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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 4194653" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 580: The Cavalry“What the hell did you do?!” Loro was down behind the cover of the ledge on the roof of the building, no longer bothering to fire over the side as it was doing no good. They’d moved a heavy crate and the remains of the blaster cannon onto the door in such a way that, even if opened, it would be extremely difficult to break or move. He was currently yelling at the nearest of the Rodians, a younger one with slightly greenish skin pocketed with brown here and there.    The Rodian, who’s name Rea was completely unaware of, leaned over and fired a few shots with his rifle before ducking back down again. He gave Loro a sharp look with those two black eyes and then snapped back, “Didn’t even get to the base!”    “They were coming for us already!” one of the other Rodians, who was currently replacing the power pack in his small carbine, grumbled, “Vong done toying with their prey. Let us live longer than I would have...”    “I think he’s right,” Rea felt the need to yell across the very small roof to be heard, “But I don’t think it really matters right now!”    Loro nodded to that before looking up and over his shoulder. The Coralskippers were still approaching quickly. They were close enough to be distantly heard, too, and odd sound coming through the air that was far more chill-inducing than the screech of TIE Fighters. It was very obvious from the sound that the thing was alive, but it was still relatively quiet, as if the essence of everything that felt wrong about the Yuuzhan Vong could be condensed into a sound.    Next to Rea, who was currently between the crates over the roof access and the stretchers, the crates shook. It made her nearly jump, but thankfully that was all the did. She could vaguely make out the sounds of Chazrach beneath, but knew that the crate would hold long enough. The Coralskippers would kill them first, anyway, so what did it matter?    The green-skinned Rodian suddenly cried out, “Vong Warriors are killing Chazrach to get to the building! They are insane!”    It was stupid, but Rea tilted her head enough to get a look over the side. Just as the Rodian had said, a group of ten or so very large, very angry looking warriors were simply cutting down the smaller Chazrach that got in their way. One of them looked up, caught sight of Rea, and looked ready to throw something, likely a razor bug. Before he could, however, Rea ducked down again, making sure her lekku were good and below the cover, too.    “Why the hell would that send warriors in if they’re going to just blow this place up with those Skips?” Adria growled angrily, having also given up on fighting back due to her power pack dying and not having a backup. That and, well, it felt futile. The only ones still firing were two of the youngest Rodians.    Rea considered looking over again, but heard the growls of the warriors getting closer. Eyes looking up past Loro, she saw the Coralskippers would likely be in range within seconds. It was then that she decided on some last words, “Maybe they just really want us dead.”    They weren’t the best last words, but they damn well were more than most fighter pilots got.    And then four red bolts of energy slammed into the lead Coralskipper from above. Three of the shots were eaten by its miniature black hole defense, but the fourth got through and hit its nose, causing an eruption of liquid flame that must have been thanks to the atmosphere, as Rea had never seen that happen in space. A moment later, the Coralskipper flight was completely overwhelmed from above, and only one was actually able to pull away, with the others going up in flame and then hitting the ground in a plume of fire.    Two X-Wings, three of the newer E-Wings, and an A-Wing suddenly dropped into view, all pulling out of a dive and heading different directions. The E-Wings went after the Coralskipper, with the other fighters breaking off and flying directly over the building before strafing the Vong troops on the ground.    If any of the seven conscious beings on the roof cried out in surprise or joy, it couldn’t be heard. From the roar of the sublight drives passing overhead to the loud screams of the fighter’s laser cannons. And then came another sound even more deafening. It was the distinct sound of turbolaser fire, and Rea looked up to see the shape of a Star Destroyer in orbit above the moon. It was so large that its wedge shape could be clearly seen, as could the green turbolaser blasts arcing down through the moon’s atmosphere, hitting some location off over the horizon.    And there were other ships coming down. Small dots in the sky could be seen darting about, likely that horde of Coralskippers that had ambushed the squadron from before...but now they looked to have an entire fleet to deal with. Through it all, Rea made out a few of the ships growing larger. Eventually she made out the somewhat boxy shapes of Assault Transports, hopefully fully loaded with troops. And they were, from the looks of it, headed straight for the building.    Then, just to make things difficult, the crate next to Rea shook violently again.    “Quit staring up and get your blasters ready!” Loro yelled as he started to scramble for a power pack that at least had a few shots left, “No use getting ourselves killed when help finally gets here!”    There was no arguing with that. Quickly, and still staying low, Rea moved the stretchers away from the crates more and found a blaster pistol she could use. The power pack looked light, though, enough for only a five or six shots. That was, at least, more than none. She then, once again, moved to a position where she was in front of the stretchers as an extra bit of protection.    Above, the fighters were still strafing the outer perimeter around the building, but were being smart and not firing too close. Sadly, that meant the Vong Warriors would likely be either in the building or close to that soon. It seemed like every time something good happened, five things worse occurred.    This time, it was about ten Vong Warriors that were about to occur.    And, from the looks of how far away the shuttles were, the few shots they all had left to defend themselves on the roof would be all they had when, not if, the Vong got through the makeshift defense. Rea began to worry that the fleet had just arrived too late.</blockquote>

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