Orgus Din had been a great Jedi Master. While he'd lived, he'd been a venerable, respected veteran of the Jedi Order; a voice of reason (and the odd verbal smack upside the head) on the High Council; and one of the best teachers Xaja had ever had. He'd been something of a surrogate father to the feisty young Padawan he'd taken on, and she had mourned when he'd been killed over Alderaan, even if his work hadn't been finished yet – it had both startled her and given her joy to see his spirit again while he shielded her mind in her captivity on Vitiate's station.

But not even Master Orgus was a perfect master. And Xaja still held a sizable grudge against him for the one bad idea he'd had…

"There's almost a dozen of them." Xaja frowned as she squirmed to the side of the boulder outcropping, letting Master Orgus crouch beside her. "We'll never get by them without being seen."

"Then it's a fight." Orgus's eyes narrowed as he studied the pack of Flesh Raiders between the two Jedi and their escape route back to the safety of the Temple. "Blast it." He glanced over at his young student and gave her a scowl. "This is entirely your fault, kid."

"In my defense, using a fallen tree as a bridge over the ravine was a good idea."

"Until you picked a tree that was half rotten and noisily falling apart, yes."

"Is this supposed to be a metaphor for something deep and introspective, Master?"

"Brat." Orgus lightly swatted his Padawan upside the head and earned a scowl for his trouble, then looked back at the Flesh Raiders. "There's no way to set up a trap to take them down."

"And I don't know about you, but Force Stealth isn't my forte." Xaja scowled at the aliens. "So, Master, what's your next idea?"

"I could throw you at them."

"Was that a short joke?"

"Would I make a short joke like that?"

"Yes, you would." Xaja paused and gave Orgus a sidelong look. "Why am I suddenly very, very afraid?"

"You know what? Throwing you at them might actually work." Orgus raised a hand as Xaja opened her mouth to give him an indignant retort. "You're small enough that you're easy to throw, and it would take the Flesh Raiders off guard…"

"Master! Throwing me at them is not a valid strategy!"

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"Can't we throw Tee-Seven at them instead?" Xaja tried to ignore the astromech's angry beeping from behind them at that suggestion.

"Tee-Seven probably outweighs you, Padawan. And he's got too many fragile components that would break."

"And I don't?!"

"Oh, you're young, you'll bounce back." Orgus grinned. "Unless you've got a better option…?"

"… No." Xaja scowled darkly at her master, then at the Flesh Raiders. "I'm gonna ask Master Shan to adopt me as a Padawan instead when we get back to the Temple."

Orgus chuckled. "Good luck with that, kid. Try not to land on your head."

"Oh, that's not nerve-wracking at ALLLLLLL!" Xaja shrieked as she was suddenly picked up with a wave of the Force and thrown (hard) at the Flesh Raiders. She just barely had enough wits about her to activate her blades and take note of the looks of perplexed fear in the aliens' eyes before she landed hard on one's chest and had to spin into the Ataru form to take down more. She hated to admit it, but her master was right about the maneuver taking the Flesh Raiders off guard, and the added momentum from the throw did seem to help. And it could have been worse: she'd only lost her pride and her dignity, and gained new bruises and scrapes. She couldn't hear the sound of a lightsaber anywhere near her though– why wouldn't Orgus have been right behind her?

She took down the last Flesh Raider and turned to glare as the wise, venerable Jedi Master Orgus Din doubled over laughing, literally holding onto Tee-Seven to not fall over entirely. "Thanks so much for the help, Master," she grouchily called over as she returned her blades to her back. "Really appreciated the support."

"That… I'm sorry, Padawan. That was the funniest thing I've seen since before the Sacking." Orgus finally stood upright, wiping a tear from his eye. The smug bastard of a Jedi was still grinning. "I'm calling this the Orgus Maneuver now."

"And I'm calling it proof that you're secretly on the Dark Side." Xaja scowled and resumed marching in the general direction of the Jedi Temple. "I'm pretty sure there's something in the Jedi Code about using one's Padawans as projectile weapons, Master!"

"Oh, quite possibly. Are you actually going to sit down long enough to read all the fine point details on it?"

"I'll just… ask Master Shan. She'll know!"

Unfortunately, not only did Master Shan not know of any reference in the rules of the Jedi concerning the uses of Padawans as weapons, but she didn't believe Xaja's insistence that she'd just been used as a projectile, even with Orgus grinning as he walked by.

Needless to say, Xaja did not get adopted by the Grand Master as a Padawan.

"There's too many. Even with my stealth generator, I can't get past that." Kira crouched behind a barricade and frowned at the gang members who'd reportedly kidnapped Doctor Tarnus. They'd picked the location for this standoff well; the hangar was difficult to sneak into with the bottlenecking of traffic right into the line of fire, currently being held by a large group of the thugs.

"I can cause a distraction. It might work for you to slip by." Xaja craned her neck around to survey the area. "What do you think– run in lightsabers blazing like a proper Jedi, or run in screaming like a madwoman and try to scare them?"

Kira snickered. "Oh, I'd pay good credits to see that."

/Both = good options. T7 = thinks Master Xaja should do both./

"What, run in screaming and waving lightsabers around? That really won't do much for the Jedi's reputation here, Tee-Seven…"

/Jedi = use Orgus Maneuver?/

"That is not a valid option!" Xaja hissed at the astromech.

"The Orgus Maneuver?" Kira gave Tee-Seven a puzzled look. "What exactly is–"

"Nothing!" Xaja quickly said. "Absolutely nothing beyond a myth that–"

/Orgus Maneuver = Master Orgus' favourite strategy = Force-throwing Master Xaja at enemies./

"This is a real thing?!" Kira turned to stare at Xaja. "Master Kiwiiks and I thought he was joking when he told us about it!"

"That bastard," Xaja growled, her glare only deepening when Kira burst into snickers. She twisted around to glare at her droid. "Traitor." Tee-Seven just beeped gleefully.

"Well, for lack of any better ideas…" Kira gave Xaja what could be best described as an evil grin. "Get thrown in, lightsabers blazing and screaming like a madwoman?"

"For kriff's sake, Carsen…"

"I take that as a 'yes.'"

"That was not–!" And a second later, Xaja shrieked as she flew through the air, directly at the mob. She swore afterward that the terror she saw in their eyes as she'd descended upon them had been from the glow of two blue lightsabers and not from a screaming Jedi flying at them.

Kira insisted otherwise around her cackles at the memory, despite the murderous glares she always got.

"Son of a bitch!" Xaja wiped a thin stream of blood from her forehead as she cut her way through the swarm of Imperial soldiers attacking their little group. "We get Kilran, we're handing him his own ass."

"If we can reach him. Kriffer keeps slipping away too damn fast." The Barsen'thor, Jakar Forseti, spun his saber-staff in his hands, his scowl distorting the scars on his face. "You got a visual on him?"

"No." Xaja's glare darkened as she spun between two more guards, her twin blades taking out both soldiers before they could cause her harm. "Have any more ideas to take that asshole down and get our mysterious Jedi prisoner out of here?"

/Orgus Maneuver?/

"That is still not a valid strategy, Tee-Seven!" Xaja spared a moment to give her astromech a glare, then looked at Jakar as he blinked. "Don't ask."

"The Orgus Maneuver? Is that the one where you get thrown at someone–?"

"No!"

/Affirmative!/

"Oh, shut up." Xaja looked back at Jakar. "How the hell…?"

"Master Orgus laughed about it in a Council meeting that Master Yuon told Qyzen and I about later." Jakar grinned. "It's actually a real thing? Did he actually throw you at a mob of Flesh Raiders?" The venerable Barsen'thor burst out laughing when Xaja's only answer was a wordless scowl. "Force, Master Yuon thought Master Orgus was joking! I mean, you're short enough that it's plausible…"

"Jerk." Xaja glared at the taller Jedi Shadow, then up at his chuckling Trandoshan friend – at least, she assumed that was a chuckle coming from the large alien. "Master Orgus has been dead for almost a year and I'm still bitter about that entire stupid idea of his."

"Well, clearly it's not a stupid idea if it worked." Jakar nodded in that annoying wisely-Jedi way of his, then suddenly blinked. "He's out of stealth! I see him!"

"Where?" Xaja whirled, seeking any glimpse of Kilran's stupid scarred face with that perpetually smug expression. It was unfortunate that Jakar had over a standard foot of height on the tiny sentinel and could see better over the railings and obstacles in the way.

"He's right over – actually, new idea, and you're not gonna like this."

Xaja saw the evil grin on Jakar's face, had just enough time to yell "For kriff's sake, you asshole-!" and then scream a long list of expletives as the Corellian Jedi picked her up with the Force and threw her at Grand Moff Kilran. It was almost worth it to see the perplexed terror in the Butcher of Coruscant's eyes when he registered the midget Jedi flying at him, lightsabers blazing and fury in her eyes. He didn't have enough wits about him to put up any defenses before she landed hard on him, one lightsaber taking him through the chest as she rolled with the excess momentum.

It didn't stop her from raising one solitary finger at Jakar as he approached to help her back up, all but literally dying of laughter. "I hate you," she growled up at her one-time best friend.

"That was worth it." Jakar hauled Xaja back up to her feet and continued strolling down the corridor to the stasis chamber holding the Jedi prisoner, still laughing. "Come along, or do I have to do all the work in this rescue?"

Xaja snarled something decidedly uncomplimentary about Corellian asshole Jedi as she followed him, planning her revenge in the form of paint-bomb-rigging his entire ship later.

Belsavis couldn't make up its mind as to whether it was pleasantly warm and tropical, or if it was frozen and miserable. Right now, partway up one of the mountains, it was just a bit too warm for the robe Xaja was wearing, but too cool for her to discard it. And there was a pack of rioting serial killer prisoners blocking her path to her destination. And Scourge beside her had done virtually nothing but grumble the entire time. "You know, if you want to wait on the Serenity, I'm sure Tee-Seven will be able to work with me just fine…"

"No. You need assistance in disrupting the Emperor's plans. And your astromech does not have the knowledge or skill to do so."

"Don't disparage my droid," Xaja growled. She glared down at the prisoners below them. "So, Oh Mighty Former Wrath, how does your specific skillset work into taking those assholes down so we can keep stopping the apocalypse?"

Scourge was quiet for a moment. "Your droid mentioned something called the Orgus Maneuver –"

"I'm going to wipe his memory," the Jedi muttered. "Would you believe me if I said that was all a load of bantha shit?"

"Tee-Seven's programming does not permit him to knowingly give misinformation. Besides, you're blushing."

"Am not." Xaja scowled at Scourge's raised brow-ridge. "It's the cold."

"Of course." Scourge looked back down at the rioters. "Do you have any better ideas?"

Xaja groaned and dropped her forehead into her hands. "No… GIVE ME SOME DAMN WARNING!" she screamed back at Scourge as she was abruptly thrown at the prisoners, sabers flashing in the cold air as she reacted on instinct to take down the large group of thugs. Fortunately, while they were armed, none of them had been mentally prepared for a flying Jedi coming right at them from on-high.

The short redhead came back up to her feet as the last rioter fell and turned to glare as Scourge meandered up beside her. "Get that smirk off your face, you giant red asshole," she growled as she stormed up the path. "It's still not a valid strategy."

"Of course not, Master Taerich." The bastard had no right to be so patronizing-sounding. And he was still smirking at the next Republic checkpoint two kilometres later.

The Revanites had not been expecting company. Xaja whirled behind a boulder with Sorand as the siblings tried to avoid getting shot. "On the list of bad ideas we're never doing again…"

"Listening to any of Korin's plans, yes." Sorand poked his head around the boulder, then quickly jerked it back as blaster fire peppered the air where he'd been visible. "So, Master Jedi, any new ideas to get inside and get that intel on Theron without dying?"

"I was kinda hoping you had something, Your Darthliness." Ignoring Sorand's glare, Xaja frowned up at the palm tree branches waving overhead. "Aren't those former Imperials back there who might shut up and smarten up at Darth-kriffing-Imperius?"

"I hope Dad and Korin are having as much of a hard time on the Republic side." Sorand irritably Force-threw a boulder back at the pursuing Revanite patrol. "I think we've got two options here. Number one, we double back and try to lose them."

"That's going to take forever. And we don't exactly have an excess amount of time in which to find Theron." Xaja frowned, trying to mask her worry for the missing spy. "What's option two?"

Sorand looked over, and Xaja saw a grin on his face. "So, I gotta know: is the Orgus Maneuver actually a real thing? Because Tee-Seven and Lord Scourge both swear it's –"

"They're full of shit," Xaja quickly answered, already feeling her face drain pale.

"Liar." Sorand's grin widened. "So, what were you saying about doubling-back taking too long?"

"You know, patience is a virtue –"

"And just think about what the Revanites are doing to Theron. I imagine they're torturing him for information, and there's enough defector Sith here that –"

"Okay! Fine!" Xaja gave her brother what could be best described as a murderous glare. "You tell anyone about this and I'll… I'll ask Dad for embarrassing baby stories about you and put them on the HoloNet."

"You're no fun." Sorand scowled, but nodded his agreement. "Fine, I won't tell anyone. And there probably won't be any Revanite witnesses left alive."

"That's something," Xaja grudgingly muttered as she grabbed her lightsaber hilts. "Let's get this over with."

"You've really got a thing for that spy if you're doing the Orgus Maneuver for his well-being."

Xaja whirled to give Sorand another glare at his smirk. "Listen, you, the Jedi Code states that- YOU ASSHOLE!" She went flying at the Revanites before she could finish correcting Sorand in the error of his thinking (and try to deny, to herself and him, that she had any sort of feelings for Theron bloody Shan), much to the bewildered horror of the approaching patrol. Perhaps fortunately for the Revanites, they didn't have too long to dwell on their shock.

The Jedi-turned-human-projectile was less fortunate. She whirled out of the last Ataru form as the final former-Imperial soldier dropped and felt her scowl deepen when she heard howls of laughter. "It was not that funny, Sora–" she started to snap as she turned around, and promptly groaned. Sorand was in fact doubled over and laughing into his fist, but Korin was literally on the jungle floor, laughing so hard he was wheezing. At least their father didn't seem to be taking great amounts of amusement from this entire embarrassing fiasco: Reanden was staring in mute shock, eyes wide and jaw dropped. Xaja hid her face in her palm as she stormed back over to her family. "We never speak of this again… Asshole," she grouchily added at Sorand.

Sorand finally straightened up and wiped a tear of laughter from his cheek. "Totally worth it." He glanced over at Reanden, who still hadn't moved. "Did we break Dad…?"

"I don't blame him! You nearly broke me with that throw!" Xaja snapped.

"Oh, come on, you were fine. You landed right on one of them!"

"And armour hurts to land on like that!"

"Are all the Jedi such wimps as you?"

And that was when Xaja shoved Sorand (with perhaps a bit more force than was strictly necessary) into the jungle creek.

Nobody was quite sure just how the Revanites had found the coalition's base camp, or how they'd managed to sneak up on the supposedly-fortified position. Xaja suspected that someone might have managed to dodge being identified on the list of traitors Theron had found. But now wasn't the time to determine how they'd been compromised, not while she was duelling two 'sabre wielding duellists. One staggered as he got a size-six boot to the midsection, and Xaja could turn her attention to the other. She dodged, bending far backward to avoid a bright yellow blade slicing through where her neck had been, and cut the Revanite's legs out from under him.

She whirled to face her other opponent as the first fell and did not move again. The other man seemed to have recovered from the kick he'd gotten, and raised his lightsaber overhead as he prepared to charge at the Jedi – then suddenly fell as blaster fire rang out nearby. When Xaja glanced over, she saw Theron lowering one of his pistols and looking back at her. "You all right?"

"Yeah." Xaja hurried back over to the spy behind his cover of a camp table; a moment later, Sorand joined them, his mask pulled over his face to obscure his identity to everyone who hadn't been on Rishi. "How many of these kriffers are there?"

"Revan sent a decent-sized group," Sorand grunted. Irritation rolled off him through the Force, although Xaja suspected most of it might stem from how stifling his ancient mask was. Yavin's humidity wasn't helping anyone. "I think we've gotten the worst of it. Marr was taking out a group near the speeder platforms, and the Grand Master's running triage on our wounded."

Theron nodded. "I'm trying to pick up their comm chatter, but they've got decent scramblers. It's hard to get a bead on–" He suddenly tensed, battle-ready. "There's another group coming. A solid half-dozen." He gestured with his head; Xaja and Sorand both turned to see the stealthily approaching Revanites.

Xaja scowled. "Lovely. Sorand, you got that?"

"You know they're right beside our power converters, right? Force Lightning and power converters are a bad combination. Theron, what's your charge on the blasters?"

"One's depleted, the other's half out." Theron shrugged when Sorand turned his masked face back to him. "I had to hot-wire a comms interception rig. It took an entire charge pack!"

"But did it work?" Sorand asked, tilting his head.

"Yes… Until it blew up."

Xaja facepalmed, then gave Sorand a look as he suddenly turned his head toward her. She could feel a worrisome sense of excited glee from him. "Oh, hell no," she growled at the Sith.

"I don't hear you coming up with any better ideas."

"I hate you," Xaja snapped, ignoring Theron's perplexed look.

"I know." Sorand sounded like he was trying to not laugh. "Orgus Maneuver in three…"

"Wait, that can't actually be a real thing," Theron quickly interjected, eyes widening. Xaja promptly decided she needed to find out how the hell the SIS knew of Master Orgus' worst idea.

"Two… one!" Sorand laughed as he threw Xaja at the pack of Revanites. The Jedi activated one lightsaber as she flew through the air, and had just long enough to raise her free hand back at the Sith and make a particularly rude gesture before she was in combat with the shocked Revanites. At least Theron wasn't laughing, the Jedi reasoned to herself when she finally finished the fight and turned back to see the spy staring mutely, hand over his mouth in bewilderment and– oh, that wasn't amusement she felt from him, was it…?

She turned back and promptly swore when she saw Darth Marr standing a few paces away. His mask hid even more than Sorand's, but she suspected that she'd achieved the impossible and stricken the leader of the Dark Council to stunned silence. She just caught a glimpse of blonde hair and a dark cloak and frowned as Lana disappeared behind a tree, presumably to try to regain her composure, although the Jedi could still hear poorly-stifled laughter. The redhead scowled and looked back at Marr. "I suppose there's no way to convince you that you just hallucinated all of that?"

"No, Master Taerich, there is not," Marr finally answered. "You might have better luck convincing your Grand Master of that."

Xaja swore again as she whirled around to see Master Satele, looking perhaps more shocked than she'd ever seen the older Jedi before, even more so than when she'd marched into the Jedi Council chambers after being MIA for months with none other than the Emperor's Wrath in tow. "This was all Master Orgus' fault," she growled.

"It actually… The Orgus Maneuver…" Master Satele's eyes bulged even further in her white face. "I thought he was joking!"

"I told you he used me as a human projectile! This was why I asked if you could adopt me!" Xaja glared at her mentor.

Satele dropped her face into her hands and groaned, for a brief moment forfeiting her Jedi stoicism. "I'm adding an amendment to the Code about using Padawans as ranged weapons," she muttered.

Xaja had fought legends of the Sith before, up to and including Vitiate. She'd sparred against some of the most skillful masters of the Force and of the blades on the Jedi Temple training grounds. This did not mean that she was immune to getting her ass kicked by a three-hundred-year-old maniac.

The petite redhead swore as she was thrown hard by a wave of the Force and landed on the other side of the temple courtyard from Revan as he leaped at Korin; the spacer just managed to roll away in time to not get impaled by red or purple blades. Xaja groaned as she got back up to her knees, then ducked as Darth Marr crashed on the cobblestones just to her left. The Sith grunted as he regained his footing. "He is strong with the Force," he snarled; Xaja could practically feel his glare, directed at Revan though it was.

"Why must psychopaths always be unreasonably strong?" Xaja complained in agreement. She reached out a hand; the lightsaber that she'd dropped when she fell back flew back to her grasp. "If he was this strong before getting locked up, no wonder Vitiate feared him."

"Vitiate cannot feel fear," Marr growled. He scowled in Revan's direction as the lunatic somehow caught the burst of Force Lightning that Sorand had shot at at him and pushed it back, hard enough to knock the younger Sith's hood off and mask away. Marr seemed to start for a moment when he saw Sorand's face, then looked at Xaja contemplatively… then back at Revan, then at Xaja again. "The Orgus Maneuver will work on a single enemy and not a group of foes…"

Xaja groaned. "Oh, come on!"

"I didn't take the Jedi to be cowards," Marr retorted. The bastard knew exactly what to say to get under Xaja's skin.

The Jedi scowled at Marr, then sighed and braced herself. "Fine, let's get this over with," she muttered– a second later, she was in the air and flying. Marr had a remarkably good throwing ability.

It was totally worth it to see Revan wheel around from where he'd been choking Shae Vizla with the Force and watch his eyes widen in horror before the redhead landed on him, his weapons falling from his hands as a hundred pounds of grumpy thrown Jedi hit him square in the chest.

Five and a half years later…

"Useful ideas only, please." Xaja frowned as she paced around the war room's holotable, eyeing the image of the Star Fortress facility on Alderaan. This one seemed to be particularly well-defended with a battalion of Knights stationed within at all times. "There's no guarantee that we'll be able to bomb it from a ship without the fortress itself shooting at us. Sorry, Koth – it was a good idea, but not feasible."

"Damn." Koth frowned and tilted his chair back as he studied the holo. "Can we sneak in and plant explosives all over the place?"

"There's too great a risk of the facility's destruction preventing us from getting in to find the controls for the protective field around the fortress," Theron said as he frowned at his datapad and took a sip of the caf he held in his other hand. Being a caffeine-addicted workaholic had taught him how to multitask well. "We need to be able to get inside."

"Without being killed by the Knights or Skytroopers," Reanden added. "Or those kriffing turrets outside the bunker."

Everyone winced at a mention of the turrets. "Let's never talk about those again," Korin mumbled. He was still sporting some impressive bruises from his last scouting run near the turrets. The machines had only hit the boulder beside him, but the impact of exploding stones still had hurt.

Lana tapped at her lips in thought, glancing at the holotable, then at Xaja, then at Theron (perhaps a little bit warily), then back at the holotable. "We could always throw the Commander at them," she mildly suggested, and ignored Theron when he choked on his sip of caf.

Xaja turned and gave the Sith Lord a menacing glare. "Like I said: useful ideas only, please." She looked back to the holotable and tried to ignore Koth and Senya staring in confusion. "Is there any way to remotely slice into the turret controls–?"

"Throwing the Commander?" Senya looked back and forth between Xaja and Lana. "This can't actually be a strategy from the Core Wo–"

"It's not," Xaja quickly said as Lana opened her mouth, and gave the Sith another glare, which she transferred to Theron when he appeared to be trying to hide a smirk behind his caf mug. "Next real suggestion?"

"The Orgus Maneuver?" Sorand grinned and bumped his knuckles against Korin's, both brothers far too amused.

"We never, ever speak of the Orgus Maneuver again," Xaja growled, then saw Koth open his mouth to ask a question. "It's an urban legend. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to prove. It could never really happen. Maybe we can do a really fast flyby over the turrets and hit them before the fortress can track the ship?…"

She didn't see Lana angling her upper body behind her and mouthing 'It's a real thing' at the Zakuulans. Neither Koth nor Senya seemed to fully believe it; but for the next year, every major problem that the Alliance faced had "throw the Commander at it" offered as a suggested plan. And every time it was suggested, Xaja shot it down with what she insisted was executive veto power.

Vaylin was in the base itself. Xaja could feel the rage-filled darkness that was the mad Empress, worryingly near to Vette's Force-signature. Sorand was nearby as well, but he felt wounded. The Commander tore around the corner, Arcann and Senya right behind her. She could see where she needed to be, see Vaylin's back turned to her as she paced menacingly in front of the subdued Vette… just out of easy leaping range.

She glared at the distance between her and Vaylin, her expression darkening further when she recognized what few options she had. It would take far too long to run around for an easier access point, especially when Xaja suspected that Vaylin's patience would give out before then, and with Vette's life in the balance. She couldn't call for a fighter flyby either, for the same reason. And dignity be damned… This really was the only option. "Arcann?"

"Yes, Commander?"

I can't believe I'm doing this. "Are you familiar with the Orgus Maneuver?"

"We've heard rumours," Arcann admitted as Senya nodded. "Tee-Seven said it came from your old Jedi teacher throwing you at an enemy, which couldn't possibly have happened."

"Long story short… It's true. All of it. My old master did in fact throw me at a pack of Flesh Raiders when I was still a student, and was so pleased with himself that he named the maneuver after himself. It started as a short joke." Xaja turned and gave the former Emperor a flat, warning glare. "If you ever so much as breathe a word about me giving you permission to use the Orgus Maneuver, I will put you on sanitation duty for the rest of your natural life."

Arcann's eyes widened. "It… Yes, Commander. I'll be right behind you."

"That puts you a step ahead of everyone else who's used the Maneuver on me," Xaja muttered as she braced herself for the throw. "When you're ready." Arcann nodded his understanding and raised his hand; Xaja felt the Force grasp her a second before she was thrown hard through the night air, her white-bladed lightsabers igniting at the last possible second.

Vaylin turned just in time to not get stealth-killed, but the shocked (and not a little bit fearful) expression in her eyes was almost worth it.

"Do these bloody droids never end?" Sorand loudly complained as a stream of purple lightning shot from his fingertips. Apparently the Republic base camp on Iokath wasn't quite as secure as one might have hoped. "Did we not kill enough of them the last time we were here?"

"Apparently not," Xaja grumbled. Her lightsabers flashed in the air as she deflected a bolt from another droid. "Are we sure this super weapon is worth dealing with this shit?"

"Do you want the Empire getting their hands on it? Or the Republic without adult supervision?" Lana retorted.

"I heard that!" Theron snapped at the Sith, then looked at Xaja. "But she's right."

"I'm trying really hard to not be offended, Beniko," Jorgan growled from his sniper's position.

"Considering the Republic's last leader tried to have the Commander assassinated, I'm reasonably sure logic left the Senate entirely years ago," Lana snarled back, her eyes blazing amber.

"How did the Republic get the reputation of being the so-called honourable ones?" Arcann asked as he threw his lightsaber and took out another droid at a distance.

Xaja rolled her eyes at the argument, then saw the colossal droid striding up and felt herself pale. This one looked to be at least as big as the one that she and Vette had taken down on the last visit to Iokath. "Guys…"

"Really, Xaja could just give the super weapon to the Republic," Korin interjected into the argument. "If their security's as bad as it was ten years ago, the Empire will have it too in probably a week."

"Hey!" Theron glared at his friend. "I mean, you're probably right now that I'm not working for them anymore, but…"

"So humble, Shan," Sorand dryly commented.

"Listen, Your Darthliness–"

"What did I say about calling me Your Darthliness?!"

"GUYS!" Xaja's sharp shout cut into the argument. "Bigger problems!"

"Bigger problems like – holy shit!" Theron finally turned and saw the approaching droid. "Get under cover!"

Unfortunately, the building that the Alliance team hid behind proved to be little protection from the droid's laser weapons. Xaja pressed herself against the wall and coughed as she did a headcount through the dust, using the Force to help. Everyone was alive and conscious, miraculously. "Sound off!" she shouted.

"All present and accounted for," Theron called over. "I'm sending a distress signal back to my father. We should have backup soon."

"Assuming Commander Malcom's anywhere near his comm," Lana grumbled. "We need to find an escape route."

"If we split up…." Korin mused as he frowned at the dust obscuring his view of the sky. "It can't kill all of us at once, right?"

"Have you seen its range? It would have no problems shooting all of us." Arcann scowled. "If we take it out at the legs–"

"Then we get stepped on and smushed into unrecognizable splatters," Theron grumbled. "We need a fighter flyby now!"

"Not likely to happen," Xaja muttered as she looked upward. … It's worth a shot. "Arcann, Lana, Sorand: who's got the longest throwing range?"

The three aforementioned Force users looked at each other. "Probably me," Arcann finally said. "But if we can synchronize it, we might be able to throw something further than one of us can alone."

"Good." Xaja sighed in resignation. "We're enacting the Orgus Maneuver, unless someone has a better idea in the next ten seconds–"

"I don't think we even have ten seconds!" Jorgan shouted. "Incoming!"

Everything happened in the blur of a second as the colossus droid's foot started to descend. Xaja just saw her Force-users look at each other before she was lifted up, saw the blood drain out of Theron's face, saw Jorgan suddenly blink as he caught up to what exactly the Orgus Maneuver was… and then she was flying upward, fast enough to make tears stream from her eyes. Her impact with the droid wasn't enough to knock it down, but she did seem to throw it off-balance, enough for her to continue scrambling up the chassis to attack the droid's head and control centre.

Minutes later, the droid finally fell to its knees, then started falling entirely down, all inner systems having been rendered non-functional. Xaja jumped from the droid's shoulder, landed on an elevated platform, and rolled with her momentum until she came to a stop. For several long seconds she stayed still, focusing on breathing and the realization that she wasn't dead from that stunt. Shit, where's Theron? I need to find him and make sure he's all right –

Footsteps came to a halt beside her. Xaja cracked an eye open to see Jace Malcom's dropped jaw and bulging eyes. "… Welcome to the party," she said, wearily waving at the grizzled veteran. "You missed it."

"No, we got here in time to see everything." Malcom shook his head. "Everything. I thought the Orgus Maneuver was a myth –"

"For kriff's sake, how many people know about that?!" Xaja groaned in frustration. "I'm never going to live this down."

"Nope." Malcom sighed, then turned his head and waved. "She's all right, Theron!" he called out, and seconds later Xaja was being lifted off the ground and tightly hugged by a still-pale Theron.

"We're not making this mistake again," Xaja growled as she and Sorand ran through the ancient Chiss temple, Raina in tow. "We see Theron, we're doing the Maneuver."

"Good," Sorand muttered. "I still can't believe you and Lana didn't do it on Umbara."

"Mostly because we were trying to get to Korin and make sure Theron hadn't killed him." Xaja glanced behind her as the trio continued to run. "I don't know what my father's told you about me, Lieutenant Temple, but you're sworn to secrecy for what you're about to see."

Raina's eyes widened. "Yes, Commander Taerich," she said. "What am I going to be seeing?"

"The Orgus Maneuver, which absolutely does not exist, and is not the reason why I'm probably going to punch my old Jedi Master when I see him after I pass into the Force." Xaja came around the corner and saw the shuttle preparing to take off, with him on board, with that (admittedly sexy-looking) jacket and that awful haircut (dear Force, what had he been thinking?!), and perhaps half a dozen of his Chiss friends. "End of the line, Theron!" she shouted at her wayward husband, seeing him whirl when he heard her voice. His hazel eyes widened enough for Xaja to see it, even at this distance. "Sorand!"

"The Maneuver is a go!" Sorand stretched out his hand, and Xaja felt herself flying in a too-familiar motion, on a direct course for Theron. She recognized the alarm and disbelief in his eyes as he started moving out of her path –

– then there was a blur of blue and grey, Theron shouted "No, wait, don't!", and Xaja was knocked completely off her trajectory by a larger Chiss body slamming into hers and knocking her to the ground. Valss, the notorious Force-wielding Chiss, landed in front of her and spun his yellow lightsaber menacingly.

It failed? Xaja rolled back to her feet as Sorand came running up to her side, and watched in mute, stunned disbelief as the shuttle door slid closed and Theron escaped her. "The Orgus Maneuver failed?" she whispered, feeling her shoulders slump despondently. "How the hell did it fail…?"

"Bigger problems right now!" Sorand shouted as he Force-threw Valss back from Xaja before the Chiss could seize the opportunity to attack the Commander. "Fight, dammit!"

… I was so close. Anger made Xaja's jaw tighten as she drew her lightsabers, white blades with Sorand's green weapon facing off against the Chiss and his yellow blade. Valss never stood a chance. But it was still a depressed Jedi-turned-Commander and a stunned Dark Lord of the Sith who made it onto Lana's evacuation shuttle after the battle. How did the Orgus Maneuver fail?

For her part, Raina just looked back and forth between the Commander and the Sith Lord, then back in the direction of the traitor's shuttle, then back at the Jedi. "Ktah," she muttered under her breath, wondering once again what exactly she'd just signed up for. She could only hope that the day would never come when she would be considered a projectile weapon.