A/N: I apologize for the very long wait. I've been trying to come up with ways to smoothly integrate the Star-Wars universe and its environs while trying to come up with a suitable perspective. This process might take a bit more time but I think I've almost got it. That said, please enjoy this next chapter.

Military Calendar

2549-05-17

Hyterio, Jorrin System.

Time: 20:32

James Yarland held on tightly as the compartment shook from the oxygen being violently vented into space. All around him others did the same. Too few others. The explosion had torn through half of the compartment and had engulfed a full third of the people in it. The remaining two thirds had had no time to react as the explosion was sucked away, taking the burnt bodies, some still shrieking their final seconds away, and James, along with nearly half of the shocked survivors barely managed to grab onto any protrusion or other hand-hold before the force of the venting pulled them into the dark depths of space.

Eyes closed, arms straining, stomach cramping, James slowly pulled himself closer to his hands and slowly rose one hand and pushed it against the flow of air to a larger, more secure handhold. It was like trying to push through a strong stream of water. What felt like minutes later his fingers finally curled around the bar in a tight grip and he began to pull with that arm, releasing his old hand-hold and fulling grasping the new one.

The metal below him shook as the ship took another hit, causing him to bounce off of the metal of the corridor and nearly lose his grip. As his body began to come against the wall again, the pressure cut off as the blast doors finally sealed behind him, cutting off the open compartment. Rather than hitting the wall, James crashed into the floor below him. Staggering to his feet proved to be more difficult than it should have been as the strain of holding on let itself be known.

"Boarders in the aft. They're heading towards engineering, Go through section C-12 through the armory. Sounds like something new on the way too so watch yourselves." James sighed against the front of his helmeted suit and jogged out of the compartment with the rest of the few remaining marines, leaving the few naval-crewmen to their own duties.

In a blur of turns and long runs, James slowed his pace as he rounded the last corner to the armory. The movement inside was, to uninitiated eyes, chaos. To him it was orderly if a bit frantic and he dove in, grabbing a BR55C Battle Rifle and a dozen mags. Much like the initial Battle Rifle design it fired in bursts of three and unlike the initial design, it fired bolts of energy from a second barrel just below the first. It was a bulkier design but it was smooth and streamlined for quick, tactical engagements.

In addition to mags, the rifle also came with several battery packs. Throughout the ship were small ports to recharge spent packs just in case of an emergency- which this quickly appeared to be turning into. In addition to his weapon and ammunition, James quickly donned his battle rig, a simple harness with a number of pouches and straps that was padded and provided extra armor over his suit's built in armor for the chest and back area.

Finished arming himself, James quickly left the armory, grabbing a handful of grenades on the way out. He was a part of a small stream of marines running to the defense of engineering. His comms clicked and the voice of his commanding officer filled his and every other marine's helmet. "They've reached engineering and are breaking through. Get your asses in there marines!"

In silent reply the marines picked up their pace and charged through the last few corridors and into engineering. On the way from the armory the marines had split into several different groups to converge on Engineering from several points rather than crowd through a single entry way. Immediately through the door of Jame's entry point, several marines had setup two mounted machine guns and were tearing into something just out of view of the door-way. Following several other marines, James ran in to support the stationary defense, immediately turning to fire into the group of...white armored humans? The sight caused James to stumble and nearly fall, but he didn't freeze up as he opened fire, one of the bullets smashing into the T shaped faceplate of one of the armored figures firing energy bolts at the marines below his position.

Catching his balance, James knelt behind the railing on the catwalk, changed firing mode and opened up with his own bolts. The first slammed into one of the figures in in the middle the force of the bolt knocking him off his feet, near the front of their line. The figures below seemed stunned to see one of their comrades to fall, though that didn't make much sense as the floor seemed to be painted white with the bodies of others. Then James saw why. He was the only one firing bolts. "Switch to bolts, it seems to spook 'em!" He yelled and continued firing.

Now the figures below were focusing on the catwalk as bolts rained down from above. The marine to Jame's immediate left cried out as a bolt hit him in the shoulder, knocking him back. Another marine quickly took his place as another pulled him back through the door. The marines below seemed to get the idea and began switching to bolts as well, tearing into the combatants that had nearly switched their focus entirely on the catwalk above.

Now their attention was split between two groups, and James could see fighting further on, indicating the others had gotten the word. The mounted guns ceased fire briefly...then their secondary tri-barrels began to spin, firing a deadly, slower hail of bolts into the hostiles below. That broke them as their numbers plummeted. Many of the white-clad figures breaking from the fighting to run. The Marines below began advancing on the now retreating force, quickly turning the defensive battle into a route and chase.

Not one to be left out of a good run, James took to the nearby stairs and joined the marines below in chasing after the fleeing combatants. Before he could get further the CO was on the comms again, reporting the enemy force was standing down and the enemy vessel was destroyed. James sighed, then looked at one of the dead soldiers at his feet. Not seeing any visible sign of being hit, James leveled his rifle at the T shaped face-plate, keeping the barrel just out of reach.

"I think we got a live one here," he said, drawing the attention of several nearby marines whom immediately leveled their weapons on the still figure. One of the marines at the marines kicked one of the legs. When he didn't react, another marine slowly stepped on the figure's hand and slowly applied his body weight. When the figure still didn't respond, James pulled his rifle up and quickly slammed the butt of it into the face-plate, breaking the glass material. The armored figure pulled his hands to his face and rolled over as James stepped back, returning the barrel of his rifle to just out of reach of the man, aimed at his head.

"We have ourselves a prisoner, he was faking death." One of the marines reported.

"Good work, keep on him, we'll get others checking the bodies." The CO responded quickly.