Kassh's base, Tatooine Dune Sea

Vhetin and Kalyn Farnmir crept through the desert at a crouched run, both taking great care to stick to the shadows and remain undetected. They were deep in enemy territory now. They were shielded from unfriendly eyes by a a crumbling cliff of broken rock and shale that stretched above their heads for several meters. Even with the meager shelter, however, they were still treading on metaphorically thin ice; any slip up would not only endanger their own lives, but the lives of everyone else accompanying them.

"Do you think he knows we're here?" Vhetin whispered as they passed by a huge limestone boulder.

Farnmir shook her head, pressing her back against the rocky ridge and keeping her hefty sniper rifle pointed toward the ground. "No. If he did, he'd have security forces crawling all over us in a heartbeat. What's your motion tracker show?"

He checked his HUD's tracker, a small circle in the corner of his helmet's holographic readout that provided a real-time representation of local contacts caught by his helmet's built-in scanners. Friendlies showed up as green dots, confirmed enemies as red. While there were plenty of both present, he saw with relief that the tiny red dots were still at a distance of around a hundred meters.

"It's clear," he reported. "We're good."

"Copy that." She slung the rifle over her shoulder and began climbing the five-meter ridge, careful not to dislodge any of the loose pebbles that dotted the rocky slope. Vhetin followed her, climbing just as cautiously and keeping steady handholds. His foot slipped only once, dislodging a small shower of rocks to the ground below. They clattered loudly as they fell and the sound took a painfully long time to echo away into the desert night.

Farnmir spun above him and hissed, "Careful. Do you want to be slotted by a sniper?"

"Won't happen again," he muttered with clenched feet as he moved his foot more carefully. This time the rocks held and they continued their climb uninterrupted. Once at the top of the ridge, they were rewarded with an unobstructed view of the desert valley further on and the decommissioned Republic military compound that rested within.

Smart of Kassh, he thought as he settled himself down on his stomach. Back during the Old Republic, there were all kinds of old bases set up here, digging up ancient artifacts and scavenging the desert. A ready-made fortress, ripe for the taking.

The compound was indeed a fortress, though a modest one. There were spotlight towers set up at the corners of the facility, each manned by a pair of guards. A huge, defunct Jawa sandcrawler, clearly a few centuries old and feeling the weight of every year, lay half-buried in the sand along the eastern edge of the perimeter. As Vhetin zoomed closer, he saw that there were three different sniper posts erected along the top of the broken-down transport. Other barricades dotted the perimeter of the base, constructed from old, wrecked speeder bikes and huge piles of scrap metal. These barricades were wrapped with razor-sharp bundles of wire and had gaps raggedly cut away to allow for sniper positions.

As if that wasn't defense enough, there was also a long, thirty-meter stretch of unguarded sand between the base's courtyard and the start of the desert, all of it barren save for more razor wire rolls arranged in a rough checkerboard pattern. It was an obstacle course, meant to slow down intruders and make them easy targets for the snipers.

In all, the defenses were of a familiar design that Vhetin knew well from past experience with smugglers and other criminal cartels. It was easy to build, easy to fortify, and easy to defend; the perfect hidden base.

Farnmir clambered down onto her stomach as well, shouldered her sniper rifle, and sighted in on the base. The two scrutinized the challenge before them in silence.

Farnmir soon shifted her position to scope out the sandcrawler, the obvious weakness in the base's defenses. She sniffed as she scrutinized the hulking colossus of time-ravaged scrap and muttered, "What do you think?"

Vhetin booted up a penetrating heat scan and saw a sizable force of beings clustered inside the compound; they showed up on his display as blobs of reddish-orange against the cold blue of their surroundings. "I count twenty, maybe thirty guards inside the compound and fifteen outside. Plus... nine snipers scattered about. Even with reinforcements from the militia, we're pretty heavily outnumbered. And you know Kassh won't go down without a fight."

She nodded, still squinting through the sniper scope. "But we still have surprise on our side. And these aren't exactly top-grade mercenaries. They look like local thugs to me. A few Gammoreans, a couple Devoranians, a Djorak or two. Nothing too troublesome."

She glanced over at him and cocked her head with an impudent smirk. "Or are you afraid of a little dust-up?"

He was about to shoot back an equally sharp remark when one of the compound's spotlight beams pivoted in their direction. They both pressed themselves close to the ground as the light passed within two meters of them. It hesitated near their position, long enough to make Vhetin worry, then slowly moved on.

Once they were shrouded in darkness again, both hunters sighed in relief and Vhetin muttered, "Whatever plan we form, this is definitely going to be a challenge."

Farnmir nodded silently in agreement, pulling the rifle back and sliding back down the ridge. The Mandalorian stayed a few moments more, recording everything he could of the base. When his HUD informed him that his scanners had finished their inspection of the area, he pulled a tiny vidcam from his belt and set it up in the sand next to him. He half-buried for camouflage, careful to keep the recorder eye uncovered, then slowly backed down the ridge as well. The camera booted up with a beep in his ear and linked with his helmet systems, giving him a tactically advantageous view of the complex from afar.

Jay was waiting below with Massano and the militia troopers massing for the attack. All were silent and composed; commendable, given the severity of the odds stacked against them. They all glanced up as Vhetin and Farnmir approached, clambering back down the sheer rock face.

"What's the situation up there?" Jay was the first to ask.

"From what we can see, Kassh is dug in deeper than we thought," Farnmir explained. She leaped from the wall and landed hard, kicking up a cloud of dust and sand as she hit the ground. "We counted fifteen heavily-armed guards patrolling the outermost perimeter of the compound. There are sniper towers with spotlights and an old Jawa sandcrawler they're using for a sniper platform as well. He's taken all the high ground in the area."

Massano grunted. "What about infantry numbers?"

Farnmir knelt and drew a rough rectangle in the sand. "So this is the main building. It looks like a-"

Vhetin cleared his throat and interrupted, "Excuse me, but I've got a better layout of the base."

He transferred data from the half-buried vid recorder to a holoprojector on his belt. When he tossed the device into the sand, it sprang to life and displayed a 3D scan of the compound and its troops. The tiny holographic soldiers marched about on the holo, jumping back and forth as the hologram sputtered. The scan showed a collection of all seven buildings, linked around the single rectangular command center.

"I set up a holo-scanner along the ridge while we were scouting," Vhetin explained. "The scanner sends out a real-time scan of the area and transmits it to this projector. The image refreshes itself every quarter-second, so it's as accurate as we're going to get."

"Fancy stuff for a freelance merc," Massano growled, glaring at Vhetin. "Is that a toy from your Imp buddies?"

Jay looked like she was about to intervene on Vhetin's behalf again. But one of the militia troopers beat her to it, nudging Massano's arm with a smirk and saying, "You gotta keep up with the times, boss, elseways we're never gonna make a good militia."

Another trooper shoved the first in the back and said, "Yeah, as if you had any clue what the Mando just said either."

"Stay focused," Massano growled. "We've got a job to do here."

Farnmir, meanwhile, was kneeling next to the hologram and studying the readout of the base intently. She narrowed her eyes and tapped her fingers against her thighs in a sharp rap, rap, rap motion. Her head was cocked to one side in curious scrutiny and her eyes darted back and forth across the hologram.

Jay noticed the other woman's intense stare. "What are you seeing?"

Farnmir traced her finger along the perimeter of the holographic compound till she stopped at the line of wrecked speeders and the snipers dug in there. "It looks like they've got razor-wire barricades set up along this area all around the compound," she said, "but the snipers are concentrated on the west - our side - since there's no settlements for hundreds of miles in any other direction."

"Why not just attack from the other directions then?" Massano asked. "We can circle the base and hit them from behind."

Vhetin shook his head. "Kassh mined the desert for at least half a mile in every other direction. It's a funnel, so that the only possible way to attack is through Sniper Alley. Gives his sharpshooter's a chance to hone their target practice."

"Oh."

It was true; the barren stretch of land was dotted here and there with the bones of those who had tried to run the gap and failed. Akk dogs, Tusken Raiders, Jawas, and even the husk of a juvenile Krayt Dragon had all tried to penetrate the defense and failed.

"But," Farnmir continued, "if we can cover the thirty-meter stretch of land between here and there, those wrecked speeders should provide good cover for us. We can set up some sharpshooters of our own and take out those spotlight towers while we're at it."

"We turn his own defenses against him," Vhetin added. "If we control that one stretch of the perimeter, our target has nowhere to go. He's trapped in the facility, just waiting to be captured."

"Wait, wait, wait," Jay said suddenly, kneeling next to Farnmir. She pointed at the gap as well, staring at the rolls of razor-wire that had been arranged in a checkerboard pattern across the sand. "That's not going to work. I know this pattern. It's a standard Imperial defensive setup."

"How do you know that?" Massano asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Former Imperial navy pilot," she said, waving one hand dismissively. "Long story. But see those rolls of razor-wire? They aren't just for decoration. They're meant to mark where they've buried plasma mines."

Several members of the militia began murmuring among themselves and cursing. With good reason too; stepping on a plasma mine was a bad way to go. The flash-heated explosion could vaporize a man to ash in the blink of an eye. Even Vhetin, in his near-indestructible Mandalorian battle armor, wasn't safe from such a device.

Jay hastily added, "We should be okay if we can just, you know… jump over the razor wire."

"If we can jump over the razor wire?" one of the militia troops demanded with an incredulous scoff. "We aren't kriffing gungans, lady. I dunno if you can jump five feet straight up in the air, but I sure as hell can't."

She glanced at Vhetin, knowing full well that he was more than capable of such a feat. But she didn't say anything on the matter and let her partner reassure the uneasy troopers.

"Let me worry about the snipers," Vhetin said. "I'll head in first, neutralize the perimeter guard, and see if I can't deactivate the triggers on those mines and clear the entire field in one swoop. You'll still be screwed if one of them catches a stray shot and detonates, but it'll still be much safer."

Farnmir frowned. "There's still the problem of the snipers on the sandcrawler."

Vhetin gestured to himself. "Seriously? Mandalorian, remember? We're the ones who made jetpacks a trending thing in this profession, you know."

But Jay quickly shook her head. "No, your pack is too loud and too bright. If you use it to get up there, it'll alert the guards and ruin our cover."

Shab. His jaw tightened, but he couldn't deny the truth in her words. His pack was useful, but he would light up like a Nar Shadda billboard as soon as he used it. And they weren't exactly quiet; even the stealthiest models roared like a rampaging reek with a throat cold. In the silence of the desert night, they would probably hear his pack all the way back in Anchorhead.

He scowled behind his helmet and folded his arms "I hope you have a better suggestion."

"I think so," she replied, kneeling next to Farnmir in front of the hologram. "How good are you at rappelling from of a moving vehicle?"

He frowned. "I've jumped out of a few dropships in my time, if that's what you're asking."

She pointed to the sandcrawler on the holo. "If we take one of our ships in low with the engines on minimum burn, we should be able to sneak past the perimeter defenses. Does the Tough Luck have any stealth hardware?"

Farnmir silently shook her head, still staring at the holo.

Jay looked up to Vhetin. "What about Void?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. I can think of a few systems. It was designed as a blockade runner."

"Like what?"

He shrugged, not entirely comfortable with revealing his ship's many secret capabilities. But it was critical to the mission, so he reluctantly said, "She has audio dampers installed into the ion engines that can run completely silent for up to half an hour at a time. It's not foolproof, but it'll reduce the sound she makes to barely a whisper."

He glanced around him and noted that the wind had begun to pick up since they clambered down behind the ridge. "And if this breeze keeps up, it should mask her approach nicely."

Farnmir nodded, looking impressed despite her obvious efforts to conceal it. "That could work."

Jay glanced around at the others. "Everyone else happy with the plan? Let the high-flying Mando go in first and clear a path for us normal spuds?"

A chorus of affirmations and agreements. Vhetin knelt next to his partner and turned his full attention to the hologram.

"All right, Jay," he said. "Walk us through it."


Thirty minutes later

Vhetin stood on the exit ramp of his ship, his hand clutching tight to the safety bar above his head. The desert whipped past him far below, almost too fast to see. The deck trembled under his feet, but the engines only made a gentle buzzing noise barely audible over the wind that screamed by. Void's engine dampeners were in full effect now, and the ship was almost fully silent.

He tapped the comm unit mounted on his helmet. "You have your ears on, Kalyn?"

"Ears on," she confirmed. "Getting squeamish?"

"It'll take a lot more than this to make me squeamish," he replied. "Time to drop?"

"Soon. I'll give you the word. You sure you can jump out of this thing without alerting the guards?"

"Covert infiltration is my specialty. Don't worry about me."

"If you say so. Just do me a favor and let some get to their ships. I would be disappointed if you didn't leave any of the fight for me."

"No promises." His eyes squinted against the rushing airborne sand that assaulted his helmet visor and his kama flapped wildly in the wind. The huge sandcrawler was swiftly approaching, lit from below by powerful spotlights. He could also make out the snipers, lying in prone position and scanning the area laid out before them with their rifles.

Vhetin, with his black-gray armor, was all but invisible against the dark sky and his ship glided through the air with little more than a grumble from the engines. As they approached, the sound died completely and the darkness around him was silent save for the wind rushing past his helmet's audio receptors.

In the tense few moments before he dropped, he went over the plan one more time.

"We'll need an eye in the sky," Jay had said. "Someone who can provide air support and keep watch for Kassh at the same time."

"I can do that," Farnmir spoke up suddenly. Her gaze was still fixed on the hologram, obviously memorizing every detail she could. "Once we get inside the perimeter, my sniper rifle will be pretty much useless anyway."

She had looked over at Vhetin with a smirk. "Unless you're afraid I'll get my cooties all over your fancy ship?"

He hadn't been excited about the plan, but he knew it was the best they had. So he'd agreed, and now Farnmir was sitting behind Void's joystick. The deck jerked beneath his feet as the ship came to a jarring halt. She floated noiselessly over the top of the sandcrawler, ready for him to make a quick departure. He hooked the clip of his rappel line to the bar above his head, throwing some of the line out ahead of him.

One of these days, he thought with a grimace, I'm gonna break my neck doing one of these crazy stunts.

Before he could think better of it, he leaped forward into open air. He plummeted in freefall for a few heart-stoppingly long moments, his kama billowing out around him. Then the line snapped taught and he swung back over the top of the sandcrawler. His boots hit the ground silently; before they started he'd traded out his usual combat cetare for soft-soled infiltrator shoes.

The rappel line was detached and reeled back into the ship within the blink of an eye. Another blink and the shadowy ship rushed silently off into the dark like a wraith, leaving him alone. The snipers ahead didn't hear anything; their attention was focused elsewhere.

He approached the unsuspecting snipers, creeping toward them and pulling his specially-made silenced pistol. Once this happened, he would have only moments before a full-on firefight broke out. If he dawdled, he would most definitely be caught. He didn't fancy learning how Kassh treated his prisoners, especially given his particular history with the gangster.

Thankfully, precision and speed was his specialty. He quickly and quietly dispatched all three snipers with shots from his silenced pistol and they slumped silently over their rifles.

He didn't pause to survey his handiwork, immediately stepping up to the edge of the sandcrawler and surveying the ground below. He was standing on the edge of at least a hundred foot drop, the ground below so far away he almost seemed to stand at the peak of a mountain. Such a fall would certainly kill a normal man.

Thankfully, he was not a normal man.

He didn't allow himself to hesitate; hesitation allowed for the invasion of fear. Instead, he gritted his teeth and stepped off the edge before his body could seize up with the onslaught of self-preservation instinct. The terrifying, too-long feeling of utter weightlessness flooded his senses again as he plummeted down through the dark. He could see the ground rushing up to meet him and could see his HUD counting down his altitude so fast it was a blur.

Don't fire the jetpack, he thought. Don't fire the jetpack, don't fire the jetpack… oh kriff this is going to hurt.

He collided hard with the ground, unable to stop a breathless oof from escaping his lungs. Fiery pain erupted instantly in both his knees and he heard something let out a distressingly loud pop. The force of his fall continued to push him down to the ground and he tucked himself into a tight roll to shed excess momentum. He rolled a few feet and sprawled faceplate-first in the sand.

I was right, he thought with a grimace as he fought to catch his breath. That kriffing hurt.

He tried to roll over onto his back and a sharp spike of pain instantly lanced up his leg. He'd definitely injured himself in the fall, maybe even broken something. He curled up into a tight ball and clutched at his knee, the source of the jarring pain. He rolled himself onto his back and grasped the offending joint with both hands, grimacing at the throbbing agony.

Yep, he thought as he felt the damage. Definitely dislocated. This is not going to be fun...

He turned off his helmet's external audio speakers and grasped his throbbing knee. Then with a sharp twist and a pull, he shoved as hard as he could and the bone slipped back into its socket. He heard a wet snick and the pain tripled, consuming his entire leg up to the thigh in red-hot fury. His back arched and he screamed as the feeling coursed through his body like wildfire. Thankfully his voice was muted within his armor; to anyone on the outside, he would simply be writhing silently in the sand.

He eventually collapsed into a heap, shaking from the adrenaline and the aftershock of such discomfort. After only a moment to regain his composure, he grunted and pushed himself back to his knees. With a huff, he clambered to his feet and wobbled only a little before he regained his balance. The pain was already fading to a dull throb, easily ignored in light of the coming battle and easy to treat once it was all over. He shook off the pain and silently limped forward, pressing his back against a supply crate.

He reloaded his pistol and peeked out from behind cover. The rest of the snipers were just ahead, their backs to him. He prepared to attack, quickly relaying the plan in his head again.

"Once I'm down there," he had said, "I won't be able to send out messages to you guys until I'm finished with the snipers. They'll be monitoring local comm channels."

"How long do you need?" Jay had asked him.

He had quickly calculated. There were nine snipers total - three on the sandcrawler and six by the barricades. Eliminating all of them wasn't impossible, but it would take precious time.

"Five minutes," he'd concluded. "Tops."

"If we don't hear from you after six," Kalyn had said, "the rest of us will know the plan is a bust and bug out. Make sure you make the deadline, or this whole plan goes up in smoke."

He checked the chronometer on his HUD display. He had a little less than two and a half minutes left. Plenty of time as long as-

"Hey," came a voice behind him. "Who the kriff're are you?"

He spun and saw a human boy, no older than nineteen, standing in front of him. He quickly moved his pistol out of sight. He had no desire to shoot a kid.

He wracked his mind furiously for a plausible excuse. He mimicked a strong Corellian accent and drawled, "Ah, well ya see, the boss-man brought yours truly on as a las' minute addition, yuh know? Big-shot merc from C'rellia like me was such a good choice, he jus' couldn't pass up the chance. I jus' got here an hour ago."

The boy narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the tiny field pistol on his belt. He licked his lips, eyes darting nervously between him and the sandcrawler. "I don't know. I'm not sure I believe you."

It was easy to see he needed a different tactic. So he grabbed the kid by the back of the head and pulled him close, abandoning his accent. "You want to get killed, kid? If so, keep talking."

He shoved the kid back and looked around the corner of the crate again. No one in sight.

"Things are going to get real ugly around here in less than two minutes," he hissed to the kid. "Get out while you can. If you raise the alarm, I'll hunt you down and kill you myself."

When the kid still didn't move, Vhetin discharged his silenced pistol at his feet. He jumped and stumbled back, turning and taking off in the opposite direction. After a few moments, he disappeared into the darkness.

Vhetin turned back to the other snipers lying ahead. He tensed, then walked out from behind the crate as calmly as he could manage with his wounded leg. One of the snipers heard his boots scraping against the sand and turned towards him.

"Hey," the sniper called as Vhetin drew nearer. "You that new guy from Mos Espa?"

Vhetin shot him in the head. The other snipers gasped in surprise and tried vainly to bring their unwieldy rifles to bear on him. He quickly dealt with all six of them opponents, barely flinching as he pulled the trigger again and again. By the time the last sniper fell twitching to the ground, his timer read almost a single minute left.

He spotted a boxy comm unit near the barricade, a unit the snipers had been using to listen in on chatter around the base. He crushed it beneath one boot heel. Once done, he activated his helmet-mounted comlink.

"This is Grayscale," he said, using the code name in case anyone else was listening in. "Targets neutralized."

"Copy that," Jay's voice said over the speakers in his helmet. "Get to work deactivating the mines and we'll be right there."

Vhetin nodded to himself and set off at a jog for the tower that housed the security console. It was guarded by two of Kassh's troopers, armed with rifles and sonic pistols. Vhetin quickly scaled the ladder, raised his pistol, and fired up through the wooden trapdoor in the floor. His shot blasted through one trooper's foot, and the man yelled in pain.

Vhetin flipped up over the rail of the tower and caught the other in the face with his boot heels. The trooper grunted in pain and surprise and fell back over the edge of the tower, plummeting out of sight to the ground below. He hit with a quiet crunch that made Vhetin wince. Meanwhile the other trooper had raised his rifle, still balancing on his single uninjured foot.

Vhetin grabbed the barrel of the rifle and yanked it away. He twisted the rifle to the right, bracing his hand on the troopers' arm and breaking it cleanly with a hard wrench. The trooper was about to scream again, but Vhetin snatched the sides of the head and drove the man's face into his knee.

Skull and armored kneecap connected with a crack, and the trooper's eyes rolled back in his head. The trooper flailed for a half-second, then crumpled to the floor. Vhetin suddenly stood in silence, breathing heavily. The entire fight had lasted less than five seconds.

Letting out a soft breath, he cracked his neck and turned to the security console.

"What other defenses do they have set up?" Massano had said, gesturing to the hologram with a frown.

"Just some mid-level anti-infantry turrets," Farnmir had reported. "Vhetin can shut those down while he's deactivating the mines."

Jay had looked up at him, worry evident in her gaze. "You've got to be quick, Vhetin, otherwise the rest of us aren't going to know what's going on, and we'll abort the mission."

He'd nodded agreement. "I know. I'll get those mines down in time."

He inserted a datachip into the port on the security console and unleashed a powerful hacking program, courtesy of Jaing Skirata back on Mandalore. The program raced through the security system, targeting the safeties on the minefield and the turret controls at Vhetin's command.

Within moments, power to the base's security systems had been disabled. The lights near his position flickered slightly as the excess power was diverted to their systems, but nothing more happened. Good.

He activated his comm again. "Grayscale here. The minefield is down. If that's not a red carpet..."

"Acknowledged," Massano's deep voice replied. "The militia's incoming. We're heading to your position."

Vhetin saw shadowy figures sneaking across the barren gap from the ridge, heading straight for his position. He hopped nimbly down from the four-meter tower and strode toward them as they approached the row of wrecked speeders.

Jay and Massano slowed to a halt, crouching behind the speeders and covering the area with their pistol and rifle, respectively. Massano and his militia troopers had painted their faces with clay, making them look monstrous and otherworldly. Jay, by comparison, looked very out of place.

"What's the situation?" the militia leader demanded.

"All the snipers and turrets are neutralized," Vhetin reported, "and power to the security systems will be tied up for years before they can clean out their system cache."

"They won't have the time," Massano growled. "We're finishing off these schuttas tonight."

Vhetin turned toward the building. There had been no sign that Kassh's thugs knew they were about to come under attack, and that was making him nervous. Everything was quiet, and quiet during an attack was a bad sign.

He shook his head. "Step up the plan. Massano, come with me. Jay and your militia can secure the area."

Massano nodded and turned to his troops. "Set up a secure perimeter around this compound. Any of Kassh's thugs that escape us are going to be flushed straight to you. Can you handle that?"

One of the troopers grinned and said, "Sure thing boss. We'll even wrap 'em up nice and put bows on their heads. It'll be like your birthday all over again."

The rest of the militia chuckled and nodded in agreement. Massano nodded back in encouragement before moving to follow Vhetin. Jay shot her partner a jaunty salute before following them.

"And don't forget about Kassh," Vhetin reminded them as they spread apart. "Don't kill any Twi'leks. You may be here to get him off your planet, but Jay and I are here to take him in alive."

There were scattered murmurs of approval, a few nodded heads; not exactly the enthusiasm he'd been looking for. It would have to do.

"Hawkbat?" he said over the comm. "Are you still airborne?"

"Yeah," came Kalyn Farnmir's reply. "And I'm ready for a quick pickup when you have Kassh in custody."

"Good," Vhetin said. "Stay on station and provide us with any air support you can. We're going to get this show on the road."

"Copy that."

He turned to Jay now, nodding to her in encouragement. She smiled back – a little nervously – and said, "Wish me luck?"

"You won't need it," he reassured her. "But be careful. You've had more than your fair share of close calls already, and Kassh seems to think you're weaker than you really are."

"He's in for a rude awakening," Jay scoffed.

"That he is. But if you need help, just call me and I'll be there. K'oyacyi, Jay."

It was a literal command more than a farewell: come back alive.

She smiled, understanding the command. "Thanks, Stripes."

Then she turned and jogged away towards the transport lot, pulling her Verpine pistol as she did. Vhetin watched her go, then headed off to his own assignment; securing the large command center with Massano. He unclipped his saber-staff from his jetpack and flexed his fists around the smooth shaft of the weapon in anticipation.

One last hurdle, and Kassh would be down for good.


Jay stood in the dark, her eyes carefully scanning the surrounding area. It was her job to make sure Kassh - or any of his thugs, for that matter - didn't make a run for the transports and escape. If he did, she would stop him.

As she waited, the memory of her plan returned to her. She felt a swell of pride, knowing that this whole operation was more or less her idea.

"What next, Jay?" Vhetin had asked her.

"Well," she'd said, wracking her mind to assemble her ideas into a coherent plan. "Once the militia attack the compound, Kassh will probably do one of two things: tuck himself down in a well-guarded area with enough supplies and ammo to withstand our assault for hours…"

Massano grunted. "He certainly has the numbers for it.

"Or," Jay continued, "he'll run for a transport."

Vhetin had nodded slowly, obviously impressed. She had blushed slightly at the praise and continued, "So we'll have to split up while we're on the ground. One of us will have to secure any vehicles or transports while the other does the legwork to chase Kassh down.

"There's a good side and bad side to both positions," she'd explained, thinking through her plan carefully. "Whoever's inside the compound will be open to more fire, but they'll have the element of surprise on their side. Whoever's guarding the transport lot won't have as much fire, but anyone trying to head that direction will be cautious of any other attackers."

She turned to her partner. "Any preferences, Stripes?"

"I'm going after Kassh," was the predictable response. "I've got a score to settle."

She hadn't been sure whether to count herself lucky that she had the transport lot.

A Tusken Raider howled in the distance and she shuddered at the haunting, barking sound. She was alone in the transport lot, pretending to be a simple hired gun loitering on her deathstick break. Despite her casual appearance, it didn't stop her from thinking, Hurry up, Vhetin. This place gives me the creeps.

The transport lot was a large square of flat rock and sand, situated a few meters behind the compound's easternmost building. The large Tatooine moons bathed the transport lot in an eerie yellowish light, throwing menacing shadows into the darkness.

There were several cargo speeders and a single space-worthy freighter, all painted a dull red and bearing the insignia of what Jay presumed was a local shipping company; Kassh probably used the company as a front for his activities in Anchorhead.

Jay shuddered again and activated her comm to listen in on everyone else's chatter. The sound of other people speaking was a slight comfort, making her feel less alone and defenseless.

"Grayscale here," came Vhetin's voice, tinged with a sharp tone of military formality, "calling Krayt Dragon. I'm at the front door. Is your entrance clear?"

"Affirmative," Massano replied, just as formal. "Placing breach charge in five."

"Copy that," Vhetin said. "Salacious Crumb, are you clear?"

Massano's lieutenant, dug in with the rest of the militia, said, "Yes sirs. The perimeter is established and we're ready to catch whatever poor sods you flush our way."

Jay tensed as she envisioned Vhetin and Massano, preparing to shake the stingerbee nest and alert Kassh and his troops to the imminent attack. She imagined Vhetin flanking the entrance, placing a circular det charge in the center of the door, performing all the actions she'd drilled for months.

A small part of her felt a twinge of resentment that she was stuck guarding the transports while Vhetin got the exciting job. But she quickly shook it off and concentrated on the job at hand. After all, it was her duty to ensure that Kassh didn't escape them again. It was easily the most important job of anyone here.

She remembered what Vhetin had said just before they'd moved out to execute their plan. As they broke up, preparing for their final assault, Vhetin had pulled her off to one side.

"What is it?" she'd asked. "If this is about the plan-"

"It isn't," Vhetin had interrupted. "I'm actually very impressed. I can see that I've taught you well."

She had nodded, flushing slightly at the praise. But he wasn't done just yet. He folded his arms and glanced over his shoulder, watching the militia troops moving to their positions. "What I want to talk to you about is your part in all of this. Are you sure you can handle this?"

"Securing the vehicles?" she had replied. "Yeah. I actually think I got the easy part-"

He interrupted again. "I'm talking about storming the base. This isn't going to be like Rhen Var. We'll actually be in a coordinated combat situation. A straight-up war."

He had gestured to the pistol on her hip. "Are you certain that you can pull the trigger if necessary? To kill if pressed?"

She had nodded, putting a hand on the blaster. "If it means completing the mission, then yes."

He had stared at her for a heartbeat through that faceless T-visor. For a moment, she wondered if he was going to call her bluff. But had nodded slowly. "I believe you. But before this night is over, you're going to have to use your weapon and shoot to kill."

"In a combat situation, you need to be able to do anything necessary to survive," she had said, quoting one of his many lessons back at him. "Even if you have to do something terrible."

She knew these things were easier said than done, but there was only one way for her to learn. And she knew that if push came to shove, she would definitely pull the trigger. There was too much at stake here; not just the bounty reward, but her life.

He had nodded, obviously satisfied, and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Jay. I think you'll do fine. Just be careful."

"I always am. You worry too much."

Farnmir had stepped up to them, obviously with something to say. She stopped short when she saw them.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Vhetin shook his head, taking a step back. "Not at all. Just some last-minute briefing."

"Good," the older woman said. "Because our window of opportunity is going to be pretty small. We need to get moving."

Vhetin had nodded and turned to follow her back to his ship. He looked back at Jay once more and called, "Good luck, Jay. Ret'urcye mhi."

"Yeah," she'd said. "Same to you, Stripes."

The muffled boom of a breach charge exploding roused her from her ruminations. The sound split the silence around her and echoed away into the night. After a moment, a second explosion rang through the night air as Massano's door charge blew.

They had now begun their attack. There was no going back now.

The explosion faded away into silence and everything was still once more. Jay frowned in confusion, waiting on an inevitable counterattack. She'd thought there would be... more. The screams of blaster bolts ringing through the air, the flashes of weapon discharges, the neon blue blaze of Vhetin's saber-staff. But there was nothing that she could see or hear. Just silent darkness.

That's not right, she thought with growing unease. Did something go wrong?

She shifted her weight and listened for any chatter over the comm. If something had gone amiss, she told herself, Vhetin would say something. Wouldn't he?

"Grayscale, this is Hawkbat," Kalyn said suddenly over the comm, making Jay jump. "What's going on down there?"

The comm channel hissed static long enough to make her worry again. Then Vhetin's quiet voice said, "He's not here."

"What?"

"Kassh!" the Mandalorian snapped. His tone was one of unbridled rage and something heavy crashed in the background of his transmission. She'd never heard her partner so angry before. "He's not here! The center room has a bunch of droids!"

"But your scan… it picked up the droids?"

Her question was met with furious silence.

"But that doesn't make any sense," she quickly added. "Durge said he'd be here, and there's evidence of Midnight Ultraviolet activity in the area. If he's not here, then where—"

The world exploded white as spotlights snapped on around the entire compound, flooding the area with blinding illumination. Jay threw an arm in front of her eyes and let out a shout of surprise. She staggered back, taking cover from the light behind a bulky cargo speeder. Her comm was suddenly filled with chatter.

"Enemy contacts! Enemy contacts!"

"Krayt Dragon, get down!"

"No shot! No shot!"

"What the-"

Then Massano's powerful voice cut through the rest.

"Ambush!"


Two minutes earlier

The cold night air seemed to dig into Vhetin skin, even through his flak vest and internal heat compensators. It wasn't as bad as the deadly chill of Rhen Var, but it was irritating and disconcerting all the same. He could see puffs of vapor warming the air with every exhalation from the rest of the team. He saw with no small measure of comfort that the troopers to a man showed elevated heart rates; they were clearly just as nervous as he was.

He kept his head low as he crept past the assorted collection of buildings, making sure to stay away from windows and doors - anywhere someone could jump out at him. His heart was pounding in his ears, adrenaline making his breath come in quiet gasps. He always got like this during the final push of a hunting mission, when everything was on the line. Only a fool walked face-first into a firefight without some anxiety at the battle to come.

"Krayt Dragon here," Massano whispered over the comm. "I've almost reached the back entrance."

"Copy that," Vhetin replied. "Tusken Squad, come in. How're you guys doing back there?"

"No sign of movement," came the response from the militia troopers.

Vhetin nodded, satisfied that things were unfolding according to plan. He skirted around a nearby spotlight and flexed his grip on his saber-staff, his sharp eyes darting around the area. Unless the schematics on his HUD were incorrect – which was unlikely – he should be approaching the front entrance door.

As if on cue, he rounded a corner and the blue-lit door came into view, the lights humming quietly as he approached.

"Grayscale," he said, "calling Krayt Dragon. I'm at the front door. About to knock. Is your entrance clear?"

"Affirmative," Massano replied over comms. "Placing breach charge in five."

"Copy that," Vhetin said. He blinked at a flashing icon on his HUD and switched comm channels. "Salacious Crumb, are you clear?"

"Yes sirs," Massano's lieutenant said. "Perimeter is established and we're ready to catch whatever poor sods you flush our way."

Vhetin pressed his back against the edge of the door, like he'd done so many times before on so many battlefields, set against so many targets. He made sure to glance up and scan the area for enemy contacts as he pulled the det charge from his belt. Normally, he'd have someone else ready to toss in a grenade or watching his six while he set the det charge. But one didn't always have such luxuries, and the other troopers were otherwise occupied, preparing to breach from other weak points in the building's defenses; windows, doors, ventilation shafts, the like.

He slowly peeled off the adhesive tape from the bottom of the det charge, tossing it aside as he tensed, ready for action. As always, the gravity of such a situation was not lost on him. These few moments before a breach were always the most intense of a hunt. There was no telling what was on the other side of that door. These few moments may well be his last.

Three… Two… One!

He let out a sharp breath, slapped the breach charge on the door, and turned away from the blast. There was a moment of shocked silence, as if the desert itself was left aghast at his audacity. Then the charge blew with an thunderous pow and the door blasted inward, heralded on a scream of tortured metal.

There was no time to waste. He ignited his saber-staff and threw himself into the room beyond. He heard Massano's breach charge explode soon after as he raised is saber in anticipation of an attack. His eyes raked over the interior in search of which target he'd fell first with his hissing aqua blade.

No such target was in sight. And no attack came. All that lay beyond the ravaged door was a dark and empty room, lit by the blue glow of his ignited saber. There was no sign of movement, no sign that someone else had beaten them to the prize, no sign that anyone had entered this building in weeks. There were no troopers, no Kassh, no... anything. Not even furniture or computer terminals to show that it was a functioning area of the base.

What the hell is going on? His instincts screamed that something wasn't right, that something was out of place and this whole operation was blown. But he couldn't be sure just yet. So, against his better judgment, he raised his staff and crept deeper into the darkness.

"Massano," he hissed into his comm. "What've you got?"

"Nothing," the militia leader replied with a voice almost as tight and cautious as his own. "Nothing but empty hallways. What the hell is happening in here?"

"I don't know," Vhetin said quietly. "But I've got a bad feeling about this…"

He made his way, step after step, through the empty halls with his saber held at the ready. The synthetic hum of the blade seemed to invade the silence more and more with every second, filling his ears and drowning out all other sounds. He turned a corner and found another empty hallway, dominated by a brightly-lit door that blocked the entrance to the next room. If his schematics and scanning equipment were functioning correctly, all of Kassh's men were clustered in there. And after the resounding thunder of the breach charges, they all knew they'd soon have company.

He stepped up to the door and pressed his helmet mounted audio receptor close to it, like pressing an ear to the surface to hear the room beyond. He boosted reception to maximum, but didn't hear anything out of place; the clank of the ventilation system, the skitter of tiny desert insects in the walls, and the distant whistle of the breeze across the sand outside. No heartbeats, no shuffle of feet, and no voices. In fact, there was no sound of life inside at all.

His sense of unease mounted. There were a lot of hostile contacts on the other side of that door. If they were really there, they would make some noise no matter how careful they were trying to be. He moved back with a scowl as he pulled another breach charge from the pack on his belt. He'd need more of an explosion this time; the door must have some kind of advanced soundproofing tech built into it. It was the only explanation.

"Grayscale here," he reported as he pulled the adhesive tape from the back of the charge. "I'm at the door to the central room. Planting breach charge now."

"Same here."

He attached the charge to the door and moved against the wall a few feet away. He had time to count to three before the charge detonated with a world-shattering ka-THOOM! The doors were enveloped in a cloud of yellow-red and were torn right off their hinges, flying into the room beyond with a deafening clatter and a roar of an explosion.

He ignited his pike once more and jumped inside, whirling the weapon in front of him and slashing at the first being he saw. The thug's arm hit the ground and twitched as Vhetin stepped over it and planted a boot in another human's face. Massano's breach charge detonated too, blowing open the doors on the far side of the room, and the militia leader charged into the fray. He and his accompanying troopers opened up with full auto blaster fire with a a chorus of battle cries. Kassh's thugs fell where they stood, clutching at their chests or arms or legs.

Vhetin cut another thug's arms off, using the momentum to bring him to face another. As he pivoted, his kama whirling out around him as he spun, he slashed horizontally and sliced another thug in half at the waist. The top half of the man fell to the ground with a shower of sparks and he pivoted on one foot to slash upward at another-

He stopped mid-attack and looked back to the disemboweled thug. Massano stopped as well, staring at what was left of the dead human. The battle — if one could even call it that, since Kassh's thugs hadn't fired a single shot of their own — froze in surprise and disbelief.

Sparks were showering from the thug's disembodied torso, the edges of his clothing glowing red-hot from the blade of pure energy that had ended his life. The two halves were still moving, twitching and spasming. Metal heels and metal fingers scraped against the ground and a harsh synthetic buzz escaped from a sparking mechanical vocoder.

Vhetin stared at the death throes of the droid at his feet, his heart sinking with sudden understanding. Then he yanked off a nearby man's hood, revealing angular metal plates and wide visual receptors that glowed yellow in the dark. He stepped away and ripped off the helmet from another trooper, standing stock still and staring at him. Another droid. And another. And another.

The Mandalorian felt an icy-cold vein of fury snake through his mind. Droids. Kassh's base was staffed with droids. We've been played.

He walked through the room, yanking off mask after mask and revealing nothing but droids. Every one of the thugs he'd slain were in fact mechanical units, programmed to endlessly amble around the area. They were bait, nothing more.

"Grayscale, this is Hawkbat," Farnmir said suddenly over the comm. "What's going on down there?"

Vhetin shook his head in disgust. "He's not here."

Jay's voice came over the comm, shot through with disbelief. "What?"

"Kassh!" Vhetin snapped as he shoved over a nearby droid with sudden violence. "He's not here! The center room has a bunch of droids!"

"But…" Jay paused. "But your scan… it picked up the droids?"

He was too busy fuming and shoving over another droid to answer.

"That doesn't make any sense," Jay said. "Durge said he'd be here, and there's evidence of Midnight Ultraviolet activity in the area. If he's not here, then where—"

Suddenly all the lights in the facility snapped on. His helmet receptors easily picked up thumping footsteps approaching from all directions. He spun his pike as no fewer than ten heavily-armed thugs - real thugs this time, not droids - stormed through the door.

"Hands in the air!"

"Drop your weapons!"

"Get on your knees you kriffers!"

Massano predictably bellowed, "Ambush!" and opened fire, followed swiftly by the troopers under his command. Vhetin grasped his staff in both hands and jumped at the hostiles, slashing and punching at anything that moved. A hail of multicolored blaster bolts ricocheted off the walls and floor with loud pings and pows, and the discharge filled the air with ionized smoke.

Vhetin ducked under a vicious punch and brought his knee into his attacker's gut, driving the man to his knees. He caught the man in the face with an armored boot, then slashed sideways and decapitated another. A twist, a pivot, and his blade carved a blaster rifle in half before reversing, pulling, and taking the shooter's hands off at the wrists. Strong arms grabbed him from behind and dragged him back, away from the battle, and he struggled against the vise grip. His attacker was quite strong, but a quick burst of fire from his jetpack set the man's legs on fire. He hopped away and left himself open to be skewered on the end of the Mandalorian's saber pike.

A few of the thugs fell back temporarily and regrouped for a second assault, crowding around the doors and cutting off any chance for escape. Vhetin wasn't about to let them prepare for another attack; he lowered his staff and seared them all with a roaring blast of fire from his flamethrower. They screamed and beat at their bodies, some falling to the floor and desperately rolling to put out the roaring flames.

Massano was keeping no fewer than six of Kassh's goons at bay with little more than his rifle and his bare hands. Vhetin started forward to help him, but something stepped in his way. A second later that same something punched him in the chest hard enough to send him sprawling onto his back. Stars burst into his vision as his helmet collided hard with the duracrete floor and his head collided hard with the back of his helmet. Looking up through watering vision, he saw a huge human male with dark tattoos adorning his face and body.

"Wow," Vhetin groaned, clambering back to his feet. "You are really big."

The man roared like an animal and beat his chest, shouting at Vhetin to bring it on. The Mandalorian stared at the huge man and sighed, dropping into a battle-ready stance. The giant roared again and lumbered forward, lashing out with another punch that would floor Vhetin where he stood. But the Mandalorian knew better this time. With a single swift motion, he dodged the clumsy blow, slashed with his lightsaber, and cut off the man's head.

As the giant's body slumped to the ground, Vhetin scowled and thought, Aruetii stupidity. Doesn't matter how big you are, you're still no match for a lightsaber.

It didn't take long to wrangle their attackers and after a few more minutes of hectic fighting the battle was over. All of Kassh's thugs lay sprawled across the floor, unconscious or dead. Massano was breathing hard, bleeding from several wounds on his chest and arms but otherwise unharmed. Vhetin's head was throbbing from his fight with the giant, but he'd been more or less untouched by the rest of the fighting.

Massano clenched a fist and keyed open a comm channel to the rest of his team. "Crumb, come in. Come in, dammit!"

"Yeah, yeah, we hear you Krayt Dragon!" came the voice of Massano's lieutenant. "We're pinned down at the barricades! Someone kindly get off their ass to save ours!"

"I've got them," Jay said. "I can make it to the barricades if I run."

"No," Vhetin ordered as he jogged for the exit. "There's every chance that Kassh is still here somewhere. We can't afford to lose him now. Stay where you are."

Jay cursed and Vhetin heard the sound of several close-proximity blaster bolts over the comm. "Okay, but... damn it, just get those troopers unstuck so some of them can help me out over here!"

"I'm on it," Vhetin said, dashing out into the open air once more. He heard the sound of blaster fire from the line of barricades and sprinted in that direction, the blue blade of his saber lighting up the darkness around him as fifteen more of Kassh's thugs came into view.

But they weren't alone. Standing with them were three hulking robots, arm cannons raised, shoulder-mounted grenade launchers roaring. Their chassis were protected by thick plates of polished chromium armor and their photoreceptors blazed out from armored heads that closely resembled stormtrooper helmets.

Mark-III Darktroopers. Imperial death droids. Vhetin cursed at the sight and his approach slowed a little. MUV wasn't supposed to have this level of hardware. Kassh's pockets were deep, but not so deep as to give him access to top-grade Imperial military tech!

He slid to a halt and hefted his weapon, preparing for a tough fight. He'd seen first-hand the destruction those droids could cause; a single unit could wade through an entire town's population in hours, leaving no witnesses to the carnage left in its wake. And if Kassh had hacked these units and downloaded his own destruction protocols...

He sprinted forward before they could bring their weapons to bear on him, holding out his saber pike as he dashed past. The blade cut a single unit in half, severing it at the waist. The droid let out a very sentient-sounding scream as its top half fell to the ground with a clatter. Vhetin kept running as the two others swiveled to face him.

"Target priority override," one of them rumbled. "Initiate demolition procedures on target priority one, Mandalorian bounty hunter."

"Affirmative," boomed the other and they both opened fire at him.

The ground at his feet was riddled with blaster bolts, superheated sand melted to glass all around him. He rolled and did his best to get ahead of their line of fire, but the ground exploded beneath him as one of the droids fired its shoulder cannon. He flew head-over-heels through the air, slamming face-first into a building wall and crashing into a smoldering heap in the sand. His saber-staff clattered to the ground a few meters away and its bright blue blade deactivated. He was thrown into darkness.

Pain washed through his chest. His vision swam dangerously, clouded by both exhaustion and the blood dripping into his eyes from the fresh cut on his forehead; his scalp had smashed hard against the front of his helmet when he hit the wall. He coughed and tried to sit up, holding his aching head. His HUD switched to low-light mode just as a Darktrooper's huge foot descended on his chest and pinned him into the sand. He let out a shout of pain as the droid pushed hard, attempting to crush his chest in. He tried to prise the heavy metal boot from his torso, but even his considerable strength couldn't dislodge the giant war droid from its perch.

Just when he began to feel the edges of his armor press worryingly hard into his flesh, the trooper looked up and cried, "Emergency! Emergency! Incoming hostile fire!"

Then the Darktrooper was blasted away in a wash of flame and a crash of ripping metal. It flew through the darkness to land in a smoldering heap almost fifteen meters away. Vhetin collapsed back into the sand and sucked in a long and desperate breath, clutching his chest. When he'd gathered his strength and clambered to his knees, he saw Massano kneeling in the sand and hefting a bulky rocket launcher.

The Mandalorian nodded, all the thanks he could muster put into the gesture. Massano nodded back, almost imperceptibly. Together, they headed for the barricades and the troopers pinned down there.


Things were not going well for Jay. She had managed to keep Kassh's thugs at bay and had been doing a fairly good job of it. Humans and aliens alike fled her onslaught of blaster fire, unable to pin down her location in the darkness. She was just catching her breath between bouts, waiting for her assailants to muster the courage to attack her again.

Then the Darktrooper showed up.

She'd heard of the droids before, of course. During her navy days, rumor had infested the ranks of the Imperial fighting forces that they'd soon all lose their jobs to mechanized warriors. It was an old notion, borne of old memories of the Clone Wars and the devastating industrial power of the Separatists' droid army.

"They're already sending units into the field," the rumors had said. "Droid soldiers made to look like stormtroopers. They're stronger, faster, and more accurate than even a special forces veteran. And it won't be long before the navy is treated the same and 'bots will be behind the stick of a TIE fighter."

As secret weapons went, this mysterious Darktrooper project seemed to be a decent one. But though Jay believed the Empire was more than capable of having plans for such a mechanized warrior, she had never really put much stock in the rumors. Now she was realizing just how foolish she truly was for ignoring such information. The Darktroopers were clearly very real, and she was about to get an up-close and personal look.

Stomping from around the corner of a building, the massive droid took one look at her and targeted her with its full compliment of weapons. Its photoreceptors flashed red for a single breathless moment, then it opened fire. She had swiftly lost ground after that.

She was currently pinned down behind a cargo speeder, a barrage of incoming fire pinging off the metal by her head. She squeezed off shots at the hulking tank of a droid and the myriad thugs that were attempting to surround her, but her opportunities for resistance were swiftly dwindling. She'd been able to push back her opponents by sticking to the shadows and constantly staying on the move. Now such a tactic was tantamount to suicide. The Darktrooper would pick her off as soon as she stuck her head out.

"Vhetin!" she shouted into her comlink as sparks exploded over her head. Another shot and the entire speeder trembled and began to belch smoke. She cursed and sprinted to new cover, firing as best she could as blaster bolts stitched the ground behind her. A bolt just barely clipped her shoulder, tearing through her jacket and missing her by centimeters. Still, the force of the near-miss sent her sprawling into the dirt, sand spraying out around her as she scrambled into new cover.

She came to her hands and knees behind another speeder and heard the Darktrooper rumble, "Human female is classified priority one. Move in and search and destroy as necessary."

Kark it all, she thought with a scowl as she reloaded her pistol. I'm really starting to hate Kassh for this whole assassination thing. Why does he want me dead anyway?

"Vhetin," she snapped into her hands-free comlink. "If you can hear me, I need backup at the vehicle lot right now!"

Her plea was met with nothing but static and the sounds of blasterfire from her partner's end of the line. She cursed again and counted what ammunition she had left. If Vhetin wasn't coming, she would just need to hold out herself.

She had two more clips of ammunition for her pistol, two thermal detonators, and a vibroblade down one boot. A loud curse flew wildly from her lips and she found herself envying Vhetin his armor and its dazzling array of weapons. Her current armaments were barely enough to scare off a grumpy dewback, let alone knock out a Darktrooper and the brutes attacking with it.

She heard footsteps approaching from one side of the speeder and she let her back thump against the side of the vehicle, pressing herself close for cover. She gripped her pistol and squeezed her eyes shut, thinking, Okay... you've got this. It's no different than that Stunball match. Except that if you lose, you die. But don't think about that. You can do this. You can do this!

It was the best pep talk she was going to manage. So she took a deep breath, then threw herself out from behind the speeder and opened fire. Three of Kassh's thugs fell to the ground screaming within seconds, her aim sharp and true. She somersaulted over them without further thought and reloaded as she dashed down the aisles of vehicles, her entire body trembling with adrenaline. She could effortlessly remember everything Vhetin had taught her over the months, her every move honed by instinct and training. She could almost hear his teachings in her mind.

Scan your surroundings, he'd said. Never let your guard down.

Even as she remembered that, she ran at a crouched run behind a speeder bike, picking off targets as soon as they presented themselves and tossing her grenades at clusters of enemies. She took down three thugs, four, five... after a time, she stopped counting, every ounce of her attention focused on the fight at hand.

She was fast, faster than her opponents expected. She'd spent months doing endurance drills with Vhetin, honing her body and mind for just this situation. Her legs pumped hard, carrying her across the sand and into the fray before Kassh's goons could react. Her pistol snapped up and fired again and again, sending the smart scrambling for cover and the slow sprawling into the dirt with smoking blaster burns.

This was different than the fight on Rhen Var. She didn't have her partner to distract the enemies, didn't have the luxury of wounding her opponents instead of killing them. When she shot at her enemies now, she needed to ensure they stayed down. Yet for some reason, the reality of her actions was strangely detached from her actions themselves. She knew she was killing these people, but it didn't bother her as much as she had thought it would.

Here, she didn't have time to dwell on keeping her conscience clean. If she was going to survive this, she needed to make sure someone else didn't.

This is what Sekha meant, she found herself thinking. When she asked if I'd ever killed before. And she was right; it's very different than a dogfight in a TIE fighter.

She moved around a derelict speeder, careful to keep out of the line of sight of the colossal Darktrooper still stomping through the area. It was further away now, still investigating her first spot of cover behind the now-flaming speeder car. As she rounded the corner of her new hiding spot, an armored Nikto stuck its head out looking for her. She squeezed off a shot that hit him square in the forehead and the alien slumped, dead before it hit the ground. She kept moving after snagging an unprimed grenade he'd dropped when he fell.

Always remember to reload your weapon early, Vhetin had told her, his voice ringing through her mind even as she did as he'd advised. It may seem like a waste of ammunition, but you don't want to run dry in the middle of a firefight. If you've got the time, do it. You may not have the time later.

She snapped back the charging rod of her pistol, tossing the magazine with three remaining shots into the sand behind her.

Last gas cartridge, she thought to herself. Better make it count.

By her estimation, there were at least six more of Kassh's thugs out here with her, as well as the giant battle droid. She wouldn't have enough ammo to deal with them all. She could maybe find some other weapon, like she had done during the Stunball match. Maybe if she found a metal pipe or a hefty rock, something to incapacitate one of the thugs so she could take his weapon…

Improvisation, she remembered Vhetin saying on that day when Tarron had told them about the bounty on Kassh's head. She remembered how skillfully he'd used his sword and shield in conjunction during their sparring match. She remembered that when she'd asked about it, he'd replied that he'd made it all up on the fly.

Improvisation, she thought. Let's hope he's not as full of poodoo as I think.

She rolled out from cover, keeping her head down as she fired at everything and anything that moved. The snap of her Verpine pistol was loud in the transport lot and the yellow flash of her outgoing bolts lit up the darkness around her. Bodies fell left and right, the hostiles incapacitated or dead depending on fate and the luck of where her bolts fell. Far too soon, a small whine from her pistol told her that she was once again running low on ammo. She knelt to check the counter on the back of the weapon. It read that she had a minute amount of tibanna gas left in the ammo clip - enough for maybe five or six shots.

As she came to her feet, she swiveled to aim at a nearby Gammorean hefting a vibro-axe. She squeezed off four shots that hit the creature in the chest and face. The ugly, slobbering alien slumped over the railing into the vehicle lot. Its axe thumped into the dirt below.

There! She dashed toward the fallen weapon and holstered her spent pistol as she flew. As soon as she was close enough, she leaped forward with desperately outstretched hands, grasping for her salvation in the formless sea of sand beneath her.

She didn't make it far enough. A large boot landed in the dirt behind her and a mechanical voice rumbled, "Cease resistance and place your weapons on the ground."

She flipped onto her back to see the huge Darktrooper towering over her, wrist-mounted blaster cannon pointed directly at her face.

"Cease resistance and place your weapons on the ground," the droid repeated.

But she wasn't paying attention. She was instead remembering her time down in the tunnel during the Stunball match, when she'd been staring down the barrel of an enemy Stunball pistol. Just like back then, she ever-so-slowly grasped the grip of her newfound weapon, careful not the arouse the suspicion of her attacker.

Improvisation, she heard Vhetin's voice murmur again. The barrel of the droid's cannon began to glow red with charge.

"Cease resistance," the Darktrooper boomed, "and place your weapons-"

The rumbling grate of a voice was cut off as Jay swung the heavy vibro-axe with all her adrenaline-fueled might. She put every ounce of strength her body could muster into the blow, swinging her shoulders and hips together. The charged blade sprang to life with a sizzling purple glow and a hissing crackle of popping plasma. A scream of effort tore from her lips as she smashed it across the droid's hand, severing the appendage at the elbow. The droid screamed — a loud, mechanized screech not unlike the grate of metal on metal — and staggered back, flailing its one good arm in the air.

Jay came to her feet, hefting the heavy axe over her shoulder as she swung again and caught the droid in the stomach. Sparks flew as grease and wires spouted from the wound. The droid screamed again, falling to its knees and clawing at the air.

Using the momentum from her last strike, Jay swung the axe up and above her with a shout of effort, then brought it down with all her might on the Darktrooper's head. It carved the scuffed chromium chassis neatly in two and sank down deep into the war droid's mechanical guts. The body twitched as the vibrating purple blade of the axe sliced down through its central processor core. It froze for a moment, as if in disbelief. The fingers of its good hand twitched sporadically and there was a low buzz from somewhere deep in its housing. Then its glowing red eyes flickered and dimmed. The heavy body tilted, then fell to the ground with a crash that seemed to shake the world.

Jay stood alone in the now-quiet courtyard, listening to the distant snap of blasterfire and the shouts of fighting militia troopers. With a grunt, she wrenched the vibro-axe from the Darktrooper's head and let it fall to the sand with a heavy thud next to her.

She was breathing hard and her knees shook from exertion. She pulled a strand of sweaty hair from her eyes as she surveyed her battlefield, chest heaving. Every last one of Kassh's thugs that had been stupid enough to stay and fight her lay dead, their bodies scattered around the transport lot. The rest were in open retreat, fleeing from the lot while throwing terrified glances over her shoulder.

She drew her pistol and half-heartedly sighted in on them, meaning to fire a few warning shots to keep them fleeing. But even as her finger hit the firing stud, the pistol clicked harmlessly in her palm. The cartridge was empty and her ammo stores were completely spent.

She felt a sudden wave of exhaustion wash over her and she staggered back, sprawling to her knees and propped herself up against the nearest transport. She reached up to tap at the comlink in her ear, thinking to report in to her partner, and realized that it must have fallen out while she'd been fighting. A wry chuckle fell bubbled up from her parched throat and she leaned back and let her head thump against the solid metal at her back.

Shab, she thought, barely even noticing her use of the Mandalorian word as she closed her eyes, feeling another wave of weariness sweep over her. I did it. I almost died trying, but I did it.


Vhetin sprinted for the transport lot, cutting down any of Kassh's thugs that stood in his way. He vaulted over a barricade, bringing his saber down and slicing it along a human thug's back. The man sputtered and slumped over as Vhetin landed on his feet and kept running.

"Jay," he said over comms, "if you can hear me, I'm on my way. Hold on!"

He somersaulted as blaster bolts flew over his head and came up fighting, slicing a Quarren's hands off at the wrists and flooring him with a one-two blow across the face from the blunt end of his saber-staff and a swift kick to the gut. It barely even slowed the Mandalorian down.

"Jay?" he said into the comm. "Jay, answer me!"

There was no answer. That wasn't good.

Calm down, he told himself. She's probably just in the middle of fighting and can't answer you. Just because she isn't answering doesn't mean she's dead. Usually.

The stretch of ground ahead of him was clear of enemies and he redoubled his efforts, sprinting through the dark, black on black. His heart was pounding as he thought, I brought her into all of this. If something happened to her... I'd never forgive myself.

It was a feeling he'd experienced far too often. He would not let it happen again.

He saw the transport lot come into view around the corner, all twisted metal and the dark reflection of tinted speeder windows. He redoubled his efforts. He barely noticed the safety rail that surrounded the lot, front-flipping right over it and skidding down the steep embankment on the other side. He slid to a halt between two parked speeders and immediately scanned the area for signs of life with both his helmet scanners and his own, weaker mortal eyes.

It wasn't pretty; there was carbon scoring everywhere, evidence of recent blaster fire, and many inert bodies. He tightened his grip on his saber-staff and slowly made his way out into the main area of the lot. The sand beneath his feet was churned by recent action, and blood - human and otherwise - stained the ground in many places.

"Jay?" he said quietly. "Are you there? Answer me?"

He moved out from around a speeder and saw the still-sparking corpse of a Darktrooper droid. It was slumped over, one arm missing, still twitching sporadically as some hidden backup power unit tried in vain to restore basic function to the giant war machine.

Oh no. That thing will have ripped her to pieces, he thought with a cold sinking in his gut. He'd almost been crushed by one of the damn things, and he was a seven-year veteran of this kind of chaos.

He lowered his lightsaber, shedding light on the prone form of the war droid. It seemed to have endured several blunt-force wounds to the chest and head, probably from the grease-stained vibro-axe that was tossed in the dirt nearby. And laying beyond it, dirty and bloody, her back propped up against a speeder, was Jay.

His heart ran cold as he saw her and he sprinted over, setting his pike aside and kneeling in the sand next to her. "Jay?" he said quietly. He reached out and slapped her face softly, to draw her attention, hoping she was just unconscious.

At his touch she jumped and pulled her pistol, pressing it up under his chin. He cursed and yanked her arm off to one side before she could fire. She struggled against him for a moment, cursing and the pistol clicked as her finger mashed the firing stud. It wasn't long before he was able to wrench the gun from her hand and say, "Calm down. Calm down. It's Vhetin."

She stared around at her surroundings, uncomprehending. Then she saw him kneeling there and relaxed.

"Oh," she sighed quietly, in equal parts relief and exhaustion. "It's just you."

"Are you all right?" he asked, looking her over for any serious wounds. She had a small burn near her collarbone and one on her shoulder, several bruises, and was covered in mud and sand. He didn't see anything overly serious.

She nodded and let her head hit against the back of the transport behind her with a thud. She sighed brushed a clump of sand from where it had clung to a cut just above one eyebrow. "I'm good. And the transport lot is secure. Is this where I say oya?"

He couldn't help it; he burst out laughing. He didn't care that he'd almost died, or that she had almost died, or that Kassh was nowhere to be found. He just sat there with her and laughed. After a few moments, she began to laugh too.

They stayed there for a few minutes, laughing and catching their breath. It didn't last long, but it was enough.