na'Tatha ran over a quick mental checklist. Joints - nothing popped out or damaged. Muscles - sore.
Bones - nothing broken. At least, she hadn't noticed any yet. She'd had a sergeant once who'd broken his foot during a combat exercise. His boot had kept the bones in place, even though they'd had to cut the boot away afterwards. Blood - some scrapes and small cuts, plenty of bruises. Brain - she could see and hear properly, or she thought she could. The dust wasn't helping.

"I'm fine," the subcommander snapped. She pushed herself away from the wall. Standing hurt. Walking hurt. Running would hurt. Just like the good old days as a cadet. Yeah, that was right. She was a ground specialist, and ground specialists ate pain for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. And dessert. All right, this was getting ridiculous. Enough psyching. "Let's move."

_________________


<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

Viree13 gets to her feet with a groan, leaning against the duracrete for support. One arm is wrapped about her middle, and a dark stain is spreading over the leather on her right side, mainly hidden by her hand. "Is everyone else alright?......" She can sense their life forces through the Force, but that doesn't mean that they're not injured, and in the dust it's slightly hard to see......

_________________
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die, but have everlasting Life. ~John 3:16~





~The Mercenary A-U Gentlewoman~

Sahrai smiled slightly.

"Yes, we're all doing fine, Viree," he said. "Thanks for asking, though."

Feeling a shift in the eddies and ripples that were the Force, Sahrai pulled out a pair of bacta patches and tossed them to Viree.

We can't have you keeling over on us, after all he said. The pain she was in was obvious through the Force.

He turned and moved off at a brisk walk down the corridor, hoping to find another way to the place the droids were coming from, since they had been forced to blow the section of the hallway.

He beckoned to na'Tatha. "Sub-commander, if it is fine with you, would you like to fill me in on just what, exactly, was stated or implied in that comm call you got just before the YVHs came? Just what state of affairs is Taarin in?"

-----

Daaron issued a few brief commands over the squad's private comm frequency, and they split into Infiltration Pattern Theta--it had the highest efficiency likelihood in this situation.

"Lieutenant, what's your status?" he asked over the private channel. He had noticed the soldier giving himself a painkiller, which meant he must have been wounded somehow.

_________________

Viree13 nods her thanks and catches the bacta patches. After applying them, she catches up with Sahrai, shoving the pain to the back of her mind.....

She looks up and around at the damage done by the bomb,scanning the wallas and the ceiling. A moment later, a pattern of cracks catches her eye and she sees a ventiliation shaft above them. "Sahrai.... Can I talk t'you a moment?....."

_________________
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die, but have everlasting Life. ~John 3:16~





~The Mercenary A-U Gentlewoman~

The subcommander forced herself to keep up with the Jedi Master. It became easier as she moved more. "The state of affairs? Not good, Master Faradej. Defense Associate y'Garam, who heads up the seven-seat Defense Council, has apparently become indisposed due to stress and overwork. General di'Mano, who was next in line, now chairs the Council. He immediately ordered strikes on all known Maedan missile emplacements, and has popular support. There's no way he can know about our little mission - only y'Garam knew. He has officially started the war we were trying to prevent." na'Tatha took a deep breath, then stopped as a thought struck her. "Before, I would have said that a Taarin victory would be achievable fairly rapidly. Now, however ..." What she left unsaid was clear. The Maedan obviously had a lot of surprises hidden away.

But still the question remained: Why? Why attack? Why break an unbroken peace?

_________________


<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

Viree13 listens to na'Tatha's words but doesn't really hear them. "Sahrai, I know what she's saying is important, but can I please speak with you?......"

_________________
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die, but have everlasting Life. ~John 3:16~





~The Mercenary A-U Gentlewoman~

_________________

Viree13 points upwards at the hatch. "I think it's big enough for most of the men to get through..... We can avoid the gaurds, and since every room has to have ventilation, it should be able to lead us anywhere we want to go..... That way we won't have to backtrack to avoid the ruptured hallway....." She smiles slightly, the question in her eyes....

_________________
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die, but have everlasting Life. ~John 3:16~





~The Mercenary A-U Gentlewoman~

Sahrai looked up at the ceiling, then at Viree, then at the ceiling, and then back again.

"It's big enough for us to move around in, maybe," he said, "but I can't imagine that with the secrecy that the Maedan have exhibited so far, and the skill with which their secrets remained secrets, that they would leave such an obvious weakness. In other words, it's probably riddled with sensors, which we won't be able to move around. I'd say that we should stay in the corridors, for now--we can assume that they are monitored less extensively."

He caught another ripple through the Force, and started walking again.

"They've got soldiers following us," he said. "Let's keep moving."

-----

Daaron sighed--it had only been a matter of time before the Maedan sent some real guards after them, after all.

"Tighten up the formation," he said over the squad channel. "Be alert for any company--we don't want this party crashed."

_________________

Viree13 sighs. "Why d'you think I suggested the ventilation shaft?.... If they do have sensors, they'll expect people to try them..... Which means we use reverse psychology and use them anyway, therefore beating them at their own game...... And have you actually checked for sensors?..... And who's to say that we can't Force-shield the sensors as we go by?..... Besides, the ventilation shaft will be a quicker, more straight-forward route, which is what we want, isn't it?..... If they're as smart as you say, they won't have a direct route to their main level, and this place is already a maze....." She crosses her arms and looks at him, one eyebrow raised. "Are you new at this?...."

_________________
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die, but have everlasting Life. ~John 3:16~





~The Mercenary A-U Gentlewoman~

"Lieutenant, what's your status?" Daaron asked over the private channel.

Ordo tested his leg, but didn't respond to Daaron right away, he wanted to hear the subcommander. As Viree13 told Sahrai about the ducts, Ordo replied to Daaron's question, "Its just a blaster wound through the leg, and as long as the anti-shock meds work, I'll be fine, sir."

The commando thought of another problem with going into the ducts, it could have remote explosives rigged to them so they could trap you into the duct system, but the Jedi presented a good argument, so Ordo didn't add anything.

"They've got soldiers following us," Sahrai said. "Let's keep moving."

Good, Ordo thought, I'm getting tired of fighting droids. Yes, real guards could be more of a challenge, but they are much easier to neutralize.

"Tighten up the formation," Daaron said over the squad channel. "Be alert for any company--we don't want this party crashed."

"Yes, sir," Ordo moved into position. With a few quick eyeflicks, he set his sensors to a constant sweep. New information flooded across his view screen from a probe that he had left in the Maedan security system. "Fierfek," Ordo swore inside his helmet.

"Sorry to interupt, but the Maedan's are activating this place's lockdown protocoles. The ducts are the easiest way to go, unless we want to blow holes in every door from here to where we want to go," Ordo said this as the bulkheads began to close. "I'll try to overide it, but they'll know pretty quick that I doing it."

_________________
Four Gods wait on the windowsill,
Where once eight Gods did war and will,
And if the Gods themselves may die,
What does that say for you and I?

Now, three Gods wait on the windowsill
Where one God's blood was lately spilled
While black tongues lap at the spreading pool
And build the strength they need to rule.

Viree13 glances at the man with some slight surprise - she hadn't expected help. After nodding her thanks, she turns and watches the bulkheads close, then looks back at Sahrai, waiting for his answer.....

_________________
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not die, but have everlasting Life. ~John 3:16~





~The Mercenary A-U Gentlewoman~

Sahrai shrugged. "We can't exactly override sensors using the Force," he said to Viree, "but I don't see that we have a choice, now."

He lifted the grating to the ventilation shaft off with the Force, setting it against the wall as Daaron put a probe up into the shaft.

"It's riddled with sensors, but it doesn't look like it's rigged to blow," Daaron said as he manuevered the probe inside.

"All right then--let's get up there," Sahrai said. "Everyone, make sure you've got your breath masks on--we don't want them gassing us while we're in there, after all."

He lifted the others into the shaft one by one with the Force--except for Viree--and then manuevered the grate back in front of the entrance. It would be fairly obvious where they were, but at least they wouldn't have to blow through doors to get around.

----

Daaron felt the familiar clenching in his stomach as he rose into the air, supported by tendrils of...nothingness. To Sahrai, the Force was undoubtedly fine, but to be picked up by something you can't see could be unnerving.

It was a bit of a squeeze fitting into the shaft, since he had to lie down on his stomach to get in, and in a firefight he wouldn't bet much on their surviving, but it should work alright for the time being.

"Set your sensors for full scanning mode--we want to see everything in this vent," he said to his commandos as he started crawling along.

_________________

na'Tatha was among the first into the ventilation shaft, glad to grip the solid sides and hoist herself in after being lifted by ... well, nothing. It was more as if the ground were dropping away than that she was moving up from it. She heard Fahl giving his orders over the comm link. If they were attacked, they would know what killed them - was that the idea?

"I hope I don't need to remind you," she almost-grumbled into Fahl and Faradej's private channels, "that this is a terrible tactical decision. We not quite sitting ducks, but slowly crawling ducks is just as bad." She knew better than to question their decision over the group frequency.

(no pun intended, btw)

_________________


<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

_________________

Ordo went into the duct system right after na'Tatha. He felt an instant of vertigo as the Force lifted him up. There had never been any Mando Jedi, at least not to his knowledge, and Ordo doubted that there ever would be, seeing as Mando's prefered tangiable thing.

The commando managed to use his probe to block the sensors, if only for a short while. He put a 38-bit encryption code over his tampering so the Maedan would have to spend time breaking that as well as reversing his tampering. "Sirs, I've dampened the sensors, but it won't last for long. If we can get out soon, they might not know exactly where we are," Ordo said over the narrow-bandwith comm channel.

_________________
Four Gods wait on the windowsill,
Where once eight Gods did war and will,
And if the Gods themselves may die,
What does that say for you and I?

Now, three Gods wait on the windowsill
Where one God's blood was lately spilled
While black tongues lap at the spreading pool
And build the strength they need to rule.