Handmaiden
"Well I got some explosives, yeah." The gnarled old man told us. "But I have some places to check in there," he waved at the old military annex, "And I'll need most of it."
"No, we will need it all." The soldier told the scavenger.
I could see his eyes light up. Well let's talk price then, shall we?"
"In the present emergency, we are going to have to take it and pay you later." He admitted, writing out the scrip.
Instantly the old man's face closed. "If it isn't credits in hand, you can't have it."
The soldier sighed.
I for one was sick of the haggling. This wasn't the first or even twenty-first scavenger we had warned, and having them expect us to pay through the nose for every slab of plastic explosive or detonator was driving me mad. "This is an emergency, and the Administrator has ordered the seizure of all explosives for use in the defense. You can petition for reimbursement afterward." I hissed. "We're doing this to save your life, fool!"
"I won't let you-" His eyes widened as I brought out my saber staff, and ignited one blade. Then I saw another light in his eyes; greed.
"We are taking it all. You will get a receipt, and can get paid for it afterward." I motioned, and the two soldiers by the landspeeder came over, and began separating out what we were taking.
I turned, then spun pack, hand reaching out, lifting the man from the ground. He dropped the pistol he had drawn, clutching at my immaterial hand. "And if you expect to kill someone with the Force as their ally, you had best bring a lot of people to help." I dumped him on his butt.
Bao Dur.
I looked at the control panel, and began a diagnostic on the gun turrets. Someone had fed in an algorithm that designated everything that moved as a target if activated. Since they were behind most of the Militia positions Marai had chosen, it would have slaughtered them if it had been activated.
I tried to reset it, but the system refused. It was a five day job, and we didn't have five days. Instead I targeted all fire a minimum of five hundred meters from the building when manually activated. It meant that a fast running force would get close, but it was the best I could do. Then I went down to the droid storeroom.
There were a dozen of them gathering rust. I started activating them, and had to buy equipment from the little electronics salesman that had set up shop in one of the rooms of the building. I had them all up and running when I found out why they were out of action in the first place. I knew the General would be very interested.
Mira
Gently I emplaced the mine. I had left the first two in the sequence alone. That way, they would think it was still as it had been so poorly set. I emplaced mines where they would have to kneel to try to take out the turrets from a safe distance, and where they would dive for cover when the guns began firing. I had a lot of loose explosives, and I had lain out where the mines should go as I made up a few jury-rigged ones. I was down to wrapping commo wire and steel strips or half kilo boxes of nails around them in lieu of shrapnel, but beggars can't be choosers.
Atton
"Listen ma'am, we don't have the time."
"But my husband left for Khoonda, I have to ask him what to bring-"
I took her hand. "Ma'am, when he gets there, they aren't going to let him leave. The mercenaries are going to kill everyone and we can't protect you here." Please, get aboard."
"I don't even know you-"
"But you know me Elsba." Trooper Kail said. I had been chosen because I could fly the ship, but Anara Kail was the person everyone liked. This was the fourth farm we had stopped at, and every one of them had needed her touch. She didn't argue with the trooper. I helped the woman load some things, looking at the cargo bay. Seventeen people so far. We were only hitting the farms that didn't have com systems. It was taking too long.
"Next place, I'll let you do the talking." I said lifting off.
Handmaiden
I moved slowly, looking for our enemy. I stopped beside a Blba tree. I could see for three kilometers ahead here, and I slowly scanned with my electro binoculars. Three kilometers before me, four behind me, that equaled an hour and a half before anyone I saw would be in position to attack.
They were frantically trying to get the rest of the civilians in but there were no guarantees we would succeed. A man once likened an emergency evacuation to emptying a bag of sugar. No matter how well you do it, some persistent grains still remain in it. In fact my battle sister's main hope was that they would try to attack us first, because we would at least bleed them enough that some would be missed.
The night had been rent by hundreds of people moving. Swoops being repaired, turrets now tracking as commanded. Droids rolling about, their weapons ready. All of the spaceport hangers had been jammed solid with people, and now we had the additional worry that one mortar round off range could kill all of those she wanted to save. We didn't have enough men to cover every possible target; it was that simple.
I saw movement, and watched as a squad moved forward. Luckily, they had assumed that we would fight them on the ground because there their power was overwhelming. There were a few swoops, but they stayed in watch positions above their men. I called in a report then moved back to the next ridge. I would
shadow them from the front until they reached the valley.
Visas
I sat, listening with the Force. I felt a movement headed toward us very fast. But it was only one man. "Tell Marai that Master Vrook is returning." I felt a storm cloud behind the old man, evil clouds with sheets of pure red fury in it. "The enemy troops are behind him about two kilometers."
Marai
I looked at the map, and my heart sank. We could slow them, bleed them, but I couldn't guarantee we'd stop them. Eight or more to one. I heard a shout of panic and stepped out of the small defile. A hundred odd Mandalorian warriors were marching toward our positions, and men started to raise their guns. "Hold your fire." I ordered over the all-com channel. I went forward.
Manda'lor motioned. "My people are out of this. They will await transport to Dxun."
"How did you do that?"
"Back when the Mando'a first fought, we did so as mercenaries. The old laws say the Manda'lor holds all contracts, and they have never been removed. I merely revoked their contract and refused to renegotiate them."
"I doubt it was that simple with Azkul."
"No. He has made some rather stupid threats, but he has to get here to follow through on them. My men will go in there and await transport." He signaled and the men we so desperately needed walked past us into the spaceport complex.
"But Manda'lor-"
"I cannot order them to fight against those that had hired them before." He told me softly. "You know that. It would be dishonorable.
"However, my men are not going to sit on their butts and be slaughtered. I have told them before we left that until our transport arrives that port area is our bivouac, and we will defend it, and everyone in it. That I swear."
I felt a rush of joy at that. Fully a third of our men were in positions designed primarily to protect that mass of humanity. "Then I will allow you to do that." I lifted my com. "Platoons seven and nine, hand over your positions to the Mandalorians. They won't fight beside us, but they will protect your families. The Manda'lor has sworn it."
There was a flash of movement, and Master Vrook came running in the long force assisted lope. He glared at me then went to Zherron. His mood grew darker when that man signaled for him to tell me.
"They are coming. Thanks to your Mandalorian friend-" He said it like a highly religious man would say 'whore'. "-They're down to just under 600 to the east. I don't have time to check the west-"
"They are moving in now, Master."
He growled. "Are you satisfied with what you have done? These people will all die thanks to you-"
"Master, as I am no longer a Jedi, I do not have to take this from you." I turned, facing him squarely. "You see, like any religion, when you excommunicated me, I no longer had to answer to you.
"I was sent to find you all by Atris. She sent me to Onderon, to Nar Shaddaa, to Korriban to gather you all together. It was not my choice to be on this planet, and my arrival did not create this situation. But I am here, and these people need someone who has fought before to lead.
"I did not protest the Council's actions when you exiled me. I gave up my entire life when you did. No doubt you think I spent time in the ranks of the Sith, and when you went looking for me you looked there first. After all, this is all you think I had left. But I walked away from war for almost ten years. I wasn't willing to go to war again for anybody.
"The one thing the entire council ignored was that we did what our teachers had taught us our entire lives. Put our own bodies and lives between danger and those we were sworn to protect. While you complained that we didn't listen we died. None of that Council had fought in a real war except for Kavar and Vash, but you condemned us for using war to end a war.
"Perhaps you were right, perhaps we failed in our charge when we did. But it was the only logical alternative most of us saw. I accept that we were wrong in the end. But I will not run away now or let these people die when you no longer have the authority to tell me what to do."
I sighed. "Master, when battle this is over, you may judge me as you wish and I will allow you that. But until that time, I will fight for them."
He looked like I'd stuffed a lemon in his mouth, but nodded.
"If you would; go within and guard the Administrator. If she dies, we have failed."
Atton came running up. "No more flights. There's maybe five, six hundred still out there but we're out of time."
"No help for it. Are you going to man the ship?"
"No. T3 told me he's run the guns alone before; I'm going to leave it with him and Goto on board. When the attack starts, they can lift up and strafe the enemy lines, or shoot down incoming. I'm going to man a swoop." He pointed at the area where a bunch of the younger troopers were running them out. "Those kids think this is a cavalry charge, and they'll get eaten up if they do it that way."
"Be careful."
He stormed away, and I went to Zherron. "Have you talked to the men?"
He shook his head. "Ma'am, I'm a soldier, not a politician. All I ever say to men I take into battle is 'follow me'."
I had sensed a lot of worry out there. These men who had played at soldier for years were suddenly thrust into the front lines. My troops were a glass bowl that would shatter at the first blow if they did not stiffen their spines. "Gather them over there by the main door."
I went over, looking for my spot. The door opened, and the Administrator came out, followed by Vrook. She started to speak, but then stopped as the men came. They were filthy from digging in, tired because we had worked all night to get ready. Somehow I knew that if I failed in what I was about to do, they would run at the first shot. I motioned for the Administrator to stand aside.
I stood up on the edge of the planter, looking down at them. For a long time, the grumbling had continued, but as they noticed my silent regard, they fell silent. 200 men. That was all we had, and the enemy were a thousand or more.
"For those of you who have never seen me or my face, I am Marai Devos. I just wanted for you all to see that I am not three meters tall, covered with fur, and feeding on my own dead."
There was a little laughter out there.
"Too often a leader will stand there, and impugn your manhood, or exhort you to stand because your families are in there." I hooked a thumb toward the docking bays of the tiny spaceport. "They'll tell you that you will be shrouded in glory, that your sacrifice will be remembered forever. I'm not going to do that. If the truth is not what you want to hear, I'll find someone to lie to you.
"The odds are bad. We are outnumbered by eight to one, and they are better armed. They have assault droids, and we don't. They are trained professionals, and you're just a bunch of guys trying to add to your take home pay. Glory? It doesn't put food on the table, or protect your children. Honor? While I put store in my personal honor I have never been given a centi-cred because I hold to it. Does that pretty much cover the totally screwed position we're in?"
"Damn straight." Someone whispered. I looked down at him, grinning. 'Good. Hate to be so terrified if I had no reason." There was another chuckle. "Yeah, you're scared but I've got a secret for you. So am I. I fought an entire war with that fear inside me every second. So when I speak, I'm not the hero on a podium, or the monster I am painted. I am a frightened human being right now people, just like you. Join the club.
"Did you know that I was offered a way out of this? The commander of those men told me personally that if I would bugger your defenses or surrender; that if I was willing to sacrifice all of you men, that your families would be safe. He also told me that if I didn't help him, none of you would live. That he would slaughter you all down to the last child.
"Yet I am here with you now.
"Except to those that survive, this battle will be a footnote in history. We will fight and die, and a hundred years from now some fool will make it a punch line for a bad political joke. There will be no parades, no days named in your honor. Anyone who doesn't want to fight can run, and I won't stop you. Anyone willing to let their families live that kind of life with them has my blessing to take a skimmer and get the hell out of here. "But I will tell you right now, that I will be staying."
I jumped down, walking among them. "We don't fight for territory here. We fight for your homes, and your families. I have a ship in there." I pointed again at the spaceport. "I could have gotten out of here, and to tell you the truth, part of me wanted to cower aboard and see the last of Dantooine. I want to see tomorrow as much as any of you, but the other part of me thinks of you men, your children, your wives, your brothers and sisters left in their hands. Part of me says, if I will not die to defend these people, what world is important enough to die for?
"So run if you want. I will not live to see your families killed. I will not drink in the Cantina somewhere else I scurried off to and remember those dead. I will either live to drink those toasts with those who survivied, or I won't live at all. It's that simple."
They were silent, staring at me. My words were so soft that those at the back leaned forward to hear. "You may run. My friends may run. I may be the only one standing here when they come, but I swear before all the gods of man, I will be here. Your society may die, but I. Will. Be. Here. I will ive or die with that vision. So if you want to run, start now. I don't know how long I will live. But that building-" I pointed at the fragile structure. "-That hope for your home and very way of life is where I stand and die."
I walked back to where I had stood before, but instead I sat down. "So if you're going to run, do it. I have work to do before they come."
They stood there then suddenly there was a roar. Men waved their guns, screaming. I heard my name used and I raised my hand. "No! Do not go to war with my name on you lips." I leaped back up. "Home!" I screamed.
They repeated it, and it became a chant. No one was running, the faces had lost that fear, and a terrible resolve had taken its place.
"Stations, people. Be careful, may the Force watch over you all."
Vrook whispered savagely, but the Administrator waved him off. She nodded to me, and went back inside. The Handmaiden came in. "They are a ten kilometers behind me."
"They'll try to coordinate the attacks." I mused. "You know your position?"
"As much as it should by your side, yes. I will command the west left, Zherron the right. You will command this side."
I nodded. HK had disappeared. I wondered, but I couldn't really see where he would have been a major help. Mira would be on my right and control the mines, Atton would be our cavalry, Bao-Dur would run the turrets and droids. Manda'lor commanded the defense of our civilian charges. Visas came from the building.
"I hold you to your promise." She whispered.
"If she dies Visas, I will be... upset with you." The Handmaiden said.
"No more than I will."
"We have to get ready." I hugged the Handmaiden. "Go my sister. Be careful. Stay alive." She grinned, and was gone.
Mira came up, fiddling with the pad she had rigged activate her mines and other improvised devices. "You know these will only take a few minutes to go through." She commented. "What then?"
"Head for the star-port, my sweet. From that point on it will be blood and pain."
"Right." She wandered back to her position.
I heard the snarl of swoops taking off. I only hoped we were ready.
The Battle
The mercenaries moved forward. They knew what the enemy had, knew their defenses. There would be no surprises.
Atton
I felt the wind whipping at me as we shot out from the settlement. There was a black blot ahead of me. The mercenaries were forming up for their advance. "All right, you know the drill! One pass, haul it back to the building."
The three with me answered. I worried more about the other four heading east. Unfortunately the best of them was a hot dog, and it isn't a good combination. As the old saying goes, there are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.
But I couldn't be in two places at once.
We swept into sight then turned to the north, and the guns on the ground turned to follow us. They no doubt expected us to continue, come in from behind then sweep through.
Guess again.
Two of the kids dropped so low they were scraping the grass, and moved back along our track. The one with me stayed stuck on my right as we howled north. We stayed low, and I could see their swoops headed for the rear to blindside us.
I heard a click. The others were in position. I spun the bike on its axis, and was howling back at the center of the mass at the speed of heat. There was a flash of faces below me staring in shock as I came over them, but I wasn't shooting. I pressed the button and the two boxes of primed grenades behind me fell in a swath. To my right my wingman had done the same, and ahead of us and slightly to the left and right came the others.
Explosions walked through the massed men, and as we went empty on the bombing run the other two came through one above and the other below
our swaths and did the same.
"Run!" I shouted. I turned toward the settlement, mentally making an assessment. Maybe a hundred or two killed. I looked back, and one of my men was turning toward the swoops that were chasing us. "Number three! Obey orders damn you!"
He hesitated, and they overran him before he could start his turn. One of them went with him at least, but they had a couple dozen swoops to our eight. They could afford that loss.
We ran toward the settlement, hugging the earth as we did. The enemy followed. They had newer faster bikes. It was only a matter of time, and the four kilometers to the settlement wasn't enough for us to really try to evade. All we could do was dodge their fire.
I saw the marker ahead. Mira had blown a tree down, making what for our enemy would be a handy abattis. "Now!"
We hit our retro thrusters, and dropped behind it then dived from the bikes, huddling in, hoping it would work...
The enemy followed standard procedure to strafe us. Half of them cut right, half left, to sweep in from both sides, then they climbed to get a better angle...
The turrets on the west flank roared. On the dozen swoops, five were blasted before they even knew they were under fire. Only three were able to escape, and one of them was smoking from a hit.
"Are you still there?" Bao-Dur asked.
"Yeah!"
"You have time for one more run."
"I heard that!" We jumped on our bikes, running like hell for the settlement. We landed, and men began loading more boxes of grenades. Only one returned from the east, and it wasn't the hot shot.
"Number two, you help out on the east." I ordered.
Mercenaries
An army is as much an organism as the men within it, and this one recoiled from the pain. The brain was pushing it forward, but it was now wounded and tender. It would not move as fast as their leaders wanted.
Bao-Dur
It was an intricate dance, and Atton had proved he knew the steps to this one. His second strike didn't do as well as the first of course, but the front of the enemy wave was now a snarled mess. His men had gained us some time, but only two, both of them from his group returned from that attack. They had been hurt but not as badly to the east. No one who had gone that way had lived, and now the enemy only had seven swoops total. I spotted a movement on the long-range scanners. "Manda'lor, there is a speeder section heading for the berm." I reported.
"We'll be ready."
HK
The four land speeders landed, and a dozen of my immature brethren disembarked. If I had been merely human I would have snorted. Genetic beings tend to think of themselves. They take cover, or wait for the others to arrive, as I had been programmed. But these improperly programmed things merely stood there until finally one of them motioned toward the berm.
"Irritated statement: Why must we eliminate the hostages?" One whined.
"Equally irritated response: Because if it were humans that undertook this mission, they would not be as efficient." Another retorted.
I looked at the panel not-a-meat-bag Mira had made for me. She had known what I was doing. I wondered if she had notified not-a-meat-bag Marai and not-a-meat-bag Manda'lor?
Unlike them I was under cover, my weapon extended. There was a Rodian meat bag named Adun Larp in the compound, and I had convinced him to let me have a Mandalorian heavy repeating blaster rifle by promising not to unscrew his head. As they approached my position, I set my finger on the trigger.
Query: Who do humans and other organic meatbags assume that droids must use their equipment? I understand the logic of making us so we can use it as well, but I could just have easily linked it to my circuitry rather than have to carry it. But then again, they would have had to be more innovative.
I triggered the box, and ion grenades irradiated their circuits. I picked one that was still standing, and cut it's arms free with neat precise blasts. There were four still standing, and they laced the woods around them with fire. However their addled circuits placed none of that fire near me. I took the others down with ease then chopped the legs off my first target.
"Sarcastic assessment: Amateurs." I stood, walking down to the remains. I linked to the unit that was still relatively functional, and accessed its memory. "Irritated Query: All right you incompetent box of circuitry. You will tell me what I want to know."
It didn't take long as natural beings measure it. Merely a few seconds. But I disconnected and put a round through it's brain. The bodies supplied a lot of usable equipment, including new motivators. When they had time, the not-a-meat-bags would be able to install them.
I moved down, emplacing bombs in each speeder, then setting the auto-system to return to their camp. I walked up the berm, and found not-a-meat-bag Manda'lor waiting.
"Statement: The first attempt has been stopped. I have mined the speeders, and they will kill more when they have returned to base."
"Well done."
"Irritated response: I am HK47. All of my actions are 'well done'."
He gave me an irritating grin, and went back to what he was doing.
Mercenaries
Azkul ducked as the third speeder came in. Like the first two it had exploded. "Blow the other one to hell!" He screamed. He looked at the neatly planned operation coming apart around him. The Eastern unit that he led had taken a hundred plus casualties, but those damn 'disabled' swoops had killed almost three hundred in the Western sally. He spun, glaring at the man in Militia uniform.
"A fat lot of help you have been." He snarled.
"Hey, I did just what I said I would!" Modrel protested. "I spiked the guns so they'd blast everyone, disabled the swoop bikes, rigged the minefields so they were ineffective, helped that little Sullustan rip up the droids-"
"Yes, and so far the guns you 'spiked' have slaughtered my swoops, the swoops you 'disabled' have killed almost four hundred of my men, and I am sure the minefields were also fixed." I walked over to him, standing face to face, my breath blowing in his face. "All you have done is helped my men die!"
He gasped as I jammed the blade in his stomach. I punched him in the throat, his scream dying as I smashed his larynx. I whipped the blade savagely, dumping his guts onto his boots.
"Since you can't do anything else right, why don't you just die quietly."
He turned away from the dying traitor. "All Eastern units push forward as fast as you can. Do not, I repeat, do not use speeders or skimmers after you reach point Zed. All swoops, ground at point zed, and hold until relieved.
"All western units, get you men under control or by the gods when we're done with them, we're going to blow you to hell too!
"Mortar units. Move forward and set up. You're first target is the star port. I want it to be a crater before we come in contact." He grinned furiously. "Let them think about their dead children before they die!"
Marai
The swoop attacks had hurt them, but not as badly as I might have hoped. We had reduced about 1600 men to just under a thousand, but there were still more to kill and we were still outnumbered badly. I considered redistributing my men, but did nothing. There would not be enough time between the Western and Eastern attacks to switch men from one to the other.
I stood, looking at the terrified young woman that manned the communications console in the building. "I am going out there. I will keep my com link open, so pass any orders I give."
Visas stood there as calm as always. I regretted having her by my side because the hell we were going into was worse than most of my men imagined.
It was still quiet here. In the distance we could hear explosions as secondaries continued to cook off. I ran forward to the half-kilometer mark. I had made them dig three lines of holes. One here, another a quarter kilometer back from it, another 100 meters further back, the last the original holes they had dug before we arrived. We had spent no time stabilizing the soil, camouflaging or making them as comfortable as that initial line, and it showed in the loose-heaped dirt before the men. The first two lines were actually in front of our mines, and I knew they were all worried, because one coward behind us could activate it and kill us all when we retreated through them. But the fact that I was here seemed to calm the men down. We were going to take casualties they all knew that. But they also knew if we didn't bleed the enemy, we would lose.
"They're half a klick away yet." Mira told me. She was smudged, tired, filthy. I hugged her wordlessly. I could see most of that half kilometer from here. I knelt, touching the soil, picking up a handful, and held it as we waited. We were dying for this. For the people that would bring food from it, the men that would move it aside to build their homes, and those that would dig into it for ore to power it's industry.
They were worth dying for.
I saw movement, and speeders pulled from the trees. They stopped, and men began deploying. A hundred, two, three... I lost count and still they came. To those behind me, it must have looked like an elemental force coming at us. A tsunami of men machines and death that we expected to stem with our bodies.
I saw a mortar section setting up.
"Control, warn the space port." I ordered. "Mortar rounds will be inbound in just a few moments." I listened to her repeat it over the command push.
As the men began to move cautiously forward, I heard the thump of mortars firing. The men behind me crouched deeper, but I knew instinctively we weren't the target. Behind us, I heard the howl of my ship lifting to clear her guns.
Suddenly there was a flash of light as the turret and anti-intruder systems of my ship roared. The shells that were falling were swept away. I heard a scream, and a swoop bike flashed past us. Then it did what's called an idiot's loop, sweeping up into a loop, and running back toward the compound. I caught a glimpse of four small objects flying up and away, then descending. They vanished into hundreds of bomblets.
There was a rolling flash of them exploding, and the mortars fell silent. Nicely laid, Atton.
Mercenaries.
Azkul didn't flinch as his mortars died. The western attack didn't have any. Pure luck had placed the entire mortar company there under one of those damn bombing attacks. "Push them, hard!"
Mira
The men came not in a charge, but in a sidling rush. Men ran from cover to cover, coming toward us slowly. I caressed my control panel. A little closer...
They reached the point I had set, and I ran my finger along the contact.
"Not yet." Marai said softly. I looked at her. She repeated the order. "Wait just a while longer."
The men reached the cover then stood to advance toward us. The first wave was running toward us now as the second dropped into position to give them covering fire. Four hundred meters, three, two-
"Now."
I had not had enough mines to cover everything, and the Republic never went in for the massive mines the Sith and Mandalorians did. I'd had to make the damn things that went off now. Not grams but kilograms, tens of kilograms of blasting explosives went off. In front of them were millions of 5-millimeter balls, rocks and shattered metal and those ripped through the first and second waves like a reaper from hell. Men dissolved into muck that would need DNA tests to even know who had died.
Some men, maybe fifty or so were past that point, and they were slammed down by the shock wave. As they tried to get themselves back together, Marai shouted, "Fire!"
There were only thirty or forty guys with us, but they were primed, ready to fight, and had simple orders. One magazine; If it's in front of you, and alive, kill it. Blasters went to auto fire and those men that had survived the explosions went down like ten pins.
"Withdraw!" Marai shouted. The men leaped up, running like hell toward the rear. Marai backed more slowly, watching the enemy. I stayed with her and Visas.
We reached the second line, dropping into our holes. Marai looked at me then held out her hand. "Give me the panel, Mira."
"Hey, you take care of the war, I'll take care of the mines!"
"Mira, how many have you killed today?"
"I don't like it, but how many of ours have been saved by me?" I snapped back. "You do your job, let me do mine."
She sighed, and looked toward the enemy again. They had reached our line, and men started to drop into those holes. I waited until the next wave was starting to move past them and triggered my next surprise. I had moved along those holes, and planted charges in the bottom of each. They blasted upwards, taking more men with them.
"Hey! We were sitting on explosives?" One man complained.
"I promise that if one goes off prematurely, I will take any complaints by survivors in my office after the battle." Marai said.
There was a grunting laugh from some of the men.
Handmaiden
I watched the men charging toward our first line. I wished for a moment that Mira were here instead of I. Killing men with mines is to me, unsatisfactory. Atton's attacks had cut these men to about half of what had started, but the survivors were out for blood. They came firing, and I waited as long as I could before I fired the charges. A hundred or more men died in bloody swaths and those that had run past the charges kept running.
We opened fire, but they were too close. Men fell, and my men died with them.
We killed the last then my twenty odd survivors stood and ran toward the next line. Men with sniper rifles harrowed their ranks, and I dropped into my hole with less than a dozen remaining. I triggered the explosives in that line of dugouts then stood. Blaster bolts whizzed past me. My very presence, standing as if it were just another spring day egged them on. They charged, and as they did I touched the next series. Mines fired, and men died out there, and still they came on. "One volley and retreat!" I shouted.
The blasters fired, and my men ran toward the bridge. I waited until all had gone, then ran to follow. The enemy was not pausing now. Survival depended on them being in as close a contact with my men as possible, and they ran as if their lives depended on it. I leaped, activating the last mine field as I landed thirty meters on. The shock wave threw me on my face as they ran into it.
I leaped to my feet, running. The men had gotten pinned at the bridge and sharpshooters were picking them off. I spun in place, and as the first men came at me, my lightsaber bounced their shots away. There were ten of them, but they had as much chances as a group of boy scouts against a threshing machine. I killed them, slowly retreating. The next group came at me in a rush, and I bounced shots into their midst then killed the few that did reach me.
The sharpshooters had started targeting me, which allowed the few that remained to escape across the bridge. But I would not be so lucky.
"Duck!" I dived, and massed fire ripped into the men that were charging at me. I looked back, and Atton waved as his men poured fire into our attackers. "Bao-Dur! Cease fire to the West!" Then he waved. "If you're coming, do it now!"
I leaped up, crossed the bridge, and activated the last of our mines on this side as we fell back to Khoonda.
Bao Dur
I had been using the turrets to smash any attempt to run in on us with skimmers and speeders. I had gutted that attack, but the troops nearby had finally smashed my last turret. The droids were out, and giving a good account, but they were going to be blown away in a few minutes. I sighed, picking up my rifle. Time to join the party.
Marai
We reached the last line of defenses. We had hurt them badly, but there were almost 300 facing us still, and all I had to stop them was less than a hundred. From the fragmentary report I had heard, there were about 200 on the other side, but they were making up for their losses with sheer ferocity. They were facing about sixty defenders here.
They had settled into positions where they could snipe at us, and we couldn't hold forever. My men were down to the last magazines they had.
I crawled over into the hole beside Mira. Her mines were all fired, and she'd had nothing to do for the last few minutes. "Mira-"
"No." She looked at me, and that hard core was showing. "I am not going to run."
I reached out, took hold of her head, and pressed her to me, forehead to forehead. "I've failed Mira. We're going to die, and there's nothing I can do to stop that. I won't see you die. Go to the ship."
"No."
"Please." She looked at me with unshed tears.
She bit my lip. "All right. But I'm only going for my lightsaber and all the ammunition I can carry. I'm coming back."
"I know you will." I said.
Mira
I watched then took off like a broken field runner. The enemy was surprised, and I reached the gate before their fire caught up with me. The Mandalorians nodded to me, settled in their defensive positions. They had already informed the enemy that they would fire if attacked, and the mercenaries to the west had avoided shooting at them.
People were huddled everywhere, and I walked past them with a sinking heart. These people would live at least a little longer, but what of Marai? What of Visas, the Handmaiden, Atton, Bao-Dur?
There were a group of scavengers around the closed ramp of the ship, and someone was trying to hotwire the system.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I demanded.
"We're getting the hell out of here." Some woman snarled at me. She was an older woman who looked like her life had really been hard. I knew she was a scavenger. "We tried to grab the ship and that little droid locked it up. But we'll be in any minute."
"Oh yeah?" I lifted my com link. "T3, activate intruder systems."
There was a siren, and the ventral anti-intruder guns dropped out, spinning. The people moved back sharply, but the woman stood glaring at me. "So you're going to stop us? You and what army little girl?" She reached out, and I reacted. The Handmaiden had deplored my stance, but she would have been proud. I caught the woman's wrist, rolled it, and my thumb jammed into the nerve plexus on the back of her hand. She screamed as I dropped her to her knees.
"For filth like you I don't need a stinking army." I hissed. I glared at her fellows. Most were scavengers, but some were farmers. "Those people are fighting and dying for you!" I bent to the woman on her knees. "There were some that said we should let you take your chances. It was those people out there that saved your life!" I put my foot in her chest, and shoved her violently away. The ramp came down, and I went aboard. I came back down with bandoleers of ammo packs, everything I could find aboard. In my hands was the lightsaber. The honey gold of the blade sent them scrambling back.
"A Jedi!" Someone wailed.
"What of it?" I demanded. "The Jedi in the enclave died to protect your kind, and all they get is complaints." I pointed at the old man that had insulted Marai. "You called her a witch!" I pointed at another. "You just thought of how much you could make off a captured Jedi! Every one of you owes the fact that you're alive at this very minute to them. Three of the women out there could claim to be Jedi, and they are dying for you!"
There was a clump, and HK47 came down the ramp. Goto followed. "I'm going back out there, and I expect to die. Every one of you that lives out this day will owe me for your lives, and to tell you the truth I don't know why we're even bothering!
"You sit in here, a little crowded, safe, and whine! You're not worth my sweat let alone our blood!" I turned to the ship. "T3, full intruder systems activated. Kill anyone who even gets close enough to breath on her!"
There was a man a little younger than Marai to one side. He and his wife had been huddled together, but he stood up. "Life and love. Yes we do owe them."
"Shen-"
"No, Rahasia. A Jedi brought us together, made our families reconcile." He came over to me, grabbing the bandoliers. "If you'll keep them off my back, I'm going with you."
"Hell Mr. Matale." An older man with a weather-worn face stood up. He held a Republic issued blaster rifle. "Always thought this damn thing would be hanging on the wall, but I expect it'll still fire."
Men, women, people sick of being pushed around came forward. I looked at them, and felt the thrill Marai must have felt when she talked to all of those men before.
"What'll you do for weapons?" Manda'lor said walking up.
"According to you honor code, your men will only defend their positions, right?" Shen Matale asked. "But is there any rule that says your guns have to stay here?"
The Mandalorian looked at him for a long time. He drew his sidearm, tapping the barrel on his hand, then handed it over. "Bring it back."
Azkul screamed. Over three quarters of his men dead, and they still weren't winning! He had gone beyond fury into the realm of madness. He called on the com link. "All men will advance, now!"
Atton
They rose in a wave and charged at us. It was madness, but they did. Maybe that madness was catching. My blaster ran dry, and I flung it aside to leap at them. Men rose around me, following. There were only about thirty left, and at least a hundred of them, but we no longer cared.
The Handmaiden leaped past me, landing like a living demented band saw, and men flew aside in chunks as she charged forward. I entered the thick of it and everything I had been trained in came to the fore. I was death on two
feet, and nothing lived within my reach.
Marai.
I heard the scream, saw the enemy rise and charge, and leaped up to meet them. Together Visas and I sliced into them. The few men I still had joined us and the madness was total. I had less than fifty, there were at least 200 remaining for us to kill, and we didn't care.
There was a smashing when we met, and some men literally were thrown up and out of that press in broken pieces.
I killed, and the same battle madness that had gripped me so many years ago waited. I knew that I would die here, but nothing would survive me.
Then suddenly a third group descended on us, blasters firing into the press. I saw Mira, HK, Goto in the fore. People that we had been sheltering had decided to take a hand and they were fresh. A trio of girls leaped on a man screaming, one of them wrapping a chain around his neck, strangling him as the others pinned him down. An old woman screamed falling, her chest blown open.
Mira moved like a homicidal china doll, and men fell all around her as her light saber whipped. She rolled across one man's back, stabbing forward and back, and two more died as she leaped to the attack again.
Azkul stood carefully. His arm was broken, his leg felt like it had been dislocated, but the door was right there! He staggered forward, opening it. He saw the Administrator, and drew his knife. "I win!" He screamed.
Something hit him in the chest, and he looked into an old man's face. The damn Jedi that had gotten away. "Guess again."
Mira
I fell to my knees, sucking in deep gasps of air. Around me there was nothing but stillness. I saw Marai to one side, looking around, Visas beside her. The woman that had seen her husband go out so proudly was kneeling beside him weeping. I staggered over to her, and checked his pulse. "He's just knocked out, Mrs. Matale." I told her.
Farmers, scavengers, surviving soldiers, they were milling around aimlessly. I stood up, clapping my hands. "All right! All of you able-bodied civilians start carrying the wounded into the spaceport. There must be some med techs, they can start triaging the wounded."
"What about him." One of them pointed at a wounded mercenary.
"He deserves his chance." I told them, waving at the bodies scattered around us. "There won't be a lot of them from either side."
