You had tried to stay brave for everybody you knew and loved in the village, but you couldn't help squeezing Cara's hand under the cover of the extended barricade.

"Don't worry." Reluctantly she pulled her hand from yours and rose her finger to the trigger of her rifle as the felled trees grew closer and closer. "We have a plan, some of the most determined fighters in the galaxy, and Mando. Those bastards don't even stand a chance." The butt of her rifle nestled tightly into her shoulder as she scanned back and forth, hoping to catch a raving bandit in her crosshair.

"If we don't make it, and that walker churns us into paste or disintegrates the village with it's cannons, I just want you to know that I really enjoyed the time you and Mando, specifically you, have spent getting us prepared." She pulled her eye from the gleaming scope and turned her head ever so slightly until you were in her vision. "If some miracle happens and we do survive. I want you to come back Sorgan." She lent a coy smile before returning her gaze to the tree line.

"I will." Her finger decompressed loosely on the trigger as the slightest rustle shook the front most canopy. "Stay down, I still can't see anything." She whispered.

"How are you so calm?" Thinking you were fully prepared you had not been too worried, but as the feint deathly red glow of the walker's eyes marched through the forest and stopped just short of the hole you had dug, you struggled to keep your blaster hand from shaking.

"I did this every day for the resistance. I'd drop in to some Empire infested shithole of a system and stare death in the face from the moment we would be flying over their territory through to then the evac would carry us away. Weird to think I was sad to leave. I miss the job, don't miss the thought of taking a plasma bolt to the face."

A harsh, ghastly series of yells escaped from the forest as the first wave of relentless bandits emerged from the bushes.

"OPEN FIRE!" Cara yelled out to you and the rest of the blaster wielding firing line. "MAKE EVERY SHOT COUNT!" Her battle rallying bolstered your spirit and kept your hand steady as you fired round after round into the quickly approaching attackers.

~*~

Written by Aaron.