Log:New Republic: You Are Not Alone

A position holds the line

OOC Date: January 26, 2021
Location: Capital Codru, Munto Codru
Participants: Ambrosia Greystorm, Ban Iskender, Chani Tahn, Rose Tico

The defense of Capital Codru was very important for the New Republic, because successfully pushing the First Order away meant denying them the resources they needed to sustain a good foothold. Given the location and terrain for Capital Codru, the only points of egress were landing pads, of which there are a very limited number. That being said, ground forces managed a hasty defense by way of light turrets and stationary gun platforms to help defend these choke points. Snipers have been assigned designated shooting zones with lateral limits and intersecting lands of fire, meaning every snip had a purpose.

Our group occupies a sensitive zone just outside the starport where generators have been tapped into for power and overclocked. Ideally, the Republic would have brought GNK droids and a number of their own generators, but there was no time. So they had to use the spaceport's generators, which had limited output and did not operate in overclocked conditions well.

Commander Rose Tico leads this team specifically, and intends to dote over these generators while her team defends this location for as long as they can.

The day has reached its noon hour and it's hot outside, uncomfortably so. The weight of impending battle weighs heavy on everyone, especially Rose who has already repaired the generators each, and stands ready to leap into action.

The defense does not fall to Rose though, Lt. Quish and Captain Ban Iskender are teamed up with the purpose of holding the line until they must retreat. Word from command was that the First Order had an absurd number of troops coming in from high orbit in shuttles. To prevent, or at least slow, their landing Black Squadron is above passing over regularly in their patrols to seek out and destroy craft.

It's not long after the battle begins. Starfighters scream by overhead chasing one another with laser bolts while the sounds of battle and war fill the ambience that had once been nature and calm. Comms with other positions detailed they were holding for now, but the generator crew was about to have company

Ban Iskender had arrived on a speeder bike, but given the 'hold the line' nature of this team's orders, he had left the vehicle hovering to the rest and dismounted to fight on foot in the archaic dragoon tradition. A green eye turned skyward as he observed the movements of the Starfighter Corp, but his attention quickly moved to taking stock of the forces at hand. He inquires over comms whether the enemy have yet deployed vehicles, or were sending a massed assault of infantry. Then, he waited.

The mountains surrounding Cudro's starport remind Chani of the Droalder Mountains. Some small part of her wishes she was there, now, surrounded by its snow, worried about manka cats rather than the impending invasion of battle trained troops ready to descend on the planet. From where she is, she can see the fjord, and the bright sky is reflected in its crystalline surface. It's like a painting of everything above it, from the peaks of the mountains to the occasional shapes of drifting clouds drawn by the planet's air currents. She sees other shapes in that mirror, too. Starfighters that streak across the sky, flying a defensive perimeter high above where they wait for the battle to begin. They know it's coming well in advance. It starts with the laser cannon fire.

It was never quiet these close to the generators, but there's an altogether different noise as the trademark whine of twin ion engines produced by Sienar Fleet Systems fills the sky. Above, like a terrible portent of doom, Chani can see the wedge shape of a Star Destroyer just close enough to be within the gravity well of Munto Cudro. She knows there's where all these fighters and the incoming ships that will try to swarm the landing zone are coming from. Turning, Chani's booted feet carry her across the hot duracrete to the emplacements that have been set up to help defend the generators. She looks to Lord Ban Iskender in his signature green armor, sun glinting off the metal and blessedly not into her eyes thanks to her short stature. In her right hand, drawn in preparation, is the silver cylinder of her stunsaber. Unlike the one he carries, hers does not have the power to kill. It is not an instrument of war. And neither is she.

"I've seen war before, but this is the first time I've done anything like this. Do you have any advice for me?"

It IS a hot one. Muggy, too. Lt Faraya Quish has made a full recovery from her near death experience on the front lines in one of many, many Resistance operations. She's made the merger into the Republic uniform like most others did and so when the FO brought war to Munto Codru? Quish is back in action. The Lt is crouched behind a barricade, sharing space with a couple other gunnery folk. The stationary gun is a beast, but it does require the occasional reload and so she's there to cover the pair's behinds when they reload.

"There most definitely will be infantry. But I wouldn't rule out vehicular trouble," Quish sounds over the comms after lowering the macronocs.

All at once, the sounds of war fill in the space around them. The fighting is intense, or so it sounds, and the comms light up with personnel detailing GROUND INFANTRY unloading from shuttles landing at the spaceport. Someone says, <<"INFANTRY.. A LOT OF INFANTRY!">>

The squadron above is doing their best, but they've got fighters to contend with along with shuttles too, making it difficult to truly prevent shuttles from landing, which is why the defenses were set up like they were.

"Oh no!" Rose calls out, as the mechanical whine of a generator goes down, the other positions it fuels suffering from lack of power. Commanders are screaming over the comms about their turrets going down, <<"WHERE ARE OUR TURRETS!??">> "Hold onnnn," replies Rose who is scrambling to do what she can.

Meanwhile, this position is getting attacked. The first hint as the blaster fire that sparks off the duracrete near Chani, and more by Ban, and even one by Lt Quish. Republic soldiers move to their turrets to take up position, but stormtroopers are already closing in and firing. It's time to hold the line!

Seven (7) troopers come into range amidst the chaos of turrets firing and Republic soldiers fighting. Stormtroopers are distinct, their armor white, and helmets with that distinct angry expression. They center up on people and open fire, yelling vocoded things like <"Move..Move.. Move,"> or, <"Blast em!">

Ban Iskender voices steadily in answer to Chani, "When defending with the sword against great numbers, one must not become fixated upon any single opponent. Keep your senses broad and ever moving. When given the opportunity to attack, do not overextend in an effort to strike down a foe. I do not worry that you will-" he clarifies with a brief near-smile. "But many neophytes to melee can oft lose sense of direction. Keep track of our rear, and recover in that direction if you feel in danger of being overwhelmed." A slow breath is drawn in through the nose as he hears Quish. One generator goes down and a short nod follows Rose's lament. "Do your utmost, Commander."

Then, it begins. The first stormtroopers come into sight, he draws his sword, ignites it with a hiss, and voices to Chani, "May the Force be with you."

The loud call of infantry is almost drowned out by the whining engines of shuttle craft setting down on the landing pads to unload the troops that will attempt to take the spaceport. Chani's pulse picks up and her lips peel apart from one another in the same moment, allowing her to breathe more deeply. More oxygen for muscles which will be overtaxed in the coming moments is never a bad thing. Commander Tico's exclamation catches her attention for a brief moment, but then the crack of a blaster bolt carving out a chunk of duracrete nearby forces her to duck down out of instinct. That triggers a rush of adrenaline that sends her heart pounding in her chest and threatens to make her jittery. Rather than that, she focuses on the words Lord Ban imparts to her in that moment.

"And you." It's all she has time for. The stormtroopers make their appearance and Chani follows Lord Ban into combat, both trying to stay mindful of not becoming fixated and also contending with her emotions. She knows if she becomes distracted, she'll falter. She searches for a place of calmness as chaos reigns around her, and as blaster rifle are brought to bear on her, she closes the gap, using the confusion of Lord Ban cutting into white plasteel to smash the white beam of her stunsaber into one, two, and then three of the stormtroopers, using firm but sure footing while attempting to never stay in one place.

"You've got this, Commander..." Lt Quish ignores the complaints of her men as they try to troubleshoot their gun's sudden impotence. To no avail, of course. There's no sense in bemoaning their interrupted firepower. Only thing whinging accomplished on the battlefield was to make one's self an easier target. Quish pops up to meet the inbound bucketheads with a quick one-two. The first shot is precise, blasting a smoldering hole clean through the pearly chest plate. Round number two lays out the welcome mat for the next wave but alas, finds no mark.

"Forget how to use your sidearm?" she snarls over shoulder to the quibbling gunnery pair. "It'll reboot when it reboots, c'mon!"

There's no pause in the fighting, and absolute chaos is everywhere. Rose manages to fix the generator by adjusting the coolant settings and spartan kicking the coolant assembly to give it the right motivation to re-engage. The generator is back online, and all three are running at a state that sounds overclocked. Rose looks stressed as she flips a hydrospanner in hand and slips it back into her belt, striding back out into the open to draw out the handcannon seated in her shoulder-harnessed holster. She takes aim with it, standing poised like an officer.

More troopers slip by the line of turrets, the soldiers holding that area already contending with stormtroopers at mid and long range. Blaster bolts rain in at random, sparking off structures, shattering glass, HISSING by, or pocking up the duracrete. Some salty Republic Sergeant is hooting and hollaring, moving down the line to direct fire as another transport carrying Stormtroopers lands. Their ramp comes down and out charge the troops.

<"Move move move! Take that point!">

Four stormtroopers and a Sergeant wearing an orange pauldron to denote their rank make it into view. <"BLAST EM ALL!"> Screamed the Sergeant, and the troopers moved into position to do just that, fearless of the Jedi, turret gunners, and soldiers. These were fully indoctrinated soldiers: believers.

Ban Iskender still moves much as if his sword were if durasteel rather than emerald energy, in terms of footwork, lunging, parrying, and shoulder rotation. The Stormtrooper sergeant who shouts 'Blast them all' draws Ban's attention, scolding the man, "Indiscriminate fire denotes a lack of focus, sir." Twice the sergeant dodged back and evades Ban's sword, butvthe third cut catches him. The dragoon moves back toward Chani, guard high.

It seems to Chani that as soon as the last stormtrooper hits the ground, more fill in the space left open. They advance, rushing towards the generators without any visible care for their own life. Chani steps in, and as one stormtrooper goes for the a stock strike with his weapon, she uses the length of her stunsaber to her advantage, thrusting the tip of the white beam into his solar plexus. The plasteel is meant to dissipate the energy from a blaster bolt, not absorb hard impacts, and beyond its shape, it does little to stop the concussive strike that knocks the wind out of him and sends a discharging, numbing sensation straight through his nervous system. She steps beyond him just as he crumbles, using the length of time he's up as a sort of cover.

When she steps into the next one, he's attempting to raise his barrel to fire at her. Chani's left hand pushes in towards her right, bringing the white beam to a horizontal plane while her right pushes forward. She uses the step forward with her body to give the swing momentum, and also hesitates clenching her muscles so that her arms can move quickly. It's not until the beam is close that she tightens them, putting extra force behind the impact that catches the stormtrooper in the side. She sees the trooper's body seize up as the stunsaber's energy pulses through, and seeing the trooper to the right, Chani drags the non-cutting beam straight off the plasteel in a crackle of energy that leaves the white shell tainted black from peeled paint.

This swing, resisted by the body she's stepping past, is suddenly freed after the tip clears, and the energy she places into the swing provides it with a burst of speed that has the blade smacking so hard against the side of the stormtrooper's helmet that the soldier crumples into a heap right where he stands, blaster rifle calttering to the ground. As Lord Ban moves back to her, Chani is visibly checking her surroundings and retreating at the same time, using careful footsteps that skirt the ground rather than broad movements that might trip her up on the fallen bodies beginning to litter the duracrete around them. Sweat from the heat of the day is already beginning to matte her dark hair and show visibly as small beads against her skin.

The three bodies huddled behind Quish's barricade whoop almost in unison when that gun winks to life and begins the promising hum of recharging. The Lt continues to hold their position, turning her attention to the next wave. Watches their fearless leader immediately get carved up like a Harvest Day roast. Hah. She doesn't gloat...but she doesn't disappear the crooked smile from her face, either. Her next target gets slammed through the shoulder but doesn't fall. Only staggers. It's the stagger that saves them from the followup head shot and wipes the smile off Faraya's face.

The remaining soldier in the center takes a shot from Quish before they're mercilessly shot down by Rose, who blasts them center mass with the heavy cannon. The gun made a 'PCOOOWWW' noise, and punched through armor with ease. Two generators go down at nearly the same time, and Rose turns back to look in alarm. "WE NEED POWER OVER HERE!" Screamed the Republic Sergeant, who moves back to make sure Rose heard. "COMMANDER! MORE! POWER!"-- "I'M WORKING ON IT!" Rose yelled back, pulling open a panel to peer inside through the steam. "Huttsuckin'!" Her voice trailed off.

Bodies are piling up all around. The dead lay still, white armor and carbon scored. The dying crawl and beg for mercy, some seek their weapons only to be pinned by a passing Republic trooper and shot until they died. Such was war, such was the case for survival here. Young Republic privates try to drag the stormtrooper bodies out of the way, moving them to the edge of the city platform and casting them off to fall into the forest river canyon below. They did not have time to let the bodies stack up. It prevented a bad defense!

"USE YOUR PRIMARY ARMS, BOYS AND GIRLS! HAHA!" Screams some Master Sergeant from the Republic, telling the gunners on the turrets to use their secondaries until the power was restored. Stormtroopers crowded the line and bled through, the sound of fighting intense to the point all the screaming, shooting, and explosions left ears ringing. Thirteen (13) make it inside and start engaging whoever they see isn't in stormtrooper armor!

Ban Iskender doesn't curse as the turrets suddenly and ominously go dark, opening the plasteel floodgates for a horde of Stormtroopers.

He doesn't curse. But he rather badly wants to. A rapid advance intl the breach in an attempt to stem the tide. A pair of troopers are cut down, and he calls to Chani, "Remain near as you may!"

War is loud. The constant discharge of blaster rifles and the laser cannons they have set up to defend the landing pads has Chani's gaze near constantly squinted from the percussive noise pervading the air around her. That's not to mention all the shouting, the engines of the landing craft, and the loud generators that wind up. A couple of those sounds die out, and it doesn't take long for someone to start screaming about needing power. The lull in fire allows more white-armored troopers to swamp the area and Chani adopts a defensive stance that guards her center, with her feet in line and the tip of her blade level with where her eyes are focused. Lord Iskender sees the problem, too, and attempts to head off the problem by advancing towards it.

Before his words have left his mouth, Chani is advancing with him, loose jumpsuit allowing her the dexterity necessary to stay nimble and mobile on her feet. More stormtroopers rush them, and Chani steps around the Alderaanian Lord to catch one with a blaster rifle aimed right at her chest. She quickly bats the barrel aside, dominating the central line with a left to right sweep. She reverses the direction of the swing, trying to catch this stormtrooper in the mid-section as well. The soldier steps back, forcing her to thrust forward with her weapon and catch them in their erroneous belief that they've moved out of the way of her striking range. That trooper crumples, too, and Chani pushes to the back of her mind the tactics being used by the New Republic troopers to try and keep those that she stuns down and their fighting arena cleared.

It's an uphill battle, powering a multitude of emplacements with overtaxed generators. So when more go down, there's a collective sigh but nothing more heard from Quish's fireteam. The boys and girls in white are able to advance in greater numbers and fending them off commands the utmost focus and dedication. A torrent of pistol and rifle fire comes from several locations where once there were only turrets. It's a poor substitute compared to the overwhelming sweeper fire, but it'll have to do! "I hear General Greystorm's got a generous tab for her surviving troops!" Quish volunteers this information over coms. "Let's make it stiff competition, eh? Keep your heads, take theirs!"

The Republic have wounded, and they're being carried to the back of the line and propped up against barricades with weapons in hand. They can still fight, unless they can't. A republic medic moves down the line making use of a marker to draw symbols on each forehead based on their review of their injuries. Some, obviously, aren't going to make it without surgery. The medic prioritizes injuries that can be dealt with using what they have on hand. "Remember your training! Treat yourself with your kit unless you can't! Call out if you need help!" Somewhere down the line, someone else screams MEDIC!

Rose manages to get the generators back online and avoids being shot. Sparks shower her as she works, but the well-educated engineer slaps the panel shut on the second generator and yells back at the line, over all the fighting. "POWER'S BACK! OPEN UP, BOYS AND GIRLS!"

And do they. Green and red turret fire erupt from the defensive positions again, and an entire platoon of stormtroopers are cut down when a pair of gunners intersect their lateral firing limits and literally blast the soldiers apart. The soldiers laugh at the despair of the stormtroopers caught in the cross-fire, but the humor is short lived as another transport manages to land, its ramp dropping and troops pouring out.

A private from the Republic begins to lose their focus, putting their back to the barricade and rocking vigorously, their hands over their head, crying. Another commando, special forces by the looks of them, casts a grenade out across a great distance and scores a massive blow to the invading troops.

These small victories pale in comparison to the sheer volume of resistance they're holding back. The stormtroopers do not stop, they do not relent, and they continue to fight regardless of the odds. Where the Republic is limited in how they can fight and sacrifice, the First Order tosses line soldier after soldier, overwhelming positions through attrition.

"Excellent. Continue, and don't hold your breath," Ban advises Chani as the two Jedi initiates ward off a wall of blaster fire, shifting seamlessly to the attack with a lunging cut, followed by an upward angled party that deflects a blaster bolt. Turning the motion into a riposte, he thrusts at a second trooper, cutting them down as well. A third cut falls short as Ban recovers a step back toward Chani, rather than being drawn off in pursuit.

The staccato rhythm of the turrets opening up with renewed bursts of deadly laser cannon fire begins to fill the air again. Chani doesn't notice. The sudden surge of so many troopers has her attention so focused on trying to prevent them from getting to the generators has honed her attention so that the stimuli not in her immediate vicinity is drowned out. She's definitely not holding her breath. She's panting, taking in deep lungfuls to feed her body with the oxygen necessary to keep her going. Her muscles are already beginning to burn a little, though. She can't imagine what it would be like if she had a weapon with any kind of weight to it. That little thread of a though is severed from her mind as the stormtroopers open up with a volley.

She's amazed she makes it through unscathed, but her attention is devoted to the trooper that attempts to break through. Her first swing wards him off, but he goes for dealing with her. She once more uses her weapon's blade to fend off the muzzle from getting anywhere near a point where he can unleash a bolt at her, first batting it off towards her left arm and then using the opportunity to smash her white beam against his left arm and shoulder. He seizes up and then collapses, allowing Chani to step back in only a dozen feet away from the barriers that marked where they began the battle. She, too, refuses to get drawn out into the fray.

The stationary unit propped beside her resumes firing and the staccato that errupts from its barrel is a welcomed sort of DEAFENING sound. It means they aren't dead in the water. Yet. Lt Quish slouches down to reload her own powerpack, turning just half a profile to the thinning opposition in their vicinity. Enough to keep an eye.

Almost enough to lose it.

Her comm ZZPs a stark and sudden note when she's struck, grazed along that helmet's right side. The visor is toast, throwing all kinds of wild pixels into the HUD display before it winks out completely. From afar, it appears as though the Lieutenant will NOT be having a drink on the General's dollar, as the headshot crumples her over. The heat is searing, explosively painful, and Faray's pretty sure she can smell her own sizzling skin, just then. The stunning impact leaves her in that heap for just a few heartbeats more, till she realizes it does in fact beat. Her limbs, they move.

A ragged gasp replaces the air in her uncooked lungs and Lt Quish scrambles to huddle up behind her men's mount, hands slapping and pulling at her own helmet to tug it off. And feel.

Things are crispy, that side of her head. An ear may or may not be there. Her cheek, probably peeling off. That ragged gasp is followed by a sharp exhale. Two. Three. Her rifle is lain across lap and gloves get busy fumbling with her medkit on belt. "Lt Quish...hit. I'm-I'm okay. I'll be okay." Her voice sounds strained, at best, but she fights with the wrapper of that bacta patch visciously until the smelly thing can be slapped onto her face. Her jaw? Maybe just a spray for her neck. Antiseptic first, numbing second.

"WE NEED MORE POWER, COMMANDER!"-- "ON IT!" Rose calls back, blasting some stormtrooper from getting too close to the generators. She can tell that two are down, the black smoke was telling. They wouldn't be able to survive the attack like this if the FO kept throwing troops at them.

<<"Battle Axe, this is Tico. Our generators are about to bite it. Do you have the secondary defense positions set up in the city yet? We're running out of options here, ma'am.">> This comm is made with the sound of a hammer hitting something metal.

The Republic line is holding somehow, the morale is up despite the lack of power and turrets firing, and they're managing to hold now that they are accustomed to the frequency drek goes wrong out here. "PICK YOUR RIFLE UP, TORZI! NOWS AIN'T THE TIME FOR CRYING, IT'S THE TIME FOR DYING! FIGHT LIKE YOU WANT TO LIVE, SON!" Screamed a Master Sergeant at the crying, rocking private. The NCO got to the soldier, who picked their weapon up and looked up at the NCO who pointed them toward the direction to shoot. "THAT WAY, SON!" "YES SERGEANT!"

Down the line and explosive goes off, the concussive wave sudden, a warning of "FRAG--" before the loud explosion simply replaced the heralding voice with ear-ringing. Organic debris, armor, and bits of the line began to rain down on the position as a fog of grey smoke, and clouds of sweet smelling pulverized blood filled the air. The Republic just lost a quarter of their line to an explosion.

"SHIFT FIRE! SHIFT FIRE! GET ME SOME BODIES OVER HERE! HOLD THE LINE, DAMN IT!"

Ban Iskender staggers with the shockwave of the explosion, his green half cape now singed by blaster fire and blood splatter is thrown out to his side by the blast, like a pennant in high winds. He can barely hear what the infantry officers are calling, but he knows that a blast of that severity will leave a hole in their lines somewhere. With a further pair of edge cuts (not that a lightsaber has traditional edges) and a lunge, he strikes down two more Stormtroopers, looking about for Chani in an instant before drawing his sword up in a salute to greet the next white-armored wave.

Every breath she takes in is thick with the growing humidity of the day. It carries with it the nose-stinging, acrid scent of smoke and something stomach churning. Chani doesn't yet know that's what burning flesh smells like. Blaster fire punching through plasteel and Republic armor alike is leaving cauterized wounds and the sheer amount of casualties on the battlefield is producing a foetid stench that might normally have her gagging if she wasn't in the middle of fighting for her life. There's an explosion close enough that it overrides everything in her hearing and Chani glances in what she thinks is the direction only to see kicked up sediment, smoke, and bits and chunks of durasteel raining down to patter against the carbon scorched and pocked ground around them.

"I'll cover here!" She doesn't know if Lord Ban can hear her, but as the Alderaanian noble begins carving a path through stormtroopers to cover the caved in flank, Chani maintains her position to provide cover to Rose. "It's just me here now, Commander Tico!" Can the woman hear her, either, over the generator noise? She doesn't know. So she does what she's been doing and focuses on the fight. Into the rushing troops she goes, using her small stature to her advantage and never going at the troops as a spread out line. She comes in from their flank, counting on warding off their fire in the hopes they won't fire into each other. She misses a wide swing when a trooper recoils, but pressuring forward, she draws her blade down and across an exposed thigh, spilling the trooper and leaping past him. Her blade trails her for a moment, but she sweeps it up quickly from her right hip towards her left shoulder, battering a barrel upwards with the beam near the emitter of the hilt while the rest of the blade catches the trooper around the abdomen and sends that one tumbling to the ground, too.

"S-so...bloody...STICKY" Lt Quish is raging at the mess she's made of the med kit in her haste. A quarter of her face is hamburger, her neck looks like she's got 3rd degree sunburn. But she's alive, goddammit.

The unused contents are shoved sloppily back into the kit so she can resume her position and do her part to push plugs in this unstoppable flood. Gotta slow it down....just slow it down. With pieces of duraplast pebbles and more organic dribbles sprinkling her hair, she pops back around the barricade and drills two consise holes into that enemy wave. More corpses to feed the gods of war.

In the midst of the raging conflict and growing horror, there comes a crackling response to Commander Tico's call. It's a gravelly voice, one that might instill inspiration as much as fear into the younger generation. A grinding axe, still sharp after almost four decades of bleeding...and bloodletting.

"Greystorm copies," The old battleaxe says. "You hold as long as you can, Commander, then you pull back." zzztt "We'll be ready to receive."

"GOT IT," Rose says to Chani in passing, flashing her a thumbs up. When Amber answers back, Rose nods her head before kicking the generator to jump start its cycle. Two generators come back to life, and the power surges back to the turrets that open up. The turrets chew into the incoming troops and transports, green and red lances cutting across the distance. A gunner near Chani is simply screaming bloody murder as he fires at the cyclic rate.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

More troopers land via shuttle, the ramp dropping and soldiers pouring out. The squadron up above is being chased, criss-crossing laser fire through the sky shows it's just as dangerous up there as it is down on the ground.

"HOLD THE LINE! HOLD THE LINE!" Screamed the Master Sergeant who walked along the line directing fire. He turned back toward Chani and Rose, screaming "MORE POWER, COMMANDER! EVERYTHING YOU GOT!"

"ON IT!" Rose calls back.

Seven (7) more troopers pour in at once, closing in on Ban's position, some even passing the noble man to shoot on the soldiers defiantly holding out.

Despite his salute, the mayhem swirling around Ban is as far from a duel as one can get. Trying to hold as broad a corridor as he can, the dragoon starts to look less like a swordsman and more like a Jedi, his motions full of wider sweeping emerald arcs, and abrupt twirls of body and blade to ward off, drive back or cut down any Stormtrooper who tries to cross his line. For a space of two meters on either side of him, none can.

Her muscles ache. There's a heaviness in them that's paired with subtle twinges of pain trying to clue her into how much she's creating small little tears in the fibers. They'll grow back stronger. Whatever fatigue wants to set in, she refuses to let it. She knows she's one of the people standing in the way of the troopers stopping those generators, and to let a little something like being tired defeat her in the face of trying to help all these people survive? She won't go down like that. Chani grits her teeth and remembers to breathe. Big lungfuls, even if it stinks and burns in her chest because of all the smoke. They're in a well-ventilated area. It's not going to hurt her. She thinks. A stormtrooper rushes to get a line of fire on the generator.

Chani has something else for him to worry about. He catches the white beam of her stunsaber in a defensive block with the middle of his rifle, stopping the sweep that comes from her left shoulder towards his right. Chani depresses the activation stud on the hilt of her stunsaber and the blade vanishes, allowing the beam emitter to pass through the air. Once its positioned and aimed towards his core, which is left wide open because there's suddenly no resistance stopping his arms from flying up, Chani hits the activation stud again and the white beam snap-hisses to life, smacking into his body and dumping him. Chani whips around to the left, sweeping her left leg back and jutting her right foot forward to pivot and, in a crude manner, bring her stunsaber around like a bat to hit the next trooper in the chest, catching them while they're running and acting as a bar. It's not a strong bar, but it's an electrified bar, and that trooper does nothing but grunt before pitching forward and smashing the front of their plasteel helmet against the ground, scraping its white paint.

Lt Quish continues to fire away in a halfblind fury. She will remain rooted to this spot until the generators finally give up their ghosts and they're forced to fall back to the secondary line. Or until medical finally gets to her and drags her to the back of the line - that is entirely possible. Just don't tell her that.

"AHHHHHHHHH" Her raw screams join the chorus of many, as she blasts away. Racking up those kills.

Amber would be so proud, were she here to witness those holding the line against impossible odds. They are what the Republic used to be. Before the ceasefire. Before the disarmament. A strength rekindled...Republic fire burns anew.

It's easy to lose sight of the big picture, but that's precisely what leaders like General Greystorm are watching from a feed at the fall back positions in the city. Each location lights up a live feed displaying what positions hold, and what ones crumble. Those adjacent to the center point have begun to crumble. Republic forces are falling back, using the city, the buildings, and the streets to lure the stormtroopers into the maze to bleed them more. Guerilla tactics, 'getting the best bang for your creds'; this tactic was rock solid, and attrition fighting war machines like the First Order ate it up.

Despite the overwhelming odds, THIS position holds. Turrets maintain a field of intersecting lanes of fire, and the troopers who had been landing here keep getting obliterated. Commanders have made adjustments, pushing more toward the crumbling lines and leaving this position open.

Commander Tico's voice cuts across the comms to answer General Greystorm. <<"We hold, General, but we're surrounded. We'll check in if it gets worse. Commander Tico out.">>

"HOLD THE LINE!" is heard in the background of the communication, followed by the BRRRRRRRRRRRR of turrets firing in every direction.