"50 meters," Ratnena said as the X-wing slowly moved laterally towards on of the corvettes parked in the shipyard. It took over a day of hopping and dropping to get this close to any of the ships parked around a very modest size space station. From a distance the space station and shipyard were so close and operating at such low levels it made it appear to be much larger but in reality the station it's self was only a 100 meters long. It was a shock to them when they figured that part out but at least it made more sense as to why the Vong was so interested in this system. Hundreds of ships from Star Destroyer size to corvette were being moved here under slave circuit control and being stored with just enough power for station keeping, shields and keeping the ships at stand by power. Little Brother has calculated the number of droids it would take to man and run these ships was in the thousands. They had even witness several flights of squadrons that were all computer controlled.

Ratnena wonder why they would risk such a huge fleet with such an easy weakness to exploit. All the Yuuzhan Vong had to do was isolate the frequency that the ships were using and disable half the fleet. Nevertheless, as Little Brother pointed out and a statement she had to agree with was the fact when you are out number 3 to 1, thinking of a defense like that spontaneously may not allow you enough time to implement such actions. Also with the crew being all droids and computers, whoever is in charge of this fleet wouldn't waste a moment of thought at sacrificing a few to ramming action against the enemy. This was a fleet designed to strike fast and hard and take as many bad guys as they could with them.

"40 meters, any sign that they know we are out here yet?"

NEGATIVE, ALL POWER LEVELS ARE UNCHANGED NO SENSOR PROBES ARE BEING DETECTED.

"Right," all this of course was all conjecture, based on only observational evidence and brainstorming by Ratnena and Little Brother, no facts. This is why they were down here and not safely up system. Little Brother offered no resistance when she broached the subject. He, too, understood the vital need to know who exactly own this fleet and what their intentions were for the fleet. If it was a legitimate military project then fine, they learned something new, but if it weren't the more they knew the better off, they would be.

"30 meters," and the only way to learn more is to send Little Brother in one of the ships and break into their central computer. She couldn't do it since the ships showed no atmosphere on board any vessel other then the station. Bring the life support systems on line would be a huge red flag in their security programs.

"20 meters," who ever was in charge of this place has really let security slip badly, even traveling at these slow speeds there should be no way for them to get this close to the base without some kind of alarm going up or some one spotting them. She was half-afraid that they were letting them walk into a trap or something but if it was a trap, it was the poorest executed trap in history. When they past the 24.8 mark they were too close for the guns to target them. Maybe they have an attacked waiting for someone to open the hatch. Which, in a way, would make sense since only a crazy lunatic would try to board a ship with an X-wing? If they planned for a larger vessel, say a shuttle, then that attack would work since a shuttle would have to be right against the hull to enter. Nevertheless, a droid floating in from an X-wing may never have entered normal planning.

"10 meters, slowing to 2.5 k.p.h. positive angle .002," Ratnena said feeling a trickle of sweat running down her face but not taking time to wipe it off. She felt a slight shutter as the edge of the S-foil encountered the outer edge of the shields. The problem with shields were the fact that they could be defeated if one lacked sufficient mass and speed needed to trigger a feedback effect. If you were traveling as slowly as they were, you could slide past them with relative ease since few if any natural object nor combat condition travel as slowly as this and present a danger to the ship's hull. Since the ships were all in station keeping mode, the shields were up only to prevent damage from natural space debris.

"8 meters, slowing to two k.p.h," she could now see the target hatch on the port side of the ship. "6 meters slowing to .5 k.p.h."

NO CHANGES DETECTED, Little Brother said thru a direct link to the cockpit, it was too risky to use normal communications or lights. The only way she knew that they were nearing the ship was by passive sensors and the slightly darken mass now dominating her starboard view.

"4 meters, slowing to .2 k.p.h., 2 meters slowing to .1, one meter slowing to .001, .5 meters zero thrust. .25 meters all stop and station keeping protocols in place." She let out a breath and nervous laugh, "man that was nerve racking I wish the Vong was here so she could have done it. She is a better pilot then I am."

I REMIND YOU OF THAT FACT THE NEXT TIME YOU CRACK ON HER FLYING SKILLS. Little Brother said leave a small icon that shows that he was joking.

"Traitor," Ratnena said with a smile, "it's your show, just be careful, I don't want to face Tahiri if anything happens to you."

I WILL BE AS QUICK AS CONDITION ALLOW.

Ratnena had to twist in her seat to look out the right side to see Little Brother disengage himself from the X-wing. With tiny flashes of his small maneuvering jets, he floated over to the main hatchway on the port side of the corvette. She winced when she saw the jets but knew that even though they seem to light up the entire sky, to the station, they wouldn't even notice them since the ship was between them and the station but in the dark it looked so bright. Little Brother flashed one of his lights once and Ratnena waved knowing with inferred sensors that he could see her. He was to flash the light after he had accessed the hatchway door and was able to remotely open it. Which was a lot quicker then she, thought was possible for him to by-pass whatever security protocols they had in place, either they were using simple codes, using standard codes or had no protocols in place. She wasn't sure which one worried her the most. After Little Brother disappeared into the ship, she settled back and watched her scanners for any sign of trouble. It was out of my hands now, she thought, as she wiped some sweet from her face, the success or failure was completely in Little Brother's hands …, grippers …, or whatever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dropping out of hyperspace, cap'."

Captain and owner of freighter Space Happy looked over at his chief pilot and gave her a nod showing he heard her. He was glad to be done with this job, taking foodstuff and other supplies to the Vong supply planet didn't really bother him much, a credit was a credit.

However, this particular run was very hard to swallow; they had to take a load of a thousand slaves from some farming colony on the outer rim to the planet as well as food supplies. He wasn't told what they would be used for, his Peace Brigade contact wouldn't have told him even if he had asked, but he had a good idea. Not my problem, he reminded himself, I'm just a businessperson. Not all of his crew had felt that way, one moron tried to stage a take over during the inbound trip and he was now back on that planet with the worthless rabble waiting for his fate. That is what happens when you take your eyes off the big prize you end up on the bottom. That wouldn't happened to him, all through the Rebellion, Yuuzhan Vong war and all the brush wars over the past thirty years, he kept his eyes open for the big haul and the main chance. He started out with a simple freighter that was held together by duck tape and a prayer and now he had a bulk freighter and a crew of eight, seven now, and enough money stashed away for his retirement. It didn't matter in the end what he hauled or to where as long the credits were right. Moreover, the slave trade he had found out paid very well, he would have enjoyed it more if he could just get their faces out of his head.

"Navigator lay in a new …"

"Behind us two X-wings and a corvette!"

"What …" he then felt his beloved ship rock from impacts against the hull. "Report!"

"They took out long range comm and shield array."

Out of the view port, he saw two X-wings flash by and crossed each other's path and head back towards them.

"Target them and get …" his ship rocked again as the X-wings pummeled his unprotected ship. The lights and other equipment flashed on and off a couple times.

"They have an ion gun, they knocking out our engines! I am starting an emergency restart but it takes five minutes!"

"Turret guns out, who are these guys!"

"Helm steer course …" he was then thrown to the deck as the ship came to an abrupt stop.

"Tractor beam, they got us at a dead stop!"

"All hands prepare to repel boarders," the captain screamed out as the two X-wings swung around in front of his bow and trained their guns on the bridge. "Where is the corvette?"

"Port side they are docking with our bridge access hatch, man these guys is good!"

"Shut up! No one is taking this ship form me especially not some up start pirates," he turned and head aft to the hatch, "move it people!"

He was the first to reach the hatch from his ship but not the first threw it, a green Gamorrean charged through before he reached it. The pig grabbed his shirt and tossed him effortlessly against the starboard hull. As he laid there twitching and trying in vain to quit seeing everything in triplet the pirates poured through the hatch and the fight was over before it started. The five pirates out fought his crew and now held them all under their guns. A tall brown thing walked over, and without much effort, picked him up off the ground and held him up a half a meter in the air. A large human wearing a black mask with eyeholes and a mouth hole walked over to him, his eyes were like two hard blue stones and he wore a smile that held promise of pain and death. Behind him, four R-2 units rolled out of the hatch and headed aft towards the engine room.

"We have been having an argument for some weeks now," the leader said in a harsh, raspy voice, his eyes growing even colder, "about how long it would take for a low life slaver to survive if he was ejected from an air lock while in hyperspace. I want to thank you and your crew for volunteering to help us find out."

The captain had a strange and long over due thought as he was hanging there in the air watching this pirate smile at the though of doing this experiment. Some credits just weren't worth chasing after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Little Brother rolled his way to the nearest computer access node and plugged in. Thanks to the programming enhancements provided to him from the Wraiths and R-2 D-2, the ship's main computer never stood a chance against him, he was in and covering his tracks before the bigger computer was even aware of his presence on the ship let alone in the system.

Inferior computer programming, he thought as he accessed the file map. It seemed that the entire system was like that; from the ability for Ratnena and him to even get close enough board, a ship to the lack of security protocols at the main hatch to this computer spoke of a great level of inefficiency. Add that to the great monetary expense accrued to build a fleet of this size and to equipped the fleet with enough droids to replace Fleshy and Bloods, he would have expected a high level of efficiency and logic. If he had been a fleshy and blood, he was sure that an emotional state of nervousness would be plaguing his logic center and his main processing unit. As it was he allowed 10% of his processors to the question as to why the security was non-existent in the fleet.

Of course, if he was a fleshy and blood, the silence would be causing him to increase the adrenalin in his system. As it was the lack of noise was a hindrance since he couldn't use his audio sensors to make sure nothing was attempting to sneak up on him. He had passed a few droids standing still and powered down on his way to the computer node, everything from YVH droids to MSE droids. If his action were discovered, they could sneak up on him without him knowing since there was no air on board this ship. If he was a fleshy and blood this could cause a huge increase of adrenalin but he would be able to sense an attack with his other sensors, 2% of his computer resource should be adequate. In addition, if that were adequate then surly 10% would not be an extreme use of his vast talents. Not that of course he was capable of being nervous.

Little Brother speed up his downloading, he was sure that Ratnena who was just a fleshy and blood, and unable to control her emotional based biological reactions must be going (as Tahiri would say) nuts waiting for him. He could spend all day in this … very silent and dark ship … studying the specification it didn't bother him really. He has been on other ships before, well ships with fleshy and bloods on it anyways. Moreover, they all had air in them so you could hear the gentle hum of machinery running. YES, IF RATNENA WAS IN HERE WITH ME SHE WOULD BE SCREAMING FOR ME TO DOWNLOAD AT A FASTER RATE, Little Brother chirped silently to himself as his dome spun around to watch everything at once and increasing the download rate. No sense in making her wait any longer then necessary.

He was about done when he ran across a reference to a secret project that was loaded on board every ship in the fleet. Something that he came across before when Ratnena and he was on Denon looking through the files there. THAT IS ALL THE INFORMATION I NEED I HAD BETTER GO SINCE THIS FILE IS MORE IMPORTANT TO THE WRAITHS THEN ANYTHING ELSE I AM GOING TO FIND. Uncoupling from the computer he spun around and headed toward the hatch as fast as he could; luckily the gravity was essential to the Structural Integrity of the ship or else they would have that off also and he would have to float his way there which would just take extra time. As he passed some YVH droids he tried to move faster, not that there was any reason to do so, they were shut down and made no move against him or even know he was there. However, they were tall, imposing reminders that he needed to get back to the X-wing as soon as possible.

After he was reconnected to the X-wing and ran a diagnosis on the ship, he found something that defied logic; Ratnena was asleep!

RATNENA, Little Brother said quietly, RATNENA, he then used a special shocker to wake her up, RATNENA!

"What … awe mom let me sleep five more …"

RATNENA, Little Brother said as he shocked her again, RATNENA WAKE UP IT IS TIME FOR US TO LEAVE.

"What … oh hell you are done already," he watched her stretch and resettle in her seat, "I figured it would take you longer to do the job."

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT YOU WERE ASLEEP WHILE WE ARE IN ENEMY TERRITORY AND IN AN ENEMY BASE?

"What is the big deal, no one is on the way out this way. I had the scanners set to wake me if anything moved in the system. I figured it was a good time for a nap, why were you worried."

I AM NOT WORRIED, I AM NEVER WORRIED, I AM A DROID I AM INCAPABLE OF BEING WORRIED! WHY WOULD I BE WORRIED, WE ARE JUST SURROUNDED BY THOUSANDS OF SHIP READY TO TERMINATE OUR POWER SUPPLIES!

"Sorry I didn't think you would be worried," Ratnena said that as she started the slow process of getting back out to the outer system, her voice annalist suggested that she was amused by his reaction. "If I had known you were so worried …"

I WAS NOT WORRIED AND YOU ARE ILLOGICALLY ASSOCIATING MY CONCERN WITH THE COMPLETION OF OUR MISSION WITH A HUMAN REACTION!

"It's ok Little Brother, I won't tell Tahiri that you were worried …" her voice showing traces of laughter.

ILLOGICAL FLESHY AND BLOOD, he said wondering why the trip out seemed to last longer then the trip in. That is when he noticed that the pilot's chair sensors showed that she was still in a state of sleep. She was pulling one of her pranks and got him. He now had a new problem to work on and wondered how he was going to get her back for this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Here you go human."

Davis looked up at the small furry bi-pedal farmer standing before him with a small morsel of food. "It's ok I am not hungry." He couldn't bring himself to accept any food or drink form the farmers around him; it was his fault that they were here.

"You have not eaten in many days, human, you need to eat to keep up your strength," the farmers mate said with all the strength that a farm wife seems to acquire after years of working in the soil.

"I … I can't take your food," he said not able to look into their gentle eyes. He has known for months exactly who his boss worked for, everyone on the ship did he never made a secret about it. And until a few days ago he never really gave it much thought, it was just credits and he was doing very well in that department. But that all changed when they had to load these simple, gentle farmers, both humans and aliens, that some other Peace Brigade members had captured on a raid down by the Wild Space region. Running food and other supplies was one thing but slaves? Especially when they knew what fate awaited those slave at the Vong camp. They all knew, they all joked about it at dinner that night, but he couldn't sleep. He kept having dreams about what they would go through and the horrors they would face. He tried to stage a revolt and take over the ship but well he was no hero and now he too waited for the Vong to show up and claim their prize. "I have caused enough problems for you."

"You are not taking our food, we are giving it too you." The farmer said holding the food again.

"No, I …" he stopped and tried again, "you all are about to die and it is my fault. I won't deny you anything that can help you get through this."

"You also need your strength for the coming days, human. Besides it is not your fault that we are here …"

"Yes it is! I was a member of that crew if we … if we …"

"If you hadn't been there then we would not have the honor of knowing you."

"Some honor," Davis snorted out, "I led you to the slaughter house, what honor is in that."

"The honor of knowing someone who was willing to sacrifice all to save other whom he didn't know. To turn your back on the evil and embrace the teaching of the Great Spirit." The Farmer placed the food in his hand and stared deep into his eyes. "That you failed doesn't really diminish the fact that you made one of the hardest choices any being can make and for no reward or reason then it was the right thing to do."

"Yes it is true that we may die in the near future but you have shown us that there is some hope out there." The farmer's wife said hugging her husband. Davis was about to respond when the couple turned suddenly to the west. "Father, do you hear that noise?"

"Yes, I believe …"

Davis saw some Vong warriors run from one of the compound things and running to the skips parked near by. Davis stood and looked to the west also wondering what was happing. Out of the sun came two small, but growing larger by the second, shapes with red beams of lights flashing. It wasn't till one of skips fell from the sky did he figure out what those shapes were, by then they were passing over head; 2 of the most beautiful X-wings screamed by shooting anything Vong that they could. Like the rest of the thousands of slaves in the compound, he was too amazed by the sight to be scared or even cheer. The X-wings spun around and hit the skips repeatedly, taking out all four of the skips without so much as getting a scratch.

"LOOK!" One of the humans screamed pointing back towards the west. Davis turned and saw two larger ships bearing down on the compound. The smaller of two fired at the various buildings and the X-wings hit the coral that they where being held and any warriors running around. The larger ship looked a lot like the Space Happy but it was beginning a landing maneuver outside the compound.

"Follow me!" Davis screamed picking up the two farmers, they were only a meter tall and would have a hard time keeping up with him. "To that freighter everyone lets move!" Through the huge holes in the coral, he and the others flowed towards the ship like a living wave. He had no idea why his old employer reconsidered but he was willing to act first then beat him to a pulp later.

As the cargo ramp lowered a large hairy alien, not a member of the original crew, laid down cover fire with a woman, who was wearing a dark facemask.

"Hurry everyone hurry," she was waving people to board the freighter and firing at the Vong. Four R-2 units raced down the ramp and headed towards the warship that was also landing nearby. "We need a pilot! Get on board and any pilots report in!"

"I am a pilot," Davis said lowering the farmers so they could board, he looked around seeing people rushing to get on the ship but still taking time to help other. "In fact I used to be a member of this crew!"

"There is a course already programmed in," the woman said as she pulled him out of the flow of people, "to get you out of Vong Space and to Denon. Once there contact Master Skywalker on this channel," she handed him a data pad, "and transmit this message. If you are stop by any GA military ships, request to speak to the Jedi, they will make sure you get taken care of, do you understand?"

"Yes, who …"

"Get on board and remember to let Master Skywalker know about this planet." She said pushing him up the ramp.

"Who are you people?"

"No one understand no one, now go before any back up shows up!"

She waited until he followed the final refugees and started raising the ramp before she and her partner ran to their own ship. Once on the bridge and started to lift off, he could see the destruction the unknowns were doing to the base. They were burning anything that even looked Vong, building and bodies were burning where they fell.