Seven

���� Tundre headed down the corridor for the hangar.� She needed to get back to the SSD as quickly as possible�preferably with Fox.� Presenting Baron Reno with two valuable gifts�the Force-sensitive Fox and the info about Rogue Squadron�should result in an increase in her Whyren�s Reserve allotment.� Digger tooted and rolled along in the wake of her six.� Nearing the entrance to the hangar, Tundre began to feel that prickling danger sensation at the back of her neck. Stang, I don�t have much time to figure this out.� She quickened her pace into the hangar and came to an abrupt halt.� Digger crashed into her backside.

���� �Digger, get to the Blade! I�ll TK ya into it.� Crank it and let�s get outta here!�

���� Digger shot toward the Blade, carefully detouring around the cloaked figure that stood between Thunder and the ship.

���� Thunder ignited her saber and its orange light warmed the hangar.� Her lightsaber had yet to engage in a duel against a hostile.� The cloaked figure slowly extended an arm and lit a dark purple lightsaber.� Just what I need�Lord Xanthis.� Must be after Fox.� Thunder took up a defensive posture.� She needed to allow Digger to make it to the Blade and concentrate on levitating him into the pit.� Her opposition, however, decided not to oblige Thunder by waiting for her to move.� Before she knew it, they were locked in a pitted saber duel.

���� Fox felt the Force rush through him�hot, fierce, and urgent.� He dropped the hydrospanner that he had been playing with in the transport and ran to a viewport.� Thunder was battling away with some unknown and powerful attacker.� Fox was transfixed for a few moments, lost in the beauty and grace of their deadly blocks and thrusts.� He snapped out of his mental block by Thunder�s little astromech droid.� Digger was rolling all around the outside of the transport hooting and blaring for help.� Fox screamed at Pach and Lotan as he sprinted for ramp.� He told Digger to get back to the Blade.� When Digger had returned to the foot of the Blade, Fox closed his eyes and concentrated.� He visualized lifting Digger up and into the astromech pit.� Seconds later, he could hear the whine of the Blade�s engines and squeal of its weapons charging.� Fox smiled.� He had done it.�

���� Pach had dashed out of the transport in the vain attempt to lend his assistance to Thunder.� He had failed to completely read the situation and consider that the cloaked figure could probably use the Force in other ways besides dueling.� After firing a few short bursts from his blaster, Pach found himself flung against a nearby hovercart.� The two saber-wielding combatants had checkmated themselves and were locked together.�

���� Thunder yelled over the scream of the lightsabers, �Pachet! Get in the transport and get out of here! Go! I�ll be right behind you!�� She could see in Pachet�s face that he did not intend to leave a comrade behind.� Mustering what little concentration she could away from Xanthis, she Force-shoved Pachet back toward the transport.� He took the hint.� There was no point in trying to help when both friend and foe had the ability to toss you around on a whim.� He cradled his left side and stalked up into the transport.

���� The transport lifted off the hangar�s deck and burned for open space.� Digger had the Blade hovering and heading for Thunder.� She was going to have to try to break away from Xanthis and make a dash for her snubbie.� Staying and fighting was an option, but had no apparent benefit besides proving the better dueler�which Xanthis would win.� While one of Thunder�s strengths was her dueling skills�blastsword or lightsaber�she was no match for Xanthis.�

���� Thunder risked lowering some of her concentration to reach out for the position of the Blade.� She was going to have to carefully calculate her exit from the duel.� The Blade was just settling itself near her when she realized that she could still feel Fox�s presence�in her Blade, no less.� Stang, that little womprat.� Fox had not returned to the Transport.�

���� Xanthis Force-shoved Thunder back away from him and followed through with a lunge at her mid-rift. She countered with a saber block that drove his blade hissing into the durasteel deck. �She gave him a roundhouse kick to the side of the head and swept her saber along the floor at his feet.� He managed to absorb the kick and roll away from her blade.� This gave her enough time to dash toward the Blade while Fox laid down some covering fire.� Xanthis was too busy blocking the blasts with his lightsaber to give chase.� Having been blinded in the past, he was forced to rely completely on the Force to bat way the deadly photons of fire.�

���� Thunder pulled herself to her snubbie�s cockpit and came face to face with Fox, �We both can�t ride around in this, ya know?!� You�re gonna have to swipe one of these other ships�and quickly while I cover you.�

���� Fox snarled back, �We can take him out if we work together!�

���� Thunder dragged Fox out with the Force, �No, no we cannot.� Darth Xanthis is attuned to the Force more than any Sith Lord could ever hope for an apprentice.� We are gonna keep him busy till we both have a ship and blast out, got it?!�

���� Fox started running towards the front of the hangar, �Yeah, yeah.�� Moments later, he was hotwiring a small yellow snubfighter.� When its astromech droid decided to intervene to prevent the theft, Fox managed to short the little R5�s system.� Thunder continued sending barrages of photons in Xanthis� direction.� The Sith Lord continued to swat them away with his lightsaber while beginning to gain ground.� Out of the corner of Thunder�s eye, she could see a Headhunter begin to drag across the floor of the hangar.� Xanthis was managing to pull the snubfighter to a position between himself and her blade with the Force while not missing one of her shots.� The small yellow snubfighter with Fox in it shot toward vacuum.

���� Seconds later, Thunder was following the Slugfest�s trail with Fox tucked into her six.� Her comm was blinking.

���� �Blade, this is Slugfest, what was that all about?�

���� �Blade here.� I have no idea, but ya better do a thorough scan of the area and keep the guns charged.�

���� �No shit, Pilot Obvious.� Whoa�think I got something. �Check out that modified yacht heading this way.� I think it�s on an intercept course with yours truly.� You wanna take a closer look or stick to our six?�

���� �I�m gonna go take a peek.� Fox will escort your Transport outta here.� Where should we meet?�

���� �How about near Kuat?� I know a few tucked away places where we shouldn�t be disturbed.� I�ll send your astromech droid the coordinates.�

���� �Roger that.� Breaking off.�

���� �Don�t get burned.� Slugfest out.�

���� Thunder pulled away from the Slugfest and headed towards the yacht.� She decided to forgo disguising her move and just beeline it for the ship.� After all, whoever this was, obviously knew that the little snubfighter and transport were together.

���� �Diggs, juice up the shields.� Transfer weapons to the engines.� We�re gonna be fast and roll with punches for this trip.�

���� <<Compliance.� Yacht accelerating to intercept Slugfest.>>

���� Thunder pushed her Blade�s engines as hard as she could to make it to the yacht while the Slugfest was still out of her range.� Digger began squealing and her HUD lit up with multiple red targets.� Ack, yacht was hiding a few snubfighters in its wake.� Well, looks like we definitely get to roll with the punches.

���� �Digger, keep power routed to engines and shields only.� We aren�t fighting it out this time.� I just wanna take a good look.�

���� <<Compliance.� Suggest evasive maneuvers.� Two aggressive targets incoming.>>

���� �Understood.� Hang on, Diggs.�

���� Thunder hugged the yacht�s surface as she slid along its side and headed up towards its bridge decks.� She checked her HUD.� The two snubbies were on her six.� Great, TIE fighters.� Just what I need.� She was almost to the command decks of the yacht.� As she shot over the Bridge, she reached out and sensed the individuals on the yacht.� She extended her probing as much as she could while flying.� Darth Zarin didn�t seem to be on the yacht.� Digger began to hoot.

���� <<Armed Escort Shuttle en route to yacht.� Shuttle has fighter escort.>>

���� �Thanks, Diggs.� Looks like this big boy is with Xanthis and I bet ya anything that Xanthis is on that shuttle.� But no time to cop a feel.� Let�s hype outta here.� Program a nice and confusing route out of here and to the coordinates that Pachet sent to the navicomp.�

���� <<Compliance.>>

���� Thunder continued to jink and juke while the TIEs washed her aft shields with bolt after bolt.� While her X-Wing would not have withstood the pounding this long, her Blade was more than able to take hits from the TIEs.� Should the shields fail, its strong hull could also manage several direct hits before becoming fatal scores.� Thunder smiled.� She was in her element.� Fighting.� It was the only constant in her life�ever.� Many a time, she had wondered which was more important in her little universe�Whyren�s Reserve or fighting.� The answer was still not clear.� Maybe that was the real reason why Reno had relented and allowed her to take leave.� She watched as the stars elongated and the Blade was swallowed into hyperspace.

Eight

���� Thunder�s Blade dropped out of hyperspace.� As usual, there was Pachet�s transport about ten klicks away.� She caught up.

���� �Well, Tundre, what�d ya spy?�

���� �Heh�a yacht belonging to a nemesis.� Darth Xanthis to be exact.� His Master, Darth Zarin, must have sent him after Fox who would make a nice additional apprentice for Zarin.� Unless Zarin is just trying to prevent us from growing any bigger.� The bad news, though, we gotta keep our scanners peeled for TOS forces.�

���� �So, Lotan and I are wondering:� What in all the Core Worlds are TOS forces?�

���� �Oh, TOS�it stands for Terror Of Space.� It is a Grazer-class warship.� The TOS movement means to control everything.� They would make the Empire look like a goodtime.� I can only assume that Xanthis is Sith-bent on becoming another Emperor or Force-wielding tyrant.� Why Zarin would allow this behavior is beyond me.� It doesn�t seem like a move Darth Zarin would condone.� I guess the real question is whether or not Xanthis is acting alone or has his Master�s orders.�

���� �Nice.� Well, ya got me for a while.� What do you want to do now?� Head back to wherever you are takin� Fox or what?�

���� Thunder sat there thinking.� Or what?� So, much for the whole break from everything.� I try to actually get away and rest, only to find myself in the middle of another brawl.� I need to get back to the SSD�with Fox and that info about the Rogues.� Something else disturbed her, though.� She had gotten away too easily from Xanthis and his unusually small fleet.� She was missing something.� Maybe Xanthis knew the location of the SSD and would wait to ambush her while she headed back.� Xanthis could have also attached some sort of homing device on her Blade or on Pachet�s transport.� Then again, maybe Pachet was working for Xanthis and was attempting to discover the location of the SSD.� More importantly, why would Lord Darth Zarin send out his apprentice after Fox?� Fox couldn�t possibly be that promising of a future apprentice.� Darth Zarin must have sent Xanthis out to kill Fox with or without Thunder as a bonus in hopes of reducing the number of Reno�s squadron.� That was the only logical reasoning�as long as Zarin was the origin.� If he wasn�t, Thunder had no clue as to what Xanthis was planning.� No doubt Lead would want this information as much as her other gifts.

���� Digger suddenly beeped at her.�

���� <<Thunder�s systems ok?>>

���� �Yeah, sorry Diggs�thanks.� I got a bad case of thinking going on.� Must be time for a Whyren�s Reserve.� Diggs, we�re gonna need to scan our ships for any type of devices that Xanthis or his cronies may have placed to trace us.�

���� <<Compliance.� Initiating scan.>>

���� This was becoming the most annoying vacation that she had ever taken.� Thunder was already debating whether or not Fox was really worth all the trouble.� However, she had to at least present the little furball to Baron Reno and let him decide Fox�s fate.� Powerful as Thunder was, she would not be able to keep a secret from Reno for long.� If nothing else, the next formidable Whyren�s Brawl would put any secret-keeping to an end.� Moments later, Digger had finished the scan of the Blade-32, the Corellian YT-3000 Transport, and the Naboo N-1 Starfighter.� They found themselves a quiet, uncolonized, environmentally safe planet to make some needed repairs on their ships.��

Nine

���� Thunder�s Blade was relatively undamaged other than some carbon scoring.� She spent the majority of her time on the Slugfest doing what she did best�relaxing instead of helping.� Lotan was busy assisting Fox at wiping the astromech droid�s memory and firing him back up.� Once that was finished, they would give the N-1 Naboo Starfighter a quick look-over for any other potential problems.�

���� Thunder stretched back in her chair and enjoyed the feel of her Whyren�s Reserve sliding down her throat.� Fighting or Whyren�s Reserve?� That was the only important question and it didn�t seem all that important at the moment.� Pachet stepped from the back bunk area into the little compartment.� His posture was guarded.� Thunder reached out with the Force and noted that Pachet was also mentally guarded.� This was certainly a change in his demeanor, especially for a battle hardened warrior as himself.� He plopped down across from her.

���� �Well, we�ll hang here for about another hour or so, then head out.� I noticed you have quite the little arsenal in addition to that lightsaber on your hip.� What�s the other weapon?�

���� Thunder reached down and pulled up her prized blastsword and smiled, �My blastsword, an Adumari weapon mostly used in duels known as ground challenges or Honor duels.� I don�t use it that often, but it does come in handy.� I stick to using my snubbie for most disintegrations.� The lightsaber is a wonderful weapon, though.� I am sometimes surprised that a similar weapon was never developed on Adumar.� I can only surmise that sticking to the traditional weapon is more important than advances to it.� Consequently, why do you ask?�

���� Pachet leaned across and Thunder thought she could feel the slightest hint of impending danger rise up the back of her neck.

���� �I�m just curious, I �spose.� Huh, lightsabers. You certainly don�t see much of them anymore.� May I see it?�

���� Thunder hesitated with an answer for a moment, not quite sure why.

���� �I�m rather protective of my lightsaber�it�s my second one.� It�s not exactly a fun experience to make a new one using Sith techniques.� I�m not fond of the intense heat.�

���� �Oh, I understand�I guess.� Well, then how about demonstrating its capabilities?� I momentarily saw that little spat in the hangar and was amazed.�

���� Thunder reattached the blastsword to her waist belt and removed her lightsaber.� �I guess it would at least kill some time for us.� Sure.�

���� Pachet stood up across from Thunder and smiled, �Here, let�s see what that can chew through.� Cut through this.�� He picked up a long cylindrical object from a nearby console and held it out.

���� Thunder activated her lightsaber with a familiar snap-hiss and struck the metal pipe.� There was loud pop as the saber broke through the first layer of metal and connected with something underneath.� A fierce hot jolt surged through her before engulfing her into darkness.