Tomas took his eyes off of the nearing temple to once again examine his hand. Now bandaged the wound was not nearly as revolting. Wiggling his fingers, Tomas let out a sigh of relief. He had been unable to do so before thanks to the immense pain of the embedded needle. A dull numbness had resulted from the pain relievers, though only in his smaller extremities like his fingers and toes. Up until now Tomas had worried that the needle had struck some nerve and taken away control of the fingers on his left hand. Now that he saw this was not true he couldn't but be extremely relieved. As a pilot, his hands were his life. Tomas supposed they could outfit him with an artificial one if need be, but it wouldn't be the same. To be a top pilot, you had to be quick in everything you did and frankly Tomas didn't believe the replacement hands could quite measure up to flesh and blood.

Surging with a new satisfaction, Tomas moved from the view port and prepared to disembark. It would be several more minutes before they landed, but he wanted to be ready. Picking up a blaster rifle with his good hand, Tomas looked it over carefully. Bringing his bandaged hand up to hold it steady, Tomas winced and released. Well, this will be interesting, he thought to himself lowering the gun. There was no way he was going to be able to use a blaster rifle in this condition. Holding it up again, this time one-handed Tomas attempted to aim at mock targets at the back of the shuttle. It was of no use, as the weight of the rifle made his transitions slow. He'd be a sitting duck to any return fire shot in his direction, and while he couldn't be sure his aim seemed to be off a bit...enough to make a big difference in the outcome of a fight.

Tomas gingerly threw the strap over his back. It was harder than he remembered, though that could also be because he was only using his one hand to do so. Just in case some greater firepower is a necessity, Tomas thought to himself, though given the difficulty I had putting it on, I'm not sure if I'll even be able to get it off without dropping it. Tomas sighed at this realization, silently cursing at the needle and other medical supplies. Noticing the belts of explosives, Tomas strapped one on tightly. With the number of munitions it held, he didn't want it falling off in the middle of a fight or worse yet while they were running. Lastly, a blaster was placed in a holster on his belt. As Tomas patted the second blaster by his chest he decided he was ready.

The ship shook slightly as they made contact with the ground. At this point Trevor gathered everyone together to give one last pep talk before they began, also delivering orders in the process.

"Ok, so we've landed. We're about two hundred meters from the temple, and most of that is tree covered. We're going to sneak to the edge of the tree line and scout out the temple. Looking for doors, windows, people, whatever. I highly doubt that this facility is going to be left completely unguarded. By now, the people who attacked us at the palace have probably returned. This is good and bad. It makes it harder for us to enter and leave the palace, but it means that if we're successful in planting our explosives we're more likely to catch half their men inside when the temple gets vaporized." Trevor explained carefully, making sure everyone understood what was involved.

"I want everyone to be on his or her best guard. Only shoot if you're shot at first. Try and use stealth, stick to the shadows, watch for patrols. Getting caught it bad." Tomas held back a chuckle at this comment, sarcasm filling his thoughts, so you mean I shouldn't try to get caught...darn, ok... "If you have to kill someone, try to do it quietly, and try to get any information out of them that you can. Let's move out." With this last order, Tomas looked at his flight. Atrick had a strange grin on his face, probably relishing in the opportunity to use his knife abilities and even encouraged to do so. Jared looked only slightly different, no doubt due to the fact that he now had access to more explosives than he could count. Just as the squadron turned to get ready Tokijin spoke up, quietly at first:

"Before we do. . ." She said, getting their attention as best she could. "I'd like to say that I know many of you are doubting our plans. Many of you are new to Nazgul and aren't sure what capable of, nor are you sure that your are capable of yourselves." As she went on in her inspiration, Tomas could hear her voice increase in volume and confidence. "We're pilots, this isn't necessarily what you expected to do on a regular basis. But you're Nazgul pilots now. We do this, and we keep a positive spirit about it because we know we're good at it." A number of the pilots seemed surprised at her unexpected outburst, while Tomas just nodded in understanding.

The rest of the squadron moved to arm themselves while Tomas looked down at himself and chuckled. Trevor must've noticed as well, though it wouldn't be hard to miss when Tomas had several pounds of explosive material strapped to him.

"Someone's a bit eager for this all of a sudden." Trevor said with a  chuckle, gesturing to the various weapons about Tomas' body.

"Not really, Sir." Tomas replied, "actually I'm not looking forward to this at all. I'm nervous about it, and when I get nervous about something like this I tend to jump the gun in getting prepared."

"Alright then," Trevor responded, nodding. "Carry on...and we're going to be fine."

Already armed, Tomas made his way down the ramp to keep look out. They were in the forest, but the ship would be hard to miss to any warriors who happened to be out on a nature walk. Once the rest of the squadron had prepared themselves, Trevor led them down the ramp tapping Tomas on the shoulder as he reached the bottom. Tomas stood down, and followed his squadronmates through the jungle in the direction of the clearing and the temple.

As they reached the clearing, he noticed Tokijin gather the rest of her flight together before looking at Darius and himself. Ah, we're going to be split up again...got it...I guess that makes sense, a squadron of pilots together in a temple is kind of hard to keep stealthy. Bringing his flight together, Tomas addressed them:

"Alright guys. It seems we're going in our own. We saw doors on the sides of the temple on our approach so I'm guessing one of those will be our entry point. Casca, care to go scout it out and see what we'll be up against?" Tomas explained, disguising his order as a request.

"Yes, Sir." Casca replied matter of factly, before heading off. Tomas noticed Skar rush off in a similar manner, though towards the opposite side of the temple. Trevor pulled the squadron back together temporarily, though the difference in flights remained apparent.

"Changing of the guard. What I'm thinking is that I'll send Flight Two through one of the training doors, Flight Three through the other, and flight one will take the main doors." Tomas nodded at this, having guessed that was generally the plan. It was at this point that Casca returned to Tomas' side, and Skar to his flight.

"All is clear on the west. No-one in sight." Casca reported.

"The east door should be no trouble as well, Sir." Skar said, continuing where Casca left off. Their further reports revealed that the side doors only possessed seemingly no guarding, while the front door  appeared to have at least two guards. These facts seemed strange, Tomas felt a militaristic temple such as this would have more protection. To leave the doors into their facility so prone to attack seemed absurd. I guess they didn't plan on anyone counterattacking them so soon, Tomas thought.

"Good. If everyone is ready to go, I think we should run off and begin our attack. Once these two guards slip inside, everyone make a break for their respective doors." The squadron moved off with their flights. The replaced guards had disappeared into the western training door, now relieved of their duties. The flights took off for the various doors, and all at once Tomas lost sight of the others as they disappeared around various corners of the temple. He looked around at his flightmates, they were now on their own...Well, here we go...

(OOC: Woo, page three)

"We're heading into the basement, this is where we have to watch for support pillars." Ah, right. We want to unbalance the whole thing. . . Getting the support pillars would no doubt do that. She followed behind Trevor silently with Jack bringing up the rear. She hadn't noticed the steady decline they had been making. Her thoughts were mostly concentrated on whether they were going to run into more crazy religious people or not. She didn't have a desire to see any more, but her anxiety level was high, and her nerves were being attacked as well. This seemed to her one of those, "out the frying pan and into the fire" type of deals. 

But it didn't take long for them to reach their appointed destination. They soon found themselves in a large room, the ceiling seemed to be a mile away even when they were only a story off the ground, but Toki figured that was because the ceiling was dark, and was hard to pick out. The room let off an ominous, solemn glow. Just walking into it made Toki shudder. But she quickly saw this is where they needed to be. Seven pillars dotted the vast basement, but as Toki peered down over the railing of the balcony they had found themselves on, she realized they were not alone.

There was a crowd of people surrounding the pillar that was in the very center of the room. What are they all doing down here? She had been busy looking at the crowd of worshipers that she hadn't bothered to look towards where their gaze was held. The seventh pillar had small uneven dots on it. . . Slightly confused she squinted slightly to try and see what they were and gasped when she realized. Six people were tied to the pillar.

The unmistakable color of the trapped people was an obvious giveaway. Pilots. Toki's eyes widened in fear as she looked on the gruesome scene below her. She jumped as a sound filled her ears. One could barely call it music, but just the sound of it made her shudder. From the look of things these pilots weren't going to leave this temple. There were six people that stood next to their own pilot, a spotlight had been turned on and a small glint reflected from each of their hands, undoubtedly a weapon.

Trevor and Jack began to move closer towards the railing to get a better look but Toki didn't quite want that, but hurried after them anyway, not wanting to be left alone. She hid herself half behind Trevor, not quite wanting to watch but she couldn't seem to pull her eyes away from the horrible sight below her. Chanting was now added to the mix of music, and the robed men with the knifes began to move close to the pilots. The pilots were still conscious, still quite aware of their fate. The loud pounding music had stopped suddenly, but the large cavern still echoed the eerie sound, adding to the affect, of what Toki now realized, of the human sacrifice.

Six voices spoke together, their voices loud and high, inspiring pure fear in Tokijin's heart. Her eyes widened and she found herself staring at Trevor's shirt, his shirt sleeve clasped tightly in her hand. She shuddered and the hair on the back of her neck rose on end as cheering followed what she knew was the death of those six innocent men. She wanted to stay seemingly safe, hiding in Trevor's shirt but he had other plans. He gave her a quick hug before forcing her away from him and jumping up onto the thick, stone railing. He then lowered himself down before dropping to the ground below him. Toki watched as he did a quick survey, making sure no one else was around before motioning his two pilots down.

She watched Jack descend before following herself. She wanted them down there in case she decided to slip and fall, there would be someone there to hinder her fall. She pulled one of the bombs from her belt and started walking towards the pillar, looking down at it instead of where she was going. But when she looked up and realized where she was headed, she saw the pale bodies of the innocent pilots before her and she quickly turned around and headed towards one of the outer pillars, choosing it as her target. What a horrible, horrible thing to do. . . The grief stricken faces of those pilots scarred her memory, unable to erase the gruesome picture from her thoughts, she made herself focus on the bombs in her shaking hands. She was careful with her movements, taking expert care not to mess with the bombs before she wanted the timer to go off. She got it attached to the pillar and pressed a couple buttons, and a familiar beep filled the air. Fifteen minutes. She went to the next pillar over, still keeping her head down and steered away from the bodies and got the second bomb up and ready faster than the first. She stared at the red numbers as they began to count down. She looked over at Trevor and Jack, who were still attaching some of their own bombs.

They had theirs up finally and Trevor came over to check the first activated bomb and Toki glanced at it herself. 8:27. Time to get the hell out of here.

"Let's go." Trevor ordered and nodded towards the balcony, jogging towards it with Jack and Toki on his tail. They had no time to waste and now was not the time to take a stroll. Trevor pulled out his comm link as they jogged along, looking around quickly for the way they had come, hoping to just follow their path back out to the main doors instead of getting out some other way. She heard Tom reply to Trevor's question, their bombs also set, and Darius quickly followed, voicing the confirmation of the planting of their bombs as well.

The problem was that they had no idea how far from the exit they were. They hadn't been keeping track of the distance and this temple was huge. Hopefully they would make it out on time, but it seemed that they would be cutting it close. They kept making wrong turns and running into dead ends. Time was running out.

When Toki was sure the bombs would go off any second now they found themselves in the main entryway, with the doors to freedom right in front of them. But a pair of guards got to them first and the two groups collided with sickening thuds, fists raised and punches landed. Toki found herself aiding Jack, getting one guard to the ground, with Toki kneeling on his arm arm and watched with a wince as Jack quickly knocked him out cold. She stood up and was about to step in to help Trevor's fight with a smaller guard but a sharp shake from Jack kept her back. She winced again as a crack sounded as Trevor's fist made contact with the man's jaw. Both guards were down, and they were finally able to sprint the final stretch with no other problems.

Trevor stood over his prey, wiping his bleeding nose on his sleeve. They didn't have time for that. Toki quickly latched onto Trevor's hand and pulled him away, running as fast as she could. Toki let go of Trevor's hand so they could run freely. Jack had already made it outside, but before the knew it the scenery had changed and she was staring at the floor, a throbbing pain running up her leg. She had fallen over herself, now of all times. 

She began to slowly push herself as Trevor came back for her, voicing to her his concerns and she nodded quickly. He quickly then yanked her to her feet, death nipping closely at their heels. She found steady ground just as all hell began to break loose. Their fifteen minutes were up, as were all of the lives still in that temple. The door was so close. . . They could still make it. They ran, their veins filled with adrenaline, giving them the extra push they needed to escape before the total eradication of the temple began.

The force of the explosion caused the ground to shake, and Toki lost her footing, and was sent flying as flame and rock followed them out the door. She covered her head with an arm as she saw rocks collide with the ground around them. She looked up at Trevor, telling him she was alright. They still weren't out of the danger zone. They needed to get up and run from here but Trevor moved closer to her, and her eyes widened as he fell to the ground, out cold. In an instant a rock had made contact with his head, taking from him consciousness.

"JACK!" Toki got up and moved over to him pulling his arm over her shoulder. She needed to get him out of here, but she couldn't carry the large man alone. She looked around frantically and saw Jack closing in, not needing an instruction. He grabbed his commander's other arm and pulled it over his shoulders. They stood up and ran as fast as they could away from the falling rubble. Small bits of rock bit into the back of Toki's neck, stinging and making her wince, but one look at the fallen commander sent one more wave of adrenaline surging through her. He was bleeding badly, his head lolling from one side to the other as they ran, his feet digging into the earth as they couldn't get him off of it.

The woods, and safety, was just ahead, but the temple was going to get the last word in. A giant boulder landed a few feet in front of the running trio, a small scream of surprise escaped Tokijin's lips as more chunks of small rock sprang up from the ground to greet them, stinging their faces and arms. Jack directed her around the boulder and at once forest filled their eyesight. Toki and Jack slowed down their pace, the trees acting as a shield from the falling rubble. The changed terrain slowed down their maximum speed but still the sound of the dying temple filled their ears. Jack and Toki worked their way around the trees and roots, not bothering to stop until they had found their ship.

The sound of Toki's panting filled her own ears and her eyes widened with surprise. She hadn't realized it before, but her lungs were heaving up and down painfully, trying to get the required air. Her chest throbbed and a stitch attacked her side. Her current state now taking full effect as all the adrenaline began to retreat from her system, leaving behind the pain it had masked. She could only imagine Jack was feeling the same.

The clearing finally filled their view, and the stolen ship never looked as beautiful as it did to her now. The rest of the squadron was already here, and rushed over to meet the three, taking the weight of Trevor from Toki and Jack's strained shoulders. She heard voices but couldn't make out any words. The three were quickly ushered onto the ship, desperate to escape this area. As soon as she was in she looked around, slightly delirious from her exhaustion. She spotted Trevor, where someone had laid him down and stumbled over to him, letting herself sit next to his sleeping body. She took one of his hands and shuddered, closing her eyes. She felt so overwhelmed and exhausted.

"Toki, what happened?" She looked up at the concerned, quizzical face of Tom, and before she realized what was happening her vision was blurred with tears. She shook her head unable to answer out of fear that her voice wouldn't work. Why in the world was she crying? She gripped the warm hand in hers tightly, squeezing her eyes shut as tears overflowed and a small hiccup escaped her throat. Why the hell am I crying?

Darius hobbled through the hallways of the palace, closely followed by the other members of Flight Two. Any of them could of easily overtookhim at that pace, but not one of them really wanted to.

They weaved their way through corridor after corridor, briefly freezing as a security guard wandered past a window or across in front of them.

Eventually they arrived at a doorway, which on closer inspection led into a kitchen. The squad dispersed to begin placing explsoives as the key points within it. Darius pointed Skar off down the hallway to place some in the bathroom.

The man within the toilet hit Skar almost the moment he'd pushed the door open. Hard, so hard he went reeling back into the opposite wall.

Skar ducked under the second blow, allowing the mans hand to slam against the wall. A cracking sound echoed across the hallway. before he was able to realise what he was doing, Skar sent a punch into the mans ribs and he fell backwards.

WIth the same lack of thought process, Skar pulled the blaster pistol from his pocket and fired twice into the mans chest, who promptly fell dead.

He regained his thought process and panicked, realising how loud the pistol had actually fired. He ran over and dragged the man back into the bathroom and promptly locked him in one of the cubicles. The smell of the blood made Skar want to be sick, but he had more important things to do.

He placed the explsoives in either corner of the bathroom like he was ordered, and ran outside to meet the rest of the flight. After a few harsh words from Darius about the sue of his weapon. They ran back through the maze of hallways and back out of the palace.

A few smiles were passed back and forth between them and Flight Two, but the main concern was on the lack of Flight Ones presence.

OOC:

Flight Two's work within the palace. It is a prelude and i would link it to Flight ones arrival, but I'm too tired.

OOC:

If you haven't already, check the Nazgul topic

Skar kept one eye on the commotion towards the front of the ship. Tokijin was very distraught about something, although exactly what it was that caused it eluded him. Trevor had sat up a long time ago and appeared to be fine. He considered wandering over to see if he could lend a hand, but he decided against it.

He still wasn't feeling too good. tHe diziniess that had overtook him from when he entered the palace had left with him. It was one hell of a dizzy spell. He had never heard of someone becoming that distant that they were able to shoot someone point blank without a moment of hesitation. Skar had never shot anyone in his life, but in that split second he'd turned from pilot to hitman. He was hoping that metamorphisis would never happen again.

He shook his head from side to side and got back to packing away some of the remaining explosives. While he had phased out, Darius had worked around him and packed away almost all of the pile, shooting a stern look towards Skar. Skar mumbled an apology and buried his head in the remainder of the pile.

Trevor had been ushered off of and back onto the shuttle, and they were in the air again. Apparently he was going to go get his amnesia repaired, which made him quite happy because according to what the girl named Tokijin had been telling him, he had a pretty decent life in the VE. He wasn’t sure of all the details, but apparently he was a pilot, the leader of a squadron (which happened to be the one he was with) and they were fighting in a war on this planet. According to her, she was his girlfriend, but he couldn’t seem to believe that this was true. From how she acted he doubted someone like that would want to be with him. Although, how do I really know what ‘him’ is like, after all, I don’t remember me. He thought to himself, but quickly stopped the thought as it seemed to have the ability to confuse him if he considered it any further.

“So we’re going to get my memory repaired, then return to our base and leave?” He said, sounding excited. Tokijin nodded, her hand still clutching his. He didn’t mind.

A few minutes of silence later they touched down outside a huge temple, one that looked nothing like the temple they had destroyed earlier. This one was beautiful, with large stone columns supporting a carved dome roof. This structure rested on top of a rounded temple, with many floors, resembling something of a wedding cake. It looked to be made of pure white marble, with gold embossed details surrounding it. Plenty of symbols that the pilots didn’t recognize, and many that appeared to be different types of animals that were or had once been native to the planet. The odd thing about the temple, aside from its striking beauty compared to that of the southern temple, was that is appeared to be occupied by only women.

As the shuttle touched down and the boarding ramp was extended, allowing the Nazguls and their escorts off of the ship. Trevor, Tomas and Tokijin lead the way, while Darius and the other pilots followed. Before they had gone very far though, the other pilots who had been wounded throughout their adventure were carted off by some of the women to a separate entrance. As Tokijin turned to ask Laurel, she was cut off as the woman raised her hand.

“They are being taken to see healers for more minor injuries. Your commander will need to be seen by the Head Healer. Not the leader of our temple, but just one of our most skilled practitioners of medicine.” She explained as they walked along towards the main entrance of the temple. Once they were inside, it was plain to see the difference between this temple and the southern one. This one had a brightly decorated and lit interior, while the other had been dark and foreboding.

They marched down the passageway until they came to a set of stairs, leading them downwards. Tokijin hesitated, remembering what had happened last time she had crept into the lower levels of a temple. It took her a second to remember that this was totally different, and when Trevor whispered ‘Come on, we’re going to get my memory back!’ she began to giggle lightly at herself and followed them down the stairs.

It didn’t take them long to arrive at the office they were supposed to be going to, and it was clearly marked with a large gold symbol that the pilot group assumed to mean ‘Head Healer’. Laurel knocked and the door slowly opened, allowing them to step inside. Sitting at a large desk before them was another strikingly beautiful woman, this one with long blonde hair that seemed to sweep almost to her knees. She was tall, as they realized as she stood and walked over to them. She met Trevor eye to eye, making her 6’3”. Her slender build was attractive, but her eyes seemed to be the oddest thing about her. They seemed to be as golden as the gilded decorations of the exterior of the temple, and shone brightly when the light met them.

“I’ve been warned of your coming, as well as your predicament. My name is Sharron, and I am one of the Head Healers here. My specialty is the head and the mind, which is why you were brought to me.” She said, her voice sweet and soft, but full of authority and wisdom. “I’m lead to believe that he’s been hit on the head and has lost his memory?” She asked with such calmness to her voice the Tomas couldn’t help but notice that it caused Tokijin’s eyes to become watery again. All three nodded their heads and she sighed, walked back over to her large desk and rummaging through a drawer.

“Memory loss can be a very difficult thing to reverse,” She explained, pausing. “For regular healers, anyway. I happen to have a medicine that will unlock the secrets of the mind that had been locked by the blow to the head. Sometimes it will require a trigger though, and sometimes it is not one hundred percent successful, but this is rare. It takes time to kick in, during which the recipient may have their memories slowly revealed to them. This means that you should not be worried if he remembers someone else before you.” She said, eye Tokijin as she spoke her last sentence. Trevor noticed her nod feebly out of the corner of his eye, but for the most part kept his gaze locked on the Healer.

“This is it. It has a complex name, so for simplicities sake I will just tell you it is a Memory Restoration Serum. He needs to drink this entire bottle,” She said, holding up a bottle as long and thin as a finger. “And judging by his age, height and weight, he should have all of his memories back within the hour. Triggers might be needed for them, but like I said, that is usually unlikely.”

With those words, she uncorked the bottle and handed it to Trevor, who looked at the colourless substance wearily before tipping the bottle to his lips and draining it in a single gulp. At this the Healer took her bottle back and silently lead them out of the room, stopping to wave for them to follow her over her shoulder as she realized they weren’t following.

“I’m going to take you to a private room so that he can regain his memories without disturbance from outside sources.” She explained, and they all trudged after her, Trevor and Tom both looking pleased about him having the memory serum, but Tokijin couldn’t seem to hide her happiness. She didn’t seem to be able to stop grinning with the idea that in a single short hour she’d have her boyfriend back to normal.

They were seated in a small room with three seats; all covered in some sort of very soft animal hide and dyed the same golden hue. They each took a chair and Tokijin and Tomas gazed at Trevor, apparently waiting for some sudden explosion of memories to burst forth out of him.

It had sort of already started for him, but mostly with things from when he was younger. He remembered his parents and various other figures from his childhood, before the memories of the VE began to return. He remembered joining up, then going through training, then being placed into Nazgul. Shazam, Jaden, Jack, they all returned to his mind, except he couldn’t seem to remember a thing about this Tokijin girl. She had told him that she had joined the squadron shortly after him, but he expected to see some sort of memory of her joining, or him saying hi, or anything.

Next came memories of being promoted, again and again, and various battles he had fought in. He shook himself out of it for a moment as he felt his eyes become unfocused and beginning to glaze over, then allowed himself to begin remembering again. More battles, himself in the hospital on more then one occasion, more battles, more promotions, various acquaintances and friends from the VE, friends being killed. Suddenly he was filled with a strong feeling of sadness for those who he now remembered hearing or watching die. Yet there was nothing about the striking girl with blue and brown hair. He was disappointed.

He shook himself out of his drink-educed reminiscence and looked at the clock His hour was up and past, 15 minutes over. Both were looking at him expectantly, and he wasn’t quite sure how to explain to either of them that he had gotten his memories back, except for those about Tokijin.

“Well. . .I remember you.” He said, and Tokijin let out a small squeak and rushed to hug him, while Tomas grinned and leaned back in his chair with a sigh of relief. “I remember everything, except. . .” He started, trailing off as Tokijin looked at him. How do I explain this. . .

“Except what?” She asked, looking at him with the grin on her facing beginning to vanish.

“Well. . .You.” He said, and say the smile vanish from her face completely, the tears reforming in her eyes. She tried to blink back the tears but they continued to roll down her cheeks and he felt awful to watch. She was about to get up and walk away from him when a sudden thought occurred to her, and she turned to face him once more, her face still glistening from the tears.

Trevor had no time to react, no time to object or move or anything of the sort. One minute he was standing looking at a frustrated but determined looking girl, the next she was kissing him full on the mouth in a way he could never remember being kissed before. He wasn’t sure quite how long it lasted, the clock was to his back, but after what seemed like the longest and definitely the best kiss he had ever had, she slowly removed her lips from his and took a step backwards, both hands holding both of his. She looked up into his eyes and something struck him. A memory of him looking at those same eyes a while ago, when she first joined the squadron. Memories flooded back to him, some that stood out included him asking her out and her happy response, another included attempting to keep the relationship secret from their fellow pilots, yet another of them working as a team against a group of other pilots. Everything came back to him, and he let her know without words. Another long kiss and when he finally broke away, only two words needed to be spoken.

“I remember.” He said in a whisper, but Tomas, who was standing off to the side looking very out of place had heard him. He nodded to Trevor and grinned awkwardly.

“I can leave, if you want.” He said, shrugging and starting for the door. Trevor shook his head and with a quick look at Tokijin released one of her hands and waved it at Tomas.

“I’m not kicking you out, but round up the rest of the squadron, we have to get back to the base and tell them all that’s happened.” He said, and Tomas nodded. He disappeared through the door and closed it behind him, and Tokijin looked up at him.

“You’re sure you remember everything?” She asked, her voice a little bit shaky almost as if she wasn’t sure. He thought for a moment and nodded, pleased that suddenly all his memories seemed to be so fresh. A moment later the Head Healer walked in.

“I understand you’re feeling better now?” She asked, and Trevor nodded. “I also hear that you had to have a memory brought back by a trigger?” She asked, her voice sounding a little bit more serious. He nodded again, suddenly feeling unsure. “Do you mind if I ask what it was?”

“A kiss.” Tokijin answered for him, and he wanted her to think she was right so he didn’t answer. Truthfully he knew that it had not been the kiss that triggered his memory, but it was looking into eyes that cared about him so much. Yes, they had cared before when she looked at me, but there was something about the way she looked at me so desperately, so imploringly . . .So strongly. Not a kiss, but a look.

“A kiss. Well, if my guess is to what the memories that were to be restored is correct, I see no reason why a kiss would not have been a perfect trigger. Anyway, your friends are ready to go and already out at your shuttle, including the Tomas one. I believe he stopped to talk to Laurel though, I think he is quite attracted to her. And he should be, she’s one of our brightest students here.” She said, with a note of pride in her voice. She waved her arm at the door. “I trust you can find your own way out? I have things to attend to.” She explained, and Trevor and Tokijin nodded. Not another word as she turned her back on them and walked out of the room.

“So, shall we head to the shuttle?” Trevor asked, and Tokijin nodded. She grasped his hand tightly and wiped her eyes and face with her other hand. They proceeded out of the room and walked down the hallway, back up the stairs, and out of the temple. Not far from them was their shuttle, looking like a fat gray duck sitting in on a field of grass. It was unsightly compared to the beautiful temple at their backs, but no one seemed to mind it. He could see the squadron hovering in and out of the shuttle, and finally someone spotted them and shouted. Trevor and Tokijin sped up their walk a little bit and got to the shuttle quicker. Everyone was there and in fine health, except for Darius. He was still on crutches and hobbled over to Trevor and Tokijin.

“You didn’t let them fix you up?” Trevor said, not sounding very surprised. Somehow he expected it.

“Nope. Almost had to fight one of the bitches off.” He said, receiving a stunned and rude look from Tomas. Trevor chuckled and Tokijin looked mildly surprised but didn’t say anything. She just clung to Trevor’s hand tightly and kept looking up at him as if to make sure he still remembered she was there.

“Well, at least we know it didn’t mess around with your personality. Is everyone here and ready to go?” Trevor asked Darius, peering around him and up into the shuttle. All he really saw was a lot of feet and legs wandering around inside.

“Everyone except our buddy Tomas, he’s over their talking to that Laurel who flagged us down in the first place.” Darius explained, taking a hand off his crutch and pointing to where Laurel and Tomas were standing off in the distance, a bit closer to the temple. Trevor saw Tomas hand her something and she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before grinning at him and rushing off into the temple. Tomas looked a little bit stunned and began off towards the shuttle. Once he got to the ramp Trevor looked at him a little bit funny but Tokijin spoke first.

“Tomas has a girlfriend!” She said loudly in a more girlish voice then she normally spoke with. Trevor laughed as Tomas turned scarlet, but he quickly managed to control his flush and looked back at them both.

“I’m not sure. I gave her information so she can send me messages on my data pad, and then she just kissed me. It wasn’t like I asked her to.” Tomas explained, before shaking his head at their grins and brushing past Darius up onto the shuttle. Darius shrugged and hobbled up the boarding ramp after him, followed by Toki and Trevor. They waved at all the pilots and friends, but before anyone could ask him if he was better, both of them slipped into the cockpit and shut the door. The engines took a minute to fire up, and Trevor gave a quick speech over the intercom.

“Everyone buckle yourselves in, we’re heading back to the base to return the shuttle and tell them what’s happened. Hopefully the place won’t be in high alert anymore and try and blow our asses out of the sky. And for those wondering, yes, I do remember things now.” He said with a smirk on his face as he began to skillfully lift the shuttle off the ground. They ascended above the treetops and once they were high enough Trevor adjusted the throttle and sent them hurtling over the treetops, away from the beautiful temple behind them. The base was a twenty minute flight away, but Trevor was determined to keep his eyes peeled incase the enemy had hijacked fighters or other such weaponry. He doubted many survived the temple attack, but he couldn’t be sure.

The flew in silence for a while, Tokijin seeming to just be in complete euphoria about the fact that Trevor was back to normal, and he was too busy concentrating to startup a random conversation. After 10 minutes a streak of black appeared against the sky, and it slowly grew as they flew closer. At first Trevor thought it was that of the southern temple, but he quickly realized no only that they weren’t flying in the right direction for that, but that this was much closer to the city then the temple had been.

As they got closer and closer, Trevor began to descend to get a better look. Below them was the wreckage of the East Imperial base, a smoldering pile of burnt buildings and bodies. They were indistinguishable as to which side they were on, but Trevor occasionally caught the glint of white from the body of an unmoving storm trooper. The hanger was destroyed too; Trevor could see the wing panels of TIE fighters sticking out of the ruins.

“This place has been decimated . . .,” Trevor murmured, and Toks nodded. He reached behind him and unlocked the cockpit door, flinging it open as he did so. “The base is gone, they’ve attacked it as retaliation.” Trevor alerted the others this way instead of using the intercom. Some let out sounds of shock and disbelief, but Darius had seemed to be expecting it.

“What about the West Base?” He asked, and Trevor nodded. If that base was still standing they would be able to warn them and hopefully evacuate the base before the enemy attacked them as well. Tokijin took over the controls and swung the shuttle in a wide arc to the west, aiming them directly across the city to where the second base would be. She accelerated and Trevor unbuckled his seatbelt, climbed from the pilot’s seat and made his way back into the passenger and cargo area.

“If we don’t find anyone at the other base, we’re going to fuel up and head back towards the Atrus or whatever piece of VE friendly planet or ship we can get to. Something’s wrong here, we destroyed their temple but either they have allies or we didn’t kill nearly as many as we had hoped. They retaliated and killed those Imperials because of us, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let it happen a second time to either the other base or us.

“You’ve all performed admirable, in the face of dangers that none of us could have expected. The suddenness of all of this was shocking, enough that I still don’t believe some of it has happened.” He said, falling silent for a moment as his mind drifted back to those who were killed in the Southern Temple’s basement. He shuddered mentally at the thought and returned to his talking. “But it has, and we’re going to pull out and hopefully figure out a way to fight back against these bastards.”

He fell silent as a small chorus of clapping broke out, and he could hear Tomas whistle. A moment later, Toks called his name and he gave them a sloppy salute as the shuttle lurched before rushing back into the cockpit. Tokijin was pointing at the ground below them, at a large gray complex.

“It’s still standing, there’s nothing for us to worry about!” She squeaked, and began to turn the shuttle towards the hanger. Before they could get anywhere near though, an explosion went off at the far end of the complex, but that was it. A shot of flame and smoke and then everything was silent again. Tokijin looked up at him, unsure of whether he wanted her to touch down inside the hanger or head back into the city to see if they could find a place to refuel.

“Set us down.” He replied, and dropped into the pilots seat, grabbing the intercom microphone as he did so. “Prepare yourselves with weapons, I’m not sure what we’re up against. The far corner of the base just exploded, but I have a feeling it’s not what we fear.” He paused as he looked into the hanger that they were approaching and realized that his theory was correct. Large groups of people were crowding in the hanger, many of them getting on board a small fleet of transport shuttles that had converged in and around the hanger for evacuations.

“Never mind, keep your weapons away. They’re self destructing the base in sections to keep from falling into the hands of the enemy.” Trevor deduced, as Tokijin set the shuttle down in a small opening inside the hanger. She dropped the boarding ramp but kept the door closed until Darius and Tomas were standing in front of it, prepared to repel anyone who was going to try and board their ship. Trevor got out of his seat and stood behind the two pilots, signaling for the door to be opened. Much to his surprised there was no one pushing and shoving at the bottom of the ramp in an attempt to climb on board. Everyone was following perfect evacuation procedure, only getting on board a shuttle when they were instructed to.

Trevor approached one of the nearer techs after he disembarked the shuttle and spoke in an undertone. “We need our shuttle filled. You can come out with us if you refuel for us. We’re Imperials, we stole the shuttle earlier and destroyed the south temple –“

“That was you?!” The tech exclaimed in a whisper. Trevor put a finger to his lips but it did no use, the tech had already turned and began to drag a fuel hose over to the shuttle. Trevor grinned inwardly and returned on board, to wait for the tech to arrive. He turned to Tomas.

“There will be a tech joining us soon, make him feel welcome. He’s filling up our shuttle and we’ll join the fleet as they had back to the Atrus. I’m going to try and contact the base commander so we can tell him what’s been going on and get debriefed.” Trevor explained, and Tomas nodded. With that, Trevor flopped himself down in one of the passenger seats to relax for a minute before getting to his feet and returning to the pilot’s seat so he could use the radio. He set it to an open channel and spoke into the mike.

“This is Nazgul Squadron commander Trevor Evenson, looking to reach the base commander.” He said, then sat quietly and waited for the reply. It didn’t take too long, as a gruff voice answered back.

“This is Commander Summit, what do you want Lieutenant?” He asked, sounding irritable. Trevor took a deep breath and replied.

“I’d like to invite you on board our shuttle to speak to you about the destruction of the southern temple and our Eastern Base.” He said, unsure of what all he should be broadcasting on an open channel. “It’s important.” He added, then waited a full minute before a reply came, almost as if the commander was thinking hard about something.

“You’re that pilot who stole a shuttle earlier today. You understand that you are going to be court marshaled for your actions, right?” He asked, and Trevor felt his stomach drop. Surely they wouldn’t punish him after he had taken out the Southern Temple. Although, I did it under no one’s command . . . Maybe this wasn’t the best of ideas. He thought to himself as he nodded, before remembering that the base commander couldn’t see him.

“Yes sir, I understand. But I’d like the opportunity to give you the details of what happened while we were gone.” A moment passed before he got an ‘affirmative’ and the connection was broken. A few moments later a tall but heavyset man walked up the boarding ramp, flanked by a pair of storm troopers.

“What one of you is Lieutenant Evenson?” He asked in a slightly less gruff voice then the one that had been heard over the radio. Trevor walked confidently out of the cockpit and raised a hand, looking at the Base Commander. “Good. I understand you had some things to explain to me?”

Trevor nodded and motioned towards one of the seats that his pilots had been sitting in. The commander nodded and took a seat, waiting for Trevor to begin his explanation.

*** One Day Later, Aboard the Atrus ***

Trevor took a seat in the briefing room next to Tokijin. She had a relaxed air about her, and as he sat down her found magically found his within moments. He didn’t object though, but eyed the doorway at the back of the stage somewhat apprehensively. Today they would not only find out all the final details of what had happened, but he would also discovered whether or not they were going to court marshal him for his actions of stealing the shuttle and acting without orders. A split second later it swung open and he jumped, causing Tokijin to put her other hand on his arm and press her face into his shoulder so she could let out a quick giggle at his jumpy behavior.

A moment later Shazam was standing in front of them wearing a look of severe seriousness. The holo screen behind him lit up and he pointed over his shoulder to a picture of the burnt out base.

“As you can see, one of our bases has been destroyed on Misoo. While none of you are to blame, it is to be understood that the VE has decided that for the moment, Misoo is a lost cause. The attack from the North temple on our base as retaliation for your attack on the South temple has proved to us that although we were expecting some sort of uprising sooner or later, they were far more prepared and organized than we were. It was an unexpected frontal assault, and we hardly took any of them with us. These points aside, I want you to know that you have all been looked upon well for taking matters into your own hands.

“While some of your methods may have been against normal Imperial law,” Shazam paused, glancing at Trevor. He felt he detected the slightest trace of a grin and possibly even a wink before the Wing commander returned to his speech. “But it has been voted to overlook these breeches after what you had done for us on Misoo. Not many people would be willing to be led into suicide, and far fewer would have actually supported their commander’s decision.” He paused again to look at Tokijin, who blushed and sank a little bit into her seat.

“Now, the destruction of the Southern Temple was welcomed by the people of the East and West temples, who have sworn allegiance to the VE if and when we return to Misoo. Until then they are helping with the rebuilding of the Southern Temple and plan to install a leader who is friendly to the Empire, one from the East Temple. I didn’t get her name from the other leaders in order to keep it secret, but that’s ok.

“All in all, you men and women have done extremely well, and you shall be rewarded as such. I don’t have them all with me, but I’d like you to know that plenty of promotions will be awarded for your efforts on Misoo. Along with this, I do remember one of the promotions. Your commander will now be assigned to the Wing XO position.” Shazam said with a note of pride in his voice as he looked over the group. Many of them let out sounds of sadness and disappointment, although a few of them tried to sound happy as they whispered congratulations to Trevor, who looked as if he had just been punched in the face. Before he could stop himself, he had stood up and was beginning to speak.

“Thank you for that, Commander Shazam, but I’m going to have to respectfully turn you down on your offer. I’d prefer to stay with Nazgul Squadron.” With that, he sat back down in his seat and waited to see what Shazam would say. Behind him he heard a second of muttering before someone grabbed his shoulder and whispered ‘good job’.

“You always were one to question orders, Trevor.” Shazam said, a look of reminiscence on his face. “However, you will be taking the position of Wing XO, but you’ll be remaining as Nazgul Commander. Because of this your duties will be slightly lighter from the Wing XO position, in order to help you deal with both.” Trevor sat for a moment before nodding, not able to stop himself from feeling slightly foolish for not finding out the other details of his promotion. After a moment of silence, Shazam correctly assumed that Trevor had nothing to say and nodded, turning back to the group of Nazgulians.

“We were defeated yesterday, and it would be foolish to try and argue otherwise. Both sides struck major blows to the other, but in the face of it all, Nazgul squadron managed to shine admirably in the face of sudden danger. Perhaps it was a mix of stupidity, trust, and luck, but even if it was . . . you succeeded in doing your part for the Empire, and for this, I, we, congratulate you.” With that and a round of applause, Shazam turned and exited through the door he had entered through. Trevor gave Tokijin a quick kiss on the cheek before they rose from their seats to go and celebrate with the rest of the squadron.

Word Count: 5147

*** MISSION COMPLETE ***
**** SUCCESS/FAILURE ****

OOC: Good work everyone, I’m disappointed at the amount of posting at the end, but hey, lets just kick butt during the second ESC, all right? Good, lets get to work.