Grand Admiral Viita had been outside the courtyard walls when he heard an explosion come from the nearby airstrip. Sand erupted into the air, showering down like stinging rain. He raised his hands against the particulate matter that hailed down, crouching slightly as he looked in the direction of the explosion. The flat area of the airstrip was now marked with a large hole in the middle. Then an explosion came from the housing complex, followed close to my second. Turning around toward the sound, another explosion erupted behind his back on the airstrip. This one left stormtroopers littered on the ground like the rocks that it had thrown up in the air. All of it happened in a matter of seconds, Uriellien's mind whirled taking it in.

Seeing several Twi'lek that he did not recognize running from the airfield, he pointed and yelled, "Capture them! I want them alive!"

He drew his blaster, his thumb setting it to stun, and fired in the direction of the retreating Twi'lek. They were out of his range, his shots falling short of their targets.

Slavin was running after the Twi'lek, blaster in hand, shooting and shouting, "Get them!" He looked very undignified, Uriellien noted. His thoughts were interrupted by another explosion in the courtyard. It was then that he remembered.

Sola was in the house!

He abandoned Slavin and ran towards the courtyard. At the approach, Uriellien saw a blueTwi'lek running from the conflagration, headed for the mountains around the dwelling. He changed direction, stamping down the panic that was rising in his gullet, chasing the escaping man. His long legs quickly closed the distance between them. Uriellien raised his blaster and fired.

The Twi'lek fell down on his face as the stun hit him square in the back.

Uriellien didn't go to check to make sure the man was down, but turned around toward the courtyard. Had one of those explosions hit the house? He'd only been out of it for a few minutes, but he was sure Sola was still inside. The sitting room was in the front of the house, if it had been bombed…

He entered the courtyard to see controlled pandemonium. Two of the speeders had exploded, sending bits of fiery material. It had caught several other things on fire and shrapnel lay strewn about. The house was still fully intact, though. He scanned the courtyard, seeing laser fire out of the corner of his eye.

He pressed his back against a stack of crates that were positioned close by, raising his blaster to return fire. He saw Thrawn across the courtyard in a similar position with two stormtroopers, a third on the ground apparently unconscious. Or dead. The Chiss grand admiral was popping out strategic shots as the stormtroopers gave him cover.

"We need them alive," Uriellien yelled over to him.

He glanced in the Astarraxian's direction, his lips pinched in concentration. He nodded and raised his blaster, as if to show Uriellien the setting it was on, and then turned back to the courtyard and what he was doing before.

Peeking around the crates, he scanned the courtyard. Several people were on the ground. A laser shot off and hit a soldier that was dragging himself to cover. The man fell sprawled on the ground, no longer moving. Near a stack of crates close to the house, he saw Sola dragging a bleeding soldier toward the entrance.

Relief flooded through him for a moment that she was obviously unharmed, when a laser whizzed by, barely missing her shoulder. Fear struck through him and he made to run to her. As soon as he moved from the crates he was using for cover, a flurry of fire came his way, sending him back.

"Sola, get in the house!" he yelled. She either didn't hear him or ignored him. A stormtrooper looked his way, however. He pointed to his sister. "Get her in the house!" he ordered.

The stormtrooper ran to her, scooped her up as if she weighed nothing, and bolted for the entrance, throwing her inside. Again relief washed over him, the adobe house was impervious to the small blasters that were firing around it. With Sola safe, he turned his attention to the battle around him.

A group of three Twi'lek were caught in the corner of the courtyard nearest the courtyard exit. Uriellien was in their way. He realized they were the ones who had fired at him when he'd tried to get to Sola. They were guerrillas, untrained and perhaps untested. He was sure he could take them if he could get close enough to them.

It was getting close enough without getting shot that was the problem.

He fired in their direction, bolting from his cover to the next crate, which was only one high. He saw his shot hit one of the Twi'lek as he reached cover. He ducked down, making sure his head was hidden. It held rations in it, he could smell the bars through the metal of the crate. He also heard several pings as the lasers bounced off of it.

Almost on his belly, he peeked around the corner, a blaster fire almost hitting him. He ducked back behind the crate, fighting the constricting feeling in his chest, to find a stormtrooper crouched behind it also. When did he get here? Uriellien wondered. Don't look a gift mount in the mouth. "Trooper, I need you to cover me."

The trooper nodded, "That's why I'm here, sir," he said, the mechanical voice comforting to Uriellien's ears.

They both approached the edge of the crate, Uriellien holstering his blaster. The trooper poked out and began firing. Uriellien ran to the right of his blaster fire, bolting forward toward the two Twi'lek that remained conscious. The trooper's shots hit one of them, leaving a burning hole in the side of the Twi'lek's face. He doesn't have his gun on stun, Uriellien realized. We need these people alive to flush out the rest of them.

He arrived at their spot just as the last Twi'lek raised his gun at him. Uriellien reached him, swinging his arm in an outside block and knocking the Twi'lek's gun arm to the right. He followed up with a reverse punch to the man's belly, taking advantage of the Twi'lek's surprise. Indignant anger swelled in Uriellien's chest, replacing the battle anxiety from a few moments before. The man doubled over, dropping the gun. He collided his knee into the man's face, blood from his nose spurting on the white of Uriellien's uniform. The Twi'lek's head flew backward as he fell to the ground.

Then Uriellien was on top of him, his fists pummeling into the man's face and lekku. These bastards had fired at his troopers. They had hurt his troopers, some of them never to recover. They had put his sister in danger. He let out a roar of rage, his fists coming down again and again on the man's soft flesh.

It was the stormtrooper's mechanical voice that brought him back to reality. "Sir! Admiral, sir!"

He stopped, rising to his knees, straddling the unconscious Twi'lek. The man's face was bloody and bruised, his eyes and lips already beginning to swell from the beating. Uriellien staggered to his feet, aware that he no longer heard blaster fire. The stormtrooper put his hands around Uriellien's shoulders to help him up. Uriellien spat at the Twi'lek before stepping around him. He caught sight of the man that the stormtrooper had shot, half of his face was gone, showing part of a gruesome, skeletal grin. He wiped his hands on his already bloodied pants.

"Round up the living ones," he said. His throat hurt when he spoke and he had trouble getting air into his lungs. "I'm going in the house to check on Lady Luxsolaria."

"Yes, sir," the trooper replied.