Blaze of Glory ( short story ) " Blaze of Glory " is a short story written by Tony Russo originally published in " Star Wars Adventure Journal 8 " by West End Games in November 1995 . The short story was also later compiled in the short story anthology " Tales from the Empire " which was published in November 1997 by Bantam Spectra , and most recently archived online at . Plot summary . Brixie Ergo is on her first mission with the mercenary group known as the Red Moons . With her is pilot and über - merc Lex " Mad Vornskr " Kempo , demolitions expert and possibly insane Hugo Cutter , and their leader , the Trunsk Sully Tigereye . They are on a job to Gabredor III , a planet full of thick jungles and one of the strongholds of the Karazak Slavers Cooperative . On their way to land , their Corellian light freighter breaks down , crashing in the jungle below and forcing the four sentient crew to abandon ship in an escape pod . After a rough landing , the mercenaries make their way through the jungle . At the Karazak base , slave master Greezim Trentacal oversees the loading of the next shipment of slaves . Among them are the two children of the ambassador of Cantras Gola , a planet that is part of the Imperial faction known as the Pentastar Alignment . The children have been captured as hostages to keep Cantras Gola from defecting to the New Republic . Trentacal learns of the freighter crash from his Defel bodyguard Vex and orders a search . In the jungle , the mercenaries deal with the local wildlife , slaver scouts , and hidden traps . They soon reach the slaver camp and try to devise a way to defeat the superior forces and firepower . Using Cutter ' s demolition skills , the mercs create a sizeable distraction , allowing Sully to infiltrate the slaves in order to free them while Brixie and Kempo come up with a plan to destroy the command bunker . They decide to ram it with a grav - cart rigged with explosives . Realizing that one of them will have to pilot the cart - bomb into the bunker , Kempo volunteers , causing Brixie to see him and her chosen career in general in an entirely new and noble light . Kempo is successful in ramming the cart into the bunker , but is unable to escape before it explodes . Shocked and horrified , Brixie looks for Kempo or what ' s left of him in the wreckage and has to be dragged away from the fire by Cutter . On the Trentacal ' s ship " Atron ' s Mistress " , Sully meets up with Brixie and Cutter . They learn that their objectives , the ambassador ' s children , are in the slave master ' s quarters aboard . They enter to find darkness and everyone except the children dead . They also find the Defel , who attacks them from the dark . Before he can kill them , Brixie realizes what he is and Sully finds the lights , making the Defel an easy target . Some time later , the three remaining mercenaries fly the cargo ship full of freed slaves away from Gabredor III . As Brixie reflects on the loss of their friend and comrade and what her experience has shown her about life as a merc , she looks back at the planet to see a shocking sight . The fires of the slaver camp , the handiwork of Kempo , burn bright and red in the shape of a fiery crescent : a red moon .