Hey there! I've had this idea in my head for a while, and wanted to try and write it for you to read! I'll try and stay close to canon, but I do want to bring some elements of Legends in as well. Some characters from PJO and HoO will be sprinkled in as well, but I want to stick with Percy in the beginning.
The 212th was losing ground, and fast. Foxtrot Group was down to 2 Commandos, one with heavy injuries. Despite this, the pocket of troopers held out, waiting for evac to arrive. The battle of Sarrish was quickly looking like a loss for the Republic.
"Captain! We've spotted three droid gunships coming from the east." One of the clones reported to Gregor, who was taking cover behind the wing of a crashed LAAT with the other Troopers.
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes to think for a moment. "How many rockets do we have left? If they make it close enough to fire, I don't want to give them a chance to come back for a second round."
"We have... four rockets, sir." The Trooper answered.
"And how many able men?" Gregor leaned forward.
"Percy says he's able to use a rocket launcher, and then there's me and Dots." He answered, "But there might be too much heat to get back to their positi-"
"Stay here, Maple. I'll bring the rockets over there and help take out those gunships. You help them to try and get in contact with General Kenobi, or the fleet." He motioned to the Troopers working on a small transmitter.
"Yes sir, Captain!" Maple nodded, crouching next to them.
Gregor stood up and approached a dirt covered crate, which was already open. Inside were four pristine RPS-6 Rocket Launchers. He scooped them up, and peaked out from around the wing, seeing the endless waves of droids firing at the remaining clones. He shook his head, lowering back down behind the wing.
"I need a distraction, any thermal detonators?" He asked the Troopers.
One of them reached for his belt, releasing two detonators and handing them to Gregor. "Here, sir."
Gregor nodded, tossing the two explosives into the lines of droids. He quickly checked his DC-17M before rushing out into the open to reach the small dugout 50 meters away from the downed LAAT.
He dove into the pit, narrowly missing a bolt that flew past him as he landed. "How long until those gunships are in range?"
"I'd give us a solid two minutes, Cap. Do we have anything to turn 'em into scrap?" Percy responded, lowering his macrobinoculars and turning to Gregor. His armor was almost destroyed, and completely covered in scorch marks, dirt, and grease, making it almost unrecognizable as Katarn-class Commando armor, or even any kind of armor at that point.
"Where's Dynamo?" Percy asked, pulling his broken, and therefore pointless helmet off.
"He didn't make it, we lost him two hours ago, same with Brax." Answered Gregor.
Dots stopped firing at the droids and turned back, "You two are all that's left? This isn't good. W-what about the transmitter?"
"They're almost ready with it, we just need to make sure those gunships don't complicate things for us." Gregor answered. He dropped the rocket launchers onto the ground, pulling out his own macrobinoculars.
"The big guns. I like it." Percy grinned.
Gregor stared at the gunships speeding at the from the east, their disc-like shape making them easy targets from the bottom.
"When I give the word, you fire the rockets, we need to take them down fast." He turned to Percy. "Are you sure you can do this?"
Percy painfully shrugged. "I've probably got a few broken ribs, and my leg won't be good for a while, but I can do this, sir."
"You're a commando, CT-1993. Of course you can do this!" Dots exclaimed.
Percy nodded. He grabbed one of the rocket launchers and pointed it in the direction of the gunships following them as they got closer.
Dots did the same, laying in the dirt next to him, as Gregor watched from his macrobinoculars. "Steady..."
The clones could make out the details of the ships with their eyes now. "Steady..."
The noise from the repulsorlift engines in the droids became a faint drumming moving closer. "Wait for it..."
The gunships spotted them, their cannons heating up and preparing to fire on them. They were almost directly overhead now, opening up their weak bottom side. "Now!" Gregor shouted, and Percy and Dots fired the rocket launchers at the two outermost ships.
They exploded, crashing into the last gunship and sending it flying into the droid ranks to the north.
Dots cheered, and Percy did his best to cheer with his injuries. Gregor smiled and nodded to them, offering a hand to Percy.
"I think the crash bought us enough time to regroup, let's hurry up and get the transmitter online." Gregor pulled Percy to his feet, helping him limp his way across the flat stretch of dirt between them and the other clones.
Percy grimaced in pain as he put pressure on his broken leg, slowing down.
"We're almost there, brother." Gregor assured, "You can do it!"
They ducked behind the wing of the LAAT, where he was propped up against the metal frame. Percy let out a sigh as he stopped putting strain on his ribs and leg, his head rolling back against the cold surface.
"How's the transmitter?" Gregor asked.
"Just finished, Captain." Maple answered, flicking it on. "It should be operational in just a moment."
Gregor crouched down, watching it open up and prop up a small dish on top. "I'll take it from here." He played around with the transmitter, changing to Republic frequency.
"This is CC-5576, requesting an evacuation as soon as possible. We have injured down here, and we only have a short amount of time before the Separatists come again."
"We read you, CC-5576. The battle is depleting our resources, but we should have an LAAT on your position ASAP." Replied the transmitter.
"Only one LAAT? We have too many injured to get us all on one." Dots pointed out.
"Some of us will have to stay behind and hold out. Who's with me?" Gregor stood up.
Percy raised his hand, looking up at the Captain.
"You're injured, sergeant. You're getting on that transport." Gregor ordered.
"Thought you'd say that." Percy mumbled weakly, lowering his hand.
"The LAAT is enroute to your position, Captain. It'll be there shortly." Crackled the transmitter.
Gregor breathed a sigh of relief as the message came through sitting in the dirt with the rest of the Troopers.
"The injured are our priority, as soon as that LAAT opens its doors, load them in. If we play our cards right, we can all make it back alive on a second ship." He stated, checking all his blasters in preparation for the defense.
"And if we don't?" Maple asked.
There was a silence for a moment amongst the group, until Dots spoke up.
"We will." He said, standing up straight.
"We have an advantage, they're attacking us. We have cover, they're in the open."
"Dots is right, you will have an advantage." Percy spoke up. "Also, you've got one more rocket."
The uninjured men murmured in agreement, waiting for the LAAT to arrive.
After many long minutes, the LAAT could be seen flying to them from the direction of the Acclamator Assault Cruiser. The Troopers let out a sigh of relief as it land next to their encampment in the crashed gunship, and the doors open.
"Hurry up and get on!" Shouted the Trooper standing inside, ushering them forward.
Gregor helped Percy up, supporting him on the way to the ship. "Some of us are staying behind. We'll wait for the next transport, the injured are priority."
"Understood, Captain! We'll contact the Acclamator and get a medical team down to the hangar." The Trooper responded. He helped pull Percy onto the LAAT, laying him down on a stretcher. The rest of the injured were placed on board as well, with a few Troopers boarding as well.
The remaining Troopers, 16 in total, including Gregor, prepared to hold off the droids while the rest escaped.
"Good luck, Cap." Percy called out.
"You too, brother." Gregor replied, nodding in his direction.
"We'll be getting out of here as soon as possible." Dots said, hopping on board the LAAT.
"I thought you were staying."
"Captain Gregor doesn't want you hurting yourself under the belief that you're completely fine on deck." Dots answered jokingly.
"I'm injured, not an idiot." Percy said. He watched as the doors to the LAAT shut, and the ship took off into the air, leaving the remaining men to hold out at the crash. He rolled his head back to facing the ceiling, drifting off into darkness from his injuries.
He awoke hours later, in the medical bay of The Negotiator, the flagship of General Kenobi.
His wounds were patched up, but he definitely still had some rough injuries in need of healing. He felt a numb pain in his right leg, telling him it was still broken.
A pair of crutches were left for him next to his bed. He slowly pulled himself off it, balancing on one foot, and grabbing the two metal supports.
He hobbled out of the medical bay, seeing all the other injured Troopers on his way. He began making his way to the commons area, but he was stopped along the way by Dots, who rounded a corner as he was approaching in the Hall.
"Oh! Percy." He greeted. "You were just who I was looking for. You're wanted on the bridge."
The shaggy haired Clone was dumbfounded for a second, "I am?"
"Here, I'll help you get there." Dots offered.
They made their way through the ship, passing by the hangar bay, as well as going by the medical bay again, until they reached the elevator leading up to the main bridge.
"Thank you, Dots."
"Of course, brother. I'll let you go now." The Trooper replied, making his way back to his station.
Percy entered the elevator, riding up to the bridge. The doors opened, and he stepped out into the control center.
General Kenobi turned around, hearing him enter.
Percy stood at attention, at least the best he could on crutches, "General."
"Ah, Percy. Welcome back to the land of the living." Kenobi greeted.
"Uh... what's that supposed to mean?"
"You were... dead for 11 minutes, Sergeant." Commander Cody answered.
Percy shrugged casually, as though it happened to him often. "Well, I'm not anymore... right?"
"No, I suppose not." Kenobi smirked at his remark. "I think we should get to the point now."
Percy stood up straight. "Of course, General." He looked around the Bridge, before asking, "Wait, did Gregor make it back?"
Cody's face darkened, and he turned to General Kenobi.
"You see... we lost contact with him and his shuttle hours ago." Kenobi answered. "We're not sure what happened after the Separatists began chasing them down. Percy... you're the last Commando in Foxtrot."
Percy's arms felt weak when he thought about that. The world was spinning, but he knew that this was apart of his life, what he was made to do. Die for the Republic. "I... understood, sir."
Cody planted a hand on his shoulder, "We lost a lot of good men today."
"That we did." Kenobi solemnly added.
"You should get some rest, Trooper. I'll make sure we got a new set of armor in for you. Dismissed."
Percy nodded, hobbling into the elevator, and heading back down to the main deck of the cruiser.
He traveled through the halls again, making his way to the Foxtrot barracks.
The door opened to an empty room, with four bunks, where the other commandos would've slept when on the ship. Dynamo's collection of droid pieces and machinery stuffed into a box under one of them, and Brax's broken macrobinoculars in multiple pieces on his. Gregor didn't have much on his, and Percy's was almost an untidy mess, if it weren't for routine inspection.
He set the crutches down next to his, which was on the far left side of the room facing the door, and pulled himself into the bed.
He was drifting into sleep, even though he had just been out for an unknown amount of hours, apparently being dead really tires you.
Back on the bridge, the crew of The Negotiator were plotting a course back into Republic controlled space, specifically the planet of Alderaan.
"General Kenobi, why are we headed to Alderaan?" Cody asked with his helmet at his side.
"Senator Organa requested I meet with him to discuss certain matters, which he would not elaborate on. And you and your men can get some rest planetside." Kenobi answered, focused on the depths of space outside the viewports of the cruiser.
"Understood, sir. I'll let them know what's going on." Cody began exiting the bridge, when Obi-Wan called out to him,
"And Cody, do make sure that Percy takes it easy, I'd rather not have any of his injuries become more... permanent."
"Roger that, General."