Corvin dimly felt several blaster bolts slam into his shoulderplate. Through the drug-induced haze, the impact and burns felt..different. He still noticed them, and they still hurt, but they seemed less important, almost as though he was simply reading about it happening instead of feeling.

The surviving Thrawnists were well and truly annoyed, firing continuously as they backpedaled. The Blackjacks and surviving Aureks quicky cut them down, their limp bodies holed by blaster fire before they hit the floor.

Brushing the ashes that had been Willis's head from his arms, Tanus straightened, kicking the body away from him as he did so.

"Blackjacks, Aureks, move out!"

The storm commandos started at the jumptrooper SL for a long moment. Finally, Dane walked over to the fallen Aurek trooper, then retrieved his weapon and armour tag.

"Moving out, sir." the medic said quietly.

With that, the storm commandos fell into formation. The two commando squads quickly passed through the corridors, heading for the primary turbolifts. They'd just passed through the last hallway when blaster fire started flying.

"Contact!" Nera yelled, opening fire. A squad of stormtroopers piled out of the turbolift, spreading out as they advanced. Blaster bolts flew past Corvin's faceplate, hitting the bulkhead directly behind him and throwing sparks in all directions. EE-3 fire tore through the Thrawnist ranks, mowing them down in seconds.

"Pick up the pace," Tanus ordered. "We need to get to Moreal before they move her again."

The squads hurriedly piled into the turbolift. As soon as Nera stepped inside, Tanus pressed the activation button. The lift dropped like a block of neutronium.

The Nemesis schematics revealed that the secondary command bridge was halfway down the massive star cruiser's length, almost directly above the ship's secondary hanger.

"On the bright side," Garryll muttered. "At least we won't have to blow any more kriffing blast doors."

"They'll be expecting us," Tanus grimly stated. "We'll just have to give them more than they're bargaining for."

No one mentioned the very real possibility that Moreal had already been evacuated from the area. It was not beyond possibility: after all, the Nemesis's captain and his command crew had been nowhere in sight during the squads' raid on the bridge. Still, the squads had to confirm her absence: hence their blithely walking into what was almost certainly a trap.

Corvin was getting very, very sick of traps.

The lift came to a sudden, shuddering stop, and Tanus waved them out. They were roughly 800 meters from the target.

800 meters. Kriffing wonderful.

The squads ran through blaster-scarred corridors, the litter of white-armoured bodies testifying to the earlier vicious firefights. They'd already destroyed the blast doors during their earlier raid, so they were spared that unpleasant task. Fifty meters and three blast doors into the level, they ran into the first resistance.

"Contact!" Nera yelled, sidestepped as a volley of blaster bolts flew through the air. There was a fire team of pauldroned Thrawnists behind a portable barricade in the middle of the corridor. Corvin cursed quietly.

That wasn't here earlier...

One of the four Thrawnists was holding a bulky, cylinderical weapon. As he leveled it at the Blackjacks, Corvin recognized it as  T-2B repeating blaster from his Guard training. The heaviest standard-issue weapon in the Army's arsenal, it presented a serious threat.

"Frak." he muttered, then pressed himself flat against the floor as dozens of blaster bolts suddenly filled the corridor. Tilde grunted as one of the bolts hit her in the chestplate, causing the short medic to stagger backwards. One of the Aureks pulled her to a side alcove.

These Thrawnists were smart, they had cover, and they had superior weapons. Also, they'd doubtless  already reported the presence of the Vast Imperials, meaning every trooper on the ship was probably en-route.

Fraking wonderful. Corvin sighed, jerking back as blaster bolts peppered a durasteel panel inches away from him.

"Now what?" Tilde moaned, her injury unfortunately not extending to her vocal cords. "We're pinned down."

In response, Tanus held up a metal ball.

Another thermal detonator? Corvin wondered. Star's End, how many of those things does the man carry?

The detonator flew through the air, bouncing over the portable barricade. One of the stormtroopers yelled a warning, trying to kick it away as he did so, but was silenced by the wall-shaking explosion. Fragments of the barricade and wall panels flew past Corvin's head, his helmet's audio and visual sensors dampening automatically. His ears still rung when he emerged from cover, though.

"Shall we?" Tanus joked, gesturing for the Blackjacks to advance.

A few hundred meters to the Chiss-loving traitor. Only a few hundred more meters..

They hadn't even put up a real fight.

There had been two squads of security troopers and a handful of armed ensigns. Only two of the crewmen had managed to draw their weapons before being cut down by blaster carbines or Tanus's warhammer, and the security troopers were well on their way to joining them. On the other hand, there was no sign of their objective or any high ranking officers.

Corvin's head snapped around as he heard the groan of an opening blast door. He managed to catch a glimpse of several officers and a pair of stormtroopers disappearing through the gap before the doors started to close again.

"Frak, they're getting away!" he shouted, quickly firing a burst at the retreating Thrawnists. One of the energy beams flew through the closing blast doors, hitting a stormtrooper in the back. The man stumbled, but staggered back to his feet and continued running before Corvin could get off another shot. With a dull thud, the blast doors slid against each other, sealing off the auxillary bridge from the corridors behind it. Moreal had escaped.

One of the few surviving Thrawnists moaned in pain and fear, hand against a neat, carbonized hole in his side. Tanus contemptuously brought his hammer down on the security trooper's head, crushing it. Shaking blood and bits of skull from the weapon's head, the Blackjack SL cursed quietly.

"Kriffing Hutt-Spawn got away." Tanus muttered. "Get that door open, I don't care how!"

"Actually," Vare thoughfully said, his eyes on a control panel. "That might not be a problem."

Sitting down at the central control console, the Squad Leader plugged in a datapad and started typing.

"So you're a slicer, sir?" Corvin asked, quite unnecessarily.

"Yes, Private." Vare absently muttered, eyes and focus on the lines of code flickering across his screen.

"Shouldn't take long...there."

"What?"

"Just like I thought. They've triggered a lockdown of this entire deck. The blast doors and security turrets will activate when anything without the correct transponder comes in range. Clever..."

Security turret? Corvin thought, alarmed.

"But you can shut them back down, right?" Tanus asked, pacing back and forth in front of the sealed blast door.

"That's exactly what I'm doing. Should be easier than usual from here..."

An uneasy silence fell on the damaged auxillary bridge. Every moment they waited, the closer Moreal and her scumbag allies came to escaping. Corvin found his attention drifting to one of the wall holopanels. That panel was showing a feed from a holocam, presumably somewhere near the front of the ship judging by the view. The video was dominated by the planet Tadath.

At first glance, it was unchanged, identical to the yellow-brown world that Corvin had traveled to so many times. Then he saw the details. The way shields flickered blue-purple under debris impacts. The way the flickering dots that were starfighters spun and chased each other and vanished in miniature suns that died in milliseconds. The way a holed and smoke-wreathed Action IV frigate hung in the darkness, surrounded by the bodies of its crew and slowly drifting towards a fiery end in Tadath's atmosphere.

Corvin was distracted from his contemplation by a series of beeps and a triumphant yell from Vare.

"Got it! Security systems off-line!"

"Run." Tanus ordered, putting action to his words. The Blackjacks sprinted through the command centre, pushing through the rear blast doors before they'd even fully opened.

"Move, move, move!" Tanus yelled, swinging his warhammer wildly as he ran. The other Blackjacks were no less frenzied, as were the surviving Aureks.

They'd spent hours traveling through endless corridors, fought off hordes of Thrawn's meat cans, and lost too many comrades. They were going to not let the traitorous Chiss-lover get away.

The Vast Imperials stampeded through the corridors, past inactive defense turrets and low-hanging pipes. Warning klaxons shrilled, signifying an emergency of some sort. Corvin frankly didn't care, as long as he and the others were off the ship before it became a problem.

Thirty meters to the command hanger. Frak, we need to get there faster.

Door seals suddenly opened all around the squads, and stormtroopers poured out. They were under attack from all directions.

Tanus laughed as he swung his hammer in a wide arc around him. Three stormtroopers were smashed into walls or thrown back by the weapon's force field, armour shattered on impact. Gates incinerated a group unfortunate enough to be emerging from an adjacent doorway, their screams cut off almost instantly by melted vocal cords.

"We don't have time for this, sir!" Corvin yelled, firing a Stormtrooper Two he'd retrieved from the Aurek commando who'd fallen on the secondary bridge.

Tanus didn't reply, instead smashing another pair of stormtroopers with a quick swing. That left a brief hole in the attackers formation, a hole the Vast Imperials charged through. Blaster bolts followed the two squads as they ran down the corridor, but the stormtroopers were unimportant.

Eight meters to the hanger.

Corvin could hear the shuttles' engines charging.

OOC:

Maybe two shuttles, one with Angel's NPCs on it that escapes, and another with Moreal?

Tanus ripped the spike of his hammer out a guard’s still beating heart and turned his head to see the shuttle getting ready to move. It still has a while yet before it can get to the bay door. And I’ve come too far to fail now, damn it. Tanus turned around and drew his bayonet, turned on the vibrogenerator, and slashed the throat of a charging guard who was using his rifle as a club. Another guard raised his rifle to fire on a turned Orobos, who was cleaving through the foes before him with a mighty swing of his axe. When three troops fell, 6 more filled their fallen brethren. Tanus ran up to the guard and swung down with the hammer, knocking the rifle out of the guard’s hands and hearing him scream as his hand broke; a swift stab to the base of the skull finished him off. A grazing blow from a vibroblade to the arm caused him to spin around, driving the spike through the assailant’s helmet and into his temple. Tanus looked around, watching blaster bolts sail across the room and on occasion the shields of the shuttle ripple as Aureks and Blackjacks alike fired on the shuttle in a vain attempt to stop it from leaving with their quarry.

“Someone bring that shuttle down!”

“With what!? The disruptors are done!”

“Mine’s not! Just start shooting!”

Tanus slid his disruptor across the floor and Rogueboy picked it and aimed at the shuttle, pulling the trigger multiple as bright green bolts sailed across the air and phased through the shields, slamming into the armor of the shuttle and sending sparks into the air; it seemed to do nothing as the engines started to hum to life. Damn it, damn it, No!

“Do we have anything to bring the shuttle down!?”

“Not a lot sir! We have a few grenades left, and the particle cannon will wobble the shields but not much else!”

“Damn it to hell! I have NOT come all this way to fail now!”

Tanus looked around, dodging a savage right hook from a guard in the process and rising back up with a knife through the bottom of the chin that ejected the blade through the top of his skull. He pulled the blade out kicked the body over and looked for anything he could possibly use. Then Tanus spied it.

“Someone get on that E-WEB! Lighten up the room. Blackjacks, hit the air! Give the Aureks some support!”

Tanus reslung his hammer and drew his EE-3, firing as he rose off the ground in a plume of flames and death. He dropped three troopers aiming to fire on the Aureks as they ran across the room. Rogueboy flew up to Tanus and tossed him his disruptor; Tanus caught it one handed and holstered it, firing with the other hand on any enemy left exposed. Vare fired his Stromtrooper Two one handed as he reached the E-WEB, killing the auxiliary crew in the process. He jumped behind the gun, swung it around to the distracted ground forces and opened fire. Red hot death flew from the barrel, sweeping across the hangar and dropping anything it came across. Soon all were dead, save the Blackjacks and the Aureks, who turned their attention to the shuttle. Without hesitation, Vare opened fire on the shuttle, which was just preparing to lift off.

“It’s not doing anything. The shields are too strong.”

“I can see that! The disruptors aren’t strong enough. We need something else.”

Tanus looked around the hangar for anything else they could use; Moraal was not getting away from him now. Tanus looked up at the ceiling of the vast hangar and saw the brackets for holding TIE Fighters in place. Then Tanus got an idea.

“Bring those holding brackets down!”

“Are you crazy!?”

“No, listen to me. If we bring those brackets down, chances are we can immobilize the shuttle and prevent Moraal from buggering off.”

And on that note, Tanus promptly turned around midair and flew off towards the shuttle’s cockpit. Garryll stared on, weapon at his side.

“And where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“To have a chat with the pilots.”

Tanus hovered above the shuttle momentarily, looking down at it with careful eyes. Okay, right there. Tanus lowered himself down until he was resting on the transparisteel viewport, looking in directly at the aghast pilots. Tanus unslung his hammer and cocked his head slightly.

“I’m sorry, but I need to speak to your passenger. It’s a matter of Vast Empire security. You understand.”

And then Tanus pulled his hammer back and glared down at the viewport with menace. Sorry, Moraal, but I’ve put up with too much of your shit to see you happy and not in prison. And then he swung down, slamming the hammerhead into the viewport with a resounding crack as phrik war hammer met transparisteel viewport. Without bothering to look at the damage, Tanus raised the hammer again and brought it down with malice. The steel beneath the vicious blows of the hammer started to buckle and bend, and soon there was a large dent in the viewport. The pilots look on, horrified, at the giant man in full armor swing a large hammer, trying to pry out the prize inside. C’mon you giant metal piñata. Give me my damn candy. Tanus flipped the hammer around in his hands and drove the spike into the divot he had made. There was a slight sinking as the spike penetrated the outer layer of now crushed metal. Tanus continued driving the spike down, harder and harder until finally the spike pierced the front viewport. Then Tanus heard a deafening explosion. He looked up to see explosions rocking the ceiling as Rogue and Orobos pounded the docking brackets with particle cannon fore and grenades. Tanus looked down at the pilots and gave them  two finger salute before leaping off the shuttle, activating his jetpack and blasting back to safety.

As he landed, he looked up to see small pieces of charred metal and slag fall and hit the shuttle. It started to sway as large pieces fell down. Carbon marks and deep burns broke through the shields quickly, and soon the sizzling of armor could be heard over the explosions. Not long after the entirety of the brackets fell, and several tons of metal fell and crashed on top of the shuttle, pinning it to ground under melting metal and fire. The wings buckled and were pinned to the sides; Tanus knew what was going to happen next. The hydraulic lift lowered not ten seconds later and out ran six guards and the two pilots armed with DH-17s and E-11s. They were cut down immediately by the Blackjacks. Aurek squad ran over from the E-WEB, rifles raised and aimed at the lowered ramp. At first, no one moved. Tanus looked at the lowered ramp and drew his disruptor. What does this bitch have planned? He took a step forward towards the ramp, and as he did so, he heard the shuffling of feet and then boots hitting metal. Tanus took a step back as an incredibly attractive brunette with blue eyes stepped out of the shuttle, her hands at her sides. She was dressed in a solid black uniform and had several medals above her left breast and held a blaster at her right hip. Tanus was actually stunned at her beauty. Why are the pretty ones inherently evil? Tanus took a step forward and nodded.

“Faith Moraal I presume.”

“I am. And may I ask are you?”

“I am Tanus Solvona, Squad Leader of Blackjack Squad in the service of the Vast Empire. Behind me is Maxus Vare, leader of Aurek squad. Faith Moraal, you have labeled a traitor to the state and thus shall suffer accordingly. By order of Army High Command, I am placing you under arrest.”

Faith Moraal said nothing at this. She only stared blankly at Tanus before opening her mouth to speak.

“Very well then. Shall we then?”

As she took a step forward, Tanus put up his hand to stop her. She stared up at him with eyes swimming with questions.

“Not yet. I have some questions for you.”

“Very well.” She took a seat on the floor, hands folded across her lap, staring straight forward. “Ask me.”

“All right. I suppose we’ll start off with why you did it.”

Faith cleared her throat and looked down at the floor, twiddling her thumbs and trying to think of an appropriate answer. She finally looked up, nothing in her eyes this time; she was completely empty.

“I had no choice. Thrawn had need of my services, and said that if I did not do as he asked, he’s hand me over to his Noghri assassins for knowing too much.”

“Hmph. You’d best look out for them now then. But what do you know? What intelligence have you gathered?”

She then followed up without missing a beat; Tanus was surprised that she was giving up the information willingly. What’s her angle?

“Aside from Army High Command profiles and such, we have garnered some other interesting news. After your Moffs move in on the current staff -.”

“Wait, wait. What do you mean, ‘The Moffs move in?’ Are you suggesting treason in the Army High Command?”

“That is exactly what I am suggesting.”

Tanus’ mind was reeling now. Traitor Moffs? Great. Now it really is all falling apart. Tanus looked down at the woman with conviction.

“What do they want? Why side with Thrawn?”

“Well, if Tadath, the rest of Vast Empire space will fall with it. The Moffs simply realized that staying with the losing team wouldn’t do anything for them, and like all old men with power, wish to hold on to it for as long as they can. In this way, when Thrawn takes over Tadath, the Moffs will benefit for being on the winning team.”

Tanus thought for a bit on this. This is big. This is… really big. No wonder Angel wanted her alive. Tanus reached down and grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and dragged up to a standing position. She dusted herself off and looked at each of the men in turn and then back to Tanus.

“So what happens now?”

“We get you off of this ship and back to Army High Command. You will then be tried for high treason by a tribunal and your sentence will be carried out appropriately.”

“You know,” she started, “I really didn’t want to do this.”

“Save it for the judges. Now walk. I want off of this ship as soon as possible. No more talking. Just keep walking.”

Tanus waved the woman on, ushering her into a block of thick plastoid and guns, also called Blackjack in a guard formation.  Tanus and Gates took point while the remaining Aureks covered their six.

Tanus turned his comlink on and contacted the other Vast Empire troops. “Onith Lead, this is Blackjack lead; package secured; repeat, package secured. Begin withdrawal.”

“Onith Lead copies and is falling back. Good hunting, Blackjack lead,” the other squad leader’s voice crackled back. “Onith out.”

“Alright, let’s move it out,” Tanus waved, and the Blackjacks moved up guarding the prisoner.

Gates and Tanus checked an intersection; it was empty. Gates struck up a line of questioning – “Vare, how’d you stop all those guys from kicking through the door? There must’ve had you outnumbered a dozen to one, but you came and backed us up.”

“We filled the hallway with explosives and crowded it up real good. Any open spaces they tried to get through we filled with a corpse,” Vare replied, eyes scanning warily behind them.

“Oh. Efficient,” Gates replied, and then spotted yet another squad of Stormtroopers. “Contacts!”

Tanus and Gates both kneeled down and opened up from their more stable firing positions; the front three of the guard, Rogueboy, Corvin and Orobos, fired over their squad leader’s head, adding their fire to the barrage.

A couple men fell instantly, one heavily riddled, the other with a single smoking hole in his cheek, and more smoke leaking from the back of his head. The others scrambled for cover, firing wildly. A bolt passed so close to Gates’ face that he could smell the ozone and feel the super-heated air, even through the helmet.

“I wish I had my flamethrower,” Gates said, firing his EE-3 from the hip. “I really wish I still had fuel for it.”

Tanus grunted in response and continued firing. Gates’ vision was streaked with black flashing lights as the lasers stunned his vision and left swathes of color blinking in his eyes. The air was filling with ozone and Moraal was coughing lightly, having no helmet to filter out the worst of the smoke and smell of charred flesh and burned blood.

The Thrawnists had decent cover, but they were got impatient before they could finish the Blackjacks. Gates took a hit to the upper thigh that was dissipated by the armor and didn’t do more to his leg than throw him off balance and give him a small burn. Nevertheless, they saw it as an opening and charged in, guns blazing.

Gates let himself fall fully backwards to make a smaller target, and opened fire from the hip on full-auto. A trio of men closest to him fell with gaping melted holes in their armor, while the rest fell back to reconsider the bold move.

Tanus didn’t let them consider it for long, launching himself after them, hammer swinging in a long arch before crushing a man against the bulkhead. Gates leapt to his feet and sprinted forward in support, firing deadly single shots into the back and spine of another man. The man, halfway to pulling the trigger of his E-11 at Tanus’ head, collapsed, paralyzed and helpless. A shot from Rogueboy ended his suffering.

The rest of the Stormtroopers lay in broken disrepair, with helmets and torsos crushed, and Tanus in the middle of it all, slinging his hammer and barely breathing hard. Gates strolled up, and the rest of the VE soldiers followed. “Having fun?”

“So-so,” Tanus replied. “Move it out.”

They double-timed it while Vare consulted their map again. “Our best bet is the hangar we came in on; our MAATs are well-armed and armored enough to not be a flying metal deathtrap. The shuttles are all too flimsy, and the dropships are likely all deployed. On top of it, we might pick up some backup along the way.”

“Alright, how far?” Tanus asked brusquely, checking another corner. “And it had better be a reasonably small number, as my patience is thinning.”

“It’s only about a kilometer away,” Vare replied, and pointed in a direction. “That way.”

Gates turned the corner sharply, and as there were no enemy troopers, waved the rest of the men up. The group thudded around the corner, and resumed their march. Another twenty meters, and there was yet another corner to turn. Gates peered from behind it carefully, and then brought his head back quickly.

“Security squad,” Gates said. “Just normal marines. Not Stormtroopers.”

“Take ‘em out,” Tanus ordered, and readied his rifle. Gates grinned and pulled his knife out as well as his disruptor pistol. There had been a man facing away from the corner not four feet from the corner – perfect for what the Blackjack had in mind.

“Alright, come around when the shooting starts,” Gates said, and then dodged around the corner. His target half-turned at the heavy thud of one of Gates’ steps, but by then it was much too late.

Gates grabbed the man and hooked his left arm around, slicing his throat with one clean movement; a spray of arterial blood hit one his comrades in the face. The splattered man had enough time to scream before Gates stuck his disruptor in his mouth and blew his head apart. The other guards turned and fired at Gates, but only hit their dead comrade, burning away at the human shield Gates had taken. The body shuddered under the impacts, and Gates fired blindly back, blowing a crater in another man’s gut.

Tanus charged around the corner, blasting another man sideways with his first burst and then closing to a foot of the next before using his rifle like a short club to beat the last man to death.

Gates dropped the body and it thudded heavily. He raised his head, a smile on his lips, and then froze. A pair of small blue-grey figures stood at the end of the hall, a couple dozen meters distant.

“Oh shit,” Gates spat, raising his rifle. “I really wish I had my flamethrower.”

Tanus had spotted the figures too, and yelled. “Noghri!”

Both men opened fire with their rifles, but the figures flinched out of the way, and the laser blasts flashed down the hallway, finally impacting on the distant wall.

“Fall back! Fall back!” Gates howled and continued firing. “Bloody Noghri!”

Tanus looked back at the Noghri, one spinning his scythe in his hands, the other juggling knives as he walked. If it weren't for the fact that they would probably die soon, Tanus would have imagined this to be funny. Faith Moraal ran next to him, and Vare ran at her right; Garryll took up a position behind her while the others ran up cover behind her, firing intermittent bursts from their weapons to try and deter the assassins. Yeah guys, because if a door won’t stop them, then frantic bursts of fire from scared troopers will surely slow them down. Tanus turned around and looked ahead of him quickly, EE-3 already raised. There was no one in his way, but something felt distinctively wrong, aside from the Noghri death merchants running behind them with the intent of shifting them from the mortal coil. There should be others here. They should have set up a pincer. This is basic. Where the hell are the guards? We didn’t kill them all. Throw something else at me, Thrawn. If I’m going to die, I want to take down as many of your curs as I can with me. They ran up to another blast door and sprinted through the breach.

“Shut the door!” Tanus shouted, his lungs begging for air and rest.

One of the Aureks shot the panel to the door and it slid shut with a hiss and shutter. Tanus heard the Noghri on the other side – and they did not sound happy.

“This time, don’t stop. Just keep running. We need a big enough lead on them that we can rest for a bit and regroup. Tempest, can you get anything?”

“There’s a computer room ahead, about 40 meters out. We can use that.”

“That’ll have to do. Move it.”

Tanus sprinted the final dash to the door and hit the button, watching as it slid open. Several technicians stood up as the troopers entered; they were slaughtered mercilessly. Tanus ushered Faith Moraal to a seat, while the others took posts around the room and guarded the door vigilantly. Tanus paced back and forth around the room, thinking as to what they could do.

“All right. These bastards are not happy that we have Ms. Moraal here, and it’s plain as the nose on your face that they want us – and her- dead. Question is why they’re going the way they’re going and the way they’re doing it.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, we’re still on the main path for the hangar. Onith and the other squads will secure the shuttles for us, so that’s covered. But what I’m getting at is why they seem to be – toying with us. Truth be told, I’ve dealt with Noghri before. I know what they can do. I know for a fact that if they wanted to, they could drop out of this ceiling right now and kill us before we could bat an eyelash.”

“Think they’re hemming us in.”

“That must be it, so they can get a pincer going. Problem is if we have a secure enough base of fire, it’ll just be a stalemate until someone does something very brash. Fact of the matter is, we don’t have much of a choice: We need to play to their strengths.”

A snort came from the back of the room. Tanus turned his head to see Tildie standing up against a wall, applying synthflesh to her wound.

“You’re a terrible leader.”

“I beg your pardon?”

The room went silent, except for the spraying of synthflesh. Tanus could feel the temperature seem to drop as his anger seeped out of him; everyone knew what was going to happen next.

“You don’t seem to know your men at all. If it were me, I would take these Noghri head on.”

“And that’s why I’m in charge, rookie. Not you. And I promise you; If you ever say something like that again to me, you won’t even be on latrine duty when we get back. You’ll be the bloody latrine. Do you understand me?”

She dropped her head and simply nodded. Tanus turned back to the rest of the group and looked at Moraal.

“She is our priority right now. If we can put some distance between the Noghri and us, we should be okay. That is, of course, until they inevitably find us again. Got it?”

They all nodded in unison.

“Good. Now let’s go.”

Tanus slid open the door, wincing as he did so and half expecting a scythe to replace most of his skull. Surprisingly, there was no one around. Tanus stepped out into the hall and waved them out. Moraal was ushered out, blaster to her back, by Corvin. The others fanned out around her and made their way down the hall. Tanus took his spot at the lead next to Vare and Garryll. He opened up a channel between the three of them.

“So, what do you think?”

“I don’t like this at all,” Vare said through gritted teeth. “This just reeks of a trap.”

“Of course it does,” Garryll chipped in. “You honestly think Thrawn would just let us walk out with his prize?”

“I was kind of hoping so, yes.”

“You’re a diluted, sick man.”

“I aim to please.”

“Shut it, the two of you. We really do need to figure this out and soon.”

“Contact!”

Tanus snapped back and looked down the hall as guards ran up towards them. Tanus raised his rifle and fired in short bursts. Many of the guards dropped lifeless to the floor as Tanus and the others advanced down the hall. When all was said and done, there were fifteen or so dead guards in the hallway.

“Well,” Rogueboy said. “That wasn’t so bad.”

A set of ceiling tile crashed down behind them, sending up a plume of white smoke. As it cleared, Tanus saw the distinctive shape of two small, reptilian creatures, one of them holding a giant scythe…

“Run!”

Tanus sprinted down the hall, the others at his heels and the Noghri not far behind them. Knives flew past their heads and bounced off the wall. Tanus could hear the distinctive spin of metal slicing through air. Tanus grabbed a smoke grenade off his belt and pulled the pin and dropped it on the floor. Within seconds the hall was filled with white smoke; the Noghri were completely concealed.

“Somebody put a grenade in there!”

Soon thereafter a silver orb sailed through the air and into the opaque white smoke. The explosion rocked the hall, and black smoke began to mix with the white. Tanus didn’t bother to wait and see if the Noghri had survived; he just needed to get out of this hellhole. They ran down the hall another hundred meters before turning the corner to see the barrel of an E-WEB staring down at him.

“Cover! Get to cover!”

The cannon opened up and spewed forth red death down the hall, slamming into the wall and sending sparks and smoke into the air. Tanus pulled his rifle to his chest and looked around the corner to see more guards coming to support the firing squad. Great. Tanus looked back to see the others priming their weapons, and getting ready, all except Tildie. She was sitting down, rifle at her sides, head in her hands and looking at the floor. Tanus walked over to her, staring down at her in contempt.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to be here…”

“I’m sorry?”

She looked up at Tanus and then looked at the red streaks hitting the wall 15 feet away.

“I don’t want to be here. I signed up for a desk job. I never intended to get in a fight.”

“Well, you are now, and if you want to live through this, you’re going to help.”

“Stop it! Leave me alone!”

“Leave you alone!? You’ll DIE if you don’t fight back! Fight back damn it!”

Tanus picked up Tildie with one hand and grabbed her EE-3 with the other. He shoved it into her hands and looked straight down at her.

“Now you listen to me, damn it. You’re here to do two things: Fight and get Moraal to the shuttle. If you can’t do that, then get the hell out of the way.”

Tildie looked over at Moraal, who was huddled behind a wall, hands over her ears. She cocked her head and then raised her rifle.

“Well, we won’t need to worry if she’s dead then.”

Tanus knocked her rifle aside just as she pulled the trigger, sending three bolts pounding into the wall right above Moraal’s head. She turned around as Tanus shoved Tildie back.

“What are you doing!? You’re not about to jeopardize this mission!”

Tildie then raised the rifle straight at Tanus’ visor and peered downsight.

“Then maybe I can just kill you. That way I can finally have a competent commander.”

“Woman, if you want competence, then maybe you should have paid more attention to me when I spoke earlier.”

He leaned in past the gun and stared right into her visor.

“I don’t do insubordination, and I will never tolerate mutiny. So…”

In one swift motion, he pulled back, knocked her rifle out of her hand and drew his disruptor pistol, leveling it at her face.

“Toodles.”

And then he pulled the trigger. A green flash lit up Tildie’s visor, and then she was flying through the air, her head snapped back. When she hit the ground, there was a clatter as the plastoid armor hit the ground and her corpse slid across the floor. Tanus walked over to view the body: The hole in her head was fringed with a red ring, and Tanus could already see the disruptor eating at the matter it had come in contact with. Tanus holstered his disruptor and turned around, drawing his EE-3 as he walked back down the hall. Moraal simply looked at him, stunned at what had just happened. She got up and walked over to him, pointing at the now lifeless body of Tildie now several meters away.

“You… You…”

“Yes?” Tanus asked, looking forward, watching as the laser bolts passed before his eyes and hit the wall.

“You just killed your own trooper!”

“Trooper?” Tanus asked as he walked past Moraal back to the forward line. His voice was cold, empty as the words left his lips.

“No. I just lost some dead weight.”

Like its lighter E-11 cousin, the EE-3 blaster carbine was fully capable of automatic fire. With an entire squad armed with them in action, hundreds of rounds could be fired. Not one of them hit.

Grinning, the Noghri became a rapidly-moving blur, then vanished from view. The Blackjacks stopped firing, turning from side to side as they looked for a target, but the alien was gone.

"Where'd it go?" Nera hissed.

"Quiet." Vare warned, spinning around and aiming his rifle at the ceiling. "Quiet..."

A blaster bolt flew through the air and hit the Aurek SL in the back armour, exploding against the protruding supply pack. Dane hurried over, aid kit already in hand. A squad of stormtroopers had come into view and were firing on the Vast Imperials.

"Take 'em out!" Gates shouted, firing his EE-3 in rapid bursts. Caught by multiple blaster bolts, the lead stormtrooper fell. Corvin took a moment to aim, then threw a frag grenade down the hallway.

It exploded in mid-air, showering the stormtroopers with shrapnel. One went down, a piece of metal lodged in the gap between his helmet and chestplate, but the others struggled back to their feet and continued to fire. Corvin fired, the pain from his various injuries seeming to fade away as he sprayed the corridor with Stormtrooper Two fire.

Only six-hundred meters to the hanger he repeated in his mind. Six hundred meters, give or take a few blast doors.

Even adrenaline and the last remnants of the combat stimulant couldn't entirely take away the pain: every time he moved his arm, there was a twinge as the too-tightly wound bacta patch dug into his arm. Corvin desperately wanted to adjust it or even remove it entirely, but the situation made that unviable. The late Ms., not Private, Tilde hadn't been half as competent as she had liked to think.

Corvin was still astounded at her treason. Contradicting a superior and disobeying a direct order from the same man would have been grounds for a court-martial in Corvin's book. Tanus had given the disobedient, border-line medic another chance, however. She'd then pissed it away and tried to betray them all. Corvin still felt a mixture of rage and shock at the idea.

How dare she? Pen-pusher or not, she'd recited the same oath as the others. How dare she violate it, then try not only to kill their objective but Tanus himself? If the SL hadn't shot her, Corvin would have done it himself. That...

Words failed him, and he was abruptly brought back to reality by a blaster bolt slamming into his shoulder pad. The durasteel alloy absorbed most of the force and the heat, but it was still enough to force him to stagger half a step back. It felt like a loader droid had punched him in the arm.

Vare had just gotten unsteadily back to his feet, with the two Aureks supporting him on each side. The stormtroopers were still steadily advancing into the Vast Imperial fire, as oblivious to their casualties as security drones and just as silent. They mindlessly ran forwards, cut down before they could get more than a single shot off apiece. It was almost as though they weren't even trying to take out the Blackja-

Corvin's thoughts were abruptly cut off by a yell.

"Contact! It's the loony with the scythe!" Rogueboy shouted, unconsciously backing away.

Sure enough, the stormtroopers had moved to either side, revealing the other Noghri and letting it through.

So that's why Knife-Thrower left. Question is, what is the frakker doing?

Corvin's question was abruptly answered.

"This is Sergeant Karr, Onith Squad! We're under attackfrom some kind of creature!.It blew right through us: we couldn't even hit it!"

There was a shriek in the background of the transmission.

"Stand your ground!" the Onith Sergeant yelled, presumably to his subordinates.

"No." Tanus snapped, firing on the stormtroopers and slowly advancing Noghri as he spoke. The stormtroopers took a pair of casualties, unable to return fire with the Noghri in the way, but the alien casually dodged the shots. "Retreat, now."

There was no reply. The Noghri was only several meters away. Tanus and the others slowly backed away as the creature advanced, firing quick bursts. It dodged each one, what looked like a smile spread across its twisted muzzle.

Corvin realized that Tanus had been right: the frakking thing was toying with them. It could kill him, the others, and Moraal in a heartbeat, and there was nothing he could do about it. The feeling of helplessness quickly gave way to rage.

Pulling a thermal detonator from his belt, the Private activated it. The damn thing could dodge blaster bolts, but he doubted it could dodge a baradium-fueled inferno.

The Noghri saw the glint of the detonator and seemed to freeze for a moment. Then, with a snarl, it leapt through the air and towards the Blackjacks.

Corvin was increasingly feeling only one emotion: tiredness. He was tired of the endless corridors, of the ozone stench damaged light-panels, of the jabs of pain that accompanied everymovement and subsequent shift in the bacta patches.

Most of all, however, he was tired of the Thrawnists and their habit of waiting just beyond what seemed to be each and every kriffing blast door on this hunk of junk.

A pauldron-clad stormtrooper jerked under multiple blaster hits, then crumpled to the ground. His subordinates continued to fire as they retreated, seeming not to notice either the death of their squad leader or their numerical disadvantage. They remained silent even as the Aureks sprayed them with Stormtrooper Two fire, burning through their armour as though it was flimsy. They fell over, one twitching feebly before falling still.

More arrived in seconds.

This is frakking insane. Corvin thought, spraying energy beams in all directions as the firefight raged around him. The stormtroopers were pouring out of every blast door in sight, firing rifles and heavy pistols as they came. The Vast Imperials were forced to remain in the center of the corridor, forming a ring around Moraal. If she got slotted, this entire thing would have been one big waste of time.

Tanus had flown down the corridor, crash-landing in the middle of their formation like an avian hit by a slugthrower round. Dane had managed to partially patch him up, but the unhelmeted SL appeared white-faced and somewhat unsteady on his feet. Corvin watched as Dane matter-of-factly applied a stim-injection to the SL's exposed neck. The Gunnery Sergeant winced, but didn't protest.

"Frak!" Corvin shouted as a series of blaster bolts whizzed by his head. "They just won't stop, sir!"

Despite the squads' efficiency, their enemies only seemed to be increasing in number. Stormtroopers stepped on and over the dead as they boxed in the storm commandos and jumptroopers, blaster bolts flying into their formation and wounding several.

Multiple blaster impacts to the chestbox and shoulderpads pushed Corvin against the wall and blistered his skin under the damaged areas. Dane rushed over, but Corvin waved him off.

"I'm fine, sir." he panted. "Just a scratch."

The Spec Ops medic shrugged, and Corvin could have sworn there was a hint of bitterness in the man.

"Whatever you say, rocket-boy."

With that, the medic was off, firing his Stormtrooper Two single-handed. 

"Right," Tanus snarled, smashing an unlucky stormtrooper's skull with his hammer. The top spike left a neat hole in the man's plastoid helmet, and blood dripped from the weapon as it was pulled back out. "We have to leave this party, now, before our short, blue friends finds us again."

"Corvin, Nera, toss a few frags. I'll take care of the rest."

"Yes, sir."

"Whatever you say, Sarge."

"Ready..." Tanus cautioned, firing. More and more troopers were advancing. "Now!"

Two fragmentation grenades, then two more, flew through the air and landed in the middle of a Thrawnist formation. White-armoured bodies were thrown against the walls. The few who'd avoided the blast or been on its edge struggled to get back up and resume firing. They never got that chance.

Tanus strode through the body-covered corridor like an avenging angle, striking an imposing figure as he swung the hammer from side to side. Troopers fell to its spike-studded head, impaled or simply crushed. The Aureks and Blackjacks followed in his wake, mopping up the few survivors.

"Run!" Tanus ordered. The stormtroopers from behind were already starting to give chase, firing as they ran. Blaster bolts whizzed through the air, and one clipped Corvin's helmet com as it flew past.

"Stand and address!" Tanus suddenly shouted. Had the late Ms. Tilde still been with them, she might have asked why he'd suddenly changed his mind. The Blackjacks, however, were stormtroopers. Obedience had been drilled into them, and reinforced through countless battles.

They obeyed, firing at their pursuers. The Aureks followed seconds later, laying down fields of deadly energy fire at their pursuers. The stormtroopers and security personell stopped for a moment, pure human confusion taking hold, and in that moment Tanus acted.

The warhammer's head crashed down on the walll panel, disabling it. The blast doors closed, cutting off the Thrawnists from the Imperials. Panting, Tanus grinned.

"Amazing just how often that trick works. Come on, we haven't much time."

They ran again.

The squads passed through corridors, side hallways, and mess halls, all the while coming ever closer to their objective.

Four hundred and twenty meters

Tanus abruptly came to a sudden halt. Vare, who was at his side, inhaled sharply, raising his Stormtrooper Two as he did so. Corvin ran forwards, then saw what had given the two pause and stopped.

"Minions of Xendor," the Spec Ops SL muttered, sounding sick. "It's Onith Squad."

"Not just them, sir." Corvin noted, feeling distinctly ill at ease. He jerked his head to what looked like it had been an Imperial Marine. The protruding shoulderpads and helmet were what allowed him to identify her. "Looks like a few Marines made it this far too."

There were dozens of bodies in the corridor, with the most at the oppsoite end. The storm commando sergeant had made it the furthest: he lay in a pool of his own blood near the doorseal Tanus and the others were standing at.

Were it not for his time with Nexu Squad and what he'd seen during it, Corvin would have undoubtedly been sick. As it were, that and the prospect of choking on vomit in a sealed suit stopped him.

"Better keep moving," Tanus said. Corvin nodded in achnowledgment, his attention on the darkened corridor. Was that a flash of blue-grey he'd seen or was it his imagination. "Keep an eye out for the knife-nut."

The squad slowly walked down the corridor, taking care not to tread on their fallen comrades. Nera took the time to kneel down and retrieve their tags as she went. She had a chain of them clicking against her plastoid leggings as she walked along, some of them her squadmates. Corvin could well imagine how she felt.

Halfway down the corridor, the Noghri descended on them like a rock-vulture on a carcass.

They were 300 meters out, and the sand running through the hour glass was almost gone. They had to get off the ship and soon. These Noghri are too good. No wonder Thrawn employs them. The more they got help up by the guards, the more likely the Noghri could go in for a death blow. The two Onith men folded seamlessly into Aurek squad, and Dane was moving amongst the three wounded soldiers with quick and flawless efficiency; Tanus mused that the man have been part machine. The remaining six security guards ran behind the wall, and had soon fallen back completely under the concentrated fire of the Vast Empire troopers. As the guards backed off, Tanus looked down the hallway: They weren’t being pursued, and for once Tanus did not have an overwhelming sense of dread that two angry lizard men hellbent on cutting them apart were going to get them. The calm before the storm. Tanus got up and looked down both hallways. No opposition was coming up to meet them from either direction. The others go up and stretched their legs and looked around as well.

“So,” Vare said, holding his carbine one handed. “Where do we go from here?”

“Anywhere the Noghri aren’t would be nice. I hear Bespin is nice this time of year…” Rogueboy said.

They all laughed at his jape as they circles up around Tanus; Moraal was next to him, rubbing her and looking away, obviously anxious. If it weren’t for the fact that she had betrayed all he had worked so hard to keep alive. Tanus looked to Tempest, who was already furiously tapping away at his datapad.

“So what can you tell me?”

“Well, I can see a few alternative routes to the hangar. That said, I can almost guarantee with certainty that they will all be covered. May just be easier to book it to the hangar via the most direct route, secure the shuttles and get the hell out of here.”

“Aye. I have a feeling if we took any alternative routes, the Noghri would have a party with our skulls. I’d rather not play that game. I like my face, it’s my meal ticket.”

Some of the others laughed; it was a good feeling to start to reduce the tension. But it came right back as Tanus realized that they were still being pursued, and the final 300 meters wouldn’t be any easier than the previous 700. It can only get tougher. Tanus checked his ammo to make sure he had enough; he was down to his last three clips, plus the one already in his rifle. That’s 180 rounds left. Best make them count.

“All right, well seems to be the plan is to run the most direct path. Don’t stop unless we need to. One problem is they’ll be expecting this and will have set up a few roadblocks along the way. That said, get ready for one hell of a fight. When we get to the hangar, expect anything. I plan to. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

He turned on his heels and sprinted down the hall, Garryll and Vare close behind him. Moraal was just behind Tanus while the others formed a blanket of white and black for cover. The halls seemed to stretch and bend before him. I need a vacation. Tanus holstered his EE-3 and drew his hammer, its haft still extended and the vicious spike on its end trailing behind him. Moraal looked down at it, her face a mask of uncertainty.

“You sure you know how to us that thing?”

“Honey, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

As he said that, a squad of guards walked around the corner, rifles raised. Perfect timing. With a burst of adrenaline, Tanus closed last few meters, hammer extended outwards. The spike penetrated armor and flash, and the man on the other dropped his rifle, bleeding and dying. He pulled the spike out and moved on to the next man, knocking the man flat on his back with a hammer swing and finishing him with the tail spike through his helmet. Two knives flew past his head and hit two targets one on the chest and one in the liver. Tanus turned to see Tempest running up the center, grabbing his daggers and moving on to the next man. All told, the fight lasted a total of 15 seconds, and at the end of it 12 guards lay dead at their feet. Tanus stood there, blood staining his white armor and hammer over his shoulder. He looked at Moraal, who was currently stepping over a crushed body.

“You were saying, lass?”

Over her shoulder, Tanus detected movement. Towards the end of the hall, a flash of blue and gray appeared around the corner. Both of them. Damn it.

“Run! They’re back!”

Tanus grabbed Moraal by the scruff of her neck and dragged her over the bodies and threw her at Garryll.

“Get her out of here! Whoever has a disruptor, you’d better start using it.”

Orobos and Tempest both drew disruptor pistols and aimed down the hall.

“Open fire!”

A staccato of green disruptor bolts flew down the hall. Hitting the walls and floors where the Noghri assassins had occupied only mere milliseconds before. Solid black scorch marks lay where the bolts had made contacts. Tanus started taking a few steps back.

“On the count of three, we run. Just fire behind us. They may want to kill us, but they sure as hell aren’t stupid enough to charge a man firing a disruptor. On the count of three.”

The Noghri knife wielder threw two knives at the three Blackjacks then reached for two more. The scythe wielder hissed in raged and charged like a mad bull.

“Three…”

They were closing the gap now; Tanus could see his reflection in the scythe blade.

“Two…”

Tanus could feel Death beckoning him, it’s cold grip tightening around his throat.

“One! Go go go!”

The three turned and sprinted away, disruptors aimed behind them and firing wildly. Green bolts flew down the hall as the Noghri gave chase, leaping from floor to ceiling to wall at blinding speed. Tanus could hear the sounds of footfalls down the hall. Please don’t be more bad guys, please don’t be more bad guys. Instead, what Tanus saw made him smile from ear to ear. A wall of black and white appeared around the corner.

“Boys, give ‘em hell!” Vare yelled, as he drew his sidearm and his Stormtrooper Two and started to fire.

Tanus and the others blew past them as the Noghri started to fall back under the raining bolts from carbines and disruptors. When they were gone, Tanus only shook his head.

“You were waiting all day to do that weren’t you?”

“You had your moment of valiance, I had mine. It was a fair trade in my opinion.”

“Fair enough. Well, what’s the story?”

“Well, the hangar is down that hallway. Figured you should see it before we move in.”

“Nice touch.”

“I consider myself an artist.”

The group turned around and walked through the door. Looking behind them as they made their way through the last door, Tanus took a look down the hall: A solid steel door stood in front of them 100 meters away. Tanus turned around and shot the control panel with the disruptor, watching it spark as the door sealed shut.

“No turning back now. Let’s get this done.”

They ran down to the door and looked it up and down. Tanus looked at the control panel. Hmm, not locked. This cannot be good. Tanus gripped his disruptor pistol extra tight as he turned to face his men.

“All right. We’re finally here. Get to the gunships, get Moraal on one of them and get ready to get the hell out of here. Does everybody understand?”

They all nodded in unison, readying their weapons as they did so.

“Good. Now here we go.”

Tanus pressed the button on the control panel and the door slid open. As it slid open, Tanus saw the muzzle of an E-WEB cannon – then he saw three, flanked by at least fifty guards; the Noghri were nowhere in sight. Are of the guards raised their rifles at the same time.

“Damn it to hell.”

Tanus looked down at the end of the hangar doors to see the Noghri glaring at them, flanked by guards in full formation. How the hell did they get through that door? Tanus ducked behind a set of canisters as red laser fire flew over and around his head from the E-WEBs across the hangar. The men were running out of grenades quickly; the only one that had any left was Rogue, and he was already jamming a fresh drum clip into the launcher. He angled it upwards and popped off two grenades at the gunners on the opposite sides of the hangar. They both overshot the guns, but managed to take out a good number of troopers. Tanus simply grimaced. At least those are 8 less people shooting at us. And no for them. Tanus looked again at the Noghri and their guards, who were moving up to greet them, blades in hand. Tanus turned around to look at Rogue and Orobos.

“Rogue, lay some suppressing fire downrange. I want those Noghri as far away from us as possible. Orobos, you go for the guns with the particle cannon! That should keep them on their toes!”

The two branched out to their respective positions. Rogue set up shop behind a small set of crates and laid two more clips of grenades next to him. He fired two more grenades and watched them hit right in the center of the group of guards. The Noghri jumped out of the way and started to jump around from cover to cover, preventing anybody from getting a clear shot. The guards fell back to cover, and soon Blackjack was cut off by eight heavily armed men and two Noghri with a bend for acrobatics. Perfect. Orobos brought the particle cannon up to his shoulder and began to open fire, throwing up a wall of blue energy bolts that slammed into the wall behind the guns and killed all that it touched.

“I’m out!” Garryll shouted above the din as he slammed his final clip into his rifle.

Tanus tossed him another two clips and turned back to the Noghri, who were edging closer and closer with every jump. Tanus raised his rifle and fired three rounds bursts at each of the assassins, to keep them on their toes. The guards then started to throw up some counter fire. Tanus ducked as blaster fire raked his position. He opened a channel up with the other gunship.

“Pilot, where the hell are you!?”

“I’m on my way, Blackjack One. Where’s the other gunship?”

“It’s down. Pilot’s dead and the ship is done for. We need you now!”

“All right. Engines are up again. I’ll be there in about a minute.”

“Funny. I could have used you a minute ago.”

“What do you want from me? I’m no magician. Engine troubles are engine troubles.”

“Just hurry the hell up.”

The line closed as Tanus heard the distinct powering up of engines in the background. About damn time. The Noghri were almost on top of them now; Tanus could see malice and vengeance dancing in the scythe wielder’s eyes. Tanus knew what he had come for. Come and get me, you scaly little bastard. Tanus turned and looked at Moraal, who was sitting down, balled up and hands over her head. Tanus looked at her with a sense of pity and anger. He looked at the others, Marines and Spec Ops included, and realized that they may be throwing away their lives for the sake of a traitor. 45 seconds. Tanus turned back and looked to see the scythe wielder about 10 meters away, blaster fire seemingly bending away from it as it charged. Tanus stood to his full height and holstered his EE-3. Garryll looked up at him and cocked his head.

“What are you doing!?”

Tanus activated his jetpack and hovered above the ground a few feet; the Noghri stopped dead.

“Tying up some loose ends.”

And then Tanus flew at the Noghri. The creature, caught off guard at the move, raised his scythe for a strike, but wasn’t fast enough for the fire-driven trooper. Tanus slammed into him, his elbow driving into the creature’s stomach. The creature semi-wretched as it was driven back by the force of the blow. He skidded to a halt a few meters away, using his free hand for balance as he tightened the grip on his scythe. Tanus drew his hammer and glared at him.

“Remember me?”

The creature half howled, half hissed as it charged Tanus, slashing downwards with such speed and force that Tanus was sure he wouldn’t be able to dodge in time. Tanus pulled back and countered with several thrusts from the spike on his hammer. Stay on the offensive. Laser blasts seemed to divert themselves away from the two combatants as the danced with steel and rage, fueled only by their desire to kill the other. 20 seconds. Tanus parried several lightning-fast blows from the creatures scythe and danced around the assassin as best he could, but he simply was too slow to match the creature’s speed. He ducked under one of the savage strikes and brought his hammer up in a vicious uppercut and then drove downwards with the tail spike. The creature jumped backwards and flipped around, his scythe spinning in his hands in a blur of silver.

5 seconds. Tanus charged the creature, spike out and ready to kill. The Noghri easily dodge the blow and countered with several strikes of his own, seemingly coming in from all directions at once. Tanus drove his hammer upward for a block, and the two weapons met in a shower of sparks. The two fighters stared at each other, their minds racing for what was going to happen next. And then Tanus heard it: Their savior had arrived. Tanus turned his hammer aside, diverting the scythe away for a split second of space. Okay, you little bastard, here’s my parting gift. The Noghri jumped back just as Tanus whipped the tail end of his hammer around, but wasn’t quite quick enough to dodge the full blow. The spike trailed across the creature’s stomach, leaving a wide gash in its wake. Blood poured out of the wound as the beast backed off to the safety of the group of guards behind it, who only just now seemed to comprehend that a heavily armored gunship had entered the hangar.

“Perfect timing, pilot. Glad you could make it.”

“I aim to please. Want me to air out the room?”

“That would be lovely.”

At his word, the gunship rotated and aimed squad at the two remaining E-WEB cannons on the west side of the hangar. The cannons swung up to met the gunship, which answered by praying blaster fire across their position, taking out the guns, their crews and all of the troopers behind it. The composite beam cannons swung in wide arcs, firing solid beams of energy over Tanus’ head at the Noghri and their contingent of guards. Several ducked as the beam passed through many of their comrades, who now lay in various states of dismemberment around the hangar. Tanus looked back to see the Noghri nowhere in sight. The gunship land and the doors swung open as the others ran for its safety. Tanus slung his hammer over his shoulder and went to join them, but as he did so, he felt white hot pain run through his right shoulder. He looked back to the knife wielding Noghri, standing on top of crates, a fanged smile across his lips as he readied another knife. Tanus eyes widened as he expected the knife to come and to silence him forever.

Instead, a wall of blaster fire met the creature. Tanus looked to see all of the remaining men, rifles raised and firing. Tanus looked over at Vare, who was waving him along. I owe that man a drink. He pulled the knife out of his shoulder and swore as he threw it to the ground and sprinted to the shuttle. He jumped through the doors and grabbed one of the overhead rails to steady himself. Dane came over almost immediately, medpac in hand.

“Ya know, sir, you really should duck. It may just save your life.”

Tanus could only chuckle. The others fanned out and grabbed some rungs as the doors slammed shut and the gunship lurched off the ground; Tanus could still hear the sounds of weapons behind fire as the guards made a feeble attempt to take down the ship. He looked back to see Moraal sitting down, guarded closely by Garryll and Vare; she looked so forelorn, almost ready to welcome the death that awaited her.

“Aye, maybe I should. But where would the fun in that be?”

“I dunno. Living?”

“Good point.”

And thus the men of Blackjack, Aurek and the survivors of the others squads took one last look at the Nemesis, and praying to whichever God they worshipped that it would be one big metal tomb sooner rather than later.

First Sergeant Jax Melbourne stared out the window in the ready room. The sunset cast a long, wide shadow over Fort Sexton. From what Jax had heard, the squads were doing relatively well, and that Thrawn’s star forces were getting trounced thoroughly. Then again, I suppose that the brass will say anything to boost morale. Jax knew better than that; as a soldier for the past 15 years, he knew all about what people said and what they really meant. His Stormtrooper Two lay on the bench behind him, and was bathed in the red-gold light from the beautiful sunset in front of him. Smoke rose from the fields, marking them as a site of great battle. Thrawn wants us out of the way and badly. I’ve never seen someone throw this many resources into one battle before. The sounds of boot steps made Jax turn his head. In walked in his assistant, Scott Ganer. Scott was slightly leaner than Jax, but that made him no less deadly; he was perhaps the best marksman in the entire squad.

“So, you get the news?” Scott asked as he went for his locker.

“Yeah, I did. Seems to me that they want to get the jump on us.”

Scott actually stopped moving to look at Jax. His face contorted in a look of disgust as he turned back to his locker.

“That pun was horrible. Why did you do that? I was having such a good day, too.”

“Well then, I guess we should spread the love to the rest of the squad then. What do you think?”

“May as well,” Jax said, turning his eyes back to the bright sun beating against his eyes. “They’re bound to find out sooner or later.”

Scott closed his locker and holstered his Stormtrooper Two and his DC-15s pistol. He turned around and walked over to the wall and grabbed a belt of grenades and clasped it around his waist. He walked back over to Jax, picked up the Stormtrooper Two and handed it to Jax. Jax turned his head and stared at the solid black rifle. He grabbed it and holstered it before picking up his hlemt and placing it under his arm.

“Let’s get started.”



Jax walked in to the main atrium to see the rest of Serpent squad waiting for him. Drae Breis was sitting down, cleaning his DC-15s with the the look of a mother staring lovingly at her child; the whole scene was a tad bit disconcerting. The others were in various states of relaxation, either talking to each other or standing up against a wall. They all turned to look as both troopers entered the room. Barro Cley, the Twi’lek of the group and support gunner, shifted his grenade launcher as Jax stepped up.

“So, what can you tell us boss?”

Jax cleared his throat and look at each of his troopers in turn, locking eyes with some of the best of the best. Man, I really hate this part.

“Well, boys and girls, it looks like Thrawn has a bone to pick with us. Mostly for the fact that the AHC is here. That said, we need to throw out his forces that seem to be on their way.”

“What are we dealing with?” Linix Krell asked, the Kel Dor and medic asked.

“From what intel says, Thrawn is sending two Jumptrooper squads to break through the perimeter and scout what we have. We need to get out there and take them out.”

“Do we know where they are now?” Drae asked from his couch; he didn’t even look up from his pistol.

“From what we’ve seen, they seem to be about 200 meters out from the outer walls. That gives us a little more than 7 minutes to get out to the walls, set up some defenses and wait for them to show.”

“So when do we leave?”

“Right now. Pack up your stuff and seal anything you haven’t already. Make sure you have everything you need because after this there is no coming back. Y’all understand?”

In lieu of speaking, all of Serpent squad rose from their relaxation and put on their helmets. Jax just smiled and put on his own.

“Good answer. Now let’s go.”

They walked out of the front door and looked out at the setting sun. Seems only fitting that Thrawn sends his forces now. Their lives end as the day does. From where he was standing, Jax could see the outer walls of Fort Sexton, their duracrete and steel walls glistening in the sun. From the other side, it must have been a beautiful sight. But from the other side came 24 men ready to kill all int heir path, which was some Serpent squad wasn’t about to allow. Without a word, Jax activated his jetpack and started to hover a few feet of the ground; he could hear the others rise off of the ground behind him.

“Serpent squad, let’s show these bastards how it’s really done.”

They flew on off to the outer walls, long shadows cast in their wake. As Jax looked down at the soaring black lines beneath them, he could have sworn that they started to slither along the ground. Just remember Thrawn: After we bite, make sure you can staunch the wound.

Scott Ganer wasn’t a man for much sentiment in a combat field; his goal was to live and get back home, and take as many of his squad mates with him. Unfortunately, there seemed an entire galaxy of bad men and women who were dead set on killing him and depriving him of that simple pleasure.

These troopers were trying their hardest to kill him, that’s for sure. The two squads had crashed together in a melee of steel and laser bolts, each vying for supremacy as they grappled at close range. He used his Stormtrooper Two carbine like a club, beating at the head and shoulders of a man who had tackled him in mid-air. The other’s jetpack was pushing full-force to power the tackle, and was leaving a flaming trail behind him.

Ganer finally managed to pry the struggling soldier off and hit him hard in the face, cracking the man’s visor. Beside him, there were shouts of anger, gunfire at point-blank range and loads of metal-on-metal clashes. Ganer drew up his leg and pushed off the man’s chest, flipping the jetpack into his eyes at the same time.

The man flew back, screaming as the super-heated air dried one of his eyes to ash in a second. Ganer shot a dozen feet away and turned back, spraying his carbine at the man. The only thing was that the man had jetted away despite having one eye left.

Ganer fired a few blasts after him, but he drew back towards the melee, and Ganer activated his jetpack to fly after him.

“What’s the situation, sir?” Ganer asked Jax.

The squad leader gestured. “It’s a balls-up shit-storm. We’re giving it everything we got. C’mon.”

The two men dove back into the brawl. Jax smashed his knuckler into the thigh of a Jumptrooper in corporal’s bars, and was thanked with a scream before the man swept his rifle into the side of the VE SL’s head. The Thrawnist was taken by a kidney punch, and when he doubled up, a knee driven into his face.

Ganer zoomed off and body-checked another Jumptrooper who was trying to get to Drae’s back and cut him with a short vibroblade. The Corporal never even knew what was coming, as he was so concentrated on his target.

Ganer kicked at the chest of the Thrawnist, knocking him back as his jetpack squealed in response, righting him almost instantly. He drove a fist forward in a charge and Ganer dodged lightly, cutting his jetpack for a second to plummet a dozen feet. He raised his rifle and stitched blaster shots after him, but only one connected, blasting a hole in the man’s armor and leaking smoke. The man roared in agony and changed directions, avoiding another burst and then dropping to Ganer's level and grappling with him again.

The Serpent ASL gasped in effort as he shrugged off close-range blows from the maddened Thrawnist. Finally, he got some space and punched him in the face, hard. The man rolled over in mid-air from the force and Ganer jetted to create some standoff space.

The man turned on a dime and pulled out a pistol, blasting wildly at the bobbing Serpent ASL.  Ganer sighted carefully down his sights and pulled the trigger. The laser bolt tore into the man’s jetpack’s fuel line, and fuel sprayed wildly. It also served to cut the jetpack out, and the man plummeted, falling and screaming.

Ganer flipped an ironic salute at the doomed soldier and zoomed back to his comrades.

“Damn it, where the hell did they come from!?”

Jax spun around midair, Stormtrooper Two in his hands, as he saw another 12 white shapes coming out against the setting sun. Perfect. He blasted towards them, firing on a Thrawnist trooper as he did, forcing him back behind cover. He landed on top of one of the towers and activated his microbinoculars, peering out at the oncoming force: They were more heavily armed than the previous force, this time coming in with rail detonators and grenade launchers of their own. So the first wave was just to soften us up. Well, Thrawn, guess what, you screwed up. We’re alive and kicking, as opposed to a few of your men. Looks like they’ll be needing a stretcher – or a body bag. He turned off the binoculars and put them away, opening up the squad channel as he did so.

“Barro, you have any rounds in your launcher left?”

“Yeah, and few more clips besides.”

“Good. We’re going to need them. We’ve got another twelve bogies coming in hot from beyond the wall.”

“What’ve they got.”

“Couple rail detonators and a J-4. Could be trouble.”

“Eh, no more than usual. I’ll see what we can cook up.”

“Good man. Get it done.”

The channel closed with a buzz of static as Jax turned around and flew back to the battle at hand. He was greeted by a wave of blaster bolts from on top of a heating duct. He looked up to see a solitary Thrawnist trooper raining down suppressing fire. Okay then. We’ll play your game. Jax moved left and right, up and down, just to keep the sniper on his toes. He pulled his Stormtrooper Two up to his shoulder and fired a short burst at the soldier. The bolts raked his chest and face, and soon he fell off of his perch, lifeless and silent. The rest of the squad was doing well: Linix was working on yet another “masterpiece” from one of the troopers he had taken down earlier. I really happy he’s on our side. Crazy bastard needs help, I swear to the Maker. The channel buzzed again; this time it was Rai.

“Barro and I are in position, sir.”

“What the hell happened to the loony war cry? And for that matter, what else are you carrying besides the rail detonator?”

“I’m not. I just kinda forgot I was carrying more ammo for it. Heat of the battle and all that.”

“I swear you people are going to get me killed.”

“You love us.”

“That’s cause I can’t do any better. Just get ready for them. They’re about another minute or so out.”

The line closed once more as Jax flew around the field of battle, firing on any Thrawnists that dare get too close to him. He turned back and looked out again; the backup was almost here now, and they looked very unhappy. Well then, let’s give ‘em a show. And then, as simple as that, he was falling. Jax turned around to see a Thrawnist wrapped around his waist, driving him to the ground.

“Oh, you wanna play with me, you little bastard? Fine.”

Jax punched the soldier in the face, snapping his head back as he turned around midair and aimed straight for the ground. Jax turned on his vibroknuckler, hearing the low hum over the sound of jetpacks roaring and feeling his knuckles tingle as the blades gave off a subtle ultravibration. The man snapped his head back at attention about two seconds before he slammed into the ground with such force that the durasteel block he landed on buckled. Jax raised his fist up past his ear and looked down into his victim’s visor. Without saying anything, he slammed his fist down, blade cutting through his visor and eating into the forward parts of his skull and brain. Jax pulled the blade out and looked up from his fallen foe to see the newest forces coming in. About time. Jax crouched down next to the body of the dead Thrawnist and raised his Stormtrooper Two up to his shoulder and fired. The Thrawnist broke ranks as they were peppered with blaster fire from all around.

The Thrawnists returned fire with both blasters and explosives, rocking the outer wall with fire and metal. Blaster fire rained down on the Serpents as they dove for cover under the combined fire power of the first and second squads of Thrawn’s jumptroopers. Jax looked up from his cover to see the heavy trooper zooming around like flies. Bloody pests. Jax opened up the channel to Barro.

“For the love of everything ever, why haven’t you fired anything yet?”

“I can’t draw a bead on them. They’re changing vectors too fast.”

“Well, don’t you and Rai have a proximity setting on those guns?”

“I might; I know Rai does.”

“Then where the hell is she!?”

“She’s tied up at the moment with some other Thrawnists. They started giving her trouble when they saw the rail detonator.”

“How many are there?”

“Three or so. I didn’t have time to look back.”

“All right, I’ll take care of that. You just keep them off of us with a proximity charge.”

“If I can figure it out, sure.”

“Now’s not the time for experimentation, Barro!”

“Right, sir!”

Jax rose from his cover, firing as he did so. He activated his jets and flew on over to three Thrawnist hovering around a solitary trooper, like vultures around a carcass. Don’t die on me Rai. Don’t you dare bloody die on me.

Rai swung the rail detonator, catching a Thrawnist in the faceplate. The  jumptrooper was pushed back by the blow, giving Rai enough time to aim and fire the DC-15s in her left hand. The pistol jerked in her hand as she squeezed the trigger again and again, firing until the weapon clacked, the power meter on its back empty.

The stormtrooper had somehow survived and was still trying to fire when Rai slammed her shoulder into his chestplate, pushing him over the wall. There was a scream, followed by a crunch and a bang ten seconds later.

Breathing heavily. Rai reholstered her pistol, then slammed a new clip into her rail detonator. There was an affirmative beep from the weapon, and an icon appeared on her HUD incdicating that the weapon was ready to fire.

Peering over the rim of the fort wall, Rai saw the man's crumpled body. Flames from the suit's ruptured jetpack were licking greedily at it, spewing thick smoke that covered the scene like a funeral shroud.

"Another kriffer down." Rai muttered. That was when she felt something slam with tremendous force into her back, almost forcing her over the edge. Spinning around, the Corporal a heavy trooper, who'd dropped almost directly onto her.

The grey armoured trooper was wielding what looked like a force pike, the blade humming as he activated it. The man swung the pike, catching her in the chest and slamming her against the rampart. Her breathing hose was severed instantly by the cutting blade, and it began to slice through her chestplate as though it was so much flimsi.

Desperately, she swung her fist and hit the pike's handle, pushing it away. With a dull grinding noise, the blade was pulled out of her chestplate. The Thrawnist swung again, but this time Rai was ready. She threw herself against the ground, dropping her rail detonator as she did so. The bulky heavy weapon would only be a hindrance during a close-range fight. The hissing pike cut through the air against her head and slammed into the wall with a clang.

Rai lunged, hands grabbing onto the man's wrists and twisting in an attempt to break his grip on the pike. He was stronger than he looked. They staggered back and forth, each trying to wrest the pike away from the other. The Thrawnist leaned forward, then headputted her, causing her to stagger back and breaking her grip on the pike.

Stunned, Rai dropped to one knee, looking up at the Thrawnist. Triumphantly, the jumptrooper brought the pike crashing down onto the Serpent trooper's head...

but hit nothing but air and the stone paving. Gripping the rail detonator, which she'd scooped up when she crouched down, she headed up and backwards, moving away from the batlements of Fort Sexton. Shouting something Rai couldn't make out but suspected was quite uncomplimentary, the Thrawnist activated his own jetpack, unholstering a carbine as he did so.

He hadn't got a foot off the ground before Rai's rail charge embedded itself in his stomach. He had enough time to reach down  unbelievingly and touch the explosive before it detonated, blowing him into very, very small pieces and scattering armour fragments in every direction.

Why do I always run into the close-combat specialists? Rai mused, then headed for the center tower, almost directly in front of Fort Sexton's gates. Troopers were swarming around its spire, exchanging blue and red flashes of blaster fire.

====
The recruiter had told him, all those years ago, to join the Army to "meet new people, travel to new planets, see the universe!" What the recruiter hadn't mentioned was that most of the people, a strangely large number of the planets, and a large fraction of the universe would be trying to kill him, often in extraordinarily painful ways.

Hegan Vince sincerely hoped the old fart had died in agony. A flechette launcher launcher barked, and he grunted in pain as a metal shard burrowed through his armour and bodyglove, tearing into his arm. The stormtrooper reloaded, then fired again, the flettchetes tearing through the tower wall with a loud ping of metal on metal as Hegan prompted his jetpack to throw him to the left.

The Thrawnists were thickest near the centre guard tower. Naturally, that would have to be where he found himself. Hegan squeezed off a burst from his Stormtrooper Two, but the FC-1 toting Thrawnist evaded the blaster fire and fired himself.

Hegan barely managed to avoid the spread, and mentally decided that he was going to hunt down and kill the idiot who'd designed the kriffing FC-1 in the first place. The stormtrooper was doing an excellent job of tearing him apart with the close-range weapon.

Firing as he jetting upwards, Hegan resolved that, come the chance, he was leaving the Corps, paycheck be reamed. It wasn't the first time he'd sworn such a thing, and he always meant it at the time. Still, he'd never quite brought himself to actually do it.

Once this mess is over, I'm leaving for good. he told himself as another spray of metal flechettes barely mised him, and almost believed it.

“Well, lookit there,” Lance Corporal Barry Kline drawled. “Drae’s up to his neck in Nerf poo-doo. And damn! That stuff stinks!”

“Right, cowboy,” Ganer said. “Why don’t you go help your comrade out? I’ll cover you.”

“Alrigh’ then, boss-man,” Kline reeled off. “One turkey shoot comin’ up.”

Ganer set his feet on the wall of Fort Sexton and aimed into the mess that was chasing Drae. He took aim at the rearmost one, so as to get a possible shot off at all of them. The man wasn’t dodging too much, as he was focused on speed and catching the Serpent trooper.

“Unlucky you,” breathed Ganer, and fired. The high-powered AP slug tore right into the man’s jetpack and hit the fuel, exploding him and washing waves of fire over his two nearest comrades. Some of the front running-men turned and looked in confusion, and then, suddenly, Kline was below them, raking their torsos with heavy fire from his pair of M3 revolvers. One man collapsed, his jetpack weakly kicking as he grasped at the four bloody holes in his chest plate.

The rest ended their pursuit and turned their attention to Kline, who was now running as fast as he could. Drae, now freed from their suppressive fire, fired his Stormtrooper II into their backs and managed to injure another one. Someone’s rail charge blasted across the battlefield and nearly blew them all apart, clustered so closely together. The Thrawnists only managed to dodge by splitting wildly apart and losing all unit cohesion.

Again, it came down to individual duels, but by now, the numbers were much more even. There were about twelve able bodied Serpents, with various injuries, against thirteen Thrawnists who all had only superficial wounds.

Laser fire crackled between the two sides and the air around Fort Sexton began to burn and fill with the tang of ozone. More powerful munitions were hoarded as they became more and more rare from expenditures.

“We’ll be here until midnight at this rate,” Ganer mumbled to his Squad Leader as he fed another clip into his Stormtrooper II. “They just won’t knuckle over and die.”

“Well, that’s the best we can hope for,” Jax replied. “Take no casualties, and hold them off for six, seven hours? The battle will be won or lost by then, and either backup or our doom will arrive. Why aren’t you using the sniper rifle?”

“They aren’t showing their heads for long enough, and they’re buzzing around like there’s no tomorrow. Shot at this range would be very tough,” Scott said. “But what I’m really worried about is that they’ve come across the same conclusion. The defender has the advantage of reinforcements being inevitably on the way. They have to break us before backup arrives and get in so they can kill or take the Army High Command.”

“Good point. Get them on their toes, then.”

“Right, sir,” Ganer nodded, then raised his voice and switched the comlink channel. “Alright boys and girls! Keep it buckled down and tight, but watch out for an advance! They could charge at any time, so keep your eyes open and yell if you see anything. And what’s the heavy weapon status?”

“Rail cannons are about half, sir,” replied Rai. “The battle is taking a lot out of us. If they come with backup, we’re going to need a resupply.”

“Roger that,” Ganer said. “Krell! Medic sit-rep!”

“Everyone’s healthy enough,” the Kel Dor replied. “But I’m dying to do surgery on someone.”

“Right,” Ganer said dryly. “I’m sure you’ll get your chance.”

They say your life flashes before your eyes at the brink of death, that you see a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel, and that you can hear the angelic choir of dead relatives and ancestors welcoming you into heaven.  Sadly, Private Franklin Redd had no time to experience such a holy exit from life.

Private Tyrone Wist, Redd’s buddy and drinking partner, watched in horror as his friend ate a rail cannon slug and his head exploded. He was splattered with brain fluid and skull shrapnel, as well as a pretty generous dose of blood. He fell to his knees in horror.

It saved his life. Another rail cannon slug whizzed over his head, cutting seamlessly through the air where his chest had been. He didn’t notice; he was carefully arranging Redd’s body into some semblance of peace; he’d gone deaf to the war that was raging around him.

Dimly, he heard the screams and shouts of laser fire and thumping explosions, and out of the corner of his blurry vision, he saw the heavy boots of a Jumptrooper. He looked up; the soldier was pointing a rifle at his face.

Unwillingly, a gasp of fear escaped him and he closed his eyes. A second later, he opened them; he wasn’t dead. His vision cleared, and his ears were exposed to the burning dusk that was reality, like coming up from underwater.

“-on your feet, soldier!” a voice was yelling. It had a hand extended towards him and helped Wist to his feet, albeit unsteadily. “Grab your rifle, move it, move it!”

Wist looked around and scooped up his rifle. He finally recognized the Jumptrooper – Sergeant Melbourne, firing his Stormtrooper II at a far-off target. Tyrone looked the way the green and red lights were flashing, and spotted the Thrawnist Jumptroopers floating in the distance.

He raised his rifle and let loose on full-auto, the red tracers stark and harsh against the ever-softening light of twilight. None of his shots hit, but it made him feel better and forget his friend a little, so he did it again. And again, and again until he ran out of charge in his cell.

Then he reloaded.

= = = =
“What?!” yelled Vinn, firing his Stormtrooper II at a far-off target.

“I said!” yelled the scout, Lethe Termin. “They killed Redd!”

“They killed him?” shouted Vinn. “The bastards!”

“And Rai’s down!” the scout added. “She’s hit bad! Doc doesn’t think we can move her!”

“Well ain’t that swell,” drawled Kline, firing a revolver from each fist. “She gets a bloody nap while we’re out here a-bleedin’ and a-fightin’.”

“I’m sure she would have chosen to fight, too,” snarled Termin.

“I’m jus’ messin’ with ya,” Kline said good-naturedly. “Where’s the boss?”

“Which one?” asked Vinn.

“Ghost, not Hero,” the corporal responded. When he was greeted with blank looks, he amended his speech. “Ganer, not Melbourne.”

“Oh, he’s over there,” Vinn said, pointing.

= = = =
Scott Ganer reloaded. With the Thrawnists in retreat, the sniper rifle once again came into use. He sighted carefully down its scope and pulled the trigger. Another round spat from the long barrel at hypersonic speeds, slicing across the air into a Thrawnist’s head. The man fell from the air, his jetpack chugging weakly without any control.

“Ganer,” the SL’s voice filled his Assistant’s comlink. “Redd’s been killed.”

“Dammit,” muttered Ganer.

“That’s it?” Jax spat back. “Dammit?”

“It’s all the damn emotion we can afford right now or there’s going to be a lot more dead bodies,” Ganer responded coolly. “Sir. You chose me as your second because I can see any situation tactically. Get the job done; there will be time for grieving tomorrow. Oh, and make sure you talk to Wist, he looks pretty crazy right now.”

“Right,” Jax sighed. “Sorry.”

“It’s the heat of the moment sir,” Ganer replied. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Roger that,” the SL said. “Jax out.”

= = = =
“Wist!” a voice cut through the red haze that had descended over the Private’s vision and mind. “Wist, answer me, soldier!”

The Serpent Private ignored it and fired another burst at the retreating Jumptroopers.

“WIST!” Jax yelled, waving a hand in front of his eyes.

“Yes sir,” Wist replied, zeroing back into reality. “What is it, sir?”

“I know you’re pissed at what happened to Redd, but you’ve got to keep your head,” Jax said. “I don’t need another dead body on the rolls. You do want to go back home to your family, no?”

Wist snapped back to reality suddenly, and almost broke out in tears. His family. How would they take his death? And now, he had to talk to Redd’s family – he’d met them a few times, and he felt he should deliver the news personally. And for that, he had to live.

“I’m sorry sir,” Wist gabbled. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“Well, whatever it was, keep it under control,” Melbourne replied, and Wist could almost sense a grim smile on the man’s face. “Because we’re going after them.”