There came a point where we couldn't distinguish night from day because the ash and smolder was so thick. The smoke made it so we could no longer see the main levels of the city. The furthest building we could see was the Jedi Temple, which had been gored by the hull of a Banking Clan frigate. It had been one day since the Arc-170s had showed up and we hadn't seen them since. There were neither Republic nor CIS ships in the sky. There was only the eerie hiss of the fires and nothing else. My squad was one of three guarding the gate along with the two AT-TEs. We sat there for hours behind barricades before our next orders. Tanik approached me and handed me a hologram.
"It's the commander, sir," Tanik informed me.
"Sergeant," The commander appeared on the pad, "a patrol is yet to report back after they left this morning. They were inspecting a disturbance in the sewers below the garrison. Inspect the disturbance and find the missing patrol. A squad will take your place at the gate."
"Yes sir. We'll find them."
I got my squad together. We met up with another squad by a sewer cover. The other squad leader motioned to me for help in removing the lid. After getting it off, there was a putrid smell that penetrated our helmets.
"I thought this place smelled bad on the outside." The other squad leader coughed while waving away the smell. I looked down into the sewer. It was pitch black. All that could be heard was the stream of water.
"We've got point," I turned on my helmet's flashlight. "Flashlights on and safeties off, men. Tanik and Brok in front, Dodor and Dyson bring up the rear, Loran hold fast in the middle with me." Tanik jumped down first, followed by Brok who could barely fit with his rioter shield and scatter gun. After them, Loran and I jumped down and we were followed by Dyson and Dodor.
The flashlights illuminated the tunnel. Rats cowered away at the sight of us, running back to their dens.
"It smell like Brok's sweat gear down here," Tanik twitched at the odor.
"I won't deny it. Which way, sir?" Brok asked.
"We're going left," I told them.
The other team took the right and disappeared in our lights. We walked for several minutes down the path, slowly and cautiously.
"Wait," Dodor alarmed us, "do you hear that?"
There was the sound of generators and water falling that grew louder and louder the further we walked. There was an opening at the end of the tunnel that revealed a large room. We had heard the sounds of the water fall that drained deep down into a dark abyss. The tunnel led to a balcony that overlooked the fall and the generators that sat on the opposite side of the room. Stairs led down from the balcony where we stood – which overlooked the entire area. Down the stairs and across the room was a large door with a control panel on the wall to its left.
"That's where we go," I pointed down to the exit. "Dodor, gear up and cover our exit. Come down when I give the all-clear."
"Thank you for the opportunity, sir. I haven't had any practice in weeks." Dodor reached for his field bag and took out a long barrel attachment and a mid-ranged scope for his rifle.
"Do you think anything is on the other side?" Loran asked hesitantly. He'd always been the more precautious member of the squad.
"There's one way to find out," Brok lifted his shield.
"Alright, form up on Brock," I commanded, "keep it tight."
We walked down the stairs and to the door, checking each corner along the way. I looked back up at Dodor, who was lying prone while looking at us through the scope of his rifle with his helmet off.
"You're in my sights." Dodor reassured us over the coms.
"Tanik, it's time to unlock the mystery door," I directed. "Brok, keep a beat on the door. Dyson and Loran, search the area for any signs of the missing patrol." They nodded and headed off to opposite corners.
"Tanik, how's that door coming?"
"It's coming, sir," He continued to press his finger to the pad. "The door requires a key or passcode. Seeing as I'm not a head mechanic in the district, I'm going to have to override the system."
"I have key," Brok says. Tanik stops pressing on the security pad.
"You have a key?"
"Yeah, I have a key. Hey! Dyson!" He yells, looking back at Dyson who's searching through a metal chest. Dyson looks at Brok.
"What?"
"I have a key to this door, don't I?" Brok had laughter in his voice. Dyson hesitated before catching on.
"Yeah, yeah you do have a key. Want me to get it for you?"
"Yeah, that'd be great."
"You don't have a key," Tanik said in disbelief. I stood by and watched this role out like it was a theater performance. It was good to let them entertain themselves when there was no immediate reason to believe we were in danger. If there was something that wanted to kills us, it would have opened the door.
"Yeah, come get my key." Brok stood up from his crouching position took his attention away from the entrance. Dyson walked over to Brok and grabbed his field bag. From it, Dyson removed a stick of explosives.
"Go see if it fits in the lock."
"We aren't here to destroy public property," I told them, "Tanik, take your time."
"Yes sir," he looked at the panel again, "I try to find the peaceful solution in things. Unlike –"He cut himself off. "Someone is opening the door from the other side."
"Alright, battle formations," I calmly ordered, "find cover, Brock will take center."
Brock grabs his shield and slams it down on the ground, turning on its energy field. I look back at Dodor and wave, he gives me a thumbs up. The door opened with a quick sliding motion, revealing to us nothing but more darkness. It was pitch black all the way through.
"Hold, men," I calmly order, "Dodor, you have anything in the scope?"
"No…" His voice was grim, "but there's something in there."
Loran ran behind Brock and pointed into the other room.
"There!" he hissed in a whisper, "look! There's a hand sticking out!"
A hand and forearm armor was exposed to the light. There was a soldier in there and, with any luck, the rest of the team would be in there as well and they would be alive. Except they weren't.
"He's dead," Dodor assured us over the coms, "the whole patrol is probably in there too."
The dark room was silent. From carefully approaching the doorway and looking inside, I saw the arm and the silhouette of the rest of the soldier's body. Blast marks were everywhere on him.
"Droids..." I mumbled, "The Seps are down here. Prepare to move up here to the door, Brock. Dodor, kill anything that moves in there."
"Roger that," he radioed in.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Brock picked up the shield (which was easily just as big as any of us) with his left arm and held his scatter gun in the right. Once he reached the entrance he planted his shield back on the ground and pointed his gun into the dark.
"Loran and Dyson, on me." I take my first steps into the other room and feel the other two join me on either side. We walked slowly until we got to the dead trooper. Loran bent down to check his pulse – it was nonexistent as expected.
"Dead," he confirmed, "and we will be too if we don't call this in."
"Always the commanders pet, always –"
"Quiet on the coms," Tanik commanded for me.
There was a metallic clicking at the far end of the room. Two red dots appeared in the darkness as footsteps came into play. The three of us stopped in our tracks and slowly began to walk backwards to the door.
"Supers," I knew by the sound. "Tanik and Brock, get ready to lie down some covering fire." They both gave me a "yes sir." We walked back quickly and for a moment it seemed like the super battle droids were letting us get ready. That was until, of course, the first red laser bolt flew from the darkness, briefly illuminating a tall silver droid, and missed Doyle's head by mere inches.
"Covering fire!" Brock yelled, firing off his scatter gun into the darkness.
The three of us ran back to the door. Loran took cover behind Brock while Doyle and I ran to either side of the door for cover. The red laser bolts either bounced off or perished on Brock's energy shield making a zip zit zip noise.
"I could use some light!" Dodor pleaded, "Your flashlights aren't really working for me!"
"On it!" Tanik stopped firing his carbine and found a breaker box on the same wall as the control panel. Lights boomed on in the other room in a matter of seconds. The lights displayed a room filled with several squads of super battle droids and the bodies of five or six clones. My eyes widened at the sight of this.
They were going to attack us from the sewers, I thought. I would later discover that they were chasing civilians and soldiers who had taken refuge in the tunnels but the thought of them attacking us from underground was petrifying.
"Thanks for the lights," Dodor called in. Then, several large blue bolts rained down and created a foot wide hole in at least five super battle droids. Every time a super battle droid fell, another took its place. They were coming from several corresponding rooms. They just kept coming.
So we kept firing.
"Brock!" Loran yelled over the shooting, "Can I borrow your key?"
I could almost see Brock smile at hearing that.
"It's in my field bag!"
Loran dug out the stick of explosive and primed it to blow. He threw it into the crowd of droids and within a second there was a giant yellow flash and a deafening bang. As the floor shook, I thought we were all going to be sucked into the abyss. However, we were fine. Brock couldn't hold in his excitement and stood up from behind his shield clasping his hands together and cheering. Tanik and Doyle kept their eyes on the room and Larson went around checking us for wounds.
After calling in the deceased patrol we began heading back. We walked back up the stairs and back into the tunnel. While we walked down the stream of dirty water there was a violent shaking. Dust floated down from the ceiling. Something bad was about to happen. We had to move. The six of us ran as hard as we could to the ladder that lead to the surface before stopping. There were flickers of light in front of us and the sound of something running, no, sprinting in the water. Brock, who was in front of us, looked back. We all nodded, listening to the noise. Suddenly, Brock turned around and slammed his shield down with great intensity and that's when I knew what was coming for us.
Brock, joined by the rest of us, aimed into the darkness, "Get behind me."