Aldura, Inner Ardent City, 19 BBY

"They were last sighted in this area."

"Acknowledged. Fan out."

The inhuman voices behind Nil and his men kept them on edge. Hidden from the moonlight, Nil and his men kept their backs pressed against the immobilized speeder. Only his eyes moved, darting at the two soldiers to his left before narrowing on a cracked window of a store in front of him, easily scanning its reflection of the dim city street. He could just barely make out the tops of what seemed like Super Battle Droids bobbing up and down at the bottom of the frame. The clunks of the battle droids' feet on the duracrete ground drowned out the explosions bellowing above, where the Republic Fleet was still struggling to gain an advantage. When the numerous footsteps grew quieter, Nil brought up his commlink to his helmet.

"Snowball you better have an eye on us," He peeked over the top of the speeder at the wide backs of the Super Battle Droids bringing up the rear. "This could get ugly real quick." He murmured, sitting back down. He spread his shins further, kicking over a small mass of rubble.

"Audio trace detected." A Super Battle Droid groaned. The droid platoon came to an abrupt stop. About half of the mass broke formation and cautiously began marching back to the speeder.

"Snowball?" Nil whispered. The footsteps grew louder again. Nil gripped his DC15S tighter. Drone and One-four gazed upward, weapons ready. As the droid's feet pounded, so did the troopers' hearts. Nil struggled to keep his labored breathing quiet. Sparks shattered the quiet. A loud thud shook the loose pieces of bricks and glass around them. The footsteps ceased, and then battered the troopers' ears as the droids scattered. Nil heard a second SBD bash the ground.

"Soryx Apartments, rooftop." A B1 declared. The entire patrol unleashed a volley of blaster bolts in the opposite direction of Nil's team. The three clones turned and gazed over the speeder at the disarrayed droids barraging the distant tower. A crowd of blue-ish gray bulk and mechanical tan skeletons spitting bolts of red at a tower miles away. A thin blue beam struck down on them periodically. Nil readied his blaster atop the scratched green paint of the speeder, and tapped the vehicle to get his soldiers' attention. He motioned for them to follow, and ran to a storefront across the street that had very little wall left, just high enough for someone to crouch behind. The troops turned their backs on the droids and entered the ash-filled building with their sergeant, leveling their weapons on the low wall.

"Open fire!" Nil called, and three streams of blue flooded onto the mechanical soldiers. The back line of droids was battered, and some of the droids comprising it collapsed. The remaining rear lines turned away from the sniper and fired back, forcing Nil and his men to duck down. Lasers raced above them and scorched the wall about 20 meters behind them. Nil could actually hear pieces of duracrete breaking off of the wall simply from the blasts. What in the blazes? Must just be a flimsy wall…

Nil perked up shortly and spat a volley of lasers, which simply slammed a super's plating. "Damn, 15S doesn't do a thing!" He crouched back down and activated his commlink. "Snowball, hit the supers first, their armor's too thick for small arms!"

Snowball zoomed out from a B1's chestplate and centered an SBD in the scope. He squeezed the trigger, and the cannon crashed against his already sore shoulder. The same super battle droid's torso ruptured in sparks, and the rest of it collapsed. Snowball picked another deep blue target. They're not ordinary supers, Nil. You haven't seen them before 'cause you're just a regular, so I can't blame you. Elite super battle droids only guard high-ranking seps. Like Vois. When all the supers were reduced to litter, Snowball lifted his finger and let his squadmates pick off the B1s. Tougher armor, and… Snowball zoomed on a fallen B2's abnormally large wristed mounted gun. Some nasty firepower too.

Drone wandered into the street and nudged a machine with his boot. "Stupid droids! There were like forty of 'em and four of us!" He laughed.

"They're mass produced for a reason." 14 put in perspective as he left the demolished structure. "Let's hope we don't get that much more attention before we can blow the flak guns." Nil joined them in the road and looked around.

"We're already gonna be tying down half the damn garrison when we do, so what's a few extra clankers gonna change?" Drone wondered.

"Keep the chatter to a minimum, we're moving out. And this time let's do things quietly." Nil ordered, and brought up his comm. "Snowball, tail us on the rooftops."

"Aye-aye." Snowball kneeled and packed up the rifle. He kept an eye on the distant clones on the ground while climbing ledges and jumping over gaps. Even in the dark, from there he could see the vague silhouette of Cal Vois' headquarters, towering above the rest of the skyline. Clankers had installations on the spaceport, train systems, and any potential salient, but this was by far the most fortified building in the city. Dashing through the lukewarm breeze, Snowball lugged the rifle's bag along with him across the eerily dim skyline. War had emptied Ardent City of its soul. And especially that of the Twi'leks, whom the Separatists would systematically capture and enslave. The ARC recalled being told something like "only one Twi'lek left the work camps alive for every five captured." He didn't know if this was true, but it seemed in line with the CIS.

Somewhere in the distance, Snowball heard a loud boom, followed by a symphony of more explosions and screams. Gunfire joined the arrangement.

"Nil, do you hear that?" Snowball yelled into his wrist.

"Yeah! Do you know what's going on?"

Inside the Republic comm center on the city outskirts, Commander Shadow leaned into his console. He swallowed, and his heart quickened with worry at the thought of sending his company to their deaths. Regardless, even a commander had orders to obey.

"Soldiers," He hesitated. "We've received word that Army Group Aurek crossed the Kurr Straight, but was ambushed a mile or so inland, not far from here. They can still break out of the encirclement, but only with our help. We've gotta capture the city quickly if we're to reach them in time. Attack the central fortifications! Break through!" The commander tapped his helmet to initiate a secure channel. "Snowball, I know you're not just here as reinforcement. Whatever it is you're supposed to do here, now might be your best bet."

"Aye-aye." Snowball groaned.

Shadow passed through the now-replenished groups of soldiers crowding by the walkers on the street. He caught looks from all the men. Many looks of readiness, many of worry. He climbed into his command AT-TE, and gave the word to advance. He sat in the walker's cabin as it quaked with each massive footstep. The dress officers working the consoles only made him think of the troops marching outside. The huge walker's feet solemnly drumming the ground, and the expendable men marching to near certain death in the lonely and uncomfortable awkwardness of men going to battle.