The whining screech of a droid attack flare filled the air, echoing throughout the base. Krest could hear rapid blaster fire in the distance which meant he was too late and the base was under surprise attack. Quickly, however several other bright-red flares screeched up into the sky above in response. Krest nodded at the flares and returned to a nearby wall for cover. Krest reached for a small stone on the ground and tossed it out into the open. The stone was immediately shattered in a bright flash and the whine of the sniper blast followed a second later. Now Krest knew the sniper was still watching him.
He tried his comm again but the only response was crackling of dead air. Another whine echoed in the distance, this time lower in pitch, followed by another and another.
"Captain!" came a voice behind Krest, startling him.
Krest jumped at the sudden intrusion and turned around to see a group of around twenty troopers running up to him.
"We saw your flare and immediately came to make sure the command center was secured." one of them said as they all stacked up along the wall. "Recon scouted a whole battalion of clankers marching right toward us!"
The wall on the other side of the courtyard exploded. The thunderous boom followed by the rhythmic metallic clanking of battle droids.
"Sniper's got the command center locked down!." Krest explained. "Send a runner back to recon and get someone on that sniper."
"Yes sir!" nodded one of the troopers before turning back around and running back.
"Covering fire!" Krest shouted, drawing both DC-17s and opening fire on the column of droids marching through the smoke.
The rest of the troopers followed suit, knocking down droid after droid; drawing their attention away from the runner. Once the runner was out of sight Krest and the other troopers went back into cover, swapping out their gas cartridges.
"I need you, boys, to get inside the command center and make sure it's secure, General's Yao'l and Skitarr are inside. Anything metal comes near, you blast it. And watch out for that sniper." Krest instructed the sergeant, in the group, handing him his flare gun. "You got one shot if you can't hold them, fire this into the air, and fall back."
"And you sir?" asked the sergeant, wrapping his left hand around the flare gun and holstering it.
"I'm gonna hit the armory and grab some firepower," Krest said. The sergeant nodded and the troopers circled around the back of the command center. While the sergeant and his men held off the droids Krest made a run for the armory. As he went he noticed the base seemed empty, no troopers scrambling towards their battle stations. From the blaster fire he heard earlier there should've at least been some casualties laying about. Hell, several flares went up in response after he fired his so they should still be around. Maybe they fell back?
Krest rounded the corner between the barracks and the comms center and finally realized why there were no troopers around. Scattered all around the alley leading up to the back entrance to the armory was a myriad of dead troopers with a healthy amount of battle droids mixed in. All of the bodies were adorned with various scorchings on their armor, some even had blood smeared on their armor from vibroblade cuts. And Krest knew that only one type of droid used vibroblades: Commando Droids. Taking extra care not to make any noise Krest started down the path, wrapping both hands around the grips of his DC-17s and drawing them slowly. With each careful step Krest tried not to disturb the bodies while also scanning the area for a hint to where the commando droids were hiding.
Krest's ears picked up the sound of a blaster cocking and he raised both blasters up in the air to meet a commando droid peeking out from the shattered window of the barracks' second story. Krest squeezed both triggers sending two bolts right into the droids head. The droid lurched backwards into the window and immediately after several more commando droids sprang from all directions. Krest dove for cover as multiple slammed vibroswords down where he was just standing. He sprang to his feet and unleashed a volley of shots from his pistols. His trigger fingers worked like lightning as he blasted droid after droid. Before they could reach him, Krest fell back towards the armory, taking cover behind a blaster scorched barricade and unleashing another volley. More droids went down but even still, the ones still standing jumped and sprang their way closer to Krest. Krest kept firing until the bolts stopped coming out of his pistols. He cursed loudly, reaching for a spare cartridge. As he pulled one from his pouch a commando droid pounced on him, wrapping it's three-fingered claw around his neck and slamming his head into the ground. Krest-struggling to breathe, used his empty pistol to bash the droid over the head, over and over until the droid's eyes flickered off and the droid slumped down dead. Krest threw the droid off, coughing as he removed it's claw from his throat.
"Karabast!" Krest cursed once he saw his pistol was damaged beyond working condition. Seeing the remaining droids still running towards him, some firing shots at him, Krest threw his damaged pistol at them as a distraction while he crouched back behind the barricade, swapping the cartridge on his remaining pistol. He popped out of cover and blasted one of the remaining droids square in the eye before retreating further down the path. As he ran Krest looked back counting four remaining droids, as he aimed his blaster back at the droids, firing at them. If he could reach the armory Krest could grab a heavier blaster and make quick work of the remaining droids before bringing some ordinance back to the command center, if it was even still standing. Just before he reached the armory two unknown figures appeared in front of him. They raised their weapons at Krest, causing him to drop to the ground as they opened fire. Krest braced for the sensation of blaster bolts scorching his body instead heard the clanking of dead metal and a female voice telling him to stand up.
"We're friendly, trooper." said the voice.
Krest looked up and saw a gloved hand extending down to him. Krest took the hand as it helped him to his feet and holstered his blaster. The figure in front of him turned out to be a woman a few inches shorter than him, with a face that sported black war paint. The figure next to her was an abednedo who was scanning the surroundings. Both of the soldiers donned black combat armor with gray fatigues underneath and carried modified DC-15A carbines. The woman however wore an army cap while the other wore a combat helmet.
"Who are you guys?" Krest asked.
"I'm corporal Arroyo and this is private Khansir." Said the woman pointing to the other soldier who nodded. "We're Heldian Guard."
"So you're the guys General Yao'l told me about," Krest said.
"We can talk later, right now we need to round up what's left of your men," Arroyo said. "From what we saw when we arrived, they hit your generator, scrambled comms, and attacked from two sides. We saw your flare go up but it looks like most of the troopers were scattered before you could signal it."
"Well, we can still save what's left of them. I've got a team of around 19 men stationed at the command center to defend it. General Yao'l and General Skitarr are holed up in there." Krest explained.
"We took out the sniper that was keeping overwatch on it." Khansir grumbled. "If we move fast enough we might be able to make it in time to save your boys in the command center."
"How many men do you got?" Krest asked as he ran over to the armory with Arroyo and Khansir close behind.
"We got about three dozen rearing up what's left of your boys," Arroyo explained as they entered the armory. Just like outside, the armory was littered with dead troopers. And from the looks of it they set up barricades with heavy blasters mounted upon both entrances but from the commando droid corpses, it looked as though they didn't hold. Vowing to make sure all these dead troopers were not in vain. He grabbed a new pistol to replace his broken one, refilled his spare cartridges, and grabbed a DC-15. Then carefully removing a dead trooper from on top of a heavy blaster, he disconnected its the battery, folded the tripod, and handed it to Arroyo who slung his weapon across his back and took it. Krest handed the battery to Khansir before grabbing a back of spare ammunition and slinging it across his body.
"Alright let's get back to the command center!" Krest announced as they left the armory.
Much to Krest's relief the team he left to secure the command center was still standing albeit with many casualties. Thankfully, however, much to Krest's relief Skitarr and Yao'l were outside, providing assistance. As they approached they were met with a small team of soldiers wearing the same armor as Arroyo and Khansir with similarly modified republic weapons. A small group of troopers followed. Without a word, they followed Krest, Arroyo, and Khansir to the command center.
"Good to see you're back Captain!" Skitarr greeted. " Mind telling me who you're friends are?"
"They're the Heldian Guard!" Krest replied, crouching next Skitarr. He motioned for Arroyo to set down the heavy blaster while Khansir connected the battery. Once it was powered up Khansir took control of it and began letting out steady volleys. "I met them at the armory!"
"I told you they would help us!" Yao'l shouted, deflecting a blaster bolt right into a battle droid's chest. "Looks like my padawan did what I asked her to!"
"Your padawan?!" Skitarr shouted. "You know what, never mind that. We can talk after we drive these droids back!"
"The kid?" Arroyo asked. "Last I saw of her, she went with a group of men to the infirmary."
"Shaman!" Krest gasped. Knowing Shaman, he'd have holed himself up in the infirmary to tend to the wounded. "General! Permission to take some men to the Infirmary!"
Skitarr deflected a few bolts and promptly nodded, "Go!"
Krest pointed at a group of nearby troopers,"You four, with me!"
"I'll cover you!" Khansir shouted as he rocked with each kick from the heavy blaster.
"On my mark!" Krest ordered as the four troopers stacked up behind him, ready to run. "MOVE!"
"COVERING FIRE!" Khansir shouted, letting loose on the heavy blaster while the rest of the men tried their best to draw the incoming enemy fire.
Krest didn't look back as he sprinted for dear life. All he had to do was reach the watchtower right in front of him and they were clear.
(A/N: WOOOOH I straight dissapeared for a while! Sorry about that but I moved into Uni and my workload really ampted up that plus me trying to finish my first novel so I can self-publish, everything got all jumbled up. But I'm not going anywhere. I want Krest and the boys to be around for a while so the chapters are gonna keep coming. However they might not be coming out every week or so like I've been shooting for, they might take a bit longer and I hope you all understand! So I hope you all keep enjoying Krest and keep enjoying it till the end!)