Unknown Soldier/Chapter Two

SELSOR, EXPANSION REGION 3 ABY

Amniva looked over the frozen landscape of Selsor as their dropship flew past the various defenses the Rebels erected on the surface. The snowtroopers had been flying in the dropship for about twenty minutes. He was aboard the same one as Commander Soliger and Captain Slokay, but no one said a word. He did not know how the others felt. Amniva was glad that they can finally stamp the Rebel presence off of another planet, liberating the galaxy one world at a time. But at the same time, he was anxious; Amniva knew that many of their soldiers would not return from this mission. At least they will die for the Emperor, he thought. Eternal glory.

The dropship suddenly shuddered and Amniva almost fell. He looked outside through the viewport and could see Rebel mortar teams speaking the barren landscape.

"Enemy mortars! Be ready!" Commander Soliger yelled.

They served to the right, and he could feel the ship going down steadily, and it came to a stop. The doors opened seconds later, and the troopers jumped out. Amniva was among the first to disembark the dropship, and he ran out into the snow. He could see other dropships flying overhead, and landing nearby. The whole area was filled with snowtroopers and some Army soldiers. In the distance, not too far off, he could see the outline of a fortress. Several TIE bombers passed overhead, probably en route to the fort. The others disembarked the dropship, and Amniva turned around to face them.

"Lieutenant Silvoi, with us," Captain Slokay said. "We need to see the commanding officer."

Amina nodded, and followed the two snowtrooper officers towards a small command building that had been hastily set up as a forward base. As they walked, he heard blaster fire in the distance. Probably troops engaging the Rebel mortar squads. As they entered the command building, Amniva looked around and noticed everyone was an officer. Army officer. That confirmed his fears. The Imperial Army and Stormtrooper Corps had a silent rivalry. They walked into a briefing room full of other officers, and a large man was standing in the front. Taking a seat near the back, the trio listened.

"Finally, on the three-hundredth day of the siege, we can end it. The central Rebel base is just a kilometer away," he said, with several cheers from the assembled officers. "To those that do not know, I am Major Kalima, the commanding officer during this assault. The general appointed me to the task, as he had to watch the front lines behind us for the Rebels who might want to escape."

The major looked around. "Now, the Army troopers will begin the assault by charging the Rebel defensive line. We have more than enough to be able to break the line and attack the base." Amniva was disgusted by what he said, but still agreed. He was momentarily shocked at the way Kalima talked about getting all of those troops killed in a wave attack, but realized he was right. But still, even officers of the Stormtrooper Corps were not that wasteful. I guess the Army just has more resources, he thought.

"Now, the AT-STs and AT-ATs will provide cover fire and support during the attack, making it much easier. And the Navy had some bombers soften their defenses a bit already, though I may send some TIE/gt squadrons to expand on that. Anyways, our friends from the Stormtrooper Corps"—he motioned to the trio—"will be aboard the walkers for the first half of the operation. As we break their line and near the base, they will disembark and be the first to enter it, clearing a path for the Army."

Everyone briefly looked back at them, and turned back to the major. "Any questions?" Kalima asked.

No one said anything for a bit, but then Kisoyt spoke up. "Who are the Rebel leaders? Should we kill or capture them?"

"Set for kill. Central Command explicitly said no prisoners. They are two Umbaran generals. Not surprising, the Umbarans sided with the Separatists back during the Clone Wars. In fact, Intelligence believes that these two generals are former members of the Confederacy," he said.

The snowtrooper commander nodded.

"No other questions? Good, let us get to work," the major dismissed them.

As Amniva followed Kisoyt and Auddo out of the building, the latter started talking.

"I always disliked the Army guys," Auddo said. "Glad I joined the Corps."

"We're on the same side, remember that," Kisoyt replied.

"Don't worry, its not like we are going to shoot each other," he said.

"Not as long as I can keep you on a leash, at least," Kisoyt jokingly replied. Amniva chuckled. "Anyway, we need to meet up aboard the walker Striker One, that is where the rest of our battalion is. Or part of it, as they only carry sixty men each."

"Right, so we just get dropped off when they clear the way, and storm the base?" Amniva asked.

"Correct."

"Good, sounds simple enough. If Intelligence was not lying about the severe supply shortages, then I can imagine half of them would be too starved to fight and would surrender. Only to be shot, of course." Amniva said.

"Hopefully it will be that easy," the commander replied. "Though I would not underestimate them too much."

"I understand. We underestimated them at Akuria II, and look how that turned out!" Amniva exclaimed.

"Yeah, but to be fair, there are no Jedi here, like there were on Akuria II." Kisoyt replied.

"Indeed." Auddo said.

They approached the walker at that point. The behemoth was as large as Amniva expected. He had never seen an All Terrain Armored Transport in person. That was the only good thing in the Army, in his opinion. He would have loved to be an Army pilot, but was probably not skilled enough. Never even drove a landspeeder in his life. Getting aboard, they sat down in a set of seats closest to the neck of the walker, which led to the command cabin. The walker commander probably would issue them orders when to disembark, and so Kisoyt wanted to be nearby.

As the rest of the troopers got into their seats, the Striker One began moving forward with a lurch. He could hear the walker's legs hitting the ground, and felt the vibrations they caused. Amniva quickly became bored. Unless you're driving, gunning, or commanding an AT-AT, it was incredibly boring experience. Being aboard the walker felt great initially, but now that the lieutenant realized it would take them a lengthy period of time to get to the Rebel base, the feeling of excitement eroded away. He closed his eyes, hoping to catch some sleep before they arrived. The last time he slept was probably over 24 hours ago.

Amniva could not go to sleep, as the vibrations caused by the walker legs and the occasional explosion on the exterior of the vehicle kept him awake. Ha, the Rebels think that their mortars and rocket launchers will damage this walker, Amniva smiled inside his helmet. What a futile thought. Finally, after another fifteen minutes or so, he really couldn't tell, he could here the door of the command cabin opening. Major Kalima walked into the hold. So that was the walker commander.

"Alright, we're close enough to the base. The Army troopers killed most defenders, but there are still some holding out ahead, you will have to clear them before entering the base," the major said.

"OK, squad, get to the drop hatches! Today we will see the final end of the Rebel presence on this world, and tomorrow, onto the next!" Kisoyt announced.

The snowtroopers let out a Hurrah! as they moved to the open side doors of the walker. Amniva attached a cable to his waist, preparing to jump down to the ground many meters below. He was a bit nervous, but knew the cables were strong enough to support him and the others; it's been done before. He looked to the commander, and as he gave the signal, the fifteen troopers going first dropped down. Amniva felt a rush for the few seconds in mid air, and then the crunch! upon hitting the snowy ground. Unfazed, the lieutenant looked around the battlefield. The area around the, was clear, but he could see bodies piling up about ten meters away. Mostly Rebel, in that area. Looking back, he could see many corpses of Army troopers. Too bad they died in such a wasteful and primitive attack, he thought. If I was an officer, I would have given everyone of them a medal.

They ran through the snow, silently, in a delta formation behind the commander. No infantry were attacking them, but Amniva could see several were hiding behind a down AT-AT ahead, preparing for a fight. Wait, they actually took one down!?! Amniva was surprised. He automatically thought of the Snow Hawks aboard the walker, whether his squad mates survived. He saw a few snowtrooper bodies around, surrounded by about twice that many Rebels. At least they took as many of them as they could with them, Amniva thought. It was still not very comforting.

"Take no prisoners, comrades!" Auddo yelled as they neared the down walker and opened fire at the Rebels.

Amniva aggressively put up his E-11 and fired viciously into the Rebel blockade of soldiers. He killed several enemies within the first few seconds, and the others were gunned down by his squad mates. As they advanced through the wreckage and found more dead bodies of their fellow Snow Hawks, he felt even more enraged. He then noticed a nearby Rebel trooper. His legs were both gone from the knees, and his right arm was torn up. His nose was bleeding as well, and it looked like a bolt grazed is shoulder. He was slowly bleeding out. For several seconds, Amniva began to raise his blaster to execute him, but decided against it. He deserves to suffer, for going against the Emperor!

As the team advanced from the wreckage and entered through a large scorched whole in the fortress wall, Amniva reloaded his depleted E-11. How I love this weapon, he thought, simply designed yet very deadly. The squad fanned out in the corridor that they entered, and began to advance. Much of the metal walls collapsed inwards, causing several snowfalls into it. However, the hall was wide, so they got through. Amniva and the others just headed forward, further in, as every door they passed was either covered up deep in snow or was destroyed from a snow fall from the inside, causing the metal door to jut outwards slightly and crack.

Finally, they approached an intersection with several Rebel soldiers standing around, guarded by a barricade of crates with an E-Web turret behind it. One yelled something, and they all turned, beginning to fire. The E-Web came on as well, firing laser bursts into the hall. Amniva took cover behind a large pile of snow, but saw three troopers gunned down before they could get to cover. Damn! He climbed on top of the snow pile and threw a stun grenade down the hall, and upon hearing it explode, popped out and fired several bolts, hitting the turret gunner and a couple of his comrades.

He went back down behind the snow pile, as the other troopers fired and killed more of the soldiers.

"They're down, move up!" Kisoyt ordered.

The squad moved up the hall. Amniva counted seven of their men dead, just from that firefight. In total, he estimated they lost sixteen or so, on their way to the fortress. As they quickly shuffled through the hallway, they began hearing loud talking. Finally, they came to a doorway. Kisoyt motioned them to go against the wall, and they complied. He slightly opened one of the metal doors, peeking in. After a few seconds, he quietly closed it and turned to them.

"It's a round command center, a few armed guards, but mostly controllers. I recognized a couple of guys that look like Umbarans, probably the two Rebel officers. We are on the second floor. They are both up here. We burst in, and kill them all. Understood? No survivors." Kisoyt said.

After a couple of seconds, Amniva heard a couple of quiet yes, sirs in response. Time to go to work. A demolitions guy planted several explosives in the center, and the forward troopers prepared several stuns, smokes, and flash bangs. As the commander gave the order, a loud BOOM could be heard, and everything shook, as the door blew in. He realized it was not locked, so they could have just ran in. But hell, we need a grandiose entrance! Amniva thought as they rushed in.

Blaster fire was everywhere, but mostly coming from them. The few guards were quickly dropped, and so Amniva began taking out the officers. Then he spotted one of the Umbarans, firing a rifle. Yes! He aimed the E-11 and fired, taking out the pale-skinned officer in a couple of shots to the side. The squad dispersed and moved throughout the second level. In the center was a large circular hole in the floor that opened into the first floor. In the opposite wall was a large window, which stretched to both the first and second floors. Amniva moved towards a stairway downwards, past consoles and holographic tables. He shot a few panicked controllers, in cold blood. As he moved down the stairs, Amniva realized how cold he was being. Maybe I am enjoying this too much, he thought.

"Both of the Umbarans are dead!" someone shouted.

Well, the mission was essentially complete. As they fought the guards on the first floor, trying to prevent the officers from escaping down a corridor, Amniva felt a surge of joy. They had liberated yet another world from Rebel hands. The Empire was triumphant! Suddenly, a group of Army troopers ran in through a secondary doorway on the far side of the room and took up defensive positions along that half of the room, but didn't fire at the remaining Rebels. ''What the hell? I thought we were the only ones entering!''

He ran over to Commander Soliger nearby.

"Sir, what the hell—"

Amniva was cut off by a large explosion on the roof. Part of it collapsed, and caved in. Luckily, it hit part of the second floor, where there were no live people by that point. The Army troopers began, for some reason, during at them! He dodged behind a computer console and began firing back with his E-11, though his inaccurate shots did not hit anyone. Suddenly, he got a communication on the comlink built into his helmet.

"Attention all snowtroopers, this is Captain Trax! Major Kalima has gone rogue, it appears he is a traitor, announcing allegiance to the Rebellion. Some of his troops are in on it, and have begun attacking the interior! Be careful, clear them out!"

Amniva couldn't believe it. The Army troopers, however, appeared to be mostly killed. The few remaining ones begun fleeing down the small corridor they had come from. Kisoyt yelled to pursue them, and the Snow Hawks ran after them. After running and shooting for ten minutes, they reached the outside of the base, where after a short firefight, Amniva and the others killed off the traitors. Why would they do this!?! he thought. An assault shuttle landed nearby, outside of the base, and an officer walked out, as other snowtroopers and loyal Army troopers secured the perimeter and scoured for any more traitors.

"Colonel Vandalor! What is going on?" Commander Soliger yelled.

"Don't worry, the rogue Major Kalimar was killed. Only a few men decided to join him in betrayal, so he was outgunned pretty quick. Are you alright?" Vandalor asked.

"Yes, I am fine, but sadly some of my men are not," he replied.

Amniva and Auddo joined up with them, along with several other troopers.

"Do not worry, you are to return to an orbiting Star Destroyer. You fought well, and the Rebellion has been crushed. The Five-oh-first Legion has arrived to clean up remaining Rebels and traitors," the colonel said. "The dropships are on their way."