[Episode V - NR][O12 - Reytha - NR3F] The Wine Press - The Sleemo Seven (III)

The Butcher

Ryla Tesh's underground connections managed to get the Sleemo Seven off Gyndine just before the city fell into lockdown. Their next destination was the breadbasket world of Reytha, and an appointment with a man known across the galaxy as The Butcher.

Commander Kaelor Brend had earned that name on Karthon.

Chosen to pacify the rebellious world for his particular brand of cruelty, Brend brought the conflict to its brutal conclusion on what became known as the Chopping Fields, where the final resistance was systematically massacred. The name endured long after the Empire fell, though the fields now served a different purpose: dismantling the shattered hulks of Imperial war machines for the New Republic.

Kaelor still took a grim satisfaction in knowing how far his reputation preceded him.

Now stationed on Reytha with his Remnant forces, Brend had been given a familiar assignment- burn the sector's bounty to ash, swiftly and without mercy.

---

The wind whispered through the vineyard's hanging vines.

Kavren and Tarnov checked their rocket launchers for the third time. Ryla's underworld intelligence placed Commander Kaelor Brend on a direct path toward the vineyard they were quartered in. For weeks the Remnant had been torching Reytha's farms, and there were few places left on the planet where the air wasn’t choked with smoke.

Dex stood on a low rise overlooking the fields.

"You know," he said over his shoulder, "I think I could live the rest of my days in a place like this."

Kavren chuckled. "You know living on a farm means working, right Dex?" Dex shot him a sharp glare but didn’t reply.

Kessa's voice cut through the moment. "Get to your positions. Those smoke clouds are getting closer."

The Sleemo Seven moved. The Butcher was on his way...

---

Kaelor Brend stepped down from the troop carrier beside his soldiers.

The vineyard stretched across the horizon- today's final target. Good. He wanted this finished before nightfall.

A flamer hovertank drifted past him, engines whining as the twin flamethrowers mounted on its hull spat bursts of fire. The smell of burning vegetation already hung in the air.

Once, Kaelor had commanded legions- columns of stormtroopers and fleets of Imperial armor. Now he led a much smaller force, the fractured remnants of an empire.

Still, the work remained the same. He gripped his blaster and gestured forward.

"Fan out. Start with the eastern rows of the farm. We converge on the cellar." His troops moved to obey.

---

Flames crept steadily closer through the vineyard.

Kessa watched from cover, scanning the advancing Imperials. At the head of the column the hovertank plowed through rows of vines, its flamers belching long streams of fire that devoured everything in their path.

"Kavren. Tarnov," she whispered into her comm. "Take the tank the moment you have a clean shot."

A sudden shout shattered the quiet. "My vineyard!"

Kessa turned sharply. A man had burst from the cellar doors, staring in horror at the burning fields.

"Arlan!" a woman screamed from behind them. "Get to cover!" Then the world erupted, and blasterfire cracked across the vineyard as their ambush began.

---

A bolt of red light dropped the trooper beside Kaelor. He spun in shock.

There hadn’t been any armed resistance on Reytha...

More blasterfire erupted from the vines and scattered farm equipment. Kaelor dove beside the hovertank as his soldiers returned fire into the fields.

A partisan burst from the rows of grapes, blaster aimed squarely at Kaelor's chest. The stormtrooper sergeant at his side fired first.

The man collapsed into the mud. Two smoke trails then suddenly screamed across the sky.

Kaelor tracked them instinctively- rockets. Even if the farmers had partisans among them, they needed outside help to get this kind of weaponry.

A thunderous explosion rocked the hovertank as both warheads struck, ripping through the armor in a bloom of fire and shrapnel.

For a brief moment, Kaelor stared upward into the clear blue sky of Reytha's harvest season. Then a burning impact slammed into his chest, and the Butcher fell.

---

Dex had never felt pain like this.

Blood poured down his sleeve, dripping into the mud as he struggled to breathe. He slumped against a twisted vine, vision swimming, only able to focus on their target in front of him.

Commander Kaelor Brend stood only meters away, distracted by the exploding hovertank. Dex knew he was done for, but he had this one moment to finish their mission.

His fingers felt numb as he raised his blaster pistol, the weapon heavy in his shaking grip. He forced the barrel level with Brend's chest. "Krak it all," he thought, and pulled the trigger.

The bolt struck true, slamming the commander back against the tank's shattered armor. Darkness then crept in at the edges of Dex's vision.

He let out one last breath and allowed himself a faint, grim smile as the world finally went black.

---

A few scattered blaster shots echoed across the vineyard before silence settled in.

Kessa stepped cautiously through the smoke and burning vines. Her eyes found Kaelor Brend's body crumpled beside the ruined hovertank. The Butcher was dead.

"Everyone report in," she called. Acknowledgements came back across the comms.

Then she saw Kavren kneeling in the mud, Dex slumped before him.

Kessa approached slowly and rested a hand on Kavren's shoulder. "Is he gone?" Kavren nodded.

The rest of the Sleemo gathered around. Cade passed Kavren a flask, and the two took a silent swig.

Kessa shook her head. “Does anyone even know what he was in prison for?”

Kavren stared out over the burning vineyard. "For desertion," he said quietly. "Left his unit to defend his home on Dulathia."

He paused. "One of the Imperials on our list ordered a weapons test on the city where his family lived."

Silence hung over the group. Kessa's jaw tightened. None of them would even be here if it wasn't for the blasted Empire, for their Rebellion against them, for the whole mess of a war...

"Then I guess we know who our next target is."

---

Arlan and his wife stood in stunned disbelief, staring at the smoldering wreckage of their farm.

"I thought you people were supposed to protect us from the Imperials," Arlan spat. "They’re burning this whole planet, and you’re just going to leave?"

Kessa frowned. "We’re not the New Republic,” she said flatly. “And we’re not here to save Reytha."

Tarnov shot her a sharp look. "Show some sympathy, Kess. Their whole livelihood just went up in flames."

He turned to Ryla. "Those supplies you secured for us- give these people whatever meal packs we can spare."

The farmers shifted uncomfortably. These were proud people, clearly unused to accepting help.

"The wreckage here will attract Republic patrols soon enough," Tarnov told them. "Take the supplies. Hold out until they restore order here."

---

The Sleemo Seven were now Six, and they had a date with The Demagogue on Gyndine. This one was personal- it meant revenge for Dex.

As always, any comments, critiques and notes are very welcome and appreciated! This was a bit of a tough build to get through, but I'm pretty happy with where it landed.