Approximately five years earlier, Outer Rim territories, To-Phalion Station

"This is Maru Ki, the Admiral is making his escape we are dedicating our squadrons to protect him. Any ships that can offer assistance are greatly encouraged to do so."

"What in space?" Toth asked over the channel.

"Say again Maru Ki, who is leaving the combat zone?" Stele asked quickly, he sounded just as confused as Garin felt, what was going on?

"Admiral Thrawn is withdrawing, he will return with reinforcements." The comms officer from the frigate responded.

"Kark me," Stele swore, "Shrikes, protect that shuttle!"

"Negative Commander, that will not be necessary continue with your objectives."

"I cannot comply with that order," Stele said, Garin could see the Shrikes moving away from the dogfight and towards the shuttle which was burning tail to clear the combat area.

"You will comply with that order Commander Stele," Thrawn's calm voice answered, "or I will order Hades Wing to engage and destroy your unit."

Stele sounded furious, "Admiral what in all the hells of the universe are you doing here?"

"That is my business, now continue with your objectives or I will have you and your unit destroyed."

Garin could hear the frustration in Stele's voice, "yes sir, Shrikes reengage your previous targets."

Their previous targets however were not engaging them, they'd broken off to go after the shuttle and its escorts, Garin was about to follow Stele's earlier inclination and order Hades to intercept when his com crackled.

"Commander Stele, this is Lieutenant Reath, that shuttle is a decoy, the Admiral is not aboard."

"Explain right now Lieutenant." Stele growled.

"Lieutenant Sele and I are broadcasting a recording of the Admiral's voice to that shuttle and broadcasting it in the clear, there is no one aboard. We have to hit the Glory now while we have the chance."

Stele sounded shocked as he fumbled for words before he finally spoke clearly, "all units close on the Glory, knock out that tower!"

Garin didn't need any encouragement and he silently blessed the Captain of the Maru Ki for letting Kalan and Matrin pull this stunt. It just might give them their chance. The Glory had already hulled the three corvettes with the Knight and the smaller frigate was listing heavily as she moved away from the combat zone. The Knight had yet to sustain any serious damage though according to his scans her shields were failing. In the meanwhile, the Glory was directly above To-Phalion and had deployed shuttles to the station, Garin assumed they were capturing the Vorknkx and preparing it for transport. So far the Star Destroyer's guns had been able to keep Diamond from scoring any major hits in critical areas, hopefully this would change that.

"All fighters, this is Diamond lead, I need everyone to target lock the Glory and fire every warhead you have."

"What are you planning Arusi?" Stele asked dubiously.

"Targeting overload sir, their computers can't handle that many warheads coming in at once, Diamond will launch heavy rockets at the communications tower and destroy it while they try to sort out the incoming threats."

"I copy, you heard him Shrikes, fire!"

"Shadows, open fire on that Destroyer," Garin ordered, similar orders were relayed in Mantis, Wyvern, and Gorgon.

Within moments space was filled with warhead trails as literally hundreds of projectiles rocketed towards the Glory, as expected her gunners couldn't track all of the incoming warheads and impacts began to register on her shields, then the heavy rockets, sailed in and punched through the weakened screens and struck home, the communications tower went up in a short lived fireball.

"This is Captain Chapella of the Black Knight the target is in evidence, I repeat, the Glory is here."

"Received Black Knight, task group jumping to your coordinates," came the immediate response.

Garin was breathing a sigh of relief when he saw a corvette exiting the hangar of To-Phalion and heading towards the Glory's hangar bay. He swore, they'd gotten the Vorknkx, but at least he knew not to pursue it, he had to concentrate on other matters.

"This is Admiral Thrawn, I am leaving the combat zone, thank you for your support I will bring reinforcements shortly.

"Run you coward, but you can't hide from me, I will find you blue-skin."

At first Garin didn't realize who was speaking, then he connected the dots, that was Zaarin speaking! He really thought that Thrawn had been on that shuttle, no wonder the Defenders and Avengers had broken off. He checked his sensors and winced as he saw the enemy squadrons leaving the decimated fighters and bomber and returning to the main combat area. The three squadrons from the Maru Ki had paid in blood for the ruse. Then all hell broke loose as warships began jumping into the area, Garin smiled, the cavalry was here. It was a smaller force than what Thrawn had at his disposal as the main body of the task force was out trying to force an engagement with Zaarin's fleet, but it was more than the Glory could handle on her own a Star Destroyer, and Interdictor Cruiser, and two Strike Cruisers; Zaarin realized that he couldn't fight this new force as well and his Star Destroyer turned and began to leave the area.

Garin hoped that the Interdictor could get its wells up fast enough; if they could trap Zaarin here it would all be over. He watched the sensors, looking for the telltale gravity formations that would indicate a projected field, and then he saw the wedge representing the Knight moving into position between the Glory and her escape path.

He swore and keyed his com. "Iriana get clear!"

"Negative, we're going to stop him here sir."

"Get out of the way or he'll run you through; that is an order!"

Her voice was hard, "we will not let him escape sir."

Garin was desperate as he watched the massive shape of the Glory bear down on the smaller heavy cruiser; its guns were blazing but the Knight wasn't budging despite the vicious barrage that hit first the shields, and then once that collapsed the reflective plating, which was probably the only reason the smaller ship was still standing as the Destroyer bore down on it; to hell with secrecy.

"Dammit Iriana move that ship! There's a beacon aboard the karking corvette! We can track it!"

There was a pause, and when she spoke her voice was weak "oh hell, sir, I'm so sorry."

Garin bit his lip; he felt his insides twist as he watched the Knight begin maneuvering out of the way even as the Glory's bow slammed into the top of her bridge; spearing straight through the cruiser's hull and passing clean through, leaving a trail of debris hanging off of the cruiser as the Knight began to drift away aimlessly. The Glory leapt to hyperspace seconds later.

There was an eerie silence as the Glory's handful of remaining fighters made their escape as the stunned pilots off of the Knight drifted; looking at what had been their home these past months as she listed heavily hanging in space helplessly.

"This is the Maru Ki, we are moving to assist the Black Knight. We've just received orders from Admiral Thrawn: he commends everyone for their efforts and asks that all intact ships rendezvous with the Admonitor."

"Oh gods," Vic'que's voice whispered, "the Knight…."

Her voice trailed off, Garin knew exactly what she was feeling, and it was worse for him. He'd known about the beacon, and if he'd just shared that with Iriana then she wouldn't have done something so stupid. He looked at the floating hull of the Knight; the top of the bridge was sheared clear off where the Glory had slammed into her, his com crackled.

"Lieutenant Commander, I understand your remorse but we need to move now, the Admiral needs us."

Stele's voice bit hard into his guilt, but he managed to respond. "Hades, move out to the Admonitor, we have a job to do."

The wing and the rest of the task group leapt to hyperspace, leaving To-Phalion and the Maru Ki to pick up the pieces of the battle.

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal cruiser Home One, Bilbgringi Shipyards

"Oh god, Commander, I—" Deanna shook her head, her gaze sympathetic. "I'm so sorry."

I raised an eyebrow, "I never thought I'd hear that from a Republic spook Lieutenant."

She didn't respond, instead biting her lip, "that ship was your home, the crew your family and you had to watch as some of them died in such a horrible way."

"They did their duty, and it hurt a great deal, but I don't think that it was anything compared to what you suffered, your entire home world destroyed."

That brought a nod of agreement from her as she looked across the table at me; there was something new in her eyes that I had to wonder at, was it respect?

"Please continue sir, if you can."

I nodded, leaning back against the chair as I recalled the pursuit of the Glory.

"I'm still not sure if Zaarin realized that the beacon was on his ship, but eventually he stopped running, rallying what remained of his forces which had been fighting it out with the main task force. Our smaller force warped in and projected gravity wells. He had no where left to run….."

Approximately five years earlier, Outer Rim Territories, Deep Space

"This is Admonitor command, the Repulse is down,"

Garin rolled his Defender and watched in pleased satisfaction as one of Zaarin's Star Destroyers went dark as its forward hangar bay erupted into a nova, shattering the interior of the warship. Harth's Diamonds were flying in close to their targets and delivering proton bombs right into the hangars of some of the larger ships, the small inertial propelled warheads went straight through shields and could wreak havoc on a ship's hull, when dropped into an exposed hangar the results were spectacular there were two smaller Victory-class Star Destroyers who had been gutted in similar ways, the only issue with the tactic that Garin knew of was that the bombs were slow, and if someone shot them before reaching their targets then anything in the vicinity wasn't going to be there for long.

He selected his next target and fired into the hull of one of the few remaining enemy Defenders, their numbers had been so thinned that it was almost impossible to find any of Zaarin's more advanced fighter types, a missile flew in and lanced the wounded Defender and one of Stele's Avengers shot by. The group had the annoying tendency of popping up right when you were making a kill. Not that Garin was juvenile enough to care or complain, but he'd heard Toth, Matrin, and Kalan complaining considerably, along with several of the more competitive Hades members. Kalan and Matrin were convinced, and they were joined in this belief by others, that they were being shadowed by the Shrikes who were just waiting for a quick kill instead of making their own. Garin had seen a few very impressive shots pulled off by Stele's pilots so he knew that they were probably just trying to piss Hades off, from some of the chatter he heard over the com he knew they were doing a good job of it.

"This is Admiral Thrawn that was the last of the Glory's screens, all bomber flights move on the command ship."

The hour long battle had wound down enough in the last several minutes that Garin felt perfectly sat ease just watching his sensors and observing the fighting. Sure enough the small blue pips that represented Imperial starfighters began converging on the one remaining red wedge; the others were grayed out to indicate their disabled status. There were still several active warships, but the Glory was the largest and most dangerous. He rolled his fighter lazily and examined the bent prow of the Star Destroyer bitterly, and then something happened that brought a smile.

"For the Knight," someone called over the com.

The call was echoed by other voices, and moment's later dozens of warhead launches were registered as Hades Wing's gun, missile, and blast boats, joined by other squadrons from the fleet, all opened fire with their munitions. The Glory, injured and bleeding put up a weak defensive screen but there really was nothing the wounded giant could do to save itself and Zaarin had to know it. As the first missiles impacted, Garin saw something moving beneath the Star Destroyer and swore.

"All units, the Vorknkx is launching from the bay of the Glory, Zaarin is likely making a run for it."

The dying Destroyer however gave a final shield for its master as the massive wedge shaped ship tilted and prevented any locks on the small corvette as the ship hid in the larger vessel's shadow. Then the Glory's bridge exploded and the ship began to drift as its station keeping failed. Garin scanned the area and cursed, the Vorknkx was no where to be seen. Zaarin had activated the cloaking device.

The voice from To-Phalion drifted over the com then, "Admiral Thrawn, I believe you've failed yet again to capture me, this will never be over. Once more I will—"

Whatever Zaarin had been about to say was cut off in static as an explosion registered beyond the Glory.

"This is Admonitor command, the rogue is dead; I repeat, Zaarin is dead all remaining traitors, you are ordered to surrender yourselves and power down. Boarding parties will be sent to take command of your ships. If you surrender now you will be shown a leniency."

Garin wasn't entirely sure what had happened, but he breathed a sigh of relief, there was not a single capital ship in Zaarin's fleet that didn't surrender, they recalled their fighters and powered down shortly after, all under the watchful eyes of Hades and other units who patrolled the motionless ships.

"Hades leader, you are to report to the Black Knight."

Garin felt a stab of pain, and keyed his com. "Command, the Knight is not in attendance."

"I respectfully disagree sir."

There was an explosion of chatter on the Hades band, when Garin was finally able to get a word in he was ecstatic.

"Kindran is that you?"

"I'm here sir, and so is Captain Chapella, though I'm afraid she has a concussion and is in medical. I have taken command from the CIC."

"How did you—"

"I was able to push us both through the airlock before the bridge was damaged, our compartment was undamaged thankfully and a handful of us were able to survive."

"Why didn't you inform me when you entered the battle?"

"We couldn't route any communications sir, we're using an external probe now as a wired relay."

"It's good to hear your voice Kindran, Hades coming home."

"We'll be waiting for you sir, congratulations."

Garin followed the beacon from the probe relay that the Knight had launched and found the familiar, if damaged, warship sitting amongst several sister ships, two other Vindicators and a pair of older Victories. Despite the ruptured bridge, she looked like she was ready to spring into the action alongside her stable mates.

"There's no place like home," Toth said reverently.

"Captain Luixana, I expect there to be a celebratory event in the recreation rooms, I will be turning loose my personal locker and I expect the same from you. Make sure it does the rounds."

Toth groaned, "Gar, I'll never see another drop."

"The crew has earned it; I expect your entire store to be in evidence." Garin said with a grin as he imagined the look of horror on his friend's face.

"Don't worry sir," Vic'que said coldly, sounding a bit too serious for the occasion. "I'll make sure every drop is made available."

"Oh space, I promise to be good, I really do!" Toth said jokingly.

Garin had to smile, victory seemed to have eased Vic'que's hostility some, he wondered how long it would last, and if it meant she was finally warming up to the rest of the unit. He hoped that it meant Daru would have an easier time of it as well, maybe the Kuati was willing to let things go now that this was all over.

"This is Shrike leader to Hades leader, permission to come aboard the Knight?"

Garin winced, one pain was gone, and another appeared, great. "Permission granted Commander, I assume your boys will be joining the party?"

"Until we get our next station, we'll tag along."

For all the emotion he put into his voice, Stele might as well have been a stone, Garin shook his head, Harth had competition.