He waved his arms, gesturing for the just-awakened stormtroopers to hurry. His people had a group of Marines cornered, trapped against the sea cliffs. And he wasn’t going to let them escape, not one of them. No matter what it cost.

He walked over toward the troopers forming up. They looked a little ragged, but they were all armed and equipped. And they were Alliance stormtroopers. Perhaps they weren’t the equals of their fathers and mothers, but Millius knew they were veteran soldiers.

“Prepare to move out,” he shouted, staring out over the surprised group. He was Praefectus, commander of the entire ground force. But none of that mattered now. The image of Commander Rigellus, listening as the sounds of the enemy launching a raid blared through her com unit…it was too much. He wasn’t going to leave this to anyone else. He was going to lead the attack himself.

“Forward…”

*   *   *

“Careful, sir.” Tony Plinth was standing on the narrow strip of shoreline reaching up toward a man climbing down a rope. Plinth had scrambled down first, and now the civilians were coming…much more slowly than he had. But slow was better than falling, and even the Marine had to admit it wasn’t easy scaling down a rope wearing a heavy parka.

“I’m fine, Corporal…just not as fast as you, I’m afraid.” Tomas Rivera dropped down the last meter or so, grunting as he landed and stumbled on the slick wet rocks below his feet.

Plinth grabbed the technician, holding him up…though he figured the chances were about fifty-fifty the civilian would have managed to regain his balance without assistance. “You gotta watch this ground, sir. Not much of a beach, I’m afraid, just a bunch of rocks. And wet and slippery at that.”

“Thank you, Corporal.” Rivera leaned his head back and looked up, just as Plinth was doing. Joe Wedge was still up on the cliff, standing guard while the civilians made their way to the bottom. Plinth had come down first to check the area along the shoreline, make sure it was clear. He reached up again as the second tech lost his grip about two meters from the bottom. He dropped hard, but Plinth caught him. The two stumbled back together, but they managed to stay on their feet.

The Marine had known the civilians would have a hard time with the climb. Scrambling down a rope under near-combat conditions was tough enough, but even with the heavy gloves they all wore, the cold was biting through. Plinth’s hands were half-numb, and he couldn’t imagine any of the techs were in better shape.