First off, I really wanted to get this out for either May 4th or May 5th, but college final exams made that all but impossible. Anyways, I hope you all had a great May the 4th and Revenge of the Fifth! Now that the Spring Semester is over, I'll hopefully be able to update faster.
Now with that said, let's get on with the story. Enjoy!
Kaeden coughed dust out of her throat as she regained consciousness. What…? What had just happened?
The last thing she remembered was stepping into the elevator and them beginning to descend into the mine. Then… the floor gave out underneath them and they started falling. She remembered the sparks flying, the violent vibrations of the cage making everything a blur. Kaeden remembered screaming… and then nothing.
She tried to speak, to call out and see if there was anyone else around her. Her attempt only resulted in another round of intense coughing as she tried to expel the dust from her respiratory system.
"Here," someone said, grabbing her shoulder and pulling Kaeden into a sitting position. "Drink this." Whoever this was placed a canteen to her lips, pouring some water into her mouth.
Kaeden spat it out, taking a lot of the dust and sand with it, coughing violently. Her voice was rough, but she was finally able to speak. "Who...?"
Her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and she gazed into the faceplate of a stormtrooper's helmet. It wasn't Crespi though, or Kowalski or Easely. "Easy, relax." The modulated voice sounded different though, a little higher in pitch. Kaeden looked down and saw the modified chestplate. This stormtrooper was female!
They had found Crespi's squad!
Kaeden blinked the last of the grit from her eyes and observed their surroundings. She was outside the ruined turbolift, most likely having been dragged out by the stormtrooper above her.
The lift itself was a mess of mangled metal from the cage. Some struts were still red-hot, melted from the intense friction that descent must have caused. Smoke rose as hydraulics and electronics hissed and sparked.
Kaeden wiped at her nose. A dark liquid was on her hand, indicating a bloodied nose.
Taking a deep breath, she winced in pain. Definitely a couple fractured ribs. Nothing she could do about those now though.
She counted herself lucky though. Somehow with that descent, her injuries were only relatively minor. Ahsoka escaped with a few lacerations and some bruising on her montrals. Hoop had a concussion and a fractured rib as well. Rynn had vomit all over her jumpsuit. What was really surprising was that the rest of the group's injuries were also relatively minor, with one exception.
Easely had tried to stand, only to cry out in pain. "Ankle! Ankle!" he shouted, collapsing back to the ground. Kaeden examined it, probing around his foot and lower leg. She nodded. "Broken ankle, for sure."
"No kriffing shit!" Easely yelled at her.
Crespi called over from where he was talking to another stormtrooper, probably the leader of the rest of his squad: Massey, that's what Kaeden thought Crespi said his name was. "Relax Easely. Let the Doctor do her work."
"I can splint it," Kaeden said, pulling out her medkit. "You'll be able to walk."
"I can walk!" Easely yelled, a bit desperately this time. He tried to push himself up, grunting against the pain. Kaeden pushed him back down though. "Let me splint it, then you can get up."
Retrieving a SAM splint from her medkit, Kaeden began work on bandaging Easely's broken ankle. She helped him up and with help he could hobble along. Salvia, who was about the same height as him, just a bit shorter, offered to help Easely move until they got out of the mine. "I'm no good with a blaster anyways," she said.
Kaeden walked over to Crespi to inform him about Easely's condition. He was talking with his subordinate Massey, Ahsoka, who had become the Rebels' nominal leader, and Hoop, who had the most knowledge of the mine.
"We're stuck on the lowest level of the mine," Massey explained. "They have an enclave, or a nest, down here somewhere. We didn't encounter any resistance until we made it to this level, and entered a cavern of some sort. Then they came out of nowhere. Choi was snatched away into the darkness and Jenkins was impaled through the back. We fell back here to the elevator lobby, losing Smyth in the process. They didn't come after us in the lobby though, only sending a scout or two at a time. I have no clue why."
Crespi nodded. "Strange… very strange. We can't go up the stairs though, they'll catch us long before we make it to the surface. The combat effectiveness of a whole group would be diminished in a stairwell. Are there any other exits?"
Hoop spoke up. "Yes, there's another turbolift on the other side of the mine."
"We just have to traverse the tunnels and try to avoid the creatures?" Massey asked. Hoop nodded and Massey swore under his breath. "Wonderful. Just karking wonderful."
Hoop nodded at the exit tunnel for the elevator lobby. "It's about several hundred meters, but there are a few turns and branches. Short tunnels where they were looking for thorilide crystals. Hunter would have known more, she was one of Kelland's mining engineers."
"Well where is she then?" Massey demanded.
"Dead," Hoop answered bluntly. "Killed by one of those things."
Crespi spoke up. "We know what we have to do. We stick together as a group, we might be able to make it. Lock and load Massey, we move in five." As Massey walked over to his gear, Crespi turned to Ahsoka. "The… uh, Jedi I fought with long ago, she… she could sense where the battle droids and Separatists had set up ambushes. Any chance you can do that here?"
Ahsoka was hesitant in her answer for some reason. "I… I don't know."
"Why not? What's wrong?" Crespi asked, genuine concern in his voice.
"These creatures… it's like they don't exist in the Force at all. I can't feel them, just an endless stream of hatred, rage, and fury. My conventional Force powers don't do anything to them either."
Crespi grunted. "Well this just got a whole lot better." Crespi noticed Kaeden waiting patiently and turned to her. "Something I can do for you, Doctor?"
"Please Crespi, just Kaeden is fine. I splinted Easely's ankle; he should be able to walk with help. Salvia offered to help him walk until we get out of here."
Crespi nodded. "Thank you… Doctor. Get your friends ready to move." He turned to the three stormtroopers they found down here. "Massey, Pulaski, Teraan! Form up!"
All three fell into formation and Crespi motioned for Ahsoka to come with him. He addressed his squad. "This is Commander Tano, a former Jedi of the Old Republic and current officer in the Rebellion. Me and her have come to an agreement. We are all going to work together to escape this mine with our lives and then go our separate ways. I want you to follow any order you receive from Commander Tano as if I was the one giving it. Any questions?"
One of the stormtroopers spoke up, the male one who was not Massey. "Sir, requesting clarification if the orders are contrary to Imperial interests."
Ahsoka stepped forward, folding her hands behind her back. "All I want is to escape this place with the lives of my friends. You can be assured that I won't betray you or leave you behind."
"Are we your 'friends'?" The stormtrooper retorted. "How do we know you won't sacrifice us to make sure your crew escapes?"
Crespi pointed at him. "Can that shit right now Pulaski! We've got a tough fight ahead of us. Division in the group will only make it harder."
"Yes sir. Sorry sir."
They broke formation to finish gathering their gear. Kaeden pulled Ahsoka aside. "You doing okay?"
"As good as I can be all things considered," Ahsoka sighed. "How about you?"
"I don't know," Kaeden said, hugging herself with her arms. "We're on the lowest level. Where those things were found. Will we all get out alive? Can we?"
Ahsoka sighed, looking up at the rock ceiling. "I don't know, Kaeden. They know we're here and they're angry. I can feel rage and hatred ahead of us." She shook her head. "It'll be a tough fight."
Kaeden's head sagged slightly. Of all the ways she had once thought she would die, becoming alien chow thousands of feet below a desolate planet in the ass-end of nowhere. But she wasn't dead yet. Kaeden raised her head, pushing the doubt deep down. "Guess we just have to keep moving, huh?"
There was a laugh from behind them and Kaeden turned to see the female stormtrooper walking towards them. "Crespi must've given you his motivational speech. I swear that guy repeats that thing like a mantra or something." She paused before them, removing her helmet. The stormtrooper had light skin, brown hair, and deep chocolate eyes that sparkled with mischief. "Blake Teraan," she introduced herself, her non-modulated voice speaking with a Core World accent.
"Alderaanian?" Kaeden guessed.
Teraan looked at her and raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Impressive. How'd you guess?"
"There was an Alderaanian engineer on Charon Station… he didn't make it out." Kaeden looked down.
"My condolences," Teraan said. She turned to Ahsoka. "Apologies for Pulaski's behavior. He's just extremely patriotic about the Empire. He was a slave who was freed by an Imperial operation, he joined up to repay the act. The stress of this whole situation is getting to him as well," she shuddered. "I think it's getting to all of us."
Ahsoka shrugged. "I don't blame him. We're rebels and you're imperials. I'd be disappointed if you blindly trusted us." She looked at the other stormtroopers who were finishing their final checks. "What can you tell me about the others?"
Teraan shrugged. "Massey used to be a mercenary. I don't know much other than that. Easely's a tech recruited out of some academy, keeps to himself most of the time. I think he just hates socializing. I'm not surprised though that Kowalski and your Rebel soldier are going at it. His parents were killed in a rebel attack several years ago. His older sister almost died as well. He signed up to get revenge, sends all his income to support his sister's business."
"That's terrible," Kaeden said.
Teraan shrugged. "Beings die in war. I joined up because I wanted to get away from courtly life on Alderaan. There was talk of an arranged marriage and I didn't stick around to see if it was true." She laughed. "I was a bit of a tomboy; drove my parents to extreme lengths of frustration."
Ahsoka smiled, remembering the times she'd annoy Anakin and Obi-Wan on purpose. "What can you tell me about Crespi?"
"Well he's an old clone from the days of the Republic." Teraan shrugged. "He'll occasionally tell us about the battles he fought in, but rarely anything else. I personally think there's something missing in his life. Got him drunk once to try to figure it out. I failed, but I did learn how he got his name."
"Really?" Kaeden said, leaning closer. "Tell us!"
Teraan smiled mischievously. "Apparently in his early days as a clone trooper he was involved in some demolitions training mishap and ended up being set on fire. His armor was supposedly extra crispy when all was said and done. One of his brothers started calling him 'Crespi' as a joke and the name stuck."
Ahsoka smiled again, shaking her head in disbelief. But no, she wasn't surprised. Some of the clones under her command had done crazier things.
Crespi called over. "Teraan! Quit slackin and get your arse over here! It's time to move."
With a smile, Teraan shrugged, put her helmet back on her head, and turned to run back to her commanding officer.
Why anyone would want to work down here was a question Crespi could only guess the answer to. These tunnels were dark and narrow, but there could be any number of things hiding in the shadows. They gave him flashbacks to the Second Battle of Geonosis.
He had once been a Lieutenant in the 41st Elite Corps early in the Clone Wars serving under General Unduli and Commander Gree. He remembered the fighting deep underground in the Geonosian catacombs. Danger had lurked around every corner there, the Geonosians knowing the ins and outs of the tunnels. It was a miracle Crespi had survived.
Shortly after Geonosis he had been promoted to Captain and transferred to a newly formed clone unit: the 116th Assault Battalion. It wasn't until about a year later that Crespi was given a battlefield promotion to Commander. The 116th was on a mission with the 7th Siege Battalion. Commander Boar and both Jedi Generals were killed by a Separatist attack. Crespi had led the scattered remains of the battalion through Separatist fire and, with the help of the 7th's Jedi Commander, breached the Separatist base, destroying it and extracting the survivors of the 116th and the 7th.
That was the first time he met Mylar Kila, the Cathar Jedi who was soon to become his… closest friend. The 7th was disbanded and the survivors were placed into the 116th. Crespi was promoted to Commander and Mylar was knighted and given command of the 116th as General.
Mylar… she had been so strong, yet so fragile and nervous… damn it had been so long since…
Crespi cursed himself for letting his mind wander. He needed to stay focused on the now.
Crespi had taken point. He had always led from the front. Kowalski was the two man, slightly behind Crespi but ready to cover him at a moment's notice. Behind Kowalski was Tano, Hoop, and Dr. Larte. Tano was attempting to pinpoint where the creatures were, but she was having trouble. Hoop directed them on which tunnels to take. Then came Massey, who was helping Salvia carry Easely and covering them at the same time. Bringing up the rear was Rynn, Henry, Pulaski, and Teraan.
They had made it in about a hundred meters when they came upon a fork in the tunnel. Hoop directed them to the right, but Crespi could swear he heard something coming from the left tunnel. Crespi swung around and aimed the flashlight mounted on his E11 down the tunnel.
Nothing.
"Be careful," he said into his comlink. "I think they know we're here."
"That's the way we went the first time," Massey said, indicating the tunnel on the left.
"Teraan, Pulaski. Eyes open. They might come in behind us then." Crespi ordered. They sent an acknowledgement.
They continued on in silence slowly for a few minutes, Hoop not speaking, just pointing at the tunnels to take. Tano had her eyes closed, a hand on Dr. Larte's shoulder to guide her as she concentrated deeply into the Force, trying to find the demons that plagued them.
"They're all around us," she said quietly. "I can feel their anger. They're gushing a desire for blood. But what are they waiting for?"
"The kriff is that?" Kowalski asked, aiming his light down the right tunnel.
"Something left from the mine? Mineral deposits maybe?" Crespi proposed, trying to figure out what the strange hard substance on the walls was. It started thin, a smear on the already smooth rock walls, but soon became thicker and thicker until it covered everything.
"I've seen this before," Ahsoka said. "In the vented parts of Charon Station, it was everywhere."
Rynn called up from the back. "It's some kind of resin. The aliens secrete it."
They came to a bend in the tunnel. Crespi rounded it slowly, blaster pointed before him. There was a clatter of rock and he felt a chunk hit his shoulder pauldron. Crespi whirled, bringing his blaster to bear at where the rock had come from. Kowalski did the same, their flashlights illuminating the ceiling. "Nothing," Kowalski said, "Just a loose rock that fell from the stuff."
"Clear on this end," came Tano's voice. She had swung around them and stood guard, facing the rest of the tunnel. Her eyes were narrowed, lightsaber in hand, but extinguished.
"Keep moving. Nice and easy," Crespi said, moving around Tano to resume his point position.
They advanced maybe a hundred more meters before coming on another fork. A thin haze had developed around their feet. Somehow the dry tunnel air became filled with moisture.
"I think we go to the left here," Hoop said.
"Good," Ahsoka said. "I can feel their hate, coming from the right."
"Then we go to the left," Crespi said, leading the way.
As soon as they entered the tunnel though, they realized something was off. The walls of this tunnel were different. Instead of smooth resin, these tunnels were coated in a material that seemed like a cross between something alive and something molded from glass. It was glossy and somewhat translucent, taking the light from their torches and making it move in weird patterns.
"This shit feels like a spider's web," Pulaski said from the back.
"First spider I see get's shot to hell," Teraan responded. "I can't stand those things."
Pushing that unsettling thought aside, Crespi continued forward and up the small slope that had developed. Thankfully, despite its smooth appearance, the strange material offered plenty of hand and footholds. There was a slight moisture in the tunnel though that pooled in some places making some portions slick and slippery.
"I think I see something up ahead," Kowalski said, placing an arm on Crespi's shoulder and pointing forward.
"I see it too," was the response. "A hole or aperture of some kind."
They continued forward. Nothing came out of the shadows at them yet, which was surprising. Massey had said that his squad had come under attack quickly.
"Look out!"
Suddenly Crespi heard Kowalski cry in surprise and he felt himself get shoved forward by something.
Ahsoka was nervous. It was a strange feeling, this unease and uncertainty. She had only felt something like this a couple times before. Once on the Trandoshian hunting moon, but there she knew her enemies. Trandoshans may be dangerous, but at least the Force worked against them. Another time was after she left the Temple. She remembered the uncertainty of whether she'd be able to eat or find a place to stay the night. But there she had only had to worry about herself.
Here she knew the lives of about a dozen people on her hands. Yes, the stormtroopers could take care of themselves, but she had sworn they'd all get out of here.
And this was like no enemy she had ever faced before. She'd have to figure out some way to fight them. She couldn't use her conventional Force powers on them. She had already seen a Force Push, which should have sent the creature flying, do nothing. Her lightsaber was effective, but if she got hit by any of that creature's blood it would all be over for her.
Thankfully the creatures still gave away their presence. That wave of rage and hatred marked both where they were coming from and when they were approaching.
Wait a second…
She could feel something. One of those beacons of fury getting closer. It was so close, but neither Crespi nor Teraan and Pulaski had raised an alert. Hang on… it wasn't approaching them laterally, it was on top of them!
Ahsoka came back to herself, feeling the small ripples of displaced air and the subtle vibrations of claws on silica. "Look out!" she yelled, pushing both Kowalski and Crespi forward with the Force out of harm's way.
The monster dropped down in front of her out of the ceiling, folding and unfolding itself as it turned in mid-air to land on its powerful legs. Ahsoka didn't think, merely acted, darting underneath it as it fell. Ahsoka whirled in the cramped space, igniting her lightsaber as she did.
The blade sliced through the alien, bisecting it completely. It shrieked once then fell in two parts. Shoving Kaeden, Hoop, Massey and the rest back with the Force, she dove forward again in a forward roll, avoiding the acid spray of its blood.
Ahsoka got back to her feet, lightsaber humming and casting shadows along the incongruous interior of the tunnel. She closed the lightsaber and listened with her montrals for any air displacement around them that might be caused by more of the aliens.
There were none.
Massey and Crespi crept under where the creature had appeared from and shined their torches upwards. The twin beams of light revealed a vertical tunnel stretching up into an inky darkness. They had never seen it, even walking directly underneath the opening.
"Come on," Crespi said. "Let's keep moving."
They continued on through the tunnel, Ahsoka ready and waiting to act if another of the creatures came out at them.
But nothing did. Ahsoka could feel them all around her, emanating waves of hate and rage, but nothing came charging at them. It was almost as if they wanted them to continue going this way.
"Appreciate the save, but how did you know that thing would drop back there?" Crespi asked.
"On Shili, Togruta hunt using echolocation. My montrals were able to sense the movement based off the vibrations of displaced air."
"So… what you're saying is that you're a motion detector?" Kaeden said. "Awesome!"
Ahsoka laughed. "I guess you could say that."
They reached the hole in the tunnel, which was indeed an opening. Another tunnel branched off to the right, sloping up into darkness. Crespi and Kowalski dropped through the opening, swiveling their blasters and scanning for targets. "Holy kriff…" Kowalski said as he spotted something.
Ahsoka dropped through the opening, Kaeden, Hoop, and Massey right behind her. They were on a ledge overlooking a massive cavern. Various ledges and crags lined the walls, creating a path that would allow someone to travel up and down and across the walls. The ceiling was covered by some kind of glowworm-like arthropod, bathing the cavern in an eerie green light.
They stood perhaps three-quarters up the side of the cavern. "Down there!" Kaeden said, pointing at something below them in the distance as the rest dropped out of the strange tunnel behind them.
Below them and slightly around the side of the bowl was a well-lit entrance with what looked to be a supply depot of some kind. Hoop grunted as the rest of the stormtroopers set up a perimeter around them. "Must be the tunnel they dug into this place when Hunter found it."
"If that's correct," Rynn said, moving her arm in an arc, "then there's the ruins they found."
Sure enough, in the direction Rynn was pointing was a massive construct. It was oblong and massive in size, so massive that Ahsoka guessed they were only looking at a fraction of the thing's true size. But it was most definitely a ship of some sort.
The outer hull that they could see looked almost organic, as if it had been grown instead of built. The material flowed in intricate, natural patterns unlike anything she had ever seen. The patterns were interrupted by ripples in the hull, deep gouges into the material that marred it like scars from a melee weapon.
"So that's the thing these creatures spawned from?" Crespi asked.
"As far as I can guess," Kaeden said with a nod, "yes."
"From what we heard," Barriss joined in, the first time she had spoken since they entered the tunnels, "one of the mining teams found this cavern while digging a new tunnel. Miners were sent in to investigate the ruins and see if anything was salvageable."
"Then all hell broke loose," Rynn finished. "I don't know if they were awakened by our presence, or if they were awake when the miners got here, but here we are." She gave a short laugh. "You know I was supposed to come down here the day after the dropship crashed into the station. And here I am, who knows how late."
Ahsoka frowned. She tuned out the noises from her friends, listening for something she didn't want to hear. "Movement!"
There was a hiss from behind them and Pulaski and Teraan opened fire at the mouth of the tunnel. A couple blaster bolts hit the creature at an angle and ricocheted off its smooth, elongated head to impact in the rock walls of the cavern. They fired again, joined by Henry and Massey. The combined blasters punched holes in the alien's body. The chitin shattered, letting acid blood flow out as the alien fell forward dead with a shriek. Two more appeared behind it and Ahsoka could sense other presences behind those.
Hoop ran up, the plasma torch held in his hands. With a roar of flame, he let loose a stream of superheated plasma into the mouth of the tunnel. Ahsoka, Henry, Kaeden, Rynn, and Barriss all squeezed their eyes shut and looked away to avoid being blinded by the flare. The stormtroopers' helmets had polarization filters that worked automatically, but she still felt them flinch.
The two aliens shrieked as they were burned alive, the stormtroopers firing into their flailing, flaming bodies. The superheated plasma melted the strange silica-like material of the tunnel and liquified the rock. It came down on the blazing aliens, entombing them in magma.
When it was all said and done, the entrance behind them was no more, now a mass of cooling, altered rock.
Kowalski got up in Hoop's face. "The kriff was that? You nearly killed us all!"
Hoop stood his ground. "You see one of those things, there's probably a dozen. They can't get to us from there now."
"Great, but how are we gonna get out of here now? The depot tunnel down there leads back to the elevator we destroyed. They'll probably be waiting for us there."
Rynn answered for him. "There's another entrance. After this place was discovered, another tunnel was dug into the other side. I was supposed to enter from that side." She scanned the walls with a pair of macrobinoculars Crespi had handed to her. "Over there." She lowered the binoculars and pointed at the other side of the ship. "We just need to get over there."
Sure enough, there was a small splotch of light against the darkness of the cavern.
Crespi got in between Kowalski and Hoop. "Right. We know where we need to go, now let's get moving. The longer we wait here, the more time those things have to find a way to get us."
Ahsoka had to give it to Crespi. His leadership skills were rather remarkable. A relentless drive to complete the next objective and he quashed any obstacle that stood in between him and it. Kowalski's reluctance on the surface to venture down into the mines to find the last of his squad. Pulaski's belief that Ahsoka and the Rebels couldn't be trusted before they set out to reach the other turbolift. The conflict between Hoop and Kowalski. His relentlessness to see the mission through was on almost droid levels.
She'd have to remember to ask him about his experiences in the Clone Wars when this was all said and done.
The descent down the edge of the bowl was grueling and time consuming. The paths were narrow, sometimes there were large drop-offs to the next ledge. Rocks clattered down the side of the wall as footing gave out periodically.
After quite a few minutes, the group finally made it to a smoother, easier passage. It was a ridge that went down towards the center of the cavern, and was wide enough for two stormtroopers to walk shoulder to shoulder.
Rynn was closer to the back of the line, bringing up the rear with Henry and the two stormtroopers Pulaski and Teraan. They both seemed nice enough. Pulaski had admitted that he once wanted to be a scientist before his family had been killed in a Rebel attack. He may be a stormtrooper, but his love for biology was still there. Rynn had made an agreement with him that one day when they both escaped they would meet up for coffee and chat about science stuff.
Teraan had told her that she once befriended a pair of Twi'lek siblings on Alderaan and had even dated the male sibling to spite her parents, who wanted her to court a wealthy noble. Rynn liked both of them. Stormtroopers or no, they were still people. Now though, they were all quiet and serious, focused solely on the matter at hand. Every shadow could potentially be holding lethal danger.
And Goddess were there a bunch of shadows.
With rocks clattering around them from missed steps or unstable ground, it was a miracle that they hadn't been swarmed by anything yet.
Hiss. Rynn's head immediately snapped upwards towards what she could swear had been a hiss. It had to be one of those things!
She scanned the ceiling with her eyes. Fulcrum up ahead hadn't made any reaction and was scanning the area before them with her eyes and montrals. Goddess what Rynn wouldn't give to be a togruta right now with those montrals!
She continued looking upwards. The ceiling was bathed in a green glow from the species of arthropod that lived up there. Any other day she'd probably be attempting to climb up to the ceiling to get a specimen for study, but that would have to…
Wait! Did that shadow just move?
Above them and moving in their direction around the edge of the bowl Rynn swore she could see a shadow moving and the greenish glow of the worms reflecting off something.
It was the creature!
Rynn didn't think. She acted. Raising her charge thumper, Rynn fired at what she thought was the alien.
Boom!
The rest of the group stopped in surprise at the explosion as Rynn sighted the alien scuttling away from the blast. She reloaded and fired again.
BOOM!
There might have been a shriek, but whatever noise followed the explosion was drowned out by the rumble that grew and grew.
Dislodged by the explosion, several tonnes of stone and rock had come loose from their delicate perches on the walls of the cavern. As they fell they dislodged more and more stone.
"Landslide! Run!" came the yell from Hoop.
The group took off running towards the ship, but no speed they could have ever achieved would have outrun the landslide. The rockslide slammed into the ridge. Something crashed into her and Rynn felt the ground disappear from under her feet.
Mwahahaha! Originally this chapter was supposed to be even longer, but I thought the cliffhanger was a great place to stop for now. I'm evil, I know. XD
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As always, feel free to comment on anything you saw or thought while reading this. Constructive criticism is both welcomed and encouraged! I love hearing from my readers on what I could do better. After all, there's always room for improvement. And if you know someone who you think might enjoy this story, please pass it on and share it with them! :)
And speaking of comments...
Eye of Sauron: Nice eye. Yeah, I did kind of model the xenomorphs after the Yuuzhan Vong. This story is kind of the first in a series I have planned, so I'll be hinting at the xenos' backstory here. More answers will be coming soon. I hope you're enjoying what I've got so far!
CT7567Rules: Good catch. Crespi's past during the Clone Wars will be fully revealed to all soon. I hope you enjoy it when the story gets to that point.
