Chapter One
Day Zero: Assault of Geonosis
Above the large, rust colored planet of Geonosis, a Separatist blockade stood at the ready, waiting to turn any arrivals away through sheer force. However, they weren't expecting what came to face them. A fleet, larger than most had ever seen, full of warships. The ships were unfamiliar in design, but the markings on them were not. This fleet was from the Republic, and the only thing that the organic captains on their ships could wonder, is how the Republic could have raised an army so quickly. Then the sky caught on fire.
As the ships all started exchanging fire, the largest of the Republic ships, later classed as Venators, started letting loose swarms of small yet bulky ships, all of them making a beeline for the planet's surface. Inside those ships, as the Geonosians and droids on the ground would soon find out, thousands of cloned soldiers from the planet of Kamino readied their weapons for a large scale engagement. Some of these troop transports, called LAATs by the clones, carried squads of specialized troops serving as commandos. All of these squads had already received their orders, and their pilots were taking them to their designated drop-off points.
Inside one of these LAATs, a commando squad readied their gear, having just received their orders. They were to breach their way into one of the largest droid factories on the planet, steal the specs from the control bay, and then turn the entire complex into glass. Like most commandos at this point, their armor was a cross between the white of the normal clone's armor, and a shiny silver. Aside from their armor, the squad's weapons were also different from that of a normal clone soldier. Known as the DC-17M Interchangeable Weapon System, the gun could go from its base fully automatic form, to that of an anti-armor weapon or a sniper rifle. With that, they also have their DC-15S side arms, and their wrist-plated vibroknives. With these few weapons, each commando was far more deadly than any normal soldier.
The squad consisted of the normal four men, led by RC-1112, and each of them had different strong suites, as was usual for a commando squad. 1112, also known as Wraith to his squad members, was known as one of the strongest leaders that the commando program had produced, his skills rivaling that of Delta 1138. His most noticeable trait was that he was a perfectionist. In training simulations, he would have his squad run the simulation until they could complete it without a single flaw. Whether this would lead to his squad's success or demise remained to be seen. He stood almost hanging out of the open door, holding onto one of the overhead handles and keeping his other hand up against the side of the LAAT, his weapon held against his back by a sling.
The second in command of the squad, RC-1168 "Slugger", was larger than his three squad mates, largely due to a genetic defect that had occurred while he was still in his pod. Because of this, Slugger was taller and more strongly built than his brothers, and because of it, far more aggressive. During live fire training, many made the mistake of thinking that he'd be easier to hit because of his size, when in reality, the only thing his size did was let him punch harder, and move faster. He differed from the others in another way, because he was carrying the equipment to set up a EWHB-12, which would be set up inside the factory early on to provide cover fire for them as they set the charges to frag it. He was standing by the door, ready to drop down.
The third member of the team was RC-1145 "Data". Data was the group's slicer, and much more. Data was known more for the fact that most of his gear had been modified or quite simply created by him. Data had made a gadget specifically for this mission, which would, when attached to Slugger's EWHB-12, would automate the turret and allow it to select targets and fire on its own, without one of the commandos having to stay behind with it. Along with that, he had specially made several different kinds of breach charges for the operation, which would ease their mission considerably. He was the farthest from the open door, recalibrating one of those charges to make sure it would do its job.
The last member of the squad was RC-1190 "Dragoon", the squad demolitions expert and most taciturn member. Dragoon frequently butted heads with Wraith because of Wraith's unorthodox orders, which, though they got the mission done without flaw, they were still usually toeing the line of what they were allowed to do. That being said, Dragoon was one of the best demolition experts there was, second only to Scorch who beat him, funnily enough, because of his unorthodox methods with explosives. Dragoon was on the other side of Slugger, his DC-17M held in his hand, the other holding onto one of the overhead handles.
The gunship they were in started to slow down within two kilometers of their target. Wraith leaned out of the door even farther, moving so that he was barely in the pilot's view. The pilot, whose nickname was Bug, turned slightly, making an inquiring sign with his left hand. Wraith made a different one, asking how close to the drop point they were. Bug made another sign, basically saying they were there. A few minutes later, the ship came down and landed, the ship itself powering off for the moment. The four commandos filed out, and the LAAT's cockpit opened so that Bug could hear what was being said. The group had orders to keep radio silence so that the factory didn't pick them up. There were enough LAATs and other ships in the area that the factory wouldn't have noticed the gunship touched down.
"Alright boys, listen up," Wraith started, tossing a holodisk down. The disk projected a layout of the factories inner workings. "Our entry point is a loading bay that is on a sublevel of the factory. To get there, we're going to have to go through this canyon. We're only about a kilometer away, so it shouldn't take too long. We'll have to keep an eye out for bugs and clankers, because there will for sure be some in the canyon to stop this very kind of operation. When we get there, our goal is to make it to this turbolift and head to command level three. When we get there, Slugger will set up the EWHB-12 here, on this balcony, and Data will set his device up on it. After that, we'll move towards the blast door, breach it, and steal the specs. From there we move back towards the balcony, board the lift, and head down into the factories power levels. We'll break off into pairs, set the charges, then leave the way we came in. We'll watch the fireworks from the LAAT. Any questions?"
"Just one sir," Slugger said, "Do we have an estimate on what we'll be up against?"
"Closest description is Simulation Thirty-Three. Expect heavy presence of B1, B2, droideka, and possibly DSD1 models. Keep your weapon up, and your head moving. Anything else?"
The other three commandos shook their heads. Wraith turned towards where Bug was still in the LAAT and waved him off. Nodding, the pilot lowered the cockpit, powered the ship back up, and took off. The four commandos stood up and moved out deeper into the canyon. Moving low and slow, they swept every angle with their specialized weapons up, keeping an eye out for trouble. Occasionally, they'd spot a single Geonosian, or the occasional pair of droids, and take them out quickly and quietly. When they were still about two hundred meters away, they started to be able to see the factory, taking in the massive size of it. Moving forward, they stopped moving forty meters from the loading bay entrance. Wraith and Slugger scanned the area through the scopes of their DC-17M sniper attachments. Motioning the other two closer, Wraith counted eight hostiles. Getting Data and Dragoon in position, he motioned for them to attach their anti-armor fittings to their weapons. Counting down from three with his hand, Wraith signaled everyone to fire.
Dropping the eight hostiles within two seconds, Wraith waited to see if any alarms would go off. After several seconds, he motioned his squad forward, detaching the sniper modifications from his weapon. Making it to the door, Data tossed a charge to Dragoon, which he promptly attached to the door. The four backed up and watched as the charge popped and seemingly expanded, then fizzled away, leaving behind a hole melted in the door. Stepping through the hole, the group moved into the factory, ready to face any foe that they would encounter.