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| - It is 0600 in the morning of a standard day aboard OS Paladin. A Teusday, and, truth be told, not a very exceptional day except for the sight of maintenance crews with their trusty droids still scrubbing up the remains of what looks like it was probably a huge blood-letting. "They did what with it?" Asks one bald man as he supervises one of the robots in a sort of detached fashion. "Cut it up and stuck its parts in one of the freezer units. Said some scientist wanted it for their studies," replies another blond haired fellow, who is directing another droid that's repairing the deck plating's paint job. "Of course the poor jerk won't get any of its horns, claws, or teeth. The Marines and the pilots hacked those bits off and took 'em for souveniers faster than you can say Mon Mothma. Made some necklaces or some such for a couple Lieutenants that got busted up in the scrap yesterday if you can believe it," says the fellow with a wry smirk. But there is no time for further conversation about those in uniform, for details of Marines and Fleet Ops and Star Ops personnel come marching into the Hangar through the air lock from NRSD Reprisal. A FleetOps Lt. Commander who appears to be in charge announces "Halt!" He looks about with an air of impatient expectation. Staff Sergeant Mason sits on a crate overhearing the two techs talking about the earlier exploits of the Marines and pilots. Infront of the Sergeant is another crate with a deck of cards laid out and a small pile of credits. The old crusty Sergeant doesn't seem to be doing well in his card game against Sgt Tal'sin who seems to have the majority of chips in front of him. "I then told the private that he was more screwed up then a chickenwire cannoe. They jsut dont make 'em privates like they used to." Raxis moves into the bay trailed quietly by an R3 astromech unit, white with dark green trimming. Seemingly dwarfed in bulk by the Marine personnel, the young pilot nonetheless takes a moment to look across the bay to survey the remaining damage from the perilous unleasing of the beasts. Remembering the order well, he shakes his head lightly at the thought and runs his hand back through his hair as he rests his hand on the butt of the heavy DY-255 blaster on his belt. Keeping with the assembled soldiers, he remains quiet and subjective. Tal'sin Secura sits on the crate, opposite the Staff Sergeant. It feels good to be doing a little gambling again, even if it's on a few hours of off-duty time, not at Dain's Sabacc house on Nar Shaddaa. He smirks at the man about his private, nodding his agreement as he tosses a few chips to the center. "I know exactly what you mean. Only the other day I had to show a private how to tie his shoes up so they don't unlace and trim 'im up in the middle of trainin', or even worse, combat. I thought that stuff was common sense." He shakes his head tragically, but as the military personel begin marching through the bay, the Twi'lek quickly stands, the game forgotten. He looks about, and, noting his squad is off being off-duty like they should, looks down devilishly at the Staff Sergeant. "I think they're gonna be huntin' down the two critters that got away the other night. You up for showing these panty-pinchers how to hunt?" He takes his shotgun from it's resting position leaned against the crate and begins loading it. He's obviously going whether Mason does or not. The Nexu hunt? The young man, as soon as he was told that he was to assist in this hunt, he read as much as he could on this 'nexu', and what he has read was more than enough for him to be quite paranoid. It is among those who just walked in, the barked 'halt' bringing him to a halt just as soon as the 'volunteer' in front of him stop, that Rasi is, uniform worn, and side-arm well within reach. Quite reasonably, he is looking around everywhere he can at once. Entering the hangar bay from the Reprisal, Ohao walks directly toward the cargo container that was the source of the creatures. Slung over his right shoulder is a canvas bag that rattles as he walks, obviously it contains numerous metallic items. As he finally reaches the container, he flips up his visor and starts removing things that appear to be handheld scanners. He looks them over and decides on one, placing the others back in the bag. He then gets to work, moving the scanner slowly over the slightly scorched door. "Are you kidding, Sergeant?" Vengan grins weakly, his limping stride carrying him towards Mason and Tal'sin. He lifts his chin to the Staff Sergeant. "Sergeant Mason here would take on the entire Empire with his bare hands, if given the chance." The Marine lieutenant wears standard field armor, rather than the thick and bulky black armor he had donned before. Even beneath his clothing the bandages and wraps are visible- more to the point, Vengan looks as if he's been run over by a truck. "Gentlemen, you ready to do some hunting?" He adjusts his crutch, using only one to support his weight. "All RIGHT People, Listen UP," growls the Lt. Commander to the military personnel assembled. "My NAME is Lt. Commander Maggrath. I AM here to BRIEF you." The blue eyes of the Officer match his short, bristly white hair in that they tend to give him a hard, almost icey look. "YOU People are Here because you were all DUMB enough to volunteer to hunt NEXU," bellows the man. Holding up a data pad, the commander continues. "All the sensor information we've GATHERED on where the DAMN critters could be has been downloaded to your tactical systems. Lieutenant VENGAN, despite being beat to a bloody red SMEAR has volunteers to LEAD this little expedition. This is essentially going to be a BUILDING CLEARANCE operation. So Lt. Vengan and the Marines will be taking the lead here. You WILL take your cues from HIM for all TACTICAL matters. Technicians will man the portable scanners and the FleetOps and StarOps spannerheads who VOLUNTEERED for this will be providing security for THEM. If Any of my Technicians get killed, I WILL be personally KICKING your ASSES. Are WE CLEAR?" At this point, the Commander steps to the side. "LT. VENGAN, Front and Center! It's Your show now, Lieutenant. You may brief your plan NOW." And with this, Maggrath turns and stalks off towards the turbolift. Vengan grins at Tal'sin and Mason, falling silent as the Lt. Commander addresses the group. "'scuse me, gents," he murmurs. Crutch clicking with every third step, Vengan laboriously makes his way to the front of the group. As the Lt. Commander strides away, Vengan lifts an eyebrow to the rest of the group, a bit of a grin crossing his battered features. "Hard act to follow, but I'll try," the Marine says in a gravelly voice. Under the lights he looks as if he's been beaten with a truck, but despite his limp carries himself with a certain degree of stiff-backed comportment. "You'll excuse me if I sit down," the Lieutenant says with a wry grin, settling onto a seat. He takes a datapad from a private, glancing it over. At length, he clears his throat. "The situation is simple: two Nexu are loose on the ship. Our job is to find them. We'll be moving in six man groups. Four Marines, two techs. Marines will have point, while technicians scan. We'll be progression in a circle from this location laterally-" he demonstrates with his hands- "in both directions. Once this level is secure, we seal it off as we go, and then we'll move up to level two, then three, until we either kill them both or run them into a corner. Be thorough- be patient. And be careful," he rasps, making eye contact with each in turn. "Marines, you'll be using AA-8s with a standard buckshot round. No blasters shipside, I -repeat-, NO BLASTERS." Vengan looks around, before referring to his datapad. "Sergeant Mason is Left Wing leader, Sergeant Secura is Right Wing. Take your orders and cues from them. Medevac will be located here if it's needed, and at junctions on each level. I'm Bandit One, Sergeant Mason is Bandit Alpha, Sergeant Secura is Bandit Bravo. They'll assign callsigns as needed. This concludes your brief. Any questions?" "We're always up for some action Lieutenant." states Sergeant Mason. The man picks up the few credits that were infront of him and shoves them into his pocket. "Tal here was robbing my blind, glad some action started up before he took all my drinking money." Standing up, Mason swings his AA-8 SHotgun from around his back to his chest. Clipping the shutgun's sling to his tactical vest he gives the Lieuteant a short nod then looks towards Sgt Tal'sin, "Lets make sure these pilot types dont get scared and shoot themselves in the foot. With that, the Sergeant slips in the back of the formation and listens the Commanders motivational speach. Raxis chews the side of his lip. Of course that would be the luck wouldn't it? Raxis can't help but let out a tiny, barely audible sigh as almost in unison both he and Vee-ten react to the mention of no blasters. "Pffbbbbbp-Tweeet!" Vee-ten chimes quietly as Raxis stops thumbing the butt of his blaster pistol and looks around the deck. He can't help but notice the lack of knives, shotguns, force pikes and gaffi sticks for the non-Marine personnel as he raises his hand. "What about blasters on -stun- sir?" "That's up to Officer Ohao. Would it be reasonably safe to use blasters on stun for emergencies?" Vengan asks Ohao. Smirking at Vengan, Tal'sin gathers his credits from the game tosses them into a pouch on his belt. Winking at Mason, the Sergeant slings the shotgun over his front, one of four weapons evident attatched to his newly issued suit of Light Enhanced Armor. A knife is sheathed on his chest, and two different pistols hanging from his sides. He follows Mason to the rest of the group and stands on Vengan's right during his speech, standing smartly with his arms behind his back. As the Lieutenant finishes and Raxis asks the first question, Tal'sin's eyes narrow. He shakes his head, even as Vengan questions Ohao. "Officer L'ygr, as sure as I am that a blaster on stun will protect the /station/, I highly doubt it will protect /you/." Looking out to the rest of the volunteers, he calls out in a louder voice. "Just in case anyone has any questions about this particular aspect, let me answer them for you now. Our first priority is to terminate these Nexu. Not to tickle them. I doubt a stun blast will do much more than feel like a feather on their hides." His eyes travel back to the StarOps pilot. "We can outfit you with a Shotgun before we head out. I'd rather you survive this encounter so you can save my ass the next time the Empire decides to come knockin' with turbolasers." Abandoning his scan of the door as the officers start speaking, Ohao flips his visor back down and places his metallurgical scanner back in the bag. He responds to Vengan's question by motioning to Tal'sin as he answers. He simply adds, "I think sums things up nicely." Raxis turns around, looking through the assembled staff as a shotgun is passed among the ranks. Within a few moments, He spies the pistol-grip end of a shotgun being held to him. Taking it carefully, he points the business end downwards. "Tweet-vfft wooooooooo" Vee-ten emits and Raxis can't help but smile and wave his hand at the droid to hush it. Standing straight now, he waits to be moved into his team. Tal'sin continues to stand at Vengan's side, his hands clasped behind him. His eyes rove through the volunteers before him, watching each intently, hoping to discern their strengths and weaknesses before ever stepping onto the battlefield. Or hunting corridor, as it may be. His eyes fall over Raxis and watch as he takes the gun and immediately points it downward. He hides a smirk and continues to wait for the order to move out. With an exchanged look of what one might charitably describe as concern, a couple of the FleetOps techs punch in access codes at two of the maintenance tunnel entryways. A brief flashing of colored lights from the control panel next to the bulkhead, and the massive blast doors slowly and silently begin to open, revealing a long, hexagonal-shaped passage way beyond. A metal grate floor is matched by yellow-white recessed lighting panels above that cast odd shadows on the angled surfaces. Vengan sets his crutch aside and eases into one of the seats at the command pose, emitting a pained gasp of air. The Lieutenant adjusts himself until he's comfortable, bringing various monitoring screens around to be viewed. A comlink is placed over his left ear, and soon Vengan's voice crackles over the common network. As soon as he recieves a 'go' signal from Tal'sin and Mason, Vengan does just that, opening the access doors and turning his eyes to the security and monitoring cameras. One of the Marine privates a few paces from Tal'sin hefts his shotgun and looks to the Squad Leader, ready to move out. Of course the man's eyes do every few seconds flicker down the apparenty empty passage way, with what? Anticipation? Fear? Aggressiveness? Perhaps it is an alloy of all three. Raxis attaches the earpiece and listens to the sound check as he gives a slight nod to Ohao, moving into position to let the Marines clear the way. Putting two fingers to the headset comlink in his own ear, Tal'sin nods. Walking through the group of men assembled he points at six and signals them to follow him. Moving the group towards the right bay door, he turns and stops them. Thanks to the marvels of modern technology, anyone linked to his frequency can hear what he says. "Alright, boyos. It's time to rock and roll. It's to get better equipment, and it's sure as sh*t to late to back down. Obey my orders and you won't get hurt. From here on this squad will be referred to as Dark Squad. Any questions? Good. I'll be taking point." Pointing at two shotgun-armed men he says, "You two will watch our backs. If you see, hear, or smell anything, let us know. If it looks like a Nexu, yell first and then fire. I don't want no surprises. Any techs, I want you in the middle. The rest of you, take the sides evenly." Done with his orders, he nods satisfactorily. "One last bit of advice that should help you well. If anything tries to kill you, you try to kill it right back." With a wink to the men assigned to him, he grabs the shotgun from the sling with one hand, holding it by the pump. As he turns to move into the corridor, he jerks it up and down, cocking it. Holding it in both hands, he moves down the corridor with the barrel pointed forward. Somewhere in the bowels of the space station a great, gray-furred predator licks its mate reassuringly. A sniff is also given to a pair of small, mewling creatures. Cubs, new life, soon to be young hunters. The gray beast then sniffs the air. Danger. Killers are comming. Must lead them away. Kill them all if possible. With a final lick given to the female Nexu, the ash-colored predator pads away, moving in the direction its nose says the humanoids are to be found.... and destroyed. Nodding into his comlink, Tal'sin points at a pilot and a marine as they come to the junction. You two, hold position here, we'll secure the pathway and room." Moving down the right pathway, he lines the squad on the wall, quickly outlining proper entry procedures for those who may not know. On a count of three, the door is forced open and the men enter, checking every section of the room for signs of a Nexu.
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