While Crimson and Mel ranksacked the data files, and Rusty stood guard, Rogue tried to keep the corvette on the previously programmed course. Course that would have been much easier if the navi-computer hadn't been shredded and scorched. So he was having to keep her in a steady orbit by hand.

Then to make matters worse, the slow leak from the flechette puncturing the viewport had gotten worse. The entire lower starboard portion of the viewport was now fogged up. And as the vacuum pulled more, it would only get worse until it gave out. Then the bridge would be opened like a can to the vacuum of deep space.

“Found that intel we came for yet boys?” Rogue asked.

Both answers came back not sounding that great. They had to hurry before the bridge viewport gave out or somebody opened fire on them. He told as soon as they found any of it, dump it to datapads. Even if they could get part of it, it would be a success at this rate.

**About Five-Six Minutes Later**

Suddenly, the corvette shuddered from something exploding. Then Crimson's screamed as his console exploded in his face. Rusty pulled him away, but he had been hurt by the flying pieces.

“Rusty, get over here and hold this thing.” Rogue ordered.

Rusty quickly swapped places with Rogue. And Rogue moved over to Crimson. He slapped a couple of med pacs on the wounds he could see. That was all he could do for now.

“Just hang on Crimson. We'll get you out of here.” Rogue told him.

Rogue then moved to try and help Mel use the remaining less damaged terminal to find the intelligence they were looking for. So far they had found a few references that fit the criteria, and it had been downloaded straight to their datapads. So far the biggest thing was a backup computer room on the lower deck. They would have to stop and check there before leaving the ship. It would add more time to their escape.

But what really bothered him was the increasing leak. It was getting worse, and soon they would have to give up and abandon the bridge. And with Crimson's wounds, it would be slow going.

If I figured it right, we have maybe another five minutes before the leak is strong enough to damage.

***About Five Minutes Later***

The leak had started to crack the viewport and at the sound, Rogue knew that was it. Time was up.

“Ok, times up. We gotta go.” Rogue announced.

“Rogue,  how are we going to keep the corvette in orbit long enough to make it off?” Crimson croaked.

Rogue thought for a second on that one. He knew Crimson was thinking about them having to carry or drag him. Rusty would have to be one to do that.

“We'll have to rig something. Or just hope, we can make it off in time.” Rogue concluded.

“Or someone will have to stay up here.” someone suggested.

“We don't have time to draw straws here.” Rogue said.

There was a heavy silence for a moment.

“Sithspit! I'll stay. I'm in no shape to fly anyway. I'll hold her as long as I can. You guys just get the others and get out of here alive.” Crimson announced.

“You sure, Crimson?” Rogue asked

“Yes I'm sure. Now get moving.” Crimson yelled.

“Rusty help him get to the yoke.” Rogue ordered.

Rusty used his strength to almost just stick Crimson in front of the helm. Then with a nod at Crimson, the three of them took off on the run, heading for the backup computer room.

OOC:

WC: 613

“Max, make sure all the fighters are powered up. We don’t want to waste any more time then we have to get out of here.” Commed Trevor with an agitated voice.

  Max wearily raised the com to his mouth, “Yessir! I’ll get someone on it right away; everything’ll be ready to go by the time you show up.”

  He turned to G’shlecc and Lams.  Lams was huddled behind the makeshift barricade of cargo containers and corpses muttering to herself. G stood in a combat stance, his A280 cradled in his arms at the ready, eyes scanning the hall for any incoming hostiles.

  “Lams, LAMS”, Max shouted as he gave her a light nudge with his boot.

  Lams jumped as if hit with a live power conduit.  "Don't do that!” she screamed.

    "I am sorry Lamel, didn't think you'd do that. Be nice." He intoned.

  Max was worn out. G could see the fatigue etched on his face.  Max dropped his com arm. A wince crossed his features.  The Helosine must be wearing off. 

  "You need some sleep, but wait till we get home."  He said, drawing himself up.  “Right now I need you to get in there and start spooling-up the fighters.  This is going to be a hasty exit.”

  G heard a tinge of trepidation in his words.  Not exactly what he wanted to hear from his commanding officer, but at this point he didn’t have much of a choice.  Lams slowly hauled herself off the deck and headed toward the ships.  Her gait was one of a punch drunk fighter.  He watched as she weaved her way across the bay to her fighter. 
  She’s a train wreck.
  He was now left alone with Max, well; Max and a dozen pirate bodies.  Max grabbed some floor, or rather did a semi-controlled collapse.
 
  “OK, the situation is as follows:  Trevor’s tone tells me this is going to be a hot egress.  You and I are going to hold here and cover their escape route.  Then we’ll bug out as quickly as we can.” He said.  “You got those doors open, can you close them again?”

  G looked at Max. Then to the doors.  “That’s a negative, those babies are locked open.  What I did to get’em open was enough, the Thermal finished the job.” Stated G.

  Max’s whole body sagged.  “OK, we’ll just have to play it by ear, and hope they don’t have any baggage following them. “He stated flatly.

  G’shlecc fished around for another Helosine and offered it to his Flight Leader.  Max waived it off.

  “I want to be able to fly, I’ll just have to deal until we get back to the Thanatos.” He said through gritted teeth.

  G put the Helosine away.  He may not like his FL’s tone, but he could damn well respect his toughness.  He turned to the flight bay, and saw Lams jumping from her fighter to another.  The low whine of the TIE’s engines signified their readiness.  He turned back to Max.

  “She’s gonna be a problem, boss.” He stated as he jerked a thumb in Lamel’s direction.

  Max looked from Lams to G and said, “ I know, but not a whole Hells of a lot I can do about It now.  I’ll take care of it when we get back.  Right now we need to focus on getting back.”

  “Roger that, chief.” Replied Atrasin.

  G dropped into a low stance, continually scanning the hall for incoming.  Glancing occasionally at Max, and wondering if he would be able to hold it together till Trevor got back.

  Max looked up at him and asked,” Tell, me G, did your parents hate you?”

  Momentarily taken aback by the nature of the question Atrasin answered, “No, why do you ask?”

  “Well, G’shlecc is not a common name, and damn hard to pronounce.  I was just wondering why they hung that albatross on you?” he continued, “Do you have a nickname or anything else I can call you other than ‘G’.”

  “Well, when I was in the Academy, a few of the guys found out my age, and started to call me ‘Granddad’.  A few well placed knuckles cured them of the urge to do that again. “he regaled.
 
  Max chuckled and winced at the same time then asked, “So, did they settle on something less…violent?”

  G looked at him. Joking through the pain, he’s got balls.

  “Yeah, right after I got out of the brig, they found out I’d been at the Kuat Drive Yards before joining up:  that and my “keep moving forward” attitude.  So they started to call me Driver.  I like it.”  He related.

  “’Driver’ eh, ok, Driver it is.” Declared Max. ”You still didn’t say why they gave you that name.”

  “It’s actually an amalgam of three peoples’ names:  My Dad’s dad, Geordi.  My Mom’s dad, Sheldan, and my Uncle Alecc.  Lucky me, huh? He laughed.

  “OH YEAH.  Lucky you.”Max laughed back

  “It’s just as bad for my brother. He was named for my Grandmother, Beatric, and my other Granddad Davion, hence Bedav.” He quickly noted

  “Wow, that’s one messed up way to name kids.” He replied

  “Yeah, we got in a lot of fights as kid, some with other people.  But, now were OK, he works for Courscant Power. Although, he thought I was crazy to join up.” He mused

  “My family didn’t want me to join either, thought I might get hurt,” he chuckled as he looked at his wounds, “good thing they were wrong, huh?”

  “Hah, yeah” G replied.

  He looked over his shoulder and saw Lams jump into another fighter.  They hangar was now a cacophony of engines.  Driver knew that she’d be done soon, and they would be on their way home.  He only hoped that getting there would be easier than it had been getting to this point.  He saw Max turn back to the hall and position himself for incoming.  He joined him, waited for the rest of the squadron, and hoped nothing else would go wrong.

OOC:

1006 words, and not much more to say, except get here quick.

Trevor couldn’t help but grin as Jeg pulled a fragmentation grenade from his belt and held it up. Chucking the grenade around the corner would work perfectly, either as a distraction or as a way to kill the guards who may not yet have noticed their fallen comrades. Trevor and Jeg nodded in agreement of the idea and quietly moved forward with Nell a few paces behind, keeping an eye on their tail. As they approached the intersection, Jeg pulled the pin on his grenade and heaved it around the corner, the small metal container ricocheting off the wall and bounding across the hallway floor. A second later Trevor heard a pirate shout something before a deafening boom and a few short screams.

Standing up from a kneeling position, Trevor stuck his fingers in his ears and twisted, as if trying to clean them out. “Next time, lets think of something more quiet, ok? That was waaay to loud.” Trevor said, grinning at Jeg and Nell. She was rubbing her ears intensely while Jeg just shook his head with a tight-lipped grin on his face. Peeking around the corner, the pilots spotted the remains of the final two patrolmen, both of whom had been killed by the blast. A quick glance in both directions made sure the hall was clear and the three pilots took a right turn towards the hanger. As they got closer, Trevor could hear the combined hum of twelve TIE fighter engines all waiting to be pushed to their limits.

“Ok guys, we’re almost at the hanger. We’ll be coming through a set of doors any minute now, so be expecting us. I can’t speak for Rogue’s group though.” Trevor said between breaths into his comm. as he ran between Nell and Jegora.

Rogue’s voice piped up over the comm. “Yeah, we’ll be there in a second too. Had to take a detour after the bridge imploded itself, but we’ve got the files. There was a secondary file bank, I’ll fill you in later.” He said, sounding somewhat out of breath himself. Trevor nodded and raised the comm. to his lips again.

“Ok, so we should be out of here in time. We’ve got another 8 minutes to get out, so we’re doing fi- Shit!” Trevor blurted as he, Jeg and Nell all fell in a synchronized motion onto the ground, then slid a few more feet. Trevor had thrown his rifle as he fell and it now lay a couple of meters away from him, close to a pair of boots that he realized didn’t belong to any Nazgul pilot. As he followed the boots up past a pair of ragged pants and a dusty combat vest, he found himself looking at a scarred, pale green face. It sneered back at him for a second before kicking the rifle farther away and raising its own.

“Killing my men was well done, but you won’t get any farther. You guys hit the oil perfectly, and now here you are.” The alien said, yellow pointed teeth showing behind his lips. Trevor didn’t even think as his body twisted slightly on the slick surface, aimed his pistol and fired. He hadn’t even taken the weapon out of his holster, but chose to instead fire through the bottom of it. His first shot missed but the surprised pirate still didn’t stand a chance. Trevor’s second and third shots made contact with the flimsy flesh on his head and buried themselves deep into his brain.

As the pirate collapsed to the floor, Trevor slowly and carefully got up, lost his footing once against and returned to the floor, then proceeded to regain his proper footing. A minute later Jeg and Nell were on their feet as well, and the group shuffled to the edge of the pool of oil. They had missed it before because the oil was almost clear, but there was no mistaking the glare from the overhead lights now. Trevor’s suit had soaked through and he felt horribly uncomfortable as he jogged down the hall, his boots making odd schlucking noises with each step.

*** One Minute Later ***

Trevor and his flight almost ran head on into the door that led to the hanger. A quick tap of the access and the group was in, the sound of their boots resounding off the hard tile floor, mixing with the steady drum of the TIE engines. The three pilots cleared a wingtip to find themselves face to face once more with blaster rifles. This time, the rifles were quickly lowered and three salutes were thrown at Trevor as Lamel, Max and G quickly realized their mistakes.

“Has everyone else shown up?” Trevor asked, scanning the hanger for any signs of flight two. His question was answered a second later by more boot sounds coming from a hallway framed by a blown open door. Trevor could see charred walls further down, and momentarily Rogue and the other Flight Two pilots appeared from the hallway. The Flight Three and One pilots didn’t even bother raising their weapons, they just waved the group over. Rusty was holding a small case in one of his gigantic hands, which Rogue quickly explained contained hard copies of everything.

“Basically, we couldn’t get the data off in time so we powered down the storage systems and removed the hard drives. This way the VEN staff can get whatever the hell they want off of here without any chance of us losing it because we couldn’t get off of here in time. How much time do we have anyways?” Rogue asked, glancing at the small timer on Trevor’s belt. Trevor quickly snatched it up and glanced at it.

“Five minutes and forty-three seconds. Forty-two. Forty-one. Forty-one..uh..” Trevor read aloud, tapping the digital display for another few seconds before glancing up at the other pilots. “The timers froze, you guys better get into the ships and get out of here. I’ll go get the timers going again.” Trevor said, once again tapping the display and glancing at his pilots. Most of them did as they were told, but as Crimson turned to limp to his fighter, Rogue grabbed Trevor’s shoulder.

“Are you sure you should do that? I mean, what if those things go off before you get out, well, that’s pretty obvious, bud.” Rogue said in a low tone, making sure his commander wasn’t going to do something stupid.

“I’ll be fine. With those pirates cleared it’ll take me maybe two minutes to get there and back. So I’ll be back with three minutes to spare. You guys head back to the corvettes and tell them to wait for me, this should only take a little while.” Trevor said before he shook himself loose of Rogue’s grip, gave him a sloppy salute and dashed off back down the hallway. Behind him he could hear Rogue shouting orders to those standing around, and swore he heard the sound of a few of the TIEs lifting off.

It only took him a few seconds to get back down the hallway, skillfully dodging the oil slick and the body of the dead pirate. Another quick dash and he found himself in the engine room again, very conscious of the amount of death that had occurred here only seven or so minutes prior. He slid onto his knees as he threw himself towards the first bomb, quickly and carefully removing the outer cover for the timing mechanism and crossing two wires. The bomb made a beeping noise, followed by the other bombs synchronizing themselves, and their timers resuming the count down.

Oh. Oh crap. Trevor thought to himself as he checked the timers. The displays had frozen, but the timer itself had continued to count down. As he checked everything, he quickly realized that three minutes would only just be long enough to get back to the hanger and get out of there. He left his small set of tools lying on the ground and after almost tripping himself made a clean escape from the engine room.

As he sprinted past minced bodies that Jeg had left behind, he took a second to let his eyes follow behind him. This proved to be a bad idea when he ran face first into the solid elbow of a large man. His feet chose to keep running, but his head and the majority of his body decided that landing on the floor would work out better. Even behind the broken nose and blood pouring out of his face, Trevor’s mind was thinking quickly. Through the fireworks behind his eyes he could barely make out the spot where the man’s legs joined together and rapidly fired his boot into the spot. A sickening crunch was felt more then heard, and the man toppled over, partially trapping Trevor’s legs.

Eat. My. Boot. Trevor yelled inside his head as he brought his free foot around and began ramming the heel of his boot viciously into the larger man’s face. After the first few kicks the man grunted and a bubble of blood slid out of his mouth, followed by a couple of teeth. A few kicks later he rolled over to avoid the onslaught, freeing Trevor’s trapped legs.

“Hope you burn in hell.” Trevor roared as he wiped the blood from his lips and began on his way again, feeling somewhat more lightheaded then before.

One Minute, Eighteen Seconds

Trevor was sprinting down the hall at a bit of a slower pace, doing the best he could to slow the blood flow from his nose while keeping his mind on the task at hand. He was avoiding looking at the timer, trying to keep his mind off his possible fate. His distraction by his blood caused him to forget about the pool of oil, and when his first boot hit it he toppled once more to the floor.

Forty Three Seconds

Now a mess of blood and oil, Trevor’s flight suit, face and hands were shaking as he hit the access to the hanger door. He slammed one of the aluminum ladders against the hull of his TIE, which, thanks to Lams was facing the right way, and began climbing. He felt extremely dizzy and holding onto the ladder was challenging, but he slowly made his way up.

Fifteen Seconds

He toppled head first into the cockpit, landing at an awkward angle.  It took him a few seconds to get himself righted and get his seatbelts properly located on his body. The one safety feature he refused to fly without.

Six Seconds

He began to work from a place in his mind that was beyond the fog, one that had been taught and used so often it had become basic instinct. The final latch on his seatbelts were all the remained. His helmet lay on the floor of the fighter, unused.

Two Seconds

Trevor fumbled with the seatbelt bracket and almost grabbed for it again, but something deep in his mind told him that it would be a bad idea to do so. The instincts from beyond the fog took over, the idea of self-preservation pounding as steady as his heart.

Zero Seconds

Fire shot out the hanger wall behind him. Milliseconds later his TIE was engulfed in the explosive force of the corvette’s engines detonating.

OOC:

WC 1907. Enjoy. Rogue, wrap this one up. I fyou don’t, I will on Saturday.

The Interceptor rocketed along and the engines screamed in response. Normally Tail End Charlie was not the place for the squadron XO. Especially with the squadron commander missing. But that was just how Rogue did things on a mission of this importance.

G was leading their little trio, and Nell was tucked in behind him, with Rogue hanging back. He should have been leading the squadron back to the Thanatos but he had stuck Jeg with that job. Doing that and hanging back served two purposes. One, it let him keep an eye on everyone else, especially Rusty, who would break off to engage anything if they let him. The other was it let him keep an eye out for Trevor.

Suddenly, it was like there was another sun forming in the system. But this one was expected as the charges Trevor and the others had laid, went off. The force of the charges detonated the engines, and punctured the fuel tanks, which then exploded.  He counted to himself, waiting for the expanding shockwave to catch up with them. It didn't take long. The wave picked up the fighter and tried to toss it around like a rag doll. But Rogue was too experienced a pilot to let that happen. He guided the fighter through the wave like a surfer riding a wave.

But there was still no sign of Trevor. And with an explosion of that magnitude, there wouldn't be any. He triggered the radio to break the radio silence order.

“Five to squadron. Mission complete. The corvette is gone. No sign of one.” he broke the news, then continued before anyone could ask. “Get to the Thanatos. Leave the dogfighting to the Viper pukes.”

The squadron weaved it was way through the fighting, trying to avoid dogfights if possible. The several pirate fighters that did try to engage them quickly were out classed by the newer Interceptors and destroyed. Only Crimson did not engage. He stayed on as close to a baseline course to the cruiser as he could. Rogue listened and smiled as Jeg ordered the others into shifting formations designed to not only protect Crimson, but also keep the squadron together.

He's learning, especially to control someone like Rusty. Have to tell him that. He might make a good choice for XO.

The trio he was in was finally closing on the rest of the squadron. They had to cut through a bit thicker part of the fighting to do it, but G's course selection managed to get them through it.

“Five to Two. Jeg, we're almost to you. How far to the cruiser?” Rogue asked.

“We almost there. But the Thanatos is engaged with enemy cap ships.” Jeg replied.

“Pick a course threw and get us to the cruiser. We've lost enough people today.” Rogue ordered.

The rest of the flight was a crazy mess of weaving, jinking, and pulling all sorts of maneuvers to get through the fighting without getting too deeply involved.  Meanwhile the sensors were alive with the blips of Viper and Devil Squadron engaging the remaining pirate fighters.

“Nazgul Five to Thanatos” Rogue called. “Commodore, get ready, we're coming in hot. I recommend as soon as we're aboard, Viper and Devil get in behind us and we run for it.”

He didn't wait for an answer. He just switched back to the squadron channel.

“Two, Jeg, go straight for the hangar. Crimson needs medical help especially.” Rogue ordered.  “Six, Rusty, getting Crimson there is your responsibility. You hear me you crazy Wookiee! Get Crimson to the cruiser's medbay! G, you and me are last in.”

“Yes sir.” came the strangely happy reply from G.

A few minutes later it was approach time. Jeg went first, leading the way. He made a Nazgul special high powered approach, cutting power as the last second. The injured, Lams and Crimson,went next into the hanger. Max and Nell went next, and then it was Mel and Rusty's turn.

“Rusty, get in the hangar now!” Rogue yelled into the com, just in case he was right and Rusty was thinking of going after one of the pirate fighters. A bellow came back as the reply, but the interceptor slipped into the hangar. Mel followed his wingman without comment. Then it was G and Rogue's turn.

“G, time to land!” Rogue ordered while bringing his Interceptor around.

The Interceptors may be better fighters than the regular Tie Fighters of Viper and Devil squadrons, but they also took up more room. By landing them first, they could better arrange things to fit all the fighters in the bay.  G's Interceptor slid into the hangar and Rogue followed.

He also made a high power approach, then slammed on the brakes as he slipped through the mag-con field. He kicked in the repulsorlifts and felt them catch the fighter just in time to keep it from slamming into the hangar floor. It settled down onto its wings, and he speed shut everything down. He unstrapped, stood up and popped the hatch, before clamoring over the side and dropping to the deck. He got to his feet from the pile he landed in on the deck and ran over to the com unit next to the hangar door.

“Hangar to Bridge. Commodore, Nazgul's aboard. Let's get Viper and Devil in here and get out of here.” Rogue yelled into com.

(About two minutes later)

Devil Squadron TIE's started coming in first. Their approaches were far, far slower and more common than any of Nazgul's had been. Rogue counted TIE's as they came in, and he was short a few. Devil Squadron had taken casualties.  Then it was Viper's turn to land.

But he didn't get to watch Viper's landing. Instead, a now helmetless TIE pilot came racing over with a large wrench in hand. Rogue dodge the swipe just in time to recognize the Devil Squadron commander.

“Hey! Watch It!” Rogue yelled.

“You gutless cowards! You sanctimonious hotshots! I lost good people out there and you didn't even help us!” Breedan yelled at Rogue.

Rogue hands dropped to his holstered blaster, but he didn't draw it yet. “I'm sorry about you pilots. But we followed out orders.” He thought of Trevor. “We lost some too. Now unless you want to be in major pain, I suggest you get away from me.”

“Oh yeah, I bet your just so tough, just like that CO of yours.”  Breedan sneered.

“Oh nevermind. Rusty, just break his legs!” Rogue replied.

A bellow came from Rusty who had come back into the hangar bay from helping Lams and Crimson.

“He is my insurance. That why!” Rogue snapped back as Breedan's head snapped around to see the giant upset wookiee standing there. “You two have fun now. I'll be on the bridge.”

(Several minutes later)

Rogue stepped out of the lift and onto the bridge as the ship ran to jump to hyperspace. He crossed over to where the Commodore stood and snapped to attention.

“2Lt Rogue reporting in Commodore sir.” Rogue announced

“What is it Lt? I am a little busy right now” Darkhawk demanded.

“The Intelligence sir.” Rogue handed over the case Rusty had brought from the corvette.

“Good work Lt.” DH replied as he took the case.

Rogue stayed standing there, waiting for a chance to speak.

“Is there something else, Lt?” DH demanded.

“Sir, I would like to know what else was on that corvette and when can a search craft get back in to search for survivors?” Rogue asked.

“Why do you think something else was on the corvette Lt?” DH demanded again.

“Because sir. It went up much faster than if just our charges went off. I should know, I prepared the charges. And it cost us Lt Evenson because of it.” Rogue replied

“I am sorry about Lt Evenson. Trevor will be a big loss not to just your squadron but the entire Navy as well. But you are not authorized to know anything else at this time. As for survivors, we will have to worry about them later. Right now we just need to get out of here” came DH's unemotional reply.

“Yes sir” Rogue replied through gritting teeth.  He spun on his heel and left the bridge, not bothering to salute the Commodore. He was too upset for that right now.

( A few minutes later)

He slowly stepped into the room that had been assigned for Nazgul to gather in the trip out. This time, it was no where near as happy or excited.  Rogue stepped up to the front of the room and shook his head.

“If any of you didn't know already, we lost Iron and Trevor.” Rogue announced flat out. It was the best way to do it. Just put it out there.  “Trevor went back to make sure the charges would go off as planned. I don't know if anyone saw anything of his Interceptor, but no survival beacon or beacon on any kind has been located or heard from.”

“Is there going to be any sort of rescue mission?” Jeg asked.

“According to the Commodore, there will not be.” Rogue replied with a sneer on the rank. “Other than that, all I know is we are in hyperspace heading to meet up with the Atrus. Once their I'm sure there will be enough debriefings to annoy us all.”

Rogue fell silent for a second, then called for attention again. “I would like to make one suggestion through.  I think we should honor Trevor's memory. Therefore, I will be buying the first round, on the condition, that we all toast it to his memory.”


***Mission Complete - Status - Success***

OOC:

1624 words