A

Twist in

The

Force

Chapter 1

Going down Roughly

The planet Taris was lazily following it elliptical course around its star, along with the other planets in system. Close to the planet edge a meteorite belt infrequently bounced its residents about. Smaller shark shaped craft were stationed around the planet and one much larger shape seemed to shepherd them all, all hidden by the three moons

Space rippled with a bluish haze and three forms appeared at the edge of the system. The hammerhead corvettes, painted in garish orange and white, slowly moved in formation towards the large inhabited planet unaware of the hunters waiting for prey. The middle craft pulled slowly ahead of the other two as the sublight engines engaged as they moved in the standard triangle formation towards the planets at a leisurely pace.

A shape simmered into view close to where the three ships had exited hyperspace, a series of light blinked in a sequence as the spy drone came of from stealth mode. A parabolic dish swung towards the three ships, a bright flare came from it as a coded pulse message was sent. The dish realigned another pulse message was sent. The drone shimmered from view as it went back to stealth mode and went dormant.

On all three ships the droid intelligence system detected the pulse messages and forwarded a notification to the communication officers stations before going back to sweeping the frequencies and data being broadcasted from the planet. The communication officer on one ship ignored the notification as she was to busy subtly flirting with the astrogation officer. On the second ship the officer discarded it as commercial data as it did not match the frequencies known to be used by the enemy. The third ships went unread as the officer was stuck in the refresher following a payback prank from a friend

In the astromech bays it was a completely different scenario. Recently purchased T8 droids disengaged from their charging stations and rolled forward to the service tunnels, ignoring the quarrying warbles and clicks coming from the older model droids, their normal programming overwritten by the hidden programs activated by the pulse transmission. They dispersed to pre programmed destinations awaiting the next set of activation orders.

The restroom of the engine bay was filled with the on watch crew. Five enlisted crew and one junior officer was seated around a table, its surface covered by credit markers, food vouchers and several mugs of caf, a light sheen of smoke from illegal nicotine sticks drifted overhead. One enlisted man was busy shuffling a sabac deck.

"Right, ladies and non gentlemen, the game is five card draw. All bets are final and place able before dealing." He said, effortlessly manipulating the deck of cards

None of them paid attention to the droid exiting the service tunnel, nor did they pay attention as it logged into the terminal. The flickering of the led above the door going from green to red went unnoticed. They did notice the change of discharge from the air vent as gas was pumped into the room. Not one of them managed to reach the door.

The machine shop smelled of lubricants, soldering, sweat, steel and plastics, a place to be avoided for some for others a safe haven. The workshop was eerily quiet with none of the usual noise associated with a workshop. This was due to the fact that most of the usual habitants was of duty watch or waiting at their combat duty stations while hyperjump was in effect A man was leaning against a workbench, wearing the tabs of a master chief on his coveralls, swayed easily at the jarring sensation of exiting hyperspace. The cup of caf in his hand moving within a deliberate arc to keep from spilling it all over him.

The girl seated in front of him at another workbench, was not as experienced and fell from her chair with a startled yelp. Muttering inaudibly she pushed herself up, face nearly as red as her hair. Idly she pushed back a strand of hair that had pulled loose from the braid her hair was kept in

"You okay there, Swabby? The Master Chief chuckled

"Yes, Master Chief" She responded

She turned her attention back to the item on the bench, a mouse droid with its plastic shell discoloured brown and black. Flipping it over she reached for a screwdriver and efficiently removed the shell fasteners, before flipping in back onto its treads. Lifting the shell an acrid smell of smoke and burnt lubricant escaped. The Chief noted with approval that she did not recoil from the smell, when she ignored the scanning tool in favour of taking a look inside first a rare nod of approval was given.

Melissa was lost in thought as she stared into the charred and shard ridden interior of the broken droid. She failed to notice the door open and a group entering, nor did she see the master chief come to attention. Idly she reached for a hydrospanner to loose a section to get better access.

"What is your diagnosis, Cadet?" A voice asked

"Burnt gearbox with several gears broken, power fluctuator burnt out, circuit board cracked" She absently responded

"Is it repairable?" the voice came again

"Why simply not replace it?" Another voice came

Finally it registered to her that neither of the voices belonged to the chief. Looking up she noted that Executive Officer was looking at her with an unreadable expression, next to her was a Togrutan dressed in the brown and white robes of a Jedi, a Sullastan also dressed in Jedi robes was two steps behind and to the right of the Togrutan. Paling, she jumped to her foot and came rapidly to attention

"My apologies, Mam, I was distracted by the task in front of me" She stammered

"Accepted, Cadet?" The XO queried

"Melissa Carpenter, cadet second class, Mam."

The XO strode forward and examined the broken droid. Melissa felt a bead of sweat starting to roll down from her forehead, but still being at attention was unable to do anything about it. She noted that the master chief was trying to hide a smile, clearly finding her situation amusing.

"Schutta" She thought

The XO looked up and addressed the visibly anxious girl

"At ease, cadet."

Melissa came to parade rest. The XO pointed to the droid and its dismantled components

"Perhaps I should have started with what caused the damage first before asking if it is repairable."

"The damage was caused by whoever added the extra power cells and actuators, the person did not compensate with a stronger gearbox for the extra power, or extra lubricant for said gearbox. Further the person should have added some form of cooling for the extra heat build up that the modifications caused. I am not sure what happened first, the gearbox seizing, the fluctuators burning out or the heat build up causing the circuit board to short out and crack." Melissa responded rapidly

"And where was this illegally modified droid found?"

"It was causing a blockage in an air vent in the galley, Mam." The Master Chief answered," Cadet Carpenter was off watch and offered her assistance to me. Seeing as she fitted better in the vent than me I accepted her help"

The Chief took a deep swallow from his cup.

"She expressed interest in mechanics and engineering once the droid was retrieved. When I accessed her record I noted that she showed proficiency in mechanics, so I decided to see how good she was"

The XO raised an enquiring eyebrow to the master chief.

"Since when do you have access to crew records, Chief?"

"Ever since I caught traces of flight officer Onasi's intrusion in the database, the captain wanted me to keep an eye out for further attempts to subvert the security systems."

"And what did security chief Kelov have to say about that?"

"He swore a blue streak about Onasi, especially since the captain declined to throw him in the brig." The Chief responded mildly," Not that I blame Kelov for that, but I guess that the captain had his reasons. Not for me to question his decision"

"I meant about your access." The XO sighed in exasperation

"He was happy about having someone with experience to help monitor the system, as you know Mam, I helped install and built most of the improvements on the Endar Spire. Besides we served together in the Mandolorian wars."

The XO sighed again and muttered something inaudibly. She the pointed questioningly to the dissembled droid and the neatly placed disassembled parts.

"I concur with her diagnosis." He shrugged;" now I believe she needs to answer the primary question."

"It will take a lot of parts to repair it to factory standard." Melissa responded

"Will you be able to repair and able to finish the upgrades the original person started?" The XO asked.

"Yes, Mam." Melissa replied, confused by the turn in conversation

The Jedi gave an impatient snort and stepped forward. He pointed a finger at the bench.

"I do not understand why so much time is being given to a piece of trash that is easily replaceable."

Melissa noted both the XO and Chief stiffen at the comment and the casual contempt conveyed for the technical personnel. It reminded her of the bureaucrats of the orphanage she grew up in and their casual disregard of their charges. She felt her temper spike

"Not everyone has the luxury or credits to be so cavalier in replacing things." She snapped

"Is it protocol for cadets to be insubordinate to their betters?" The Jedi asked, raising an eyebrow

"Cadet! Decorum" The XO barked

"I stand corrected, Mam." Melissa answered, stiffly

The XO Turned to the Jedi, the stiff set to her shoulders the only sign of her anger.

"I would ask that you leave matters of discipline to fleet officers. Please remember that you and your order members are here in an advisory capacity." She stated, pronunciation very clearly

"Of course." The Jedi replied, waving a hand dismissively

The XO turned back to Melissa who snapped to attention, grimly awaiting punishment duty

"Cadet, please do not antagonise the civilian advisers, they do not understand how beings outside of their order have to function nor that that said beings do not have the luxury of being able to simply charge expenses to the Republic."

Melissa watched as annoyance flashed across the Jedi's face as well as the momentary tightening of his hands, before turning her attention back to the officer, the Sullastan was unreadable to her but for a moment it was a if she felt anger coming from his direction. This sensation was followed by a sharp sting of pain behind her eyes, she felt her eyes watering.

"Now, I am unfortunately required to issue corrective measures for your impolite response"

The XO had to hide a smile as resigned acceptance came onto the girls face and she noted the watering eyes, clearly awaiting the fate of having to scrub decks or preparing vegetables in the galley, or even more humiliating punishment

"You are to rebuild the droid to the new specifications in one week while you are of watch. Then you will enter said droid in the cargo hold races that I have no knowledge off. Take note I will be most displeased to lose credits betting on this droid in an event that is strictly prohibited"

Melissa stared incredulously at the XO. The XO looked back at her awaiting a response, mightily surpressing a smile.

"Of course, Mam... I will not let you down" Melissa stuttered.

"Good, now that you have been punished this will hopefully stop the Jedi leader from moaning in the captains ears. I do believe he said that he would rather listen to a Verpine opera than having to listen to her harp on"

Another set of emotions flashed over the Togruta's face but just as quickly masked; the Sullastan remained as unreadable as ever although Melissa believed she saw a momentary tightening of her hands

The XO walked to the door motioning the two Jedi to follow. She spoke to the master chief over her shoulder.

"Keep an eye on her chief, teach her as well as you taught me."

"Of course, Mam."

The Jedi was insistent on having the last word

"I believe we can stop the tour here and return to the bridge, I see no point in staring at the engines."

"As you wish" The XO replied, tightly

The door hissed closed behind the group and Melissa let out a breath she had been holding. The Chief took a sip from his drink in order to hide his smile from the rattled girl. He pointed the cup at the workbench

"You best get on with that, Swabby"

Melissa left out a pent up air of breath, before shakily heading to the refresher station to one side of the workshop. It took several minutes for her to regain her equilibrium, before quickly washing her face and stepping out to see the chief returning to his spot at the workbench a fresh cup of caf in hand. Ignoring his slight smirk she headed back to her chair and sat down.

Melissa reached for a tool before going stock still. A faraway expression appeared on her face. When she did not move for several moments, the Chief stepped forward in concern. He waved a hand in concern in front of her unblinking eyes, before snapping his fingers close to her eyes. She did not blink.

"We are in great danger, they are coming." She stated dazedly

"Who is coming, girl" He grabbed hold of her shoulder

"I feel anger, hate, malicious excitement and I feel cold" She went on in a monotone.

The Chief swore before grabbing his comlink from its pouch on his belt. He switched to the channel only he and the captain as well as the security chief used, it gave an electronic squawk as the channel connected. The Captain responded almost immediately

"Chief?" He asked.

"Sir, got a cadet here in a trance, saying we are about to go in a hot zone." He responded urgently

"What?" Chief Kelov replied

"Kelov, it is exactly like the trance that Jedi had on Calvera Four before the Mando's jumped us."

"Are you sure, Keill? The Captain asked.

"Absolutely' sir"

The wail of the battle stations alert started almost immediately. Melissa snapped out of her trance and looked around bewildered, the normal light in the bay replaced by intermittently flashing red lights. A sudden flurry of impacts against the hull knocked her from her feet. The master chief pulled her firmly back to her feet.

"Get to your station." He said

"We were only to be appointed to stations when we reached port, they wanted us cadets to observe all stations before assigning us to permanent positions." Melissa responded.

"Come with me then."

The chief pulled her behind him to a door to the rear of the workshop muttering about officers screwing the Lothcat royally. The door hissed open to an office overlooking the engine bay. With a grimace he noted that officer and crew supposed to be on duty was nowhere to be seen. He pushed Melissa to a terminal.

"Have you had training on engineering terminals?"

"Only in simulation." She replied.

"That will have to do, close off points and divert power as needed to shields and engines."

He took two cards from around his neck and inserted one in to a terminal and typed in a command code. Before unlocking the second terminal using the second keycard. A holograph of the EndarnSpire came to life in front of them, flickering in different colours across the hull.

"You know the colours?"

"Black hull breach, red critical, yellow serious damage, green intact. Orange dots crew. Blinking red dots enemy troops"

Melissa stepped up to the terminal and started to divert power from black sections allocating the power equally between the engines and the shield generator before starting to seal of damaged sections. Her fingers flicking across the command interface, idly she noted blinking green dots indicating astromech droids deploying to repair damage as she entered the commands.

"Pulling power from hydroponic bay, reallocating to medbay shields, Pulling from astrogation deck to hyperdrive" She muttered to herself

The Chief pulled up the hyperdrive system, overriding the cool down safety protocol, prepping the hyperdrive for an emergency micro jump. He heard the whine coming from the hyperdrive engine as it came back online. He toggled his comlink

"Engineering to bridge. Hyperdrive prepped for micro jump"

Static answered him.

"Engineering to bridge, Respond."

Melissa pulled up the bridge schematic. A flashing symbol caught her attention.

"That can't be right. I am reading fifty percent methane and fifty percent carbon monoxide in there" She cried out in alarm

"Purge atmosphere and pump in oxygen"

They swayed as another volley impacted the hull and the shield indicator showed a marked drop. The next impact was more subtle but a blue light washed over the engine bay. Components exploded in arcs and flurries before the mighty engines whined to a stop. The terminal stopped responding

"Kark, Ion cannon" The chief sighed.

Several thumps echoed along the hull with a load gonging sound. The chief sighed and stood up on a chair before moving a panel way from the ceiling and pulling out a highly illegal Mandolorian rotary heavy rifle. Melissa sat down against the wall panelling and pulled her legs into her chest, before putting her head down on her arms.

"Time for another dance, Vera." The chief said priming the weapon.

He walked over to a box mounted by the door and smashed the glass covering before pressing the button it contained. The abandon ship alarm began to wail its screeching cadence. He handed Melissa a hydrokey and pointed to a droid access tunnel.

"Time to go, Kid. Use the tunnels till you get to an access point to get to the rescue deck."

"You are not coming with me?" Melissa asked in a small defeated voice

"Not today, Kiddo. Go quickly and be careful."

Melissa stood up and suddenly threw her arms around the older man. He reached down and rubbed her back before breaking loose from the sudden hug

"Whatever you do, do not look or come back." He paused, "Here you might need this, access code is alpha echo six, six delta echo two, nu, epsilon."

He handed her his override card, idly she noted that he had written the code down on it, she pushed it into a pocket on her tunic shirt. Cursing the sudden blurriness of her eyes, Melissa took two tries before slotting the hydrokey into the slot. She got to her knees as the hatch opened. She gave one last look at the chief before crawling into the tunnel, pausing only to pull her sleeve across her eyes to dry them.

The chief sighed in relief as the hatch closed behind the girl, quickly checking his weapon he prepared for battle, another thump came against the hull and sparks started to arc as the cutters on the boarding craft began a breach. He sat down on his chair and rested the barrel atop of a terminal as he lined up on the square being cut, before flicking a nearby button on the wall, shrouding the office and machine bay in darkness. The square was rapidly taking shape and he closed his eyes in anticipation of the breach charge that was to follow, moments later the crump of the charge came as well as intense flash of light. He opened his eyes and waited.

Lights lanced from the craft checking for movement and troopers edged forward, he waited for the first four to step out and give the all clear, the rest stepped forward and clustered by the entrance. He opened up and let the rotary cannon sing its deadly song, swinging the barrel forward and backwards to get optimum cover. Standing up he stepped forward, the heavy weapon comfortable braced, keeping his finger on the trigger, ignoring the cries of pain coming from the boarding craft.

He stepped into the craft and noticed no movement, the droid operating the controls slumped against the cabin wall sparking as it slowly shut down. He felt the thump of another craft docking and stepped back to his original position as yet another square was being cut lateral to the first

"They just don't learn do they, Vera" He smiled in grim anticipation

Melissa crawled on all fours as rapidly as she could, the tunnel was poorly lit by LED lights, she resisted the urge to look down at her hands and knees as she crawled, having already struck her head on a buckled piece of metal in the crawl space. A small snake of blood trailing from her hairline from a shallow cut, her once near pristine uniform dirtied beyond recovery by accumulated grease and grime in the passageway. Her breath came in short panicked gasps, as she fought the urge to simply lie down in a bundle and wait in the claustrophobic space for whatever may come. She moaned in despair as she noted a blockage up ahead with an astromech droid sparking madly as components short circuited. Extra light spilled into the tunnel from an open hatch. Cautiously she crawled to it and slowly stuck her head out to look up and down the walkway. The passage was lit interchangeably by shattered light panels or flashing emergency lights.

A doorway to the left was barely kept shut by an emergency force shield, the small eddy of items sliding towards the door a clear indication that the room beyond the door was open to space. Three bodies were lying in a tangle close to the door. Nervously she moved in their direction. The XO and the two Jedi were motionless, she pressed a shaking hand against the XO's neck, hoping against hope to feel a slight flutter of a pulse. The only thing she felt was rapidly cooling flesh. Not knowing enough of Togruta or Sullsastan anatomy she decided not to try and check for life signs.

Hesitantly she reached down to the holster attached to the XO's waist and pulled the pistol from it. She pushed the holdout blaster into a trouser pocket, before turning back to the Jedi bodies, reaching to their belts and unclipped the attached lightsabers which was stuffed into the data pad pocket of her uniform. A tortured shrieking of metal had her spinning to the door way, the door showed advanced signs of buckling and bulging, the small eddy increasing in strength. She jumped up and ran away from the door, frantically looking for another droid access point further down the passage. Noticing one she frantically slotted the hydrokey into the slot as the groaning sound increased in volume. She dove into the tunnel before the hatch opened completely and crawled as she quickly as she could, whimpering in terror. A vertical passage came up and she slammed on a button on the edge of the crawlspace. Maintenance rungs sprung from the wall and she pulled her self up onto the rungs and climbed as fast as she could. Rising three levels, before pulling herself back into the tunnel. A hatch slammed shut behind her moments after she cleared it an emergency shield flaring brightly into existence. She dropped down and panted for breath, heart beating a frantic tattoo in her chest, black spots starting to form on the edge of her vision as she started to hyperventilate.

"Calm down, fall apart later" She spoke to herself forcibly trying to slow her breathing

What felt like an hour later she slowly got control of herself and shakily got back onto all fours to continue her journey. From the outside she could hear a lot more noise and she crawled forward eagerly, hoping to find help, a hatch was stuck partially open. She looked through the crack and stifled a gasp. A group of soldiers were right outside, instead of the tacky orange of the Republic, they wore the silver metal armour of the enemy. A flurry of bolts issued from their rifles and she heard the thump of falling objects moments later

"Scratch three more fleeing rats" A sneering voice came

"Next time leave the females alive, we could use some entertainment in the barracks" Another drawled boredly

"As if the officers would not claim them first" A third scoffed

Melissa turned pale and swallowed thickly, any thoughts of surrendering quickly evaporating. Cautiously and as silently as possible she crept forward, suppressing a gasp she heard another flurry of bolts being unleashed, only speeding up as the sounds behind her became muted.

Up ahead she noticed a whitish haze and heard the hissing of pipes and felt a rise in temperature. Seeing the passage dimly beyond the haze, she realised that it did not completely block of the space, on the down side she could feel the heat and the only other access point she found was by the Sith soldiers. She paused for a moment to asses her options

"Getting burned or getting captured and raped, what a choice" She spoke bitterly, before expelling her breath in a deep sigh.

Reaching into a trouser pocket she pulled out her uniform cap and jammed it onto her head, next she flipped up the collar on her tunic to give as much protection as possible to her neck, before tucking her hands into the sleeve of her tunic. She pulled her braid forward and bit into the end.

She scrambled forward into the haze. Biting down harder on her hair to muffle the cry of pain as the scalding steam beat down on her. With what felt like an eternity, she finally exited the obstacle to come to a hatch ahead of her. Looking for the hydrokey slot she started to panic as she did not see one. Frantically she felt along the rim trying to locate the slot by touch. She got fully onto her knees and pounded on the hatch ignoring the pain from her blistered and burned hands. A metallic clang broke her attention. One of the lightsabers had fallen from her pocket. She had a flashback to a conversation she had overheard in the enlisted mess having had to serve a shift as a cooks apprentice given to her as punishment for not coming to attention quickly enough for the chief pilot when she had passed the surly man in a passage leading to the bridge.

She was ladling an unappetising pinkish slop into a serving tray, the hairnet on her head irritating her ears when one of the engineering crew made a comment about taking a lightsaber apart to study one.

"Really it would be amazing to study one" She said to the man behind her

"Clarise, it is a can opener with a glowing light" Her companion replied, teasingly.

The woman turned to her companion and put her hands onto her hips

"It is not just a can opener, it is a universal can opener" She replied haughtily

"The uptight pricks would rather stab with you it than let you touch it"

He pushed her back to continue down the line and Melissa kept on dispensing slop, ignoring the mostly good natured grumbling about food quality from the people she was serving.

She looked down at the cylinder in front of her and picked it up. She took a two handed gip and pointing the emitter to the hatch she activated the stud on the side of the device. A green blade jumped out and pushed into the door. At first there was a lot of resistance, not helped by the trembling of her hands. Then less resistance as the blade punched through. She pulled the blade to the hatch edge, gritting her teeth as her muscles screamed in protest. She must have cut a component of the locking mechanism as the hatch suddenly jumped open. She dropped the lightsaber, the blade deactivating as it left her hand. She drew in several deep gasping breaths, without paying attention to it she returned the lightsaber to the pocket it fell out of.

She crawled from the passage and rolled onto the mercifully cold floor, whimpering in pain. The cold floor giving minor relief from the burns she suffered. Through a haze of pain she noted a medkit mounted next to a door, distantly she heard the sound of a door repeatedly thumping against an object failing to close.

With a supreme effort of will she got to her feet and stumbled to the medkit and ripped it from the wall and with shaking fingers opened it. Grabbing an injector she gave herself a shot of pain killer in the neck. Relieve flowed through her as the medication got to work. Hesitantly she pulled her tunic top of, wincing as it stuck to her scalded skin, clumsily she undid her bra before grabbing a kolto spray and tried to spray her back, further relieve came as the spray numbed the burns she could reach, she emptied the spray on her back, arms, hands and neck. She dropped the empty spray before unbuckling her trousers and pushing it down her legs before grabbing a second spray to tend to her legs.

She enjoyed a moment of relieve before pulling on her clothes again, deciding to forego her bra. She shrieked in surprise as the comlink by the door activated and a small hologram appeared. The upper body of flight officer Onassi flickered into view.

"Identify yourself" He snapped sternly

"Cadet Carpenter, second class, sir"

"Finished tending to your wounds, Cadet?"

"How did you know…"

"Camera system is still active." Onassi interrupted" Now you need to haul ass to the rescue deck I am only tracking three alive apart from me and a kark load of Sith."

"Sir how far am I from the rescue deck? I have not been issued with a datapad yet"

"Gods of Telos aid me" He snarled, "You are currently in the security office evidence room as you exit the office there will be a maintenance access, climb one level up, turn left, the next hatch will bring you to me."

She saw his holographic for appearing to manipulate a terminal

"Now hurry, the Sith are in the system and monitering…" He trailed off" Kriff, you have two squads moving to your position, I will try to lock the passages. Damn it, grab a weapon they are coming. I cannot lock the hatches"

She pulled the stolen blaster from her pocket and stepped into the security office, looking for a place to take cover. She noticed a body slumped on a terminal, a glow from underneath it, showing it was till active. Pulling the body from the terminal she reached into her pocket and pulled out the access card. Slamming it into the terminal she entered the code when prompted. A schematic flared up, her position marked by a flashing light. Pulling up the control system she locked the closest hatches down. On the cameras she noted the Sith setting up devices against the hatch and rushing back. Looking at the security protocols she noted that there was two inactive roof turrets meant to keep intruders from approaching. One came online when she actived the function, an error message came from the second. She glanced back at the camera pointing down the passage to the non fuctional turret. A flurry of sparks from a power conduit drew her attention. Overriding the fire safety protocols she triggered the sprinkler system and set a power conduit to overload. The recessed floor below the door hatches filling quickly with water She kept her eyes on the cameras, finger on the activation key for the turret. Two muted thumps came.

The two hatches sprung open and the Sith troopers stormed to the door of the office. They charged through the spray of water. Melissa slammed the key and heard the whine of the turret as it moved to lock on. The power conduit blew taking the others in series with it. Electricity arced through the water and into the troopers casing them to go into spasms as they were either being electrocuted or going into macabre staggers as they were mowed down. A lucky short from one of the troopers hit the turret and it exploded. The door hissed open and Melissa grabbed for her pistol.

A trooper staggered into the doorway before dropping down. The smell that followed shortly was beyond atrocious Melissa felt bile rushing up from her stomach, before she leaned over and vomited.

Moments later she stopped and wiped a shaking hand across her mouth, still tasting the acid taste of vomit. She felt rising panic as she realised that she was the cause of other beings death as well another lurch from her stomach as she felt bile rising again. A second stream of vomit quickly found itself onto the floor.

She turned to the door of the evidence room as noise the constant thumping from the door distracted her, for the first time she noted the body dressed in republic shore police uniform in the doorway. Then her attention was drawn to the crates stacked in line by the door, She hesitated looking between the evidence room and the visible access hatch. She felt a strange pull in her to move to the crates, almost like a voice telling her to go there.

Woodenly she walked into the evidence room and pulled a manual extinguisher from the wall where it was next to the spot of the now used medkit. There were four crates standing in line. Bringing down the extinguisher she bashed at the locks till they broke apart and the lids hissed open.

With a shake of her head she became fully aware of her location again. The first crate had a belt and holster lying atop of a coverall. Lifting the belt she felt a substantial weight in the holster, placing it aside she lifted the coverall, surprised by its weight. A quick look inside showed it was lined with armour inserts. She quickly pulled it on, hissing in pain as the weight settled on her scalded back, rolling the sleeves and trouser legs up to get a better fit, before strapping the belt and holster on. The second crate revealed a backpack half filled with droid parts and components as well as several data spikes. The third crate had several data flimsies as well as a large pile of credits and candy as well a sealed box, she quickly threw the contents into the backpack. The fourth crate had a short rifle and several tibanna canisters as well as several energy packs. She threw the spare canisters and packs into the backpack. Efficiently she slotted an energy pack into the receiver after having loaded a tibanna gas canister in the slot allocated for it.

The comlink snapped to life again

"What the hell is the delay Carpenter" Onassi snapped

"I am moving now." Melissa replied shouldering the backpack

Melissa rushed to the door, stepping on the body keeping the door from closing and rushed to the access hatch. She scrambled up the ladder and stepped onto the next deck. Seeing movement from the right she pointed the rifle towards it. A figure was rushing towards her, she pulled the trigger, an empty click came. Looking down she noted that she had failed to disengage the safety

"Friendly! Friendly!" The figure screamed, her voice panicked

Melissa pointed the barrel to the floor, the gun shaking in her hands, she breathed rapidly, feeling as if her stomach wanted to empty itself again. The hatch behind them slid open

"Get in here!" Onassi screamed

The two rushed to the last pod ahead of Onassi, who slammed on a button before stepping in himself. Melissa felt moisture on the corner of her lips, licking her lips she felt a salty taste, touching her face she tracked the moisture back to her eyes. Carth noticed her perplexed expression

"You can fall apart later, Cadet. Sit down and strap in"

The other woman shot Carth a venomous glare as Melissa was frantically trying to clinch her restraints when she felt the pod's thrusters engage. She felt herself being pressed back into her seat. A medkit broke loose from its mounting and came straight at her. The last thing she saw before blackness claimed her was a close up of the winged snakes and red cross stencilled on the case