The sound of blaster fire, bolts of plasma cutting through the dry air before slamming into sand or brick is perfectly audible despite the noise of the crowd and the violence it was being subjected to by forces of the First Order. From growing in the lower levels of Coruscant and surviving the constant gang warfare there and a few years as a stormtrooper on the borders of First Order-controlled territory, Kal had kept sharp reflexes, which had been many times the only things that allowed him to live another day. This time, he felt himself move before he had even consciously recognized the sound, crouching behind the cover afforded by a crumbled market stall, before shouting to his fireteam: "Blasterfire! Get your asses in cover!"
As a few more shot rang through the town and Kal realized that they weren't fired in the street and he relaxed a little, as getting ambushed there would have had disastrous results, between the poor position, limited cover, the still present crowd, now in an even higher state of panic than before and their limited armaments, ill-suited for a firefight, as they had forgone heavier weapons and explosive for crowd control grenades and riot sticks. But still the sounds made it clear the shooters and their targets were close by, in or above the buildings around the street.
"Kudis, you see where it's coming from?" Kal heard from his superior, which was still with the rest of the stormtroopers, on the far side of the crossing and blocked by a panicking mass of people.
"Nope sarge. Can't be far, though! I think next building over th..." Kal started answering before being cut by Lieutenant Mane'sen's voice, made even higher pitched by excitement "Someone's attacking the scouts and they're requesting back up! North side of the crossing!" indicating the direction from which Kal was hearing blasterfire. "Who's closest?"
"That's be us, but I don't see anything, lieutenant! It's happening on those buildings" answered Kal, who moved behind his cover, trying to spot the telltale glow of blaster bolts.
"Then climb up there and get a bead on whoever's shooting! Move now! Sergeant Tobias, once the street's clear, send another squad to support Kudis." ordered the lieutenant. "HQ is going to tear us a new one if more soldiers get killed here."
Kal cut his commlink, cursing, before turning towards his fireteam: Deku, Shartan and Five-Seven, all crouching behind the rubble of the market, their white armor tinted with the dust of the street and splotches of blood and like him, blaster in hand. Deku, he knew he could trust in a scrap, good on his feet and never hesitating at pulling the trigger, whatever the target. But Shartan and Five-Seven, he wasn't so sure, Shartan because he was a new arrival to the platoon, fresh out of boot camp and Five-Seven always seems to hang back, hiding behind cover and limiting herself to sparse suppressive fire. But from what Kal had heard, it didn't seem there were that many shooters, even if the scouts were outnumbered, so if he kept his wits with him, he'd come on top of that.
"Shartan, with me. Deku, Five-Seven, cover us while we move up on the roof. Follow us once we're on top. Get it?" Kal ordered in turn and after hearing everyone signal their assent, jumped to his feet and started running.
With Shartan at his side, Kal left the market and moved through the street, stepping above the bodies of rioters, some still and others moving weakly; farther out, rioters were running or limping away from the site of the confrontation. As they ran, Kal kept scanning the rooftops, trying to spot any hostile before they started shooting but they made it to the base of a flight of stairs going up to a terraced roof.