Ch. 2
Rancor's Claw, Felucia; 54 days after Battle of Geonosis
When Zack woke up that morning, he knew he was going to Felucia, so he wasted no time eating his breakfast, putting his armor on, and making sure he had plenty of ammunition, ordinance, food rations, and medical supplies. He then went to the hanger to listen to Kota's briefing of the mission.
"We'll be landing in the Southern Hemisphere of the planet, and we'll be making our way east. Intel has informed us that the Separatist activity has been seen near the river, here." Kota said, pointing to a large river on the planet, and suddenly, a second Republic Acclamator exited out of hyperspace, and a single LAAT/I exited the cruisers hanger and flew to the Rancor's Claw, and landed in its hanger, and the blast doors opened and Master Luminara and Padawan Barriss Offee exited the gunship.
"Master Kota, it is good to see you again." Luminara said, and she and Barriss gave Kota a respectful bow.
"It's good to see you again as well, old friend." Kota said, and he looked at Barriss.
"This is my padawan, Barriss Offee." Luminara introduced, and Kota held out his hand, and Barriss shook it.
"I am at your service, Master Kota." Barriss said.
"Well, girl, I suggest you get to know some of these men, you may be stuck with them for awhile." Kota said, and Barriss nodded and left the two masters to discuss their plans. Meanwhile, Zack decided to waste time by polishing his blaster, when he saw a shadow cover, and he looked up and saw Barriss looking at him, smiling, so Zack stood up in an instant and saluted his commanding officer.
"Sergeant Kras, reporting for duty!" Zack said, out of instinct, and Barriss smiled again.
"At ease, Sergeant. I am Commander Barriss Offee, it's a pleasure to meet you." Barriss introduced.
"Likewise, commander. I've never met another Jedi, and to be honest, I was expecting someone…older." Zack said, and Barriss just smirked. "You must be what, twelve?" Zack said, and Barriss rolled her eyes.
"Sixteen, thank you very much." Barriss said.
"Ah, forgive me, commander." Zack said, and Barriss smiled.
"You are very…arrogant, around your commanding officers, aren't you?" Barriss asked, and Zack just smirked when Colby walked over to them.
"Don't be fooled by the act commander; Zack may talk like an idiot, and act like an idiot, but I promise you, he really is an idiot." Colby said with a smirk, and Zack elbowed his friend in the gut.
"Gentlemen, if you two are quite finished, we must be on our way." Luminara said, and the two instantly went into soldier mode, and saluted the general and climbed on board a nearby LAAT/i. The gunships took off and a few minutes later, they arrived at the landing zone, which was a large clearing.
"So we're going to have to walk the whole way?" Barriss asked, in a slightly annoyed tone.
"This is just a recon mission, girl, AT-TE's, AT-RT's, or speeder bikes can be detected if we get to close, that's why we had to land so far away from the river." Kota said.
"Barriss, you must learn patience; if you quiet your mind of questions, you will get your answers." Luminara said, and the padawan just nodded.
"This is going to be a long mission." Zack said, and Colby just chuckled as they continued to walk for several hours, until night fell.
"We'll camp here for tonight, and start moving again. Sergeant Kras, Lieutenant Var, Padawan Offee, you're on guard duty tonight." Kota said, and the two soldiers nodded and set up their defense weaponry, which were two E-Web cannons, a mortar, and two sniper rifles.
"Well, isn't this just great? We're stuck on a Force-forsaken nightmare of a planet, and we get all night guard duty." Zack said, leaning against a piece of flora. "What would the Seps want with this planet anyway?" Zack asked, and Barriss, who was looking through micro-binoculars, turned around and looked at the Sergeant.
"Felucia has several flora that contains very toxic poisons that can be used to create extremely destructive biological and chemical weaponry." Barriss said, and Zack looked at what he was leaning against, and immediately jumped up and began trying to wipe whatever might be on his armor off, causing Colby and Barriss to laugh.
"Yeah, yeah; laugh it up you two." Zack said, lying down in a prone position and looked out the scope of his sniper rifle.
"Hey, it could be worse." Colby said, and Zack turned his head to look at his friend.
"Yeah, I could be stuck on this planet, AND look like you." Zack said, and Colby picked up a small rock and threw it, hitting Zack's helmet.
"Hmm, so this is what being a professional soldier is like?" Barriss asked, and the two militia men started chuckling.
"You're new to war, aren't you commander?" Colby asked, and Barriss nodded.
"Well, something I've learned on my planet, and something I've taught Zack, is that keeping your sense of humor can keep you from going insane on the battle field." Colby said, and he got out a canteen and took a small drink of water. "Of course, you also need to learn when it's time to have a good time with friends, and when you need to get serious."
"You better be careful with that water Lieutenant; we're not sure if the water on this planet is drinkable." Zack said, and Colby put the canteen away.
"I've told you Zack; when it's just you and me, call me Cole." Colby said.
"But it's not just you and me, now is it?" Zack asked, and he made a gesture to Barriss.
"You won't mind if me and the Sergeant are informal, would you commander?" Colby asked, and Barriss shook her head.
"By all means, Lieutenant, go ahead." Barriss said, and Colby smirked.
"See?" Colby said, and Zack rolled his eyes, and continued looking through his scope, when he saw something that got his attention.
"Yes. You want to know what I also a see; a group of of Acklay walking towards us." Zack said, and Colby immediately got serious and looked out his own sniper scope, and saw the beasts making their way towards the camp.
"Stang! Commander, go wake up the generals, tell them about the Acklay! Sergeant, prepar to fire the mortar! And how many Acklay do you see?" Colby asked, and Zack began counting.
"I count six!" Zack said, but Barriss looked at the direction the two soldiers were looking in.
"Wait; I sense ten Acklay approaching." Barriss said, and Zack zoomed in.
"Are you sure, commander? I only count…wait, I see them; four more about fifteen meters behind the first six!" Zack said.
"Sergeant, aim the mortar for the four in the back, I'll pick off the six in front with my sniper rifle." Colby ordered.
"But Lieutenant, they'll reach the camp before you can kill them all!" Zack said, but Colby stuck to his plan.
"Just do as I order Sergeant!" Colby said, and Zack nodded and loaded the mortar while Colby aimed his rifle, and Barriss woke the two Jedi Masters. Zack launched a mortar round, and because the Acklay were so spread out, only two were killed in the first blast, and Colby killed one of the six in the front by shooting it in the head. With the Acklay now charging, Zack ran over to the E-Web cannon and began firing at the remaining Acklay, but the beasts were spreading out, making it hard for Zack to kill one of them. Suddenly, three lightsabers activated, and Master Kota charged one Acklay and Luminara and Barriss attacked another. While the Jedi distracted the Acklay, Zack and Colby pounded the beasts with E-Web fire until they died. With only half of the Acklay dead, the Jedi were forced to return to Zack and Colby's positions.
"There's too many of them!" Barriss said, when suddenly, two Elite Militia Soldiers and a Heavy Trooper appeared, Z-6 Rotary cannons and rocket launcher armed and ready to fire, and at Kota's orders, the three soldiers unleashed all fury and made quick work of the remaining Acklay.
"Good work men." Kota said, and the soldiers saluted him and the two Elite and the Heavy trooper went back to the camp, and Zack and Colby and Barriss went back to guard duty.
"Wow, I have to admit, that was an impressive change; from a humorous young adult, to a serious soldier that will follow orders without question." Barriss said, talking about Zack, and Colby put a hand on Zack's shoulder.
"Zack is one of the most couragest soldiers I've seen, despite his age. He puts his trust in his commanding officers, while in his own instincts as well. He saved a lot of lives on our last mission." Colby said, and Zack just smirked.
"I was only following orders; Kota told me to find a way to destroy the bombers, and I did." Zack said.
"You're way too modest Zack; you showed bravery I wouldn't expect from someone as young as you." Colby said, and Zack just shrugged and went back to his guard duty.
The next morning
"All soldiers, assemble!" Kota ordered, and all of Kota's militia formed up in front of the General, and waited for their orders. "There's been a change of plans; as it turns out, there is a large Acklay nest three clicks from here. So, to prevent heavy casualties, we are going to go through a series of caves twenty clicks to the north of here. Then, we'll follow the river at the other side, which will lead us to the suspected Separatist activity area, however, it will put us four days behind schedule. So, eat your breakfast rations, clean and load your weapons, and be ready to move in fifteen standard minutes!" Kota ordered, and the soldiers got did as they were told. Zack was sharpening his Vibro-Sword as he ate when Barriss sat next to him.
"I never knew Vibro-swords needed to be sharpened." Barriss said, trying to strike conversation.
"It does every now and then. I guess that's a major advantage of a lightsaber; it always works." Zack said.
"Well, not always; it doesn't work so well when it's cut in half or underwater." Barriss said, unclipping her lightsaber and examining it.
"I guess, but then again, all weapons have their advantages and disadvantages." Zack said, and Barriss shrugged.
"So how did you get into Master Kota's militia?" Barriss asked.
"Well, he came to my home planet, Naboo, looking for a few brave men and women willing to join his militia, and I wanted to fight for the Republic on the front lines, instead of going to Theed Academy of Arts." Zack said as he took a bite out of his rations.
"You were going to go to an arts school?" Barriss asked, mildly surprised to something like that from a soldier.
"I have an interest in art and literature, and I was going to be taught how to be a nobleman, like my dad was, but I'd rather be something useful." Zack said.
"So you gave up a life luxury and comfort, to be a soldier in a war and live hand to mouth and risk dying every day…you're either really brave, or really crazy." Barriss said, and Zack chuckled.
"I'm probably a little bit of both, I'm sure my parents think so, though they supported me as I requested to join." Zack said, as he thought of the bittersweet moment he had with his family.
"Other than your family, did you leave anyone you love behind?" Barriss asked.
"I may have left a few broken hearts behind." Zack said with a smirk, but Barriss could tell he was lying, even without the Force. "Okay, I had one girlfriend, but we had to split ways; she didn't like the idea of me being a soldier."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Barriss said, and Zack shrugged.
"Hey, if things weren't meant to be, they weren't meant to be. I have no regrets." Zack said.
"Men, we're moving out!" Kota yelled, and Zack put his Vibro-sword on his back, clipped his rifle to his belt, and grouped up with his fellow soldiers, and they continued to march towards the caves that would lead them to their objective.