Chapter 3: Archaic

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

Atuarre glanced down at her leg wound. Kriff, not good. The muscle was trembling and blood was starting to seep around the edges of the patch. "My leg's still bleeding, Nima. Or it started again, I'm not sure."

[Princess 35]

"Let's see what I can do about that Atuarre." Nima grabbed her medkit and moved to examine Atuarre's injured leg. Stang, this is bad. I need to get her back to a ship with full medical facilities. "Okay babe, this is gonna hurt a bit, I'm sorry I don't have anything stronger to give you."

She dug through her supplies finding a cauterizing tool and a fresh bacta patch. She pressed the cauterizing tool to the edges of the wound. Artuarre hissed as the wound smoked. "I'm sorry. I wish I could do something less barbaric out in the field. It'll take a little work when we get back but you'll be good as new. I promise you that." When Nima was sure that she had all the bleeding stopped, she applied a bacta patch and injected Artuarre with a stim to get her through the rest of the mission.

[Ender 8]

Jaim glanced at Kaden to make sure he wasn't about to swoon, then turned to Nat. "Where to next, LT?"

[Bad furday 57]

"I've got it!" responded Arlan, tapping away on his datapad. "Argos' quarters are two levels down from us. They're offered better protection from any sort of attack by being deeper inside. Several surveillance cams are set up in the hallways leading to his quarters- it may be wise to start disabling the cameras now, before we make a move."

He glanced at Atuarre's leg, and then at Nima and Aeric.

"If we can't get the turbolifts to work for us without setting off alarms, we may have to use stairs."

[Rogue 4]

"Real quick," Nat said, reaching into his own pockets and pouches to take an inventory. "I need to know how many power packs and grenades we have. Plus, whatever else you might be hiding."

He looked to Jya expectantly. "Tell me you still have a few explosions up your sleeve." He said, a plan coming to mind.

[Chickenman 9]

"Kill the cams, Arlan," Aeric confirmed before turning his attention to Atuarre. He wasn't going to leave a pilot behind, of course. He could send her and another pilot or two to link up with the other team. It'd be a convenient way to get Tak out of danger too. Not that Takeshi would ever forgive him for ordering him to retreat during this, of all times. Or that Tak would even listen anyway. And Aeric also wasn't a fan of splitting up the group to escort her to safety. "Aston and Nima, I want you two to double back to the med bay and grab a hover stretcher for Atuarre. We'll have to float her along behind us. But before anyone does anything," he ordered, reloading his blaster pistols, "that Mandalorian is between us and the stairs. Let's correct that."

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

Before she could stop herself, Atuarre growled. "I'm good, boss. Nima got the bleeding stopped." Aeric arched a dubious eyebrow. "I'll hold up as long as it takes." No karking way she was sitting out until Layla was safe.

[Chickenman 9]

"Right up until you end up crippling yourself by pushing your body past its limits. No, I don't feel like having to replace a pilot. You can still fight, but you're going to be prone. Shouldn't be too hard on you, you're a sniper."

[Ender 8]

"I've got two for the carbine and another three for my pistol. No grenades," Jaim reported. He stuck his head around a crate, checking the enemy positions.

"LT, they're regrouping to flank us. If we don't move soon, we're dead."

[Bad furday 57]

"There's a few grenades, and three detpaks left" replied Jya. "What's the plan?"

* * *

Typing away on his datapad, Arlan looked up.

"Okay, the cams should be going offline......now!"

One by one, the hacked camera feeds on another window of the datapad flickered and went out.

"Once Aston and Nima get back, we'll be good to go!"

[Rogue 4]

"The plan is," Nat told Jya quickly, raising his blaster over the crate to ward them back. "We feign a retreat, back towards the cliff. Can you link those detpacks to your datapad to go off on order? Or even on proximity?"

"You got it, sir." Jya said determined.

"We're going to hide them along the cargo boxes, let them come within range, and take them all out at once." Nat told her, then turned to the others. "Jaim, help me make sure they all come out right down the middle. The rest of you cease fire. I want them to think we're just about out of ammo so they'll get bold."

[Mara 29]

Crouched with the others, Kaden quickly patted himself down after the lieutenant asked about their ammo situation. Besides the power packs already in the two blasters he held, he only found three full packs, not to mention a few empty ration bar wrappers. Most of his many pockets were empty. It was a surprise; Kaden knew he had filled up earlier, but hadn't realized he had gone through so many power packs during the firefight so far. And he had used up his last grenades on the ship that was now a smoking mess. At least the packs in his blasters were mostly full, having restocked before Jaim and he ran to join Nat and Szen.

To reserve his power, he only shot off a bolt here and there, peeking among the cargo boxes. A pain shot through his head, and he had to close his eyes briefly because of it. Knowing that he was needed, though, if this plan of Nat's was to work, he covered the gesture by shifting his position, feigning a cramp in his leg. It had to be phantom pain anyway. He had checked; it wasn't bleeding anymore. Despite how the bandage must look, with the dried bloody mess at his temple, Kaden knew he was okay. He had to be okay.

Kaden nodded at the LT. It was a good plan. To give them room, he maneuvered himself over by Szen while Nat, Jya and Jaim worked on executing the plan. He was glad for a moment's rest where all he had to do was make sure no one shot him from behind his cover. And he could save his power packs for later. But he made sure he didn't get too comfortable, knowing they might have to make a run for it at any moment at a word from the lieutenant.

[Princess 35]

Nima crouched down and signaled Aston to cover her as she went round the corner. Luckily, they weren't very far from the med center where they'd found Tak and had already cleared out the Archaic troops. Nima was hoping that the other group wasn't too badly injured because her first aid kit was running low. A head injury would really tax her supplies.

Aston indicated that they were back at the med center. "AK, I'm running low on supplies. You find the stretcher and I'm going to raid the supplies."

"You got it doc." Aston headed back towards where the larger medical equipment was while Nima started going through the cabinets. She grabbed all the pain medication that she could find, bacta spray, bandages and portable splints. She left nothing for Archaic that was small enough for her to carry. She was stuffing the last of the stim shots into her bag when Aston returned with a bulky hover stretcher. "Let's get out of here doc, this seems a little too easy."

Nima agreed with him. The Archaic troops had them vastly outnumbered and yet they were facing no opposition. Aston steered the stretcher while Nima covered him with her rifle. It took them only a few minutes to return to Arlan, Aeric and Artuarre. Nima knelt by Artuarre, "Okay girl, this is going to be a bit uncomfortable. I promise you some good painkillers when this is over, but I need you alert and ready to shoot."

Nima motioned for Aeric, Aston and Arlan to help her. "On three we lift her onto the stretcher. Ready? Three. Two. One." Artuarre grimaced but stayed silent while her squadronmates lifted her onto the stretcher and helped her get settled into a prone position. When Nima was convinced that Artuarre was as comfortable as she'd get, she nodded to Aeric. "Let's go find Lay."

[Ender 8]

Jaim nodded. "Ready when you are."

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric nodded, motioned them to follow him, and rounded the corner, charging at the Mandalorian, pistols at the ready.

***

Cale and his group had crouched behind cover and were deciding their next move. The squad and it's reinforcements had been decimated by the better trained, out-of-the-box-thinking Revenants. They now stood in equal number to the New Republic forces. "Flank them. Pincer movement, trap them between us,"

he whispered. "Go!"

[Rogue 4]

Nat waited for Jya to plant the first of the detpacks.

"Alright, go!" He whispered, moving back towards the cliff, and firing at the people trying to flank them. He needed them to come down the middle for this to work.

[Bad furday 57]

Placing the first detpak down amongst the leading pile of cargo boxes, Jya turned and spotted an ideal location for the next charge. That one went on top of a series of stacked cargo cases, the detpak almost hidden from view.

The final detpak, Jya placed as close to the retreating Revenants as she dared.

"We'll be just within their range, when this one goes off in their faces." she explained to Nat. "We'll be just beyond the blast range, don't worry."

Somehow, Nat wasn't feeling so optimistic.

Jya typed quickly on her datapad.

"All set! We're go for detonation on their proximity!"

[Princess 35]

Nima took up her position at the rear of Artuarre's stretcher. "Ready lead."

[Ender 8]

With a deep breath, Jaim leaned out and sprayed a few blaster shots in the direction of the encroaching enemies.

"Fall back! Fall back!" he bellowed, hoping that would make their opponents overconfident, and turned to break cover.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

Atuarre grumbled to herself low in her throat. Aiko, her platoon leader back on Trian, would have told her to watch her mouth. She contemplated how many ways she could get off this stretcher if she needed to--or if she wanted to.

[Drake 53]

Jaing Skirata rolled to the side and tucked into a niche in the wall next to him. He fired at the Revenants as they rounded the corner.

***

Takeshi followed Aeric's lead and ran out shooting, making sure to keep low. While the others provided suppressing fire, he unclipped an EMP grenade from his belt, thumbed the detonator to a short fuse and tossed it down the hall between them and the other Mandalorian. He readied a smoke grenade next.

***

"Stang," Jaing muttered as he saw the familiar blue grenade bounce down the hallway toward him. Quickly, he began a rapid shutdown of his suit's systems to prevent damage from the pulse. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough and only managed to get a third off before the blast hit. The joints of his suit locked up and the HUD inside his helmet turned to static and flickered black as arcs of electricity danced over him.

A moment later, Jaing regained control. He tore off his helmet and sucked in a mouthful of white smoke. In his temporary blindness, the Revenants had set off a smoke grenade in the hallway. Without his helmet sensors, he wouldn't be able to see anything. He would have to rely now on his natural senses. Not a problem since he was trained to perfect them before even picking up a helmet.

[Bad furday 57]

The hallway was distortingly chaotic. With the smoke grenade having gone off, Arlan realised that for an instant, he could not tell which way was up, down, left or right. Feeling along

to the left of him, Arlan's hand touched the rounded metal corner of the hoversled.

He put pressure on the sled, propelling the both of them forwards. Nima's voice materialized in his left ear.

"What are you doing?"

He turned and spoke to where he presumed Nima to be.

"With that Mando in there, we'd be better off moving the sled quickly through this hallway. If he can't see us and we can't see him, we may hit him with the sled- giving us enough time to get away."

"What about me?" growled Atuarre from her position on the sled.

"If you see anything looming towards you that doesn't look like one of us, hit it- or shoot it- just don't let it land on top of you." Arlan suggested.

Nima said nothing, but the hoversled moved faster in response.

[Princess 35]

Nima ran as fast as she could, her eyes watering because of all the smoke. She pushed the stretcher as hard as she could, hoping to knock the Mando down so that either Arlan or Artuarre could get in a good shot.

[Drake 53]

Jaing's eyes adjusted quickly to the smoke. He still couldn't see through it but it didn't burn. His eyes were not his primary concern, however. Right now Jaing was intently listening. He could hear whispers down the corridor and the scuff of boots on the floor. Most of it was masked by the low hum of a repulsor.

As the hum and footfalls drew rapidly closer, Jaing shot in the direction of the sound.

***

Tak helped push the sled bearing Atuarre. His eyes had adjusted to the smoke screen faster, due to training at a young age, so he guided the team on a straight path. He was intently listening for anything the bounty hunter might do.

A blaster shot flashed through the smoke and hit the sled between Atuarre's legs. Tak grimaced at the prospect of having the blast score higher so he shoved the sled toward the bounty hunter as hard as he could push.

***

A shadow loomed through the smoke. Jaing was about to shoot when a hoversled appeared bearing a large Triarii with a large gun. The sled rammed him hard in the midsection, knocking the air from his lungs.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

Great. Atuarre carefully pulled herself to a crouch, ready to spring at the slightest sign of movement. Her trusty rifle wasn't equipped with a thermal scope, and she wasn't about to trust a strange gun with Layla's life possibly on the line. Tak's smoke grenade made her eyes burn. She blinked constantly trying to clear her vision. Her ears swiveled, straining to find the slightest hint of movement from the Mando.

A shot hit the stretcher between her legs. Someone yelped behind her--probably Arlan. Still, the hoversled kept going. It crashed into the Mando's midsection, but he rolled expertly out of the way to regroup. Atuarre didn't give him a chance. She sprang with a snarl intending to make sure he stayed down. The Mando caught his breath quickly and met Atuarre's charge brandishing a vibroblade. She ducked under his first swing, headbutting his now unprotected chin. This time, she didn't give him an opportunity to regroup; she simply picked him up and hurled him into the nearest wall. He hit with bone-shattering force. This time he didn't get up. Atuarre moved to strike a killing blow when a pair of strong hands grabbed her arm.

"I think that's enough," Takeshi said. "He won't be bothering us and we need to find Layla."

A pulse was still fluttering on the Mando's neck. Atuarre snarled, "You better be right."

Aeric caught up and inspected her handiwork. "I thought I told you to stay prone," he said, bemused.

Atuarre tried to smile, but it came across more as bared teeth. "Didn't feel like it."