[right][h3]Corte V
Phase Line Bravo, Grolsk Reserve[/h3][/right][hr]
The order to retreat came over the comms soon after the orbital strike began, the green lances raining from the sky and falling on Phase Line Alpha and the no-man’s-land between Alpha and Bravo. The ground shook under the defenders’ feet as the turbolaser fire obliterated trees and cracked the earth. The soldiers stationed at Phase Line Bravo had cowered nervously behind the fortifications when the first turbolasers smote the earth of Uslam. As the order to retreat came through, and as Phase Line Bravo took a direct hit, the line descended into chaos.

“Rose Command, this is Rose Two Actual, requesting evac instructions!” Corte shouted over into the commlink, struggling to be heard over the turbolaser fire, explosions, stray blaster fire, and shouts and cries. Privates Prevec and Miklovic, sweating bullets as they worked, were breaking down the Mark II’s as Sergeant Valkheva shouted orders over the din of turbolaser fire. Another turbolaser touched down dangerously close to the line. “Come in Rose Command!”

“Rose Command to Rose Two Actual, your evac is Rally Point Sigma, marked on your pad.” Corte looked down at the tacpad on her wrist and pulled up a small holographic map, which marked their escape point with a green icon. Rally Point Sigma was one of a half dozen or so clearings in the Reserve that the Liberators’ engineers had made to facilitate air landings. “Please proceed to Sigma for air extraction.”

Corte relayed the instructions to her platoon over the commlink, and then turned on Prevec and Miklovic, who had finished breaking down one of the Mark II’s and were struggling with the second. Screams echoed through the air as a turbolaser struck the line. “Leave it! Take the one and move!” The two privates split the weight of the freed Mark II, rifles slung over their shoulders, and rushed out of the gun nest, Corte behind them.

The platoon ran through the forest, the soldiers doing their best to ignore the screams and explosions around them. There were just over a dozen among hundreds of the retreating, all of them terrified. Orbital strikes were every soldier’s nightmare. Life and death were matters of luck and misfortune, every emerald lance a draw from a Sabacc deck. 

They made the clearing after a four-minute sprint. Their ride, a jury rigged BT-45D, hovered a foot off the ground, ready and waiting to take them. The flight personnel waved them on as they approached, and the door gunner grabbed Valkheva’s hand and pulled her up. Next were the sisters, the Musvec twins, and the rest of Glaato’s squad. Valkheva’s was next, and then Vash. Finally, Corte, the last on the ground, reached up and grabbed a hold of Glaato’s outstretched arm. The Nikto sergeant pulled her up with a single arm, demonstrating his strength, and the transport began rising. 

They were fourteen when they left Phase Line Bravo, and they were fourteen as they boarded the evac shuttle. It was a successful evacuation for Lieutenant Adala, for whatever that was worth.

Rose Company’s Second Platoon took seats in the passenger bay. The door remained open even as the ship took off, and Corte, holding onto the door, was able to observe the evacuation as they sped toward Lorya. Hundreds of soldiers, on foot and in vehicles, moving on the forest floor, falling back under a hellish rain of green fire to defend Lorya from under the canopy of the city's shield generator.

The true fight for Uslam would soon begin.