The next few hours were spent in traveling through the caves and away from the shuttle. With its power off, it likely wasn't going to come up on scans for active vessels and hopefully their attackers wouldn't be looking for it, or at the very least leave it be if they did.
"We still have the transponder." Briemi said. "We'll just find a good place to get a signal sent up."
"And make sure nobody who shouldn't get it gets it." Calen said.
"It's only tuned to Alliance frequencies. We ought to be okay." Briemi said.
"Really hope you're right on that one." Calen said. He was less than convinced. Even the attempt to abandon the shuttle and go deeper into the caves had been motivated by split-second thinking.
"I personally hope we have a shuttle to go back in." Briemi said.
"Not my brightest moment, but-" Calen started.
"No, no, I know. You made the right call." Briemi said. "If we'd stayed, the lifesigns would have been picked up and they probably would have made a bigger crater out of that crater."
"I just hope it doesn't bite us in the ass." Calen said. "How many days of rations do we have from the shuttle?"
"Two." Briemi said. "And between those of us that are left, it's not gonna last that long."
"Let's give it a few more hours, then we can circle back." Calen said. They hadn't heard any bombing from above. No gravimetric disturbances or anything of the like thus far. With any luck, they'd already given up the ghost, not that Calen was holding his breath waiting for that to have happened.
Indeed, a few more hours did go by with no sign of an attack, a group was tapped to return the way they had come from. When the scouts returned reporting the coast was clear, the group began to move. It was quiet, too quiet for Calen's liking. "I think we need to move ahead." Calen said.
"What do you mean?" Briemi asked.
"I mean, we scout ahead. Something's not right." Calen said, drawing his blaster. "C'mon."
"Everybody hold up here." Briemi said, gesturing to the others. The group, having travelled for a bit of a distance back the way they had come, were happy for the break. Even so, Calen could tell many of them were getting agitated.
"We'll be quick." Calen said.
"Let's hope so." Briemi said, drawing her blaster. The two crept along through the tunnel, heading back the way they had come hours earlier. "What's the something not right you were talking about?" She whispered.
"I don't know. Shhh." Calen said, his own blaster having been drawn. "Hold still."
"What?" Briemi asked. Calen's answer came in the form of him turning around on the sport and squeezing the trigger three times - a trio of blaster bolts tearing through the air and striking a target. The explosion that followed was. "Small target. Metallic."
"Probe droid." Calen said, walking over to it, holding up a fist-sized metallic sphere.
"Pretty safe bet they know we're here." Briemi said.
"Let's go." Calen started off back toward the group. Upon their arrival, he began to dictate orders. "Medical groups to the back, anyone who can fight, to the front. We have minutes, maybe seconds! Now!" The Rebel band began to move according to the orders. The men and women gathered around, their blasters ready. There were only a few left, hopefully that would be enough to repel an attack. "Alright, we're going to work from within the stalactites. Find some cover and get ready, we only have one entry point in or out of this place, so we can bottleneck them here." He pointed down the way that he and Briemi had come. "Everybody got that?" There were a few murmurs of agreement, which Calen nodded to. "Alright, let's do it."
"Hope this works." Briemi said.
"Why are you deferring to me, anyway?" Calen asked as the two got behind some cover, a few of the aforementioned stalactites that formed an effective barrier. The two took turns looking out for the oncoming attack.
"Combat situation. I can fight, but I'm supposed to be doing the espionage end of things." Briemi explained. "If it comes to combat-"
"Then the senior ranked officer takes over." Calen finished her explanation. "That'd be me."
"Right-o."
"Well, hopefully I haven't just gotten us all killed." Calen said.
"Speak for yourself, Captain. I plan to live forever." The blonde gave a grin that was pretty infectious. For a moment, Calen almost believed she just might.
"Something's coming up!" One of the soldiers hissed, and they did indeed hear booted feet moving down the corridor. Heavy booted feet.
"Steady. . ." Calen hissed under his breath. He attempted to reach out with the Force, trying to feel for the enemies as Niyasa had taught him, but his fatigue and the excitement of being in a combat were making this an unenviable task for his focus. Instead, he became aware of the first enemy when they made their way out into the artificial light - a Trandoshan with a blaster rifle.
"FIRE!" One of the soldiers shouted, all of them blasting at the humanoid lizard. Several shots missed, some wider than others, and the Trandoshan got a pair of shots off that downed two of the men before it was taken down, only to be replaced with others coming out. A Gamorrean, a Niktu, and others flooding in, all with guns blazing. The cacophony of blaster fire drowned out the sounds of anything else. Calen spent time trying to bark out orders, but to no avail. With the noise and the enclosed space, no one could hear him.
He did his best to take down the attacking forces, as did Briemi and the other men. However, for each of the Hutt's men (and Calen was certain they were of Zobek's forces) that they took down, three more seemed to spring up out of the shadows.
"There's too many of them!" One of the soldiers shouted, barely being heard of the cacophony before they were felled in some rounds of blaster fire. Calen, witness to the event, reached out his hand as the man's blaster fell. With an exertion of the Force, he pulled it into his free hand, now dual-wielding in an attempt to thin out the herd even more. Alas, it seemed pointless as more just continued to flood into the area.
"Fall back!" Calen shouted.
"To where?!" Briemi shouted back. "We have to-" She was suddenly cut short as a blaster bolt tore into her stomach.
"No!" Calen's cry went unheard as Briemi fell to the ground, unmoving.
"<Stun the rest! The boss wants new stock!>" Calen heard the shout in Huttese as it became clear what should have been from the beginning - the Rebels were outnumbered. His eyes caught the glint of metal as something was being hurled into the air. He reached up, trying to grab at it with his power as he dropped the other blaster, stopping the stun grenade before it would have landed and exploded.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the ability or time to go after the three others that landed in the area. They erupted, Calen's cry of pain muted as every nerve in his body felt as though it were on fire. The other blaster fell from his hand as he fell to his knees.
"<Take that one. The boss will love that one!>" Calen barely managed to hear, looking up just in time to see one of the Niktu coming up, raising the butt of its rifle and slamming it into his face. Another explosion of pain, and Calen's vision gave way to darkness, and he knew no more. . .
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