"You are earlier than I figured. I expected to have several minutes more. Oh, well." The Gemini captain was not in the enclosure that Miriah had expected. She and Devin stood together as several groups of skytroopers rose from the floor on either side of the captain. "I've conducted over two thousand combat simulations in the past few minutes. Your chances of survival are...poor."

"I'll take that bet," Miriah responded, pulling her blaster. Devin activated his lightsaber, and started on the group to his right, while Miriah engaged the group on her side. They'd been fighting the droids for so long now that it seemed trivial to them, and in short order, they stood again side by side, neither of them even slightly fatigued. The Gemini captain then charged them, and together they slowly weakened her. She had this electrical attack that she was throwing out, much like some Sith had, and Miriah remembered the grenades she'd picked up. They proved quite effective, and in the end, the Gemini captain was no match for their combined attack, and finally she stopped.

"That...was incredible. It was...beyond anything I could have asked for," the captain said, a note of wonder in her mechanical voice. Her chassis still sparked sporadically, and Miriah moved closer to her.

"What is she talking about?" Devin asked. He'd opened his comm link and the rest of their group heard the captain's declaration.

"This can't be good," Theron said.

"Now I know what it's like. Even in failure, it's MY failure. MY choice. Isn't it wonderful?" The captain spread her arms in front of her, clearly enjoying herself. The shiny metal AI slowly paced in front of Miriah. "It isn't easy to keep you distracted. Skytroopers, prisoners… none of it slowed you for long." She turned her back to them. "Even so, I've kept up my end. Now, I get to do whatever I choose. And I choose.." Around them, everything powered down and alarms started to blare throughout the ship. "There. Destruction protocols are in effect."

"You don't have to do this," Miriah told her, her mind on the shuttle and her injured husband inside it. "We can work something out."

"This is what I choose to do, Outlander. Your fate is decided. By me." The captain walked toward the large windscreen. "If the ship's destruction doesn't kill you, I am sure Emperor Arcann will. He and High Justice Vaylin should be arriving very soon. Enjoy dying." A large arc of electriciy covered the droid then, and she fell with a thud before them.

"Can't cancel the command, it's locked in," Theron informed them.

"We have to get Gemini prime on board, she can stop this." Miriah ran to a computer station, looking at all the code streaming past.

"We don't have that kind of time," Theron said, his worry coming through his voice. Explosions began to rock the ship, throwing them all around. Miriah again thought about Corso and hoped he was safe.

Aric heard the explosions and rolled out from the warm cocoon he'd made. That doesn't sound good, not good at all, he thought. He glanced over at Corso, but knew he wouldn't see any changes. We need to get back to the Gravestone, he mused, and get Corso into a tank. He knew that the others would be back as quickly as he could, and started to prepare. He stowed the crates and miscellaneous items that had shifted when they'd landed and cleared the way for the group to board. Once he could reach the controls, he checked the fuel status and did all of the preflight he could, given that he was reluctant to power the shuttle up, not knowing for sure what was around it. He kept his right arm as still as he could, since even slight movement sent white hot pain up into his body. When he could do no more, he eased himself back against his best friend, hoping for his sake they'd be taking off soon.

Maura saw the explosions rocking the Fleet ship, and her eyes grew wide. She heard Tora gasp as well. "They'll be back, it's possible that they set those off."

"I thought we were trying to get the prime unit on that ship, so that we could control the fleet," Tora replied.

"Maybe it just wasn't possible," Maura answered, and they watched the ship closely. Get back here, Maura tried to send the thought to her husband. Get back now!

Miriah was studying the terminal when she heard a voice. "Commander, do you read? We've made it to the escape pods, but something is wrong. They won't accept our commands." Miriah realized it was Admiral Ranken, and turned to see Devin's worried face.

Theron came into the comms. "Power fluctuations like crazy. I can launch them from here, but there are three separate pods. I can only send one at a time."

"Everything's coming apart!" Tai Corden added. "Please, help us!"

"Alright, who goes first?" Theron's fingers were flying over the computer controls as he spoke, and he knew in his heart that they wouldn't be able to get everyone off in time, but he was going to try his best.

"Get Ranken and her people to safety," Miriah said, and beside her, Devin nodded. It was the most logical choice. They heard the loud thump of the pod leaving, and Miriah sighed. Corso. I need to get to him.

"I can do one more for sure, after that, it's anyone's guess," Theron told them, and Miriah turned back to the terminal.

"Send Corden and his group next," Miriah told Theron, and again, Devin nodded. When that pod was away, they all heard a massive explosion, and Theron walked away from the controls.

"Pod bays are destroyed," Lana told them, and Miriah and Devin felt her emotions through the force. "Two are safely away, the rest didn't make it."

Theron stood a short distance from Lana, his head bowed. "I tried, I just couldn't get them away in time." Lana moved to him and put her hand on his arm, unable to speak but knowing he'd done all he could.

"We will suffer a similar fate if we don't get to the shuttle quickly," Lana said. Miriah and Devin were already running to the shuttle, Devin using force speed and pulling his mother behind him. It seemed as if it took hours to reach the shuttle, but they did get there only seconds behind Theron, Lana and Senya. Miriah was struggling to breathe but her eyes found her husband, and she knelt beside him as they took off.

Maura had seen the escape pods exit the damaged ship, and used the Gravestone to bring them into the docking bay. Maybe the shuttle was just too damaged, she thought, to get it back here. She fully expected to see her family emerge, and her confusion at the occupants made them all hurry to introduce themselves. Once she had them safely in the main part of the ship, she returned to the window to watch, hoping with everything she was that the group would be on their way.

The shuttle skewed sideways in Theron's attempt to turn her, and the movement threw Miriah against Aric. He tried to keep his howl of pain to himself, but part of it escaped and Miriah immediately moved away. "Sorry," he mumbled, but she knew better.

"Aric! You're hurt," she said, moving the blanket aside and putting her hand over her mouth when she saw his crude bandage.

"Sorry for that," he said through gritted teeth, "but I'm right handed, so I couldn't do as well with it."

"We'd best leave it for the Gravestone," she said. "We should be there in a few minutes." He nodded and closed his eyes against the throbbing pain, then remembered he had the scanner. He pulled it from his pocket and handed to her, and heard the beep when she powered it up. He wasn't prepared for the gasp she made when she scanned Corso though, and opened his eyes again to see what had changed. The numbers on the scanner, which correlated to heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygenation, had dropped into the yellow zone. Miriah held back tears as she yelled to Theron to get a move on.

They hit the hangar on the Gravestone hot, and almost didn't get stopped before tearing through her hull. Miriah was off first, yelling over her comm link to have a droid at the shuttle. Maura heard her sister, and while she was relieved, she knew something was very wrong. She had made it to the air lock when Miriah came bursting through, her face tear ravaged, and Maura knew. They ran together to the medbay and Miriah started preparing two breathing masks. Maura felt her breath hitch, and wondered who was going in tanks.

Aric was helped into the medbay by Lana, and Maura realized at least one occupant. Her husband looked gray and drawn, and she rushed to him, only looking at his injured shoulder. "I don't need that," he said, gesturing at the tank.

"Yes, you do, Aric," Miriah said. "That shoulder has more scar tissue than muscle left, and it will never heal properly otherwise." She hadn't looked up from her task, and everyone could tell she was in no frame of mind to argue. As Maura helped him get out of his armor and ready for the tank, Aric whispered in her ear.

"Corso is hurt," he told her, and Maura nodded. She'd figured as much when she saw Miriah's face. When he was stripped down to his boxers, he stepped gingerly into the tank, where there was already a couple of inches of the blue-green fluid. "Get us home," he said to Miriah, and she nodded before fitting the breathing mask to his face. She injected some sedative, so that he wouldn't feel like he was suffocating, and stepped back to let Maura finish the process. At that moment the droid came into the medbay with Corso on the stretcher.

"He hates the tank," Miriah said. "Always has. Help me, Maura." Together they took off the heavy armor and readied his battered body for the healing fluid. The droid helped them get the large man into the suspension harness, and Miriah removed her boots, stepping into the tank with Corso. He was very pale, she saw, and it made her heart sink.

Maura left her with him, giving her a moment with her husband. She knew Aric would be fine, but at that point she wasn't as certain about her brother in law, and as she left the medbay, she sank onto the floor, her head in her hands.

Lana was making sure everyone was ready for a jump, and strode into the medbay. What she saw made her shout at the droid to stop the tank fill. She walked slowly to the tank. Miriah was there, already up to her shoulders in the fluid, her hair fanning out around her. She held Corso's face in her hands, her gaze never leaving his face. "Commander, you should get out of there," Lana said as she drew closer. She knew Miriah had heard her, but was choosing to ignore her plea. As she got close enough to see Miriah's face, she saw the sheer will keeping her upright.

"We made a pact, before this all started," Miriah whispered, and Lana saw a large tear make its way down her pale face. "If one of us went, the other would follow." Lana started as Miriah's words pierced her heart, unable to speak for a moment.

"Miriah, he is not going to die," Lana said, her voice tender. "We've got him in here to heal him, and by the time we get back to Odessen, he'll be fine." Miriah continued to stare at her husband's face, and Lana reached into the tank to put her hand on Miriah's shoulder. "Come on, now. We have a new baby to meet." Miriah stood for a few moments longer, and slowly climbed out of the tank, and over to the controls to finish filling it. She was turning to follow Lana when she broke down, and instead sat on the cold floor as her beloved was submerged, unable to do anything more.