Chapter 4
"Damn cheap Imps, I can barely breathe in here." Tanno Vik growled as he struggled to remain still in the cramped storage compartment inside an Imperial cargo transport.
"They designed this ship to haul cargo containers full of equipment, not containers full of people." Elara countered as she sat beside Andrews, going over her medical supplies.
"I don't see the problem." 4X said, earning a larger scowl from the Weequay.
"Of course you don't, you're a damned droid!"
"Enough, sit down." Andrew's direct order finally ended Vik's bellyaching, though his expression remained on edge. Jorgan gave his CO a grateful nod before returning to his weapon calibration.
"Yuun is concerned we did not bring enough insurgents." The Gand muttered in his language to Andrews, hoping the three dozen or so combatants squeezed in around them wouldn't understand. The Colonel did his best to appear confident and gave Yuun a reassuring look.
"Don't worry about it, Yuun, remember over four-hundred insurgents are attacking the station at different junctions."
"Yes, but they'll be facing Imperial personnel." Yuun's words seemed to draw the rest of Havoc Squad's attention.
"Enough, we're here to do a job, let's not forget our duty." The commandos seemed to accept what he said, except Elara, who saw through her husband's façade as he stared out at the insurgents around them.
Thinking back to her days in the Empire, if one of Elara's old officers saw the motley band of fighters sitting with them, they'd have probably laughed. The men and women were of various species, though mostly human, and their ages ranged from borderline elderly to teenagers. They had no uniforms or standardized equipment either, most looked like farmers, minors, or workers who'd taken whatever blaster they could find, and had the physiques to match. Some of the farmers looked strong enough, but many others were either scrawny or borderline obese.
Andrews's expression remained fixed on three youths in the corner, two human boys and a twi'lek girl, none appearing older than seventeen. Despite this they laughed and twirled their blasters around with the worst case of youthful arrogance Andrews had seen in his years as a soldier. He wasn't particularly old at age thirty, but fighting in war and service in special forces matured someone much faster.
One of the boys noticed Andrews before the twi'lek girl whispered something into his ear, giggling as she did so.
"Alright." He said with giddish excitement, carefullying making his way over to the Colonel.
"So Colonel, when is the attack supposed to begin?"
Andrews checked his chrono.
"Soon." He spoke harsher than he intended too, almost frightening the teen.
"Well good, me and the others are itching to make those damn imps pay for everything they've done to Cullon III."
Andrews, Elara, and Jorgan now all honed in on the young man with steel eyes.
"What's your name, son?"
"Grath, that's my cousin Ren and my girlfriend Fara." He said emphasizing the other human and twi'lek.
"We all signed up for the resistance together after the Imps forced us out of our homes to build another mine."
"Who told you to join?" Jorgan asked with a suspicious growl. Grath nervously tugged at the collar of his worne tunic.
"Mr. Crask, the old apartment owner. He gave us a rousing speech about a free Cullon III."
"Where is Mr. Crask?" Elara asked.
"Well, he's helping to move people to safety. He's too old to actually fight himself."
Andrews tightened his fist, having seen so many young men and women just like Grath laid out before him in body bags. Only those soldiers had intense infantry training with the Republic military and the hardware to match, Grath and the others had neither. As the Colonel stared into Grath's eyes, he imagined his infant son one day and felt a shiver run down his spine.
"Any advice?" Grath asked, sounding more nervous than before.
"Find cover." Andrews said. Moments later they heard a series of explosions outside the ship.
"This is Walthers, we've begun our attack on the supply depot."
The ship began to move and the sounds of battle grew steadily quieter.
"So far so good." Elara said, trying to sound optimistic.
"Come on, we're going to show the Imps what happens when they oppress the people of Cullon III!" An older man cried, earning similar cheers from the others. Andrews, however, simply placed his helmet on, and the rest of Havoc Squad ,save Yuun, following his example.
Inside another cargo ship, Terra sat beside Theron alone while touching her earpiece.
"Excellent, let us know if you have any trouble. Well good news, Risha and the others just docked in the station. Once Andrews begins the attack, they'll head right for the orbital stabilizers."
Theron noted the utter confidence and almost carefreeness in Terra's tone as she placed both hands behind her head and got into a relaxed position. Not that he minded much, the SIS agent's attention went back to his cybernetic implants and the station's layouts they projected into his mind.
So far it seemed like they'd have a clear path to the Black Cipher, but he'd been on enough missions to know nothing ever really went according to plan. Still, he'd find a way and improvise if he had to, it was his specialty, much to Director Trant's chagrin.
"So, what is it like growing up with a Republic War Hero and Jedi Grandmaster as parents?" Terra asked.
Theron shrugged, but Terra recognized the less than comfortable expression on his face.
"I wouldn't know." Theron's answer surprised the Privateer who now sat up with a curious look.
"What do you mean? Did they give you up for adoption or something?" She almost laughed before Theron's facial expression gaver her an answer.
"You could say that. My mother gave me up as a baby, never even told my father I existed."
"What!? The Jedi Grandmaster did that!?" Terra almost screamed in disgust. Theron took a deep and exhausted breath.
"I understand why she did it. It was the height of the Great Galactic War and she had duties to the Republic. If my mother and father stepped down from their part in the war to raise me, millions could've died. Besides, I did have a father growing up."
Terra raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you said she didn't tell Supreme Commander Malcolm?"
"She didn't, her former Master, Ngani Zho took me in and raised me. He was a good father, and was always there for me, even after they discovered I wasn't Force sensitive."
"Good." Terra said in a surprisingly soft tone. Theron now looked at her with intrigue, but she spoke again before he could.
"When did Commander Malcolm find out?"
"Earlier this year actually, when he was looking for agents to hunt for the Spear. He saw me among the roster and saw my last name, after some digging and a quick DNA test, it was confirmed. Naturally he was pretty upset with Satel, and he has tried to reconnect with me, but I don't see the point. Ngani Zho was the one who raised me, I'm not mad at Jace, he didn't know, but I also don't see the point. I'm a grown man now and we both have more important things in our lives." Theron noticed a stern look in Terra's eyes that caught him completely off-guard coming from the Privateer.
"If he's making an effort, you should at least have the decency to do the same. He's not the one who abandoned you." Terra growed with more raw emotion in her voice than she intended.
"Didn't you hear me. I understand why Satel did what she did."
"She was your mother, and she abandoned you. No real parent does that, leaving their child to fend for themselves." Theron looked at Terra closer as a deep pain overtook the young woman's demeanor.
"I'm guessing that's what your parents did then."
Terra's eyes lit up in a fiery rage when she turned back to Theron.
"That's none of your damn business."
"Well, you keep poking into my past. I think it's only fair- Aahg!" Theron grunted when he felt the handle of Terra's left pistol smack against his shoulder, sending needles of pain through the muscles.
Terra sulked for another moment before Theron placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Look, I'm not trying to bring up painful memories, I just-"
"I was sixteen years old." Terra muttered in a soft voice.
"My parents were cargo haulers, nothing big, but well enough. Until one day I come home to see our home ransacked and both of them gone. Apparently they'd been mixed up in some bad business with the Hutts and fled the system when they sent bounty hunters. I never saw them again."
"...I'm sorry." Theron kept his hand on Terra's shoulder as she struggled to maintain herself.
"After that I was on my own, hopping around from job to job, crew to crew, with no one I could trust, no one I could rely on. But things worked out, for me, and the Republic." Theron almost chuckled.
"You do care about the Republic then."
"I could ask you the same question."
"The Republic is my home. I've seen what the galaxy is like where the Republic's authority ends, it's worth fighting for." Terra's smile returned and even grew.
"Why not join the army like your father?"
"No thanks. All that strict order and discipline, not my style. The SIS lets me serve but also gives me enough freedom to operate."
"You should become a privateer, there's even less rules."
Theron laughed again.
"Right, and join your crew?"
"Maybe, we'll see how you do on this job. Maybe you can convince your Jedi dad to join us too."
The light and happiness instantly faded from Theron's face when she mentioned Ngani Zho.
"What's wrong?"
"Ngani Zho is dead. He was part of the mission to bring down Darth Mekhis and gave his life."
"...I'm sorry."
"You didn't know. I'd rather not talk about it."
Terra nodded and slowly began to understand why Theron was so interested in stopping the Spear. His adopted father had given his life to ensure the ship was never unleashed on the Republic, now Theron would finish what he started.
"If it's any consultation, I think your Jedi father would be proud."
"Thanks."
"Still, I don't think you should pass up the opportunity to have a relationship with your real father either." Theron sighed and didn't respond. The minutes passed and Theron noticed Terra drift off into sleep as they waited, her head falling onto his shoulder and resting there. For a moment he considered trying to move her, but then decided not to, Terra's company feeling oddly pleasant.
A few more minutes passed and he felt the unmistakable nudge of their ship landing.
"We're inside." He said, Terra instantly waking up and nodding.
"Andrews, can you hear us?" Terra asked.
"We hear you."
"Good, when are you beginning your attack?"
"Now."
Theron and Terra jumped when they heard a series of blasting alarms from outside the ship.
In another hangar, Andrews held his assault cannon ready and waited just before the ramp, which slowly lowered to reveal five Imperial Navy crewmen in their grey uniforms, each armed with a pistol on their belt.
"Alright we've got the hauler droids standing ready, let's-" The Petty officer's mouth dropped and Andrews imagined his eyes went wide from behind his black goggles when he saw the Republic Commandos standing over him. He and the others scrambled for their weapons only to practically get torn in half by a barrage of plasma fire from Andrews's cannon.
"Go go go!" Andrews dove down into the hanger, getting back on his feet and spraying the area with more bolts. The rest of Havoc Squad raced out behind him and formed up providing a wide base of fire. Major Jorgan also carried an assault cannon, while Vik and Yuun wielded blaster rifles, and Elara a carbine.
Together, the commandos and 4X managed to bring down most of the Imperial crewmen in the hangar with great efficiency, the unarmored men and women barely able to fire back in response.
"For Cullon III!" Grath and the other insurgents spilled out of the transport like an angry mob, all firing their weapons in every direction.
"Watch out!" Jorgan cried, and Yuun narrowly avoided getting hit by friendly fire.
"Shoot us and we shoot you!" Vik snarled, but despite his warning the insurgents continued their reckless attack. Despite its disorganized and sloppy execution, their sheer numbers as well as the fact that Havoc Squad had killed most of the hangar crewmen and scattered the rest, allowed them to overtake the last few.
"Damn insurgents." Jorgan growled, Elara shaking her head in disappointment.
"This won't end well."
"Sir, incoming!" 4X shouted.
Almost as if to answer Elara, several squads of Imperial Navy Troopers poured in from the hallways backed up by marines in their heavy armor and several station defense droids.
"Cover!" Andrews ordered, but the insurgents weren't listening and a slaughter began. The Imperials, well trained and well equipped, took up positions behind various crates and vehicles, pouring concentrated and coordinated fire into the intruders.
Andrews could only watch as the insurgents dropped like mynocks. They fought as a mob of individuals, each running and shooting wildly, with some even trying to spray the Imperials with two pistols as if they were gunslingers. As a soldier and a commando, Andrews wanted to face palm but soon grew sick as he saw the men and women go down in droves.
A few random shots managed to find their mark, but the Imperial marines' armor proved strong enough to absorb the blows and they continued pouring fire and grenades upon the insurgents.
"Sir, we have to do something!" Elara cried. Andrews grit his teeth and channeled his adrenaline.
"Frontal assault, 4X take out those droids! Jorgan, you and I suppress, the rest of you kill!"
"For the Republic!" 4X cried as he and the others emerged from their cover. The Republic war droid went to work, targeting and then demolishing each of the Imperial droids with a barrage of rockets and heavy-blaster fire.
Andrews and Jorgan both came out in front of their squadmates, putting down as much fire as possible over the Imperial positions with a combination of barrages and mortar rounds. Unlike the insurgents, Havoc Squad carried military-grade weapons, which were designed to penetrate battle-armor that more standard blasters couldn't, though even such weapons usually couldn't one shot-kill unless they hit a gap between the plates.
Even so, the two commandos suppressing fire downed well over a dozen Imperials between them and forced the rest into cover. Vik, Yuun, and Elara quickly took advantage of this and systematically gunned down any Imperials who tried to pop out of cover before closing in within throwing range.
A few of the Imperials tried to lob grenades at Havoc, only for Elara and Yuun to snipe them before they could even prime the explosives.
"I've got something special for ya, imps!" Vik laughed while taking out a series of charges from his pack and hurling them behind the various positions. Within moments, the back of the hanger lit up in a firestorm, leaving only smoldering corpses.
"Should we check for survivors?" Yuun asked.
"You think I left any survivors?" Tanno laughed.
"Not the Imperials." Yuun muttered, aiming his clawed fingers at the dead insurgents sprawled across the hanger floor.
Elara checked on Andrews and Jorgan first, their chest plates smoking from where Imperial return fire struck. Luckily Republic armor was durable and Special Forces variants even more so. However, that didn't mean it wasn't painful or that the commandos were invincible.
"Hold still." Elara said as she scanned them both and then sighed in relief.
"Nothing serious." Elara gave them both a quick injection of kolto before racing over to check on the insurgents.
"These guys made the Mandelian Separatists look like Imperial Black Ops." Jorgan growled, shaking his head while surveying the carnage.
"They shouldn't have been here." Andrews sighed, stopping when he saw Grath kneeling before two bodies.
"Oh no." The Colonel slowly approached the young man as he cradled Fara's lifeless corpse, tears in his eyes.
"Kid." Grath jumped when he felt Andrews's hand on his shoulder. His face was pale and his body trembling with a terror that only the young could truly know.
"Grath, I'm sorry."
He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
"Come on son, on your feet." Andrews saw an older insurgent grab Grath and pull him up.
"He's in shock." Andrews said, his face hardening.
"He's a soldier, and he's got a job to do. So do we all, the Grand Moff is here, and she's gonna die, no matter what the cost."
Andrews reached out for Grath but the older insurgent dragged him off with six more survivors.
"Colonel, this is Mandson, we've broken out of the hangers and are moving further into the station." Andrews heard the insurgent officer over his comm-link despite the incessant alarms going off.
"Sir, we need to keep moving." Jorgan said in a hard tone.
"Come on." Andrews growled, reforming his squad and pressing forward.
Terra couldn't believe how effective the diversion proved. So far, she and Theron found little trouble moving through the station's lower levels, sometimes going through entire hallways without encountering any resistance. Most of the security and combat personnel were preoccupied with the intruders, while non-combat crew fell back to secured areas.
Unfortunately, even non-combat Imperial personnel still carried sidearms and a lifetime of militaristic training under Imperial rule instinctively drove them to try and stop Theron and Terra when they encountered them.
Theron tried to avoid killing if possible, especially if his opponents weren't infantry. Terra, however, had little qualms about gunning down armed Imperials, especially if they attacked her first.
"Any day now, SIS boy." Terra half-grunted half-laughed as she emerged from behind her deployable cover to spray at a squad of Imperial Navy troopers and security droids near the doorway of the security room they'd entered.
Theron ignored Terra as he used a computer spike to slice into the terminal.
"Alright, nearly there." Another door opened and Terra brought her right pistol around to shoot, only to see her efforts unnecessary. Even plugged in, Theron had time to draw his sidearm and fire three shots, downing the two security droids that tried to enter.
Terra smiled wider upon seeing his reflexes, feeling slightly bashful as she resumed firing at the Imperials, managing to down two more of them.
"Captain, we've reached the stabilizer, planting charges now." Risha said over the comm-channel.
"Excellent, once they're in place, get back and secure our exit."
"Got it!" Theron shouted, removing his datacard from the terminal.
"The Grand Moff isn't in her office, but it looks like they haven't moved the Black Cipher."
"Perfect." Terra let loose another barrage of sweeping gunfire while Theron dove beside her, lobbing a grenade. The combined attacks struck hard, ending the last few Imperials just beyond the door.
Moving fast, Theron and Terra sprinted through the halls, but soon had to watch their step as they saw the bodies of insurgents littering the floors.
"Damn it." Theron growled upon seeing the aftermath of what was clearly a massacre. Neither he nor Terra spotted a single dead Imperial among them, which sadly wasn't surprising.
"Come on." Terra said in a somber tone, giving the fallen rebels a look of mourning. Even if they were reckless in their attempts, these were just people who wanted to be free and had the courage to fight for it.
Eventually they reached an elevator and took it up several floors, Terra keeping her pistols trained on the doors.
"...Is all of this worth it?" Theron asked, hesitation in his voice.
"All these people dying so we can get the Black Cipher?"
Terra took a deep breath, not entirely sure of the answer herself.
"I'm not a soldier or military leader. I can't speak for tough decisions that men like your father have to make so that the Republic can win. All I know is that we need this Cipher to save more lives."
"We led these people to their deaths.'
"Their leaders sent them here. I think we could've pulled it off without them, but they came anyway. Theron we don't have the luxury to worry about this right now." The Agent nodded, raising his pistol just in time to help Terra gun down a trio of Imperial guards waiting for them beyond the doorway.
"You're right, come on." Pressing forward, they finally reached Grand Moff Graloth's office and used the sliced datacard to bypass its security. The office interior was oddly plain, lacking any decoration or even color on the cold-steel walls and wooden desk with a computer terminal in the center.
"I guess Graloth's not one for luxury." Terra said as she took in the coldness of the room.
"Keep in mind she doesn't usually work here." Theron added, taking a careful look around the desk until he saw it.
"Black Cipher! Hold on." Theron immediately went to work, very carefully extracting the core, which to his relief, was still intact.
Terra exhaled, feeling a great weight lift from her shoulder, only to realize they weren't alone. Most people wouldn't recognize the subtle cues, but she'd seen her fair share and with moments to spare, she whipped out both pistols and sprayed the air near Theron.
Before the SIS agent could shout out, he saw a chair get knocked over by some unseen force and recognized what it meant. Terra hurled a disruptor onto the ground and braced herself behind the desk as it went off.
"Graaauh!" Looking up, the two saw him, an Imperial operative who came in and out of sight while his stealth field generator fluctuated.
"Get the cipher!" Terra shouted. She came up to shoot, but then rolled out of the way, barely avoiding multiple blasts from the operative's scattergun as it tore into the wall behind her.
The Privateer readied herself to come back up, stopping to plant her feet. Yet the moment she did so, her keen eyes spotted the same cue as before.
"Are you kidding me!" Terra growled, spraying the room again and watching a second chair get knocked over from another hidden Imperial operative. Great, now she needed to protect Theron and herself from two unseen threats.
Imperial Operatives were incredibly annoying, nearly as stealthy as Sith Assassins. But Terra had dealt with enough of them to learn a few countermeasures. First, she sprayed the entire room again and listened carefully for their movements as they dropped to the floor. She then tossed a small explosive, but even as the Privateer did so, she heard the unmistakable sound of a knife emerging from its sheath.
Terra dove backward, slamming into the operative behind her and knocking them both over. She scrambled on the floor, trying desperately to find him, but the operative remained unseen and delivered a punishing kick to her side.
Terra yelped in pain, clutching where he'd struck. However, in doing so, the Privateer had a good enough idea of where he was and revealed one of her pistols. With a single shot, Terra decloaked the human operative, dropping his body to the ground.
Unfortunately, she didn't have any time to celebrate her victory. Ignoring the sharp pain, Terra rolled to the side, narrowly escaping the first operative's scatterblast. She kept moving, barely keeping ahead of it, until the operative's gun overheated and ran silent.
Gripping both pistols, Terra sprayed the office one more time, feeling immense satisfaction upon seeing four bolts burn into a hidden man, ending his life. Finally safe, the Privateer braced herself against a wall, panting heavily as sweat trickled down her back.
"Got it, I replaced the core with a destroyed one." Theron said, earning a sarcastic look from Terra.
"Great job." Despite her tone, Terra was glad he succeeded, and couldn't be mad considering she told him to handle it while she fought.
"Colonel, we've got the Cipher, let's get the Hell out of here."
As all this went on, Andrews and Havoc Squad continued to fight their way through the station, bringing down more Imperials with each hall and corridor they passed. Unfortunately, they also encountered the bodies of countless insurgents along the way, the rebels standing no chance against the Imperial soldiers.
Andrews worked hard to focus on his mission, concentrating on the squad of marines at the end of the hallway.
"Sith!" Jorgan cried, and the commando saw him. A human Sith warrior charged down the corridor, crimson blade in hand.
"Concentrate fire on him! Spread out!" The commandos opened up from multiple directions. Despite this, the Sith deflected these shots with his saber and closed in, hurling most of Havoc Squad back with the Force. However, Andrews had made preparations for facing Sith opponents and activated magnets in his armor's boots, keeping him on the ground, the Sith lunged forward, saber out, but the Commando pushed him back with a concussion burst from his cannon.
The Sith stumbled, barely able to deflect the incoming mortar round. He couldn't, however, stop the demolition round that exploded just before him, slamming the human into the wall before Andrews lit into him with a barrage of cannon fire, killing the Sith.
As all this happened, Jorgan and the others pressed forward, securing the rest of the hallway.
"Clear!" The Cathar reported, earning a nod from Andrews. Just as he began recharging his cannon, the Commando heard Terra on his comm channel.
"Colonel, we've got the Cipher, let's get the Hell out of here."
"Excellent, let's move Havoc-"
"Colonel, we've found the Grand Moff!" The insurgent officer from earlier cried over the comm channel.
Andrews grit his teeth.
"We've got the primary objective, pull back."
"Your objective, ours is the Grand Moff, we-" The commando caught his breath when he heard an explosion and blaster fire.
"Sir, we can't just leave them." Elara muttered.
"We won't, come on!" Racing through the station halls, Havoc Squad reached the hangar just in time to see over a dozen dead insurgents spread across the floor with six Imperials and two advanced war droids standing over them.
All six Imperials were Chiss, with five wearing pitch black armor and the sixth in an officer's uniform with the rank of Grand Moff.
The lead armored Chiss stood over Grath, a pistol aimed at the young man's stomach.
"Freeze, drop your weapons!" Andrews roared. The Chiss all turned their glowing red eyes upon the Republic Commandos.
"I warned you that Sith would be insufficient, Captain."
"Apologizes, Grand Moff, we couldn't confirm they were Havoc Squad, not we have." Both Chiss spoke in their typical cold and almost machine-like efficiency, showing little to no emotion.
Grath looked as if he were ready to soil himself while kneeling on the ground.
"I said, drop your weapons!" Andrews snarled, tightening the grip on his cannon.
"I could say the same to you, Colonel. Unless you want this young man to die."
"Don't listen to him, sir, they're going to kill him either way. That's your style, isn't it, Graloth!" Jorgan roared with immense hatred towards the Imperials.
"You're quite smart for a Cathar." Graloth said, nodding to the captain who then fired a shot into Grath's stomach. The commando ripped off a series of shots, but the Chiss rolled out of the way just in time, raising his pistol and firing back.
Andrews performed a similar move, avoiding the bolts and firing off a mortar round. The remaining commandos on both sides broke out into fire and maneuver, while 4X exchanged fire with the droids.
Grand Moff Graloth, for her part, ran into a nearby shuttle and closed the exit ramp behind her.
"Vik!" Andrews roared, earning a deep grin from the Weequay.
"No problem, have a nice flight, Grand Moff!" Vik laughed, priming a plastique explosive and hurling it onto one of the shuttle's engines. Just as Graloth's transport lifted up and made for the exit, the device went off and blew the engine apart. The Chiss could only watch in horror as the Grand Moff's shuttle spun out of control before exploding upon impact with a satellite.
The Chiss Commandos fought back with fiery determination, losing their emotionless demeanors to pure rage. Despite this, Andrews kept his opponent on the defensive, spraying blaster cannon fire towards him with one or two hitting the chiss's armor. For his part, the Imperial Commando managed to land a hit on Andrews's chestplate, but the armor similarly held.
Just then, the Chiss hurled a grenade at the same time Andrews did, both men diving forward and nearly colliding. The Colonel tried to bash his foe with the end of his cannon, but the Chiss moved faster, pistol whipping him. Andrews felt a bit of blood in the corner of his mouth and desperately fought back the sense of disorientation from the blow. As the Chiss readied himself to shoot, Andrews delivered an iron kick to his leg, making the blue-skinned alien topple over.
The Imperial barely caught himself as his palms slammed into the floor, just preventing a faceplant. Moving fast, Andrews tried to slam his fist into the Chiss's jaw, but the alien pushed himself up, catching the blow and nearly locking the commando in an arm-vice. Fortunately for Andrews, he'd been in enough close-quarters fighting to know such traps, and how to beat them.
Shifting his weight, the commando hurled himself into the Chiss, knocking him off balance and gaining freedom. Yet this came at a cost, for the Imperial delivered a harsh knee to Andrews's side, sending him gasping for breath as his attacker wrapped both arms around his neck in a chokehold.
Trying desperately to stay conscious even as the air left his head, Andrews threw one palm up and hit the Chiss's left wrist hard enough to free the grip on his throat. Now able to breath, Andrews wasted no time and grabbed the Chiss by his armor and flipped him over his body.
The alien sprung up, ready to continue the fight, only to collapse onto the ground as Andrews pivoted and slammed his right foot into the alien's face and followed up two swift elbow blows, finishing with a haymaker. These successive blows practically knocked the Chiss out even before hitting the floor, and gave Andrews his opening. Without any hesitation, the Colonel slammed his foot into the back of the Chiss's head, snapping his neck in a loud cracking noise.
Nearby, he saw Jorgan had similarly gotten himself into close-quarter's combat with similar results as he smashed the Chiss sniper's neck with an elbow. One by one, the rest of Havoc Squad finished off their opponents via blaster fire or explosives.
"All Imperial scum terminated!" 4X declared.
Andrews, however, was more interested in Grath and sprinted over to see the young man gasping for breath as smoke rose from his stomach.
"Medic!" Elara nearly dove to Grath's side and quickly injected him with kolto.
"Will he make it?" Andrews nearly shouted, doing his best not to sound frantic.
"It's not looking good, sir. I need to operate on him soon if he's going to have a chance."
Not a moment later, Andrews and his squad toppled over as the entire station shook from a great explosion. Another alarm went off, louder than the previous one.
"Orbital stabilizer off-line, all hands abandon station."
"What the Hell!?" Andrews growled.
"Some Imps must have come across our explosives. I set them to explode if someone tried to tamper with them." Corso admitted over the comm-channel.
"Colonel-" Grath muttered, his voice growing quieter.
"I'm not leaving you behind, come on!" Andrews grabbed Grath and flung him over his shoulder. Leading the way, he and Havoc raced through the station even as Imperials raced by, trying desperately to reach the escape pods. They ignored the Republic Commandos who in-turn ignored them, finally reaching a supply shuttle where Theron and Terra waited outside the ramp.
"Come on!" Terra screamed as she waved them over. Andrews got in first, followed by his squad, then Terra and Theron who shut the ramp behind them.
"Punch it!" Terra ordered. Risha and Languss quickly lifted the ship up and out of the station as it hurled through the atmosphere, breaking apart into red-hot metal.
"Coordinates locked, jumping to lightspeed, now!" Risha exclaimed, the white tunnel of hyperspace appearing around them.
At that, Terra and her crew let out deep sighs of relief, Bowdaar roaring in victory as he saw Theron hold out the intact Black Cipher core.
"Mission accomplished." Terra said, smiling.
"At what cost." Jorgan muttered, emphasizing Grath as Elara cut his tunic off and began operating on his burnt stomach. Andrews kept close and helped keep him down even as he thrashed about in pain.
"Please, you need to hold still, I can't give you any more pain killers." Elara had operated on countless wounded soldiers in battle, and knew how to stay calm even when her patient didn't.
"It's going to be alright, son."
Grath looked up at Andrews, who now removed his helmet.
"Colonel, if I live, I want you to take me to a recruitment center." Andrews blinked in disbelief.
"What?"
"I wasn't ready for the fight before, but now I know exactly what the Empire is. I want to bring it down, but I need to be a real soldier to do that. Please!" Grath cried out, tears in his eyes.
Andrews took a deep breath and placed a hand on Grath's shoulder.
"We'll get you signed up once you're ready."
Theron did his best not to look at Grath, or think about the four-hundred insurgents who all perished so they could recover the Cipher.
"Hey." Terra said, taking him by the shoulder with a reassuring look.
"You did good."
"Thanks." Theron took out his communicator and keyed in a code.
"Supreme Commander, Director, we've got the cipher and the Grand Moff is dead."
Jace Malcolm and director Trant appeared before them via hologram, and nodded their heads.
"Well done, report back to Coruscant." The tone in Jace's voice was far too calm for such a great victory. Everyone inside could tell something was going on.
"Sir, is everything alright?" Andrews asked, cautiously.
Jace took a deep breath and clenched his eyes shut.
"The Spear is finished, it entered the fight in the Swiswina sector."
The shuttle went silent.
"Were there any survivors?" Theron hesitated to ask.
"No."