When the Cavalry Comes.

V

First impression of Umbara, it was dark. Cavalry struggled to stay upright as the troop transport shuddered with each blast that his it. Neon's hand rested on her shoulder, but she wasn't sure if it was for her sake of his. His hand trembled violently with each jolt. Rex had a note in his hand, probably from Ahsoka. Cavalry missed her friend desperately. Padawans couldn't go to Umbara, but she could, despite being younger than Ahsoka. Padawan or not, she would have been more comfortable with another jedi to fight beside.

The panels on the sides of the LAAT slid open, revealing a dark world with mist covered ground right below them. One by one, the troops tumbled out, and found themselves in the middle of the battle field. Cavalry hit the ground and rolled, managing to get to her feet. Blaster fire showered the plain with flashes of blue and green light. She hefted her blaster, flicking through comm channels trying to find her orders. Finally, Skywalker's voice crackled over her comm.

"We've overshot the landing zone by about three klicks to the north. Form up on me. We'll have to press through the enemy lines to get back. Kenobi will need out help." Cavalry turned to the south, where the landing cite appeared on her HUD screen.

She and the rest of the troops followed skywalker into the fray, staying in formation until the terrain forced them apart. She ran through the fire, shooting at where ever green light burst from. The shots didn't matter to her any more. This was her job.

She almost stepped on an Umbaran who was hiding in a depression in the ground. He grabbed her foot and threw her back, pinning her arms to the side with one hand as he raised a blaster with the other. He never got the chance to shoot. Rex shot him in the chest and all but threw him off of her. He finished him off with brutal swiftness. If she didn't know the man under the mask, she would have been terrified of him.

Rex nodded at her, and she returned the gesture. Getting to her feet, she scrambled for her blaster only to find it in pieces a few feet away. She pulled her two long knives and ran back into the fray. The umbarans certainly weren't expecting a little girl to charge and disembowel them.

She saw dim white glints of her brothers. She saw too many of them fall, and too few rise again. A green blasterbolt hit her, searing the spot between her armor on her left arm. She gasped and stumbled, nearly falling flat on her face. It was a flesh wound, it wouldn't kill her. That didn't stop it from hurting like hell. More green shots streaked around her, coming close to hitting her on several occasions. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed her knives again and clambered to her feet.

She ran forward again, trying to catch up to Skywalker and the scattered remains of the uniform legion. Her armor, which she kept meticulously clean was scratched and dusty, black scorch marks around the armor on her left arm.

She finally crested the top of the hill she was climbing, and saw the dim white lights of the landing zone in the distance. Half a klick away, maybe less. She ran down the hill, letting gravity help her gather speed.

During her mad dash, she perceived an almost tunnel vision, only seeing her goal to reach the lights. To reach the temporary base. She ran faster, and slammed into an Umbaran soldier. Her momentum carried both of them to the base of the hill, where she cut his throat.

The umbaran looked at her, gasping and clutching his bleeding neck. She found his eyes, pale behind his green gas filled helmet. He chattered something weakly, and grasped her hand. She was stunned, she had dismantled droids, but this was different. His eyes were starting to glaze over, and his hand fell from hers, not having the strength to hold on.

"Cohbana mi." Cavalry barely caught the words. Huttese. Forgive me. Why had he asked her to forgive him? She shook her head and stood.

She heard a scream, a human one this time, and ran over. It was one of her brothers. His armor was more red than white, and his right arm was gone up to the shoulder. A grenade had gone off in his hand by the look of it. It was a gruesome sight. She knelt down next to him, the wound burning but not cauterized. He would bleed out if she didn't do something.

She removed what was left of the armor on his stump, as well as his chestplate and back plate. He was coughing, and the sound rasped through his external speakers. She was no medic, she had some supplies in her pocket, but nothing to fix this. She had to cauterize it, or something to stop the bleeding. She pulled a metal fire striker out of her emergency supplies and lifted the trooper's helmet.

It was Whiteout.

She shook her head, the time for childish pranks was over. "Bite on this." She commanded, and pressed the metal rod between his teeth. She cursed herself for traveling so light. She only had a few rolls of gauze and a pocket torch, and no bacta. Then she had an idea.

She pulled out one of the knives and began to heat the blade. It glowed red from the mini torch after a few seconds. "Brace yourself." She said, and Whiteout nodded. His silvery hair was damp with sweat and stuck to his forehead. Stealing herself, she pressed the knife to the bleeding stump.

Whiteout's screams were horrible, and she threw up a little in her mouth at the smell of burning flesh that even her filters couldn't hide, but she forced herself to ignore them and not to get sick. Finally, the blood was stopping, but it was everywhere. Whiteout coughed and spit out blood and a tooth, as well as her striker. She wrapped the stump up the best she could.

"Ow." Whiteout deadpanned, his voice hoarse and dry. Cavalry laughed, her own injuries forgotten in the moment. They came back, burning and painful. Her arm throbbed. Cavalry took off her own helmet, and gave a slightly hysterical laugh.

"Y-yeah, ow sound about right for your situation." She suddenly came aware that there was no more blaster fire. She picked up her helmet and slid it back on, catching the last of Skywalker's command.

"-for an emergency census and casualty report." He said. Cavalry flipped through the channels until she heard Kix's voice.

"Sorry to interrupt you Kix, but I found Whiteout, it's bad. Sending you our position now." She said, her voice shaking a little. Whiteout appeared to be trying to get up. "Oh no you don't, your arm will start bleeding again." She reprimanded, putting a gentle hand on his chest and pushing him back to the ground.

"What arm?" He asked sullenly, the reality of his condition hitting him.

"I hear you Cav, but we're a bit tied up at the moment." Kix's voice crackled through the speaker, "In case you didn't notice, we just finished a battle. How bad?"

"His arm's gone. I patched it up the best I could, but he needs a medic now." She assessed, looking at Whiteout. He groaned, and his eyes were flickering. She was losing him. "Hurry Kix!" She yelped, gently slapping Whiteout's face. His eyes opened again, but he was going into shock. "I'm losing him!"

"I'm here." Came a voice as Kix slid came up next to them with a gurney in tow. "You're right, he is in a bad way. Help me get him up." He commanded, grabbing him under his good arm. Cavalry grabbed his feet and they got him situated. She ran behind Kix as he pulled the stretcher, and they got him into the makeshift base, and Kix unwrapped her hurried bandage job. "You cauterized it?" He asked, examining it. She nodded blankly. "Good thinking, you may have just saved his life. I can stabilize him, but he needs to get back to a real medical center."

She was ushered out of the room as Kix started to apply bacta and rewrap his stump. A medic from the 212 came over and fixed her arm, telling her that it should be mostly healed by the next morning.

She stumbled back to the temporary barracks, and didn't even bother to take off her armor. She just collapsed on her bunk and passed out. Too much blood for one day.