Feet first into Hell (DLA, open)

[Dire Wolf]

((OOC: This is Lanara's intro post to the DLA. Anyone (Four people max, please) can show up to help her against the sith and / or lead her to the DLA base. Lord knows she'll need the help one way or another.))

__ + Fifteen minutes to drop + __

Lanara gazed out at the port airlock of the captured Sith freighter through irritated orange eyes and a thick black "T" visor. Airlock's were always far too sterile, like hospitals and med bays. There was just something about the facade of perfection that irked her to no end. Nothing was perfect, and no one was perfect, and the sentient drive to try and make it so was absolutely idiotic. The recently blonde woman much preferred he dirty look of the cargo bay, with its random boxes of random stuff suspended at odd angles via cargo netting on the ceiling like the olive drab web of a spider. The look of the cargo bay was, at least, honest about its imperfection.

Honesty. It was, honestly (haha) one of the traits that Lanara valued most in other people. One had to be at least somewhat courageous, a little honorable, and slightly moral to be honest. Which was, certainly, the reason why she'd simply loathed the sterile look of airlocks. "Blue... blue... you readin' me, the digitized voice Sergeant Major Jawn "Red" Balast chimed into her helmet's headset, slicing through the distraction she'd created for herself. He'd been the leader of her team, and the operation... he was also very single, "or did your mic STP, beautiful?"

The orange hue of the woman's eyes shifted subtly to a subtle red at the final addition to the man's sentence. "Say that again an' you'll end up pickin' your teeth off th' floor," the poisonous words flew off her tongue nearly as fast as she thought, which was fairly quickly. In the months since Rem's supposed death she'd had to push past alot of things, mostly that the man that she'd started to love was killed in a brutal and slow fashion. Fortunately, she didn't see it. The tall blonde had all but threw her into the ship as it took off, forcing her to run up and nearly rip the pilot's head off. But, of course, that idiotic man had paid the pilot what little he had to not turn around in a situation like this... mostly for her protection. A deep blue hue slowly returned to her eyes in the form of streaks and tears subtly formed at the corners of her eyes as she dredged up the horrible memory once more.

Fortunately, she still had a place in the military, and her brothers in the Special Forces were simply ecstatic to have one of their operators back in the field during a war. They needed as many good folks as they could get. "Woah... fiesty... now I'm just excited," Red replied with an obviously amused tone. Men. She hated them so. After a quick sniffle, the woman triple checked her weapons, gear, and parachutes to ensure that they were all functional. "She's gonna kick your arse, Red, ain't no WM heavy gunners... those that are happen to be some hardcore schuttas." Sergeant Sten "White" Dalar always seemed to be a level headed guy, and one of the few that used his brain. So far, he was the only one to not give her reason to beat the living hog snot out of his body.

"Keep jerkin'," she quickly retorted to the two, knowing full well that they only bantered about for one reason. With a heavy sigh, she snapped open the receiver of the weapon to check the power intake valve - the little thing tended to get all clogged up with excess energy and cause overheating in the M-490, which meant that she and her squad tended to die when she didn't check. The blonde was nearly through her weapon's check when the voice of the republic pilot came over the ship's comm system, "five minutes to drop, we're only getting one shot at this. Y'all'd better be ready."

__ + Three weeks ago + __

The blonde woman sat back in the chair, one leg folded over the other, with the three men that made up her small squad of "Task Force 141," a new anti-terrorism group devoted to fighting insurgents across the big damn 'verse. Hutts. Rebels. Criminals. All of them were in TF-141's crosshairs, and being in that was one of the worst places to be. Deep blue eyes flickered up to the uniformed man that stood at the head of the desk, the salt and pepper hair reflecting his age... and the bird on his collar reflecting his age. Colonel Halber was not a man to be trifled with, as he was the leader of the one-four-one, and tougher than nails to boot. "Alright gentleman, and lady, this is Dantooine," a holographic projection of the planet appeared infront of each operator's seat. "There has been some intel leaked from the Sith about a liberation army there, one that has been growing in strength and popularity lately."

A collective, but almost inaudible groan washed from each person's mouth at the realization that they'd be teaching more than killing, and that the job would be one of the hardest they'd been through yet. "Quit whining. You don't want to do the gorram job, leave," he paused for a brief moment. After no-one moved, he continued, "as you may have guessed, your job is to infiltrate the Sith blockade of Dantooine and teach the rebels about fighting a guerrilla war, and our tactics. Possibly help them with their fight. We're undermining those tyrannical bastards wherever possible, and here is no exception."

Halber paused for a long moment, allowing the lightshow to shift and contort into a smaller view of the planet, and others to form into a ship doing a fly by. Just as the ship reached the apex of its curve around, four near infinitesimal dots launched themselves from the larger craft and fell to the planet. "You will be inserting via HOLO (high orbit low opening) drop, and the ship that you'll infiltrate in will have to be one commandeered from the privateers themselves. Anything less and you'll be molten slag before you even touch the gravity well. Any questions?"

Lanara's only response was to flick a stray lock of blonde hair from her face and a toothy grin to crack across her face. This was a suicide mission... and she wouldn't have it any other way.

__ + Present + __

It was a funny and completely unnatural thing, jumping out of a fully operational and moving ship as it rocketed through the upper atmosphere of a planet. Especially when all that you had to stop all the hundreds of pounds of gear that you carried with you, including weapons and armor, was a simple thing made of tough cloth. Either way, the rush of adrenaline that the woman felt as she was launched out of the airlock was downright euphoric... as was the view of the not-so-little jewel that hung delicately in the black void of space. "Suit up, buckle up, shuffle to the door," that old Naval Marines running cadence ran through her head as she plummeted towards the kylah planes.

"Jump on out and count to four," her mouth formed each of the numbers before her brain continued, "and if my 'chute don't open wide, I got another one by my side. And if that 'chute don't open round." An odd sense of twisted and massochistic delight caused the woman's diaphragm to buckle in a rich, hearty laugh at the next verse of the cadence, "I'll be the first one to the ground." The mental image of her armored body hitting the plains of the Kylah, simply detonating caused the woman to laugh even harder as she fell through the skies. Perhaps it was because she wanted death, maybe it was because she viewed herself as invincible, or... just maybe... it was both. Yeah. Happy green eyes prickled with tears of joy at the thought as her head bobbed back and forth as best it could. She wanted to die, but death wouldn't come to her.

A dull roar and a powerful wind nearly deafend the woman as she fell like a durasteel stone through the air, she shifted and straightened her body into the fall as a response, hastening her descent. The other three members of her team looked at each other with quizzacle, but concerned, glances... it was obvious that "blue" either had a death sentence, or was an adrenaline junkie. The hearty grin that spread her lips thin only grew while her eyes watched her HUD's readout of an altimeter plummet down, further and further, faster and faster. The blonde was nearly tempted to let herself shoot right into the ground head-first... there wouldn't be any pain involved, and she'd finally be reunited with her loved ones. Mom. Dad. Rem.

Lana shook her head. No. Suicide was the cowardly way out... and she was no coward. The newly blonde woman figured that, perhaps, she could find an enemy worthy of giving her the death she oh so powerfully craved. One that involved honor, sacrifice, and bravery. Not one that involved slamming into some farmer's field at two hundred miles per hour. With a heavy sigh, the woman shot her arm back and yanked a lever, which did absolutely nothing. Wait... what? Thick yellow quickly clouded the woman's eyes as her hand brought the empty cord infront of her field of view... yup... she just had a malfunction. Lan's hand quickly cast the useless lever aside and frantically searched for the secondary chute, as it was initially difficult to find.

Luckily, her fingers found the handle fast enough and yanked the thing out as hard as she could. The cord released a huge secondary parachute from its sheathe, and flung open behind her. The huge new addition to her form caught the wind and slowed her like a perfectly designed brake, and forced a heavy grunt from her body. "This is blue... secondary parachute deployed," for a few long moments, all that the woman could hear was her own heavy breathing and the quick pitter patter of her heartbeats in her throat. Until she heard it: the distressed cry of her teammates. "Aww hell, primary parachute not responding. Checking sec-... Secondary 'chute non-responsive," Red's voice grew grim at the end of his sentence. White was the next man to speak, unfortunately... his voice spelled the same doom that the team leader's did. As did Black's.

The blonde barely had time to think before both sides of what passed as her peripheral vision caught the blurr of three armored shapes rushing past her and careen into the dirt. A dull pain hit the woman's heart as she hung there a few hundred feet above the ground, her mouth agape. She may not have acted like she liked her team... but they were her team. Lana trusted those crazy mike-foxtrots with her life, and would lay down her own for them. They were all her brothers, no matter how badly they played. Soon enough, a realization hit her: Sabotage. Someone on the inside must have mucked with their parachutes, it was the only explanation for three total failures and one partial failure. Hell, the only reason why Lanara was alive was simply because she packed her own secondary... that way if she ended up crashing into the dirt she knew who to curse at.

Her body crashed into the ground with a heavy thud that she barely recognized, and soon enough her armored form was simply sprawled out underneath the wide circle of cloth that had saved her life. "What're ya gonna do, Lan? Just lay down 'n' die 'cause some mike-foxtrot turncoat thought that thirty silvers bought th' life a your team? How far've ya fallen? Gorram schutta," the blonde cursed at herself as she stood up to shakey legs. It seemed that even micromotors in her knees couldn't stop them from shaking like she was a little girl after her first kiss. "I'll tell ya what you're gonna do, Lan," she began to cut at her parachute cords angerly with the knife that'd been provided, "you're gonna roll in there, and you're gonna conquer. You may walk through the valley of death and darkness," she gave herself a little pep talk as the nylon cords gave to the blade of her knife. After flinging the broken strings to the ground, she picked up her while her equipment pack and slung it around her shoulder. Lanara did the same to her shotgun, and finally picked up her heavy repeating blaster from its nice little resting place on the ground. The angry Rilan woman was sure that her pistol found its way into the thigh holster before the drop, "but I'll tell ya what: you're th' baddest gourìde in the gorram valley."

A flare of anger welled up within the woman's chest, and her finger's motor-assisted grip tightened around the heavy repeating blaster. It was likely that the Sith knew of her DZ, and would be on her like white on rice on a paper plate in a glass of milk in a snow storm. The dominant color of her eyes quickly shifted from a deep blue to a brilliant red hue behind the polarized black visor of her helmet at the realization, "if they wanna gorram fight, I'll sure as the seven hells give'm one." A sadistic grin soon replaced the semi-snarl on her face, and her feet stepped towards the nearest farm house. Even if it didn't house a decent speeder, it'd sure as hell be a wonderful place for a final stand.

[Deleted]

The Grayback speeder made an almost guttural sound as Saerith sped off over the Dantooine plains. Long Yellow grass bent in the wind which was mercifully blowing the same direction as she was moving. It was her turn to patrol. While not pleased to be out the garage when there was so much to do, orders were orders. So Saerith had taken the opportunity to stretch her speeder's legs.

The ground whipped by at an alarming speed as she pushed the machine faster. The knowledge that a wreck at this speed would be lethal didn't bother her much. the biggest portion of it's internal component's had her hand print's all over them, so if she crashed because of a malfunction in the Grayback it would be her own fault.

Catching something at the edge of her vision Saerith turned her eyes skywards. Not a smart thing to do while flying a speeder but Dantooine was one of the few places flat enough that you could get away with it. As her eye's focused in she started to make out what looked like three, possible four black dot's in the sky. Even as she watched them the fact that they were descending became rapidly apparent.

Her speeder slowly ground to a halt as she let off the throttle and continued to focus her sight on the dot's plummeting through the air. They had almost grown large enough for her to make out a shape when a parachute appeared atop the lowest dot, which put an end to any confusion as to what they were. Saerith's wonder quickly turned to horror as the other three dot's continued to fall long after the first had pulled their parachute.

As was probably best the three far off dot's disappeared from view shortly before what Saerith could imagine was an incredibly violent impact. Glancing back up Saerith saw that the fourth Parachute clad speck was descending at what looked like a much less fatal velocity.
At first somewhat relived Saerith began to wonder why people would be parachuting so close to the D.L.A compound.

It could have been a coincidence but she wouldn't bet her life on it nor any of the other D.L.A. Her Tattoo clad arm reach up and tapped the side of the mike bringing it to life with a hiss of static. 'Tss' "Tat's to base camp, do you read me?" there was another momentary hiss and then Glitch responded. "Loud and clear, Something wrong?" Saerith watched the still descending parachute sink out of sight before answering.

"Something is going on out here. It looks like a few people were parachuting, four of 'em total, Three are suspected injured, probably dead." a few seconds of silence passed before glitch replied Roger that, I got a fix on your position. I'll see what I can do about sending some backup you're way. Should be a couple others out in that vicinity." Saerith nodded absently still watching the spot where the last parachuter had disappeared, then the mike hissed again If your nodding I can't see it" Thanks to her green skin the blush wasn't visible but the blood rushed all the same.

"C-Copy that" she responded. Saerith pondered heading over and seeing what she could figure out but if it was a Sith trap she would walk right into it, on the other hand if it was some dumb civilians then at least three were in desperate need of medical attention. 'if they're even alive' the little voice of caution whispered at the back of her mind. Combat wasn't something she was very skilled at so if it was a trap odds were she wouldn't be walking away from it. A quick glance at the med kit strapped to the back of her speeder made her decision.

"Tats Requesting permission to approach, could be wounded civ's and I got a med kit with me" this time the pause was quite a bit longer before Glitch replied " Go ahead, at you're own risk though. I'll start working on that backup" Saerith's face hardened into a mask of determination but a small voice said in the back of her mind 'please don't want to kill me'

"Roger" and with that Saerith punched the throttle all the way down and couldn't help but admire the steady thrum that built from the engine as the Grayback accelerated.

- 5 minutes later-

Saerith slowed up as a small farm house appeared at the edge of her sight. It looked like anyone of the small farm housed that dotted the land scape but this one was seemed more menacing to her. If her worst fear's were realized she would be walking into a Sith ambush. Still, if someone were hurt it was also the only place to go for help. 'No time to think about it then' she thought to herself. So she pushed the accelerator down, slowly this time and began her approach.

[kt]

"What a wonderful day..." All was good in the life of Xander today, the sun was shining, the clouds were sparce, and there was a gentle breeze flowing smoothing along the grassy plains of Dantooine. It was early afternoon and Xander had been out for a jog, his shirt being nonexistant as a light sheen of sweat glimmered off of his well toned body in the sunshine. Even though it was just a jog, Xander had thought it smart to bring SOME kind of protection and so, with each step, a custom arkanian blaster pistol slapped against his thigh, as well as a small pair of electrobinoculars.

"I'm walkin on sunshiiiine whooaa whooaa whoooaaa.............I'm walkin on sunshiiiine whoaaa whooaa whooaa, it's time ta feel goo-.........." Xander stopped his singing as he watched what looked like little dots fall from the sky. With a raised eyebrow and the turning off of his music player, the pink hued man started a gradual sprint to the area that from the look of things, was to be the crash site for several parachuters. Moments later, Xander slowed to a stop as he pulled out his binoculars and watched as a single body got up sloooowly, apparantly every single one of their parachutes had malfunctioned, odd.

The only one to get up was covered in armor from head to toe but he could tell it was a woman, "iiiiiinteresting....." Xander thought to himself as he continued to watch her make her way to a nearby farm house. ".....Heh...reminds me of.....no.....it couldn't be...." The young zeltron man mumbled to himself as his eyes went wide with shocking disbelief as the very farfetched thought of the woman being THAT woman swam through his mind. "Why would SHE be here......no.....can't be her....that'd be a complete impossibility."

A feeling of intense curiousity and even a little dread hit Xander like a ton of terracrete bricks as he made his way quickly over to the crash site. It wasn't until he came even closer did he realize that the people who hadn't gotten up yet probably needed his attention first. With thoughts of "Her" running through his mind, it came to a bit of a shock to find Saerith already attempting to tend to the severely injured men.

"What do we have here?" A very uncharacteristly serious tone emmerged from the zeltron's lips, his usual warm smile nonexistant as he checked to see if the men were even alive still. "Do the higher ups know 'bout this yet?" Xander asked quietly, his eyes narrowing as he spoke while he turned every now and then in the direction of the farmhouse.

[Dire Wolf]

Cautious. That was the word that could describe each of Lanara's movements as she stalked through the house. Each corner was taken slowly, with her compariatively short but heavy blaster rifle pointing just off of the edge as she moved in a semi-circle around it. At least until she knew the room was clear. Using this strategy and method of clearing the house, the Rilan woman eventually cleared each room in the house. Nothing, fortunately. Anyone that happened to be living there wouldn't be lieing if they said that they didn't know a republic insurgent was using their home as a defensive fortification... and she wouldn't have to worry about protecting innocents during her stay.

Lana had only barely just set up her heavy repeating blaster when a casual glance down to her teammates vital signs reported that one was still alive. Thankfully, it was Sergeant White... the STA (sight and target acquisition, or sniper) member of the team. His vitals were... erratic... but that was hardly surprising considering the fact that he just did a two hundred mile-an-hour faceplant into the dirt. If the hydrostatic gel layer underneath all those durasteel plates hadn't caught and absorbed most of the gathered kinetic energy, she had no doubt that he'd be a fine red paste on the country-side. She keyed her comm, "stay with me, White, you're gonna be fine. We're gonna getcha to the rebellion HQ and they're gonna patch you up. Don'tchu fall asleep on me gorramit," the comm unit almost immediately digitized her voice, squishing the concerned tones of her voice like a bug.

The stony grey-eyed Rilan woman spun on a dime and hurried out of the little farm house, the barrel of her rifle pointed in a forty-five degree angle at the dirt in a "low ready" position as she moved. Perhaps Lanara moved a little too fast, however, as she was hardly in the position to drop the pair of people that she saw as she rounded the corner to a barn. White was there, not moving, but it seemed like he was unperturbed by these two civilians. The woman near-instantly shouldered her rifle and pointed it at the sith-looking tattooed twi'lek woman, "you two'd best start touchin' th' sky. I ain't in th' mood for killin' folk, but by my purty floral bonnet I will end you if your hand touches steel."

There was a soft blue floating circle on her HUD, one that marked the estimated area that her heavy repeating blaster's bolts would hit if she decided to unleash a quick salvo. She was sure to hold the slowly spinning circle over the woman's center mass, making it more likely that a bolt would hit her. Lanara then shifted her stony grey gaze from the twi'lek to the Zeltron-.

Xander.

A quick flare of anger spurted from the woman's heart, the nature of which caused the cage of bone in her chest to grow hot with anger. Memories, flashes of him straddled over her blankets in the Red October as he pawed at her chest ran rampant within her mind once more. Then the next to flicker across her mind was the time in the prison. Suddenly, she was in the mood for killin' folk. Namely Zeltron folk. Namely Xander. A light growl shook the woman's vocal chords behind her helmet as she watched the reticle of her blaster shift from the twi'lek's center mass to the shirtless red torso of Xander. "Lay down. Cross your legs. Put your hands above your heads. What're you two doing here, 'sides checking for survivors."

One wrong move from either of them, and she would reign down a hellstorm of blaster bolts so fast the offender's head would spin. Especially Xander's.

[Deleted]

Saerith glanced over as Xander approached. Almost too distracted to notice she didn't fall all over herself like last time Saerith turned back to the republic Soldier. "I gave Glitch the head's up, We should have some others here shortly... they sure took their time getting here" she added pointing at the Republic Emblem on the soldiers shoulder. "Still managed to botch it up big time too, This one's still alive though... barley" Saerith shifted the med kit to her rest on her knee's and was about to open it when the fourth soldier appeared gun aimed at them. Every ounce of her willpower was required to not dive behind her speeder.

The gun aimed at her kept her fighting her flight instinct's while the woman spoke. It was the usual 'Don't move or I'll kill you' routine.' The Sizable gun pointed at her meant the statement carried weight though, regardless of how cliche it was. "Are you stupid?" Saerith asked the soldier moving only enough to gesture at the half open med kit on her lap. "If we were you're enemies I wouldn't be trying to patch up you're friend here"

Slightly more comfortable now that he woman's attention had shifted to Xander which was no surprise really, he seemed to have that effect on people but even in her current predicament she still felt a twinge of Jealousy. " and I don't recommend pointing that thing at a few of the only people on this rock who aren't out for you're blood." Saerith's danger warning was screaming at her to shut it but she couldn't help it. No doubt it was Kabira rubbing off on her but still as far as she could tell the Republic was little better then the Sith. Show up on Dantooine and start pointing gun's at everybody. At least the Sith had succeeded in making it to the ground.

She kept all these thought's to herself still holding perfectly still looking up at the soldier her eye's tracing the T shaped Visor. It stirred something in her memory but she couldn't put her finger on it.

[Meira]

------

Just the boot. One foot, that's all I'm asking.

Mo was prone in the tall grass, dangerously close to the sith patrol. Next to her, Tiny was also lying flat, breathing quietly and perfectly still. Not twenty feet ahead, Shaw's patrol had stopped. She wasn't sure why, but was hopeful this would be the opportunity she was waiting for.

C'mon baby, you can do it. You've been in that transport all morning. Time to stretch those legs.

Next to her, Tiny let out a nearly inaudible grunt. Mo hushed up. Her whispers hadn't been loud enough for more than Tiny to hear, but apparently the hound wasn't fond of her noise. Alright, alright, I'll shut up. She thought to herself with a slight smile on her face.

Mo had brought Tiny with her on a particularly dangerous mission of her own concoction. She was fairly sure that Dutch wouldn't have let her go if he'd known about it, so she'd slipped out before he was awake. The reward of success outweighed the risk. And she knew she could do it. She was out to get Shaw's scent in the nose of at least one of the DLA's Kath Hounds. And Tiny was the best bet. As the pack leader, he'd be able to lead the hounds straight to the man if they ever got the chance. And if they could do that... if they could eliminate Shaw...

The engines of the patrol transports started up again and Mo let out a sigh as she watched them slowly move away. Rolling onto her back, she mentally cursed her luck. He'd evaded her once again. Tiny let out a whine, scooting closer to the green skinned woman, licking her cheek.

Eww Tiny, c'mon!

Mo gently pushed the hound away, wiping the slobber he'd left behind on her sleeve. But she giggled nonetheless at the hound's affection. It was as if he'd wanted the same thing as her and was consoling her in their shared defeat.

Well, let's get back to the speeder, boy.

Mo brought herself to her feet, turning and starting the short trek to where she'd hid the vehicle. Tiny paused before following the woman, his eyes turned skyward. He let out a low growl as he watched the figures descend.

C'mon!

At Mo's prompting, Tiny grudgingly turned away from the strange sight and followed Mo.

---[Meanwhile]---

Any word from our informants?

Yes sir, we received a coded message about an hour ago. Everything is in order.

Good, stop the patrol. We should be able to observe from here.

Yes sir.

The transports slowed, then came to a complete stop. Colonel Diego Shaw brought up the monitor at his seat and keyed in the angle for the scanners to take and the area to focus on. When the screen came into focus, all that could be seen was blue sky.

Targets should be coming into view in a few moments.

No sooner had the corporal said it, than small black dots began to form on the screen. One, two, three, four. Diego counted them mentally, waiting patiently for the plan to unfold. The Baroness had paid well for the information they'd received about the Republic sending forces to quietly aid the local riff-raff, and the plan they'd formulated was perfect. The mission would fail, with no one person to blame. Though part of him had thrilled at the prospect of another challenge, the logic couldn't be argued with. it was simply better to cut off such a thing before it could sink its roots in. And in the end, he wasn't being paid to challenge himself, he was paid to protect the Baroness.

Sir, I think we have a problem.

Clarify, Corporal.

One of the targets, their back-up chute deployed.

What!?

Diego quickly adjusted the scanner that fed to his screen, it found the slow moving form of one soldier, slowly descending. This was unacceptable. With a grunt of frustration, he pushed the screen aside. It moved on its swivel hinge, but slammed against the side of the transport.

Get us over there now! I want four bodies!

---[Here she comes]---

Mo, come in.

This is Mo. Go ahead.

We've got word of parachute casualties not far from your location. I'm sending you the coordinates. Saerith is requesting backup.

Roger that. I've got....

I didn't copy. Repeat.

Gorram it! There's a sith patrol moving straight in that direction! We're gonna need more guns out here Glitch!

Mo cranked her speeder, spinning it in a u-turn that left Tiny clawing to hold his place. The large speeder wasn't the one Mo usually took out, but in this instance it had been necessary to carry Tiny on the back. As soon as the speeder had recovered from the quick turn, she gunned it. The patrol was moving slowly compared to her. Even circling around she'd be able to reach the area before the sith did... maybe.

She shot over the plains, making sure to give the patrol a wide berth while also keeping an eye on her readouts. Glitch had made the all call for available members to move in on the location. If they were lucky they could get any survivors out of there before the sith showed up.

What the kriffin hell are people doing parachuting out here anyway?

Well... I mentioned this to Dutch a few weeks ago, he told me not to tell anyone. But I've heard some chatter on the holo net about a Republic task force that's working toward undermining the sith wherever possible. If it's true, these could be some soldiers.

Lot of good they are.

Mo mumbled the words, but was coming up quick on the site. She slowed the speeder to a stop some distance back and dismounted. Tiny jumped down to the ground as well, but Mo told him to stay with the speeder, a job he didn't seem all that happy about. She retrieved her bow, Aditi, from its storage compartment on the speeder and move quickly, yet silently towards the area Glitch had indicated. Soon enough, Mo came upon the scene.

One solder, who'd apparently landed unscathed had their gun drawn on two DLA members. Mo hadn't had much personal contact with either one, but she knew who they were. Coming onto the scene from behind the soldier, Mo knocked and arrow and flipped on the switch for the magnetic accelerator. The whir of the magnets coming to life would be heard just as Mo centered her sights on the soldier. Time to announce her presence.

Lower your weapon. We don't have time for this. There's a sith patrol on a direct route to this location. Unless you're in the mood for dying, I suggest we disappear. Her eyes caught sight of the med kit. Who's still alive? I've got a speeder that can carry an injured person if you need it. But we need to move... now.

--[And the fun begins!]---

The disadvantage of the armored transport vehicles was that they were slow. Diego ground his teeth as he waited for the small patrol to arrive at the crash site. The more seconds that went by, the more likely that any survivors might get away. He wasn't particularly keen on delivering such news to the Baroness.

Finally, the Corporal signaled that they were a minute out. Diego adjusted his gauntlets and assured that his rifle would be quick at hand when they arrived. He wasn't about to sit this one out. One failure was enough for the day. He was going to personally ensure that he had four bodies to deliver to the Baroness when they returned.

Moments later, the crash site came into view. As expected, there were three bodies on the ground and not moving. But what concerned the Colonel was that there was one still alive, if not more. And worse, it seemed the vultures had found the site as well. He counted three rebels. Scum.

Open fire.

[Dire Wolf]

Lanara had to admit, she was certainly one for acting without thinking. Granted, if she took the time to think beyond her instincts in a battle situation she was very likely to end up with a burning hole in her brain pan. Most of the time her instincts were true, they had to be if she planned on surviving long in her line of work. Lifeless grey eyes shifted back and forth between the two beings, not particularly paying attention to the green one as her irritated explanation rang in Lan's ears.

The artificial blonde was just about to let her rifle drop when she heard the hum of a magnetic accelerator whurr to life. A heavy sigh caused the woman's shoulders to droop and diaphragm to cave as she awaited the perfect moment to whip around and light that dumb mike-foxtrot up like a christmas tree. What? You thought she'd give up so easily? Pffft. Lanara may have been baying for death, but she had a job to do, and she'd be damned if some idiot with a big gun was going to stop her from doing it. That, and she'd only give her life to one that deserved it... no-one would catch her laying it down so easily. Especially after the sacrifice Rem made for her.

The woman behind her barely had a chance to speak before Lanara gave a heavy sigh of relief, as it was plainly obvious that she was a friendly as well. She looked back at the woman, a Mirialian with a... bow? That was odd, to say the least. Especially one used in conjunction with a magnetic accelerator. Very deadly, indeed.

Between Lanara's armor and her voice digitizer, it was near impossible to tell which gender she was. "There's Sergeant White," she motioned towards the man that the twi'lek was working on, "I'll take 'm. 'E's too heavy fer someone without power armor. Y'all get th' speeders war-" A florescent blue bolt of plasma whizzed past her head as she was about to utter the last of her request. Almost instantly, the woman lunged towards the twi'lek, attempting to throw the unarmored woman behind her.

"ECTOR!!" Her voice digitizer only just began to cut out at the decibel level of her yell, which was at the tipy-top of her very lungs. Within moments, she shouldered the rifle and leveled it on the IFV. Lan's heavy repeating blaster may as well have been a pellet gun with a high rate of fire, but it was certainly better than nothing. At the very least it would divert more fire towards her rather than the unarmored people she was here to help. So she pressed the trigger down for about a second before releasing it. Then repeated. With each trigger press about sixteen blue bolts spewed out of the gaping black maw of her rifle and flew forward into the tank. Doing nothing but sizzling against the thick armor designed to stop the very projectiles she was throwing at it.

Just then, the little white head of an AER droid popped out of the pack that was slung across her back, looking casually at his armored companion. "Yes, Sergeant Blue, how may I help you?" Surprisingly, the stoic little knightly droid didn't happen to see the tremendous amounts of fire she'd been taking... fortunately she only took glancing blows up until that point. Lanara was fairly quick on her feet, after all, especially with servomotors assisting her leg's movements. "Would'ja mine throwin' up that damned shield a yours? So, y'know, I won't DIE," she growled, though the digitizer neutered that tone as well.

Ector didn't need the digitizer to know that his companion was rather irritated at him. Though it seemed that she'd been rather irritated at everyone as of late, well, ever since Sir Archibald sacrificed himself for her. To be honest, the little AER droid never did understand why she had allowed herself changed so radically after his death... seeing as he died to protect her. To shield her from the very thing that she was becoming. In a way, she was insulting him by growing so cold, cut off, and downright evil at times. But then... perhaps only he could tell... but it seemed that she had the capacity to grow warm at times.

The little bird shook his head mildly, now was not the time to for internal musings about Lady Skysiri, but rather to save her. So, after accessing a few .exe files, he warmed up the ray shield generator and cast a field around her person just in time to deflect what would have been a fatal blow to the cranium. The blue bolt bounced harmlessly into the dirt. "The shield is up, Staff Sergeant Blue, though be warned: it is dropping in strength rapidly. I suggest you take cover."

"I sugges' you shut th' hell up," Lanara growled through her mic as she pulled a pair of canisters from the cloth webbing that held equipment on her armor. The first was a smoke grenade, and the second... a white phosphorous grenade. The WP grenade cast out a material that burned at about nine-thousand degrees farenheit when it came in contact with oxygen. Normally this would do a great job at ruining someone's day. Painfully. But she had other intentions for the grenade: it would be nigh impossible to see through the smokescreen with an IR unit once it detonated in the smoke.

The first grenade barely hit the ground before it started to spew a deep grey smoke in the space between her and the tank, and the second... it detonated just forward of the first. Without missing a single gorram beat, the crude woman lunged forward once more, wrapping her hands around a little handle that had popped up on White's back, inbetween the shoulder blades. Her other hand dropped the rifle, which caught on the cloth sling before it hit the ground, and grabbed his pack. Most of the stuff in there was probably destroyed, but she had no doubt in her mind that the DLA couldn't make something out of the salvage. Or at least use them for replacement parts in weapons that require repair.

It didn't take long for the adrenaline and armor assisted woman to pull her comrade back to the speeder, which wasn't terribly far away. With a surprising amount of care, the Rilan woman picked her friend up and set him in the back of Mo's speeder. After hopping into the back herself, she pounded on the cab lightly to signal that she was ready to get the hell outta dodge city.

That smoke would only last so long as the IFV stayed on its side of the smoke-incendiary barrier, and the barrier itself wouldn't last terribly long. Needless to say, time was running out. Quickly.

[Deleted]

A whir sound touched Saerith's ears causing her to glance around. Her eye's quickly found Mo kneeling Arrow drawn aiming at the soldier. While Saerith didn't know her personally she couldn't recall ever being happier to see anyone. Resisting the urge to jump on her speeder and leave, She instead turned back to the wounded soldier and popped open the Med kit only to realize there wasn't anything she could for him in his armor.

It became a moot point as a blaster bolt tore through they're midst only a moment later. Only halfway into a standing position it was something of a shock to find herself flat on her back and now the soldier stood between her and the Sith patrol returning fire.

Struggling to her feet Saerith glanced around still trying to get her bearings, A wall of smoke had begun to build between them and the Sith. Saerith turned to her Speeder and swung her leg over the side and hit the ignition. Glancing around she saw the injured soldier being taken away to Mo's speeder and did a quick count of heads. Five people, unless mo had somehow managed to bring another speeder that meant they were going to be one space short. Someone was going to have to stay here and escape on foot.

"Xander!" Saerith shouted at the Zeltron. In a single fluid motion Saerith slid off her speeder grabbing her sheathed basked from it's holster mounted on the Graybacks side. She wasn't good with it yet but it was a weapon and she was probably going to need it. "Take mine and get that republic soldier out of here. I'll head out on foot." She made the offer terrified, but confident she could get away. Disappearing was what she did best.
It was a good skill to have for situations like this.

[kt]

Xander gave the armor clad soldier a quick glare as he finished checking over the other soldiers, all dead save one other than the uptight blaster happy person pointing her rifle at him. "How about instead of acting like a paranoid tool, help us out eh?" Not even a second had passed since he said that before his golden eyes rested on Mo of the DLA, she was a gorgeous mirilian woman that he had not gotten the chance to talk to yet. "Hey there sweetheart, give us a hand?"

In all of his seriousness, the smallest of smirks started to form on his face before a whirring noise rang through Xander's ears. "Sith huh? Hurry up and get everything ready!" Xander shouted as he pulled out his blaster and started shooting. It didn't take long for the blaster bolts to get closer and closer to his body "HEY, get outta here!" Xander shouted to his comrads as he took a blaster shot to the shoulder.

"Damnit!" The zeltron winced in pain as blood started to pour. Xander quickly turned his head towards Saerith as she told him to go "Forget it, i got it, just GO!" With that, Xander used as much of his power as he could, using his emotion projection to send them all back to the base "I'll be fine. I'll see you again, i promi-" the words ALMOST left his lips as a blaster shot tore through his side, sending him to the ground.

(I'm gonna take some liberties here, hope that's ok.)

Tears of pain started to well up in the zeltron's eyes as he watched his friends rapidly shrink into the distance. A sigh of relief left him as he looked back at the bastards that had shot him. He wasn't about to die without a fight, and with that, Xander waited.

The two tanks that had arrived in time to shoot the crap out of everything unloaded their troops. Xander made a head count quickly, sadly only seeing one person that looked like anything of a leader(not diego, a random from the other tank) in the group of identical soldiers. With a steadied breath, Xander watched through strained eyes and gritted teeth as his enemy got closer and closer, finally managing to surround him and hold him and gun point.

"Surrender and we'll let you live." The officer said regally, a pompous air to his voice. "We won't hesitate to shoot if you don't comply."

A smile formed on Xander's face as he gave a very brief chuckle, slowly reaching into his pockets and taking them back out "I'm walkin on sunshiiiiiine whoaa whoaa whoaaaa, it's time to feel good...." Xander sang his tune with a happy tone before showing two thermal detonators in his hands "It's been fun!" And with that, pink fingers pressed the triggers, sending the 11 men surrounding him to the after life with him.

What a nice day it was today.

[/-Amy-\-Foxie Lady-/]

Kiala had just got back to the hanger from her own patrol. She was dressed in her full armor, witch many of the DLA mistaked for mandalorian due to the T shaped visor, and the fact that the quite woman typicaly carried a beskad with her. It was a easy misunderstanding, and one that Kiala didnt see a need to correct. She put on the helmet to her T.E.A. Nano-Suite and ran to the LA-LT she had stollen a short while back. She rushed through the launch procedures. One of the other members of the DLA hopped in and before he was fully strapped into the gunners chair she was lifting off and hitting excelerator.

"Glitch this is Raven, let Green know I am on my way"

"will do sweety, and I'll let Tats and Pinky know your on your way as well

Kiala sped toward Saer and Xander's location, flying as low and fast as she could. This transport wasnt the Sparrow by any means, but it was a decent craft and had good speed and handling. The LA-LT had long since been repainted and been given its own name 'Mocking Bird'. As she approached the aproriate cordnates, she let out a string of curses. She turned to the gunner/co-pilot , "Take the controls". Without any further explination she simply oppened the hatch beside her seat and lept the remaining 20ft ti tge ground. She shock absorbers in her legs and armor cusioned the landing, but she still had to roll. All she had was her Beskad and her pistols. Her Beskad was in her hand before she even thought about it. Kiala rushed a near by sith soldier and cut him nearly in half with an upswept diagnal slash. She rushed for another cluster and lept into the air and as she landed she had already began a spin, her blade taking the head of one soldier. She kicked out and caught another in the groin. She spun to the left and grabbed another by the throat and squeezed. She felt the mans windpipe through the sensors in her gloved left hand. She spun and hurled the corpses at one of his comrades, one who had made the mistake of saiming at Saer. A dagger came off Kialas belt and she flipped it so she held it by the blade and hurled it catching another man in the throat.

"Saer, Get you inked rear out of here now!!!!!!"

[Meira]

As usual, when the sith came down, they came down hard. Mo had little option but to take cover as the patrol opened fire. As she crouched behind a low broken wall, she checked the gear she had on her. She didn't have much, but back at the speeder.... She wasted no time, running in a crouched position, she raced back to where she'd parked. Tiny was walking in circles, able to sense that there was danger about.

Go! Go home boy! Mo yelled.

Tiny hesitated a moment, letting out a high pitched whimper, his ears and tail falling slightly. But Mo insisted. Tiny knew his way home and this wasn't the kind of fight he might survive. Hounds didn't do too well against armored vehicles. So with Tiny racing off to safety, Mo jumped into the speeder, started it up, and moved it in as close to the action as she dared. No sooner had she jumped out then the soldier came running over with her fallen comrade. Mo pulled out some explosives from a storage container as the soldier climbed into the speeder.

Head west, find some cover and wait. I'll find you if one of the others doesn't first.

With that, Mo turned and raced back towards where the fight had started. She came upon a much different scene. Saerith was gone and Xander.... was surrounded by sith that had unloaded from one of the vehicles. The other sat back. The shooting had stopped. Mo didn't like the way this felt. She circled around the scene until she came up behind the vehicle that had unloaded its soldiers. As quickly and quietly as she could, she climbed up on top of it until she was positioned over an auxiliary hatch. Slowly, she turned the handle until it opened. Those sith sure made sure their hinges were greased. It opened soundlessly. It was then that a glint of light caught Mo's eye. Xander was holding thermal detonators.

NO!

But it was too late. The shock of the explosion nearly knocked Mo from the top of the vehicle as she shielded her eyes with her arms. She didn't know the man on any personal level, but to see such a sight, even as he was smiling, caused Mo's heart and stomach to sink. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Her breathing came rapidly, then suddenly, she heaved, and with no other place to turn, vomited through the hatch down into the vehicle.

By now, Mo'd been noticed. Luckily, her weak stomach had little to purge, and she was able to get back in the game before someone picked her off. Quickly, she dropped a few detonators down through the hatch before high-tailing it out of there. The vehicle exploded mere moments after Xander's display. Mo was still in shock that he'd ended it that way, but there was nothing she could do for it now. It didn't take long for her to disappear into the forest where she'd be able to circle back to find that soldier.

Just as she was clearing the area, the sound of another vehicle came into earshot. Looking up, Mo was able to spot the newly acquired LA-LT just as Glitch's voice came into her ear.

Mo, be advised, Raven is inbound with some heat.

Mo grunted. NO! Call her back. It's too late. Xander's down, and everyone else is away. She's just gonna get herself killed. Tell her that's an ORDER!

Copy that. And Glitch switched frequencies to call the Mocking Bird. Come in. Mo's orders: Fall back. I repeat, fall back.

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

It looked to be too easy. Diego sat back in his chair, watching the events unfold on his view screen. There was no way these pathetic rebels could escape this. They were out numbered and out gunned. He was amused, however, at their attempts. The Republic soldier showing the best tactics, laying down at least a smoke screen while the others scrambled in panic.

But it seemed they were deciding to flee rather than fight. Such a disappointment. Diego frowned slightly as the smoke cleared, revealing only one injured rebel still in sight. He gave the order for the rebel to be take prisoner and then the soldiers moved in around the man.

The explosion that followed did take Diego by surprise. He shot up straight in his chair, calling for answers at what had happened. The soldiers in his vehicle were scurrying to figure it out. It seemed the rebel had set off at least one detonator, taking out all the soldiers from the other vehicle. Diego ordered those within his own out to check the perimeter to ensure there wasn't something else going on. Just then, the comm with the other vehicle opened.

AAGGGWWWWWHHHHHH GROSS! What the.... Hey! YOU!....... AWW SHI.....

Another explosion rocked the transport, this one much closer. Diego abandoned his chair now, jumping up to open the top hatch. He raised himself up and was met with the sight of the second transport engulfed in flame and smoke. Out of the corner of his eye, movement caught his attention, but when he turned, he could see nothing but the green of the forest.

Ahead, the remainder of his troops stood in confusion. And then, out of nowhere, the sound of a low flying vehicle reached his ears. It seems the rebels had called in back up. With nothing but a handful of men and one vehicle, Diego knew the tables had turned. With a feral growl, he lowered himself back down and closed the hatch.

Get us the hell out of here! He shouted at the driver, who hesitated, gesturing towards the men still outside.

NOW!

The transport quickly turned and began to retreat, just as a lone figure dropped from the sky and began to slaughter the soldiers that had been left behind. Diego slouched in his chair, each breath a growl. The Baroness wasn't going to like this.

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

It took quite a bit of time, since she was on foot, But Mo made her way through the forest, keeping her eyes and ears open. After awhile, she found evidence of the speeder she'd let the soldier commandeer. It was a fairly simple task of just following the trail until she came upon where the soldier had taken cover. It was a good patch of this underbrush. Mo was actually a bit surprised the soldier had been able to hide the speeder so well. But there wasn't much that escaped Mo's notice. She approached the vehicle slowly, making sure to give the soldier plenty of warning that someone was coming. Finally, she came up to it in full view. Luckily, there was just enough room for Mo to squeeze in. Once settled, she pointed the soldier in the direction to go.

Homestead's this way. It's not too far. Your buddy should be alright once we get there. Lily's a great doctor. She turned her eyes toward the armor clad soldier. I'm Mo.

[Dire Wolf]

A few scant moments after pounding the bottom of her armored fist against the platisteel cab of the speeder, the woman realized that no one was inside to drive the damned thing. Stony grey eyes rolled in their sockets behind the mandalorian-esk T visor shortly before they swept the field in a search for the three DLA members. The most obvious person, the female who's skin showed more black than green, looked as if she was getting ready to make an exfil on foot. Smart. If she knew the land, but Lanara did not... and she had a critically wounded man to take care of. Lanara didn't have a chance to search for the Miralian woman, as they caught the red blurr of Xander as he disappeared around the far corner of the smoke screen.

Those eyes grew wide in their socket when his intentions finally registered within her brain, and a collective "aww shick" reverberated through her form shortly thereafter. "Aww hell, Ector, you'd best get those shields warmed up again," the woman's slightly annoyed tone was neutered by the voice digitizer. Once again, the little white avian droid popped his head out of her pack, which was laying next to the wounded soldier. "Sergeant Blue, it is inadvisable to do so. My power level is dangerously low, and therefore I will be forced to shutdown if the shield takes too much damage."

If Ector could have seen the glare that his companion gave his oil would have frozen within his veins. Lanara was on a mission, and that was to make sure that not another life was lost in the name of keeping her from harm. She was done with that mode of thought."GORRAMIT! Ector, you will get'ch'ur shiny metal arse outside a that pack and on my shoulder, or so help me I throw you inta th' nearest trash compactor!" Within moments a determined look flashed across the woman's face as she tore off towards where she last saw Xander, only to round the corner just in time to see a maelstrom of blaster bolts crash into his form. Those stone pebbles in her eyes were quickly overcome with deep blue hue, causing those eyes to bear a certain kind of resemblence to an ocean at the darkest hour of the night. Tears quickly prickled at the corners of her eyes, and she found that her heart was thudding heavily in her chest, beneath all of that armor, bone, and meat. Though she was absolutely sure that the world could see the plate that shielded her chest from harm could see the movement that the beating in her chest created.

"The body! The body! Get the body!" her mind screamed at her, then practically forced her legs to sprint forwards towards the thought-to-be-dead body of Xander Seraph. Those powerfully toned legs barely had the chance to propel her forward before her mind caught up with her instincts. Getting herself killed would only make his sacrifice all for naught, no matter how needless it was. With the slight shake of her head, and tears etching their way down her cheek, the Rilan woman turned back towards the speeder... taking the corpses of her comrades along the way.

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

Lanara had done well in hiding the speeder behind some brush a few miles away, and even took care to shut it down... just in case that APC had power readings. But none of that mattered. Tears. They crawled down the woman's face as she sat in the back of the speeder and whimpered beside White and her fallen comrades. Ector sat in the cab of the speeder, deactivated due to the massive amounts of power that her rescue attempt and subsequent body recovery had cost nearly all of the little avian droid's energy reserves. Fortunate, considering the fact that Lanara could simply cry in relative peace.

Why? Why everyone that she considers as a friend, or more, have to sacrifice their life for her? Its not as if she could have ever done anything to stop the circumstances, it just seemed that life threw the worst at her. Was she a curse? Did her mere presence bring nothing but death and destruction to those she cared about? That sure as hell seemed to be the case. It was jus then that the woman decided it was simply best for her to keep all the others away, from being close, from being friends, hell, from being anything more than an acquaintance.

No. That was wrong, and it was a spit into the face to all of the people that had laid down their life to protect her. Why? Well, to change who she was – who they protected – because they protected her in such a matter made their sacrifice worthless. Harmful. She didn't want that. Lanara wouldn't, couldn't, allow herself to change... she wasn't in the habbit of spitting in the face of her friends and her lovers. Despite what had happened today, it seemed that the woman was rather fortunate... as the miralian woman that'd interceded in the prior events approached the speeder cautiously, as if she were expecting Lanara to shoot first and ask questions later. "Thank you," the woman said as she looked up at the green citizen soldier. It was rather fortunate that her helmet had a digitizer, and that digitizer was neutering the emotionally hurt strains of her voice rather marvelously. "I... I'm Staff Sergeant Skysiri. Not supposed to tell you my name... but what the hell. Lead the way."

[Deleted]

Saerith wasn't sure what possessed her but later she would recall she did not make the decision to get back on her speeder and take off, only that she did so. The ground was passing underneath the Grayback and herself at an alarming speed when she came back to herself.

Despite her best efforts she had only a hazy recollection of the events preceding this moment, her last clear memory she had been shouting at Xander and now she was here. She struggled with her mind trying to remember what had happened but to no avail. It took the better part of a minute before she realized she wasn't flying nowhere but was without any conscious effort, guiding her speeder back to base.

Everything seemed wrong, as if the lights had gone out and she was feeling her way around in the Dark. What she needed was information. Her green and black arm tapped the small comm device set in her ear. "Glitch... what the hell is going on?"

Despite the roughness it seemed the most pertinent question at this point in time. A hiss of static and then a response "Mo and the Soldiers got outta there, everyone is heading back to base" Saerith was silent for a few seconds puzzling over the information. Something was amiss but at first she couldn't pick it out. Her mind was still shaky but she knew something was missing. Some important piece of the puzzle was absent.

Finally her mind struck upon what it was that left a hollow feeling in her stomach. She reach up once more to tap the comm, this time slow. Fear of what she was going to be told made her hesitate but inevitable she heard the static and asked the question she would have given anything to not have to "...what about Xander?"

What followed was silence. A heavy unbearable quiet, as the moments linked together passing from one to the next Saeriths dred grew. She no longer wanted the answer to her question and was halfway to pulling the comm from her ear when the response came. "Xander... is dead"

the Grayback speeder tore across the plains of Dantooine unchecked and Saerith set astride it frozen. Her hand halfway to her ear as if she still intended to remove the comm but her eye's had glazed over. She was hiding from the inevitable rush of feelings when her mind finally accepted what it had just been told.

For the moment she felt nothing but that was how it always started, She had experienced loss before and any moment now the wounds would open, Cuts of the deepest nature and of the kind that would never fully heal. But for now, she hid within her mind, denying the truth.

(Saerith exit)

[/-Amy-\-Foxie Lady-/]

"Mocking Bird, disengage, I repeat, disengage. That is a direct order from Green

"Theres a problem with that Glitch, Raven has left the nest, I repeat Raven has left the nest..She jumped while we were doing about 100kph, about twenty feet up and she jumped out. I wouldnt want to be those soldiers...she is masacering them"

"Roger that...Green, this is Glitch...Raven has left the nest, I repeat Raven has left the nest"

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

Xander was dead. Xander was dead. This was the only thing running through the mind of Kiala Drell. Xander was dead. One of the only people in the entire galaxy she was close to, one of only three and he was dead, leavin her with only two friends. This left an empty feelin in Kialas gut, one remanisant of Penny's death, though not quite as profound, it still hurt. The next thing she felt was rage. The blood pounded in her ears, her mouth was dry. Pitty the soldiers left behind because only one of them left that field alive. Kiala sent the rest to there maker.

"Raven, this is Glitch..you are ordered to fall back, I repeat fall back

Kiala had the last soldier by the throat, his feet barely scraping the dirt."I'm on the ground..Enemy is in full retreat. Signal 'Mocking Bird' to pick me up...I'm bringing Xander home!

"copy that Raven..and suga'....I'm sorry"

Kiala didnt even bother to reply. She applied a apopriate amount of preasure to the soldies neck until he passed out from lack of oxegan."Bringing in a prisoner...he has captains bars...advise Green and Big Brother"

"copy that"

'Mocking Bird' landed a minute or so later and Kiala threw her bound, blind folded and gagged captive in. She and the co-pilot went about picking up the sith weapons and stowing them on board and salvaging what little they could of the equipment in the Sith vehichles...and they placed Xanders chared and mangled remains in a body Bag and placed him on board with a certain amount of care. Kiala was thankfull for her helm, because it hid the fact that there were tears in her eye's.

As she sat in the pilots seat and lifted off, she caled Glitch again. "Patch me through to Green". It didnt take long until she was patched through."Green, this is Raven..I ha-I have Xander...were bringing him home...do...do you need a pick up?". Kialas voice was breaking...Mo would have been able to easily hear the grief in Kialas voice.

If a pick up was required, Kiala would do so, if not, She was heading back to base.

{If you decide for a pick up NPC the pick up, Kiala will give her usual silent treatment}

[Meira]

Hey Green... umm... Raven says she's got a prisoner.

WHAT?! Mo sat straight up in her chair, or as straight as she could in the crowded speeder. Stop! She said, turning towards the soldier.

When the speeder slowed down to a halt, Mo jumped out and circled around until she stood next to the driver's side. She called for Glitch to patch her through to Saerith. Once through, she asked Saerith to come meet up with the soldier and lead the way back to base.

Green, Raven wants patched through to you.

Put her through. Mo's brow was furrowed and her jaw was tight with frustration.

"Green, this is Raven..I ha-I have Xander...were bringing him home...do...do you need a pick up?"

NO! I don't need no damn pick up! I need you to land that vehicle now! You hear me?! You get your bird-brained feet on the dirt! And don't you even think about moving until I get there!

Mo switched the comm back to Glitch, asking that she send Dutch out to the LA-LT's location to deal with the prisoner. Then, she began her run over to the LA-LT. She knew Dutch would be furious when he arrived. She had to make sure she was there to defuse that anger if she could.

She arrived at where the LA-LT landed some five or ten minutes later. The prisoner was still unconscious as well as blindfolded, which was a good thing. They couldn't risk the man seeing the faces of any DLA members if they could help it. As soon as Mo spotted the armor clad Kia, she rounded on her.

What the HELL were you thinking!? NO SITH IN HOMESTEAD! End of story! What if he's got a tracking signal on him? HUH? Did you think about that? You could have destroyed EVERYTHING we've built!!! NO ONE is authorized to take prisoners, you got it!?

Mo was panting by the end of her tirade. It had brought her nose to nose with Kiala by the end. This whole thing was a disaster. A DLA member was dead, they had wounded Republic soldiers on their hands, and now Kia had almost brought one of the enemy right to their front door. Their last hideout, the cave, had been attacked because they were careless, had let the sith get too close. They couldn't risk that again. Mo spun away from Kiala and stomped off towards a fallen log near where the LA-LT now sat. Dutch would be there soon to sort it all out.


((OOC: OK, Kiala.... Don't take offense, that's not me, that's Mo getting angry. Lol. Also, next post is reserved for Dutch))

[Dutch]

In a rowdy cantina at the outskirts of Flint sat a man alone at one of the tables. His boots were up on the seat next to his, and he leaned back with a whiskey glass in one hand, the other rested on his right hip where Buttercup sat. His gray eyes drifted over to the bartender, Lelton. Lelton was an underground DLA supporter, and his place, Bell's Harvest, was a local safe house for them. Dutch raised his glass ever so slightly, and winked in response to Lelton's slight nod. It was good to have friends you could trust. He brought the glass up and drained what was in it- no ice cubes for his whiskey, Dutch Sampson did not drink watered down whiskey.

"Yeh, but Rodrines said this place was great for pickin' up some fine young farmer's daughters- y'know what I mean..."

All eyes including Dutch's turned to the door in time to see a pair of younger men stumble into Bell's. Both of them were human, with blonde hair cropped short- military style. And to Dutch's surprise, Sith Military uniforms. Lelton and Dutch shared a glance, in which Dutch made a slight motion with his fingers. They couldn't take the pair out- not in front of the other patrons that could snitch on them. But, Dutch knew that this duo wouldn't be returning to base.

The two men sat at the main bar where Lelton stared at them while his large hands cleaned a glass. When they motioned for a drink, Dutch cleared his throat- a sign that only Lelton would know. As soon as they were occupied, Lelton slipped a little something in their drinks. Ten minutes later, the two men were obviously not well, they both stumbled out of the cantina vomiting and sick. Dutch got up from his seat and paid for his drinks. Lelton and Dutch both knew what was to happen next.

Dutch followed the men outside, a slight grin touched his lips as they stumbled into the alley where Bell's back door was. They were making this too easy. He followed them back into the alley where both men stood doubled over, their gasps of pain and disbelief were interrupted by sprees of vomiting- which was now tinged pink. One of the blond men turned his red hued face up at Dutch, and his expression was a mixture of pain and disbelief.

"You... you're that scum we captured..."

The DLA leader just smiled down at the two men as they fumbled for the blasters at their hip. But they would never remove the weapons from their holster. In a flash Buttercup sprung from her holster and a flechette round was spread into both their chests. As soon as the gunshots were out, the backdoor popped open to reveal Lelton in his dirty gray shirt and black pants. The pair tossed the bodies into a dumpster and some fuel and fire later would remove the bodies well enough. A hose rinse later would remove any traces of blood, and Lelton went back inside with a pleased grin. Even if they had to take them out one or two at a time, the Sith would not stay on Dantooine.

As he walked back to the Windchaser that was parked with the other speeders his comm vibrated. Dutch pulled it from his jacket and thumbed the switch. He brought it to his ear as his right leg was swung over his beloved vehicle and Dutch sat on its seat.

"Yeh."

"Brother, we got a situation. Raven attempted to bring a special guest back to base. Green has her and the guest at the coordinates I'm sending you now. Get over there. Now."

Dutch was on the move even before Glitch finished talking. The Windchaser was out of Flint, and the comm had been stowed. He slapped a pair of riding goggles on, and tucked low into the fine-tuned machine. With a twist of the throttle the three engines opened to full tilt, and Dutch rocketed across the plains. Wind whipped past his face as the vehicles locater ticked on, showing the man the way to his people.

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

Some time later and Dutch increased his altitude to soar over a thicket of blba trees. Their thorny branches reached up for Dutch as he flew over them, and then the clearing was spotted. Dutch angled the Windchaser down and it plummeted towards them. He shifted his wait and slid to a stop right next to Mo as the machine whined in protest to the sudden stop. In a flash the swoop was locked down, and Dutch was off it. His goggles would be torn off and tossed at Mo- whether she caught them or not he didn't see.

"Are you SPACED!? Really!? A Sith, in MY house? WRONG!"

Dutch's face was redder than it had ever been as he stormed up to Kia. Spit flew from his mouth at the last word and he gestured violently at the bound man. There was no way that Dutch would allow this to continue- he needed to end this, and fast. He turned away from Kia and reached to his right thigh. Buttercup was out of her holster again, and freshly reloaded. Dutch stormed over to the bound Sith and dragged him towards the center of the clearing. With a brutal strike the butt of his shotgun smacked into the man's covered temple. A muffled groan of recent consciousness sounded from him a good sign for Dutch.

As the man began to gain consciousness Dutch strode back to the Windchaser and moved it so that its light was turned towards the Sith, and he flicked on the high beams. He motioned for the pilot of the LA-LT to do the same, and in an instant, the entire area around the prisoner was bathed in white- anyone with their backs to the lights would have a clear view of the prisoner, but he would be blind. Dutch had retrieved something else when he went to the Windchaser. Two Sith had already been taken care of that night, and third time was always the charm.

Buttercup was put back into her holster, and Dutch wrapped his new tool around his right hand. A thick, durasteel chain hung in loops from Dutch's right fist. He reached down with his left hand and tore the makeshift hood off along with some strands of hair from the man's head. The prisoner groaned and peered up at Dutch with squinted eyes. The gaze was returned by a sharp, hateful one, Dutch's features scrunched up in obvious loathing.

"Green, Raven, keep away from him. They know my face, and they will continue to know my face. I'm gonna make sure these bastards know I'm still here."

And with that, Dutch brought his mini datapad from his pocket. A couple of key buttons later, and the tiny recon camera that had been mounted to the Windchaser began to record. In it's view, both Dutch and the prisoner would be perfectly visible, but the way the vehicle sat made Mo and Kia out of sight. Dutch brought his right boot back to viciously kick the Sith in his stomach before he reached down to grab the man's hair and pulled his face up so it could be seen in the camera. Now they'll know he is theirs.

He had been waiting for a day like today, where he could get one of those Sith alone, and return the favor they gave him. Dutch cast a sideways glance at the camera, a primal glint in his eye as he raised his right hand, and swung the chains down full force. They chinked and cracked against his skull and Dutch grunted with effort. Dutch proved that he meant business- this was no idle threat, that man was to lose his life tonight.

Minutes passed, and the chain was now bloodied and the man's face took the appearance of ground beef. Dutch stood over him, his breath ragged and flecks of blood splattered on his face, chest and arm. He knelt down and put two fingers to the man's neck, to check for a pulse... he was still alive. Good, Dutch had a plan and needed him alive. He stood up and walked over to where the camera mounted then knelt down so his face was seen clearly in it.

"You see this? This is only the beginning. We know where you work, we know where you live. See this man here? You'll be getting his remains in pieces."

With that he stood up and unfurled the chain that had been wrapped around both his forearm and fist. It clanked as it hit the ground and was dragged behind Dutch. He knelt down and used the skills his father had passed down to him to tie the chain around the man's neck. The prisoner awoke slightly and gurgled his protest, which was returned with a backhand from Dutch. The slap rang out wetly and he stood before Dutch spat on the man's face.

The chain was still grasped in his hand as Dutch dragged the prisoner with him towards the Windchaser. He stopped just at the rear of the swoop and the chain was attached to it. For one last time Dutch stooped to the camera's level, and grinned wickedly at the camera before he manually switched it off. He straightened up and switched the light back to normal, his eyes glinted in a way that they never have before. Hate, bloodlust, sheer unbridled joy at what happened. Dutch didn't want to admit it, but it felt damn good to make that Sith suffer- and now he was about to do it even more.

He straddled the Windchaser and moved towards Mo, the chain clinked behind him as the man groaned his protest to Dutch's deaf ear.

"Mo, grab that datapad from his pocket and get on, we're going home. Kia- you git on that LA-LT. You better stay away from me for a couple days. That's an order.

Dutch cast an irritated look Kia's way, then a stern one at Mo. His eyes burned with fuel from the adrenaline that coursed through his veins. It was a look Dutch had never adopted before, one that no one else but Mo could possibly see- pure, unadulterated hatred. He motioned with his head violently one more time for the Mirialin to get on. As soon as she was, he kicked the Windchaser into full gear. With a scream the engines roared and the machine took off with the Sith prisoner in tow- he wouldn't survive the blba tree thorn gauntlet that he passed through.

{XD Like Meira said- it was character Dutch that was PO'd, not me :] }

[/-Amy-\-Foxie Lady-/]

Kiala stood rigid as she was yelled at by Mo. She took it in stride. She was a trained soldier after all. She had simply thought that the prisoner could give them intel. She understood the need to get clearance. Kiala realized she had overlooked the need to get clearance. She sighed and removed her helm and looked at Mo.

"forgive me Green...I..I'm not thinking to clearly". Mo would have been able to see the streaks marring Kialas cheeks, evedance of the tears she had shed. Though Mo more than likely didnt know much about Kiala, it was comon knowledge Xander had been one of her only friends. She had control of herself up until Ducth showed up. He got in her face and started yelling. She could have handled that, she could have even handled the spittle slpattering her tan features. It was the smell of alchohol on his breath that nearly set her off.

Kiala held her tongue, she knew beter than to disrespect her comanding officer. What Dutch did next chilled her blood. She did as she was told and stood so her backl was to the light, and so that her face was concealed, but when he started striking the man with the chain, she quickly turned her back to the whole ordeal. Kiala had few weak spots, but torture was one of them. She stalked off toward the roaring engines of the 'Mocking Bird so she didn't have to hear his screams. Unfortunatley for her, her enhanced hearing didnt prevent it. She turned when the screaming was done and then saw something she could not tolerate, Dutch tying the ith to the back of the his bike. He had told her to stay away from him, that was well and good with her. But what he was about to do was beyond what she could tolerate. Kiala believed in a quick clean kill.

As Dutch and Mo started to drive off she drew her silenced pistol and prepared to fire one round, wether Mo saw it, Kiala didnt know. The bullet would have gone right through the mans back, and through his heart. He would have been dead before Dutch even reveved the engine. She hoped the shot would go unknoticed, especialy with all the damage that was about to be done to his body. She didnt pull the trigger, for what reason she didnt know, instead she holstered her side arm.

Kiala climbed into the LA-LT and sped off toward homestead, hugging the coast line as soon as she reached the ocean. When she reached the hanger she got off and went to the small room Kabi and Al used for changing and stripped off her armor, and set it in a locker. When she walked out, she was wearing nothing but her tight leather pants, boot's, and a sports bra. This revealed somthing no one had ever seen, long narrow scars across her back.....