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Dustil cleaved through the rifle of a Sith elite trooper before Force-shoving him through the window. Behind him, Se-ril and Sorran dueled with several Sith Marauders, the latest surprise that the Sith had unleashed upon them. Several Sith apprentices entered the fray, having slaughtered their Torrent Jedi backup.

Up ahead, Feran slammed a Torrent commando against the wall before diving through a blast door and sealing it. Defense turrets lowered from the ceiling and swiveled on their mounts before aiming at Dustil.

"Run all you want, Feran!" Dustil roared, rotating two turrets with the Force and activating their firing mechanism, destroying the other turrets before finally destroying each other "I'll find you!"

Feran yelped as he heard the distant crunch of Dustil hurling a ball of telekinetic energy through the first blast door…then the second. Feran whimpered, frozen with fear as he realized that Dustil was channeling all his anger and rage after weeks of torture and the revelation of what happened to his beloved into his assault on Feran…and the ball of Force energy that was-oh shit.

He had barely made it to the stairs before the crackling ball of energy shot through with lightning hit him square in the back. Feran went flying towards the top of the stairs, and rolled down to the ground.

Dustil came charging in, wielding in his right hand two Sith lightsabers wielded together so that it was like he was holding a lightsaber with two blades out of one end. In his other hand was the blue lightsaber he had created on Ilum. And floating around him was the viridian secondary blade he had constructed after the Battle of Manaan.

"Have at thee!" Dustil chuckled. Feran blasted the viridian blade with Force lightning, knocking it against the wall. He Force-pulled it into his off hand, evening the fight. Dustil responded by ramming Feran in the stomach with his head, and retaking the viridian blade and clipping it back onto his belt before tackling Feran and engaging in a mobile fist-fight with him. The young Jedi got in a kick at Feran's face while Feran managed to grab Dustil in a headlock and both went tumbling forward. Se-ril stared after the crazed Jedi until he was grabbed behind by a Sith trooper.

"He's gone mad." Sorran grumbled, snapping the neck of the Sith Lady she was strangling. The woman's arms went limp, and Sorran tossed the body into another Sith before running him through while he tried to get his dead colleague's body off of him.

"YOU JUST NOTICED THAT?!" Se-ril roared as he grappled with his trooper. Sorran sighed and sank her fangs into the neck armor of the trooper, the crunch as her fangs broke through the armor audible above the fighting. She kept him firmly locked in her bite…until she flung him into the wall. With a sickening crack, he slumped to the floor. Sorran grinned a big bloody smile, flashing canines covered in blood and gore.

"That can't be sanitary." Se-ril shuddered as Sorran wiped her teeth and licked her chops.

"Yeah, coming from the amphibian that swims in his own excrements."

"Any aquatic species will eventually swim in at least a fraction of its own excrements." Se-ril argued "And the term is reptilian. Not 'amphibian'. And last I checked, we don't sink our gums into who-knows-where-it's-been blood."

"They're called canines. And-…" She was cut off when Se-ril's radio activated and the voice of a Torrent commando was heard.

"Hey fish-lizard! Fire in the hole!"

Se-ril frowned for a moment, scaly "eyebrows" arching, glancing around the room. It wasn't long before he realized they meant literally. Se-ril grabbed Sorran and pulled her over a desk, which turned on its side from their combined weight. A few seconds later, the grates on the floor, walls, and ceiling erupted in flames and smoke. Someone on the floor below had tossed a couple dozen grenades into the ventilation system, probably to flush out any Sith assassins using them as ambush points.

"If you wanted fried fish and singed fur, all you had to do was ask." Sorran growled as she put out a small fire on the fur of her left forearm.

"We did say to stay away from all exterior hallways and rooms. Heads up, you've got Sith coming up the stairwell to your right. And…what the hell?! Shoot it, shoot it! Command, we need-AAARRGGHHH!" The feed turned to static.

Se-ril glanced at Sorran. Then the floor shook. "What the hell?" Se-ril repeated.

Sorran turned around slowly, activating her double-bladed lightsaber. Then the wall blew inward and Sorran found herself staring into a circular blood-red robotic eye the size of a doorway. It twisted and focused in on her. Tendrils of energy began to arc from the eye.

Sorran turned her head towards Se-ril, who was still lying in the shadows. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Se-ril's gills flapped nervously. Then Sorran was engulfed in a red beam of energy that launched her through the wall and several walls after that until she hit a support pylon and her flight was stopped as she slid to the floor. Steam rose from her armor, which was now blackish-grey, where it had been a grey-white earlier. The smell of burnt fur and flesh reached Se-ril's nose. Sorran groaned, raised her head, and then slumped back to the ground.

"NOOOOOO!" Se-ril activated his lightsaber and charged into the light of the hole…and jumped sideways when another blast of energy shot through the hole in the wall. He couldn't escape the blast completely. His full-body armor took the brunt, but was so badly seared and melted that it was a black unrecognizable mess. It wouldn't withstand another hit. In fact, the armor was so melted that it was starting to drip off of Se-ril's body.

Tearing the plastoid muck off of him, Se-ril rushed the Devastator droid as it charged up its ocular-cannon and jumped on its back. The droid arched back, its ocular-cannon firing a wide arc that sliced a deep furrow into the next twenty floors above them. The arms on either side of the sphere that was the torso reached up to grab him, cannon mounts on the wrists at the end trying to hit him. Se-ril dodged them with Semakhi speed, his eyes on the four clawed legs anchoring the Devastator to the side of the building.

The droid seemed to have read his mind, and plucked the Semakhi off of its back before flinging Se-ril back into the building. Se-ril barely had enough time to dodge as cannon fire tore up the floor where he had just been. Groaning, he leaped back up and hurled his lightsaber at the droid. It screeched as the blade punctured its oculus beam, and began waving its arms erratically to remove the foreign object. One of those swings accidently hit Se-ril, who went flying back into a wall. Ignoring the new bruises on his body, Se-ril stood up and dropped into a fighting stance.

Sorran limped over to him, her pain radiating in the Force like an open sore. "I'm fine." The Bothan grunted, wiping away tears and ash from her face. She winced and coughed up blood while Se-ril examined a wound on her side. Nothing major had been hit, but her skin was charred and the wounds were deep. "Really, I'm fi-…" Sssii-Chunk!

His scream caught in his throat. Se-ril glanced at Sorran, who stared down at the clawed metal finger that had skewered her chest. She glanced back at Se-ril, tried to say something, and collapsed onto the finger. Her body was tossed into the corner.

Now Se-ril's voice came back. Screaming nonstop, he called on the power of the dark side and unleashed crackling tendrils of energy; not Force lightning, but pure darkness born out of anger. They wrapped around the droid and wrenched it from its grip on the building. The Devastator droid dropped out of sight with a horrified whine, leaving Se-ril panting as the darkness drained out of him.

"…Se-ril to Command, we've got Devastator War Droids fresh off the assembly line, here! Sorran Markez Bwua'tu is down!" Se-ril said frantically into his comlink "I repeat; we've got Devastator…" His words trailed off as somehow the Devastator droid's arm appeared over the rim of the hole and hauled up the rest of it. Heart pounding, Se-ril and the droid stared at each other for a moment, the droid's ocular-cannon charging and then Se-ril was engulfed in a pylon of red-hot energy that put an end to his disbelief forever.

Avenger

Orbit of Dromund Kaas

Devastator droids…they had only begun production within the last month. Staasi couldn't face Le-bin, whose once smooth-streamlined face was wrinkled and wet. They had all been there when Se-ril's signal had gone dark, all been there when the techs brought up the footage from Se-ril's headset, and the last few images of the Devastator droid's oculus beam charging up.

"Jedis Sorran Markez Bwua'tu and Achten Se-ril Mak lost at 1500 hours to an ambush by a Devastator war droid." Mer-sil, the Fleet Admiral for the Semakhi Fleet murmured softly "Deaths part of…"

"Stop…" All eyes turned to Staasi "…can we please save this for until after the battle?" Mer-sil nodded and closed his recorder. A sudden explosion gave them an excuse to return to duty.

"Long-range batteries three and seven are offline!" A'ashk grunted as the others shuffled onto the bridge "Shields at 37% and holding!" An Interceptor dashed across the viewport, followed closely by a pair of Jedi strikefighters.

"Port and dorsal shields have failed in sections D-4 through D-7 and E-6!"

"Sith are launching boarding pods! Trooper and droid type!"

Staasi didn't even bother giving the order to fire. His crew was so busy fighting other threats that firing on the pods would be a waste of ammo, not to mention that the pods were too close for the turbolasers to fire on them without risking damage to the hull.

"We've got Behemoths boarding on Decks 5, 6, 12!"

"Sith forces have breached Gunnery Station 8!"

Boarding Bod

En route to Predator

"Contact in three…two…one…" An explosion rocked the hull, but Revan didn't feel the thud of contact with durasteel.

"Uh…Phiran?"

"Odd…my chronometer must be off-…" THUD-CRUNCH!

Revan bounced against his crash-netting, hitting his head on the console right in front of his face. There wasn't exactly much room to spare in these pods. There was just enough space in the middle to allow both to squeeze through to their seats, but they couldn't get up or use the bathroom, but then again, what were the odds that one would need to 'go' in a pod meant to travel less than five miles?

Phiran unstrapped himself once the sounds of the pod burrowing into the hull stopped, indicating that they had hit a corridor. Not bothering to look outside, he charged through the hatch, lightsaber at the ready.

WHUMP. Revan sighed and glanced down from the ceiling at Phiran, who raised an arm to give him a thumbs up before it flopped back down. "Next time, check to see how high up the wall we enter the corridor, okay?" Revan suggested helpfully. Phiran just groaned.

Revan dropped down beside Phiran and handed him his combat-seal helmet before putting on his. Tactical data appeared across the interior of the helmet and began running a diagnostic on his suit systems.

[Revan, I'm patching into your HUD.] Opila and his band of Shard had taken over a Sith broadcasting station, using the tight-beam communications array to stream data to the Torrent fleet. His gauntlet flickered and a 3-D map of their current area shot out and hovered in front of them. [I can't get the exact layout, but this is a rough sketch of your section.] The map zoomed out to show the Predator as a whole, with each individual ship that made it up highlighted a different color.

[You're in what used to be the Hope.] Opila commentated as they walked through the corridors, the map floating beside them.

"I can see that." Revan muttered, noticing the faded mark of the Galactic Republic on one of the panels. The corridor was hauntingly familiar with one of the wrecks he had salvaged on Rakata Prime to repair the Ebon Hawk. He recognized the overall design of the hallways, the streamlined textures, the orange-grey color pattern.

[The main cannon is located just behind the bow of the ship, right here.] The map focused on a section of hull where the engines of the Hope used to be. [It runs from the stern of the Hope to where the main generator of the Blood Mauler used to be.]

"These look like Stygium crystal mounts…" Phiran stopped talking when they heard the sound of boots on durasteel. Thinking quickly, the pair ducked into a conference room.

"That's part of the ship's cloaking tech." Revan muttered "But this…" He indicated the smaller of two large cylinder-like structures near the back of the cannon "…has to be a reactor. There's two, so my bet is that the smaller one powers the cannon while the other powers the ship."

"Must be, what, 50 or so capacitor banks powering those things?" Phiran calculated.

[And for each capacitor bank, thirty power cells.] Opila said [Hold on…I'm uploading the map to you-the Sith just broke past the baradium mines we set up in the lobby. I have to cut the link…uh…bye?] With that, Revan's HUD received a whole new flush of data and the audio link was severed.

"Right here…" Phiran said, pointing to the starboard section of hull beside the secondary core "A missile launching bay. If we can access one of those warheads…" He didn't need to finish. The baradium core of one of the Sith warheads combined with some of the power cells from the capacitor banks would provide enough of an explosion which, in theory, if in the right spot, could detonate the Main Reactor. At least, they thought it could.

"We'll split up." Revan decided "I'll get to the reactor and the capacitors…"

"…and I'll get the baradium core." Phiran agreed "Stay in touch via comlink, but only for emergencies. No telling me what some young Sith woman's doing in the shower or what not."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Revan chuckled. His smile faded and he pressed something into Phiran's hand. "He would have wanted you to have it." Revan murmured before leaping into a service duct, leaving Phiran staring at the design of a grass trinket tied around a cracked lightsaber hilt, the sea-smell of Lehon long faded yet a hint still clung to the blades of green.

Predator

Main Hangar Bay

Colin Cel-Drem screamed out in the Force as he felt Sorran's presence explode in Force in a fiery explosion of pain and sorrow. The Mandalorian/Jedi/Torrent forces had boarded one of the vast hangar bays lining the side of the Predator, and were now seeping slowly into the vessel, determined to give Revan and Phiran as much time as needed to destroy it no matter the cost.

Colin crouched on the floor, numb with shock and anguish. It was so cruel. Sorran had just been rescued from a Sith prison only to die hours later. Also, he had felt the echo of Se-ril's death bounce off Sorran's Force aura. She must have been mortally wounded and watched him die. She was still alive, but dying; there was almost no way she would survive a med-evac back to one of the Torrent vessels, and even if she could, who would be able to secure her in a city full of Sith? Anger and hate overtook him and he mentally crushed the Sith trooper he had held in his grasp.

Two Sith, one wielding a double-bladed lightsaber and the other a single-bladed one, both unlit, advanced on him. Behind him, Rohlan Dyre heaved a grenade at a turret emplacement high up the wall, diving forward as shrapnel and burning debris rained down on him. Rohlan noticed Colin's opponents, but two more turrets harassing a few Mandalorians caught his attention.

Wordlessly, all three combatants activated their blades. Colin twirled his, saluting the one with the single-bladed one first, for he appeared to be the elder of the two, and the younger one second. The Sith Master brought his own blade to his face before sweeping it back down, a sincere salute. Even Sith knew when respect was the honorable thing to do, especially if you were a Jedi Knight who was about to take on two opponents with lightsaber skills far beyond yours.

"Die well." The Master acknowledged. He couldn't help but admire the Jedi's courage.

"I'll do that…just not for your apprentice's amusement." Colin noted. The Master chuckled behind his black mask and stepped back, letting the Apprentice charge Colin. Their blades met in a brilliant clash of colors, purple against yellow, dark against light, Sith against Jedi…uh…Sith against Mandalorian?

Colin slid his blade through the shaft of the Apprentice's lightsaber, before cutting through the emitter nozzle of one half, not making the mistake of thousands of other Jedi in severing a saberstaff but failing to destroy one of the blades.

"I've spent my entire life training." The Apprentice chuckled "I've killed dozens of Jedi."

"Ah…does wittle baby want a tweat for his good deed?" Colin sneered. The Apprentice roared and kicked Colin in the chest. Colin staggered back, gasping. The Apprentice had unknowingly hit him where he had been struck by shrapnel during the failed mission to the Dorin enclave. While the wound was healed, the scar still hurt whenever he accidently hit it, and right now he was seeing black spots popping all over his vision.

The Apprentice gave Colin no pity, and stabbed forward. Colin swerved to the side, a gasp of pain emanating from his throat as the Apprentice's lightsaber sliced through his ribs, but at least it didn't go through his lungs as the Apprentice intended. Ignoring the pain, Colin slid his Mandalorian beskad from its scabbard and shoved it through the Apprentice's back, slowly slicing upward. There was the sound of sinew and muscle severing, bone breaking, and then Colin slid his blade out through the Apprentice's neck and the Apprentice fell gurgling on the floor; amazingly, he was still alive. He tried to reach his lightsaber, crawling away from Colin.

"I've spent the last seven years training, four of them at a facility run by aquatic creatures. One at the Jedi Temple. Two by Mandalorians…" With that, he brought his blade down into the Apprentice's skull. "…and I've just killed you."

The Master registered a second of shock and dismay at the sudden demise of his apprentice, before enveloping Colin in lightning and dashing him against the wall, again and again. Up and down, up and down. Colin's face was a bloody mess, his arms flopping at his sides. He was going to lose consciousness if this kept up…

"I'm going to roast your shebs!" The Master turned his head and got a mouthful of beska'gam gauntlet as a reward. Rohlan brought his aching fist back and threw another punch. This one proved too much for the helmet and there was an audible crack as the Master reached up to feel his shattered nose. His helmet flew off, revealing the blood-red face of a Pureblood Sith. His chin jutted out and he had arched eyebrows that were almost animal. Colin, free from his grasp, tumbled to the floor.

Rohlan ejected his wrist vibroblade and sliced clean through one of the Master's chin horns, followed by a slash that took out any use of his left eye. The Master ignored the pain and Force-grabbed the beskad lying on the floor next to Colin, hurling it towards Rohlan's back…eye widening in shock when all it did was skim off a few millimeters of armor.

"Surprise…" Rohlan chuckled "Thought you Sith should have figured out the properties of Mandalorian iron when you allied yourselves with us. Guess even a thousand years can't change a Sith. Oh wait, but this can…" Without warning, Rohlan sliced diagonally through the Master's face, cutting down to the skin. While the Pureblood Sith cried out in pain, Rohlan swung his wrist vibroblade in an underarm swing that penetrated the Master's left atrium and popped through his back. The Master gave a gurgling sound before falling to the ground. Rohlan ran over to Colin.

"Hey mate, you alright?" Rohlan asked as he cradled Colin's head in his lap. The Jedi chuckled as blood trickled down his mouth.

"Don't…lie; I'll know. H-how bad…is it?" Rohlan glanced down. Colin's burnt ribs were visible through opaque skin and the wound inflicted by the Apprentice. His left wrist was a rainbow of colors, and hung at an awkward angle. Blood caked his entire uniform, from various scrapes and electrical burns from the Force lightning.

"I've seen worse…" Rohlan said finally "Now c'mon, let's get you out of here…" He held out his hand for Colin to take, but the Jedi didn't move. Rohlan frowned and bent down again.

"Rohlan…I can't…feel…my…legs…" Rohlan's heart nearly stopped beating. Wordlessly, he gently tipped Colin on his side, stifling a gasp. Colin's wounds were severe, even by Mandalorian standards. Shards of metal had penetrated his lower back, severing the nerves in his spine. And if the legs couldn't move…

"What about your arms?" Colin tried. The left one moved a fraction before Colin winced due to the broken wrist, but the right forearm gave a small jerk and the fingers moved.

"…Seem operational…"

"Listen Col'ika, I'm not leaving you." Rohlan said defiantly. He picked up Colin and stumbled back into the hangar. By now, a majority of the fighting had gone further into the ship. Only five Jedi Knights and a few Mandalorian Field Marshals remained, trying to get a shuttle operational.

"Sir, I'll take him." Jedi Malon offered. Rohlan shook his head and ran up the boarding ramp, placing Colin on one of the bunks. He hooked up an IV line to Colin and placed his broken arm in a cast.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the hangar, sending everyone flying. The Sith were back.

Dromund Kaas

Opila let loose with his repeating rifle, taking out Sith with every accelerated bullet. The Shard team had been closing in on Se-ril and Sorran's position when the Devastator had killed the pair. Rubat and Adegan were currently tearing furiously through the droid, having Force-pulled it through the wall, causing the floor above to collapse. The debris destroyed the droid's motor functions and let the two Shard have their way with it, wreaking havoc with its systems and manipulating it into firing at Sith warriors trying to attack the Shard.

[The Sith have breached the lobby!] Phond warned. Opila's sensors blinked twice and he shot out his arm, the metal limb colliding with a trooper running around the corner in the neck. There was a crunch as the man's momentum carried him forward, and his neck bones broke against the quantum armor on Opila's arm.

[I think we got the memo!] Adegan said sarcastically. Rubat had plugged into an exposed port on the Devastator's shell, and he was silently giving the machine the digital equivalent of a drawing and quartering, not to mention being flayed alive, roasted on a spit, etc. Adegan opted for a more physical form of violence. After a period of ten minutes of torture, she thrust her lightsaber into the Devastator's power core and it gave a digitalized shriek before going silent. The red ocular beam went dark and its limbs crumbled to the floor.

[No…I mean they've breached the lobby.] Phond pointed one of the three fingers on his droid host's arm at the blurry image on the data console he had sliced. Like giant harbingers of death, Behemoths stomped through the lobby of the Kaas Defense System building. One walked over the body of a Torrent marine, and a few splats of blood hit the camera.

[How many floors up is the Control Room?]

[We're on Floor 23. The Control Room takes up the top seven levels, levels 87-94. Main power's been shut off, and the turbolifts aren't part of the services powered by the auxiliary generators. Plus, I'm reading heat signatures on almost every floor, both organic and synthetic…plus some that register as unknown.]

Opila looked at the other three. They had all heard the reports from the ground battle of reanimated Torrent prisoners and Sithspawn. [Phond…how long has it been since you used your magnetic treads?]

[You're joking.]

[No, he is not.]

[And he speaks again.]

[Shut it! But are you mad? There's the rain to consider, then the dogfighters, the missiles, and the Devastators…]

[Would you rather be here when those Behemoths arrive? Or more Devastators?]

[…]

[Well?]

[Point taken.]

Opila extended a laser scalpel from his wrist appendage; originally used for ultra-precise combat surgery, it also functioned well in creating doorways when there were none, or in this case, cutting through a window. With a plop, the square of glass popped out and fell. A faint shattering marked its impact.

[Launch ascension cables!] Opila ordered. From the left wrist of the four droids came thin lines of dura-wire, specially made with phrik alloy by the Torrent. Using the magnetic treads on their feet and tiny spikes that ringed the treads, the four began hauling themselves up the side of the building.

"…h-hope you're not leaving…wi-without…me…" Opila stopped his ascent and returned to the window. He was shocked, and amazed, to see a black smoking mess of fur and blood crawling towards him. It became clear that it was a Bothan as he drew closer. The Bothan's identity was evident in the loud cursing aura she was giving off in the Force.

[Opila to Staasi! Jedi Sorran is still alive, I repeat, Sorran is still alive!] He ran over to Sorran. Her armor was cracked, and she was covered in blood, though it looked like it was just a lot of superficial wounds. Well, almost. The large concentrated bloodstain and punctured armor in the center of her chest suggested otherwise.

"Ironic…something that dangerous skewers me…but misses every major organ." Sorran chuckled dryly. She winced and indicated the wound. Force-healing had closed up the internal damage, but from the looks of it, Sorran hadn't done a proper job-there was evidence of blood poisoning and internal bleeding. It would take weeks in kolto to completely heal her up. That was, if she survived the next five seconds.

[Can you walk?] Opila asked. Sorran grunted and tried to stand up, but collapsed.

"No."

[Opila to FOB Command: I need an extraction team for Sorran stat!] Several marines from the lower levels had heard his distress call and after a few minutes, ran into the room.

"You go on ahead, sir." One of them said "We'll wait with Jedi Sorran." Opila nodded and joined the others in climbing the building.

The building wall slowly sloped, until it reached an overhand. Above were the high security floors and the Control Room. The building's defensive turbolasers were still active, but they could only lower so far as to target an object once it appeared over the slope. Even then, the constant shaking of the building from the fighting inside and numerous fighters impacting with it was wreaking havoc with their targeting sensors.

Opila tried not to panic as a turbolaser strike impacted a few meters to his left. Glass panels and their metal frames shattered, creating a deadly hail for those fighting underneath.

[Torrent command, we could use some air support!]

"In case you haven't noticed, everyone could use some air support! The question is; why can't any of you realize that there's also a space battle going on and your 'air support' happens to be our fighters!"

Adegan activated her blade as the windows directly underneath the overhang shattered, and several figures leaped out, screaming and bellowing before charging the four Shard. They were humanoid, as far as Opila could tell, but…different. They wore the tattered remains of prison suits and uniforms, and in some cases, armor. Torrent armor. The flesh was barely clinging to their skin, rotted and full of maggots. Opila fired a blast from his wrist blaster, hitting one in the chest. Still screaming, it slipped on the rainy glass and slid forward, and then it got back up.

Adegan fired a javelin dart-a spear attached to a line of steel-fiber cable-from her wrist launcher, impaling one in the chest before heaving the flailing body over her head and behind her, where it slid down the side of the building, gaping hole in its ribs, but definitely still alive. The same went for Rubat, who fired a shatter-round at the next two, sending bits of shrapnel flying everywhere and embedding in their bodies. Nothing could stop them. Finally, one got close enough for Opila to decapitate it. Only then did he see the wires and tubing jutting out of its spine, fluid still gushing out of it. The head continued its roll downward, but the body stood back up, and grabbed the javelin dart that Adegan shot at it, before tearing it from the wiring connected to her launcher, and advancing on Opila with it. Rubat fired another shatter-round, but the thing kept on advancing. As always, the reserved and stoic Shard summed up the situation with one word:

[Shit.]

Opila stabbed another corpse with his lightsaber, tossing it behind him. That one was still moving as it fell off the roof. The headless corpse hurled its javelin at him. The bladed end barely punctured his armored exoskeleton, and Opila ripped the javelin dart out and did a quick thermal scan of the corpse.

There were odd heat signatures in its body; not indications of life, but of rather something electronic venting heat. They were spread out, and Opila realized quickly what they meant.

[Rubat, blast this one!] Opila ordered. Rubat nodded and brought up the mini-concussion-missile launcher attached to his left shoulder while rotating his wrist launcher from shatter-rounds to explosive rounds. Opening fire with wrist launcher, concussion missiles, and rifle, Rubat began tearing the corpse apart.

As Opila suspected, as the flesh was blown off, the skeleton was revealed. Metal alloys had been welded to the bone, with small circuitry controlling the movement; the corpse was essentially a robot wearing a body. In addition, as Opila had also suspected, the whole corpse was a hive mind; each circuitry piece was a small AI that functioned as part of a whole. And as Rubat continued to blast the thing apart, with each piece disconnecting, the whole also began to fall apart.

[My friends, I suggest dismemberment as a viable means of success!] Rubat said, slicing the arms and legs off of one before ripping the head apart with his metal hands. Indeed, the body stopped moving and slid down the roof.

Predator

Orbit of Dromund Kaas

There would be occasional brief periods where there was no firing. And in those periods, Revan would think back to when this was all so simple. Fight enemies. Kill enemies. Get paid. Feel good about self. Now, he had to deal with the additional; Fight enemies. Spend hours on end justifying kills. Mope afterwards. Go into a vengeful rage and attack everyone you meet. Repeat until dead.

Of course, attacking everyone he met wasn't exactly the truth. More like everyone he met was attacking him. Splitting up hadn't been such a good idea, so the two had rendezvoused in an abandoned atrium. At least, it was abandoned before the hundreds of battle droids and Sith troopers stormed the room. Revan and Phiran cut through droid after droid, trooper after trooper, and Sith after Sith. Currently, it was Revan who was keeping a healthy distance from a Behemoth war droid in the bowels of the ship, in a network of seven-story high tunnels that was used to transport starfighters, heavy machinery, and equipment throughout the ship. Phiran was busy slicing a doorway where the Behemoth wouldn't be able to follow.

"How am I supposed to kill this thing?" Revan yelled/asked as he Force-leaped away from a stream of fire. These Behemoths had been upgraded since Ziost. They had phrik armor and reinforced joints, not to mention twin rotating blaster cannons with grenade launchers in the center set on both their shoulders.

Phiran couldn't turn his head away, save for when he had to bat aside the few bolts that Revan missed. "Try lopping its head off!" He suggested. Revan didn't have much of a choice, and waited until the clanking giant turned the section of wall-which he had torn loose and was hiding behind-into molten slag before leaping onto its head, lightsaber at the ready.

The next thing Phiran heard was a faint fizzling, followed by the sound of sparks, and Revan cursing. "Cortosis neck joints!" Revan called to him. A few moments later, Revan's second lightsaber went out. "Make that cortosis-armored oculars as well!" Phiran moved his head to the side as another stream of bolts impacted on the transparisteel above the panel he was rewiring. As he was about to finish resetting another power node, the Force sent a warning to him and he leapt aside as flames engulfed the panel and melted the circuitry. He cursed.

Phiran unleashed a bolt of emerald lightning at the Behemoth, which only seemed to distract it, for it extended a large blade from its right arm and sliced through the ground where Phiran had been standing before.

Revan, both of his lightsabers out of commission for however long, was improvising. His collection of other lightsabers would fare no better against the armor, and they were all securely strapped to his belt, with no time to uncover and unhook them. He didn't know how big a percentage of cortosis was in that armor, but it couldn't be pure, because seeing how rare cortosis was, only pure refined cortosis could truly short out a lightsaber blade, rendering it useless for minutes, meaning that the cortosis was in veins, rather than melted in with whatever else made up the armor, probably phrik or another lightsaber-resistant material. And whatever it was, it was making his lightsabers spark continuously, not to mention fizzle when he had tried to push the activation button. They sometimes lit up, but powered off not seconds after doing so. He would occasionally tear metal panels off of the wall, charge them with Force lightning, and fling them at the brute, or repel its bursts of flames back at it. However, the heavy phrik/cortosis coating took the brunt of the blast.

Looking up, Revan saw a cargo tram, fifteen cars long, traveling down the hallway. Its cars were suspended from a track in the ceiling, and were just skeletal rigs that held supplies or crew modules. Suddenly, without warning, the bottom rig of one of the cars opened and several large packages bundles hit the ground next to them. Before Revan could turn his head to ascertain their threat level, the packages were ripped apart and five more Behemoths lumbered towards them. Unlike the first one, their legs opened up and four heavily-armored combat droids marched out of each leg, totaling forty combat droids with wrist-mounted grenade launchers and repeating blasters, and reinforced joints and heavy phrik armor. The first Behemoth paused, glanced at them, and then unleashed its own complement of combat droids. Now, the space that they were on in the tram was empty…

"Trams!" Revan suggested. Phiran glanced up and nodded. Heart of the Guardian was still non-functional, but Mantel of the Force lit up like an oversized cyan glowrod. Batting aside bolts of blasterfire, Revan removed an ion grenade from his belt, checking to make sure that it was half-charge. Fully charged ion grenades thrown in close proximity could temporarily disable or even permanently damage his electrical equipment.

The hallway began to curve as the duo retreated, the Behemoth steadily on their tail. They came to a junction. Here, the tram with the empty space began splitting on to one side, and the other tram went down the other hall. Heaving the charge over his back, Revan Force-leaped up towards the tram. Phiran followed shortly, overtaking Revan and grabbing onto a service gantry, hauling himself up. He kicked open one of the emergency ladders, a five meter-long series of rungs held by two rigid poles, and it slid down.

Just as Revan's fingered grasped the first rung, one of the droids, farthest away and therefore only partially immobilized and blinded by the ion pulse, fired blindly towards the faint sounds of grunting. The mini-rockets sliced through the rungs just above Revan, causing them to fall away. Thinking quickly, Revan propelled himself forward, fighting inertia and gravity and aimed his grappling line launcher at the rest of the rungs, but another rocket spiraled towards him. Phiran, seeing the danger, managed to make it detonate prematurely, but the shockwave was enough to knock Revan's aim off and he fired at a crew module on the other tram. Rappelling himself in, Revan grabbed onto the exterior catwalk. Just before he disappeared down the other tunnel, Phiran motioned to his ear and mouth, and then to something in his hand. His datapad. Revan understood and nodded in return. Contact me and we'll set a rendezvous point.

Revan senses several other presences within the module. Ignoring the wind whipping his hair into his face, Revan crawled on all four down the catwalk, trying not to look down. By now, the other Behemoths had recovered from the ion grenade, and split up to follow each. Four Behemoths, and twenty-four combat droids were advancing on Revan, the Behemoths kneeling down, weapons reconfiguring and repulsorlifts on their elbows and knees activated, combined with thrusters on their feet claw pads, turned them into mobile artillery platforms. And mobile in this case meant very fast. Three combat droids mounted each of the platform-mode Behemoths, and the other twelve shot grappling lines at the tram. Each had a Merr-Sonn X-43 jetpack fixed to the back of its chassis. The jetpacks, probably smuggled by Sith pirates from the Core, were one of the Revanchists' deadliest tools during the Mandalorian Wars. There were the main thrusters, of course, but also 360-degree maneuverability thrusters that allowed for almost perfect streamlined flight.

Moving in a V-shape, the combat droids flew up, hanging behind the tram but slowly reeling themselves in. The back car had cargo modules stacked in the upper two layers, but an unmarked personnel module took up the bottom layer. Six droids jumped onto the rear gantry and the other six split up, three to each side. By the looks of it, they didn't know where he was. Now that they were up close, Revan got a clear look at them and immediately wished he hadn't. They were Sith Jedi-hunting Advanced Combat Assassin Droids, or as they were more commonly called, Seekers. The wrist-mounted repeating blasters and grenade launchers could swivel around and eject twin vibroblade, and their clawed hands and feet were made of thermasteel, which even a lightsaber would have trouble cutting through. Their inverted armored legs allowed them to move twice as fast than the average humanoid, and remain steady in combat on moving surfaces.

Revan slowly stood up. The crew module beside him was full of engineers, technicians, and guards from what he had been able to see. He dared not use the Force, in case some had Force-detection training, or due to the fact that a lone Sith Apprentice stood against the window that Revan had peeked through. If he engaged the droids now, he would also have around two-score Sith personnel to fight.

Suddenly, a warning beacon began belting out an alert. [Warning: The area ahead has been exposed to vacuum. The atmospheric shields on this tram are experiencing some difficulties. All personnel without environmental suits are advised to enter the nearest crew module until this tram enters a pressurized zone. Entering depressurized zone in: 4 minutes.]

Revan glanced at the Sith Apprentice, and then down at the still-coming droids. Fitting his combat helmet to the joints on his neck armor, he sealed the suit and released the short vibroblade in his right gauntlet. They were now entering a darkened section of the ship, the absence of lights indicating that the area was on emergency power. As soon as the visibility indicator in his helmet reached 12%, Revan smashed the gauntlet through the window and grabbed the Sith Apprentice by the upper arms. Before anyone in the module could react, Revan hauled him through the broken window and heaved the flailing man over the catwalk. The droids, visibility decreased in night vision, immediately opened fired. Revan Force-leaped into the car directly behind it as rockets and blasterfire tore through the body of the man, running his lightsaber through the support struts securing the module. Stray rockets and bolts slammed into the car, hitting the crew module. The weakened support struts couldn't take the strain and the module dropped like a stone, crushing the lead Behemoth.

However, this alerted the droids to his location, and seconds later, three droids charged him from the left, blasterfire burning holes in the crates surrounding him. With a final sputter, his second lightsaber reactivated with a snap-hiss. A lucky shot grazed his shoulder armor, but the layered duraplast held. Revan swung out, removing the arm below the elbow joint while throwing his other blade at the head of another. Using his free hand, Revan unleashed a bout of Force lightning so powerful that when it hit the chassis, flames erupted out of the Seeker's punctured eyes and it toppled over the side of the tram. Heart of the Guardian struck true, and the second Seeker was thrown back, impaled through its head, so hard that it smashed against a container on the next car.

The final Seeker held back, ejecting one blade while keeping Revan pinned down with grenade shots that Revan was forced to stand back and shield himself with the Force to stop them from destroying the ground underneath his feet. The minute that Revan heard the sound of an ammo clip being ejected, he charged forward, both blades becoming spirals of pure energy. A few moments later, the droid toppled to the ground in several different pieces. As a final bit of overkill, Revan shoved inward, causing the parts to crush together before scattering. Nodding his head, Revan made for the unidentified personnel module at the back of the tram. He was one car away from it when the Force sent him a warning. Suddenly, a bolt caught him in one of his helmet's air tubes. Throwing his head up, Revan saw the Seeker he had head-stabbed stand up. He flung his lightsaber and decapitated it completely. It didn't fall. A panel opened in its chest and a red photoreceptor slid into view.

That wasn't fair. That wasn't fair.

Droids that kept on fighting after you cut off their heads. Mandalorian bounty hunters never did that. Why couldn't droids?

The Seeker extended an arm to its back. A long cylindrical pole slid out, with smooth round tips at each end. Without warning, small shock beams, about a half-foot long, erupted from each end and arcs of lighting crackled around the beams.

Revan held back, assessing his opponent. As long as the Seeker stayed on the other car, he was safe. However, safe was a broad term. The Seeker began spinning the staff in an easy two-handed twirl. Suddenly, the Seeker swung the staff forward, even though it was too far away to hit him. Strands of yellow lightning arced towards Revan, and he barely managed to catch the bolts of lightning on Mantle of the Force. Even so, several strands wrapped around his forearm and yanked him forward. Revan barely had time to cleave the strands with Heart of the Guardian before he was yanked into the abyss separating the two cars.

The other three Seekers emerged from behind the same crate Revan had thrown his current opponent against. One leaped on top, letting loose with its repeating blasters, while the other two removed their arc staves, twirling them as they advanced. Revan held both blades at the ready, but he began moving further back into the car. A floor panel had slid shut where the crew personnel module he had thrown at the Behemoths had been, so that gave him some breathing space. Glancing at his wrist, Revan saw deep burns in the gauntlet, especially where the force of being yanked forward had been the greatest.

The other Seekers' arc staves were yellow in color, save for one, which barely registered in Revan's mind until that Seeker began hurling crackling spheres of blue lightning at Revan. The moment the first tendril hit Revan's blade, he felt the hairs all over his body stand on end. The momentum almost threw the blade into his face. And that was only the first sphere.

"Oh kriff…"

Phiran knew something was wrong when Revan didn't contact him within twenty minutes of being separated. Of course, that matter was cleared up when the Behemoths started firing at him. This tram was headed towards one of the forward launch hangars, which included a number of battery stations. Therefore, the majority of the cargo was weapons, ammunition, Sith troopers, Sith warriors, combat droids, and light artillery. In addition, there were several prison compartments full of recently-captured Torrent soldiers.

"This is Geezer broadcasting on all Aurek-7 channels. Are there any Torrent forces in the area near Hangar D?"

"…-static-…-read you…repeat; this is Commander Rohlan Dyre…hangar subsections D-6 and D-5…under-…"

"Rohlan, this is Phiran Bindo speaking. What's your status?"

"…we've overrun D-4 and D-8, but the Sith warriors split our line in two. We're pinned down on the launch decks and currently under cannon fire…taking casualties…"

"I'm coming towards you on a cargo tram full of ammunition and reinforcements for the Imperial forces stationed there. Maybe some reinforcements for us, if what I'm sensing is correct. Be prepared for when I arrive."

"…copy that, Phiran. How will we know?" Silence.

"Phiran? Fierfek!"

Colin chuckled and gasped. The shuttle was still operational, but barely. Both wings had been clipped, and they were using the quantum batteries to keep the shields operational. However, that meant no power for the weapons on the shuttle or the easily assembled anti-personnel cannons, whose battery packs were now long empty and relied on feeding off the batteries in the shuttle now. Also due to the fact that the shuttle was a safety hazard, as missed bolts bounced off the metal walls inside, they had decided to move Colin behind the barricade, where at least he wouldn't be in danger of being killed by a deflected shot of their own.

"Colin, don't move." One of the Mando medics stopped firing her repeating blaster for a moment to glance down at her patient. A lucky shot tore through the slit of her T-visor and the sound of it bouncing off the inside of her helmet made Rohlan's stomach turn. Colin moaned and grasped his side. The woman slumped down next to him. Rohlan cursed and bent down below the barricade to apply another stimshot to Colin. Another lucky shot tore through his hand. Cursing, Rohlan fired a flurry of shots into the observation booth, taking out the sniper responsible.

One of the Torrent field medics crawled over to the female Mandalorian. He placed his fingers to her neck and shook his head. Then he slumped over. It took a moment for Rohlan to see the blood trickle through his helmet and the three separate burn marks on the durasteel. Another soldier farther down the line screamed as a shot took him through his elbow, and when he flailed his arm, two more found his forearm. Two of his fellow comrades dragged him down before anyone else took a shot at him.

Rohlan's armor had taken quite a beating. Beyond the current Torrent barrier laid the remains of another line of barriers, within the targeting sights of most of the artillery pieces that had rolled in an hour ago. Easy enough to know why the Torrent fell back. His entire armor had darkened from maroon-gold to maroon-nearly-black and gold-now-dull-orange. His helmet was a lost cause, the beskar actually splitting down the middle after taking a grenade that would have blown apart Rohlan. He was now using a normal trooper's helmet, which, while fully operational, didn't have the advanced HUD like his did or targetting rangefinder. Ah well, maybe it didn't make a difference. Mandalorian armor was tough, but at the rate he was going, he would be fighting in his now-punctured vac-suit and secondary krayt-hide armor. Standing up, he glanced around and took down two more Sith troopers while listening to Phiran's voice on the comlink.

"…this…-ready…be ready…-full on assault…through the wall…" Rohlan cursed Phiran and whoever was in charge of tech distribution for giving them such crappy comlinks. Then he saw the burned casing and realized it had taken a bullet. Great. Another shot flipped it out of his hand. He wisely ducked down.

"So…cold…" Colin mumbled. Rohlan gritted his teeth in frustration. He had already given Colin more than the maximum amount of antibiotics and stimshots permitted for an hour within the course of ten minutes. If Colin's body temperature was dropping, that meant even the tiniest injection could stop his heart or leave him brain dead. Even if he could, there was nothing Rohlan could do for the deep wounds and shattered bones, something that could only be cared for in a proper hospital. Luckily, the lightsaber stabs he had taken were cauterized by the heat of the blade, so there was no worry about them bleeding, but that was offset by the fact that one of them went straight though his shoulder.

"Keep on fighting…" Colin mumbled deliriously, speaking to Rohlan but as if he was fighting alongside of him. "…see you on the other side…" Rohlan chuckled nervously and patted his friend.

"Yeah…see you once this is all done." Colin mumbled and waved his hand erratically. A slab of durasteel was ripped out of the wall and crushed several Sith troopers in the front of their lines. Okay, maybe he was fighting with them. Or not, as Rohlan observed; that one gesture had used up a great deal of energy, and Colin was now fast asleep. At least he wasn't bothered by the dropping bodies everywhere.

"All units, this is Commander Dyre. Prepare for full-on assault. I mean full-on. Everything. Personal shields, deployable armor, grenades, stims, the special attachments for your weapons; everything." Turning off his helmet feed, Rohlan sat down against the barricade. Phiran was coming, though there was something that kept on bothering him.

"What did he mean '…through the wall…'? It's not like…" There was a rumbling, and Rohlan dove to the floor. With an ear-splitting screech, the far wall of the hangar blew out, sending wiring and wall plating flying. The thin panels were turned into razor-sharp projectiles, and several snipers were heard crying out or crashing to the hangar floor as arms or heads were sliced off.

The next thing Rohlan saw was a forty-seven-car tram hurdle through the air, impact through the other side of the hangar, and stop. Well, not really. The cars after the first seven were still moving and caught up with their forward fellows and smashed into them. But even before that, the tram leaned to the right, hitting the rear of the Sith forces. Mini bursts of flames erupted from random cars, sending the contents flying. And then, just as the tram began to fall to the ground, the sides of fifteen different modules broke open and out charged Phiran and at least a couple hundred of recently-freed Torrent commandos and shock troopers.

"Chaaarrrgggeee!" Rohlan screeched at the top of his lungs, clearing the barricade in one leap and nearly falling on the other side as a bolt too many struck the same area on his beskar breastplate and shattered two of his ribs. It was a slug projectile, and caused a great deal of screeching and teeth gritting-as the bullet bounced off the back armor and stopped just below where his appendix had been until the age of eight-that no one heard thanks to the heavy bucket he wore, which contained an audio silence device that once sealed to his armor, allowed him to turn off all audio distractions or allow anyone to hear what he was saying. Ignoring the stream of blood trickling down his left leg, Rohlan raised his blaster rifle and ran forward.

Phiran hit the ground running and deflected blaster bolts back at the Sith line. "We're too exposed out here!" He barked. Rohlan and a team of Mandalorian supercommandos dashed forward, relying on their beskar armor and gentle nudges in the Force from the Jedi Sages safe behind large chunks of ceiling on the hangar deck, to ensure their survival.

One commando's shoulder was exposed to prolonged blasterfire one moment too long, and his shoulder pad was blown away, several shards embedding themselves in his helmet. His armor automatically sealed the opening with synth-armor, which was basically a dark liquid that, once injected into the exposed area, would harden, heal the immediate damage to the skin, and form a semi-protective layer.

The moment they saw fourteen Mandos charging their ranks, ignoring blasterfire and when cannon rounds showered them with shrapnel, they just flipped off the Sith, the heavy troopers began pulling back, taking what they could and leaving the rest behind. Kicking off pieces of rubble, the supercommandos jetpacked up to the balcony and overtook them. Grunts and screams were audible over the din of battle as the Mandalorian warriors ripped apart the heavy troopers.

A Sith Inquisitor standing near the front was wound in grappling line, and reeled towards a Mandalorian in red-gold armor, who placed his hand around the Pureblood-Sith's neck and squeezed. The sounds of breaking bones were deafened by a turret blown to bits by a grenade launcher held by one of the Mandalorians.

Wiping his hands of Sith blood, Rohlan dropped the Inquisitor and doused the nearest man in flames, kicking him off the balcony and onto a spike below. Chuckling, he looked up to see a Sith Lord standing in front of him, lightsaber at the ready. "Oh shab…" He raised his gauntlet flamethrower, but the Sith Lord grabbed his arm and snapped it at the wrist before blasting him with Force lightning. The electrical surge overloaded his suit's systems and the momentary blindness was all it took for a cannon round to shatter his breastplate and the Sith to hurl him over the wall.

As darkness crept into his vision, he saw Sith troopers overrun their lines and Phiran ordering the survivors towards the dropships, and those who were cut off, like Phiran himself, towards the hangar access corridors. Funny, I always thought dying in battle would be nice, but now I'm not feeling all proud and courageous. The Sith Lord leaped over the wall and landed beside him, lightsaber raised for the kill. Rohlan's arm might have been shattered, but he could still operate the gears of the crushgaunts, and the blaster still clenched tightly in his hand. Or maybe it's not my time…As the lightsaber swooped down towards his chest, he raised his arm and fired...

Revan stabbed the Seeker through its head. The droid kept on coming. He sliced off one arm. It still advanced on him. He took out the legs. It used repulsorlifts to continue. "This is getting ridiculous…" He grumbled, finally crushing the droid and hurling it into the track overhead.

He locked blades with the second one, while using Heart of the Guardian to bisect the third. After struggling a few moments, the Seeker leapt back and retracted its hands in exchange for blasters. Revan barely brought up his blades to deflect the bolts. Angling the lightsabers, he succeeded in directing the bolts back into the barrel of each hand gun, destroying the Seeker's arms. Bisecting it, he kicked it back, where it fell into the space between the two cars and was torn apart.

The other six, those that were flying alongside the tram, increased their speed, staying with Revan and then opening fire on him while two, one on each side, retracted their blasters and grabbed their staffs.

Revan Force-shoved the first off of the platform, but the second one didn't budge. Rather, its feet were magnetically tied to the permasteel. Its staff began crackling blue, and Revan caught the energy spheres on his lightsaber, before mentally magnifying the energy output by the tendrils a hundred times, and directing it back at the Seeker. The blue balls merged into a strange overly-big rope, and were absorbed by the Seeker's metal frame. The combat droid's processor couldn't predict this attack, and the energy overloaded the droid's processing matrix and blew it apart.

Revan chuckled as the other four Seekers drew back, until he felt the car shake and his magnetic footpads were knocked loose. The Behemoths below hadn't forgotten him. Revan watched as the car behind him broke loose and fell. The Behemoths were now going alongside the train, pummeling the cars from both sides.

Revan shot a grappling line at the next car, diving forward into a container. A few seconds later, two lines of bullet holes erupted behind him, and Revan scrambled to outrun the plasma shots, diving out of the container and leaping up to the top of the next car.

Ten Seekers, the original six and one from each Behemoth, leapt up. Revan kicked the first one off before it could secure itself, and the droid was crushed in-between the tram and a support column.

The remaining nine opened fire on Revan while moving forward. Revan blocked the first few bolts before ripping open a section of floor in front of him, the metal peeling back and providing a barrier. The moment he heard the sound of their blasters overheating and recharging, he sprang forward, two pistols in each hand, firing wildly at the closest four. As was expected, the first few that hit their torsos were absorbed by the armor, but a few lucky shots destroyed the wrist blasters on two of them, and Revan focused his fire on them, finally punching through the armor and blasting them off the car.

The car behind them buckled and fell, as two missiles destroyed its support structure. The Seekers dropped back, leaping off the car and landing on the Behemoths, resuming their fire from the weapon platforms. Revan blocked the first few shots, but when the droids began to bear rocket launchers and RPGs, he found himself dodging the projectiles and fighting just to keep the tram from blowing up, never mind himself...

Thanks for reading! Next chapter out by May 2013.