Theron Stari || Section 1

0600 hours||Geonosis

Boss was exhausted and, though they would never admit it, so was the rest of his squad. Delta Squad had been fighting on the dusty, sand-covered surface of Geonosis for nearly twelve hours. Of course, they had been fighting for longer than that, but before than they had at least been doing what they were meant to do. They were commandos, meant to infiltrate and destroy enemy targets to pave the way for the infantry behind them. That had been their original mission, taking down a Geonosian leader, then blowing up a droid foundry. But now, command had them fighting as basic infantry. Orders were coming from a Jedi called Kit Fisto, who obviously had no idea how to coordinate a land engagement.

Fixer, the squad's tech expert, called over to Boss. The interruption broke Boss out of his reverie. "Sarge, this droid's computer is showing a request for reinforcements to deal with a small unit just north of us. Sounds like another commando unit having a problem. Should we act on it?" Fixer asked him. He had been interrogating the computer from a battle droid commander they had destroyed while the squad took some much-needed rest.

Boss looked over his squad. Fixer was the only one with his helmet off, so Boss could see the bags under his eyes and how he fought to keep his eyes open. Boss turned the other way, seeing Scorch, the squad demolitions expert, standing with slumped shoulders. Boss clicked on his com. "How you doing, Sev?" he commed to the squad sniper, who sat atop the mesa they had used as shelter, specifically a cave part of the way up, scanning the area for enemy forces.

Sev came back quickly. "Tired, but I can go another few rounds with the tinnies," he responded. All of them had heard what Fixer said and knew what the stakes were.

Boss made a quick decision. "Delta Squad RC-1138 to Command. Do you read?"

The reply came quickly. "Delta Lead, this is Command. Go ahead."

"We intercepted an enemy reinforcement call. It sounds like they have another commando squad pinned down just north of us. Requesting permission to move to assist."

Boss heard the trooper on the other end of the line converse with someone, then someone new came online. "Delta Lead, this is Jedi Master Kit Fisto. We think that there might be a Jedi with that squad. Do you think they need help?"

Boss looked at Scorch, who quickly flashed him a data stream from the droid comm network. "Sir, our hack is reporting three squads of B1s responding, as well as another squad of SBDs."

"Could you explain that in layman's terms?"

Boss sighed inwardly at the obvious inexperience of the new command. "About fifteen normal battle droids and five super battle droids. And that's in addition to about twenty battle droids already at the location."

The Jedi hesitated, then spoke quickly. "Do whatever you think is necessary, Sergeant. Fisto out."

Boss turned to his squad and opened the squad channel. "Shoot up on enough stims to last two hours. After that we should have either been extracted or we won't have to worry about how much energy we have anymore," Boss barked. "Gather up your weapons and let's move out." Delta began to gather up their gear. Sev gathered up the bipod for his sniper rifle he had picked up, as well as the flash and sound suppressors he kept so he could quietly eliminate enemy patrols. Scorch picked up his explosive kit, and Fixer gathered together his slicing tools. Boss picked up the energy projector he had picked up from the corpse of a Geonosian elite. "Everyone ready? Let's move!" The squad descended to the canyon floor, fast-roping down the side of the mesa. A map of the surrounding canyons appeared on Boss's HUD, mapping out the route to the location of the other commando squad, courtesy of Fixer.

Boss led the squad into a western-facing canyon, which fed into a canyon that led more or less due north to the location of the enemy reinforcement call. The squad followed the twists and turns of the canyon, until suddenly the walls opened up and they could hear the sound of blaster fire, both the high prang of the DC-17 rifle the commandos all carried, as well as the lower bdapp of the droid's blasters. Boss snapped the comm on. "Sev. Climb the wall to the left and give us sniper cover. Scorch. Give us five seconds to get to cover then lay down a three grenade spread, two meter spacing. Fixer, the two of us are going to move in through the sides and lay down fire so we can get to cover," he rattled off. Sev immediately turned and fired a grappling line up the wall, ascending the wall and disappearing over the top of the cliff.

A moment later, a light flashed on in the corner of Boss's HUD, indicating that Sev was in position. He waved Fixer and Scorch into position, flicking the safety on his rifle to double check that it was off. He raised one hand, three fingers raised. Three…two…one! He pumped his now clenched fist, and he and Scorch charged in, unleashing a torrent of blaster fire into the circular area between huge walls. Time seemed to slow down, as he watched his shots crash into one, two, three droids. Then he was sliding into cover next to a figure in the instantly recognizable robes of the Jedi. He took a moment to look at the singular figure he fought alongside. As Boss went to reload his blaster, the Jedi poked his head out of cover, lifting what Boss recognized as the standard trooper-issue DC-15 blaster and firing at the advancing line of droids. Boss was surprised to see that this Jedi seemed to wield a blaster with equal dexterity as most Jedi wielded their lightsaber, as half of the first line of droids dropped with smoking holes through their command unit.

"Nice shooting, sir!" Boss shouted over the din of blaster fire. "Must be nice to have Force-assisted aim!"

The Jedi turned to him, revealing a smiling, average looking face. Black hair, average face. The only distinguishing feature to him was a fresh wound the ran from the corner of his right eye down his cheek. "Force aiming?" he called back. "I've probably spent more time with blasters than you have, Sergeant. The Force has nothing to do with it."

As they spoke, the second wave of battle droids arrived with the super battle droids behind them. The Jedi popped out of cover again, firing a tight grouping of plasma rounds into the sunken control unit of the nearest SBD. Boss accounted for another one of the large droids with a grenade, while several shots in quick succession from Sev's position accounted for a third. The droids began to withdraw to cover, having encountered stiffer resistance than they had expected. The survivors were a pair of super battle droids, along with two squads of still-surviving B1s. Only twelve enemy units left standing out a force of thirty-five.

Boss took the moment to assess his resources as Scorch slid into cover behind a rock approximately a meter away from Boss and the Jedi. One full of squad of commandos, his own, a Jedi, and, he noticed, as two new IFF tags appeared on his HUD, a pair of commandos in shimmer-camouflage armor lying in small foxholes at the edges of the canyon. They had accounted for the majority of the B1 reinforcements with small bursts of fire so that their positions wouldn't be targeted. As he watched, the troopers broke out of their cover, dashing to the small field of rocks that the Jedi and Delta occupied.

The pair of troopers slid behind the large boulder that Boss and the Jedi sheltered behind right as hail of blaster bolts slammed into the ground where they had been moments before. The troopers noticed that his IFF tag marked him as a sergeant, and immediately saluted. "Sir!" the first one barked. "RCs 3803 and 0301 reporting."

"Good to have you, commando. Names?" Boss returned.

"Kav and Pront," the other trooper replied. "The other two in our squad went down when this ambush started."

The Jedi spoke. "My name is Theron Stari. I'm a Jedi Guardian Padawan specializing in the use of blasters and other ranged weapons."

"Does that mean you're not as good with other abilities?" Boss asked. "I mean no disrespect, but I need to know your abilities so that we can get out of this alive."

"Don't worry, Sergeant. My Force skills are the same level as any other Jedi, and my lightsaber skill is nearly unparalleled within the Order," he responded.

A shout came from just to their left, where Fixer hunkered under the cover of a small boulder. "Sir! More enemy units incoming! We need to bang out now!" he yelled.

Theron responded immediately. "You heard the man. Time to go," he said. "Boss, take Kav and Pront and get them out of here. I'll cover your backs."

"Sir, I can't allow you to do that," Boss responded. "Your life is worth all of ours."

"Shab, that's complete osik. You're men too. Now get ready to run for the canyon mouth when I tell you to. I'll throw two grenades, then follow. Your sniper will have to cover us from there."

With that, Theron stood up and bowled two grenades at the two groups of droids while the rest of the squad scrambled out of the death trap. As Theron sprinted to catch up, he heard the prang of Sev's sniper fire taking out the remaining droids. As they exited the canyon, a LAAT/i dropped down and the group of soldiers scrambled aboard, Sev jumping on right as it lifted off.

Section 1 - Theron Stari - Finish