The Ruusan Liberator

Thing's aboard the corvette had seemed to get rather dark after the numerous and strange explosion's on board the ship. Most of the surviving member's of Alpha company suspected that the ship was under attack from the Imperial warship, but from closer inspection it turned out that the corvette was actually rigged to trap a majority of them.

Iriex was among the few that managed to stay conscious after the first few series of blast's, and unlike the other's managed to continue on his way towards the hangar. Aremia who was in engineering thankfully never felt the series of explosion's and was beginning to make her way towards the hangar as well, with her squad in toll. 

"Iriex I'm not receiving anything from Tejat or the Jedi, have you seen them?" Aremia stated through her commlink  as she held the durasteel door open for the remainder of her team, before ensuring that the door was sealed behind them.

"Nah, haven't heard nothin' in a while, was on my way up there to their deck to check on em. All I've seen is just more and more squad's affected by the blast's." Iriex spoke back in his gruff and typical way.

Aremia sighed with worriedness lingering in her posture and facial expression's. This entire situation was bad enough, but now with both the Jedi and the commander most likely down it made the situation worse.

"Take whatever squad's we have left and regroup at the hangar, we need to get back to the Kalee Bastion immediately." 

"Copy that, I'll do what I can here and be there sharpish." Iriex responded back through the commlink.

Aremia nodded mostly to herself before she tucked the commlink away and jogged to catch up with her squad. This was already beginning to become tiresome. She really couldn't think of anything else getting worse from this point on.

How wrong she was at the time.

******

Xinthiss awoke with a groan after the explosion near him, he hadn't known it but he had been unconscious for only a few minutes. Upon stumbling to his feet the young man looked around him only to find most of his team down. Without hesitation however, Xinthiss moved to help the nearest solider and picked the piece of rubble holding him in place up.

With his wounded self it made it much more difficult to pick up the piece of wall that was holding him in place. Even with the force it made it very much more difficult to help, but regardless they both managed to pry the piece of metal off the man.

"Thank's sir." The man he knew as Jackson replied as he tried to stand up, but failed soon after from the pain he was experiencing.

"Try not to move, get some rest." Xin spoke softly to the man clearly trying to soothe him by not making him move much, with some hesitation Jackson finally resented and gave up after a few minutes.

Xinthiss on the other hand decided it be best to the help the other surviving member's recover from their current status'. While many weren't covered in rubble and debris from the explosions, the rest were scattered on the floor recovering from the blast. These few that survived however were fortunate as soon after they started helping the others they found many soldier's of both team's dead.

Both squad's had consisted of five member's each, and now they were down too only six member's. Four of their men had not been lucky as they had been the closest to the explosion's and by the time they lifted the bodies out of the rubble they decided there was nothing they could do.

Tejat was the last unaccounted for as the rest who were still alive were now being tended too by the few men and women who were fortunately not wounded. Xin however continued to look for the Duro and finally spotted him through the clustered broken debris through the hallway, with one last little bit of strength he had, the Jedi rose his hand up and held the debris with the force before lifting it up from the grasp of Tejat.

With a quick command from Xinthiss two other's quickly scrambled to get Tejat from under the rubble, and within a moment they dragged him from underneath. It was a good thing too, because a moment later Xin's energy gave out and dropped the debris back to where it originally was.

Before he even knew it Xin was on the floor breathing a sigh of relief as he quickly tried to regain some sense of energy, it didn't help himself that he was also wounded. When one of the soldier's approached him he calmly waved him off before continuing to breathe heavily. It was clear that the men were trying to ensure that Tejat was in a stable condition, and hopefully he would make it through.

With a sheer amount of luck, it was soon discovered that the Duro would survive thankfully. His injures however were minor and he was still unconscious, a sign that none of them were hoping for. It fell upon Xin to take charge from here on out it seemed, but even he did not know what to do during this situation.

The ship they sat in was falling apart, an obvious trap set in place by the Imperial destroyer to lure other investigating Republic ships into it's clutches. Now it was the Kalee Bastion that was under siege and the Ruusan Liberator was far from saving at this point. It was clear to the young Jedi that if he and his men did not start moving immediately they would all most likely die on board the ship.

Xinthiss took a look around the now ruined hallway's, and noticed that their way to the hangar was completely destroyed. The route that would take them to the elevator shaft was nothing but rubble and broken circuitry, with piles of scrap littering the floor. The thought of lifting the rubble came to mind, but even that would be foolish considering the instability of the room currently.

"Does anyone here know of another way out?" Xin asked breathlessly and tiredly as he huffed constantly, his eye's glared over to the recovering soldier's until one spoke up.

"Usually these corvette's have maintenance access hatches, we take that it should get us to Hangar. It's a very big if though." The soldier said experientially clearly as tired and wounded as Xinthiss currently was perhaps even more. This was clearly evident by the way he held his side which was currently bleeding and burned.

"We don't have many other option's, lets go." Xin stated once before slowly and carefully standing up, the small amount of pain he had coursing through his body was slowly killing him but he knew he had to push on. Trying to be as careful as they could be the surviving members of the two teams began helping one another. Jackson who was one of the two who wasn't wounded managed to pick up and begin to carry the still unconscious Tejat, while Xinthiss and the remaining unwounded soldier helped the other two wounded soldier's out of the room.

Even though they were hurt and in very bad shape, the group managed to press on out of the room before an explosion rocketed behind them. If the group had stayed any longer than they would have been caught in it sense it went off in the room they had just left. It did mean however that any means' of going back and recovering the bodies of their fallen were now out of the airlock.

"We have to keep moving, if we don't we'll never get off this doomed vessel." Xin said with a bit of misery, but enough had been said as the group soon agreed with him and began to move again. The ship was falling apart around them so it did little to make them stop for even a moment. That was until the soldier that Xinthiss was carrying fell to his knees in all but clear pain and agony from his wounds.

"You're not going to be able to walk any longer, I'll carry you the rest of the way." Xin spoke calmly and kindly as he swiftly picked up the soldier and put him on his back, it may have felt like a backpack to Xin, but to the soldier it just meant more pain when it moved.

"Sergeant can't you get anyone to come and help us?" The Young and tired jedi spoke desperately hoping that the other more active soldier would come up with something to help them. With barely any hesitation however the sergeant dropped Tejat, and quickly pulled out his holo-communicator praying that anyone would respond. Their desperation was getting even worse as another explosion sounded off next to them, and was also followed by the large rumble that quaked the ship.

Followed by another series of explosions the worst was coming to bear in the minds of the barely holding on group of survivors. That was until finally the communicator clicked and beeped, indicating that someone was answering their call.

"I have it sir!" The sergeant shouted as he tried his hardest to make the call as clear as he could, but the interference from the damages in the ship did not help at all. When Xin approached finally he was greeted with the sight of Aremia who seemed rather happy to hear from them.

"Thank goodness I finally reached you! We've been looking for nearly several minutes now trying to find all of you." Aremia said ecstatically and relived that she had managed to make contact with their group, but it was clear that she was concerned for them as well.

"Yes we're fine Aremia, but Tejat is injured and unresponsive currently. We also lost four of our men when we were hit by the explosions, there was nothing we could do sadly but we need help as soon as you can lend it." Xin stated slowly and carefully almost a little afraid that if he spoke too much he would loose the breath he had managed to regain ever so slowly.

"Will do, I'll send a team to come and collect you we're mopping up whoever is left on this ship and getting ready to hop back to the Kalee Bastion to give the Imp's hell. Where are you by the way?" Aremia asked with clear formality and anxiety she clearly wanted to give the Imperial's some payback for this attack, but they all did if Xin was being honest.

"We should be in a maintenance hallway somewhere between sections 1A and 2C, but you may want to hurry because." Xin was abruptly cut off by another explosion behind them only to be followed by falling debris from the roof. "Well because of that."

"Understood we're on our way." The call ended as soon as she stopped speaking, but the franticness of getting off the ship was getting even worse as the ship rumbled once more this time a lot worse then the ones before.

"Master Jedi what is the likely hood of them actually finding us during this mess?" One of the soldiers responded as he tried to help one of their wounded.

"To be completely honest that is a very debatable  question." Xinthiss was a man who was known to speak truthfully no matter what especially in times of stress, he certainly felt no need to lie to these men at this particular moment as it would most likely doom them all anyway.

"Then may I recommend we try to move too a closer location for the group to find us? We're not exactly in the most safest of places right now." The others in the group reluctantly agreed as once again another rumble and explosion occurred, this time far too close to their group.

"Unfortunately I am inclined to agree."

So it was decided the group would continue to move on to make the trip faster on both halves, and to avoid damaging themselves from the explosions any further.

The trip wasn't exactly that long as they finally came upon what looked like a ventilation door blocking their way. It made little difference to their opinion as the ship rumbled once more, but this time the power in the hallway had flickered in and out. The group looked around them worried and scared out of their minds, but before anyone could say anything there was a faint sound coming from the other side of the door.

"You don't think they?" The soldier known as Jackson spoke curiously and terrified, mostly because he was scared of what the other group could possibly be doing to get the door open.

"Oh believe me they are doing that, everyone back!" Xin shouted and quickly enough as well for as soon as he gave the order the door that had blocked their path suddenly exploded, fumes and smoke littered the hallway after and the group had too cover their mouths to not suffer from exposure.

"Commander! Jedi! Any of you alive in there!?" One of the voices from outside the smoke spoke, clearly it was their rescue team and boy would they be in trouble for nearly killing them. With barely any hesitation the group proceeded through the smoke until finally they were reunited with their allies.

"Just who in the hell thought blowing half the ship apart was a good idea of getting that open?" Xin stated angrily until he realized that he needed to suppress that, the damn Jedi code and such was a pain sometimes. He had no given answer as well until one of them spoke up, clearly the group leader it seemed.

"I did, it was the fastest way we could possibly get to you and get off this ship. Needless to say it wouldn't hurt us anyway, we're mid ship at the moment and this ship is near ready to implode." The commander spoke with urgency and complete formality for it seemed that what he was saying was the truth that the ship was ready to give up at any given minute. With the added help however the group was now able to move faster and recover as well.

"We need to get off this ship, what's the fastest way back to the hangar bay?" Xin asked demandably as it was clear he was irritate and exhausted at the same time by still being here.

"Fastest way is Section C back the way we came, there we will also rendezvous with Aremia and Iriex and the others." The commander pointed to a hallway opposite of them, but without any thought most of the group pushed on without another word. Even the wounded seemed to want to walk just to quicken their pace, but alas they couldn't and had to be carried by their much stronger comrades as they had been before.

Several minutes had passed before the group had finally managed to Section C, but unfortunately to make it the hangar deck it required them to ride one of the many turbo lifts on the now broken ship. With remorse and grimace filling their hearts the group decided to load the wounded and themselves into the turbo lifts, thankfully and remarkably the lifts still had power which made the trip downward a lot more easier.

When the group finally reached the hangar it was more or less a sigh of relief for all of them. The first thing they did was load the wounded and the still unconscious Tejat into one of the shuttles, but while they did that Xinthiss was caught staring outside the hangar's forcefield clearly watching the battle between the other two ships.

The Kalee Bastion was sparking from head to toe most likely from being ionized and frying it's systems temporarily, the Imperial Cruiser was somewhat damaged as well it seemed. The Republic corvette had given it a taste of it's own medicine when it's cannons came back online, that little fact made him happier for their situation.

His attention was soon averted to the shuttles as he heard a large amount of footsteps patting and running across the metal deck. When he turned and looked he noticed the other group's that had survived. They were far fewer than they had started out with, the one hundred and fifty men they had arrived with were now down to ninety seven with a lot of them wounded as well.

"Get these shuttles loaded men! We have lost to many and have far too many men wounded, so get packing already before this ship comes down over our heads!" Aremia was heard shouting at the large crowd. They followed her orders to the tee that was until many of them went running and jumping out of the way when debris from the roof collapsed near them.

"How much longer until we're ready Aremia?" Xin said as he rushed over to the group to help out those who were now stuck underneath the rubble. This however was folly as Iriex simply shrugged him aside and bent down to pick the rubble up, which he did easily and expertly much to the shock of Xin and the rest. Iriex's strength marveled even more than any other's it seemed.

"We have nearly everyone on board, but we don't know what will happen if we launch considering the fact that those ships are still in the middle of a firefight." Aremia said desperately has she helped another soldier into one of the shuttles, but when another piece of debris went crashing down near them it was clear just how unstable this ship was becoming. To make matters worse one final explosion had managed to knock out the power and then finally a loud and shaking rumble indicated that the ship was tearing off from it's seams.

"Firefight or not, we need to go now this ship is about to explode." Xin ordered while helping the last of the soldiers into the shuttles, by the time they were finished it was just Iriex, Xin, and Aremia left outside of the ships. With one final explosion the ship rumbled like it had never before, clearing indicating that the ship was beginning to rip in half.

Iriex shrugged and wiped a piece of shrapnel off his armor before snarkly and snootily saying. "What can I say, it was a hell of a mission."

With that the three had little left to say as the shuttles began to take off, but not before taking there last three passengers. One by one the shuttles left the hangar bay and narrowly as well because soon after the bay had exploded behind the final shuttle.

******

To say that things on board the Kalee bastion were fine was an understatement, the ship had been suddenly attacked and the entire crew was immediately in full combat alert. Within moment's Captain Daival was barking orders at the group of men after the initial attacks, but soon after their ship was hit they noticed the explosion coming in from the Ruusan Liberator it had been that way for several minutes now.

"Someone get me a status report!" Daival shouted as the bridge was hit several times by a series of short but small explosions mainly causing some men to become injured. The situation on the corvette had been the same, the ship had been disabled constantly due to the ion cannons from the Imperial warship. As for the boarders that had infiltrated their ship during the chaos, Azmo and several security teams had managed to beat them back again and again. They were now dealing with the seventh wave at least that's what Daival knew.

That was until an explosion rocketed the two ships from their sides, that's when it was made clear that the Ruusan Liberator had just split in half. There was nothing to fear however has it was soon discovered that the shuttles and crew aboard the ship had been evacuated before it was destroyed.

"Sir the shuttles have many wounded on board, but I don't know if we can take them on board during this battle." One of the ensigns responded as he desperately tried to get main power back online to the ship's weapons and engines.

"Continue to ensure we maintain this battle and survive, target the ships systems and fire!" Daival shouted and with that one command the corvette's semi-functional weapons opened fire on the Imperial Warship, that was until finally the console overheated and sparked out from life.

"Sir weapons systems have burned out on my end there's nothing that I can do." The weapons chief shouted from his position as he desperately tried to bring the systems back to life.

"Damn! Ready whatever is left and prepare for-" Daival was cut short as the Imperial Warship suddenly cloaked once again, clearly rearing from the damage it had taken. This was the breather they had been waiting for and he was ready to take full advantage of it, quickly and swiftly he moved from one station to another ensuring that all power aboard the ship was still online. He was relieved to find out that the ship was ready an all clear on every level and was also furious that most of the systems were still offline.

"Master Jedi are the invaders dealt with yet?" He spoke through the communicator as he desperately tried to weigh himself on the jedi for support.

"Confirmed, all invaders have been dealt with in my area. It's just us down here captain, what's the status up there?" Azmo replied to the captain's question clearly being stoic and calm as he ever should be in this situation.

"Bad. Very bad. We have many bridge staff injured, weapons are down, and shields are recharging as best as they can. To make matters worse the ships hyperdrive is also disabled and it will take some time before we can get it online again." Daival sounded stressed as he did his best to answer the jedi, but their current situation was worse than he could have expected.

"What do you need for us to survive this battle?" Azmo stated calmly and demandably he was normally very calm especially in battle, but with so many lives at stake he had to take command and charge right now.

"We survive by escaping if we can get the hyperdrive back online we can escape this forsaken system for good, but like I said we can't until its fixed. I am also busy bringing in the shuttles that survived the incursion on the Ruusan Liberator so I have my hand's tied here."

Azmo went silent after hearing this. The situation was becoming dire so dire in fact that only one thought came to his mind, a thought that would hopefully get them all out of this hell. With little hesitation in his mind the jedi quickly ordered his men to secure the rest of the ship, when they complied and moved on he silently sighed as he spoke into the comm again.

"Captain I've sent my men to help secure the rest of the ship, I'll head to engineering and deal with anyone that tries to interfere with its repairs." Azmo stated as he began to walk in the direction that would take him to engineering, it would be beneficial if he did so.

"Copy that master jedi, do whatever you can. Daival out." The captain said before the call was dropped suddenly, but now there was no doubt in Azmo's mind as he proceeded to the engineering deck. He would try to help and save them if he could.

He would die trying even if he had too.

******

When Azmo finally reached the engineering deck he was shocked to find it in pieces and in shambles. He was even more surprised not too find any of the engineers and repair crew down here either. That was until he moved further close to the main hyperdrive itself, surrounded around it was debris and rubble and along with it were the bodies of the staffed crew in the room.

None had survived and it was clear that the room was somewhat unstable as well. The power was flickering in and out and the rooms pressure was decreasing by the minute. It seemed that no-one was coming as well. Azmo sighed as he quickly walked over to the main control terminal to the hyperdrive and engines and assed the damages.

"Main Engines offline, external damage to hyperdrive." The main computer had spoken throughout the room, the very voice from it was enough to deafen anyone. This small fact didn't affect Azmo however as he continued to work on the ships systems from the console. Azmo started with accessing the ships power supply and then by checking the systems with the computer.

"Computer what systems are offline?" He stated calmly as he stood before the massive hyperdrive, waiting for the computer to answer.

"Main Engines, Hyperdrive, Weapons, shields, and reserve power all offline." The computer spoke with a soft voice this time clearly recognizing that it was just him in the room.

"What do I need to repair the engines and the hyperdrive?" He stated as he double checked the systems while the computer processed.

"To repair the main engines you will need to cycle the coolant within them, and once that is done the engines overheat will end."

"So the engines are just overheated correct? Not fully damaged?"

"Correct."

Azmo nodded at this confirmation and moved to do what the computer had told him, within a moment of cycling the coolant the sound of the engines grinding could be heard. It didn't take long for the computer to confirm that the engines were now partially repaired making it safe for them to travel again.

"Now what of the Hyperdrive?"

"Firstly you must flush coolant into the overheating core same as was done with the Engines, the second step is too remove the core itself from it's circuity which will release radiation within the room at the same time, it is recommended to wear radiation protection in case of this. Thirdly you must then make the repairs inside the cores processing and finally reinstall the core."

That was something he wasn't expecting as he moved to do as the computer told him, firstly by cycling the coolant again and once the heat levels died down he moved on to the second stage. Upon completing the first step he activated the second stage by ejecting the core from the hyperdrive.

"Warning! Removing core from the link will release radiation throughout the room, evacuation order given." The computer told him solemnly before it cut itself off, but it did little to stop him as he carefully put his hands on the core and swiftly removed it. Within a moment Azmo was blinded by a bright light from inside the circuity and was taken a back by the power from the radiation surging from it.

He was blinded for merely a moment as he slowly pulled himself back up to look inside the machine, being careful to pull the circuitry one way and then another the elderly jedi moved the circuitry to their correct positions and sighed as he saw the light inside turn green. When he was done he moved from the pedestal and positioned the core back into it's place, and thankfully the hyperdrive spike as he called it retracted back into place.

Azmo was a proud man and courageous that hadn't changed as he slowly walked towards the main console, stumbling and crawling as well. Plastered across his face was a vile green sustenance that spread like blisters and sores across his body, he coughed blood he suddenly realized as he leaned against the console. He exhaustedly typed in the final commands before leaning on the console again.

"Hyperdrive online."

Those two words made Azmo happier then he ever could have been in this situation, but as soon as he turned to leave he felt his knees give way and he fell. Blood lurched from his mouth as he coughed uncontrollably, but soon he felt himself loosing the strength to even move or rise up. Azmo had taken a full dose of radiation double counting the amount of radiation that still had not flushed from the room, to say that he would survive was a fools hope.

He sighed one final time as he realized that he was dying slowly, he had never thought of the feeling of death or what lied beyond. Azmo only believed in the force and he believed he would become one with it, that thought pleased him as well as knowing that he had saved the ship, it's crew, and his former apprentice Xinthiss. Though he was sad even that he would not continue to help Xin throughout his journey's and to tell him how proud he was of him, that would be a sacrifice that Xin would have to take .

With one final cough Azmo fell on to his back and stared at the now radiated ceiling until all sight and consciousness left him, and finally in the cold dark room. 

Azmo finally died.

******

It was a surprise when Daival learned of what Azmo was intending so he knew that with help they would all be able to escape together. The last of the shuttles had touched down in the main hangar on board the corvette and most of their systems were recovering, except the one thorn that was in his side at the moment.

Xinthiss Skylighter.

Ever since rejoining them on the bridge the young jedi was desperate to find his former master and friend, going so far as to avoid his medical checks and getting out of the med bay. Daival was more worried about the ship at the moment and absent mindedly listened to Xinthiss as he rambled about finding Azmo.

"Azmo went down to engineering to help and defend our engineers while they repair our engines and the hyperdrive, hopefully they will be successful." Daival stated with high hopes in both the elder jedi and his people.

"Pardon me captain but allow me to take some men with me to that area to help them, please." Xin pleaded with the captain who at first was reluctant to actually do so, but with little choice the captain agreed and he had never seen the young jedi more happier. That was until one of the ensigns shouted.

"Captain! She's back!" The ensign pointed out the viewport towards the now uncloaked Imperial Warship which was now ignoring all forms of testing it's ion weaponry as it fired upon the corvette with everything it had.

"We won't survive long until the engines and hyperdrive are repaired, Xinthiss go help him now!" Daival shouted while explosion's and crewmen went flying around him, but when he turned he looked at the determination in Xin's eyes as he quickly turned and ran towards the door. And then he stopped.

Daival was confused when he looked at the young jedi who barely even moved from his position, Xinthiss seemed confused, shocked, and scared at the same time almost as if though he felt something through the force from what he knew.

"What is it!?" He demanded while trying to not get hit by an explosion and a flying crewmember.

"A-Azmo....H-He is dead." Xin stumbled wordlessly as he felt the ripple in the force, he had felt the life drain from Azmo as his spirit became one with the force. The young man had no idea how to feel as he stood there helplessly with the Captain, who also seemed shocked hearing that statement.

Until finally some happy news occurred.

In an instant the entire bridge was flooded by the panel's, terminals, and consoles coming to life. Within a moment one of the crew gave them the happy news.

"Sir the mains are back online, along with engines and hyperdrive!"

"By the all mighty force, Go!" Daival shouted as he rushed forward to the helm with the ensign, he knew that the loss of the jedi was something they would have to deal with. First however they were leaving for good.

Within a few seconds of just hearing the order the ensign took control of the helm and piloted the ship out of the direction of the Imperial Warship, plotted in the coordinates to a nearby hyperspace lane, and engaged the hyperdrive.

The last thing the Imperial's would see was the stardust of the Kalee Bastion as she jumped away from the system.

The Kalee Bastion had escaped, but at what cost? That was what was going through the minds of the crew, and Xinthiss as the ship began his slow return to Coruscant through hyperspace.