Major Kaela had unclipped his second rifle, and now with one in each hand was been slowly forced back towards the shield generator by sheer numbers of droids. Moving between the giant containers that acted as cover, his squad was inflicting massive damage on the battle droid numbers. Down the aisle between two rows of containers, a group of over twenty droids had formed up and were marching down, sending out a devastating barrage of fire towards his men; three were already down. Checking the clips in his rifles he waited. One of his men threw an anti-droid mine down the aisle. As it exploded he stepped into the middle of the aisle and opened fire, cutting down the droids not destroyed by the mine. The intense close quarters fighting within the hold was dependent on teamwork and each member of his team acting without hesitation, even if it meant their life.
The battle had been raging for twenty minutes before he finally received the thirty-second notice that the ship would be jumping to light speed. Quickly he took cover behind one of the five-thousand tonne containers that were magnetically welded to the hold floor and prepared to magnetise his boots. This would lock his suit rigid to stand like an immovable statue. Looking around quickly he saw his squad had already prepared for the jump and stood rigid. With seconds to spare he locked his suit.
The ship made the jump to light speed and everything within the hold turned to chaos. Within the giant hold of the transporter there were no buffering shields to fully protect those inside from the G-force of a jump to light speed as there was in other ships. Without the battle suits and warning of the jump his squad would have been lifted off their feet and slammed into any fixed object in their path with the force of about thirty gravities. Through gritted teeth at the pressure still exerted on them Major Kaela watched as the invading droids were lifted into the air to fly past, crashing into each other and the containers. Small explosions were seen as the droid units power packs ruptured. Anything not locked down was lifted up to end up smashed to scrap as it flew through the air towards the back of the ship. The droid attack was over in an instant, the entire invading force destroyed. The droid landing craft were stripped from the outside of the hull by the force of the acceleration and for a split second the transporter faced being ripped apart as the hold depressurised, then the inner atmosphere shields kicked in, preventing the air escaping. Within ten seconds it was over and the gravity within the transporter hold returned to normal.
Releasing the magnetism of the boots and unlocking the joints of the battle suit so he could move again, Kaela walked into the aisle and looked down to see the great pile of wrecked droids at the far end of the ship. Bonus parts towards the war effort, his Sergeant would always say. To Kaela it just signified he had survived to do it all again next time.
“OK, you know the drill. Sweep the hold for any droid that still works, then it’s time for dinner. Sergeant, give the order for our service droids to get to work and get the hull patched before those shields fail.”
To be continued.
All images are mine.
