Last time: The family spilt into couples and searched the town of Cerrasses.

Now: The Trio and Kait follow the tunnel. Kyr and Cien regroup with the Coppers.

Chapter 15- The Empire and the Cartel

"What's the sitch?" Kyr said as he and Cien ran from cover to meet Scamp. Around them a storm of blaster fire was cutting in from the tree line. The Copperheads were holding out in their own stand of trees a little away from the edge of town.

The Clone looked over at them. He was in cover behind a tree as a series of blaster bolts fired off around them. "The blasted cartel has an army and look who's backing them," he said, annoyed.

Kyr and Cien glanced around the tree. "Stormies." He said in a huff, their familiar white armor making them stick out in the underbrush. The two Mandalorian's ducked back behind cover. "We took eight of them out in the town, no armor though. We thought they were just acting as mercs."

"I don't think so," Scamp said, shaking his head. "I think the cartel made some new friends." He looked at Kyr. "Ready to relive the good ol' days?" He asked him, a smirk evident in his voice from under his bucket.

"Yep." Kyr said. He turned to Cien. "You ever fought imps?"

"Yes. At my palace." She said with a growl in her voice.

Scamp smirked. "Alright, time to get to work." He said as he turned around the tree and faced forward, firing back.

"When is the cavalry arriving?" Kyr asked as he swung around the tree, shouldering his carbine and taking several well aimed shots. He ducked back as blaster bolts started converging on his position.

"ETA in fifteen minutes," Scamp replied. "We are on our own for a bit."

"Really is just like old times." Kyr said with a smirk. He took a count of the enemy that were trying to push their way up. "Osik, that's a lot of stormtroopers." Kyr said under his breath. "At least a hundred in the trees."

"Should I just go kill them?" Cien asked them, she just had her saber in hand, she didn't bother pulling her blaster out.

"Uh, no let's hold here." Kyr suggested. He winced as a blaster bolt went right behind Cien's head.

"Fine." Cien said with a roll of her eyes. She looked around the tree and pulled a hapless stormtrooper out of the forest edge across the clearing. He came yelling across the open ground and was skewered by her saber.

Kyr and Scamp stared at the display. "I guess that works." Kyr said with a surprised look, before he recovered from his momentary shock and resumed firing.

Viran straightened up slightly on the bike as the tunnel started getting shorter and shorter. "Hey, what's that up ahead?" He called to Kait and Oppie ahead of them as they had a better view.

"Some kind of receiving room." Oppie said over his shoulder as Kait started slowing.

"No one here, just a couple of other bikes and a small delivery truck." Kait almost yelled over the whine of the bikes in the confined corridor.

Viran nodded as he started slowing his bike. "It looks like this is where we get off," he said as the whine of the engines started to get quieter.

Kait pulled to a stop, looking around. Oppie swung off the bike behind her and she did so as well, bringing her flashlight up as well as her blaster. Viran parked his speeder next to theirs. Sasha hopped off, producing her lightsaber out and clenching it in her hand. Viran climbed off and eyed the truck.

"Well, that matches the tracks we saw at the entrance," Viran said, gesturing to the tire tread.

"What do you think is behind this door?" Sasha asked, slowly approaching the metal door that appeared to be the only way out on this side of the tunnel.

"No idea. Cordova hopefully." Oppie said as he stepped forward, his two unignited sabers in hand.

Sasha nodded. She stopped at the door and placed her hand against it. Using the Force, she sensed what, or more like who, was on the other side. After a moment, she looked at the others.

"There is a huge building on the other side of this," Sasha explained. "And there are guards just on the other side of the door."

"How many?" Viran asked as he pulled out his lightsaber.

"Only three," Sasha said.

"There may be more farther in." Oppie said, "we probably want to do this quietly."

"I agree," Sasha said, dropping her hand. "I don't want to alert Cordova that we are here or he might run if he is here."

"Pull them back into the wall?" Oppie suggested. Kait looked between them with a slightly incredulous look.

"Sure," Sasha said.

Viran nodded. Together the three of them raised one hand and with just a flick of their wrist used the Force on the guards on the other side. The sound of something being slammed into the wall reverberated through the wall panel.

Kait looked at them with a bemused expression. "Did it work?" She asked.

"It worked," Sasha said, smirking. She approached the door and pressed the button on the control panel. The door slid open and she poked her head into the corridor beyond. She then gestured for Kait to look.

Kait glanced as saw the three cartel gunmen slumped on the ground, unconscious. Kait shook her head slightly as she stepped through, her blaster up and out. Sasha followed her through, glancing around. The corridor led in two different directions.

"So which way should we go?" Viran asked as he entered the corridor.

"I'm not sure," Sasha said. "Like I said, this place is huge. I wasn't able to get a completely clear picture."

"This seems like the right way." Oppie said, heading off towards the right.

"Ha ha," Viran chuckled sarcastically at the pun as he followed Oppie. Sasha just rolled her eyes and followed after them. Kait shook her head again and followed, keeping an eye out behind them in case anyone was coming.

They made their way quietly through the corridor, keeping their eyes peeled for any cartel thugs or members walking around. They approached an intersection after a few moments.

"Which way?" Oppie asked them as he peeked around the corner.

Sasha closed her eyes and reached out into the Force again. "There is just more corridor to the right and straight ahead. But there is some large space to the left. And I sense at least twenty thugs in there."

"Think we can handle them?" Viran asked.

Sasha opened her eyes and gave him a raised brow. "I think we can, but we are trying to stay stealthy."

"Head for the big room then?" Oppie suggested.

"Yeah, I guess. It might give us a better idea of how big this whole facility is," Sasha said, shrugged. "Lead the way."

Oppie nodded as he made his way down the corridor to the left. The others followed him. The corridor was a lot shorter as it came to a dead end at a large set of blast doors. Viran reached for the panel, but his pointer finger hovered for a moment.

"Is it clear? I don't sense anyone near," Viran asked them.

"I think you're clear," Sasha said.

Oppie shrugged and glanced at Kait.

"Don't look at me, I have no idea." Kait said with a shrug as she squared her shoulders and readied her blaster.

"I'll take that as a yes," Viran said. He pressed the button and the door slid open.

Inside was a huge assembly floor that was at least three or more stories high and had machines and droids hard at work. The thugs were moving around or maintaining certain control panels. That was in the center of the large room. Around it were and stretching for what could be many kilometers were rows upon rows of crates and boxes that were stacked a few meters tall. Viran immediately ran in and ducked behind a nearby shipping crate stack. Sasha followed him and knelt down behind them. Oppie and Kait ran and ducked behind a separate crate that was almost next to theirs.

"Jeeze, this place is huge." Oppie said, it seemed to extend off into the distance, far enough it was hard to make out the other end.

"Told you," Sasha said, glancing around the crate.

"What the hell is all of this? I thought they were just a drug cartel," Viran said, glancing at the crates they were hiding behind.

"It appears business is going well," Sasha said. "No wonder they could afford the old war surplus."

"No wonder they retreated up here." Kait said, somewhat aghast at what she was seeing. "They didn't need to bother with the city."

"Yeah, but they need to keep the illusion that they don't have this," Sasha pointed out.

"Let's take a look around and see if maybe this room leads to Cordova's office. Or close enough," Viran said as he slowly stood from his knelt position, but still kept to cover.

Kyr ducked his head as a grenade exploded near their position, sending up a spray of shrapnel and dirt. "Scamp! Where's that back up?!" He asked in as pleasant a tone as he could over the din of battle.

Scamp straightened up as the dirt settled. "They should be here!" He called back. "There can't be that much resistance, can there?"

"Don't jinx us Commander," Nova warned nearby as she thumbed a thermal detonator and gave the stormtroopers a nice taste of explosives as she lobbed it over her shoulder. It went off in a loud explosion filled with pained screams.

Through the forest behind the stormtroopers that were pressing ever closer, the familiar sound of heavy machinery and crashing footfalls lumbered forward. Kyr's face fell under his buy'ce remembering that sound all too well. "Osik," he said, and turned sharply to Scamp. "You guys got anything big enough to take one of those down?" He shouted over the sound of battle. Already the shadow of the AT-ST was visible through the treeline, and a gout of blaster fire erupted from the chin mounted cannons, destroying a tree near them as though it had been hit by a proton bomb.

Scamp, who had curled behind a tree that thankfully was still intact, shook his head vigorously. "No! We didn't pack for a walker!"

"I've got something, but if I knew where it was I would have set something up beforehand," Nova said, cursing herself for not being more ready. She was laying flat on the ground, covering her head. "Kriff! I hate walkers!"

"We need to pull back into the city. Everyone we -" Kyr started and then looked in shock as Cien just stepped forward. "Cyar'ika what the kriff are you doing?" He shouted, turning to rush towards her and try to pull her back into cover.

She stretched her hand out, and the walker wobbled a little bit. It tried to rotate its head to bring its chin mounted cannons to bear on her, but it made a horrible grinding and screeching sound as the head struggled to turn. The battle kept up around them but the rate of fire slowed from both sides, and the Imperial's rush that had been forming under the cover of the walkers' advance faltered to a halt.

She stretched out both hands, as if grasping the walker, and pressed her arms inward. And with a horrible screeching and popping sound the walker started crushing inward following her movement, the legs twisting inward on themselves somewhat as it collapsed to the ground. She shot a gout of lightning out from her hand, and the storm of electricity shot across the no-mans land of the clearing and roiled across its surface, and a small explosion and a shower of sparks exploded from the inside of the walker's cockpit as it fell sideways to the ground, a crushed and ruined version of its former self.

"Come on, we have them on the run now!" Cien said, gesturing for those close by her to push forward.

Kyr stood frozen in shock for a moment, Scamp was next to him. "I… I think I'm in love." Kyr said haltingly as he stared at Cien.

"This is why I love fighting with a Force user," Scamp chuckled, blown away by the display. "They not only turn the tables and are handy in a pinch, but they make these battles interesting as hell." He laughed at that.

Overhead Two X-wings overflew them in formation low to the ground, only about fifty meters up. "Yo!" Hassen's voice called over the comline. "Someone ordered some close air?" The rest of Valiant Squadron flew in low as well. Behind them, they could hear the familiar sound of U-wings somewhere in the forest depositing a company of troops to reinforce them.

"Good timing Hassen." Scamp called out, "We just -"

Overhead they heard the familiar screech of TIE fighters coming in from somewhere behind the enemy line.

"What the hell have we stumbled into?" Kyr asked under his breath.

"Now it really feels like old times," Scamp said, glancing at Kyr. This time the humor or smirk was not in his tone.

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