Xeran kept shooting, trying to cover the ship's back.
He was sitting in his ship's tail gun's control space. Behind the ship, four TIE-fighters were coming dangerously close. One of the fighters landed a shot, and the whole ship shook.
Xeran's shots were focused on one of the fighters. Slowly, he directed the enemy's course by forcing him to dodge repeatedly, until the pilot could not maneuver inside the asteroid field and dodge the Zabrak's shots anymore. Xeran hit the ship straight to the cockpit and watched it be blown to pieces in a blinding flash of light.
He sighed. Starship battles were not his field of expertise. "How are the shields holding, captain?"
"Not well, sir. We cannot take another barrage like the last one."
"Copy that."
He closed his eyes. He grabbed the Force with all his strength, subjugated it and forced it to guide his movements. It resisted, but the young Sith was strong. When he opened his yellow eyes, they were predatory, the eyes of a species that had evolved to kill. With the Force at his disposal, he swiftly hit two of the ships and, when the last one got close and launched a torpedo, he outstretched his hand and, with a roar, pushed it back on the enemy fighter.
He sat back in his chair, momentarily drained by the effort. His eyes opened wide with terror when he saw his moment of rest allowed another fighter to get within firing range.
The ship exploded. Behind it, a modified X-wing fighter appeared and passed above his ship. "You are getting ssssloppy, little hunter!", he heard in his coms.
"Your arrogance will only end in humiliation, Burrsk!" He got up from his chair and changed the channel. "Captain Fin, we are clear. Make a pass above the central hangar." He approached the ship's door, opened it with the push of a button, and stood on the edge, using the Force to maintain his balance.
"Yes, sir. Are you sure you don't need my help?"
"Focus on the fight up here. They need you more than I do. Good luck, and good hunting." With that, he jumped, disappearing in the darkness above the hangar of the mining facility on the large asteroid.
The fight was raging in the spacious hangar, with the durasteel doors blown to bits and the rebel ships coming in one after the other. Burrsk was in the front line, among his fellow soldiers, covering the rest of the landing ships after landing his own. The large, green-scaled, reptilian looking warrior walked forward fearless, his blaster rifle hitting one man after another. Too focused on his prey, he noticed the soldier charging at him far too late to stop him.
An invisible Force picked the man up and slammed him on the ceiling, then pulled the screaming soldier somewhere in the distance, out of Burrsk's sight. One more scream followed, then Xeran leapt to the Trandoshan's side, using his warblade to block the enemy fire, allowing Burrsk a better chance to hit. "And you have the audacity to call me sloppy!"
Together, they charged forward, preferring offense to distract the guards from the ships that were still landing. Xeran used the Force to push three guards to the wall, stunning them long enough for Burrsk to execute them with his rifle, then the Trandoshan laid suppressing fire, forcing the rest of the guards to find cover and allowing the young Sith to creep closer to them, almost completely silent. When they left their cover to return fire, four men's throats were ripped open with a barrage of blows. As a new wave of soldiers emerged, Xeran picked up various heavy objects with the Force and hurled them towards their enemies, roaring. They managed to avoid them, but Xeran's heavy display ensured none of the men noticed the grenades Burrsk had stealthily rolled towards them. The explosions took out most of the men, and the two warriors finished off the rest quite easily.
By that time, the rest of the rebel forces had landed and were approaching the Trandoshan captain to receive orders.
"The day is ours! Attack!" As the men cheered and charged, Xeran and Burrsk remained behind, watching with a serious look on their faces.
"The plan has already gone wrong, has it not?"
"Too many guards. Did not expect that."
"What are they guarding, though? I understand our intel suggested this facility is important, but whatever they are mining, the defenses seem…extravagant for such a place."
The Trandoshan warrior looked at his Zabrak companion. "Let's go ask them." Together, they followed the rebel forces as they were marching down the facility's tunnels, both thirsting for Imperial blood.
The stormtrooper groaned. Xeran twisted his blade in the wound, making the man scream.
"Do not make me ask you again. Where is the mine's produce?"
The attack was progressing well, but they had not yet located the thing they had come to destroy. And they still didn't know what it was.
"I'll never talk, you alien scum! Just kill me now and be done with it?"
Xeran growled. He called on the Force and lifted the man on the air, telekinetically grabbing his throat. "What are you protecting so fiercely, soldier?" The man remained silent, desperately trying to breathe.
One of the engineers approached Xeran reluctantly. "Sir, you can leave him if you want. I have the information."
Xeran grinned at the soldier and snapped his neck with a flick of his wrist. He turned to the engineer. "Tell me."
The engineer approached a computer terminal. "They are mining a substance they need for a big project, something called project Stardust. What it is, I don't know, but they are moving it to the secondary hangar as we speak. Base protocol dictates they hold us off for as long as possible to evacuate with the produce."
The Zabrak looked at the halls outside the room where he and the few engineers they had were trying to locate their target and observed the fighting. He looked at the maps they had been able to acquire, and he realized there was no way they would reach the hangar in time.
"Can you delay them somehow?"
The engineer kept his eyes on the screen, staying silent for a moment. "I can activate the alarm on the main paths they will probably use, force them to find a slower way to transport the substance to the ships. Other than that, I don't think there is much we can do."
"That will have to suffice." Xeran exited the room and rejoined the fight, trying to reach Burrsk. He was forced to find cover, as the soldiers unleashed another barrage of blaster fire.
The Trandoshan came to him. "What did the engineers ssssay?"
"We need to move out, and fast. They are transporting the produce to the secondary hangar, and we don't have a lot of time to stop them."
Burrsk cursed in his native tongue. "We need to…"
"Sir!" One of their soldiers ran to them and threw himself behind cover, barely avoiding a shot. "There is a message from the air teams."
"What now?", said Burrsk, obviously angry.
He turned to Xeran. "Your starship is down, and captain Fin is not responding. Luckily, it crashed inside the base, and we know the coordinates. But we can't spare any men to go check it out."
The Zabrak felt cold dread wash over his body. He looked at the Trandoshan captain.
"Go, Xeran. I got this."
"Are you sure?"
"Just go!" The reptilian warrior got up and unleashed a barrage of blaster fire of his own, forcing the men to retreat and giving Xeran the opportunity to run towards the remains of the ship his master had gifted him, hoping its captain had not gone down with it.