The Rise of Pulsar Company

by PygmalionKK

The son of a Mandalorian, two escaped slave girls, and an astromech from the Clone Wars work together to escape Tatooine. As they transition from greenhorns into famous mercenaries, they get into considerably larger amounts of trouble - from murderous pirate lords and serial killers to bioterrorists and ancient horrors of a long dead race, all in the pursuit of more credits.

23. Rakatan Lullaby

I watched the season premiere of Mandalorian season 2. Bout fucking time they did something with Boba Fett.

Anyways, you wanna hear something annoying? Microsoft Office kicked me to the curb because a subscription I had been unknowingly using, probably from school, ran out, so I'm forced to use LibreOffice which is serviceable enough.

Except for one tiny detail – the second time I opened this document, the punctuation and dialogue marks disappeared.

FUCK.

Regardless, I apologize for this chapter being so late. I was extremely lazy during October and most of November and have been busy with other things in my life that took time away from writing, namely the Shadowlands prepatch.

Read and review.

---

About a day after Kyra had been pulled from her coma, Deadshot had brought Nax, Lexi, Kyra, and Arfive aside to sit down and discuss things. At the moment, they were all sitting on the roof of a temporary hab unit meant for assembling forward posts. There were a lot of structures like that centered around the Dropstorm, mostly civilian equivalents, but there were military ones as well, with small houses and such interspersed among them. "So," Nax said, breaking the silence. "You were Arfives pilot?"

"Damn right I was." Deadshot responded proudly, appearing lost in thought for a moment. "We ran air support for the boots in the 52nd, and anyone else we got stuck with. Seen a hundred different planets, bombed clankers on all of 'em in Thundercats." he continued, very clearly reminiscing on his time in the war.

"Thundercats?" Lexi echoed, clearly unfamiliar with the terminology.

"Close support craft. I think the official designation was something along the lines of the GSC-1014." Deadshot answered, having to think for a second about such trivial information. "They're the fighters in the Dropstorm's hangar bays – we call them Thundercats because they pack more ordinance than anything else did at the time. Hearing them unload is a thing of beauty." he continued. Arfive projected a clear hologram of a Thundercat. It certainly looked like it was designed for air support, but it didn't exactly look like it was made to perform in a vacuum. Between the almost tank-like appearance, the jet tail, and the swing wings, one would be forgiven for thinking it was an atmospheric fighter. More curiously, however, it lacked any sort of blaster weaponry. Instead, below the cockpit was a gatling cannon of some type, alongside a myriad of explosive ordinance mounted to the fighter, as well as on the part of the wings that didn't move. In fact, the only hint of modernity on the entire craft was the astromech port behind the cockpit.

Nax raised an eyebrow at the sight. "That's a Republic fighter from the Clone Wars?" he questioned, doubting the validity of what Deadshot was saying. "Sure as hell doesn't look like any that I've seen. You don't have any Torrents or ARCs?"

Deadshot shook his head no. "Not anymore we don't." he replied, resting one arm on the table and looking out over toward the Dropstorm. "Most of them were shot down years ago, and their pilots followed not long after. That aside, you don't see these with other Legions because the 52nd were the only ones to get them. Thundercats were better suited to our needs than ARCs or Y-Wings – we had a lot of gear like that, now that I think about it."

Now it was Lexi's turn to be surprised. "An entire legion of clones using equipment that the others didn't?" she questioned, scratching the side of her face. "That sounds beyond inefficient for something designed to combat a droid army. How different are we talking?"

Deadshot just laughed in response. "Slugthrowers." he answered, holding back a smile. The three of them snorted at the idea that an entire legion of clones had fought the war with slugthrowers while their brothers were using blaster weaponry. "You think I'm joking, but the ones we had were specially designed for our tactics. Packed one hell of a punch and downed droids just as good as any DC variant." Deadshot boasted.

Lexi rapped her knuckles against the table to get Deadshot's attention again. "Judging by the name and the way your armor looks, I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and assume you guys did orbital drops?"

Deadshot smiled at her. "Perceptive, aren't you?" he replied. "Yes, Helljumper is a literal name. We refitted the ventral hangars on our Venators into drop bays for pods. One of our common tactics was dropping in with a meteor shower and then hitting the clankers when they least expected it. Fun as hell if you didn't sit too close to the meteors."

Kyra was still confused. "So why would your legion be using slugthrowers over blasters?" she questioned, evidently not aware of the reasons one would use slugthrowers.

Lexi instantly thought back to when she first started talking to Thel on Tatooine, after he and Nax had pulled her from the clutches of Lostur's crew. Specifically, the conversation they had about weaponry and her training to become a weaponsmith. "Because slugthrowers can be suppressed and won't give your position away when you fire them like a blaster will." she blurted out.

Deadshot grinned proudly. "Damn straight they won't. Seems like you know what you're talking about." he complimented, before reaching for something in his leg holster. From it, he produced a black, oversized handgun and set it on the table. "This here is a Stubber. Standard sidearm for everyone in the 52nd. Packs a meaner punch than any handblaster its size, and fires as fast as you can pull the trigger. Integrally suppressed, too."

Nax picked the stubber up and was shocked by how heavy it was. "What is this, three, four kilos?" he questioned as he pulled the slide back and performed a brass check. "Loaded, too." Nax went on as he fully pulled it back, ejecting the round in the chamber and catching it. "Holy shit, it's as big as my thumb! What caliber is this?" he remarked, admiring the size of the round.

"Thirteen by forty." Deadshot replied. "More than enough to down a battle droid, and enough room for specialty ammo to kill anything else the Seps threw at us."

Nax locked the slide back, ejected the magazine, and loaded the round into the magazine. He then reloaded it, racked the slide, and handed it back to Deadshot. "Are all of your slugthrowers as oversized as this?"

Deadshot nodded, clearly enjoying the reactions he was getting from the three. "Most of them are, yeah." he replied, returning the weapon to its holster. "We've got anti-materiel rifles that can punch clean through the plating on an AAT and rocket launchers that'd give any of those scorchmarks in the 21st the runs."

Lexi had apparently decided that was enough idle chatter. "Deadshot, I wanted to ask – you were Arfive's last actual owner before we took him for ourselves. How did you two get separated?"

Deadshot went to take a drink, but upon seeing that his glass was empty, he smoothly changed direction to grab the canteen at his hip and take a swig. "The last time I had seen Arfive, we were running ground support on a backwater snow planet in the outer reaches of the Jangala system..."

---

"Good morning, Helljumpers! This is Void Eye, and I'll be your SWACS controller for the duration of this operation." the commlink in the cockpit bellowed with the voice of a young man, probably freshly enlisted and one of the few in the 52nd to not be a clone.

As Deadshot climbed the ladder up into the cockpit, he shot a glance to Arfive, who was being loaded into the astro port behind his seat. "Arfive!" he shouted, catching the droid's attention. "Ready to bust some cans open?" he asked in a rather excited tone. One of Arfive's front panels shot open, and he arced a shock in a vague thumbs up and gave a positive whir. Deadshot just laughed and then turned to one of the soft-shells doing final preparation checks on his craft. "Switchboard! Is she fully loaded?"

The clone jumped at the sudden calling of his name. "Uh, yes sir. Your Thundercat is fueled and armed for a full sortie." he answered. Deadshot nodded and finally climbed inside. "Good luck, sir." Switchboard said with a proud salute, before quickly clearing the area so that Deadshot could get going.

Timing the cockpit seal with putting his helmet on, Deadshot spooled the engines and immediately keyed on his commlink for the flight controller. "Control, this is Hellscream. Is the deck clear?"

He didn't have to wait long for his reply. "Hellscream, this is Control. Deck's clear, you're free to taxi." a clone's voice came through, definitely bored of his job.

"Copy." was Deadshot's only response as he moved the craft out onto the deck. Lining it up with the length of the carrier, there was a thunk from below, and the Thundercat was slowly pulled back into the hangar. "Arfive, slingshot on my mark." he ordered, receiving a chirp. "Mark!" Deadshot barked, and the Thundercat shot forward, being pulled along by the slingshot and up a ramp, shooting out of the Dropstorm in short order. The slingshot detached, and Deadshot was free, flying high above the fleet. "Look at that view, Arfive." he remarked, staring at the snowy world below them. "Isn't 'tundra' on our bucket list of places to bomb Seppies?" Deadshot asked jokingly, and he received a chortling reply from Arfive.

"Hellscream, this is SWACS Void Eye, do you read?" the commlink boomed, breaking their little conversation up.

"Reading you loud and clear, Void Eye. Hellscream is on station and ready to assist." Deadshot answered, looking for signs of conflict on the planet. Even from way up here in orbit, he could see intermittent signs of conflict. Mostly trench lines drawn by the 212th and the 501st, and firestorms caused by scorched earth tactics the Seps were using. "What's the situation on the ground?"

There was a quick pause on Void Eye's end. "Checking my tacmap now, wait one." he requested, before murmuring to himself over the comms. "Torrent Company is requesting danger close air support at airspace B3A to break out of an encirclement, scouts called in a Sep bunker complex in the Andrean mountains, and there's huge furball in sector nine."

Considering his options, Deadshot glanced over at the fleet, with Acclamators from the other legions flying parallel to the 52nd's arsenal ships – Acclamators stripped and converted to serve as heavy support where a Venator couldn't operate. "...Let Rex know he'll be getting support in ten mikes. Send Edgewise a copy of the tacmap, too." Deadshot requested.

"Copy that, sending it over now." Void Eye responded. There was a chirp from Arfive, and the tacmap was displayed on the scopes. "Good hunting, Hellscream."

Deadshot leaned in close to get a good look at just what exactly he was expected to bomb. From what the readout was saying, Torrent Company had been caught in a canyon and then promptly sealed in by Sep demolitions that caused an avalanche. Enemy infantry and armor was quickly moving in on them, and Torrent Company would be slaughtered without assistance. There were at least twenty tanks, half AATs, five GATs, and the rest were mortar tanks, alongside more infantry than he could shake a stick at. "You know, at least Torrent Company is gonna get a nice lightshow." Deadshot quipped, earning a chortle from Arfive.

The time between choosing his assignment and arriving at the operational zone flew by for Deadshot. His HUD was very quickly overtaken by a swarm of red blips and his ears assaulted by lock-on warnings. "Hellscream to Void Eye, providing support for Torrent Company now." he called in through the commlink. His hand switched from the comm to the stick in a lightning fast motion, and he depressed the trigger. The Thundercat shook under the force of its mighty Avenger cannon and the ever-beautiful 'BRRRRRRRT' echoed throughout the battlezone. After two seconds, Deadshot let go of the trigger, and three seconds later, an entire column of clankers went up in flames. Tanks had their turrets blown off in a fiery blaze, and whole squads of droids were torn to shreds. Capitalizing on his massacre, Deadshot quickly switched over to his payload and released a bomb. "Bomblets away." he called in over the commlink, quickly pulling away from the ground.

Having tilted his fighter to the side, Deadshot looked down at the devastation he had wrought, and smiled in wicked glee as the bomblets demolished what remained of the Seps that had the misfortune of being in his approach path. However, the droids had caught up with what was going on, and had begun firing inaccurate bolts at his craft. Arfive screamed in alarm, with incomprehensible text appearing on the terminals. "I can see that, Arfive!" Deadshot responded, kicking the thrusters on to full and pulling out of their effective range. The bolts quickly stopped coming after that, and after analyzing the other half of the Seppies, Deadshot determined that another gun run was in order. Repeating the same maneuver bore little consequences for him – there weren't any tactical droids in the operational zone, but the infantry's lack of intuition on what he was doing cost them the remainder of their forces. "Void Eye, this is Hellscream. Most of the Seps have been wiped out and Torrent Company is clear for extract."

"Copy that Hellscream. The Apocrypha is moving in to provide support." Void Eye's voice crackled through the commlink. Under a rapidly increasing snowfall, Deadshot could barely make out one of the 52nd's Acclamator refits descending into the atmosphere. There were barely visible fragments falling from the ship that quickly started to trail fire. The fragments then crashed on both sides of the canyon, throwing a chunk of them off to reveal a Helljumper within each pod, and they started to clean up. "Hellscream, someone from Torrent Company wants to speak with you personally. Patching you in now."

Deadshot waited a second as the comms were connected. "Hellscream!" a clone's voice came through. Judging by the way he spoke, Deadshot determined that this was none other than Captain Rex. "Thanks for the assist – we'd have been dusted without you! Blasted clankers caused an avalanche and boxed us in."

Deadshot pressed down on his comm. "Any time, Captain." he responded, continuing his aerial overwatch in the area. "Try not to get boxed in next time."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Rex's voice crackled over the connection. "Say, you think you could spare us a few of those Thundercats?"

Chuckling, Deadshot looked down into the canyon as LAATs touched down to pick up the survivors in Torrent Company. "Ask the War Bureau if they'll spare the hundred million credits or so to get the 501st their own."

Rex snickered on his end of the line. "Looks like we'll have to make do without, then." he joked, before turning away and ordering some of his men to grab the fallen and load them onto a medevac transport.

Void Eye cut the comms to give Deadshot his new orders. "Hellscream, this is Void Eye. Command wants you to pop that complex in the Andrean mountains." he said, turning away from the comm and mumbling something to someone else. "The Seps are moving something big out, and the air defense is too heavy for one of the arsenal ships to deal with it."

"I'm being sent alone into a death trap to bomb something?" Deadshot questioned, doubting the sanity of both Void Eye and his commanders. "Is this some sort of twisted joke?" he continued. Arfive chimed in with a series of negative twitters over the comms.

Void Eye remained silent, and then his voice cracked through. "Folken and Enigma are being rerouted from the furball in sector nine to assist you."

That, at least, put Deadshot at ease. The complex may be heavily defended, but having those two wreaking havoc would be more than beneficial. Target locks had a way of slipping when it was one of those two being shot at, and with how brazen their flying style was, that tended to happen quite a bit. "Copy that. ETA is twenty mikes." he replied, before closing his commlink and changing course. "Arfive, try not to jam the comms flirting with their droids, would you?" he teased, earning him a long chain of scathing gurgles.

Time once again shot by, and Deadshot found himself approaching the mountain range after Arfive chirped something, breaking him from his trance. The complex seemed to be cradled in the center of the mountains, and it seemed to be that Folken and Enigma had already started their attack – pillars of smoke and fire were rising from the mountains as bursts of anti-air bolts shot into the sky, accompanied by the sounds of two Thundercats emptying their payloads.

Cresting the mountain, Deadshot found the entire complex effectively in ruins. The fuel storage was spilling burning fuel all over the place with firefighter droids desperately trying to put it out, and most of the entrances to the subterranean bunkers were collapsed. There was effectively only token air defense at this point. Deadshot pressed down on his comm. "You two look like you don't even need me."

There was a roar of laughter from Folken's end. "And here I was thinking you weren't gonna show up, Hellscream!" Folken replied. While Folken was a clone, he had somehow picked up a Corellian accent, either from the simulators or from spending too much time with the softshells. "We were just about to finish up without you!" he continued, and Enigma's R2 unit chimed in with a positive chirp.

There was a beep from Deadshot's console, and a new, yellow target blip appeared on his HUD at the center of the complex. It was a massive metal sphere – impossible smooth, yet unmarked. Something about it kept tugging at the back of his mind, but he had a job to do. He could worry about what it was later. Correcting his flight path for a gun run on the object, Deadshot unloaded the remainder of his ammo and flew over the sphere, watching through Arfive's feed for any sort of reaction.

The sphere seemed to ripple for several seconds, almost like water, and then before Deadshot could react, it shot out a Tri-Droid, unpainted and unmarked, but clearly fully operational. Before he knew it, both of his engines were shot out, and the ground was approaching fast.

---

"And that, kiddos, is the last I saw of Arfive." Deadshot finished, downing whatever was left in his flask and slamming it against the table. "Until you three brought him back to me, that is."

The group was quietly mulling over his story. "They just… took Arfive and left you?" Nax asked.

Deadshot shrugged. "That's what I figured happened. With how dumb B1s are I'm not surprised they didn't shoot me before nabbing Arfive. When I woke up command had given me a new astro to replace Arfive – which I promptly kicked down to the softshells in the hangars." he detailed, before looking down at Arfive. "So, now that they know what separated us, you mind telling me just where in the hell you've been all these years?" Deadshot demanded. Arfive whirred internally, attempting to produce a response. He eventually gave a long chain of storied beeps and chirps. "Prisoner of war until the droids shut down, self-made slicer on Nar Shaddaa, and then a maintenance droid for a pirate crew? Seems like you got around."

Lexi raised a finger to speak. "That thing in the complex – do you know what it was?"

Deadshot leaned back and stretched. "Whatever it is, it was way above my paygrade. I did hear some softshells throwing around words like 'liquid metal' and 'ancient technology', but I will say that I've reviewed the sortie footage multiple times, and the markings on that thing are awfully similar looking to what we've found in the ruins on this ring." he revealed, before finally getting up and reaching into a side pouch attached to his armor. "I'd love to chat more, but I have work that needs done, and the commander wants me on a recon sortie tonight." Deadshot said, and then he turned his gaze to Kyra. "I have something for you, though." he continued, pulling out a palm-sized cube made of some sort of blue crystal with chromium trimming and setting it on the table.

Kyra gently picked it up and examined it. "...What's this thing?" she questioned, confused by the completely foreign object in her hands. She poked at it a little bit, and one of the corners seemed to move, but quickly snapped back into place.

"Data storage device from one of our… ex-commanders." Deadshot trailed, looking out towards the Dropstorm's bridge. "The one in charge up there, he heard through the vine that I wanted to talk to you all and figured that I should give you this."

Kyra continued to pry at the object. "How the hell do I open it?" she cursed, trying to get the corner to move again.

"The boss says that's on you to figure out, miss…?" Deadshot said, trailing when he realized he never actually got Kyra's name.

"It's Kyra."

Deadshot nodded, and then offered a handshake. "Pleasure meeting you, Kyra – and thanks for bringing Arfive back." he said, giving a quick glance to Nax and Lexi.

She calmly shook his hand. "No problem. I practically owe him my life anyways." was her reply. With that, Deadshot headed down the stairwell to go to the Dropstorm. Now that they were alone again, the group's attention had been turned to the mysterious device Deadshot had given Kyra. No matter how much she turned the object over, there wasn't even the slightest hint of it being able to store data outside of Deadshot's word. She managed to get a grip on on a different corner of the cube and pull it out of place, only for there to be no physical connection. "The fu…?" Kyra quietly swore, confused by the way the device worked. The corner just as quickly snapped from her fingers and returned to place, locking itself down.

Nax moved in to get a closer look at the device. "I think I've seen something like this before." he noted, earning a confused look from Kyra. "It wasn't a cube – the one I saw was a red triangle with black corner pieces, but it looked like it was made the same way as this one is."

Lexi leaned in as well, and then looked up at Nax. "Where'd you find that?" she questioned.

"Back alley auction in Mos Eisley, like most rare and probably highly illegal things." Nax answered as he looked out towards the Dropstorm. "I didn't stay long, but I think the bidding was somewhere in the six figure range?" he went on. Kyra remained silent, entranced by the object, or at least, she was until Nax tapped her on the shoulder. "We'll figure out how to get that thing open later. Right now we should probably see about finding a place to sleep – it looks like it's getting dark." he pointed out, looking around at the orangeish hue slowly growing around the area. He subconsciously looked for the sun to judge how long until nightfall, only to realize the ring didn't use the sun to illuminate itself – rather, it used some sort of artificial lighting that mimicked its natural counterpart perfectly. Nax wondered just who built these rings, and whether they were still around.

Probably not.

---

The group bumped into a guard heading to his post on the outer walls of the settlement, he wasn't a clone – in fact, he was a scrawny kid, barely out of his teens, but he pointed the group to a prefab command center on a hill near the stern of the Dropstorm. Predictably, the place was barren except for some lights and a few beds in what was likely intended to be the map room. On the bright side, the prefab seemed to run on its own power, and there was more than enough space to move whatever had survived the Knight's crash inside. The prefab even had its own heating system – a fact made immediately apparent when the three of them stepped inside and immediately felt like there was a warm, cozy fireplace nearby. Finally, there was a set of stairs across from the group that led up to a second floor, which was actually mostly a balcony.

Arfive and Knockout moved into a corner and switched to standby mode, while Lexi, Nax and Kyra silently agreed to just go ahead and get some rest. They didn't bother changing out of what they had on, and instead just collapsed onto the beds. Lexi was out like a light, and Nax followed soon after. The only exception was Kyra.

For what felt like hours, she just tossed and turned in her bed, unable to fall asleep, too bothered by their situation to calm down and doze off. She eventually gave up any pretense of sleeping, and being as careful as she could to not make a sound, slowly got out of bed and reached into her bag for the device Deadshot had given her. Taking it, she crept to the stairs and headed up and outside. Judging by how dark it was, she had to guess that it had been maybe… two hours? Of course, she had no real way of knowing – she was just going off of what her internal chrono was telling her.

Sighing, Kyra sat down and held the cube in both hands, its crystalline construction glowing a soft blue. "...Just what are you keeping from me?" she questioned, knowing full well it wouldn't answer her. Physical coercion would not work in the slightest, and without any access ports to pull data from the cube, that only left one possible way for Kyra to open the mystery cube. "Wookie feet. Ruby Bliels. Sithspit." she tried, throwing things at the wall. The cube's lighting didn't as much as fluctuate.

Giving up for now, Kyra set the device behind her and looked over at the settlement around the Dropstorm. For a shipwreck with makeshift housing built around it, the infrastructure was surprisingly developed. From streetlights dotting the myriad pathways and searchlights scanning the interior of the settlement, to the active patrols and gun turrets set up. If she had to guess, most of the power came from the Dropstorm itself, since she wasn't exactly flightworthy, and cutting out the hyperdrive and engines would free up a lot of room to power a town.

Kyra felt little droplets of water begin to drip down on her. Looking up, she saw that the stars, as well as most of the ring opposite from her end, had been covered by clouds, although there was a very small sliver of space visible between the walls at the edge of the ring and where the clouds began. "Can't sleep?" Nax suddenly said, scaring Kyra briefly, as she didn't even hear the door open. "Me neither." he continued, coming over and taking a seat next to Kyra. Nax glanced behind her and spotted the cube. "That thing still bothering you?"

Reaching behind her, Kyra pulled the device back out and looked at it absent-mindedly. "It's not just this… thing, Nax." she answered, before giving him a rather somber look. "It's this feeling that I've been nothing but a bad luck charm for you. First, I attract a slaver band who hunted you down when they found out you existed, then my leg was broken and you had to get left behind by the rebels Kelah and Val were with to care for me, and then your best friend gets killed because he was associated with you, and now we're all stuck on this ring in the middle of the Unknown Regions with no way out, all because something here wanted me specifically!" she raved, raising her voice, and then just as quickly quieting herself to barely above a whisper. "How do you not see me as bad luck?"

Nax rubbed his temples, definitely at least a little bit frustrated at having to go over this conversation multiple times. "Kyra, how many times do I have to tell you? I knew the risks by keeping you around, and I think Thel did, too, seeing as how he didn't immediately kick Lexi over to me and tell me to go poke a Krayt dragon." he responded in a quiet tone. "I keep you around because I like you as a person. You've been a good friend to me, and-"

"But-" Kyra tried to interrupt.

Nax only sighed in exasperation. "For the love of-" was his reply. "Is there something I need to do to get it through to you that I don't think of you as bad luck, or useless?" he questioned. Before Kyra could answer him, though, there was a strange trilling in the distance, and they both looked to see a flock of bioluminescent animals floating overhead and moving into the distance. They looked something like a bunch of balloons, but the tops were glowing an electric blue. One of the creatures actually came down to the pair and chirped at them like a bird. Calling them balloons would be slight misnomer – they actually appeared to be fleshy meathooks with a brown hide, and attached to the top was the actual balloon part – visible through the transparent membrane in the actual 'balloon' was a blue glowing gas that was regularly being expelled from the rear of the creature. Attached to its spine was a wing that sort of looked like a mynock's, and it had a feeler of some kind that the creature seemed to be using to sense the two.

Out of curiosity, Nax reached a finger out to the feeler. The creature 'sniffed' his finger, rubbed the feeler against it, and then turned its attention to Kyra, likely expecting the same thing from her. Another one of these gasbags came down, with this one having a few pink stripes at the base of where the feeler was coming from. The two gasbags' feelers appeared to joust for a few moments, rubbed up against each other, and then they floated off to join the rest of their flock, happily chattering the whole way.

Now that the temporary distraction had disappeared, the conversation returned to the topic beforehand. "Answer me, Kyra." Nax pressed, trying to sound as firm, but not angry, as he possibly could. "What do I have to do to get this insane idea out of your head that I, for some reason, don't want you around?"

Kyra didn't immediately answer him. She tried to answer repeatedly, but always held her tongue back at the last second, testing Nax's patience. "...Nothing." she eventually responded, barely louder than a church mouse. Nax motioned for her to speak up. "Nothing." she repeated, looking him in the eye. "You don't have to do anything, Nax."

Nax gave her a bewildered look and kind of half-threw his hands up in the air. "So if I don't have to do anything, then why do you keep having this fear of me tossing you to the wayside?" he continued to question.

Kyra looked down at her hands and clenched them into fists. "Because, Nax – I don't want to be alone again. Not after what L-" she tried to answer, catching herself. "...What that bastard did to me." she corrected.

Sighing at finally getting an answer from her, Nax reached around her waist and pulled her into a hug. "I don't have the slightest intention of getting rid of you Kyra, and I never will." he said reassuringly. "Never ever, not in a million years. Not even at blasterpoint or with a thermal det held to my chest." he continued.

Kyra smiled and hugged Nax back, happy that she had been set at ease. She whispered a 'thank you', and then the pair sat there, quietly watching the stragglers for the gasbags float away. A thought crossed Kyra's mind. "...Hey, Nax? Can I ask you something?" she requested, still extremely quiet.

"Sure." was his answer.

"What did you think of me when we first met in Chalmun's?"

Nax was quiet. "...Honestly? I saw you as a means to an end." was his response. "I was too poor to pay for transport off Tatooine, since everyone with something bigger than a snub charged a damn arm and a leg, and I didn't trust any of the sleemos in that place enough to hire them as a partner." Nax continued, looking thoughtful. "I thought it was better to take my chances with some slave girl that I could teach, rather than a thirty-some year old scumkicker who'd shoot me in the back over a five credit difference." he went on, looking down at her with a smile. "And look at you now – you're better than I could have ever hoped for." he complimented, causing Kyra to blush.

What happened next was certainly not something that Nax expected – Kyra chose not to say anything, but she quickly moved up and kissed him, taking him by absolute surprise from the sudden show of affection. It wasn't a quick peck, either - it lasted just long enough to set Nax's heart racing in his throat. "I ju- You-" he stammered, confused by what just happened.

Kyra's face flushed, and her innocent, embarassed smile combined with her wet hair was too much for Nax to bear with a straight face. "I lo-" she tried to say, only to choke back her words with a sheepish laugh. "Loo-" Kyra tried again, failing to find her words. "Stars above, I can't even say it!"

Nax was still processing everything mentally and had a blank, confused look on his face. "...Where did that come from, Kyra?" Nax asked, seemingly still dazed. "I mean, I know the three of us have been flirting and teasing each other, but..."

Kyra pulled back a bit, taking what Nax was saying as rejection. "...Oh. That was too forward, wasn't it?" she mumbled, sounding like she was about to break into tears. She picked up the device and got up. "I'm sorry. I should just… go back to sleep or something." Kyra continued, holding her breakdown in as she headed for the stairs.

Just as quickly, Nax got up and turned to face her. "Kyra, wait!" he called out, and she stopped in her tracks, back still turned to him. "...That wasn't a no, Kyra. I'm just... a little shocked is all."

Kyra half-turned to face Nax as he approached her, looking over her shoulder. "So… what was it, then?" she questioned, fully turning around. Instead of saying anything, Nax just repeated Kyra's trick and kissed her on the lips. Kyra gave a short squeak of surprise, and then fell into the kiss. When Nax eventually tried to pull himself away, Kyra threw her arms around his neck and pulled him right back in. When she finally pulled out of the kiss, Nax thought she looked like she was going to faint. "Nax, I..." she whispered, choking back tears. Nax wiped Kyra's tears away and brushed her bangs to the side to get a good look at her, and then she pulled Nax into the strongest hug she could manage.

Nax ran his fingers through Kyra's hair as she wept tears of joy into his chest, muttering thank you after thank you for not rejecting her. When the initial shock of Nax's response wore off, Kyra's grip loosened, and Nax grabbed her attention. "We should probably head back inside, Ky." Nax suggested, and Kyra nodded, opening the door and pulling him in, forcing him into another kiss. She quickly let go, and the pair headed downstairs in their nearly soaked through clothes.

Lexi had somehow not been disturbed by their little commotion on the roof – she hadn't even moved from her spot on the bed. Regardless, they found a spot where warm air was being vented in and took their clothes off, setting it down and then quickly changing into some dry spares. "Hey," Kyra whispered, nudging Nax gently. "Isn't your bed a little big?" she questioned, gesturing to his bed, and then giving him a sly look.

Nax smiled back and nodded. "Try not to take up too much space." he teased, and they both slipped under the covers facing each other. Kyra was clearly excited about this and reached out to touch Nax's face, pulling him in for one last kiss. "G'night." he said, before shutting his eyes and drifting off.

Kyra was blushing like a schoolgirl, and she snuggled up close to Nax. "Night." she quietly murmured, falling asleep alongside him.

---

Lexi awoke the next morning with a very strange feeling in her chest. Not necessarily painful, just very warm and fuzzy. She scratched her head in confusion, yawned, and then looked over at Nax's bed, seeing the sight for herself – Nax and Kyra cuddled together, her face in his chest, both barely clothed and if what her instinct was telling her was true, they were very pleased. She then looked over near one of the vents and saw their clothes piled up, and quickly put two and two together. "...Kyra, I didn't know you had it in you." she remarked with an impressed smile.

Just then, they both started to wake up – Kyra looked up at Nax and gave him a quick peck, and Nax slowly sat up. Both of them looked directly at Lexi, staring. "...Uh, I can explain-" Nax started, and Lexi just laughed.

"No need." she replied, smug with her little finding. "I'm just surprised it took you two this long to do the deed." she continued to poke. Kyra suddenly felt very, very naked, and retreated under the covers, not exactly inclined to come out. "So, what finally made it happen?" Lexi pressed, fully enjoying her teasing.

"Nothing happened, Lexi." Nax answered, trying hard to save face. "We were just up on the roof last night, and it was raining, so we changed clothes when we came back in and slept together to keep warm." Nax tried to reason, his excuse as flimsy as his demeanor.

Lexi put her hand on her hip and shifted her weight to her right leg. "To keep warm, huh?" she echoed, looking over at the Kyra-shaped outline under the covers. "Is that why I just saw her kiss you not even a minute ago?"

Nax opened his mouth to deny that, but Kyra quietly crawled back out of the covers, popping her head out like someone coming out of a bunker – her face was beet red and she could barely keep eye contact with Lexi. "...I'm in love with Nax." Kyra sheepishly admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

Lexi's eyes suddenly went wide at the admission. "Oh, wow, the L-word!" she blurted in shock, and quickly moved to Kyra's side of the bed. "I want to know where this came from!" Lexi demanded, badgering Kyra.

"...I jus-" Kyra stammered, slowly retreating back under the covers and being reduced to a blathering mess. "It came from, uh..." she tried to say, her already barely audible voice shrinking further.

Nax finally stepped in for Kyra. "She's too embarassed to talk about it, Lex, but yes, she's in love with me." he said, and Lexi bit her lip in response. "...And uh, I feel the same way."

Lexi peeled back the cover to find Kyra covering her face with her hands, partially curled up into a ball. "What's the matter, Ky? Embarassed that you actually like somebody?" she questioned, shaking her a little. Kyra looked up at Lexi through a crack in her fingers, and then shook her head no. "So why are you hiding?"

Kyra was quiet for a while. "...Because I don't think I've felt about anyone like I do Nax." she whispered, crawling back out of the covers, her face still flushed. "Even with what little I know of my life before Lostur, I've never felt this way about someone. Ever."

Lexi gave off a teasing 'aaww!' and then chuckled. "Kyra's in love with Nax! Kyra's in love with Nax!" she said in a singsong voice. "That's so sweet!" she continued as she developed a wide grin.

"You sound awfully excited considering you wanted both of us to rail you, Lex." Nax said bluntly, his face completely and utterly expressionless. Lexi stopped singing for a second and let what Nax said sink in, and then she doubled over with laughter.

"You- I-" Lexi tried to respond, but she only sputtered out, her laughs overtaking her. "I can't believe you jus-" she wheezed, barely maintaining control of herself.

Kyra stared in disbelief, and then she looked to Nax. "Did I really just hear that right?" she said out loud, and Nax looked down to her. "She wanted you and me both to, y'know..." she trailed, making a lewd gesture.

"That was mostly a joke, Kyra." Nax answered, and then he looked to Lexi. "She was pretty forward about it with me, but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine that she thinks that way about you." he pointed out, and Kyra's face flushed again at the thought that Lexi was attracted to her.

By now, Lexi mostly had her laughter under control, and she was paying enough attention to overhear Nax. "You bastard!" she yelled, not entirely serious with her insult. "I didn't say you could tell anyone about that!" Lexi continued, her laughter betraying her words. Feigning insult, she jumped on top of Nax, pushing him back down and leaving Kyra to watch. Clearly not amused, Nax effortlessly grabbed hold of Lexi and moved her off of him, before getting up and just as easily swinging her under his right arm, holding her there. "Hey! Let me go!" Lexi protested, fruitlessly batting at Nax's grip.

"You gonna apologize to my girlfriend?" Nax questioned, looking down at her with faked superiority. Lexi struggled in his grasp, meekly looked up at him, and then her gaze fell to the floor, muttering something about having done nothing wrong. "Dunno about that, Lex. You were getting awful frisky with me."

Lexi managed to squeeze out of his grip just enough to get a look at Kyra, who wasn't actually upset with Lexi. Instead, she was just quietly snickering behind the covers, watching Lexi get manhandled by Nax more or less for her amusement. "...Sorry about that, Ky." Lexi quietly apologized, and Nax tightened down on her as an unvoiced signal to speak up. "I'm sorry about hitting on Nax, Kyra!" she said, much louder than before. Kyra just giggled and nodded, and Nax set Lexi down.

"There, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" Nax joked, and then his stomach suddenly rumbled like a bomb going off. "Should probably get something to eat, huh?" he suggested, heading over to grab his clothes. "Any bets on the 52nd's mess being a dumpster fire?"

Kyra's hand shot up. "Twenty credits says yes!"

---

As it turned out, the 52nd's mess hall inside the Dropstorm wasn't actually a total shitshow. There was no trademark Republic/Empire military slop to be found, only food that tasted like heaven – foods that they had never even heard of like ka'to wraps, which were made with ground meat from a local animal that tasted more or less like nerf meat, but with a spicier flavor to it. The wrap then had schell cheese sprinkled over the meat, and then saluka spread over that, which was a sauce blended from multiple fruits and vegetables being grown in hydroponics. Nax, having been used to mostly bland, dry meats on Tatooine, took one bite out of the wrap and realized just how much he had been missing out on in his life, and quickly devoured the rest of it.

Kyra and Lexi, however, were a little bit less adventurous with their meals. Lexi ordered an overly large sandwich which turned out to be stuffed with sliced meat from the same animal as the ka'to wrap, puffer pig meat and bacon strips, and a heap of vegetables. On second glance at what the mess hall had on order, the sandwich was the rather crudely named 'Shithouse Special', and Lexi could barely hold it in her hands. Not wanting to make herself sick, she split the sandwich with Kyra.

While the group was enjoying their taste of culinary perfection, Bitterman walked in, got a comparatively bland looking salad, and sat down across from them. "Glad to see you three up and walking. Enjoying our little slice of hell?" he asked, passively eating his salad.

Nax got a particularly large bite of his wrap down and took a drink of water. "Bitterman, if you call this hell then I don't really see much of a point in leaving!" Nax half-joked, before looking over to where the food was being served. "Where did this all come from? There's no way the 52nd's chefs just started making food like this when you crashed here."

Bitterman cracked a smile and looked back at that same area. "You're right, they didn't. We subsisted on the crap the Republic gave us for rations alongside with whatever we could salvage from ships with hydroponics that ended up here, but about ten, eleven years ago we had a crash from a corvette. Survivors were a celebrity chef and his crew, and we've been eating like damned kings for years."

"A celebrity chef?" Lexi questioned after swallowing a particularly large bite from her sandwich. "Who?"

Bitterman popped his knuckles and looked at his chrono. "Duros by the name of Govron Rasalli, he'd apparently been heading to Csilla for the next episode of his holonet show when the ring caught his ship and forced him down."

Nax and Kyra were only half-listening, but Bitterman had Lexi's full attention. "Govron Rasalli? I remember waking up in the middle of the night and seeing the viscom on whatever my mom fell asleep to, and it was usually one of his shows." she said, stopping for a second to reminisce. "Come to think of it, I think that's when I learned what swearing was." she continued with a light snicker.

Bitterman chuckled, taking a drink from his flask. "With how often I hear our old chefs complain about him, I don't doubt that for a second." he replied, setting his flask down and finishing off his salad. "I didn't come down here to idly chat, though."

Nax raised an eyebrow as he took a drink to wash down the spicy flavor of his wrap. "Oh?"

Raising two fingers, Bitterman wiped his mouth off. "First, they're bringing in your ship later today, so you can get your stuff when the haulers drop it off. From what the survey team says, the interior is actually in decent condition, all things considered, so you could probably still live in it. Just can't fly." he said, and Kyra perked up. "Second, since you three showed up in armor and with a helluva lot of weapons, command says you get to be the FNGs tonight to earn your keep."

"'FNG'?" Kyra echoed.

"Effing new guy." Nax answered for her, before finishing his wrap off and wiping his hands of the light spillage. "What do we need to do?"

"One of our outposts near native territory went dark. They've been missing their hourly check-ins since late last night. You three and a couple others will be sent out to investigate." Bitterman said in a hushed tone, looking over his shoulders to make sure no one was listening in. "Briefing's in an hour, up on the bridge's tacroom. They'll tell you more there."

The trio looked between themselves and then nodded in understanding, and the girls made it a point to finish eating quickly. "Hey, Bitterman, quick question." Nax said, and the clone looked up at him. "How long's a day on these rings?"

Bitterman looked off into the distance for a second. "Standard twenty-four hour day, like on Coruscant." he answered, looking down at his chrono again. "It's uh, nine twenty-two right now." he said again, before taking his things and disappearing into a crowd of similarly dressed maintenance techs. Nax quietly synced his chrono up to the new time and waited for the girls to finish so that they could poke around the Dropstorm before the briefing.

Shortly before the briefing, the trio showed up to find a group of people standing around a holomap table. Only three were clones, the rest were a mixed variety of humanoids – a male Twi'lek, a Rodian, a Duros, and a Bothan, with the latter of which being the shortest of the bunch by about a foot. All of them were also geared in the 52nd's armor sans the helmet, so that earned Nax quite a few looks when he showed up missing his original chestpiece and instead had a spare chestplate from one of the 52nd's sets. To the left of the table, opposite the group, was another elderly looking clone wearing a naval officer's uniform. "Are we all here?" he questioned as the trio stepped up to join them. "Good, let us begin the briefing." he continued, pressing a button on the console. "Thirteen hours ago we lost contact with Observation Post Theta, twenty-eight klicks upspin. We don't know the how or why, but we suspect they've been attacked." he explained as a trail went from the Dropstorm to a small camp that appeared to be in a valley.

The Twi'lek stepped up. "Do we know if it was a megafauna attack?" he said, sounding like he was having trouble keeping his voice above a whisper.

The aged clone in charge of the briefing took one look at him and shook his head no. "Gargans and Rancors tend to stay away from the area around Theta on account of both the natives and the Dinyol villages, which leads to me to believe the natives are the reason for the communications blackout, since the Dinyol up there keep to themselves."

One of the clones stood up straight – his helmet had a red stripe painted over where the helmet ridge would be on the original variant. "We've been seeing reports of increased native activity in that entire section of the ring, from both the observation posts and any scouts we have up that way."

The clone in charge nodded. "Precisely, which means you will be making this trip on foot. If the natives are to blame, then we don't want to spook them with any considerable presence and end up with more dead men." the clone went on, looking around at the assemblage before him. "Any further questions?"

The Bothan's hand shot up, and then he looked to the trio. "Are these three the ones we will be babysitting?" he questioned, sounding particularly disdainful at having been assigned to this job. "Two fools playing dress-up in ruined Mandalorian armor and a Zeltron that looks like she barely knows how to hold a blaster?"

The officer sighed and wiped his face. "Yes, Neemis. These three are coming with you." he answered, and there was a prevailing groan among the veterans. "If there are no further questions, you are dismissed."

With that, the group immediately dispersed, heading for the turbolift. Nax, Lexi and Kyra quickly followed after them, and there was an awkward silence between all of them. The girls shrunk behind Nax, while the non-clones sized them up. The Bothan, Neemis, sneered at them, while the Rodian looked on disapprovingly. The Duros and the Twi'lek, however, were rather ambivalent about their new hands. When the turbolift stopped, they all got out and the trio, not really knowing the layout of the ship, followed after their handlers, who took them to a sort of armory/mission prep room. The others loaded up on ammunition and grabbed weapons, while the three of them decided to poke around a bit.

They didn't find much, but Nax did discover a rather curious looking barrel attachment that looks like it would stick right on to his DC. Next to it were a few hefty looking grenades and additional stick magazines, and he quickly realized what it was, so he grabbed it and stuck it in his bag alongside his regular supplies. About a half-hour later, and the group was off into the wilds of the ring to find out what happened to the observation post.

---

It had only been about an hour or so on this march to the post, and attrition was already kicking in. Nax was soldiering on just fine – this wasn't anything he wasn't used to doing back on Tatooine – hell, he actually had water, so if anything, this was an improvement to his usual conditions. The girls, though, they were starting to lag behind. Not by much, but it was beginning to become noticeable. The Bothan, Neemis, looked back and sneered at them, before coming to a halt as the clone in command, Trailblazer, motioned for the group to stop. "Slaughtertree." he said simply.

Nax and the girls moved up front to see what exactly he was talking about. Directly in front of them, on the path, was a net of what looked like blood-red veins spread around like tripwires, all branching out from a singular point – a large, reddish-brown 'plant' that had a single bladed appendage gently swaying with the wind. The 'plant' was at least ten feet tall, maybe more since it was slightly obscured by the trees. Neemis nudged Kyra specifically. "Hey, new girl. Why don't you take point?" he suggested, sounding as if he knew something she didn't. Kyra narrowed her gaze at him suspiciously, but otherwise said nothing.

"Stop hazing the newbies, Neemis." Trailblazer barked, not taking his eyes off of the slaughtertree. "Watch and learn, you three." he said, before picking up a rock and throwing it underhanded into the netting. The creature suddenly animated, its blade stretching out to roughly where the rock landed and stabbing the ground, before picking up and pulling it back in to a now visible maw of razor sharp teeth hidden inside the trunk. Trailblazer just as quickly pulled his sidearm and shot it in the mouth, and the tree limped over lazily, its color quickly draining and the netting losing its bloody coloration. "Do not play around with Slaughtertrees. Treat them like you would a sarlacc, or an immobile rathtar."

The trio nodded, earning some disappointed looks from their squadmates, probably hoping that Kyra would have been dumb enough to do exactly what Neemis asked of her. After that little speedbump, they continued on for another twenty-ish minutes only for the path to come to an abrupt end in front of a massive hill that was far too steep to climb. "This is new." Trailblazer remarked.

"Any suggestions?" the Duros asked, staring up at the anomalous piece of terrain that evidently had not been there before. From where they were standing, there was no way over the hill, meaning they either had to find a way through, or failing that, go around.

As the others considered their options, something behind the almost fleshlike shrubbery caught Kyra's attention. Cautiously, she walked over, extremely mindful of any slaughtertrees that were hidden, and then she saw it, pressed directly against the hill. It was another crack – like the one on Coruscant that she destroyed to find Knockout. Obviously, dirt wasn't supposed to crack like duracrete, yet she was staring directly at an example of such a thing happening. Not sure what else to do, she punched the crack, and just like back on Coruscant, the hill began to crumble into dust. Not the whole, but rather a large, narrow chunk of it that seemed to weave through the interior of the hill.

The rest of the squad immediately rushed over as the dust was settling back down. "What the hell happened?!" Trailblazer demanded to know, confused by why the hill suddenly had a huge hole in it. Not that he was complaining, though.

Kyra turned her head halfway and looked into the new entrance. "I… made a way through." she answered, still not sure how she could do that. Neemis scoffed at the notion – there was no explosion, after all.

Trailblazer stared at her, and then looked to Nax. "You're taking point." he stated coldly, motioning to the passage. Nax didn't contest it and did as told. Kyra and Lexi fell in after him, and the rest of the squad followed them. About halfway through the hill's pass, it opened out into a rather small 'basin' of sorts that was unremarkable except for a waterfall coming down into a pool of water, its coloration making it look like reactor fluid.

The Twi'lek walked over to the pool and put his hand in. "...It's warm." he commented, pulling his hand out and shaking it dry. "It's just water, though. Vis'makul."

Trailblazer focused his gaze at something behind the waterfall. "Looks like there's something behind that. See that path?" he noted, pointing at a small outcropping of rocks in the water that seemed to lead behind the waterfall. "Kyra, Strag, check that out – we'll wait here until you're back."

The pair nodded and moved to start crossing the water. As they were leaving earshot, they heard Neemis complaining to Trailblazer about stopping when they had more important matters to attend to, but neither of them cared to listen to the details since both had already written the Bothan off.

As they moved behind the waterfall, they found that the pool extended behind the waterfall, leaving a U-shaped rock that went around the cave to walk on. Nax felt nothing entering the cave, but Kyra felt dazed and woozy all of a sudden. She reached for her head, and then fell forward. Without any warning, she found that she wasn't in the cave anymore – instead, she was in some sort of massive artificial vault with what looked like emergency lighting turned on.

This wasn't a vault made to store money, though. She barely had time to register the fact that she was surrounded by hundreds, maybe even thousands of men and women wearing a strange armor she had never seen before, all of them encased in carbonite. She blinked, and found that she was staring up at a concerned Nax, who was holding her in his arms. "You alright?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly at the scare she just gave him.

Kyra groaned and held her head for a moment. "...I'm fine, Nax." she eventually responded, picking herself up and grabbing her helmet off the floor. "I just… saw something. I'm not sure what it was, but it looked like an entire army frozen in carbonite. Or was it someone's military collection?" she tried to reason, only confusing herself in the end.

Nax was hesitant to keep his attention off of Kyra. "Are you sure that you're fine?" he questioned again.

Kyra nodded. "I'm not about to fall over again, but there's something about this cave..." she trailed, looking around at the walls. "...It feels like there's something here that I've been missing – that makes me whole, I mean." she continued, and she had already lost Nax. She was going to clarify, but something else caught her attention, and she reached into her bag to pull out the device Deadshot had given her. It was glowing a bright blue, and all of its corners were turned at the same angle. It barely had time to register before the device shut off, returning to its inert cube state. "Something triggered it. Something in here triggered it!" she repeated, sounding increasingly nervous.

Nax was spooked, but not about to melt down. "Maybe it was your fall that triggered it?" he opined, trying to rationalize Kyra's fear away.

She nervously looked around, half-shrugged, and then made a break for the exit. Nax headed after her, and they were barely out of the cave when Trailblazer shouted over to them. "Did you find anything?" he asked, his voice only slightly louder than the waterfall. They both gave a hand signal for no, and fell back in with the squad.

Lexi immediately noticed that Kyra was shaken up and came to her side, while Neemis snickered behind their backs. "Are you alright?" she questioned, carefully watching Kyra's body language. "You look like you've just talked to a dead guy."

"I fell, and that thing opened for no reason, so yeah, I'm a little bit skittish right now." she responded, trying to keep sane, especially after that strange vision she had. It was almost identical in terms of feeling to the dreams she had of the rings, but not nearly as lengthy. Kyra had to wonder if the source of the vision and the dreams was one and the same. Regardless, the squad pressed onwards, leaving the strange hot spring behind.

---

Many hours passed before the squad arrived at their destination, and when they did, it was near sundown, or whatever passed for such on the ring. It certainly was a military outpost – emphasis on was. The place was completely trashed – shattered communication and observation equipment was strewn all over the ground like a stampede just tore through the camp. "Spread out and look for any signs of where they've gone." Trailblazer ordered, and the squad dispersed trying to comb through the ruins.

Kyra and Neemis went into the largest tent and were both overwhelmed by the scent of decay. Laying in a pool of greenish-blue blood was a decomposing corpse, clearly humanoid, but distinctly alien. When Kyra's eyes adjusted, she recognized it as one of the apparent natives on the ring. Stuck square in the middle of its head was an oversized combat knife – more of a machete, really.

Hesitant to even touch the body, Kyra carefully pulled the machete from the alien, with the blade making a wet sliding sound as it scraped against the body. Resisting her urge to gag, she pulled it free and wiped the sides against the alien's robes to remove some of the blood, and found that the letters TK were carved in near the base of the blade. She'd have to show it to Trailblazer to find out the significance of the marking, but in the meantime, she found a slightly bloodied club in the alien's right hand. Other than that, the tent was barren of anything resembling evidence, so Kyra headed back outside and handed the knife over.

Trailblazer took the weapon into both hands, looked at it for all of two seconds, and then put it into a bag at his hip. "Looks like the commander didn't go down without a fight, but still, where are the troops?" he questioned, looking around for anything of use.

"We've got a live one!" Nax shouted from a smaller tent, and the rest of the squad moved inside to find a gravely injured native giving them all a death glare. "Bastard was playing dead and tried to jam a knife into my shins, so I beat the shit out of him. Bastard's lucky to even be awake."

Trailblazer got down to eye level with the alien, deliberately going as slow as possible, and then he took his helmet off to reveal his scarred, war-torn face and tired, dead eyes. "Where did your friends take them?" he said coldly, sounding like he was about ready to shoot the alien for as much as breathing the wrong way.

Instead of responding, the alien just laughed in his face, like a hopped up spice junkie getting interrogated. "Fools." was the first thing the alien said after an uncomfortably long time. Everyone in the squad except Trailblazer, Nax, Lexi, and Kyra had a surprised reaction to the alien speaking Basic. "They are already dead. It would be better if you just ran back to your voidship than to continue seeking them out."

"I'm not going to ask again. Where. Are. They?" Trailblazer pressed, clearly getting more and more agitated with this impromptu interrogation.

The alien laughed again. "Eager to run to your deaths, are you?" he taunted, a wry smile creeping on his face. "Your deaths will only serve the rebirth of our Infinite Empire." he gloated ominously. The Twi'lek and the Duros nervously looked at each other before the native could continue. "If you are so eager to die, keep walking the path you came in from." the native said, venom spilling from every word. "It hardly matters whether you run or not. Soon, the keepers will set the Worldshaper upon you, and the blight you have made to fester on our sacred ring will be excised."

Trailblazer scoffed, and then kicked the native onto his back. "Thanks for the help, 'friend.'" he snarked, pressing his boot into the alien's chest,

Surprisingly enough, the alien had enough strength still to lift his head up and stare directly at Kyra. "...You will be made to serve in due time, Dreamer." the alien said, sounding absolutely certain that what he was saying was truth. With that, the alien breathed his last and died under Trailblazer's boot. The native's words sent shivers down Kyra's spine – Lostur and his men had told her the exact same thing on the Bantha. Something about the way he had looked at her – no, into her, worried her and put more fear into her than Lostur could have ever hoped to with his beatings and lashings.

That fear mostly melted away when Nax put his hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of a trance she had unknowingly slipped into. "Ignore him, Kyra. We need to get a move on." he said warmly, and she silently nodded, sticking close to him as the squad left the tent.

Considering it was their only lead on where the post's men went, they continued along the path like the alien said to, all of them on high alert in case of an ambush. "Tracks. Not human." Trailblazer suddenly called, shining his light into the shrubbery. "They look fresh, too. Form up behind me." he ordered, and the squad pressed onwards, carefully watching for any sort of traps the natives may have set. After several dreadful minutes of walking, Trailblazer signalled for a stop. "Native village, down in the valley. It's a big one." he revealed, pulling out a pair of electrobinoculars and looking into the camp while those who had access to similar equipment joined him in observing.

"What's that big bonfire in the middle of the camp?" Nax questioned, looking through his helmet's rangefinder. "They're all dancing around it and drawing symbols in the dirt."

"Sacrificial pyre." Trailblazer said plainly, after moving his attention to the bonfire. "I don't see any of the boys from the outpost, but they'll probably bring them out come nightfall."

"How long'll that be?" Lexi questioned, effectively sitting blind until the Duros passed her a pair of macrobinoculars.

Trailblazer pulled himself from the electros to look up at the quickly dimming sky. "I'd say about ten minutes?" he wagered, sounding mostly sure of his guess. "I'd imagine they're being held in that longhouse close to the pyre."

"Do we have a rescue plan?" Nax questioned, eyeing the natives. From the looks of things, there had to be maybe ten of them just around the pyre. More than likely, there were many more inside the primitive buildings in the village.

Trailblazer was quiet, and then looked at Nax like he was insane. "Do you have a death wish?" Trailblazer questioned bluntly. "There has to be at least a hundred of those bastards in that village. They'll fill you with slugs before you can as much as get a shot off." he continued. "We're a scouting team, not a damned platoon." Trailblazer finished, before finally looking back into his electros.

Nax bit his lip. Trailblazer had a point, but who said anything about fighting them openly? After briefly debating over the potential reprecussions of staging a one-man rescue operation, Nax got up and started to move down the cliff. By the time Trailblazer noticed, Nax was already out of earshot, and the profanity laden rant barely registered.

Having finally scaled the cliff to the bottom, near the back of a large building, Nax had a better understanding of his situation – namely that he was a bit premature with jumping down to the village. He didn't have much of a plan outside of 'sneak in, find the outpost's soldiers, get them out'. Winging it, especially when outnumbered this badly, probably wasn't a good idea, so instead of doing anything dumber, Nax chose to wait until it was sufficiently dark to make a move.

Waiting was agonizing, but when he decided that it was time to move, he carefully crept around the side of the building, extremely aware of every single sound the cluster of natives inside made. It sounded like a dining hall in there – not that he was willing to chance a look. When he wasn't too far from the corner that gave him a view of the pyre, he heard footsteps and froze up. A swing-door opened, and the footsteps gradually grew quieter before the door slammed shut.

After working the courage up to look around the corner, Nax found that the entire pyre had been abandoned. Not a single native was outside, so when he saw his chance, Nax darted across the paths, avoiding the fire's light and pressing up against the longhouse on the opposite side of the pyre. "...This was a really bad idea." Nax whispered, trying to catch his breath as he crawled under an open hatch window, light leaking out from inside the longhouse. Getting up to see inside, Nax saw about two squads' worth of men tied up in varying states of injury. Some of them looked like they'd been turned into tenderized meat, but others were still conscious. After triple checking that there were no natives inside, Nax snuck into the longhouse through the window, drawing much attention from the soldiers.

"You're skiffin' late." remarked one of the less-injured men, before being chastised by his comrade. "Where the hell is the rest of the rescue team?"

Nax checked the charge on his DC and knelt down to start cutting the ties binding the men. "You're looking at it. Rest of the squad is up on the cliffside across the village." he answered. The few clones who were in good enough shape to stand helped untie their comrades, and pretty soon, the whole observation team had been rescued, so now it was a matter of getting them out safely.

Taking point, Nax poked his head out of the longhouse's front door to find the sacrificial pyre was still abandoned, and he immediately started leading the soldiers out of the village. Up on the cliff, he caught a slight glimpse of a rifle scope's glint following his movements. Miraculously, the rescue went off without a single hitch, and the men were brought back to the cliffside position without a single native becoming alerted to the rescue. Trailblazer silently motioned for everyone to form up and march back to the destroyed outpost. "Form a perimeter around the injured – I want all angles covered." Trailblazer called out when they arrived, before reaching for his communicator. "Dropstorm, this is Trailblazer. We've found the missing soldiers and need urgent medevac at the outpost – two LAATs minimum. How copy?"

"Copy that Trailblazer, sending gunships for pickup, ETA is twenty mikes." a clone's voice cracked through.

"Any chance you can speed that up?" Trailblazer asked, looking in the direction of the village. "We're operating on borrowed time – stars know when the natives will catch on that we rescued their captives." he revealed, silently hoping for a 'yes' to his request.

The communicator went dead for a second. "Twelve mikes, Trailblazer. Hold out as long as you can until support arrives." the clone said, and then the commlink shut off on its own.

"You heard him! Twelve minutes until we can get the hell out of here!" Trailblazer shouted, taking up a position that was overlooking the area Nax had come through with the rescued hostages, patiently watching over his squad and how they reacted.

Nax, Kyra, and Lexi were somewhat antsy. The girls were upset with him for doing something so brash, even if it was the right thing to do, while Nax was worrying about the natives discovering that he had been there in the first place – he didn't exactly do much to cover his tracks, after all.

After several minutes of waiting with blasters and slugthrowers aimed at trees and bushes, the group finally got their answer for what was going to happen next – a horn was blown, sounding almost like a krayt dragon roar, and they started to hear angry chanting coming from the direction of the village.

It wasn't long before they started to hear and see the cracks and flashes of slugthrowers being shot at them, kicking up dirt and rocks that worsened the already poor visibility. "Fire back! Fire back!" Trailblazer ordered, and the squad started shooting back. Their blasters weren't enough to drown out the gunfire, but it did at least help improve visibility, however briefly. Thankfully, there was enough cover between where the natives were firing from and where the outpost's men were that they weren't easily picked clean, but considering the screaming, they weren't totally protected.

Nax was hidden behind a tree, while the girls sat in a nearby ditch on their stomachs. Reaching for his ammo belt, Nax grabbed a fresh blaster pack, tore the old one out of the DC, and slammed the new one in with enough force to break a less sturdy weapon. Ducking out of cover, Nax held the trigger down and fired the blaster one-handed into the treeline – not with any particular targets in mind, just to suppress their end of the camp. When the blue bolts stopped coming and the blaster started clicking, Nax fell back into cover and received a string of immediate return fire, with slugs chipping into the wood, but nothing penetrating somehow.

Pulling the pack free from the magazine well, Nax threw it to the ground and grabbed another one – he didn't have much left, so he had to be conservative with his ammo. After quickly checking behind him for flankers, Nax pressed his DC against the tree and started firing selectively at foliage that moved even slightly funny. As the gunfire on their end of the perimeter slowly quieted down, Kyra and Lexi started to join in, firing their weapons more or less blindly into the trees since they weren't in as good of a position as Nax.

It took a while for them to realize, but the natives and their slugthrowers had gone quiet – no more slugs were flying past their heads, leaving only an eerie silence occasionally punctuated by a pained yelp from one of the injured. "...I've got a bad feeling about this." Nax remarked, just loud enough for the girls to hear him. Out of curiosity, Nax poked his head around the tree and squinted. No movement.

Exposing himself even further, he barely had a fraction of a second to recognize the sound of several weapons spooling up. By the time he dived for the ditch the girls were in, there were multiple sets of chainguns firing at them, and Nax had been peppered by more than a few slugs. "EXOS!" Trailblazer shouted, barely audible over the symphony of weapons fire strafing them. "STAY THE HELL IN COVER! TANIAN, LOAD YOUR EXPLOSIVES!" he bellowed, firing his blaster at the hulking suits of armor fruitlessly as they marched into the perimeter.

The next few moments were a blur to everyone, but Kyra specifically heard a metallic clunk, close to one of the exos that was passing by their ditch, ignorant that he had been flanked. By its feet was a small pill-shaped object, and Kyra knew what that meant. "Its a dud!" Kyra hissed. She didn't stand a chance taking them head on, but they were going to get slaughtered like this. In the heat of the moment, Kyra grabbed her '44, aimed at a part of the armor where it looked weak, and fired.

In all honesty, she'd had better ideas that weren't 'poke the giant armored suit with a hand blaster'. The exo stopped firing on the squad, turned to the ditch, and stared as if in complete disbelief. Regardless, the exo's guns started to spool again, and time slowed for Kyra as she thought of how big of a mistake that was. Fruitlessly, she fired again, and again, and again, but despite everything, the exo just would not go down.

Gradually, however, time sped back up, and the exo still wasn't firing. In fact, the barrels weren't even spinning anymore. By some obscene miracle, its weapons had jammed, but there were still others who were firing on the squad. The exo with the jammed weapons slowly started to approach the ditch, its weight sending reverberations through the ground with every stomp it made. Working weapons or no, its pilot was hellbent on killing them.

Again, though, another miracle arrived – the LAATs were here, and their ball turrets sweeping the exos with green lasers and cutting them clean in half. At last, they were saved. Even though the exos were firing on the LAATs, their slugs were ultimately ineffective, and the exos were all destroyed. Finally, they had something resembling quiet, and as Kyra's ears stopped ringing, the LAATs touched down, with medevac teams jumping out and loading the injured as quickly as possible before more natives showed up. Kyra and Lexi picked Nax up and brought him to one of the LAATs, finding a place to set him down.

Unknown to them, he had been unconscious. "...Holy hell!" Nax swore, doubling over and clutching his stomach in pain. "What the hell were those things?! I nearly died-" he continued, before pulling his hand off his stomach to find it covered in blood. Removing his other hand, he found that the chestplate he had been given as a temporary replacement had been utterly shredded by the chainguns, pockmarked with holes and barely holding together while blood still dripped from his wounds. "Oh." was all he said before passing out.

Kyra immediately panicked. "Nax!" she shouted, drawing the attention of the squad. "Medic! I need a medic!" she yelled out, and one of the clones on the medevac team rushed to her.

Even though she said nothing of what happened to Nax, the clone still took his chestplate off, lifted his shirt up, and sprayed bacta on his wounds, before turning Nax over and doing it again to any wounds that had exited out his back. "He'll need a swim in a bacta tank and actual surgery to remove any slugs still in him, but this should tide him over." the clone said, before rushing off to return to bringing the bodies on-board.

In the chaos of the evacuation, Kyra could only pray that Nax would make it. His wounds were grievous, but it didn't look like he'd been shot anywhere vital. Trying not to let her worry show in front of the squad, Kyra took a seat and refused to let the exhaustion overtake her. Not when they finally had respite from the attacks and a way out, not on the flight back, and most certainly not when she had to bring Nax to the medbay.

---

Kyra and Lexi were present for the debriefing. "Commander." Trailblazer started, leaning on the tacmap and trying to figure out where to begin. "I have good news, bad news, and worse news."

The commander crossed his arms and looked Trailblazer dead in the eyes. "Go ahead."

"Only about half of Theta's team made it back."

The commander raised an eyebrow. "And the good news?" he questioned.

"That was the good news, Commander." Trailblazer responded, looking over his superior briefly, and then exchanging glances with the squad. "We would have lost them all had it not been for Strag – crazy fool went in the village alone and brought them all back for extract."

"And you didn't support him?" the commander pressed.

"No, sir." Trailblazer replied. "With all due respect, we were just a scouting team. I felt that doing anything to break the captives free would have resulted in swift and overwhelming retribution from the natives."

The commander considered his words, and then moved on. "What's the bad news?"

"We came under fire from three exo units armed with chainguns – all caused significant casualties and we would have been dead had the gunships not showed up when they did. The natives are now capable of fielding these things outside of just their city, sir."

His expression slowly soured at being informed of this. "What's the worst news?"

"According to the survivors, the natives are unifying, and they're not just getting active, they're getting aggressive. We found one native survivor in the outpost who spoke Basic. Naturally, he only intended on threatening us, but he said something about an Infinite Empire and a Worldshaper." Trailblazer explained, before looking grimly to Kyra. "He also made a vague threat to her," he said, gesturing to Kyra. "...and referred to her as 'Dreamer'."

The commander was completely silent as he soaked this all in. "I'll double our patrols and communications with the scouts. As for this rubbish about an 'Infinite Empire' and a 'Worldshaper', I'll investigate the matter, but I don't expect much considering we only have the word of a dead native to go off of." he said calmly, before moving towards the bridge's viewport and crossing his arms behind his back. "You are all dismissed, except for you, Trailblazer. I would like to have a word with you."

"Yessir." Trailblazer said, and the squad filtered into the turbolift to leave.

As soon as the doors shut, they heard the nominally calm commander go on one of the most ear blistering rants possible, expressing nothing short of absolute fury at Trailblazer's decision to leave the hostages behind, and that Nax had to be the one to rescue them alone. Their only regret was that they couldn't hear the full thing, but silence quickly washed over the squad once they couldn't hear the commander anymore.

As the lift went to the decks below, Neemis started snickering. "'Dreamer'." he remarked, trying to avoid devolving into a full blown howl. "What a fat load of gargan bait! Who in the six planes would believe the words of an insane, dying native?"

"Piss off, you unwashed rat." Kyra snapped, clearly tired of Neemis' heckling and bickering. The rest of the squad looked at Kyra in surprise, taken aback by her sudden visciousness. If looks could kill, then the one Kyra was giving Neemis would have vaporized him in an instant.

Neemis knew he had overstepped his boundaries and immediately backed away. Clearly he had touched a nerve, and he'd rather not get decked in the snout by Kyra. However, as aware of his situation as he was, he made no effort to apologize, and instead chose to simply hide and make himself less noticeable. Kyra had the good sense to start moving across the lift to pummel him, but it opened before she could do anything, and Neemis quickly fled the scene, while the others in the squad went their separate ways, except for the girls.

"Kyra, forget about that waster. He isn't worth it." Lexi advised, trying to soothe Kyra's anger towards the pint-sized Bothan. "Do you want to head back to the ship? One of the guards on patrol can point us to where it is." she offered, saying anything to get Kyra's mind off of Neemis.

Kyra shook her head and looked in the general direction of the medbay. "You go on ahead, Lexi." she responded, looking calmer, but still disturbed. "I want to go check on Nax."

Lexi didn't fight Kyra's decision. "I'll… bring you something from the galley." she offered, waiting on Kyra's response. Instead of saying anything, Kyra just looked at her, smiled, and nodded, before heading to the medbay.

---

Kyra had a massive sense of deja vu as she watched Nax float in the vitor tank. It really didn't feel like all that long ago that she was sitting in the Sandtrap's medbay, waiting for Nax to pull through after Lostur shot him. Obviously, she was worried sick about him then, but now it was different – she had genuine feelings for him now, not just friendship or even a bond of convenience. Kyra breathed deep and shut her eyes, trying to avoid showing tears.

The medical droid – the one that had been taking care of her while she was out cold, was also the one in charge of operating on Nax. From what he said to her, nothing vital had been hit and very few slugs actually remained inside Nax despite the appearance of his injuries. He also told her that Nax's leg armor had deflected most of the shots harmlessly. By all rights, Nax should have been cut down then and there, but somehow, he had avoided certain death.

As Kyra quietly reflected on that engagement and everything they saw, she reached into her bag and held the device Bitterman had given her, feeling its edges jut into her palm. Slowly, her thoughts drifted to the mysterious spring and why the device opened without any input from her. Kyra did nothing but focus her attention onto the cube, immensely frustrated with why it wouldn't open.

Mentally tuning out of her senses, Kyra didn't feel the box begin to lift out of her hand, nor did she hear it slowly clicking as its pieces moved into their places – she only opened her eyes when she heard the distinct sound of a hologram clicking on. She took a moment to analyze what had just transpired. One, the cube was open. Two, the cube was floating in her hand with no obvious reason as to why. Three, there was a hologram of a male Zygerrian floating above the cube. "What the hell…?" Kyra mumbled in confusion, breaking her concentration and rendering the cube inert once again, falling into her palm. "Son of a-!" she swore, fighting to try and get the cube open again to no avail.

Giving up with a frustrated huff, Kyra put the cube back into the bag and walked over to Nax's tube, pressing her hand up against the glass. Feeling strange pangs in her chest, Kyra frowned and closed her eyes. Even though he was out cold in the tank, Kyra felt a strange warmth coming from him, as if he was aware that she was in the room with him, and it was enough to perk her up. Reluctantly, Kyra slowly moved away from the tube and sat back down, ready to fall asleep.

Before she drifted off, though, an image slipped to the front of her mind – one of a dimly lit cantina, with the view being from a booth in the back of the building. On the table in front of her was a half-empty shot glass, and for whatever reason, the image made her feel melancholic as she nodded off.

---

Dantinian meditated in the gardens of his palace, quietly observing the ripples his subjects put through the Nexus – some of them conscious, some of them not. He found it helpful to occasionally remind himself of just where he stood on the cosmic scale, as even the Overseer was still miniscule in comparison to the power of the Nexus.

Gradually extending the reach of his senses, he began to pick up more on the feelings of wildlife and other sentients that had begun to infest the ring – the Dinyol, Sangulo, and Vortahee, in particular, had significant presences within the Nexus.

As his reach grew, it naturally covered the void ship of the Interlopers, catching the Dreamer within his grasp, and she immediately outshone all others. Her powers had grown considerably since last he reached through the Nexus to feel her, and she would likely awaken soon. While that was an unfortunate result of losing her during the sacrifice, it would be important to take her before she grew too strong.

"Dunius." Dantinian said calmly, and his bodyguard, who had maintained absolute silence until now, immediately stood at attention. "Bring me a listing of the current purity standards – I have reason to believe they require revision..." he ordered, not breaking his concentration in the slightest. "...and please, make sure the Traitor Knight is prepared for the assault."

"Yes, sire." Dunius replied, bowing his head. "Is there anything else you require?" Dunius questioned, and Dantinian's silence served as good of an answer as possible, so Dunius left his master to his meditation.

Dantinian was content to simply observe the Dreamer's ripples in the Nexus and judge her from afar. She was young – younger than any of the other sacrifices, but she had the potential to become exponentially more powerful than any of her predecessors. Her power was raw and untamed, but were it to ever be focused, she would certainly cause problems for him.

Dantinian's expression furrowed in concentration. The Dreamer even carried a great deal of distress with her – she was clearly not whole, and the Nexus reacted accordingly, sending out the occasional negative pulse from her, which quickly blended in with everything else on the rings. Something had clearly sundered her very being, and were she not necessary for his plans, he might just be inclined to figure what caused that.

Regardless, the Dreamer would be his soon enough, and she was none the wiser.

---

That's a wrap, and just barely in the nick of time.

Like I said in the top opener, I was EXTREMELY lazy with writing through the months of October and November. This was supposed to be October's chapter, but I just fucked around too much and only picked the pace up in November, leading to a late release. Oops.

So, anyways, in case it wasn't obvious enough, the 52nd Helljumpers are straight up ODSTs in terms of tactics and design. I did a bit of asking around on how a Clone legion was designed and wound up eating a fucking diarrhea flurry when I found out that the Legions were all very generalized with a few specialized companies for purposes such as armored warfare, demolitions, and so on, so I've just said fuck it all and adopted the Space Marine methodology where every Clone legion is specialized for a specific task (except the 501st, who can be compared to the Ultramarines in terms of general utility) because honestly, trying to make sense of the GAR organizational structure is a fucking nightmare that I am not up to task for since you have Legions that are very obviously Legions but are referred to as brigades or corps or platoons and so on.

I got the idea for the GSC-1014 Thundercat from a cursed plane image I found on Twitter of the wings of an F-14 Tomcat slapped onto the body of an A10 Thunderbolt. As cursed as it was, I actually kind of fell in love with it and made it the 52nd's mainline heavy fighter/CAS craft.

The exos with chainguns on them were inspired by Terran Republic MAXes from Planetside 2 with dual miniguns, since my brother and his friend suckered me into playing again and I've already had $30 sucked from my wallet on cosmetics.

As for my plans for Dantinian and his little sect of the Rakata, I've taken some inspiration that you'll see very soon from a certain country led by a failed chicken farmer in an alt-history HOI4 mod.

I've also decided what the wildlife on the rings looks like - very much a mix of Half-Life Xen enemies and creatures from the book Expedition (which inspired HL1's enemy design). For example, the Slaughtertree was based on the Xen tree in terms of how it acts, but with a method of capture similar to the Butchertree from Expedition, with a concealed maw of teeth added to make them distantly related to the Sarlacc.

'Till next time.

-Tweak