My squad, Thunder Squad, was in the transport. "Transport 2, loaded and ready for departure." the captain said into the radio. "Roger that" replied a man on the other side. We all knew our mission. Recently, the New Republic had found some secret Imperial facility on a desert planet called Jakku. So the folks at the New Republic launched some starships over to duel some Imperial Starships above Jakku, and then blow up the facility. Problem is, at least from what I heard, that didn't work out too well. Apparently it was carnage, with ships dragging others down as they fell towards the planet. All I know is we lost a few ships and lots of good men. So now multiple squads need to go down to the actual planet and battle our way to the facility, then in different areas place some charges, get the hell out of there, and blow it up. It wasn't going to be simple though: The Imperials are waiting for us. That's all I know. And it's going to be tough as hell to fight our way to the facility. "Transport 2, are ready you for departure?" the same man asked. "Yes sir we are" our captain replied. A minute or two after that the ship shook a little bit, and we heard the hum of our engines. We were heading for Jakku.
"This isn't going to be a walk in the park" someone said. "Hell no it isn't, who told you it was?" I asked. Someone in the back laughed. "No one, sir." The soldier replied hesitantly. Chatter popped up all throughout the transport, which was pretty common. Troops were voicing their anxiety about the mission, sharing rumors…all very typical. I remember my first time landing on a planet on my 4th mission against the Empire when the "New Republic" was called the Rebel Alliance. I grinned. I too was nervous. Nearly lost a damn finger trying to activate a thermal detonator. "We are approaching Jakku. Hold onto your asses." Muttered the captain. Some laughed. Some tightened their grip on the handle bars. Whatever people did, it didn't stop the transport from violently jolting and bouncing around. I could hear metal clanging and the sound of a few people either gagging or throwing up. Suddenly, our ship rocked suddenly and we heard the hum of the engines shut off. "Go dammit, go!" I screamed. We were here.
Right when we landed, the main door opened and hit the floor within a mere second. And in a few seconds, we were all running out of the transport. Thousands of crimson, jagged blaster bolts whizzed around us and we ran towards the nearest cover. From my counting, 4 soldiers got shot and crumpled to the ground. Some were dead instantly; others moaned in agony and pain, begging for help. There was nothing we could do. We continued to run for cover and lost a few more troops, but eventually we made it. I took some deep breaths, and checked up on my soldiers and counted. Out of 15 soldiers, 9 were left, their ragged clothes and faces covered in dirt and sand. Suddenly, an ear splitting explosion shook the ground around us. I looked up and saw what remained of our transport raining towards the ground. Everyone covered their heads with their arms and hands, and I could hear pieces of the ship colliding with the ground. We soon opened our eyes again to flaming chunks of metal. I gripped my blaster and peeked out over the cover: it must have been an AT-AT, one of which was approaching us. There were 2 others, scattered around the battlefield and farther back. "We got 3 AT-AT'S approaching. One is a coming down on our position, other two are farther back and aren't an immediate threat. We also have the usual thousands of Stormtroopers scattered all over the damn place, most likely behind cover or manning fixed gun positions. Keep your eyes peeled fellas." I muttered to the 9 remaining soldiers. They all nodded. "Any questions?" I asked. "Yeah. Are the other squads going to join up with us?" one soldier asked. "Son, I don't know. I think so, unless their transports got blown up on approach. Right now, we're the only ones here in this area and we need to work with what we got." I told him. There were no more questions after that. Through hand signals, I gestured for everyone to follow me. We snuck around multiple sand dunes and pieces of starships littered around the area and then stopped behind a giant rock that overhung a little bit, providing us some cover. "So what the hell are we going to do with those AT-AT's?" someone asked. "Nothing. All we can do is avoid them and hope for the best." I told them. "What about air support?" they asked. "Not going to happen anytime soon. First they got to get the other transports down, and who knows if there is going to be a blocka- " my sentence was cut off as the overhang of our temporary shelter collapsed upon us.
"Oh hell no!" someone screamed. We all backed up into a corner and peeked through the tiny openings of the collapsed overhang: it was an AT-ST. "Absolutely fantastic…" someone muttered. "Do me a favor and shut up, all of you. He doesn't know we are in here. Stay quiet and hope for the best." I said. "Which is…?" someone asked. "Support, or a quick death." I replied. We waited for a few more minutes, and the AT-ST stumbled off into the distance. It was clear. "1 of you, come with me. We are going to scout this place out." I told everyone. Someone raised their hand. "You. What's your name?" I asked them. "Uhm, John, sir. It's John." They replied. "Alright John. We are going to sneak out of this place and scout the area for any threats. If something goes wrong, get back here immediately. Understand me?" I asked John. "Yes, sir." He replied with confidence. "Good. Let's get going." I replied. John and I slithered our way past the fallen overhang and crouched down. I gestured him to follow me. We slowly climbed up a sand dune and were immediately confronted with a small group of Stormtroopers, all chatting with each other: probably out on patrol. I gestured to John to fire at will and choose his targets wisely, and he nodded. 3…2…1…a blaster bolt shot out of my blaster and burned itself right into the chest of a Stormtrooper. John's blaster struck another in its visor, and whoever was in there screamed in agony and fell to the floor, his hands over his visor, in a foolish attempt to reduce pain. I fired again at the final Stormtrooper, who was attempting to run for cover. Before he could I shot a crisp, orange hole right through his abdomen, and he skidded down to the ground and fell face first into it. I grinned. John and I scanned the area for nearby fixed gun positions, AT-AT's, or AT-ST's: none of which could be found nearby. I walked down to the injured Stormtrooper and blasted a hole straight into his heart. Suddenly, I heard John scream, "AT-ST, incoming!" I cocked my head to John's position and saw the tall, chicken like hulk of an AT-ST bearing down over us. "Shit!" I screamed, and I bolted for cover. John, however, did not in time. He was blown to pieces by its cannons, and whatever remained of him fell to the ground.
Fear erupted within the very core of me. Closer and closer, the loud thumps got closer and closer…. I bolted towards the collapsed overhang. Explosions went off all around me, and blaster bolts threw sand up in my eyes and face. I so wanted to stop and get rid of all the dirt and sand in my eyes, but I couldn't, and I kept running. I leapt down the mountain and squeezed into the shelter. "There's an AT-ST up there, and it's probably going to come down here and blast us to pieces." I told everyone. "Well…damn" someone muttered. "Where's John?" another person asked. "He gone blown into pieces by the AT-ST." I told him. "Shit…" he replied. Suddenly, a volley of violent, crimson red bolts zipped into our shelter. "Dammit, get behind the rock!" I screamed to my squad. We all huddled behind the rock. 5 of us at least. In front of me were the mangled, torn up bodies of fellow soldiers. Blood began to pool around their lifeless bodies. "We're officially screwed" someone muttered. "I hate to agree with you" I replied back. The AT-ST began to fire at the rock, and slowly but surely, it broke into pieces. Each time we had to duck our heads a little more. Soon, we were reduced to just lying on the ground. I heard weeps. People crying. Prayers being made. Curses. And I thought we were all going to be reduced to hunks of meat, too. That's until I heard the loud "woosh" of Starfighters.
"Hell yeah!" someone screamed. I smiled. We all smiled. A T-47 Airspeeder zoomed down onto our position and fired upon the AT-ST, which exploded and dramatically fell upon the floor. One of the pilots tried clawing his way out, but I ended that attempt with a swift blaster bolt to his skull. We all squeezed out of the rock and came to scene that we were not prepared for, considering what we had just gone through. All throughout the skies were thick hordes of Starfighters, duking it out, some crashing into the desert landscape. On the ground, tons and tons of soldiers were spread out, blasting at Stormtroopers. To our left, we saw an airspeeder circling around an AT-AT, trying to take it out with its harpoon turret. Within a mere minute the AT-AT's head collapsed into the ground, and it was enveloped by a thick cloud of dust and sand, which soon faded to reveal the collapsed AT-AT. The Airspeeder came back and, using its blaster cannons, blew it apart. Explosions erupted all over the battlefield, caused by Y-Wings and TIE Bombers dropping their payload on key positions, most likely. "Let's go!" I said to my squad. We all grinned and they all nodded. We ran towards a squad of Stormtroopers, and slid behind cover. I gestured to my squad to pick their targets, and fire on my mark. I positioned my A-280C blaster in such a way that it would hit a Stormtrooper right in the helmet. 3…2…1…when the countdown ended, all the Stormtroopers crumpled to the floor, dead. Holes were burnt right through them. "Where's the facility?" I asked. A soldier pulled out some binoculars. "There's an entrance right there, sir." He said as he pointed towards a large grey bunker-like opening not too far away. "Let's get the hell over there, I'm hot." I said. We all started sprinting towards the entrance, and encountered, surprisingly, only little pockets of Stormtroopers. We only lost 1 guy getting there, and besides that, made it alright. When we arrived at the entrance we were greeted by Shadow Squad. "What is keeping us here?" I asked. "I think an E-Web or something." Someone replied. I gripped my blaster and pointed it towards the door. It slowly slid open, and without warning a group of red bolts came right for me. "Well, damn. What's the plan?" I asked. "Eh…well. I don't know." He replied. "Well were going to get in there, I don't care if it's charging towards that blaster or going through the roof." I replied. "Hey, Max, get me the plans of this facility!" I yelled over to Max, our squad's tech expert. He handed me a datapad with extremely basic plans of the facility drawn onto it. "Let's see here…we are here…mmhmmm…mmm…okay." I whispered to myself. "Alright, only way through without taking the long way is going through this air duct down by our feet. It leads right about where that Stormtrooper is deployed." I told the soldier. "No way in hell…" I cut him off. "Look, son. You want to charge that position? Go ahead. Want to go the long way around and potentially die from a large group of Stormtroopers? Face an AT-ST by yourself? How about an AT-AT?" I asked him. "Well…uh. No, sir. No I don't." he replied. "Well then it's settled. We're going through the duct down by our feet." I replied, pointing towards a fairly large air grate down by our feet leading inside. I told both squads the plan, and even though they were reluctant, they all agreed. We got the case off, and one by one, bear crawled throughout the cramped, hot confines of the air duct.
The duct ended right in front of the Stormtrooper, to my dismay. I couldn't tell my squad anything, as there was always the chance the Stormtrooper would hear it. So, I devised my own plan, which would scare the crap out of the squads but get the job done. I slowly took off the case, and placed it on the ground with as little noise as possible. I then slowly pulled out a thermal detonator from my pocket, activated it, and chucked it towards the gun position. I then screamed, "Brace yourselves, grenade away!" and hoped that everyone would hear it in time. I rolled myself into a ball and waited. The explosion came 3 seconds after, and was deafening as it was so close to me. My ears ringed and ringed for a few moments, and my mind exploded with color. Finally, I came back to my full senses about 2 minutes later and slowly crawled out of the air duct. I pulled my blaster out of my pack, gripped It firmly, and pointed it forwards: we were going to have some close range combat, and I needed to be ready. I waited until both squads got out, and they began to lead them through the maze of corridors. This time there was a lot of resistance, as the Empire was not going down without a fight on this place. We fought through large swarms of Stormtroopers and lost a good 14 men in the process. By the time we had reached the facility's reactor, we had used up all of our grenades and almost all of our power packs. "Any of you guys got a radio?" I asked to the remaining men. "I do, sir." a young man replied. "Good, use it. Get in contact with someone and tell them this place is about to blow and we need to get the hell out of here once it does." I told him. "Yes, sir." He replied. "Prepare charges for detonation in 4 minutes!" I told everyone. "Blasters ready!" I reminded everyone. Someone groaned. Most nodded. The sliding doors to the reactor room slid open, and waiting for us were dozens and dozens of Stormtroopers.
"Get behind cover!" I screamed. The people who heard this in time hid anything they could find. I leaned to my right and got a few good shots into about 4 Stormtroopers, who all crumped to the ground. I chucked a smoke grenade, our final one, towards the Stormtroopers. A thick grey of smoke erupted in front of them. "Go, now!" I told everyone. We all charged towards them and starting blasting into the cloud of smoke, gunning down god knows how many Stormtroopers. That's when a blaster bolt ripped through my stomach.
I collapsed onto the ground. The pain was immense. It was like a searing drill tore a hole through your body and then was ripped out. I grunted, and wanted to scream. To cry. I felt weak. "Shit, Dan, what the hell happened?" someone asked me. "It's…not good. It hurts like a little bitch. Plant the charges and go…get out of here." I told him. "Hold the hell up, we aren't leaving you." He replied. I grinned. "Those charges are sent for 4 minutes because we can't give them time to sabotage them, but we also need to give you guys time to get the hell out of here. I would be a liability to that, you would have to carry me throughout the whole facility…worry about my safety, my pain." I told him. "Just leave me…be. Please." I told him again. "You're in charge of the squads now. Plant the charges, tell them not to worry about me, and then tell them to get the hell out. Okay?" I asked. "Yes, sir." They replied. I smiled, grunted, and put my head down and closed my eyes.
I heard shouts, the beeping of the charges. Then someone whispered "goodbye" to me, and I heard boots clacking against the surface, the sliding doors opening and then closing. They were gone and the charges were set. What a hell of a life it had been. I laid there, thinking about my time with the Rebellion…about all the people I've killed, left behind…I shook my head. I wanted to die in peace, not focusing on my mistakes. It was my time. I heard the beeping grow louder, louder, louder…. until I felt searing heat, extreme heat, my skin peeling...but no pain. Because soon after, all there was darkness.