-Darin-

I stood in the transport ship and held tightly onto the rail. I was positioned so that I would be the first one out the door. The 10 troopers in the transport ship behind me stood silent, but I could feel the nervous anticipation in all of them. Around my waist were the two sabers I was holding earlier. I was wearing the same cloak I wore on Corbalant. The men who were dropping down had sand-trooper gear on.

There were two other transports coming down. One had Tag and about 20 guys, and the other had Sadie and about 10 men. The few others stayed above, manning the guns to shoot down any Alliance ships who took notice of us and got gutsy. The transports would stay in place to pick us up as soon as we could leave, as this would be an extremely close exit for us.

I hated this plan. We were jumping into a situation that we weren't prepared for. I hated having so many people on the ground. I had no idea if this was worth it. We could lose so many men, only to save a few farmers on a backwater planet.

We had no idea what to expect when we dropped down. No idea what kind of force we would be facing.

I cursed Sadie for her brashness.

Then I cursed myself for wanting to do the same thing.

When the transport got low enough to the ground, I dropped off the edge and fell to the sandy dunes below me. We had decided to drop us off a distance away from the location of the signal to avoid being surrounded by blaster fire right from the start. A few seconds later, the transport landed behind me and the guys filed out. Mouse came up to me and drew his blaster pistols.

"Charges are all set, sir," he told me, and I nodded. I flipped the hood on my cloak up and clicked a mechanism behind my ear. Instantly, a specialized mask fit itself around my face. It was a creation of my own design, and one I was quite proud of. Composed of a specialised nanotech that was housed in miniature storage units I had located behind my ears, they would fit themselves around my head. It didn't cover the top of my head, but created an airtight seal around my face and wrapped around my head to stay in place. It was fitted with a filter, rebreather, and a few other neat contraptions. At this moment, it would be keeping my mouth, nose, ears, and eyes sand free.

Brick looked up at the sky, then pointed to his right and said "The fighting should be in that direction."

I felt through the Force and, sure enough, I could feel quite a few life forms in that direction. I stared at him, impressed, and asked "How'd you know that?"

He shrugged and said "The suns."

Impressive, I thought. "All right men! That way!"

-Tag-

We dropped down on the rocky crags of Tatooine, and the ship landed on the rocks. The faint sound of blaster fire could be heard where we were from. I jogged a few hundred meters towards the edge of the rock and peered over the edge. Below us and a couple hundred meters to the left, I could see a modest camp was set up with plenty of troops milling about. Far off, I could see the wreckage and plenty of blaster fire coming from that location. A few terrestrial transports with machine gun turrets on them were circled close to the wreckage and were laying siege to the debris.

I activated my comm and said "Wreckage visualized. Got a bit of a problem though. They've got machine guns trained on the planned entry point."

"Kriff," Darin muttered. "Sadie, this might take a bit longer than anticipated."

"That's fine," she responded. "We'll circle back until you give a signal."

"How far out are you?" I asked.

There was a brief pause before she said "About 25 clicks".

Aly said "I'll keep that in mind when I send a signal." Phenomenal.

"Has the drop point changed?" Sadie asked.

"No," I stated. "Darin and I may have to get creative with the opening though. In and out might be trickier than expected."

Darin said "It isn't too late to fall back. Sadie, do you want to-"

"No," she said sharply. "I'm going to lead the extraction team down there and get them out. Just give me an opening."

"You got it," I said quickly. "Aly will update you when ready. Sound good?"

Sadie voiced her understanding. I looked back at the men that were with me. Thorn, who I'd put in charge of putting people in their positions, gave me a thumbs up.

"Darin, my guys are ready to support us. Are yours?"

"Yea. Strike team is in ready positions. Are you cutting a path by yourself?"

"I have to. The pass isn't scalable. They're taking up sniping positions. Once I drop down, I can't get back up."

"I was hoping that the terrain wasn't as bad as it looked on the Everbright," Darin said.

"I can make do," I said.

"Sounds good. I'll start it off, cause a large distraction. That'll lead them one way. Then you can come up behind them. We clear a spot by the extraction point, then you come with us. Snipers can pick off threats from afar."

"Copy. I'll wait for the diversion."

I turned to Thorn and quickly filled him in. Thorn nodded and went to inform the troopers. I sat on the edge of the cliff, feet dangling and looked down. It was a steep incline, with the bottom being about 100 meters down.

I took a deep breath, and waited.

-Darin-

I closed my eyes and felt through the Force. By their main camp, I saw my opportunity. I turned to Brick and Mouse and said "Once you see the signal, start moving towards the back of those turrets over there." I pointed to the nearest turret, some 500 meters away. "Clear out the path, and once you've taken out a few, retreat to the transport and get the hell out. I don't want unnecessary casualties."

"Got it sir," they echoed.

I nodded and turned around. Seeing my opening, I darted forwards and slid behind a crate. As a terrestrial transport drove by, I quickly rolled under it and grabbed onto the bottom.

I held on as it bumped along, almost losing my grip at some points. I used the Force to keep tabs on my surroundings.

I noticed an opening and dropped, throwing myself out of under the car with the Force and narrowly missing being flattened by the transport. I found myself between a few crates, one of which contained something that smelled quite citrusy. My stomach rumbled, but I pushed forwards anyways.

Making sure to stay unseen, I darted through the shadows until I reached a fuel tank. I quickly slapped on a few remote charges and started slithering away from the tanks and towards the extraction point.

A surge through the Force hit me and I ducked. A blaster bolt whizzed past me, barely missing. Kriff. I'd gotten careless.

Fine then. I'll fight my way to the extraction point.

I used the Force and grabbed the attacker, throwing him back and knocking him out. I turned and pushed the button on the remote, and the charges went off.