They marched quickly through the dark forests, their weapons held at the ready. Moira had to jog in order to keep up with the three men do to their stature. Even so, she kept up fairly easily. For the most part, they had been marching and hiding for almost twenty hours, doing their best to avoid the alerted Imperial garrison. They were only so successful, however, and had to engage in several intense skirmishes. At one point, Des reached out and grabbed a dropship with the force, yanking it down on top of a squad of heavy weapons Imperial soldiers. Once again, Moira said how glad she was that he was on their side.

In the end, they had to stop for rest, finding just a little cover in the side of a cliff. The soldier and the smuggler captain threw themselves onto the packed dirt and fell instantly into a deep, dreamless sleep while the Jedi each took three hours in a healing trance. The only reason they escaped detection was because, while he was meditating, Des used the force to bend the light, sound and heat around them to keep them from being seen, heard or picked up on heat scanners. After their much needed rest, the four heroes advanced again. It was only a few hours after that when they saw the spires of the fortress ahead of them between the cliffs.

"Oh boy;" murmured Moira nervously.

It was a daunting sight. The fortress looked like it could take a barrage from an orbiting star cruiser. "Come on;" murmured Dren, his own voice slightly strained. "We need to keep going. The sooner we get to the fortress, the sooner we can get that Gree computer and the sooner we can get off this creepy planet."

They made it a few klicks without being caught when they suddenly heard familiar snarls. "More vine cats;" muttered Des, and he was partly right. However, it wasn't just vine cats. There were four of the creatures and a group of Imperial commandos as well, including one officer who ordered, "There they are! Go get them, girls."

The vine cats charged with snarls while the Imperials spread out and took cover, opening fire. Dren and Moira did the same, engaging the Imperials while the Jedi leaped into force powered action. Faster than the average human eye could see, they slashed through several Imperials, the vine cats and Alias charged right up to the Imperial officer. He was quick, able to avoid a handful of the Jedi Knight's attacks but he couldn't forever. It was only a matter of time before Alias's blue blade cut him down. The remaining Imperials tried to make a tactical fall back but they didn't make it very far. Dren gunned them down before they could escape.

"Let's move;" growled Dren and they hurried forward. They expected to run into another patrol or defensive squad. What they didn't expect was to run into the outer defenses of the fortress. There were barricades, auto turrets, mounted anti vehicle turrets, barracks, paddocks and several other military facilities as well.

From a safe vantage point, they observed the fortress. "Well;" said Dren, "how are we going to be doing this? They're ready for us and we don't have the fire power to assault a fortress."

Des studied the situation. There wasn't really a gate so much as a gap in the wall with retractable barricades and heavily armed guards and a post where it was assumed that the barricades were controlled from. In front of the barricade were a pair of auto turrets and set up behind it were the large anti armor cannons. On either side were high walls with more turrets above it. Through the gap, they could see troops drilling and patrolling and war droids being charged or on sentry mode. After a long study, he suggested, "Alias and I can sneak forward and clear the gate. Then, I could come back and get you two and we can advance from there."

None of them had any better idea. Alias stood and said, "Alright, buddy. Get us there and we can clean out the watch post. Are those turrets on a three-sixty degree swivel?"

Dren studied them before answering, "I don't think so, no. I think they can go ninety degrees in either direction but I don't think they're able to spin all the way around. If you get behind them, you'll be safe. Even so, I'd cut power to them when you get behind them and after you eliminate the guards and war droids."

Des nodded and took a deep breath. Without a sound, both he and Alias disappeared. There wasn't even the sounds of their boots rustling through the grass or crunching on dead leaves. Moira and Dren watched silently. To break the uneasy silence, Moira murmured, "How've you been, Dren?"

"Oh, not bad;" said the tough soldier, "just glad to be off that ship for awhile."

"Really?" asked Moira, interested in her friend's life. "Trouble with the kiddies?"

"Something like that;" muttered Dren.

Now that, more than anything, peaked her interest. "Dren, what happened? Tell me!"

"I slept with my medical officer, Sergeant Elara Dorne."

Moira nodded, "Okay, and?"

Dren looked at her. "Well I then promoted Jorgan to Lieutenant as my XO. I thought he would be the better choice since he's been in the business longer, as it were. Since then, it just seems that things have been chillier on the Meteor. I'm hoping that things warm up while I'm away."

Moira nodded. Nothing was happening at the barricade yet. "You know, Dren, if Elara is mad at you, she isn't going to get over it just because you're away for awhile. Especially since you slept together, she's going to want to talk to you about this. However, from what little I know about her, Elara seems to be more rational than that. More likely than not, that chill you feel is all in your head - or from your XO. He's seems like a cold, steely individual. Does he know you slept with Dorne?"

"No - that is, I don't think so;" said Dren, a little nervous at the idea.

Moira laughed, "Oh I'm thinking he knows, dear. If there is a palpable difference in his already chilly demeanor, I'd be willing to bet he- hey, our boys are starting. Take a look."

Green and blue lightsaber blades flashed at the gate as two robed figures slashed through turrets and Imperials. Using electro binoculars, Dren watched as Imperials along the walls began heading in that direction. It didn't matter, though. A dozen or so extra troopers wouldn't make a bit of difference. "You know what?" he murmured. "Let's go now. The turrets are down and everyone on the wall is distracted."

"What about the auto turrets?" hissed Moira.

"We'll only be in range for a few seconds before we're beyond their sector of fire. Stay close."

They broke cover and loped towards the barricade, which was lowering. It seemed that one of the Jedi had gotten to the controls in the guard station. "They should start firing any moment now."

They kept running and no enemy fire was forthcoming. They crossed the barrier and met the two Jedi joined them. "Glad you made it;" said Des with a smile.

"Yeah, us too. Where to next?"

Dren pointed towards the fortress's citadel. "That way, further in. Stay sharp."

With lightsabers ignited and blasters drawn, they advanced. Every few meters, another fight broke out. Imperial soldiers began to emerge from the buildings in fire teams. Sith emerged as well but they weren't any match for the Jedi. Dren and Moira moved from cover to cover, blasting away at enemy soldiers. Dren tried to keep count of the enemies that he saw and then shot down but it wasn't easy. Dodging from cover to cover, stopping to reload his blaster cannon and knowing that Moira was bringing down at least as many Imperials as he was threw his count off.

Alias and Dren overwhelmed any Sith he challenged them. Even though it was quite clear that they were veteran warriors and very skilled, none of the Sith were any match for the two Jedi. Both Des and Alias had faced more dangerous Sith than the best that the fortress garrison had to field up to that point.

Slowly, they made their way through the Empire's outer defenses and clearing it out as they went. They had no choice since the entirety of the outer garrison was throwing itself at the Republic invaders. Just as it seemed they had worked their way through all the defenders, they came to what appeared to be the command center. Aside from another dozen or so Imperial troops, a large man with a blaster rifle exited the building. Rather than engage like his troops were doing, this Imperial officer went to a control console and opened up a nearby paddock. Out came a large, bipedal, scaly creature. It was at least four meters tall, had long arms and large hands and fangs in its large mouth. "Ripper," snapped the Imperial officer. "get them boy!"

It charged towards the Republic operatives and batted the two Jedi aside.

Neither of them were prepared for how resistant the creature was to the force. "I've fought these beasts before;" snarled Alias as he jumped to his feet. "The worst ones, the ones that Sith and Imperials apparently love to tame as pets, are resistant to the force. Not immune, just resistant. Moira, Dren, keep Chuckles here busy. Des, take care of the rest of those commandos. I'm going after the captain."

They moved into action. Dren opened up on the beast but its hide was tough. Moira pulled her scatter gun and waited for an opportunity to put as many blasts into the monster as possible. It did little more than the blaster cannon had. Des was having more luck as he polished off the Imperial commandos. Alias made pretty short work of the Imperial officer too. It wasn't long before all that was remaining was a very angry pet monster. Apparently it was intelligent enough to realize that its owner had just been killed and it roared, barreling after Nedeser Thul. "Oh blast it;" muttered the Jedi before leaping and rolling out of the monster's path, barely avoiding it's over-sized hands.

"Des!" cried Moira and lobbed a grenade at the creature. It was a grenade that, a second of it was activated, secreted a powerful adhesive, strong enough to make it stick to the next thing it touched. It stuck to the monster's chest and exploded. The blast was enough to knock it back, away from Des and also to cause a massive burn and shrapnel damage. Seeing the weakened hide, Dren opened up again, much as he had against the gundark. However, the creature turned away, protecting its injury with its tough, scaly back. While it made it harder to kill, the fact that the creature had taken eyes off of them gave them an advantage. Des disappeared and began to circle around. Trusting that he would be able to avoid it, his friends opened fire. Dren fired a mortar shell into its back. It only did a little damage but it did stagger the creature. Seeing this, Alias rushed forward and past the monster, slashing at one of its legs. It didn't sever leg but did cut deeply into it.

With enough force to cause the ground to shake, the thing toppled over with a roar of pain. Both Jedi leaped on it, trying to drive their blades into vital organs. Des was swatted aside but Alias managed to drive his blue blade into the creature's chest. It hurt the creature badly but apparently not mortally. Just as Alias yanked his lightsaber free, he was snatched up by the creature and, as it stood to its feet, it roared and made as if to bite the Jedi Knight's head off. A blazing green double bladed lightsaber slashed into its hand.

Alias fell to the ground as the Des's lightsaber returned to him. Hefting it like an ancient spear, the Jedi Shadow took aim and threw the weapon, aiming with the force. The weapon sizzled into the creature's chest several centimeters to the right of the other. As if it had hit just the right button, the monster fell to its knees with a cry of pain. The lightsaber was wrenched free and Dren and Moira poured fire into the creatures chest, aiming for one or both of the two lightsaber wounds. Most of them slammed into the tough hide but some managed to get into the open wounds, causing even more damage. As it had before, the monster turned away, using its tough back hide to defend itself.

Tired of the fight, Des and Alias leaped at its back and drove their lightsabers home. The force with which they struck the monster slammed it onto its face and chest. With one final whimper, the monster fell still. With sighs of relief, the Jedi closed down their lightsabers and clipped them to their belts. Dren ran up. "Are you both okay?"

Des and Alias checked themselves and, with the exception of a few bruises and cuts, found that they were perfectly sound. Dren nodded, "Good, but why did you two put your weapons up? See that massive bridge over there with the small army and emplacements on it? We still need to get across that."

He pointed to the large bridge that lead to the citadel of the fortress. On the bridge were layered defenses with auto turrets and laser cannons, Imperial commandos and Sith warriors all waiting to engage the four Republic operatives. With a sigh, the Jedi unclipped their weapons and made ready. "Call it, Captain;" said Moira as she switched out the powercells on all three of her weapons.

Dren stared at the bridge. "We don't have a choice;" he said calmly. "we're going to go straight through them."