Many thanks to those who reviewed the previous chapter. Creative inspiration continues to freely flow for every story, as well as other projects that are less of a fanfiction nature. please R&R, and enjoy the next chapter! ~F

Chapter Eleven

Ord Mantell Pushback

Filius' mind spun madly as he raced through the corridors of the Pursuit of Justice, narrowly avoiding the pursuing Dark Adept, who seemed more than hell bent on the Charms Master's personal destruction.

Oh yes, Filius remembered this one, from the battles around the southern part of the Core, which turned out to have been more vital than they seemed at that time, as dear sweet Luna had planned so thoroughly for their forces to flee to the south, and Filius without knowing it had cleared the way for their escape from imminent destruct at the hands of Harry Potter, now the Emperor Darth Veneficus.

This powerful being with the Force was a sight to behold, crashing through ranks of hastily preparing troopers that had remained on the ship to protect them from boarders. Filius was scrambling to formulate a plan to remove this dangerous one from his ship, but with them both being so swiftly moving through the ship, there wasn't time to accurately think of and initiate a plan.

That was, unless…

With a generous flick of his wand, Filius took to the air, soaring over the helmets of Imperial and rebellion troopers alike as he veered to another corridor, which he knew led to a dead end and a munitions locker, a new plan already forming as he went. With the extra speed on not having to turn or dodge, he had all the time he needed to outpace the Adept and work out the potential pitfalls in his plan to remove the man from Filius' ship.

Zooming through the last door, he quickly hit the door with a sealing charm, buying himself several more moments, which he used wisely to summon and start enchanting a random object, which turned out to be a scope off a blaster rifle.

A crimson blade plunged through the door behind him, but Filius paid it no mind, knowing that there was still precious moments before the Adept actually could enter, in which he started to throw shielding and rebuffing charms around the room, making absolutely certain that none of the ordinance in the room could be disturbed by what was about to transpire here.

When he had finished, he turned and watched as the saber withdrew from the outlined door, and the entire thing fell inward, the metal clanging heavily on the deck of the ship.

"The chase ends here, small one," the Adept said snidely, strutting in and readying his weapon.

"Oh, I most certainly agree that that is the case," Filius replied, already moving his wand to unleash a barrage of spells at the man, slowly dodging to the left in a circle as they were deflected back at him. The Adept could tell a tickling jinx from the killing curse most likely, and wouldn't know that everything that Filius shot at him was actually quite harmless, the diminutive Commander knowing that it was heavily unlikely that he would slip in a spell that would connect in one-on-one combat.

However, the tactic served its purpose, allowing Filius to move toward the entrance of the room, and therefore cutting off the chance of the Dark Adept escaping. Granted, a captive
Force user was the most dangerous kind, and it was clear that the human was well aware of the situation, although possibly felt that Filius was planning to escape once again.

Regardless, that made Filius job slightly easier, as the Adept pressed forward, trying to push through the storm of spells and attack with his deadly red weapon.

Still, Filius used the sudden charging attack to dodge under the man, taking the scope and planting it directly on the chest of the Force user, who twisted to try and avoid contact but wasn't fast enough. The Portkey activated, and Filius released it just in time to avoid going along for the ride.

He did however; follow the same path with his own apparition, landing gently outside the escape pod where the Portkey had dumped the Force user. Swiftly, Filius slammed a hand on the switch to seal off the escape pod and initiate the launch.

The Adept widened his eyes as he turned to glare back at Filius. Hammering with his fist on the porthole of the pod, the Force wielder raged even as Filius waved goodbye to him. At least the fool was smart enough not to use his saber and kill himself by piercing the narrow hull of the pod.

However, even as the pod discharged from the ship and was sent hurtling out into space, Filius caught a glance of the Adept bringing his arm to his mouth, which could only meant that he was signaling the fleet to resume bombarding the Pursuit of Justice.

Thoroughly exhausted, Filius returned to the bridge as quickly as he could, arriving just in time to see the oncoming storm of missiles and lasers that threatened to tear their ship apart. "Prismatic Barrier holding for now Commander," the officer he left in charge informed Filius as he approached, "and we've heard from the ground forces. Shuttles are retreating from the surface to us."

"Are all out forces returning?" Filius asked, eyeing the monitors for their shields, which while holding strong for the time was still taking a powerful hit in energy levels with the barrage it was weathering.

"No, Shadow Guesto, Knight Ist and their group are taking an anti-air outpost to make sure that the others can escape." The officer responded, and Filius frowned. That was a clear and dangerous move, and he wasn't sure if they would be able to remain here without retreating soon.

"Send word to them that they need to withdraw and escape quickly, there's only so long that we can withstand this onslaught," he ordered, worrying for the others of their group that had come on this mission.

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Diábolis seethed as he finally left the chamber where Yihdâ was being held. He had tortured the half-sith for hours, and had acquired very little from him. What he did now know was that the fool did not know for certain where his master might be hiding.

It was actually somewhat disappointing how little the fool truly knew regarding their plans or the grand scheme of the rejected Sith. It was almost as though the being was merely a patsy that was used, much like a tool, rather than an apprentice to his master.

The counters to Diábolis' own life and position were clear, and yet it was disturbing that there were many parallels now, regarding the lack of communication, and the near nonexistent awareness of each other's location. If the Emperor didn't ever leave his palace, Diábolis wouldn't know where the man was either.

It truly gave him a great deal to think of, and the challenges that he was faced with in the pursuit of dethroning the man who took control of the Galaxy at the end of a lightsaber. To destroy such a man and still leave a sizeable chunk of the Empire to rule was a daunting task.

Diábolis had thought that this uprising of a different Force users would have been a useful smokescreen to make his moves unseen, but with his master driving him to and fro dealing with the matter directly, Diábolis realized that Veneficus had sensed such an opportunity and dealt with it completely, eliminating any time that the Sith Apprentice could have used to build a fight against him.

Therefore, he would have to fall back on his other plans, especially those that relied on the Jedi and their rebel friends and having them build up forces to oppose the Empire directly. Unfortunately, there was only so much that he could do directly to influence the rebels, as aside from finding some Jedi on Ilum he had not even interacted with them in any fashion.

Therefore, he needed to send out spies and infiltrators to find the rebels, not in order to report back to Veneficus and destroy them, but to keep tabs on them and work their way into the upper ranks of the groups, and lead them in such a way that they defeat Veneficus without demolishing the Empire as a whole.

Then, once that position had been achieved, Diábolis could swoop in, eliminate the rebels in one brilliant flash of destruction, and set himself as the head of the newly glorified Empire, and rule himself in the aftermath of his master's fall, and the elimination of the Jedi, the rebels, and all others that wont bow to his rule.

Quickly sending some coded messages out on his communicator to several sleeper agents he personally had control of throughout the Empire, he gave the instruction to find the rebels and get into their organization, before focusing on the oncoming sense of Darkness, even as the ship exited Hyperspace over Coruscant.

Veneficus was still there, his presence clouding the entire planet like a thick shroud. Diábolis was sure that their prisoner could even feel the oppressive aura as they passed through it to the darkened planet. Even with the sun beating down in midday, the power of the Dark Side was almost a visible force blackening the sky, and casting a gloom over the landscape of endless buildings.

Their ship, despite its size, was more the capable of coming in for landing at the specialized hangar and ship repair station, which had been captured when they invaded the planet. It was especially reserved for the ships of the two Sith Lords; however, and was left empty for Diábolis' return.

"Ready my prisoner for transport, we will be taking him to the Emperor directly…" Diábolis said to the commander of the ship, who inclined his head and obeyed.

Turning and departing for the shuttle, even as the capital ship prepared for docking on the planet side hub, he wave a hand at Fury and his pet troll as they appeared, "I shall not be long, and soon we shall have the answers we seek."

"Just to be sure, my Lord, I would feel better if we at least accompanied you until the Emperor's guards have custody of the prisoner," Fury countered, and Diábolis smirked at the tact alongside the refusal of his command.

"Very well," he said, rewarding the small amount of assertion against the will of a superior. In this small matter it was more tolerable, but the Sith apprentice knew that if such an event happened when it actually had consequences, he would have to be swift in shutting down the presumptuous Marauder.

The prisoner was waiting for them, bound in chains and Force restrictive binders that hindered all ability to fight back, escorted by the elite commandos of Diábolis' trooper regiment, and over watched by several other, lesser Dark Adepts.

Piling the half-Sith into the back of the shuttle, Diábolis permitted the pilot to take off, and set the course directly from the Works to the Imperial palace, submitting the key codes for the heir of the Empire for the border guards, so that they wouldn't be shot at on sight.

"The Emperor has been expecting you, Lord Diábolis," the black helmeted guard said, from the hologram communication from the palace. "Your prisoner will be taken upon arrival and the Emperor wishes for your presence directly."

"Very well," Diábolis acknowledged, "I will comply with his Majesty's wishes."

"See that you do…" the guard replied, with only the subtlest threatening note as the communication ended.

Diábolis frowned at the thought, even as the shuttle wheeling in a tight circle for its landing within the courtyard of the palace. The guards of his master were one of the few things he had not fully accounted for how to eliminate from his grand scheme to take over the Empire.

The Arcanamach were fully loyal to Veneficus alone, and he suspected heavily that they would attempt to destroy him before he could even get close to the Sith Master to overthrow him. Somehow, he would have to find a way to eliminate the trust that Veneficus held for his personal guard.

But for the time being, he schooled his emotions and contained his secret plans for domination behind walls of Force shrouding as he entered the lair of his master. The wafting of Dark Side energy caressed him, and Diábolis could tell that Veneficus was instantly informed of every single individual that entered or left this building at all times.

The scope of Veneficus' power was truly disturbing to him, and he truly feared the idea of fighting against his master when the time came. Blotting everything from his mind, he followed the overwhelming presence of the most powerful being in the Galaxy.

Entering the Holocron vault, where his master was meditating over the collection of learned wisdom that he had acquired between the generations of Sith and stolen from the Jedi. "Your prisoner will tell us little," Veneficus stated as Diábolis entered the chamber.

Several more holocrons floated up from the side of the room, joining the dozens already rotating around the Sith Lord's head as he hovered feet above the ground.

"Then why did you want me to bring him to you?" Diábolis asked, genuinely curious to know what the Dark Side master.

"Because it leads toward the final defeat of the usurper…" Veneficus stated, his eyes half closed as he gazed partially into the future and yet remained in the present. "Skarok-Nur will soon learn that this one is his only servant left, and without his powerbase, which is being whittled away in their vain attack on Dromund Kaas, he will have no choice but to face me in the open, and I will crush him utterly…"

Diábolis was suddenly very glad that he had not placed any of his hopes on this uprising delaying for his own action. Once again the Emperor had foreseen all that would transpire, and manipulated the events for his own gain in the end.

"Excellently done, my Lord," Diábolis said, deflecting from anything that might involve himself regarding this master plan.

"And you will be here to see it completed," Veneficus continued, which surprised the Devaronian completely.

"Skarok-Nur will succeed in releasing his apprentice from the Arcanamach, and together they will try to assassinate me, but they will never expect the pair of us together." Veneficus explained, only partially looking at Diábolis with partially lidded eyes, unfocused in the throes of the future.

"Is that really necessary though?" Diábolis asked, "Could we not intercept and eliminate him together, before he need come to us?"

"No!" Veneficus barked in return, his face transforming momentarily into a grimace of anger and rage. "No, he is beyond my sight, shrouding himself from the currents of the Force, I cannot see where he is hiding… but I can sense his general movement, that he is coming for us, and soon… the Arcanamach will delay and warn us of his arrival, and we can then eliminate the last of Naga Sadow's opponents once and for all… purify the line of the Sith ever after…"

"But can we trust your guards to do even that?" Diábolis probed, sending out the tiniest feeler of doubt into his master's mind. Even the resulting blast of lightning from the old man's fingertips was worth the need for starting his plan to eliminate the guards. "They are loyal to me, and will die if I command them do to so!" the Sith Lord raged, losing his concentration and floating down to the floor, the Holocrons all around settling back in their resting places.

"Of course, my Master…" Diábolis said, feigning apology for the remarks, but he knew he had struck home. There was no reason for his master to grow angry enough to lash out if he did not already doubt the effectiveness of his own guard.

The Sith Master ignored him, standing and turning toward the entrance, "I can sense another presence entering the system. He is here…"

Diábolis raised his eyebrows, the attempt to eliminate Veneficus was happening now? From what he had interpreted from the Emperor, this was some far-flung future event, not something that was about to commence.

"Commander, ready our defenses, we will have an intruder soon," Veneficus said, and Diábolis turned to see the old man speaking into a communicator.

"Best not make it too easy for him…" the Sith Master said by way of explanation, moving toward the exit, "Come Diábolis, let us await our rivals…"

"Yes, my Master…" Diábolis replied, hiding a grimace of irritation.

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Kelrek seethed as he watched, helpless from the escape pod he had been dumped into by Flitwick, even as his ships advanced, attacking all out on the Rebel vessel while fighters were sent to retrieve him and return to the main cruiser.

How he had been so easily defeated by a trick was disgraceful, and the Sorcerer was on a warpath to avenge his wounded pride, but he was aware of the need to stay in orbit over the planet. But in that cause he had formulated a plan.

It was obvious, from the technical readouts he had caught glimpses of throughout the ship that the rebels were planning to hastily recover as many of the Republic forces that they could and flee back to their base. While he had not been able to plant any sort of tracking device on their ship, nor did he expect that one would survive long enough to give away their hiding place, he could and indeed would make their rescue attempt a failure.

The first step was moving the fleet further in, so that they could fire on any shuttles that were retreating from the planet's surface. Next, he sent out a coded communication to Srilis and Jennah on the surface, telling them to advance their timetables and strike at the Republic as they fled, which would put more pressure on them to get off the surface of the planet and into the waiting guns of their fleet.

Finally, he would have all their fighters scramble from both the fleet no their surface bases to harass and destroy whatever they could, scorching the planet if needs be to send the clear message across. The Empire was not to be mocked in such a fashion, and the Adept Trio would not allow it.

But before he could enact any of that wonderful, final vengeance, he wanted to be witness to it from the bridge of his own ship, not wallowing in the escape pod that had temporarily become his prison.

"My Lord," came the communication over his comlink, even as a pair of sith fighters slowly flew by him, "We shall tow you back to the ship, so just hang in there a while longer…"

"Make it quick, I do not wish to be in range of their guns for much longer," Kelrek stated, casting a glance back toward the ship, and wondering why they had not been shot at by now anyway.

Cursing loudly as one of the of the fighters suddenly exploded, Kelrek was jarred roughly as the pod started to move, towing lines from the remaining fighter having impacted the hull and were now pulling taught, slowly accelerating him through space away from the wreckage of the second fighter.

A fresh wave of sith interceptors took their place, barreling toward the rebel's ship and firing with impunity at the vessel. Kelrek wasn't sure in his current position if his soldiers had managed to cripple any of the systems on board, but with how the massive projected barrier still held, he suspected that they had failed in their missions.

Still, the glowing red barrier wasn't going to hold out for much longer, and if he managed to destroy the ship, then he would still walk away from this situation the victor.

Calling in to the main cruiser, Kelrek demanded, "I want surgical bombers to circle around that barrier and begin work destroying their shields. This conflict has taken long enough and needs to be ended."

"Yes, my Lord," the admiral in command replied, even as Kelrek felt the tractor beam of the Imperial cruiser finally take hold of the pod he was held in.

Within minutes he was back on solid ground inside the vessel, brushing past the troopers that had come to free him from the pod, and had been forced back when he cut himself out violently. Storming up to the bridge, Kelrek glared across at the group of faces, many of which glanced at him in terror before returning to their tasks, daring any of them to even mention his humiliating exit from the rebel ship.

"Status report." He demanded of the nearest officer, who nodded hesitantly and handed over a datapad, which had the readouts from the short range sensors and was trained on the Pursuit of Justice.

Scrolling quickly through the data that was displayed before him, Kelrek read swiftly. The shields of the enemy ship were quite weak now, and it wouldn't be long before they fell, and the ship either retreated or was destroyed. Meanwhile, the shuttles had drawn closer, and while he had commanded fighters to be sent to intercept, but one of the anti-air batteries, as well as the enemy vessel itself had turned their guns on the Imperial fighters, shooting most of them out of the air and scattering the rest.

The shuttles had almost arrived at the ship; however, there was another opportunity in that rogue anti-air battery. There had to be a group of rebels, or Republic soldiers there, and while their ground forces were closing in, it was likely that they would need to escape as well.

"Converge our air forces on that anti-air battery. I don't want those rebels to escape," Kelrek ordered, forwarding the coordinates to the consoles of the officers in charge of their landing shuttles and fighter wings.

"What of the shuttles and the cruiser?" the officer in charge of the fighter squadrons asked.

"Ignore the shuttles," Kelrek replied, "let our capital ships continue putting suppressing fire on the cruiser, we'll force them out of orbit one way or another…"

"Yes, my Lord," the group stated in unison.

Turning to glare out the main view screen at the Pursuit of Justice, he turned his thoughts angrily toward the diminutive commander that was still on board that ship, quite alive. "Let's see how Fltiwick reacts to us attacking the last group left on the planet instead of their precious refugees…"

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Euka snarled as the honor guard of the enemy commander pursued them directly into her master's trap. It couldn't have been a simpler tactic that she and Ekitc had come up with. Despite the fact that they had left the city in somewhat different directions, their scouts had both reported this large contingent of dark Force wielders moving swiftly toward the landing sight.

From what snippets of messages she had intercepted between Ekitc and his master, Euka had learned about the half-sith leader of these attackers, one by the name of Srenmivu. Know that while she would rather take the glory of slaying such a one herself, Euka was cautious, and had contacted Ekitc and formulated a plan to lure them to Zhar's main force.

Therefore, they had ordered their regiments to proceed without them, and had converged alone on the mass of black-armored figures. Euka had slain one before they noticed the presence of the Adepts in their ranks, and the chase was on.

From there it had been a simple means to lure them straight to where they already were heading, but at a far less careful pace, directly into the line of fire from the lines of Imperial troopers that guarded the landing platform in the jungle.

Zhar appeared with them once they skidded to a halt in the no-man's-land between the line of trees and the line of troopers, even as the first of the black saber wielders crashed out of the trees. The troopers opened fire, and cut down several with the surprise of the sudden counterattack. The last few retreated, their sabers becoming a blur as they deflected the bolts until they were out of sight.

"Well met, my apprentice," Zhar said quickly, looking up at the group of dark helmets, even as the entire platoon of elite adepts started into the open land in one group, covering each other from the barrage of blaster shots.

Zhar held up a hand, stopping the troopers from wasting their shots on this side, and stepped forward, his own weapon not leaving the ready position for D'jem So.

The group fanned out once the barrage of blasterfire ceased, revealing the half-sith woman in their ranks, her own black blade humming to life as he squared off against them.

"We will destroy you fools," the female stated haughtly, making a clear attempt at intimidation, but none of the three were fooled.

"Interesting, coming from one who fled with her tail between her legs from the Supreme Prophet not several hours ago…" Zhar commented, deflating the aura of power that the hybrid had been building.

Euka activated her staff even as the air turned frigid with the anger that the other force wielder projected in her hatred of the facts.

"Destroy them!" she shouted, and the armored warriors charged, even as the three powerful Dark
Adepts reared back with the Force, unleashing three blasts of lightning at the charging, metal-encased foes.

It was almost amusing to watch the majority of the black armored fools collapse instantly under the torrents of blue-white electricity. A scant few managed to escape the blast, including the female, who all leapt across the last few feet and attacked.

Zhar intercepted Srenmivu, their sabers flashing as the launched into a high paced exchange of blows, even as both Euka and Ekitc were forced to dodge back as the remaining armored guards charged them. Spinning out of the way of the crashing black saber, Euka jumped up and kicked her assailant in the head, staggering the being and opening the figure up to her own crimson blade, which she drove in with relish.

The briefest glance to the side showed her that Ekitc had dispatched the last remaining underling equally swiftly, and together they converged on Zhar and Srenmivu, flanking the half-sith female. Despite this three-on-one combat, their foe seemed to relish the challenge, and somehow grew swifter and stronger from it, almost feasting off the raw Dark Side between the four combatants.

Lightning seemed to pour from the jet-black blade in her hand, leaping off at different intervals to block their strikes even as the powerful Force adept battled against the overwhelming odds.

Euka had to admit, despite the clear differences in skill with the blade, the half-sith's mastery of very strange and arcane force techniques was impressive. Only the waves of lightning were managing to make up for the five blades versus her one, but Euka had a feeling that it wouldn't last long one way or another.

And she was proven right, when Srenmivu made the attempt to blast them all away with a wave of telekinesis. Zhar and Ekitc were knocked away, but Euka had anticipated it and boosted her aura to resist the blast, stepping forward instead, and slipping past the half-sith's defenses.

The woman shrieked as Euka's blade worked straight through her armor and into her chest cavity, and an explosion of Force energy ripped through the area, shortly before Srenmivu collapsed, dead at last.

Glancing up, Euka couldn't help but smirk at the looks she received from her master and her rival. Zhar's pride was abundantly clear, while the jealous anger of Ekitc tasted far better to Euka through the Force.

If she wasn't recognized at the end of this battle for this victory, then there would be quite a deal of retribution to pay. Turning to face the tree line at a warning from the Force, Euka stood shoulder to shoulder with the others, their own opinions discarded as more troopers and black lightsaber wielders poured from the trees. There would be time enough after the battle to hash out the details of what the implications were.

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Ist saw on the scanners that the Imperial fleet was turning toward them. They had had to yield the outer grounds to the overwhelming land forces that were converging on them, but for the safety of the shuttles that had done everything in their power to keep the guns firing at the swarms of fighters trying to harass the departing shuttles.

The cheer when they succeeded had been short lived however, when they spotted the fighters turning toward them instead. Naturally they would be able to hold the location for a short time, but Ist was already delving into their blueprint readouts of the complex, looking for any possible means of escape. There were no intended departure means, but she found a handful of exterior walls that could easily be cut through and lead directly into a network of caves that ran below the outpost.

She wasn't fond of caves, not after Ilum, but if there was no other choice, that was where they had planned to go, hopefully finding or making another exit somewhere else, and making their own way back to their hidden shuttles and off world before the Pursuit of Justice was forced to leave them behind.

"Master Jedi, what part of holding the outpost did you decide against exactly?" the voice of the regiment's commander said, from some unknown location. The officers had finally, upon seeing the forces that they were up against, decided that discretion was the better part, and chose to abandon their leader and flee to join the rebels and fight another day.

Their commander, predictably, was not pleased with that decision. "It has become a nonnegotiable fact, sir," Ist replied, trying to remain courteous, and wondering why Shadow Guesto wasn't the one speaking to the man.

Even still, there was a strange feeling that she was missing something regarding the man she was speaking to. The Force swirled around the man in odd ways, and it led her to feel greatly suspicious of the commander.

"Commander, the outpost will be lost," the officer working directly with the Jedi commented, but the faceless voice overrode him, "You will do as I command. The other fools may think that running away like cowards is the only option, but I have never lost a battle, and I will not start now!"

"That's… not true…" the officer replied, and Ist suddenly had a spot of intuition regarding the man whom she had never seen, nor had many of the Republic troopers after the battle for Ord Mantell started.

Switching off the communication, she turned to the officer, "he's defected…" she accused, "this was a trap from the beginning, and we need to get out of here before the Imperials block the caverns and trap us here for good."

"Are you sure?" the officer said, fright evident in the being's voice.

Glancing at the Jedi Shadow, Ist noted that the Changling nodded subtly, agreeing with her assessment. "Yes, we must leave now, set the turrets to automatic and get everyone to the lowest levels." She advised, and the officer nodded.

Even as the technitions scrambled to gather everything that they could use outside of the outpost, Ist and Shadow Guesto took point, yellow sabers alight and leading the way. They hardly made it down the corridor; however, when the building shook violently and all the lights went out. Illuminated in the yellow glow of their weapons, the two Jedi look at each other, knowing that they had limited time to get the others to the extraction point and cut their way out of the building before it was stormed by shock troopers.

"I'll hold them off, you get the others out of here," the Clawdite said, his skin already transforming to resemble the grey armor of an Imperial trooper. Clutching his staff in both hands, the Shadow darted off down the corridor, heading toward the front entrance, presumably to lay an ambush for the invaders and buy Ist and the others more time.

Ist only had to wait a moment or two before the officer, several helmeted troopers and the group of engineers bolted from the room and to her side. "This way," she said, leading the way with her saber high for them all to see, navigating the staircases and emergency shafts to avoid any potential brushes with the oncoming imperial troops.

However, once they made it to the bottom of the compound, Ist felt a tremor in the Force, and she could only assume that Shadow Guesto had launched his ambush, and that the fighting at the entrance had begun.

"We almost out of time," she said, looking up at the ceiling momentarily, before turning toward the wall that they had previously selected, and plunging her saber into the thick durasteel. Many people might have thought that it was a simple matter for the Jedi to cut through doors and walls, but Ist knew that in fact it was very difficult. The material cut, that was true, but the resistance of the electromagnetic field in both the metal and around the plasma blade itself wanted to repel each other, and the Jedi had to call upon the Force as well as their own strength to push the blade through the molten metal.

So, after a long and painful few moments where everyone was on edge as Ist worked her way through the tick wall of the outpost, finally a near-perfect circle of metal fell away with a nudge from the Force, revealing the short stint of rocky land before the cliff side rose up, blocking escape in that direction.

It was too quite though, "we need to be quick and decisive, no stopping for anything until we're in the caverns," Ist instructed, before stepping out quickly to protect their flank.

The Republic soldiers started to run for the entrance of the cavern network. And just as Ist suspected, from both sides of the outpost surged groups of Imperial troopers. The first barrage of blaster bolts were immediately caught and redirected by Ist's blade, but she knew that her preferred style of combat wasn't going to stand up to a sustained attacks.

Hastily withdrawing therefore, she kept what blaster shots she could stop from getting through, and dodged just as many. Once she felt most of the Republic soldiers got through to the cavern, she leapt backward, hitting the opposite side with a massive wave of the Force to knock them away, and ran for the cavern herself.

She was quick, especially with the Force to aid her, but the numbers were simply too great, and she cried out as at the last moment a stray shot caught her in the shoulder, knocking her off her stride and she slammed against a wall.

Rebounding quickly, she took off again, knowing that she had to get past the point where, in their plan, the Republic troopers would have been setting charged to strategically collapse the ceiling and block the Imperials from following them.

The trigger of explosions rocketed behind her as she rounded the last curve, buffeting her forward and almost throwing her from her feet.

The soldiers and technicians rallied around her, the officer in charge catching her before she had the chance to lose her balance. "That ought to have foiled their plans for the time being…" she said after a moment of catching her breath. She made an effort to move away and raise her lightsaber to illuminate the sudden darkness they had been plunged into, but hissed in pain as her arm screamed in pain.

"We need a medic!" the officer called.

"There no time," Ist complained, passing her weapon to the other hand and igniting it, the pale yellow light casting shadows off their faces in all directions, "the Empire will start burrowing through the rubble to chase us, as well as try to locate our exit before we reach it, we have to move."

"Not until you've been looked at, at the very least," the officer rebuffed, showing his own determination to make sure that she was cared for. Ist admired that dedication to the others in his command, even though Ist was technically outside of his direction command.

"Fine, I concede the point, but can we do this while we move," Ist said, sensing renewed tremors in the Force. Dark Side Adepts were converging on their position, and with a jolt she realized that Shadow Guesto was not with them, but back at the outpost.

Whether the Clawdite managed to escape or fell in battle, she was not certain, but they had no choice but to go on without him. "Let's move," she said, even as the medic started pulling the sleeve away from the charred part of her shoulder, and layered careful Bacta patched over the wound.

Helmet lights went on throughout the group of soldiers, and within moments they started off down the passage, carefully checking with sonar devises that they had prepared for this specific escape.