Star Wars: A clash of lords

Chapter two

Red lines streaked across the sky as commander tacilin took cover behind some fallen debris off the top of the valley. As he crouched he press a button on his gauntlet, that lit up green against the black of his armour, with a sudden buzz of static in his helmet he relayed the orders to his men that they were to pull back but to hide a fraction of the troop amongst their fallen brothers.
As if all of a sudden the troopers turned to look in the direction of their superior officer in what tacilin thought was disbelief and unease of having to move their dead not to burry them but to burry the living amongst them. But none of them were willing to disobey a direct order fearing the reprimands, if they survived long enough to face it. As they began to move the dead over the living, tacilin hunted down his longest serving comrade and friend Sargent leyl in a matter of moments he found her her armour had unique markings, of what looked like a wolf stencilled in red onto her helmet, that made easier to pick out from the mayhem of troopers running here and there providing cover fire for those who were covering their brethren in the friends and loved ones who had perished in fighting for their beliefs of a better empire.
"Sargent Leyl, I have an important directive for you within the remain team. You are to use these codes to get a secure com with general Ilam once our enemy combatants have passed you and the dead by." Tacilin said as she hit a sequence of buttons on her wrist to transfer the clearance codes.
"Captain, what if they do not pursue you when you with draw, or decide to inspect the dead before pressing the attack?" Leyl asked with what slightly resembled concern through her helmets enunciator.
"We have our orders, but if they search the dead you give them hell. Take as many with you to buy our troops better odds later in the battle" Tacilin said with a hand on Leyl shoulder as they always had done to show respect and honour for each other.
"Its has been a true blessing to serve a leader like you Tacilin. You always inspired people by being at the front of battle" Leyl said before placing her hand onto his shoulder. Then they both removed them and Tacilin moved the last body over her and turned to lead the withdrawal team to the tree line.
Coordinating when certain troops should lay cover fire and when to start withdrawing again was easy as they had had it drilled into them since day one at the barracks but as Tacilin and her small squad turned to lay the second barrage of covering fire Tacilin couldn't help but see the fallen troops from the first squad laying sprawled across the valley, even though his training had taught him that in war death is a certainty and that they should not form bonds to any subordinate, he struggled to not charge forth to avenge every single trooper who had done their job.
But as he regained command of his thoughts and emotions he focused on laying fire on the last known location of the imperial insurgency team. Then he saw them a small force being led towards them by two blades, crimson the bastards have sith in their ranks, they will slaughter us all if we are lucky, but those who are captured will face far worse. As his thought ended he felt a tap on his shoulder which he knew meant it was his turn to withdraw while the third squad lay covering fire.
As he turned he felt every aspect of the battle in slow motion he saw his men fall from bolts to the chest.Their screams echoing over the coms, men shouting orders and opening up new volleys of fire against the on coming sith and their troops. The tree line was in sight but his men were taking heavy casualties as they retreated through open ground.With the sense of loss and guilt, for his men, he ordered over the coms "full retreat no covering fire!, I shall cover you all for as long as possible" his voice was unyielding not even a slight hint of hesitation.

I have lost too many men in this retreat I shall not ask anyone else to die so only a few can survive. My men will live on and fight another day as long as I hold this line... the coms crackled to life as he heard a few troopers refuse to retreat and to make their last stand with him...what can I do, I can not reprimand these few for disobeying. They are willing to face a fate worse than demotion or inprisonment, they will not be remembered in history texts for their acts but those who survive will remember and repay them by telling their children, and their children.

Then he activated his direct com to command "my lords, we have taken heavy losses in the retreat. The empire has deployed sith amongst their troop, a select group and I have voluntarily stayed in place to aid those left in getting to cover safely. We will not fail in our orders but I urge you to send reinforcements" Tacilin hated having to command the upper level of authority but at this point he too had nothing to loose if they wanted to make an example of him.they'll have to punish a corpse for insubordination, my life will pay to save those left.
The men to his right and left opened fire freely at the oncoming forces. A few body like shapes fell in the horde as his men cheered as if they were hunting some animal for dinner or sport. Then he saw it a returning line of fire that streaked right at them he could hear the energy crackling on the bolts of red light. Then the unwanted sound of two of his men screeched as shots hit them and knocked them to the floor.
Tacilin new they were dead before they even made contact with the ground, but now was not the time for thinking it was time to fight till they could fight no more.As they kept firing the grey mass of the insurgents started to expand, Tacilin knew that this meant they too were taking too heavy casualties in a huddled group so they were spreading more evenly. Tacilin hesitated to guess they were now approaching one man thick and before he could relay his plan he started seeing his men all firing in different directions no two bolts heading to the same spot, some even overlapped each other's path as if they were swoop racing to their intended targets.
More men fell from the grey mass as the bolts disappeared finding their marks, but so to were the oncoming fire Tacilin stopped counting how many of the volunteers had fallen. All he could do is keep firing.
Then a bolt clipped his leg, and sheering pain first him onto one knee. He tightened his jaw so he wouldn't be remembered screaming in his last stand. As he blinked away the tears of pain he saw another bolt of light heading for him. He chose not to evade its path but instead took as many shots as he could at the opposition, one fell, two fell, three fell in quick succession before finally stopping to realise that the energy beam had struck him square in the centre of his chest, and then he felt the pain as the adrenaline of his last stand wore of. He found his breath hard to get, as he grabbed his chest to try seal the wound by instinct he arched forward onto one hand.
As he looked up his vision started to darken as his life ebbed away, fighting to remain consous till he could not fight giving in any more. He saw the grey mass disappear and a new group of grey arise on the horizon and heard the engines of a craft over head before seeing the light searching for the battle field.
Then he gave in to his fate fully.