LordPilotThunder wandered out of the fourth market place she and Eleven perused so far that day. She was hot, sweaty, tired, dirty and a wee bit pissed off. Nobody had seen or heard of the girl. She wondered how Skate and Toto were doing.

"No news here," Jen said as she approached.

"No shit Olie. Who's brilliant idea was this?" Thunder asked

"Reno's." Jen replied.

"Oh yeah. Remind me to kill him when we get back."

"Affirmative," Jen said. She walked over to the other side of the sidewalk, holo in hand. "Excuse me. Have you seen this girl?"

"No," the old lady answered, "But you're not with the group that was looking for her earlier, are you?"

Other group? Jen and Thunder looked at each other, then scrutinized the old woman again. "What other group?" Thunder said in her most threatening voice.

"Stormtroopers, of course. What did the poor girl do? Hope you get to her first!"

"So do we. Which way did they head?"

The crone pointed. "Entertainment sector. The one close to the landing bays."

The two Siths walked away. "I've got a bad feeling about this," Jen muttered. They walked for a few minutes, then reached the threshold to the so-called entertainment sector.

"Wait, before we go in, I'll comm four and ten. We are getting out of our original vector, we should let them know." Thunder pulled out the comlink. "Four?"

Silence.

"Four, Ten? This is your fricken' XO, do you read me?" Exasperated, she put the comm away and looked at Jen. "Keep trying. You take that side of the street, I'll take this side. Meet at the far side of this block in one hour."

"Roger that," Jen confirmed.

"Oh, and Eleven? If you go into a place that's got a happy hour special on Whyrens, comm immediately. That's an order."

****

Jace and Skate stayed paired, and stayed on the fringe of the campus area. A quick getaway would prove essential if their cover was blown, and an industrial area was next to the campus.

Skate hung back and let Jace do the talking. Her voice was a little too unbelievable to be a stormtrooper's.

"Have you seen this woman?" Jace was quizzing a couple of young men outside of the bio-engineering building.

The students looked at each other, confused. Then they looked back at the holo.

"No, can't say I've seen her."

Jace looked at Skate without moving his head. She was slowly, slightly nodding her head in a negative.

Jace sighed and held the hologram up again. "Look closer." He then went right around to the easy way: inside his mind. He opened to the Force and saw a bar. A band on stage, a waitress who bared a slight resemblance to the woman in the hologram.

The young men still looked confused. "Never mind, boys. Thanks." He and Skate walked away.

"Screw this, I'm going to the bar," he announced when they were out of earshot.

Skate laughed. "Did you want your flightsuit back?"

"Nah, I think white looks pretty damn good on me," he answered.

****

The moment Xanthis and his cronies ran past her, Palin jumped up and activated her dark blue lightsaber. She quickly made a stab at Xanthis' back, but the eyeless Sith sensed the attack, turned sharply and parried.

"Pretty good, blind boy," Palin said sharply. Xanthis made a swing for her head, which she easily countered. Running out of room because of all the tables, Palin used the Force and tossed them far out of the way, giving her a much more broad killing field.

"Claustrophobic?" Xanthis sardonically asked.

"No, this way when your dead body hits the ground it won't fall and break a table on the way down. Courtesy to the management, and all."

"You Siths...always the smart asses." Xanthis muttered. "Anyone ever told you you'd get better results if you stopped your drinking, gambling, and fooling around and concentrated on missions?"

Palin smiled sarcastically. "Anyone ever told you that you have lovely eyes?"

That comment drove Xanthis into a rage and he charged at Palin.

****

On the other side of the room, Rick, Seven and Star battled back to back with each other.

"This is all your fault," Rick yelled while feigning a swing.

"MY FAULT?" Seven blurted out. "How the krif do you figure that!?"

"Well if you had just done what Palin asked when she first asked it there wouldn't have been any problems!?"

"She told you to go first, jagoff!" Seven responded. "Besides, you were the one who said he had a shot at Palin! This is SO your fault!"

"Guys," Star interrupted. "Now really isn't the time for this!" Star swung her saber quickly and cut off the arm of one of the attacking men. The arm dropped to the ground, but to everyone's surprise there was no blood. There was, however, a shower of sparks.

"Droids..." Star whispered. "They're droids!" Star attacked again, this time driving the tip of her lightsaber directly through the droid's chest. It fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

Seven and Rick likewise disabled their attackers, hacking off their arms then going for a chest shot. Several seconds later all three droids were lying on the ground, nothing but a pile of expensive scrap metal.

"It's a good thing I found out they were just droids," Rick casually commented.

Star opened her mouth in disbelief and smacked him upside his head. "You worthless little twerp, I figured that out!"

"Who are you calling worthless?"

"How about the only person around here who doesn't contribute anything?" Seven shot back. When he realized that Rick didn't know who he meant he shook his head. "You, knucklehead. I'm talking about you."

"Oh, I'm worthless?"

"For the last time, yes!"

"Boys, looks like Palin need a little help!" Star butt in.

****

Over at the other side of the bar, surrounded by a circle of tables, Palin and Xanthis dueled. She swung upwards, then low, causing Xanthis to take a few steps backwards.

"You're quite good, young lady."

"Damn straight I am."

"I wonder if a deal would be out of the question. I can sense that we're both after the same thing."

"What, you want to split her? Like you get the bottom half, we get the top? Thanks, but no. I like my toys in one piece."

"You don't get the respect that you should on the SSD, do you?" Xanthis asked.

"Shut up and fight!" Palin yelled, taking a swing at his head.

"I respect you," Xanthis said. "You are a good fighter. You are strong willed. You are better than them." Xanthis parried a swing, then sidestepped and made a quick stab. Palin knocked it away and took a step back.

"You talk to much."

"If you join the TOS you could have power, Palin, power beyond whatever Reno can give you. You know that the Siths aren't capable of taking over the galaxy. They're drunk and incompetent. Join us and you can help lead the TOS Force. We can censor all the wrongness in the galaxy. Whenever there is a Jedi around we can kill it, whenever someone says the word "damn" we will be there to kill that person. That is what TOS is about."

"Empty promises," she said. Palin lunged at Xanthis, who intercepted her saber with his own. They stood there for a while, saber's locked together. Palin stared into those empty eye sockets of Xanthis.

"Join us," Xanthis asked her. "TOS is better than Sith Squadron. With us everything isn't a game."

"I happen to like games. Ever play "I spy with my little eye"." She looked back at his empty eye sockets. ".....no, no you probably haven't."

Xanthis frowned and his face scrunched up. "When will you tire of making pointless jokes!?"

"When I tire of that cute little face you make, bright eyes."

Xanthis let out another yell, then raised his saber and charged. He swung mercilessly and rapidly, not giving Palin a second to go on the offensive.

"Stand still so I can kill you!" Xanthis yelled.

Palin sidestepped a downwards hack and smiled. "Well you're going to have to ask nicer than that."

Xanthis let out another flurry of swings, all of which Palin dodged or blocked. "Please stand still....so I can CUT YOU INTO PIECES!!!"

Palin made a sarcastic, overdramatic sigh. "Well if you're going to have an attitude about it..."

That was when Palin noticed her. Near the door where the Siths had taken care of the three men, who it seems were robots (that would explain why she couldn't sense them) was a waitress. Palin could sense the Force running through her. She turned to the three Siths, who were just standing outside the circle of tables staring at her.

"Well don't just stand there with your thumbs up your asses!" she yelled. "Go get that waitress, she's the one we're after!"

****

The three nodded and ran back towards the door. When they got there the waitress reached down and picked up one of the droid's lightsaber. She activated the red blade and swung it semi-menacingly. Star, Rick and Seven backed up a few steps.

"Uh, Palin...we got a problem," Rick yelled.

"What!?" she yelled back, while blocking a blow designed to cut off head.

"She, uh, she has a lightsaber," he called back.

"You half-brained twit!" she shouted while ducking another swipe made by Xanthis. "You have three lightsabers!"

"Huh? Oh yeah..."

Star, Rick and Seven activated their lightsabers and slowly circled the waitress.

"Just give up," Seven said. "You can take all three of us."

"No," she said while backing up. "But those two stormtroopers over there will sure even up the odds."

The Siths turned around, and sure enough, two stormtroopers were entering through the back exit, weapons drawn. Seven swore then turned around and looked back at the waitress, which forced him to swear again. She had used the stormtroopers as a distraction to run out the front door.

"C'mon, guys, after her!" Rick yelled. The three Siths wasted no time. They quickly ran out the door and out of sight before either of the stormtroopers could see them.

****

Palin turned around just in time to see the others file out the door, in hot pursuit of the waitress. Then she glanced at the back of the bar, where two stormtroopers were entering. She looked back at Xanthis.

"Well, it was fun playing with you Xanthis baby. Maybe we can do it again sometime. I guess I'll see you when I see you. Of course, I don't think you'll be seeing me anytime soon."

Palin then did a quick backflip out of the circle and followed the Siths out of the bar, leaving Xanthis standing by himself alone in the circle.

"I won't forget this, Sith...." Xanthis tried, but before he could finish his sentence he felt something. A presence. Jace. Someone else, too...he couldn't pinpoint their mark. But Jace, he knew. But he didn't have time to kill Jace right now. He needed to get that girl. "Later, Sidrona, we'll finish out business later." Xanthis jumped over the tables and ran out the door.

****

Jace and Skate cautiously crept into the bar, their blasters drawn. They could draw their sabers, but for the moment they wanted to keep the image of stormtroopers. When they walked in they saw a group of four people running out the door. One of them he thought was his mark. The other three....

"Hey, those three people that just ran out..." he started.

"What?" Skate asked.

Jace shook his head. "Nothing. It's just hard to see in these things. I thought they were....nevermind. He turned and looked at Skate. "It looks like we're late to the party, everyone has already left.

"Not quite everyone!" Skate suddenly said.

Jace turned sharply, but only caught the tail end of a girl running full speed out of the bar.

"That almost looked like...no, nevermind," Skate said.

"Yeah, these helmets really suck....oh stang."

"What is it?" Skate asked.

"You don't sense it....him?"

"Who?" she asked.

Jace took a deep breath and gulped. "Xanthis. He's here." Suddenly Xanthis appeared at the other end of the bar as he ran out the door. "Blast it, he's getting away! C'mon, we gotta get him!"

"That's not our mission, Jace!"

"Screw the mission. This is personal!" Jace took off at full speed, jumping over fallen tables and chairs. Just as he reached the door, however, he ran into someone. They both fell to the ground, but were quickly on their feet.

"Hey, watch it, bucket head!" the girl yelled. Jace drew his blaster, but as he looked up and recognized who it was he lowered it. "Damn right you better lower that thing."

"Blast it, Thunder!" Jace yelled. "Get out of my way!"

But Thunder stayed in the middle of the door frame, blocking the way out. "Toto? Is that you!? What the hell are you doing in stormtrooper armor?"

"We don't have time for that! Out of my way!"

"Why, what's the rush?" she asked.

Not taking the time to explain, Jace pushed Thunder out of the way and ran down the street.

****

Thunder made a sour face. "Why that stupid little..."

"Two!" they heard Jen yell while she was walking up to the bar. "What'd you do to that stormtrooper to make him run away like that? Did you make a pass at him?"

"Oh shut up. It's just Jace."

Skate walked up to the other two Siths and took off her stormtrooper helmet. "Jace and I got here a few minutes ago, just in time to see our mark run out the door, followed by at least five people. Also..."

"Also?" Thunder asked.

"Jace said Xanthis is one of the men. That's who he went off chasing."

Thunder swore. "All right, this is what we need to do, then."

"Wait," Skate said, putting her helmet back on. "I'm getting a report in. There's some kind of incident at a nearby docking bay. It sounds like it's our mark and the people chasing her."

"Okay, let's go get her before more stormies show up."

"But what about Jace?" Skate asked.

"Jace ran off to play with Xanthis, that's his problem. If he gets left behind it's because of his own stupidity. Let's forget him for now and just focus on getting the girl. All right, Sith chicks, let's go."

****

"I see her!" Seven yelled as he, Rick, and Star rounded the corner. "Rick, go around the block, try to cut her off!"

Running too fast to argue, Rick veered right and dissappeared.

"Someone's trailing us, too!" Star announced as she narrowly avoided a merchant cart. Running right behind her was Seven. Seven, with his ability to sense danger and forsee the future, was too busy chasing the girl to even think about the cart. At the last moment he saw it, but it was too late.

He crashed right into the cart, a blinding hot pain hit his side, and pedestrians scattered in a ripple pattern.

"Keep going, Nine! Get her!" Seven shouted as the owner of the cart collared him and brought the Sith to his feet. His head was throbbing, and he was trying to ignore the pain from the large bleeding gouge on his ribcage.

"What's the matter with you?" The disgruntled owner shouted. "You'll pay for this mess!"

Then he sensed it. His own salvation, coming right around the corner, any second now

SevenUpperRoom couldn't keep the wide grin off his face as Palin launched herself in the air and gave his captor a high-flying kick in the head. The man fell with a thud, and she landed on her feet gracefully, as only she could do. In his eyes, anyway.

She turned around and surveyed the mess, then looked at him. Triumph was evident on her face. "I am kicking so much ass today!" she declared.

He was still grinning. "So, uh how you doin'?"

The comm interrupted her response. "Guys, heads up! The Acquisition has gotten her hands on an Imp-Issue speeder!" It was Star, panic evident in her voice. "If you see one to grab, I suggest you do it now!"

Palin did see one, and shoved Seven aside. "I'm driving, flyboy. Leave with me or be left behind!" she shouted as she sprinted for the bike. Seven took off after her, only faintly wondering if he would die from bleeding to death or Palin's enthusiasm. He had just jumped on behind her when she took off, full speed. "Get coordinates!" she commanded him.

Hanging on with one arm around her waist, he fumbled with the comm before it finally turned on as Palin plowed through an intersection. "Star! Get me last known coordinates! Where are you?"

Star came back. "Last known coordintes were 13-5-38. Step on it, Seven! That was 20 seconds ago, she could be anywhere now!"

"I see her," Palin announced as she swerved around a speeder, upsetting three more speeders in the process. "Way up there, hang on Seven."

Another voice came over the comm. "Seven? What the kriff are you doing?"

"Uh-oh." He unsuccessfully tried to off the comm to Eight. "It's for you! Our XO, and is she ever mad!" They both ducked as the bike cut under a bridge a little too close for comfort. He looked behind him, and immediately regretted it.

Two bikes, fast on their tail. One was closer than the other. A chase within a chase? The concept was making his head spin, and the blood he was losing wasn't helping any.

"Outta my way, you!" Palin yelled at a group of pedestrians as she flew around them.

He was about to reply to the comm when another voice came on. "Never mind, Two. I've got a posit, we've got them." That was Jen. Three more speeders came from the left, nearly cutting them off. Two, Ten, and Eleven.

"You morons!" Skate yelled at them. "You're endangering the mission!" Thunder didn't stick around to engage in witty banter; instead, she flew ahead at an incredible speed and cut off the girl.

"I'm not a moron! You all wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me!" That was Star, who had apparently been found by the other three and was riding behind her wingmate.

Wait a minute, if Two, Ten, and Eleven are here, who's behind us? Those were Seven's last thoughts as all the speeders came to an airborne stop, courtesy of LordPilotThunder's really strong A/C.

Jace's eyes opened wide as all of the speeders in front of his, excepting Xanthis's, stopped suddenly. Xanthis tore over the Siths heads, forcing them all to duck low. Not wanting to let Xanthis out of his sight, Jace likewise took his speeder over the Siths, missing Thunder's head by mere feet. The Sith Squadron XO yelled something, but he was too far away to hear what. And, he thought sourly, that was probably for the best.