The Descendant: Echoes of the Revanchist

by darthmaul90

The Old Republic is gone; the last vestiges of it swept away and replaced by Palpatine's Galactic Empire. But as the heroic Rebel Alliance wages their war of independence against Palaptine's machine, the descendant of Revan stands poised to launch his own war against the Empire. Will he be persuaded to join the Rebellion, or will he make his own path amongst the battlefields?

36. The Descendant: Chapter 35

The Descendant, Echoes of the Revanchist – Chapter 35

Azkul Base – Hangar Level

22 Minutes into Operation Dragonsnake

An explosion shook the control room of TIE Hangar One and the blast door blew inward off its track, stunning the five occupants inside. With his blue lightsaber blade held ready, Marsala was the first through the smoke filled opening with Rayna and four Mandalorians on his heels. The traffic control officer was the first to recover and he went for blaster, leveling it at Marsala. He fired a shot and gasped in pained shock as Marsala batted it away and swung his saber upward, slicing off the officer's arm at the elbow. Reversing his weapon's momentum, Marsala brought his saber down hard and ripped the officer's chest open. A swift kick to the abdomen sent the rapidly dying body tumbling to the floor.

His Force attuned senses alerted him to danger and Marsala swung his saber back over his shoulder, successfully deflecting the blaster bolt that another officer fired at his exposed back. Marsala turned to face his new attacker but one of his Mandalorian comrades beat him to target, blasting the Imperial officer twice in the head.

The control room commander challenged Rayna, figuring a young girl would make an easy target even if she was armed with a lightsaber. With his side arm ruined in the explosion, he drew a vibroblade and thrust violently forward intending to bury the blade in Rayna's chest. With a quick move to her left, Rayna pivoted around the strike and brought her cyan blade down at the officer's wrist. He was an experienced knife fighter though and he speedily pulled his hand back before she could sever it.

Flipping the vibroblade into a reverse grip, the commander smirked at Rayna perhaps out of respect at meeting an adversary worthy of his self-perceived talent. "Hah," he shouted as he lunged forward with feint, trying to draw Rayna off balance. She wasn't fooled and as soon as he pulled back she hit him with Force Throw, sending him flying backwards and crashing into a computer terminal. Momentarily stunned by the collision, he recovered quickly and snarled at Rayna as she waited patiently for his next challenge.

The commander leaped towards her, slashing his knife down and quickly reversing it into a cross-body strike aimed at Rayna's throat. She stepped back from his initial swipe and raised her guard, surprising the commander as his vibroblade sparked against her saber on the reverse swing. It left his side open momentarily and Rayna exploited it, twisting to her right and slashing him just under his rib cage. Hissing with pain, the commander retreated and plotted his next move.

With his attention on Rayna, the commander's life was brought to a sudden and brutal conclusion by the nearby Mandalorian who blew his brains out with a blaster rifle. Rayna glared at him. "I could have handled him," she protested.

"I know love and you were handling him great," the Mandalorian replied. "But you're not fighting this battle alone and we've got bigger priorities." He pointed out the window into the hangar where dozens of Mandalorians were engaging stormtroopers on the ground and in the catwalks leading to the TIE berthing racks above.

Rayna smiled. "Yes of course," she apologized. "Forgive me and thank you for the support."

"You're welcome," the Mandalorian replied.

More than a dozen shots from a stormtrooper wielding a light repeater suddenly shattered the window of the control room. The Mandalorian who Rayna had been talking to was blasted right off his feet and his body dumped in a corner of the control room. Scrambling to defend himself, Marsala raised his saber and deflected a couple bolts away as he dove for cover, pulling Rayna down with him.

"And you do this all the time?" Rayna asked in an exasperated tone.

"No," Marsala replied. "This is the first major fight I've ever been in."

"Oh great." Rayna's voice was full of sarcasm.

Marsala ignored her and turned to the three other Mandalorians in the room. "We can't stay in here. Give us covering fire on those catwalks."

"You heard the lad," one of them replied. "Covering fire!" The Mandos each sprang up and began spraying blaster fire in all directions across the catwalks forcing many of the stormtroopers occupying them to duck.

"Let's go!" Marsala shouted and he Force leaped out of the ruined control room and landed gracefully on the catwalks. Immediately he closed in on the trooper with the light repeater as he frantically tried to raise the weapon and fire. Marsala beat him by half a second, hacking the weapon in two and twisting to his left, carving deep gash in the trooper's chest. With a cry of surprise and white hot pain, the trooper tumbled over the edge and fell to the hangar floor.

He sensed Rayna had also leaped onto the catwalks and was behind him. He heard a blaster bolt ricochet off her saber followed by a soft whimper as the reflected bolt found its target. Good. As long as she was back there, he didn't have to worry about what was behind him. Two troopers charged at him from his left and Marsala employed Force Throw to pitch them over the edges of the catwalks.

Amidst the smoke and haze of the battle, several of the Mandalorians below witnessed the enemy trooper fall from above. One of them tapped a comrade on the shoulder and pointed up at the catwalks. "Let's give our Jedi friends there some cover."

His comrade nodded and turned his blaster rifle towards the catwalks. A stormtrooper trying to advance on Rayna never knew what hit him as several blaster bolts suddenly interrupted his plans and stitched him open all the way up his back. With eternal darkness washing over him, the trooper pitched forward and flopped down on the catwalk.

Another Mandalorian fired a wrist rocket right under the feet of a second trooper. The explosion blew the enemy trooper straight into the air and peppered him with numerous red hot metal fragments as he descended to the hangar floor. Caught in a crossfire, the stormtroopers on the catwalks suddenly couldn't decide who to shoot at… the Jedi or the Mandalorians. Either choice seemed to end in failure and death.

A pair of TIE fighters streaked past the Dominion's bridge and the anti-star fighter batteries did their best to track them. Admiral Lassif barely allowed them to register in her mind content to let the Corellian Gunships handle the fighters. She had only one thing in mind… destroy the retreating Charybdis. The Dominion had almost completed its turn. In a few seconds it would perfectly lined up and she'd be able to take a shot.

It was perfect. Too perfect. What in all the galaxy had persuaded Admiral Regnar to make such a serious tactical blunder? Sure he was known for indecisiveness when plans went awry but this was a mistake typically committed by a patrol craft captain with little to no experience. It was totally out of character for a seasoned Admiral no matter what his reputation was. Admiral Lassif began to pace back and forth in deep thought. Something wasn't right. The Charybdis wasn't even traveling at full sublight speed. What was Admiral Regnar thinking?

The reality of it suddenly hit Admiral Lassif and she looked up at the view screen in horror. "Break off pursuit immediately!" she shouted. "Set course two eight three, mark ten. Full power!"

Captain Onasi didn't like the panicked tone in her voice. "What's wrong admiral?"

For an answer, a hard explosion erupted just below the Dominion's bridge and violently shook the ship tossing everyone who wasn't sitting down to the deck floor. Sparks rained all over and the bridge lights flickered off briefly. A horizontal support beam punched up through the deck floor near the command station and a tongue of flame shot through the opening ever briefly before retreating back down and dying away. A new series of piercingly shrill alarms began wailing.

"What the hell was that?!" Captain Onasi demanded as he struggled to get to his feet.

The Dominion's tactical officer was white as a sheet. "It's a whole other battle group!" he yelled.

Captain Onasi helped Admiral Lassif to her feet and both stared out the view port in disbelief as a second Imperial Star Destroyer along with two Strike-class cruisers and four Lancer-class frigates in Picket Line formation moved in to view. Had Katarina seen their faces she would've laughed. Her last minute requisition to the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet as well as the Emperor himself had been a success. Her requisition through Major Derwit for the immediate deployment of a second fleet group to the Rya system to "help deal with a potential Rebel attack," answered. Now it was the Rebels who had been surprised and forced on the defensive.

The voice of the commander of the second Star Destroyer sounded throughout the bridge of the Dominion. "This the ISD Cerberus to all ships of attacking Rebel task force. You will surrender immediately, standby and prepare to be boarded!"

"Are we giving up?" Captain Onasi asked.

"Like hell we are," Admiral Lassif hissed. So be it. If this was to be her last day, she would take as many of those damned Imperials with her as she could. "All ships of Task Force Kwymar, institute plan Theta now! Group two, take out the Cerberus! Snake and Mangir squadrons with me. Nexu and Boma squadrons fall in on group two!"

Plan Theta was standard Alliance doctrine that was carried out by a large task force assaulted by two smaller enemy fleet groups. The Rebel task force in question was divided down the middle and the two halves each peeled off to deal with one enemy group. If an enemy group was destroyed, the two halves of the Rebel task force would come back together to deal with the remaining enemy holdouts. As it was extraordinarily rare for an Alliance task force to be assaulted by any group smaller than itself, plan Theta had seldom, if ever, been implemented.

In this case, group two was led by the Warhammer and the Columbia, the two Dauntless-class cruisers in Task Force Kwymar. Acting on Admiral Lassif's orders, the two heavy cruisers continued straight on towards the ISD Cerberus while the Dominion peeled away and attempted to rejoin pursuit of the ISD Charybdis. Following the Dominion were two frigates, two corvettes and four gunships.

Elsewhere, the Warhammer opened fire on the Cerberus followed her sister, the Columbia. Captain Franz, commanding officer of the Cerberus, snorted angrily as the blasts impacted and tossed the ship and crew from side to side. Fine. If the Rebels wanted a shootout, they got it. "All ahead full," he commanded. "Let's see just how much balls those Rebel pukes have got."

"Aye, sir," called the helmsman.

Commanding the Warhammer was young Commander Tuloomi, a male Rodian native to Nar Shaddaa who'd run afoul of the Empire one too many times not to take it personally. As the third ranking ship commander in Task Force Kwymar behind Admiral Lassif and Captain Onasi, command of group two fell to him when the task force split up. Seeing what Captain Franz was up to and knowing that he had the advantage in speed and maneuverability, Commander Tuloomi issued his own orders. "All ahead full. All ships, line formation on my mark. Republic's Fist, take point."

The Republic's Fist was a DP-20 class gunship and its captain smiled when he figured out what Commander Tuloomi had in mind. As the Cerberus started to open fire, Tuloomi gave the command. "Now! Fire at will!"

With the speed of a flock of hawk bats, the Rebel ships formed into a line with the Republic's Fist in the lead and the Warhammer and Columbia immediately behind it. Captain Franz swore loudly as he recognized the Ackbar Slash maneuver a few seconds too late to defend against it. With the Rebel ships streaking past the Cerberus's port flank, the lead gunship had a turkey shoot as it fired broadside after broadside into the hulking Star Destroyer.

The bridge of Cerberus rocked and shuddered under the punishing barrage and Captain Franz fell to the deck as the Warhammer and Columbia began their attack. A portion of the ceiling caved in and crushed the sensor officer under a half ton of debris. Sparks rained down and shot out from ruined computer terminals. "Damage report!" Captain Franz shouted amidst the shaking and shuddering.

"Hull breeches on decks seven and nine," the tactical officer reported. "Shields at eighty-seven percent and holding. Sublight speed is reduced by six percent due to minor hits to the nacelles."

The shaking stopped and Captain Franz got to his feet. The Rebel line had passed. "Where are they now?"

The navigational officer took over at sensors for the now deceased sensor officer. "They've passed through our formation and are now turning hard to port."

"All ships, one hundred degrees to starboard," Captain Franz ordered. "Line formation. Let's give them a taste of their own medicine."

Elsewhere, Admiral Regnar smiled to himself as he witnessed the second battle group move into position. Perfect. He had the Rebels right where he wanted them. "All stop. Launch the first wave of reinforcements," he ordered with considerable bravado. This was almost too easy, he thought. With the first wave in reinforcements headed in, they would catch the attacking Rebel strike team in a pincer movement and slowly wear them down. A second wave of reinforcements would follow soon after and the Cerberus would launch its own reinforcements. With all those troops counterattacking, it was just a matter of time before the Rebel strike team inside the base was eliminated.

In Admiral Regnar's mind, the Rebel attack had clearly failed. They would be easy pickings for the Cerberus and her escorts. And after he had launched the shuttles delivering the reinforcements to the base, he could simply maneuver his own ships into position and mop up whatever the Cerberus and her escorts left for them. Project Epsilon would be a success and the pitiful Rebel Alliance would be doomed.

A massive explosion threw everyone on the bridge who wasn't seated to the deck and jolted Admiral Regnar back to reality. The master alarm siren began to wail horrendously in his ears and smoke began filling the bridge. Coughing profusely, Admiral Regnar stood up, waving his arms about in a fruitless effort to clear the air. "What the hell was that?"

As his eyes readjusted themselves, he got his answer. More than a dozen X-Wing fighters appeared in the main viewport and the Charybdis shuddered again as two of them executed strafing runs on the massive Star Destroyer. Admiral Regnar couldn't believe his eyes. Just beyond the Rebel fighter screen he witnessed the Dominion turn hard and begin setting up for an attack run.

"Impossible!" he screamed in disbelief. "They're moving into attack position!" Where the hell was the Cerberus? Why wasn't the Dominion being decimated by it? Frantically, Admiral Regnar searched for an answer, finally deducing it when he saw the Rebel task force had split into two smaller units.

His first officer began to get nervous as Admiral Regnar had yet to give the order to start up again. "Admiral, might I suggest we move our tails before we get blown to pieces?" he asked urgently.

Shaken out of his dumbfounded stupor, Admiral Regnar quickly concluded his first officer was right. "Sublight engines to full power! Get us moving now!"

The Charybdis lurched forward as another barrage slammed into it. Admiral Lassif smiled with satisfaction. "Gotcha," she whispered.

"Admiral, the Charybdis has launched shuttle craft in an attempt to reinforce the base," Captain Onasi reported.

"Knight and Snake squadrons, reinforcements are en route to the base as we speak," Admiral Lassif reported. "Move to intercept and take out as many as you can."

Lieutenant Gorjaye heard Admiral Lassif's order but she thought it to be risky as it would certainly mean leaving themselves exposed to the base's defenses. She strafed on of the dorsal towers and scored a hit on one of the turbo laser cannons, knocking it permanently offline. Pulling up hard, she called, "Knights two through six, with me. Knights seven through twelve, keep the pressure on those towers. I don't want to get shot in the back while we're chasing those shuttle craft."

"You got it lieutenant," someone responded.

Lieutenant Gorjaye peeled away from the base, turned towards where the battle between the fleets raged and shoved the throttles all the way forward, her five wingmen forming up around her. "Snake leader, this is Knight leader, what's your position over?"

"Moving to intercept the inbound shuttle craft from the rear, over," Gorjaye's Dressellian female friend reported back.

Lieutenant Gorjaye's threat alarm sounded. Her scanners had picked up the inbound shuttles. "I read you," she said. "We're moving into position to jump them. Let's see if we can't get them to scatter."

The pilot of the lead shuttle craft was caught off guard when his craft's proximity alarm sounded and the incoming Rebel fighters appeared in his view port. With a surprised, "Yaah!" he jammed his control stick hard to the left in a vain effort to outmaneuver in the incoming fighters. It was a bad decision as the shuttle had nowhere near the maneuverability of a fighter and he exposed his flanks to both the incoming and chasing X-Wings. The Imperial pilot never knew what happened to him as three X-Wings took aim and turned the shuttle into fiery fragments.

A few more of the shuttle pilots panicked and peeled away from the main group while the more experienced pilots stayed on course and elected to use their blaster cannons in tandem with one another to discourage pursuit. Like sharks driven mad at the scent of blood, most of the Rebel X-Wings turned to pursue the shuttle craft that made the critical mistake of leaving the relative safety of the group.

Ranna Gorjaye held her fighter in a tight low turn as Knight Three came up alongside and took the wingman's post. Down below to her left, she saw her target trying to make a hasty return to the group that hadn't broken formation, but they were already too far ahead. Looking over at Knight Three, she pointed at the stray shuttle craft. "Cover me," she ordered.

Ranna dove towards the fleeing shuttle with Knight Three in tow. Ahead the shuttle's pilot sensed something was off and he began jinking back and forth in an attempt to spoil Ranna's aim. But with the shuttle being little more than a flying block of steel, trying to spoil the aim of an ace fighter pilot was an exercise in futility. The rear gunners desperately took desperate shots at Ranna, but her reflexes were too fast for them to score. Her targeting computer let out a steady howl announcing she had a target lock and she fired, striking the shuttle in the port engines and flaming them out.

The crippled shuttle started to spin wildly. Inside the pilot fought to regain control but with the lateral and collateral thrusters on one side completely shot it was an impossible task. He screamed in terror and instinctively covered his eyes as the shuttle slammed into an asteroid and disappeared in flames and metal fragments.

"Good shot Wing-Ripper," Knight Three complimented her work.

"Thanks," Ranna said as she throttled back and pulled up to avoid the asteroid the shuttle had crashed in to. "But let's save the congratulations for later. We still have a lot of work to do." She pushed the throttle up to maximum and went searching for her next target. But it didn't seem to be responding quite the way she expected. The controls felt sluggish and heavy. She checked her computer for problems and found the fighter was operating in normal parameters with signs of trouble. She felt a little dizzy, maybe even what one might call hazy. She shook her head a few times. What was going on?

Snake leader, Ranna's Dressellian friend, shot down another shuttle craft from underneath. Suddenly her proximity alarm went off. Checking her scanners, she found a TIE fighter was trying to maneuver into position behind her. She broke hard to the left, expecting the trailing TIE to overshoot and she could turn the tables on the enemy pilot. But something wasn't right. The controls weren't responding as quickly as they should. Her break was a more of a lazy turn and the attacking TIE was closing in. Her head. Her head felt cloudy. Desperately she tried to break hard the opposite away, but her second turn was slower than her first. The ECM sounded like a death knell in her ears as the enemy TIE fired and her existence abruptly ended in flames.

Ranna witnessed her friend's death, but it barely registered in her consciousness. Her fighter felt so heavy and cumbersome. It was almost as if she was forgetting everything about flying. And her head; it was so jumbled, she almost felt like she was drunk. What was going on? If she didn't figure it out soon, they were all dead.

When she heard Knight Three's voice on her comlink, he sounded like he'd just been on a drinking binge of heroic proportions. "Waaaat isss happennnning Wiiiiiiing-Rippppper?"

"I don't know," Ranna confessed. "Fighters sluggish. Head heavy. Can't fly properly."

The second wave of Dahlgen's strike team had taken far longer to load than the first due to the pounding the Dominion had taken at the hands of the Cerberus. The relentless bouncing had inflicted a nasty and painful bruise on Katya's shoulder. But they were finally inbound despite being several minutes behind schedule. Katya took advantage of the brief trip to apply some Force healing to her shoulder and take the edge off the pain.

With that done, Katya looked out the cockpit window of the Rebel shuttle and saw the Imperial shuttle craft fleeing the hangars. Damn. They'd gotten some reinforcements in. It would make an uphill battle even harder. Still, if enough of the first wave was left, they could catch the Imperials in the middle and put the squeeze to them. Dijas called on comlink. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah," Katya replied. "Better call Dahlgen and let him know some party crashers got in."

"Already done," Dijas assured her.

The shuttle pilot turned to her and said, "One minute out."

Katya nodded and walked back into the shuttle's holding area. "One minute guys. Standby."

Sergeant Krunx looked up at her. "You ready?"

Katya nodded. "As ready as I'm going to get," she said as she returned to the cockpit. She suddenly felt weak and dizzy and she stumbled, bracing herself against the frame of the cockpit door.

Sergeant Krunx was on his feet immediately, rushing to help Katya and prevent her from falling over. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"

Katya's breathing was slightly labored as she shook her head. "No. Something's wrong out there."

"What?" Sergeant Krunx asked. "What's out there?"

"I… I don't know," Katya confessed. She took a knee, closed her eyes and reached out with her consciousness.

Darkness. She sensed a spreading darkness out there. Subtle. Discreet. Like it was just under the surface, yet somehow manipulating events. Katya didn't want to find whatever the source of darkness was. She wanted to run from it, get as far away from it and this battle as she could.

No, she told herself. That's the darkness talking and trying to break your will. Rejuvenating her mental fortitude, Katya pushed onward. Where was it? What was it? Hmm, whatever it was it wasn't on the command level nor was it on the security level. Katya was even able to track down Katarina on the research level and surprisingly discover that the darkness trying to penetrate her mind was not originating from her. Where was it? Where was it?

Katya suddenly opened her eyes and got on the cockpit comlink. "Dahlgen, Maris, you guys out there? Listen up, there's a Dark Jedi somewhere in there using Battle Meditation! I can't get a clear idea of where he is but the source seems to be somewhere in or near one of the defense towers! We're taking casualties out here from it! You've got to do something now!"

"Busy… moment Katya," Dahlgen's static scrambled voice returned.

"I'll handle it," Maris replied in a much clearer tone.

The pilot flared the nose of the shuttle as it entered the hangar and Katya had to hang on to the co-pilot's chair as it touched down next to the Silver Horizon. Her grip faltered and she slid backwards just as the pilot leveled out and dropped the boarding ramp. Unfortunately for Katya, she was right on top of the ramp when he deployed it and she was dropped nearly ten feet straight down. Grunting painfully as she landed on her backside, Katya slid the rest of the way down the open ramp and was deposited unceremoniously at the bottom.

Sergeant Krunx was down the ramp and at Katya's side in an instant as she got to her feet and ignited her lightsaber. Unlike when Dahlgen and the first wave had landed, the hangar was now quiet though blasted Wookiees, Mandalorians and stormtroopers littered the floor. "You sure you're okay," Sergeant Krunx asked dubiously.

"I'm fine," Katya insisted rubbing her sore rear. "Though I think your pilot needs to pay a little more attention to what the hell he's doing." She looked around briefly at the Rebels, Wookiees and Mandalorians hurrying off the shuttles. Across the hangar, Dijas threw her a thumbs up before he and Rhona led their team out. "Cronus, your team make it in okay?" Katya asked over the comlink.

"We're all present and accounted for," Cronus called back from another hangar. He gestured to Sergeant Nort who whistled to the rest of their team. "Moving out as we speak."

"Forn, Chen, you guys copy that?" Katya asked.

We're right with him, Forndak called back.

"Stay on your toes everyone," Katya urged. "With the Imperial reinforcements already inside, we can sneak up behind them and catch them by surprise." Katya turned to Sergeant Krunx. "Let's go," she said.

Azkul Base – The Security Level

The battle for the primary communications and sensor suites was on as Maris sliced open the chest of one stormtrooper and reflected a blaster bolt back at a second. A third stormtrooper charged at her brandishing a vibrosword and he swung wildly at her. Calmly, Maris stepped back and the cold steel of the sword met the unyielding energy of her lightsaber with a crack and spray of sparks. Standing in the middle of a room with several short range comm panels around, Maris slashed one to pieces and Force hurled the fragments at her attacker, momentarily distracting him. It gave Maris the advantage she needed to whirl her blade around like a saw and complete a mou kai attack. Howling in agony, the trooper fell to the floor minus his arms and legs.

Micro blasted a second trooper in the chest as the discarded vibrosword clattered on the floor near his feet. His keen sense of perception warned him that two enemy troopers were about to attack. The first was at a distance, using a desk and a comm terminal for cover. The other was charging towards him with a shock staff in his hands. Primarily used by police forces, the average shock staff was normally used as a non-lethal means of subduing an opponent, particularly in riot-control situations. As stormtroopers were generally not known for using non-lethal tactics however, Micro figured the shock staff being wielded by this goon had been altered somehow.

With the speed of a vapaad, Micro tossed his blaster into his left hand and simultaneously kicked the vibrosword on the floor up in the air. With only a couple seconds window, he fired three times at the trooper behind the desk, forcing him to duck. He then caught the vibrosword with his free hand as the second trooper closed in and with a powerful downward swing, forced the second trooper to suddenly back pedal away from him or get his head chopped in half.

Believing the former clone trooper to be distracted, the stormtrooper behind the desk prepared to fire again. He never saw the Mandalorian warrior near Maris drawing a bead on him until the first shot had punched through his helmet. His vision rapidly going dark, the dying trooper twisted awkwardly, catching a faint glimpse of his assassin as he fired twice more, ending the trooper's suffering.

The trooper wielding the shock staff recovered from his initial misstep and parried Micro's follow up swing. Twirling his weapon around, he drove it towards the clone trooper's head but he blocked it, resulting in a massive discharge of electrical energy that sprayed in all directions. Micro clicked his tongue as he realized the shock staff had a much more powerful energy generating cell than was typical.

On the other side of the room, Maris ran her saber through the chest of one trooper and quickly withdrew it, swinging the blade across her body and ripping a deep gash into the chest of a second trooper. She turned to face a third enemy trooper an instant before he was shot in the head by a Mandalorian warrior.

Up ahead, the door leading into the primary comm suite was locked tight. Maris motioned to a trio of Mandalorians and pointed to the door. "Blow it!" The Mandalorian warriors obliged her by employing explosive rockets against the locked blast door, causing it to blow outward completely off its track. Startled cries of alarm and fear from the room beyond echoed in Maris's ear.

Micro's sword crashed against the shock staff again and locked against it. Because the rapid aging of clone troopers was well known in Imperial circles, the younger stormtrooper believed he possessed superior strength and skill to the clone. Had the clone been in his prime, then maybe he'd have been a problem. But not now, nearly twenty years after the conclusion of the Clone Wars.

Still mistakenly believing he was superior to Micro, the stormtrooper tried pushing down with all his might in a vain effort to get the former clone trooper to yield the contest to him. It wasn't until Micro had snapped his foot up and crushed him in between the legs that the stormtrooper finally realized that age and experience were sometimes superior to youth and vigor.

Yelping in agony, the trooper hopped backwards and narrowly avoided a vicious swipe from Micro's vibrosword. With his genitals throbbing, the trooper guarded against the clone's next slash and shoved him backwards. Enraged, the stormtrooper swung at viciously at his head with all his might and he retreated from the assault again. The trooper made a fast series of short swings and jabs which kept Micro in full retreat until he seemed to back himself against a wall. Raising the shock staff over his head, he brought it down as hard as he could for the final blow. Unfortunately for him, Micro twisted himself out of the way and the stormtrooper smashed a power conduit. With the safety shell compromised, an arc of electrical current rolled back and contacted the staff, sending ultra-high voltage through it and the trooper. His voice let out a brief but extremely high pitched scream as he was cooked to death inside his own armor.

Maris turned with her saber held ready just in time to witness the trooper's electrifying end. She motioned for the Mandalorians to move forward as she presented Micro with a quizzical glance. "You knew that power conduit was there, didn't you?"

"Of course," Micro replied with a grin that Maris couldn't see. He looked down at the smoldering remains of the deep fried trooper. Pointing to him he added, "Pity. He found that knowledge to be… shocking."

Maris rolled her eyes slightly. It was a terrible joke and they both knew it. But before either of them could comment, renewed blaster fire was heard coming from the primary comm room. "No time for levity," Maris said as she charged forward to meet the next challenge.

The primary comm suite was a pentagon shaped room with little more than a few work stations, a desk for the chief communications officer and the main holographic projector. A few stormtroopers along with a couple of officers defended the room, while a pair of technicians tried to summon reinforcements on the comm arrays. Maris entered the room and promptly reflected a blast bolt back at the stormtrooper who'd fired it, the outstretched her hand to send a computer terminal crashing into the head of another.

Micro was right behind her, snap firing his blaster at a well-dressed Imperial officer who dared to challenge him. With a trio of blaster burns in his chest, the officer's uniform went from pristine to downright inexcusably marred in seconds. But there was nothing he was going do about it now, or ever.

For the moment, the fight was over in the P-Comm as the stormtroopers and officers had all been taken out prompting the technicians to surrender without further fighting. Maris looked at Micro and pointed to an arbitrary terminal. "Well," she said. "Take a look. We're they able to summon reinforcements?"

Micro took a seat and laid his blaster on the floor and began to check the status of the transmissions. Tracing them and seeing whether or not they been intercepted by any hostile forces anywhere was a relatively simple task. With a few keystrokes, he had the answer. "No," he said confidently. "No transmissions have been received by anyone outside the system as of now."

Maris was relieved. "So they weren't able to summon reinforcements after all. That's good."

"Oh now I never said that," Micro replied. "What I said was the transmissions had not yet been received. I never said they weren't sent beyond the Rya system. The messages are out there and they'll be received sooner or later."

"Which means we're running against a clock that we have no idea how much time is on," Maris deduced. "It could be minutes or weeks before reinforcements show up."

"That's about the size of it," Micro agreed. "Although I will say that based on my experience, plus the current situation, in all likelihood it'll be at least an hour before the call for reinforcements reaches anyone who can respond."

Maris wasn't convinced. "Likelihoods" and "probablys" were excuses used by those who didn't plan well or respond to changing conditions in a prudent fashion. "Warn the fleet anyway," she said. "Tell them there is a possibility of additional enemy reinforcements en route as we speak and to be on watch for any sudden arrivals."

Micro tapped a few kays. "Done. Message sent."

"All right, shut down base's communications just to be sure they can't renew their attempt summon reinforcement and get lucky," Maris explained.

"I'm on it," Micro said as he returned his attention to the terminal. He made a few keystrokes. Then a few more. And then a few more. It was clear to Maris that Micro was getting more and more frustrated as the seconds ticked by. Without a word, he got up from the terminal he was working at and tried the master terminal in the center of the room. But his efforts there were no more successful than they had been at the previous terminal. "Damn," he shouted emphatically. Frustrated at his repeated failed attempts to shut the array down permanently, he banged his fist on the console.

"What is it?"

"The whole damned comm system is locked into a continuous transmission loop that I can't override," Micro replied. "There are just too many fail-safes." He sat back for a second, dejected by his failure. But then just as quickly, he seemed to have an inspiration and he sat back upright again. "I need your droid."

Maris whirled around. "Gee Tee, get in here!" she shouted

Obediently, Gee Tee rushed into the room from the S-Comm. "Coming dear," he said with a great deal of sarcasm.

Maris looked at him as he approached, tapping her foot with an irritated expression. "Save the jokes for later Gee Tee," she warned him.

"Yes ma'am," he relented.

"This thing is locked into a continuous transmission loop that Micro here can't override," Maris said jerking a thumb at the master control panel. "Can you and he shut it down… permanently?"

"Just let us at it," Gee Tee boasted as he rolled forward and plugged in to the terminal. "All right Micro, let's see what kind of trouble we can cause, shall we?"

Micro went back to the terminal's keys, but took a second to cast a look at the little astromech. "He's certainly… unique, isn't he?" Micro commented.

"Stubborn wise-ass would be a better term to describe him," Maris replied. "And he's the more easy going of Dahlgen's droids. Just wait until you get to know HK a little better."

"I heard that," Gee Tee said.

"I know you heard it," Maris said. "Just keep working." She turned back to Micro and smiled. "But we love the droids anyway."

"That's better," Gee Tee replied.

Maris approached one of her Mandalorian troops who was talking on his comlink. "What's the status of section two? Have they broken through to the main sensor suite yet?"

For an answer, the door linking the main comm suite with the main sensor suite opened and Pops and Jack stepped through with a few more Mandalorian warriors in tow. "Broken through and secured Maris," Jack announced.

"Yeah," Pops said with some relief. "We finally managed to get out of the detention block. Resistance was relatively light once we got out of there."

"Great," Maris said with considerable relief.

That left only the main security station left to overrun and Maris had a nasty feeling it would be the best defended region on the Security Level. A plan on how to assault it was just starting to form in her mind when the Mandalorian who had been on the comlink alerted her to an incoming message. "Maris ma'am, you might want to hear this," he said to her.

Maris opened the channel on her own comlink and heard Katya's message about the Dark Jedi using Battle Meditation against the fleet along with Dahlgen's claim that he was busy at the moment. Through their special link, Maris sensed he was going after Katarina. "I'll handle it," she said.

"Handle what?" Micro asked her.

Maris waved her question off and sat on the floor as she reached out with her consciousness. In or near one of the defense towers huh? Shouldn't be too hard to find whoever was using such a power. Ah, there he was on the lowest gunnery level of the second dorsal tower. It didn't even appear that he'd detected her presence. Because of the intense concentration required to use Battle Meditation someone actually using it was often vulnerable to attack. Therefore, someone using Battle Meditation often had several layers of protection around them. Even so, she had her target and she needed to move.

Maris stood up and addressed them all. "There's a Dark Jedi using Battle Meditation against us," she said. "He's only just started, so he hasn't been able to do much damage. That said, if he's left unchecked, he could very well turn the tide of battle against us. I know where he is and I'm going after him."

"You need some help?" Pops asked.

"Thank you but no," Maris said. "I've got to handle this alone. The main security station still must be overrun and your only access points are that door there…" She pointed to a blast door directly ahead of them. "… and a similarly placed door in the main sensor suite. They'll be waiting for you, so plan your attack wisely."

"Transmission loop's been shut down along with the whole damn P-Comm," Micro announced. "No way they'll be getting any more messages in or out of here." He looked down at Gee-Tee. "Well done little fella," he said.

"Thank you sir," Gee-Tee replied.

"Well done both of you," Maris complimented. "I need to go take care of this other problem before it gets worse. Take the main security station. Pops, you're in charge now."

The clones and the Mandalorians all watched as Maris hurried off to deal with the new threat. He then turned to face his mean and Mandalorian comrades, each of them looking to him for direction.

Jack put the question to him, "Well boss, what's the plan?"

Pops rested his hand on his chin and looked at the main sensor suite where he and Jack had come from. He then looked around at his men and did mental head count to determine his assets. A plan started to form in his mind. "Hmmm," he thoughtfully mused.

The Engineering Level – Marlowe Derwit's office

"How much longer is this going to take you?" Sheila Alston asked.

Marlowe Derwit's fingers flew over his computer terminal, typing commands and checking results as fast as he possibly could. "Not much longer, I hope." An explosion from somewhere shook the base and Marlowe was nearly thrown from his chair. He glanced at Sheila and returned to his task. "I'll try to speed it up," he said nervously.

"That would be good Marlowe," Sheila said. "I don't want to be stuck in here when this place blows."

Marlowe executed the program he was working on and immediately started another. "We won't, we won't," he assured her.

After the shootout in the garbage dump and the death of Elassa, Marlowe had led the group back to his private office and immediately began to erase every file he possibly could regarding Project Epsilon and the Mass Shadow Generator. Vilnius has temporarily left them to take care of another issue that Marlowe had presented him with. He checked his time piece. Vilnius had been gone for several minutes already. He should've been back already. He erased the next batch of files and muttered, "Come on Vilnius, where are you?"

As if on cue, Vilnius abruptly entered and closed the door behind him. Now dressed in full red and black Mandalorian armor complete with helmet and silver accents, Vilnius also carried a new weapon along with his pistols and rifle. Hanging at his side was a Mandalorian War Sword. A longer version of the standard Mandalorian bes'kad and loosely based on a Sith Tremor Sword, a Mandalorian War Sword had a blade nearly a meter in length. Sharp on only one edge, the blade was six centimeters wide and nearly a centimeter thick on the blunt edge. Made of the finest Mandalorian steel and interlaced with cortosis, it was one of the few weapons that wouldn't break when struck by a lightsaber.

Mandalorian War Swords were ancient weapons that had once been hallmarked possessions of the ancient Mandalorian Blademasters. Although they were awarded to every Mandalorian that had been a member of that ancient order, as the centuries passed and the Mandalorian Blademasters fell into obscurity and folklore, the swords were symbolically awarded to any Mandalorian that had killed five or more Force users in one on one combat. As the Great Galactic War era gave way to New Sith Wars era and the Republic Golden Age, the Mandalorian War Sword was largely forgotten, though they had enjoyed a brief resurgence during the Clone Wars. But the war swords of that era were nowhere near the quality of the ancient Blademaster swords.

The sword Vilnius now carried was a family heirloom that had been given to him by his parents before they'd disowned him and he'd refused to return it when they'd demanded he do so. Its history was uncertain as there conflicting stories as to its origin. Some said the sword was only a few hundred years old while others claimed the sword was an ancient relic from the Mandalorian Wars. Vilnius had never bothered to ascertain the true age and history of the sword as that would've meant exposing his Mandalorian heritage to the Empire. But now that it was out in the open… who knew?

Marlowe and Sheila were both surprised to see Vilnius in full armor and the sword hanging at his side. "Where did you get all that?" Marlowe asked him.

"I've had it for years," Vilnius replied. "My armor and weapons have traveled with me wherever I've gone, though this is the first time I've actually worn it all in seven or eight years." He snorted unhappily. "I wonder what my parents would say if they could see me now. I wonder what I'd say to them." He glanced at them both and could tell that neither of them truly cared about his little stroll down memory lane. "I couldn't very well wear all this while confronting Elassa in the dump and not give away that I was on to her. So that was why I opted to wear only my chest piece in there, hidden under the lab coat. I knew she wouldn't just lie down and die, but I also wasn't about to face her and her bucket brained entourage unprotected."

"So did you do it?" Marlowe asked.

Vilnius sat on the edge of his desk, looking away from him. "Yes," he said with a nod. "Exactly as you told me to. The data storage banks are now completely wiped clean and rigged to blow."

"Good," Marlowe complimented him. "I'm almost done here," he said as he deleted the next group of files. "Just a few more minutes."

"The sooner, the better," Vilnius said pointing to the master alarm klaxon which continued to scream on all levels.

Marlowe went back to his work, letting Vilnius brood in peace. Sheila approached him with a curious and perhaps questioning expression on her face. Vilnius glanced at her and knew what was on her mind. "You're wondering how I knew you weren't the traitor, aren't you?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," Sheila answered him.

Vilnius chuckled. "Remember I said I've been in touch with Dahlgen since the invasion of Onderon?"

"Mm hmm."

"During his brief incarceration, Dahlgen volunteered to check out your story about you being a Rebel agent," Vilnius replied. "A couple weeks later, he sent me a report on you that came straight from General Airen Cracken, the head of Rebel Intelligence. He not only confirmed your story, but he gave you considerable praise for the job you've done."

"Really?"

Vilnius nodded. "Really. I can show you the report if you like."

"That's okay," Sheila replied. "I'm just surprised you went to such great lengths to check out me story."

Vilnius shrugged. "Like I said, I suspected Elassa from the beginning. But I also had to make sure she didn't have any accomplices."

"All right, all the files have been deleted," Marlowe announced. "Now just let me format the hard drive so all traces are gone…" He made a few final keystrokes. "And that's it." He pushed his chair back from the desk. "Every last file on Project Epsilon and the Mass Shadow Generator is gone."

"You're absolutely sure?" Vilnius challenged Marlowe. "There is absolutely no way that anyone anywhere could ever find even the faintest trace of this project and try to replicate it. That's what you're telling me, right?"

"From this place, that's what I'm telling you," Marlowe said. "That said, I don't know where the original files on the Derby Project came from and consequently, I can't be sure that there isn't another copy of those files somewhere in the Empire's possession. I also can't guarantee that the Empire doesn't have another copy of the Project Epsilon files stashed somewhere else for safekeeping. But every file and everything that was present in this installation is gone forever.

Vilnius nodded. "All right. But it's not quite everything."

"What do you mean?" Marlowe wondered.

"The device itself still exists, true?"

"Ah," Marlowe nodded in understanding. "Yes it does. It's in the testing chamber where I conducted the power test."

"Going through there is the fastest way to get back to the barracks and link up with Dahlgen's task force," Vilnius mused. "Can we destroy it on the way?"

Marlowe shook his head. "No. With the tertronium shell surrounding the power generation unit, it would take a turbo laser blast to even crack it. Hand held charges would be worthless against it."

"Great," Sheila snorted. "So what do we do about it?"

"Leave it behind and hope it gets destroyed when the Alliance blows this place," Marlowe said calmly.

Vilnius shook his head. "That's too big a risk," he said. "Think Marlowe, there's got to be something we can do to destroy it."

"Vilnius, trust me on this," Marlowe insisted. "Leave it behind."

Vilnius stared long and hard at Marlowe. Did Marlowe have something up his sleeve? His voice sure indicated that to Vilnius. But could he trust Marlowe's judgment. Yes you can, Vilnius reminded himself. Elassa was the traitor, not Marlowe. If he says leave it, leave it. He slowly nodded. "Okay Marlowe. We'll play it your way."

"I hope you know what you're doing," Sheila added.

"I do," Marlowe assured them. "I promise you, I do."

"Let's get out of here then," Vilnius urged as he hopped off Marlowe's desk. "I'll scout ahead. Wait here until I get back. If I'm not back in three minutes, shove off without me." He was gone before either of them could protest.

Marlowe snorted loudly. "We can't just leave behind if he doesn't come back," he grumbled.

Sheila was sympathetic towards Marlowe's claim, but she reminded him of one crucial fact. "I understand what you're saying and in principle, I don't disagree with you. But even if we just learned it, do remember that he is a Mandalorian. He would ask nothing of us that he wouldn't expect to do himself if necessary."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I like it," Marlowe replied.

The sound of footsteps racing down the hall towards the office got their attention. Thinking Vilnius was making a hasty return to collect them, they made their exit only bump squarely into Marlowe's father as he rounded a corner. The escape tube from the throne room had been blocked as a result of damage sustained earlier in the fight and Major Derwit was not at all pleased upon this discovery. It meant he'd have to go the rest of the way to the secret hangar on foot. It would be a long trip and Major Derwit suspected that he had at least one pursuer. Still, his face brightened considerably when he saw his son was alive and healthy.

"Son," he said. "I'm pleased to see you're okay. You as well Lieutenant."

"Dad," Marlowe began.

"Listen son, we don't have a lot of time here," his father cut him off. "I know you and I have had our differences in the past up until very recently. Despite what others may believe, this facility is doomed. The Rebels will overrun it within a half hour. We must escape son. All of us, together."

"Dad," Marlowe said again.

Major Derwit shoved his way past his son and entered the office. "We must take all the files pertaining to Project Epsilon with us," he said. "We can use them to rebuild the Mass Shadow Generator in a new location. One that the Rebel Alliance will never find." He sat at the desk and began rifling through the drawers. "Don't you have one of those storage drives or flash drives or whatever they call them somewhere son? Ah, here we are." He found one in the smallest drawer, plugged it into his son's computer and began working.

"Dad," Marlowe said once more, his tone a bit more impatient than before.

"Not now son," Major Derwit demanded. "I need some time here! I'm not as savvy with this kind of stuff as you are!" He blindly continued about his work until he suddenly stopped, his eyes wider than a black hole. What the hell was this? There was nothing on his son's computer! "What… what's wrong here? The files! They're all gone! Deleted! Everything on Project Epsilon and the Mass Shadow Generator has been completely wiped out! The wholes damned hard drive has been wiped clean!"

"I know that dad," Marlowe replied. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I'm sorry but I can't let you have them."

Major Derwit almost couldn't believe what his son was saying. He stood upright and looked at Marlowe with a dumbfounded expression. "What do you mean son?"

Marlowe laughed. "You just don't get it do you? I'm not escaping anywhere with you… because I'm not one of you."

With dawning horror, Major Derwit realized what his son was saying. He'd betrayed them! He was in league with the intruders! He was… a Rebel! That last thought was enough to make Major Derwit's stomach churn and his face twisted in rage. "You filthy traitor!" he screamed as they both went for their blasters and fired.

Major Derwit's shot went wide, striking Sheila Alston in the upper arm as she too drew her weapon. With a faint cry of pain she dropped it on the floor. Marlowe's shot also went slightly wide, grazing his father on the top of his right shoulder. Major Derwit hissed in pain as he felt the burn and prepared to fire again. He wouldn't miss a second time.

A third shot, much louder than the first two, suddenly erupted from behind Marlowe. It whizzed over his shoulder mere inches from his face and he instinctively recoiled away from it. But the blaster bolt was passed him by then and it stuck Major Derwit dead center in the chest and dumped him back into the chair. Marlowe whirled to see where the shot had come from and found Vilnius standing behind him, smoke curling from the barrel of his pistol. "Good timing," Marlowe said.

Vilnius twirled the blaster around and quickly holstered it. "What are friends for? You okay Sheila?"

She nodded despite cradling her injured arm. "I'll be fine."

"Is the coast clear?" Marlowe asked.

Vilnius shook his head. "Katarina is in there. I think she's trying to activate the generator."

"That crazy bitch is going to kill us all!" Sheila screamed.

"All the more reason why we need to move," Vilnius insisted. "But we'll have to go around her to get out of here."

"Let's do it," Marlowe insisted.

"To get around Katarina, we'll have to go that way," Vilnius said, indicating they should go to their right from Marlowe's office.

The trio had barely gone twenty feet down the hall when they suddenly stopped. Before them, blocking their only avenue of escape was Katarina, a wicked smile on her face. "You weren't thinking of actually going somewhere, were you?" she sneered at them.

Vilnius shouldered his rifle and readied his sword. "Actually we were," he said. "Straight to a ticket out of here provided by none other than your ex-husband."

Katarina condescendingly waved her finger at the group. "Uh-uh. I'm afraid you're going to miss that ride," she taunted them.

"We'll see about that," Vilnius challenged. To Marlowe, he said. "Get out of here, both you. If she's here, then the coast is clear back by the generator. I'll hold her off as long as I can."

Sheila tugged at Marlowe's sleeve, urging him back the other direction. "Come on Marlowe, let's go."

"You're not going anywhere!" Katarina screamed. Her hand shot forward and twisted blue arcs of Force Lightning crackled from her fingertips. Vilnius expected the tactic and he dove forward gritting his teeth as the deadly energy flew overhead. Behind him, Sheila instantly recognized that Katarina's attack was streaking towards Marlowe and she shoved him forward out of the way. An instant later instant later the twisted Force attack crashed into her and arced all over her body. Screaming at the top of her lungs, Sheila went into convulsions and her hair began to smolder.

Vilnius sprang to his feet and swung his war sword up, forcing Katarina to relinquish her hold on Sheila. Pivoting around to her left, Katarina ignited her lightsaber and aimed a disemboweling slash at Vilnius's abdomen. His sword was there to block her strike and it surprised Katarina. Switching tactics, she spun her saber in a graceful overhead arc, but once again Vilnius thwarted her attack. He lunged at her and their weapons locked together. Katarina laughed. "Give it up you Mando fool," she roared. "How can you hope to beat me when you're not even sensitive to the Force?"

"Don't need to be bitch," he spat back. Vilnius shoved Katarina backwards and lashed out with a fast cross-body cut that drove her back even further.

Katarina was surprised by Vilnius's speed as she parried a strike. He was no novice when it came to wielding that war sword and Katarina found herself wondering where he could've received such training without it being detected by the Empire. Whatever. She parried another strike and lashed out with a cho sun based attack of her own that he just darted away from.

Behind them, Marlowe fell to the floor when Sheila pushed him. Now dazed and unsure of what was happening around him, he shook his head in a desperate attempt to clear it. There, that was a little better. He heard the sound of a lightsaber clashing with a sword. Vilnius must be engaging Katarina. He looked around and as his vision cleared Marlowe saw Sheila lying sprawled on the floor. "Sheila?" he asked, trying to get her attention.

She didn't respond.

Marlowe called to her a little louder. "Sheila?" Still no answer and he crawled over to her, rolling her over to find her lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling. "Sheila!" Marlowe yelled as he shook her in a vain attempt to wake her. "NOOOOOOO!"

Marlowe's yell of anguish and grief confirmed to Vilnius what he already suspected. Katarina's Force Lightning had cooked Sheila from the inside out. She laughed again as she relished the pain and fear she'd caused. "You see?" she said as she guarded against Vilnius's next attack. "You can't even protect those you care about. Just give it up."

"I hate to do this to a woman," Vilnius confessed. "But then," his foot shot upward and struck Katarina between the legs. Stunned by the sudden blow, she doubled over in agony. "You're no woman!" He swung his sword upward to decapitate her, an attack that she just barely had the wherewithal to avoid. But she couldn't avoid his next strike, a fast uppercut to her chin that crushed the lower half of her jaw into the upper half followed by a hard spin kick to her head.

"Uhhh," Katarina groaned as she stumbled backwards and collapsed to the floor.

"Maybe now you'll keep that big mouth of yours closed," Vilnius suggested. Despite his boast, he knew it would take Katarina only a few seconds to recover. He spun around and retreated, finding Marlowe sitting in the middle of the corridor sobbing and cradling Sheila's dead body against his own. "C'mon Marlowe," he urged. "That twisted schutta won't be down for long! We got to go now!"

Marlowe furiously shook his head. "No, we can't. We can't leave her here like this! She needs help!"

"Forget it Marlowe," Vilnius said grabbing him by the arm. "It's too late! She's gone!"

"No," Marlowe insisted. "Sheila needs help!"

Some distance away, Katarina groaned painfully and started to get to her feet. Seeing that, Vilnius yanked Marlowe to his feet and he was forced to release his grip on Sheila's body. "Move it or we both go right behind her," Vilnius yelled. Reluctantly, Marlowe started to trot off in the direction Vilnius shoved him. But his pace was painfully slow and Vilnius had shove and shout some more to get him to go faster. "Move it soldier! Move! Move! Move!"

Command Level – The Throne Room

A Rebel commando took three blasts in the chest and fell to the floor but immediately another commando stepped forward to take his place. With the Throne Room being the last bastion of Imperial might on the Command Level, they knew the battle was lost. Still, as doctrine demanded, they would fight on to the last man.

Trying to take the Throne Room was proving to be harder than expected. There weren't many places for the clone and Rebel commandos to take cover and with Dahlgen in pursuit of Katarina, they'd lost half their Jedi advantage as well. But Ashara Treb was still with them and she was holding her own with the best of them. She parried a pair of blaster bolts harmlessly away from the group as her husband blasted the stormtrooper who'd fired them.

Raquel was still active, triggering her blaster rifle and dropping a stormtrooper to his knees where he was finished off by a couple Rebel commandos. As she continued to fire, she couldn't help but wonder why it taken her so long to discover her "inner soldier" as one might put it. She'd seen people slaughtered almost daily during the Kwymar Supressions and had never reacted in anywhere near the fashipon that she had earlier in the private suite area.

The answer was easy… she really hadn't had a way to fight back against the Empire until recently. Now that she was finally a member of Force Revanchist, she was able to dish out a bit of justice to the Empire that had wantonly slaughtered so many people she'd known and cared about. But why hadn't she acted sooner? Why now?

That was also easy to answer. It had been the commandos who'd been shot dead in front of her. Though she'd lost friends in Kwymar Suppressions, she'd never been witness to any of their deaths. And the deaths she had witnessed were always someone else. A nameless face who's life had been brutally and senselessly ended just so the Empire could assert it's might over the weak. While tragic in their own right, they'd always been people she'd never known.

Even when Dahlgen had told her about his brief captivity on Onderon, he'd done so after the fact. He was alive and more or less healthy. So nothing had happened to truly enrage her. The deaths of the commandos however, had been the final straw. She'd gotten to know a few of the Rebel commandos a little bit over the last few days. And while she'd hardly call them friends, there had been a certain amount of camaraderie between them. Seeing two of them killed right in front of her had forever changed her mindset. The Empire was hurting people she knew right in front of own eyes. People she cared about.

And now, it was time for a little payback.

Burner triggered a long burst from his Z-6 and quickly retreated behind the Throne Room's doorframe as several blaster bolts returned his way. Val and a Rebel commando each got a bead on the offending Imperial and blasted him twice apiece. He shot a glance over at Archie. "Got any ideas?"

A blaster bolt flew past Archie's head and he instinctively ducked away from it. He fired a couple of hastily aimed shots in the direction of the throne before ducking back behind the opposite doorframe for cover. The Rebel commando next to him took a shot in the head and his body instantly pitched back and went limp.

Poking his head out for just a split second, Archie got a quick picture of the remaining enemy troops stationed by the throne and near the escape pods. Turning to Burner and Val, he gave series of hand signals that told them what he had in mind and they nodded in understanding. Archie turned back to his wife who also nodded.

"Stay on us," Archie said pointed to a Rebel lieutenant. He then counted off three seconds on his hand before making a pull down motion with his fist. On that signal he, Burner, Val and Ashara each hurled two grenades into the Throne Room. Ashara even closed her eyes and put up a Force barrier so that none of the enemy troopers would be able to throw them back out.

One by one, the bombs went off, shaking the entire cee-cee violently. Screams echoed from within as the enemy troopers were peppered with flying shrapnel. After the last bomb exploded, Archie yelled, "Now! Let's go!"

Taking point he led Burner, Val, Ashara and Raquel into the Throne Room, guns blazing and sabers flailing. One stormtrooper trying to get cover behind the throne was blasted in the chest while Ashara reflected the blaster fire from another into the walls and ceiling. Archie smiled under his helmet as a blast bolt flew by him. Captain Vash would've been proud.

Rebel commandos started entering the Throne Room behind them and fanning out into the short corridors leading to the escape tubes and an emergency comm station. Taking a knee, Archie steadied his aim and fired again as Burner tore the throne right off its mount with his rotary cannon. "Keep going!" he shouted even as one of the Rebel commandos was shot to death beside him. In a crouching run, Archie moved forward towards the throne with his wife, Val, Burner following him.

More blaster bolts shot past the heads of the advancing Rebels as they returned fire in kind. A stormtrooper using the toppled throne's armrest for cover was blown away by Val and despite knowing they were fighting a lost cause, the few that remained resorted to fighting hand to hand. Burner ducked as a stormtrooper swung at his head with the butt of his rifle. In retaliation, Burner swung his Z-6 upwards and smashed the stormtrooper in the lower jaw. His head recoiled from the blow and his helmet flew off as a result. Quickly using his more massive frame to his advantage, Burner grabbed the enemy trooper by the waist, pivoted left and threw him to the floor. Before the trooper could recover, Burner hefted his Z-6 and drilled him ten times in the chest.

A second stormtrooper trooper jumped Burner from behind and he fell to the floor, rolling fast to one side as he did. A split second later two shots struck the deck plating where he'd fallen. Coming up on his backside, Burner raised his weapon, but Archie beat him to the trigger, shooting the stormtrooper several times from behind. The startled trooper had no idea who'd killed him as his dead body pitched over and landed in an awkward position across the ruined throne.

As she moved forward, Raquel spotted an enemy trooper aiming to shoot a Rebel commando in the back. The enraged Zabrak fired first however, drilling the enemy trooper in head. Another stormtrooper with a jammed blaster rifle swung it her head, determined to take at least one of the "Rebel fools" with him before he was killed. Raquel quickly ducked under the assault and countered by swinging her own rifle up and smashing him in the balls. With a sharp yelp of pain, the stormtrooper doubled over only for Raquel to crack him on the head with her weapon again. As he fell to the floor, Val finished him off with a blaster shot to the back.

Nearby, Ashara squared off with a stormtrooper who tried to smash her head in with the butt of his rifle. She easily side stepped the clumsy attack, drawing her blade across his stomach as she did. Continuing her maneuver, she found herself back to back with the trooper and she raised her blade up. Thrusting backwards, she drove it through his armor and his body before it punched through his chest. Withdrawing the blade, Ashara scanned for her next target.

All was quiet. The blasters fell silent. There was no more shooting or shouting.

"Are we clear?" Archie demanded.

"We're clear!" came the feedback report.

Archie made the general report to all Rebel and Mandalorian forces. "Command level secure. Assuming guard positions and will hold until further notice." He pointed to six of the Rebels. "You all stay in here until called for," he said. "Burner, Val, Raquel, my dear and the rest of you, right this way please."

He lead the way back into the cee-cee and pointed to a computer terminal. "All right Miz Raquel, do your thing. Make sure everyone's got a clear run to the engineering, maintenance and power core sections. We'll cover you."

Raquel had a seat and got straight to work. "Just let me at this thing," she said flatly.

The Barracks Section

Dannix Krell ducked behind the corner he was using for cover as a series of blaster bolts slammed into it, missing him by mere inches. It pissed him off and he sent several shots down the corridor, gunning down a stormtrooper at the other end. Across the corridor, HK squeezed off a couple shots as a few of their Mandalorian comrades crawled forward to aid them.

The attack on the defense towers had begun, but actually accessing them was proving to be a problem. The Imperials still held the area around the turbo lifts leading up the towers as well as the corridors immediately in front of them and they were putting up a stubborn defense. Dannix and HK were leading Mando team B to the dorsal towers while Huuruundar and Salparoo were leading Wookiee team A to the ventral towers. But the Imperial defense around the turbo lifts had stalled their advance and it didn't appear they would get anywhere anytime soon.

"Irritated Declaration: We can't keep trading shots like this indefinitely."

"I know that you damned droid," Dannix yelled over the roar of gunfire. He fired an explosive rocket down the corridor at a couple of stormtroopers who were trying to set up an E-Web heavy repeater. "Any time you've got a bright idea, feel free to put it in action!"

Suddenly a Mandalorian warrior behind them pitched forward and fell, several blaster burns in his back. A second one soon followed and he landed right next to Dannix. "What the hell?" he said. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw the Imperial reinforcements taking positions. "Stang it!" he yelled as he turned to engage. "Behind us!"

"Query: Where the hell did those Imperial meatbags come from?" HK wondered.

Dannix didn't know, but he was just as bewildered. Maybe the Imperials had gotten reinforcements in from the Charybdis. "Who the hell knows," he said blasting an enemy trooper in chest. "But with Imperial bucket heads on either side of us, we're sitting ducks! Is there any way to get out of the middle here?"

"Surprised Answer: To where?! All the corridors in the area lead right back to the turbo lifts."

Down a different corridor, Huuruundar and Salparoo were equally surprised by the sudden appearance of the stormtrooper reinforcements. What do we do now dear brother? Salparoo wondered, triggering his bowcaster at any stormtrooper he could see.

Keep fighting and pray that we don't venture into the Shadowlands before help arrives, Huuruundar insisted.

With smoke and haze filling the halls, Huuruundar and Salparoo could barely see what they shooting at. Compensating by firing at the general location of where the enemy blaster bolts were coming from, Huuruundar scored a hit on a stormtrooper that was trying to sneak up the corridor and close in on the Wookiees. Salparoo blasted another, just barely making out the trooper's outline in the smoke.

Sensing that they were gaining the upper hand, stormtroopers slowly moved towards the dug in Mandalorians and Wookiees from all angles in an effort to overwhelm them. Between the troopers guarding the turbo lifts and the reinforcements at their backs, Dannix traded shots in each direction, occasionally making a stormtrooper or two pay for getting a little too close. He swore loudly as another Mandalorian fell dead at his feet.

Ducking behind cover for a moment, Dannix checked his wrist launcher and he discovered he had four explosive rockets left plus one chambered and ready to fire. If something didn't go there way soon, they all would be in danger of being slaughtered as the Imperials slowly surrounded them. Determined that he was going to provide a way for at least some of these brave warriors and Wookiees to fall back and escape, he steeled himself for was going to amount to a suicide charge. His time may have come, but what he foresaw Dahlgen building in the not too distant future would become a reality.

He was about to break cover and go all out, when he glanced back down at the Imperial reinforcements coming up behind them. He blinked in confusion as he saw one trooper take a shot in the back and pitch forward. Or had he only thought seen it? No, it was impossible. Wait, there again. Another one took in hit in the back and fell. And then Dannix saw it… yellow and blue lightsaber blades dancing in the smoke. He smiled and turned his attention back to the stormtroopers guarding the turbo lifts. "Right on time girls," he said quietly.

Having linked up with Rebel Team B, Maris and Katya carved their way up one line of the Imperial reinforcements. Startled by the sudden appearance of the two female Jedi, the reinforcement stormtroopers forgot about the Mandalorians ahead of them and turned to engage the new threat. In their haste though, they failed to realize that both women were bringing a sizable contingent of Rebel commandos with them.

Katya brought her blade down on the head of one trooper, then shifted direction and sliced across the faceplate of another. His vision suddenly gone, the stormtrooper cried out and pawed at his ruined eyes. A third trooper turned to shoot Katya, only to be shot himself by Sergeant Krunx and the trio of Rebel commandos with him. The Quarren sergeant was pissed. He'd heard about Captain Vash's death and now he wanted exact a little revenge.

Large, fast and incredibly strong compared to others of his species, Sergeant Krunx dodged a blaster shot from another stormtrooper before grabbing him by the neck. Yanking him off his feet, Sergeant Krunx flipped him into the air and body slammed him on the floor before two other Rebel commandos shot him dead.

Up ahead, Dannix fired his rifle in the direction of turbo lifts and a stormtrooper officer collapsed. He caught some movement out of the corner of his and whirled to face the perceived threat but checked his fire when Dijas and Rhona approached. "Easy with that thing there," Dijas told him.

"Sorry mate," Dannix apologized. "We've been getting it from all angles as of late, so I hope you can understand why I'm a little jumpy."

"No worries mate," Rhona chimed in. "The cavalry's here."

"And not a moment too soon I assure you," Dannix said. He sent a few blaster bolts down range. "So what's the situation?"

"Mando team A is back where we came from," Dijas said jerking his thumb in that direction. "As you probably saw, Maris, Katya and Sergeant Krunx are leading Rebel team B up the corridor behind you with Cronus, Sergeant Nort and the rest of Rebel team C being held in reserve. Forndak and Chenlamabec and leading Wookiee team B up to relieve their uncle and papa."

"Why's Maris with Rebel team B?" Dannix wondered. "I thought she was to be with Mando team B along with a few of those clone blokes you introduced us to?"

Dijas shrugged. "No idea. She must have her reasons though."

Dannix let the issue go, concluding that Dijas was right. "Just heard from Rebel team A that cee-cee is secure," he said. "Even so, we might only get one shot at clearing the way from here to the turbo lifts and the access tubes leading further into this stinking hole. Raquel's keeping them open for now, but we've got to move fast and get this push right the first time."

"You just tell us when to move," Rhona replied. "We'll handle it from there." She gestured towards the detachment she'd left behind and a dozen or so of them moved up. Dijas started back towards the rest of the team when Rhona caught his arm. "Watch yourself, okay," she requested.

"You too," Dijas said.

Dannix glanced across the corridor at HK. "You ready?"

"Statement: As ready as I'll ever be."

The hum of Maris and Katya's lightsabers was getting closer and Dannix glanced around. He really couldn't tell if everyone was in position yet or not, but it was now or never. "Let's move!" he shouted.

The Refinery Section

Dahlgen kicked the access panel out of the capsule and dropped not so gracefully to the floor of the shaft. Of all the rotten luck. The passage ahead was blocked by debris most likely from a fighter's strafing run and another escape capsule. Dahlgen had no doubt that Major Derwit had used that first capsule to escape the Throne Room. But where the hell was he now? Dahlgen looked in all directions but didn't see a trace of the major anywhere.

Wait. Ah, there. A maintenance access panel had been removed some distance further back down the shaft. No doubt it was made to look like an air vent. Dahlgen slipped through, dropping to a high ledge and found he was in the newly reconstructed refinery. Sprawled out in front of him were the recently installed machines that had refined the tertronium ore obtained from Onderon and all interconnected by conveyors. Having done the job for which they were intended, the giant processors stood silent now like hulking beasts just waiting to be awakened.

Further observation showed that there were not that many stormtroopers guarding the refinery, but with the entire base under attack, Dahlgen guessed the refinery wasn't considered a critical area. Still, some care would be required to maneuver through the area. He looked around some more, searching for a way down, though there didn't seem to be one readily apparent. How the hell had Major Derwit gotten down from here?

Simple, he hadn't. The jump to the closest conveyor was beyond far enough that someone without the Force's benefit would've been doomed to fall to their death. Derwit had probably been confronted with the same situation, recognized the futility of attempting to jump, scooted back into the shaft and backtracked even further until he reached a spot where he could get out with relative ease.

Dahlgen considered his options. If he backtracked through the shaft some more as he believed Major Derwit had, he could potentially save some time. But then he had no idea how far Major Derwit had been forced to backtrack, so maybe he wouldn't save any time. And there was the distinct possibility that he'd run into Major Derwit somewhere along the way or once he was out of the shaft, ending up further away from Katarina than he was now.

If he took the route in front of him, it would mean two or three long, Force assisted jumps to reach the floor and any one of them could get him discovered by the handful troopers guarding the refinery. He'd be on his own if that happened as he hadn't brought any support with him. And if he was right about Katarina's location, he was almost out of time.

Katya's message about the Dark Jedi using Battle Meditation made up his mind his mind for him. Maris would have to handle that. "I'm a little busy right now," he responded. Doubling back some more at this point would just take up too much time. But now he had to get down and get out without being spotted.

His first jump would take him to the top of one of the processing machines. To get there he had to distract a pair of troopers guarding it nearby. And with the entire base under red alert, they were a little more aware of their surroundings than usual. Still, awareness meant nothing when it came to the strength of their minds, or lack thereof. He made a hand gesture towards the stationary pair.

"Did you hear something?" one trooper asked the other.

"Yeah," his comrade replied. He gestured towards another processing unit some distance away. "It sounded like it came from around the corner of that unit over there."

"Check it out," the first trooper said. "I'll stay here."

Moving to where he believed the source of noise was coming from, the second trooper made a cursory inspection of the area. After a moment or so, he backed away and returned to his post. "Nothing," he said. "Just a couple of meteor rats."

"Meteor rats?" the first trooper asked. "How the hell did they get in here?"

"Same way they always do I would imagine," the second trooper replied.

"Meteor" rats were actually little more than standard sewer rats that had stowed away aboard some space faring vessel and taken up residence inside an asteroid base, space station, lunar surface outpost or some other deep space facility. Regular checks and extermination sweeps for such vermin were necessary to prevent infestation.

High above them on top of the processing unit, Dahlgen snickered quietly. He couldn't have planned that one better if he'd tried. He glanced down at them, observing the fact that they had resumed their guard posts looking every bit as bored as they had two minutes ago. With another Force-assisted leap, Dahlgen sprang from the processing unit and landed some distance away on a conveyor. No cries of alarm or incoming blaster fire punctuated his move and the troopers he'd just dodged had their backs to him.

Kneeling on the motionless conveyor, Dahlgen was left with a choice. The most direct route would take him to the blast door that led to the Engineering section where Dahlgen was certain he'd find Katarina. But that also meant a potential fight to get out as a lone stormtrooper walked a patrol route that took him right past the exit. The other option was to jump down near the loading mechanism of another processing unit and use Force assisted stealth.

That was definitely the better option as far as Dahlgen was concerned. Landing near the giant maw that swallowed raw tertronium ore by the ton, Dahlgen observed the roving trooper as he mindlessly continued to walk his path. Dahlgen made another hand gesture towards the trooper.

"What was that?" the trooper said to no one in particular.

You need to go find out, Dahlgen suggested.

Without a second thought, the trooper hurried away from his route to check the source of the noise wherever it had come from. Dahlgen smiled. That left the path to the exit totally unobstructed and he made a break for it. Suddenly Dahlgen sensed trouble on the other side of the exit door. Damn. There was nowhere for him to go!

A split second later, the exit door slid open and an Imperial officer dressed in a standard black uniform rushed in with a dozen stormtroopers at his heels. He whistled loudly and summoned all troopers in the refinery to his location. "Men, we've got a mounting crisis here. The Rebel intruders have penetrated security level three. All hands have been summoned to take up defensive positions and defend the base. It must not be allowed to fall into Rebel hands. Come with me!"

Spinning on his heel, the officer broke into a run, leading the dozen troops he'd entered with alongside the half dozen more he'd collected in the refinery. Sprinting back through the door, they raced on to their meeting with destiny. After they'd all passed and were long out of sight, Dahlgen dropped the Force Camouflage power he'd just been able to raise when the officer and his entourage arrived. Staying well enough behind them to just remain hidden, he followed them towards his own meeting with his ex.

The Engineering Section

Wow, what a hit! That Mandalorian had certainly proven he could stand toe to toe with her and come out ahead. Either that or she just hadn't been practicing as often or as hard as she should've been. Yeah that had to be it. Her master would be most displeased with her if he found out that she'd been downed by someone who not only couldn't use the Force, but in general, had no concept of what the Force was.

Katarina struggled to stand, but her dazed state forced her to go down again. She didn't understand why that Mandalorian didn't finish her off? He had the perfect opportunity. She snorted with contempt as she found the answer. He was trying to save his friends. Disgusting. "Uhhhh," she groaned as she tried to stand again. This time, her legs didn't falter and she was just able to haul herself to her feet as the two men raced for freedom, turning a corner as they did. Enraged, she cast Force Lightning at them again, though her efforts were for naught as the blast crashed into the ferrocrete that made up the walls lining the corridor.

Oh no you don't, Katarina thought as she recovered her lightsaber. You're not getting away from me that easily. In a blind rage, Katarina charged after them. As she rounded the same corner her targets had a few seconds earlier, she barely saw the grenade on the floor that Vilnius had left behind. "Yaaahh," she yelled as she skidded to a stop, whirled around and dove back around the corner. The grenade detonated as she did and the concussion wave sent her sliding along the floor until she came to sudden stop against the wall.

Her ears were ringing from the blast and the smoke that filled the corridor caused her to cough violently. Once more she got to her feet and waved her arms about, trying to clear the air. Detecting which way her adversaries had gone, Katarina made her way through the haze and eventually ended up back in the main testing chamber where the Mass Shadow Generator waited for her commands. She just briefly caught a glimpse of Vilnius as he and Marlowe ducked through another blast door some distance away and sealed it behind them.

Bah. Fine. It was pointless to continue chasing them. Let them try to get away. Once she activated the Mass Shadow Generator, their pitiful little attempt at escape would be nothing more than a useless gesture. With a devious smirk on her face, Katarina deactivated her lightsaber and marched back over the Mass Shadow Generator. She had just started the activation sequence when she'd spotted Vilnius observing what she was doing and tailed him to find out what he was up to. Now standing in front of the Mass Shadow Generator again, she removed the access panel and reinitialized the activation sequence.

A small display screen led her through a series of questions, most of which were dull and routine. Ah… how long did she want to set the countdown for? She could activate the generator right away, but where was the satisfaction in that? Katarina smiled deviously as she sensed Dahlgen was closing in and would be here soon. Oh to be able to see the expression on his face when he realized he'd failed to stop her.

Three minutes. She'd set the countdown for three minutes. Dahlgen would be here in slightly less than that. Just long enough for her to see that expression. Then she could die happily and embrace whatever the dark side had in store for her in the afterlife. Carefully she set the countdown sequence for her desired time and entered her personal access code that would allow the device to start. Next, it asked her a final question… "WARNING: Countdown cannot be stopped once initiated. Are you sure you wish to proceed?"

With a smile of triumph, Katarina entered her choice. Yes. The timer started its downward spiral.