Lost Baggage

[Corstar]

You'll have a chance to kill the Sith. That's what you want isn't it?

The ship is supposed to shudder like that...

You never know, you may find that one you've been looking for. The pay is pretty good too. what do you say Corstar?

This was a horrible idea. Myn thought as his head slammed back into the wall yet again.

Luckily the JS suit took the brunt of it, instead of crushing his skull, the hit only gave him a slight headache.

"Who gave us this piece of junk again?" Myn asked outloud. His com was dialed down, it would have problems transmitting to the other side of the cargo hold.

"Republic Intel. Gotta love 'em." A voice answered out of the black.

There were four mercenary "commandos", a Republic Commando and one Jedi Master stashed inside the crate. The Mercenaries were wearing various types of JS suits. All were discovered ex members of the Lightnings. An old merc group who had disbanded after extreme losses during one of it's many wars. The Republic Commando was wearing one of the latest most high tech armor systems ever designed by the verpines. The Jedi Master had a lighter, scout version of the armor system.

She couldn't support the weight of the real version.

The Jedi Master was Aidel Retrac Eitan. She had been chosen for the specific assignment because of her knowledge of Dantooine, ability to complete her missions and most of all, her ability to use the Force.

She wasn't the strongest in the Force in the Jedi Order, but she was up near the top, and she was still a field operative, which made her a logical choice.

Aidel used the Force to "see" the men in the crate around her.

Lieutenant Gazard Krey was one of the Republic's top operatives. He had completed SA-9 training and had been an intelligence operative for almost 7 of his 12 years in the Republic Armed Forces. He was the squad leader, being knowledgeable in all the proficiencies of all the squad members in the situation where one was killed.

Operator Mezzine Flare was one of the lightnings. One of the least experienced of the Lightnings, he had joined shortly before their last stand. He had been good enough to stay alive, which is what counted. The young computer technician was however, experienced with Mandalorian, Echani, Verpine, Republic and various other classes of computer systems and spoke almost a dozen languages. He was also proficiant in demolitions. His JS suit had several smaller detpacks attached to it, along with several tripmines.

Operator Thomas Saiteck was the heavy gunner of the Lightnings. His JS-25 suit was modified to link directly into the heavy rifle he carried. The JH-3B9 Repeating Rifle was designed off of the custom JH-3A3 Blaster Rifle carried by the rest of the squad. The JH-3A was known for being able to shoot through a flying airspeeder at three hundred meters. The JH-3B9 was a heavier varient, often requiring a heavier blaster pack to work at full efficacy. The 3B had been modified by the Republic Armory Commission, with taxpayer credits, to link directly to the JS suit, giving it almost half again more power. This gave Saiteck the ability to set his weapon on automatic fire. The older man was an NCO in the Lightnings. He had been on assignment on Mon Calamari when the Lightnings had attacked the Chiss. The older man was well experienced and was normally the XO.

Operator Mathew White was the squad designated marksman. He carried a J-3A3 with some slight modifications. The weapon had recieved a range finder and 8x ACOG scope which sat slightly off center half way down the barrel. White was known for his luck, having gone through five engagements with the Chiss and surviving.

Operator Myn Corstar was the "leader" of the Lightnings. He had no command over the squad, but made an excellent XO. He was wearing the typical JS suit and carrying the J-3A3, he was carrying some of the extra explosives and ammo. Aidel could sense a deep darkness within him. The Echani had proven himself time and time again in battles all across the galaxy. Having the scars to prove it, it seemed that lack of luck didn't affect him.

Aidel gritted her teeth as the ship shook again.

"Hang on, we're entering the atmo." A voice came over the com.

Aidel felt her lunch rising up as the ship lurched again to the side, slamming her head into the front of her helmet. She blinked it away, shaking her head from side to side to clear it.

"They accepted clearance. Hang on."

"I hate this part." A voice said over the com.

"Quit the chatter."

-----

Three hours later

White picked up the side panel and slowly moved it to the side, two rifle barrels accompanied his hands. At this point, if they were discovered, the mission was doomed. The nearly silent verpine carbines tracked back and forth across the dark spaceport. Several troopers were patrolling the perimeter with a technician working on a Sith Starfighter. Other than that, it was quiet.

Six forms in black armor slid through the shadows out of the spaceport, hugging the walls.

It took four hours to crawl to the Jedi Temple, well within the time limit as the freighter was being unloaded.

"Target in sight. Getting to overwatch position." White mumbled over the com. He crouched up, low and ran towards a nearby cliff. As he clamored up the side, Krey gestured towards the Jedi Temple. The five commandos ran the last hundred yards. Krey checked the door leading to the basement. It was locked.

Flare moved up, it took eight and a half seconds by the mission timer for him to crack the lock. It slid open whisper quiet. The first thing that greeted the squad was a dead Jedi.

The man had been shot several times at close range. His lightsaber was nowhere to be seen.

"Clear."

"Clear."

"Yeah. No explosives either."

"Saiteck, hold this position."

The squad moved deeper into the temple, searching for their target.

[Regnier]

"Ah...another day, another hundred shipments of who-knows-what going who-knows-where. Damn, but I hate this job."

"Could be worse, Jhon...remember working for Czerka? I prefer a couple hundred a day to a couple thousand, each and every of which have to be meticulously checked."

"Point taken. Still, all you ever had to do was run the ID sigs and point out the funny lookin' ones. Speaking of which; find any funny lookin' ones?"

"Nope. Well...that one rusty crate that came in a few hours back threw me for a loop, but she checked out in the end. I don't know, maybe I was just looking too hard."

Jhon glanced at the only other sith in the hanger control room; actually, she was the only other person. She looked exceptionally...bored. Not much different than he was sure he did as well. Monitoring incoming traffic and checking freight on sith-controlled Dantooine was about as entertaining as watching grass grow. They didn't even have to inspect any freight first-hand, he just checked the manifest. Checking it was the deck officer's job. Jhon suspected the man would be starting to lose his mind about now. "Maybe you should check it out. It'd give us something to do other than pazaak."

Jhon's counterpart, Marla, gave him a smug look. "You mean it'd give you a break from gettin' your ass handed to you by a woman in cards. Nah, I think I'll just rest my eyes for a bit. Lemme know if any ships come in. Or any officers. And go take out a loan so I can drain your funds even further."

-----

"Kormann?"

Silence.

"Hey, c'mon, I know you're in there."

Still nothing.

"Investigator Kormann! Wake up, you lazy ass!

Vos shot ramrod straight from his former position of laying slumped forward on his makeshift desk. Diana Baltier. The only other Investigator on the planet. He dropped his head back onto his desk again. "What now...?" He muttered out of the side of his mouth at the comm' unit beside his head. Nazante Vos had never particularly been fond of his life as a member of the sith Empire, but life recently had become increasingly...unpleasant.

Firstly, he had spent nearly a month setting up his role on Dantooine, and when it had finally come to pass, he and his temporary command had performed flawlessly. Yet, before he could really accomplish anything, the Republic had surrendered. Damnable Jedi. And of course, as Nazante Vos didn't really exist anymore, and therefore could not have been involved, and Yusanis Kormann had still technically been on Muunilist at the time of the invasion, he sure as hell wasn't getting any recognition for his services. He was barely getting paid for them.

And now, to top it all off...he, Yusanis Kormann, had officially been stationed on Dantooine as one of ten, count it, ten SSF officers for the entire planet, and he was one of the only two actual Investigators. The other eight were simple Patrolmen. Granted, there wasn't a great deal of settlement on Dantooine, so it didn't exactly require a great deal of policing, but there were still a lot of soldiers planetside. It would have helped if the military actually cooperated with SSF, but as it was, the SSF weren't generally very well liked by anybody. Ten men and women with little to no armor and generally nothing more than side-arms generally didn't hold much sway when it came to disputes involving the military. People didn't listen to the police. People didn't like the police. Which also explained why his office looked like a janitor's closet and his desk was smaller than he was.

Vos had already had to resort to incapacitating eight soldiers in the past two weeks.

"We got a problem at the cantina, and I'm gonna need a little help over here. The military and alcohol kind. Bring a carbine, and make it quick, Yusanis."

Vos cursed whatever ethereal being had cursed his luck so. "Screw a carbine, the twins'll do just fine. Give me five to get out there." He said as he stood up and pulled his gunbelt from the back of his chair and started for the door. "And, Diana?"

"Yeah, 'Nis?"

"Keep your head down."

[Corstar]

"Krey, you got our six."

"Excuse me?"

Myn turned and glared at the other man through his helmet.

"You said you'd do it my way, I'm taking command."

The Commando looked at the Jedi Master, wordlessly and moved to cover the rear of the squad as it moved through the hallways. Staying close to the wall, they moved slowly. Flare had to scan every three feet ahead before they could move, for booby traps. It took time when they found them to disable them. Flare raised up his hand and the group stopped in mid-step.

Flare leaned down and ran a scanner over a device that was trying hard to be like all the others on the wall. If it wasn't for the fact that it was an almost bare wall, it may not have been noticed.

"It's a trick. Don't disable it." Aidel muttered over the com.

"Would I be an explosives tech if I didn't know that?" Flare snapped back, stepping over it. He moved past it two steps, still in one piece, turned and beckoned the rest of the group.

"Only a little farther. Let's up the pace."

-----

The Archive room was a mess. To say the least. Blast marks covering the walls, several slashes as if a lightsaber had missed it's target...or not.

The databanks were nothing but melted glass all over the floor.

"Wow." Flare stopped, looking at the room.

"The Jedi were ordered to destroy the data banks when they realized the Sith were taking over. Looks like they did a pretty good job." Aidel walked through the glass, ignoring the light crunching sounds that accompanied her footsteps. Thousands upon thousands of terrabits of data were inaccessible in each shard she was stepping on. Useful only as art.

Aidel put out her hand, focusing at a tapestry hanging on the wall. She pulled down on it using the Force, causing a trigger to be set off. A door sized piece of the wall retracted several feet away, giving access to what looked like a vault.

Aidel walked up to it, keying a name and password, the door opened. Stepping in, she looked around. Flare and Corstar moved up to look in over her shoulder for a moment before returning to watching the balconies over the archive room.

"Got it. Some data packs too." Aidel came out, stuffing the holocron in a satchel, filled with data packs. "Looks like sensor readings from the battle. Not sure though."

"Great. Time to get out of..."

"Guys, we have a problem."

"SITHSPAWN. Always happens." Myn cursed in Echani for a moment before moving towards the door. "What's going on up there White?"

"There's movement all across the fields. Looks like a security patrol. They're staying away from the temple at the moment but they're not exactly moving away either."

"Thanks for the heads up. We're on the way out right now. Get ready to move."

"Roger."

The group hurried through the corridors back to the entrance, Flare leading the way, scanning for explosives as they went. Without incidents, they moved up within several meters of Saiteck.

"Status?"

"None of them have come close to the doors that I can see." Saiteck had placed a large rock in between the sliding durasteel doors. It gave him a small shooting port and visibility over the front deck of the Jedi Temple, but it was also somewhat constricting.

"Where are they?" Myn moved up along side Saiteck, looking out the hole in the door. The man placed a waypoint marker, showing an exact location on Corstar's hud. The Echani grimaced.

"Right on our extract. Well, I guess we wait."

[Regnier]

"Marla? Hey, dock officer's calling. Says it's about a freighter."

"What about a freighter?"

"Says one of 'em is in the way. I checked the schedule, and he's right, it should have moved quite awhile ago. It's that one you were talking about awhile ago."

Marla stifled a curse as she glared at the man beside her. "That's what you woke me for? Just tell him to go give the pilot a rude awakening."

Jhon shook his head. "That's just it, I already did a few minutes ago; he's calling back. Says he can't find the pilot, and the thing isn't automated. Plus, he says there wasn't any cargo on it. Nothing real, anyways. Just enough useless stuff to make it look legitimate."

"Aw, hell...well, I'm gonna call it, then...damn, should have listened to my gut. Call it in and get someone down here to take that crate to base camp three ASAP. Inform command and one of those Investigators that we may have a security breach. I'll go with the ship and help them check it out. Move, Sarthin!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

-----

"Hey, Top, wait a sec."

The man at the head of the patrol paused and held up a fist. "Squad, hold up! What's goin' on, Koz?"

"Thought I saw something by the Enclave. Something that wasn't there the last time we passed. Mind if I borrow your scanner?"

The Sergeant moved to the side of the group and tossed his rear-guard his scanner. "Think it's involved in that alert command gave? Or just some more idiots with the bright idea of breaking into the temple?"

Kozlowski held the device to his eyes, scanned the hill opposite the Enclave to appear normal, shifted slightly, turned towards the Enclave's entrance, and froze. The Enclave was more restricted than the command building. And someone was staring back. An armed someone. In heavy armor. And one that was not Sith. "Good novas...CONTACT, ENCLAVE ENTRANCE!"

"What? Hellfire, Boover, call it in! The rest of you scum get moving! Shor, take your fireteam left, I'll take the others right! Keep your separation, line formation, move fast, and stay low! GO!"

[Corstar]

Saiteck cursed in a half a dozen languages as he opened fire. He had been tracking one of the men halfway through the patrol when another raised his arm. First thought was officer. He became target number one.

"White, designate targets, only fire if you need to. Saiteck, keep their heads down. Krey, get that damn door open." Myn shouted over the com. The Heavy Blaster rifle Saiteck held was firing fully automatic. The rounds weren't even slowing down when they contacted Sith Armor.

Myn moved up alongside Saiteck, directing his fire for a moment before turning to look at Flare. "Jam their com frequencies and call in the freighter."

"Yessir."

As hundreds of round streamed downrange at the sith troopers, who had little to no cover, the slicer hacked into the local com boxes. A harsh static burst was sent through all com frequencies not under use by the small commando team. An electronic equivalent to a flashbang. At the spaceport, the Freighter's ramp retracted as it started to lift out of the spaceport.

Saiteck muttered something as he moved through the now open door to crouch behind a low concrete railing, still firing over it, it was almost a duck shoot. A red diamond would appear then quickly disappear a few moments after fire was raked over it. White was doing damage without even firing his weapon.

[Regnier]

It had barely been thirty seconds, and suddenly, Kozlowski realized that he was the only man left of his patrol. He only knew that because he had counted bodies; there was no way he'd be able to reach anyone over his comm'. If it even worked anymore. He couldn't even hear his own thoughts after that...whatever it had been. Not that he had any illusions of surviving much longer, anyways. His cover consisted of a mound of dirt barely an inch higher than himself. He could barely breath without exposing himself. So whether it worked or not, he was putting what breath he had into his comm' unit. Hell, he could even tell he was making any noise anymore.

Eventually, though, one of Saiteck's numerous rounds punched through the dirt mound, and suddenly, he wasn't.

-----

"...the hell...?" Jhon muttered as the freighter's ramp retracted, just after he stepped inside. Then it started to move.

"...the HELL?!? Marla! A little help!" He yelled over his communicator.

"I didn't do it, what do you want me to do?!"

"I don't know! Something! Call somebody!"

At the silent reply, Jhon figured he probably wasn't going to get much help, so he did what he thought was best. Grabbed the controls and jerked hard left and down, back towards the hanger. Suddenly he realized that it would have been a better idea if he knew how to fly.

-----

"Colonel! Fire reported to the north, sir! Wurth called it in, said he heard blaster-fire!"

"Well then what are you standing around here for? Get somebody out there! Wurth heard it, you tell him to go check it. I want to know everything five damn minutes ago, got it?"

"Yessir!"

-----

"This sucks balls. Squad, get up and move, we get to take a peek at the Enclave! Keep tight, watch your angles, and call out anything out of place. You die, it's your damn fault. You get somebody else killed, you better hope you stay alive, 'cause he'll be waiting for you in hell! Now move!"

-----

Not but a few minutes after the initial fire had begun, twelve Sith soldiers crested a hill near the Enclave, close enough to spot the bodies.

"Frack...Lote, call this in! We got trouble! Rest of you, start moving, find the bastards that did this!"

[Corstar]

"MOVE!"

The squad was breathing hard as they ran over the ridge. they had circled alongside the enclave and were moving into the canyon system a short ways behind it.

"Go go go go! You have men right on your tail. I'm moving." White's com indicator flashed as he spoke.

Saiteck was at the rear of the group, running backwards in the dark. Sure enough after only a few dozen yards, he tripped onto his back. Coming up in a complete roll, he turned and ran.

Aidel was breathing hard into the com, her lightsaber making a light clamor as it banged against her armored hip. She unclipped it, holding it in one hand, with her carbine in the other.

As they exited the small canyon, they jogged up through an open meadow. Reaching the peak of the hill, the group all rested on their haunches for a moment before looking towards the sky.

"There!" Aidel pointed towards the dark shape going towards their position. The freighter was lumbering towards them as fast as it's twin engines could carry it.

Myn's rifle snapped up to his shoulder as he targeted a figure rushing out of the canyon.

"Friendly friendly!" White yelled, his IFF showing up above his head.

"Get your rear up here you sithspawn!"

[Regnier]

"It's just autopilot...come on, man, it's just autopilot! You can override it. You can over...ride...it...what the-?"

As Jhon looked out from the cockpit of the shuddering freighter to see...

-----

The point-man of Wurth's squad come barreling out of the canyon, not ten second behind White.

"Lote, Vermil, break left, you two, break right! Squad, open fire!"

Two men, including the point-man, took an immediate right at full tilt towards a large rock. Two others went right and dove for a small ditch. The other eight pinned themselves behind whatever cover the canyon held and started cracking off bolts of energy at the armored troops on the hill. Wurth himself pretty much knew his men were screwed, as the only thing they had he imagined would make even a dent in that armor was the one under-barrel grenade launcher in his squad. He didn't have a marksman, and his support gunner didn't actually have a great deal of penetration...not enough, anyways.

He indicated his single grenadier with his hand, made a simple motion, and indicated the hill. The man nodded from behind the section of rock he had chosen to hide behind, primed his grenade launcher while sneaking quick peaks around the edge of the rock wall, swung around the corner gun first, took a half second to aim, fired, and swung back behind cover.

-----

"Fine, I give up, you win...stupid computer." Jhon muttered as he kicked the side of the control console. He now remembered why he had never applied for a more technological role with the Sith. Simply pressing the auto-pilot control did absolutely nothing, he couldn't figure out how to override it, and he was getting a lot closer to the blaster-fire. Being rattled around so much his brain was probably backwards didn't exactly help, either. He only could think of two options. Neither appealed to him, and he doubted he'd survive either.

"Screw it. I should've stayed in bed today."

With a muttered curse, Jhon tightened the straps on the pilot's chair, pulled his side-arm, and started turning the control console into slag.

[Corstar]

"Deal with them, the ship is almost he--" Myn turned, firing his carbine. Then White tackled the Jedi.

"GRENADE"

The heat from the explosion warmed Myn's face. He felt shrapnel ricochet off all over his body. His body wouldn't respond. He realized he was staring up at the sky. Ears ringing, Myn shook his head, trying to push himself up.

White was smoking but up on one knee, firing with his rifle as fast as it would cycle. Aidel was backing up the hill, deflecting shots with her lightsaber, one handed, firing with a pistol with the other. At this point the squad was hardly aiming.

"Saiteck?"

"He's down the hill." Flare's voice replied. Looking towards the IFF, Myn realized that his viewscreen was cracked. Too close for comfort.

Saiteck was stumbling backwards up the hill, his rucksack was on the ground, on fire. Stop, drop and roll didn't work so well on an incline.

Then it all went to hell.

Before the freighter touched down, it veered off suddenly, yawing to one side, before stalling and slamming into the ground with a loud bang. The resounding explosion of the turbines eating dirt sent tremors through the ground.

Pushing himself up, Myn realized that the combat strap to his carbine had snapped. The weapon was gone. Not taking the time to look for it, one of his pistols came out of it's holster, snapping to his hand as he fired in a two handed grip.

"Fall back." He grunted into the com unit. As the group fell back yet once again, Flare tossed a fragmentation grenade towards the troopers down the hill. Myn felt yet another ping off his armor and cursed in Huttese before downing the trooper who had tried to sneak up on the Echani.

[Regnier]

The grenadier cursed, repeatedly, as he flattened himself against the rock wall, his cover gradually becoming smaller and smaller. He hated not having his own weapon. His old magazine-fed launcher was more accurate, and would have leveled the entire hill in a few seconds. Instead, he'd missed. And now he was screwed.

Wurth, however, was more concerned with the frag that had just rolled beside the man closest to the edge of the canyon. He shouted a warning over the fire and tackled the man nearest him to the ground as the pointman turned and simply dropped himself onto the grenade, smothering it with his torso. The blast sheared him in half, sending his legs off in one direction and his upper torso the other, though hardly any shrapnel passed through the back plates of his armor.

"Hall, get the hell back to outpost four and find out where my fracking reinforcements are! NOW!"

The diminutive human woman nodded, turned, and bolted back down the canyon. Wurth was suddenly struck with the realization of why the engineer had outperformed his entire squad in any excersize involving running. He also wondered why she wasn't on point.

His mind snapped back to reality as another of his squad's status indicators blinked red. That left half his original number, counting Hall and himself.

-----

The odds rapidly changed ever so slightly, however, as two squads crested a hill opposite the canyon. Four heavy gunners dropped flat to optimize cover and simultaneously started putting out a sheet of fire, two snipers moved back to separate hills and began prioritizing targets, and two grenadiers set up behind the hill. As soon as the marksmen tagged the target hill, the grenadiers started firing over the hill.

-----

"-urth! -an yo- -r me? -mnit, ge- -elay up!"

Wurth's comm crackled static for a few seconds, and a familiar voice he had come to know quite well barked over it. He had never before been able to say he'd been honestly happy to hear that voice.

"Wurth, status!"

"Hell in a hand-basket, sir! We just got reinforced by two squads, but I don't think that'll be enough, sir! We have six confirmed hostile contacts, one has a lightsaber, and all of 'em are in damn heavy armor! We seem to have knocked down their escape route, somehow, but we need heavy support, sir!"

"I have four landspeeders en route to your position now, over. What do you need to take these bastards down, Wurth?"

"Requesting AT support, sir!"

"...what the hell do you need anti-tank for, Wurth?! That's infantry!"

"Small arms ain't doin' jack against these guys, sir, and we just hit 'em with a forty mike-mike. They're all still standing, and- frack!" Wurth jerked away from the corner of rock as a bolt punched through it, sending shrapnel across the side of his helmet. "Sir, my grenadier is pinned, and those two squads don't have anything as big as I do! I need heavier support, over!"

"Confirmed, Wurth. I have an AT unit on the move now, ETA eight minutes. F and C Company are moving to you now, four minutes out. And because you asked nicely, I have two hover tanks mobilizing, ETA eleven minutes. You should be seeing those speeders real soon, son. Now give 'em hell, soldier, and try to bring one back alive if possible!"

...this blows. "Yessir! Air support, sir?"

"Unavailable at this time. I've sent far more than necessary as it is, anyways."

-----

In the deep black of space, if one looked close enough, they might catch a fleeting glimpse of a black spot where one not ought to be. And that's exactly what a crewman aboard a picket ship at the farthest edge of the system thought he saw as he gazed out through a porthole. Nothing registered on his scanner, however, and at second glance, there was nothing. Nothing but the deep expanse of space that had always been there. Eventually, he concluded his eyes had been playing tricks on him after a long shift.

But they had not.

[Corstar]

"We need to get off this damn hill!"

"Cover cover cover!"

"GRENADE!"

Myn cursed as the pistol overheated. His left hand came up firing. The two blaster pistols were firing as fast as their capacitors would allow. A sith trooper unfortunate enough to step around his cover was flung back into the stone wall behind him as electronics enhanced fire walked the rounds right up his body.

Fragments ricocheted off his armor yet once again, causing him to duck partially.

The group made it's way down the hill through the field which was pickmarked with craters. Turning and firing as they moved through the brush, the mercenaries made slow progress.

A fire was soon set among the brush, causing IR to become completely useless.

Myn shook his head as a carbine round ricocheted off his faceplate. He pushed himself off the ground, retreiving his pistols from their lanyards. He flicked his wrist, sending a grenade back at the source, looking away from the explosion.

White moved up alongside the fallen Echani, picking up the man with one arm, he fired a pistol one handed, his sniper rifle hanging from his assault straps.

The Jedi was a blur of light. She danced among the enemy, flying in and out among the sith troopers.

"We have something big incoming...wait..." Flare looked up towards the sky. His silhouette was flashblinded into Myn's memory. Myn slammed into the ground, the concussion of the shot was felt all the way to his bones.

Ears ringing, he realized he nolonger had a HUD. Or a helmet. The sceaming of blasters, the stench of the ozone pierced through his head. Overwhelming his senses. Fumbling as he reached into a cargo pocket attached to his thigh, he withdrew a pair of shooter's glasses. Tapping a small button on his wrist, he donned the glasses, ducking as another blast rocked the ground from under his feet.

"Man down." A calm voice reported, distinctly into his ear. His com was luckily still attached. "Airspeeders. Tracking."

Myn turned just in time to see vengeance unleashed. The airspeeder was struck twice in the forward compartment. Those were only ranging shots. Saiteck unleashed a storm of blood red bolts into the target, saturating the armor and punching completely through out the other side of the vehicle. Dropping out of the air, it bounced twice on the ground. A quarter of a second passed, as both sides ceased fire on each other. A dead silence hovered in the air. Then it exploded.

"One down." Saiteck reported nonchalant. His fire tracking towards another speeder, then suddenly stopping. A bright light could be seen ontop of the speeder. Slashing into the forward compartment. The Jedi backflipped off the top of the speeder as it slammed into the ground, causing a furrow, before exploding.

"Two."

The third and fourth speeders decided life was much more important than pay. Pulling back, their combined fire kept the heads down of the mercenaries as they continued falling back. Running into the canyon system, Myn stood at the entrance, his glasses bringing red diamonds to bear all across the plains before him. He raised the pistols, pressing the firing studs as he allowed the electronics in his suit to target their pursuers. Saiteck was next. He ran up next to the commanding officer, sliding, he fell to one knee, bringing his rifle up to his shoulder he resumed firing a torrent of lasers down range at the sith troops.

White stumbled past, his suit smoking. He turned, snapping off two quick shots. Two diamonds disapeared off the radar. The man stumbled into the canyon system before falling to his hands and knees, dropping his rifle to the dirt.

Krey ran past Myn, carrying something, his carbine held onto his body only by a small thread. The republic commando dropped the object, before returning to the 'front lines'. Myn then realized, it was the remains of Flare. His body, below the abdomen was sheered off. His helmet's flash shield had completely dimmed, removing any possibility of ever seeing in or out of it. The armor was pitted all along the torso, having been pierced by many pieces of shrapnel.

Looking back towards the plains, Myn ducked as a shot nearly took his head off.

"Designate boomers."

"Designating."

White gasped as he made the needed corrections to Myn's HUD. The sniper had a smoking hole in his lower left chest. It wasn't stopping him, but it was definitely slowing him down.

"Where's the Jedi?" Myn fired once again with a pistol. At the ranges he was at, he was considered very lucky if even a heavy pistol would pierce body armor.

"Here." A female voice answered. Her lightsaber flashed infront of Myn and he nearly fell on his ass.

"Prime."

"Primed."

"Detonate."

The Sith had occupied the hill, along with several of the nearby craters. The rim of the hill, which had been mined with low grade plastic explosives, The very tip had a pair of directional mines, facing towards the original entrance point of the enemy. When the low grade plastic explosives detonated, it caused confusion and injury, mostly concussing the sith troopers stupid enough to occupy the same foxholes as the enemy. Then the higher grade pure explosives and the directional mines detonated.

Hundreds of thousands of pieces of shrapnel and ball bearings flew into the sith lines, combined with the pure explosives and napalm it set the plains on fire for several hundred yards in every direction. The screaming of the wounded was nearly overwhelming.

"Fall back."

"We just used nearly every ounce of explosives we have, and you want to fall back?" Krey's voice was crackling.

"We don't know how many they have left alive. We run."

"But.."

"You can stay. We're leaving."

The Lightnings moved through the canyon system, leaving their dead behind. A slow beeping eminated from Flare's corpse, his final act soon to be demonstrated.

[Regnier]

"Sergeant!"

Wurth could tell the soldier above him was speaking. He could see her mouth move. But damned if he could hear anything other than ringing. Why was she spinning, anyways? Or was she? Was he spinning?

"Sergeant! Can you hear me?!?"

Hall? Yes, that's who it was, Hall. Hadn't she gone back? Had she come back, or had he gone ba-

Suddenly, all of his incoherent thoughts snapped into focus as a gloved palm connected with the side of his head. He shook his head and, with Hall's help, sat up. And realized he was on the rock face above the canyon. More than twelve feet up. Suddenly memory flowed back into his mind.

He hadn't walked. And he hadn't been carried. Not by men, anyways. How he was still breathing was beyond him. He coughed several times and wiped away the blood running down his jaw. He was suddenly thankful he had never put his trust in standard issue armor.

"Holy...hell...that...was..."

"Sir?"

Wurth turned to face Hall again and twitched slightly. "OW!"

-----

On the best of days, Vraak could keep up a pretty good pace for something as massive as he was. In powered armor, however, the giant Trandoshan quite literally looked like a landspeeder in mid-gear. Not even the Barabel or the sniper could match pace.

"Vraak, second canyon up, drop in!"

There was no response from the freight-train. He simply leaped over the first split in the earth he came up to and slowed enough that he simply didn't fly over the second. He attempted to come to a dead stop, but instead ended up leaving two large sections of torn-up plains behind him before he careened into the canyon.

"In posssition. Ssstatussss on drone, sssir?"

The Barabel, who was still at a dead run, glanced at another of the eighteen Special Forces men and women who were remaining relatively close together. She held up a single finger as she ran, then clenched the hand into a fist and nodded.

"Drone coming into position now. You should have a feed."

And sure enough, the small surveillance drone floating several hundred yards above the ground as it passed over the fast-moving hostile forces passed a live feed onto the Trandoshan's HUD. "I have a visssual. Three hundred yardsss off. Unlesss they double-back, they'll have to come right to me." Vraak said over his comm' as he pulled the shoulder-mounted AT launcher sitting on his back onto his shoulder and wrapped a massive, clawed hand around the grip as he set his flechette repeater against the rock wall behind the large stone he chose for cover. Within a few minutes, the rest of the strike team had caught up. The three heaviest armored moved down into the canyon along-side the Trandoshan and set up facing the thirty-yard stretch of killzone they'd set up, while six stayed above the canyon, three on either side. The other ten moved another fifty yards down and set up similarly.

-----

"Report, Sergeant! How many still able to fight?"

"Six, sir." Wurth said in a labored, pained tone, before he coughed. He pulled a shard of rock from his cheek. "And...that's counting...myself, and one fully functional speeder. One unconfirmed kill. Hold that; nevermind. C and F just showed up. Hall's directing 'em into the canyons. Any word from those spec ops boys, sir?"

"Negative, Wurth. It's out of your hands, now; let F and C handle it. I've diverted those tanks to park on the other side of the canyons to wait. Find a medic, soldier."

"That an order, sir?"

"A strong suggestion."

"Hang on...C just confirmed that kill- Frack!" Wurth ducked slightly as a large section of canyon, along with several troopers, vanished in a brilliant flash.

-----

Vos froze. Slowly, he turned his head from the medic that was wrapping his knuckles. Sometimes, he hated soldiers. He glanced around a few times, primarily at the sky. "I the only one that hears that?"

Baltier glanced at him and shook her head. Sure enough, even the medic looked up at the sky as the distinct sound of a small ion engine roared past overhead. But there was nothing in the sky. "You know what? I don't want to know. If I know, I may have to deal with it. Right now, I just want to go back to my closet and have a drink."

The Kiffar nodded. "Agreed. Let the soldiers handle it." Nazante had been around Jedi enough to know the sound of a Cutlass when he heard it, but he wasn't about to say something. His own little private defiance.

-----

Whatever it was, it had landed less than ten feet from him, he knew it. He had heard it, felt the rush of air, and even seen the grass bend under the weight of several tons on several small points. But there was nothing there. Nothing. Wurth and Hall both moved slowly forward, their rifles half-raised, and stopped dead. Hall opened her mouth silently.

One second, nothing, next, they were staring at a small fighter as it powered down. The cockpit opened, and a lone figure, decked in full armor, flowed out and onto the ground in several fluid motions. "Where is the Jedi? Tell me, and she will no longer be a threat to your fellow soldiers. Don't, and I kill you both and find her the hard way."

Wurth and Hall traded glances. He had worked with Dark Jedi before enough times to know he was looking at one right now, and that pissing them off was both easy, and very, very bad for your health. That, and they usually weren't bluffing when they threatened to kill you. On the plus side, the Dark Jedi had just said she'd take care of the Jedi, and that was certainly a good thing. He nodded once and pointed towards the canyons the hostile forces had made their hasty exit through. "They...the Jedi went through that way. We have tanks on the other side...and two companies following them."

The Dark Jedi nodded back, turned, quite literally kicked the pilot of the only fully functional speeder off his mount, and took off.

"What...the hell just happened, sir?"

"If there's two...things you learn from me, Hall; never say no...to a Dark Jedi." He replied quietly as he slung his rifle and swung himself onto the last speeder. It was damaged, and the weapons systems were offline, but it still moved. The engineer slung her pack of various 'goodies' and mounted behind him.

"And the other?"

"When your my age; retire."

[Corstar]

"I'm fine."

"No. You're not." Myn leaned White against the canyon wall, grimacing.

"I can raise a rifle, I can watch the site. I'm more than fit enough, give me my chance to fight." White recited the traditional cadence of the Lightnings. He ended his cadence with a series of coughs, leaning over.

"You have a crater the size of my fist in your abdominal section." Myn looked back, shaking his head. His medic had just been vaporized. He felt the explosion. A JS suit definitely didn't explode like plastic explosives.

Krey moved up alongside White, leaning across the man, he withdrew a packet of Kolto. He began stringing out a bandage.

"Tangos." Saiteck reported, shortly before opening fire. The canyon system was more than enough to bottleneck the pursuers for a few short moments.

"We need to go Captain." Aidel yelled over the fire. "There's something very bad coming."

"Great. How could it get much worse." Myn muttered under his breath. Helping White up to his feet, the men ran through the canyon system.

"Well I nailed the drone, but I'm pretty sure it was up there for awhile before I noticed it..." Krey replied.

"Drone?" Myn had enough time to pose the question before he realized he was on his back, White was ontop of him.

The sniper rolled off, yelling. Unsure if it was a warcry or pain, Myn sat up himself. His left arm would not respond. His right arm came up firing. His ears were ringing, his shooter's glasses hanging off of their lanyard against the breastplate of his body armor. The Echani tracked the Trandoshan who had fired the AT rocket. The Jedi who had intercepted it was nowhere to be seen.

"Krey, what the HELL just happened?!"

"BUSY!" Krey yelled as he pulled Aidel's unconscious form behind cover of a rock. He pushed her against the wall, firing his blaster rifle with one hand. The recoil caused him to use short bursts.

Saiteck cursed in several languages as he was struck twice. The repeater in his hands faltered for a moment before extracting vengeance on those stupid enough to try and shoot him only twice.

White rolled onto his knees, his sniper rifle pointed towards the giant figure still holding a smoking AT launcher. Partially feeling, mostly guessing, White flicked the selector switch, firing a burst of rounds towards the armored figure.

Myn dragged White to the side of the canyon, giving him what cover he could. The sniper, unable to move, sat still, firing from his position.

"Krey, Saiteck, status!" Myn yelled as he moved up, firing. Tossing his last fragmentation grenade, he ducked behind a rock, grimacing as chips of burning rock danced down his spine.

"Yellow. Low on munitions and energy."

"Red. Empty munitions, low energy." Saiteck reported over the loud thudding of his blaster rifle.

"Hows our Jedi?"

"She's out. Take this." Krey yelled over the din.

Myn caught the bag containing the holocron and the datapads. Draping it over his shoulder, he leaned around the battered rock, he dished back some of what was being sent his way.

[Regnier]

Vraak stopped cold as two rounds penetrated his heavy chest plate and another grazed his neck. He looked down at the smoking holes in his torso and dropped the rocket launcher. The juggernaut brought his head back up, grabbed his ACP repeater, and stopped again as something caught his eye. The man beside him, a grizzled old veteran, went over backwards under a torrent of fire. Vraak turned to face the cause; Saiteck, and let out a bone-chilling roar that echoed through the canyon, even over the blaster fire. Getting shot annoyed him.

Now, he was pissed.

He grabbed a frag off his belt and pitched it like a fastball, before bringing his massive weapon to bear on the opposing support gunner. He didn't even bother with cover. He simply started forward at a steady trot, raking his fire back and forth with the aid of his own sniper, before he broke into a dead, power-armor aided, run, still firing.

"Vraak, you idiot! Get back to cover! Squad, support fire!"

His men weren't just good, they were exceptional, but their enemy were just as good if not better, and better equipped, even if they were in bad shape. Rish knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he wasn't done taking losses. The Barabel took a half step back and vaulted at the rock wall. It barely took a second before he'd flipped over the edge and landed on top. Then, he unclipped one of his most prized possessions; a lightsaber taken from...well, how he got it makes little difference. He stopped, however, when he heard the sound of an incoming speeder. The Barabel watched as it crested a nearby ridge and came to a stop ten yards from him. The armor-clad rider dismounted and brought its faceless gaze to him. Though he couldn't see the eyes, he could feel the gaze.

"Call your men off, sith. I will handle this."

"Who the hell are y-" The Barabel froze and tensed as the armored figure disappeared entirely. He heard a snap-hiss, and suddenly he was staring down a glowing cyan blade.

"I am a true Sith, and you are but a pawn. Now, call your men off. I will deal with your little...problem."

The Barabel nodded slightly. "Squad, hold fire. Return fire only if you need to, but don't let them past you." Not a word came in reply, but rather his squad's reply was a complete cease-fire as they dug into cover. The lightsaber disappeared, and boot-sized imprints in the grass began forming a path to the edge of the canyon. Rish turned his thermals on, just for kicks. Even they didn't pick anything up.

"Do you wish to live, Echani?"

[Corstar]

Myn was staring up at the sky, his head pounding. The frag had landed almost directly infront of him. He had seen White jump for it, knocking it away. The sniper had slammed into the canyon wall, the explosion refusing to even tear into his armor. He laid slumped against the ground, his rifle propping his body up. His biometrics were flatlined.

Krey had taken a shot directly to the head and had fallen to the ground only a few short meters from Myn. The man twisting in agony, his face burnt from the direct hit.

Saiteck was yelling. Myn realized the heavy gunner was pulling Myn out of the fire. Gripping onto the man's hand, Myn felt himself falling back against the ground as Saiteck's head exploded.

The shock of seeing an old teammember die so instantly shut Myn down. He rolled forward, his shooter glasses richochetting off the ground infront of him as he bounced.

Looking up, he saw the trandoshan, stumbling. Two large holes were in the center of mass with one in the shoulder. Myn looked back to Krey, who unholstered his Verpine pistol. Throwing it, the Echani drew into his inner strength.

The commando pushed himself up as the pistol flew through the air, catching it offhand, his left hand came around firing. The first two rounds struck the charging Trando in the chest, imbedding themselves in the tough flesh. The third and fourth rounds struck the beast in the face. The body fell, jerking, to the ground, pulling the trigger.

As the corpse bounced to Myn's position, he gave it a strong kick, sending the hunk of metal and body into nearby wall. The Echani looked up as he was addressed, realizing that the enemy had stopped firing.

"Do you wish to live, Echani?"

The Mercenary looked at the Jedi holding the saber, before looking back over his squad. Saiteck was dead, as was White. Krey was unconscious and in shock, with Aidel in shock.

His mind went back to home. Only a few dozen miles away. His farm. The sweet smell of the fields after harvest. His child and his wonderful smile. His wife...her harmonious laughs echoing off the halls of the homestead.

The Echani's eyes darkened, reaching into his belt, his appropriated lightsaber ignited in his hands.

"The way is blocked." Holding the verpine pistol in his left hand, the lightsaber in his right, he stood out in the open, pointing the saber at the jedi. "You shall not pass by me Force User. In this life or the next. I will have my vengeance on your kind. It may as well be now."

"May it be swift and just, in this life or the next, but I WILL have my vengeance."