Eye of the Storm

[Gamov]

Lorrd... from space it seemed peaceful enough, its dull earthen surface drifting quietly against the cold void, silent witness to a galaxy in turmoil. Like so many things in the universe though, such peace was an illusion. With a long history steeped in the blood of tyrants and martyrs alike, Lorrd was a world mired in tragedy. Few knew this better than Mila. Born in a cradle of poverty, raised from obscurity to the halls of Korriban, abandoned by those she had relied on most, her whole life had been spent in pursuit of retribution and reconciliation. And if she was to ever have her chance at either, she knew that chance lay here. As a child she could have scarcely dreamed of this day, as a Sith she had done nothing but long for it. To escape the treachery and misery of her past by planting her boot on the throats of those who had driven her to become what she was.

They had made their monster. And she had finally come home.

Watching the fleet tear into the Argazdan ships, raking their formations with barrage after barrage of deadly laser fire, Mila felt a strange mixture of contentment and spite that she had never known before. Observing the battle from the relative safety of her command ship was like being spectator to a macabre play of sorts, the Sith ships moving in carefully choreographed formations to outflank the enemy. What little resistance the Argazdan ships offered was easily swept aside, routing even their most stubborn defenses in what seemed like a matter of moments. She had come expecting more, fully prepared to fight tooth and nail just to grace the soil of her homeworld again. But this... this was hardly a competition. For all her preparations and planning, her enemies had left her wanting for challenge. Pitiful.

"What's our status, Captain?" Her eyes never flinched from the battle as she addressed the officer.

"Nearly within range. Once our forces clear the last of the enemy from orbit, we can commence bombardments on your order."

"Excellent. Begin laying in coordinates for Quatamer."

"At once."

Quatamer had been a proud city once, a monument to those who had fought and died in the centuries past to free their world from the yoke of slavery. In recent years however, it had become a festering hive of treachery. Home to countless Lorrdians who had chosen to collaborate with the Argazdans rather than resist. They lived in comfort on the dime of the local Regent Governor while their fellow Lorrdians suffered and died by the thousands in slave pits. They were cowards all in her eyes, worthy of neither respect nor a dignified death. So it was decided that she would raze their city from orbit as a show of force to those who would deny her people peace.

"Coordinates laid in, ma'am. We will be within range in moments."

In front of them the Sith fleet had blazed a path, marred by the shattered husks of dozens of Argazdan ships. Her ship would have the honor of firing the first volley, to be joined quickly by others until she was satisfied that Quatamer was scattered to the winds as flecks of blackened glass. "Prepare all batteries to commence firing on my mark." Just a few hundred more meters separated her from retribution. She could nearly taste it. As he ship loomed closer however, a sudden flare of light split the heavens to streak towards her ship. The Star Destroyer shuddered briefly as power surged through it's hull, overloading systems and sending a shockwave of darkness throughout it's interior. The bridge fell dark, illuminated by the eerie red hue of the ship's emergency lighting.

"What happened!!?" She whirled to face the Captain.

"I... don't know. Our systems are down." He replied in a panic, the crew frantically trying to bring the ship's systems back online.

"Sir! Enemy craft approaching off our port bow!"

Mila glanced with the Captain, her naked eye able to spot the fast approaching cruiser. The ship fired several vollies into the hull of the stricken Star Destroyer, causing it to groan and tremble in protest. "Get our weapons online now!" The crew hurried to meet her orders, yet there was little they could do to stop what was to happen next.

"She's going to ram!" A crewman shouted.

The Captain, eyes wide, started to blurt out the order to brace for impact, but he was a moment too late. The Argazdan ship slammed into the hull of the Star Destroyer, an intense ball of orange flames erupting from the point of impact as both ships were shunted violently. Mila tumbled to the floor, thrown off balance by the sheer force of the impact, regaining her composure as the ship began to list noticeably beneath her. Hauling herself back up to her feet, she could only watch as the Argazdan ship shattered against her own, dragging it down into Lorrd's gravity well. She thought to order her crew to do something, but she knew there was nothing that could be done. They were headed for a crash landing, and there was only one order she could give.

"Sound the alarm, general quarters. All hands abandon ship."

Alarms screeched throughout the ship as the Captain's voice echoed over the internal broadcast system. Their ship was going down, and it was every man for themselves...

@Sierrien

 

[Sierrien]

She had been proud when she had been assigned to this mission. Finally, called to the front to fight for Ziost and the Sith Brotherhood. It would one glorious battle after another, destroying all those who dared to stand in their way. Perhaps they would be fighting the Republic, or - even better! - the Jedi themselves? She wouldn't mind taking those arrogant asses down a peg or two. Force knew they had it coming. They always thought they were so much better than everyone else. Yes, this was going to be an excellent mission, filled with danger but it would be worth it to say that she contributed to the ongoing war effort. Perhaps she would even get a new tattoo with the name of the Star Destroyer she was to serve on, if she managed to make it out of this alive.

Then they had dropped out of hyperspace near some planet she had never even heard of. Lorrd, or something pretentious like that. And she quickly discovered why she had never heard of it; it wasn't in republic space. It also wasn't in Jedi space. In fact, it wasn't allied with either of them. Apparently it was a planet full of slaves. Why in the damn -galaxy- were they attacking a planet full of slaves?! Her mood had quickly soured, and that only continued when she was told they would be simply bombarding the planet from orbit. All this way, and she wasn't even going to get to actually fight anyone? Not that it would have been much of a challenge anyways. Killing slaves would be about as hard as weeding out the chaff on her family's farm, which was by far the easiest chore and always the one you wanted to draw from the bucket.

So, she had taken to avoiding contact with the Sith who was in charge of this mission, and whomever else might try to give her any grief over her lack of interest in this 'battle'. As soon as it started she had taken leave of sitting in the cargo bay waiting for the call to go to war that would never come in preference of roaming the halls and looking for a good place where she could take her armor off and just catch some sleep without being bothered. All the while, she was thinking some rather dark thoughts about the Sith who had orchestrated this whole war, and just wishing she could get that Sith alone so that she could give them a piece of her mind! She wasn't scared; she would walk right on up and tell them that this must be some kind of selfish vendetta that was wasting Sith resources, not to mention her valuable time! Subconsciously her direction had changed and she found herself moving ever closer to the bridge - when all the lights suddenly went out.

And then the ship was lurching, and she was having troubles just staying on her feet. The somewhat distant sounds of explosions roared through the halls as she caught herself on the door. Something had gone very wrong, very quickly. The ship's angle continued changing and she heard a shout from somewhere nearby. Something about going down and how they were all going to die if they didn't abandon ship. Oh, you have got to be slarking -kidding- me she thought to herself. Now she was going to die, here of all places? Not if she had anything to say about it! She was moving quickly then, her feet pounding down the hallway as she made for the nearest escape pod. She was not going to have this mission be the one her parents were told she died in. Especially not before even getting her boots on the ground of the damned planet. She charged the last ten meters and leapt through the air, having to make it in before the doors of the escape pod clamped shut! She landed heavily, and.. the doors didn't shut, as they hadn't yet been about ti. She coughed awkwardly in to her helmet and slowly pushed herself to her feet, hoping there was no on in the pod at all to have seen that.

 

[Gamov]

She lingered on the bridge for a moment longer, long enough to feel the ship tremble violently beneath her as another barrage of laser fire from an Argazdan destroyer sheared into the Star Destroyer's tattered hull. The bridge crew had descended into hysterics, any sense of order among their ranks gone as she soon discovered the Captain's dead body slumped over a nearby console, his neck bent at a rakish angle. That was it, she was not going to die here. Not after she had come so far, sacrificed so much. "Not here. Not like this!" She thought, making a mad dash from the chaotic bride into the hallway. Elbowing her way through panicked crew members and officers alike, she sprinted to the escape pods, the desperate hope screaming through her mind that she wasn't too late.

Rounding the next bend, her heart thrumming wildly in her chest, sweat dampening the nape of her neck beneath the collar of her armor, she lost her footing only for a moment as another blast rocked the floundering ship. Awkwardly hauling herself along the slanting hallway, she grit her teeth as a glimmer of hope shot through her panic stricken mind. The escape pods were just ahead, a scarce handful of meters away... but so was a horde of bodies, eagerly clamoring towards one of the last sliver of salvation aboard the doomed vessel. With alarms screeching in her ears, and smoke beginning to stifle her vision, Mila knew this ship wasn't going to last much longer. And neither was she if she didn't reach that escape pod...

Using the Force to aid her along the last few meters separating her from life or death, she sprinted headlong into the waiting pod, shoving through the gathering crowd with a few well placed punches and elbows. Slipping into the pod just ahead of several officers from the bridge crew, and a handful of Sacred Band soldiers, she wasted no time in sealing the escape pod behind her. The fact that the lifeboat was nowhere near filled to capacity, and the frantic pounding on the door from those still trapped aboard the burning Star Destroyer echoed through the tiny cabin, did little to sway her selfish pursuit of self preservation. Her fist slammed into the launch button a moment later, sending the pod rocketing from its cradle at near break neck speed.

The sheer force from the sudden jolt sent Mila tumbling to the floor. A moment later, the pod trembled violently as it entered Lorrd's atmosphere, streaking across the sky like a meteor as impact alarms blared out their warning. Hauling herself into one of the seats, she barely had time to clasp the harness around her body before the pod slammed into the ground. Her body jolted uncomfortably with the shock of the impact, her head snapping back violently to slam into the back of the seat. The blow was not enough to render her unconscious, somewhat to her dismay, but it certainly got her attention. The capsule continued to shudder and tremble wildly as it skidded along the dusty hardpan of Lorrd's desert surface, eventually coming to a gut wrenching halt after several long moments.

Reaching a hand to the back of her bruised head, Mila barely had presence enough of mind to undo the safety harness before attempting to stand, wrestling the belt from around her armored waist with some difficulty before she took her first shaky step on uncertain feet. Smacking the hatch release with an open palm, the locks on the door hissed, followed by a metallic *pop* as the door was ejected from the pod. An arid breeze swept into the capsule, her eyes flinching reflexively at the sudden glare of sun that came with it. Tentatively, she was the first to exit the pod, an almost surreal sensation racing through her foggy mind as her boot sank into the soft silica of her homeworld for the first time in decades. Eyes gazing skyward, its brilliant azure expanse marred by traces of smoke and flak bursts from the intense fighting taking place just over their heads, Mila wasn't sure what to feel... but she had little time to spare on sentimentality. She had just crashed in the middle of an active warzone with no escape plan and no backup. Or had she...

Glancing back into the pod, she was somewhat relieved to see a number of the soldiers that had forced their way aboard to be shambling their own way from the wreckage. "You!" She pointed to the only other woman in the bunch, "activate the distress beacon and radio for extraction. Now!" Her mind beginning to clear from the haze of panic, she knew that activating the distress beacon would only call the enemy down on them. But she only needed to survive long enough to be picked up. The only question was whether or not she could manage such a feat with so few resources, and even less intel, at her disposal.

@Sierrien

 

[Sierrien]

Finding that she had actually been one of the first in to the pod, having been closer to them than anyone else, Lairiel was relieved that no one had seen her little mishap with diving in to the pod. At least until she heard what sounded like a stampede of footsteps coming her way as everyone else decided it would be a very good idea to abandon ship. The Star Destroyer was lurching violently with the impacts of more turbolaser blasts crippling it, and her hand reached up to grab a firm hold just inside the door. Her other hand came out and she would start to grab for people and help pull them in to the pod as they came close, the motion of the ship making it otherwise hard to make it in to the pod itself for most. She had managed to pull nearly a dozen in by the time the Sith made her appearance.

She had just spotted a group of Brothers and Sisters from the Sacred Band and was waving them forward towards the pod when that woman had violently barreled her way through the crowd, taking down a few members of her own crew in a mad dash to get in to the pod. She actually started to laugh as the ship shuddered and the woman seemed to lose her footing, but then in a rather uncanny way that defied all sense simply lurched in to the escape pod instead of falling. Must have been a use of the Force, she noted belatedly. She was still trying to wave her comrades forward when the pod door suddenly sealed. Her head turned quickly towards the Sith in order to protest, but the woman was already across the room and hitting the launch. They weren't nearly full; she was sealing the fates of dozens they could have saved, at least!

There was no time for that now as it was the escape pod's turn to shudder as it launched from the broken star destroyer. She quickly stumbled her way to one of the many open seats and strapped herself in, knowing this was going to get a lot rougher - if they even managed to make it to the ground without getting shot out of the sky. She felt the shaking of the ship as they passed through the atmosphere, and braced herself for a hard impact with the ground. She wasn't disappointed. Her hands clenched tightly to the seat, her armor saving her from the worst of the impact with the ground, and then she almost threw up from the skipping and rolling of the ship along the desert. Finally they came to a stop and she breathed out a sigh of relief, her hands unclasping the belt from around herself. Before she could even get it off, the Sith woman had already popped open the hatch and let in the bright light of day from outside, then proceeded to hop out.

For her part, she went around to help everyone else get unbuckled and up on to mostly steady feet, some of them looking a bit worse off than others from the rather abrupt ejection from the Star Destroyer. One of them even looked to have a broken leg, by the look of it. She pulled him up to drape an arm over her shoulder and helped carry him outside of the pod, laying him down on the sand and straightening up - just in time for Mila to point directly at her and giving her a direct order. She almost pulled out her pistol and shot the woman, though luckily for her she still had some modicum of control over herself. The nerve of that woman, giving her an order after that stunt she had just pulled! She let her anger seethe as she turned away from the woman and mostly towards the pod, though she didn't move immediately to go and do as she had been told. Instead her attention shifted itself to the other members of the Sacred Band who had managed to get inside the pod before it had been prematurely launched.

"Activating that beacon's going to bring us more unwanted attention than we're going to like. See if you can shore up some defenses. We can't all use the pod for cover." Leaving them then to do so she would move in to the pod to turn on the beacon. Probably not nearly fast enough for that Sith Bantha, but she was really not in the mood for bowing to the woman's every whim. Activating the beacon took her a small bit of time anyways, letting her cool down enough to collect her thoughts and think about just what their odds of surviving this were. Not likely to be high. They had taken off with only a few capable fighters, and once she fully activated this beacon the enemy would be coming in hot. Their only saving grace was that the enemy wouldn't know immediately that they had any targets of priority at this particular crash site, and hopefully some other pods had made it to the desert and would help to split up the enemy's army, if only by a little. She activated the beacon and hurried out of the pod, pulling her rifle out and thumbing it to semi-auto as she looked around to see what they had to work with. Looked like.. a whole lot of sand. They had managed to dig in some shallow trenches and built up some sand in front of them as well; it wasn't much, but it would have to do. It wouldn't take long for the enemy to be upon them. Just long enough for her to give the Sith a piece of her mind.

"You left a lot of good people up there to die." she declared as she came to a stop next to Mila, though she wasn't looking directly at the Sith. Rather she was looking out over the sand as far as she could see, as they needed to know which way the enemy would be coming from first. "People who could have helped us actually live through this. If we somehow manage to do so, you and I are going to have some words." She finished the last by pointedly clearing her rifle, making sure it was ready to fire, and then raised her hand to point at what looked like an oncoming army. For now it at least looked like it was a relatively small army, with only thirty or so soldiers and a few lightly armored vehicles coming their way. Her head turned to call back "Incoming!" to the others there with them before she dropped down in to a nearby makeshift bunker. There would probably be enough room for Mila as well, though it might be a bit cramped, if the woman would 'lower' herself to hiding in a bunker instead of being all Sith-like and standing out in the open. It wouldn't be long before the enemy was in range.

Then it was a fight for survival, and she put the Sith out of her mind in order to concentrate on the enemy. A few well placed blasts from her rifle had taken down three of the enemy so far, who were busy peppering their area with a multitude of laser blasts. It was hard just to stick your head up to get a look at the enemy, and she was glad she was wearing a helmet or she wouldn't have even been able to do that. More than a few laser blasts had come frighteningly close to her head, and it was quickly becoming clear that they were outgunned. She could see at least one dead Brother from her own little bunker. If this Sith didn't show off some impressive moves, they wouldn't even make it through this expeditionary force, let alone anyone else the enemy sent at them. Her thumb switched her rifle in to full auto before she popped up, sending the rest of her clip spraying wildly in to the enemy ranks and taking down a few of them before she dropped back down, just in time for what seemed to her like a hundred laser blasts to come screeching over her head. She fumbled quickly with reloading her rifle, breathing heavily and cursing with every other breath.

 

[Gamov]

Their situation was far from ideal.

Casting a sweeping gaze to her surroundings, Mila took stock of their surroundings. Ahead of them lie a vast, unobstructed swathe of gritty hardpan, it's roughly hewn surface marred only by the occasional impact crater or hastily prepared foxhole. Evidence that this region of isolated desert had once been the site of one of the many shifting battlefronts across Lorrd was surprisingly scarce, but not nonexistent. A few abandoned bunkers, which had certainly seen better days, would serve as their new front line of defense, while shoddily carved trenches provided additional cover. To their rear however, the yawning maw of a narrow canyon swallowed the horizon. Regarding the jagged landscape with a thoughtful hum, she considered themselves fortunate to at least have a fall back position. If they couldn't hold the enemy head on - and she held no illusions that they could - they could at least whittle their numbers with the canyon. Of course, she wasn't planning on a protracted fight. Delay and retreat was the ultimate goal of her strategy.

That was, of course, if the distress beacon were ever activated.

"Where has that little..." she thought anxiously, spinning just in time to come face to face with the Sister she had sent to activate the beacon. Much to her surprise however, before she even had a chance to address her, the little wretch had the audacity to chastise her - a Sith Immortal - for her conduct. Mila's jaw tensed, anger flaring through her nerves like wildfire. She had half a mind to snap the girl's neck for such insubordination, and she likely would have were it not for the next word from her mouth:

"Incoming!"

She pivoted back, her eye catching the gleam of blaster fire as the first rounds whizzed uncomfortably close to her head. Her sanguine blade hissed to life, almost as if by an instinct all its own, and she gave the order to stand and fight. "Stand your ground!" Within a matter of seconds the entire line was engaged. Blaster fire streaked back and forth, missiles trailed thick smoke as they whistled overhead. Deflecting a few stray shots away with the edge of her blade, Mila barely managed to escape the blast from an incoming mortar, leaping into the trench next to a handful of Brothers as the shockwave from the blast buffeted the air above them.

"Arrrgh... god it hurts!" The loud groan caught her attention, her eyes fastened on a wounded soldier laid up against the wall of the trench, his teeth bared in agony as he clutched the charred stump of what used to be his arm. "Please... please, I need help!" Mila seethed, listening to his cries while the battle raged all around them. "Please..." He stretched his good arm towards her for mercy, but received only the tip of her blade as it plunged deep into his chest, cutting his words off with a ragged gasp as he slumped to the ground. Just another casualty of war.

"Hold the line!" She paced the trench, saber humming gently at her side, its blade holding the silent promise of death for those who would chose desertion over duty. Clutching her weapon tightly, Mila realized just how pitifully equipped she was next to the soldiers around her. Her lightsaber, while intimidating and superlatively effective at close range, counted for next to nothing on an open battlefield such as this. Stepping up to one of the earthen parapets, she peered over the edge just in time to notice a large number of enemy troops cutting abruptly towards their right flank. The dust and smoke from the battle occluded a more detailed inspection of their movements, but it seemed fairly obvious to her what was about to happen. "Damn it all."

Racing back along the length of the trench to the far right flank, Mila ducked inside the remains of the bunker there just as a volley of mortar shells peppered the ground in front of their lines. "F*cking hell!" Cramped inside the bunker, she recognized the same Sister from before among the small group of SBZ occupying the tiny space. "Watch the right!" She shouted, just as the first of the enemy skirmishers poured over the top of the adjacent trench to flank them. They fired their blasters into the bunker at point blank, one Brother taking a round straight to the chest while Mila tried to deflect what shots were aimed at her. Sparks and smoke filled the enclosure, blasters ringing next to their heads to mix with the cacophony of screams reverberating through the room.

Facing down her attackers at close range was far easier, and Mila quickly cut a pair of them down as they charged through the door. A third managed to rush into their place though, ducking her saber as he slammed into her waist with a strong tackle. She stumbled to her back, the wind rushing from her lungs in a sharp grunt as she hit the ground. Almost immediately a clenched fist struck her in the jaw, snapping her head violently to the side as she reacted reflexively with the Force. Coiling the energy into her own tightly balled fist, she launched a punch directly into the man's stomach, driving the durasteel spikes on her gauntlet into his flesh before he was sent sailing through the air to slam into the far wall of the bunker. Even as she began staggering back to her feet, a fourth enemy charged her, firing a blind shot from his pistol that just barely glanced off the left pauldron of her armor. The glint of his bloodied combat knife nearly escaped her noticed before she jerked her head to the side, the blade just grazing her cheek before she retaliated by driving a knee into his groin.

The man blanched, hunched over in pain as she slammed her elbow into his back between his shoulder blades. Her hand reached out to her saber as he tumbled to the dirt, calling it to her fingers with the Force where it's blade came to life with a sharp hiss before she drove it straight down into his back. He gasped, a hand jerking back on instinct to try and pry the weapon from his body, but he was dead before his fingers could even brush the blade. Panting heavily, the sounds of battle still echoing outside the bunker, Mila turned towards the Sister. "Get a message out to the fleet." She snapped, desperation edging through her voice, though she disguised it behind her typical stern gaze. "We won't last long down here without some damned support. GO!"

@Sierrien

 

[Sierrien]

Thankfully, that force-blighted Sith picked a different foxhole to hide in. One that came very near to exploding as mortars started to fire on their location. She was quick to duck, breathing heavily after her first few panicked shots and unloading of her rifle, then hastily reloading it. Come to think of it, she should probably keep off of automatic fire and start conserving her ammo. With that in mind she thumbed back to semi-auto and popped up out of the foxhole, two quick shots taking down an approaching gunman. She dropped back down as the return fire came back at them, her head turning to try and take stock of what they had left. It looked a lot like not enough to survive this madness. There were just too many of the enemy, and this Sith didn't seem particularly useful - not that she was surprised. She just paced and shouted orders to hold the line, while doing nothing herself!

She had no more time to contemplate that as she came back up and started firing, her brothers who were occupying the same fortification as her needing her support more than the Sith needed her thoughts just then. They were at least not losing ground, which was especially good as they had nowhere to run to unless they could get some breathing room. A few more of her disrupter bolts hit home, wounding a couple more advancing soldiers and taking them out of the fight at least, even if the wounds hadn't hit clean. It was hard to pick targets with so much going on, and hard to keep track of the whole battlefield as it was. Like that truck turning its mounted blaster turret towards them and - "Duck!" She shouted, and dropped down herself just as a barrage of blaster bolts came their way, somehow managing to miss everyone in the foxhole. By the time its focus shifted elsewhere and they were able to come back up, the enemy was almost on top of them and they had lost track of some of the enemy to boot.

"F*cking hell! Watch the right!"Lairiel's head turned sharply as she heard the call from the Sith, surprised first of all that she had entered their bunker without her knowing, and second that she was bothering to warn them of the enemy's incursion. It soon proved to be too late for most as there were blaster bolts beinf fired directly in to the foxhole from the side, one of them sizzling by her leg. It had only been deflected by her armor, which was clearly damaged by the shot. It wouldn't stop another blast like that, especially from close range. She saw a brother take a blaster bolt to the chest and go down, and then Mila was there deflecting some of the remaining bolts coming in. She turned to fire at the men coming in, but her eyes just went wide instead as the Sith actually did something. And did she ever! Two enemies were dead in the blink of an eye, almost so fast she wasn't sure what had happened, were it not for the arc of red left behind by the glowing lightsaber.

Someone managed to get a hit in against Mila, and then Lairiel was facing a fight of her own as she too was tackled by a man clearly intent on killing her. She let out a grunt as she hit her back, though had brought her boot up in between them and used that to push him back. Frantically she tossed her rifle up at him as he went for a blaster pistol, crouching up and then charging right back at him before he could bring it to bear on her. She tackled him around the middle and took him down, her fists swinging in at his armored head as his own arms came up to block her strikes. She didn't manage to connect solidly a single time before she was thrown off of him to the side. He went for his blaster pistol and she frantically drew her own and fired wildly at him. She took six quick shots in his direction, only two of them hitting - but it was enough, and he was down. She was breathing heavily as she holstered her pistol and got to her feet, reaching out to grab her thrown rifle as she stood.

Her eyes then shifted to see the destruction that Mila had wrought in the meantime - had she just killed four people in the time it took Lairiel to kill one? It certainly looked like it - perhaps she should be a bit more respectful of the woman (Publicly at least). She had to begrudgingly respect the woman's skills in close quarter combat, at the very least. Her mind focused quickly on Mila as she realized the woman was speaking to her, taking a few moments to process what had just been said to her. Get a message to the fleet for some fire support? That meant making a run across open territory that was currently being shelled constantly, while hoping not to get a blaster bolt to the back. It was pure insanity; it had also been a direct order. "As you command." she intoned, and while it would rather likely come across as being sarcastic just because of their brief interactions so far, she still turned to follow that command and make the run. To what was probably her death. She checked her rifle just to stall for a moment, before turning towards the crashed escape pod.

And then she climbed out of the hole and started to run. Her head turned to the left, seeing a few enemies flanking that way still. Her rifle came up and she fired off two shots, taking down one and making the rest dive for cover. Her head turned to the right, but she didn't see anyone that way. Back to the left as she kept running, a few more shots sent out to keep them ducking and not aiming precisely at her to keep firing. It felt like she was running in slow motion; finally she had made it halfway to the pod. And then a mortar shell exploded somewhere behind her, sending her flying forward to land heavily on the ground. The shrapnel seemed to have missed her, though she couldn't tell that yet as she was shell shocked from the proximity of the strike. Her armor seemed to have saved her again, though she would be needing a new set after this as it didn't seem likely any of hers would even be salvageable. She looked around with blurry eyes, piecing together what had happened and where she was - the escape pod. She had landed next to it. She rose to unsteady feet, her hands grasping at the side of the vessel as she pulled herself along it, and then finally fell in through the open hatch.

She laid still for a few moments, breathing heavily and waiting to regain her bearings. Slowly she sat up, her hands reaching up to undo her helmet and pull it off; something had been damaged in that blast and she could barely see out of the thing anymore, not to mention that incessant ringing. Which continued even after she had pulled the helmet off. A few more moments passed and everything came back in to focus, adrenaline surging through her helping to steady her mind to the task at hand. She scrambled quickly then to the comm, lighting it up and speaking frantically in to it. "Air support! We need air support! Mark our location and get it here, fast! The commander's down here, but she won't be for long if we don't get any kriffing air support!" She heard talking coming back to her, from her discarded helmet, and could barely make it out. It sounded like an affirmative, and that air support was already en-route. Well, they had better get there fast, or there wouldn't be anyone left to support. Besides herself, anyways, as she seemed to be relatively safe inside the pod at least.

She heard them coming, then, and not a moment too soon. The scream of engines as they came soaring past, the explosions outside of concussion missiles taking out lightly armored vehicles. She moved quickly back to the entrance and looked out just in time to see the flaming vehicles settling, and another pass of two Ziost Hunters as the explosions of their laser blasts sent a few groups of enemies flying. The rest were quick to start pulling back, though they didn't just turn and run flat out - they were instead being careful and moving back to more fortified ground, leaving less than two hundred meters of open ground between them and the enemy. A well placed shot could still kill someone, but the chances of hitting it were slimmer from that distance. She warily stepped out of the escape pod, a few more fly-bys by their air support keeping the enemy hiding for now, and probably calling for reinforcements. Her eyes were quick to scan for the Sith as she made a quick jog back towards the foxhole she had left the woman in, or turning to move and join her wherever she had ended up. She herself looked a fair bit worse for wear with her armor all banged up and barely functioning as armor, and her helmet discarded back in the pod.

"I don't think we'll be able to hold this ground if they get some reinforcements... Ma'am." She added the last almost as an afterthought, her hand even coming up to perform what could conceivably be called a salute. Her head turned as she looked around at what remained of their fortifications, not to mention how few of them were left alive. There were some wounded as well, one even was missing part of his arm - oh, he was dead, she noticed belatedly, with a smoking hole all the way through his chest. Must have been a high powered rifle to go so cleanly through his armor like that. She looked back towards Mila, still breathing heavily herself and hoping this temporary reprieve would last just a bit longer. "What are your orders?" While she clearly had a mouth on her and wasn't afraid to use it, she also knew to follow the chain of command. And like it or not, Mila was very much in command, so she would follow the woman's orders to the best of her ability.

 

[Gamov]

She scowled at the sarcasm underpinning the Sister's tone, but had little time to dwell on it before she was off towards the escape pod, and her own attention was back on the battlefield. Laser blasts and rockets continued to streak overhead, tearing up earth and men alike as the Argazdan forces appeared to be within seconds of simply overrunning their position. Taking to her post again, she ignored the cries for help from her own men, turning any would be deserters back to their posts with a steely eyed gaze. She was already losing enough men to enemy fire, she didn't need to contribute her hand to the madness.

"We're getting overrun! We don't stand a chance!"

Pushing the craven Brother against the packed earth of the trench, Mila glared daggers at him. "You retreat when I say! Now get back on the line! Slowly, hesitantly, the soldier obeyed, returning to the firing line with his fellow Brothers - where he promptly took a laser blast to the chest. His corpse jerked backwards, slumping against the opposite wall of the trench, a smoldering hole burned into his chest. "F*ck." Panning her gaze away from the fallen Brother, she chanced a glance back towards the escape pod. Much to her surprise, the Sister was still alive, if only barely. Suddenly fixated on her frantic dash to the wrecked pod, Mila found herself subconsciously flinching as a mortar round impacted just behind her messenger. "God damn it!"

With a cloud of dust and smoke obscuring her view, there was little she could do but assume the Sister had been killed in the blast. Glancing back to the trench, and her own dwindling forces, she called out for another runner. "Runner!" At first, none moved to answer the call, all too entirely focused on the battle to acknowledge her. Impatient, and increasingly desperate, Mila yanked a nearby Brother from the line by the collar of his armor. "Get to the escape pod, radio the fleet for air support. Now!" All but pushing the man over the opposite edge of the trench, he began his own heart pounding sprint for the lifeboat, only to take several blaster rounds to the back mere feet from the line. Mila grumbled in disgust, turning to find another body to throw into the grinder. She'd sacrifice every single one of them if she had to if it meant making it out of this pit alive.

Before the words could even slip her lips however, the howl of engines cut through the din of battle. Every eye in the trench abruptly turned skyward, just in time to spot a pair of Ziost Hunters streaking in from behind their position. Their presence had an immediate effect on the enemy, most beginning a hasty retreat after a salvo of concussion missiles robbed them of their armored support, while laser blasts raked their lines. After several moments, the fire began to wither away as an audible cheer rose up from the Sith trenches - though they had little to celebrate. As the enemy drew back in full retreat, Mila heaved out a sigh of relief, watching the Sith fighters continue to hound the enemy all the way back to their own forward line. They had bought time at least, a precious reprieve to gather their senses and move to more defensible ground.

"I don't think we'll be able to hold this ground if they get some reinforcements... Ma'am."

Her attention turned onto the Sister as she jogged back to their position, no small measure of surprise filling her at the sight. Though she looked a little worse for wear after her daring run to the pod, Mila was beginning to respect the girl's tenacity. "You're a tough one to kill." She absently mused. Shifting her attention back to the battlefield, she hauled herself from the trench and took stock of their numbers. They had been left badly depleted in the aftermath of the attack: many of their number wounded, some badly, and others had been killed. Of the original fifteen that had come along with her, only eight remained. Hardly enough to withstand a second wave. "Gather what weapons and ammo you can, prepare to move into the canyon." She regarded the wounded, their groans filtering over the sudden stillness like a mournful chorus. "Dispose of the wounded." she added icily. "If they cannot move under their own power, kill them. They'll only slow us down."

Moving away from the trenches, Mila contented herself with scavenging what survival gear she could from the pod, mostly some flares to mark their new location for friendly transports. She knew the Sister may have some trouble following her orders to kill her fellow Brothers, but if Mila knew anything about her homeworld it was this: death was a preferable fate to imprisonment at the hands of the Argazdans.

@Sierrien

 

[Sierrien]

"You're a tough one to kill."

She might have laughed if they were in a different situation, but instead she said nothing and simply let a grim smile appear on her lips for a moment, before the topic quickly changed. That had been a whole lot more luck than skill that had kept her alive there, not to mention her armor - which she might as well not be wearing for all the protection it was going to offer her now. "Gather what weapons and ammo you can, prepare to move into the canyon." It was good advice coming from the Sith; they would need all the supplies they could get even though the canyon would offer them far more defend-able cover than what they had quickly created here, where the drop ship had happened to land.

She froze then and felt as if her blood had run cold when Mila continued speaking. Surely she couldn't have just said that. She wanted Lairiel to go and kill the wounded? Her Brothers in arms, member she stood shoulder to shoulder with in the trenches - just go over, pull out her pistol and put a bolt between their eyes?! Her eyes flashed with anger as her jaw locked in place as she watched Mila turn and walk away as if she had just told Lairiel to go deposit some trash in a compactor. She wasn't a killer, not in this sense. She had never killed anyone who wasn't a combatant, something that might have set her apart from the Sith, though it wasn't too uncommon for a soldier. While she did believe in the Sith Brotherhood, it was because that was how she was raised by her parents. She couldn't do this. She couldn't.

And she had to. She was a soldier, and soldiers followed orders. Her form turned slowly towards the wounded, whom had been gathered all together in a trench by the other remaining brothers. She took stock of them as she neared; three of them wouldn't be able to walk without the help of another, and then there were another two who could walk but might only be able to use one arm effectively. Well, even if they could only use a pistol, surely they would still count as being useful and not simply dead weight. She had to believe that this was her way of saving at least a couple of lives when given such a grim task. "Gather up your gear, we're moving out. On the double. Everyone to the Commander, she'll direct you." Her voice rang out loudly enough to be heard by the Brothers in the area, who were quick to gather up everything they could and make their way over to Mila. With a wave of her hand, Lairiel directed the two with wounded arm and hand respectively to move with them, leaving the three badly wounded in the foxhole.

She stepped inside, her eyes scanning each of their faces as they looked back at her. She couldn't look them in the eyes, and they seemed to know what that meant. Or at least the looks of dread and fear etched in to visage made her think they did. She turned to the side, her hand coming down to her pistol. A deep breath was taken to steady herself, and then her arm was in motion. Three quick snaps, three pulls of the trigger - and all three of them were dead, taking a blaster bolt to the head at such close proximity. She knew she should conserve the ammo and kill them with her knife, but she just couldn't. Killing them quickly was all she could do. She should also have stopped to grab their extra blaster packs, but she didn't do that either. She fled the foxhole instead, her pistol holstered, and she ignored the looks that everyone was likely giving her for shooting wounded soldiers.

She kept to herself as the group made their way to the canyon, doing their best to stay out of sight so that no one would get shot on the way. With no mishaps on the way, thanks in part to those two Ziost Hunters making a few more passes and even firing a couple of concussion missiles at the embanked enemy to keep their heads down. Once in the canyon they would continue for a short while until they came across an area that looked relatively easy to defend, where they could all spread out and make their ten remaining soldiers feel more like a hundred. That was the hope, at least. And then they all hunkered down to wait, the bulk of them spread out in defensive positions. In this canyon, they'd see the enemy coming long before they were in range to fire. And so they waited - and no enemy came. It seemed like the enemy was really planning on regrouping; it also seemed like they might have been abandoned as no drop ship was coming to pick them up. With the sun starting to set and the sky darkening they broke up in to watches, leaving three awake at all times to ensure they weren't encroached upon from any direction during the night. Opting to take a later watch, Lairiel moved in to a shallow cave to lay down and try to get some sleep. Her head was troubled, and sleep would be an illusive beast this night, but eventually with nothing going on she would manage to drift off.

That's when the nightmares started. She saw the faces of the three she had just killed, and she saw herself killing them over and over. The horror and fear in their eyes, them pleading with her not to kill them, to let them live. And that was where it started - it soon warped in to them rising from the grave, picking up their blasters and hunting Lairiel down herself. She had worked up a cold sweat in her sleep, and had even started to speak out loud as she tossed and turned in the throes of her nightmare. "No!" "I was just following orders!" and then, finally, she was pulled awake and all the way up to a seated position with a loud call of "I'm sorry!". She found herself breathing heavily and feeling much too hot; her hands quickly scrabbled at her armor and pulled it from her form, leaving her clad in clothing as she pressed herself in to the back of the cave, her legs coming up so that she could hug them to herself. Her head bowed to press against them, tears shining against her cheeks in the dim light of dusk.

Soft, barely audible sobs came from her cave then as she sat and cried, doing her best to keep from being too loud. She didn't want anyone to see her like this, crying like some infant child. Least of all the Sith.

 

[Gamov]

Static hissed over the radio, her fingers tapping anxiously against the console as she keyed the comm to try again. "This is Visari to any nearby Sith units, respond." Silence filled the escape pod for several long moments before the radio finally crackled to life, a garbled voice barely audible over the static. "You're breaking up." Mila fiddled with the dials in an attempt to clean up the signal, but there seemed only so much she could do. "I say again, this is Visari to any nearby Sith units. Respond."

"Krktzttzztt... pkkttkzzk..."

"Damn thing." Mila slammed her fist against the console with enough force to crack the housing. "Any Sith units, come in." A few moments of dead air left her hopes dangling by a frail thread, but an audible voice eventually managed to cut through the static.

"...kkzzzzt... Commander Ryker. We read you."

A visible sigh passed her lips as she mouthed a quite "thank god" and tuned the signal a little further. "Commander, this is Executioner Visari. We are abandoning our position at the escape pod and moving to the canyon due south. Do you copy?" Another stretch of dead air had her biting nervously at her bottom lip, suddenly thankful that no one was around to see her at her most desperate. Appearances were everything among the Sith, one false move and the men she had been ordering around could turn on her. Perhaps they'd kill her, but her greatest fear was being used as a bargaining chip. Surrender one belligerent commander to the enemy in exchange for their own lives? She would do, and had no reason to suspect her men wouldn't hesitate to resort to such tactics either. As the radio hissed again, her heart skipped a beat.

"Understood... kzzztzzt... be advised, strong electrical storms are.... pssshkt... efforts. It may take..."

Mila's head sank, "F*ck me.". Electrical storms were nothing new to the harsh Lorrdian landscape, and hardly a surprise to anyone who knew this world as well as she did. After all these years though, it seemed this damnable world was bound and determined to make her suffer one way or the other. Spitting out a silent curse under her breath, she radioed back a curt acknowledgement. "Just do your job, Commander." Tossing the commlink aside like a petulant child would a discarded toy, Mila sank back into her seat for a moment, her eyes scanning through the tiny viewport on the side of the pod to watch the approaching electrical storm. They didn't have much time to pack up and clear out before the storm would be right on top of them; and she had enough experience to know that you did not want to be caught in the open without shelter in one of these things. Forcing herself up from her seat with a heavy sigh, she exited the pod just in time to come face to face with a number of her men.

"Your orders, ma'am?"

Her attention strayed briefly, darting towards the trenches as three blaster shots rang out. She was surprised the girl actually had the stomach to do it. Good, the sooner she learned to deal with the hardships of war, the better off she would be. "Gather your gear and head for the canyon. We will hold out there until pick up arrives." With a mixture of weary nods and groggy salutes, the soldiers seemed to shuffle their way along. The path to the canyon would not be a particularly long one, and with continued air support from the Ziost Hunters still howling overhead, the trek was fairly uneventful. But the encroaching storm would soon ground their air support, leaving them at the mercy of the elements.

She could only hope nature would be just as unforgiving to her enemies...

----​

Music​

Gazing into the glassy night sky, she found her mind drifting. For the first time in years memories of her childhood came rushing back, sparked by the sight of a million shimmering dots dancing against the cold void. As a girl she used to spend her nights staring at the stars, fixated for hours just watching, waiting... dreaming. There had to be something better out there, she always told herself. Some paradise miles away from the wretched pit she called home. Others would always whisper of the Jedi and the Republic, far off fantastical stories that would capture her imagination and give her the means to escape her hell. If only for a moment. It wasn't until she had been abandoned to the cruel whims of the Sith that she finally understood the childish naivety of her hopes and dreams.

There was no paradise in the galaxy, only varying degrees of suffering.

Her gaze sank, turning onto the distant flickers of light at the edge of the enemy camp resting just over the horizon. Pearlescent flashes of lightning gave fleeting glimpses of form to the roiling cloud banks. The storm had kept their enemies at bay, a rare blessing of nature from an unforgiving world. But she knew Lorrd was a fickle mistress, and her benevolence could quickly turn. A cool breeze brushed the nape of her neck, her cape fluttering as the moonlight began to fade behind an encroaching pall of clouds. The opposite side of the storm's eye was closing in on their tiny encampment, an involuntary shiver racing up her spine at the realization. Yet it wasn't the storm which bothered her; she had been through enough of them as a child to know how best to weather their wrath.

No, this was a sensation born of the knowledge that she would once again be at the mercy of things far worse than the weather. It was only a matter of time now. With a lingering glance towards the waning moonlight, a pallid flicker of lightning chasing the stars from the sky behind a blanket of clouds, Mila turned and headed back towards camp. The men on watch acknowledged her with a pair of short nods, "break camp and move into the caverns." Her words met with immediate action from the sentries as they set about quietly rousing their comrades. Weaving her way among the boulders scattered near the entrance to a collapsed cave - likely the remains of an Argazdan mining operation - her ear picked up on something different amidst the swirling gales. It was soft and low, but near enough to grab her attention.

Slowly making her way towards the source of the noise, she quickly discerned to to be... sobbing?

Standing at the entrance to a shallow cave etched into the cliffs, her figure silhouetted against the pale moonlight just barely filtering through the clouds, her expression twisted into a sneer. Curled against the wall of the cave, huddled like some quivering animal at the back of its cage, was the very same Sister from before, her armor shed in broken peices across the ground. Lightning fingered across the sky, vaguely illuminating the Sith's armored figure, cape billowing in the breeze. She watched the girl for several lingering moments, the scene playing out in front of her like an uncomfortably reminiscent glimpse into her own past. Scoffing at the sight, she pushed the thought aside. She was not that little girl anymore. "Storm's approaching." She spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, "you should take shelter along the eastern cliffs. They will offer better protection."

She didn't linger much longer, moving into the shadows again, leaving the Sister to do with her advice as she willed.

----​

Daybreak brought warming rays as the sun gradually crept over the horizon. The storm had been particularly fierce overnight, more so than she ever remembered from her childhood, but they managed to weather it just the same. Standing near the brink of the canyon, eyes peering through a pair of microbinoculars, Mila panned the distant skyline, adjusting the focus to get a clearer view of the enemy camp. Already she could see movement at the edge of their camp, figures shifting to and fro behind the blurry haze of heat rising from the baked hardpan stretched out between them. The day had hardly begun, and already she could tell it was going to be another hot one. Handing the binoculars back to the soldier on her right, she attempted to contemplate her enemy's next move.

"Looks like they've moved some heavy weapons in since last night. But it's hard to tell."

Mila swallowed, throat parched, eyes squinting against the glare of the mid morning sun. "Heavy armor will mean little in here." She declared with some measure of confidence. "We merely need to hold their numbers back until pick up can arrive." The soldiers at her side traded worried glances behind her back. Certainly they had the advantage of terrain in here, but they were less than a dozen in strength. It didn't matter how well dug in they were, if the enemy decided to throw their full weight against them, it would only be a matter of minutes before they were completely overrun. And then where would they run to?

A distant thunder suddenly broke the silence, rolling up from across the desert. One at first, then another and another, four, five, six in quick succession. Eyes turned skyward then as a grating howl pierced the air. Mila didn't need to see what was coming to know what was about to happen, and it was only with seconds to spare that she managed to turn and sprint back towards the relative safety of the caverns. "Incoming! Artillery shells rained down around their position in the next instant, shells bursting against rocks and sand as a hail of death rained down around them. Nearly stumbling into a small alcove, her footing lost in a frantic dash to safety, Mila grit her teeth as she turned to watch her men scatter like rats. "F*CK YOU! Come and fight me you damned cowards!" Her words were lost to the cacophony of the bombardment, but the sentiment burning within them certainly wasn't.

This world seemed bound and determined to kill her. And it seemed like it was very nearly on the verge of succeeding...

@Sierrien

 

[Sierrien]

She didn't notice she was being watched at first, as it was a dark night with that storm brewing in. It would likely be good for them, as low light meant that they were less likely to be attacked in the night. A flash of lightning lit the sky and she saw the silhouette of the Sith standing just in front of the cave she was currently occupying. Not saying anything, either - which was pretty creepy in the darkness, as she had no idea how long the woman had been standing there. Long enough to know she was crying, likely, perhaps even having heard her nightmare. Not to mention she had pretty well discarded her armor and weapons haphazardly within the cave, which wasn't very strategically sound. Mila spoke, then, but her words weren't harsh and judgmental. In truth they felt like a whisper that barely even made it to her, and they had nothing to do with the state she was in either. Simply advice on shoring up along the eastern wall instead, as there would be better shelter from an approaching storm. And then the Sith was gone.

Lairiel didn't move for a few minutes after the woman had disappeared in to the night, but as she stared up at the clouds she realized that the woman had been right. Slowly she rose from her seat, rubbing at her eyes with her hands as she went about gathering up her gear, without her armor. After taking a look at it she realized that now that she had taken it off, the likelihood of her getting it back on was next to none. She pulled off her utility belt from the armor instead and strapped it around her waist, which had most of her supplies on it and her pistol as well. She clipped a strap on to her rifle before slinging it over her shoulder and turning away from the cave she had chosen to try and sleep in initially. Her feet took her towards the eastern wall and she found a quiet place to sit and contemplate, and try to get some sleep. It was fleeting with the ongoing storm lighting up the sky and the feeling of looming doom for what they would face the next day. Likely overwhelming odds that they would barely be able to stave off for an hour, let alone a full day. If they didn't get some reinforcements or a way out of there soon, it was looking more and more hopeless.

With barely any sleep, it would be adrenaline that would keep her going today - and she had a feeling there wouldn't be much cause for them all to not be filled with it, so it would do in a pinch. As dawn came she busied herself with moving around the camp, making sure that everyone had hunkered down in a good position and that their provisions were as evenly distributed as they could be. "Make sure you pick your shots, and don't waste ammo. Try to keep your heads down, but we can't just let them overrun us. Take down the frontrunners, and toss out grenades if they get too close." she cautioned her Brothers, before starting to make her own way over to see what the 'scouts' had figured out with those binoculars. Heavy weapons, by the sound of it? Well, they would be in real trouble if the enemy was bringing in heavy armor - though the ground of the canyon was uneven at best, so it was likely that it wouldn't even be able to make it near enough to shoot at them. They would have to hope that was the case.

Lairiel looked at Mila as the woman spoke with some degree of confidence. She kept her visage impassive, as if the previous night hadn't happened. They were getting ready to all die together, it wasn't the time to dwell on a single awkward interaction. Instead she looked towards the sudden sound of thunder - but the storm shouldn't sound like that. There was the high pitched scream then and she let out a curse herself, turning to join the mad dash that everyone else was taking to cover. Shell after shell impacted with the canyon then, making the ground almost feel like it was threatening to quake. She fetched up in the alcove in front of Mila's own, breathing heavily as she shifted her rifle from her shoulder and in to her hands. She did a quick check of the weapon, being sure it was ready to fire. Her eyes shifted to the side to see another dead Brother who had been nearly split in two by the force of one of the artillery strikes; from where she was hiding he was the only casualty she could see thus far. Finally after a solid minute the shelling stopped, and she heard the roar of the enemy as they charged in to the canyon in force.

She risked a quick poke of her head out to see how many were charging them, and cursed loudly again. There had to be at least fifty men charging their location, if not a hundred! It was hard to count when they were all moving so quickly. Her head pulled back, then she popped out of the alcove and fired three quick shots; it was hard not to hit the enemy with so many charging at them. "Open fire!" she yelled above the din, and their seven brave souls came up to start firing in to the horde charging at them. It was an easy thing to thin their number; the enemy was firing back, but it was very hard to hit someone who was nearly entirely behind cover. It was also an easy thing for each of their own shots to take down an enemy, but it hardly seemed to matter with so many coming towards them. "Grenades!" she called out as the enemy started to get too close for comfort, and she pulled one of her own out and threw it as hard as she could in to the charging ranks. Explosions rang out here and there as bodies were sent flying; she saw another Brother take a blaster shot to the face and go down screaming. She let a curse, for though the grenades had shell-shocked some of their enemies and bought them a bit of time as they all found cover to hide behind, it would only buy them a minute or two, if that, before they all charged again.

They had killed or wounded likely thirty of the enemy, but as she peeked her head out again she could see that there were reinforcements gathering at the mouth to the canyon - or was that a tank headed their way? It was too far away to detect anything besides general movement. They would have to do something different. She came out again and fired a few more rounds at the enemy, before calling to her Brothers. "Pull back. Cover to cover. We need to draw this out over as long a distance as we can. Cover eachother." She looked for the Sith then; she wasn't sure if she had the authority to order the woman or her Brothers for that matter, but someone had to do something before they all died. She darted quickly back herself then, aiming to rejoin Mila in whatever cover the woman had found. As blaster bolts and explosions rang out, she knew that her Brothers were all going to die. And so were they, more than likely. Her voice lowered, so that only Mila would hear her. "Commander. The only way you're getting you out of here is if you run as fast as you can. We will hold them as long as we can." It was likely they would all die in doing this, though she left that grim factor unsaid. With that she turned to rejoin the fighting, leaning out of the alcove to start picking her shots and taking them as the enemy advanced, though slower this time. Instead of an all out charge, they would run from cover to cover, perhaps not realizing how few of them there were on the Sith side.

She pulled out her second to last explosive grenade and lobbed it at an approaching group of enemies, her focus intent on helping her Brothers in their strategic retreat. She saw another go down and she let out another loud swear; that would leave them with seven in their group at most, and that was only if no one had died while she wasn't looking. "Couldn't just stay home on the farm, could you? And now look where it's gotten you. About to die in a canyon on some world you've never heard of. Parents aren't even going to know you're dead. Nice going, Lairiel. You're an idiot." If talking to yourself was the first sign of going crazy, she might have had something to worry about if she wasn't certain this would be her last day.

 

[Gamov]

Even before the percussion from the last shell burst stopped ringing through her ears, the vague shapes of enemy infantry began materializing from the veil of dust and smoke choking the canyon. Flickers of red flitted back and forth, joined shortly by the shouts and screams of the dead and dying as the enemy smashed straight into them. It didn't take long for their first line of defense to buckle, despite her men's best efforts. They were just too few, and the enemy too numerous, for their weapons to have any meaningful impact on the horde swarming in on them. "Fall back to the caves!"

Her lightsaber flashed to and fro in a sanguine blur, deflecting the hail of lasers raining down around her as she moved to take shelter with the remainder of her men. A few lucky flicks of her saber sent a number of stray bolts sailing into nearby enemies, but it seemed that for every one they killed three more took their place. A flare of crimson suddenly erupted from her left as a small squad of Argazdan soldiers had managed to turn the men lined up on her flank. Peering into their beady, yellow eyes, a twinge of anger race through Mila's nerves. The first man to move against her was easily cleaved in two by a quick slash from her saber, while a telekinetic burst finished his partner, sending him flying several feet backwards, his neck snapping against a boulder.

A third charged in on her, vibrosword gleaming in the sun as the blade met with a dull *clang* against the armored vambrace on her left arm. Her saber moved in the blink of an eye in the next instant, shearing his arms off at the elbows. Collapsing to his knees, wailing in agony, his cries were cut abruptly short when her blade separated his head from his shoulders in a single elegant swipe. The last two, either driven by anger at seeing their friends cut to pieces, or pure adrenaline, were equally dispatched with little effort, the mangled bits of their various body parts joining those of their comrades in a matter of seconds.

"Commander. The only way you're getting you out of here is if you run as fast as you can. We will hold them as long as we can."

Her instincts nearly reacted faster than her mind, spinning to face the voice beside her. Her blade stalled well short though as her eyes came upon the Sister standing next to her. Mila all but sneered at the thought of running away, even if the rational part of her mind knew it was her only option. The deep thrum of engines bellowed above the canyon suddenly, snaring her attention skyward as a Sith transport glided above the chaos. "Everyone fall back!" Her words punctuated by a torrent of blaster fire from the looming dropship as the door gunner tore into the enemy lines with his heavy repeater. From the open side of the transport, she could make out crew members motioning them towards a clearing further down the canyon. She acknowledged them with a brisk nod, "break ranks!"

The dropship continued to provide as much cover as it could, Mila and the others retreating in its shadow as its engines blew up a fog of dust and grit around them. All the while, the enemy hardly seemed deterred, willingly funneling more of their numbers into the canyon to chase them all the way back to the landing zone. As Mila and the survivors reached the clearing, the dropship maneuvered around into a delicate hover with just feet to spare between its hull and the ground. With laser bolts whizzing by their heads, the Sith ensured that she was the first aboard, standing in the doorway to deflect the stray blaster round every now and again as the others found their way aboard.

She was nearly out of this hellhole. Just a few more seconds is all she needed...

@Sierrien

 

[Sierrien]

Even as she finished talking to herself, she heard the roar of an engine. She was going to turn around and see enemy reinforcements, wasn't she? Her head quickly turned to look - and her heart leapt. It was a friendly dropship. A friendly dropship! They were saved! Well, if they could get to said ship without getting shot, anyways. Mila gave the order to fall back as that heavy repeater opened up on the enemy, mowing through their ranks and at least helping to keep them at bay for now. There was still plenty of shots coming their way from behind cover, but at least there weren't hordes upon hordes rushing at them as everyone had to at least rethink themselves before charging that gatling laser, which wasn't showing any signs of slowing down. They didn't have any heavy weapons brought up this far yet by the look of it, so it seemed they had nothing to deal with the dropship with.

Lairiel turned and started to run, skirting along the edge of the canyon as she made for the indicated clearing. She didn't really have time to look around as she ran, trying to keep herself at least relatively covered most of the time. Most of the shots seemed to be centered on the Sith, since her crimson blade kind of made her stand out. She saw another brother go down as her ran down the middle of the canyon like an idiot, and then Mila herself had made the dropship and leapt on, her lightsaber deflecting blaster bolts quickly. Lairiel came to a stop against the side of the canyon, seeing a few more brothers quickly leap on board in behind Mila. She took in a deep breath before starting to run herself, not even firing towards the enemy as she just put all of her willpower and thoughts in to not missing a step on the somewhat tricky terrain. And somehow, miraculously, she didn't get shot and was able to leap on to the ship herself. That seemed to be the cue they were waiting for - were there really only four of them left alive? - as the dropship started to rise almost immediately after she had leapt on.

And just like that, they were safe. Snatched clear of the jaws of death that had been looming over them, the almost certain death she had been lamenting since they had crashed in the desert. It had seemed a sure thing, with the tide of enemy forces coming their way and their meager band clearly not equipped to handle them. She almost couldn't help but laugh; it was a purely mirthful feeling that was filling her even though they weren't quite out of the fire yet. The ship was steadily rising though, and given she had at least its thick armor now between herself and those blaster bolts, what could possibly go wrong? Lairiel would even have to thank Mila when this was all said and done, as without the commander's presence there was little to no chance that any rescue attempt would have even been made against such overwhelming odds. And then, just like that, she realized she had jinxed it. Thinking that nothing could go wrong almost always meant that something was about to go horribly, tragically wrong.

She didn't know how high up in the air they were as she hadn't been paying attention. All she knew was that there was no going back, and a fall from this distance would probably not kill you but also really not be good for your health. So when something impacted heavily with the ship, causing it to shake and shudder like it was threatening to fall apart - she let out a frightened yelp and reached to grab the nearby bench she wasn't actually sitting on, and then she just held on for dear life. Her eyes were closed tightly and she was praying to any god or deity or the force or whoever would listen that she would be super faithful to them if they'd just get her the hell out of here alive.

 

[Gamov]

Her body swayed gently with the rising motion of the dropship, the door gunner continuing to fire into the swarming crowd of enemies below. Blaster bolts pelted the hull, sparks and smoke pouring from the impact points as the ship began to slip out of the canyon. "Get this thing moving, pilot!" Every second they lingered felt like an eternity for her, listening to laser fire bounce off the dropship like it was a giant magnet built to attract every blaster in the galaxy. She wasn't sure how high up they were when she spotted something terrifying among the enemy ranks. Something that shocked her senses wide awake mere seconds before a plume of white smoke rocketed towards the transport.

A proximity alarm screeched in her ear as the pilot banked hard, throwing her off balance. Her entire body was suddenly jolted backwards as a ball of flames erupted near the tail of the shuttle. Her world spun in a dizzying blur for a few seconds as the ship began a wild tailspin, her hand reaching out for the edge of the door. And that's when it happened. Her heart stalled for a beat or two, eyes wide as she felt her fingers grip steel... then slip away. Air rushed past her ears as the dropship drifted away into the clear blue sky above. Regaining her senses almost a second too late, Mila reacted reflexively, her body enveloped by the Force to cushion the landing she knew was coming...

--THUD--​

Her world stopped moving all at once, air forced from her lungs with a violent grunt as her back met the hard packed earth beneath her. Dazed, vaguely aware of the pain beginning to bleed into her nerves through the haze of adrenaline clouding her mind, she rolled to a side, fumbling for her lightsaber as the first of what seemed to be thousands descended upon her. The dropship would wait, they'd come back. They wouldn't just abandon her here. With that hope flooding the recesses of her teetering consciousness, Mila threw her shoulder into the first man, sending him up and over her as she stood to face the next. No time to reach for her saber, she had to improvise.

Snaring the muzzle of his rifle, she ripped it from his grasp and smashed the weapon across his face, rivulets of blood spewing from his shattered nose. A hastily prepared burst of telekinetic energy kept the next few Argazdans off of her, but for every one she put down or tossed aside there were ten to take their place. Glancing skyward, she caught sight of the dropship ever so briefly, smoke billowing from its tail as the pilot struggled to level them out. Her eyes shot back down again with the blood curdling war cry of another enemy soldier, his vibrosword thrusting towards her midsection with lethal intent. She dodged to a side, but just barely, sending the spiked knuckles on her gauntlet into his face as her free hand reached out to her lightsaber. The hilt rose to her fingertips, where it came to life with an audible hiss just in time to cleave another enemy off at the knees.

And that's when she felt it...

It was like being stabbed in the gut, pain spidering out into her arm as a stray blaster bolt caught her in the shoulder. Reeling, teeth clenched to force the pain down, she reacted sluggishly to deflect the next few shots, sending them careening haphazardly into the swarming crowd of bodies. Yet still they came. One after the next, like a tsunami of armor and lasers they crashed around her, all the while the din of the dropship's engines keeping her alive with the hope that any second now her salvation would be at hand. Her heart sank in the next instant though as the drone of the ship's engines began to fade. Chancing a skyward glance, Mila blanched at the sight of the dropship peeling away from the fight. Her blood ran cold, her knees going weak... they had abandoned her. "COWARDS!"

Rage surged through her as she turned back to the enemy. In a split second decision born out of the hopeless desperation of her situation, she resolved to take as many of them with her as she could. If this miserable world was content to kill her, she wasn't going to make it easy. Dispatching another pair of soldiers with a quick swipe of her blade, she already knew she wasn't going to last long. The pain in her shoulder was taxing her ability to respond effectively to the sheer number of enemies rushing in on her. Nevertheless, she would go down swinging, cursing them with every breath in her lungs until they had bled her body dry.

Impaling a charging Argazdan with her crimson blade, she ripped it violently from his side, leaving his torso nearly severed from his legs as he pawed uselessly at the coil of intestines poking out from the wound. Above his wails of agony, Mila sheared through another man, his end coming relatively quickly as her blade cut a searing arc through his heart. Gripping another with the Force, she used his body to shield herself from a barrage of laser fire before violently crushing his neck and tossing him aside like a discarded ragdoll. But even these efforts, she admitted grimly to herself, wouldn't be enough to save her. The canyon was practically crawling with enemy soldiers, and she was but one against a nation. Still holding her ground though, she managed to rid herself of a couple more adversaries before a sudden jolt of pain surged through her body.

Convulsing, muscles suddenly tensed, Mila slumped to her knees, only dully aware of the man on her right who had managed to jab an electrostaff clean through the bodyglove beneath her armor. Another spasm rolled through her body, back arching gruesomely as she lost her grip on her saber and tumbled to the dirt. Another shock struck home, her eyes turning abruptly towards the glaring sun overhead, a fleeting glimpse of serenity amid the chaos before a host of angry eyes filled her vision. A third jolt of electricity surged through her nerves, the realization that she had failed, utterly and completely, racing through her flagging consciousness seconds before a cascade of darkness enveloped her.

"This is how I die...?"

She stayed conscious for precious seconds, letting that one desperate thought trace its way through the recesses of her mind. Just long enough for her to know that her rage had abandoned her, the specter of that pitiful slave girl creeping in once again as she surrendered to her fate.

Broke. Alone.

Abandoned...

"Not like this..."

--End--​