-Darin-

I severely underestimated the amount of hyperfuel that they had stored. The shockwave from the blast threw me back about 10 meters. My body slammed hard into a transport, my head denting the metal. I forced myself to stay conscious as I grabbed onto the side of the transport and struggled to my feet. My knees threatened to buckle, my vision was blurring, and my ears were ringing. It felt like somebody plunged a hot knife into the back of my skull.

I tried to heal myself, but the headache made that nearly impossible. I couldn't focus the Force enough.

I thought I could hear a faint voice, but couldn't see anyone in my vicinity. The only bodies I could see were so charred that I could barely even recognize them.

I should have ended up like them. I should be a charred husk.

I struggled to take a few steps, but my knees buckled and I collapsed to the ground.

I wanted to curl up and die so badly. But I couldn't. I had a job to do.

As anger at my own physical weakness started to course through me, I started to draw strength from it. I pulled myself to my feet awkwardly and started limping towards the drop point.

I faced little resistance. All around me were the charred remains of numerous creatures. This changed when I came across a group of Burhaj and Seyley that were making their way to the site of the explosion. I could see them shoot, but wasn't fast enough to dodge them. I felt the blaster bolts impact my body, burning through my clothes and searing my flesh. The pain was excruciating, but for some reason my mind cleared and I felt like I was pumped full of pure energy. I lit my blue saber, deflected a few shots towards the Burhaj, felling them, and threw the saber at the Seyley. He dodged and continued shooting at me, but I rolled quickly to avoid the shots, groaning in pain as I did, and pulled the saber back to me, stabbing through the Seyley's back as it travelled to my hand. Feeling something new pumping through me, I started jogging over to the wreckage, throwing my saber at any enemies and manipulating it to cut through anyone who dared stand in my path.

-0000-

After Darin left, the men were jittery as they anticipated the action that they would encounter.

Mouse readjusted his helmet again and stared at the distance. "A bit far, don't ya think?" he said.

Brick glanced and nodded.

Toby cleaned sand out of his blaster rifle and asked "Scott, what's the situation?"

Scott flipped the scope on his helmet up and said "Same as before. Light patrols."

Toby nodded, then put the rag away and picked up a bag of explosives.

"Going somewhere?" Mouse asked.

"I want to be ready," he replied promptly.

Al came over and found a rock to sit on. "When I get back, I'm taking a kriffing bath."

Scott grunted and said "Same for me."

"I've got sand in my crack," Mouse whined.

Chad, Shane, Zero, and Pete walked over and dropped onto the sand. Pete said "You know what sounds amazing right now? A beer."

They nodded in agreement. Al said "An ice cold beer and a grav-ball game on the holovision would be a dream right now."

Chad said "I'd rather have an ice cold beer and a woman. God, I haven't felt a woman in such a long time."

Scott said "I miss that bar on Coruscant. Remember the one? The… uhhhh…. The Rum Runner. I have so many good memories there."

"You have no memories there," Al quickly replied.

Shane laughed and said "Remember that redhead who came over and accidentally spilled my beer? She was a lot of fun. Wish I could see her again."

Pete said "I want to settle down. Live a normal life. Find a woman to love and have a family."

Chad said "Family man. I respect that. But that life ain't for me. I was made pretty. Gotta share my gifts."

There was some quiet laughter from some of the guys, followed by some crude jokes.

Toby said "There's no use complaining right now. They aren't going to be stopping anywhere to pick up a bunch of women for you."

Chad exclaimed, "That's a great idea! We should talk to the General and have him round up the galaxies best for us!"

There was quite a bit of laughter at the thought of that. When the laughter mellowed out, Zero said "I don't care who you put on the ship, Sadie is still better."

Chad nodded. "I generally prefer someone much more… ahem… well endowed, but she's got that whole package kinda thing. I could watch that ass in the training room for days."

Pete said "Don't let her find out. She'd whoop your ass."

"I love the fight in that woman," Zero said. "Too bad she doesn't seem all that interested in anyone."

Chad smirked. "I could win her over, no problem."

"Then why haven't you?" Pete responded quickly.

"Well, you see, t-"

An explosion boomed, and Toby said "That has to be the signal. Everyone get yourselves ready!"

They quickly got packed, and Toby started running towards the transports. The rest followed closely behind.

They hit like a swift hammer. Blaster fire from the group took out many of the enemy forces, most of whom had no idea what had just happened. They reached the turret closest to the entrance without a single casualty.

Mouse, carrying the charges, scurried forwards and set them up on the turret as the others gave cover fire. Then, they moved to the next one. And the next. And the next. They moved with speed and purpose, each knowing their job and executing it to perfection.

As they approached the final turret, a large yellow beam of energy shot at them and forced the group to split up. Another caused the distance to widen even more.

One group was near the turret. The other was quite a distance away.

Another shot hit Zero square in the chest, sending him into the transport and killing him.

Two creatures approached. Both looked stood at about 4 meters tall and had large hulking frames, made even more prominent by the thick blue armor they wore on their bodies. At joints, around their backs and abdomen, and on their face they had orange spaces that appeared to be an undersuit, as it didn't resemble any form of skin. They had what appeared to be blue quills on the armor on their backs. A large cannon was attached to their left arm, and a giant blade was mounted on their right. They ran towards them, almost in perfect unison, and Toby yelled "Get the charges on the turret! We'll hold them off!"

Mouse and a few guys ran to the last turret, while Toby and the rest went after the two behemoths.

As they unleashed fire, the behemoths raised the massive blade to cover their midsections.

Al, thinking quickly, yelled "Go for the orange bits!"

As they started trying to shoot the orange bits, they realized just how good the protection was. Their orange faces, while large, became almost nonexistent when they defensively slanted their heads. They used their blades to cover the orange of the abdomen, and their backs were difficult to hit for any one man. It was clear that Al's instinct was right. Those orange regions had to be weak spots.

As they dodged the yellow blasts and tried to find an opening, Mouse said over the comm "Charges placed. Pilot will blow it in 5 minutes."

Chad yelled "Lets go!" Before almost getting caught in a blast.

"We have to fight!" Toby yelled.

Chad got a little too close to one of them while firing at it and the behemoth lunged at him and swiped its blade, killing him and sending his body flying.

As everybody flipped around, trying to dodge the blasts, Brick had an idea. He grabbed a grenade from his pouch and yelled "Cover me!" Pete started firing at the creature while Brick sprinted towards it, grenade in hand. As the creature swiped at Brick, he slid, barely avoiding getting clobbered, and got back on his feet in a hurry. He activated the grenade and shoved his hand at the orange region, surprised that his hand went in with ease. He then immediately ran as far back as possible. The grenade went off, and orange blood splattered everywhere. The other creature gave an ear piercing shriek and started attacking much more erratically.

Brick pulled out his blaster and started firing at the creature, prompting it to run after him. Mouse, seeing an opportunity, started shooting blaster bolts into the orange bits. The bolts hit, and the creature writhed in pain, fell to its knees, and died.

-Tag-

A flash of light, followed almost instantly by the sound of an explosion, roused me from my daydreams.

"You ready?" I asked Aly before jumping off the cliff.

"Does it really matter?" She replied lazily as I slid down the cliff face, landed on the ground and rolled.

"Nope," I responded, pulling out my blaster rifle and sprinting at an unsuspecting Junel. I body slammed him and sent him flying hard into the side of a small shelter. I kept running down the path I had planned out, shooting most opposition I came across. Most fell to the rifle fire; the ones that didn't received a full power punch in the head, and nobody stayed up after that.

I suddenly came face to face with a tall avian-like being that I had never encountered before. It had a yellowish orange coloration, and was featherless except for a tuft it had on the top of its head. Instead of wings, it had arms with long, spindly fingers, each of which was topped with a razor sharp claw. Its sharp eyes seemed to gleam as it sized me up. I charged at it, shooting at it, and before I could react a shining green energy shield appeared in front of it, protecting it from the blaster fire. I reached it and threw a punch as usual, but the shield blocked it. The shield disappeared with a hiss, and I went at it to punch the creature again. It dodged the punch faster than I could even react and came up behind me, within striking distance. However, it didn't strike me. Odd.

The creature backed up, trying to get distance to shoot me, but I closed the gap. This time, I was ready for the dodge and followed up with a kick. It connected, and I could hear bones fracturing as the creature went flying. The creature was peculiar, but I didn't stick around and investigate. I had to keep going.

I noticed something blue fly in front of me, then fly back. It was a lightsaber.

I sprinted harder and stopped suddenly when I was almost impaled by the saber. I could see it whizz past me, impaling the Junel that was on the other side, before flying back to the soot-covered hand of Darin.

I stared in shock at the figure. His robe had rather large burn holes from blaster bolts impacting his body. His mask was up, but he had blood running down his neck. When he recognized me, he pulled back the mask. I saw blood running down his face from his left eyebrow, his nose, and his lip, and it was smeared all over his face. He had a wild look in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"No," he said. "Let's get the way clear for Sadie." He flipped the mask back on and moved forwards

I couldn't really argue with him, so I followed him.

I noticed a slight limp in his step, as well as some grunting when he threw his saber or pulled it back.

A few explosions rang out from the turret line, and I smiled to myself. The men did their job.

I charged ahead of Darin and started gunning the enemy forces left and right until we were just about at the wreckage. The turrets were about 20 meters in front of us, and the wreckage 30 meters away. Enemy forces were scrambling in all directions trying to figure out what to do.

A shot rang out, and I heard a grunt behind me. I turned and noticed that Darin had been hit with another blaster bolt. Five Junel were coming up behind us, and I could notice a few of those avian creatures hopping over boxes to meet us from our left. As they were about to meet us, blaster bolts came out of nowhere and felled each of the avians.

"Thanks Thorn," I yelled into the comm.

"Don't thank me yet. We have no clear shots on those furballs," he said.

Aly yelled "DUCK!", and I ducked just in time to narrowly avoid getting hit by a grenade. It bounced behind me and exploded, and I turned and sprinted at the Junel. They were hammering away at Darin, who was deflecting shots with his saber while gripping his right side with his left hand. I fired at the Junel, causing two to stumble, and tackled one to the ground before punching him. I was grabbed from behind by one of the other Junel, but a quick elbow got me away from him, where I shot him in the head. I turned just in time to see Darin get shot again, causing him to drop his lightsaber.

A few more bolts hit him in rapid succession, and I rushed at the Junel. As I did, I realized that something was changing. The air began to cool. Frost started forming on my armor.

"The environment is cooling drastically. This should not be possible," Aly said.

The Junel fired their blasters at us, but their blaster bolts dissipated mere moments after firing. Without questioning what was happening, I ran at one of the Junel and started beating him. Once he was down, I went to attack the others and found them encased in ice. I stared at them before turning to Darin. He was standing and holding his saber. His robe was ragged from the constant blaster fire, and through the holes and along his neck, I could see the dark blue veins clearly against the skin. He looked around, and started jogging towards the wreckage. As he passed, his surroundings got covered in a layer of frost and blaster bolts dissipated from the cold.

"He is emitting extremely unnatural energy signatures," Aly said helpfully.

"Wonderful," I said, and ran after him.

Aly quickly notified Sadie that it was time to move in as I watched Darin in amazement.

Darin reached one of the transport turrets and stuck his hand out. Ice immediately formed around the turret. He stuck his hand out at another, and a hunk of ice shot up and sent the transport flying.

I snapped out of it and went after him, hoping I could help somehow. There really wasn't any need for me, though. He was a force of nature.

We finally reached the last turret, and I noticed that he seemed to start fading a little. As soon as he iced over the last turret, he collapsed. I caught him as he fell, said "LZ clear", and sprinted to the transport that Darin arrived in with him in my arms.

-Sadie-

The magical words "LZ clear" rang in my ears as we were descending. I put on my helmet and pulled out my blasters. My lightsaber was at the ready. I turned to Q. "Think you can keep up with me?" I taunted.

He smiled, put his helmet on, and said "You can bet on it."

He hoisted his blaster, electric baton at his beckon if he needed.

I turned to Brock. "Shields are good?"

He smiled and nodded. "We're all just peachy."

"Ooo, peachy. I like to hear that."

The bay door started to open, and I jumped and activated my pack.

There was plenty of blaster fire, as by now the enemy forces have had time to recover and organize a little. I scanned the turrets, and was surprised to see that ice covered most of them. As I navigated towards the wreckage, I found the opening that we planned to use. I dropped down amidst blaster fire and started shooting in many different directions, feeling with the Force where the enemy was. As I peeked in from the side, I caught a glimpse of a Seyley inside of the wreckage, firing back at the troops outside.

I dodged, narrowly missing a charging Junel, and a stun baton flashed in front of me as he passed, hitting him square in the head and incapacitating him.

"What took you so long?" I asked.

"I slept in, got caught in traffic, missed a street, got stuck at a very slow light, you know," he responded without missing a beat as we began running towards the opening.

The grenade exploded, and I darted inside. Guns were pointed at me almost immediately, and I said "I'm not a threat. You are being rescued."

The guns were somewhat lowered, and I noticed that the room was filled with quite a few Seyley and Burhaj, as well as one Mirialan woman. Many seemed to be injured.

A Seyley in dark grey armor stepped in front of her, as if shielding her from me.

"Why should we trust you?" a Seyley in silver armor asked.

I ducked as a bolt whizzed past me and said "I'm not trying to kill you."

The silver Seyley looked at the grey Seyley, and they seemed to have a silent conversation.

Finally, the grey Seyley said "Lead the way."

I smiled, and relief washed over me. Part of me worried that they wouldn't come. "Alright! Everyone follow me!" I said excitedly. I jogged to the opening I blew open, and they seemed to recoil when they saw the troopers. Q had done his job of keeping the opening clear and getting those with riot shields organized to create a safe pathway to get to the ship.

The Seyley stopped when they noticed them.

"They're fine, don't worry!" I said, and motioned for them to go. The grey Seyley moved for the injured to go first.

As the injured got up to the ship with Q's help, some strange looking avian bugger came at us from where those we rescued were staying. It was moving so fast that I could barely register it, but instinct came in and I drew my saber and slashed, cutting the thing in two. A Junel started charging from the same direction, and I used the Force and pulled the ceiling down, blocking its way to us. Satisfied, I turned and checked to make sure everybody was on the ship before helping the men on the ship and finally, myself. The pilot sped away without a moment's hesitation.

I took my helmet off and shook my hair out a bit. I'd let it get a bit longer, and now it was slightly past my shoulders.

I exclaimed "Hell of a job, team!" and went and high fived my squad.

I felt elated. On top of the world. First rescue mission was an overwhelming success!

The grey Seyley gruffly said "Mandalorian."

I turned, and saw that he was standing right behind me. I looked up to meet his gaze, but wasn't intimidated in the slightest.

"Yes?"

He glared at me, his distrust evident. I sensed Q step behind me, as well as the others. I had their support. He noticed them too, but didn't waver.

He said "I appreciate the help, but we would appreciate it if you would drop us off somewhere soon."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why? You'll get in the exact same situation."

He narrowed his eyes and said "The Order has done horrible things to our kind, and I refuse to be among you. If you weren't risking your skin to save ours, I'd kill you all on the spot."

I felt the soldiers tense behind me.

I said "We aren't with the Order."

He looked at me with confusion and said "You are a Jedi who has Imps and uses Order ships."

"That's a very long story. But I assure you, we are not with the Order." I gave him a broad smile.

He stared at me for a little bit before saying "Let's say I believe you. If you aren't Order, then who are you?"

"We're a group called Splinter."

"Never heard of them."

"We're kind of new."

Over the speakers, the pilot said "Docking now."

I waved for them to disperse behind me. I didn't want the Seyley to think that we were threats.

Cautiously, I asked "Are you with the Alliance?"

The Seyley looked at me with fire in his eyes and said "Those pigs tried to have us killed."

"I guess we have a common enemy then."

"Are you suggesting that we fight together?" He growled at me.

"I mean, you seem like soldiers, and it's not like we're safe anywhere, you know, with our little place on the Order's hit list. And after saving your butts, I'd say we made our way on the Alliance's as well. My guess is we both have that in common."

"We'll consider it," he grunted.

I smiled and said "My name's Sadie, by the way. Didn't catch yours."

"I didn't give it," he said flatly. He turned to walk off before turning his head and saying "The names Than."