Lavality thought about that. "Miknak isn't smart enough to do something like that, he never was to begin with." she said and noticed a group of gaurds coming into the bay. "Umm... we got trouble here." she said and pointed at the guards.

“Odd.” Asri said when she looked out the viewport. “Why send guards in here? If they come too far in they may find us….” Once they did Asri knew they would be in all sorts of trouble and likely no matter who Lavality was, or who Trazu was for that matter, would help them much. “I’m starting to think making a pit stop here like this was a bad idea Lavality.”

As they watched them Asri noted the deathsticks in their hands. “Jeez…they are on a smoke break.” Asri grumbled. “Don’t they have an ‘official’ place for that?”

~~~

Meanwhile Trazu was still working on how to get past the guards. Finally he got an idea and dragged the his companion into a near by ‘employees only’ room. He had a hunch and his hunch was right: there were maintenance worker uniforms in here.

“I get what you are planning.” The young Trandoshan said. “But…will there be one your size?”

Trazu scowled at him. “With the Force I can make them believe I’m taller then I look.” He growled as he took off his cloak and stuffed it into the bag with the explosives before finding the smallest uniform and putting it on. With some tucking and rolling, he managed to get it half way decent looking. Once the other Trandoshan had put his on with some assistance, they strode out acting like they belonged there. The guards didn’t even give them a second glance as they passed by.

What poor security measures. Trazu thought. No verifying our identities or anything. A terrorist would have a field day. He resolved to inform his mother on this lack of security when he next got the chance, especially considering the worrying status on some of the Clans his father just told him about.

It was the Force that alerted him to the next trouble: guards had apparently entered the bay their ship was in. How the hell are we going to get on the ship without these guys noticing? He thought. He didn’t need to do anything actually, as the young Trandoshan proved to be quite the actor….

“What are you guys doing in here!?” He had exclaimed, terror in his voice.

“Just getting a quick smoke…that’s all.” One of the guards said causally.

“Idiots! Don’t you know there are flammables in here!?”

“Uhhh….” All the guards looked around nervously.

“Get out! Out before you burn the spaceport down!”

Trazu never seen a group of Trandoshan’s leave the area so fast in his life. “Well, that solved that problem.” He said as he stripped off the uniform, the other Trandoshan doing the same. “Good job.”

“Wasn’t far from the truth either.” The other said, pointing to a crate close by. “That stuff there is really unfriendly to flame, would have had the effect of setting off a mini thermal detonator.”

“Yikes…I’ll let Lavality know to be sure not to let the afterburners hit that thing when we take off….” Trazu muttered as they entered the ship.

"Welcome back." Lavality said as she turned in her chair to greet them. "That was quite a show you put on." she said to the trandoshan who was with him. "thanks to you getting them out we can get out of here without any problems."

That was when Trazu had told about the flammable crate in the bay, she did a sweep scan and found two crates of those types, one was located right where the trandoshan had pointed, the other was located right behind the ship just behind a group of other crates. "Hmmm..... can't use the after burners to lift off... will have to use the thrusters in small bursts." she said and locked the landing ramp shut.

She guided her hands over to the thruster panel, normally it would be operated by the AI but in this case the AI would've instantly applied MAX thrust and that would've sent a lot of air through the bay, possibly igniting whatever was in those crates... and grabbing undo attention.

As the ship began to lift she saw a guard walk in, he looked around as if he was searching for something. "Observant guard.... but... not THAT observant." she said as the shuttle cleared the roof of the spaceport. With that it dipped slightly before she engaged the afterburners and fired off into the sky.

On the ground the guard had heard the sudden sonic boom that the shuttle had released. "What the?" he said before seeing two other craft fly by. "Stupid gangs.." he said before walking out of the space port.

"It won't take us long to reach our destination, in fact, it'll only take us about an hour or so." Lavality said as the shuttle cleared the atmosphere and was now in space. "Of course, now we have to wonder if Miknak will actually try and stop us"

The reason she said this was because the sensors had picked up two craft resembling her out, they where strike craft equiped with the mk 2 cloaking drive. "Ok.. what are these idiots doing here..." she muttered under her breath as they drew closer.

after another three minutes she realized who they where and why they where here. "Echo Squadron... figures.." she said and turned her shuttle around. "Idiots like to take there new ships out for joy rides." she snarled.

“I wouldn’t consider them idiots hun.” Asri said casually. “I say it’s a good idea to get the feel of a new ‘toy’ before going into a battle.”

“Indeed.” Trazu said, nodding in agreement. “Best to know a ship’s, or any weapon for that matter, quirks before you have to use it in battle. Less chance of it surprising you when it a ‘quirk’ occurs.”

It hadn’t escaped Trazu that Asri called Lavality ‘hun’, an affectionate term she had only used on him and the kids until now. This must be related to whatever what was on her mind earlier. He decided, forcing himself not to speculate on it. She’ll tell me when the time’s right.

They arrived at the station with no trouble and Tiosk was happen to have visitors. When they explained (and showed via the hologram) the situation to him Trazu could see the eagerness to join them in the Vice Admiral’s eyes. Tiosk thought only a moment before speaking.

“You plan is a good start.” He said approvingly. “But, one modification: I would not make so blatantly an attempt to destroy that sensor ship from the get go.”

Trazu thought about this a moment before it became clear to him why. “If we did that, Miknak will know we intend to send in cloaked ships and prepare his ground forces accordingly.”

“Exactly. Now, you should ensure it’s at least close to the firefight when it breaks out, so you can easily keep an eye on it. Maybe make it nervous enough to call for reinforcements and thus likely pull forces from the real point of entry for you cloaked ships.”

“Which would be?”

“Here.” Tiosk pointed at the point on the planet that was just on the opposite side of the sensor ships location. “He would likely expect you to send in cloaked ships just beyond the sensor’s ships range.”

“But that would put us far away from his actual base, making any ground troops useless.”

The Vice Admiral chuckled. “The only ones that are going by cloak ship are you three.” He said. “Lady Asri was correct that a small force will be able to infiltrate a base easier then a large force and your ranger skills will come in handy over that terrain. That said, I would send in actual ground troops as well, here.” He pointed at the spot just out side the base. “Their drop ships will have to dodge a lot of fire, but once on the ground they’ll provide the distraction you guys need to pull any ground forces out of your path. I do have one request though….”

“What is that?” Asri inquired.

“Take Tiskus with you.” Tiosk said with a sigh. “Poor lad is going out of his mind with boredom and quite frankly the lack of action is starting to do the same to me as well: his pacing is not helping me keep my sanity!”

Lavality bit her lip when she heard Tiosk say 'dropships' but before she could say why he had heard him say 'Tiskus'

She looked at Asri and Trazu then at Tiosk. "If Tiskus wants to come along I have no problem, if you and your men want to join the fun I have no problem with that either but then you'd have to take that up with your superior..." she shrugged before thinking back on the 'dropship' part

After a moment she responded. "Er.... what 'dropships' are you talking about anyway? We don't use dropships to insert into enemy terroritory, we use drop pods." Lavality said and showed them a hologram of it. "Each pod is capible of holding four men. Two if they are in battle armor, but that stuff is in very short supply."

"Other than a few shuttles that we have, none of them are really capible of taking much of a pounding. Only the drop pods can make a good insertion, the only other ships we have that can land are the insertion shuttles that are used to bring in armor and support, but those are buly, uncomfortable, and stink like hell." she recalled when she was aboard one of them back during the seperatist movement. "Hmm..... now that I think about it.."

She stood there for several minute's thinking, what she was really doing was calculating numbers in her head. Kasyyyk was making sure the numbers where correct and once she was done. "We can fit two hundred marines on those insertion shuttles, each of my marine frigates has four of those shuttles, we can insert eight hundred marines in one drop, along with eight tanks and there support crews in the next drop. However, I don't have any artillery for them. Damn stuff is expensive as hell to get ahold of." she said while rubbing her chin.

"Either way, once Miknak is taken care of those ships will most likely stand down and surrendar." she hoped that would happen she hated the fact that she was fighting against her own ships, but thats not what troubled her. Her organization was already low on numbers as is, and this type of an operation would seriously put a damper on there ability to support several of the outer-rim worlds.

With a heavy sigh she nodded. "I don't suppose there is any way we can call upon a few of your men to lend a hand? Most of my marine's are wookie's and trandoshans, they have wookie commanders but we lost most of our trandoshan commanders back during the war, and the recent one's to sign up are still going through training and won't be ready to lead for another few weeks. If you can spare any of your officers to lead, that would help a lot in keeping those men alive." she smiled at Tiosk. "And.. don't worry.. while my marine's have been off your home-world, they have learned quite well to respect those around them. In fact, last I heard the wookiee's and trandoshan's actually live in the same barracks as one another." she said and then started to think. although I often wonder how they can live with a wookie that stinks....

"I'm afraid when it comes to fleet officers I can't help you." Tiosk said with a sigh. "Since I am grounded any commands made by me for other fleet officers to lend a hand would draw suspicion, as I am supposed to be out on a hunt. Plus, the whole reason for my current situation is because Admiral Balik doesn't trust your organization: at least that's the excuse he gave me."

"Do you think he could be under Miknak's control?" Trazu asked.

Tiosk shrugged. "If he is that would be a very fast 180 he did since the war." He replied. "No I think something else is going on, like blackmail. But I have no evidence to support that beyond how he delivered his last order to me."

"Ok, so you can't help with the fleet command." Asri said, looking thoughtful. "What about ground troop command? Sha'tor Rissonik did send a few K'Satikur Warriors with you here didn't he?"

"Indeed he did." Tiosk said with a slight smile. "And they are looking as bored as Tiskus, though thankfully they are not being as annoying about it." He went into deep thought. "Hmm...yes they could work...."

"How? Aren't K'Satikur supposed to capable of taking out an army by selves? That doesn't sound like good leader ship stuff to me..." Trazu said.

"Lord Trazu, not to be insulting, but I went through the K'Satikur training, not you." Tiosk said bluntly. "I know from experience that a K'Satikur warrior is trained not only how to be the best there is at fighting, but how to lead as well. Nothing is a better motivator then having a K'Satikur kick a lot of ass with you on the battlefield. You will have to ok it though."

"Why me?"

"You are heir to the Sha'tor postion, Lord Trazu K'Satikur." Tiosk said, his voice calm and serious. Trazu winced at his use of his full title. "And since time is of the essense it would do everyone well that we shave off a few hours of time where we can. I've heard you are not eager to take your father's place, but that's where you're lot lies and you better start being a leader now rather then wait until after your father has joined the ancestors."

Trazu looked very flustered, stubborn, and nervous all at once. "I...don't know how to lead." He protested. "I've always been a loner..."

"Trazu, you already have shown us your abilities as a leader." Asri pointed out. "On Nar Shadda, Hoth, and more recently at the spaceport in Hsskhor. It came to you naturally."

Trazu looked up at Asri, then at Lavality, who nodded in confirmation, then finally at Tiosk who had this irritating looking smirk on his face. With a heavy sigh he realised Asri was right: he had lead them without even thinking about it. "Alright...I'll go talk to them and invite them along." He said, knowing already that just saying it was ok wouldn't have been enough to Tiosk. "Be the way." He said as he started to walk away. "Technically I was 'forced' to lead on Hoth, remember? I would have stayed on that ship if you guys hadn't twisted my arm."

To that Asri just giggled.

Lavality rubbed her shoulder. "I'm just glad we got off that planet... place was colder than the database listed it as." she said and recalled how she was freezing her butt off, yet those around her was farely fine. "

She looked around the room for a bit before staring at Trazu. "We'll be waiting on the shuttle, make sure Tiskus gets here before we leave though...." she said and began to walk away from the group.

Her cape moved ever slightly as she walked down one of the corridor's leading to another hanger bay. She stopped just short of the main door and closed her eye's and grinned, "I see Tiosk never found you..." she grinned

An older female appeared near the door. "They hardly searched this area." the female said and patted the door.

"So, what's the word?" Lavality asked without opening her eye's. "I can confirm that the higher up's have been tricked and are on Miknak's side, I can also confirm that most of the ships above Korribon are under his control."

She nodded and raised her head before putting her hands in her pocket. "I sent the message to the Coalition about what we are planning.... although I can't make any gurrentee that they'll lend a hand." the female said with a sigh before hearing something down the corridor.

They waited until a group of mechanic's passed by before continueing there discussion.

"What about Miknak himself? Is he on Korribon?" Lavality asked, this time she was leaning up against the wall, her left leg crossed over her right. "Yes he is, a couple km's below the surface, he's holed up in an ancient jedi temple."

She nodded. "So he wants us to come to him, figures. That fleet above the planet are nothing more than bait."

"naturally...." The female said before disappearing. Lavality pushed herself off the wall and began to make her way back to the shuttle. Kasyyk... what do you think?"

Perhaps she's right... although Miknak hate's jedi's so I wonder why he is in there..

"Guess I'll find out..." Lavality said to no one in particuler.

Trazu’s mind was muddled as he made his way to the break hall where he was told most of the K’Satikur warriors were hanging out at present time. He wondered what he should say to them, if he should give a fancy speech or just be straight to the point. The warriors would jump at a chance for action no matter how he delivered the command and he knew this, so he was tempted to just be straight to the point. Yet a part of him wanted to be more eloquent about it. Before he had made up his mind on how to tell them he had reached the break room.

There were about ten of them, a sizeable percentage of the Clans elite force, most of them simply lounging around on the various seats through out the room. A couple of them were playing a holo game, while another was chatting with one of the station workers: it didn’t a take them long to notice him standing in the doorway.

“Lord Trazu.” One of them said, raising to his feet and bowing his head in respect. “It’s an honor for you to join us.”

“I am not here for pleasantries.” Trazu stated simply. He felt his mouth go dry with nervousness and he visibly swallowed. The warriors were all looking up at him expectantly now, knowing something must be up: he could see the eagerness in their eyes. For what seemed like an eternity though he could say nothing more, but then words started flowing out of his mouth like it was nothing at all. “You know why my father sent you here, correct?” He asked them.

“Aye, Lord Trazu.” One of them answered. “To assist Vice Admiral Tiosk in preventing Miknak from taking over this station.”

“A job you have performed well.” Trazu said. “But now it’s time to take a more proactive role.” At this every warrior sat up straight and Trazu, aware that not every non-K’Satikur could be trusted, switched to Clan dialect. “K’Satikur Warriors, it’s timo te striko ut tho hoart ef ear doudliost omony! Admiral Lavality hus docido te tuko tho fight te it’s searco.” He said. “Und sho hus roqaostod tho ussistunco ef ear clun fer uro fighting prewoss. It is net seloly ear fighting skills sho noods hewovor, sho noods individauls cupublo ef louding sqaudrens in tho buttlo te cemo. I huvo fall cenfidonco thut yea uro ublitios te falfill this relo.”

“It will be an honor to assist the Admiral in this battle.” A warrior said, the others’ nodding in agreement. “Just tell us when we are leaving.”

Now there was a kicker: he wasn’t certain. He did know Lavality wanted Tiskus on the shuttle with them when they departed. “I believe she wants to leave now.” He said after a moment’s thought. “Did you all come here by one shuttle or in your own ships?”

“Only the two or three that arrived later came by personal ship.” A warrior replied. “Most of us though came with the Vice Admiral on a shuttle.”

“Alright. Those of you that don’t have ship of your own here get the things you need and met me in the shuttle bay in ten minutes. Find Tiskus and send him our way as well: Tiosk personally requested that he come along.” There were a few chuckles among the group: they have no doubt noticed the cyborgs bored pacing. “The rest of you follow us shortly after take off: I’ll ensure Lavality gets you the codes and coordinates of the command ship.”

“As you command Lord Trazu, we will be with you as soon as possible.”

A short time later Trazu arrived in the hanger bay, where he saw Lavality and Asri were waiting. “We have about eight warriors that will be coming along in the shuttle.” He told Lavality. “That’s not including Tiskus. The rest will be following in their personal ships.”

Before they could respond the hanger bay floor started to tremble. The reason was Tiskus, the huge Trandoshan cyborg bounding toward them, a look of pure glee on his face. “I see you got word of the upcoming fight.” Asri said with a grin, to which Tiskus just grinned broadly.

Lavality shook his head. "My my..." she said and walked up the ramp and into the shuttle. "All aboard..." she said and sat down at the pilot's seat.

She waited a few minute's before seeing the warriors making a dash for the shuttle, after they where on board she closed the hatch and relaid the code's for her command ship to the other warriors who had there own ship.

I don't like using the old beat up ship, but our new one is still under construction and won't be ready for at least another month or so she said to herself as she did a pre-flight check of the shuttle's systems.

With that done she started up the engines, turned the shuttle around and requested launching clearance from the tower. After about a second or so the tower gave her clearance and her shuttle moved toward a launch ramp. The landing gear was magnetically linked to the launch ramp. "hand on!" she yelled to her passengers as the shuttle was shot out of the shipyard and into space, she did a few roll's before straightening her craft.

"We'll wait here for the other warriors." She said to no one in particuler as she parked her shuttle near a Seren Prowler ship. The ship was matte black and very difficult to see in space, only the flight glow of it's engine's gave away it's position.

She laid back in the chair and crossed her arms. "Now Miknak..... let's see how far you have come since the last time my family fought you." A devilous grin formed on her face, she had never bore such a grin before and realized that she may never bore it again, for that she was glad.

As they waited Trazu noticed how Asri was staring at Lavality, with almost a longing look on her face. He knew it had to be related, at the very least, to what was bugging her before, but for some reason she felt uncomfortable telling him with other people around. She said it was big, but that was the only clue she would give him, besides it having to do with Lavality. He thought back, trying to find more clues she may have unintentionally given him. True this matter was likley strictly between Asri and Lavality, but as far as Trazu was concerned, if it involved Asri it involved him as well.

He recalled a few things on their most recent adventures. One being the revelation from Miknak himself that Asri was the 'second donor', but to what he had little clue. The other was Lavality's apparent extreme dislike of cold, much like his own and other Trandoshans. Asri's rather...motherly...toward her as well. He thought, but he wasn't sure if it just wasn't Asri's subconscious desire to have kids of her own or something more then that.

"What's on your mind hun?" Asri's voice broke into his thoughts.

"Just...wondering what you wanted to tell me earlier." He replied honestly, to which Asri smiled weakly.

"Hopefully before we enter battle I'll have to the chance to both you and Lavality." She said with a sigh. "I'd rather be the one to tell her and have her get over the shock 'before' the battle."

This just got Trazu more interested. "It's something that Miknak could use against her in the heat of the moment then?" He asked.

"Yes. Though Lavality seems certain that bastard isn't smart enough to think of it, I'd rather not take the chance."

"Understandable." Trazu nodded slowly. "Ah, there's the other warriors." He pointed out the two ships that just came into visual range.