"You!" Joshua said loudly as #3 stepped from his cabin into the Runner's central passage. "I need to see you in the medbay." "What for?" The Scrum asked, annoyed with Kirk's tone. "I was told of your flight accident," He said as held up his medical tricorder. "And the reulting damage to your legs. I think I might be able to help with that, using this." "Listen," #3 said with a sigh. "I know you mean well, but the Republic's best doctors say there's nothing they can do short of amputating them. And I refuse to let them do that." "Yeah," Kirk said. "I've seen examples of the state of medical science here. It's pretty primitive. And I know you've seen the scan they took of me in sickbay." "That's true," #3 told Kirk. "I don't see how you can walk." "Well I'm about to show you," Kirk walked through the hatch into the medbay. "Five of those breaks I fixed myself. This all standard battlefield medicine in Starfleet. I've fixed broken bones and mended cuts as well as burns for a number of the men under my command." "Okay, I'll try it," The Scrum said as he carefully climbed onto the examination bed. Joshua quickly set about scanning the damaged bones. After several minutes he nodded. "This should only take about an hour." "Will it hurt?" #3 asked. "Not that it doen't hurt already." "Nah!" Kirk told him. "It'll feel uncomfortable, but not painful. Now let's get started." For the next hour Joshua used his tricorder and mended the fractures in the man's legs. When he finished he took a final scan and nodded in satisfaction. As #3 sat up, his mother entered the medbay, a bottle in one hand, a hypospray in the other. "Did it work?" She asked nervously, handing the bottle which contained a dozen pills, to her son. "Give him the shot, then we'll find out," Kirk said before turning back the man on the bed. "Take one of those pills every six hours. They're a calcium compound that will strengthen your bones. Ant the shot will greatly accellerate it's absorption. But first, hop on down, I'm done." #3 swung his legs over the side of the bed. But he now found that his father and brothers were now standing in the hatchway, waiting expectantly. With a grimace, he hopped off. For a few seconds he crouched. But when he didn't collapse from pain, he stood upright, grinning at his family. "What's going on?" Peenk's voice floated in from the passage. "Was someone injured?" "Just the opposite, Boss Lady," Marty said as he stepped aside. "An old injury has been healed." "What do you mean?" The woman asked as she entered the room. Peenk gasped when she saw the young Scrum standing, his cane on the examination bed. She then turned to Joshua and laughed. "You seem to be most intent on making as many friends around the Republic as you can!" "What do you mean?" "My son flew a Starfighter for the Alliance for two years before returning home to defend our home world," Lele said as she took her son in her arms. "And he was very popular in the Starfighter Corps," Peenk said as she pried mother and son apart. "The girls are in the hangar bay working on Melee's fighter. Go show them what's happened." "That sounds like a great idea!" #1 said befroe the trio left the room, followed by their parents. "You have done a wonderful thing helping him," Peenk said softly. "It's been heart breaking watching him trying to do what we all take for granted." "I've been there myself," Kirk said as Peenk took him by the hand and pulled him from the medbay. "So I had to help him." "Well now that Seesha's finished with you," Peenk said as she stopped once more at the entrance to Kinna's quarters. "And you've had a chance to rest. It's time you met your biggest fan: Kinna Banka." "Ok Melee, Joshua," Peenk said, holding up her data pad. "This shows you the route that you need to take to safely get close enough to the facility to launch those mini-probes of your's. It's an old swoop bike course, and the Imperials have been seen joy riding on it. So they might not think too much about seeing someone out there. But to be on the safe side, you'll announce yourselves by talking to each other over the head sets. Remember what to do?" "Yes, we know, we were there when the plan was cooked up, remember?" Melee said testily. She always got that way when she knew action was imminent. "Sure, we know." Joshua piped in. "We play the part of a couple of loyal Imperial subjects out tearing up the country side on our little flying machines." "Right then. The probes ready?" "Yep. ready to go. Let me get my bike and we're off." "Oh. If anything should go wrong, Mulk, Kinna, and Seesha are standing by to take care of business. I wouldn't worry too much though. These guys have been here for a few years, and evidently have become complacent. Some have even begun families in the town nearby." "Ok then, we're off." Joshua said, taking off on the bike, swiftly followed by Melee. "If I didn't know any better, you'd think the guy was loving this," Peenk told the others. "Maybe he's not a softy like Doon said the other Feds were." "Well I know something about him that's not soft!" Kinna said laughing. The other women joined in with her. Mulk groaned, which only made them laugh harder. "What is that?" Kirk asked Melee about the mask that she was holding "This is what you're going to wear tonight. It's a special sensor mask that allows you to see in infrared and ultraviolet. It can pick up a broad range of com bands, including the Imperial channels that our targets will be using. So we'll be able to hear everything they say. Plus it scares the hell out of the Imps when you show up in the dark wearing this," She said of the blank, featureless mask. "And what are the disks on the sides?" "A last resort. They create an EMP that will destroy all unprotected electronics in a one kilometer radius. But it will also destroy the mask as well. So you're going to use the AB-15 instead of something smaller?" She asked him as she glanced at the weapon Kirk held. "Yeah. That DC-17 just seems too small to me. I'm used to using something that's bigger. Besides, if it gets close in there, I'll have my sidearm here," Joshua said, patting the blaster on his hip. "Has Mulk finished prepping the Stinger?" "Yep! As soon as we're suited up, we'll be on our way," she said. Joshua pulled the hooded mask on over his head and stood. "I'm ready. We're just waiting on you. Joshua Kirk and Melee Orinie were at the entrance to the complex, ready to begin the assault. It should be a very easy job, because most of the men at the facility were given the day and night to spend in town having a last fling, or to say goodbye to any attachments they'd made while stationed here. So of the twenty five or so Stormtroopers there, only five were on site. Melee enterd the code they'd obtained from the mini probes and the door slid silently open, and they slipped inside. As Melee and Joshua entered the building, Mulk and Kinna circled overhead in their fighters. "Stubby one and Banshee, we have a snag in the plan." Peenk calmly stated. "The Imperial transport is going to be here a day early. In fact, it's just exited hyperspace. The troopers have all been recalled and they should be on their way back now." "Oh great," Kinna said. "They all left on swoops. I hate chasing those things." "Well I love it," Mulk said calmly. "You go up top and take out that transport, I'll do this Bisha hunt," Mulk said. The Bisha is a small, fast, and very deadly carnivore on Kinna's home world. "I'm gonna go down." "Yes, Mulk, you keep promising to do that, but you never deliver!" Kinna teased as she pulled up and away. "If I was able to do so with a non-Mazuran, you'd be my first." Mulk shot back, laughing. "Promises, promises. Let's dance!" Kinna cried out her battle cry as the fighter raced skyward. Melee knelt by the door and pulled out her data pad and began trying to get past the security lock. The teen was still trying to wrap her mind around what she had just seen Kirk do. As they'd entered the door leading to the living quarters, the five troopers who remained were waiting for them. Even before Melee could react, Joshua was leaping across the room, a vibro dagger in each hand. With a speed not even a Jedi was capable of, the man dispatched all five in seconds, dodging blaster bolts. She wasn't even sure she could do it. Melee cursed as she entered the wrong information into the data pad. Come on Melee, she thought to herself, think on the mission at hand. Stop worrying about him, he's on our side. "I am like you." Joshua said quietly. "What?" "You're wondering about me, you know, doing what I did. I'm the result of a super soldier program begun on my home planet. We were made like you. Faster, stronger, smarter." "Only they couldn't control some of us. Which led to a war where a billion died. Those who fought for the other side were either killed, or fled Earth. Those of us who sided with the normal humans were allowed to hide what we were. Originally there were twenty thousand of us. Now there are more than a billion." "Because of the your compulsion to breed." Melee flatly stated. "Yep! They wanted us to go forth and multiply. And we did. And some of us turned on our creators. They should have expected it. We were bred and trained for war. Oh, and of course to protect our leaders from those they claimed to lead. Only, some of us didn't want to protect. We wanted to conquer. Power mad, just like our creators. Just like these Imperials you're fighting." The hatred in Kirk's voice was chilling. "I feel sorry for these clones I've killed," He muttered in a low voice. "They aren't that much different from us. They had no choice in what they are, just like us." "But I noticed that didn't stop you from doing what you did. And why didn't you just use your blaster? You do know that's what the thing is for!" Melee replied jokingly. "Cameras. They are all over the place. If someone was watching us over them, then they are probably having second thoughts right now about coming after us." "And delaying any attack?" "You got it, kid." "Stop calling me kid!" Melee almost shouted back, suddenly angry. "You don't like it when people call you kid!" "Sorry. I've heard everybody calling you that. Even your sister who's eight minutes younger than you. How about if I call you little sister?" Melee grinned behind her mask. "Sure." A few moments later, several explosions shook the building. "I think they're back early," Melee said. "That was a good idea to set up those explosives." Just then the door slid open. Inside the room were two droids. "I didn't open that door," Melee said, her blaster in her hands. "No, we did." One of the droids said.