Krest | A Star Wars Story

Chapter 14: Another Day Another Battle

The whining screech of a droid attack flare filled the air, echoing throughout the base. Krest could hear rapid blaster fire in the distance which meant he was too late and the base was under surprise attack. Quickly, however several other bright-red flares screeched up into the sky above in response. Krest nodded at the flares and returned to a nearby wall for cover. Krest reached for a small stone on the ground and tossed it out into the open. The stone was immediately shattered in a bright flash and the whine of the sniper blast followed a second later. Now Krest knew the sniper was still watching him.

He tried his comm again but the only response was crackling of dead air. Another whine echoed in the distance, this time lower in pitch, followed by another and another.

"Captain!" came a voice behind Krest, startling him.

Krest jumped at the sudden intrusion and turned around to see a group of around twenty troopers running up to him.

"We saw your flare and immediately came to make sure the command center was secured." one of them said as they all stacked up along the wall. "Recon scouted a whole battalion of clankers marching right toward us!"

The wall on the other side of the courtyard exploded. The thunderous boom followed by the rhythmic metallic clanking of battle droids.

"Sniper's got the command center locked down!." Krest explained. "Send a runner back to recon and get someone on that sniper."

"Yes sir!" nodded one of the troopers before turning back around and running back.

"Covering fire!" Krest shouted, drawing both DC-17s and opening fire on the column of droids marching through the smoke.

The rest of the troopers followed suit, knocking down droid after droid; drawing their attention away from the runner. Once the runner was out of sight Krest and the other troopers went back into cover, swapping out their gas cartridges.

"I need you, boys, to get inside the command center and make sure it's secure, General's Yao'l and Skitarr are inside. Anything metal comes near, you blast it. And watch out for that sniper." Krest instructed the sergeant, in the group, handing him his flare gun. "You got one shot if you can't hold them, fire this into the air, and fall back."

"And you sir?" asked the sergeant, wrapping his left hand around the flare gun and holstering it.

"I'm gonna hit the armory and grab some firepower," Krest said. The sergeant nodded and the troopers circled around the back of the command center. While the sergeant and his men held off the droids Krest made a run for the armory. As he went he noticed the base seemed empty, no troopers scrambling towards their battle stations. From the blaster fire he heard earlier there should've at least been some casualties laying about. Hell, several flares went up in response after he fired his so they should still be around. Maybe they fell back?

Krest rounded the corner between the barracks and the comms center and finally realized why there were no troopers around. Scattered all around the alley leading up to the back entrance to the armory was a myriad of dead troopers with a healthy amount of battle droids mixed in. All of the bodies were adorned with various scorchings on their armor, some even had blood smeared on their armor from vibroblade cuts. And Krest knew that only one type of droid used vibroblades: Commando Droids. Taking extra care not to make any noise Krest started down the path, wrapping both hands around the grips of his DC-17s and drawing them slowly. With each careful step Krest tried not to disturb the bodies while also scanning the area for a hint to where the commando droids were hiding.

Krest's ears picked up the sound of a blaster cocking and he raised both blasters up in the air to meet a commando droid peeking out from the shattered window of the barracks' second story. Krest squeezed both triggers sending two bolts right into the droids head. The droid lurched backwards into the window and immediately after several more commando droids sprang from all directions. Krest dove for cover as multiple slammed vibroswords down where he was just standing. He sprang to his feet and unleashed a volley of shots from his pistols. His trigger fingers worked like lightning as he blasted droid after droid. Before they could reach him, Krest fell back towards the armory, taking cover behind a blaster scorched barricade and unleashing another volley. More droids went down but even still, the ones still standing jumped and sprang their way closer to Krest. Krest kept firing until the bolts stopped coming out of his pistols. He cursed loudly, reaching for a spare cartridge. As he pulled one from his pouch a commando droid pounced on him, wrapping it's three-fingered claw around his neck and slamming his head into the ground. Krest-struggling to breathe, used his empty pistol to bash the droid over the head, over and over until the droid's eyes flickered off and the droid slumped down dead. Krest threw the droid off, coughing as he removed it's claw from his throat.