Hey, it's TKDrift.
As a major Star Wars geek, I was really disappointed and pissed that the entire Domino Squad except Fives and that many, if not all the good clones died. So I began writing retellings that had the 'good' clones surviving. This story retells the second half of the Umbara Arc (From episodes Plan of Dissent to Carnage of Krell). The first half will remain as it is for this story, as it was good enough; Darkness on Umbara showed and emphasized on the fact that clone troopers are not droids and are able to make their own decisions and so forth, and The General also showed the growing mistrust of Krell among the 501st, both having key points of the Umbara Arc.
Changes from the originals is that Hardcase and Waxer survive while Dogma does not go to custody; Waxer died needlessly and Dogma eventually learned his lesson. For Hardcase, I think the writers of the series had a vote on who to kill between him and Jesse while granting the fans' (your's truly included) request to let Fives live. But I didn't think Hardcase needed to die, even if it was a heroic sacrifice.
Enjoy the story. I do not own anything.
Chapter 1: New Orders-Death by missile
"The wise man leads, the strong man follows."
Invasion in peril! Republic forces struggle to take Umbara, a hostile planet completely enshrouded in darkness. Jedi General Pong Krell and Captain Rex lead a battalion against a constant attack by a brutal enemy. Krell's aggressive and reckless strategies backfire, killing many clones. Despite the Jedi general's dangerous tactics, Captain Rex's squad successfully captures a critical airbase. This further fuels the mistrust of Krell's leadership, dividing his men.
For the 501st Legion, things were strangely quiet. The airbase was under their control, if not entirely. Any Umbarans that survived their attack were in custody, in the brig. All the AT-RT patrols around the base came out blank, with nothing unusual. However, the one thing they all agreed on was that compared to General Anakin Skywalker, General Pong Krell was much more reckless and foolish, coming up with plans that were more or less disastrous, always ending up with high casualties. Nevertheless, they HAD conquered the airbase, though almost the entire legion wondered why their leader, Captain CT-7567 or Rex's opinion was never heard to Krell, as Skywalker always listened. But they could still see that Rex was getting closer to his breaking point, as the Captain clenching his fist was noticed by everyone.
There were also attempts to retake the airbase every now and then from outside Umbarans, but despite the fact that their attacks were starting to get stronger, the Umbarans always retreated without much or a fight. So overall, it was peaceful, as if there was never an invasion.
As he walked toward General Pong Krell and Hardcase to report to the Jedi, Dogma found himself thinking. Like the rest of the 501st, he didn't expect their interim Jedi General to be entirely different compared to General Anakin Skywalker; overly aggressive, reckless, cold, and harsh. But to Dogma, they were overreacting; sure, they had a lot of casualties and the run-down-the-main-road-with-mines-plan failed, but they still managed to take over this airbase and were 'cleaning up'. And the General (At least to him) knew what he was doing. Brushing those thoughts aside however, he went up until he was at a decent pace with the General.
"The insurgents have stepped up their attack, sir" he reported.
"They want their base back." Krell said, clenching a fist. "We cannot let our guard down for a moment. Have all Umbaran security reconfigured and locked down. Interrogate the prisoners if you have to. But I want this base under our complete control and I don't want excuses" the Besalisk Jedi continued as they kept on walking.
Just then, Captain Rex came up to them.
"Sir, there's a transmission from General Kenobi" he told them.
"I'll take it in the tower." Krell replied, not even bothering to stop as he, Dogma and Rex went towards the tower. However, they didn't notice Hardcase stopping and going off to see Fives, who was tinkering with one of the Umbaran Starfighters.
ARC Trooper CT-27/ARC-5555, known as Fives was utterly disgusted. Krell was not really a good Jedi, or at least his actions didn't show it. The Jedi had proven that he was more than capable as a fighter, but as far motivation and inspiration, he was terrible; he didn't even bother to lead the troops up front like most Jedi. Instead he remained outside the battlefield, giving out orders and apparently unaware of the fact that his troops (regardless of what unit it was) had ridiculously high casualties and that his plans almost never, if they ever did, worked. Maybe he was too proud to admit that that was happening. Or maybe he didn't care about them. And too caught up in his thoughts, Fives didn't notice Hardcase coming until he spoke up.
"Hey, how's it coming?" He asked as he crouched down to get a better talk.
"Eh, tricky piece of hardware" The ARC Trooper replied as he kept working. He wasn't kidding though; Umbara was, after all perhaps one of the most scientifically and technologically advanced worlds in the galaxy.
"Krell's got Jesse stacking ordnance" Hardcase meekly replied.
Sighing, Fives simply grunted "I'm still waiting for Krell to thank us for handing this base over to him"
Although he didn't show or say it, Hardcase agreed with him. If he and Fives hadn't taken control of those two fighters and take down the Umbaran MHCs earlier, the entire battalion would have been killed, or almost all of them by the least. As he looked up at the control tower of the airbase, the gun-trigger-happy soldier could only wonder what the General had in mind for them next…
The elevator door located on the top floor of the control tower opened and Rex and Krell walked into the room.
"Where is he?" Krell asked bluntly as the large hologram projector located on the center of the room began to activate, "General Kenobi, do you read me?"
The small light blue holographic 'particles' began to swirl from the floor of the projector and swarmed toward each other until they formed the unmistakable figure of Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"Congratulations on your capture of the Umbaran airbase, General. Refreshing to have good news" the Negotiator said in a serious but positive voice.
"There will be time for celebration when we've taken that capital" Krell replied coldly, crossing his arms.
"Yes, well I'm afraid that's going to be more difficult than anticipated" Kenobi added, stroking his beard in weariness. "Their attacks have increased, and their long-range missiles are forcing us to retreat from our positions"
"I was hoping we cut off their arms shipments and supplies when we took this airbase" Krell replied, confused.
"It seems they are receiving new shipments," Kenobi added "directly from a supply ship orbiting….." then the feed and sound began suddenly flickering and Kenobi's hologram began to form and unform.
"General Kenobi?" Krell asked.
Kenobi still talked, but all Krell and Rex could hear was "We're…..hav….difficulty trans…mitting…..they must be jamming our signals….." before the hologram reformatted into the other Jedi.
"Can't we destroy the supply ship?" Rex brought up. Surely, if the ship was destroyed, then it would be the end of the long-range-missiles.
"We're trying but with little success." Kenobi replied, sighing. "Their fleet outnumbers ours and the extra ships we were promised have not yet arrived."
"We'll just have to take that capital regardless of the missiles." Krell said darkly. Rex looked up at him surprised and he could tell Kenobi was thinking the same as from his own shocked look. "My battalion will meet you at the rendezvous coordinates." Krell told Kenobi.
"We cannot expect-" Kenobi began. But then the transmission was cut off completely; The Umbarans had succeeded in jamming their signals.
"I'm trying to get him back, sir" Sergeant Kano told them as his fingers danced on the holographic keyboard in front of him.
"Don't bother." The Jedi told him. "The enemy is jamming our transmissions. We're on our own."
Rex looked at him as the General left and he looked back at Kano, whom the Captain could already tell he didn't like the new situation. Silently, he turned to follow the General.
"Have those containers searched and all weapons prepped and loaded." Krell barked at the troops outside, who had just begun to do the exact thing the Jedi just told them. "Have the battalion ready to move out in 12 hours." He then told Rex. "We're advancing on the capital."
Although he was relieved a little that Krell was giving the battalion a time to rest, Rex still had to face the fact that they were going to literally walk to their deaths.
"Sir, should I try to get a message to General Kenobi?" He asked the Besalisk Jedi "Shouldn't we coordinate our attack, especially in light of the recent threat?" Even Krell had to admit, even with his casualty rates, the rate would be inarguably high with the missiles.
"General Kenobi has his hands full, same as us. We need to throw everything we have at them. Now!" He snapped.
"We'd be marching into a blast zone, sir-" But Rex never got to finish his sentence when a trio of long-range missiles bombed some trees nearby the base.
"Blasted insurgents!" Krell snarled quietly. "I realize you haven't agreed with all my strategies captain. But you are smart enough and loyal enough to obey my orders." He continued, raising a finger. "Now prep those troops!" He roared as he walked off.
Slightly disoriented and unable to speak, Rex was silent. He already knew how his men would react; Dogma was going to agree without even so much as a peep. And that Fives, Hardcase, Jesse, Kix, Tup, and Boomer were sure to argue with him and disagree with the General's plan. Shaking his head once more, Rex turned toward one of the airbase's hangars to tell his men their new objective.
How was it? Was it good or bad? I don't know, but your reviews tell me so please do so.
Just a heads up, Kano and Boomer were in the video game Republic Heroes for those who don't remember or don't know.
This is TKDrift, signing off.