...<br/>...<br/>...<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoYj_oNAOxo&amp;feature=slpl</div></div><br/>Space.<br/><br/>An empty void, once again like a great ocean. One drop passed by, a lifeless Aurek starfighter floated in the abyss. Its occupant still and unmoving. It drifted, turning endlessly as it would for perhaps thousands of years unless stopped... Another floated by, and they gently collided, sent to drift off in opposite directions for eternity.<br/><br/>And with one great flourish, the fleet of the Victory Battle Group dropped out of hyperspace, thousands of ships in formation bolting into view from beyond in a matter of seconds. Ahead of the armada, the battle of Duro awaited them, distant and yet so close. The flashes of fighting and explosions were visible from even such a distance. A swarm of fighters and landing craft led the formation moments after it dropped out, the hammerheads, centurions, and interdictors slowing making their way towards the chaos as they were quickly outpaced by the smaller ships.<br/><br/>Each had to weave in and out of a veritable asteroid field of lifeless Republic fighters and civillian freighters to even get to the object of their mission. Merryn stood beside the pilot of her craft, hunched over as she narrowed her eyes at the scene before her. "All fighters, be advised." The voice of the admiral came up along with his small blue holographic projection at the ship's controls, "We are reading signatures of immense radiation ahead, caused by the detonations of nuclear devices in the vacuum of space..." The admiral looked behind him, listening for a moment and then nodding before he turned back to his 'audience', "The Esalacha has produced an astrogation chart which we're uploading to you now. Avoid the marked areas as much as you can; your ships don't have the shielding to protect you."<br/><br/>The pilot beside Ced turned his head to the Jedi and bitterly added, "Those weapons don't cause an explosion unless they are in an atmospheric environment. But in space, the radiation is ten times as potent and it goes on for hundreds of miles. They must have used it to take out our fighters just as they scrambled to intercept... and the freighters when they tried to escape."<br/><br/>Looking down, the 3D holographic display of their current bearing showed the assault craft and all of their comrades. He switched it to a larger display, and then another... showing the entire planet and all three fleets... and four big red spheres denoting the danger areas. Many of their fallen comrades were no longer in the irradiated space, but had succumbed to the effects nonetheless, the unharmed and lifeless fighters drifting through the 'safe' areas and even making<em>them</em>perilous to traverse.<br/><br/>Like an Arrak snake, the Republic fighters joined together in a narrow formation to avoid the radiation as their home capital ships just blithely pressed forward in the same formation. Taking such detours, they almost caught up to the fighters. Eventually, they passed through and were now hurtling in earnest towards the battle. They approached the nearest orbital platform, an immense city in the sky, domed cities with long spires beneath them and a series of complex additions no doubt added when room had become scarce. The assault craft and their fighter escorts found the Mandalorians before the city, taking fire as the two swarms collided. Many aurek fighters just smashed harmlessly into the thick armord Basilisk droids who made no effort to avoid them (some even moving in the way), although a few Mandalorian riders took the full force of the impact, a few others wisely hugging their mounts for protection.<br/><br/>"This is... Yellow Leader." Merryn's voice came up in the cockpit, "Is everyone alright? We're approaching the first objective now." The Twi'lek had to ask, though she no doubt would have felt her own students' sudden deaths... she was still uncertain if her special talent for force bonding had began to take root with the others.