It was dark when they landed and they could only safely move a few hundred meters away from the shuttle. Even with Dren's nifty high tech night optics, they didn't want to risk traveling too far in the night. There was no moon and no stars visible overhead. The clouds were thick and lightning flashed. There was no rain though and the air seemed dry. "Set up camp;" murmured Dren. "When it gets lighter, we'll move on. It's going to take us at least another day and a half to get to the fortress and that's if we book it."

Moira nodded and set down a tarp, lay her bedroll and blankets on top of it before folding it over. "We'll stop for five hours and we'll need to take watches, too." said Dren.

Alias lifted a hand. "I'll take first watch. Des, you want to take the one after me."

"Sure;" murmured the tall Jedi Master, looking around.

Dren nodded, plunked his gear down and put his back into the bowl of a tree. He took his boots off and unzipped the body glove from his feet but other than that, stayed in full armor. With a ridiculously content sigh, he leaned back and settled in to sleep. Moira snorted. "That's not even right. There's no way you can sleep like that."

"I can - if you pipe down and let me."

Moira giggled as she pulled her own boots off, her duster and the light body armor she was wearing off. "You never objected to me keeping you up before."

Dren just faux-snored, causing the other three to chuckled.

Lying there in just her combat pants and a thin tank top, Moira felt cold. When Des laid his thick gray robe over her, she asked, "Aren't you going to be cold?"

"I want to stay awake. This place makes me terribly uneasy, Moira. I can stay alert through meditation for the duration of this trip."

Moira nodded and decided to snuggle closer to where he was sleeping. For a long time, neither of them slept or meditated. Suddenly, Des rumbled, "What are you thinking about, Moira?"

Without even hesitating, she answered, "Corso and what I want to say to him, how I'm going to make things right, how I'm going to try and be a better friend to him and how I'm going to try and be more considerate of his feelings."

Des chuckled, "Who are you and what have you done with the real Moira Denic?"

Moira smiled in the darkness. "This is the real Moira Denic. It's her before she allowed her self to travel down the path of selfishness and self destruction and self imposed loneliness - at least, that's who I want to be."

Des nodded, pondering those words. After a moment, he asked softly, "What is it that you want, Moira? What exactly do you want?"

Moira chewed a plump lower lip for a moment before barely whispering, so low that Des had to use the force to enhance his hearing to catch it. "I want a real life. I want a life that I could have had years ago. I want friends and even, maybe someday, I want to feel what it's like to be loved by someone."

Des smiled in the dark. He scooted over to her until his leg brushed her shoulder which he then reached over and gave a gentle squeeze to. "Is this what an older brother feels like when his wayward sister is trying to make her life better? I think it is."

"Stop it;" laughed Moira softly. "I'm trying to sleep."

Des nodded and took a deep breath, allowing himself to sink deeply into the force. That's when he felt why he was so uneasy. This planet was steeped in the dark side, all emanating from a point kilometers away. It wasn't that it was even that strong, but after who knew how long, without something to keep it at bay, the planet had become covered by it. Des could sense the creatures of the planet all around being effected by it. None were near, thankfully, but even so, they would pose a threat and they would be aggressive. Trusting in the force to warn him and Alias of danger, he sank deep into his meditative trance.

Alias had much the same idea as his friend. Even as he was on watch, his eyes were closed and he was casting around with it, analyzing every single potential threat. He also analyzed his friends and was quite pleased to see Moira in the force. Her disposition, which had been gloomy and gray, was now just a little brighter. Dren's was always the same. It was steely silver - the darkness of a life of war still weighing on his being but not so much that it dragged him into darkness. Somehow, seeing the steadfastness of the tough soldier was comforting. When Alias looked at Des, he saw a bright and powerful light, no longer dimmed by the strain of shielding many from the powers of a terrible dark side master. When it came time to do battle, Des would be the stealthy, powerful, resolute warrior that he could be when he had to be, even though his main roll was as a diplomat and negotiator.

Then Alias turned inward and examined himself. Looking at one's self was not the same as seeing others. Others could hide their doubts even from those closest to them or from the wisest and most discerning. Seeing himself, Alias felt a self doubt. He was a Jedi Guardian, a warrior who focused much more on the physical and combative nature of the force. However, he was not as attuned to the spiritual nature of the force as his friend even if he was undoubtedly more skilled in the arts of war and combat. Sometimes, that made him worry that, if and when the time came, all of his skill might not be enough.

With another deep breath, he dispelled his doubts and fell headlong into the force.

They woke the next day and ate a meal of dense field rations. They weren't large meals but they were dense and filled with all the necessary nutrients. With them, they drank a fluid that would help their bodies stay hydrated and would also ward off their appetites. In a lose wedge formation, they advanced through the forests and gorges of Taral V. The day had come but it was just light enough for them not to need the night optics. All of them had their weapons in their hands.

Moira enjoyed the feelings of Flashy and Sparkles in her hands. They were a constant reminder of Corso. She had discovered that, before she had left, he had changed out the mods for newer ones, upgraded the enhancements, cleaned the blasters thoroughly and even put a new focusing crystal in Flashy. He had even changed out the triggers to make sure that they weren't getting either too loose or too tight. The weapons were as perfect as he could make them for her. Suddenly, she saw Dren halt and raise a fist, an indication for them to freeze. With another hand motion, he told them to kneel down and gather around. "Alright, I'm not exactly sure how far we've come but if that narrowing in the cliffs up there is any indication, we can't be too far from the very first of the enemies watch posts. Now, if these are anything like the ones I've seen before, they will have a portable long range comms relay and a squad of soldiers. If this place is as serious as Admiral Oteg thinks, they will be some of the Empire's better troops too."

"Not to mention," murmured Des, "that I can sense the local fauna getting anxious. There is a pack of vine cats of some kind trailing us. They don't like the presence of Jedi here."

Dren frowned. "I've been checking our back trail every ten to fifteen meters. I haven't seen a thing."

"Not surprising;" said Alias. "They're staying out of sight and even out of human hearing. We can sense them though. See that curve we just came around over there? They're waiting behind it."

"Great;" said Moira. "Let the record reflect that I hate animals on creepy planets like this."

They all nodded and stood. "When we get to the post, we will hopefully be able to get a sense of their protocol for how they're watching the paths and organizing the security. Real quick, let's do a weapons check."

Dren checked his ridiculous repeating blaster cannon, a back up blaster carbine he had taken to carrying and his side arm. The Jedi checked their lightsabers and Alias checked a tiny thing, a comlink sized lightsaber with a blade that was a mere dozen centimeters long. Moira checked her blaster pistols and the scatter gun across her shoulder. "All good?" asked Dren and they nodded.

Wordlessly, they stood and continued on. Just as the tough soldier had suspected, there was a watch post with half a dozen Imperial soldiers on guard, including a set of mobile auto turrets. "Stang;" murmured Dren. "Getting close isn't going to be easy."

"Oh yeah;" murmured Des and then suddenly disappeared into thin air. Alias leaned forward anxiously. "Hey buddy, don't do anything too crazy here."

A disembodied voice chuckled and said, "Don't worry. I got this."

It turned out that Des was right. He had everything under control. Three of the soldiers were playing a card game around a fold-out table while another two went in circles around the camp. The last was at the comms station. It all happened very fast. Des cut down the three soldiers, snapped the comms officer's neck and eliminated the other two before they even realized what had happened. "Woah;" said Moira, shocked by his lethal force. "No knock out, no stunning, no stasis;"

"Des must really think that this Jedi is important and dead men tell no tales;" murmured Alias.

They all moved in as Des materialized near the comms station, examining it. "Well it seems that they just sent an all clear signal back to the fortress."

Dren nudged him to the side and examined it. "Okay so it looks like, judging by the history here, an all clear code is sent every hour and the code is changed every twenty four hours. This one was changed two hours ago. That means we have fifty-eight minutes to grab some distance between here and this place."

"Hold up, soldier boy. I have something that might just give us a little more time;" said Moira with a smirk. Cracking her knuckles dramatically, she leaned down and began working on the system. "Geez, these Imps use really simple systems for such an important base. Let me see, let me see..."

They watched with baited breath until she straightened up. "Done. We can go now."

They looked at her and then at the comms unit and then back to her. "So what did you do?" asked Dren.

"Oh I just sliced the system and had it re-transmit the code every hour. That will give us twenty-one hours, fifty-three minutes and a handful of seconds to get away;" said Moira nonchalantly.

Dren shook his head in amazement. "I keep forgetting that we work with a criminal."

"Yup;" said Moira with a smile, "but a very pretty and highly skilled criminal."

Des and Alias chuckled as they went and Dren said, "You know, you just manage to really turn me on right there."

Moira gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry; I can't help you there. Pick up the pace and walk it off, soldier boy."

They moved at a good pace with the Jedi turning back to check their back trails so much that Dren didn't even bother to check anymore, electing instead to look forward and check for signs of members of the Imperial garrison. They were perfectly silent for hours as they marched, afraid to talk in case breaking the silence would cause catastrophe. It almost seemed so too since disaster struck immediately after Des hissed, "Here come the vine cats. There are about eighteen of them."

They all turned and faced them. The gorge had widened enough for the snarling, scaly green creatures, about the size of full grown nexus, to surround them, snarling and hissing. The Jedi had their weapons ignited in their hands and Moira and Dren covered their flanks. Every living thing in the clearing froze for several long moments and the only noise was the thunder above and the heartbeats to those who could hear them. Then, with a roar, the monsters leaped. Dren mowed down four of them before they were half way to the Republic heroes. Moira got two and the Jedi each gripped three before slamming them into the cliffs on either side.

It's not that the skirmish was hard but it was anxious. The snarling beasts were fierce looking and gave off an aura of dread to their pray. In the end, it only took a few minutes to kill them all. "Is that all of them?" asked Moira, her voice trembling just slightly.

"So far, it would seem so;" said Dren, his own voice none too steady.

Des and Alias were staying ready as they cast about with the force. They looked like they were about to relax when they both blanched and whipped forward. "Contact front!" snarled Alias.

A gundark lumbered in. It was huge, the size of a young rancor. It's smaller arms were spread wide as it leaned forward on its much larger ones. Dren didn't waste time, arming the mortar that was mounted on his blaster cannon and fired a high explosive grenade. If he expected it to kill the gundark when it slammed into its chest, he was mistaken. The blast left a huge, painful and nasty looking burn but it certainly didn't kill it. The gundark staggered back but then charged forward at them. "Oh blast;" snapped Dren and opened up, aiming for the area of burned chest.

Moira holstered her blaster and pulled her scatter gun, standing on the balls of her feet, ready to leap to the side. The Jedi were moving as a single unit, leaping and charging in and slashing at the gundark before leaping out of its reach. The deep report of Moira's scatter blaster rang out again and again as she stayed in close, dodging the arms and blasting at its head at close range.

Alias, seeing that his friend was so close, flung his lightsaber and completely severed one of its smaller arms. Des had put his lightsaber down. Filling his lungs, he bellowed, "Hey!"

The monster turned to face him while Dren and Moira frantically reloaded their weapons. Des took a deep breath and lifted his hands. As he gritted his teeth, the gundark lifted into the air, screaming in fright and swinging its remaining limbs, trying to get a hold on the ground.

Seeing an opening, Alias moved. Faster than the human eye could catch, he charged and leaped, slashing through the gundarks abdomen. Moira walked straight up to the dangling creature, blasting away at it with her scatter gun and Dren opened up on its chest. It took longer than expected but with Alias slashing at it again and again, Dren blasting away at it and Moira doing the same, the creature slowly died. When it died, Des dropped it. Immediately, the other moved towards him but, to their surprise, he didn't even seem a little tired. "Woah..." murmured Moira.

"How're you doing, Vod?"

"I'm fine, why?" said Des as he brushed leaves off his shoulder.

The other two shot each other glances. "Can I just say," said Moira, walking forward with a big smile, "that I am really, really glad that you are Jedi for the Republic, not Sith, fighting for the Empire.

Des chuckled and let her give him a hug. "Come on, Moira; I'm not that scary."

"No, you aren't but you could be if you wanted to."

Alias clapped his back and they moved on. Again, the Jedi remained on high alert with the force while the other two kept their eyes pealed and their ears open. Several times, they had skirmishes with more local creatures but it was hours before they came upon the next Imperial watch post. It was just as lightly guarded as the last. "Go get him, big guy;" murmured Moira, patting Des on the back.

Des gave a grim, if slightly amused smile and once again disappeared. It was the same as before. Des eliminated the troopers and Moira, all smirks and mock-arrogance, reset the code. They had much less time - only ten hours before the code would change. They shadows were getting long. "Apparently this planet doesn't have twenty-four hour days;" murmured Dren as he checked his datapad. "Nope; eighteen hour days. We should make camp and get a few hours of rest."

Again, they bedded down, taking watches and resting for five hours. When they were on the move again, Dren muttered, "What I wouldn't give for some basic satellite or star ship imagery."

They kept going until they came to a bridge. On it were a dozen Imperial soldiers four auto turrets and a pair of Sith. "Well that just makes things difficult." muttered Alias.

"I think you Jedi should lead. You can avoid death by blaster more easily. We'll follow up and take out the auto turrets. Naturally, you'll both engage the Sith and..." but something suddenly cut him off. There were twin roars as a pair of tall, ugly creatures suddenly leaped onto the bridge and attacked the Imperials and the Sith. "Never mind;" said Dren, standing and rushing forward. "This is our best chance."

The Jedi blazed forward. The auto turrets were blasting away at the monsters, leaving them open for the barrage from Dren's blaster cannon. The Sith were cutting the monsters to pieces. They were dead just in time for the Jedi to reach the Sith and for Moira to open up on the soldiers.

The Sith were skilled and well trained to protect the fortress. Even Des and Alias didn't over come them as quickly as they thought they would. The Imperial soldiers were dead and the turrets disabled by the time the last Sith fell.

They leaked around and noticed saw a soldier desperately speaking into the comms. "Shavit;" snarled Dren and pulled his blaster rifle, blasting the soldier. It was too late though. An alert had been sent out. "Well so much for sneaking in."

"Yeah;" muttered Alias. "We need to move. They'll probably send a drop ship of troops and have numerous patrols in the woods."

"Get ready;" said Des, reaching out with the force. "This went from infiltration to an invasion."