We had barely stepped thirty feet into the cave before we needed to turn on our night vision. There were clearly lights and cables lining the tunnel walls, but they were either off or had been sabotaged. Thankfully, our night vision was high quality and didn't hamper our vision in any appreciable way.

  As we moved deeper and deeper, it quickly became apparent that some pretty serious fighting had taken place, with dozens of stormtroopers lying dead along the ground, as well as the occasional Mandalorian civilian, or even less frequently, a Mandalorian warrior. Each Mandalorian we passed sent a wave of tension and anger through Corvak and his people. I couldn't blame them, but I was beginning to worry they might fly off the handle the second they saw living stormtroopers.

  We pushed on, deeper into the cave system, past piled Imperial corpses and other signs of battle, like busted equipment and cut power cables along the wall. Suddenly, Corvak stopped, holding up his hand.

  "Listen..." He said quietly, all of us straining our ears, trying to hear what he did.

  There, just on the cusp of our auditory range, was the distant sound of combat. Immediately, Corvak continued to move, picking up the pace considerably as we all jogged deeper, following the sounds of blaster bolts and screaming.

  We passed more and more dead Imperials as well as another dead Mandalorian. Then, out of nowhere, we stumbled onto a corpse that sent a shiver down my spine. It was different enough that, even with the sounds of violence ahead, we all skidded to a stop.

  "What is that?" Julus asked. "I don't recognize that variant of stormtrooper armor..."

  "That's because it's not stormtrooper armor," I explained, nudging the corpse with my foot, mind ready to cast magic. "I'm pretty sure this is a."

  The corpse was covered in black armor, with red eyes and highlights. The armor was polished to a sheen, save for where the paint was blown off from some sort of explosive, which was clearly what had killed them. In truth, it didn't quite look like any dark trooper armor I was familiar with, instead looking like a cross between a fully armored Mandalorian and stormtrooper, almost like the version of clone armor. It was also big enough that some sort of exoskeleton system must be involved as well. I could see the parts reinforcing their joints, most likely increasing their strength.

  The pool of blood under the corpse proved that there was a living person inside the suit, but beyond that, they could pass as a massive armored droid. Scared to find out if my theory was correct, I nonetheless pulled out my blaster pistol and shot them in the chest, the blaster bolt ricocheting off and digging a chunk out of the cave wall.

  "Fuck. Fucking hell. Okay people, this shit just got a lot more complicated," I said, everyone now focused and alert. "These are dark troopers, they are likely modified humans in beskar or armored exoskeletons. They will be damned hard to kill, almost as hard as us, so for the most part let me of Ahsoka handle them, as only my magic or Ahsoka's telekinesis is a match for them. Ashoka, you know how to fight beskar-armored people, aim for the joints if you can. Everyone else, if shit goes south, use your grenades but be careful. We don't have time to dig ourselves out if we get trapped."

  As I talked, I leaned over the corpse, and after a moment of patting the dark trooper down, I found a combat knife strapped to their hip. On a whim, I stabbed gently at my armor, the metal carving a line down the side.

  "Okay, make Ahsoka, myself, and now Corvak," I explained, handing him the knife. "It's beskar, so it will punch through their armor. This also means they have weapons that can get through beskar. I know its not kosher for your people, but we don't have time to fuck around. "

  "Agreed," he said with a nod, grabbing the knife and spinning it in his hands to get a feel for it. "We need to move."

  I nodded, and together we all took off, moving faster through the tunnels, passing more corpses, including a second dark trooper under a pair of Mandalorian warriors. Suddenly, out of nowhere, we stepped around a corner and found ourselves in a. It was hundreds of feet wide, with carved walkways, rooms, and doorways dotting the sides like a massive honeycomb., with large stone bridges, railings and all, branching between either side of the large cave It was also filled with fighting, with Mandalorians and Imperial forces on opposite sides, with a few dozens of Mandalorians holding off hundreds of stormtroopers, as well as around fifteen dark troopers interspersed in groups through the stormtroopers.

  "Remember, focus on the stormtroopers, we will focus on the dark troopers!" I called out before running full tilt towards the edge of the carved path, leaping off the side.

  I could hear Corvak and Ahsoka following after me, before I activated my repulsors and boosted towards a group of dark troopers and stormtroopers pushing towards a group of Mandalorians at the end of a stone bridge. The Mandalorians were trying to stop the Imperials before they could enter a group of caves, which I could see were filled with people. As I flew across the gap, I charged and threw a Healing Circle at the entrance that the Mandalorians were guarding, right where I could see at least one of them on the ground, clearly being tended to. Before I could even see the spell hit, I landed among the dark troopers, all five of them turning to focus on me.

  "Hello there," I said, my hands raised and ready. "I don't suppose-"

  Before I could finish, two of them opened fire with some sort of rapid-fire blaster rifle, bolts bouncing off my armor by the dozen. Rather than let them test my armor, I gathered my mana and launched an Elemental Blast into the closest trooper's chest, taking him off his feet into a trio of regular stormtroopers behind them. I followed it up with a Paralyze, tagging the second large Imperial with the green glowing spell, causing him to collapse backward.

  Before I could turn to attack the remaining three dark troopers, something slammed into my back, punching through my armor and into my left shoulder. Pain exploded from the impact point, but with clenched teeth, I jumped forward, dragging the knife of beskar from my shoulder. I quickly cast Conjure Mage Construct before turning and sending a wave of Sparks out at the trooper who had just stabbed me, only using one hand since my left arm refused to move.

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  The Sparks spell, enhanced as it was by months of practice and techniques, lashed out and scattered across the closest dark trooper, sparking on his still bloody knife and along his arm. Their arm jumped and spasmed, forcing him to drop the blade. The second my conjured ally cast a healing spell on me, control returning to my left arm, I dual cast Frost Storm, blasting it towards the three dark troopers, including the one I had just blasted with Sparks. The swirling freezing spell drove toward the beskar-armed Imperials, washing over them, ice crackling over their armor and driving them back. Behind them, at least a half dozen stormtroopers fell to the spell, overwhelmed by its intensity.

  Gambling that the freezing spell would buy me some time for one side, I turned to the other side of the bridge, whipping out my hand as I did, snagging the dark trooper's dropped beskar combat knife with Telekinesis. Just as my mage ally finished blasting the two troopers with fire, I jumped, caught the beskar knife, and slammed it into the singed trooper's helmet, punching it through and into his skull. Not willing to take any chances with what sort of modifications the troopers might have, I yanked the knife free and slammed it in again, this time through the side of their head, right into their temple.

  By now, the trooper I had thrown back when I first landed was standing again, so with a shove I pushed his comrades corpse into him, forcing him to shove it to the side, only to catch a dual cast Lightning Bolt to his neck, which blew apart the polymer covering that bridged the gap between his chest plate and neck. Not only did the black material explode, but judging by the blood and gore, so did his actual neck.

  I could feel heat behind me as my conjured ally cast another fire spell, only for it to cut out, and my connection fail as someone destroyed the construct. I spun around to find that the dark troopers had broken free of their ice and had unloaded their weapons on my conjured ally. Rather than conjure another mage, I quickly cast Conjure Fighter Construct, the appearing directly behind them. One of the troopers turned to the new threat and attempted to stab it with their beskar combat knife, the fighter quickly dodging, while the other two troopers tried to charge me.

  I quickly raised both hands, casting dual Elemental Blasts, the troopers lowering their shoulders to take the brunt of the blasts as well as they could. It still shoved them back a few feet, so with the last of my mana, I cast the spell once more for each hand, driving them back again.

  Then I detonate the conjured fighter.

  It had been a while since I had used the detonating construct trick, and I had learned a lot since then. My ability to pump energy into things had significantly increased, so when the fighter construct exploded, releasing all of its energy as a blast of lightning and concussive force, it was extremely powerful. One of the dark troopers, the one who had been attempting to fight the construct, was blown up and over the bridge's crude railing, falling down without a word.

  He fell for a good long moment before impacting the ground with enough force to shatter most of his bones, despite the beskar armor.

  The second trooper was slammed into the railing hard enough to crack the stone, but he managed to keep from falling back and off the bridge, though he did drop to his knees. The third trooper was knocked off his feet backwards, shattering a stormtrooper that was still frozen solid from my Ice Storm. With my mana still mostly empty, I rushed to the kneeling troopers side, slammed my fist into his head as hard as I could, knocking his helmet off center, giving me just enough space to shove my blaster pistol in and fire off a trio of bolts inside, each one lighting up the inside bright enough to see through the eye holes.

  With smoke pouring out from under their helmet, I released his shoulder plate, letting him slump to the floor. I stood up straight, turning to the last dark trooper and casting a Healing Hand on myself to wash away the last bit of soreness from my shoulder.

  "I have a bad feeling you guys are going to be a pain in my ass from now on," I said, shaking my head as I walked to the downed trooper, watching him struggle to stand, pushing up off the ground. "Don't bother, buddy. I'm afraid you're-"

  Before I could finish, the trooper rolled over, revealing that he hadn't been struggling to stand, but instead had been fiddling with his utility belt. A grenade, top twisted and warning lights blinking, rolled out of the trooper's hand to just a few feet in front of me. I cursed, conjuring a Superior Ward and tapping my repulsor pack. I barely managed to get six or seven feet up and away, my Superior Ward just barely formed and projected downward when the grenade detonated. The explosion enveloped me, broke my shield, and overwhelmed the repulsor for a moment, just enough to toss me down along the bridge and slam me down into the ground, tumbling and rolling.

  I was pretty sure I was at least unconscious for a moment or two, because the next thing I remembered was a pair of Mandalorian warriors, dressed in varying levels of beskar, stepping out of their cover to push back the remaining stormtroopers. I quickly cast a Fast Heal on myself a few times before climbing to my feet.

  Looking around, I quickly spotted most of my crew pushing down around one of the side carved paths, killing scores of troopers as they went, while Ahsoka and Corvak were surrounded by dark trooper corpses. Ahsoka looked fine, blocking and redirecting blaster bolts towards the closest groups of stormtroopers while stepping over her fallen targets. Corvak, on the other hand, took one step forward and collapsed against the wall of the path he was on.

  With a curse, I quickly triggered my repulsor pack, after checking to make sure it was still working, flying up and over a pair of bridges before landing by Corvak. Immediately, I pumped a Grand Heal into him, followed by a second one, just to be safe. Once I was sure he was okay and not about to bleed out, I cast a Respite on him before helping him to his feet and waving him to follow. By now, the fighting had mostly petered out, with Mandalorian warriors running off in small groups to chase down the few remaining stormtroopers. Which meant it was time to make contact.

  With one last look around, confirming we were safe, I reached up and activated the release for my faceplate, the front of my helmet popping off. I clipped the plate to my belt as we approached the nearest group of Mandalorians. Corvak did the same, revealing his face as the rest of his team pushed down to meet with us, while my crew met with Ahsoka, who purposely held my crew back to cover us.

  "Clan Galti!" Corvak called out, raising his hand upward. “I am Corvak Syr, of Clan Syr! I am with the Skyforged Vanguard, here to rescue and evacuate you."

  "But first, we need to see your wounded," I added, Corvak nodded in agreement. "Especially those who are critical and approaching death."

  One of the warriors, armed with one of the unique-looking blaster rifles that the dark troopers had been using, stepped forward from one of the carved paths below. With a practiced step, they used their thruster pack to jump to the bridge Corvak and I were on, landing just a dozen feet in front of us.

  "Clan Syr, it seems as if you have saved us from the Empire," He said, looking around at his men, then at my crew. "But I worry you have only delivered us to new captors."

  "I put my honor as a Mandalorian, my right to wear my ancestral armor, on my word that the Skyforged Vanguard will deal honorably with those who deal honorably with them," Corvak responded, muttering spreading among the people around us. “Time is short, Vi Galti. If you wish to make it off this planet before the Empire returns, with an even larger force, we must work together."

  After a moment, the warrior, who had been speaking through some sort of voice-obscuring device, gently lifted off their helmet to reveal a woman, maybe ten or fifteen years older than me, with black hair pulled straight into a tight bun. Her face was smudged with grease or grime, her features worn from a long, rough life. For a moment, she stood there, her helmet in one hand and her weapon in the other, studying both of us before eventually nodding.

  “Very well, Corvak Syr. I rest my people's fate on your words," She said, before looking towards me. "We will humbly accept your help, Deacon Roy, leader of the Skyforged Vanguard."

  "Great. Now bring me to your wounded," I repeated. "Once people aren't at risk of bleeding out or dying from shock, then we can talk about the details."