For years, the worlds and peoples of the Quelii Sector have lived in fear of the Cavrilhu Pirates; their headquarters on the planet Amorris has turned the whole system into a restricted area, and the world's small colony has been largely cut off from the galaxy at large.

But now, with their failure at Varn, their base in the Kauron asteroids lost, their raiding parties captured, and their supply routes cut off by newly erected Cooperative checkpoints, the days of the Cavrilhu Pirates are numbered.


* * *

Quelii Checkpoint A-4, Cooperative command ship Spoils of Freedom

Alarms rang on the bridge of the Kaloth-class Battlecruiser Spoils of Freedom; something was coming out of hyperspace.

"Transponder codes identify them as vessels of the Halmad Royal Defense Fleet," The tactical officer reported quickly.

Finally. Captain Marius Tershin turned in his chair, looking to the man beside him. "Orders, Commander?"

Kerrick Arkanus paused for a second. "We might as well say hello. No sense in being unfriendly." The hologram of the Halmad fleet's commander appeared a moment later, and Kerrick stood, giving the hologram a half-hearted salute. "Nice of you to decide to join us," He said sarcastically as he cast the hologram an annoyed look.

The commander from Halmad looked a little indignant. "An issue that required my intervention arose at the homeworld; our delay was unavoidable."

Sir," Captain Tershin said to Arkanus, standing as he did so, "perhaps you should prepare for the mission? I'm sure I can handle the integration." Kerrick simply nodded to the captain and walked off the bridge, offering a farewell wave to the hologram without turning around. "Please forgive the commander," Tershin said to the Halmad man. "His calling is. . . unique."

"I understand you will be taking command here shortly?" The foreign commander asked, ignoring the apology.

"Yes, sir."

"Beta Group is deploying to their designated area now; I will be departing for Checkpoint B-2 in twelve minutes; take care of my men until we are reunited, captain, or I will see to it that the name 'Varn' is not so much as whispered on Halmad for a generation."

"I assure you, sir, that they will find themselves among competent allies, if we are forced into combat."

Checkpoint A-4 was one of several temporary interdiction points set up by a joint task force made up of ships and crews from several Quelii Sector worlds. The task force had been assembled as a concerted effort to finalize the destruction of the Cavrilhu Pirates, and the Cooperative had been the government to bring it into existence. With local news filled with reports of Cavrilhu defeats at the hand of the Cooperative Defense Force, it had been easy to convince several of the major local worlds into pooling their resources and finishing the task. Forces from Corstris, Pil Diller, Vinsoth, Halmad, Selaggis VI, and even Kauron—just to name a few—assembled alongside Cooperative vessels to erect a massive interdiction network to cut Amorris off. Every conceivable route was blocked; that is, every route but one.

As the hologram dissolved, Captain Tershin walked to the door and opened it; Kerrick Arkanus was standing just outside, looking a little impatient. "Was that entirely necessary, sir?"

"Of course not," Arkanus responded, smirking, "but it made me feel better." Arkanus stepped back onto the bridge, walking slowly to each station, checking everything as if he expected to find something wrong. "It's just that we can handle this ourselves, that's all. There's no need to go around begging all of these arrogant nobodies to come help us, like we're in trouble and we need our big cousins to get us out of the mess we've gotten ourselves into."

"With respect, sir—"

"Knock it off, Captain. My command here's a formality, to make me feel better."

"With respect, sir," The captain insisted, "that's not how it is at all. We share a common threat, and as such, it would benefit us to learn to work together. We've dealt the Cavrilhu a serious blow on our own, and there's no doubt that we could manage to bring them down on our own if we chose to. But the Cavrilhu threat is one that has plagued the entire sector, not just Varn, and for that reason all of the worlds of the Quelii Sector have a responsibility to stand and fight these lawless marauders. Alone, we could find a way to win, but together, we have found a way to not just win, but erase this foe from existence. We couldn't accomplish anything near the size and scope of this interdiction if it weren't for their help, and assaulting the main Cavrilhu force alone when we have neighbors so willing to help would quite frankly be foolish."

"Well, we could have found some nicer allies, or at least some that could show up on time!" Arkanus exclaimed, sounding more whiny than anything else.

Present example excluded, the joint task force was working quite well. The Cooperative was coordinating the overall deployment, while most of the interdictor groups were being led by commanders from non-Cooperative worlds. Checkpoint A-4 was once again the exception; as the main route to Amorris, it had been secured by a larger number of Cooperative ships than any other checkpoint, and a Cooperative officer had been placed in command.

Commander Arkanus would soon be leaving to initiate the second phase of the joint strike, at which time Captain Tershin would take over. This had been done to give the appearance that Arkanus was in command of the main interdiction group, allowing him to quietly slip away after the initial excitement of setting up the interdiction network had passed. But apparently, as evidenced by the Halmad commander's knowledge, the plan was known to more than a few individuals.

Let's just hope the Cavrilhu don't know about it. "I'm going to make one last check of the supplies; inform me when our friends have left." Arkanus left the bridge once again, this time for real.

Captain Tershin just stood there, staring out the viewport, wondering how someone who had served in a "real" military could turn into a man like Kerrick Arkanus. Still, the man had talent as a commander; Tershin had to give him that. "Good luck, sir," He mumbled quietly.


a few hours later; hyperspace, en route to Amorris


"Any further orders, sir?"

"Yeah: drop that 'sir,' crap before you get us all killed."

"S-sorry, sir—I mean yes, sir—oh, no, sir—"

"Shut up!" Kerrick closed his eyes tight, rubbing his left temple. As if it'll help. He was getting tired of all of this "joint task force" mess, and now here he was, undercover, on a ship flown by enemy collaborators, carrying cargo that would get them all killed, if the Cavrilhu found out what it really was.

Usually, civilian shipping was inspected carefully by the pirates, and anything of value was taken; however, with the Cavrilhu in such bad shape, all of their manpower was devoted to just staying alive, so pirate inspections had slacked off considerably.

"Listen," Kerrick began, pressing the side of his face against the cold metal of the bulkhead, "I don't like you, and you don't like me. Once we're done here, we'll go our separate ways, and we'll never have to see each other again. But until then, not only am I in command, but I am in command of a secret, undercover operation; if you want to live, do as I say, and right now, I'm saying drop the 'sir' crap, or you'll give us away." Why couldn't I bring my own people? Why? Why do they have to do this to me?


* * *


Lavisar, Senate Building

"Our question, Ambassador, is why you have waited until now to contact us in regards to this 'interdiction,'" One of the Lavisar senators stated, angry and feeling as though his world had been overlooked.

Traan Shi stood in the center of the Senate, surrounded by unfamiliar, unfriendly faces. "We are at a pivotal point in the operation; Lavisar remains the only open route to Amorris. Incorporating your world into the interdiction network would cut that route off, and we can't afford to do that yet. I have spoken with key members of your government, and we agreed that we should wait until the appropriate time to inform you of our plans.

"As we speak, the first wave of an undercover team is on its way to Amorris; when they arrive, they will begin to establish an underground resistance, and prepare for the arrival of the joint task force. You must not join our main task force; it doesn't matter if we have to engineer an international incident to give you reason not join. The Lavisar route to Amorris must remain open, or we will not be able to smuggle our supplies into Amorris.

"When the battle begins, Lavisar will be the apparent weak point in our interdiction web; if the Cavrilhu flee, they will almost certainly flee here. The Cooperative has set aside several vessels to reinforce your planetary defenses, but your local defenses must be ready to respond in force. Lavisar is the key; it has been a 'back door' to Amorris for years, and it must appear that it has remained so. We cannot allow the Cavrilhu to believe that we are monitoring this hyperspace route."

The head of Lavisar's Defense Department stepped forward, excusing Traan and looking around at his fellow citizens. "We have been given an opportunity to participate as a crucial component to the downfall of an enemy of every government within this sector. The President and I have discussed this in great detail, and we have concluded that refusing to aide in the manner suggested would be irresponsible, and borderline criminal. The Cavrilhu Pirates have had free reign of our space for long enough. We have been given the opportunity to become the anvil upon which the hammer falls. We must take this opportunity, or this villainous lot will be given the chance to flee, and begin their reign of terror again, perhaps in another sector, perhaps not. This is our duty; for our world, for our people, for our entire sector, we must join in the destruction of this common foe. I implore you to do your duty, and allow us to participate in the downfall of the Cavrilhu Pirates."


* * *


Grand Chamber of the Varn Combined Council

"Smarts has departed to oversee the interdictor network, but I have been left here to update you on the progress of the joint task force." Beta was standing in his all-too-familiar place, staring up at the members of the Combined Council, making his customary reports. "Traan Shi has just contacted me, informing me that Lavisar has agreed to aide us in the overall strategy. With their cooperation assured, we can begin the full-scale development of our plans for the uprising on Amorris; we should be receiving a status report from Kerrick Arkanus within two days, informing us of the level of cooperation that can be expected from the civilian populace. If the scant information we have is accurate, they will need little more than the assurance that when they fight, they will not be alone."

Amorris, civilian spaceport

"What's your business on Amorris?"

"We're mechanics; we were hoping to find work."

The Cavrilhu man dug roughly through the supplies, noting the tools and equipment the small band of men had brought with them. "I'm appropriating this in the name of the Cavrilhu Pirates."

"You can't do that!" Kerrick Arkanus yelled, making sure to put on a good show. "That's my livelihood! I came here to help you guys; c'mon, now!"

"We don't need your help. Your tools, on the other hand, will make a nice addition to our own." The pirate waved a few of his friends over to take the tools away. "Thanks for doing business with us," He added mockingly.

"Hey, that's not fair! I don't have enough credits to get off this rock; if you take my tools, I've got nothing. Nothing!"

The transport Kerrick and his men came on took off just behind him. Any regular person would be terrified right then, but for Kerrick and his men, everything was happening just as it had been planned.

The Cavrilhu man took a cursory glance at the other odds and ends the men had brought with them, and then moved on, looking for something else to "appropriate." The pirates grabbed the equipment and hauled it to a nearby speeder, while Kerrick and his men continued their show of begging and pleading. Then the pirates were off, and the men sulked into town.

They made their way to a run-down inn, ducking in inconspicuously and walking to the front desk. "I need to speak with the manager," Kerrick said firmly.

"Where do you think you are, friend? I'm the owner, manager, maid, bellhop, and whatever else you'd expect to find . . . except for cook; no meal service here. If you don't like that, your welcome to try somewhere else."

"I'm here about something else," Kerrick said, pulling a blaster out of the bottom of his bag and setting it on the desk.

The man's eyes widened in surprise, and he took a step back from the table. "I don't know what's going on here, but I suggest you get rid of that before a Cavrilhu patrol sees you with it." No one on Amorris was allowed a weapon unless they were members of the Cavrilhu Pirates; the punishments for owning a gun without permission were severe.

"There are plenty more where this came from, and in case you haven't noticed, there haven't been too many patrols in recent days." Kerrick picked up the blaster and handed it to the inn's owner. "It's almost like the Cavrilhu are in some kind of trouble, and they don't want you people to know about it," Kerrick added, feigning surprise. "Now tell me, how many civilians are on this rock?"

The man looked a little confused, batting the blaster away. "About three million, but why—"

"How many Cavrilhu are on this planet?"

"Look, I don't know what's going on, but—"

"How many?" Kerrick asked, the firmness in his voice surprising the innkeeper.

"Uh, I don't really know; I guess the whole organization's about a hundred to a hundred-fifty thousand strong; they're pretty big."

"Yeah, yeah, I know; big and scary." Kerrick laughed quietly, shoving the blaster back at the man. "What would you say if I told you that there are actually about one-third that number of Cavrilhu to be found both alive and free at this time?"

The man took another step back, getting away from the blaster. "That's not possible; there are that many here, on Amorris, right now. . . or in orbit, anyway."

Kerrick fixed the man with a serious look. "Exactly. Take the blaster; become the first man who stands for a free Amorris. Listen: a warfleet has been assembled with ships from over a dozen Quelii Sector worlds; it is waiting to know who will stand with it, when the fighting begins."

The man continued to look uncertainly at the blaster. "There's more where that came from?"

"Enough to arm a team strong enough to overrun the Cavrilhu base on the surface."

"When?"

"The weapons will be coming in a few at a time over the next two to three weeks; the attack will be launched soon after."

"We tried once, you know," The innkeeper said solemnly. "Not at their base, but at the starport; we were going to fight our way off of the planet. There were over a thousand of us. . . less than fifty made it back to the city, and more than half of them were hunted down and killed anyway. Two ships managed to take off; we saw the explosions from here."

"You'll have help this time, and training. You won't be alone."

"Training? In three weeks' time? What good will that do us?"

"Half of the fight is just fighting it; we'll handle the rest. Take the blaster; stand and fight; lead your people to freedom."


* * *


Hyperspace Checkpoint C-5

Smarts patiently listened to the holographic transmission of Lavisar's chief senator. "The Cavrilhu shipped three squadrons of Preybird Starfighters through our space yesterday. That's three squadrons of fighters going somewhere else, to fuel some other tyrant's bloodlust, to destroy some other innocent people's way of life. We have to blockade the route to Amorris; we have to stop this now."

It was a closely guarded secret of the Cavrilhu that they had starship factories on Amorris, which they used to produce Preybird-class Starfighters. The Cavrilhu had been using and selling Preybirds to various organizations in the surrounding regions for years; with the interdictor network up, selling the Preybirds was their only means of revenue, and shipping them through Lavisar was their only way to get them to their destinations.

Smarts was a little curious about how Lavisar knew what exactly the Cavrilhu were shipping, but it didn't matter much; in a few weeks, the Cavrilhu would be little more than a memory, and who-knew-what-when would be largely irrelevant.

"The route must remain open," Smarts replied simply. "The benefits of supplying our developing resistance force on Amorris far outweigh the negative effects of whatever minor transactions the Cavrilhu can manage."

"We have the firepower to crush the Cavrilhu without any 'resistance movements.' What we don't have, is the means to track down the vessels we are allowing to slip through our fingers."

"If the civilian population on Amorris is incapable of defending itself, we risk inciting a hostage situation by attacking. Varn was freed from the Cavrilhu because a fraction of their forces were trying to dominate a world containing billions of citizens. On Amorris, the entirety of the Cavrilhu are present, and there are only millions of civilian inhabitants. . . forcibly disarmed civilians, at that. If we don't give them the capacity to defend themselves, we invite disaster and failure."

"Would they do that? Would they use the inhabitants of Amorris like that?"

"The Cavrilhu would use those people as living shields if they thought it would give them the slightest opportunity to survive the coming conflict. If we don't arm these people, either they will die, or we will give the Cavrilhu the means to escape; I will not accept either of those options."

"We will continue according to your plans, though we wish there was something more we could do to help."

"There will be much for your people to do when the fighting begins, Senator; the ultimate fate of the Cavrilhu Pirates may very well rest in your hands."

Amorris, The Weary Man's Inn, one week later

The basement was dark, smelly, and cramped, but it was quiet and far-removed from the prying eyes of the occasional Cavrilhu patrol. In the corner, a newly arrived member of the combined task force's insertion team was putting together a battle droid; Gamma stood nearby, working on another. The droids—including Gamma—had been smuggled onto Amorris in pieces, and there were only about a dozen of them at the moment. Soon, however, the rapidly growing resistance group would have reliable contacts at the spaceport, and faster, safer, larger-scale means of sneaking supplies would be arranged.

Someone came down the stairs, and Kerrick Arkanus looked up from the maps and charts he had been studying. The new arrival was Giles Rhade, the proprietor of the inn and unofficial leader of the resistance movement. "I got about two dozen more to commit," He said wearily, "but until we get some more serious firepower in here, it's going to be hard to win most of these people over."

Kerrick pulled a datapad from a bag at his feet, throwing it over to Giles. "This is a recording of the Battle of Kauron; it shows the defeat of the Cavrilhu at the hands of the Cooperative Defense Force." He watched Giles' expression change as the recording began to play. "Play the next segment; it shows the full size of the Quelii Sector Combined Task Force."

Giles' eyes widened in surprise as he saw the numbers flash across the screen. "That's amazing," He said simply.

"There's a comparison showing the ratio of Cooperative forces to Cavrilhu forces at the Battle of Kauron, and the projected ratio of Quelii Sector forces to Cavrilhu forces at the future Battle of Amorris; as you can see, they're in a worse position now than they were at Kauron."

"Why are you showing me this?"

"The Cavrilhu have gone to great lengths to keep the people of Amorris from knowing how hard they've been hit by the Cooperative; we just want to enlighten your fellow citizens. We're making copies; we want you to distribute them to the people you trust. We have to show everyone that they aren't going to be alone this time. Seeing is believing, friend, and this shows without any confusion or uncertainty just how bad the Cavrilhu have it. Their hearts are already in this fight; we just have to win their minds, and their hands will follow soon enough."


* * *


Amorris, civilian spaceport, four days later

Kerrick was wearing a mechanic's outfit, working to replace a piece of damaged hull plating on a docked freighter. He was doing it partly to keep up his cover as a desperate mechanic, though he really wasn't all that concerned about the Cavrilhu catching him; they were so busy trying to scrounge up resources to defend themselves from the impending attack, that they weren't paying any attention to what was happening on Amorris itself.

No, he wasn't too concerned about being captured; what he was concerned about, was the new shipment of supplies that was coming in today. It was the largest shipment yet, and its discovery would be detrimental to the entire operation.

The plan was to overwhelm the Cavrilhu inspectors with too many incoming shipments for their inspection teams to handle. As the pirates moved to intercept traders coming in with droids, speeders, and starship parts, men bringing barrels of grains or boxes of foodstuffs were completely ignored.

"What's this!" One of the pirates exclaimed, opening the hollow shell of a droid and finding a blaster inside. Fear shot across the trader's face, and he quickly reached for his own concealed blaster, running for his ship as he fired at the angry, surprised pirate. Friends jumped out from the freighter, firing at the pirates spread throughout the hangar, offering cover fire for the lone, running figure.

In all of the commotion, with shocked workers and ships' crews running everywhere, no one noticed a few boxes of goods being rushed out of the spaceport, or several skiffs loaded with unchecked items speeding away.

The rogue freighter took off, its entire crew now onboard. Small defense turrets fired from the spaceport, scoring some hits but doing little damage. Then bright flashes cut through the sky as ground-based turbolasers located at the nearby Cavrilhu base opened fire.

By now, Kerrick was standing outside the spaceport, staring into the sky. A fireball blossomed in the distance; Good luck, and thank you, he thought to himself, turning around and walking back towards the inn.


* * *


The next day

"From what I've been able to gather," Giles Rhade began, "the Cavrilhu bought it wholeheartedly. They think one of the local businessmen was trying to get his hands on a few blasters. Tobian Diggs vanished from his home in the middle of the night last night; the Cavrilhu want everyone to believe that they tied him to the shipment and took him away, but in truth, we helped smuggle him off-world, to make it look to the Cavrilhu like he's running because he's guilty. They don't have a clue about the weapons we snuck into town while that freighter was distracting them; Kerrick, whoever those men were, I thank you for them on behalf of all the people of Amorris. Their sacrifice will not be soon forgotten."

They were sitting in a circle in the basement of the inn, about fifteen of them in all. Kerrick and two members of his insertion team were present, as well as Giles and several of the locals he had chosen to help lead the revolt. The meeting would be the first and only time that all of the leaders would be together at once, at least until Amorris was free. They finally had enough resources to begin planning for the liberation of Amorris, and they weren't going to waste any time.

"There are currently about fifty members of Kerrick Arkanus' team onworld; they've already been divided among you all, and will help in any way they are able. The resistance itself now numbers in excess of five thousand, though we currently have weapons to supply only two thousand. In addition, there are approximately one hundred fifty battle droids on-world, with about half of them still unassembled. Our resources have been spread throughout the entire settlement, and there is no indication that the Cavrilhu are aware of our intentions, as of yet."

"Actually, that's not entirely true," One of Giles' men interjected. "The Cavrilhu know about the recording of the Battle of Kauron. So far, they apparently think it was just some merchant that sold a few copies to stir things up, but we should be very careful in the coming weeks. The last thing we want, is for the Cavrilhu to get wind that there were more than a half-dozen blasters in an empty droid shell yesterday, or that there are more than a half-dozen datapads with recordings of most monumental Cavrilhu defeat in history on them. If we aren't careful, they might start thinking conspiracy, and that would not be good at all."


Six days later


His name was Rath Jansen; he was nineteen, and he had joined the resistance with four of his best friends. He hadn't been given a blaster yet, but his friend, Seth, had. At that particular moment, the two were walking down the street, chatting about nothing in particular, and generally minding their own business.

Then they heard the sound of broken glass ahead, and they looked forward to see a Cavrilhu patrolman knocking over a table full of fragile goods in front of a small store. He was waving a datapad around, yelling madly at the shopkeeper, shouting profanities and kicking another table over. The two friends knew what was going on immediately; it was one of the recordings of the Battle of Kauron, and the pirate wanted to know where the shopkeeper had gotten it from.

Seth grabbed Rath and pushed him into a nearby alleyway, pulling out the small blaster pistol he kept hidden beneath his jacket, and handing it to his friend. "Stay here," He said sternly, pushing Rath a little farther into the alley. Seth turned around quickly, sprinting ahead to the small store and stepping between the pirate and the shopkeeper.

The pirate tried to push the young man out of the way, but Seth grabbed his arm, frantically trying to stand his ground. The pirate's other arm came up quickly, ramming the butt of his blaster into the side of Seth's head. Rath was standing at the edge of the alleyway, holding his friend's blaster tightly, terrified and unsure of what he should do.

Seth collapsed to the ground, obviously disoriented. The pirate was pointing his blaster at Seth, and he looked ready to fire.

Rath jumped from the corner, taking his friend's small weapon in a two-handed grip, and unleashed a hail of blaster fire. Unfortunately, the bonds of friendship often cloud reason and objectivity. The pirate fell to the ground, dead, several holes burnt into his side. Then an indescribable pain shot through Rath's back and shoulder, and he too fell to the ground, terror overcoming him as the face of another Cavrilhu appeared above him, this one leveling a blaster at Rath's face.

What have I done? Rath realized in that moment that if he lived long enough to be interrogated, the first question the pirates would ask would be: "How does some kid get the money to buy a blaster on Amorris?" On a world where only evil was armed, there was no way a nineteen year old boy could have gotten a blaster on his own. Seth had given him the blaster to hide it, not use it, and now, he had placed much more than their two lives on the line.

Checkpoint A-1, Two weeks later

Before Traan Shi's shuttle even landed in Smarts' docking bay, he was already ranting. "You've stalled for an extra ten days; how much longer are you going to wait?"

Complications had arisen on Amorris over the past few days, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to get supplies to the resistance group on the planet. Apparently, a young man had been captured by the Cavrilhu while carrying a blaster pistol, an item that was carefully policed by the Cavrilhu. The pirates quickly became suspicious, performing random raids of houses and businesses, stepping up security significantly at the civilian spaceport, and reinstating their patrols throughout the city. Because of all the new obstacles, there were only three thousand armed civilians and two hundred assembled battle droids, less than half the number Smarts had hoped to have by that time.

Pirate traffic was increasing through the Lavisar-Amorris route, and it would have to be blocked off soon, because leaving it open in the midst of such blatant overuse by the Cavrilhu would undoubtedly tip the pirates to the fact that it was intentionally being left open.

It seemed like nothing was happening the way it had been planned, and everyone was getting anxious, Smarts included. "I will wait as long as it takes," Smarts responded, the cold, mechanical tone of his voice carrying a warning edge. "I will not sacrifice the people of Amorris in some personal attempt to get vengeance on the Cavrilhu. A line must be drawn somewhere, and I draw it at the death of innocence. We will wait, because anything else would be criminal."


* * *


Amorris

It was no longer safe to meet in the inn; it looked to conspicuous. Kerrick was hiding out with one of Giles' friends, and he and Giles had decided that they shouldn't meet directly anymore; they had both agreed that having the two leaders of the resistance in the same place at the same time was too risky. That's why it surprised Kerrick to see Giles run through the front door, panting heavily. "They're going to execute them," He managed to say between breaths. "Tomorrow; at their base."

Kerrick knew exactly who "they" were; the two idiot kids who had jeopardized the entire operation. Who knew one blaster could cause so much trouble. He stared at Giles with an expression that clearly said what he was thinking—"Yeah? And I care why?" Three more men shuffled into the house about that time, each wearing jackets, each carrying poorly concealed weapons. "I don't know what you guys are thinking, but stop. Right now."

"We're going to save them; we have to."

"No. No, no, no, no, NO!" Kerrick said simply, and quite loudly. "They went and got themselves killed; that's what happened. It's too late now. Anything you do will only hurt our chances of organizing an effective fighting force in the future. The Cavrilhu already suspect something's going on; if you go to their base, guns blazing, you'll only be confirming their suspicions."

A few more people came in, this time from the back. They, too, were armed. "You listen to me, off-worlder," Giles said firmly, pointing his finger at Kerrick, "I made a promise to everyone, that no matter what happened, I would stand by them. Those two may be stupid fools who didn't know when to run and hide, but I'm the one who gave them the option to stand and fight, and that is the option they chose. I'm going; I came here to tell you I'm going, and ask you to come along."

Kerrick was about to start shouting again, but he caught a glimpse of something in Giles eye that he hadn't seen in many other people. It was something that spoke volumes of the man who everyone else saw as nothing more than an innkeeper; it was something found only in the greatest leaders of men, only in those few who discover within themselves the capacity to serve those they lead. Giles needed to do this; he had to do this, and he would do it on his own, if that was what it took.

"No," Kerrick said quietly, turning away from the man. "You can't go; your people need you." He paused for a moment, but something in his voice kept Giles from responding just yet. "I'll go instead," He finally said, sweeping his gaze across the men gathered there. "You. . . you. . . you," He said, pointing out specific men in the group. "You're coming with me."

"Kerrick, I'm going; you don't—"

"I understand perfectly well, friend, but I can't let you go. There's still a fight to be fought, and someone needs to lead it. I'm not that man, but you are." Kerrick turned towards the door, beckoning the three he had picked to follow. "I've got to visit Gamma first, to update him; you should be there, Giles."

A few minutes later, they were standing in a small workshop, a false wall opened to reveal Gamma and a few dozen battle droids. "I'm leaving, and I don't expect I'll be coming back. Giles is in command now, but I want you to understand this: you don't move until Smarts tells you to. Do you understand? The operation has to be executed according to the timetable." Kerrick cast Giles a threatening glance. "If Giles tries to launch the operation early, for whatever reason, I want you to lock him out of the weapons stores and keep the droids powered down. You don't move until Smarts tells you to."

"Acknowledged."

Kerrick hated that droid, but it was his only way of insuring that Giles stuck to the plan.


* * *


Twelve men, most of whom were members of the combined task force, snuck quietly into the Cavrilhu base, concealed by the blackness of night. There were no walls, no fences, no perimeter alarms, and only a few men on patrol. They snuck through the buildings, weaving their way through the interior of the large, sprawling compound, careful to avoid detection. But darkness and silence will only conceal a man for so long, and the farther into the base they ventured, the more active it became.

The rescue party had a general idea of where the two prisoners were being held, but it would take some time to determine their exact location. They made their way into one of the largest structures in the Cavrilhu base, and they did a decent job of sneaking around for the first few minutes, but before long, they were forced to kill a trio of pirates and hide their bodies away.

By the time they made it to the cellblocks, someone had found the bodies, and the alarm was raised. As Kerrick and most of the others took up defensive positions, two members of the team worked to open the cell doors. The Cavrilhu were on them almost immediately; with pirates pouring in from both sides of the corridor, Kerrick feared that they would soon be overrun. The man to his left fell to blaster fire, then the one to his right, then a bolt caught him in the shoulder. On the brink of losing their position, the sound of an explosion tore through the corridor, followed a fraction of a second later by another explosion in front of Kerrick. As he opened his eyes, he saw dozens of resistance fighters rushing over the fallen bodies of the pirates. He turned around to see the same thing happening at the other end of the corridor.

"How?"

"Giles sent us out the same time you left," One of the new arrivals said in response. "We took speeders and skiffs around the Cavrilhu base, then approached on foot from behind. There's a low ridge that's usually patrolled, but we took a gamble that those men had been diverted to patrolling the city." The man's face cracked with an uncontrollable smile. "We were right."

There were about eighty of them in all, and Kerrick quickly redeployed them throughout the building, setting up defensive positions and establishing large enough area of control that they had room to fall back if needed. The cells were quickly opened, and a few dozen prisoners were armed with weapons taken from the fallen Cavrilhu. Kerrick saw Seth and Rath staggering out of their cells, beaten badly; whatever the Cavrilhu knew about the resistance movement, they didn't learn it from those two. They saw Kerrick looking at them and tried to offer appreciative smiles.

He tossed one of them his blaster. "You wanted a fight? Now's your chance." Some guy with a medpack tried to sit the two friends down and treat their wounds, but they pushed him away, limping down the hallway to join the fight.

"Giles is coming for us," A somewhat familiar voice said from behind Kerrick. He turned around to see one of Giles' hand-picked commanders staring back at him.

"For the sake of everyone on Amorris, I hope not; it was stupid enough for him to send you here."


* * *


"I'm ordering you to join in this attack!" Giles Rhade said to Gamma once again, staring into the lifeless eyes of the machine.

"I have been given orders to wait until I receive the timetable from Smarts."

"With your help or without it, we are going."

Gamma paused for a long moment, considering the statement. "In the presence of conflicting commands, I must determine which more adequately fulfills my basic design function: to protect the members and allies of the Cooperative at the expense of any and all nonorganic resources at my disposal." Gamma paused for another moment. "All remaining weapons stockpiles have been unlocked; all battle droids are coming online; all command and control droids are coming online; I am at your service, commander."


Checkpoint B-2

Something was wrong; Smarts had just received an unscheduled message from Gamma. If Gamma wasn't using proper communications channels, it could only mean that the Cavrilhu already knew about the resistance forces on Amorris. Even as he reviewed the message, he set his immense calculating capacities to finding a way to salvage the situation.


* * *


Amorris

Giles Rhade was sitting in a speeder, racing toward the Cavrilhu base with over two thousand men and women following him. Beside him was Gamma, and clinging to the sides of the front line of repulsorcraft were all of the battle droids that had been smuggled onto Amorris. There were more people on their way, and even more that would stay in the city to keep the pirates from gaining control over the unarmed populace. In truth, only about half of the people who were with Giles were armed; there just weren't enough weapons to go around. If their allies fell in battle, or they overran an enemy position, the unarmed members would pick up the silenced weapons and continue the charge. Otherwise, they were just there to look more intimidating. After all, half of the fight was just fighting it; the combined task force would handle the rest. I hope.


* * *


Cooperative vessels jumped in-system from a dozen directions, spraying fire randomly into nearby enemy ships as they converged on a single location. There was no grand plan, no master strategy, no tactic to confuse and subvert the readied Cavrilhu defenders; the only thing that mattered, was that Smarts kept his promise to the people of Amorris.

Smarts had been given news of the ground assault before it had actually been launched, and Smarts had acted immediately. Without the authority to move the entire Combined Task Force into motion, he had ordered all of his ships to abandon their stations and converge on Amorris. He sent requests for aide to all member worlds of the Combined Task Force, but he didn't have time to wait for a reply; he was needed now.

By the time Smarts himself had exited hyperspace, the battle had already begun; realizing the urgency of the situation, Smarts had ordered all Cooperative vessels to Amorris without properly planning a jump sequence that would place them all in the system at the same time.

He ordered the ships nearest Amorris to open fire on the Cavrilhu base; the Cavrilhu responded by activating a small, low-powered defensive shield. It wasn't very impressive, and was designed for little more than to buy the pirates a few minutes to assemble their forces, but at the moment, it was serving Smarts. With the shield up, Cavrilhu ships in orbit were unable to fire on freedom fighters in and around the base. As he watched the small formation of civilian craft race toward the Cavrilhu base, Smarts just hoped that whoever was in command down there knew that.

The Cooperative vessels continued to press forward, fighting their way deeper into the Cavrilhu defense sphere. Assaulted from every side, the Cooperative vessels wouldn't be able to last very long, but in so close to the planet, the Cooperative ships were able to launch transports to the surface. Soon, the fighters on the ground would be reinforced by the first generation of Cooperative soldiers.

The Cooperative ships drew as much attention as possible to themselves, spreading out slightly to better protect their descending transports. With reports coming in throughout the fleet of shield failures and hull breaches, Smarts feared that his vessels would succumb before more aide arrived.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, several warships appeared in-system; Smarts recognized them immediately. "You must not broadcast your identifications," Smarts transmitted immediately. "The Cavrilhu must not know that your world has joined the Combined Task Force." They were ships from Lavisar, and though they were few in number, their arrival was enough to distract the Cavrilhu defenders and give Smarts and his ships the chance to make a break for open space.


* * *


Traan Shi felt awkward. Very awkward. He was standing on the bridge of the flagship of the Halmad Royal Defense Force, and had been given the responsibility of coordinating the hastily revised assault on Amorris. With Smarts and the rest of the Cooperative ships already in-system, and reports that Lavisar had sent aide as well, no one was sure what they would find at the other end of the jump. Hopefully, Smarts would still be alive to take over the assault when the reinforcements arrived.

They reverted a few minutes later, finding a situation that was better than they thought it would be, but worse than they had hoped. The Cooperative ships were straining to break free of Amorris gravity well, with Cavrilhu vessels attacking relentlessly. The forces from Lavisar were a little farther away, offering what supportive fire they could. Already, a few of the Cooperative's smaller ships lay floating in space, their engines destroyed or otherwise disabled. The ships of the Combined Task Force entered from the same vectors that the Cooperative ships had, their reversions almost simultaneous. They began moving out immediately, deploying in a formation only slightly modified from the original plan.

Smarts took over almost immediately, moving formations around and deploying them into new positions. Several of the Cooperative ships that hadn't taken critical damage turned around and plunged themselves back into the battle. It was significantly less effective than the original plan had been, but stuff happens, and people either adapt, or they lose.

The fighting continued fiercely in space and on the ground, but eventually, the Cavrilhu accepted that they were going to lose, and once again fled for their lives. But as the ships broke and ran, Smarts moved the vessels of the task force to corral and contain one particular ship: the Corellian Gunship Void Cutter. The personal ship of Captain Zothip, leader of the Cavrilhu Pirates, Smarts wanted to make absolutely sure that that ship didn't escape.

The Cavrilhu fled in all directions, but as planned, most of them ran toward Lavisar. The interdiction network was still up, though it was weaker than it was supposed to be since all Cooperative ships had been involved in the main assault. However, the most worrisome link in the chain was Lavisar; with the bulk of its defense force having come to the Cooperative's aide, and no Cooperative reinforcements available to be sent there, the world wouldn't be able to stop the flood of fleeing Cavrilhu Pirates. All available ships at Amorris were sent in pursuit, and with any luck, the few ships already at Lavisar would be able to slow the Cavrilhu down long enough for the ships leaving Amorris to catch up.


* * *


Kerrick Arkanus stepped from the blood-stained, battle-scorched building which had almost become his tomb. He limped slightly, his right leg having been grazed by a blaster bolt. Seeing Giles Rhade, he stopped suddenly, fixing the man with a cold stare. "I don't know what you did to get that droid to help you, but you shouldn't have," He said, straining to make sure his weary voice carried all of the venom he intended it to. "You shouldn't have done that; we could have lost everything." Without another word, he straightened painfully and gave Giles Rhade the most sincere military salute he had mustered in quite some time. "Thank you," He added, the venom and malice gone from his voice.

Giles stepped forward, smiling as he reached out to shake the other man's hand. "I don't know what salute's for, but I sure do appreciate it."

Kerrick slumped back into a slightly more comfortable position, a grimace contorting his face, then he reached out and shook the other man's hand. "Well done," He managed to say after a few seconds. "You surprised me."

"Yeah, well, we had some help from up there," Giles said, pointing into the sky. "Somebody was kind enough to get the Cavrilhu to turn their shield on; it did more good for us than it did for them."

All around them were the tired and wounded, sitting, leaning, and lying wherever there was room. Medics were running around, trying to tend to all of them; off to the side, Kerrick saw Seth and Rath, the two young men who had started all of this mess, getting medical attention. It was good to know they both survived.

The Cavrilhu on the ground had made an attempt at turning the civilians in the city into hostages, but their efforts had failed miserably. Kerrick had already heard rumors of civilians arming themselves with knives and clubs and taking to the streets, beating any pirates they came across. But so far, those were just rumors.

Five men came stumbling into the base, clutching empty water bottles and two nearly-empty medpacks. They were exhausted, dirty, and looked to be on the brink of unconsciousness, and they probably would have just blended into the mess of things, but their wounds were obviously not from combat, and that was out of place enough to catch Kerrick's eye. He couldn't help but smile when he saw the five of them in their terrible state.

"Giles," He said to his friend as he gestured towards the new arrivals, "I wasn't entirely honest with you earlier. Those are the men we used as decoys at the starport three weeks ago; by the time their freighter was destroyed, they were already in a heavily reinforced escape pod. The debris from their destroyed ship helped mask their landing, and they started making their way here immediately. After extending our timetable so much, they've probably been hiding just beyond the Cavrilhu patrols for a week or more." He turned from Giles for a moment, signaling a medic to go take care of the men. "I was a little worried they hadn't survived, but I don't send men on missions there's no chance they'll walk away from."


* * *


Beta was once again standing before the Combined Council of Varn, but this time, the Council had five more members. Five new members. Five members from Amorris. The world's population had requested that Varn accept them as a dependent colony soon after their liberation. Though many Quelii Sector worlds had contributed to the downfall of the Cavrilhu Pirates and the freeing of Amorris' population, it was the Cooperative that had assembled the Combined Task Force, and it was the Cooperative that had risked so much to reinforce Amorris' freedom fighters.

The world had been all but cut off from the galaxy at large for far too long, and now, its people were ready to become valued members of the galactic community.

Though the combined task force had been disbanded, what it stood for would not be forgotten. In a time of crisis, the many peoples of the Quelii Sector had found within themselves the ability to stand as one, and defeat an enemy that had threatened all of their freedoms.

Beta looked up at the new, improved Combined Council of Varn. "Greetings," He began, sounding almost happy. "This meeting has been called to order to discuss the possibility . . ." It sounded like business as usual; it felt like business as usual; it looked like business as usual; but somewhere, found far below the lines of code that defined Smarts' existence, in a place where logic and process were not welcome, he knew that another corner had been turned in the long road to freedom.