Nedeser Thul stood on the bridge of a Sarkhai Royal-Class Battle Ship Majestic Nebula - one of fourteen in the fleet. Through the viewport were not one but two Imperial fleets - one that was already over the planet, standing ready to engage a Republic fleet. The second was a single dreadnaught - and thirty heavy troop carriers that shuttled tens of thousands of Imperial and Sith Reinforcements. Admiral Cerria's white and black painted face was grim - his mouth a single hard line. "We cannot allow that fleet to couple with the other or else we'll never be able stop them from reinforcing the Imperial and Sith troopers on the ground."

He turned to Nedeser Thul; "Barsen'thor, what should we do?"

Without hesitation, Des said, "Send our Battle Ships to engage the troop carriers. I have landing crews who will board and attempt to take or sabotage that dreadnaught."

"Understood, Master Jedi;" and the Admiral touched his comms unit's activator, sending to all Battle Ships, "All ships, pick your targets and engage those troop carriers. Launch fighters to defend our ships. I want Squadrons Aurek through Esk to escort all boarding ships."

Master Thul turned and hurried from the bridge, heading towards the hangers. His crew was waiting for him there - the Trandoshan hunter Qyzen Fess, the brilliant doctor Tharan Cedrax, the Resistance scout and soldier Zenith, the highly skilled and steadfast soldier Lieutenant Felix Iresso and the Senator and Jedi Padawan Nadia Grell. He looked at each of them and said, "Don't make necessary risks and don't be heroes - as hard as it is for you all."

They all chuckled dryly. Des grew very serious and said, "Get to your ships and may the force be with us all."

He turned towards the Defender, "Get her ready, Felix and make sure the Voss Commandos are ready."

Suddenly, a small had grabbed his arm. He turned to look into the eyes of his Padawan. Without a word, she tugged his arm and pulled him under the cover of one of the boarding. Before she could say a word, Des pleaded, "Please be careful, Nadia."

She smiled and said, "I will, Master and you better to."

Grabbing the front of his robe, Nadia yanked him into a burning kiss. When she pulled away, Des had that ridiculous dazed grin on his face and Nadia smirked. "I have another one for you when we get done."

Des chuckled but then they boath grew serious again. "May the force be with you, Nadia."

"And you with, Master."

Five drops ships launched from the Majestic Nebula and immediately, five Black and White streaked Liberator-Class Starfighter formations formed with them. "Whoa;" murmured Felix, "The Sarkhai tricked those things out to no end. I'd love to have a few of those."

Des chuckled from the co-pilot seat. "We do, Felix. They're our escort."

The ships blazed through swarms of enemy fighters and each dropship went to a hanger or docking port. The Defender landed in the closest hanger to the bridge and the Voss Commando's poured out, leveling several squads of Imperial marines as they did. Felix and Des left the cockpit, bolting to the ramp and joining their commandos. "Alright, to the bridge;" said Des. "Let me lead the way. If we run into any Sith, I'll take them myself."

As if to prove his point, a pair of very young Sith Warriors charged in, lightsabers ignited and two dozen Imperial Marines behind them. The Commandos and Felix took cover behind crates and loaders while Des, in a burst of force powered speed, engaged the two Sith Warriors. They were young and eager, probably fresh from the Korriban Academy. Sith Warriors were trained for battle and combat and these two were good. But Des was a Jedi Master who had fought over a dozen Dark Jedi and Sith Lords and these Sith Warriors were no Sith Lords. The two didn't fight together often and they constantly got into each other's way until Des cut one of them down with his silver, double bladed lightsaber. It was an easy matter to overwhelm the other before blasting away the few remaining Imperial Marines. Turning to his commandos and happy to see that none were injured. "Right, let's get to the bridge."

Nadia sliced down another Imperial Marine before stretching out with the force and causing and Imperial war droid to explode into shattered components. As soon as their dropship docked, the fighting started. "Set up the jammer;" called the commando sergeant to two of his men as he blasted a pair of war droids. Nadia was twisting and spinning her way into a crowd of enemy marines, cutting them down with her emerald double-bladed lightsaber. "Area secured -for the moment;" announced a commando. They all turned to her. "Jedi?"

Nadia was slightly taken aback. They were looking for her to lead. Taking a deep breath, Nadia spoke. "Leave two to guard the jammer and the shuttle. The rest of you, with me. We have a ways to go before we get to that comms array. Stay alert. If we run into any Sith..."

A blast door opened down the corridor and a Sith came in wielding a double bladed lightsaber. Nadia took a deep breath and set her face and her stance. This Sith couldn't be older than she. With a roar, he charged and leaped into the air and Nadia intercepted him with a blast of the force and then dashed after him. He was off balance and took the defensive as he tried to regain it. To ensure that that didn't happen, Nadia hit a switch on her lightsaber, retracting one of her blades and causing the hilt to curve as he ducked and spun away from a strike and countered with a series of blows, driving him further back, following up with another telekinetic blast. It smashed the Sith against the blast door and dropping him to his knees. Nadia thought that ended the fight until the Sith disappeared. Nadia felt her heart stop. "Commandos, I want a barrage against this door;" she said in panic, ducking against the wall, her blade up. A rapid fire barrage blazed down the corridor. It didn't kill the Sith but it shattered his concentration as he focused on deflecting the blaster bolts. He appeared and Nadia stretched out and attacked the lightsaber with her gift of exploding things. One of the crystals shattered and half the the lightsaber disintegrated. Two blaster bolts slammed into his leg and his shoulder. The Sith's ability to suppress pain must have been considerable since he didn't even seem to flinch. Nadia leaped back into attack, calling for the commandos to cease fire and she quickly overwhelmed the Sith. Whoever he was, this Sith's single blade combat was very weak and she cut him down. "Forward. Let's go."

It wasn't as far away as they had thought and there were only a dozen techs, crew members and officers. One of them said, "There here, the Sith didn't stop them."

They all went for their weapons and, exerting herself in the force, Nadia managed to rip the weapons from their hands. "Surrender and do it now;" she commanded, feeling proud that she was able to accomplish that. They all glared at her. "Round them up and lock them in a maintenance closet."

She ran to the comms relay control and looked at it. She had no idea what she was doing. "Okay;" she murmured to herself, "I don't wanna play the 'what does this button do' game."

"Pardon me, Jedi;" said one of the commandos. He gently ushered her aside and began tapping on keys and switches. "Where'd you learn that?" asked Nadia. "As part of the diplomatic relations, the Voss and Imperials taught each other things. For example, some of their Sith worked with our mystics and we worked with their comms and sensor experts. At the time, I'm sure they thought they got the better end of the deal. Now, however, I think I can prove them wrong. We'll move on to the tactical stations soon."

Nadia grinned, "Teach me."

Des and his team stepped onto the bridge. There waited a Sith Lord and two more of his acolytes as well as a large number of marines. They opened fire and Des lifted his hand, throwing up an energy barrier, displaying enough power to stop them. The commandos took covered and returned fire, jumping into crew pits and swatting down crew members who tried to resist. As soon as his men were under cover, Des disappeared, bolting towards the marine defenders, cleaving them down with ease and avoiding the fire of his own soldiers. The Sith Lord screamed and sent a telekinetic blast in all directions. Des flew back and reverse somersaulted, landing on his feet and dropping his cloaking ability and charging the Sith Lord. The acolytes didn't even stand a chance and he cut them down before engaging the Sith Lord. While he fought the Sith Lord, quickly showing that he was the more powerful and more skilled, Felix led the commandos throughout the bridge, killing and subduing any Imperial they came across. Felix ran up to the main console and grinned, "It's been awhile since I used one of these."

Suddenly, the Sith Lord leaped at him Felix only avoided death by throwing himself to the ground away from the console. Des took the opportunity to kill his opponent and helped Felix to his feet. "Take it, Lieutenant;" he said. Felix took his spot and began tapping at the controls. As he worked reports came in from the other strike teams. Holiday, Doctor Cedrax's sentient holographic assistant was working her way through the systems of the ship. Zenith was wrecking the security system on his end. Qyzen managed to take the armory and weapons control with his unit, reporting that resistance was suddenly become very light. Suddenly, an Imperial droid waddled up and in an all too cheerful voice, said, "Ah, greetings Master Jedi. All parameters' are met and my work can finally be demonstrated."

Suddenly the force flared with danger and Des grimaced, murmuring to Felix, "I have a bad feeling about this."

As if not hearing him, the droid continued, "Obeying my standard orders, I have seeded this vessel with detonite charges. These charges are strong enough to destroy the Javelin, its occupants and nearby vessels. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. Immediately, the droid began tapping on a small control pad on his arm. Des grabbed his comlink and hissed over all frequencies. "Boarding parties, back to your ships. All Battle Ships, get away from the Javelin - FAR away. It's laced with detonite and set to blow!"

"Oh don't worry about that, Master Jedi. You'll be dead soon enough;" said the droid in his obnoxiously cheerful voice. Felix groaned, "We'll need to disarm at least some of them and fast. I'll call all units and tell them to find the nearest bombs and disarm them, that way, they'll at least have time to get back to their ships."

"Do it;" said Des as he bolted towards the nearest bomb, using a security monitor on the bridge to find two of them. A pair of commandos ran with him. Resistance was light as they found the bomb. As the two Voss worked painstakingly, reports came in from the other strike team leaders reporting the bombs in the immediate area being disarmed and the boarders returning to their ships, disarming bombs that they came across as they went. They met the commandos on the way back to the Defender. Suddenly, Des's comms unit went off. It was Nadia. "Master? Are you there? A bomb just exploded near the tactical station. "One moment, Nadia: Hollow Voice, is the fleet getting away from the Javelin?"

The reply came quickly. "The fleet is safe but the ship you are on is wounded and dying."

Des nodded and switched back to Nadia. "Ugh! The whole ship is beginning to shake! We're heading back to the dropship now! But wait, I can't yet! Get to the ships, Master. I'll be behind you in a minute."

Des's chiseled face blanched. "What?"

"The crew was trying to destroy these tactical stations and I think they were trying to hide something. I'm going to download everything that I can."

A tall, lean Voss was with her, working at the console while she tapped at a datapad. Des sounded sterner than he wanted to, saying, "There is a time and a place for gaining knowledge, Nadia!"

Nadia nodded, "I know, I know but what if there are battle plans on here?"

Des wanted to roar at her to flee but she said, "This is... there's too much, it's taking too long!"

"Nadia!" he said, his anxiety hitting her through the force. "But wait, we passed a row of escape pods on the way in here. I can pilot one out or launch towards Corellia's surface!"

"I'm not going to leave you behind Nadia!" said Des earnestly. "I couldn't!"

She smiled at her comms unit. "You have to, Des. But we'll be together again soon. I can feel it."

Des chewed one of his lips anxiously and another explosion rocked the ship. "Please;" she begged, "the hanger won't be safe for long. Go on - I'll see you on Corellia."

She jabbed the holo-communicator and was gone. "DAMMIT!" hissed Des. "Let's go. We have to get out of here!"

As he ran, he prayed to the force and to every deity of every legend or religion that he had ever heard of that she would make it off the ship safely - that he would see her again soon and that she would be safe and sound.

Welcome back, my readers! Des and Nadia have returned again! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and there will be more to come. Please read, review and request.

Updated 12.06.2017