As the blast doors opened on each side of our landing shuttle we were immediately met by droid blaster fire coming from the ground below. Troopers began to fall out of our shuttle into the abyss of the night, the blaster fire was too much, all we could do is hope that our pilot didn't get struck. This night time infiltration was supposed to catch the enemy off guard, but it almost feels like those damn clankers knew we were coming. It was horrifying watching those laser bolts enter the shuttle, watching as one of the red streaks pierced one of my brothers through the chest, making his now dead body collapse onto me, he was just a rookie, his armor was still bright white, but I had no choice except to push him out. The ones of us left alive had to kneel and attempt to return fire, it was pointless, the ground below was dark, we couldn't pick out any of those damn droids. Our spotlights had been damaged in the barrage of fire, and both our laser pods on each side of the shuttle had malfunctioned, leaving those gunners trapped in their pods.
Then it happened, through the blaster fire , the noise of the shuttle thrusters whooshing, and the sound of our sergeant yelling to brace, I looked up to the noise of a tracing missile that had just been launched pierce through the sky, making a horrendous screeching as it got closer. I tracked the missiles purple trail through the dark sky all the way until the shuttles flares deployed and filled the sky with orange. Then after one split second of silence, the sound of shredding metal filled the atmosphere as the entire tail end of the shuttle was ripped away, in one massive and brutal explosion I was thrown forward pinned to the wall of the cabin while the shuttle began crashing into the surface of the planet. At this point I realized I could either jump and meet my fate on my own terms, or go down and burn alive with the shuttle. I opted for jumping, but the foot long shard of metal from the hull piercing my torso thought otherwise. I was going to burn alive. I could feel the ground getting closer, I had seconds to live. My mind wandered back to boot camp where I was with my fellow brothers, like the ones that I had just watched explode out of this damn shuttle all thanks to some goddamn pieces of metal with Al.
The last thing I saw were the purple tops of the planet's jungle lit up by the shuttles flaring flames. Then there was darkness, my body felt weightless in the dark abyss I was suddenly thrust into. There was no pain, hell I wasn't sure I had a body anymore. I was certain I had died. That was the only explanation. I am dead and this is my purgatory, a dark abyss.
*
Waking up after spending three weeks in a bacta tank feels almost like being woken up by your drill sergeant, loud and violent. I was lying on a stretcher and I could hear the medical droids synthesized voice call my clone number as it prodded me with its tools. "CT5560, you may now regain consciousness, the healing process is complete. Bodily functions at 85 percent normality. CT5560, you may now…" As annoying as that was, it was comforting to know I was aboard a medical frigate, somewhere in outer rim space. Then the droids voice got cut off. As quickly as I had regained consciousness the droids voice had been replaced with an awful ringing sound filling my head, and I could swear I heard the faint noise of an alarm off in the distance. Then I again slipped back into the dark abyss that felt like death, and that now felt like home.
*
"On your feet cadets!" shouted our company sergeant, CT777, or Lucky, as everyone but his cadets called him. As we stood out of out of our bunks he instantly began barking orders. "Cadets armor on!", "Double time you worthless space trash!" and so on. Now, our sergeant was just like the rest of us, but not at the same time. Sure we're all clones, but sarge was worn. He had seen more battles and fighting then I would ever want to, and he had the scars to prove it.
As we finished putting our armor on, sarge stood in the middle of the room and spoke with great clarity, "Cadets, today is the day. Graduation from academy. You have somehow managed to make it through training. After today you are no longer cadets, you are troopers. Some of you may never see each other again, some of you may die your first week, and some of you might become captains one day. But know one thing. You serve the republic, you serve its people, you serve for galactic justice, and you fight for your brothers next to you. You are now men. I look forward to fighting next to you on the battlefield." Sarge did always have a way with words. We all responded with a unanimous "Hoorah". Sarge now walked to the front of the room and gave us our final orders as cadets " Helmets on men. It's time to meet your new commanders, and begin your new journey as troopers. May the force be with you all." One final "Hoorah" filled the room as we marched out of our bunks, and out of the barracks to meet the forming parade of new clone troopers.
Everyone of us in this sea of white shining armor would be placed in a unit and shipped off to battle within the day. My hopes were to make the 501st, they were known to see some of the most action. Plus I would get to serve under the renowned Captain Rex, and Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker. Both were known in the academy for being the most battle hardened and respected people in the galaxy.
*
Six months in and my armor isn't as shiny as it used to be already. That's not necessarily a terrible thing. It signifies my work done for the galactic republic. I have now been involved in two planetary invasions and I'm currently preparing for my third. This attack has been different than the rest though and it's got the men and myself worried. Everything about it has been kept a secret. All the details we know so far are that our fleet, of two supply frigates and three attack vessels, has ended up at some outer rim system, light years away from any civilized planet. The next bit of information that worked its way down came from the company sergeant, it's an attack on a remote droid factory and supply depot located on this planet named Zilo-9. Sounds like it's going to be a night offensive too, but not by choice. The planet is heavily forested and the days there are a mere four hours in length. Making it ideal for secret factories. The parts to this that are still missing are, how many droids are down there? Do they know we're coming? And do we even have the manpower to take this planet? After our last mission, some of our landing shuttles haven't been properly repaired, or even serviced at all. Hell we have R2 units without heads rolling around.
The order to saddle up came not to long after I had gotten out of the mess hall. The flight crews were running toward their ships and the call for squads to landing crafts came not soon after. I hurried over to landing bay 3 were my shuttle awaited, along with twelve more men from the 501st including our newest sergeant CT808 or Baller as the men called him. No words were spoken as we entered the shuttle and as it started its descent onto the planet surface, looking around I noticed a lot of shiny armor. Great I'm stuck with rookies. As we got closer to the planet sergeant Baller looks at us as the light in the cabin changes from green to red, and before putting his helmet on he says what anyone in his position would say " Men, I can't tell you what's going to happen after these doors open. All I can say is keep your heads down when we hit the ground. And may the force be with you all." . Then after putting his helmet on, and almost as if it was practiced, the blast doors on either side of the shuttle opened.
*