Project Boussh: Siege Tactics
by Nick Coghlan

Hunkering down behind a tree, Nick scanned the Sky cabin with his
macrobinoculars. The Imperials had turned the place into a veritable
fortress. Obviously, sometime during the fight, command had finally
devolved to an officer with a fully functional brain. He suspected that
officer was the owner of the AT-ST which was now the linchpin of the
Imperial defensive position. Ducking his head back behind cover, he
handed the binocs over to Myn who crouched behind a nearby pine. The
Corellian conducted his own survey of the situation, frowning as he did
sow. Finally lowering the binocs, he scrambled backwards, keeping close
to the ground until he was clear of the cabin's direct line of sight.
With a final glance towards the cabin, Nick followed the pilot's prudent
example. Climbing to his feet, he waved the Ewok sentries they'd
displaced back to their post. With a casual salute to the larger squad
scattered around this section of the woods, he joined Myn in heading
back to the Red Home.

As he walked, he pondered the current situation. After disabling the
Imperial troop transports, he, Myn and Wes had directed the heavily
modified Winnebago towards the largest remaining sensor contact - a lone
AT-ST. They'd expected to be able to run rings around the thing,
disabling it easily. Before long, though, they'd realised that this
particular contact wasn't moving - it was holding position, directly
outside the main door of Alison's log cabin. And it was far from alone.
The current Imperial commander had obviously gathered as many forces as
he could and then positioned them in a highly effective defensive
formation - overlapping fields of fire between the big guns, plenty of
small arms fire issuing from the cabin's windows and doorways. The few
Ewoks who had attempted any attack on the Imperial position were already
dead. All of the assault tactics the Terran leaders had initially
thought of would have resulted in further massive losses on the part of
the attacking force, or else near-total destruction of the cabin. This
little trip had been made in the hope that a closer inspection would
turn up something useful. Targets of opportunity for the sniper rifle on
Myn's back would have been a bonus.

The two men continued their silent walk back to the Red Home, both
considering the implications of what they had seen. Finally, Nick spoke
up. "It isn't going to work, is it?"
"No, probably not."
"There's a chance we could throw everything we had at that, and still
not crack it. If that happens, we're screwed."
"True - it's hardly like we've got reinforcements coming in from orbit."
"And then there's the Alison factor."
"You've got a point there."

Having independently reached the same conclusion, the remainder of the
walk was punctuated only by the sporadic sounds of screams and
blasterfire as those of Yarg's men who weren't watching the cabin
systematically eliminated all other resisting Imperial forces.

=========================
When they reached the Red Home, Wes was waiting for them near the
Winnebago. "Do you want the good news or the bad news?"
Myn paused only briefly before replying, "Hit us with the bad."
Wes nodded, and continued, "Dia was hurt worse than we thought. She's in
bacta and stable, but one of her lekku looks really mangled."
Myn winced - damage to a Twi'Lek's lekku could have serious
repercussions. The translation 'brain tails' wasn't that far from
literal. "And the good?"
"Cubber tells me the ship is good to go. He has a nice big list of
things he wants to do before he'll let her hit space, but he's up for a
surface trip to Mendellia. He even got the cloak running again. How'd
you two fare?"
Nick threw a glance back through the trees towards the cabin, before
turning again to the New Republic pilot. "They're dug in pretty good. We
might be able to root them out, but even if we pulled it off, the
cabin would likely get trashed in the process."
"How 'might' is that 'might'?"
"Very 'might', Wes. I, for one, would not want to be leading the charge
on that position." Myn paused. "I'm not sure it's such a big problem,
though. We cleaned out the cabin pretty thoroughly when we were getting
ready to leave - the Imps can't have much food in there."
Nick quickly nodded agreement. "That's what I was thinking. Eventually,
they'll either run out of food and surrender, or they'll run out of food
and make a break for it. Either way, we get them without having to risk
the cabin or take on their defensive line. Fewer losses for our side and
we get to keep Alison happy."
At this last comment, Myn chimed in again with, "And keeping the lovely
Miss Sky happy is most assuredly a good thing, Wes. You don't want to
see her when she's mad."
Myn's comment brought a grin to Nick's face. Neither of them had
ever seen Alison in a full-fledged rage, but they'd both seen enough
hints to realise it would be a very bad thing to be the target of.
Resuming his interrupted suggestion, he continued, "I'm not sure we
all need to stay, though. Yarg and I should be able to handle things
here. Two more pilots and the squadron's technicians would surely be
a lot more use in Mendellia than you are here acting as infantry commanders."
Wes nodded slowly, then suddenly grinned, "And if the dogfight they had
down there was even close to the one I saw going on up here - I'm
betting there are a lot of pilots screaming for the parts to replace the
bits that got shot off." Having reached his decision, Wes stuck out his
hand, "May the Force be with you, my Australian friend. I'll see at the
victory celebration."
Clasping the outstretched hand firmly, Nick replied, "That you will.
Clear skies." Exchanging nods with Myn, the Australian turned back
towards the cabin, while Rogue and Wraith Three moved towards the Red
Home's boarding ramp. A sharp, epithet-like bark from the trees around
the clearing brought them all to a halt. Yarg appeared, a hulking Ewok
at his side. With a stream of barks, yubs and chattering, Yarg stated
how things were going to be. Definitely not asking, nor suggesting. They
weren't even orders. They were just statements of fact.
Arching an eyebrow, Nick gestured towards Yarg's companion, who was now
striding towards Wes and Myn. "Just a minute, guys. Korak there, and his
troops, are going with you. It seems Yarg is a little concerned about
Josh's safety. He doesn't think he sent enough support in the shuttle."
The pilots uncertainly eyed the Ewok approaching them. He compared to
other Ewoks the way Piggy compared to most humans. When he moved, his
fur rippled, not because of the breeze, but because of the muscles
rearranging themselves beneath it. Watching his biceps as he hefted his
blaster rifle was like watching cats fighting in a sack. A harsh command
issued from his throat, and a small horde of Ewok's began streaming from
the trees and into the Red Home.
Catching his allies' uncertainty, Nick continued, "Hey, don't worry, as
soon as you get to Mendellia you'll have Josh to translate for you."
With that, the Terran turned and disappeared into the darkness of the
woods.