posted July 14, 2001 02:39 PM               

Kuroishi was listening as best as he could to the man leading the search effort. He had already managed to get all his squads down in the sewers for a search. Kuroishi knew he didn't have much time.

Kuroishi grabbed a fragmentary grenade, pulled the pin, balanced it in his palm, counted to five in his mind, and threw the grenade right in the middle of the squad bearing down on his position.

The sewers made for some rather good tamping reinforcing the dealy effect of the grenade. The entire squad would not be seeing any action for quite awhile, assuming anyone actually survived.

Kuroishi knew the explosion would draw a lot of attention his direction so he quickly placed one of his two trip mines on the wall resting on the sidewalk.

Kuroishi scrambled as fast as he could for the club he had come into the sewers through.

Kuroishi herd the exploding of his trip mine as his persuers found it, Kuroishi didn't care if they saw it or if they tripped it. Figuring either way it would buy him time, Kuroishi set his last trip mine similar to the first and then continued on his way to the club.

Kuroishi could hear the patrols catching up with him, at this rate they would have him before he could get anywhere near the club.

Another explosion told him that they were already to where he left his second trip mine.

Kuroishi checked the weapons on his back, his double barrled blaster rifle, ion rifle, and sniper rifle were all still preasent.

Kuroishi knew he had no other alternative but to make a stand and fight now. Sitting down carefully where he would have the most cover Kuroishi waited for them with his double barrled blaster rifle sitting next to him and his sniper rifle at the ready.

The squads had learned to send one mand at a time through by this point, at least so it seemed when one person peaked around the corner.

Kuroishi did not let the poor fool live to regret sticking his head out. He worked the bolt and readied for his next target.

Kuroishi's patience was rewarded with another sacraficial lamb. Again Kuroishi worked the bolt after killing the man.

Kuroishi figured by now they must be thinking two things, either rushing the sniper or sending grenades around the corner. Kuroishi was ready for either.

As Kuroishi figured they tossed two thermal detonators around the corner. Kuroishi just laughed quietly as they went off.

Since his Varneck Marine Combat Armor was built to specificly defend against explosives and energy weapons Kuoishi was fine and his armor would need a bit of surface work done to it later.

Kuroishi traded his sniper rifle for his double barrled blaster rifle and waited fro the rush of troopers around the corner.

------------------
"Indecent exposure is fun." Sonatina

"If we have all knowladge then we would not wish to seek what we know, but if we had no knowledge how could we even ask a question?" Plato on knowladge.

posted July 16, 2001 06:06 PM               

He had to get enough distance from the pursuing tanks to work his magic with explosives.

He dodged into a back alley, one thin enough that the tanks would have to go around the block.

He had one explosive set before the tanks realised this fact, three set before they had cleared one street, and he was finished by the time they rounded the corner coming after him.

He quickly got up, dodging tank shells, and drew them closer to his little trap.

Suddenly, before it was time, the explosives went off, triggered by the shockwave of one of the explosions.

His beautifully laid trap had only succeeded in netting half the expected catch, and he was on the run again.

posted July 17, 2001 12:07 AM               

The shots were hitting all around him know. Some even getting direct shots on him. The missed shots blew apart the stone masonry of the moss covered walls. A thick damp dust began to fill the air as the firefight thickened. Both Kuroishi and the enemy hunkered down behind whatever cover was available and traded laser fire. Kuroishi took out one more trooper on the top of his head. The squad after losing half its number pulled back in an orderly retreat around the corner. Kuroishi chuckled to himself as he saw them run.

"That's right. Run away like dogs with your tails between your legs!" He yelled grinning. His grin turned to a grim smile as he saw two complete squads charge around the corner, and with military precision one squad laid down a withering cover fire in Kuroishi's direction while the second advanced. Kuroishi fired back as well as he could, and continued to drop troopers.

They traded more blaster fire for a long moment. The explosions, the traded gun fire, and the acrid smell of burnt moss and muck created an eerie and surreal battlefield.

Kuroishi methodically squeezed the trigger and trooper after trooper went down into the muck. And yet another squad rounded the corner. He knew now that they knew his position.

More shots scored direct hits on his armour, but he shook them off, knowing he was nearly invulnerable.

Then more thermal detonators soared through the air. He grinned trusting his armour could take them. But they didn't land directly on top of him. One landed to his left and the other to his right. At first he thought the enemy were just bad with grenades, but then he saw where they landed and swore visciously, pushed himself onto his feet and moved as quickly as he could in his wounded state. But it was too late. The explosions rocked him up against one wall and then back out into the center of the hallway. And then the two collonades holding up the ceiling collapsed, sending two tons of moss covered rock ontop of him, and into the thigh deep muck. Stone after stone slammed on his head, then his back, knocking him to his knees. And then he was pushed under the murky depths. He was able to take a ragged deep breath before he sunk into the watery tomb. His eyes bulged as the crushing weight slammed him down forcing him to exhale. And then darkness took him.

- - - -

Kresh smiled as he poked his head around the corner. His plan had worked. The supports to the tunnel had brought the roof down on the party. And a good thing too. He shook his head in wonder at the dead and wounded around him, amazed at how one man could put up such a fight. Over twelve men were killed or wounded.

"Beta Squad," Kresh called through his comm. "We need medics down here fast! We've got more wounded and dying."

"Get him out of there!" He called, and his men lept forward to extricate the uncouncious enemy. With three full squads moving rubble it was only a matter of moments before they dropped the armour covered man at Kresh's feet.

"Good work. Strip him of his armour and weapons. Then cuff him and take him to headquarters for interrogation." Kresh ordered. This one was far too dangerous to take any chances. The booby traps, and the wounded and dead from this firefight attested to that.

posted July 17, 2001 12:50 AM               

Argon Viper heard the explosions as he dodged into another ally way. He peaked around the corner behind him and saw the smouldering husk of another hovertank, courtesy of his handy work. He also saw an entire squad of twelve men running towards his position shooting as they came. They were only a hundred meters or so away.

"Don't let him get away!"

He swore. They were onto him. He ran down the ally and as he reached the middle of the ally-way the following squad rounded the corner and saw him. Six dropped to one knee and trained their weapons on him. The other six aimed their weapons above the kneeling row, and getting maximum firepower they opened fire.

The shots hit all around him churning up the ferrocrete walls and pavement. He fired multiple shots over his shoulder behind him as he ran and dodged and ejected another energy cell.

Just then another squad rounded the corner in front of him. He managed to get another energy cell slapped into his gun in time to fire one shot taking down a trooper in the head as he skidded to a stop. The squad opened fire and he lept to the left behind a large pipe running down the side of the building. The space he had just vacated was a firestorm of blaster fire.

"Get him! That's the one!" He heared them yell. Then he began running back the other way, using the pipes and other rubbish in the ally way as cover. Blaster fire was coming from both ends of the ally way now hitting all around him, one grazed his shoulder causing him to clench his teath in pain at the seared flesh.

There was a squad in front of him and a squad behind him. He was between the proverbial rock and the hard place. He hunkered down behind some rubble and began firing at the fireing troopers. But their suppression fire was too much and he notices small groups began to leap frog towards him. He had to move soon.

The only real exit was above him. An old rickety fire escape was twenty meters to his rear, he broke cover firing the rest of his shots as he ran. Then throwing down his weapon, he leapt with all his might and caught the bottom rung. He hung there for a moment as the shots hit around him, one of them blowing through the heal of his boot. And then he began climbing hand over hand, praying he would make it out of this alive. If not, he would at least go out in a blaze of glory.

posted July 17, 2001 02:34 PM               

Argon Viper climbed another twenty feet before pulling out a cuncussion grenade, setting the timer and tossing it to the bottom, where it landed in the trash heap.

He started climbing again, reaching twenty-five feet before the troops entered the enclosed area, thirty before they reached the bottom of the ladder and started firing, and forty before the grenade went off.

He heard the blast before it hit him, giving him time to release the ladder and let the shock wave throw him to the top of the building.

He picks himself up and checks the fur on his shoulder, reasuring himself that it didn't penetrate to his skin.

He then checks the bottom, assurring himself that the entire two squads have been smashed against the walls, and that the ladder is useless.

He then looks over the edge of the building, seeing one tank on patrol, and takes out his fury on it with an anti-vehicle explosive expertly tossed into the hatch.

Then he decides, since he is temporarily in the clear, to check out the area.

He looks around himself, and grins evilly...

...seeing that the "terrorist" command center is only about a thousand feet away.

So it wasn't impossibly good ground commanders that were haunting him left and right, it was some staff stooges hanging out in a war room recieving all the info in the battlefield.

He pulls out his E-web(modified to be more easily carried), and draws a bead on one of the windows that is lit up, imagining the effect of a hail of E-web blaster bolts entering a war room from the window...

posted July 17, 2001 03:29 PM               

Kuroishi was actually quite counscious. He was glad he was wearing his marine armor once again, being able to breath in the vaccum of space also had certain advantages for breathing underwater. He could hear the enemy diggin toward him and he was as ready for them as anyone could be. With his left leg messed up as it was he figured he could probably only best three of them before they managed to put him on the ground again. But then again he also had a hord of explosives strapped on his back.

The thing that really pissed him off is he probably would not be able to retrieve his favorite sniper rifle. It took him years to get the thing in working order, and about twice that long to learn how to make ammunition for it and use it properly.

Just as Kuroishi expected the weight of the rubble upon him was lessening enough for him to move about some. Kuroishi quickly grabbed a block of C-8 from his back and placed it on a particullary large chunk of ruble that would have to be lifted before they even could see him.

Palming the command switch Kuroishi waited for the squads of troopers to finish excavating him.

As he had planned three troops were visible lifting the large peice of rubble that he had booby trapped. Pressing the switch it flew into a flury of schrapnel. Kuroishi felt the pellets dig into his armor some then standing with all his strength he saw the look of three very horrified squads in front of him.

"My god what is that thing?" One trooper shouted as his face paled to white.

"What does it take to put it down?" Another shouted.

Kuroishi drew his vibro katanna and set to work decimating those foolish enough to be within his reach.

"I AM THE HEAD TERRORIST, GREAT DEATH LEADER OF THE FALLEN, THE CHIEF INSTIGATOR OF PAIN AND TERROR AND I BRING FORTH YOUR DEATH." Kuroishi yelled at the top of his lungs as he watched the majority of the survivors run in terror.

The one who appeared to be the leader and some of the braver troops were all that faced Kuroishi now.

Kuroishi stood there as still as he could looking directly in the eyes of the leader.

"I know you are only a mortal man under neath that armor of yours, all I have to do is figure out the weakpoint in the design, after all every set of armor has some weakpoint." The leader said.

"True enough but what makes you think you shall live long enough to find it out?" Kuroishi replied.

"Simple I came into this with a plan." The leader said.

Kuroishi felt two men jump on his back. Normally that would not be a problem but with his broken leg he was toppled over.

The two men drew thier own vibro knives.

Kuroishi broke the jaw of one with his left fist and scewered the other with his vibro katana.

Kuroishi saw four more right behind the previous two and he could hear more coming behind those.

The four men jumped on Kuroishi's right arm in the hopes of pinning down his vibro katana.

Kuroishi grabbed one man with his left arm and tossed him into the far wall.

The other three men successfully removed the vibro katana from Kuroishi's hand.

Kuroishi responded by grabbing one man with his right hand and a frag grenade with his left hand. Using his left hand Kuroishi pulled the pin and stuffed the grenade in the man's mouth.

"Now chew with your mouth closed." Kuroishi said as he kicked the man away with his right foot.

Grabbing the two remaining men within reach Kuroishi looked around for his vibro katana.

"Looking for this?" Came the voice of the leader from behind Kuroishi accompanied with a slight tapping of metal on metal.

Kuroishi looked down at his right shoulder to see the edge of his vibro katana very close to his neck.

"Frak. Now can't we talk about this, after all I will kill you if you don't give me that back, of course I am liable to kill you for making me loose my favorite sniper rifle anyway." Kuroishi said as the blade began to glow white hot.

"I'm affraid you'll just have to surrender." The man replied.

"Your funeral." Kuroishi responded.

Kuroishi released the two men from his grip.

"Now your weapons." The man commanded.

Kuroishi deposited the two lightsabers, two super heavy blaster pistols, six remaining fragmentary grenades, seven remaning blocks of C-8, and his ion rifle in a neat pile.

"Now the armor." The man again ordered.

With great reluctance Kuroishi piled his armor in the same fashion.

"Now we will learn what secrets you have." The man said as Kuroishi was bound.

------------------
"Indecent exposure is fun." Sonatina

"If we have all knowladge then we would not wish to seek what we know, but if we had no knowledge how could we even ask a question?" Plato on knowladge.

posted July 17, 2001 05:22 PM               

The flickering fluorescents lit up the junction ahead until a blaster bolt from behind destroyed it in a shower of sparks and glass. Not quite judging the distance in the dark, the gray-haired warrior bounced off the wall on the way around the corner, jarring his shoulder. The troopers behind him misjudged it completely, and ran straight into the wall. He turned, and levelled his blaster. Of the four of them, three weren't getting up again, steaming holes in them attesting to that fact. The fourth cowered on the floor. Stonefish walked over.

"Your weapons," he said, "throw them over here."

The terrified trooper complied, tossing over another blaster rifle, an antique pistol, and a couple of grenades.

"Now," said Stonefish, "on your knees."

After the trembling man rose from the floor, Stonefish walked around behind him and placed the barrel of the rifle he carried up against the man's head.

"We are going to play a little game. I'm going to ask you a question, and if I'm not happy with your answer, I'm going to see if it's possible to shave someone's head with a blaster rifle. Okay? Now, what are you digging up from underneath this place?"

"Don't...know...for...sure. Heard...they were looking for some records...some ancient weapon."

"Where do I find your leader?"

"Downstairs...basement...he's supervising the dig."

"How many of you are in this building?"

"About fifty."

"How many are there in total?"

"I don't know. I swear! There's no way I could know!"

Stonefish pulled the trigger.

"I guess you can't shave someone's head with a blaster rifle," he said the remains of the trooper's head. Just then, blaster bolts shot down the corridor, and blasted chunks out of the walls and ceiling around him.

"I am so glad these rebel insurgent types can't shoot stright," he said to himself ducking behind the corpses of their comrades.

Jingo and Dreds were upstairs in the computer centre, the corpse of the operator lying across the console. Dreds quickly pulled him off and shoved the body over into the corner of the room.

"Well," said Jingo, "looks like they got these working again."

He sat down, and wondered how this system worked, he tapped in a backdoor he remembered from some old systems, and that didn't work. Then he realised that he had been given the slicertool at some point during the mission. He pulled it out and slotted it into a dataport. A small window appeared in the corner of the screen.

[ICEbreaker v2.0.3b]
...................
...................
.............

The login screen disppeared replaced with what was obviously the main screen of this system.

"Right," said Jingo, mainly to himself, "Let's see what you people talk about."

He browsed down the list of messages in the ComNet, and noticed a few from off-world. He accessed one.

:Package retrieveal scheduled for day 6 2000 zulu.

"Look at this," he said to Dreds, "Does this make any sense to you?"

"Uh, they arrived six days ago, so whatever it is they're looking for, they're lifting it out tonight. That ain't good."

------------------
--
Ramon Stonefish
Daishi's Fallen Angels

posted July 17, 2001 05:57 PM               

He dispatched him with a single shot, and quickly checked for a reaction.

There was none.

He then checked the next window, a kitchen.

He had gone through most of the building before he found something useful, a communications center.

Putting down the E-web, he picked up an instrument used for eavesdropping.

Aiming it at the window, he turned it on...

"We captured your supposed demon,"he heard,"it was just a normal person with an awesome suit of armor."

That had to be Daishi, this was looking worse.

"He's pretty beat up, but he's obviously from a high grav world, so he's handling it fine. I'll report in when I find out something from him....."

At this point Argon prepared to resume his search for a war room, but he was interupted.

"Second Platoon, before you sign off, I need your location for the command staff,"said the radio operator.

"grid NE 4 3"

"Acknowledged"

It took less than a second for the realisation to hit Viper, Daishi was in the Northeast of the city with an entire platoon of enemy troops.

And if he could get the drop on them...

But he knew that he had to stop the command at the level where this maniacal efficiency was coming from.

He picked up his E-web and centered his sights on the comm center.

He then sent 10 shots sizzling into the room, reducing it, the computers, and the comm operator, to smoking ash.

And still, no alarms went off.

Argon headed off in the direction where the second platoon had captured Daishi, wondering at the lack of security at their command center...

posted July 17, 2001 11:06 PM               

"Sniper!" somebody yelled as another soldier caught a round through the neck. Then another fell.

Then there was the horrible roar of a hungry, lunatic wookiee. The deathwookiee hurled himself into the melee, swinging his axe with murderous abandon. The pure terror of the sight was enough to cause chaos.

Geist came running through the mess. With one hand he grabbed the enemy officer, feeling sharp pains as his armor forced his body beyond its limits again. With his other he grabbed Kuroshi. He triggered his jets and was away.

Once a block away, Geist cut Kuroshi loose. He could feel that the bone in his arm that had just healed after his last campaign was broken again. Oh well.

"Sorry I couldn't grab your gear, boss." Geist said. "But I got you a present."

"What are you going to do with me?" The captive asked.

"I think we are going to bring you back alive." Geist said.

There was a look of relief on the captive's face that annoyed Kuroshi.

"You obviously don't realize how much a person can live through." He said.

------------------
Jociam Geist
Capt/Dream 1-3/Lightbringer, Fallen Angels/IW (ret)

"I did it. Do you think I've gone to far?" -Dave Mathews Band

"A warrior leaves broken bodies in his wake because he knows the dead can never harm him." -Vlad Ward

"Quiet! A few more spot welds and lilly will be invincible!" -Uribitaki

posted July 18, 2001 09:05 AM               

Letting out a Whiphid's hunting roar, he charged into the fray, swinging the mace that he had in his belt.

Faced with two violently strong maniacs, the enemy troops panicked, retreating in all directions.

"Come on,"said Viper,"Let's go see if Geist and Daishi are okay."

Viper still wasn't used to the difference between Daishi and Kuroishi, but Deathwookie didn't bother to correct him.

They found Geist only a block away, Kuroishi stood there, looking odd without his ussual armor.

And lying near them, was the officer that Geist had captured.

"Here's your armor boss,"said Viper,"someone dropped it in the fight."

"Thanks,"said Kuroishi as he started to put his armor on,"did you guys pick up my weapons?"

"Not me,"said Viper turning to Deathwookie,"you get em?"

Deathwookie made a rumbling growl that sounded affirmative and handed Kuroishi his gear.

"Okay,"said Daishi,"How well are we doing to far?"

"Pretty bad considering what we expected coming in,"said Geist,"Jingo, Fish, and some guy they met have been captured, but Narm and Tycho have repeatedly broken into their system to screw them up. I have no idea where Ferox is, and Deathwookie and I have just been spreading random chaos."

"Well, aside from Fish and Jingo, not too bad,"said Kuroishi,"How about you Argon?"

"Not much, aside from destroying four tanks and two squads of troops with explosives,"said Viper,"Oh yeah, I also found a perfect spot to snipe their command center, but it has me worried."

"Why's that?"asked Geist.

"Because I annihilated their comm center through the window with this E-web, but not a single alarm went off,"replied Argon.

"That doesn't sound right,"said Kuroishi,"the way they're trapping us in, they have to be smarter than that. Come on. Let's go check it out, right after some delicate interrogation"

Their heads turned as one to the officer, who was now sitting upright.

He cringed back as they advanced on him, four nightmares, intent on wringing every possible scrap of information out of him...

SGT Argon Viper

posted July 18, 2001 12:37 PM               

He picked up the unit and flicked the channel over the angels' usual combat channel.

"Angels, this is Fish, do you read, over," he said into the mic.

"Reading you loud and clear, Fish," came Geist's voice in reply, "What is your situation?"

"Can't tell much - this is a Praetorian comm unit, and doesn't have our encryption facilities on it. All I can say we have a time limit, and to get up to target alpha asap. I'll try and meet you at our exit point."

Fish just hoped they understood that he meant for them to meet him in the embassy garage...

------------------
--
Ramon Stonefish
Daishi's Fallen Angels

posted July 18, 2001 01:26 PM               

Geist was the first to answer.

"Angels, this is Fish, do you read, over,"came out of the comm

"Reading you loud and clear, Fish,"Geist replied,"What is your situation?"

"Can't tell much - this is a Praetorian comm unit, and doesn't have our encryption facilities on it. All I can say we have a time limit, and to get up to target alpha asap. I'll try and meet you at our exit point."

"Target Alpha,"said Giest,"what's he talking about?"

"Hmmmm,"said Daishi,"that's the code we used for the embassy."

"Well,"said Geist,"What are we waiting for, we'll watch the embassy, and join him when he arrives."

"Okay,"said Daishi,"new orders: we're all going to do what Geist just said, and when we meet up with Fish, we're going to find out exactly what he's up to."

"Yes sir,"came the reply, accompanied by an affirmative growl from Deathwookie.

As they left, Argon realised that the officer had heard everything they'd just said, so he turned and blasted the man's head into the wall with his blaster before following Daishi.

"What was that sound,"asked Geist.

"Just got rid of a fly on the wall,"replied Viper...

SGT Argon Viper

posted July 19, 2001 12:29 AM               

"Interesting." Jingo mused to himself as he keyed in some more commands.

"Find anything?" Dreds questioned.

"Yeah. Somethin'" Jingo replied. "I was able to crack into a more secure set of files. But I don't know what it is. What do you make of this?"

Dreds came over and looked at the computer screen over Jingo's shoulder:

---------------------
//GENETICMAPPING//GENETICCONSTRUCTION//
.9591grysskkbiomod
.9590grysskkchemmod
.9589grysskkdnacomp
.9588grysskkmoleccomp
.9587grysskkfrontallobe
.9586grysskklefthemisphere
.9585grysskkrighthemisphere
.9584grysskkrnacomp
.9584grysskknucleuscomp
...
---------------------

The list stretched on into the hundreds of thousands if not the millions.

Dreds swore and gave a low whistle. "That's a heck of a lot of information. What's does 'grysskk' mean?"

"Wish I knew." Jingo wondered, continuing to scroll through the files.

"Can you access any of the files?" Dreds asked.

Jingo messed around a few more moments and then sighed and stretched. "No. They're individually password protected. We'd either need the passwords themselves, or the console that the files reside one. One good thing though is that these files are somewhere in the embassy."

Just then a beeping sound came from the console.

"Uh-oh" Jingo said.

"What?" asked Dred, glancing back at him over his shoulder.

"Uh. I don't know. I didn't do anything I swear."

The list of files was rapidly getting transferred to an unknown location. They were simply getting deleted from his screen by the thousands as he watched.

"Can you stop it?" Dreds asked.

Jingo began typing furiously. A few moments passed. "No," Jingo replied, "but I was able to locate where the console is located." Jingo typed in a few more commands and a blueprint of the embassy appeared, a small blinking dot showed the location.

"I don't get it." Jingo said, scratching his head.

"It's not in the embassy," Dreds said grabbing his rifle, and pulling Jingo along. "It's under the embassy."

"Under?" Jingo asked as he grabbed his own gear and headed for the exit. "But they arrived only six days ago."

"It can mean only one thing." Dreds said as they started running down the hallway.

"Of course." Jingo smacked his head with the palm of his hand. "Some sort of military facility probably existed underneath the embassy all along."

"I dunno!" Dreds yelled as he ran down a hallway littered with dead Praetarion soldiers and rubble. He eyed them with distaste as he strode cautiously down the semi-lit corridor. "I've lived here all my life. There hasn't been any word of an underground facility."

"Looks like someone friendly has been through here." Jingo said.

"Yeah. Your friend?" Dreds asked.

"Probably. Looks like StoneFish's work." Jingo replied.

Where to?" They had made there way to an elevator. Sparks were shooting from some frayed wires.

"Down." answered Jingo and as the doors closed he continued to muse. "Let's try to find where this console is." He opened a datapad he had copied the blueprint onto and checked his location and then he turned on his stolen commlink turning it to the channel they generally used.

"Angels this is Jingo." Jingo said, "A local and I are in the lower levels of alpha location and are looking for a sub-ground facility."

"Roger!" Geist's voice came through. "We're reading you. We're coming to your location now! ETA fifteen minutes."

The elevator lurched to a stop and the doors opened. They were in the basement level. Some sort of storage center. There was a large, high ceiling room that was piled high with crates of food stuffs and other mundane supplies.

Three squads of Lancers stood in formation. They were lancers because of their arm patch, but they looked different. They were wearing heavier armour that could take one or two blasts and were armed with slug-throwing rifles, blaster pistols, and large vibro-knives. They had the air about them of men familiar with fighting and used to winning.

"... and I don't want anyone near the dig! You got that!" A leader dressed in red battle armour was saying. "Everyone who has clearance is already in position at the dig site. Your orders are simple: kill any and all who attempt to enter! You guard the only entrance. That's it! Move out!"

The squads took up covering positions behind metal crates and boxes and four men began to make their way toward the elevator. As of yet Jingo and Dreds hadn't been noticed, the fortune of a large stack of boxes being stacked just in front of the elevator helped to keep them concealed. Dreds and Jingo sneaked out of the elevator and went at a low crouch to the relative safety of the shadows cast by the boxes.

Dreds swore under his breath and whispered in Jingo's ear. "Now what?"

"I was hoping you would know." Jingo whispered back and then motioned for silence, and they slid further into the dark shadows as the guards rounded the corner of the stacked crates.

posted July 19, 2001 08:00 AM               

He saw three squads of impossibly well armored troops, a digging location behind them...

And, behind some crates, Jingo and the local.

They whispered something to each other, and started moving around the area.

Argon Viper snuck up behind them, quietly stopping Jingo with a hand over his mouth to stop him from crying out.

The local turned and leveled a weapon, but by then, Jingo had recognized him, and Viper released him to explain things to the local.

After hasty introductions, Viper learned that the local's name was Dreds and that he had helped Fish and Jingo to get this far with his knowledge of the area.

As this was explained, Viper saw Geist look in the door.

Waving him over he settled down to wait for him, Diashi and Deathwookie had stayed behind to wait for Fish, and wondered where, the hell the rest of the FA was, and whether they had heard the comm traffic...

posted July 19, 2001 05:54 PM               

"Where?" he asked, bluntly.

Fish directed him to the elevator down to the basement. Minutes later everyone else arrived, and they all went to the elevator together. Not being too careful, since most everyone in the embassy proper was dead.

As the elevator reached the lower floor, Stonefish saw Geist move to the door and ready his weapon. As the lift door swished open, he poked his head through and motioned to the others.

A rough cut stone wall stretched out to either side, and a stack of crates labelled "Fragile. This way up." blocked any view of the rest of the cavern. Jingo, Dreds and Viper stood behind the crates, obviously waiting for the others to catch up. As they approached, Jingo motioned for silence, and indicated that there were eighteen troopers on the other side of the crates. Geist pulled out two small objects looking not unlike thermal detonators.

"Cover your ears," he said quietly.

Pushing a small button on each device, he threw them up and over the crates. A flash silhouetted the crates against the rough stone of the wall, and almost at the same time a thunderous sound echoed throughout the cavern.

"Move!" shouted Geist, readying his rifle and diving out from cover. As Stonefish did the same, he saw the rest of the cavern. A great pit was dug into the centre, with a cloud of rock dust floating over it. A pair of cranes were in the process of lifting more crates out of the pit, now hanging motionless as the flash-bangs had stunned the operators. The Lancers were on the floor clutching their heads. The Angels did not take long to make sure they stayed on the ground.

Further out from the blast centre, troopers were getting up and readying weapons as they saw the incursion, a few blaster bolts and slugs began to spang off the walls until a shout could be heard.

"Hold your fire! You'll kill us all!"

------------------
--
Ramon Stonefish
Daishi's Fallen Angels

posted July 20, 2001 12:51 AM               

Argon suddenly looks at one of the tags on the crate he is hiding behind, and starts to back away.

It says,"Fragile, this side up, Warning: contains thermonuclear explosives"

"Uhhhhh, guys,"says Geist, who has also caught on,"look at the labels on the crates."

"I know,"says Daishi,"stay behind em, as long as we stay here, we won't get shot at, and if they do shoot, they go with us."

"Wait a second,"says Argon,"what type of thermonuclears are these?"

"Oh,"says Jingo,"I think I know what he's thinking. I heard about a type of thermonuke that is mostly shockwave and very little explosion, so all we'd have to do is sit behind a rock."

"Right,"said Argon,"We're looking for a WXR-453. And if any of these have XR-2's, we can't use it, those get set off by shockwaves."

"D*mn,"said Fish, as they started to look,"you really know your explosives don't you?"....

posted July 20, 2001 02:03 AM               

"Move." Geist yelled!

Jingo stood up, leaned on the metal crate, braced his aim, and pulled the trigger into the stunned troopers as the rest of the Angels ran out around both sides of the crates shooting as they went. The heavy lancer armour was stopping most blasts from being killing blows, but not from wounding them. Luckily their faces weren't covered with anything heavy, merely a blast visor of sorts that probably had some sort of HUD. Jingo took careful aim at one lancer who was holding his head and squeezed off a shot, shattering the face plate, blowing a nice hole into his skull.

Then troopers from the other side of the room who hadn't been caught in the flash bang blast were returning fire. Blaster shots splattered off the metal crates, and smashed into the stone and earthen walls in the cavern beyond.

"Wait!" A voice called. "Hold your fire, you'll kill us all."

No one paid much heed, though. Caught up in the the half-thought of frenzied battle, the firefight intensified between the fallen angels and about ten Lancers who were behind good cover. Neither side was gaining much of an edge, yet the laser fire and slugs richocetted into the dig area.

Stonefish noticed the cry as he crouched with his back to a crate but he didn't think much of it. Instead he slapped in another energy cell, nodded to Geist and they both sprang up together firing more shots into the fray.

"No! Don't!" the voice came again. This time Stonefish saw a man in a white lab coat frantically waving his arms and pointing at some crates stacked neatly smack dab in the middle of the raging fire-fight.

"Geist!" Stonefish yelled, as he inserted another energy clip. "Whaddya think of that?" He motioned towards the man in the white lab coat who was still yelling frantically and pointing at the boxes.

"Stop shooting! You don't know what you're dealing with! You'll kill us all for sure!" the man in white yelled.

"Fallen Angels cease fire!" Geist yelled, and then gave orders. "Viper, check it out."

Argon skipped over to the boxes. Narm was behind them ready to give covering fire if needed. Argon quietly began to back away as he spotted the tags on the crate, he pulled Narm by his back shirt after him.

"Uh sir!" Viper reported in, "It says,'Fragile, this side up, Warning: contains thermonuclear explosives'!"

"Uhhhhh, guys," Geist replied, who had also caught on, "look at the labels on the crates."

"I know," says Daishi, "stay behind em, as long as we stay here, we won't get shot at, and if they do shoot, they go with us."

"Wait a second. What type of thermonuclears are these?" Argon asked.

"Oh," Jingo replied,"I think I know what he's thinking. I heard about a type of thermonuke that is mostly shockwave and very little explosion, so all we'd have to do is sit behind a rock."

"Right,"said Argon,"We're looking for a WXR-453. And if any of these have XR-2's, we can't use it, those get set off by shockwaves."

"D*mn,"said Fish, as they started to look,"you really know your explosives don't you?"....

"I'm not too bad." Viper admitted modestly. "But what I don't get are these boxes here, you see. . . they aren't written in galactic common, or even Taladeth. They're writing is completely alien to me. Now why would they be stored with thermonukes unless..."

Suddenly three enemy troppers made a rush for their position as the enemy continued to shoot. "Get clear of the boxes!" Viper yelled pulling Narm back and shooting at the approaching toopers.

Narm also shot wildly at the approaching Lancers and between he and Viper, at least thirty shots went into the approaching men driving them to the floor. But three of the blasts richochetted off their blast armour, off the metal ceiling, and one blast burned a hole right into one of the boxes. There was about a three second delay.

"Uh-oh..." was all Viper said.

What followed was a little hard to recollect by everyone involved, but it seemed to take an eternity and an instant at once. A sudden large explosion rocked the basement area, a large blue-white energy wave smashed outwards in a concentric circle, like a pebble tossed in a still like, moves outward, so this destructive force moved outwards tossing metal crates and armoured soldiers like they were toys.

Narm who was closest, swore vividly, threw down his rifle and then dove for cover, and Viper followed suit as the energy wave swept above him, ripping a metal support in two, causing part of the plastered ceiling above to cave in.

Jingo who was furthest back by the crates near the elevators, saw the wave of pure energy approaching and shouted. "Get down! Now!!!" The Fallen Angels had but a few seconds to get down. Their training saved them. They dropped, nearly kissing the ground and went prone. The wave sped over them shattering and wrenching anything in it's path. When the hit the basement walls, they shattered the walls, brining cave-ins, dust, and death.

Three more identical explosions were set off by the energy wave in the dig area, the two cranes along with a score of guards and scientists were completely mutilated, cut in half and burnt beyond recognition. Most never realized what hit them. Half the rock ceiling had caved in onto the cavern.

Then there was silence. Darkness, dust, and most of all silence. Which began to be filled with the cries of the wounded.

"Fallen Angels, call in." Geist coughed softly into his commlink. The Deathwookie was unconcious from the blast, his fur smoking in the aftermath. Most were stunned, and Narm had some cracked ribs and a bloody nose that looked worse than it really was.

"What was that thing?" Narm wondered out loud as he crawled on his hands and knees.

There were little fires everywhere, creating an eerie feel as shadows danced on the walls.

"Some sort of... explosion." Stonefish coughed in reply, pulling himself to his feet.

"Sure messed this place up some." Jingo said pulling off his burning cloak and surveying his surroundings. "Never seen anything like it."

The room was a cacophany of shattered objects and people. Some of the Lancers who didn't get down in time were dead, cut in half like a lightsaber. Those who still lived were nearly standing side by side with the fallen angels, also completely mystified at what had just occured.

"Alright Gents, hand over your weapons!" Geist ordered addressing the enemy soldiers. The Lancers complied, albeit somewhat gudgingly. "Tie them up, boys." Geist ordered. As the fallen angels subdued the remaining lancers, Jingo found that Dreds wasn't around.

"Dreds!" Jingo yelled as he noticed the large man was wounded. His lower body was lying crushed and bleeding under some large stones. "I gotta get you out of there."

Dreds smiled weakly as he struggled to move the large stones. "Don't think so pal!" He replied, grinning. "I'm not gonna make it out of this one." The man laboured for breath. "I can tell."

"C'mon! You can get up." Jingo began pushing the stones off.

"Don't worry about me." Dreds replied, gasping for breath. Jingo could see his life was already quickly fleeing and he knelt next to him. "I'm just a freedom fighter. It was a pleasure to fight beside you."

Jingo rested a hand on the man's shoulder as he continued to struggle. "Thank you for freeing my city, for freeing Tadath. That was all I ever wanted. You are all men of honor." and then his head simply lolled to one side and his eyes remained staring at the ceiling. Jingo gently laid his head back against the rock wall and stood up, looking down at the large man.

It was then that Kuroishi noticed it. The gleam of metal half covered, half revealed in the dig.

"Geist..." Kuroishi said nodding his head in the direction of the dig. "Is that what it looks like."

Geist simply shook his head in disbelief as he and the other Fallen Angels made their way toward the dig. "Sure looks like it. This looks like the engines. And over there would be the bridge. It's an honest to goodness starship."

"Not Imperial." Stonefish said running his fingers through his hair.

"Not Republic." Master said.

The design was sleak, with a silvery burnished metal. It appeared undamaged by the explosion. And it was large. It stretched long and far into the cavern.

"Looks sorta Mon Calamarian," Jingo said, joining the group. "MC-80 size. But alien looking too..."

posted July 20, 2001 11:42 AM               

Kuroishi looked intently at the engine compartment and it hit him like a lightening bolt.

"It is an old Hysan transport frigate. There are probably countless goodies on board that thing that'd make anyone drool to have. The armor I wear is a lower end version of the standard armor of the ship board troops that used to be aboard that thing." Kuroishi said to the Fallen Angels.

Kuroishi looked around aside from a few scattered patrols on the surface the Fallen Angels had done what they came here to do.

"What do you say Fallen Angels, back to the Sweetums and the sauna or hunt down the remnants of the terrorists?" Kuroishi asked almost already knowing the answer.

"Let the regulars clean up, after all we did most the work for them." Geist replied.

"I agree with Geist." Narm chipped in.

"After how much killing we just did I think we deserve some R&R." Argon added.

"Then so be it. Prepare for Operation Hide the Fish." Kuroishi responded.

Kuroishi looked at the Fallen Angels, very few people recognized them as the different kind of unit that they are. Most units were lead through discipline, Kuroishi knew that would not work with the Fallen Angels, to lead the Fallen Angels required thier respect, cooperation, and a fair deal of your own insanity.

Kuroishi was thinking of having a plaque placed aboard the Sweetums as a reminder to all who dared visit the Fallen Angels what they were and where they had been.

"Sweetums this is Angel lead, request evac. As close to target alpha as possible and tell GUESSWORK that they were fifty fifty this time around." Kuroishi radioed as the unit made it's way topside.

[I hereby declare that this run-on is finished.]

------------------
"Indecent exposure is fun." Sonatina

"If we have all knowladge then we would not wish to seek what we know, but if we had no knowledge how could we even ask a question?" Plato on knowladge.

posted July 20, 2001 02:22 PM               

The music pumped in the Sweetums' lounge that night as the Angels wound down after a few days of nearly non-stop action. Viper was strutting his Whipid stuff on the dancefloor, while the Deathwookiee moshed around on the other side. No one dared mosh with the Deathwookiee, so the others were all playing pokiir around a couple of tables pushed together.

"I'll shee you and r-r-raiaiise you fif-fif-fifty," Geist stammered looking blearily at his hand. Jingo checked underneath the table again.

"I'll see your fifty, and raise you fifty more," said Jingo. They were the only two left in the game. Stonefish took another swig out of the bottle of Whisky, and put his cigar back in his mouth. Puffing slightly, he took a long draw and let it out, watching the patterns created in the lights above.

"I call," said Geist, "shee yer cards."

"Four aces," said Jingo flipping down his hand.

"Beats me," said Geist throwing his cards on the table and sitting back, and back, and back. He fell backwards in a heap, and kicked over the table, exposing the datapad in Jingo's hand. Everyone looked at him.

"Come on, guys! After Geist took all my money off me last time, what did you expect me to do with the slicertool?!"

------------------
--
Ramon Stonefish
Daishi's Fallen Angels

"Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads. Swords for everyone!" --Minsc

posted July 21, 2001 05:58 PM               

Argon Viper sat in the lounge across from Master as they ran through the excercises a late noghri freind had taught him.

It wasn't nearly up to real noghri standards, but with Master's abilities or Argon's stregnth behind it, it was a start.

"So,"said Viper after their first sparring match,"how do you think we did?"

"I think we did pretty well,"said Master,"we went in prepared to rescue some embassy staff from some small time terrorists, and ended up liberating a planet from some big time conquerers."

"Yeah,"said Viper,"with only one loss."

They got up and started sparring again.

Narm and Tycho came in and started to whatch, Narm still wearing his medical stuff from the mission.

"So,"said Master as he blocked a left hook and a right uppercut in succession,"how do you guys think we did down there?"

"Your asking me?"said Narm, displaying looking at his bandages.

"Hehehe, oh yeah,"replied Master,"but, seriously, how do you think we did?"

"I think we did pretty good,"said Tycho,"we destroyed a lot, considering what we expected to do, and we showed a lot of skills that regular line squads don't have. That should count for something."

"So what you're saying,"said Viper, as he blocked a kick and swung a backhand,"is that we are bloodthirsty people with enough insanity to think up original ideas."

"Exactly,"said Tycho as Master blocked the backhand and moved away,"that should count for something."

Master broke up laughing at this, and Viper managed to slam him down pretty easily.

"That,"said Viper"was pathetic..."

posted August 01, 2001 12:54 AM               

"Never seen moves like that before,"said Geist,"what is it?"

"Noghri stuff,"replied Viper,"my friend teaches me when I go to visit."

Viper and Master head to the edge and sit down to rest after that match.

"Well, me and Daishi are gonna celebrate by playing a couple pranks on the other squads,"said Geist,"wanna come with?"

The other four look at each other for a second...

"Duhhhh!!!!"...

_____________________________________________