"Under no circumstance can we attack that walker," Na'tuna said for what felt like the hundredth time. "We don't have anything to pierce its hull."
"Well … if there is no other option, my brother said he could get us some thermal detonators," Deng said.
"And why do I hear about this only now?"
Some of the roughly two dozen men and women cramped into the small, windowless room nodded as well.
"I … I don't think he'll help us anymore."
"We'll convince him somehow. Let's go."
"But why don't we just walk out of the city and the range of that anti-air turret? Your transport can pick us up there."
"First of all, we don't have anything to transport the actuators and I don't fancy carrying them the whole time. And second, miners aren't supposed to leave the town. Only when they're going to work are they allowed to leave and then they're transferred by transports owned by the company. If we would just walk out of the city, they would spot us long before our transport could arrive here."
Deng screwed up his face to think of a flaw in that logic but gave up after a while.
"Good, then that's settled. Deng, you will get the detonators. I will spy on the Imperials to figure out the details of the plan. The rest of you, keep a low profile and be ready to attack at any moment during the next few days."
Na'tuna stepped out of the building and nodded to everyone who was leaving. He exchanged a few words with a promising recruit, a young Sullustan, until Deng left the building.
"Deng, come with me for a moment," he said and pulled him a bit down the street out of earshot of the rest of the group. "I know you don't want to do this but I'm counting on you. Our rebellion is counting on you. Once we bring these actuators to their destination, we can fight the empire. Kuuniru City, the planet and the entire sector will be free once more."
"But why doesn't the transport bring explosives?"
"It was hard enough to arrange a flight to this colony that was approved by the authorities. Since the empire is back, it is impossible to smuggle anything. They have a tight grip on the space station and it will take a long time to infiltrate their ranks if it is possible at all. There is no other way."
"But what do I say?"
"I am not the best to give advice in that area. I haven't had much luck with family either. Trust your heart and you'll know what to say."
Deng looked at the ground and turned to leave. Na'tuna reached out once more and waited until Deng looked him in the eyes.
"I trust you. You can do this," he said and gave the boy a gentle shove.
Without looking back, Na'tuna walked toward the centre of the small city. The Sullustan followed him but did a miserable job staying inconspicuous. Every time Na'tuna looked back, the boy tried not to attract attention but did so in a way that he stuck out like a Stormtrooper in a crowd of civilians.
"Keep your hand away from the weapon. We don't want anyone to know you have one. Just let them swing as you would usually."
This only made it worse, so Na'tuna stopped at one of the street vendors to buy a bit of roasted meat on a stick. With his hands occupied, the Sullustan looked a lot less suspicious and they continued until they came in view of the spaceport.
They settled down in the only place they could easily hide for some time and not get noticed. A bar on top of one of the low buildings with a perfect view of the spaceport. Unfortunately, the fine establishment only served spiced milk from an animal he had never heard of and by the taste of its milk also never wanted to meet. It was like sewage water but hot. So hot in fact, Na'tuna had to cough several times until he abandoned all pretence of drinking it and led his companion away from the bar to one of the surrounding tables.
He gestured for the Sullustan to sit down with his back to the spaceport, so Na'tuna himself would have an excuse to look in the direction of the spaceport. The young man clearly didn't like it and fidgeted with the cloak where his weapon was hidden.
"Stop it. What's your name, boy?"
"Jae An, sir"
"You know the others are looking up to you, Jae. They respect you, despite your age."
"I'm no child anymore."
"If I had to guess, you are not far off though. You are not the official leader of this part of our…" Na'tuna reminded himself of their surroundings, "...little organisation but you garner the respect of the others."
"But I have no idea what I'm doing. I can barely keep track of my own life. How am I supposed to deal with … this?" he asked, making expansive hand gestures to encompass everything around them.
"I am sure with time you would be able to do it on your own but we don't have much time anymore. The Empire is hot on our tails and I want you to come with me when I'm leaving this moon."
No point in wasting someone like him on a mining colony that will soon be fully occupied by the Empire.
As if he had summoned them with the mere thought, Na'tuna looked up to the sound of engines. An Imperial Shuttle escorted by a flight of TIE-Fighters was rapidly descending.
"Whatever you do, don't turn around."
None of the other patrons seemed to pay the shuttle any mind but Na'tuna tensed up, fighting the impulse to reach for his weapon. Jae on the other hand seemed completely at ease and in an impressive display of resourcefulness and quick thinking, he raised his glass so he could watch the spaceport in its reflection. Slowly Na'tuna began to understand why the people instinctively followed him. He had nerves like a Gutkurr sneaking up on its prey.
"Why would they be here if not for us?" Jae asked.
"I don't know. Warn the others to keep off the streets. Should they really be here for us, it would be better to be scattered and attack them from all sides anyway."
The moment the shuttle landed, the ramp was lowered and an ISB Agent walked out. The same man he had put a tracker on a few days ago. But he wasn't wearing the same civilian clothes anymore, so the tracker hadn't sent him any warnings. For a moment, he pondered attaching a tracker to these clothes as well but these hopes were shattered as two dozen Stormtroopers formed a cordon around him.
After a quick talk with the officer at the checkpoint, the Agent looked at a datapad and the group departed further into the city.
"Shouldn't we follow them?" Jae asked.
"No, at least I can't. That Agent saw me a few days ago in Kuuniru City. There aren't enough other Twi'lek around so I would blend in in his memory, especially if he saw me here. Let's wait."
Na'tuna was so nervous he even took another sip of the spiced milk, only to regret it at the next moment. A few very long minutes later, he heard blaster shots fired in the northern part of the city and he watched his commlink but no one called. No one shouted for help. Could it be they were here on a completely unrelated matter? Very unlikely.
Within another minute, the fighting was over and silence fell over the city again. Even the other patrons looked up in interest.
The Stormtroopers reappeared in a defensive formation, their weapons raised at anyone coming too close. Civilians fled in their hoses and bolted the doors or fled down alleys out of sight. In the centre of the formation walked the ISB Agent leading a handcuffed Boc'seca. Troopers behind him carried his two Twi'lek bodyguards on stretchers, killed by dozens of shots in the area of the chest or head.
"Carabast," Na'tuna cursed. "He knows too much. If he reveals what we're planning, we're doomed. If only one Imperial sniffs around our base too early, we're doomed."
Jae's hand wandered to his weapon but Na'tuna stopped him. "You might be able to kill him to stop him from talking but you'll take all of us with you."
"But he'll spill. No one can withstand an Imperial interrogation."
"If I know one who is, it would be Boc. He is stubborn as one can be. We just need to accelerate our plans again."
Na'tuna stumbled towards the Imperial checkpoint, deliberately losing his balance a few times. The troopers had spotted him by now and were cheering him on. Since the Agent and his Stormtroopers had left and the day had turned to night, the atmosphere had become more relaxed again and even a few bottles were passed around between the soldiers.
With some focussed on him and some on the B-7 light freighter landing on the closest pad, no one watched the surrounding city which was by now shrouded in darkness. Na'tuna fell into one of the troopers dragging him to the ground. They were rolling around on the ground to the laughter of their comrades.
Only when the soldier coughed blood and Na'tuna pulled the knife out of his chest, did they realise that something was wrong. For a fateful fraction of a second, they didn't believe their eyes and then hell broke loose. A dozen blasters opened fire from the surrounding buildings, immediately killing half of the squad. The rest had time to raise their blasters before they were cut down as well.
A siren disturbed the serenity of the night as Na'tuna rushed forward to get into cover behind one of the thick pillars making up the gate to the landing pads. His weapon cocked, he peaked in the direction of the spaceport where the remaining Army Troopers were rushing forward to support their doomed comrades. They were supported by the huge AT-DP walker that even towered over the surrounding buildings. The heavy laser cannon mounted below the cockpit oriented on the nearest building and Na'tuna closed his eyes and ears.
The walker unleashed a barrage of bolts, immediately killing the three people who had been posted on the building. A necessary sacrifice and the Imperials will pay tenfold once all of this is over.
Their sacrifice however occupied the walker and Na'tuna opened fire to draw the fire of the approaching Army troopers. He shot once and then had to duck behind the pillar as a dozen blaster bolts hit where he had been standing just a moment ago.
Then he heard people running and opening fire from one of the side alleys. The troopers cried out in surprise and returned fire. After taking one deep breath, praying to the gods who had long abandoned him, he rushed from behind the pillar right in the direction of the troopers. The rest of his people who had been waiting in the side alley were exchanging fire with the enemy but it wasn't the swift victory Na'tuna had hoped for and several of his fighters were already on the ground. He unloaded his magazine in the general direction of the enemy and dove for cover to reload.
Jae, braver than anyone could ever ask him to be, stood up from his cover and launched two thermal detonators in the direction of the walker that was slowly turning to attack the new threat. The detonators bounced off the ground once before they exploded in a ball of flame, taking one of the walker's legs and the nearby troopers with it.
Deafened by the explosion, Na'tuna rushed forward killing three troopers who struggled to get back to their feet. At first, it seemed like it hadn't affected the walker at all but then he tipped over to one side and picked up ever more speed. With a resounding crash, the walker fell into the fence, tearing it and the nearby supporting pillars down with it.
"Now, get moving," Na'tuna yelled to his men. Their strongest three members appeared from the alley, each carrying one of the precious cargo strapped to their backs.
Jae and his surviving men walked through the group of Army Troopers, killing everyone who moved. As one group, they made their way over to the B-7 transport which had lowered its ramp. The crates were secured in the cargo section while the remaining rebels formed a defensive perimeter. They might have won this fight but there were still a lot of Imperials out there.
Na'tuna looked at all the grim faces who had survived the attack but missed one. He grabbed Jae by the arm and yelled –his ears still damaged from the blast, "Where is Deng?"
"He left right before the attack. He said he needed to talk to his brother."
Na'tuna looked out into the darkness but he didn't see the boy anywhere. Neither with the wounded nor huddling in some corner. Instead, an even larger group of Army troopers was running down the street from their barracks.
"You fool," Na'tuna murmured, his hand hovering over the button to close the door.
They couldn't wait for him. He needed to give the others enough time to scatter, so he pressed the button and the ramp sealed shut with only him and Jae inside.
They climbed up a ladder into the cockpit, where a protocol droid was already lifting the shuttle into the air. Through the screen Na'tuna could see his warriors bravely charging the anti-air turret, using their remaining detonators to send it to the same hell the walker had gone to.
"The Star Destroyer has sent out a squadron of TIE-Fighters and an escort ship on a trajectory that will allow them to intercept us before we can jump to hyperspace," the protocol droid said without any emotion in his voice. It was infuriating how it just ignored the turmoil of emotions that roiled through the ship.
"Take the ship to the hideout in the asteroid belt on the far side of this moon. The Imperials should be far enough away that they can't track us precisely. There we'll hide for a few days and regroup."
Sapped of all energy with the adrenaline leaving his body, he slumped onto one of the seats as they rushed out of the atmosphere, leaving all these loyal followers behind. Even if they managed to escape, the empire would find every single one of them. Even Deng and probably his brother and family.
It wasn't right that he would ask such sacrifices of his men and be the only one to survive. It wasn't right that he had survived every single fight over the last two decades. But he would do it again every time if it meant their planet would eventually be free.
A/N: One bonus chapter today because I made a lot of progress writing and figured you should also benefit from it.