Hippie rolled to the left, then made a steep dive to avoid the oncoming asteroids. Behind him Narm had completed a similar maneuver. Master had climbed out of the way and was making a steep dive back into formation.

"They really up and left, didn't they?" Narm commented. Probably looking at all of the machinery and containers left.

"I wish I had listened why the operations were cut." Hippie turned to avoid another asteroid. Then rolled back to the right. The rest of his squad was doing well behind him. Except Master seemed to be taking different routes for everything. Hippie looked down on his nav screen, they were almost there. "Command said they weren't getting any response at all. We're almost there. Just a few kliks out." Hippie cleared the last big asteroid, skimming along the surface. Just then Master appeared in front of him out of nowhere.

"Yahoo!" He heard Master scream over the com.

Hippie could see his shadow dancing across the cratered surface of the asteroid, as Masters Tie Interceptor slowly moved back behind him. Beyond that he could clearly see the asteroid used as the base. The docking bays were clustered in one spot. "Okay people, we're going into bay nine. There aren't any racks, so we have to make standard landings." Hippie lined up the bay in his sites. As he neared the details became clearer. The observation points. Docking rings, and the command center. Hippie began to slow up on his final approach, he entered the docking bay and found it was clear. "The magnetic shield was still up, and it looks like the air is a little stale, but breathable." Hippie landed on the side near the rear wall. As he felt the bottom of his solar panels touch, he let out the forward supports. They came off from the front of the solar panels and touched the floor. They weren't strong, but enough to balance a Tie Interceptor on the ground. "Everybody ready. I want a standard procedure, ship egress in area with possible hostiles."

"Do you want us to get out of our ships ready for attack?" Narm asked sarcastically.

"Yes Two."

Hippie opened his cockpit hatch and slowly got out of his ship. He had his blaster out and ready with the glowrod attachment. He saw the light on Master's and one form Narm. Hippie shined the light around. "Looks clear." The bay was still dimly lit from the old lights. Hippie jumped down, and waited for the other two to catch up. First Master joined him, then Narm. In each hand Narm had a blaster, and at his hip it looked like he had a sword. He was also wearing a bandoleer filled with energy clips and tibanna gas cartridges. In the dim light Hippie could almost make out the shapes of at least a grenade on his belt. "Son of a Sith, you took all that on a patrol?"

"Yeah, I always do. I also have seven days of supplies ready, including batteries for constant glowrod use. I have more ammo in my fighter. I wish I could find a way to carry my rifle in my fighter. Oh well." Narm just casually replied.

"But this was just a patrol! And where'd you get the grenades?" Hippie asked.

"Yeah, but what if something like this happened, I feel more secure. The grenades… I got them from some Stormies, won them in Sabaac. The dense groundpounders didn't even notice my skifters. I have hardware hidden all around my area. That's where I got my rifle from them too. A DLT-20A, sweet deal. I should start packing my E-11 in my fighter too, but it's awful cramped as it is. We were at-" Narm was interrupted by Hippie.

"I don't want to know anymore Narm. Let's just leave everything as it is." Hippie felt a little proud at calling the grenades, he could have looked real stupid if they had been something else. "Anyway let's get moving. At least I don't need to be a roving armory to defeat three-quarters of the New Republic ground forces." Hippie began heading for the exit when he heard Master behind him.

"Hey, you were using skifters the times you beat me?! That's it, I want the fifty creds you owe me."

Narm came with his reply. "Fine, I'll give you the credits, or wouldn't you rather have a couple of nice blast vests with matching blasters?" Narm looked at Masters expression and changed his offer. "I have some nice Stormtrooper breastplates, painted black too… Oh screw it, I'll give you the money when we get back to the ships." Narm noticed Masters smug look as they followed Hippie out of the docking bay. "I mainly wanted to see if your senses could have picked it up. I've never been dishonest with anyone else in the squadron."

"Hey Hippie, what exactly are we doing here?" Master asked.

"We're going to the command center to find out that everything's okay, so we can go back to the Darkstar."

"Okay, why are we bothering to look why don't we just wait in the hanger for an hour, fly out and say everything's okay?"

"Because I want to check some things out." Hippie gruffly replied.

The three pilots made their way down the dimly lit corridors. Using the many guidelines Hippie was able to lead the trio to the command center.

"Here we are people, Narm set watch on the doors, Master take that console over there, and see what you can find out about the operation. I'm going to look over the logs." With that Master walked over to a console to the right, sat down and began looking through.

"Shouldn't we try to get the main power up and running?" Narm asked.

"No, if we do that, they'll know we're here." Hippie walked over to one of the center consoles and began roaming through the files. "Curses, passworded." Hippie pulled out a slender looking card device, and inserted it in a slot. "There!" Hippie then delved into his operation with full concentration.

Narm stayed with weapons ready, watching all possible venues of attack. Then he heard Master whisper to him. "Hey, Narm, over here."

Narm walked over to Master and began whispering. "What Master?"

"Do you think something's wrong with Hippie, he seems really worked up over this. Like he's afraid."

"Nonsense, you know Hippie, he probably is getting some kind of gut instinct. Have you found anything strange in the records?"

"No, all I've been able to find are things regarding financial failure. All of the investors suddenly pulled out, and it looks like about a quarter of the workers were labeled as "mysteriously left", probably meaning they disappeared."

"Does Hippie know something about all this then?"

"Maybe he does Narm, maybe he does."

Hippie hollered from his panel. "Hey, what are you two doing. Did you find something Lieutenant? Narm, back to your post.

"Yes sir." Narm responded, and walked back near the doors.

"Sir, I haven't found anything conclusive of anything sir." Master said.

"It's okay, I found more than enough in the logs. It seems there were a lot of mysterious disappearances. Bones were found in the deeper passages, strange bones, alien. They hired a mercenary team to clean up the tunnels, they were never heard from again. These creatures, don't emit any kind of heat signature, they are fast, and little is known about them." Hippie went through.

"So what now sir?" Narm asked.

"We're not getting back to our ships anytime soon, they'll be waiting for us." Hippie responded.

"Great, my most valuable possessions are in that. Except for my rifle." Narm angrily stated.

"What, why do you do that?" Master asked.

"No real reason, anyway let's get back to the disaster at hand." Narm quickly changed the subject. "So what do we do now Major?"

"Well, here's the plan, we single handed defeat the aliens, and get a lot of money." Hippie seemed almost lost, as if he hadn't given much thought at what to do.

"Well we need to do something, we can't just wait here for them to attack-" Master abruptly stopped. "Did you hear that?" A slight skriching sound could be heard almost from above.

"They're here…"

"Shut up Narm!" Hippie snapped. "Get ready people."

"What's the worst it could be, an Ewok?"

"Shut the hell up Narm!" Hippie snapped as he grimaced at the thought of combat with Ewoks.