A hailstorm of blaster fire awaited Star, Marco, and Janna as they bolted through the door and into the tunnel. The two Padawans acted as a shield, deflecting the lasers as Captain Ordonia returned fire. So thick was the approaching wall of security droids that nearly every shot Janna fired from Tom's WESTAR-32 felled a target. Without even trying, Star and Marco shot down droids with the bolts they deflected. It was nearly impossible to not hit something.

But for every droid that fell, two more took would take its place.

Then there were the troopers. By now, the teenaged renegades had faced off against legions of stormtroopers, but none were as fearsome as these black-armored monstrosities. Like the first one they encountered in the hanger, they brandished heavy blasters at long range, firing with much more deadly accuracy than standard stormtroopers. In the hailstorm of laser fire, Star and Marco could tell when one of the shots from the purge troopers' blasters contacted their lightsabers as the heavy laser threatened to rip the blades from their hands.

At first, the trio made decent progress down the tunnel, but it wasn't long before the advancing droids and their purge trooper escorts began to push them back toward the hanger once more.

"I'm starting to think this was a bad idea," Marco said, trying to remain calm as his lightsabers hummed and whirred.

Star agreed. "We need a way out of this tunnel!"

Janna ceased fire. Hunched down behind her Jedi friends for protection, she searched for anything that might improve their situation.

And she found it, just a few meters behind them.

"There's an access shaft in the ceiling behind us!"

"Perfect!"

They carefully worked backwards until the shaft was right above them. It was far too high to reach without a ladder, at least for a non-Force sensitive like Janna.

"Get Janna up there!" Marco told Star, taking a defensive spot in the center of the tunnel directly in line with the access shaft. "I'll keep you guys covered!"

"Right!"

Janna didn't wait for instructions. She holstered Tom's blaster and stood directly below the access shaft. Ladder rungs bolted to the inside of the shaft would give her purchase once inside.

Still holding her lightsaber at the ready to defend against any stray shots that got past Marco, Star raised her free hand and focused with the Force on Janna. Captain Ordonia rose slowly off the floor and then abruptly rocketed up inside the access shaft. She grabbed wildly for a handhold, barely managing to grab a ladder rung to stop herself from plummeting back to the tunnel floor.

"Geez, Star!"

"Sorry!"

The droids were closing in rapidly. They'd halved the distance to the Padawans' location.

"Go, Star!" Marco shouted. "I'll be right behind you!"

The shaft was very narrow. Star switched off her lightsaber. There wouldn't be space to safely hold it once inside. A Force-assisted jump brought her up inside the shaft just below Janna, who was already climbing quickly for the top. Marco followed soon after.

Without the hindrance of returned fire, the droids and their purge trooper leaders would erase the distance to the access shaft in mere seconds. The trio wasted no time clambering to the top as quickly as possible. The narrow shaft should make them sitting ducks.

The top was covered by a hatch, which was, of course, sealed by the security lockdown.

"I can't open the hatch!" Janna yelled as she threw her weight against it.

Star passed her lightsaber up. "Here! Just cut it! Hurry!"

The lightsaber cast an intense green glow in the confined space. Janna plunged it through the durasteel hatch, dragging it around the circumference.

The blaster fire began. The pair of purge troopers now stood below the shaft opening, firing straight upwards.

Janna needed time, but without adequate space to maneuver his lightsabers, Marco required an alternative defensive solution. He closed his eyes, drawing deeply from his inner darkness. So greatly had his Force abilities improved, it had been some time since he'd needed to utilize the Dark Side, but he would need it now.

Holding out his right hand, he focused energy and let loose a massive Force-push straight down the shaft. The wave of energy exploded out of the bottom of the shaft. The purge troopers and the security droids surrounding them went flying, crashing into the tunnel walls.

Janna had almost completed her cut. "This thing is gonna fall on us when I finish!"

"I got it!" Star raised her right hand, prepared.

Janna sliced through the last few centimeters supporting the hatch, expecting that Star would catch it with the Force and gently float it aside. Instead, the hatch went blasting away into the sky. It took Janna quite by surprise.

"…Yikes."

They quickly clambered out of the hole. "Go!" Janna yelled as she tossed the lightsaber back to its owner. She reached into her jacket pocket and retrieved a small item. "I'm right behind you!"

Star and Marco didn't argue, already sprinting in the general direction of where they had left the Raventalon. Janna clicked the activator on the small item in her hand and chucked it down the access shaft before sprinting after her companions. The security droids, which were capable of flight, had easily reached the ladder and were quickly scaling their way toward the top. The device clattered its way down the shaft, exploding just before it reached the bottom and sending a column of fire spewing up from the tunnel.

"What the heck was that?!" Marco exclaimed, looking back over his shoulder in time to see the explosion.

"Thermal detonator. That oughta buy us a little time," Janna said calmly.

Peering stealthily through the window, Tom watched as his friends faced off against the onslaught of security droids. Rosado stood well back. Should the worst happen, he couldn't bear to watch.

Shortly after Star, Marco, and Janna made their escape through the shaft in the ceiling, an explosion filled the tunnel with smoke and debris.

"Ohmigosh!" Tom burst out.

"What was that noise?!" Rosado asked nervously.

"There was just a huge explosion in the tunnel!"

Rosado took a hesitant step forward. "Are…? Were…?"

Tom shook his head. "They went through an access shaft in the ceiling. I don't see them. Actually, the explosion was probably from Janna. She usually carries a thermal detonator in case of emergency." As the smoke cleared and Tom could once again see the tunnel, all remained still. Broken droid components littered the floor, and he could just make out two dark shapes which he assumed to be the pair of troopers. There were a few dozen droids still standing, some damaged, some not. The ones still capable of flight disappeared through the ceiling shaft one-by-one, utilizing their avionics to fly after their prey. But none approached the hanger.

"I think we're safe for now." Tom made his way back to PY-HD, Rosado falling into step beside him. "Pony, how's the hanger door coming?"

The droid's head swiveled around to look at him, a scathing chitter demanding patience.

"Are you at least making progress?" Tom asked.

PY-HD blooped a very curt affirmative.

Outside in the tunnel, however, something clad in damaged black armor was stirring. It rose to its feet, made its way to the access shaft, drew its blaster, fired an accession cable, and rose to the top.

Captain Hawthorne's commlink chimed. She answered it, her eyes on Commander Loveberry watching her. "Yes, Nigel?"

"I've lost communication with several dozen of my security droids," the engineer reported. "And sensors indicate an explosion in the hanger 23 access tunnel."

Not waiting for further information, Mina grabbed her own commlink, calling for her own troops.

"One-eleven and one-fourteen, check in!"

The comm channel was silent.

"Those blasted Jedi!" Mina turned and barked at one of the technicians seated at the semi-circular control desk behind her. "Pull up a holomap of the facility!"

"Yes, Sir!" the young tech replied shakily. He found Loveberry quite intimidating.

The holotable illuminated and projected a complete map of the shipyard. With the punching of a few keys, the hanger built beneath a mountain peak flashed red.

"Hanger 23 is here," the technician explained. "Nigel says there was an explosion in the access tunnel, so that would be here." He tapped another command, and this time the adjacent tunnel flashed.

Mina pointed to a much smaller conjoining tunnel angled vertically. "What's this here?"

"An exterior access shaft," said the technician.

"Where does it come out?"

The tech tapped a key and the holomap shrank down into the table, replaced by an exterior overlay of the facility building and surrounding terrain. Once again, a tiny spot flashed red, indicating where the access shaft let out to the ground above.

"Well, isn't that a fine how-do-you-do?!" Mina said loudly. "I said to lock down the facility, and they make it to the outside! Now they could be anywhere!"

Hawthorne cleared her throat. "Um…not exactly, Commander."

"What are you on about?"

"If they made it up through that access shaft, realistically, they're trapped."

"Say whaaat?!"

Hawthorne stepped around the holotable beside Mina, pointing to the terrain map. "See here? This facility was built with its backside against a canyon. Hanger 23 and its access tunnel are under this rise on this corner, but aside from this narrow pathway across the backside of the facility, it's a steep cliff. Far too smooth and high to climb down. The facility building blocks them on the other side. The only way they could realistically escape is to skirt this narrow bit of terrain here until the canyon ends. Well, except for this gap." Hawthorne pointed to a spot where the ridge fell away into the canyon, leaving an impassable opening easily twenty-five meters across. There was no way to navigate around it. "I don't know how they'd get across that unless they can fly."

"Oh, ho, you'd be surprised," said Mina. "But no matter! It'll still slow 'em down." Already, the wheels were turning in Mina's head, the plan formulating as she scanned the holomap. Just beyond the south end of the facility, another ridge blocked the sight line from the spot where the gap in the terrain would hinder the Jedis' escape.

"Have your remaining droids reroute to this point here," she told Hawthorne, pointing to the ridge. "Tell them to stay out of sight and not to attack until I directly give the order." She quickly rounded the holotable and headed for the door.

"And where are you going?" Hawthorne asked.

"To rendezvous with your security droids, of course!"

Indeed, there was a pathway which ran across the backside of the assembly complex, measuring nearly ten meters wide in most places. With no other way around, Star, Marco, and Janna soon found themselves funneled to it. The terrain, however, was very uneven and difficult to traverse. The ground rose and fell, often in sharp outcroppings, some of which were higher than any of the three teenagers were tall. Star and Marco could have scampered across it with relative ease, using the Force to vault up and over high elevation changes and cushion their steep drops back down.

But Janna could not. While Star and Marco all but floated across the rocky and uneven ground, Janna had to take her time to avoid tripping, and required assistance from her Jedi friends to cross the steepest elevation changes.

And then the droids came.

The first four came one at a time, flying toward them from overhead. The trio were taken rather by surprise when the first blaster bolts pinged off the rocks around them. Marco shot it down with a lightsaber-deflected laser. Janna shot down the next two, her already impressive marksmanship improved even more so by Tom's powerful WESTAR-32. The fourth, Star ripped from the sky with the Force, dragging it directly into her lightsaber blade.

"These things are getting really annoying!" Star grumbled as she extracted her weapon from the impaled mechanical bowels of the droid.

They hurried on, eventually reaching yet another sharp elevation change blocking their path, this one twice as tall as Marco. Star vaulted to the top, turning around to assist from above as Marco used to the Force to levitate Janna up to her level.

No sooner had Captain Ordonia reached the top, she cursed loudly.

"Oh, kriff!"

"What's wrong?" Marco asked, landing beside her.

Janna pointed ahead of them. "Look at that!"

A few dozen meters further ahead, the path completely vanished.

"Oh, corn," Star groaned as they reached the edge. In the waning light, she couldn't even see the bottom.

Marco looked across to the other side. They had nearly reached the south end of the assembly complex. A high ridge in the distance ran parallel to the back wall and blocked their view of the Anaxes landscape beyond, but at least the pathway continued to the edge of the canyon to their right. "That…is a really long way to jump across."

"And I don't see any other way around," Janna said.

A faint whirring sound from behind pricked at their ears. They turned to find a dozen more security droids sailing toward them.

"Oh, great. More." Marco ignited his lightsabers, and Star followed suit.

Janna laid down suppressing fire as soon as the droids were in range. They presented far too slender a target to accurately shoot from such a distance, but she did manage to scatter their tight formation. They cruised closer flying in a loose scramble, making them easier to pick off.

The battle was short. Once they drew close enough, Janna could shoot them down with relative ease, and Star and Marco were far from overwhelmed, so they could concentrate on deflecting the droids' returned fire straight back at them. They hardly missed.

In less than thirty seconds, the droids were gone.

"Alright, let's get across this thing before more show up," said Star. "Marco, I'll just across first, then you float Janna over to me."

"Right," Marco nodded. "Go!"

Star took a few steps back to give herself some space for a running start, and then sprinted toward the gap, pushing off with the Force with as much power as she was capable of. She shot into the air and sailed across the gap, utilizing the Force again to slow her momentum and alighting on the far side. She had cleared the gap by at least five meters.

"Okay, Marco!" Star called. "Float Janna to me!"

Captain Ordonia shot Marco a look. "I swear, Marco, if you drop me-" She abruptly cut herself short as she rose up off the ground.

"If I drop you, you won't be alive anymore to follow through with whatever threat you're about to make," Marco quipped.

Janna floated out over the gap. She wasn't afraid of heights, but she told herself not to look down, anyway.

"Whiz-blerp bloop-bleep-beep!"

"Pony Head says she got it!" Tom exclaimed.

He and Rosado both turned their eyes upward. With a loud groan, the ceiling began to part down the center. The doors were very slow, but at least they were moving.

"Way to go, Pony Head!" Rosado said.

Tom agreed. "Yeah! Come on! Let's get this bird ready to fly as soon as the doors are open enough to fit through!"

"Right behind you!" said Rosado, hurrying after him. PY-HD disconnected from the terminal and joined the cavalcade, and they all hurried aboard the Queen Moon's Revenge.

Kneeling behind a rock for cover, Mina held up a set of macrobinoculars to her eyes. She was perched up on the ridge beyond the assembly complex, accompanied by the seven remaining purge troopers and a few dozen security droids, all standing at attention behind her.

Mina pointed her scopes toward the gap in the path. A teenaged girl was slowly floating across from one side to the other. She tilted the scope down and spotted a second teen with long blonde hair, outstretched arms reaching out as she used to Force to guide the other across. "Ahhh, Princess Butterfly. We meet at last." She panned across to the far side where a second Jedi also appeared to be using the Force on the floating girl.

Mina lowered the scope and returned it to a pouch on her belt. She turned to her troops. "One-oh-nine! I require the sniper rifle!"

"Yes, commander." One of the purge troopers stepped forward, presenting Mina with a latched case.

"Alright, you bunch of nerf-herders, here's the plan, so listen up!" Commander Loveberry said as she popped open the case. Inside was a sniper rifle, broken up into five pieces. She snapped them together as she spoke. "I'll take out the other Jedi with this. That oughta make capturing Butterfly a piece of cake! Once the other Jedi is on ice, my troopers will flood the area with enough laser fire to make it impossible for them to escape. Droids will fly down there and apprehend the blonde girl. Apprehend, understand? She is to be captured!"

"Yes, Sir!" buzzed one of the droids. "What about the other girl?"

"I don't care! Deal with her! Push her into the canyon for all I care!"

Mina positioned her rifle on the ridgeline, peering through the scope. The levitating teenager had nearly made it across.

Star reached out and grabbed Janna by the wrist as she reached her side of the gap. "Gotcha!"

Both Jedi dropped their connection to the Force, and Janna's boots landed on solid ground once again. "Thanks, Star." She turned. "Your turn, Marco! Let's get out of here!"

"Okay! Here I come!"

Just as Star had done, Marco took several big steps back to gain some space for a running start. A memory crossed his subconscious: leaping from Star's room in the Jedi Temple toward a gunship hovering below. He'd had Star assisting him with the Force then, and the added advantage of his target landing spot being quite a long way below his jump-off point. His currently situation has the aid of neither. His Force abilities had greatly improved since, however. He just hopped they had improved enough.

Gathering focus, Marco steeled himself for the jump.

"Marco!" Janna's voice suddenly yelled.

Then Star, clearly panicked: "Behind you!"

Marco whirled around. A purge trooper, its armor tarnished and damaged, was charging toward him. It's blaster spit lasers rapidly.

Marco quickly yanked both lightsabers from his belt, igniting them to defend against the barrage. The trooper never even so much as slowed its charge as it approached, abruptly dropping the blaster and retrieving an electrostaff from a sheath on its back. It swung wildly at Marco, and he countered.

Mina had had Marco in her sights and had been about to pull the trigger when the purge trooper came charging from the gloom. "What the-?!"

The trooper engaged the Padawan in close-quarters combat. Marco was forced to move around so much, Mina could not keep him in her sights.

"Darn it, One-eleven! You'd better end that Jedi, because if you don't, I'll end you!"

The trooper twirled the staff at its midpoint, swinging it at Marco again and again as it spun. Marco countered it easily, but even with two lightsabers could not find an opening in which to attack. Eventually he managed to pin the electrostaff between his blades, though this, too, did not aid his offense, as the opponents were now locked in a stalemate.

"Marco!" Star's voice reached his ears as she yelled to him. "Forget that thing! Get over here!"

Marco knew she was right. There was no way this trooper would be able to cross the gap without aid of a jet pack, and he hadn't the luxury of time for a drawn-out fight. The best course of action was simply to let the dual end in a draw. In one smooth motion, he switched off both lightsabers and sidestepped the electrostaff as the trooper shoved it forward, then spun on his heel and took off at a dead sprint toward the gap.

Unfortunately, Marco hadn't the time to focus, and when he took his flying leap, pushing off with both the Force and his cybernetic leg, his jump didn't have quite the power behind it he had hoped for. He sailed across the gap, watching the other side grow nearer, but not quite as near as he would have liked. For a brief moment, Marco thought he would come up short. So did Star and Janna. But then, he touched down, sticking the landing a scant ten or so centimeters from the edge.

"Woo!" he cheered. "For a second there, I didn't think I was gonna-"

Searing hot pain erupted from the center of his chest as if he had been stabbed.

Mina lowered the sniper rifle, grinning with satisfaction. When the Jedi had landed on the far side of the gap, she had quickly taken aim and pulled the trigger. Her shot had found its mark, the blaster bolt impacting the Jedi squarely in the center of his chest.

"Gotcha."

Star and Janna froze in shock, not believing what their eyes were seeing. The red cloth of Marco's hoodie had been singed black in the center, the edges of the hole still smoldering.

"Marco?" Star squeaked.

Marco's lips parted in surprise. He felt as if he had been impaled. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't move.

"Marco?" Star said again, stepping toward him.

"Star…" he whispered.

Star could see Marco beginning to fall over backwards. She erased the distance between them in two steps, but it was already too late. She reached out to grasp Marco's right hand, but he fell out of range and her fingers closed around his lightsaber instead, which slid from his weak grasp as he tumbled over the edge.

"MARCOOOOO!" For a split second, Star could see her best friend falling, his appendages limp, and his brown eyes met hers.

And then Marco was gone, vanished into the pitch darkness below.

Mina turned to her troops. "Sic 'em!"

"Roger-Roger!"

"Yes, Sir!"

Tom busily flicked a handful of switches, preparing the Queen Moon's Revenge for takeoff. "See if you can find the shield controls," he told Rosado, seated in the copilot's seat. "Just in case they start shooting at us."

"Uhhhh…" Rosado scanned the controls. "I think this is them here. Should I activate them now?"

"Just cycle the generator and make sure they're charged. Don't activate them until we're clear of the hanger."

PY-HD whistled from the deck down below the cockpit.

"Pony says everything is ready," said Tom.

They both peered upward just as the hanger doors finally stopped moving. The way was clear at last. "And just in time. Here we go!" Tom gently throttled up the repulsors, and the Revenge slowly floated upwards and clear of hanger 23. "She flies!"

"Thank goodness!"

Tom switched to sublight engine control and turned the ship ninety degrees to starboard, facing the hyperspace lane out of the system. Increasing power, the engines responded with a will. They shot over the assembly complex. "Tatooine, here we come!"