Revisiting Endor Episode 5

This Episode of Revisiting Endor goes back in time and takes place right after Welter's perspective in Episode 2. This continues from when Lieutenant Welter and his trooper Cooper retreated from the main path on Endor when they noticed an AT-ST open fire on stormtroopers from the distance.

Welter's Perspective: The Nightmare Continues
I fled into the woods with Cooper beside him and another three stormtroopers ahead of them. One was a stormtrooper Captain with a orange pauldron and two were standard stormtroopers. We ran for eight minutes hearing blaster shoots and explosions in the distance. We troops suddenly slowed down when we couldn't hear anything anymore.

Stormtrooper Captain: "Nice to meet you, I'm Sergeant Zach. Designation ZD-243." Welter: "I don't care for you designation. I'll just call you Zach." Cooper: "So what now?" Welter: "We've lost contact with several of our allies and I have no idea how the battle is going. We need to get back in the open field so we aren't targets of Ewoks." Sergeant Zach: "I say we wait until we make it to a nearby imperial outpost. Then we link up with those forces and make a stand."

Stormtrooper: "If I know anything about our boys, then I know we'll mop these rodents up in dew time." Captain Zach: "Alright, let's move it!" Cooper suddenly looks up and notices leaves falling from the trees over them. Cooper: "I think I just saw movement in one of those trees!"

The imperials draw their weapons. Welter: "Keep moving men. These woods do not belong to us." The troopers run but, two Ewoks suddenly become visible on the left and right flanks. The Ewoks are rapidly swinging from trees and easily match the speed of the imperials. Welter is running on the left with one stormtroopers ahead of him, while Cooper runs on the right with Captain Zach ahead of him. A fifth stormtrooper runs in the middle of both lines and in front of his allies.

All of the imperials open fire but, the Ewoks leap from tree to tree to avoid incoming shots. Sergeant Zach shoots down one of the Ewoks on the right flank and it falls from it's tree. Zach: "That all you pests got!" Welter then times a Ewok on the left flank and shoots it off it's tree. Welter: "Something doesn't feel right."

Suddenly two Ewoks can be seen charging from the distance at ground level by the stormtrooper in front of Welter. Stormtrooper: "Ewoks about 15 meters out!" One of the Ewoks in the trees nails the stormtrooper with a stone and the stormtrooper is knocked cold out. Captain Zach: "Man down!" The stormtrooper in front of the team quickly fills in his position.

Cooper: "I can see another two Ewoks at surface level on the right flank about 8 meters away. They have dual axes." Cooper was correct, the Ewoks had two iron pickaxes in both of their hands. Welter: "They were a distraction! Get ready men!" An Ewok in one of the trees on the left flank throws a stone at Welter and Welter narrowly dodges the stone but, trips over a rock and falls in the mud. The stormtrooper on his flank notices it and blasts the Ewok out of it's tree.

On the right flank, Cooper notices which tree an Ewok is hiding behind. He quickly shoots the tree and the Ewok jumps off the tree onto a vine that it can swing from. As soon as it does this, Sergeant Zach blasts it. The Ewok goes flying across the woods into the dirt. Suddenly the Ewok beserkers close in from both flanks and are only about 8 feet from the squad.

Welter kneels, as he rises from the mud. He quickly shoots one of the Ewoks in it's chest. The other Ewok throws one of it's axes, which dispatches the stormtrooper beside him. Welter then shoots that Ewok down. On the right flank, Cooper shoots down the Ewok in front of him. Sergeant Zach shoots an Ewok on it's right arm, causing it to drop one axe.

Then Zach shoots the Ewok two more times. Once in the right leg and once on it's chest. The Ewok drops its second weapon and still crawls forward. Zach kicks the Ewok down and shoots it three times. Then Sergeant Zach shoots the Ewok another five times. Cooper: "Zach! What are you doing? It's dead man!"

Zach pushes Cooper two meet back and yells: "I've had it with these alien bastards! Do you see what they are doing?! If we lose this battle, the Empire will never be the same. Are you going to sit back and let these freaks make a joke of us!" Lieutenant Welter: "Zach enough! We have a mission to complete. We have done all we can, we must continue to do so." Zach points at Welter: "Those savages just killed two of my best men!"

Welter's face turns red and he suddenly exclaims: "You think you are the only one who has lost men! I've lost most of my personal squad! I have no idea what has happened to the rest of my platoon, who I have been cut off with by the way. You are not the only one who has taken losses from this and has more to lose, but you don't see me complaining."

The death star suddenly explodes and the explosion can be seen in the sky. Welter falls to his knees in agony at the site. Captain Zach does the same. Zach drops his gun, takes off his helmet, and starts crying. Cooper: "Alright, that's enough! You guys are supposed to be officers! To set an example for your men like me! But here I am, having to take the lead."

Captain Zach and Lieutenant Welter turn and look at Cooper. Cooper: "Zach put you helmet back on! Welter get up! We've got a mission to complete and we've got families to get back to or at least die trying! Either way, I won't let these Ewoks or rebels or anything else brake me." Sergeant Zach puts his helmet back on and grabs his blaster. Welter gets back up and smiles. Sergeant Zach: "The emperor would be proud. If he's still alive, maybe he'll reward you one day." Lieutenant Welter: "Thank you, I needed that. Let's see what the status is for our allies."

Hard Contact
The team advances through the woods again for another 20 minutes, but fortunately does not run into any hostiles. They suddenly make it to an open path again and notice dozens of stormtrooper corpses. They also see a few scattered Ewok corpses and the corpses of some rebel commandos.

Cooper: "I don't remember seeing this many rebel commandos earlier." Captain Zach: "They must have gotten reinforcements. Which explains why we have lost communications with friendlies. Rebels must have brought jammers and that puts our defense facilities at greater risk." The team moves out and searches for supplies at an abandoned imperial facility.

Cooper picks up a couple extra grenades. Welter gets more ammo and Zach switches his E-11 blaster rifle out with a semi-automatic T-21B blaster rifle. Cooper: "Did you hear that? Sounds like footsteps from the left corner." The imperials quickly move to the corner with blasters drawn and notice two stormtroopers. One standard stormtrooper and one Sergeant with a white pauldron.

Welter: "Thank goodness, I thought you were Ewoks or Rebels." Cooper: "What's your name troopers." Stormtrooper: "Kyle." Stormtrooper captain: "My name is Julio. I was part of the 392nd battalion, unfortunately I was split up for most of them are tasked with protecting research station 07." Captain Zach: "Station 07, that is quite an honor. Only the most talented troopers were tasked with protecting the research facilities."

Cooper: "Why did you leave the facility? Did they dispatch you on a mission or did it get overrun?" Sergeant Julio: "You boys must have missed a lot of action. These rebels have gotten all over us. The shield generator was destroyed some time ago and we lost a lot of good men. Rebels have spread all over this place and it's not safe here anymore. We have to evacuate and find more survivors."

Cooper: "Alright, but if we make it out alive then you have to share what has happened." Sergeant Julio nods at Cooper then says: "I have experience working with communications. I'll have a look at the communicator in this outpost and see if I can get it to work. I know a trick that can get passed basic jammers."