Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 04_ Backlash - Aaron Allston [108]
“Bow and blaster bearers are designated Turbo, which is short for ‘turbolasers.’ You’ll start out in front of the Shield formation. When targets come into view, you’ll harry them at range. Then, when you hear the command ‘Shields up,’ you fall back behind the spear lines. Re-form there and wait until the rancors hit the Shield line. Then, and only then, you open fire again. And if your unit commander designates a specific target, everyone fires at that target until you hear ‘Free fire’ or another target designation.
“Witches, you start and stay behind the Shield line, and give the Turbo formation enough space to line up in front of you. Your unit commander will also designate one specific target, and you use your spells on that target until it’s down or fled. And then your commander will choose a second target, and a third, and so on.
“All those who consider themselves sharpshooters are with the Snipers group. You’ll be set up at points along the crest that are too steep for rancors to attack. You’ll fire where your commanders tell you. Mostly at the rancors once they’re on the top, but if your commanders spot a Nightsister, they’ll point you to that new target.”
Tasander fell silent, but Kaminne spoke up before any conversation arose. “We chose not to let the Nightsisters govern us. That means we live as a fighting force or die as individuals. Live or die—you choose. And understand, Raining Leaves and Broken Columns will be intermixed in these new groups. When you line up, if you look to the right and left and see one of your fellow tribemembers there, you have failed. I want to see you intermixed, Leaf–Column, Leaf–Column. And if I see you abandon a fellow who is not of your tribe, I will personally kill you. If Tasander does not kill you first. This I swear.”
Now there was no chance of murmuring. No voice rose in the silence that fell after Kaminne’s words.
She waited a moment more, then nodded, satisfied. “Return to your original positions. Your new unit commanders will tell you what to do.”
Silently, even breathlessly, the members of the Broken Columns and Raining Leaves moved off to their positions.
Ben heaved a sigh. “Ever seen anything like this before?”
Dyon shook his head. “It’s the sort of thing that could only happen on a planet like this.”
“Do me a favor, would you? Since I’m supposed to stay up here for morale purposes.”
“Sure.”
“Go down and tell my dad not to do his usual thing of knocking out one of the rancors. The Nightsisters are starting to adjust to his tactic. We’re going to throw some new tactics at them, so he should, too. Tell him to do whatever he wants—so long as it’s something they haven’t seen before, something they can’t predict.”
Dyon grinned. “Consider it done.”
The loss of three rancors and injury to two Nightsisters had apparently caused the remaining Nightsisters to do some thinking themselves. The next attack did not come until an hour after the last one ended. Again Ben felt a twitch in the Force net overhead; again he and others raised the alarm.
But this time, only archers and blasterfighters crowded the crest of the hill. Ben, leader of the Shields at the southwest slope, stood among the pole wielders and did not move forward to see.
“Five of them—six, seven, eight!” That was the Turbo leader ahead, one of the Raining Leaves women. She sounded worried but not fearful.
The Turbos began firing.
Their concentrated fire lasted only a few seconds. Then their unit leader called out, “Shields up! Shields up!”
Ben pressed himself in close to the stake wielder to his left, a Raining Leaf. His change in position opened space between him and the pole to the right. Bow and blaster bearers streamed between them, flowed through the loose formation of spear warriors behind, and began re-forming. Ben stepped back