Star Wars: Republic Commando
Damn it… not again. RC 1257, also known as Fi, looked out of the side of the drop ship and cursed again as he saw another drop ship fall out of the sky trailing black smoke. We haven't even hit ground yet and we've lost 2 ships, meaning 8 commandos, not to mention troopers and pilots. At this rate we'll never even get to the CIS ships. Finally after what seemed like forever, Fi and his squad managed to rappel down from the ship and make hard contact on the surface of Geonosis. As soon as he was clear of the rappel line he yelled through his com-link to his squad to form a perimeter and set up a defense around their objective. Their "objective", Fi realized, didn't really need a defense as he was doing quite well for himself. The Jedi padawan was exactly what the commandos were taught to expect; graceful, composed and an ass-kicker. It was hard to tell exactly how old this padawan was but Fi knew he was a padawan by the braid swinging on the right side of his face. Slowly but surely the commandos with the help of the jedi managed to repel the CIS and for the first time Fi looked at the commander for the first time. what he saw disturbed him. This jedi looked like he was 15 years old, no older, with sandy colored hair cropped short but for the braid which still swung frantically, lithe and fit, this jedi was prime example of proper physical training. Fi only hoped that this boy wouldn't get himself and his squad killed through sheer inexperience.
"Well that was an experience" The jedi sat panting.
"Well fought sir," Fi said as he looked over at his commander and then his commandos. "Where to now sir?"
"What were your orders?"
"To find you sir. We were to be briefed by you on how to get to the CIS ships and shut them down."
"Oh." The jedi seemed genuinely surprised. "Well I guess we'll have to figure this out together then. My master was the one with all the information, I know just a little bit more than you do … I'm sorry what's your name?"
"Republic Commando 1257 Sir."
"Do you go by another name?"
Fi hesitated for a second. Pod brothers gave each other names, and only your pod brothers called you by your name, everyone else called you by your production number. "Fi. My brothers call me Fi." Fi heard his brothers yell at him in the safety of their short range private com channel that he shouldn't have given the jedi his name. His name was special, and only his brothers felt that they should call him Fi.
"Fi, good name. Mine is Jedi Padawan Al-kel-wan. " Al-kel-wan looked at the four commandos and smirked, obviously pleased. "It's good to know that we have such spectacular soldiers on our side. You boys really are all clones aren't you?"
"Yes sir." Fi was beginning to feel a little bit awkward. He hoped the Commander couldn't pick up on his distress, but he doubted it. All he really wanted to do was get the job done and head back to base where he could cool down properly. The environmental bodysuit which was part of his Katarn armour just didn't seem able to cope with the intense heat and winds of Geonosis. All he knew was that he didn't want to spend all day out in the middle of the heat with a jedi berating him with questions about what it felt like to be a clone. Luckily, he didn't have to. The jedi turned and didn't ask any more questions about Fi and being a clone and began walking away towards, what Fi assumed, was the CIS base entrance.
"Alright Fi this is what I know; there are three different ships that the Trade Federation use to conduct their business. These are the ships you were sent to disable correct?"
"Yes sir, that is the extent of the knowledge that HQ felt they needed to reveal to us. What are our orders sir?"
"Well my information is just as vague. Rendezvous with RC's, disable Trade Federation ships. Those are my orders."
Fi suddenly realized something, Padawans had masters as they were not knights, yet there was no other jedi that he could see and Al-kel-wan looked a little bit overwhelmed. Switching to their private com channel Fi told his squad his suspicion as the jedi looked around seemingly contemplating their next move.
"Guys, I don't know about you, but it seems to me as if this jedi has lost his master. That means that our informant, his master, is dead and we are going in this blind. Any suggestions?"
A commando with a deep scratch on the side of his helmet looked at Fi and said "He looks like a guy with some military experience so I think we should be safe from stupid orders from him. Although, I still don't understand why you gave him your name. WE gave you that name!"
"Well then I guess we'll follow him and do what he says. Any objections?" Fi asked. There were none.
"Sir, if you want we can scout ahead and see if we're on the right track, otherwise we run the risk of going in circles and that is something we cannot afford to do."
Al-kel-wan contemplated this for a second and finally decided that that was a good idea and as much ordered as asked that they do just that. Finally with something tangible to do the four commandos started on their very first real mission. The CIS were about to get a surprise.