As Cayde laid down on the floor, covered in blood and bruises, struggling to breathe, he could only think back on the past events leading up to this. His sister being taken away, her death, the clone war, his job, the prisoners he oversaw, Barriss… how he wanted her to be safe, to be okay. He wasn't blind, he knew what he was feeling towards her, but she was never meant to be a replacement for what he lost. She was something else entirely.

He knew she could handle herself, and deep down, he knew that she would be the one to stop the Vong. She would just have to do it without him. He could barely turn his head without bringing on even more agonising pain, so he chose to try and focus on where he was currently facing. The bright light from Balmorra's sky revealed that he was indeed facing towards his window, specifically his desk. He could see blurred silhouettes of people surrounding the office space, one particular figure was pacing back and forth, it had to be Reyes, still frustrated after the power outage.

The constant ringing in his ears deafened him to the sound of the Brotherhood and Vengeance still battling each other in the sky above, but he could still feel the building shake regardless. But… this shaking wasn't from the bombardment of cruiser fire that missed its target… this was from inside the building. The imperials seemed to pause upon feeling the tremor, but frantically went back to work. Cayde continued to look to stare at the group of men surrounding his desk, trying desperately to focus his vision. Through the ringing and the beating of his own heartbeat, he could hear the anger in Reyes' voice, whatever he was saying.

Reyes brought his wrist to his face to open a commlink. "NI-L8! Why isn't the power back online?" He demanded to know.

"We are still encountering resistance, Captain. The Gungans have received Jedi and clone reinforcements." The droid informed its commanding officer as a hologram of four Gungans, a Kel Dor, a mandalorian and two clones were using melee weaponry appeared on his holo projector. The feed was live from the K series droid optical sensors, Reyes studied the group, noticing a distinct pattern on the clone helmets.

"Wolfpack… hmm. Wait, what are they doing?" He then asked as the video showed the group splitting up. The mandalorian and gungans retreated into the power plant, leaving the Kel Dor and clones to defend against his droid forces.

"Unknown sir. It is possible that the power outage is not part of the enemy's strategic plan."

This operation was supposed to be simple. Render the enemy weapons useless, then take the foundry. How could this all be going so wrong so quickly? "Then who would do such a thing?" He finally asked.

"Scanners indicate several unknown lifeforms in the area. The majority of them appear to be onboard the enemy craft while one is located inside the city power grid- Sir! Alert! The Vengeance is being boarded." The droid informed him.

More bad news. "What?! Why would they do that? They have no weapons for an assault." Reyes said aloud, desperately trying to figure out their plans.

"Partially correct, Sir. They are using primitive weaponry unaffected by the arc dampener." The droid continued as a live feed from the halls of the Vengeance played on the holo display. An ARC trooper using a baton and riot shield to defend against physical hits from Reyes' stormtroopers, while a scarred clone behind him in civilian clothing shot his men down with a bow and arrow.

Reyes growled before slamming his fist onto Cayde's desk. He then took a deep breath and looked out of the window down onto the city below, then smiled at the realisation that these people had now probably forsaken their Czerka weaponry in favour of more traditional arms. "Director, I imagine most of your forces have fled or have gone into hiding… either way, they are no longer a threat. But don't worry, I have a plan to bring down their morale so much that they'll be too preoccupied to fight back." He then addressed the droid over the comm. "NI-L8, disable the dampener."

Cayde struggled to speak. Instead, he sputtered out an audible "No!" through the blood that had formed in his mouth before passing out.

Chorus City, power reactor

"You may hate my people's technology, Tolok. But you can't deny how destructive it can be." Pryde commented as primed another thermal detonator and attached it to the city power grid controls.

"Just hurry, human. The stench of metal is putrid." The one armed praetoriat Yuuzhan Vong commented.

The main entrance to the power grid then opened, in through those very doors walked Korkie and a squad of Gungan warriors. "There they are!" The young mandalorian Jedi in training shouted.

"Is that a Vong?" One of the Gungans asked.

"Whatsa heesa doins with imperials?" Another then followed up with another question.

"Doesn't matter, men. What matters is that they don't leave." Korkie commanded as he drew his green blade.

Pryde looked to the attack group, then quickly back at his new ally. Even with the strange technologies of the Vong, fighting against a Jedi would not be possible in their current state. "Time to go!" He shouted to Tolok, who snarled at the idea of retreat, but ultimately considered his options. He could either die here in this droid cursed city, or he could take his new ally and find his people and inform them of his findings.

With a quick nod, Tolok ripped off another small fraction of his armour, this time tearing off a section protecting his lower right ribs. He threw the discarded shell at their attackers, causing disruption and confusion for a brief second, just long enough for him to reach into the warm, exposed, fleshy opening in his armour. Reaching through the purple protective ooze and piercing his own skin, he used his claws to pry out a small rock the size of a child's fist, he winced at the pain while simultaneously relishing in it in the process.

Pryde vomited in his mouth a little as he watched Tolok hold the dark blood soaked stone in his hand before throwing it at the Gungans and mandalorian. The rock itself exploded on impact at the ground beneath their feet, shrapnel stretched far and wide, reaching various walls and mechanics in the room, every shard was joined by mixture of what looked to be some sort of slime and webbing, as if from an arachnid species. The strange alien polymer created a safety net between the two groups, despite the slime covered webbing being extremely fine and translucent, it proved to be remarkably strong and sturdy, withstanding a barrage of cuts and slashes from the Gungan spears.

Korkie then stepped forward and drove his lightsaber through the weaves, causing the webbing to burn, crackle and hiss at the immense heat, but it was still a slow process. In that time, Pryde and Tolok had already fled the power grid through the ventilation systems, making their escape.

"No!" Korkie shouted in frustration, still trying to break through the webbing. In a fit of rage, he then used his wrist mounted flamethrower in an attempt to burn it away in one moment, but it only singed it.

He then opened his comm. "Plo! There's some kind of webbing in the power grid, my lightsaber can't cut through."

"Calm yourself, young Korkie. Do as I say, and such barriers will never hinder you again. Now, close your eyes and reach out your hands."

The young mandalorian put away his weapon and did as instructed, he already knew what Plo was likely to say, as this motion was similar to what Barriss has instructed him to do on Cato Neimoidia. "Alright…" He breathed.

"Block out every noise, every rumble you feel beneath your feet. Trust only in the force. Feel it embrace you, let it channel through your body from the world around you. One more deep breath."

He took in a final breath of air, feeling the force flow through him like electricity, tingling in his palms.

"And release…"

A powerful pulse wave emitted through Korkie's hands, stretching and ripping the webs in place, creating a hole in the wall the size of a small star fighter. He then collapsed onto the ground to catch his breath, overwhelmed by everything he had just experienced. "I… I did it…" He gulped.

"That was just a fraction of what you could learn, Korkie. When the time is right, I shall tech you more." The Kel Dor shouted over the sound of his lightsaber humming over the comm.

"Thankyou… Master." He replied. He didn't have time to ponder on the past events as he and the Gungans quickly disabled the remote detonator left on the power grid.

"Itsa gonna take a while to fix." One of the Gungans said as he tore open a panel and began rewiring the interior.

"Why don't weesa just use them bombad clankers to buy ussa times?" Another Gungan asked.

Korkie looked over at the pair by the panel. "We don't have a central hub for the battle droids to operate. They're just sitting in storage, absolutely useless. Just… do what you can." He ordered before addressing the others. "Barriss! The power grid should be back online shortly. No sign of the clone though."

As relieved as she was to hear the good news, the one piece of bad news plagued her mind more. Where could he be? Barriss shook her head of negativity for a moment to address Korkie. "Understood." She gritted through her teeth, still trying to focus her anger into her lightning, keeping the bunker powered and everyone in it alive. She didn't have time to go after Mace, she already knew deep down that she didn't have to. It was clear after what she saw in his mind, he was going to find Cayde.

Time wasn't the only thing she didn't have, she could feel herself on the verge of passing out. Pain stimulants could only do so much to help her channel her emotions before her body eventually gives out. She was so exhausted, so tired, so oblivious to her surroundings that the sudden explosion from the opposite corner of the bunker sounded more like muffled thunder than a clear blast.

She couldn't move. She couldn't investigate. If she did, life support would shut down again and throw everyone into a panic. She turned her head towards the mixture of bright lights and smoke from the fire that had engulfed… her eyes widened in pure, unfiltered fear and shock. "The children!" She screamed. Immediately, she stopped what she was doing, the people could last just long enough with the limited oxygen while she helped search the wreckage for survivors.

With all of her remaining strength and rage, Barriss used the force to race through the crowds, weaving in and out of the scared, frightened colonists and clones, reaching the corner that was the children's area in a matter of seconds. She didn't want to look, but she had to, just for the slightest slither of hope that anyone in this mess was still alive.

But all she saw was Boil.

He was down on his knees, helmet discarded across the room, holding a little twi'lek girl in his arms. Her body was limp. Barriss already knew she was too late. She then too, dropped to her knees in disbelief and sorrow, tears welled up in her eyes. She knew the life that she chose would be filled with loss and mourning, she was prepared to deal with the loss of everyone she cared for. The clones, Gungans, Mandalorians, Slick, Windu, Plo, Cayde, Korkie, all of them… but children?

"Wh-… who?" She struggled to speak, looking at the clone in mourning.

Boil finally opened his eyes and looked directly at her, tears ran down his face and soaked into his moustache, from there, they flowed down onto his chin and down his neck. He slightly squinted as he sucked his own lips inward, unable to say anything back himself, until finally he coughed and continued to cry for a couple seconds before vigorously breathing through clenched teeth. He gulped. "I don't know." He whimpered. It was clear to her that this had broken him, a soldier designed to withstand any stress. Just… broken.

Amongst the cries and screams, Barriss shut her eyes to focus on any sign as to who could have done such a horrific thing to those so innocent. The frightened noises began to muffled and fall into silence, through the mist of voices, she could hear a clone, monotone in his delivery. "It is done, Sir."

Instinct took over once again. She rose to her feet and with the aid of the force, she accelerated towards the clone trooper standing by the bunker entrance, he had just stowed a holo disk and turned towards her. She didn't know what she was going to do, every natural fiber in her body was saying to kill him. It didn't matter to her in that moment that this could very well be the clone they'd been searching for, it didn't matter that his actions were unlikely his own, it didn't matter that he had no choice. He was there.

Barriss never got the chance to enact any form of vengeance. Her body had finally given into the exhaustion, she collapsed while still at full speed. She tumbled and rolled until she collided against the wall just a few feet from the clone in question. She fought with all of her inner strength to reawaken, to stop him, to ensure that he hurts no one else. Her vision as well as her hearing were blurred and muffled, she felt like she was drifting off into a deep slumber.

Through squinted eyes, she could just make out a fight occurring right before her. Silhouettes outlined by the poor lighting of glow sticks and flashlights, men in clone armour, beating each other with bare fists. She took a deep breath and tilted her head upwards and fought against herself to keep her eyes open. She saw Boil on top of the clone responsible, he ripped off his helmet to reveal a short, split mohawk down the middle of his head.

"Boost." Boil spat as he then grabbed the sergeant's arms and placed them under his legs to keep him in place.

That should have been it, the fight should have been over… But it wasn't. Boil took advantage of his brother's helplessness and layed a barrage of punches either side of his face, one after the other. The 212th lieutenant screamed as he did so, unleashing his inner anger at his brother. He then reached for his vibroblade strapped to his belt and held it high above Boost, aiming it downward, ready to pierce his chest.

"Boil!... Stop!" Barriss wheezed.

"He murdered CHILDREN!" He shouted back, still holding the blade over Boost, slightly hesitating.

"He had no control… you know that…" She spoke again, slightly louder than last time, still struggling to stay awake.

"I don't care!" He shouted, followed by a gulp that ached his throat.

Barriss had enough of this. She pushed herself up so that she was on all fours, crawling towards the clone trooper and slowly reached a hand onto his shoulder. "Yes. Yes, you do. He's your brother. The Empire made your brother do something terrible… something that, when he is himself again, will never be able to forgive himself for… Reyes killed them, Boil… he was just the weapon they used to do it." She nodded towards the battered, bruised and bloodied soldier beneath him before finally passing out, unable to move a muscle.

Boil's mind was racing with every thought imaginable, everything he had seen, every battle he had fought, every brother he lost, could not prepare him for this. He stretched his arms up as if to finally end the life of Boost once and for all, but instead, he drove the blade into the ground next to his head. He finally rolled off of him and curled up in a foetal position and screamed into his own hands. When more men had finally found them in the dark, Boil had ordered them to put Boost in shackles and to take Barriss to Vindi.

Then, as if by some cruel fate, the power had finally returned. The Gungans must have gotten the grib back online.

Boil looked up at the lights. "You have to be kriffin kidding me." He mumbled.

"Sir!" Another clone interrupted him.

"What is it trooper?" He asked, trying to regain his composure for the sake of his men.

"We've got reports from clusters of men still in the city. Our weapons are working again!" He said ecstatically.

"The dampener must be offline… Fives and Dogma must have taken out the ship!" He loudly concluded, himself now slightly joyous of the good news.

The trooper's shoulders slumped. "Uh… no, sir. The capital ship is still in low orbit… From what I've heard, the Brotherhood shields are still holding, but the Resolute II is drifting towards what's written on the maps as the Glasslands."

Boil placed his hand under his chin, thinking it all over. "Hmm… From what we currently know, their forces are spread thin, but we can't take any chances. Give our brothers directions to our location, but we're staying here… We need to protect who we still can…" He trailed off. He just hoped that this would all be over soon.

Star Destroyer Vengeance, Upper decks

Fives and Sev were backed into a corner, their riot shield providing the only cover they had. The stormtroopers, while large in number, were hardly as proficient in aim as clones, so they had hope. "This is a fine mess you've gotten us into, Sir." The commando said casually as he drew his bow and landed an arrow directly into the gap between a soldier's chest plate and helmet, piercing his throat.

Fives used his own pistol to return fire. "You know, you could use one of these!" The ARC shouted back, gesturing to his gun.

Sev just shrugged. "Nah." He grumbled as he fired another arrow into the visor of another trooper. "Gotcha." He smirked.

Fives shook his head. "Sev! Seriously, we're lucky we haven't been killed yet. I don't know why the dampener went offline, but we were caught completely off guard! We need a way to the bridge to deal with those droids."

Sev then grabbed a grenade from Fives belt and threw it down the hallway, causing every stormtrooper in sight to dive away from the blast radius, but he never primed it. The commando then finally took the spare pistol from the ARC trooper's belt and ran past the quivering soldiers, landing shots in every single one while they were down. "Come on! We're nearly to the bridge!" He shouted.

Fives paused for a moment to assess the carnage left in Sev's wake, it was clear that he was enjoying the fighting and the chaos, which worried him. Nevertheless, he made his way forward as Sev was already at the doors to the bridge he then picked up the unused detonator and placed it back on his belt. With a quick nod, both clones burst in, firing at anything that moved. That is, until an RA-7 protocol droid caught Fives' attention. He quickly darted forward and tackled the droid so save it from the blaster fire, leaving Sev to apprehend the half dozen officers. The couple who attempted to fight back were quickly put down, the remaining handful quivered in fear.

"You three. Into the storage space. Now!" The commando ordered, to which the officers hastily complied. Once he locked them in, he quickly turned to Fives. "What are you doing?" He shouted.

Fives pried open the back panel of the droids head and tossed it aside. "I have an idea! Seal the entrance, will you?" He almost casually asked despite being in a battle.

Sev did as he was asked and grabbed a plasma torch from Fives' backpack, while the ARC trooper himself was slowly pulling out a chord from the protocol droid and implanting it into the single socket on his temple, integrating with the droids systems. "I can see everything the droids see! This protocol droid was the central hub… How about we do this?" He smirked as he ordered all security droids in the city to deactivate.

Sev's shoulders slumped. "There's no way that actually worked." He said in disbelief. Before he could say anything else on the matter, a hidden officer had jumped the commando, his weight caused him to stumble backwards, leading him over to the ISB station of the bridge, causing the two to fall down into the workstation.

The officer landed on top of the clone, giving him the advantage to search desperately for any sort of weapon he could use to kill the intruders. Fives couldn't move until he had safely unplugged from the protocol droid, as not to risk any more damage to his brain. The officer grabbed one of Sev's makeshift arrows that had fallen from the bows mounted quiver, he lifted it up high and was ready to drive it down into the temporarily incapacitated soldier.

"No!" Fives shouted as he jumped down and tackled the officer, both of them rolling across the cramped security station until they were both pressed against a corner. Fives had luckily landed behind the imperial officer and took the opportunity to place him into a choke hold as Sev had finally managed to regain consciousness and began to crawl towards the two.

In a series of frantic fidgeting and struggling, the officer had managed to free one of his hands and desperately searched for another weapon to free himself. He felt something on the ARC troopers belt and squeezed it in an attempt to pry it from him. Then they both heard the beeping. The officer had set off the thermal detonator. Fives looked up at Sev, through his helmet, the commando could see his brothers fear in his expression.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. Sev grabbed the detonator with one hand while wrapping his arm around the officer. He then kicked hard against the wall behind Fives and propelled himself backwards, causing the two of them to roll over until they were both facing the opposite wall of the ISB station, leaving Fives a good twelve feet away. The officer was the closest to the wall, Sev then planted the detonator onto the man's chest and used his own body to close himself and the officer. "See you soon, brothers." He said quietly as the explosion sent both him and the imperial flying back against the wall next to Fives, who could only watch in horror at the burning, mangled body of Sev.

The ARC trooper sighed heavily, nevertheless still knocked back by the blast, enough to slam him against the wall and bruising his back. He grunted as he struggled to stand and climb out of the security station. He looked around to gather his bearings and hobbled over to the main controls and opened a comm channel to the Resolute II.

"Dogma… Dogma, we did it. The dampener is down and the droids are offline… Sev didn't make it." He said exhausted in admission.

"He'll be missed brother. We're touching down in the Glasslands and few miles from the city. Me and HK are heading to the escape pod now." His fellow ARC replied.

"Information: We must hurry, Meatbag. The Yuuzhan Vong are attempting to enter the bridge." The assassin droid butted in.

"You'd best get out of there too, Fives. We'll meet up with you as soon as we can. Be safe, brother. Dogma out." He said before ending the transmission.

Fives turned and looked at the bridge, the basic layout was similar to a venator, but there were enough differences to tell apart the different types. This Imperial Star Destroyer… didn't appear to have an escape pod on the bridge. "Oh no…" Fives uttered quietly. His attention was then drawn to the bright light of a plasma cutter at the top of the seam in the bridge doors.

Fives, realising his situation, dropped to his knees and tossed his weapons aside. He then placed his hands above his head, he knew he couldn't do anymore damage, not yet. As willing as he was to die for his brothers and his friends, he knew it would be for naught if he couldn't disable the ship with the little time that he had. Even if he plugged into the ships systems, he wouldn't have time to disable the firewalls and do any real damage.

The doors were finally open and a dozen stormtroopers had rushed in, surrounding Fives and putting him in shackles. One of the men had opened the storage room where the last three officers had been temporarily held captive, they hesitantly walked out and took note of their surroundings. The trooper that had freed them approached one of the officers, a short yet slim woman with short, sandy blonde hair with numerous badges on her uniform.

"Ma'am, we've lost contact with the Captain. You are to assume control of the ship in his absence… what do we do?" The trooper asked.

The woman looked out of the bridge window at the state of Chorus and then at Fives. She clasped her hands behind her back and stood straight, this new power was clearly growing on her very quickly. "Captain Reyes made the decision to invade this planet of his will, his actions do not reflect the intentions of the Empire. That said, he has left us in a dilemma… We could recall all fighters, all ground forces and tactically retreat back to Coruscant while the enemy is down. But it is likely we will all be court marshaled for simply taking part in the attack. No… unfortunately, Armund Reyes has left us no choice but to continue with his objective of securing Balmorra and its resources. But we have suffered heavy losses today. I am ordering a full retreat; we shall adapt and grow our own forces here in the Unknown Regions. Then, when we have a large enough force, we shall retake Chorus and then finally, offer our services to the Emperor in exchange for our lives."

Fives couldn't help but be taken aback by this new acting captain's clear thinking and tactical skill. He looked her in the eye for a brief moment before looking down at the floor. She noticed this and took off his helmet and grabbed him by his jaw, inspecting him.

"Have this clone sent to the brig. I will have questions for him." She said with an unusual slight groan in her voice.

"Yes, Captain Barlin." The stormtrooper Sergeant saluted as he led his men and Fives out of the Bridge.

She then looked to her two remaining officers and the few troopers in her company. "Man all essential systems and recall our fighters. We're leaving this planet." She commanded.

Simultaneously, the power had returned to the city, but the droids had shut down. Rook Kast had freed herself from the droids metal clutches. She then flew straight for Reyes, set on avenging her kin. The Captain was prepared though, he had his pistol pointed at Cayde, still unconscious on the floor. "Ah Ah Ah. I wouldn't." He smirked.

There was only one reason she wasn't risking the life of the Czerka director, that was loyalty. He stood between Reyes gun and her, she owed it to him to do the same. She raised her hands in surrender. "Fine." She spat and dropped to her knees. She looked down at Cayde and tried to give a smile that everything was going to be okay, but she couldn't not after seeing the state of him.

Cayde was battered and bruised, bleeding out of every hole in his head, it was honestly a miracle that he was still breathing. Rook figured he didn't have long left, not if he didn't get to a medical center. She really did feel sorry for him, despite being the one who provided her cell for the past few months, he had ensured that their stay was more than comfortable, more than she deserved, she couldn't think of many others who would do such a thing, possibly the former dutchess of her home world.

The rumbling from within the building had been silent for a few minutes now. Reyes' engineers had taken advantage of the silence to finally begin downloading and decrypting the files hidden within Cayde's cybernetic arm on the table. Reyes could take comfort in knowing that he would at least be successful in data retrieval. He had hoped that his insubordination would be outweighed by the results, but his hopes were not high.

The captain thought over his situation. His droids were offline, his Jedi hunter was gone, his operative was useless, the TIE fighters were dwindling in number, as far as he was aware, his entire ship had been compromised. Perhaps he could cut his losses and take his information to Talon Karrde in exchange for a new life.

His plans would never come into fruition, however. The doors at the end of the office down the hall had suddenly both flung open, coming off the hinges due to sheer force and were sent flying past the gun racks towards the group. The doors bounced off the floor and over Reyes, Cayde and Rook but descended enough to catch half of the engineers unfortunate enough to be standing at the wrong place at the wrong time. Their bodies were crushed against the giant window for a millisecond before the pressure had shattered the glass and they plummeted to their deaths.

Reyes quickly stood to regain his surroundings, his eyes darted towards the end of the hall to see a half naked dark skinned man in the distance, then he looked at Kast, who instinctively climbed on top of the director, acting as a human shield from whatever was about to come. Disregarding the mandalorian for now, the captain raised his kinetic revolver and fired shot after shot, the dark figure darted unnaturally fast from side to side, dodging every bullet that went his way until there was nothing left to fire.

The now terrified leader then threw his weapon at Windu in a vein attempt to disrupt him, but in his fear and anxiety, he missed. He looked to the left, which had already given away his intention. Without turning, he reached behind him and grabbed the cybernetic limb from the desk and rushed for the exit to the citadel hanger. But Mace reached out his hand and held him in place through the force, causing him to drop the arm in response.

He then held the captain above the ground, only by a couple of feet, but high enough to make him fear even the slightest fall. Without saying a word, the Jedi slowly walked over to the now broken window which overlooked the smoking city, carrying Reyes over the edge and holding him hundreds of meters above the ground. His eyes darted over to the two remaining engineers cowering behind Cayde's desk, Windu used his free hand to send a powerful force push which sent them flying into the wall. The sound of bones breaking managed to echo throughout the office despite the overwhelming noise of the high-speed winds entering the room.

Reyes' arms were held out either side of him, he knew he couldn't move in this death grip but was too afraid to even try. Anything he did to further antagonise this Jedi could easily lead to his death. Tears were running down his face as he pleaded for his life. "P-Please! You- You're a J-Jedi! You wouldn't kill a-an unarmed man!" He shouted over the noise in an attempt to appeal to his better nature.

Mace didn't say anything, he simply gave Reyes a cold, dead stare. His normally dark brown eyes had a slight glowing, yellow tinge to them. He gave no clue, no tell, no hint of what he was thinking, what he was planning to do. Until he slightly opened his lips, showing his gritted teeth. He clenched his hand shut tight and in one seemingly effortless use of the force, Reyes' armour had warped inwards, denting and breaking in a second, crushing his bones and collapsing his lungs. The last thing he would ever see in his last moments of life was the raw anger on the Jedi master's face as he finally let him go, dropping down floor after floor of the citadel tower, spinning uncontrollably until he finally saw the ground and his mind went to black.