His vantage point looked over the entrance of the jail building. Its massive walls sheer and standing at over five hundred meters in height. His field glasses took in the facade of the eastern side seeking out any weakness in the defences. There were none that he could make out from this distance, he would have to get closer.

Packing his gear into his belt pouches he worked his way down the escarpment, trying to be as stealthy as possible, using the twilight shadows as cover. Using the natural bracken and rocks he was a shadow morphing its way across the landscape. Like a finger of rock the ridge cut a line directly to the ground level of the jail, leaving a short sprint of about twenty meters to the wall itself. Within ten minutes Quo was crouching looking over the open area to the wall from the cover of an overhanging rock formation. Watching the ground around the base of the wall the only sound her could hear was the inlet and outlet valves on his breathing prosthetic pumping oxygen into his damaged lungs. It sounded like thunder to his ears. The only other sounds were the local wildlife, whistling and chirruping in prelude to their evening chorus. His eyes, never still, scanned the ground looking for any signs that there were alarms or detectors. In this light it would be difficult to ascertain.

Crouching low he moved quietly across the open ground, balanced on the balls of his feet as he moved fluidly through the night. Without warning beneath his right foot there was a click. Quo threw himself forwards, leaping a full three meters into the air, twisting and somersaulting as he flew. Landing gracefully he froze. Logically he knew he had just trodden on a mine, and should be picking bits of it out of his body, or bits of his body from the surrounding scenery, but nothing. Crouching low he waited. There was always a possibility that it was a delayed trigger, or a ‘jumping jack’. The three seconds he was waiting seemed like an eternity. A vibration from just below the surface briefly pre-empted the explosion of earth as the mine leapt from the ground. He dropped, flat to the ground, expecting the explosion and shrapnel impacts to hit him any second. Inside his head his brain counted the seconds....two......three.......four.... he risked a glance upwards from his prone position. Turning his head as his eyes scanned he watched the mine disappearing upwards, far more upwards than it should have done.

He watched as it cleared the height of the wall, exploding a split second later, murdering a small bird and approximately twenty roofing tiles. Standing and dusting himself down he started as a pin landed two inches in front of his feet. An eyebrow arched upward, the only sign that Quo had registered it at all. Well, he thought, there goes the element of surprise. Turning he craned his neck backwards, looking up, watching the falling masonry twisting and turning in the fading light. Moving across toward the wall he waited for the alarms to start. His cover had been blown, and there was now no way he would make it inside undetected.

The first impact from the roofing material hit the ground about thirty meters away from him. Bits of masonry and tiling struck in a staccato rhythm into the path that he had recently covered, the vibrations setting off several more of the mines buried beneath. The resulting volley erupted in all directions, some out to the surrounding country, a couple arrowing towards the jail wall, their journeys being marked by gouges in the brickwork, some of them even breaching the wall, disappearing inside. Again Quo hit the deck, narrowly being missed by another explosive device on its whirling track towards the young Zabrak. Shards of the masonry rattled down onto him, covering him in a light coloured dust. With a zinging noise it careened into the distance, rebounding away, further along the wall line, its impact setting off more of the over sprung devices.

The debris from the initial impact of the first land mine ever to achieve near orbit had registered on the automated laser defence system. Beams of white hot energy erupted from the batteries, their combined rate of fire lighting up the evening gloom. Quo watched as the evening erupted into a pyrotechnic display worthy of any provincial celebration. Laser bolts arrowed across the sky in all directions, with little or no directional control in evidence. Shots rained down in all directions as the blaster canons spun and danced on their mountings randomly. Quo pushed himself to his feet, and leapt fully thirty five meters to the cover of the rocky outcrop. Rolling into cover he watched as the pandemonium continued.

The more the mines erupted, the more the batteries fired, filling the space with smoke and debris, fragments and explosions rocking the outside of the wall as the bolts of light left scorched etchings along its surface. Several of the batteries momentarily concentrated their fire on a particularly vicious brick at the base of the wall, pulverising it into submission before it crumbled into dust. The sheer destructive force of the defensive barrage was wearing down the opposition of the stubborn invading jail with every volley. Quo could only watch in awe at the firepower amassed against the sedentary opposition.

A crack appeared at the point of the demolished brick, small at first, but growing with each passing second, creeping across the surface like a dark vine. Vibrations and impacts only hastened its course as it climbed aloft along the line of the wall following the line of least resistance. With every passing second the barrage inflicted further damage, the cumulative effect weakening the whole eastern wall at the point where Quo was watching. The ripple of destruction was spreading away from the epicentre, eruptions widening the area of damage. It was already halfway down the side, heading for the corner.

A crunch from above drew his attention. The crack had reached the top, and an offshoot had formed a pincer movement on the concrete of the wall at the top. Several laser bolts ricocheted against it rocking it forwards away from the jail building. With a roar it detached itself from the rest of the wall, the huge piece tumbling on its end as it fell. Twisting, seemingly in slow motion, it crashed back onto itself, fracture lines appearing in the face of the wall, dislodging several other large pieces which did their own damage on their plummet towards the ground. The blasters focussed on these large pieces, bolts rattling and shaking them as their energy dissipated through the jail.

Quo could feel the rumblings through his feet, the low growls of the tortured structure shaking his organs within his torso. Turning the ran, this muscles pumping as he put distance between himself and the impact site. He moved as a blur across the landscape, his only thought to get the frell out of there. His legs pounded, arms pumping, as he drove his body higher up the hillside. The only thing that was important now was getting himself a good distance away. Faster than seemed possible he was standing on the ridge overlooking the jail, looking dishevelled and more than a bit second hand.

The explosions continued for the next hour or so, the blasters continuing their tattoo on the structure, before they eventually toppled and fell into the growing rubble pile below. Ceilings of individual floors fell from above, crashing through the floors below, walls tumbled in all directions sweeping all before them. Eventually the dust began to settle, and the whole scene was revealed before Quo’s eyes. The whole jail had collapsed in on itself, aided and abetted by the defensive machinations of the weaponry. The survivors were scurrying backwards and forwards over the debris field, dazed and confused. He had been sent to infiltrate the place, and failed. He didn’t like failing, but at least another team wouldn’t required much help getting in. In his mind he was calling it a win, after all he had breached their defences.

The first light of Kr'tal broke through the bedroom window. Andrelious awoke as he felt his cheek beginning to warm in the sunlight. In the corner of his eye, he spotted that his datapad had recieved a commiunique.

The Warlord turned to check on his wife. He had little idea of how good Kooki's night had been; it depended entirely on how much of her milk that their twin daughters had required. Even now they were 18 months old and enjoying all kinds of solid food, they were showing no signs of wanting to stop.

"I'll have a caff!" Kooki stated in her most demonstrative tone. Andrelious frowned. She was only so pushy in the morning when the twins had been particularly hungry.

As he walked past their nursery, the Sith peeped into the room to check on his daughters. They were sat up and pulling faces at each other. On sensing their father's arrival, they quickly turned to greet him.

"Dad-dy!" the girls cooed in almost complete unison.

"Morning, girls. I'm guessing you're ready for some breakfast?" the Warlord asked, scooping each twin into one of his arms.

"Ber-ber!" Poppy demanded, followed by Etty making the exact same request. Andrelious knew exactly what they were after: a mix of wild berries that their mother had foraged the previous evening.

Sitting the twins into their high-chairs, Andrelious set to working making 2 berry mixes, a set of nunna bacon sandwiches for himself and Kooki, and two large mugs of strong caf. He had just got everything ready when his spouse arrived, glaring at him angrily.

"I *was* going to stay in bed for this after the night I had, but your frakking datapad won't shut up. Finish making my sandwich then go and deal with it!" the Battlemaster snapped.

"Whatever it is can wait until we've had our breakfast. The only person who can order me around is sat in the kitchen," Andrelious replied, daring to make his tone slightly flirtaious as he handed Kooki her sandwiches and caf.

The female managed a smile. "I'm glad to know you're starting to learn your place. Great bacon, by the way, babe! You really know your way around a kitchen!" Kooki replied, swatting her husband's posterior playfully.

Andrelious pretended not to hear as he sat down to tuck into his own breakfast. Poppy and Etty were already enjoying their berry mixes. Silence befell the Mimosa-Inahj household as the family ate their meals.

As usual, Kooki finished first, but made no attempt to clear away her plate. Instead, she waited for Andrelious to finish, and simply glanced at the Warlord to indicate what she wanted done.

"I'd better just go and check my datapad. Just in case it's some Jedi insurrection somewhere," the former Imperial stated as he placed the breakfast dishes into the sink, before heading back to the bedroom.

Andrelious checked his datapad, frowned, and erased the message. Kooki noticed him re-entering the kitchen seemingly moments after he had left.

"I'm ignoring it. Some kind of prison break. Sounds like it'd be easy enough that we could just send the girls," Andrelious explained.

"Nothing stopping you doing the dishes, then, babe!" Kooki teased.

Word count: 707

Malice slowly opened her eyes, blinking the sleep from them. She sat up, rubbing the back of her head, and looking around.

This was not her room. These were not her clothes. These were not her ears. She ran her fingers over them, trying to keep her cool. Spotting a mirror on the opposite wall, she threw herself out of bed, searching her reflection in a slight panic. Her ears had a slight point to them now, and she was in some sort of nightgown. It was a very soft material, almost silk like. She cringed at being in such a ridiculous outfit before glancing around.

"You find a set of traveling clothes, a quarterstaff, leather armor, a scimitar, and a traveling pack." A voice echoed, sounding more like it was in her head than anything. Frowning slightly, she turned, indeed finding everything the voice had just described. She hadn't seen it there just a second ago, but perhaps her eyes were just playing tricks on her. she pulled the other clothing on quickly, wanting the nightgown off of her as fast as humanly possible.

"Don't you mean half humanly possible?" The voice sounded like it was very proud of whatever pun it had just made.

"What do you mean? What's going on? Who are you?" She asked out loud, frowning to herself.

"Cause..cause you're a half-elf. Get it?"

"She wouldn't get it, jokes aren't her thing." A second, female voice spoke up. She spoke the truth but Malice's question still hadn't been answered. She decided to ignore them for the time being, stepping outside of the door and out into the hallway. It seemed like she was in an inn of some sort, and when she found the set of downwards stairs, she followed them cautiously.

The bottom floor was some type of bar or pub and was empty minus one figure who sat eating some sort of meal at a table nearby. He turned to look at her as she entered the room and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Kalon?"

"Malice?" He stood from his seat at the table and walked over to her. "I don't know what's going on, or where we are. What happened to your ears?"

She clapped her hands over them immediately.

"Nothing, ok? I don't know! Have you seen anyone else that you know?"

"No one has come in except you. You and the bartender over there." He pointed to the bar, where the bartender had clearly heard their conversation and had begun to frantically scrub one spot of the bar over and over. Flashing each other a look, the two of them approached the man, leaning against the bar.

"You seem pretty nervous for someone just here to wash dishes. You know something about all this?" Malice asked, trying to play it both cool while still being intimidating.

"She's a cute little half-elf! She isn't intimidating!" The first voice said. Kalon glanced around like he heard it as well but didn't say anything.

"Roll for intimidation." It said again, and after a short time, the female voice sighed.

"7"

"Yeah, the man is nervous but isn't going to tell her anything."

"Leave it to Kalon, he can get the job done." A third, slightly accented voice said. "See? 18."

The man behind the bar watched as Kalon leaned in closer, his voice painted with a very dangerous expression.

"Listen, we're very confused, and very on edge, which doesn't usually turn out well for people like you."

"I don't know anything I swear!" The bartender insisted, sweating somewhat. "All I know is that if you finish this quest for me, I'll reward you for it."

Malice raised an eyebrow. A quest? What kind of nonsense was this man talking? On the other hand, perhaps he'd reward them with a way back to the station. She and Kalon exchanged a glance before nodding to him.

"Fine, what's the quest?" kalon asked. The man told them of a nearby cave, that was the home to a terrifying creature. It had been visiting the village by night and stealing the people's belongings. He had lost a very valuable artifact and needed it back immediately. With directions to the cave, he sent the pair of them off, still both as confused as they had been.

Once outside, the two of them quickly scanned their surroundings. It seemed like a standard village, not too poor, not too rich. The people were beginning to wake up and walked out of their homes, offering friendly waves to the two of them. Neither of them returned the smiles, instead looking around suspiciously.

"So you hear them too." Kalon said suddenly, though only loud enough for her to hear.

"The voices? Yeah, I have. I'm not sure where they're coming from. Does someone have us chipped?" Malice answered, running a hand through her hair. It was a seemingly normal action, though she was really doing a quick check to make sure she didn't have any devices on her head, allowing whoever the voices belonged to access to her thoughts.

"We could always ask them." Kalon suggested as they continued down the path that would lead them to their destination. With a nod from his Journeyman companion, he cleared his throat.

"Alright, no more games. Who are you, and what do you want?" He demanded.

"Seriously, Matt? Being the DM doesn't mean letting them break the fourth wall." The female voice spoke up, sighing. "This is weird. What are you supposed to say to the characters you've created?"

"Just answer and get it over with, won't you? Then we can continue on." The accented voice said, sounding slightly irritated himself.

"Hey, Kalon is all yours. YOU can deal with him."

"Fine." The accented voice cleared his throat as well. "I'm Jarak. I'm your creator, and we have a similar drinking habit."

Kalon's eyes narrowed, but the two continued walking, now out of the town and walking through open fields. Malice could tell he had more questions but decided to speak up herself.

"Come on, there's at least two more of you." She said, waiting for their response. The female voice sighed again.

"Fine, I'm Amber. Mal, I'm your creator and-"

"And she's not nearly as cool as you are, Mal." The voice who had identified himself as Jarak said. A muffled "ouch" followed quickly, indicating he'd received some sort of punch, and the female continued.

"and I feel weird talking to you. There, Matt, it's your turn."

"What? I don't have to do it, I'm just DMing."

"You said everyone, mate." Jarak noted.

"Fine. I'm Matt. You don't really know my character. His name is Abadeer."

"That cocky Togruta? We've seen him around." Kalon replied. "Now, what was that about being our creators?"

"We don't have time to explain this entire thing to them. Matt, let's keep going." Amber said impatiently.

"Fine fine. Let's see, it looks like they're just now approaching the cave." Matt announced. Kalon and Malice looked up and sure enough, the cave they'd been told to find was indeed coming into view.

"We'll just ignore them for now. Let's get this done and get out of here." Kalon murmured to her. She nodded, tightening her grip on her quarterstaff. The cave was smaller than they'd expected and seemed to only have a few connecting chambers within. They stopped in front of it, and Kalon pulled out a large sword.

"Can you use that?" Malice mused, smirking at him. Besides his lightsaber, she'd only really seen him use blasters. Neither of said weapons had been anywhere to be found that she'd noticed, and she couldn't help but think that they'd probably come in handy right about now.

Kalon swung the sword in front of him, connecting with a small tree and cutting it clean in half.

"I think I can handle myself." He said.

"Alright, I want to check for traps." Amber said.

"Roll perception."

"17"

"Malice notices a trip line at the entrance of the cave."

Looking down, the half-elf frowned slightly. There was something a lot less satisfying about being shown the trap instead of finding it herself. Kalon must have seen her reaction because he nudged her.

"Just play along with them. This is going to be a lot easier than we thought, and the sooner we get out, the sooner we can get back to the clan." He said. Malice nodded, seeing the truth in his words. They carefully stepped over the wire and into the cave. It was very dark, For Kalon, that was. Malice was surprised to find that the dark didn't seem any less visible than the outside had been, and blinked in confusion.

"Why can't Kalon see as well?" Jarak asked.

"Kalon isn't a half-elf. he's just a human. Half-elves can see 60 feet in the dark." Amber said happily. Malice grinned at Kalon, who couldn't see the grin quite yet, but he knew her well enough to know when she was getting full of herself and thumped the back of her head.

"I call a foul, he can't do that to her. He can't see where she is yet." Amber said suddenly, making both kalon and Malice flinch.

"You can't call a foul, he's already done it, you numpty."

"I'm allowing it." Matt decided.

"I hate you both."

Once they'd finally settled down, Kalon and Malice took a look around. Noticing a few torches on the wall, Malice dug through her bag until she found a small tinderbox. She quickly lit one of the torches and handed it to Kalon.

"There, now you're useful again."

"Watch it, Journeyman. I don't need the force to crush you."

They started down the only hallway connecting to the first room but paused when they heard Amber speak again.

"I want Mal to scout ahead. She's got double proficiency in stealth. She can give them an advantage."

"Fine, roll for stealth."

"Ha! 28."

They seemed to wait for Malice to start going on ahead before they continued talking.

"She finds one door up ahead. It's shut tightly, and she won't be able to open it by herself." Matt said.

"Ha! That's what you think. I'm rolling for strength."

There was a long moment of silence before Amber spoke up again.

"9"

"Yeah, better bring Kalon back with you."

Malice turned around, rolling her eyes at their argument, and got back to Kalon.

"There's a door up ahead. It's the only exit it seems. And I apparently can't open it." She told him. He nodded, seeming up for the challenge, and walked up to the door. Handing Malice his torch, he placed his hands firmly on the door and pushed.

"Jarak, roll strength."

"21"

"The door groans before falling backward, landing loudly on the ground. The room on the other side has lit torches on the walls, and a large table in the middle. Scattered around, you see many different, seemingly useless belongings. It looks like the hoard for whatever you've been sent to fight. On the table is the item the bartender described to you. Before you can reach it, however, the noise of the door has drawn some nasty looking cave dwellers to you. Roll initiative." Matt said quickly.

Malice and Kalon looked around as three reptilian looking creatures came slowly towards them.

"What are these?" Kalon hissed.

"I don't know, they're nothing I've ever seen before. "

"Psst, they're called Kobolds." Amber said quietly. They were very ugly looking, but were not as tall as Malice and especially not Kalon.

"My initiative is 16." Jarak said.

"Mine is 20"

"Alright, Amber. You go first."

"Cool, Malice is going to take out her short bow and take a shot at the nearest Kobold."

In all honestly, Malice had lost track of just what she was carrying in her bag. Reaching back, she felt the smooth finish of what he assumed was a short bow, and retrieved it. She found the small sling of arrows and pulled it over her shoulder, taking one out and aiming.

"Does a 15 hit?" Amber asked.

"Uh, yeah. Roll damage."

Malice released the arrow, sending it plunging into the Kobolds ribs. It took a few steps back, howling in pain.

"10 damage."

"It's pretty badly hurt, but it's got enough left in it to keep going. It's also his turn now. Jarak, does a 10 hit you?"

"As if."

"You are so full of sass today." Amber said under her breath.

"Alright, then it's your turn." Matt said, waiting for Jarak's response.

"Kalon is going to take his huge sword and go for the next closest Kobold. Does an 18 hit?"

"Yep, roll damage."

"8."

"You've chopped off one of his arms, but he tells the others in his language that it's just a flesh wound. He simply switched to holding his spear with his other hand. Now, does a 14 hit you, Jarak?"

"Uh, no it does not."

"Amber, does a 17 hit you?"

Amber sighed.

"Yes. Yes it does."

"Alright, Mal is going to take 6 damage. The Kobold she shot slashes her a few times with his dagger. But now it's her turn again.

"Then she's going to take out HER dagger, and stab him too. 13?"

"Hit."

"Alright, the damage is going to be 7."

Malice grinned, gripping the handle of the dagger tucked snuggly against her calf and plunged it into the creature's heart. He toppled over, his body spasming a few times before he went still.

"Jarak, does a 2 hit you?"

Jarak didn't answer.

"Yeah, I didn't think so." Matt laughed. "You're up."

"Does a 12 hit?"

"Yes."

"Alright, 9 damage."

Kalon swung his sword back, letting it down right on the Kobold's shoulder. His other arm was chopped off, and before he could run away, Kalon had taken his head clean off of his body. Ir bounced to the ground, tongue slightly out of its mouth. Now there was only one Kobold left, and with its friends gone, it eyed the two of them in worry.

"Can they do a cool team attack?" Amber asked. "Come on, it's the only time we're using them as D&D characters. Please?"

"Fine."

"Alright! Let's have Kalon launch Mal off his sword and at the Kobold, and she can stab him right in the head."

Matt sighed.

"I need a strength check from Jarak and a very high acrobatics roll from Amber."

"Kalon's strength got a 20."

"And Malice's acrobatics got a 22! Is that high enough?"

"I suppose."

Malice grinned, holding her dagger tightly. She reached a hand out and felt Kalon take it, hauling her up and onto his sword, which was angled slightly to allow her to stand on it. She braced herself as he quickly pushed off, giving her enough momentum to do a nice flip in the air before plunging her dagger straight through the Kobold's skull. Its eyes were now frozen, wide in terror. Malice landed gracefully, stowing her dagger back into its case and walking over to retrieve her arrow from the chest of the first Kobold.

"Well done, you two. I'll distribute gold and experience after we're done, even though technically we'll never do this again." Matt announced. "Now, luckily for them, and because it's late and I want to go to bed, the fearsome creature isn't anywhere to be found. However, if they take the treasure they've come for, it'll upset the monster, and it'll unleash absolute terror on the village when it returns."

"But will we get to go home?" Malice demanded.

"Yes."

Without needing to consult in any way, Kalon picked up the treasure and stowed it in his bag.

"Come on, guys. You're just going to take it without any second thought?" Matt laughed.

"Are you kidding? This is Team Asshat we're talking about. Of course they don't care. They just want to get home." Jarak countered.

"He's got a point." Kalon agreed. "Also, what is an Asshat?"

"Nevermind it." Jarak's accented voice replied.

And with that, they're adventure was done. Kalon and Malice returned to the village with their found treasure, and the bartender kept his promise and sent them back home. They both woke up in their own beds, and neither had ever been so happy to be in their own rooms again.