I stand apart from my men on the ride down to the surface of the planet. I know that if I stand there and talk to them I will end up getting attached, and I know I'm sending these men to die. If I get attached I'll lose my nerve and I promised Vis I would do this.
"You okay?" Mako asked, his helmet off as he inched closer to me, clinging to the railing for stability. I looked up at him and slipped off my helmet, nodding.
"Yeah," I said quietly but sighed quietly. Mako put his hand on my shoulder. He would understand, I knew he would. I looked down at my helmet, turning in my hands.
"We're almost there," he said. I nodded quietly and shifted my shoulders some.
"I don't like these aqua trooper suits," I said quietly. "They're tighter than normal bodysuits," I added. Mako smiled softly and laughed quietly.
"You get used to it. Plus, it's not so tight in the water," he said.
I nodded and picked up my helmet, reconnecting the breather tubes to the lightweight air tank on my back. "Yeah, I still don't like them that much," I stated. "Now, get your helmet on, we should be there any minutes," I ordered, slipping my helmet on.
"Yes ma'am," Mako responded with a half sarcastic tone. I gave him a glare through my visor as he picked up his helmet and pulled it on, checking his breathing tubes. I looked over and ordered the rest of the men in the ship to get ready as I felt the ship dip down above the water. A moment later the side doors opened and I walked to the edge, sitting down to pull on my boots that doubled as flippers for swimming. Everyone else followed suit. I took a deep breath, looking down at the churning water being kicked up by the repulsors of the ship. I looked down the line of men.
"Go!" I yelled over comms. The men that were ready pushed off the edge and let themselves drop into the water below. I glanced at Mako and he clapped me reassuringly on the back. I nodded at our silent exchange, then gripped the edge of the ship floor and shoved myself off the edge before I could think. A moment of complete weightlessness followed as I crossed my arms over my chest to narrow my profile and decrease the pain of impact. My feet hit first and a moment later I was submerged. I gasped instantly as if expecting my lungs to fill with water, but the seal on my helmet held and I simply got a lungful of clean cool air. I took a second to assert myself before twisting around and kicking myself down from the surface.
"Everyone in the water?" I called, looking through the dark murky water to try and spot my men. We were far enough from the Calamari base to be safe.
"All here, Commander," Mako said after a moment.
"Good," I said and reached up to turn on my helmet lights. "Break into your groups. Mako, you're with me. The enemy base if about three klicks from here and two klicks down. We will head down then over. Remember, full frontal assault. We will siege them if need be. They're civilians, they can't hold out long," I ordered everyone. A twinge of remorse struck me, making me feel nauseous as I thought about all of these men, most of them entirely innocent, blindly running into the fire of the enemy.
I couldn't save them all, though. Right now, my focus was saving the Mon Calamari and nothing else.
"Yes ma'am," most of them chorused in response and I nodded, giving them a minute to split into their groups before I began descending into the murky waters.
It took a good twenty minutes to reach the proper depth and once there the water seemed to clear from a murky grey to a clear blue. I could see the spires of the city in the distance and the lights from the enemy base were just ahead. I wondered if Vis was down there, although I hoped he wasn't.
Once parallel to the base, we began to swim along the sea floor, moving steadily towards the base. As per the plan, I paid little heed to stealth and simply fell back a rank or two beside Mako. As we neared the base I began to wonder if perhaps my plan would work. I didn't want it to, but if these people truly weren't trained, this sloppy attack could accidentally work. I found myself stalling a little and kicked harder to keep up, swallowing hard.
Here's hoping Vis at least send them a little help, I thought to myself as we approached. The base seemed almost deserted, lights on but no activity visible. I took in a deep breath and reached for my pistol.
"All units prepared for attack?" I called over comms. I got the same chorus of a positive response and nodded to myself.
"All units, proceed with the attack," I calmly said, drawing my pistol as we surrounded the base. Moments after my words left my mouth I saw blaster fire fill the water. My men surrounded the base and moved steadily closer, firing. I saw no return fire, though, and began to worry. For several minutes we kept up the attack and a few of my men began to penetrate the base. A few even made it inside. I stayed back and watched, looking around, starting to feel some nature of impending danger, but not sure where it was coming from. Suddenly, static burst through my comms and cut out.
"Ma'am, the base...it's empty," one of the men who had entered the base suddenly said. I paused, knowing exactly what was happening, and it was exactly what I had hoped would happen. I still paused, though, hesitate to give the order when the Mon Calamari suddenly burst in from behind with guns blazing. My men were caught entirely off guard and I finally managed to yell the order to turn about. Thankfully, it was practically too late. The Mon Calamari soldiers were among our ranks instantly, picking off the men around me. I turned myself and began to fire back, careful to avoid actually hitting any of our attackers. If this was Vis's handiwork, he had indeed trained these people well. They moved swiftly through the water, thinning the ranks with ease. I even had to dodge a few close shots myself.
Even with their training, the battle still raged on longer than anticipated. I dove slightly to avoided a couple of blaster bolts and fired back into the now murky waters, kicking up dust as I struggled to maintain my position. Another shot came out of the blackness and I narrowly avoided it, losing my bearings slightly. I looked up to try and catch a glimpse of Mako or any of my men, but the water had become too dark and mud riddled and I could see hardly anything.
I was near the bottom, though, so I allowed myself to sink until I could touch the sea floor, then I thrust myself upwards, turning to fire back into the mayhem. I caught a quick glance of Mako on my left and kicked forward.
Moving forward quickly proved to be a mistake, though, for as soon as I had propelled myself towards the advancing Mon Calamari, several blaster bolts came from the blackness and I didn't have time to adjust. I felt one of the bolts slam into my shoulder armor, knocking me spinning while another grazed past my collarbone. I could only feel a tingle of seared skin, though, before I registered the injury and the burning pain spread. I suppressed a pained cry and just pressed forward, reminding myself that they didn't know. I fired a few sloppy shots back into the empty water before dropping my arm to my side and reaching to the wound, pressing my hand against it. There didn't seem to be any blood, but I knew as well as anyone that not all blaster shots cauterized the wound. I didn't have time to focus on my injury, though, and simply pressed upward, trying to escape the thick of the fighting.
As I reached a thinner area, Mako's voice came through on my comm. "Ma'am, we're outnumbered and they have us cornered. We need to get out of here or we'll be slaughtered," he said.
I looked down and saw the exchange of fire from both sides, no longer seeing as much coming from my men anymore. My mind wandered to wonder how many were lying dead in the water, but I shook the thought from my head as I answered Mako.
"Understood, Lieutenant," I said, then raised my voice a little, struggling to keep the pain out of it. "All units, immediate retreat. I repeat, make an immediate retreat to the pickup," I said. I looked down and let out a quiet sigh, pressing my hand a little harder on the wound. New pain sparked through my shoulders but I simply gritted my teeth and began to kick harder, moving away from the battle. A minute later all fire from our side ceased and I saw a few men manage to make their way out. Mako slipped out as well and lead some of the men away to safety. I turned my gaze forward and slowed my pace a little, making my way to the pickup destination.
When we had all arrived, I looked around and noted that about a quarter of my men remained. I thought I would feel worse knowing the others were dead or too badly injured to swim, but instead I felt almost a relief. The Mon Calamari had won and were safe for the moment and that was all that mattered.
Mako swam over to me from the group and I looked up as he approached, but he paused, then swam over faster.
"You're injured," he said bluntly.
I looked down at the wound, nodding a little. "It just grazed me, I'll be fine," I said firmly. I could tell Mako was giving me one of his skeptical older brother looks, though, and so I allowed him to move my hand and inspect the wound as best he could through the hazy water.
"You still need to get that treated as soon as we are above water," he said, just as firmly. "And that's an order."
I nodded. "Yes sir," I quipped weakly and smiled, pressing my hand back over the wound once Mako backed off some. After that I looked up slightly, feeling the water around me beginning to move a little more than usual. Through the distorted view below the surface, I could make out a dark ship, though. The ship came closer to the water than before and I could practically feel the strong wind churning the water around us.
"Alright men, they're here to get us," I called, swimming up to the surface myself. I broke the surface of the water and saw several other troopers there ready to help us up. I let my men go first, then Mako and finally he helped one of the other men haul me into the ship. Once inside, I used my free hand to quickly pull off my helmet, shivering as I suddenly realized how cold the water around us had been. Mako knelt beside me and I looked up at him as he gestured a couple of medics over.
I leaned back against the wall and tried to sit up some, pulling my hand back from the wound. As soon as I did, though, I could see the black stain of blood on my glove and realized that the wound had been bleeding the whole time. I looked up at Mako only to feel like everything around me was starting to sway and swim. I put a hand to my head and looked back down.
"Hotshot?" Mako's dim voice cut through my foggy mind. I looked back at him, not registering his words. He was speaking, I could hear him, but nothing made sense. It was all simple gibberish. I cut my eyes over to the medics approached and watched them for a moment as they moved seemingly is a slow blur. I blinked, my eyes feeling heavy as I looked around. For a minute nothing seemed to move and a feeling of strong drowsiness settled over me. Without a second thought, I gave into it and let everything fade to black and I closed my eyes.