RAIN AND BLOOD

(PART 2: TO THE BITTER END)

THIRD PERSON-VILLERIA

As soon as the first invaders came through the demolished door, Villeria sucked in as much air as she could and, at the top of her lungs screamed, "FIRE AT WILL!"

Villeria and her troops waited until the first few enemies got past the door, then sprayed fire into their ranks. Although the Imperial casualties were literally piling up, Villeria knew that everyone would eventually run out of ammunition. She then signaled the second line to cover the first line as they reloaded. Then, in order to ensure that her frontline troops could continue firing and still have men able to fire when the first line ran out completely, Villeria ordered the second line to hold their fire until the first line needed to reload again.

Eight and a half hours into the battle, the enemy, for reasons unknown, ceased their advance.

Her communicator then began beeping and she activated it and saw the Imperial commander.

"What do you want?" Villeria demanded.

"I wish to request a temporary ceasefire to clear away the dead."

"Very well, though my men and I will not lower our guard, we won't shoot you either."

"Fair enough."

Eighty-four minutes after the last Imperial corpse was carried away, the fighting resumed. Again, the Imperials were getting gunned down in droves, but a clone said, "Commander, the eastern door defenses reported that they're about to run out and will be forced into melee combat!"

"Let us hope they can hold out, otherwise we may face a flanking maneuver."

"I advise that we get more men up there."

"Agreed." Villeria said.

"That will grant breathing room for those of us who run out." another clone said.

"We will also need reinforcements. When we run out of ammunition, we'll be forced to fight in close quarters, yet the Imperials will finally have a chance to gun us down. We'd have no choice but to draw them further in to fight them. We'll be trapped."

"All right. Sergeant Arbec, contact the Alliance Leadership and tell them that we need reinforcements quickly and see who they can get."

The following day, Villeria and the clones got into position. "If we run out of ammunition, men we do not surrender."

As and her troops fired at the invaders, she waited to receive even a single word of any reinforcements. An hour later, when Villeria and her troops were down to their last cartridges, a clone said, "Commander, I've contacted the Alliance Leadership. Colonel Nilun is enroute with five thousand men."

"Well let us hope we can hold out long enough for her to arrive."

Eighty-nine minutes into the battle, all but 193 of Villeria's entire force was out of ammo.

When she saw that just about every soldier under her command was empty, she activated her wristcom and said, "'Til death!" and and her troops charged.

As soon as Villeria and her men exploded from the facility, the battle descended into chaos. Imperial forces fired at point-blank range, downing several soldiers, clones were either hacking at the Imperials with their vibroswords or stabbing with their saberblades. Even Villeria was using her rifle as a bludgeon and whapping Imperials in their faces.

Unfortunately, the balance began to tip against Villeria's men and it was soon every soldier for themselves. Even Villeria had thrown her rifle like a frisbey and grabbed a rifle from one of her fallen soldiers. The second she grabbed the rifle, she turned and stabbed an Imperial that was about to brain her with an underthrust to the abdomen, killing the man instantly. Villeria then slashed an enemy across the chest as he charged by with the rifle. She then stabbed another in the chest and used him as a human shield when another stormtrooper was about to shoot at her; she then discarded the rifle and grabbed a vibrosword. As she cut down as many Imperials as she could, she saw her soldiers dying around her.