Luke's hands were tight on the controls of the shuttle. Alerts blared and three subsystems were complaining about imminent failure, but he ignored the gauges. He had a better source of information. The force whispered to some, but when he bore down it shouted answers and warnings. Those shouts were the only reason they were still alive. Blaster bolts from the first interceptor squadron bracketed them as his slightest twitches weaved them through the cannon fire.

Twelve fighters shouldn't be remotely troubled by a single shuttle. The rebellion had done its best with the landing craft, but the cold equations dictated that its performance could only approach the much lighter Alpha-3s. They were gaining on him, and soon even precognition wouldn't let him dodge.

"Find some cover-something opaque to sensors." His copilot took what felt like decades to reply in the clarity that embracing the force brought. He didn't need the acknowledgement, he only needed the man to find something.

He knew before the copilot spoke, the force urging him to break right and dive for the mountains. He had to take a volley of cannon fire as he turned, bracing himself before the shots impacted on their shields. The mountains were nothing like the ones he'd played over on Vanweir, Ryloth didn't have the tectonics to support such monstrosities, but they'd serve.

The Imperial pilots weren't fools. They didn't try to match his flight as he streaked meters above the ground. He was low enough there was ground effect buffeting the shuttle, and just like he'd once done in Beggar's Canyon he shifted power from the repulsors to the engines.

"The caves are coming up. We just need an entrance big enough." His copilot's attention was fixed on the scanners and Luke could feel the fear that kept him from looking out the viewports. "If you duck in one of them the fighters should lose sensor lock."

Luke didn't answer, the crags and cliffs of the valley were just barely kept from their hull by a thin cushion of air. He wasn't making choices now, there was a single path dictated by the engines, the rocks, and their constant climb into thinner air as the mountains rose around them. The fighters were falling behind. They were meant for space and the clones had never had the chance to risk their lives learning to truly fly. Part of him felt pity, some part that wasn't fully submerged in the force.

"Stand by for a rough landing!" The emotions of the strike team behind him spiked, fear from all but Mara.

He flung the shuttle over a ridge, slamming the throttles of the port engine past the redline as he zeroed the other. The inertial compensators shrieked as they slipped into a flat spin, if Luke wasn't wearing armor the straps would be leaving bruises on his chest.

They skipped across the ground once- then as it all went dark Luke threw the starboard throttle to full and shifted all power to the engines. His entire control panel went red as they skidded backwards into the cave, leaving a trail of sparks and gouges along the hard rock floor. The only noise he could hear was the grinding of the hull and the screams of his copilot, before he felt the force's last command.
The cave went silent as he killed the engines, and then dark as he turned off the shuttle's reactor. In the seconds before the battery powered emergency lights turned on he could see fires burning from where their trail had ignited organic material on the cave floor.

Luke hit the release to his harness and stood, the entire shuttle was silent, the strike team staring at him with a mixture of fear and awe. Mara moved to his side, and as ever with her there he knew he could do anything.

"The mission has obviously changed." The helmet changed his voice, adding something mechanical. "The speeders we planned to use for artillery spotting are now our escape route."
Captain Lyman stood, and Luke could feel the commandos relax with the slight return to normality.

"Sounds off by squads, take all priority one and two gear on the speeder bikes and prepare to set charges-"

There was a thump as something fell on the hull, then another. Lyman didn't pause, he needed to keep going to keep morale up, but Luke wasn't so limited. He could feel the creatures walking, the sensations that would have been curiosity in a higher form of life.

"They're predators of some type." Mara spoke in his ear, an alert in his helmet's display telling him it was a private channel as he muted Lyman. "Gutkurrs are from here right?"

He tried to think of what gutkurrs even were, and then decided it didn't matter. Whatever was on the hull was linked to others of its kind, he could sense more approaching. The two on the ship were moving towards the hatches, they must be able to smell whatever few molecules had survived a trip through space. It would almost be impressive, if he couldn't sense the hunger that was driving them.

"I don't feel like fighting a bunch of animals in a cave."

"They might not be similarly inclined." Her Coruscanti accent was more pronounced when she thought he was being obtuse.

"They're social, and there's just two now. I can persuade them we're part of the pack or hive or whatever and we can get out of here."

"If you say so. I'll tell Lyman while you wrangle the herd Farmboy." Months of living with Mara had confirmed she had no idea what actually went on at moisture farms. The image of her roping a vaporator came to mind briefly, before he managed to dismiss it.

The animals were both waiting near the hatch he was approaching, they could probably hear through the hull. He reached out, opening his senses more fully before stretching for their minds. They weren't like sentients, their emotions were muted, dull palettes comparted to the sharp flashes of Mara and the commandos. Hunger dominated both of their thoughts, a constant need for food for their home. It was too deep-seated to change, but there were other ways. The creatures didn't fight other members of their hives and with a brush of the force the two now saw all of them as other drones.

The hatch ground open with a protest from the hydraulics, his landing must have bent something and he got his first look at the things. They were hideous, the night vision of the helmet gave them a green tinge, but their color barely registered. Each of them was almost as tall as he was, they walked on viciously sharp segmented legs and they had tentacles constantly flicking out and drawing back past their dripping mandibles to taste the air.

"Tell Lyman to be quick, I don't want be near these things any longer than needed."

The insects followed him as he walked from the hatch, giving the strike team more space to assemble their gear. The creatures were opportunistic, and if a trooper fell he knew they might attack before he could reign in their reflexes.

The hum of speeders filled the cave, their repulsors taxed by the supplies that would be key to getting off this world. He could feel more of the creatures approaching, they were attracted by the noise and he extended his command to them. These ones were larger, their carapaces scarred with the damage of a hundred battles. They hissed and clicked as they walked towards him, never letting the smaller beasts get behind them. The insects could smell food, and it was getting to be a strain to keep them focused. Luke was realizing that just being part of the hive wasn't enough to keep them safe, cannibalism was a constant threat.

"What's the hold up?" Mara looked to him as he commed her. She'd taken a position at the edge of the troopers, closest to him- and to the drones.

"The fighters are doing sweeps, Lyman wants to leave just after they pass over so we've got the most free time."

"The longer we wait the more of these things will show up."

"Do you need help holding them?"

He thought for a second and shook his head. The force was with him, even as insects kept emerging from deeper in the cave. It was a strange sensation as he spread himself thin over their minds, almost dissociating himself from his body. It must have been worse for C'baoth. If the man wasn't insane to start seizing control of entire fleets would have finished the job. As long as it was insects Luke wasn't worried, but the power was seductive. His small team could operate as a flawless unit. Even a hint of the bond he and Mara shared in combat would elevate soldiers to an impossibly elite level. Perhaps that'd been why the Republic used clones. Jedi generals wouldn't have to worry about individuality as they swept identical armies along in their wake.
More of the creatures had surrounded him as he thought, and it was beginning to be a strain as they gathered.

"How much time?"

"The fighters are just coming up the valley, another minute."

Luke needed to gather himself, he was sweating in his armor as the force flowed through him. It wasn't something he'd ever practiced and he could feel that something, some critical event was approaching.

"Get on the speeders, get ready to go."

Mara's worry was sharp, but she turned to pass along his command. Luke couldn't pay attention, there was imminent danger and he couldn't tell from where. The insects were under his control, and the fighters weren't an immediate threat. His agitation was spreading, the creatures closest to him were twitching.

"Foolish Jedi." Palpatine's voice thundered through his mind- Luke fell to his knees in shock and pain. "You will suffer for your presumption."

His armor blocked the first stab, but it knocked him down. The insect that had done it reared, ready to strike again before Luke flung it back. The dark side had enraged the beasts, Palpatine had shattered his fragile hold and driven them to madness.

Luke rose, and the force rose with him. His saber burned in his hand as he struck, limbs and tentacles falling around him as he weaved his way through their attacks. Each step was calculated, his path made the creatures stumble over themselves and their fallen hive mates before getting close enough for him to kill them. Mara was attacking as well, her saber rising and falling as she cut her way towards him. The strike team was firing at the enraged swarm, but their blasters only left smoking craters on the carapaces. He swept his arm and sent a mass of the drones rolling back as their limbs and tentacles lashed. The heavy blaster found its way to his hand and it unerringly spat bolts into the heads of the creatures. The smell was indescribable, burnt viscera and scorched shells managed to get past even his helmet's air filters and their work wasn't yet done.

It felt like hours, but at last the orgy of violence was done as terror broke through the last of the dark side as a few of the smaller specimens fled back deeper into the cave. The troopers sped them on their way with some scattered shots as Luke finally released the force and nearly fell. Mara caught him before he stumbled, and he followed her to a speeder bike.

"I'll drive this time."

For once he didn't want to argue as he mounted the bike behind her. Two taps on his wrist brought him back onto the common channel just as Lyman started talking.

"We're getting to the nearest space port and stealing whatever ship will get us off this planet, the mission is a bust and the carriers aren't coming." The captain wasn't wrong. "The shields don't cover the entire surface, we just need to get far enough away from the generators and we can get back into the black and regroup."

Luke knew it wouldn't be that easy, and from the way Mara tensed in front of him he could tell she felt it too. It didn't change what they needed to do, so he didn't voice his concerns. The squad needed to be ready, and their challenges on Ryloth had only just begun.