RPlog:Battle of Teyr, Part 3

Resistance headquarters, a makeshift bunker deep within the Teyr Rift. There, former Imperial officers scramble to analyze and update computer screens that constantly shift with each minute, showing the battlefield of Teyr as it changes from the Imperial onslaught. Sodonna, the main city and the focal point of their defense, had fallen just two days ago, and all the resistance leadership has fallen back to the Rift, their last defensive position on all of Teyr. Too well entrenched for orbital bombardment to pierce, the Rift provides the perfect enclave for the resistance leadership to hold off against the Empire until rescue ships could arrive to take them off Teyr and to friendly territory. Thousands of soldiers are buckled down in their combat positions throughout the canyon and the man-made base within. Gun batteries and artillery pieces line up in defensive positions, ready to blast any Imperial who happens by. Survivors from the Sodonna battle are being tended to in the medical center, while fresh faces eagerly await the chance to deal out justice to the Imperials.

Kilometers away, the Empire begins its advance and long-awaited assault on Teyr Rift... Imperial AT-ATs march along, carrying hundreds of Stormtroopers within their armored shell, Juggernaut tanks and other transports following in suit. Above, the Imperial starfighters swoop in, ready to clear the skies of any enemy stragglers and provide close-air support for the ground troops. They all knew it was to be a bloody battle, but a bloody battle that they would inevitably win. The distant sound of artillery can be heard... only to grow closer and closer until explosions begin to mark the nearby area and sky above. The resistance are giving it all they have, and they aren't going to make the approach easy for the Imperials. Orders come down from command, ordering the pilots of the TIEs to begin precision bombing on the artillery pieces to clear the way for the ground assault.

From the cockpit of Alpha-1, Dante runs another sensor sweep of the battle terrain before speaking into the ships comm. "There's the tune that signals the beginning of the dance, ladies and gents," she says in a clear voice. "Time to soften up those bunkers and cliffs before the rest of the boys and girls get to do their part. Keep an eye out for enemy artillery and surface to air missiles. I'm not writing any letters for ANY of you," she warns, "so keep that in mind. Form up on my position, Razor lead taking point." With that and the updated scans of the target area she begins the flight towards the enemy position and begins the precision bombing.

From the crew compartment of one of the AT-AT's Illyana sits upright in her chair, her helmet making her nearly indentical to the other troopers in her compartment as she does a silent run through of all the gear that she brought along for this fight. The sound of the bombers and the expolsions they unleash, muffled through the vehicle's armor but still discernable, come through the audio pickups in her helmet as she turns her head toward the wall before facing forward again. "I haven't even gotten out of this thing and already it's getting noisy."

Falling in to the right and behind of Dante in a Delta formation, Odion adjusts his breathing mask. "Copy that, Lead, Alpha-3 forming on your wing." He took a deep breath and looked around. He mumbled, "I've got a bad feeling about this run..." They sped over the legions of stormtroopers below, then a few minutes later they pass over the enemy. He eyes Dante's fighter for a bit, then watches it shudder as he drops it's ordinance. Following suit he nods to his copilot. Nodding back the copilot presses a few buttons and turns a few nobs. Odion takes a breath as the bomber shudders as it releases it's ordinance. "Always did hate these blasted things."

Lt. Tanik is flying along, doing his assigned part in this mission and carrying it out with precision that not many outside of the Empire exhibits. Piloting an Interceptor, the man easily keeps up with the bombers, his role as wingman one he is well practiced with, one he seems almost at home in. He is quiet while in the cockpit and if one didn't know better they might think him dead because of it, only the occasional sound of his breathing coming over the comms giving any indication that he's in fact still with them.

"OPEN FIRE!" screamed out the commander of the AA bateries stationed around the military base. Just like an entertainment show, the base lit up with the green light from the AA bateries. "We have to take them down!! I know this is the Imperial Star Fighter corps, but it doesn't mean they're invincible!!" that was about as much of a speech as the AA commander was going to give, there was nothing else he could say. All he could do was hope that his gunners would do their job.

With the anti-aircraft batteries opening fire at the commander's orders, Imperial starfighters start to take damage or are destroyed outright. But the bombs still fall, dropping to the Rift and impacting against the canyon walls or on the base structure itself. Some batteries are knocked out, a few artillery pieces silenced. Within the base, the walls vibrate as impacts erupt, but nothing gets through the tough outer shell. The resistance leader begins to shout out orders, and officers respond by carrying them out. Outside, former Imperial troops buckle down in pillboxes and start opening fire with their blasters or E-webs on the approaching column. One pillbox explodes from a bomb, killing all the troops inside, but the Imperials still have a long way to go before piercing the defenses of the Empire.

The AT-ATs start opening fire as they continue their march towards the Rift, the ground shaking with each step they take. Inside the belly of one of the AT-ATs, one of the Stormtrooper commanders of Inyalla's squad stands up and begins to issue orders to deploy. Once deployed, they're to advance ahead and enter the Rift itself and fight their way to a communications bunker within the rift.

Despite the return artillery fire, the flight of starfighters makes enough damage to have made the effort with the expenditure of munitions and assets. Making another pass, Dante tilts to port slightly to get a better 'eye ball' view of the target zone, "In other news, this is one way to test the effectiveness of our weapons against our own defenses," she mutters mostly to herself though the rest of her squadron picks up the comment and there's a bit of dry laughter on the channel. "All right, form up and lets make another pass, we'll keep softening them up until they either surrender or those rocks turn into so much dust."

As the order is recieved to get moving Illyana stands up from her seat, her blaster rifle gripped in her left hand as she places the other hand on the back of her seat to steady herself as the walker lowers itself to the ground. Her squad leader, having recieved the orders of those above him, orders the squad to move forward and she along with her squadmates charges out into the fray in rapid, but disciplined, motion. If there had been less noise outside the words "about time" might have been heard coming from her as she begins to advance with the rest of the troops.

The bomber shudders as the anti-aircraft fire begins to burst around them. Shaking his head to regain his composure he keeps in close on Dante. A near-miss shakes his fighter and a red light goes off in the cockpit. Acting quickly he checks his systems, though they all report clean. "Last one must've tripped something, is all." The red light stays and he adjusts himself to it's presence. As they turn for another pass another shot rocks the bomber, harder this time. A few warning klaxons goes off but he quickly deactivates them. "Getting a bit hot out here, isn't it Lead?" He chuckles nervously as he lets loose a second payload over the enemy, watching as their own lines draw closer.

The Interceptor, a wonderful fighter, is no real match for anti-aircraft fire, something Marz unfortunately finds out...the hard way. A barrage of suppression fire rips into the lieutenant's ship, ripping it to shreds along its underbelly, causing much in the way of chaos to happen within his cockpit. Warning lights flash and shrill alarms sound, pushing the pilot into a state of excitment that serves well in getting his adrinaline flowing and moving him into action. Punching out, the canopy is torn from the ship and the seat is ejected, leaving Tanik to whatever ends the Maker sees fit for him.

One of the resistance anti-aircraft batteries lands a direct hit against Tank's fighter. While the pilot ejects, the ship is utterly destroyed, crashing into the canyon... and the resistance troops have plans in store for the ejected pilot. Soldiers bearing E-11s rush out from a near by bunker, rushing out to apprehend the pilot or kill him. "He landed over there!" the squad leader shouts, ordering his troops to follow him in pursuit of the pilot who landed nearby. As these troops descend upon Tanik, artillery fires overhead and into the advancing Imperial line - one direct hit lands against a lumbering AT-ST, destroying it instantly and firing shrapnel into nearby Imperial stormtroopers. Resistance troops in pillboxes continue opening fire on the white-armored Stormtroopers, trying with all their might to hold them back. But the Imperial return fire commences, bombs from above ripping batteries apart and AT-AT fire sending troops running for cover as their bunkers are destroyed and pieces of the canyon wall comes crashing down.

"New orders, squad," the stormtrooper leading Illyana's squad says, as they continue their advance towards their communications bunker. "One of ours went down nearby. We're to break through their defenses at point seventeen, covered by two machinegun nests, and retrieve the pilot if he's still alive." Looking over to Illyana, the squad leader nods his head, "You ready for it?"

"Pilots, sound off," Dante orders into the comm, eyes narrowing as she watches one of the Interceptors spiraling down with trailing smoke. "Tanik, this is Razor lead, come in," she begins, repeating it after a few moments, then painting the crash sight with her sensors and conveying that data to the rest of the air assets along with the command actually organizing this little endeavor. "Walls are coming down, soon they're going to spill out of there like ants, be prepared to shift to secondary weapons and engage large clusters of foot troops."

Illyana flicks her head around at the sound from the exploding AT-ST, but as her squad was largely protected by the armor of the still grounded AT-AT, there were mmiminal injuries among her seciton of the line. She turns back around, her right hand flicking the switch that turns off the rifle's safety, as she looks at her squad leader as he starts to speak while they march along. She nods in answer as she responds, her expressionless facemask covering up the confident grin that is carried over in her voice. "You got it, Sarge. I've been wanting some exercise today. "

Jerking his head as he notices the explosion of a nearby Interceptor, he shakes his head as he watches ground troops swarming towards the crash zone. It seems like eternity as he watches the procession below. Unforunately, in his daze he flew his bomber straight, the first no-no rule of a fighter pilot. Almost immediately he felt the stitch of anti-aircraft fire against his fuselage. He bomber seemed to tip and he tried to regain control of it, but it was too fargone. Urgently he tried to calmly say into the comms, "Three to Lead, we've taken heavy damage, we're going down, repeat we're going down. Popping the cork." With that he lifted the hood of one of the emergency buttons and slammed on the button.

There was a jerk and a rushing feeling as the escape pod seperated from the rest of the ship. Everything went black to Odion as the ship rushed through the atmosphere. To him there seemed to be an enormous noise and a large gusting wind, different from what the training exercises had advertised. Another jerking feeling came as the parachute deployed, slowing the pod down rapidly and throwing Odion into his harness. A few moments later the pod slammed into the ground and tumbled forward a bit. 'This isn't right at all...' was Odion's thought before the pod finally skidded to a halt.

As he opened his eyes, a red, blinking light was the only thing illuminating the pod. Shaking himself to his senses he saw that he was suspended, supported only by his seat's harness. He blinked and looked around, there was something liquidy on the ground. As though he just remembered, he turned to check on his copilot. "Hey Olan, how are-" He stopped in midsentence. What had been his copilot was a tangled mess of charred and exploded corpse. On the side of the ship was a gaping hole, probably from where they had been hit. Olan had been killed in the shot that had brought them down. Shaking, Odion quickly smacked the belt of his harness and fell the short couple feet to the ground. Still shaking he searched for the emergency hatch, finally finding it a little away. Popping it open he grabbed the emergency canteen, rations, rucksack, and E-11 that he had requested. His pistol was already secured to his side.

Stuffing the survival items in the rucksack and slinging it on his back, he grabbed the blaster rifle and slid through the hole that had killed his copilot. Once outside he blinked, adjusting his eyes to the light. Reaching for his belt he grabbed for the emergency comlink and clicked it for a transmission. "This is Alpha Three, Razor Squadron to Imperial Command. I've been shot down, possibly behind enemy lines. My copilot is dead. Come back, over." He let go of the transmission button and took a knee, taking the canteen and taking a sip to regain his compsure again.

Ejecting is never gentle on the body under the best of circumstances but the circumstances Tanik ejected in were anything but good and his body's positively screaming by the time he hits the ground. Getting hung up, some, the pilot dangles for a few moments until he can get himself free from the harness that holds his chute to him, letting himself fall about eight feet to the ground below. With a grunt, he shakes his head before he can see clearly and get his head on straight enough to be able to think. "Razor leader..." he begins to speak only to stop himself short, the sound of something near by getting him to grow silent. With a grunt, he limps towards cover while activating his rescue beacon, the small device feeding any of his people his location if they're within range.

Finally, the resistance's reinforcements begin to move in: TIE Interceptors that had escaped the space battle above and regrouped to assist in the ground battle across Teyr. They're seven TIE Interceptors, MarK I variant, moving at top speed and flying over the engagement zone. "We're here to save your sorry asses!" the lead Interceptor announces over allied radio waves, and then orders his men into action. The seven Interceptors sweep into the Imperial fighter and bomber formations, attacking from above and gaining a nice advantage over them. Laser blasts spit out towards the bombers, destroying three of them instantly in quick succession. "This will teach you scum." Cheering amongst the ground troops below within their canyon defenses erupts as they watch the Interceptors sweep in, filling them with a boost of morale and urging them to keep up the fight. A squad of Imperial stormtroopers breach the northern barrier, backed up by two tanks that rip open the defensive barrier. E-webs open fire immediately from three different directions, mowing down the first line of troopers that breach the hole. But when the tanks move in, their cannons make quick work of the ill-defended E-web nests, and the two tanks push forth into the enemy staging area. From there, the Imperial troops can enter the enemy base proper and fight their way into the enemy headquarters.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the AT-ATs continue their advancement, now close enough to trample over enemy installations and send troops scattering for covering. But as the bulk of the Imperial forces barge their way in, a squad of resistance soldiers have reached the area where -two- Imperial pilots have crash-landed and ejected... a nice catch for them. "Fan out and find them, troops!" The soldiers begin to scour the nearby zone, hunting down the two Imperial pilots. The area is rocky, near the cliff that drops down into the valley below: a death drop. It is located behind a resistance defense wall, guarded by two posts with E-webs. A nearby cave entrance can be seen that leads down a path to the Rift's valley, and further north is a path that leads to the enemy installation proper. The troopers begin their hunt, eager for blood.

As anti-aircraft fire continues to open up on the Imperial TIEs and the remaining artillery emplacements that have survived the Imperial barrage open fire on the advancing Imperial units, the search-and-rescue Stormtrooper squad led by Sergeant Dill has crossed the patch of land needed to get to where the two downed pilots were located, maintaining cover amongst rising rocks and debris. They huddle down behind a rise, the path to where the pilots were last seen just ahead, the two enemy posts clearly seen with their E-web barrels peeking out. Seven other guards were at ready. Dill looks over to Illayna, "Think you can sneak up to the gate entrance and place a detonator charge to blast it open?" It was a risky proposition... the two E-webs were deadly, and once the charge went off, there was no telling what would happen. "We'll provide cover fire and try to snipe those gunners for you. But we need to get in to rescue those pilots."

Illyana crouches behind the rise with the others, her rifle flat on the ground, as she watches the Interceptors streak by overheard. Upon being thus addressed, though, she glances over toward her squad sergeant. She turns, peeking up over the rise briefly, before she nods and picks reaches over to grab one of the charges before moving into a crouch. "Yeah, Sarge, I'll do it. But if any of you still remember all the money I took off you at the game last night just try to forget." With these words she carefully makes her way around the rise, trying to use it for cover as much as possible, as she makes her way toward the gate.

"Three, I have painted your coordinates, we shall endeavor to avoid hitting your crash site with friendly fire," Dante begins over the comm before sensors indicate the splashing of Marz and then, as more traitorous assets swoop in, 3 more fighters explode nearly simultaneously. "Altitude now!" orders in a hard voice, pulling her fighter into a steep climb, fighting gravity, terrain, and moving to engage the enemy TIE Int's of Mk1 variant. Opening fire as soon as she's in the right position she orders her squadron into a new attack formation and there's a nearly audible clash of sound as the the fighters engage in full force.

"Understood, Lead." Odion reclips the comlink to his belt and presses the E-11 to his shoulder and starts to stand. Suddenly, there's a beep on his datapad. Taking it from his belt he looks down at it and notices the signal of an Imperial rescue beacon. Not his. He reclips his datapad and stands, noting the position and begins walking towards it slowly, staying towards the cover of the rocks and trees. He takes the comlink again and speaks. "Lead, Three. I've picked up another beacon and am making my way towards it, possible friendlies in the area. Sending coordinates now. Stay clear of the area." He reclipped the comlink and kept on. It was all coming back to him, the thrill of the groundpounder. Not since Melida-Daan had he had such a sense of danger, of awareness. A couple Interceptors screamed low overhead, causing the trees and grass to blow in the gust. He took a deep breath and took a look around. He had lost his helmet in the crash and had a few full, but he saw nothing. Heard nothing. But he could feel it in his gut.

It's impossible for Tanik to really be able to do more than just stand there, his leg at the very least sprained which is bad enough to put quite a gimp on things, literally. With enemy activity drawing closer, or so he is assuming, Marz runs as fast as he can, trying to make his way towards where he is hoping the others will be found, radio communications still kept silent. Another tree is picked and slipped behind while he watches, keeping a keen eye on his surroundings while catching his breath.

"Freeze, traitor scum," one of the soldiers says from behind Marz, lifting his E-11 up to point at the back of the pilot. "Thought you could get away, huh? Put your hands up and don't move a muscle, or I'll blast your brains to the canyon wall," he says, his voice muffled by a helmet. "You're coming with me. You're going to enjoy our prison."

The battle rages on elsewhere. The Imperial pilots were taken by surprise in the air, but their counter-attack was vicious... two TIE Interceptors of the resistance force are destroyed within the first few minutes, The remaining five continue to rip into the Imperial bomber and fighter formation, destroying another bomber and sending it careening down and crashing into the side of one of the AT-ATs. With three artillery batteries still active, the resistance fighters are still hitting the Imperial line hard. One artillery blast destroys the "head" of one of the AT-ATs, and the whole thing topples over and lands onto a squad of stormtroopers. But the Imperial stormtroopers have already breached the Rift defenses, and are working their way into the base proper, one squad stopping on the way to plant explosives at one of the remaining artillery batteries and wiping out the zealous defenders of that station. The Imperials are clearly gaining an advantage, but the attle is still intense, and many lives are still being lost.

Dill watches as Illayna advances under cover towards the front gate, and he whispers over to their sniper expert to take aim on the right E-web post, while he takes the left. Watching Illayna as she advances, he gives the order to fire, hoping the distraction caused by their attack will give her the chance she needs to plant her charges and get out of there without a scratch. As the attack starts, the right E-web operator is killed, but Dill misses his mark... and the bloodshed begins. The E-web opens fire on the stormtroopers outside the gate, and the soldiers within the compound go on immediate alert, raising their blasters to defend their station.

With a total of six of her wing destroyed so far, 2 pilots on the ground and on foot - thankfully alive at this point - Dante guides her wing into another steep climb, altering formation and wheeling back to deal out another round of deadly fire. Opening the channel to Odion she speaks directly to him, "While we appreciate your valor and bravery in attacking the enemy on foot... " she rolls neatly to port while opening fire again, "don't suppose you'd reconsider your attack plan and head back along the canyon, suit up again and come back out in another fighter?"

Illyana continues along toward the gate, trying to strike that difficult balance between moving slow enough as not to be spotted but fast enough to also not to be spotted, before she finally reaches the gate. She places the charge of the weaker seem of the doors before arming the device, turning to where she knows the sniper is stationed, before giving a quick thumbs up before returning the way she came.

A sound comes from ahead and Odion ducks down in the tall grass, hiding and listening. What he hears is the voice of a stormtrooper. The phrase makes him think the stormtrooper could be one of his own, but the rest of the sentence makes him second guess. Crawling forward slowly he peeks out from behind the grass, his blaster raised. What he sees is a fellow member of his squadron standing with the blaster of a stormtrooper behind his head. Resisting a curse he raises his weapon slowly and peers down the sights. Lining himself up with the stormtrooper he squeezes off a shot just as the comlink on his belt squawks.

Marz blinks as he hears the voice behind him and he turns around, very slowly while his hands raise to about shoulder height. "Alright.." he mutters softly while he smiles. Trying to do what he was trained to do, he shoots his left hand to the blaster holstered at his thigh, the weapon yanked from it while he attempts to get the surprise on the one seeking to detain him. It's going to be hard to get the upper hand, seeing as how the enemy already has a weapon trained on him, but maybe luck will be on the already-wounded pilot's side...he'll either be killed right out and spared the suffering and whatnot being in prison usally brings or he'll get the first shot off and he'll kill his foe.

Boom! The charges set by Illyana explode moments after she ducks for cover, blowing the gates wide open and silencing the guns of several of the enemy troopers who had been concealed behind it. Three of Dill's mean lie dead, but with the gate now destroyed, there was nothing stopping them from advancing forth and rescuing the two pilots beyond. The sniper aims his rifle on the last remaining E-web emplacement and kills the gunner, silencing the roar of its repeating blaster. "Forward!" Dill shouts to his squad, and the Stormtroopers surge forth, moving the debris of what was once the heavy gate and into the enemy zone where both Odion and Marz were trapped. Slaughtering the last of the defenders at the gate, the Imperials, using the rescue beacons on the TIEs as a means of navigating, move with haste to rescue their comrades.

The poor trooper who had managed to get the upperhand on Marz is caught off guard - first a shot rings out behind him, from Odion, grazing his armor and wounding him... and then Marz himself pulls out a blaster and ends the trooper's life. But blasters had been fired, noise that the trooper's comrades, the five other resistance soldiers, hears well and begins to advance upon to see what had happened. The enemy squad leader spots the distant form of the two Imperial pilots, now together, and orders his men to attack from all sides... to come down on them and give them hell. No mercy now.

Odion nods to the other pilot as the stormtrooper falls dead. He walks over to him at a half-crouch and nudges to stormtrooper with his foot. "Helluva shot." He ducks as blaster fire begins to come from all around over their heads. "Gods! I guess they saw us! Come on this way! We'll head back to my escape pod until the rescue team gets here!"

Illyana comes out of her hiding spot as she hears the door explode, the noise of the detonation accompanied by the blast of the sniper rifle, as she runs back to rejoin her squard while catching the rifle that one of her squadmates tosses her. She turns around, turning off the safety, as she begins to run toward the shattered gate with the rest of her team.

A slight snort is given to Odion while Marz looks around, his eyes narrowing under his helmet as he listens to their surroundings as much as he can. The flight helmet does absolutely nothing to aid in hearing anything but he keeps it on, hoping it might lend a bit more protection to his head than he'd have if he took it off. "You do realize they're going to try and draw us to a place where they have the advantage, right?" Shrugging, he keeps his blaster in hand, his finger on the trigger while he attempts to run, his limp still hindering his movement.

Odion runs at a crouch, slow enough to let the other pilot keep up. "Well at least in or near the pod we have some sort of cover. Out here we're sitting ducks until they come to kill us. I don't know about you, but I'd rather be flying than dead or rotting in a cell."

The five troopers pursue the fleeing pilots with grim intent, firing off scattered shots once and now in a vein attempt to hit one of them as they cross this way and that to get to their retreat at the escape pod. But in hot pursuit of the hunters are the Imperial Stormtroopers, fresh from the engagement at the gates and closing in on the soldiers and the trapped pilots. Dill gives the order to start firing at the enemy soldiers, and the field becomes a mess as stormtrooper fires upon stormtrooper, and a few of the enemy resistant soldiers continue their assault on the pilots, firing several aimed shots at Odion. A grenade is thrown from one of the Imperial troops, detonating several meters out and sending enemy troops for cover.

Elsewhere, the battle is reaching its final stage. All the enemy batteries have been silenced, and Imperial Stormtroopers have stormed the headquarters of the resistance. Imperial AT-ATs have secured a perimeter with squads of stormtroopers and the skies have been cleared of all enemy presence. All that's left is the two final objectives: locate and arrest the resistance leadership, and rescue the two downed pilots. Within the enemy base, the fight becomes a vicious melee as corridor after corridor reveals trap after trap and deadly close-quarters combat. Fire erupts from the base, darkening the sky and the smoke blots out the sun. The resistance leaders are preparing to make their get-away, rushing to a secure shuttle hangar deep within the canyon.

Odion ducks as an explosion nearby blasts debris over his head. He presses himself against the pod as they reach it. He slides down the hull and fires a few blasts in the direction of the enemy. He points to the gaping hole. "Get in!" He jerks his head and fires a few more blind bursts.

Illyana complies with her sergeant's order, ducking behind whatever cover she fan cinf, as she starts firing at the enemy soldiers with her own rifle, only ducking behind occasionally to switch clips or occasionally to throw her grenade. She fires deliberately, picking out a targe rand firing off a few shoots before picking another one and firing again.

With shots buzzing around, Marz is finding it a bit hard to feel any kind of optimistic about their escape, but he's also not going to give up. It's the thought of torture at the hands of the troopers that has him continuing on, the pilot not about to even allow himself to be captured. As he is told to get in he glares at the other man but gets in anyhow, Tanik not the one to screw around when someone's shooting at him.

Imperial stormtroopers breach the final defenses inside the base, breaking into the command center where the resistance leadership was said to be holed up... only to find it deserted. Outside, a group of military shuttles take off and blast into space, carrying with them the leaders of the resistance.

The battle has all but ended. The last of the resistance soldiers throw down their arms and surrender. The carnage resulting from the battle is present everywhere, and losses were high on both sides. Only a few pockets of resistance were left, scattered zealots who refused to give up even when all was lost. Where the two Imperial pilots hole themselves up, this is where the last of the resistance fighters are left. Down to only four men, they are engaged in a life or death battle with the Imperial squad under Dill and Illyana. They kill another stormtrooper, and one more, but the Imperial stormtroopers outnumber the rebels and are simply better trained. The last man standing finally gives in, throwing down his weapon in front of Illyana and begging for mercy from the female stormtrooper.

Illyana looks down at the rebel as he drops his weapon and begins his pleading. She levels her blaster rifle at him, her helemt optics looking into his eyes, before she shakes her head and begins to speak in what is clearly a disappointed tone. "Man, you guys don't have the guts for this sort of thing." *she sretches out her foot, kicking the weapon away, before she gestures him up with her weapon. "Don't try anything and I won't use this."

Odion looks out the small viewport of the pod as the firing dies down, then stops. He hears voices but dares not moved from the pod. He keeps himself near the walls, his blaster aimed at the hole, waiting for someone to come in.

Marz waits as well, his gun angled upward towards the ceiling of the pod. His hemlet is removed with his free hand while they wait, finally affording him something in the way of better hearing.