Guarded (#2 Post-Order 66 Series)

Guarded - Part 31

"Alright, we're up!" Iden called. Crosshair stood next to her, Firepuncher strapped to his back as he surveyed the roughly thirty soldiers in front of them. They stood sloppily, out of formation, not at attention or in uniform, but he couldn't deny the intensity burning in each of their eyes. Maybe the Kaminoans had the wrong idea. These people chose to be here. A little more motivation than those bred and forced to fight, he thought. Turning his helmet, he caught Iden watching him, and he gave her a short nod. She gave him one more onceover before turning back to their troops.

"Move out!"

They worried less about stealth as they sprinted through the streets towards the Kwilaan Starport. The alarms had already been raised thanks to Senna, Hunter, and Echo, and it was a race to see who could get to Kwilaan Starport first, them or the reinforcements. The starport had already locked down by the time they got there, the main entrances bolted shut. "Suppose that was too much to hope for," Iden muttered under her breath. Turning, she shouted a few commands and her teams began working to place explosives in several locations along the eastern outer wall. Crosshair stood back, keeping an eye out for reinforcements arriving from the Government Education Center. Typho and Wrecker would be working to cut them off now, but who knew how many had made it out since the alarm started to sound. Iden crouched next to him, yanking her commlink from her belt.

"Senna, Echo, Hunter. We're in position here. Are you all ready to go?"

Hunter's voice buzzed through the comm. "Ready when you are."

"Alright, breaching now. Good luck getting to the control tower."

Iden gave the signal, and three holes appeared in the outer wall with a burst of sparks and stone. Just as the soldiers filed through, Crosshair caught the distinct glint of white plastoid through his scope.

"INCOMING!" he snarled, crouching behind a stack of crates as he took aim at the leaders with his Firepuncher. Each blue bolt from his weapon found its target, taking down at least ten troopers in the first thirty seconds. He felt Iden's hand clamp down on his shoulder as she fired with her pistol as well.

"We've got to move. I'll cover you. Get going."

He stood, racing backwards towards the holes in the outer wall. Once through, he crouched low again, providing cover fire as Iden sprinted through next to him. Her eyes were wild in the dim light as she grinned at him. "Now the fun begins."

Crosshair watched as the troops were already sprinting across the tarmac, shadows gliding in the dim early morning light, slapping blinking charges on every Imperial ship in their wake. Iden stood next to him, surveying the work of her soldiers before turning to him. "Find yourself a vantage point. I imagine we'll need some cover fire shortly."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fighting down here."

He didn't like it, but he knew better than to question her. Ignoring the tightening of his gut, he nodded. "Stay safe, Lieutenant."

She found his eyes behind his visor, and the unspoken words hung between them, not needing to be said. "You too," Iden replied before tossing him a wink and running after her flock of soldiers.

Crosshair's eyes scanned the starport, searching for a good place for him to provide coverage from. The tarmac was surrounded by the high walls of the starport's main building, peppered with windows and maintenance garages, their large roll-up doors on the western edge beginning to glow orange with the first rays of sunlight. Finally, his eyes fell on a monitor's tower at the far end of the runway, and he took off towards it. Behind him, he could hear the shouts of the soldiers as the Imperials began to pour into the holes blown in the wall. As he reached the ladder at the base of the tower, he heard Iden yelling into the comms. "EVERYONE CLEAR THE TARMAC! GET CLEAR NOW! WE'RE GOING TO BLOW THE STARSHIPS AS SOON AS A GOOD AMOUNT OF IMPS ARE NEAR THEM!" Crosshair made it about two thirds of the way up the ladder before he felt the first blast rattle the rungs under his hands. He turned just in time to see the entire tarmac explode in flames, molten clouds erupting into the sky as the sirens in the starport began to shriek in alarm. He could feel the heat from the blast, even at this distance, and he smirked at Iden's whoop that came through the commlink.