"It's good to have you on board, sir," a clone said, saluting Boss as he strolled down the hallway.
His large imposing armor and his larger than usual physique created a tense air upon the cruiser. And for greater effect, he said nothing. He didn't even seem to notice the clones presence.
The clone wasn't sure whether he should hop up and down with excitement, or hide in the nearby janitor's closet. Instead, he just stood there, shaking.
Scorch put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, he's always like that."
"Oh," trembled the clone.
Boss set a quick pace walking through the ship, clones scattering out of his way. The General was going to be in the debriefing room. He turned a corner and started towards the elevator. The doors were closing, but somebody was already inside.
"Hold it!" he called, and the doors obediently stopped, a red hand in the way.
The doors opened to reveal a tall female Togruta. Boss had never had too much fondness for Togruta: in his opinion, they were the most colorblind species in the galaxy. But this one had a type of presence about it, a type of self-confidence. She would have been exceedingly beautiful if it hadn't been for the stern, appraising expression she was wearing.
The squad quickly filtered inside, and the Togruta let the door slide shut again. The squad had a strict 'no-talking-to-civilians' policy. Obviously, the Togruta had a 'no-talking-to-clones' policy as well. She remained as silent as boss did. The entire elevator ride was a battle of who could remain the most stoic.
The other clones hung back and tried to avoid the thick tension that was now spreading in the air.
The elevator binged on the briefing room, and, to his surprise, the Togruta stepped out, immediately taking command.
"Commander!" she barked.
"Yes, sir!"
"I want full schematics on the base on hologram immediately! You, sir!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Angle the ship twenty degrees to the left. I want full fire power on that station if anything should go wrong."
"Sir!"
"You!" she pointed at another clone. "I want full power on the forward shields. If they do notice that we are here, we need to be ready for them. With the fleet on the other side of the planet, they should be expecting an attack from the other side."
"Yes, sir!"
This was a change in policy. The Togruta was captain on the ship.
"Deltas," Boss said quietly. "Assemble around the hologram, and wait for the General. I'll meet him at the door."
"Sir." And the squad obediently filed aside to the hologram.
Boss stood at the door, waiting for the Jedi to show up. He waited. And he waited some more. He waited even more. It had been a full ten minutes before somebody noticed that the esteemed leader of Delta Squad was simply standing at the door like some kind of heavy-duty valet.
"Commander!"
Boss hardly moved. "Yes?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm waiting for the Jedi, sir."
There was a deathly pause.
"What?"
"I'm waiting for the Jedi, Captain. Do you know where he is?"
There was another deadly pause.
Suddenly, faster than he could pull out his rifle, he was on the ground, one hand behind his back, and a foot placed on his back. He couldn't move.
With a grunt, he tried to spin, but found he couldn't. "What in the galaxy is this? I command you to release me!"
He found the Togruta leaning towards his helmet, and with a deadly whisper, saying, "I am Shaak Ti. I believe you were looking for me."
Every single ounce of blood drained out of Boss' face. He had never been humiliated like this before. The entire bridge was quiet, all the clones turning to see the clone commando pinned to the ground by the Jedi.
The Delta Squad weren't quite sure what to do at this point.
"Sir?" piped up Scorch. He was usually the one to try and break the ice, which usually resulted in him getting a few broken bones. "We did not know that you were the Jedi."
Fixer flinched. By the way that the Togruta's body language had changed, he knew that had not been the right thing to say.
With a sweep of robes, the Jedi released their leader and began to stalk towards the hologram generator, looking very much like some dark goddess of legend.
Every set of eyes on the bridge followed her progress until she was standing right over Scorch.
"I see that you commandos are not as your reputations would lead me to believe. It seems I shall have to do everything myself on this mission, as you are incompetent little drones."
Oh, yeah, she just pulled the drones card.
Boss would have leapt and beaten the snot out of her from the tip of her montrals to the tips of her toes, but he had a feeling he didn't need to mess with this one.
It seemed that Shaak Ti had let it go. She swept her robes away from Scorch and moved towards the hologram generator.
"Trooper! Where are those schematics?"
"On screen now, sir."
Obediently, the hologram flickered to life. A large separatist fort with spires reaching high above the walls glowed blue on the hologram screen. Several areas were highlighted.
A clone strode up to the hologram. "General, our plan is simple. We have several concussor charges which will be placed here," the area that he pointed to obediently illuminated, "here, here, and here."
"Actually, I think it would be better to place that mine here," Scorch put in.
The clone looked surprised. "Sir, that's not a structural strong point."
"It will be once you blow the other points. Because of the technology we're limited to here, we can't get a simultaneous blast, and the position would work if it were simultaneous, but since it isn't, we'll have to go for one detonation at a time."
Shaak Ti looked pleasantly surprised.
"Furthermore," Scorch said, almost glowing like a lighting unit, "if we put charges here and here, we would take out the droid factories, which would allow for a quicker demolition of the rest of the building."
The slightest trace of a smile flicekerd across Shaak Ti's features. "Perhaps you're not completely incomeptant after all."
Scorch beamed with the compliment until he realized it was backhanded.
The clone trooper who had stepped up to demontstrate the charges looked thoroughly indignant. "Well, since you have things under control here…" and he strode off towards the direction of the navigational computer.
Shaak Ti watched the trooper go for a minute, then she turned to Scorch, her features no longer marred with the stern and appraising look. Come to think of it, she looked rather curious.
"I do not believe we have been properly introduced, trooper."
Scorch glowed once again. "Well, ma'am, I am Clone CC—"
Shaak Ti cut him off with a wave of her hand. "I don't do numbers, trooper. Give me your name."
Scorch was positively giddy. He had never been treated so well before. "They call me Scorch, ma'am."
Suddenly, Scorch was paralyzed as Shaak Ti reached out an elegant finger and wiped it across the visor of his helmet. When she removed it, it was stained with a large amount of black soot.
She gave him a half-smile. "I see why." She pursed her lips and blew the dust off her finger.
Sev chuckeld in the back. Scorch looked like he had just been shot with a paralytic dart.
"And who are you, laughing boy?"
"They call me Sev, ma'am," he rumbled.
She gave him an appraising look. "Sniper, I presume?"
"Along with general killer, sir."
"I like your attitude, trooper."
Sev let his ego swell a little bit with the compliment.
"And I presume that you are the techie, here. Umm…Mechanic?"
"Fixer."
"Fixer. Your skills will be invaluable in the infiltration."
"Thank you, ma'am."
And then she turned her gaze to Boss, who was still standing stoically in the corner, glaring at her. Nobody won his squad over. Except for him. She moved to the top of 'people-whom-I-hate' list, a spot previously taken by General Grievous.
She gave him a cold look that made ice crystals grow on his visor. She obviously didn't like him either. "And I presume you are the leader."
"Well, it seems you have something more than air under those montrals."
"And a comedian too! Charmed, sir, but I'm sure the droids will find no place for your humor. What did you say your name was again?"
"Boss."
"Ever the humble one."
Ouch! She's ripping on him, ain't she? Scorch shot Sev a glance. This should be good.
"Well, when you're one of the best…"
"That remains to be seen. So far, I am not impressed."
"Well, considering your color skills I'm surprised."
"Did you know that orange is only worn by those who can't wear any other color?"
"Then why are you wearing green sir?"
"Brings out my eyes," a feature which she narrowed most prominently now.
"Really? I'd think you'd want to hide those things."
"Like you? You must be a horrible sight to wear that bucket over your head all the time."
"I'm surprised I've lived through the sight of you ma'am."
"Another assumption which remains to be seen."
"Sirs! We are in prime orbital position to deploy," a clone interrupted.
Shaak Ti curled a lip at him. "Let's see what you're made of…Boss." She mocked the name with a little sneer. Boss fingered his blaster.
"The feeling is mutual, General."
She sniffed and turned away. "Begin Operation Deploy, Captain. See you on the ground."
"What's Operation Deploy, sir?" Fixer trotted alongside the Jedi as she swept from the bridge.
"Our way of disembarking, trooper."
'Disembark' didn't sound like quite the right word for what they were going to be doing.