Previously:

The sniper man adjusted into a firing position. She took this que and stepped forward, her own blaster in hand and pressed it to the man's back and spoke with as much ice as she could muster.

"Do not make a sound."

The man stiffened visibly and raised his hands slowly, almost with difficulty. He inclined his head slightly to the right, as if trying to look at her, face hidden by a cover too.

"Take your mask off," Valanthe instructed next, keeping her pistol trained at the bigger target, his body rather than his head.

Shock came as he did so slowly, revealing a familiar face. He seemed pale, the night making him look like a spectre, ironically.

"Pel?"

Valanthe lowered her pistol and stepped over to him, "what happened? You're injured." She could feel it now, his pain, now that she was closer to him, focused.

Before she could do more or he could answer they heard another familiar voice yelling;

"Hey! What the kriff are you doing?! Get your paws off of me, shabuir!"

A small nod from Pel was all that was needed for Vala to rush through the bushes to where she'd left the others. She hadn't bothered to recloak, it didn't matter at that point, for her cloak would have dropped anyway moments later as she took in the sight in front of her.

Standing at his full height, arm extended Krell had one of the 'attackers' held by his ankle, dangling upside down. The man was struggling against the Besalisk's iron grip, his arms searching wildly for something to hold onto. Turning slightly as Valanthe came out of the brush, Krell fixed her with a look, his eyes shifting between her and his 'captive.'

"Does this belong to you?"

Burner had his rifle trained at the third attacker whom she assumed was Torn. Stick, for all that he was wearing a helmet looked lost between wanting to help his brother and being shocked at the General's behavior.

Valanthe on the other hand stood there, gaping, the tone of her skin turning a dark shade of brown as she processed just exactly what he'd said.

"Krell, put him down! It's one of my missing men!" she called out, her stance authoritative, quite ready to have at the gigantic Jedi Master. This in itself looked quite disproportionate considering how short Valanthe was compared to the troopers alone, let alone to the Besalisk himself.

"Put him down." She said again. He called him an THIS? Really, Krell?

"Commander? Stang! You took your time getting here!" The upside down man, whom she was now certain was the quite mouthy Aster, struggled in vain in his awkward position.

Valanthe cringed inwardly. Stang, Aster, you're not helping yourself.

Using one of his free hands to gram the clone by the collar, Krell flipped the clone over, depositing him on the ground feet first. "Your attack was sloppy, unfocused," Krell said dusting his hands off as he turned fully toward Valanthe. "So is this your first or second lost team?"

"Pel, Aster and Torn, Felucia II." Valanthe stepped over to Aster, "you owe Jedi General, Master Pong Krell an apology, Aster." She glanced to her side briefly, seeing Stick run off to assist Pel who had trouble walking as he exited his cover. Burner was apologizing to Torn.

Aster ground his teeth together as he snapped to attention, "Sergeant Aster, sir. I apologize for cursing you out, sir. Things have gone down the Sarlacc pit here, sir."

"Noted, Sergeant and accepted, provided you have a more in depth report of the situation beyond down a Sarlacc pit." Krell's top set of arms crossed sternly across his broad chest, giving the towering Besalisk an unyielding and more intimidating visage than before.

Aster's jaw flexed again, but he nodded.

"Let's start from the beginning. Why are you here and not in the outpost, and where's Felucia I?" Valanthe asked from where she crouched next to a now sitting Pel and Torn who was checking his injuries.

"The outpost has been stripped of any data that may or may not have been there from what we could tell," said Aster, looking over at Burner then at Vala. "We found signs of battle and a struggle when we arrived."

"And Blackie, Len and Vas? Any sign of them?" Burner's voice was stone cold, as it always got when he was having trouble keeping his composure.

Aster sighed, shaking his head, "we found pieces of armour, we found blood, but no bodies."

Stick, his helmet now off and under his arm, "any thoughts on whom?"

"There was some debris left, droid parts. B1 battle droids. Working theory is either they got spotted on a patrol by Seppies, or the Seppies spotted the outpost and attacked them." Pel spoke up with some difficulty.

Burner nodded, "so they were in the outpost when you arrived?"

Torn spoke next, his tone soft and quiet as usual, "no, sir. We found it empty. We couldn't be sure if they were coming back or if they just left it, you know how dumb they can get. Well how dumb they are."

"So...who...attacked you?" Valanthe's brow was furrowed as she tried to process the information.

"That's just it, we don't know. They're not droids, not even Commando droids...they come at night. Vicious, smart creatures. Real hunters," Pel grumbled, "they got me good, broke several ribs, puncture wound. Thank the stars that we had Torn with us."

"We've been moving since the first night, to try to keep them off of our tail till help arrived." Aster sighed. "They trashed our comms and the base's comms too so we couldn't call for help. You noticing we're overdue was our only hope."

"The locals perhaps?" Krell mused a third arm stroking his goatee. "We know they are primitive and don't use energy weapons. Up to now they've mostly avoided our forces…"

"So why start attacking them now?" Valanthe looked up from where she was, placing a gentle hand on Pel's shoulder and squeezing before stepping over to Krell. "Besides, the boys adapt quickly, they'd have been able to hold fort at the outpost."

She saw Burner nod as he stepped over to them. His Force signature echoed certainty and no small amount of pride and self assurance in their abilities and training.

"The Commander's right," he said, adjusting his grip on his rifle. "We should still go to the outpost. If it's been stripped of data, they may come back for salvage or, kriff, even research. We need to scuttle it."

Valanthe nodded, "agreed, worth a look to also check if maybe any of the security system backups are still functioning, we may have caught our mystery hunters."

Burner nodded, "ma'am, are we going after Felucia I?"

She suddenly felt a collective, subconscious holding of breaths from the five clones. It was quite obvious her answer mattered to them a lot. This left her in a conundrum. While on one hand she wanted to say yes very badly, on the other, if the enemy force was overwhelming, there was no way they could rescue them, provided they were still alive, even with two Force users with them.

"We will go, Burner, if we manage to ascertain where they are and if we're not outnumbered. We can only do so much with seven of us plus one wounded. Not even general Krell's jungle commandos would help us against numbers," she said kindly, trying to cover both fields of thought.

The general consensus was one of bitter acceptance, among the vode. Valanthe wished she could give them a better answer. She wanted to give them a better answer.

"Pel, do you need help or can you walk?"

Her answer was a painful grunt as she turned towards him. "I'm fine, Commander."

"Aster, help him. Torn, keep an eye on him, but I'll need you ready in case we get in trouble. Stick, cut the Signal. If they could have heard it by now we'd have known. I'll need you to mine the outpost just in case something was missed. Alright lads, get ready to go." Valanthe issued orders, then motioned Burner and Krell aside.

As they gathered with her, she spoke in a quiet tone, "whoever's been keeping pace with us so far will continue to do so, especially now that they know our plan. Be ready for an attack."

Burner nodded.

Krell nodded as well, and he could still feel something out in the dense jungle; the Commander was right about the possibility of an attack. Taking a moment he signaled his troops defending the base camp to prepare for an attack.

"Alright, let's go." The Mirialan made a motion that signalled the small group to move ahead. They weren't too far off now.

Burner joined Stick taking the rear this time, while the two Force wielders took up the front, while the wounded Pel, Aster, and Torn took the middle. It took them another hour, slowed down by the wounded. As they neared the exit of the jungle, Vala raised her fist up at the elbow, calling for a stop.

"Stay here, I'll scout ahead," she said, nodding towards an opening in the mountain side about five hundred meters in front of them. If one didn't know what they were looking for, it would pass as a cave easily.

Normally, however, it would be covered, made to look like growth on a stone, rather than being so invitingly open.

"Perhaps it would be better if the clones scouted ahead, that way we can easier respond to any developing situations," Krell suggested as he looked down over the terrain before them.

She turned her head towards him slowly, her expression as neutral as she could make it. "General, with respect, it sounds like you're suggesting we use them as bait." Her words were however clipped. "I can pass the length unseen, literally, without tipping our hand."

She almost continued with; it would be foolish to send anyone else. There is no need to get anyone else hurt.

"If you feel it is worth the risk then I won't stop you Commander," Krell replied gruffly. "I was merely suggesting that we would be far more capable of pulling the scouts out of an ambush than they could you. The Force is a powerful ally after all and a multiplier on the battlefield."

She could feel the ire of the clones building behind them.

"Except, if they can't see me, they can't ambush me," Valanthe clipped back. "Alright everyone, stay low and be ready. I'll be back quickly."

That said, she closed her eyes briefly, took a deep breath and called upon the Force once again. She shimmered out of sight and stepped into the more or less unobstructed path towards the outpost.

She kept her eyes on the path, looking for signs to its sides. If there had been a struggle, clues could have been left on the outside as well. Provided, of course that the attackers came the way she did. There was no way to know that really.

The surrounding brushes looked like they'd seen better days. She could see small scraps of fabric, chips of armour, various other debris she'd need time to analyze before she could identify them. A B1 droids head, another, a mangled torso, a weirdly mangled leg. More odd debris. The ground looked as if something as dragged along it.

The Mirialan kneeled next to a strange footprint. It wasn't human, nor was it droid. It had the vague shape of a human leg, except either three large toes, or claw-like protrusions.

From briefings and reports, she knew that the locals on Felucia had large, roundish appendages that didn't seem to have what most humanoids would call a foot. This footprint definitely wasn't Felucian.

Deciding to move on, she looked ahead into the dark opening. Even to her, it looked spooky. Taking another deep breath, keeping herself cloaked from sight with the Force, she stepped inside. She could not feel anything alive in there, but she could feel something on the very edge of her senses. Something calling to her.

Before venturing further, she decided to return to the group so that they could make their way inside together. It took her less time to return to them as she didn't spend as much time looking for clues.

Once behind the cover they'd chosen, she shimmered back into view, breathing deeply, a slight sheen of sweat on her temples.

"There's nothing alive in there, that much I could tell. But I found debris, mangled droids. In a strange way that doesn't seem consistent with the way our troops fight, nor theirs," She said after a moment.

"Locals maybe?" Burner wondered.

Vala shook her head, "I don't think so, I found a footprint that's not local, nor one of ours or Seppie."

"Interesting, there aren't many external forces who want to get entangled with either side, and the ones that would, well simply put wouldn't care about a small group of clones or battle droids. A wild animal or pack of animals perhaps?" Krell offered.

Vala shook her head, "it had a vaguely humanoid shape, except it has three large fingers or claws, talons maybe, I can't be sure without a scan."

"That's not good," Stick squeezed the grip of his rifle tighter.

Burner did the same as he prepared to move. "Alright, we're ready to move on your word, Commander."

Vala nodded, looking over at Krell. "Ready?"

"Yes," Krell said with a gruff nod, drawing his lightsabers as they prepared to advance on the base.

Vala stood, readying her pistol again, and motioned for them to move. A staggered formation, Burner and Stick moving up in front with Vala right behind them, Torn, Aster and Pel in the middle, the rear brought up by Krell.

A small part of Vala that wasn't watching their surroundings couldn't help a small feeling of pride at how quickly and efficiently the boys moved, keeping watch, keeping alert, even Aster and Pel who were more busy with each other.

Burner called for a stop at the entrance to the cave, he and Stick on either side of the entry, turning the torches on their helmets on. Burner counted off on his fingers before they entered, one covering high, one covering low. Valanthe entered next, opening her senses again. There was something down in the bowels of the base, in the main control room. Something faint, but present.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

She could hear them calling out as they checked each room. Valanthe pressed her palm to the stone wall and closed her eyes, feeling.

The facility was built into the rockface, using up the space as best as they could without changing the natural structure too much, mostly to avoid detection, so all of the ceilings and a lot of the walls were natural rockface, rather than artificial walls.

"Commander, we've cleared the facility. You were right, there's no one here." She could hear Burner in the back of her mind.

"Krell, do you feel that?" Valanthe however didn't answer him, her eyes set upon a point far away rather than in the present time and space, a slight silverish glow to them.

Nodding as his gaze followed Valanthe's, there was definitely something else going on here. He could feel it, like something hanging just at the corner of your vision and if one were to move their eyes to look, it would be gone.

"Down in the control room," she murmured then realized that Burner was still standing there, a confused look on his face now that his helmet was off.

"Commander?" He asked, part of him curious what kind of Jedi thing they were up to now, a part of him mildly taken aback by his Commander not acknowledging him immediately.

Valanthe had the good grace to look apologetic. "Burner, I'm sorry, I… I'm sorry I should have answered you immediately." How could she explain to him what she sensed? Would he understand? Would he even believe her?

"It's alright, Commander. The facility is clear and secured. What are your orders?" He asked.

"Plug Stick in, mine the database, see if we can get anything from the security feeds. You and Aster rig detonite charges, set them on a delayed blast countdown. Once we have what we need, if we find anything we'll scuttle it," Valanthe said.

"Commander," Stick spoke up as he rejoined them in the main room that lead to the exit, "I found blood and organic residue on the floor and along the walls. Someone either died or was severely injured in there."

Vala nodded, sighing, "alright. Master Krell and I will check it out, Burner has your orders."

"Yes, Ma'am." Stick nodded and stepped over to the other man.

"Shall we see if we can find whatever it is down there?" The Mirialan looked over at the Besalisk.

"If you're done here," Krell said more than asked, beginning to walk down the dark corridor at an even pace. "Unless you'd rather continue to coddle your men."

"You're the Jedi, I thought that was your job," Valanthe muttered through a sigh, as she started after him. "I'm just being polite."

The descent through the darkened corridors down to the bowels was disconcerting to say the least. The fluorescent fungi, and one of the torches the men had detached from their rifles and left to light the path, made it seem like a maze in one of those children's stories she used to hear about at the Temple when the youngling clans attempted to have fun.

Ghost stories, they called them.

With what we're sensing, we may as well be living a ghost story here and now.

She could feel pressure between her eyes, at the center of her forehead too. Valanthe pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled, her lilac eyes glancing along the walls.

Blood.

As they entered the room she felt a tightening in her chest.

Looking around the room it was clear there had been quite a struggle here, quick and savage...it may not have started out that way but by the end it had been a desperate fight for survival, brute force against brute force. Krell had seen it before, many times in fact, there was something eerily familiar about the way things had fallen.

Vala's vision swam a little. She could hear a high pitched sound in the back of her head and an all too familiar piercing in her temples, the tell tale signs of a Force induced migraine. Except, no vision came this time. They usually accompanied the migraines.

"Echoes in the Force," Vala realized. "Blonde hair, heterochromia - one blue eye one brown, scar across his cheek...oh Blackie. Fighting...a…" her brow furrowed as she tried to make out what she was feeling, "a scaly beast?"

"With sharp claws...hissing..tall and strong…" Krell added the blurred shapes seen through the Force becoming clearer.

Her hand went over her mouth, a sickening feeling rising in her stomach, "Spirits, it tore him apart...literally. I can practically feel it." The hand transitioned to the wall for support. "The moment repeats itself, almost as if frozen in time."

Valanthe took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "That's one...where are the other two. What happened to them?"

I failed them. Spirits, I failed them. I didn't check in on them in time… she clamped down a feeling of guilt and panic quickly. They had a job to do and that beast, probably more of them were still out there, maybe even with the two missing men.

"The others did not die here, this was isolated, the beasts were organized…" Krell said, turning to look around the room again, lightsaber in hand. He may have no special love for clones, but an enemy that could successfully take on a Republic base wasn't to be underestimated.

"An attempt to trap it maybe, would explain why they didn't actually move in. Tight corners, our boys could control the fight, out there…" Vala looked up as Burner stepped down, his hands filled with detonite charges.

"We've rigged upstairs. Just this room left. Stick wasn't able to find anything with the data mine. System's blank. Good thing is, it appears that it was our guys that set up the self wipe trojan. But we can't be sure the Seppies didn't actually take anything," Burner said looking at his distraught Commander. "What's happened?" His tone softened up a little almost as if forgetting Krell was in the room.

Vala shook her head, "Blackie's dead. I'll explain later," she said putting up a finger to stop him from asking questions. "We scuttle first then I'll explain."

"Yes, ma'am."

She stepped past him, needing to get away from the assaulting images. Places of sudden, violent deaths left imprints in the Force such as this one. She passed by Aster in the dim hallway, then by Stick in the entry room. Could she tell them? Describe in vivid detail the visceral truth of what happened to their vod? Maybe even to the others as well? Should she inflict this on them?

The green skinned woman needed to clear her head, to focus on something other than the slowly but steadily rising guilt.

"How's he doing?" Vala stepped over to Pel who looked more like the stone that surrounded them than a tanned man he'd been before.

Torn kept his concern off of his face well, but she could still feel it. "We need to get out of this place soon, Commander. He's okay for now, but I don't know how long I can keep him going." His face softened as Pel's soft snore let them know he was still alive, just succumbed to his exhausted body.

Riis nodded, "we should be done soon. They're rigging the last room. I'm going to keep watch outside. Let me know when everything's done."

"Yes, Commander." Torn nodded, watching after her as she disappeared from his sight, literally. Who's looking after you, Commander?

Vala climbed onto the rockface above, still hidden from sight by the Force, crouching on the part that overlooked the entrance. Breathing deeply, she tried to release her feelings into the Force, let it take them away, let her focus on what she could do in this time and place. A silent, invisible tear streaked down her cheek before she rubbed it away, letting out a deep, hopefully calming breath.

Blackie was dead, Vas and Len were still missing. In her semi meditative state, she could let her mind focus on the clues. The footprint, the marks on the walls. Tall, scaly, hissing hunters who had sharp claws and were organized.

Wookies? She considered silently as she observed their strange surroundings, no, fur instead of scales and they don't have obvious claws. Who else do we know? Vornskr? No...also furry, not humanoid.

Then she heard it. Movement in the brush surrounding the upcoming path and around the base's roof. There also seemed to be deep growling-trilling sounds. Quickly, she moved from her spot and slipped back into the base.

Decloaking, she kneeled next to Torn, "wake him up and get him ready to move, we have company."

Stick had just finished packing his gear, "Seppies or our mysterious attackers?"

"Your attackers. I think I know who they are, it didn't click until I heard them." Vala said as she passed by him and into the base. "Rig the detonators, we need to go, we're about to have company. There's lots of them."

"Commander?" Aster turned to her, helmeted head bobbing to the right a bit in question.

"Trandoshans."

"TRANDOSHANS HAVE ENTERED THE BASE!"

Finale In Part 2