Chapter 27

Kit crouched behind the rear support of the damutek. It was just after dawn. Most of the slaves and guards were sleeping. He had spent the past several days working with the slave leaders to sabotage the Vong. He had heard from D'arial that she had sent a message out to the military and Colonel Fel asking for help.

The rear support of the damutek was weakening quickly. One good shot would collapse it. If they knocked out at least two of the supports, the entire structure should fall on top of the Vong sleeping inside. Had Kit been fighting any other being, he would have seen it as a cheap shot, but the Vong were something different. In his minds, slavers got what they deserved.

"Are you ready?" Tu'Ebb asked. He handed him one of the pocket blasters D'arial had supplied them with. Myyse held a slightly larger model that fit his hand more comfortably.

"Shoot on three," Kit instructed. He watched as Tu'Ebb and Myyse crept to their assigned supports. He motioned for them to start the count. On three, they shot and then rolled away. They ran to one of the closest tunnel entrances and rolled inside. The three crouched, squished together. They watched the damaged supports spasm and collapse. Dozens of Yuuzhan Vong ran to the collapsed structures. Kit knew they would have heard the blaster shots.

Several of the Vong began to scour the area for them. Myyse growled menacingly, biceps twitching in anticipation. Kit gripped his blaster tightly as the Vong warriors walked closer to their hiding place. The three knew they would probably die, but had made peace with it. At least they had taken out a significant group of the opposition.

Kit peeked out of the tunnel. He heard the sound of approaching engines. A squadron of Clawcrafts appeared, blasting apart the fallen damutek. Kit let out a loud cheer. Their rescue was here.

Jag flipped his father's Clawcraft through space as he avoided the blast of a coralskipper. One frigate and three squadrons' worth of coralskippers were guarding the planet. He had assigned Blue Squadron to back-up the efforts on the planet. After he and his father hammered out the details of the offensive, he had sent a message to D'ariel and the rest of team members to go forward with their sabotage. Soontir had offered Jag the use of his personal Clawcraft for the mission, which Jag was grateful for. The Clawcraft was more maneuverable than an X-Wing.

"Spike Lead, one on your tail," Looriw, Spike Two, called out. The Chiss pilot had extensive experience fighting the Vong in the Outer Rim.

"Acknowledged," he responded. He jerked his ship to the right and pitched forward. His wingmate shot the skip. Jag looped around to assist in overloading the dovin basal. One of their shots, he wasn't sure whose, finally destroyed the resilient craft.

"Thanks," he called out as he flew away from the debris. He glanced down at his computer displays. Off to the right he could see his father's Star Destroyer The Hailstorm closing in on the frigate. He diverted one squadron to assist with the frigate. The Vong weren't flying as if they were under the influence of a war coordinator. Yammosks were one more thing the Vong were lacking. The pilots were forced to fly more like the pilots they were fighting. It worked to everyone's advantage.

Sometime later, a voice announced that the frigate had been destroyed. Jag didn't have time to respond. He was in pursuit of one of the more talented Vong pilots. He pressed the triggers to release a shower of stutter fire across the surface of the coralskipper. The dovin basal voids absorbed the shots. His wingmate followed with a torpedo. The two Clawcrafts turned away sharply from the exploding skip. He checked his computer screens. There weren't many coralskippers left.

"What's the situation on the ground?" Jag asked a communications officer on the Hailstorm. He was told that the ground troops had successfully taken down settlements Two, Three and Five.

"Colonel Fel, assist Settlement One planet-side," Soontir's voice ordered over the com.

"Acknowledged," Jag responded, and then relayed the new orders. He had lost two pilots; statistically, it was a fairly good number, but it screamed failure and loss to Jag. He would personally write the letter to inform their families of their demise afterwards. He hoped they could be located and weren't some of the billions displaced by the war. That way, more would remember the pilots' sacrifices. He could still remember the men and women who had died under his command when he first lead the Spikes.

The atmosphere of Barab I was fairly turbulent, but the Spikes, reformed for the operation, were able to navigate through it with ease. As they approached the first settlement, Jag looked in awe at the scene in front of him. Black and blue smoke rose from the burning landscape. Unidentifiable dots of debris were scattered about. As he flew lower, he could see slaves fighting Vong with makeshift weapons.

"Target the large structures," Jag stated. "The three rectangular ones on the outer edge are slave quarters. Stay away from those."

A series of clicks sounded over the comm as the rest of the squadron acknowledged the orders. Jag moved his Clawcraft to the right to target the largest damutek. He circled it once to warn the slaves to get back. Several ran away from the structure as Jag shot at it. His lasers melted away the living flesh. Two fighters followed him in, destroying the last of it.

"Four is secure," a voice called over the comm as the second largest damutek fell from what Jag guessed the slaves had done. In the next five minutes, all the structures had fallen. The slaves and Chiss strike teams were still fighting the Vong. The Vong's numbers were rapidly decreasing. Given the time of day the attack had started, most of the Vong were inside the structures. Once the fighting had started, he was sure that some had left, but the initial attack must have depleted their numbers.

Jag cut to his repulsors to land by a hill. The sun was setting; the days only lasted six hours.

Jag exited the cockpit and grabbed a charric. The rest of the squadron had landed behind him. He ordered, "Go help the slaves."

Jag eyed a group to his left. He ran over to them, occasionally ducking to avoid flying thud bugs and coufees. Several of the slaves spared him a glance. A few had blasters supplied by the Chiss. Others used weapons made from tools. Some were using stolen coufees and dead thud bugs and throwing them towards the Vong. All were smeared with thick, black and red blood. Jag moved to the front of the group. They were slowly moving backwards towards a tunnel entrance.

"Scatter!" one of the Chiss commandos yelled. The slaves ran as he lobbed a thermal detonator towards the Vong. It exploded, obliterating a third of the warriors. Jag grimaced as a smoking arm of a Warrior landed next to him. The rest of the Warriors continued press their attack, refusing to give up. The slaves fought with the same fever. One picked up a fallen amphistaff. He swung it clumsily at the Warriors.

Dirt and gravel rained down on them as they fought. A cannon had been set up, mowing down any Vong that crossed its path. A concussion grenade exploded, knocking them all to the ground. Jag grunted upon impact. He threw his arms over the back of his head to protect it from falling rock and body parts.

"Get the slaves to the tunnels!" one of the commandos yelled (take out). Jag pulled himself up and began ushering the slaves towards the tunnels. He instructed those with effective weapons to continue fighting. Those who were unarmed were rushed to the tunnels. Jag took a position about two meters in front of the tunnel opening.

"Colonel Fel," D'arial said, breathing heavily as she appeared next to him.

"Where did you come from?" Jag asked in surprise.

"I'm everywhere on this Sith-spawned planet," she said cockily. She shot a Vong Shaper Adept with her blaster. "This is the last settlement to fall. All the Vong are converging here."

"We need to get the slaves out of here," Jag stated. He spotted a Warrior running towards him and aimed for the fleshy area under his arm. The Warrior fell, but did not die. Jag let off two more shots to finish the kill.

D'arial glanced down at the dead body, and then said, "I heard the slaves at the other encampments are being evacuated."

"We're going to have to kill them all," Jag ground out as he gestured to the Vong. He and D'arial ducked as a thud bug smacked the stone wall behind them. "Unless we can get the Shapers to surrender."

"Unlikely," D'arial commented, "Your Chiss buddies aren't going to let that happen."

"Probably not," Jag grunted. He removed a power pack from his charric and replaced it with a fresh one. "If we let them do it their way, we'll be here for the next three days and more people will die."

"Any ideas?"

Jag looked around at his surroundings. The ground was littered with the bodies of dead slaves, Chiss and Vong. "Not all the Vong left the other encampments."

"Some were taken captive," she responded. "Clean-up was still going on when I left Two."

"So this is the lucky spot."

"Seems to be."

A loud explosion rocked the landscape. Jag and D'arial shielded their eyes from the light. D'arial gave Jag a smirk, "There goes the last of the Vong's transports. Looks like all those left are stuck on the planet."

Jag's comlink beeped. He snatched it off his belt and answered it, "Fel."

"Colonel, we're bringing down a shuttle near your signal to evacuate the slaves. Another group is coming down to deal with the Vong," Commander Di'Lirk ordered.

Jag acknowledged the orders. He turned to D'arial, "Did you hear that?"

"Yes, sounds like surrender isn't an option for them," she responded.

"If they lay down their weapons, maybe," Jag mused. He hated the Vong; there was no doubt about that, but he didn't believe in complete annihilation. If the Vong were willing to surrender, he believed they should be taken into custody. He looked up towards the sky to see two large vessels approaching. One had large guns mounted to it; the other was an armored transport.

"Cover me," Jag requested. He ducked and ran back down to the tunnel entrance. He told the slaves, "A transport is landing to take you out of here."

D'arial appeared next to him with several slaves. She gestured to them and said, "They'll provide cover for the unarmed."

Jag nodded, "Okay." He glanced back out of the tunnel. The shuttle had set down and other soldiers were loading slaves. He quickly arranged the armed and unarmed slaves and then shouted, "Go!"

D'arial led the slaves from the tunnel and to the shuttle. One of the slaves fell when a thud bug collided with his head. Two other slaves picked him up and dragged him to the shuttle; no one had time to check if he had survived. Jag followed from behind.

"Get aboard," he instructed D'arial after he helped an injured slave aboard the transport. He could see most of the others inside.

"No," she shook her head. "Not until everyone is aboard."

"Come on, D'arial!" Kit's voice yelled from inside the shuttle. He appeared in the hatchway and stretched out his hand to help her aboard.

"D'arial!" Kit screamed as a thud bug hit the back of her neck. Its legs cut into her throat. Blood trickled down her neck, staining her shirt. Her eyes rolled back as she gasped for air and collapsed. Jag turned to find her attacker, but he had disappeared. Jag caught D'arial as she lost her footing. Kit helped him load her body into the shuttle. Jag laid her body on the deck. Kit pried the thud bug from her neck as Jag checked her pulse. It was slowing quickly.

One of the slaves shoved a medkit into Jag's hands, but was too late. There was nothing he could do.

D'arial was dead.