Cayde stopped the elevator on the research and technologies floor and ran for his life, smashing the elevator control panel with the grip of his weapon as he did so, it might stop the droid, if not only slow it down. Losing his arm the first time was his decision, but now he had to lose it again out of necessity, he hoped to retrieve it when he could. For now, he needed make sure that the Czerka weapon designs wouldn't fall into the Empire's hands.

"Choota! Choota!" Titch screamed, urging the Director to follow him through the lab. They were escorted by a squad of Czerka droids, armed with vibroblades, ready to take on the imperial machines head on. The director handed the rifle he had taken from his display to one of the droids and ordered it to stand guard at the elevator door.

"Ootinga boowai?" The jawa asked as he struggled to keep up with his cofounder, wondering what good one droid with a Czerka gun would do.

"Railgun. Magnetic propulsion shouldn't be affected by the dampener. Is the sidearm prototype here?" He panted as they continued to run through the lab. Every workstation flashed red on and off, sirens blasted throughout the entire building. Titch quickly diverted to a workable and grabbed the Railgun pistol that Cayde had asked for, throwing it to the man for him to catch and holster on his left side.

They then reached the end of the main hallway and opened the door to the back room, inside was a cylinder, no bigger than a person. Cayde walked up to the container and typed in the code to open it, he struggled initially as he was right handed, without his cybernetics, he felt less than what he was capable of. The cylinder opened to reveal a piece of chest armour bearing the colours and symbol of the Czerka corporation, vaguely similar in design to a mandalorian chest plate.

"Droids, help me into this." He ordered as the mechs hoisted the armour over his head and slowly lowered it down, slow enough for him to stick his left arm through the designated opening.

"Toopa ee?" Titch then asked, unsure of what to do with himself.

"Take the ventilation system to the bunkers. I need to get to the foundry before the Empire, this is the fastest way to do it." He ordered as he activated the central thruster on his back, rotating the multiple magnetic turbines within the cylindrical frame. Another press at buttons on a console opened up a hidden door behind the suit, leading to outside of the citadel, hundreds of feet above the ground. Cayde ran and jumped from the doorway, as he fell, several panels emerging from the back of his chest piece rearranged themselves to form a set of quad wings in the shape of a narrow X.

"I just need some time." He muttered to himself.

Clone bodies littered the streets, many weren't wearing their armour at the time of the attack. Out of the twelve thousand that Slick had saved, only half of them had their own set of armour, over the past few months, Cayde had worked to produce more and even upgrade the sets they had, but there were still hundreds, if not thousands who only wore their under armour or officers uniforms. They were vastly unprepared for an attack on Chorus. Barriss could only look in horror at the shattered helmets and skulls, the K series droids had no weapons, no blasters, no swords, just their cold metal fists to tear apart human flesh with their bare hands.

She sliced another droid upwards, splitting it in half. She then opened her comm. "Block E-11 is clear. There were only a dozen droids here, they're too far spread to do any real damage." She instantly regretting saying that as she looked back at the piles of dead clones.

"Understood Barriss. The last shuttle is making its way down to the bunker in that sector." Korkie informed her.

"Well done, Korkie. I shall dock with the Resolute II to aid you in the plan." Plo added.

The sound of static interference blasted a cross all channels, then a new link opened. "Young Jedi! I could use some assistance!" A familiar voice said.

"Vindi? What's going on?" She asked.

"Droids are trying to make their way into ze medical facility. I have wounded here who need evacuating to ze bunkers!" The doctor said desperately.

"I'm on my way." She replied before another link opened up.

"Commander Offee… It's Orston… The droids got to the detention center. Freed the Kast clan… They knew exactly where to look… I'm sorry ma'am… "

"Don't worry about that now, Orston. Are you hurt?" She asked

"… I'm not… gonna…" Was all the mandalorian was able to let out before an audible final exhale could be heard over the radio. Barriss punched the bridge of her nose. How many more had to die? Luminara Hardeen, Mustard, now Orston and so many clones that had willingly given their lives to protecting the galaxy.

"How did they know we had prisoners?" She asked to herself, not realising her commlink was still open.

"Boost…" Plo began. "Boost is somewhere in the city… he's had months to survey Chorus."

"Then we need to find him!"

Korkie then butted in. "I'll be down with you to find the clone. Master Plo, he's your sergeant, I'll need you to help. Barriss, you go to the medical facility. Fives! You're in command."

Barriss used the force to aid in her speed and agility as she jumped from building to building, making her way to the medical facility. There were already dozens of injured clones who needed moving, which the droids had quickly seen to. As she pointed Vindi in the direction of the bunker, she looked over to the glass prison, and the crippled Yuuzhan Vong within.

She walked up and slammed a closed fist on the glass, catching his attention.

"We will find a way to beat you. I want you to be the first to know that." She said coldly as she made the uncomfortable decision to leave him be in his cell.

Cayde walked along the scaffolding around one of the production forges, keeping to the walls to avoid detection, but so far there were no droids in sight. He put his pistol away and hacked into a nearby terminal. "Okay, downloading data…" He said quietly to himself as he inserted a remote data drive into the console.

"I must say, Mr Durann!" An unknown voice echoed throughout the factory, drawing the director's attention to the middle of the production floor. A man in black imperial armour stood with his arms wide open, gesturing to the facility he stood in, it was Pryde. "You've managed to make quite an Empire for yourself!" He complimented.

Cayde stood still, not wanting to give away his exact location. He slowly reached for the microphone near the console and a dressed his former commanding officer. "There's no Empire here. Don't you dare compare us to it, we are not the same." His voice blasted over the speakers.

"Oh, I mean no disrespect, Cayde, far from it!" Pryde began. "I genuinely am impressed with what you have achieved in over a year since you became a wanted man. But now I'm here to correct that error."

The Director rolled his eyes. "You've had alot of time to do that, but you were always pretty slow, old man."

"If you don't hand Czerka over to the Empire, I will simply take it from you… but I will give you a chance to think it over. And I'd rather talk face to face, so you can come down from the production forge." Pryde added, clearly irritated by his situation. He had no chance of becoming a captain again, he lost command of his ship, now he was fighting his former coworker, a man who betrayed him.

Cayde's eyes widened in shock. How did he know where he was? Then the subtle hum of a miniature probe droid drew his attention as it flew behind him, it was then obvious that the Empire had sent probes in advance. "Fine! I'm coming down." He shouted as he jumped from the forge, igniting his flight pack at the last second to cushion his fall. "Okay… What do you propose?"

Pryde smirked, he would have the final say. "You hand over Czerka, the five prisoners and Balmorra to me, then you and the rest of your people can pile onto your cruisers and find a new home further into the unknown regions. But everything you've built, everything you own, now belongs to the Empire."

"We have civilians! Families with nowhere else to go. You're suggesting that I just take them into unknown danger? You're out of your mind if you think that I'll willingly risk the lives of my people." The Director argued.

"Look around you! They're already in danger, but you, Cayde… you can end this. I'd rather not fight an unarmed man." He almost smirked as he referred to his severed cybernetic limb.

Cayde didn't give Pryde time to register what he was attempting, in an instant, he drew and fired a round from his rail gun pistol, missing Pryde by a foot or so. He then spun round and ducked behind a workbench. "Damn it!" He cursed himself for missing, but it wasn't a surprise seeing as he wasn't using his dominant arm. "Six…" He spoke quietly to himself.

Pryde was shocked, the fact that he could have died was enough to shake him to his core. But what scared him the most was the fear that his arc dampener had malfunctioned, rendering this whole plan useless from the get go. "Impossible!" He shouted in frustration as he primed his revolver that Reyes had gifted him and fired three shots at the Director, skimming the top of the workbench he had been using for cover.

"You sure you want to use that thing? Because I know weapons, and that one requires a skill that we both know you don't have. Ha!" Cayde shouted from behind the table.

"Silence!" Pryde retorted. Suddenly, Cayde fired a shot upwards from his position, shooting out an industrial light, creating a fist sized hole in the factory ceiling. In the commotion, Pryde attempted to fire again while Cayde ran from cover onto the factory conveyor belt. "Two…" He spoke to himself again.

Pryde took aim and fired again, just once, landing a shot mere inches from the Director's feet, causing him to jump as he ran across further out of range. The former captain took control of the situation and used a nearby console to activate the belt. "I like your ambition, Cayde. But you're wasting your potential! All of your resources and what do you have to show for it? A shielded city?"

Cayde ran against the conveyor belt for a few seconds, slowly gaining distance between himself and Pryde, he then used his wing pack to fly upwards onto an overhanging walkway. "One..."

Pryde fired upwards at his position, hitting the railing.

"Zero..."

As he landed, his unevenly distributed weight almost made him fall down onto his left but he used his only hand to grab the railing to steady himself. "This is more than a city! It's a home… one that I will give my life to protect from murderers like you!"

"Shut up!" The former captain shouted as he aimed his weapon right at the Director's head and pulled the trigger.

Empty.

Cayde smiled. "You want my weapons, Edmus? You can have them!" He announced as he fired his last rail round in Pryde's direction, destroying the workbench he was using for cover.

The shrapnel from the resulting explosion caught Pryde on his right side, embedding shards of metal into his jaw, his underlayer was torn and his armour was covered in multiple dents. The captain was down, he pressed a button on his wrist and called in reinforcements. The roaring sound of jetpacks surrounded the facility as two Mandalorians and a jet trooper broke through the windows and gathered around Pryde. "Finish what he started!" The jet trooper commanded Rook Kast as he flew him to safety.

Rook and her cousin waited until the commander had taken Pryde out of the facility until only they and Cayde remained. "Listen, Director. We don't serve the empire; we serve the people of Mandalore. If this captain has his way, you'll have nothing to protect yourself against the Vong." She said as she raised her hands out of respect.

Cayde raised his eyebrow, looking between the two of them, their body language showed that they were, for the most part, relaxed. How did she know the name of the species? "I take it you've been talking with Fon?" He guessed, to which she nodded.

"You have no reason to trust me or my clan, but if we don't stop the Empire and the Yuuzhan Vong, then Mandalore is doomed along with the rest of the galaxy. That commander is taking the operative back to the closest medical facility, which is your citadel. You can still get to your office and regain control of the city defenses with our help." She offered as she held out her hand.

Chorus City was originally just an underground bunker which once housed hundreds of droids, many of the rooms were initially locked to Cayde, Gizor and Titch, but the three of them had spent months working their way through the underground facility, clearing out the mining equipment, tools and even more droids to free up space. Now the main bunker was housing hundreds of refugees and injured clones. A temporary medical clinic had been set up in the closest corner of the entrance, everyone who came in was seperated and sorted into those who needed care, and those who can work.

Nuvo Vindi often found that working under pressure with constant issues to provide him with a challenge, something to overcome, and he relished in it. This however, was proving to be more than he bargained for. Children were in distress upon being separated from their parents, the workforce of clone medics and volunteers were overwhelmed with the number of patients piling in. The battle in the sky sent shock waves that could be felt even deep underground, which only frightened the children more.

"Move those makeshift beds over there!" He commanded a group of togruta men who looked confused on where to go.

"Doctor, we have another one!" A clone medic shouted as he pushed in a clone with a broken right arm.

Vindi paced over to the man, snatching a stuffed toy from one of the nearby children as he went past. He then pressed the toy against the clone's mouth and pulled his head back until he reluctantly opened his mouth. "Bite down!" He instructed.

The clone did as he was told and bit down on the plush toy. Vindi then grabbed the broken arm and reset it, causing the clone to let out a muffled scream through the teddy in his mouth as he bit down on it even harder. "Okay, now ze arm just needs a bacta cast." He then ripped the toy back from the clone, who let out an exhausted sigh of pain and relief.

Vindi paced back to the main terminal with his medical scanner in one hand and the child's toy in the other. He shook the plushie to rid it of any remaining saliva and placed it back into the child's arms. "You may want to wash that." He casually commented to the young Twi'lek girl as he continued to coordinate the clinic.

A loud thud caught his attention as a group of clones had knocked over a crate of bandage wraps. "Ay ay ay! Be careful with that!" He complained to the clone in white and orange armour.

"Sorry, Doctor. Where do you want the tanks?" Boil asked as he gestured to the two bacta tanks containing Slick and Mace Windu, they had been brought to the underground facility as the Venators would undoubtedly be too dangerous for them.

"Keep them here near ze central terminal. If you really want to help, ze children need nutrition. Grab ze ration packs and water and distribute them! And take this one with you!" The Doctor ordered as he shoveled his hand behind the girl who was still clutching her toy, fearful that the doctor would take it away again, and pushed her towards him.

Boil then did as he was instructed and grabbed a small crate containing the ration packs, the child then reached up and grabbed his wrist with one hand. He looked down at the young Twi'lek girl and was instantly reminded of Ryloth, of Waxer… of Numa. He reorganised the crate so that he held it under one arm and held onto the girls hand with the other, then carefully made his way through the injured sprawled out on uncomfortable mats on the floor, trying his best not to step on anyone or cause any more damage. One frail togruta woman even grabbed his foot at he was walking past, stopping him in his tracks.

"Water…" She wheezed. She had suffered tremendous blood loss at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong, her neck was a mixture of scabs, cuts and soaked cloth to keep what little fluid remained inside.

Boil looked at the limited rations in the small crate he held in his arms and elected to reach behind his back and remove his own armours personal water supply, only a few mouthfuls, but it would quench the young woman's thirst. "Here." He said as he gently passed the handheld canister over to her. The little girl looked on at her newfound protector with a great sadness in her eyes, comprehending his personal, if only minor, sacrifice.

He didn't have time to further check on the woman, no time to make sure that she actually drank. He made his way over to the other corner of the bunker where a temporary fence made from crates and storage units had been set up. A clone medic was inside tending to the injured children, there were less than a dozen of them rescued from Harok-Two, but they needed urgent care. The medic looked up to the 212th lieutenant and nodded to the other clone standing guard over the children, the guard then let him in.

"Sir, it's good that you're here." The medic began. "I have a couple children here who need treatment, I need you to tend to the others." He asked.

"Uh, right." Boil grumbled and made his way over to the back of the secluded children's area, the Twi'lek followed him and sat down next to a group of five togruta boys and girls who waited anxiously and he began to pass out the ration packs. Each pack contained a protein bar, dried fruits and a container of water, even smaller than what he had given the woman earlier.

As the children began to dig into their meals, the lieutenant made his way over to the medic tending the two injured togruta. He then placed the two remaining ration packs next to the medic. "For when they can eat." He said as he knelt down next to his brother. "Is there anything I can do to help?" He then asked.

Without looking him in the eye, the medic responded. "Hold this cloth down on his throat, keep pressure on it while I get the bandages."

As Boil nodded and did as instructed, he looked down at the young man, he couldn't be any older than six or seven. "Hey… you're being very brave, kid." He took off his helmet and smiled at the boy, who looked absolutely terrified at the world around him, but tried to look brave in front of the soldier.

Once the bandages were applied, Boil then began to leave the children's area, only to be grabbed by his wrist again. He turned and looked down at the same Twi'lek girl he brought over, she had her toy stuffed under her arm and something else in her hand. She tugged at his arm and passed him her water, it was still full, she hadn't even opened it.

Not wanting to seem ungrateful, he smiled at her and gently pat her on the head before taking a small sip of water, then giving the rest back to her. "Thanks, kid. Now make sure you finish that, okay?" He smiled and finally left the area.

He wouldn't admit it in front of the girl, but he really needed that drink, he had been organising the evacuation of the city to the bunker in Cayde's absence, he worried that the director was dead and he was left to pick up the pieces. He was relieved to know that much of the groundwork was already done for him, the bunker was big enough, there were enough supplies to last a few days, but nobody could have accounted for the number of people needing to be brought down here.

He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn't realised that he had just bumped into Barriss. He shook from his thoughts and quickly saluted. "Sir!"

Barriss was one her way back from tending to more of the wounded, with her plan in effect up above, there wasn't much else she could do to help but remain underground where she could make a difference. "Boil." She smiled before asking. "Is this everyone?" She then looked around, hoping to find Cayde or Titch.

"There's a few thousand of us down here, mostly clones. But Vindi has a good hold over the situation" Boil informed her.

Amongst the rumbling outside and the chatter and screams inside, Barriss could barely think to herself. "Do you think we've done enough?" She began to ask.

Boil was about to answer her question, but the all too familiar siren blared out, followed by the synthesised voice.

"WARNING. ASTEROID COLLISION IMMINENT."

Barriss' eyes widened in worry. "No, not now!" She panicked.

"Barriss! They're boarding us!" The ARC trooper shouted over the comms.

This didn't make any sense. "What? Why would they bother boarding? There's barely any cortosis on board." She said.

"It's not imperials… It's the Yuuzhan Vong!"