After wandering the halls for several minutes, Skate and Sky had still not run into their attackers. Whoever they were, they hadn’t stuck around. Probably a wise decision on their parts. It would certainly extend their lifespan. Only until she found them again, though. Then they were going to pay.

Skate was starting to feel like maybe getting stuck on the SSD wasn’t the worst thing that had happened to her. There were obviously invaders on board the SSD, of a currently unknown quantity. If she and Sky were outside in the dogfight with the rest of the squad, then that wouldn’t leave a lot of people capable of defending the SSD from an assault. It might have been a blessing that she and Sky were here. But if she was going to lead the SSD’s troops against the invaders, she needed to get to the bridge to coordinate with Vanicus and regain control of the situation.

The bridge was still far away, though. It wasn’t exactly going to be a quick trip, especially with power down and none of the lifts working. That meant hacking their way through how many doors? It was going to be a long trip--

“Down!” Sky yelled, pushing Skate to the floor and jumping down herself. Less than a second after, several blaster bolts sizzled over them, leaving black scorch marks on the wall behind them. Neither Skate nor Sky stayed on the ground long, as they both immediately rolled out of the way, again narrowly avoiding the deadly blaster bolts aimed at them.

They jumped to their feet almost in unison and activated their lightsabers, bathing the hall and its occupants in the glow of their colored blades. Illuminated in the distance were four men, blaster rifles pointed at the two Sith. Some kind of commandos, obviously. They wore all black military suits, accented by night vision goggles. The commandos fired off several shots in a row, all of which were easily deflected by Skate and Sky. After that, they seemingly decided it was a bad idea and retreated again. What was that about? Did they actually think that they were stupid enough to run after them? It was obviously a trap--

“Not this time,” Sky said, running after the retreating commandos.

“Wait!” Skate tried to yell, reaching after her squadron member, to no avail. Sky was already around the corner and in hot pursuit. There was nothing Skate could do but follow her and hope that this wasn’t going to be the trap that she felt it would be.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Colonel Bel Roga, commander of Delta Team, waited patiently.

It was all he had to do.

The Sith were going to fall for the trap. As dangerous as they could be, they were just as emotional and headstrong as anyone. Anger one and they would act without thinking. They would act on emotion. They would make mistakes.

Lieutenant Bariss had called him only moments ago to tell him that the two Sith had fallen for their trap. It was simple, but effective. Bariss and the three soldiers with him were luring the Sith to a four-way cross section in the hallway. Once there, the Sith would be surrounded by his team and eliminated.

All that he had to do was wait...

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“Damn it, stop!” Skate yelled as she chased Sky down the hall, who in turn was chasing four of their assailants.

“I’m not letting them get away!” Sky yelled back, not looking back.

Skate tried her best to stop Sky, but it wasn’t working. She could feel that there was something wrong. She could feel there was something waiting for them ahead. Why didn’t Sky feel it? Probably wasn’t opening herself up to the Force. She wasn’t letting the Force guide her actions. She was acting on emotion. She was acting irrationally. It had better not get them killed. If it did, she was going to kick Sky’s ass so bad.

They rounded a corner and Skate saw an intersection in the distance. It immediately brought up a red flag for her, but Sky didn’t seem to notice it. She didn’t seem to realize that if there was a trap being sprung -- which Skate was positive was the case -- it would be there.

Well, she couldn’t stop Sky from running into their trap. That was obvious. What she had to focus on was minimizing the damage, and springing her own surprise attack before they sprung theirs.

Sky was going to be hitting the intersection in moments. Skate was going to have to act quick. Still running, she changed her position so that instead of being in the middle of the hall like Sky, she was running only inches away from the left-side wall. This was going to have to be quick...

Just as Sky reached the intersection, Skate turned the corner and blindly swung her lightsaber about neck high. Just as she suspected, the side hallway she ran down was full of troops. Two of them, by her quick count. One less, after her first swing. The swipe decapitated a soldier, sending his headless body crashing to the floor. With her free hand, she Force-pushed the other guy back several feet into the opposing wall. She knew it was only a temporary solution, though. She would have to come back for him. Across from her, inside the other side section of the hall, were two more troops. They fired at her shot after shot, though they must have known that it was pointless. With ease, she angled her saber so the blasts shot at her deflected off her blade and were directed back at them. Soon, two more of the commandos joined their headless friend.

Skate felt a hand reach out and grab her shoulder. She reached over with her empty hand and grabbed the hand, giving it a hand twist. She heard a distinct cracking sound and she knew she had broken the man’s wrist. Still holding the wrist of the man behind her, she gave him a sharp elbow. She followed that up by spinning him around so that he was now facing her. She gave the man a quick kick to the back of the leg, forcing him to drop to his knees. She raised her saber and quickly brought it down, bisecting the man just below the shoulders.

She looked up. Where was Sky?

She ran back towards the intersection and got her answer. Sky was several meters away, but walking backwards and getting closer and closer to Skate with each step. The four men she had been chasing had stopped running and were now advancing on her, weapons drawn. They seemed to be hesitant to shoot, probably knowing all too well what a Sith could do with a lightsaber. Why wasn’t Sky going on the offensive, though? Maybe she didn’t feel like she could take them.

A sound from behind drew her attention and she turned sharply. Two more soldiers were approaching from the direction Skate and Sky had run from. They had probably followed them all along, hoping to get the jump on them from behind. They slowly advanced on Skate.

Skate felt something run into her from behind, and turned her head enough to see that it was just Sky. The other Sith was backing away from their attackers. Why was she backing away? She was a Sith. She must not be confident in her ability to block blaster shots coming from four separate points at the same time. If they survived this assault, Skate was going to have to give her a few lessons.

Truthfully, Skate wasn’t worried. Not a bit. She had taken care of the last four without even breaking a sweat. Granted, she had ambushed them (which was ironic, since they had planned on ambushing her), but they had posed no problem at all. She didn’t expect the rest of them to be much of a problem. At least not for her.

They would start firing any second now. She could tell that they weren’t here for prisoners. They were here to kill. The blasters weren’t going to be set on stun. Any second now the shooting and killing would be begin...

A loud clinking sound in the hallway distracted her and through the darkness she saw a grenade roll around the corner in front of her and stop just behind the two troops who had cut her off. She barely had time to register what it was before it exploded, sending the two troops flying through the air in her direction. Neither she nor Sky were quick enough to dodge the flying bodies and both Sith fell to the ground, their weapons knocked free of their hands. The bodies of the soldiers lay none too gently atop the Sith, preventing them from moving too much. Skate looked up in alarm. Three of the remaining soldiers were shooting at unknown people, while the fourth was looking down at Skate. He gave her a nasty looking grin, then pointed his rifle at her. Skate squeezed her eyes shut. What a crappy way to go...

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Three blaster shots rang out and she opened her eyes. The trooper standing above her dropped to his knees, several blaster shots visible on his chest. A quick glance told her that the rest of the squad was likewise dead. Without the imminent threat of being shot looming over her, Skate pushed the dead soldier off of her and jumped to her feet. She quickly called her lightsaber to her hand and activated it, looking around for their apparent saviors.

It didn’t take her long to find them, as the ten men crowded in the hallway on both sides of Skate. She recognized them instantly. Their black and red combat suits made them very distinguishable, as did the giant red tooth design on their legs. The snow trooper helmets were a dead giveaway, too.

They were the Red Fangs, Tyros Dakon’s squadron of elite commandos. Personally trained by Tyros himself, they were without doubt the most dangerous non-Force users on the SSD. Some were no doubt deadlier than several of the Sith.

One of the masked Fangs stepped forward.

“Tyros?” she asked.

The Fang shook his head and took off his helmet, revealing himself not to be a true Fang at all. It was General Tam Pax, the leader of the SSD’s ground forces. Pax wore the tight-fitting body armor of the Fangs, which was black and red, seemingly splattered in blood, something that the general wasn't altogether unused to.

“General Pax?”

“The one and only,” he replied.

“Where have you been lately?” Skate asked. “I haven’t seen you for like a month.”

“I’m here and there,” the general responded. “I think we’ve more important concerns right now than my whereabouts, though.”

“Well no shit, Olie,” Skate shot back. “Do you know many enemies we have on board?”

“Well, about twenty less thanks to us,” Pax said.

“Hey, I got a few myself, thank you,” Skate put in defensively, not liking the cocky tone that Pax’s voice was taking. She couldn’t let the general get too much of a big head. She could still kick his ass. “Wait...twenty?”

Pax nodded. “We ran across another team. We took care of them.”

“Wait a second,” Sky said, prompting Skate to turn and look at her. It was the first thing Sky had said in a while. Skate had actually forgotten that she was there. “Why the hell are you running with the Fangs? Where’s Tyros?”

It was a good question. Had Tyros fallen? Was Pax here now because their previous leader had fallen?

“I have no idea where Tyros is,” Pax admitted. “I was meeting with the rest of the Fangs when the blackout hit. Before the jamming started, I sent out a message to all personnel: Code PMSOB-SAP Thirty.”

“What is that one?” Sky asked, puzzled.

“Peripheral Menace Sighted On Board – Situational Action Plan Thirty.”

Sky shot Pax a sneer. “Meaning?”

“SAP Thirty calls for all personnel to secure themselves in whatever cabin they happen to be in at the time,” Pax explained. “Anybody on a lift or in a corridor must get to shelter immediately, be it nearby living quarters, a ‘fresher, a closet. Being the tactical genius that I am, I conjectured that the only reason we’d suffer a blackout would be if someone were planning on boarding us. Sending in such a small force means that these guys are expert killers. If we'd sent every trooper we have on board after them, it would've been a bloody mess. Better to deal with them by employing our expert killers. Or, if the threat came from within, we’d have everyone tucked away nice and tidy while we investigated. I sent out several two-man teams of technicians to figure this power outage out, though.”

Skate bit her lip. “Unescorted?”

Pax looked down, a sheepish look on his face. “Oh shit…I guess I forgot about that…”

“Tactical genius, all right,” Skate said, shaking her head.

Sky, still sneering, piped up. “None of this explains why you’re wearing the red and black.”

Since I was with them, I borrowed one of their suits. We were on our way to the bridge when we ran across the first team. We took care of them, then continued on and saved you two--”

“Wait, wait,” Skate interrupted. “Saved us?”

“Well, yeah,” Pax said. “Last I saw, you were on the ground with a blaster pointed at your head. If we hadn’t shown up, you’d be dead.”

“Look, pal,” she shot in, “you were the reason I had that blaster pointed at my head. If you hadn’t thrown that grenade then I wouldn’t have been knocked to the ground. You didn’t save me, you. almost got me killed!”

“Technically, I did both,” Pax pointed out. “But let’s forget about that for now. We’ve still got something of a situation going on here. My guess is that they had at least five teams, maybe more. Maybe a lot more. So far, both teams we’ve run across has had ten members. That’s fifty members minimum. Well, thirty now.”

“What‘s your plan?” Sky asked.

“If they cut our power and sent in ground troops, they’re likely trying to hijack the SSD. To do that, they need control of the bridge. I don’t know if they already have it or not, but we were on our way up to check.”

Skate nodded. “We were going to the bridge, too,” she said. “There’s a space battle going out there, and the docking bay doors won’t open. All our snubbies are stuck on the ship, which means the squad is seriously outnumbered.”

“Why didn’t you blast your way out?”

“It would’ve provided too easy an access point for the boarding parties,” Skate answered.

“Moot point now,” Pax observed. “You can go now. I can send a couple of Fangs to escort you back to the docking bays…”

“No,” Skate said. “As much as Reno and the squadron may need us, the Force tells me that we’re needed more here.”

“Well, you can join us and head to the bridge, then. An invitation, of course. We’ve been doing fine by ourselves, but I’m sure we wouldn’t mind having some Sith with us. It would certainly make asskicking a bit more fun. You up for some asskicking?”

Skate let out a feral grin. “Always. Hate to let you soak it all up, General.”

Pax smiled. “To the bridge?”

Skate nodded. “To the bridge.”

* * * * * * * * * *

In retrospect, Seven wished that he had brought a pair of night vision goggles for his trip. Even with the light emanating from his lightsaber, travel through the dark corridors of the SSD was not easy, nor quick. Because they were probably under some kind of attack, he also had to be very cautious. It was likely that there were intruders aboard the ship, and he had to stay on guard. That was the other problem with his lightsaber. With night vision goggles, he could keep his saber extinguished and stay in the dark. Without them, he had to light his path with his saber. If anybody was planning to attack him, the light from his saber would give them plenty of advance warning that he was coming.

Why did this have to happen now?

Of all the time for someone to attack the SSD, why did it have to happen during what should be the happiest moment of his and Palin’s life?

Thoughts of Palin sent waves of emotions rolling over him. He was having a kid. He still couldn’t believe it. What kind of father was he going to be? He didn’t know. He didn’t even know if he could be a father. What did he know about raising a kid? The only experience he had came from his own father, and that was hardly someone Seven wanted to model himself after.

Well, maybe this won’t be so hard after all, Seven though to himself, I just need to do everything exactly the opposite of what my father did.

Seven was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of danger and turned sharply, just in time to block several blaster bolts with his lightsaber. Standing down the hall where he had just come from were four soldiers dressed in black military-style combat suits. Normally the biggest question on his mind would be who these people were, but that wasn’t much of a concern to him. One look at their suits had solved that mystery. The thing he didn’t know was how they had gotten behind him without him sensing them.

Oh, and how I’m going to get out of this one alive...don’t know that, either.

He was overreacting. There were only three of them. Nothing he couldn’t handle easily. Wait, no...more. As he stretched out, he could sense them. Or more appropriately, he felt a sense of danger coming from behind him, which meant that there was more to this team than four members. Of course, he sensed it too late.

Before he could turn around to face the other set of attackers, he felt a flash of pain on the back of his right shoulder and he fell to the ground. He winced in pain as he felt the skin on his shoulder burning. He couldn’t see it, but he could sure smell the burning skin.

He felt someone grab him and roll him onto his back, causing him to grimace in pain as he rolled onto his fresh wound. Looking up, he saw several of the familiar troops standing above him.

“Should we take him prisoner, Colonel Maddox?” a solder asked, his blaster pointed down at Seven. “They might want to interrogate him.”

Maddox shook his head. “Xavier was clear. No survivors. Kill him.”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“Xavier was clear. No survivors. Kill him.”

He chose that time to move. If he didn’t, Seven would die.

He tossed a gas grenade down the pitch black corridor, which exploded and filled the hallway with white fumes.

As he had hoped, the ten soldiers in the corridor forgot the injured Sith on the floor and focused their efforts on the new problem.

“Gamma, spread out!” their leader barked. “We have interlopers! Find them!”

Interlopers? he thought. Nope. Just me. I’ll be more than enough.

As the troops of Gamma squad spread out, he made his first move. He moved silently and quickly through the darkness and unlike the enemy he didn’t have the benefit of night vision goggles. Unlike them, he didn’t need them.

With the gas as a smoke screen, he crept up low behind the first of the enemy troops. Wasting no time, he stood up, grabbed the man by the head, and twisted sharply. He caught the dead body as it fell and laid it down gently, letting the fog cover it. None of the other troops saw a thing.

One down, nine to go.

He moved on to the next one.

This soldier turned around just in time to see him coming. Before the enemy could fire, or even utter a word, he acted. He put his index and middle finger together and lashed out at the enemy soldier, striking him in several pressure points along the man’s neck, cutting off the flow of blood to the brain. The soldier started to spasm and he fell to the ground, though he was caught on the way down by his maimer.

Two down, eight left.

This time he drew out his knife. Variety was the spice of life, after all. He crept up silently behind another troop, reached up, covered the man’s mouth with his hand, jammed the knife into his back and twisted. He grew tired of this skulking. He wanted a head on confrontation. Taking the knife out of the soldiers back, he threw the body down, purposely drawing the remaining soldiers’ attention.

The soldiers turned and faced him, pointing their rifles at shoulder height. He tore through the dark and smoky hallway like a wraith, his knife a blur of motion. He approached two men, one to each side of him. He slashed out and quickly slit the throat of the man to the right. The soldier opposite of him tried to shoot him, but with his free hand he knocked the blaster upwards, causing it to shoot into the ceiling. With the blaster out of the way, he dug the knife deep into the man’s chest.

Five down.

Five left.

Including the leader.

He dodged to the right as a hail of blaster fire lit up the hallway. Twirling in a 360, he spun around, ducked and threw the knife down the hallway. It sailed through the air and embedded itself into the throat of one of the remaining soldiers. It was times like this that he almost wished that he had the Force. It would be nice to Force-throw them across the hall, or even recall the knife to his hand. As it was, he only had what he had. His instinct. His talent. His ability to kick a large amount of ass. His ability to kill a large amount of ass.

As the blaster fire intensified, he grabbed the weapon of a fallen soldier and took cover behind a corner. He sighed. A blaster had to be one of his least favorite weapons. Deadly, sure, and very useful at times. But so inelegant. So easy. So boring. Hand-to-hand combat was where it was at. That was by far his favorite way to fight. Sadly, though, you needed to be close quarters for that, and he was being held at bay at the moment.

He pointed the blaster around the corner and let out several shots, none of which he intended to hit anything. He just wanted to send his enemies diving for cover. He quickly peered down the hallway. Although it was dark, his best guess was that the commandos were about five meters away. Not too far. He could make it.

As the remaining four soldiers popped back around the corner, he fired and sent them diving back for cover. He took that chance to leave his own hiding spot and sprinted down the hallway, firing as he ran. The shots were only designed to keep his enemies at bay until he was in range. The thought of shooting them all with a blaster from long distance just didn’t appeal to him. Nor did the thought of shooting them from close range.

Hand-to-hand was his forté.

Once he reached the corners they were hiding behind, he quickly surveyed his four enemies. If he could see their faces, he was sure he would see the shock that was no doubt present. Not many people rushed four armed enemies. He needed to use that moment of surprise to his advantage.

He swung his blaster rifle out to the right, hitting one of the soldiers in the face. There was a loud cracking sound as the blaster connected partly with the man’s face and partly with his night vision goggles. The impact was hard enough to knock him to the ground.

With his left foot he lashed out and struck another soldier in the stomach. The man grunted and doubled over in pain. An elbow to the back of the head downed the soldier.

He swung his procured blaster around again to hit one of the soldiers with it, but the man blocked with his hand, knocking the blaster away. That was no problem. He hated blasters anyway. They just weren’t any fun at all.

The enemy soldier in front of him tossed his own blaster aside, probably knowing that it wouldn’t do him much good in these close quarters, and went on the attack. He started by throwing some punches, which were very easy to either block or dodge. From the enemy soldier’s attacks, it was clearly obvious that hand-to-hand wasn’t his forté. His punches were quick and undisciplined. They tried to rely on force instead of grace. That wasn’t the way to fight.

As the next punch came his way, he dodged slightly to the left and grabbed the man’s wrist as it flew by. He twisted sharply, snapping the man’s wrist. Still holding him by the wrist, he gave the man several kicks to the chest. A little leverage and a twist to the arm as the man doubled over sent the commando flipping over onto his back. A quick palm thrust into the soldier’s chest ended that fight.

And then there was one.

It was fitting that the leader of the attack squad should be the last to fall. He should be the best. He should provide the most entertainment. He shouldn’t be the pushover that the other nine were.

The leader immediately went on the offensive. His punches and kicks were unlike the last soldier. They were refined and had finesse. They were polished. They were the attacks of a seasoned combat veteran. Unfortunately, for the leader, that wasn’t going to be enough.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Every punch and kick that Colonel Maddox tried was easily blocked by their unknown assailant. As much as he tried, he couldn’t gain any kind of advantage over the man who had single-handedly dismantled his assault team. He cursed himself for not simply shooting the man in lieu of testing his hand-to-hand combat skills.

Who the hell is he?! I wasn’t given any information on someone like this!

Maddox had gone over every dossier he was given on the personnel of Sith Squadron, from Reno down to Fox. He had memorized every detail. None of the members of Sith Squadron could have done what this man had done to his team, at least not without a lightsaber. This man was a trained professional, and Maddox knew that he was outmatched. There was nothing he could do at this point but get lucky.

Maddox lunged and swung with his right fist, but the unknown man sidestepped quickly. Maddox suddenly felt his knee crack. The man had kicked his knee in so hard that it was now bent inward at an awkward angle. An impossible angle. Legs weren’t designed to bend at this angle. Maddox fell forward and landed on his hands and knees. The pain was intense, but it didn’t bother him too much. He knew it would subside soon.

After all, he would be dead in moments.

The least he had to worry about was a broken leg.

He looked up at the man who had dismantled his team. The man who had destroyed years of work in a manner of moments. The man who was about to kill him.

“At least let me know the name of the man whose hands I die at.”

The man standing above him didn’t smile. He didn’t even seem happy or proud of what he had accomplished. He just stared down at Maddox, his face expressionless. It was the face of a professional. Maddox at least took solace in the fact that his death came at the hands of a true warrior.

“Dakon,” the man said. “Tyros Dakon.”

Maddox grinned inwardly. He had heard that name before. He should have known.

Yes, a true warrior...

Then he felt Dakon’s heel connect with the back of his neck and soon Maddox felt nothing.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Seven had watched the entire scene unfold with his jaw dropped. Never in his life had he seen something so impressive, so awe-inspiring. Tyros Dakon had just single-handedly defeated ten men and didn’t even have a scratch on him. Not even fighting the team leader had made him break a sweat.

I can’t imagine how quick he could defeat me, Seven thought to himself. It wouldn’t even be a contest. Not in a million years could I kill Tyros Dakon in combat...

Tyros walked over towards Seven and, grabbing him carefully, helped him to his feet.

“You okay?” Tyros asked.

“I don’t know,” Seven responded honestly. “My shoulder hurts.”

“Well, it’s not bad,” Tyros finally said. “But it ain’t exactly good. Most of the blast seems to have grazed you. Gonna need a bacta patch, though.”

“No shit, Olie,” Seven grumbled. “Don’t suppose you happen to have one?”

“Yeah, I always carry them around on me,” Tyros sarcastically said.

Seven turned around and faced Tyros. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“You don’t know?” Tyros asked.

“I’m totally in the dark here,” Seven said. There was an awkward silence as they both looked around the darkened hallway. “I mean about the situation. I was in the waiting room when Reno got a call about some Whyren’s freighters. They left to go deal with that and then a little bit later the power went out. I was headed to the bridge to see what the hell was going on when I got ambushed by these guys. And then...well, you know the rest.”

Tyros nodded. “Can’t say I know much more than you,” he said. “Less, in fact. I was just exercising when the lights went out. Figured I would head on out to the bridge. Saw you were in trouble, thought I would give you a hand.”

Tyros bent down by one of the bodies and examined it. Seven wasn’t sure how much information Tyros could really get out of examining a black uniform in the dark, but then he had just witnessed Tyros defeating ten to one odds so he was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on the subject.

“No symbol or insignia on the uniform that I recognize,” Tyros said, looking over the corpse. “I have no idea who they are.”

“I do,” Seven said, causing Tyros to look up at him in surprise.

“Who are they?”

“Well, I’m not entirely sure,” Seven admitted. “But I’ve seen those uniforms before.”

“Where?”

“On Coruscant, about five months ago,” he replied.

“The fake holoshow mission?” Tyros asked.

Seven nodded. “We were ambushed by a group of men who were wearing these same uniforms. They chased us around Coruscant for a bit. We made it back to the set, were confronted by their leader, and kind of left everything at an impasse. We were in a standoff and decided instead of a bloody shootout to just let everyone go their separate ways.”

“Who sent them?” Tyros asked.

“At the time I assumed they were sent by Xanthis. I had overheard a conversation earlier that indicated Jen was conspiring with him. As it turned out, she wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean Xanthis didn’t send them. I still think he created the show as a way to lure us there, and then sent Zhukov and his men to kill us--”

“Wait, wait,” Tyros interrupted sharply. “Zhukov? Andrei Zhukov?”

Seven shrugged. “Never got a first name. Just Zhukov.”

“Short but broad guy, trim blond hair, kind of gruff?”

Seven nodded. “Yeah, yeah that’s Zhukov. You know him?”

Tyros’ face locked up. “We’ve met.”

Seven waited for him to elaborate on that cryptic statement, but his waiting was only met with silence.

“So...what now?” Seven asked, breaking the silence.

“Well, if Zhukov was working for Xanthis on Coruscant, he’s probably doing so now, too. It’s a safe bet that the SSD is under siege.”

Seven shook his head. “When is Xanthis gonna give up? He can’t destroy the SSD.”

“He’s not trying to,” Tyros said. “Why would they invade if they just wanted to destroy it? No, he’s here to steal the SSD, not destroy her. And where would any invading force go to first?”

“The bridge.”

“Which is where we need to go.”

“I was already going there anyway,” Seven pointed out. Seven thought about how quickly Tyros had dispatched the entire enemy squad. “You can come, too. If you want.”

“Gee, how kind of you to offer.”

“To the bridge?” Seven asked.

Tyros nodded. “To the bridge.”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

As an enemy fighter exploded in front of him, Reno glanced quickly at his monitor and checked on the status of his team. He was relieved to note that everyone was still alive and fighting. Fox had even managed to avoid going EV. So far.

He risked another quick glance back at his SSD.

The mighty ship still hung lifeless in space.

What was going on in there? His squad had been unable to shoot down any of the troop transports headed towards the SSD. He knew that Xanthis’ forces had somehow managed to open up a docking bay and land, making the order to Skate to refrain from blasting her way out of the hangar bay all for naught. If Xanthis was sending in troop transports, he obviously intended to steal the SSD. But there was no way he could accomplish such a thing. Even if the enemy troops were led by another Sith, they would still be grossly outnumbered. They couldn’t succeed. Could they?

Reno forced himself to concentrate on the moment. Thinking about things that were presently out of his control would do nothing but get him killed. He would deal with the raiders on board the SSD after things were dealt with outside. For the time being, he simply needed to have confidence in his squad. He needed to trust that the people aboard the SSD -- the people he had trained -- could handle any situation thrown at them. He had taught them to the best of his ability, and now he had to let them go and rely on that training and their own natural skills and smarts to get the job done. That was what being a leader was all about. It was what being a master was all about.

He simply needed to have faith.

With that in mind, he quickly found a new target and continued with the task at hand.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Seven let Tyros take the lead as they made their way in the dark to the bridge of the SSD. Seven had at first insisted on taking the lead and using his lightsaber as a light source, but Tyros had nixed that idea. For one, he didn’t need it. Tyros had told him that he could see perfectly fine in the dark and that he could lead Seven to the bridge without a problem. Seven didn’t like the idea of having to follow Tyros in the dark, but he also trusted the man.

Hell, he destroyed a whole military team by himself in the dark, and they even had the benefit of night vision goggles.

The second reason that Tyros had given made a lot more sense: A light source would give away their position from a long distance, giving the intruders advanced warning of their approach and chance to jump on them.

So Seven now followed closely behind Tyros, hoping that they didn’t get lost. In the dark, all of these corridors looked alike. He had to trust that Tyros actually knew where he was going.

“So what’s it like?” Tyros suddenly asked, surprising Seven.

“What’s what like?” Seven asked back.

“Knowing you’re about to be a father,” Tyros responded. “In a little while there’s going to be a little Seven running around. A little being that you created. What’s it like?”

Seven took a few seconds to respond, partially because he wasn’t quite sure, and partially because he was simply surprised that Tyros would even bring up this particular topic. While he certainly liked Tyros and definitely trusted him to watch his back, they had never exactly been close friends. Nor did it seem in Tyros’ nature to suddenly ask personal questions.

“It’s a great feeling,” Seven finally responded. “I couldn’t be happier…”

“But…?”

“But what?”

“You couldn’t be happier, but…?”

Seven sighed. “It’s scary.

“Why are you scared?” Tyros asked curiously, throwing a quick look behind him.

“Because I’m only nineteen,” Seven answered. “Because I don’t exactly lead a very safe life. It’s certainly not the kind of environment a kid should be growing up in. At any time I could be killed. I could’ve been killed a few minutes ago. I was moments away from never even seeing my son, Tyros. And it’s not like Palin’s life is any different. Every day we are moments away from death. That means every day our child is moments away from losing one or both of his parents. Is it fair to do that to our son? Is it fair to risk him growing up without parents just so Palin and I can raid some freighters and steal Whyren’s? I don‘t want--”

Tyros stopped suddenly. “You don’t want your son growing up without a father,” he finished for Seven.

“No, I don’t,” he replied.

Tyros let out a short, almost sarcastic laugh. “There are worse things than growing up without a father,” he finally said.

“Like what?” Seven asked.

Seven heard the former Guardsman sigh, before answering, “Growing up with one.”

Tyros continued walking.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

They weren’t the likeliest of crews.

Skate was at the point, her lightsaber out and ready to go. Behind her was General Tam Pax, the leader of Sith Squadron’s ground forces and the temporary leader of Tyros Dakon’s Red Fangs. Bringing up the rear was Sky, who was looking none too happy at playing rear guard.

None of the people in the group would exactly call themselves friends, except for maybe the members of the Fangs. Skate didn’t exactly have any fondness for Sky, nor did she find Tam Pax to be very pleasant. Thus, it made for a very quiet trip. That was the only thing that Skate could think of as a saving grace for their journey.

The trip to the bridge was a long one, and not one that Skate was particularly enjoying. Well, maybe it wasn’t just the trip to the bridge. Maybe it was the whole friggin’ day. First there was the whole labor thing which, happy as Skate was for Palin, had interrupted a rather good drinking session that she had been involved in. Then while in the waiting room, they had found out that the SSD was under attack. Then when she had gotten to her fighter, she had found out that Gimmer had damn near dismantled the thing. She had had to go to their reserve fighter bay and use something that had been in storage for who knows how long. Then, after the trouble of walking her ass all the way down there, the docking bay doors had closed and power had shut down throughout the whole ship, leaving her and everyone else trapped on the SSD. So she was stuck with Sky as a companion traveling through the SSD when they were attacked. Sky had foolishly rushed off after their assailants and gotten them both into trouble…only to be saved by General Pax and the Red Fangs. Now she was still walking down dark corridors, trapped on the SSD, stuck with Sky and Pax as travel companions.

What a crappy day…

She really needed to kick some ass. And soon, too. If not…

Skate stopped suddenly, holding up a hand so the people behind her would stop. They were here. This was it. They were going to have to be careful, though. The contents of the room were very valuable. They couldn’t be damaged. This had to be done carefully.

Skate turned around. “Okay, I’m going in first. Pax, you’re behind me. Fangs, behind him. Cover every angle. We don’t know if there are hostiles inside or not.”

Despite her simple orders, Pax looked a bit confused. “But what about…”

“Don’t ‘what about’ me, Pax. Just do as I say.”

Pax nodded obediently.

“Okay…” Skate readied herself by the door. “On my signal. One…two…three…GO!”

Skate tore into the room, lightsaber up and ready. Pax and the Fangs poured into the room behind her, everyone prepared for battle, prepared to fight off the invaders. That, however, wasn’t what they found. What they did find…was an empty bar.

“Whew, thank god,” Skate said, letting out a sigh of relief. “The bar is okay.”

Pax let out an annoyed sigh. “Shouldn’t we be heading to the bridge instead of wasting time checking to see if one of the seemingly five hundred bars on the ship is okay?”

Skate gave him a sharp look. “First off, it isn’t ‘seemingly’ five hundred, it is five hundred. Second, you’re about two seconds away from being killed. Use them wisely and keep your mouth shut.”

“But the bridge is probably being held by the enemy,” Pax fired back, ignoring her warning. As he spoke, Skate walked behind the bar and started looking over the bottles lined up along the wall. “We need to go there and retake our ship.”

Skate finally selected a bottle, then turned around and set it on the bar. “Oh, I agree completely,” she said back. She grabbed a glass and poured herself a drink. “But there’s no way I’m going into such an important battle sober.” Skate downed the contents of the glass in one swig and slammed the shot glass down on the bar with force.

That was when the grenade rolled through the door.

* * * * * * * * * * * *