The thrusters of a Lambda B-TIE gunship screamed against the mountain gale as its belly winch lines hoisted the floating Stasis-Lite gurneys through the thick, plasma-scorched mist.
Rampart Platoon had only just been able to fight through the bulk of the initial wave to pull back into a unified defensive posture. Five more of Archer Squad's assaulters had been dragged into the rock crevices, suffering severe bite wounds and shrapnel trauma and were currently being patched up by the combat medics. For the unconscious trooper pinned during the opening ambush, Siren Squad's stim-shots had not been enough. CR-7742 was Rampart's first KIA, his armor and upper torso both split open by Anooba tusks. The remaining six casualties were stabilized and loaded into the medical bay as Sgt Major Horvath gave the ship's crew chief the hand signal indicating that the load was complete.
As Orrin watched the medevac bird take off, he stopped briefly to contemplate what had just gone down, realizing that the platoon may have been entirely overrun if not for the startlingly deadly, horrifyingly effective intervention of the Mother of Monsters. Orrin had watched through his helmet's display as Lady R'ayne Asara met the manic assault head-on. Unleashing the Draconic Scourge, she cut through the crazed Mon Calamari infantry and their beasts like a scythe through wheat. The Dark Side flowed around her armor like cold incense, snapping the spines of Anoobas with invisible telekinetic force and buying Rampart Platoon just enough time they needed to keep in the fight without being flanked.
Snapping back to reality, Orrin reminded himself that the swarm was far from broken, and the madness spreading through the basin was still fully active. Though the main horde had been fractured under the onslaught, many of the crazed colonists had retreated and scattered into the ash-gray gloom, undoubtedly regrouping into unpredictable, erratic skirmish pockets that would continue to harry Rampart's advance.
"Rampart, weapons up and get moving! We are resuming the recon patrol!" Orrin commanded undeterred, as he racked the bolt of his G-12.
"Execute bounding overwatch. Squad leaders, push your lines towards ORP Cresh. Stay frosty gentlemen, we're not out of it yet!".
The platoon transitioned seamlessly into high-threat movement tactics, keeping the sector contested for anyone else pushing into the valley. The remaining troops of Archer Squad sprinted forward under the heavy, cyclic protection of Hammer's heavy repeaters, taking cover behind bleached boulders just as sporadic, random slugthrower fire and feral barks snapped out of the mist. The moment the assaulters secured the forward perimeter, they dropped to the deck and began laying down short precision bursts of controlled return fire with their rifles, allowing the heavies and supporting squad crews to leapfrog forward, nav point to nav point, to their next structural shelf. They were grinding their way through continuous, unpredictable contact, keeping the field wide open for the rest of the vanguard.
As the unit moved tactically across the battle zone, Orrin once again activated his long-range commlink, isolating the frequency to update his commanders in orbit.
"Stryker II Command, this is Rampart 1. Contact is still heavy and ongoing across the sector. Medevac transport is airborne with six wounded and we have logged one KIA. After Action Report to follow. Recon patrol has resumed and we are maintaining the momentum. Currently bounding north toward the cave complexes to reinforce Captain Tane's mechanized rovers. Rampart out."
Switching immediately to the local tactical loop, he looked toward the perimeter.
"QS-022, Rampart 1. We are Oscar-Mike to ORP Cresh. Updated waypoints have been sent to your datascreeen. As possible, redeploy your speeder bike forward of our location and advise on enemy concentration. We are heading straight into the teeth of those northern cave paths. I need your eyes on my left flank to keep those nutters from boxing us in again. How copy, over?"
