A/N: All of the events in this chapter take place at the same time as those of Chapter 26. This chapter introduces us to some new characters.


Gamble Squad

"What the fek was that?"

"Lieutenants all buggered up, grab your gear, let's go."

Deuce and Blackjack scrambled to grab their kits and headed towards the lieutenant who was standing on a small box, barking out orders in every direction.

"I want two units to head down behind the main buildings. The heavy gunners, yes that's you two," he pointed at the men holding the rotaries, "you cover our shebs as the rest of us head forward in a full frontal assault. We have had intel from Commander Cody that there is a small group of men held up inside the hangar next to our consular cruiser. Got that? We have men down, I repeat we have men-down, so remember who the enemy is before you go in there lasers blasting. Sergeant Gamble," his voice becoming scratchy as he continued over the enemy fire, "grab your squad and skirt the perimeter. Look for civilian wounded. Also, we've lost contact with Wooley and Titch, keep an eye out and report in if you find them."

Gamble was a squad of five men who, for all intents and purposes were as good as any commando unit, in the sense that they were given free reign from Commander Cody and were utilised for the more difficult assignments. Free reign or wide-berth, it didn't matter which, basically they were a rag-tag group of soldiers with difficult personalities that were placed together, and on some weird level, nine times out of ten, it worked.

Gamble made sure of it.

Consisting of Solitaire, Deuce, Blackjack or BJ the unit medic, Spades and lead by Sergeant Gamble, they kept themselves apart from the regulars, and the regulars liked it that way.

Each unique in their own way.

Glancing quickly over the men assembled, the lieutenant took a swig of water from a canteen passed to him from another trooper.

"Right you lot, this is where we kick some metallic butt. Move out!"

Leading by example the young lieutenant went first, drawing his DC-17 before breaking into a light jog. Men fell in behind him as they followed on what was a last-ditch effort to flush the remaining droids from Quantico.

#

"Spread out and report in at five-minute intervals."

Gamble split his squad from the main group, each member jogging effortlessly in different directions, their orders clear, look for civilians injured during the initial conflict.

"Move it BJ, this isn't a training run on Kamino," Sergeant Gamble always sounded annoyed, 'Sound in,' he grumbled into his helmet following Blackjack and Deuce between two buildings.

"What's up his shebese?"

"Nothing more than usual," Deuce answered BJ on a private channel, while checking the charge on his deece.

"What was that?" BJ had heard something coming from around the corner.

"What was what?"

"That, can't you hear it?"

"I could it you'd shut the fek up."

Gamble wove his way over to the other two men, smacking his armour hard up against a brick wall. "Hate to interrupt ladies, but what the fek is going on over here?"

"Nothing sarge," they replied together.

BJ tilted his head and restrained from giving his sergeant the bird when they all heard the noise.

It was a sound of someone in pain.

The young medic's natural training kicked in as he grabbed his pack to his chest.

"Cover me!" he yelled.

"What the fek? Get back here you di'kut!" Gamble's annoyance in the medic had now escalated from pissed off to fekking pissed off. There was little cover where they were, one droid sniper and the squad would be less a man. That was the last thing Gamble wanted to see.

"He's Ok sarge, I got him."

"Where the fek are you Sol?"

"Two o'clock, behind the upturned vehicle."

"We good to go?"

"Copy that sarge."

Solitaire, or Sol as he was better known was the sniper in the squad. He preferred to be left alone, made abundantly clear from his training days back on Kamino. Singled out for not being a 'team player,' he was scheduled for reconditioning when Shaak Tii discovered his natural ability down a long-range sniper attachment. It had been his last chance and Gamble's squad of misfits was in fact, the perfect fit in more ways than one.

"Argh," Gamble yelled as he turned around and followed the recalcitrant medic. "Who in their right mind said this was a good idea?"

"Sarge, you seem in particularly bad spirits today," Sol spoke slowly down the rifle sight, continually scanning the area for enemy activity.

"Piss off," Gamble muttered as he watched Blackjack continue the search.

"Over here!" The medic was on his knees, "we have someone over here!"

"Deuce, Sol, keep an eye out while I go see who we have."

Deuce stifled back a laugh and took cover as Sarge made his way over to the medic.

Gamble looked at the shattered concrete below him. There, under the pile of rubble he could clearly see two sets of white boots, one coated in red.

"Over here," he shouted to Gamble, who dropped his weapon and began tugging at the jagged stone and cement render.

"Pull damn it. PULL!" Then straining under the pressure he grunted out, "Deuce we need some help here."

Deuce ran in and slid to one knee, gripping a piece of the heavy material, managing to lift it up enough for BJ to slip under and check out the two troopers caught underneath.

They were both 212th, the orange a stark contrast to the red on one of the troopers armour. Blackjack continued to wiggle his way into a cavity which housed the heads and upper torso's of the two men.

He could tell that both men were injured, one more badly than the other.

Both had their helmets off and he instantly recognised one.

"Wooley, slacking off again?" BJ said as he began scanning both the trapped bodies for an injury report.

"We got separated from the main unit and then the wall collapsed from outta nowhere."

"Walls have a habit of doing that. You okay?"

"Yeah, I think my arm's broken along with a couple of ribs. Titch isn't doing too good though; his leg is trapped good and proper."

BJ could see the inanimate limb and tentatively climbed around the concrete and removed Titches boot. He checked for a pulse in the ankle, but knew automatically that the leg was gone. The only problem now was how to get Titch out without causing a massive bleed.

"Back in a minute."

"Not going anywhere."

BJ scrambled back out to the relief of Gamble who had held a small part of the concrete up, using the butt of his DC17 as a lever.

"What we got?"

BJ shook his head, "We have to remove the limb or he will be stuck there indefinitely, probably die from loss of blood. There is nothing we can do," he stated matter of fact, "I will double him up, he'll feel nothing."

He then ploughed into his medkit for the appropriate dose as Spades returned back to the unit to help.

The five men stood, Gamble had taken off his bucket and Deuce did the same. Sol continued to scan the area, they were all anxious being out in the open.

They were definitely different. Sure, they had the tell-tale orange of the 212th on their armour, but the menacing schematic of a cracked Republic Phase 1 issue helmet with crossbones sent a loud and clear message that they were not to be reckoned with.

"What we got sarge?" Spades asked, being new to the situation. As he lent down to inspect the weight of the material trapping the men, BJ stepped forward.

"It's too late. You heard the lieutenant, we have to continue to push forward and look for civilian causalities. Titch has lost that leg either way we look at it. We just need to get in there and give him the hypo and get Wooley out."

Solitaire swung around at the acerbic tone the unit medic adopted. He couldn't believe the words spilling out of BJ's mouth.

"Hey, ease up will ya? I know you outrank us all in these cases, so, if you like," he chose his words carefully, "I can get under there and give the soldier the hypo."

"I'm under here too," Wooley stated, "and we can hear everything," he stressed the later as he knew Titch was still conscious and listening to the decisions being made about him.

He felt like he was back on Kamino again.

BJ looked at his brother, he knew what he was saying was right and handed the double dose of pain-killer into Sol's outstretched gloved hand.

"Deuce, you know where to lift, I'll pull Wooley out."

"Fek, who died and put him in charge?" Spades mumbled as he turned and bent down to help lift the concrete.

"I don't know about you," Sol said privately to Spades, "but we have two brothers to get out of this mess, starting now," he finished as he dispelled half of the morph in the hypo.

"Fek, if he catches you," Spades warned as he stabilized himself for the lift.

"Let's go," Deuce ordered as he told them how and where to lift without causing too much grief to the two hurt 212th soldiers.

"On three," BJ, was determined to do this in one quick sweep. Lift the concrete pull out Wooley then move the larger piece pinning Titch's leg.

They had taken off their helmets and the three men counted down before collectively grunting as they effortlessly moved the larger piece out-of-the-way. A loud crash seconds later confirmed the removal of the concrete. BJ moved in fast and pulled Wooley out with one large groan. Rolling onto his stomach, Wooley began coughing as the fresh air reached his lungs.

"Right," Solitaire could see the trooper still trapped; his skin pale. It was obvious to all that he wasn't going to make it out alive. But Sol injected the hypo nonetheless and watched as the drug reached Titch's compromised circulatory system. In a few seconds, he drifted into a Morpha induced haze.

Titch was dying, but they would not leave him there trapped and alone.

Sarge and Deuce together with Spades moved forward, their new mission not to help the 212th take the hanger but to get this trooper out at all costs.

Titch might be just a number, but first and foremost he was a brother, and deserved no less.

Wooley sat in stunned silence, BJ triaging his broken arm, as he watched the three remove pieces of rubble before getting to the last piece, the one that held Titch firm

"You good there Titch?" Deuce asked as moved around the debris.

"Yeah, feeling a little cold though ner vod."

"Arrh," Spades grunted as he threw another piece to the right of them, "that's because you need a good woman to keep you warm."

"Now look who's talking osik," Deuce laughed. He knew what his squad brother was doing.

"Well now ner vod," he continued as he moved away more rubble, "there was that pretty Corellian librarian on Ground Zero recently."

"A librarian! Since when did you know how to read?"

"We all know how to read Deuce," Spades interjected, "I know because I know that particular Corellian librarian as well."

"What?" Deuce stopped and smiled, his perfect white teeth gleaming through his dust-covered face.

"Yeah, the one who told me all about 'those' kind of databooks."

"You know the ones right Titch?"

Titch attempted a laugh and began coughing lightly, red now staining his lips.

They continued, moving pieces away until it was cleared enough for Sol to wriggle down and place Titch's head in his lap.

"Those kind of books only lead to incredibly clean deeces, if you get my meaning?"

They all smiled now, looking down at the wounded man, who during the last round of bawdy humour had stopped breathing, his eyes transfixed in a smile in front of him.

"Oh fek." Spades stood back and shook his head.

Wooley lifted himself up, cradling his chest and arm.

"Thank you, all of you. I had you guys all wrong. He wasn't alone, in the end and that's all that matters."

Solitaire removed one gauntlet and closed the dead trooper's eyes. He let his head go and stood.

In silence he was helped up out of the rubble before he put his bucket back on and walked past the other four men. They knew better than to ask him where he was going. They knew already.

He was the sniper, and he always, always had their backs.


A/N: Wow, another chapter so soon? That's a miracle... this time no thanks in part to my beta, the wonderful Ms CT-782. She's taken the one who's turned Gamble Squad into a bunch of bad arse characters... who have a little heart as well. Thank you.

And I need to thank all of you readers, who have an insane amount of patience to keep reading this never-ending story, and for showing support. I am more than appreciative. You guys are the best.

So with that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, a little jump back-in-time to Chapter 26.

Please review, as always and stay tuned for more to come. Thanks,

-Sly