Star Wars IX- Balance Of The Force

Chapter 25- Russan

It was late at night and quiet on Ruusan, and for the fifth and final time, Altor was sneaking out of the barracks where he and the other troopers slept. Altor was dressed plainly in the black base layers the troopers wore underneath their uniform, having stripped off his armour and left it in the barracks. His blaster was the only symbol he'd brought with him from his time amongst the First Order. He'd become quite attached to it in his time as a spy, and no doubt it would be helpful. Currently, he was crouched in the woods behind the makeshift barracks. Altor would be meeting the other spies here as well as any troopers they thought might join them. Altor had three with him, not many; he was sure he could have got more, but the noise was not worth the risk and had more been absent, it would have drawn attention. He didn't know the other spies by face, only by name; he'd joined the initiative early and been located on Vice Admiral Renor's Dreadnought from the beginning. He was hunched in the dirt in silence, trying to blend into the ground. He watched as small groups in black scurried their way over to the woods. He shifted with his small group to join the new groups. Everyone was hunkered low as they approached, looking anxiously at each other; one of them finally spoke.

"Altor?"

Altor let out a huge sigh, "Yeah."

"Caleb", "Hally", "Roan", and "Eva," each of the spies introduced themselves nervously raising a hand in greeting. Each had three or four First Order deserters with them who were looking apprehensively about them. They were so young, so many of them were so young.

"This way, keep quiet and keep down." 

Altor knew where the valley was, so he led the way, and the group followed as silently as they could, creeping along as close to the ground as possible, occasionally pausing to check the way was clear from behind a tree trunk. The valley was nearby but not so close that you could hear the ships and transports landing. It was a good hour-long walk, and trying to remain hidden at this speed, it would be longer.

-X-

Admiral Nunb and Admiral Statura came out of light speed in the system around Ruusan, purposefully avoiding being directly outside Ruusan. They were cloaked, but anything to avoid detection was worth doing. From here, Admiral Statura could release their transports to the planet with their forces. Admiral Nunb, however, had to lower into Ruusan's atmosphere in order to land their tanks.

"Slowly, Captain, slow and gentle, we want to avoid all detection," Admiral Nunb commanded to his Captain in his native tongue; all the crew on his ship had been under his command long enough to learn his language. Admiral Nien Nunb knew all about being discreet. Before joining the Alliance under Princess Leia Organa, he'd been an arms dealer, a smuggler, and a good one. Princess Leia had said to herself, "Only you could have smuggled an entire rescue craft under the Empire's noses," that was years ago now, and Nunb was a veteran pilot and now an experienced leader of the Resistance. The MC80 Star Cruiser descended through Ruusan's dark sky, the hum of the engines lost in the breeze running through the valley. It landed gently, and vast swathes of dust wafted around it.

"Nicely done, Captain. Inform General Ematt they can depart our forces and the tanks."

Down in the loading bay, General Ematt stood with his three squadrons. In front of them, the bay door lowered, and the tanks departed. General Ematt said nothing, merely raised a hand, and the fleet followed the tanks into the dark, dusty valley.

At the rear of the loading bay, Rey went to move forward, but Ben grasped her hand, holding her back a moment, and she looked at his face with concern. She saw a look she hadn't seen since their bond had begun during his interrogation of her on Starkiller Base when she'd managed to read his mind as he had read hers and found his greatest fear: that he'd never be as strong as Darth Vader, his grandfather.