We erupted from the Phoenix, fanning out, weapons at the ready. No one challenged us; the landing bay was empty. Canderous swore under his breath, and signaled for a couple of men to open the door. I kept Mission behind me, and Dustil was next to her. She was good with a blaster, and fair with a sword, or so she and Carth said. But we didn't want her engaging if we could help it. I waved Angus and Jenks to flank her and Dustil, giving them a nod, which they returned. Two more warriors joined, and she was surrounded with bodyguards. The door opened, and we moved forward with caution.
We didn't meet up with anyone breathing until we got to the main body of the ship. There were maintenance and mechanic droids here and there, which we took out as quietly as possible. Then we got through to the central corridor, and smack against about twenty troops. I marked the one diving for the intruder alert and went into overdrive; took him out before he hit the button. Then I was surrounded, and Canderous was on the other side of a wall of Sith troopers.
Blaster fire erupted, and I was busy blocking shots and mowing down anything that wasn't Mandalorian or Jedi. I felt Canderous's ecstasy merge with my Force abilities and the eight or so enemy in front of me looked to my heightened awareness to be moving in slow motion. In short order, the corridor was littered with bodies, and no one had taken a hit. No klaxon yet, either, and I smiled grimly.
"You've improved beyond recognition, my dear," Stefan said in an undertone as we hurried toward the engine room. "That was impressive."
"Thanks," I said, shrugging. "You're no slouch yourself."
I'd never seen Stefan in an actual firefight before, and he moved with a grace that reminded me of Mom, and a wild joy that was a lot like I remembered Dad.
"I try."
Canderous caught up with us and growled, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't get surrounded every time we're in a fight."
"Had to stop him sounding the alarm," I said. "Sorry."
We turned a corner, and Canderous briefly checked his datapad. "This should be a central computer room," he said, indicating the door.
Two men opened it, revealing several technicians. An officer turned toward us. "This is a res –" his voice was abruptly cut off by two shots to the head, and the rest of the room's occupants opened fire. There were only eight, and I didn't even get my 'sabers lit before everyone was dead. Mission hurried in, and hacked into the computer.
"I need ten minutes," she reported, and we covered the door as she worked, her bodyguards staying close.
Canderous' comm crackled, and he answered it. "Mandalore here," he barked.
"We're halfway to the target," Atton's voice came through, tinny and full of static. "So far, relatively undetected."
"Let's keep it that way," Canderous growled. "No comms unless there's an emergency. Meet you there. Mandalore out."
As he stowed his comlink, he spotted movement down the hall. "We got company," he called. "Hurry it up."
"Five more minutes," Mission said shortly.
Canderous, Jarxel and Kelborn picked off the three troops heading our way before they even registered we were there. However, behind them were about thirty more, who stared stupidly at their dead comrades for a moment. With an unholy shout, Mandalorians erupted out of the computer room, charging the Sith troopers. The corridor wasn't wide, and I dove across the hall to open another door for cover. Big mistake.
There were about twelve men in that room, which appeared to be a droid repair shop. Canderous was right beside me, Jolee and Stefan behind, Dax on the other side of me. Jarxel and the rest of the honor guard were in the corridor as the five of us dove into the room, blasting and slicing anything that moved. I felt Canderous take a hit to his left arm, and I charged the trooper that had done it, killing him with a vicious slash of my lightsaber. The honor guard joined in the fight, and in less than two minutes, all twelve men were dead and I sent a general blast of healing out, accompanied by Stefan's and Jolee's.
It was silent in the hall, and we checked to see if anyone was wounded. Very few casualties, I was pleased to see. I patched up everyone that needed it as Mission emerged from the computer room.
"Done," she said happily. "I gave them a nice little surprise too, if they try to use their cannons on us as we escape," she said, a wide wicked smile on her face. "The computer will start playing battle simulations and tie up the defense grid for hours. By the time they can shut it down, the ship will be vapor anyway."
"Kid, you got style," Canderous said, grinning. "Good job."
The ship was a maze of corridors and rooms, and I was very glad that we had a map. I had no idea how big this place was, and wondered why no intruder alert had been sounded yet. We were hardly quiet, with fifty in our party. Just as I was uneasily going to comment on that point, a klaxon sounded.
"They know we're here," Jarxel said unnecessarily.
"Good, I was starting to get bored," Canderous said acerbically. "What's the use of raiding a ship if no one fights back?"
"You got your wish," I pointed out as we hit a large open room filled with about fifty troops.
Dustil and Mission dropped back, bodyguards blasting away as they made for cover. Canderous gave a roaring battle cry and we charged, flanked by Stefan, Jolee, Jarxel, and the honor guard. About half of our men fanned out and started shooting; the remainder split right and left to try and outflank the enemy. I felt Canderous's battle ecstasy burn through me like wildfire, and suddenly merge with the Mandalorians.
We hit the enemy like a battering ram, and half of them were dead in seconds. I was back to back with Canderous, lightsabers whirling, his vibroblade humming like a demented tuning fork. I concentrated, and felt our men plowing into the Sith troopers, mowing them down with gusto. The Ordo battle cry rang through the room. I saw Stefan battling a Dark Jedi, Jolee assisting, and soon the room was as silent as the tomb it had become.
"That was fun," Kex commented, grinning widely.
I clapped him above the elbow as I couldn't reach his shoulder easily and grinned back.
A quick pause to regroup and heal, and we were on our way. Twenty minutes of pausing to fight and moving on, and we were in the engine room. It was littered with bodies, and Bao Dur was already working on the engine core.
"About time you guys showed up," Atton smirked, and Canderous glowered at him.
"We stopped to let Mission sabotage the computer system," I said brightly. "They can't get off the ship now."
"I hope she didn't shut down our ships," Mira said after Mission explained.
The Twi'lik looked indignant. "Of course I didn't," she said irritably. "Our ships aren't tied to the system."
"Okay, okay," Mira said soothingly. "Sorry. You done good. I'm pretty handy with computers myself; I wouldn't have thought of triggering that bug with the cannons. I'm impressed."
"Thanks," Mission said, mollified.
"Hey, little one, can you give me a hand here?" Bao Dur called. "Monitor the computers while I tinker with this thing."
Mission trotted over, and in a few more minutes, the Iridonian stood up.
"That does it," he said, a light in his eyes. "We've got twenty minutes before this thing blows."
"All right," Ladria said, nodding to her XO. "See you back on Dxun," she said to us with a smile.
The two parties headed back toward their ships. I was almost disappointed; it had been too easy. I should have remembered about the Force and hubris.
We were almost back at the docking area when we ran into a patrol that was blocking the corridor we needed. Too late to retreat; we'd been spotted, and blaster fire rang out. I was busy blocking blaster shots, but the corridor was narrow and we were going to be picked off. In between shots I counted about twenty in front of us.
"We got company behind," came a call near the end of the line.
"Shit," Canderous swore. "We're bottlenecked."
"You and Dax throw me over the troops in front of us," I said. "And charge as soon as I'm airborne."
"We know how well that went last time," Canderous growled.
"No time, no better ideas," I said, blocking another blast that was coming towards his face.
"I hate it when you're right," Canderous snarled, and the two of them flung me over the heads of the enemy.
I felt them charge as I flew, and the mass ecstasy washed over me before I even hit the deck. Many of the Sith had ducked instinctively as I cannoned toward them, and I swear I felt my hair brush the ceiling. I tumbled, throwing myself into a somersault and rolling as I touched down. I popped up, 'sabers spinning, and took out five before anyone could properly turn to face me. The ecstasy was singing through my head, the energy making my arms feel as if they were as light as air, and my 'sabers harmonized with the song of battle. Canderous and the others were ripping through to me, and I got four more before we met in the middle. Without needing words, we ran toward the Phoenix, the men at our heels.
At the docking bay, Canderous and the honor guard moved to the sides, covering the retreat, and I busied myself blocking stray shots. The last dozen or so of the Mandalorians were retreating backwards as they fired at about twenty more Sith troopers. They stopped in the doorway, taking position to cover our own escape into the Phoenix. But Canderous had already holstered his blaster and drawn his blade; we leaped forward, Jolee and Stefan flanking us with Dax, Jarxel and the rest of the honor guard fanning behind, blasting away. I felt Canderous' battle song flow through me, and my Force abilities joined in. We slashed anything that moved, in a dance of perfect synchronized death.
Until Canderous took a hit dead center chest, and went down. I felt his connection abruptly cut off; he was alive, I could tell, but barely. I threw healing his way, and that cost me a precious few seconds; I barely blocked a sword thrust at my throat, and didn't even feel the strike to my head.
I came to on the Phoenix, Canderous holding me, his face white and angry, which meant he was scared. I smiled, and touched his cheek.
"You're alive," I said, happy to see it.
"Would you stop doing that?!" he yelled.
"What?" I asked, still fuzzy. My healing was low, but there. I felt a wave of warmth flow over me, and saw Stefan, pale but composed, standing near me. It was his healing I'd felt, and my head cleared. I sat up.
"Saving my ass, and nearly getting killed yourself in the process," roared my Mate.
"Can't promise that," I said brightly.
The Phoenix was in motion, and Dax's voice came over the intercom.
Hang on, this might be rough.
We roared out of the landing bay, shooting into space like we'd been launched by a catapult. I hoped the Ebon Hawk was already clear. Not two minutes out, we felt the explosion of the Sith warship, and a collective sigh of satisfaction rippled through the cabin.
"So," I said, "What happened?" I cocked an eyebrow at my Mate.
"Canderous took a hit to the chest and went down," Stefan said behind me. "I thought he was dead, but then you paused and got hit yourself. He sat up, saw you out on the deck, grabbed your long 'saber and killed two Sith troopers with it. Jolee and I got the last two. Then he scooped you up and we got to the Phoenix. How are you feeling?"
"Fine," I said. "Where's my 'sabers?"
Canderous handed one to me, and Stefan held up the other.
"Those were Drake's, were they not?" he asked as I retrieved it from him and clipped them to my belt.
"Yes," I said. "Mine, now."
"As they should be," Stefan said quietly. "He'd be very proud of you."
"Thank you," I smiled a little sadly.
"How is it," he asked, turning his attention to Canderous, "you can use a lightsaber? Even with Jennet unconscious?"
"Not a clue," Canderous said shortly. "And not my style. I just grabbed what was at hand."
"Interesting," Stefan said thoughtfully, but said no more.
We took stock of the troops, dispensed healing and kolto where needed, and settled for the short trip back to the camp. Canderous wouldn't let me out of his sight, and I wasn't unhappy with this; I needed to see him breathing too. He sat in one of the chairs that bolted down, and I sat on the deck, leaning against his legs. I was suddenly tired, but felt my healing coming back, so I knew I wasn't bad off.
"So, Wildcat," Canderous said after a time. "Want to get married?"
I looked up, and smiled widely. All tiredness left me in a rush of happy warmth.
"Bet your ass I do," I said.