Star Wars: The Sith War - Fiction: Red as...

[Tala]

Flame.

Smoke filled the labyrinth of corridors, choked the durasteel-framed tunnels in a churning miasma of darkness and fear. Brilliant lances of charric blue and blaster scarlet pierced the gloom, illuminating shadowy forms that cried out in pain and rage only to fall in indistinct masses on the cold, dark floor. The shrieking of the klaxons and the mad strobe of warning lights only added to the confusion as emergency systems blared out their warnings… too late.

Electrical fires flared to life as machinery failed and communication consoles were obliterated in a hail of blaster fire and fragmentation explosions along with their doomed operators, leaving the outpost’s immediate survivors to scramble desperately for weapons, hiding places, escape… Anything that might delay the inevitable massacre.

And a massacre it was.

The inhabitants of Kesmer Station- engineers, researchers, and some few officers of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet- had been caught completely off-guard by the attack. After all, how could they have known that when they selected the tiny Outer Rim planet, lost in the void between Taris and Phindar and ravaged by electromagnetic storms, for their first tentative foray so far afield of the Ascendancy, prior claim had already been laid for the region? They could not have foreseen, despite their meticulous study of the Hydian Way and its environs, despite their observation of the planet itself and its utterly barren surface, despite their painstaking efforts to conceal their presence and encrypt their communications with Csilla, that the very people in whose territory they’d unwittingly trespassed would intercept a secure transmission and retaliate against the interlopers with ruthless efficiency.

Perhaps, after nearly a decade of working swiftly, quietly, and with utter impunity in the unfamiliar area of space, they had grown too comfortable with their position. Perhaps their ambition to expand the glorious Ascendancy into the uncivilized frontier of the Outer Rim blinded them.

Or, perhaps, they had simply never heard of the Mandalorians.

Within an hour, the entire populace of the outpost had been decimated, and only an occasional energy discharge interrupted the wail of the sirens.

Two armored figures waded through the billowing clouds of smoke, moving cautiously through the maze of passageways as they searched for new targets.

Haa'tayli mayen? (See anything?) one asked over the commlink in his helmet as he stepped over the prone body of a uniformed Chiss woman.

Nayc, (Negative,) his larger companion responded dispassionately. Nu’ni haa’tayli naasade- (I see nobody-)

An enraged shriek echoed through the halls as a small form hurled itself at the nearest soldier, a charric clutched in its tiny hands like a bizarre, unwieldy club. It swung wildly, clumsily, and connected with a pitiful thwack against the hardened plate that protected the Mandalorian’s thigh. Overbalanced, the young Chiss was completely unprepared for the gauntleted fist that struck its temple and sent it tumbling to the ground.

Ke’pare! (Hold!) the second barked across the link as his partner levelled the blaster rifle at the prone child. Immediately, the barrel rose, and the taller of the two removed his helmet with the faint hiss of escaping air.

Ik'aad. Cuyi'dalyc. (A child. It's a girl.)

A rugged man with chiseled features and close-cropped hair that faded to silver at the temples glared down at the girl-child who was even then struggling to regain her feet. Anger, and not a little fear, twisted her youthful features into a mask of hatred even as she swayed unsteadily and once more lost her footing.

Kaysh sur'haai gana'tal, (She has blood in her eyes,) he observed with a crooked grin.

Gar'dinu kaysh muun'gaan, (You did hit her pretty hard,) shrugged his partner, which earned him a sharp glare, though a rivulet of blood was, indeed, trickling down the girl's azure-skinned face.

Kaysh cuyi'jahaala, nu'sirbu, came the gruff response. (She'll be fine, but that's not what I meant.)

As the elder's face disappeared once more beneath the visor of his helmet, the other hoisted the girl effortlessly over one shoulder, resolutely ignoring the flailing of her hands and feet as they strode victoriously out of the ruins of the compound with their brethren.