Purge (Star Wars)

War

The walls of the Imperial Dropship Transport rattled and groaned under the strain as it plummeted through the atmosphere toward the planet below. The cruiser had deployed the ships at the very edge of the atmosphere, allowing them to fall to the battlefield. There were many reasons given for this particular tactic but in reality it only served to use less fuel than navigating in. This maneuver was difficult enough on the stormtroopers during simulations but was even worse now because the officers had loaded more than twenty troopers to each ship despite the maximum capacity of eighteen. The troopers were crowded in so tightly it was difficult to breathe. Between the close quarters and the pressure of descent, more than a few of the troopers nearly became sick in their helmets.

As the dropship approached the ground, the pilot finally ignited the engine. The g-forces pressed down hard on the stormtroopers as the ship gradually slowed its descent and the sound of battle grew louder. The ship slowed to a hover a few feet above the ground and the door flew open. The first row of troopers were immediately killed by incoming blaster fire. The rest scrambled out of the ship as best they could but the tight space made it difficult for them to move quickly and several more were killed before exiting the ship.

The girl was finally able to jump from the dropship and landed hard on the dirt below just as the ship closed its door and blasted back up into the atmosphere. A mortar shell exploded nearby, throwing her to the ground and killing two troopers nearby. She scrambled back to her feet and dashed for cover behind an unidentifiable piece of destroyed machinery fifty feet away.

The roar of the dropship faded and the cacophony of the battle took over. She looked around, surveying the situation she had found herself in. They had been dropped into farmland with only a few modest structures scattered around. She peeked carefully around the wreckage. The enemy was firing at them from a town of low clay buildings decorated by vines that grew up the walls, swooped around the windows and doors and curled up over the roofs. Large brightly colored flowers with unusually long stamens were speckled amongst the wide green leaves. In quieter times, the simple, quaint little town must have been a welcoming, peaceful place but now the idyllic scenery had been ravaged by blaster fire and explosives. Many of the walls of the outermost homes were broken and crumbling, their vines lying crushed and torn on the ground.

Another mortar landed nearby, the concussive force rattling through her helmet as the Sergeant barked orders to the platoon. She pulled herself to her feet and rushed forward across the field with the others, blaster and mortar fire surrounded them. Several more troopers jerked, fell, and did not move again. Finally the surviving troops reached the edge of the buildings and threw themselves up against the wall for cover.

The opposition fighters were far better equipped than the rustic architecture would suggest. They were made up of both soldiers and residents, well armed with blasters, rifles, and small tanks. The town had been fortified against an attack with barricades erected in the streets, doors and windows sealed tight. The villagers had known an attack was coming, which put the stormtroopers at a disadvantage. Pinned down and hoping to create an opening so they could advance, she leaned around the wall to fire back.

Click

Her rifle malfunctioned. She whipped herself back behind the relative safety of the broken wall and checked the rifle. She checked the power pack, the cooling coils, the power setting, even the safety but there was no obvious reason it did not fire. It was useless.

"STE-274!" Her Sergeant yelled to her to get her attention. He grabbed a blaster off the body of the fallen opponent and tossed it to her. She threw her blaster to the ground and caught the new one as it hurtled towards her. Without hesitation she turned back to the enemy and opened fire but she immediately noticed something different about this blaster, though she could not quite identify what it was.