I then reported to the bridge of "The Defiant" and greeted Tegan Marr , I actually remember her when I was training in Coruscant , I was a kid and she was teen then I was send to Dantooine where my new master was awaiting me, she lost her master too, It has been long since I don’t see or talk to her I hope she haven’t forgotten me.

“Greetings, Tegan thank you for the help and for rescuing me and my soldiers, we owe you our lives. 2 mandalorian heavy bomber ships destroyed our flag ship "The Shield IV”, I have some important information a good strategic that I and my officers managed to study" Then I inserted a datapad into a computer " 2 heavy mandalorian bombers, weak shields but strong cannons and lasers, they are a rock that cant be broken, they saw us when we escaped, I'm afraid they are coming this way. If there is something I can do to help you let me know, I prefer to do something that stand here and look at the fight and mist the action , So if you have a Republic assault fighter I’ll be more than happy"- I said

"This is the stupidest idea you've ever had, Lux," Anya commented.

"I thought landing-slash-crashing my starfighter onto this ship was the stupidest idea I've ever had," Lux replied, leaping over a bulkhead. He and Anya were sprinting down corridors, using the Force to speed up their running as they made their way across the inside of the Republic battle cruiser. Using their combined psychometric abilities on the timer, they'd managed to get a general location of where the bomb had been planted. There had been some initial confusement and indecision as to what to do, but as the timer had already ticked down to 4:41, Lux had made up his mind and taken off at a run, Anya following soon after. By the time the display had ticked down to 2:30, they were already halfway across the ship.

"And what do you suppose we do once we get to the bomb?" Anya asked as they shot down another narrow corridor.

"I hadn't really thought about that," Lux responded.

Anya sighed.

(( Thanks to FFWM for letting me take liberties with her charry ^-^ ))

Anya rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "No, of course you didn't." she muttered to herself. That, of course, would make things far too easy.

As they dashed through the corridors, she caught sight of another Mandalorian boarding party coming through one of the airlocks left empty from a released escape pod. As a group of Republic soldiers converged on the area, she wanted nothing more than to stop and fight - many soldiers would die in the initial few minutes of the encounter, she knew - but she couldn't stop. The destruction of the entire ship over the death of a few soldiers sort of weighed out.

She and Lux sped on, the Force aiding their flight. Finally, they came to the end of their trail, the room where their trail ended. They flashed through the entire room, tearing apart and searching every nook and cranny before meeting in the center of the room. Anya's eyes were worried.

"I haven't found anything." she said.

Lux put a hand on his hip, his other still clutching the timer. The red display showed that they had less than a minute left. Swearing under his breath, he took a glance around. The Mandalorians had certainly picked the right room to plant their bomb in. It held the spent energy cores for the mighty cruiser engines. Spent as they were, they were still volatile and would not be pleasant at all if they exploded. The thing was, they had checked every single core and not one of them had the bomb attached to it. In fact, there didn't seem to be any indication that the Mandalorians had even set foot in this room.

Stalking up to the wall, Lux let out a growl of frustration as he placed a hand on the bulkhead. "I know it's here somewhere!" he exclaimed, gripping the timer tighter in his hand. Suddenly, more images flashed into his mind, clearer than before. A Mandalorian shuttlecraft...flying up to the side of the Republic cruiser...docking... His eyes flew wide open as he came to understand what he was seeing. Igniting his lightsaber, he stabbed it through the hull wall.

"Lux!" Anya yelled. "What in Sithspit do you think you're doing?"

"Contact the bridge," Lux ordered as he worked his saber downwards, the room already starting to depressurize from the hole he'd created. "Tell them to get ready to slap down a containment field around this room. It's about to get very windy."

Anya nodded and did as she was told, then ignited her lightsaber as she realized what Lux was doing. "The bomb is on the outside of the ship," she said as she stabbed her own lightsaber into the wall.

Lux nodded grimly as he glanced at the timer. "This is going to be close," he said, sawing furiously.

The Jedi’s target was currently working at a console and was obviously two busy trying to distribute power from one system to another. CJ moved quickly towards the first Mandalorian from behind, CJ had to take this guy out silently that meant he couldn’t use his lightsaber because of it’s distinct sound. Jesp got close enough to the Mandalorian to act and grabbed him from behind by placing his hand on his mouth and forehead, a quick twist of the head snapped the neck and the Mandalorians body went limp. Castov softly knelt holding the mans body and placed it on the floor, he didn’t want to kill a man like that but if all went to plan he would be dead in a few minutes anyway and this was less painful.

The second Mandalorian was knelt down next to a piece of machinery that had its panel taken off revealing its circuits. Next to him was a toolbox with various different pieces of equipment including a plasma torch, a hydrospanner and analytical devices. He was completely oblivious to the happenings around him as he worked on the open panel, trying to repair some of the circuitry. Castov once again employed the same tactic as before and snuck silently and softly behind the Mandalorian. The mechanic worked on the circuit but something caught the his eye on the chrome plating surrounding the panel, the reflection of a light on the back wall was blocked by Castov’s body and got his attention. The Mandalorian waited for Castov to get closer pretending he didn’t know the Jedi was sneaking up behind him, he nonchalantly reached into his tool kit and grabbed the plasma torch. Like a flash the second mechanic swung the torch around to hit him in the side of the head, CJ’s reflexes kicked in and he moved backwards. He wasn’t quick enough, as he moved in back the torch swung round and hit him in his left eye. Castov screamed as the torch burnt his eye and the surrounding skin, with his left hand he held his eye. Almost instinctively he used his right hand to through the Mandalorian across the room with the force.

As the Mandalorians body smacked the wall with a loud bang it alerted the third Mandalorian who was working on a console. The remaining mechanic looked up to see his comrade falling to the floor unconscious if not dead, turning his head he saw the jedi still holding his hand infront of his eye but looking at him with his other. The Mandalorian begun to run towards the nearest alarm, with his free hand Jesp grabbed his lightsaber and threw it. As it flew over the floor the lightsaber’s blade ignited and cut through the Mandalorians chest.

Castov fell back to his knees with all the Mandalorians in the room either dead or unconscious. He continued to hold his eye with both of his hands as Geonar ran over to him.

“Are you okay?” she asked kneeling next to him.

Pallas had understood what her two fellow Jedi had done when they ran off with the timer. Being Kiffar, they had used their innate psychometric gifts to discern where the bomb was and had run off to try and defuse it. She knew it was a longshot with so little time left, but they were Jedi, and through the Force, all things were possible. Still, it didn't hurt to make preparations for the worst.

Walking tiredly up to Commander Assant, she stood in front of the tall Republic officer. "Commander, I recommend you move as many of your men over to the starboard side of the ship. It might get a little bumpy to port very soon."

Assant proffered a raised eyebrow, then shook his head and spoke into his comlink, complying with Pallas' suggestion. "Let me guess," he told Pallas after he'd finished issuing orders. "There's a bomb or something equally bad on the other side of the ship and your Jedi buddies are off to go defuse it or take care of it in some way."

Pallas couldn't help but grin a little at the commander's intuition. "Why Commander Assant, are you Force sensitive? Because that is exactly what they are doing."

He sighed. "When you've been fighting battles as long as I have, you learn to read body language whether you like it or not." His eyes traveled over to the cut on her cheek and her hand over her abdomen. "And just from reading yours, I know you need medical assistance."

She chuckled mirthlessly as the young lieutenant from her fire team came up next to them. "Now you sound like him," she muttered, jerking a thumb over in the younger man's direction.

It was Commander Assant's turn to chuckle as he returned the lieutenant's salute. "Lieutenant Gardevoir is a good soldier and you cannot really fault him for wanting to look after his superior."

"No, I guess I can't," Pallas replied with a knowing look in Gardevoir's direction. "Will you be taking me to see your medic now, Lieutenant?"

Gardevoir scratched the top of his brown hair, a most unmilitary gesture. "If you'll let me, ma'am."

She motioned with her hand. "Lead on, then."

As they started off, Assant cleared his throat behind them. Stopping, they both looked back at him. "It would probably do us all some good if we knew your name, General," he said.

"Yes, it probably would," Pallas agreed, remembering that she had never introduced herself. "My name is Pallasyndra, but you may call me Pallas."

Commander Assant nodded. "Thank you, General Pallas."

Kastul was at his station onboard Defiant, serving as a tactical analyst for the fleet. He had been watching the Jedi blips on his tactical screen.

"Fools." Two Jedi had just either crashed into or boarded one of the Republic's warships, one of their ones that had been boarded. The ship would need Jedi assistance, but two was hardly enough to tackle a boarding party of anything, especially Mandalorians. He didn't have the ship that had landed, but a Republic Capital Ship didn't give out a distress call for no reason.

Kastul stroked his chin. He hadn't met either one but...he flipped through the screens. That ship had a fairly small complement of Republic Marines, and their weapons, training, armor, and temperament were all inferior to Mandalorians.

"Captain, permission to leave the ship."

The Captain nodded at him, obviously distracted by the battle at hand. Kastul climbed out of the crew pit and headed for the turbolift.

"Hangar Bay." The turbolift hummed, sliding the door open. His craft, a fighter of three transparisteel rods fused together, sat in the bay along with a handful of remaining craft. He punched in the opening sequence and raised the canopy and slid into the cockpit.

Kastul flipped the primary activation switches, bringing the reactor online, pumping energy into the shields and engines. He shoved the throttle up, shooting through the Magnetic Containment Field and into the cold of space.

Green and red blaster bolts streamed around them, with golden fireballs and shattered hulks. Kastul did his best to ignore it, setting course for the damaged warship.

A Basilisk War Droid dropped in behind Kastul, firing bolts of energy into his aft shielding. Kastul winced, while his craft was incredibly fast, it didn't have particularly good shielding. Shields were down to 11%, and they wouldn't last much longer. He dialed his inertial compensator down to 25%, then slammed the ejection, hurling him into space.

He winced as the ship grew nearer. Momentum was hurling him forward, and it would be pretty hard for him to stop. He stretched out with the Force and began to push, slowing his passage. Enough, anyway.

He impacted the ship, cracking his exoskeleton on his side. He slapped a hand over the cracks, pressing his uniform against the injury. He crawled along the hull, dragging himself to an emergency entry hatch and pulling himself inside. Kastul pulled it shut behind him, gasping in pain.

"A Jedi feels no pain."

He forced past the agony and opened the other side of the airlock, dropping him right behind four Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders.

"Probably didn't check all the variables."

He withdrew his lightsaber from his robes and grabbed the nearest Mandalorian, pulling him close to absorb the spray of blaster bolts from his comrades. Throwing his smoking body into them, he leapt forward, raising his lightsaber into Soresu, spinning his blade in an infinity loop and picking off the stream of blaster bolts. He struck out, preforming Sai Cha and dropping a second Mandalorian to the ground. He leapt forward, bringing his legs around, cutting out another Mandalorian's leg, then driving his blade through his side.

One of the Mandalorians had given up on shooting the Jedi and withdrew a vibroblade and rushed Kastul. He allowed himself to be moved back, easily parrying the relatively sluggish blows from the Mandalorian. He apparently had augmented his blade with a lightsaber resistant material, most likely Mandalorian Iron. He parried a powerful overhand slash, then spun the blade around, pointing it at the floor. He kicked the blade out of the Mandalorian's hand, then cut him in half.

Kastul glanced at the last one and winced. The Mandalorian had a lined up shot. He stretched out with the force, gripping the trigger of the blaster, then he began to twist the blaster until it was pointing at the Mandalorian's eye. There was a crimson flash, then the Mandalorian dropped, a bubbling hole in his helmet. He kicked the bodies to the side.

"Now, where're the other two?"

It had seemed like an eternity, but the two Kiffar Jedi managed to cut a hole in the hull in under twenty seconds. The section was held in place by the thinnest strips of metal and was already distending outward from the incredible suction of space outside the ship. Lux and Anya grabbed for the handles around the doorway and gripped them tight, as neither really fancied being sucked out into space.

As the red display ticked down to fifteen seconds, Lux reached out and levitated a metal barrel container and held it in front of the cut-out section. "Anya!" he yelled. "We're going to have to push this thing as far away from the ship as possible!"

She shot him a look. "I know! Just do it already!" She raised her free hand towards the wall.

Lux immersed himself in the Force to give him strength. Hauling back, he hurled the barrel into the wall section, forcing it out into space. Almost immediately, he felt the tremendous pull on his body as the room depressurized fully. Gritting his teeth, he focused his energies on the hull section, already hurtling far away from the ship and used the Force to push it even further away. He grabbed his comlink and yelled, "Bridge, put down the containment field now!" Without waiting for a response, he stuck his comlink back on his belt and raised the timer to his eye level. Three seconds. Two. One. Zero.

For a moment, everything seemed to go silent and Lux wondered idly if the bomb had been a dud. His idle hope was literally exploded when the bomb went off, a few thousand meters away from the ship. Even with that distance, Lux felt as if it had went off right next to him as the force of the explosion buffeted the ship. Using every remaining scrap of strength he had, he reached for the sliding door and pried the left side open. He gestured for Anya to go ahead of him. She strained against the tremendous pull, calling on the Force to aid her, allowing her to slip past the door. She braced herself and held her hand out to Lux, who took it and hauled himself in. As soon as his foot was past the doorway, he twisted and slammed down the emergency lock, sealing the door behind them. The two exhausted Jedi slumped to the ground, breathing heavily as their lungs compensated for the harrowing experience they'd just went through.

Anya turned to look at her fellow Jedi. "Lux," she said, her voice raspy. "This is by far the stupidest idea you've ever had."

Lux shot her a bemused grin before closing his eyes and leaning against the wall. "Tell me about it."

The ship buckled, hurling Kastul to the ground amidst the bodies of the fallen Mandalorians.

Scrambling to his feet, he glanced around. One alarm. Hull breach siren. Wonderful, the Mandalorians were just going to blow the thing up. He slid his lightsaber back into his crimson robes and bolted down the corridor.

Odd...no Mandalorians. Oh, no.

Now it all made sense. Those Mandalorians weren't trying to hold the ship, they were making sure no one escaped from it until the bombs blew. Fortunately, they were going to try to depressurize or shatter the ship rather than just crippling it the simple

The sirens trailed off. Either the breach had been sealed off, or the Mandalorians had shut off the alarm system. If the latter was the case, this ship might be under their control. Bombs were effective distractions.

"What the hell is that thing?"

He twisted, dropping into a crouch and withdrawing his lightsaber. A squad of Republic Troopers leveled blaster rifles at him.

"Calm down, I'm a Jedi."

"Stand down, men, he's no Mandalorian."

The trooper lowered his rifle and extended his hand. After a moment, Kastul took it.

"What's the situation here, trooper?"

"Mandalorians on several decks, and according to a pair of Jedi, they planted a gravity bomb somewhere on the ship. Judging by that rumble, I'd guess they managed to jettison it."

Kastul nodded. "Where are those Jedi?"

"Don't know. Listen, we could use your help, two Mandalorian Gunships coupled onto emergency hatches on this corridor, we're outnumbered and they've got an E-Web set up. But with a Jedi's assistance..."

Kastul nodded. "Point them out. The Mandalorians are as good as dead."

“I’ll be fine.” CJ replied as he took his hand off of his scorched eye, it had scared the tissue all around the socket and fused his lid shut. He reached to the bottom of his under shirt and ripped off a long piece of fabric. Castov quickly wrapped it over and around his head to cover the eye and stood up.

“Are you sure?” Geonar asked showing a lot of concern for her Jedi saviour.

“Yeah.” Castov assured. “Let’s finish this.”

Jesp walked over to the console one of the Mandalorian mechanics had been working on and began to reprogram the engines. He was setting the Engines to overload and any other system connected to the power supply. If all went to plan in three minutes it would cause quite a light show for any one who was watching the Mandalorian vessel.

“O.K we’ve only got a few minutes to get out of here before we become statistic.” Castov announced as he ran over to the third mechanic he killed to retrieve his lightsaber.

CJ and Golnar then ran out of the room and down to a corridor with several hatches connected to escape pods. CJ clicked the access panel and the hatch unlocked, Castov opened the door and nodded his head for Geonar to go in first. The Jedi followed the Twi’lek in and went to the front and hit the ‘Jettison’ button, the pod shot out of the ship and sped away from it at great speed. Both escape pod passengers looked out of the rear window and watched as all the gun turrets on the Mandalorian ship began to explode. Then the entire ship began to go up in a series of small explosions along the hull before the entire thing went up in a single giant explosion.

"You didn't tell me you were a medic as well, Lieutenant," Pallas mused idly.

Lieutenant Gardevoir shrugged his shoulders as he touched up Pallas' cheek with a bacta swab. "It's not my profession of choice, General," he told her. "Our medic was killed last week and I am the only soldier in my unit with any prior medical experience." He discarded the swab and placed a thin bacta bandage to Pallas' cut. "Gotta do what you can."

Pallas heard the slight pain in Gardevoir's voice. "That's all we can do, I'm afraid," she responded softly.

Just as he stood up, the ship rocked suddenly, throwing the lieutenant off his feet. He would have taken a nasty spill, but just as he was about to skewer himself on the edge of a table, his body stopped moving entirely. He blinked, then looked up at Pallas, who had her arm extended in his direction. She moved her hand and he was gently set on his feet. Exhaling a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, he said, "Thanks."

"You're quite welcome," she replied, gripping the side of her seat as the ship righted itself.

"It seems as if my comrades have defused the situation," she commented.

Gardevoir picked up the pieces of his medkit that had fallen out in the shake-up. "If that's how they defuse bombs, I shudder to think how they explode them," he commented dryly.

Pallas couldn't help but crack a grin. "They can be a bit... excitable."

"I'll bet." He took out another bacta swab and waved it at her. "I'll need to have a look that other injury."

She nodded and pulled her black tunic up over her head, exposing her arms and midriff and leaving her clad in only her torso undergarment wrappings. The wound from the Mandalorian vibrosword cut across her abdomen in a slightly diagonal line, from her left hip to a bit under her right rib. Her dark Arkanian blood had clotted over, but it still caused her quite a bit of pain.

Gardevoir grimaced as he studied her injury. "Looks like that Mandy nicked you pretty good, General," he said, cleaning the site with the bacta swab.

Pallas merely nodded as she closed her eyes and called on the Force to help numb her pain. She opened them again as she heard her comlink chirp. Calling it over with the Force from the table a few feet away, she thumbed it on. "This is Pallas."

"General," Commander Assant's gruff voice crackled. "We've got more Mandalorian boarding parties already on the ship at other access points. Your assistance would be much appreciated."

"Have you heard anything back from Generals Vanas and Bethesda?" she inquired.

"Nothing yet, ma'am." The commander's voice sounded grim.

"Very well, I'll be there as soon as I can." She clicked her comlink off.

"No rest for the weary, eh ma'am?" Gardevoir's voice was rueful.

"Indeed, Lieutenant. Indeed."

Kastul glanced around the corner and grimaced. A squad of at least twenty Mandalorians with a powerful E-Web repeating blaster set up in the corridor. Most likely holding it until more boarding shuttles arrive. He pulled out his pocket comlink.

"This is General Tyneka. Deck...uh....ah, six, has at least two Mandalorian boarding parties here, and it looks like they're holding their ground waiting for more. I think I can handle this party, but by the time I finish more may have docked. I need backup."

The hatch slid open, more Mandalorians crawled out. They spoke something to each other in Mando'a, then began moving down the corridor. He hesitated for a moment, then reached out, grasping the blaster pistol of a fallen Republic Soldier.

He twisted around, spraying a stream of bolts, doing little more than making a lightshow on the strong Mandalorian armor. But it certainly looked dangerous, the Mandalorians moved for cover, then began laying down some blaster fire of their own.

Well, he could keep this up. For a little while, until one of them realized this blaster was about as effective as a thrown rock. Then he'd be down to his lightsaber, and while that could certainly cut their armor, he couldn't deflect that many bolts. He fired off two shots, then lay back and waited.

Lake sat at the nav station of the Arcadia Raider, keeping her course directed at the centre of the convergence she had created, whilst also keeping the large cruiser in the way of any other ships that were trying to leave. It was getting more and more difficult to convince the other ships that hers was indeed still commanded by a Mandalorian—she was close enough to the other ships for them to have visual contact, and they were noticing that the Arcadia Raider didn’t look as damaged as one would have expected given all of her professed ‘technical difficulties’. It was time to go.

“Commander Kiel, the download’s complete,” the marine sergeant reported to her, showing her a data module.

“Well, Sarge, then it’s time for us to go. You distributed those Mandy stealth generators to your men?”

“Already done,” Sarge replied.

Lake turned to the marine private at the comm. “Private, any sign from Jesp and his rescued damsel in distr….”

Lake noticed that the Mandalorian ship Castov had landed on minutes earlier was starting to explode—first in small burst across the hull until finally culminating in one giant red fireball that engulfed the entire ship.

Lake frowned. “O-kaay, let me rephrase that. Any sign of a Jedi tracking signal coming from any of the debris of the ship that Jesp was on?”

The private slid his chair over to the scanning station behind him. “A faint one, Commander. Coming from a small escape pod at the edge of the debris field.”

“Tractor it in to the hanger bay next to our shuttle is.”

“Oh, and Commander, I’m getting a flurry of chatter from two of the gunships. They look like they’re heading in our direction.”

“Well, set a course to meet them,” Lake said plainly. “Oh, and ask them for assistance. Tell them we may have been boarded and are experiencing sabotage.”

The private frowned.

“Just do it, private,” the Sarge backed Lake up. “I think I know what’s coming.”

Lake grinned. “Well, hopefully, Sarge, we’ll be far enough away to enjoy the show.” She quickly began to set in the sequence that would eventually overload the engines—but not before her ship was in critical range of the two gunships to take them out and near enough to the other ships to cause any of them within 2 kilometers of the Arcadia Raider serious damage. That done, she set about opening up a secure route from the bridge to the hanger bay.

“Droids disabled, path clear to the hanger bay, and the rest of the ship is in lockdown, and we’ve got stealth generators to make sure we don’t encounter any undiscovered Mandy heroes,” she said to her sergeant. “Data downloaded, chaos and confusion created, ship on autodestruct and collision course, fellow Jedi and damsel’s escape pod recovered ….” She nodded at the sergeant. “Think that’s it?”

“Sounds pretty all-inclusive to me, Commander.”

“Then let’s get moving.”

The dozen marines, their sergeant, and Lake all donned their stealth generators, and headed out the door, sabotaging the door behind them so that it was welded shut. Their route to the shuttle bay was a simple and direct one, yet even with the lockdown, some Mandalorians had managed to infiltrate the passages along the way. But with the Mandalorians’ own stealth technology being used against them, any real threats were quickly dispatched by the Republic marines.

Reaching the hanger bay, Lake noticed that the escape pod was just being hauled in through the atmospheric energy shields. While her marines quickly boarded their shuttle, a captured Mandalorian one they had used to board the Arcadia Raider in the first place, Lake hurried over to the escape pod.

It didn’t take long for her to release the hatch with a quick swipe of her lightsaber.

“You’re just in time,” she greeted as she reached in to give the two occupants a helping hand to get out. “Shuttle departs in less than two min….” She frowned a bit. “Gee, Jesp, what happened to you? You look like crap.”

I then reported to the bridge of "The Defiant" and greeted Tegan Marr , I actually remember her when I was training in Coruscant , I was a kid and she was teen then I was send to Dantooine where my new master was awaiting me, she lost her master too, It has been long since I don’t see or talk to her I hope she haven’t forgotten me.

“Greetings, Tegan thank you for the help and for rescuing me and my soldiers, we owe you our lives. 2 mandalorian heavy bomber ships destroyed our flag ship "The Shield IV”, I have some important information a good strategic that I and my officers managed to study" Then I inserted a datapad into a computer " 2 heavy mandalorian bombers, weak shields but strong cannons and lasers, they are a rock that cant be broken, they saw us when we escaped, I'm afraid they are coming this way. If there is something I can do to help you let me know, I prefer to do something that stand here and look at the fight and mist the action , So if you have a Republic assault fighter I’ll be more than happy"- I said

((Sorry it took me so long to reply...))

"Three of our squadrons have already been deployed," Tegan said. "But we have a few spare fighters in the hangar. You're welcome to use one."

"Commander, what's our status?" Pallas asked, striding up to the tall officer with Lieutenant Gardevoir in tow.

Assant waved her over to a console displaying the ship's schematics. "As far as we can tell, the bomb your Jedi comrades went to deal with detonated a few thousand meters off our port side," he said, motioning to the appropriate parts of the display. "We sustained no structural damage, though communications with that side of the ship are spotty at best. We are attempting to reestablish communications."

Pallas nodded. "And what of the Mandalorians?"

The commander tapped a few keys and zoomed in on a specific part of the schematic. "We have Mandalorian landing parties on Decks Six, Eight and Nine. The one on Deck Nine has been dealt with; we were able to catch them off-guard and destroy their shuttle. Deck Eight is currently being contained, we think we might have it under control." He ran a hand through his spiky auburn hair. "Deck Six is something of a problem. There are two enemy boarding parties there, and probably more on the way. A General Tyneka is there currently holding them off, but I don't think he's got reinforcements."

"I guess I know where I'm going, then," Pallas said, then turned to Gardevoir. "Lieutenant, please form a squad and prepare them for immediate departure to Deck Six. We leave in two minutes."

"Yes, General," Gardevoir saluted and moved off to comply with her orders.

Pallas watched him walk away, then looked back at Assant. "I may just have to steal the good lieutenant away from you after this is all over."

Assant gave her a tight-lipped smile. "Not a chance, General. Lieutenant Gardevoir is one of my best. You'll have to fight me tooth and nail to take him away."

She sighed, unconsciously touching the bandage on her cheek. "I thought as much."

===== ===== ===== ===== =====

Pallas stepped out of the turbolift, lightsaber lit and in hand. She raised it almost immediately as blaster fire screamed towards her from down the corridor. Damn, a repeating blaster cannon? she thought as she motioned for Lieutenant Gardevoir and the rest of her troops to take cover on either side of the hallway. Twirling her blade, she managed to redirect a few blaster bolts back towards the enemy, then ducked to the side and rolled next to the lieutenant as he peered around the corner, returning fire at the Mandalorians.

"Lieutenant, please tell me you're a grenadier as well," Pallas said as she clipped her lightsaber back on her belt and grabbed a spare carbine.

Gardevoir shot her a smirk and motioned to his soldiers. "Thermal dets might make too much of a mess, so I recommend plasma grenades, ma'am."

"Your call," Pallas said.

He pulled a red sphere from his belt in response, then nodded at his soldiers across the hall. "Fire in the hole!"

(( Oh, and Corinthian? This is the time of the Mandalorian wars, about 3,600 years before the Empire. I don't think E-webs exist yet. :) ))

"Honestly," Anya muttered as she and Lux dashed back down the hallways, their sheathed lightsabers in hand, "That is the last time I'm letting you think of something on your ow--"

Just then, a large detination went off right above their heads. Though there was no visible damage - no roof collapsing or panels dropping, for instance - the shock of it reverberated through the ceiling, down the walls, and into the floor, shaking the structure of the ship itself. The unexpected force caused Anya to almost fall over, though she steadied her with the Force before she truly fell. Pausing, she looked up at the ceiling and muttered, "What in the name of Nar Shadaa was that?"

Her comm. link bleeped, and snatched it from the belt at her hip, holdingt it to her lips as she opened the channel.

"Bethesda."

"The bridge has recieved reports of a large explosion in your area," the voice from the other side returned, sounding almost automated, "Can you identify the source?"

"We were hoping that you could answer that." Anya replied, "There's no cause obvious here - it felt like it came from a deck up."

"There's a Mandalorian boarding party on the deck above you. Generals Pallasyndra and Tyneka are dealing with the problem."

"A Mandy boarding party?" Lux muttered, "And they didn't invite us? How rude."

Anya waved him off. "Do they need reinforcements?"

"There's a chance that they might soon, but General Pallasyndra just arrived with a fire team moments ago. She may be able to contain the problem."

"How about the rest of the decks? No trouble there?"

"Decks Nine and Eight have also been infiltrated. Nine has been contained and Fire Team Zulu is currently bringing Eight under control."

Pausing for a moment, Anya went over this information in her head. "Do we have any orders from the big man upstairs?"

"Nothing specific for yourself, General."

"Alright, thank you. Bethesda out." as she cut the connection, she turned to Lux. If they had no specific orders, then they were pretty much free to crack Mandy skulls wherever they liked.

“You’re just in time,” she greeted as she reached in to give the two occupants a helping hand to get out. “Shuttle departs in less than two min….” She frowned a bit. “Gee, Jesp, what happened to you? You look like crap.”

“Well I have an excuse.” Castov joked as he got out of the pod and help Geonar out. “I ran into a plasma torch, you know just for kicks.”

“So what do we do now.” The Twi’lek girl asked.

“We need to get you to a secure location.” CJ replied turning back to Lake. “I presume we’re taking that.” He pointed his thumb at the Mandalorian shuttle.

Well, this isn't exactly ideal.

The Mandalorians had him in a running 'fight through Deck Six, like something out of a circus show. Using his reflexes and senses, he was able to dodge most of their blaster bolts, but he didn't have a blaster with sufficent power to do any real damage. His only real hope was assistance or a blaster rifle stumbling upon his path.

Then again, with the Force as your ally, there was always another alternative. That is, until you come to the inevitable bulkhead.

The Mandalorians weren't too far behind, he didn't have a whole lot of time. Naturally, no vents, grates, or secret passages, no hidden weapons compartments, not even a security terminal he could slice to bring out War Droids or poison gas. That left one alternative.

He withdrew his lightsaber and dropped into his favored style, Shii-Cho, then charged the Mandalorians.

"General Truth, Sir! We've destroyed the Mandolorian Battlecruiser opening fire on us and are now focusing our full fire on the Dreadnought!"

"What is the the current battle status?" Truth asked as he took the head off an enemy soldier and impaled another. The battle to rid the Mandolorians from the ship was in full swing now, with the droids surrounding them on all sides and Truth leading a spear-head into their line. They were splitting apart, and slowly being exterminated.

"General Jesp has destroyed the Artillery vessel and rescued the daughter of a Corellian diplomat. He is currently aboard the captured Mandolorian vessel Arcadia Raider along with Commander Kiel. They are abandoning the ship."

Truth's saberstaff was an unstoppable whirlwind as it cut down Mandolorian troops, and soon they were all dead from both firepower and encirclement. He stood over the corpses of the dead and ordered to the troops in the vicinity "Remove the corpses," Then he brushed off his combat suit and headed for the bridge.

The plasma grenades had done their work, shredding through the Mandalorian defenses before they were fully set up. Pallas led her team in, ferreting out any stray enemy soldiers. Just as they had finished clearing the hallway, blaster fire was heard from a few corridors down. Turning her head toward the direction of the noise, she was just in time to see a Givin Jedi dart down a hallway with a slew of Mandalorians in his wake. She had to blink a few times to fully register the scene in her head.

"Lieutenant, break into fire teams and take different corridors," she ordered. "Try and flank the Mandalorians." Gardevoir nodded and did as he was told. "Oh and Lieutenant," Pallas called out. "Try not to shoot General Tyneka."

"I'll do my best, ma'am."

Pallas ignited her own lightsaber and moved forward swiftly, intent on catching the enemy off-guard.

“Well I have an excuse.” Castov joked as he got out of the pod and help Geonar out. “I ran into a plasma torch, you know just for kicks.”

“So what do we do now.” The Twi’lek girl asked.

“We need to get you to a secure location.” CJ replied turning back to Lake. “I presume we’re taking that.” He pointed his thumb at the Mandalorian shuttle."You presume correctly," Lake said. "And you could also presume that it's leaving any minute now and that you're not flying it."

Her eyes flicked to the Twi'lek. "And you must be the damsel in distress?" she asked Geonar, giving the girl a quick but friendly grin. "Jedi Commander Lake Kiel," she introduced herself and extended her hand.

Geonar shook it. "Geonar."

"So nice to meet you," Lake said. "And now if you'll just kindly board the shuttle, we'll be on our way."

She turned toward the shuttle to lead the way to the shuttle's ramp. "Unless you really want to stay and watch the fireworks," she added. "However, I wouldn't recommend it."

To someone as skilled as him, a lone Mandalorian was of no real threat. Not even a laser cannon like an E-Web could penetrate a Jedi skilled in the Force and a lightsaber.

Of course, these Mandalorians weren't exactly 'lone'.

The Mandalorians weren't stupid. As soon as he had charged, the first five had withdrawn Mandalorian Iron vibroblades and prepared for combat while several more attempted to slip around and encircle the Givin. It wasn't a very good day. Kastul was getting tired, even a nearly weightless lightsaber would begin to feel leaden after intercepting dozens of blows, moving at a blur. Eventually, he'd slow down until one of them slipped by and was on his backside, or one of them just slipped a blade around his guard...

He leapt into the air, briefly startling the Mandalorians, long enough for him to change the tide of the battle with a quick slice that removed the heads of two Mandalorians. Well, until the rest of them saw they had an open shot and poured streams of crimson energy at him. He moved his lightsaber in a blur, intercepting or dodging each shot, but it couldn't last.

It didn't.

A bolt caught him on the right breast, throwing him back against the wall with a smoking hole in his chest. His lightsaber clattered against the wall, the emerald blade collapsing into the hilt.

The Mandalorian who had hit him walked up, glancing down on him in his Neo-Crusader armor.

"Any last prayers?"

Despite the pain lancing through him, he had the presence of mind to withdraw the weak pistol and jam it against a joint on the upper leg of his armor. Too exhausted to make a snappy retort, he squeezed the trigger, the bolt passing through the armor joint and into the Mandalorian's body, dropping him to the ground with ominously smoking armor.

Kastul slid to the side, his breath coming in ragged gasps of pain as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

"I will take one..... let's see how I can help" - I said

I then when to the hangar and asked one of the pilots for a ship

"Soldier"-I said

"Sire , yes sire"-He responded

"I need a Republic assault fighter , Now" - I commanded

"Yes , sire , here we have one fallow me" - he said

he pointed the ship and said

"There sire"-He said

"Good..... I’ll take it"- I said

"Wait sire, take this T3 unit, many have died in that ship, this T3 can help you"-He said

"A Jedi dose not know fear, but I will accept you're gift soldier, My the force be with you"- I said

"Thank you, my it be with you too sire"

I then entered the fighter and the T3 unit was positioned in the ship too

"Let's see what the force has for me"- I said as I leave "The Defiant".

Pallas' surprise attack only half-worked, as she and her troops were able to take only a few Mandalorian warriors unaware; the rest quickly brought their arms to bear against the Republic squad. However, they had managed to surround the enemy, pinching them into an open corridor.

Bringing her lightsaber into an upward slash across her opponent's chest, she quickly brough her left hand forward to catch the Mandalorian with the Force, then threw his limp body into the path of several oncoming enemy soldiers, knocking them off balance and allowing her troops to mow them down with blaster fire. They had almost reached Katsul when the Givin Jedi took a blaster shot right to the chest and slumped against the far wall. Cursing under her breath, she redoubled her efforts, slashing, kicking and throwing, letting the Force guide her actions.

Hurling the last Mandalorian into a bulkhead with enough force that she heard the sickening crack of his helmet caving in, she rushed to her fellow Jedi's side. Shaking his shoulder, she called his name, "General Tyneka." When he didn't respond, she feared the worst, especially with the blackened hole in his chest. Turning to Gardevoir, she said, "Lieutenant, we need to get him to the medical bay, now."

The lieutenant nodded, motioning two of his men to come forward and carry the unconscious Jedi.

"Nah i've already seen one today." Castov replied walking with Geonar to the shuttle. "Once you've one you've seen them all."

"Nah i've already seen one today." Castov replied walking with Geonar to the shuttle. "Once you've seen one you've seen them all."Lake had to grin at the comment. If all went to plan, the destruction of the Arcadia Raider would take out several other Mandalorian ships that she had sent to her 'traffic jam' area. "Oh, this one should be one of the better displays, Jesp," she said as they boarded the shuttle. "And, it should put a damper on the Mando manueverability as well."

"And ours, too, if we don't get out of here soon," said her sergeant. He nodded respectfully to Castov and his guest. "Welcome aboard, General. Have a seat there next to the boys," he said, pointing to some empty seats in and between the rest of his squad. "Be sure to strap yourselves in though. It might be a rough ride."

"As long as we get this data to the Admiral's flagship," Lake said, taking a seat at the nav station and securing herself in it, "and don't get blown up or injured in the process, then it can be as rough as you like, Sarge. Now let's get moving."

The shuttle's pilot, one of the marines, lifted off and soon they had left the hanger of the Arcadia Raider and were heading back toward the Republic lines and the Admiral's flag ship.

"Just try to keep us nice and steady on this heading," Lake said to the pilot, "and in the shadow of the Arcadia Raider until the very last minute. Remember, the less erratic and evasive we are, the more likely the Mandys will ignore us as nothing important. But when you see the Raider start to blow, then punch it and get us as far away as possible. I don't want to have come this far and fail our mission only because we got caught in our own trap."

She looked behind her as Jesp. "Sorry...I mean, don't want to fail both our missions," she added. "You two comfy enough back there?"

As the shuttle left the through the hangers energy field Castov made sure Geonar was secure and then moved to the front of the ship. He tapped the marine who was on the comm station and replaced him at the position allowing thje marine to take a seat next to Geonar. Castov straped himself in and placed the comm headset on and positioned the Mic infront of his mouth.

She looked behind her as Jesp. "Sorry...I mean, don't want to fail both our missions," she added. "You two comfy enough back there?"

"Well Geonar has been in a mandalorian cell, so this is a step up." Castov replied fiddeling with the comm consoles controls. "and i sleept on the beds in the Jedi Enclave... after those anything is comfortable."

Castovs fiddeling with the controls allowed him to open up a secure signal direct to the admiral in the flagship. "Admiral To’Knel This is Castov Jesp I've rescued Priority 1 and have rendevoued with Commander Lake Kiel and her squad on the Arcadia Raider. We are all currently on route to The Pride of the Core"

"Copy that Castov, We won't be able to roll out the red carpet but your arrival will be appreciated." The admiral replied.

Lux and Anya stepped out of the turbolift with their lightsabers lit and in hand, both golden blades casting a pale yellow sheen on the drab gray walls. Lux reached out with the Force, trying to sense for any Mandalorian threats, but he found none. Stalking cautiously down a narrow corridor, he put a hand out and dragged it slowly and deliberately against the wall. Flashes of action appeared in his vision. "Someone was chased down this hallway," he said, withdrawing his hand.

"Let's find out who," Anya said, taking out her comlink. "Bethesda to Pallasyndra, do you copy?"

The reception crackled for a moment, then Pallas' soft voice came through. "I copy, Anya."

"What's your location?"

"En route to the medical bay with my troops, we have General Tyneka here and he's badly wounded," came the static-y reply.

Lux's brow furrowed. "General Tyneka?" he repeated. "What's Kastul doing on this ship?"

Anya shrugged and turned back to her comlink. "We'll meet you there. Bethesda out."

Now it was Lux's turn to take out his comlink. Thumbing it on, he said, "Vanas to the bridge. What is our status?"

There were a few moments of silence, then the voice of the captain rang loud and clear. "We have all Mandalorian presence on the vessel contained," the crackling voice stated. "The enemy capital ships are all in disarray. Admiral To'Knel has ordered all remaining ships to form up in order to drive off the enemy force."

"Thank you, Captain. Vanas out." Replacing his comlink at his belt, he looked at Anya. "Well, looks like we're almost done here. Let's go check on Kastul."

Kastul's body thumped onto the table, his deeply set eyes glassy with pain.

"Geez, this guy is a wreck. I'm counting several shattered ribs, his exoskeleton is cracked in three places, blaster burns, major blood loss. Prep five ccs of Comaren. Get the Kolto tank ready."

The doctor picked up a laser scalpel and cut a path through Kastul's exoskeleton, then the needle was inserted into his veins, easing the agonizing pain.

"Alright, we need to get the burned flesh off, and remove the crushed sections of exoskeleton. Hold on, General."

"We need a xenobiologist, I don't know anything about Givin physiology."

"Well, then we better hope he's not allergic to Kolto, because the nearest xenobiologist is on the planet, so unless you're planning to hand him over to the tender care of the Mandalorians..."

The Doctor's voice trailed off as he began slicing off the charred flesh and shattered sections of exoskeleton surrounding the massive blaster wound.

"Kavlia, we've done everything we can, but if he doesn't go in the Kolto, he's as good as dead."

Doctor Kavlia switched the scalpel off. "Alright, put him in. We'll have to do this in stages."

Kastul's repulsor stretcher was shoved over to the tank. "Alright, put him in. Gently..."

They slid him into the top of the tank and attached the breath mask, then closed the hatch.

"There's nothing more we can do for him. Come on, people, move it, we've got more wounded incoming, there's more people on this ship than Jedi!"

Castovs fiddeling with the controls allowed him to open up a secure signal direct to the admiral in the flagship. "Admiral To’Knel, this is Castov Jesp. I've rescued Priority 1 and have rendevoued with Commander Lake Kiel and her squad on the Arcadia Raider. We are all currently on route to The Pride of the Core."

"Copy that Castov, We won't be able to roll out the red carpet but your arrival will be appreciated." The admiral replied.Lake raised an eyebrow. "Priority one, huh?" She glance over her shoulder at Geonar, then to Castov. "So, who is she?" she asked.

There was no time for an answer to her question as through the corner of the view window the first fireballs could be seen starting to explode from the doomed Arcadia Raider. "Everyone, hang on!" yelled the pilot. "Here we go!"

The shuttle lurched as the pilot gave full throttle to the engines and changed the ship's course to make a beeline for the Republic lines. So far they had been lucky in remaining unnoticed by the Mandalorian fighters, but now it was more important to outrun the impending cascade of blast waves that the Arcadia Raider had started. And strobing flashes of bright light told them that it was on its way.

Lake kept a watchful eye on the scanners, searching for any signs of rogue Mando fighters that might have thought to engage them. The shuttle they were in was fast and heavily shielded, but at the expense of being lightly armed. If they were selected by a fighter as a target, their only real defense was to outrun it. And in the close quarters of battle, that wasn't a great option.

Blips streamed across her screen, but none of the enemy fighters seemed to be interested in them, either distracted by the large explosion that was happening behind them or still intent on strafing the larger ships or going head-to-head with the Republic fighters. Never seeing the big picture and always after their own personal glory, Lake thought. Typical, predictable Mandy mindset. Good.

"Still no sign of enemy fighters. Pride of the Core straight ahead," Lake said to the pilot. She began to relax a bit. "I think we may have just pulled this off, boys." Then a flash of red on her screen and an alarm sounded off. "Concussion Missile, locking on!" Lakes said to the pilot.

"Launch countermeasures!" he replied.

She flipped open the cover on some red switches, then pushed one. There was a swooshing sound and then a brilliant red flash streamed in through the view window as defensive flares were launched off to the side of the shuttle. "Countermeasures launched."

The shuttle spun and rocked precariously as the concussion missile exploded near them and the pilot fought to keep control. "That was too close," he said. "Where did that come from?"

Lake's eyes searched the scanners. "Must have been a rogue," she said. "We're well away from any... wait a sec. Got a Dantooine Dung Beatle off the port side," she said, describing a Mandalorian Battleship. "Doesn't look like it's pursuing us though. Might be disabled in some way and just a one-off...." Her screen was flashing again. "Scratch that. Incoming missile again." Her finger poised on the countermeasures button.

"Taking evasive action," the pilot said, and he started to move the control stick.

"No," Lake ordered, using the Force to hold the controls in place. "Hold your course! I don't want them to think we are cowards or have something to protect." The missile drew nearer, and at the appropriate time, Lake launched the countermeasure flares again.

They worked, but the ship rocked again with the blast wave. "I hope that's the last of them," she said. "This is getting real old, real quick." She checked her scanners once again. "Pride of the Core coming into view." She let out a sigh. "Let's aim for a soft landing."

Castov looked out the window as Lake’s plan had worked brilliantly, with a single ship sabotaged she wiped out more than half a dozen Mandalorian vessels in her traffic jam. The Mandalorian flagships had fallen the battle had been won, all the Republic had to do was destroy the stragglers.
__________________________________________________

It has been two hours since the Mandalorian had fired their last shots, they did as expected and fought to the last man. It’s not in the Mandalorians nature to surrender or give up, the last fighter even attempted a kamikaze run against the flagship but had been taken care of by the turbo laser battery. Admiral To’knel ordered all ships to keep a safe distance from the planet and not to enter orbit, he also called a briefing to be attended by all Jedi in six hours.

Castov had spent most of the lat couple of hours in the ships infirmary having his eye seen to. Although the doctors could heal the tissue around the eye, the eye its self was damaged beyond repair and now he donned a black eye-patch.

Jeap was now in one of the ‘Jedi rooms’, some of the republic vessels had them installed when Reven’s followers joined the war, they were really just an observation deck or crew training room that had been stripped down and had some mats placed on the floor. The rooms were put on the ships so the Jedi could practice Lightsaber techniques or just meditate.

Castov was the only one in the room and he decided that he needed to practice his unarmed combat skills. After the tussle he had with the exceptionally large Mandalorian that did not go entirely to plan. He never really trained for combat back at the enclave, he never had any cause to, the galaxy was at peace the Sith had not been seen or heard from for years so the need to fight was not important. Now the Mandalorians begun their war on the republic and all those Jedi who chose to follow Reven were now expected to fight.

((OCC- OK now's the time to start selecting the ground objective you wish to take on in the discussion thread.))

Mission complete and battle over, Lake had decided that she needed some meditation time, and had entered the training room. She was one of a handful of 'masterless' Padawans, and so keeping herself focused and proving herself to be every bit a competent Jedi was paramount to her. But seeing Castov Jesp pummelling a training dummy, she couldn't help but comment.

"You know, it's always more challenging to attack something that hits back," Lake said to him. "I came in here to meditate, but given the choice between the two, sparring wins everytime." She looked him over. He seemed perfectly content to practice on his own, but she'd ask anyway. "If you feel like having a live opponent, just let me know. I'd be glad to be of assistance."

She sat down cross-legged on one of the mats in the corner, then took a cleansing breath and closed her eyes. "Nice patch, by the way," she commented. She wasn't trying to incite him or be mean, but rather to acknowledge that she was aware that he had lost his eye and understood that he was training now in order to test his skills without the benefit of binocular vision. He'd have to make use of the Force more now that before--not a difficult task, but one that he wanted to be prepared for. "Be careful, though," she added lightly. "You might start a fashion trend."

"Yeah." Castov replied Continuing to practice on the dummy. "Well I was thinking about getting a peg leg and a hook hand... You know space pirate look.”

Castov always looked for the funny side of any situation, all his friends back on Dantooine found this both relaxing and infuriating. He remembers his master used to tell him ‘No one like a funny Jedi my young Padawan’. He had many fond memories of his master from his training and how they kept intact after he was knighted. Castov’s master was killed when the Mandalorians attacked Irodia while they attacked planets outside of the republic. Castov mourned his masters death and celebrated how he had become one with the force at the same time. His master taught him well and although many would believe CJ chose to fight the Mandalorians because of his Master’s death they would be incorrect. He chose to fight solely because he felt it was the right thing to do.

“I read the reports from the marines you commanded.” Castov announced. “They say your command was the reason for the success… You showed great skill, I’m surprised you haven’t taken your trials yet.”

"Ugh," Lux muttered as he extracted himself from the twisted heap that had been his starfighter. After the battle, he'd gone with Anya to check up on Kastul in the medbay and after receiving the decidedly good prognosis, transferred over to the flagship to await further instructions. He'd also gotten his fighter transported over, though he was quite unhappy with the shape it was in.

Hopping down onto the deck, he wiped his hands off with a rag, then stared dejectedly at his mangled fighter. A mechanic came up alongside him and joined him. "Looks like you put this thing through quite a ringer, sir," the kindly older man said.

"You can say that again," Lux agreed, running a hand through his short red hair. "I think I'm going to need a new one."

"That's no problem sir, I'm sure we can find one to suit your tastes."

"Thanks, Sarge," Lux said gratefully. Sighing, he tossed the dirty rag onto the broken heap that was his starfighter and moved off and out of the hangar.

****

Letting himself into the training room, he spotted two of his fellow Jedi already availing themselves to the facilities: Castov Jesp was sparring with a training dummy and Lake Kiel seemed to be meditating. Meditating? Lux thought to himself. When did she become a Consular? Not wishing to interrupt her in any case, he trotted over to where Castov was. "Nice eyepatch," he greeted his fellow Jedi, noticing the black cloth in place on Castov's face. "What'd you do to get that?"

“I read the reports from the marines you commanded.” Castov announced. “They say your command was the reason for the success… You showed great skill, I’m surprised you haven’t taken your trials yet.”

“Master Kai didn’t think I was ready,” she said calmly to Castov.

Lake breathed in deeply as she began to connect to the Force, allowing its cleansing energy to surround her, wiping away the pain she had felt from taking lives today.

She believed in everything the Jedi and the Republic stood for: justice, freedom, peace—and the defence of those too weak to stand on their own when those things were threatened. So she had felt confused and betrayed when the Council had outright refused to help the Republic. She couldn’t understand why the Jedi were abandoning the Republic, even though it was quite obvious that the Republic would fall without their help. And she felt even more confused when her master had denied her taking the trials for the third time, even while those she felt were less qualified than her had passed them with ease. She had watched helplessly as Jedi Masters she knew and respected left the Order one by one to join Revan and his cause, some taking their padawans with them, other leaving their padawans in the care of others. She had thought then that perhaps her Master would allow her to take the trials, if for nothing else than so he could take on another padawan learner himself. But, in front of the Council, he stubbornly refused her for a fourth time.

It had been the proverbial straw that broke the bantha’s back. Disillusioned by the Jedi Council, she had decided then and there that she would join Revan and fight for what was right. She had packed her bags and, against her Master's wishes, she left the Enclave—condemning herself to be a padawan forever. She hadn't regretted her decision, but she did feel a sense of loss at never being able to attain the rank of Jedi Master, no matter how skilled she became.

“And,” she continued, “without a Master, or the approval of the Jedi Council, I’m not likely to ever take them now.”

Lake took another deep breath, this one to try and rid herself of the feelings of inadequacy that had been rekindled by the thought of her former Master, Lo Kai. She could still picture his face when she had defiantly told him that, padawan or not, she was leaving to join Revan. Always so very serious, Master Kai had always had a permanent frown on his face, but that day his wrinkles had become deep trenches across a reddening forehead. She had never seen him so angry. And, after the argument they had had then, it wasn’t likely that she would ever see him again.

“But thank you for the compliment, Master Jesp,” she said. “Perhaps I’ll have a chance to demonstrate my skill for the Admiral again. And, have an opportunity to thank whoever recommended me to him for the mission in the first place.” She opened her eyes and looked at him askance. “You wouldn’t happen to know who that might be, would you?”

Just then Lux entered the training room. "Nice eyepatch," he greeted his fellow Jedi, noticing the black cloth in place on Castov's face. "What'd you do to get that?"

Lake couldn’t help but sport a small grin. "See?" she said to Castov. "Told you you'd start a trend if you weren't careful."

“You know a battle scar.” Jesp replied to the fellow sentinel. “But I got off lightly compared to all the sentient who lost their lives today… on both sides.”

Castov did what he had to do, even if that meant taking the Mandalorian Lives to prevent the deaths of millions more Republic civilians if the Mandalorians went unopposed.

“I was with the admiral when he was assigning Jedi.” Jesp replied stopping his training for a second and walking over to the Padawan. “But your assignment was a based on a recommendation by Reven.” CJ lowered himself on to one knee in front of Lake. “As or the Trials, your success in the battle and the battles to come will be the greatest test any of us… Padawans, knights and even master will take.”

Castov smiled and rose back to his feet walking back over to the dummy and Lux grinning. “I hear you and me have something in common… We both trashed our fighters.”

Revan? Revan recommended me? Lake was pleasantly surprised. She'd only met Revan twice since she'd joined up with him, and even then their meetings had been brief. She must have made some kind of an impression on him though for him to recommend her for a covert mission, she thought. Still, better not let that go to her head. Like Castov had said, the upcoming battles would be a test for everyone involved--Masters and Padawans alike. She needed to keep her edge.

She respectfully nodded to him, a gesture of silent thanks to him for the advice and the compliment.

She remained seated as Jesp spoke to Lux, but grinned as he mentioned that he and Lux both had trashed their fighters. She found it slightly amusing that the only person in the room that hadn't trashed a ship, was the one that wasn't a pilot--her. Nevertheless, she kept her thoughts to herself, not wanting to unintentionally disrespect either Jedi Master.

"Yeah, but I still racked up my fair share of kills," Lux said, settling into fighter-jock mode. "Stopped a half-squadron of bombers from making their attack run, then vaped about four Mandy fighters before I decided to run head to head with two at the same time." He grinned cheesily. "Probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but hey, it got the job done. I also took out quite a few Mandys when I crash-landed inside the hangar bay, though I suppose those count as ground kills."

He stretched his arms up over his head, feeling tendons popping satisfyingly, then cast a glance over at Lake, who sat serenely in meditation. "Lake," he called to her. "How'd you make out in the battle?"

Castov laughed at the gloating the knight was doing, and then ask what the padawan had done. How he would have loved to be the one to bring him down a peg by telling him that lake was responcible for the destruction of all those ships she sent into a trap. He held his tongue as it wasn't his place to say but was sure that if Lux looked at him he would see the large grin across his face.

Lake opened her eyes again. "Me? Oh, not bad, Master Vanas," she said casually. She shot Master Jesp a quick look, but then averted her eyes so as not to smile outright. "Infiltrated a captial cruiser, commandeered it, stole some plans, set up a gridlock with some misdirection over the comm, then sent the cruiser to self destruct in the middle of the fray while we picked up Master Jesp and ferried him and his Priority One passenger back here." She held back a grin. "Nothing as exciting as dogfighting or crash landing, but it all went rather well I think."

Lux arched an eyebrow at the young Padawan as she rattled off her string of accomplishments. When she had finished, he was silent for a few moments, then offered her a small smile. "Rather well, yes, but is that all you did?" he said, mirth creeping into his voice. "I mean, why didn't you fix Kessel's shape, figure out how to make Hutts un-slimy and bring balance to the Force while you were at it?" His eyes twinkled. "Surely you could've found time to do those in between all your various forays."

Lake grinned tongue-in-cheek. "Well, I did have a squad of marines to look after," she said. "But I'll keep that Kessel reshaping in mind, Master Vanas. Might come in handy one day to know how to reshape geological features through the Force."

She stood then and stretched. "So, what happened with your Priority One passenger, Master Jesp? She must be integral to the Admiral's briefing."

"I never found out after we landed she got taken to the bridge by a security team." Castov replied. "I would have accompanied her but i was told to have my eye seen to before i did anything else. The Admiral's been studying tactical data he want's to see me before the meeting so i suppose i'll find out then."

"Suppose we'll all just have to wait and see what's in store next," Lake said. "I suppose I shouldn't say this, but... I'm sort of apprehensive about going down to the surface. I'm Corellian by birth, but... I barely remember it. Still, there's something inside of me that draws me there...." She looked at both Jedi Masters. "Is it wrong to feel Corellian first and then a Jedi?"

"Just because you're a Jedi doesn't mean you have to lose your sense of home." Anya said, having stepped into the room just as Lake voiced her last question. Having removed her cloak once more, her single bladed saber hung visibly at her hip, her black-gloved hand seeming always ready to grab it. "I think both Lux and myself can vouch for that."

"Indeed, Lux agreed. "You could say that we carry a bit of home with us wherever we go," he said, absentmindedly stroking the dark tattoo on the side of his face. "And even though you may not remember it, it is always nice to return home. Admittedly, I'm sure you'd like to come back under better circumstances, but that's not the way the Force works." He flexed a black-gloved fist. "I just hope we can get down there in time to make a difference. I never was one for waiting around."

"It's hard to tell how the Mandalorians on the planet will react to the defeat." Jesp announced. "We've jammed all communication so they're not getting any orders from Mandalore..." Castov stopped and took a deep breath. "Before the war you could trust they'd fight to keep the spoils in tact, but since Serroco..." Castov Sighed. "Well let's just hope they want this world intact."

((Note- If you are unfamiliar with the KotOR Comic Series, *Spoiler alert from Kotor #15*
Serroco was Nuked by the Mandalorians destroying most of it's surface.))

Lux unzipped the collar of his flightsuit down to about the middle of his chest. "This is Corellia," he stated matter-of-factly, glancing at Lake. "Something tells me the 'natives' of this planet don't take kindly to invaders. I'm sure that even if the Mandalorians try to tear this planet up, they'll be met with fierce resistance." His eyes grew distant as he felt the tug of the living Force. "I can feel it."

"Lieutenant, is there anything you aren't good at?" Pallas asked, flicking her pazaak cards back at him across the table.

"Well, I don't dance very well, General," Gardevoir said, grinning slightly as he gathered up the deck and shuffled it. He'd just beaten her soundly for the fifth round in a row and Gardevoir didn't need Jedi abilities to figure out that it made Pallas a little irritated. "One more round for the road?" he asked, holding up half a deck in each hand.

"No thanks," she declined, standing up out of her seat. "I'm all pazaaked out." She looked around the mess hall, then up at the large chrono on the wall. "We only have a few hours before our next briefing. Best get some rest."

"I hear that," Gardevoir agreed. "Make sure you take it easy, General," he told her. "Don't be doing any crazy Jedi flips or what not and re-aggravate your injury."

Pallas gave him a small, easy smile. "Yes, Doctor Gardevoir," she said turning towards the door. "Oh, Lieutenant," she called, cocking her head around.

"Yes ma'am?"

"Do you know where the Jedi meditiation room is on this vessel?"

"Erm, Deck Three, I think,"

"Thanks." She waved at him. "See you at the briefing."

===== ===== ===== ===== =====

Pallas entered the room, not expecting there to be too many of her comrades, but instead finding four of them. "Greetings," she said quietly as the doors slid shut behind her.

Having assisted in the elimination of the Mandolorian stragglers and overseeing the startup and continuation of the repairs on his vessel, Truth boarded the ship in which the briefing for the next mission was that was to take place. Now having been told that it would not be for a couple of hours, he decided to go to the meditation room aboard the vessel, though not for the purpose of meditation. The dissection of the battle was what was on Truth's mind. That however, would have to wait as it appeared when he found that the meditation room was not empty. That was to be expected, since Jedi generally meditate in their free time as he had observed. There appeared to be three Jedi already in there talking when he had walking in, which was conveniently aligned with the arrival of the Jedi from opposite doors.

Analyzing...

Visible Sentients in Current Proximity: Generals Castov Jesp, Lake Kiel, Caelux Vanas, Anya Bethesda, and Pallasyndra

Current Apparent Activities: Conversation and Entrance Greeting

Current Visible Main Weaponry: Lightsabers

Current Threat Level: Minimal

Continue with Current Objective? Continue

Truth nodded a greeting in the direction of the rest of the Jedi and went to sit down on one of the chairs, pulling out a datapad from his robe with which to study.