AN: The idea of this fic came to me a while ago, thinking this: How could EVERY Clone trooper side with the Empire? Surly some of them would have seen through what Palpatine was doing, and shouldn't they have some-how 'bonded' with their Jedi commanders at one point? After all, Jedi didn't look at Clones as 'Expendable soldiers', and would do what they could to save as many as they could (Remember the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes where they saved those Clone Troopers who were at the medical stations, and the episode before that where Jedi Master Plo-Koon said to the Clones that they were not expendable).
So, that is what this Fic is about. A large group of clones who 'Questioned' Order 66 when it was carried out, and went rouge to fight for the Re-establishment of the Republic, and for the downfall of the Empire. Expect to see faces both new and old, and some pretty epic battle scenes. Not to mention that you may see things from other series, I won't spoil it all for you, so you'll just have to wait and see!
So, without further adu, I present to you the prolog of Star Wars: We Dared.
"Talking"
"Radio/Com link"
'Thinking'
"Alien Language"
Prolog: The 247th
"The 247th Mobile Assault Corps, or as they like to call themselves, the 'Hades' Corps. They were about as famous as the 501st was, and they had the force too back up that reputation. When they left the army, and went rouge to fight for what they believed in, they already had the skills to fight their war under their belts. They were personal fans of their 'Shock and Awe' battle plans, as well as Guerrilla hit-and-run, Blitzkrieg, Siege Warfare, you name it, they specialized in it. They had a fighting chance to actually win, and the resolve to do it…I actually think maybe I should join them."- Ex-Clone Commando on the 247th 'Hades' Mobile Assault Corps.
19 BBY
Bespin, En-Route too Cloud City
48 Hours before Order 66
Cloud City. The city witch hovers among the gas clouds of Bespin. Its no secret that Bespin is one of the Galaxy's lead suppliers of ship fuel with its deposits of Tibanna Gas.
It was only a matter of time for the Confederacy of Independent Systems to invade the Planet, and in turn Cloud City as well. For a better part of the Clone Wars, the Planet had been suppressed by Separatist Rule.
But that ended today.
Emerging from the clouds, approaching the city, a fleet of several Dagger-shaped warships emerged from the red clouds of Bespin. They all looked different in their own way, but they all shared the same Crimson Red Hulls, with Black Trimming.
In total, the fleet consisted of 21 vessels. And in the center of the fleet, a single Imperator-Class Star Destroyer, with the same color scheme as the other vessels, only with added Gold Trimming along the bridge. This ship, was the RAS Inferno. The Flagship of the Hades Corps.
On the bridge of the Inferno, a single figure stood as Clone troopers operated around her. She looked to be about 25 year old, standing at 5'11, and had dark brown shoulder-length hair, and Emerald Green eyes. She wore what looked like a hybrid between Clone armor, and a Jedi's Robes. She had the body armor of a Clone Trooper, minus the helmet, while the torso had her Jedi Robes over the armor (Just think what Obi Wan Wore during the battle of Muunilinst).Her Armor was custom colored Crimson red with Red Trimming.
"Ma'am, Droid Forces have detected us." The Captain of the ship said. "Their launching their fleet."
The woman nodded as she looked out of the bridge, and indeed saw the CIS fleet lauching from one of the many floating platforms the Sepratists built around Cloud City.
"Yes, I can see that. Prepare all fighters, it's time we take back Cloud City, and Bespin from the Seps," she ordered, as the captain nodded and turn to carry out his orders.
"This will definitely be an interesting battle, Jade." a voice said from behind her. Jade Lee turned too see a man wearing a Black ARC Commander Uniform witch was trimmed with Crimson Red. His helmet was held under his right arm, so his face was on full display.
Though Jade could tell he was a Clone, to a common eye however, one may mistake him for someone else. Unlike other Clones of the famous Jango Fett, his skin was less tanned as the other Clones, his eyes were a lighter brown in color, and the most 'oddest' was that his hair was also a lighter shade than most Clone's. His Number was CC-0666, but he's more commonly known as 'Trips'.
The reason why he's physically different from most clones was because there was an 'error' in his cloning process, causing him to look just a bit different from the other Clones. However, this never effected his capability to fight and lead. In fact, Trips graduated from the Clone Academy at the (Genetic) age of 15, the youngest recorded in clone history.
Since that day, he became the Marshal Commander of the 247th Mobile Assault Corps. Later, however, it would be known as the Hades Corps.
Jade nodded as Trips walked up beside her.
"That it will definitely be," Jade said, then sighed as she remembered how this whole war started with the capture of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Knight, now Master on the Jedi Council, when he was investigating the attempted Assasination of the senator from Naboo, Padme Amidala on Geonosis. A rescue mission was launched with Jedi Master Mace Windu leading a group of Jedi to Geonosis to liberate Obi-wan, and also his Apprentice and the Senator he was assigned to protect. The mission was almost a disaster, if Master Yoda hadn't arrived with the Clone Army from Kamino. Shaking her head from her thoughts about the past she turned to her Second-in-command.
"Alright Trips, you know what to do," she instructed, and Trips nodded in the affirmative.
"Alright Trips, you know what to do," she instructed, and Trips nodded in the affirmative.
"We draw out the enemy fleet, and engage them, drawing the enemy's focus towards us." he said. "Meanwhile, Beta will infiltrate Cloud city to knock out their defenses. Once those are down, we can send in the troops to capture Cloud City."
"Are you going in with them?" Jade asked with a knowing smirk, while Trips just snorted. "Are you?" he asked, returning the smirk. "With Dooku dead now, and Grevious on the Run, I'd say the War will be over and done within the year at most. So I wanna get as much action in as I can before the war ends."
"Cant argue with that." Jade said. "So, when the War is over, what are you gonna do anyways?"
"What else?" Trips said, shrugging. "Serve the Republic like I always have, like every clone was trained to do...you?"
"Hmm..." Jade said. "I...I guess I haven't really thought about it that much...I guess I'll be staying in the Order, keeping the peace I guess...though I'm gonna miss all this?"
"What do you mean?" Trips asked, and she sighed. "This...the whole feeling I get when I fight." she admitted. "I know, it may go against something in the Code...but I just cant get over the rush I get whenever we head into battle...I've never felt so...well...alive when fighting before the war."
Trips looked at Jade, and could tell that was not what she meant, but he will have to ask her about that later, after all the "Clankers" are nothing but scrap metal.
"Well, shall we then, Ma'am?" Trips said as he donned his helmet. Jade looked at Trips and smiled a sincere, but a bit mischevious, smile.
"Ready. Willing. And able, Trips," she declared as they left the bridge to the Hanger Bay.
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Meanwhile,
In Cloud City's Baron Administrator's Office
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Gorman Reko was like any other Nemoidian of the vile and money-hungry Trade Federation: greedy, cowardly, and always use dirty tricks to get what he wants. When he was given the position as the governor of Bespin, he saw this as a golden opportunity to monopolize the Tibanna gas from the planet, to fill his pockets even further, not even caring about what happens too the citizens. As long as he got his share of cash, all ways fine.
He was worried when he received word of a Republic fleet heading his way, but he had a much larger force than what they had. His fleet consisted of Six Lucrehulk-class Battleships, two Droid Control Ships, several Banking Clan Treasury Stations, three Separatist Cruisers, Seven Providence-class Cruisers, Thirteen Munificent-class Star Frigates, Eighteen Trade Federation Missile Frigates, and Twelve Recusant-class light Cruisers. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of Droids under his command.
However, he did Panic a bit seeing the well known color scheme of the 247th 'Hades' Mobile Assault Corps, but Gorman was confident in his defenses that they would hold.
"Sir, our forces are in position," His personal Tatical Droid, T-6U reported in it's usual monotone voice. Gorman looked at his Tatical Advisor with his red amphibian-like eyes.
"Good, Commander. Have our ships surround them and annihilate them," The Nemoidian said with a arrogant tone.
"Sir I advise we deploy our fighters first, to soften their defenses," the Droid instructed, but the Sepratist leader just waved it off.
"That will not be necessary, our heaships are more than enough to take care of just one ship," Gorman cockily declared. If the Tatical Droid had any feelings, he would've been shocked and angered that his advice was ignored.
"But sir, that ship belongs to the 247th Assault Corps if the markings show anything," the droid tried to reason.
"You think I don't see that!" Gorman hissed. "We outnumber them, and outgun them, we can and will win this battle, Bespin will not fall back into the hands of the Republic."
If the Droid could, he would have rolled its 'eyes' at the moment. "Very well, sir." it said.
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Meanwhile
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As the two fleets organized themselves, and prepared for the battle, if the Separatise forces were paying attention, they may have noticed the single LAAT/i gunship that was moving towards them from below towards Cloud City, a Gunship that held the same color scheme as the other ships of the Hades Corps does, while adding Dragon's Teeth on the nose of the Gunship.
Inside the Gunship, several figures prepared for battle. Four of the figureswere wearing the standard Katarn-class Commando Armor, however they all bore the same color scheme of Black with Red Trimming. However each Commando had a third color on their Helmets to tell each other apart.
The one with a bit of Gold trimming along his helmet, equipped with a Warrior Helm, a Warrior Shoulder shield, a pair of DC-15s Pistols strapped to both of his thighs, and a holo emitter on his left arm, was currently assembling his DC-17m into blaster rifle mode.
The Commando,RC-1190, better known as Fury by his friends and allies, glanced up and observed the rest of his team. To his left there was another Commando with Red trimming on his helmet, equipped with Rangefinder mounted on his helmet, a sniper pack on his right shoulder, and a Bacta pack on his left arm. He was RC-1147 'Doc', their team medic, who also doubles as their sniper.
Next was another Commando who had blue trimming on his armor. He came equipped with a left shoulder-mounted thermal scanner, an airman shield on his helmet, and a short Viroblade sword strapped on his back below his backpack. That was RC-1184 'Blade', the team's Stealth and CQC specialist.
The last commando had Orange trimming on his helmet, possessed a Gunner Helm, a Gunners Epaulette on his left shoulder, and extra anti-armor charges strapped to his thigh. That was the last member of Fury's team of commando's, RC-1112 Shocker. Their Heavy Weapons/Demolitions expert.
"Alright everyone, you know the drill!" Fury shouted. "Our mission is to disable Cloud Cities defenses to allow the Troopers in, and while we're at it we've been given a search-and-Destroy mission to disable the Droid Control center they built in the city. If we take that out, then once the CIS loose their Control ships the Droids will all deactivate."
"Hell ya!" Shocker shouted as he hopped to his feet. "It's about damn time too!"
"Indeed, It's been a while since we've been on a mission like this." Doc said as he flipped his DC-17m into sniper mode.
Blade said nothing, but he nodded as he drew out his Vibroblade from his back. Blade was known as the 'strong & Silent Type' of their group.
"Just be sure to save our Target for us." A new voice said, and Fury turned around to see the last three Occupants of the LAAT/i. Three figures wearing Manalorian Armor sat at the far end of the Dropship. The one on the left, the one with Blue/Red trimmed Armor, stood at 6'2, with broad shoulders, looked to be about 25 or so, and a very muscular build. He had dark brown eyes, and his head was shaved bald. He was carrying a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon.
The second, a more slender Female figure who stood at 5'11, with tan skin, rust red hair tied in a pony tail on the back of her head, brown eyes, and looked about 23, had Black/Blue trimmed Armor, and had a pair of WESTAR-34 Blaster Pistols, one of witch she was currently twirling around her right finger.
The last Figure, another female who stood an inch shorter than the last, wore Black/Grey Mandalorian Armor. She looked to be the youngest out of the three at 21, with shoulder-length blond hair, and greyish blue eyes. She had a DC-17m like what Beta Squad had, only she had a pair of Katarn-class commando gauntlets witch had hidden Vibroblades in them.
"Our Mission with you guys today says we need to take down the guy running this place...what was his name?...uh...Gorman something?" The Red haired one, Rebbecca 'Revy' Hawk said. "Shit, Can't fucking believe we got such a lame-ass Job this time around."
"Well, it was either this, or we took that Job at Felusia." The male, Roman Mikhail said. "And we all know how much I hate those damn jungle planets."
"Amen to that." the blond, Sasha Neos said. "I'm just glad it's not Geonosis again...I fucking hate Bugs..."
The other two suppressed a shudder at that as they remembered that mission. Trying to forget about it, Revy tried to think of something else, and remembered two certain Mandalorians.
"Say, isn't Cal gonna ask Kari out again?" Sasha asked, while the Commandos listened in.
"Kari? You mean Lady Artemis' girl? The one she adopted from Naboo?" Roman asked for confirmation
Cal Nazca, and Kari Bareen were two fellow Mandalorian Mercenaries who would often work with the three of them, as well as the Hades Corps. Kari was an Orphan of Naboo as previously stated who was adopted by none other than Nasha Artemis, the founder of the Mandalorian PMC ne'tra kad(1). While Cal was the son of two highly skilled Mandalorian warriors who fought for the Wookiee's on Kashyyyk. "Yup, I think those two are taking it pretty seriously now." Sasha said, with a grin.
The Clone Commandos eyes widened in slight suprise as they remembered meeting Lady Artemis once before.
"Whoa, I didn't know Lady Artemis had a kid, even if she was adopted" Shocker said as his clone brothers nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, no kidding. I still remember that mission when we had to guard Duchess Satine from the Death Watch, and when we were ambushed by them, the Ne'tra Kad showed up and sent them packing," Doc said as he remembered how the Ne'tra Kad Commandos fought against the Death Watch Terrorists, with Nasha Artemis herself delivering the final blow, as she killed the Death Watch's leader, former Concordia Governor Pre Viszla, and taking his family heirloom, the Dark Blade lightsaber.
"I heard that She's gonna give that Lightsaber she got from Viszla to Kari when she starts to run the Ne'tra Kad." Revy said. "Lucky...I always wanted one of those Lightsabers and she gets one with the rarest color."
"Well, she's not nick-named the 'Goddess of Luck' for nothing, Rev." Roman commented with a chuckle at the end. "She needs that luck, expecially since she and Cal were assigned too BG teams." Sasha snorted a bit. "Ya, those idiots need her luck if they so much want a snowflake's chance at surviving."
Before their conversation could continue however, the pilot of the Dropship called out. "Alright boys and girls!" the pilot shouted out. "We're almost at the Drop zone! Get ready to move out!"
"Right!" Fury said. "Alright, one last Review of the Plan before we go in." He then picked out his arm-mouted holo-emitter, and tossed it to the floor. then an image of Cloud city then appeared before them. "As you all know, this is cloud city." Fury said. "Sep's have had this system since the beginning of the war, but that's only because they threatened to blow up the city's reactor, witch would cause the whole station to plumet down, killing everyone living here. Our job, is to make sure that the Sep's don't have a chance to do that. We are also tasked with the destruction of the droid control station built in the city, and to capture the CIS Governor Gorman Reko."
"Why Capture him sir?" Shocker asked.
"Because, Gorman Reko knows the Command Codes of the whole Separtist army in the system." Fury said. "We gain those codes, and we can deactivate all of the droids in the system, making things a lot easier for us." He then turned to their three Mandalorian friends. "And once we're done with him, we'll give him to you so you can trade in that bounty Jabba has on his head." he said. "Heard he owed him a lot of money."
The three Mandalorians nodded as they donned their helmets.
"Ain't that the truth, even though Jabba is a gangster slimeball, he does put good bounties on those who either swindled, stole, or wronged him in a bad way," Roman joked, causing everyone to laugh, except Blade who just smiled slightly as he prepped his weapons.
"And, he's got a bit of honor in him, seeing how far he went too save his son." Shocker added, and the Mandalorian's nodded. "Took keep it short, I think I'd rather have him as an ally than an enemy." Doc added.
"Anyways, back on track," Fury said. "Once we land, we will split into two teams. Team 1 will consist of Myself, Shocker, and Revy. We'll go after the Defenses, while Team 2, consisting of Roman, Sasha, Doc and Blade, will get to the reactor and disable the charges so that Cloud city won't be falling anytime soon. We'll Rendevous four our attack on the Droid Control Station, and after that its Gorman."
The team nodded and stood up to wait for the signal to go.
"Approaching Landing Platform #34B," the pilot told the strike team as he approached said platform, "Stand by...Stand by...,"The dropship then shook a bit. "Alright, we've landed! Opening the hatch, time to hit it ladies!"
Once the left-side hatch opened up, Fury was the first one to hop out, followed by Doc, then the the Mandalorian Trio, and then the last two Commando's. The seven wasted no time after the drop, and quickly ran down the landing Pad until they reached the set of doors at the end just when the Dropship that carried them there left.
Doc pressed the Door open button, but nothing happened. "Doors are locked." He said.
"Blade, your up." Fury said, pointing to Blade, and then towards the Door controls. "Hack it." Blade nodded as he stepped forward and began typing on the door controls with his left hand with a speed not even Fury could keep up with, while holding his signiture Vibrosword in his left.
"Once we're in, use the Comm's for emergencies only." Fury said as Blade hacked the Doors. "We then take the Turbolift to the upper part of the city, and thats where we split up. If you engage any droids, take e'm out quickly before they can Radio in for support, or warn any others."
The others nodded their agreement just as Blade rose his right hand showing four fingers, then three, two, One, and once he reached Zero the Doors to Cloud City opened. "Alright, we're in." Fury said. "Let's do this thing."
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Meanwhile
RAS Inferno Hanger Bay
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As Jade and Trips entered the Hanger bay, they came in just as the Clone Pilots were preparing to take off from the Inferno. ARC-170 Starfighters, and V-19 Torrent starfighters prepared to take off while many LAAT/i's also were loaded up with troopers for the invasion itself.
Trips and Jade walked through all of the comosion as several troopers and Engineers saluted to them as they passed by. The two then came too a part of the hanger where there were several Green/Black ARC-170's, a single Red/Green trimmed Eta-2 Actis-class interceptor, and finally a LAAT/i Gunship. Standing next too the Gunship were several Clone Troopers, pilots, and a Engineer who deffinatly did not look like a Clone, who stood a few inches shorter than Trips, and had short dirty blonde hair, and brown eyes, wearing a grey utility uniform. The two walked up too the group, who turned and smiled seeing them. "General Lee, Commander Trips." Said one of the Clone Troopers wearing Jumpjet armor. "Glad you could join us, we were beginning to think you were gonna sit this one out."
Trips snorted "Do you think I'd really miss a battle like this, Boxer?" He asked the Clone, CT-0673 'Boxer', who grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "Well, anyways Boxer I have a little mission for you and your men on the Sovereign."
"And what might that be?" Boxer asked, as he crossed his arms.
"You and your boys are going to be hitting Cloud City first." Trips said. "The defenses around Cloud city were meant for taking on slow moving ships, not small Clone Troopers with Jetpacks dropping from above. You, along with the rest of your Company will be dropping in once we've taken out as much of their fleet as we can."
"Understood, sir." Boxer said. "The 080th 'Bullfrog' Airborn Company will be ready to drop, sir."
"That's good." Jade said as she turned too the Mechanic and the Pilots. "Heero, did you fix my interceptor yet?" she asked the engineer.
James 'Heero' Nohal nodded. "Yes, Ma'am." he said. "100% fixed...just please don't put anymore holes or scratches in it please? It took me forever to repaint it after that stunt you did with Anakin a few weeks ago." Jade just smiled sheepishly. "Hey, it was his idea to ram our Hyperspace rings into the battleship's shield generators."
"Ya, but did you have to do it while you were still attached to them?" One of the pilots, CP-1137 'Sparks' said, with a risen eyebrow. "Seems a bit overkill to me Ma'am."
"It was his idea!" Jade said, causing Trips to just shake his head. "Well, anyways, you boys gonna be with me?"
Sparks smiled, and nodded. "Always, Ma'am." He said. "The 101st Saber Starfighter wing will always be under your command."
Jade smiled, knowing she could trust her men when she needed them. Taking a deep breath, she decided to give the overall order to start the battle.
"Well then boys, shall we? We don't want to keep Neko waiting," she half joked and the clones grinned in response.
"Yes Ma'am!" they replied at the same time as they stood at attention. Jade then nodded "Alright, then Mount up!" she shouted, pumping a fist into the air.
The Clone Pilots wasted no time as they rushed towards their respective starfighters. Jade turned around and smiled at Trips. "See you later, Trips." she said, before sprinting away.
Trips grinned a bit as he watched Jade head towards her own fighter before turning towards Boxer. "Got room for one more on your Gunship?" he asked, and Boxer grinned. "Already got a Jetpack preped and ready for ya." he said.
"Aww, you shouldn't have." Trips said before laughing with Boxer before bording the LAAT/i.
Meanwhile, Jade ran up to her Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor, where her R2 Unit, R2-C2, was already locked into the fighter. "You ready RC?" she asked her Astromech. RC made a few Chirps and Whistles, and blinked its light a few times as a responce. "Alright, then let's do this!" Jade said as she hopped into the cockpit, and pulled on her Heatset as the hatch closed. "Saber Squadron, you guys ready?" she asked as she prepared to take off.
"Saber 1, Boxer, Ready here."
"Saber 2, Indigo, Preped and ready!"
"Saber 3, Sigma, Everythings ok on my end."
"Alright, then." Jade said as she watched the main hanger bay doors open. "Ok, Let's Move out!" and with that, Her Eta-2, followed by every single Starfigher and Bomber launched from the Inferno in a massive swarm.
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Meanwhile
With Beta Team
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It had been a few minutes since the Commando's and Mercenaries split up, and Fury's team were silently making its way through the interior of Cloud City. Other than the occational patrol of two or three B-1 Battle Droids, they went unopossed as they made their way towards the Controls of the automated Turret defenses of Cloud City.
As they moved down an alleyway, Fury raised his hand in a fist telling them to halt. Signaling them to spread out he drew one of his DC-17 blaster pistols as he heard something coming, and that something, was a Sepratist AAT.
"Firefek!" Fury hissed and he motioned his hands for everyone to hide in the nearby building.
"Why the hell do the Sep's have Tanks in here?" Shocker said as he switched his DC-17m into Anti-Armor mode. "Doesn't that Reko guy know that could cause serious damage too the city?"
"He doesn't care about the city." Revy said as she glanced out the window with Shocker watching as the Droid tank drove by. "Just his Paycheck from all of the gas he sells here. Why else do you think he rigged those explosives in the Reactor?"
"Okay, dumb question" Shocker said as the AAT stopped and the gunner opened the top hatch.
"This is B-334, nothing to report in this sector," said the B1 Battle Droid as he talked into his communicator.
Revy got a predatory grin, as an idea came to her.
"Here, hold this," She told Shocker.
"What are you doing?" Fury questioned as Revy turned around.
"Getting a way in past all those patrols," she said as she drew out her two WESTAR pistols and hopped over the window before Fury or Shocker could say anything. Quickly, but silently, she moved towards the rear of the tank. She then hopped onto the side 'fins' of the Tank, and climbed up tank, quickly nailing the B1 Battle Droid who was on the top. Waisting no time, she then leaped into the tank itself, and all Shocker and Fury could hear were a series of Blaster shots, and the cries of the Droids in the tank.
A few moments later, Revy then popped out of the Tank's front hatch. "Bus is here!" she shouted out. "Next Stop: Turret Control Center!"
Shocker looked at Fury, who looked by. They both sighed. "Sometimes, I swear she's gonna single-handedly capture a Battleship one of these days..." Fury muttered as Shocker nodded his agreement and they approached the tank, With Fury taking command of the top turret position, Revy driving, while Shocker took the Co-Pilot seat next to her. "Ok, lets take this thing slow first, and then-WHOA!" Fury was about to explain before the Tank lurched forward.
"I said SLOW!" Fury reprimanded, but Revy ignored it and drove the Tank to their destination.
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With Team Alpha
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Sash, and the rest of Team Alpha which consisted of Doc, Blade, and Roman, were heading toward their objective, before a feeling she knew too well made her spine tingle.
"Uh-oh," Sasha muttered.
"What?" Roman said.
"I just got that feeling again," she answered and Roman's eyes widened and then he sighed, knowing what she meant.
"What do you mean?" Doc asked, as Blade was on point.
"Whenever Revy manages to Hijack a Vehicle, Sasha gets a 'tingle' down her spine." Roman answered. "Its a good thing too, that way we know when to duck-and-cover when Revy shows up."
"She can't be that bad of a Driver...could she?" Doc said, before getting worried glanced between the two Mandalorians.
"Yes, she can." They both said simultaneously.
However, before their conversation could continue, Blade held up a fist signaling them to stop, witch they did.
"What is it Blade?" Doc whispered, and Blade pointed towards his own ears, his way of saying 'Listen.'
Doc and the others did so, and they immediately recognized the clattering of Droids marching. The four wasted no time and took cover behind the few crates and barrels scattered across the hallway.
Roman had only one thought to this...
'This is going to be a L-o-o-o-ng day,' he thought as he peaked out from his cover just in time to see a small squad of four B-2 Super Battle Droids (SBD's) and six B-1 Battle Droids martching down the hallway.
"Blade, EM grenade, now!" Doc whispered on the Comm, and Blade nodded as he reached for one of his EM Grenades. Pressing a button he activated the grenade, and after waiting for them to get closer, he tossed the grenade from his cover right into the center of the Droid Patrol, actually bopping the head of one of the B-1's.
"What the-" The droid said just before the Grenade activated and blasts of Electrisity flowed through the droid's systems, frying the six B-1's nearly instantly while the SBD's managed to stay up for a while, but were brought down as the four Commando's and Mercenaries gunned them down.
"Double-Time it guys!" Doc said as he reloaded his blaster. "They may notice that the Droid gone missing." The others agreed and began moving faster
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With Jade
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As Jade lauched her fighter into the Bespin Sky, she thought about her relationship with Trips. True, she has feelings for him, but is too afraid to tell him, and also the Code forbid it. Shaking her head she opened the comlink to talk to her forces.
"All wing's report in," Jade ordered.
"Blue Lead, Standing by"
"Gold Lead, Standing by"
"Green Lead, Standing by"
"Falcon Lead, Standing by"
"Red Lead, Standing By"
"Yellow Lead, Standing by"
"Saber Lead, standing by!"
After hearing her flight leads respond to her call, she nodded, "Lock S-Foils in attack position," she ordered and flipped a switch a which two sets of wings on the wing-tips of her Eta-2 folded out.
"Ma'am, it appears the Seppi fleet isn't launching any fighters," Green Lead reported, and Jade knew what that meant. Either they were planning something, or Reko was thinking he can destroy them with just capital ships.
Most likely the latter. Jade was beginning to understand why he planted bombs inside Cloud City...this guy knew nothing about actual combat tactics. Has he been living under a rock? "Well, then Reko seems to have handed us an early victory on a silver platter boys!" Jade shouted. "All bombers focus on the Turbolaser batteries! Fighter Squadrons, go in with them and provide support! Reko may wise up and order their Vultures to deploy, so keep the bomber's safe!"
"With pleasure Ma'am!" Green Lead acknowledged as the Y-Wing bomber squadrons moved into formation, with V-Wings and ARC-170s flanking them to provide escort.
The Separtist ships ahead of them opened fire, unleashing a barrage of Turbolaser fire, and other defensive turret fire towards the incoming bombers and fighters. But the Star fighters and bombers simply weaved through the heavy enemy fire, as the starfighters focused on the turrets themselves, and the Bombers made a bee line towards the bridge of the Providence-class Cruiser. "Dropping payload!" the Y-Wing Squadron leader said as he dropped his payload of Proton Torpedo's agains the enemy ship.
The Captain of the Providence-class, who was a Nemoidian, quickly ordered the Deflector Shields to be activated, but unfortunately the OOM-series droid was a slow thinker and didn't hit the switch in time as the Proton Torepdoes slammed into the Cruiser's Bridge. A fireball consumed the Command Center of the ship and then the massive warship plummeted into the abyss of Bespin.
Three other ships, two Recusant-class destroyers and a Muncifent-class Frigate, suffered the same fate, "These guys are dropping like Womprat's!" Boxer shouted as his and his squad's ARC-170's made a straifing run on a Separtist Cruiser. "I was expecting a bit more of a challenge!"
"We have incoming!" shouted Green Leader. "CIS Lucrehulk-class battleships are launching intercept fighters! Looks like they wised up!"
"You wanted a Challenge, Boxer." said one of the other Clone Pilots. "Well, you got one!"
"Shut up and bag 'em already!" Boxer ordered as the fighters charged at the mix group of Vulture-class Droids, Tri-Fighter Droids, and Scarab-Class Droid Fighters, all painted in the blue with gun-metal grey trimmed paint scheme of the CIS.
"I thought the Trade Federation decomissioned those old Scarab Droid scrap heaps years ago," A V-Wing pilot commented on the Scarab droids, "The Sep's must be getting desperate if they're bringing those back!"
"Which in the end is good for us, giving us more Clankers to send to the scraper!" Jade said. "Saber, Red, your with me, we're intercepting those Fighters. All other units, continue Attack." Then a pair of ARC-170 Squadron's them appeared behind her Eta-2 as they charged against the Separtist Fighters on approach.
"Stand by...fire!" Jade shouted as she and the ARC-170's opened fire with their lasers, and managing to nail a few of the Droids before the clash. It was then the two forces passed between eachother, with the ARC's and Eta flying straight through the Formation of Droid Fighters, and the Droids doing the same. Jade immediatley after the initial clash put her Eta into a U turn and began taking down the enemy Droids from behind, focusing on the slower Scarab's first, which were all easily dispatched.
"Jade, this is Trips." Trip's voice sounded through her Communicator. "We just launched the Bullfrog Company, and are en-route too Cloud City for our Drop. Some Fighter escort would be greatly appresiated."
"Got it, We'll cover you Trip's." Jade said as she put her Eta into a Barrel Role doging the cannon fire from a Vulture Droid on her six. "Be with you guys in a second."
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Bullfrog Company LAAT/i
With Trips
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"Will do, thanks for the escort," Trips said as he deactivated his comm-link and turned to everyone of the Frog's in the gunship, "Alright boys, get ready to kick the tires and light the fires!"
"Sir yes sir!" The Clone's of the 080th 'Bullfrog' Airborn company all shouted on the comm's. They all used a veriety of weapons including DC-15A's, DC-15S's, DC-17's, Z-6 Cannons, PLX-1 Portable Missile Launchers, and EMP Launchers.
"Approaching the drop point." the LAAT pilot said. "Opening the hatches."
"Everybody out! GO! GO! GO!" with that command the 080th "Bullfrog" Airborne Company jumped out of the LAAT and into the atmosphere of Bespin. Their jetpacks fired up as they flew to their LZ.
"Alright boys! Stay togehter but don't bunch up!" Trips ordered and he recieved 'affirmatives' from all of them.
"Sir! Incoming Vulture Droid!" One of the Clones shouted, and Trips looked just in time as a Squadron of eight Vulture Droids accelerated towards them...
Only for a hail of Laser fire to come from above as Jade's Interceptor and four ARC-170's made a run against them, blowing the Droid Starfighters out of the skies.
"Bullfrog, you are clear." Jade said on the Comm. "Good hunting down there Trips."
Trips smiled "You too Jade, and thanks." he said as they continued their Drop.
Seperatist Anti-air defenses activated as they tried to hit the decending clones, but they could not hit a single one due to them being so small targets.
"Hitting the dirt in five...four...three...two...one!" Trips then activated his Jetpack again to slow his decent, and he genitally landed in cloud city, as did the other Clones.
"Alright!" Trips shouted as he armed his DC-15A. "Let's hit e'm!"
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With Team Alpha
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Sasha peeked out of the door which lead to the reactor room. Inside were dozens of B-1 Battle Droid's, several SBD's, and even a few Destroyer Droids. She could also see the bombs that were attached to the walls inside of the room as wll, which were all blinking red.
"Alright," She said as she turned back too the rest of her team. "Intel says that all of the Explosives have been set to detonate on command from the Terminal in that room, on the top floor." She said. "We need to get up there without alerting the guards. Blade, you still have your Stealth Field Generator, right?"
Blade nodded and then pressed a button on his wrist, and then vanished in a second.
"Man, I gotta get one of those," Sasha said in a depressed tone.
"No time to play sad lady, Sasha, we still got a job to do," Roman chatsised his female team-mate.
"Yeah, yeah," Sasha said in a so-so way.
They waited a few minutes until they heard the recognizable metallic screams of droids being eviscerated. "Alright, let's go!" Doc shouted as he flipped his DC-17m into blaster rifle mode, and the two Mandalorian Mercenaries nodded as they drew their respective weapons and charged in.
As soon as he was in, Roman began firing his Z-6 Cannon at any droid's inside with Sasha firing her own DC-17m as well. Doc looked up, and instantly picked out Blade who was going to town with his sword against a squad of B-1 battledroids with skills that could easily rival a Jedi Knight.
'Well, seeing how Jade helped him out with his trainning that's not suprise.' Doc thought to himself. Wile still firing his DC-17m, he drew his DC-15s pistol and fired it with his left hand taking down a trio of Battle Droids.
Meanwhile, Blade had just stabbed through the chest of another battle droid, and then whirled around slicing another one in half, finishing off all the droids on the terminal platform.
Shealthing his sword, Blade then calmly walked up to the Terminal, and began accessing the systems to dissarm the bombs surrounding them. He sent a message to the others that he was now working on it, and that he could use some cover.
"On my way Blade!" Roman shouted as he rushed up to the Terminal platform and began to give the Commando covering fire, focusing it on the Destroyer droids who were firing their repeating blasters at Sasha and Doc.
When the Destroyers attention was taken away from them, Doc brought out a EMP grenade and threw it into the middle of the Destoyers. The results were immedialey shown as although the shields could protect them from blaster hits, it wouldn't protect from the EMP grenade's electrical discharge.
When the shields came down, Roman's Z-6 finished them off in a few seconds. After dealing with the 'Roller' threat, the team re-focused on the SBDs and remaining B-1s.
After a 3 minute long firefight, all of the droids laid down on the ground, destroyed and/or disabled. Team Alpha was now gathered around the Terminal that Blade was now working on. When he finally stopped, all of the red lights on the bombs switched to solid green, and the Clone Commando nodded to his teamates.
"Alright, that's one crisis averted." Doc said as he reloaded his rifle. "Now let's meet back up with the others."
Nodding the rest of the team then took off running to meet back up with their allies.
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Meanwhile
With Beta Team
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As Fury and his team's AAT moved through the Cloud City streets, they passed by several CIS Patrols which ignored them, probobly because they thought they were one of them.
"Osik, this is too easy," Revy griped as she maneuvered the tank through the city streets.
"Just get us to the control grid to those turrets," Fury reminded the female Mandalorian, "The sooner we can take those guns out of comission, the quicker it it will be for the fleet to liberate the city,"
Revy just rolled her eyes at that, "Yes mom," she muttered, but Fury caught it.
"What was that?" he grounded out.
"Nothing!" She called out, as Shocker chuckled a bit. Then Revy turned the tank left down the street, and noticed they were heading towards a checkpoint.
"Halt, stop your Vehicle for inspection." One of the B-1 Battle Droids said, raising it's hand to stop them.
"Oh, shit." Fury said. "This isn't good."
"What do we do?" Shocker asked, and Revy grinned. "We Improvise! that's what!" She said.
"Revy, what are you-" Fury couldn't finish as Revy fired one of the Side-turret's, destroying the B-1 Battledroid, and then firing a pair of Bunker-buster shells from their launch tubes, destroying the Checkpoint.
"Let's go!" Revy shouted as she punched the tank forward, firing it's laser cannons at any droids in front of them. Sighing, Fury just manned the Primary turret and destroyed a Dwarf Spider Droid.
"RUN!" Shouted a B1 as the AAT rampaged down the street destroying anything in it's path. Another AAT tried to take it out but the OOM-series Droid manning the main laser turret was too slow in it's thinking, as a result the tank was blown apart by the rogue AAT.
"It's a monster!" Cried another B1, only to be turned into a junk pile a second later by the tanks side lasers.
"I'm starting to see why Sasha snapped at us when we suggested for Revy to fly the LAAT here." Shocker said, and Fury nodded.
"Hey guys, look!" Revy called out, and the two Commando's looked to see what looked like a company of Clones in Jumptrooper armor fighting off enemy droids, and were pinned down because of three AAT's.
"Looks like Trips launched with the Bullfrog's." Fury commented. "And he looks like he could use some help."
"Well what are we waiting for? and ingraved invitation?" Revy shouted as she pulled the tank into a firing position.
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Meanwhile
With Trips
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Trips ducked for Covor as another AAT laser blast passed overhead. "Boxer! Get your men to take out those Tanks!" he yelled as he looked over his cover, and fired his DC-15A at a B-1 Droid, destroying it.
"My boys with the Rocket's are pinned down by Sniper Fire from the buildings!" Boxer shouted back on the radio. "You need to take care of them, or ele the'll get killed before they could get a shot off!"
"Sir! Another Tank is coming in!" Another Clone Trooper yelled, and Trips swore as sure enough, a Seperatist AAT was making it's way to a firing position.
However, the Clones were all caught by supprise when the Tank's main gun instead turned and aimed at one of the other tanks, and fired. The blast destroying said tank.
'What the hell?' Trips thought, as the Tank took aim again, and fired another blast destroying the second tank. The third tank saw that it's allies was being gunned down, and turned to open fire, only for a third laser round to hit it as well, destroying the third tank.
"Uhh, Trips? What just happened?" Boxer said, shocked at what the AAT did to it's friends.
"I absolutely have no clue," Trips said as the AAT started firing at the sniper positions in a high-rise across the street, "But I'm glad it's not shooting at us, it must be malfunctioning or-" Trips was cut off as his communicator went off. "Trips? You there? It's Fury. You and your boys alright?" The familure voice of the Republic Commando said, and Trips grinned.
"Doing fine, buddy." He said as he answered the call. "Let me guess, your in the AAT?"
"Ya, me Shocker and Revy." He said. "We were on our way too the Laser Defense Grid control station when we ran into you guys. The rest of the team should have finished their job in dissarming the bombs by now as well."
Trips smiled "That's good, you need any help?" he asked.
"Eh, why the hell not?" Revy's voice came through. "It's nice to have an audiance around."
"There's your answer Trips. Climb aboard," With that that the rear hatch opened and Trips went in and took the vacant seat, while a few more Clone Troopers grabbed onto the hand-rails on the side of the tank.
"I guess this means we're walkin' ," Boxer sighed in exasperation as the tank took off with a lurch, catching a few of the riders off guard for a moment.
"Revy! Take off the Emergency break!"
"Opps! Sorry, my bad!"
"...On second thought, walking sounds a lot better."
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Meanwhile
With Jade
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Jade swore as she put her Eta-2 into a barrel role avoiding being shot to hell by a pair of Vulture Starfighters on her six. "RC! Reverse stalilizers!" She shouted, and her Astromech droid made a few chirps as the Actus-class Light Interceptor decelerated and the two Droid Starfighters passed her up. She then punched the throttle again, accelerating forward as she now chased down the two enemy fighters.
Pulling the triger for her cannons, she fired a few bursts of laser fire aimed at each droid, destroyng them both before she pulled a U-Turn looking for another target. As she was searching for another target, a message blared on her comm.
"General, this is Trips. We just met up with Fury and his team, and we on our way to the Laser Grid Defense system," said Trips voice and Jade gave a nod at that, even though he didn't see her do it.
"Well done Trips," she said as she began locking on a Hyena-class Droid Bomber, "Proceed as planned and then continue on to the next objective,"
"Copy that, Trips out," Trips acknowledged and cut the link, just as Jade finish shooting the Hyena out of the sky.
Jade took a moment to see how their own progress was going. Though Cloud City's defenses were preventing any of their large ships from landing on the station to deploy their troops, they were for now focusing on what was left of the CIS fleet ahead of them.
What once was a large fleet of 61 ships, was now dwindled down into just two Lucrehulk-class battleships, two Providence-class Cruisers, three Munificent-class Star Frigates, and finally two Recusant-class light Cruisers. These ships had gathered inside the area guarding the Laser Defense grid, just outside the Republic Ship's effective firing range.
It was a stand-off. The CIS ships were too far to open fire on the Republic ships, while the Republic ships couldn't get close enough to open fire without needing to worry about the city's automated defeses activating on them. All they could either do now was launch Fighters and Bombers against one-another.
'This isn't gonna last much longer.' Jade thought as she banked left as she and her squad moved to intercept another enemy Bomber formation. 'Come on Trips, hurry up!'
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Meanwhile
With The Bullfrog's and Beta Team
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Fury and Trips had left their tank and were now looking at their objective. Ahead was the building housing the Laser Defense Grid prevending their ships from deploying reenforcments for them. And of course, it was heavily guarded by 12 AAT's, two OG-9 Homing Spider Droids, a few Dwarf Spider Droids, four Persurader-class Droid Enforcers, and numerous Battle Droids of different variants.
"Well, this isn't going to be easy." Fury commented, and Trips nodded. "Ya, theirs gotta be a whole Regiment of Droids down there, if not more." he said.
Trips then pulled out a thermal scanner, and scanned the buildings surrounding them, and identified several sniping teams set up around the area as well. "The armor and snipers are our major concern." he said, and Fury nodded in agreement. "We need to take them out first."
"Fury, do you read me? It's Doc." Doc's voice came through the Radio. "We're just outside of the Laser Grid Defense control station. I'm looking at you through my Sniper Scope right now, look across the street, third story on the fourth building on the left." Fury and Trips followed, and they saw a purple light flash three times (Those same things the Naboo used in Episode I during the battle).
"Good to see you, Doc." Fury said. "I've Got Trips here, along with the Bullfrog company and a captured AAT Tank Revy Hijacked."
"You're kidding? I guess Sasha was right," Doc said, and Fury sighed a bit.
"Yeah, and to make it worse, she's a horrible driver. We nearly ran into five lamp posts, a couple of benches, and a street-sweeper droid," Fury said in frustration.
"Yikes, well no time to think about that now, we got a building to demolish," Doc reminded and Fury nodded his approval.
"Agreed, can you take out the snipers?" the Commando asked.
"Blade's already on it, that stealth field really is a neat toy, Remind me to get one for myself once we get back to Mandalore." Sasha commented.
"Right, we'll get ourselves set up. We'll target the heavy armor first." Trips said. "We'll take out the tanks first, and the Spider Droids after that. Good luck."
Trips and Fury then ran back to where their men were stationed.
"What's the situation, boss?" Shoker asked as he and Boxer stood by the tank.
"Doc and his team are getting into position, and Blade's taking care of the snipers as we speak," Fury said and the two nodded at that.
"So, what our job be, then?" Boxer said curiously and Trips grinned.
"We're gonna take care of the heavy armor guarding the building where the LDG is housed," The Clone Commander said, "Boxer, I want you and your men with Missile launchers to focus on the enemy tanks. Fury, you and your team are going in and set up the demo charges inside the building. Me, Boxer and two clones will use the AAT for you."
Fury nodded "Understood sir." he said, and he and his two companions took off. Trips, Boxer and a pair of other Clones entered the AAT with Boxer driving, and Trips manning the Main Turret.
They then moved into a firing position, as did the Clones of the Company. The eight PLX-1 equipped Clones aimed their Missile launchers at the enemy below them. "Focus on the heavy tanks, and then the Spider's." Trips said as he also took aim. "Ready...aim...FIRE!"
The AAT and eight PLX Troopers opened fire, a salvo of missiles decended against the Droid Tanks, nailing five AAT's, three Persurader-class Droid Enforcers, one Homing Spider Droid, and dozens of Battle Droids that were caught in the crossfire.
"Move up!" Trips ordered, and the tank with Clone Troops behind moved forward with the AAT blasting away at any target that wasn't a clone. The Droids, caught by suprise try to reorganize themselves, the result was three more AATs, and a Dwarf Spider Droid being blown to peices.
The Troopers outside the captured AAT were picking off the B1s and SBDs that survived the initial barrage, as well as the few Droideka's as well.
Trips swivled the Turret around, and fired destroying the last Homing Spider Droid. While Boxer continued to move forward, firing the side-lasers and the missiles, destroying droids and tanks alike.
From above, Doc and Sasha were both firing their DC-17m's in Sniper Rifle mode, sniping any droids that were stupid enough to peak out of cover. Roman was a few floors below them firing his Rotary cannon at the droids from a position, while Blade was somewhere silently taking out droids from behind.
"Hey! Fury?" Roman called out on the Comm. "Me and my team are gonna have to split from you guys after we destroy the building. We gotta make sure Reko doesn't escape."
"Understood. We'll make this quick then, and call in the reenforcments." Fury said.
"Copy that! We'll meet up with you later," Roman acknowledged and then hailed his female team-mates, "All right ladies! Let's get that insect!"
"Copy that!" was Sasha's reply.
"On the spot! Let's get that Momma's Boy!" Was Revy's response and they all left as the Republic Clone Troopers & Commandos continued their massacre of the Droids.
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Baron Administrator's Office
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"What is going out there? Report!" Reko demanded as his Nemoidian aides as well as a few OOM-series tried to figure out what was going on.
"The Laser Defense Grid is under attack sir," Reported one of the droids, "We lost contact with Commander OOM-225."
Reko growled in anger, but internally he was panicing this was not how he planned things. Just how could this have happened? He had the advantage in every way! He had more ships, more droids, everything! How could just a small band of Clones have defeated him?
"Tamo!" He said, pointing at one of his aides. "You are in command until I return. I must...make sure that our transport is still useable seeing how we may need to escape soon. Should the Republic Forces begin landing their troops, you must evacuate as well, and put the Droids in charge!"
"Y-Yes sir!" His Aide said, and Reko then walked out of the room. 'Fool.' He thought as he walked out. 'By the time that happens, I will be long gone and away from the System, and en-route to Mustafar with the rest of the Separtist Council.' As he walked down the hallways, he was soon joined by his four IG-100 Magnaguard's. "Follow me." He ordered the Droids. "Take me to my private hanger, and send word to my pilot droid to get my ship ready!"
"Yes sir." The droid said, and it sent a wireless message to the hangerbay to get the ship ready.
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A few minutes Later
With Jade
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"Jade, this is Trips." The Clone Commander's voice sounded through Jade's Comm. "We've taken the Defense Grid, the Defenses are down. I repeat: The Defenses are down."
Jade grinned in triumph "Alright, thanks Trips!" She said as she barrel-rolled her Interceptor. "All Units, This is Jade Lee, the Defences are down! Bring the rain down on e'm!"
She recieved affirmatives from all the ship captains as they begin to move forward and bombard the remaining ships and Droid defenses. The Recusant and Munificent class ships were the first to go, while one of the Providence Class crash landed in the City's Main Square. Realizing the situation was hopeless, the remaining ships surrendered.
Jade gave a grin in satisfaction at that.
"Attention all ships, launch the ground assault, I repeat: launch ground assault," Jade ordered, and watched as LAAT/i gunships painted in the colors of the Hades Corps begin their descent into Cloud City.
"Trips, reinforcements are now inbound to your location," Jade told Trips.
"We see them, it's a beautiful sight," Trips said from below, "For us, anyways. You coming down too?"
Jade smiled "You know it, trips." she said. "I'll be there in a minute. RC, plot the course to Trips's location." RC made a few whistles and clicks as the Eta-2 banked left towards cloud city. "Sparks, you have command of our Fighters while I'm on the ground."
"Roger that Ma'am. Good luck down there." Sparks said, just as her Interceptor flew over the location where Trips and the Bullfrog Company was stationed at.
Grinning as an idea came to mind, she ordered RC to take the fighter back to the ship as she flew the fighter low to the ground...
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With Trips
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Trips looked up just in time to see Jade's Starfighter fly overhead, and smiled at the sight. Seeing the Jedi Knight still in one peice always made him sigh a bit in relief. It was no secret, at least to most of the Clones under his command, that Trips looked at Jade as more than just his Superior Officer, but at the least as a sibling. That was true to an extent, however Trips always felt something...more for the Jedi.
Before he could continue with the thought at hand, he noticed that Jade's fighter was flying awfully low. Trips's eyes widened a bit, before he sighed. 'She's gonna do it again, isn't she?' he thought, as sure enough the Cockpit of the Eta-2 Actis-class Light Interceptor opened up, and out hopped Jade as her Astromech Droid took command of the Star Fighter and turned away while Jade did a double back flip before landing, stumbling a bit, but quickly regaining her balance.
'She did it.' Trips thought as he rolled his eyes, while Jade looked up and waved at RC as the Droid flew the Fighter away.
"You know I hate it when you do that, right?" Trips asked, while Jade just grinned "I know, that's why I like doing it." She said, and looked at the piles of scrapped droids, AATs and the now demolished where the LDG used to be. She saw Fury and his commando conversing with Boxer, and then she noticed the Mandalorian Shock-troopers were missing.
"Trips, where's Roman and his team?" she asked her second-in-command.
"They went ahead to capture Reko before he can escape," Trips reported and Jade nodded at that, she then blinked as she saw a group of three clone-troopers near an battle-scarred but still functional AAT.
"Where did you get the tank?" she asked Trips, and the Clone Commander sighed.
"Curtouesy of one Mandalorian Mercenary Rebecca 'Revy' Hawk," Trips said, and began how Revy came into possession of the tank and used it to devastate the CIS Forces around the city.
Jade sighed as she shook her head "If she did all of that in just one tank," she said "Force knows what would happen if she got behind the wheel of a Starship."
Trips chuckled at that, knowing it was true. "Well, anyways the Dropships are landing all over the city, taking down the droid armies." Jade said "Shall we join them?"
Trips grinned a bit, and nodded as he put his helmet back on "Way ahead of you, Jade." He said, as the two made their way for the Tank.
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Meanwhile
With Reko
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As Reko and his four guards entered his private Hanger bay, Reko sighed in relief at the sight of the Sheathipede-class transport in the hanger.
"Finally, my salvation awaits," Reko said, as the OOM-series pilot droid came down the ramp.
"We better hurry, the Republic is overwhelming our Forces," the droid reported and Reko just scowled at the droid.
"And what were you under lately? A rock? I already know that! Just get me outta here!" Reko shouted, but then his blood froze when he heard a female voice...
"And where are you going in such a hurry?" The voice said. "The party's just getting started!"
Reko twirled around, just in time to see two figures clad in Mandalorian Shock Trooper Armor enter the hanger bay. One male and one female.
"K-Kill them!" Reko paniced, ordering his four Magnaguard's to attack as they activated their Electrostaff's, twirling them around as they moved forward, as Reko made a dash for the Shuttle.
Roman sighed as the Magnaguard's closed the distance. "Oh boy, Reko's fuck-buddies." He sighed, while Sasha giggled. "I'll take the two on the left, you take the two on the right."
Grinning, Sasha nodded as she made her way to her pair of enemies, activating her hidden gauntlet Vibroblades, while Roman focused on the other two. He fired a few rounds from his Z-6 cannon, only for the two droids to hopp out of the way, and charge at him.
Roman dropped his Cannon, and crouched down near-missing being stabbed by one of the Droid's staff's. Roman then grabbed the Droid's Electrostaff, and kicked the droid away claiming the Staff for himself as he finished off the Droid with a stab into the chest.
Roman then twirled around, and side-stepped to the left to avoid the stab of the other Magnaguard, as their Staff's clashed.
Growling, Roman then twirled his own staff like a windmill, causing the Droid to drop his staff. But the Droid rolled to the left to avoid a stab from Roman's staff, and the Magnaguard picked up his own staff once again. The Droid then tried to swing his staff like a bat, but Roman ducked under the swing, and he swung his own Staff low to the ground, knocking the Droid off his feet, and onto it's back. Roman took this opertunity to deliver a quick stab into the Droid's Torso.
The droid shook violently, before it's eyes dimmed black, and deactivated due to battle damage. Sighing, Roman releaced his grip from the staff, leaving it stabbed into the droid. He then looked at Sasha who had just decapitated her last Magnaguard with her Gauntlet Vibroblade, and finished it off with a stab through it's torso. As for the other guard, or what was left of it, was lying in peices on the ground.
"Hey, where's Revy?" Roman asked, noticing their crazy teammate was nowhere to be found.
Sasha sighed "Where do you think?" She said, nodding her head towards the shuttle Reko retreated into which had yet to take off. Roman, after picking his cannon back up, followed Sasha into the shuttle, and isnside was none other than their missing teammate, sitting on top of a hog-tied Reko who had been knocked uncontious. Surounding her were the wrechs of Reko's other guards, those formerly being two SBD's, a Destroyer, four B-1's and an OOM.
Revy was grinning behind her helmet "What took you guys so long?" She said, and her two friends sighed at that.
"We were taking care of his Magna Guards, while you took care of the easy ones," Sasha said, and before Revy could comment on that, the Nemoidian she was sitting groaned as he woke up from La-la Land.
The first that Reko noticed when he woke up was that his hands and feet were tied together with wire, and his droid guards destroyed. He looked up only to meet the t-visored gazes of three Mandalorians. Then he immediatley began to panic.
"Ah! No! Please don't kill me! I can pay you! ANYTHING! Name your price!" The now former governor of Bespin begged. "Just don't-" He was cut off as Revy kicked him in the face, knocking him out again. "Shut up, bitch." She said with a growl. "We're not gonna kill you, that's up to Jabba when we bring you to him." She looked back up, and smiled at her teamates. "Well, let's call the Commander and Jade!" She said cheerfully.
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The Next Day
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The Battle for Bespin continued through most of the first day, routing out enemy droids one battalion at a time. Once the control station was destroyed, thankfully, all of the Droids shut down, and it was yet another Republic Victory.
The People of Bespin Celebrated their victory, cheering their forces on as they marched through the now free streets of Cloud City as after they finished their job, they were now heading back to their ships. But not befor giving the people of bespin a parting gift.
That gift, being the two Luckrehulk-class Battleships, and the single Providence-Class carrier/destroyer that surrendered. It was a policy of the Hades Corp. Whenever they capture a usable ship from the CIS, they reprogram the Droids onboard, and then order them to protect the people of the world they liberated. This making it so that while the Hades Corps leaves, the people of the planet they leave are not defenceless should the CIS return, at least for long enough for when the Republic sends in the actual occupation forces from Kamino or Corasaunt.
Jade was now standing on the bridge of the Inferno, watching as the Republic Troops began to withdraw from the city. 'Just another day in the life of the military, i suppose.' She thought to herself.
It was then she sences Trips entering the bridge, and she turned around and blinked at Trips grin which threatened to split his face in half.
"Trips? What is it?" She asked, confused. "Last time I saw you this happy was a few months ago when Count Dooku was confirmed KIA in the battle for Corasaunt."
"You'll see, Jade." He said, the grin never leaving his face before facing the Communications officer "Open up a channel to all of our troops." He said. "I've got great news for our boys."
Nodding, the communications Officer clicked a few buttons before nodding again. "Attention to all Clones of the Hades Corps." Trips began. "First off, I would like to congrajulate you all for a job well done yesterday, with the swift and decisive win against the separtist, with the casualties being just a handful of our brother's being Wounded minorly." He paused for a moment. "But that is not why I am contacting you." He continued. "For just a few moments ago, I received information from my friend Commander Cody at Utapau, that General Greivous has ben confirmed Killed In Action at the hands of Jedi General Obi-wan Kenobi!"
The results were instantaneous as the Clone Troopers cheered at the news, knowing that the end of the war was finally drawing ever closer. Meanwhile Jade was stunned and happy at the news.
"About time he got that metallic monster. He killed a few friends of mine from the Order," Jade said, as her head bowed a bit at that, remembering how one of her friends Adi Gallia was by General Grevious.
"At least they have been avenged Jade, so they can now rest in peace," Trips' said in a comforting way as he placed his hand on the Jedi's shoulder. Said Jedi's face turned a bit red, but nodded. "Ya, I guess..." she said. "I guess this means the war's almost over I guess."
Trips smiled, and nodded "Ya, this all leaves the Separtists with those Cowardly leaders of the Trade Federation like Nute Gunray, who are absolutly spineless." He said. "Without a strong leader to lead them, the Separtists should collapse, and Palpatine will return his emergency power back to the Senate."
"Ya, and we can finally be on a path to peace." Jade said, with a smile. "Just like my Master and my Brother wanted."
Trips looked at Jade for a moment, before he decided to ask her something that has been bugging him. "Jade," He said, getting the Jedi's attention. "Yesterday, when you said that you were gonna miss all of this, all this fighting, what did you mean by that?"
"Umm..." Jade said, trying to find an answer that wouldn't give away her feelings towards Trips. "It's well...you see-"
However, Jade was saved as Trips's communicator began going off, and she internally sighed in relief. "You got a call, Trips." She pointed out to the Communicator on his belt.
The Clone Commander sighed "Ya, I do." he said as he picked his communicator up.
"Well, I'll see you later Trips." Jade said with a smile and she left.
"Jade, wait!" Trips said, but the Jedi knight kept walking away, and she left the bridge. Groaning, Trips decided to give chace to the Jedi to see what was going on with her, but his communicator continued to beep once he passed the door, with Jade nowhere in sight.
Sighing in frustration, Trips picked the Communicator, and activated it. And out appeared the blue holographic image of an elder man, wearing black robes.
"Chancellor Palpatine?" Trips asked, a bit suprised. "How may I help you?"
"Commander Trips." The elder voice of Palpatine said. "The time has Come."
Behind his helmet, Trips's eyes widdened. 'No...' He thought. 'Force no, please don't be...'
"Execute Order 66."
AN: WHOOHOO! Ya! Finally got this Chapter DONE! You have no idea how long this took, but I finally did it! But I couldn't have done it without Patriot-112, he was a MAJOR help in all of this. So I owe him big time. So please visit his channel, and check out his own fics!
Next Chapter: The legend of the Hades Corps begins! Will Trips Obey the infamous Order 66? Or will he follow his heart? Fine out in the next exciting chapter of Star Wars: We Dared.
(1): Black Sword