Chapter 24: Pick Your Targets
Night had fallen around the planet, the blackness seemed all encompassing. Anders' and Phasma's troops stayed put on the mountain. As they had done the previous nights they had been together, guards were sent out while others rested.
Will looked at his belt, and then realized that he could not see anything. He had ordered that no fires or lights be allowed because they were so close to the enemy, additionally, their position was exposed as they sat atop this small mountain. Sighing in muted frustration, Will blindly groped around his belt until he found what he was looking for, his large field knife. He unsheathed it and ran his fingers over the cool steel. He then set about groping once more, this time on his uniform jacket, trying to find the right pocket. His fingers ghosted across the pocket he was looking for, and his hand delved in, he then withdrew the object, a sharpening tool.
Sitting down on a small rock, he ran the knife edge along the tool, a soft scraping sound rippled through the air as the two surfaces met. He stayed like that for many minutes, sharpening his blade, ensuring that it would work come tomorrow; Will knew it would see heavy use.
He heard movement coming off to his right, footsteps, and looked in said direction. He could not see much, but he made out the outline of a figure moving towards him. The limited moonlight allowed him to see that this individual was dressed in white. Will automatically knew it was one of Phasma's stormtroopers. As the stormtrooper got closer to him, Will stood up and faced himself towards the figure. The figure finally halted just a few steps short of him.
"Sir?" A muffled electronic voice came from the helmet.
Will immediately knew it was Nines. "Yes, sergeant?"
"Captain Phasma told me to inform you that we are to relieve the guards on duty." Nines relayed the message to Will.
Will nodded. "Who will be joining us?"
"Whip, and Sparks will be on duty alongside us, sir." Nines said.
"Excellent." Will then gestured with his hand, "lead the way sergeant, goodness knows I cannot see a kriffing thing."
Nines stared momentarily at Will before nodding and walking away, Will followed behind the stormtrooper.
Will nearly stumbled over rocks as he walked in the darkness, but up ahead of him, Nines walked at a steady pace. Will knew the trooper was using his helmet's night vision capabilities.
Cheater. He joked to himself.
After walking for less than a minute, Nines came up to a small group of two other troopers, Will followed and almost ran into Captain Phasma, who stood just off to the right of the small group. Will blinked his eyes and subsequently rubbed them, but yet, he still barely saw Phasma. Her chrome armor invisible to his eyes, the armor seemingly reflecting the pitch black of the night.
"Good evening, Colonel Anders." Phasma spoke, her voice distorted by the helmet she wore, as usual.
"Evening, Captain Phasma. Nines has informed me that I am on guard duty." Will said, glancing away from Phasma, and to the orange pauldron wearing trooper.
"Correct, joining you will be Nines, Sparks, and Whip. You four will be the last rotation of guards, it is early morning, and we must get moving by dawn if we are going to retrieve our captured soldiers." Phasma's voice rang through the darkness.
"Agreed," Will said nodding to Phasma before looking back to Nines and the two other troopers that stood behind him, "shall we?"
"Aye, sir." Sparks, the flametrooper responded.
It took Will a moment to remember that Phasma was not the only female First Order trooper in the group, and hearing Sparks talk for the first time in two days confused him momentarily. However, he shook off the confusion and the small group of four walked together around the summit of the mountain. As they walked, they relieved a guard and placed a new one at specific location, soon all four of them were at their assigned posts. Per usual, each guard was given a wide area to patrol, although the summit made this area smaller, the group was more visible and thus more venerable.
Will had been placed to guard the steep hill they had traversed to get to the top, and that made him nervous. He could barely see in the dark, and he was now guarding the only route up or down off of this mountain. If the enemy decided to attack, the fight would be one fought more by the ears than the eyes, at least for him.
He began pacing around his assigned area, walking back and forth in a monotonous pattern, it was enough to bore him, and after two hours, it did. As he paced his area, he reached the furthest location under his responsibility; he noticed that one of the other troopers on guard duty was walking towards him; no doubt they too were pacing like he was. As the figure came closer, Will decided to halt for a minute to give his now aching feet a respite from walking on the hard stone.
The trooper that appeared out of the darkness was Sparks.
"Good morning, sir." Will caught the voice of the youthful female underneath the white flametrooper helmet.
"Good morning, Sparks, are we having fun yet?" Will could not resist, he was dead bored, in addition to resting his feet, he needed some humor to wake his dreary mind.
Will thought he heard a slight chuckle escape from the flametrooper standing before him. "Aye, sir, I am. It is relaxing up here, the night is quiet, the leaves rustle when the wind catches them, and if you stay up for it, the sunrise will no doubt be amazing."
Will was a little shocked. Never had he heard a stormtrooper of any kind think of anything as beautiful. Most he had encountered, and did not shoot at, were purely military in thought, an example being Phasma. But it appeared that Sparks was not.
"Indeed it probably will be an amazing sight. Tell me Sparks, how is it that you think of natural beauty when most of your comrades do not." Will just had to appease his curiosity.
"Well, when I was taken from my owner by the First Order, I was older than I looked. I look like I am five years younger than I actually am. I had time to develop my interests, likes, and passions. One of those interests was nature. I remember I would sit outside for hours after I finished slaving away at my owners shop, and just sketch and draw what I saw." Sparks' tone was deep with reflection.
Again Will was a little bit surprised. "Amazing, what caused you to continue to fight for the First Order?"
Sparks' voice took a darker tone. "I wanted to make everyone like my master, who owned slaves, to pay for what they did. I have and will continue to do so."
Will nodded, deciding it was best to leave the subject there. "Well, I hope the sunrise is amazing, I will look forward to it."
Sparks nodded. "Excellent, sir." She spun on her heel and walked away, resuming her guard duties once more.
Will looked as Sparks walked away, and likewise spun on his heel and began the boorish pacing once more.
As he was just reaching his boundary on the other side of his guard area, Will encountered yet another trooper. This one was a stormtrooper wearing a black pauldron, Whip.
"Morning, Whip." Will said as the trooper neared him.
"Good morning." Whip replied. "Are your feet getting tired yet?"
"Yes they are, feels like they are about to fall off." Will quipped.
"Very good, sir." Whip replied jokingly.
"Do you know how much longer we have to do this?" Will asked.
"Not much longer, the captain wants us to move before the sun rises." Whip said.
Will nodded, "okay."
"Do you think we are going to fight those criminals today?" Whip asked with slight apprehension in his voice.
"I believe so, they are close enough to our position, and this might be the best chance we have. Are you nervous?" Will was suddenly curious as to why Whip asked such a question.
"Not nervous, sir." Whip's reply was immediate. "I just do not like the idea of me being captured again."
"Why not?" Will asked, feeling like he already knew the reason.
"Will, there is a reason I never take off my helmet." Whip said, using the colonel's first name like it was natural. "I was captured by some Resistance fighters after my comrade, my friend, had taken a bolt to the chest. I stayed with him even after our forces had broken, and retreated from where the pair of us lay. We were soon captured by the Resistance. My hands were bound, and my friend taken away to receive medical care from the enemy. I was taken to a holding cell, where I soon found myself at the mercy of my captors. For days it seemed, the Resistance would send people in to interrogate me. Torture is more accurate. They tried to pry any piece of information they could out of me, but I never broke. After they realized I would not yield any information, one of my captors called for my execution. But it was stayed by someone you know very well."
"Who?" Will asked, enthralled by Whip's experience.
"General Organa." Whip said. "She stayed my execution and order my interrogators arrested. Apparently she was not told by her subordinates. After my execution was stayed, I was once again reunited with my wounded friend, and together we were a part of a prisoner exchange. We soon found ourselves back with the First Order. I carry the scars of my torture, both figuratively and literally."
Will moved and put his hand on Whip's shoulder plate. "Whip, have you ever talked about this to anyone else?"
"No, not in such detail, the only one who remotely knows is Captain Phasma." Whip replied, his voice softer than usual.
Will nodded, understanding Whip's unspoken request. "I will tell not a soul."
"Many thanks to you, sir." Whip replied.
"Just out of curiosity, who was the person who called for your death?" Will asked, hoping he knew the individual, so he could give him his opinion on the matter.
"The same one who ordered my interrogation, a major." Whip said.
"Do you know his name?" Will asked, pressing the squad leader.
"Not his first, but his last I do remember. I believe it was Ematt." Whip said.
Will clenched his fists in anger. "Oh, I know the major. We have had quite a few interactions."
"Will you be seeing him soon, sir?" Whip asked.
"Probably, and I will send him your regards. Have a good morning Whip." Will said as he stalked away from the stormtrooper, seething.
"You as well, sir, you as well." Whip said quietly as he saw Will walk away.
"Wake up." The rough whispers abounded throughout the camp. Phasma knew that the sun would rise shortly, and they needed to be on their way. Soldiers, both First Order and Resistance, groggily readied themselves to march.
Will had just gotten off guard duty; he was still angry with Major Ematt and would no doubt let the man know when he saw him next. When Will arrived at the organizing column, the sunlight was just beginning to permeate the dark sky above. He walked over to Captain Phasma who was watching the column as it got organized.
"Captain." Will said as he stopped before the chrome armored trooper. "Are we just about ready to move out?"
"Yes." Phasma said, her eyes not moving from the organizing column.
" What is our route?" Will asked, realizing he had no such knowledge of a plan, if there was one.
"We get off this mountain and try to find our way towards the enemy. Once there we ambush them." Phasma said, her eyes still not on Anders.
Will rolled his eyes. "I could have thought of that."
That did it, Phasma turned to face Will. "Really?"
Will scoffed at Phasma's tease, which was becoming ever more frequent. "Who will lead the way?"
Phasma raised a gloved hand towards him. "You and Trix will scout ahead."
Will looked over to the column and spotted the said heavytrooper. The two made eye contact, and Will gave the trooper and smile and a nod. Trix returned to nod. Will noticed that the heavytrooper carried himself and his equipment normally; it appeared that Trix's injury had healed up nicely.
He turned back to Captain Phasma. "What about his injuries?"
"Bacta patches and salve have completely healed the wound." Phasma replied.
Will nodded. "Shall we get moving then?"
Without replying, Phasma turned to the column. "Move out."
The troops began to march slowly and unevenly, Phasma took her spot at the head of the column, and Will and Trix put themselves fifty yards ahead of Phasma. Slowly but surely the group got in step and began marching down the tricky mountain path.
By the time they reached the base of the mountain it was early morning. The darkness of the sky had nearly given way to the morning sunshine. They had rediscovered the path and took it, they hoped, in the right direction.
Out in front of the column were Trix and Will. Their two heads constantly turned as they walked, scanning the surrounding woods to ensure that they were not being followed. Will took some time to glance over at the heavytooper since they had not spoken at all since moving out nearly two hours before.
"How is your injury Trix?" Will asked.
"It is fine, sir. Still a little tender, but nothing a good workout cannot fix." Trix replied in a light tone of voice.
Will smiled, "Excellent."
"Sir, may I ask you a question?" Trix asked hesitantly.
Will glanced over to Trix and then back towards the path he strode on. "You may ask anything you wish."
Trix was silent a few moments before asking his question. "Why did you save me that night?"
While the trooper was not very specific in his question, he need not be, Will knew what he was asking about. He sighed, hoping he could satisfy such a deep question. "When I saw you wounded, you were helpless, you could barely groan in pain. You were not my enemy, a soldier that I had to destroy; you were a human being in need of help. Too often enemies dehumanize each other, whereas some of us see each other as machines, as I looked upon you as you lay in the sand, clutching your stomach, I realized that you had hopes and dreams like I did. You had a life as real as mine, and I could not let such a life go to waste, even if we are enemies. If I had stood by and watched as you expired, I would be no better than butchers like your General Hux or my General Donhue."
After Will finished silence reigned. Trix did not say a word for what seemed like an eternity. The pair walked in silence for a minute or two until Trix replied.
"No one has told me that." Trix said.
"Told you what?" Will asked, confused.
"That I am a human being." Trix said simply, the emotion in voice was palpable.
Will likewise was too distraught to reply. It broke his heart to some extent that Trix had gone through his entire life being called anything but a human, a sentient.
Trix and Will were still ahead of the column, nearly three hours after they had started. The sun was now fully up, and in the light Will noticed something that made him smile. As he looked over to Trix's armor, he noticed that the pristine and shiny white armor was dirtied and stained with mud and muck. It appeared that Phasma had taken Will's request to heart, despite her extreme reservations. Will was now satisfied that they stood a much better chance in surprising the enemy in the coming hours.
Will peered up ahead and spotted the trees giving way to what appeared to be a clearing. He turned back and in a loud horse tone whispered to Phasma at the front of the column. "Halt!"
Phasma immediately put her hand up in a silent gesture and the column immediately ground to a halt. Once the column had halted, Phasma herself walked towards Trix and Will.
"What is it?" She asked the pair.
Will looked to his front. "It is a clearing; it could be the route the gang will take to get to their base."
"Probable." Phasma replied.
"What I suggest we do is scout the area." Will told both Phasma and gestured to Trix. "I would like to see if there are any positions we can take that give us an advantage."
"I concur." Phasma said.
Will took that as acceptance and nodded to Trix. Soon the pair of them had peeled away from the column and into the woods. Trix and Will skirted along the edge of the clearing, their eyes analyzing the surrounding environment. The clearing was only the width of twenty people an arm's length apart, big enough to some ground transports to bring in goods. The length of the clearing was difficult to say, but it went for as far as Will could see, kilometers perhaps. At the center of the clearing was an area of dead foliage that extended the length of the clearing. Most likely this indicated where the transports moved over the grass on a regular basis. As they reconnoitered the location, Trix noticed that the wooded ground sloped up as it got closer to the clearing. Will soon found the reason why, a small stream behind them at the base of this rise, it was not the best position from which to launch their attack, but it would have to do.
Both Trix and Will reported back to Phasma.
"Well?" The First Order captain seemed a little impatient.
"We think we found a good spot." Will replied.
"Excellent, we move at once." Phasma silently gestured to her troopers in the front of the column, and soon the group was following Will and Trix.
They soon got to the wooded rise, just at the edge of the clearing. Will turned back to Phasma seeking her opinion.
"This will have to do, for now." Phasma said, "Position your troops." She told Will.
Will nodded and went to the rear of the column where he found his motley assortment of Resistance soldiers. "Form up on the right of Phasma's men, I want rifles loaded. Pick your targets; you may only get one shot."
To Will's left, Phasma was relaying much similar orders. Soon they had formed their line. Phasma and her troopers on the left, followed by the Semians on the right with Will on their right flank, their line stretched a good distance because it was only one person deep. No sooner had they formed their line when an individual came into view, coming down the clearing path.
"Down!" Will whispered loudly.
Everyone obeyed, quickly lying prone on the forest's surface.
To Will's immediate left lay Private Dryse, the young Semian had laid down like everyone else, but his uniform somehow had accumulated copious amount of dust. When he hit the deck, the dust went airborne. As the figure got closer, Will could make out the garb. He was dressed like a criminal.
Will figured he was the point man for the approaching column of criminals and prisoners.
To his left, Dryse was having a hard time. He knew he was going to sneeze, but he tried as hard as he could to hold it in. He finally lost the battle with his nostrils.
The sneeze wrenched through the now silent woods. The sound caused Will to jump in surprise. He looked over to Dryse, the young man looking apologetically back at him. He then lifted his head up and looked over Dryse's shoulder, down the entire line. Every person, both stormtrooper and Resistance fighter, stared at him. His own troops gave him an accusatory glare. He felt like the First Order troopers were doing the same.
"It was Dryse." He whispered.
Sergeant Tali shook her head in exasperation.
He then turned his head back, and sighed at what he saw. The criminal had heard the sound, and was now walking towards their position.
"Kriffing hell." Will muttered. If this person was not neutralized, they stood a real chance of being surprised themselves.
Will's hand groped around his belt before he removed his large knife from its sheath, he slowly rose to a crouch, held the blade between his teeth, and then quickly got up and ran off into the woods.
Phasma was shocked to see Anders flee.
"Where in goodness sakes is he going!?" One of the Resistance fighters whispered loudly.
"Silence in the line!" Phasma loudly whispered back. If they had not already been found out, they would be if they kept up such conversation.
The figure got closer and closer to the wood line. Phasma's gloved thumb switched off the safety of her blaster rifle, and she heard others do the same.
The figure finally entered the wood line, and stood at the crest of the hill, when he looked down and sspotted the group of stormtroopers and Resistance fighters lying just a few feet away. He opened his mouth as if he were about to scream and Phasma raised her blaster rifle to blow him away. But a brown gloved hand clamped over the man's mouth, and no sooner was a blade slicing its way across his throat. Blood poured from the wound, falling onto the leaves below as if it were rain. The man slumped towards the ground, and the man's killer followed suit, lowering the body to the ground as silently as possible. After taking care of the threat, Will took a moment to look at the line that lay before them, some of his troops had a look of shock, but Dowdall and Tali had looks of understanding.
"Not a moment too soon." Will heard Sparks mutter quietly.
"Quiet." Phasma spoke immediately.
Will looked over to Phasma and then Sparks, the flametrooper laying a body to the right of Phasma. He nodded and then quietly dragged the man's dead body behind their lines.
Will rejoined the line and soon heard the hum of machinery and the sound of voices, lots of voices.
Soon they group of criminals came into view. Will turned to his soldiers to issue one final order.
"Fix your bayonets."
His troops did so, fixing their bayonets to their rifles. Will also noticed to many of the stormtroopers were recalibrating their blasters to fire a close range. Phasma had taken out a shiv that Will did not know she had.
The group got closer. The open transport, filled with goods, was near the front of the column. Surrounding it were twenty criminals. In front of the transport was a group of around ten criminals. Behind them stood the prisoners, bunched together, white stormtrooper armored mixed with the sober green of the Resistance soldiers. Their hands appeared to be bound; some stormtroopers retained their helmets while others did not. Guarding them was an assortment of around fifteen additional criminals. As the column moved closer, Will pulled out his blaster pistol and steadied it, his bloodied knife was still held in his right hand.
He turned one final time to the line.
"What for my signal." He said.
"What is that?" Trix hoarsely whispered from down the line.
"You will know." Will said quickly as the column began to cross directly in front of them.
Will picked the first man in the column as his target. He stilled his breath and pulled the trigger.
The blaster bolt screamed out of his pistol, a bright orange streak flying downrange towards the unsuspecting criminal. The alien had no idea what hit him; the bolt struck him in the chest and traversed his body entirely, embedding itself in a tree on the other side of the clearing.
As the alien crumpled to the ground, the entire line erupted in a roar of light and sound. The criminals began to fall, others began to take cover.
Will issued one final command.
"Give em' hell! CHARGE!"
He and his Semians rushed out of the woods with a scream that rent the atmosphere around them. Phasma and her troops followed right beside, the stormtroopers shouting as they charged into the clearing.
They set upon many of the criminals before they had a chance to fire off a shot.
Private Dryse fired at a criminal as he charged, killing him. He then turned his attention to another that was running towards him. Without restraint, Dryse put his bayonet right through the chest of the man. Kicking his now still body off the bloody piece of sharpened durasteel he continued his task.
Sergeant Tali had charged into a pair of criminals and used her forward momentum to knock one over. She then smashed the others face in with a well placed blow from her blaster's butt. She felt the alien's skull crack and break. She then turned her attention to the human criminal she had knocked over. The man was just getting to his feet when she blew his head open with a high power blaster bolt at point blank range.
Trix was using his armor to his advantage. He turned his attention to the criminals guarding the prisoners. In the chaos surrounding him, blasters being fired at point blank range, bayonets going through bodies, and the cries of dying men, he was completely focused. He came upon a guard who shot at him. He neatly dodged the bolt and raised his heavy blaster rifle up and blasted the man at close range, the impact charred his chest and threw him back a good number of meters. Trix then felt something impact his left side and throw him to the ground. No sooner had he hit the ground when he was set upon by a criminal with a shiv. The man attempted to stab at the gaskets between his armor plating his Trix head butted the man, feeling the man's nose shatter. The man fell away from him and held his nose in agony. Trix was then the one to set upon him. Trix punched the man with weighted blows from his fists, and then reached into his ammo vest, grabbed a blaster cartridge and began smashing it into the man's face. After repeated bludgeoning, the man fell still, and Trix was satisfied he would not cause any further trouble. He peered over to his left side and saw a scorch mark; his armor did its job, protecting him from a blaster bolt. The fight still raged around him, and Trix once more jumped into the fray.
Phasma was having an amazing time. She blasted a good number of criminals, punched others into oblivion with her gauntleted hands, and was now using her shiv to great effect. After she had just finished off an opponent when she was set upon by two individuals at once, a human and an alien, one grabbed her from behind the other kicked her right in the chest. She did not feel it, her armor protecting her upper body. The one behind her drew a shiv and brought it down towards her throat, the Force seemingly blaring a warning through her mind. She grabbed his arm and twisted it. The man's arm snapped and he screamed. In a lightning quick motion she grabbed the blade from the now limp arm and threw it towards the alien. The blade embedding itself in the alien's eye socket, his body fell backwards. She still held onto the man's arm, she then pulled his arm down across her body, causing the man to flip over her shoulder and land in front of her. After that she picked up her shiv and stabbed the man in the heart, silencing him. She then went back to work.
Will was in the thick of it. He was now using his blaster pistol as a club; he had lost his knife earlier in the fight when it became deeply embedded in the chest of an attacker. He soon found himself faced with an enemy to his front; the man was raising his blaster pistol as Will ran towards him. Will knew he would not make it, and did what he thought might work. He threw his pistol as hard as he could through the air, the weighted object cracking the head of the enemy before him. Then the Force sang to him, it seemed to be telling him that something was off to his right. No sooner had he turned around that he jumped out of the way of a blade as it fell down towards him. The blade's holder had put his entire body into the movement, and when he missed, he stumbled. Will took advantage and wrapped his arms around the alien's neck. Pulling and tugging, he was soon satisfied to hear the crack as the criminal's neck was broken. He let the body drop to the ground.
After that Will looked around, most of the criminals had been finished off. Finally Sparks silenced the final one in sight with a blaster butt to the head, shattering his skull.
Silence once again reigned throughout the clearing. Will looked around and took note of the scene. All around were the bodies of criminals, dressed in all sorts of clothing, and carrying all sorts of weapons. But as he looked around, he noticed he did not see white armored bodies lying in the grass, or green clothed soldiers either. It made him curious but he turned his attention to his captured soldiers. Phasma and Dryse had already begun to assess their condition and began to cut them from their bonds. As Will walked over, he too took out his switchblade from his jacket pocket, and began cutting the bonds of Resistance soldier and stormtrooper alike. Some of the troopers gave him suspicious glances and as soon as he was finished cutting their bonds, they jumped around to face him, not trusting their backs to him.
Soon all the prisoners were released.
Will went up to Phasma, the captain appeared fine, although her chest armor was scuffed, and there was some blood on her helmet. Will knew it was not her blood. The captain noticed his approach.
"Colonel Anders." Phasma said in a light tone of voice.
"Captain Phasma, I see you are unhurt." Will said.
"Indeed, I see you are as well, unless you count a missing hat as an injury." Phasma said again in a light tone.
Will reached his gloved left hand up and felt his head, feeling his soft hair. He looked around and quickly located his fallen cap. Walking over, he put it on his head, and then began looking for his lost knife. He found it still in the chest of one of the criminals. Using all of his might he withdrew the blade, a sickening sound created as the blade came out of the dead criminal's chest.
After wiping the blade off he once again walked over to Captain Phasma. As he walked he looked over and noticed that the prisoners were reuniting with their comrades. Laughter, handshakes, and even some hugs were being exchanged. It was enough to make Will smile.
He reached Captain Phasma just as Nines had finished speaking to her.
"Well, do we know casualties?" Will asked, fearing the news.
"Indeed. The enemy has suffered forty five killed. None wounded or captured." Phasma relayed in a steady voice.
Will nodded, knowing they showed the criminals no mercy. "What about our people?"
Phasma's voice took a much lighter tone as she spoke. "Zero killed or captured."
Will could not believe it. "How many wounded?"
"Zero." Phasma replied.
BOOM. The battle has been fought and won! But they're not out of it just yet. Stay tuned!
-LittleP