"Blaze of Glory," a short story by Tony Russo, initially saw publication within the pages of Star Wars Adventure Journal 8 courtesy of West End Games during November of 1995. Subsequently, this tale was included in the anthology Tales from the Empire, which Bantam Spectra released in November of 1997. More recently, it has been archived online at Hyperspace.
Brixie Ergo embarks on her inaugural mission alongside the mercenary outfit known as the Red Moons. Accompanying her are pilot and top-tier mercenary Lex "Mad Vornskr" Kempo, the demolitions specialist and potentially unstable Hugo Cutter, and their leader, the Trunsk Sully Tigereye. Their assignment takes them to Gabredor III, a planet densely covered in jungles and a key stronghold of the Karazak Slavers Cooperative. En route to their landing zone, their Corellian light freighter malfunctions, resulting in a crash within the jungle below, compelling the four sentient crew members to evacuate via an escape pod. Following a turbulent landing, the mercenaries navigate their way through the jungle terrain.
At the Karazak base, slave master Greezim Trentacal is overseeing the loading process for the next shipment of slaves. Among those enslaved are the two offspring of the ambassador representing Cantras Gola, a planet affiliated with the Imperial faction referred to as the Pentastar Alignment. These children have been taken as hostages to prevent Cantras Gola from switching its allegiance to the New Republic. Trentacal receives news of the freighter's crash from his Defel bodyguard Vex and subsequently orders a search operation.
Within the jungle, the mercenaries contend with the indigenous wildlife, slaver scouting parties, and concealed traps. They soon arrive at the slaver encampment and attempt to formulate a strategy to overcome the numerically and technologically superior forces. Utilizing Cutter's expertise in demolitions, the mercenaries orchestrate a substantial diversion, enabling Sully to infiltrate the ranks of the slaves to liberate them, while Brixie and Kempo devise a scheme to obliterate the command bunker. Their plan involves ramming the bunker with a grav-cart loaded with explosives. Recognizing the necessity for someone to pilot the cart-bomb into the bunker, Kempo volunteers, prompting Brixie to perceive him and her chosen profession in a completely new and honorable perspective. Kempo successfully crashes the cart into the bunker, but is unable to escape before the detonation. Stunned and horrified, Brixie searches for Kempo or any remains of him amidst the wreckage, and Cutter is forced to pull her away from the inferno.
On Trentacal's vessel, the Atron's Mistress, Sully reunites with Brixie and Cutter. They discover that their objectives, the ambassador's children, are located within the slave master's quarters on board. Upon entering, they are met with darkness and find everyone except the children deceased. They also encounter the Defel, who ambushes them from the shadows. Before he can harm them, Brixie identifies his species, and Sully activates the lights, rendering the Defel an easy target.
Sometime later, the three surviving mercenaries pilot the cargo ship, now filled with freed slaves, away from Gabredor III. As Brixie contemplates the loss of their friend and comrade, as well as the insights her experiences have provided regarding life as a mercenary, she glances back at the planet and witnesses a striking sight. The fires raging at the slaver camp, a testament to Kempo's actions, burn brightly in the shape of a fiery crescent: a red moon.