removed his knife from its sheath and waited for the approaching merc. The sound of the vehicles starting up shook the ground and provided a cover for any noise that might catch the ears of the mercs. The pisser approached and stepped into the alley, not noticing freshjive pressed against the wall. He stepped to the wall that made one side of the alley and unzipped his pants. In a blur of speed freshjive had grabbed him from behind, wrapping his arm around his throat and pressing the knife aginst the man's neck. He moved them away from the opening in the alley.

"Hi there," freshjive said quietly.

"Wha..who are you?" the pisser choked out.

"Just a figment of your imagination, now, whats going on out there?"

"I, I don't know, some kind of supply convoy!"

freshjive detected the lie and squeezed his arm around the man's throat, cutting off air and blood vessels. The man struggled and gasped, almost passing out. The sounds of the convoy moving away drifted down the alley, apparently, Korba hadn't been lying to the man.

"Oops, looks like you missed your ride. Now, lie to me again and I'll use this knife to cut your windpipe out of your neck."

"Ok, ok! I have some information on a datapad in my pocket, everything is on there!"

"Thanks," said freshjive, who then quickly and powerfully kicked the man in his kidneys with his knee, shocking his cardiovascular system and killing him. He replaced the knife and lowered the man to the ground. He swiftly removed the uniform from the merc and stashed his own in the pack on his back. He donned the new uniform and checked the pockets to find the datapad. Sure enough it was there and it actually had some helpful intel. freshjive would transmit it to Kir and Shadow once he had found a place to hole up inside the yellow zone.

As he neared the yellow outline on the map, there was a growing presence of mercs and armor. It appeared that they were trying to organize a counterattack and were using the relatively quiet northern sector as a staging area. His map indicated he was close to the green zone so he decided to find a suitable place to hide. There was a tall, long, and rectangular building on the eastern edge of the yellow zone that looked abandonded so he chose that has his spot. The building was abandoned, it seemed to have been used as a factory of some sort, but now just housed birds and the occasional family of rats. freshjive climbed the stairs to the highest point inside the building and walked around until he could see the enemy HQ. to his right and north, he could see for about a mile, to the left and south he could see smoke and fires burning from Taldryan's advance. It was a good spot and allowed him maximum coverage of the most vital area of the city. He dropped his pack to the ground and fished out the encoded sat transmitter. He set it up and dialed Kir and Shadow's LAV.

"Kir, Shad, jive here, found out some stuff that might interest you..."

Xuthen was sitting behind a wall, holding her bryar, tapping her foot at the dirt-covered ground. This whole killing spree was fun, but in order to shoot some mercs, she'd actually had to see some. Turning around on one knee, raising her weapon to neutralize a running civilian, she realised that unfortunately civilians were no targets in this war. Dissapointed, Xuth dropped herself in the same position as before, rubbing the dust from her eyes.

The young woman looked around at what the others were doing. She smiled as she saw the younger members, excitedly ravishing through their ammo supplies, shooting at anything that might be moving. The older members were just looking around, waiting, from time to time getting a clear shot at some merc. She gazed at the people who were supposed to lead her into battle, and grinned. Flech was picking his nose, Crix was stroking his rail gun, and Zig was staring in the distance, pondering about who-knows-what.

Xuthen sighed. Zig looked at her, turned around, and made a gesture at the other summit members. It was time to discuss some tactics.

Jaysen made room as the Proconsul entered the back of the transport vehicle sent to support the mission that the clan summit had taken for themselves. “I see rank doesn’t always have it privileges”, the Novice said as his face lit up with a small grin.

“Yeah, Kir wanted the nice cushy seat up front, so I let him have it”, Shadow said as he motioned to the front of the transport. “Besides, I wanted to check in and see how you are holding up.”

“Eh, not much to report yet. When we got here we were told to load up on these transports and wait for orders. These guys seem pretty solid, so I’m not too worried about one of them going off and shooting me in the ass or anything like that.”

Shadow let out a little laugh as he slid on the headphones to communicate with the front section of the transport. “Kir, we’re ready when you are.”

The radio clicked in his ears and then Jaysen heard the Consul’s voice, “Jaysen, we’re coming up on a forward outpost. When we clear these buildings we’ll be able to move in more troops to continue to advance. Your squad will support 2nd squad in the assault on the buildings. Position your men as you see fit and be prepared to come in and take control once the assault is finished. Shadow and I will be with 2nd squad as they move in. Switch to channel nine if you need to communicate on a private channel with Shadow and I.”

As the transport came to a stop the rear opened up and the squad began to file out. Shadow grabbed Jaysen’s shoulder, “Don’t be stupid out there! And always trust in the power of the bryar.” The Proconsul gave him a wink and pushed him out the door.

Scrambling to his feet Jaysen found cover behind a wall and took account of what was going on around him. When he found the squad sergeant he called out, “Sergeant, you take Bravo Team around to the right and set up a good support line. 2nd squad will be commencing with the assault soon and I don’t want to miss out on the fun. I’m going to take Alpha Team and head to the roof to get a better view of the action.”

Jaysen landed with a thud as he got into position on the roof. Looking to his left he saw Kir and Shadow moving through the row of buildings with 2nd squad on their heels. With a shake of his head Jaysen let out some of his jealousy of not being able to be with the assault group. “Oh well, I’ll just have to make the best of it from here.” With that thought Jaysen heard the first shots leave the target building and knew that it was about to get hot in here. “Commence firing!” Before he could even finish the sentence Alpha Team was unloading a lethal barrage of covering fire for their fellow soldiers and the fun had indeed begun.

Estuans simply watched as the other members were getting exicted over holding a rifle. He too was impressed by the weaponry that the academy provided, but he knew better than to waste ammo. He looked to his left to see Xuthen, Crix and a few others gather around in a small group to discuss something. He didn't even get to do a single kill yet but he did not mind for he knew one thing for sure. Patience is the key to a good hunt. He simply decided to wait till he was ordered to move. He sat down, slung his rifle on his back and unsheathed his Katana. He long used this sword and as he looked he could almost see the darkness and bloodlust the sword possessed. He then Sheathed his sword and waited patiently for the next order to come in.
'Very soon my chance will come' Estuans thought to himself as he sat where he was, waiting patiently for the group to make their tactical decision.


OOC: Yes, Estuan. This post was fine. I'll be posting later and giving everyone assignments. Also, since you're with Crix and friends one of them will probably give you more direct orders. Nice work. ~ Shadow

While Zig, Crix and Flech were discussing which approach would be the most effective, Xuthen looked around. She couldn't do much but wait until the experienced battlelords had talked over all the advantages and disadvantages. Xuthen had always had an advisory position, but on this day she was just glad to be rid of the formalities of greeting the new members. She wanted to maim, hurt and kill, and this hormonal excitement would most likely be irresponsible in this situation. Xuthen walked around, her hands itching, her gaze twitching from side to side, every fiber in her body longing for action.

In a corner she saw a young novice, admiring his katana. Xuthen had always wondered how close the lightsaber battles resembled the sword fights. She'd always preferred the sword above the saber. The gore, the sounds of metal clashing just felt...more like home...

She grinned as she looked down upon Estuans.

"As much as you should show patience, never let down your guard, young one. You need a lot of Force Speed if you want to grab that bryar from your back before a skilled merc damages your flesh."

Estuans looked up and nodded.

Ben admired how a stray beam of sunlight elegantly reflected off the detpack in his hands. Seeing as he was specifically avoiding any large groups of mercs by leading his group through darkened alleyways, there wasn't a lot of time out in the sun where one can normally admire things like that. Putting down the det, he peeked around the corner of the small apartment building the group was using for cover. The street was completly deserted. Off in the distance, Ben could hear the sounds of blaster fire and the odd explosion. The mercs were definately putting up a fight.

Ben grabbed a datapad with a simple map of the city, trying to find where this sub-station was hiding. "Hmm...five blocks east and one south. Alright everyone, on my mark we head across the street and over to that alley. We'll head right to the other side, then go straight for the station. Everyone ready?" He peered around the corner once more, then started moving across the street. As he moved closer to the alley, something just didn't feel right. He ran up right close to the wall, and motioned for everyone to do the same. Down the hallway, two mercs nervously held their rifles, ready to fire at anything that moved. They heard the conversations coming back on the comm system. Some of these invadors were either extremely lucky, or unhumanly fast. Not only that, but patrols had gone missing. They carefully approached the corner, hoping that it was just another empty street.

As the first merc came around the corner, he was greeted by a shot to the torso from Ben's Bryar. The other was greeted by E-11 fire from the rest of the squad. Ben peeked around the corner, motioned for the two bodies to be stuffed inside the building. The path to the substation was clear. The building was small and rectangular, and wasn't in the best condition. Outside in a fenced off area was a few transformers and a door into the building. The outside door had "Electricity SubStation #1" written above it, and was locked by a simple padlock. Ben smiled, remembering earlier times. The lock came off easily.

"Alright, I want four of you to come with me, weapons drawn. I don't like surprises. The rest of you, secure an escape route. I want that building across the street broken into and cleared. After I set the explosives I'll head over there to watch. Don't let anyone else come through this door." Ben said as he opened the door and stepped inside.

Lights flicked to life. The four guards quickly made their way across the room, making sure there was noone else there. In the middle was countless instruments, measuring voltage and other things like that. On one side of the room a generator hummed. Ben smiled as he placed det packs on each of the four pillars. Placing his last det on the generator itself, he flicked off the lights and calmly exited the building. As he exited the building, he wore a huge grin. Calmly entering the building across the street, he flicked on the comlink, "Hey Kir, listen to this!". He flicked the button on the remote detonator.

Sithspawn knelt behind cover on the bank of the river and sized up the opposition.

"Estimated enemy strength to be company sized or better. Decently entrenched." Sithspawn mumbled to himself, "Snipers in the tree line on the western bank, and I've seen at least 3 E-Webs. No heavy armor visible at this time...".

As a blaster bolt flew past his head, Sithspawn ducked behind cover and crawled towards Crix and Xuthen.

"This is going to be one hell of a fight. It's situations like this that really call for artillery." he grumbled.

Crix nodded and snapped off a shot towards the mercenaries in anger. "What I wouldn't give for an AT-AT right about now."

Sithspawn nodded and edged in closer. Unfolding his map, he began to formulate.

"Here's what I'm thinking....I'll set up some surpressing fire on the western bank. Crix, you manuever your troops closer to the bridge and see if you can find a weak spot. Xuthen....tell me, did you pack a bathing suit? Preferably something overtly revealing to distract the enemy?" Sithspawn snickered. "If we can draw their fire, you'd be in a perfect position to cross the river and set up a beachhead on the south bank. It'll set up some cover so we can advance. Your thoughts?"

Crix looked at a copy of the city map that Kir had given him before they'd left and pointed to a spot on the east edge of the city, just south of the bridge. "I'll move my troops there and start pushing in. Hopefully I'll draw enough fire for you to get onto the bridge. After that you're on your own cause I'm gonna be up to my ass in mercs." They all chuckled for a moment before Crix put the map away and went down to talk to his troops.

"Sergeant, I want you to take squad 3 and outfit them with heavy weapons. I want a few rail guns and a few light repeaters." Crix said, walking up to where his soldiers were sitting, waiting for their orders.

The sergeant jumped up and saluted "Yes sir."

Crix called his lieutenant and other sergeant over and explained what they were going to be doing. All of the officers looked at him like he was crazy, but ran off to inform their squads.

After the needed weapons had been gathered Crix moved his men out, moving east into the forest and then south. They crossed the river via a small bridge downstream and came back towards the city.

The troops waited inside the forest while Crix and his officers moved to the edge to get a good look at their targets. "If we weren't here specificly to be noticed I'd put snipers in these trees..." Crix said, looking around. Turning his attention back to the task at hand he said "I want the rail guns to shoot at the vehicles and e-webs, that's what'll give us the most trouble." His officers nodded and he added "Aim carefully, we want to capture the city, not raze it." They nodded again and in a matter of minutes the forest erupted with rail gun blasts and thrown grenades. The shots were mostly on target and Crix could see smoke rising from one of the e-webs.

He sent word back to Ziggy that he'd started his attack and to move in when he saw an opening.

Finally, Xuthen got exactly where she wanted to be. Crix grinned at her and said, "now it's your turn Xuthie, have fun". Xuthen fastened the sword tied on her back, checked if her dagger was safely attached to her belt, and readied her railgun. She let out a deep breath and flexed the muscles in her neck and shoulders. She barely noticed Crix giving the order to attack. In the middle of the noise she moved forward silently and confident. Each shot of her railgun hit a merc, maiming, but very few hits were immediately fatal. Mercs dropping like flies, screaming in agony would most likely draw some attention. Xuthen grinned. Crix would be proud.

Around Xuthen all hell broke loose, but she felt like she was in total silence. She was enjoying it.

Shadow and Kir sat alone on the second floor of a building they had just cleared with their squad.

"You know," said Shadow. "As much as I'm sweating in this damn armor, and as fatigued as I am just from clearing these rooms. This [Expletive Deleted] is alot of fun."

"I couldn't agree more," said Kir as he empied out a canteen in a desperate attempt to rehydrate himself. Old age was kinda sticking him in the butt here in combat. Both of them jumped to their feet as they heard someone running up the stairs.

Then a face they didn't really recognized poked his head up, and with a squek in his voice addressed the summit members. "Uhm... uh... sirs.. I mean, uhm, gentlemen... uh.."

Shadow planted his hands on his hips, "Spit out the damn words. We aren't the enemy, don't be scared of us. Just because we are local badasses, doesn't mean we don't put our pants on the same way as you, one leg at a time."

"Uh, yes, sir. It's just that, well. There's an unmarked ship coming in on our area. It's not responding to any of our comm calls. Just thought you would like to know."

Shadow and Kir looked at each other, both completely perplexed, but not allowing it to show in front of the noob. The intelligence had shown that the mercenaries had no way to make contact with anyone who might help them.

"Very well, lets go see what we have in store. I want one fire team on this rooftop, facing the open square. That is where they will land if they are coming here. Second and third fire teams will set up in the surrounding building at the windows not allowing themselves to be seen. Make sure that the men on the rooftop are seen. I want these people to think we only have a total of ten men with us. The fire team on the room, ourselves, and the fire team down in the square with us."

The young combatant nodded, popped to attention and then was granted leave by Kir. With that he took off. "What the hell is this Kir?"

"You know Shad, I honestly have no damn idea," said Kir. Together they gathered their gear and waltzed out to meet the unexpected company.

****

Seven minutes later, Kir spotted the craft. "There," he pointed slightly to the east, the vehicle was about 10 clicks out and well on its way. "They are coming straight for us. Hold your bearing men. We'll see what these people want."

The craft set down, a rickety piece of crap. So rusted and horrific, it was Shadows thought that maybe it had to land. The landing ramp hissed as the hydraulics allowed it to come down. They stood for quite a while and nothing.

"Fire team, move in and investigate," Kir gave the command with a smooth voice, hiding the scepticism that roiled beneath his skin.

The four men assumed the ready position with their rifles, and headed toward the landing ramp. The sergeant in command of the team gave the hand signal for two memebers to enter and clear the vessel. The two men walked up the ramp exceedingly cautious. They disappeared into the ship. Seconds later they flew out and landed on their asses. Scared [Expletive Deleted]less they could hardly move.

"GET IN THERE AND TAKE CHARGE SHADOW!" bellowed Kir. Shadow had a small smirk. He lay his weapon down, and pulled his saber off his belt. He walked gracefully, the grace of death was hard to distinguish for young fighters, but any veteran would be wary if they saw his swagger. Shadow was enveloped by black as he walked into the vessel.

"You really need to keep your boys out of my ship," came a voice from a man who was bending over a small cargo container. He pulled out what Shadow believed to be an old version E-16A2 service rifle. The Empire had made these for special operation units only, but it had be marked as too costly, no matter how well crafted and designed it may be.

"Listen, I don't have time for this, I have people to kill, women to sex, and things to do," said Shadow. "Give me an answer or I'll kill you where you stand."

"Well dip[Expletive Deleted], I'm not standing for one, and if that's how you are going to treat me. Get off my ship," said the man.

"Do you know who I am?"

"You, yeah, you're Shadwhore. Now get off my vessel you disrespectful SOB."

With that, Shadow ignited his saber and went to swing at the man. Before he knew it, he was on his ass out side the vessel just like the fire team members who had tried to take it.

"WHAT SORT OF CRAP IS THIS SHADOW?!" asked Kir.

Shadow stood up, and dusted off his uniform. He picked up his saber and clipped it back onto his belt and walked over to stand next to Kir. Kir looked at him with a look of absolute disbelief.

"Kir, don't worry, it's just Apo."

Kir, Shaithis and Apophis left Shadow to work with the squad leaders in the main command chamber of the Merc outpost. As he ran a hand through his black hair he could see men dragging out the bodies of dead Mercenary troops as well as some of their own men. Fortunately few of those had been killed, with only a few minor injuries to a handful of others. Once inside the building they had been allowed to release their true skills and powers on the unsuspecting Merc troops. The bodied being dragged away showed signs of both blaster and lightsaber wounds.

Capturing the outpost had gone as well as expected, if not better. The Novice Jaysen had done exceptionally well leading his squad into the battle and his skill with the modified Bryar pistol was above normal for such a new recruit to Dinaari. While Kir and Shadow worked at destroying the enemies automated defense systems, the two squads had managed to engage the enemy head to head. The outpost was not guarded overly well so the attackers matched the defenders one to one, plus they had the Force on their side. The Mercs were quickly pressed back and withdrew into the base only to discover what a mistake leaving the open ground was. Shadow had smiled at the chance to wield his blade in something other than a training battle as did Kir. The two Clan Summit members, along with Shaithis, quickly dispatched the remaining defenders. Only after securing the outpost did they discover that an old Taldryan member had decided to join them in their training exercise. Kir was now undoubtedly asking Apo how in the hell he managed to find the Taldryan force.




A Sergeant pushed his way through the men making his way towards the waiting Primarch. Shadow turned when he heard a throat being cleared behind him. The Sergeant saluted with a first to his heart before going into his report.

“My Lord, all units have started their assaults on the primary targets. We’ve been getting sporadic reports over the last hour or so.” The young officer grinned up at the dark Jedi. “So far reports indicate few casualties to our side, though they are reporting greater fortifications than we first guessed. These Mercs have been sitting on this city for a while now.”

Shadow stroked his smooth chin in thought. “That makes sense seeing as how much time they had to prepare for an attack.” Shadow pulled out his datapad and brought up the map of the city. He glanced over their troop positions and pointed to the secondary target zones.” I believe they were preparing for an enemy force to drop in on them in the center of the city. That explains why most of their forces are marshaled there. These outer defenses were meant to keep the local population under control.” The Sergeant looked up from the map with a frown.

“Then we have yet to hit their real defenses?”

Shadow nodded to the man and put the datapad back into his pouch. The Sergeant had lost his confident look. Shadow put a hand on the man’s shoulder in an attempt to alleviate is fears. “Not to worry, Sergeant. Our troops are highly skilled and our Clan members are the best in the Brotherhood. We’ll take these Mercs out.” A grin again spread on the Sergeants young face.

“You’re right of course, my Lord.” Shadow waited a moment to see if the Sergeant had anything else to add. He was about to dismiss the officer when he saw a soldier running towards them.

“Sir, my Lord. We have just received a transmission from Exarch Freshjive.” The man placed a holocomm in Shadow’s hand and stepped back. “From what we heard it seems he has infiltrated himself into a secondary target zone and captured or killed one of their intel scouts. He has information on the outlying defenses!” The Sergeant thanked the soldier and nodded his dismissal.

Shadow smiled a sly smile to himself. Jive could always come through in a pinch. Before activating the holocomm he sent the Sergeant to make sure the signal was broadcasted to the entire Taldryan force. At the man’s nod, Shadow set the projector on the ground and flicked it on. A faint light emitted from the device and finally molded itself into a recognizable form: Freshjive.

* * *
“Kir, Shad, jive here, found out some stuff that might interest you,” the glowing figure began, “I managed to… ‘convince’ one of the Mercs Intel scouts to part with a datapad containing information on their outer defenses. Thought it might help the boys out if they knew what they were up against.” The glowing figure of Jive bent forward and began pressing dials. “I’ve sent the information to you so you can forward it to the troops. I’ll work my way in deeper to discover what I can about their other forces. Freshjive out.” The glowing figure dissolved and the holocomm emitted a soft beep to signal the message was complete.
* * *

The report contained detailed information on where troops, outposts and garrisons were located as well as information on what kind of vehicles supported the Mercs. Each of the four primary target areas were being guarded by an entire company – roughly two hundred troops as well as several CAVw PX-10 Compact Assault Vehicles, Imperial ULAV Ultra-Light Armored Vehicle, SP .9 Anti-Infantry Artillery Vehicle as well as Chariot LAVs as mobile command posts.

Shadow muttered a curse under his breath as he re-read the enemies list of armed vehicles. Chariot LAVs would be their primary objectives and hopefully they’d be able to capture a few intact along with the officers on board. The rest was fairly standard considering the Mercs lack of funds, but the Anti-Infantry Artillery could present a problem.

“Sergeant. I want you to get work to our troops. They have to somehow neutralize those anti-Infantry artillery units or they’ll have no chance of advancing into the city.” Shadow again glanced down at the datapad. “Tell the Clan members to use what powers they need to assist them, but to be as covert about it as possible. We can’t have the civilians going around talking about Jedi.”

The Sergeant against clapped a fist to his heart and bowed. “Right away, my Lord.” Shadow watched as the man walked away barking out orders to the men standing stiffly at attention.

Shadow shook his head and turned back to the problem at hand. He looked up as he heard a group of footsteps coming from the other room. Kir, Shaithis and Apophis were talking quietly as they made their towards Shadow standing over a large table. Kir placed the map on the table and activated it.

“We need to move out.”

Sithspawn lay in wait concealed beneath in the shadows along the bank. He grinned maliciously as a soldier leaned out from behind cover and fired off a barrage towards the riverbank, sending several mercenaries diving for cover.

Sithspawn continued to scan the tree line across the river, waiting for a careless mistake to turn the hunter into the prey. As he began to sweep his vision back towards the bridge to gauge Crix's progress, his periphrial vision caught a glint in the tree line. Sithspawn cursed and swung his rail gun back towards the trees. Somewhere inside, a sniper was picking off the advancing forces one by one.

Sithspawn peered through the scope of the E-17d sniper rifle and waited. As he scanned the foliage, a blaster bolt came flying out from a cluster of trees, striking one of Sithspawn's soldiers.

"Gotcha" mumbled Sithspawn as he sighted in on the sniper that had unknowingly given away his position. Sithspawn laid the crosshairs over the forehead of the sniper and gently squeezed the trigger. The blaster bolt flew true and knocked the enemy sniper out of commission. Almost immediately, blaster fire began to pour in on Sithspawn's location, and as any good sniper should, he began to relocate.

Elsewhere...

The lieutenant hunched down amongst his platoon, formulating what would surely be the first of a long line of great accomplishments in his career.

"Alright men, we've got a small band of mercenaries holed up in this warehouse. Alpha Squad, I want you to enter through the front door and clear out any resistance. Bravo Squad will enter through the back and work their way to Alpha's squads location, clearing out any pockets of resistance you may encounter. Get to it, lads"

The two Sergeants of Fodder Platoon exchanged looks and grimaced. They already knew the outcome of the battle. They attempted to dissuade the lieutenant, but he was firm in his mindset, and ordered them to secure the building.

Alpha Squad opened the front door and charged in, wild-eyed and frantically searching for targets. The first two soldiers to enter were mowed down in a withering blaze of fire. What remained of Alpha Squad scrambled to find something to hide behind to return fire. As their Sergeant shouted for courage in the face of danger, a blaster bolt snapped off by one of the mercenaries struck him in the torso and he feel. Confused and deprived of it's leadership, order gave way to chaos. Disciplined soldiers abandoned years of training for panic, and clawed one another out of the way in a futile attempt to reach the exit. At which point the mercenaries tripped the anti-personnel mine that had been sequested by the door for just such an occassion. In the blink of an eye, Alpha Squad, Fodder Platoon ceased to exist. Bravo faired no better than Alpha, with only 2 soldiers surviving the onslaught.


Back at the command post...

Kir and Shadow stood hunched over a table, peering at the painstakingly slow progress. As Kir gestured to the south bridge to voice his concerns, Freshjive burst over the commlink.

"Two squads lost in building assault, northeast section 1.03."

Freshjive's voice was calm as always, but Kir and Shadow knew the effect the event would have.

Grabbing his comlink, Kir snapped off an order "All units, this is Azrael-6 Actual. Review building-clear tactics with unit commanders. For heavy resistance call and for SpecOps. Azrael-6 out."

Back along the riverbanks...

Sithspawn heard Kir's order through his helmet comlink and nodded. Finally, something that required precision. Sithspawn switched his comlink over to the platoon frequency and ordered the squads to send 3 soldiers to draw tactical gear from the rear in preparation for the upcoming close-quarters combat. "Standard tactical load-out for Foxtrot, load up on flashbangs and detpacks. I want 5 E-17d rifles for the designated marksmen in Kilo, and breaching gear for the rest. Now, keep up that covering fire. We stop shooting, and Crix's ass will be hanging in the wind."

Sithspawn lay prone and sighted in on the riverbank once more, looking for another target.

Just south of the bridge, Crix's ass was in a state far from relaxation. His buttcheeks clenched firmly together, Crix railed merc after merc. At this time, they'd almost reached a standstill. The mercs were definitely well-prepared. Their losses were substantial, but now Crix and the others were facing a select few damn experienced adversaries. Already two out of three e-webs were blown to pieces, and he could see at least two Anti-Infantry Artillery Vehicles laying on the ground, smoking. One of them had come unpleasantly close as its driver had apparently pushed it forward in a last spasmic motion, before it plunged itself into the ground and exploded.

Xuthen hadn't had this much fun in months. As the violence slowed down, she had time to think about tactical stuff. This was all going too easy. At least on this side of the target. Slowly recapping from the initial excitement, she regained some interest in the actual goal of this mission. She wondered where the explosions further away were aimed at.
Flech and Sithspawn had to move fast, if they wanted to surprise the mercs and take the bridge. Putting herself in a crouch she carefully aimed at one of the remaining defending soldiers. The exploding corpse made the other mercs nearby scurry away, who in turn were each killed by a shower of gunblasts coming from the Taldryan forces.

Kir, Shaithis, and Shadow stood with Apophis as Kir went over the map. He looked at it pensively for a few seconds. Then raised his head and spoke. "Shai, I want you to think up a small unit tactic for us to take this bastards out. Moving in large groups as we are is just leading all of us to be killed. Smaller groups are more maneuverable. Shadow, as always, you're attached to my hip to guard my ass."

Mordin, sat there, kinda feeling ackward. He had been in and out of Dinaari and Taldryan as he had gone off to persue his own mercenary career. Everyone in the clan old enough to know him knew that when he had the time he would throw all his resources into the efforts of the clan, but being gone so frequently had left him behind his peers in rank and dark jedi skill. He had proven himself as a master of saber dueling and armed combat, so he knew Kir would use this to the clan's advantage.

"Apo?"

"What's up chief?"

"I want you to do what you do best and go kill bodies. No one but us old schoolers know you're back, so operate in the shadows, lurk, and kill. I don't need to tell you anymore do I?"

"Not really, I've been thinking. These fortfied positions are going to take time to take down if we wait for Zig's specops to be freed from being pinned down. I can start on these if you are ok with it."

Kir, took a breath and closed his eyes. "Apo, I know you can do it, but you're too valuable incase there happens to be one merc left. You might be one of the best fighters in the brotherhood along with Shadow and Swiper, but on merc round can still take you down. I order... well I can't order because you're not with our unit. But I request as a friend, don't put yourself into that much danger."

Mordin knew that wasn't going to happen, "Yeah sure thing boss. Fellas, take care." With this, Mordin picked up his load bearing vest and rifle and headed out. Outside the building he stopped a soldier.

"Sergeant, stop. Find a speeder, you're driving me into the lines."

"Well sir, I'm not a sergeant for one, I'm a Master Sergeant of Arms and I am under orders from Sir Jaysen to carry out a task."

Mordin wasn't used to this sort of response, he was used to working with people who knew and feared his power. "Well MASTER sergeant, I don't give a rat's ass what rank you are or what Yeoman Jaysen has you don't. You are getting a speeder and driving me into the lines, if he gives you any sort of problem you send him to me!" Mordin noticed he was shaking with rage.

"Uh, yes sir."

The ride into the lines was graced with incoming rounds, the sergeant kept his head down while Mordin lounged, unworried by the battle scene. This was his home, this was his life. Suddenly, Mordin thought the area was right in the thick of battle and leaped out, the sergeant sped off at first not even noticing the Dark Jedi's departure.

Mordin surveyed the area. Incoming round from the flanks. He turned to his left and swaggered towards a building that was unleashing munitions towards him. It was a simple feat of Force power to arrange the incoming ordinance around his body, not drastically, so as not to draw an ungodly amount of attention to himself but jjust enough to ensure security.

Mordin, encased himself in the Force, and it was game time. He pulled the E-16 off of his shoulder, adjusted a loop sling and ran into the building. Slow steady trigger squeeze sent every merc in his sights to the ground. In a matter of moments he had cleared the building save for the details commander.

Mordin watched as the man went to his knees and grovelled at his feet. "Please my Lord, I am just a petty man. Don't...."

Mordin had the man by the throat. "You are petty. Pathetic, grovelling at my feet, have you no dignity. No bearing, or discipline. You should stare me in the eyes ready to die for your cause. You have no loyalty to the men of your I just killed, to your commanding officers, or to your own self. You deserve to die." With that, Mordin waved his hand, and the man was unconscious.

He pulled the comlink off of his war belt. "Kir, this is Apo. I have a detail commander at my coordinates. I leave this comlink here so you can triangulate the position. Pick him up and find out what you can. After you get the information from him, be sure to kill him. He isn't worthy of life."

Mordin double checked the building, and was ready to leave. The Force shimmered around him. He immediately hit the deck, and milliseconds after round shattered the wall behind him. He tried to roll left and was stopped by fire, he huddled behind the wall and thought. Such irony, Kir would try to have his ass if he found out he had gotten himself into this kind of trouble.

He pulled his other comlink off his belt. "Anyone reading this, this is Mordin Malchia, anyone read this over?"

Static roared back. The line was down. No one picked up. Mordin thought of his options when a heavenly voice waved over the link.

"Hey buddy what's up?"

"Xuth, you sexy beast, is that you?"

"Sure is boy, what's going on?"

"I'm pinned down and I need some one to take out a sniper that has me covered. Can you handle it or do you want me to get SwipeR?"

"Don't worry, I've got it handled. Sit tight, take a nap if you want."

Xuthen put down the comlink and looked around. Well, there certainly wasn't much to do around here anyways. She ran towards Crix, dodging the occasional blast. She tumbled next to him. Crix's gaze was focused on the battlesite in front of him.

"Say, Crix.." xuthen said casually.

"Hmm?", Crix replied as he placed another well-aimed shot.

"Since there isn't much to do here, I'll go say hi to Apo, okay?"

"Uhuh", Crix said and his face showed a slight frown, "damn soldiers sticking out limbs to be shot".

Xuthen chuckled, "kk, buhbye then!"

As she swirled off, her cloak rustling as she moved quickly through the terrain, Crix looked up, and mumbled with a puzzled look on his face, "Apo?"

The battlemaster turned round and wanted to point out that she really needed some backup if she was heading straight into the lines, but he noticed that she'd already passed a substantial distance. "Ah well," Crix mumbled and shrugged, "probably no use telling her that anyway. She'd better come back in one piece."

Xuthen hurried through the rough terrain, seeking cover behind burned down structures, pieces of wall, bushes, bodies, anything that suited her. She knew that she could distract the mercenaries by directing their attention elsewhere using the force, but Kir had explicitly ordered to use the force as little as possible. It felt just like the old days.
She traced Apo's comlink to a scarred, bloodsmeared building just a few 100 metres away from where she was.

"Hmm," she thought, "Apo mentioned a sniper. Now if i was a sniper good enough to pin down Apo, where would I be..."
She looked around, disregarding the corpses and the smell of blood. No one in that building was alive. Perhaps another building, or one of the trees. Xuthen looked puzzled as she grabbed her comlink. "This is Xuthen, Mordin respond."

She heard some crackling noise, then the familiar voice of Apo, "Yea Xuthie, I'm here."

"I'm near you," Xuthen responded, "but I can't really locate the sniper. Could you perhaps put something in its sight?" She continued after a pause and grinned, wondering what that would be "so I can fry his ass?"

Crix squeezed off another round from his rail gun and watched it explode 100 yards in front of him. He fired again, only to be met with the click of an empty gun. “Cease fire!” he yelled, causing the men to stop and look at him. “Drop the rails and draw your blasters, it’s time to move in. Those of you with repeaters, this would be a good time to use them.” He said, looking around as the area burst into activity. Rail guns were exchanged for blasters and repeaters and troops were forming up.

He looked at the troops, neatly arrayed in ranks and shook his head. “No, no neat ranks; it’s too easy for them to shoot you that way. I want loose ranks, spread them out.” The troops hurried to comply and he added one more command “Repeaters in the middle ranks, they need protection.” Again, the ranks were reformed, much looser this time to the point of the troops just standing around.

Crix pulled his comlink off his belt and said “I’m moving in, Ziggy. You should have lots to shoot at in a sec.” Ziggy gave a click of acknowledgment and the comlink went back to Crix’s belt.

Drawing his Sith katana, Crix moved to the front of his troops and said “This is a simple assault, just kill anything that isn’t a civ or with Ziggy’s unit. Watch out for the Anti-personal tanks and hopefully most of you will come out of this alive.” Raising the sword he moved to the edge of the woods and said “Move!” On command the troops sprinted towards the city, shooting anything that moved.

One low ranking soldier caught up with Crix and said nervously “Um, sir…shouldn’t you be in the rear…um…commanding?”

Crix laughed and said “I work better on the front lines.” He paused for a second then flashed the soldier a grin “Besides, I have a lot more fun up here.”

By then they were on the mercs. Blaster fire was exchanged as the two forces met each other. Crix’s men dove for any available cover while the remaining e-web pounded down on them. “Grenade that e-web!” Crix called out and three grenades flew out from behind cover. Two of them landed inside the e-web’s foxhole before exploding and shooting bodies and pieces of e-web all over the field. The other grenade landed short, hitting a merc on the head and knocking him out before exploding in his lap. Crix laughed and wished he’d thrown that one.

A blaster bolt streaked out on his side, lancing one of his sergeants through the chest. The man fell and Crix cursed. Turning to the closest soldier from the squad he said “You’re in command of the squad now.” Under his breath he said “Gotta love field promotions…”

He looked back at the bridge and wondered why it was taking so long for Ziggy to attack. Someone yelled “Grenade!”, breaking Crix’s train of thought as he dove out of the way, wondering if they’d identified him as a commander, of if the grenade had been random.

On his way to assist his long time friend, Mordin, Shaithis heard the exchange between him and Xuthen. Having faith that she would handle any problem that needing "attending" Shaithis decided to focus his rage in another effort to support Taldryans army. Making his way through what used to be merc fortified defenses, his keen senses picked up on scraping noises several meters away.

Unsheathing his Ryyyk Kerarthorr, Shaithis dropped into an attack stance and slowly stalked the rest of the distance and peeked around what was left of a support wall to a now crumbling building. There, crouched near the window was a sniper team taking pot shots at clan members. Slipping in unnoticed, Shaithis was a meer foot away when he attacked. Putting his natural speed and strength to work, Shaithis slammed his heavy boot down on the head of the spotter still looking through his binos. Bringing his arms down in a cross and snapping his wrists foward, the blades crossed cleaving the head of the sniper just as he looked up from the scope. A sharp intake of breath alerted Shaithis to another presence in the room. Dropping to a low crouch, Shaithis whirled and threw his arms out wide, ready to put his blades to deadly use. The merc, who was supposed to be the look out for the now dead sniper team, had just crossed the threshold of the door and now stood with his blaster in his shaking hands. With a roar Shaithis charged, the man never got a shot off, he did however wet himself.

Sheathing his bloody blades, Shaithis decided to put his x-45 to use. Taking up the position that the previous owners had just vacated, he looked through the scope intime to see Crix dive to the side and an explosion off to one side. Tracing the arc of the grenade, Shaithis found the owner and put a neat hole through his visor as he stood to chuck another one.

Waiting at the Command Post for orders Jaysen began to get bored. After checking to make sure his bryar was in good condition he called over one of his corporals. “Bring me one of the prisoners that we’ve taken. Your choice.”

When the Corporal returned he had with him a man of average size. Covered in dust and blood from the preceding battle, the man was defiant and looked like he was up for a fight. A swift kick in the back of the legs knocked the man to his knees and took some of the fight out of him. “Do you know why you are here? You are here to humor me.” Jaysen grabbed a chair and brought it over in front of the prisoner. “I’m bored, I’ve got a blaster, and you are expendable. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how this will all end.”

The man stared at Jaysen with anger in his eyes and began to rise to his feet. With the swiftness of a trained warrior Jaysen rose, grabbed the man by the shoulders and lifted his knee to meet the man’s gut. With a thud the mercenary hit the ground and rolled around trying to regain his breath. “Now that that’s out of your system please let me continue. Being a person of the rank that I am, I can’t just go around killing anyone that I please. The big wigs up top keep that privilege to themselves and hog all the fun. So, I had to ask myself how I could get around that and have a little fun of my own. In my orders I was told that if anyone found out who I really am that they would have to be eliminated.” Jaysen bent down to put his face right in front of the prisoner’s. “Here’s a little secret for you: I’m a Dark Jedi.” With mock horror at letting out his secret Jaysen again rose to his feet.

The blood had by this point drained from the face of the mercenary. He tried to speak but Jaysen cut him off. “Now we have a little problem here. I can’t risk letting you live now that you know who we really are. So, what should I do? I know…” With a flick of his wrist and a squeeze of his finger a laser bold left the muzzle of his bryar and found its target on the chest of the prisoner. With a small grin Jaysen returned the blaster to his side and motioned for the soldiers to take care of the body.

Entering the room where the clan summit was going over orders Jaysen piped up saying, “You know, if you guys didn’t take so damn long to come up with something I wouldn’t have to create my own fun around here.”

“Jaysen, acts like the one you just committed make us Jedi seem like homocidal maniacs to our regular troops, refrain from public displays like that in the future” Kir said and then waved a dismissal in Jaysen’s direction. “Don't worry though, you’ll have your fun all in due time…”

Out of Character

I've worked out this system so everyone can be more precise about where they are on the map. As you can see, the rows (Left to right) are numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4. The columns (top to bottom) are numbered .01, .02, .03, and .04. Therefore to name your position, you pick the Row for the first part, then add the column onto it. So if I were in the top lefthand corner, I would be in Sector 1.01 (as shown on map). Hope this helps.

“Don’t worry though, you’ll have your fun all in due time.” Kir said to the departing Novice.

Shadow motioned towards the door, “He’s aggressive and ambitious, should serve him well.” Kir nodded his agreement, and the two turned their attention back to the Holomap. “Here is the current position info we have.”



“Crix and Flech are pinned down by a force defending the bridge. They’re organizing an attack with help from Ziggy’s team that should let them take that objective.”

Kir motioned towards the area on the north side of the bridge, “There’s going to be heavy resistance on the other end too, I would assume coming from that large building one block west of where the bridge hits.” Kir brought up the vehicle inventory on the map, “Let’s make sure Crix and Ziggy have AT-ST and speeder support, and have the artillery saturate that building with high explosive before they go in.”

Shadow nodded and continued, “Mordin is pinned down by a sniper, Shaithis and Xuthen are moving in solo to clean up that situation. Afterwards they’ll team up to eliminate resistance in the area, and move across the bridge when it’s taken.”

“What happened to that force north of Ben’s position?” asked Kir.

Shadow brought zoomed in on the wooded area directly north of Ben’s unit, “Our latest Intel has them fortified there still.”

“Alright, have Duga and Chaos join with Ben’s unit to take that position, then they can form a pincer with the northwestern squads and eliminate the enemy in sector 2.01.” The Clan summit was fully in tactical mode now; the two veteran warriors and commanders communicated data and made instant decisions, which their comm. attachment relayed to the troops in the field.

The Consul continued, “Swiper needs to move due south and take control of that next intersection, tell jive to monitor and assist there from his perch if he can.”

“And what about our position?” asked Shadow, “Should we remain here and direct, or…”

Kir smirked, his Proconsul knew him too well “We’re going to take the next building north, with help from the unit in sector 4.02. You and I will come from the south, and Jaysen will take his unit around and come down at the building from the north.”

A junior Intel officer interrupted the Consul, “Sir, new reports on enemy positions coming in from the field. Coming up on your screen now.”



The summit reviewed the data quickly, “Send this out to the unit commanders” instructed Kir.

Shadow nodded, and then turned to the comm. officer behind him, “Send that, and have all the orders been received?” The officer nodded an affirmative to the Proconsul, who turned to face Kir.

The Consul keyed his commlink, “Azrael-6 to force, go weapons free on targets.”

Crix looked at his map, then at the bridge in front of them. This was going to be long and bloody. He sighed and looked over at Flech, shaking his head. “There gonna try to blow the bridge.” He said. “Can you get snipers watching the supports, have them shoot anyone putting a detpack down there.” Flech nodded and arranged the snipers while Crix looked back across the bridge. There were more troops then he could count waiting for him and his troops to start crossing. He smiled as a plan came to mind. He walked down to Ziggy, who was sniping by the river and said “Mind if I borrow a few specops people from you?”

“Um…sure, what do you want them for?” He asked, squeezing a shot off and moving down the bank.

Crix followed him, keeping low. “I got a good idea how to break their line on the other side of the bridge, but it involves a speeder, someone driving it and an explosion. I don’t really feel like wasting one of our guys like that so I figured I’d use a merc.” He said, grinning.

Ziggy just smiled and said “Have fun.”

Crix ran from cover to cover back to where the bulk of their force was and waved a spec ops squad over. “I want you guys to capture a merc for me. It doesn’t matter which one as long as he’s alive and wants to escape.” They nodded and grabbed their equipment, moving out while Crix ran over to a squad from his platoon and explained his plain to them and their role in it.

After a little bit the spec ops team returned, dragging a bound and gagged man in a merc. Uniform behind them. Crix nodded and said “keep him over there by those speeders.” Grinning he waved to his squad, letting them know that their part in the plan was coming up soon.

The prisoner was left unattended and managed to free himself. Crix watched from a short distance as their prisoner jumped into a speeder and took off across the bridge. “Squad 3, go!” He said and a group of troopers started firing on the speeder, getting close but never hitting it. “Remember, don’t hit him but make it look realistic.” They nodded and kept firing.

Crix watched as the speeder made it half way across the bridge, waiting for the right moment. As the speeder got to the front line of the enemy force he yelled “Cease fire!” and pressed a small red button on a remote control that he held in his hand.

The speeder was ripped apart by an explosion that also sent men and weapons flying in all directions.

A trooper next to him dropped his jaw in amazment. "But how'd you know that he'd pick that speeder?" He asked.

Crix smiled and simply said "He didn't pick it, I picked it for him."

The trooper looked confused "Sir? But you were all the way over here."

"Yes I was, but the Force has a great influence on the weak minded, and that merc is about as weak as they come." He paused for a moment and then laughed "Well, he was ."

Grinning Crix said “Get ready to move out!”

Jaysen’s squad moved with ease through the empty buildings. Anyone who lived here had long since left when the battle had begun, and they weren’t defensible enough for the mercs to waste their time fortifying. The squad was taking the long way around and then had to loop back to come from the North for their target. After receiving his orders Jaysen left the Command Post before Kir and Shadow to give him time since his trip would take longer. Now that they were ready and in position he keyed the radio, “Azrael-6, this is Hot Pants.” (Jaysen knew he would have to get even with the Consul for his choice of call signs.) “We are in position and ready for the assault when you commence firing.”

“Copy that Hot Pants,” was Kir’s reply. A few seconds later Jaysen saw a rocket launched from the Consul’s position and knew watched as it slammed into the target building. “Pfft, I think we have their undivided attention now,” Jaysen laughed as he saw the enemy return fire from their positions within the building.

“Sir, shouldn’t we be going?” It was one of the privates in the squad.

Not even bothering to look at the young soldier he answered, “Not yet, Private. We want to give the mercenaries enough time to reposition their troops to respond to the other attack, thus giving us easier access to the rear of the building. But don’t worry; you’ll get to play too.”

After a few minutes of watching Kir and Shadow move forward with their troops closer to the building Jaysen gave the order to begin their leg of the assault. As they approached the building they hadn’t been shot at. Jaysen felt the hair on his arms stand up and knew that something wasn’t right. Without warning a shot leaped out from the building connecting with one of his soldiers squarely in the chest. “Dammit, find some cover and start returning fire!” As he watched his men drag the downed soldier to cover Jaysen leveled his bryar and began to find the hidden enemies.

“Uh, Azrael, we have a problem back here. It would appear that they knew we were coming and were ready for us. I have one man down and the rest of us are pinned. I think we should be able to get out of this once I can organize my men, but it’s not gonna be by the books like we planned it.” Jaysen lifted his blaster up and squeezed a shot off that took down one of the mercenaries. “How the hell did they know we were coming?”

“Just keep with the objectives and get the damn mission done.” It was Shadow’s voice this time and he was making it clear that he wanted less chatter and more action.

Jaysen moved his attention back to the battle at hand. “Sergeant, I’m taking two men and we’re gonna blast our way though this [Expletive Deleted]. You and the rest of the men provide cover and be prepared to move in when I signal you.”

“What’s the signal, Sir?”

“You’ll know it when you see it, Sergeant.” Jaysen grabbed the two men next to him making sure that at least one of them had some explosives with him. As they sprinted towards the building Jaysen used all the power of the Force that he could muster to confuse the enemies around him. He wasn’t hoping for much, but he was hoping that it would at least keep the bullets off of his body. When they reached the wall of the building one of the privates hooked up the explosives and they all found cover in some nearby rubble. When the explosive went off they took a huge chunk of wall with them and opened up a nice breach for the rest of the squad to move in. Over the noise of battle Jaysen yelled to the men, “Let’s go you sons of bitches. This is just the beginning.”

Estuans was impressed by what his commander did. He never realised manipulating someone could be so easy. I will be as strong like that Estuans thought to himself. "Get ready to move!" he heard Crix ordered, his voice possibly deadlier than his weapons. Estuans then thought of what the one called Xuthen said to him.
"As much as you should show patience, never let down your guard, young one. You need a lot of Force Speed if you want to grab that bryar from your back before a skilled merc damages your flesh".
And I shall take that advice to heart Estuans thought then he continued to move with his assigned group.

He managed to kill three mercs in that small skirmish. One was shot in the chest, another in the back as he turned and the other would have trouble speaking with a missing head. Not that he would be alive to speak. Estuans slung the rifle over his back for a brief moment when a blaster bolt skimmed his right cheek, causing a small burning scar to appear. Estuans looked to see a merc sniper ready to aim at him again. just as Estuans went to draw his rifle the sniper fired a second shot but Estuans was watching, learning from his training he barely sidestepped the bolt. He drew his weapon and then aimed as the sniper aimed a third time then he pulled the tigger causing a hole through the snipers chest as he collapsed over to die. That was close. Estuans thought to himself, then he realised something. Xuthen was right! she must have predicted this happening. Looks like I owe her one for that. Estuans slightly smirked and wondered just how powerful he could be if he had someone like Xuthen or Crix as his master. I would hate to be a jedi against the Dinaari house he happily thought as he carried on with his group.

"Xuth, sure I can mark him for you. I just might get shot doing it... this mother [Expletive Deleted F-word]er is good. But hold on." With that Mordin pulled out a magazine made for his rifle. He stripped the 29 rounds out of it and placed them in his load bearing vest. With that he poked his head up, just long enough to see where the sniper was again. With that, he used to the force to raise the magazine.

He pulled out a small can of spray paint. Quite old school but it was good for marking which buildings had been cleared. He sprayed the magazine a bright flourescent green. "Xuth, I'm going to make him real obvious, look at the building I'm pinned in. I'm going to float a bright green thing right to where he is. Then, blow the [Expletive Deleted] out of him."

"Copy. Oscar Papa X-Ray out."

Mordin sat there dumbfounded for a second... stupid code names. With that, Mordin concentrated on the magazine. Lifting it was no problem, but making it float a few hundred meters to his assailant would be. He floated it out and he could feel himself losing control over the distance, so he brought it closer to him, and then sped it up, and released it. Hoping that it would reach the general area of the sniper.

He heard explosions, then static over the comlink. He sat in total shock. He had just gotten Xuthen killed. He should have waited for Swiper or Shaithis to come into the area. But no. He told Xuthen she could handle it. Mordin didn't know what to do. Such grief consumed him as he had never felt before.

"Hey Mordin, I got him!" Mordin looked at the comlink in confusion. "Yup, he's dead alright, dropped the comlink when I went in to make sure he was dead. Anyways, I'm gonna go off and do my thing with Crix, you call me if you need me again."

Haha, yes! She was still alive. Outstanding. "Yeah Xuth, thanks alot." With that, Mordin jumped to his feet and set out. Outside of the building, nothing stirred. It wasn't like one of those scenes in a movie where it was unnaturally quiet. It deserved to be this quiet, because everything around was dead.

Mordin grabbed his comlink and clicked the button, "Shadow, this is Apo. I'm at 4.04 and I'm going north to the main road in this sector. Once I get there, I'm turning west and heading to the objective point there."

There was a moment of silence. "Apo, go for it, I didn't tell you to though. Kir is pissed you got yourself into that situation."

"What the hell, I was totally fine... anyways, I'm out, take it easy."

With that, Mordin placed his rifle cross body muzzle down and took off at a light jog.

Shaithis set his x-45 to the side and sat up as he listened to the broadcast orders, seemed it was time to go to work. Slinging his weapon, Shaithis pulled up the map for a quick refresher on his position and objectives in the area. Thinking it would be logical for Mordin to head for the objective in 4.03, Shaithis set it as priority then went to work looking for a possible route to meet up with Mordin. Opting for the most logical route, Shaithis walked out the door of his current sniping position and propped himself up against the wall, the main road was clearly visible. Even if Shaithis missed Mordin, he was out in the open and surely Mordin would recognize the unforgetable silouete of the massive barabel. Playing the waiting game, Shaithis leaned against the wall and got comfortable.

"Damn you people talk alot." Swiper commented over the comlink as he gripped his bryar in his right hand.

"Swiper, do you plan on sitting around all day or actually doing something to help this mission?" Ziggy responded.

"No jokes about my mom.. how unlike you." Swiper replied as he chuckled.

"Both of you shut up," Kir interrupted. "What's your current status Swipes?"

Swiper peered around the corner of the building he was behind and surveyed the intersection. A group of 8 mercs were standing around holding their guns and waiting intently for any action to happen.

"I think i'm about to have myself some fun, i'm not far away from the intersection in 1.02 that needs to be cleared."

"Excellent, do what you do best and inform us when the intersection is clear."

"Sure thing boss." Swiper responded.

Swiper turned to his team of 4 soldiers, "Alright guys, lets do this."

Instantly he turned and jumped from behind the building kneeling and put a hole through one of the mercs heads. "I still got it," he thought to himself. Swipers team came around the corner firing and 2 of them were down within seconds. Swiper continued firing his bryar skillfully, hitting his mark everytime. Taking 3 more of the mercs off of his "to do" list. He saw one of the remaining mercs tossing a grenade. He fired. "damn, too late." The grenade spun through the air and bounced several yards behind him as he heard an explosion and knew instantly his team was injured, if not dead. They had managed to take out 3 of the remaining 4 mercs before the explosion.

As the final merc took aim, Swiper snapped back in time to see the mercs head explode into a mist of blood.

Jives voice came over the comlink "Intersection at 1.02 is clear."

Mordin could feel drops of perspiration forming on his brow. He ignored it, only a little bit further and he would be in position to start scouting the area around the objective point. All of a sudden he felt as though he were being watched. Not another damn sniper. Pulling his weapon over his head, he quickly applied a hasty sling and jumped behind a cratered wall and assumed a prone position.

He could hear footsteps approaching him. The slow steady crunch of gravel underfoot on the pavement. Mordin shimmied left, so that when the time was right, he would be able to roll out from behind the wall and fire upon his stalker.

"Mordin, you're in the prone position, you're shimmying left and you are going to roll out and shoot me from the lower side of the wall you're behind."

Mordin was just totally in for all sorts of surprises today. "Yeah, well... I was shimmying right..."

"No you weren't," said Shai as he reached over the wall to grab Mordin's hand and help him stand up. "You're going west to the objective point, and there are two positions around it that are heavily fortified. Lets go kill bodies, what do you say?"

With a gigantic smirk on his face, "Sounds fantastic," said Mordin. With that, the began the slight jog again. After about 10 minutes of running Shaithis called them to a stop.

"Mordin, I'm going to the top of this building, to post on the roof with my rifle. You being the ballsy idiot you, are going to try and work your way up this alleyway and draw fire, you're not attacking their position, you're bringing them into my sights, and then once you're within range of that... thing you call a gun. You can get into some cover and give 'em hell."

"Yut-yut!" and with that Mordin took off running.

****

Shaithis sat ontop of the building snapping in on windows that he though might open up on Mordin as he zig zagged his way towards the objective point. He concentrated on sight picture, sight alignment, steady breathing, and trigger control. All of a sudden he saw the ground errupt in front of Mordin.

He watched through his sights as Mordin flew through the air and landed on his back. He stumbled up and ran back towards Shaithis. Then, out of a window, a two black figures jumped and landed in Mordin's path. Shaithis was ready to throw his rifle on his back and run down there, but before he did so. He watched just long enough to see both of Mordin's attackers pull light sabers off of their belts.

Duga watched closely as a guard stepped away from the building across from him and his troops. Through the scope of his disruptor rifle he could see more enemies in the two-story building, all heavily armed. Duga would love to go full throttle into the place guns blazing, but would be too outnumbered to do such an attack. Besides that, there was no time to stop. They needed to meet Ben as soon as possible. Duga took aim at the guard. At the right moment, a blast hit the chest of the enemy. In less than a second the figure was no more.

“Alright, we’ll make our way around the building through the bushes. Once we are clear, head for Ben’s location,” Duga said to the men in a low voice. “Mike, you and someone else need to lay out a chain of mines around the building. If anybody comes out, they’ll set off some nice explosions and take down the entire complex with them.”

They moved slowly so not to alert anyone. Mike was on the other side of the place setting mines. Just before they cleared the area, the door to the building flung open and an irate figure appeared calling for who they assumed to be the guard. He approached the bushes looking around and shouting. James, one of the Dinaari troops, jumped up and grabbed the man. Without thinking, he broke the guy’s neck. With that done and mines in place they could move on. Soon all three units would gather and then the real fun would begin.

Dodging debree lying scattered around, Xuthen zig-zagged between the buildings, heading north-west towards the bridge. Judging by the sounds of it, Crix was having loads of fun without her. "Damn bastard," she thought with a smirk on her face, "didnt have the balls to wait for me, eh?" Xuthen grinned as she moved on, getting closer to the rampage with every stepped. She wondered whether that bridge would finally be theirs. This was clearly a time for communication, perhaps she should actually hurry, or something. Xuthen smiled and grabbed the comlink. "This is Charley Foxtrot 2-5, come in" Xuth chuckled as she realized those codenames were confusing the hell out of everyone. She tried to figure out the orders coming in through the comlink, but she heard nothing but crackling noises and parts of words. The damn thing must have gotten damaged by the fall. "I guess gravity and concrete is not it's best friend," Xuthen shrugged and put the comlink away.

Humming a tune she'd once heard in the Taldryan bar, she kept moving, dozing off with a slight smile on her face, amused about talking to Mordin again. Closing in on the bridge, she walked onto the main street that had been north of her. She could see the defense line layed out by Crix, and sped up her pace, when she suddenly felt a knot in her stomach. She stopped, her breath went faster as the uneasy feeling increased. She looked around her, her gaze focusing at nothing in particular. This wasn't directed at her. There was no imminent danger, not even a merc in her vicinity. Xuthen trembled. This felt far from right.

She took a deep breath, blinked, and stood straight as she realized where the danger was coming from. Her face turned toward the main street, in the direction where she had been coming from. Xuthen's smile had faded and her eyes were filled with rage as she started running west.

Her friends were in trouble.

Shaithis snapped the switch to tripple shot and unloaded a quick burst at one of the attacking figures. Blocking two of the shots, the man coughed blood as the third caught him square in the throat, he spasmed once then layed still. Still peering through the scope, Shaithis tried to sight in on the second assailant who was nowhere to be seen....neither was Mordin. Growling in frustration, Shaithis opted for the quick descent on jumped out the window, slinging his weapon on the way down. Drawing his blades as he landed with a bone jarring thud, he sprinted to the fallen attacker to find some sign of Mordins direction. Sounds of a saber fight came from not far away, a scream of pain followed. Running in the direction of the sounds, Shaithis ran into the second attacker who was cluthing what was left of his arm. A sadistic grin spread across the barabels face, grabbing the man by the shoulder Shaithis rammed his blade into the mans gut and lifted straight up while pushing down on the mans shoulder. The dying man tryed to scream, but a weak gurgle was all that escaped. Something caught Shaithis' eyes, a symbol, one he knew well. A low rumble echoed through his massive chest, he tossed the body aside.

Mordin came waltzing in to the clearing, blood smeared across his face. "No worse for wear." he commented.

Sounds of heavy footsteps echoed through the buildings alerting the two to an approaching person. Mordin drew his blade again, but Shaithis motioned for him to lower it.

"Its Xuthen, I recognize the perfume." Shaithis said as he tried in vain to blow the overly sweet smell from his nostrils.

Switching to a private channel, Shaithis spoke. "Kir, something you forgot to mention? When did you invite the Arconans to come play?"

"What!?!" Kir snapped back through the comm link.

Hearing the shock and surprise in Kirs voice gave Shaithis pause. "We've got a problem."

OOC: mess up

Mordin was still wondering how Shaithis had been able to smell Xuthen's perfume from so far away. She was standing next to him right then and he still couldn't smell it.

He looked towards the body of the Jedi that Shaithis had killed. "So... Arconan eh?"

Shaithis nodded in agreement.

"Well no wonder the moron was so easy to kill. They have been totally talently since that faggot Dagger left."

Shaithis nodded again. He seemed taken. He was concentrating very hard on something. He looked up and spoke. "I don't know how the Arconans even know about there. Let alone why they would come to help the mercenaries. Well, I take that back, they would do anything to try and hurt us. Teaming up with gunslinging whores is a small price to pay should it hurt us at all. The only question now is how did they know?"

Mordin thought on it... he had been away for some time so he had no idea how the darth douches knew about this operation. He himself had only known because the saw a Taldryan star cruiser when his own ships hyperdrive engine decided it no long wanted to work. Luckily for him, it decided so at the right position and time.

Mordin looked to Xuthen to see what her input was. Only to find her eyes closed. Sleeping while standing up. Mordin grinned, cocked back his hand, and let loose. Hitting the reset button on the back of Xuth's eyes set her right awake.

"What, huh, sleeping wasn't," she spluttered. Mordin and Shaithis errupted in laughter. The battle fatigue was starting to set in a little, but Xuthen who was the highest ranking member in Dinaari with the least amount of combat action was feeling it's full effect.

"Xuthen, you go inside this building and go meditate. Go into a coma or something, I'll give you one hour to be rested and ready to roll."

******

He watcched the three soldiers. Extraordinary soldiers at that. He had be stalking the big lizard one and was almost sure he had been caught at least twice now. He had seen the bullets slide around the smaller one with short cropped hair. It was sheer amazing luck. Or maybe something else, but he couldn't decide what.

"Sir, this is Echo Two Alpha. Copy?"

"Copy Echo Two, send it."

"Sir, we have three of the enemy soldiers at my coordinates. Requesting immediate back up. On the platoon level."

"Roger that Echo Two, reinforcements are enroute to your position. Sit tight."

*******
As Xuthen slept, Mordin walked over to the corpse he had slain. Searching vainly for the mark of Arcona. He didn't find it. He walked out of the building and out towards the defiled body Shaithis had [Expletive Deleted F-word]ed up. He crouched and immediately saw the mark of Arcona on the neck of the body. He looked at it and it looked a little messed up. He went to touch it... knowing damn well if it were real he would feel the Dark Side coursing through it even though the man was dead.

Fake. Mordin rubbed at the mark and it rubbed right off. He walked to go find Shaithis.

"Shaithis, I gotta tell you, you're retarded. They weren't Arconan. That mark was a fake tattoo. I think these two were idiot INIs who didn't know me and decided to try their hand at combat. Probably got drunk a few nights ago, put it on and forgot about it.Call Kir and let him know you are retarded."

Mordin went and crouched low by the wall and pulled out a can of Copenhagen long cut and put in a nice big dip.

Xuthen slowly opened one eye, then another. She was sitting in a meditating position, and for a very short moment wondered where the hell she was. She put the hood of her cloak down, stretched and yawned. The room she was in was uninteresting, but not as damaged as could be. She was just thinking about how much a good cup of coffee would benefit her when Shaithis walked in.

"So, finally awake," the lizard growled.

Xuthen blinked and stood up. "Hell yea. I guess I needed that." Walking outside, they found Shaithis relaxing against a wall. The prelates stood together in silence, thinking about the next step.

"It's awfully quiet," said Mordin, securing his white lightsaber to his belt, "I doubt if there's anything left to do here."
"Our objective is to eliminate resistance in this area. I think we've somewhat discouraged the resistance," Xuthen grinned.

"I remember something about there being two fortified buildings left for us, sexy, don't forget those," Mordin replied.
Xuthen nodded and grabbed her bryar. "It's time for some practice"

As the three Jedi walked down the road, Mordin realized he liked being in the comapny of good people again. But at the same time, he hated working with other people. Having to worry about other peple during combat was too much extra responsibility. Death is certain, life is not.

"Ok, the buildings are a few meters down the road," said Mordin. Looking towards Shaithis, "I want you and Xuthen to take up positions around the building. Snipe these faggots and put them in their place."

"Oh really, and what are you going to do," asked Shaithis?

"I've got a surprise."

OOC: If you haven't been keeping up, here's your chance, be sure to read everyone's posts if you are going to contribute, lets keep the story going and get some more QUALITY posts!

_____

The first day of Taldryan's assault was nearing its end. The sun was starting to sink in the sky and shadows began to stretch their way across the land. For freshjive, sitting alone in his hiding spot, the darkness was a welcome sight.

The day had been filled with a lot of excitement and action. Zig, Flech, and Crix had stabilized their advance after some initial troubles and were poised to take the bridge crossing early the next day. Xuthen had bailed Mordin out and the two had linked up with Shaithis to advance along the left flank of the bridge strike. Their target was a firebase in sector 4.3 that had been shelling the bridge assault all day. Swiper had moved his forces to a large intersection nearby and was holding there, waiting for reinforcements to come from the east. Kir and Shadow were out romping around and monitoring everything. All in all, it had been a fairly successful day, most of the first objectives had been accomplished and those that hadn't were within easy reach.

freshjive's day had been spent mostly watching. The merc HQ was set up about four blocks south of his position. From his spot high in the abandoned factory, he could see down the street and monitor the outside of the compound. To the west he could see Swiper's intersection, where earlier he had helped take down a merc who had gotten the jump on Swiper. It was dangerous to expose himself by firing, but was necessary to prevent Swiper from getting shot in the ass. He had considered relocating, but his vantage was too good and the mercs didn't seem to indicate they were searching for a sniper.

After that, freshjive spent the remainder of the day relaying intel to Kir and Shadow. So far not much was happening, but with night coming, freshjive knew he would leave his perch and go out into the darkness.

It was going to be a rough night for the mercs.

As the smoke from the blast cleared Jaysen and his men stormed into the building to clear the first room and prepare to meet up with Kir and Shadow on the other side. Vaguely sensing his men through the haze Jaysen shouted out orders, “Two by two. Standard clearing procedure. Report in after clearing.” Jaysen moved through the room with one of the Privates at his side. As he came around a corner he caught the shape of a black clothed figure. Without hesitating he raised his bryar and prepared to fire. As he was about to pull the trigger the blaster was ripped out of his hand and flew in the direction of his Target.

“What the hell took you so long, Jaysen?” It was the Consul’s voice, and as Jaysen moved forward the smoke cleared and he could see that it was Kir who he had been aiming for. “You don’t think you could actually have hit me, do you?” With a smug grin he handed the weapon back to the Acolyte. “Come on. Shadow and the rest of the guys are waiting in the front.” With a confused look on his face Jaysen fell in step behind his leader and followed him.

“I think I’m going to write him up for treason, or something like that, for trying to kill his Consul.” Kir gave Shadow a wink as he entered the room where the Proconsul had set up the new Command Position. Shadow gave a quick laugh and turned back to the table where he had set up the map.

“But, I’m still confused,” was all Jaysen was able to get out. “How did you get in here before us and have the time to clear the building?”

The two senior Dark Jedi just exchanged amused looks with each other. “Do you really think a few mercs are any match for the two of us?” Shadow asked. “While you were in the back pussyfooting around and taking your fine time, we were busy getting the job done. Plus, it’s not like this is the first time we’ve done this before.”

Jaysen just shook his head and found a chair to sit down in. “Being with these two is like trying to beat your older brother at anything when you are five years old.”

As Kir and Shadow began to go over the locations of the Taldryan forces the comlink came to life, “Kir, this is Jive. I’ve got some updates for you. Most of the forces are holding waiting for your next orders. Over…”

Estuans sat up next to a wall after his group had stopped to rest. He wasn't all that tired but he was a bit out of shape from the fresh combat experience he was getting. He saw most of the seniors stay still in their positions. It is best to be on guard at all times. I learned that the hard way he thought as his right hand went to trace the scar on his cheek.

Estuans knew that knowing some of the warriors here, they would conduct a night raid on some of the enemy's divisions. He wanted to go but he knew that he would most likely get turned down. He then slung his rifle over his shoulder, he looked around to make sure no weapons were aimed at him as he did so. Estuans then drew his Katana sword. He looked at the blade and he then wanted to use it on some poor idiotic Merc that happened to have crossed his path. All he used that day was just his rifle. He wanted more, but he knew patience was needed. He looked around to see if he can find Xuthen, He still owed her for practically saving him. I'll thank her when the battle is over, or unless I can get a chance to repay he thought.

Estuans then sheathed his sword and placed his rifle back in both of his hands. He just simply sat there, half alert, half in thought.

Mordin slid forward on his stomach so that his head barely cleared the hill to look down on the artillery position that had been hammering the bridge. Three pieces of artillery surrounding a command tent. Two soldiers per piece operating it, and about six other's giving security around the perimeter. He reached out with the force to sense how many life forms were in the command tent.

"Shai, this is Apo, you copy?" Silence came when he released the button on the commlink.

"Yeah, what you got?" came the barabels reply over the little device.

"We have fifteen people to slaughter right now. Six on artillery, six giving security, and three in the tent. Try and make it as quiet as possible so we don't alert the three in the tent, they have to know something."

"Good to go, I'm going in," said Shaithis. From the other side of the camp Mordin watched as a gigantic lizard came out of the trees and was moving in on a security guard. One down with a slit throat. Two more dropped as Shaithis utilized his knife with skill. The three remaining on security quickly found that their brain and a round from Xuthen's rifle couldn't coexist in the same position.

With the six security guards down Mordin and Xuthen stood and descended down the hill towards the artillery. Mordin pulled the hood of his cloak up so that his face was not in view. The six remaining soldiers working the artillery didn't notice at all as they were slowly being choked by an unseen enemy until the collapsed to the ground and writhed in pain.

The three Jedi met right outside the opening to the tent. "Shaithis, go in, and kill the two junior. Leave the most senior officer alive to answer questions, make the deaths painful so that it scares the older one." Shaithis nodded and went in. Mordin and Xuthen smiled in pleasure as they heard the gurgling of men trying to breath through blood.

Shaithis came out dragging a corpse. "The most senior officer decided to kill himself," with that he threw the body so Mordin and Xuthen could get a look at the man. A wide smile spread across Mordin's face.

"Destavol never deserved to live anyways," Xuthen said right before spitting on the face of the homosexual duck rapist.

Sithspawn ducked instinctively as another artillery burst screamed into the riverbank. Heavy anti-personnel guns had been keeping both Crix and Sithspawn pinned down, with little to do but return fire.

Sithspawn's comlink crackled. As his ears struggled to recover from the artillery bursts, he heard Mordin babbling endlessly. He thumbed the send button and replied "I'd like one order of General Tso's chicken, a pint of fried rice, and 2 egg rolls. Failing that, I'd take some FREAKING COUNTER-ARTILLERY!" Amidst chuckles, Mordin replied "Hey Ziggy, I wouldn't worry about that artillery anymore. The gun crew suffered an.....unfortunate accident."

Sithspawn paused and edged up over the boulder he'd been hiding behind. True to his word, Mordin had silenced the artillery. Sithspawn grabbed the lieutenant crouched next to him and ordered him to prepare all troops for an advance. He thumbed his comlink and instructed Crix to do the same.

Flipping over to the ground support frequency, Sithspawn directed the speeder bikes to assemble on the east bank.

As Crix approached, Sithspawn grinned and began to explain his plan.

"We mount up a couple of our troops on the back of the bikes to serve as gunners. Then, send the bikes a klick or two downstream and have them cross the river and come in from the east to hit the enemy's flank. In the ensuing chaos, we'll send a small force across the bridge to establish a foothold. I figure sending a couple AT-STs with a squad of soldiers will do the trick. It'll give the soldiers the oppurtunity to take cover behind the legs if all else fails. They will cross the bridge and concentrate fire on any remaining vehicles and heavy troop concentrations, while we bring the rest of our boys over. From there, the rest is a walk in the park."

Crix nodded in agreement. "However," he added "Let's see if Kir can scare us up some artillery to soften up the hard targets first..."

Shaithis listened as Mordin filled Ziggy in on the details of the unfortunate deaths of the artillery crew. Xuthen was rummaging through the command tent for any valuable information, preferably troop placements. A touch of luck, or the force, Shaithis didn't much care which was with them, Xuthen had found troop placements for the surrounding sectors, all within range of the artillery. Great to know so you don't fire on your own troops.....even better when the need for friendly fire strikes. A devious smile crept across the giant barabels face, both of his companions were puzzled for a moment till their trains of thought reached the same conclusion as well.

Switching to a secure band, Shaithis sent a general broadcast. "All friendlies be advised, keep clear of bridge in sector 3.04 till the all clear signal is given."

A quick switch had Shaithis talking to Ziggy. "I hope I haven't spoiled your plans yet, it would be a shame to waste these beautiful weapons that the mercs were so kind to set up for us. We've got only a few rounds left, but enough to soften up the emplacements on the other end of the bridge."

"Copy that, we will sit tight till the second shell hits." Ziggy responded

"One other thing, I need specific coordinates, we've got general troop placements but no blasted coordinates." Shaithis waited for a response.

***********************************************************************
"Get me a spotter up on that ridge, we just caught a break and we're gonna capitalize on it." Ziggy shouted as he pointed at a ridge with a good vantage point on the enemy entrenchments.

The comm cracked to life, "Where are my coordinates Ziggy?"

"Shut up, your so needy." Was the response.

***********************************************************************

Shaithis growled and shook his head. "Mordin, can you operate one of those things?"

"Not a problem chief." Mordin said as he hopped into the gunners seat.

"Xuthen, keep us loaded at all times. As soon as we get those coordinates we're gonna let fly with some artillery of our own." Shaithis hopped into the second artillery unit and waited for Ziggy to relay target coordinates.

A brief wind brought a familiar scent to his nostrils, Shaithis snarled. They were being stalked.

Mordin and Shaithis leaned against ammo crates stacked outside of the command tent. Idly sipping on beer and watching the birds jump around in the trees. It was relaxing compared to the action of firing artillery. They had used all the artillery rounds that Xuthen could find, they eliminated the resistence Ziggy was facing at the bridge, and a few other key areas.

Mordin took a nice long sip, "So, Shai. Who's in charge of DIE these days?"

Shaithis choked on his beer, "Uh, well. Uh... you see Apo. The thing about that is..."

"You mother [Expletive Deleted F-word]ers closed it down didn't you?" asked Mordin. "So now we have the all mighty Dark Fire Brigade as our security when we're in the rear. Dear Lord. I guess I'm not going to be sleeping much... or at least be able to close both eyes when I do."

Shaithis chuckled, "Yeah, DIE was the [Expletive Deleted], but for some reason, probably because DF had been around longer. When it was time to close one, they chose the younger, more bad ass one to close. Doesn't make sense because of the sheer l33tness of DIE, but whatever."

Xuthen popped her head out of the tent. "Uh, big bad warriors?" Shaithis and Mordin looked at her.

"Yes?" the two asked.

Xuthen looked around the perimeter that she could see and whispered, "I think someone is out there."

Mordin laughed. "Xuth, sorry we forgot to tell you. Shai sensed them like an hour ago coming up. Just sit back and wait."

freshjive had waited three hours past sunset to leave his spot in the warehouse. He had left most of his equipment stashed under some rubble so any hobos or transients that used the building as shelter wouldn't find it. He had also changed into his low visibility clothing and equipment. The balaclava hood he was wearing was a new one though and itched.

It had taken him the better part of an hour to sneak one block south closer to the HQ of the mercs. A few lights had to be disabled for him to make it but there didn't seem to be a raised level of alertness in any of the merc patrols or sentries he encountered.

As if a major attack on the city wasn't enough to alert them.

freshjive was crouched between two buildings directly across the street from the HQ compound. Bright floods created a moat of light around the walls of the compound and from what he could see, illuminated every inch of ground inside them as well. No stealthy approach seemed possible in the wash of all that wattage.

The sheer audacity of the mercs to completely light up the area spoke to their having not encountered any air support from the attacking forces. It was a weakness that should be exploited in the coming days, although freshjive had a feeling that Kir was hesitant to commit air assets to the operation. freshjive suspected that Kir feared what the air support would tell the mercs and the populace of the city. As long as it appeared that Taldryan had no part in the assault, support from the populace would be easy, but if it learned that Taldryan had orchestrated everything, then the whole city would pour from its homes in support of the mercs, creating a situation that would spiral out of control until the entire city was destroyed. It was a dangerous tightrope they walked upon, but as long as they did not commit foolish mistakes then everything would come off without a hitch.

freshjive retreated back into the shadows of the side street and crept along southwards, keeping the HQ compound to his right a block over. He came to the south wall of the compound and finally saw an opening to sneak in. The floods were all trained inwards in this area, leaving a great wide swath of darkness and shadow that he could enhance with the Force to create Absence and darken the area even more. There were more guards here though too, so one misstep and he'd be captured or dead. Of course there was the problem of what to do once he was past all the guards, because the inside was still lit up. Disabling a light with his silenced pistol was an option, but then you had guards suspicious of spontaneously bursting light fixtures. He could use the overload capactior that was integrated into the infrared laser on the pistol, but it was brand new and freshjive was suspicious of it. It required a very careful aim, but the upside was that it overloaded the circuts of any electronic device for about fifteen seconds, creating a window in which to sneak through. Considering his options, freshjive chose the latter.

Ok, so, sneak up to just beside the guard post, aim at the light and press the button and its dark. Should give me enough time to sneak inside the building.

His approach depended on timing. There were two guards patrolling back and forth in the area, with two more in the guard post. The two patrolling stopped occasionally to speak to one another and the other two appeared enthralled in some video footage of what looked like porn.

freshjive crept from the relative safety of the dark side street and immediately began concentrating with the Force, creating Absence around him. He stalked closer to the mercs and began to shadow one on his way back towards the guard post.

"Hey Thgil, you feel that?" asked one of the mercs to the other.

"Feel what?"

"I dunno, feels...cold all of a sudden."

"Ahh, its probably nothing."

"We should turn on the spots out here just for a sec though, can't be too certain, I've been hearing some strange things from the southern front."

Oh [Expletive Deleted], freshjive scrambled as fast and as quietly as he could to the guard post. A few feet from the entrance he pulled out his pistol, quickly aimed and pressed the button on the grip to activate the overload capacitor. The floodlight he aimed it at sparked for a second and then went dead.

"Hey, what happened to the light?!" said one of the surprised sentries.

"Dunno, maybe we should turn on the floods for a sec," came the reply.

freshjive had been counting to himself the second the light went dead 15, 14, 13...he moved quickly through the barricade and into the central courtyard of the compound. Directly in front of him was the main building. 12, 11, 10...he kept moving 9, 8, 7...and was close to the main building when the guards finally turned the outside floodlights on and turned their attention away from the shorted out light. 6, 5, 4 almost there! 3, 2...he reached the back entrance and opened a simple door and stepped inside the building just as the light outside came back on. The light inside the building was low, but still had the chance of giving him away so he flicked the switches on the inside of the door to give himself more opportunity to move around.

Time to go to work. Good thing I packed some bugs when we left.

He moved down a dim hallway with wood floors and white walls scattered with paintings or portraits of people and places. The place had the feeling of a residential building rather than a HQ for a military unit. The compound was large but gave the appearance of an ambassador's residence. The wood flooring underneath was laquered to a shine and the walls were clean and in good repair.

freshjive entered the first doorway on his left, which led to what must've been a large dining or ballroom but now was stocked with computer banks. The lights were dim in the room and a few mercs were sitting at scattered terminals. freshjive quietly crossed the center of the room, being careful not to put a foot down too heavily on the wood floors.

"Hey Hal, I'm going to get some coffee, want some?" one of the mercs asked.

"Nah," came the reply, "I've still got a pretty full cup."

The first soldier got up from his terminal and began walking across the large room directly at freshjive, who moved about a foot to his left, inching closer to another merc who was sitting at a bank of computers. Coffee guy began to go past when he stopped, turned, and started for the merc sitting next to freshjive. Just as coffe guy stopped, freshjive rolled quietly out of the way on the tips of his toes and fingers. The two stood and talked for a moment, but freshjive couldn't make out any of the words because the sound of his heart in his ears was too loud. Eventually, coffee guy left and the room was quiet again.

Ok, lets get this done and get the hell out of here.

freshjive moved around the bank of computers he was hiding by and found the central server in the room. It was tucked into a corner out of the way. He slid open an access panel and planted a discreet electronic transmitter. The transmitter was brand new and provided a way to leech intel from a remote location. Each day it would log all data coming in and out of the server and store it in its onboard memeory. Then, every night it would activate and transmit in encoded bursts that were nearly impossible to detect or crack, unless you knew the proper frequencies and codes to use.

When he was done, freshjive replaced the panel, crept out of the room into the hallway and to the exit. He aimed his pistol with the overload capacitor at the light outside again and exited in the same manner he had entered the compound.

The scent was growing stronger, still no visible sign of any merc in the area, no living ones anyway. Something just wasn't sitting right with Shaithis, he could see Mordin and Xuthen weren't quite comfortable either. Thinking back, Shaithis considered it quite fortunate that the mercs not only had rounds for the artillery but also a large cache of anti personel mines and high yield det packs stashed in the make shift armory. An explosion rocked the area, followed by two others, the three taldryan warriors took up positions. Shaithis decided to forgo discretion and stood with his saber ignited in plain view of the enemy. Xuthen took up a firing position towards the back of the camp, behind some durasteel crates. Shaithis knew Mordin was around, his presence within the force was evidence enough, but no sight of the fiery little human. Xuthen caught sight of a merc and got first kill, wounding a second as the bolt tore through the first. Two more explosions resounded through the camp, Mordins expertise with explosives was paying off left and right Shaithis noted.

The mercs were hurting, even before they had breached the camp, before they had met Shaithis and the controlled fury he was ready to unleash. The first line of mercs breached the perimeter and charged for the lone target, an easy kill. Smoke rose from the holes in their chests as Shaithis reflected their fire with the practiced ease of a weapon master. Wave after wave attacked, Shaithis was hard pressed, Xuthen was running low on clips and Mordin was still missing. Shaithis let a roar laced with force energy burst forth, those closest to the raging barabel wavered noticeably as the wave of energy slammed into them knocking several off their feet.

"You're gonna have to teach me that sometime." Mordin shouted above the roar of battle as he took up a position near Shaithis, his blade springing to life.

"Where were you?" Shaithis stated bluntly as he reflected yet another endless barage of blaster fire.

Mordin responded by pulling a detonator for one of the det packs and pushed the button, a series of explosions ripped through the air. "APC's, three of them." Mordin smiled.

Shaithis signaled to fall back towards Xuthens position, Mordin nodded in acknowledgment. Taking up cover behind the crates, Shaithis slipped Xuthen a couple of his spare clips and readied his x-45.

"Ziggy, Crix, whoever I dont care, now would be a good time for some quick transportation." Shaithis shouted into his comm unit as he armed the det packs placed throughout the camp and surrounding area.

Mordin sat hunched behind cargo crates as Shaithis stood and sniped mercenaries as they came within sight. He had placed a line of IEDs at 15 meter intervals and was popping the detentors as mercenaries advanced. Dirt and undergrowth would fountain through the air as he did this. As he popped the last detenator, Shaithis and Xuthen stopped firing.

Mordin stood to survey the scene. Bodies and parts of them lay scattered everywhere. That's what civilian thugs got for trying to mess with Mordin and his friends. Xuthen hurled fromt he stench of charred flesh. Mordin and Shaithis smiled and inhaled deeply. It was a sweet smell to them. Xuthen stood and wiped her face with the back of her hand.

"Gross," she said with a quivering voice.

"Get used to that sweet smell Xuth, this won't be the first time you smell it. Back when Dinaari challenged Kirleta and I got my first Grand Cross, we had a pile of Dark Jedi to burn. I threw up then, but it was all good."

"You burned... your own Brothers?" she asked.

Shaithis errupted in laughter, "Xuthen, we are part of Taldryan. Mordin and I are both Son's of Taldryan, no one but us are above our wrath. People say that the Grand Master has the power of the Dark Brotherhood. Right now it's true because it's Jac. But I garuntee if there were a non Taldryan Grand Master on the throne. The Consul of Taldryan would rule in truth. The grand master's life would be balanced in Kir's hands."

Xuthen seemed to understand. The sound of speeders could be heard, it had to be Ziggy coming to pick them up.

Xuthen looked up and saw three speeders coming around the corner. After taking a last glimpse on the bodies laying around, Xuthen tried desperately to block the stench. To Shaithis the stench must be far more obnoxious, but the barabel stood there with what seemed to be a grin on his face. Both him and Mordin were enjoying this rampage way too much. Xuthen liked the killing, but she found nothing about decaying corpses and limbs enticing. Xuthen tried to search for more ammo, but the bodies held nothing but scrap metal. Both Mordin and Shaithis looked up, staring in the direction of the bridge. The elimination of the artillery would've helped them, but judging by the explosions there would still be plenty of stuff to do over there.

"If that bridge isn't ours yet, " Shaithis growled, "we'll do it for them."

"They'd better," Mordin replied with a smirk on his face, "Ziggy knows we'll rub it in for the rest of their lives if they haven't."

The three prelates got themselves on the speeders, taking with them the valuables they'd found. After a short flight through the demolished southwest part of the city, they arrived at the bridge.



(OOC: awful hangover, my apologies)

OOC: Hardly anyone is writing on this thing because they're all lame, if you're in the clan and you haven't posted, shame on you for being a douche. If you have, props, you're a bad ass mofo. I'm gonna speed it up a little maybe someone will feel like being active again if they know the what's going on.

****

That night Mordin sat at the command tent with his friends. Sitting around the fire he thought about the days events. Ziggy, Crix, Flech, and Estanuas had taken the bridge in sector 4.04 just before Shaithis, Xuthen and himself had arrived. Earlier that day Nexus Mage had taken the ammo cache in sector 1.04. Swiper had taken the communications post at 1.02. Kraval and Benevolent had single handedly defeated the soldiers in the barracks at secotrs 2.01 and 3.01. Kir and Shadow had sat and watched, as if grading Jaysen as the ACO had commanded the troops to take the refueling outpost at 4.02. All that remained was the main head quarters for the mercenaries at the line where sectors 2 and 3 came together at the .03 latitude.

Mordin peered up from the fire as Ziggy, Crix and Flechette were doing a damn hysterical reinactment of their takin' of the bridge. At this point Crix and Flechette were playing the parts of the CO and XO of the mercenaries as Ziggy playing the four Jedi who had defeated them.

Crix dropped to his knees facing Flechette, "Please sir, shoot yourself. Don't let these demons defoul you?"

"I... uh... I," Flechette muttered acting like a little sisssy.

"You there, take his pants off and grap his penis," said Ziggy. He was playing the part of himself. Crix reached for Flechette's belt right as Ziggy mock slapped him across the face. "You faggot," shouted Ziggy.

Static rang out across everyone comm link. "Attention to orders! All who here these words. Know that tomorrow, by official decree of our Lord of Darkness, Consul Kir Katarn, we go for the mercenary headquarters."

Ziggy, Flech, and Crix took a seat. All of them concentrating on the words. It was Jaysen speaking. Probably told to do so by Shadow and Kir as part of training, getting used to giving commands to large groups.

"Now, the details gents," said Jaysen. "Shadow and Kir want you all to know you did an outstanding job today. Your warrior skills defeated the mercenaries at all of the primary objectives. Freshjive has infiltrated the mercenary headquarters and planted a device that will broadcast information from their data system to us. We are planning on hitting the mercenaries tomorrow at 1200. Dead of the afternoon. We will lay low until then, move into posistions. Redistribute ammunition and all of that good stuff. There are loads of mercenary units around and about but the army will mop them up. The army however cannot take the command post by themsevles. They lack out inate ability for... destruction. In case of a further update, tomorrow everyone be in position by 1000. The most senior in the unit take charge and carry out the plan of attack. Headquarters Taldryan, out."

Everyone sat there for a second after that, contemplating. Tomorrows battle to eradicate the mercenaries would be intense. Mordin stood to address his friends.

"I am going to hit the rack. I am not the most senior Jedi,s o I'm not giving any orders, but I advise that you do the same.
Adept Flechette, by your leave?"

Flech nodded, "Mord has a good point, everyone hit the sack, we're going to wake late tomorrow. I will set it for 0600. Tomorrow morning, Xuthen will wake everyone else. She will be on the last watch. I will take the first. I'll wake who I think needs the least amount of rest, as will that person for the next rotation, just make sure Xuthen is last. In the morning we will pack our gear and leave this position by 0645. At 0630 Shaithis and Mordin will leave us and begin scouting ahead to make sure we make our way to the headquarters undetected. That's it, hit the rack."

****

Nexus Mage was asleep already in under his cloak when Swiper tapped on his shoulder to awake him.

"Hey Nex, I thought I'd come over here for the night, we can goto the HQ tomorrow together, I want someone watching my back with all these merc's crawling around."

"Yes Exarch, make yourself at home," Nexus Mage said with a slight hint of sarcasm.

****

Elsewhere around the cities the Dark Jedi of Taldryan were getting rest as they readied for the events of the next day. Kraval and Benevolent meet unarranged at a location they both seemed to deem fit for rest. Kir, Shadow and Jaysen all snuggled somewhat unheterosexually together in a big sleepingbag. Spooning. Shaithis lay in the embers of the campfire, strange lizard was he. Xuthen had crawled under the awning of the command tent so that she would be protected from morning dew yet still be able to breath the cool nights air. Ziggy and Crix pushed each other in their sleep, battling for position under a table in the tent. While Mordin sat perched in a tree keeping watch. Flechette roamed below but it made Mordin feel a little better about being gone for so long from Taldryan as long as he could provde them with security while they slept.

The next day would be very eventful.

Shadow toyed with the map projector and comm device again. Damn thing was impossible to link up. After a few more minutes and a lot of vulgar curses the map emitted a bright glow depicting the city.




"About time," Shadow muttered under his breath. After dialing in the other comm devices Shadow activated the unit.

"Status update. Sending you all the latest map of the city complete with grid coordinates, enemy unit locations, target objectives and member coordinates. Stand by for current objectives." Shadow tapped a few keys on the map projector. Suddenly several of the members' locations were highlighted. "Ziggy, your team is to keep moving west into 2.03. You'll have a few enemy troops to worry about but your main target is a power plant that is providing energy to the mercenary's perimeter defenses around their main base. We can't get near that compound until the automated defenses are offline. You guys need to get in there and blow that thing to hell as soon as possible." Shadow looked over the map. "Nexus, you come down and give them a hand. See if you can't trap them between your two teams."

Shadow clicked a few more keys highlighting a different area of the map. "Ben, Duga and Chaos. Keep moving east towards the merc headquarters. Take out any resistance and then lie low and wait for Ziggy's team to finish with that power plant.

"Kraval and Swiper keep moving South towards the HQ. You're going to have to get through some blockades. Jive. See if you can give them a hand there. Also, see if you can obtain any more information on their defense systems."

After clearing his throat Shadow continued with the orders. "Jaysen and I will continue moving towards the merc camp. There are a few things we have to deal with before we meet up with Ben's team. Before heading out I want all teams to report in. You have your orders."


You can now head over to the Clan Message Board and begin posting. Kir posted up rules and basic guidelines at the beginning of the Run-On so review those if you need to. The map can be viewed on the Message Board and will give you some idea of what to do next. If you haven't yet participated you can right yourself in as being part of one of the groups.

"Where the hell am I?"

Zhilvinas had been wandering for about an hour now, with his only direction coming from explosions heard in the distance. He would be sure not to over sleep again. Just then though, he heard the low murmur of a voice. He couldn't make out what it was saying; he wasn't quite sure it was a voice. But it was the closest thing he had.

He carefully made his way towards the sound, Bryar in his right hand. His katana was sheathed on his hip, and a thermal detonator in a small pouch on his belt. He was ready for whatever was around this corner...

He jumped, turning right, with his Bryar pointed at...nothing. Had he been imagining the sound? No, not even he was that delusional yet.

"...you have your orders"

A faint voice, but it was one. It almost sounded familiar, but it was too quiet to tell. Better safe than sorry. He had to assume it was a merc.

He looked up and down the street, and saw a busted door.

"As good a place as any to start."

He slowly moved towards the door, holstering his Bryar and drawing his katana. Somehow, he trusted the blade more. With his blade in front of him, he jumped into the room, ready to kill.

"So, you decided to show up," Shadow said with a smile.

Crix relayed the orders to his unit commanders and by the end of the hour camp was broken and they were moving again. Crix carried few weapons this time, just his lightsaber, katana and his rail gun.

He thumbed his comm on and switched to the channel that Ziggy and himself were using. "Hey Ziggy, what would you say if I asked you to split off and attack the power plant from the south side?"

"Sure, I love a good flanking." Ziggy said.

"Great, I'll come in from the east side. There's less chance of friendly fire that way." He said, patting his rail gun.

"Quit fondeling the damn rail gun." Ziggy snapped through the comm and Crix cracked up.

"Meet ya in the power plant." Crix said, still laughing.

He looked out the window of his vehical and saw about half of the force splitting off. He smiled as a few of the junior officers looked at him questioningly. "It's a power plant, not a military base. They can't deal with two attacks at once. It will fall quickly this way. By the time we're in position Ziggy will have already started his attack. They'll be paniced but before they know it they'll have a second attack to deal with. If all goes well we'll just be able to waltz in, blow some stuff up and keep going.