SHORT Volcano

by Adriarnna

Arriving late to an evacuation, what would you do if you suddenly found hundreds of thousands to save and no time left.

Planet: Q-73819 (Hell)

Star System: Purgatory

28 Hours Previously

"Hargreaves! Doctor Hargreaves, anyone, anyone at all? This is Administrator Gollic to anyone at Mining Site 44, respond?"

Flicking a switch the short trim man in the stained heavy mining suit cut off the communicator and sighed.

"Okay Fal'chon, I agree, send out a small security party to see what's happened at 44, lethal force is approved but for the Empire's sake don't shoot any of the blasted Imperial science Team. Just get in, find out what's going on and deal with it if it's more pirates stealing the ore report to me, discreetly."

"Affirmative Administrator."

Without pause the tall, heavily built security chief called Fal'chon, pulled a portable communicator unit from his belt and barked out orders as he walked briskly away.

Fifteen minutes later a group of six suited and armed beings met beside a CEC IT-303 Mining Transport (CREW) that squatted on a 5 point landing assembly. A small rugged craft that looked like a black brick with wings, it featured a thick tough airframe and overpowered engines, engines designed to burn a vast range of fuels in a variety of atmospheres. It was, in a word, ugly but it worked well, was economical to operate and surprisingly nimble despite its looks.

Fal'chon addressed the group while checking his equipment once again. "Listen up; Site 44 has gone silent... again. This time, there's been no word for over 48 standard hours, so the Administrator has sent us in. They've never been silent this long before so we are going to assume serious trouble and that means..."

"Pirates!" Spat someone.

"Stinking raiders!" Another voice growled over the secure frequency of the suits.

Fal'chon ignored the comments. "It means trouble so we are going in hot. Charge your weapons, check your seals and get aboard. Oh, and for Sith's sake, don't shoot any damned friendly's, let's not tick off the Imperials, got it?"

He grunted at the acknowledgment and followed his chosen team aboard; pausing slightly to make sure they all secured their weapons and harnesses before giving the pilot the ready signal.

Fifty-two minutes later he stared at the front window of the transport at what remained of the site.

"What the... You've confirmed the coordinates?"

The pilot pointed to a numerical display before answering. "Yeah, twice."

Outside, where Mining Site 44 should be sitting on a twelve kilometre deep layer of basaltic bedrock veined throughout with heavy crystalline deposits there was now nothing but kilometre upon kilometre of boiling, churning red and orange lava. Even as they watch, a jet of bright red lava formed a fountain into the air for several long minutes before subsiding.

"Take us back, there's nothing we can do for them now."

"You got it." Replied the pilot as his hands danced over the controls.

Even before the craft began turning, Fal'chon was on the communicator.

"Fal'chon here, get the boss, get him now, I got bad news for him."

---

26 Hours Previously

"Gone? How can it be gone, you can't just pick up an entire mining site of beings and equipment and stick it in your pocket before walking away!"

"Administrator, the site is gone, vanished. There is nothing there but a vast lava field, look, see for yourself from the transports own data recordings."

A video sequence flashed up on the display.

Turning, the administrator yelled across the length of the facilities control room.

"Jarrick, pull the seismology data for the last ten days then throw it up on the display here, highlight any unusual activity."

Less than a minute later the main display screen flickered and a compressed graph of planets seismic events flashed on, all was normal with just the usual twenty to thirty yellow and red peaks of dangerous activity until four days ago on the time line. The last four days held more red than anything.

"What in the Emperor's Name..."

"Holy Sith Spit!"

The exclamations from those in the room were loud and profane.

"Jarrick, why in the hell hadn't the alert system sounded?"

A small mousey looking man, the Administrator's 'go to' being hurried over.

"It did and wouldn't stop but none of the other systems showed a peep so it thought to be a malfunction, Doctor Hargreaves at 44 said he'd look at the nearest indicator and check out the sensors there, I was waiting for his report."

"Any of his team here?"

"Only that 'woman' Administrator, the one that keeps spooking the crews about magma displacement and other science'y ghost stories, you know, the one you had confined to a sleeping chamber until the supply shuttle arrives next month."

"That all?"

Jarrick only nodded his head.

"Okay, get her; bring her here under armed guard. I don't care if she's in the fresher, they can drag the... woman naked through the compound for all I care, just get her here now."

Nine minutes later a swearing blond human woman was literally dragged through the doors.

The Administrator turned and scowled.

"SHUT UP!" He yelled in a voice that immediately stopped all activity in the room.

The woman froze for a fraction of a second before slugging the guard who had dragged her out of the water closest on the jaw with a big meaty fist. The man dropped like a stone. Turning she scowled at the Administrator.

"What do you want?"

"Your help in understanding this!" He pointed towards the display.

The woman glanced in the direction he pointed before returning her belligerent glare back to him. She blinked twice then turned back to the display and everyone saw her face go deathly white.

"What... This can't be right... This is a joke, right?"

"We don't know, no one has ever seen readings like this before, we can't make head or tails of them, but perhaps you can."

"I need the raw data and a console."

"Here, it's all here."

The administrator stepped back, making room for the woman at his console position. She strode over, absently tying her hair into a ponytail with an oddly bright elastic scrunchy.

"Okay let's see what you people scre... Oh damn, that ain't good. P-wave at... that deep! Overlapping, multiple point sources and the stress readings in the lower strata are..."

For over fifteen minutes the woman hammered away at the console, muttering to herself. Graphs and data flashed and flowed across the display until finally with a grunt she turned abruptly to face the waiting Administrator.

She stuck a hand out to him and spoke in a cordial voice. "Doctor Helven Gkuckridge, Imperial Science Ministry, Planetary Geologist and Volcanologist among many other things, how many people you got on planet and how soon can you get them all off?"

"Huh?"

"What do you mean Doctor Gkukridge?" The Administrator replied while taking the out stretched hand in automatic response.

"What do I mean, well, it's quite simple really, we have maybe a week to get off this planet before we and everyone else either burns to death, chokes to death or is crushed by the mega eruption that is coming soon." She pointed to the compressed graph on the main display. "That is the precursor to a main event that, if the data here is correct, will dump a minimum of fifteen thousand cubic kilometres of ejecta into the atmosphere and across the surface. There's a volcano waking up about three hundred kilometres away, a volcano that's already filled its vault with more than 58% of hot fluid rock that's all straining to get out. We are talking a VEI8+ event here and I want off this planet."

Jarrick sneered at the woman's last words.

"Typical words of a coward."

She turned an icy gaze upon him.

"A coward, maybe but I have some idea of what's coming and would much rather be far in orbit watching than sitting here to one of the most impressive explosions a natural body can produce. Do you have any idea what is going to happen, any idea at all? Would you like me to tell you about the affects of 1100+C temperatures on organic flesh? How about the effects of razor sharp microscopic particles of rock on the soft tissues of your eyes, throat and lungs? Or maybe about the real effects of suffocating to death with your lung filled with the minute ash dust that will fill your lung sacks, leech water from the tissues and moist air you breathe before turning into a dense concrete slurry that will coat and fill your lungs. A slurry, that even today we cannot remove without replacing the entire lung? Want me to go on? I can you know, I've seen victims and colleagues caught in far smaller eruptions than this and can describe it all to you in every gory detail, or perhaps you would like to see the actual medical files for yourself, see in wonderful colour what happens."

Jarrick managed to hold her gaze but his mouth and throat worked powerful to hold back the rising gorge and fear.

The Administrator spoke into the silence. "So we have a week?"

"No, we have up to a week, maybe. This thing could go off any time at all."

"Crap!"

---

An aide walked over to the large holographic plotting table beside the manual plotting windows around which were clustered the Moff and senior officers of the fleet. He leaned down beside the Moff and whispered in his ear.

"Sir, a small vessel has just dropped from hyper jump and is now requesting clearance to dock."

"Damn it, Lieutenant, I've got more important things to worry about than some blasted little..." He noted the slight tick in the aide's eye. "Okay what's so special about this ship that you decided to bother me with it?"

"It's in the registry as the personal transport of the Lady Adriarnna of the Sith Order."

Moff Draven compressed his lips tightly together until they formed a thin white line across his face as he thought furiously.

"Okay, grant permission to dock, have her pilot dock the ship at the number nine portal portside, and Lieutenant, make sure there is an honour guard present to receive her and escort her to the bridge."

"Yes Sir!" With a salute the much relieved man vanished.

Draven promptly forgot about the incident as he turned back to the plotting table, his thoughts re-submerging into the intricate details of the evacuation he was trying to conduct with too few ships.

Ten minutes passed before a soft voice pulled him from reports coming in on the latest flight of shuttles to begin ascending from the planet's surface.

"Moff Draven, we caught the distress call from the mining colony and came instantly, what can you tell me about the situation below?"

He swung around to find himself staring slightly upwards at the very tall, obviously muscled woman before him who stood at her ease dressed partly in Sith combat armour and partly in attire he did not recognise. That she was Twi'lik went without question as the head tails that flowed down her back announced her race, that she was also exotically skinned was also readily apparent from the rare red colouration of her skin but what caught his attention the most was the Hutt tattoo's that adorned much of her exposed skin. Tattoo's he suddenly realised that must have been applied while she was unconscious for some of the symbols proclaimed she was the performer of some very unsavoury functions. Looking back up from his flickering glance he met smiling purple eyes.

"My Lady, welcome to Purgatory." He greeted her before launching into a quick summation of the situation. "The whole system is rich in ores and minerals, but Q73819 in particular is a world covered in vast reserves of rare heavy and strategic metals. The constant geological activity continuously brings vast quantities to the surface and because of this it has become very important to the Empire's industrial base as a source of raw materials. However, two years ago a detailed geological survey revealed a hitherto before undiscovered megacaldera two hundred and forty kilometres from the main mining fields. Here let me show you."

He turned back to the plotting tables and summoned from the ships data banks an image of the primary mining area and the caldera's location in relation to it, beside it additional penetrating ground scans of the area scrolled past.

"Here in sector 17 is caldera itself, it's been measured at approximately 173 kilometres by 212 in diameter, the feature was originally ascribed as the basin of an ancient inland seabed, it wasn't until they detected the magma vault buried nearly 17 kilometres deep that they realised what it truly was and the potential hazard it posed."

"An unexpected hazard indeed, what is the current level of dangerous from it, how active is the vault chamber? Are they expecting magmatic or phreatic eruptions?"

"Active yes, erupting no, at least not yet if you ignore some tertiary venting events triggered by subterranean magma flows, the volcanologist at the central site says the last eruption was roughly 210,000 years ago give or take ten thousand years. No, she insists that the real danger is inside the magma vault itself, the vault is huge, it's shaped very roughly like a sphere, 31 kilometres in diameter, but the volume of melt, that is, the volume of liquid rock has exceeded 50% of the mass inside the vault, in fact the scientist says its rapidly approaching 68%."

"Signs of surface up lift?"

"I'm shocked you seem to understand the significance my Lady. Yes, there is a major up lift; in point of fact a rise in local ground altitude has been recorded in the area of 1.4 kilometres in the last two years and its 'breathing' right now."

"'Breathing', what is this breathing?"

"Ah, forgive me, I don't know the proper expression, the land mass is visibly moving in eighteen metre movements noticeable by the naked eye, here this is a live feed from an imaging sensor we emplaced several hours ago."

The central image on the table display changed to show a glowing blasted landscape of black rock liberally streaked with rivers and pools of slow flowing orange lava. In the distance a curtain of more red and orange lava sprayed skywards in a towering fountain from a fault line.

Draven tapped a particular spot, drawing Adriarnna's attention. As she watched the ground trembled and a moved upwards against the background then paused for several minutes before slowly settling back down.

"Now that's something you don't see every day." She murmured.

"There's approximately 376,000 left on the planet but we don't know if we'll get them all off in time, the volcanologist claims could erupt at any time now, in fact she doesn't understand why it already hasn't and that visible persistent ground movement like that," he tapped the display showing the live feed, "is very unusual, almost unique."

"Okay, so the plug can let go at any time, I assume you are expediting the evacuation, do you have enough ships, enough space for the evacuees?"

"Barely, my Lady, most of my ships are approaching maximum life support capacity now, but the engineering officers swear blind they can nurse the systems enough to get everyone aboard but we'll be stacking bodies to the deck heads, I think they mean it literally, but every ship in the fleet here will be crammed full. It's the lift capacity that's slowing us down."

"Not enough shuttles, I assume you're filling them to the red line on every trip."

"As much as the pilots think they can get away with without my noticing they're ignoring the safety regs, yes."

Adriarnna suppressed the smile that tugged at her lips as she caught the movement of two or three heads jerking in surprise at the words of the Moff. Some juniors never quite realised that the senior officers often knew what signs to look for because they themselves pulled the same stunts when they too were junior officers.

"I didn't see many ships left in orbit as I docked."

"My orders, as soon as a ship is full, I send them straight to the nearest planet to offload, I don't want to even think about a ship loosing life support mid jump. So, I'm filling them as fast as possible then getting them safely elsewhere ASAP."

"Must be screwing your organization plans to hell?"

"Not really, not once I started ignoring the book. I'm just trusting to blind luck and the skill of the shipwright's."

"You seem remarkably relaxed about this?"

"I'm not my Lady, truth be told I'm worried, any number of things can go wrong and there's still a lot of people left down there."

"Okay Moff Draven, what can I do to help?"

Darven could not help himself staring at this Sith now. That she asked instead of just taking command was something unexpected, that she was also offering to help in some way he decided was...he couldn't believe his ears."

"My Lady?"

"Is there anything I can do or my presence here will do to help you in your evacuation efforts?"

"Ah, you could speak with my Sector Command and get them to kick lose some more ships, but they most likely won't arrive in time."

"Consider it done. I'll get out of your way here Moff Draven."

Turning, she spotted the Lieutenant listening nearby while appearing to scan a ship's status readout.

"You, Lieutenant, point out your Communications Officer, I have some screaming to do it seems."

"Right this wa..."

A technician working the sensors across the compartment screamed out just then.

"IT'S GOING! IT'S LETTING RIP!"

"Belay that screaming man, you know how to make a report." Draven's voice cut through the sudden burst of chatter.

Adriarnna dashed back to the plotting tables and watched the live feed as hundreds of kilometres away the ground heaved upwards in one gigantic violent convulsion. Here and there great rents appeared as the ground tore and burst, great geysers of bright yellow liquid shooting upwards from the suddenly appearing fractures criss-crossing the surface. The display brightened almost too total whiteness as a cataclysmic event took place. Automatic circuits shut down the screens which went blank as the images cut out. The system switched to another more distant feed and Adriarnna watched with others in stunned awe as the ground ripped apart and enormous divots, complete with black rocky out thrusts were hurled through the air like sparks from a firework. She judged one 'divot' as almost a full kilometre in diameter.

"Get them aboard; get as many aboard as you can still fly with!" Ground out a harsh voiced Moff Draven.

Adrarnna turned her head to watch the Moff snarl into a shaking communications handset, his brown eyes watching the display were bleak with his failure but his face remained stern and controlled.

"Draven, how many?" She called softly.

He glared at her but the glare carried no heat, he nodded at another plotting board. "We lose 325,000."

She studied the board before reaching for her own personal communicator at her belt.

"Andronnikos, get your lazy backside to the bridge of this ship NOW!"

For the next several minutes they watch as hell came to a world that had been named for one of the hells in the first place.

A thin, tall man of dark complexion jogged over to her as soon as the turbo lift doors parted.

"You rang Adri..."

"Shut it. You always go on about just how good a pilot you are, well is it true or just a boast, the truth now Andronikos."

Andronikos had thought he knew all of his wife's moods, now he realised he did not and this was a mood that made him fearful. She was balanced on an emotional knife edge, anything, a word, a look, just about anything could break the control she currently had.

"I'm a damn good pilot and you know it!"He threw back at her after a second's thought.

"Even if the ship is larger than those freighters you used to muck about with?"Came the immediate response.

"How big?"

"Harrower class."

That brought him up short and he blinked, just catching the twinkle in her eyes as she wiped the slightest curl of a smile from her lips and with that was when the realised he had been setup. "By the Emperor... Yes, I can handle that, might not be nimble as I'm used to but I can handle that."

"Good."

Without turning away she spoke over her shoulder in a penetrating voice of command. "Moff Draven, I am assuming command of this ship. Andronikos, take the helm," she pointed to the conning position, "and prepare for atmospheric entry."

Andronikos, who had turned in response to the arm gesture, froze in mid step before forcing himself to continue. Others however were not so restrained.

Moff Draven was startled at the change, for a moment he see-sawed between anger and fear, instead he settled for neither, opting for a calm and reasonable stance.

"Lady Adriarnna, you have the right to take my command but may I ask just what you intend to do?"

Stepping closer, she pitched her voice so not only did Draven hear, but so too did the rest of the bridge crew.

"I intend to take this ship as deep into the atmosphere as she will go and reduce the flight time of those shuttles. I intend to demand that as many of your remaining ship captain's that can, follow me down. I intend to hover less than five kilometres over the largest evacuation site and get as many of our people off this hell hole as possible."

"You are aware that this ship is not intended for sustained atmospheric operations, that we could in fact lose the ship, blow out an engine or two or break her back even, that the odds of our adding to the fatality list go way up?"

"To give our people a chance to get away, I still intend to do it."

Draven stood stiffly for a long moment, reflecting upon the words he had just heard.

Without warning he snapped a salute straight out of the Academy drill manual. "The ship is yours Captain, what are your orders?"

"Andronikos, you're the blasted pilot, ideas and suggestions, anything that might help us."

"Yeah, get everyone not essential off in a life pod, launch every ship you got and park it in orbit if it can't help us, it'll free up space and damn, this sucker is more nimble than I thought they were."

"Focus Andronikos, focus."

"Yeah, yeah, have 2VR8 pilot our ship into high orbit; we can stick a few of the non-essential types aboard her at the same time."

Moff Draven spoke up from the handset now clasped in his hand. "I had those instructions relayed to all other ship captain's. They all voiced their objections to the plan for the record, but everyone will follow us down."

"Thank you, Moff Draven."

Andronikos voice rose above the general noise of orders and instructions being given and relayed. "Engineering, go to full structural reinforcement. Take us to within 10 percent of the red line and hold it there."

A small man, his face twisted in a scowl looked up from another station and shouted back. "Ye canna do that for long, the systems w'll nay hold."

"I know damn it, but we need the reinforcement for a fast atmospheric entry, then we can come off high load assuming there's no substantial turbulence and go back to max load when we lift at capacity. Understand?"

"Och aye, Jimmy!"

Andronikos twisted his face around to where Adriarnna stood.

"Why is it nearly every Chief Engineering Officer we meet sounds like they come from New Hibernia when almost none of them actually do?"

The Chief Engineer's head popped up again with a broad grin. "Why Jimmy, did yea nay know it's in the contract!"

Laughter rippled across the bridge, across several bridges on the remaining ships of the fleet as the voices of the two men echoed from their loudspeakers.

---

"Lady... Captain..." A young Ensign approaching began to say only to have her words stumble to a halt as Adriarnna's twinkling purple eyes turned to examine her.

"Don't let the title worry you Ensign, just say what feels natural. I assure you that when this little incident is over the Moff will return to command."

"Err, yes ma'am, Lady... um Captain." She once more stuttered, in confusion at the conflicting dictates of her imperial training and the lack of the expected angry reaction from the Sith.

"You had a message for me Ensign?"

"Oh, yes Captain. The science team we sent to the surface to support the volcanologist is reporting ultramafic lava flows with temperatures approaching 2100 C; recovery site 11 has already been overrun but with no reported loss of life. Additional reports indicate multiple lava flows in the 70-80 KPH velocity range with three confirmed flows travelling at speeds in excess of 130 KPH. Recovery site 9 is under threat from one of these flows but is expected to be cleared in time. No observational data from the caldera itself is available at present due to the disruption of the sensor network from the initial venting event. However, an area over 264 square kilometres is already obscured by thick ash fall and smoke. The team is attempting to insert sensors via remote drone placement but have so far had no luck."

Adriarnna stared wide eyed shock at the Ensign for over a minute before looking around for Moff Draven who she knew would be standing nearby. She found him less than two metres away listening, his face showing the same shock as hers.

In an over loud whisper, Adriarnna spoke to herself.

"Ultramafic lava flow, temperatures nearly 2100C! By the Goddess and the Emperor!"

"Captain... I don't understand?" The Ensign admitted.

Turning back around, Adriarnna took advantage of the question to gather her stunned wits. "Ultramafic lava is basically liquid rock so hot and fluid it flows and behaves almost exactly like water. Most regular lava, assuming standard planetary mineral composition is a much denser, heavier material that can often be outpaced by a being on foot. This ultramafic lava though is so hot, so... chemically infused with magnesium and minerals like it that it is very light, very fluid and very, very fast moving. Anyone trying to outrun it on foot stands absolutely no chance, even a personal speeder could be caught if they ran too late."

"Lady Adriarnna," Moff Darven spoke from her left side where he now leaned over the large holographic plotting table, "we can expect wind velocities and turbulence far in excess of ship tolerances; do you still wish to continue with the atmospheric entry?"

Opening her mouth to speak she paused, her thoughts whirling. How long did they have before the air front intercepted the ships position in atmosphere, how disciplined were these crews and would they honestly follow her, Sith or no Sith if she pushed on. These and other questions raced through her mind.

Moff Darven saw the hesitation but he also saw the calculating look in her eyes. Holding himself ready, he waited for her to speak.

Speaking softly she spoke. "How much damage would we suffer from the initial wave front and following winds if I continue on my present course of action?"

"If you would care to examine my calculations here." He replied, gesturing towards a small display area towards the side of the table.

She moved closer and bent over.

Speaking in a hushed voice that only the two of them could hear, he bent closer beside her so no one else could see their lips moving.

"Realistically speaking, the ships nearest the venting event would suffer the heaviest damage, further away it would be reduced by the distance. We're talking of wind speeds approaching 800 KPH here. We could however delay atmospheric entry by six minutes and ride out the following turbulence far easier, but, that would mean putting about 26,000 lives at risk at sites 19 and 23."

"What about the shuttles, could they ride it out? What if they were ordered to land in the shadow of some geological feature?"

"In the air, they would be at the mercy of the winds, but I never considered having them shelter in valleys or behind escarpments. It might work."

"I think I already know the answer but what if they were on the ground when the ground shock and blast front arrives?"

"Sheltered or heavily secured they could perhaps ride it out without being flipped over or ripped apart, the ground shock though is the big question, I have no idea how much shaking and bouncing is going to happen my Lady, I just don't know."

Adriarnna nodded then her head came up, she called out loudly in a clear voice.

"Andronikos, delay atmospheric entry approximately five point two minutes to allow the main airborne blast front to pass, then get us down there as fast as you can. Do not stress the ship more than is necessary though, we still have to get the hell out of there after we board the refugees. Communications, inform all other ships in the fleet to delay their entry, explain why and instruct the shuttle pilots that they want to put something as solid as possible between them and that same wave front."

She turned back to Draven. "I hate the idea of losing any of those we came here to save, but it would be more terrible to lose them and the gallant crews of your command together. Tell sites 19 and 23 I have delayed extraction. If they can get to a safer point then do so and give us the coordinates, we will adjust. If they want to blame someone for the dead, then they can blame me."

Moff Draven nodded his concurrence, accepting in silence the life line this Sith woman had thrown him. He knew he was going to hate himself later for not sharing the blame she was about to shoulder. A thought occurred.

"Chief Engineer McHenry, a word." He barked out.

The man appeared in seconds. "Sir?"

"If anyone knows the ship better than you then tell me now, because I need an honest, no covering your butt answer about what she can and can't do?"

"I can answer any question you may have Sir." The man replied in part curiosity and affront.

"Just how much stress can this ship take if we..." Moff Draven spoke for a minute outlining a wild idea while his Chief Engineer started, gaped in shock then bent his considerable intellect upon the question, in seconds he was typing furiously at the plotting tables computer station, a small display window scrolled rapidly through line after line of stress calculations.

"She'll handle the loads just but we'll need to visit a major yard afterwards to check the old girls skeleton, sir." He ran a finger down the display, pausing at a line of numbers. "See here sir, this is the absolute maximum she'll take before something serious breaks, stay inside those numbers and we should be good."

"Thank you Chief. Look after the old girl for me, we're going to stress like never before."

"Oh aye sir, you can say that again."

Moff Draven turned, grinned at the curiosity written across the Sith woman's face and hurried over to the man she put in the pilot's seat.

"Mister Andronikos, a word if I may."

Andronikos spoke while his hands danced over the controls, Dravern noted the course plot and grinned at the surprise he was about to unleash.

"Revel Moff Draven, Andronikos Revel, excuse me if I seem preoccupied, it's been a long time since I handled something this big."

"Well it's relief to hear you've handled ships this big, but I had an idea and spoke with my Chief Engineer, he reluctantly agrees that it is possible but there are some very definite limits that must not under any circumstances be passed. I'd like your opinion on it."

With a flourish he didn't realise he performed, Andronikos keyed the last sequence and grinned in pleasure at the new course he had plotted. Turning now, he gave the Moff his full attention.

"Oh, and what would you be thinking of Sir." Both of them ignored the small pause before the sir.

"This, how do feel about..."

For two minutes the Moff talked, using his body to block the miming actions of his hands from everyone else. Andronikos gaped at first, frowned then slowly grinned in boyish enthusiasm as the idea took hold.

"... And if you stay inside those stress values you won't break the ship... just."

"Remind me to never play you at anything that requires tactical thinking, I'll be staring at your hands while you have your feet stealing my cards. DAMN!" He spoke with feeling. "I never thought..." He broke off with a glance at the chronometer. "Okay, I better get to work, sir."

---

Administrator Gollic handed the steaming mug to Doctor Gkuckridge as she stared at the master display at the centre of the control room.

Gratefully she took the mug and sipped without thinking; seconds later she wheezed and choked as the 'fortified' brew burned its way down her throat. After a minute, when she felt she could speak again, she shot a dirty look at the Administrator.

"I'm not sleeping with you!"

"HUH!"

"I said, I'm not sleeping with you so stop trying to get me drunk with this crap you call coffee."

Gollic looked blank for several seconds before throwing his back and laughing uproariously.

"Doc..."

"Call me Helven, every time you say Doctor, I look around for Hargreaves."

"Okay, okay Helven then. Helven," he started again, "what do you honestly think?" He gestured to the display.

"Site 23 is dead, but those transport pilots of yours worked wonders to get everyone but the last 300 out in time. Site 19 though should be good if it survives the shock wave. You got a good man over there if he managed to get everyone moved a kilometre to that basaltic valley I pointed out."

"Ah, Doc... Helven, we got word just now, everyone's at the new site."

She closed her eyes, rubbing them with the heels of her hands.

"Thank the Gods, now they have a chance if that fleet follows through with what they planned."

Outside, several fleet shuttles descended far faster than regulations demanded into the excavated landing bays where they hovered. The noise blasted across the compound, shaking everything loose. Inside the control room they felt and heard a far distant scream of engines.

The pair shared a glance, Helven turning away first to look at the clock on the display.

"Twenty seconds, 18... 17... 16..."

The room went silent, everyone listening to the drone of her voice as it sound in the air in every room and suit of the mining colony.

At site 19a, men women and children, checked tethers and hunkered deeper into the shallow holes they had scrapped from the soft detritus in the side of the valley wall.

An unknown voice called out over the local channel. "Here it c..."

A noise, a combination of screaming and booming, but mainly pure thunderous noise burst over them. With it came the wind although calling it wind was a massive understatement. At the speed it was moving the very air was a solid object.

The top of the valley wall was torn apart, shredded in less than an eye blink. Dirt, pumice, accumulated ash from previous events and several metres of the underlying rock rocketed across the width of the valley and disappeared.

Some struck the far wall, one piece of solid, mica inlaid basalt about the size of a thumb from the first knuckle to the tip drilled more than sixty metres through the rock that had been exposed.

The vast majority of the ait though flowed up the leading side of the valley wall to pass overhead. Although, tens of thousands of heavy objects, unidentifiable debris came crashing down through the vastly stiller air inside the valley, turning its surface into something akin to an ancient battlefield.

But not all the blast wave passed over, a few tendrils dropped, curling along the ground. Tearing and ripping as it advanced. It found the huddled bodies and grasped at them. Clawing, ripping fingers of invisible power clenched the terrified screaming people. A few never even knew their safety lines had parted before they were transformed into paste against anything they struck as they whirled through the air.

On this planet, suits were mandatory, a break or rupture fatal. Mercifully, those few who survived there crushing impacts, shattering and splintering of bones as internal organs burst, died in seconds from the tears and punctures in their suits.

The blast wave passed over, leaving mad, screaming air behind it. Few several minutes the communication channels filled with the screams of the panicked and the dying as group leaders struggled to recover and bring order to the group in there charge. The senior operator, shaking his head to try and force the memory of the suit exploding beside him as it struck one of the excavators they used to get here, transmitted a command and a shrill whistle that beat at the ears sounded from every device, shocking all but the most pain wracked into silence.

"Secure yourself, damn it, check your suits, check your neighbours suits. Test seals, test lines, check those Sith damned anchors. Four minutes until the ground wave."

Again and again he repeated the instructions. The injured coming a belated second to personal survival, for it was not over yet.

The ground rose up in an almighty jerk, bouncing people two, three and for some six metres into the air as hastily set anchors tore free of just failed. Tethers snapped to taut straight lines as sudden body loads hit them. Ropes broke. More people became flailing hammers that crashed among the others.

The ground bounced and swayed, jumped and bucked for what felt like an eternity.

A 130 ton excavator leapt like a startled gazelle, the ropes securing it parting as if they never existed. Those nearest watched in awe as the machine rose up many metres before tumbling over and over as it came crashing down to roll and slide along the sloping landscape. Sudden cries of horror cut off as the mass rolled over them.

For almost a full minute they felt the ground beat and rally against them before realising it had stopped. Fingers frozen into claws painfully relaxed as the survivors began to acknowledge they still lived.

Later it would be reported that that nearly a thousand died, most from suit ruptures, but the number was mercifully small all things considered.

The blast wave and ground shock continued on, spreading out, slowing, and becoming weaker with distance but still powerful, still dangerous as it passed through the other sites. Even the most distant site suffered structural failures from the forces involved but the precious few hours of warning time saved most.

---

"And down we go!" Shouted Andronikos as he brought the ship around and pointed its nose down.

Voices rose in horror at the visual display beyond the vast viewing windows of the Bridge.

Moff Draven and the Chief Engineer stood beside their consoles, each gripping a hand hold; a metal handled really intended to facilitate the removal of equipment for maintenance and stared fixedly at the stress indicators on their displays.

Throughout the ship, field generators, normally quiet and hardly noticed made their existence known. They hummed, louder and louder, some even beginning to 'sing' as the power now pouring through them rose to seldom utilised levels. Artificial gravity compensators groaned, inertia compensators whined and the ship nosed over and fell like a spear behind the disappearing blast wave.

The touch of air on the skin of the ship brought a sharp rebuke from Andronikos who, after his one and only outburst was a perfect study of concentration.

"Gods damn it, where are my deflector shields. Someone kick the lazy ass..."

The rising scream of thickening air stopped as a nearly imperceptible flicker danced around the ship.

"Structural reinforcement to maximum. Compensators to speed. Manoeuvring thrusters to my command. Docking thrusters to my command." Andronikos spoke loudly and clearly but intense concentration showed through in his every word.

"Aye aye, sir." Were the automatic replies from the crew members who oversaw the stations addressed.

The ship bucked, tossing about as the atmosphere thickened and still they dropped in an impersonation of a stone.

Adriarnna stood beside the plotting table watching the representation of the wave moving across the planet and the evacuation sites. Even as she hated them, the reports on damage and casualties came in far slower than she liked.

Moff Draven spoke aloud as he too read the same reports. "Only three shuttles lost, that's far better than I expected and they managed to relocated the people at site 19, we have a chance now."

"A chance, yes, but until we're away from this planet..." She let the words trail off.

The ship shuddered and bucked just then.

"Damn it; keep on top of those blasted compensators!" A sweating Andronikos called, he did not wait to hear the acknowledgement. Hands blurring, his fingers danced across the controls as he guides the plummeting ship down along the course he had plotted. With slow deliberate care he banked the great vessel through a series of S-turns, bleeding off velocity and altitude. Without the energy shields and force fields surrounding the ship, its skin would now have been blinding white, the metal softening with temperatures approaching that of the surface of a small star.

A groan reverberated through the ship, a deep fearful sound that struck far into the animal part of the mind. Crews looked fearfully around, for the source of the noise.

A voice from the Engineering station called out, deep and powerful yet with a calm, self assured tone.

"Och, laddie, watch them inertial compensators now, she's only flexing. There's nay worry."

Only Adriarnna felt the lie in the words, her connection to the force giving her access to more than the natural senses of a being. She could almost taste the man's worry as yet another groan echoed through the compartment.

The vessels regularly duty pilot, relocated to a secondary role watched Andronikos play the controls like an artist, although every few seconds he called out readings to the same man.

"300 kilometres from target, altitude now 31 point 6 kilometres. Rate of descent increasing. Turbulence reading at point 7 and falling."

"Get ready everyone." Andronikos called to the bridge while activating a ship wide circuit. "All hands brace for turbulence, repeat all hands brace for turbulence."

Around the vessel, beings looked at each other at the strange announcement.

"Bow thrusters firing, bringing her nose up!"

A shudder and multiple groans ran through the ship as she fought the change in attitude.

The co-pilot blinked at his now suddenly leaping display. "Theta loading changing rapidly... GODS!"

"I know damn it, keep me appraised,"

Shuddering, bucking and fighting every movement, the twin horns of the harrower class ship inched upwards as blinding jets of fury boiled from the forward pointing manoeuvring ports.

"209 kilometres from target, altitude now 23 point kilometres and stress levels within limits... barely."

Andronikos did not look, but his voice snapped like a whip. "Readings man, readings!"

"Lateral loading 0 point 37, longitudinal loading 0 point 98..."

"Gods, too high, way too high. Cutting thrusters to 82%"

"You can't, we'll overshoot!"

"Better we overshoot that break our damn back! Readings?"

"Longitudinal 0 point 89, theta three 0 point 88, theta nine..."

Everyone else listened intently to the co-pilot, even though most had no clue what of the significance of the numbers."

"Lady Adriarnna, we'll overshoot the target zone by 11 kilometres at this rate, nothing to worry about though."

"How much time will that cost..."

Andronikos called out at that point.

"Drop structural reinforcement to 70%, disengage thrusters." A click came from the loudspeakers all around the ship. "All hands ready for a moments turbulence."

Adriarnna looked quizzically at Moff Draven before the pair turned in confusion to Andronikos.

The ship gave a squeal that hurt the ears as it flipped onto its side. People unprepared for the move slid across decks and into bulkheads as the gravity generators gave a whistle of strain and the inertial compensators screamed. Sudden silence reigned.

The speakers clicked once more as the voice of the normal ships pilot came on.

"All hands, we are now stopped precisely above the target."

Adriarnna and Moff Draven moved rapidly over to the sweat soaked but grinning Andronikos.

"Andronikos, what did you do?" She asked even as she laid her hands on his shoulders and pushed gently waves of force healing through him.

"Slewed the ship around so our main engines acted as a brake, had to put her on her side though for that final turn, I... err... I underestimated how quickly this ship responds, almost undershot the target area."

A voice called out from the side, attracting everyone's attention just then, although Adriarnna allowed a hand to slid up along her husband's shoulder and caress his neck a brief moment.

"Shuttles departing site 19a, landing operations commence in thirty seconds. We are directly over the site at three kilometres altitude."

Modd Draven looked to his pilot, who only shook his head and nodded at Andronikos. Adriarnna though pulled his seat around and ignoring the presence of everyone else, laid a kiss on lips that made more than a few turn away blushing.

When she finished, she became aware of the grinning faces and coloured slightly but ignored then all. Andronikos though, had a slightly stunned expression alongside the huge grin plastered over his features.

"I take it, I did good?"

"Later husband, we'll talk later."

"Oh goody, I love it when you punish me!"

Laughter echoed around the bridge as the crew busied themselves with the arriving evacuation shuttles.

---

On the planet's surface inside the central facility, the suited young man at the Planetary Sensor station dragged himself from the floor and back into the seat he had recently been thrown from. The passing ground shock from the eruption had only finished a minute or two ago.

Administrator Gollic switched in the network wide channel for the entire facility as he helped Helven up from under the desk she had ended up.

"This is the Administrator, all section chiefs and divisions report in."

Listening to the reports, he checked his suit, then Helven's for damage before checking the visible tell-tales for the room's integrity. Finding nothing wrong he limped over to the table to call up the integrity of all the structures at the facility. Helven joined him moments later by leaning on the table.

"That was worse than I wanted but not as bad as I expected. Any damage Yarneie?" She asked as she started doing some stretches to work out the kinks in her bruised muscles.

Administrator Gollic could not remember exactly when he had given her his name, but he felt a small twinge of pleasure whenever she now said it.

"Nothing major yet, Helven although we have any number of minor air leaks, I'm getting the reports now, here's hoping, eh?"

"Yes, I hate the thought of losin..."

"SITH TESTICALES!" The young man now seated before the sensor station screamed out.

Heads turned all around the compartment at his sudden profane exclamation.

"Report." Gollic barked out.

"One of the ships in orbit just fell, sir. I mean she's just dropped like a rock. Straight down and accelerating, I think... I think she was hit by something from the eruption."

"WHAT! No, not possible, not unless they were over the eruption location and in low or very low orbit. What was that ship's location and distance from surface?" Asked a now concerned Helven.

She listened as the man called out the figures and quickly plotted them on the map she had opened on the table. Shaking her head she looked at Gollic.

"Too high, wrong location but if one of those ships has gone ..." She broke off her words.

"Then we are leaving more people behind. Are you absolutely certain we cannot set up a survival facility somewhere on the planet?"

Still shaking her head she typed away at the console for a few moments bring up what data they were still receiving from the newly emplaced sensors before plugging it into a simulation of the planet. As she and Gollic watched the thick ash and dust cloud spread rapidly around the planet before spreading further north and south. Even though it thinned, the affect on the inhospitable atmosphere was sickening. Air already poisonous became more so while temperatures fluctuated wildly before trending downwards. The cooling air caused rain, acid rain but still acid and as the fluid fell across the highly volatile surface, the lava exploded in violent reaction. Vast clouds of highly acid fluid evaporated and the temperatures began rising as did pressure. Eventually a balance was reached but still the rain fall increased. Geysers erupted all across the planet as pools of water seeped into the ground to be heated by the hot lava. Volcano's and vent all around the world came to life in violent convulsions adding yet more dust and ash. Day followed day followed week and month on the simulation. Tiny areas were highlighted and even as Gollic pointed to one, Helven was there already. A small structure appeared at the spot, several structures in fact. Virtual recreations of the emergency structures they could emplace. Within days though the structures started to decay and vanish as the acid rain attacked then destroyed them.

"And that does not even include the main lava event and ground shocks. The best, the absolute best is one, maybe two weeks. How long will it take for ships to get here?" She asked quietly, knowing the answer already.

"A month, maybe if they really pushed it, a little over three weeks. Why is it happening so fast though, I thought the ash dispersion would be a lot more gradual, that we would have more time? This is so unlike anything I've ever read about."

With a wan smile, she took his hand. "This is unlike anything, most anyone has ever seen before. No, the problem is that shock wave, yes it is slowing but there's still a lot of energy behind it and it's going to keep moving, going to circle the world several times at least before it ceases to affect the natural air patterns of the planet. During that time though, it's going to be driving all the lightweight ejecta, all the dust and ash around the upper atmosphe..."

The building gave a lurch just then and several people exclaimed loudly in surprise.

"An aftershock from the main event or a secondary eruption, maybe even a ground shock caused by fault movement triggered by the main event. I expect we'll get a lot more of them before..."

The man at the sensors station spoke, cutting into the circuit so Gollic missed her last word. He didn't need to hear it to know what it was though.

"Administrator, that ship that dropped out of orbit, its controlled sir, it's following a definite descent pattern but who is flying that thing is insane. I... wait one. Another, no four, five... Administrator most of the heavies in orbit have entered atmosphere. I think, I think they're coming for us" The man's words trailed away into a small sob of hope.

"...In, mining control. Come... Respond... this freq... ear us."

The words burst out over the general broadcast frequency of the communications system, stunning everyone into instant immobility, abruptly a dozen of control room staff dashed for the main communications station. Several even began fighting at the station to reach the controls while Administrator Gollic just watched, shaking his head. After a minute or so he tapped at the tiny computer built into the arm of his suit.

Everyone around the station, including the five people battling to reach the controls instantly froze, their suit joints locking up in response to the emergency overrides he sent.

"Utterly disgraceful, I should have you all disciplined for that but I think maybe, leaving all you behind would be a better idea."

Helven tugged at his arm at this but he ignored her.

"But I really cannot do that, no, just think what the company would do to me about the loss of those precious suits and tools you're wearing, why they would have me shot."

He tapped on the little computer again and the five collapsed to the floor in an untidy heap.

"Get back to work you idiots before I really decide to do something nasty, fools!"

Meanwhile, Helven realising his intent instead switched frequencies on the communicator and started transmitting.

"Station broadcasting on this frequency, please repeat your message, we are reading you broken and garbled."

She repeated her own message several times before pausing to listen.

"Helven, the suits will not have enough power to broadcast that far, use the main transmitter."

She coloured at Gollic's words before noticing he had spoken on a private channel.

It took less than two minutes and then they had mostly clear communications where they could speak while the entire compartment listened to the short exchange.

"...Will not have much time so get everyone ready, we are heading for site 19a, someone else will be coming to you. If you have anything capable of reaching 50,000 metres altitude loaded then fill it and send it with the shuttles. Over."

"Understood, over and out." Administrator Gollic stared around the compartment, looking at each face in turn then coming to rest on the woman who had made his life hell.

"Doctor Gkuckridge, I just want to take this moment to say you are an insufferable pain in the butt, but I and everyone else owe you for saving our lives. Whatever happens, I want you to know just how much I appreciate you and your knowledge... and how wrong I was about you, even if you still are a pain in the butt." He held out a gloved hand as laughter and whistles broke out.

---

Even as the great ships tore through the riled air, shuttles lifted from the ground. Shuttles filled to capacity, sometimes dangerously over, but they rose and clawed upwards to meet the slowing ships. At the same time, anything left aboard that could carry a passenger was launching. Everyone knew this final effort was going to be somewhat crazy, that they would have to watch out for errors, but this was their one and only chance remaining to get everyone left alive off the planet's surface.

At the relocated evacuation site 19a, the hovering shuttles settled to the ground as soon as the main ground shakes subsided, waiting group leaders, chivvied their people aboard, getting them seated or secured as rapidly as possible. Minutes later the often overloaded shuttles staggered into the air, their engines screaming at ruinous power settings, while terrified passengers hung on for dear life and pilots alternately cursed and coxed their craft into the air.

Above, sliding into their assigned positions hung the huge mother ships, many showing burns and scorch marks across their normally immaculately painted skin from the speed of their entry into the atmosphere. Long before they arrived, small craft dropped away speeding towards to the ground and the various evacuation sites. A couple of pilots were slow to react to the still disturbed air, their craft tumbling before instincts kicked in and they corrected their flight paths. The local communications channel was filled with the bantering chatter of stressed pilots as they taunted or alternately bantered with those unused to atmospheric flight. Meanwhile, the communications traffic on the official flight control channels was short and pointed. No wasted speech or breath needed or used as requests, information or direction came in short bursts. The apparent chaos was a sham; everyone knew what they were doing, where they were going and got on with the job to hand.

The senior operator at 19a stood beside the wrecked excavator, his face drawn and tight inside his suit as he listened to the group leaders calling out the numbers with them as they boarded. Around him stood, sat or squatted a small group of men and women, other senior staff from the site who worked as his staff. Much to his and everyone else's surprise, the site Supervisor, had stepped aside, the man, a tall thin being of harsh demeanour and dour countenance admitted honestly at the time that they needed someone better, someone that the miners, surveyors, families, operators and all the rest would willingly listen to; someone who had the personality of a leader and did not rely upon the authority of the company and a very loud voice. Much to the man's surprise, his honest appraisal of his own ability had actually increased his popularity and now, serving as one of the principle organizers of the senior operator, he watched and learned other ways of handling people.

"Sir, the last three hundred have been assigned group leaders and slots in the rotation. Yan'skizz has already informed the inbound shuttles and Folkor is recalling his observers even now. His people say we have a minimum of fourteen minutes before the site is threatened by the lava flows. We should be out of here nine."

The senior operator, a man called Ti'cir turned and nodded his thanks to the supervisor, a minute later his rasping voice flittered across the command channel.

"Everyone, get to the beacons, we want to be away as soon as possible... and everyone, thank you."

Acknowledgments came back, but he heard none of them, he merely stood there, waving them off, waving them towards the landing beacons scatter about nearby for the shuttle to home on. A hand landed on his shoulder making him turn.

"What?"

The communicator beeped several times as the other touched chest mounted controls, manually changing frequencies.

"Ti'cir, you cannot stay here, 'she' would not want you to stay here, come with us." The hard voice of the supervisor sounded odd, distorted by the unaccustomed emotion he now allowed to show.

"I can't, I just can't... Why, why her and not me? It should have been me? She was everything... she was my world." His words faded into a sob as he finally admitted to himself that one of the bodies still underneath the wreckage was the woman he loved.

"Yes, you can Ti'cir, you can, she wouldn't want you to stay and die like..."

"Like what? Huh? What the hell do you know about it, you don't have a wife! You don't have kids and you certainly have never given a damn about any of us poor peon that push drills and shovel ore all day. What do you care for?"

"All right damn it, yes, I don't have a wife or children, maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about but I've had my eyes opened today. You and the others you proved that, and God's damn it I will not let you stand by and sacrifice yourself for a memory. Okay, you loved her, but damn it to hell man, she would want you to go on just the same as you would want her to go on and build a new life if that was you under there. Go on, tell me I lie, tell me that if that was you under there, you want not want, wish or pray for her to leave and rebuild her life anew. Call me a liar!"

With a wrenching sob, the operator threw himself at the other, his arms flailing. "You bastard, you filthy stinking bastard."

The supervisor caught him easily, expecting this reaction and held him as others who stopped and turned to check they were following rushed back. He swapped to the command channel just in time to catch an angry demand.

"...The hell did you do to him you bastard."

With, for him, quiet aplomb, he answered. "I made him angry enough to let go, I was not about to let the best of us stay here and die and do not doubt for a second that he did not intend to stay right here with his wife even when the lava flows arrived. Now shut the hell up and help me carry him to the beacon, our shuttles only a minute away."

---

Many kilometres away at site 3, the central Administration and Control facility for the entire colony, Administrator Gollic watched as the last of his people tramped quickly aboard the waiting shuttle. A touch on his arm turned his head and he started to see the suit of the Volcanologist Helven Gkuckridge standing there.

"What are you doing here, you should have left already?" He demanded.

"Yarneie, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you."

"Huh?"

"This last day, these last hours, I saw something in you I never did before and I... I just wanted to apologise for making things difficult."

"Oh hell, Helven..."

"No, let me finish. I know I'll be coming back here soon, probably as part of a Geological Planetary Science team to study this event in depth. Thanks to you and your people we got enough sensors emplaced and recorders placed in orbit that the data will be invaluable in the future."

"Oh, well, I guess, no problem then, happy to have helped." For reasons he could not understand he felt extremely bashful, almost shy.

"Well this is good bye or near enough and I wanted to make sure you knew."

"Oh, this is not good bye Doctor Gkuckridge, I've been contacted by the company already and they are moving me and those who want to stay to temporary faculty we will set up on the second moonlet while we see about setting up a remote mining operation back here. So I'll be back in a month or two with a team and equipment. This place is just too attractive and rich for the company to just abandon."

"You're coming back!" The woman's voice squeaked.

For reasons he did not understand, that squeak of joy gave him the greatest pleasure. "Yes, I will be."

The next few minutes were a confused mix of hugs and tears with both of them feeling extremely awkward but pleased.

---

The bridge hummed with the sounds of chatter behind her as Adriarnna leaned over the main plotting table and followed the evacuation. Moff Draven orchestrated his people with a light, deft touch. Already, 186,000 of the remaining 319,923 were aboard capital ships that were struggling out of the atmosphere.

Her eyes drifted to one display screen, it's steadily shining figure seeming a dagger to her soul. Even as she watched the number shown flickered and jumped up by 87.

"What the hell just happened?" She snapped out to the Lieutenant acting as her aide.

Before the woman could reply though, Moff Draven's voice cut through the noise.

"A shuttle at site 27 suffered engine failure and crashed, there was no survivors."

"Damn it! Was there any indication of trouble? Did the pilot ignore a warning?"

"Not that we know of, of course we may find something when we go back through the flight telemetry."

She looked back at the number and sighed. "We're so close, how is it looking?"

"It's going to be close. We'll have to shuffle some people around to balance the load between ships when we get into orbit, but we should be completed in an hour. Our biggest concern is the shuttles themselves. We've had twelve mechanicals and three complete power failures in the last twenty minutes alone. The mechanicals are being reported as contamination from the ash and dust clouds, but the power failures are unknown. On the plus side, there are only the five sites left to evacuate now, so the remaining ships are moving to new positions. We'll be the last ship out, my orders Lady Adriarnna."

"I agree with your decision Moff Draven."

"At least there is little left to go wron..."

"STOP! Don't say it, we have no wish to temp the fates."

As if they were waiting, listening, and deep rumbling alarm began sounding before she finished.

The pair of the spun around to face the staff officers.

Together they both spoke as one. "What happened?"

A large officer, tall and heavily built with wide shoulders, signalled the others to silence.

"The Tormentor just lifted for orbit on 3 engines and all available thrusters. She took a hit on the starboard engineering space aft, directly above her number two power node. It took out two main engines and the node, Sir."

Adriarnna spoke first this time.

"A hit from what, this is not a battlefield?"

"A fragment of ejecta we think Captain, analysis suggests a mass of 20,000 tons of solid basalt. It punched throw the hull like a plasma bolt through paper."

Moff Draven spoke next.

"Casualties?"

"Three hundred and sixteen, though that figure is just preliminary based on duty assignments and crew positions. At present the Captain of the Tormentor is more concerned about getting into orbit than answering our questions, Sir."

"As he should be. Let us know as soon as possible what the situation aboard is." Moff Draven concluded.

He looked at Adriarnna, who merely shook her head.

"You can go ahead and say it my Lady."

"No, it was just one of those things we... I never thought about."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Believe it Moff Draven, for all our vaunted power, the Sith are not omnipotent. We make mistakes, ours just cost more."

"You realise though that we have insufficient lift capacity to get everyone out now?"

"Yes, how short are we?"

"Approximately, space for 2,017 beings."

"What if we tale them all aboard ourselves?"

"We have the life support but the mass calculations say we won't make orbit, not with that many extras over and on top of what we intended to carry. We were already past our maximum safe lift with what we already intended to pick up."

"Can we lighten ship? Jettison anything unnecessary to make the difference?"

"We already lightened ship in orbit, even dumping the shuttle will still leave us unable to make orbit. We only have one choice."

"I do not want to accept that, there has to be a way."

"My Lady... I'll get the staff working on it; maybe there is something we overlooked."

Adriarnna stalked over to stand beside Andronikos at the conning station. He looked up and flashed her a toothy grin which died the instant he saw her eyes. Without thought he reached a hand out to her which she took in hers with just as little thought. Softly, little more than a whisper he spoke.

"Adi, what's wrong?"

She explained the situation just as quietly.

"Shit! There's nothing we can do?"

"No Andronikos, even at maximum, using all the emergency thrusters and engines available to you, we just won't make orbit."

"Can we get a pull from the others already in orbit, you know, have them use their tractors on us?"

"What do you think Andronikos, you're the pilot of the family, not me."

He made a soft rasping sound before resignedly nodding. "Yeah, tractors are useless against something of the same or greater mass, all you'd do is pull yourself to what your trying to hold on to if the tractor assemblies don't tear themselves out of the ship first. All we need is a lifeline though, something to grab onto to haul ourselves up with."

"I know, Andronikos, I kn..." Adriarnna froze, her face going impassive.

"Adri? Love?" Andronikos looked at her fully and held his tongue, although inwardly he cringed, he feared what she might do now she was trapped between her growing conscience and her duty to the Empire.

Two minutes later she leaned forward abruptly over his back and pointed at the navigational display.

Andronikos took a moment to enjoy the feel of two large globes pressing into his back even as he listened to her speak.

"Show me the planet and any orbital bodies."

"Sure, one sec Adi."

He tapped away at the console and seconds later a flat two dimensional representation of the planet and its two moons appeared.

"Now superimpose our position for the final pickup on the planet and highlight the position of the nearest moon."

Mentally shrugging, he did as she asked before making a comment.

"We don't have any tractors mounted on the upper hull, so if you were thinking of anchoring one or two on the moon and using that to drag us out of atmosphere, it won't work."

"I'm not, but thanks for the idea. Damn, they are both below the horizon."

"Thanks, yes, they are now, but if we adjust for elapsed time here the smaller moon will be above the local horizon. Why do you want to know Adi?"

"A silly idea, that's all."

"You, have silly ideas! Since when? Crazy ideas yes, insane ideas, but silly, never."

"Andronikos dear, i am going to beat you black and blue when we get back tour ship for that crack."

"So what else is new, but tell me I'm wrong."

The look she gave him answered that question.

Several minutes later Adriarnna interrupted Moff Draven.

"Any idea from you or your staff Moff Draven?"

"Nothing, that stands even a remote chance of getting everyone off the surface. The best we can come up with is filling the shuttles with as many as they can hold and have them make for orbit to offload to the others while crossing our fingers on the question of life support, but that will still leave over a thousand on the surface. We just cannot do it without risking tens of thousands."

"I have an idea, not a good one or clever and i have no idea if it can be made to work, but I order you to bring everyone up from the surface. Fill the shuttles, as many shuttles as you can get here in time and send them to rendezvous with the others already in orbit."

"Very well my Lady, but we will still be overloaded."

"I know."

---

Thirty-eight minutes later the bridge was quiet, those not concentrating on their duties stared at the tense, unhappy group beside the conning station. They noted the Ensign hurry over with an update in hand.

"... Really would prefer you explain how we are going to do this My Lady. Thank you Ensign, dismissed. Everyone is aboard; the last of the independent shuttles should leave in four minutes time. The Chief Engineer found a couple of thousand kilo's of material we can dump and has already done so but that still leaves us more than several thousand kilo's over the absolute maximum capacity for our lift thrust."

Adriarnna nodded in acknowledgment but turned to her husband instead.

"Andronikos, has that moon cleared the horizon yet?"

He shot the Moff a glance before answering, "Yes."

"Where exactly is it, point at it."

For several seconds he stared blankly at her then turned white as the blood drained from his face.

"Adriarnna... you can't do that."

"ANDRONIKOS! Point at it for me please."

Numbly he stared at her for a second before lifting a hand to point.

"Fine. Head towards it, best possible speed and Andronikos, whatever happens, keep going."

She stroked a hand over his face before laying it flat on a blank section on the rear of the console station. Her other hand came up as she felt for the force. Internally she had no idea if this would work or not, she only knew she had to try, she refused to consider what would happen if she failed.

The world slowed as the force flowed into her, through her. She pushed the hand on the console harder against the metal while she reached outward with those other senses, sense only a force user could understand.

She once spent an entire evening cuddled beside Andronikos trying to describe that sense to him, to make him understand. He claimed to have gained an insight, uncertain and imprecise, but an idea of what she meant. She hoped now that he really meant that and had not been saying it just to stop her talking.

She felt a distant object and focused her mind, concentrating upon it, discerning what it was until she was absolutely certain it was the moon. The minutes trickled by unseen and unfelt. Concentrating she speared a beam of force at the moon and gently pulled. Nothing happened.

Frowning, she tried again, imagining the beam of force to be a giant rope wound about the moon several time with herself as a winch and concentrated on pulling steadily upon the rope, trying to pull herself towards it.

Andronikos looked from the worried faces to Adriarnna and back at his instruments. They were just maintaining altitude and moving very slowly towards the horizon. A flicker caught his eye and he stared back down at the displays. Another flicker and a number changed.

"Velocity increasing, altitude unchanged." He stated in a hushed tone.

The number changed again, then again.

"Velocity increasing. All engines at maximum, altitude stable."

Adriarnna heard nothing; all she could see within her mind was a vast ocean, her hands and a rope. The rope ever so slowly went slack and she adjusted her grip, sliding one hand over the other to pull anew once more. Her head ached, the muscles of her body burned but she refused to stop.

"Velocity still increasing altitude up three metres."

Everyone stared at the Sith woman now, her body was vibrating, shaking slightly as if under some invisible strain. Sweat beaded her face and skin.

In a steady voice the now extremely worried Andronikos intoned his report. "Velocity increasing, altitude increasing."

She could feel a slow movement now, she was certain of it. Adriarnna ignored the burning and the pain and pulled, hand over hand she went.

"Velocity increase is slowing, altitude rising, now six point eight kilometres above the surface."

Hand over hand she went, her world shrinking to just a pair of hands that kept moving.

Those watching knew something was happening, for they were now halfway to orbit in an agonising climb that no one was completely sure how it was being done. A thud sounded around the bridge, making some of those watching start. Adriarnna was on her knees now, from where her body had partly collapsed just seconds ago. Her face and skim shone with perspiration, her clothing stuck to her, soaked from the same perspiration but still she held the same pose. One hand flat upon the console the other, unmoving, pointed directly towards the moon.

One of the staff gave a little gasp and pointed.

Where her hand lay on the console, the metal around it glowed a soft red, the air wavering as if heated.

Two hands, constantly moving, one sliding over the other.

"Passing eighty two kilometres velocity increasing again. Time remaining on thrusters, six minutes and seventeen seconds."

No one spoke on the bridge, every eyes was locked to the now visibly shaking Twi'lik slumped between the main forward viewport and the steering console. Everyone understood what was happening now; no one could believe it. Communications from the other ships watching the slow steady rise went unanswered.

Just two hands, that was her entire focus now, one after the other grasped the rope and gently tugged, then they changed places in a slow coordinated dance.

The ship's senior physician stood nearby, a small team with him all watching in wide eyed wonder as the Sith dragged the ship, metre by metre through the atmosphere using now but the force. Throughout the ship, many who had doubted the reality of the force now found belief as the word spread of just what was occurring on the bridge.

"Velocity constant, minimum safe altitude reached. Adi! ADI! ADI!" Andronikos rushed around the station with those last words and threw himself at the woman who had captured his heart. She hung their like a puppet shaking in a violent wind, her body convulsing, the sweat pouring from her pores.

First one hand and then the other, there was nothing else for her. She felt nothing, she heard nothing.

Andronikos flung himself at her and bounced off an invisible wall. Ignoring the presence of the other he screamed at her, pleaded and begged. Tears sprang from his eyes as he shouted at her to stop.

The ship's original pilot slid smoothly into the vacated ship, her eyes moist too as the man begged frantically.

A hand slid forward and stopped painfully when it struck a knot.

The pilot's voice spoke steadily into the silence of a bridge broken only by the sound of breathing.

"Velocity steady, stable parking orbit achieved, rate of climb... zero. I say again, rate of climb ceased."

A thump echoed through the compartment as Adriarnna crashed to the deck. Andronikos screamed her name, the physician and team rushed forward and a dumbfounded Moff Draven helped haul the grieving Andronikos away for the Doctor to the Sith.

"Andronikos, Andronikos, how? How did she do it?"

Andronikos looked at the Moff with pain filled eyes stripped of all the defences he had built over a lifetime of dealing with the world.

"You have to ask how? Why would be a better question? She was going to save everyone or die trying, she would not, could not turn her back again on another's suffering." He turned to where the medic team were moving her lifeless form onto a stretcher. "She's been through hell, real hell in her life, I know a little of it. That which she thought I could take but she refuses to tell me about it all. I sliced her diary once and read a little more. I've never touched her diary since. No, she may be a Sith now, but she is a Sith on her terms, with her own sense of right and wrong and whatever the order thinks does not matter. She said she would get everyone alive out, she gave you her oath in that statement and she did everything to keep it... and I... and I..."

Moff Draven nodded to the medic standing there waiting. A hypo spray hissed and Andronikos slumped into his and the arms of those holding him.

"Do NOT separate them, I do not care a nerf herders left testicle what the Doctor thinks, they are kept together."

Turning he began barking out orders, people started moving and communications got answered as orders went out arranging the transfer and distribution of the evacuees among the remaining ships.

---

Five weeks later

In orbit around Tarrick V

"Come!" Moff Draven called as he walked back into the main compartment of his cabin, tugging on his uniform jacket, as the hatch chime pinged once more.

A moment's pause and then the hatch swung open to admit a gaunt looking Adriarnna who even after several weeks of enforced bed rest looked frail and unsteady. She'd stood no chance after her husband, Andronikos had heard of the argument she had had with the ship's chief physician. It had startled and amused the medical staff to see the protesting Sith carried bodily into the medical bay to a bed before her extremely stern faced husband dropped his large frame into a chair at the end of her bed and just sit there glaring at her. The big surprise though came over the following days, he would be there when she woke and there when she fell to sleep, sometimes sitting there and reading to her in a soft quiet voice while at other times he would groom her face and head. He even sat beside her bed while they ate meals together. Through it all the staff found that the Sith Adriarnna would protest and create but never threaten anyone who had a purpose to be there.

Adriarnna spoke before he could do more than open his mouth. "I came to say my farewell's Moff Draven and to give you a copy of the report I have already filed with sector and central commands on the event that took place on Hell in the Purgatory star system. I'd like you to read it now, before I leave and you submit the report I know you're working on."

She held out a data wafer which he took, his fingers playing with it for a brief moment before settling down at his desk and asking the question which had immediately jumped to the front of his mind.

"Do I really want to read this?"

"I think so, I think you should know what I reported, so we do not 'contradict' each other. I do not know about you, but I really do think that neither of us wants to undergo an in-depth debriefing from our respective organizations."

"True enough." With a little trepidation he inserted the wafer into the waiting slot on the desk, waited the second or two for the system to access it and started reading.

Over the two next hours, he looked up several times with hooded eyes and an impassive face until finally he sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"That has got to be one of the finest examples of muck spreading and truth telling I have ever read. One question though, why?"

"Which why do you ask, why did I report arriving on the scene too late to take command do you mean or why do I describe the efforts of you and your crew's innovative and inspired solutions to the problems you faced or is there something else you wish to know the why of?"

"Well all of that, but mostly did occur to me but mainly I want to know why are you giving the entire credit for the evacuation to me and my crews. You ascribe those 'inventive solutions' as you out it, entirely to my staff and pilot. In fact all you state you did in this report, is that you arrived too late and only observed the final evacuation from your ship in orbit, there's absolutely no mention of your actions, of assuming command or that your 'pilot', who by the way has my entire compliment of fighter jocks standing in a line to buy him drinks and proclaim him as the 'finest pilot in Imperial service', was the person who exhibited the highest level of ship handling and dexterity I have ever witness in the control of a vessel this size."

Adriarnna laughed delightfully at that before smiling at the confusion expression on the Moff's face.

"Oh, Andronikos will be livid when he hears that for he still has deep seated loyalties to the Republic even if he fails to realise I can see them, but to answer your question. You deserve it, you and your people worked tirelessly to rescue as many as you did in the short amount of time you had available to you and it is not my place to take the credit and the glory that is rightfully yours. I may be a Sith, Moff Draven, but I am a Sith unlike any other. Like you I serve the Empire, but unlike many in my Order I value the lives and efforts of those with whom I work beside and protect. So I was here, so I took over your command for a short time; so what. I feel certain that you would have found a way to get everyone off that planet and maybe one not as hard on your vessel as mine but still..." Her speech trailed away and she shrugged shyly.

For several minutes Draven sat there thinking and staring, his chin resting on raised fingers. Abruptly he stood and held out a hand.

"My thanks and my compliments Lady Adriarnna. I and my crew owe you a debt, one I expect I will moan about when you collect on it but one I genuinely feel comfortable owing. You truly are something different from what I expected."

"My thanks to you and your crew once more Moff Draven and thank you for having your technician's service and resupply my vessel." With a last hand shake and a nod of the head, she left.

Moff Draven stood there, staring at the closed hatch for many long minutes. Turning he retrieved the wafer and spoke to the air.

"Yes my Lady, you are most certainly something very different, you actually give me hope about the future of the Empire."

Pressing a button on the desk he spoke once more in the stiff formal voice of command.

"Commander, as soon as the Lady Adriarnna's ship undocks prepare to get us underway, we have a date with the ship yard and a lot of work ahead of us to get back into shape, also inform the crew that I will be addressing them shortly about the report the Lady's Adriarnna's submitted on the events on Hell and they would all be well advised to listen."

He did not bother listening to the reply as he closed the circuit; instead he chuckled as the memory of the Chief Engineer's report filtered through his mind and wondered just what the people at the ship yard will make of a Harrower class ship arriving with a hull bowed like a banana.

- Finis -

Rev27:27-10-14

Note: This is actually a fragment of a chapter from the original Kallig's Legacy storyline. That original story is long gone, consigned to the great recycle bin in the sky, but I thought you might like to get a glimpse of the sorts of things Adriarnna got up to in her long journey through the Star Wars: The Old Republic universe between those scenes you already know from the game. As you can tell from above she had changed a great deal on her way to finding personal redemption and happiness, alas the coming years and the machinations of the Sith would not be kind to her in the coming years.

I hope you enjoyed this little short, I heavily reworked it over the last month and admit I am not completely satisfied with it myself but just cannot leave it much longer without posting something for your entertainment.