(Bit of a short post just to pad out the end of Frontliner's post. If you don't want this, just lemme know.)
(SHORT POST WARNING)

For the most part, FourSev ignored Felix altogether, keeping a hand near his blaster as he usually did around bounty hunters. A few bad experiences have taught him the only loyalty these scum have is to credits, and even then some of them are sick enough to forsake credits for the sake of their own psychotic desires.

When they arrived at the room Loretta was waiting in, he did stand at the doorway, saluting to her before crossing his hands behind his back and standing at ease. The droids mirrored his movements exactly, and he took a bit of joy in the synchronized sounds of their boots on the floor. "Madame Captain, your visitor's arrived." He announced, keeping his eyes forward but his sensors on Felix.

Heart rate irregular, perspiration on the forehead. The poor sod was probably nervous out of his wits.

The sound of his COMM going off brought Cad and Luc back into the fray. "TY-375 this is command, your orders are to link up with an Imperial Army squadron and assault a building. Two storm trooper squadrons and an imperial army squad have gone dark in the building, so watch your back." A dull and bored voice spoke, Cad sighed and looked at his last remaining trooper, they were closer to the building yes, but there were only two of them. "Roger that command, we are on the move." He replied, Luc had over heard the conversation and grabbed his blaster, The two troopers were on the move.

Everything was fine until they linked up with the army squad "You the plastic boys that were sent to help us?" Asked the lead soldier "Affirmative" Cad replied "Huh thought storm troopers rolled in squads of eight." The soldier said but Cad ignored him Luc followed suit and they proceeded to the building now twelve in total, when they got to the building there was a storm trooper squad that had been destroyed by thermals, but Luc checked for survivors anyways "No survivors, sir." Luc said confirming what he had already suspected. "Alright." He said aloud "We are heading up the stairs, Luc is going to take point and i will be right behind him. You guys do as I say and you might just survive this battle." Nobody said anything they just followed his lead Luc took point and was heading up the stairs already his blaster at the ready.

Kieran

AS the other rebels went about their work Kieran turned back to the elevators, both still non-operational and while that was handy at stopping more Stormtroopers getting up easily it left them with the stairs. However they had the high ground so that was always beneficial. He signalled for her to follow him and he moved into the stairwell, looking down the centre empty column he could hear some kind of a skirmish going on down on the lower levels. Then he got the idea to take the express route. Who ever it was likely at least one of the parties involved were rebels, and he'd rather not leave them. That's when he remembered something, turning to Aralia. "Get on the commlink, boost the range and call in all SpecForce soldiers still alive. Tell everyone else to go to ground, but if we are going to sort this out and turn the tides at some point I'll need the best folk for the job." While she did that he moved to the turbolifts, forcing either door open. The bottom of both turbolifts were ruined, it would have to be the stairs.

It took them several minutes to get close to the commotion and as they did he stopped at a door onto one of the floors. "Get through there, and find us a way out of the building." He handed her his grapple. "Even if it's just to an adjacent building. Go, quickly." She merely nodded and ran in. He kept going, staying low he dove round a corner, raising his weapon at... a Weequay. Though at the same time the Weequay turned to him Kieran fired, straight past the beings head at a stormtrooper who had rounded the corner in the second the Weequay had ceased firing.

He then took a thermal detonator off his belt and tossed it over to the Weequay. "Names Kieran, you think the Imps want us out of here?"

Loretta

Loretta pressed a button on her tablet, cutting off power to FourSevens microphone. He could still talk, though it'd be muffled and practically impossible to hear. She signalled to two other droids, who moved over and picked up the rebel. Depositing him in a nearby chair. "I'm sure you'll appreciate that I won't tell you exactly what I'm doing Mr.Theros. You are only in it for the money after all. I'd hate for you to go off world and then talk when out of range of my influence or credits." She moved subtly and the droids understood perfectly what was required as they moved into another room, an eerie blue glow and tanks of a metallic looking fluid could be seen in the brief seconds the door was open, and the faintest shimmer of movement from within one of the tanks.

"I merely thought that I should meet you in person, as I'm going to be doing business with you." She moved to the rebel, checking the straps holding him into the chair she picked up a injector from a nearby tray and placed it on his arm, injecting a green fluid into his arm. He began to stir and slowly wake. "Not that I mind you knocking him out, it's just far easier when they're awake." She moved around as she placed small devices on the man, taking biometric scans as she did so. "I would have preferred a non-human however there is always next time." She turned to face him, flashing a smile. "So Mr.Theros, we have your fee to discuss. Though before we do." She turned to FourSev. "Major Zorra in the command centre has taken prisoner of several rioters. Go to her and tell her to ship them here, bring them yourself if you have to. Also remind her that while inquisitiveness is an important trait to not dig too deep."

She pressed several buttons on a separate holopad she had picked up from nearby. "I'm taking your primary weapons offline. If engaged use secondariness. You haven't seen combat for a while so need to go through your paces." She also re-activated his microphone before she merely waved him away.

"So Mr.Theros, how much are your services?"

Well, that was quite rude. FourSev's suspicions only grew as Loretta acted more and more paranoid. It was already odd that she disabled his microphone, but to disable his primaries? That was a completely pointless effort! Did she believe he would betray her? FourSev laughed internally at the idea. Due to the bacta-induced hyper sleep he was always kept in, his last deployment felt like yesterday. He was always in top mental state, and his record showed it. Giving her a rather stiff salute, FourSev exited the room, the doors parting to make way for him. If he could scowl inside his helmet, he could. He needed to contact High Command about this, but he had an errand to run first.

He took the turbo lift up to the surface, and stepped out of the mines, his navigation programs kicking in, drawing a path through the war zone that was Belona. He spent a few seconds optimizing his route, before drawing his T-21 and setting off at a medium-paced run. He would be able to keep up the run all the way to the command center, barring any interruptions.

And interruptions there were.

By the time he was halfway to the command center, he ran into a rebel patrol. They didn't see him coming, but his scanners saw them well before. The perfect situation for an ambush. They were heading towards him, so he hid behind a collapsed wall. All he did to spring the trap was step around the corner of the wall, and by the time they had drawn their weapons, a relentless spray of blaster fire had already mowed down half of them. The rest scattered, and with another well-calculated sweep, the rest were put down, all but one. Shifting his T-21 to one arm, he drew his commando pistol with the other, firing and hitting the desperately retreating rebel in the back of the knee.

The man collapsed, screaming with pain, as FourSev approached him. Stepping over to the rebel, FourSev made it a point to step on his other leg, snapping the bone like a dry twig. FourSev then grabbed the rebel by the top of his helmet, forcing him upright onto his knees and angling his head to look straight into the poor man's eyes

"Where is your base of operations?"

"I ain't telling you shit, Imp!"

"Very well. The next man will."

He let go of the man's helmet, and instead grabbed his throat, lifting him clean up off the ground as he choked him. The man scratched and scrabbled at his vambrace, before FourSev tightened his grip, and the man's neck snapped, his body going limp. Foursev dropped him, and went on his way.

It wasn't long before he came across the command center, his clearance allowing himself entry with no real problems. He made his way through the halls, until he finally came across the command center. The two guards outside nodded at him, before letting him inside. He walked in, and stopped, surveying the room filled with tactical analysts and communications personnel for Major Zorra. After locating her, he stepped over to her, giving her his customary salute and standing at ease. "Major Zorra, I have a message for you. Captain Loretta is requisitioning the rioters that have recently fallen under your custody, asking for them to be transferred to her custody. If transportation is an issue, I will handle them." He stated, and awaited a response.

The whole time, he was working his own subroutines. The only weapon truly wired to FourSev was his shoulder-mounted blaster cannon, so regaining use of his blaster rifle was a much simpler affair, something he could do (and did do) given a couple minutes and some peace and quiet. The blaster cannon, however, was a different story. The targeting, aiming, and firing systems were all integrated into his system, so there was no way for him to get that online without direct intervention from Loretta herself.

“One minute to launch coordinates,” announced a lieutenant.

Satae watched as the bow of the ship dipped into the clouds, gracefully parting the sea of grey. The clouds had hidden them from the rebels on the surface, but soon they would hear the sound of the engines of the Imperial war machine.
As the ship finally dipped below the clouds, like clockwork the TIE fighter squadrons were launched, and were soon joined by additional squadrons from the fleet in orbit. Satae watched as they began to swarm across the sky, mercilessly shredding the rebel fighters and bombers. Soon they would begin their strikes against the few rebels who had managed to hold their ground.

“Governor,” the communications officer stirred Satae from her thoughts, “we have just received a communication from one of the ground commanders, one Major Nerrel. She is requesting information regarding the mining complex in order to protect it more effectively. She also requests to be informed of troop movements for coordination of all ground troops.”

“Inform the Major that she only needs to concern herself with stopping the rebels from entering the mine complex. And as for the other troops,” she took out her holotablet and began to rapidly tap at the screen, “she now has an additional 12 storm trooper squads and 6 AT-ST’s under her command for the duration of the battle. She is to capture or destroy all rebels in the city, and any signs of rioting against Imperial rule by the population are to be ended quickly. After the battle she is to come and see me at the Palace. Oh, and I shall need a shuttle and an escort to take me to the Palace so that I may observe from the central command bunker. Contact Captain Riada that I want a status update from her immediately, I am eager to hear of her progress in my absence.”

“Immediately my Lady,” the officer set about relaying her orders. Satae thought for a moment about this Major. She recalled that the Major had recently been posted at Belona, but not by her request. This interest in the mines was probably just as it appeared, thoroughness in her duty. But it may be necessary to keep a closer eye on her, just in case…

Satae made her way to the hangar and boarded the shuttle which had been made ready. The flight to the palace was blissfully uneventful now that the rebels had been pushed back by the fighters. From the landing platform at the palace complex she observed the troop transports gently lowering down into the city and delivering hundreds of troops. Yes, everything was going just as she had planned.

Zorra over looked the battle field directing her supply lines and making sure all the wounded where being shipped to get proper treatment. Her forces had preformed better than she had expected however they would need rest to stay at peak performance but she expected the rebels to be defeated long before then. Moving over to another station she looked in on the situation with the rioters. Thankfully they had managed arrest the main trouble makers and the mob was beginning to dissipate without they zeal of there leaders and they new the rebels where losing now no point in going down with a sinking ship if you can get off.

Turning a round Zorra was given a bit of scare coming face to face with dark trooper. She had only seen photos of them in basic training and theory. To say the least she was impressed how someone could even secure one of these things on such a small backwater planet. It had an impressive presence as it spoke asking for her to give the rioters she had caught to be transferred from her custody to Captain Loretta. So she finally had a name of the shadowy commander in the mines. She new since this thing had made it though all the bases check points and she doubted the thing could lie these orders must be real. She just couldn't understand the reasoning for moving the rioters to her custody though a few suspicions creeped into the back of her head. Moving over to console she checked up on the status of the rioters "you will have to wait a while we are still processing and interrogating them but we will hand them over as soon as possible with a transport and a few men and a repulser tank escort".

"Major the governor just contacted us she us" said the young comm officer. Zorra moved over to the the station watching the message appear on screen. It pretty much told her to keep carrying on with what she had been doing however she was excited about the loan of several troopers and vehicles not to mention the fact that she would be seeing the governor after the battle. "Send the new troops to reinforce the most heated areas of combat" she ordered. Returning to her guest Zorra stood face to face with it "now while we wait for the rioters to be processed and loaded on to the transport would you mind telling me everything about why your here and what's going on in that mine" she asked in a demanding tone. She doubted it would tell her anything and if it did talk the information would be useless.

"Names Kieran, you think the Imps want us out of here?"

Zirex grabbed the detonator and smiled. "I would tend to agree. The name is Zirex. Formally of the Blood Stars. I'll be with you in just a moment." He said as he pulled his Mandalorian heavy blaster off his belt as he heard the sound of approaching armored footsteps coming from behind them.

"One. Two. Three and here we...go." Zirex muttered to himself as he leaned around the corner and threw the detonator and began unloading blaster fire at the detonator until he heard a loud explosion and the screams of Imperial troopers. "Ahhh...music to my ears." He said with a smile as he turned back to the one who called himself Kieran.

"We should probably get going now. I have a feeling the Imps aren't exactly thrilled with me. I took out a turbolaser tower on the way down and they've been angry with me ever since." He said with a grin. "Not to mention all the imps I've been dealing with since I landed."

FourSev stood eerily still, his helmet locked dead onto Zorra's face as she spoke. Every word, every syllable uttered was being taken down by holorecorders implanted into his cybernetic eyes and wired into his cortex. It had been like that ever since he was activated, and it's been transmitting live to Central Command ever since his eyes were screwed into his sockets. He doubted Loretta would like that feature, but it was one of his prime directives. Central may not have any control over him at the moment (although if they so desired, they could transmit a supreme order directly to him at the drop of a hat, and he'd go from Loretta's pet to her worst possible nightmare), but it didn't mean they didn't want intel from him either.

He stood there, perfectly still, as Zorra went about her business, and finally came back to him. "That is not a problem. I will be personally attending to the prisoner transfer regardless. As for your question, Major Zorra..." He paused, and leaned in, just enough to elicit some sort of feeling of being threatened. The light coming down from the fixtures above them was cast into a shadow that only emphasized the hellish red glow of his helmet visors.

"Inquisitiveness is a trait that is highly valued in the officers of The Empire, Major Zorra, in moderation. Do not overstep your bounds."

He saluted her, and then turned to leave, intent on overseeing the loading of the prisoners.

Felix's powers of deduction were in overhaul. An underground lab on this sort of world, a female imperial officer with a bunch of killer robots and a fabled Dark Trooper, and what appeared to be human and alien experimentation. This had ISB's evil stink all over it. In all of his time working for the Empire, Felix had worked with an ISB agent only once before, and it wasn't pleasant. He much preferred working for government officials, or normal officers, or heck, even just doing straight up bounty work. Felix grabbed the necklace still inside his shirt. It was tucked in there where the world couldn't see it, and that was the way it would stay.

"You won't have to worry about my loyalties Captain. I just witnessed the rebellion in its full glory getting shot down in clone wars age technology. I doubt they could afford my services. As for me blabbing my mouth; discretion comes included with payment." Felix had done many jobs he couldn't talk about, mostly because they dealt with shady tactics and cruel punishment. "Speaking of which, I usually don't let people take the goods before they've paid for them. Since this is our first interaction, I'll let it slide. But know this, I'm not above putting a bolt between his eyes if you don't pay for him." In fact he'd done so once. He delivered a criminal to a local official whom had contracted Felix months ago. When the man refused to pay him, Felix drew his pistol and ended the criminals life, making him utterly useless to the official. Needless to say, the official had not invited him back for another job.

"Now, there are no rates per say. Usually when I'm contracted for a job, you tell me the job and the paid amount for it. If I don't like the amount I'll negotiate, if I still don't like it, I'll decline altogether. Overall risk, difficulty, amount of expenditures, and of course time needed to complete the task are all factors in how much a job costs."

Felix began to pace slowly around the room, it made his speech appear more dramatic, but mostly it gave him a better look at his surroundings. "Now for my friend there," the rebel was pulling against the restraints as he came to. His eyes frantically searched the room, trying to figure out how he got here and what exactly 'here' was. "I'm going to give you a discount. Only because I have other things to ask of you. So here it is: 5,000 Imperial Credits, a certain amount of clearance to this facility and others, in case I need to come down here and talk with you personally. You don't need to give me clearance to anything you don't want me to have, but I ask for some amount however small. Lastly, you have some pull around here I'd assume. I want those two storms that came with me to be assigned to me. They proved themselves useful, and I could use some useful grunts. Meet these three conditions and you've got yourself a rebel. If not..." Felix placed his hand near his pistol in a gunslinger fashion. His gaze set right at Loretta as he raised an eyebrow.

They had been marching up the stairs when it happened a thermal detonator came flying out into their direction "Gernade!!!" An Imperial soldier shouted and everyone tried to scatter but Cad knew it was too late for Luc and a few other imperial army soldiers. But for the rest they got hit by the shock wave Cad included it sent him slamming down onto a landing and turned his whole world black.

When he awoke one of his helmet lenses had shattered so his left eye had a full data feed while his right did not making it seem like an odd clash of data and reality. "Luc?" He shouted "Luc respond." There was no response and his monitors in his armor pinged him back as dead. The few troopers who survived were either just getting up or trying to flee. It was at this moment that Cad was aware of the pain in his arm and ribs he had landed on them both pretty hard but adrenaline and rage was in his system now it was feeding him and keeping him going. "No retreating." He shouted drawing his pistol and gunning down a fleeing soldier "We are going to take that floor if it's the last thing we do." He continued spittle getting into his mouth piece. Armed with his blaster pistol and a look of such intense rage in his eyes he stripped Luc of his wedding ring tucking it away into a pouch and continued his death march with frightened army troopers in tow.

He knew he would probably be punished for his execution of that one trooper but he didn't care he was intent on killing the bastard who killed Luc, he was intent on revenge and if he had too he would hunt this bastard to the ends of the universe. "This means war." He thought as he finally made it up the stairs and came face to face with the enemy.

Kieran

"Yeah, I saw that. I also saw your escape pod land, was actually very helpful." He took out a concussion grenade, attaching it to the wall and putting it on a timer as he heard the Imperials reorganize themsleves to head back up the stairs as he signalled for the Weequay to follow him into the next room. Aralia was already looking out down a grapple line to a nearby building. Keeping an eye out for Imperials. "Aralia, Weequay guy whose name I forgot already. Weequay, Aralia." He held out his hand, Aralia tossing a thermal before he put on its timer and threw it at the door. This one at 20 seconds so there was time after the first grenade, that had just went off, for the Imperials to regroup and make their way to the second grenade. He took a look around outside before he turned. "Once we're out of this mess, I have other SpecForce to hunt down before I go to ground." He looked at Zirex. "I could use your help, however if you don't want to thats understandable." Aralia at this point was pressing a button on her commlink.

"This is a v-19 broadcast. Any SpecForce personnel please respond."

Loretta

The remaining black painted stormtrooper, droid made a move to raise it's blaster though Loretta merely waved it down. "If you were to kill him it would be as much a wast eof your time as it was mine. The security systems also don't like unregistered personnel firing blasters in my facility and I haven't bothered to give you an exception yet. So feel free if you wish." She signalled to a protocol droid in the corner who brought over credits, handing them to the bounty hunter. "As for your clearance, I'll let you into the main reception area but everything else will remain off limits. Trying to delve deeper into the facility and the security systems will stop you. In terms of clearance to other Imperial facilities-" She shrugged. "I have the authority of course, though at the same time I don't really. I'm sure you've met the ISB before, and likely know how we're usually here without many people knowing. Hence the lack of storm troopers and the excessive amount of droids. As for your troopers feel free to have them, though kindly tell them the Empire doesn't deal well with Imperials pointing weapons at their own."

The droid returned with an injector from the back room, the lights in the tank going off as the door closed. "Now, I'll be in touch with you when I need something else. For now I believe the Governor has work for you to do."

Major Zorra was contemplating the words that the dark trooper had said to her. She had always thought she had been trained to be inquisitive by her instructors and her superiors. However looking back at on it all there were certain times that they looked away never prying to deep. What could be so important that it needed to be kept secret from even the military. There was very little chance on her giving up on finding out more but clearly she needed to be more tactful about how she went about it.

After a few minutes one of her soldiers entered the room. He walked up to her and said "Major the prisoners are ready for transfer and all preparations are ready". "Good, shall we escort our guest" she replied pointing at the dark trooper. She really wanted to stay with him maybe try and gleam some useful intel from plus the battle was almost over and she could always be back to the control centre in a few minutes as the detention level wasn't far. "If you would fellow me please" asking the dark trooper "and one more thing don't worry about me I'll be fine" she added walking the down the corridor while the solider motioned the dark trooper to move.

"My directive wasn't to worry about you, neither to care for your safety." FourSev said, and shot the trooper who motioned for him to follow her a sharp glare. He stopped Major Zorra by stepping in front of her again, and handed her a communicator.

"This communicator is tied to my frequency. I've transmitted the ideal route for the convoy to take onto it, and you may also use it to communicate with me. I will be shadowing the convoy from the rooftops, and will interfere with any problems should they arise, Major." He said, and walked off on his own. He stopped, and looked back. "I don't take orders from you, Major." he added, and continued.

Assuming that he would exit the base unabated, he would take position on the rooftop closest to the command center, and await for the convoy to leave, where he would stealthily follow it.

Felix stood down as the credits were handed to him. He stuffed them into a pouch in his belt and turned back to Loretta. "A pleasure doing business with you." He never really expected to get all of what he asked for, but what he did get was good enough. He now had minimal access to this building, two grunts, and a pouch full of credits. That would certainly make his job much easier. Things looked like they were about to get busy in the lab, and something in Loretta's behavior told him it was time to leave; so Felix said his goodbye and headed for the door.

When he got topside, the two storm troopers were still standing there waiting for him. "How did it go?" One of them asked.

"It went pretty well. I got my money, and that's what matters." Felix slung his rifle down into his hands. "You guys are assigned to me now. You go where I go, you do what I tell you, and you'll be rewarded in some way or another." The two looked at each other and shrugged in acceptance. "So what are your names? And I don't mean those dumb identification numbers they give you guys."

"Friends call me Chaz," the one said.

"And I go by Geo," said the other.

"Alright, Chaz and Geo, do either of you know where the Governors Palace is?" Felix had something he needed to do, and someone he needed to see.

"Right this way," Chaz said. The trio took off down the street and began walking towards the silence. It seemed that the closer you get to an important area, the less fighting you heard. This was all probably planned out that way. One wouldn't want political and military buildings getting riddled with holes.

Felix noted that as they were all running about through the city, they didn't see many civilians. He couldn't tell if there were none, or if they were just smarter than to be out and about in a firefight. Either way, it really gave Belona a spooky ghost town feel.

Fighting could be heard farther off in the distance. There were soldiers and vehicles passing by, probably heading towards the front lines. Storm troopers, a couple of AT-STs, and a few TIE fighters were all en route. Felix felt increasingly sorry for the poor rebel sods to get hit by all of that. He hadn't seen any vehicles come down with them, and what little troops they still had were probably bruised and battered. What chance did they have?

The most probable plan was for them to head underground so to speak. Put on civilian clothes, pretend they belong, and wage a guerrilla war. When that started, Felix would hate it. He much preferred knowing clearly who his enemies are and where they were. Rebels dressed as civilians means that anyone could be an enemy; meaning everyone will be on edge when it happens.

They were about halfway to the palace when they noticed a large amount of shuttles landing from the sky. They were all Imperial and Felix figured they were all full of troops.

"Looks like this will be a much shorter fight than it was before," Geo said.

Xan-Rhu-Tor was at the spaceport, leaning against his ship next to its loading ramp, twirling his blaster around his finger. He had saw the battle from its beginning, the Empire taking down LAATs, Y-Wings, and other rebel craft one by one. It was almost surprising, really, given how poorly prepared the planet had seemed beforehand. He had been waiting on the governor for a few days, though, so he reasoned it was likely an intentional ambush. In any case, no rebel force would be taking Belona on this day

"You should really listen to yourself, Xan." He muttered to himself. "You had a bad feeling from the start, and now you're on a planet that is likely filled with rebel survivors. There's no way that could ever make things complicated." Xan let out a sigh. "Whatever, you came here for bounties, and that's what you're going to do."

It had been about half an hour since the fight started, and the air was starting to get to Xan. He wasn't wearing his heated vest, and being a cold-blooded individual, the cool air was not exactly comfortable on his bare scales. He stepped back inside and closed up his ship, enjoying the sensation of the warm air within. He returned to the main hold of the vessel and set his blaster down next to the datapad on the table in the center of the room. Technically, he could head over to the Imperial Palace immediately to await the governor's arrival, but with recent events, that would probably not be a good idea. For a Tiss'shar like him, stormtroopers were hardly friendly at the best of times, and with rebels running around the city, it wasn't going to get any better. Of course, he had all the proper documentation. On his datapad, he had an official invitation from the governor herself, scannable for easy verification. He was a guest of the Empire on Belona. That, however, would matter little if they shot on sight. He didn't feel that killing the Empire's soldiers would be great for first impressions, even if they didn't care about their lives.

For the moment, Xan sat down in a chair, leaned back with his feet up on the table, a hand on his blaster, and his eye on the loading ramp. Until the city settled down a bit, he was fine right where he was.

The Strike-class cruiser began exiting hyperspace near the planet, alerting the Governor and other Imperial ships. It's codes were automatically scanned and read as it began drifting to the planet. "So that's Belona, hoh?" Captain Den stated, obviously making a rhetorical question out loud. "If it wasn't for the mines it'd practically be useless. There's nearly nothing to gain here. Such a waste of a planet..." He stood up from his chair and took a few steps forward. "Well, we've been sent to assist the Governor, so hail her. Also is there a status on the Rebels? Why can't we just send in some fighters to blast them out of their nest? Shove a damn thermal detonator into a snakes hole and that will solve our problem." He paused for just a quick second, wondering if the intelligence officer was going to reply. "I'm serious. The cave will fall in but we've got the manpower. We've got ten thousand soldiers for every one of theirs! We'd have the mine dug out in a week, tops."

Satae sat at her desk, a protocol droid bringing her a drink and some food. As she relaxed in her quiet office, her secretary spoke over the intercom.
“M’Lady,” his soft voice a mere breeze in the quiet room “Captain Den has arrived in the system as requested. What are your orders for him at this time?”

“Order him to begin rounding up any rebels that have escaped in their drop ships and fighters outside the city area, Major Zorra can deal with the rebels within the city. Also, instruct the captain of the Star Destroyer above the city that he may land the ship at the starport. The other ships can blockade the planet - no ship is allowed to land or leave the system without being boarded and searched. And Cave, send me a report on what has happened in my absence...”

Herald stood there for a moment, idly awaiting the hail to be answered until he heard an incoming signal and his intelligence officer spoke up. "Captain, the Governor has sent or first orders. She's telling us to take care of Rebellion dropships and fighters that are outside the city." Herald perked a brow and shook his head, "No time for us, hoh? Busy with her fancy drinks and treating her off time as something holy. How typical!" Herald gave a humph. "Alright, scan the areas outside the city for any life grouped together or signs of ships or dropships, scout whatever you find. Launch some groups of TIEs, three per group and... three groups, no four. Patrol the atmosphere. Once we cover more ground, launch more. Report any findings directly to me, and only upon direct request of anyone, well you know, higher than me." He turned around and walked towards the main entrance to the bridge. "I'll be in my office, don't fret to interrupt."

Sep and Chev


Zirex smiled. “I’ll help you out.” He said simply. “Before the Bloodstars were wiped out we actually did the majority of our missions for people who stood with the Rebellion, Besides, maybe you can help me with my own mission. I’m hunting down the traitor who betrayed the Bloodstars. He set us up on Balmorra and joined up with the imps. I received intel that he’s somewhere on this world.”

Kieran nodded to Aralia who went down the line first, shooting her blaster at the window at the other side of the street to open it up. Not long now, the first grenade went off and he could hear them running towards the room they were in. “Yeah I guess we can, though for now I gotta gather whoevers left of my teams and head to ground before we’re all slaughtered.” He crouched as the thermal detonator went off, tapping Zirex on the back and indicating to the line that lead to the other building as he slung the Z-6 rotary cannon from his back down into his hands and began laying fire at the nearby door. He didn’t bother aiming as shots coursed through everything in their path, tables, chairs even the thin wall stood no match as it became pocketed with holes attacking anyone on the other side.

All the while he kept glancing back at Zirex, the moment he was down the line Kieran slung the weapon back over his shoulder and jumped down the line, grimacing slightly however the fire he expected never came. As he jumped off he cut the line, as the three began running. “You got any decent equipment on you to track commlinks? Most of ours is busted.”

Zirex chuckled for a moment. “What you see is what I have. However as I said, my talents are at your disposal.” He said as he thought for a moment on what he could do. “The pod I came down in might have a few things. I was a bit dizzy after the crash so I didn’t really check. Or we could try taking down a squad and see if they have anything useful.”

He opened the door and checked the street, which was now crawling with Stormtroopers and other Imperial no-do-gooders. “We’d probably be better trying to get away and find somewhere to lay low and gather equipment. One of the other LAATs went down not too far from here, if I know my guys they’ll have sought shelter in civilian housing. The Imperials are hardasses but in this kind of situation they aren’t going to be ready to inspect every single home.” He looked down the street.

“Get ready to dart out, head left out the door. Aralia, will follow after a 30 count and then me another 30 after that.” He looked at Zirek. “Ready?”

Zirex smiled and pulled out both Mandalorian heavy blasters. “Do you even need to ask?” He said cheerfully. “I used to do this sort of thing with the BloodStars all the time.”

Jidak ran through the streets, thankful that most of the fighting had seemed to have moved away from them. Running down one particular street, a holo-vid caught her eye. She ran over and pressed a few buttons, bringing up the Bounty list, she frowned as she saw an old business partner "Jakolir... What have you done this time?" she mumbled, looking down his racket. As she read down the list, she couldn't help but start bursting out laughing. "Arson? PHHHAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" she burried her face in her hands and walked away for a second, coming back and continuing her fit of hilarity as she read the Rape allogations, as well as the Murder ones. She then saw the Blackmail charges and wiped a tear away. "Yup, that sounds about right." she giggled. "Ohh...." she hunched over a little, feeling a little giddy from laughing so hard.

Jakolir was known by almost every crook in the system. He was a fence. A guy that bought anything, no questions asked. There were rumours that he had done some Pirating for the Black Sun a while back, but seeing as how he usually dove for cover the moment a gun was drawn, she believed that rumour to hold little water... Then again, it might have just been an act... She whipped out her Comm-link "Govy... They've put out a bounty on Jakolir."

"(That bum?)" the comm replied in Dug. "(Lemme guess, he tried to hock Xizor a duff Holocron again?)"

"Nope, looks like it's Imperial in origin." she said.

"(What would they want with a small time crook like him?)" asked Govyana. She then read another part of it.

"... I think he might be the Fall Guy... It says that he's the owner of "Fat Lady" I'm thinking that this bounty is aimed at us." she said.

"(Dammit, I knew that game of Sabaac would come back to haunt me. You tell that bum that it doesn't count as a win if you were caught cheating!)"

"And I told you not to bet the ship." she muttered, before putting the Comm-Link back on her belt. She then looked around, nobody was about, besides the odd Speeder-Bike patrol. She waited until she was out of sight, before changing into her Human Male form and continuing on.

****

Icecaps Cantina. A place where nobody seemed to care what was happening, so long as the credits were flowing. Several people were huddled around a Dejarik board taking bets on the small, holographic monsters that were punching each others lights out, whilst more people huddled around a large table with a Droid dealing out cards. "And, that... Boys and... Whatever the hell you're supposed to be, is where I leave..." came an inebriated slur from the Sabaac table. Jidak tutted as she saw the Rodian stumble towards her, obviously drunk. Somehow, this was one of the card players able to better function on alcohol, than off it. She pulled his arm over her head.

"Alright, let's get you out of here." she mumbled.

"Hey, I don't know you." he slurred. "I'm pretty sure you're not my dad, so I'm thinkin' i'm gonna... Gonn-..." he then ran outside of the Cantina before throwing up. She waved her hand in front of her face as she approached him from behind, rubbing his back.

"That's right... Let it all out." she said.

"I'll let out what I wanna let out... I WON today!!!" He said, spitting out some smaller chunks of something that she didn't want to know the origins of. "So... Who are you? Look, I swear, the Holocron was approved by an official Holocron... Approving... Approval guy." Jidak looked down the street to see a Swoop bike patrol coming.

"Dammit!" she yelled, quickly transforming into her own Rodian form, throwing him against the wall, taking a deep breath and locking lips with him. The 5 bikes flew straight past them. As soon as they were out of sight, she pushed away, rubbing her tongue, as she seemed to erratically change form, losing all focus thanks to the disgusting taste of Rodian vomit now in her mouth. "AAAAWWWW!!!" She screamed. "OH MY FORCE THAT WAS THE MOST FOWL ULLLLGGH" she wretched a little.

"Hey, what can I say, i'm just too irresistable." Jakolir moaned, leaning back against the wall, looking rather content.

"Laugh it up scale-ball." she moaned before wretching again. "Don't you know that those guys are after you?" she asked as her form finally settled on her Nautolan form.

"Oh, it's you..." he said. "Dammit, and I thought I'd scored." he pouted. "What would they be after me for?"

"That's what I want to know. What have you done to the Empire recently?" she asked.

"Dunno... Look, I don't remember every- Wait, you still with Govyana? That bum owes me a ship." She approached him and slipped back into her Rodian form.

"You don't win a Sabaac game by obviously cheating." she said to him in a seductive tone. "Now why don't you tell little ol' me about what you did to the Imperials?" she asked.

****

Some time later, Jidak finally had reached the burned out hulk of an LAAT gunship that she had watched go down earlier. She thought she could find some nice equipment onboard. She was dressed in Scout Armour that she had "Borrowed" from a soldier she had killed, she had also borrowed his bike. Climbing off of the bike, she looked around at the wreckage. Sadly, for her, the rebels that had survived had made sure to take anything of value that they could carry. Luckily, they appeared to have missed one of their A280's, which she picked up and slung over her shoulders, before continuing to search.

Herald studied the environment and shook his head the more he looked at it. Before long, he chose to leave the monitor he was perusing on and walked towards the window. He saw the smog and desert and ge just looked disappointed. He was still on the bridge, almost fell aslerp in his chair as his mind would wander from one thing to another. He had been so busy but now he had a time to rest, or he did, anyway. He put his hand out towards a trooper that had been idly standing by him. Harold had requested his presence on the bridge to make a decision of what their next move would be.

"Obviously command of you and the troops will be taken over by the ground forces, but I want you to only do scouting missions. You do not engage any Rebels no matter what anyone says unless the order is from Palpatine himself. You will take yourself, two Troopers, and three scout troopers, sutvey the land around where the Rebels have been found and chart maps for me with your datapad." he stopped, thinking for a moment. "You know what? We just had some new crew members assigned to us, why don't you take them down there alongside you. Remember, no direct engagement unless it is to save another trooper. The two troopers I speak of are AT-ST commanders. Talk to Trump. And give him this message. " Harold handed a datapad to the Sergeant. On it was a message in text. The datapad was new and it would become Trumps property upon receiving it.

Two days later

Kieran stood around the holomap in the middle of their makeshift base. The rebels stood around them, as well as the leaders they had managed to gather up of the local cells. "All right, so I think that's us gathered up all the crews that have survived." He nodded to several of his own SpecForce members who, like him, had been shot down. "Theres word of a crash site deep within the mine-" He pressed buttons on the table and an area lit up red. "Here. I've sent scouts to the area and they've reported that the crash is there, but the bodies aren't. It seems that whoever crashed headed deeper in." He lit up several routes. "These have all been blocked off, long before we got here and no-ones dug them out that leaves this route-" one of them lit up green. "Here. We'll have to go in and clear it out."

He looked around the table. This was his army now, a couple of hundred men and civilians on the surface. All holed up in what seemed to be, for some reason, a buried bulk cruiser. Whether it had been used in the mines when they had caved in over the top of the ship or it had been placed here for a reason, it didn't matter. What mattered now was that it was their home for the foreseeable future. "Op starts in two hours, any questions?"