The trek through the forest was a quiet one. No one made any noise and everyone was on lookout for signs of the droid armies. There had been reports of clankers in the area, but they could have very well moved on by now.
There was no sign of them as they approached the village. There were small wisps of smoke curling up from the houses. If Dagger didn't know better it would look like the villagers were cooking dinner. Except she did know better, the houses were just shells of what they were before and the smoke came from fires left unattended in the aftermath of the droids. Blaster marks scorched the buildings and doors were left askew from people fleeing without taking a single belonging.
It had taken them longer than they had originally thought to get to the western village, but that is to be expected when they couldn't take the roads or trails to get there. The small group wouldn't be able to take on a battalion of droids, which were crawling all over this planet. There was no aerial support at the moment because the fighters were engaged in the airspace over the capital.
The sun was just over the treeline as they entered the village, eerie shadows stretching across the ground in long trails. After visually checking the area, the group split into pairs to search the premises.
Echo nodded to Dagger and they both stepped carefully out of the brush. Blasters up and scanning. The first red bolt that streaked towards them caused them to dive for cover. There was a burst of chatter on the helmet comms.
"Enemy fire coming from the buildings," Echo shouted, "Does anyone have eyes on the numbers or models attacking?"
"I see commandos, unsure how many there are," Flicker responded. Dagger could see him on the other side of the clearing, him and Dredge were still hidden in the treeline. They hadn't been able to get out in the open yet.
"Kriff!" Dagger spat. Commandos were bad news. Not as dumb as the usual clankers, but at a distance they could be dealt with easier than up close.
Echo popped up from behind their cover and chucked a small metal ball towards the origin of the blaster fire. He quickly turned and crouched back down, hands flying to his helmet, "Grenade!"
Dagger mirrored his position, curling up to protect her core in the event of shrapnel. The blast from the grenade was thunderous. She could feel the heat of the blast through her gloves. It only helped to further the droplets of sweat that were trailing down her face, collecting on the inner face pads of her helmet.
It was hard to tell whether the quiet was because of her ringing ears or because the droids had stopped firing. She shook her head to try to disperse the ringing and peaked over the rock they were behind, "They dead?"
Echo looked up at her, "I don't know. Charlie Squad, take your pairs and search the houses."
There was a chorus of affirmative responses from the squad as everyone slid out of the treeline. Dagger and Echo shared a look through their vizors and proceeded to the houses closest to them. Since they had gotten furthest out of the squad they went to the last house in the row. They would work their way inward and meet back in the middle of the clearing.
The door was hanging by a single hinge and the pair flanked it. Echo nodded, his blaster ready. Dagger kicked in the door with her boot, the wrecked piece of wood flew back into the wall. Shattering with a satisfying sound. She had no time to relish in it as Echo twisted into the house and immediately opened fire on the commando who had been in the room.
They had apparently taken it by surprise as it was down in two shots, falling in a heap of useless metal on the floor. Dagger smiled, "Nice shot Echo!"
He straightened up slightly at the praise, "Nice entrance, Dagger."
They began to clear the house, searching through each room. When they didn't find anything out of the ordinary they moved to the back door and left the house.
Echo paused for a moment outside to check in with the rest of the squad. Everyone seemed to be almost done with their houses and hadn't run into any problems. The only remaining structure to clear was the last house on the block.
"Charlie squad, once you have finished with your searches wait in the clearing. We will head back as soon as we are finished," Echo spoke through the comms.
"Can't we go wait in the trees?" Flicker asked, "Saw some berries that might be edible."
"Last time you ate a berry in a field your face swelled up like a balloon," Dredge commented for everyone to hear.
"Negative on the berries, Flicker. Just wait in the clearing," Echo cut off the conversation and focused on the task at hand. The final house.
Echo signaled Dagger to follow him towards it and confirmed with the rest of the squad to meet in the clearing after they had finished. They would need to be moving on as soon as they had finished, the other squads may need their help.
Dagger kicked in the back door to the last house, which did not go flying off the hinges this time. She followed Echo in and they systematically searched the building. He ducked off into a bedroom while she continued up the narrow hallway towards the front living room.
She couldn't see anything dangerous in the open area. There was a couch up against the front wall, under a wide window that showed the courtyard where they would soon be meeting. There was a wooden caf table in front of that, low to the ground.
She turned to go back the way she had come when her eyes went wide. There was a commando right behind her. She hadn't even heard it. She let out a gasp of surprise as it lifted a mechanical leg and slammed it into her chest.
Dagger flew back and landed on the caf table. The wood shattering around her and dropping her to the floor. She landed with a tud, the first thing she realized was that her blaster had been knocked from her hands. The second was that it was very hard to breath. Adrenaline pumped through her, all but dispersing the pain until she could barely feel it.
She jumped to her feet, not even looking for the fallen weapon and drew her dagger from its holster at her thigh. She held the long blade in a reverse grip, dropping into a low defensive stance.
The droid cocked its mechanical head at her, as if analyzing her. With a quick movement it holstered its own blaster and somehow materialized an electro staff. The weapon crackled to life with purple electricity on both ends.
Dagger couldn't help the reflexive half-step back she took. Commandos didn't usually carry those weapons in the field. Narrowing her eyes, she squared up to the droid.
She took a raspy breath and tried to steady her racing heart. Just as she took a step to run at the commando, it crumpled to the ground as its head was snapped to the side. It fell and revealed Echo standing behind. He grabbed his blaster and shot it a few times in the chest.
He looked at her as he pulled off his helmet. His face was stern, "Please tell me you were not about to fight a commando with an electro-staff with only your knife?"
"It's a dagger," she protested, holding up a finger. The adrenaline was quickly wearing out and the pain in her chest came back in full force. She coughed and stumbled back, holding her chest.
Her boots faltered over the remains of the caf table, tripping her and sending her crashing back towards the ground. Echo rushed forward and grabbed her by the chest plate. He lowered her slowly towards the ground, he propped her up against the couch, kneeling on her right side.
"Dagger? Dagger? What happened," he brushed the remaining wood chips off of her armor.
"Fuckin' clanker drop kicked me in the chest," she wheezed.
Echo reached out for his partner, concern evident in his voice, "You might have broken ribs. Let's get this chest plate off and see the damage."
Dagger flinched violently, grabbing his wrists stopping Echo in his tracks, "No!"
Echo stopped, concern easily seen on his face, she continued more calmly as to not upset him further, "I mean, I'm fine. Really Echo, I'm already feeling better, just got the wind knocked out of me."
Echo looked at her skeptically, but was given no time to argue as Dagger stood and readjusted her armor to its correct place. She nodded to him and made her way to the door. Echo took an extra moment to take a deep breath to calm his racing heart, the prospect of Dagger being hurt had scared him deeply. As he gathered his thoughts and emotions back into control he went to secure his helmet back on his head.
He heard a faint mechanical whine in the distance, he tilted his head to try and hear it better. The droning sound was getting louder and he looked out the window. A Republic fighter? Why was it on fire?
Echo saw the fighter spiraling out of control getting lower and lower, it was going to crash! Right in front of them! The giant fighter got bigger and bigger as it crashed towards the ground.
His head snapped over to Dagger, he was just reaching for the door not having heard the sound through the noise dampeners in the helmet. Panic seized Echo, "WAIT!"
Dagger paused, hand hovering over the handle. Head snapping quickly to Echo for an explanation. He scrambled to get up, it felt like he was moving in slow motion. He couldn't move fast enough.
All he had time for was one last look at his partner. He screamed, pleading and desperate, "DAGGER!"
The door blew off its hinges in a fiery blast, sending shrapnel into the house with intense force. The blast that had started in the middle of the courtyard blew apart the front of the house that they were in.
Dagger and Echo were thrown back into the wall. Both instantly unconscious from the force of the impact. Injured, bleeding, and incapacitated. They were the lucky ones. The rest of their squad, their brothers who had no protection of a house, were not able to withstand the blast that no one except Echo had seen coming.