Author's Notes:

The Prequel for Bravo Squad is here. Straight outta Kamino, the Squad sees some action before being pulled out of Combat for a Special Assignment.
Also, I recommend that you read The Desertion of Bravo Squad before you read this. It's up to you, I ain't forcing you.
Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm, I only own the laptop this was written on.
This Fanfic is influenced by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss.

"No, Major Kofer. I need a Commando Squad assigned for this case. Keep it a strictly need-to-know operation.
The last thing we want is the Jedi Council investigating this. If we succeed, then my plans will become a reality."

- Chancellor Palpatine, an hour after obtaining Emergency Powers

Date: 22BBY, the start of the Clone Wars

"Move! Wake up now! Get your gear in order! You're shipping out!"

A Clone Lieutenant practically kicked down the door of Bravo Squad's quarters, causing Nuts to jump back in fright. The ten year old, who looked twenty due to the growth acceleration, had been kneeling over his footlocker, stuffing more and more of those damn warra nuts into his mouth. No wonder Hoffer had heard munching noises in his dreams.

Falco jumped off his bunk, asking the Lieutenant what was going on. Behind him in the hallway, several Clone Troopers, ranging from ARCs and Commandos down to ordinary Troopers were rushing back and forth, causing Cryer, who was rubbing his eyes as he sat up in his bunk, to feel dizzy.

"I have no idea what is going on, Sergeant. All I know is that we are being deployed at this very moment. And no, I have no idea where we're going. Get your brothers into their gear. They got larties transporting men to the Assault Ships," he glanced down at Nuts, who was still staring back as nuts slowly fell out of his mouth, "just… meet at the landing pads. Bravo is assigned to the… RAS Prosecutor."

"Roger that, sir," Falco saluted the officer as he rushed back into the hallway. Falco looked back at the squad, who, to his amazement, were still not moving.

"What the kriff are you all doing?! Everyone, you heard the vod, change into your shabla gear now! And Nuts, stop stuffing your face."

Nuts instantly spat out the warra nuts on the floor, which caused Cryer to moan in pain at the loss of such good food. The men, who had already practiced the drill over and over again after Vau had burst into their dorm room in the middle of the night with a water hose and sprayed all over them, before telling them that Bravo was to run the obstacle course immediately with full packs, giving them only three minutes to change.

Within ten minutes, they were down at the landing pads. The rain splashed down over Bravo's armor. Falco looked around the deck, noting that a few Commando Squads had personalized their armor. He saw Delta, with Boss standing out in the open. He saw each of them board different larties with a Clone Trooper. He then snapped back to reality as one larty landed in front of them before a Sergeant began ordering all of them to board it.

"Falco, I just realized something," he heard Cryer whisper to him over the Squad's comm as they clambered onto the Gunship with as much gear as they could carry, "None of the Sergeants are out here. Look around, Vau, Bralor, even Skirata's not up. Do you think they know?"

Falco had nothing to say, remaining silent until Hoffer snapped a joke randomly.

"Vau's probably shoving that water hose up his gett'se, tasting it in his mouth."

The hangar of the Prosecutor was bustling with acvitivity. Bravo Squad had practically no space to put down and inspect their gear. Clone Troopers were running around, turning the dark grey floor of the hangar into a sea of white plastoid. They were checking their DCs, raising them into the air to make sure the inside of the barrels were clean. No one wanted their rifles exploding in their hands, or jamming in the middle of combat.

Falco checked his rifle. The DC-17 was a work of art, costing more than the regular grunts' DC-15 rifles. Even the Commandos' standard pistol, the DC-15s, was more expensive as it had unlimited rounds, pausing to charge back to full strength. It may not sound like much, but if your rifle ran out of ammo in the middle of a firefight, then your pistol would be your lifesaver.

As the explosives expert, Hoffer had run off to look for the Quartermaster. He was asking – no, insisting - for the extra explosives, as he was certain they were going to spend a few days behind enemy lines. Even Scorch, from Delta, was standing next to him, causing the poor Quartermaster to feel small and puny compared to the big, looming figures in Katarn Armor. Even though the hangar was filled with the sounds of rifles being charged, Falco could still here Hoffer shouting.

"I insist on the extra explosives, ner vod, because there is nothing better than the sound of shrapnel flying across the room, especially when you're starting to go crazy from the lack of human contact besides your squad for a few days. Isn't that right, Scorch?" to which Scorch nodded his head, looking at the explosives as though it was a child's favorite toy and not a destructive device.

Suddenly, the ship started to vibrate madly, as though it was possessed. Equipment fell to the floor while men rushed to the edges of the hangar. Many of them knew it would be the last time they would see Kamino. To the ordinary grunts, it was their homeworld. To the Commandos, however, they were glad to be leaving it.

"I swear," Cryer muttered from behind Falco as the ship finally lurched in to hyperspace, "I wouldn't mind seeing that Aiwha-bait homeworld burnt to slag if it weren't for all the little Clones on it."

Though he didn't say it out loud, the Squad Leader silently agreed with the Sniper.

"All troopers, report to the gunships. We've broken through the Geonosis blockade. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill."

The Prosecutor broke through the atmosphere of Geonosis, hovering a few kilometres above the surface. Bravo boarded one of the Gunships they were assigned to with a few other Commando squads from Vau's unit. They nodded at each other, turning to one another to give Keldabe handshakes. They had trained for ten years for this, and now they were entering the combat zone. Nothing could prepare them for what was coming next.

The Gunship dropped out of the Prosecutor. As it straightened out, the first thing that Falco noticed was how quiet it was. He checked if his helmet's comm was working, and it was. The men in the Gunship were nervous as hell. The door of the larty slipped open, allowing them to see the combat for the first time, which gave Falco an adrenaline rush.

AT-TEs were stomping towards the massive droid army. The Trade Federation ships were surrounded by a line of Battle droids, which gave Falco a jolt. He hadn't expected there to be so many of them. There were practically thousands of them firing at the AT-TEs who were trying to destroy the Federation ships before they could take off.

The Gunship finally landed next to a Mobile Base Unit. Bravo and the four other squads jumped out. They landed next to a Clone Commander, who identified himself as CC-6546, nicknamed Ponds. He rushed them off to another incoming larty. The man who jumped out was carrying a lightsabre, which blazed a bright purple compared to the dull red sand.

"Sir. I have five special Commando units awaiting your orders, sir," Ponds informed the Jedi General, who immediately ran into the thick of combat.

Ponds turned to look at the five Commando squads. They were still standing there, not sure what to do because they hadn't received any orders. He angrily gestured at the General who was jumping and slicing any droid that moved.

"What are you waiting for? Follow the General you fools!" He blasted as he pushed Falco ahead. Cursing under their breath, the Commandos raced up to Windu, joining him in blasting and taking out battle droids. Four Commandos went down as a Hailfire Droid opened fire on them, blowing their bodies into the sea of red sand.

Their slicer was the only one still alive. Nuts ran over to him and pulled off his helmet after his vital signs still showed that his heart was still pumping, while he called for a medevac. Pulling off the wounded Commando's helmet, he tried to get the man on his feet. Windu was still fighting off the army of droids, while one of the other Commando squads focused their fire on a line of Super Battle Droids. Nuts was busy snapping his fingers into the Clone Commando's face, who was still staring blankly into the sky.

"Ner vod, can you tell me your name? Come on, don't die on me," Nuts injected the man with a shot of Bacta. The Clone's eyes rolled in his head as he rattle off a string of numbers, while Nuts took his marker out and scribbled a series of numbers onto his forehead. This would allow the surgeons and medics at whatever first aid station to know that the man had been injected with Bacta.

"RC-3222," the Clone mumbled incoherently as a larty landed next to them. The Commandos grabbed their fallen brothers and shoved them on board, as a Clone Trooper jumped off and approached General Windu.

"Sir, I have been ordered to repurpose one of the your units, Bravo Squad, on a special mission. This comes straight from the Chancellor, sir."

Windu demanded to know the details. The Clone was also firing his DC-15 rifle into the wave of enemies. A Trade Federation ship had already been creamed, falling back to the planet's surface. He seemed to want to leave in haste.

"No offense, General. This mission is, according to the Chancellor, on a need-to-know basis, and I don't want to burden you with the details, sir," the Trooper gestured at Bravo to the gunship, which they boarded. He ordered the pilot to quickly get them out of there, as a the impact of the Federation ship slamming back onto the surface kicked up a huge sandstorm, causing the soldiers of both sides to be blanketed, with blaster fire being heard and not seen.

"So what's our mission, ner vod?" Falco questioned the Trooper, who was sitting on the floor of the Gunship next to RC-3222. He looked up at Falco, appearing a bit shell-shocked. He replied that he had no idea, that he was just a messenger and that they would find out for themselves once they got out of the hot zone.

"A pity, if you ask me," the Trooper shrugged his shoulders at the bodies in the Trooper bay of the larty, "Aren't you guys trained for like assassinations and other murky stuff like that? You aren't supposed to be used for frontline roles, right?"

Falco looked out of the bay door at the desert planet. "Too right, brother… It's a damn waste."

The larty finally touched down at the staging area below another Assault Ship. Battalions of Clones streamed about, ignoring Bravo as the Trooper led them to a tent that was reserved for them. He told them that they were to wait until their advisor arrived with their mission details, and to help themselves to the caf at the side of the room while they waited.

As soon as he left, Nuts took a packet out of his bag and started to stuff more of the warra nuts in his face. Falco put his helmet on the table in front of him and closed his eyes, trying to rest. Hoffer hummed to himself as he lounged on one of the chairs, kicking up his feet on the table next to Falco's head, annoying the man slightly. Cryer was the only one who continued to sit in his chair with his helmet on, apparently not moving. He was, however, listening to some music that Skirata had "requisitioned" from Jango during their years on Tipoca City.

Ten minutes passed by quickly. As the tent was not soundproof, they heard from the outside that rumor was Jango was dead, and that the General they followed into combat had topped him. Bravo felt no sympathy for the man. He had given his genes to be used by the Republic, forcing all of them to be part of a huge slave army. The tent flap opened, followed by a figure entering the room.

Initially, Hoffer thought that the woman was a nurse or medic or something like that. It wasn't until he saw the stripes on her chest when all of Bravo bolted to his feet to offer a salute. She was blonde, taller than average height, and had a slim build. Hoffer had no idea how to react to her, as the only females he had ever met was the Tipoca City Kaminoans.

"All of you, sit down and pay attention," she gestured for them to sit down in their seats, "my name and rank is Kofer, Major, Republic Intelligence."

"Wasn't…aware…that we have…an Intelligence unit with…mongrels, ma'am, no offense," Nuts offered in between munches. Falco glared at him from across the table, causing him to fold the pack back into one of his pouches. Only Clones called officers mongrels in their private time, not directly in front of them.

"None taken," she stated as she swept a stray hair behind her ear, "It was just created, Nuts, and I volunteered. So let's cut the chit chat and talk business, shall we?"

Kofer set a hologram projector in the middle of the table. "By the way, anyone who talks about this Operation beyond these four…tent walls will be deemed a traitor to the Republic. As you all know, the punishment for treason is death. So please, don't give me extra work to do," she warned them.

Falco leaned forward in his seat, clearly a bit annoyed with her. "Ma'am, you pulled us off the battlefield. Four of our brothers, our company brothers, are dead. So please tell me, without a reasonable doubt, why in the galaxy's shebs did you pull us out?"

Kofer stared at Falco and Falco stared right back at her. She, like nearly everyone in the galaxy besides the Cuy'val Dar, had never worked with Clones before. She just calmly flicked on the projector, causing a huge tower to appear in the room. Hoffer had seen similar structures like this before when they first touched down on Geonosis.

"This, gentlemen, is the spire located to the north-east of the battlefield, behind enemy lines. You're mission is simple. You are to enter the spire and retrieve this datadsk." An image of a datadisk popped up on display. "It contains classified information that the Chancellor thinks can end the war. You are not to look inside the data on this datadisk."

Kofer pressed another few buttons, which showed images of what appeared to be some sort of Geonosian. "The datadisk is being carried by this Geonosian. His name is Croggle the Lesser. Don't ask me why these freaks have names like that, I don't want to know too."

She switched off the datadisk, shoving it back into the pouch on her back. She leaned closer to the centre of the table and, looking around as though the walls had ears, whispered, "you're primary objective is the datadisk. You have a secondary objective, however: Elimiate Croggle the Lesser. We believe that he plays an important part of the Geonosian Command, so the area is bound to be heavily guarded. Watch each others' backs."

"You don't have to tell us that, ma'am. We're pod brothers," Cryer proudly stated as he replaced his helmet, "Fett DNA, best of the best."

"I know, Cryer. Fett's dead, however. So it's not exactly best of the best," Kofer bluntly stated as Cryer bristled.

"So, bragging aside, what's this operation called, ma'am? If you don't mind me asking," Falco asked. He had his suspicions about this Kofer. She had never met them before, and he sure as hell had never met her before, but somehow she already knew their names and could distinguish them apart from one another. Maybe… she was forc-. No, that would be impossible. The Jedi Council would have picked her up already.

Kofer stood up and started to walk towards the tent flaps. She paused and turned to look at Bravo, whom were all staring back at her. She wanted to laugh, seeing these boys looking at her as though she was some sort of spook, which she was. She started to gain a sense of respect for them, being one of the first few in the galaxy.

"This operation is codenamed Takedown. Good luck gentlemen" She left the tent, once again entering the staging ground. She took out her datapad and tapped into the bug that she had left in the room under the table to hear what they were saying. She heard silence, followed by Cryer making a statement that allowed her to let out a grin.

"Vod, she just called us gentlemen. Now that's something I never thought I would be called."

Author's Notes:
So that kicks off this new series, and it's out a day early.
Kofer's role in this will be bigger than in Desertion as she advises Bravo. One of the Chapters in this series' will focus on her.
Also, these Prequel series' will be a lot shorter than Desertion. They will each cover one operation, ending in the Night of Order 66.