A Scene from 'A Warriors Journey: Hell On Oricon'

Orbital Platform 191-767A

Oricon

Alouisia was drunk.

She was completely drunk, so much so that everything in her vision, when she could manage to raise her head from the table, swam back and forth or seemingly grew larger one moment before receding far into the distance in the next.

Her colleagues would be appalled if they could see her now, or maybe not she thought to herself through the fog of alcohol and fragmented memory.

Maybe they would enjoy seeing what a magnificent spectacle I make of myself after that abomination I led them into on that Sith damned planet. Gods, why did I do it, why could I not have died during the initial fighting instead of blundering about like that.

She lay her head back down upon the table, not caring if the small horns adorning her head gouged the table's surface. The pain and the shame came crashing down once more as she groped for the beaker of green gloop the bartender had warned her was the most powerful booze he stocked.

"Yes my Lord, it's the most powerful alcoholic beverage known to exist in this sector, Sith Spit, it's the most damned powerful drink in the Galaxy. One jigger will take your head off for days, two will put you in sickbay, more than that and they'll be shipping you back to the family plot on whatever planet you call home!"

She had stood there; armour badly battered, caked blood from a dozen or more minor wounds with the dirt of combat covering her and listened intently to his words. She gave not one wit for the smell of death that hung around her, ignoring the looks and comments from all the other patrons of the bar, many almost running away from the stench. Others, grizzled veterans of countless Imperial Military operations, wrinkled their noses in disgust but simply ignored the smell of a battlefield abattoir. Some, a small handful looked on with concern, these were the ones who had seen the face of the devil, the ones who had walked grumbling into the fires of hell and damnation only to walk out alive again. They never spoke of the horrors, the sights and the smells. They knew each other on sight; spotting the signs stamped into the flesh and the soul of one of them, one of the damned.

They were the ones who now looked at her with some understanding, seeing the face of another poor soul who joined their ranks and they worried, for they knew she stood at a crossroads. They all knew the first step; upon arrival at the crossroads get drunk. It was the most common reaction easily acted upon by simply obtaining a chemical anaesthetic and using it to blot out the terrible memories, but the big question that followed was what she would do afterwards.

Would she be one of those who collapsed inwards, becoming a shell of their former selves, measuring each day by how much booze it took to send them to terror filled sleep until death finally came for them one dark night?

Would she spend several days regretting the booze, putting it all behind her, learn from the mistakes and live with the errors for they all knew they could never forgive themselves for the lives they lost from the errors they had made, the only ones who could grant them forgiveness being the dead who could never speak again.

Alternatively, would she loose it entirely? The drink feeding the pain and the shame until it all became too much, exploding into violent anger, an angry rage that drove those poor damned few to destroy everything around them, a rage that forced them to fight and keep fighting until someone, someday killed them, releasing them finally from the living hell they could not escape.

On the other hand, would she be the last sort, the quiet one who gets stupendously drunk, only to awake a few days hence with a crystal clear understanding of what they must do. The sort, who will go out, set her affairs in order before retiring after spending a full day speaking with everyone she cares about and in the quiet dark of the night stare smiling down at barrel of a blaster before gently squeezing the trigger.

"The whole damned bottle, how much?" The woman growled, her dangerously flashing eyes making the bartender step back a pace or two.

The barman stared at her in horror, his gaze moving slowly from the sealed bottle of potent fluorescent green alcohol to the filthy woman and back as, in a moment of clarity, realization dawned concerning this particular Sith Warriors state of mind.

He stammered, trying to get the words out past suddenly dry lips. "On... One... One hundred and seventy eight thousand credits!"

The credit chip rang out as it struck the bar top, the bottle wrenched from his hands. "I'll be over there; I don't want to be disturbed." With that said, she stalked to the darkened corner table.

Eyes throughout the barroom watched the warrior as she staggered slightly around the table before falling into the padded seating; the barman never even blinking as she tossed heavy gauntlets onto the tables' polished surface, soon followed by an evil looking dark sabre hilt.

Every eye in the bar followed her every move, watching as she ripped the seal from the bottle before raising it to her lips and taking a long generous pull, uncaringly.

The bottle slapped onto the table as she spoke. "Here's to the team that cracked the Dread Fortress, the best damn combat team in the Empire... the team I destroyed."

Shocked and worried looks swept through the veterans present; the less knowledgeable or more survival aware patrons gulped down drinks hurriedly or just got up and left while the thoroughly frightened barman rushed to look his stock in trade safely away.

The shuttle screamed through the flickering orange and brown-lit skies over the rocky island, the cargo bay doors opening even as it dropped the last few hundred metres to the reinforced decking of the rude landing area.

Bodies boiled down the ramp, spreading out to whatever nearby cover presented itself, aerospace fighters flashing by overhead, some chased by self-guiding missiles. Two cork screwed away wildly as they attempted to break target lock, the dark brown trails of the missiles twisting and turning as they fought to 'cut the corner' and close to within detonation range of their targets.

The individual members of Phoenix Team glanced about once; taking all this and more in before, they rose up as one and pounded for the relative safety of the Imperial base camp. A figure watched them come, standing in the lee of a shattered rocky outcropping, his face stiff, eyes unsmiling as he counted each member of his team as they passed by. The non-smile became a frown as the tall powerfully built Zabrak woman pounded past.

"Commander, is that her, the new assault lead?"

The man, many knew only as Arlan, stood staring for a moment in silence before he nodded, his eyes still watching the rest of the team pound past.

"Yes, that's the one, has experience but nothing at this level of intensity. She's got the skills; the question is if she knows how to put it all together. Keep her in the number two spot though until we can fully evaluate her. If she's weak... It's bad enough we have to find out here, in this operation, but let's not risk the team any more than necessary."

The snort from behind caused a brief grin to appear. "Right, 'not take unnecessary risk', this whole operation is one hell of a risk."

"Yep, but think of the rewards we might find when we take down the Dread Masters."

"I'm more concerned about how many of us will still be standing."

A dark haired man pounded past just then, the long barrelled rifle clinking on his back looking incongruous amongst all the medical gear he carried.

"Good, Khyriel made it, I wasn't sure he would be able to break away at such short notice."

The Operations Commander turned to face his Team Leader; he slapped the man on the shoulder.

"Let's get everyone prepped and ready. High Command intends to kick this party off in three hours time; they actually decided to provide some fire support this time, much to my shock and amazement."

"Oh? What do they intend to do?"

"Not much, just drop a concentrated area bombardment on top of the Fortress ten minutes before we kick off."

"It ain't going to happen; the Dread Masters will spook them flyboys before they even reach the IP let alone arm their ordinance."

"Yep, but it helps keep them off our backs beforehand."

"True enough, true enough, okay, let's go bring everyone up to speed."

Alouisia squatted at the rear of the group, listening along with everyone else to the briefing. She flexed her shoulders a little, settling the new armour plates a little where they pinched, she missed the old ones, but these were definitely superior.

"So, that's everything we know about the Fortress, as little as it is. Watch your backs people and for Sith's sake, come back alive."

She shook her head, comments like that were hardly common place on Imperial Special Operations assaults. She licked her lips and tried to focus her thoughts, desperately reciting everything she had just heard. She could feel the tremors racing through her body. 'You're scared girl, go on admit it, you wanted to be here and now you are you'd rather be anywhere else.'

Shaking off the thought, she slowly stood, watching the easy camaraderie among the others of the team. 'Gods, I just wish I felt like I belonged here, not like some outsider who is being tolerated. Stop it girl, just stop it. Concentrate on your training; concentrate on the job at hand. Concentrate damn it just concentrate. Fear is common, everyone feels it, and it's how you deal with it that matters. Now concentrate. Sith's sake, I wish I'd let that bloody nosey Devaronian follow through with his promises last night... What was his name now? Garrant, Gaule, Gault something? Focus girl, your minds wondering again, run over the plan again, now what was step one...'

Off to the side of the temporary briefing room a small group of the team clustered together.

"She looks good, equipment's a little ragged, but those shoulder plates improved the worst piece she was wearing. You think she's good enough?"

"Don't know, but she volunteered and the Commander accepted her, so she must have something. Quiet though, kind of stand offish. We'll see if she's good enough."

"Doesn't look nervous or anything, look at her, I think she's meditating, meditating at a time like this. Sith spit, wish I could do that just before the fight."

They didn't know it and Alouisia would not say anything, but she heard their every word, she felt her confidence waning.

'Farkle it! I'm off; I'll meet up with them at the main gates. If I stand here waiting much longer, I'll druk myself.'

She rose from the lotus position she had slipped into and stepped slowly back towards the exit from the room. The moment she passed through the door, she turned and sprinted for the barricades leading into the interior of the volcanic island and the way to the Fortress.

She should have known it was not going to be that easy. First, there was the problem with that bloody Sergeant who controlled the motor pool.

"What do you mean I cannot use a speeder bike to get to the rally point outside the Fortress?"

"Well missy, it's like this. I have to account for each and every one of these here machines, if anything happens they take it out of my pay. Since this is your first time on the planet, I have to assume you know squat about conditions here. It's bad enough now, even with the tide turned against them bastards in the Fortress, but since you don't know what to expect just getting to the fortress tells me, the chances are slim that you will return the bike undamaged. So, no, I won't release a bike to you. If you want some advice little lady, I suggest you go speak with that guy over there." The Sergeant pointed with his chin towards an obvious Sith standing behind the ceram-crete barricades at the cleft in the rock wall. The raised dark sabre glowing with a vibrant red blade was an easy clue to what the person was, although the extravagant looking robes were just as much a giveaway as the sabre. "If he signs off on an authorisation then maybe I'll consider it. OI! You, yes you, you worthless farkle of a bantha dropping, watch what you're doing with those spare parts!" His piece said the Sergeant had turned to yell at some trooper who had just dropped an open crate of parts carelessly atop a stack of identical looking crates.

Smarting at the rebuke, but feeling miniscule compared against the Sergeants self assured attitude, she turned and trudged towards the Sith.

'What the hell is up with you? You're a farkling Sith Warrior, you don't take druk from nobody, especially jumped up pipsqueak military idiots like that! Oh, shut the farkle up. What do you care, you're the farkling Emperor's Wrath, me, I'm just some nameless nobody trying to find meaning in life. Druk, I'm arguing with myself and losing, how farkled up is that druk. Gods, where did I farkle up?'

Standing back a few paces, she watched the Sith, now identified as one of the combat orientated Marauder types, as he directed plasma mortar fire onto a patch of dead ground just behind some tumbled rocks nearly two hundred meters to their left. The thump, thump of out bound shells was barely audible above the screams of aerospace fighters as they flashed by overhead or the frequent flat cracks of heavy detonations. With a practiced eye, she located the target, seeing only the dark rock, before seconds later a string of fireballs curled quickly skywards behind them. She started in recognition as several black specks she first mistook for rock and dirt spun wildly away, the flash cooked body parts of some damned souls trying to sneak up on the encampment she surmised.

"I'm busy, what do you want?"

It took a moment to realise the words of the Sith were addressed to her. He kept his face forwards, peering intently over the killing ground, not bothering to turn and look at her. Was it subtle contempt or just concentration upon the more important task at hand, she couldn't decide which galled her.

"Need transport to the Fortress, transport Sergeant said only you can authorise it. I'm..."

"I don't care, you're wasting my time. If Clancy said no then I say no, now farkle off, I have more important things to do then chat with some tenderfoot, go on, go bother someone else or just find a quiet place to die in and not waste anyone else's time."

The sabre leapt to her hand, the orange blade extending with the usual snap hiss of energy. "I am getting just a little pissed off with the attitudes around her." She could feel the anger surging against what little remaining control she had over it. "Now, as one Sith to another, you are going to tell me how best to get to the farkling Fortress or I am going to start thinning out some of the fatheads who cower behind barricades and rock walls. Fatheads who instead of getting out there and doing their Emperor damned jobs cower in holes and call on others to do their dirty work for them. Others, not afraid to get a little blood and dirt on their clothes or do a little hard work, now as the Emperor's Wrath, how the farkle do I get to that farkling Fortress to join up with my assault team!"

The man slowly turned his head around to stare with weary blue eyes set in a scarred sun burnt dark face, the grin on his lips making those same eyes twinkle.

"About time you got a little pissed off, just go back to Clancy and slap him upside the head a time or two, don't kill him, he's actually a pretty good sergeant and a real artist at getting supplies, just put him in his place. The destination is already encoded into the speeder's databanks, punch destination 11397 into the nav system and hold on tight, those things are going to move at max speed to get you there." He paused in thought. "The Fortress eh, take those bastards down, make them suffer!"

She chuckled at the memory of the Sergeant hovering a foot above the ground and spinning like a top, his arms and legs waving all over the place until he puked. She'd dropped him them into a foul smelling puddle of his own expulsion before sweetly asking for the use of one of the speeder's again. The man had groaned, and just waved her towards one of his precious bikes. The last she saw of him was his feeble attempts to stand, putting a hand out to lean against am up thrust of black rock and missing as he sprawled face first once more into the puke-covered ground.

The Sith was right, the bike's course took it screaming across the battlefield at maximum throttle, once or twice she was convinced it intended to smear her against a rocky wall, or remove her head as it swept beneath a stone arch. All along the route, glowing rounds of plasma reached out as the Dread forces tried to swat the bike from the sky. When the machine suddenly dived at full throttle before abruptly slowing, she did not know if she was incredibly aroused or in desperate need of a piss from the surging adrenaline pumping ride.

Stepping from the bike, Alouisia glanced around once at the black cut stone, stone that shined with a red light from a river of molten rock flowing sluggishly past in a collapsed larva tube. The sound of running feet brought her head around as one of the team sprinted past without acknowledgment. Gripping her sabre, she took one last deep breath and followed.

The shadow falling across the table should have made her move instantly into an attack posture instead she snored loudly. The body sliding smoothly onto the seat across from her unbidden should have made that attack a reality but she only continued mumbling and twitching in drunken slumber.

The bottle clinking against the beaker however, had her half way out of the seat with dark sabre humming in hand as the orange blade cast its light throughout the alcove. "How much of this druk have you drunk!" The dark haired man shouted as he spied the label on the bottle, incredulity evident in his tone.

"Wha..."

The blade wavered all over the place, but the man ignored it concentrating on the woman. "I asked you, how much of this poison have you drunk?" The woman slumped back down into the seat as the blade shut off with a rasp.

Looking around the nearly empty bar, the man spotted the barman, hiding behind a confusion of tubes and retorts of a typical drink mixer. Pointing his finger like the barrel of a rifle, he called out in a flat no nonsense voice. "YOU! How much has she drunk?"

The barman looked in the direction of the voice, saw the finger, the face behind it and paled. "Who wants to know?"

He was stalking across the room before the other finished his words, reaching over he grabbed the loose front of the barman's shirt and heaved. "Imperial Intelligence, that's who, now answer my farkling question or maybe I should haul you down to the detention block and setup an interrogation, eh?"

With a wild look around, the barman found no help and caved, sullenly he answered. "She paid for the whole bottle, no quibbling, just paid and sat in the corner there scaring off all my customers."

Grunting, he dropped the barman, returning to the corner. The woman had passed out again. Gently he picked up the dark sabre, spending a minute to disconnect the power cell. Picking up the bottle he carefully looked at what remained, his face crinkled in an expression of critical thought and exasperation.

"Stupid bloody fool, why did it have to be this crap, why in the name of the Sith could you not settle for regular booze."

Alouisia awoke and promptly wished she were asleep or dead. Slamming her eyelids closed, it felt like the top of her head exploded at the sound of the two pieces of flesh coming together, her breathing roared in her ears like a shuttle engine during a maximum mass lift while every muscle in her body just screamed. The man's voice when it came sent driving daggers of white-hot irons through her brain or so she thought.

Whispering the man regarded the woman lying on the diagnostic bed of the bay. "Stay still, you're not dying, it just feels that way. I should have left you to die though. Sith spit woman, why?"

The injector hissed against her neck but she still felt too miserable to risk speaking. Instead she turned her head slowly to look over and regarded Khyriel with bloodshot eyes.

"Stick that look elsewhere or I'll call Raina in and let her talk to you!" He watched the wince that comment, spoken in a normal voice, produced and smiled inwardly.

Several minutes later as the drugs worked their way through her system, memory returned. "Why? Why do you care? I remember you; you were one of the team, one of..." She cast around for the memory. "... Phoenix Team. How many of them still live? Have they issued orders for my arrest yet?"

"You really have it bad don't you?"

"Huh?"

"Self pity, farkle, look at you, anyone would think this was your first time on the planet, or in combat, druk happens, get over it, learn from it and move on, or get out."

"But..."

"But what? You struggled, druk, you're new to the team, how many times you been in combat? I assume you've seen combat, the gear you wear says it, but is it yours or did you buy it second hand?"

"Hey! It's mine, for all the good it did." She muttered.

The slap came as a shock, to her unstable system it felt like solid punch to the face. "Damn it, listen to yourself, no listen to me instead. You chose to be there, it was a volunteer assignment. You did as much as you could, more than some, less than others. Did you know what you were getting yourself into?"

"I thought so; I thought I was ready after the horrors of Asation..."

"Thought you were there, that your here says, obviously that you survived, many didn't. Bloody Gree and their damned droids, so, what's your farkling problem? We got worked over but still managed to take down several of those renegade Sith masters. You think you're so special that it was your entire fault?"

"Never been on planet before, thought I was ready, and thought the intelligence reports had all the details. I lead them into a charnel pit I wasn't ready for."

"Nerf druk!"

"What!"

Khyriel stared hard at the woman until she settled back down from where she had begun rising.

"You have a confidence problem, you have no faith in yourself, nor do you believe you can succeed at the missions you find yourself assigned to. Everyone who has worked with you in the past reports the same thing. Yet, you go out and do the mission, time after time. You make friends not enemies, the Sith Order dislikes you for that, you do not spread fear where you go but they cannot sanction you it, for you accomplish every task, you have ever been given. Shut up, I haven't finished yet." Alouisia blinked hard and shut her mouth, her eyes turning instead to stare at the woman now standing inside the door, she reached out with her senses and realised instantly that this woman was bound to Khyriel. "And stop looking at my wife like that or I'll slap that stupid look off your face now, where was I, ah! Yes, you succeed and then you bitch and moan afterwards, well guess what, shut up and soldier on, or at least do it in private. In the name of the Emperor, we took down five of the Dread Lords yesterday, how many other Special Forces teams can say that, eh? How many can honestly say that they fought their way through that druk hole and took down five of the toughest, meanest Sith alive in the Galaxy today? Now, I suggest you take that self pity and stick it where the sun doesn't shine. I have better things to do than patch you back together, like taking my wife here home, and licking every square inch of her body while making her scream out my name. So, put the bottle away, grow up and get with the program."

Alouisia sat there, mouth hanging open and stared at the closing door.

"But I screwed up!" She mewed, honestly believing every one of her own words as her brain struggled with the confusion she felt as she tried to process the other's words.

Raina stood, hands on hips glaring angrily at Khyriel.

"That was cruel Khy, that woman..."

Khyriel interrupted before she could get fully into her tirade. "That woman, has a confidence problem, she a farkling warrior for Sith's sake. That problem nearly got us all killed on multiple occasions. Raina, she needs to snap out of it or someday she's going to get a great many people killed. Honestly, lover, she has the potential to be a great warrior but she just does stupid things at the wrong time and she's slow, she's not reacting but pausing to think."

"Damn it Khy, I know all that, I read the after action reports. Did you know that she recognizes every single thing she did wrong and admitted it all in her solo debrief, did you know that she praises all the members of the Phoenix Team in the strongest terms possible in her persona of the Emperor's Wrath? Do you have any clue how many doors that is going to open for the team, has opened already? Why in hell do you think there was none of the usual quibbling from the Imperial Quartermaster over repairs and replacements this time? You know how hard it is for you to get a bandage replaced from those credit pinching bastards let alone kolto packs, stimulants and adrenals."

Khyriel stood there his face locked in that blank stone look he had when he wanted to give nothing away. Raina just stood facing him, reading all the tiny little signals in his body language that he could not control.

"Khy, she's borderline suicidal, that lack of confidence is eating away at her, has been eating away at her for years and yet she goes out and does everything she can, more often than not giving the credit to everyone else around her. Did you even bother to review the combat footage, did you see her break routine and step in the way of blows aimed at others or observe when she deliberately taunted multiple guards just so they would focus upon her and not the person they originally targeted. In the Emperor's name that woman knows she's ill prepared but she went anyway, especially when she was 'guilt tripped' into going in the first place."

"Huh? What do you mean; it was a volunteer mission with strict pre-requisites."

"I mean, a little digging will show that several others outside of the team have been baiting her for quite some time now about how she only ever takes the soft missions, how she earns honour that is not deserved. Khy, that woman is trying to prove she belongs when she is utterly convinced she is unworthy to lick the boots of any of those in that 'Phoenix Team' of yours. She's spent so long being on the outside that she does not know what it feels like to be accepted or trusted, hell she wants to be a part of something bigger than herself, to leave a mark that says she did her job and made a contribution. She does not, cannot believe it when she succeeds, why do you think she plays up her faults and errors but takes great pains to point out the triumphs of others. She's a perfectionist, with standards she set for herself so high that nobody, not even the Gods could reach them and yet she strives to reach those standards and fails every single time without understanding why. Do you know how much time she spends in the training rooms; it's about four times more than anyone else I could name."

"Then she should see a mind bender, get herself sorted out."

"She has both regular and Sith and they all think she's well adjusted, balanced. She thinks they're idiots, easily duped by telling them exactly what they want to hear, because they only listen to what reinforces their own pet theories and beliefs."

"She's going to die trying to prove to herself that she is as good as others, isn't she?"

"Yes, and she'll die alone because that same damned lack of confidence will not let her believe that anyone else would or could care about her."

"You found all this out yourself?"

"It's easy to do; after all I have a very good teacher."

"What do you suggest?"

"Let me talk to her, you go get that shopping you talked about doing or better yet, go speak with that sister of yours, you know the one that always finds trouble."

Alouisia froze at the sound of the door opening. She watched the boots and legs of whoever entered pause just inside the room. Her mind could picture the unknown person standing there looking around and wondering where she vanished to.

"Alouisia? Are you there, I want to talk, just the two of us."

She could not place the voice, it sounded familiar somehow.

"I know you're still in here, I'm not leaving until you talk to me."

Alouisia watched the feet moving to the side, heard the chair scrap on the floor and the soft sigh of the padding as whoever it was sat, there came a thump, thump noise a couple of seconds later, something else she could not place.

"Okay, you keep hiding wherever you are; I'll just eat this delicious beebleberry ice cream by myself, oh, there's some mint chocolate chip for you if you're interested."

Her mouth watered as the memory of a green coloured icy confection arose in her mind. 'Whoever this is does not fight fair at all. Maybe, but mint chocolate chip is so...'

"What do you want, I'm busy?"

"Ah ha, I knew it, I knew you were still here, now come out, I've got a tub just for you here and its melting so don't make me waste good credits."

"All right, all right, I'm coming." Wit still trembling hands, she carefully wiped the tears from her face, the post combat flashbacks and memories had been particularly strong this time. Slowly she rose from the huddled position she had squeezed her tall body into, from between two storage cabinets.

"I don't know you."

"But I know you, at least a little, I'm Raina, Raina Temple, Khyriels more sensitive other half."

Alouisia froze in the act of walking around the diagnostic bed, one hand instinctively dropping to the hilt clipped at her side.

"I want you to know we only worked together the one time and that was strictly as professionals. I have never seen your husband before a few days ago and I have never given any sign or indication of wanting to enter into a romantic liaison with him, if that is your reason for seeking me out."

Raina stared wide eyed at the defensive posture Alouisia had fallen into and snorted loudly. She fought down the small bite of ice cream before allowing the laughter to burst out, a laugh that got louder at the look of bewildered surprise on the warriors face.

"Oh my, that's a first, but no I never thought that, no offence but you are so not his type."

A little confused Alouisia said the first thing that came to mind. "Good. He scares me."

"What! Really now, he's just a pussy cat most of the time, you really have to push his buttons to make him mean."

"I have no wish to find out what his version of mean is; I think I've seen his upset side though."

"Now there you may well be correct, which is why I am here. Pull up that chair and dig in."

It was a bewildering experience for Alouisia, one that caught her feeling very alone and vulnerable. They talked, Alouisia slowly relaxing not realising when she began answering all of Raina's questions with complete brutal honestly, she left nothing out and gradually felt a tiny easing of the weight on her heart.

It was several hours later when the door opened once again, Alouisia in the midst of speaking cut the word off in mid sentence as her mouth snapped shut.

"Raina? Raina love, why are you still here. Dinner's gone col... oh!"

Khyriel stood there in the doorway looking between the two women, the red Zabrak now clean, most of her armour stacked neatly on the diagnostic bed and Raina frozen in the act of practicing a movement with the other's dark sabre.

Alouisia recovered first, grateful for her skin colouring as it hid the blush she could feel warming her face. Raina on the other hand had no such defence to hide behind, as she slowly brought the hissing sabre down before fumbling with the activation stud. With a soft sound, the plasma stream cut off as the permeable force fields that contained the white-hot plasma collapsed. A large hand gently took the hilt from her grasp.

Avoiding looking at his face, Alouisia mumbled an apology. "I... I apologise for keeping your wife occupied for so long. We got talking and well one thing led to another and... Sorry." Clipping the hilt to her belt she quickly gathered up the pieces of her armour. She paused at the door. "It was entirely my fault."

The door clicked behind her retreating form as the latches engaged. "Khy..." Raina began only to be cut off by her husband.

"So, you wanted to... Err, you know, play with a dark sabre."

"Well..." She could feel the flush on her cheeks burning hotter than before. "She offered and I couldn't refuse..." She shrugged as her voice trailed away.

Sighing, Khyriel looked away so she did not see the grin on his face; turning back he stared sternly at his wife.

"A message that you would be late would have been appreciated instead of wasting good food but..." The grin he had been struggling to hide forced its way past his resolve to split his face. "You looked kind of hot there waving that thing about. Maybe I should have a chat with the family see if they can give you some kind of training, although, I will not agree to you carrying an actual dark sabre around."

Grinning back up at him, Raina stepped closer, plastering her body against his. "So, I looked hot did I. Maybe we should continue this in our quarters." She nipped his nose and spun away laughing and the expression on his face.

Several corridors away, Alouisia stopped to lean against the metal walls of the station passage. Taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to slip into the light meditative trance she used to recover her balance. Within the trance, she felt her pounding heart slow and the embarrassed flush fade, slowly she became more aware of the life around her, as her senses melded with the force. Like ripples on water her other sense spread out, touching but not interacting with the station and beyond.

A few minutes passed and she released her meld, her sense shrinking rapidly back to her merely organics ones as she opened her eyes. Four feet away stood two people, staring and waiting.

Suppressing the instinctive flinch, she instead picked up the bundle of armour from where it rested. "Commander, Team Leader." She nodded to each in turn.

"You didn't know we were there did you. No, don't bother to answer, we both know the truth." He paused for an answer that did not come. "I received a message that you had decided to start drinking, which I can understand, what came as a shock was to find out what you were going to drink. Don't do it! If you want to kill yourself do it after the operation has finished, or before it starts and not during. Do you hear me girl?"

"But... Yes Commander, however, I did not know there was more to the operation to come."

The Team Leader grinned but the Commander just stared at her with those cold disapproving eyes. She fought the urge to step back and apologise some more, instead she gritted her jaw until the muscles hurt and held his eye in silence.

"The operation is never over until either I or Team Leader Rai'ken here announces it. Now then, your performance the other day..."

Alouisia spoke at once interrupting the other without thought. "Was completely inadequate and needs improvement Commander. I completely agree. The fault is mine and mine alone. I fully understand if you want to replace me."

Both men were staring at her hard now. "I was going to say, it was passable but needs improvement, as does your equipment." He pointed at several pieces of her armour. "This needs improving, some of this is barely acceptable, some of it needs better fitting. I strongly recommend you speak with the team's quartermaster and artisans. They will best be able to advise you on the necessary improvements. Your other abilities need additional training; you are slow but have potential. Stop drinking and start practicing." Nodding once, he turned away.

The pair had moved off several meters before he spoke again. "We are going in again, in two days time for the rest of the Dread Masters located in the other compound. Be ready, be better."

Alouisia just stood there starring at the retreating ramrod straight backs. One thought only circled around and around in her mind. 'They didn't kick me out, they didn't kick me out.' She was still standing there ten minutes later when several Imperial Military troopers trotted past.

"Yo girlie, want to spend some time with some real combat vets?"

The amused shout smashed through the daze surrounding her, snapping her mind back to the here and now. Alouisia was moving before the bundle of armour struck the deck plates. Lips curled back in a snarl, her blade spitting and hissing as it swiftly extended from the hilt now in her hand. She leapt forward into a spinning kick that crushed the troopers armour at the point of contact.

The body of the loudmouth slammed against the steel wall, the air driven from his lungs by the impact. Before he could do more than draw a wheezing breath a red forearm slapped across his throat as the orange blade of the dark sabre brought the movement of his squad mates to a halt, the tip pointed directly at the others as it flicked precisely back and forth in small controlled moves. Her glowing eyes locked with his as she snarled out her words.

"What did you say to me?"

"I... I..."

"Ma'am, please, he's young, he has promise."

Her head slowly turned to look towards the new voice. She looked the man, with Squad Leader marks on his armour, up and down before her eyes finally came to meet his worried ones. They were old eyes, eyes that had seen more than their share of what the universe can throw at a being.

"Potential you say; real potential or just the potential to fill a grave?"

"Real potential ma'am, he's good just impetuous, needs to see the Rancor in all its horror before..."

"Before, he'll understand just how little he truly knows."

"Yes, ma'am, please ma'am, he's worth it."

The blade winked out in a spark of energy, the arm relaxing and the trooper drew in a great whooping gasp of air.

"Go, get out of here, and take him with you. And you!" She pointed with the inactive hilt at the trooper. "Do not be so stupid as to give insult to a Sith again."

Unlike the previous briefing where some members of the team arrived in the final few minutes before it started, this one found the attendees more rested and focused.

"It's good to see you all looking well rested and recovered. This is it folks, this is the big one. Today we go after the rest of the Dread Masters in their last bastion. Today we hit the Dread Palace. Now, I know some of you have doubts but we are the best chance there is to rid the Empire of this traitorous scum. Yes, there have been teams who have tried before us; however, they were not us they were not the Phoenix Team. Most of you know each other well; most of you have fought beside each other. You know how each other think, know how each other will behave in combat and most importantly, you trust each other. We are a family, brothers and sisters all and we are going to kick some serious ass today!"

The Commander looked around the room before nodding to the other man waiting to the side.

"Operations Leader Rai'kin, the briefing is yours." With those words, the Commander stepped smartly down from the raised platform to resume his seat on the front row of the watching people.

Rai'kin looked around grinning at the expectant faces. Picking up several pages of notes he barely glanced at them before scrunching them up into a grey ball and tossing it carelessly over a shoulder.

"Ah well, it was a good speech but completely redundant after that little pep talk." Scattered laughter erupted throughout the compartment. "Okay, listen up people; we have a lot to cover and little time to do it in, so as of now we are minus minutes. Intel gathered from those who survived previous attempts to assault the Dread Palace gives us a partial picture of the interior defences and forces. First, the entry portal, as you can all see from the image now displayed the exterior structure of the 'Palace' is reinforced and proofed against all but massive planetary bombardment strikes, this leaves us with little choice but to attempt penetration through the front door. Yes, I know how dumb it is but it's all we have as an entry point. We know that the following defences will be in place around the gate so what we are going to do is..."

Alouisia sat at the rear listening intently. She'd pushed herself hard the last couple of days, spending nearly an whole day in the training room alone. When she had finished it had been all she could to stand let alone walk from the training area. The following day had been a frantic whirlwind of activity as she tracked down every artisan the team held. Many of the replacement armour pieces would not be ready for this encounter but those that were she wore now, even her much prized dark sabre had received an overhaul. It felt stronger and more powerful, yet as closely as she had observed the Team member who had worked upon it, she could not say what they had done.

Halfway through the briefing she felt the old doubts begin to rise up, doubts about the wisdom of being here, doubts about her abilities. She looked around quickly only to stop in surprise as Raina, leaning against her husband turned just then with a quick grin and a thumbs up to her. She blinked, only to find the woman once again staring intently at the image on the forward display.

"... And that's what we believe is the Council Chamber. That's it, that's everything we know or think we know. You have less than hour, so check your equipment, draw extra power cells and do whatever you need to get ready. That does not mean you can go and get drunk, save that for the victory party afterwards. It's now 20:04 station time, be at shuttle bay 21-17B no later than 20:58, we board at 21:00 on the tick. We are now under protocol 17 so no talking to anyone outside this room, operational security is now in effect. Go on you bums, get out of here."

Alouisia sat back waiting. She fully expected the compartment to clear quickly; instead, to her surprise many stepped forward to examine once more the holographic layout of the target. Feeling somewhat disconnected she rose following the others until she stood alongside the table.

"... Place is going to be a tough nut to crack."

"... That single entry point is a natural choke..."

"... Reports on that Master Bestia make for some serious reading, I think we should..."

The unknown voice startled her. "So, Lady Alouisia, what do you think of the planning concept?"

She looked up to find the face of a Major from Imperial Intelligence standing there, she was aware of the eyes of others turning in their direction at the loud question. "I'm sorry Major, I don't know you or why you are here so I cannot comment."

"Oh come now, you must have some thoughts on the matter, after all this assault was planned entirely by these 'Phoenix Team' people. Not by a well trained planning staff, I mean these people rejected our proposal outrig..."

The curious stares had all turned cold and deadly as the Major's words rang out through the silent room.

His voice stopped suddenly as he found the humming tip of and orange sabre millimetres from his throat while the barrel of a blaster pistol screwed itself into his temple.

"I do not recall seeing you here during the briefing major and your department insignia has nothing to do with Logistics and Strategic Planning. You have three seconds to explain yourself before I terminate what I consider a security breach. Start talking."

"You have no right to..." The pressure from the barrel forced his head around at the words.

"One!"

"You people are amate..."

"Two!"

"Wait, you can't be seri..."

"Farkle it!" The blade flicked and the Major screamed. Alouisia removed her hand from the nerve cluster in his neck as the body struck the floor, her sabre winked out.

"You didn't kill him, why?"

Turning she stared into the face of the Commander.

"He was under compulsion, I could feel it, the moment I touched him I could feel the influence from the planet below. The Dread Masters know we are coming for them, they just found someone whose weak mind they could dominate, and someone who had the clearances to be in this section of the station. He knows nothing although a full interrogation by the Sith may reveal something useful, but I seriously doubt it. I kill when it is necessary commander and unlike the majority of the Sith, I like to find out as much as possible from those sent to kill me so I know who the real target to kill is. Making enemies is very easy for the Sith, we have a 'talent' for it, but having someone in your debt for saving their life allows for many more opportunities. It also draws much less attention. When the Jedi come for me, I intend to leave no trial of dead and dismembered corpses for them to follow. I feel that completing the mission is more important than running up a body count."

"And when you have to kill?"

"I do it as quickly and simply as circumstances make possible. The Republic Military have a very useful expression for such things; they call it the KISS principle. If that is all Commander, I want to get this person into the hands of the interrogators as soon as I can."

She grabbed the front of the unconscious man's uniform and lifting him into a shoulder carry. Nodding at the Commander, she left at a fast trot.

The Commander looked at Rai'ken. "Interesting, she only has doubts when working with others, it seems our assault support can be confidant after all, let us hope it lasts the mission."

She stared at the stone arch and giggled, several others looked at her in surprise.

She cleared her throat as she stepped towards the swirling vortex of energy inside the archway. "Oh come on, doesn't anyone else think it looks like we're about to climb into a cosmic butthole?"

The giggles and shocked laughter cut off as the forces of the portal sucked her in and spat her out. Staggering forwards to clear the area she spat to the side. "Damn place smells like one too." She mumbled.

The courtyard was clear, no bodies, no weapons emplacements or rubble from the 'softening up' artillery barrage of a few minutes ago. It almost seemed peaceful for this planet.

The others had taken up defensive positions, she could see by the small jerking movements they too found it unnerving after the relentless defence the Dread forces had previously displayed.

"This is too damned quiet!"

"Yeah it is, let's just hope they are this sloppy inside, eh?"

"We can only hope so."

The quiet chatter of voices held the slight edge of nervousness; they had all expected to be under heavy weapons fire by now.

Alouisia touched the force, sending out questing waves as she slowly examined the walls and door.

"There... and there!" She pointed as she spoke loudly. "Shaped charges on the walls and there is something odd with the doors, I can't quite get a sense of it... DRUK!" The cry burst from her lips as a surge of power in the force gave scant warning as it struck at her. Seconds later, she felt a hand holding her up as she shook her head. "I don't think they liked me doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Sensing the area, the Dread Masters or at least a strong force user just tried to blow my brains out of ears. I'm going to have to keep a watch out for that little trick."

"Alouisia! What did you get?"

She looked around for the source of the voice, spying Rai'ken striding away from the portal.

"Traps, booby traps, anti personnel and anti force user, mostly standard shaped charges and the usual assorted nastiness. Oddly enough though, there are no turrets or remote blasters mounted around the doors, I don't know it's... this is going to sound dumb, but it's almost like they are inviting us to use the front door."

He looked intently at her and she just shrugged in reply.

"What can I say; it's only what I sense." She sighed. "Sith arrogance at its worst perhaps? I can only tell you what I can sense, Sir."

"Well, keep checking; if you sense anything else call it out." He turned away calling to someone else, a stream of orders followed as she joined those spread out in the perimeter. A hand fell heavily on her shoulder.

"Alouisia right? Okay you're supporting me when we go in, don't do anything stupid, just follow my lead and stay close. Keep your eyes peeled and don't let anything happen to the squishes."

"Okay and you are?"

"Call me Bucket, everyone does." The man walked away fitting a helmet over his head that left no doubt as to the name.

One of the support team that would be staying out here came by a minute later asking if anyone needed power cells, plasma packs or extra rations. Alouisia was just taking the extra sabre cells when a serious of flat cracks split the air. Everyone dived flat.

"Clear, it's all clear, just dealing with some booby traps." The voice called out dimly through the ringing in her ears.

Looking up she now saw more than a dozen blackened scars along the walls at waist height. Confused, she reached out gingerly through the force, wondering why she had never sensed those traps before. It took some feeling around but slowly she gained a sense of a something, it was so slight she never caught it before, now she knew what to look for she looked again and gulped. The place was lousy with traps, there were hundreds, more than hundreds.

"Druk! I'm a fool."

"Yes I agree, now, why are you a fool?"

She turned slightly and glared at the Commander. "I found the obvious as did everyone else, I found the not so obvious and pointed that out but I stopped looking at that point. Farkle me, just like a damned raw recruit. I missed the real traps, their hidden, even from the force, they're hidden."

"So you learnt something new, remember it and go on. We go in two minutes, get together with the assault lead, and get ready."

Biting back the urge to tell the man where to stick his insulting attitude she knew she was in the wrong, she nodded and moved off.

The chamber was a massive sphere buried at the heart of the Palace. It's grey walls reflecting the red glow of the inverted pyramid shaped lights above giving a cold, unfriendly appearance. The masked figures met stood around a faintly glowing red pyramid a little more than waist height at the centre of the platform. The platform itself occupied the mid plane of the sphere with no visible support to the surrounding chamber. Only the grey stone walkway linked it to the large doors. Not even the six small island spread equidistant around the platform in the space between it and the outer wall, which held the currently empty thrones of the Dread Masters showed any visible means of support.

In a dull flat, voice one of the four figures intoned. "They are coming."

"Let them come, they will break just like every other invader to our domain."

"This force cannot be treated so lightly as the others. There is something..."

"What do you sense, sister?"

"These are not the weak willed lackeys who the vanished Emperor has allowed to populate the Empire, their minds are strong, very much stronger than any that have come before and the force swirls around them. Even those among them not attuned to the ways of the force shows signs of having some small gift. The living force has touched them all in some subtle way."

"It means nothing; if our forces cannot deal with them then we shall take an active hand in crushing this vermin."

"Better to be prepared and never summoned than to be summoned and not prepared. We must prepare ourselves in the event the guardians of our bastion are insufficient."

Three other voices spoke as one. "Agreed."

A thick pall smoke lit from below by the white flash preceded the detonation of the breaching charge. Bits and pieces of chipped stone rained across the courtyard as the engineer in charge shook his head.

"I told you this stuff just looks like stone, it's been worked by something to make it denser than anything I've ever come across befor... well, I'll be damned!"

With a tortured shriek, the torn gates failed. The charge, while doing practically nothing to the surrounding stonework, had been more than sufficient to rend and twist the steel composites of the gates themselves. Now, under their own great mass they failed, one twisting to fall sideways while the remains of the other boomed as it fell inwards, coming to rest partway down the stairway behind.

A squad of Imperial troops charged foolishly through the smoke at the first sign of the gates coming down, now one figure trotted into view to wave the assault force forwards. The assault force, all sixteen rose up as one and pressed forward until stopped by the majority of the troopers as they established a line at the top of the stairs.

The nearest members of the force could not fail to hear the trooper report to the Commander.

"Sir, the stairway descends about forty more meters before branching to the left and right; both sides are covered by a small force of defenders, supported by force users. As per your instructions, my men and I have secured the breach only and attempted any further penetration. Off the record Commander, this was way too easy."

"About time something went right on this world though, okay, thanks Lieutenant, you see to your men and hold the door, we'll go it alone from here on."

"The Force be with you sir."

The sixteen formed up, now it was time to return to the furnace, a few handshakes, a friendly slap on a back and one or two profane jokes passed before Alouisia and Bucket steeped forward.

Rai'ken leaned over to speak quietly to the two.

"Keep it simple, no heroics and I'll buy the booze when get back."

A nod and a grunt were the only replies other than the hiss of igniting dark sabres.

Without turning, Bucket spoke to Alouisia.

"Let's do it."

His blade flew forwards in a force-assisted throw as, with a mighty roar he leapt forward.

Combat began in earnest.

"They have begun their assault Master, our forces only slow them a little, and they are proving themselves superior to all that the Empire has thrown at us before now. We calculate a real danger in their effectiveness; at this rate of advance they will breach the first sanctum in a little less than forty minutes."

The officer making the report to Master Calphayus spoke without raising his eyes from the small room's holographic table. He never saw the twitch of his Master's arm, the first he knew of the attack was when a multitude of phantasmagoria assaulted his mind. His screams echoed throughout the room.

"You were a fool Colonel to let them get so far, this does not speak well of your training methods. You have failed us; you will not fail us again." With a gurgle the man's body imploded as unseen forces abruptly exerted themselves upon the by now insane man. As the bloody pulp dropped to the floor, that same hand shot out, pointing at another.

"You, you will lead our forces now, failure is not to be contemplated."

"Yes, my Lord. I will reorganise the defence forces immediately." The man glanced briefly at the spreading pool around the remains of the former Guard Commander and swallowed nervously. "They will however, breach the first sanctum beforehand. It will take several minutes before I can move enough forces up in support of..." He stopped speaking at the others waved hand.

"That is to be expected at this point, Lady Bestia is prepared, and she has some new 'pets' she wishes to test so you will have a little time in which to work. Make sure your forces arrive to support her. I do not think the commander of this Imperial force will enjoy the trap." Calphayus waved the other away, his eyes falling once more upon the holographic display of the Palace. Numerous coloured dots crept along the blue flickering display, updating the positions of friend and foe.

As he watched, he spoke quietly to himself. "Yes, it will be interesting to observe how this force meets its demise; they have intruded further than before. They would make fine additions to our forces or perhaps not, they have already proven themselves far too powerful to live. No matter, the Lady Bestia will deal with them; she will teach them the true meaning of warfare."

Alouisia violently shook her head, the damaged strap broke and the helm along with the stinging sweat that dripped into her eyes went flying just as she screamed her rage as once again she blocked the massive swipe of the foul beasts before her.

They had found the going slow but relatively easy, the defences shockingly weak. Everyone knew it was a trap but the trap never came, five times the battled through ambush sites that would have made perfect spots in which to entrap them but there was never enough of the enemy arrayed before them.

Rai'ken yelled across the room, the man scary in his ability to track the thousand and one things taking place in this chamber as the fight progressed. He must have seen her loose her helm and with it the integrated communications system. Therefore, in time-honoured tradition he just yelled his instructions.

"Heavy weapons squad, target change... NOW! Alouisia, pick up that larva beast. Bucket, sit-rep?"

On and on it went, the gate to this chamber slamming closed behind them told the tales of a trap finally sprung. The Dread Master, one Lady Bestia, suspended in a faintly red bubble of energy above an altar of some kind had put them all on guard at the first glimpse, but the vortex portals spread around the room had come as a surprise. The beasts appeared within seconds of the gates closing. Ugly foul smelling, evil looking abominations mutated from the planets native life forms.

They had been bad enough, one spitting poison and larva the other emitting an invisible pulse of energy that actually increased the dangers of any of its breather that came near. Then the first of the tentacles had appeared.

"What the Farkle is that!" Screamed one of the medics who had taken station upon a corner of the alter as a five meter high tentacle, so reminiscent of that bitch Bronte's, tore through the ground to rear above the battling group. One or two immediately turned towards this new threat in time to watch a convulsion quickly work its way along its length before a glop of slime acidic slime ejected from the previously unseen opening near its tip. One of the force screamed as the acid splattered against their back with enough force to knock then flat on their face into the shallow pool of slimy water. It probably saved their life.

"Kill that farkling thing, kill it!" Rai'ken screamed out the order, his voice loud but belaying the shock he and everyone else felt, it did not waver nor climb to hysterical realms.

Smoothly, the entire force reacted, small groups changed and recombined to make different small groups, members slashed or shot once more before slipping like a well-oiled gear from the formation to fall into a new group to handle this new threat.

Alouisia saw it all but just filled it away as something to review later, to admire the flawless almost seamlessly moves of the Phoenix Team as they adjusted and adapted. In the meantime, she was too busy, more and more she found herself struggling, but the more she struggled the more she just gritted her teeth and dug deeper into that perverse stubborn streak that only rose to the surface during combat.

"I will not panic, panic is the killer, and panic is the little child screaming at the dark. I will not panic... I will not panic..." Repeatedly, the well-worn mantra tripped through the upper reaches of her mind. A monster spun away, its huge clawed hands swiping at the weapons specialist, she struggled to remember his name only for the nickname that everyone else used to address him popped up, the specialist called Reckless dancing back just in time to avoid the blow. She watched in horror, she was fully extended; the panic she held back struggled against the restraints she held it under.

"Nooooooo!" The long drawn out cry flew from her lips as she mouthed the words to an ancient Sith spell. A bubble of red energy sprang into being around her as she kicked the foremost of the other beast's right between the legs and stepped several paces forward. The blow, intended for Reckless that would have removed his head from his shoulders, crashed against her unprotected head. For a fraction of a second, she blacked out only to return, spitting curses at the beast as she rammed her dark sabre up to the hilt in its abdomen.

The blows came fast, pushing her around as she struggled to place her back against the wall once more. She had the beast's attention now, but the damage done to her, her left eye refused to focus her right bruised and blood shot, she could not focus properly to see. Screaming out her rage and her pain, she let the fury loose.

Rai'ken watched aghast as the monster turned away, he knew control of the fight was an illusion but they had been doing so well. Then the impossible happened, he blocked two blows watching from the corner of his eye as the weakest link among them deliberately stepped into a blow that should have killed her, he saw the stagger as she almost fell, and the battering blows that rained down upon her as struggled to return to her position. He knew something was wrong, he form had become clumsy, her swings wild, he thought furiously, if she went down they would all die but they were all fully engaged now. Opening his mouth to order a defensive formation change he slammed it shut as a spray of red fluid erupted at his feet, hurling himself sideways he yelled a warning as a life sucking pool of druk appeared.

Bucket, grunting and sweating watched the Lady Bestia absorb his latest blow, but she grunted and fell back a step. She had never done that before. Looking deep into her eyes, at least what little he could see through that helm of hers he saw desperation. Realization struck like a thunderbolt.

"She's faltering, Bestia's faltering!"

Rai'ken heard the cry from afar, his mind jumping tracks away from his problem child to the Dread Master who formed the eye of this maelstrom. Dozens of possibilities and tactics ran through his mind in less than a second. He made his decision.

"Commander, take the light team and hold the beast, Heavy team, KILL THE FARKLING BITCH!"

In an instant, the battle changed. People spun and moved, twisting and ducking around beast and monster to re-focus their fire. The sound of blasters and plasma rounds rose as everyone switched, laying down a curtain of death to give them a seconds respite.

With a shrill scream of hate and pain, the red glowing shield surrounding Bestia flared then died, each blow, each round now thudded directly into her body. With a final high pitched scream.

"NOoooooo!"

With a blinding white flash, her empty, smoking robes fluttered to the ground and the portals winked out. With stunned expressions, the Phoenix team looked frantically around for targets as fingers fought against pulling triggers in the sudden silence.

Alouisia fell forwards, the body of the monster against which she had previously leaned vanished, her dark sabre skittered away, the power dying without her hand upon it, and frantically she struggled to her feet, clawed hands flailing away at the blurs and shadows, her rage unabated.

A sting spun her around as a hypo hissed against the back of her neck. The last she remembered was some voice sounding a million miles away.

"Easy girl, easy, we did it, we survived."

Rai'ken looked about the chamber; he had a small group covering the now re-opened door leading back to the central Palace, they reported the sounds of movement at the far end of the passage. Around him, a second group piled the dead corpses of beast and monster in front of the door forming a crude barricade to duck behind, for all the good it would do.

"What do you think Rai'ken?" The commander asked as he gestured to the strange red and grey coloured pyramid they had extracted from within a hidden hollow under the alter stones.

"A box of some kind, they're figuring out how to open it, it's not trapped they say. " He gestured to a couple of the team gingerly probing the pyramid with humming hand-held machines.

"What about our problem child, I have mixed feelings myself, but do we keep her or replace her, now is the time to decide."

"She's not great that much is obvious, she struggles. She did better than in the Fortress but... Keep her with us, the experience will either kill her and us or make her. I have a feeling she will do whatever it takes to keep us safe."

The look of surprise burst onto the Commanders face. "I never expected you to say that; still can we afford the risk?"

"I think so, I caught her do something incredibly stupid and brave, it certainly saved Reckless, of that I have no doubt. Did you know she broke position to step in front of him, took a blow that would certainly have removed his head all because she got upset she lost control of one of the monsters for a second or two? Stupidest thing I ever saw, bravest too."

Khyriel stepped up then, shaking his head and muttering.

"Trouble Khy?"

The look he shot them fulminated for a moment before his usual passive mask slipped into place. "Alouisia will be ready in a few more minutes, that blow she took damaged her optic nerves, concussive shock trauma, for all intent proposes she was blind during the final few minutes of the battle. I can only assume she was using the force to see with, but that is a guess. Anyway, her skull is too thick to be damaged badly; I can't speak for what little brains she has left though. Damn stubborn bitch wants to get going, I have her restrained to let the meds work, give it say five minutes and she'll be good enough to continue. I want her to have a complete medical workup the moment we leave this druk hole, is that understood Commander, a full examination."

"Understood, should we replace her now though? Would that be better?"

"You can tell her that Commander, not even I am that brave. She's coming off a full Sith Rage. I don't like it, it makes her difficult, but it's tapping the force, accelerating her healing and what the meds I pumped into her with are doing. Gods, is that one stubborn bitch." Khyriel turned away at a shout, hurrying over to check one of the others.

The Captain, the fourth man to stand in front of Calphayus, trembled; he refused to look to the side where the body or what remained of it lay.

"... You will do better than your predecessors, you will do everything to prevent this scum from breaching the inner sanctum, is that clear?"

Staring at the pitiful few friendly indicators still alight in the hologram above the table the man nodded.

"Yes Master." Thinking hard, he made a decision. "I will personally lead the defences, with your permission?"

"Go, either return in victory or never return to my sight again."

Swallowing, the man nodded, turned and marched out. There was no one other than Calphayus left in the small command centre now.

"You beat us all individually, let us see if you make it to the council chamber and face us together." The voice cracked into laughter, hollow, cracking laughter on the verge of insanity.

The door was imposing, the metal carved with devilish depictions of many of the past triumphs of the Dread Masters. Many of those looking turned away, finding the depictions obscene in the tales they told, in the savagery shown.

"That's a bloody big door!"

"Yep."

"You think we can blow it?"

"Yep."

"Soon Sergeant?"

"Yep."

"You know, you don't say much sergeant, do you?"

"Nope."

A new voice, weary with stress broke into the strange discussion between the ordnance Sergeant and his trooper assistant as they wired the door into the interior of the Palace with C-14 and thermal detonators.

"Sergeant Rutledge, how much longer will you need?"

The Commander stood streaked with blood and covered in dirt. The smell of the battlefield clung to him and the fifteen others resting up around the bend in the stairway. Three huge corpses of the ugliest creatures the Sergeant had ever seen hid the bend from sight.

"About six minutes Commander, based upon how little effect the stuff you used had, we're going for some serious overkill in force here. Might want to get everyone to move back a bit more, this stairway will channel the back blast. I would say two or three hundred meters further back would be best." The Sergeant never looked away from his busy hands and the trooper with him passed tools and blocks of explosive without a spoken word. However, he stopped to nod emphatically at the suggestion of moving back almost to the entrance.

The Commander looked startled and almost whistled in surprise.

"Just how much explosive are you using here?"

"Well, two dozen basic planar charges on the anchor points, a dozen shaped charge in the centre to force the door in and about half a ton of C-14 with half a dozen thermal detonators to make sure. I mean it's definite overkill but considering the stuff you used didn't even make a mark, I'm wondering if I'm not using enough, but it is literally everything I have on hand."

The trooper spoke up just then.

"Going to big the biggest bang I even seen set, sir. Personally, I would suggest waiting outside, especially if this door is anything like as tough as the bloody stonework."

The Sergeant spared a glance at his young protégé before grunting in affirmation. "Yep, kid here has the right idea, the distance I gave you is what I'd call minimum safe distance, but with the druk you got in this place... Better to be safe Sir."

Shaking his head the Commander shut his mouth and turned away. Just before he stepped out of sight of the door, he paused and looked back, eyeing the grey blocks tapped to the door. "Yes I think outside might be best."

Eight minutes later, the team hunkered down behind barricades brought up while they fought inside, many chewing on ration bars. The sound of running feet brought heads up all around before the shouting sergeant's voice reached them.

"Down, get down, everyone get down, get your heads down."

He skidded to a stop behind a lone barricade, with two trooper's guarding a locked detonator control. Pulling a key out, he armed the device. With a final cry of warning, he keyed the detonation sequence.

Everyone expected a loud bang and a roar instead they felt the ground shake, then shake some more, then shake even more. From out the door screamed a blast of heat and noise that stunned them all. Anti personnel charges along the walls, those too far away to be an immediate danger detonated in sympathy as the concussive wave of pressure rolled over them. Many held glazed expression as they swallowed desperately to equalise the pressure on their ears. The roar went on and on, seeming to last hours to some when n fact it lasted barely a full minute, if that.

Gradually the smoke cleared.

If the four beings inside the final chamber had been simply normal beings of flesh and blood then the sound and concussive pressure wave as the door blew in would have quickly been fatal. These, however, were the four remaining Dread Masters, beings of incredible power and cruelty. The faint glowing red shield hissed and sang as debris zipped throughout the chamber. A series of almighty clangs announced the impacts of the remains of the now shattered steel armoured door as they struck the walls of the chamber only to slide against the force treated stone before submerging beneath the pool of clear water at lowest level of the room.

Though protected by their arcane magic's and force derived shields, even these four beings were stunned by the ferocity of the detonation.

"By the force!"

"Incredible"

Calphayus shook his head; refusing to show awe by the excessive use of conventional explosives, he merely grunted a dismissive comment. "Typical of the lesser beings, the correct amount of force is never sufficient."

"They will be here soon."

"They will be no match for our combined strengths; together we will crush these worms." Lady Bestia ground out, venom dripping from every word, for she would not, could not forgive these insects for destroying her favourite pets.

"No, they will come and they will die. Then we will wreck our revenge upon the rest before we tear down this travesty of an Empire before we rebuild a Galaxy of chaos!"

The scout force accompanied by the ordinance Sergeant stood at the top of the now scorched and slightly melted staircase staring at the hole that was the final door.

"By the Emperor's divine might!"

The words fell from the trooper assistant to the Sergeant, his staring eyes wide as he took in the almost undamaged frame and missing doors. For nearly one hundred and ten meters, the approach to the door showed only blackened stone, the only signs of damage, a few small spots of rapidly cooling semi molten rock; otherwise, the passage and frame appeared intact. Of the doors themselves, they remained no signs, only the white glowing remains of metal locking systems now distorted beyond the point of recognition.

"I think I may have overestimated the size of the charge, a tad."

In an awed voice, the trooper numbly chipped in a comment. "Yep!"

The commander stood beside Rai'ken, his expression one of bored indifference, as he surveyed the length of the main passage. He noted the lack of the three great corpses that only ten minutes earlier had partially obstructed the stairs. Looking carefully, he spotted half a head of one creature now cooked a deep black by the energy of the explosion, impaled upon a stone outcrop, far up at the far end of the passage. Everything not securely fixed in place, was gone, swept away by the titanic forces unleashed. Some, maybe a good part lay spread over the courtyard outside the main gate now.

In a dry voice, with a barely discernible catch in it, the commander lazily commented to Rai'ken and the rest of the team. "I am so glad we decided to wait outside." Chuckles and laughs were his reply.

"COME FORTH INSECTS! COME AND MEET YOUR DOOM!"

The words erupted from inside the chamber ahead, booming and echoing throughout the passage and Palace.

Rai'ken, recovering some of his sang-froid cupped his hands around his mouth and bellowed back a reply.

"We're busy, but we have an empty slot in our schedule at 3pm, two weeks from today, can I mark you down for then?"

Gales of laughter burst from behind the pair as an inarticulate roar sounded from within.

Turning and speaking in a more normal tone, he eyed the team. The sound of pounding feet raced along the passage as squad after squad of Imperial Troops raced in, to secure all the gains made by the Phoenix Team. The leader of the Scout squad stepped up and saluted his actions as crisp as if he stood upon a parade ground.

"Sir, I have eighty volunteers if you should need the support; the rest of the regiment is securing the Palace and checking for survivors."

Rai'ken nodded but looked to the Commander.

"Thank you Lieutenant, bring those men up but have them secure this door, if we have to fall back they can assist then, but for now I would prefer to keep the number of visible targets for the Dread Masters to attack at a minimum."

Footsteps and the odd click of equipment behind the two brought their heads about. Fourteen pairs of eyes stared back as the rest of the team stood ready, waiting for their leaders to give the word.

Commander Arlann, looked upon each face, one after the other as Rai'ken, waved the two assault elements forward, patting both on the shoulder as they passed by.

Stepping forward, slightly behind and to the left of Bucket, Alouisia tightened her grip upon her hilt. Around her now, troopers and scouts stiffened and saluted, holding the pose as all sixteen passed.

All present knew, whatever might come next, this team, this small assault unit that called themselves the Phoenix Team would hold a place in history for as long as the Dread Masters.

Five still stood, panting heavily as the smoke and noise drifted away. Eleven were down, three critically injured, four seriously, but they all lived for now. None screamed out their pain, some groaned through gritted teeth and sweated but they all knew they had won.

Blinking away the purple and white after images, Khyriel turned to the door and yelled, or tried to yell as only a croak left his parched throat. Ripping a canteen from his back he poured the cold clear liquid down his throat allowing it to spill from tilted lips and run across his chin and down.

The support squads, locked from the chamber before by the shimmer blue filed of energy however had moved forward to support the Phoenix people, the moment that field had wavered and dropped. As Khyriel turned to yell out once more, an arm was already slipping beneath his shoulder and he realised that he like the other four still standing, stood like drunks, wavering back and forth as they struggled to stay upright. Their bodies already shutting down overworked systems as adrenaline or its alien counterpart ceased flowing, as reaction to the intense stress of a close fought battle set in. Nodding, he allowed the unknown trooper to ease him to sitting position upon the ground.

Wearily looking about he watched as medics tore open packs, grav field stretchers appearing for the critically wounded as controlled chaos erupted. He barely heard a word though, his ears still ringing from the noise of concentrated blaster fire.

Rai'ken forced bone weary limbs to respond as he virtually climbed up the side of a trooper, shouting he asked the question he feared the most.

"My people, how many..."

The Colonel grinned back, gripping the man's shoulders. He understood the question immediately.

"They live, they all live, you... you all..." His voice faded, he could not find the words to express his disbelief, the disbelief all those who had watched through the shimmering blue energy field had felt at the battle within.

A shout dragged his head and attention to the party of troopers dragging the bodies of the dead Dread Masters to the side.

"What is it?"

"There's one missing sir, the one called Calphayus, there's a blood trail to the edge of the platform then nothing."

"Tarnation! Find him, find the son of a Bantha dropping, get everyone looking, parties of four, leave no stone unturned, but find that farkling bastard!"

"Alive sir?"

"Sith spit, no! Kill it on sight, take no chances, no chances what so ever."

It was not known until many hours later that Calphayus survived to limp stunned and defeated into the arms of a Republic Strike team whom, to the disgust and amazement of the Sith, took the crushed man prisoner before handing him over to the Jedi. What happened to him after that is unknown, but nearly every Sith prayed to whatever they held most dear that he was executed. They all feared the possibility of a recovered Dread Master returning.

The first shuttle touched down in the main hanger bay to utter silence. It's ramp dropping even before the bulk of the craft depressed the great hydraulic landing struts. The medics with the first of the wounded appeared. Stretcher-bearers fussing over their charges as rank upon rank of men, women and beings formed a corridor leading to the fastest elevator to the medical section. Three stretchers rushed down that corridor of bodies as many of those watching spoke silent prayers to whatever Gods they believed in. Then down the ramp came the others, the healthy helping the walking wounded, yet more medics fussed about and around them all.

It started the moment the last of them stepped upon the deck, thirteen tired, grime covered beings that had fought an impossible foe, or so many watching thought.

The voice, young and clear rang out from Raina Temple, as with tears streaming from her eyes she starred in longing at the man who was her life.

"ATTEN-shun!"

The hanger bay now filled to capacity and beyond. Deck control officers gave up, closing the outer bay doors to prevent any fatal accidents from an incoming craft.

At the command, thousands of bodies stiffened and as one, a deafening crash of boot heels sounded, echoing off the metal walls. Seconds later, the cheering began, it was wild and spontaneous, and it was heartfelt.

Thirteen faces had lifted at the sound of the command, now the gazed about in complete stupefaction as voices cried out. It took long seconds for them to realise it was all for them.

Alouisia cringed and hung back, refusing to let go of the depression she felt. In her mind, she was already reviewing the actions taken and not taken during the battle, and she cringed as the heels struck the deck plates, when the cheering started, she only wanted to weep. Turning she slipped between the packed bodies heading away from the Phoenix Team, heading for the nearest way out of this madness.

'They deserve it, they fought an enemy none of thought could ever be beaten. I was only along for the ride, I was the cause of so much pain and suffering. Fark it! Why did I survive? They universe would be so much better off then, without me to put others in danger. Don't look around, don't say anything, just let the Phoenix people have their moment, you're not one of them, you're just an outsider looking in. They let you go because there was no one to fill the hole in their roster that's all. You never earned the right to stand beside them. You're not good enough and you never will. Why did..."

She never saw the arm that reached out to grab her shoulder strap, the arm that spun her around to slam against the bulkhead beside the door. The open hand that slapped her full across the face merely stunned her.

Raina Temple stood there, one hand on hip, the other shaking the sting from the blow from her bruised flesh. The words hissed out from between teeth as she screwed her face into an angry expression of command, anger and ferocity. She almost got away with it too, but her normal incredible looks took that necessary harsh edge from it. However, her voice when she spoke, that could not be mistaken for anything accept pure towering rage.

"GET YOUR FARLKING HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS WOMAN AND GET TEH FARK OVER THERE WITH THE OTHERS! YOU HEAR ME, GET THE FARK OVER THERE OR I'LL KICK YOUR ASS FROM ONE END OF THIS FARKLING STATION TO THE NEXT UNTIL YOU SEE SENSE!"

Hearing that voice, hearing that much anger and pain in it, Alouisia's head automatically scanned the crowd looking for Khyriel. She knew he would be heading like a warhead straight to his wife. She knew, she had recognised it earlier, the link to each other they had through the force. They may not be force sensitive's in the true meaning of the term but they most certainly were that rarest of individuals, they were soul mate's and they had found each other. What one felt the other felt, given a strong enough emotion they would be able to track each other across vast distances. At that moment however, all Alouisia was concerned with was that Khyriel did not beat her into a senseless bloody pulp for upsetting his wife.

"What do yo..."

The slap came as a shook, she had never seen Raina move it was so fast.

"Stop making me hit you, that bloody hurts you know."

Mumbling quietly, Alouisia looked down at her feet. "Sorry"

"Oh for... We've talked about this, get over it, practice, train, for Sith's sake, ask for help, but for the sake of the Emperor's left testicle will you please stop feeling so farkling sorry for yourself all the farkling time.

The laugh shocked her, so did the next. "Emperor's left testicle?" She barely got the words out before collapsing to the floor laughing. It hurt, it hurt so badly, her head and ribs screamed with the strain, but she just could not stop laughing. She never heard the hiss of the hypo as blackness claimed.

Khyriel turned his best 'I am carved from stone expression upon his Raina as he tucked the hypo away in a belt pouch.

"You and I are going to have a long talk about this habit of yours you've recently acquired of picking up strays!"

Smiling, she merely wrapped her arms around him before making him feel week in the knees.

Breaking the kiss, Raina looked deeply into her husband's eyes. "I've already called for a medic, after they get here, let's just you and me go off and celebrate huh?"

Finis

Who knows, maybe Alouisia and the Phoenix team may return in the future, until then, good fortune and good hunting to you all.

May the Force be with you.

Notes

The scene above was an attempt by me to try to excise some of my own feelings and sense of inferiority when playing alongside my guild mates. It is in no way a reflection upon them or their abilities. The situations and conversations never took place, the interpretation placed upon other player characters is my own and made primarily in the needs of storytelling and drama.

I would like to thank everyone who took part in the raid which is used as a foundation for this story for their forbearance of a first time tank running those particular instances, although I freely admit I was too shit scared of screwing up that I never thought to tell them I had never tanked those encounters before.

I give my thanks to every member of Covenant of the Phoenix (Republic faction) and Empire of the Phoenix (Imperial faction).

My personal thanks to another Author who graciously allowed me to make use of Characters created by them although they did laugh at the interaction I put them in. My very great thanks to you, you know who you are.

PS. Alouisia's self doubts are real.