Chronicles of Talon Chapter 3 Disobedience
Dekkarun orbit, Star Destroyer Glacier
As the green skinned Twi'lek girl stepped off the shuttle she was met by a clone officer. She gazed at the clone that had the look of any other of his brothers with the hair style and all with her lilac eyes. He was wearing standard Phase II armor with violet stripes and his hands hanging straight down on his sides. When she approached him he snapped off a salute.
"Commander Sabre," he greeted her. "I am Captain Bug-zapper. I am here to escort you to Admiral Cossack on the bridge."
She eyed him dubiously.
"Not, my new master?"
"Afraid not, Commander," he apologized. "General T'racen's planetside."
She cheered up at the news and clapped her soft hands together. Maybe she could go down there and join the attack? That would certainly show Master T'racen that she could handle herself.
"Lead the way than, Captain," she told Marcus.
He nodded and marched out, with the padawan in tow.
After a decent walk and an elevator ride the Captain arrived on the bridge with the young Twi'lek padawan.
She studied the aged blonde haired man as she approached him. He had a few notable strains of grey hair in his relatively thick beard. He wore a grey uniform with a few medals pinned to his chest. With a faint smile he turned to face her.
"Ah, Commander Sabre," he greeted her curtly. "I apologize for not greeting you when you arrived but you understand I am needed on the bridge."
"Certainly Admiral," she assured him with a smile reaching from ear to ear. "I guess I kinda caught y'all off guard, with the invasion and all."
Cossack was pretty sure he knew what nagged of her inside. Even though he didn't show it.
"General T'racen would have met you in person if she hadn't be in command of liberating Dekkarun," he promised her.
Sabre looked around the bridge. It was filled with officers in blue uniforms and a handful of clones in Phase II armor. Captain Bug-zapper was departing. She mused that he might be preparing to join the invasion himself. With the rank of captain he was probably in command of a Battalion of his own. She made a mental note to ask him about his name. Bug-zapper?
"Admiral, could you fill me in on the campaign?" She asked hopefully.
Cossack nodded.
"Off course." He gave her a simple explanation about General T'racen's plan and assault on the capital of Fermark. The Twi'lek's excitement increased as he went on.
"Ehm, are you sending down some gunships soon?" She asked.
Cossack arched an eyebrow.
"Yes…why?" He asked suspiciously.
She clapped her hands together.
"You could surely use another jedi, right?" She argued hopefully. "A-and I, err, I am eager to meet my master. Besides, I can handle myself."
Cossack thought it over. She certainly didn't lack confidence. Cocky little girl. He fiddled slightly with his fingers behind his back and straightened. He was pretty sure the general might not approve of her new padawan going planetside just after arriving. Then again, he was sure if it was his place to question a jedi, padawan or not. Arguing with T'racen usually ended in a pointless waste of time.
"As you say, Commander," Cossack conceded. "But I'm not sure if T'racen would agree."
Sabre shook her head in disagreement. She didn't believe that. Certainly her master would be impressed by her decision and even more so when she would see her taking on the droids and whatever local defenders.
Dekkarun, Capital city Fermark
"The defense around the Council Pyramid has dug in hard, general," Captain Gecko said.
Talon looked at the small hologram in her hand.
"Are we sure the Councilors are there?" She asked.
"The locals assured us they were in a meeting and apparently there is a bunker underneath for them to hide in in case of attack," Gecko explained. "We have locked down the entire district and troopers from the 120th Mountain Regiment are trying to push through."
"You've heard from Captain Sly?" Talon then asked him.
"Yes, sir. He landed a few clicks away from here. He secured an LZ and wait for reinforcements," the clone captain said.
"Well, keep at it, Gecko," Talon finished. "We need the councilors in custody."
"Boys and I are on it, sir," he assured her.
She returned the communicator to her pocket and rose from behind her cover. Her lightsaber deflected the incoming bolts swirling her way. There was no time to think about Gecko, Sly or any other of her officers or loyal clones that were dying by the minute. She had to focus on the present situation.
The bridge that reached across the canyon was two thousand meters long and fifty meters wide. It was just one of the firm bridges connecting the two parts of the city together. Six heavy Repeaters was spewing blaster fire from the Dekkarun Defense Forces barricade. The human defenders line was tightened up with a mass of battle droids and super battle droids. A squad of Droideka but they had been destroyed with a few well-placed droid poppers and a rocket launcher.
Spartacus sat behind the same cover and popped up and fired four bursts of three bolts each. One burst smacked into the faceplate of a brown light armored Dekkarun defender and he fell backwards. One burst missed while the other two took out a battle droid each. The dead Defender left his Repeater quiet.
The black clad giant fired a single bolt as a battle droid maneuvered to assume the position of gunner. The head got popped right off.
After dealing with the communications tower about an hour ago Talon's force had joined up with more clones and "deserters" from the local Defense Force that switched sides to help liberate their homeworld from the iron hand of Count Dooku's lackeys on the Sovereign Council.
"The defenders are fighting harder than I thought they would," he commented.
"Yeah, right?" Talon responded, still deflecting bolts. "When the message goes out, I'm they got to realize we're here to liberate them and get them to fight for their own freedom."
"A mass defection would end this pretty quickly," Spartacus noted. "Assuming that aren't too many Battalions of droids present."
"Oh, we got them. With you here, how could we lose?" She countered. She forced herself to sound her usual playful self.
Spartacus smiled faintly under his helmet. But he wasn't sure he deserved it. Not after what happened to Jade. He pushed the thought out of his mind and fired another burst at the enemy. The droid he aimed for went down on impact.
"We have to break their line and push on!" Talon said and ran forward.
Spartacus barely had enough time to react.
"Damn it," he cursed under his breath. He got up and fired continues bursts. "Lieutenant, covering fire, get those AT-RTs up here now!"
"On it!" Lieutenant Marcus acknowledged.
The Lieutenant moved over and used his helmet comm. Both AT-RTs came charging up and the three AT-APs opened up a pinpointed barrage of plasma of death.
Spartacus jumped over the broken down aircar he had used for cover and charged up. He fired the last six bolts and reloaded with a new charge pack immediately. He got in a trio of headshots on two super battle droids and a droid with red stripes.
One of the AT-RTs jumped up and blasted down half a dozen hostiles in two seconds flat. With the second joining in they blasted hordes on enemies. A blast from an AT-AP sent three Dekkarun's flying and tore six droids apart into little mechanical pieces.
Talon leaped into the midst of the soldiers behind the barricade and let her saber cut them apart. The shredded them and let blood and limbs fly. Defenders were panicking and more than a few dropped their weapons on the spot.
When she slashed the heavy Repeater near her it left only one turret manned. Blaster fire from an AT-RT demolished the battle droid gunner.
With the clones charging behind Spartacus the last few Dekkarun's who refused to surrender scrammed for a second defensive position further along the bridge. But many of them simply dropped their blasters on the spot. Seven were shot to death by battle droids for surrendering.
Spartacus took out a battle droid that was trying to gun down surrendering Dekkarun's. He jumped over the metal barricade and as quickly joined by clones and the Dekkarun Defense Force soldiers who switched sides to liberate their people. Himself, the large man ran up to Talon.
He was about to speak when a bolt whizzed by their heads. He reacted quickly and pushed Talon behind cover of a metal barricade piece.
"Cover!" He exclaimed.
"Dwarf spider droids ahead!" He heard Abyss shout aloud.
Spartacus saw Talon glare at him with a disapproving expression. He turned his gaze to the destroyed battle droid with red stripes. He hadn't seen one with that before. He theorized it could be the symbol of a specific Division in the CIS or insignia of a specific field commander.
A blast from a Dwarf spider droid sent a trooper flailing his arms as he was rocketed off the edge of the bridge. His horrified screamed filled Spartacus's ears for a few seconds. He turned back to Talon. She had stopped glaring at him and was standing up straight, deflecting incoming fire.
One of the Dwarf spiders was blown apart from a shot from an AT-AP. The gunner up top let lose a barrage of bolts at the line of Dwarf spider droids and battle droids in the distance from them. The AT-APs was held up in the very rear of the formation.
Spartacus left cover and fired a trio of bolts at a battle droids.
A well-aimed rocket from a red striped battle droid hit one of the AT-RTs dead on and send the pilot flying with a scream. The burning rubble what had been an AT-RT crashed to the white stone ground.
"Medic!" A clone shouted.
"Provide covering fire!" A Sergeant barked.
Two grenades was lobbed over to the droid lines. Half a dozen battle droids was crippled and a Dwarf spider lost two legs, but kept blasting at the Republic menace.
Spartacus got up and out of cover. He fired and moved left and made his way towards the injured walker pilot.
"Abyss, cover my advance!" He shouted over his comm.
"Already on it!" Abyss responded.
Spartacus rolled into cover of the burning walker and fired two bolts, killing two battle droids. He got a look on his surroundings and rushed to the injured clone. Friendly blaster bolts rained down over the enemy line formation. He quickly grabbed the clone and put him over his shoulder and hurried back to cover of a piece of the metal barricade.
Three clones moved up to provide supporting fire. The AT-AP barrage continued and they tore the last Dwarf Spider droids apart. A few that had been crippled was picked off by the troopers.
Stitches took a knee beside the Chief and his injured brother.
"Be still and you'll be fine," he told him in a hard voice. "Just be calm, Will."
Spartacus saw the general leaping into the enemy line and starting to slash and scrap the remaining droids. He quickly stood up and fired at the droids around her. He didn't like her aggressive attacks this far. She was putting herself in a bit too much danger, in his opinion. Going in without support from her troops could be a suicidal idea, even for a jedi.
A trooper fell on his flank, a smoking hole in his helmet made it obvious he didn't survive the hit.
