When the Cavalry Comes.

LI

The touched up armor was a lifesaver. Literally, Cav mused as she pulled a shard of shrapnel out of the plating over her ribs, where a gap had just been erased. Her helmet clicked as it thumped against the crystalline glass of the broken window behind her. She lunged up from behind cover and glanced down the sight of a DC17 pistol as she hit two droids cleanly.

If only Fives could see it.

"Sargent, how's the trailblazing going?" Dogma's voice crackled into her earpiece. Cav laughed wryly as she keyed up the comm.

"All good so far, as good as a hastily evacuated warzone can be. We're making good progress towards the rendezvous point." She reported, popping her head out of cover briefly to scan for the rest of her squad, only to duck back as a blasterbolt whizzed by her head. She muffled a curse. "Please tell me you're almost there too, we could really use the reinforcements right about now."

"We have our own complications. They're on their way as soon as you're within range."  Dogma confirmed. Cav sighed in relief.

"Great. We'll be there shortly. Neon squad out." She cut the connection and keyed up a new frequency. "Neon Squad, report in. We got rations and a sleep shift waiting for us on the other side, just gotta get there first."

"Viper here."

"Whiteout, me and the twins are good."

"Bait, confirming what White said."

"Lure, here to say that being cornered by two patrols and backed into a dead end is not 'good.'"

"Nah. We're good, Lure." Cav heard the explosion crackle over Whiteout's comm first before she saw it. "Threat neutralized, we're headed your way Sarge."

Cav chuckled wryly to herself. "Viper, where are you?"

"Right here." The voice came from in front of her, making her yelp and swing her blaster around. Viper batted it out of his face. "Watch it!"

"Don't sneak up on me." She bit back. "You should know that."

Viper rolled his eyes. "You should have seen me coming, it's not like I was hiding." He took a sweeping glance at their surroundings.

Cavalry sighed, her heart finally slowing down from race tempo. "Injuries?"

"Nothing more than bumps and scrapes. I missed a gap in my cover and went tumbling. All good though." His sigh crackled over his annunciator.

"I'll check you out when we meet up with others."

"Yes sir." He saluted her smartly. They picked their way between the debris and retaining walls that had been left mostly undamaged. Before they had arrived that morning the city had been razed to make room for separatist forces, their tanks and troop transports too wide for the Durosian streets. Their gunship was forced to land outside city limits due to the lack of a clear space in the carnage.

"We got a visual of you Sargent, headed your direction." Whiteout's voice crackled over the comms.

"Affirmative, White. We'll see you soon" The smoke rising from the ruins was acrid even through her helmet filter as her and White made their way through the rubble, ducking as a hail of blasterfire rained down around them. So that's where all the clankers had gone, tinny cha'kaars.

"White?"

"Yeah, we see them. We're behind them, bout a klick away from you. Do we just start mowing through to meet in the middle or should we try and find a way around?"

"They'll cut you off from us if you push forward, you'll just get flanked. Find a way around, try not to draw any more attention to yourself, Lure." Viper's low baritone echoed through the comms and out loud. Cavalry gave him a grateful nod and made a ducking run to cover she could better use with her blasterpistols as Viper set up his sniper rifle and began picking the wall of clankers off as Cav laid down coverfire for anything that got too close.