My New Republic

They had done it. It had all seemed like a long-shot, but it remained all the same, Havoc Squad had taken down the Empire's finest officer, General Rakton. Fittingly, Tanno Vik, the squad demolitions expert, had suggested they all kick back and relax, preferably in a cheap cantina with all the booze and hookers they could want. Of course, squad members Elara Dorne, the squad medic, and Yunn, the squad technical expert, were apposed to this idea. However, they eventually warmed up to the idea when Aric Jorgan, the squad heavy hitter, suggested they simply head to the fleet and cool down at one of the many establishments there. Tanno, of course, was only interested in the booze and women, so it wasn't very hard to convince him. Even the squad's commander, Nathaniel "Nukes" Daft was open to the idea of some rest and relaxation.

After saying their final goodbyes to General Garza, one of the Republic's finest officers, they headed to Havoc Squad's personal starship. The trip to the fleet would take some time, however, as Yunn discovered one of the ship's engines had been damaged in their previous mission. The repair was fairly simple, but would take around an hour. Tanno immediately voiced his displeasure, but seeing no other course went to his quarters to sleep the time off, while Aric went back to his daily routine of fixing, modifying, and tweeking his currently arsenal of blaster weaponry. Elara and Nathaniel found this as the perfect time to be together, as the couple hadn't had any form of time together since destroying an Imperial superweapon months ago.

"Sir, it's been quite the while since we've had some quality time together, would you perhaps.. want to spend this hour with me?" Elara timidly asked. Even though Nathaniel and her were unofficially married, she still felt the need to be timid around him, after all, he was her commanding officer.

"Elara, what did I tell you about the whole "Sir" thing? We've been a couple for months now, you can drop the formality once and a while." Nathaniel said as he walked up to his wife, embracing her for what felt like the first time in months.

"Yes si.... I mean Nathan... it's just a habit of mine." Elara returned Nathaniel's embrace, although it was somewhat lacking seeing as they were both still dressed in their body armor, Nathaniel's being a dark shade of crimson and orange, her's being mostly white, adorned with several yellow stripes. Elara sighed, wearing civilian fatigues was a direct protocol violation most of the times, the Republic couldn't have it's best Spec Ops unit fall to something as silly as an ambush because they could be comfortable for a few hours.

"Don't worry Elara, your habits are one of the reasons I married you, I find it cute." Elara's face had traces of crimson showing after this statement. She remembered back when she had been a snooty officer in a office, doing nothing of value when compared to what she was doing now, in Havoc Squad. The two spent the next hour together, enjoying each others company while Yunn finished the repair. At one point Aric walked in to see the two embracing on a makeshift couch, and left with a knowing smirk adorning his face.

Within the hour, Yunn announced his completion of the repairs with his insect-like voice. Regrettably, Nathaniel got off the couch with his wife and they headed to the cockpit, punching in the coordinates for the route to the Republic Fleet. In mid hyperspace however, something went wrong. It almost seemed as they had stopped in mid jump, and lights began flashing all over the ship. Remaining calm, Nathaniel set the ship's power to minimal, instead of letting it get torn apart by whatever that was beginning to pull them back. Within minutes, they had been pulled out of the warp and saw what had done the task. An Imperial dreadnaught, a monster of a ship. Elara Gasped, noticing the enormous vessel, and they both charged into the crew quarters, assembling the team. When they all stood at attention, Nathaniel began to speak.

"Team... We might not be coming back for this one. I'll admit, it doesn't look good. We're being pulled in by an Imperial tractor beam, and we have no current means of escaping it. I propose, we fight our way into the dreadnaught, find the command center, and force the damn Imps to let our ship go... or we make em." Nathaniel crushed his fist forward, exaggerating his point. They all chanted in unison, ready for battle. The team ran off to gather their armaments, Tanno grabbing every explosive in sight, Aric grabbing his prized assault cannon, Elara taking her medical equipment and her own blaster pistol, M1-4X, the team's assault droid, calibrating his blaster cannon, and Nathaniel himself taking his prototype B-257 Devastator Cannon.

The team set up a killzone that ended up being focused on the ship's ramp, preparing for the inevitable. Soon, they heard the hiss of a lightsaber cutting through metal, a sure sign that they were ripping open the ship's entrance. Just before the door was fully open, Havoc Squad screamed, "For the Republic!" for what could very well be the last time. Nathaniel let loose massive amounts of blaster rounds, instantly killing the idiotic sith cutting through the door, while Tanno, Aric, and M1-4X laid down suppressing fire, Elara taking potshots and any Imperials who dared take their time to aim a careful shot.

Soon, the aggressors had been killed, and the team, lead by M1-4X, charged off the ramp, ready to fire on any Imperials unlucky enough to be in their vicinity. But something was wrong. There were no Imperials to fire upon. Only the bodies of the ones who had tried to crack open their ship laid slain. Suddenly, a loud clapping was heard, and the squad turned to face a holo-emmiter projecting what they assumed to be a sith lord.

"Welcome, Republic dogs, to my little party, hosted just for you. Care for an explanation? Long story short is, not a single one of you will be leaving this station today." The sith lord spoke menacingly, although it had no effect on Havoc Squad, who had killed many sith warriors.

"And, pray tell, how do you plan on doing that, Imperial?" Aric shot back.

"My my, a feisty one we have here. I like that. If only you were on the winning side. As for your question, you'll be finding out in about... Three... Two... One." As soon as the words were finished, a beeping was emitted through the station, loud enough for all to hear.

"Commander. The ship's self-destruct has been activated. This was planned all along, I must go to the command center to deactivate the tractor beam." Yunn said, drawing his vibroblade.

"Are you crazy? You won't make it half way without being blown away by any Imperials still on the ship!" As if on cue, several squads of Imperial soldiers ran out of corridors, most likely heading to the escape pods in hopes of getting off the ship. Havoc squad took cover, and opened fire on the soldiers, bringing many of them down but leaving enough that they were still pinned.

"Commander, I request that I go with the Gand (Yunn's Species) and protect him as he stops the tractor beam, so that the rest of the Republic's greatest defenders may make it off unscathed!" M1-4X said, opening fire and taking blaster bolts to his sturdy torso.

"Yeah, just let the Rust-Bucket go with the bug, so we can get the hell outa' here!" Tanno said, while tossing a thermal detonator directly at an unlucky squad of Imperial soldiers.

"Commander... As much as it pains me, the only way for us to get out of here is for the tractor beam to be disabled, and Yunn is the only one with the knowledge on how to do it." With a heavy sigh, Aric joined in on the conversation.

"She's right commander. There is nothing we can do if we sit here, it's the only way." Finally, the stubborn Havoc commander conceded, simply nodding his head at Yunn before shaking his hand one more time. And with that, they rain off into the belly of the ship, progessively making their way up to the bridge. Before long, M1-4X had cleared a straight path there, and Yunn had followed the entire way. Clearing the last of the Imperials on the bridge, Yunn managed to disable the tractor beam, before looking at M1-4X.

"We have served the Republic well today, Gand, the Imperials won't forget this day." Yunn simply nodded at this, and for the first time in centuries, laid back against the starship window, and closed his eyes for the last time as fire enveloped his form.

"Don't tell me the bug got squashed on the way there!" Yelled out Tanno as he killed several more Imperials with his blaster. Almost to answer him, a robotic voice rushed over the ship, exclaiming; "Tractor beam disabled, warning, warning, self-destruction imminent."

That was enough for Havoc Squad, rushing back onto the ship, Nathaniel immediately plotted a course for the nearest planet, as they took off, a raging fire took over the hangar, just as they flew out. Cheers echoed throughout the ship as it went into hyperdrive, but stopped when they saw. The explosion was reaching them. There was no escape. Elara and Nathaniel laid back against the wall, and shared one last kiss before their ship was surrounded by the hell-storm.

When Nathaniel awoke again, it was not in death, but in the middle of a clearing in a forest it looked, with his ship marking the center, in flames, and that was his last sight before he blacked out.

"Spike... I need you to take a letter to Princess Celestia!" Twilight bellowed as she charged off her balcony towards the small dragon.

"Sheesh Twilight, it can't be that important!" Spike had just gotten his work done for the day, and was looking forward to spending the day with Rarity.

"Spike! Doesn't THAT look important!" Twilight pointed a hoof towards the window, and Spike simply had to take a single glance to realize it was serious. Smoke was rising from the Everfree forest, and a lot of it.