As the transport was gliding away from the ship, Russell called a meeting of the team captains. In a tiny room a map of Rhydin lay sprawled upon a table. Russell was pointing to different places, mostly on the outskirts and the gates to the city. He was sizing up the others in the room, but it was a fruitless endeavor. They all looked the same to him. They all seemed so young and so eager to do his bidding.

"You and you," he pointed to two of them. "South Gate," he pointed to two others, "and you two, North Gate. The rest of you waggle your dicks or do whatever it is to decide who takes which post. The portals are to be guarded at all times. Nobody is to go in or out of them. Is that understood?" He kept his chin lifted and snapped out the orders as if he'd been doing it all of his life. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There was a "yes, sir!" called out in unison as the men made quick work of deciding who was going to go where. Russell stood in the center of the buzzing circle of men. "Light weapons only needed in for the portals. We'll set up bunkers at the Gates. I think the armored vehicles will be sufficent there, too." Russell gazed around the room at the young men once again. "That's all. Dismissed."

With that single word, the men marched in a single line out of the room to go brief their squadrons on their orders.

A bump that nearly knocked Russell off of his feet harolded their landing. Russell quickly left the room and walked through the bay that held no less then ten squadrons of elite fighting men. "Go go go!" he shouted as the doors opened.

Screaming could be heard as the sharp sounds of laser pistols and photon cannons roared in the not so distance. Already the invasion had begun, and by the looks of it, in the Market. "Get ready, here they come!" Russell hung back as the first waves of refugees ran from the city in terror.

"FIRE!"

Later that night, Russ stood by the mirror and placed his hand upon the frame. The image was not his own, but that of Genny. Russ held his breath as he watched his granddaughter, her husband and a friend. Pride glowed in his eyes for his loved ones. Then regret, knowing that Genny would never forgive him his part in the seige. Slowly he sat, and simply watched.

"Alright, so now what?"

Genny looked over at Hugh, one of the few survivors of the first attack who had refused to leave when he had the chance. There were several like him, people who were determined to resist as much as they could. The streets were crawling with stormtroopers, constant patrols that sought out those who were hiding and tormented them with pain and laughter. The Deli had become a sort of headquarters for what resistance there was in the marketplace, and without her knowing how, Genny seemed to be one of the leaders.

They were crouched in a foxhole created by the fallen rubble, ignoring the bodies that littered the debris. There was nothing they could do for them now. But those who were living ... those they could help. Squeezing Eli's hand, Genny lifted her head to peer out at the scene ahead of them.

Not more than twenty feet away, a patrol of six stormtroopers had found a young family, hidden away in the wreckage of one of the destroyed shops. The father was restrained, the children held away from their mother as she cried and pleaded for mercy. Lowering down again, Genny's face was grim.

"We have to get them back to the Deli."
"Gennay," Eli had seen, first hand, what happened to Genny when she got shot or even pushed; and that was absolutely nothing. He'd grown confident that whatever was protecting her would continue to do so. "Come here, Gennay." Scooting towards her, he reached up and grasped the collar of her shirt. "I'm sorry," he whispered and with a sharp tug, tore the material so that it exposed even more of Genny's cleavage. Then he reached down and ripped a handful of material from her skirt. "They're men, under those suits, Gennay. And we need a distraction." He felt guilty, as if he were putting Genny out to sale. But, he nor Hugh would be far off and nothing ever went very far. "Just distract them, Gennay. We figured out how to fire that weapon we found. You distract, and we'll do the rest." He gave her an apologetic look and caressed her cheek with soot from the ground. "I love you, Gennay."
There was no resistance from Genny as Eli further tore her clothing; she'd already seen the plan in his mind when their hands were touching. Her face was pale, though, paler than usual at the thought of having to try and distract those soldiers all by herself, knowing that if she failed, her friends would die trying to protect that family. Leaning her cheek into Eli's deliberately filthy caress, she smiled reassuringly for him, and turned a determined look onto the rest of them. "Give me a couple of minutes," she told them. "If I'm in your line of fire, don't hesitate, just shoot. I'll be fine." That last was added with a cheekily winsome smile, before she carefully scrambled out of their hiding place, deliberately stumbling her step. Her nails dug into her hands to produce the teary eyes of a frightened civilian.
Eli nodded grimly, then watched as Genny climbed out of the foxhole. When she disappeared from sight, he turned his gaze upon Hugh. "Take the weapon. You're a far better shot than I am. And there's no room for fuck ups, Hugh. Too many are in the way." He didn't need to remind Hugh of that, it was more than obvious to both men what they were up against. "Snipers," Eli smiled at the word and pat Hugh on the shoulder. Then he slipped out of the foxhole and gathered up rocks from the debris as he snuck into a delapidated building. It was dusty and his eyes watered. The stairs were climbed and soon he was on the roof, looking down at the family, troopers and Genny. Pulling rocks from his pocket, he lined them up carefully on the building's edge, waiting for a sign from Genny to start throwing.
As they had known would happen, the moment Genny stepped out into view, the 'troopers turned, levelling their weapons on her as she stumbled across the rubble. The mother of the family held in their midst cried out for her to run, to get away as fast as she could, but Genny ignored her, focusing on the soldiers. Her shirt hung off her shoulder, her skirt ripped to the hip, and in all, she looked just the sort of easy pickings most bored 'troopers would find interesting. Four of them moved toward her; one reaching out to grasp her by the hair and force her down onto her knees. "Pretty pickings for a dead zone, don't you think?"
Hugh popped his head up just enough to rest the weapon on the ground in front of him. He zeroed in on the Trooper that had grabbed Genny, then waited for the rocks to come raining down.

Eli gripped a rock in his hand and when Genny went to her knees, he hurled the rock and smacked the Trooper holding her on top of his helmeted head. Ducking down, he grabbed another rock and waited. By this time he had it timed so that just as the Trooper grabbed his head and glanced around, Hugh fired the first shot. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

All hell broke loose when the Trooper fell, a burning hole in the back of his helmet. The Troopers holding the children and parents let them go to grab their own weapons.
"Go, Gennay, go!" he grit out as he began throwing rocks fast and furiously. He could pick off a squirrel at thirty feet with a marble. These guys presented a much larger target and were closer. The Troopers were pelted with rocks as one by one, Hugh picked them off.
Even though she had known it was coming, Genny still flinched when the 'trooper fell. Bracing herself, she kicked out at another standing close by, and had the satisfaction of hearing him yell as he went down. Grabbing his weapon, she launched herself to her feet and ran straight at the pair guarding the terrified family. A shot slammed into her shoulder, but thanks to the protection that had somehow been cast over her, she was unharmed. The butt of the rifle in her hands was slammed into the throat of the first 'trooper she came to, and then she was slinging the weapon onto her shoulder, opening her arms to the frightened group. "Come on, move!" she ordered them, gesturing toward the dilapidated buildings to their left. "Get out of sight, quickly!"
Eli quickly ran out of stones and completely missed Genny's fighting as he ran through the building and back down. By this time Genny was already herding the frightened family out of harm's way. Not skipping a step, he reached down and grabbed a fallen Trooper's weapon and levelled it at the backs of the Troopers that were chasing after Genny. He pulled the trigger twice and the two Troopers fell into a heap of dust. Still, there was one more. Just as he turned and fired, Hugh did likewise and the Trooper staggered, then fell with two burning holes in his chest plate. Eli sighed with relief and hurried to gather the Trooper's weapons. He knew more would be on their way. The guns clattered upon his shoulder as he ran into the building where Genny had disappeared. "We need to get them to the Deli, right now. Come on!" He grabbed one of the smaller kids and held him to his chest, then led the way back outside and down the alley.

Russell had seen enough. He was proud of what Genny was doing, at the same time knowing that he was a large part of why she was doing it. And as he tucked himself into bed that night, he dreamed of Morgan le Fay.