Chapter 1: Baptism By Fire

[Andy 60]

"Yes!" Aston was relieved, "I've got some of the sentry turrets running round by the engine rooms... Although I can't say that they'll slow down the concussion rifle for long."

"Then we'd better hope that nothing slows down our own people," Aeric said. A crackling noise came from the bridge doors, "here they come. Get ready."

* * *

"Be careful of that Stouker," Jareth warned them.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant," Tak replied, "I had no intention of getting hit by it again."

"Good, good."

"Shh," Nat said quietly, "I think I hear something up ahead..."

They cautiously rounded the corner to find a lone Stormtrooper groaning on the floor. Jya fired a stun bolt into his chest to shut him up, "must have sealed his suit a bit slow and took too much gas in."

"Poor guy," Jareth chuckled.

"We're not far from the turbolift to the engine room now," said Nat.

[Mara 29]

Kaden picked up the blaster rifle he had taken off a stormie earlier, checking its power pack before turning it towards the closed doors.

I really hate fire fights...

[Rogue 4]

Layla grabbed her blaster rifle, dropping down in one of the side pits by the console. The rifle wasn't heavy for her, despite Tak's earlier joke about her blaster pistol. She was no stranger to the gymnasium, and she was more than used to picking up a three year old back home on Coruscant.

Ayana, Sena...I'm coming home soon. She checked the saftey off, aiming. She left the helmet off, as it was easier for her to shoot without it. Damned thing was too big for her head anyway. Her gray eyes were cool and focussed, knowing it was only a matter of time before they broke through the bridge doors. And they would too, even if they had to take it apart piece by piece.

And then they would try to take them down, one by one.

Her grip tightened around her blaster. I have too many responsibilities to die now. Can't leave Sena alone to fend for Ayana...

[Ender 8]

Jaim checked the power pack in his KX-60, and knelt behind cover at the door's entrance.

"Straight shooting to all of you!"

[Mara 29]

Kaden crouched down behind his chair, using it as some form of cover and propping his rifle on it. Partly to shoot straighter and partly to make sure in any nervousness he didn't shake it too much.

He waited.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

Atuarre's ears shot forward and her tail flicked back and forth anxiously. "Company's coming. Get ready."

[Rogue 4]

Layla glanced briefly to her feline wingmate and grinned. The woman was obviously anxious to dig her claws into something dangerous. "Anxious to steal a little piece of the fun, Four?"

Before she could hear a response the sparking of the laser-cutter stopped, and they were for one extremely long moment left in complete quiet. She heard a click as someone turned their safety off, and then something crashed against the previously reinforced door, sending it crashing into the bridge. Almost before it hit the floor the stormtroopers began to cross the threshold, and Layla targetted the forward one, letting out a burst from her rifle that scored, striking just beneath his helmet to the weak-spot at his neck. He fell to his knees, clutching it with a gauntlet before he collapsed over another that was taken out by Atuarre's high powered sniper. At the range they were at the bolt singed right through his breastplate.

[Drake 53]

There was no movement on the last stretch to the turbolift. They passed through a number of blasted doorways.

"Looks like this is the right way" noted Takeshi.

They got to the turbolift and rode it to the engine room. At the bottom, they found a short hallway filled with the wreckage of blown apart defensive turrets and another slagged door leading into the engine room. Nat gave them hand signals and they split up into the room. Tak and Jareth went left while Nat and Jya went right. They could see shadows moving on a catwalk up ahead but they kept their eyes out for anything.

As Tak and Jareth got closer, a purple bolt of energy lanced through the dark and silence and detonated in a four foot concussive explosion just out of their reach. They ducked behind a durasteel partition

"Ha ha ha! Thought you could sneak up on me, eh? Nice try!" shouted the Imperial Captain.

Jareth took a quick peek over the partition then sighed and slumped back down.

"What is it?" asked Tak.

"I was afraid of this" began Jareth. "He was trained to be a Hazard trooper. That explains why he's got a Stouker."

Tak took a look for himself. Sure enough, the Captain was standing atop a raised platform three levels above them. He was completely covered in a heavy suit of Stormtrooper hazard armour that looked like it could take a hit from a Star Destroyer. The normally large Stouker rifle looked like a toy in the Captain's massive gloves.

Lieutenant Daragon opened up his comm to Lieutenant Riamor. "Those things are built to be lightsaber resistant. We're going to have to come up with some way to punch through it."

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" shouted the Captain before he fired a shot dangerously close to where Nat and Jya were hiding.

Jareth pointed to more cover closer to a wall lift leading up to the next level. "Cover me."

Tak nodded then fired a quick burst of shots from his Thunderer into the Captain's armour plated chest. Jareth got up and bolted to the next cover then fired a series of his own shots. A Stouker blast exploded on the ground in between as Nat and Jya followed suit, providing cover fire for Tak as he ran over to the lift with Jareth.

Edited July 25, 2007 by Drake

[Ender 8]

Jaim opened up as the stormtroopers as they came through the door, taking out two of them before his cover was singed by blaster fire, causing him to duck down behind his cover. He picked up one of his grenades.

"Grenade!" he shouted, and threw it into the crowd of troopers trying to get through the door. It detonated almost immediately, shredding through three more and knocking several of them aside. The next instant, Jaim was back up and firing.

[Mara 29]

Kaden let loose with his blaster rifle, just shooting into the mass of troopers and hoping for the best.

I wish you had had time to teach me to shoot, Tashi....

[Drake 53]

Jya popped up out of hiding and hurled a sonic grenade. It detonated off the Captain's chest, knocking him back into the wall behind him. He grunted but there was no obvious damage to the suit. It did, however, buy the strike team a moment to move up to the lifts. Both pairs rode up to the next level.

There was some cover but they still had to run all the way around the catwalk to the other side of the room to catch the lift up to the next level and then again to get up to the platform the Imperial was on. Each pair took turns alternating between moving forward to cover and firing.

Tak and Jareth bolted forward to their next place of cover. A blast hit right behind them, throwing both forward and blowing apart that section of catwalk. They were both scrambled to get up but it was too late. The Captain laughed and readied another shot. He pulled the trigger.

- click -

"Damn!" shouted the Captain. The Stouker was out of energy. He quickly pulled out another power pack.

Tak grabbed Jareth's arm and pulled him up onto his feet. "Come on!" They both bolted ahead and paused behind the next cover.

[Andy 60]

On the bridge, Aston crouched behind his console, desperately trying to bring the last line of defences online. A few moments later he had it, and two small repeating laser turrets descended from the ceiling and fired at the oncoming stormtroopers. "Yes!"

The stormtroopers dove to find cover, two of them got riddled with laser blasts and collapsed into smoking heaps on the floor. Given a small respite, the Revenant's took the opportunity to discard spent power packs and load fresh ones.

"I think I'm out of tricks," Aston sighed, as he picked up his blaster.

"Have to do this the old fashioned way then," Aeric said, as he adjusted his aim to headshot a trooper.

Aston let off a few shots towards the Imperials, catching one of them in the arm. The trooper turned towards Aston's location and opened fire, exploding the console and knocking Aston backwards. Jaim took down Aston's assailant, allowing him to scramble to safety. He could feel cuts and grazes on his face and arms, but was otherwise okay, and carried on with the defence.

[Rogue 4]

"Let's go!" Nat said, leading Jya out of their cover to move where Tak and Jareth had been a moment before.

Unfortunatly he timed the movement wrong.

The Captain found the Twi'lek easy to spot, his midnight blue skin dark against a back-drop of Imperial gray. He grinned at his good fortune as he finished loading his powerpack and took aim.

"That'll teach you, you damn wormie!" The Captain laughed from the floor above.

Nat turned to make sure Jya was behind him. When he turned back his yellow eyes barely had time to register the blast nearly a foot in front of him, his hands coming instinctively up to guard his face. The Stouker had blasted through guardrail and transparisteel, sending shrapnel at him that bit through the fabric of his flightsuit, and stung at the flesh of his hands and lekku.

He felt something pierce his left thigh, too stunned to cry out even as he felt his flesh burning.

When he opened his eyes he was on the ground, his rifle lying beside him. He picked himself up, knowing that staying out of cover was suicide, hissing as he put pressure on his left leg, and almost collapsing on his way to cover.

Finally able to spare a glance, he knew immediatly what the problem was.

A very large piece of the guardrail had splintered off, launching itself directly into his leg.

[Mara 29]

Stormtroopers were dropping everywhere, but they still weren't out of it yet. For stormies, they were actually doing pretty good. They probably actually cared about training. However, no matter how well they trained, they never seemed to figure out how bad their armor covered them.

Kaden fired a shot at a nearby 'trooper, hitting him in the hand, instead near the neck, where he was aiming.

These guys move too fast...

He grit his teeth and aimed and fired again. If he didn't drop one, the least he could do was stop them from getting closer. He ducked behind his chair as a close bolt came sizzling a few centimeters from his head. Luckily, it embedded in a wall, not ruining the controls or going near a viewport.

[Drake 53]

Jya caught Nat as he stumbled and helped him to cover. She sat him down, eyes going wide at the injury. "Sir, that's...not looking too good."

Nat gritted his teeth through the pain and said, "It looks half as bad as it feels, Seven, but we have to keep moving."

"If you think you're up to it, sir. I'm not the medic so I can't stop you. Although I have something that might help with the pain." Jya opened her pack and pulled out a small emergency can of bacta spray. She doused the entry and exit wounds on Nat's leg then handed him the can. "You might need this more than me."

***

From where Jareth and Takeshi were hiding, it was difficult for the Captain to shoot at them without risking hitting the main reactor core so they were able to move comfortably to the next lift at the other end. They met up with Nat and Jya. The Twi'lek Lieutenant was limping but managed to hold his own despite the piece of jagged metal skewering the meat of his leg.

"You good to go, sir?" asked Tak, eyeing the wound.

"I'll be fine, Thirteen. It's not as bad if I keep moving. Speaking of which, shall we?" Nat motioned to the lift.

They all got on and rode it up to the next platform then split up again and made their way around. Once in sight of the Captain, they opened fire.

The Imperial had to wait for them to clear the reactor before firing back. He laughed. "It's about time! I was beginning to get bored!" A shot from Jareth's A280 rifle burned through one of his chest plates, causing wires to spit sparks from the hole. "A lucky hit! You will not land another!"

The lifts up to the next level were to either side, in clear range of the Captain and his Stouker. He laughed, blowing apart Nat and Jya's lift before they could get to it. Tak and Jareth, however, made it up. They threw themselves forward just before the Captain turned the weapon on their lift and blew it to slag. The big Imperial bellowed with laughter.

"This guy is really starting to make me mad" said Jareth with a scowl. "He doesn't want to see me when I'm mad!"

The two bolted forward, closing the remaining distance between themselves and the Captain.

[Rogue 4]

"Frotz! Eswa Imperial!" Nat cursed in Twi'lekki, his lekku twitching at their misfortune. "There has to be another way up." he told Jya. "We just have to find it."

He activated his comm unit. "Three, Six?"

"Three here," Layla's voice came across, the sound of blasterfire coming across the channel. "We're a bit tied down here Lieutenant."

"We're stuck on the second level here, turbolift's out of the question. Any chance you can check the blueprints for another way up?"

"Hold that thought a second." Layla said as she fired another heated burst at the enemy. "Uh...I think I remember seeing a stairwell. If you take the east corridor a few doors down you should find it."

Stairs...wonderful. Nat cursed his luck. "Thanks Three."

"Anytime, Lieutenent."

"Come on," Nat told Jya, limping towards the corridor.

[Mara 29]

Right about now, Kaden was really wishing he was still in his fighter. At least out there in space, he knew how to fight. It was all natural. But even since he was young and the Rebels he was staying with forced him to carry a blaster, he had never had any proper training. Yeah, he knew how to pull the trigger and shoot and to load in new power packs. But that was just a general knowledge. He supposed it was because he spent too much time trying to destroy things from a starfighter, where it all seemed detached from him.

But out here, he actually saw who he was shooting at. Stormtroopers, minions of the Empire, but they had families too. He tried not to think about it. Once he showed any slight form of empathy, everything would fall apart.

He aimed his rifle at another white armor form. The shot went wide. He cursed at himself. If he got out of this mess without being maimed or worse, he'd really need to get in some practice time shooting.

It wasn't so different than a fighter, though. He was still finding targets and aiming at them. But Kaden never understood how he was so much better at it in a fighter than when it was more contact and face-to-face. It was generally the same principle. But X-wings had a lot more firepower than a blaster. He wished he had picked up some grenades earlier.

More blaster bolts came at him, and he ducked behind the back of the chair again. But it wasn't quick enough. One scraped past his shoulder. It was superficial, but it still stung. Kaden grimaced but that was all. He moved another chair close in front of him and lay down on his stomach, aiming his rifle underneath the chairs, trying to hit the legs or any exposed part of a 'trooper.

He thought of Artie tucked away in his X-wing down in the hangar, bored out of his mind.

Enjoy yourself while you can, Artie...

Kaden aimed and shot at another stormtrooper.

[Drake 53]

The Imperial Captain swung an armoured fist, knocking Takeshi toward the edge of the platform then swung his other arm around and punched Jareth into the back wall.

Despite being winded from the blow, Tak managed to grab hold of the edge of the platform. He dangled three levels up and could only watch as the Captain stalked over to Jareth, who was slumped against the wall.

The Imperial laughed as Jareth tried to stand, looks of rage and determination mingling across his face. He pulled himself up.

"Down, boy." The Captain switched his Stouker over to a focused blast. This channeled more power into the energy beam rather than allowing it to blow out in a shock wave. He sent a shot into Jareth's legs, blowing them off. The Lieutenant screamed in pain and anger. The pain was so intense that he almost passed out but the anger kept his mind awake.

Death will be too easy... He thought as he grabbed onto a beam and started to pull himself up again, despite having a blackened, shredded stump for a lower torso. He aimed his A280 blaster rifle. His hand was shaking from the pain that racked his body. He fired into his enemy's armoured chest.

The Imperial laughed and wrapped an armoured glove around Jareth's chest and hauled him up so they were face-to-face through the helmet. "I will crush the life out of you and once I'm done, I will kill all of your little Rebel friends. Nice try, persistant roach." He began to squeeze.

Jareth Daragon roared as adrenalin pumped through his dying body. "I'm not done yet, Imperial SCUM!" He rammed his DT-57 Annihilator blaster pistol into the hole in the Captain's chest plate, which he had just widened with his last shot. He let loose a few shots, pushing the blaster in until only the hilt stuck out. There was an audible whine that rapidly increased in pitch, coming from the lodged blaster. It was set to overload. "Now you'll see why they call me Dragon!"

The Captain cried out and threw Jareth aside, onto the platform, as he tried desperately to pull the blaster free. Unfortunately, his gloves were too big and it was too late. His chest blossomed in a ball of fire and shrapnel. The blast knocked the Imperial off his feet and off the edge of the platform, where he plummeted three stories and landed head-first onto the engine room floor. If the explosion hadn't killed him, the fall sure did.

Tak finally pulled himself up and ran over to where Jareth now lay. He put a hand on his fallen comrade's shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

Jareth's eyes fluttered open. They were beginning to haze over as his body died. "Did...did I...get him?"

"Yeah, Lieutenant" said Takeshi. "You blew him apart."

"Good." Jareth Daragon closed his eyes, accepting the death that was taking hold of him. His final words were, "Killed...by a Stouker...impressive."

Takeshi placed a hand on Jareth's head and recited an old Mandalorian phrase for the departed. "Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la...Not gone, merely marching far away."

Nat and Jya approached a minute later from a nearby door.

[Bad furday 57]

"How bad is - " Jya trailed off, glancing from Jareth to Tak.

Jareth looked horrible, and wasn't breathing. Tak's body language told her all she needed to know.

"I'm sorry" she said, laying a hand on Tak's shoulder.

"What happened here?" asked Nat, grimacing in pain as he looked at the blood and blaster scored walls. " Where's the captain?"

* * *

On the bridge, things were improving slightly. At least that's what Arlan thought before one of the stormtroopers' blaster shots went wide and caused part of the ceiling to fall in.

This wouldn't have been a problem, had Arlan not been underneath it.

Now he was under a pile of debris with wiring that sparked and crackled. Arlan had the suspicion that he'd been knocked unconscious for a bit, as his ears were definitely ringing.

Struggling to extricate himself from the rubble, Arlan looked around and saw Aston firing at stormtroopers.

A piece of support beam was laying on top of the pile. While not a solid piece of durasteel, it was too heavy for Arlan to move from his laying down position, and everyone else was fighting to keep the stormtroopers at bay.

Arlan found his blaster from within the pile and rotated his arm and upper body to get a better shot at any stormtroopers coming in the door.

[Mara 29]

Kaden noticed the ceiling fall on part of Arlan, but he was still engaged in trying to shoot of his rifle from under the chairs. He wasn't doing much good, though.

He decided to crouch forward, moving his chairs ahead with him to keep some cover until he got over close to Arlan. He kicked a chair over to move in front of his exposed body.

"Need some help?"

Kaden moved some of the debris off to the side while keeping a wary eye on the blaster bolts whizzing around. He crouched low by the piece of durasteel support, shooting off another shot, trying to keep low behind the other chair.

They needed to get the beam off now to remove the rest of the damaged ceiling, but Kaden would need Arlan's help. And maybe some more.

"Someone provide cover!" he shouted to be heard over the din of all the shooting. Then he leaned into the beam, trying to loosen it. He motioned to Arlan to help.

[Ender 8]

Jaim was better off than most of his squadmates, suffering only from a slight shrapnel burn across his left shoulder and a few scratches. Hearing Kaden's cry, he sprayed the entryway with fire, knocking down two more troopers, until his power pack ran out. Cursing, Jaim ducked back behind his cover.

"Last pack! Last pack!" he yelled over the din of blasterfire.

[Rogue 4]

Layla heard him, and caught his attention. "Eleven! Catch!" She tossed her blaster rifle over to him, and ducked back behind cover taking her pistol from her leg-holster. She aimed and took fire, catching a stormtrooper behind the leg, and quickly switched to shoot another in the neck.

"I'm better with a pistol anyway..." But they were running out of powerpacks fast, and when that happened...

[Drake 53]

Aeric jumped out of the way as a frag grenade rolled into his firing spot. It exploded, sending shrapnel into his leg. He cried out as the pain shot up through his body. He tried to ignore it as much as possible.

You've had worse, Tunon...get up and shoot!

He hauled himself back up and fired of another half dozen shots before he noticed Arlan Vaar trapped beneath some rubble. Kaden was trying to help move the beam Vaar was trapped under but he would need more help.

Aeric moved around behind his squad, firing the occasional bolt, until making it over to Arlan and Kaden. He grabbed the other end of the beam. "Okay, pull on three. Arlan, be ready to get yourself out from under it once we do. Ready? One...two...three!"

Kaden and Aeric lifted the beam a few inches, enough for Arlan to slide out. They dropped the beam. "Watch out for any more beams, okay Two?"

Arlan chuckled. "Understood, Captain."

Aeric went back to shooting. There were only a handful of Stormtroopers left.

***

Takeshi told Lieutenant Riamor what had happened, saying that Jareth had given his life to stop the Imperial Captain. Then he showed them the final resting place of their enemy.

Nat made a sneer. "I don't know who looks worse, the Captain or Nine...." He took out his comm and called Captain Tunon. "Lead, this is Five. The strike team has neutralized the Imp Boss. We are down Nine. Repeat, we lost Niner."

There was a pause before Aeric replied. "Copy that, Five. Proceed to your next objective."

[Ender 8]

Jaim caught the flying blaster rifle and shouted a word of thanks that was lost to the cacophony of blaster shots.

He tried to remain optimistic as his KX-60 ran out for the last time. There can't be that many more of them.

[Mara 29]

Kaden picked up his blaster again, retreating to his cover after they got Arlan out of the debris of the ceiling. He hoped the strike team would disable those wells soon, so they could get out of here.

But right now the more immediate threat was all these stormtroopers. They popped up out of nowhere, it seemed. He flashed out a few more rounds of shots at the stormies in front of him. He quickly glanced down. His power pack was getting low. Not empty yet, but low. And his own blaster was already empty.

While shooting crouched low behind the chairs, he scanned for nearby dropped blasters or rifles, something to use after he ran out.

They were holding their own for now, but it was only a matter of time when they all got overpowered, he felt. He had been nearby when Lt. Riamor had called the captain. Another loss to join Atzena. He didn't hear who, but a loss was a loss. They were down to eleven now.

He shoved all his feelings aside and focused on shooting the enemy. He was shooting quicker bursts now, trying to drop a target, but it would also lower his power pack a lot quicker as well. Kaden tried not to think about that either.

Edited July 26, 2007 by Mara