Krest | A Star Wars Story

Chapter 21: The Calm Before The Storm

 "Get those crates unloaded and to the armory, double time!" Deuce barked as troopers carried large crates of ammunition, explosives, and blasters, from one of the supply shuttles that were sitting in the Heldian Guard HQ's makeshift hangar. Now that contact was established with Republic forces, supplies were now being funneled into the Heldian Guard's troops in preparation.

"Hey crate jockey, leave it here," Shellshock said, waving down one of the crates. The trooper put it down in front of him and ran back to the ship.

Fodder pried the crate open and chuckled in approval. "This is what I'm talking about!" Inside the crate were cherry Z-6 rotary cannons, fresh off the assembly line. From the stamp on the receivers, it looked like these were Heldian made. As Fodder looked the new weapons over, a couple of Heldian heavy infantry came over to look at what was in the crate.

"Gather your boys, time for a crash course in layin' some hate!" Shellshock smiled.

"Make sure those guns get to the Armory!" Krest noted as he watched Shellshock and Fodder carry a crate away.

"Four crates of rations, six crates of ammo cartridges, four crates of explosives, two crates of rotary cannons, and five crates of bacta pads and other medical supplies. Looks like they want us fully stocked for the assault." Shaman said, scrolling through one of the ship's manifest.

"We've got a lot of troopers to supply and even more militia," Krest said as he waved at Arroyo who was giving directions to one of the ship's crew. "Let's just hope this is enough."

"Well this is the first shipment. I heard we got more comin' in." Shaman shrugged. "I'm gonna go make sure the medical supplies made it to the infirmary. I'll leave you to the rest Skipper."

Krest nodded and Shaman handed the manifest over to him before turning around and leaving. Arroyo finished with the crewman and walked over to Krest who was looking over the manifest again.

"The Republic certainly doesn't skimp when it comes to the war effort," Arroyo said as she watched the crates be unloaded.

"Not when it comes to a campaign like this." Krest grinned proudly. "If everything goes as planned the rest of my company should arrive."

"There's more of you guys?" Arroyo asked.

Krest nodded. "Most of my company has been in strategic reserve until we could get communications back up. The General and I surprisingly agreed that we couldn't afford to lose any more men."

"Speaking of- what's going on between you two? Every time you two are in the same place there's so much tension in the air you can almost cut it." Arroyo asked.

Krest sighed tiredly. "It's a long story, essentially she left me for dead on one of our first missions together."

Arroyo looked up at him in surprise. "Seriously?!"

Krest nodded and pointed to his eye. "'Was around the same time I got this."

"I'm surprised you two are so calm even if it's passive-aggressive," Arroyo noted.

"When it first happened things got ugly. If it wasn't for General Kenobi stepping in and having a talk with her...who knows what could've gone down." Krest looked at the ground. His head filled with memories of him getting crushed underneath the rubble, everything fading to black.

Arroyo was slightly unhinged by the empty look in Krest's eye. They clearly reached a subject that struck a nerve."By the look in your eyes, it seems there's something best left alone for now." Arroyo said softly, placing a hand on Krest's shoulder.