On Ferrel and Elsewhere
By Latts Razzi
for the brave of heart
It was a night so black and dim you could not see your hand in front of your face.
"Thank goodness for night vision!" Harrow whispered to his companion, Scarr.
"Shut up! If we so much as let out one more noise, we could instantly be ambushed and the mission would fail." He snarled.
Harrow sighed. It wasn't easy being a clone trooper, and Scarr, his life-long companion took it far too seriously.
Off-duty, though, he went from on-edge to being right back to being his old, much friendlier self.
They were on the planet of Salucemi, an odd one to be sure. Giant fern-like growths lined the sparsely populated countryside. You could walk for days without a sign of civilized life.
Harrow was about to re-try his friendly attempt when he heard a far-off clank. Disgruntled, Harrow cocked his weapon and listened harder. His other brothers seemed to notice it as well, and shifted uneasily.
Harrow was about to relax when he heard the steady far-off sound of droid feet. Clank. Clank. Clank. It was faint, so faint you could only hear it if you paused breathing.
He quickly scoped in with his sniper rifle towards the sound. Sure enough, droids. And this time he was facing at least five squads.
"Commander! Incoming clankers at ten o' clock!" He whispered hoarsely. Commander Wolf squinted through his electrobinoculars.
"Good eye, Harrow," Commander Wolf praised. "Get ready, men. I shouldn't have to tell you to use nightvision. Now, this caravan is holding the Separatists' newest battle station plans. Take out as many droids as you can, but leave the transports undestroyed. You have three very good reasons not to destroy them; the fact that the plans are aboard the transports is reason number one. I repeat: Do not destroy the transports. Any questions?" he asked quietly. Scarr spoke up.
"How do you know the plans are in this particular caravan, and not the other four we heard about?"
"Good question." Wolf continued. "The reason we know that the plans are in this particular caravan, is our new spies happen to be conveniently nestled inside the unwary Separatist transports. That is reason number two not to destroy them."
"What about the third reason?" Inquired Mark, a nonchalant trooper with a terrible haircut.
"The third reason is this: Reasons one and two." Wolf grinned. "Now get ready for company."
The clanking noise was getting steadily louder.
"What I wouldn't do to be one of the lucky brothers who got the spy job." Mark sighed longingly.
"I wouldn't say they were clones, Mark. And I wouldn't say they were your brothers, either." Wolf grinned.
"Well then, who are they?" one called Griffin asked.
"We'll find out soon enough." Scarr growled.
The droids that approached sniping range.
"Snipers, target the super battle droids first." Wolf Commanded.
Mark, Jaxa, Sidestep, Dusty and Harrow raised the long barrels of their rifles and took aim.
"On my signal, boys-" There was a tense moment in which no one dared to breathe. "FIRE!"
In that split second a deadly volley shot out- only three droids were hit. Harrow swore at his miss.
"They can't see us; they don't have as good of a visual." Wolf whispered. "That was just a warning shot. On my mark, we open fire, and try for those transports. Am I clear?"
All troopers nodded.
But one clone was not paying attention. He was busy in his own world saving the day once again.
"MARK!" 39 out of 40 clones fired. Mark, who had been daydreaming, whipped his head around in surprise.
The battle that followed came with swift ferocity.
Harrow and the other snipers held back to cover their brothers as Wolf led the charge.
"FOR THE REPUBLIC!" shouted Griffin. It was a sad mistake, and his cry alerted droids of the attack; at the sound a super battle droid wheeled around and fired with the accuracy of the droid it was, ending his life.
Wolf attempted a pot-shot at another, but the laser sped through its spindly legs. He barely ducked the laser and took it down with self defense moves.
Branger was a user of heavier weapons under normal circumstances, but held a standard rifle for this occasion. His verbal attacks were just as legendary as his explosions.
"Take that, you filthy $%^$#! If I cared a ^#$ about you, then you'd still be alive, you rotten bunch of $%*&%!" He raged, taking down at least four a minute.
A droid Commander had swung around the battle and sneaked behind the snipers. He was about to fire at Jaxa when Dusty whipped around and knocked the blaster from its metal hands, dispatching it with a small, handheld blaster.
"That's two you owe me, Jaxa!" Dusty laughed. He was never serious. A super battle droid had fired a rocket at Dustys' back. Jaxa turned with his sniper rifle and hit the missile head on, causing a deafening explosion behind him.
"One!" Jaxa retorted smugly, returning to his sniping position.
Derrek was a clone with a strange habit. He would use his dual pistols to destroy two droids at once, and then say 'one, two, dead are you' afterward. He did so just then with his little rhyme that seemed to help his accuracy.
Wolf finally ordered the snipers to advance, meaning the battle was almost over in their favor.
The clones fought with the night vision advantage, but suffered casualties nonetheless. By the end of the day, nine had passed on, with five injured. Derrek had accidently said "Two, one", confusing him just long enough. It threw him in with the other casualties.
The remaining 39 began ransacking the transports, just as dawn began to crack on the eastern horizon.
Jaxa removed his sweaty helmet, revealing neon-blue hair. He and Dusty were arguing over who had demolished the most droids. Harrow took off his own helmet, and inspected his own appearance on a broken piece of unpainted droid steel. His stubble was back, and he still had the deep scar that ran from his lower lip to the bottom of his chin in a sharp 'S' shape. Harrow bore no tattoo on his face, or some outrageous haircut to make him different. He didn't need to be different; he already knew who he was. This had earned him great respect from Commander Wolf and several others. He didn't care. He was just doing his job.
Scarr picked up a small slip of paper in an ammunition compartment from the last transport. It was written in simple basic and addressed to Commander Wolf. After a brief moment, he read it aloud.
Wolf:
We have been summoned back to our leader for an important meeting. Stand by for more information, and make sure master Yoga- Yoba- Yova- the small green Jedi knows that our leader wants to meet him on Ferral. We will return to the cruiser Fearless for later missions. Please know the plans are hidden in the third transport in the compartment marked 'spare parts'. Inara is coming.
Dha Verde
"Now what do you think this is for?" Scarr pondered aloud.
Jaxa and Dusty looked at each other and shrugged.
"I assume it's from the spies." Jaxa spoke up.
"Well, I suppose it needs to go to Commander Wolf. It's addressed to him, after all." Harrow remarked.
"Yeah. I'll grab the plans for the new station." Dusty said, heading out of the vehicle.
"Oh no you don't! You just want the glory from the commander!" Jaxa shot back.
"Well what are you going to do about it, bantha-brain?" Dusty teased.
"Get there before you, space slug!"
"HA! I'm already out the door, Nuna-noggin!"
"Well I'm right behind you, rotten blurrg-bottom!"
Dusty and Jaxa were raced for the transport when they ran directly into Commander Wolf.
"S-s-s-sir!" Jaxa said nervously, as they tried to help their commander to his feet. Wolf rejected the assistance roughly, and dusted himself off.
"I assume there's an excuse for this childish behavior?" He sighed wearily, arms akimbo.
"There always will be, Commander!" Dusty grinned.
"Yes, you see-" Jaxa was cut off abruptly by Scarr.
"We found the plans' location sir. And a note left from some 'Dha Verde'. We assumed it was from one of the spies." He said casually, and handed it to their commander.
Wolf inspected the note carefully, then reread the note twice over. The expression he wore when he read it shocked them. They had never seen Wolf scared before.
"Dusty, call the Fearless and get us three Laat/I's pronto. I have to get us off here and talk to master Yoda." Wolf said in a strangled voice.
"Anything we can do?" Harrow asked.
Dusty, Jaxa, Harrow and Scarr looked at each other. Something was definitely wrong.
"Jaxa can get the plans from the transport indicated; you and Scarr can inform the others we are ready to depart. I have to see my superiors immediately. We have an emergency on our hands."
"I understand this is none of my business, Commander," Scarr said slowly. "But what is the emergency?"
Wolf gave Scarr a stern look and pursed his lips. There was a visible droplet of sweat on his forehead.
"Inara is coming."
Chapter 2
"Now who in the galaxies is Inara?" Dusty thought aloud.
The Laat/I gunships had picked up the remaining troopers hours before, setting them on the Fearless. Now Dusty, Jaxa, Scarr and Harrow were thinking the same thing; the question had not left their minds since Scarr had first read the note. To make things worse, not one of the clones save Wolf knew exactly when the Separatists would land on Ferrel to begin construction on their new base.
"I'm not quite sure who Inara is, but he sure upset poor Wolf." Scarr said quietly.
"It's probably the name of some Separatist guy." Jaxa snorted, and turned over on his bunk. Clone barracks were cheaply made and often terribly uncomfortable.
"It could be a weapon." Dusty offered.
"'Didn't you hear what the note said? 'A weapon is coming' doesn't sound right." Harrow said, wrinkling his brow.
"It could be a code, then!" Dusty exclaimed.
"Honestly, I think Jaxa is correct." Scarr sighed. "It's most probably some greedy Separatist warlord that Master Anakin, Padawan Tano, and the 501st will have to save the galaxy from… As usual"
At this a cloud of depression hung over them. They were all too often ignored from the spotlights as more of those "expendable" clones. Even Harrow felt gloomy. Sure, he did his job, but to receive not even a little recognition? He closed his eyes resignedly. Below him, Dusty had dropped off to sleep.
"But what if it wasn't the Inara part that scared him? What if he just said it was Inara to get his mind off of something else?" Scarr whispered to Harrow, so as not to wake Dusty.
"What other part would scare the Commander?" Jaxa scoffed.
"I didn't ask you, I asked Harrow." Scarr whispered back.
"Jaxa has a point. I mean, what else was there? All the note said, was that, Aurek, The spies were going to an important meeting with their leader, Besh, their leader wanted to meet Master Yoda on Ferral were the base would be, and Cresh, they would be back for later missions, leaving us quite a few options. This means that Commander Wolf can either be afraid of four things: Ferrel, the spies themselves, Master Yoda, or this Inara thing.
"Well he can't be afraid of Ferrel, the most dangerous thing there is its weather, and he didn't seem to have any troubles on Tatooine." Scarr said quietly.
""I don't know. Maybe it's Master Yoda, because he's not perfect enough for him." Jaxa laughed.
"Oh, shut up!" Scarr snapped. Wolf was constantly perfecting himself in hopes of being a leading Captain under a Jedi.
"Well, I met a very creepy spy once. His name was Dakkel, clone like us and he was all silent and mysterious. Could it be he's afraid of this Dha Verde guy and his friend? He said they weren't clones." Harrow said to Scarr.
"I guess it's the Inara person-" "Or thing." Jaxa interrupted. "OR THING-" Dusty turned over in his sleep. "-or thing," Harrow whispered, "Because whatever it is I heard Admiral Karson talking about it to his assistant."
"The cute blonde chic?" asked Jaxa.
"No, not Therra, the ugly grey guy, oh, what's his name… Porro, that's it, Porro!"
"And…?" Inquired Scarr.
"He-that is, Porro—told Admiral Karson about the message and gave it to him, and when Admiral Karson saw it he got the same reaction as Commander Wolf did. Then he gasped, and said, "No! Not Inara! Inform the Jedi immediately!""
"No offense to Admiral Karson, but he does tend to get on the dramatic side." Jaxa whispered to Harrow.
"What if Inara is the Spies' leader…" Scarr trailed off. All three thought hard about this proposition until one by one they fell asleep.
Chapter 3
Morning came far too soon for Harrows' comfort.