Last man on the Squad
Boss looked out at the snow-covered landscape of Hoth as the legions of snowtroopers he was leading marched forward to seize Echo Base, which had just minutes ago been stripped of its shield generator. He could see the rebel troopers fall back from their trenches as the snowtroopers continued their offensive. Seizing the base would now be an effortless affair, especially with Lord Vader on his way to personally lead the assault…
"Hey Boss, you still with us?"
Boss was shaken out of his thoughts by the sound of Darman's voice. IC-1136, "Darman" was Boss's fellow Imperial Commando…and the only one at that. He turned to face him.
"Yes Dar, I'm still here. Let's get a move on. Wouldn't want those idiots down there to be without real soldiers to lead them now would we?"
And with that, Boss and Darman continued moving. As they did, Boss found himself thinking back on how he had lost all of his old teammates in Delta Squad, one by one, and so now only he and Darman were left. Boss tried not to think about them, as he felt it was uncalled for, not to mention unwanted, but somehow, it wouldn't leave his mind, and so, as he and Darman pushed forward with the snowtroopers, Boss thought back on his old squadmates…
Sev, ah yes. He was a stone cold SOB and he made no apologies for it either. He was a damned good sniper though and that had helped their missions greatly on more than one occasion. Boss could still remember how Sev shot the heads off of droids and geonosians alike and never once flinched, or the time when he took down a Magnaguard by shooting in it in its head and chest in quick succession. To date Boss hadn't seen a fellow non-ARC clone have that kind of flawless accuracy…
But one day Sev just disappeared; MIA during heavy fighting on the Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk. No one knew where he had gone or what had happened to him, but Boss, Fixer, and especially Scorch were all prepared to go looking for him. It took a direct order from Master Yoda to get them to give up the search, and even then, Scorch refused to give up, so they had to forcefully drag him away.
Sev was never found, and was presumed killed in action…
Boss's mind came back to the present as he and Darman watched as their team of snowtroopers detonated the charges they had set. The resulting explosion blasted a hole in the sealed doors they were facing, providing the snowtroopers entrance into Echo Base. The group moved in an organized fashion, with Boss and Darman right behind, letting loose on the rebel troopers that tried to halt their offensive. Boss could overhear the broadcast over the Rebel channels:
"Imperial troops have entered the base! Imperial troops have enter—"
The rebel voice was cut off. Unsurprising; Boss and Darman's team wasn't the only one infiltrating Echo Base. The rebel scum within had better hope that it was Boss and his group that found the rebels and not Vader's. As they continued to move through the halls, Boss found his thoughts once again drift to his former squadmates, now thinking of Scorch next…
Scorch…he had always been the easy-going one, not taking too many things too seriously, even when the situation was particularly dire. That changed after Sev went MIA. After that, he became darker and more driven, and not to mention more tragic. Despite that, he still had a hard time adjusting to the way things were done in the new Empire. He hated the new, more plain Imperial Commando armor for starters, missing his old clone armor, as opposed to Boss, who never really cared about that. Scorch would also occasionally object to what they did as Imperial Commandos, hunting down any supposed "Jedi sympathizers" or anyone else the Emperor labeled a threat, or even a potential threat…
As time passed, Scorch got worse in that regard: he would frequently question the squad's actions, as well as the Empire's policies in general. Boss had tried to get it through his thick skull that it wasn't their place to question orders, just follow them, but something in Scorch just didn't agree with that. Apparently he had the same defect that the clone commandos and ARC troopers that had deserted had...
Boss remembered how Scorch had come to him one day, telling him about how much he missed the good old days when they were fighting droids alongside Jedi, and that if Boss ever wondered if he was still on the right side, like they'd been back in the Clone Wars. Boss was smart enough to tell that Scorch was harboring traitorous thoughts, but before he could even act, Scorch was gone, just like that. No doubt he had left to join his fellow clone deserters on Mandalore. Lord Vader had marked him for death afterwards, but much like Sev, Scorch was never found…
Boss and Darman's team kept moving through the ice-covered corridors, ignoring the occasional shaking and cutting down any rebels they ran into. They were turning around the corner when a large white fur-covered creature came out of nowhere and with one swipe of its paw sent the front-most snowtrooper flying backwards.
"Take it down now!" Boss ordered.
The snowtroopers did as instructed and pumped the creature full of blaster fire. Boss estimated that it took well over a dozen shots before it finally fell down dead. One of the snowtroopers turned to Boss and Darman:
"What the hell was that sirs?"
"It was a Wampa, soldier" Darman replied. "Stay sharp. The rebels might have more of them around…"
"What kind of maniacs have things like that running around their base?" One snowtrooper asked another.
The same maniacs who murdered my brother along with a million others…" Boss thought bitterly. He was of course, thinking of Fixer, his last lost squadmate…
Fixer…as the last one on Boss's squad to go, he and Boss had become especially close. Boss had, after all, been fighting alongside Fixer for more than 20 years by the time he died. And in those 20 plus years he had known him, there had never been a single system that Fixer had been unable to hack, and that had proven crucial to victory for Delta Squad on more than one occasion, and also served them all quite well during their time as Imperial Commandos. Boss might not have been so bold as to claim that Fixer was the most important member of his squad, but if he wasn't, he was pretty damn close…
The last time he had seen his brother was on the Death Star, in orbit above Yavin IV. Fixer, ever the technical genius, had discovered a serious design flaw in the battle station before anyone else had, and he had rushed to try and warn the higher-ups about how the Rebellion was trying to exploit it. But his warning fell on deaf ears, so Fixer tried to think of some brilliant strategy to avert total disaster for the Empire, but none came to mind. It had been one mess that was too big, even for him. And so, all Fixer and Boss could hope to do would be to get off the doomed station while they still had the chance. But even that did not go as they had hoped: as they were fleeing in TIE Interceptors, the Death Star was destroyed by the Rebels and Fixer's interceptor was caught in the blast. As it was, Boss had narrowly avoided death himself…
It just hadn't been fair. If only Fixer had been quicker. But alas, Boss knew, for all of his skills, Fixer was no pilot…
Boss came back to the present once more and kept moving with the others, blasters at the ready to deal with anymore Rebels or Wampas. The group rounded one hallway and proceeded through a narrow corridor leading to a single door. A pair of snowtroopers went up first and blasted the door down using more explosive charges. Not surprisingly, there were rebels behind the door, but the explosion temporarily disoriented them, allowing the snowtroopers to move in and cut them down fairly easily. As Boss and Darman stepped through, finishing off the remaining rebel troopers as they did so, Darman gave out orders:
"All right men, were in the heart of the base now. Split into teams of two and capture any Rebel leaders you find alive. Anyone else, shoot them on sight."
The snowtroopers acknowledged the order, with half heading off in one direction and the other half remaining with Boss and Darman. Boss found himself looking at Darman as he remembered his old partner from Omega Squad, who had also perished…
Niner…he had been a survivor through and through. His first commando group had been all but annihilated, with him as the only survivor, so he was joined up with what would ultimately become Omega Squad, alongside Darman, Atin, Corr, and Fi. As it was, they were some of the best clone commandos, second, Boss was sure, only to his own Delta Squad...
In the aftermath of Order 66 and the rise of the Empire, Niner had gotten his spine broken, supposedly during conflict with the Jedi. Darman had refused to leave him behind and so, when the new Imperial Commando units were formed by Lord Vader, Niner and Darman were fused with survivors of another Clone Commando unit as "Squad 40". Niner was always a reluctant commando after that though, as if he still had some measure of loyalty to the Jedi and the Clone deserters that aided them. Despite that though, Niner remained a dedicated member of his squad. Delta Squad would still work with Niner's group regularly, always quite successful whenever they did so…
Their last mission together had been to raid and destroy a thriving Rebel outpost on Rhen Var that was well on its way into becoming a major base of operations. Not surprisingly, the Rebels weren't prepared to surrender it without a fight. During the intense blood-bath that followed, a Bothan Spy got lucky and shot Niner in the back. The shot hit him in his mended spine. The base still fell, and all of the Rebels were killed, but it was too late for Niner: he died in the medical ward despite the droid's best efforts to fix his spine again. They buried him on the icy planet after that…
And so, only Boss and Darman remained of their respective squads. The other members of squad 40 were also on the Death Star when it was destroyed, or like Fixer, had been caught in the blast trying to escape. Not ones for sentimentality, the brass simply merged Boss and Darman into an elite pair of commandos. And that was how it stayed…right up to here and now, in Echo Base.
Boss and Darman made their way through the main part of the base and into the hangar. All that remained to do was to destroy the Rebel's vessels and the day would be the Empires. As they went in, they were greeted with an intense hail of blaster fire that cut down one of their snowtroopers almost immediately. Boss and Darman's group returned fire.
"This is it! Push through here, we need to destroy those transports so the Rebels can't get away!"
The intense firefight continued. Boss, always observant, kept his eye out for where the transports were docked, and then, he saw them. As it was, they weren't exactly hard to miss. Boss caught himself wondering whether or not the explosive charges he and Darman had brought were enough…
Boss turned to Darman. As fellow clone commandos, words weren't needed, just the gestures they had been using for over 20 years to convey the messages they wanted to convey. Boss pointed to the vessels and Darman nodded in response. They had worked the whole plan out.
As the Snowtroopers continued to battle it out with the rebel soldiers, Boss and Darman made their way to the transports, explosive charges in hand, and took care not to shoot any of the rebels, looking to slip past the firefight unnoticed.
As they moved forward, they could see that turrets and rebel snipers guarded the transports. Darman, using their silent form of communication, told Boss to move in, and that he would cover him. Boss nodded in acknowledgement, and fired off the first shot…
The second the other rebels saw their captain fall down dead, they and the turrets opened fire on Boss's position. Reacting quickly, Boss sprinted forward, strafing and using cover provided by boxes and ice to avoid being shot down. As he peered out, he could see that Darman had made good on his promise, and was cutting down rebel after rebel from a distance. Finally, Boss hurled a thermal detonator at the turret emplacements and remaining rebels. The ensuing explosion took them all out at once.
Boss leaped out from behind cover and made his way to the now un-occupied transport. Darman ran up to Boss.
"No doubt the other rebels heard that…"
"It doesn't matter. Set the charges."
"Aye aye"
The two clones planted all of the charges and Boss set the timer, beginning the count-down. All they had to do would be to defend the area for a few minutes and they'd be good. As they were standing guard over the charges, a whole mess of rebels came swarming in to confront them. Boss and Darman immediately opened fire on them, resulting in an intense shootout. Boss and Darman's years of experience (not to mention superior weaponry) ensured that they cut down many a rebel soldier, but the rebels had numbers on their side, not to mention a determination to defend their transports.
But Boss and Darman refused to let up. The shootout continued, and rebel after rebel was cut down by the two Imperial Commandos as the timer continued its countdown. As the shootout commenced, Boss basked in the carnage, the glory of fighting side-by-side his brother, just his brother, against the enemy. No Vader, no Emperor, no witless idiots that passed for Imperial soldiers. No…just them, the clone commandos…
But it was not to last. One of the rebels, with a hold-out blaster of all things, fired a random shot that happened to strike one of the charges…
What happened next came off as a blur to Boss. The one detonated charge set off a change reaction that detonated nearly all of the others. The combined explosions destroyed the nearest vessels as intended, but Boss was also caught in the blast. Lucky for him, he was only hit by the outer fringes of the explosion and his armor took the brunt of the blast anyway, but he was disoriented. As he staggered back up, Boss fired blindly at any rebels that might remain, before then tearing off his ruined helmet and looking around for Darman. He found him lying on the ground, a broken, bloodied mess. He had been closer to the source and therefore had been hit harder by the blast. Boss rushed over to his fallen brother and looked at him. Removing his helmet revealed a horribly mutilated mess of the face he had once shared with Boss. He had horrible burn marks on one side of his face, and his other half was quite bloodied. He looked up at Boss.
"Boss…Boss is that you?"
"It's me Dar. Save your strength. The medics will come, you just have to hang in—"
"Don't bother Boss…I can see her…my wife…Etain…I see her…smiling at me…she wants me to join her…"
"Dar, you're not seeing anyone. Just stop talking and save your strength."
"No…it's too late…I'm joining Etain now…"
Darman uttered his last words, barely audible, but Boss could hear them:
"I'm coming love…"
And with that, Darman died. Boss fought back the rising sadness as best he could. Grabbing the one explosive charge that hadn't gone off, Boss set in on top of Darman. Boss then walked off, turned, and fired his blaster at the charge, detonating it, and giving Darman a Mandalorian's cremation. Boss had never cared for Mandalorian tradition and beliefs, at least not anymore, but he knew that Darman did, so he chose to honor that.
As Boss walked away, he could see the familiar and imposing black-armored figure that was Darth Vader, backed up by several snowtroopers. Boss walked up to Lord Vader and saluted him.
"The transports have been destroyed my Lord, and only half of the rebel forces managed to escape. The rebellion suffered a great defeat here today."
Lord Vader said nothing at first, instead just breathing heavily as he always did. Finally, he responded: "Job well done IC-1138...where is IC-1136? He was with you was he not?"
Boss lowered his head solemnly:
"He was killed by rebel soldiers my lord"
"That is unfortunate. Very well: you will return to Coruscant for your debriefing"
"Yes my Lord"
And just like that, it was over. Echo Base had fallen, the Empire had won, and Boss, as he grimly realized, was now the only Imperial Commando left. The last man on the squad.
Boss put his hand to his face and cried silently as he left the burning base behind…