Vannin and his three filled in as rear-guard as the rest of the rebels trickled into the shuttle. He took a position at the foot of the ramp, and squeezed off covering fire for the others as they ran in. Besk's speeder came up the ramp and that looked like it. "We're good!" he shouted.

"Headcount!" Sekula shouted. The detail leaders checked over their men and reported back. They were short one light gunner. Someone went to check the head -- Vannin figured you never know with the new guys -- and Byron shouted something along the lines of 'Push off, we can't wait.' How typical. Just then a speeder came flying around a corner and Vannin raised his gun.

"That's him!" he shouted. "Hold up!" In hindsight, it might just as easily have been a suicide bomber on one last desperate attempt to kill Slooga, but that thought never occurred to Vannin, who waved the speeder up the ramp frantically. Sure enough, it was one of their new troopers, with a big gun, dead body, and an attitude problem. Vannin was in love. "You got balls, lady," he said. "Fish over there thought you were attacking us. He almost killed you." Ortro Dob raised his fins in protest. He'd done no such thing. Nearby, Hayca rolled her eyes and muttered 'Pathetic.'

---------------

[b]"Someone ought to tell that space slug to stop crying, we still have his merchandise and it's loaded. But don't tell him we just found his contact's funds. He doesn't need to know that," Besk told the LT, with a wink, "Full report later."[/b]

Byron sighed. "We just failed our mission because of him," he said. He made no mention of the unit's losses. "Controlling Slooga in the field is barely even possible, and his men are worse. We can't keep working together like this." He knew from training that he wasn't supposed to vent frustrations like this to enlisted, but the adrenaline was draining away quicker than his anger. Everything should have worked -- the rebels did their job, and they still failed against trash, all because of Slooga's miscalculation. Cost of doing business, probably -- but that wasn't a business that Lt. Byron wanted any part of anymore. "We're going to get back to basics," he decided aloud. "Get me a tally on the supplies and the wounded, see what we can do about those speeders..... We'll debrief on the Intruder." He didn't say it, but he knew already how the conversation with the captain would go. From now on, they were done playing dress-up for Hutts. It was time to point this firepower back where it belonged -- at the imps.