Shades of Gray
The Battle of Fury

It wasn't often anymore that something really took him by surprise, but the poison running through his system was especially nasty. At first, he had almost gone into shock, which was why he had collapsed. It took all he had to stay conscious, but he had, and now he was leaching the poison from his system, repairing the damaged tissues as he went. He was vaguely aware of the battle raging around him, and of the assistance he was getting from the person on whose lap he was laying.

As he finished up, he set up biochemical safeguards in his blood against similar Toxins. It would take a Jedi Master to figure out how to fight that poison, he thought. I doubt that they had to develop any more. It would take years of study to come up with an antidote. If I get a chance, I'll teach the healing Jedi how to fight these toxins. I just hope we have time.

Tashannoc's strength was returning quickly, so he opened his eyes and looked up at the girl who was aiding him. She was not expecting him to wake up this soon and her face showed her shock. It was very quiet.

"What's going on?" he asked her.

"Well, Mister Gavin had the idea to block the corridor with the dead bodies, and it bought us some time."

As Tasha reached out with the force, he could feel the creatures trying to break through. They only had a few more minutes of peace.

"I had hoped to find a way to subdue the creatures without having to kill them all. Unfortunately, I do not believe that their breeding will allow for such a thing. We shall have to kill them."

Tashannoc stood up, towering once again over his command, so it was impossible for the troops not to notice that he got back up. He could sense an immediate increase in morale as he stood up and the men and women saw him. He walked over to where Sammy stood talking with a few of the Jedi, who were obviously concentrating on keeping the wall of bodies intact.

"Sammy, I trust that you've made it difficult for the creatures to get from there to here once the creatures break through?"

Not showing any surprise at the General's reappearance, Sammy answered, "Yes, sir. The floor is loaded with mines. They won't be able to step without something going "boom."

"Good, have everyone get ready. We can't waste our strength on a stopgap measure any longer, regardless of how good an idea it is. I want the support of the wall to be cut off in one minute."

"Yes, sir." came the reply. The Rebels regrouped, and in the last few seconds before the chaos returned, Tashannoc sent his mind out into the facility. Yes, his sister was alive, and unhurt. That was good, but as the wall began to crumble and the Gray Death scrambled across the dead bodies of their brethren towards their prey.

"Major," Squak asked, "I have a few things to report."

"What is it?"

"Well, I've found out why we can't send any signals out. There is a field dampening all communications coming in or out of the facility."

Knowing that there was more, Bjiatocah prompted, "Go on."

"Well, sir, I've also found a signal, well hidden and highly encoded, that's piggybacking on that field. As far as I can tell, that signal is being broadcast out of the system. However, there seems to be an incoming signal as well. I think that whoever made these things may be keeping tabs on them, in one way or another, and may have someone on the station sending reports."

"Or they may have some way of controlling the beasts," Bjiatocah speculated. "Keep on it. If you can find a way to block the signal, let me know."

"I won't be able to block it without a significant power source, but if reinforcements get here, I may be able to do it from a Capital Ship. I'd rather not risk the comm room on the station. There was one other thing though," he continued. "I was thinking, the door we came in was about man sized, right?"

"Right, I had to stoop to get through."

"But they have all of this large machinery, and these covered vehicles in here, so . . ."

Bjiatocah's eyes lit up. "SO, there must be another door! I can't believe that we didn't notice that before!"

"Well we have been pretty busy, what with trying to stay alive and all."

Bjiatocah ignored Squak's sarcasm. She turned to one of the miners, who seemed to be in charge. "Is there another door into or out of here?"

"I don't think so," he replied uncertainly. "I mean, none of us came in here much, it was pretty much Dolphus' domain, and he's well, you know."

"Yes. So you have no idea, really if there is another door in here or not." Her eyes scanned the room, but all the walls were covered with broken machinery and equipment. She addressed her men. "How close are you to getting that contraption working?"

"Another fifteen minutes, tops."

"Okay, finish that up, then start moving this stuff around. If we can get out of here without going though the beasts, I would definitely prefer it."

"Rock and Roll!" Cigna Eleven shouted as he dipped out of the cross hairs of another wandering TIE. Twelve quickly moved into finish off the unsuspecting prey.

"Celebrate in debriefing." Miles reprimanded, though he felt the same as the rest of the group.

The pilots on the remaining Skiprays were not very good and once they saw their numbers get sawed down to almost half, they tried to maneuver for cover under the Nebulon Frigate. That put two of them right between the Nemesis Squad and entire Cigna Squad. So far orders hadn't been given to follow the command of Cigna Leader, but Miles knew it was coming. The overall effort totally disabled the engine on one of the Skiprays who was down to a one turbolaser. The other Skipray's captain did not have the fortitude of his other comrades so as soon as the protons from the X-wings landed several times in the front shielding where the bridge was located. Somehow or another they quickly found the Alliance channel and logged their surrender. Two X-wings volunteered to escort the power downed Skipray to arms reach of Lightbringer's concussions.

One of the Skiprays realized how futile it was to run for the frigate and changed course to head for the planet again.

"This is Cigna Leader, form up on my wing and let's get after that ship!" All of his pilots survived the last sweep but Cigna Four had to dock do to damage.

"Cignas, forget that Skipray. I need a full retreat back to the Lightbringer. From there I need a Corellian Gait." Major Hendrickson said from the command center of Lightbringer.

"Leader understood. Siggy and Miles set up for CG on 12 beat."
Straight ahead the sight of the Correllian Gunboat came into view.
The engines were running so low on the A-wings, it looked like the group was ambling back towards the command ship giving the Correllian Gunboat wide berth. Miles clicked his com five times, Siggy gave two clicks and leader followed up with five clicks. Miles started humming a tune in his head, he loved this maneuver. Siggy, Cigna 9, created it after hearing the Old Republic Galactic Anthem. The problem the enemies suffered from was the timing of it. The tune incorporated several rhythms over the galaxy and only the Cigna's knew which beat to start on. About half way through the Bakuran theme Miles and Cigna's 11 and 12 split off. Leader, 2 and 3 split off and Siggy, 5 and 6 broke off into a triangular formation with Miles and Siggy on head.

Miles and Siggy kicked the engines into full as they turned around at the nose of the gun boat. Two beats later, Cigna Leader also turned around like a crazed Bantha. They milked all the power the weapons could give and nose dived toward the gunship. The shields on the boat lit up and were visibly buckling under the stress of 9 laser cannons focusing on such a small area. Miles bit down his elation when the shields blinked out. Each group pulled back at the last moment and skimmed the surface of the gunboat.

Caught off guard, the turbolasers were slow to follow the group of ships that just opened their gunboat up to certain death. Most of the shots were wide but Miles didn't go offensive quick enough and a blast knocked his ship out of control. His inertial damper gave out and within moments his ship was tumbling out of control into the infinity of space.

"Cigna 8, this is Leader. Respond." Nothing. "Cigna 8, this is Leader, Respond." Nothing. "Command center, one of my men took a hit, I am get life support readings but he isn't responding. We need a medical pickup."

"I am on Eight," Siggy responded.

"Negative, Cigna group, stay tight."

"But sir--"

"That is a negative Nine."

The group got away just as the front part of the Gunboat ignited. Within moments the ship was moaning off to the side, explosions ripping through the interior.

"Good job Cigna," someone from the comm center said. "As soon as the area clears, we will tractor in that ship. Can we get an encore aft?"

"On our way." Darryl O'Neill tried to swallow down his worry. If they didn't get to Miles soon, the effects of vacuum would kill him or a persistent eyeball. But he was still leader and right now he had a battle to survive. "CG on 7 beats."

With one Skipray left, Jarkov's smaller vessels had taken a severe pounding. The pilot of the blastboat dove toward the surface of Fury to give his ship's systems time to regenerate. His crew was intact; the shield operator was alert, the two weapons operators were ready. He maneuvered the Skipray into a wide turn and pushed the throttle all the way to full, sending the craft directly into the fray once again. Three TIE Advanced were quick to join the blastboat, forming a tight conical pattern as they drove into the thick of chaos.

"TIE escorts, this is Blastboat 4. Target those Alliance fighters. We need to shoo them away from our capitals."

Currently, 10 A-wings were harassing one of Jarkov's gunships. The Corellian craft was sturdy, and picked off one of the fighters, but the A-wings were proving to be too quick for the gunship to efficiently target them.

Then the blastboat and her TIE escort arrived. A concussion missile lashed out from the bow of the Skipray, engulfing the targeted A-wing in a brilliant flash as the three TIE Advanced fighters began to target and destroy some of the Rebellion's best and brightest.

The TIE pilots were getting cocky, and one of them broke formation to get another look at the A-wing he had disabled. He was thrilled to see the pilot still alive, but trapped in the cockpit as the ship crackled with electricity. That was all the required distraction the Rebel pilot needed to target the TIE and surgically remove the solar panels from the cockpit/ball of the fighter.

'It will be a slow but deserved death for him.' the Alliance pilot thought. "Cigna three, punch out. Your ship is going critical quickly" Milliseconds later, the A-wing of Cigna three erupted into a ball of energy. The pilot had not been able to eject.

Nemesis squadron had been dealing with a Corellian corvette when Thix heard the com chatter of Cigna squadron. "Nemesis kids, Five here. Cigna's got problems, and this situation here is nearly wrapped up. One flight will stay here and polish off this 'vette while two and three flight will lend a hand to Cigna. Move it out."

Nemesis was eager to comply, and discovered the remnants of Cigna squadron five of the original twelve still flying, not entirely intact.

As the X-wings joined in on the party, the two remaining TIE Advanced split from formation. One of them dove while the other climbed, which broke the Alliance fighters into three distinct groups. The Skipray wasn't agile enough to take on 4 fighters on its own, but it quickly evened those numbers with a few shots from the ion cannons. Within seconds, two X-wings and one A-wing were dead in space, the pilots trying desperately to restart the ships. The laser turret of the blastboat struck the fuselage of the X-wing and punched a hole straight through the fighter's cockpit, forcibly ejecting the pilot (but not in any kind of healthy condition).

The TIE that dove was pursued by three X-wings. He dove toward the planet, then began to corkscrew his ship to evade as much fire as possible. As he performed his evasive tactics, he cut full power from his throttle, which caused two of the X-wings to shoot directly into his path. Immediately the TIE opened up a full power salvo of laser fire upon the lead X-wing, hitting its top engines and blowing them from the fighter. Seconds later, that Nemesis pilot was gone and the TIE Advanced picked up its throttle and pursued the second fighter in its sights.

'Stang!' Grant thought. 'Everytime I think I'm getting a lock on this guy, he jukes left or jinks right and I lose him. He is good!'

~Grant, this guy's good! I can't shake him! Can you peel him off my tail?~

"I'm right on him, but you're right. He's good. Keep bobbing and weaving. I'm right on his aaaa....yow!" "Nice shooting Thix!"

~Great shot lead, thanks!~

~Enough talking. Let's get hard on these ex-Imps.~

"You got it Five!" Grant replied.

It was over soon after that. The Skipray simply couldn't fight off over 6 fighters, and the remaining TIE Advanced was no match for three X-wings and two A-wings. 'This wasn't exactly easy, but we have definitely NOT seen Blood Axe Squadron out here. Where is Grant's buddy, Yan, and his squadron, at?'
"Nemesis kids, Cigna, this is Nemesis leader. Let's form up and keep our eyes peeled for another squadron of TIE Advanced. That couldn't have been who we've been waiting for. The main event is still up and coming."

~Thix, this is Omega leader. Nice fighting over here. Omega was dealing with a Corellian Gunship a few hundred klicks from here, but we're present to help out with Blood Axe.~

"Glad to see you could join this party Neb. Cigna Leader, how is your squadron?"

~Cigna Leader here. Cigna squadron is doing fine, Nemesis Five. Thanks for your concern Thix.~ Darryl answered.

The impromptu combination of the remnants of three separate fighter squadrons made for a motley gathering of craft, but these were the best of the best. 19 fighters were in formation, waiting for the arrival of an elite, renegade Imperial squadron to meet with them.

"We cannot stand by any longer..." Yan mused. His squadron had been parked on the Frigate for the whole of the battle, leaving the other fighters and ships to do the dirty work, though he had no idea why Jarkov had wished this. "Get to your ships. We're launching."

A flustered technician overheard the exchange. "B-but, sir! The boss asked that you stay on board until the reinforcements arrived!" He cast about the hangar looking for support, but found none.

"Then send him a message explaining what we've done yourself. I'm sure he'd be happy to hear about it."

"T-this is mutiny! I think." He added hesitantly.

"Not mutiny," Yan explained calmly as his pilots rushed to their TIE Advanced, "merely self-defense. We're the best fighter squadron Jarkov has! It will not do to sit in the hangar bay of our ship and watch our other fighters get annihilated, now would it?" The man backed down, obviously agreeing with Yan's statement. "Good." Yan walked over to his own TIE.

He climbed down into the cockpit and pulled on the skull-like black pilot's helmet that was employed by the Empire. All other TIEs had reported in as being ready for departure.

"Blood Axe squadron, launch." He ordered.

"I see them. Over by the Frigate!" Thix heard Neb say. "They just launched."

"Sic 'em, guys!" Thix said. The fighters turned to meet their foe head on.

"Whoah, Grant. Slowly! Don't want to get caught in that Frigate's turbolaser fire, now would you?"

"Just a little thirsty for Blood, you know?" Grants remark bought a couple of nervous giggles from pilots from various squadrons. The enemy was bearing down on them fast...and then began a fierce melee.

The different TIE flights from Blood Axe squadron split immediately and engaged the Rebel ships. Grant was targeting..targeting..reading the tags on each ship, looking for their leader..and found him, beating the shields off of an A-Wing. "Yan. You've resorted to this rabble? Where's all that honor you were always talking about?" He taunted.

~Ever the loser, Bowmark.~ Then, to his target he said, ~I'll finish you later. I have to squash a cockroach.~

Grant grinned. So it was this. Now or never. He had an opening advantage, being behind Yan's TIE Advanced. Switching to missiles, he toggled over from Gemini to Proton and tried to get a firing lock on the craft. Yan's more maneuverable fighter did an incredibly swift upward corkscrew. Grant followed. Yan had slowed somewhat, but was still jinking like a maniac.

Grant saw he was gaining slowly, and switched back to lasers. As he gained, he fired potshots meant to distract his opponent. "I shot you down once, I'll do it again!" Grant growled. Suddenly, Yan's ship stopped dead. Grant, busy firing, overshot him. He muttered a harried curse and threw his ship into a dive as green lasers shot over where had just been. That had been one of the oldest tricks in the book, and he'd fallen for it!

~That was one of the oldest tricks in the book, Bowmark! I can't believe you actually fell for it.~ Yan chuckled. Unfortunately, they seemed to think alike. Grant's shield indicator blinked red and his craft shuddered as Yan scored a hit.

"Have a shower!" Grant heard someone yell. An O-Wing and X-Wing, coming up alongside Yan's craft, fired bursts of unlinked laser fire at him. Inside the TIE, Yan pulled out of his chase for Grant as tried avoiding the seemingly hundreds of laser bolts flying around him. The O- and X-Wing finished doing their flyby and split off to go after different targets. Grant seized the opportunity. Performing a sharp U-Turn, he headed right at Yan.

His hands flew over the controls. He redirected half his engine power to his frontal shields, and set his launchers to fire his two Gemini Missiles. He armed them, set their timer to 2 seconds. Yan had recovered from the laser shower and was firing laser bursts at Grant. Most missed, but a few scored hits, rapidly draining his shielding.

Grant depressed his firing trigger. The two Gemini missiles streaked out in the direction of Yan's TIE Advanced that was heading right for Grant.

They exploded two seconds after launch, as directed, sending their mines out toward the oncoming craft. Yan was not a poor pilot, however, and most definitely not a stupid one. He had done his reading on these new weapons and pulled up sharply. He saw that he had steered out of the path of the mines--all save one, that had been thrown from it's missile awkwardly and off-course. It was still headed for a collision course with him. His eyes grew wide and he reached for the ejection handle. Too late!

The mine hit. It exploded, taking with it Yan's right solar panel. The craft spiraled downward sharply, toward the huge asteroid that housed the mining colony. Grant watched as Yan's ship changed into a pinprick of light that smashed into the housing of a small dome offset from a large one. There was no explosion. Grant could see, even from far up, that the dome had already sealed itself off from the vacuum of space. The dome would make a good tomb.

Looking away from his enemy's final stop, Grant picked out a new target and sped off.

Ibran felt a wave of pain through the Force and woke up. "What happened?!" he shouted, springing to his feet. Alia came over. "A bug broke through the wall. We fended it off, but we took a few injuries, and the part of the wall that fell hit that guy in the leg." Ibran nodded and walked over to the injured. He concentrated on healing each of them back to what they had been before the wall fell, then fell to his knees, almost completely exhausted. Alia and a few others moved to assist him, but he waved them away. "Not right now. I need to think."

"You need to rest!" Alia stated firmly. Ibran ignored her and continued to shoo away the various Jedi and troopers who came in to assist. He called upon the Force and closed his eyes, letting it flow through him. Suddenly, he caught the edge of something. "Hmm..." he said. "What?" a few people nearby asked.

Ibran stood, slowly, but successfully. He looked around. "Can any of you talk with animals?" he asked. Alia and a few others nodded. He surveyed them, noting that Alia was the one least injured. "Alia, you're in the best condition. Can you teach it to me?" Alia nodded. "I'm not very good at it, though," she added. "I just need to know the basic principles,"

Ibran replied. "I'll work from there." "Okay. Come here and I'll teach you... but sit down! You look like you're about to collapse!" Ibran chuckled. "I've felt that way since we lost our first casualty..." he said quietly, his voice low enough so that his reply was for Alia's ears alone.

A lone squadron of TIE Advanced ships watched the space battle at Fury, making careful and detailed observations on all the participants. The squadron went unnoticed because it was at the edge of the mining colony's gravitational pull and off to the side of the planet. The information and real-time video recordings were collected and transmitted on a tight beam frequency to a ship far, far away. On that ship, the recordings were received. "Blackhawk Squadron midway reports and recordings are in, sir." The captain of this ship nodded. "I'll deliver them to the Admiral's meditation chamber. Order Blackhawk to continue their observations until further notice." "Aye aye, sir," said the lieutenant, handing the captain a datacard.

The captain entered the turbolift. "Deck 13," he said. The turbolift motor whirred and stopped. The captain walked out of the lift to the Admiral's quarters. He stood in front of the door. "Captain Regius to see the Admiral. I have the reports he's requested." The door slid open and Regius walked inside. The Admiral's smooth, quiet voice floated in from the next room. "Thank you, Captain. I'll see to them in the moment. Comments or questions?"

"One question, sir. Why are you collecting this data?"

The smile in the Admiral's voice was evident. "It's all about knowing the enemy. Grand Admiral Thrawn is superb at it, and it is one of the skills one must develop to become successful in the Imperial Navy. In addition, the reports provide us much needed intelligence data on the space combat capabilities of the Jedi and the Rebels, not to mention giving our own units practice at gathering them under such conditions. It is good that the ysalamiri are with them on their ships to hide them from the Jedi. We need to breed ysalamiri for that purpose, Captain. See that the project is begun and soon. You are dismissed."

"Yes, Admiral," Regius said. He saluted, spun, and left the quarters. 'The Admiral certainly understands what he's doing. I wouldn't have thought of watching this battle, myself. I believe his command will be a definite learning experience.'

Bahumut dodged around some enemy fighters, taking a few hits. He had been informed a while ago to stay off of Fury 23 until the second wave was needed. Meanwhile, he was concentrating on blasting ships to smithereens.

He piloted and shot the occasional concussion missile, 4 in total so far, all four to a Corvette, crippling it severely, making it a sitting duck. The same to hotshots were in the turrets, blasting every Imp in sight, making a few connections. He also had a co-pilot up there, a male Jedi who had experience in flying freighters. He rerouted power as needed and monitored the comm.

He dodged a TIE, only to come up right beside another. After taking a couple of hits, the gunners managed to hit it a few times, blasting off a solar panel and destroying the cockpit. A few cheers were heard on the ships comm system from the gunners.

His escort, Jason Rashidi, flew after TIEs which got to close to the ship. Spying the Nebulon-B Frigate, he went in close, wishing for some Ion Cannons. 'I'll need to find a good one in the black market, or maybe even ask the Alliance for one...' He got off a couple of missiles at it, destroying the shields, before he was chased off by a couple of Bloodaxe members.

Jason flew after one of them, leaving Bahumut and his not-so-hotshots to deal with the other. He used the controls in the cockpit to aim the dorsal one, at the surprise of the gunner, at the TIE, since he would never get a lock at such close range.

After exchanging shots for a minute, the TIE's shields were dead, and the hull slightly damaged, with the Dragon Lord's shields at 4%. He returned control to the gunner and informed him on the comm to start shooting, while he piloted.

After the shields faded away, both gunners happened to get almost simultaneously hit the TIE, critically damaging the left solar panel. They kept up with their barrage, exploding it into shrapnel and accidentally hit an X-wing from shooting to many shots. Seeing the shields in terrible condition, Bahumut retreated to the relative safety of nearby the Lightbringer, inside it's weapon range.

As Jason left Bahumut to get rid of one of those Bloodaxe squadron members, he hoped that the people on the ground were doing okay. As he closed in on the TIE, he slowed down slightly, and started firing each of the four lasers separately. As its shields weakened, Jason saw its emergency maneuver, and followed suit, only to lose it amidst a few TIEs coming to intercept some of the Alliance fighters. Jason picked a new target, only to run away because a practically full-strength TIE was on his tail. As Jason was luring the TIE's pilot towards the Lightbringer's firing range because he couldn't shake that TIE, Jason was thinking, 'I hope this guy is stupid enough to follow me.' Unfortunately, the TIE flew off at the last second, so Jason followed suit and was on its tail. Jason saw the Dragon Lord retreat to the Lightbringer and took a few potshots at the TIE that was heading towards him, abandoning his old target.

"Yah hoo!" Rick shouted as he vaped another TIE Advanced. "I am an ace!"

"Keep the com clear!" Darryl responded, distracted. Whoever was flying that Advanced was good, real good. He dropped into a kickback Koine and the TIE continued to pursue him.

"But he was too focused." Darryl thought as he watched the TIE spin out of control after a hit from an X-wing. "Thanks Grant." Giving a salute to the X-wing pilot and glancing at the screen to see where the next target would come from. So far the motley crew of X-wings, O-wings and A-wings used to form misshapen squadron were doing pretty well against the odds. Most of the Blood Axe were licking their wounds, if they survived an engagement, but there were some real suicidal ones left. Those were the ones giving the most trouble. Just how Rick and Nro'din liked them. Crazy cowboys.

"I am moving in to defend our cruiser from the heavy fire it is taking from that Corvette. Anyone interested?" The com lit up with a shower of volunteers. Once again, the Rebel's were holding their own through sheer determination.

Aria smelled them before she saw them. There was an overwhelming scent of dried blood, sweat and desperation. Everything in her wanted to pull back or decrease her sensitivity but she was the first defense against these things and she couldn't turn away now. When the creatures were within visual range of Cuntry and Aria, the lights blinked out. They could here the sound of the of the metallic feet scrape the ground "Cover me, I am about to reveal our location. There's no way we can fight these things in the dark." Aria whispered into the comlink.

"Yer covered cher."

Opening her pack, she pulled out a long slim rod. Bending it quickly and then rapping it on the ground, Aria threw it a few meters in front of her. Before it even hit the ground, the glowrod activated, giving the hallway a sickly greenish hue. She quickly repeated the exercise, throwing a glowrod further to the left. Two of the bugs advanced on Aria but one was pushed back by a blast from Cuntry's missile launcher.

"It be time to go cher!" Cuntry yelled, as he moved back, continuously firing his blaster.

Aria ignore him and let the bug get within arms reach. It screeched as its claw reached out to cut the slender Dathomirian in half. A tiny clang could be heard as a small metallic object was tossed in the creatures mouth. Aria jumped out of the reach of the claw and scrambled to her feet, running full strength. "Cuntry, it's a live one!" They both sped down the corridor and managed to duck in a doorway before the creature suffered a severe case of indigestion. The thermal detonator ripped its inside out and pieces of him were still falling when Aria and Cuntry ducked back toward the group.

Angered, the Gray Death picked up speed and chased the two retreating figures, closing in meter by meter. From out of makeshift doorways and under carefully piled debris came the first of the assault, heavy artillery. Blaster fire lit up the hallway and some of the blasts were actually causing some damage. Some soldiers carried the very expensive ion discharger cannon and used it sparingly in the initial battle. The weapon would be more necessary for the melee to come.

Aria skidded to a halt a few feet out of the fire zone. Pausing for a moment to catch her breath, she followed quickly behind Cuntry, who had ducked into a doorway. She was still amazed at this man's speed and agility, he recuperated fast too! She was still trying to catch her breath as they ducked through one of a series of lightsaber-made holes in the walls. Dropping her pack in the second hole, she quickly scooped up another pack. Once they were sure they were behind the main firing zone, Aria carved a hole back out into the fire zone. They were once again on point.

Cuntry took lead this time and they were quickly back in the sickly green part of the corridor.

"Over there!" Aria pointed at the entrance on the other end of the corridor. Grabbing some material out of her pack, they began setting up mines. It only took a little while to coat the entrance with mines, triggered to go off with movement. Now all they had to do was wait.

"Where is our backup?" she hissed.

"Don't know cher, must still be makin' dat ruckus back der."

"I am going, the element of surprise is still with us."

"Don't do no such thing. We follow orders." The noise coming from behind them distracted Aria's initial impulsiveness and the two soldiers coming out of the hole were staring down the barrel of two heavy blasters.

The mousy head moving right behind them was immediately recognized.

"Jacen! Where have you guys been? Did you get a fresh pack?" Two more people came out the hole, one was a female commando and the other a med tech.

"Some of those bugs rushed the guys with the big ion cannon. They called in a few of us with lightsabers for hand to hand. It caused a slight delay in the plans."

Aria could see he was limping. "You okay to move?"

"I am fine, Jaina isn't. They wouldn't let me stay behind but she's hurt pretty bad." His voice caught.

"Jacen, hold it together. We have to get out of here with those miners. Focus on that and Jaina will be better before you know it. This is a fact." She tried her best to mock Tenel Ka. It worked and he smiled.

"Let's do this." Jacen moved to the head of the group.

"Guys, we gotta move," Aria said, impatiently The two commandos shuffled behind her carrying a blaster big enough to knock down two squadron's of soldiers. Several more people had come out the hole created by Aria's saber. One heavy artillery gun was set up and several commando's carried a missile launcher. The med tech substituted her kit for a heavy blaster and was getting pointers from Cuntry on aiming. The last of the reinforcements slipped through the hole and several more glow rods were added to the first two. The sound of the bugs retreating could be felt by the slight wavering of the floor. They'd got in place just in time.

"Here they come!" A very overeager young soldier shouted.

"Keep yer mouth shut, ya here! Dey don't need to know where we be hidin'." Cuntry tensed up as the first bug came into sight. By now most of the fray was hand to hand with the occasional pot shot from a lucky bolt. Everyone kept to the shadows of the corridor until about half of the bugs were flowing through the front entry of the corridor. The click on the comlink was the signal and once again the room was engulfed in blaster fire. Several bugs were destroyed immediately, but more we re standing. The snap hiss of lightsaber's igniting echoed through out the room and the Jedi began their merciless attach on the remaining bugs, pushing them back toward the corridor where the mines lay.

By the time the bugs decided to retreat, their numbers had dwindled down to only four standing. "Ally group two reporting a success," the message was punctuated by the blast of the last mines decimating the remaining bugs. "Please report."

The pause lasted an eternity before group one reported in, "Ganderson here, Ally group one reporting a success. Minimum casualties. We will be there in a moment."

"Understood Lieutenant. Ally group two awaiting orders." She tried to bury her contempt but a smidge got out. She saw Jacen standing over one of the soldiers, Aria remembered him as the eager voice shouting out the report of the bugs approach. She frowned when Jacen bent over and closed the boy's eyes. Her anger boiled just hands reach from losing control. She tried to calm down by breathing slowly but was instead rewarded with coughing fits. The medics were only caring for those with immediate injuries, Aria's cracked rib would have to wait.

"How much more of this can we take? Our numbers have been decreased by half and there are a growing list of injured." Jacen did not look up.

"I don't know Jacen, I really don't know. But I know this, if we give up we aren't going to survive for long and I for one have a strong taste for revenge."

"That is the Dark Side." He responded.

"No, if I go hunt up the creator of this menagerie of bugs and execute a slow painful death on him after I have murdered everyone and thing associated with him without care, that would be the Dark Side. This is just barely controlled anger."

"Same difference," he supplied, and smiled, "but right now I feel the same way too." The first of Ally group came through the hole and the activity increased as the severely injured were caravaned back to the beginning of the corridor.

"Report." Ganderson avoided Aria and went directly to Cuntry.

"Dem bugs went in der, sir and dey don't come back. She sez der is a group of miners about 100 meters that way, something 'bout der fear she can sense. It would take 'bout an hour to clear out dat hall but I'm not vouching for the steadiness of dem halls. De mines knock 'em halls around real bad."

Tenel Ka touched Jacen's shoulder. "Jacen, my friend, Jaina is okay. She is talking and helping some of the more severely injured. It was just a concussion."

Aria moved away to let the two of them talk but skirted as far away from Ganderson as possible, waiting for their orders.

"How long has he been exposed?"

"Readings are saying 15 minutes or more."

"Is it fifteen minutes or is it more? We need specifics Elwood."

"Between fifteen to twenty minutes."

"For now we will leave him on the heart simulator and the respir. Give him a stim patch as well, in case of respiratory failure. As soon as this battle is over we need to move this man to the nearest med center and give full treatment. There might be a chance that the exposure was minimum and his brain still functions."

"Yes sir!" The orderly programmed the information into the Emdee unit and they moved on to the next injured soldier, leaving Miles unconscious.

"He is breathing. I want him moved to the bacta tank, now!" There were three other physicians like himself in the makeshift medical center, all the rest of the help was full automation. Heatcut disliked machines but for now, they were the only help he was going to get. He grimaced as a TwoOneBee unit exacted a similar bacta diagnosis to another soldier. This was his competition, he had to be as fast and flawless as a machine.

Swallowing his pride, he moved on to a victim with third degree burns. "It's hopeless, note his image and take his info. Family will have to be informed." The ship rocked from a blast but the Lightbringer held up under the pummel. Adjusting his balance, Heatcut sped up. So many injured, so little hope for them all.

After Jason had acquired the new target, it tried to do some maneuvers that would stump the average pilot, but Jason wasn't a novice and he had the Force with him. Jason got a target lock minutes later, but before he could launch, the target got away. A few minutes later, Jason thought he saw another squadron of TIE Advanced. As Jason flew closer, he knew he was right and reported to the Lightbringer that another TIE Advanced squadron was around. Once in firing range, Jason fired at one, and was surprised it retreated. Since they were probably all going to retreat if fired on, Jason turned around and went back to the main battle for harder targets.

Blackhawk 3 was silently observing the battle. He was the one who first noticed the ship coming towards them. "Company, Blackhawks," he murmured over the comm channel. He ignited his engines and began to move forward. Just in time, as it turned out, because the incoming ship fired at him. The shot barely missed instead catching his shields and weakening them slightly. Blackhawk 3 spun around, heading for one of the jump points that had been preprogrammed into their nav computers.

"Steady, 3. They're backing off." Blackhawk 4 told him. "Remember the Admiral's orders, though. We jump as soon as we're spotted to secure observation location Beta." "He's right. Blackhawks, prepare to jump," 1 ordered. The Blackhawk squadron came to a full about, their natural coordination showing in the effortless way each ship peeled from the flock and U-turned like someone preparing a banana for eating. Instead of entering hyperspace away from the battle, they entered below and facing it. And the starlines flickered, and the ships were gone.

In a private chamber, onboard the Scythe...

The Undertaker pressed the button to save the recording as it flickered into the familiar scenes of hyperspace, smiling. Excellent. Blackhawk is performing exactly as I ordered. Few thought it could be done, but the reckless Blackhawk squadron has been, if not tamed, at least domesticated a bit. Now their true potential can shine through.

Flipping a few more switches, the Undertaker opened a channel to the bridge. "Captain Regius. Status report of our forces?" There was the noise of buttons being pressed. "All 21 ships are ready to move at your command, sir. Every one of them is supplied and ready." "Superb, Captain. Order the fleet into hyperspace for the Fury Sector at these coordinates," the Undertaker said, tapping some keys to give the bridge the location. Not long after, the ships in the Admiral's task force were surrounded by flickering starlines of their own.

Blackhawk squadron easily arrived at the new watchdog location. "Positions," 1 said, and Blackhawk instantly formed up, watching the battle from farther out in space this time. The background of deep space will hide us from prying eyes as we continue our mission. thought Blackhawk 1. He pondered for a moment. I wonder if the Undertaker would approve of a little help in his profiling efforts. Yes... I think I'll see what weaknesses I can dredge up about these people, too. He may be able to use them.

And with that, Blackhawk 1 began studying the battle with something of a vengeance.

Meanwhile, Blackhawk 3 perused the scene. Annoying Rebel. Shooting at me. If I can help it, he'll be the first the Admiral lets me take down. He grimly eyed the ship that had shot at him as it wound it's way through the battle nearby. Blackhawk 2 was also on the watch. Rebels. he thought in disgust. They make me sick. I've seen mynocks that could fly rings around them. Blood Axe; now there's a force to be reckoned with. Too bad some have already been shot down. I'd have liked to meet them.

"Interesting fight, isn't it?" 2 asked over the comm, watching in pleasure as a Blood Axe member took out two Rebel fighters in swift succession.

"Quite the show," spoke up 3. "Indeed." 1 added his assent. Then Blackhawk went silent once more.

The Scythe pulled out of hyperspace somewhere in between the mining colony and base planet of Jarkov Biologics. "Is the Scythe ready?" he asked Captain Regius from his meditation chamber. "Yes, sir. Everything's set up the way you want it." "Exquisite, Captain. I'll be waiting. Inform me when Blackhawk has selected a target." "Yes, sir." Regius responded and went back to monitoring.

"End of the line, I guess." Bjiatocah surveyed the sealed door in front of her. She looked over to Sting. "Sure you can do this?"

"You doubt me?" was his smug reply.

With an almost inaudible POP, Sting teleported to the other side of the wall, then back. "No bugs." he reported. "There were, however, a lot of dead bodies. Some looked to be Rebel troops, so I guess that someone's been through here."

Bjiatocah had him get to work, then talked with Squak. "Have you had any luck yet?"

"Yeah. The security protocols on the Bioterrorists comm blockade is tough, but I think I know how to disengage, and how to stop their outgoing and incoming signals. I just need more juice."

Bjiatocah studied the map that she had of the facility, then nodded. "You'll have it."

"One other thing. While I was scanning the comm channels, I think I picked up another transmission. It looks like a reflected fragment of a tightbeam transmission. I've never seen this encryption before. Do you want me to work on it?"

"No. Work on the task at hand. Save it and we'll figure out what it was when we have some leisure time."

The Major sheltered the transport in an alcove, and about an hour later, Sting gave the signal. Everyone covered their ears, and what followed was almost deafening anyway within the confines of the corridor. However, when Sting was done, a nice big hole was left in the corridor, leading out.

They headed straight for the nearest hangar bay, and found it easily. Whoever had come through had done a thorough job of clearing the place out, because they didn't run into any resistance. When they got to the hangar, she almost laughed. Inside was a large shuttle, the freighter belonging to that grenade boy, and the Rolling Thunder. She signaled Shred. "Get those people onto the Thunder. I'll disengage the security protocols. There's a med droid and bacta tank in there, and those people can get some rest and spread out in the cargo bay."

With that done, she turned to Norma. "So, Squirt, do you think the four of you together can teleport me with you?"

"I'd rather not try. I'm not sure what trying to teleport a non Zuu Shi physiology might do."

"Okay, then we won't risk it." she said. She engaged Tasha's security protocols once again, and then they headed out down the long corridor strewn with dead bodies. As Shred, who was on point, started to move around a corner, Bjiatocah hauled him up short. She pointed to the map. "I think I found a shortcut."

Norma and Sting exchanged glances, but said nothing as Bjiatocah explained her plan.

Ibran sighed. "Thanks Alia... now to see if what I have in mind will work," he said. Slowly, he stood and walked into the hole in the wall. He slipped inside and felt around with the Force. Something was there, all right. Ibran called out in the language he assumed the bugs to use. He waited to see if any of them came near, using the green glow of his lightsaber to see by. Slowly, a bug came into view. Ibran called out again. The bug came closer... then attacked, slicing at him with it's tail.

Leaping into the air, Ibran threw his lightsaber in a spearing cast at the bug. It rolled to the left, although the lightsaber still pierced its side. Recalling it to his hand telekinetically, he took up a fighting stance. The bug, meanwhile, had roared in pain and was now leaping towards him, wicked looking claws extended. Ibran slowly backed up against the wall with the bug closing in. It leaped at him... and Ibran dove out of the way at the last second, allowing the bug to smash its head into the wall.

Ibran took full advantage of the bug's momentary daze, rolling in and slicing off several legs in a broad sweep of his lightsaber. The bug tumbled to its side, momentarily helpless and Ibran stabbed its head, his blade sliding into the creature's brain like a stick falling into a pond.

Ignoring the fresh pain in his newly aggravated wounds, Ibran stood. 'Again, I fail... I suppose I'm just lucky that this time I was the only one who suffered,' he thought, gingerly touching a spot that was now bleeding again. Thank the Force for small favors.

MOVE ON TO PART V
RETURN TO THE ARCHIVES

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