The starship drifted through space, silent and cold. The interior was empty of all breathable atmosphere and had long since cooled to the ambient temperature of the space it traveled through. The ship itself drifted at an angle, purposely set as to further throw off suspicions that it was capable of moving under its own power.

  The people inside the ship were silent, their mag boots engaged to keep them locked in place, so that they didn't drift around in the now gravityless interior. The only communication method they had was the direct links their armor could form when one person's hand was placed on another shoulder. Luckily, this could be linked through multiple people, meaning several conversations between most of the group could happen at once.

  The Commando droids were all powered down, as were the slicer droids, secured in place in a few different rooms so their power cells couldn't be detected.

  "... and we are officially out of the last thick patch," Corvak's second in command stated, having been given the role of keeping an eye on their internal timers, which was how they were tracking their progress. "Their sensors could pick us up at any time. Not much longer and we will be floating through the primary target area.

  "About time," Another Mandalorian said, shaking his head. "Sitting here in low power mode is brutal, and waiting has been driving me mad."

  Their armor suits, built by the ever-advancing Pola Tarsi and the Skyforged Vanguards armor department, were brilliant bits of engineering, even beyond the beskar armor. At this point, each one was a heavily customized work of art, built to fill any role the ground teams may encounter, at the cost of each one being worth a small used starship.

  Not only was the suit's power source heavily shielded, but it also had a low power mode, further reducing its power signature. It meant that several features were disengaged, and the heater was turned down to just a bit over safe settings, but it made it almost impossible to scan for, especially through multiple layers of a ship's hull.

  The ship continued to drift, moving through space uninhibited until, suddenly, a shadow crossed its hull and passed over the bridge. The clone ground team member who was on watch quickly left his post and spread the word through the rest of the teams, that someone had done a flyby. After that, everyone moved, spreading out to the most hidden corners of the ship and locking down to wait.

  Time passed, one minute turned to three, turned to four, until finally, they could feel the dull thrum of a tractor beam being locked around the ship. This was almost immediately followed by a heavy jerk, as whatever idiot was in control of the system brought them to a sudden stop. A few people were thrown around, and if they been a wreck, whatever idiot had stopped them had just risked making whatever damage had scuttled them even worse. Thankfully, the ship was fine and more than capable of handling the abuse.

  Once they were stopped, the tractor beam disengaged, the thrum vanishing and the silence of the void returning. Once again, the troops waited, now completely cut off, even from the visuals of the bridge viewports. Minutes passed, then some more, before finally, the ship shuddered again, the thrumming much more intense this time. Either the tractor beam that was locked onto them was much more powerful, or multiple ships had locked onto them at once.

  For another twenty minutes, the tractor beams moved them, inertia being the only sense that was of any use at this point. It jerked them around a bit, but luckily this time, it was soft enough that they didn't have to worry about being tossed around. They could feel themselves being rotated, moved, and then adjusted several times before slowly being moved downwards, relative to the .

  The first hint that the ship was being set down was the return of gravity, which kicked in suddenly as they entered the ship's projected gravity field. Then, a minute later, the starship was finally placed down on some sort of surface. While it was better than it could have been, it was still clear that the landing struts were not down, and the ship was at an angle. This was not the best way for the ship to rest, but it should be able to withstand it for a while, as long as it remained in standard gravity.

  Again, the troopers were forced to wait until a shudder ran through the ship, this time coming up from the points of contact with whatever surface the was resting on. Then, not long after that, their suits detected the atmospheric levels rising, as air began to flow into the starship.

  When the first bit of replenished oxygen started to filter in, all of the troopers moved at once. The returning atmosphere meant they were inside, secured in whatever vessel they had been put in, which meant they had successfully infiltrated, and now it was time to move.

  Quickly, they moved through the ship, reactivating both BX droids and the slicer astromechs. When everyone was ready, and the atmosphere inside the ship was equal to the outside, Corvak engaged the manual controls for their exit.

  Rather than exit anywhere predictable, they installed a series of specifically created explosive charges meant to remove an already weakened section of the hull, doing as little damage as possible to the ship overall. The explosives went off perfectly, creating a hole big enough for the BX droids to dive through, one by one, perfectly executing a roll that let them spring to their feet, ready to fight.

  Immediately, they opened fire indiscriminately, taking down nearly two dozen people in just a few moments as they spread out. While they couldn't pass up the element of surprise, they did realize that a significant fraction of the people working on the republic warship were most likely slaves, which meant that, for this mission, all weapons would be set to stun. As the BX droids sent wave after wave of stunning energy out, the remaining two teams disembarked as well, climbing through the hole at a much slower but still serviceable pace.

  The ground teams washed over the Venators massive, taking down anyone that moved, stunning everyone as they went. After nearly three minutes of combat, during which the opposing Hutt forces barely managed to stage a defensive action, the only conscious people in the hangar bay were Skyforged forces.

  Once combat was complete, Corvak scanned the area, having climbed up onto a half-stripped down for a better vantage point. The center lane of the hangar bay was mostly cleared, with a few starfighters spread around, all of them being taken apart. The largest ship present was the broken hull of a.

  Along the sides of the center lane were the actual hangar bays, each one slightly beating the center lane in size. Each side was protected by magcon fields, which were divided into sections, though the bay itself was open save several reinforcing supports on either side. On the other side of those fields, which had been cleared in the sweep, were dozens of starfighters, crates, and stacks of parts. It was hard to judge for sure, but from where Corvak was standing, it looked like a significant portion of the salvage pulled from the battlespace had been stored in the massive hangars and ready to be transferred back.

  "Lefty! Split your forces. Keep some of them here to keep the hangar shut down. Then take the others and work your way through the ship to clear out any pockets of resistance," Corvak ordered. "Clear important places first!"

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "Roger Roger!" Left shouted, turning to communicate with his group before he and eleven other droids began to run toward the primary entrance to the hangar area. A slicer droid, one of three they brought with them, followed after them. The remaining eight droids began to lock down the area, investigating the area more closely and finding advantageous cover.

  "Lieutenant Rider, you need to clear the ship as well, but focus on the power cores!"

  Rider saluted, his team already moving as, really, this plan had already been discussed long before the mission started.

  "Clan Syr, to me! Our target is the remaining bridge!" He shouted, jumping from his perch to lead the charge, following after the clone ground team.

  The halls of the starship were filled with flying lasers and stun bolts, all three groups pushing in different directions. The clones were heading directly forward, pushing to the back end of the ship, where the central power core was. The droids split up again, this time moving out to clear and secure the ship's heaviest and most dangerous exterior weapons, while the twelve members of the Mandalorian ground team pushed up, heading directly for the remaining bridge.

  While the Hutts had clearly spent time and money working the various wrecks together, they had nothing to replace the second command deck, which had been obliterated during the fight. Normally, that bridge was focused on starfighter control and organization, so instead of trying to repair it by spending credits to buy new parts, they just cut the torn and damaged parts of the ship off and sealed the top with thick, solid plates of scavenged armor.

  Meanwhile, the actual command bridge was intact, if a bit scorched, with several platings coming from the other Venators. That was Corvak's target, which his team was steadily working towards.

  All teams made quick progress through the ship, leaving dozens of stunned people in their wake. Even the aliens with the most robust nervous system would remain unconscious for at least a few hours, giving the Skyforged teams plenty of time to take control of the ship and set up significantly more favorable conditions.

  The clone ground team reached their first destination first, quickly slicing into secure areas and clearing them out. Once the main power core rooms had been cleared, the group's slicer droid hacked the access doors and sealed them shut, sealing a pair of clones inside as further protection. From there, the team split up and moved on to the secondary reactors, which existed on both wings. These were much smaller and had considerably fewer access points, meaning they took considerably less time to clear and secure. Again, a pair of troopers were left at each, before the remaining troops regrouped and continued to clear sensitive areas.

  The second group to reach their destination were the BX droids, as they had even less distance to cover, instead having to climb several decks to get to the primary control systems for the weapons. Despite desperately trying to hold them off, and even managing to damage two droids with a lucky grenade throw, the rag-tag mercenaries that worked for the Hutts stood no chance against the advanced and armored battle droids. They had heavy turbolaser controls cleared and locked down in short order.

  The last team to make it to their destination, just about the time that the clones were finished clearing the first reactor, was the Mandalorians. They had to fight through several floors before gaining access to a functional turbolift to reach the bridge.

  Their slicer droid managed to gain access to the bridge, despite it being locked down, and the Mandalorians tore through the mixed skeleton crew. Once the bridge was cleared, the slicer droid hooked up to the main control system and began the process of slicing into the ship's main computer. Of course, rather than just sitting there and waiting, three troopers were assigned to hold the bridge and watch over the slicer astromech while the rest of the team headed back into the ship, clearing rooms floor by floor.

  Working together, three teams continued to wrestle control of the ship from the Hutt mercenaries and workers until Corvak finally got a message from the team members watching over the bridge. The slicer droid had gained access to the system controls and reported that the other Hutt starships were demanding an update on the situation. He quickly returned to the bridge with several clones, who knew enough about Venators to serve as a very temporary crew.

  "Can we send a message to the rest of the fleet?" Corvak asked, ignoring the warnings about incoming messages.

  "Yes, the hyperwave system seems functional."

  "Then send it. Tell them to come in immediately, focus on the Nebulon, but be careful not to pop their shield," I said. "And after that, power up weapons. Focus on the hammerheads and other smaller ships. Do not shoot the salvage ships."

  "What are you thinking?" Lieutenant Rider asked, standing beside Corvak, looking out the viewport at the many ships, many of which showed clear signs of agitation.

  "I'm thinking we have the shields and guns to weather quite a bit," He responded. "And… I'm trying to think like Deacon."

  That got a laugh from the clone before it shifted to nervousness when he realized Corvak was serious. Before he said anything, the temporary comms officer spoke up.

  "They are on their way!"

  "Good… target the smaller ships targeting us and open fire," Corvak responded. "Anything that works, I want all the smaller ships gone. Get whoever can on gunnery positions. And put everything from thrusters into shields, I want them as high as they go."

  With only slight hesitation, the clone behind the gunnery controls nodded. Suddenly, the massive turbolasers mounted to the Clone Wars-era Star Destroyer opened up, and bright blue beams of energy flew from the turrets, slamming into half a dozen different ships at once. Some of them exploded outright, the smaller ships unable to withstand the massive energy output. Others survived the first blast, only to get cracked into pieces and explode when successive shots found their targets.

  The two Hammerheads took their shots better, their shields holding as they began to move. As they did, Corvak spoke up again.

  "Send a wide spectrum communication. I want everyone to hear it," He ordered, waiting for the clone he was looking at to nod. "Tell everyone that I hope they don't mind pissing off the Hutts by shooting at the ship they had spent so much money on repairing."

  One of his men laughed while the clone sent the message, broadcasting it so everyone could hear. Almost immediately, one of the hammerheads stopped firing, and the amount of laser fire from the Nebulon dropped as well. The Venator's weapons continued to fire, however, tearing into one of the hammerhead's shields. Almost immediately they cracked and failed under the pummeling, its engines exploding and the ship shattering into drifting debris.

  "The rest of the fleet is approaching… entering weapons range in thirty seconds."

  Corvak nodded, looking out at the battlefield. He knew that his forte was not naval combat, something that Deacon seemed to have an instinctual knack for. But he had been paying attention to Deacon's other talent, taking a situation and working it for all it was worth. That particular talent seemed to make their money double, and opportunities appear out of nowhere, and that was a skill he wanted.

  "Focus fire on the last hammerhead, then connect me to the Nebulon," he ordered, watching as the large turrets tracked the smaller ship, the hammerhead attempting to find cover in the wreckage.

  The rest of the fleet finally entered weapons range and opened fire on the Nebulon just as the hammerhead shields failed. The Venator's turrets managed to pop one of their larger engines, causing the corvette to careen off course, slamming into the salvage wreckage of one of the other Venators. They scanned the area for a moment, just to confirm it was destroyed, before moving on.

  "Connecting to Nebulon…"

  Corvak watched as the fleet's A-wings tore into the starfighters that poured out of the Nebulon, the two squadrons doing quick work before pulling back, using their speed to avoid fire from the smaller frigate and take cover behind wrecks and other ships.

  "Connection coming in!"

  The main holoprojector lit up, showing a Twi'lek male. For a good ten seconds, all he shouted were curses, both in Huttese and. During that time, the ship continued to fire on the now-captured Venator and the other starships in the fleet. Eventually, seemingly exhausted, he stopped.

  "Surrender, and I don't finish you off," Corvak said simply. "You don't have enough time to jump, and you can't punch through our shields. Either you surrender, or we turn you to stardust."

  "The Hutts will never let this go!" He said with a snarl. "They will hunt you down and destroy you! If you leave now, they may even kill you quickly, rather than making you beg!"

  "Maybe… or maybe they will never know what happened here," He responded. "The nebula may be thin here, but it's more than enough to block long-distance communication. Surrender now, before I destroy you for taking too long."

  The Twi'lek snarled again before beginning to tell him exactly what he could do with his offer. Then, from somewhere outside the range of the projector, there was a flash of light. The Twilek disappeared, and after a moment, a new face replaced it. This one was a Duros, who nodded and smiled, showing off their sharp teeth.

  "Apologies… I believe we were discussing the terms of our surrender?"