Chapter 21

Major Petrova and the ragtag group of soldiers under her command found themselves walking through the rubble of buildings they had detonated earlier. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of dead stormtroopers and Imperial personnel littered the path, killed by falling rubble and blaster wounds.

"Eerie, isn't it." Hans said, walking over a dead stormtrooper. "Was only a day ago,but it feels like weeks have gone by."

"Yeah." Taylor replied. "But it was worth it."

They soon reached the two large buildings that some of Petrova's platoon and the Free Confederacy forces had used to ambush the Imperials on. They had retreated so that they could consolidate their forces in one area instead of being split up and vulnerable to defeat in detail.

"Could anyone be in there?" One of the civilians asked.

"If anyone is, they aren't on the roof." Jorkan said. "The drones didn't see anyone on the balconies either. If anyone else is there, they are probably hiding and don't want to be found.

"If any Imperials were in there and knew we were here, they would have shot at us by now." Perry stated.

"We don't have time to clear them out either. Let's get as far away from that place as possible." Petvrova said.

After some more walking, they reached the shot up stage where many high ranking Imperials had been killed by Virtanen and the other snipers. Moff Flag, several Admirals and Generals, and a number of top civilian officials had been confirmed as dead. Some lower ranking officers and minor officials had escaped, but most had fled back into the Imperial base which had been blown up shortly thereafter.

"According to the schematics there should be an underground entrance right over there." Taylor said, pointing to a partially destroyed door with a small sewage shaft behind it.

"We are going to go through the sewer?" One of the civilians asked.

"Not really. There is a pathway on top of the sewer pipes that should be dry. It will take us into the base, and hopefully we can get down into the bunker." She replied.

"How many entrances are there to the bunker?" Asked Petrova.

"Four, there are two staircases and two turbolifts. The turbolifts won't work unless a lot of the supporting infrastructure is still intact, which means we will have to walk. When we get out of the tunnel, we should be close to one of the lifts as well as one of the staircases." Taylor said.

Soon the group made their way thru the sewer and into a clearing filled with rubble. It looked like someone had tried to dig up the turbolift area but was unsuccessful, and had instead turned their attention to the staircase. There was a clear path to go down when it came to the staircase, something everyone was happy for. Some of the civilians started down the stairs but Petrova halted them.

"We're sending this little guy in first." She produced a small drone in the shape of a small barbel and threw it down the stairs. The drone hit one of the steps and kept going down until it could not be seen.

"We don't know if it's safe down there. There is a good chance there are surviving Imperials there, and we want to go in prepared. This little guy has a camera on it so we can tell what is going on in the bunker." She produced a small tablet that would broadcast a live feed of the data the droid was transmitting and allow her to control its movements.

The drone soon reached the bottom of the stairs and crept under the door that led to the bunker. The first section was deserted, but there was a group of stormtroopers in the net section with a E web heavy repeating blaster set up to block the doorway.

"That's going to be a problem." Hans said. "We can't hit them with a flashbang at that range and they can lay down a constant stream of fire with that E web.

"What if we smoked the area?" Perry suggested. "We could roll that grenade in under the door, open the door, and I can suppress them with my light repeating blaster. Then we take the situation from there." He said.

"That might actually work." Taylor said.

"We'll try it." Petrova said, leading the group down the stairwell.

Perry rolled a smoke grenade down under the door and into the first section. There was silence, then he quickly opened the unsecured door once he was certain the Imperials were not immediately returning fire. He let his squad automatic blaster lose, undoubtedly killing several of the Imperials as he moved forwards, followed by other members of the platoon, free confederacy insurgents, and armed civilians.

When they emerged from the smoke several of the Imperial stormtroopers returned fire, but didn't manage to hit anyone and were quickly killed by the group under Petrova.

She grabbed the drone she had retrieved and sent him under the net door to scout and report who was on the other side. They found several other stormtroopers taking up position behind the door, prepared for an attack. They had almost certainly heard the sounds of blasterfire from the net room.

This time, they were in a small enough space for a flashbang grenade to be effective. One was rolled by Hans into the small room, blinding the stormtrooper defenders. A normal thermal detonator or frag grenade could have also been used in this situation, but the impact of either of those could have caused unintentional damage to Petrova and her group. Additionally they had no idea how secure the walls or ceiling of this underground tunnel was. They didn't want to collapse the bunker they were trying to capture.

With the stormtroopers blinded, the group opened the door and rushed in. The stormtroopers never had a chance.

The rolling drone was sent under the door once again. It found a much larger room than any of the previous ones, with several dozen stormtroopers and other Imperial personnel ready to defend the place. This was not going to be easy to take.

"A flash bang will not be nearly as effective here." Taylor said.

"We could always throw in two." Hans suggested. "Or a thermal detonator?"

"We still don't know how much damage one could do. We should wait until we know more about this facility or are very desperate." Petrova said. "But we can use several flash bangs. That would improve our chances of victory when we burst into that room."

Several moments later the flashbangs had been rolled under the door, and after everyone on the other side of the door had been stunned Petrova's group had burst in. Some of the stormtroopers returned fire, but only hit one of the civilians. Before they could do any more damage, they were all dead.

That room seemed to house the majority of the defenders, as the remaining rooms of the bunker were cleared, few other stormtroopers were found. A small cadre of officers were captured in one room that appeared to be some sort of command center, but otherwise Petrova took no prisoners. It wasn't like any had surrendered, all of the remaining stormtroopers and other Imperials they encountered had tried to resist their inevitable demise.

As they finished up securing the premise, massive thuds could be heard above them. The orbital bombardment that Colonel Zark had warned about had come true. Now the surface above them was churning, and there was no knowing what would be left after that point.

"We got down here just in time." Hans said. "If we had been much longer, I don't know if we would have made it.

"I don't know if we would have either." Taylor said. "Can we still communicate with anyone on the surface?"

"I don't think so." Petrova had tried checking her comms a few minutes ago. "All I heard was static. The Empire might be jamming them, especially if the transmitters the Free Confederacy set up were destroyed in the bombardment."

"We should probably get some rest." Hans said. "I've been up for over 30 hours straight."

"I'm surprised we haven't collapsed sooner." Taylor said. "I really need to sleep."

Petrova looked around at the gathered group. She could see many were very tired, including herself.

"Who has slept most recently?" She asked. There were a number of murmurings from the civilians and free confederacy members who said that they had slept anywhere from 12 to 8 hours ago.

"I want you to stand watch." Petrova said to several of the Free confederacy members and civilians. If anything happens or once eight hours have passed, wake me up." She said. Petrova looked at the members of her platoon, and some of the civilians and free confederacy insurgents that hadn't recently slept. "Everyone else can get some sleep for now."

Soon everyone was filling out into the rooms that made up the bunker. Someone had found a supply of cots in a storage locker, and they were distributed around those who were planning on getting some sleep.

Looking to find at least a modicum of privacy, Petrova found a small storage closet hidden away next to the command center and put her bedding down. She was eager to catch some rest after all she had run into.

A few moments later she saw Hans enter, a cot dragging behind him.

"Do you mind?" He asked. Petrova considered his question for a moment. The small room was just big enough for the two of them. Under other circumstances she definitely would have cared, she would want at least some privacy if possible. And she also didn't want to give off the wrong impression to other members of the platoon or anyone else. Both of them entering a small room together and not emerging for hours would make even the cleanest mind ask questions. Questions that Petrova hadn't considered before (at least with Hans) but now were becoming a little more receptive to finding an answer to.

But now she didn't care. She just wanted to get some sleep.

"No I don't." She said.

The two both lay there for a few minutes, both having some trouble falling asleep. Both were having a bit of trouble with that due to the explosions from the orbital bombardment. The uncomfortable cot they were sleeping on also didn't help. Each one could hear the other turning and tossing, and eventually Hans broke the silence.

"Do you think this will ever end?" He asked. "This war. Can we even defeat the Empire?"

"I'm not sure. But it's more likely that we will end up losing in the long run." Petrova said. She normally wouldn't say that to anyone else, but Hans was at this point one of the few people she might be able to call a friend.

"What would you do, if you didn't have to fight? If we defeated the Empire." Hans asked.

"I honestly have no idea. I've never thought about it." She replied. "I have never lived a life without war or preparation for it since I was a child. What about you?"

"I have no idea. From when I was just a kid I wanted to be a soldier. But now I am not so sure if it was the right call."

"You have been successful, you wouldn't have gotten to be second in command of this squad without skill and hard work."

"Yes, in many ways it was worth it. If my actions contribute only a little bit towards ensuring it is harder for the Empire to attack Earth, then my actions were worth it." There was a pause for several moments and then he asked. "What about you?"

"I do not know either." She said. "This conflict and preparing for it has occupied my entire past few years of life. I wouldn't know what to do without it." Petrova paused for a moment. "But I know I still made the right choice. Even if it meant a life or luxury far away from this war I would choose this."

"Why would you choose this?" Hans asked.

"I have a purpose here. My life has been one of sacrifice, and I don't know what I would do without this conflict." She replied, rolling a bit closer to him so that their faces were pointed directly at one another.

They sat in silence for a few moments, just looking at one another. Both could sense a sort of tension in the air, one that they had not experienced like this since high school.

Finally Hans broke the silence. "Do you ever feel alone, despite being surrounded by so many people?"

Petrova waited a bit before answering, contemplating if she should lie about how she was feeling. He definitely had a point, and she was drawn back to the conversation they had had with Taylor back at that bar before they had left for this world.

"Yes." She said quietly. "Since I was a child I never had many friends. My father did not want me to socialize, and therefore I only did a little. He thought it created weakness."

"Then why did he get married in the first place?" Hans asked.

"He was horny like all other men." She replied. Hans chuckled, partially because he thought the statement was funny and partially because he was nervous. He was feeling something he hadn't felt, much less given into, for a long time.

"What about you?" Petrova asked, turning the tables on him.

"Somewhat. When I was in the KSK back when I was in the Bundeswehr I had a lot of friends. They were people like me, and people I identified with. Then after the stuff about Nazism came out I left all of them. I just couldn't stand to see myself being with people like that anymore. Ever since I got the offer I got from the fleet, I've made it almost my sole focus." He said, a far away look in his eyes.

"Do you wish you had made a different decision?" She asked.

"No, I am helping save people." He said. "And while I might not be very close with all of them, I've found some amazing people here.

"Who would you be referring to?" Petrova asked, smiling. She was sure he was playing her. And she would play along.

"Well one of them is lying right next to me."

"I wonder who that could be." Petrova said sarcastically. She didn't think out her next action she would take as was typical for her. She reached out and kissed Hans without much thought.

The touch of their lips on one another felt electric, a feeling that she had all but forgotten to time. They both rolled closer to one another, continuing to move their lips across each other's.

After a few minutes of passion, the two settled down in each other's arms and fell asleep rapidly. For a few moments both had contemplated tearing off their clothes, but neither felt they were ready for such an escalation this early in their relationship, whatever it was. And they were both very tired, and none of them had the energy required to undertake what each was now dreaming about.

As she was about to fall asleep, Petrova just hoped that no one would walk in on them. It would raise too many questions that they were only just starting to ask themselves.