Author's Note:
This is my first fanfic, so please forgive me.
The Mandalorian dictionary has proved helpful in the writing of this fanfic. This is the link of anyone is interested:
This Fanfic is influened by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss
Star Wars is owned by LucasFilm.
The only thing I own is the Laptop i wrote this on.
Set in the Legends Universe.
"You have to know the limits of your physical and mental endurance, so you can recognize them and pass beyond them. This is why I will push you beyond any suffering you can imagine. You will not give up and die like lesser men; you will not crack up like lesser men; you will not lose heart in the direst circumstances like lesser men. And you will be the last men standing when the weaklings have opted to do the easy thing and die."
―Sergeant Walon Vau, Mandalorian training Sergeant, to his Cadet Clone Commandos, including Bravo Squad.
Date: 18BBY
What the hell am I doing?
That was the only thing Falco could think to himself as he ran. It had been a few hours since his squad deserted on Kashyyyk. The only thing he could hear was both his panting and For's heavy panting in his helmet. At least one man from his squad had bothered to join him on his escape.
The other two probably panicked. They're probably being interrogated by ISB right now… unless they're dead.
Falco could feel the tears sting his eyes as he jumped to avoid tripping on a stump. The thought of his pod brother, Cryer, and the replacement, Sixer, lying dead was enough to make him consider topping himself. For was another replacement, but they had participated in enough battles together to gain mutual respect for one another.
He finally stopped to get a bearing for where he was. The only problem was that at that moment, he felt his brother ram into him. Collapsing on the ground, he looked up at the sky to see several V-Wings flying overhead. They were searching for the remnants of Bravo Squad. He hoped that the pilots couldn't see him because of the thick canopy of the trees.
For helped Falco to his feet as he looked around him. The man was missing his helmet, exposing the huge scar across the side of his face. He got it when a Jedi had caused the LAAT/i they were on crashed during night of Order 66. Falco never wanted to remember that moment, but he couldn't forget it. The Jedi Knight throwing himself at the Gunship to protect the Padawans from the troops streaming from the bay. He had managed to slot Nuts, another pod brother. The Jedi Knight looked happy, until Cryer, in an uncontrollable rage, slotted the Padawans before his eyes before taking out his pistol and blasting the fool in the face.
"Heroic, but futile," that's what Cryer had muttered before realizing the gravity of the situation and running off with Falco to get For to safety.
Now, the poor guy was dead, probably, but if they were in the hands of ISB, Falco could only hope they were really dead.
"Come on, ner vod, we gotta move," For yelled in his face before continuing to run, "Rest of the 501st is already searching for us, I swear I could hear one of them a few hundred metres from behind us."
Falco picked up his DC-17, clutching it closely to his chest like a security blanket as he ran after For. Just then, he saw For come to a stop up ahead. Crouching, Falco looked up to see six 501st Stormtroopers emerge, rifles raised and aiming at For's head.
"Just my luck. Just. My. Kriffing. Luck," For thought to himself as he lifted his hands up.
One of the Stormtroopers slowly approached him. He was a Captain, by the looks of him. The unblinking eyes of the helmet of the Stormtrooper stared at him, almost into his soul. For didn't know what to do. It wasn't protocol for him to get arrested by his own brothers. The Captain stopped about two metres away from him. Near enough to not miss him, and far enough so that his gun couldn't get swiped from his hands.
"We have our orders, traitor," the Captain's voice announced with acid, "you are to be executed."
"Come on, man, we're all brothers! You know what Vader's doing is wro…" For shouted at him before a rifle butt hit his back with so much force that he swore he nearly got a concussion.
"Enough talk, traitor," One of the Stormtroopers growled, " We swore duty to the Chancellor's office and the Republic. Although the titles have changed, you can't just slot someone and go running off into the jungle just because you feel that what Lord Vader is doing is wrong."
For looked around, hoping that there was an escape route that he hadn't spotted. It was at that moment that he saw a bush behind the Stormtrooper Captain rustle.
"Ready to go to the manda, traitor? As you Commando boys always say," the Stormtrooper Captain mocked as he pulled his SE-14r from its holster. It was shiny in the sunlight from having been polished so sharply.
For threw himself to the ground as a concussion grenade whizzed overhead, detonating in middle of the circle. The six Stormtroopers were temporarily blinded as Falco's DC-17 roared, firing a blue blast into each of their chest plates. With his helmet off the Stormtrooper Captain was bitterly cursing, searching the floor for his rifle until he looked up and saw the muzzle of the DC-17 in his face.
The Captain opened his mouth to say something, but Falco didn't hear any of it as he pulled the trigger.
The air reeked from the stench of blaster fire. Falco looked down at the Captain's face, starting to feel sick as he realized that it was the face that he saw every morning when he shaved, the face that he laughed with during meal times.
He just killed six of his Clone brothers.
Falco removed his helmet and threw up. Behind him, he could hear For getting onto his knees to search the other Stormtroopers' corpses for ammunition, bacta packs, thermal detonators, anything that could aid them in their run from the Empire.
"Thank God Sarge taught us how to survive," Falco thought to himself.
Falco wondered how his Sergeant, Vau was doing. All the Imperial Commandos had received kill or capture orders on all of their old Mandalorian training Sergeants. Kal Skirata, Walon Vau, Mij Gilamar, Rav Bralor, you name it, they were on it. The last rumour he heard about them was that they had taken off in a ship to somewhere. Intelligence had no idea where, but nearly every original Tipoca City Commando knew where they had gone: Mandalore.
He wished he could see the beautiful planet that the Sergeants would never shut up about.
A pity he might not live long enough to see it, given the course of their recent actions.
"Vod, snap out of it, I don't want to end up like Ion Team, poor idiots," For suddenly interrupted his thoughts, "we gotta move, vod, if not they're cut off our gett'se and feed it to the nerfs."
Falco looked up and stared straight through For as though he wasn't there. For sighed as he walked up to his brother and patted his back. Falco then looked up at him and replaced his helmet, before staring into his squad-mates eyes.
"Fine, but as soon as we get back to Imperial City, with help or no help, I'm gonna kill every single non-clone hut'uun Imperial I see, " For whispered as he looked over his shoulder at the dead Stormtroopers, "using our own brothers against us… disgusting…"
For nodded in agreement. Lifting the heavy bags filled with gear onto their shoulders, the two escaped members of Bravo Squad started to jog before breaking into a full-blown sprint, running away from the Empire that betrayed them.
"You know, Falco... Sooner or later, we gotta go back for Cryer and Sixer..."
"I know, For, I know... but only if they're still alive when we reach them..."
Cryer began to stir. His head was throbbing and he could taste blood in his around, He came to the conclusion he was in the holding room that they used to hold suspected rebels and Wookies before bringing them to interrogation. Thankfully, he realized that he and Sixer were the only two there.
He looked down at himself and saw that his armor was missing. Sixer was still knocked unconscious, with his whole face covered in bruises. Before he had blacked out, Cryer remembered Sixer resisting, which is probably what resulted in him being beaten up by the other Stormtroopers.
Traitors, the lot of them, beating their own brothers for the mongrel officers.
Suddenly, he heard the door being unlocked. Feigning unconsciousness, he laid down to eavesdrop on the two men who entered the room. He peeked at them, seeing that one of them was wearing the standard issue Stormtrooper armor which identified him as Commander.
The other was wearing the white uniform of an ISB officer.
Oh osik, Cryer thought to himself as the two men began a conversation.
"These are the two prisoners?"
"Yes sir, these two attempted to run off with their squad mates. Luckily a few of us were stationed nearby and spotted them. The other two are somewhere in the forests. Last we heard they eliminated a Stormtrooper unit. One of their rifles were missing, along with all other equipment like thermal detonators and bacta packs. The rest of the 501st is searching for them."
"… Search the forest, Commander, Don't stop until you have found them. Those two men present a dangerous threat to the Empire. If they somehow make it off the planet, they could join one of the rebellions and quite possibly take part in sabotage and assassination, which is the last thing I want on my plate."
"Yes, sir!"
"As for these two… scumbags", the officer sneered before gesturing at the two "unconscious" Commandos, "put them aboard my ship in two standard hours. I'll be bringing them back to Imperial City for… a little chat."
"Roger, sir."
After the two men left the room, Cryer let out a chuckle to himself. At least he knew For and Falco were still alive. Now he just needed to worry about himself and Sixer. Continuing to feign unconsciousness, he started to think up of a plan to get them both off Kashyyyk.
Author's Note:
...And that's chapter 1 folks. Thanks for reading. Whether this takes off or not, I will write another chapter by next Monday.