The growl resounded throughout the large computer center, making all of the team members turn towards it. The troopers had all but forgetten about the second creature after Diller had been wounded. Now they were standing or kneeling around their fallen comrade as the large creature advanced towards them. Everyone could tell this animal was now even more mad after the death of the other one.

With its razor sharp teeth showing as it roared out, the creature lept into the are towards the first trooper. Before he nor any other of the soldiers could fire their weapons, the wall infront of them and to the right exploded out. The explosive force, as well as the shrapnel that was expelled out caught the creature in mid-jump and smashed him into the opposite wall. The whole team looked towards the explosion and within seconds could see a whole squad of Combat Droids sprinting through this new opening.

Each droid had the movement of a living being. Every action was fluid and calculated before it even occured. The piercing red glowing eyes looked upon their objective, which at the moment remained as the creature in front of them. They had been summoned by Colonel Stevenson and had been recieving live streaming feeds of the whole battle as they advanced to the area. The Colonel, now kneeling in front of Diller with his hand on her shoulder, was glad they had arrived on time.

As the dark armored droids spread out, they moved as one towards the remaining insectaciod creature as it lay against the wall. Everything happened so quickly from this point, that Colonel Stevenson would have to watch it later as a holo recording. One moment the animal lay broken and battered against the wall and the next it was upon one of the combat droids. Its large mouth closed tight on side of this droid's chest and crushed the thick armor plate. The cracking could be hear by all as sparks tore out of the droid's side as this animal pulled away with a large chuck of the droids chest.

While damage, the droid was still able to respond and raised its left arm, opening fire with the repeater blaster. Parts of the creatures skin tore away with this assault, but it launched itself against another of the droids quickly. This one, however, reached out with its left hand and in the blink of an eye caught the creature in the throat. The droid's large fingers tightened on the animal's throat and started to cut off its air and blood supply. It lashed out with its massive leg and racked over the droid's chest, making thick gashes, but not completely penetrating through the armor.

"Kill it!" Shouted Ilmus, even though he couldn't recall later that he had had to say anything.

As if on command, the droid's right arm, which had been fitted with a flechette launcher, shot up and pressed against the animal's stomach. The millisecond this launcher came into contact with the thick skin of the creature it fired off two armor piercing flechettes. These instantly pierced the creature's armor and exploded inside its internal cavity. The wall behind became a bloody mess as the back of the creature exploded out. With one last roar the creature became limp and fell to the floor in a heep as the droid let it go.

With that it was all over. There weren't any more noises or attacks. The Colonel watched the seen before him and looked down at Diller laying there on the floor in front of him. He smiled a little at her and petted her shoulder slowly. "You're gonna be alright Diller. Their going to put you back together again, dont you worry."

He paused and mentally contacted headquarters. "Base, this is Alpha Team. We engaged two large animals in the Computer Center. Both have been neutralized, but we have one soldier down. Requesting medical support at our location. Oh and Base, send down some technicians as well, we have a damaged CD-1 unit."

Constructing and improving a large center of operation has never been an easy job to accomplish, nor was it quick in the least. Stellar Enterprises was trying to make something out of nothing in the Silken Asteroid Field and those plans always take time. Even after weeks of intense work, the Silken Complex, as it was now referred to, was far from being completed.

While the initial operation had progressed smoothly, problems did come up later. It was found that many areas surrounding the central control portion of the asteroid had been destroyed. It was not known for what purpose this was done, but best guesses had it that whoever last owned this asteroid had intended to keep it from being fully operational. This could have been because it was being attacked and those areas had to be damaged to prevent enemy movements, but this was not fully known. What was known, however, was that these areas had been destroyed from withing and not from some sort of outside bombardment.

With these sections closed off, it had taken much time for crews to dig through them and establish safe, useable corridors. Much work had gone into making this Complex functional and become the center of operations for the entire Silken Asteroid mining operation. As Ylius Jomer sat at his desk, he know how imporant it was to have this venture pay off. Much money had been spent to establish this base and it was important to make it secure.

Ylius had been put in charge of the Silken operation and would help to smoothly run it for Stellar Enterprises. Before that could happen, however, they would have to make the place safe. As he looked over the reports in front of him, Ylius knew that would take time if it could be accomplished at all. All the initial reports had been proven wrong in some areas and some of the progress made was now undone.

After so many years of neglect, it appeared that whole sections of the asteroid were not safe enough to contain personal. In actuality, only the centeral control region was sturdy enough to support operations of any kind. The more one moved away from the asteroid's center towards the outer layers, the less safe it become. There had been so many impacts with other asteroids over the years that whole sections were being brittle. Already there had been a full collapse into a newly dug hallway that had left a group of droids damaged beyond repair.

Many other outer sections had to be reinforced for fear of weaknesses that could result in lives being lost. It had been suggested by engineers that repulsorlifts could be fitting along the lining of the hallways to keep them from collapsing and to also help push back against the asteroid, giving it more rigidity. With the plan approved it was only a matter of time before a shippment of these repulsorlift generators would be moved to the Silken Complex. Ylius hopped it would be sooner than later.

Not all the news was bad, however. Outside this complex, in the vast asteroid belt, whole sections of new asteroids had been discovered. These were analyzed and it appeared each one was quite rich in minirals and ores. Already mining ships had started harvesting these newly found treasures and would bring them to Stellar Enterprises run processing plants on other planets. There was a rumer, though, that soon there would be a nearby planet that would be used for this processing and refinement operation.

Yluis didn't have time to think about rumers, he had a complex to get finished and mining operation to oversee. This wouldn't the hardest job he had had to do during all his years of work, but that didn't mean he could slack off on it either. He had been entrusted to accomplish everything that could be done and Yluis wasn't about to let the trust in him be for nothing.

It was at this moment he felt the floor beneath him shudder slightly and a moment later an alarm went off.

He watched her sleeping in the dark room and smiled to himself. The feel of her against him and the smooth skin of her thigh under his hand filled him. As his fingers slowly caressed this woman's thigh, before slowly moving lower and over her soft calf, thoughts ran through his mind. He had almost lost her not long ago and that was something that could have devastated him.

Their love was something that would have been forbidden had they both still been in the New Republic or Galactic Coalition military. Even though they weren't at the moment, it was still something that shouldn't have happened, but did. They were both part of a military unit and they both knew that the feelings they shared could one day effect their duty. Love could not be stopped, however, and it blossomed within them both, drawing them together.

They had both agreed to keep the relationship as low key as possible, but also understood that most of their team knew it existed. He felt her stir a little as she lay beside him, but he was too lost in thought. As his fingers caressed the bare skin that existed on her leg, he was transported in his mind to the day when he was watching her floating inside the light blue liquid. It pained him to see her like that after the attack, but he still stood beside her as the new leg slowly grew on her. This new leg was the one his fingers were now stroking. He was thankful for the gear and medical supplies that his employer had given them because if wasn't for their effectiveness this woman beside him might have not been around.

"Hey Colonel." Sounded in his mind and brought him back into reality. "Whatcha thinking about sir?"

He looked down at Diller and smiled, "About of much I love you."

Diller laughed and playfully punched him in the stomach before rolling over on her side and looking at him. "Are you a softy. The big bad Colonel Stevenson have feelings huh?"

"Only for you Lieutenant. Don't you dare tell anyone." He grinned and leaned over, kissing her lips as he pulled her against him.

"Oh don't worry, I wont, promise." She kissed him back and pressed up against him more.

Just as things started to heat up though, the Comm link that lay on the night table beeped to life, instructing the whole team to assemble for an important mission.

The Colonel shook his head and laughed as he looked at Diller. "Rein check?"