"Sithspawn, it's cold."
"You're telling me, I hope they were wrong about this place. Fighting stormies in the cold isn't my idea of fun."
"Obviously you weren't at Hoth."
"I thought we lost there?"
"Yah but…"
"Cut the chatter! If you want to sit around and talk like old ladies go find an Imperial garrison and turn yourselves in. You can chat as long as you want in prison."
The two troopers standing guard immediately stopped talking. But they continued to shiver. The man in charge, Sergeant Kyle Duyron pulled his macrobinoculars out and surveyed the plain in front of him. The rebels had established an outpost on Rhen Var after taking the small Imperial base there. The battle had been fierce but the alliance troopers had been victorious in the end. Most of the battalion had then been called off planet to support efforts in other parts of the war. The few troopers left were constantly on guard, fearing that the Imperials would return in force to take back their base. Those fears seemed to be well founded as Duyron had just discovered.
"Sithspawn! It's Hoth all over again!" he cursed to himself, then to the two troopers behind him, "Go tell the Colonel, we got walkers!"
"Shit!" one of the troopers yelled as they ran off for the building they'd converted into an HQ. They ran inside and into the chamber that served as the Colonel's office. The guards tried to stop them but the two sentries rushed through.
"Sir!" the first said after entering the office. The two sentries snapped to attention and saluted.
Colonel Garth Cly'sky, a Bothan, returned the salute and replied, "What soldier? I noticed that you entered without my guard's permission, so what's so important?"
"Sir! Imperial walkers are approaching!" the second reported.
"What? That's not possible we would have…shit that must be the report I haven't gotten too, damm those Duros and their inferior filing system! Sithspawn, the fleets at least three days away, can we hold out that long?"
One of the sentries began to answer but a look from Cly'sky stopped him.
"That was a rhetorical question soldier, you two go rally the troops and get to your stations."
The two sentries left the room and hurried to go wake up their fellow troopers. Cly'sky on the other hand remained in his office, and went to the long range comm station. If the Imperials thought they'd surprised the Rebel garrison they may not have already begun jamming their communications. He activated the system and…got a signal.
"Finally!" Cly'sky muttered, "Something's going my way!" then into the comm. unit he said, "Alliance fleet, this is Rhen Var outpost, we are under attack, I repeat we are under attack. We request immediate…."
Cly'sky lost the signal, Well that's that, Cly'sky thought, if the fleet got the message, they'll be here in three days, if not, well we'll hold out as long as we can.
…
The two sentries, Privates Skel Jeains and Karth Quell, headed for the barracks so they could wake up the soldiers.
"Get up! Imperials are attacking the base! Come on GET UP!" Quell yelled as he came into the building. Most of the troopers were already awake but some, especially those who had had the night shift, were asleep. Quell and Jeains walked around the large barracks room and shook those who were asleep awake, but where ever they went soldiers began to jump up and grab their gear. Troopers always slept with their DH-17 Blaster Rifles under one arm, but the more specialized soldiers had to get their weapons from the arsenal. Once they'd alerted the barracks Jeains and Quell headed back to their squad on the outer wall. Already gunners were manning the turrents they'd set up on the wall and within the courtyard and troopers were taking up their defensive positions. Sergeant Duyron was waiting behind the low wall when the sentries arrived.
"I see you told the Colonel," he said quietly.
"And woke up the whole base too," Jeains said equally quietly.
"Boy, if we live through this I'll have to give you a medal for your bravery in waking sleeping troopers!" Duyron replied sarcastically.
The squad fell silent for a long time. They watched as the AT-AT's gradually got larger and their AT-ST escorts began to appear. They watched as the two Alliance combat land speeders flew off to engage the enemy in the plains. The six troopers, two vanguards, and the sniper of 1st squad sat silently at their post waiting, just waiting to be killed. For as they saw it they were doomed, if the Empire was sending two AT-ATs to the field there had to be thousands of troopers. The Rebel base had only two hundred soldiers to protect the base. As they mused their fate Duyron's comlink crackled.
"1st squad a replacement squad is being sent to your position, you are to take up a defensive position in the ice caves, confirm."
"Roger that, 1st squad is moving out." Duyron replied just as the replacement squad came forward.
"Have fun," the new squad's leader muttered, "that's where I just came from, the whole north end is flooded, but they're not doing anything, it's like they're waiting for something."
"Sithspawn, we'll go get them then!"
To be continued…