Her eyes widened in surprise at how destructive these particular turrets were.

"Fall back! Everyone out!" she ordered without hesitation.

The squad didn't need to be told twice, in an instant all were out and wondering what to do. What she immediately noticed when they were against the wall beside the door leading to the room was that the turrets had ceased fire.They're motion activated taking a chance, she took a quick peek back into the room and was able to look in there long enough to tell where a possible motion sensor was located on the closest of the two turrets.

The turrets themselves were quite high up but the barrels were pointed diagonally downwards on a strategic angle which she found quite smart. The motion sensors were protected by the turret's barrel but had enough clearance to detect any movement which came their way.

"Any ideas anyone?" she heard Alan ask the squad in a hushed voice.

"Well, the turrets are a problem, we could easily get rid of them were it not for their sensors.  They've been strategically place so that they couldn't easily be damaged. We take those sensors out and the rest is a piece of cake" piped up Lucky.

"OK then, this leaves us with the problem of the sensors in question. how do we get rid of them?" asked Zeshaun

"Well...has anyone ever played baseball?" asked Lucky

The whole squad looked at her with what she guessed were question marks in their eyes under their helmets.  ‘You know…pitching a ball a certain way and another uy hits it with a bat and you score a point if you cross all three bases?” she described hopefully.

“Tell me more” she heard Jamasis say in a tone of wonder.
Sighing heavily, she decided to show them a recorded game back in the rec room when they were back on solid ground, not wanting to waste anymore time, she described her plan quickly.

"If we throw a grenade in this fashion...”she said as she made the motion of throwing a curveball “..Done correctly, we cold blind sight one of the sensors and take it out. This way we’ll have the other one to deal with instead of having both firing at the same time. Now who here has the best throw?”

Everyone gave it a shot which made her smile, some of the attempts she found to be a little funny, finally though, Njall was the winner.

“Alright Njall, your goal is the turret nearest to this door, once the motion sensor is out on that one, we can use it to provide us with some cover once it’s disabled. Ready?”

She handed him a grenade which she had unclipped from her belt a few seconds prior , stepping back a few she watched him take his aim and give it a mighty throw. Peeking in, she managed to see that he had missed by a hair but had managed to damage the pillar to some degree. “Not quite, here, try again but throw a few degrees closer to youyour three.”

Doing as instructed, he threw a second time and she heard a different sound after the initial dull explosion which she took as a good sign. Taking a deep, shaky breath, she took a second look inside and sighed a sigh of relief. Where the sensor had been was now a scorch mark.

"Well, one sensor down. Might I suggest we get inside and use that turret as a shield? It’s still active but should not fire with the motion sensor offline.”

“Alright, let’s. Zesh, you stay outside with Jamasis and guard for us”

“Why me?” asked Zeshaun, he sounded a little disappointed.

“We need a lookout and you seem to jinx us when you see something you don’t like and voice it” she said with a smile lighting up her face again.

“Fine, I’ll stay”

“Thank you, guys let’s move quickly”

In a fluid motion, she managed to get behind the pillar without much difficulty and was soon almost squashed by the rest of the squad.

Through the mass of armour surrounding her, she saw what she thought was the other sensor on the next pillar.

“Alan, I see our next target, seeing as we are currently not in a position to throw a grenade and I can’t fire any shots because of where I’m situated, I need you to do the shooting, follow my finger and shoot whenever it please you”

Pointing directly at the motion sensor, she closed her eyes and heard Alan fire a single shot as well as the turret the sensor belonged to launch two shots before becoming silent. Opening her eyes she saw a scorch mark with plumes of dark smoke coming out of the sensor plaque.

“Alright, you guys can make a bit of room now, Njall, think you can work on this turret? The access panel you need to access is most likely on the op rear of this thing, once you open that panel clip off the red and black wires. Understand?”

“Yes ma’am”

“Good. I’ll work on the other one, no one move towards the device until we have finished, for all we know we could face another trap and I’d like to only have one problem then instead of two.”

“Well said, Lucky, get to it.”

Hurriedly she clambered up the pillar which conveniently had grooves in it which made climbin that much simpler.  She sat with her legs wrapped around the turret barrel; five minutes later she had accomplished her task and was down on solid ground, shortly followed by Njall.

“Zesh, Jamasis you both can get back in here, let’s secure this thing and be done with it.”

Alan was happy that they had finally secured the cloaking device but he also realised that it was only half the battle.  They would need to erasure all mention of it from Thrawn’s computer system so they couldn’t recreate it.

“Lucky, can you remove the specifications for this thing from the computer system from here?” queried Alan.

Lucky must have already been thinking the same thing as she replied back instantly “negative, I thought about that the last time I hacked in but it is on a secure network and we would need to actually go to the shipyard’s mainframe and do it from there”.

“Damn, I guess we have to go there first before we get out of here” replied Alan.

“Great, this mission just keeps getting longer and longer” commented Njall in his sarcastic wit.

Alan was about to lead the squad out towards the mainframe when his com unit sputtered to life.

“Alpha squad to Paladin, Thrawn has sent reinforcements to the hangar, we need support and we need it now, otherwise we will lose the hangar” stated the voice.

Alan’s forehead frowned.  Now that they had the device it was obvious that Thrawn was not about to let them leave with it.  If they lost the hangar then the mission was as good as over.  If they didn’t remove the specifications from the mainframe then their mission wouldn’t count for much as Thrawn would simply create a new device.

“Lucky, take TK and Jamasis and get to that mainframe and wipe out the specifications” said Alan.

“What about you?” asked Lucky.

“I’ll take Zeshaun and Njall and we will lend what support we can to the troops holding the hangar.  If it falls then this mission is over” replied Alan.

“Good luck” said Lucky as she beckoned to TK and Jamasis.

Alan watched them leave.  He knew it was the right call to make, the only call to make but it never sat well with him when the squad was broken up, especially having to send his beloved into danger without being there to back her up.  Sometimes being in command was difficult, he knew she could take care of herself but he wished he could have gone with her.

“Shall we?” asked Zeshaun.

Alan glanced over at Zeshaun and at Njall and realised that he hadn’t said a word or made any movement towards the hangar.  He shook his head of the thoughts that were whirling around in his head and wished Lucky and her squad the best.

“Let’s move it.  Those guys in the hangar cannot hold out long without us” said Alan.

“What good will our small group hope to achieve if they are being overrun?” asked Njall.

“We will do what it takes to secure that hangar” replied Alan.

“Sounds like fun” commented Zeshaun.

The trio of troopers started their journey towards the hangar, Njall’s words still in Alan’s head.  An extra three troopers may not make much of a difference but Alan and his squad had seen a lot of action and overcome odds before.  He was certain they would succeed.  They had to succeed.

Alan, Njall and Zeshaun moved swiftly through the spaceport.  Alan was surprised to find that they encountered no opposition on their travels but then he was also concerned by that fact as he surmised that the majority of Thrawn's forces on the spaceport were now down at the hangar trying to secure it and prevent Paladin's escape.

"The hangar should just be round the next corner" commented Zeshaun who had been keeping note of where they were.

Alan had also been keeping stock of where they were but it was still a helpful reminder to them all that they had arrived at their destination.  Alan immediately withdrew both his blasters from their holsters and motioned the squad forward quietly.  Njall and Zeshaun followed close behind, their weapons drawn and ready for action.

Rounding the corner they spotted the entrance to the main hangar bay.  What they saw did not look good.  Thawn's forces had gotten themselves into a secure position and Alan could tell that their own troopers would have difficulty in getting any good shots at them.  However, they were obviously not expecting an attack from their rear as it was poorly defended.

"That doesn't look good" whispered Njall.

"We knew it would not be easy but we have the tactical advantage" replied Alan.

"We do?" queried Zeshaun.

"Once we attack, Thrawn's forces will be between us and the other squad" replied Alan.

"There sure are a lot of them" commented Zeshaun.

"We've been up against worse" stated Alan.

"We have?" queried Njall.

Alan decided not to reply as he couldn't instantly come up with an example, instead he got on the com and informed the squads that they had arrived and to be ready for the signal.  Alan hoped that when Paladin attacked, the other squads would be able to join in.  The odds were still against them but with Thrawn's forces being sandwiched between Paladin and the other squad then it might just be enough to win the day and secure the hangar.

"Zeshaun, send a couple of grenades down to Thrawn's forces, once they explode we will attack" said Alan.

"Roger that" replied Zeshaun.

"Ready?" asked Alan, as he glanced from Zeshaun over to Njall.

They both nodded their heads in unison.  Alan wondered whether both troopers were really ready for this assault, he wondered whether he was ready also.  He knew the risks when he signed onto the corps and this was one prime example.

"Now" said Alan.

Zeshaun grabbed two thermal detonators from his pouch and rolled them down the hall towards Thrawn's forces.  A startled exclamation could be heard from one soldier who had obviously spotted the detonators.  It was not sufficient to divert the attack as the detonators exploded.  Screams could be heard as the hall was engulfed in black smoke.  Despite having his helmet on, Alan could smell the thick acrid smoke and wondered what had exploded to cause such smoke.  He was happy for it as it would help conceal them.

"Attack!" exclaimed Alan, both to Njall and Zeshaun but also to the squads on the other side of the hangar bay.

The attack began.

Chozen GGT was a tall oriental male. He had a tattoo of a tiger's claw covering the left side of his face, reaching all over the top of his shaved head, and all the way back toward the neck. The sound of a blaring alarm filled his ears along with the sound of running feet filling the halls. His squad was sent on an urgent mission to the STC academy to save the CoT himself. Chozen carried his usual upgraded assault rifle along with a heavier rifle; rumor had it that the opposition would be a bit more than just troopers.

The Titan squad came out at an intersection, the decided meeting area. Three other squad dressed in similar armor apart from the different squad colors joined them. The four squad leaders consulted for only a moment before barking orders. The titan squad moved toward the most direct path to the academy along with one other squad. The other two, hastily moved toward the longer but more secluded route, hopefully giving them an edge against the attackers. wonder what we're gonna have to face Chozen thought as they ran down the street, the rifles hitting his back as he ran absent-mindedly, following the his squad mate in front of him.

"Chozen wake up!" His assistant squad leader shouted.

He looked up and saw the nozzle of at least two repulsor tanks facing toward them and then a stream of blue light came flying in his direction. Chozen dove to the edge of the road. He painfully landed on his side, but managed to dodge the ray that had come from the turret on the repulsor tank.

"Engage the tanks!" His squad leader ordered.

Immediately both squads started to fire at the tanks, Chozen could see the shields deflecting the shots but it seemed to be keeping the tanks at bay for the time being.

"Everyone switch over to the heavy rifles, they'll back a bigger punch in that armor." The other squad leader ordered "The longer we're out here the more chance they have to blow us away."

Chozen put his assault rifle over his shoulder and loaded his heavy rifle, and started firing. Sure enough the shields were taking more damage, luckily the street they had chosen only allowed one tank in at a time, making it much easier for the two squads. If we had to deal with both of those, we'd all be dead He thought as he reloaded and started firing again.

Titan squad all relocated as the tank started to concentrate on their position, one of Chozen's squad mates rolled a grenade under the belly of the tank, sending a large explosion and pieces of metal to come erupting from underneath the tank. The shields started to falter and then they fell. Both squads let out a cheer and they started to pound the tank with their heavy rifles, the larger bolts of the heavy rifle penetrating the armor of the tank.

Chozen could hear the screams and shouts as the operators of the tank scrambled to save themselves only to be shot down by a blaster bolt from the outside. The tank started to pull out of the street, allowing Titan and the other squad to advance.

They happily walked out into the larger street, looking to engage the second tank, when a movement in the corner of Chozen's eye caught his attention. Another tank was floating toward them from the direction of the academy Oh hell no Chozen thought as he put his shoulder down and leapt into a flimsy door to take cover form the sudden rain of red bolts from the third tank. He started to fire from within the house, but had to quickly evacuate as a pair of missile came flying toward him. The home exploded in a brilliant flash of red and orange, burning whatever the explosion didn't destroy. Chozen quickly crawled away from the wreckage joining up with one of his squad mates.

"Had a nasty spill?" Simons asked cockily, his armor was still white, not a single scratch on it.

"Screw off." Chozen said with a smile.

The two of them had been good friends since they came together in the squad, only their squad leaders had been in the squad longer and they had formed a real bond. They always watched each other’s backs, never apart for more than a day.

"Cover me." Simons said as he jumped over the rubble that they had been hiding behind and started to advance on the tank from behind.

Chozen fired constantly on the tank, keeping the attention away from his friend. Simons was able to stick two grenades right on the hatch of the tank and started to sprint back. Chozen took cover behind the rubble, Simons dove over the rubble landing slightly in front of him. The explosion went off. The sound of bending metal and screams from unsuspecting tank operators filled his ears as a light heat wave hit him.

"That worked well." Chozen said looking over the rubble to see a burning carcass of a hover tank in the streets.

"Uh oh." Simons said as he pointed beyond the destroyed tank.

Chozen looked at where Simons was pointing and started banging his head against the rubble.

"I knew it was a bad idea to just let that tank slip away after hurting it so bad."

The first tank had returned, seemingly fixing the problem with their shields and probably a new operating crew. Chozen started to fire at the tank but a lone heavy blaster rifle was no match for the newly replenished shields. A huge blue beam struck the rubble, blowing it apart and sending both Simons and Chozen through the air landing hard on the road filled with smoke and debris.

"Simons you alive?" Chozen asked, looking for him through the smoke

"Yeah, but I think I broke my ankle." Simons' voice said through the smoke.

Chozen found Simons and took a look at his ankle, even he could tell that his ankle was twisted in a direction that it shouldn't be. Chozen helped him up and they started to limp toward any sort of cover as the tank advanced on the squad. Chozen lay Simons down near the back, leaving him in the care of a medic.

"Don't die out there." Simons yelled as Chozen ran back into the action.

"Not planning on it." Chozen yelled back as he started firing at the tank.

“We’re with you Sir” replied Chozen.

Chozen followed his squad leader, Hortax into the rubble the rest of Titan squad on their heels. The tank was working hard to force its way out of the rubble, causing the unstable ground to shake and make it difficult to walk at a steady pace. Serves it right for trying to plow through a building Chozen thought. He heard some rambling on the comlink and heard that the other squad seemed to be dealing with the other tank for now but help would not be coming anytime soon. Titan would have to disable this tank themselves.

"Over there sir!" One of the troopers said pointing to an especially active part of the rubble.

Hortax lead the way and slowly approached the moving pile of rocks then suddenly was blown backwards, sending the whole squad through the air, scattering them across the street. Another blue ray shot up through the rubble revealing more of the tank and the nozzle of the turret.

"Everyone alright?" Hortax asked as he quickly jumped to his feet and took cover behind a particularly large piece of the destroyed home.

It seemed that no one was injured badly, only a few scratches here and there. The tank was becoming more and more mobile by the moment but it still seemed to be lacking any shielding, which gave Titan the advantage for the moment.

"Grenades!" Hortax ordered.

The squad lobbed grenade in the direction of the tank, blowing rubble away from the tank but hopefully doing enough damage to the armor on the vehicle to make it easy for the Titan's heavy blaster to penetrate. The Titans advanced slowly, firing their blaster rifles, the tank was dormant for the moment. Hortax held up his hand, signifying the squad to stop firing. They slowly moved toward the rear of the tank, rifles still pointed toward the door. Two of the larger members of Titan moved to either side of the tank, and kicked in the hatch.

"Put your hands where I can see'em." Hortax yelled as he burst into the interior of the tank.

Chozen followed closely behind and saw three terrified troopers sitting in their seats. Hortax dragged them out of the tank and threw them out into the streets where the whole squad had their rifles concentrated.

"Tell us where CoT Riqimo is." Hortax demanded, adding a forceful kick to one of the pilots of the tank.

"W-we don't know anything, we're j-j-just supposed to stall you." One of the pilots stuttered out.

Hortax kicked him again, the pilot doubling over in pain. He clicked a switch on his gun and aimed it at him, the pilot started to beg but he pulled the trigger anyways, doing the same to the other two. Chozen looked on in dismay as his squad leader shot down three unarmed prisoners without any cause.

"Don't worry," Hortax said in a soothing voice, seeing the reaction of the squad. "It's set on stun, we don't want these bugs to run back and warn the others in the building."

The rest of the Titan's set some detonators in the tank and then moved to a safe distance before blowing it to pieces. After informing the other squad that the second tank was taken care of they got the okay to head toward the base, it seemed the other squad had also managed to destroy their tank and were headed toward the academy. who stoops as low as taking out noobies Chozen thought as they ran down the dust filled streets.

He checked in with the medics and checked up on Simons' status. It seemed he would be fine but wouldn't be joining them for the rest of the mission. That bastard, ducking out on us He thought with a smile. As they approached the base, they slowed down to a slow trot and cautiously approached the building, not letting any guards notice them if there were any. The front doors were surprisingly unguarded.

"Why does this make me feel nervous." Portland, one of the newer Titan's commented.

"I got the same weird feeling." Hortax replied. "Let's take this nice and slow."

The Titan's carefully approached the academy, crossing the unnerving open space of the front court yard. The Titan's kept their eyes up, making sure they didn't spot any snipers. They crossed without incident and approached the door, the inside was dark, making it hard to see if there was any immediate resistance inside the door.

"Only one way to find out." Chozen said, letting his nerves get to his head.

He rushed the academy door despite the shouts of disapproval and using a large beam as a battering ram and smashing into the door, the glass door bent, groaning under the pressure but the force was too much, it shattered and Chozen burst through, stumbling into the darkness but rolled over his shoulder and recovered quickly scanning the room with his rifle. The front office was a mess, desks were flipped over, papers were on the floor, and computer terminals were broken and strewn on the floor. The rest of the squad sprinted into the room, their rifles up and quickly scanning the room before realizing it was safe.

Hortax angrily approached Chozen and whispered through his teeth. "If you ever do that again, I will make sure you will never be a trooper ever again."

Chozen just nodded and moved back into place with the rest of his squad. "Now let's move, we don't know how much time we have." Hortax ordered, moving deeper into the academy

Page glanced around the devastation that had once been the Vast Empire Academy and then glanced over at Hortax.

“How do you want to play this?” queried Page.

Hortax couldn’t believe the devastation before his eyes.  It had been a very long time since he had last visited the Academy but he had a vague idea of what it was supposed to look like and this wasn’t even close.  Although the air had settled, he could still smell the assault that had transpired. 

The fumes that constant firing must created surrounded the Academy.  Several fires were still flickering from small holes in the walls where blaster fire had struck them.  Hortax wondered whether any cadets had survived.  He glanced back at Page and suddenly became aware that she and the rest of the squad were waiting on his reply.

“We do a systematic search of the buildings.  Riqimo and his cadets must be here somewhere” replied Hortax.

“You know that Thrawn’s forces will have gotten themselves entrenched in here and will be waiting for us” commented Chozen.

“I’m well aware of that” replied Hortax, “but we have a job to do and we’re not going to do that standing here”.

“Let’s move out” called out Page, “but stay sharp, trouble could just be around the next corner”.

The squad nodded in unison and started to move inside the first academy building.  Their weapons were raised as they anticipated trouble at any second.

The first building consisted of a long passageway with several smaller rooms branching off from it.  As soon as the squad started traversing down the corridor, Hortax’s heart sank.

Several bodies lay strewn across the corridor and Hortax could see that they all bore the emblems of the academy on their tunics.  Some of them lay on their backs, their eyes wide open.  Hortax gazed into their faces and saw that they were mere boys.

“Thrawn will pay for what he has done here today” muttered Hortax as he made his way carefully around the bodies.

“Agreed” replied Page, “lets just hope that some of the recruits survived and that Riqimo is still alive”.

It was a long and laborious process but the squad knew that every single room had to be checked.  Most of the rooms turned out to be empty or have several cadets lying in their own pool of blood.  Hortax was happy to see the occasional Thrawn trooper but against the amount of academy recruits, it just didn’t tally.

Chozen was about to enter the last room when suddenly a large scream emanated from within the room and multiple blaster bolts flew out of the room.  The bolts were wild and Chozen was not even grazed as he retreated for cover.

Hortax cursed silently as he quickly stole a peek inside the room.  Inside was a young recruit, he clutched a weapon tightly in his grasp and he fired blindly.  Hortax could see the kid shivering as he let out another yell and fired his weapon.

“Kid, we’re with the Vast Empire, we’re on your side, lower the weapon” called out Hortax.

“Liars!” screamed the recruit, his voice a high pitch as more blaster bolts flew out of the room.

“Can I kill him?” asked Chozen.

Hortax glanced over at Chozen and knew that he jested but he had seen too much death today and chose not to reply.  From the corner of his eye he spotted Page moving and before he could say a word she had entered the room.

“We’re here to help” said Page soothingly.

She slowly approached the kid and lowered her weapon.  The recruit’s eyes widened as he tried to decide what to do.  His weapon was still raised even though it shook from the fear that coursed through the recruits mind.

“Lower the weapon and tell me what happened?” asked Page.

The recruit looked at her and finally he started to relax, the weapon stopped shaking as he lowered it.  He never put it down but at least it was no longer pointing at her.

“It, it was horrible” said the recruit, “they stormed into the academy and started shooting.  All of my friends died in a matter of minutes.  I ran, I hid, I was so scared”.

“Did you see Riqimo?” queried Page.

“They took him” replied the recruit.

“Do you know where to?” asked Page.

“I heard they were going to set up in the third building, but you can’t go, they are too strong, there is too many of them” stated the recruit, his voice wavering slightly.

Hortax was happy to hear the news that Riqimo was still alive and that they had a location on his whereabouts.

“Let’s move!” barked Hortax.

“Get to safety” said Page as she left the recruit and returned back to the squad.

Hortax did not like what the recruit had told Page, he hoped the recruit had exaggerated about the strength of Thrawn’s forces in the building but whatever the opposition was, they had to get Riqimo.

Hortax found himself smashing through the window.  As soon as his feet landed, he had his weapon raised, sweeping the room.  He was surprised when he saw how many recruits were situated in the room.  A quick scan of the room showed that none of them were Riqimo.

“Page, status” said Hortax into the com.

The com sparked to life and Page’s voice came through the com as she replied “room is secure but no sign of Riqimo”.

“Roger that” replied Hortax, “let’s hit the main entrance now whilst we still have the element of surprise on our side”.

“Roger” replied Page.

“Let’s go” said Hortax to his small group of troopers.

Hortax could hear the crunching sound his boots were making as he stepped on the broken grass that lay strewn across the floor.  Opening the door, he spotted the main entrance.  Already Thrawn’s troopers seemed to be trying to get themselves into a better defensive posture after the sound of Titan’s assault from the side of the building.

Hortax looked at the recruits and said “get yourselves out of here, use the rear entrance, the rest of you follow me”.

Hortax rushed towards the main entrance with his band of troopers.  The recruits watched on in amazement at the fearless advance of the squad.  Some of the recruits felt inspired and hoped to be that good whilst some found the realisation of war and what joining the Corps really entailed, the thrill of the danger and excitement ebbed away from them and the true horror of conflict settled in.  The rest just wanted to get out and get out alive and never paid any heed to the battle that was ensuing.

From the far side of the entrance, Hortax could see Page and her group of troopers attacking Thrawn’s forces.  Thrawn’s forces immediately found themselves being caught in the middle of two squads.  Whilst tactically they were at a disadvantage they were still deeply entrenched and Hortax knew that the battle would not be easily won.

From where she stood, page could clearly see Hortax kick one of the wounded men in the ribs and inquire as to Riqimo's whereabouts. The man was badly injured but he still wouldn't reveal CoT Riqimo's whereabouts.

"...I don't know what you're talking about" wheezed the man, spitting out a little bit of blood as he spoke.

"Oh yes you do now spill it!" ordered Hortax giving him another kick

"You'll never get anything out of me!" the man roared suddenly trying to get to his feet.

As he did so, Page instinctively sprang up and landed on the man's chest, slamming him to the ground, one knee on solid ground and the other on the centre of his chest, with one hand she swiftly knocked his helemt off hid head and grabbed him by the hair.

"Talk brah!"

"Never bitch!"

her nerves were starting to get frayed at this point, with her free hand she tok her knife from its holster and slipped off one of the man's gloves with a motion of her wrist.

"You have two choices here: talk or be in a serious amount of pain"

"You can't hurt me, lil girl, I feel no pain!"

"We'll see about that now won't we?" Page replied, a coy smile making a slight apearance on her face.

"Hortax, do me a favor and pin his head down for me, I need some slight concentration for this" she said via com so that the Trooper couldn't hear them conversing.

"Alright, what's your plan?" Hortx asked

"I hav a special technique to make people spill out information which involves a knife and a peson's fingernails."

"Very well, let's see where this tactic takes us."

Waiting until hortax had  a firm hold on the man, she slipped the sharp knifetip under hs nail and went in not as deep but deep enough to make him feel some pain.

"Oww, fuck that all you got lil' girl?' the soldier asked giggling slightly.

don't worry, there's much more where this came from

Sliding the knife under the nail next to the one she had already struck, she dug in deeper. The man grunted and squirmed but refrained from swearing this time, trying to get free of the restraining soldiers pinning him down.

"Chozen, and the rest of you, take care of the rest of the live soldiers and put them out of their misery, this one's the only one we need alive-for now."

Aiming for the first finger she had wounded, she brought the knife in very deep, the man crying out in a shrill howl of pain as his nail started to bleed.

"OK ok, I'll tell you where he is but please stop!"

Page retrieved her now slightly bloody knife from uder his fingernail and had it ready in case he was fooling with them.

"He's two buildings down from here, kept locked in a room."

"Good amn" page said with a smile, turning to hortax she addressed him.

"Let's not finish hi off yet but rather take him with us as a temporary prisoner in case he's lying, his blood can be shed later"

"Agreed" replied Hortax, turning to where the rest of the Titans were, e called out to them "finish'em off quickly if it's not don already, we have to move"

"Hortax, take my place after I finished with riding him of is belted weapons, let's wipe him clean of any com devices, explosives, ammo and such things"

"I was just going to suggest that, let's get to work shall we?"

Hortax could sense what Page was thinking.  It was too easy and he knew that the last thing Thrawn would do would make things easy.  He was about to confirm his own concerns to Page when he heard the mechanical noise.  It sent a shiver down his spine as he glanced down in the direction they were heading.

A large silver foot materialised from around the corner.  Hortax didn’t need to wait to see the rest to know what it was.  Another foot materialised and an AT-ST strode round the corner and stood in front of them, its gun turrets swivelling down towards the squad.

“Tell me that thing is on our side” commented Riqimo.

“I wish it was” replied Page.

“Come on, we can take on one of these metal beasts” said Chozen.

Suddenly more mechanical noises echoed around the area.  The squad looked on in horror as two more AT-ST’s strode in front of them.  The way ahead of them was now completely enveloped by the metal monsters.

“You were saying” stated Page.

“Yeah, that changes things” replied Chozen.

A face started to appear from the top of the middle AT-ST.  A figure emerged from the hatchway that was placed on the top of the AT-ST.  He looked at the squad and shouted down to them.

“Give yourselves up, you stand no chance of defeating us and we would rather take the Commander of Training as a prisoner rather than a corpse” said the man.

Hortax glanced over at Page.  No words needed to be exchanged between them as they merely nodded, both knowing what the other was thinking.  Handing over Riqimo was not an option but this mission could end up being their last.

In the blink of an eye, Hortax had taken his blaster pistol from his hip and sent a volley of blaster bolts towards the man.  Hortax cursed inwardly as the blasts missed the target and bounced harmlessly off the armour of the AT-ST.

The man did not wait around as he quickly disappeared inside the AT-ST before Hortax could adjust his aim accordingly.  The metallic noise started up again as the AT-ST’s started to advance on the squad, the gun turrets angling menacingly at the squad.  Hortax knew that right now there was only one viable option for them.

“Titan squad, fall back!” barked Hortax.

The squad started a hasty retreat and Hortax knew that if they were going to survive this then they needed a plan and they needed it soon.