It was all rather peculiar. Rey had landed on the planet more than an hour ago and she had yet to find any signs that the first order was even here. She had expected to encounter patrols but so far she had encountered no one. This fact was just one more of the many rather peculiar things that surrounded this planet. 

The planet didn't even have a proper name. It was far from any inhabited world as well as the vast network of galactic trade routes. In the old Imperial star charts it was simply recorded as 'Planet 487Epsilon.' The planet was found in the 487th system charted by the imperial probe charting this area of space and Epsilon designated the planet as 5th from the system's main star. Wholly unremarkable, the planet should have remained a footnote in the vast libraries of irrelevant data on Coruscant. 

The First Order apparently found something of interest on 487Epsilon, and that is why Rey was here. She had learned of the First Order Expedition from an outer rim smuggler. He had been making runs to 487Epsilon, catering to the universal need for black market items that even the First Order wasn't above engaging in. The man had described a large base with a garrison of perhaps 2500 First Order troopers with perhaps another 1000 support personnel and workers. The only other item of information he could give Rey was that the First Order was searching for something hidden on the planet and they were moving as quickly as they could trying to find it. 

Rey was now crouching behind a large boulder only 50 meters from the First Order base's main gate. She could see no stormtroopers in the watchtowers that were spaced at intervals along the perimeter fencing. In fact, there was no one that she could see at all. She could hear the humming of generators and other pieces of automated machinery but nothing that would tell a listener that this place was inhabited. Creeping closer, Rey had her back against the perimeter fence. She could now see inside the small guard station next to the main entrance. The comms station was vacant but the device itself was still switched on, nothing but soft static was being transmitted. On the table was a stormtrooper's ration, half eaten. 

"Whatever happened here, everyone left in a hurry." Rey said this quietly to herself. The sound of her own voice was comforting in the overwhelming silence that hung over this place. She guessed from the spoilage of the ration that it had been a few days since the base was abandoned. "But why?" She pondered. 

Entering the base enclosure, Rey heard a loud bang! She was instantly on guard, drawing her saber. Looking, she saw the source of the noise. A door to a supply hut had been left ajar and was opening and closing in with the wind, slamming shut with a sound that echoed through the empty camp. Rey was breathing heavily, the eeriness of this

place was getting to her. She closed her eyes and calmed herself before continuing. To her left, she could see a building that appeared to be a trooper barracks. She approached the closed door. 

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Three days, the stormtroopers of the 2nd platoon of E company had been prisoners inside their barracks for three days. The 48 men had been preparing to go on a patrol, their mission was to sweep the area for possible intruders. As they had readied to depart, a blindingly bright flash had filled the barracks. As the light faded and the trooper's vision returned they were greeted with a sight that both shocked and horrified them. They were still inside their barracks but now the room and everything in it were of an impossibly huge size. The troopers gathered in the room's center. They realized that it was they who had changed size, each trooper standing no taller than half a centimeter! 

Opening the door was an impossibility at their size so they were trapped. They had hoped for someone to enter and discover them, but a day passed and the silence that permeated the base outside told the platoon that a similar fate must have befallen everyone else as well. For the next two days they had scavenged for food and supplies. They had even constructed a camp of sorts in miniature, scraps of trash and other items small enough for them to carry being used in its construction. As the troopers of 2nd platoon E company began to assemble into squads for yet more scavenging, they all froze as the ground shook! 

The first thing that came to mind to the troopers was how the ground shook during the landing of a large starship but unlike the steady rumble of such a landing, this shaking felt more like an impact. A moment later the ground shook again, this time the shaking 

was more intense and was accompanied by a sound almost like thunder. When it happened for a third time, it was an earthquake. The troopers of 2nd platoon fought to remain standing as the ground rose and fell beneath them. The 48 men turned as one as they heard, and then saw, the barracks door opening. 

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Rey opened the door to the barracks. It too was deserted. She stepped inside.

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The troopers looked up in disbelief. Standing in the now open doorway was a woman. From their shrunken perspective, she appeared to be over 600 meters tall! She stepped into the room. As her boot hit the floor the troopers were once again almost thrown to the ground by her footstep. By her clothing, the troopers could tell she was not with the First Order. Four troopers were overwhelmed with the possibility of rescue. They ran towards the giantess, waving their arms and yelling in an attempt to get her attention. The platoon sergeant shouted an order, attempting to call them back, but the four continued toward the women without looking back. The sergeant and his men looked on with horror as the giantess began to take another step. As she raised her right foot she abruptly pivoted on her left, her whole body shifted and changed direction. She was now headed straight for the 4 running troopers. Those 4 men of the 2nd platoon realized too late their mistake. The sergeant saw his men turn in an attempt to escape. The giantess was unaware of the four tiny men at her feet but her boot was merciless. It came down onto them in an instant, their bodies disappearing as if they were nothing. As the giant woman passed, the remaining men of the 2nd platoon saw four splotches of red on the giant boot's sole. What was left of one of the men stayed stuck to the sole while the other three lay on the floor, their white and black armor flattened like the shells of crushed beetles. 

---------- 

Rey entered the empty barracks. What bothered her most was a feeling clawing on the inside of her mind. It was as people were here, that this base's full complement of personnel were present. The dissonance between this feeling and what her eyes told her was yet one more thing Rey found disturbing about this situation. She walked to the end of the room but found nothing that gave her any more insight to the fate of the men that should be here. 

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The situation was out of the sergeant's control. Four of his men had been killed, crushed like bugs as if they were nothing. Now the giantess was coming back towards him and his remaining men. They had quickly retreated under the closest bunk to avoid being crushed outright under those enormous boots. The ground shook violently as she drew closer. When she was directly parallel with the miniature platoon that was hiding, she stopped. The troopers froze.

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"There it was again!" Her mind would not be silenced. Everything she had learned of the force told her she was not alone in this room. As she passed in front of one of the bunks, that feeling became almost overwhelming. She stopped and looked around: nothing. As she began to take another step she happened to glance down. "What is that?" She said this outloud and was slightly startled at the sound of her own voice. She squatted down to get a better look. On the floor was a smear of blood. Just a few drops but it was fresh! Looking closer, Rey could see a glint of white. "StormTrooper armor?" Her mind was incredulous. It had been crushed flat but Rey recognized it for what it was. It was minuscule, less than a centimeter in size. Knowing what to look for, Rey could see other pieces of armor in the bloody smear at her feet. It dawned on her what had happened. 

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The troopers stood motionless as they hid behind the leg of the bunk watching the giantess. She had squatted down, looking at the remains of the four troopers she had unknowingly crushed moments before. The giantess sat down directly in front of the bloody smear and right next to the bunk that the troopers now hid under. The impact of her ass hitting the floor shook the troopers violently, many were thrown to the ground by the tremendous force. The giant woman then pulled her leg up so she could see the sole of her boot. As she looked at the boot's sole, the platoon could see her face changed from one of curious confusion to one of understanding. Letting go of her boot, the giantess started to scan the floor around her. Suddenly, she bent low so her head was almost touching the ground, her face was turned looking straight at the troopers as they stood crouched next to the bunk's leg. They all knew she could see them, a smile slowly started to form on her face. The platoon sergeant heard the sound of his men readying their blaster rifles, bringing them up to their shoulders. "No! Don't!" He threw out his right arm as a signal to stand down as he shouted his order but his men, terrified by the sight of the giantess looking at them, ignored him and began to fire. 

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Rey had started piecing together what was happening as she examined the red smear on the floor. She sat and looked at the bottom of her boot. As she had expected, the red smear was there as well. The First Order storm troopers had been reduced to this size and she had stepped on them as she was exploring the barracks. As Rey processed this event in her mind, it dawned on her why this base looked abandoned while she felt the presence of hundreds if not thousands of people. Everyone on this

base has been shrunk! She would have dismissed such an outlandish notion only minutes before but the evidence on the floor and her boot was both real and stark. "...And where are the rest?" 

The question shook Rey out of her thoughts. She began to scan the floor while reaching out with the force, searching for others in the room. Sensing a large group, she bent low and looked under one of the trooper's bunks next to her. She could see perhaps three dozen or more storm troopers. They were outfitted with all their gear and weapons. Each one looked to be about 1/2 a centimeter in height. Being confronted by such a group normally would be extremely dangerous if not deadly, but at their reduced scale Rey felt no danger. In fact, she found that she was smiling at the sight! The diminutive storm troopers aimed their blaster rifles at Rey and a volley of laser fire streaked towards her face. 

Rey's reflexes kicked in and she quickly sat up. A few of the laser shots struck her on the cheek. She felt almost nothing from the impacts. Touching her cheek with her fingertips, Rey rubbed the blackened soot off her face. Flashes of light drew her attention back to the floor. Rey was still sitting and she could see the laser rifle fire was now being concentrated onto her leg that sat closest to where she had glimpsed the shrunken troopers. She stood, now her boots were peppered with laser impacts. These impacts were ineffectual against the thickness of the boot's leather. If it wasn't for the trooper's deadly intent, Rey would have found their impotent attacks almost comical. After watching the tiny laser blasts for a moment longer, Rey had had enough. 

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"Stop now! Come out and surrender." 

The voice, as loud as thunder, rumbled down onto the troopers of 2nd platoon. The terrifying sound caused all the men to cease fire. The sergeant took his helmet off and glared at his men. His eyes told each of them that they had made perhaps a fatal mistake. The sergeant had seen how their rifle fire had been completely ineffective against the giantess. They had attacked her first and now she demanded that they come out from their only cover. The sergeant looked out toward the massive boots, the only part of the giantess that he could see from his men's position under the bunk. He knew what he had to do. 

Using hand signals, the sergeant formed his men into squads. Putting his helmet back on, he used its built in intercom system to give orders to each corporal who would lead their squad. The sergeant assumed these would be his final orders. The squads began

to move, not towards the giantess to surrender but instead to find places to hide. The Sergeant turned back towards the giantess who stood waiting. He took off his helmet and walked out from under the bunk. Out in the open, he looked up at the giantess. 

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As Rey stood waiting for the tiny stormtroopers to show themselves she considered her options. Under any other circumstances she would have not hesitated killing these men. But now they were as small and helpless as insects, they posed no danger to her at such a small scale. But a voice in her head spoke insistently: "This condition could be only temporary. They attacked you and if they are left they may attack you again, this time at their full size." The truth found in this thought was brutally correct, she could not leave them if there was the possibility that they could grow back to normal size and their normal lethality. 

Rey's eyes grew wide as the lone storm trooper stepped from under the bunk and out into the open. His size made Rey feel as if she was watching the trooper from some high vantage point far away yet she knew he was less than a meter from where she stood. Rey noticed how the tiny man walked boldly towards her. "An impressive feat for being no larger than most insects," she thought. "He must be their leader." Alone and unarmed, Rey guessed he was going to attempt to parlay a surrender for himself and his men. Rey, having made up her mind, had other ideas. 

The trooper stopped and looked up at her. He took off his helmet, holding it in the crook of his arm. Rey looked at the face of a middle-aged man. His scarred and careworn face told Rey he was a veteran of many engagements. Seeing his face still did not dissuade Rey from what she was about to do. Holding up a hand to Rey, the tiny stormtrooper began speaking. Rey furrowed her brow. She could not hear him, his small voice could not carry the distance to Rey's ears far above where he stood. "It is better this way." She thought, reassuring herself. It was best that his words, whatever they might be, could not sway her to spare him or his men. They were the enemy of all those in the galaxy who wished to stay free. Without a word in reply, Rey lifted her leg, bringing her boot over the hapless trooper. 

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He had taken off his helmet for a number of reasons. Firstly he wanted to show the giantess that he approached without hostility, this why he also left his blaster rifle behind. Secondly, he thought that seeing his face might cause this giant woman to see him and his men as individuals and not the faceless imperial soldiers that the helmet

represented. Finally, he had gambled on the act of taking off his helmet to unnerve the giantess and delay her possible counterattack. 

"Operating number VC-940, 1st sergeant of 2nd platoon, E Company. To what or to whom do you owe your allegiance?" She simply stared down at him without a response. He continued his bluff, "This area is under the jurisdiction of the first order, you have murdered four members of my platoon and must answer for your crimes..." Her silence continued. By this point, the sergeant's mouth had gone completely dry. Seeing the giantess this close up was both awe inspiring and terrifying. Each of her boots appeared to be the length of four AT-AT walkers placed end to end! The small movements of her clothes as she breathed were audible to the sergeant as was the slow and steady sound of the air as she inhaled and exhaled. As he worked out what he would say next, her right foot suddenly lifted into the air! The movement of such an enormous object as it swung high above him froze the sergeant to the spot at which he stood. The giantess's face remained fixed on him. Her boot slowly descended over him. The sergeant found the strength to move, turning and running as fast as he could back towards the relative safety under the bunk. The dark shadow of the boot's sole was all around him. As he looked straight ahead, the boot had lowered enough that he had no hope to escape. The sergeant was thrown down as the boot's sole came into contact with his body. He only had time to turn onto his back before the boot's inexorable downward movement slowly crushed him. 

The sergeant's men, divided into squads and dispersed throughout the room, had witnessed his death...his execution...at the hands of this giant. The horror of the ease in which their leader had been crushed underfoot like a worm was lost on none of them. For most, their positions did not afford them a view of the giantess's face and for that they could count themselves lucky. If they had seen her face as she had slowly crushed their sergeant they would have seen she was smiling! 

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Rey was surprised at the ease of which she had crushed the tiny trooper. She had felt nothing as she had slowly stepped down onto him. He had run at the last second but she had simply followed him with her foot as he moved away, there was never a chance of escape. Rey lifted her boot so she could see the aftermath; a small red smear, mixed with the remains of stormtrooper armor and offal. She dropped her foot and stood, looking around the floor for the rest of the tiny and doomed troopers. "I am Rey. You were my sworn enemies and the enemies of all free peoples of the galaxy...were my enemies. Now you are nothing but bugs. Prepare yourselves for death." Reaching out, she used the force to begin pulling the bunks away from the walls one at a time. The

third bunk she removed revealed 8 stormtroopers in a small cluster. Rey walked towards them. They ran, but at their diminutive size they had no chance of outrunning Rey as she slowly walked in their direction. As she came within less than a meter of the group, the impact from one of her footsteps knocked the entire group to the ground. Rey couldn't help but laugh. "So brave when killing innocent and defenseless women and children! Where is that bravery now?" Her next step covered the entire group as they lay prone on the floor. This time, Rey could hear the crunch as the eight formally formidable warriors became paste under her sole. Rey slid her boot across the smooth metal floor. As her boot glided across its surface, it left a streak of red in its wake. 

Turning around, she spied something on the floor close to the door she had entered from. It was not more troopers but instead what appeared to be a makeshift camp that the shrunken men had created for themselves. "What's this? You insects have been industrious!" Rey moved toward the cluster of ramshackle structures. Her steps were now intentional stomps, slow and deliberate. Each crushing step brought her closer to the camp. 

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The 4th squad had retreated into the largest of the camp structures when they were given the order to disperse. It was part of the wrapper of a ration that the platoon had found under one of the bunks. It had taken a dozen troopers to move and a dozen more to setup. It resembled a tent of sorts and could accommodate half the platoon if need be. The corporal's 7 men had objected to the plan, saying it was a deathtrap, but the corporal's blaster rifle that he now aimed at them was persuasive. Now their whole world was shaking. They heard Rey's words and knew they were doomed, they were all too frozen with fear to attempt to escape. Through the opening in the front, they could see her boots approaching. Her steps were exaggerated stomps, she was playing with them! The voice, now seemingly directly over them, crashed down onto their pathetic 'warrior's hall.' "What do we have here?" The wrapper that had served as part of their camp for the last three days suddenly was lifted from around the squad. Looking up, they saw Rey bending down over them. She had picked the wrapper up with two fingers and crumpled it in her hand like the trash it was. Exposed and under the giantess's glare, the 8 men of 4th squad darted in all directions like insects who had been hiding under an overturned stone. Three men ran towards another tent, this one made from a scrap of cloth. before they made it the giantess's massive boot crashed upon it. The troopers were thrown to the ground. On their backs, they looked up at Rey. She was laughing at them as she towered over them. Her face was eclipsed by the sole of her boot as it filled their vision and world. It was the last thing they saw before they were crushed like worms.

Four other members of the squad had found safety inside the remains of an opened packet that had also been dragged to the camp. Looking out through the opening, the four trooper's view was suddenly turned upward as they felt themselves hurtling skywards. They had all fallen into the bottom of the now upturned packet, seeing only the ceiling through it's opening. Suddenly, an enormous eye filled their view! "More?" Rey's voice rumbled, its vibrations causing the four men's eyes to vibrate in their sockets. The eye moved away but now the packet was being inverted and they were falling towards the opening. Instead of seeing the ground through the opening the men looked on in abject horror as they saw, instead, Rey's open mouth. These men had heard stories of the sarlaccs of Tatooine and the fate of men who found themselves being devoured. Seeing the giant open mouth with its glistening tongue eager to greet them as they fell in, those stories became a reality. They fell into her mouth, sticking to Rey's tongue. She moved them around inside of her mouth for a moment, savouring the complete power her dominating size was giving her. She swallowed as she crumbled the packet in her hand and threw it to the ground. 

The last stormtrooper of the squad had broken down completely. He was on his hands and knees shaking with fear. The trooper saw a shadow envelope the world around him. "Crawl worm!" He turned his head and could see that Rey stood directly over him, her boots flanking him to the left and right. The trooper stayed frozen. "I said CRAWL!" The giantess stomped her right foot, causing yet another earthquake that further sent the reeling. Regaining his senses, he began to do as she commanded. He simply crawled forward with no goal or hope in mind. The sound of her laughter as he crawled filled his world. "You are not a soldier! you are a pathetic crawling bug! I am going to squish you now." In his peripheral vision he saw the giantess's left boot raise from the floor. Once again a dark shadow darkened the floor around him. He continued crawling, awaiting his crushing fate. The shadow lifted as the trooper heard blaster rifle fire from his right. 

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Rey was about to step on the lone trooper. She was enjoying humiliating them. She had seen how imperious Stormtroopers could be towards those who could not fight back so she found it fitting to give them just a little of what they had given countless planets in the past. As she began lowering her boot she heard the unmistakable sound of blaster fire. Glancing to her right, she saw two dozen stormtroopers running in battle formation at her firing their weapons. Following the laser blasts with her eyes, Rey saw them harmlessly impacting the side of her boot. Whether they were attempting to save their comrade or simply wishing to die fighting instead of hiding helplessly didn't matter

to Rey. She looked down upon this charge of ants grinning. Rey turned towards the charging stormtroopers and squatted down, her arms resting on her knees. The troopers continued their impotent fire as they drew nearer. When she gauged the distance was right, Rey reached out with both hands. Her hands fell on both sides of the charging group, both surrounding and trapping them. The stormtroopers, seeing they were now trapped, began firing at Rey's hands. She couldn't help but let out a girlish giggle feeling the laser blasts strike her palms. "Come on, stop it! that tickles!" Rey brought her hands together, shrinking the space the troopers occupied until she was able to scoop the entire two dozen into her hands. Standing and lifting them to her face, she watched fascinated as the tiny troopers squirmed in her cupped hands looking for an escape. One trooper was able to climb over her thumb only to fall to the floor and his death. Killing them was not the only goal for Rey anymore, she wanted to continue to humiliate them. Roughly pouring them into just one hand, Rey used her other to pull her waistband open. She poured the 23 stormtroopers into the front of her panties and let her waistband snap back against her skin. She stood for a moment as she felt the troopers struggling for escape against her loins. "I hope you enjoy yourselves in their boys...I know I will enjoy you!" She squeezed her thighs together slightly and could feel the trapped stormtroopers movements increase as they felt themselves being crushed. She relaxed, giving them a reprieve for the time being. As Rey began searching for any other surviving troopers, she remembered the little crawling bug she had been toying with before this recent interruption. She turned back toward what was left of that pathetic camp. "OOoops!" Without realizing it as she turned, she had placed her boot's heel direction onto the bug she was searching for. She heard the crunch as he was flattened and smeared into nothing by the twist of her heel. 

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2nd platoon, E Company now consisted of only three terrified storm troopers. They had refused to participate in the 'death ride' charge that had doomed the remainder of the platoon. They now stood against the wall under the last bunk in the room not moved by the giantess. The sound and shaking of her approaching footsteps told them that their fate was sealed. Her head appeared to their left, she was on her hands and knees looking at them under the bunk. Looking back in the direction she came, the trooper's stomachs turned as they could see the tracks of her boots outlined in red. The giantess's hand shot out and grabbed them before they could react. "I don't think there is enough room for you with your friends..." She looked down at her crotch and then back at the troopers with a mischievous smile on her face. "I'd still like you to come with me...let's say you are my prisoners." She leaned down to her right boot. She pulled at the boot's cuff to open a space between it and her leg inside. She dropped the three remaining stormtroopers inside her boot. Those men found themselves in the dark and

trapped. One of the troopers was pinned between the side of the boot's interior and the giantess's leg. As she took a step and her calf muscle flexed, he was crushed between the boot's leather and the giantess's smooth yet unyieldingly powerful leg. The other two fell all the way to her foot inside the boot. The smell of leather mixed with the sweat of her foot would have instantly overwhelmed anyone else but the stormtrooper's breathing system in their helmets allowed them to unfortunately stay conscious. As she took a step, the trooper's world rocked violently forwards and then backwards. One of the troopers fell under the side of the foot and half his body was crushed as the giantess planted her foot on the ground as she walked. The other man ran desperately along the narrow space between the massive foot and the boot's interior towards the toes. Arriving, he found a space where he could avoid the crushing fate of his friend. Later, after what seemed like hours of enduring the lurching movements of the giantess walking and the constant fear as he stared at her toes that could crush him at any second, the trooper actually envied his friend and his quick death. Subsumed by hopelessness, he finally threw himself under her toes as she took a step and was crushed to paste. The giantess didn't even notice. 

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Rey surveyed the room, the floor of it's open center was a patchwork of bloody boot prints and smears of red. Here and there, the miniscule remains of one or more of the tiny stormtroopers could be seen. They were mostly unrecognizable, being utterly flattened by Rey's comparative overwhelming size and weight. She could no longer sense any others in the room. She could still sense the ones still alive in both her panties, but she didn't need the force to know they were alive. While the movements had lessened, she could still feel their tiny bodies against her loins, their futile struggling had actually made Rey a little wet. 

Her attention was now on the rest of the base. "What had happened here? What were the First Order looking for and did it have anything to do with these men shrinking?" Rey wasn't worried about running into more of the First Order, in fact she was now looking forward to it. What she wanted was answers. Rey stepped out of the barracks without looking back. She could see the entrance to the main building to her left. Without fear, she walked to it's front entrance.

The First Order base was a rectangular enclosure built against an ancient sandstone cliff that ran for a dozen kilometers in each direction. A section of the cliff within the enclosure had been hollowed out and a large hangar built inside. An open square in front of the hangar acted as a mustering field for the First Order garrison units assigned to this base. Three days ago, this was the 2nd platoon's assembly point before going on their sweep mission. They would have not gone on this mission alone. A lance formation of four ATST walkers from the garrison's armored contingent would have accompanied the platoon on their mission. These walkers had been crewed, idling, and ready in front of the hangar when the base had been enveloped in the mysterious blinding flash three days previous. Both the men and machines had suffered the same fate as the men in the barracks, the nine meter tall walkers now stood a minuscule 4.5 centimeters above the seemingly endless plain that stretched before the hangar. 

The four two-man crews of the walkers, along with their commanding officer, Commander Vellas, had been sitting idly next to their machines when the ground began to shake and they watched the giantess intruder had entered through the main gate. They had quickly manned their vehicles, frantically going through their well-rehearsed startup procedures and checklists. The ATSTs had formed into a loose formation, making their way towards the barrack's door they had seen the intruder enter. The group's speed was greatly diminished in light of their reduced size. The ATSTs had only made it halfway between their destination and the entrance to the main facility when the giantess emerged from the barracks. 

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Rey was walking towards the large building that stood on the opposite side of the open square that filled the base's center. Knowing now that any First Order troops or personnel she might encounter would be only a fraction of their original size, Rey kept her eyes along with her other enhanced senses at ground level. Even with her full attention scanning the ground, she was unaware of the 4 miniature hunters that were stalking her. 

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Preparing to engage, the ATSTs began spreading out to give each other clear arcs of fire. According to the onboard tactical computer, whose information did not take into account the ATST's new diminutive scale, the target towered over the lance of scout walkers at close to 600 meters in height! 

Lance Commander Vellas stood in the hatch of the lead ATST, he had open comms to each machine and would direct the action against the target. 'The Target'...Vellas smirked, considered that a very neutered term for something so overwhelmingly terrifying. He looked up, craning his neck in an attempt to see her full stature as they drew nearer. She was moving at a terrific speed. Sending orders through the inter-unit comms channel, Vellas adjusted the lance's intercept course.

Commander Vellas had graduated from the Imperial Officer's Academy only a year before the fall of the Empire. Despite this, he found no lack of opportunities to demonstrate his military aptitude. Vellas served with the armored forces of many of the warlords who attempted to fill the power vacuum after the fall of the empire. A true disciple of maneuver warfare, he preferred the light and nimble ATSTs over the larger but more sluggish ATAT walkers when it came to accomplishing battlefield goals. Vellas' ability to routinely defeat superior forces using both superior speed and movement made him a highly valuable asset. With the rise of the First Order, Vellas found a new home amongst men half his age. The young men derisively called him the 'old man,' a name that soon became a term of respect after the first time they saw Vellas lead his unit into action. 

Vellas was feeling all of his 53 years as he balanced in the hatch of the speeding ATST. His plan was to cross the giantess's path just behind her and attack from the rear. The ATSTs would then perform a wheeling caracole maneuver, pouring as much firepower into the target as possible before reversing course without slowing. They would then spread out and execute a series of circling maneuvers, keeping the target in the circle's center as they continued to fire everything while traveling at top speed. These were textbook tactics when engaging a superior adversary: divide both the enemy's attention and firepower. Vellas was well aware of these tactics, he had essentially written the textbook. Of course, neither he nor any of his men had encountered this sort of enemy! Vellas's crews had only practiced mock engagements with ATAT walkers. At a height of 20 meters, the heavily armed and armored ATAT was the most formidable adversary these crews ever thought they would possibly face. Now the lance approached a foe almost beyond comprehension. 

Commander Vellas knew such detailed orders would give his men confidence in the impending engagement, this fact was more important than the orders themselves. Detailed plans never last after the fighting starts and looking at the giant intruder, nearly the size of a starship, he knew they had absolutely no hope for victory or even survival. Vellas did not want 

to live the rest of his life the size of an insect so a glorious charge, full of dash and élan, into certain death would be his along with his men's fate. If his bold attack, suicidal as it was, could warn others inside the facility of the approaching danger, then his sacrifice would mean something at least. 

The onboard computer's rangefinder displayed the range to target: 2.4 kilometers. In actuality, the minuscule group of walkers were only perhaps 4 meters from the intruder and she walked towards the main facility's entrance. She had not spotted the group yet. Weapons range on the ATST was two kilometers. As they drew nearer, the impacts of the giantess's steps sent shockwaves through the ground. Vellas had trained his pilots well but it took all of their skill, along with the help of the onboard gyroscopes, to keep the ATSTs upright as each footfall shook the world around them violently. Vellas, still standing in the hatch out in the open, held his crews in check. "Hold fire until I give the order!" The four tiny machines continued to close the distance. 

"Fire!"

The chin mounted laser cannons began sending volley after volley into the heels of the giantess's boots as each walker made its pass. Detonations from the side mounted grenade launchers peppered the side of her right boot. The walkers were now moving at their top speed as they made their turns in succession. Looking up and over his right shoulder, the commander could the giant intruder bending and twisting her torso to her right, looking at the last of the detonations and searching for the perpetrators of the attack. Vellas smiled, his lance was already moving on her left for another attack. For the moment, he held the initiative. As long as she was reacting to him, he was in control of the battle. 

They were getting too close. Vellas knew this but in order to stay one step ahead of the giantess as she searched, his units had been forced to spiral inward towards danger. From the ATST's point of view, they were within 200 meters of the giantess's boots as they circled her. From this distance, Vellas had to look almost straight up to see the giantess's body and even then her entirety would not fit into his field of view. Anyone else would have been frozen in fear at such a sight, but Vellas was riding the adrenaline high he had always found on the battlefield. His lance had been able to complete two strafing passes on the giantess. Each time, he managed to slip behind her as she twisted in response to the laser cannon fire and explosives hurled by the grenade launchers. His smile quickly faded as he watched the giantess's torso unexpectedly swing around and her gaze met his. Looking up at that monstrously huge face high above, the commander could see that the giantess now wore a smile. She now had the initiative. 

---------- 

The small popping sound drew Rey' attention first. She looked down at the side of her right boot in time to see the last of the tiny explosions ripple along its leather. Rey also caught the unmistakable red glow of a blaster bolt striking her heel. The slight smell of burnt leather and the smoke rising from her boot's heel told her that these blasts were from something larger than the blaster rifles she had encountered in the barracks. Twisting all the way to her right Rey was looking down at her boot heels but had yet to locate the origin of those shots and explosions. 

Another barrage of tiny popping sounds! This time along the top of her left foot. Rey wheeled around to face that direction only to find nothing once again. Aside from the smell of singed leather, no damage had been done but it was frustrating that her attacker remained elusive. Sensing a pattern, Rey quickly twisted her torso, this time to her right and caught her first sight of her attackers, ATSTs! These machines had been shrunk as well, the huge and deadly walkers now barely stood higher than the toe of Rey's boot. They were still quick! Watching their movements from above, Rey could see how they moved together like a herd of tiny creatures. 

Lifting her foot, Rey caught the last ATST in the formation, bringing it down onto the machine swiftly. A bright yellow flash from under her boot told her that the machine had

exploded even before she had crushed it fully into the ground. Lifting her toe and pivoting her foot on her heel, she revealed the burning and crushed remains of the walker. "So weak and pathetic!"

Seeing another machine to her left, Rey swept her leg out, clipping it in the leg with the toe of her boot. The ATST, thrown off its feet, cartwheeled forward and slammed into the ground. The ATST was smoking but otherwise intact. Rey grinned as she watched the crew crawl out of the stricken machine and begin to flee. "Not so quick now worms!" Rey shifted to face these minuscule crewmen and stepped to each side of them as they ran. She laughed as she took tiny stomping steps on each side of them, keeping pace as they ran. Rey's game was causing them to continuously fall, only to struggle to their feet before she stomped next to them again. "Run worms! You don't want to get squished do you?" Knowing at least two other ATSTs were still attacking her, Rey would need to end this game. She lifted her boot and began to slowly lower it onto the screaming men below. Just before she squashed the pathetically insignificant crewmen, Rey saw two red flashes streak under her boot, striking the two running crewmen and incinerating them. 

---------- 

"Not today bitch." Vellas had ordered his crew to ruthlessly fire the chin-mounted cannon onto his own fleeing men. This was not the first time he had fired on his own when they proved to be cowards in the face of the enemy. Today was different, he could not be more proud of his crews as they fought against impossible odds. They were all dead men anyway at this point, Vellas knew, so he would at least deny her the satisfaction of crushing his men like insects. Besides, seeing the anger in the giantess's face as his machine turned away gave him the smallest sliver of hope; if she is angry, she might start making mistakes, mistakes that he could possibly exploit. 

---------- 

Rey, furious that her fun had been denied her, spun around in time to see the offending ATST speeding away. Squinting, she could see the unmistakable black uniform of a first order officer. Too small to make out his face, she could still sense his feelings. Rey had grown used to the utter terror the tiny First Order soldiers felt as she crushed them like bugs, It had become almost a background noise in her mind. She didn't sense fear in this little insect, all she could feel from him was hatred and a determination: hatred of her and a determination to hurt her. "We will just have to change that, won't we..." 

As Rey watched the tiny ATST speed away from her she heard, once again, the harmless popping of detonations against her boot. The other machine was turning away from its latest attack run. Rey stomped her foot next to the machine before it was out of reach. The tremendous impact toppled the walker, causing it to fall on its side. Rey knelt and grabbed one of the machine's legs, lifting it as she stood back up. She held it up as she opened her mouth and dangled the upturned ATST over her gaping maw. Rey gave the machine a little shake with her thumb and forefinger in order to dislodge and devour the walker's crew.

Either because of the damage it had sustained when it fell or simply because of Rey's comparatively overwhelming strength, the dangling ATST ripped free of its leg that Rey held and fell onto her awaiting tongue. That didn't matter to Rey, she rolled the machine around in her mouth, cracking it open with her teeth and tearing it apart with her tongue until she felt that the hapless crew had been extracted from their vehicle. Rey reached into her mouth and pulled out the thoroughly wrecked remains of the ATST and let it fall to the ground far below. In her mouth, she could feel the two men struggle against the stickiness of her saliva as it kept them plastered to her tongue. Rey savored the moment, feeling their sense of helplessness and tasting their fear as she teased the men. She slid them just underneath her hovering molars only to bring them back and press them against the roof of her mouth. The crew were obviously exhausted, their struggling was by now barely noticeable to Rey. She swallowed, ending both the game and the two men's lives. 

---------- 

The command ATST swerved to avoid the wreck as it fell from the sky. As they passed, Vellas could see the machine was thickly coated and dripping with saliva. He slammed his fist on the top deck of his machine in frustration. He had known from the beginning this action would have ended this way, but part of him had held out hope that somehow he would win as he had done countless times in the last 30 years of combat. 

His pilot was screaming into his comm, asking for new course instructions. The gunner reported that the power cells for the cannon were dry and all other munitions were expended. Vellas said nothing, he was watching this landscape in miniature speed by and feeling the wind against his face. He sighed and spoke into the comm. "All stop, turn us around to face her." The pilot and gunner looked at each other but followed the commander's orders. 

Now stationary, Vellas leaned wearily on the hatch ring as he looked up at the Giantess. She was taking a step towards them, her next step would put her right over them. Her expression was that of a victor, coming to gloat over the vanquished. "Good," Vellas thought, there was hope still left! Clicking his comm back on he spoke to the driver. "What is the status of the reactor?" The pilot's answer brought the smile back to Vellas's face. 

---------- 

The last tiny ATST had been running away when it suddenly stopped and turned to face Rey. She could see the little black uniformed officer still standing in the hatch looking up at her. "I suppose he would rather just die and get it over with." She thought to herself. She slowly walked to the stationary machine, standing over it with her boots to each side. Crushing it underfoot, while easy, wouldn't satisfy Rey, especially since she could still feel nothing but hate pouring off of the insignificant officer. "No," she thought, "I want him to die terrified like the countless innocents he and his kind have murdered over the years."

Leaning down, Rey picked the delicate walker up between her two fingers and brought it up to her face. The armored shutters for the pilot and gunner slammed shut as she looked at this pathetically tiny machine of death. The officer remained defiant, standing in his hatch holding onto the hatch's ring to steady himself. "Such arrogance! Don't you know are nothing but a bug?" Rey could see that this officer was an older man, as she spoke she could see how he fought not to lean back from the force of her voice. Despite this, he did not break eye contact with her. He was also smiling. Rey brought the ATST in her fingertips closer to her face. 

---------- 

The giantess's face filled Vellas's whole field of view. The armored head of the ATST groaned under the pressure of the giant fingertips as it was brought even closer! Her mouth began to open, her tongue stretching out to accept this latest morsel. Vellas's smile widened into a grin. 

"Now!" 

---------- 

Rey anticipated the feeling of the feet of the ATST as she brought it down on her tongue. This would be only the beginning of the fun she would have with this obstinate First Order worm. That thought was suddenly cut short. A bright flash filled her vision as her head was thrown back violently! Her left hand, holding the diminutive walker, had been forcefully thrown away from her face as well. The pain in her hand was excruciating! As Rey's vision returned she looked at her left hand. It was scorched black and her thumb and forefinger were badly burned and mutilated. She felt her face with her right hand. It felt alright and upon examination her right hand had only blackened soot she had rubbed off her face. 

"The treacherous little worm had overloaded the ATST'S reactor!" Rey fumed. Had she been a moment faster putting the machine in her mouth she would have lost her head! Rey tore a scrap of cloth from her robes and wrapped her left hand. She stopped, realizing she was actually angry at herself. 

Rey had become recklessly overconfident dealing with the four ATSTs. The ease she had experienced crushing the platoon of stormtroopers in the barracks had caused her to underestimate this enemy. Rey now understood that these First Order soldiers would be dangerous, regardless of size. 

The smiling face of the officer in the last walker stuck in Rey's mind. He was no conscript or inexperienced officer fresh from training. Rey considered the question, "what was such a man doing here on this remote world instead of fighting where his skill would actually matter?" The answer was obvious, "whatever it is on this planet, the First Order considers it is more important that winning any battle." The mystery was deepening as Rey, now at the main

facility's entrance, activated the panel. The door slid upward and she was greeted with utter blackness. Rey wearily stepped inside.

The blast door slid closed silently behind her.  The bright glare of the outside world was now replaced by the utter night of the facility's unlit interior.  Rey closed her eyes and took a slow deep breath to calm herself.  She was still trembling with anger after her encounter with the ATSTs and their defiant commander only moments before.  The pain in her hand still throbbed but it was already subsiding.  The injury to her ego was another story...

Power appeared to be offline.  Rey reached out, touching the wall, and felt her way to the closest control panel.  It was offline and inert.  Now, Rey was in the dark both literally and figuratively.  As of yet, she had no idea how or why those that she had discovered so far had been shrunk to a mere fraction of their original size.  Whether it was an accident or an attack by forces unknown to her was impossible to determine with the scant evidence she had so far.  The presence of the ATST commander, a man far too skilled and valuable to be relegated to such a seemingly distant and unimportant garrison, only added to the mystery.

Rey took another deep breath and cleared her mind of these thoughts.  Her immediate concern was getting at least some of the facility's systems back online.  The darkness around her was total and her eyes were useless.  Using her connection with the force, Rey was able to build a mental map of her immediate surroundings.  There was a power substation about 150 meters further along the main corridor and off to the left.  

As she assembled this mental map, Rey also became aware of yet more First Order personnel; dozens or more between her destination.  She could sense both their fear and confusion.  These feelings hung heavy in the air like a morning mist around her ankles.  What was absent was the abject terror she had felt from both the stormtroopers and AT-ST crews upon seeing her.

"They aren't aware of me," Rey thought, "or they at least can't see me...good."  She would move slowly, relying on her enhanced perception to navigate the dark corridor to the substation.  While the glow from her lightsaber could be used to illuminate her path, she decided against it.  Although no larger than the size of insects, Rey's recent encounter with the ATST commander had demonstrated the danger of underestimating any of them.  Right now they were blind and she was not.  Rey would hold onto that advantage for as long as possible.

----------

The half dozen men and women of the 3rd science detachment had heard their commander's order for calm almost immediately after the catastrophic loss of power and had quickly gathered themselves together.  Junior 2nd Lieutenant Zalek was one of those who had answered his superior's call.

Zalek's homeworld had fallen to the First Order six years before.  Intelligent and ambitious, he had stood out from his peers and had been allowed to attend the science academy instead of being drafted into the stormtrooper legions.  Upon graduating, Zalek was forced to join the First Order and commissioned as an officer in the Science Corps.  Now in his early 20s, he had been assigned to this base far from his home and those he knew.  Zalek chafed under the command of the militaristic and narrow minded First Order but was wise enough to keep his mouth shut, do his job, and stay alive.

Both Zalek and the others in the 3rd science detachment sat together in complete darkness.  They could not find any of the control panels or computer access points where they should have been, only endless darkness.  The captain rationalized this saying they had simply become disoriented by the lack of light.  The captain was their commanding officer.  A career military man, he was unapologetically uninterested in scientific pursuits of his subordinates.  He was only interested in results that would please his superiors.  The captain had ordered them to stay together and not wander off.  He had reassured his small detachment that others within the facility were surely working on the power situation so all they could do was sit tight and wait.

Had it been hours?...Perhaps even days since then?  Zalek couldn't be sure.  Time seemed nonexistent in the impenetrable blackness that surrounded their group.  Twice, he had heard platoons of stormtroopers had passed by.  They had known even less about the situation and continued towards the facility's main entrance.  Zalek had not heard them since.  

"Toren?" Zalek whispered into the darkness.  

"What?"  The disembodied voice of his colleague answered.

"I think something more than a loss of power has happened," Zalek continued in a hushed tone.  "There is something strange...different about everything, but I can't put my finger on exactly what it is.  Do you feel it?"

"You're imagining things, Zalek!  Sensory deprivation will do that.  You need to think about something else or it will drive you mad...and the captain won't abide any of us losing control!"  Toren's words didn't make that feeling of wrongness Zalek was feeling go away.  He didn't respond to Toren, staying silent.   Zalek felt isolated in this lightless world more now than ever before.  

Laying on his back upon the cold metal floor, Zalek was trying to occupy his mind as Toren had suggested: silently reciting proofs to equations in order to distract himself from his growing sense of unease.  It was during this mental exercise that Zalek felt, almost imperceptibly, a slight vibration pass through the metal floor.  The second vibration told him it wasn't just his imagination.  Upon feeling the third vibration, this one stronger than the previous two, he jumped to his feet.

"Captain!" Zalek called out excitedly, "did you feel that?  Perhaps a rescue party is..."

"Quiet boy!" The captain's voice hissed, " it could also be the enemy!  Stay down, stay together, and don't make another sound!"  In the silence that followed the captain's order, the vibrations continued.  They were rhythmic and growing stronger with each instance.  Zalek waited in the darkness, filled with both hope and fear.

----------

Rey was not alone.  She was moving down the corridor as slowly and deliberately as possible.  As she crept forward, there were moments when Rey had experienced brief flashes of terror followed immediately by the otherworldly silence that immediately follows after a life has been extinguished.  She knew that it was her connection with the force that was allowing her to experience these moments of death.  If not for these disturbing flashes, Rey would have been completely unaware that she was inadvertently trampling yet more of the First Order in her path with each casual footstep.

When Rey first entered the base and discovered the shrunken stormtrooper platoon in the barracks, she had felt completely justified in killing them.  Although only a fraction of a centimeter in size, those troopers represented in Rey's mind the entire First Order, all of their crimes and their repressions.  She even excused her sadistically cruel methods as simply mirroring the cruelty demonstrated routinely by the First Order against those powerless to defend themselves.  Now, surrounded by darkness and the psychic screams of those dying blindly under her footfalls, Rey wondered if, in truth, justice had anything to do with her actions.

In actuality, exterminating that platoon had filled Rey with a sense of intoxicating power.  Her enemies were nothing more than insects and, from their perspective, she was the size of a starship and just as equally unstoppable.  She had reveled in the powerlessness of the stormtroopers to stop her as she tormented them.  Rey still felt that they had deserved her punishment, but she also knew the dark places exercising such power could lead.  She had to remind herself that she was here to find answers, not to dispense justice.  

"But if more of these First Order bugs got in my way..."  Rey pushed that dark yet irresistible thought to the back of her mind.  

Rey realized that, even if she restored power to the facility, the only way she would ultimately get the answers she needed and the truth of what was happening here would be through someone within this facility.  The stormtroopers, she knew, would be useless.  They would have been told nothing concerning the nature of the work being conducted here.  Rey also knew that officers of high rank, while most likely possessing the information she sought, would also be useless.  Such dogmatically loyal men and women would rather die than help her.  Rey's recent experience with the AT-ST commander also demonstrated how such officers could be both ingenious and deadly.  What she needed to find was an officer from the lower ranks that might have useful information: a technician or scientist.

Another terrified scream echoed in her mind followed by silence as she took another step.  This snapped Rey back to reality.  She suddenly realized that, in this darkness, she could be crushing the very individuals she needed most!  Sighing to herself, Rey drew her lightsaber and activated it.  The corridor was immediately bathed in a starkly intense blue-white light.  Pointing the saber towards the floor, Rey could see about a dozen minuscule figures fleeing in panic from her in every direction.  Upon closer examination she could see that these were yet more stormtroopers.

"Useless," Rey whispered under her breath, sighing again.  Despite her earlier thoughts concerning the 'justice' of killing these helpless and frightened men, Rey found that she could not help herself.  She lifted her foot and slowly brought it down onto three of the closest troopers,eagerly soaking in their terror as it radiated up and washed over her.  A shiver ran up Rey's spine as she felt their bodies explode under her boot's sole.  As the exhilarating rush of power that accompanied this brutal act subsided, Rey pressed on down the now illuminated corridor.

----------

The vibrations Zalek had felt only minutes before had now become ground shaking impacts whose growing intensity threatened to knock him from his feet with each occurrence.

"It's an orbital bombardment!  We are all going to die!"  Toren exclaimed in a harsh whisper.

"I said quiet!"  The captain's voice scolded as another of the impacts rocked the world around them.  

Zalek wasn't sure if Toren's hypothesis was even correct.  He recalled the First Order bombardment that he had survived when his homeworld was invaded.  Those strikes, while earthshaking, were also both swift and decisively accurate.   Zalek also knew that this base was the only target on this otherwise desolate world that an enemy of the First Order would attack.  If this was indeed an attack from space, then why would the enemy start their bombardment miles away and then slowly walk their shots closer towards the base?  'Walk' was an apt description, Zalek thought.  Aside from a single brief pause, the impacts were oddly rhythmic and---.  That train of thought evaporated from Zalek's mind as he was blinded by the first light he had seen for what must have been days.  As his eyes adjusted to blue-white light that was now illuminating his surroundings, Zalek opened his mouth in a silent scream before fainting away into unconsciousness.

----------

Down the corridor ahead and to the right, Rey could see an open door.  Reaching it, the light from her weapon revealed what appeared to be a laboratory or science station of some sort.  The power substation was a further 60 meters down the corridor but Rey decided to investigate this room.  If she was to find a science officer, they might be in there.

Rey moved the tip of her saber once again towards the floor.  It created a circular pool of light that moved as she swept the saber back and forth.  She stopped her search, seeing a group wearing white uniforms that were decidedly not stormtroopers.  

"Stop!" Rey commanded in a forceful tone.  "I will not harm you.  I need to know what happened..."  Rey was distracted by a red flash as a blaster shot skimmed over the floor from behind her, harmlessly grazing her boot in the process.  Rey instinctively spun around to meet her attacker.  Looking down, she saw a group of perhaps forty or more stormtroopers in an assault formation charging towards her.  Rey, watched this battle group in miniature as it approached her and simply smiled with anticipation.

----------

Zalek awoke to a scene that he knew must be impossible!  As his eyes brought his surroundings into focus, he saw standing before him the figure of a woman standing at least 500 meters in height if not more wielding some sort of laser sword!  As he took in his surroundings, Zalek saw the lab he had worked in for months was also at an equally massive scale.  He quickly realized that he and his science detachment had been reduced somehow to a frighteningly small size.

Still in shock, his eyes panned back down to the level of the floor.  There, Zalek saw a dozen or so stormtroopers running in his direction, also reduced in scale and appearing as insignificant as insects in comparison to the strange woman looming above them all.  The troopers were panicking and screaming, heedless to everything around them.  The woman was ignoring them with her attention instead being directed on both he and his nearby and cowering science detachment.  Zalek's stomach turned and the color drained from his face when he noticed the smears of blood on both the sole of the woman's boot and the floor all around her; frightening evidence of why the troopers were fleeing and why the woman didn't seem concerned.  

Zalek looked over in the direction of his fellow scientists just in time to see the captain pull a blaster pistol from his holster.

"If it is you she wants then we must deny her that prize!"  The five other science officers looked at their commander with furrowed brows of confusion, too slow to realize that his statement was their death sentence.  A rapid series of shots flashed from the captain's pistol and five lifeless bodies fell to the floor.  Zalek was petrified with fear and stood frozen in place, staring at the muzzle of the blaster pistol as his commander slowly aimed it at him.  

The blaster shot never came.  Zalek watched in horror as the tip of the giant laser sword swept down from behind and onto the captain.  He was incinerated almost instantaneously, evaporating into a wisp of smoke accompanied by a sickening crackle as it touched him.

Zalek, shocked at what he had just witnessed and still frozen with fear, watched helplessly as the weapon's tip swung over him.  It stopped and was hovering directly above his head.  Looking beyond the laser sword's tip, Zalek could see the woman was now kneeling over him.  When she spoke, he felt his body being physically pushed back by its tremendous force.

"Are you a scientist?  I need information...If you wish to live, you will help me.  Do you agree?"

Zalek simply nodded, a part of him still couldn't accept that any of what was happening was indeed real.  He thought of what Toren said...had the darkness driven him mad?  Zalek glanced out of the corner of his eye at the group of bodies crumpled on the floor.  He saw Toren's lifeless eyes vacantly staring at the ceiling but seeing nothing.  Zalek's attention returned to the woman as she pulled her unusual weapon back and away from the floor and held it at her side like a torch.  Her other hand dropped down from where it was resting on her knee.  She laid it flat directly in front of a now startled Zalek, offering it palm up.

"Get on."

Zalek looked at the massive hand and hesitated.

"NOW!"