"Target their command ship!" the Sith'ari hissed towards his lieutenant. "We must regain control of this battle."

"Yes, my lord," the lieutenant bowed and turned to his console.

Within seconds the main cannons fired onto the Phalanx in full force. Bastila and Carth could hardly keep their balance as the incoming salvos from the enemy flagship pounded their ships hull. Carth began barking out orders and Bastila tried to refocus herself for the next wave. What was taking the ground force's evacuation of the refugees so long?

* * * * *

"Move it, people! Move it!" Kelborn urged the mass of refugees surging past him. "Come on! We don't have a lot of--"

"Incoming!" Bralor yelled.

Mortars began pounding the streets and buildings sending refugees and soldiers screaming. The group started to break off slightly. Jaden, Atton, and Juhani all raised their arms, using the Force Shield to hold back the falling rubble. Kelborn and Bralor began shouting orders over the roaring noise to the other Mandalorian warriors to reform the the evacuation and step things up. Kelborn held a hand up to his helmet as he recieved a transmission.

"Understood," he replied to the transmission. "Kelborn out."

He ran over to Jaden who'd busied pushing away the rubble with the Force and was now looking out for more mortars. "General Taler, Admiral Onasi and General Revan report that the fleet can't hold back the Siit (Sith) fleet for much longer! They've ordered an immediate withdrawal within 15 minutes."

"But we've still got to evacuate these civilians!" Jaden protested. "We need more time!"

"There is no more time, sir," Kelborn replied. "If we don't move now we won't have a fleet to cover us! We've already evacuated at least half of the colony, you've done your job now it's time to pull back and regroup!"

At that moment Jaden's commlink began beeping. It was Revan.

"Revan!" he objected. "We can't leave these people here to die!"

"Do you think I want to do that?" Revan sighed over the comm. "I hate this as much as you do but if we don't leave we will all die here! The Republic needs us alive, Jaden. Their's no point in a useless death. I'm ordering you to pull out as soon as you and the others get to a ship."

Jaden growled in resignation knowing very well that Revan was telling the truth. Even a Jedi had to make difficult choices, and this was one of those times. Jaden had no choice but to follow his orders and retreat with the refugees he had.

"Wilco," Jaden said into the commlink. "Taler out."

He then turned to Kelborn. "We need to load as many of these people as we can onto the evacuation shuttles. Cram as many as you can onto them, throw out anything we don't need. Lose the extra weapons and emergency rations to free up more space, understand?"

"Got it!" Kelborn replied smartly. He then turned to Bralor. "Empty the cargo holds on the shuttles, weapons, extra rations, everything! We need the extra space!"

"Yes, sir!" Bralor saluted.

Orders were announced among the troops. Within minutes the refugees were fighting to not be the last one boarding the shuttles. Brianna and Canderous had pulled back to the shuttles' landing zones to assist with loading the refugees while the troops held the perimeter or began loading back onto the APC gunships. Miraculously, Jaden's plans had worked in a relatively short time. The last refugee managed to squeeze himself onto the last shuttle. The ships began to take off, Jaden and the others performed a last ditch slowing action to momentarily halt the True Sith troops. Jaden cut down two True Sith warriors while Brianna beheaded another as the shuttles rocketed away from the doomed colony.

"Mission accomplished!" Canderous barked as he blew away a True Sith with his repeating carbine. "Pull back, to the gunships!"

The troops fell back and quickly boarded the awaiting APC gunships while the crews already onboard provided covering fire. Soon they were off and joining the rest of the fleet which were prepared to jump to hyperspace.

"Get the ships in the hangar!" Jaden ordered the pilot on his gunship. "Now!"

"Right on it, sir!" the Republic pilot replied.

The last gunship had barely touched down when the first ship started to jump. With the burning colony behind them, the Republic fleet disappeared into hyperspace.

Jaden stepped off his shuttle and sat down on a crate to catch his breath. The battle had been the toughest he had fought yet, or that anyone had fought. He felt like he could barely lift his arms. He was absolutely exhausted. A pair of white robed arms wrapped around him. Jaden leaned back into the warm embrace of Brianna.

"You did what you had to," Brianna soothed. "You fought and performed like a true warrior. Many of those refugees owe their lives to you."

"Yes, but many of those same refugees have lost dear ones that we couldn't save," Jaden glanced at the far corner of the hangar where the refugees were gathering.

The cries of loss and pain from them echoed the entire hangar for the remaining journey. Jaden wondered, if he would ever forgive himself for failing to protect all the colonists.

Back on the Ebon Hawk, Revan's fingers drummed unconsciously on the edge of the console in front of him. Frowning, he stared out the viewport blankly, completely immersed into his own thought. Deep in his mind he was wondering the same thing as Jaden...