RAIN AND BLOOD

(PART 1: FIRE AND LIGHTNING)

THIRD PERSON-

After the Battle of Abafar, left the planet on the Soul, but ordered the Avertive, the Etiquette, and the Adaptable to stay behind and defend Abafar should the Imperials mount a counterassault. While she watched the blue light pass by as the Soul continued its travel through lightspeed, she recalled the day she was in the same position as Kraito was during her time as a Commander.

When was tasked with defending Kamino, she wondered why the Imperials hadn't launched an assault to retake the planet. She knew that the Cloning Facilities on Kamino were an invaluable resource for whichever side controlled it. As she paced around the observation room, she wondered how Braisa was doing because, when last she heard, Braisa was engaging an Imperial fleet above the Rishi moon. As she stared out into the sky, she saw the thunder, lightning, and rain spill from the clouds above.

While watching the endless storm, she thought of what would've become of her had she and Braisa failed to hold Dantooine. Putting such unnerving thoughts aside, she merely focused on what peace she could have on the stormy world she was guarding.

When she entered the observation room, she watched the platforms and walkways, all of them heavily guarded. As she saw the soldiers guarding Tipoca City standing high on the alert, she was still plagued with grave doubts that the Empire wouldn't launch an attack against them since this is where the clones came from and they might just produce more should the need arise.

An hour later, an alarm sounded. She looked and saw that Imperial ships were coming out of hyperspace. As she watched, at least twelve Star Destroyers appeared from hyperspace.

She then turned to her troops and said, "Hurry, men! All soldiers prepare for attack!"

Sixty-five minutes later, the enemy began to land their forces as 's troops attempted to shoot down as many ships as possible. Unfortunately, the artillery fire at the enemy didn't even slow the Imperials down. Twelve minutes later, ordered her men to fall back to the facilities lest they be bombarded to oblivion. As the Imperials poured onto the platform, began to think, "We are so dead."

When she was certain she could attack, she said "Alright, men listen up. Major Est and 500 men will take positions along the edge to guard the walkways so as to ensure the Imperials can't climb up. Keep firing until all your ammo is spent, then retreat back into the facility. I think we all know that, should the Imperials get close, we will have to prepare for hand-to-hand combat. But, with their troops forced to funnel into the narrow hallways, we may stop them."

A second after the last trooper got into position, the Imperials began their advance. As soon as the Imperials were within 940 yards, ordered Est and his men to fire.

"But Commander," a clone said, "we usually fire when the enemy reaches 850 yards."

"We have to fire as soon as we can if we hope to stop the Imperials."

"But that's beyond our firing range."

"If we want to take out as many Imperials as we can, we've no choice."

"Understood."

then turned to another clone and said, "Lieutenant Boe, I leave you in charge. I will assemble the rest of our forces behind the entrances to drop as many opposing troops as possible before we're forced into melee combat."

98 minutes later, and 200 of her troops took position at the main entrance. As she and six of her troops took kneeling positions, she heard the continuous firing outside the building. Eventually the firing began to microscopically die down.

One by one, her troops on the outside began to retreat into the building, what with their being completely out of cartridges for both their rifles and their pistols.

As heard the thump! thump! thump! thump! of the advancing Imperials, she counted in her head, "5… 4… 3… 2… 1!"

There was then the sound of rapid beeping, obviously an explosive that was about to detonate, and ten seconds later, the door blew into pieces. Imperials then poured through like an avalanche; felt as though her troops were like a wooden wall that would merely delay the flow of rocks that was the Imperial army. Her only thought then was, "This day, there is no surrender. There is only victory… or death."