Chapter 39 - Déjà Vu

High Orbit of Takodana

LAAT Gunship Mynok Bane

It had been years since Phasma had been witness to a space battle, let alone involved in one, and she always found it so fundamentally different to ground engagements. After all, there was no ground to speak of; no natural cover or foliage or terrain to take advantage of. Instead, it was a slugging fest in an open box where gunnery crews blasted away at each other from thousands of miles away, ships constantly moving above, below and to the flanks to gain better positioning and deflection angles.

To the untrained eye, it was utterly incomprehensible chaos. However, her experience in the cockpit gave her some understanding of what was happening. Sydow was forming an almost dome like perimeter around their landing zone, trying desperately to keep the New Republic's hundreds of fighters and bombers from breaking through to her and the rest of the boarding party.

Already, the dizzying clash of organic and droid fighters turned into a bloody brawl as the two sides lit up the dark vacuum like neon lights at a Life Day Festival. It was too soon to tell who was winning or who was taking more of a pommeling. The Sydow outnumbered Antilles 3-to-1, but Antilles had the far better ships and fighters.

'It doesn't matter as long as we get to the damn ground,' she thought to herself. She'd never liked the sensation of being in a dropship. It made her feel helpless. Then again, she didn't know any trooper who didn't feel the same way.

What made the situation worse though was the rather disturbing sense of deja vu, especially when the Company Commander, Paine, began his debriefing to the men:

"This is a raid, boys, and we got an hour to do it. No stand up fightin', no heroics, and no plunderin'. We get in, get the intel and get the hell out 'fore company shows. That means once we land, we push for Temple. We don't stop for nothin', which means if you fall behind, you'll get left behind. Y'all understand?"

There was a general murmur of agreement, and the commander continued:

"We'll be gettin' some air support on the way in, and Carlo's company be right behind us. However, we're gonna be on our own till then. Now, the Malevolence knocked out most of their high-end security, but these Rangers boys are gonna be dangerous, and we are kickin' in their front door. So don't do anything stupid. Other than that, guns up and let's kick some tail."

"Great speech," SC-023 chuckled dryly through their private comms, "wonder what he does for an en-core?"

"Long as it doesn't involve singing, Twenty-Three, I'll be happy," SC-111 replied, "ah hell!"

As if on cue, the Pirates did exactly that. It was a laborious shanty, more akin to drunkards wandering from the local pub, but Phasma admitted it had charm. It had been a long time since she had heard 'Corellian Ladies,' and she couldn't help but hum with the tune.

"Mum, are you okay?" Twenty-Three asked.

"I think she's gone native!" Ones said with mock horror. Phasma tilted her head at them, the motion showing that she was grinning at them.

"I like the song. It reminds me of better days," she replied simply before she entered the open comm, "Pilot, ETA?"

"Hittin' atmo now, ma'am," as he said this, the gunships side views turned black to prevent the crews inside from being blinded by the intense heat of entry. "LZ in 3 mikes."

"10-4," she nodded, and switched back to the private channel, facing the pirate garbed Commandos, each one wearing dulled red blast armor and helmets. "Children, are you ready?"

"You really need to ask, mum?" Twenty-Three chuckled over the comm, "Plan's simple enough. Draw out the enemy, and Eighty and L go in the back with Lord Kylo and find that secret entrance he was talking about. We've had worse."

"No," she smiled thinly, "you haven't. I lost a good number of your brothers and sisters to a small outpost, and that was entirely a First Order operation. Now we're attacking the stronghold of the Antarian Rangers, power and no. I don't like repeating mistakes"

"Difference is, mum?" Ones said conspiratorially, her hand to the side of her mouth, "We have a ton of meat shields."

"Who mabbe likely to put bolts in us too, so stow that talk," Twenty-Three repimanded harshly, but Ones shrugged her shoulders.

"Just stating a fact is all. But I'll keep my mouth shut."

"Well, good for you, that's a first. Anyway, at least this ain't a creep-op. Only cinch is that we got one hour to do it, and a lot of bodies between us and the objective."

"That's not the only cinch," Ones replied, "the Brownrobe. I know Lord Kylo isn't with us because he doesn't want to be detected by her and ruin his infil, but what happens if and when we run into her? I don't suppose the Pirates brought more of those Lizards?"

"No," Phasma replied, "a pitched battle like this would make them too difficult to use. They've got a few more… conventional options."

"So…" Twenty-Three mused, "I guess we'll just cross that bridge when we come to it. Hopefully with a lot of firepower."

"Wonderful," Ones grunted, "well, farewell and adieu to you Corellian Ladies."

A warm smile crossed Phasma's face as the commandos opened up their channel and started singing with the rest of riff raff. It was a pleasant distraction, and one that didn't last.

"ETA, one minute! Dropping to nap of the planet!" the pilot bellowed over the intercom, and the sidedoors of the dropship opened to reveal the vast forest canopy below and a dozen dropships flying in formation. Ahead, she spotted the castle-like temple poking over the treetops, and the squadron of droid fighters bombing it.

"Ha, mabbe the loose-wires will do all the work for us!" a pirate chortled.

"What? Rob me and ol' Aayla a good fight? Fat chance, Scoutie."

"Ah shut it, Hevy. Don't ruin me spirits."

Despite the humor, Phasma could already feel the tension brewing with the other occupants as they gripped their weapons tightly and checked each others equipment. She nodded at the Commandos, and they quickly started the same.

Every second that ticked by, Phasma expected rockets and anti-aircraft fire to start hurtling at them from the treetops. Nothing happened yet though, and a grizzled looking Petty Officer seemed to read her mind, "Keep your triggers ready, boys! These gits got somethin' store for us!"

She couldn't agree more. She clutched her custom made F-11 tighter, the sound of the gunships now moving directly over the treetops synonymous to the ticking of a clock.

"Thirty seconds! Approaching LZ!" the pilot shouted over the comm.

"Get your gear and blasters stowed, boys. Here we go!"

And with that, the gunships began a vertical ascension to barely a foot above the ground; the Pirates making the jump en-mass, blasters blazing. The roar of so many going off was deafening, and Phasma's comm-set was struggling to mute out the worst of it.

All around them, the forest burned and exploded from the unrelenting firepower until, with no real order given, it stopped. The only dead were the hundreds of trees they'd cut down with their overwhelming firepower, and the wild life seemed to be mocking them about it.

"Where the hell are they?" Ones asked, "Intel said there'd be hundreds here."

"Guess we'll find out soon enough," Twenty-Three replied.

Ahead, the company commander whistled and waved his hand around, signalling the platoon leaders to start moving out waving Phasma over. Carefully, she and the commandos began to pick their way over, suddenly conscious of the stinging bugs starting to fly around them and the sucking mud pulling them down.

'This damn place reminds me of Tyyrr,' she thought to herself, 'even if it is prettier.'

"Cap'n," Commander Paine said, "you'll be going in with my platoon. Stay close to us and try not to get your head shot off."

"Understood, Commander. May I suggest something?"

He nodded. Though Phasma was technically his superior in rank, this was his op and she would respect that. "The Rangers we encountered on Jakku employed unconventional tactics when faced with a superior force. I suspect they may try the same here."

"Figured as much. Least we won't need the sappers for a bigger LZ," he then grabbed the comm on his lapel, "all Platoons, keep a rock steady pace. Watch for spiders in the woods. They got webs. I want tincans scoutin' ahead 'fore we make moves, over."

"Copy, boss. We're on it."

Behind them, Phasma heard the sounds of hydraulics and turned her head to see a squadron of retrofitted AT-RT scout walkers being deployed, rising to their full man-height as they began to sprint into the forest ahead. She smiled slightly at the sight, noting the walkers had been reinforced with crude but effective enclosed canopies, along with secondary incendiary projectors and rockets.

They were not quite as advanced as the First Orders own Armored Recon Walkers, but they were clearly made along the same lines. The Pirates really had done their homework.

"Corsair-One to Fox Flight, what's the sitch in the air, over?"

"Calm. The droids are finishin' their run; need to pull back to rearm and refuel. Report no enemy activity. No IR, motion, nothin'. It's like there's no one there."

The naval commander looked over at Phasma wearily as he replied, "Right. Finish unloading and get Corsair-Two down here ASAP."

"10-4. Be back in fifteen if traffic holds. Good hunting, over."

"Roger, out," he shook his head in disgust, "well, this is just gettin' grand. Alright, let's move."

Suddenly, a cold familiar feeling took her, as though something unseen had just shadowed her. She turned her head to the forest, looking into the overgrowth for something there, but there wasn't. There couldn't be, and yet somehow she felt there was.

"Mum?' Twenty-Three asked, "You okay?"

She spared a final look at the treeline, and shook her head. "I'm fine. Let's get going."

"Why couldn't you have stayed away?" Finn breathed in the gloom, his hand oddly not tracing down to the butt of his blaster as was traditional, but instead for the hilt of Lor San's lightsaber.

"Hey," he heard a soft voice next to him, "you okay, son?"

"I'm fine, Sergeant Major," he replied, eyeing the man and his squad of camouflaged troopers, "just… thinking about what's coming next."

"I understand."

Finn turned to face the senior noncom, the only illumination coming from his helmet light. "I suppose you do. What did it feel like? Fighting your own?"

A look of surprise filtered through the veteran's grizzled painted face, but that was quickly replaced by understanding. He signalled his men to keep moving and he pulled Finn aside, "Someone up there you know?"

Finn nodded, and Merrick sighed. "Hard. I know that's real easy to say, but that's all I can say. Prospect of you having to kill someone you know? That's damn hard. But there's something my wife said… well, she wasn't my wife yet, but yeah. 'Focus on what you have, not what you did. Focus on the here and now, not before.'"

"Did it work?"

"I'm alive, and so was my wife and son. So, I guess it did. Hey," he put his hand on his shoulder, "you did something I'll never repay, but I'll try. You ain't alone in this."

'I think I'll always be alone,' Finn thought but didn't say. He pointed up to the roof, "Thank you. I'm sure he'll be okay, too."

"Oh, I ain't worried about Poe. He's the best Forcedamned pilot there is. Nah, I'm worried about the next ten minutes. Haven't been this damn tense since Endor."

"Well," Finn grinned eyeing the two-Ewok sniper team passing by their legs, "we do still have that that indigenous advantage."

Merrick chuckled, patting him on the back, "I like you, kid. You got a good head on those shoulders. I'll do my best to keep it that way."

"Again, thank you."

Finn, he suddenly heard Rey in his head, I'm in position. Let everybody know.

I think I'm starting to understand Poe's problem to you mind peeking, he chuckled softly, you be careful.

You too. May the Force be with you, Apprentice.

And you… Master.

The forest was mocking them. Whether it be the suspicious cooing of birds drawing their tension-wound sights, or the constantly shifting shadows in the foreground followed by rustling, Phasma had the creeping suspicion that the enemy was within reach, but not within sight. Even the company of a hundred pirates, their heavy weapons and even the two commandos did not alleviate this feeling. In fact, it made it worse.

Alone, one could blend in with the forest and make it their own. Here, spread across yards of ground in search patterns, they were the invaders and that made them a big target. Ahead, Phasma noticed the pirates splitting into fireteams, each one equipped with some kind of sensor device.

Carefully, she made her way over to Paine, popping over his shoulder. "Sir, what are they carrying over there?"

"Heart sensors," he replied, "all the boys got scramblers on 'em, so it won't pick us up. It's also calibrated to only pick up specific frequencies."

"As in not birds," she concluded rhetorically, her eyes watching the slow and methodical movements of the pirates rooting through the trees, underbrush and foliage… and yet finding nothing.

"Commander, with your permission I would like to take my commandos out ahead to do some reconnaissance."

"Ma'am, I doubt that's gonna do any more good than the tincans walking around," he gestured to his comm officer, where the feeds of their scout walkers ahead were being transmitted. A cursory glance told her that they were wading through the heavy ruins surrounding the castle-like structure a half-mile away.

"And as you can see, they've got nothin' and they're over 400 yards ahead of us. At this rate, they'll hit the bloody temple before we do."

As Phasma was about to argue her case, another Pirate spoke up as his heart monitor started to beep, "Sir, we got movement."

"Where?" Paine asked as everyone got ready, "How many?".

"One. 50 yards out at our 11 and closing, but damn it's fast."

The company commander gave Phasma a look before pulling in his holo-comm operator, "Winsen, tell all the patrols to hold their position and point their blasters ahead. We're gonna have company."

"Sir, 30 yards and closing."

Phasma felt the commandos close on her flanks, taking up natural cover as Phasma took a knee behind a log. "Twenty yards covered in less than ten seconds. That is fast."

"We can run something like that but not in ten seconds," Twenty-Three grunted, "Ones, check the ground."

The other commando placed her hand on the ground, and shook her head. "I'm not feeling any vibrations. It's not a walker or anything like that."

"Couldn't be," Paine replied, "Malevolence knocked everything out."

"Boss? Forward positions," the operator held his hand to his receiver to check what he was hearing and nodded worriedly, "the forward positions say it's right on top of them."

"What do you mean on top of them?"

"I mean it's literally moving past them and they can't see where it is."

The beeping from the heart monitor suddenly grew so frequent that they were bleeding into each other, "Boss, it's twenty feet out! It's right in front of us!"

"In front of us?" a pointman shouted, "I can't see anything! You must be readin' it wrong!"

"I'm tellin' you, mate! It's right on top of us!"

"On top of us?" Phasma watched as Paine slowly drew his head upward, a look of horror dawning on his face, "It's in the trees."

A dozen blasters soon found themselves pointed in that direction as someone shouted, "In the trees!? And it has a heartbeat!? That can only mean-"

"Yes, it's the Jedi," a woman's voice suddenly rang out from above, echoing like a million more were there, "What brings you to our lovely home, mates?"

Phasma had to resist the urge to reveal herself and ask the obvious question. After all, if she was here, so was he.

"Come on out, Jedi," the commander called to the treetops, "awfully rude for you to be talkin' without us seein' you."

"Really?" the voice asked coyly, "First you barge into my home, and now you're ordering me around? I'd say that's ruder."

"Look, lass, you know what we're here for. Just hand over the prize and no one needs to get hurt. We'll even leave right now. No harm, no fuss."

"Oh sure. Just the last time we tangoed, there was apparently a 50k bounty on my head. You're really just going to let that drop?"

"Not really, just needed to figure out where you are," he then jutted a finger at a sycamore directly in front of them, "SHOOT! SHOOT!"

In an instant, the tree was brought down and burned in a blaze of fire. Quickly, the men search the remains but found nothing there.

"What the hell? Where'd she go?"

The voice rang out again. "I'm going to give you one chance, space rats. Turn around and leave. This is your last warning."

They then heard rustling, drawing closer and closer as it was running circles around them.

"Oh great. Okay, everybody circle up! Guns up, guns front, and do not get separated! Winsen, get Raptors 3 and 4 back here, now!"

Something moved above them and a squad opened fire, hitting only air and leaves. "Come on out an' fight, you wench!"

"Okay. You asked for it."

It was then they heard the sound of a lightsaber igniting. Phasma had never encountered a Jedi before, but she knew they bled as easy as anything else. After all, Clones had killed them before. But right now, that was somehow hard to believe.

Another rustle of movement, this time followed by a loud, dull groan. The tree to their side started to move.

"LOOK OUT!" she shouted as the tree next to them came crashing down right on top of them, the thunder of it crashing echoing through the valley. As she recovered, she heard a scream ahead and she drew her weapon far too late as a blur of yellow slashed through the pirate in front of her.

"SHOOT! SHOOT!" but their shots were too slow, always a second behind. Then they saw her there, running up a tree; the movement finally slowing her down enough for them to see her clearly in her gray and tan form.

"SHOOT HER DOWN! SHOOT HER DOWN!"

Grenades, rockets and blaster bolts followed her all through the trees as she disappeared into the foliage. They didn't bother waiting for an order this time, they just kept shooting.

"All units!" Paine shouted into his headset, "I need all units to converge on this location!"

"Commander!" Phasma grabbed him by his arm, "Tell your men to hold their positions! She's baiting you!"

"Oh bloody hell, yer right. All units, all units, disregard previous orders! Hold positions and prepare for a counter-attack!"

"Boss, she's dropping branches on us! Look out!"

They all looked up to see a shower of brown and green each a foot thick and yards longs falling like hail shots. Men screamed as they crashed into them, their squad leaders shouting for them to take cover.

"Cassus! Get the dioxis grenades! We're flushing her out!"

"No need, I'm coming to you!"

There was a blur of brown, and then a sudden boom as the ground exploded in a shower of dirt, wood and leaves. Phasma had already been moving then, but the impact hit her hard in chest. She was sent rolling until her back hit a tree, the pain nearly sending her into unconsciousness.

Drously, she raised her head, and all she could see was a thick cloud of soot and soil with barely silhouettes visible. She hadn't the foggiest who was who. Now more than ever, she desperately wished she had her armor and its built in visor settings.

"Where the hell is she!?" someone in the cloud shouted.

"Here," and screams followed, the sudden movement of the terrible amber blade somehow too fast to track before it disappeared into the void. Behind her, she saw Hevy and his gunnery crew, and off to the side the Storm Commandos. With gritted teeth, she forced herself to her feet, and shouldered her weapon.

Circle around, she signalled to everyone else. Another scream echoed, this time followed by a pirate blasting away with the shots almost taking Phasma's head off. A moment later, the firing stopped, and this time she could smell the sickening smell of plasma searing flesh.

Movement caught her eye, and she looked up to see her Troopers signalling ready. Phasma checked around her to make sure no one got flagged, and nodded. They opened fire.

"Everybody down!"

In seconds, the crimson and sapphire bolts tore through the cloud, shredding the foliage and trees in between and a pair of silhouettes still standing. They kept shooting and shooting until finally the heat dissipated the smoke, seeing now everything above 2 feet burned to size.

"Oi! Anyone alive in there?" one of the pirates shouted. Slowly, a muddied hand came up, and someone started to rise.

"Stay down! Everybody stay down! We'll come to you!"

Slowly, they picked through the killzone and grabbed friendlies as they went, checking each of the muddy burned bodies for identification. Behind them, several squads were closing in, and Phasma hoped the rest were at the perimeter.

When they got the epicenter, they found what they'd hit, and Phasma swore. Then she saw the body move. "I need a corpsman here! The Commander's been hit!"

Then out of her peripherals, she saw something fast and brown moving. She spun, but found her weapon being knocked from her hand as a muddied indistinguishable form took her at a glance. To her sides, Phasma heard the movements of everybody else getting a bead, but in that literal second she felt a hand grab her by the scruff and spin her right into their direction.

Phasma immediate reaction was to plant her feet. Her second was to go for the vibro-sword at her hip. It was not regulation, rather something she'd kept as a trophy in her earlier days as a reminder of who she was, and she was damn good with it.

In one fluid motion, the Messer was free of its scabbard and singing for the Jedi's throat. Incomprehensibly, the blade missed the trachea by a literal inch, and Phasma lunged with a deft thrust only to find her ducking beneath the blade and rolling away to a patch ahead.

No sooner than her boots hit the mud the Jedi flew straight up in the air, blaster and rocket fire chasing her all the way up as she disappeared back in the treeline.

Phasma grabbed the comm officer, "Where the hell are those scout walkers?"

She got her answer when a pair of them came thundering into the scene, green trailing missiles firing into the canopy above.

"Dioxis! Get your masks on!"

A remote delay charge soon filled the tops of the trees with a thick green cloud, the lethal poison plummeting everything above in mortal choking spasms.

"Come on," Phasma growled behind the rubber seal, "fall, damn you."

Something plummeted through the treeline like a meteorite and crashed ahead.

"LET'S GET THE BROAD!" someone screamed, "I WANT HER FETHING HEAD ON A FETHING PLATTER!"

The roar of hydraulics and a hundred boots echoed through the air, faster than anyone could stop them even as their noncoms screamed after them. They weren't going to listen though, not when they were seeing red.

"Mum, what do we do?"

"Follow this through."

Everything hurt. Her skin felt like it was on fire, her eyes watering so much that she could barely see ahead of her, and her chest and stomach like they were submerged in filth. Everything felt squished and compressed, the nausea gripped her in its sickly embrace. Every part of her wanted to stop, but she dare not stop even as the bile came leaking out of every orifice.

The worst however was the terrible sensation that she couldn't breathe. Her brain was locked in the lie, the blood pumping making it thob in terrible pain even as Rey struggled to fight back the panic. It took everything she had just to breathe normally, and even then she was the verge of keeling over.

She was barely conscious of the blaster bolt that nearly took her head off, moving so lethargically to the side she smelled burning hair. She leapt over a cavice but fumbled on the landing and tumbled in a muddy heap.

Stupid, she cursed herself as she forced herself to rise, not daring to stop. I got too caught up in it. Got careless. Stupid.

She turned her head slightly, making out of the vague silhouettes of enemy walkers through her tear-stricken eyes. They were closing now, shooting their rotary cannons and rockets as they went. Without the Force to guide her slowed movements, she would be dead.

She had to get to higher ground, get to the Temple. She saw the log ahead leading up, and she started running. She knew she could make the jump, get to the branch and start moving undercover. If she could just-

"Oh no you don't! Get down from there!"

There was a sudden explosion. The log tumbled and she was rolling into darkness. The pain was driving her headlong into unconsciousness, and it was only the jarring effect of hitting the ground that prevented that.

"C'mon Rey," she groaned painfully, tasting copper in her mouth, "get up. Run."

She could feel the enemy closing in, their hatred looking to overcome her. She took a breath, finding the soothing waters of the Force waiting for her. All she had to do was dive in, and let it guide her. She could make it. She had to make it.

"Not so tough now, are you?" she heard the walker above her, its armored frame peering down into the ravine, "Maybe I'll blast off yer legs next while I'm at it!"

She saw the bolts coming before they were ignited and she dove to the side, her foot hitting a branch and using it as a springboard. With the grace of an acrobat, she somersaulted and came down with her lightsaber ignited. As she landed, she chopped at a stone wall next to her and struck it with a spinning kick.

The stone slab was sent flying, and she threw her hand forward to direct it towards its target. With a sickening crunch, the walkers canopy was caved in; the mechanical beast stumbling over and out of sight.

"Right back at you."

She knew however it wasn't out and it wasn't alone. She could feel two figures coming, sprinting faster than the rest and she knew instinctively these couldn't be pirates. There was a cold methodicalness that set them apart, and they were over the threshold when she started moving again.

They fired accurate shots that she was barely fast enough to dodge; singing her clothes, skin and hair as she dove from cover to cover. A round grazed her shoulder, the sudden pain of it sending her tailspinning behind a wall that was soon crumbling behind her. The exhaustion and gas-induced pain was worse though, her gasps for breath coming out in ragged excuses.

This punctuated by a bolt blowing away the wall next to her head. "Give it up, Jedi! You've got nowhere to go!"

Ahead, she saw the Temple at only a hundred yards and she forced herself into a somersault, diving down crumbling alleyways as the fire chased her. She ran and ran for all she was worth, the blood pounding her head like a drum. She was at the courtyard now. She was close, she could make it.

Then she heard the crash of stone upon stone, and she looked up to see a pair of enemy walkers climbing the wall ahead of her, their weapons pointed at her. "Going somewhere? Stop or I'll put you in the ground."

She looked at them defeated, every little pain she'd ignored coming to rach up and pull her to her knees, and it took her everything she had not pass out. Behind her, she heard running footfalls amidst her ragged, desperate breathing, and she turned to look at them.

They were the same ones that had shot at her. They must've run at full pace for half a mile, and they didn't even look winded compared to the rest of pirates slowly closing in. She leveled a smile at them, especially when she recognized the make of the blasters pointed at her.

"Had to leave your armor behind, huh?" she panted, "Guess you're not above doing your own dirty work, hmm?"

"You're funny," a female's voice answered, "and you gave us a hellova run there, girl. Shame we're gonna have to hand you over to our superiors. I wouldn't mind a little while with you alone," her head motioned up the length of her body, "even with all the blood, mud and vomit."

Rey felt a stab of revulsion. Before she could reply, the other trooper reached over, and struck the other over the head. "Ow! What was that, Twenty-Three?"

"You flirt again on the job, Ones," he growled, jabbing a finger at her, "and I'll leave for you for worm food."

"Enough," and the two troopers parted to reveal their superior. Rey had no doubt who this was. The glare she bore was the kind of hatred that could only be personal.

"Phasma, right? You're certainly tall enough. Eighty Seven told me a lot about you."

"And you're the Jedi who turned him against us," she replied venomously, her hand tracing down to the butt of her sword.

"We didn't meet until after he deserted you, Phasma."

"Then why is he running around with one of your archaic weapons, Jedi?"

Rey rose to her feet, addressing the woman coldly. "He made his own choice. I just presented the facts to him."

"Your facts, you mean. There are two sides to everything, Jedi. Now, where is he, and the rest of your pitiful little band?"

Rey didn't answer, and the slightest twitch sent her to the floor as a stun bolt hit her. A sudden paralysis washed over her as she flopped a cold fish. She didn't know if it was Jedi constitution, or her own stubbornness, but she fought back the blackness and rose to her knees. Then she felt hands take hold of her, forcing her arms behind her back as an iron-grip took her by the jaw.

"You didn't answer my question, Jedi," Phasma spat as her fingers dug into her cheeks, "Where are they? Hiding somewhere?"

Rey managed a smile at her, "Something like that."

Phasma's grip tightened, the iron fingers now pressing into the tendons around her jaw painfully. "Whatever's about to happen, you'll be the first to drop."

There was a sudden clink followed by more, and the air turned to smoke, "I'll take those odds."

Suddenly, the unmistakable whine of a rocket's ignition echoed through the air, an explosion followed, and Rey fell to the floor. Unable to move, she became acutely aware of the clatter of panicked movement, the reports of blasters shooting, and the screams of dying men.

She tilted her head up to see Phasma and another officer desperately tried to salvage the situation as bodies began falling all around them. A bolt struck her in the chest, and she fell to one knee, her hand clutching the smoking armor. She gritted her teeth, returning fire as she gestured at one of her troopers, "Ones, grab the Jedi and-"

A bestial, animalistic roar cut through the din of violence the way only a Wookie could. Something opened behind her, and the pirate standing over her was sent flying into the smoke. More came, their weapons firing only to be met with the distinctive reports of a bowcaster and a heavy blaster pistol.

All around her, bodies dropped or were thrown into the distance as a gentle hand took her by the shoulder. "Don't worry, kiddo, I got you. Chewie, keep me covered!"

As she was dragged through the midst of the shooting, she had enough presence of mind to reach out and grab her weapon. That brought the attention of the troopers, but before they could stop them, they were gone.

As Kylo Ren boarded his transport followed by the Storm Commandos SC-080 and 011, and a squads complement of aged BX Commando Droids, the airways were clogged with the grim news on the ground.

"Bloody Hell! They're comin' out the ground! Raider 2-5, watch your six!"

"Raider 3-1, we are pinned down here by carkin' snipers! Oh you gotta be kiddin' me! They're frickin' teddybears!"

"We need support here damnit! I ain't dyin' to bloody Ewoks! Where the hell is our frickin' airsupport!?"

"2-4, we've got eyes on a spider hole! They got tunnels all over the place! We need a flameprojector crew here now! I-"

There was sudden report on the other end, and line went silent for a moment.

"Chief is down! Chief is down! The bloody teddybears shot him gah!"

"2-4, this 2-1! Pull back! Pull back! You are gettin' cut to-"

A sudden explosion was followed by the audible screech of the line going dead.

"2-3, I got eyes on enemy reinforcements comin' from the south. I need support down here 'fore they cut us off from the landing zone!"

"Negative, 2-3. The bloody snipers got us pinned here. We'll lose more of our boys just tryna get to you."

"2-5 here, we're about to be overrun! We need support!"

"Corsair-1, this is Rylothian Heart. We have sustained heavy damage, and we're repositioning to provide direct support. ETA five minutes. Provide coordinates for fire missions, over."

"Negative, I got too many lads spread all over the place, and the enemy's in our faces. You'll get us along with them. Provide direct telemetry to our-gah!"

The scream was followed by loud cursing and someone shouting "They got the LT! They got the LT argh!"

Then a familiar voice came on the line, "All units, this is Captain Phasma. I am taking command of this operation. All platoons, begin a fighting retreat to… Sector Delta 5-7. There is a large structured ruin where we can make a stand."

"We do that and we'll be cut off from the landing zone!"

"Lieutenant, we cannot hold our current positions and the landing zone at the same time. We need to pull back to a single defensible position where we can call in direct support. Otherwise, they're just going to keep picking us off one by one."

"Aye, she's right. We stay here, we die. I'm pulling more forces back now, but I've still got a lot of lads caught in the wire."

"They'll have to hold out on their own until reinforcements arrive," Phasma replied, "all units rally on my position, out."

"M'lord?" the trooper called Eighty asked, a desperate tone to his voice, "What's the game plan here?"

He sighed, "We cannot help them, trooper. Not without compromising our own mission. If we fail, then everything will be for naught."

Eighty's reply died in his throat and he nodded his head in defeat, "Aye, m'lord."

"What's our insertion plan?" L asked

Kylo Ren took a moment to send a telemetry feed to the troopers, explaining as he did. "We'll break off from the second company and make our way to the backline of the temple there, at sector Echo-5-4. There's an ancient sewer system that runs underneath the Temple. The entrances have been blocked off, but I'm sure we can make our way through."

"Ugh," L groaned aloud, "why does it always have to be a sewer?"

"Are you complaining?"

"No sir. Just griping."

"There's a difference?" Eighty asked

"Complaining implies I'm not gonna jump in the sewer. Griping means I'll just moan about it when I jump in."

"Good answer," the Lord of Ren nodded as the doors to the gunship closed, and they began their descent to the planet below.

A note from the Authors:

Hey everybody, this is JSailer and Squasher here. Special thanks to Terminator57, IanAlphaAxe and Transformers g1's-Prime for their reviews.