-The Power Core-

Captain Blanc ordered his troops to open fire on the Resistance forces. They were using stationary plasma turret guns while they hid behind the built in ray shields. The ray shields did their job to deflect enemy fire; but all it would take is for a troop to get around to where the operator would be exposed enough to get a good shot at him. About three of these turrets were lined up against the wall and just meters away from the door where the power core was behind it. The turret gunners continued to fire as other armed Resistance fighters swarmed near the door firing off their blaster. There was well over forty of them. Forty against twenty-six. And there was no real place to take cover; so Captain Blanc had to unshoulder his grenade launcher and began firing at the Resistance fighters by the turrets. One round managed to pick off a good four of them. But the charge time between rounds being fired was about ten seconds. And within seconds, three more First Order troops fell to Resistance fire. Two other troops armed with launchers rushed to Captain Blanc's side and fired off their own volley. Both shots took out at least eleven Resistance fighters. But the turret gunners were still firing and remained unscathed by the ray shields.

Osha joined the front line where the first three troops were felled as they continued to guard the special troops carrying the thermal detonators. The plasma firing turrets were already cutting them down swiftly. Eight more troops were blasted by the turrets; and another shot took out another two. Now the platoon was cut in half. As effective as the launchers were at picking off Resistance fighter after Resistance fighter cutting down their forty strong army to just twenty-three; something had to be done about those turrets. Osha continued to fire hoping to squeeze around one of them. As she stared one down aiming at her; she used her agility to roll to the right of it as it fired. The recoil gave her the window of opportunity she needed. As quickly as she stopped she was within range of the exposed turret gunner, she aimed her blaster and fired. Perfect shot! The gunner was down. But that didn't go without notice by one of the Resistance fighters still alive. He quickly dropped his blaster and took over to operate the turret. And the ray shields were still up and functional; not even Captain Blanc's grenade rounds were damaging it in anyway. Quickly rolling back into formation she continued to help pick off more Resistance fighters. Another one of her comrades had just fallen to Resistance fire. Numbers were down to twelve. The Resistance had the advantage only by about twenty; but those turrets were still going to be fully operational unless they picked them all off. And it wasn't going to be long until reinforcements arrived. She wondered if Captain Blanc was going to call for back up and send in another suicidal squad to assist them. That would take too long. She did what she could and continued to put her expert marksmanship to work. She managed to down three more Resistance fighters since she rejoined the group. Though she felt she could do more to help get to the power core; she was nevertheless doing a fine job at performing her duties.

Suddenly the odds tipped in the Resistance's favor. The second turret gunner fired at the two troops carrying the thermal detonators. They both fell dropping the precious cargo. Only one wasn't stirring. Osha looked behind to see the other one struggle to his feet as the other lied dead. Without Captain Blanc giving an order to replace the other troop, Osha rushed to the detonators and began assisting the other trooper. Three of the remaining troops arrived to guard them. At this moment, Captain Blanc's last round managed to pick off the last two Resistance fighters. Now only three were left and they were firing the nearly impenetrable turrets. Captain Blanc then rushed over to where Osha was assisting the other trooper. "Osha!" He yelled. Osha turned to face him. "Think you can take out those three gunners?" Osha blinked in amazement under helmet. "Me sir?" She asked. "Yes…I think so." "I'll stay here with the detonators!" Captain Blanc said as he forced his hand onto the handle Osha was carrying them with. "You do what you did before and clean out those gunners!" He continued. 'He noticed!' Osha thought to herself. He had noticed that fancy little maneuver she did to get around that one turret. Now she had to do it three times and the Captain was putting his full trust in her that she could do it again. "Yes sir!" she replied. She then rushed out to the fray.

The two troops with the grenade launchers were at least making things more difficult for the gunners to wipe out the platoon. But still, no significant damage had been made to the turrets. One round fell right by the gunner on the third turret. Smoke began to cloud his vision but he prepared for his next round. But just as he was about to; a laser blast struck him in the side of the head. Instantly he limped over the side dead. A new gunner had replaced him; but not by the Resistance. It was Osha who replaced him and who had killed him in the first place. She had decided the best course of action was to operate the gun turret and aim it at the gunners of the remaining two. As the turret turned cautiously towards them she noticed they were still greatly distracted by the remaining troop platoon. And when she lined up her shot, they noticed too late. Osha fired the turret and completely obliterated the remaining two. The turrets burst into flames and the Resistance gunners were blown away, bursting into flames and letting out one final scream. All was clear.

"Let's move!" Captain Blanc shouted as he noticed what Osha had done. He then assisted the other trooper carrying the detonator cargo. Osha saw the two coming towards; followed by the two troopers with the grenade launchers, and the remaining seven of her platoon. Osha then watched as one of the troopers scrambled the access code to the door and caused it to open. She rushed in to join the remaining group as they neared the power core. It stood like a giant sleek chrome cylinder; guarded by a blue ray shield. The same troop who descrambled the code to the door was now descrambling the control panels to the core. Captain Blanc and the other trooper set the cargo down. He ordered one of the remaining troops to man the abandoned still functional turret and fire at any Resistance members coming to stop them. As he waited for the troop who was descrambling the code, Captain Blanc walked up to Osha. He nodded at her. "Well done." He said, although it was a flat compliment. "Although we now only have one turret left. They could have been useful in taking down any approaching Resistance fighters." Osha bit her lip under her helmet. She was hoping for a little more praise, but deep down she knew he was right. Captain Blanc could sense her disappointment and decided to reassure her a little. "Still, that was quite a display of marksmanship." Osha cracked a smile under her helmet. "Thank you." She said quietly. "Sir!" A sudden voice barked out. Captain Blanc then headed over to a trooper looking down at his wrist communicator. "Yes what is it?" Captain Blanc asked. "Motion scanners picking up multiple Resistance fighters heading down from the North. They're about five kilometers away!" Captain Blanc looked down at the troop descrambling the shield code. "Are you almost finished?" he demanded. "Nearly there sir!" The trooper responded. "We got about five minutes before reinforcements arrive!" Captain Blanc said harshly. "They'll be coming here and blocking off our exit route soon!" "Finished!" The trooper exclaimed. The blue ray shield that protected the core no longer was visible. Captain Blanc then barked at all available troops to grab the thermal detonators and start planting them around the power core and the control panels to it. About six of them grabbed thermal detonators. Four the troops planted the detonators around the power core while the other two placed them at vital points on the control panel. They then awaited for Captain blanc to give the signal. As he did, the troops then activated the detonators. They were programmed to respond to the press of a button from within the Kaiser II. Captain Blanc then spoke into his comm-link to the ship and informed them that the detonators were armed. The message was relayed back to him that they had three minutes before detonation. Immediately, Captain Blanc ordered his troops to fall back and all of them followed in suit down the hallway where they came from.

"Sir!" The trooper with the motion scanner cried out. "The Resistance are coming right behind us!" Immediately Captain Blanc gave the signal to the rear trooper carrying the grenade launcher to ready another round. Around the corner of his eye, Resistance fighters started firing. The trooper launched his round and it exploded in front of the Resistance, killing well over eight of them and blinding the others in a haze of smoke. Captain Blanc rounded the bend to where he and his platoon first boarded The Trailblazer. He then stood by the doorway with another grenade launching troop as he ordered the rest of them to board the carrier. As four piled in, Osha followed them inside along with two more. And not a moment too soon, as Resistance forces rounded the bend and began firing. They managed to hit the other trooper with the grenade launcher as he fell dead. But Captain Blanc managed to fire off his round killing and distracting more Resistance fighters in the process. He then hopped on board the carrier as the last one inside. Immediately after he was on board, he gave commands to the pilot to close the hatch and take off. The pilot did so. As he closed the hatch, he also detached from the side of The Trailblazer and flew onwards towards the Kaiser II. All was notably less chaotic outside. It appeared that both sides' ships had returned to their docking bays. The First Order had received the message of successfully planting the detonators on the power core and the Resistance had realized their success as well. As the carrier neared the Kaiser II's docking bay, a blinding flash of light blared through the narrow slit of the carrier door. Something had exploded outside. Osha knew what had just happened. They had set of the thermal detonators as planned, and the Resistance ship they had boarded was destroyed from the inside out. She then felt a sudden jolt beneath her feet that shook her a bit. As she steadied herself, the carrier doors opened. They had landed inside the Kaiser II. Captain Blanc then ordered his men out of the carrier; including Osha. As she walked off the carrier and found her remaining comrades gather, she noticed everyone was looking out of the docking bay doors. There were exhilarating cheers and fists raised high the air, some of which were clasping blasters. She walked over to join them and saw what they were all excited about.

It was The Trailblazer, the Resistance ship she had just been on and helped destroy. It was completely engulfed in fire as bits and pieces of it began to fly off. It was plummeting down towards the planet of Bu'Thul. Watching it fall towards the planet was like watching a regular vessel just sink into the ocean. As she continued to watch it fall, she saw it glow brighter and brighter as the atmosphere caused it to burn up even more. She continued watching as the other members of the Kaiser II continued to hail its destruction. She felt like joining in with the rest of the crowd but she just stood there watching as its flicker began to dim behind the heavy gray clouds of the planet. Watching the burning ship of her enemies gave her a sense of victory and also gave her a bit of uneasiness. This was a particularly dangerous and suicidal mission she was on; she had just come to realize that in its fullness. So many of her fellow troops were killed, more so than any other mission she had been on with Captain Blanc. She was just letting the brevity of the original mission objective to retrieve the plans to the Sith-made virus sink in. She just kept staring at it until she could see the burning ship no more. The jubilance of the Kaiser II died down, and after a moment she silently turned away from the docking bay doors along with everyone else and walked towards Captain Blanc and the remainder of her platoon.