The Hunting

Before you start reading this story, make sure to read this opening scroll!
The Hunting is a story written by Logan and Nick about Sith-venator Wavingstrider and Ayrus Tan'dres' teams during the Battle of Hoth and the subsequent adventures.
==Prologue==
1 ABY
The Serenity rattled as it entered the atmosphere of Coruscant.
"Incoming transmission from Princess Leia Organa.", said Juno, an AI made from the brain cells of a deceased human, to the passengers of the ship.
"Patch her through.", said the tallest of the group, Sith-venator Wavingstrider. Leia Organa, a key figure of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and one of the few surviving inhabitants of Alderaan, appeared via a hologram.
"She's shorter than I expected.", whispered Parg "Spikehead" Darach, the Zabrak, to Trawe Underwood, the Mandalorian.
"Shadow Crusaders.", began the princess, "You have been sent to retrieve another rebel group that we've lost contact with. This group is led by two Jedi and their loss would be horrible for the alliance. With a force-sensitive amongst your ranks we thought you would have the best chance to find them. If you make contact with the team please make sure they return to the coordinates I have sent your AI. Good luck, and may the Force be with you."
"So mister Jedi, where are your new friends?", asked S'hadow Dyster, the leader of the Shadow Crusaders, to Sith-venator. Sith-venator pointed out of the cockpit to an explosion on one of the various streets of Coruscant. 
"We didn't need you at all.", smiled Tyree Tiberious, S'hadow's cousin, and gave Sith-venator a slap on the shoulder, causing the energy shielding to flare on Sith-venator's armor. The Shadow Crusaders made their way to the ramp so they could enter what they presumed was a battle.
"It's too hot for the Serenity to land, you'll need to use jetpacks if you want to help the Jedi.", said Juno to the group, her holographic avatar flaring up in front of the still closed ramp. 
"Bad news," interrupted Trawe as he came from the storage room, "the jetpacks are all our of fuel. Someone forgot to refuel them after the last mission." Trawe glared at Spikehead, who began to whistle. The ramp opens up, making the battle appear to be even louder than it already was from within the ship. Sith-venator gently pushed his squadmates aside and jumped out of the ship without a jetpack.
"Crazy bastard, one of these days he's going to land on something as stubborn as he is.", said Tyree as he closed the ramp.
Ayrus Tan'dres force pulled his lightsaber from the ground, quickly activating it, spinning backwards, and slicing a stormtrooper's head off. Tara Kleig jumped from a building above, force pushing all the Stormtroopers back, when she felt a sharp pain against her back. Tara fell to the ground, her expression showing pure fear.
Ayrus gasped, and as he pushed back the remaining stormtroopers, he was thrust into the air, going flying into the side of a Coruscant building. But Ayrus' yacht, the Whispering Night, was nowhere to be found. It was at a refuel station, unaware that the two Jedi were pinned down. Ayrus grabbed Tara's lightsaber, and stabbed backwards. He was trapped in the narrow alleys. There were stormtroopers rushing from all sides. Time seemed to slow as they approached, yelling and screaming for the Jedi. Ayrus dropped the lightsabers, and held Tara in his arms, as she was drifting to death. Droid searcher units were rushing in, lazing the area with energy fields to pin the two in. But they didn't succeed, as a shadowed figure crashed into the street, destroying some of the droids. Four stormtroopers went down with a shock of electricity soon after. 
The figure emerged from the crater it had created and activated a blue oval-shaped blade with a crisp snap. Ayrus watched as he tore apart the Imperial forces. A familiar ship lowered itself in the distance, along with a new one, presumingly belonging to the shadowed figure. After all the Imperials were cleared, the mysterious figure approached. Ayrus removed his helmet, the red highlights dyed blue, just recently, to accommodate Ayrus gaining of the Master armor. Ayrus smiled, his scars showing, as the man approached.
"Thank you.", Ayrus stated. He waited for a reply as the mysterious figure stepped on a dying stormtrooper's neck killing him instantly, the figure removed the helmet with the force, and the figure sighed. Ayrus noticed that the stormtrooper was a Fett clone, they were becoming increasingly rare. Ayrus repeated his thank you this time getting the figure's attention. 
"Your welcome." he finally replied, "Just helping out a friend in need." Ayrus looked at the figure as he appeared into better light, he was in a set of olive armor that Ayrus was unable to recognize. "What's your name friend?", Ayrus asked.
"Sith-venator Wavingstrider.", replied the figure. He helped Ayrus up, who carried Tara to the ship. Ayrus had a feeling the two were going to be good friends. The two ships managed to escape Coruscant and made it to the coordinates Princess Organa had given Juno.
==Chapter 1: Sloppy==
3 ABY
"This is Raptor One, on patrol near the edge of the Hanging Valley. Anyone read?", the white-clad stormtrooper noted, removing his snow-caked helmet. It was a snowtrooper model of helmet, a heavily modified version of the normal stormtrooper helmet, the entire top half of the helmet changed to accommodate cold atmosphere, the bottom half covered in waterproof, body heat containing material. And Raptor One hated it. He always removed his helmet, as it also restrained his view, the tiny eye-slits coated with ice, always fogging up. Cheap Imperials, he thought, also thinking that while the other troopers were on the frontlines, fighting with AT-ATs, Raptor was stuck doing patrols to make sure no Rebels came anywhere near. Raptor's eyes widened when he saw an unnatural object in the snow, on the edge of a rocky cliff, a piece of what used to be a natural road up to the valley.
Raptor recognized the object from his childhood. The barrel of the artillery gun from a Clone Wars era AT-TE. Raptor gasped, put on his helmet, and ran up the cliff face to a plateau, where his speeder was waiting. He boarded it, and threw a tracking beacon down into the valley. He started up the speeder, and flew off to the distance, trying at his radio.
"Damn thing. Never works here.", he mumbled to himself, navigating through the ice peaks, a series of pillars of ice, carved by the strong wind. A few minutes later he found himself meeting another patrol. He decelerated and stepped off his Speeder. The other trooper was asleep inside an old Freeco speeder with a datapad still activated in the trooper's hand, showing a blue Twi'lek wearing only a series of brown leather straps, her rear end most visible.
Raptor knocked on the windshield of the speeder, waking up the trooper, who quickly turned off the datapad. The trooper looked up and opened the windshield.
"Yes!?", he asked panicky. Raptor smiled under the helmet. A sloppy stormtrooper.
"Does your radio work?", Raptor asked. The trooper nodded, and Raptor explained that he had found the AT-TE on the radio, while the trooper looked in awe. Raptor One then took off towards Imperial Outpost C391, a newly put down campsite. Three hours later, Raptor arrived at the campsite, watching Imperial forces disembark towards the AT-TE's location.
Raptor removed his helmet and went to the longhouse, which served as a makeshift barracks. He paused to open the tarp, then walked in. The warm animal-skin room lit with an orange glow by a classic fire, wrapped in a safe fibroplast case, letting the heat out. Inside were multiple troopers, wearing their undergarments, reading datapads, listening to radio signals being re-broadcast unto one of three Imperial campsites on Hoth, watching vids on the datapads, watching battle holograms, or sleeping in their bunkbeds. There were two suitcases beside each bunk, filled with the armor and weapons of the troops. Raptor sat down in his bunk, where he was unluckily bunked with a grizzled clone, who had a large beard. He fell asleep and dreamt of the Twi'lek he had seen on the datapad.
Pathetic.
==Chapter 2: I Hate Mornings==
Ayrus looked up at his posse, his jaw dropping. An AT-TE had been found on Hoth. It was Sith-venator's. He had to tell him. Ayrus ran to the comm. Spies had reported to him that an AT-TE that most likely was owned by Sith-venator was on Hoth, and he had to find it. Ayrus ran to the bridge, knocking his droid, Arcee, out of the way.
"Venator, come in. This is important.", he said.
Sith-venator walked out of the freshers in Civilian apparel, his hair was wet from a shower he had taken and his face was freshly shaved. 
"Why the frack do you call me Venator? Just call me Sith. It's only one syllable instead of two. I want to make the universe a little less complicated one word at a time. So what is it?", he said in a cranky mood as he had only woken up an hour ago.
"You don't happen to own an old AT-TE do you?", asked Ayrus.
"It was on sale.", joked Sith-venator. Ayrus gave him a look so he gave a better reason.
"Yes I do. I got it cleared through Alliance High Command in case Echo Base was ever compromised a tank would help cover the evacuation.", said Sith-venator.
Ayrus replied, "Well its been spotted by some Imps."
"Imps are on Hoth?". asked Sith-venator. Ayrus nodded and Sith-venator sighed.
"Okay guys you better pack your bags and end your mission in the Derra system, because you're heading to Hoth, and you can bet I'm not doing all the work myself." Ayrus laughed, and spoke again. 
"I'll meet you there.", he stated, and turned off the comm, thinking about how Sith-Venator had just woken up.... He didn't approve of the nickname Sith. Sith-venator was a Jedi, not a Sith. A damn good one at that, well a good one in training at the very least. Ayrus turned to his gang, and walked up to them. Kleig was in Ayrus' bedroom, asleep. Ayrus, in the main room of his armored, weaponized Yacht, the Whispering Night, spoke.
"Everyone put on an extra set of pants as we are all going to Hoth. You all remember Sith-Venator Wavingstrider? The one that saved our butts on Coruscant a year ago? Well Hoth is under attack by Imperials, and Venator is hiding an AT-TE there to help evacuate Echo Base if it was take over by Imps. Idiots, aren't they? Well, the Imps found it. Some troop known as RT-1441, or Raptor One, found it. He was killed today by our rebel spies. Reed, set hyperspace coordinates for any of Hoth's moons. We're setting up shop there."
Reed nodded and ran off. Ayrus then went downstairs to his bedroom and opened the door. Inside it was dark. Tara Kleig was still asleep on Ayrus' bed. It had been an entire year since he had met Venator. He remembered the blaster bolt that had nearly paralyzed Tara, millimeters from Tara's spine. He walked over to her, and kissed her on the forehead. She awoke and smiled. Ayrus removed his robes, and lied down in the bed with her. He fell asleep, arms around Tara.
==Chapter 3: Well Now...==
Sith-venator waited for the special machinery to strap his armor onto himself. The process saved time, but it always made Sith-venator feel lazy. He then walked over and inserted Juno's chip into the back of the helmet.
"Do you know what time it is?", yawned Juno.
"Hoth is being attacked Juno, no time for complaints.", replied Sith-venator.
"Odd, you would think that Alliance Command would have told us or we would hear an alarm. Oh wait, our communications are jammed, that explains it. However we should still be hearing an alarm", said Juno. Sith-venator opened the door in front of him only to find snow had caved in that part of the hall way of echo base.
"Guess the cave in knocked out the speakers...", commented Juno.
"Ugggggh..." moaned Sith-venator, he really hated work when he got some ever increasing rare R and R. He pulled out and ignited his flamethrower melting the snow rapidly. He ran through the hallway trying his best not to run over small droids. He ran into the hanger and yelled for someone to give him some information on the battle, but no one answered. Everybody was gone but Chewbacca who was working on the Millennium Falcon. 
"Chewie!", yelled Sith-venator. Chewbacca looked up and smiled at the armored figure he had come to know as Sith-venator. Chewie grunted and growled something back that Juno translated as "Imperial Walkers are decimating the front lines." 
"Okay thanks man I owe you one!", said Sith-venator as he jumped onto his AT-RT and rode towards his hidden AT-TE.
Nearby, at the edge of the Hanging Valley, sat the AT-TE. There was a series of Imperial speeders parked at the cliff, officers and troops, wearing armor decorated with red markings, stood, examining the barrel of the AT-TE.
"Captain Blaine, we have not identified any sign that the AT-TE is booby trapped or aligned with the Rebel Scum. Maybe it was just-", an officer said, before one of the others, not wearing a helmet over his snow gear, interrupted him.
"Then we have to search i-", he said. But right then, his face showed a face of shear terror and pain, as he crumpled to the ground, a visible impact on his back. About a mile away, wrapped in a white cloak and snow gear, sat Ayrus' Ithorian sniper, Tarvok Wonn, with his special Ithorian rifle, equipped with a rare bolt suppressor, which would make the shot look and sound invisible. Tarvok grinned an Ithorian grin as the officer bounced back when he felt a tingling sensation as one of his troops flew by him and then 200 feet into the valley below. As the officer turned around, he saw an explosion, as his speeder was destroyed. He was thrust back onto the side of the mountain, as he rolled down, his face battered by the pieces of ice. A Sullustan, a mile away to the east of the valley, had just detonated a bomb. Another of Ayrus' friends. But then everything stopped for the officer, as he expected his face to be crushed at the bottom of the valley. He was lifted into the air, his hat plummeting down through a small crack in the ice.
Ayrus, clad in a black cloak, to disguise him, but still wearing his trademark Mandalorian helmet, walked up to the Officer.
"Where is your outpost?", Ayrus asked calmly. The Imperial spat at him, and Ayrus threw him onto the ground, the officer slipped into a crack, almost falling down into the deep core of Hoth, but Ayrus pulled him up.
"Tell me where, or I let go.", Ayrus stated.
The Officer pulled out his blaster, but Ayrus used the force to slam him into the corner of the ice, breaking his teeth.
"Where?", Ayrus asked, once more.
"To the east... Coordinates on this datapad!", the officer stated, throwing Ayrus a datapad. Ayrus grabbed it, and let go. The officer screamed as he was dropped into the crack in the ice, falling down into the infinite darkness. Ayrus used the force to jump back up, pulling out a blue Lightsaber. It was a gift from an old friend of his. Ayrus smiled at it, and stepped up, going unto his comm.
"Sith, I have the coordinates for the outpost that the Imperials who know about the AT-TE are coming from. With all due respect, what the hell should I do?"
Sith-venator's AT-RT approached suddenly and, without warning, he jumped off of the nimble walker managing to land near Ayrus, "Well if you want you can take out that outpost, I don't care how you do it I just don't want those AT-ATs knowing there's about to be a mass driver up there @$$ and turn around." Ayrus and his gang headed to the outpost while Sith-venator used his flamethrower, yet again, to clear ice and snow so he could get to the cockpit of the old walker. He hopped into it once he could and managed to restart the old thing with enough help from Juno.
"Juno you ready to kick some Imperial @$$?"
"Sith, you know I'm always ready for any kind of @$$ kicking. If I had a body I would even be kicking yours!", Juno joked. Sith-venator laughed as he piloted the walker towards the rear of the Imperial attack force.
==Chapter 4: This is Where The Fun Begins==
Ayrus arrived at the outpost. It was colder outside than usual, and the checkpoint guards were asleep. Ayrus had an idea. He had remembered how the Imperials had killed his former Padawan Ailyn. He had gotten revenge, but in his sarcastic humor, decided to show them one more thing. He grabbed his Lightsaber and walked into the cafeteria, where a stormtrooper was cleaning up the leftover plates. The trooper dropped his plate and napkin when Ayrus had walked in. In an instant, the trooper was pinned to a wall by the force. Ayrus walked up to him, and stabbed him in the stomach. Then Ayrus got a can of grease, and put it in a spray bottle of water, creating a makeshift flamethrower. Ayrus walked across the snow into the barracks, and saw quite a few troopers sleeping. He smiled, and lit the bunks on fire, walking out. He heard a muffled scream, as the highly flammable Wampa-skin tent caught on fire. Ayrus smiled to himself, got in his speeder, and raced off. The Sullustan had planted charges at the base, and just as the troops got out of range, he blew the charges. 50 miles from Echo Base, yet not a soul noticed the spectacular fireworks show.
A wampa sniffed the air, looking for some prey, but before prey could be found Sith-venator shot the wampa with his AT-TE, turning the reptomammal into dust. 
"Was that really nessesary?", asked Juno. 
"Hey, you never know when those things will kill your tauntaun and hang you from a ceiling. I probably just saved someone.", replied Sith-venator laughing.
"Those things are going to be extinct due to your thinking sooner or later.", sighed Juno.
It was not long before the AT-TE got within range of attacking the rear of the Imperial Army. 
"Juno, man the mass driver if you will.", ordered Sith-venator to the AI.
"Aye sir, one fried AT-AT coming up.", she replied. A couple squads of snowtroopers noticed the approaching AT-TE.
"Sarge, look at that relic!", said one of the snowtroopers.
"Frack you stormie!", said Sith-venator as he fired the four anti-personal laser cannons at the squads. 
"Nothing beats the classics!", commented Sith-venator. An approaching AT-ST immediately was engulfed in an explosion as Juno fired the mass driver at the scout walker.
"So far so good.". said Juno.
The AT-TE wreaked havoc at the back lines for several minutes destroying several AT-ARs, A5 Juggernaut tanks, and even an AT-AT in the process. However, it wasn't long before the Imperials took notice.
"Juno, what is that in the sky?", asked Sith-venator.
"TIE Bomber squadron! Get out I'll hold them off with the cannon.", shouted Juno as she began firing the mass driver as fast as she could. Sith-venator quickly opened the hatch and leaped out running as fast as his legs could carry him. The AT-TE took out four of the five TIE Bombers, but was unable to destroy the last one. The last TIE Bomber was able to drop a few proton torpedoes upon the old walker, destroying it instantly. Sith-venator turned around, and with a lot of concentration, pulled the TIE Bomber out of the sky and managed to crash it into the ground causing a large explosion.
"AT-AT dead ahead Sith, want to take it out?", asked Juno.
Sith-venator cracked his fingers and replied, "Sure do." He ran again for a few moments. Then, when he got close enough to the colossal walker, he managed to jump up and climb all way yo to the top of it. Once at the top he walked across the "neck" and onto the cockpit and let out a barrage of green force lightning. After several seconds the pilots were all dead and the walker collapsed on the ground. Sith-venator jumped off, doing a front flip, and walked away into the blizzard towards his AT-RT. A minute later there was an explosion, only the kind a damaged AT-AT can make. It was music to his ears.
Ayrus and the rest of his gang, all Humans clad in Imperial snow gear while the others were wearing typical Rebel gear, with Ayrus wearing Darth Maul's black robes, rode into the battlefield that was once Echo Base in arrow formation. Most of the speeders broke off, as they would appear as Imperial stormtroopers. Ayrus rode forward, straight towards an AT-AT, when he noticed an electric current flowing around it, the AT-AT eventually crumbling to the ground. Ayrus smiled, as that tactic belonged only to Sith-venator. He rode down the hill and into a large crater near Echo Base, watching some AT-STs "pouring on pain". Ayrus focused the force on one of two AT-STs, and lifted it up into the air, crushing the cockpit. Then the other AT-ST turned in confusion, when Ayrus slammed the first into it, destroying them both. When he stopped focusing on the AT-STs, he noticed his Speeder losing control as he flowed over an ice puddle. He felt himself twist, as his speeder skidded onto the ice, losing most of its hover. Then it started to roll and Ayrus was kicked off, flying into the air. Luckily he landed safely in the snow, watching his speeder crash into a snow drift, melting it away in a spectacular explosion.
Meanwhile, a group of stormtroopers approached an AT-AT outside of Echo Base crater, and stopped by it. Reed got out of the speeder, Mort behind him, both pretending to be stormtroopers with Tara behind them. They walked up to the Officer on board.
"What are you doing out of the battle, troopers?", the officer asked with an annoyed tone.
Mort looked at Reed, who spoke.
"We came to do an, er, inspection check. It appears there was a problem with this AT-AT a few days ago, uh.... A leak in the legs.... Heh."
Luckily, the officer had no knowledge of vehicles, so he hesitantly nodded, and let the two troopers through. Tara looked at the officer. He smiled awkwardly, and Tara under the masculine armor, nodded.
The two others boarded the AT-AT, and inside, the pilot was reading a datapad on Rodian anatomy while his commander was asleep. The one gunner and two deck officers were reading more Twi'lek datapads. There was three gunshots causing the pilot and gunner turned around. They were then shot instantly. Reed and Mort hit two buttons that opened up the fuel cell. Reed tossed a bottle down below into the fuel cell, causing it blow up.
Outside, the officer's jaw dropped. He looked back at Tara, and raised his weapon, but he was thrust into the air with the force, and slammed against the burning hot AT-AT. Reed and Mort jumped out, running back to the speeders as the AT-AT exploded. The three sped off, to meet up with the others and help evacuate Echo Base.
==Chapter 5: Intentions Revealed==
Ayrus ran into Echo Base, diving into the snow as someone on the comms stated-
"Fourth transport is away. Fourth transport is away!"
Ayrus ran inside, shaking snow off of his robes. He ran up to find Rebels fleeing into the tunnels. Ayrus ran through the ice tunnels, finding three snowtroopers shooting down a hole. Ayrus hesitated for a moment, wondering if they were his allies, but then one turned and fired at him. Then three more snowtroopers came out of the tunnel. The three that had just arrived shot the three Ayrus was facing. The three removed their helmets. Reed, Tara, and Mort. Ayrus spoke to them for a moment, as snow crumbled in from the fight outside.
Princess Leia, then Han Solo ran by, not taking a moment to notice that the three Rebels were in Imperial gear. Then came C-3P0, yelling to wait for him. A few meters behind 3P0 came Tarvok, the Ithorian, the Sullustan, Soi Sobb, and a few other members of Ayrus' gang ran out.
Ayrus motioned the gang to follow him, running back to the hanger, as the Millennium Falcon flew off. Approaching from the other door was Darth Vader.
"Let's go!", he yelled, as the Whispering Night pulled into the Starport. The three Imperials started to fire blaster bolts at the snowtroopers, Tarvok pulling out what appeared to be a wookiee crossbow. He chambered an explosive arrow, lit it on fire, and shot it at Vader. He underestimated Vader's strength. Vader sent the shot back, but Ayrus held it with the force, also holding in mid-air the blaster shots coming at him, as they would slow down, appearing as though time was stopping as they hit Ayrus' force barrier. Vader instantly recognized the helmet, but Ayrus' plan had worked. He had distracted Vader and held back the other snowtrooper's shots as the rebels had boarded the Yacht. 
The group piled inside with the ship taking off, flying at slow speed. As the ship got higher, Ayrus let the shots ring out, the crossbow exploding, as he ran to the ship, force jumping aboard it, and saluting Vader sarcastically as he took off into the horizon. Ayrus and the others took formation,as Ayrus spoke.
"We've got to aid those transports!", he yelled. Reed took the helm, Soi Sobb took co-pilot, and the others manned the guns as Ayrus stood behind the two pilots. He then took control, leading the yacht towards Transport 6. However, Ayrus was sensing something. Not Sith-venator, and not Vader.... but something else. The presence of confidence. The Empire was hiding something, but right now he had to focus on getting the last transport out of the system.
Ayrus then felt the urge to pilot the ship.
"Reed go get the crew some warm blue milk, I'll take it from here.", said Ayrus.
"Whatever you say fearless leader.", replied Reed sarcasticaly.
Ayrus flew up right under the transport, and as soon as he exited the atmosphere, three TIE Fighters approached. Krow, the Wookiee, was up in the top cabin, firing the mass driver at them. It exploded when it impacted the middle fighter, the debris hitting the others, causing them to spin out of control. X-Wings fought TIE fighters, the shield lowering as Vader took it out in his personal starfighter. Ayrus spread the Yacht farther from the transport. Krow fired the mass driver at an oncoming group of bombers, wiping them out. Ayrus closed his eyes, willing the force to take him. He started in front of the transport, as he could feel every shot, every explosion around him, on the Yacht, and on the transport. He heard something on the comm.
"We are ready to make the jump to hyperspace, General."
Ayrus smiled.
"Take it!", he yelled, swerving the ship downwards, as the escort jumped into hyperspace. Ayrus smiled, but turned the ship around. Sith-venator and the others were still down there. It was time to help the stragglers.
Sith-venator ran across the frozen plains of Hoth looking for his AT-RT.
"Here AT-RT, come on boy!", yelled Sith-venator sarcastically as he patted his legs.
"I cannot believe you lost it.", commented Juno, "We are not even done paying off that thing!"
"Shut up, I know where it is!", replied Sith-venator.
"No you don't, I am ordering Serenity to this location.", said Juno. Just then though the blizzard stopped and Sith-venator noticed a large group of people. He was on top of a large hill and ducked into cover by instinct. He slowly got out a pair of electrobinoculars and zoomed in on the group of people. Sith-venator was shocked to see Alliance infantry, but they were kneeling and handcuffed. He looked to the left to see Imperial snowtroopers aiming their E-11s at them. The entire group were prisoners.
The blizzard had left Sith-venator's area and was headed to where the Yacht was parked. Ayrus knew that Darth Maul's robes would not protect him from the ice-cold blizzard. He walked to his cabin, and opened his closet door, revealing an armory/closet. He removed his robes, and placed them-temporarily, on a small workbench where Ayrus was constructing several things. Ayrus put on his silver Mandalorian gear, and put an old Clone Wars-era Jedi parka over it. He stepped out of his room, walking through his gang, who were taking a long needed rest by watching the holoprojector on the wall, reading datapads, or sleeping. He pulled on his white balaclava, his blue tinted goggles, and the fur lined hood on the black parka. He tapped Reed Gistren on the back, causing Reed to jump out of his chair. Krow, sitting parallel, laughed a Shryiiwook laugh. Ayrus gave him a look from under the goggles, and told Gistren he was going out to find Sith-venator.
Ayrus walked out of the cockpit, up into the main cabin, and out into the airlock. He opened the ramp, as wind and snow poured into the airlock. Ayrus quickly ran out, the ramp closing due to the conditions. Ayrus pulled out a small device from a pocket inside his parka, and pressed a button on it. A ramp at the rear of the Yacht opened up, revealing a large undercarriage with multiple speeders. Ayrus got on the blue and gray BARC speeder, marked with Mandalorian and Jedi symbols, and quickly rode off towards what appeared to be a heat signature belonging to Sith-venator.
It wasn't long before Ayrus found where Sith-venator was. When he did Sith-venator put a finger in front of his lips, the universal symbol for quiet. Ayrus got off the BARC speeder and walked to where Sith-venator was and laid down in the snow belly first. Sith-venator gave Ayrus the electrobinoculars and pointed out the Alliance POWs and the snowtroopers guarding them. Then a few hundred feet to the west a large formation of A6 Juggernaut tanks came into view, each tank with a large escort of Imperial Sith Acolytes and Saber Guards. At the front of the formation was a high ranking Imperial officer and a woman in civilian clothes. After a short period where the two were talking the Imperial officer yelled into his comm and the A6 tanks fired all their missiles at the rebel prisoners. Creating a temperature more than a nuke could produce the rebels were atomized. Their faces.... Sith-venator wouldn't be able to forget the fear on there faces. Ayrus gave a pat on the shoulder to Sith-venator.
"Juno tap into there commm please.", asked Sith-venator.
"Done sir, she said in a sad tone.", both hadn't seen something this bad since the war with the Covenant in the Milky Way galaxy.
The Imperial officer smiled.
"The firing test has been successful, Lord Vader.", the officer said. There was a slight pause as the signal traveled through the galaxy. Then, all of a sudden, there was a crackle on the comm.
"Good.", the voice crackled, then continued. "I want you to round up any Rebels in the vicinity. Fire-"
Ayrus pulled off his binocs, and looked at Sith-venator.
"I think direct intervention is necessary.", he said, looking at the large crater where there was only fried ashes of the Rebels. There were five more rebels, on the ground. One of them, a rare red-skinned Rodian, stood up, kicked an Imperial snowtrooper, quickly grabbed his blaster, and started to run towards the snow drift Ayrus and Sith were behind, unknowing that they were there.
The comm crackled again, as the Officer spoke to the gunners.
"FIRE! FIRE NOW!", he yelled, as the Juggernauts adjusted their cannons towards the Rodian. He yelled as he ran, but as he approached the large snow drift, the cannons fired, blowing the Rodian into the sky as he yelled a familiar scream. His legs were fried off, the other half of his body flying past the two Jedi.
"Another effective demonstration.", the officer said with a sneer. Then he continued.
"If any of you others wish to fall to these prototypes, just say.", the officer stated, turning around.
Ayrus looked at Sith-venator.
"Should we act?", he asked.
"We will need to be sneaky, we don't want to be another test subject of those new A6 Tanks.", replied Sith-venator. 
"Can you use the force to cloak us?" Ayrus nodded a yes.
"Can you also cloak the four remaining prisoners?" Ayrus nodded again.
"Lets go then." Ayrus used his force cloak ability on all six of the Aliiance affiliated people there. They ran down the hill to get the prisoners attention. The prisoners, not knowing what was happening initially, waved at them to run away. After a long period of Ayrus and Sith-ventor waving at them to run to the safety of the hill they finally went for it. It took the snowtroopers guarding them a few minutes to figure out the prisoners were gone, but by then all Rebels were behind the hill.
"Sir the prisoners have escaped.", said one of the snowtroopers to the Imperial Officer. The Imperial Officer sighed, took out his Model 22T4 hold-out blaster pistol and shot the snowtrooper in the face.
"No more mistakes troopers, or you will suffer the fate of you Sergeant." The remaining snowtroopers saluted and said they understood.
The Woman asked, "Are you concerned that they might find their way back to the Rebellion and tell them of the plans to mass produce these tanks?
"No.", he replied, "They will die in the cold. Lets get out of here, there's a storm coming." The two got into one of the tanks and drove off to an Imperial Landing Pad with the other tanks following behind.
"Juno, did you get all that?", asked Sith-venator.
"Yes I did, they're planning on mass producing a new variation of the Heavy Assault Vehicle/wheeled A6 Juggernaut, one that can be built dirt cheap. If this happens we wont even see AT-ATs anymore, everywhere on the battle field, every Imperial occupied Planet, they will be there. We have to stop them."
"Juno is right Venator, the Alliance doesn't have the anti-vehicle weaponry to deal with hundreds or even thousands of those tanks.", commented Ayrus.
"Juno where are they going?", asked Sith-venator.
"The shuttle that just took off...is heading to Kuat."
"Oh great Kuat, how the hell are we supposed to even manage to land there?", moaned Sith-venator.
Ayrus looked at Sith-venator once more.
"Juno, if you don't mind, call the Serenity. Rally your team here. I will get Reed to fly my team to this location.", Ayrus said, walking to his Speeder to call his team.
"Reed,", he said.
There was a crackle on the comm, as Ayrus was given a sarcastic "Yes?"
Ayrus told him to move the ship to his location.
==Chapter 6: The Plan==
After a few minutes, the Serenity and Whispering Night arrived on the scene followed shortly by the former Imperial commando S'hadow Dyster, former storm commando Tyree Tiberious, the Zabrak Parg "Spikehead" Darach, and Mandalorian Trawe Underwood who had been left behind. Krow walked out, shivering. Behind him, Tara, clad in a white poncho with typical Rebel snow gear walked out. Behind her was Reed Gistren. The others remained inside. The rebels that had just beem saved were standing around to waiting for something to happen, all other transports were off the planet, if they wanted off of Hoth they had to be on one of the two ships. They consisted of a female chiss, a male duros, a female devaronian, and a male kaleesh. 
"Well, what is the plan Captain?", asked the female chiss to Sith-venator. Sith-venator took off his helmet only to look at Ayrus for a plan. Ayrus pulled down the hood on his helmet, and pulled up his goggles, removing his white balaclava and placing it in a small pouch with his blaster and assorted gear. Then he pulled out a small knife.
"I've got an idea.", he stated, as the Tan'dres gang gathered closer. Ayrus looked at the group.
"The officer mentioned Kuat. A hellhole for us Rebels. An Imperial stronghold, and a damn good one. They have power there. If we went in and in some case we were discovered, we'd be surrounded by shuttles, and destroyed by the Star Destroyers, or the cannons that defend the shipyards. Being that the Alliance is probably low on funding thanks to the Imperial attack on Hoth, we won't be able to take a whole group of Rebels. I've got an idea on how to get in, but it's too cold out here. Let's go inside first.", Ayrus said, putting up his knife. He had a datapad inside, to show his examples of the tactics they would need.
The group walked inside, most taking a seat on a red, circular Corellian leather couch, some taking seats on the other chairs, or leaning against a wall. Sith-venator was leaning against a wall, and Ayrus had sat down in the center of the couch, Tara beside him.
He leaned over, and spoke, as the hatch closed in the airlock.
"We are going to infiltrate Kuat Drive Yards, as Imperials delivering some sort of supplies or people just wanting to visit their families. If we do manage to get boarded inside the crates with the supplies will be the rest of the you. Tara, me, and Sith will be stormtroopers delivering the supplies in that worst-case scenario. I only have one set of stormtrooper armor though, and three sets of snowtrooper armor, but snowtrooper armor won't help us. We need more stormtrooper armor. Patrols circulate Christophsis, Tatooine, and many other planets. We need two sets of armor, and that isn't easy to come by. We'd also need it clean. No blaster holes, or anything. We'd have to eliminate the troopers with the force, a garrote, or a shot to the undersuit. We have to get that armor! Next off, we'd need to get a hold of an Imperial transport-and docking codes not only for Kuat Drive Yards, but for any Star Destroyers docked. We'd sneak in, deliver the supplies, and using my Sullustan friend's demolition experience, along with anyone elses, blow up the Juggernaut factory. I'll discuss plans more after I get some commentary from all of you,", Ayrus said, leaning back and putting his arm around Tara.
Sith-venator spoke after Ayrus was done and Juno's holographic form appeared next to him.
"Juno has discovered more information that will help our plan.", said Sith-venator for his AI.
Juno then spoke saying, "Besides taking out the factory we also need to take out the people that know the schematics of mass production, these would be Colonel Adolf Tarkin and his wife Caroline Brown. According to what I have learned from the Imperial HoloNet, Mrs. Brown was the one to discover how to mass produce the A6s without bankrupting the Empire."
Sith-venator then cut in saying, "As we know they are Kuat overseeing the end of the plan. I say we head for Tatooine to acquire the stormtrooper armor and codes from an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer currently orbiting the planet. We should be able to board it if we steal an Imperial transport on the planet's surface. Once on board the transport, Juno can uncover the proper codes to dock with the Star Destroyer."
Ayrus nodded.
"Then that settles that. We are going to Tatooine, and it is getting dark. Reed, set coordinates for Tatooine. We'll talk more in the morning. Sith, you can take your group back to your ship, and follow us. We'll keep the Rebel soldiers here. We have bunks for them. I'll see you in the morning."
Sith-venator nodded, walking his group out, as Reed went to the cockpit. Ayrus pulled out cots for the Rebels, and placed them in the main room. He then walked to his room parallel of the cockpit. He opened the door, Tara already asleep. He removed his gear, putting on a typical shirt, and walked to his closet, entering the combination. The door opened, and he put his winter gear on the bench. He then walked back to the bedroom, and lied down on the bed. He turned on the HoloNet and started tuning for a signal. He found a distant one, but it worked. A small moon, just transmitting to any spacers. Ayrus saw a woman appear, as he realized he was watching the Holonet News. Ayrus leaned back in the bed, and fell asleep watching about the murder of three Twi'lek dancers on Coruscant, the primary suspect being a Kyuzo. Ayrus turned off the TV, and closed his eyes, feeling a bump as the Whispering Night jumped to hyperspace.
Sith-venator lied in his bed as the Serenity made the jump to hyperspace. He never actually piloted the ship, Juno did. His room was located near the engines, with various weapons and pieces of equipment hanging from the walls as inside. Spikehead was the one who used the actual part of the ship that was designated as a bedroom to sleep. Due to the unusual extra passengers he had to share the room with Tyree. Trawe and S'hadow slept on some couches in the main room, which Juno called the tac-room. The tac-room contained a lot of equipment for just about anything, including a place to store food and several video games. Sith-venator got up and got a glass of soda from the tac-room, trying his best not to wake up Trawe or S'hadow. Successful, he walked back to his room, drank the soda, and fell asleep.
==Chapter 7: Footpadding==
Stormtrooper Devar Maxis, known better as RP-1416, stood watch in his sector, the Mos Eisley Cantina. He had intervened ten times in the course of two weeks. In all of the delinquents he had encountered, he had never seen so much scum and villainy but here. 1416 now stood outside, reluctantly welcoming any visitors to the Cantina. He hated it, and as 1416 stood watch, Ayrus landed on Tatooine, deep in the Dune Sea. Behind the Whispering Night stood the Serenity. Ayrus got out, and said he was going to do some scouting. He was wearing his suit of classic Mandalorian armor, from when he had barely met Krow. He walked outside, and took his speeder out to the Cantina.
Sith-venator, Trawe, and Spikhead exited the Serenity in their typical military clothing while S'hadow and Tyree stayed behind at the ship. Sith-venator was in his MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark VI, Trawe was in his Mandalorian Shock Trooper armor, and Spikehead was in his armor that varied from parts from bone, chitin, and bounty hunter armor. Each were armed with there typical weaponry.
Ayrus stopped outside of the Mos Eisley cantina, and walked up to the door, when 1416 stepped into his way, suspicious of him.
"Halt, citizen.", he said, grabbing his blaster, lowered and at the ready.
Ayrus was calm, and stepped back for personal space.
"Yes, officer?", Ayrus asked.
1416 was aggravated at the citizen's tone, and spoke up, a bit of anger in his voice.
"You've been circling this area on that speeder. What are you doing?", the trooper asked.
Ayrus looked back at his speeder, then back to the trooper.
"I was just looking for a place to have a drink.", Ayrus said, sounding slightly like a drunkard.
The officer heard the slurring of the citizen's words, and though the lethal Mandalorian armor did not match his attitude, with a bit of hesitation, the trooper let Ayrus inside.
Ayrus walked in, and instantly heard the Modal Nodes playing one of their hit songs, Mad About Me. He thought Bith were a nice species. Ayrus walked over to the bar, and saw someone harassing a small Ewok who was traveling with a Human companion-currently in the restroom. Ayrus walked over to the person, and when they turned, it was a Zabrak, hassling the Ewok for his companion's wallet. The Ewok bit the Zabrak's finger, cursing in ewokese, when the Zabrak pulled out a pistol. Ayrus quickly force pulled his DL-44 out of his holster, and shot the Zabrak, the Zabrak firing a shot into the ceiling. The music stopped for a minute, as everyone looked at the dead Zabrak. Ayrus looked around, the typical look of a Mandalorian forcing everyone back onto their usual deeds. Ayrus went over, and handed the Ewok ten credits, then sat down at the bar, ordering some Bantha Brew. He looked at the bartender. A gruff man. Ayrus ignored him, waiting for what he had planned. In a few moments, he saw the bartender get up and walk to the door. Ayrus chugged his Bantha Brew, put his helmet on, and walked out of the cantina, passing three confused stormtroopers. He had whispered to them that the Zabrak did it, using a Jedi mind trick. He walked out to his speeder, and three of the four troopers outside were still there, 1416 one of the ones inside.
Ayrus got on his speeder, driving back to the rally point, as he saw Sith-venator's gang passing by. The small group of soldiers walked up to RP-1416 and started to converse with him.
"Sup dude.", said Trawe.
"Good day Citizen.", he replied. Another Civilian in Mandalorian armor?, he thought to himself.
"Parden me sir, but could we offer you a drink?", asked Sith-venator.
"I am not allowed to drink on duty civilian.", replied the now annoyed stormtrooper. 
"Come on man you look stressed out! You're pale from all the work!", said Spikehead not making things better. RP-1416 put his hand on his helmet in annoyance. 
Sith-venator waved his hand while saying, "Your life is a fracken' mess, you need a drink."
"My life is a fracken' mess. You guys are alright! Mind if I have a drink with you three?", replied RP-1416. Trawe slapped him on the shoulder and motioned him to follow them deeper into the cantina.
A few minutes later, Ayrus arrived back at the rally point. He pulled the small device out of his underobes, and pressed a button, the entrance hatch opening. Ayrus walked inside the heavily decorated ship with many artifacts, weapons, and armor sets on display. He walked back to the rear of the ship, opened a door, stepped down a slightly angled staircase, and walked to the left-most room, another storage room to the rear. He opened the door, walking past Tara, who was cleaning. Ayrus looked at his vault/closet door, and typed in a passcode in aurebesh. A small metal plate pulled upwards, and Ayrus pulled off one of his gloves, pushing his thumb on the pad. The door opened, and another, heavily plated door opened behind it, revealing a chrome-walled room, Ayrus' vault/closet, once more. He sat down on one of the two benches, another chamber, an armory, hidden behind an empty wall at the right side of the left end of the room. room had many black lockers and cabinets, most open with no door over them.
Ayrus pulled off his helmet, trying on the stormtrooper helmet, though it was a few years old. He tore off his Mando' armor, and five minutes later, Ayrus stepped out of the ship clad in stormtrooper armor, and rode in on an Imperial speeder. Ayrus parked the speeder near the Cantina, put an E-11 in his right hand, and walked into the cantina finding RP-1416 incredibly drunk. 
The first thing Ayrus heard was, "Then my girlfriend got an abortion without telling me, and that's when I decided to join the Stormtrooper Corps."
"Friend, you have some serious problems.", said Spikehead to RP-1416. Ayrus walked up to the drunk stormtrooper and told him to get to the back-outside part of the Cantina.
"But Sarge, I don't wanna go to school!", said RP-1416 protesting in the only way he could manage.
"Move it soldier I need you to be ready to move out.", ordered Ayrus. They got into the back with no one around and told the stormtrooper to spin around then stop after thirty seconds. After about ten he passed out and knocked his head against the side of the cantina.
"Ouch.", commented Juno over the commlink to everyone.
"Spikehead strip him and put on his equipment, Trawe will take your armor and weapons back to the Serenity.", ordered Sith-venator. After a few minutes a half naked stormtrooper laid at the feet of four heavily armored figures.
"Do not forget to get rid of the body like you did last time.", said Juno over the comm to everyone.
"Thanks mom.", said Spikehead in a sarcastic measure.
"Anybody have a disintegrator?", asked Ayrus.
"I do." replied Trawe, he pulled out his blaster, aimed, and fired. He missed.
"Sith, you mind telling me why jerked my blaster out of the way?", asked Trawe in an annoyed tone.
"How can you kill him when he just poured his life story onto us? It's not the Jedi way.", replied Sith-venator.
"...Do I look like a Jedi to you? I was part of Death Watch, remember? We used to do stuff way worse than this before you were even born.", replied Trawe, who's tone had shifted from annoyed to angry. 
"And I thought you had put that kind of stuff behind you after my father rescued you from prison! Where is the honor in killing a defenseless prisoner?", asked Sith-venator with his arms now crossed.
"Sith has a point.", commented Ayrus, "We're above this kind of thing."
"He's not a Gungan, so I guess he can live.", commented Spikehead.
"Fine you bunch of babies. What are we going to do with a prisoner then?", replied Trawe.
"I have an idea.", replied Sith-venator. He gently slapped the stormtrooper on cheek to wake him up. 
"Whaaat happened?", commented RP-1416.
"What, you forgot already?", said Sith-venator.
"My head aches like there's a black hole inside my brain, so yes." replied RP-1416.
"Well after having a drink with me and my friends here you were feeling lucky and went to play the lottery. It turns out you were very lucky!", said Sith-venator as he handed out multiple credit chips, "You won!"
The stormtrooper blinked in astonishment, "I won? I won! WOOOOT! With that much money I can retire on Naboo." The stormtrooper, filled with happiness, jumped up and ran to the nearest spaceport, unaware he was in underclothes. 
"See, doesn't that make you feel like a better person guys?", said Sith-venator as the group laughed at the stormtrooper.
"Where did you get that kind of money?", asked Ayrus.
"Me and Juno go to Coruscant every year to take some 'taxes'. Two credits from every bank account on the planet.", replied Sith-venator, "Don't hurt your brain with the math, just remember it's a lot of money."
Ayrus smiled, "So after all that do we actually know where we are going?"
"Yes, he told us where his camp was and that the rest of his squad will be resting there. You know, before he told us how he met the love of his life at a library.", replied Sith-venator.
"The coordinates are in all of your HUDs.", finished Juno.
==Chapter 8: I Keep What I Steal==
"In position Ayrus. Spikehead is coming with you.", Sith-venator said. He was covered in sand a few dozen meters away from the Imperial outpost. He was using a pair of macrobinoculars, and waiting for Spikehead and Ayrus, clad in stormtrooper armor, to move in. Using rusty speeders, brandished with the Imperial logo, the two pulled up to a small campsite. It was cold, and one sun had fallen below the horizon. The other was barely visible, the sky a dark navy blue as the two speeders pulled up to the camp, a series of Bantha-hide tents arranged around a fire. There was one stormtrooper asleep against a mound of dirt, obviously on watch. There was ruckus coming from inside the five tents, though two were dark and quiet. Ayrus had his lightsaber stuck in a space in the holster, hidden by the blaster. Ayrus walked up to the stormtrooper asleep, and kicked him in the stomach lightly, the slight feeling of falling awakening the trooper. He looked at the two stormtroopers.
"Maxis?", he asked. Ayrus looked at Spikehead, who nodded.
"He's a little drunk.", Ayrus stated. The trooper nodded.
"Send him off to his bunk. Holden 'll be happy to see him. What's your designation, trooper?", he asked. Ayrus looked at his armor.
"TK-1337?", Ayrus asked, unsure of himself. The trooper picked up a datapad, minimizing a satire video about Rodians and hair. He searched up TK. Death Star, Death Star. All the TKs were stationed on the Death Star.
"I... don't see any TKs on Tatooine. Where's your station, trooper?", he asked. Ayrus decided it was time to intervene. He waved his hand while he spoke to the trooper.
"There is a TK encampment on Tatooine. You will ask no more questions.", Ayrus said. With a moment of hesitation, the trooper repeated his words.
"There is a TK camp here on Tatooine. I won't bother you with anymore questions."
Ayrus nodded, shoving Spikehead toward his tent. Spikehead looked back, gave him the finger, and stepped inside.
Ayrus looked at his speeder, then back at the watchtrooper.
"Mind if I stay here for the night?", he asked. The trooper shrugged.
"Stay up for the rest of the hour, and keep my watch. Go to the next watch trooper's tent after the hour."
The trooper walked into his tent, and most of the lights went off inside the tents. Ayrus pulled off his helmet, threw it on the ground, and motioned Sith-venator, who used force speed to run over swiftly.
"What now?", Ayrus asked.
"Is there a place where they take off their armor? Where is the armory?", asked Sith-venator. Ayrus pointed behind him. Sith-venator looked into one of the tents, a larger one, only to quickly pop his head back out.
"There is a dark trooper in there!", said Sith-venator in a whisper. Both Sith-venator and Ayrus had a concerned look on their faces, dark troopers were a Rebel's worst nightmare. Ayrus told Sith to stay there. Then he stepped inside, looking relaxed.
He threw off his helmet, his face clean shaven, his scars still showing, somewhat prominently. The armory was empty aside from the dark trooper. Hopefully they wouldn't recognize his face, as he had been "dead" for around ten years. Ayrus sat down at a workbench, and started disassembling the blaster he had. He tried to strike up a conversation.
"I'm just staying here for the night. So what's it like to be a dark trooper?"
The phase zero dark trooper removed his helmet. It was a grizzled clone with a jagged, grayish black beard, a scar through his left eye, and a bad complexion. His hair was black with many bits of gray. Ayrus saw that as he turned he had his left arm's armor off. It was a prosthetic.
"It's bloody hell."
Ayrus looked at him closely, and then made a choice.
"If you were given a chance, would you leave the Empire?", he asked.
The dark trooper stopped removing his armor, and looked at Ayrus. He looked around the room, and then nodded.
"I would and I have.", he said.
"You have?", Ayrus asked.
The dark trooper removed his chest armor and peeled off his undersuit. Ribcages of metal were jutting out of his chest. He had an Imperial brand and tattoo on his chest.
"Yep, tried to leave during Order 66 and saved my Jedi General. I killed my own men, dozens. Order 66 was a bloody lie! My general saved my life at the cost of his own. I was captured and forced to become a dark trooper as punishment." Ayrus lifted the shoulder armor of the dark trooper with the force. He looked at the shoulder pad quizzically, then realized he was in the presence of a Jedi.
"What do you need me to do?", he asked.
Meanwhile, Sith-venator snooped around the camp in search of a lone stormtrooper in case Ayrus' plan went wrong. He peeked into one of the tents to see an entire squad sleeping.
"Tempting, but not yet.", said Juno to Sith-venator. He rolled to the next tent, peeked inside only to see a scout trooper sleeping on his 74-Z speeder bike among crates of weapons. Still no armor though. 
"The armor is all in that other armory probably.", said Sith-venator to Juno.
"A scan of the camp indicates that there is a landing pad up ahead with a Sentinel-class landing craft parked. Maybe you could steal the pilot's uniform instead?", said Juno.
"I'll go for it, and I will try not to frack up the Imperial shuttle too much.", replied Sith-venator. Sith-venator filtered the vision on his helmet to thermal, only one person was in the tower, and one pilot was by the shuttle, making some illegal midnight modifications by the looks of it. Sith-venator sneaked onto the pad and looked at the mechanic, he was from the Imperial Army by the looks of him. Sith-venator used the force to pull the pilot out from the bottom of the shuttle, and very delicately crushed his brain to the size of a grape with the force. Sith-venator grabbed the body, stripped him down and then himself, and put the trooper's armor on. He hid his MJOLNIR armor on board the shuttle. He looked at himself in the mirror.
"Very stylish.", commented Juno.
At the same moment, Ayrus walked out of the armory tent, wearing stormtrooper armor. He had a SR-X9 Flamethrower in his hands, his DC-15 holstered, and a marksman rifle, an unknown model, on his back. The marksman rifles were hard to come by these days, and Ayrus had a feeling that either he or someone else would need it. The dark trooper, named CC-3128, or as he was known now, Dag, walked out with Ayrus. There was no watchtrooper around, the last one had gone to sleep, expecting Ayrus' guise to take his shift. Dag pulled on his helmet, Ayrus doing the same. The Jedi noticed a small splatter of blood on the ground by the shuttle a few meters away. He instantly knew who had done it, but had to be sure. He motioned for Dag to stay back, and walked over to the shuttle. He tapped his fist on the airlock. After a few seconds of nothing happening, a pilot with a familiar face opened the door, trying to look as tired as possible. Ayrus pulled off his helmet, and Sith-venator immediately relaxed. He looked at Ayrus.
"What the frack did you do with that dark trooper?", Sith-venator asked.
Ayrus lifted his hand in the air, and moved his fingers forward. After a moment of silence, there was a thud as Dag got up and sprinted to the shuttle.
"He's a former clone commander, who's with us.", Ayrus stated, Dag staring in awe at a very familiar face. A Mandalorian face. He cursed in Mando'a under his breath. Two Mandalorians in one Imperial Camp? Amazing.
"Get inside. We'll talk there.", Sith-venator said, Ayrus and Dag clambering up the ramp. It closed, and in one of the tents, a scout trooper rolled over, hearing the thud of a dark trooper. 
Damn clones, he thought to himself, Always up to somethin'.
Sith-venator took a seat at the pilot's chair in the cockpit. Next to him was a dead co-pilot who had been in the watchtower, wearing his signature black armor.
Sith-venator looked at Ayrus, then to Dag.
"Does he have clearance codes? The one this guy gave me were outdated three months ago,", Sith-venatorr said, looking at the dead pilot.
"He gave a good fight. Nothing like a good, slow force crush to rip his lungs apart after being a sarcastic idiot.", Sith-venator continued.
Dag pulled a card out of his leg armor.
"Stole this from an Imperial officer a few days ago. I got a gut feeling I'd need it some day. I also brought some weapons with your friend.", Dag stated, putting down a rocket launcher, a few blasters, and Ayrus' compliment.
"Let's talk about how we get in.", Ayrus said, taking a seat. Just then Juno's hologram appeared, and not in the small pocket size form, but in the size that Taylor-001 was, seven feet tall. She snapped her fingers and another hologram appeared, this time one of the planet and the orbiting Star Destroyer.
"Nice AI you have....what was your name again?", asked Dag.
"Sith-venator Wavingstrider, it's a pleasure to meet you Dag.", replied Sith-venator.
Dag and Sith-venator shook hands briefly before continuing, "You didn't happen to know my father did you?"
Dag had guessed Sith-venator was one of his brother's son, "It was a big army, what was his name?", asked Dag.
"CC-1117, aka Gizmo, leader of the Sixty-sixth Assault Legion.", replied Sith-venator.
"I don't recall ever meeting him son, I'm sorry.", Sith-venator's face got sad, not many people were alive that actually knew his father, and he himself didn't remember him.
Juno started talking now, "This transport will easily take us aboard the Star Destroyer. Once in, I'll silence all alarms and disable their communications and SAS devices."
"Why are you guys taking over a Star Destroyer?", asked Dag. 
"We're going to infiltrate Kuat and stop the mass production of some tanks.", replied Ayrus. 
Juno continued talking, "But, it is up to you guys to make sure the Imps on board are all dead."
"Sounds easy enough.", commented Sith-venator.
"You Rebel Scum!" said a voice from behind them.
The sleeping Scout trooper wasn't sleeping anymore, and was armed with a pistol aimed at Dag while his helmet was in his other hand. 
"I just saw the whole thing, you three are going to rot in cells for the rest of your miserable Rebel Scum lives!" There was a loud crack and the scout trooper collapsed on the floor with a hole in his head. Shortly after that moment Trawe appeared next to Juno via hologram. 
"Where would you guys ever be without your color blind sniper?", laughed Trawe. The three sighed in relief to see the corpse on the ground, and it appeared no sandtroopers had been waken up.
"Juno, that was too close, have any ideas how to get rid of the camp without raising suspicion?", asked Sith-venator.
"Tusken Raiders are notorious among these parts, this wouldn't be the first camp to be raided and the only survivors were forced to flee in a shuttle."
Spikehead popped his head in the shuttle just then with his helmet off, his horns quite prominent due to his shaved head, and gave that "What is the plan" face.
==Chapter 9: We're Burning Sunshine ==
A scout trooper walked out of the Imperial shuttle. It was early morning. He scuffed the blaster scorching off of his collar armor. It was Ayrus. He walked into the tent, getting his speeder out, then sped off into the distance.
A few meters away was Sith-venator, Dag, and Spikehead on Speeders, Tuskens charging behind them on "Choppers". They raced towards the Imperial camp, the Tuskens screaming to control their scrap choppers that had been subsequently "left behind" by a group of mercenaries. Mort, Trawe, and a few others of the two groups were the mercs.
The three speeders, Imperial speeders, raced in a loop as they reached the camp, darting behind cover as Imperials rushed out of tents, not bothering to notice that three Imperials plus a few others had broken off into a circular formation around the imperial shuttle.
The Tuskens jumped off of their speeders awkwardly, proceeding to fight the Imperials. Ayrus motioned Sith-venator to follow him, all that were part of the rebels following. Ayrus pulled out his flamethrower and started lighting the cover door of the tents, the only piece of the tent that was not metal. The Imperials turned around, confused, one being smashed into another by Dag's large fists, another being impaled by a Tusken Raider's gaffi stick. Ayrus saw a Tusken crumple to the ground, a large hole in his head. There was a glimmer in the sand a few hundred meters away belonging to Trawe. One Imperial pointed to Ayrus, yelling,
"He's a rebel!"
Ayrus force pushed him into a burning tent, and then used the force to crush the metal.
The Imperials focused their attention on Ayrus when Sith-venator started force smashing them against each other to avoid any blaster wounds. Sith-venator took out his DT-57 heavy blaster pistol, which had been hidden behind a large crate, and shot a sandtrooper dead on in the chest. More imperial troops appeared from the various tents and the Tuskens only seemed to multiply. Sith-venator took out his DC-15A blaster rifle and mounted the smaller DT-57 where the grenade launcher or bayonet could go, essentially creating a double-barreled rifle. Pulling both triggers Sith-venator blasted a Tusken raider, then whacked an Imperial Army trooper in the face with the but of his DC-15A. The trooper fell down to the ground either unconscious or dead. Trawe sniped one sandtrooper while Spikehead shot a Tusken in the back with an E-11.
Ayrus punched a stormtrooper in the face, the trooper reeling back as he tried to fire his weapon blindly. It was confusing, stormtroopers versus stormtroopers versus Tusken Raiders. The stormtrooper dropped his blaster, pulled out his thermal detonator, and activated it. In less than a second, Ayrus force pulled the detonator from the stormtrooper's hand and threw it at a Tusken Raider, who caught it, confused at what the strange thing was. He called his troops back, but before he could finish his sentence of jibberish, there was a loud crack, and the Tusken was obliterated, the only remains of him tattered clothes and a quarter of a hunting rifle.
When the Tuskens saw their leader destroyed, the cried into the air, all of them retreating into dusty fog. For a moment, there was no sound aside from the charging of the Tuskens retreating into the sand, until some of the stormtroopers realized that Rebels were still in their midst. They turned to Ayrus and Sith-venator, and began to fire, but in a heartbeat, they were shot in the crevices between their armor by Ayrus' group of soldiers, who had arrived on scene too late. The only two actual Imperials moving were Dag and the stormtrooper watchman from the night before, the others dead on the ground or unconscious, dead Tuskens scattered throughout the horrific scene, patches of fire across the dust, the metal tents now smoldering down as the fires stopped.
Ayrus saw the watchman crawling away, his left leg twisted in a horribly wrong way. He force pulled the watchman up, focusing his powers to hoist him from his neck.
"You traitor! You're a damn Jedi!", he yelled, kicking wildly in the air. Sith-venator walked next to Ayrus while the other group members removed the armor from the troops and executed the unconscious, cleaning up the ten minute battle scene.
Sith-venator spoke first.
"We both are. A few of us are always here, sneaking around, doing evil Jedi things that only evil Jedi do, you know?", he stated, only irritating the trooper more.
"I trusted you! You had a designation!", he said. Spikehead removed his helmet and stepped alongside Sith-venator, a half grin on his face.
"One of the troopers never noticed who I was, so drunk as I should have been, I fell asleep instantly. Didn't even have time to remove my helmet.", Spikehead laughed.
Ayrus finally spoke.
"There's no chance you're going to survive. I'm pretty sure your "handbook" says not to let stray troops into camp. It's against regulations.", Ayrus bossed.
The trooper shook his head profusely, eventually shaking his helmet off, and revealing a blonde haired, blue eyed trooper. He spat at Ayrus, hitting his helmet. The Jedi wiped it off with his glove, and nodded to Sith-venator, who punched the trooper in the mouth softly, but a soft punch from a SPARTAN still hurt like hell.
Behind them the four Rebels stood at the door of the shuttle, Dag walked over by them.
"Ship's ready!", he announced.
Ayrus looked back at the trooper.
"Spikehead, shoot him.", he ordered.
Spikehead nodded and pulled out a pistol. The trooper was still being held in the air by the force.
"NO! NO! Please! I don't wanna d-"
Before the trooper could finish his sentence, Spikehead fired the single shot, the red bolt racing two feet through the air and into the side of the trooper's head, leaving a cauterized hole in his head. The trooper's head recoiled, then slumped down, his limbs going limp. Ayrus dropped him to the ground.
"We're some Jedi...", he said, walking back to the shuttle with Spikehead and Sith-venator, where they would then rendezvous with the Whispering Night and Serenity, and then make the final journey.
==Chapter 10: Just Act Like You Didn't Do It...==
Caroline Brown stood at the tower overlooking the factory constructing the A6 Tanks, behind the intelligent woman sat her husband, Adolf Tarkin, reading news from the Imperial HoloNet. Behind him stood his bodyguard, Trandoshan mercenary Kratos. There had been a long silence.
Mrs. Brown spoke, breaking the silence.
"Dear are you sure no rebels know of this operation?" 
Her husband replied saying, "Yes Caroline, and if there are what are they going to do? We are on Kuat, the world where Star Destroyers are born. The project is safer here than anywhere else, and if not that's why we have good old Kratos here." Kratos growled to himself, and walked into the center of the room to get a drink of Trandoshan Hit from the mini-fridge. He filled the glass and took a sip then said with a grin, 
"Don't worry ma'am, my mercs are some of the best. We fought during the Clone Wars, killed a lot of clones and Jedi."
"An impressive record, don't you think Caroline?", said Adolf.
"I just had a bad feeling that's all.", she replied.
She couldn't shake the feeling for several hours, it drove her crazy until she had to do something. She walked up to a security captain, clad in rarely seen scarlet stormtrooper armor, and ordered him to post several Terror Troopers, Terror Biodroids, and an AT-KT throughout the factory all supported by autoturrets and Saber Guardsmen. The captain relayed the orders and within the hour the factory was filled with tyrannical defenses. This did not calm Caroline down really, but it eased her nerves some what. She would tell her husband later, he wouldn't care though. He hadn't ever even been in a real firefight. She rubbed her head in frustration then went to her room to read the Imperial HoloNet.
The transport darted towards the Imperial Star Destroyer over Tatooine, filled with Sith-venator, Ayrus, Trawe, Dag, and Spikehead. Everybody else was on board the Whispering Night or Serenity, which would stay at a distance until the Star Destroyer codes were stolen. They were also clad in stormtrooper armor, but a large amount of stormtroopers arriving would be suspicious, as this group was supposed to be the survivors.
Ayrus was standing next to Sith-venator and Trawe who were at the helm of the ship. Dag was sitting in the troop compartment, sharpening one of his five knives. Within many hundreds of thousands of meters there was a beeping at the comm. An Imperial officer's voice broadcast from the Star Destroyer,
"You do not have clearance to enter the vicinity of this ship. Do you have clearance codes, Wrench 5?", the officer said.
Sith-venator spoke.
"Yes, we do. Forwarding the codes to you now.", he said. There was a pause, some noise in the background, and a blaster shot. Then another voice came on.
"You are permitted to dock with the Death's Head, Wrench 5. Do not deviate from your current course.", the voice stated, the comm shutting off. Ayrus turned around toward the center of the cockpit, motioning for Dag to come in. He left his helmet and knife behind, and walked inside, leaning against a wall and crossing his arms. Spikehead removed his helmet, and Trawe stopped cleaning his rifle.
Ayrus spoke.
"We'll dock with the Star Destroyer, Death's Head? Yes. We'll dock with the Death's Head, and walk aboard. What happens next, Sith? And also, what are we to do with our other stormtroopers?"
Sith looked around.
"We're gonna be capturing a Star Destroyer, which will require some serious casualties...for the enemy. If anything, we lock down all chambers except those with a direct route to the bridge. We'll trap them in there, and flush out the hallways and rooms by cutting off air supply and suffocating them. Any that don't suffocate will be flown out of airlocks."
Trawe looked impressed. Spikehead nodded in approval.
"Sounds like a good plan.", he said.
Dag had a half grin on his face.
"The problem is, how will we get to the bridge... Alive? 50,000 Imperials."
Ayrus flipped up his scout trooper helmet, revealing a small beard that hadn't quite set in yet.
"It looks like we'll have to find out.", he said. A few seconds later Sith-venator pulled into the docking bay, the airlock extending out. The door opened, and as the group walked out, a stormtrooper was standing on the other side of the gray corridor. His head tilted when he saw a strange group of stormtroopers, three, a scout trooper, and... The doorman jumped when he saw the dark trooper. The five walked to the door. The stormtrooper looked over them. When he stared at the dark trooper, he felt a massive pain in the back of his head. The world faded, color and sound slipping away as he fell to the ground. That was the last thing he ever felt.
"Really Spikehead? You knocked his head against the top of the door?", said Sith-venator as he took one of Dag's knives and stuck it in the stormtroopers head.
"This armor feels nasty, when can I get back into my beskar'gam?", asked Trawe to no one in particular.
"Soon enough vod, soon enough.", answered Ayrus.
"We just have to get past the first checkpoint, after that you guys can get back into your regular equipment.", said Dag in an informative tone. 
"What's so important about the first checkpoint? Why can't we just blast through it like we will the rest of the SD?", asked Sith-venator in a bored tone. 
"Because," Dag said, "If the first checkpoint shows a negative all the other checkpoints will go off and end up being protected by laser gates. And before you ask, no these don't recycle like the ones on Naboo, these are newer and deadlier."
Sith-venator slammed his hand against his helmet in frustration, "It's never completely easy is it?", he said as he gave Dag back his knife.
The soldiers packed their equipment into some crates from the shuttle and loaded it onto a small repulsorlift vehicle, piloted by a droid, meant to transport cargo with ease. Then they started walking towards the first checkpoint after telling the droid to follow them. After a few minutes of hallways, that all looked exactly the same, they got to what they assumed was the first checkpoint. Around it stood a few Imperial Navy troopers looking so bored that Sith-venator actually thought one might be asleep standing up.
"Numbers and cargo?", asked one of the Naval troopers who seemed to be on autopilot from the dullness of his duty. 
Dag spoke for the group saying, "GC-3128, got some new weapons and armor to be shipped to the troops fighting the good fight." 
"Your patriotism doesn't make my job go by any faster trooper, just go on through the gate.", replied the Naval trooper in an annoyed tone.
"Jesus, the Empire is in need of some better management.", thought Sith-venator to himself as he walked through the gate.
"Bonk", the loud sound Ayrus had only heard moments before from Spikehead knocking out the stormtrooper rang through his ears. He turned around to see that Sith-venator had not ducked far enough in the compact gate and his helmet had gotten knocked off revealing his Fett-like face. 
This time the Naval trooper noticed by some way, "Wait a minute," he said, "You're that Wavingstrider fellow!" A shot rang out from Sith-venator's E-11 hitting the trooper dead in the stomach. 
"So it seems I am that fellow. Maybe I can collect a bounty on myself.", replied Sith-venator to the corpse. The other troopers acted quickly and activated the alarms, thus activating the laser gates.
Ayrus looked at Sith-venator with a look of dismay, though not of worry. He used the force to smash the remaining troopers together, and shoving them all into a wall. Ayrus moved to the left, where there was a window and behind it a door operating station. The trooper had come out to kill the intruders, but been killed in the process. Ayrus walked to the window and pulled his hands back as the small sound of the force focusing on one point started to very fractionally crack the window, microscopic tears in the glass appearing in the center of the window. Ayrus pulled his hands farther, the cracking louder, and quickly shoved his hands forward, the window completely shattering. The Jedi jumped inside and looked for the laser gates, the panel to activate and deactivate them covered with, yet another laser. Tan'dres looked outside the small room, saying,
"Now how do we get through, Sith?", he asked, looking at Sith-venator. Sith-venator stood looking at the laser gates, he hunched over a crate and took out his energy sword and tried to impale it through the gate, but to no prevail, the laser gate just absorbed the energy from the sword. 
"Juno any ideas?", asked Sith-venator to his AI as the group began to change back into their armor. 
"Actually, I do, normally I would be able to disable the laser gates myself but they're set up manually and not electronically, so I can't disable them unless we get to the master controls. But, since these gates are pure energy you could reflect them with some durable matter.", answered Juno. Trawe got up and put his bracer, made out of Mandalorian iron, from his armor into the laser gate to see it be reflected into the wall, creating a small hole in the gate. 
"Ayrus can the force be used to manipulate continuous energy?", asked Juno. 
"I'll try Juno, but I've only done it with fire before.", answered the Jedi. He walked up to the gate and started spreading his arms apart, which in turn using the force made the hole in the laser gate much larger. 
"This is as large as I can get it and I can't keep it up for long!", screamed Ayrus.
The hole was only big enough for one person to slip through, after that they would be cut off from the group. 
"I'll go through it.", volunteered Sith-venator as he just finished putting his last weapon on his armor. 
"No you're not Sith, you're too fat.", said Spikehead still joking around a little. Sith-venator flicked one of Spikehead's horns hard enough to cause the Zabrak to flinch in pain.
"I'm going through." Sith-venator then ran and jumped through the small hole, rolled and then landed on his feet at the other side just as Ayrus tired out, causing the hole to disappear.
"Sith-venator and Juno be careful, there's at least five more laser gates up ahead," warned Dag. 
"Don't worry man we'll be careful, try not to get lost while were gone.", answered Sith-venator as he ran down the Star Destroyer's hallway.
==Chapter 11: Carbonite==
Ayrus and the others watched Sith-venator as he traveled down the hallway. There was a crackle on the comms in the door operating room, and an Imperial officer came on.
"TK-901, what's your status, over?", the officer asked.
Ayrus, panicking, looked at Spikehead, Dag, and Trawe. They shrugged, quickly removing their weapons from the crates and closing them. The officer spoke again.
"TK-901, respond!", he said.
Ayrus looked around.
"Uhh... Nothing wrong over here. We had an alarm malfunction but everything is... Uhh, under control, over."
There was a pause, some background noise, and the officer came back on.
"We're deploying a squad of troopers to your location. Standby, TK-901." Ayrus bashed his fist into the comm, crushing it. He looked at the two.
"Grab your weapons! We'll hide in the dead trooper pile and surprise them when they come in.", Ayrus yelled.
Spikehead and Trawe reluctantly grabbed their equipment and threw themselves onto the three dead troopers with Dag. Ayrus grabbed his Lightsaber and DL-44, closing the crates. He saw the door open behind the rear laser gates in an alternate entrance and threw himself onto the dead troopers too, hearing Trawe exclaim, "OUCH!"
The laser gates deactivated, steaming a slight red smoke, and the officer along with three stormtroopers walked in. The officer marched over to the dead troopers, kicking one of them, who was a dead one. The dead trooper's arm limply moved back. The officer looked at his troopers.
"Something happened here. I'd assume it has to do with those crates. First, see if any of those troopers are alive. There appears to be no blaster markings.", he stated.
The troopers nodded and the first person they pulled was Spikehead. They lifted the helmet off Spikehead, and in a second deduced that it was a Zabrak. The Zabrak opened his eyes, screamed, and punched the first trooper in the face, making him reel back. The other raised his rifle but Ayrus jumped up, roundhouse kicking him. The trooper crumpled to the ground, his helmet dented inwards and damaged. The officer screamed and ran back into the hallway, closing the laser gate and running to get more troopers.
Trawe stood up and swerved his rifle around, bashing the stock into the reeling trooper's face. He toppled backwards onto one of the crates, and Ayrus sliced his bottom half off with the dual bladed, violet hued Lightsaber, and pulled out his DL-44. He saw five stormtroopers with a blue-marked commander and a flamethrower trooper run through, the laser gates deactivating. The stormtroopers charged in, immediately beginning to shoot the four. Ayrus sliced forward, killing the first stormtrooper by cutting deeply into his ribs. The four others moved backwards, three taking cover behind the small door operating room, while the Flamethrower trooper began to shoot the propellant. It was a good thing the crates were fireproof, Ayrus thought as the temperature of the room increased.
Meanwhile, Sith-venator ran quickly down the halls shooting any Imperials he saw with his DT-57. Juno opened any doors in his way and did what she could to help. After a few minutes he gazed upon the next laser gate, in front of it though stood an Imperial carbonite war droid. They were very deadly due to their blast shields and carbonite throwers. Offically they were even outlawed, but then again "Emperor" Palpatine did not care about the law. Sith-venator stopped running and quickly thought up a plan how to destroy it, as he had never even seen one before. He disequipped his DT-57 and placed it back on his magnetic holster, then reaching to his side he grabbed and then proceeded to ignite his blue bladed lightsaber. He raised it to a Soresu-like grip then charged at the war droid at max speed slamming into the behemoth's shield, knocking the droid over. The droid didn't give up so easily though and used its carbonite-sprayer to freeze Sith-venator's legs, causing him to also fall over.
The two both struggled to get up, by the time Sith-venator had broken the carbonite the droid was back up with it's sprayer aimed and its shield ready. Sith-venator this time ran up to it and cut the droid's shield in two with one big leap. The shield parts fell upon the floor with a loud "thump". The carbonite war droid, now shield-less, started spraying a large portion of the hallway with the sprayer, even hitting the outputters of the laser gate, causing it to malfunction and deactivate. 
"That's one way to do it.", said Juno to Sith-venator. Sith-venator used the force to cause the lightsaber to slice through the "gut" of the droid, severely damaging it. The lightsaber returned to Sith-venator's left hand, he then used his right hand to blast a large bolt of force lightning into the droid, causing it to malfunction and blow up. Though its carbonite equipment seemed to be intact. 
"Use it on the other gates!", said Juno.
"I know Juno!", replied Sith-venator in an angry tone one only gets from a back seat driver.
After going through four more energy gates with the carbonite-sprayer he had finally arrived on the bridge. He walked onto the bridge casually and then, in an instant, he shattered the windows with a large force push sending all the crew, including the Captain, into the deep clutches of space. After a few seconds the windows sealed with an energy shield, leaving nobody on the bridge, but Sith-venator and Juno. Sith-venator walked up to the main computer and inserted Juno's chip into it. 
Juno's blue hologram appeared and appeared to stretch, "It's good to get out of your head sometimes." 
"First thing's first Juno we gotta' deactivate those laser-gates.", ordered Sith-venator. 
"We? I hope you mean me.", replied Juno. 
Sith-venator was about to to ask her if she had gotten the codes for Kuat when she said aloud, "I have the codes for Kuat, and in five seconds every part of the SD will lose air, save our route back to the hangar and the hangar itself."
Dag tackled down the Incinerator trooper and shot him in the head with his E-web heavy repeating blaster. Ayrus pulled another stormtrooper into his lightsaber using the force. Then from behind they all heard the laser gate deactivate. 
"Never doubt a Spartan!" yelled Trawe as he shot the stormtrooper commander dead in the chest with his A280 blaster rifle. Spikehead shot the remaining stormtroopers with his S-5 heavy blaster pistol as the three moved into the hallway, a wake of death before them. They walked through the hallways, dead stormtroopers everywhere, slowly making their way up to the bridge.
Four minutes later, they arrived. Spikehead and Trawe took seats with their legs hanging down into the technical area, Ayrus standing at the fore-center of the bridge, leaning against the energy-window. Ayrus spoke.
"We have everything ready. The rest of our teams should be getting their equipment ready in the ships right now. The other docked ships have been jettisoned from the airlock, and we shot them down."
"Our work here is done then.", said Sith-venator, "Juno plot a course for this SD into the nearest sun please. It would be nice if we could keep it for the Alliance Fleet, but they would take too long to get here. Better for the suns to have it rather than pirates or even Jabba." 
"Aye sir.", Juno replied as Sith-venator took her chip out of the computer and stuck it back in his helmet. The group walked back to the hanger to see the Serenity and Whispering Night waiting for them. Sith-venator, Spikehead, Dag and Trawe got onto the Serenity while Ayrus got onto the Whispering Night and updated his crew. A few minutes later both ships were en route to the Kuat system and the Star Destroyer was melted in a sun.
==Chapter 12: The Only Easy Day... Was Yesterday==
The swirl of the stars as the Whispering Night and Serenity traveled through hyperspace made a wonderful looking blue spiral, constantly moving with the rattle of the ship as it traveled to Kuat. Ayrus activated a hologram of Sith-venator on his ship, saying.
"You don't think it would've been a good idea to arrive to Kuat IN a Star Destroyer?", Ayrus questioned.
"Nah, not really. We can be more discreet with our two light freighters. If you were an Imperial, wouldn't you find an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer all but empty a bit odd?", Sith-venator retorted.
There was a massive thud and instantly the stars stopped swirling, coming in range as white streaks. A planet quickly appeared, a massive mechanical ring around it, hundreds of ships swirling around it. The planet itself looked rather bland, but the mechanical ring showed that they were in Kuat.
"Here we are.", Ayrus said, some wonder in his voice.
"What to do now, then?", he continued.
Sith-venator spoke again.
"Orbital defenses should be easy to pass by. We've got the codes, and they can't see us if we use the comms, so we're just civilian vessels. These aren't warships.", he stated.
Ayrus nodded, turning the hologram off, and formed a line, leading in front of the Serenity. They traveled a few thousand meters or so when a Stormtrooper came onto a hologram, the feed not going back to where the trooper could only hear voices. Ayrus spoke.
"We have codes to land. We just want to see our families. Please.", Ayrus begged.
"Transmit the codes to me now.", the trooper said.
Ayrus inserted a chip into a port in the cockpit, and Juno's avatar came up, broadcasting to him from the Serenity. The avatar quickly flashed into the form of a civilian farmer, and Juno's voice immediately became identical to Ayrus'.
"Transmitting...", she mumbled.
The trooper turned off the comm, and immediately Juno transformed avatars back to herself.
"Stormtroopers are idiots, no?", she asked.
"The term idiot may be too nice Juno.". replied Ayrus.
The two ships glided past the defenses with no problem. Now all they had to do was find the factory. 
"Juno can you locate the factory?", asked Sith-venator to his AI.
"Using the ship's sensors I believe that the factory we are looking for is on the equator, near the small town of Buchiecest.", replied Juno. The two ships entered the atmosphere of Kuat within moments, within minutes they were done with the space portion of their journey and landed in Buchiecest's spaceport. Sith-venator was the first one out, it was raining, very hard.
"If I didn't know any better I would say we were on Kamino.", commented Dag on the amount of rain as he looked out the window.
Ayrus came out of his ship second, pulling his hood up to block the rain. He hid his DL-44 under his cloak, and began walking towards Sith-venator, wearing his older darker brown robe over his armor. He stepped off the ramp of the Whispering Night, his boot making a large splash in the mud. The rain poured down, soaking Ayrus' robe and staining it even darker. Sith-venator's head was completely dry in his MJOLNIR armor. Being the peak of the afternoon, the restaurant about a mile away would probably be swarming with customers. Ayrus decided to go with Sith-venator and walk from the small spaceport, which was nothing more than three large round cutouts leading to a small building in the thick forest of Kuat. The road leading about a mile over a hill to the city was nothing more than a dirt road now turned to mud. The forest around the spaceport was like a concrete wall.
Ayrus walked with Sith-venator to the small trail which led to the admissions building. The Imperials were quite confident that no rebel would get through to Kuat, so they hadn't even stationed Imperials in the small village. The two walked down under the canopy and into the building, a metal building with terminals and a reception desk, along with two bland looking chairs. Ayrus walked up to the bored looking receptionist, a bored looking, blonde haired human.
Sith-venator handed him a small chip containing the codes. He scanned it through a card machine, similar to a credit card machine Sith-venator would've seen during his time in that other galaxy. The receptionist handed the card back to Sith-venator, who placed it in a small slot in his helmet. It was Juno embedded in the codes. The two walked out of the other side of the building. On the other side was a taxi-speeder, with a droid to get them to Buchiecest and back. Ayrus dismissed it and walked past, Sith looking slightly disappointed as he stepped back into the rain and down the road towards, what above and past the hill, was Buchiecest.
Ayrus had to discuss some matters, so he spoke first, over the loud sound of the rain and thunder.
"So, what's our plan of attack, Sith?", Ayrus asked. Sith scratched the back of his neck, looking around, the droplets of rain flying off his armor.
"Well, Juno says the factory is just outside the city limit. Bit of a hike, but nothing we can't manage. We'll probably get there by speeders. There's enough for all of us. The other Rebels can give us some help.", Sith-venator answered.
Ayrus grinned. "Yeah. Reed's been spending some quality time with that Chiss. If you know what I mean."
Sith looked at him, shaking his head. Before he could speak, Juno spoke, her voice broadcasting out loud.
"We all know what you mean, Ayrus."
Sith tapped his helmet angrily.
"We're going to work on your social skills sometime Juno.", he said.
They crested the hill at that moment, and though there was a bit of a ways left to Buchiecest, they could see the small collection of buildings, all gathered around a main road which paved through the entire city and outwards, cutting off abruptly and rising into a thick forest. Smoke rose from houses, and one large building, the inn and restaurant. Juno's voice broadcasted again.
"The factory is somewhere past that forest. But Sith, you're getting skinny, as opposed to your fat self. You need to eat.", she stated sarcastically, somehow telling him that they all needed a rest with her typical stubborn tone.
"Well c'mon,", Ayrus said.
"Let's go grab a bite to eat and bring plenty of food for everyone else.", Ayrus lilted, the two walking down the hill.
About five minutes later, they arrived in the town. There was not a soul on the roads, but lights were on inside many buildings. There was a restaurant, locally run, named the Wampa Soul.
The two walked inside the building, greeted by a warm breeze and family atmosphere, a round woman, in her 60s with whitish curly hair and blue eyes walking up to them. The restaurant itself was made of classic silver walls, the ornate designs of the tables being Mandalorian in style. There was about seven people inside, a wide variety of them, four human, one a Rodian, the other a pair of Aqualish. There was a lone musician on stage, a Bith. The woman had a Coruscanti accent. She led them to their table, dead center of the restaurant, and handed them holomenus.
As Ayrus removed his helmet and pulled off his hood, Sith-venator doing the same. Wonderful scents entered their noses. Marinated meats, warm, creamy drinks, the many different kinds of locally made dressings and the salads, along with the bowls of warm soup, many different kinds. The Bith played a calm, folk-like music on his strange instrument, a round, engraved cylinder with tuning pegs on his lap, connected to a fingerboard with one string, near the top the usual scroll found on a stringed instrument. It created sounds in fifths, sounding out of tune to the untrained ear, though it was good music, and kept the family feel of the restaurant going.
On the holomenus, there was a wide variety of foods, though due to the best scent that had entered his nostrils, he went straight for the soups... There was nuna egg soup, porsdugos soup, a stew made from the blood, incidentally, the common Nuna, mixed with ingredients to make it more tasteful and less strong, along with nuna meat and vegetables. There was also vegetable soup, fatfish chowder, and a few other types. Ayrus wanted the Porsdugos. Though on first sight sounding unappetizing, it was actually a delicious dish.
Sith-venator had already decided on one of his favorite dishes. After looking through a series of meats, fish, and some other dishes, he came upon an old dish that he enjoyed, quite a lot, nerf steak. He planned to order the "Wampa" dish, the name at the restaurant for the largest order of Nerf. His sides were to be Xim salad and firaxan shark fin soup.
A small machine at the counter buzzed, as the woman saw the orders flash in. She turned to the table, yelling,
"What would ya' like to drink, boys?"
Sith-venator placed an order on his holomenu, ordering his meal. Ayrus placed his order too, taking a glass of cream malteve, a common drink, sweet and creamy, with an almost chocolaty taste. The woman nodded, and walked behind the counter, the Bith starting to play his instrument again. Ayrus looked at Sith-venator.
"Well, we'd better eat a lot and order take out. Tonight, we take down that factory."
The Aqualish pair looked over. Two gruff, elderly men. One branded with an imperial logo on his left temple.
"That damn factory at the peak of Mt. Gallica? I hope you have a good team. They've got that factory sealed down. Whatever they're hiding in there must be pretty fracking important.", the branded one said.
Ayrus scratched his head.
"We've got a good team alright. Is it exactly safe to be talking about Imperials here?", Ayrus questioned.
The other Aqualish replied.
"The Imps are idiots. They focus all of their forces on that factory, protecting it. Along with the fact that they don't think any Rebels can enter airspace, being that this is a strong Imperial planet. But we all hate em'. They ruined our damn shipyards and planet.", he acknowledged.
Ayrus nodded.
"But if you come running back here afterwards, we'd all be happy to help detour the Imperials in anyway possible. We're a tight knit group, and who knows, an awkward fire thanks to a speeder crash could just save you."
Ayrus looked at Sith-venator. Sith-venator looked back and gave him the "This sounds like a good idea" face.
==Chapter 13: What goes bump in the night?==
After a few moments of small talk with the locals Juno called both ships for everybody to meet up at the restaurant. After an hour everybody else had started to arrive in four BARC Speeders, five 74-Z speeder bikes, a Bantha-II cargo skiff, a XP-38 sport landspeeder, and Sith-venator's AT-RT. After parking the vehicles near the inn the fifteen people walked into the homey restaurant and began ordering food. Sith-venator looked around, the place was actually kind of crowded with the rest of the strike force there now. He put his helmet back on so he could talk to Juno in private. 
"Juno, the mission's going according to plan. Start making plan B..."
Caroline Brown paced up and down in her bedroom, she knew something was wrong, the feeling was getting worse and worse. Her husband woke up with a yawn. 
"Dear, will you please go back to bed, the defenses you have added already were unnecessary.", said the cranky colonel. 
"No Adolf, I can feel it in my bones, the Rebels are coming, they're probably already on the planet!", screamed back Caroline. Adolf Tarkin put both his hands on his face for a moment than stood up. 
"Okay Caroline, do you want me to send one of the Mercenaries to check out the nearby town?" 
"That would be wonderful dear, it would certainly ease my mind.", said Mrs.Brown before she kissed her husband on the cheek and finally crawled into the bed.
Adolf walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a comm link, "Kratos!", he yelled. 
There was a gasp on the other end and then a sigh, "Yes Colonel?", said the very sleepy Trandoshan. 
"I want you to send one of your men to scout out the nearby town for any rebellious activity.", replied the Colonel who then proceeded to shut down the comm link before Kratos could reply.
Kratos got out of his bed and cracked his neck. 
"Things around here were so much easier before Mrs. Brown started having a panic attack every other hour.", thought Kratos. He opened his room's door and began walking down the hallway. Everybody that worked on this project lived with the project, all men and women lived inside the giant factory, even the Colonel and his wife. He finally got to the mercenary's room he was looking for, then banged on it, scaring the person inside. 
"Wake up Jinzo, the Colonel wants you to scout out the town!", said Kratos. The Gurlanin yawned, got out of bed, and opened the door to her room. Her black fur was wet from the shower she had taken earlier, making it seem to shine. 
"Kratos, you owe me one for this.", Jinzo remarked as she ran down the hallway towards the garage for a speeder.
By the time it was one in the morning in the restaurant only Sith-venator, Chaf'aaur'leoni, the Chiss, and Reed, the pilot, were still in there, with no staff but an old BX-series droid commando meant to make sure nobody stole anything. Everybody else was in the Inn asleep. Sith-venator woke up with a snap when something fell, as he had been asleep for some time now. He scanned the room only to see Chaf'aaur'leoni and Reed making out in a corner where the droid couldn't really see them. 
"Go back to sleep hun, I'll keep watch.", said Juno to Sith-venator through the helmet. Sith-venator stood up, cracked his back and knuckles and headed to the inn.
Jinzo arrived in the town in the appearance of a petite female Zeltron. After a few more minutes of driving she parked her speeder near the inn with those of who she guessed were the ones making the Colonel worry so much. Jinzo did not worry though, although her species could not be invisible to the naked eye, she was impossible to detect on thermal, sonar, or even the force. She holstered a LL-30 blaster pistol just to be safe though, she knew from experience having a blaster at one's side was helpful. She peered into a restaurant only to see a security droid on guard while a human and chiss kissed in a corner. She then decided to walk into the inn and see if these people were trouble or it was just a false alarm. 
"Kratos, I swear if this is a joke I'll fracken' murder you.", thought Jinzo.
When she walked into the inn she was greeted by a LOM-series protocol droid.
"Good evening madame, would you like a room? We seem to be having a very good night tonight for business.", stated the droid. 
Jinzo followed into the conversation with ease without raising suspicion, "Does this town not get that much business? How many people are checked in here tonight?" 
"Well if my memory banks serve me correctly we have seventeen beings staying at this hotel tonight. An odd looking bunch they were, perhaps they are mercenaries.", replied the droid anxious to get another sale. 
"Interesting, but like you asked earlier, I would like a room please." The droid nodded and handed her a key as she gave the happy droid a credit chip.
Sith-venator sat in his room reluctant to take off his armor, during the war with the Covenant he sometimes went months without taking off his MJOLNIR Mark IV or Mark V. His helmet laid on the floor next to his chest piece and the leggings. After a moment of remembering he took the rest of his MJOLNIR off and slipped into the nice, cozey bed. Falling asleep instantly. Juno just waited like she always did when Sith-venator slept, the SPARTAN Neural Interface left her inside his brain regardless if he was wearing the armor or not. During the night she just wondered what he dreamt about. 
"Probably about Taylor...", said Juno out loud. Nobody heard her though, she decided to hack into the security droid to see if the two love birds were still having fun. After a moment she could see what the droid saw, they weren't in the corner anymore, but they had left their clothes. 
Juno sighed, "Sith the people you hang out with..."
Then Juno noticed something peculiar, there was a new speeder at the inn. She hacked into the town's main network and looked to see how many people owned speeders, no one but the taxi driver, everybody else used animals to get around. 
"This is a potential threat.", thought Juno. She then fully took control of the old BX-series droid commando, made it leave the restaurant, and walk into the inn where she was greeted by the protocol droid.
"Greetings fellow droid, is there anything I can do for you?" 
"No!", replied Juno, her voice much more distinct than that of the typical commando droid's.
The LOM droid got sad for a moment and made a comment, "You're the first rude customer I have had today, even the Zeltron was polite." The name of that species spiralled through Juno's circuits, she ran a quick crosscheck of every ship crew and citizen on the plant. There were no zeltrons, it was a changeling.
Jinzo peered into each room silently.
"They are rebels...", she thought to herself as she saw the Alliance Starbird on one of the pieces of clothing in a room. She needed to prioritize targets, after checking each room and looking up leads on who the individuals were on her small HoloNet device she decided she needed to take out either Captain Sith-venator Wavingstrider or the Jedi Ayrus Tan'dres first. After a few moments of consideration she decided to try to kill the Captain first. Silently, she managed to slip into Sith-venator's room undetected. Right before she gripped her blaster though Sith-venator opened his eyes. 
Jinzo thought quick, "Oh I'm sorry sir, I must have the wrong room."
Sith-venator yawned, "It's okay, everybody makes mistakes. 
"Well,", said Jinzo now putting on a sexual voice, "it doesn't have to be." Before Sith-venator could reply though she was on top of him trying to kiss him.
Juno stepped quietly checking each room as she went along the hallway. Though she could not find the changeling, she decided to get help from Ayrus to increase chances of success. 
"Ayrus!", she screamed into his ear after so silently sneaking into his room. Ayrus jumped out of his bed in surprise, he was so startled he even had his lightsaber in hand. 
"There's a changeling here somewhere, and not a friendly.", said Juno. Ayrus sighed and put some simple civilian garbs on as he walked with Juno down the hall.
"I don't sense anybody else here Juno.", said Ayrus as they reached Sith-venator's room. 
"Its a Gurlanin!", screamed Juno again into Ayrus' ear as she figured it out.
Sith-venator shoved the zeltron off of him after a moment of shock. 
"Listen lady, you're attractive and all but I don't even know your name." Sith-venator couldn't think strait now though, he kept thinking about Taylor. Her death started replaying in his head again and again until he just fell to the floor in pain. Jinzo knew this was her chance, she slipped out her LL-30, aimed and prepared to fire. However, before she could though the door opened revealing the commando droid and Ayrus. Ayrus used the force to pull the blaster pistol from her hand as she fired. The sound knocked Sith-venator out of his sadness and kicked in his instincts. He grabbed Jinzo's leg and knocked her down, managing to knock her unconscious. After a moment though before anybody said anything Jinzo transformed back into her natural wolf-like state. 
"Juno tie her up, we have ourselves a prisoner.", said Sith-venator as he started putting his armor back on.
==Chapter 14: Highway to Hell==
The morning light shined through the shutters in the window, Reed's hair looking quite wild, his usually slicked back dirty blonde hair messy, not combed in the bachelor style he had created. Letting his eyes focus, he turned them away from the bright light, and looked down to see a bare, blue tinted body on top of him, asleep. He looked down at himself and realized he had no clothes on, nor did the Chiss. He thought to himself, trying to remember her name... Chauf.... Chafu, Chaf'aur.... He had just called her Cal. Her full name had those three starting letters. He'd stick with Cal. Reed ran a finger through her hair and slightly moved her towards the wall, and off of him. Reed stepped up and walked over to his footlocker, realizing he had left his clothes in the restaurant below. He heard movement behind him, and saw the Chiss walking towards him. She kissed his cheek, her lips soft, and walked outside. He realized it was too early in the morning for anyone to be up, and walked out with her. It was quite an awkward sight. A female Chiss and a male human... No clothes. But no one saw, lucky them.
Unaware to the two, Ayrus had been up all night in an empty room, watching Jinzo sleep to make sure she didn't get away. 
I bet that's uncomfortable, thought Ayrus, looking at the shapeshifter slumped over in the binds. He checked the HUD on his helmet. There was a small readout of the time, and Ayrus noted it was time to change shifts with Sith-venator, who had been sleeping happily after the short confrontation. There was no hope of Jinzo getting out. She was dead asleep, tied to a chair which was tied via rope, to a table.
He opened the door outside of the room at the corner of the hallway in the inn, and started to walk. He saw two figures exit one of the rooms, room 21, and Ayrus stopped in his tracks. On the other side of the hallway, Reed and Cal stopped in their tracks, Reed's eyes widening. 
Why the hell was Ayrus up!?, he thought to himself. Cal ran back to the room, the door slamming shut behind her. Ayrus screamed and put his arm over his face to shield him from the "view".
Sith-venator ran out of his room, 23, and tripped on the ground when he saw Reed, who was still standing there, frozen in embarrassment. With the scream and the thud, a few others ran out of their rooms, all getting a "view" of Reed, and eventually turning away and slamming their doors when coming to the realization that Reed was... Naked.
Sith-venator stood back up after laughing on the ground for a while and ran across the lot to the restaurant and grabbed Reed's and Cal's clothes. After giving them back to the naked ones he went back to the room where Jinzo was kept.
Ayrus was up, now not able to sleep from the sight, and putting on his armor. He grabbed his helmet from the small desk, but first felt his beard.... He needed to shave. He brushed the thought off and threw on his helmet, pulling his robe from the coatrack. He slipped it on, pulled the hood up, and started off towards the room Jinzo was in. It was time for an interrogation.
Before he left the room, he picked up a metal cestus, a normal glove lined with plates of metal. It was a great torture weapon, and Ayrus had picked it up a while back, though he had completely forgotten about it. Ayrus walked out into the classic hallway, a yellow lit yet blue tinted metal corridor, all the way to room 1, on the end of solitary hall in the small inn.
He opened the door to the dark room, a solitary light over Jinzo's chair. Sith-venator nodding his head, standing and staring at the shapeshifter. He could hear a muffled voice coming from inside Sith-venator's helmet. He was talking to Juno. The Mandalorian tapped the side of his helmet and looked at Ayrus.
"It's time for the interrogation already!?", he exclaimed.
Ayrus nodded and stepped to the front of the chair, pulling his cestus down.
"What were you trying to accomplish by killing this man? We were just traveling through the city. We'd had proper clearance and were just on our way to visit some family and friends.", Ayrus said, a rather innocent tone in his voice.
Jinzo hissed. "Don't play dumb with me Rebel Scum!"
Ayrus smirked inside his helmet.
"Fine,", he said.
"Bad cop it is."
Ayrus flexed his fingers and formed a fist, punching Jinzo, hard, on the right side of her canine face. She didn't say a word as a tooth flew out of her mouth, her body flickering into the shape of a Zeltron, the armor of Sith-venator, and the armor of Ayrus. Ayrus noticed that she had "scanned" them, and at any given moment could transform herself into either of them.
"Transform into me.", Ayrus commanded. She shook her head, mumbling under her breath, "No...". Ayrus formed a fist and punched her again, this time with his bare gloved fist. She looked at him with a slight growl in her mouth, her eyes fierce with their orange glow of determination.
"Frack you.", she cursed. Ayrus punched her snout upwards, saliva flying into the musty glow of the light. He then threw the Gurlanin's chair onto the ground, hard. Sith-venator stood in awe. He was recording the feed for the Rebel Alliance, but didn't know if he should actually give it to them. The shapeshifter barked at Ayrus, submitting as she turned into him. Ayrus pulled off the blue detailed Mandalorian helmet and saw the canine face underneath as the whole guise started to fail.
"Gah!", she screamed. Sith-venator decided to intervene. He walked over to the fallen chair and kicked the shapeshifter, the guise fluctuating back to the Gurlanin. Ayrus pulled a small pocketknife from his utility belt and looked at Sith-venator.
"Pull off her shirt.", he ordered. Sith-venator looked at him hesitantly, but when Ayrus gave a small, unnoticeable nod, he walked forward and removed the Gurlanin's blue, plain shirt, the words "FRACK 'EM UP", written on. She wasn't wearing any equipment, her blaster and holster already removed, and because she was on a recon mission, she didn't have any heavy gear. Ayrus saw her pouch. She was a marsupial, and had a pouch for her young. Ayrus kneeled down and got close to her face.
"Tell me who sent you, why they sent you, and where your currently operating out of or I will slice that pouch off and sell it to a Hutt!", he yelled. The Gurlanin screamed out at him, shaking her head wildly. 
"Never!", she seethed. Ayrus sliced the knife over the canine muzzle, grazing it lightly, only to cause pain, not damage. 
The Gurlanin shook her head, screaming "Fine!". Ayrus stabbed the knife into the ground behind him and got close to her face, waiting for a response.
"Imperials.... I work in the factory up on Mount Gallica. One of their higher ups, I can't say any names or else this job is screwed, had an uneasy feeling and sent me down here to investigate any sign of rebels. I didn't actually expect to find anything, but it turns out you two have warrants for arrest."
Ayrus looked at Sith-venator, then back to Jinzo.
"It doesn't seem like your current job matters right now, as much as your life!", he raged, pulling the knife out of the ground and shining it in front of her face. She winced and pulled her head back.
"Adolf Tarkin and Caroline Brown! That's who!", she lamented, tears running down her face. Ayrus stood up, holstered his knife, and walked over to the desk, grabbing her blaster. Ayrus walked back in front of Jinzo and aimed the pistol at her face. She closed her eyes and held back a scream. She heard a gunshot, and felt an immense heat, as time seemed to slow. She thought she was done for, the hiss of the bolt becoming more intense every second. Suddenly all went silent and she could smell wood burning. Jinzo opened her teary eyes and saw a blaster mark less than a centimeter away from her face. Her muzzle had a few singed hairs, and her face was beat, but other than that she was fine.
Ayrus yanked her chair back up and walked outside of the room, and into the hallway with Sith-venator, shutting the door behind him. He pulled off his helmet and pulled down the hood on his robe, running a finger through his dark brown hair.
"We can either kill her later, or keep her hostage. If we do keep her hostage, being a Gurlanin, she can take the form of any of us she sees, so we'll have to... Incapacitate her. If we kill her we do it aboard one of our ships. Ultimately, I can't decide. It's your call, Sith."
Sith-venator thought for a moment, anybody can take a life, it takes a special person to save one. 
"She has confirmed what we already know, but there are details of her story that do give us new information.", said Sith-venator. 
Ayrus looked back at him and said, "How so?" 
"For starters, she's not human, Imps rarely work with non-humans, but, when they do, they're usually mercenaries or bounty hunters.", replied Sith-venator. Ayrus nodded and motioned him to keep going. 
"Besides that I also find it suspicious that she was sent here in the first place, how often do you think this town gets checked up on anyway? Why send a deadly species like this when you can send a loyal squad of Imperial Army troopers? Somebody up in that factory is force-sensitive, they sensed we had landed here."
Ayrus paused for a moment and thought about what the Spartan was saying, made perfect sense. Sith-venator walked back into the room and looked at Jinzo. 
"Get out of here, go back to Qiilura, start a family if you haven't already.". yelled Sith-venator to the shivering changeling. 
He tossed her a credit chip then untied her, "Try anything and I will personally make sure a Hutt will get a screaming deal on your pouch." continued Sith-venator. Jinzo leaped out of the chair in astonishment, placed the credit chip in her pouch, and ran towards the spaceport. 
"It's moments like these where I remember your trying to be a Jedi.", commented Juno.
After everybody woke up and got dressed the group went to the restaurant for breakfast. After a fine breakfast the group mounted their vehicles and headed into the jungle towards Mount Gallica.
The eleven vehicles flew down the road, a massive plume of mud rose in the village behind them. The small village wasn't that large, and cut off abruptly, giving into the forest at the edge of the city, slicing the main road off. The trees were tightly packed, but strangely, left enough in a zigzagging route of trees for a larger vehicle to cross. The mud splatters lowered in size as the speeders slowed down to hit the incline to start up the mountain, Ayrus and Sith-venator front and center. They rode up into the forest, the V-formation breaking as the trees interrupted the form. Ayrus and Sith-venator rode close, talking about the early plan over their comms, everyone tuning in.
Ayrus spoke over the roar of the speeders.
"What's the plan, Sith?", he asked. Juno replied.
"It appears heavy defense turrets have been set up around a 20 meter perimeter of the factory. I'm getting high electromagnetic readings within that perimeter, too, along with sole vital signs spread throughout the facility. Whatever is providing the EM readings is also blocking me from getting a readout of the facility. I'm expecting retaliation, so be ready to fight.", she stated.
Sith-venator nodded, looking over to Ayrus. One of the team members, Krow, chimed in.
"Rwwwarrhg!", he groaned, which meant, "Do we always have to fight!?"
Ayrus chuckled, Mort coming onto the comm.
"Yeah buddy, we do.", he yelled.
Ayrus chuckled again. He looked to Sith-venator.
"Electromagnetic readings mean that our speeders will be useless out in that area Juno talked about. There's huge defense turrets, but if we move fast those won't be too much of a problem. Get in close enough and we can take them out. The vital signs are probably sentries. They won't be much of a problem either. What's the plan, Sith?"
"We'll get off our vehicles about 30 meters before the EMP field starts, the heavy rain and foliage will give us cover as we crawl to the walls of the outer gates. From there we will slowly and steadily keep out of sight and place explosives on the turbolasers. Then when everything goes boom we will scale the wall that wont turn us into smoldering dust. After that, well I am hoping we can run into the actual factory before the Imps surround us outside.", replied Sith-venator taking several breaths after such a long explanation.
==Chapter 15: Have Fun Storming the Castle!==
A bolt of lightning stuck the ground in front of Dag as he crawled in the thick brush. Anything electronic was shutdown from the EMP field besides Sith-venator's MJOLNIR, which had been built by the UNSC to be EMP proof, and Dag's cybernetics that enabled him to move and live. Dag's helmet was now very uncomfortable without the built in air conditioning. Ayrus wiped the rain off of his helmet and looked at Sith-venator who's olive armor was now very brown looking from the mud, dirt, and clay. Sith-venator looked back at Ayrus and then at everybody else, everybody else was soaked and breathing hard. After about an hour of crawling slowly the group finally made it up to the walls and laser gates.
"Juno,", said Sith-venator over the Comm, "What's the data on the Imps up by the towers?"
"The EMP field is blocking everything when I try to see whats up there, you will have to go inside the factory and disable the EMP before I can be your eyes again.", replied Juno.
Trawe got out his sniper and looked up at the nearest tower, "Scout troopers, all armed with Rockets and snipers." The turbolasers would tear the group apart if they got far enough out, but, fortunately they were in the blind zone. Ayrus looked at the ground past the laser gates.
"Look. See that clear thing running in the ground, barely sticking out? It's a hydration tube. Sends water from the village all the way up inside to almost every part of the facility, used to steam out the heat in the factory, or for any personal accommodations. Someone could get through to the facility using one of those maintenance openings. They could swim through to another one past the fence and in the clearing, and disable the fence and EMP field. The design is flawed. There is a control panel on the mountain itself, a wire leading to it from the fence. Disable it, along with the turrets set on automatic, and we're in the clear, save for some scout troopers and manually operated turbolasers. Who should go?", he asked.
"I volunteer, sir!", The Sullustan bellowed.
"We need someone with technical experience. You'd never be able to disable the fence without setting off alarms all across the factory.", Ayrus retorted. The Sullustan nodded and looked at Sith-venator.
"It's your call Sith. Who do we send in?"
Sith-venator looked around. He judged the size of the individual, along with how experienced they were with tech.
"Mort, you go. You can fit through the tube, and your a technician."
Mort nodded, "Yes sir! I'm glad you have faith in me."
Ayrus had been examining the tubes. 
"Wait,", he said. The Jedi pointed at the maintenance hatch, and continued. 
"These hatches were made to be opened from the outside, but never the inside. Once he's in, there may be no way out, being that he can't turn around in a crawl space filled with rushing water."
Mort pulled out a cutting laser.
"Always have one handy, be it a collapsible, or a heavy.", he responded.
Ayrus pulled off his helmet. He'd rather have his face cold and wet, than sweaty. He immediately felt the cold droplets on his face, dripping down through his "bangs", the mess of curled brown hair hanging down onto his forehead that had grown from too much time in his helmet.
"Is it waterproof?", he questioned.
Mort nodded, "Of course. When a technician needs to work in rain, under water, or on a whitewater river in a fast moving boat, these things hold up. Fires a short range concentrated beam used for welding and, of course, cutting. I just so happen to have the newest, Death Star only, model, recovered from a crashed TIE fi-"
"Cut the chatter Mort! We don't want the Imperials hearing us.", Ayrus ordered. Mort nodded.
"Sir, I'll be fine. Just get me in.", he replied. Ayrus shook his head several times and moved a few feet over to where the tube was sticking out, a mass of weeds growing parallel to it. Ayrus twisted the wheel a few times, opening it. The sound of a heavy rain was met with that of the roaring rush of water, the two combining in a strangely soothing sound. Ayrus motioned his hand towards the hatch, and Mort sat on his knees in a diving position, putting on a small piece of breathing apparatus over his mouth.
Ayrus patted his back, "Be careful down there Mort. When the fence goes down, they'll know something's up. Get back here as soon as possible. I'll have your speeder ready."
Mort nodded, "Got it, sir. Here I go...", he stated, throwing himself face-first into the tube. He instantly became much colder than he already was, as his clothes became heavy, weighing themselves down with the water. It rushed into his ears, all outside sound muffled. He heard a bang from behind him. The door had closed. It was all up to Mort now. He saw the first maintenance hatch, and passed it. Past the fence all the trees were gone and he'd have to get as close to the main generator controls first. The design of the fence wasn't flawed, he thought to himself. Just necessary.
In his cloud of thought he had strayed away from where he was. He bumped his head on a dead end, where the hydration tunnels navigated left and right, but not forward. Mort looked up, and saw the final hatch. He pulled the cutting laser out of his pocket, and turned it on, shaking it. He hit it a few times, and then saw a small red glow from inside. He pressed the red switch shaped button down as the water bubbled around him, and became hot. The concentrated orange-hued beam fired up onto the hatch, burning it away as Mort cut through. He made a square around the hatch, and turned off the laser.
The technician put a wet glove on his hand and pushed the hatch up. There was a red ring around the hatch. Mort splashed some water on it, and the red ring turned black, steam rising up. He clambered out of the tube, and ran a finger through his hair as he moved towards the small generator built into the mountain wall. The wire itself which led to the wall was covered in an energy field. Touching it would stun you and activate alarms.
Mort moved up to the control panel and pulled his cutting laser out again, firing at the lock. It melted away and revealed a keypad. Mort ripped the rubber keys off and looked at them. He ripped the actual keys off, revealing wires. Mort pulled a red wire out completely, discarding it. He grabbed a blue wire and pulled one side out, moving it to where the red used to be. Then he took a green wire, pulled the other side off of that one, and placed it at the other side of the red. Mort heard something crackle on his comm.
"Watch out Mort, you've got an interested trooper coming your way.", Ayrus said. Mort acknowledged, and pulled a small, yellow device out of his pocket, reading, in aurebesh, EM DEVICE. Mort clicked a button as his comm whistled, cutting off. There was a surge of power and the laser fence got extremely bright, then, piece by piece, burst into particles, dissolving. The wire's energy field dissipated too. Mort saw a trooper on a walkway above him, looking down. The trooper gasped as he saw the field go down. Mort pressed a red button on the device, aiming it at the trooper, as he screamed out in pain, falling to the platform below as his eardrums ruptured from concentrated sonic waves on his comm.
Mort chuckled, and as alarms went up he placed the device in his pocket and double-timed it to the white, plastoid fence. He vaulted over it and tripped, rolling down the muddy hill. He heard a sniper bolt hit the fence above him, and then he heard a loud whisper from a large bush. Mort ran towards it and inside, it was hollowed out. Ayrus was there, on his speeder, Mort's next to his.
"The team is rolling around to the other side of the fence to avoid the troopers. We go in this way. Let's move!", Ayrus yelled, whipping out of the bush, Mort behind him.
Meanwhile, Sith-venator and the others tossed the explosives onto the turbo lasers closest to them, there were too many for them to destroy and not enough time, so about six would have to do. Sith-venator had done this type of mission at least three other times in his life, destroying a factory, but never was one this well protected, nor did the others pose such a grave threat. Sith-venator remembered the other factories he had helped destroy lightning fast in his mind as he used the force to make sure the explosives stuck onto the turbolasers. For the first one he had seen at least fifty UNSC Army Troopers die, for the second one-hundred UNSC Marines, and for the third he had saw another two-hundred UNSC Army Troopers die.
After Trawe kept saying Sith-venator's name a couple of times he focused back on the mission. 
"Another flashback mate?", asked Trawe as he readied the detonator. 
"Yes, they're getting worse as time goes by.", replied Sith-venator as he looked around to see that everybody who had planted explosives were ready to use the detonators. 
"You need a doctor.", said Spikehead who had butted into the conversation. 
"I don't need a doctor.", replied Sith-venator. 
"Sure,", commented Juno, "but, are you old women going to keep talking about book club or are you going to blow up those towers?" Sith-venator knew she was right, and after he gave the signal, the towers were destroyed.
"Everybody run across the courtyard into the factory!", ordered Sith-venator. The group started running, and at first the light fire from the scouts wasn't so bad. However, after a few seconds the troopers started firing rockets at the group and the turbolasers that were operationable started firing at them, making the once bland green courtyard bright and hot, loud noises ringing in the sky as the group ran through the burning flames. Reed was the first one into the factory, yanking open the large barn-style door for everyone else, the large group running in as quickly as possible. Sith-venator waited for the Duros, Pike Bane, to make it through when Sith-venator felt an intense heat in his legs, being swept off of his feet and into the sky. The Duros faintly screamed as he was engulfed in the massive heat of the explosion, instantly killing him. Sith-venator was thrown into the factory from the force of the blast, knocking him unconscious.
As the smoke cleared behind him, two speeders rushed through, the spirals of the black gas swirling and parting. Ayrus had his lightsaber in one hand, deflecting the occasional sparks.
Reed, still holding open the door, motioned dramatically with his hands, yelling, "Hurry Mort! C'mon Ayrus!", while the Kaleesh soldier pulled Sith-venator past the door's length and into safety.
An explosion rocked Ayrus as he was nearly thrown off his bike. When he and Mort burst through the flames, they found that the door was in front of them. The two accelerated to full throttle, jerking on the handbrake to stop from hitting the pillar supporting the foyer.
Reed felt an explosion next to him. He pulled one side of the door and slammed it closed, the same Kaleesh closing the other side of the door. They locked it, the foyer, made of stone with two metal doors, a pillar, and a few steps going down, strangely calm, the sounds of gunfire and alarms muffled. Ayrus stepped off of his speeder and force pulled a few pipes and lanterns from the walls, blocking the door. The other door, mechanically controlled, was being locked down from the other side by Krow. Ayrus moved his speeder to the center above the steps, sitting on it. He brought Sith-venator over and waited for him to come to.
==Chapter 16: What Goes Up, Must Come Down==
Now Adolf Tarkin was the one panting up and down his office, his wife and Kratos standing near by. 
"I can't believe they did it, they found the factory, they got past the outer defenses, how did the Rebels do it?", asked Adolf rhetorically. 
Kratos spoke now saying, "Sounds like the work of Jedi to me, weren't you two just on Hoth?" 
Caroline nodded motioning for Kratos to keep talking, "The Empire did a bad job of eliminating all the Jedi, I bet there were some on Hoth, and they followed you here when they saw the tanks." 
"Damn it,", replied Adolf, "I thought I had gotten good enough protection for this project, Kratos, I want your best men to go take care of the Rebels with the aid of my stormtroopers!" 
Kratos replied, "Your wish is my command," he got on his commlink and ordered three men into the office.
"Colonel meet Akron, the two Mandalorians are his wingmen. He will take down those Rebels no problem, if he does have troubles these Mandalorians were part of Death Watch, they like to kill almost as much as Akron." The stunned Colonel looked at the trio for a moment then ordered them to lye in ambush for the Rebels.
While Sith-venator lied down on the floor unconscious, he dreampt an event of his past...
2549, Paris IV, Paris System, Milky Way Galaxy
Sith-venator climbed up the side of a cliff, his MJOLNIR Armor keeping him camouflaged from Covenant forces in the darkness of night. He could see Taylor was below him using his night vision, any moment now she would pass him up. The other member of Purple Team, Jugar-007, was at the capital of the planet, in charge of a platoon of ODSTs. After a minute both SPARTAN-IIs reached the top of the cliff and looked at the encampment of Sangheili. All the sentries were at the opposing side of the camp, it was an easy mission. Sith-venator attached a silencer on his Mk 14 Mod 7 Enhanced Battle Rifle, then took a glance to Taylor seeing she had done the same for her AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun, putting a silencer on the end of each barrel. Then on his command, both sprinted into the various tents either shooting the unarmored Sangheili or stabbing them in the neck with a combat knife.'
The operation went according to plan until one of the Sangheili kicked Sith-venator out of the tent, Taylor in quick response took her M319 Individual Grenade Launcher with one hand and fired it at the elite before it could charge up its shields. The noise unfortunately woke up the rest of the Sangheili and they started charging at the Spartans, Sith-venator and Taylor fired there weapons into the hordes of aliens but one Elite got through and tackled Sith-venator off the cliff. Taylor reached out her hand to grab Sith-venator, but she wasn't able to grab him in time and he fell off the cliff with the Elite. Sith-venator shot the Elite several times in the air, killing it instantly, but alas he still fell.
Before he hit the ground, he woke up to Ayrus dumping a bottle of water on his face.
"Morning sunshine, do you like delaying our plans?", asked Ayrus as he helped Sith-venator up. Sith-venator felt his head with his hand, then looked around, they were short one Duros. He remembered the explosion that had knocked him out now. There was a moment of silence before the group started moving out into the heart of the factory.
They went down the step to the large metal door with a holographic interface. Before entering Ayrus turned back to the men.
"There's no guarantee we are all getting out alive.", he stated, crossing his arms. 
He continued, "But that isn't what matters. What matters is the good we're doing for the Alliance. If we take this factory down... We WILL take this factory down. We will benefit the Alliance greatly. We can't worry that we might not come back out alive. We came to destroy this factory. And that means coming up with a plan to take out this station. It's gonna' take more than a run-and-gun op. We'll need brains, brawn, and everything in between. Once we're inside, they'll attack us with everything they've got. This station is too important for them to lose. Well I say too bad for them. They're gonna lose it, like it or not. If we're weak, we hesitate, or we're slow, we may fail. The Empire thinks we won't be able to get past them. Main deal is. They're wrong. We'll make them regret ever building this station, ever thinking this brilliant plan up. Let's do this."
Ayrus nodded strongly at his teammates, watching as they cracked their knuckles, loaded their weapons, and checked their gear. This was it, they were going to destroy the factory no matter what, even if that meant losing their lives.
Sith-venator checked to see how much ammo his DC-15A had, then attached a grenade launcher under the barrel replacing the DT-57 blaster pistol that had been there. He placed the DT-57 on his magnetic holster, next to his energy sword. Sith-venator walked over to the wall and inserted Juno's chip in and then out. 
"You never know how to please a woman.", teased Juno over everyone's commlinks. 
"I'll open the door in front of us in thirty seconds, is everybody ready?", asked Juno. Sith-venator put his rifle on his back, sticking to the magnetic holster with ease, then drew his other lightsaber. He ignited it as Juno started to open the door, the green aura lighting the dark space as the group stood ready. Ayrus ignited his saber, putting it diagonally in front of him, a dual-wielded lightsaber protecting him if anyone shot. There was a silence for a moment. Then the door slid open four directions quickly, opening up a metal corridor, linking forward, where there were ten stormtroopers lined up, five guarding the corridor edge to edge with translucent riot-shields, the other five lined up in between them ready to take their shots.
Ayrus laughed at them. During the short moment the stormtroopers took to react, his years of Jedi training, being on the run, and everything else he had been through had heightened his senses, and his skill. Ayrus lifted his hands upward with the force so intensely that that low pitched, signature sound of it echoed through the room, a faint blue aura forming. When the stormtroopers started to fire, he thrust his arms forward, driving the rifle troopers a few yards away to the next door, and knocking the riot troopers down.
Tara Kleig rushed forward kicking aside one of the trooper's shields and stabbing him in the chest with her own lightsaber. One of the others started to crawl away as Krow picked up the riot shield and slammed it down onto his head, crumpling the helmet and all within.
Spikehead did a bit of a ninja kick to another riot-shield trooper who was stumbling up. The trooper fell to the ground. Ayrus snickered at Spikehead's antics, watching as Tarvok Wonn, still standing at the hallway entrance, fired off dozens of shots from the infinite-ammo'ed, bolt action sniper rifle, the rifle troops who were still alive dying.
The last two troops got up and held their riot shields in front of them, blindfiring their pistols at the team. Dag laughed and kept suppressing fire on them. Tarvok leaned in and fired a shot at the foot of the trooper on the right. He yelped, dropping the riot shield and exposing himself and the side of his ally. Dag brought out a thermal detonator, activated it, and threw it at the wall to the left of them, causing it to ricochet and land right next to the awkward troops. They panicked, juggled it like a hot potato, and after about three seconds, exploded. After the bright, red-orange combustion, all that remained were bits and pieces of the trooper's armor, and a few chunks of the shields. The area around them was scorched and black, some points crushed inward and fragile.
Sith-venator looked around sadly, he hadn't killed any of the stormtroopers. All he had done was deflect some blaster bolts with his saber. The group moved forward past the corridor and onto a small stairwell that lead them into a walkway with some machinery and one assembly line. It was dark with flashing lights and starting to get noisy and steamy. Sith-venator's hawk-like eyes caught a glance of something for a moment but before he could focus on it the mysterious blur disappeared. 
"Something, or someone is here...", said Sith-venator out-loud as the group got suddenly tensed. All of a sudden Dag fell to the ground, hit from a stun blaster. Shortly after him so did Mort and then Spikehead. Sith-venator took out his DT-57 blaster with his left hand, his green lightsaber still in his right hand, and looked around once more before a blaster bolt hit him too. Fortunately the MJOLNIR armor that Sith-venator wore reflected the shot with ease.
Then all of a sudden a monstrous looking trooper appeared from no where and slashed at Sith-venator. Sith-venator dodged the slash and slammed his saber into the area where the monstrous trooper had been only to hit air. 
"Ayrus... we've got Terror Troopers, and they're more deadly than in the Holos.", said Sith-venator as he fired a couple of shots from his blaster at a Terror Trooper that appeared for a brief second. The group couldn't tell how many of the troopers were in the walkway due to the cloaking, so they guessed on their shots. Once again a Terror Troopers tried to slash at Sith-venator, but this time he was ready, when the trooper became visible he used the force to throw it into the wall. Sith-venator then threw his lightsaber into the trooper, killing it instantly.
Ayrus brought his hands together and threw them outwards quickly, a force move that crushed pieces of a conveyor belt and completely obliterated a welding droid. There were some groans as the group of Rebels fell down, jumping right back up. The Terror Troopers were a bit slower, their intimidating, aesthetically built gear encumbering them. Ayrus motioned the group behind him. He put the dual-bladed, violet hued lightsaber in front of him and his nimble fingers started spinning it very quickly, forming a literal shield in front of him as the twirling saber spun, shredding the metal rails around it.
Ayrus half turned his head to everyone and yelled "Shoot them!", continuing to hold the shield and block the Terror Trooper's shots as they were cornered up to the locked door. Ayrus was about to swipe his saber right, then left, to kill the troopers when he heard a small thud as a ventilation hatch fell from behind.
The Jedi turned around as a clawed hand hit his face with a force that slammed him into the door, Tan'dres' lightsaber flying backwards as the three troopers surrounded him, the one that had punched him pulling him into a choke hold, the other two guarding them as Ayrus' lost the flow of air to his lungs.
Sith-venator turned around to see Ayrus being choked and knew there was only one thing he could do. Sith-venator ran forward towards the Terror troopers, but rather than attack directly he focused all the power in his entire body into his fist. Sith-venator then, with all his might, slammed his fist into the ground, unleashing a wave of force energy and repulsed all three troopers into the air, with Ayrus falling to the ground, finally able to catch his breath. With the troopers still in the air Sith-venator quickly ignited his blue lightsaber and threw it using the force into one of the troopers while simultaneously throwing his green one into the other. The last terror trooper, still in Sith-venator grasp of the force, wiggled around in the air not being able to do anything.
Ayrus force grasped his lightsaber and stood up. He activated one blade and in one motion sliced the remaining Terror Trooper in half. The next door was hardwired shut and no one could get in or out. Someone small would have to fit through. Ayrus dusted himself off and huddled the team together.
"It looks like they tried to seal us in,", he stated.
"But they failed. The vent shaft that those Terror Troopers came through is still open. Someone small should be able to climb in and disable the lock on the other side. Who knows what awaits. They'll need to be stealthy and fast. Who volunteers?"
Ayrus looked around as Tara Kleig, clad in her Jedi armor, stepped up.
"I do.", she boldly acknowledged. Ayrus looked hesitant at first but then realized that she could get the job done easy.
"I'm confident in your abilities Tara. Move in to the shaft and keep us updated on what's going on.", he continued.
Tara nodded, pulled up a cowl attached to the robe itself, and clambered into the shaft, her light crawling making virtually no sound. Inside, Tara saw a grate on the other side with a stormtrooper, completely unaware of what was on the other side, stood lazily, biting his nails, helmet and gloves on the ground. She giggled and the stormtrooper noticed, turning around a few times, shrugging, and going back to his nailbiting. Kleig smirked to herself and started to lift the trooper's helmet with the force, crushing it then bashing it against the poor grunt's face, knocking him out cold.
She punched the grate, grabbing it before it could hit the ground. She lightly slipped down and saw the maintenance door, similar to a circuit breaker. She opened it and saw a few buttons, all having different functions. They weren't actually labeled, and hardly ever touched. Tara pressed one and saw a light go off. She moved that one back and pressed another random one, all of the lights in the corridor turning off. Ayrus chimed in on the comms.
"Tara, the lights in here just went alarm-off. Everything alright?", he asked.
Tara nodded even though he couldn't see her and said, "Yeah... Just... Yeah."
She flicked that one button back and got angry at the breaker. She pulled out her lightsaber and angrily stabbed it. For a moment the two corridors went dark, the production of parts stopping. Then all the lights came back on and the doors unlocked. Ayrus opened the one he was in and walked out.
"Well, that was fast. How did you get it to work?", he asked.
Tara laughed and said, "I stabbed it.", starting to walk forward.
Sith-venator entered the room with his lightsabers de-activated and his DT-57 blaster aimed at potential enemies. Fortunately there were only some dead stormtroopers, and he knew from experience that despite how fun it was to shoot dead bodies, it wasted valued ammunition. Sith-venator looked around, lowering his blaster, to see that the room had three exits. 
"Juno,", he said over the comm, "Which way do we go?" 
"Looking at my trusty old map, it appears that they all ultimately lead to the same place. Might I suggest the team split up into three separate groups?", replied Juno.
"Sounds like a plan, but, if we die, I'm going to kill you Juno.", replied Sith-venator. 
"So boss man what's the plan? Who is in which group?", asked Mort to Ayrus. Ayrus looked at the three, forkheaded exits. 
He tapped his helmet, asking, "Juno, where do the three doors lead?" Juno's voice came on. 
"One leads straight unto a platform in a large room. It's teetering high above a tangle of production lines, and all it's made of is cables and metal. It's got multiple outer-connecting walkways and stairwells which lead to other walkways, about three-hundred meters underground meeting up with a tunnel big enough to fit a tank through. No idea what's inside though. Cased up. Also about four hundred stormtroopers and variants inside. The rooms around them are a tangle, and I can't see them aside from close to the main production line. One of them is the offices, for any officers who manage the facility, or off-duty technicians. It connects with a small lounge. The right side is a maintenance shaft, and it's as confusing as a labyrinth, like this entire place. Can't be for sure if any of you would fit. Well, it's up to you who to send. I expect resistance in all. There's about fifty exits to other parts of this massive facility inside the maintenance shaft, so the most resistance will be there. It's up to you, Ayrus.", she stated. Ayrus pulled down his cowl and hit his hand against his helmet.
"We'll need the brunt of our forces to move through the straight corridor. And explosives... Soi, Sith, Spikehead, Tara, I want you to move through the main platform until you hit the straight middle where we'll connect with yo-
Juno chimed in once more, "Also, the maintenance shafts, which double as exhaust vents, tend to get really hot, so every once in a while you'll have to open vent shafts. It can only be done from the offices though, on the exact other side of the facility. You can also lock the maintenance shafts down, but when one hatch locks, more do too in order to channel the air flow. You'll have to move fasts. Stormies and intense heat can kill half of us easy."
Ayrus nodded again, "Mort, Tarvok, Chaf, move through the maintenance shaft. The Imperial forces will funnel in and we'll lock them out. It'll be complicated but will work. The rest of us will move through the offices, where most of the troopers and officers will be. Everybody... Let's move!", he commanded, splitting the squad up.
==Chapter 17: If The Boot Fits...==
Sith-venator stared at the door he was supposed to lead the team through as the others who weren't going with him walked into separate corridors. He looked to see Soi, Spikehead, and Tara waiting for him to open it. 
"Jugar would have already been halfway there, you know Sith.", commented Juno on his mental preparations. Sith-venator flipped off her hologram that was standing nearby the door and opened the door to find several AT-STs, and an AT-KT looking at them. 
"I hope you boys and girls like the taste of laser cannons, because we are about to get a mouth full. Soi and Spikehead stay back and fire from a distance with the rocket launcher. Tara, you're with me. We are going to get close and personal with these walkers.", said Sith-venator to the group.
Then in a flash both Sith-venator and Tara unleashed a large burst of force push against their enemies, knocking down the closest one of the very unfortunate AT-STs. With the walker down Soi passed Spikehead a rocket, who then proceeded to load it, take a moment to aim, and then fire at the down walker, causing it to explode in a fiery mist. The remaining walkers began to fire at the small group with their laser cannons. Spikehead and Soi took cover behind the destroyed walker while Sith-venator and Tera blocked the incoming lasers with their lightsabers. 
"I have a plan, but you may not like it Tara!", yelled Sith-venator.
"I have a feeling it's not going to matter if I like it or not Sith, remember what happened on Taris?", replied Tara.
"That was a complete accident and you knew that building was coming down.", replied Sith-venator.
"Ayrus had to hold the whole damn building up while you and your virtual girlfriend made a quick buck by hacking into the Governor's personal account.", Tara seethed.
"I told you to get out while you still could!", Sith-venator angrily responded.
"GUYS! Do you really think this is the time to be having this conversation?", bellowed Spikehead to the two chatty Jedi.
Both Tara and Sith-venator looked over to Spikehead, still deflecting laser and blaster shots despite not looking, and said simultaneously, "We weren't talking to you!" 
Sith-venator then turned to Tara and said, "Just trust me on this one. I bet if Ayrus was here he would do it in a heartbeat."
"Fine... What is it?", asked Tara. Sith-venator then handed her his blue lightsaber, grabbed her wrist and threw her towards the AT-KT. 
"The rest you have to figure out! My part of the plan ends there!", yelled Sith-venator to the now speeding Tara. Tara activated Sith-venator's lightsaber and in a flash impaled the cockpit of the AT-KT with both sabers, killing all that were inside within seconds. She then pushed down the AT-KT with the force and threw both sabers into the closest AT-ST chopping both legs off at the same time. The walker fell down with no support and then was destroyed by Spikehead's rocket.
There was now two AT-STs left, both aiming at Sith-venator. Before either could fire however both were barraged with force lightning and within several seconds both were on the ground twitching with malfunction. Sith-venator sprinted forward and opened the hatches of both walkers with the force. All the pilots and gunners were dead inside, killed from the lethal lightning.
"Everybody, regroup!". yelled Sith-venator to the dispersed group. He gave a nod of approval then motioned with his left hand to move out.
Officer Leonard Kerston was on high alert. He stood angrily above his holo-terminal in a room filled with them, an octagonal shaped room, a massive one, filled with terminals and holo-readouts, panels, and designs, the edge of it peaking out to a long series of glass windows viewing the facility, readouts of corridors that had gone dark flashing in red on a large hologram of the entire facility on his holopad. They had decimated the outer guard, gotten through the shielding and AA turrets, and blown through the entire foyer, only suffering one loss. They were a good team, he thought.
"Derrim! Sitrep, now!", Kerston said. Lieutenant Sade Derrim pranced around the room, nervous, anxious, and jittery.
He spoke quickly to his CO, saying "Sir, four of the Rebels just took out our AT-ST and AT-KT defense line in the center platform circle, and did massive damage to it. If that goes down all of the walkways above the production line will crumple. Another five of the team went into the maintenance shaft. I sent in a trooper squad to dispatch them. The other group of the "infiltrators" went the way to the walkway that leads... here!"
Before Kerston could reply, the door exploded, a piece of it flying towards an technician who was running away from it, smashing him with a "GRRUAH!"
Kerston immediately pulled out a ST-P1 Holdout pistol, one he could hide in his coat sleeve. He did so, running up to a small barrier that a terminal was concealed behind.
He poked his head up out of the divider and saw a shot fly past him, blowing a piece of his ear off. Kerston flew back, smashing into a second divider and the terminal, shattering his right arm. There was a lot of fire around him as dozens of technicians, engineers, and officers bum-rushed the group of Jedi and his men, being cut down by a wall of blaster bolts. After a moment, there was an absolute silence aside from whispers and footsteps. Ayrus walked towards where the CO was, when his comm chimed in. It was Mort.
"Ayrus, room clear yet? Vents are still locked and it's getting a little hot.", Mort stated.
Ayrus said, "Get as cool as possible. One moment.", shutting off his comm. He blew away the divider with the flick of his hand, revealing an incapacitated man, his feet trapped under a chair, his arm broken and covered in glass, the officer's ear with a round incision in it, the wound cauterized.
Ayrus tapped his helmet, "Clear the room. Root out any who are hiding.", he commanded to the team, who acknowledged and started moving. Ayrus pulled down his cowl and removed his helmet, setting it down on a broken corner of the barrier. He crouched down in front of Kerston.
"Now, I'm going to ask you some questions. You are going to answer, or I will personally remove the biggest shard of glass from your arm, and kill you with it." Kerston nodded as Ayrus asked his first question calmly. 
"What's your name?", he asked.
Kerston stuttered to speak, but managed to spit out, "Le-Leonard K-k-Kerston. That's all you need to know..." Ayrus raised one eyebrow and leaned forward, smacking Leonard in the face.
"How do I shift the vent flow?", Ayrus questioned.
"I wouldn't tell y-you, if my l-li-life depended on it.", Leonard retorted. Ayrus leaned in once more, pulling a small shard of glass out of his arm, which caused quite a bit of pain for Leonard, and sticking it in his mouth, with some resistance from the prisoner.
"Tell me now.", Ayrus said. After a moment of no response, Ayrus, with his cestus-armed hand, punched the side of Kerston's face. Hard, which created a blood-curdling, shattering sound. Kerston yelped out in pain, spitting out a mixture of blood, saliva, and tiny shards of glass. Leo coughed three times, the third spitting out more blood.
"Tell me.", Ayrus ordered.
"F-fine! Control... Control panel to the left or in my terminal in the center of the.... Center of the room. Just zoom in on the vent area using the categories, rooms panel... "
Ayrus nodded and pulled out his Lightsaber. "Wait! You aren't going to... Kill me!? R-right?",, Kerston cried. Ayrus shook his head no. 
"Not at all, my friend.", he said flipping the lightsaber around, standing up, and with as much power as possible, hit him on the side of his head, knocking the captain unconscious. Ayrus flicked on his comm again. 
"The command terminal in the center of the room! Move! In the selection panel, hit categories, rooms, maintenance wing, and search for the shaft the others are in! Go! We unlock the nearest vent lock as soon as we find them." The group nodded, all working together. The Kaleesh Rebel took control of the display, quickly darting to a holographic readout of the squad, who seemed-from their animated form, to be overheated.
Sith-venator spoke onto the comm right before the lock opened. 
"We're pinned down on the center platform! Best get here as soon as you can!", he yelled. The Kaleesh looked at Ayrus, and opened the locks, a wind of cold air moving through the hot shaft.
"Thanks Ayrus! Moving to the right.", Mort said, relieved. They moved right, encountering resistance from a group of stormtroopers.
"Saes, stay here and keep those vents running. Dag, stay with him. The rest of you, move with me to the center platform! Let's go!"
Sith-venator, Spikehead, Tara, and Soi eventually came to a very large, sealed, durable door. 
"Soi, think you can blow this thing sky high?", asked Sith-venator to the Sullistan. 
"I got this no prol-lem mang!", replied Soi in a rough tongue of basic, very confident in his abilities. 
Just at that moment Tara yelled, "Sith!"
"Destroyers!", she continued, as twelve Droidekas rolled up into a formation behind them. 
"I should have seen this coming...", grumbled Sith-venator.
"Juno help Soi with the door however you can.", he ordered to Juno.
"Aye", replied the AI quickly as the Droidekas rolled up and deployed their shield generators.
"Everybody cover Soi!", bossed Sith-venator as he hopped into one of the Droideka's blind spots and stabbed the droid though the shield and then the head with his Lightsaber, causing a shower of sparks.
The eleven remaining Droidekas then began to fire their blasters at the small group hitting Spikehead dead in the chest. He reeled over, then quickly leaned back up.
"Spikehead!", bellowed Sith-venator to his injured comrade.
"Gah.. Don't worry bud, I'm okay. My armor absorbed most of it... I'll need some bacta though.", replied Spikehead as he got up, his chestplate smoking black. 
"Don't scare me like that Vod.", replied Sith-venator as he deflected more blaster shots with his lightsaber. Right at that moment, Tara chimed in. 
"Before you ask, you are not throwing me again.", she said as she too deflected the blaster bolts. 
"You do know that I think of other plans besides throwing people, right?", Sith-venator stated matter-a-factly as he let out a barrage of force lightning hitting several of the droids and disabling all that were hit.
"Okay four down, eight to go.", acknowledged Sith-venator to the group. Tara grabbed one of the Droidekas with the force and crushed it against the wall with enough kinetic energy to make the droid malfunction, and after a few seconds, blow up.
"Five down Sith.", Tara corrected. 
As she continued to deflect blaster bolts, Spikehead added his two cents, saying, "I think you guys have forgotten what an angry Zabrak can do.", pulling out a rocket launcher sized ion cannon. 
"Say hello to Maul for me droids!" he yelled as he fired multiple blasts from the ion cannon into the seven Droidekas destroying them instantly, the shockwave destroying the straggler. Just as the last droid was shattered from the impact, Soi was ready to blow the door open. 
"Errybody back!", shouted Soi as he prepared to blow open the door. The four man team ran back, vaulting over the rubble and destroyed Droidekas, the explosion at that moment erupting in a loud boom, the flames tearing the door into four pieces.
The group entered the next hallway blasters drawn ready for whatever the Empire may throw at them.
On the right side of the main belt, another series of doors opened and closed, Mort shooting a stormtrooper in the face. At the right vent lock, six stormtroopers tried prying the gate open, but failed, and were now patiently waiting for the lock to open. 
Saes San opened the comm.
"There should be a vent lock straight ahead. Get close to that and run through. We'll lock the stormtroopers in and they'll die of the heat.", Saes stated as Mort acknowledged. 
"Okay,", he said, continuing. 
"Tarvok, you get the rear. Chaf, you stay at the front. We get ready. Saes, you ready?"
"Opening in three...", he stated.
"Two."
"One.", he finished, the vent blowing open with a wisp of air. Behind the group and to the right, a faint "Vent's open, go, go, go!", could be heard. 
The three man team moved through the vent, Tarvok moving past the lock just as a stormtrooper poked his head out, Tarvok taking a shot at him, the bolt blowing right through his head as Mort acknowledged once more, the lock closing again.
"Saes, there's a fork here. Two of these lead left, and the other leads straight forward. Which direction?", he asked.
Saes sifted through the holomap, looking at where the three routes led. Behind them and behind the lock, a stormtrooper tried banging on the door, Tarvok glaring at him.
"Left! Second to the left from the straight shaft. You've got a tac-team of five EVO troopers moving in from straight ahead! Go!", he yelled, the three running through the left shaft and reaching another lock. The three EVO troopers were quickly moving, and one stuck his head out of the corner, Tarvok dodging to the side as he took a shot, the shards from his flechette launcher all slicing into Chaf's stomach, a few others ricocheting and hitting Mort. Chaf screamed out in pain as she toppled to the ground, injured, but not dead yet. The shots had all avoided her spine and flown through non vital-organs, though she was definitely incapacitated. The trooper's launcher was then, too sliced in half as another series of locks triggered, the lock the tac-team was at closing, the other stormtrooper's door opening, where they regrouped with the EVOs. Tarvok lightly plucked Chaf from the ground, took a bit of his cloak and ripped it, tying it around Chaf's midriff to stop the bleeding. He then slung her over his shoulder and moved through with Mort, who was okay.
"Everything alright?", Saes asked. 
"Chaf is down, but she'll live. We need to get out of here, fast.", Mort replied.
"There's a direct shaft down a floor, which you will then take left, and climb back up to reach the exit. After that, I'll be able to stop lock in the team of troopers immediately, along with any more of them, like the ones that-wait a minute... System lockdown? Control override, no carrier? Keh'san... You've got to move fast! All of the locks are about to open, and there's a HUGE number of tac-teams moving in through different shafts. If you don't get out of there fast, you'll be locked inside with a... I don't know, few dozen trooper teams! GO!", he yelled. Mort started running towards the pit, Tarvok in close pursuit. He jumped down, landing hard on the metal floor.
"Tarvok, drop her down, I'll catch her!", he shouted to Tarvok. The Ithorian nodded and dropped her, the unconscious Chaf being caught by Mort. Seconds later, Tarvok jumped down, taking Chaf back. "There's the way to the exit, let's go!", Mort screamed, running towards the other pit. He grabbed onto the ladder railing and started climbing up, reaching the top and seeing a grated exit, smoke blowing through from the factory.
"Fourty seconds!", Saes nervously interrupted.
Tarvok started to climb up one handed, holding Chaf in the other hand as alarms started to blare at the thirty second mark. Tarvok stopped, threw the limp Chaf up, and quickly did a ricochet jump to the top. He picked her back up and saw a struggling Mort trying to get the grate open by ramming it. Tarvok quickly ran up to him and passed Chaf into Mort's hands. He then lifted his foot, and in one fluid motion, kicked the grate off of the bolts, sending it tumbling into the mass of smog below. Tarvok jumped out and to the left, grabbing onto a walkway railing. He pulled himself up and Mort handed him Chaf, Tarvok lying her next to him. He then grabbed Mort's hand, yanking him up quickly onto the railing, slamming Mort into a metal hand-hold, but pulling him up.
"Vents flushing in three! Two! One!", Saes yelled, the exit locks slamming shut as all locks inside busted open, about seventy EVO troopers being locked inside.
Tarvok saw the main platform directly ahead, and he saw another door open on the other side of the main platform. Ayrus and the others moved through at that time, reaching an identical walkway. Krow gave a friendly, big wave in their direction, Mort sending a smaller one back. Now it was up to the Assault squad.
==Chapter 18: The Hunted==
Ayrus led the assault team through the largest corridor he could find. They met the occasional resistance from various Stormtrooper squads, but that was it. The team only stopped when Ayrus needed to cut down a locked door.
"This is the demolition team, over.", said Sith-venator over the commlink, "I thought you guys we're going to meet up with us in the next room? I mean I love killing waves of Stormtroopers as much as the next guy, but repetition gets a little boring."
"Don't worry we're getting close, the other team should meet up with you before us though. We've been encountering...strange things.", replied Ayrus as he kicked down the door.
"What kind of strange things?", asked Sith-venator as he threw a stormtrooper against an Imperial Army trooper with a thud.
"Well...Juno never mentioned the factory had a forest.", said Ayrus as he and his team looked in awe at the indoor woods.
Sith-venator blinked from hearing that. 
"Juno, why is there a forest in this factory?", asked Sith-venator to his AI.
"Based on the plans there is no forest. I read the assault team currently going through another assembly room.", replied Juno.
Ayrus looked up to see that the forest room did indeed have some assembly lines. However, they were pretty far up. 
"Dag what's your status with your team?", asked Ayrus over the comm to Dag.
"We're just about to meet up with Sith-venator's team in the next room. We'll be there in three minutes.", replied Dag.
"Sounds good, not sure how long it will take to transverse this forest room though. Sith-venator what kind of room are you currently in?", asked Ayrus.
"Well not sure what it's supposed to be, but I could swear it's supposed to be a receptionist's office.", commented Sith-venator as he shot his DC-15A at a Scout trooper behind Spikehead.
"Okay we'll see you in the receptionist's office as soon as we can. Tell me when Dag's team get's there. Out.", said Ayrus as he cut down a vine with his lightsaber. Kr'owhkar made a comment to Reed before climbing up the nearest tree.
"Huh, never actually seen a wookiee climb a tree before.", commented S'hadow to his cousin Tyree as they struggled through the brush on the forest floor.
"I did once, back before the Clone Wars when Death Watch was real nasty on Kashyyyk.", commented Trawe as he jetpacked between branches.
"I actually remember hearing about that when I was on Kashyyyk, but never got any real details. What was Death Watch doing there?", asked Ayrus as he put away his lightsaber and jumped between branches. He had given up pretty quickly on cutting down vegetation in his way.
"Wait guys, as cool as this conversation is, where is Brinaloy Vant?", asked Reed as he struggled to keep up with Tyree and S'hadow. While S'hadow wore Rebel battle armor and Tyree wore Katarn-class commando armor Reed wore only a chestplate under his clothes made out of Plastoid. Subsequently Reed's clothes were getting cut up and his legs were starting to bleed due to the abundance of thorns in the brush.
"Frack...", commented Ayrus, "She must have gotten lost in the brush."
"Or....she's dead.", said Trawe with a laugh.
"You know, I don't know why Sith hangs out with you. You're a pretty big jerk", replied Reed as he jumped over a small ditch.
"We keep him around only because he's good at paying rent.", commented Tyree.
Kr'owhkar made a noise in the tree tops where no one could see him before jumping down to one of the lower branches near Ayrus. In his hands was the mutilated corpse of the devaronian, Brinaloy Vant. Her neck was half gashed out from what looked like the wound from a Ryyk bade.
"Okay, so we know something is in here with us.", commented S'hadow as he saw the corpse.
"Everybody stick together, we're almost out of this weird factory forest.", ordered Ayrus.
"Oh I have a bad feeling about this.", said Tyree as he aimed his DC-17M blaster and fired at a nearby branch, killing an animal.
"First, what the hell? Second, why do you say that?", asked Reed looking at the dead animal.
Ayrus' eyes widened in realization as he looked at the animal and said, "Because Reed, that's a Ysalamir. This whole section of the factory is a giant Ysalamari cage."
"Well what's so bad about that?", asked Reed.
"Because,", answered Tyree, "Ysalamir can stop force sensitives from using the force. Add that with the fact that our affirmative action was just murdered and you'll come up with the same conclusion the rest of us came up with when we saw her dead body. We are being hunted."
Sith-venator kicked the last stormtrooper into the nearest wall, shattering the trooper's spine. 
"Okay ammo check, how we doing?", asked Sith-venator to his team.
"Well me and Soi still got a good amount of rockets left, but I'm running low on blaster ammo. Cover me while I loot from the Stormtroopers.", replied Spikehead as he began gathering ammo from the dead Imperial troopers. After about a minute Dag and his team entered the room. Tarvok was carrying an injured Chaf'aaur'leoni and Mort's chest plate had several scratches and holes on it. Like Reed Mort's only armor was his plastoid chestplate underneath his clothing. At least Saes the Kaleesh appeared to be fine.
"Sith-venator to Ayrus, over.", started Sith-venator, "Dag and his team have just arrived to the receptionist's office. When can I get your ETA?" No response.
"Their comms are being jammed by something originating inside the forest. I won't be able to clear it up.", said Juno. Then the door farthest to the north opened filled with Imperial Sith Acolytes, Imperial Saber Guards, Imperial Jumptroopers, Phase II dark troopers, and a Purge trooper.
"Get to cover!", ordered Sith-venator flipping over a desk and firing his DC-15A at the nearest Jumptrooper, hitting it right in the jetpack causing the trooper to explode shortly after.
"I guess Ayrus and his team are on their own until we can take care of these guys.", said Sith-venator to himself before ducking below a blaster bolt.
Akron stood on the tree tops looking down at the Rebels in his thermal vision. His two Mandalorian wingmen both sported powerful bows using arrows tipped with Corusca gems. One shot from from that arrow would take down anything short of Mandalorian iron. Akron flexed his robotoic fingers over his dual ryyk blades as he thought of how to separate the rebels even further.
"Svante Locke what is the status on the other teams?", asked Akron to one of his Death Watch companions.
"The Imperials have engaged them, they should buy us enough time to finish off this group and lure the survivors into this forest.", replied Svante.
"You don't think it's weird that there's a forest in this factory do you?", asked Tam Taske, the other Death Watch Mandalorian.
"The Colonel's wife was very specific that this section be included inside the factory. It seems in addition to being a mechanical genius she is also very fond of experimentation with animals.", said Akron.
"Speaking of animals, is it time to release them?", asked Svante to Akron. Akron paused for a moment before answering. He calculated the risk and potential punishment. Assuming the plan worked perfectly many of the animals would still be killed. One thing he didn't like was getting a bad review on a job. He worked hard to be known as the most reliable assassin in Kratos' gang, and he'd be damned if that reputation was squandered just because the Colonel's wife missed her pets.
"The time is now.", said Akron as he tapped a button on his tactical pad.
"Acklays, Rancors, and Katarns. All great prey to be hunted, a shame they're just distractions like the Imperials.", commented Tam.
"Silence now. Engage active camouflage. Once they split up engage when you have the best opportunity. Happy hunting...", ordered Akron as he engaged his active camouflage and holstered his ryyk blades in order to hold his special slugthrower that was renown for its silence. According to the rest of Kratos' gang the slugthrower once took down a Krayt Dragon in one shot. Unluckily for the rebels below in the forest this was no tall tale.
Ayrus and his team were starting to get frustrated. Though it had seemed like they were getting close to getting out of the forest at first time had revealed that the forest was far larger than Ayrus had originally thought. Eventually they stopped to take a quick rest at a river. Ayrus took off his boots and put both feet into the river. Though he appeared to be relaxing Ayrus knew someone or something was following them, as it had already killed the female alien. Trawe splashed some water on his face . Reed refilled his cantina while Krow, S'hadow and Tyree stood watch.
A bellowing roar and several loud cries caused Reed to drop his cantina into the river. Krow yelled something in his native language to Ayrus.
"Yeah I know what Katarns sound like Krow, you don't have to tell me.", replied Ayrus as he quickly put his boots back on.
"Katarns? I thought those were only on Kashyyyk.", commented Reed as he drew out his DH-17 blaster. After a pause several more loud shrieks began flooding the forest. 
"Okay, I actually don't know what animal makes that sound.", commented Ayrus who also unholstered his DL-44.
"I do.", replied S'hadow as he began looking around for the noise, "Back when I was still in the Imperial Army we had to take down a Separatist holdout on Vendaxa one time. The Battle droids weren't that bad, but it wasn't long before my men started getting slaughtered by these native creatures called Acklays. Damn things will tear a man apart lightning fast." One final roar echoed across the forest that silenced all other roars.
"Okay,", started Tyree, "You all know what a Rancor sounds like now." Before anything else was said the Rancor charged at the rebels. Tyree and S'hadow rolled out of the way but Reed was too slow and got hit into the river. Reed spit out some water before swimming back to shore, unaware that Acklays were amphibious. The nearest Acklay grabbed hold of Reed and threw him back over the river and into a bush on the other side.
"Krow and Trawe go cover Reed while I help S'hadow and Tyree take care of this Rancor!", ordered Ayrus as he fired his DL-44 at the underbelly of the Rancor. Krow replied with a growl and headed off with Trawe to save Reed. Tyree put on his Anti-armor attachment for his DC-17M and aimed for the Rancor only to be tackled down by a Katarn. The Katarn then proceeded to drag him back into the brush very quickly. S'hadow cursed under his breath and ran after his cousin.
"Well I guess it's just you and me big guy.", commented Ayrus as he looked and saw that he was by himself and still unable to use the force. Ayrus holstered his DL-44 and ignited his double-bladed lightsaber. If things went according to plan then he would cut off the Rancor's feet in one sprint. Ayrus charged at the beast twirling his saber only to be smacked into the river. Now not only was Ayrus mad, but he was also wet. Ayrus climbed back onto the shore and readied his wrist mounted flamethrower. He began to burn the forest around the rancor, causing the creature to panic. Seeing his chance Ayrus charged at the creature again. This time however he was able to cut off both of the Rancor's feet. The Rancor, now unable to stand, fell to the ground with a thump. Ayrus finished the job by impaling it in the head with his saber. 
Ayrus looked around to see if he could find his team quickly, but to no prevail. The animals had successfully separated them.
Then it hit Ayrus painfully, "Holy frack, I can't believe I fell for the oldest trick in the book."
==Chapter 19: But who is the Hunter?==
Coruscant Guardsman Gary Ziracch ran towards the landing pad. An incoming Lambda-class T-4a shuttle, accompanied by two Imperial Dropship Transports, were about to land. He had strict orders from Dr. Brown not to let Colonel Tarkin know of these shuttles arrival. All he knew was that she didn't have faith in her husband's mercenaries. The shuttles landed and out popped dozens of shadow stormtroopers forming a formation around the lead shuttle. Before long the main shuttle's hatch opened up revealing several Imperial Senate Guards surrounding one Emperor's Shadow Guard.
The Shadow Guard walked up to Gary and said, "I'm reporting from the Emperor himself to help reinforce Dr. Brown's defenses in this factory. A distinguished guardsman like yourself must know the importance of this installation."
Gary replied, "Yes sir. We're actually trying to take care of several rebel assault teams within the factory as we speak."
The Shadow Guard looked at Gary for a moment before speaking again, "Take me to Dr. Brown's main lab. My men are to be used as you see fit Captain. Do the Emperor a favor though, and use them wisely." Gary saluted once more before leading the Shadow Guard to Dr. Brown's lab. Gary didn't even want to know how bad the situation really was if a Shadow Guard was here. Before that day he had honestly thought all of them had been killed before the Death Star was destroyed. However, he was pretty happy the Shadow Guard was on his side. The rebels had no chance at all now.
"Juno,", started Sith-venator as he deflected a blaster bolt back into a Dark trooper with his blue lightsaber, "I know I asked like three minutes ago, but are you sure you can't disable whatever is jamming Ayrus and his team's comm?"
"Yes!", replied the AI.
"As soon as we finish up these losers we'll go into the forest and find them.", commented Tara as she chopped off the head of the Purge Trooper with her lightsaber.
"Sounds like a trap.", chimed in Spikehead as he disarmed a Saber Guard and stabbed it in the chest with his vibroknife. Soi agreed with Spikehead as he fired his DH-17 blaster rifle into the chest of the nearest Imperial Force Adept, killing it instantly.
"Trap or not it's our duty to get them out of there, dead or alive.", said Dag as he fired his E-web repeating cannon into the other Dark trooper. Dag looked behind him to see that Tavork trying to treat both Chaf's and Mort's wounds while Saes covered him with an E-11. Shortly after the firefight began Mort got hit bad in the arm with a blaster bolt. It made Dag glad he wore full body armor.
"Oh my universe. You don't think they're dead do you?", replied Tara as she force pushed a Saber Guard into the decapitated body of the Purge Trooper.
"They're not dead!", said Sith-venator throwing his blue lightsaber into the last jumptrooper, his green lightsaber into the last Imperial Force Adept, and his energy sword into the last Dark Trooper. With all the enemies cleared he used the force to withdraw his weapons from the corpses and reholstered them all.
"Okay me and Tara will go into the fracken' forest now. Spikehead you're in charge until I get back.", ordered Sith-venator as he pointed and waved with his finger.
"You heard the man.", started Spikehead, "I'm in charge, which means we're defending this room my way. Dag, I don't want to sound racist, but since you're a Dark trooper I'm assuming you have some extra explosives on you?" Sith-venator shook his head with a smile as he and Tara started running towards the forest.
"I swear on my mother's grave if you two don't help me!", yelled Reed as he ran as fast as he could from four Acklays that chased him deeper and deeper into the woods.
"We're coming as fast as we can! Damn, can't you take on an Acklay?", replied Trawe who flew through the sky after Reed with his JT-12 jetpack. Krow followed behind Trawe, using a pair of Mitrinomon jetpack thrusters to keep up.
"Of course I could take on an Acklay by myself.", lied Reed, "However, I can't take on four at the same time! Are you guys going to judge my combat skills or save me?"
Krow made a comment before Trawe also chimed in, "Well to be fair you've spent almost your entire life killing nothing but stormies. So I guess we're expecting a little much from you. You can't just stay still and shoot against Acklays. Well you could, but you'd be dead." When Trawe caught up to the nearest Acklay he launched his Fibercord whip around the creature's neck and landed on the beast. With his WESTAR-35 blaster pistol in his left hand Trawe began firing at the other Acklays while Krow continued to fire his Bowcaster from the air. Reed fired blindly behind himself while he continued to run, hoping to hit any of the Acklays with his DH-17. Luck was not on his side that day.
Trawe fired one last shot from his pistol before he would need to reload. The iconic sound of the WESTAR ringed through the air as it hit the Acklay closest to Reed dead in the head. Krow also managed to get a shot in on an Acklay, hitting it in the back, though it didn't kill the beast. Krow, now upset he didn't manage to one shot kill like Trawe had, deactivated his rocket boots and dive bombed into the Acklay he had just wounded. The Acklay, never knowing what hit him, fell to the ground as Krow began to strangle the creature.
Trawe, now with a reloaded pistol, fired again at the remaining Acklay. After missing a few shots due to heavier foliage in the area Trawe decided to go with a weapon with a little more spread. He reholstered his pistol and brought out his diruptor rifle. Illegal on most worlds due to its killing power. However due to a small ammo count Trawe rarely used the gun, instead favoring the more reliable A280 and A295. He aimed his disruptor rifle at the Acklay and fired, causing the beast to fall and turn into ash.
With all the Acklays dead but the one Trawe was riding he fired a Kamino saberdart into his mount's hide and jumped off. The Acklay slowed down for a few seconds before finally falling over dead. Krow then caught up to Trawe having dealt with his Acklay.
"Reed you can stop running now.", said Trawe as he shook Krow's bloody hands, "You know Krow it takes a hell of a sapiant to strangle down an Acklay. You should consider joining the Mandalorians." Krow growled something back that made Trawe laugh.
"Yeah, you make a fair point. Now Reed seriously, stop running...", continued Trawe as he and Krow ran up to catch up to Reed. Reed finally turned around to see that Krow and Trawe had actually managed to kill all the Acklays. 
"Okay, well that was all the adventure I needed for this year. You guys should go beat the Empire of Acklays by yourselves while I wait on the ship.", said Reed as collapsed on the ground.
"Oh for crying out loud.", said Trawe as he grabbed Reed and held him by his collar, "There isn't time for rest Reed. In case you forgot we're here on a mission. Don't get sidetracked just because a bunch of Acklays almost ate you."
"I'll have you know..", started Reed but before he could finish he was yanked out of Trawe's hands and flown into a nearby tree with an arrow pointing out of his shoulder. Trawe motioned Krow to take cover behind some nearby rocks while Reed screamed his lungs out. Reed was now not only critically injured but nailed to a tree due to the arrow.
"Well Krow, it's up to you and me yet again."
"Tyree!", yelled S'hadow as he ran after his cousin being dragged further and further into the forest by a Katarn. S'hadow hurried, he could hear more Katarns growling in the distance. Tyree struggled against the Katarn that was dragging him away all the while attempting to reach for his sidearm. His HUD continued to blink warnings at him as his shields were down. The Katarn bit down harder on Tyree's shoulder, cracking his shoulder pad, before throwing him against a tree. This gave Tyree the moment he had been waiting for, he didn't need to bother with his DC-15s now.
Tyree aimed down the sights of his DC-17m and fired the anti-armor attachment right into the Katarn. 
"A bit overkill,", commented Tyree as he switched the blaster back to its default setting, "but given the circumstances I think my old Commander would forgive me."
S'hadow got to the small clearing where Tyree was standing over the smoldering corpse of the Katarn that had just dragged him halfway across the entire forest. 
"Well if I knew you were going to handle it I would have stayed with the damn Jedi.", said S'hadow after taking a deep breath. 
"To be fair I never actually asked you to come after me. Though it was nice of you to do it anyway. Though you did leave Ayrus alone with a Rancor when he can't use the force.", replied Tyree as the two cautiously headed back the way that had came.
"He's a Mandalorian, he's got the armor, he should be fine.", said S'hadow stepping over a log.
"Speaking of Mandalorian...", started Tyree before pushing S'hadow out of the way of an incoming arrow. S'hadow looked at the arrow and then the arrow's place of origin to see a smudge. The average individual wouldn't have noticed the smudge move between the branches of the trees. Luckily for the Rebel Alliance S'hadow and Tyree were anything but average.
"I haven't seen Active Camouflage in a long time. Should be a treat.", said S'hadow before aiming his WESTAR-M5 blaster rifle at the smudge and firing his rifle's grenade launcher. Without the support of the branches the smudge fell to the ground with a loud flop. The fall caused the active camouflage to fail revealing the Mandalorian Tam Taske with a large Death Watch emblem on her right shoulder. 
"Didn't think hiding was considered honorable. I guess that's how Death Watch does it then.", said Tyree, now aiming his DC-17m at the Mandalorian.
"Death Watch were weak, so we left!", screamed the Mandalorian back at Tyree while she aimed her bow at S'hadow.
"We. That's what I thought. Well S'hadow we better finish this up quickly, no doubt our buddies are in a similar predicament.", said Tyree now using his left hand to slowly and quietly reach for his sidearm. 
"If you're not part of an organization, you usually don't wear their insignia girly girl.", added S'hadow, trying to anger the woman all the while inching closer and closer to get a clear shot with his Dissuader KD-30 slugthrower pistol.
Tam looked at Tyree, then S'hadow, and then back to Tyree. Then...she released her arrow.
Akron crept along the riverbank slowly but surely, his shadow blending with his pitch black armor as he kept an eye on his target. The Jedi, too, slowly crept through the forest, not expecting any kind of civilized resistance in the dense forest, his back turned and defenses lowered.
Akron slowly raised his slugthrower, his breathing steadying as he aimed down his sites. Maintaining trigger discipline, he waited to put his finger on the trigger, inhaling and exhaling with rhythm. The mercenary slowly placed his finger on the trigger, holding his breath as he fired.
The slugthrower kicked back against Akron's arm, the shot ringing out into the forest as Ayrus spun around and immediately activated his lightsaber, deflecting a shot from the slugthrower. Regardless, the weight of the slug knocked him off balance and unto his feet, the Jedi stumbling in the mud of the riverbank. Frantically shuffling backwards, Ayrus quickly shook his arm to uncover a wrist mounted flamethrower which he fired blindly around him, the flames igniting Akron as the mercenary's active camouflage faltered.
Akron jumped back, surprised by the Jedi's retaliation, and Ayrus quickly kicked himself off of the ground, grabbing his lightsaber and slicing Akron's prized, Krayt dragon killing rifle in half. Akron quickly dropped the two rifle parts, taking another step back to dodge a swing of Ayrus' lightsaber and draw his own set of Ryyk blades.
"So I'm worthy enough to warrant an assassin's touch?.", Ayrus questioned, drawing his DL-44 with his left hand and quickly discharging a shot at Akron. Quick as lightning, the mercenary dodged the shots and charged towards Ayrus, who flipped his lightsaber and countered, the force of Akron's Ryyk blades causing the Jedi to slide along the dirt.
"I assume you're familiar with Cortosis-weave, Jedi scum.", Akron said as he pressed the attack swiftly, causing Ayrus to go on the defense and reholster his DL-44 in order to use both hands on his saber.
"Assuming you somehow manage to get past this technique, you'll never be able to get to me with those clumsy blades in this armor.", said Ayrus as he activated the second blade on his saber and spun it in a jump attack. Akron sidestepped, kicking Ayrus' shin in hopes of toppling the Jedi over, but to no avail.
"Well, in that case, I'll just get rid of your head.", Akron grunted, jumping into the air and onto a nearby tree branch. 
Akron's clothes began to shred off revealing that the armored figure had two cybernetic legs and two cybernetic arms. Instead of going after him Ayrus simply cut the tree down in one swoop. Akron jumped to the next tree as the one he was on fell, continuing to circle Ayrus as the Jedi struggled to keep an eye on him. It was going to be an interesting fight.
==Chapter 20: Enough Screwing Around==
Gary Ziracch let the Shadow Guard into the lab, waiting to go in only after the Shadow Guard and his men had passed through the door. Inside sat Caroline Brown waiting for them.
"Guardsman Toarinar, it's always a pleasure to have you work with me. Captain Ziracch you may leave to better see to the defense of this factory.", said Caroline. The Coruscant Guardsman saluted and ordered the Shadow stormtroopers to come with him leaving only Dr. Brown with the Shadow Guard and his personal guard. "You can't let the rebels destroy this installation. The project our Emperor has so kindly left me in charge of is so near completion! My fool of a husband's mercenaries are all but dead and though Captain Zirachh is loyal he is no match for the Jedi we face here." Caronline turned on a holoprojector displaying the most dangerous of the Rebels. 
"Computer, evaluate each Rebel scum based on skill and experience.", said the Shadow Guard as Caroline looked at the holograms with him. He could tell she had gone over the information herself numerous times before he had arrived, he doubted the Colonel had done the same. The holograms than switched from all to the individuals to only the individual being evaluated. The larger, more specific hologram also featured references to the rebels' armor and equipment.
"Name: Trawe Underwood. Rank: Master Warrant Officer. Specialty: Sniper. Experience: A Mandalorian veteran from the Clone Wars who originally fought for Death Watch before being imprisoned. Joined the Rebel Alliance five years ago after his guerilla group was wiped out on Kalevala. Subject is known for being fitted with a variety of weapons and Mandalorian Shocktrooper armor. Threat level: Moderate.
Name: Tara Kleig. Rank: Unknown. Specialty: Soresu. Experience: A surviving Jedi Knight from the Clone Wars. Joined the Rebel Alliance five years ago under unknown circumstances. Subject is known to use at least one lightsaber and is proficient with The Force. Threat level: Moderate.
Name: Ayrus Tan'dres. Rank: Unknown. Specialty: Juyo. Experience: A former Jedi General during the Clone Wars with additional Mandalorian training and armor. Joined the Rebel Alliance five years ago after years of fighting the Empire with his own forces. Subject is known to use a double-bladed lightsaber, in addition to various sidearms, and is advanced with The Force. Threat level: High.
Name: Sith-venator Wavingstrider. Rank: Captain. Specialty: Close Quarters Combat. Experience: A force-sensitive super-soldier that constantly wears a suit of power armor equipped with recharchable shields and an advanced AI capable of a variety of tasks. Joined the Rebel Alliance one point five years ago after a failed assassination attempt on Emperor Palpatine. Subject is known for a variety of weapons, ranging from lightsabers to customized blasters. Subject's talent with the force appears to be extremely limited to a few abilities. Threat level: Extreme."
"Are your husband's mercenaries still alive?", asked the Shadow Guard when the computer finished.
"The leader and most of his men are posted inside the Colonel's quarters. The three most potent assassins are currently engaging a splinter-group of the rebels in testing site 2A. Based on various cameras posted throughout the installation the rebels have only suffered two casualties. Neither were major threats to the project.", replied Caroline.
"I'll remain here with you while my personal guard go to defend the factory's main reactor. The Colonel's mercenaries will have to do for his own protection as all other assets will be diverted to this lab and the main reactor.", said the Shadow Guard as he motioned for his guards to go to the reactor.
"I can defend myself Guardsman Toarinar, trust me. I will make sure no rebel gets close to destroying this project."
Sith-venator and Tara reached the forest room hearing the sound of blaster fire and animal roars.
"Not a good first thing to hear when you enter a room.", commented Juno as she began searching for the thing jamming Ayrus' team comlink. Sith-venator activated the VISR function of his helmet to see if he could get a lock on any of the fellow rebels. Tara attempted to reach out with the force to Ayrus, but was unsuccessful. 
"I usually can reach out to Ayrus with the force. I don't know what's wrong.", said Tara with a sad sigh.
"I do.", replied Sith-venator as he zoomed in with his visor, "The trees are filled with Ysalamir. Those things will block you from using any kind of force ability. They also make incredibly cool outfits. Nothing is edgier than having a live lizard on your shirt that stops people from being able to use the force."
"I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that the Empire just locked our exit. The good news is I've successfully hacked into the cameras in this room. I've located Trawe, Krow, and Reed. Where ever S'hadow, Tyree, and Ayrus are I can't see yet. Marking a waypoint now sir.", said Juno.
Before the group could head deeper into the forest Tara and Sith-venator found themselves suddenly surrounded by a pack of Katarns. Tara ignited her lightsaber while Sith-venator raised only his hands, he was going unarmed on this fight. Tara was nervous, she relied heavily on several passive abilities given to her through the force just to use her lightsaber. She actually had to hold down the button with her thumb to keep the blade ignited unlike Sith-venator's single click lightsabers.
The first Katarn jumped at Tara only to be sliced in half by her saber. The second one however got past her defenses and headbutted her into the wall. It charged at the downed Jedi only to have its tail grabbed by Sith-venator. He tightened his grib on the tail and threw the creature into the next one with a thud. The third Katarn attempted a strike at the Spartan only to receive a massive punch to the head, crushing the skull. Three Katarns remained as Tara struggled to get back up. All three charged at Sith-venator only to end up hitting each other when he did a backflip over the animals. With the three Katarns temporarily confused Sith-venator ran to the nearest one killing it quickly with a jab to the neck. The next he took the time to snap the neck of. With the last he gave it a good kick to stall it from moving for a few more seconds before curb stomping the Katarn's head. Needless to say Sith-venator would need to clean his boot later.
Tara managed to get up finally. The Katarn's headbutt had bruised her back pretty badly but she would be able to finish the mission.
"Making me wear the backpack in this place I see.", commented Sith-venator to Tara as he kicked some of the grey matter off his boot. 
"Let's just find Ayrus and his team, blow up this factory, and get out of here already.", replied Tara as they headed off towards Juno's waypoint.
Ayrus sped along the riverbank, his eyes darting from side to side as his foe attempted to ambush him. "You mustn't continue this game!", Ayrus started, his breath short from the chase. "If I'm going to die, it won't be from some kind of sneak attack!", he continued, attempting to lure Akron out of the bush.
The assassin, to Ayrus' delight, complied, dropping into a shallow part of the river. "Very well, Jedi.", he stated, holding his dual Ryyk blades out to his side, the stream rippling where the blades dipped into it. "If a dual is what you want -- then a quick death isn't to be the route taken.", the assassin continued, raising his blades as Ayrus charged towards him, leaping up to cover space over the river.
Akron raised his blades above his head, deflecting Ayrus attempted at a jump attack. The two, both knocked off balance, stumbled in the water, but both were quick to regain their composure, Akron slashing at Ayrus neck, only to be deflected by the Jedi's quick flick of a wrist enshrouded in a bracer.
Akron attempted another undercut, the Jedi now leaping back and out of the water once more. Akron followed, kicking Ayrus down as he hit the soggy ground of the riverbank. Swinging a Ryyk blade down upon Ayrus, the mercenary struggled to bring the blade down upon the Jedi's neck, Ayrus forcing Akron's cold and mechanical wrist back with all of his might.
The mercenary's arm gave, Ayrus uppercutting Akron to disorient him and immediately slicing at the assassin's left arm with his sole activated lightsaber blade. The slice tore straight through Akron's forearm, everything below the elbow -- including one of his Ryyk blades, dropping limply next to the pair.
The assassin gasped for a moment, realizing an opponent had broken his defense, but, unable to feel the pain caused by what would have been an incapacitating wound, Akron kneed Ayrus, leaping off of him and unto another tree, struggling to keep his balance with only one arm.
"Give it up, mercenary!", Ayrus yelled, jumping up and standing confidently below the tree. "You're lacking in an arm, and one of your precious blades is now but rubbish along the riverside.", the Jedi said, contemplating whether or not to use his pistol.
Akron didn't respond, his breathes now shallow and heavy. Ayrus slowly lowered his lightsaber to his side. "Come down now and I'll take you peacefully!", he ordered, motioning the mercenary down. As he lowered his hand, he quickly removed his DL-44 from its holster, firing a shot at Akron.
The shot hit the trunk of the tree next to the branch the assassin was standing on, but it was enough to shake Akron long enough for Ayrus to fire two more shots -- the first impacting the mercenary's prosthetic knee, the second hitting him square in the chest.
Yelping, Akron toppled to the dense forest ground, leaves crumpling under the mercenary's heavy cybernetic limbs. "Now, I'm offering you one more chance, assassin!", Ayrus remarked, pacing towards Akron, who lie silent, staring at Ayrus silently and allegedly accepting his defeat.
Ayrus kept his pistol trained on the assassin with his left hand, his right holding the single ignited blade of his double bladed lightsaber as he approached the bounty hunter, whose right knee was smoking, his chest plating charred. Akron coughed, the action giving him a split-second distraction over the Jedi.
Akron leapt up, bringing his Ryyk blade towards Ayrus head, but he was a fraction of a moment too slow. The Jedi fired a shot as he parried with his lightsaber, the shot fizzling as it charred and rattled Akron's helmet, the parry knocking him to the ground once more.
Ayrus quickly discharged three more shots into the mercenary's head, rattling and burning the skull within the helmet. The Jedi paused, his breath still heavy as he stood for a moment, examining the now lifeless body of a once legendary assassin. Akron's chest had a small amount of emerald-tinted blood dripping out of the cavity in his chestplate -- his helmet now peppered with smoking holes, the wounds more precise and cauterized. His forearm's sever point was still glowing hot, the corpse's body singing from the gunfight.
Ayrus sighed and kicked it to ensure it was dead, turning to find the rest of his companions.
"The jammer is down!", exclaimed Juno as she attempted to make contact with everyone, "Message to all Rebels, what is your status?"
Ayrus chimed in first, "Ayrus here, just took out this crazy looking Cyborg Assassin that had active camouflage."
S'hadow replied next, "Sounds like a familiar story, me and Tyree are currently engaged in some close quarters combat with a Mandalorian who was using the same tactic. We should have her cleaned up in about two to three minutes."
Trawe was last, "Me and Krow have the same story as S'hadow and Tyree, though I doubt we'll have this firefight taken care of as quicky as you guys."
"What happened to Reed?", asked Tara with a discerning look in her face.
"He's stuck to a tree thanks to an arrow in his shoulder. We need reinforcements ASAP if we're gonna' make sure Reed lives to fight another day.", said Trawe as a blaster bolt was heard over the comlink. 
"S'hadow, Tyree you have one minute before I finish that firefight for you. Ayrus run as fast as you can to the waypoint Juno just gave you. Everyone, roll out.", ordered Sith-venator.
"You heard the boss, we have to finish this up.", said Tyree to S'hadow as they dodged another arrow from the Mandalorian.
"You do remember I outrank him right?", said S'hadow as he shot his pistol into the Mandalorian's chestplate, causing some but not enough damage.
"Do you rebels ever shut up?", screamed the Mandalorian as she dropped her bow and ran towards S'hadow with a vibroknife. Tyree pounced on her and knocked her helmet off before being kicked off of the Mandalorian. It was all S'hadow needed though. He aimed his WESTAR-M5 blaster and fired. The Mandalorian stopped moving, she had been shot right in the head.
"Mandies aren't that tough without their armor it seems.", commented Tyree as S'hadow helped him up. 
"We better go towards the Waypoint before Sith finds out we took a minute and a half.", laughed S'hadow as the two cousins were once again on the move.
Krow fired his bowcaster into the trees trying to hit the Mandalorian still in active camouflage. 
"It's no use Krow, seems S'hadow and Tyree got the less experienced Mandalorian and we got the competent one.", said Trawe. Krow growled something back to Trawe. "Yeah that could work.", replied Trawe, "Hey camo guy! We just got word your friend is dead. You might as well give up now."
"What!", screamed the Mandalorian from his hiding spot. Trawe fired a wrist rocket at the location of the sound, knocking the Mandalorian out of active camouflage and onto the forest floor. Krow charged at the Mandalorian and began to strangle him only to be kicked away. Trawe took his A280 blaster rifle and fired several shots only to have them be reflected off of the Mandalorian's armor.
"Gosh darnit this guy is tough.", said Trawe as he dodged a blaster bolt and returned fire.
"You rebels are going to pay for killing my wife!", screamed the now crazed Mandalorian, who began spraying the area with his flamethrower.
"You know what Krow? I give up.", said Trawe as he turned on the comlink, "Sith how close are you? This guy is just way too much trouble for what it's worth."
"Don't bother surrendering rebel scum, I'll never let you!", screamed the Mandalorian. Before anything else could happen though the Mandalorian felt a tap on his shoulder. Thinking fast he span around with his flamethrower setting everything ablaze. Through the flames Sith-venator appeared in armor lock. Faster than anything the Mandalorian had ever seen Sith-venator popped out of Armor lock and stabbed the Mandalorian in the visor with his green lightsaber. The Mandalorian fell to the floor dead.
"Okay, so Trawe you for sure owe me a Diet Soda now.", commented Sith-venator as everyone began to show up and started attending to Reed's wounds.
"If everyone is here, then let's all get back to Spikehead's group. Juno if you would kindly set the waypoint, and if Sith would you kindly carry Reed.", said Ayrus before the group finally managed to exit the mysterious forest.
==Chapter 21: Did We Mention We Still Had Explosives?==
The edge of the forest was abrupt, to say the least. The damp, dark podzol that covered its floor stopped suddenly, the sleek, bluish-gray walls stretching to a height large enough for a Rancor to raise its arms. At the far eastern corner of the simulated forest, at a small clearing littered with fallen sticks, a large bay door rose out of the ground, the metal flooring at the door's entrance jutting out unto the forest floor, loose dirt and fallen leaves nearly covering its facade.
The door was angular -- roughly in the shape of a trapezoid, and had two windows tracing each panel of the doors shape. Yellow lights blinked slowly from behind its windows -- an indication of the lockdown initiated when the facility had been breached.
Sith-venator approached the massive door, his heavy, titanium-plated boot clanking loudly as he stepped up unto the foundation for the door. Shadowed by Ayrus, the other members of the forest group approached behind them. Sith turned around quickly, his eyes scanning the dense treeline. The forest was silent, save for the sounds of the exotic wildlife concealed beneath its cover. 
"Someone keep an eye out for anything trying to get the jump on us while we figure out what to do about this door."
"Juno, how might we get to the others from here?", Ayrus questioned, looking up and down the roughly Rancor-sized door. Juno's voice sounded off in a low quality, tinny broadcast on the commlinks of all of the team members. 
"I'll bring them to us. Note that this door's not wired to the rest of the facility... Patch me in to the manual control panel on the far right and I should be able to override its security measures", she started, her hulking Jedi host proceeding towards the panel. "This door contains a quarter-of-a-kilometer long corridor that seems to lead to a cargo platform that acts as a lift to a landing pad near the summit of the mountain: it looks to be used to deliver creatures in and out of the facility. Just past this door, however, are two much smaller freight elevators on both sides of the corridor that can be used to access the mountain's lower floors.", Juno continued, Sith-venator placing her data-chip in a conveniently sized slot along the door's control panel.
The panel's keys beeped repeatedly, Juno apparently cycling through the millions of different possible combinations at an astronomical rate as she figured out the door's code. The cycling abruptly came to a stop, the aurebesh keypad flashing green as the door's hydraulics sounded off.
Putting her back in his helmet, Sith raised his rifle, waiting for the door to open. "Wait a moment.", Juno stated authoritatively as metal scraped and hydraulics puffed on the door in its attempts to open. "The facility-wide lockdown is a bit tough to get past with security meant to stop a twenty foot tall creature, but...", she trailed off.
The door's noises suddenly stopped, the forest eerily silent as the team waited for Juno to finish what she was doing. "Got it!", she exclaimed, the door suddenly jumping to life as its sides slid outwards and into the wall, its hydraulics groaning and grinding as the metal plating slid across the ground.
"As I was saying, the two freight elevators can be used to access the facility's lower floors.", she furthered as the group unsteadily made their way through the doorway into the cavernous, trapezoid shaped corridor. The hallway was lit with the unnaturally blue fluorescent panel lights oh-so-common in Imperial facilities, panels lining its slate-grey ceiling for the duration of its length. The floor beneath the feet of the approaching vigilantes was a tight metal grate placed over pipes, wires, and machinery obviously used to power and help the mountain base function. Its walls were lined with the smooth metal lining most of the facility's other walls, interrupted only by the dark, heavy bracing placed along the walls at routine intervals, evidently used to keep the hallway from collapsing. 
As the group funneled into the corridor, the bay door behind them once again erupted to life, slowly sealing itself shut. Once more, Juno began to speak. "Team two is en route to this floor, and, er, we have a problem." 
Ayrus looked at Sith-venator with a hint of worry, his expression masked by his helmet. Taking advantage of the moment of respite, he removed his helmet, sweat beaded on the rough, five o'clock shadow on his jaw. Running a hand through his hair, the Jedi quickly placed his helmet back on his face, Sith turning to the left side elevator as its doors opened, the other group pouring out unto the cold corridor floor. 
"Everyone! Good to see ya'!", Mort exclaimed, leading the group forward. Soi waved his hand in delight at the general well-being of his companions. "Is good to see all!", he said, grinning as much as a Sullustan can grin. 
S'hadow, too, removed his helmet, clenching it in his hands as the group circled around Ayrus and Sith. " You'd better believe that this is the first break we've gotten since we got here.", he said rather matter-of-factly, giving Sith-venator a pat on the back. 
"So," Spikehead started, "What's the plan?" and as he asked, Sith-venator tossed down a small, circular device, a hologram appearing in the space between the group, the numerous rebels backing up to examine it: it was a three-dimensional layout of the facility's floors. Juno, once more, began to speak. "Here we see a complete map of the mountain base we're in at this moment. As of now, we're here."
The blue-tinted, glowing map of the mountain seemed as intricately detailed and seemed more like a spider's web than an underground base. It grew in size until it was nearly as large as the SPARTAN standing, arms crossed in front of it. Refresh lines traced and filled it, fuzzing the contents of the image, but nonetheless, it was visible enough. The map faded, zooming in on a point near the summit of the mountain -- a corridor tailing a large chamber marked with the words 'ASSEMBLY 4'. The corridor recolored itself, turning a bright red color.
"Now, as you can see, this corridor connects to the part of the mountain built on the summit -- provided I can disable any anti-air defenses and we can eliminate any resistance, we should be able to use the summit as an escape route. There's a single landing pad with an Imperial shuttle still on it, and, if my calculations are correct, which they are, we should be just fast enough to escape any reinforcements arriving from within the facility. Now, this corridor we're in now was meant to withstand creatures and beasts from every crack and corner of the known and unknown galaxy: it should be secure for as long as I can keep control of the facility's systems. As such, it will act as our tether point. All teams will regroup here. For the next part of our 'master plan', we're to split the team in three. We'll need a group to maintain the wounded and keep the corridor secure. The next part of the group will proceed down the left elevator to the reactor level -- that's an estimate of a thirty floors lower than we are now, at the base of the mountain. Destroying the reactor would simply disable the facility's power, so, instead, someone will take a copy of myself to the reactor level. "I'll" run the station's power as far as it can go -- and farther. The ensuing overheat should quite literally melt down many of the facility's systems, rendering it unable to function. The last stipulation is the reactor's failsafe systems: it automatically shuts down after reaching a certain temperature, which would thus save the facility. But, don't forget, we do have a complement of explosives large enough to destroy a small moon! Setting these charges to detonate just before the failsafe activates would create an explosion just hefty enough to turn the mountain into a practical volcano." 
The group looked at each other, each considering who would be a good fit to remain with the wounded, and who would be a good fit to join the reactor team. "Very well. And the final team?" Ayrus asked.
"Team three will go just one floor lower than we currently are to the command chambers -- there we'll eliminate or capture any high ranking personnel remaining in the facility. As a design oversight, it seems the majority of them are lumped in this floor, however, while they are what we call acceptable casualties, there are two in particular we should seek to capture -- doctor Caroline Brown and one Adol Tarkin, the brainchildren of this facility. I'll detail their locations to the team on the elevator ride down."
Ayrus nodded. "Alright. Anything else?" 
The holographic map of the facility flickered off, Sith-venator picking up the emitter. Juno spoke one last time. "...may the Force be with us."
"Who volunteers to hold this corridor and protect the wounded?" Sith questioned. Four raised their hands: Saes, Krow, Tyree, and S'hadow. "Very well.", Ayrus continued, Chaf and Reed leaning against a wall as the other four joined them. 
"And the reactor team?" Ayrus asked once more. This time, Dag, Mort, Tarvok, Spikehead, Trawe, and Soi raised their hands. Sith-venator nodded this time. "And finally, the command team."
Ayrus placed his hand on Sith-venator's shoulder. "Looks like it's just us buddy. Tara, I assume you're with us?" he asked as she nodded, arming up. "Then may the force be with us indeed. Juno, the elevators please.", Ayrus continued, the elevator doors on both sides sliding open slowly. 
The team split, each moving unto their respective lifts. Sith-venator handed Dag a data chip containing a fragment of Juno. The four remaining with the wounded stood alert, and each member made eye contact with those across the corridor from them as the elevator doors slowly sealed themselves, their expressions grave and serious, preparing for the final push.
==Chapter 22: Meltdown==
==Chapter 23: Regicide==
==Chapter 24: Rencontre==
==Chapter 25: No Time to Think==
==Chapter 26: The End==
==Epilogue==
34 ABY-Shortly after the destruction of Starkiller Base
The black robed Sullen Ren watched the hologram of the Kuat factory being destroyed, with the rebels escaping in stolen Imperial starships. "Is that everything we have of the incident?", said Sullen to a nearby droid. His voice being slightly muffled by his helmet.
"Yes.", replied the pitch-black protocol droid in a monotone. Sullen used the force to push the droid out of the room, and then proceeded to close the doors once again with the force. The First Order crew aboard the Resurgence-class Star Destroyer, Iron Monger, had seen Sullen Ren do much worse to droids, and were not at all surprised to see the droid be pushed out of the room. Sullen replayed the hologram of the last shot of the Jedi. Sullen slammed his fist into a nearby console, damaging it. It was difficult for Sullen to watch this hologram.
"I promised you your revenge against the Jedi long ago did I not?", loomed a voice from a separate hologram in Sullen's quarters.
"Forgive me Supreme Leader Snoke," started Sullen, "it just bothers me I haven't been able to avenge my mother and father yet. I never would have thought that two of the three killers would have refused to join Skywalker's Jedi."
"You will get your revenge in due time. Attacks from the Jetii have only increased in quantity since the destruction of Starkiller base. I believe that Sith-venator Wavingstrider is looking for the same person as you.", said Snoke.
Sullen blinked under his helmet at the news, "You mean they're not together?"
"I have heard reports that after the destruction of Skywalker's Jedi Ayrus Tan'dres went into self-imposed exile."
Sullen looked at one of the lightsabers on his belt. "Do you know where he is Supreme Leader?", asked Sullen with excitement in his voice.
"Alas I do not, and Kylo Ren's training will preoccupy me for the coming weeks. I have, however, sent several experienced bounty hunters to your location. One of which who was there on Kuat that faithful day. The bounty on the Jedi's head will be all the encouragement they need. If you manage to find Tan'dres you will have your revenge. But remember, our focus is on the Jedi. We will deal with the Jetii in due time."
"Once I kill Tan'dres I will return to help you find Skywalker and the girl.", said Sullen with a smile under his helmet.
"Be warned apprentice, you may have bested several Jedi, but the Jetii are a different breed of warrior. Do not allow Wavingstrider and Tan'dres to battle by eachothers sides once again. Your parents can attest to that.", said Snoke with a farewell as his hologram began to fade. The comment left Sullen angry. He turned to face his window, the vastness of space staring back.
"Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me, and let me avenge Rixar Toarinar and Caroline Brown."
==Appearances==
===Characters===
*Adol Tarkin 
*Ailyn Redno 
*Akron 
*Arcee
*Ayrus Tan'dres
*Brinaloy Vant 
*C-3PO
*Caroline Brown 
*CC-1117 
*CC-2224 
*CC-3128 
*Chaf'aaur'leoni 
*Chewbacca
*Darth Maul 
*Darth Vader
*Gary Ziracch 
*Han Solo
*Jabba Desilijic Tiure 
*Jinzo 
*Jugar-007 
*Juno
*Kratos 
*Kr'owhkar
*Leia Organa
*Leonard Kerston 
*Mort Sanchastos
*Orn Blaine 
*Palpatine 
*Parg Darach
*Reed Gistren
*Revan 
*Rixar Toarinar 
*RP-1416 
*RT-1441 
*Sade Derrim 
*Saes San Sheelal 
*Sith-venator Wavingstrider
*Soi Sobb
*Svante Locke 
*S'hadow Dyster
*Tam Taske 
*Tara Kleig
*Tarvok Wonn
*Taylor-001
*TK-901 
*Trawe Underwood
*Tyree Tiberious
*Xim 
===Species===
*Acklay
*Aqualish
*Bantha 
*Bith
*Chiss
*Dathomorian
*Devaronian
*Duros
*Ewok
*Fatfish 
*Firaxen shark 
*Gurlanin
*Gungan 
*Human
**Clone
**Cyborg
**Human
*Hutt 
*Ithorian
*Kaleesh
*Katarn
*Kouhun
*Krayt dragon
*Kyuzo 
*Nerf 
*Nuna 
*Rakata 
*Rancor
*Rodian
*Sangheili
*Sullustan
*Tauntaun 
*Trandoshan
*Tusken Raider
*Twi'lek
*Wampa
*Wookiee
*Ysalamir
*Zabrak
*Zeltron
===Organizations and Titles===
*Alliance to Restore the Republic
**Alliance Army
***Shadow Crusaders
**Alliance Fleet 
**Alliance High Command 
**Rebel trooper
**Tan'dres Gang
*Captain
*Colonel
*Covenant
*Death Watch 
*Galactic Emperor 
*Galactic Empire
**Coruscant Guard
**Emperor's Royal Guard
***Emperor's Shadow Guard
**Imperial Senate Guard
**Imperial Army
***Imperial Army trooper
***Imperial Army Special Missions trooper
***Imperial combat driver
***Stormtrooper Corps
****Phase Zero dark trooper
*****Elite dark trooper
****EVO trooper
****Imperial shock trooper
****Imperial Jumptrooper
****Incinerator trooper
****Sandtrooper
****Scout trooper
****Shadow Trooper
****Snowtrooper
****Stormtrooper
****Stormtrooper commander
****Storm commandos
****Terror Biodroid
****Terror Trooper
**Imperial Navy
***Imperial Navy commando
***Imperial Navy trooper
***TIE fighter pilot
**Imperial officer
**Imperial Sith Acolyte
**Inquisitorius
**Saber Guard
*Governor 
*Grand Army of the Republic 
**66th Assault Legion 
**Clone trooper commander 
*Infinite Empire 
*Jedi
**Jedi General
*Lieutenant
*Mercenary
*Modal Nodes
*Nightsisters
*Pirate
*Sergeant
*Separatist holdouts
*Sith
**Sith apprentice
**Sith Lord
*United Nations Space Command
**UNSC Navy
***SPARTAN-II program
****Purple Team
===Locations===
*The galaxy
**Christophis 
**Coruscant
**Death Star
***DS-1 Orbital Battle Station 
**Derra system 
**Hoth
***Echo Base
***Hanging Valley
**Kalevala 
**Kamino 
**Kashyyyk 
**Kuat system
***Kuat
***Lehon system 
****Buchiecest 
****Mt. Gallica 
**Naboo 
**Qiilura 
**Taris 
**Tatooine
***Mos Eisley
****Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina
**Vendaxa 
===Events===
*Clone Wars 
*Galactic Civil War
**Battle of Hoth
**Operation: THE HUNTING
*Great Jedi Purge 
**Order 66 
*Human-Covenant War 
===Vehicles===
*All Terrain Armored Transport
*All Terrain Defense Pod
*All Terrain Kashyyyk Transport
*All Terrain Missile Platform
*All Terrain Recon Transport
*All Terrain Scout Transport
*All Terrain Tactical Enforcer
*Arquitens-class light cruiser
**Imperial light cruiser
*BARC speeder
*Bantha-II cargo skiff
*CK-6 swoop bike
*GR-75 medium transport 
*HAVw A5 Juggernaut
*HAVw A6 Juggernaut
*Imperial Dropship Transport
*Imperial patrol landspeeder
*Lambda-class T-4a shuttle
*Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry
*Nu-class shuttle
*Personal Luxury Yacht 3000
**Whispering Night
*Sentinel-class landing craft
**Wrench 5 
*Star Destroyer
**Imperial-class Star Destroyer
***Imperial I-class Star Desrtroyer
***Imperial II-class Star Destroyer
****Death's Head 
**Venator-class Star Destroyer
***Venator
**Victory-class Star Destroyer
*T-65B X-wing starfighter
*TIE Advanced x1
**Darth Vader's TIE Advanced
*TIE ap-1
*TIE bomber
*TIE/LN starfighter
*Theta-class shuttle
*XP-38 landspeeder
*YKL-37R Nova Courier
**Serenity
*YT-1300 light freighter
**Millennium Falcon
*74-Z speeder bike
===Weapons===
*A280 blaster rifle
*A295 sniper rifle
*Accelerated Charged Particle Array Gun
*Accelerated Charged Particle Repeater Gun
*AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun
*Anti-personel laser cannon
*Autoturret
*Bow
*Bowcaster
*Crossbow
*DC-15A blaster rifle
*DC-15s side arm blaster
*DC-15x sniper rifle
*DC-17m Interchangeable Weapon System
*DH-17 blaster pistol
*DH-17 blaster rifle
*Dissuader KD-30 slugthrower pistol
*DL-44 heavy blaster pistol
*DT-57 heavy blaster pistol
**Grievance Striker
*DXR-6 disrupter rifle
*E-11 blaster rifle
*E-Web heavy repeating blaster cannon
*Fibercord whip
*Gaderffii
*Kamino saberdart
*Lightsaber
**Agen Kolar's lightsaber
**Double-bladed lightsaber
**Double-bladed spinning lightsaber
**Kit Fisto's lightsaber
**Lightsaber pike
*LL-30 blaster pistol
*LS-150 Heavy Accelerated Charged Particle Gun
*Mass-driver cannon
*MiniMag PTL missile launcher
*PLX-2M portable missile launcher
*Model 22T4 hold-out blaster pistol
*Proton torpedo
*Ryyk blade
*S-5 blaster pistol
*SE-14r light repeating blaster
*Slugthrower
*Thermal detonator
*Type-1 energy sword
*Vibroknife
*WESTAR-35 blaster pistol
*WESTAR-M5 blaster rifle
*Whipcord launcher
*XX-10 turbolaser tower
*ZX miniature flame projector
===Technology===
*3PO-series protocol droid
*Armor lock
*Artificial intelligence
**Smart AI
*Blast shield
*Bone armor
*Bounty hunter armor
*BX-series droid commando
*Carbonite war droid
*Chitin armor
*Comlink
*Cybernetics
*Dark Reaper
*Dark trooper
**Phase II dark trooper
**Phase III dark trooper
*Datapad
*Deflector shield
*Droid commando personal shield
*Droideka
**Droideka Mark II
**Q-series droideka
*Electrobinoculars
*Energy shielding
*HoloNet
*Hologram
*Holoprojector
*Jedi armor
*JT-12 jetpack
*Katarn-class commando armor
*Laser gate
*LOM-series protocol droid
*Macrobinoculars
*Mandalorian armor
**Mandalorian Shock Trooper Armor
*Mitrinomon jetpack thruster
*MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
**MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV
**MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark V 
**MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark VI
*MSE-4 droid
*Purge trooper
*Rebel battle armor
*Repulsorlift
*Sith Training Droid
*Spartan neural interface 
*Star Forge 
*Stormtrooper armor
*Television set
*VISR
===Miscellanea===
*Alliance Starbird 
*Aurebesh
*Bantha Brew
*Blue milk 
*Carbonite
*Corellian leather
*Cortosis-weave
*Corusca gem
*Darth Maul's Robes
*Ewokese
*Galactic Credit Standard
*Hyperspace
*I have a bad feeling about this
*Lightsaber combat
**Dun Möch
**Form III: Soresu
**Form V: Shien/Djem So
**Form VII: Juyo/Vaapad
**Jar'Kai
**Sai cha
**Sun djem
*Mad About Me
*Malt
*Mandalorian iron
*Mando'a
*Nerf steak
*Parka
*Soda
*The Force
**Force cloak
**Force Crush
**Force deflection
**Force Jump
**Force lightning
**Force Pull
**Force Push
**Force rage
**Force Repulse
**Force sense
**Force speed
**Force Throw
**Force valor
**Mask (Sith Alchemy)
**Memory Walk
**Mind trick
**Saber Throw
**Telekinetic lightsaber combat
**Tutaminis
*Trandoshan Hit
*Tusken
*Ysalamiri cage 
Category:EliteMaster117
Category:Sith Venator
Category:Books