Chapter 6: Aftermath

Nothing but jaws dropped to the ground and a heavily damaged base was to be seen on this sector of Naboo. Commander Stone and Captain Crane pulled as many bodies out from under the rubble as they could, didn't matter to them if they were potentially dead or alive. They tried doing the Heimlich maneuver on the injured. Not even a single fainted breath came from their mouths. Stone dashed over to some more potential survivors and commenced to do the same exact thing on them. This time, he might have gotten something. "Crane, over here," Stone yelled.

Crane rushed on over and the commander ordered him to try the same maneuvers he tried on the others that did not work out. The victim of war started to faintly cough up some dust. Crane patted his back. "Seven, are you alright?" Stone asked.

"[Cough] I'll live, Commander. What- what happened [cough]," Seven replied. Stone helped Seven get up and off the ground.

"It was an ambush by the Empire. Shale betrayed us," Stone informed looking down.

"What? What do you think he's up to now?" Seven asked, worried.

"Rotting," Crane answered. Seven looked at Stone. Stone nodded his head as he patted some of the dust off of Seven's soldier wear. Seven shook his head.

"How's Bly?" Seven asked.

"He's alive, isn't he?" Crane answered swiftly. Bly began to get up on his own and Stone quickly rushed in to assist him. He tried his hardest to mutter out at least a couple of syllables. Stone removed Bly's helmet and he then initiated coughing as well as Seven. Crane stood by Seven, anxiously awaiting the shock clone trooper to spit out what exactly he was trying to say, if anything at all. He was biting his finger nails and sweating like a pig again.

"L- look," Bly finally muttered out. The commander expeditiously turned his head to the direction of what Bly was pointing at in the sky. Same with the captain and Seven. It was kind of obscure due to the clouds but all they needed to know was the sound of the object in the atmosphere to identify it. Roaring above the fields of Naboo, the flying object made its coordinates to land.

"Hide!" Stone commanded. When they got inside a secret compartment and behind some cargo crates, a light bulb flickered inside Stone's mind. Meanwhile, stormtroopers from sectors of the vast void of space exited their vessel and reconnoitered the damaged base. Looking around, the head stormtrooper used designated hand signals specifically for his troopers in cases like this. He appeared to have yellow markings and lines on his armor and a dandelion colored pauldron. Stone turned to his fellow comrades. "Alright, this may be difficult to understand but in order for us to comprehend on why and how they got here, I must act as a spy and infiltrate their base of operations," Stone considered.

Crane laughed out loud. "Ha! Um, are you insane? We know how and why. How: It was because of Shale. Why: So they can gather point blank data from us."

"No, there's more to it than that. I must go in. This is a goodbye, men. May the force be with you."

Crane and Seven exchanged glances. "What? Stone! No!" They both loudly whispered. Stone withdrew from where they were hiding and came out in plane sight- the colored stormtrooper noticed him first.

"Hey, men! Over here!" Stone yelled waving his hands up and down.

"Commander? Where have you been this whole darn time? We haven't seen you since the Jedi purge," that stormtrooper asked.

"I was captured by the Resistance Militia Squadron and sent to this base!"

"... Alright, but we will need to do a full on evaluation of you back at home-base, after of course, we take control of this one," stormtrooper commander told him.

Stone smirked. "I'm ready."