"So there was nothing there?" Auriga asked.

Arkwright wasn't even out of his zero-G suit yet. "Nullo. Aside from the three advanced stormtroopers we ran into out on the hull and two more in the lab, there were no specimens or even scientists. Hell, half the ship was empty."

The Karah Wind had just docked with the Liberator in its usual slot below the engineering boom. The rest of the marines were busy stowing helmets and working their way out of heavy zer-grav boots and equipment.

"I don't like that."

"Me either, sir."

Auriga made a glance at the grunts.

"Can I talk to you ... over here, Commander?" he asked, gesturing with his head and already steering Arkwright away with a hand on his shoulder.

Once they were safely out of earshot, he asked, "Is something up, Captain?"

"Yeah. You all made it back alive, I see," he said, not without a trace of sarcasm.

Arkwright took the hint. "No thanks to Chief Darktrayn. He led us around like a Coruscanti taxi pilot trying to pad his fare."

"You didn't give him much time to prepare."

"We didn't have any, and besides, you'd think someone who made Lieutenant on a ship like that would still be able to find his way around one a bit quicker than we did."

"That wasn't entirely my point, Commander. What I meant was that I'm surprised you made it back alive anyway."

"Our hands were tied - we had to get the intel quick. Things didn't go too badly down here, I hope?"

"When shooting broke out, Draco did all he could, but Kohana and Lavine were both hit by blaster fire."

Arkwright's stern expression crashed like an ice floe dropping into the ocean. Auriga continued unabated, face darkening. "They're both alive, but Kohana was hit critically. I certainly hope you were at least able to recover some data from this little outing, because if you hadn't been so eager to charge in like a cowboy we could have done a little tapping into Alliance Intel and found out the Judicator was half empty without having to come calling."

Arkwright opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the Captain's comlink.

"Auriga."

"Skipper, we just got word from Captain Cavanaugh. He's in trouble."

The two men exchanged glances. "Lemme hear it, PO."

"Didn't come through real strong, but he says the rebel shipyard was a trap. There were ships waiting and he's run into some kind of mess of zero-G troopers."

So that's where they went.

Auriga sprang into action. "Lay in a course immediately, and tell the fighter wing to stay prepped. And notify Wolfe."

Arkwright just leaned back against the wall and grasped the bridge of his nose.

"Shit ..."