Kieran stood in the hangar of the ship, directly in the middle of the two lanes. It was mostly empty except for several fighters that required a lot of work that apparently meant that their innards were spread across the entire deck. He missed the times when the cruiser held a fraction of its current complement, when it was more or less a staging area for the SpecForce, most of whom had left now to perform various other tasks and missions leaving only him and his platoon aboard to train those who needed it, and more or less do all the tough jobs of the upcoming campaign. The mission was simple, the planet was poorly defended and with the use of the Endurance and the Starfighter corps the space borne Imperials wouldn’t stand a chance, there wasn’t even a Star Destroyer in orbit, couple of light cruisers and expected TIEs launching from the surface.

He walked upto the LAAT that would be inserting his squad, the SpecForces would be bypassing the main landing zone in one of the mines and inserting directly into the city so were expected to receive the most fire going down, which was fine for him. He had been trained for it by both CorSec and the Alliance. He walked up and began running his hand over the outer edge of the ship, checking for any cracks or signs of structural weakness, being “rebels” he couldn’t hope for it to be flawless but anything severe would have to be sorted before they went down. He smiled as he passed the centre and looked to the other side of the craft and saw a Y-Wing sitting there, Kytra Aldes Y-Wing to be exact. It would save him to look for her when he had to later, he had promised her father to keep an eye on her after all.

Kytra looked up from her work when she felt eyes on her back, glancing around to catch sight of Kieran, the ships resident badass groundpounder. A hint of a smile crossed her lips as she turned back to face her ship, speaking loud enough for him to hear over the perpetual commotion of a carriers main hangar deck “Worrying over me again are you Kieran?” She said only half seriously, still mostly focused on the intricate design she was painting onto one of the side panels of her ship. For once the temperamental beast that was Thranta 2 was completely ready for battle. The crystals in the Ion cannon were aligned, the coolant system was working correctly, the magazine was loaded with Proton Torpedoes and she had even put all the armoured cladding back on, much to the chagrin of all the rest of the engineers.

And so, now that she had spare time, she was putting her expensive Alderaanian artistic education to use. This time the subject was a Manka cat, emblazoned on the ship's starboard side hull plating looking as though it were in the middle of leaping at the Astromech. She liked to think that the designs encouraged her to not get hit, as blaster fire would thoroughly ruin the plating on which they were set.

He continued to run his hand over the craft, and stepped out the way of the pilot as he carted some ordnance to the launchers in the craft. He himself had all his gear on, usually he would be wearing the clone trooper armour he had repainted however just about the ship he continued to wear his jacket, helmet for the communicator and had his rifle slung over his shoulder. He enjoyed the look he got from some of the others who weren’t allowed to wield their weapons openly, the joy of command. “I looked at you for a split second, not everything is about you Aldes.” He continued walking around the craft till he stood beside the Y-Wing. Leaning against the LAAT.

“What’s wrong, you’re painting. Surely you should be disassembling it like everyone else.” He pointed a finger to the craft sitting below the main hangar door. “Not that I know how anyone is going to launch with all that mess there anyway.”

Kytra chuckled softly at the first remark. She hadn’t exactly concealed her family ties from anyone on the crew, and some of them liked to poke fun at that little aspect every chance they got, though in this case it was probably more because Kieran liked to be perceived as a fearless, worriless warrior. Or at least thats what most of his subordinates thought. Why would he care about just another one of the Alliances many flygirls?

“Whats wrong? Nothing, for a change. For one shining, brief moment, my ship is totally and completely functional. You know it's remarkable how easily things break in a ship that can survive a direct hit from a TIE.” Her voice took on a less than serious mirthful tone then “If I don’t hang around here, someone might come along and break it again just by leaning on it!” She said, flashing a grin at the older man.

“Well you did pay the credits for it, unlike the other ships around here-” He pointed at a couple of older clone war Y-Wings, Z-95s and even a couple of X-Wings that while newer ships were in pretty poor condition. “-she was bought new, as unlike the other pilots you have the money for it.” He moved as the pilot of the LAAT pushed him away from the door. “At least you aren’t as pushy as some of the other pilots.” He cast his hand back at the pilot of the LAAT, a grumpy looking old man who could have well been his great grandfather by the looks of him.

He just hoped he wouldn’t have a heart attack on the way and die, that or die of old age. He brushed his hand against the craft. “This is one of the biggest ops most people on the ship have ever done. You think you’re ready for this?”

“Had the money.” Kytra corrected. “Now I’m as reliant on the Alliance as the rest of us. Well unless I go and beg some money from the family I guess.” She put the paintbrush down then, and turned to face Kieran, leaning back softly on the hull next to the painting. “Ready? By the Force no. Don’t tell the rest of the squadron, but I’m terrified. If I can't do my job right, or if I get shot down early, all you boys in your dropships could be sitting ducks. One thing I’ve learned since being here, is that they never write about how scared all those heroes in the books must’ve been before all those battles.”

“As long as you know where you and your wingmate are you’ll be fine, you’re number two so you’ll be sticking to the most experienced pilot. You’ll be fine.” He pulled out a nearby box and seat on it. “The nerves never go away, you just get used to them. They’re survival instincts and will kick in to keep you alive. Use it, I’m not big on the whole idea of the Force so don’t know how you’ll take this but use your nerves and your fear. They’ll keep you alive, keep you fast. Though don’t let them cloud your judgement. Just trust in your squadron, you’ll get through this.” He sat his rifle across his lap and then pointed to her leaning on her ship. “You sure that isn’t going to break it?”

“Oh probably.” She replied, with a smirk. “But then it’ll be broken again the moment I start up the engines. Can’t even taxi across the hangar without something overheating or getting shaken out of position. They need a lot of work, these Y-Wings, but if you put the time in, they’ll always bring you home. How long until we get there?” She put her best noble airs on then, though could not keep it up for the whole statement, barely holding back laughter at herself for it. “I don’t mean to sound like a petulant child, but this waiting is doing nothing good for my nerves.”

Kieran looked at his chrono on his wrist. “We’re at T-minus… one hour till mission launch.” He stood up and stretched, before pulling one of the pistols out of its holster. He handed it to her. “Even when we get a landing zone it’ll likely be rough down there. Keep an eye out.” He slung his rifle back around his back looking up and down the hanger, pieces of craft were still lying about everywhere and he began walking away, only to turn around. “Also, see what you can do to help tidy up this mess.” He indicated at the pieces of ship everywhere and watched as people looked up to him from their work. “Yeah I’m talking to all of you! Tidy up this darn mess.”

Kytra sighed in relief, they were almost there. When Kieran handed her a blaster pistol, she looked at it oddly for a moment. Why did she need another gun? Then she realised. “Now I have to make it. To give you back your gun on the other end. Hopefully unfired.” She couldn’t help but laugh when he turned and started shouting at the mechanics. Their reaction was priceless - suddenly lethargic and lazy engineer crews leaping into action as though their lives depended on it, scurrying about like frightened sea-mice. Normally she would join them in tidying the hangar, but since she was just about to deploy to a combat op, she was exempt from that duty. Instead she simply turned back to finish a few more details on the painting and guard her Y-Wing from errant mechanics until launch.

Kieran laughed as the mechanics jumped to work, inwardly. Not that he’d let anyone else see that he found it hilarious, though he was a bit of a figure on the ship for being a hard ass. That was mainly the trainings fault. It was well known that a lot of SpecForce recruits washed out, and while most of them still wore being accepted as a badge of honour many people still saw him as a hard ass and if it got results, he didn’t need to contradict them. As he approached the guard at the door he stopped and spoke to one of the guards. “Get all the pilots some caf, I want them to be alert and attentive.” He nodded. “Yes sir” and then walked off in the opposite direction to Kieran.

Cad and company were slightly jogging to their destination, he had been promoted to Staff Sergeant as soon as he landed here a couple weeks ago and given command of a squad of 7 other troopers. two were lagging behind Jertri and Riccla but he didn't get on them as Jertri was carrying a E-Web Turret and tripod and Riccla was carrying the power generator to power the damn thing and the DLT-19 Rifle slung across his back was hitting the back of his legs. He wasn't used to any of these people yet and they had only had time to talk a couple of times, he could hardly remember any of their names except that of Jertri and Riccla, because they bitched the loudest. "Alright squad halt." Cad shouted and the clicking of boots against the ground stopped. This was their position a small alley way that was only 300 meters south from the mine and 150 from an Imperial army company. "Jetri get set up the, rest of you firing positions." a whole chorus of "Yes sir" sounded out and the squad moved into position.

They had been called out to these positions because of a drill, something that made absolutely no since to Cad was the fact that so many had been called out for this drill, something didn't feel right and Cad knew it so he kept his blaster close. Looking back he saw his squad was all set up so he called it in. "Command, this is TY-375, My squads set up and upright, holding position" He said into his wrist communicator. during this time some of the other troopers started providing their own theories of why they were out there. "You think maybe some slaves revolted?" The medic Lucilan was his name asked. "I don't know man, but the thought of facing a wookie scares me." Piped Jetri

"Both of you stow it." Cad Interjected "And wookies die just like the rest of them Jetri." Both of the troopers looked at him and nodded "Yes Sir." They said in unison.

Both troopers turned heads down range and Cad looked down range too, the city was eerily quiet, the only sounds Cad heard were his men shifting and the pounding of his own heart, that sounded like a drum every time he was told to armor up. Truth was he hated these calm moments, it caused a soldier to doubt himself to question what he was going to do and who he was going to take down. But Cad knew deep down what he was doing, he knew what it was like to take a life and while some like him enjoyed it, others hated it, it haunted them. "How many of these guys would feel bad for gunning down a slave?" He thought. These thoughts were interrupted though from command getting back to them "TY-375 this is command, stay alert drill starts soon, command out." Cad grabbed his rifle and did exactly what command asked he stayed alert, he waited, he watched that gnawing feeling being put back into it's place replaced with the trooper he was meant to be.

"Mr. Theros." The voice sounded proper, a mixture of aristocratic upbringing and a high level of schooling. His face was clean shaven and his hair was cut short enough to hide under his officers cap. He didn't look very old at all, perhaps in his late twenties, maybe early thirties. "Mr. Theros, we're about to arrive. You asked me to wake you."

Felix rose his head. Somehow he'd managed to sleep aboard the Lambda Class T4-a shuttle with its upright seats. The flight was long, so perhaps sleeping was the best option. The only unfortunate side of that was his neck now had a bad cramp in it. He brought his hand up to massage the now sore part of his body. "So I did." He looked around at his fellow passengers. They were all of them storm troopers, two or three squads worth by the sight of them. The way they laughed and joked told Felix everything he needed to know; they were green. "New recruits huh? Is this their first time out?"

The officer nodded in confirmation. "Belona has been having problems off and on with rebels. The more they organize, the more men we need to bring in to fight them. We've been transporting all sorts of people on and off world for weeks now." The officer opened his mouth to say more, as if there were something different about the passengers he'd had, but he closed it almost immediately. "I think it's best if we talk up front. Your valuables will be safe back here." He was referring of course to the rifle and pack he carried with him. Everything he needed for life away from home was in that pack.

The pair walked up into the cockpit away from the troopers in the main cabin. The officers voice was real low and every bit sincere. "We've received word from the ground; the planet is on alert. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you got into a firefight upon arriving."

Felix chuckled to himself. "Wouldn't be the first time, and sure wont be the last." He turned to the cabin and looked at the troopers, talking amongst themselves about girls and home and how they wish to fight the rebels. Felix's mood went south thinking about it all. "But this will be their first, and it quite possibly will be their last."

The officer shared his limited knowledge of Belona to Felix just before landing, for which he was most thankful. He complimented the quality of the trip and said his goodbye, walking onto this strange planet for the first time like so many others that day. His rifle was slung over his shoulder, his pistol by his side, and his pack was on his back. If combat was to come, he'd be ready for it. "Now, where to begin?"

Eric rubbed both his hands on his face as he tried to regain balance, he stretched his back and arms then laid a gentle kiss on the back of the storage mechanic he slept with. She had red hair and green eyes, he loved redheads. She sat just next to him, covering her breasts with the dirty orange sheets. He laid another soft kiss on her shoulder and stared into her eyes, appreciating her beautiful face. Eric played with her hair, then tugged it behind her ears. "By the Force, you are gorgeous." She subtly blushed and chuckled a little.

"Amy, you are too beautiful for a storage bay mechanic, what happened?" Eric was drowsy still, he got up and opened the drawers beside his bunk. He had a bottle that stored some pills, he spread some on his hand and swallowed them. He then noticed the not so cheerful visage of his mistress. "Amy? seriously?" She cried.
"Oh damn, I'm so sorry Lehadi, I don't feel good. My head's not itself today."

Lehadi threw away the sheets and madly grabbed her cloths and wore her pants and bra, she carried the rest of her mechanic uniform and went for the door. Eric grabbed her hand and apologized, begged her to stay. She violently dropped Eric's hand, "this is a waste of time, unbelievable," she went out and shut the door hard. Eric's head began to clear up, the pills' started to take their effect. "Fuck!" Eric muttered madly.

Eric let out another fit before wearing his rebel uniform, he grabbed his blaster rifle and took some time to give it a quick polish. Turning off the lights and closing the door, Eric stood outside his quarters and waited to fully regain his healthy state of mind. He never could sleep ever since he joined the Alliance, too much killing. But they were Imperial scum, he would always tell himself. He hated them much more than the dirt in the sole of his boots. A rebel pilot passed by Eric and told him they were almost there, one hour tops. He was Eric's friend, Tommy. Eric zipped up his outer vest and looked across the corridor, it was Amy, she stood with Lehadi. "Crap."

-delete, sorry about double posting >.>-

Jax hated almost everything about space travel. He hated the stale air, cramped living spaces, and he hated the dull surroundings. The only part he could tolerate and actually enjoyed of space travel was the long periods of free time. Being a SpecForce trooper, he had almost no responsibilities on the ship, all of his work took place on the ground. While the Endurance’s crew was busy manning the ship, Jax was left to his own devices. Most of his comrades likely found it extremely boring, Jax enjoyed it.

He would spend this time doing an array of things, although most involved reading, spending absurd amounts of time in the mess hall, or just relaxing in his cabin. On this particular day, he had decided to just wander the ship.

He strolled through the ship’s maze-like corridors, occasionally nodding to or greeting those he passed on his pointless journey. After some time, the trooper rounded a corner and found himself near the entrance to the hanger. He took a few steps forward before a familiar figure stepped through the hangar door and into the hall before him. Jax immediately realized it was too late to turn around before being spotted, so he straightened up and marched forward.

“Morning El-Tee.” He greeted his platoon leader as he got close.

"N...no this isn't.... This isn't possible." The man in the chair squirmed against his restraints. She chuckled at this, before speaking in her posh well regulated voice. Something she had perfected at the academy. "I think you'll find that it is completely possible." She withdrew a syringe and needle from a nearby tray sitting on a table and took the duraplast cover of the top of the needle. She didn't dare waste any of the substance within the needle by testing it to ensure it would work, if it didn't work so be it. It wasn't worth wasting any. She moved over to her and signaled to one of her droids who moved over, uncuffed him and held his arm for her. She injected the needle as her commlink began beeping. She sighed, jammed the needle in and injected the substance. She waited several seconds as it was absorbed into the blood stream and then signaled to the two droids. "Take him to the others." She walked out of the room, sealing it shut as another two of her droids flanked her, there were stormtroopers down here of course though she kept her droids around her for security purposes. She almost pitied these troopers if they weren't so lowly, they spent their entire rotation underground not being mixed with those on the surface for security reasons. She'd have to be sure to speak to the Governor about finding them some leave, unhappy employees were more likely to turn or at least talk.

She wouldn't let that happen. She activated her communicator. "What is it?""Forgive the intrusion, however the Bounty Hunter you requested has arrived." Ah bounty hunters, they would be loyal as long as you had more credits and she had a lot of credits. Nobody on this pitiful planet would be out buying her, with her family connections not even the Governor could. "Have him ordered to collect a specimen in the upcoming battle-" ofcourse she knew about it, she had delivered the intelligence about the attack from a rebel cell she interrogated, there were always methods of making people talk. "-and bring him to my lab. Until then he may do as he pleases." She paused for a second. "Also send the files of your storm troopers down to my office. I'm in need of some new staff."

---

Kieran signaled for Jax to keep moving, there weren't really ranks for a lot of Rebel Personnel, well there were. They just weren't often used, though being the man he was he was often referred to as the "Lieutenant". After all he was the only one on board and one of the few many aboard had seen due to the original training nature of the vessel. That is what made him worry: the ship had been used for training and while some extra SpecForce and ground troopers had been drafted to the 22nd a lot of people aboard were new, or at least new to combat or missions on this level. He nodded to the man. "Jax." He looked down the hall to see two mechanics lounging around talking in the hall, and he could see another man behind them though he didn't care about him, he wasn't in mechanics gear. "Hey! You two!" They looked at him. "Get your lazy asses into that hanger and tidy that mess up!" They began moving towards them and as such the hanger. He looked around at everyone else. "We're going into combat in an hour people. This isn't a simulation step on it!"

He turned back to Jax and checked his chrono. "Just under an hour to go, if you got any questions now's the time to ask them cause when we launch that's it."

Zirex watched as the lines of Hyperspace streaked past the cockpit of the freighter he had...appropriated from the Imperials. He looked down at the deck and sighed heavily as he saw the still smoking corpse of the Imperial captain he had shot to steal the Freighter. He checked the nav computer and made sure that the coordinates to Belona were locked in and correct. He grabbed one of his duel Mandalorian Heavy Blasters and smiled a very dark smile as he turned around and headed for the cargo hold. The Captain, he had killed him as soon as he had transmitted the codes needed to take off. He had then shot him through the back just to make sure he couldn't cause any problems later on.

But for the rest of the crew...He was going to have fun with them.

As the Weequay entered the cargo hold, he saw that the other four tied up members of the crew were staring at him with fear evident at the eyes. He smiled as he pointed his heavy blaster at them and got down on one knee in front of them as he pointed the blaster at random members of the crew before speaking.

"Speak your names. And name your reasons for joining the Imperial forces." He simply said. "If I like what I hear, you live. If I don't, you die."

All four of them began babbling all at once and one of them tried to get to his feet only to end up shot directly in the chest before he could get his balance and run. Zirex smiled and waved his free hand back and forth.

"No running." He stated.

One by one, the remaining crew members spoke their names and the reasons for joining and one by one Zirex shot them in the chest until only one was left. He stared at the Weequay with a defiant look in his eyes. "You're going to kill me anyway aren't you?" He asked bluntly.

"Depends." Zirex said.

"Depends on what?"

"Can you land the ship without drawing attention to it?"

"Yes." The crew-member muttered as Zirex placed the barrel of the blaster against his head.

"Good." Zirex said as he holstered the blaster and looked down at his prisoner. "I'll untie you when your needed. You do everything right and I won't kill you. I'll just leave you in an escape pod. You do anything stupid or try to send a message and I'll blast you." He said as he headed back to the cockpit.

The soft clinking of parts being put together could be heard in the small space that Aralia had taken over as her work station. She quickly has her blaster buster reassembled and slid into her right hip holster and stood up. With a quick reach over she grabbed a case that held her rifle inside and turned towards the door, not a sound came as she moved. “Another day another dollar” She said under her breath, but that wasn’t the way she felt. There was no money to be made and she wasn’t in it for any kind of payday. She was in it for vengeance pure and simple. She reached up and pulled her lekku neatly around her neck so they wouldn’t be hanging freely and headed down the hall the whole while counting in her head as a way to keep herself focused.

The hangar was hustle and bustle preparing for the upcoming confrontation that was to take place, but Aralia didn’t seem to notice even as people moved past her. She knew where she was going and needed to know what role in the upcoming fight had been decided for her completely. She stalked Straight for Kieran moving around each person who stood in her way barely brushing them with her shoulders as she moved. She stopped right next to him and went to attention giving a sharp salute before letting her hand go back to her side. “Aralia’tak reporting for brief.” She was fully suited and ready for combat of any sort even though as a infiltrator she was better for the shadows and killing people without them noticing.

She was slick in her outfit which provided moderate protection from ranged weapons, and everything was painted dark or dyed black to keep her hidden when she needed to be. There was even a shawl she could wrap around her head and lekku to make her face disappear. She stared Kieran in the eyes the way only someone who was a infiltrator would, someone who had seen things others hadn’t. She awaited the briefing with the upmost professionalism her body tense and still.

The high-pitched roar of the TIEs rang through the air as they passed over the city. Yet another eventless air patrol in the dull skies of Belona... Still, it was a welcome change for one of the four pilots up there. For the last few months, the light carrier Dreadful had been assigned to a small escort fleet, defending supply and trade convoys near Hutt space. Pirates crazy enough took no hesitation to try and catch the escorts off guard, but the TIEs were always on station, hitting back before any real damage was done. ...Constantly watching scanners for unidentified craft was making Anya more and more paranoid! The rookie still had nothing on the discipline that her fellow pilots had - they all seemed like they could care less when under fire, and nobody seemed to really give a damn when Daryll bought it as the only casualty during their trade escort posting.

The comm channel was absolutely silent, and Anya could hear only the muffled roar of her own fighter and her own breathing through her mask. Patrol or no, silence was expected of the small squadron until alert, or if the lead was giving instruction... Yep.

"Patrol - we've passed Point Cresh. The final waypoint is home. Eyes peeled. I don't want a clean report, if you see something suspicious or out of the ordinary, I want it called out so I can decide its worth!" the Lieutenant said clearly over the comm channel. Though his voice was rough and grizzled, it still held that pristine Imperial accent. He was the only one on the team who'd adopted it, but perhaps he came from a noble family or something along those lines. Anya and the LT's other subordinates would probably never change, but you totally didn't need to put on your best classy voice when you became an Officer... Right? It might help though.

"You're thinking about nothing again," Anya told herself first, before checking that she wasn't transmitting anything. Fortunately there would be no snapping over the channel just for a little infraction, as she was on mute. Last thing she needed was an angry LT - he was a veteran, patriotic, and had a very short fuse. At least this flight was nearly over... Anya was looking forward to some Caf and a little time to chill out once they got back to base. Without any random stops along the way to recon things that looked, but probably were not suspicious, it should only take a matter of minutes.

Felix was still looking around at his surroundings having just stepped off of the shuttle. The area was dirty everywhere you looked. Stormtroopers ran by as they were getting into positions; for what no one knew for certain, but Felix had a pretty good idea. Off in the distance he could even here the faint *aaarrrrr* of TIE fighters. He'd only gotten perhaps ten yards from the landing pad before his comlink went off. The short *bee deep, bee deep* sound repeated itself until he finally answered. The voice which was on the other end was very formal. "Mr. Theros, I have your first assignment."

Felix was used to having anonymous people give him orders, but this soon after arriving seemed a bit odd. How did anyone know he was here? "Who is this?"

"I serve under Captain Loretta Riada," the voice on the other end responded. "My name is of no consequence."

He searched his memory but couldn't recall ever hearing the name before. "Am I supposed to know who that is?"

"Let's just say she's someone with authority over you on this world. Your mission is simple; capture a living rebel in the coming combat and bring him to us. After taking the prisoner, you will contact us through this number. Upon receiving your call we will transmit the coordinates of our location to you. Are we understood?" Felix wasn't sure which unsettled him more: the fact that this wasn't the Governor, or the fact that whoever this was knew there was a battle coming.

But of course, what was most important came up in Felix's mind. "Wait just a second, we haven't even talked about my pay. I was supposed to negotiate with the Governor regarding my compensation."

"That won't be necessary in this case, Captain Riada will be paying you for this task personally, and she is very generous. Your work with her and your work with the Governor will be two separate areas. Do everything she asks, do it well, and you will be rewarded." Felix had to admit, the offer sounded too good to pass up. It also sounded terribly suspicious. Thankfully Felix had learned long ago to forget about questions and focus on the credits. He grasped at the necklace still hidden behind his shirt.

"Inform the Captain she'll have her rebel." The man on the other end expressed his gratitude and then hung up. Felix placed the comlink back into his pocket and turned to walk down the dusty street. Questions flew through his mind as they often do, and he ignored them immediately as he often does.

Zorra sat at her desk looking over some reports from her troopers and the latest intelligence report for the sector. The reports from her troops were nothing special or out of the ordinary. The sector report was a bit more interesting as it showed there was increased rebel activity in the area. She would tell her troops to keep an eye out just incase some rebels decided to set up a base on Belona. After she finished reading the intel and reports she decided it was time to see what was happening in the control room.

Stepping out of her office she strolled down the large grey hallway which while brightly lit still felt cold. Passing by several offer offices on the way and a few soldiers who saluted her as she went by before she reached the main elevator. Stepping inside she pressed the button for the main control room along with entering her security code. It took only a few seconds to reach the control room as it was a small base. Strolling out of the elevator into the pristine control room she looked around the control room seeing her small staff and slightly outdated equipment. It was a bit infuriating as she had been requisitioning new equipment but she was very low down on the list.

Before Zorra could sit down one of her officers came up to her "Major this just came in for you". "Thank you" she said taking the data pad of the young man. It was an order from the governor to mobilise her troops. She imagined the governor wanted her to do this as a show off force to the people or maybe he wanted to test her troops readiness either way it didn't matter orders where orders. "Tell the troops to deploy into defensive positions and tell them to be ready for inspection" Zorra ordered "yes ma'am" the young officer replied. Sitting down in her command chair she opened up one of her private folders which was all about the unmarked imperial transports going into the mines and local rumours about it. She had asked the governor many times what was in the mines but he had been less than forthcoming.

Kieran nodded to Jax as he excused himself to go grab his gear, when Kieran felt he could have a brief rest before the Op another SpecForce walked up to him. There resident Twi'lek who enjoyed the whole military protocol thing. Most the time he couldn't decide if he liked it or not. He saw the need for it but the rebels lax standards made him question if there was any point at having a structure other than "Follow this guy, do as he says." Though they wouldn't always be rebels, so he supposed if they were to grow into something else they needed to have a base. Either or. "At ease-" She at least knew how to salute properly. That was better than some people in the Alliance. "I don't know where you were during the actual briefing Aralia but I'll give you a recap. Benefit of the doubt and what not, I'll presume you were doing something important enough to miss out on a briefing to the biggest op you've been through to date." He took out a small holoprojector and held it in his hand.

"In roughly an hour it'll be night time on Belona, we'll drop out on the populated side of the planet, that due to the time will be the dark side. At the time of our reversion pre-set charges will take out the electrical grid disabling the turbolaser towers and making us harder to see as they won't be able to point lights at us. The Endeavor will lay cover fire for the drop ships with the fighter/bomber contingent as we make our way into this mine here-" The map zoomed in to show the largest mine in the Capital. "-This will be our beachhead. We'll set up camp at the mouth of the mine and at the bottom, from there we will have a straight path to attack any of the other five industrial centres from two sides." He clicked the projector and the image retracted back into the device. "You'll be going with Bantha squad to try and work your way into the Capital building and take out the Governor. Cut the head of the snake if you will."

---

One Hour Later(Dramatic BUMBUMBUM)

The Endeavor dropped to real space, Kieran was already in the LAAT as the doors sealed shut, he could only picture it as the main hanger opened and Y-Wings, X-Wings, Z-95s and all other assortments of craft lurched forth from the megaliths belly. It was mostly a smooth ride down, though he could hear over the comm the pilots that were in the various engagement against the poorly prepared. He tapped his headset. "Comm check." Everyone raised a single thumb towards him and he nodded. Then a ping in his ear indicated he was receiving a message on the command channel. "This is the Commander, we have confirmation signal from the planet. They're dark, proceed with objectives as planned."

---

Loretta smirked as she had flicked the beacon on, such a terrible signal to use for an important operation. There was no proof that whoever had activated it was in fact a rebel, which of course she wasn't. It amused her really, they had of course shut down all the lights in the city and had had the defenses temporarily powered down, it wa sjust a shame that she couldn't use a shield. It would have been amusing to watch the Rebels hit it like bugs on a windscreen, however the current plan meant that she would have a lot more test subjects to play with. She could hear the LAATs and the other craft as they began screaming down into orbit. She gave them time, a select few Imperial Positions lit up the sky, a couple of E-Webs, Two AT-STs and standard Blaster Rifles. Nothing major, she could hear the screaming of a TIE patrol moving to intercept. Right now the trap was set.

---

Kieran could feel the little flak brushing the underside of the LAAT as he heard it return fire. So far it was a pretty smooth ride, such as they had expected. He pressed his comm piece patching into all of the SpecForce troops in their respective LAATs. "All right, you all have your objectives. We're going to go in hot. My team will be moving into rendezvous with local rebel cells, Bantha you're on the Governor, Jawa you've got to keep the power station down, Maw you're going into the mine to free the saves and Jedi you've got the top of the mine to help secure it with the general alliance forces. You all have your jobs, get too it." As soon as he said it, literally the second he said it the command channel erupted with voices barking orders and crying out status reports, he could hear the fire pummeling up into the formation of LAATs then the craft begin to juke and dive as it tried to avoid taking any fire. He turned back to the others "Hold on!" He pressed his hand to his ear to try and hear what was being said. "...Repeat do not retreat... Imperial Ambush... Endeavor not secure..." He could hear the explosions in the background of that, and he feared for what was going on up there.

Though he couldn't do anything about it as he felt the shock of a hit on the LAAT and it began spinning erratically. His joints pained him as his legs went up in the air but he managed to retain his grip on the ceiling handles, others weren't so lucky and went flying into the door, however now he noticed it had buckled and broken so instead of hitting it they went straight through. He bit down the regret and the pain, now wasn't the time. He attached his grapple to his belt and then tied it around the railing, showing the last member of his squad indicating him to do the same. He would have called out a distress signal, though with the brief second the comm channel had cleared there was a juddering impact as the LAAT struck the ground and it all went dark...

---

Loretta couldn't help but smile as it all went according to plan. She could only imagine what was going on up in orbit, the sky was too overcast to see anything going on above their heads. Down here it was beautiful though. One second the sky was almost devoid of life save for the occasional blaster bolt, and several LAATs and other craft reigning down. Then all the lights suddenly lit up towards the sky, with an assortment of high beam lights as well in a bid to blind any incoming craft. Then everything else kicked off, all the other squads began firing up towards the sky, twenty AT-STs and five AT-TEs joined in the barrage with the twenty odd turbolaser turrets. She could see the hits on several of the craft, one of the LAATs was struck on the side and began spinning, another was just instantly destroyed.

She couldn't help but smile, with this to prove to the Governor how effective her methods were she knew that extra funding could be acquired for this and many other projects. A shot came down near her, a random strafe most likely and as such she retreated into a nearby concealed elevator that lowered her down into her labs. She couldn't help but smile on the way down with the reverberations of explosions reaching her ears...

---

Commander Rolkins stood on the bridge, hands behind his back. With the two frigates in orbit and the few fighter squadrons he had tasked most of the craft with protection duty of the LAATs. It seemed like it was going to be an easy fight, one of the frigates was already trying to pull back and the other one would be soon. That is when his heart dropped as there were three pings, he didn't want to hear it but he heard the call. "Three Imperial Star Destroyers right behind us!"They're opening fire! The concussive force of the superior weapons struck them, he could but imagine them piercing straight through the shield and into the vulnerable rear weapons. They were too far into the gravity well, even if they could turn around there would be no way for them to enter hyperspace before they were destroyed.

So he barked an order he never wished he would have to shout. "Abandon ship!" Everyone just looked at him. "She's lost to us! Everybody get off now" He could but hope that the Empire wouldn't be fast enough to destroy all the life pods, not that he knew what fate awaited them on the surface. Though before he could think off it he had reached the elevator, and a blast ripped straight through the superstructure of the ships neck, the elevator already going down was ripped through the breach as the bridge began spinning free on its own. Hitting the emergency seal button the door closed but it was too late. The damage was done, the bridge had become his coffin. He turned to face the other officers on the bridge and couldn't even apologize, he just said nothing but walked to the forward section of the bridge and looked out into the depths of space, as the bridge continued its free fall.

Jax gripped the ceiling handle above him with all of his might, hanging on for dear life as he and the rest of Jedi squad were tossed around like ragdolls in the back of their LAAT. The pilot and co-pilot frantically attempted to dodge the immense amount of incoming enemy fire, seeming to not care how badly their evasive maneuvers were battering the passengers.

After a long and painful flight, the LAAT came to a stop, the cabin lights flicked from an eerie red to green, and the doors opened. The rebels only had a moment to recover before blaster fire poured into the landing craft. A few members of the squad screamed and collapsed to the cabin deck, smoking from multiple blaster wounds.

Jax immediately leapt out of the craft, diving to the ground a couple feet below him. He painfully slammed into the hard ground and pressed himself against it, trying to make himself as small as possible. The LAAT’s forward laser turrets opened up, unleashing a devastating volley of suppressing fire on the Imperial stormtroopers and E-Webs engaging the gunship from nearby buildings and providing the rebel troopers time to get to cover. Seizing the opportunity and ignoring the pain spreading through his battered body, Jax scrambled to his feet and dashed for the nearest building that didn’t have dozens of blasters firing at him. He skidded to a halt behind the structure and turned back to see how the others were faring.

A few of his squadmates had also managed to disembark and were joining him behind the building, but the others weren’t as lucky. A long burst from an E-Web impacted on the front of the LAAT, slicing into the cockpit. The gunship’s weapons went dead and it suddenly jerked sideways, the pilots likely cut apart by the heavy fire. It crashed into the ground and threw sparks and debris into the air before skidding to a halt.

Jax aimed at the closest enemy position and fired a burst of armor piercing rounds at a stormtrooper illuminated by the flashes of blasters firing. The rebel wasn’t able to see the results of his shots before a burst of blaster fire forced him back into cover.

“This is Jedi squad to all friendly forces! We are defiladed but pinned down and taking heavy fire. The LAAT is down and we’re taking heavy casualties! Requesting immediate support!” Jax shouted into his comm-link.

"Maintain security! They're going to try flanking us." One of his squadmates ordered. The remaining rebels stayed crouched behind the wall, watching their flanks. They were protected for the moment, but only until the Imperials decided to flank them or start using HE weapons, which would likely be within the next few seconds.

Seeing the rebel ship in flames, slowly losing orbit, Governor Ilvatar smiled slightly. She had just returned from a meeting with the Moffs and had been given 3 new Star Destroyers to deal with the foreseen rebel activity in the region. The two frigates simply weren't up to the task of controlling the whole sector.
"Governor," Commodore Valdor approached her. "The rebels appear to be abandoning the ship. Do you wish us to destroy them?"
"Attempt to capture, but it is imperative that none escape. Any shuttles leaving the ship should be shot immediately." she replied. Prisoners were always desirable, but the chance of survivors was intolerable. "Once the airspace is fully secured prepare my shuttle and the fighter escort to take me to the Palace. In fact, lower us down into the atmosphere and take position near to the battlezone. Ensure that we have sufficient air support against any bombers, say a couple of squadrons from the other ships and launch our fighters when the ship is visible from the city. We can blast their air support from the skies to shatter their morale, we don't have all day for this. Also, inform Captain Riada of my imminent arrival, I will require an update from her at her earliest convenience."
"Yes m'am." Valdor walked away to carry out her orders, leaving Satae to her thoughts.

She looked back out of the window of the bridge. The burning ship really was a beautiful sight to behold, a small island of light in the cold night of space.

Zirex had grabbed the surviving Imperial crew member and placed him in the pilot's seat next to him. "Dropping out of Hyperspace in 3...2...1..." The Imperial said quietly. After a moment, the lines of Hyperspace vanished and Zirex found himself looking into a war zone. "Kark!" He shouted angrily as he saw three Imperial Star Destroyers directly in front of him firing on a badly damaged ship that he could only imagined belonged either to Pirate forces or possibly the Rebellion. The ship looked like it was about to blow itself up so he began plotting a course around it when he suddenly felt a fist slam into the back of his head. His head slammed against the console and he grunted as he heard the Imperial speak rapidly.

"Attention any Imperial vessel! This is Ensign Teril of the Imperial freighter Virex!" He spoke in a tone filled with panic. "I'm the last surviving member of the crew! We've been boar-!" Zirex grabbed the Imperial's head and slammed it repeatedly against the console to the side of him until he stopped moving.

Zirex cursed to himself for a moment as he tried to adjust his voice.

"Uh...Never mind." He tried to sound like Teril but he couldn't quite match the high pitched tone of the Imperial that was most likely dead. "I repeat. There is nothing wrong with this vessel."

He knew it wouldn't fool them for long so he pointed the bow of the ship down towards the planet and accelerated to full speed while throwing what auxiliary power he had to the shields and engines.

He looked at the Imperial corpse and muttered under his breath. "You're really making my life difficult, you know that?" He growled.

“Thranta Squadron check in.”

The order came across the squadrons comms as the last Y-Wing in the squadron cleared the cavernous launch bay of the Venator. “Thranta 2 here.” Kytra said before mentally checking off the rest of the squadron as they each responded. There were eight Y-Wings in all in Thranta squadron, and together they served as the primary ground attack force in this mission.

“Attack formation. Stay close to your squadmates and get to your objectives as quickly as possible.”

Kytra followed the squadron leaders orders immediately, forming up behind and on the right of the Y-Wing flown by Thranta Leader. The other six members of the squadron also paired off, though the squadron maintained close formation as they swooped down into the atmosphere. Kytra couldn’t help but admire the slight shimmer of her deflector shields as they passed through the clouds, though she still kept an eye on her scopes for any inconveniently positioned TIE patrols. The moment they broke the clouds another order came through the comms from Thranta leader. “Switch deflectors to double front. Break formation and take out those objectives.”

Kytra flicked the appropriate switch and watched the shield display as power was shunted into the ships fore shields - standard practice when approaching an enemy position, it would keep the fighters safe from oncoming fire and let them fly fairly straight while they lined up their targets. Once battle was joined it was often left up to the individual pilots to readjust their shields on the fly, with many of those that survived the longest having done so because they were skilled at anticipating enemy attacks and ensuring their shields were properly focused to block them.

As they neared the dark city, several anti-air emplacements opened up, lacing the sky with laser fire, slightly more than expected, but not nearly enough to give the several rebel squadrons pause. Kytra had to jink a few times to avoid any hits on her shields, but otherwise was free to focus on swooping in low over the city. Above them, a squadron of X-Wings and a mixed squadron were engaging the the TIE squadrons unlucky enough to have already been on patrol, while the second Y-Wing squadron flew against the Imperial frigates in support of the Endeavour. The rebels may be few, but they hit hard and fast. Already the LAAT gunships would be following with their cargo of freedom fighters.

Kytra’s focus was straight ahead however. Before her was a shield generator for the city, powered down with the blackout. She pressed a switch to activate her targeting computer, the screen extending forward and dropping into place over her right eye. The target lit up in the green display of the targeting computer, the point her torpedoes were to strike highlighted on the righthand side of the structure. Most of the targets would only require a single pair of torpedoes from one pilot, but this one was large enough to be hit by both her and Thranta leader simultaneously.

“Target locked.” She said over comms when the computer indicated it had a firing solution. “Wait for it…” The response came from Thranta leader. “Wait for it… Fire.” He said as they got close. A simple button press was all it took, the ship shuddering slightly as the two glowing warheads were propelled out of the twin tubes towards their target. They pulled up just as the warheads struck, great fireballs blossoming from the generator.

That was when everything started to go wrong. The comms were suddenly flooded with signals from the ship, talking about Star Destroyers arriving, then an order not to retreat, then abandoning ship, and finally the terror of sudden static. Fear gripped Kytra for a moment, but it was quickly dispelled as she saw a squadron of TIEs appear from above and blast Thranta 7 and 8. Her feelings were put aside and her mind sharpened with focus and a desire for revenge.

She heard Thranta five asking for more orders over the comms, and Thranta leader begin issuing them, when suddenly the city came back to life. Light found them quickly, and quickly following that the turbolaser towers that were their very next target began to fire. It was all too sudden, and before he could react, Thranta leader's Y-Wing erupted into flames and spun down into the city below.

The plan was obviously a failure. This had to be an ambush. All she could do was survive. She targeted the tower that had just blasted Thranta leader and fired torpedoes the moment the target was locked. The big blocky structure exploded in a satisfying orange fireball, and Kytra flew right through, balancing her shields as she did.

She almost jumped when she heard an unfamiliar voice on the comms, someone from Jedi Squad. They needed support urgently. Kytra had already decided she wouldn’t be using any more of her precious torpedoes, what good was it to blow up a few more towers when the planet was lost to them anyway. No. Instead she momentarily cut the engines and kicked in her repulsors to make a sharp turn mid air before firing the main engine again. The whole ship shook as she made the harsh manoeuvre, though when she checked she noted that the ion cannons were still functional. That was fortunate.

She quickly located the exact source of the call for help on the screens, deactivating the targeting computer as she began to swoop low for a run, jinking as she went to avoid fire. As the LAAT wreck came into view, she hoped that her fellow rebels had gotten off the street - her Laser cannons were not discriminate weapons. “Jedi Squad, this is Thranta two. Airstrike inbound. Repeat, I am about to clear the street, get into the buildings.” As soon as her scopes showed storm troopers, she pulled the trigger, raking the already cratered street with laser cannon fire, explosions blossoming up in front of her as the Imperial infantry was wiped away. As she passed over the LAAT wreck, she dipped her wing slightly in salute to the fallen and then pulled up, searching for another target.

The attack came fast, it seemed to happen in seconds Jetri opening up on a landing LAAT drop ship with his E-web, the turrets blaster bolts lighting up the night and downing a few rebels "Come get some." Jetri shouted over the COMM's as he downed a LAAT. Cad and company were firing down range as well, not that his E-11 was doing much at this range but he managed to hit a few with short controlled bursts, the only one who wasn't firing was one of the riflemen who seemed frozen stiff. Cad felt bad that he could not recall his name and felt even worse when a slug shot hit the trooper and he fell a whole in his armor the round going through his gut and back out the other side. "Medic!!!" Cad shouted but Luc didn't seem to hear him. "Luc, get your ass on the trooper right now!" He shouted one more time and that seemed to shake Luc who automatically proceeded to the trooper and began to administer treatment. "Ric start firing that Minimag on those rebels now." The heavy weapons trooper grabbed his launcher but didn't have time to fire. A rebel Y-wing hit the group hard laser cannons sent them scattering, the blast knocking Cad off his feet and into a wall making the whole world turn black.

"So Cad when are you shipping back out?" His father asked, Cad looked at the holo projection of his father he was thinking of something to say to his old man that would make him proud like "Maybe I'm going to transfer to a naval position." "Or I'm thinking about becoming one of those Illusive shadow troopers you hear about." But instead he told him the truth. "I'm being shipped to a planet called Belona, to lead a squad. It's a backwater planet and nothings going to happen to me dad." He said his father sighed in relief and asked the question Cad was dreading. "Why?" Once again Cad told his old man the truth "The Corps think those of us who survived our unit being wiped out need a break from the front lines."
"Stay safe son." His father said a little bit of concern leaking into his voice. "I will dad." He said and ended the transmission.

Cad awoke to Luc standing over him his helmet was gone and he was saying something but Cad didn't understand or comprehend it until finally Luc shook him and shouted "Sir, everyone's dead!." That brought Cad back to the present he stood and grabbed his rifle. "I'm going to get command on the horn, find your helmet." He said crouching down to avoid a streak of blaster bolts that impacted just above his head. "Command this is TY-375, we need air support and immediate reinforcements at our position or we won't be holding out for very long." He shouted into his wrist COMM, Luc found his helmet and began firing back at the rebels, Cad finished what he was doing and grabbed one of his troopers rifles and returned fire as well, he hoped help would come, he hoped he wouldn't die here.

"Freighter Virex. Repeat previous transmission or you will be fired upon." A voice erupted from one of the consoles and Zirex thought for a moment. "Uh...Repeat your transmission or you will be fired on." He countered as he prepared to gun it towards the planet while making static noises.

"What?" The voice on the comn asked with more than a hint of confusion before resuming it's normal tone. "Power down or you will be fired on!" The voice on the comn ordered. Zirex muttered under his breath as he realized that he had been found out. If he was going to go he was going to go out the same way the rest of the Blood Stars had, with a blaster in his hands and destroyed Imperial property in his wake.

"Go Kark yourself Imperial!" He shouted as he gunned the engine just as turbolaser blasts began to hit the rear deflectors. They held against the first two blasts but the third one impacted with the sublight engines directly, causing power surges throughout the ship. He could feel the ship beginning to shudder and shake violently as it hit the atmosphere. He could see rebel fighters engaged in dogfights with TIE fighters. He checked the status of the escape pods and saw that only one was still active but it had been damaged by the power surges.

"Well, might as well make the best of a bad situation." The Weequay said with a grin as he did his best to point the damaged ship towards an Imperial Turbolaser tower and headed back towards the escape pod. There was no guarantee that the ship would hit the tower directly once he left but he felt he had a good chance of having the ship hit the tower.

He looked down at the Imperial crew members he had killed and mockingly saluted them. "Long live the Empire." He said sarcastically as he pulled open the open the hatch and pulled it shut behind him. After a moment, the Escape pod shot away from the ship as it tumbled through the air.

Zirex cursed repeatedly in Mandalorian as he tried to grab onto something to hold and managed to after a moment he manged to. He smiled as he heard the sound of a loud explosion outside the pod but the smile faded when he felt the shock-wave hit the pod.

"Kark!" He shouted as the Pod began tumbling even more then it had before as it headed towards the ground.

Standing smugly over the holoprojector she observed the battle raging on and above the planet "stupid rebel scum" she said smugly almost giddy with joy. Though her joy was short lived when those rebel scum actually managed to kill some imperial troops and damaged part of her city. "Order are men to surround all rebel craft outside the mining zone, try and take them alive but use deadly if needed and focus all AA on the enemy bombers" she barked "Also form defensive positions around the residential sector stop all people trying to leave and keep them in there homes don't let the fighting spread there at any cost". "Yes ma'am" was the resounding reply from the room.

She was almost overwhelmed with excitement when the star destroyers arrived in orbit and destroyed the rebel ship "no chance of running now rebel scum" she uttered before she barked another order at her command staff "track all escape pods that just launched from the rebel flag ship and send a squad after each one with stun grenades to intercept them". "At once Major" was the response. One of her officers shouted over to her "Major we have rioters in the residential area and several squads near the mines need reinforcements". It was a troubling situation imperial citizens rioting and rebels trying to break though there lines and escape. "Pull a few squads away from protecting are base and reinforce the men at the mines" she ordered even though she new her job was to deal with the disturbances outside the mining area. She just couldn't let good imperials die needlessly. "Now as for the rioters pull a few men from the line defending the residential area and send them in full riot gear and set blaster to stun and arrest the leaders of this mob" Zorra commanded.

Zorra sat down awaiting for the enemy counter attack. Until then there was nothing she could do but wait and see her orders carried out. Using this time to think she wondered who was in charge of the imperial forces at the mine. They were a lot tougher than her soldiers, sighing she thought about what she wouldn't give to get some storm troopers instead of her Imperial Army troopers. Whoever was in charge of them they had to be very clever to organise an ambush on this scale. They where likely to get a promotion for this and hopefully if she played her cards right she could get one as well and maybe get of this backwater planet.