"Boid, I don't recall telling you to land your fighter."

Blackbird nearly jumped.  He hadn't realized his Commander could sneak up on someone that quietly. 

"Ah... I realize that, Cap, but ya see, my Defender up there would probably end up being a massive target for any ground artillery they might have on the surf--"

Callista cut him off with a sharp look.  "That was the idea."

There was a brief moment of silence.  "Ah.  Right.  Of course, Cap.  So I'll just jump into my fighter and play target droid then shall I?"

"No, you'll play chauffeur first.  Bran's still up there, and I don't want any time wasted in getting him out of that fighter.  We're not going to lose anyone while I'm still here."

"Sithspawn, forgot he was still up there.  Nightsta, help me get this camo-net off my fighter, will ya?  Gotta get this thing out of the atmosphere in double time.  At least the paint job wasn't scratched..."  

After the T/D Darkfall shot off into the distance, the remaining pilots of Typhoon began following the faint transmission from Andron's ship.  Stumbling through various vines that crossed their path, they could only see roughly 20 yards ahead of them.  Insistent parasites buzzed around, their whirling patterns making them nearly impossible to swat away.  Callista silently cursed, knowing that at any moment they could come upon another one of those Rebel commando forces.  Their sidearms wouldn't help them much if it came to a pitched battle, she knew that.  However, she kept a brisk pace, knowing inwardly that every minute lost might cost Andron his life if he was badly injured.  Or...dead.  She took a bad step at that thought, nearly tripping in the undergrowth.  No, that couldn't happen.  Death was a part of life, she knew that... but not in Typhoon.  Everyone just meant too much for them to die.  Jenn caught her by the arm before she fell again. 

"Calli, we're about 50 yards from the signal.  I suggest we keep it slow and silent from now on.  The enemy might have picked up his fighter on radar as well."

"Right.  Everyone, get your sidearms ready."

There was a slight rustle behind Callista as they drew their blasters.  Slowly, they began to move forwards, the occasional snap of a branch or crunch of a leaf beneath their feet.  Callista cursed inwardly, she might as well stop now and go to investigate it alone, the noise of the whole squadron would kill any chance of sneaking up undetected.  Maybe she would go wit--

"Halt!  Unknown personnel, names and affiliation!"

Callista turned around immediately to see a stormtrooper with a standard issue blaster rifle.  She noted, with despair, that he was in full armor as well.  They may as well throw away their blasters now, those bolts couldn't hope to penetrate that armored plating.  But as soon as these thoughts were racing through her head, the trooper stepped back in surprise and threw off his helmet.

"Guys!  Calli, wasn't expecting you to group all your boys up so quickly."

"Andy!!!  We've still got a couple missing in action.  Have you seen them?"

"Nah, the only sound I've heard in the last 20 minutes was Eljay.  Why, how many are still out there?"

"Not many.  I saw a cluster of fighters crash about 200 yards from here, so we picked them up first.  Good thing they were in formation when they got hit, or they might as well have been on the other side of the hemisphere.  BB is getting Brandon from out of his disabled ship, since he and Jenn seem to be the only ones who survived with their craft intact.  Vader and Domi still haven't been found."

Talin's face contorted briefly into a mask of discontent before he regained control.  "Alright, I'll get my gear and we'll start the search from there.  Looks like you could all use some real weaponry anyway..." He gave a weak grin and headed towards the small clearing his plummeting fighter had smashed through the undergrowth.  As Typhoon stumbled through the clearing, Eljay was still bobbing on his repulsorlifts, humming contentedly.  His tinny vocoders unceremoniously ground into life, in obvious surprise.

"Sir!  You've found them!  I was beginning to think that I should go in after you, but I wasn't entirely positive if my new body was accustomed to the abnormally harsh climate of this forested hostil--"

"Yeah, nice to see you too, Eljay.  Listen up.  We're packing and getting the hell out of here.  Keep those scanners open for unidentified life readings, alright?"

"But sir, there seems to be an extensive amount of unidentified life on this planet... to keep track of each one would overload my circu--"

Andron looked up from his searching to throw an impatient glance in Eljay's direction.  "Then just stick to the big unidentified life readings, ok?  We don't have the time.  Slicer, hold these mines for a sec.  We'll get you boys equipped with enough firepower to take out a Calamari Cruiser..."

***************************

The T/D Darkfall rocketed out of the wispy atmosphere, the intangible clouds already thousands of miles below him as Blackbird engaged his scanners.  As the pinpricks of space filled his vision once again, a slight wave of nausea swept through him.  He remembered the battle with the Challenge... and their desertion.  How long ago was it?  An hour?  A day?  Blackbird flipped open his comm.  Yet somehow it had a sense of futility to it.  Even if Brandon was still alive in that fighter, how long would any of them survive out here alone?  On this thrice-damned planet, which had become more dangerous than they had ever hoped to imagine.  A faint signal came through about 40 klicks out.  Thank Darth, he's lucky not to still be going at 135kph after that hit.  The primary danger, if your fighter wasn't destroyed, was that you'd just continue to hurtle through space.  Forever.  Enough stories had been told and witnessed for that fear to become a grim reality for many.  Luckily Brandon's fighter, while still in motion, was moving at a relatively slow pace.  Blackbird transferred his shield and laser power to the engines, hit the throttle, and hoped he wouldn't overheat.  Torres was going to fry for this one, Blackbird vowed.  Him and that sneering little Captain Kilger.  There was no doubt Kilger was associated with this.  Couldn't help but wonder why they wanted to put Callista in danger, though.  If anything, they both seemed to want exactly the opposite.  "Why the hell can't they just figure out what they want?" he muttered viciously.

"Boid?  Is that you?"

"Holy Sithspawn, Brandon, are you alright?  Sorry, forgot I left the comm open."

"Heh...I'm holding up.  A bit chilly in here, though, not sure how my little swimmers are going to handle this later on..."

"Don't worry about it, I'm coming to get ya out of there now.  I'll be there in about 5 minutes."

"Take your time, Boid... you should try this sometime, it's really quite invigorating."

The seriousness of the situation couldn't keep the smile from emerging beneath BB's helmet.  "You'll have to tag me with an advanced concussion missile sometime then, Bran.  I'll be looking forward to it."

"It's a date, then.  But I warn you, I don't eject on the first time."

"Gah...just stay put, ok?"

"Where would I go?  Nightclubbing?"

Blackbird switched off the comm.  When you got Bran going, it was nigh impossible to get him to stop.  He flew in silence for a while, slowly bringing his fighter alongside Brandon's.  There was a massive gash in the side of Bran's fighter, the bare wiring nearly frozen in the vacuum of space.  Blackbird flipped on the comm once again. 

"Bran, is your helmet secure?"

"Yeah, Boid, I'm as air-tight as a Death Star."

"That's not giving me a whole lot of confidence."

"Well it'll have to do.  I'm popping open the cockpit hatch.  Get ready."

Blackbird secured a line from himself to his cockpit and opened the hatch to the Darkfall.  Lo and behold, there was Brandon, just emerging from his cockpit and slightly bobbing in the weightlessness of space.  Blackbird leaned out a little more, and grabbed the edge of Brandon's fighter.  Clutching the steel wings, he slowly made his way to Brandon.  He unhooked the line from Brandon to the fighter, and latched it to his own belt.  Then he let go of the fighter, immediately drifting outwards into the emptiness of space.  Soon, the line from him to his fighter pulled taut, and he felt the line between Brandon and himself pull taut shortly afterwards.  Blackbird then began to pull his way back to the cockpit hatch, hand over hand, Brandon doing likewise behind him.  Each time BB's gloved hands clutched the wire, they seemed to slip on the cold material slightly.  But he was making progress, and Brandon was right behind him.  Then he noticed, just to his left, the twin ion engines of the Darkfall, still spewing out energy and heat, keeping pace with Brandon's fighter.  And they were drifting dangerously close to that engine blast.  Blackbird nearly faltered with his next grasp, and clung by one hand to the wire.  Sweat was pouring down his face, and he was all too glad to have the helmet covering that fact.  He gestured to Brandon to hurry up, but Brandon had already noticed it, and was moving doubly fast.  To have that kind of stamina after all that?  That's insane.  But BB realized that if he didn't do the same, the engine that was only a small distance to the left of them would rapidly become a very close friend.  He began to pull himself to the cockpit once again, attempting to keep it as steady as possible.  As they came nearer to the fighter, Blackbird could almost hear it's roar.  He knew that wasn't possible, but it rang in his ears nonetheless.  During the 2 minutes both of them were right next to the blast, before they entered the cockpit... the normal silence seemed broken somehow.  It was as if there was a silent yell that emerged from them both that they couldn't emit physically.  As if the tension took on such a form that the vibrations from it rang in their eardrums.  At any rate, they were glad when it was over.  Brandon closed the hatch of the Darkfall behind him when they both were inside.  Blackbird sat in the cockpit while Brandon laid down on the emergency rations in the back.  BB grinned and pulled a lever down idly.  There was a snap-hissssss throughout the cockpit.  A metallic voice was soon heard.

"Operation complete.  Pressure levels have returned to normal."

"Alright, we'll have to pick up your fighter later Bran... first order is to get ya back to the surface in one piece."

"Yeah, go to rescue someone and nearly get them cremated.  I'm going to catch a few minutes sleep on the return flight, alright?"

"Go ahead, Bran.  Doubt we're going to have time for that once we get on the surface..."

The T/D Darkfall blazed towards Ssh'Peka with a vengeance. 

FM/CM Blackbird/Typhoon-1-3/Wing X/ISD Challenge