White Snow: Liberation

by Vhetin1138

The first installment of Year 2. After three months caught in the clutches of the Empire, Mandalorian bounty hunter Cin Vhetin is beginning to wonder if he will ever escape. Little does he know that his partner is on her way to rescue him. Rated T for violence and language.

6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Freedom

The trip to the next room was quiet and uneventful. There were several long, twisting hallways that led from the holding cells they had just left to the cargo bay they were approaching. Jay didn't know what kind of surprises were waiting for them next, but she had a feeling it wouldn't be good. The Facility – as Vhetin called it – had no problems coughing forth nightmare after nightmare, from the deadly swarms of spider turrets to the monstrous test subjects they had encountered. She was willing to bet that whatever was in the cargo hold was going to be even worse.

She glanced over at her partner as they made their way down yet another dark, deserted hall. He was staring resolutely ahead, grasping his stolen force pike tightly. His rifle had been destroyed during his fight with Trassk, so he had been forced to revert to his melee weapon.

She felt sorry for him, she truly did. After months of being incarcerated in this hellhole, he had finally had a taste of freedom only to find that his mere presence had cost others their lives. Vhetin was very strict when it came to judging the consequences of his own actions, always determined to create more right than wrong from a situation no matter the cost, and he was obviously taking this new information hard.

She turned her gaze back to the hall ahead. Even after all that had happened, it was good to see him after all this time. She had been convinced when she'd left Mon Calamari that he was lost forever, most likely dead. And despite all the trouble he'd dragged her through, despite all the times they hadn't quite seen eye-to-eye, she had been devastated by the loss. He was her partner, after all. He was her closest friend, a man she trusted above all others, and a man who trusted her to watch his back just as she trusted him to watch hers.

She smiled slightly as she remembered again how they had first met, what seemed like a lifetime ago, on that foggy, rainy day on Corulag. She had been captured, sentenced to death within a top-secret Imperial prison under the charge of treason. She had been innocent, falsely accused by high-ranking Imperials who claimed she had sold military secrets to terrorists.

She had been in the prison for three months, regularly starved, beaten, and cut off from the outside world. She had given up hope, resigned herself to being known for the rest of her short life as a traitor and a terrorist mole.

And then Cin had come into her life. She had been unconscious when he and Rame had attacked the prison, hoping to capture a local general for a hefty bounty. But when he had learned of her predicament, Vhetin had decided to rescue her. She still didn't quite understand his reasons – and she wasn't sure he did either – but she had never complained. He had given her everything, a chance at a new life outside the Empire's tyrannical rule.

She smiled a little as she thought, And now I've returned the favor.

She reminded herself that they weren't out of the Facility yet. There was still a long way to go, though the hardest part of the mission was over.

"How far to the next room?" she asked Vhetin.

He hesitated, probably checking his downloaded map on his helmet HUD. "Not far. Fifty, maybe a hundred meters."

Jay nodded and drew her pistol. "Okay everyone, stay ready. The last room caught us by surprise. Not again, okay?"

Laniff, near the front of the group with Trassk, snorted. "After everything I've seen in here, I'm ready for anything."

"Don't say that," Vhetin murmured. "The Imperials always have some new monstrosity up their sleeve. Never let your guard down."

"You're starting to sound like Fett. And no, that isn't meant as a compliment."

"He's right," Jay said. "Stay on your toes, Laniff. We haven't had contact from Lesianne in a while. And if I know her, that means something's going on."

"How would you tell?" Laniff said, rolling his eyes. "That woman talks less than Vhetin does."

Vhetin's silence reinforced the Mando's point. Ti'ica chuckled nervously, then quickly busied herself with her datapad when Jay shot her a warning glare.

"This isn't the time for jokes, Laniff. We've got to stay focused if we want to get out of here."

"I am focused," he shot back. "But that doesn't mean I have to get all strong-and-silent like your partner. Just 'cause you're used to working with people who have all the social skills of a duracrete post doesn't entitle you to-"

He was cut off as a bright red blaster bolt hit him in the shoulder, knocking him off his feet. Shae instantly jumped into action, shoving the others out of the way as she rushed to cover him. Trassk turned toward the direction of the shot – a branching side-hall – and released a roar that seemed to shake the very air. Three more blaster bolts hit the Trandoshan in the chest, but they barely made him flinch.

"Stormtroopers!" Laniff gasped, clutching

"Ti'ica," the tremendous lizard snarled, "get behind me!"

He unslung a heavy grenade launcher from over his shoulder as the Twi'lek girl hid behind him and fed a cylindrical explosive into the weapon. Jay reached out and grabbed his massive, leathery forearm. "No! You fire one of those this far underground and you're likely to bring this whole hall down on top of us!"

More blaster shots flashed toward them from out of the darkness, followed by the unmistakeable crackle of stormtrooper helmet comms.

"Head for the cargo bay!" Rame shouted, taking cover at the intersection of the two halls. He poked his head out and snapped off three bolts, the report of the shots echoing loudly. "Trassk, flank the other side of the hall so we can trap them in here!"

"With the utmosst pleasure," the massive Trandoshan growled, lumbering over to the other side of the intersection. He pulled a high-caliber projectile pistol from his hip and fed in a clip of ammunition.

Jay turned to the remainder of the group, ducking as blaster fire flashed over her head. Shae was already helping Laniff to his feet; his wound wasn't anything a little bacta wouldn't fix. Vhetin was taking cover further down the hall, furiously motioning for Ti'ica to follow him.

"All right, let's go!" Jay shouted over the clamor. "Everyone, double-time it to the cargo bay!"

She turned back to Rame and Trassk. "You two sure you'll be okay?"

Rame scowled and motioned for her to go. "Move it, Ja'ika! We can handle this!"

She nodded, then turned and sprinted after the rest of the group. Vhetin had said they weren't far from the cargo bay. Hopefully they could secure the area and lock the troopers out. She was sure it wouldn't hold them for long, but it would take time for the Imperials to work their way around.

As she caught up to the others, she heard Laniff snapping, "How in the hell did they know we were here?"

Vhetin shook his head. "I'm not surprised. The Imperials probably have surveillance bugs scattered all around this place. They overheard our plan and built their counterattack accordingly."

Shae shook her head and muttered, "This day just keeps getting better and better. So now the Imps can listen in on everything we've been talking about?"

"We all knew they'd catch on to us sooner or later," Jay said. "Let's just keep moving. We need to get out of here before the entire garrison comes down on our heads."

Vhetin gestured up the hall. "I scanned the area ahead. The door to the cargo bay is just up there."

Jay nodded and patted Ti'ica's shoulder. "You're up, kid. Get that door open for us. Laniff, go with her. Keep her safe."

The Mando nodded and together the two jogged into the darkness. Jay, Vhetin, and Shae remained, listening to the distant reports of blaster fire as Rame and Trassk continued to hold off the stormtroopers.

"So," Jay said slowly. "If we can make it through this cargo bay, are there any more surprises waiting for us?"

Vhetin shook his head. "The route I've picked out takes us straight to the heat exchange ducts. And if we can lock the Imperials out, they'll have to take a side-route that'll slow them down by at least fifteen minutes."

He shrugged and said, "The only major problem is getting through the ducts themselves."

"That," Shae pitched in, "and the troopers they've probably sent to the duct openings up top. If they know we're heading there, they'd be stupid not to seal off that area of the Facility."

"I've got a plan for that," Jay said. "We'll make it."

There was suddenly a tremendous explosion from further down the hall. All three jumped at the sound and squinted down the dark passage in time to see Rame sprinting toward them, pistol still smoking from a recent discharge. Trassk was bounding after him, one armored shoulder pad smoldering and the rest of his armor pockmarked with blaster scars.

"What the hell was that?" Jay demanded. "Trassk, did you fire that grenade launcher even though-"

"Just shut up and run!" Rame snapped, blowing past them and heading straight for the door further on. Jay glanced at Vhetin in confusion, then they sprinted after the man.

"What happened?"

"The sstation's Darktrooperss have returned," Trassk hissed. He turned and fired blindly over his shoulder with his projectile pistol. Jay heard the weapon's metal slugs ping of something metallic behind them.

"Incoming!" Vhetin suddenly shouted, pivoting on one foot and unslinging his force pike.

A skinny Mark-II Darktrooper sprinted out of the darkness, its own activated force pike crackling with energy. It leaped through the air, photoreceptors blazing red, and came down right on top of Vhetin. The blow knocked the Mandalorian off his feet, sending him sprawling away in a clatter of plastoid armor plating.

"Damn!" Shae shouted as she swung to bring her pistol to bear. The droid backhanded her across the face, sending her staggering away. Rame jumped into the fight and was similarly brushed off. Jay raised her pistol and fired three shots, hitting the machine in the shoulders and chest. It twitched slightly, but there was no other response.

Vhetin staggered to his feet and raised his weapon, charging forward with his pike held at chest-level. The droid dodged the blow and hit him with a kick to the side of the helmet. He staggered away, cursing.

"Ti'ica!" Jay shouted, firing as quickly as she could pull the trigger. "Step it up! We need that door open now!"

Trassk suddenly barreled forward, grabbing the Darktrooper around the waist and hoisting the machine into the air. With a roar, he slammed the droid down onto the ground, the impact sending pieces of shrapnel flying through the air. The lizard then raised one massive foot and stomped down on the droid's head, crushing it flat. There was a loud pow as the droid's central processor - akin to the machine's "brain" - exploded. Trassk beat his armored chest and let out a roar that made everyone else resent cover their ears.

"Got it!" Ti'ica called from further down the hall.

"Everyone!" Jay shouted. "Into the cargo bay! Now!"

"Just in time," Rame cursed. "More Darktroopers on the way."

Jay saw the dark silhouettes of multiple Mark-III Darktrooper droids lumbering their way. She motioned for her squad to move, then turned and sprinted down the hall.

Laniff and Ti'ica were waiting for them at the heavy blast doors that led to the cargo bay. They quickly filed inside, Trassk covering their backs with sporadic fire from his massive pistol. As soon as the huge lizard passed over the threshold, Laniff punched the controls and the blast doors slammed shut.

Everyone present stared at the doors for a few moment, as if they half-expected the Darktroopers to blow them open again. But nothing happened. Trassk and Vhetin - who both boasted supersensitive hearing - claimed they could hear the Imperials massing on the other side of the door, but after a few long moments they reported that the enemy troopers were leaving.

Jay let out a long sigh at the news and slowly holstered her pistol. "That was too close," she said, trying to catch her breath again.

Shae cocked her head and raised an eyebrow at Rame, who was panting hard, hands resting on his knees. Her lips twitched in a slight smile and she said, "What's wrong, vod? Getting old?"

"Kriff… you…" Rame panted. "Trassk and I just… saved your asses by holding… those guys off."

"Trassk isn't panting like a overheated strill."

Jay let the banter continue, knowing it was just their way of blowing off steam. She made her way through her group, quickly making sure everyone was okay. They were close now, and she wasn't about to lose someone so close to success.

She paused when she saw Vhetin standing apart from the group, staring into the darkness of the room around them with an unmoving gaze. She stepped closer to him and touched his shoulder pad. "What's wrong, Cin?"

"Quiet," he warned.

"What?" she lowered her voice to a whisper.

"I just scanned this area. The scan came back showing hundreds of organic contacts."

Jay's blood ran cold. "You think… you think it may be more test subjects?"

He shook his head and murmured, "I don't know. The scan shows that the contacts aren't moving. But there's at least a thousand of them crowded in here."

Jay nodded, slowly, calmly, then turned and touched Ti'ica's shoulder. "Take Rame," she whispered, "and see if you can get the lights on. Quietly, if you can."

The Twi'lek girl nodded and hurried off, lekku flapping as she went. Jay looked back to Vhetin and said, "If this turns into a fight, are you strong enough to hold your own?"

He flexed his grip on his force pike and said, "If need be. I'm not dead yet."

They stood in silence for a few moments more before there was a dull buzz and the dim light began to shine from overhead illuminators. Then they sprang to life, shedding pristine white light over the entire area. Jay grimaced against the flood of illumination, then her eyes slowly widened as she took in her surroundings.

"Oh yeah," she heard Laniff mutter. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

They were standing on the edge of a long line of storage racks that occupied almost every inch of the room. They stretched from floor to ceiling, and were anchored to both surfaces by large durasteel bolts. On each shelf of the racks were hundreds of fluid-filled transparisteel pods, about half a meter tall and wide, connected to a system of clear, rubbery tubes that snaked from input ports in the pods to what looked like a central storage vat in the center of the room. The tubes ran into the pods, hooked into grayish masses of organic material that Jay found disturbingly familiar.

"Looks like we found your organic contacts, Cin," she muttered, narrowing her eyes.

Shae took a step closer to one of the pods and tapped it, watching as the vibrations from the movement caused the fleshy thing inside to bob up and down. She turned to Rame and murmured, "Are these... lungs?"

Vhetin was also staring at the pods, expression unreadable. His body language, however, told a different story. His force pike was hanging limply at his side as he walked up to one of the pods, staring at it in obvious horror. Rame studied a pod of his own for a few tense moments before nodding. "These are human lungs. Fully-developed, fully-functional. Look, they've even got them hooked up to respirators so they breathe."

Jay watched one of the fleshy masses expand and contract with a respirator-assisted "breath." It bobbed slightly in the preservative fluid, its surface rippling unnervingly, as if it were actually alive.

"What the hell..." Laniff muttered. "Why are the Imperials doing this?"

An alarm suddenly went off, causing everyone to jump and reach for their weapons. Before they could move, however, the sound of hydraulics buzzing drowned out the alarm and there was a tremendous mechanical roar from the vat in the center of the room. The clear tubes leading into the lungs twitched and fluid began pulsing through them. The lungs in the pods twitched as well and began to deflate, artificially forcing air out into the tubes.

But air wasn't what was flowing through the clear-colored conduits. As Jay watched, every tube in sight began to fill with sloppy-looking black fluid that slugged its way toward the vat in the center of the room. The lungs continued to regurgitate their contents until they looked like fleshy deflated balloons, suspended in their fluid-filled pods. The black slop continued to be sucked into the large collection vat until every drop had been pulled from the pod-lungs. Then the machinery fell still once more, leaving everyone present staring at each other in shocked silence.

Laniff was the first to speak. "Something tells me this isn't just a science project any more."

Vhetin stormed off into the storage racks, looking around himself. "I... I should have known. They had too much preservative, way more than just I was producing. Even if the other carriers in the Facility were producing as much as I was..."

"What the hell is going on here?" Shae demanded. "What are the Imperials doing?"

Rame had returned to studying the pods. "If I had to guess, Vhetin's body wasn't producing enough of this black stuff for the Imperials, or wasn't producing it fast enough. So they must have cloned him."

"Excuse me? Cloning?"

Rame shook his head. "It's not like they didn't have enough genetic material."

Vhetin shook his head. "I... I should have known about this. I should have suspected something!"

He slammed a fist into a nearby storage rack, causing several pods to wobble on their shelves.

"Cin, you had no way to know," Jay said. "You were a prisoner, not a participant."

He stared at the pods around him in dismay. Then he spun quickly to Jay. "We have to destroy this place."

"Excuse me?" Laniff said. "As much as I love blowing stuff up, this is a rescue mission. Or did you forget?"

"No, we can't let the Imperials finish their work here," Vhetin said. He gestured to the collection vat. "Look at that! This isn't just research any more; they're mass-producing this osik. They want to test it."

"So?"

"If they do that, thousands of people will die. Maybe millions. I'm not having that kind of blood on my hands."

Laniff folded his arms across his chest. "Like I said, this is a rescue mission. We didn't exactly bring heavy ordnance."

"He's right," Jay said. "What if... what if we gave the location to Imperial Intelligence?"

"You infiltrated this place by pretending to be I.I. agents," Vhetin snapped. "They're helping."

"Look," Jay said, "I know how you feel about this, but we just don't have the firepower to bring this place down. The best we can do is exfil, regroup, and think of a counterattack."

He stared at her for a few moments, then said, "I'm sorry, Jay, but that's not good enough."

Then he turned and disappeared into the storage racks. Jay blinked, then followed him, gesturing for her group to secure the area. Rame quickly took charge, issuing orders for everyone to spread out and keep their eyes open. Jay had to admit she was a little frightened by her partner's behavior. He'd always been so calm, so level-headed in the past, even in the worst of situations. To see him so obviously distressed... it just wasn't like him.

She found him as he stormed around a corner, down another aisle. She broke into a jog to catch up with him; he wasn't stopping to allow her closer.

"Cin..." she said. "Cin, wait a minute."

She reached out and grabbed his arm, bringing him to a halt. He spun to face her and snarled, "How can you do this, Jay?"

She blinked, surprised by the fury in his tone. "Do what?"

"Just turn the other cheek? Ignore everything that's happening here?"

"I'm not turning the other cheek," she replied, frowning. "I'm prioritizing. I came to rescue you, not destroy a massive Imperial research base."

"If they manage to field-test this virus," he snapped, pointing at one of the pod-lungs, "they could infect an entire system. They don't even have contingency plans, Jay. They've been so busy trying to engineer this abomination that if it gets out, they'll have no way to control it. How can you just ignore that?"

"I'm choosing to focus on the objectives I can actually accomplish," she shot back. "We've got an escape plan. By the time we manage to think up a way to destroy this place, the Imperials might seal off the heat exchange ducts and we'll be trapped here."

"They might not."

"You're letting your emotions get in the way of the facts. We don't have the firepower."

"If you're so concerned with your well-being," he said, turning away again, "get your team out. I'll find a way to destroy this place and follow you as soon as I can."

"No. I can't let you do that. Not after all I've been through to get you out of here."

"We don't have any other choice," he said, beginning to walk down the aisle again.

She scowled. "Hey. Hey! Don't you walk away from me."

He kept walking. She started after him with a curse and snapped, "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

She grabbed him by his arm again and yanked him around, slamming his back against a storage rack hard enough to make the pods shake dangerously. She pinned him there, staring into the eye-shaped visors of his stolen stormtrooper helmet.

"Now you listen to me," she snapped. "I have spent the last three months trying to find you, you ungrateful bastard. I've gone without food, without sleep, without so much as a fierfeking bathroom break while I tried to track you down. I have shed blood, sweat, and tears to find this place and I'll be damned if I'm going to let you walk away now."

She gestured back in the direction of the others, out of sight around the corner of a storage rack. "They've all worked as hard as I have. They've sacrificed time and money to find you. Damn it, Cin, they've risked their lives! How dare you just throw that back in their faces!"

"This isn't about me," he snapped. "Millions could die. Are you really willing to let that happen just because you missed some shut-eye trying to find me? Does rescuing me justify that?"

"I don't-"

He shoved her away. "How do I balance out the equation against the populations of entire planets? What if they decided to field-test this plague on Mandalore? Are you willing to sacrifice everyone you know – Venku, Rame, Mia, Brianna – just to save me? Are you?"

She stared at him for a long time. "I thought-"

"This is bigger than just you and me," he said. "This is something that could potentially wipe out all life in the galaxy. You haven't been stuck in here. You haven't seen how contagious this disease is, how quickly it works."

He leaned in close, until the faceplate of his helmet almost touched her nose. "We cannot leave this place standing. And if I have to give my life to make that happen, I will happily pay the price. If you don't feel like you can, gather your team and go. But I taught you better than this, Jay."

She continued to stare at him, struggling inside. She knew he was right, but was she really willing to abandon their only escape route – and therefore sacrifice the lives of her entire team – to destroy this place? The Imperials massacred thousands of beings every day in the name of galactic peace. Even if her small team did succeed, would they even make a difference?

But what if they decided to test it on Corellia? she found herself thinking. What if it was my family in jeopardy? What if Arian got infected with this... this mutation? Do I really want to be responsible for allowing that to happen?

She let out a long, shaky-sounding breath. Then she nodded slowly and murmured, "All right."

He turned back to her, obviously surprised. "What?"

"You're right," she said, sounding a little more confident. "This place is a serious threat, one we need to deal with while we still have a chance. So what do we do?"

"I... I don't know," he said. He shook his head and began pacing back and forth across the aisle. "We're on Level Three, so if we could somehow destroy the Facility's supports..."

"Could you try and come up with a plan that doesn't end with us being crushed under tons of Imperial research facility?" came Shae's voice from behind them. They both spun to find her leaning against a storage rack, arms folded across her chest.

"What are you doing here?" Jay asked. "I thought I told you guys to stay back there."

The woman shrugged. "Bored. Tired of listening to Rame and Laniff rambling on. This conversation seemed much more interesting."

Vhetin clenched a fist. "How long have you been standing here?"

"I think since millions could die. I figured I'd jump in and pay attention at that point." She shrugged and said, "And I figured if you want to blow this place sky-high, I'm game."

"I thought you wanted to get out of here."

"I do, but anything I can do to postpone our inevitable crawl through the giant microwave tubes will make me happy."

"Okay," Jay sighed, turning back to her partner. "I think before we plan anything, we need to get some things straightened out."

She gestured for him to follow her back to the group. "Come on. You're going to tell us everything you know about this place. Every damn detail."

---

Vhetin settled himself cautiously down on a supply crate, careful not to strain his bandages. The plug wound on his shoulder was bleeding again, soaking the skin-tight black bodysuit that he wore beneath the polished white stormtrooper armor. He grimaced at the pain, but adjusted his body so he was at least slightly comfortable. The others took up similar positions around him, all except Trassk, whose massive frame was too heavy to be supported by anything they could find.

"Okay," he sighed. "I guess this all started over five years ago. When I was still just a teenager, I was trying to make my name as a bounty hunter. I attracted the attention of the Imperials and was asked to join a top-secret military strike force tasked with hunting down Imperial fugitives."

"The Imperial Correctional Force," Jay supplied. She knew this part of the story. "The ICF."

"Right. At first, everything was fine. I was given good training, the best weapons on the market, and a prototype stealth ship I still use to this day. It was... difficult sometimes to complete my objectives. I was under orders to show no quarter and do whatever was necessary to bring in my target."

"Uh, news flash," Shae muttered, "that's pretty much your MO these days. Not much has changed."

Jay silenced the woman with a glare, then gestured for Vhetin to continue.

"I was ready to resign when I was ordered to kill a Force-sensitive girl who was still just a kid."

Ti'ica's eyes were wide as she whispered, "And... did you do it? Kill her?"

He shook his helmeted head. "No. I hesitated, and my ICF teammate killed her."

He sighed. These memories were old, but still painful. The thought of that girl still haunted him to this day. She had stared up at him with wide brown eyes – similar to the way Ti'ica was looking at him now – with a mixture of fear and hope. He had been on the verge of letting her go and telling his superiors that she had escaped. He didn't care if it tarnished his reputation. But then his occasional teammate at the time, a young Boba Fett, had shot her at point-blank range through the chest. She had died in seconds.

He forcibly pushed those thoughts away. "The final straw came when I found out that so-called routine medical tests the Imperials were running on me were really a cover to steal my blood and run tests on my genetic material. I had always wondered why the Imperials singled me out for medical checkups. Now I knew they were actively studying something. I knew whatever they were doing was bad, so I turned in my resignation from the ICF the very next day."

He shrugged. "As a result, the Imperials claimed I was deserting and put a price on my head. I escaped, barely, and promised never to work for the Imperials again."

"But you've worked for them on several occasions," Laniff pointed out. "What changed?"

"Nothing changed," Vhetin said, his voice tense. "But the galaxy is too cutthroat to make a stand on principle. Especially among bounty hunters, one has to be able to set aside moral concerns for the greater good."

Laniff sniffed noncommittally. "Still sounds like a pretty hypocritical thing to do."

"If you dealt with the kinds of people I used to," Vhetin snapped, "you wouldn't have a problem working for Imps to bring them down. Criminals will still rape, steal, and kill despite any moral stand you decide to make. Hesitation won't stop them. Sometimes, joining forces with Imperials will."

Laniff shrugged. "Whatever you say."

"Like I said," Vhetin murmured, "it was always for the greater good. Anyway, after I escaped the ICF, I tried to find out what they were trying to do with my blood. With the help of Jaing Skirata and Tarron Matele, I found that the doctors in the ICF worked for a top-secret military project called Whiteclaw that the Imps had created for the sole purpose of transferring my... unique abilities everyday soldiers."

"Still sounds ridiculous," Shae said with a shrug, "but the Imperials obviously think it's worth a lot of time, money, and manpower. I mean, look at this place."

"Exactly. I've been trying to keep tabs on this organization, but they're slippery. I had no idea what was going on here until a few months ago."

"Then what?" Shae inquired.

"I was hunted down by a sadistic madman called the Tracker, a former ICF member," Vhetin said. "Jay can probably fill you in on the details if you want, but the important thing is that he captured me and brought me here."

"And what have you found out since?"

"I found that they haven't been having much luck with their goal," Vhetin said, "so they've turned to... alternatives."

"What kind of alternatives?"

"If their tests don't succeed quickly," he explained, "the brass in charge of this operation is going to transfer control to an alternate research project geared toward viral warfare. I don't know much about their contingency project, but it's pretty obvious this other group is impatient. They want to take over, soon."

He looked to Jay. "Which is why we can't let this other project get their hands on all this equipment. Destroying this place will set them back months, maybe even years. It'll buy us time to..."

"To what?" Rame asked. "I don't mean to sound disparaging, but this is too large an operation to take down on your own. You'll need serious support."

"I don't know what to do after this," Vhetin said. "What I know is that we have a chance to stop them here and now. And I'm going to take that chance."

"So what do we do?" Jay asked, leaning forward and resting her hands on her knees. "Do you have a plan?"

"I tried to find something that wouldn't take us far from our original course," he said. "If we stray too much, the Imperials will reach the heat exchange ducts before we do. We don't want that."

He activated his stolen military-grade holoprojector and displayed the map of Level Three. "I found that the best solution is the ducts themselves. I'm sure Ti'ica can hack into the systems once there and-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Laniff said. "Are you saying you want to destroy the heat exchange ducts?"

"I'm saying that a system overload would flood this level with fire," Vhetin said. "That will cause a chain reaction in the Facility's fuel system. The ensuing explosion will destroy this entire level and the rest of the Facility will collapse in on itself."

Rame narrowed his eyes. "What about the other prisoners?"

Vhetin winced. "This helmet's scanner shows that there aren't many left. The Imperials apparently got fed up with the prison riot and ordered riot control teams to switch to lethal force. The Darktroopers and Spider Turrets they sent to the cell blocks only made the job go faster. Of the fifty people still alive in the cell blocks, thirty-five are transmitting Imperial IFF signals."

Rame looked down and shook his head, looking disgusted. "Okay, so they're not a problem. But how would we overload the heat ducts?"

"If Ti'ica can remove the safety locks on the ducts' automated systems, the temperature will rise exponentially. Without the automated safety systems to regulate the temperature the ducts will eventually rupture, sending a massive firestorm through Level Three."

"How fast would they rupture?" Jay asked calmly.

"My simulations say it would take about thirty to forty minutes. It might be much faster, though."

Jay narrowed her eyes slightly, but said nothing. Shae, however, folded her arms and said, "I'm sure Laniff will appreciate the explosion, but how can we overheat the ducts when our entire escape plan hinges on our ability to turn the heat off?"

Vhetin zoomed in the holo to show the duct system. "There are six duct tubes. If we can overload five, it should be more than enough of a reaction. That'll leave one free for our escape."

Laniff looked over his shoulder at the heavy blast door that had separated them from Imperial forces. "I say we get on this quickly. Those Imperials are still outside. It's not going to take them long to cut through the door."

The words had barely passed his lips when a shower of sparks flew from the seam in the door. The crackle of Imperial comms could be heard on the other side. The mounted intercom system inside the cargo bay crackled and a gravelly voice said, "Attention escaped convicts. This is Colonel Tech Packard, Imperial Marines. We know you're in there. Come out with your hands up and you will be given a quick and painless execution."

Vhetin muttered a curse and grabbed Rame's pistol, aiming at the intercom speaker and firing once. The comm unit exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel, cutting off the colonel's speech.

"Friend of yours?" Shae asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Packard's the head of security here," Vhetin snarled. "I've hated that son of a bitch since the moment I got here."

Jay rose to her feet now, clapping her hands and saying, "All right, people. We have Imperials incoming. Let's move before they make it through."

Vhetin stood and fell into step next to her, keeping an eye on his HUD's 360-degree vision to watch the Imperial's progress on the door. "How long will it take them to cut through that door?"

Jay shrugged, drawing her pistol. "Depends on what level of cutting equipment they have. I'd say maybe five minutes. How long until we reach the ducts?"

Vhetin took one last look at the storage racks and the cloned pod-lungs that were stored there, then shook his head. "Not long. Hopefully there won't be any more surprises waiting for us."

"It'll be okay," she said. "We'll get out of here."

He chuckled, though there was little humor in the sound. "If anyone can get us out of here, it's you."

She nudged him gently in the shoulder. "You're the one coming up with all the plans. I think I'd rather entrust our survival to you."

He thought about it for a few moments. "All right," he said eventually, "Let's split up. If those troops get through the door, they'll have a harder time getting at us if we're in small groups."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Rame asked. "We just got the group back together."

"No, Vhetin's got a point," Shae said, checking the charge of her pistol. "If we stick together, we run the risk of being cornered. If we split up, we can evade them or bring them down with hit-and-run tactics."

Rame seemed to consider this, then nodded. "Okay. I'll be in touch."

He and Laniff disappeared around a corner. Shae disappeared soon after with a terse nod. Trassk put a massive, leathery hand on Ti'ica's shoulder and hissed, "Sstay closse to me, little one."

The young Twi'lek nodded and the unlikely pair walked away down a branching side alley. Vhetin turned to Jay and gestured down the aisle. "Ladies first."

She nodded and moved down the aisle, covering all possible directions of attack. Vhetin turned, covering the rear. He could hear the Imperials still cutting through the door. If Jay's estimates were right, they'd be through in a few minutes.

"Well..." he said, "this feels familiar. Trapped in enemy territory with little chance for survival, getting ready for a daring escape? It's like Tachador all over again."

"Just like old times," she said. She glanced over her shoulder. "It's good to have you back, Cin."

He nodded seriously, then turned his attention to the aisle behind them again. "It's good to be back. Or it will be once we get out of here."

There was suddenly a loud boom, followed by the crash of metal against metal. Jay whipped around, then let out a quiet curse. "That has to be the Imperials."

"Let's step up the pace," Vhetin said. "They'll be here soon. Map says we're almost to the door."

It was only a few moments before a gravelly, vocoder-enhanced voice shouted, "You there! Stop!" Vhetin pivoted and flexed his grip on his force pike, ready for a fight. But the voice came from a few aisles down. A split-second later, blaster fire shattered the silence.

Jay broke into a jog and Vhetin quickly followed, not wanting to be left behind. It was difficult to run with his wounds and his illness slowing him down, but he managed to keep up. They were almost to the door when Jay's comm crackled to life and Laniff's voice cried, "Someone! I'm pinned down! I need immediate assistance!"

Jay came to a halt, almost causing Vhetin to crash into her back. She put a finger to her hands-free comm piece and said, "Laniff? Where are you?"

"Almost to the door. I'm stuck behind some shipping crates along the eastern wall of the room. They're giving me good cover, but these Imperials aren't that stupid. All they have to do is walk around and they've got me cornered."

"We're on our way," Jay said. "Hang tight."

"Can't wait."

Jay gestured in the direction the Mandalorian had indicated. "Let's go. Laniff is so used to using heavy weapons that his small-arms aim is atrocious. He's going to need help fast."

It wasn't hard to find him; all they had to do was follow the sounds of blaster fire. It was only a few moments before they rounded a corner and emerged onto a battlefield. Lanniff was taking cover behind a stack of heavy durasteel shipping containers, bleeding from a small blaster burn on his right forearm. There was a group of five or six stormtroopers further down the aisle, unleashing a steady stream of fire at the crates. The aisle was full of smoke and the acidic smell of ion burn.

Jay moved to sprint across the aisle to Laniff's position, but a blaster bolt made her jump back behind the cover of a storage rack. She grimaced against the flashes of light and tiny explosions of superheated gas caused by the shots and shouted, "Laniff! You still in one piece?"

"For now!" he shouted back, popping out from behind cover to fire at his attackers. He managed to clip one trooper in the shoulder pad, but accomplished nothing consequential.

"How do you propose we get you out of there?"

He grimaced and ducked back down. "Just keep these white jobs busy! I've got an idea!"

Jay nodded and gestured to Vhetin. "Head down the aisle and see if you can't flank these troopers. Find a way to keep them busy."

Vhetin nodded and sprinted away, glancing through the gaps in the storage racks until he found the group of stormtroopers. He had a clear line of fire at the group, but he had lost his rifle during his fight with Trassk and the only weapon he had at his disposal was the force pike he'd taken from the darktrooper. He glanced around, searching for a solution, then looked up to the top of the storage rack, far above his head.

"Ah shab," he muttered. Then he slung his pike over his shoulder, reached up, and grasped one of the shelves. Using whatever handhold he could find, he scaled the rack as quickly as he could. He doubted the stormtroopers would see him, and their helmet's 360-degree vision didn't give them coverage of the air above them.

It was an old trick, one used against Mandalorians during the ancient Mandalorian wars. The Jedi, with their ability to perform unnaturally high jumps, had used it to great effect against the armies of Mandalore during the days of the Old Republic. Vhetin hoped it would still work.

He reached the top of the storage rack, some four meters above the group of stormtroopers. He took a deep breath, hoping his wounds wouldn't slow him down during the fight, and unslung his force pike. He muttered a quick, "Oya," then threw himself off the rack, into open air. He plummeted down, seeming to fall for only moments before he landed right in the middle of the troopers. By the time they turned to see what had entered their group, he was already fighting. He rose to his feet, activating his pike as he slashed it up. The humming weapon cleaved a trooper's chest plate in two, carving deep into the man's chest as it did. Vhetin's HUD blared a contact warning from behind him and he ducked in time to miss another trooper's fist as the soldier tried to punch at the back of his neck. He pivoted on one foot and stabbed backward, feeling his weapon plunge into the man's chest. He yanked the weapon free as the trooper dropped with a scream, turning once more and bringing the vibrating blade down across another soldier's helmet. The trooper was knocked back, a black slash burned across his contoured faceplate, but didn't fall.

One trooper landed a lucky rifle shot in the small of Vhetin's back. His stormtrooper armor absorbed most of the shot, but the concussive blast was still enough to knock him forward onto his hands and knees. He quickly rolled onto his back, ignoring the pain, and kicked forward with both armored boots. He caught the attacking trooper in the faceplate, knocking him away.

He scrambled to his feet, scooping up the trooper's fallen rifle. He raised it and fired twice into the man with the slash across his faceplate. The trooper stumbled and fell, dead before he hit the ground.

Vhetin didn't know how many more enemies were attacking him. His mind had gone blank, adrenaline and instinct fueling his motions now, not reason or logic. As soon as he saw a flash of white, he turned and shot at it. Another trooper fell, then another. There was only one trooper left when he saw another squad round the corner and sprint toward him. There had to be ten of them now; far too many for him to hold off on his own.

"Laniff?" he called over his shoulder. "Are you clear?"

"Just a second!" came the reply.

Vhetin flexed his grip on his rifle and squared his shoulders, preparing to hold his ground. The troopers raised their own weapons as they sprinted forward. Vhetin knew a volley from all their collective rifles would cut through him like a nexu through flittersilk.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted another flash of white.

It wasn't a stormtrooper. A new white-clad figure leaped down from the top of the storage racks, much like Vhetin had done before. This new figure, unlike the troopers, wasn't wearing armor. Instead, Vhetin saw white cloth, mixed with bands of black leather. The new figure fell between him and the onrushing troopers, landing effortlessly on the hard duracrete ground. The figure, which Vhetin saw was female, drew some kind of cylinder from her belt and sprinted toward the squad of troopers.

As Vhetin watched, twin beams sprang from either end of the small cylinder, transforming it into a two-meter weapon. The woman front-flipped over the first stormtrooper and landed in the middle of the group. She spun in a full circle, slamming her staff against the ankles of every stormtrooper surrounding her. The group toppled like dominoes, landing in a clatter of armor plating. The woman then pulled something from a pouch on her belt, threw it to the ground, and sprinted away, back toward Vhetin.

He grimaced as a blinding flash of light erupted from the group of troopers, followed by a cloud of roiling gray smoke. The woman sprinted right past Vhetin, making for the stack of crates where Laniff was hiding.

"Vhetin!" he heard Jay shout. "Get back here!"

He took one last look at the cloud of smoke that obscured the stormtroopers, then turned and sprinted back toward the others. As he drew closer, he saw Laniff tapping a code into a palm-sized triangular device.

"What the hell is that?" Vhetin said. "I thought you were supposed to get clear while I kept the troopers busy?"

"Do you want those tin cans on our tail all the way to the heat exchange ducts?" Laniff snapped. "Just give me a minute, will you?"

He tapped a few more times, then grinned and said, "Finished."

He turned back to the aisle, where the smoke was beginning to fade and the troopers were regrouping. He cocked his arm back and threw the triangular device straight at them. Then he turned, ducked back down behind the crates, and said, "I'd cover my ears if I were you!"

As the troopers sprinted around the device, it let out a high-pitched buzz. The white-armored soldiers stopped and looked down at the machine curiously. A tiny cylinder sprang from the center of the device and began rotating quickly.

There was another buzz and the device suddenly sprayed out a shower of viscous, oily-looking fluid that splattered the trooper's white armor. The soldiers recoiled with muttered curses, looking down at their armor and trying unsuccessfully to wipe their armor off.

Laniff raised three fingers, grinning widely. He counted down, then plugged his ears. Vhetin glanced back at the assembled troopers in time to see a cloud of blazing fire erupt from the triangular device. The oily fluid that covered their armor instantly lit up, covering the troopers with dancing tendrils of flae. The troopers flailed and screamed as the fire burned hot enough to warp and blacken their armor.

"That's our cue," Jay said, gesturing for everyone to move. "Let's go!"

Together, they sprinted in the direction of the storage room's exit. They met up with the others there, and they sprinted into the hall outside while Ti'ica locked down the door. Moments later, the door slammed shut with a resounding boom, leaving them all in peaceful silence.

Vhetin doubled over, resting his hands on his knees while he struggled to catch his breath. He could feel his breath rattling in his chest, his lungs once again heavy with preservative fluid. When he finally straightened, his gaze fell on their newcomer, the woman in white. Who was she, and what did she have to do with their escape attempt?

She was pacing back and forth, gripping her quarterstaff tightly. After she pulled her white cloth cowl from over her head Vhetin saw that she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Her features were sharp and refined, as if she were carved from ice. She had a strong jaw and narrow chin, a sharply-defined nose, and thin eyebrows that gave her a serious, almost grim air. Her lips were a surprisingly colorful shade of red, but her skin was extremely pale and her hair was so white it almost looked as if all the color had been bleached away. Even her eyebrows were white. She had piercing blue eyes that darted across the area, obviously searching for potential threats. She was dressed in a white cloth combat suit with a belt, boots, and gloves made of black leather.

He distrusted her almost on sight. White robes, white hair... the only people he knew of who fit that description were the Echani, and they couldn't be trusted. Jay would know better than to join up with an Echani, didn't she? He looked at her questioningly.

She must have noticed his gaze, because she jumped slightly said, "Oh, I haven't introduced you."

She stepped forward and gestured to the woman in white. "Cin, this is our infiltration specialist, Lesi-"

"Handmaiden," the woman interjected. "My name is Handmaiden."

"What?" Jay asked.

"This one has not earned the right to refer to me by my birth name," the woman said, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes at Vhetin. "The Mandalorian will refer to me by my rank, nothing more."

Vhetin narrowed his eyes as well. "Nice to meet you too. I have a name, by the way. You're more than welcome to use it."

"I have no desire to refer to you by name, Mandalorian. I assure you, when I feel the need to fraternize with simple mercenaries, you will be the first to know."

Vhetin clenched a fist. "Charming. Now I know why Jay sent you to sneak through the ventilation shafts."

"I am a master of stealth," the Handmaiden snapped. "I have been trained to be absolutely silent when necessary."

"Try exercising that training right now," Vhetin shot back. "Do us all a favor."

"Whoa, you two," Jay said, stepping between them. "What's the problem?"

"What's your problem, Jay?" Vhetin demanded. "You joined up with an Echani? Are you insane?"

"Do you have some kind of problem with Echani?" Jay asked.

"They're little better than mass murderers," Vhetin said. "Thugs who worship war and the pain they inflict on others."

"At least my people do not sell our skills to the highest bidder," the woman retorted.

"Uh-oh," Shae muttered to Laniff. "That's gonna hit a nerve."

"At least my people have scruples when it comes to who they fight," Vhetin snarled, taking a step toward her. "My people at least try to act civilized. Echani kill without reason or remorse and attack anyone who try to make them see otherwise."

"All right," Jay said, holding her hands up in a placating motion. "Everyone calm down. Cin, do you have a problem working with an Echani?"

"They can't be trusted. Turn your back and an Echani will stab you in the back just for the hell of it. They'll do anything to see blood."

"That's not-" the Handmaiden began.

Jay interrupted her. "Right now, I don't care if each of you thinks the other is a kriffing rock leech. Is this going to be a problem?"

"Jay, you can't seriously think this Echani-"

She cut him off with a quick cutting motion with her hand. "Is this going to be a problem, Cin?"

He glanced between her and the Echani, then sighed and said, "If she's going to help, I won't have a problem."

The Handmaiden inclined her head. "A noble Mandalorian warrior silenced by a woman? I never thought I would see the day."

"Screw you, white-head," Vhetin growled. The Handmaiden flinched visibly at his use of the derogatory term for her people, then raised the hilt of her quarterstaff, as if she were about to strike him.

"Cin," Jay said, aiming a warning finger at him, "that was unnecessary."

She turned to the Echani. "Les, if Cin has to mind his manners, so do you. Play nice, yeah?"

"I do not-"

"Les, this is my mission. I'm in command here, so you will do as I say. Those are the terms you agreed to. Follow them."

The woman held Jay's stare for a long time, as if challenging her. Then she nodded slightly and said, "I shall hold my tongue. For now."

"Good. Let's move, everyone."

Vhetin followed the rest of the group as they set off, making sure to steer clear of the Handmaiden. He'd never met met an Echani in person, but he knew enough about the enigmatic warrior culture to know to be wary. They worshiped war, taught their smallest younglings to never shy away from lethal action, and rewarded those with the highest kill count in battle. He'd even heard they kept trophies of their more memorable kills. They made Mandalorian Berserkers look like flower-loving pacifists. Add that to their supposedly superhuman reflexes, and they were known as one of the greatest warrior cultures in the galaxy. The real problem was that the Echani believed it as much as outsiders did. They were arrogant, aggressive, and uncooperative, with a healthy sense of contempt of all outsiders. Vhetin didn't know why Jay had decided to trust this one, but he wasn't about to put his life in the white-haired woman's hands.

Laniff seemed to read Vhetin's mind. The man nudged his shoulder pad with a grin. "Just keep away from the lady and she won't give you a tongue-lashing. Her bark is worse than her bite. And trust me, her bite is pretty kriffing bad."

"I'll keep that in mind," Vhetin growled. "How could you guys link up with a white-head?"

"It wasn't our choice," Shae said. "She was already part of the team when we signed on. But Jay trusts her and that's good enough for me. Besides, she's saved our life several times over. You can trust her to catch you if you fall. Just don't trust her to hold you for long."

"She and Jay get along fine," Laniff pointed out. He frowned, then added, "She and Rame are pretty friendly as well, strangely enough."

Vhetin shook his head and muttered, "I don't care. As soon as we're out of here, I doubt we'll see her again."

"I sure hope so," Laniff said. "She gives me the creeps. She wasn't kidding when she said she's a master of stealth. I can't begin to count the times I've turned around and she's been standing right behind me."

He shuddered visibly, but said nothing more. Vhetin just turned his gaze to his HUD scanners, looking for signs of enemy contacts. They were only a short distance now from the heat exchange ducts. They'd arrive in only a few minutes. They were almost there now, almost out of this hellhole. Just one more push and he was a free man again.

But he doubted the Imperials would let him off so easily. He guessed they would be waiting for him when they arrived at the ducts. He couldn't wait to show Colonel Packard just how big a mistake it was keeping him penned in for the past three months. Packard had beaten him, ordered him to be sent to solitary confinement for days on end, restricted his rations, and made his life a living hell the entire time he'd been trapped in the facility.

He didn't make a habit of killing for pleasure. But as far as the Colonel was concerned, he didn't think he'd be able to help himself.

---

Five minutes later

With a quick, precise hand motion, Jay ordered Laniff and Rame to flank the heavy blast doors leading to the heat exchange system. If Lesianne's intel was correct, the Imperials knew the exchange ducts were her team's only way out. They may have massed there in force.

"Everyone ready?" she asked, drawing her weapon.

Shae snorted. "Do we have a choice?"

"Good point. All right, everyone. In five..."

Handmaiden drew her quarterstaff and pressed the activation button. The twin beams of the weapon sprang out with a loud shhk. She tensed, bending her knees slightly in preparation for the coming battle.

Vhetin drew his rifle from its sling over his back and prepared similarly. He flexed his hand anxiously over the rifle's grip, double-checking the charge before he shouldered the weapon. Shae saw the motion and laughed, muttering, "Ready to be a free man again?"

He nodded once, slowly. "You have no idea."

"... four... three..."

Trassk drew his massive vibroblade from its sheath on his back, activating the blade with a snarl. He motioned for Ti'ica to get behind him, and the young Twi'lek gratefully obeyed. Jay smiled a little to see it; Trassk may be a hulking mass of muscle, claws, and teeth, but the Trandoshan harbored a soft spot for the girl. Jay was confident he'd keep Ti'ica safe in the coming battle.

"... two... one!"

The doors slid open and Laniff and Rame threw themselves inside. Handmaiden and Shae followed swiftly, followed by Vhetin and Jay. Blaster-mounted lamps were quickly activated when they realized that the room beyond was without power. The new source of illumination revealed a small, cramped room filled with holoterminals and power conduits. Jay brought her group to a halt when she saw there were no Imperials present.

"Um... I don't mean to sound critical, Cin," she said, "but this doesn't look like a series of giant heating tubes."

He shook his helmeted head. "It's not. This is the power control station for the exchange ducts. If we're going to destroy this place, or even momentarily shut down the ducts, we need to do it from here."

"You heard the man," Jay said. "Ti'ica, come on in and get to work."

The girl hurried in, Trassk hot on her heels. "Hold on," she said. "I'll have the lights on in no time."

While she worked, Vhetin stepped up to a reinforced durasteel door along one wall. He traced a hand along its surface, then nodded to himself.

"The ducts are beyond this door," he said, turning to the rest of the group. "Keep your eyes peeled. No telling what's waiting for us on the other side."

"I need no warning," the Handmaiden said. "I anticipate the coming battle."

"Right," Vhetin said, nodding to her chosen weapon. "Make sure you anticipate the blaster bolts that the Imperials will be shooting."

"I have proven myself in combat," the Echani replied coldly. "Keep your concerns to yourself."

Jay was about to intercede again when Ti'ica suddenly cried, "Got it! These systems are now synced to my datapad. I'll be able to remotely access the power controls. All we need to do is get in there."

"Okay," Jay said. "Everyone be ready. Remember, we still haven't seen those test subjects that escaped. Those monsters are dangerous and I'm not losing anyone now, when we're so close to the end."

"I'll head in first," Laniff said, raising his weapon. "If the coast is clear, I'll signal the rest of you."

"Like hell," Shae said. She stepped up next to the man. "If you're heading in there, so am I."

"I will alsso accompany you," Trassk hissed.

"As will I," the Handmaiden said.

"All right, I guess we're storming the room instead," Jay sighed. "Any idea what we're going to be facing, Cin?"

"My scans aren't picking anything up. That means the room is either empty, or my scans are being actively blocked by the team inside."

"Bet on the latter," Laniff said. "That way it'll be a pleasant surprise if it turns out the room is empty."

Ti'ica called them from her post at the terminals. "Before you all go jumping to conclusions, I've already hacked into the maintenance cams inside the room. There's a team of stormtroopers inside. It looks like they've got a couple inmates cornered. I'm amazed they managed to get this far into the facility."

"How many troopers?"

"Ten or fifteen. Something like that."

Shae narrowed her eyes. "Which is it?"

"Like Laniff said," the blue-skinned girl said with a grin, "bet on the latter so you'll be surprised when it's not. I'm opening the doors now."

"But-"

There was a low buzz from the doors, then they sprang open. Jay tensed and raised her pistol, waiting for the moment to strike. Laniff and Shae sprinted through the door first, shouting, "Everyone on the ground, now!"

Not surprisingly, the stormtroopers within the room were less than compliant. They spun around, weapons raised, and shouted, "It's the infiltrators! Blast them!"

Laniff snapped off two shots and felled two of the troopers. Shae dropped one with a storm of blaster fire. They were forced to stop their attack, however, as Trassk and Handmaiden sprinted past them and leaped at the troopers for close-range attacks.

Between the Echani and the Trandoshan, the stormtroopers didn't stand a chance. Within moments, every one of the white-armored soldiers was either unconscious or dead. Trassk hoisted the last trooper into the air, holding the man by the helmet, then drove his vibroblade through the man's plastoid chest plate. The trooper screamed, then went limp. Trassk tossed him aside as easily as Jay would have tossed aside a piece of tissue paper. Within moments, the room was silent and still. One trooper gasped in pain, but the Handmaiden drove her staff into his faceplate, knocking him unconscious and silencing him.

"That may go down in history as the shortest firefight of all time," Rame chuckled, stepping through the door. "Hold on, I'll catch the lights."

Vhetin was standing just inside the door, helmeted head turning slowly as he no doubt scanned the room. He stepped toward the cluster of bodies around which the troopers had been standing, clicking on his rifle light and shining it over the inmates. He cocked his head and said, "Anyone alive in there?"

There was a pained groan and a gurgly voice gasped, "Careful... careful where you point that thing..."

Vhetin obviously recognized the voice, because he recoiled so violently that he almost dropped his rifle. He knelt next to the pile, then lifted one dead inmate off another live one, who was struggling to breathe. He put a hand on the inmate's shoulder and said, "Mantis? Is that you?"

The man's face was illuminated by weapon lamps. Jay saw that he had long brown hair and a messy beard. His eyes were dull and sunk into his head. His body was covered in sores and bruises similar to the wounds Vhetin had suffered. He was obviously another test subject. He was also bleeding from multiple close-range blaster shots to his chest.

"You know this guy?" Laniff said, raising an eyebrow.

Vhetin nodded. "He... he was in the cell next to mine. He's a... well, a friend."

The man chuckled, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "Knew you'd make it out... also knew I wouldn't be so lucky."

"No," Vhetin said firmly. "We're going to get you out of here. Rame will patch you up."

Mantis shook his head. "It's... ah, it's too late for me. I'd just slow you down."

"No. You've been part of this as long as I have. If I'm leaving, so are you."

Mantis ignored him, instead turning his dull gaze on Jay. He squinted, as if finding it difficult to see, and said, "So... you're his partner, huh? I've heard a lot about you. You're prettier than I thought."

Jay knelt next to the man as well. "I guess I should thank you for keeping Cin alive these past months."

"And... now that job falls to you," the man said with another weak laugh. He reached out and grasped Vhetin's gauntlet tightly. "Keep the bucket-head safe. He's... the only one who can stop this now..."

"Mantis, stay with us," Vhetin said. "Come on. I didn't let you out of that damn cell just to have you get killed now."

Mantis didn't seem to be paying attention. His eyelids flickered as he stared sightlessly ahead. "What... what's that way you say goodbye? Returshy me?"

"Ret'urcye mhi," Vhetin murmured slowly, one hand balling into a fist. "Maybe we'll meet again."

"And maybe we will," Mantis sighed. "But... probably not in this lifetime. Ret'urcye mhi, ner vod."

And with that, the man's head slumped onto his chest and the light in his eyes dimmed completely. His grip on Vhetin's arm slackened until his hand hit the ground with a dull thud. Vhetin stared at the man, unmoving, for several long moments. Then he lowered his head and murmured, "Ret'urcye mhi, vod."

"Cin... I'm sorry," Jay whispered.

He straightened with a slow, shaky sigh and said, "He's just one more death I've caused. More blood on my hands."

"Cin, don't think like that," Rame said, stepping forward and putting a hand on the Mandalorian's shoulder. "The Imperials are responsible. Not you."

Vhetin shook his head, still staring at Mantis' motionless corpse. "I don't care who's responsible anymore. All I care about is stopping this before it gets any worse."

He knelt again next to the man and slowly closed his sightless eyes. He sighed and said, "Rest well, Mantis. You've earned it."

Then he straightened and shouldered his rifle. "Let's get the hell out of here."

"I'm afraid that will no longer be possible," a new voice said. Everyone in the group was instantly on alert, forming a protective circle around their most vulnerable teammate, Ti'ica. Even Vhetin fell into the instinctive formation.

The lights suddenly burst into life, flooding the room with white-hot illumination. Jay shielded her eyes against the unexpected blaze. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that they were standing in a much larger room than she had guessed. The walls and floor were made of heavy, polished durasteel and there were safety rails cutting off part of the room from several huge circular barriers marked with hazard symbols. The heat exchange ducts.

But standing between her group and the ducts was a large collection of stormtroopers. There had to be thirty of them, each with a rifle aimed straight at her and her team. They were supplemented by two lanky Mark-II Darktroopers hefting force pikes. They must have been standing there the whole time Jay's squad had been in the room, biding their time, knowing their targets had nowhere to run.

The troopers parted to allow two figures to pass: one dressed in doctor's whites, another in polished plastoid stormtrooper armor with the black shoulder guard and chest insignias of a colonel. He was carrying the unmistakable cylindrical staff that was Vhetin's saber pike. She felt Vhetin tense next to her at the sight of the stormtrooper.

The doctor, who had a long, lined face, graying hair, and flashing green eyes, hooked his arms behind his back and said, "You should be commended for making it this far, Primary. You have proven to be truly innovative."

Vhetin clenched a fist. "I have a name, Uthalian."

"A pleasantry I have no desire to follow," the doctor said. "You will either be captured or killed in the next few moments, anyway. The door you just passed through will be sealed off in moments, and there are no other escape routes from this room. You are trapped."

Vhetin raised his rifle, causing every stormtrooper in the room to charge their own blasters and aim directly at him. "I'll die before going back to your tests."

The man shrugged nonchalantly. "Feel free. We don't actually need you alive anyway. We have plenty of cloned tissue to continue our experiments."

He turned to the colonel standing next to him and said, "Colonel Packard, I trust you will do what you do best?"

The trooper nodded tersely. "With pleasure, Doctor."

"Then I shall leave you to it," Uthalian sighed. "Farewell, Primary."

Then he walked calmly around Jay's squad and disappeared through the door they had just passed through. As it shut behind him, Jay heard a loud hiss followed by a hollow clank. The door had been magnetically sealed. The only way out now was the heat exchange ducts.

Jay nudged Ti'ica discreetly. The girl's left lekku twitched in acknowledgment and she began typing furiously into her datapad. Jay made sure everyone else in her squad saw the girl's work, ensuring everyone knew the countdown was going to begin shortly.

The stormtrooper colonel, meanwhile, stepped forward and folded his arms, staring directly at Vhetin. He cocked his helmeted head and growled, "You know, I've been waiting for this for a long time, Vhetin."

"Sorry to keep you waiting so long," Vhetin shot back.

The colonel laughed and said, "No no. You've exceeded all my expectations. Not only did you try to escape, but you brought your friends to be butchered as well. Or maybe not. I might just sign them all up for the testing program as well."

Trassk hunched his back at these words and let out a long, drawn-out roar that made every trooper present jump. Packard, however, just stood as still as a duracrete post. He tipped his head slightly and said, "I'd keep your lizard on a leash. Unless you all want to be chopped down by blaster fire."

Vhetin slowly raised his rifle and said, "I don't care if you shoot us all and burn the bodies so you can deny everything. Like always."

He tucked the rifle tight against his shoulder, ready to fire at a moment's notice. Jay tensed as well, knowing that he was going to make a move soon. She'd need to be ready so they weren't all mowed down by blaster fire when he did. "But if you really think I'm going to go back to those tests, you can go straight to hell."

Jay raised her own pistol and shouted, "Ti'ica!"

The girl tapped a button on her pad and the lights cut out. The room was instantly full of blaster bolts, slicing through the air or ricocheting off the walls and floor in bright explosions of light. Jay ducked as a bolt whizzed over her head, popping harmlessly against the wall behind her. She caught a glimpse of motion out of the corner of her eye as Vhetin sprinted forward, heading straight for Packard. The colonel betrayed his own position by activating Vhetin's lightsaber pike and aiming it straight at the onrushing Mandalorian.

Jay dropped to her knees and fired at the colonel's legs. The man hopped nimbly away, spinning his pike around himself with the skill and speed of a professional swordsman. But he wasn't fast enough to avoid Vhetin as the armored man barreled into him. He quickly slammed the butt of his rifle into the colonel's stomach, doubling the man over, and followed up with a knee to the helmet faceplate. The blow landed with a crack that Jay could hear easily over the blaster fire.

Then she was forced to shift her attention as Laniff shouted, "Hey! Little help over here!"

She turned to find that Laniff, Shae, and Rame had made a kind of protective barrier between the troopers and Ti'ica, protecting the little girl from incoming fire. She was on her knees, typing furiously into her datapad, obviously trying to hack into the systems keeping the heat exchange ducts closed.

Jay sprinted toward them, dodging poorly-aimed blaster shots while she did. Fortunately, all the present troopers seemed to have forgotten that their helmets were outfitted with night vision systems. They were just firing blindly into the dark, hitting power nodes, light fixtures, even each other. The room began to fill with screams as more and more troopers were cut down by friendly fire. Jay wasn't surprised. After all, the attackers outnumbered their targets by almost twenty-five men; there were a lot more friendlies to hit than bad guys.

It looked like the others were simply staying put and keeping their heads down, waiting for the firestorm to abate. Jay also caught a glimpse of Trassk's massive form as he held back to two Darktroopers with his vibrosword. The big guy was faster than he looked, able to hold off both of the combat droids with little difficulty.

"How's it going?" Shae shouted.

"As good as ever," Jay replied. "How about you guys?"

"Letting Trassk do all the hard work," Laniff reported. "It's nice having a towering colossus of muscles and teeth on our side for once! It's no fun when it's just the bad guys who get all the good help!"

"Ti'ica!" Jay said, grimacing as a blaster bolt took a chunk out of the wall by her head. "What's our status?"

"The countdown starts in five minutes."

"Think we can last that long?" Shae shouted.

"Think we have a choice?" Jay shot back.

Her question was answered by a deafening roar from Trassk as one of the Darktroopers scored a slash down his bicep. Jay looked over in time to see him toss aside his vibroblade. He grabbed the Darktrooper by the shoulders, clamped his jaws around the droid's head, twisted, and ripped it from its housing. He spat the head out, then spun and whipped out a meaty hand with a blow that took the other Darktrooper's head off at the shoulders. The second droid collapsed just as the first hit the ground.

Jay looked around, then cursed as blaster fire stitched the ground at her feet. "What happened to the Handmaiden?"

"She's doing what she does best," Rame said pointing into the darkness. Jay followed his gesture and saw a pale shadow moving among the shapes of the remaining stormtroopers. One soldier fell, followed by another, more distant one, only moments later. She was calmly and analytically weeding out their attackers, showing no hesitation or mercy. Jay saw her grab a trooper by the helmet and twist violently. The man jerked and fell while she moved on and crippled another with a devastating punch to the throat.

Vhetin, meanwhile, was still engaged in combat with Colonel Packard, frantically trying to land punches or kicks while simultaneously dodging blows from his own lightsaber pike. Jay hoped he was ready for combat of that caliber. But, judging by their current situation, she wasn't sure he had a choice.

---

"You're getting slow, Vhetin!" Packard shouted as he slashed at Vhetin's stomach. "All the reports I read claimed you were one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the galaxy!"

"You'll excuse me if I'm a little rusty," Vhetin shouted back, balling up an armored fist and knocking Packard away with a powerful blow to the chest. He jumped forward and followed up with a kick that sent the colonel staggering back. Packard quickly recovered, slashing horizontally with the glowing blue blade of his stolen pike. The blade caught Vhetin in the chest, burning through his bandages and slicing his blaster in half. He cursed and tossed aside the useless weapon, unslinging the force pike from his back.

Good thing the Imps upgraded these things with phrik alloy, he thought, hefting the weapon with two hands. He narrowed his eyes as he and Packard began circling each other. Vhetin flexed his fingers to re-establish his grip on his pike, then darted forward with a quick stab to the stomach. Packard easily deflected the blow and lunged forward with a stab of his own. Vhetin leaned back, out of range, and parried, slashing at Packard's shoulder. His activated pike carved the colonel's shoulder pad in half, leaving a smoking burn scar in the man's spotless white armor.

Packard hit Vhetin with a powerful kick to the stomach, causing him to double over. Vhetin barely paused, straightening as quickly as he could and slamming his helmet into Packard's chin.

"I hate you!" he shouted. "And everything you stand for!"

"You hate me?" Packard snarled. "Look around you! All this is all your fault!"

Vhetin blocked a downward strike from the blade of Packard's lightsaber. He shoved the blade aside and stabbed at the colonel's sword arm. "You did this to me! You and your superiors set all this up!"

Packard slammed Vhetin's force pike out of the way, sending a shower of sparks through the darkness, then grabbed the back of Vhetin's neck, swung him around, and slammed him forward into the wall. Vhetin's faceplate hit the wall hard, pounding his skull into the front of his helmet.

"You think you could just hand yourself over to these scientists with no consequences?" Packard demanded. He slammed the hard shaft of the lightsaber pike into Vhetin's back. He then drove his boot into Vhetin's ribs, knocking him over onto his back.

"There are always consequences!" the Imperial shouted. "You of all people should know that!"

Pinning Vhetin down with a boot to the chest, he raised his pike and stabbed down. The glowing blue blade burned right through Vhetin's bicep, making him scream and grab the shaft of the weapon. He held the weapon steady, ignoring the pain, knowing if he jerked away he would sever his arm at the shoulder. So he slowly pulled the weapon up, drawing the humming blade out of his arm, fighting against Packard every inch.

"You gave up," Packard snapped. "You broke down like a coward. And now you expect to just walk away after all the damage you've done?"

"I'm trying to fix this!" Vhetin snarled, rolling away and struggling to his feet. He clutched his wounded arm, backing out of range of Packard's lightsaber. "Trying to make up for all the pain I've created! You're trying to keep me here!"

Packard advanced, pushing Vhetin back until his back hit the wall of the room. Packard shook his head and said, "If you stay here, the scientists get what they want and all you've done is give the Imperials a supersoldier serum. But if you escape, their contingency plan goes into effect and they turn their serum into a viral weapon. They'll kill millions."

"Then let me go," Vhetin panted. "Let me try to stop them."

Packard shook his head. "No good. Whether you like it or not, you're going back in your cell. It's for the greater good."

"Screw your greater good!" Vhetin shouted, leaping forward and slamming his fist into Packard's unguarded throat, followed by a devastating kick to the gut and a double-fisted blow to the back of the head. "Screw your Project! And while you're at it, screw you!"

Packard collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting hard. He struggled to rise to his feet, but Vhetin scooped up his fallen force pike and slashed across the back of the colonel's legs. The man screamed and sprawled forward as blood stained his spotless white armor. Vhetin then lashed out with a powerful kick that landed in the back of Packard's helmet. The man slumped with a pained groan.

"You took my life, Packard," Vhetin spat. "You took me away from everything I loved, turned me into a lab rat for your scientists. You beat me, starved me, infected me with your damn disease. I could spend the rest of my life killing Imperials and not even come close to being even with what you've done. What you plan to do."

Packard groaned and rolled over onto his back before pulling his helmet off and tossing it aside. His nose was broken, blood steadily dripping down the sides of his face. He spat out a mouthful of blood. "Go to hell, Vhetin."

"I'll meet you there," Vhetin snapped, raising his force pike.

Packard moved before even Vhetin's reflexes could warn him to move. Packard reached down to his boot, pulled a small field pistol from an equally tiny holster, and aimed directly at Vhetin's chest. The ensuing blaster fire tore through him, his trooper chestplate having been shattered during his earlier fight with Trassk. Every shot that hit him felt like being kicked in the chest by a bantha. He staggered back, feeling white-hot pain wash through his body. Packard emptied the entire clip, then threw the pistol aside and scrambled to his feet. He grabbed Vhetin's lightsaber pike again and activated the glowing blue blade.

"You're a tool, you freak," Packard spat, blood still dripping down his face. "You've always been a tool, first used by crime lords to hunt down their enemies, now used by the Imperials for their purposes."

Vhetin let out a wheezing cough and fell to his knees, clutching his chest. He ripped off his helmet, desperately gasping for breath.

"Unfortunately for you," Packard said, placing the lightsaber blade horizontally across Vhetin's neck, "my orders have changed. You're too much trouble for your own good."

Vhetin finally sucked in a full breath. All sound seemed to fade into silence, save for the violent hum of the lightsaber and his own strangled respiration. He could feel sweat drip off his forehead, could feel blood seep through his fingers as he clutched at his chest. He slowly looked up at Packard and gasped, "I... hate... you."

Packard narrowed his eyes and raised the pike, ready to swing it down for a killing blow. But Vhetin suddenly sprang to his feet, and grabbed the shaft of the pike. Packard frowned and fought against the lock, trying to drive the blade down into Vhetin's chest. Vhetin was stronger than the colonel, but the stab wound through his arm made the two even.

"I... am leaving this place," Vhetin gasped, fighting to keep his arm from shaking. "I am... taking all my friends with me. And I... am going to burn this hellhole... to the ground."

He slammed his head forward into Packard's, knocking the man back. Vhetin then yanked his hand back, ripping the pike from the colonel's grasp. Packard stumbled away, his back hitting the wall. Vhetin hefted his pike, feeling the old, familiar weight of the weapon as he raised it to chest height. The blade hummed loudly, the synthetic buzz like music to his ears. He saw Packard's eyes widen with fear as Vhetin stepped closer.

"And to do that," he growled, "I'm going to need this."

Then he stabbed forward, sinking the blade of the weapon deep into Packard's chest. The colonel's eyes went wide and he let out a pained gasp. Vhetin's masked face turned down in a furious scowl as he twisted the shaft, making sure the wound was as painful as possible. Then he yanked the blade free and let the colonel slump to the ground. The man didn't move again.

Vhetin just stood there a few moments, savoring the feeling that the colonel's death brought him. He didn't usually enjoy killing people, but Packard had been evil. He'd been responsible for more pain than Vhetin cared to dwell on, responsible for far more death and destruction than Vhetin ever would. He deserved what he had gotten. Justice had been served.

Finally looking around, he saw that there were only a few stormtroopers left standing. A combined effort between Jay, Trassk, and the Handmaiden dealt with those lucky few within moments. By the time Vhetin had limped his way back to the group, the room was silent once more. He deactivated the lightsaber blade, using the pike as a third leg to support himself as he hobbled toward Jay. His legs buckled with every step he took, his wounded arm shaking as blood trickled down his white plastoid arm guard.

"How is everyone?" he asked as Rame and Shae rounded up weapons and ammunition from the dead stormtroopers.

"A few scrapes and burns," Jay said, back turned, watching Ti'ica's progress on hacking the heat exchange ducts. "Nothing serious. How's Packard?"

"I think it's safe to assume he's not going to be running security on Imperial bases anytime soon."

"Good. Ti'ica's almost done with the ducts. We should be good to go in a few-"

She finally looked up and saw Vhetin's wounds. She cursed and ran up to him, reaching out as if to touch him, then seemed to think better of it. "Oh kriff, Cin. You... you've been shot."

"A couple of times, yeah."

She cursed again, then turned and shouted, "Rame, get over here! Cin's been hit!"

Vhetin shook his head, then gasped as pain ripped through his chest and neck. The adrenaline from his fight was wearing off and all the pain of his collected wounds was flooding back. It felt like his entire torso was on fire and every muscle in his body screamed. He almost fell to his knees, but managed to hold himself up on his pike.

"I'm fine, Jay," he gasped. "We... we need to move."

"We're not going to move fast enough with you wounded like that, vod," Rame said, pulling an emergency medkit from his belt. "Fortunately, it looks like that field pistol was low heat. We're probably looking at some superficial burns, no serious penetration."

Vhetin grimaced as Rame helped him strip off his bloodstained undersuit. The medic quickly fished a small hypospray out of his medkit. "This'll numb the pain until we have time to get you some serious medical care."

"We don't have time for this," Vhetin said. "Save it in case we really need it."

"I think we need it now," Rame muttered, injecting the hypospray into Vhetin's arm. "Deny it all you like, but you know all this is slowing you down."

Vhetin felt a familiar tingling in his throat. He forced the feeling away, knowing it meant his lungs were once again filled with the viscous Whiteclaw serum, ready to be purged. When the sensation didn't fade and instead only grew stronger, he shoved Rame away and staggered into a corner. His chest began to contract, his lungs growing tighter and tighter. He pulled off his facemask, gasping for breath that wouldn't come. He heard someone take a step toward him, but he frantically waved them away. Moments later, his lungs contracted violently and he could feel bile climbing in his throat once more. He coughed, then sticky black fluid spewed from his mouth, splattering the floor. He tried to push the feeling back, to regain control, but his lungs seized up again.

He vomited three more times before he could breathe. A few moments later and the spasms in his lungs had ceased as well. He took in a deep breath, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then replaced his helmet and looked around. He saw Jay and Rame standing closest to him, wearing identical worried expressions. The Handmaiden was standing a little to their left, eying the puddle of black fluid Vhetin had just regurgitated.

"Charming," was all she would say. Then she shook her head and turned away.

"Sorry," Vhetin muttered, rising to his feet. "I... can't really control when that happens. Like having the flu."

"Right," Rame said. "We'll let's patch you up and get the hell out of here."

The medic was about to bandage his wounds when they had another interruption: a crash, coming from nearby. Jay whipped around, a stolen stormtrooper rifle in her hands, and snapped, "Now what?"

Trassk flanked the door, tasting the air with his large, forked tongue. "Hmm, it came from the other sside of thiss door."

"What is it?" Shae asked. "More Imps come to party?"

"I do not know," Trassk snarled. He narrowed his eyes as there was another crash, this time right against the surface of the door. "But whatever it iss, it wantss in."

"Ti'ica," Jay snapped. "Sitrep."

"I'm almost through!" the slicer cried. "In three... two... one..."

There was a deep clank from the three cylindrical safety barriers covering the heat exchange ducts. Then, with a rumble, the covers slowly swung out, revealing another layer of blast shielding beneath. Ti'ica jogged up to the leftmost duct, then said, "This is it. Once this blast shield retracts, we'll have fifteen minutes to get out."

"How long until you can open those doors?"

"It won't take me long. Couple minutes, max."

Everyone present looked over as as the pounding on the door suddenly faded into silence. After a few tense moments, Rame lowered his rifle and reported, "They're gone."

Trassk sniffed and hissed. "Hmm, they are sstill there. They are merely finding alternate infiltration pointss."

"Cin," Jay said, gesturing to their surroundings. "Get to work."

Vhetin nodded, pulled his helmet back over his head, and booted up the HUD's scanner. He looked around the room, watching the holographic display pick out ventilation shafts, power conduit access points, anything that could potentially allow someone into the room.

"What do you see?" Jay asked.

"Five potential infiltration points," he said. He pointed them out, making sure everyone knew where each grate or ventilation cover was located. "I'll keep an eye on them until Ti'ica can-"

The words had barely left his mouth when one of the access points exploded outward and something fell into the room. Vhetin's HUD tracked the figure, but whatever it was moved before he could get a clear glimpse.

"Damn it!" he shouted, raising his rifle.

"What? What is it?" Jay asked.

"There's something in the room," he said, turning his head and letting his HUD scan for contacts. "Work on that door."

Jay motioned for Ti'ica to hurry up while the others drew their weapons. Trassk stomped one foot impatiently. "Tesst ssubjectss?"

"I'm guessing so," Vhetin said. "Remember that a single scratch from one of these kriffers and you're dead."

"Nice," Shae muttered. She spun around when she heard a gurgly moan from behind her. She fumbled for a moment, then clicked on her rifle light. The illumination showed nothing but a wall of control monitors, lights blinking steadily. She slowly relaxed with a muttered curse.

Laniff chuckled. "Getting jumpy?"

He was about to say more when something massive hit him from behind. He toppled to the ground, rifle clattering away. Vhetin turned to help when it suddenly seemed like every access point was smashed apart at once.

"Contacts!" someone shouted. Blaster fire lit up the room, illuminating horribly deformed, drooling figures all around them. Vhetin cursed and sprinted forward, grabbing the test subject attacking Laniff and yanking it away. It lurched and fell, struggling to rise again. He then put a boot on the creature's chest and activated his saber pike, plunging it down into the infected man's chest. The man twitched and fell still.

He turned to Laniff and hauled the Mandalorian to his feet. "Are you all right? Did it get you?"

Laniff brushed himself and shook his head, panting hard. "No. Managed to get my boots up in time to catch it in the chest. Held it away. Scared the living shit out of me, though."

Vhetin nodded and raised his pike, ready to head back into the fray again. He saw Trassk fending off five of the beings at once, holding them at bay with massive swipes from his vibrosword. Vhetin sprinted forward, raising his pike, and leaped into the fight. His first slash caught one test subject in the chest, knocking the infected man to the ground. He used the momentum of the blow to carry his blade up and across, taking another's head off at the shoulders. Trassk roared and punched an onrushing test subject in the face with enough power to send it flying back into a group of others. The monstrosities toppled, moaning, but began to slowly stagger to their feet again.

It seemed like no matter how many attackers they cut down, more and more replaced them. Vhetin could see them, crawling out of ventilation shafts, bursting through fan grates and ignoring the lacerations the rotating fans sliced in their skin. He punched Trassk in the shoulder and shouted, "Get back with the others! We can't let these things cut us off from the group!"

The Trandoshan's upper lip twitched in irritation, but he nodded and lumbered off, toward the others. Vhetin turned to see them all pressed up against the wall, firing as fast as their weapons would allow. The Handmaiden was lashing out with quick, devastating blows with her fists or the shaft of her quarterstaff, ignoring the deep red blood that spattered her pristine white uniform when she broke a test subject's nose. Rame was helping her, picking off any attackers that weren't killed or incapacitated by her blows. Laniff and Shae were back-to-back, creating an impenetrable storm of blaster fire that mowed down test subjects left and right. Jay had managed to get her hands on another pistol and was firing with a weapon in either hand, spraying the crowd with multi-colored blaster fire.

Vhetin sprinted toward them, killing anything that stood in his way. There were at least as many test subjects now as there had been stormtroopers earlier, and they just kept coming. He found himself wishing he still had his old armor; a long burst from his gauntlet-mounted flamethrower would deal with these monsters in a heartbeat.

He finally broke through the crowd and joined the others, slashing at any test subject that got within range. He pressed himself against the wall on Jay's other side, lashing out at any infected human that staggered within range of his pike. He swung his blade like a bat and took a subject's head off at the shoulders, then spun and stabbed another through the chest.

"Just like old times, huh?" he shouted to Jay over the clamor.

"Not quite!" she snapped, pistol-whipping a test subject in the face before kicking it away and spraying its back with blaster fire.

"Got it!" Ti'ica suddenly shouted. "Doors opening!"

There was a massive metallic clank and the circular blast shields covering the exchange duct retracted, leaving an opening large enough for a person to squeeze through. Ti'ica whipped around, grinning from ear to ear, seemingly oblivious to the danger facing them.

"All right, Ti'ica," Jay shouted over the groaning of the test subjects and the deafening snap of blaster fire. "You head through first. We've only got fifteen minutes, so make it snappy."

"Wait," Vhetin said, grabbing the girl's arm. "You made sure to set the ducts to overload? We still need to destroy this place."

"The ducts will overheat in twenty minutes," the Twi'lek replied. "This entire place will be burned to a crisp."

Vhetin nodded and released her, letting her clamber into the heat duct and begin shimmying her way up the pipe. After only a few moments, she was gone. Jay jerked her head and shouted, "Laniff, you next!"

"Kriff that!" he shouted back. "I'll be damned if I'm gonna let Shae get a bigger kill count than me!"

"We don't have time to argue!" Vhetin shouted. "The clock's already ticking!"

He cursed, then pulled himself into the duct as well. Rame followed him, then the Handmaiden, and finally Shae. Jay then pointed at Vhetin and said, "Your turn, big guy. Into the duct."

He slashed at at test subject that staggered a little too close. Trassk knocked down three more with a single shot from his massive pistol. Another leaped for the Trandoshan, but he knocked it away with a punch that Vhetin was willing to bet would floor a Wookiee. He was driven a few steps back as another creature grabbed onto his shoulders, hanging off him like a deranged monkey-lizard. He roared, headbutted the infected man, then threw it bodily across the room.

"No," Vhetin shouted over the chaos. "You head through. I'll be right behind you."

"Oh no you don't," she said, grabbing his shoulder. "I'm not going to lose you now that we're almost through this. Get into that damn tube."

"I'm not going to leave you down here," he said.

"You won't need to," Trassk suddenly said. He grabbed another test subject and snapped its neck with a quick jerk of his wrist. "I will sstay here and continue fighting."

"What?" Jay said, felling three onrushing creatures with blaster fire. "What are you talking about?"

"I will not be leaving this facility," the Trandoshan hissed.

He turned to them, and Vhetin was able to make out multiple bite marks on his neck, shoulders, and arms. They were slowly oozing dark green blood that stained his skin black in the shadows.

From that moment, Vhetin knew Trassk was dead. He'd been dead the moment a test subject had sank its infected teeth into his leathery flesh. It didn't matter if he escaped the Facility, didn't matter if they managed to escape the entire system. He was as dead as the stormtroopers they had killed. It was only a matter of time.

It seemed Trassk understood this as well. He flexed a massive hand and snarled, "Even if I were to make it through the ductss, I would no longer be mysself."

"No," Jay said, her voice leaving little room for argument. "No. We go together."

"I cannot allow thiss ssickness to leave thiss place. I will not endanger our alliess."

Jay turned and unloaded an entire clip of ammunition into an incoming test subject. When she turned back to her companion, she looked dismayed. "But... but what about Ti'ica? That girl loves you like a brother. She'll be expecting you to look after her."

He let out a hissing chuckle. "She musst now look after hersself. Every hatchling musst grow into a hunter at ssome point."

Jay stared at him for a few moments, then nodded slowly. Trassk nodded back, then turned to Vhetin as she continued to fire at nearby attackers. The Trandoshan cocked his head and hissed, "I hope you were worth the trouble, my friend."

Vhetin reached out and grasped Trassk's muscled forearm. "Thank you. I won't forget this."

"Ensure you do not," the massive lizard snarled. He inclined his head and narrowed his eyes. "May your enemiess be powerful enough to keep your skillss sharp."

Then he drew his grenade launcher from his belt and roared, "Go!"

Vhetin watched the Trandoshan turn back to the horde of test subjects, then turned and pulled himself into the heat exchange duct. It was a tight fit, but the tube was ridged, providing excellent handholds for him to pull himself up. He heard Jay crawling in behind him, muttering, "Kriff, kriff, kriff!" as she did.

Looking ahead, he could easily see Shae, further up the duct. Beyond her was a brilliant white circle of sunlight; the first sunlight Vhetin had seen in three months. He doubled his efforts, scrambling through the pipe as quickly as he could. He was so close now, literally minutes away from freedom.

"Almost there," he kept whispering to himself. "Almost there."

---

As soon as the human female had disappeared into the duct, Trassk slammed a fist into the control panel, sealing off the duct. The extra buildup of pressure might make the ensuing explosion even more memorable. Once done, he turned back to the horde descending on him and hefted his grenade launcher, feeding a cylindrical grenade into its housing. His eyes narrowed to slits and he let out a low snarl.

"All right," he hissed. "My turn."

He charged forward, knocking several attackers off their feet from the start. He slammed a foot into another's face, knocking it back. He pivoted, then fired a shot from his grenade launcher. There was a deep thoomp sound, followed almost instantly by a massive explosion that engulfed more than ten attackers.

He slammed the butt of the launcher into an infected human's head, then backhanded another across the face. Yet another creature hopped onto his back and sank its teeth into the flesh of his shoulder. He roared in pain and ripped it away, throwing the human across the room. He punched another human in the gut, then whirled and slammed his arm across another's face. It seemed like whatever he did to fell his enemies, more kept coming.

Good, he thought. Keep them coming. Truly tesst my sstrength.

Two more latched onto his right leg, scratching and biting. He kicked them away, stomping hard on their heads. He roared and grabbed another human, sinking his teeth into its neck before throwing it aside as easily as he could have thrown an Ewok. Turning, he swung his empty grenade launcher like a bat, bashing the stock of the weapon against a test subject's skull.

"More!" he shouted. "More!"

The creatures more than delivered. They swarmed over him, seemingly oblivious to fear or pain. He kicked and punched and bit, throwing every bit of his considerable strength into his fight. Bodies flew through the air or slid across the blood-slicked ground, but the infected humans continued to press in around him. He turned, grabbed one human on either sides of its face, then ripped its head from its shoulders with his bare hands. He whipped around and let out a deafening roar that seemed to shake the very foundations of the Facility.

A human staggered forward and grabbed his left arm, sinking its teeth into the flesh of his muscular bicep. He roared in pain and moved to rip the test subject away when another grabbed his other arm. He let out a snarl and shoved both humans away, thrown off balance for a moment. He was about to press his attack, but was driven to his knees as a large human grabbed him around the neck while he was still trying to regain his balance. He tried to rise, but more and more piled on top of the first, holding him down as they dug at him with fingernails or teeth. He roared in pain, flailing and punching at anything that moved. He rose to his feet, carrying no less than six humans on his back and shoulders.

More test subjects threw themselves at his feet and legs. When one managed to land a lucky headbutt to the back of one knee, he sprawled forward onto his hands and knees. By then it was too late to rise again; they began piling onto his back like young Trandoshan hatchlings at playtime. But unlike Trandoshan younglings, these beings bit him and scratched at him everywhere they could. He could feel blood pouring down his arms and chest.

Trassk's lip curled and he grabbed his grenade launcher once more. He struggled to feed another round into the weapon, then tucked it tight against his shoulder and aimed it at the ground between his hands.

"You... will not... have me!" he roared, then pulled the trigger. The weapon kicked in his hands, then the world exploded into white and he felt no more.

---

Vhetin gratefully accepted the hand that reached into the duct. Laniff grasped his arm tightly and hauled him out into open air. Vhetin staggered slightly at a fresh wash of pain from his chest and staggered away, bracing himself against a nearby power junction and gasping for breath. He ripped off his helmet and gulped down his first lungful of clean, fresh air in three months. The air chilled his lungs in a cool, rejuvenating way. He closed his eyes as he felt the sunlight warm the skin beneath his shredded facemask.

Jay scrambled out of the duct as well, sprawling in the dirt and crawling away from the tube's exit as the outer hatch began to close. As soon as it had slammed shut, Ti'ica cried, "That's it! Now all we need to do is get out of here before the ducts overheat and blow this whole place to hell!"

"Watch your language," Rame warned, then offered Jay a hand. She shook him away and staggered to her feet, rubbing her eyes and cursing.

Laniff stepped forward, a concerned frown on his face. "What's wrong? Where's Trassk?"

"He..." she shook her head, "he didn't make it."

"W-what?" Ti'ica said, eyes suddenly wide and fearful.

"I don't-"

"What the hell do you mean he didn't make it?" Shae demanded.

"He was bitten, okay?" she snapped. " He stayed to buy us time. He... he wasn't willing to put the rest of us in jeopardy."

There was silence for several long minutes, everyone staring at Jay in disbelief. Then Shae shook her head and murmured, "That's not possible. Trassk was kriffing indestructible."

"N-no," Ti'ica stammered, blue eyes wide. "No, that can't be true."

Jay shook her head again, squeezing her eyes shut. "I'm sorry, Ti'ica. I didn't want this to happen. I... I didn't want to lose anyone."

"No," she said again, sounding desperate now. She began tapping into her datapad again. "No, if... if I can open the hatch again, maybe... maybe he's still in there."

Shae caught her arm before she could finish the hack. "That would not be a good idea, kid."

Jay knelt in front of the young Twi'lek, whose eyes were just beginning to water with tears. She hesitated, then put a hand on her shoulder. The two just stared at each other for a few moments, holding each other's gaze. Vhetin knew that in situations such as this words were useless anyway.

Jay eventually nodded and raised her eyebrows in question. Ti'ica sniffed, then looked at her boots and nodded back. The motion needed no translation; the girl was ready to go.

Shae clapped her hands and said, "Okay. D is still on standby with the evac vehicle. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to get the kriff out of here."

Jay stood and pulled her pistol from its holster. "Let's go then. Everyone keep your heads down and your eyes peeled. Packard sent troops to this position, so be ready for a fight. We're not losing anyone else."

"We'll need to be fast," Ti'ica said in a shaky voice, as if she was still fighting against tears. "Um... the Facility is going to collapse in a matter of minutes. As soon as those ducts explode, this whole place is going to go up in smoke."

The Handmaiden hopped nimbly up onto another boxy power junction, grasping her quarterstaff tightly in one gloved hand. Vhetin watched as she narrowed her pale blue eyes and scowled. She slowly reached up and pulled her white hood over her head.

"There are stormtroopers approaching from the west," she murmured. "We would do well to prepare."

"Extraction point is close," Jay said, motioning for the group to fall out. "A quarter-mile to the northwest. I've already radioed D. He's waiting for us."

"Good," Shae said. "We've already lost our one big gun. I get the feeling we'll need our backup."

Ti'ica winced and Laniff frowned at the Mandalorian woman. "Too soon, vod."

"Oh... sorry."

They set off at a jog for the edge of the Facility's above-ground power station, weaving through a maze of junctions, converters, and emergency generators. The Handmaiden kept to the highest vantage points, leaping nimbly from junction to junction, always keeping an eye on the approaching Imperials.

As they ran, Jay put a hand to her comm set and shouted, "D! You ready?"

"AT YOUR COMMAND," came the response.

"Get ready!" she said. "We've got Imps on our tail. We might need you to keep them busy while we prep for evac!"

"AS YOU WISH."

She nodded and shut down the comm, then brought her group to a halt. She turned to Vhetin, who was being supported by Rame. She grimaced when she saw her partner's state. He looked bad; he was hobbling along, favoring his left foot, and the bandages wrapped around his chest were stained deep red. His breath was coming in short, pained wheezes and he could barely maintain his hold on his saber pike.

"How's he doing?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Vhetin protested, but Rame shook his head.

"It's not looking good," the medic reported. "He's lost a lot of blood and the pneumonia isn't helping. He's running a fever and it's getting harder for him to breathe. We need to get him to the evac ship as soon as we can."

Vhetin coughed and muttered, "That's the last time I tell you my symptoms."

The crackle of stormtrooper helmet comms drew Jay's attention and she looked to the Handmaiden for a report. The Echani narrowed her eyes and said, "The Imperials are drawing closer. Combat is inevitable."

"Okay," Jay sighed. "Laniff, Shae, take up position. Protect Ti'ica and Vhetin."

Vhetin grunted as the two fanned out to protect the group. "I can fight."

"No you can't," Rame replied."You can barely stand."

"Give me a minute. I may be too injured to stand, but I'm far from being too injured to be stubborn."

"Just leave this one to us, Cin," Jay said. "We've almost got you out of here."

He grunted and muttered, "If you say so."

"Les and I will hold the Imperials back as long as we can," Jay explained. "The rest of you get to the evac point. We'll meet you there in five. Got it?"

Her order was met with nods and murmurs of agreement. The Handmaiden flexed her grip on her quarterstaff in anticipation, hopping down from the power junction with a dark smile tugging at her lips.

"Go!" Jay shouted, loud enough to ensure the approaching stormtroopers would hear her. Sure enough, she could hear troopers barking at each other to check out the source of the noise. The others set off at a jog, making for the northwest area of the compound. After a few moments, they had disappeared from sight.

The stormtroopers drew closer and closer until Jay could hear them just around the corner, well within blaster range. The fact that they were still wondering where the escapees were hiding was good; she still had the element of surprise.

Jay checked the charge of her pistol and whispered, "Are you ready for this, Les?"

The Echani nodded. "I am always ready."

Jay grinned and said, "Then lets show these Imps how us bounty hunter girls get it done."

Then she threw herself around the corner and opened fire.

---

Vhetin looked over his shoulder as the sounds of blaster fire came from the area they had just left. He hoped his partner would stay safe. Trassk had already died during his rescue and he didn't want someone else to pay the price for his freedom.

"How far?" he managed to gasp between staggered breaths.

Rame pointed to a boxy structure just ahead. "Just past that, there's a clearing large enough to set a ship down. That's where we're going."

"Let's pick up the pace," Laniff called. "We don't want those Imps somehow getting around Jay and the Echani and catching up to us."

It was only a few minutes before they made it to the building. Once there, they found there was no way around; there were heavy security barriers built into the sides of the building, forming the perimeter of the Facility. Shae scouted ahead, then reported back that they'd have to cut through the building to get to the evac point.

"The place is swarming with engineers and techs trying to get the power back on," she said. "They shouldn't be much of a problem."

When they reached the entrance to the building, Shae and Laniff flanked either side of the door. Shae counted down from three, then planted her boot in the simple metal door and kicked it down. As she and Laniff moved inside, Vhetin heard her fire two shots into the ceiling and shout, "All right, everybody down! On the kriffing floor you ugly fierfeks! Stay down and stay quiet and no one has to get hurt!"

Laniff gestured for Rame to move up and the medic helped Vhetin limp through the door. Inside, he saw a terrified group of engineers huddled in the corner, all of them staring fearfully at Shae's pistol. The woman waved her weapon threateningly, saying, "Nobody move and we'll all be out of your hair in no time."

"Or maybe not," Laniff said. "Stormtroopers incoming!"

Shae cursed and immediately threw herself to cover as the doors on the other side of the room burst open and a squad of heavily armed stormtroopers sprinted through. One of the troopers was wearing thicker, more complex battle armor and was hefting a huge rotary blaster cannon, so bulky it had to be strapped to his shoulders. The squad opened fire as soon as they saw Vhetin and the others.

"No!" Shae shouted over the clamor. "Damn it, we don't have time for this!"

Laniff peeked over a heavy durasteel crate, wincing as blaster fire ricocheted off the floor nearby. He motioned for Ti'ica, cowering next to him, to keep her head down. "Looks like we don't have a choice. Those troopers aren't going anywhere soon, and it looks like they have reinforcements waiting in the wings."

He leaned out from behind cover and snapped off three shots that sent one trooper sprawling. Shae followed suit, firing at the heavy trooper. No fewer than five blaster bolts hit him in the chest, but the man just shrugged them off and kept pouring fire at them from his massive cannon.

"The Facility is going to collapse in a matter of minutes!" Ti'ica shouted. "We have to get out of here!"

The doors behind them were kicked open again. Shae and Rame spun to face the newcomers, but it was just Jay and Handmaiden. The two quickly took stock of the situation and took cover behind large support pillars on either side of the door.

"You guys didn't make it far, did you?" Jay called. "What's the situation?"

"We've got at least ten stormtroopers ahead of us," Laniff reported. "Maybe we can backtrack and find another way around."

"That will not meet success," the Handmaiden murmured. "There are troopers behind us. We will be surrounded in moments."

"We're running out of time," Shae said, dividing her time between firing at the troopers ahead and keeping the engineers from rushing them. "We need to get out of here now!"

Jay cursed and looked up at the ceiling. Vhetin followed her gaze and saw there was a large transparisteel skylight above. Jay frowned thoughtfully, then dialed out a comm number. "I think it's time to play our trump card. D, you're up! I'm sending you our coordinates! Give 'em hell!"

"ON MY WAY."

A few moments passed. Then Vhetin looked up as he heard the roar of a starship's engines and something blocked out the sunlight streaming in from the skylight. The stormtroopers slowly stopped firing, also staring up at the ship that was now hovering over the skylight.

In the next moment, something huge smashed through the skylight, sending razor-sharp shards of transparisteel flying everywhere. The massive figure plummeted down to the ground, landing so hard it carved a crater out of the duracrete floor.

The entire room was silent for a few moments, save for the tinkling of transparisteel as the remnants of the overhead window bounced across the floor. The troopers and the assembled bounty hunters stared at the newcomer, as if waiting for it to make the first move.

Vhetin saw that it was a humanoid being, larger than even Trassk. The being was curled into a ball, hugging its knees close to its chest. The being had leathery, dark green skin, almost like a Trandoshan's, and had heavy bands of muscle across its shoulders, arms, and chest. There was some kind of heavy armor helmet covering the being's face, and a huge, segmented metal tail seemed to be implanted into the being's back. The tail ended in a wickedly sharp grasping appendage with four razor sharp "appendages" that slowly flexed open and closed. As he watched, the tail unfolded and began sliding sluggishly back and forth across the floor.

There was a high-pitched whine of hydraulics and the colossus slowly unfolded its arms from around its knees and stood to its full height, some three and a half meters tall. It almost looked as if there were polished, reflective black patches of armor plating bolted into the creature's body, as if mere armor were not enough to satisfy it. There were sudden puffs of steam that spouted from vents set into the being's neck and the heavy armor helmet shifted, status lights warming from cool green to a warning orange.

As the creature stood fully, Vhetin realized that the helmet didn't just protect its head; it was its head. Like the armor plating across its body, the helmet had been surgically implanted into the creature's neck and shoulders. What had happened to its real head, he could only guess. As the being took a large, lumbering step toward the assembled stormtroopers, a thick cylinder rose from its chest. Vhetin had assumed the compound cylinder was part of the creature's chest plates, but it slid back into the compound armor "helmet" and began to release a low hum, becoming like a massive cybernetic head in itself. Vhetin saw that the cylinder was an extension of the being's surgical implants, set into the flesh of the being's neck by a series of coolant tubes and miniaturized support girders, the likes of which Vhetin had only seen used on capital ships.

The compound cylinder swiveled to track the stormtroopers, status lights still glowing orange. The front of the cylinder rotated slowly and a tri-dot laser sight activated from a small protrusion on the side of the being's "head." The laser moved from stormtrooper to stormtrooper, eventually coming to rest on the heavy trooper, still hefting his blaster cannon.

There was a metallic rumble from the being and a deep, synthetic voice boomed, "STEP AWAY FROM THE DOOR AND PLACE YOUR WEAPONS ON THE GROUND."

The trooper stood, speechless and petrified, staring at the massive creature before him. Vhetin noticed the man's hands trembling on his cannon's handle grips.

Laniff grimaced and put his hands over his ears. "I'd cover my ears if I were you!" he called to Vhetin. "This is going to be bad!"

The being took another threatening step toward the stormtroopers. As one, the troopers all shrank back, save for the heavy trooper.

"PLACE YOUR WEAPONS ON THE GROUND," the huge alien rumbled. "NOW."

The heavy trooper gulped audibly. Then the genius shouted, "Blast them!"

It was exactly the wrong thing to do. Before any of the troopers could move to fire, the metal clamp on the massive being's tail buried itself in the duracrete floor. The tail snapped out, going rigid like a third support leg. The status lights scattered about the being's "head" flashed red and the huge cylinder began rotating quickly.

Moments later, there was a blinding flash of light and a deafening explosion. Vhetin grimaced and was forced to turn away, ears ringing. As the explosion slowly faded, he turned back to the troopers and found they were scattered around the room, sprawled across the floor or propped, unmoving, against the walls. Where the heavy trooper had stood, there was nothing more than a blackened, smoking crater. Around the crater was a dark red splatter of blood.

Vhetin blinked, not believing his eyes. He'd seen a lot of things over the course of his career, but nothing like this. He looked again at the huge alien, eyes wide.

The cylindrical protrusion from its helmet wasn't just for show. It was a weapon. An enormous light-mass laser cannon, built right into its neck. Who in the hell was this guy?

Smoke pouring from vents in the being's cylindrical "head", the being ensured the rest of the room was clear of hostiles. Then the status lights dimmed from red to orange once again and the segmented tail extracted itself from the floor. It began scraping sluggishly across dusty ground again, fluid and graceful as an organic creature's tail.

"AREA PACIFIED," the being rumbled. "THE WAY IS CLEAR."

Jay stepped out from behind her pillar and approached the colossus with a grin. Vhetin slowly stood and, with Rame's help, followed at a slower, more cautious pace. His partner stepped right up to the being and clapped it on its muscular forearm.

"Nice work, big guy," she said, sounding relieved. "We'll have to chock that one up in the saved our asses column."

She turned to Vhetin and folded her arms, grinning. "Vhetin, this is our exfiltration insurance plan, D."

The massive being let out a deep, dissatisfied buzz and Jay rolled her eyes. "Oh right. My mistake. Vhetin, this is D'harhan, a bounty hunter. We picked him up in the Tatooine system a couple months ago. He's the last member of my team."

Vhetin looked up at the huge alien. The massive cannon mounted on D'harhan's shoulders swiveled and aimed directly at his head. It made him slightly uncomfortable, literally staring down the barrel of such a dangerous weapon. He cleared his throat and murmured, "It's, uh... good to meet you, D'harhan."

"YOUR RESCUE HAS PROVIDED MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMBAT," D'harhan rumbled in reply. His synthesized voice seemed to emanate from a boxy vocoder at the base of his throat, deep and synthesized.

There was a crash from deeper within the building and D'harhan's cannon-head snapped up, status lights glowing orange. He looked around for a moment, though exactly how he could even see, Vhetin wasn't sure. He eventually turned back to the others and clenched a huge, taloned hand. "THERE ARE MORE TROOPS APPROACHING. I WOULD ADVISE IMMEDIATE RETREAT. I WILL PROVIDE COVERING FIRE."

Sure enough, several troopers appeared on a catwalk to their right. D'harhan's cannon swiveled to track them. His tail once again clamped into the ground, steadying his shot. Another massive detonation and the entire catwalk was consumed with fire.

"GO!" D'harhan boomed.

Jay motioned for her group to move, holding open the door at the far end of the building. Shae, Laniff, and Handmaiden filed through, weapons ready for another attack. After Vhetin and Rame had limped through, Jay slid the heavy durasteel door shut and fired a single blaster bolt into the control panel, locking it.

"What are you doing?" Vhetin asked. "D'harhan is still in there."

She looked at him curiously, then chuckled and motioned for them to move. "I don't see your concern, Cin. D doesn't use doors."

Moments later, something blasted a tremendous hole in the wall. Chunks of duracrete went flying everywhere. Moments later, D'harhan lumbered through, stomping toward the next wall.

They made their way through more empty rooms. D'harhan's scanning systems reported there were stormtroopers massing on the other side of the facility, outside the building. It seemed like only moments before they were standing at the large exit doors. Laniff and Shae flanked the door as usual while Jay planted a breach charge.

"I've got the evac ship prepped," Jay said. "The autopilot will bring it down in an open field about a hundred meters away."

She turned to her group. "Get to the ship no matter what. D will keep the stormtroopers busy. Just run like hell and don't look back."

Everyone agreed, ready for the coming battle. She nodded to them, then pressed the activation button on the breach charge. D'harhan prepped his own breach charge, status lights glowing red as he aimed at a large section of wall next to the door.

The breach charge counted down. Vhetin couldn't tear his eyes away. Three... two... one.

"Fire in the hole!" Laniff shouted as the charge blew. When the doors were knocked off their track, he lobbed a fragmentation grenade through the opening and laughed. "I've always wanted to say that."

The grenade detonated just as D'harhan fired at the wall. It seemed like the entire wall exploded out, leaving an aperture more than large enough for him to charge through. As Rame helped him through the door, Vhetin saw that the entire field separating the group from their evac point had erupted into a warzone. There were stormtroopers dug into position behind hastily built barricades, others scrambling around mortar emplacements, or settling in behind mounted E-Web turrets.

The field itself was little more than a dusty expanse of parched yellow dirt. The clouds roiled overhead, purple-black and ominously threatening rain. Vhetin could see mountains off in the distance, but it almost looked like the Facility was built into an common desert valley. He could see the strategic value in housing a prison here; if any prisoners escaped, they'd have no cover once they reached the field. They would be gunned down in moments and if the troops didn't kill them, the desert would.

Though, seeing the masses pitted against them, Vhetin had no problem believing the troops could kill them.

"Scatter!" Shae suddenly shouted. She and Lanniff took off in opposite directions, with the woman frantically trying to cover Ti'ica. "D'harhan, start blasting!"

"WITH PLEASURE," the bounty hunter boomed. His cannon charged and an enormous, red-hot blaster bolt exploded from the barrel, taking out an entire cannon emplacement and a squad of troopers in a single detonation.

"D, clear us a path!" Jay said. "Everyone else, behind the giant walking cannon!"

They quickly and obediently filed in behind the bounty hunter, making sure to steer clear of his thrashing tail. Every few seconds, D'harhan would pause, clamp his tail into the ground, and fire a shot from his cannon-head. After a few of these occurrences, his synthetic voice roared, "I AM GOING TO RUN. PREPARE."

"Get ready," Jay called. "This is it."

"Jay," Rame said, grabbing her shoulder. "Vhetin's not going to be able to run. Not in his condition."

Vhetin slipped a syringe from the medical pack Rame stored on his belt. He quickly read the label, making sure it was a stim pack and not something that could harm him. Then he stabbed the syringe into his leg and depressed the plunger.

Instantly it felt like ice water was flowing through his veins. The pain from his wounds seemed to vanish, swiftly followed by the unbelievable weariness that had been weighing him down. Newfound strength flooded through his body, making him feel good as new again.

He gasped slightly, surprised at how powerful the feeling was. Then he shook his head and grunted, "I'm good. For now."

"Cin-" Rame began to protest, but Vhetin silenced him with a glare.

"I'll be fine. Let's go."

"Ten minutes until the ducts overheat," Ti'ica warned.

"THEN I WILL RUN QUICKLY," D'harhan clarified, charging his cannon.

He took off without warning, lumbering forward with speed that contradicted his massive size. He made his way through the field, taking massive strides that left deep footprints in the ground. His cannon-head swiveled left and right, firing almost constantly. Everyone else ran behind him, taking potshots at any stormtroopers that he missed. The mortar emplacements began firing, sending rocket-propelled grenades screaming through the air. The ensuing explosions sent meter-high geysers of dirt flying. Vhetin felt dirt and grit pepper his masked face, obscuring his vision.

Laniff stumbled as another mortar round went off near his feet. He had almost regained his balance when two blaster shots clipped him in the left arm. He was knocked off his feet, sprawling into the dirt.

"Damn it!" Rame shouted. "Laniff's down! Someone, cover me!"

He went sprinting out from D'harhan's shadow, heading straight for the fallen Mandalorian. Vhetin stopped as well and fired his stolen rifle one-handed at any stormtroopers curious enough to even look at the two. When his rifle eventually clicked empty, he activated his saber pike and ran straight for a nearby turret emplacement.

The stim injection was certainly doing its work. He easily front-flipped over the hastily-built barricade protecting the turret, bringing his pike down across a trooper's chest as he landed. A spinning jump-kick took care of a second, while a powerful thrust to the chest skewered the soldier operating the turret. He quickly kicked over the repeating blaster cannon and sliced its housing from the tripod holding it up. Using the weapon now would take more upper body strength than even Vhetin possessed.

"Rame?" he shouted.

"We're on the move!" the man reported, hauling Laniff to his feet and half-dragging him back to the group.

Vhetin nodded and turned back to D'harhan and the others. They were some distance from him now, still sprinting across the field. It looked like Shae had taken a shot to the arm, but nothing that slowed her down. Jay was grimacing against large sprays of dirt coughed up from mortar explosions. D'harhan was still lumbering toward the extraction point, firing at anything that moved. Bolts from his massive cannons carved deep craters out of the ground and left troopers writhing in the dirt, armor twisted, burnt, and smoking.

But his cannon was not his only weapon. The huge alien slammed stormtroopers aside with powerful blows from his heavily muscled arms or flattened them with devastating kicks that sent them flying through the air. Even his tail was a weapon; as Vhetin watched, the segmented appendage flashed out, the razor-edged clamp impaling a stormtrooper through the armored chest, hoisting him up, and tossing him aside like a limp ragdoll. It then clamped itself around a trooper's helmet and similarly threw him into the air. Within the blink of an eye, the tail had buried itself in the ground again as D'harhan fired a bolt from his cannon.

"Come on, Cin!" Rame shouted, ducking as blaster bolts flew over his head.

Vhetin jumped slightly and took off, sprinting toward the others. He stuck to D'harhan's right, taking out any stormtroopers the bounty hunter left behind, thinning their opposition. He could see stragglers gathering behind them, regrouping from their initial attack. There had to be almost fifty of them, sprinting after them as fast as their legs could carry them.

That was a problem; D'harhan was absorbing any fire from the front and sides, shrugging off the blaster bolts like the sting of an annoying insect. But the group was following behind him, and they had no cover from the troops following them.

"Handmaiden!" he shouted as he caught up. The Echani's pale blue gaze instantly snapped to him. He gestured behind them and said, "You know that smoke grenade you used on those stormtroopers back in the cargo bay?"

"I remember!"

"Got anything bigger?"

She slowed, then turned toward the host of white-armored soldiers behind them. She scowled, lips tight, eyes narrowed. "Not quite."

"Les!" Jay shouted, also coming to a halt. "What the hell are you doing?"

The Echani pulled a cluster of dark gray orbs from her belt, at least five in each hand. "Get to the extraction point. I shall keep these mongrels busy."

"Les, no! You'll be ripped to shreds!"

"I am eager to test myself against such numbers. Go. I shall rejoin you shortly."

Then the woman sprinted toward their opponents, armed with nothing but the orbs from her belt. Jay stared after her, then shouted, "Damn it!" and kept running.

Vhetin quickly kept up with them now, still taking out troopers at any opportunity. His lightsaber carved through armor, turret emplacements, mortar cannons, whatever got in his way. As he drew up on another mortar launcher, he skidded to a halt. He quickly dispatched the two troopers operating the cannon, then swiveled the cylindrical weapon to aim at another emplacement. He quickly fed a round into the weapon and fired.

A high-pitched whistle cut the air before the other mortar cannon exploded, the ensuing cloud of flame and debris engulfing the two operators and a group of four troopers. Vhetin then sliced his cannon in half and kept running.

"Where the hell is this extraction point?" he shouted as he drew even with Jay again. "Where's the ship?"

No sooner had he spoken than a shadow passed overhead he head a familiar-sounding roar. He looked up and saw an equally familiar purple-black, spearhead-shaped ship cruise down from the clouds, rotating to face them.

Void! Vhetin thought. It was his old ship, a prototype stealth freighter designed to be able to sneak past blockades or hold its own in a skirmish if stealth failed. He didn't think he'd ever been so glad to see the bucket of bolts in his entire life.

"D'harhan!" Jay shouted. "I'm transferring the ship's weapon control to you! Light these bastards up!"

"WITH PLEASURE."

The ship's quad-cannons, heavy-duty blaster turrets mounted on the top and bottom of the ship, opened fire on the troops behind them. The bright red blaster fire stitched through the ranks of white-armored Imperials, sending bodies flying. Screams cut through the air and Vhetin heard someone shouting, "Fall back! Fall back to the Facility!" over his gauntlet-mounted comm unit.

Void swiveled to face them, coming to rest on six retractable landing legs. With a hiss of exhaust steam, the wide rectangular landing ramp extended, hitting the ground with a dull thud, kicking up a small cloud of dust. Within the ship Vhetin could see only darkness, a save haven beckoning him onward.

D'harhan reached the ship first and turned to lend his own credible armament to Void's work holding back the Imperials. They were in full retreat now, sprinting back toward the distant Facility in disorganized, panicked groups. Those unlucky enough to be stuck at the back of the group were cut down by blaster fire, at least until they managed to run out of range of Void's cannons.

"Everyone inside!" Rame snapped, gesturing frantically for them to head up the landing ramp. "We're getting out of here!"

"Not yet!" Jay shouted. "We can't leave without Les!"

"You won't have to," the Handmaiden said, seeming to appear out of nowhere. Vhetin blinked and saw that her pristine white combat suit was covered in dust and blood, making her blend in almost perfectly with their dusty, yellowish-brown surroundings. She pulled her hood back and shook dirt out of her hair as she hurried up the landing ramp.

"Okay," Rame said, glaring at Jay. "Everyone's accounted for. Can we go now?"

Jay nodded, holstering her pistol. "Go, then! Let's get out of here!"

Rame nodded and sprinted inside, heading down the central corridor of the ship and heading straight for the cockpit. Vhetin limped after him, the stim's effects finally beginning to wear off. Jay brought up the rear with D'harhan, whose chest was slick with dark blood that trickled from countless blaster shots to his chest, shoulders, and arms. The massive bounty hunter scanned the area one last time before his cannon's status lights dimmed to a dull orange and the cylindrical weapon dropped down to his chest once more. Then he turned and lumbered inside, dragging his segmented tail behind him.

Vhetin staggered slightly as he made it to the circular central room of the ship. The deck kicked beneath his feet, shaking roughly as the ship took off and roared for the upper atmosphere. Bracing his hand against the wall, he was able to maintain his shaky balance and look around as well.

Jay and Rame were nowhere to be found, probably both in the cockpit. Everyone else was clustered around the holoterminals set into one wall of the central room, watching the Facility from Void's external cameras. Vhetin slowly made his way over and watched with them. The cams showed a bird'-eye view of the Facility, growing smaller and smaller as Void climbed into the air.

Laniff was grinning from ear to ear as he held up three fingers. "In three... two... one!"

Right on cue, a tremor shook the collection of rectangular buildings that was all that could be seen of the Facility from above ground. The tremor spread across the dry desert valley, spreading out in a wide circular shape, kicking up clouds of dust and dirt that had to be hundreds of meters high.

"And now for the best part," Laniff said, grinning, if possible, even wider. Shae nudged him hard in the ribs and motioned for him to shut up. The Handmaiden glanced at him, then turned her intense scrutiny back to the terminal, blue eyes never leaving the picture on screen.

The tremor slowly faded, then the entire Facility seemed to simply... drop. Starting in the center and spreading outward, the Facility collapsed in on itself; three levels of research station, prison cells, stormtrooper barracks, security checkpoints, and torture chambers transformed into a mile-wide junkyard within the blink of an eye. Moments later, a gigantic plume of smoke, dust, fire, and debris exploded out from the center of the wreckage, shooting up into the sky like a giant geyser of destruction. Vhetin was willing to bet that Imperial troops stationed kilometers away would be able to see the eruption for hours to come.

"...and that would be the main reactor core going critical," Laniff cheered."Whoo, look at it burn!"

Then the cams cut out as Void tunneled into the atmosphere. Shae stepped back, shaking her head, and murmured, "There is no kriffing way we fought our way through that entire field in under ten minutes. It's just not possible."

Laniff clapped her on the back, still grinning. "Guess we all have our own personal guardian angel looking out for us, huh"?

"Yeah," Shae said with a relieved sigh. "I guess."

Ti'ica, who had been silent through the entire conversation, now sniffed quietly and whispered, "I just wish Trassk would have made it. I miss him already."

The Handmaiden hesitated, then put a hand on her shoulder. "His strength lives on in you, young one," she said quietly. "His spirit will walk with you, always."

Vhetin turned away and eased himself into a sitting position at the circular table in the middle of the room. He let out a sigh, pulled off his scorched, cracked stormtrooper helmet, and set it on the tabletop next to him. He readjusted his half-shredded facemask, then rubbed his eyes with a weary sigh.

I'm sorry, Trassk, he thought. I'm sorry you had to die for me, a stranger that you've never met before. You deserved a better death, to die fighting for your family or for your loved ones.

And Trassk wasn't the only one who had paid the ultimate price. Mantis had died so close to freedom, trapped within the heat exchange duct station itself, only a short crawl separating him from his liberation. Doctor Torch and Nurse Monro had also been punished, though they had done little wrong themselves. There was no way they had survived the explosion that had consumed the Facility; Vhetin himself had barely made it, and he was a seasoned soldier.

He closed his eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. He could feel liquid filling his lungs once again, making his breath come out as a sick-sounding rattle in his throat.

I'm sorry for all the pain I caused, he thought, hoping the fallen could hear him from their place in whatever afterlife was waiting. I never wanted to bring harm to you. If I could have somehow made it end differently, could have changed it so you all walked away...

He slowly opened his eyes again, a scowl tugging at his bruised and bleeding face.

But I won't waste the chance you've given me. I'll track down whatever's left of Project Whiteclaw and destroy it. I won't let the Imperials succeed.

Then he stood and strode away from the others, heading for the privacy of his old quarters. His heart beat now with a steady, steely determination. He clenched a fist as he stepped into the room, finding it exactly as he had left it; the room looked completely untouched, a fine layer of dust covering every surface.

He strode up to the large closet-like space next to his cot and drew the door back. Inside were three identical armor lockers, only two of which were occupied by identical suits of black-gray Mandalorian battle armor. He slowly reached up and brushed a gloved hand across the transparisteel surface of one locker, staring into the menacing T-visor of one helmet, which sported two vertical gray stripes stretching up the right side of the dome.

He narrowed his eyes, staring intently at the faceplate of the helmet that was more familiar to him than his own reflection.

Your sacrifices weren't in vain, he thought. I will earn my freedom. And every Imperial that kept me imprisoned, that ran those tests on me, and kept me away from everything I loved...

I'll make them pay.

---

Author's Note: *Whew* That one took a while, didn't it? I hope everyone enjoyed it, 'cause it certainly didn't come easy to write. I also hope some of you were able to guess that D was really D'harhan from the Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Wars series. Hopefully things will run smoother during the writing of the next installment, Contention, which will hopefully be posted in a couple weeks max.

Now for the acknowledgments:

Laniff Dreysel appeared courtesy of Kadirika7211 here on Fanfic. He appears in multiple stories in Kadirika's Smuggler of Shadows series if you're interested in further reading. They're well worth the read, and one story, Rescue, even features Vhetin and Jay as guest appearances!

Shae Verd was the creation of Mandogirl22, the same author who graciously gave me permission for Kestra Hett's appearance in the Year 1 story Consecration. Her various stories can also be found here on Fanfic. Speaking of which, I need to catch up on her work.

Anyway, I thank you both for allowing me to use your characters and for being so patient with me while I fought to get this story done. Vor'e vode.

And to everyone else: happy reading and welcome back to the world of White Snow. Year 2 is officially underway.