Chapter 4
"NO!"
The commander jerks awake, uncertain what he heard or if he was dreaming. It's mid-morning, without a cloud in the sky. Brilliant sunlight streams through the trees on a stunningly beautiful day. He looks around, confused, until he remembers crawling into a gully. It was all he had left in him. Hours later, he still doesn't want to move. Although he can't see it during the day, he knows the Deathstar orbit above him, driving him to despair.
"Please, don't do this! We surrendered!" The cries intrude on his depression. Then a blaster discharges.
He's up instantly. My troopers! He crouches, and his back clenches, still sore from the geejaw assault. His head doesn't throb any longer, but a dull ache remains. Luckily, his vision remains clear. His shoulder only hurts when he moves it, so all the time. His legs burn initially, but the feeling passes. He needs more bacta but doesn't have any. Keep moving, trooper.
He inches through the reedy brush, following the voices. Then he discovers three camouflaged rebels holding two disarmed prisoners. A third lays motionless, smoke rising from his blaster burns. The other two are imperial navy officers.
"We surrendered! You're obligated to take us alive!"
One rebel looks at the other, smirking, "Is that true?"
"Nope," he chuckles and blasts the officer. "This is for Anx Minor."
The commander desperately wants to intervene but only has a grenade and an ax. His stomach clenches with self-disgust, and his impotence crushes him. All he can do is bear witness. The second officer flees with his arms up, but he's blasted too. He collapses and begins crawling away. The rebels laugh while they check pockets and loot the imperials.
"Where'd Tizzi go?" One asked.
"Jog tumm niid!" An Ewok points at the commander, startling him. He flees, ignoring his sore legs, and the Ewok fiddles with something on its belt. "Yip tuu naknak!"
Blaster fire narrowly misses him, but something hits him. Bright lights swirl around his head, blinding him and wrecking his vision. The tiny terrors look like miniature humans with wings and leave him seeing spots. They sting and burn him too! He swats them away and ducks behind a tree. Fortunately, it lasts only a few seconds, and he's thankful after they disperse.
"Aiee!" An arrow sinks into the tree beside him, the Ewok nocks another and releases. The commander barely rolls away and runs again.
"Tizzi! Wait for us!" A rebel yells.
He can hear it following him and the rebels calling out. They're coordinating, calling the beast back to them. One blast, then another, strikes the trees he weaves through. He retreats from one to another while arrows whistle past. The Ewok maintains a safe distance but doesn't allow him to escape while the rebels' voices fade in the distance.
They're hesitant, but the Ewok isn't. I have to use it before they catch up. What do I have? The commander spots the gully he slept in and removes his utility belt…
Tizzi never to lets her prey escape. She hears her team calling but ignores them. Although she loses sight of him, she follows the stormtrooper's tracks, and his scent is strong. She grows cautious as she approaches a gully between four trees covered in ferns. His stench is strong here: sweat, dirt, and blood. Then she spots it, white within the ferns. She releases her arrow and two more rapidly. She nocks a fourth, but nothing responds. She catches his scent-he's behind her!
She's half-turned as he clubs her with the flat of his blade, then again, causing her to cry out. Her arrow flies into the words, and she collapses. Her companions call, but she's helpless. She feels him moving her, then placing something beneath her before she passes out.
"Tizzi?" They heard her cry, but she left them behind. The trio creeps through the woods now, tension rising in them. The pathfinders are some of the rebel's best, elite trackers and hunters from rural planets. They sense danger but don't let it affect them.
A hand rises, and they freeze in place, looking at their lead man. He points at his eyes, then ahead. Their leader nods, signaling for him to continue. Just beyond the trees lies Tizzi, face down near a gully. They move up to her, checking the ditch before two of the pathfinders take security. Only then, the leader checks her wounds, "She's alive."
"Why would he leave her alive?" One asks in a whisper.
"What's this?" The third points at the fibercord leading beyond the trees. Gently and with caution, he follows it back to the harpoon around Tizzi's ankle.
Suddenly it jerks, yanking her off a thermal detonator! The grenade emits a pitched noise.
"Run!" Their leader leaps on top of it. The other two flee in opposite directions as it explodes, hurling them beyond the trees. Fire rips through the woods, ravaging them and shredding bark. A cloud of black smoke rises through the trees, with fire spreading across the branches and leaves. Afterward, desolation and a blacked hole are all that remain.
A veteran pathfinder groans and tries to regain his bearings. His vision is blurred, and every inch of him feels broken and burnt. Then white boots appear before him.
The stormtrooper chops his head clean off. He wants to seek the other trooper out but resists the urge. It's harder than he expects; his heart races, excitement pulsing through his veins. They deserve it! He wants to make them pay, and it's a hard feeling to ignore.
Instead, he picks up the A280 blaster rifle and examines it. Next, the commander snatches off the rebel's camouflaged poncho and pulls it over him. With the hood up, it covers most of his armor. Only then, he seeks out the other trooper, who fared a little better. The commander finds him struggling with his pocket. He pulls out his comlink.
The stormtrooper kicks it out of his hand.
"Mercy!"
"I'm fresh out," he snarls, blasting the rebel scum.
He slings the rifle over his shoulder, then gathers everything of value. He finds energy clips, a medkit, and a heavy blaster pistol that he holsters on his hip. He discovers a thermal detonator and replaces the one he used. Afterward, he double-checks each one before he backtracks to his dead comrades. There he locates a working comlink and a datapad.
"…sir…?" The whisper startles him so utterly he flinches, rolling away. He rises with his rifle at the ready. A navy officer reaches for him, clearly in agony. Embarrassed, the commander lowers his weapon and takes her hand.
"G-g-grand c-commander…t-thank you…thank…," she shudders. The life fades from her, and the stormtrooper's spirit fades with it. After a deep breath, he closes her eyes and folds her hands across her chest. He can't look away, and for a time, he remains there.
Finally, after the sun rises high, he checks the datapad. On it are maps, geographical, and tactical data but most importantly, his location. He's relieved, but it's muted and hollow.
He picks up the comlink, "Any Imperial forces, come in."
"Identify yourself, trooper," a voice requests before adding. "What's your location?"
"Break! Break! Break!" A woman cries. "Rebel forces are tracking our comms! Run!"
A short time later, he watches rebels and Ewoks exit a transport. They set security while a crew gathers the bodies. A pair of X-Wings hover nearby, providing air support. From a safe distance, the commander considers how quickly they arrived. He reflects on how much rebel support remains on Endor. Then, he stands up and moves on.
"Hi there! Easy, I don't want to fight. Can we talk?" With her hands up, Hera Syndula appears nonthreatening. A stormtrooper and an infantryman jump to their feet. With carbines at the ready, they approach her. She stands beyond their gate, a dozen paces away.
"Don't move!" one says after they rush up to her. "Where's the rest of you?"
"Oh, I'm not," she assures them. "My squad is behind you."
A dozen pathfinders stand behind the pair, holding the gate.
The stormtrooper groans, "Ugh, not again…."
"This base is eerie, general," the pathfinder captain tells her. "I've never seen one like it."
She agrees. It's squat, well hidden, but heavily fortified. It has an independent shield generator and a pair of anti-aircraft cannons. Its roof is also a landing pad. Instead of clearing the woods, vines and trees overwhelm it. At first glance, it appears abandoned. Now, she believes it's cleverly disguised to blend into its surroundings.
"I agree," she replies. "Someone kept it hidden. Have we been spotted yet?"
"No, general."
"Let's speak with our prisoners," she decides. Bound and sitting against the wall, they remain quiet. She motions and their helmets are removed, revealing a pair of sullen humans. Neither put up a fight nor cried out. No one patrols the yard or checks on them. "The emperor is dead. We don't want to hurt or kill anyone else. If possible, we'd like to end this peacefully."
The stormtrooper scowls, but the infantryman looks at the ground. Their shoulders are slumped, and their gazes are hollow, but they remain silent. She moves closer, kneeling in front of them, pleading with them. "Please, help me end this without further bloodshed."
The stormtrooper sags, and the infantryman groans, "What do you want to know?"
"Specter-2," Rex calls over her comlink. "Come in."
She motions to the captain to take her place and steps away for privacy, "Go ahead."
"A stormtrooper slew a team of pathfinders and their Ewok scout."
"We knew some would continue fighting." She's saddened but not surprised. "We captured two troopers. After interrogating them, we'll decide the next course of action."
"Wait, there's more," he adds curtly. "The Lightfoot tribe lost their chieftain and several warriors a few days ago. They fought a stormtrooper that rose from the dead."
"What?" Hera gasps. "Are you serious?"
"I know how it sounds. I'm relaying what they told me, ma'am," Rex assures her. She knows Rex isn't superstitious and unlikely to believe wild stories. That means he's stating it with purpose. "He slaughtered their warriors and killed the chieftain with his own ax."
She's shocked into silence. The pathfinder finishes with the prisoners and joins her. To buy some time to think, she apprises him first. The pathfinder admits, "It's hard to believe one stormtrooper did this. Captain Rex, are we sure it's the same trooper?"
"Chief Chirpa examined our pathfinders and said it's the same one, and I believe him."
"Was he a commando?" The pathfinder inquires. "What armor did he wear?"
"The Ewoks say white with a unique pauldron. It's an imperial cog, red on black."
Hera looks at the pathfinder, and he shrugs. Then she asks, "What's your plan?"
"Both the pathfinders and the Ewoks have teams tracking him; it's only a matter of time."
"Keep us updated, Specter-2 out." She puts away the comlink,
The pathfinder captain motions, "It's not a bunker but an internment camp for high-level detainees. A dozen army troopers are in the main room with a handful of stormtroopers, survivors of the battle, not guards. It doubles as a cafeteria. The officers live on the second floor, and that's where the commanders are. Three officers, to be exact, a lieutenant, a colonel, and an ISB doctor. The first sublevel is the barracks, the second the detainee cells."
She only half listens to him, still considering the stormtrooper. I have a bad feeling about this. The pathfinder watches her a moment before suggesting, "We can call in reinforcements. They haven't detected us yet; their security is lax or nonexistent. We can infiltrate and take it."
"Or, we can use ascension cables to climb to the roof and place charges on the window. Then blast the window before assaulting, capture the colonel and force a surrender."
"We're not droppers, general," he argues initially before thinking it over. "But, it's a good plan, and we've broken their spirit. There's no fight left in these troopers."
"There's one trooper with fight left in him," she reminds him, reexamining her plan. "The Empire might have abandoned them, but I don't want to leave a potential stronghold for the imps. Without shelter, without support, the holdouts must surrender."