Hey everyone, SWGoji here... so before I start Chapter 5 I just want to say a few things. Anyone who's been monitoring my Tumblr page will know this, but for those who don't... my friend is okay. They went home to their parents and are now back on campus and on the path to recovery.

I just want to say thank you so so much to everyone for their kind words and support. I've been shaken by this whole thing... I never thought I'd actually have to deal with someone I know contemplating suicide. I'm training to be a pilot. When I'm flying, I practically live by checklists. There's no checklist for a situation like this. What's done is done, and there's no changing that. My friends and I just have to live with what's happened and keep moving forward.

It's been a tough few weeks, but things are getting better.

Once again, thank you. All of you.


The hallway was empty, devoid of live. Suddenly, bits of static flashed on the screen. Kaeden tapped the side of her monitor and the disturbance went away. Hoop had jury rigged this system, connecting one of the medical computers to the security cameras on Charon Station. It had allowed Henry to notice that there was a newcomer on the station in the first place. She had seen it, and Henry had gone to investigate. Switching feeds, Kaeden found the others running back to her.

As the survivors slowly worked their way back towards the medbay, Kaeden's mind raced a mile a minute, trying to comprehend what the kriff had just happened.

She had watched the plan unfold, and go wrong. So very, very wrong.

Kaeden had seen the aliens break through the cargo netting like it was flimsi. She had seen Palmer, Girard, and Hunter get brutally slaughtered by the aliens. The eight survivors were now down to just five, excluding Ahsoka. Poor Hunter, at least now she wouldn't have to live anymore knowing that she had found the ruins that had unleashed all of this hell upon them.

When the bulkhead had given way, Kaeden had lost her feed of the vestibule and the central spire. It took a bit of time, but Kaeden had finally found them again.

Next to her, Salvia trembled, looking at the silent image of the survivors advancing through one of the Holds. They had both seen the sleek, dark alien burst out of the vestibule. They had watched it rip Hunter apart and escape into the depths of the station. History was repeating itself. An alien infested Charon Station once more.

Kaeden had tried to talk to Salvia about what had happened with Ahsoka, but the Mirialan girl remained tight-lipped, refusing to say anything. Kaeden had respected her wish, Salvia had saved the lives of countless Rebels during their time on Charon Station, but said that if Salvia ever did want to open up, Kaeden would always be willing and ready.

"Wait! What was that?" Salvia pointed at the image of Hold 3, which the others were making their way through slowly. "There! In the corner!"

Kaeden zoomed in and gasped. The feed may have been grainy, but she'd recognize that silhouette anywhere. Hanging from a chain above the others was the alien!

Kaeden toggled her microphone. "Ahsoka! Get out of there! It's right above you!"

She was answered by nothing but static. Suddenly it hit her, none of the others had their headsets anymore! They must have been ripped off during the decompression of Bay 4.

Kaeden and Salvia looked at each other, faces pale with fear. The alien was right above their friends… and they had no way to warn them.


It perched elevated above the ground, watching the enemy advance below it. It seethed with anger, the enemy had just destroyed its brethren. Its kind refused to back down from a threat. Any threat to the hive had to be dealt with, and the enemy was the greatest threat among them all.

But life was more important. It had to live for the hive. There was no other choice. Its brethren had allowed it life, and it had to maintain that life.

So for now, it was content to stalk the enemy. That was fine.

But if the opportunity presented itself, or they were face to face, the Alien wouldn't hesitate to neutralize the threat.


Ahsoka limped along behind Henry, who still cradled his injured side as he led the way through one of the holds. This one appeared to have been used for packing for shipping, with massive crates containing refined thorilide, conveyor belts that currently stood still, and cranes and lifts all over the place with chains dangling and swaying slightly in the slight breeze coming from the air vents.

They moved swiftly, but cautiously. Henry took several steps then pivoted, sweeping the area before them with his blaster then taking another step. Rynn followed behind her, having lost her charge thumper in the chaos. Hoop brought up the rear, his plasma torch pointed above and behind them.

Ahsoka reached out with the Force, despite her nervousness and unease at the revelation in the vestibule. How was it possible for a creature to exist outside of the Force? The Force was generated by life and all life was dependent on the Force. So how could she not feel the creatures themselves in the Force? At least she had felt the rage and hate that emanated from them, it would give her some warning.

She couldn't feel anything around them. Just the nervousness and fear of the survivors around her.

That was strange. She knew there was another alien on the station, but then where was it? She couldn't feel any of that rage or hatred that had poured out of them as they had surged forth from the dropship.

Henry stopped suddenly, kneeling down and putting a hand on the floor in front of them.

"What is it?" Ahsoka asked.

Henry brought his hand up from the floor and Ahsoka could see the substance illuminated by the glow of her lightsaber. It was a translucent substance that glinted in the light as it slowly dripped from finger to finger then back to the ground.

Rynn spoke up behind Ahsoka. "It's from our alien friend. They secrete two things, some kind of hard resin-like material and this saliva-like goo."

Ahsoka immediately brought her head up and scanned above them. Nothing presented itself, just machinery, chains, and some curving pipes. No sign of the alien.

Hoop spoke up from behind them, sweeping the nozzle of the plasma torch back and forth above them. "Let's keep moving. Maybe we'll be able to avoid it and reach the medbay."


Kaeden watched as they carefully, but quickly advanced through the rest of the hold. Both her and Salvia watched in terror as they watched the alien stalk them from above. Her breath caught Ahsoka put up a first, calling a halt, and looked up in the direction of the alien. The silent visual of Ahsoka was speaking to one of the others, most likely Hoop.

Hoop nodded and they started moving slowly again. The alien continued to creep silently above them. Kaeden split the screen of the terminal, keeping the video feed open in one corner while desperately searching for a method to warn them.

All the holds had emergency lighting and sirens. Usually they were used in event of decompression or a general emergency, and they should still be working.

The problem was that Kaeden was a medical officer, not a computer tech. It would take her much longer to find the program that would allow her to set them off than it would if Hoop was sitting at the terminal.

The footage from the camera in the hold suddenly flared bright and Kaeden quickly resized it to fit the full screen. Hoop had let loose with his plasma torch, but the Alien was too quick.

It leaped across the ceiling as Rynn and Henry made a break towards the door. Ahsoka had a hand outstretched towards the loping alien, her face intense with strain as she no doubt attempted to do something with the Force. Strobe lights flared and emergency lights flashed, the sirens probably blaring. The fire sprinklers in the ceiling were spraying water everywhere in response to Hoop's use of the torch.

The Alien charged for Rynn and Henry, who were struggling to open the blast doors. So close to safety, so far away from making it. A crate or container of some kind stopped it, flying from the corner of the room to shatter against the Alien's carapace.

The Alien halted and turned its head towards Ahsoka, who reached out and grabbed another crate, throwing it at the creature. The beast charged, kicking sideways and up onto a wall to avoid more fire from Hoop's torch.

It bounded past him, throwing Hoop to the side as it charged Ahsoka. Ahsoka dodged its strikes, backflipping away from it, and the escape.

Rynn was dragging Hoop back towards the blast doors, which Henry had managed to open slightly. Ahsoka yelled something at them that Kaeden couldn't make out. The slightly grainy quality of the footage made reading Ahsoka's lips impossible. Rynn seemed to nod and backed away, leaving Ahsoka to face the Alien alone.

It snarled silently on the video and Ahsoka reignited her working lightsaber, holding it in a guard position before her.

The Alien charged, tail lashing wildly at Ahsoka, who backflipped away before launching herself forward off her landing foot. She ran straight at it, but jumped shortly before reaching the Alien. Kaeden almost screamed at the image of Ahsoka launching herself right at the beast that had killed so many of her friends, but Ahsoka avoided the Alien's attempts to snatch her out of the air.

Ahsoka's good foot landed on the smooth carapace of the creature's head and leaped off of that, landing in a roll behind it. Not breaking any motion Ahsoka rolled to her feet and dashed like a madman towards the escape as the Alien chased after her.

She dove through the slowly closing doors, landing on her stomach. Flipping over onto her back, Ahsoka reached out with both hands and brought them together. The blast doors slammed shut, and Ahsoka disappeared from the footage as the Alien pounded futilely against the durasteel.

As Kaeden fell back in her chair, she let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.


The medbay was a flurry of movement and chaos. Barriss was attending to Henry's and Rynn's injuries while Kaeden wrapped up Ahsoka's foot. It wasn't hurt too badly, Kaeden had cleaned out and neutralized the acid, then bandaged the lacerations around her ankle. Ahsoka rolled her eyes as Kaeden scolded her again for doing her force-assisted acrobatics on an injured foot. "Seriously Kaeden, I'm fine."

Kaeden sighed and her head dropped a little. "I know. It's just… please try not to hurt yourself again." She sat down next to Ahsoka and leaned her head on the togruta's shoulder.

Ahsoka put an arm around Kaeden's shoulder. "How're you doing?"

Kaeden sniffed a bit, tears welling in her eyes. "I just can't believe they're gone. We'd survived together for so long, but now they're gone. Ahsoka… please don't leave me either."

Ahsoka squeezed Kaeden's shoulder and pulled her a bit closer. "Don't worry Kaeden. We're making it out of here. I promise."

Kaeden smiled and snuggled a bit closer to Ahsoka. Ahsoka closed her eyes, relaxing. She didn't know what to feel right now. Kaeden snuggling into her side felt nice… really nice. Ahsoka had been thrilled at seeing her again, but her heart ached at the thought that Kaeden might end up like Hunter.

Ahsoka was terrified she wouldn't be able to keep her promise to Kaeden. The Force was not her ally here. It seemed to have no effect on the creature, no matter how hard she tried. She couldn't feel it in the Force, just… just a void.

Ahsoka held up her damaged lightsaber, trying to activate it. The blade ignited, but quickly sputtered and died, flickering out of existence. "What's wrong?" Kaeden asked.

Ahsoka sighed. "It seems to have been hit by some acid. The connections are fried. Power cell and crystal are still okay though, thankfully."

"Think you can repair it?" Kaeden laughed as she answered her own question. "Who am I kidding? Of course you can repair it! You fixed a thresher once by stomping on a bent coolant line!"

Ahsoka chuckled herself. She remembered that day. What was it? The second day or so that she was on Raada Kaeden had visited her with a damaged threshing machine? Fixing that had earned Ahsoka her place in the farming world's small community. "I should be able to, but we don't have the parts or the time right now. I'll fix it up when we get out of here."

Hoop chose that moment to walk in, lugging several spacesuits behind him. "Alright people, grab what you need and get suited up."

They had all agreed that they needed to continue the plan, regardless of the decompression of the docking bays. While Kaeden had been treating her foot, Ahsoka had sent a short transmission to Bail by connecting her comlink to the long-range transmitter in her A-Wing. It said: Intel acquired. Five survivors remaining. Ranking Rebellion Officer: Chief Medical Officer Kaeden Larte. Charon Station untenable, breakup in atmo in less than two days. Send evac ship. Attempting to use mining dropship as lifeboat until evac arrives. Fulcrum.

True, the alien was still out there somewhere on the station, but there were blast doors sealing it from the medbay and docking bays. If they wanted to avoid the creature, they would have to go outside the station, hence the spacesuits.

It didn't take long for them to pack supplies. They had little to work with anyways after being stranded on Charon Station for weeks. After that, it didn't take much longer to suit up for the EVA trek across the surface of Charon Station to the ruined docking bays. Thankfully, Ahsoka had removed her pressure suit before the fight with the creatures, so it was still in pristine condition. Ahsoka doubted that anything they had would fit a set of montrals.

Thankfully, they were a safe distance away from Erebos, the star at the center of the system. Ahsoka had once had to infiltrate an Imperial Intelligence listening post that was so close to its system's star that if she drifted to the lit side, she would only have had a couple minutes before being fried alive. Here they had plenty of time to move.

The airlock door slid closed and depressurized with a whistle, slowly reducing the airlock pressure to vacuum. Once vacuum was reached, the outer door slid open silently and the survivors were staring at the vastness of space. Little pinpricks made by million-years old light of distant stars were scattered here and there, the only contrast to the blackness of the void.

Ahsoka shuddered. The alien onboard Charon Station had the same color. And the same presense in the Force: nothingness. Just a black, empty void.

Hoop led the way out. He was the most experienced of the Charon survivors when it came to EVAs. Not really a surprise seeing how he was Chief Engineer.

The magnetic boots of their pressure suits clung to the outer skin of Charon Station, and the group slowly but steadily made its way towards the docking bays, avoiding the gashes and cracks in the hull.

The station shuddered underneath them and a whole chunk tore itself away, drifting off into space. Hoop toggled his comlink. "Looks like the decaying orbit is taking its toll. Shouldn't be long now until reentry occurs."

Finally, after what felt like hours moving slowly across the tubular installation, they reached their destination: the ruined docking bays.

Carefully, Hoop disengaged his magnetic boots and pulled himself along the remaining hull to the large gash in Bay 4 where the bulkhead had given way and spaced everything. Ahsoka stood ready to grab Hoop with the Force should he lose his grip and start floating off to be lost in space.

Hoop reached the edge and peeked over the edge. Ahsoka had told them that she couldn't sense where the creature was. It wasn't giving off any of the rage or malice that she had sensed during their two encounters with it. And it wasn't giving off any kind of presence in the Force. It should be sealed within the hold, but they couldn't be sure. Maybe it had gone up the ventilation shafts? Maybe it had ripped through the blast doors? Who knew?

Nothing came out of nowhere to rip Hoop's head off and he toggled his com to give the all clear signal. Using a magnetic tether, he carefully descended into the ruined vestibule.

The others followed after him, Ahsoka bringing up the rear to catch them if they lost their grip. After about 15 minutes, all six stood in the vestibule. Carbon-scoring marred the walls. Pits and holes were everywhere, the result of the creature's acid blood spray. Thankfully, Dropship 01 was still attached.

Ahsoka ignited her remaining lightsaber and advanced slowly through the boarding tube. Henry followed a little bit behind her, his blaster drawn with a flashlight held up to help illuminate their path. They came to the open airlock and, after taking a deep breath, stepped through it into another world entirely.

Ahsoka was instantly thankful for the filters in her breathing apparatus. The bodies of miners were still strapped into their seats, cocooned in some glossy, hard material. Ahsoka had seen the same when she first arrived, a human skull had been encased in it. Giant holes had been blown out of the miners' chests, cracked bones visible. They appeared to have been scavenged too. Whole chunks of flesh had been stripped from the bodies.

Henry's light swept over the walls. Dark stains were everywhere, as was that weird glossy material, which Rynn had guessed was some kind of resin-like secretion.

The dropship itself was of a rather typical configuration. Benches on each side of the aisle with a raised area at the front where the pilot sat. Behind the benches was a storage compartment for equipment and a small engineering pod.

Ahsoka spoke into her comlink. "It's all clear. No monsters… just bodies. Do your thing Hoop. Make sure it can fly."

Hoop answered with an affirmative and entered behind them, followed by Rynn, Barriss, and Kaeden. They found an area furthest away from the corpses of the miners and sat down, just staring blankly at them. Neither they nor Ahsoka wanted to touch those bodies, so they just let them be.

Hoop swore over the comlink and Ahsoka immediately dropped into an alert stance, lightsaber in hand, ready to be ignited if an alien they had missed came charging.

Thankfully, Hoop emerged from the engineering pod alive and well, except for the look on his face.

"Hoop? What's wrong?" Kaeden asked warily.

"We aren't going anywhere," Hoop said bitterly. "The power cells are almost drained completely. We won't last long out in this thing. Less than a day."

Ahsoka could sense everyone deflate. Their excitement at possibly getting out of this damn situation was crushed in less than a second. They'd be adrift for at least a few days with no life support, no fuel, and little food or water.

But there was an alternative. "What about my A-Wing?" Ahsoka asked.

"Impossible," was Hoop's response. "They just aren't compatible. These dropships are built cheap. The power cells of a craft like an A-Wing would fry the systems in a second. We had some spares here on station, but Zero-Two's crash destroyed the storage area."

Things were looking hopeless. Where on Coruscant would they be able to find a compatible power cell when there were none around?"

Rynn chose that moment to speak up. "What about in the mines? Don't they have some in storage down there?"

"I think so… on Level 4," Hoop answered. "That's where all the maintenance for that mine is at."

Ahsoka sensed a problem with the idea, though. "But the aliens that caused all this mess…"

"Are down there. They came from there to here on these dropships."

"How many will we be facing down there?"

Kaeden answered. "We have four dropships that can carry twenty miners each. Add in support personnel and staff, we'd be looking at well over a hundred aliens if they each came from a person."

Silence filled the dropship. The six of them… versus potentially one hundred plus aliens. The odds of them surviving were astronomical.

"It's the only chance we have," Hoop said. "Plus, Hunter said they discovered the source of the aliens on Level 9, the lowest level. We'll need to go only to Level 4 to reach the power cells. Hopefully, we'll be able to avoid the aliens and get back without firing a shot."

Ahsoka looked around at the others and saw them all nod in agreement. Hoop was right. It was the only shot these people had at surviving. The only shot Kaeden had at surviving.

Ahsoka nodded as well. She would keep her promise. She would save Kaeden… or die trying.


Being the only pilot among them, Ahsoka eased the dropship out of Bay 4. They had repressurized it, so they didn't need their pressure suits anymore. Might have been a bad idea though, pretty much all of them had puked as soon as the air was no longer being filtered. Now there was yet another smell that added to the stench that bombarded their nostrils.

They had enough power to make it to the surface and back, but they wouldn't be coming back to Charon Station. None of them wanted to. Once they had replaced the power cell, they'd just blast off into space to await the evac ship.

It took a few hours for them to reach the ground. A few hours too many to be stuck in the same dropship as multiple mutilated corpses.

Kaeden spent most of the time up in the small, cramped cockpit chatting with Ahsoka. They talked about what had happened to them since they last saw each other fifteen years ago.

Hoop and Rynn had sat down behind the pilot seat and were snoring softly. Ahsoka had to say she was surprised. How in the name of Sith Hell could they be able to sleep at a time like this? Then again, they must not have had much sleep on Charon Station and the two were taking advantage of the brief relapse to get some much needed rest.

Barriss was sitting down, and from what Ahsoka could sense, she was meditating. Ahsoka didn't really care much for what Barriss did as long as Barriss did two things: leave her alone and kriff off. After what Barriss had pulled, Ahsoka would never trust her again, even if she was remorseful and wanted to be friends again.

Henry sat on the raised edge facing towards the rear of the dropship, his blaster sitting in his lap. He was alert, watching for any alien threat. But Ahsoka could sense that he was thinking about what she had said earlier about the Jedi. It was interesting. He was genuinely interested in the Jedi Order at a time when even mentioning the name would bring the Empire coming.

About halfway through the flight, Henry did voice his question. "Hey Fulcrum? What happened to the Jedi? I know the Empire said they tried to take over the Republic, but from what I've read the Jedi would never do that. They think outwards, rarely about themselves."

Ahsoka sighed. "Actually, I don't know what happened to them. I left the Order before the Empire arose, but I know they were manipulated into their doom. The Jedi were forced into a no-win situation: the Clone Wars. The Emperor managed to turn the entire galaxy against them. How he did it? I don't know. All I know is that I left because the Jedi put their political position ahead of protecting one of their own. Most likely, that's why fell. They were too closely involved with the Senate, which was under the control of a Dark Lord of the Sith."

Henry seemed content with this answer and thankfully didn't inquire further. Despite what the Jedi did to her, Ahsoka still missed Master Plo and Master Obi-Wan. Her master, Anakin, she feared he had befallen a fate worse than death. Her encounter with the one called Vader with the Phoenix Cell had caused that.

It got a bit bouncy as the dropship entered Tartarus' atmosphere. The small amount of shielding the dropship had was protecting them from the heat. As long as it held for a few more seconds, they would be in the clear.

Finally, the red-orange flare of reentry disappeared to be replaced with a veritable wasteland. The surface of Tartarus was red stone with no soil and billowing dust clouds in the wind. The sky shone a bright orange color, like they were underneath one of those warning signs commonly seen at construction areas.

There was a weak signal still coming from the location of the mine. Ahsoka locked onto it and the dropship's primitive electronics showed an optimal path for her to fly through.

Ahsoka saw it from quite a distance as they flew through a dust storm and emerged through the other side. It was the only building for miles around, a massive hangar-like building with multiple landing pads surrounding it.

Only one was feasible for landing. The wrecks of the other dropships had long since stopped burning, but the charred, twisted remains made landing impossible. Another landing pad had been retracted into the hangar leaving only one open to land in.

Ahsoka fought the winds briefly before they died down. Engaging the repulsorlifts, she maneuvered across the complex. Nothing was moving, just the blowing sands.

A smile came to her face as she remembered Anakin's mortal enemy: sand. They had been on Tatooine trying to return Jabba's son to him when she had brought up the sand and his response still made her laugh. She kind of had to agree with him though. Sand was rough, coarse, irritating, and did get everywhere.

The dropship landed softly and Ahsoka quickly shut down all systems and Hoop manually opened the airlock. The air was breathable, thankfully. It had a weird metallic smell to it though.

They didn't have many weapons. Ahsoka had one lightsaber, Henry had his blaster, Rynn had a charge thumper with a limited number of mining charges left, and Hoop had the small plasma torch. Kaeden didn't have a weapon, but there was a weapon locker in the security room. Thankfully, the security room was on the surface inside the mining hangar. She should be able to find some kind of weapon there.

They slowly advanced towards the entrance to the hangar, half expecting a massive horde of aliens to swarm out at them. But nothing came. The only sound was the whistle the wind made through the mountains and canyons of Tartarus.

Henry reached the door. This was a small personnel door that stood next to the larger garage-type door that allowed the dropships to be moved in and out of the hangar via a track the landing pads sat on.

Keeping his blaster in front of him, Henry slowly opened the door and raised his light. Kicking it in all the way, they dashed inside.

"Stay where you are!" came a modulated voice from the darkness. She recognized that modulation and it chilled her blood.

"Drop your weapons!" came another.

Sure enough, as their eyes adjusted to the indoor lighting, Ahsoka recognized the white plastoid that instilled fear in the hearts of rebels: Imperial stormtroopers.


So now Imperial Stormtroopers are here as well?! What could they want?

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! As always, feel free to comment on anything you see or think. If you have an idea for something you want to see, please let me know! Who knows? I might include it. Constructive criticism is welcomed and encouraged! And if you know anyone who may enjoy this story, please share it with them!

Again, not sure when the next chapter will be up. I'll try to update soon, but I can't say for certain with everything that's been happening as of late.

CT7567Rules - I'm intrigued as to what this advice for this Kaesoka moment is. Please feel free to drop me a PM with your idea. :)
No Colonial Marines I'm afraid. I'm taking many aspects from the Alien franchise, but the setting is in the Star Wars galaxy, so the factions are mainly Rebellion and Empire. Rex might show up in the future, I'm not sure yet. If I can include him, I will though. And as for how Barriss escaped, all in due time. All in due time.