Galactic date: 5 Feb, 2 BBY
Location: Lothal capital
"Hobbie, we can really use that gunship right now!" Ezra exclaimed over the comms as he deflected one blaster bolt after another. This mission is done, but it's only complete if they live to tell it. The night sky started to rain again, which was not in any way helpful.
As Ezra called for support, more stormtroopers emerged from the cluster of buildings and down the main road in front of them, followed by another wave or rioters who seemed to have taken advantage of Phoenix Squadron's attack to lay hate on the Imperials. Ezra found an opening to draw his blaster, and managed to give his team some room to move forward.
Some members from Delta squad were smart enough to take extra grenades with them. While Ezra and Kanan were up front shielding the rest of the team, they made themselves into an improvised mortar site by throwing one grenade after another, until they were shot at by an AT-DP crew who finally regained awareness of what's happening. Half of the squad went flying as the explosive round from the walker landed only a few foot behind them. Gregor noticed what happened from behind them, and rushed to their rescue right after spraying a volley of blaster bolts to cover himself.
He dragged two of the Deltas back to his original position and treated them in total disregard of the firefight just above his helmet. Sev was killed by the blast, and Fixer was barely alive, with heavy wounds on his left leg. Gregor managed to pause the bleeding after tying a knot on his leg and squeezing his leg armour together as improvised dressing. "Phoenix Squadron, we need immediate air support!" He heard Rex scream on his right.
"Standby. The blockade runner Valkyrie just broke through. Patching through to them now." Replied commander Sato.
"This is Valkyrie. We're dropping to 12000ft and heading to your position. ETA...damn! There's a lot of TIE fighters out there! We'll get there ground team!" The blockade runner followed. Soon enough the roar of a TIE's ion engines became almost deafening. One appeared from the horizon, with another TIE fighter and a single TIE bomber behind and next to the TIE fighters.
"This is going to hurt." Ezra commented.
"Fall back into the building!" Kanan ordered. Rex immediately went for a smoke grenade while Kanan force pushed a handful of scout troopers back. As the clones and Rebel marines at the back covered the men at the front, the team dashed back into the building and the last marine managed to reactivate the ray shield Ezra shut down earlier.
A group of three marines immediately checked the building's map for an armoury, while the rest were either helping the wounded or working on rigging their way in with what's left of their explosive munitions. "There's a back door for this building, right?" Gregor asked as he laid down Fixer.
"We'll work on that soldier." One of the marines who were looking for the armoury replied sharply.
Rex went back to the air support they were promised. "Ground team to Valkyrie, we're inside the archive building. Requesting fire mission."
"Request granted. Green flight, protect the Valkyrie! B-wings, level all the imperials outside the archive building with everything you got!" One of the crews replied. "Hang in there ground team." The crew finished.
The team managed to retreat to a speeder lot within the building along with the dead and the wounded. Explosives and improvised traps were set every fifteen meters or so. Somehow the Rebel marines that left earlier did manage to find a small hand of riot shields and a full crate of thermal detonators. Boss and Scorch got up and helped the marines plant half of them near the corridor they just came in and distributed the rest among the soldiers who weren't already wounded.
"Fixer, I'm going to need your blaster. Take my sidearm and shoot at any Imps that get too close." Rex crouched to the wounded commando. Fixer nodded without saying a word and offered his DC-17M blaster. "Thank you soldier." Rex said as he grabbed one of the shields off the ground and hid himself behind a pillar, followed by everyone else.
The speeder lot fell silent. And for a good ten minutes the only noise that could be heard were the Imperials falling for the traps they set earlier and the B-wings bombing the main entrance, in addition to radio chatter from Phoenix Squadron.
Finally the first thermal detonator near the corridor went off. Rex and Gregor bolted from their cover and blind fired towards the explosion, slaughtering the first line of Imperials. The remaining stormtroopers fell back and took cover, prompting one of the marines to toss a thermal detonator down the corridor.
After several more minutes of silence the stormtroopers came back, this time with their riot shields in addition to heavy gunners armed with Z-6 cannons. Rex and Gregor could barely hold their shields up. The same marine threw another detonator, but it was blocked by one of the riot stormtroopers and exploded directly in front of them. The two clones made use of the brief window to fall back and have Boss and Scorch take their place, while a second rebel marine tried to get through to the Valkyrie.
"Ground team to Valkyrie, we're pinned down inside the speeder lot of the archive building, second floor! Where's our gunship? Over!" He yelled.
Seconds later a new voice crackled through the comms. "This is Hobbie. I have a visual on your position. Coming down."
"You're more than welcome to, Hobbie! Make it fast!" Again, Ezra and Kanan force pushed the stormtroopers back to slow them down. The rest of the team, except for Boss and Scorch, bolted for the exit, where Hobbie's gunship was waiting with its left door open.
As everyone got on the gunship, the marine thrower was struck on the back. Scorch quickly noticed and singled out the stormtrooper who shot him before boarding the gunship with Boss. Hobbie wasted no time lifting off, after he was informed of the casualties they suffered that night.
A total of six soldiers died during the night raid, including one clone commando Sev and two A-Wing pilots. All except four clones, Rex, Gregor, Boss and Scorch, were wounded. Ezra and Kanan were both hurt by shrapnel during the intense firefight, and were only oblivious to their injuries thanks to a surge of adrenaline. Unfortunately for Ezra, his internal life support system provided by the Mandalorians didn't take it too well, and he was expected to be in the sick bay for at least 2 months before he can see action.
The planners of this operation were half right. Their message didn't exactly spark a planet-wide uprising, but there has been an increased level of instability within the Lothalian government as well as on the streets. Thanks to their efforts, Phoenix Squadron has gained the support of several factions, including a well-known Incom cooperation. As a display of goodwill, the existing Rebellion offered protection to these factions. In return Phoenix Squadron was provided with a squadron's worth of T-65B X-Wings, with one ending up in the hands of Kanan.
The work on Lothal can now be left to its citizens. But for Ezra and Phoenix Squadron, there's a whole galaxy out there still waiting for their support as liberators of worlds.