Hey guys, here's chapter 2 for you. Most of these chapters will be fairly short between 1500 and 4000 words. That may change. Anyways, enjoy and review!
Chapter Two
Aboard the RAS Defensor
First Mission
85 days ABG
The planet was name Cartrell, positioned in the outer rim, and ARC trooper Alpha-23 tried and failed to see its' strategic significance.. The separatists had decided it was important enough to take over, probably because of its' large deposits of Neuranium. It was primarily trees, with a few mountain ranges, rivers, and oceans. From the tactical holo, it looked like the droids were assembled on one of the larger continents. Near one of the mountain ranges was a cluster of buildings. Neuranium refineries, according to intel. He stood in the war room of the Republic assault ship Defensor. "As you can see, the separatists have chosen a central location to defend from." General Kohl said, "intelligence believes that the separatist general has set himself up near the refineries. The droids will have set their defences accordingly"
She looked up at him. "Destroying the refinery, will be your objective, Alpha twenty three." She turned to the clone commander standing beside him. "Commander Voss. You and I will lead the main assault, and Nate you will lead a small detachment along the enemy's flank, and support Alpha twenty-three." The apprentice inclined his head, but Alpha-23 scowled.
"Ma'am. With all due respect, I don't need support"
Kohl looked at him, but didn't seem irritated by his protest. "Nevertheless, we can't afford to lose ARC troopers by having them outflanked by the enemy. Nate and his men will support your flank"
Voss stared at him, and it was clear that the commander neither liked nor trusted him. Alpha-23 wasn't terribly bothered. He'd always known that normal troopers wouldn't like the elite units such as himself. As long as they stayed out of his way though, he wasn't going to complain. "Understood, general" he said quietly.
"Get to your transports, gentlemen. And may the Force be with all of us"
He left for the hangar bay, where gunships were already taking off, heading for the planet's surface. The general and two commanders sprinted for their wn gunships, while Alpha-23 headed for his own gunship. A clone trooper stood beside it, and the pilots were already inside the cockpit. The larty was matte black, and he recognized it as a stealthed variant. Used for high risk missions where a TIV would stand out and a disguised vessel couldn't be acquired. The trooper saluted "sir! We're ready to depart"
He climbed aboard, and rapped his knuckles on the door separating the troop bay from the cockpit. "let's get on with it then" the ships blastdoors closed and he felt his stomach lurch slightly as the larty left the artificial gravity of the assault ship.
"Stealth systems engaged" reported the pilot.
The clone trooper stared at him, and Alpha-23 tilted his head to the side. "Something on your mind, trooper?" He said quietly.
"No sir. I'll be relaying information to you throughout your missions. We're approaching the landing zone" he replied.
Alpha-23 nodded. "Okay then. You have a name, trooper?"
"CT-1823/1133, sir" the trooper replied.
The light in the troop compartment switched from red to green, and the transparisteel doors slid open. Alpha-23 attached his rappel line to the gunship floor, and nodded to '33. "I'll see you after this place is rubble, thirty-three" he said, and dropped off of the LAAT/s. He knew that while he was in the air, he was the most vulnerable. It was dark out, and the white plastoid-alloy would draw mark him as a target. He unclipped the line, and glanced around, having his helmet scan for hostiles as he did so.
He wasn't actually inside the facility. Even the stealth tech of a LAAT/s couldn't get him right on top of it, but he was fairly close. His scans indicated that his immediate area was clear of droids, and he rose from his crouching position, checked the charge on his blaster, and made his way forwards. It wasn't long before the he found the refinery, and heard the sounds of battle from the rocky plains, where the 56th infantry engaged the droids. As far as he could tell, it didn't look like the seps had heavy cannons or tanks.
Just waves and waves of battle droids. And, the refinery was in a location that would have turned any infantry assault into a massacre. The narrow chokepoint meant only a squad of droids could defend against a much larger amount of troopers for a very long time. 'Which is why I'm here' 23 thought to himself, as he headed down a steep path, that lead to the refinery. He could see battle droids patrolling outside, but none of them looked like they'd realized he was making his approach.
As if to mock his attempts at stealth, a loose rock that he'd made the mistake of placing his weight on slid and tumbled down the path, creating a small rock-slide as it did so. Three droids turned to look at the slide. Then they followed its trajectory up to him, and were promptly blasted with six precise shots, from his WESTAR-M5. He was skidding down the rest of the path as they collapsed to the durasteel floor. "Hopefully they don't notice they're three clankers short" he muttered to himself.
He was in front of what he guessed was the rear entrance. Slightly larger than a normal door, with a rather pathetic security system. He removed a lock slicer from one of his belt pouches, and inserted it into the door control panel. While the slicer worked, 23 kept a wary eye out for droids patrolling at ground level. Nothing. Either the sep general had ordered the bulk of his droids to the front line to slow down the 56th, or there was an osik load of droids waiting for him inside.
The slicers light turned from red; working, to green; success. The door slid open, revealing two B1 battle droids. Both were just now turning to face him, and 23 acted fast, stepping forwards and slamming the butt of his rifle into the underside of one droids head, and turning to face its' companion, ejecting his vibroblade as he did so. The blade punched neatly through the metal of the droids skull, and it shuddered as it's 'brain' was deactivated. He didn't have time to enjoy the victory. Its companion was already recovering, and bringing its' blaster up.
23 lowered his shoulder and rammed the thing, his momentum carrying it into the wall, and more importantly, knocking its' aim off. He knew that if the droid managed to get a shot off, it would bring all kinds of trouble down on him. He got a grip on the droids angular head, and twisted. Breaking a droids neck was different then breaking a wets, an organic. Instead of a wet 'crunch' there was a soft pop-sizzle noise as wires and connections were ruined. The droid slumped, and 23 lowered it to the floor.
He kept moving, deeper into the refinery. He reached the central area, made up of conveyor belts, and melting pots, along with large bins holding chunks of rock, and what he assumed were raw neuranium. He didn't know too much about refineries, but he did know how to blow stuff up. The place looked like it was fully automated. There were several mining droids against the far wall, offline, and no guards. 'What do the seps want with neuranium, anyways?' He wondered as he set his charges. 'The stuff is way too heavy to use in droids. And if they're using it in their tanks, they'd need to develop a better repulsor system for the AATs.'
Charges set, he left the ore refining area, and started making his way to the top floor, using the stairs, rather than the turbo lifts. While the lifts were much faster, there was no cover if a patrol was waiting for him.
He didn't need to hurry, since the charges were rigged for remote detonation, rather than a timer. He had all the time in the world. Unless, of course, the droids converged on his position. He reached the top floor of the refinery, and heard the clank-clank of droid feet on the durasteel floor. 23 dived for cover, using a crate of supplies for cover. It was, by no means, the best hiding spot, but getting into a fire fight and alerting the sep general he had an uninvited guest was not an option.
The droids marched past him, a column of three, completely oblivious to the ARC hunkering behind a crate. Once they'd turned the corner, 23 blew out a sigh of relief, and wondered if it would be too much to ask for stealth coating on his armour. He emerged from his hiding spot, and made his way through the corridors, arriving at what must have been the generals' office. Or at least, it looked like it. Unlike every other room in the place, it had a polished, teekwood door, with a brass handle. Alpha-23 stopped outside, and studied the portal for a moment. Why people in positions of power felt the need to have nicer things than everybody else, he couldn't even begin to fathom.
Sure, he had better kit than the grunts of the 56th, but he didn't shove it in their faces. It looked like this sep general was doing exactly that, which was pointless, since as far as 23 knew, there were no other organics in the place. And droids weren't known for admiring the décor. His booted foot blew the door open quite nicely, and the general, poring over a datapad, nearly leapt out of his seat. "Who-" the man said, his head snapping up to glare at the intruder. Then he paled.
23 must have cut an intimidating figure in his white armour, tinted T-visor, and grey kama and pauldron. Not to mention the arsenal of weapons slung about his person. The general, in contrast, was nothing special. He wore a separatist uniform that barely held over his bulging stomach, and he was balding, with bloodshot, beady eyes, that were currently wide with shock. He didn't bother speaking. There was nothing to say. He simply drew his pistol and shot the man. His head snapped back, a blaster hole punched though the center of his forehead, a thin wisp of smoke emerging from it.
23 noticed an open computer at the desk, and walked over to it, shoving the general and his chair aside. The ARC glanced over the information and searched through the device in search of more, uploading data that he felt might be useful to command. he didn't read all of it. That was some desk jockeys' job in intel, not his. He just went where told and slotted the bad guys. When finished, he blasted the computer as well, to make sure no one would be able to tell what had been uploaded. After that, he exfiltrated the facility, and started moving back to where the stealthed gunship had dropped him.
Then he heard a desperate voice in his ear. "Alpha twenty-three, do you copy? This is commander Tsaren. We're pinned down!"
23 grimaced. This was exactly what he'd been afraid of. The Jedi had compromised his mission, and now he and his troops were about to get themselves killed. "Give me your co-ordinates, commander. I'll be there as soon as I can"
A notification on his HUD popped up, pinpointing the location of the Jedi commander and his men. "Got you"
"Hurry! We can't hold out much longer!" Was the not quite panicked response.
Alpha 23 picked up the pace, moving at a steady jog around the refinery, and towards the Jedis' location. It only took him a couple of minutes before he could hear the sounds of a pitched fire fight. A minute after that, and he could see the bolts of energy tearing back and forth. The commander and his troops were entrenched on top of a rocky hill, firing down at perhaps twenty battle droids. 23 knew he wouldn't be able to take on all of them. Not out in the open, anyways. But he did have a fair amount of EMP grenades that would turn the tide.
He slung his WESTAR over his shoulder again, and removed a pair of grenades. He tossed both of them, aiming for the centre of the group. The electromagnetic pulses wrecked a dozen of the B1s, and the others began to turn towards him, to face the new threat. He opened fire with his rifle, and the troopers emerged from cover long enough to wipe out the remaining droids. After the shooting had stopped, commander Tsaren approached, lightsabre hilt in his hand, his robes smoking from near misses. "Thank you. You came back for us"
Alpha 23 nodded. "Of course, commander. It's harder to breed more Jedi than it is to grow clones" he said simply. "33. Mission accomplished. Transmitting co-ordinates" the trooper acknowledged, and the stealthed gunship came into view, a shadow against the night sky. 23 climbed aboard with the remaining troopers and commander. He removed the detonator from his belt, and depressed the button. The resultant fireball was very satisfying.
"That's endex" he muttered, watching the flames climb into the night sky. They danced as they did so, and 23 found himself transfixed by them. How could something so dangerous and destructive move with such fluidity? He wondered. On a whim, he looked up words associated with fire. Flame, Blaze, Raze...that word...to demolish, destroy completely, erase. Very much what Alpha twenty three did. "My name is Raze" he whispered to himself.
