The Battle Lost, a New Plan Enacted - Flashback LTC

Lieutenant Joseph Kroll knelt uncomfortably in the thick vegetation surrounding him. For a Navy man, this was not an ideal situation. However, Kroll knew he should probably feel lucky he wasn’t on one of the many Imperial Vessels destroyed above the skies of Endor just a few hours ago. That didn’t mean he was without any danger. After winning key battles throughout the forests, the Rebel soldiers had begun a vast campaign to capture or destroy any remaining Imperial Bases across the Forest moon. Rebel teams and those blasted Ewoks seemed to be everywhere at once. But Kroll wouldn’t be caught by them. The information he came down to the surface to get was too important for it to be seen by the wrong eyes. Not that he would see these enemies, per se. Kroll had been blinded by Imperial Bioweapons stolen by the Rebellion early in the war. Yet this didn’t hamper his dedication to the Empire for long. Certain senses tended to improve once the main one went offline. A specially modded helmet certainly helped as well. With it, Kroll was able to "see" what was previously lost to him.

The Imperial Recon base 5423 looked largely abandoned by the time Kroll arrived. No Rebels or Stormtroopers in sight, but Kroll knew he would still have to be cautious. It hadn’t taken long for the Naval lieutenant to get within a few meters of the comm station before he heard voices from above him. Abruptly, he dove into the uncomfortable position he now found himself in.

“It’s too quiet now. We need to find some Imps or get out of this eerie place,” grunted a voice, presumably a rebel soldier.

“Agreed. What’s life without worrying about a walker coming out of those trees to reduce us to atoms?” another soldier answered sarcastically.

“Hey, I ain’t complaining about those monsters being gone, I just don’t like how quiet it got. I’m used to hearing the dull sound of Imperial aggression 24/7.”

The second trooper laughed before responding, “Well, let’s take a break and head back to camp for more data spikes. We’re clean out. We’ll just have to come back for any data this dump has.”

Kroll stayed entirely silent as he listened to the sounds of conversation drift away through the trees. He didn’t know how far away their camp was, so he would have to get to that comm station fast. 

As soon as he thought he could take the risk, Kroll carefully walked to the stone path and in front of the comm device. Plucking a code cylinder out of a secret slot in his sleeve, he placed it in the device and watched as it began to decipher his identity. The machine was making too much noise and Kroll began to worry. If this wasn’t done s-     

A sound came from the forest behind him.

Kroll pulled out his weapon and dove behind some vegetation. He couldn’t tell if anything was in the thick foliage in the forest beyond.

After waiting an eternity, Kroll slowly moved out of the leaves and back to the comm station. The code cylinder was finished decrypting by the time he got there. Slowly, he began to type a faulty message onto the main channel and then the real message onto the private channel that went straight to his superiors.

[ALERT] [Ag. 0929]

Imperial forces fallen at Endor. [Redacted-Extra Clearance Required (R.E.C.R)] presumed

Dead. All surviving units ordered to retreat. Operation [R.E.C.R] to begin immediately.  Recommend Project [Redacted] to be reintroduced.  Suggest Project [Redacted] begin if splintering factions occur. Enemy spies likely to investigate. Extreme caution advised.