First, happy May the Fourth, assuming this shit gets out on time.

Second, I have a drawing tablet coming and some visual references for what Kyra, Nax, and Val look like, so drawings SoonTM.

Anyways, you like the new cover art?

You fuckin' better.

TO THE REVIEWER WHO'S NAME IS PLEASE READ ME: Your comment was barely legible but I think I got the gist of what you were saying. You were asking if I had considered implementing some form of split personality shit or whatever like in the Witcher? Or were you asking if I considered doing a story about a cyborg ala Adam Jensen who can synchronize with shit? Because if the latter is your question, that was actually probably going to be an element of Grimm Retreat before I killed it. It might still pop up here if Nax ever gets cybernetics.

Read and review. Also, shill this to everyone you know who reads SW fanfiction.

Bataan paced along the command center table, silently observing Emel, who had just debriefed him on the mission to the compound. "Emel, if I have this correct, you failed to retrieve any supplies from the moisture farmers as directed, had two squadmates go missing, had a third get killed in action, you let the compound get bombed, and lost us a vehicle asset." he said coldly, staring at Emel through his T-visor.

"Yes, sir." Emel responded, clearing his throat. "While there was ultimately nothing that could be done for the compound, I'll take full responsibility for everything else."

Bataan stared him down intensely, before relenting with a sigh. "Under normal circumstances, Emel, I would reprimand you for failure. However, given our current situation, I refuse to do so."

"Thank you, si-" Emel started.

"However." Bataan suddenly interrupted, his voice cutting down Emel's like a vibroblade through flesh. "Ensure that this does not happen again." he cautioned.

Standing up straight, Emel nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Dismissed."

Without exchanging another word, Emel headed out into the main courtyard of the camp. Nobody was really outside at the moment – the other teams were most likely out on other missions. Blii was actually the only one outside, and she was preoccupied with something, so Emel opted to head into the medical building, where Dev was currently resting in a bacta tank, and the rest of Dewback were sitting inside, watching over him like concerned parents.

Or at least, they were supposed to be. As soon as the door shut behind him and his eyes adjusted, Emel quickly noted the empty bacta tank, and he was greeted by Dev, who sounded tired, and at least a bit wounded. "'Ey, boss." he greeted with a wave and grin, before flinching and holding on to his right arm.

"…What are you doing out? You're supposed to still be in the tank, Dev." Emel questioned, looking over the rest of Dewback with some minor suspicion that they had let him out early.

"Early release." Dev responded, pointing at the deactivated 2-1B in the corner. "And by that, I mean conserving bacta." he continued, before snorting. "Yeah, my ass."

Dewback had all fallen silent, seemingly waiting for Dev to pop the inevitable question.

"So…" Dev suddenly said, his tone leading. "Where's Jax?" he asked.

Dewback all tensed up and hesitated to answer the question. This was going to end poorly, but if they delivered the news wrong, it could get ugly. "…What's wrong, guys?" Dev asked, trying to break the empty, dreadful silence that had suddenly filled the room up, his expression turning into a slight frown, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Jax is…" Kelah said, before stopping herself short, leaving her response unfinished. "He…" she choked, before stopping again, and hiding her face inside the darkness of her hood, only letting light expose the lower part of her face. If one squinted hard enough, they could see short, glassy streams of tears occasionally rolling down her face.

Val was next to try and break the news. "Dev, I'm sorry, but…" she said, before finding herself unable to continue further. She repeatedly tried to speak, opening her mouth, but closing it shortly after. Val turned her head away from Dev in shame.

Dev then turned to Emel, his frown only having grown. "…What happened?" he hesitantly asked, not sure if he wanted the answer.

Breathing in deep, Emel stared at him through the t-visor. "Jax is…" he trailed, not sure if he was ready to deliver. "…dead." Emel finished bluntly, and they all waited for Dev's response.

Instead of bursting out into a rage or tears, Dev just stared through Emel. "No." he said simply. "No, no, no, no, nonononononono…" Dev repeated, getting increasingly more panicked, slouching against the bacta tank and covering his face, suddenly falling silent.

Emel and Tenan were the only two looking at him; Kelah and Val had turned away out of guilt. "I'm sorry for you to find out this way, Dev." Emel comforted him.

Burying his head deeper into his hands, Dev refused to look up at them. "All I remember was the TIE just meters from my face." he mumbled in shame. "I should've been the one to die, not Jax, man."

There was a quiet sobbing coming from him, a rarity, especially for Dev.

Eventually, he removed his face from his hands and looked up at them, teary eyed. "How… how did that TIE even crash?" he asked in a low, sad tone, his voice cracking. Val suddenly felt a lump in her throat. She was the whole reason Jax was dead. Visibly, she became conflicted over whether to admit to it or not, and unfortunately, Dev took notice. "…Val?" he asked, and she froze. "You look like you know something."

Breathing in deep, she debated. If she lied, the others might call her out on it. If she told the truth, he might be more lenient with her, plus she wanted to finally put an end to her habit of lying. If there was anywhere to start, it would be here. Of course, there was always the unpredictable, which even she couldn't account for.

Not wanting to drag it on any longer than necessary, Val relented. "…The TIE crashed because… well…" she hesitated, and Dev seemed to lean in. "…because I shot the pilot out."

All time seemed to stop. In one moment, Dev was staring at her in horror, anger, and disgust. The next, he was practically on top of her, only held back by Tenan and Emel. "You bitch!" he screeched at Val, causing her to reel back.

Val hid her face behind her hair out of shame. "I…I'm sorry…." she meekly apologized, knowing that wasn't going cut it. Dev was pissed, murderously so.

"Oh, you're sorry, that's gonna be real nice. Hey, Jax, get this; Val's SORRY that she killed you! OH WAIT, HE'S DEAD! TOUGH SHIT!" Dev continued to rant.

There was the sudden sound of a stun blaster discharging, and Kelah had her bryar pistol partially concealed under her cloak, and Dev dropped to the floor, unconscious. Emel immediately applied stuncuffs, and Tenan helped move him to the makeshift brig they had for detaining captured Imperials.

Wordlessly, Kelah and Val walked out, wanting to be left alone after this debacle.

Staring out west towards Bestine, Val did nothing, simply holding her rifle in her hands like one would a pillow. Leaving Nax behind was not an idea she was fond of, for a myriad of reasons. Their reunion had been far from friendly, but that didn't mean she didn't care for squadmates, past relations be damned.

Her mind wandered back to the TIE. Dev would never forgive her for shooting the pilot out. She was the direct cause for why Jax was buried in a random desert flat, somewhere out where she was looking. Not even buried whole, just a tangle of limbs and organs.

Shuddering and shaking her mind off of Jax's fate, she pawed at the gem around her neck, grabbed it with two fingers, and then held it up to look at it.

Suddenly, Kelah appeared behind her. "Hey, Val." she said, trying to sound more upbeat than she was earlier in the day. "Thought you'd be up here, felt like keeping you company. If you don't mind, I mean." she offered.

Val didn't turn to look at her. "Sure." she accepted, continuing to stare at the gem.

Taking a seat next to Val, Kelah looked over to her, making note of her dour expression. Everyone's spirits had fallen pretty hard when news finally came out that Jax was dead, Dev obviously showing the worst out of anyone.

"…That's a pretty gem." Kelah commented, finally having gotten a good look at Val's seemingly most prized possession, aside from her rifle, naturally.

"…Huh?" Val absentmindedly replied, sluggishly turning her head to Kelah.

"I said that's a pretty gem." Kelah repeated.

Glancing between the gem and Kelah, Val lazily turned her attention fully back to the gem. "Thanks." she said, devoid of any real emotion.

Kelah pulled her right knee up onto the ground from over the edge. "Where'd you get it?" she continued to press.

The faintest hint of a smile flashed across Val's face for what must have been the first time today. "Nax gave it to me." she responded, and as quickly as the smile came, it went away.

Believing she had broken through Val's fresh shell, she dug further. "What was the occasion?"

Val's smile returned, and for longer this time. "Nax got it as payment from some random moisture farmer. Guy was too poor to pay in credits, so he paid with that as collateral. Nax had it made into a necklace and gave it to me as an anniversary gif…" she explained, having her tone lead at the end. The smile evaporated again, and became a frown.

"…Something wrong?"

Silent tears began to form around Val's eyes, and she wiped them away without a second thought. "…A lot of things are." she said wistfully, absentmindedly palming at the gem.

"…Want to talk about it?" Kelah offered out of kindness.

Val turned to face her, her eyes red and her face crestfallen. "…I'd rather not."

Gaffi entered his office, having been called in on short notice for a seemingly unknown reason by Wilhem, who was working diligently at his desk. "Wilhem, would you care to explain why you called me here this early in the morning?"

Wilhem's head snapped, eyes meeting with Gaffi's. "We have a traitor in our ranks." he said curtly, immediately grabbing Gaffi's full attention.

"How did you find this out?" he asked, and Wilhem slid Gaffi a datapad containing a report, which he immediately started scanning. "…Two datapads stolen?" Gaffi questioned.

"Not just any datapads, sir – our prisoner manifests and transport routes."

Setting the report aside and pulling out his own personal datapad, Gaffi immediately connected it to the Garrison's network, before he flicked to the server's copy of those files. "A strange target." he remarked, looking down the list. Most of the prisoners scheduled for transport were supposed to be shipped out weeks from now, and those dates had been set in stone for months.

A thought flashed into Gaffi's mind, and he rapidly scrolled to the bottom of the list.

Vark Rurmiid, scheduled for transport to Bestine tomorrow.

"…Ah. That would explain it." Gaffi dryly remarked.

"Explain what, sir?"

"Vark's friends are intending to rescue him."

"…What makes you think that?"

Gaffi tapped the datapad twice. "Think about it; all the other transport dates have been set for months, yet as soon as we schedule Vark, the manifests and transport routes are stolen. If they had been intending to break someone else out, the manifests would have been stolen weeks ago, not as soon as we scheduled Vark."

Wilhem looked at several other datapads. "What if they don't intend on freeing Vark, and are instead after someone else?"

"Then we have nothing to fear, yet the timing of the theft strongly points towards Vark being their target." Gaffi stated, before switching to a screen of the transport routes. Vark's transport was going due-west, and was to head through a large series of canyons, starting an hour from their departure. A perfect place for an ambush. Maybe even where their cell was hiding.

"What should we do, sir? Alert the transport team of the potential for an insurgent attack?" Wilhem asked.

"No, the transport teams are not above suspicion. Telling them what we know could alert the insurgents and blow the lid on the operation. Instead, tell Vark's transport team that there's been an increase in Tusken sightings in the area, and to be cautious."

Wilhem nodded. "And what of Vark himself?"

"Have a tracking device implanted. If the transport comes under attack by the insurgents and they take Vark, we'll be led right to their base, and we'll take them out in one swift strike. Prepare assault teams."

Nodding once, Wilhem turned back to his desk. "And what of the traitor?" he asked.

"Open an investigation. I'd rather not let word of this get to Imperial Intelligence. Or the Security Bureau, Emperor forbid."

"Yes, sir." Wilhem said, before suddenly snapping back to Gaffi. "One more thing, sir…"

Gaffi looked at his subordinate, silently telling him to continue.

"Thel and Lexi have gone missing. Their stall is totally empty, and I've already ordered a search of Thel's home. Completely empty."

Gaffi brushed his hair back. "Put out a BOL for the two of them. The Empire protects those in its care, Wilhem. Letting harm come to them looks bad on not only us, but the Empire as a whole."

"Yessir."

Walking into the command center, Emel quickly noted Bataan talking to Blii, gesturing to a pair of datapads laid out on the table. "You called, sir?" Emel said, interrupting whatever conversation the two of them were having.

Bataan and Blii glanced over at him, with the former motioning him over to the table. "Something important's come up, Emel." Bataan said, pointing at a datapad laid on top of another. "One of our spies in Mos Eisley found something of great value to us."

Looking over at the datapad, Emel briefly scanned its contents. It was a manifest, with a list of names. Next to each one was something denoting their status, usually DETAINED, but a few were marked as OFFWORLD or EN-ROUTE. Some of those marked DETAINED had scheduled dates for transfer, all scheduled for several weeks from now.

Bataan brushed Emel's hand away, and pointed at a specific name, tapping it twice. Focusing on it, he mentally read out Vark Rurmiid, scheduled for transport tomorrow.

"This is on very short notice, but the Empire is transporting Vark tomorrow." Bataan said, tapping his name again for emphasis. "I don't need to tell you how important of an asset he is, Emel." he continued, before glancing at Blii. "…And how much of a morale boost we need." he finished, and Blii nodded in response.

Bataan then shifted the other datapad on top, and pointed to a red line that went from Mos Eisley, through the series of canyons their base was in, and out towards Bestine. "This is his transport. They're going to be coming right through our territory, practically handing him over to us." he explained, before pointing at a part of the route that was, at best, twenty minutes away from the base – uncomfortably close. "I want your squad here. Set up an ambush, get that transport stopped, bring Vark back. There should be ion mines in the armory to set up on the path."

Emel saluted. "Yes, sir." he responded.

Bataan gestured to Blii. "I'm also assigning Blii to Dewback, both to bring it up to strength, and because this is personal for her."

Blii saluted, and Emel looked back to Bataan. "Anything else?" he asked.

"No, dismissed."

As he worked on the transport, Nax wiped some sweat from his brow. He'd been out in the suns for a good few hours now, and the heat was beginning to get to him. Judging by the damage to the transport, he'd wager most of the electronics had been fried. He figured he could jury-rig the parts from the transport in the compound to this one, but that would be difficult without the proper tools, if not outright impossible.

The fact that he didn't have any idea of how the transports worked didn't help matters much.

Suddenly noticing that his throat was dry, Nax set whatever tools he had back into the toolbox and headed around the side of the transport, stepping in for cool air and water.

Kyra was peacefully sleeping on the table she had been laying on for the past two days, using a makeshift pillow to rest her head on. Her splint was much more structurally sound now – Nax had taken the straightest and stongest pieces of rebar and metal piping he could find, and tied them down with several belts.

Snatching his jug of water from a seat next to the door, Nax chugged. Water wasn't an issue – he cannibalized pieces from the vaporators surrounding the compound, and had a functioning vaporator just a few hours after the attack. His main concern was food. By his estimate, they had about a week's worth, mostly Imperial ration packs, and that was with conserving them.

Finished drinking, Nax set the jug down, and was about to head back outside, when he heard a distant rumbling, and the interior of the transport began to rattle. It was enough to wake Kyra up. "..Nngh.. what's that sound…?" she asked, sounding a bit annoyed that her rest had been interrupted.

Nax remained silent, and listened close. The rumbling was getting closer, more intense, almost to the point where he was afraid that it might shake Kyra's splint loose. Cracking the door open, Nax finally saw what it was.

"It's a sandcrawler." Nax said, before half-turning to Kyra. "I'm going to see if they have anything to help you."

Kyra nodded, and stared up at the ceiling, feeling that she wasn't going to get any rest soon.

Nax got over the sand dune that separated the sandcrawler from the compound right as it stopped. The front loading hatch of the behemoth machine slowly went down not long after, and multiple groups of Jawas poured out, curiously looking at Nax as he approached.

Mentally running over how to speak the Jawa trade language, one of the small sentients approached him, cautiously pointing its shock blaster at Nax. Clearing his throat, he looked down at the creature. "[Hello? What are your people doing here?]" he asked, hoping that came out right.

The Jawa's glowing eyes looked back up at him. "[Hello. Our tribe was supposed to trade with the residents of this outpost, but they appear to have been destroyed. Our chieftain has ordered a scavenging operation. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?]" he questioned.

Nax glanced back at the ruined compound. "[Empire bombed it. My friend and I are stranded here.]"

The Jawa leaned to the side to look past Nax. "[Very unfortunate. Where is your friend?]" he asked.

"[Inside one of the Imperial transports, the one you probably saw me coming out of. She's got a broken leg – I've already made her a splint, but I was hoping you had a bacta tank we could use.]"

The Jawa nodded. "[Yes, we do, but that would need to be cleared with our tribe chief first. Access is strictly forbidden to outsiders unless otherwise specified.]"

"[Can I have that arranged?]" Nax asked, and the Jawa signaled to another, who sprinted back into the sandcrawler.

"[Protocol dictates that you be brought in for questioning, so you can attempt to convince him to let your friend use the tank while you're there.]" the Jawa explained, before glancing over his shoulder at the returning Jawa, who was now pushing along a repulsorsled to carry Kyra on. "[Take us to your friend.]"

Nax walked up the ramp and into the sandcrawler, pushing the repulsorsled with Kyra on it, and the two Jawas were with them – the one that had gotten the sled was behind them, while the one he had been talking to was in front, who was apparently called Nbenk, one of the lower ranked Jawas. The group passed through the main loading bay of the crawler, getting odd looks from several of the Jawas working there. Looking over to his left, there was a large pile of droid parts. Mostly astromechs, but there were definitely a few humanoid ones in the pile, including at least one oddly skeletal droid.

Moving past a small set of speeder bikes – BARCs, if Nax remembered correctly. One of them had a sidecar, too. Nbenk led them to an elevator. "[Head on up, the chief is waiting for you.]" he said, pointing at it.

Looking down at Kyra, Nax debated asking if she could be brought up with him. Kyra, apparently having noticed his concern, briefly smiled at him. "Go on ahead, Nax. I'll be fine." she said reassuringly.

That settled things.

Handing the repulsorsled off to the other Jawa, Nax walked into the lift. To the right of the door was a panel with five buttons. The bottom one was glowing green, while the other four were slowly blinking red. Pressing the top one, the doors slammed shut, and the lift slowly started to move upwards.

There was a side window - well, more of a grate, really, that separated Nax from the elevator shaft. As the lift slowly went up, level by level, he got a glimpse into what kind of Jawa tribe this was. The ones he'd mostly dealt with with Trax and his dad had been Nebit's tribe, droid traders.

This tribe seemed to be more focused around selling vehicles than droids; a strange choice, since moisture farmers needed droids more often than vehicles. Then again, these Jawas could be catering more to traders than anyone else.

As he passed by the smelting level, Nax was blasted by the heat, and reflexively covered his face. Through the cracks between his fingers, Nax could see two Jawas tearing apart a V-35P Courier's turbine block, chucking it into the melting pool below. The sight was short lived, however, as the lift came to an abrupt halt at the command center, and Nax stepped out. The area was totally barren save for a few chairs modified for Jawa use up at the command console towards the front. The only other living being in the room was a Jawa, strapped down with bandoleers and a backpack, examining a datapad.

Nax cleared his throat and broke the silence. "[Hello?]" he asked, waiting for a response.

Without taking his eyes from the datapad, the Jawa waved him over. "[Are you the survivor I've just now been made aware of?]" he asked, rather rudely.

"[Ye-]" Nax started, before being cut off by the chief, who was now sniffing the air.

"[Wait.]" the chief suddenly said, continuing to sniff the air, before looking over at Nax, his eyes a dark gold, a sign of old age in Jawas. He sorted the datapad and sniffed closer to Nax. "[…You wouldn't happen to know a Cobro Strag, would you?]" he asked, a strange question for a Jawa chief.

"[He's my father.]" Nax replied, trying to remain as polite as possible.

The chief's previously rude demeanor instantly disappeared, and in the blink of an eye, the chief was furiously shaking Nax's hand. "[I knew it!]" he cheerfully said. "[You're Nax! Your father's done a lot of good for my tribe. I'm Thuptut, but you can just call me Krac Nozes, like your dad used to.]"

Nax raised an eyebrow out of curiosity. "[Crack Noses?]"

Krac waved his hands away in a friendly manner, and gave Nax what he assumed was a smile. "[It's a long story, and it involves more than a few upset Weequay. Anyways, how is your father doing? Does he know that you're out this far?]"

Nax frowned. "[He's dead, same with my brother. Dead in a bandit attack.]"

Krac appeared sad behind the shadow of his hood, or at least as sad as a Jawa could get without taking their hoods off. "[I… see.]" he replied, looking down at his feet, before looking up at Nax. "[You have my condolences. All of ours.]"

"[Appreciated.]"

Krac clapped his hands together. "[Now, to business. Why are you out here? Your homestead is hours away, if my memory serves.]"

Debating on how to answer the question, Nax figured out how to go forward. "[I joined up with a mercenary group. We got contracted out to protect this compound of moisture farmers.]" Nax explained.

Krac cocked his head to the side. "[A mercenary group? For what purpose?]"

"[Trying to get money together to buy a starship and leave this suns-forsaken planet. Plus, my friend Kyra down there is working with me on that, since she's hired me to get her off world.]" Nax said, and Krac nodded in understanding. "[Anyways, the Empire dropped by and started attacking, we beat them back. A day later, Alkharans come after the compound and get wiped out, we trail them, and come back to find the compound destroyed by the Empire. My buddies left me and Kyra behind, and she got a broken leg.]"

Krac slowly nodded. "[I see. I suppose you'll want to use our bacta tank, then.]"

"[That was one of the reasons I came up here in the first place, yes. I'll also need some form of transport to get back to our base. Those were BARC speeders I saw at the entrance ramp, right?]"

Krac nodded again. "[Yes, we've had them for years. Take 'em if you want em – too much of a pain to sell, and I'd rather have the space for something better.]"

Nax blinked twice. Jawas were notoriously stingy, and being basically handed two speeders for nothing was the last thing he expected today. "[Just like that?]"

Krac gave Nax something resembling a thumbs up. "[Just like that. Consider it repaying an old debt for your father.]"

Nax smiled at Krac. "[Thank you.]" he graciously said, appreciative of Krac's unusual kindness.

Emel was perched up at near top of the ridge with Tenan, their Flash parked nearby, hidden from view. Kelah was camped out behind a small rock formation with Blii further down, while Val was set up directly across from them in a sniping position. Hidden on the path that the transport was travelling were two ion mines, covered with rocks and debris. Either the transport would stop to check for the mines, or they'd trigger them. Either way, Vark would be freed today.

Assuming things went to plan, that was.

Re-ranging the scope on his EE-3, Emel switched it to single fire. Burst was a waste of ammo at this range.

Tenan switched out his usual Z-6 for a DLT-19D, as the Z-6 he preferred to use would've been too inaccurate and too cumbersome for this.

Pressing down on the side of his helmet, Emel spoke, albeit hesitantly. "Comm check." he said, receiving several responses confirming that everyone's comms worked. Pushing his body up and leaning to the side to look further up the trail, Emel pressed down on the commlink again. "Alright, the transport should be coming soon. Let's go over the plan one more time just to be safe. Either the transport stops to check the mines, or they go over them and trigger them. In either scenario, Val needs to shoot the driver out." Emel explained.

"Copy. My rifle'll punch right through that vision port, no problem." Val responded over the comms.

"Once the driver's out, Tenan and I will shoot down any bucketheads stuck in the open. Once they're down, Blii and Kel need to rush in, shoot whoever's left, grab Vark, and bring him to us, then we all go home."

"Sounds good." Blii responded.

"Good. Keep your comms quiet until we've got Vark." Emel ordered, shutting his commlink off.

Now, all they had to do was wait.

"Oh-Two, what's that in the road?" TK-3867 asked his companion. "That doesn't look right." he appended, leaning forward to try and get a better look.

"No clue, Six-Sev." TK-8702 responded as he pulled the transport to a halt. "Check it out; I've got a bad feeling about this." he ordered, warily tapping at the wheel.

"Yessir." Six-Sev curtly responded, before going back into the transport to get his men. A short while later, and Oh-Three, Three-One, Seven-Four, and Six-Sev were in front of the transport, checking out the debris.

The squad commlink clicked, and all Oh-Two heard was "It's a-" before there was a thunderous crack, and a slug penetrated the blasterproof window and hit him in the head, killing him instantly. His dead body simply watched as the four squadmates were unceremoniously cut down by blaster fire.

There was a blaster pistol shot at the door to the transport that blasted it open, and then the sounds of two pairs of footsteps on metal. "Clear!" two feminine voices said in unison.

"I've got Vark! Let's go!" the rougher and scratchier of the two said, before they grabbed their prisoner and fled the scene.

Gaffi observed the dot on his datapad representing Vark move through the canyons, completely opposite the direction he was supposed to go, and much faster at that, clearly not in the transport anymore.

Gaining a smug sense of satisfaction from the predictability of these insurgents, Gaffi watched as the dot came to a stop in a box canyon, and slowly started moving around at walking pace.

So that was their base.

Gaffi wordlessly transmitted the coordinates to the assault teams, as well as an order to attack.

It was time to end this little game.

Dewback brought Vark into the mess hall, still bound and gagged. Kelah effortlessly undid his stuncuffs, and Vark immediately tore off his gag. "You idiots!" he shouted, catching everyone by surprise.

Bataan walked into the mess hall right as Vark shouted. "Nice way to treat your rescuers, Vark." he snidely remarked, and Vark's head shot to him.

"Keldo, you've just kriffed us all!"

"How?"

Vark cleared his throat. "Empire drugged me and had me operated on. There's a pulsing in my left side, tracking device."

All of Dewback looked at Keldo, stupefied that he didn't consider this as a possibility. An eerie quiet fell over everyone. They'd been fighting the Empire for years, making sure to cover their tracks, yet nobody thought a rescue op would be the one thing to end them.

"Can we evacuate?" Emel asked, poking his head outside.

Keldo shook his head no. "Too much to move. We need to destroy what we can, deny them our assets. I'll send out a signal to the other teams telling them not to return."

"And then?"

Keldo was halfway in the doorway, and he half-turned. "We fight."

Just under an hour later, all of their intel had been destroyed, and defenses had been set up. Everyone had weapons, including technical personnel. Val was perched in a window at the back of the camp that had overwatch on the whole camp, as well as the area in front of the wall. Everyone who was in the camp at the time was set up in a defensive position at the wall. All of the speeders, including Nax's, had been destroyed. Even the AT-RT.

There would be no running this time. Everyone could fight against the idea as much as they wanted, but that didn't change the reality of the situation. They were all probably going to die; they knew that from the start. They just didn't imagine it being this way.

She stared out at the canyon, hoping Nax was okay. She briefly held her necklace out, letting the light of the suns shine against her gem.

A short while later, and the first signs of the Empire appeared.

Three Saber tanks, with Stormtroopers huddling behind them for cover. The tanks were moving at walking speed so that the infantry wouldn't be left without cover. "Sabers! Light 'em up!" Emel ordered over the comms, and as soon as the words left his mouth, the firefight began.

A lightshow of blaster fire connected with the tanks, causing their shields to flare up in response. Val raised her rifle and looked down the scope, aiming into the driver side slit. Staring directly at his head through the scope, she lined the shot up, held her breath, and pulled the trigger. The rifle kicked into her arm, and the slug perforated the deflector shield, killing the driver and causing the tank to stop.

Her elation was short lived, however, as several seconds later, the tank started moving again. Looks like the co-pilot could commandeer the tank, then. Val was about to line up another shot, but Tenan beat her to it, launching a Plex missile into the front of the tank, blowing it up and sending a few Stormtroopers out of cover, who were immediately shot, while the rest either hid behind the wreck or joined up with the others.

Seemingly as a response to the Plex shot, the armor column stopped, and their side mounted blasters raised up, opening fire at the wall. A few friendlies got hit by stray shots, but none from Dewback went down. Val was about to line up another shot on another Saber tank driver, but something caught her attention. A glint of light, towards the back of the canyon. Aiming at the source, her scope showed exactly what it was.

A camouflaged Scout trooper, aiming right at her.

Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger, and the Scout trooper did the same.

Val was blasted in the chest and sent off her feet, not knowing whether her shot hit its mark or not.

Unaware of the existence of a sniper, Tenan reloaded the Plex, and prepared to fire at the second Saber tank. The Imperials were incredibly close now, practically breathing down their necks. By the second, it was becoming ever clearer that they weren't going to make it out of this. Standing up, Tenan yelled "Clear backblas-!" over the blaster fire, before suddenly being cut down by a green blaster bolt.

"TENAN!" Kelah screeched, before standing up and rapidly firing her Bryar pistol into the Stormtroopers, frenzied, and getting shot several times in the chest by the return fire, causing her to fall down to the ground.

Emel poked his head out from cover, and saw the column had stopped. A large tube extended from the side of the flaps where the repulsorlifts were, and aimed up. He realized far too late what was going on, and the wall was blasted apart by a volley of rocket fire from the surviving tanks, killing multiple people. Stormtroopers rushed in and executed everyone who moved, and then they began to destroy the compound.

Nax and Kyra were cruising at a comfortable speed through the canyon where the insurgent base was on their new BARC speeders. Kyra had been set in the bacta tank all night, and Nax was given a new shirt. Both of them were in high spirits, all things considered. Handling the BARC was unlike anything Nax had ever driven before – the sense of speed and controllability was insane compared to his landspeeder, even with the sidecar installed.

Nax signaled for them to turn the corner into the base, and they turned into the box canyon. Instead of the lively, functional base that had been there a few days earlier, they were greeted with a totally wrecked one. The wall had been blown apart – pieces of it were scattered around. Multiple buildings were blown into pieces, namely the mess hall and command center. There was a destroyed tank near the gate, and multiple bodies, insurgent and Stormtrooper alike, were strewn everywhere. Kyra and Nax pulled up to the gate and got off the BARCs, heading into the base.

The place was totally deserted. Not a single soul was here. The pair poked through the rubble of the wall, and under several pieces they found Emel, his armor and helmet cracked with a large blaster burn in its side. Dev and Keldo weren't too far from Emel.

Blii wasn't under anything, but she suffered from several shots to the chest and head, bearing the wounds to show it. "…Sheesh. Phaz won't like this." Nax remarked, feeling sorry for the poor guy. Hard to imagine thinking your wife was kidnapped because her brother was a terrorist, only to find out she became an insurgent and was killed.

Tenan wasn't particularly hard to find – he stuck out like a sore thumb. He didn't have many of the blast marks the others had, only a single, smaller mark on his face, the wound already cauterized.

Yet, try as they might, they couldn't find Kelah anywhere. Uncovering every last body, they were instead met with… Vark?

He was obviously dead, but it was strange to see him here. Did they mount a rescue op to get him back? Was this even the group that Vark was affiliated with? Whatever the case, they moved past the bodies, the two of them poked their head into the garage. In the mass of destroyed vehicles, Nax could faintly see the tail end of his speeder poking out.

At least they had BARCs, now.

Proceeding further back into the base, Nax didn't bother to check any of the destroyed buildings. Instead, he opted to head to the second level of the base, into one of the built-in homes in the walls, one that had blaster marks near the windows. Nax cautiously drew his scattergun, while Kyra drew her CR-2, and they crept inside. Towards the opposite end of the room, there was a faint cyan glow close to the floor.

As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, Val finally became visible. Dropping all pretenses of caution, Nax dashed over to her side. She had a large blaster mark on her chest, and both hands over it, damp with blood and rifle at her side.

Slowly, Val's eyes opened, and her gaze landed on Nax. "…You're okay…" she weakly said with a smile, before hacking up some blood. Nax moved to help her, but she stopped him. "…Don't. I'm not long for this galaxy, Nax…"

"Don't say that." Nax replied with an uncharacteristic amount of concern for someone who he had been hating on just days prior.

Val slowly shook her head. "…Nax, I can't even see color anymore. The Empire blew up our bacta tank and droids. I'm done for." she said sadly, seeming accepting of her fate.

Kyra looked down at Val sympathetically. The wound looked pretty bad, and she'd probably bleed out before they could get her any treatment. "Is there anything we can do for you?" Kyra offered.

Val turned to Kyra and smiled, shaking her head again. "…No. Although…" she said, before leaning forward and taking her necklace off, holding it out. "I want you to have this, Kyra." she offered, dangling the gem for her to take.

Reaching out to take the necklace, Kyra stopped herself. "…Why?" she asked.

Val held the necklace further out. "Because it meant a lot to me, and I know it meant a lot to Nax, too… whether he wants to admit it or not." she said, and Kyra held out her hand. Val gently set the necklace into Kyra's hand, and clamped down on it. "Thank you. Take care of it, please…" she said, before letting go.

The three of them remained silent, with Val's labored breathing slowly growing more intense. She turned to Nax, eyes slowly growing more dead. "…Nax… before I go, I have something to tell you." she said, sounding more pained now. Nax gave her a look that meant nothing to Kyra, but for Val, meant for her to continue. "…I'm sorry. For everything. I know you don't trust me, and you have every reason not to, but… I hope you can find it in you to forgive me for cheating." she said, hopeful Nax would answer her.

Nax swallowed and closed his eyes, before opening them, making eye contact with Val. "…I do." he replied, suddenly feeling significantly better after having said that.

Val stroked Nax's cheek. "…Thank you." was the last thing she said, before slumping over, dead.

Nax said nothing, opting instead to cradle Val's body.

After a while, Nax went to bury Val out of respect.

The ride home was extremely uneventful. No Tusken raiding parties. No wandering Imperial patrols to question what they were doing so close to an operation. Just Kyra and Nax silently driving home on their BARCs. It was getting pretty late – the suns were setting now, and they'd just felt exhausted. The two of them made the decision to head into Mos Eisley tomorrow to tell Phaz the bad news and get paid.

Maybe they'd take on another job from someone paying money. Hell, maybe relocate to Mos Espa and do jobs there. It'd make the final stretch of getting the fighter go by a lot faster.

That would need to be reserved for tomorrow.

Pulling up to the front door of the homestead, the door automatically opened for Nax, and the two of them headed inside, parking the BARCs where the speeder used to go.

The door shut behind them, and then the lights kicked on, revealing that they were surrounded by multiple people, alien and human alike. Before they could say anything, the two of them were stunned and cuffed.

"I 'ant believe it was 'at easy." Kaz remarked, staring at the Nax and Kyra. She suddenly snapped to Dav. "Call yer ship. Set her down in Mos Eisley, we're leaving." she ordered.

Dav pulled out his beckon-call and activated it, heading out to ready their speeders.

Jace observed the Cranky Bantha as the YT-2400 detached from it. He turned to his comm officer and spoke. "Open a line to the Mos Eisley garrison." he ordered, and the pair of them headed further back to the communications console.

A hologram of Gaffi appeared in the center of the console. "Yes, what is it?" Gaffi questioned, sounding tired.

"The YT-2400 attached to the Cranky Bantha has just disconnected itself, and it's heading for Mos Eisley."

Gaffi's eyes widened. "Do you have anything else to report?"

"Nobody was on-board, sir."

Gaffi nodded. "Thank you. I'll contact you with any developments on our end." he said, and the hologram disappeared.

The small convoy of speeders rushed through the abandoned streets of Mos Eisley at a brisk pace – fast enough that chasing them would be hard, but the engines were quiet enough so as to not arouse suspicion of what a convoy was doing running around Mos Eisley at night.

The convoy came around a corner near Kerner Plaza – from here it was a straight shot to where Dav's ship was waiting.

Or it would have been, if they weren't flagged down by a stormtrooper patrol. Choosing to try and feed them bantha dung, Kaz pulled the convoy over and rolled the window down as the Stormtroopers approached. "Evening, ma'am. Do you know why we pulled you over?"

Kaz half-shrugged with her hand. "Speeding?" she asked, knowing full well what the answer was already.

The trooper nodded. "Yes, how fast were you going, and why?"

"I 'unno, 'undred kilos, 'undred twenty? 'e're a mercenary group, just completed our contract and were heading home to party." Kaz lied through her teeth, and the stormtrooper seemed to buy it.

"Ah, I see. I can relate." he replied, before leaning further down and looking into the speeder. "What's under that tarp?" he asked, pointing to a black, vaguely humanoid tarp in the back of the speeder.

"'s our pay."

The trooper nodded again. "I see, I see. Where's your ship landed?"

Now Kaz was beginning to get suspicious. "Docking bay twenty-two." she answered truthfully. If she gave a random docking bay and it was empty, odds are that she'd get called out on it.

"You don't mind if I call that in, right?" the trooper asked, and Kaz gave him a shrug of approval. The trooper pressed down on his commlink. "Control, confirm that docking bay twenty-two is occupied." he said. There was a brief wait, and then the trooper gestured for them to move along. "Have a good night!" he called out as they drove away.

As soon as they were out of hearing range, the trooper pressed down on the commlink again. "Gaffi, I think I found Thel. Stopped a convoy of Couriers, front speeder had a tarp in the back seat, looked like… four bodies in there? They're headed to docking bay twenty-two right now."

"Already aware of the situation, Jigsaw. You're dismissed for the night." Gaffi said through the comm.

"C'mon, 'eople! Let's move it! Get these 'uckers loaded up!" Kaz shouted at her underlings as they loaded the slaves and their bodyguards onto Dav's ship. Trec was carrying the Zeltron over his shoulder, and as he headed up the ramp, tried to make a pass at Kaz, who just socked him in the face. After that was the white haired girl that Lostur had been obsessing over, her bodyguard, and the gunsmith, with the last two things to be loaded up being the two droids. The traitor unit would be melted down, maybe memory wiped and sold off, but the one with the pan head was up to Lostur. As the droids finished loading, all Kaz could think about was finally getting paid for this frustrating, annoying job. The girl'd better be worth the credits.

As she was about to turn up to the loading ramp, a mass of stormtroopers burst through the docking bay doors. "Hands up! You're under arrest!" one of them shouted.

Kaz, without as much as flinching, drew her blaster pistol, and shot three of the troopers in the helmet. They immediately returned fire, causing her to scramble up the loading bay and hit the button to shut it. One of the Duros was too slow in getting up the ramp, and was shot dead, leaving his friend at the mercy of the Imperials. As soon as the ramp was shut, Kaz ran to the front cockpit. "Dav! 'et us the 'ell outta 'ere!" she shouted, and Dav, on command, flicked a few switches, and the freighter took off, tilting upwards, and flew out of the docking bay, leaving the stormtroopers behind.

Time to get paid.

Gaffi held his head in his hands as the report came in from the capture teams. Only one of the pirates was captured, and from the brief interrogation they had, he was a low level mook, not even anyone important. Frustrated, he called up the Sandtrap, and Jace's hologram came up on the center table.

"Jace, my teams failed to bring the people boarding their freighter down. They got away."

Jace frowned and nodded. "I understand, Gaffi. I'll take it from here."

Gaffi frowned, too. "Let's hope that you do. Remember our plans., Jace. Imperial citizens everywhere are counting on you for this."

"Yes, sir. Sandtrap out."

With that, Jace's hologram disappeared into nothingness, and Gaffi sat back, staring up at the ceiling.

"May the Force be with you, Nax." he muttered under his breath.

That's this chapter, holy fuck. I started writing at like 11 AM and didn't finish until nearly 8 PM, I had about 3.4k words done at the start, and now I'm sitting at nearly 8k. Guess that's what happens when I set a strict goal for myself to release on time.

In case anyone is mad about Dev's reaction to Val's friendly fire, how the hell would you react if you found out a teammate you trusted killed your brother?

'Till next time when we finally get to have Nax and Lostur meet!

-Tweak