RAIN AND BLOOD
(PART 3: SAVED FROM THE BRINK)
THIRD PERSON-VILLERIA
As Villeria watched, she saw Sergeant Arbec go down with a chestshot. Eight minutes later, Villeria saw Est fall with two shots, the first to the chest, the second to the head, just as he cut down a stormtrooper. Soldier after soldier died, spelling certain doom for and her men.
Two hours later, Villeria heard the unmistakable sound of Clone gunships coming, and Villeria knew that reinforcements had arrived.
When she saw Colonel Braisa Nilun leading the charge, she was not only relieved at the fact that she got reinforcements, but overjoyed to know that her old friend would be fighting beside her once again. The battle then exploded into mayhem.
When Villeria and Braisa reached each other, Braisa said, "'Bout time you and me spent some time together."
"Sorry it had to be on a battlefield."
As Villeria and Braisa stood back-to-back, they hacked away at the Imperials. Braisa tripped an Imperial as Villeria cut him down. Braisa then rolled over Villeria's back and cut down another stormtrooper. As the two friends fought off the enemy forces, Villeria watched as the fighting finally began to tip to their favor.
By what Villeria assumed was noon on the planet, the Imperials were all dead, though saw no cause for celebration. As Villeria and Braisa looked across the battlefield, they only saw bodies. The casualties on both sides were so many that they were walking on a corpse with every step.
When Villeria ordered the troops to report in, only 49 men stood at attention.
Villeria then said, "I need a moment."
then walked over to the armory, closed the door behind her, sat on an ammo crate, put her face in her hands, and sobbed.
Ten minutes later, she was still sobbing. She was so consumed by sobs that she didn't notice the door open.
When a hand gently touched her shoulder, she jumped a little, but calmed down when she saw it was only Braisa. When she fully met Braisa's eyes, she saw the sympathy swimming in them.
Villeria sniffled and said, "I-I-What have I done?"
Braisa hugged her and said, "It wasn't your fault. Not even Generals Nolek or Stagen, despite their abilities, can always anticipate the strength of the opposition. Remember what happened on Balnab."
Villeria smiled weakly, "Yeah. General Nolek brought 12'000 men. By the time reinforcements arrived, he only had a tenth of his men left."
"He anticipated that the Empire would occupy the planet, but he never anticipated that 60'000 Imperial troops would be waiting for him."
As the Soul dropped out of hyperspace, Villeria thought of how long it had been since she lost almost all her troops. She also remembered what she'd said to her friend Marida a while back after she got promoted to Colonel: "As a Commander I was charged with defending Kamino. My men and I fought hard, but we still stood little chance against the juggernaut that attacked. I had to call Commander, or Colonel as she was then, Nilun for reinforcements. Regardless of her help, out of 5'700 of our forces put together, almost none were left alive; we barely survived a massacre. Less than 50 men, 49 men to be precise, survived. I was devastated at the losses I sustained that day. I tell you this because there may be a battle during which you will need reinforcements. You'll likely win the battle, but even with the reinforcements you have, you may still sustain immense casualties. You would not be ridiculed should the heavy losses sustained on your account cause you to have great emotional pain. I now take the chaos I endured on Kamino as a lesson that sometimes, despite your best efforts, sustaining heavy casualties could be unavoidable. Should that happen, restrain your emotions until you're either alone or with a friend."
She also remembered how Marida guessed correctly why it would be wise to hide your sadness from your troops.
When Villeria was done, Marida said, "I see what you're getting at. As an officer, a person will want to hide emotions like sadness from their troops out of concern that they won't trust them if they don't show unbreakable strength. You want to show superiority, but you don't want to be seen as a tyrannical officer, because soldiers also wouldn't trust a tyrannical commander."
As she looked at the 19 other ships that were also her fleet, she hoped that Lieutenant Duved wasn't taking his great losses as hard as she took hers.