The Adventures of Dash Rendar

by William Tanner

Here is the untold story of the events that took place in other parts of the galaxy between Star Wars Episodes III and IV: a novel in which the brilliant young pilot, Dash Rendar, battles a powerful villain named Prince Xizor.

5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

As the shuttle made it's way across the short span of the canyon, they could see the shear cliffs beneath them reaching to hundreds of meters below to the rocky bottom. The ride was rickety at first until the men spread out to balance the weight distribution and then it smoothed out as the shuttle glided across the crevasse with the men looking over the sides at the wondrous sites below. Above them they could hear the rumbling of thunder and see the occasional flash of lightning in the near distance, as the clouds began to get darker with the advancing storm.

' Looks like we're in for a thunder storm,' Nathan commented looking up at the sky as he turned and looked at Jocko.' I sure hope it waits long enough for us to get across. I don't want to get all wet, not right now anyway. I'm not really dressed for wet weather.'

' Yeah sure does,' Jocko replied answering Nathan's first observation, slightly raising his eyes skyward without moving his head. Nathan noticed that Jocko was standing there stiff in his tracks, not really wanting to get in a long conversation. Affair of forgetting about his situation and moving too much causing the shuttle to shake again like it did when they first started out.

Nathan gave Dash a funny look and motioned a finger towards Jocko as to not let on that he was pointing his way but still trying to get Dash to look over at him. Dash looked over at Jocko with concerned eyes, but then glanced over the side slightly raising his chin to peer over while looking at Jocko out of the corners of his eyes.

' It sure is a long ways down isn't it?' Dash remarked to Jocko, who was standing on the right side of the shuttle glaring straight ahead and looking a little nervous. Jocko gave him a little a funny grin.

' What's the matter, Jocko? You look a little scared or something.' Dash inquired in disbelief.

' I don't really like heights.' Jocko admitted.

' You've got to be kidding. The way you fly that ship of yours and now you say your afraid of heights. How can that be?'

' Well, flying inside a ship is one thing, but flying across this canyon in this flimsy open shuttle is quite a different thing all together. It's like standing on a flat board with no railings to hold onto and hundreds of meters to fall to your death.' Jocko told him barely turning his head as he spoke, not wanting to move too much for fear of shaking the shuttle.

Dash quickly glanced down and then back at Jocko and quipped, ' Yeah, that's pretty much what it's like. Actually, that's exactly what it's like,'

Dash starting laughing as he peered back over his side of the shuttle and pointed downward, ' Whoa! Look at that. You can see a small creek down there between those rocks. Down there! You see it?' Dash said as he turned his head to look at Jocko.

As Dash's eyes reached Jocko he could see a gigantic reptilian bird flying towards Jocko's back practically upon him and he screamed at him,' Jocko! Duck!'

Jocko turned and saw the jaws of the creature almost upon him as he crashed to the floor of the shuttle. The creature's long sharp teeth-jaws just missed Jocko, coming so close that he even felt the breathe of the tremendous reptilian bird.

The others turned when they heard Dash's scream and several others in turned also screamed as they all threw themselves down on the floor as the huge creature continued its path over the top of the shuttle flying past them as it let out a screech that sent chills through the men's bodies.

The sudden movement of all the men crashing to the floor caused the shuttle to rock violently back and forth as if it were cast upon a stormy sea. Jocko's fear mounted as he and some of the others grabbed onto what ever they could to steady themselves.

Dash and several others drew their blasters and fired at the creature, as the shuttle's rocking disturbed their ability to properly take aim. They fired another volley barely missing it as the creature zigzagged avoiding contact with their shots. Then in one gigantic swoop it turned in a sweeping curve and then disappeared around a bend in the canyon wall. Their following blaster shoots exploded against the rocks as it's long tail whipped in mid-air and quickly vanished.

' What in the hell was that!' Dash asked as he got to his feet slowly looking around making sure it was safe to stand.

' I think it was a Dactillion.' Zack told him.' I heard that IG-88 had a couple of them up here as sort of guards just in case someone tried to reach him on foot.'

' Why didn't you tell us this before.' Dash asked.

' I forgot all about it and besides it was only a rumor. No bodies ever seen one or at least I've never heard of anyone seeing one. I thought it was just some crazy myth. Dactillions are only on the planet Utapan and he would of had to have caught a couple wild ones and transported them here himself. Dactillions are nomadic, but I don't think they are inter-planetary.'

' Well, that's what he must of done than. You say he probably brought a couple. Why two.?' Dash asked. ' One of the damn things would be enough, you would think.'

' Well, most likely a male and a female. That way they could breed and he wouldn't have to keep bringing in more. You know, grow his own.' Zack explained.

' Well, that makes sense. I guess we had better keep our eyes peeled for more than,' Dash told them as the shuttle continued toward the opening in the side of the cliff that was now growing near. The men continued looking around them in fear, hoping that the shuttle would hurry up and make the safety of the cavern that was now coming into view. Only a few stood back up, as Jocko, Garrett and Lance were content to finish the ride crouched to the floor so they wouldn't be open targets for another attack.

' I just hope those creatures don't live in this cave.' Jocko remarked as the shuttle reached the rocks surrounding the caves entrance, as the others all gave him one of those 'why did you have to say that look.'

The shuttle entered the opening of the jagged rock formation and into a huge cavern where it came to a smooth stop along side a platform that opened into a large chamber with a high ceiling that came to a point like a pyramid. Across the room were a set of steps that ran up and to the left twisting around a large column. The inside of the chamber was lit with luminous light fixtures that made the cavernous walls glow with a deep red and orange hue. It was dim and mysterious and gave the weary travelers an eerie feeling of dome. They all ducked their heads peering up and around looking for any danger that might jump out at them, hoping that Jocko's words were just hollow aspirations of fear.

The men cautiously got out of the shuttle and moved across the room spreading out checking every corner for possible guards or reptiles. As some of the men neared the cracks and crevices inside the cavernous room they poked their weapons into some of the cracks checking for any movement. Dash turned to look at some of the men and as he spotted Zack and Garrett turning to face him he saw movement behind them, ' Lookout! ' He screamed as he pointed in their direction.

Just then several Mynock, large manta-like bat creatures, unfolded their wings as they hung upside down and started flapping their long thin skin-covered pointed wings as they righted themselves and in a large mass of several hundred began flying out of the cave.

Zack and Garrett ducked throwing their arms over their heads to protect themselves from the contact with the bats as several of them glanced off their heads knocking Zack's cap off and messing the hair on both their heads.

' Are those Mynocks!' Nathan inquired,' I thought Mynocks couldn't survive on any planet with atmosphere. Isn't that right?'

' Well,' Dash thought,' I guess they must be some kind of distant species or something. You know, maybe they evolved. Yeah, just like they say that we did. Anything's possible these days!'

They all turned and followed the steps up and around the cavern's walls coming to a circular door. As they approached the door, it automatically opened and as the men went through the entrance , a droid that was hovering to the left zapped Lance with an electronic jolt that sent him to the ground.

Dash screamed,' Look out!' and both he and Jocko wheeled around and blasted the droid with laser shots that blew the droid apart causing a great explosion as burst of flames and particles slammed against the surrounding walls.

Lance laid quivering on the ground stunned by the electronic blast from the droid. Nathan checked him out, telling the men that he was alright and that he was only momentarily paralyze and should come out of his condition soon.

While they waited, Dash told the men to follow him to check out the place for more droid, but told Nathan to stay with Lance until they got back.

' I'll stay with him!' hollered Garrett, who had a scared look in his eyes.

' Okay Garrett, you can stay with him too until we get back,' Dash told him a little disgusted by his continued cowardice behavior.

The rectangular room for which they entered was a hallway that rapped around a perimeter and as they followed the hallway to the left they discovered another droid around the corner midway down headed in their direction. A single blast from Jocko's blaster took care of the surprised machine.

They followed down the hallway to yet another turn in the corridor and they creep cautiously up to the edge of the wall and carefully peeked around the corner and spotted another droid hovering near what looked like a lighted door. Dash stepped out and blasted the droid as it turned and got off a shot at him that just missed his head, striking the wall behind him with a big explosion. The droid then exploded from a direct hit from Dash's blaster in a ray of many bright lights that caused a burnt black streak to appear on the wall behind it.

' Nice shot,' Jocko told Dash.

' That was close.' Dash responded.

' Yeah, a little too close,' Jocko answered.

Dash told Zack to go back and see how Lance was doing and that Jocko and he would wait for them there. Minutes later, Zack returned with the three men.

' You going to be alright?' Dash asked Lance as he came walking up looking a little weary.

' Yeah, I'll be alright,' He replied.' I just hope that don't happen again. Wow! That set me back on my heels. It was like sticking your finger in an electrical socket. I saw stars!'

' You sure your alright?' a concern Jocko asked him.

'Yeah, yeah I'm sure,' Lance assured him.

' Well,' Dash told them,' This door is an elevator. When we get to the top and the door opens be ready for anything. We might have to fight our way out of it. You guys ready?'

They all knotted their heads as Dash then turned and pressed a button that opened the door. As the door opened a 1.6 meter tall droid stood at the opening. The six men jumped back in tear, drawing their weapons and started firing at the surprised droid. The metal figure jolted backwards against the back wall as several laser blast struck it in the chest. The men were screaming and shooting at the same time as they all jumped back and away from the opening. In a matter of seconds it was over, the droid laid in pieces inside the elevator. The men regained their composure and again gathered together in front of the door.

' Holy shit!' Lance exclaimed,' That scared the god dame shit out of me.'

' You can say that again!' Nathan announced.

' I hope that don't happen on the other end,' Zack said.

' It might be that and worst,' Dash warned,' We're getting closer to our objective. Anything's possible from here on out. We've got to be more ready a lot more than we were that time. Have your blasters out and be ready when the door opens,' Dash suggested.

The men dragged the droid out and moved into the elevator. Dash studied the lift's control panel and then pressed the button for the first floor, as he decided that they were on what the panel listed as the lower level floors. The door closed and the elevator ascended toward the upper floors.

The lift soon came to a stop and as the door opened up into a narrow room, a 1.6 meter tall PD Lurrian Protocol droid was standing with his back to the elevator at a panel pressing some buttons and monitoring what showed on the screen. As the droid heard the elevator doors open it turned to face the men inside. Jocko and Dash immediately began firing as they ran out into the room. The first two shots hit their mark as the droid exploded where it stood. The two surprised men saw another droid back against the wall and scurried for cover on the other side of the room.

To the far left in the corner a hovering droid began firing on them as Zack, Nathan, and Lance started firing from inside the elevator as Garrett threw himself back against the wall of the lift in shear tear. The four men were pinned down unable to exit. Nathan pressed a button that enable the elevator doors to remain open and would also keep the lift there, so they could get out when the opportunity presented itself.

Dash and Jocko found cover behind protruding wall pillars against the wall across from the elevator. In an instant, more gun fire poured out in their direction as a wall mounted laser cannon opened fire on the two men. Nathan saw their predicament and ordered the other men in the elevator to concentrate all of their fire on the wall mounted gun. They took turns leaning out the door to fire on their target and while they did Dash was able to take out the hovering droid with a blast that silenced the machine.

Now they just had the cannon firing at them. Several minutes past as nobody was able to get a direct hit on the repeating gun as the cannon was able to rotate in a circular direction which allowed it fire laser blast in every direction inside the room. Several shots nearly took off the men's head inside the lift as they had to lean out to get a clear shot at the emplacement.

Finally, Nathan delivered a shot that hit it's mark and the cannon exploded, blowing a huge whole in the wall as the pieces fell to the floor and a burst of flames shot out in every direction throwing hot metal against the walls clear across the room. The sound of the explosion was deafening inside such an enclosed area as several of the men raised their hands to their ears to block out the tremendous noise.

' Is this ever going to end! ' Lance asked.

' You would think so.' Dash added,' We've got to be coming to IG-88's place pretty soon.'

The men moved through the room that twisted around to yet another door that opened when they approached it and led to what looked like an entrance to a hanger. They entered the wide hallway and moved to a huge opening that led to an open-aired landing platform.

The whole open floor area was subjected to a heavy downpour of rain that was striking the metal floor and causing a loud noise with the large raindrops bouncing nearly a foot off everything in sight. Then Dash's eyes opened wide as he saw his ship , The Outrider, silhouetted by the bluish flash of lightning that momentarily lit the landing dock. His vessel was parked on the other side of the spacious room, mostly hidden in total darkness with only a scattered gray-bluish glow shining off it's white trim.

As the men joined Dash, they all were talking at once among themselves.

' Look at that. Is that your ship, Dash!' Jocko asked.

'Oh yes,' Dash replied,' That's her alright.'

The large opening was surrounded by a tall over-hung wall that cast dark eerie shadows over much of the outer edge of the floor. Dash could barely see the dark cloudy sky above. Huge black rolling clouds cast dark shadows and only occasional flashes of streak lightning lit up the ship below. The heavy downpour of rain made it even more difficult to see. Only the momentary streaks of light brought out the outline of vessel. The flash of the blue colored gleam on the upper parts of the metal hatches made it visible to Dash and assured him that it was indeed the Outrider.

Just then two small red beams of light punctured through the steam eluding dark, black and deep reaches beyond the backside of the freighter. The lights seemed to raise slightly and then began to move closer toward them. Faintly, the dark outline of a figure came slowly into view and as it moved closer into the dim flash of light the men could all see it was IG-88.

The droid stood there with the lightning now glistening off it's thinly built skeletal metal body. The extremely tall upright structure was a menacing adversary and known throughout the galaxy as the most dangerous bounty hunter and assassin, even more dangerous than Boba Fett himself. It has a reputation of being considered the most coldly efficient killing machine ever invented.

Each of the IG-88's series were developed as assassin droids and bounty hunters. Only five models exist as of this date and this particular droid was labeled with the monogram, IG-88D, fourth in the series. The others were labeled A, B, C, and IG-72, the first model.

The men froze in their tracks. They momentarily were unable to move hoping that their non-movement would somehow make them invisible. But the machine's sensor units flashed red sending out a laser beam of light that scanned the room in every direction until returning to the frozen figures. Then the light rays scanned up and down the men, silhouetting their bodies. Suddenly the frightening mechanical creature began to move in their direction and as it did it raised it's right hand. In an instant the men scrambled back for cover as the droid open fire on them with it's laser cannons blowing a large hole in the side of the wall at the edge of the doorway.

Dash returned the droids fire from around the hole in the wall. He could see the machine still walking toward them and he yelled for the men to retreat. They ran down the hall looking for exits to escape. Zack and Nathan found a door leading out of the corridor into another room and went through the door. The four others had already past that door by some ten feet. They stopped and started back toward the same door when IG-88 stepped out into the hall and fired upon them preventing them from following the two men. Realizing they were cutoff , they turned back and ran down the hall dodging several laser blast that made gaping holes in walls around them.

They each fired back a few hurried shots to deter IG88's concentration as they scurried along the hallway, at times shooting over their shoulders as they ran.

They moved quickly along the curving hallway until they too found an exit door. It opened out into a long platform that was the beginning of a lengthy metal bridge that extended across a deep crevice on the outside of the building. The bridge's walkway went out nearly fifteen feet and then wound around a pillar in the middle made of expanded metal with stairways leading up and down to several levels all made of metal like a fire escape.

Each time the lightning flashed, it highlighted the wet railings of the huge metal structure as the rain water funneled down through the numerous openings in the expanded metal floors. The men could see that the walkway continued on the other side of the central stairwell. It connected to an opened hallway in the side of the crevice wall opposite them. The stairway in the middle transcended in both directions with several stories of hallways at each level.

The men walked out on the slippery wet metal bridge as the deluge continued soakings the four dishearten warriors. At times they had to grab a hold of the railing to keep from slipping to the floor as the four men made their way across the short span and around the perimeter of the central expansion. They hide there hoping that IG-88 had lost them as they gathered their rattled nerves together.

As they rested there, Lance noticed some movement in the darkness and heard a muffled growling sound that seemed to be coming from the hallway behind them some ten to twelve feet on the other side of the bridge's exit. He turned and squinted trying to see through the darkness what was making the noise, ' Did you guys hear that?' He asked as the lightning flashed showing the outline of something nearing the bridge. Some more deep growling sounds came from whatever was moving towards them.

' I think I saw something!' Lance remarked, ' But I can't seem to make it out.'

' What's making that noise? What is that?' Garrett asked as he joined Lance in leaning towards the object squinting their eyes.

Just as the others started squinting at the dark figure at the entrance way behind them, lightning flashed again as the figure raised up and stepped out onto the bridge. The huge creature was completely illuminated now by the bluish streak of light that glowed off the animal's leathery green reptilian hide. It was a huge Mantellian Savrip, with menacing red demon eyes glaring from it's snake-like head.

' Oh! My god,' Garrett gasped,' It's coming after us.'

Each time the illumination from the lightning receded, the fissure for which they were situated in became pitch black. The hunched back predator moved closer, it's four pronged claws dragging on the metal flooring. The beast ambled towards the men, it's three toed-feet clawing on the metal beneath it. Although it moved at a slow pace, the flashes of lightning gave the illusion that the mammoth creature was moving much faster. All the while it moved, the Savrip's muffled growls got louder and louder sending fear to anything in it's wake.

Garrett and Lance stood there immediately before the approaching creature, unable now to move or to even speak. They were both terrified with their eyes widen with the shear fear of their potential fate before them as the monster approached, it's features becoming more visible with each step.

The two men in the rear of the group managed to fire laser blast, but their efforts only ricocheted off the metal beams in front of them or missed completely too high. Their paths were blocked by Garrett and Lance, who were frozen like statues in front of them. They could only fire their weapons over the top of the inexperienced young apprentices.

The hulking carnivore emitted terrifying ,deafening growls that resonated off the walls of the fissure, sending petrifying chills through the dishearten men. Panic and fear filled their rained soaked bodies as they braced themselves for the on-coming attack.

The men stood frozen with fear as the creature was upon them. Dash pushed his way past the two young pilots to the end of the railing with his blaster drawn. He was smashed across the chest by a massive backhand swing of the monster's right arm dropping his weapon. The monster let out a tremendous growl. The force of the blow caused him to fall down and roll, with the momentum carrying him over the edge. He barely caught himself by grabbing a post with one hand as he dangled in mid-air.

The savrip tilted back it's huge head and let out another deafening growl as a lightning flash highlighted it massive body. As the light went out the gruesome creature stepped closer to the terrified men.

Lance, who had recovered from his trance, started to pull his blaster from his holster when Jocko pulled Garrett back out of the way and stepped around him. Turning to face the creature, he started to raise his weapon to fire as the lightning flash again.

A horrified Jocko found the grisly Savrip upon him. He recoiled only to be upended as he was bashed across the face by the mighty titan's left arm. He was knocked over backwards landing several feet away, knocking Garrett back several feet, as his laser blast ascended skyward.

At the same time, Jocko's arm caught Lance, causing him to discharge his weapon. This caused Lance's blaster to fly out of his hand as he stood before the giant monster unarmed. The huge monster stepped closer to Lance and raised both of it's arms, tilting it's head back again in a tremendous growl moving it's mighty jaws in a circular motion standing above him.

Garrett, who was knocked back far enough to not be impeded, drew his laser and blasted away at the titanic monster as Lance dropped to his knees holding up his open hands receding backwards. The monster stumbled backward from the force of Garrett's laser blast as flesh and blood burst from the massive body of the creature. The reptilian demon recoiled and again let out another tremendous growl moving it's whole upper body in a half circular motion. It then stepped towards them once more.

Garrett riddled the creature's body with three more laser blast, it's blood and tissue flying all over. The Savrip screamed in pain as the grotesque carnivore grabbed it's chest and fell backwards, leaning back over the railing. Garrett blasted it again as the creature let out another terrifying growl and then fell back over the railing. As it descended in it's fall it bounced off several layers of railings below until it went out of sight into the ravine below.

As all of this was happening, Dash had climbed back onto the platform and Jocko again stood up as Lance retrieved his blaster and joined the men.

' What happen? I didn't see! Who got him?' Jocko asked, ' I got knocked on my but and I missed it. Who got him?'

' Garrett did.' Dash told them, ' Yeah, and all by himself too. He saved all of our lives. He blasted the shit out of him, while we were all knocked out senseless. I was dangling on the railing like a piece of meat, like I was it's next meal, helpless.'

Jocko looked at Garrett all cover with blood and parts of the animal's flesh. Garrett took inventory of his appearance and started brushing himself off with his bare hand looking back at Jocko with a crooked smile.

' Really! You did that. Hey! Great job.' Jocko said carefully patting him on the back as so not to get any blood on himself, ' You're one hell of a fighter. That's for sure, isn't that right guys. '

' Yeah! And he saved my life too!' Lance added, ' Hey, Garrett, thanks. I owe you one. Yeah, and no thanks to you, Jocko.'

' What'd you mean,' Jocko asked.

' What'd I mean. I had a clear shot at him until you knocked the gun out of my hand. If it wasn't for Garrett, I would have been dinner for that thing. It was just about to take a bite out of me when he blasted it. I tell you, I was saying my prayers there for a minute. Thanks again, Garrett.'

' Your really one of us now, son,' Dash told him.

Then they heard the door swing open. Dash moved to the edge of the center column, crouched down and peered around the corner so he could see the bridge and the door entrance. There he could see IG-88 standing at the door with the light from inside outlining it's tall structure. It stood there silhouetted in the doorway with it's red sensor beams peering from it's dark shadowed head, moving from side to side looking for the four men. Dash ducked back as the red beam of light came in his direction.

' It's IG-88 and he's looking for us, get down.' Dash whispered to the other three men while putting his index finger to his lips shushing them and then moving his open hand in a down-up-down motion.

Dash slowly peeked back around the metal structure that hid them and he gasped in disbelief, for in his dismay the droid wasn't there. He moved out a little more and inhaled with an even greater gasp as he spotted IG-88 moving across the bridge. He jerked his head back quickly, turning it to face the others and blurted out,' It's coming! Let's get out of here!' as he raised up out of his crouch and headed for the stairs.

They scrambled to a set of stairs and went up to the next level. Suddenly, a laser blast struck next to them as Dash screamed,' Keep going,' as he pointed up to the next level. The men climbed another set of stairs and then another hoping that the droid couldn't follow.

IG-88 continued to fire at them now using it's repeating blaster as the burst from it's gun ricocheted off the metal around the men causing a loud noise that reverberated back and forth throughout the fissure. One shot creased the shoulder of Jocko as he grabbed and checked the wound.

Dash looked back and asked, ' Are you alright?'

' Yeah, it's just a flesh wound,' Jocko replied as he paused momentarily, and then continued up the flight of stairs to the next level.

While they paused, Lance and Garrett returned fire as both of the shots failed to reach their mark, ricocheting off the metal stairwell. As Lance saw the stupidity of their effort, he look at Dash and shrugged his shoulders as Dash just grinned back at him.

When they reached the third level, they stopped and returned fire at the droid, but their laser shots again glanced off the metal structure as their path had improved but still not enough to make connect. They tried moving along the railing to get a clear shot at the mechanical monster and each time they were successful, IG-88 would move back out of open range. Then the droid would step back and fire several shots and again step back.

This went on for several minutes as the four men tried to time their shots to when IG-88 stepped in the clear, scoring several hits that seemed to just glance off his durable body. IG-88 seemed to sense his disadvantage and moved back further pausing momentarily as he pondered the situation.

IG-88 then moved way back to a more open spot on the bridge and to the horrifying disbelief of the four men, the machine activated a jet pack on it's back and started lifting off the bridge flying toward the third level. The flames shot out from beneath him with a resounding thunder that echoed off the sides of the narrow recess.

' Oh my god!' Jocko screamed,' The damn thing can fly!'

The men were frozen in tear as they all watched as IG-88 rose high above the third level and moved towards them hovering for only a second and then descending onto the outer rim of the platform of which they were on. As it cleared the railing and settled down on the metal floor, the men opened fire on the droid.

As the droid calmly turned off it's jet pack, all four men continued blasting away at it with their guns scoring numerous hits but to no effect. The four terrified men begin backing up and spreading out as IG-88 started toward them aiming it's arms at them , first the right and then the left, firing several different kinds of weapons. It changed from the repeating blaster to a flame thrower that proved unsuccessful as the downpour of heavy rain nullified it's effectiveness.

Then the machine changed again, reaching to it's left hip and bringing up a concussion grenade launcher that shot several grenades. The men screamed, spread out and moved further back in fear. The grenades clattered on the metal flooring rolling around on the platform. A couple rolled off the decking and the others slipped through the large openings in the floor. They continued to fall through even more holes in the deck below exploding ineffectively several levels below.

The men resumed firing their blasters at the mechanical creature hitting different areas hoping to find a weak spot. Several times causing the droid to recoil from the forces of the blast. As the metal mechanized skeleton stepped towards them it would slip on the wet slick surface and at times get a foot caught in one of the holes of the expanded metal flooring.

The droid switched his weaponry once again and as it took aim, Jocko screamed for the men to duck, just as IG-88 fired it's sonic stunner. The blast exploded against the canyon wall behind them and a blue wave of sonic blast ricocheted back over the top of the men and struck IG-88. The tremendous sonic wave knocked him all the way back against the railing. The noise was tremendous and the force caused IG-88 to slam hard against the hand rail knocking the sonic stunner out of his hand.

Jocko had screamed just in time and after he told them to duck he also screamed, ' Cover your ears! It's a sonic stunner!,' as they all fell to the floor just in time the blast pass over them.

The men stood again and resumed shooting at the machine. As Dash, Lance and Jocko now closed back closer toward IG-88 blasting away at him with their lasers, Jocko exclaimed, ' I think were killing him,' as the droid was now caught with his foot in one the holes in the floor, leaning against the railing helpless.

Since the place where the three were firing from was crowded, Garrett decided to scurry around the center stairwell and come at the droid from the other side. As he reached the other side and started for the droid blasting away at the helpless IG-88, Jocko spotted him and cheered him, 'That a boy Garrett. You get him from that side.'

Just then IG-88 shook it foot loose and pushed itself off the railing righting itself until it stood up right again. It changed it's weaponry again. This time back to the repeating blasters. While it was in the process of doing just that, the droid raised it's left hand and pointed it at Garrett. IG-88 opened it's mirrored palm towards him, intercepted one of Garrett's laser blast and deflected it back along it's original path back at Garrett. The reflected shot struck Garrett in the chest and exploded , killing him instantly. The force of the blow repelled him back over the railing as his body fell bouncing off the railings below.

The men all gasp as their eyes followed his body down until it disappeared in the darkness of the crevice where minutes ago the Mantellian savrip had also fell.

IG-88 resumed walking towards the men apparently unharmed. Jocko looked back and screamed, 'He's not hurt, let's get the hell out of here.'

The three men turned and ran down the ramp leading back into a room that was just off the stairwell. Dash spotted a solid door and called for the men to follow him through it as the droid was making it's way around the metal walkway in a circular path toward them. The men found some metal bars that they braced underneath the doorknob to prevent the droid from following.

As Dash laid the force of his foot against the bottom of the brace, he looked around and spotted a heavy looking box and hollered for the other two men to shove the box over against the brace. As he yelled over to them, IG-88's mechanical fist came crashing through the wall of the door right next to Dash's head and grabbed him by the jacket collar. IG-88 pulled him backwards hard against the door as he called out, ' Hey! Help! Come back. Help me!' Dash begin screaming.

The two men stopped cold in their tracks and quickly looked around and saw Dash's predicament. They hurried to him and struggled to pull him free of IG-88's massive grip. To their surprise, IG-88 let loose of he's grip on Dash's collar and pulled his arm back through the hole. It then replaced it's arm with the barrel of it's blaster and as the men duck, it begin firing into the room.

Dash yelled out,' Fuck this, let's get the hell out of here.'

When IG-88 retracted it's blaster through the hole in the door, the men could hear a buzzing sound. They looked down at the door and discovered that IG-88 was using a cutting laser and was cutting around the doorknob. The men moved quickly across the small room to another door that opened to a hallway that went in either direction. They ran down it to the left, around a corner and down another hall passing doors on both sides until they found an elevator. They entered the elevator and went back down three floors.

As the elevator door open and they started hurrying out, to their horrified dismay, IG-88 stood just outside the opening. Jocko actually bumped right into him as everyone including IG-88 were completely caught by surprise

' Holy shit!' Dash screamed

' Oh fuck!' Jocko shouted as he pushed himself hard back away from the droid and jumped back into the lift and immediately pressed the button for another floor. Dash pushed back against Lance's chest who was behind him as they both fell against the back wall of the elevator. The force of Jocko's push caused IG-88 to fall over backwards on it's backside and as it scrambled to get back up, the lift's doors closed and the elevator ascended back up to the next floor.

As they were ascending, Dash and Lance got up off the floor as Dash asked Jocko,' How in the hell did that thing beat us down three flights, Jocko?'

' Hell, you got me. There must be another elevator someplace. Either that or there's two of them.' Jocko answered him and then added,' I sure hope not.'

' Boy, if there is, we're in deep shit, I tell you.'

' Oh, come on. There can't be two of them, can there?' Lance asked hoping that someone would agree with him and ease his mind.

Jocko saw the worried look on Lance's face and reached out and patted him on the shoulder, ' Naw! Your right. There isn't two of them. There's just another lift somewhere close by, that's all it is, just another lift.' He said easing his mind. Just then the elevator's doors opened and this time Jocko stuck his head out and looked around, ' Alright, the coast is clear.'

The men went out into the hallway that went in both directions. At first Lance and Jocko started to walk to the right as Dash stood there looking down the hallway in both directions and said, ' Hey guys, I think we want to go this way. I might be wrong, but I have a feeling that we should go in this direction,' He said pointing to the left.

' Ah, your probably right,' Jocko admitted, ' I get turned around in these kinds of places. I usually end up in every place but the right one. I'll take your word for it, Dash. You've probably got a lot better sense of directions than I do. What you think Lance?'

' Sure. I don't care. I haven't been paying any attention to it anyway,' Lance confided,' I've been just following you guys around. I don't know where the hell I'm at either, Jocko.'

The men walked down the long hallway, passing several doors on both sides until they reached a dead end with a hall that went to the right and a closed door to the left.. Lance spotted a window to the right on the back wall and they all went to it and looked out. ' Look!' Lance exclaimed, ' Down there.'

One floor below them was another bridge that went a short distance to a small platform with a door that lead back to the other side of the crevice..' I think that's where we want to be,' Dash told them,' But I wonder , how do we get down there?'

Dash and Jocko looked at each other puzzled and then they both stepped back to the long hallway that they had just come from and the elevator that would definitely lead them to the bridge. They both looked down towards the elevator door and then back at each other. ' You want to go back down the elevator?' Dash asked.

' Not really, but I don't think we have any choice, do we?'

Dash just gave him that look that told him that he just didn't know.

' What's the matter?' Lance inquired.

' I think we're going to have to go back down in the elevator.' Jocko told him.

' Are you kidding? No way, that thing's down there. You got to be crazy.' Lance said, ' I'm not going back down there, no way in hell am I going back down there.'

' Lance! Jocko's right. We've got to go back down in the elevator. That's the only way we can get down to that bridge. It's the only way out.'

' Are you sure? Why don't we just keep going down this way. Maybe there's a way out down there.'

' Well, there might be, and then again there might not be, I don't know,' Dash reasoned, ' The one thing I do know is that there's definitely a way out down there. So either we can take a chance and go that way and end up who knows where, or go down there and take him on. I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired on running. Let's fight this thing and get it over with, one way or the other.'

' I agree with you, Dash. Let's get this thing done.' Jocko agreed, ' Heck! It's probably isn't even still down there anyhow. If it is, let's kill the god damn thing.'

' Well,' Lance pondered,' I guess the devil hates a coward, right? Let's do it.'

The three men went back down the hall and pressed the button for the elevator. As they waited Dash told them to be ready just in case. They all stood back with their blasters pointed at the doors. As the lift's doors opened they saw a black figure and Lance started blasting away as Jocko joined him. Just then Dash yelled, ' No! Wait, stop shooting!' As they stopped, they could see that the only thing that they were shooting at was a black scorched spot on the back wall of the elevator.

' Good job guys,' Dash kidded. ' You two really nailed that black splotch on the wall.' He said laughingly.

' I guess we're a little edgy ,' Jocko retorted, ' But, you got to admit we would of clobbered it if that would have been it.'

' Yeah, better safe then sorry,' Lance added.

' Your probably right.' Dash agreed, ' I just hope the lift still works with that big hole in the back.'

' Well, I guess we'll find out here in a minute,' Jocko said.

The men entered the elevator and pressed the button for the next floor below. As the door closed, Dash instructed them, ' Okay, this is when you want to be ready, when this door opens'

The lift came to a stop and slowly the doors opened, they all just stood there frozen looking out into the lit room afraid to move. Then Dash peeked his head out and surveyed the room and then he jerked his head back and through himself backwards against the wall.

' What is it?' Lance asked as he too fell against the wall and Jocko recoiled raising his blaster. Just then Dash let out a big loud burst of laughter as he was enjoying the moment at the dismay of the other two, ' You two should see your faces,' Dash told them.

' That wasn't funny. Was it Jocko.' Lance told Dash a little upset, ' You scared the crap out of me. You sure have a weird sense of humor, you know that?'

' Yeah, he sure does, but I guess that was pretty funny I imagine, ah Dash?' Jocko admitted.

' You can say that again. You guys should of seen the ridiculous looks on your faces. Man, it was priceless, I tell you. You guys looked like you were going to shit yourselves.' Dash explained, ' Hey, I'm sorry. I swear I'll never do that again, but I just couldn't pass that up. It was just too easy. Hey! Anyway the coast is clear, let's get out of here.'

They stepped out into the room and Dash noticed some metal pipes measuring about one meter each and he told them to go down the hall and check the door at the end and then he added, ' I'm going to brace these doors open so the elevator can't move, you guys go down and make sure the coast is clear.'

' Okay, ' Jocko agreed, ' Hey, let me have one of those, maybe it'll come in handy,' Mazont added as he grabbed one of the pipes and started following Lance down the hall toward the door.

As Dash was having trouble getting the pipe to stay in position and not roll away, Jocko and Lance reached the door and opened it. When they did a big gust of wind and rain blew the door out of Lance's hand and slammed against the wall. Dash heard the noise and looked down the hall. When he did, the metal bar again fell and started to roll away. Dash quickly reached for it and he then heard some screaming coming from down the hall.

When he turned to look, he saw IG-88 standing with his back to him inside the doorway with Jocko and Lance back peddling out on the metal bridge. IG-88 stepped out onto the platform toward the two men and then Jocko begin hitting the mechanical monster with the metal pipe he held in his hand. The men were yelling and screaming all the while Jocko kept pounding the droid with the metal bar that made a loud racket with each ferocious swing.

Dash got up and started running as fast as he could at the tall structure until he jumped right on the creature's back. The force of the impact propelled them both over the side of the railing as they struggled twisting and tumbling down off the bridge.

' Oh my god!' Jocko gasped as he and Lance watched in disbelief as Dash and IG-88 descended down into the depths of dark pitch black estifist below. As they fell, Jocko and Lance could see them struggling all the way until the darkness devour them both.

Dash held tightly to IG-88's back and as the droid tried to reach back and grab him Dash grabbed his forearm and held it away as they went head over heels, spinning downward. Rendar could see the darkness quickly comes towards them as he felt around the droids wrist for the button that activated the metal monster's jet pack. Just then he found it and as he tried to press it the droid would twist and squirm trying gain some kind of advantage.

Dash made one more great effort to reach IG-88's wrist band and press the button as he slide his grip down his forearm toward the button. Then with his thumb, he activated the jet pack and the tremendous boost of power propelled them skyward.

As Jocko and Lance now leaned over the railing of the bridge looking down into the dark deep cavity of ravine. They suddenly saw a small dim light that seemed to get brighter and brighter. As they watched , the light seemed to be coming towards them as Lance exclaimed, ' What's that?'

Just then the lightning flashed and they could see a huge object coming towards them. Milliseconds later, they could make out what the object was, ' It's Dash!' Jocko hollered.

' Oh! Shit, it's IG-88,' Lance screamed.

' Shit! It's both of them,' Jocko yelled as he turned and picked up the metal pipe that he dropped when Dash went over the side.

As Dash and IG-88 reached the bridge, Dash moved one hand over the machines sensor eyes and pulled back on it's head. Just as they were about to crash into the side of the metal flooring, Dash was able to get a foot up on the monster's side and jumped, reaching for a railing. As he did, Dash shut off the jet pack as he grabbed one the post with the other hand.

The force of Dash's jump pushed IG-88 away toward the bottom of the bridge. As it crashed underneath the metal structure, it cause the bridge to shake violently. The collision with the bridge caused Dash to swing violently back and forth slamming him into the side of the walkway. Dash nearly lost his grip as Lance reached down and caught his other arm that was flying through the air.

As IG-88 again fell into the reaches below, Lance and Jocko grabbed Dash and pulled him onto the bridge. As Lance held onto Dash's hand, Jocko reached down and grabbed a hold of his waste belt and gave a large tug as they dragged him onto the decking. Still laying there, the men breathed a big sigh.

' Jesus Christ! We thought we lost you for good. Man what a trip!' Jocko exclaimed as he gasped for air, out of breath, ' I can't believe what I just saw, you practically came back from the dead.'

' Oh shit! It isn't over yet,' Lance announced as he pointed down ward.

Dash and Jocko quickly glanced over the side and saw IG-88 returning with it's jet pack propelling it back toward them. They both scrambled to their feet and as they did Jocko grabbed the pipe off the floor and stood ready to hammer the droid again.

IG-88 came right at them and grabbed the railing to steady itself as it tried to grab Dash with the other hand. Just as he did that, Jocko bashed it with the pipe right along side the head causing it reach toward him. Dash prevented IG-88 from grabbing Jocko as he grabbed the droids hand and held it back. Jocko walloped the mechanical creature in the head again causing a small dent in the side of it's cranium. Then he drew back and hit it with an even greater blow that caused the droid to let loose it's grip of the railing.

IG-88 hovered there just off the bridge swinging both arms at the men. Then it drew back and a finger on it's left hand touch some buttons on it's right wrist. The titanium creature aimed it's right arm at the men and shot out a paralysis cord, Jocko screamed, ' Lookout!' as both he and Dash fell away from the cord's path. The cord shot out between the two men and rapped several times around the back railing. This caused IG-88 to lurch forward. The cord's length shorten tremendously as it wrapped tighter around the railing causing the droid to lose it's balance in mid-air.

Seeing that the droid was caught, Jocko resumed hammering it over the head with the pipe.

' Watch out!' Lance screamed as he drew his blaster and aimed it at the droid.

' No don't!' screamed Jocko and Dash at the same time as Lance fired his laser blaster. The shot ricocheted off the metal titan and struck Dash in the side just barely nicking him as he again fell back.

Jocko yelled at Lance, ' Jesus Christ! What in the fuck you doing. We're too close. We can't use our blasters. Why did you think I'm using this for?'

Lance stood there with his mouth open in shock at Jocko's harsh words. Then he realized what happened to Dash, ' Oh my God! Are you alright Dash , ' Lance asked , ' I'm sorry man, I didn't know.'

Dash shook his head yes that he was okay as he held his side and grimaced in pain. Blood from the wound seeped through his fingers. Dash pulled his hand away and saw the blood on his fingers, looked up and reassured Lance, ' No really, I'm okay. It just nicked me. Don't worry, I'm alright. '

As this was happening, IG-88 grabbed a poison gas canister from it's hip. Before he could pull the pin, Jocko swung the pipe, hitting it's left hand and knocking the canister from it's grip. The droid looked up at Jocko, it's red eyes glowed twice as bright as if in anger. Jocko leaned back away from the droid and uttered, ' Whoa! I think I just pissed him off.'

By that time, Dash was back on his feet and as he got up, Lance started running back inside hollering back, ' I'll be right back.'

Now the droid reached into a compartment inside it's chest area and brought out some sharp metal flech-ettes and started throwing them at the two men. Dash and Jocko ducked out of the way of the small metal objects, as IG-88 tried to maneuver but couldn't get a clear shot at them. He was dangling too close to them and the railing to be effective.

' He's got to be running out of weapons pretty soon, ' Jocko called over to Dash.

' I sure hope so.'

Just then Lance returned with two more metal pipes. He tossed one to Dash and as he got closer. He then walloped the droid with a mighty downward thrust and hit the monster on it's right arm causing it to dropped the remaining sharp metal objects. Then all three of them started bashing the droid with the pipes as the clanging metallic sound echoed off the walls of the fissure.

IG-88 brought out the miniature cutting lasers on it's right hand and begin cutting the paralysis cord that had it caught at the railing. As it was about to cut completely through the cord, Dash quickly reached over and shut off it's jet pack, just as the last of the cord was severed. IG-88 plunged back down towards the bottom of the dark crevice.

Dash yelled, ' Let's get out of here!' Then the three men ran over the bridge to the door across the crevice. They went inside, closed the door behind them and shoved the three pipes threw the door handle bracing them across the door. As they turned and surveyed their position, there was three directions to travel.

Jocko broke the momentary silence as he asked, ' Well Dash! Which way do you think we should go? You've been right so far. So what do you think?'

' Well, left looks good to me. Let's try that.'

Jocko gave Lance a puzzled look of non-belief, but said, ' Well, I guess we go left, Lance.'

' Left, are you sure?' Lance questioned.

' Yeah! Left. Just trust me,' Dash pleaded,' Come on guys, give me a break, will yeah!'

The men all went to the left, but only a short distance as the hall turned right. They continued a long way down the hallway passing several doors until they came to the third from the last on the left side. Dash stopped as the other two walked pass it. ' I think this is it,' He told them.

' What are you some wizard or something. How do you know it's this door?'

' I don't know. It's hard to explain. I just have a feeling about this door,' Dash explained.

' Well, what do we have to loose, Lance. One door's just as good as the other to me. Come on.'

Jocko and Lance came walking back and as Jocko past close to Dash, he looked at him out of corner of his eye and asked, ' This one!'

Dash knotted his head in agreement, standing there letting Jocko lead the way.

Jocko cocked his head and muttered, ' Okay, ' pausing and then adding, ' This one then. '

When Jocko opened that door to their disbelief they found Zack and Nathan hidden down behind some big crates, watching the door on the other side of the room.

' I can't believe it, how did you do that?' Lance asked in a low voice.

' Like I said, I just have this certain sense about things like this. I just have these feelings about knowing which direction to go, that's all. It's not witchcraft, or anything like that. It's just a good sense of directions I guess. '

' Well, I'll never doubt you again, ' Jocko confessed, ' That's for sure. '

Zack was startled when he heard the commotion behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw the three men coming through the door talking among themselves.

Nathan turned and cried out a surprised, ' Hey! '

' Jesus! You guys scared the hell out of me!' Zack told them as Nathan started rambling at the same time, ' Where in the hell have you guys been? '

' Yeah, man it's great to see you guys, ' Nathan words mingled with Zack's, ' We were sure worried. We thought we'd never see you guys again, ' then repeating Zack's question, ' Yeah, where have you guys been?'

Zack paused waiting for Nathan to finish his thought and then interjected , ' What did you guys do, go out for a little stroll or something? Go on a guided tour or what?'

' Yeah right!' Lance commented.

As the others were talking, Jocko secured the door then turned to face the four men, motioning to them, ' Hey, come on guys we better keep going. That thing is right behind us someplace.' Jocko reminded them.

' What! ' Zack said, ' It's what!'

' Jocko, How in the hell are we going to kill it?' Dash inquired, ' These blasters don't seem to effect it.'

' It's still coming this way. Oh shit!' Zack cried out.

Jocko and Dash looked at Zack, back at each other again and then continued their thoughts, ' I don't know, maybe just maybe, we can set a booby trap or something. ' Jocko suggested,' Or maybe,'

'Yeah, maybe we can use these concussion grenades.' Nathan interrupted.' I've got a whole bag of them right here. I've been carrying these things all day. They've got to be good for something, besides I want to get rid of them. They're heavier than hell.'

' That's a good idea, Nathan. That's just what we'll do.' Jocko told him.' Here, put some on your utility belts and divide the rest up between Dash and Lance since they're not wearing utility belts,'

' If only I could get to the Outrider,' Dash suggested,' I've got some disrupters and a thermal detonator on board.'

' What! You've got a thermal detonator! Where in the hell you get that?' Jocko questioned.

' On the black market. Where do you think.'

' That would sure do the trick,.' Jocko said.

' Yeah, it would kill that thing and us too!' Nathan said.

' Yeah, your right, but we could use the disrupters. They'd do it. We would only use the detonator if we got it out in the open, or in a room by itself where we were well protected.'

Just then they heard a sound outside in the hallway behind them. ' Oh my god!' Jocko said as he backed away from the door and looked down at the floor. He pointed down at the floor where they were just standing, ' Look!'

On the floor leading from the door they had just came through were black foot tracks left by one of them. ' Oh my god, it's knows right where we're at. One of us must of stepped in something!' Jocko announced checking his own foot prints.

The sound of the approaching droid got louder and louder as it moved down the hallway toward the closed door. The metal clanging of IG88's feet echoed behind the walls and sent chills through the men as they eyed one another in silence hoping the sound would diminish taking the creature with it. But it wasn't to be. The metal monster continued on it's mission of destruction as it's sensors homed in on the waiting freighter pilots.

This is it, get some grenades out,' Dash ordered,' Zack! open that other door. Check the hallway and stand guard. That's our escape route.' Dash turned and told the others,' If this don't work we'll get the hell out of here and figure out a new plan of attack.'

The men moved to the other side of the boxes and prepared themselves as Zack opened the other door and looked down the hallway, giving Dash the nod that the coast was clear.

The noise outside in the hallway stopped. The door's handle begin to turn slowly as the men 's bodies tighten. Then the door flew open as IG-88 stood in the doorway and as it stepped inside all the men tossed their grenades and started firing at it's head and chest with their blasters. Their laser volleys ricocheted off the droid's blast resistant armor, exploding against the walls and ceiling of the room.

IG88 raised it's forearms aiming it's blaster cannons at the men inside. Through the smoke and deluge the machine was taking, the mechanical monster, began firing it's weapon filling the room with even more smoke and fiery expulsion from it's guns.

All at once the grenades exploded throwing the huge machine back through the doorway against the wall in the hallway. At first it looked like they had killed the machine as some of the men started cheering. Seconds later the droid began to move and as it did it straightened up and again stood tall.

' Oh shit!' Jocko screamed,' Let's get out of here!'

The men raced through the door closing it behind them. Jocko jammed the door shut with a board he found on the floor. He turned around and recognized that they were in the hallway that led to the hanger they had been in previously.

Jocko yelled to Dash who was ahead of him,' Dash! Get to your ship and get those disruptors. Lance! Go with him. We'll try to hold this thing off until you get back, but hurry! We won't be able to hold him off long. Zack! Nathan! Stay with me. We'll do the same thing again. That'll give those two time to get back with the disruptors. I think the disruptors will kill that thing.'

' I sure hope your right,' Nathan answered.

Quickly, Dash and Lance gave the men the remaining grenades they had in their hands and ran down the hall, towards the wide opening that led to the hanger and the Outrider.

Jocko, Nathan and Zack moved down the hall to safe position far enough away yet close enough to be able to hurl their grenades at the expected approaching enemy. They barricaded themselves behind a large metal container, setting the grenades that Dash and Lance gave them on top of the chest high barrier as they checked their weapons and readied themselves for the challenge at hand.

Now came the hardest part of their task, waiting for IG88 to come through that door. The fear began creeping upon them as they watched diligently, all eyes glued to that door. In their minds, a hundred horrible conclusions raced across their minds-eyes as they waited, and waited, and waited.

As Dash and Lance hurried through the opening that led to the hanger bay, Dash stopped in his tracks and grabbed Lance's arm to prevent him from running out into the dim light. As the lightning flashed above, the two men could see a Dactillion perched on the top edge of the wall high above the freighter. The rain still poured down on the metal floor and the noise of the thunderous pounding of the rain covered up the noise of the two men running.

The creatures red menacing eyes peered out from underneath it's armor plated skull. The rain ran down off the bird's reptilian scales all along it's back on both sides of a spinal ridge of crested quills. It perched there in shear defiance, sizing up it's prey, waiting for the right moment to strike.

They both took aim at the creature and blasted at it with only one shot ricocheting off it's right shoulder as the creature went air borne. It hovered above it's resting place as the darkness of the night made it difficult for the two men see it.

Just then lightning flashed again lighting up the area in a bluish hue that outlined the creature, who was now flapping it's four wings still hovering as it had moved several meters to it's right and was facing the two men across the huge room.

' There it is!' Dash shouted as both he and Lance aimed their weapons at where the creature had appeared waiting for the lightning to illuminate it. ' Get ready,' Dash told him.

Just then Dash and Lance could feel a strong gust of wind in their faces and could hear the flapping of the creatures wings get louder and louder and the gust of wind get stronger and stronger. Then the lightning flashed as they could see that the creature was upon them as the massive bird let out a terrible screech that shook their bodies.

They both screamed at the same time as they blasted away at the creature point blank as the burst of their blasters jolted the creature sending it crashing backwards against the opposite wall into the now darkness as the lightning flash disappeared.

The two men stood there paralyzed waiting for the lightning to illuminate the room before they could proceed. The lightning flashed again and they blasted the creature one more time to make sure that the Dactillion was dead.

Assured now that the creature was indeed dead, Dash and Lance went over to the Outrider and lowered the boarding hatch ramp and went inside to get the disrupters. Inside the vessel, Dash turned on the hull's overhead lights and went to a storage compartment opened it and took out two disrupters, handing one to Lance.

' Keep a look out!' Dash told him as he moved over to several other compartments opening doors and rumbling through them looking for the thermal detonator that he told Jocko that he had.

' Ah-ha! Here it is. I thought I still had one,' Dash exclaimed,' Come on, let's get back and kill that god damn thing.'

Meanwhile, while all of that was happening, Jocko and the other two men were still waiting for IG88 to appear. Jocko started instructing the two younger men on their plan of attack, ' Okay guys, this is what we'll do. When it comes through that doors, we'll all throw two grenades each and then start blasting away at it with our blasters. Only aim for the chest and head, anyplace on the upper body. Hopefully, that'll knock it back like we did before. If it does, then we'll keep repeating it until Dash and Lance return, okay.'

' Get ready with your grenades! As soon as it comes out, we'll all throw at once. Just throw two though and then blast away at it. When we see what happens that will tell us our next step. Just listen to me, okay. Then we'll throw another round when it straightens up again. That should delay it, I hope!' Jocko ordered.

Both of the young pilots prepared themselves, each one holding a grenade in both hands ready to pull the pin. They moved apart and got into a better position to throw their grenades. By doing so, it meant that the two men had to move out from behind the protective container, completely exposed to the droid's line of fire. They glanced at each other and then turned their attention to the door, their eyes concentrating on their target as they waited.

The three men heard a loud sound from behind the door, sounding like IG88 was tearing up the insides of the room. Then the noise stop and went dead silence.

A moment later, IG-88 started coming through the door. At first the blocked door resisted, but then the entire door came crashing out off it's hedges breaking in pieces with debris flying everywhere.

Jocko yelled, ' Okay men, throw your grenades!'

The grenades landed at the feet of the droid. As the bombs exploded, the men blasted away at the droid, hitting it in the upper extremities knocking the droid backwards into the room. This time the force from the explosion cause the machine to tumble over backwards on it's hind side to the floor.

IG88 raised to it's feet quickly and started through the door again. The men threw a second volley of grenades at the feet of the creature and began firing their blasters at the droid. The impact of the lasers and the explosions recoiled the robot once again repelling it back on it's backside with a loud smash to the floor inside the room. This time the mechanical being landed with a much greater force than before as it's repeating blaster cannons continued firing skyward as it crashed downward.

The men were screaming and yelling with excitement in watching the outcome of their efforts.

' Alright, take that you mechanical monster! ' Zack cried out.

' Yeah who! That'll teach you, ' Nathan yelled, ' Hey Zack, you see that damn thing bounce. Holy shit, I thought the damn bastard was going explode. '

' Are you kidding. Did you see what I did?' Zack paused and yelled, ' I hit that thing right in the eye. Did you see that? I blasted the shit out of him! '

' Okay, okay, calm down you two, ' Jocko warned them, ' It isn't over yet. Get ready for another round guys. This is our last chance. '

The men prepared another round of grenades, the last ones they had left, and waited for the mechanical monster to right itself and come again through the doorway.

It took several minutes for the droid to get up. When it did, it changed weapons and started through the door shooting off it's flamethrower as the flames shot out through the opening some ten feet striking the walls in the hallway and setting the whole area on fire.

' Hold your ground men!' Jocko shouted,' Listen for my command.'

Just then IG-88 came through the door. ' Now!' Jocko shouted as they all threw their last grenades. Another great explosion occurred that again knocked the droid backward, but this time only against the side of the door as the machine's flamethrower went out. It righted itself quickly replacing the flamethrower with it's blaster cannon and fired on the three men, hitting Zack in the chest and knocking him against the side of the wall.

Nathan, who was standing right next to Zack, felt the force of the cannons blast as it sent him tumbling backwards down the hall. The terrific force of Zack's body slamming into the wall shook the structure with a loud boom. The walls on both sides of the hallway vibrated and pieces of the ceiling fell to the floor all around.

Nathan looked over at Zack's bloody limp body resting momentarily against the wall with a gaping hole where his chest should be, with blood splattered all over the area. He watched as Zack's bloody body slowly slide down the wall to the floor dead.

Jocko fired a couple of shots at IG88 as he moved over to Nathan.

' Come on, let's get out of here, ' Jocko told Nathan as he helped him to his feet.

Jocko turned and fire a couple more shots as they both started running down the hall toward the entrance to the hanger with laser blasts just missing their heads. Nathan fired a couple rounds over his shoulder as he could see the droid starting to follow them.

' Here he comes, ' Nathan told Jocko.

Jocko glanced over his shoulder as they both began to pick up speed.

IG88 continued shooting at the two men as it followed them down the hallway. The several blast made gaping holes in the sides of the hallway and with each explosion debris from the walls scattered all over floor. Jocko and Nathan were busy dodging the falling debris as IG88's shots were coming closer to the two men.

Jocko and Nathan arrived at the exit doorway when they both turned and fired on the approaching droid. Jocko's blast hit it's mark but glanced off the cranium of the metallic creature.

When Jocko turned to face IG88, he exposed himself to danger presenting a much better target for the sites of the metal figure's cannons. IG88 took full advantage of the error in judgment on the part of the freighter captain as it took aim and fired repeatedly at it's target.

Jocko got hit with a blast in the side that tumbled him over several times on the floor past Nathan, who was now to his right closest to the exit.

Nathan stepped inside the threshold of the huge doorway and fired at the droid that was now closing the gap between them. Several of his shots hit their mark glancing off IG-88's metal frame striking the walls around it.

Just then Dash and Lance was exiting the ship with the disruptors in their arms. As they begin running toward Nathan, Dash called out to him,' Nathan get back!'

Just as Nathan glanced at the two men rushing to his aid, a mighty blast from the droid caught him solid in the chest and knocked backwards several feet across the floor of the hanger.

By that time Dash and Lance reached the opening and peered around the corner and saw IG-88 moving toward them. The mechanized monster continued down the hallway shooting repeatedly at the dead bodies on the floor and the surrounding opening.

Dash and Lance both stepped out and blasted away at the mechanical monster at the same time with their disruptors, hitting hit several times. The huge metal frame began to short circuit as electrical bolts of lightning seem to cover it's entire skeletal body and it began to shake violently. Small burst of flames eluded from it's inner workings as small explosions burst from it's chest. Several colorful burst of flames lite up the walls around the creature.

The mechanical monster began to shake even more violently causing it's frame to wobble back and forth until a tremendous explosion caused the droid to disintegrate into a thousand tiny pieces of smoldering metal that scattered several feet down the hallway.

The sound of the explosion was deafening and the terrific blast shook the building and blew holes throughout both sides of the hallway where it had stood, setting the whole area on fire as large parts of the ceiling now fell in shambles to the floor.

Dash dropped his disruptor on the hall floor turned and ran over to Jocko who was lying on the floor in tremendous pain. ' Jocko!' Dash called out to him as he huddled on the floor with his friend, raising him gently into his arms.

Jocko looked up at Dash and spoke his last words,' I wouldn't of missed it for all the world.' He told Dash as his eyes fell back and the life left his body.

Dash hugged his friend and tearfully murmured,' Goodbye, old friend,' as Lance looked down on the scene before him with his head hung low. Then Lance leaned toward his long time companion and laid his hand on Jocko's arm. He slowly released his arm letting it drop gently to the floor.

The hull lights from the Outrider behind them highlighted their shadows onto the wall of the hallway in between flashes of lightning as Jocko laid dead near the doorway.

The lightning continued illuminating the room even brighter. The sky above rumbled as the clouds burst in a heavy downfall of rain that made a tremendous sound as the heavy drops of rain pounded on the metal all around. It was a tremendous downpour that exploded in a loud thunderous burst of rain that pounded the metal exterior in a deafening array of sound.

Dash laid Jocko's head gently down to the floor and looked up at Lance who was crouched beside as the light from the ship glowed on his face.

Just as Dash was about to speak to Lance a huge gust of wind blew Lance's hair awry. Immediately, the loud sound of wings flapping filled the room and the sound stopped as did the wind and instantly the light on Lance's face disappeared, replaced by a dark shadow.

Dash could see Lance's eyes dilate as tear covered his expression. Dash turned his head and peered over his shoulder to see another Dactillion coming to a rest on the floor behind them. The creature's body was still residing from it's landing with it's four wings still flapping in and out, slowly coming to a fold behind it. As it finally came to rest, Dash now slowly turned drawing his blaster back out of it's holster, the mighty bird turned it's head and saw it's mate lying dead against the wall.

The creature let out a terrible screech as it tossed it head backwards and then brought it back to let out yet another loud menacing growl directed this time at the two men. The creature's sharp beak and long sharp teeth jetted out as it's threatening red eyes were squinted in anger directed at the two men.

Just then it's long sharp clawed feet started for them. The creature slipped on the metal floor in it's effort to walk toward them as the sound of scratching nails on metal was replaced by yet another angry growl and it's wings now opened to help balance the monster as it made its way toward Dash and Lance.

' Oh my god!' Lance announced as he discovered that his disruptor was empty. In tear he kept firing the weapon only to hear the clicking of the trigger and no results.

Dash opened fire on the creature all the while yelling at Lance, ' Use your blaster! Lance! Use your blaster!'

Lance came out of the hypnotic trance, dropped his disruptor and drew his blaster and joined Dash in blasting the creature. Between their two bolts of shots the creature started to climb air borne screeching as it was being hit. It's head fell back loosely in mid-air and the creature crumbled into a pile on the floor of the landing platform smoldering as steam escaped from it's brownish-green body.

Dash and Lance inspected the creature for any signs of life before deciding that they should extinguish the fire down the hallway that was still lingering. They found some extinguishers on a wall inside the hanger and put the remaining fire that had somehow receded out and then removed their comrades affects. Lance agreed to handle that portion of the duties and they both decided to bury their comrades just outside in a place they saw earlier.

Dash and Lance buried their friends with a simple but dignified ceremony in a place on the side of the mountain that overlooked the canyon below where the sunlight could shine down on them underneath the only tree on the level terrain there. They marked the graves so anyone who should find them would know who they were and when they died.

Dash called Leebo and told him about the events and that they were returning soon. Lance found the control panel that automatically controlled the outer defensive artillery and Dash destroyed the panel and shutdown the emplacements. Destroying the fortress's defensive emplacements would allow Dash and Lance to fly the Outrider back to the spaceport where Leebo was waiting.

They had decided to leave the facilities in tact, not restart the fire and keep it from total destruction. It was something that they felt they owed the men in the grave site that they had newly established. Maybe the new tenants would take care of the graveyard and the area around it. That was something people on these Outer Rim Planets took very serious, taking care of the dead, and grave sites became hollowed ground in this part of the galaxy, as elsewhere.

Dash and Lance decided to check out the rest of the facility for possible loot as they searched IG-88's private quarters. Lance found a safe inside the wall in IG-88's control room where there were monitor screens with pictures transmitted from remote cameras showing various areas and different approaches to the compound as part of IG-88's security system. They blasted the safe open and found a half a million credits inside the vault and divided the money .

' You can take seven hundred and fifty thousand and with the other one hundred and twenty five thousand that's back at your ship that will just about make us all even. That will include your take of that suitcase back at Nar Shaddaa,' Dash told Lance.

' Your much too generous, Dash. After all that has happened to you, you should get all of this,' Lance told him.

' No, you earned it. We survived, and the survivors split the money. That's the way its always been. Jocko would of done the same thing. That's the code we all live by,' Dash told him.

' I think we're all through here. Come on, I'll fly you back to your ship and we can get off of this desolate planet and back to civilization,'

' My ship! That's right! I guess the Intruder belongs to me now. That's what Jocko and I agreed upon when we went into partnership together. If one of us dies or gets killed, the other would get the ship. I never thought that it would ever happen though. I guess that is something you never believe will ever happen. We both thought we'd be partners forever. Isn't that funny. Forever! Nothing last forever, but that's what you think at the time. You never think the worst might happen, but it does.' Lance pondered.

Now that everything was taking care of, Dash and Lance boarded the Outrider and blasted off and back to the spaceport at Worlport. Leaving behind their fallen comrades and taking with them a tale to some day tell their children of their conquest over the most dangerous villain in the universe, IG-88.

As the Outrider descends to the landing platform at the spaceport of Worlport, Dash Rendar's companion droid Leebo awaits just inside the hanger opening for the freighter to come to a rest. As the ship settles, steam and smoke escapes from beneath the vessel, Leebo makes his way towards the structure as a gangplank lowers and moments later two figures appear exiting the ship. Leebo greets the two men,' Good evening sir. Was your trip eventful, sir?'

'You could say that.' Dash responded,' How's everything here.'

' You will find everything to your satisfaction, sir,' Leebo countered,' And, you Mister Lance, how was your trip?'

' Are you kidding me or what?' Lance answered in puzzlement,' Is he kidding or what?' He asked of Dash.

' No! Not really. That's just the way he is.' Dash told him,' Don't pay him no mind though, that's just some kind of computer glitch he has about him.'

Lance transferred his belongs over to the Intruder and that of Jocko's effects as well as the other men's belongings, saying that he would give their effects to their families and leave Zack and Kyle's things with the spaceport's manager here on Worlport.

Leebo retrieved the remaining articles belonging to Dash and himself from the Intruder and the three men parted ways shaking hands as the twilight of the day disappeared over the distance mountains to the west and darkness settled over the spaceport as their ships lifted off the platform skyward.

Dash and Leebo entered The Outrider and as Leebo stowed away their belongings Dash opened up a compartment just left from his command control panel and locked away the hundred and twenty five thousand credits that was his portion of the IG-88 loot that he and Lance had divided between themselves.

' Where is pee-two?' Leebo asked.

' Oh shoot! I forgot all about that little thing,' Dash responded.' Tell you the truth Leebo, I don't know where it got off to. I was so worried about IG-88 that I forgot all about it. I don't even remember seeing that little droid. Take a look around and see if you can find him. Maybe I left him back at Ord Mantell. I sure hope not.'

' Yes sir, I sure will sir,' Leebo answered.

Leebo opened several hatches along one of the sides of the command cabin until suddenly to his dismay there was the P2 unit hidden inside. ' Oh! My goodness!' Leebo shrieked.' Here it is! I found it.'

The unit let out several beeps of different tones up and down the musical scale. ' What are you doing in here?' Leebo asked the droid. ' Yes I know. You haven't seen us for a while. We haven't seen you either.'

The unit let out some more beeps as it started out of the closet slowly, stopping and moving it's head around back and forth as if looking for something, an then moving again slowly out into the spacious room, shaking slightly as if extremely cold or deathly afraid.

' No, he's not here,' Leebo assured the droid. ' You can come out. It's safe now.'

' Sir! He says he was hiding from IG-88 and that he's afraid it might come back. I'll try to tell him what happened, but I don't know if he'll believe me or not.'

Pee-two let out several more beeps as if it was going up and down the musical scale once again as Leebo placed it's hand on the unit's smooth cranium and walked it over to a bench where Leebo set down to explain the events to the small unit.

' Do your best,' Dash said in a chuckle as the rumble of The Outrider's hyper drive slightly shook the vessel as Dash warmed up the freighter's engines getting the ship ready for blast off.

Dash thought for a second about the fact that he could still enjoy himself after the unfortunate events of the past several days. He consider himself grateful for having peetwo and Leebo around to being him some laughter and joy.

' Hey peetwo!.Did you get that work done on the ship that you were suppose to. The engines still sound a little rough!' Dash asked of the little Astromech unit.

Peetwo let out some beeps, turned quickly and made its way over to Dash who was setting in the cockpit checking his instruments on the control panel. Leebo followed him in a jerky fashion and began interpreting his beeps and squeals to the captain.

' He said he did sir. He says that he installed a short start sequence to the computer's gyro-mechanism that allows it to by-pass several steps in the start up sequence. He says that's why it seems rough. He also says that he improved the hyper drive's speed capabilities and advanced it into a Class 0.5 classification.'

' You mean to tell me that instead of a .75 class hyper drive that it's now a class 0.5 hyper drive? How did he do that?' Dash asked.

The P2 unit moved in a circle and peeped in a high pitch punctuated by several low bass tones.

' Well, he says captain that he ordered some parts from the Industrial Automaton distributor on Nal Hutta. Then he advanced the molecular characteristics and changed the level between the protons and the neutrons to give the mix a higher reaction level, in lay-man terms.'

' How did you know to do, peetwo? Besides, where did you get the money for the parts anyway?'

Some more beeps and blurts protruded from the unit's auditory transmitter, as Leebo continued to translate, ' He says that molecular physics is one of his program functions, sir. Oh! Oh my word. He says he charged the parts to Jabba the Hutt.' Leebo exclaimed, ' Are you crazy! Jabba don't like us as it is and now your running up a bill on him. He'll not like that, not one little bit. Oh, you little walking garbage container, you're gonna get us all turned into scrap metal parts.'

Dash started laughing, ' Wait until Jabba sees that bill. He's going to turn into three shades of red. I sure wish I could be there to see that.'

' Well, I don't think it's anything to laugh about,' Leebo remarked as he turned his upper body sideways to confront Dash.

Dash began laughing even harder until he had to wipe tears of laughter from his eyes as Leebo turned back and forth in an indignant fashion, ' Well, I really don't see the humor .'

Dash turned back still fighting the giggles as he lifted the Outrider off the landing platform and out the open portal. The ship responded tremendously as its engines quickly carried it away from the spaceport and through the planet's atmosphere into the darkness of space.

Seconds later The Intruder with Lance on at the helm, followed the Outrider out of the portal and along side the Corellian freighter to its left. Both ships paused as their commanders each prepared their vessels for light speed .