Gulp.

Kanderin threw his towel to the side and grabbed his t-shirt in one move, barely stopping to shut the door as he sprinted out of the gym. He got odd looks from virtually everyone present as he attempted to kickstar his comlink and dress himself at the same time. His message appeared in his sent files as "Hangir. Noe", appeared to do the job. He flicked it into his pocket and finally managed to find the sleeve of his t-shirt just as he hit the corner down into the docking bays. It was about then he resent the message, only this time it made sense.

Ten minutes later, most of Wraith had gathered around him. They had either taken their intiative or had an idea of what was happening because they were all kitted out in full armor and loaded weapons. He felt quite silly still lacing his boots, but dodged the heat by ordering everyone on board the transport.

An hour later the situation first became clear to them. Through the windows of the APC about twenty soldiers in regular armor could be seen setting up weapons on a trench surrounding a average sized command facility. A few fingers pointed at them as they sped through the snow, screeching to a halt just short of the doors.

"RK, get everyone down in that trench and ready to face whatever's coming. I'll head inside and get whatever intel I can. Immediately open fire on anything that doesn't contain VE insignia"

"Little harsh don't you think?" Anival said, unclipping his belt and sliding the back door open.

"I'm not sure what we're going to be facing" Kanderin responded, already breaking into a run. He was barely audible as he slid into the command. "There could be twenty of them, there could be twenty thousand. Just be ready!"

It took only two doors and one corner for him to slide into a group of four people yelling at each other over a map. Each one did little more than nod at Kanderin before continuing the argument. Several other soldiers around the room saluted Kanderin as he glanced at them before turning back to their view points.

"I'm telling you they're going to come from over here!" A short man with square spectacles yelled. He spoke with a voice far more powerful than you would expect, taking Kanderin aback slightly.

"Be quiet, you have about as much battlefield experience as you've had women" A tall skinny man responded, looking remarkably calm compared to the rest of the table. "They're in crafts, they can land wherever they want. Their probably going to rush us from all sides, there's no point on focusing an attack one point when they know we have the upper hand"

"He's right" Kanderin smiled, taking a place at the table and admiring the map.

"Kid has brains, I like him already" The black haired man smiled, offering his hand. "Sergeant Major Azaan"

"First Sergeant Draken" Responded, shaking the hand firmly. The other people around stopped their squabble for long enough to introduce themselves, but not many impressed. They all held advisor positions, very few had ever seen a battle from more than a viewscreen. Two or three vastly outranked himself and Azaan, but it quickly became clear that the Major would soon be the real command. Advisors were too quick to hide under a table once the explosions started.

"We'll make this quick Draken because we need you out leading the forces" The small man ordered, pointing four fingers at four different dots on the map. These are our main strongholds right now. Each comprises of little more than a makeshift trench, it's very slippy in places I warn you. In each so far is one regular squad and one squad of stormtroopers. That means outside of those we have one regular squad, one stormtrooper squad and your own men. We'll be expecting you to be the gobetween, you're simply going to be moving from point to point wherever the need will be. We can not afford to lose a single one of these points."

"We're spread pretty thin...what happens if we simply get outnumbered and outgunned, you expect us to stand and die?" He responded. He noticed Azaan smirk from the corner of his eye.

"We'll talk about that when the time comes. You are the leader of one of the most efficent squads in the Vast Empire, the fact you are even considering being beaten is a disgrace"

"He could be a God for all the difference it will make against these numbers" Azaan responded.

"Wraith can handle it" Kanderin interupted. "My problem is that all powerful Wraith are only all powerful when we're together. Your plan sounds like we're going to get broken apart, and we're pretty ordinary if that happens"

"Then don't let it happen" Azaan replied again. "Now get moving, I'll be out to assist you the moment im done babysitting the children"

Anival waited in the trench, waiting for the trucks to appear, it all felt oddly familiar, Anival felt as if he had been through it all before, the temperature, cold enough to see water freeze right before your eyes, a stillness in the air that would test the nerves of the mightiest of men.

“I am still not used to these snow-trooper outfits.” muttered Anival, intent on surviving yet another ordeal.

“I’m still not used to any armor.” murmured Jori, blowing out breaths and watching it crystallize.

Anival stopped listening, he could now see the trucks without the aid of his binoculars. Ten minutes later, Anival could hear the engines, then it started, a truck hit a mine, sending the back portion of the truck flying, the bed coming completely off, it hit another truck, sending it careening, and then eventually rolling to a stop. Anival felt sorry for the occupants, he knew from experience, that the trucks weren’t exactly designed for driver safety, and the occupant must have suffered through it all, and was probably still alive, just wishing for a quicker end.

“That’s two down.” murmured Anival, “four to go.”

Anival looked at the other members of wraith, strategically spaced out, Wraith now compromised of fresh from the academy troopers, to seasoned soldiers, who had seen comrades fall, witnessed defeat and victory time and time again. Anival heard another two explosions, and checked his A280 he would need it.

Anival put his helmet back on, anticipating enemy infantry. Ten minutes later, the explosions had subsided, and Anival could see storm troopers coming towards them, eerily dressed the same as they were.

I hope the new troopers don’t mistake me for one of them, thought Anival. Anival leveled his weapon and started shooting, around the familiar sound of blasters discharging sang a chorus. Anival fired three shots, the first missed, the second hit the vulnerable part of the armor, just below the shoulders, the third finished the trooper, and he fell like a few others around him.

“Is this all they are sending after us?” asked Anival surprised, were it up to him, he would have rushed them with a couple of tanks, a fleet of trucks, and a whole regiment.

“For now.” answered Kand through clenched teeth, firing round after round.

“Well as long as we don’t get killed I’m happy.” smiled RK.

Anival stood temporary revealing himself and stretched his legs, he ran quickly over to another area of the trench, he settled beside a new wraith, and an unknown trooper, Anival nodded and fired. Anival jumped as someone tapped his shoulder, he hadn’t noticed but he had depleted half a clips and only a dozen or so charges had found their mark.

“Yes?” snarled Anival to a new wraith he hadn’t had time to memorize.

“Draken would like to talk to you.”

Anival nodded and walked off to where he knew Kand and RK were at.

“Yes Kand?” asked Anival upon arriving.

“Get ready to use those rockets, we will need good shots, and every rocket must count.”

Anival nodded and took place next to the abandoned rocket launcher, he knew it was only a matter of time.

The man fell to the floor, clutching at his neck and desperately trying to staunch the blood flow in any way he could. A dagger protruded from the gap in his armor, deep enough to not even consider wobbling loose in the struggle.

Kanderin took the dagger back and spun around to face the next squad jumping the trench. he fired off a quick burst from his rifle and downed four of them instantly, the others managing to dive into cover just in time. One of them chose to stand slightly too close however, a mistake that was quickly capitalised on by a fatal electrostaff to the face.

All around him, more troopers were dropping into the trench left right and centre. he was dispatching them too slowly to be thinning their numbers. He was only one man and no matter how powerful he felt with the electrostaff, he could never change that. The blood lust faded and Kanderin spun on his toes, aiming a sprint back at where his own forces had managed to retain a foothold. One man dropped in front of him, but a powerful shoulder barge sent him reeling back.

"Use the bodies!" He yelled.

RK looked back at him like he was insane. "What the hell are you talking about!"

"Pile the bodies up, use them to stop the advance!" He repeated, already dragging the two soldiers closer to him into a line.

It was difficult to distinguish who he was dragging into the line, he only really had to hope they were more NR than his own friends. Dead though, they didn't matter. After a battle, the dead are mourned and most buried. During, there's no time for that respect. And they tended to make damn good shields.

Four of them began to pile the bodies up, with any other free man doing their best to slow the advance of the enemy. As they guessed, they had a minor advantage in the trenches, they understood them far better. The invaders would dive in but take a few seconds to take in the surroundings and figure out where it was they were going, and it was in that time they were vulnerable. The twists and turns made it impossible for them to see the giant ambush waiting for them.

"Sarge!"

"What is it Anival!?" Kanderin shouted back, glancing back to Anival. He was dangling from the top of the trench, popping his head over it as high as he dared.

"The trucks are holding back" He mumbled, barely loud enough for him to hear.

"They probably think the battle's already won" He responded, stepping back away from the makeshift body wall. It was now big enough for them to at least crouch behind. "Get the launchers on them while they're not expecting it"

"Was waiting for that order"

Kand smiled at him before yelling at the stormtrooper squad hovering around to support him at the barricade. Laying their rifles down and crouching as low below the bodyline as possible, they began to fire on anything and everything that turned the corner. They simply had to hope all the friendlies were behind them.

Anival aimed the rocket launcher towards one of the trucks, the shot seemed easy enough, in theory. However, Anival wasn't a heavy weapons specialist or a demolitions expert, but he was wraith. Anival fired the rocket, it missed the target, the truck had accelerated innocently, but its course had shifted towards another truck,. The rocket hit, and transformed the truck into a flaming ball.

“Lucky shot.” beamed Anival.

“Sure.”

The next shot of the rocket made Anival whiplash, he felt his shoulder start to cramp.

“Well, I'm out of rockets.”

“Same here.” murmured RK.

Anival looked around, sweat beaded his eyebrow, the wall of bodies gleaming, like a foreboding beacon of death.

Anival spotted something out of the corner of his eye, he ducked just in time, a vibroknife lodged itself a few feet away on a pile of dead bodies. Anival stood took out his plaster pistol and buried four bolts into the would-be assailant. Anival holstered the pistol and reached for his rifle, he looked around and noticed more enemy troops coming towards them, Anival was about to shoot, but he noticed the close quarters, if he fired a round it might hit an ally.

“RK, behind you!” RK looked up, ducked, and kicked, he hit the attackers neck, it snapped, and he fell to the floor limp, and lifeless.

“Thats the last of the trucks.!” yelled Kanderin from afar.

Anival nodded, and hit another attacker with the butt of his rifle, it was getting irritating not being able to fire, not that close range was a challenge, he had an advantage, he had grown up in a heavier gravity planet, but the stormies weren't pushovers themselves, after a few close encounters, Anival felt the deprivation of food or rest, his stomach was asking for food, and his lungs for breath.

“Kand, I don't see many more, I think the first wave is leaving.”

“Maybe regrouping, it make more sense.”

“Agreed.”

Anival went to look at the other troopers, Jori was with Elektra and Anansi and the others Anival hadn't had time to memorize.

“How you holding out?”

“Well, look for yourself.” Jori motioned towards the fallen bodies the enemy and allies couldn't be told apart.

Anival nodded, and looked away, it was to soon, first the campaign on Hast, and now this. Anival clenched his fist, the and stormed away, he was re-energized, ready for anything that would be thrown at him, ready to tackle anything, he was walking detonite.  Anival stopped he had seen something shine out of the corner of his eye, he walked up to it, and flinched, it was a mine, he was careful not to get closer.

Anival fired three rounds into the ground, it scorched it, to other it would seem like another stray bolt, but to anybody who cared to look carefully would see the exposed mine.

“RK, what are our orders now?”

“Well, not sure yet.” Anival; nodded and shifted on his feet, alert for another attack.

Koroth lifted his end of the stretcher and followed the grim procession towards the waiting Evac vehicles. After loading the last of the wounded he restocked his medical supplies before heading out to resupply his ammo. “MadClaw, Your wanted over there, pronto.” A soldier said pointing towards a recently arrived Juggernaught. Slinging the medical backpack over one shoulder he gathered his equipment and trudged on over towards the behemoth.

Ignoring the stares from some of the other troopers he passed along the way the giant Wookiee finally arrived at the vehicle. A small group of soldiers, their patches identifying them as fellow Wraiths were gathered in a small knot just to the side of the gigantic Juggernaught.  "Alright, RK, take Anival, MadClaw and Warbird inside. Get yourselves settled in the positions you choose and wait for my orders" a First Sergeant said before marching off with the rest of the squad. Following the other three Koroth entered the vehicle. Taking a seat he then proceeded to do an inventory of his gear.

1 Medical backpack
1 Datapad
10 reference rods
10 medpacs
small bag of surgical gear (mostly scalpels etc for emergency field surgeries)
1 RB-407 Medium repeating blaster
1 Q2s5 Hold out scout blaster
1 Coyn’skar bladed polearm
a Neuronic whip
1 1020/A Field Macrobinoculars
1 Stalker Pistol (his personal weapon)
1 Bandolier of stalker ammo

After double checking each piece of equipment Koroth repacked it and then leaned back and closed his eyes waiting for the vehicle to start moving. As he sat there with his eyes closed his mind replayed the images from the last battle. While most individuals tried to forget the horrors of battle, Koroth had learned long ago just to let the images and memories flow unabated through his mind, the quicker one just accepted them the quicker they faded away, though never completely. The last fight though successful had been a disaster; he’d been practically dumped into a trench shortly after reporting for duty to his new squad and moments before the first attack. Eventually they’d been cut off from the rest of the trench, the fighting had sunk to hand to hand with their own teammates fire at them in the process, not knowing until afterwards that there had been friendlies mixed in with the enemy in that part of the trench. Koroth could still see the sergeant who’d stumbled over an apology afterwards half expecting what, Koroth to rip him limb from limb, but why. It wasn’t like they’d purposely fired on them, it was combat, and such things happened. Koroth opened his eyes and looked around the vehicle at the others, especially those bearing the Wraith patch. He had no idea who was who, hell he hadn’t even met his squad leader since he’d arrived. He had no doubt that they were wondering about him to, after all he was fresh from the academy though most of the bunch he’d arrived with were now dead or injured enough to guarantee their immediate discharge once they recovered. He knew the fact that he’d survived the first battle probably meant little to these individuals, some would say he’d been lucky well let them think what they wanted, when the time came he’d fight alongside them, bleed with them and walk through hell itself to treat them, why? Because they were a team, though he may not know them nor they him they were still his teammates and he theirs and to him that was all that mattered.

“Mind if I take a look at that?” the trooper sitting next to him asked before trying to pick up his Stalker “Fraggin things heavy” he exclaimed after it wouldn’t budge “Not if you don't mind losing a limb.” Koroth said though the look on the troopers face indicated he hadn’t understood “Whats with him?” the trooper (not a wraith) asked another seated next to him(this one a wraith)  before getting up and moving away from the Wookiee who was now  assaulting him with a barrage of barks, yelps and whistles. Exactly what Koroth was saying however remains best unsaid lest in offend those with gentler ears.

Several minutes later

“Holy…” one of the pilots yelled as the AT accompanied by several ST’s suddenly appeared. Rocks, ice and debris from several near misses showered the Juggernaught  as the  AT opened fire “Crap they’ve spotted us!” the pilot said to no one in particular as he skillfully maneuvered the gargantuan vehicle trying to avoid getting hit “You guys want out here or what?” the vehicle commander asked as he fought to decide what exactly to do “Aim for the nearest ST” he yelled to one of the gunners “Maybe if were lucky we can we can blow one of em up and the explosion will damage the AT or even have the thing trip over the wreckage.” He continued wishfully thinking out loud. Koroth looked at the other Wraiths onboard and cocking his weapon waited for the decision.

Warbird climbed into the Juggernaut. She got into her spot, and readied her turret. A normal soldier walked past her and looked behind him, and whistled at her. She rolled her eyes and looked away.

“How many times am I going to get whistled at……maybe I am not good enough to be a soldier. I barely got through the last mission and I barely dented the enemy’s armor.”

She saw an AT-AT, and a squad of AT-STs, coming. She turned in the turret and started firing the turret’s gun at an AT-ST. She kept firing, and soon sweat was dripping down her face. She wiped it off, and started firing again. One of the AT-STs turned and started firing at the turret. Some of the blasts go through the visor, shattering it, and knocking her out of the turret.

She looked and saw her arm was bleeding badly. She looked around and felt along the wall trying to find a medical compartment. The wall felt so cold to her. She found a compartment, and opened it to find a blaster rifle. She picked it up and moved to the broken visor, and aimed at one of the troopers on the ground. She shot at him a few times, but he dodged her blasts easily. 

The sweat started combining with tears on her face. She got up and looked for a another compartment in the wall. Finding one, it had some ration packs, and two thermal detonators. She picked up the detonators, and got near the visor again, staying below it. She activated one, and got up a little throwing it out the visor towards the trooper. It explodes sending the trooper flying into one of the AT-STs, and catching a tree on fire. It falls down and crushes the AT-ST. She smiled a litle before falling unconscious.

"How we doing!" Kanderin yelled through the blizzard. Azaan didn't even look back at him until another soldier pointed towards him, but made up for it by jogging the rest of the way over to him.

"Not good" He replied glumly "This snow isn't as thick as we thought it would be. We can get a meter, if we're lucky two down, but I'm not sure it'll be enough to be a hinderance to the walker"

"Frak. Then please tell me the Juggernauts mopping up"

"Actually there's some good news on that side" Azaan smiled, although somewhat weakly. "They've managed to take down three St's, only the At-At is left. The pilots real talented, and your gunners aren't bad either"

The lumbering machine was barely in view across the plains, but it was clearly unmoving. The At-At was still very easily seen though, afterall it as several times the Juggernauts size. It was kind of a silly name in this situation, thinking about it.

The pilot had made the right move in waiting for it's opponent to draw closer, it's current location was too narrow for the vehicles speed capability to give it an advantage, and without it they were completely outmatched. The battle would wait, and all it did was build the tension. The look of the two vehicles wasn't far away from that of two gladiators about to walk into the field of battle. Only problem was there was a lot more money on this fight than Kanderin would ever of bet in a stadium.

"What can we do to help them?" He asked, looking back at Azaan.

"Well we have the mines I suppose...but they'd be a little more than thumbtack to that thing. Not to mention if the Juggernaut hit one it'd be completely done in"

Kanderin nodded. "And we exhausted the launchers against the trucks"

"We have one more actually, but using it would require one of us to actually go out there on foot, and that's suicide."

"Juggernaut Pilot, this is Kanderin Draken" He shouted into his comlink, which was locked firmly underneath three layers of clothing.

"We read you Sir, but we're kinda busy right now" The muffled voice responded.

"Retreat back to base, we have a plan but we need transport for two or three more of us, I'll explain once you get here"

"Glad to be leaving Sarge. We'll be there asap."

Azaan chuckled. "You know, I never thought of that"

Kanderin smiled, but it quickly faded into a shrug. "I haven't exactly got a plan myself. I take the launcher, I take the other Wraiths as support and we hop on the Juggernaut. That'll give us a ride close enough to get a shot in, but I'm still not decided as to how I'm going to take it. If the Juggernaut stops to let me out we're as good as dead"

"We have pretty deep snow, if the Juggernaut slows as much as possible you could dive out, hope the crew don't notice it"

"Sound's like the only option we have"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Five minutes later, the Juggernaut arrived back at base. It'd of been a lot faster but the rapidly deepening snow was making quick movement pretty much impossible. Because of that, you could see in the crew's eyes they no longer liked their odds against the At-At. At this rate the At-At would actually have the speed advantage, its four powerful legs would make it across far easier than the Juggernauts wheels.

Of course, it made Kanderin's explanation of their plan far more complicated to make reasonable. Himself, with Kas and Ananzi as support would jump off the Juggernaut just about in range of the launchers and hide in the snow until the Juggernaut is out of the way. It would make its way around the other side of the Juggernaut and engage it, and by all plausible means the At-At would turn to return fire. Kanderin then had two shots at the neck of the walker. One would probably be sufficient to cripple it, but at the range he was considering firing at it was unlikely he would strike bullseye first time. He had three shots at it, and the Juggernaut crew's lives depended on him being able to get it done before it blew them into oblivion.

"Two minutes Kand" The pilot shouted back "Be ready to jump the moment I give the order. We wont last at that pace for very long"

Suddenly the wall of the Juggernaut burst into eruptions, blaster fire from the At-At finding its mark. It managed to penetrate one of the turrets and the gunner manning it was cut to shreds, a little too literally for everyone's liking. Kanderin must of been staring for a lot longer than he thought, because the next thing he remembered was being yelled at to jump. He yanked the door open, slung the launcher over his back and dived.

He remembered landing on his face, but not much else.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kand, wake up, please!" He heard Ananzi shout, shaking his arm vigorously.

He opened one eye in response and went to sit up, but Kas' arm was wrapped around him too tightly for it to be possible. "Stay down, it's still looking at us. If we stay still it might think we're dead"

"How do you feel?" Ananzi asked, lying on the opposite side of Warbird but just as still.

"Like I've been hit by a truck" Kanderin replied, somewhat shakily. "I cant see much"

"I think you're lucky then" He responded. "The underside of the Juggernaut got hit as you jumped, it sent the whole thing jumping up into the air. You did about five flips in the air before landing. Now we know you're okay it's actually pretty funny, but we thought you were done for"

"So do they" Kas nodded, looking over towards the At-At. It was turning away to face the Juggernaut now charging at it quickly as possible. Kanderin struggled to his knees and ran his hands around looking for the launcher, finally finding it buried in a mound.

"Are you sure you're okay to fire that?"

"I'll be fine Anival" Kanderin responded "Just give me a second"

It took a further few minutes for him to be able to bring the launcher onto his shoulder and begin to aim. They were twice as close to the walker as originally intended, but he wasn't complaining. Instead of a hundred metre shot, he not had a little over fifty. Way easier. He smiled as he pulled the trigger, but the force of the recoil sent him toppling to the ground. Hitting his head again. He glanced back towards the At-At, and yelled out in frustration as he watched the missile fly harmlessly overhead.

"Quickly Kand, try again!"

The second shot he aimed much similar to the first, only he made sure to account for the At-At's speed and angle. He was about to pull the trigger when a massive explosion from the rear of the At-At distracted them.

The Juggernaut was down.

"Down!"

The squad hit the ground all around Kanderin, unsure of why they were face first in snow but trusting enough in his abilities to decide it's the best idea. He lay on his side, able to watch the At-At as it completed it turns and turned straight at them. It made no movement to make them believe they considered the squad anything other than dead, instead beginning to walk forward towards the Juggernaut, apparently to deliver the killing blow.

"Kand...That thing is going to crush us if we don't move"

"I know RK" He responded "Wait until it's over us then make a break out the back. Only roll away if it's going to stomp on you"

"Easier said than done" RK sighed.

"If you roll and there's no need, you'll be killing every member of this squad"

"You just made it easier"

Kanderin forced a smile before looking back at the At-At. It's feet were now sending definite shockwaves through the ground underneath them. It was less than forty feet away from them.

"When I say, throw me the launcher" Kanderin said, almost instinctively. With a machine so close to killing them, no one had the nerve to ask anything else. They waited a few more seconds, each one grinding away as slow as it physically could. Eventually, a foot crashed down just to the squads right. Kanderin wasted no time in jumping to his feet and clambering up on top of it.

"The launcher! Now!" He yelled back to RK.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" He shouted back, but tossing the launcher up to him anyway.

"Just get clear, quickly. If this works I'll see you in a bit. If it doesn't...I'm done for. Regroup back at base and work out another plan with Azaan"

RK went to reply again, but the leg jerked Kanderin up into the sky and out of sight. He was gripping for dear life, bear hugging the leg as well as possible and crushing the launcher between his own body and the metal. At the height of the pace he appeared to be at least ten metres in the air. He'd been far higher before, and he had even jumped from far higher before, but none of it compared to this. There was no seatbelts, and there was barely room for his feet to dangle on the edge. He knew when the foot next hit the ground he stood a very good chance of losing his grip. He simply had to dig in though, the shock of the journey had wasted too much time and made the shot this stride impossible. He had to wait till the next one.

Even though he saw the ground coming, it still hit him hard. The vibration through the floor was nothing compared to what he felt through the metal. Every bone in his body seemed to vibrate frantically, threatening to break straight out of his body. He finally succumbed and lost his one hand, the forces involved causing it to flail lifelessly towards the ground. The launcher fell from it's makeshift wedge and bounced onto the metal floor, dangerously close to falling off entirely. He could do nothing but stare at it in horror until the impact stopped, begging it to not move. Almost as quickly as it arrived however it vanished once again, and he was once again lifted into the sky. He snatched at the launcher and spun him self around, gripping the At-At around his back. He took  a deep breath at the momentary pause at the maximum height and gripped the launcher. He had no time to make sure Wraith had gotten out of the way.

The moment the neck came into view, he fired. This time he was used to the recoil and managed to remain on his feet, lucky considering a tumble would probably end in his death. He managed to watch the rocket cut through the air, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it strike dead on. Then he realised the predicament he was in.

In response, the At-At lurched forward and the head swung loose from what was left of it's throat. It somehow managed to nearly finish the step, stalling about ten feet from the ground. Kanderin wasted no time in taking the jump and he hit the ground running. Above him he heard the whining of the engines as the whole thing began to fall forward onto the ground he was running across, and he picked up his pace. The shadow above him was getting smaller and smaller, but the edge seemed to never get closer. He fully believed he was about to die, even looking over towards the base in the faintest hope of being able to mouth a goodbye to anyone. He didn't want to die alone.

But then he was free, the At-At crashing harmlessly behind him.

"Kand, this is Azaan. Respond"

He took a while to find his comlink, actually wondering whether it was still on his body for a while. Eventually, he found it however, and flicked the button to answer as he crashed back into the snow.

"Yeah, I'm here"

"That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen anyone do. You deserve a damn medal" He heard Azaan laugh

Kanderin laughed back "I don't deserve a medal, I think I owe you an apology"

"Why's that?"

"I don't think the launcher made it, I left it behind"

He hurt. Every single muscle in his body cried out with every step he took, some even attempting to give in entirely and flop loosely. He was exhausted. The atmosphere around them was far different to what he was used to, and despite warnings he had shrugged it off as a minor problem. Activity that would of simply required a power nap back at Tadath's academy threatened to shut him down entirely here.

The figures in the distance were the greatest relief in the world to him. The moment he saw their faces and determined their affinity, he simply collapsed where he stood.

"Kand! We have to move, there's no time for this!"

He simply grunted in response and attempted to turn himself over, failing miserably. Someone swore and threw him over their shoulder, and in the next second he was bouncing around violently as they sprinted back in whatever direction they came from. If it didn't require so much energy, he probably would of thrown up.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The force of being tossed against the wall woke him up violently, and through his blurry eyes he could see a Medic of some sort waving a and in front of his face.

"He'll be fine" The Medic stated, turning to face the larger man behind him. "He's just exhausted, I don't see any injuries or signs of internal damage"

"Whats..." Kanderin managed to spit out.

"Slowly Kand, dont' strain yourself" The medic soothed, stepping back so as his image was clearer.

"What's...what's going on"

"We're back at the base" The large man behind him responded, who he was beginning to distinguish as Azaan. "Your comlink broke down shortly after your fight with the At-At so we had to send out a team to come get you. You walked a click and a half, in the wrong direction, before we found you"

"These suits don't work"

"Thy protect your internal organs from freezing over, no one said anything about them allowing you to run marathons in the snow"

"Funny" Kanderin muttered.

His vision had pretty much fully recovered by now, Azaan the medic and the number of soldiers hanging around pretending not to stare were all very clear. So was the short annoying man running up to Azaan.

"We need to evacuate! Now!" He yelled.

"The assaults broken, what the hell is up now" Azaan snarled, not looking at the man.

"It's the Veritas... it's down and it's heading our way"

"As in....right on top of us?"

"Not quite...the shield's still intact so it will crash into that. But it's not capable of resisting something of that size, it'll probably overload the generators and blow this place sky high"

"So that's it? We've lost countless men defending this place and now we're going to simply give it up?"

"What other choice do we have Azaan" Kanderin responded "I think if anyone has a right to be ticked off it's me, I did just take take a joyride on an At-At"

"Doesn't mean I like it" He shrugged in response "Gather your men, the moment we get the call that everyone's ready we make a break out of the area. We'll work on a plan in the mean time"

OOC: sorry it's so short.

“Well my furry friend, looks like we’re gonna have to shave that leg in order to work on that woun….ACKKK” the medic clawed desperately at the hand that was wrapped around his throat “PRIVATE, RELEASE THAT MAN…NOW!!!” a Corporal who’d seem to have appeared out of nowhere screamed at Koroth.

Reluctantly Koroth released his grip “As for you, I’d seriously reconsider ever mentioning the word shave to a Wookiee.” The Corporal added to the Medic who was laying on his back gasping for breath and rubbing his throat .”Tha’ sunnafabitch tried to kill me!” the medic said pointing an accusing finger at Koroth “”Yea, and, in case you hadn’t noticed there’s a whole mess of folks out there that have been trying to kill us all lately, now grab your gear and move out, we’ve got orders to bug out. As for you Private, your unit’s over there, or what’s left of them, I hope you can walk cause I can’t afford to spare eight guys to carry your ass over there.” The Medic gathered his gear and shot the Wookiee a hateful glance before quickly joining the long procession headed away from the area they’d all fought and bled for. “Look, I know we’re all under stress but geez, come on, try not to kill our own folks will ya, save it for the enemy, good luck soldier.” The Corporal added before he to disappeared into the line snaking towards the distant city.

Examining his leg Koroth dug through his pack and with the help of a passing Medbot he managed to fix the damage enough to where he could walk though it hurt like hell. Ignoring the pain he gathered his gear and headed in the direction the Corporal had pointed. The last thing he remembered was being in a small depression after dragging himself up the hill, the enemy had attacked relentlessly while he and a few other troops held them off. Then came the dreaded mortar barrage and next thing he knew some crackpot medic was talking about shaving his leg.

Arriving at the area he saw what was left of his unit, the wounded were being treated by their fellow soldiers, in the distance he saw the First Sergeant, “Kand” someone had said his name was, along with a few others in some sort of impromptu meeting. Waving for no other reason than to let him know that yea he was still alive, Koroth headed over toward the wounded, grabbing the first soldier he saw and handing him a datapad with a list of supplies he needed.

While he worked on the wounded he heard they were moving out to Sianat City though rumors abounded as to exactly why, some said for R&R, one rumor had it that they were all going there to be decorated, that the battle was over. The veterans though knew better as they watched the resupply vehicles roll in, the knots of officers in secretive meetings, another fight was looming just ahead.

“Hurry up!” RK yelled at them. Elektra tried to nod, and remained silent, using her good arm, to pack, her other arm being bandaged. It felt so hard for her to lift anything, but she tried. When RK yelled again, she shot him an angry look, and tried to work faster.

She stopped and moaned in pain as she bumped her bad arm against her pack, and it shot pains up her arm. “I was almost useless before, now I am completely useless, why bother even continuing.”  She sat down next to her pack and continued, using both arms as best as she could, clenching her teeth, and biting the leather part of her uniform to keep from screaming. She finished and went into the speeder, picking the seat farthest in the back.

Once the others came in, they took off, and Elektra closed her eyes, breathing in and out, to stay calm. Her arm hurt so much, she could barely breathe normally. Then there was this huge banging noise, and the speeder shook like it was hit by a small bomb. She screamed without even thinking, and ducked down with her bad arm underneath her and her good arm over her head.
Then she was blown back into her seat as they moved really quickly, launching her arm back to, causing her a lot of pain, and then the speeder hit something, which shook the seats a bit. She started crying, from her pain, tiredness, uselessness, and feeling of being all alone.

She held her arm, and bit her lip to try and stop crying. It was of no use, and she bawled. “I hate the army, I can’t do anything useful, I screamed from a banging sound. There are countless soldiers better than me. After this mission I am resigning, if I survive.”

Grahim had gotten the coordinates that Wraith were supposed to be at, and he had no other option than to get there on foot so he had spent one hour just running before he had noticed that he was totally lost then he heard a wookiee growl and he smelled burnt flesh mixed with napalm. Grahim ran towards the growl. He noticed that there were fire fights at the moment. Wraith was fighting the Stormtroopers with flamethrowers. Grahim guessed that the wookiee was a part of wraith so Grahim started to fire upon the Stormtroopers.

Grahim saw that wraith had put up a defensive perimeter, it wasn’t the he had seen but it would do. Grahim ran towards the squad, he tried to remember how the SL or ASL in Wraith looked. He couldn’t remember so he walked up to the wookiee.

“Where isa yousas Squad Leader?” Grahim said, the wookiee growled something to an answer but soon realised that Grahim didn’t understand Shyriiwook, so he pointed towards a person which Grahim assumed was Kanderin.

“Thank yousa.” Grahim said and the wookiee growled something and went back to fire upon the attacking Stormtroopers. Grahim walked towards the Sergeant.

“Hidoe isa yousa First Sergeant Kanderin Draken?”

”Yeah that’s me.”

”Mesa isa Private First Class Grahim Nass Sad, mesa has been assigned to disa squad.”

“Okay I guess you came from somewhere else on this battlefield because you don’t have regular Stormtrooper armor and you don’t have scout armor.”

“Mesa isa from Raiders. But mesa got orders from bombad bosses yousa had more use of mesa.”

“Yeah, well we are trying to get out here to get to a safer place. We are sitting ducks here. But until we have figured something out go help the squad keep the mobs and flamethrowers away from us.” Grahim saw that there were a girl sitting and crying in the ruined transport. Grahim didn’t care for the moment because she was safe unless anyone started to fire rockets at them. Mesa guess that mesa will learn the names of demsa at another time. Grahim took aim at on one person in the mob.

“Remember non-deadly shots on the civilians, preferably stun shots only.” A human male said to the squad. Grahim switched weapon from M-590 to the E-11 that he also had been carrying with him. Grahim changed to stun mode on the E-11, then he started to fire upon the mob. Grahim realized that the Stormtroopers with flamethrowers were dead or had went away to regroup. So now there were only the mob left and they had armed themselves with firebombs.

"This is useless" Kanderin yelled, waving the retreat to the rest of the squad. They had managed to maintain  a reasonable hold of the small warehouse near the border of the city, it's single door too worrying an obstacle for the rioters to consider breaking through, especially with a heavily armored army squad waiting the other side. Instead they settled for throwing rocks through the large glass windows overhead. They were nothing but an annoyance for the most part, those lucky enough to connect simply bouncing harmlessly off their armor. Inevitably though, the explosives began to arrive.

"Well what do you want us to do!" Someone yelled back "Ask them nicely to stop!?"

"We have no choice but to use force" Kanderin sighed, loading his rifle once again.

"We've already been denied permission, we'll be in big trouble if we engage them" RK added.

"I don't plan on doing too much, just as much as we're forced"

"We'll just follow your lead" RK shrugged.

Smiling, Kanderin waved again for the squad to make formation. Even the new recruits had the grasp of the sign language Wraith were renowned for, jumping into line behind the more senior members. Aside from Grahim of course, who simply stood looking somewhat dumbfounded. He kept the same dumbfounded expression despite the several other commands he gave, until a facepalm and a "Just stand over there" finally delivered the message.

On a count of three, Kanderin led the squad out of the doors. There was no one of threat immediately in sight apart from a few frightened faces peeking out of upstairs windows. The rioters were around the other sides,  still throwing bottles through the windows. The squad managed to identify at least thirty aggressive targets before one noticed them and the debris came flying back at them. This time though, they wouldn't run. Kanderin raised his rifle and fired at the man with the closest flaming weapon, shooting him in the left leg three times. RK and Anival on either side did similar things to other targets, three men promptly hitting the ground screaming. The others froze where they stood, trading aggressive faces with the Wraiths. And then, they ran. They didn't even stop to retrieve their wounding, simply running for their lives suddenly from the aggressive soldiers. Kanderin kept firing after them, aiming at the ground just short of them, just enough to convince them he was simply a bad shot. They were out of sight soon enough.

"I'm so glad that worked" Kanderin grinned, looking back at the squad.

"What would you have done if it hadn't?" Madclaw asked, the rest o the Wraiths simply staring at Kand and Anival dumbfounded.

"Then I'd of had to kill one, to show them I'm serious. Now's not the time however" He said, pointing a finger down the south east road. We head that way, far enough so as we're away from the rioters. We'll regroup and replan, and we'll start the search again then"

Grahim was looking at Kand Hesa isa creating bombad trouble. Hesa isa moole Squad boss nowsa. Grahim noticed that the Squad leader was looking at him now. Grahim looked away and then he started to clean his weapon. The M-590 was in particularly bad shape because it had not been cleaned since before the attack of Tadath, the E-11 was in better shape because it had barely been used at all.

“Wesa moving on soon?”

“We’re moving now.” The whole squad fell in behind Kand when he started to walk down the road he had pointed out some moments ago. Grahim were right behind the squad, but he did not feel appreciated by the squad, but then on the other hand Grahim had not done very much for the squad yet. The hardest were all the signs that Wraith were using, it were practically a new language to learn for Grahim. He understood the most basic commands but some of the more complex just were too much and he understood that he made himself a fool.

The day was going to its end; there were still some light but not very much. Wraith had stumbled upon a squad of Crowd Control Stormtroopers an hour ago so the whole squad were afraid to get surprised by another of those Crowd controllers. If intel was right there were now three to four squads left with flamethrowers and then there were those civilian mobs that also were armed, fortunately they had been avoiding those mobs quite well.

“We should find a house to rest in or something like that, and I think that house on the other side of the road is good for both resting and ambushing. Let’s get there, Now.” Kand was taking point and RK was tail to the squad.

“Mesa can take the first guard.”

“Okay Grahim and Jori you two will take the first guard, then it is Anival and Warbird’s turn.” Grahim and Jori went to a window on each side of the house, it were a corner house so it only had two walls because the two others were connected to the house on the same block. Grahim was almost invisible with his commando armor, that was also one of the reasons he felt like an outsider, everyone else had scout trooper or regular stormtrooper armor except for him.

Grahim was ready to fall asleep when Jori started to fire on something. Grahim looked out and saw a squad of Stormtroopers walking on the road below.

“Wesa has company down on datsa road.” Grahim said and started to fire upon the squad of stormtroopers on the road the rest of the squad woke up and rushed to the window. The squad on the road were not to alert. The rest of Wraith started to fire upon the squad down on the road as well it were a small fire fight but no one in wraith got hit by the enemy’s blasters. The Crow Controlling Stormtroopers were finished of very quickly.