Chapter 43

Pantora – Republic Camp

The rattle of the landing gear made Bultar stir from her slumber, and she watched with blurry eyes as the shuttle lowered into the Republic camp. When she had fallen to sleep was a mystery, but as she glanced around the shuttle, she could see the rest of her team. They were similarly resting, or unconscious. Altinrose was nearly stable, a field IV feed connected to his arm and a series of bandages around his arms and legs where the droids had taken their samples.

The shuttles ramp whined open, it's lip thumping loudly into the landing field's surface. Her hand fell lightly to her weapon, but she reminded herself that the harrowing danger of the Harshplains was far behind them now. Instead, she raised the hand to shield her eyes against the glare of light that streamed through the open door. Thankfully, it was soon interrupted by a silhouetted figure. The form moved quickly, until Mace Windu was pulling her arm over his shoulder and taking her weight. Dry lips cracking into a tired smile, she managed to whisper a greeting.

"You look exhausted, Master Swan.", he said, looking around at the soldiers. "You all do."

Bultar looked over her shoulder. Altinrose was being loaded onto a proper medical stretcher and taken towards the medical hospital as fast as the doctors could travel. Murray and Donovin were walking beside two other medical workers, both insisting they only needed rest, yet being prescribed some additional vaccines and bacterial swabs regardless. Ressa, the small Chadra-Fan soldier, was still in the ship, talking to the pilot Solimon. Eventually, she knew, they would all end up in the massive medical tent set up beside the command centre, being checked and double-checked by the medical droids and personnel who had survived the Republic's landing.

"Things could have gone better.", she admitted.

Windu nodded sagely, "That much seems obvious."

"How are things here?", she asked. "Catch the leader yet? I saw that there were less fires on the way in."

Windu gave a chuckle, though not one of humour. It was more a relief that she still had a sense of humour, cracked and damaged as it was. "It's good to see you back here, Master Swan. Go and clean yourself up and I will debrief you in the command centre."

Two hours later – after a shower, a well-deserved hygiene rinse and a hearty consumption of both water and food – Bultar was marching towards the huge command tent in the centre of the camp. She wanted to go towards the medical tent and check up on Altinrose, but she knew that the commanding staff were expecting her. As she walked, she tried to recount exactly what had happened. It all seemed like a bad dream, or a cloudy vision.

It had started on the shuttle. She had met everyone. She and Quinlan had begun to devise a plan. They had flown to the Harshplains. They had gone to the town where they expected to find a signal, any signal, leading to the terrorists base. Then everything had gone sideways. They had left the Resurrection with fourteen able men and women. Now they had three soldiers and a wounded Wookiee. It was like everything since the town had been surgically removed from her head. Cut off with her braid and the tools kept within it.

Her newly shorn hair was not neat and organised. It didn't hide useful tools. It fluttered around her shoulders at an odd angle, longer on the right than on the left. It was wild and unkempt. And it felt as real as a scar, the duel marring her with a brand. Still, a haircut was okay. Definitely better than the cyborg taking her head instead. She knew that her memory would return once she came to terms with that fight. Never before had she been beaten that quickly. Not even in practice rounds during her Temple tournaments. It was unnerving that a non-Jedi did that.

The command tent's flap was stretched back to form a shallow triangle. Warm light illuminated the tent from within, slipping through the tiniest holes to be freed into the night. Fay, Mace Windu and Kit Fisto stood around the holotable, staring up at a quarter-sized pilot who was gesturing at the topography holographically hovering before them. She caught the end of the woman's sentence.

"…found an XY-900 corellian freighter that was modified with jamming tech. Heavily armed. We lost Hutchinson and Retch, but it has been taken out. Jamming signals should be non-exsistant now.", the woman shook his head. "I'm telling the rest of Shocker Squadron to pull back. Their bombers did their duty and deserve to be refuelled and checked over. I'm also letting both Green and Torres Squadrons know that they can berth at the Fortress landing platform to refuel."

"Thank you, Major March", Fay nodded, "I will let Captain Gill know that you are on your way."

The hologram flickered into static, then dissipated into nothing. Kit looked over at Mace, "I'll just say it. We should get a message to Coruscant first. Tell them to send more supplies for the injured."

"And we will.", Windu replied, "However, right now Bultar needs to be debriefed, and we need to tell Yularen."

The three Jedi turned to look at Bultar. Fay nodded at her, respectful yet unapproachable as ever. Windu echoed the nod, but this one was more subdued. It was like he radiated authority, a rather nerve-racking trait he must have picked up during Council meetings. No wonder Quinlan had declined coming to this meeting. Fisto nodded at her, a wry grin touching his chin, "I like the hair, Bultar. Very you."

Bultar ran her hand through her annoyingly uneven, shoulder-length hair. She had been trying to forget that missing phantom limb. She put the thoughts out of her mind (again). Her muscles still ached from the Harshplains, but as the squad's leader, she needed to be held responsible for what had happened. Her comrades looked at her with eyes full of patience and care, but all that she felt was guilt. What she wouldn't do for one of them to simply say 'this is your fault'. Then she could accept it and take the punishment.

"How are your troops?", Fisto asked her. He didn't sound like he was ready to accuse her of anything, and for the first time she wondered exactly what they had been through while she had been out of contact.

"Last I heard, Altinrose is in intensive care.", she closed her eyes and tried to ignore the image of the Wookiee's form strapped to the stretcher as it had been carried out of the shuttle, "The men have moved him to the Screecher for transport to one of the military's medical centres, possibly even to Mel Hullt itself. Ressa and Donovin have been cleared, and Murray is taking over the squad until they are back at full strength."

A three man squad. Yet they were content to stay connected. They will probably be joining with one of the other units until the mission was complete, and everyone returned to Coruscant.

"That sounds encouraging.", Fay gave a small smile. Her tone was one that someone would use to console a small child.

"You started the mission with a full squad and returned with six men, four if you exclude yourself and Quinlan.", Windu pulled up a report that had been half completed. "Can you tell us what happened?"

So she told them. She described the trek to the village and detailed each of the soldiers in as much detail as she could remember. She spoke of the bodies they not seen, then of the ambushes and the footprints she had found in their wake. Fay showed emotion when she described the ransacked village. Altinrose's abduction caught Kit's attention, and he began to swipe across a datapad. She described the hunt as they tried to follow the abductors, then the climb into the crevice until they found the hideout. Mace finally showed a semblance of discomfort when she described the cyborg.

"He had cybernetics?", he asked, almost cautious.

"Complete cybernetic leg replacements and minor enhancements to his arms.", she replied, the image of the man rising unbidden in her mind. She heard his sinister laugh, and shuddered. "Quinlan said that he saw advanced cybernetic tech in their tower too. Ghastly experiments. Altinrose would have been next if we hadn't stopped them."

"Anything else about the platform itself?"

She racked her brain, "There were sunstones that were being gathered up, and over a dozen battle droids. Quinlan and BD-9T both suspected that the sunstones were being turned into an accelerant used in some of the explosions."

"The presence of the droids could mean a connection to the Techno Union, or the Trade Federation.", Kit spoke up. He slid the pad across the table to her, "I found these blueprints during a sting operation the Republic Police needed assistance with. Battle droids, weapons, even a few new designs for warship upgrades. We found these linking to one of the Galactic Corporations. Could never figure out which one. Might be another black-market deal."

"This is impressive.", Bultar's hand stopped over the blueprint of the 'Hulk' droid she had fought. Apparently, it was actually called the B2 Super Battle Droid. "I saw only a few of these weapons, but this could easily take on your regular soldier. With some modifications, a squad of these might even be able to contend with a battalion of regular troopers."

"So these people have backers.", Fay frowned, then sarcastically added, "That's great. It means organised crime; credits and resources abundant."

Mace stared up at the report still hovering in the centre of the room. "So who exactly is running this organisation?"

Captain Markus Gill stared out of the bridge canopy of the Helios at the pinpointed view of space. He was a tall man, and wore his uniform with pride. His thick sideburns covered a burn that had occurred during the Calacran campaign. It was a constant reminder of the battle and his time on the ground.

The Helios was sitting in the centre of the surviving Republic ship's, doing it's best to be the vanguard of a futile defence perimeter. With the bulk of the Venator cruiser now gone, the remainder of the Pantoran Defence Fleet had returned to assist them, but it was still a sorry sight. The medical frigate was a poor choice for flagship, though it was the largest and best shielded. It had three heavy turrets and a spattering of light laser cannons. The biggest advantage that the Pelta-AC3-class frigate had was the additional plates across the hull and heavy shields from . Unlike the other three Pelta's that had accompanied it, the AC3 had a hanger slung under the ship's belly. If an attack came to Pantora, the three corvettes would surround the frigate while Gill launched the half squadron of fighters that even now sat refuelling beneath him.

He hoped that the combined shields of the frigate and the corvettes would be enough to repel most attacks. But there was a sense of foreboding that came with the duty of blockade captain. Gill would run every scenario he could think of until his brain was prepared. At worse, the larger ships would provide cover for the local forces to retreat, while the starfighters took the fight to the enemy. At least, that was what he hoped would be the worst.

Shocker Squadron was Yularen's bomber squadron, equipped with the H-79 Tempest Bomber. The Squadron was filled with volunteers from Bothawui to Sullust. The Bothan pilot Mito Reed was the squadron's commander. Gill smiled he remembered his own time in a Tempest. The general design was nearly fifty years old. He had piloted the older H-60 model, which flew horizontally. The H-79 was very different. It flew vertically, and was basically a giant magnetic launch tube with engines and a cockpit.

The rest of Shocker were on the orbital platform, refuelling and rearming those who couldn't fit inside the hanger. The other two squadrons at his disposal, Torres and Green Squadron, were currently on other patrol routes, guarding the Pantoran Orbital Protection frigates. The local defence ships were well equipped for a moon still unaligned with the Republic. With heavy turrets on the belly and upper hull and dual starfighter airlocks for damaged ships on either side of the ship, he could see why the Pantorans continued to commission these ships from Papano.

Gill glanced over at the tactical, half-expecting to see an alarm from one of the patrols. Thankfully, there was nothing to report. He had already run each of the frigate commanders through what they should do if they were attacked – which basically came down to 'run like hell for the Helios and hope we can rescue you'.

A comm chimed, and Gill waved to the officer at the console to send the call to the main projector. The fuzzy image of a female pilot appeared, from the torso up. He knew this woman well. Pilios March had been elevated from Green 2 to Flight commander. She was not enjoying the promotion. So far, she had led Green Squadron as they escorted Shocker Squadron to bomb the jamming freighter.

"What can I do for you, Major?", Gill asked.

"I'm bringing the Riverdancer back around the final curve of the planet now.", she reported. "Green Squadron still has most of their fuel. I'm going to keep us patrolling around the Helios."

"Certainly.", Gill nodded. "I will be wanting to speak to you later."

"Understood.", Pilios nodded, "I'll place Matron in charge and come in immediately."

The Riverdancer was one of the Pantoran Frigates. Gill turned back to the tactical to follow the frigate's path they had taken. By the looks of it, the Riverdancer had been on a supply run, picking up heavy explosives from Gronas to the fleet. That meant that he would need to find room for the ship to dock.

"Um, sir?", one of the junior officers called from his station, frantically waving to try and get his commander's attention. "We have a situation."

Gill hurried over to the boy, leaning over the youth's shoulder to read the tiny screen. The officer had been placed before the hyperspace detection equipment. News of Pantora's closed system policy had spread quickly, and the systems had been quiet since the Helios got into orbit. That had changed. Gill found himself staring at something alarming. Something was coming out of hyperspace. Something big. Far bigger than a freighter. It was bigger than his own ship, if barely.

"All cannons at the ready!", Gill yelled around to the men, then switched on the commlink and repeated the orders to the rest of his small fleet, "Shields to full power. We have unknown ship exiting hyperspace. Shocker squadron, launch who you can. Green squadron, pick up the pace. Get to orbit and form up around the Helios."

He flicked off the comm and returned his gaze to the viewports. One of the other officers was reporting the alarm to the command centre below in Fortress. That was all good and well, but there was no chance they would be able to get the ground starfighters to orbit in time to help before the massive object arrived in system.

And then, it did.

The Jedi were not the first to make it outside the tent. There was a group of soldiers who had reacted to the klaxon's blaring tones. One of them had acquired a pair of high-powered macrobinoculars, who knew where he had got them, and was peering up into the sky. Kit snatched them from him, and looked skyward. He aimed for where he knew the nearest hyperspace route ended just outside the moon's orbit. From here, he could see the Helios and the surrounding corvettes, outlined with red for a clearer view. He could barely make out the tiny dots that were starfighters around the ship. The sky seemed to warp and a huge cruiser appeared in system. It was larger than the medical frigate, and he felt a seed of unease sink into his gut. The Helios didn't stand a chance in this fight.

He knew because he knew that ship. It was a Recusant-class light destroyer, the glory of the Commerce Guild. They usually patrolled the Guild's shipping lanes to stop pirates. He had served on one briefly during a trade dispute and scene the outrageous collection of weapons they held. Why was this ship here? What were they doing on Pantora?

He could only feel his heart in his throat as the massive cruiser opened fire.