Sorry computer messed up on me.

"Belona just turned into a frakkin' battleground..." was all Anya could think to say, as if to point out to herself that, yes, this just got real! Now she felt guilty for slacking off! The comm channels started being flooded with Imperial commands and requests for reinforcements, and the odd insubordinate yelling for direction as to what exactly was going on. From the sky, it was clear to see what the TIEs objective was.

"Squadron, form echelon. We're going to make an aerial sweep and hunt down the enemy fighters - leave the ground issues to the Stormtroopers, they are more than capable..." The flight leader spoke clearly over the net, the renewed zeal and readiness for battle filling his voice. By his command, the squadron made a staggered line as they entered combat airspace. A minute ago they were returning here to call their patrolling a day. And now, they were likely not to land ever again. Among the enemy air units were Y-Wings, tearing up Imperial positions with their considerable firepower. If those cannons managed to make contact with a TIE, the fragile fighter would be a fireball in no time at all. "Focus on the fighters - we'll hit the bombers when air superiority has been successfully regained. Break and engage at will!"

Anya raised an eyebrow inside her helmet at this order. It didn't take a keen eye to see that the defences were being torn apart, regardless of the casualties the enemy suffered. If those Y-Wings didn't go down, things were going to be very nasty for the ground units. One static-filled call for air support came through after a Y-Wing strafed a street, and the blasterfire down there was insane. If there was an Imperial unit in need of saving, that was them... Locking onto the comm source might have worked too, but Anya was already setting up her run.

"BS-214, the troopers can handle anything these scum throw at them. Get back on interception, Ensign Shade. Now."

Anya's TIE was just standard. No heavy cannons, bombs or anything - but she was a damned good shot behind those controls. One clean strafe might be enough cover for Imperial forces to displace. Or, if they felt like it they could hunker down, fight like mad and die for the Empire. Everyone here was expendable after all... She cut communications to and from the squadron and concentrated on her run, sighting up where the rebels had gathered in small pockets... "TY-375, acknowledged. Keep your heads down. Decided to stick my neck out for ya' - commencing strafing run now."

Large bolts of green rained down across the street, slamming into the surface in the rebel ranks in the hopes to suppress them at the very least. Anya would have to be pretty dead-on to cause any significant damage, and with the amount of fire being thrown around there wasn't a lot of time to concentrate. Not to mention, an enemy air unit could've spent that whole strafe lining up a perfect shot! After the run was finished and Anya had no space left, she jolted the steering controls back towards her, making the unremarkable TIE Fighter fly up and away from a straight flight path that left it exposed.

"214, focus!" The flight lead barked as soon as the communications came online again. Either he was very angry, or he meant that Anya was being tailed now. Or, perhaps it was both.

Everything seemed to be going fine, it all seemed as if nothing could go wrong. Aralia knew it was impossible though, nothing ever went completely according to plan. That was when everything went upside down explosions in the air the loud sounds of laser cannons blasting through the air around them. The screaming over the communications. “Damn.” She looked around at the squad and then reached up grabbing a handle holding herself steady , the rest of the squad following suit. The LAAT suddenly shuddered and the pilot started screaming “EVERYONE BRACE FOR IMPACT WE’RE GOING” and then everything turned into a thundering roar all noise suddenly ceasing except the sound of hot metal twisting and snapping under the impact of the LAAT crashing into something. Suddenly a pole punched a hole through the side of the LAAT and straight through the soldier next to her. He didn’t make a sound as his eyes glazed over and he went completely still in his seat.

As the rumbling stopped and everything was still Aralia just stared at the ceiling for what seemed like hours waiting to make sure it was truly all over. A deep breath made her chest rise and finally she undid the straps and stood the rest of the soldiers following suit. One by one the soldiers and Aralia opened their eyes and they found themselves in the middle of a building the ship having come to a stop in a group of office cubicles. A few dead lay in the path of where the LAAT had crashed through the building though none of the body parts were recognizable. Aralia’s first action was to bring up the communicator and spoke into it calmly as possible “This is Bantha squad we have crash landed inside of a building, I’m not sure where. Requesting FRAC orders.” She looked around at the other soldiers all of them sweating and shaking with adrenaline that was still coursing through their veins.

A noise sounded behind them and a elevator door opened up a Imperial officer in his black uniform followed by a small squad of storm troopers stepped out. The first one to go down was the officer blood gurgling out of his mouth as a slug from Aralia’s blaster buster caught him in the throat. This was followed by a storm of blaster fire that tore through the storm troopers that had followed the high heat energy blasts pulverizing body parts and sending burnt bits of armor flesh and bone scatter about. They moved over to inspect the imperials to make sure they were all dead. One storm trooper his leg burnt to the bone was trying to crawl back into the elevator, but Aralia caught him sliding her vibro dagger into his armpit and heart hearing his gasp and the death rattle as his lungs and heart gave out. A sound erupted from the nearby Officer’s belt ‘Did you get them? We heard the blaster fire, sir? Sir? We’re coming up!’ Aralia stared at the dead body for a while “Druk… Everyone find cover.” As she moved behind a fallen beam she grabbed the comm. Once more “Anyone come in.. We are about to be under heavy fire. If you are able to reinforce track the LAAT’s guidance system…”

"Just do me a favour, keep her safe.""I will, I promise."

Kieran shook his head but couldn't get rid of the groggy feeling, it was dark. A red light illuminated the cabin and cracks in the door shown buildings beyond, he could see the occasional flick off flame past the cracks, he felt pressure on his waist and his back and he realized that he was hanging from the ceiling near the left hand door, the LAAT was on its side. He checked his arms, it pained him however nothing felt broken. He raised his hand to his belt and clicked the release dropping him down onto the door, where he then slid to the lowest part of the LAAT. As he hit the door with a thud he groaned. He would have to perform a full check later, he donned his helmet and then looked around at his fellow squad members. Pressing his hands against their throats he let out a sigh, none of them were left alive. There was no time to mourn, he could only believe that this shit storm was going on. He stood up, feeling himself wobble on his feet and raised his hand to his head and felt warm liquid Sithspit. That was going to be a problem, he likely had a concussion.

He put down his rifle and began taking grenades from the body of those around him, they had no need for them anymore. He stocked up on as many as he could before he moved onto ammo and weapons, slinging a Z-6 Rotary cannon over his back as well as a missile launcher. They'd weigh him down however there was no telling when the next time he'd be able to restock his supplies. Readying is rifle he turned himself to the next problem, how to get out of the ship. When it was sitting on its side the only way out was up, he jumped up grabbing the hand rail pulling himself up and straddled it. Groaning as he did so as his muscles screamed in protest. Half way, he looked at the door which was slightly open. He took the but of his rifle and hit the door, it moved slighty. Another hit... and it opened. Today was his lucky day. Jumping again he pulled himself on top of the craft and was hit by another wave of grief. By the looks of it they had carved their way into a residential building, and through the hole he could see the conflict raging on as various transports and fighters screamed through the sky, what surprised him more was an Imperial Transport crashing down into a turbolaser tower. He braced himself as the shockwave came towards him, however having nothing to hold onto he was thrown against a wall where he then slid down to the bottom.

He groaned in agony as the weapons on his back crushed into him and he coughed as the wind was knocked out of him. Standing up he limped to the hole in the wall where the LAAT had crashed through and he lay down observing the situation, a squad of Imperial forces were moving towards him. Not storm troopers, obviously they didn't expect survivors. Though they were going in the main door so that gave him time to get away, he ran and jumped out the hole onto a nearby walkway, hitting the opposite wall as he failed to stop. That's when blaster bolts began taking chunks out of the wall, he ducked down, grabbed a thermal detonator and threw it through the hole. He didn't even bother to watch the explosion and instead just made his way to the foot of the alley, covering his head as shrapnel and debris rained down upon him. He cocked his rifle scanning the end of the alleyways as he raised his right hand and turned on his radio, though he limited its range. One problem at a time. Aralia apparently was the closest one in trouble.

He ran, staying low as he did so. No wonder they had gotten close to him so quickly, he wasn't the only LAAT to go down here. Once in the main street he took a dive into cover of a nearby car, leaning over the roof he looked for signs of flames, ducking as a TIE fighter came streaming down in shreds. He didn't bother to check on the status of the pilot and instead darted across the street when he saw the reflected white of the Storm troopers. Cocking his rifle he let off a shot at the lead trooper as he went down, cursing as they spotted him quickly than he could have hoped moving behind a nearby wall. Shots pelted the corner shattering the material it was constructed with, he put his hand onto another grenade. However he decided against it. Instead he moved back and dove through another door. He couldn't afford to get into a prolonged engagement. Darting through the building he could only hope they didn't look through any of the windows, straight through he could see the LAAT, however that wasn't the biggest problem. Hiding behind a hovercar he grabbed the rocket launcher of his back and took aim at a AT-ST walking down the street. Firing as it erupted into flames suddenly fire was concentrated on him and he could hear them barking orders.

He ducked as he heard the glass shatter and the car buckled under the onslaught of fire and he immediately regretted his decision to fire the rocket. He raised his gun over the top of the car, not even looking and firing sporadically towards the enemy position, however that was when a blaster bolt hit the rear of the car and he turned firing and hitting the shoulder of a flanking trooper. Though by a freak accident he appeared to be in luck, an escape pod came down and slid down the street throwing everyone into cover and he took that opportunity to run into the opposing building. Time to break radio silence as he ran up the stairs. "Aralia, it's Kieran. I'm coming up the stairs to the north of the building." He ducked at the top of the steps. "What's going on up there?"

The hatch of the escape pod hissed open as Zirex finally managed to get the thing open. It had taken a bit of damage when it had hit the ground and some of the systems had gone offline for a short time until he had managed to reconnect a few wires and get the door open at least. He took a quick look around and smiled as he made sure his rifle was strapped to his back and his heavy blasters were in his hands. This place was a war-zone. He liked war-zones. After his time in the Blood Stars, this place almost felt like home already.

It looked like he had landed in the middle of a street of all places. "Kark." He muttered in disappointment. "I was hoping to at least take out a few stormtroopers or maybe an AT-ST on the way down." He muttered.

Zirex grinned as he took a look around and zeroed in on a small group of stormtroopers that were firing at something or someone. He smiled and raised his voice as he waved. "Hey!" He shouted. "Any of you know where I can grab a drink?" He said sarcastically as he opened up with a barrage of blaster fire on them. He continued firing his blaster pistols at them until he felt the business end of a blaster pistol pressed against the side of his head.

"Any last words?" The trooper asked in a smug voice.

"Yeah. You should have shot first." He muttered as he snapped his leg back and managed to knock the trooper off balance. He quickly whipped around and shot him point blank in the chest with both blasters. Zirex shook his head. "Getting sloppy." He muttered to himself as he turned back to where he had been firing and resumed firing at the troopers.

After the bombing run the street went quiet "Thank you BS-214, I owe you many many drinks." He said into his wrist comm after he said that he looked around, the only person who was intact was the kid who got shot through, the others were gone with the exception of Jetri there were still pieces of him lying around. Cad sighed and pulled the kids helmet off, he was young as young as you could be to get into the Corp he probably hadn't even started shaving yet. "What a waste." He said putting the helmet facing the last known rebel position and turning on the kids helmet cam feed to his wrist COMM giving him a live feed of the street. "It seems almost peaceful sir." Luc said Cad chuckled "The calm before the storm Luc, I don't doubt that a whole charge of rebels is gonna be coming for us soon." He sighed and asked the question that he asked everyone whose going to die "You got dreams kid?" Luc removed his helmet, and Cad was reminded of how young all of them are "Yes sir i have a dream." Luc said

"On Courscant i found a pretty little Twi'lek, she was stripper who if you paid the boss man enough she would join you in your room, so i did i figured hey one last lay before i go right?" Cad interrupted the talk "How can you tell the difference all fucking blue skins look the same." The private sighed and explained "Not to me this one was prettier than all of them by far and had a nice pair on her the size of a star destroyer." They both laughed a loud and Luc continued "You shouldn't be so narrow when it comes to aliens sir, one day our racism is going to be our down fall." Cad thought about that for a second but Luc went on with the story "But anyways this Twi'lek comes back to my room and she started crying, instead of having my way with her i asked what was wrong. She said she wanted to get away from this life so with my fathers credits i bought her freedom and married her that day." He said pulling a ring on chain out of his armor "But then i had to go shortly after our wedding and i was put on this fucking backwater and told hey your going to be safe. Well FUCK you command!!!" The trooper shouted like they would hear him. "What about you sir what are your dreams?"

Cad chuckled "Promise not to laugh?" "Promise, sir." Cad told him "I wanted to be a baker, I wanted to cook things but my father never would of gone for it, my father even hated me joining the Corp he wanted me to join the navy like him." He sighed and Luc made a quip "Well sir you are cooking." "Hows that private?" Luc raised his blaster "You cook em with your blaster sir." They both had a laugh and sat there in silence for a long time. That moment of doubt, was creeping into both of them that thought of "What the fuck are we doing here, what the fuck are they doing here, and are we going to survive?" Made this awkward silence painful. "Sir?" Luc asked "What is it private?"

"Are we going to survive sir?" Cad thought on it for a little while and finally had an answer "I don't know Luc, I don't know"

The overcast made it hard to see, and it didn't help that all of the lights were out. Felix was standing on the sidewalk, looking up into the sky. The faint sound of engines grew louder and louder. He tightened the straps on his pack and pulled his rifle from over his shoulder. He ducked for cover as an explosion went off not far from him. Y-Wings were speeding by, dropping their payloads all over the area.

It looked like this was going to be a long fight as he saw the LAATs descending from the upper atmosphere. But that's when the lights turned on and a relentless barrage of blaster fire was sent skyward. Streaks of red lasers popping out from nearly every street, all aimed at the downpour of rebels. Perhaps this fight would be shorter than he thought. He ducked again as a Y-Wing crashed twenty yards from him into the street. The fireball that erupted as it made contact with the ground made Felix avert his eyes. It was dark out, and bright flashes could be blinding at night.

From out of the corner of his eyes he saw three storm troopers looking dazed and confused. He called out to them. "You three, where is your commanding officer?"

"Dead sir. Our squad was strafed in the street. We're all that's left." Felix had been listening on a earpiece comm device they'd given him. Gunships crashing into buildings, strafing runs killing whole squads, it was a nightmare.

The four of them watched as an LAAT took a hit in its wing, ripping it in half. The massive ship listed heavily to the one side as it continued on its way. A smoke trail hung onto it like an unwanted hitchhiker. The ship couldn't stay up without both wings and it slammed into the street several blocks away, throwing up a large dust cloud. Felix couldn't believe his luck.

"You three are now with me. We're going to search that downed gunship for survivors, capturing any we find." The three storm troopers looked at each other, trying to decide what to do. "You can either fight with me or cower here. The choice is yours." The troopers came over to Felix reluctantly. He put one on point, one to guard the rear, and the third to guard the left as he took the right. In this formation the four began down the street.

They passed the raging fire that surrounded the crashed Y-Wing. The pilots body was charred and leaning over in its seat. The ion gun was twisted out of shape and the entire front of the ship was crushed. Felix's gaze was fixed on the glowing blaze when they heard the sound of shattering glass. They looked up just as a rebel trooper broke a window and began firing into the street. The trooper on Felix's right side took two bolts in his chest and fell with a thud. The other two began returning fire, standing calm in the face of a firefight. It was the point man whose shot killed the rebel. Felix was surprised by the bravery of the two troopers, they didn't seem like experienced fighters at all.

As they continued they only met one other rebel soldier. He was standing on top of a roof, walking towards the area of the LAAT crash. Felix spotted him and crouched with one knee on the ground. He aimed his rifle, emptied his lungs, and squeezed the trigger. The shot hit the back of the rebels head, causing it to snap forward. The rebels body tipped over the edge of the roof and fell head first onto the pavement. One of the two troopers made a joke along the lines of "I'd call that an improvement on his looks," causing the other one to laugh. Felix just stood and kept walking.

There was a T-junction up ahead where another street ran perpendicular into the one they were on. The point man stopped just at the corner, peeking out to see what was on the other street. Felix could hear a large amount of blaster fire coming from that direction. When the point man signaled it was clear to cross Felix followed closely behind him. Looking down the other street he saw the cause of the commotion. There was a barricade set up with an E-Web blaster just behind it. The blaster was firing unrelentingly at a group of unsuspecting rebels, ripping through them with ease. Felix wasn't sure whether to be proud and amazed at the Imperial genius behind this entire ambush, or to feel sorry for the poor rebels caught in it.

The LAAT lay before them, smoke and fire and pieces of debris surrounding it. Felix turned to the two troopers, "set your blasters to stun. If we find any survivors, I want them alive." He wasn't even sure he'd find any alive, that ship had hit the ground pretty hard. They approached it cautiously with blasters pointed at the downed ship. When they finally reached it, Felix moved over to the handle on the outside of the ship and grabbed onto it. He held his rifle in the other hand and turned to the troopers. "Five.... Four..... Three.... Two..... One....." He slung the the door open with one swift motion, it was surprisingly easy to do. To his surprise, there were only a few rebels inside the ship, three to be precise. Perhaps the rest had managed to get out before the ship was hit.

The two on either side appeared to be dead without a doubt. But the one in the middle was definitely alive. He grabbed his blaster and yelled, "you won't take me you........" The sound of stun shots being fired brought silence to the man. His body went limp and the blaster was dropped beside him.

Felix shook his head and entered the wreck. He grabbed the cuffs from his belt and put them onto the rebels hands. Once they were secure he grabbed the unconscious body and hoisted it over his shoulder. When he was clear of this ship, he turned to the troopers beside him. "Let's get out of here quickly. There's bound to be more rebel scum in this area and I don't plan on being shot this close to success." Nodding in agreement the two troopers left down the way they'd come, Felix followed with his prisoner.

Eric was in the second Maw team that was supposed to land nearby the mines, handle the fuss of freeing up the slaves and avoiding expected death. The first LAAT of the Maw team made it just barely outside the city, unharmed by the shitstorm in the sky. The lasers that went up and blasted most of the rebels' LAAT's and fighters were shut off for a mere moments before it came back blasting the skies of Belona. Eric's second Maw team wasn't as lucky though, it was blasted into pieces by one of the turbolaser turrets. The LAAT came crushing down on trees just close to the city, most of the rebel fighters were brutally injured, unable to move. Eric was shot away in the blast and fell on a car just a couple steps away from his team. He landed on his back, breaking his rifle and injuring his neck badly. He was groggy and barely could latch a grip onto consciousness, he fainted for a few moments before he was awaken by the thundering explosions of the rebel Y-Wings and Imperial TIE's, the sky was a painting for smoke and fire.

Eric managed to get up, he tried to slowly move his neck but screamed when he made a half turn, he could only face forward. He also felt a wet wound in his back, the rifle had broken into pieces of shrapnel and one of them pierced his lats. He took off what was left of his rifle and threw it away, angry and wounded. He walked over to his team's LAAT and found a couple dead, a couple dying, and one resting against what used to be a wing.
"Shitty LAAT's, this is embarrassing." Eric said, he joked but had a grim and rigid tone.
"Danny And Maven are dead, the rest are barely hanging unto life, I'm good enough to carry a rifle and cover them till a support unit or something arrives," said the young rebel resting against the wing, his voice breaking. Afraid.
"Look around you kid, it is fucked up, there is no support unit. Gimme that rifle, and take my pistol. Guard the boys, and try the commlink." Eric said.
"No it's okay, I will look around for something, here take it." The young rebel handed his rifle to Eric, and got up to check on the other dying rebels.

Just as Eric was about to turn his body around and walk into the nearby building, he was struck hard by the butt of a gun, his neck burned like the skies of Belona. He screamed loud, as his neck muscle clenched him down, nerve-endings torturing him. He looked up as he tried to stand, there was a storm trooper standing before him, broken armor and blood gushing out of the holes. The trooper slowly aimed at Eric's head, muttering, "You rebel scum."
Eric made a quick grab for the gun, the storm trooper strayed his aim, shooting his own foot. Eric got up, neck hurting him badly, and lunged at the trooper with full momentum- and prejudice. Eric repeatedly battered the trooper's helmet until it broke in and bathed in scarlet blood. Eric stood back, holding his neck, bracing it with one hand. He took out the rifle, trooper still breathing, and shot his chest. He looked back, he apparently missed the sound of his team getting shot when he was knocked down, and screaming for the pain in his neck. They were dead, all of them.

"You Imperial scum." He uttered. An escape pod came crashing down from the sky, landed a couple blocks away.

Nothing happened right away apparently they were on the 122nd floor. Aralia watched the numbers slowly change as the second elevator was slowly coming up. Aralia held a pistol in each hand aiming and staring at the elevator doors when she heard a voice come over the communicator. “Kieran? We have imperials incoming… We’re on the one hundred twenty second floor! We’ve lost the pilot and one soldier. I’m not sure the of the imperial forces size here, or exactly WHERE I am. My position systems are down.” She slowly lowered behind a metal table she had flipped on it’s side. That was when the ding and the woosh was heard. Everyone stayed crouched down as the sound of booted storm trooper feet came into the room as well as a few leather booted feet.

She stayed down as did the rest of the squad waiting for her signal. That was when another elevator door wooshed and binged and more booted feet entered. Aralia closed her eyes tightly and cursed under her breath “Damn…” She looked at the communicator and held it up to her ear pressing a button so it didn’t sound loudly across the room but rather only spoke through receiver she had on her neck. “Sir… I’m counting about twenty two different troops in here with us… This is going to be tough.. I’m not even sure this is all of them.. I need a extraction plan now…”

Kieran ran off the level and to the turbolift. Naturally if more had just went up more would enter the building and use the elevator to go up. Because using stairs apparently was too much for them, though 122 floors did sound like a bit much. When he got into the turbolift he hit the button for the correct floor, and held it there to prevent it from going down. Naturally the ride wasn't too long and the door dinged open with no Imperials Turning to face him, as how would Rebels get behind them anyway? He managed to let off several quick shots gunning down the Imperials in the back before he walked out of the turbolift carriage and tossed a thermal detonator back into the carriage and diving into cover. Once that was done he brushed himself clean and moved over to the LAAT, taking plan from the bodies on the floor.

He ignored Aralia at first. "The rest of you, strip down. Throw down your guns and change into civvie clothes, hide yourself and burn your clothes and some of these bodies. If they find you be in panic, in shock. Go to ground and wait for the signal. Enter into everyday lives." He turned to Aralia. "You, you're coming with me. You ready?"

Jax didn't bother looking into the street to see the carnage. He heard the LAAT explode from the Tie's cannon fire, and he knew there wasn't anyone that could have made it out alive. The four men exchanged horrified and confused looks for several long moments.

His comm-link crackled to life as Bantha's squad leader reported in. Still no word from Maw, who were supposed to have deployed at the mines with Jax's team, but at least someone was still alive on this god-forsaken planet. "This is Jedi. The LAAT is destroyed, only four of us are left. We cannot hold the objective and are breaking contact." Jax answered before turning to the others.

"We're pulling out. You two-" He nodded to the two covering the opposite side of the building facing away from the LAAT wreckage "-we clear to move?"
"This street seems clear." The rebel answered. Jax nodded. "Alright, you move, we'll cover." He positioned himself on the corner, dropping to a low crouch. One of the rebels stood over top of him, and the others got ready to move.

"Bounding." The rebel said, and leapt out into the street. Jax and the other rebel leaned out from cover, quickly scanning the buildings with their weapons raised. After a few moments, they heard the runner shout "Set!" and the next man prepared to move. The team crossed the open street one by one without incident, likely because the Imperials were too busy recovering from the rebel CAS and regrouping. The team cautiously moved through alleyways and across open streets for a few blocks before stopping at a nondescript house sitting on an empty, small street.

"Sorry about this." Jax muttered mostly to himself after he ordered his men to stack up on the entrance. He rapped his knuckles on the door, and waited. A minute passed before door slid open, and the rebels burst inside, shoving a startled man out of the way. Jax swept a his rifle across the room, making sure it was clear.

"Anyone else inside this home?" He asked the man as the rest of the team secured the room. The man hesitantly nodded, "M-my wife..." he answered shakily. Jax nodded. "Alright. You're going to be fine," He turned to his comrades, "Secure the rest of the house, be careful you don't shoot his wife, and make sure they can't contact anyone." He took out his comm-link.

"This is Jedi. We're inside a civilian home. Holding here for now." He reported before collapsing into a nearby chair. He hadn't been on the planet for long, and already was feeling exhausted and beat to hell.

Eric looked through the distant streets, it was chaotic, heavy exchange of fire between the rebels and the Imperial Storm troopers. He deduced the rebels have it under control, and that he shouldn't compromise his objective. Also the person coming out of the pod seems to be on the rebels side.

Eric tried his barely working commlink, "This is Eric Valhfiem from second unit Maw, my unit is lost, we lost them all. Please pick up first unit Maw, verify your landing. Over."
His neck was burning, he walked over the the remains of the LAAT, his fellow unit members bleeding, no sign of life. Eric managed to break a medical aid compartment and took a multi-purpose foam supporter that he put around his neck to brace it. He stared at the bodies, felt he was somehow- or at least a little- responsible for their meaningless deaths.

"This is Baronita Adiska, I am the sole survivor of first unit Maw. One seems to be missing, the rest are dead. We landed without problems, but once the LAAT doors were open, Storm troopers were waiting for us. I am 245 steps away from the mine entrance, over." A voice of a young woman interrupted the busy ambience sound of gunfire and explosions on the commlink.

"Adiska? By the force! I am glad to hear you live! This is Eric. Are you alright?" Eric asked, with a soft worried tone.
"I am sorry, I am not sure I am familiar. Though you are on second unit Maw?" Adiska asked.
"It is me Eric! We did that thing in the hanger once, when we were supposed to attend weapon maintenance briefing."
A pause followed, gunfire resumed.
"You Bastard! Well, will talk about that later, we need to get into the mine. There is just the two of us. Any ideas?"
"We should look for the missing individual from your unit, and I will try to ask for help on my commlink, send me your coordinates. Expect a handsome bald rebel." He chuckled.

Zirex muttered Mandalorian curses and he ran up the stairs of a building that he had been backed into. He could hear the sound of Stormtroopers running up the stairs behind him. "Can't you all take a joke?!" He shouted in exasperation as he grabbed both blasters and turned around and began spraying blaster fire. "When I said the Empire could kark itself I was talking about Palpatine! Not you fine gentlemen!"

He could hear shouting behind him as the Stormtroopers began to fire at him and he was forced to take cover around a corner. He could hear certain words being shouted above the sounds of the blaster fire and one of those words was "Grenade"

Oh kark me. he thought as he whipped around the corner and unleashed a barrage of blaster fire that he hoped would either force them to fall back a bit or possibly hit the grenade that may have already been thrown.

He got his answer a moment later as a loud booming sound was heard and shrapnel seemed to fill the area and the screams of the Stormtroopers filled the air. Zirex took the opportunity to continue running up the stairs. There was no telling if the stormtroopers were down for good.

Kytra had just pulled out of her run when her scopes picked up a TIE fighter in close proximity. She craned her neck to get a visual, praying it wasn't on her tail.

What she saw was, perhaps, worse. The fighter was about to strafe the very same street she had just attacked! Evidently there was a call for air support on both sides, though it did strike her as odd that the TIE had broken formation in order to make the strike. The thought was quickly pushed aside however, as she began to set up her approach. "Gizka, stabilise the repulsors" She said to her astromech as she swung the hefty Y-Wing around in a wide turn that would leave it pointing roughly at where she expected the TIE to end its run. A repulsor assisted turn might've given her a shot on the enemy before it had a chance to really damage the alliance position, but such a quick shot would also be without target lock, relying entirely on Kytra's aim. She was not confident enough with that to risk such a stressful manoeuvre on it, especially so soon after pushing her craft in the same way.

Instead, when Kytra came out of the turn, the TIE had just finished its run and while it pulled up her targeting computer began to work its way past the electronic jamming all fighters employed as a countermeasure against a solid lock. She used the moment to check the readout on her Ion cannons. Both indicated enough alignment to fire, and the turret was already locked forward, mimicing the same firing trajectory as the nose mounted lasers. The weapons focusing crystals were prone to being shaken out of alignment during flight, and Kytra had long ago ensured that a constant diagnostic was being run so she would know the instant the weapon became inoperable. The moment she heard the tone indicating a target lock she pressed her thumb down on the button that would fire the twin Ion cannons at the TIE, being rewarded by the sight of the mirage-like pale energy pulse streaking towards the black form of the enemy from above her cockpit.

The relentless warnings of the TIE's instruments told Anya that she wasn't as lucky as she thought, pulling up and away from the surface. Someone had a lock! Without bothering to check what exactly she was dealing with, she pushed the TIE Fighter further and dived out of her flight path, back toward the surface again. The fragile machine shook as gravity took its toll on the mass-produced frame, but the risk of challenging gravity was better than getting turned into a human meteor by the stream of ion energy that had so narrowly missed the left wing. Again taking another tight manoeuvre at speed, the TIE swung down close to the battling forces below, trying to get an angle on the one who nearly killed her...

Continuing with her 'overconfident rookie' style of flying, as the TIE met the Y-Wing visually, Anya began to fire the laser cannons as if they were some kind of machine-shotgun, not quite aiming but definitely hoping to score a lucky hit, or shake the other pilot's morale. But these actions were a dead giveaway - she had nowhere near the skill of some of the Rebel pilots. This was nothing like wasting pirate ships en masse... Finally, Anya had realised this was what war really felt like. The adrenaline rush overwhelmed the discipline she'd learned to fly with, the idea that she might kill or be killed in the next few moments blurred out the sound of the flight leader's coordinations to his squadron. Right now, it seemed as if the whole battle was centred around herself, and the pilot of that Y-Wing...

Kytra couldn’t decide whether the TIE pilot was extremely skilled or extremely lucky when the black craft managed to dip back towards the ground barely an instant before the crippling Ion blast struck. The TIE pilot pulled around quickly, faster than Kytra’s lumbering Y-Wing could keep up with, and proceeded to answer both Kytra’s fire and question of her foes skill with a sloppy spray of laser blasts that could best be described as ‘aimed in her general direction.’

Unfortunately, such erratic fire was hard to predict, and in such a large and unwieldy craft as she was, Kytra found it impossible to avoid every blast, despite her best attempts to swerve. One of the green laser blasts found its mark on the top of the right engine pod, and there was a flash as it struck the deflector shields. An alarm began beeping insistently to inform Kytra of the partially depleted state of her shields, and a quick glance showed that the hit had drained her rear deflector, already weakened from being in atmosphere, to a measly thirty percent. There would no doubt be some superficial scoring on the ships plating too, but for now there was no permanent harm done. Nonetheless, she would have to keep the TIE on the defensive until Gizka could allocate enough energy to fully regenerate the shield or another hit to the rear of the ship would cause significant damage.

She threw the repulsors on full once again and adjusted her ships heading sharpy to by the tens of degrees she needed to get a bead, gritting her teeth as the crafts inertial dampeners struggled to contend with the G-forces exerted by the manoeuvre. Several secondary alarms blared at her indicating overheating components, but she ignored them and focused on the TIE ahead. Her computer only had a partial lock, but at close range her aim could make up for the rest. She waited until she was sure of the shot before pulling the trigger, sending a pair of red laser bolts towards the TIE, hoping it would either destroy or at least drive her foe away.

A surge of elation flowed through Kytra as she saw the impact of her weapons on the TIE’s wing, though it was slightly dampened when the craft did not explode or break apart. Her shot had been slightly off center, and by some miracle the ship had not come apart, holding together despite the smoke billowing from the impact site. To the pilots credit, the craft only wobbled rather than spinning out of control as it looked like it wanted to. All this Kytra saw in hardly a moment as the craft streaked past her, forcing her to swerve to avoid an impact with one of the TIE’s large wings, but it was enough for her to tell the fight was over. Much as she would have loved to finish her stricken foe, her scopes already indicated the injured craft was making best speed away from her, and she could not turn nearly fast enough to pursue.

Not that the thought of pursuit had long to occupy her mind. Above the city the clouds had darkened, and to Kytra’s horror they suddenly began billowing and parting to make way for the sharp edge of an Imperial Star Destroyer’s keel. It broke the clouds with the majesty of the greatest of Alderaanian Thranta, and even as fear once again crept into Kytra’s breast, she could not help but admire the sight.

No sooner had the mighty craft come to a rest above the city than the cavernous launch bays disgorged a black swarm of TIE fighters, buzzing around the craft in a manner akin to the drones of the blighted Kiliks, overwhelming the remaining Alliance fighters with sheer numbers and filling the sky with the distinctive shriek that so often spelled doom for many a valiant rebel soldier. During the battle Kytra had managed to end up quite a distance away from the main engagement zone, and it was by virtue of that alone that she avoided a swift and ignoble death, but even now her scopes were picking up multiple contacts at long range. She had to act quickly, or she would surely be destroyed.

Just as planned, Felix contacted the man serving under Captain Riada and was given the coordinates to the drop off point. Walking through the rubble filled streets with blaster fire sounding in the distance, Felix couldn't help but feel uneasy about all of this. The two storm troopers he'd recruited for his purposes were still with him, following his every move, watching his back. He wondered if underneath those helmets they were as nervous as he was. Even though he'd fought in this kind of situation before, something about Belona made it all feel different, and not in a good way.

The entrance to the drop off looked harmless enough. There was what appeared to be just an average blast door, with two storm troopers guarding it on either side. This whole area seemed relatively untouched by the chaos ensuing elsewhere, almost tranquil if it weren't for the sound of death and destruction in the distance. As Felix approached with the prisoner and his two guards, the two standing at the door stopped him. "Halt. Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going in there. I've got a rebel here for a Captain Loretta Riada." Felix motioned to the rebel soldier, unconscious and held by the two troopers with him. He had actually felt kind of sorry for the guy, he looked only in his twenties. To have your youth and freedom thrown away all because you ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time seemed terrible.

"Yeah right bounty hunter, get lost." After the guard said that, Felix moved forward to get closer. The two troopers guarding the door drew their blasters and aimed them straight at him. Almost instinctively, the two troopers behind him dropped the rebel, letting his face slam into the dirty ground. They drew their blasters and pointed them at the guards. Felix couldn't believe the luck he had in finding these two.

"What's it gonna be? Let me in, or get shot by two of your own?"

One of the guards turned his head and placed his hand on his helmet, listening to the comlink inside. After a few seconds of tense silence, he turned back and said, "my apologies Mr. Theros. If you'll just hand us the prisoner..."

Felix shook his head. "Either I deliver him myself and get paid beforehand, or I leave and hand him to the Governor." Again the trooper talked on his comlink. The conversation took longer than the previous one, and afterwards he motioned Felix inside.

"You may enter and take the prisoner with you, but your men stay outside." The trooper sounded as though he were just scolded in the worst possible way. Felix nodded and grabbed the rag doll that was his bounty. Inside the blast doors was a small corridor leading to a turbo lift. This was even sketchier than he thought. As soon as he was in the turbo lift, the doors closed and it began to descend.

Loretta and her new Toy.
Sep and Daglobster

The dream was just like all the others, but different. They were always different in some horrible, incomprehensible way from the last. This time, SixOh was decapitated. In the last dream, he was lost in the explosion.

The explosion…

It had been so long, yet the feelings still reached him through his dream, the sensations still came back to him. The blindingly white light as the tank’s sealing ruptured, the screams of EightNine as his flesh was boiled and atomized by the roiling waves of plasma energy, the feeling of his own left side being cooked like a body left out in the deserts of Tattooine. Every nerve ending that was frayed, every ounce of muscle and sinew that was violently ripped from his body to join EightNine’s atoms in the air, and the darkness that replaced his eyesight then, and still did now. He woke up, and the only thing that let him know was the sudden end of his dream, and the return of his hearing. He could hear people talking, and the sounds of someone pressing buttons on a console.

He could hear the cooled bacta around him, circulating through his stasis tank, and the feeling of the freezing regenerative fluid on what little skin he had left jarred him back to full awakeness. He judged by the bubbling around him that he was being taken out of stasis, presumably for combat. Another day, another planet. After the tank was drained, the only thing that suspended him in the tank were the cables that were plugged into his spine and the back of his head. After a few seconds, a familiar clamping feeling around his neck and lower torso let him know that the pod’s claw had come down to take him out. As he was lifted out, the cables fell away from his back, dripping vital fluids.

He was lowered into an automated assembly chamber, and it went to work putting him together. First, came his eyes. The assembly machine placed them into his sockets, and the already built-in connections immediately came online. He could suddenly see again, and he was thankful for it, even if the world was always in a slight shade of red. Displays came on in his vision, which allowed him to interface with things using the processor in his brain. With a thought, he activated the radio receiver as it waited to be put into his ear, and listened intently to what came out.

He sifted through the channels as he was assembled, and eventually the radio was put into his ear, followed by the respirator unit and grate that replaced his mouth. The panels that protected his head came next, and after that it was his extremities and the cybernetic carapace that covered his cybernetics. From listening to the radio, he had gathered that he was on Belona, a world recently caught in the throes of rebellion. The situation was more or less even for now, so he made a note to inquire why exactly he was here. As he reacquainted himself with his limbs, he noticed that there were no other Dark Troopers here. Usually, he operated with a squad, but in no way could they replace his old one. He walked over to a large locker, and opened it, taking out his armor and weapons. He took the time to clean and polish everything, beating his old record of half an hour. After that, he put on his armor, attaching the plates directly to his cybernetics using specialized ports, and topped it all off by putting on his helmet.

The helmet’s HUD came online, and he pored over the many diagnostic readouts as he placed and checked his various weapons. The shoulder-mounted blaster cannon fit nicely into his shoulder plate and integrated well with his armor, having plates of its own. His blaster rifle went on his back, his pistol on his leg, and he topped it off by extending his wrist-mounted vibro-sword, giving it a few test swings before retracting it again. Normally, a two-foot blade would be considered impractical, but given how his height pushed almost 6’5 with his augmentations, it was necessary. He decided to stand there, and wait for someone to come in for him.

The door slid open to the left, and four black storm troopers marched through the door before taking up position at either side of the door. If observed closely it would have been noticeable that their actions were mirrored exactly., acting in unison no living life form could achieve. Then came a female voice, rich and elegant. “You won’t have noticed it yet. Though I’ve made some special modifications to your armour before you were brought online.” A woman dressed in Imperial uniform walked into the room, her blonde hair held in a practical fashion. “For one, you’re more loyal. I didn’t trust the kaminoan indoctrination or the chips you already had repressing your free will so I made some modifications. That nagging feeling you have in your temple is it recognising my voice as your boss. It’s conflicting with your Emperor before all else training however you’ll get used to it eventually.” She pressed a button on her wrist, forcing him to go rigid.

“Don’t worry, I’ll let you talk in a minute once I’m done. I just so rarely get a chance to talk to my subjects. Not many of them have all their free will removed.” She put a hand on his armour as she walked around him. “Though you, you’re the way forward. These armies the Empire is making, the schools they are using. They’re just not as good as your standard droid or cyborg. Now if we were allowed to chop them all up once they’ve signed the dotted line. Then that would work nicely. Though for now I’ll stick to perfecting you.” She pressed another button, as different readouts would have been activated in the hud of her new toy. “These four droids are now slaved to you, they will do what you want when you want as the perfect fighting team. However know that if any of these orders contradicts one I have given, they will not do it. If any of them will result in harming me in any way and they’ll turn against you.” She took a holotablet off her belt and then began working on it as she pressed another button activating the microphone.

“Now, tell me your designation. Rank and purpose.”

FourSev silently watched the woman talk. Even when she came in suddenly like she did, he made no motion, save for turning his head to look at her. Personally, he didn’t like this woman, or her slightly traitorous words. The Emperor Did come before all else, regardless of what anyone said. Still, it hadn’t been his worst assignment, so he supposed he could bear with it. It raised some concern in him to hear that she had made unwarranted modifications on his frame, but he decided not to voice this. It’s not like he could, anyways. It appeared this scientist believed it was worth keeping him on an exceptionally short leash. FourSev smiled to himself.

When the tactical readouts of his “squadmates” came up, he made a mental note to himself to inspect his squadmates later. His scanning equipment immediately picked up that they were droids. Perhaps other Dark Troopers, maybe even Phase Ones. The term “Slaved” was something he took a bit of exception too, but he recognized it as a technical term. They would answer his beck and call, and FourSev would have it no other way. When she asked him her questions, and activated his microphone, he cleared his throat slightly.

“Number 47-729. Elite Dark Trooper, Phase Zero. You have yet to give me a purpose.”

“You are quite right in the fact that I am yet to give you a purpose. However what is your purpose? What have you been programmed to do as far as can remember? What have you done time and time again? What is it that brought you to this state?” She had been monitoring some interesting readings while he was in stasis, readings that others would have ignored. While he was mostly cyborg part of the original being still survived and that was what interested her. What remained, she could use for her own purposes. Though she had to find out exactly how much remained and how strongly it affected him. All this could be important to any modifications she would make in the future, or any modifications she would have to refrain from making to his core programming.

All at the same time she was taking biometric readings, brain scans. Every reading his suit was capable of giving was being relayed through her tablet. She could even check on if he needed to use the refresher or not. Not that she would anyway. “So, 47. What is your purpose?”

The woman was curious, he had to give her that much. As she was scanning him, he was doing the same to her. Although his scans were relatively less complex than hers, he still got the general gist of her anatomy, speech patterns, and other things that could help identify her in any worst cast scenario. He hadn’t paid much attention to it earlier, but he realized that she had placed a hand on his chestplate. Whether it was a unique psychological quirk of hers or something else entirely was yet to be seen.

“I was built for the express purpose of destroying The Emperor’s enemies in a manner as merciless and efficient as possible. In short, Captain , I’m a killing machine.” he droned, his modulated voice coming through the grills in his helmet. He gave her a slight nod, to make up for the fact he couldn’t salute in his current state.

“Very good Four-Seven. Good response, well articulated as well.” She moved down her list doing final system checks. “Your job here is to do two things. You are too defend my research and lab from any intrusions, act as a guinea pig so I can advance my research and to perform any other duties I may give you. If you ever at any time feel as if you don’t want to do any of those things don’t worry the chip I added to your cybernetics will allow me to make sure you chose otherwise.” She began walking out of the room, turning her head with a simple command. “Follow.” Once outside the room there was a long corridor, well lighten and obviously sterile. There were various doors on either side of the corridor, at some of them pleas for help could be heard at others screaming and some maniacal laughter. She waved her hands to either side. “Early experiments. I keep them around as sometimes I still get useful data.”

She said so in such a matter of fact tone, no remorse though also no sinister tone. Just as if it was a boring fact similar to telling the weather. Eventually they reached a main control room, passing through it was manned completely by droid staff and eventually they came to a turbolift. “I have been informed of the arrival of a new test subject. Wait here, bring the subject and the bounty hunter to the main lab once they are down. Do not converse with the hunter other than your purpose. Once you have done so I will let you go do some exercise topside with the rebels.”

"Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap!!!" Jidak yelled as she ran charged across the street, a Y-Wing performing a strafing run against an AT-PT that had been deployed to try and keep order. She dived for the alley as she saw the bomber zip past, she then heard an explosion, not entirely sure which had been destroyed. She didn't much care either, at this point, it was all a matter of survival. She then heard from round the corner of the alleyway, the familiar sound of Imperial comm chatter, the Stormtroopers had the sense to use the alleys to stay out of the watchful eyes of those Y-Wings. She quickly ducked behind a dumpster and changed into the form of a small Nautolan child and began crying loudly. The Stormtroopers ran straight past her, they knew that to protect the kid, they needed to end the battle as soon as possible. However, they were still human, even if they were working for the bad guys. One of them, on the way past patted her on the head

"Get to one of the shelters, follow the alley and take the first right." he called to her.

"QUIT THE CHATTER ST-141" the sergeant yelled.

"BIG SIGN SAYING SHELTER, CAN'T MISS IT!!!" the Stormtrooper yelled, ignorning the sergeant. They disappeared down the street and Jidek did as she was told, transforming back into her adult form and running down the alley, she made it out the opposite side of the alley and into the streets. She ran towards the shelter, but ran past it to one of the other lifts that took her down to one of the underground hangars, she ran towards the awaiting Dug.

"Goobichupatha kupatchka tamproca eeetha?(Where have you been?)" yelled Govyana. "Startrappa rsatctal morsatcho tripanska peepratka! (Rebels and Stormtoopers have been blasting everything in sight.)"

"Sorry, old man, looks like Fat Lady's gonna see action." she said. Running up the ramp.

"RAMPO!?!?!? Wralnma tsarrrtac morshkanta moralpo jinko?(REALLY!?!?! Imperial air support showed up this fast?)"

"Nope, but they've got a lot of sitting ducks on the ground." she called as she flicked a few switches above the pilot seats head and sat down.

"Wooooo, wo, wo, wo... (Settle down hotshot, we can't just blast out of here, What do you want me to do? Slice the door controls and hope their AA doesn't shred us... Or the Rebels take exception to us.)" he said in his Dug tongue. She looked at him and knew that he was right.

"Urrgh, fine. Well, what do you think we should do?" she asked. Govyana picked up her Electrostaff and handed it to her.

"(Fat Lady is going no where at the moment. Try to help out on the ground until we know that the Rebels have taken care of their AA guns. Until then, i'll keep the engines hot and come and pick you up when everything's ready.)" he handed her a comm-link with his foot, as most Dug did. She took it, before heading back out. She then pulled a long black cloak over her head. The Dug shook his head as he looked at her.

"Too Jedi?" she asked.

"Sliemball." he called as she ran back towards the lift and then to the firefight in the streets.

Zorra stood over the holo projection of the battle and it was a complete mess. In one way it was good because the rebels where split up and confused. But then again it would have been easier to contain a large group concentrated in one area instead of chasing small pockets of rebels all over the city. Her soldiers had managed to capture or kill most of the soldiers in the downed transports and escape pods as most were to injured to put up a decent fight. Most of riot leaders had been caught and were on there way to holding cells though the crowds where still causing she had managed to contain the situation and stop it from getting worse. She would probably let the rioters in the mobs go after she had let them cool off for a few hours.

Her smile increased as she saw the imperial ships in orbit descend on the planet carry swarms of imperials who will wipe the rebels of the face of the planet. But until the ships unloaded on the rebels she had to be careful with her men. Her regular soldiers where doing a fine job they weren't storm troopers but she was still very pleased with her results. That was until one of her lieutenants placed a casualty and damage report on her desk. The list was extensive several buildings would need extensive repairs many off her soldiers would be out of action for a long times some would never see combat again. But worst of all where the ones that would never return home seeing the names of so many it brought a tears to her eyes but she managed to snap out of it after a few seconds it was good to show her men that she cared but she needed to be strong.

Formulating a new strategy she would round up every spare unit not engaged in combat then use them to crush the small rebel pockets of rebel resistance one at a time. She imagined the battle would soon be over and the rebels would be dead or captured. However there was still the whispering in the back of her head who set this up and what where they doing that was so important that it had to be kept secret from her. "lieutenant send a communication to the governor and advise her I need to know what's in that mine so I can protect it and I need to collaborate so our forces work in unison" she ordered. She also decided two break of a couple of scouts to scope out the mine from a distance and record all activity. If there was one thing she hated it was not knowing whats going on.

(Posting to advance Felix's bit)

"Immediately, Captain." Came FourSev's curt reply, raising a hand to his head to salute her, and his four new squad mates did the same. The idea that he was assigned as a bodyguard and plaything for some apparently deranged scientist was worthy of concern to FourSev, but again, he had no choice. It didn't help that she had implanted a chip into his head, and referred to him as one of her subjects. If he wasn't so jaded, the thought would have brought a shudder to his body (or whatever was left of it). This assignment was going to be a long one, he could just tell.

Suddenly, he was approached by a stormtrooper, and the mere turning of his head to regard the trooper obviously unnerved the poor man. That was a good sign. When your own men are afraid of a weapon that they know will always serve them loyally, then you can guarantee that it strikes fear into your enemies. "Sir, a bounty hunter's arrived outside, with a hostage. There's a bit of a conflict, how do you advise?"

Immediately, FourSev patched into the helmets of the two lift guards, hearing the entire conversation. He turned his own comms to the frequencies of one of their helmets. "Mr. Theros is expected." He stated, and after a few more moments, the trooper came back on, saying that the bounty hunter wanted to deliver the prisoner personally. "He may, trooper. As I said before, he's expected. Any further signs of incompetence will be met with harsh punishment."

Silence, and then he heard the power lift starting up. He turned to face the exit door, his squad flanking his sides.

Once Felix's power lift stopped at the facility's lab level, he was greeted with the sight of FourSev and his new squad of android death troopers. They stood there, perfectly still, staring dead-on in Felix's direction. A few seconds of scanning to confirm Felix's identity with the one the guards reported, and FourSev knew he was the one. He must have been quite the sight, towering at 6'5 and flanked by the most terrifying troopers The Empire had to offer.

"You will come with us, bounty hunter." Came his powerful, robotized voice. It was less a request, more a command.

The turbo lift hummed as it went ever downward. Felix had ideas about what he was getting into; underground bunker, tough security, this was not your average facility. What exactly they were doing down here was beyond him, but perhaps he'd soon find out.

The door opened with a ding. "Son of a-" Felix jumped back, his heart nearly popping out of his chest. "Some welcome party."

The tall and menacing black figure was standing with four others, two on either side and nearly as dark as he. "You will come with us, bounty hunter," it commanded. If its appearance didnt scare Felix, the voice certainly did the trick. He didn't want to find out what would happen if he disobeyed, so he stepped out of the lift with the rebel over his shoulder and followed closely behind.

The metal clinking of their feet, if you can call them that, was in unison. The four were clearly not human. As for the big one, Felix still couldn't figure it out. Was he a man in a suit, a robot, or both? He even tried asking, but the whatever it was just kept walking, not even turning its head as Felix spoke to him.

He started thinking back to his first jobs. Picking off small time fish in a small time pond for a small time payoff. Things got better with practice, and soon he was taking on the big dogs; cartel leaders, crime syndicate lieutenants, even an assassin once. That instance in particular was especially rough, but he had managed to get through it all the same. It wasn't long after that that he started doing work for various Imperial officials. Putting down a rebel group here, capturing a pirate captain there. Once he started working for the Empire, the paychecks never ceased, and so here he found himself.

He was shaken out of the reminiscing by all manner of sounds coming from the rooms on both sides. The hairs on his back were rising, not that he would let any indication of it be known. He shifted uneasily as the weight of the body seemed to get heavier. Fortunately it wasn't long before they were in the main lab. The five dark figures stopped just inside the doorway, and Felix walked inside amidst the machines, computers, and other assorted things. And there standing towards the back, was whom he suspected was the Captain, blonde and surprisingly beautiful. Felix set the unconscious body down next to him and waited for her to begin.