Almost isn't enough. (Closed)

[Christoph Ramm]

He was the youngest man sitting in the back of an unmarked transportation speeder as it sped between the skyscrapers of Coruscant. Across from him sat the second youngest, Wes Orode, a Special Forces troop like Christoph and he was focused on adjusting his blaster. Christoph never really thought he was especially close to anyone. He didn't have a girlfriend, actually, he didn't have many friends at all; just the S.F. unit. But most of all, Wes was his best friend and Christoph was his in return. They knew each other inside and out, they knew what the other was going to do before they did. Some would even say they shared a mental link. Both Wes and Christoph dismissed the ludacrous idea, mentalics were for Jedi and the like. An S.F. member didn't have time to sit and think or share mental bonds, they took care of real business.

"Workin' properly?" Christoph asked his friend with a wry smile.

"Eh?" Wes sounded and rolled his eyes up towards Christoph. "Sure is!" He smiled and took aim through the scope at Christoph. "Gonna blast me a Rodian bank robber... BANG!" He said and pulled the trigger.

"One of these days you're gonna forget to take the power pack out, and then who's gonna be around to save your sorry butt on operations?" Christoph smiled.

"Save my butt? Knocking you off could only let me realize my true potential!" Wes returned the smile.

"Hey! Listen up!" The unit leader called from the front. "We got one minute 'til we're face to face with some green skinned mosquitoes! Ready?" The ten members of the S.F. unit resounded with a 'Yes, Sir' as the transportation vehicle rounded a corner and headed straight to the bank.

"Why does he hate aliens so much?" Wes asked quietly to Christoph and shook his head.

"Well they do account for most of the crime on planet." Christoph answered, though he ignored the fact humans were far from the majority on Coruscant. Wes didn't answer back, Christoph answered the same everytime, they had that discussion. Christoph didn't appreciate aliens either, but he didn't want to be labled a specist, so he usually kept his opinion quiet.

The vehicle came to a halt and the man next to Christoph opened the back door. The ten Special Forces troops poured from the back like Piranha-beetles from an agitated hive. They seperated into three groups of three with Jax'at, the groups main source of information, taking to the sky to analyze the situtation.

"Ok, guys." Jax'at said over the comms installed in each of the troop's helmet. "I'm forwarding a cut away diagram of the building, you got it?" The troops all responded with an affirmative as the diagram appeared in the upper left section of their clear faceplate. "The Rodians have floors 685 through 697 secured. That makes entrance unfortunately hard, you're not going to be able to get to them without having a major blindspot upon entrance to those floors."

Christoph was barely listening as he, Wes and Kenn entered the building through the old doors used before Coruscant moved up another city level. If Kenn's stratagy was correct, and it usually was, they were going to catch the Rodians off guard and sieze the day.

Christoph turned and aimed around a corner, ready to shoot at any surprises. He waved his hand giving Kenn and Wes the go-ahead. The two stormed silently by. They continued the process until they came to a center shaft. When the bank had moved up the city level, it discontinued the elevator, which had broken once and killed three people. Now it was helping in the rescue of many.

Wes stuck an expanding device between the shaft doors and forced them open. Christoph looked down the seemingly endless shaft before activating the repulsorlift soles on his boots. He coulnd't exactly fly with them, just walk on air. He adjusted them as he placed both feet on the darkness and made his way to the opposite wall. He would be able to pull himself up from there where he would reach the top of the shaft.

Behind him Wes and Kenn had joined him as they worked through the top of the shaft, which lead them to the floor 685. Christoph hoisted himself through the hole and took aim at the gap between the walls of security boxes. His amplified hearing through the helmet wasn't picking up any footsteps. Maybe Jax'at was wrong, maybe they hadn't secured the floor at all. Wes and Kenn joined him and together they moved for the stairs. Christoph turned the handle, but not all the way, it seemed heavier than a normal standard handle.

"Jax'at! Scan the north-east staircase." Christoph commanded.

"I wouldn't open that, Christoph." He responded after a second. "There's something mechanic there causing major heat. A trap is my guess. Maybe a bomb."

Christoph let go of the knob and the three backed away. Where are these guys getting the materials to plant booby traps? He asked himself silently. Kenn pointed towards the opposite staircase and the three hurried to it, following it up to the next floor. Over the comm he heard Jax'at warning one of the other squads that he had scanned and found similar objects on the opposite side stair cases, top floor. Christoph was beginning to get an idea of what the Rodians had in mind. Large enough explosions on opposite sides and floors would cause the building to buckle of opposite ends, causing the top half of the building to spill out into the streets, or another building.

Charges probably aren't strong enough. He thought to himself, someone else had tried this stunt before he joined up with the Special Forces, according to the story the charges merely blew the windows out.

Wes kicked open the door, expecting to find a Rodian ready with a blaster, but found none. They continued up several floors finding no one; the other squads were having the same luck. Jax'at had followed run several life readings and the problem was that the Rodians were leaving their floors as the troops progressed. Now only one floor was between each squad and all the Rodians were on it, along with the hostages.

"Hold up guys." The leader called over the comm. "We don't want to force them into doing anything they'll regret." The bomb squads had also entered the building and were working diligently to prevent a catastrophe. "We'll wait until the bomb squads are done then we'll take them." he commanded. Last time they stormed a group with hostages, Christoph was worried, but now he knew about the technology one man in each squad was carrying. A special wave gun would make the terrorist's brains freeze, not literally of course. But they wouldn't be able to do a thing.

"Bomb experts need about-" Jax'at had started to say but suddenly the transmission was cut, along with the lights and all the powered items in Christoph's gear set. He removed his helmet and looked at Wes, then Kenn. They had their hemets off as well, their gear had died.

"Well, any ideas?" Wes asked quietly outloud.

"Electromagnetic pulse." Kenn said. "They warned us about them in the military, but I don't know how a bunch of bank robbers got one here."

"Right then." Christoph said. "So the bombers equipment is down as well?"

"Yeah." Kenn responded. "But so are the bombs, at least by remote."

Christoph nodded his head as he did his best to think of strategy. Then his thinking was interrupted as he heard something scurry down the airshaft. His glance said all he could have in words as he stared at Wes. Immediatly they ran through the door, exiting the stair case. First Christoph, then Wes. Kenn was in the stairwell as the bombs exploded, sending a firey hell to engulf him.

[Christoph Ramm]

The two SF members were thrown forward by the blast and then back again as the top of the building tilted. Christoph was thrown against a wall, Wes disappeared into the shaft.

"Wes!" He called and ran to the shaft. He could barely see through the smoke and he became convinced that Wes was gone. Again he called for his friend and this time he got a reply.

"Right here!" Wes replied and pulled himself up onto the floor with Christoph's help. He glanced at Christoph, they both knew things were going horribly wrong. But then again, it was their job to handle things when they went wrong. Quickly they ran through things to see what they had to work with, which apparently not much at all.

"I got my blaster to start working again, but everything else..." Christoph said and trailed off. Wes affrimed the same thing. "We'll, we're just a floor below them, unless they moved since Jax'at went down." His suspicions proved to be true when two Rodians dropped from the ceiling with blasters aimed and set to kill.

"Hold it there, pig." One said and they walked slowly closer. They had masks on to make their breathing easier and visibility better. Christoph froze and Wes did as well. They were at a disadvantage here, the smoke was blinding them in all senses and the Rodians were armed and completely immune to the situation.

As if they shared the same mind Wes and Christoph spun around and shot the Rodians in the legs. The Rodians fired back, of course, but the two SF members were counting on catching them unprepared. Both of the Rodians shots missed and they wouldn't be getting a second. Two two green skinned aliens slid across the floor towards the wall Christoph had just become aquainted with. The two SF members grabed the aliens and administered blaster shots to their guts. The equipment the Rodians had on was going to be very useful.

Christoph and Wes donned the masks and took the blasters as back up. They sent the bodies down the shaft, it seemed only appropriate that they had already sent Kenn there already. Chrtistoph gritted his teeth and along with Wes they climbed to the hole in the ceiling where a rope ladder was conveniently placed. They could see clearly now, but thatr didn't give them the edge, the other Rodians had likely heard the blaster shots and were prepared to face them. Regardless, this all had to stop before it turned into a bigger tragedy.

[Christoph Ramm]

Christoph paused before climbing out onto the next floor. The other Rodians were liekly waiting for them to stick their head out to get shot off. Christoph grabbed the sides of the hoel and hoisted himself into the air and landingwith his knees on the ground straddleing the hole. He fired quickly at the first Rodian he saw, but only missed. He quickly ran behind a pillar and fired a few distration shots at the corner to give Wes a chance to get through.

Once Wes was up blaster fire was being exchanged from all over the room. Judging on the amount of sources he could count, Christoph would have said that there were only two Rodians there, but acording to the readouts there were supposed to be three. That other one could be causing trouble anywhere, his activity could mean the deaths of the rest of the squad. Christoph fired a shot without looking as he was scanning the area for some sort of sign of the other Rodian.

A column of light exploded from one fo the doors to the left. Christoph recognized the weapons immediatly, it was a lightsaber. Where they about the deal with Sith now, or was it a Jedi to come 'save' them. Either way, Christoph didn't like it one bit. As if Wes was thinking the same thing he was, he fired a shot at the door, leaving his side open to fire from the Rodian Christoph had been dealing with. All the while it gave Christoph the perfect shot he needed to shoot the Rodian.

Before the green skinned alien could squeeze the trigger to shoot Wes, Christoph shot him dead in the forehead. That was three down, now it was one shooter and the lightsaber wielding manic who had made it past the door and was getting ready to engage Wes.

They had special tactics designed to deal with Jedi and Sith. One was not to fire immediatly and to work on avoiding the first cut from the lightsaber. Wes was doing as training dictated. The lightsaber wielder attacked finnaly, but it was way too sloppy to be a true Jedi or Sith. One thought entered Christoph's mind, the lightsaber was to create a distraction, to trick them into theinking they were dealing with a Force wielder, someone who would liekly gain the edge over them real quick.

It was a good plan, it had even fooled Christoph and obviously fooled Wes. No one had ever tried it against the Special Forces before. Christoph changed his position as he manuvered to the opposite column. They still had to worry about the other shooter, who had seemed to disappear for the moment. He glanced towards Wes who was doing fairly well against the idiot with the lightsaber.

As he turned his head back to focus on what he was doing, he realized he shouldn't have looked away. He didn;t have the equipment he was used to. No computers to recognize moving enemies, nothing to tell him the Rodian he was looking for was pointing his blaster right at him.

Swearing as he moved the blaster bolt struck him in the shoulder and knocked him down. As he turned to see Wes, Wes had made the same mistake and expected the computer equipment to pick up for him as he got distracted.