Chapter 11: A Killing Field
Phasma and her troops slowly marched through the thickening trees. Unlike the previous night, the clouds hung low over the valley, and fog had begun to form. She instructed her men to switch on their flashlights at the end of their blasters, the numerous rays of light piercing through the fog. Phasma had her men out front, with the walkers behind and on their flanks; if she had learned anything about Anders; it was that the man loved to attack flanks.
She along with the rest of her troops were cautious as they moved, once again, they knew the enemy was somewhere nearby, but the fog was proving an obstacle, their infrared HUD's could not penetrate it. Phasma was in the lead, walking a few paces in front of her men, every so often she swiveled her head left and right, looking for any sign of the enemy.
She readied herself for the oncoming battle; one she knew would be much larger than the small skirmish last night. Her plan was simple, kill as many enemy soldiers as she could without sustaining any injuries herself, a goal she knew she would meet. She had set herself an additional goal; see to the death of William Anders.
The said colonel was standing on the right flank with his soldiers, staring at the fog to his front and his left. He had tried to find good terrain, but with the base located in a valley, hills were hard to come by. He had positioned Captain Howe on the extended left flank, and Rogers once again held fast in the center. In the front line- which was to perform the fighting retreat- Will had ordered Maxime's captain and his men to position themselves there.
Will was once again using only half of his regiment, the other half he put on prisoner duty. If the plan failed, Will wanted to be sure that he would not have his rear endangered by marauding prisoners.
He had ordered his troops to be silent and not make any sound. His order paid off, as Will heard the sounds of snapping twigs to his front. He smiled; it appeared that his enemy was also trying to be stealthy.
As the sounds of the enemy got closer, Will readied himself; he removed his blaster pistol from his waist holster, and prayed to his dead father that he would come out of this engagement unscathed. His worry only increased by the dense fog that blanketed the land, obscuring everything from view.
It seemed like she had been walking forever. The agitation and anxiousness built up inside her body. Her HUD showed nothing, and she had not heard anything.
As she came upon a fallen tree, Phasma stepped over it, her height made it possible for her to just stick her helmet above the dense layer of fog. That is when she saw it; a faint but very distinctive heat signature.
"Fire to your front! They are at our front!" She bellowed as she pulled her trigger, the bolt lighting up the surrounding fog.
The battle had begun.
Will was not surprised when he heard the electronic voice he knew. It appeared that Phasma was spearheading this assault, just as Will expected. It seemed that no battle was complete without the appearance of Captain Phasma. From his position, he began to see to bolts from the stormtroopers traversing the fog and flying towards his front line. He cringed when he heard the thumps of impact and the moans and groans on injured men. He grew anxious when he did not see his men return fire. It was a good ten to fifteen seconds before he heard the captain order his men to fire. Blue and red blaster bolts cut through the fog, lighting up the valley in a spectacular but deadly light show.
"Steady and hold your fire." He ordered his soldiers, seeing the look of anxiousness on their faces, and the shaking of their trigger fingers. He knew his men were not used to watching the enemy fire on friendly soldiers and do absolutely nothing.
It was only a few moments more when the second part of his plan was put in motion.
"Retreat!" He heard the captain yell over the sounds of battle, soon after, the sounds of his men retreating greeted his ears.
He smiled, "not long now boys and girls, not long at all."
Phasma smiled, the enemy was retreating! She looked around at her men, very few were down. She had the manpower, and the willpower, tonight; she would destroy the Resistance on Shiri. "Advance! After them!" She ordered, her troopers complying. The walkers surged forward as her men ran at full speed through the forest, stepping over dead and injured enemy soldiers. She along with her men gave them no heed, when they were victorious, they would come back and clean up.
She blasted a Resistance soldier in the back as he ran in front of her, and then another. As she passed an injured fighter crawling on the ground, she smashed his head with the butt of her rifle. In front of her, she saw the line of enemy soldiers slowly dwindling in number.
It appears that Anders is not as great as is said. She thought as she blasted yet another soldier, the man's body crumpling in a heap with a hole burned through his back.
Then suddenly the line of soldiers they had been chasing stopped in their tracks and turned to face them. Phasma was utterly surprised, until she saw what was behind them.
A whole column of fresh troops supported with armor.
"Fire!" She heard a feminine voice yell from the column in front of her. Suddenly, blue bolts were screaming towards her and her men. She and her men diligently fought back until she saw that her walkers were being destroyed by Resistance armor. Then the troops she had chased began to advance towards her. She knew that with the reinforcements at her back that she would be able to stave off this renewed push by the enemy.
Phasma was so caught up in the action that she had forgotten about her flanks.
Will and Rex waited until the enemy was drawn deep enough into the trap. When he heard Rogers bellow the command to fire, they knew the moment was upon them.
"Fire!" Will screamed, the sounds of blaster fire roared in his ears as he and his men emptied their charges into the enemy at their front. So ferocious was their firing that the woods in front of them were set alight. He caught the stormtroopers by surprise, dropping a great many of them with hits to their sides. When he was confident he could advance with minimal casualties he ordered his men to do so. He and his two hundred and fifty troops stepped out from their cover and began to attack at the rear of enemy, slowly closing the door behind them; surrounding them with the Resistance.
The plan was going perfectly; he had seen a glimmer of Rex's troops to his right and knew that they would soon hold the field. That was until he saw that the trapped stormtroopers were surging forward, seemingly having broken through the central lines.
If he allowed the center to collapse, he along with Rex, commanding the two prongs, would be forced to call of their attacks, their positions untenable.
He turned to the nearest officer, a Sergeant by the name of Binx. "Command the men; I need to go save us from disaster!" He said, and gave the man no chance to reply. Will ran back along his line until he reached the center. It was then that he got a look at the scene.
The front line had all but dissolved, the men having retreated through the column led by Rogers. The retreating men had blocked the view of Rogers and her men, allowing them to be picked off by the enemy soldiers. The situation was quickly falling apart. Will needed to take control of the situation or risk defeat.
The column was thinning out every second, men and women falling, wounded or dead. To their front was the advancing stormtroopers, the once trapped enemy not within reach of victory. If the stormtroopers entered the base, they had enough men to overrun the facility, even though they were fighting a simultaneous rear guard action against Rex and his men.
He ran towards his men. "STAND FAST! Do not let them past you!" He screamed, some of his men turning around to face him, surprised at his appearance. He aimed his blaster at a heavytrooper, and blasted the man in the head. His shot seemed to invigorate his men, but they were still in deep trouble.
It was then he noticed a problem. "Where is Lieutenant Rogers?" He asked a nearby corporal.
The man stared at him and shook his head. "She fell as we withdrew from our original position."
Will stared at the man in shock, then out to the trees in front of them. That is when he spotted her. Rogers was lying prone on a bush, her body extremely close to the oncoming stormtroopers. He needed to go and get her, dead or not, he promised all of his troops that he would bring them home; and damn anyone saying otherwise.
His thoughts however were cut short when he caught sight of the stormtrooper that had come into view just behind Rogers' body. The chrome armor and dark cape, Captain Phasma had arrived.
Will then understood the reason for this turn of events; no one could pull off such a miracle except the chrome armored captain.
He ordered his men to keep up their fire, however, they soon found themselves being hit from both the front, and the right. Will was shocked, not only had his plan partially failed, he had allowed the enemy to get into his flanks.
Going on instinct, he grouped together a platoon of soldiers, and then charged the stormtroopers at his flank, a counterattack that Will expected to be his last.
Phasma was giddy, she had not only broken through the Resistance line, she had held off one of Anders' flank attacks. If she could destroy the column in front of her, she would have a clear path to the base.
During the overrunning of the column's position, she had apprehended a number of Resistance troops, and she would very much enjoy torturing the information out of them later on; but she had a battle to get back to.
She had just blasted down the last remaining Resistance officer of the dissolving front line; she vaguely recognized the female's face, having seen her on Jakku.
A member of Anders' battalion no doubt. She thought as she stepped up to the fallen woman's body.
It was then that she spotted her target. The youth was directing the remaining soldiers in his column, his focus turned to Phasma, and his green eyes seemed to bore through the lens of her helmet. She brought her blaster up, preparing to shoot the young man down; to eliminate the target she had been ordered to by General Hux. Her finger itched over the trigger, but then Anders had disappeared into the column of his troops. Phasma took the time to order Sergeant Nines to attack the flank of the Resistance soldiers, and he did so.
She did not see Anders again until the man reappeared and looked to be thwarting Sergeant Nines in his attempt to outflank the enemy. She was further surprised when she saw Anders and a platoon of soldier charge across the trees towards Nines.
However, it was not enough. Charging over ground while being fired upon had decreased the platoon's numbers, and by the time Will reached the line of stormtroopers, he could not continue is attack.
"Withdrawl!" He told his men, blasting a heavytrooper who was about to blow him away. As he and his men ran back through the hail of bolts, Will recognized a pauldron wearing sergeant, one with a chip on his helmet paint, and he knew they had met back on Jakku.
He returned to his column and ordered them to keep firing. His men continued to drop, a bolt nearly taking his own head clean off. He was sure that this position would be lost, until he saw an answer to his hopelessness. To his left, he began to see blue bolts smashing into the flanks of the stormtroopers. Will smiled in delight and happiness, some of his men cheered. It appeared that Howe had managed to punch through the left flank of the enemy. The appearance of Resistance troops at their left flank appeared to have a cascading effect on the First Order troops. Their lines began to roll up, and some squads began to retreat.
Will looked to his front and saw the troopers there, being led by Phasma, still continued to fight. He looked below the captain's armored legs and saw Rogers, the woman still lying still on the ground. He did not know if he would get the opportunity to do so again, and he made his decision.
Phasma knew her time was limited. She was angry, no, rage filled. The victory that once seemed within her grasp not was out of reach. Major Vlosh on the right flank had allowed his lines to collapse, and now Resistance soldiers were penetrating deep into their ranks.
Phasma blamed Anders. She knew he was the cause behind this defeat, and she had vowed he would pay. She raised her blaster up, aiming it directly at the man, but what he did next froze her in shock.
The young man began to run away from his column, and towards her and her troops. She heard and saw Anders' men yelling at him to get back behind cover, the man did not heed their warning. Her eyes followed Anders as he got closer and closer. Beside her she registered the fact that the troopers surrounding her had stopped firing, they too were surprised at the man running towards them. Anders got within arm's length of her and knelt down. Yet she did nothing, too shocked to pull the trigger, let alone blink her eyes. He bent down and gathered a prone figure, the woman she had blasted down, into his arms. He hefted her up and made sure she was secure.
He looked at her then at Phasma. "Captain." He said simply with a nod of his head, then he beat a hasty retreat back to his own lines, bolts wizzing past him all the while.
Phasma was still in shock at what had just occurred. After a few moments she shook herself out from the daze and got back to work. She noticed that her line had all but dissolved, and that Resistance troops were nearly on top of her.
"Retreat!" She growled in anger, shooting and killing a final enemy soldier as he came up on her right. She and her troops beat a hasty retreat back to base.
Will ran a hand through his sweaty hair. This battle was the closest he had come to being defeated. Captain Phasma was a formidable and worthy opponent, he found himself realizing. She had very nearly destroyed them.
He checked Rogers' pulse and to his amazement found that the woman was alive. He quickly took her to the base's medical bay, which was by now overflowing with wounded, and set her down.
Captain Howe came up to him, the man was battered and bloody.
"Are you alright Rex?" Will asked in concern.
"Aye Will." Howe said, his eyes downcast.
"Casualties?" Will said, fearing the numbers he was about to hear.
"Eighty nine dead, two hundred wounded, and we believe about twenty five were taken prisoner."
Will nodded; the numbers were bad, but not the worst he had come across. Still, he did not know if he would sleep tonight.
