“Lord Drol, do you copy? I repeat, Lord Drol do you copy…? LORD DROOOOOOL!”

Kul skewered yet another Geonosian flapping its wings in pained retreat while fiddling with his commlink. It was bad enough the insects were swarming all over everything, but the stream of reports and cacophony of reinforcement requests were becoming annoyingly incessant, as well.

“This is Drol.”

He backed behind the line of troopers pelting the bugs with blaster fire. It was the third offensive in the past hour, pricking at the lines to try and create holes for them to blitz through to the Pinnacle. So far the forces spread throughout the city had maintained a steady hold. The problem was the bugs seemed to never stop coming.

“Lord Drol, thank the stars. The Geonosians have managed to break through and gain a position within the Anchorage. If they break through there they can have free reign within the Pinnacle. We only have some skeleton defense squads positioned there while the others are out fighting. We need your squad to head there and prevent them from gaining entry.”

Kul sighed, taking in the smoke rising like dark pillars of some long-forgotten Sith temple and the frantic cries of battle around him. This wasn’t the type of training he had hoped to accomplish during his rest from a mission. The bugs were not even a threat in physical combat considering their main strength was found in the maneuverability from their wings and those weird blasters they carried. Still, even though Kul would prefer to keep taking the fight to them, he knew the insects were persistent and given time they could eventually threaten the Pinnacle.

“I’m on my way. What’s the status on the strike teams? Has anyone found the Queen yet?”

“No current locations as of yet, but that is part of your mission, my lord. When you reach the Anchorage, rendezvous with Lieutenant Garviz and his squad. Then you must push. Push hard. We have multiple units attempting to find the Queen but they need distractions, so squads around the Pinnacle are going to draw their attention. The Dread Lord expects results, my lord. Good luck.”

With that his com grew quiet again and the sounds of the battle pulled his attention. He knelt beside the squad sergeant who was directing the attack with the other unit officers. With a quick command, his Umbra squad was quickly rounded up in his shuttle and soaring in the direction of the Anchorage, with the spires of the Pinnacle rising high above.

Upon reaching the Anchorage, Kul found the units defending it to be running around as if all order was gone. He almost stopped and grabbed the closes trooper, but he realized they were all hustling to place debris in front of the large doorway blocking passage from the hallway outside.

*So this is where we stand?*

The room they were protecting had a shallow ceiling, which would deprive the Geonosians their precious flight room. Whoever had chosen this spot had been thinking clearly. The Zabrak grabbed a trooper as he ran by. Seeing a superior officer, the soldier tried to salute but the weighty paraphernalia prevented it. Instead he bowed slightly.

“My lord. Apologies for not being able to salute you. How may I help?”

Kul skirted the room with eyes. A small group of troopers and an officer of indiscernible rank were huddled around a makeshift table discussing something. He pointed in their direction.

“Is that who’s in charge here?”

The soldier nodded, albeit hesitatingly at first.

“Aye, sir. That’s Sergeant Fikkosta. She’s in charge since Lieutenant Garviz fell.”

Kul swore under his breath.

“The Lieutenant’s dead? Unfortunate…Fikkosta you say? That’s an Iridonian name.”

Curiosity duly peaked, Kul ordered his mean to assist as needed before marching towards the rickety table. As some of the troopers noticed his arrival they began to stand at attention, a chain reaction of the same going around until the Sergeant was stood saluting, as well. Much to his surprise, the Sergeant was indeed Zabraki. She was a full head shorter than he and still had the glow of youth about her, but even in uniform he could tell she was a warrior. Her stance, while deferent to his rank, left few openings for attack. With a light crimson complexion and high cheek bones, she was quite attractive by his peoples’ standards. He allowed his gaze to linger a second longer before nodding to them all.

“At ease. I’m not one for extreme protocol, and we have an enemy to defeat. So, Sergeant Fikkosta, what’s the current situation?”

Not used to dealing with the Force Users of Plagueis directly, the sergeant had to clear her throat of her unexpected nervousness and let training take over.

“Well, my Lord…”

Kul noticed the trailing question and glanced up from the array of schematics on the table before him.

“Drol. I have my Umbra squad with me as well.”

“…my Lord Drol,” she continued. “To be completely frank with you, we are *ua slari na onis.*”

The Shadow picked at the bindings of his gauntlets while he watched the emotions swirling behind her (distractingly opalescent, he realized) eyes. He could sense strength and conviction of purpose; this soldier would do her duty trained in the ways of Iridonia and the Plagueis war machine, but she could not shroud the inklings of fear that permeated the room.

“My lord. A massive group of bugs has infiltrated the facility and are heading this way. Lieutenant Garvis and some men managed to slow their advance, but it ultimately cost him his life and now we are stuck here with orders to go on the offensive.” She swept an arm over the schematics. “If we hold them here then they cannot get access to the turbolifts or the small hangar nearby. But an all out offensive seems pointless with our numbers. Why not hold until the hunter units find the Queen?”

Kul leaned on the table, careful to not break it under the pressure, and swept his gaze to each of the faces around him before stopping on Fikkosta.

“This group, along with a few others, have been ordered to attack in order to draw the attention of the hive away from the hunter units. If they think we are the assault, then the units in the caves have a better chance of passing through and getting to the Queen when she sends more troops up here. We are going to attack, and that’s an order. But I’m not letting you all perish here. We will—“

Kul was cut off as the large blastdoor reverberated with a large boom, as if some hulking beast had thought to open it with its head. A trooper manning a scanner shouted “They’re here!” just before the feed was cut and another crash erupted from the other side. Kul watched with an approving gaze while the sergeant moved diligently and placed her troopers in position for the coming threat. He soon followed suit, waving Umbra squad into whatever holes they could find. The sound of blasters priming filled the room, and then it became eerily quiet except for the thumping of whatever was trying to force entry. Kul took up a position near Fikkosta, one hand waiting on his saber. As they both watched the blastdoor tremble time and again, he spoke out of the corner of his mouth.

“You were right, Sergeant. We are between life and death.” He turned to face her with a grin on his face. “But it would be boring otherwise, yes?”