Part I: Emergency
Chapter 2 – Into the Thick
"Forward! Keep up the pressure against those spider walkers!" a Captain that I ran past shouted over the roar of AT-TE fire.
An extremely thick blanket of heavy cannon fire from the forward quad lasers and mass driver cannons on each of the hundreds of Republic walkers intensified, passing over my head. The cannon bolts mostly streamed over the lines of the Battle Droids – thankfully they weren't the target. The spherical bodies of the imposing Homing Spider Droids found themselves on the receiving end of the barrage; a few were shelled into the ground, collapsing the legs along with it.
With several comrades on both sides and a few platoons up ahead on the frontline, I rushed alongside the mass advance into the ranks of the Droid Army. Many of the Clones in front of me received hits by the increasingly accurate droid fire, sending them back and freezing them on the battlefield as we scurried past their corpses. I could pick out numerous lightsabers being drawn on all sides – Jedi generals leading platoons into battle. The forward lines commenced fire; hundreds, thousands of Republic blue blaster fire lunged into the Separatist Army, topping countless Battle Droids on the Seps' frontlines. Jedi leaped into the droids as the two sides exchanged fire; Battle Droids had quite a few weaknesses, but the greatest had to have been getting sliced through by a lightsaber.
…then again, that was everything's weakness. The gearheads were especially good at it, though.
As the survivors of the squads in front of me broke into the droid lines, I brought my weapon sights parallel to the horde of Seps. I unloaded round after bolt as I rushed in, dropping as many among the gearhead swarm that I could bring into my sight as crimson bolts sped past me on all sides. I soon found myself deep in the enemy lines as well, coming into melee range to knock a Super Battle Droid to the ground with my rifle. I planted my foot on the droid's torso before it could right itself, sinking a round into its head at point-blank. Two Battle Droids attempted to surround me by positioning from behind and at my left flank – good for droids, but futile nonetheless. I thrust my foot back, planting the droid to the ground as I plunged my knife into the other's torso. Dark fluid and sparks emerged around the wound as I removed the blade, sending the unit deactivated and limp to the sand. I leveled the rifle upon the one behind me as it attempted to rise, finishing it.
By now, the crossfire between the Republic and Separatist Armies had morphed into a melee skirmish between Clones and Battle Droids, with the Republic initially managing to push back the Separatists. Gunships soared overhead, cleaning out nearby Hailfire Droids with quick strikes by pinpoint lasers. Before it was taken out, one managed to fire a pair of missiles – and soon afterward, I heard a roaring explosion that had actually managed to quake the ground. Taking a quick look behind me, I discovered the source – fire and smoke billowing from a lethal puncture in the side of a walker, the black smoke trails from the missiles still faintly leading to it. I could pick out the Clones around the walker taking cover; the ones closest to the damage already collapsed and dead.
I turned back to the battle at hand – only to find a Dwarf Spider advancing on my position. The droid opened up with its blaster, forcing me to execute a somersault to my right. With no time available, I raised my blaster to the Spider Droid while still on one knee to plant two shots – one in each primary visual receptor. I advanced on the blinded droid from the side, blasting gearheads along the way – then proceeded to grab hold of the spider's barrel and plant my foot along its side.
It was crazy. It was unorthodox.
…it would probably work, too.
I thrust my foot in, and with a bit of force, successfully knocked it upside down. The spider's antenna dug into the sand, the spherical main body touched the ground. I took hold of two of the droid's legs – operating it like any gun turret – and spun it toward the Separatist ranks, made easy by the round body. I figured I should simulate an attack on the droid if I wanted to make it fire – a series of violent kicks in the back of its body took care of that. Numerous Battle Droids fell as victims to the combined attacks from my spreading rifle barrage and the deadly heavy blaster fire of the Dwarf Spider, its shots forceful enough to send droids flying back into others still, crippling them.
"Oh, you must be kidding me," One-Four muttered as he moved in behind me, flanked by other Clone advance units.
"It's working, isn't it? Just back me up!" I answered back, unrelenting in the barrage against the increasing Sep forces ahead.
"Yeah…got it…" One-Four acknowledged as he rushed to position himself adjacent to me, raising his sniper rifle to support my barrage with series of carefully aimed shots into several droid heads. Three additional Clones from other units supported the attack as well, and soon enough the gearhead horde before us wasn't even able to get a shot off before getting a bolt fatally planted in them. As I continued the barrage, I shifted my eyes aside to see yet another Dwarf Spider being advanced upon by a squad of Clones – only to have the droid self-destruct in their faces. When the explosion cleared, all that remained were four dead Clones trampled on by advancing Super Battle Droids.
I looked down at 'our' Dwarf Spider. Through our combined successful barrage, I failed to notice it had stopped firing – and was also emitting a faint series of repeating beeps; the time between each beep gradually shortened.
"…One-Four…" I started.
"What!?" he shouted back, clearly annoyed.
"Run, now."
With all the adrenaline I could muster, I ran in the opposite direction as quickly as I could; One-Four and the other troopers followed close behind. Luckily, the five of us escaped the blast radius of the droid's self-destructed just as the spider blew. We formed a perimeter to continue the defense against the continuing waves of Battle Droids; I continued to fire down forward areas.
"Self-destruct, that's a new one," one of the Clones remarked.
"At least it worked for a little while," I reminded.
As we continued to attack the infantry, a nearby Hailfire Droid drawing close to our position received a beam laser straight down the middle, splitting the craft in two. The area between the two pieces was filled with spreading flames, smoke, and debris before the entire vehicle went. The gunship that had fired the shot passed overhead as it fired a volley of missiles – I couldn't see the target from here, probably another droid vehicle. Several hundred Republic troopers joined us on both sides, and I noticed that the Droid Army was beginning to fall back while fighting.
One-Four tapped my shoulder, "I came to find you because the squad's forming back up for the advance, follow me."
Leaving the others to the attack, One-Four and I rushed through the expanding Republic line, dashing past numerous troopers and keeping well away from the bolts emitting from the tips of their blaster rifles. A cargo gunship touched down up ahead, releasing yet another AT-TE into the Republic arsenal. As soon as the larty departed, the walker began treading, main cannon up top ablaze at the barrel. We took a turn back into the droid ranks to find Sarge, Three-Nine, and One-Three keeping back the droid forces.
"I found Two-Five, sir; any word on the others?" One-Four asked.
Sarge momentarily turned to acknowledge my return to the squad with a nod before focusing on the battle. "Eight-Seven is on his way now, but there's no word from Seven-Two."
"Scratch that sir; I'm receiving a communication from Eight-Seven." One-Three paused for a moment, "He says he's found Seven-Two, but he's sustained a minor blaster burn from a grazed shot. Eight-Seven has administered him emergency bacta; the two are heading back now."
"Hey Sarge, you should hear what Two-Five tried with a Spider Droid!" One-Four felt inclined to brag for whatever reason.
"Later, One-Four; focus on the battle at hand."
Sarge waved his hand forward, signaling numerous infantrymen behind us. They began a mass advance into the Separatist ranks as he then gestured for us to follow. With support fire from One-Four – dropping quite a few Battle Droids ahead with perfect headshots – I rushed into the fray. I gutted a Battle Droid attempting to close in on me, spilling large amounts of oil all over its body as I moved the blade down his torso. Simultaneously, I took up my rifle with my right hand. The thing had a monster of a recoil, but the blasted droids were so bunched together chances are I'd hit something anyway. Turns out I had better control over the kick than I thought, I easily punctured through a line of droids as the rest of the squad rushed in the hole I was in the middle of creating. Eight-Seven and Seven-Two came up behind me, rifles already finishing off droids as they approached.
"Seven-Two, how's that wound?" I asked as we put up a barrage with the others.
"It'll hold, will we?"
"From what I can tell, we're pushing the Separatists back here. I have no clue about the other sections."
"I believe we're pushing them in general; the Republic mostly controls the airspace around the plains," Eight-Seven confirmed.
"Good to see you two made it back!" Sarge yelled from up ahead. "I've received a set of specialized mission parameters; we're going to need the whole squad for this."
"What do you mean, sir?" Three-Nine asked.
"I'll go over the primary objectives once we reach the rally point; I'm marking it on your HUD now."
As soon as he finished that sentence, a small arrow pointed to the upper left along with a distance marker – seven-decimal-two-nine – appeared on the lower section of my visor.
"We're heading to that spire over there, just past the main Sep lines," Sarge revealed as he pointed toward one of the distant, towering Geonosian peaks in the direction of the arrow.
And of course, placed next to it – a Trade Federation Core Ship; if that didn't scream 'Sep base', I'm not sure what else could.
With Sarge at the lead, the squad broke off from the primary advance forces. We rushed head-on into the Droid Army in direction of the marked spire; a wall of bolts poured from the barrels of our blaster rifles and taking down any Battle Droid that stood in our way. As we ran, Three-Nine holstered his 15S on his shoulder and took up his missile launcher; I was impressed, that PLX is quite the heavy weapon that usually required its wielder to remain prone while shooting, yet Three-Nine was able to control it while running. He twisted a switch along the launcher's side as he brought the scope to his visor.
"I hope you're planning on using that against the Droideka," One-Four remarked, referring to a Destroyer putting up a barrage of blaster cannons, pinning down a unit of allied forces.
"No, it's just my gift to you – open wide."
"Just shoot the blasted thing!"
Smoke poured out from the rear exhaust port of the launcher as a missile flew out of the PLX's barrel, propelling toward the Droideka. The heavy round easily bypassed the droid's shield and impacted the Destroyer, turning it into a smoldering pile of debris within moments.
The five remaining troopers of the unit surveyed the fallen three, one placing his fingers along each of their necks.
"They're all dead," he relayed to the rest of the squad.
"Hey, you're Alpha-Five squad, aren't you?" the squad's acting officer asked, identification data from his visor probably showcasing us as such. "We'll back you up as you close in on the spire, sir," he told the Sergeant.
Our rush toward the target was soon reinforced by these five troopers, assisting in our breaking through the Separatist lines guarding the spire.
"So, you're part of the 272nd Regiment of the Relentless as well?" Sarge asked in the chaos.
"Chi-Two Squad; by the way, how was the Arena?"
"One large mess," Three-Nine casually replied.
The spire drew closer as our group picked up speed. The droids seemed to turn their primary attention toward the main Republic advance forces, so at least we weren't being tasked with charging directly through the Droid Army. That still didn't mean the Seps completely disregarded putting up guard forces to protect the spire. Battle Droids took up defensive positions around the spire's perimeter, barraging our constantly mobile position with scattered, distant fire that seemingly wasn't capable of coming even close to hitting.
How typical of a droid.
"Sarge, you still never really explained why we're doing this," One-Three reminded him.
"Maybe he thinks we need to get in better shape," One-Four added.
"During a battle, how utterly brilliant of you, One-Four," Three-Nine immediately countered.
"Cut the chatter squad, I'll go over the mission objectives once we reach the entrance; Command wants to keep this on the down-low," Sarge explained, planting a round into a far-off droid after a repeated barrage. He gestured to the remaining hostiles as droid blaster bolts passed between our team. "It's too dangerous to continue advancing, and we can't take them with conventional rifles. One-Four, take out the rest from here."
"Provide covering fire!" yelled one of the Clones from Chi as we stopped.
One-Four quickly got into a prone position, laying out his sniper rifle across the sand as he brought the scope to his visor. The five Chi-Two troopers got down on one knee and sighted ahead with their rifles; our squad prepared to do the same, taking up positions behind One-Four – One-Three, Eight-Seven, and Seven-Two guarded the rear as Sarge and I kept our sights ahead, all the while Three-Nine kept down and loaded another missile.
"Don't you need a spotter? Or…at least a recon droid?" one of the Chi Clones asked our sniper as he checked his clip in the 15x.
He merely laughed as he twisted the focus along the scope, pretty much implying his response. "Five targets: looks like two Supers, three standards…and that one's a sniper." He immediately fired a shot; I could pick out one of the droids falling to the ground. With the 'death' of the droid, the others started barraging our position again; I assisted Sarge and the Chis in establishing covering fire, though the recoil from the rifle didn't allow us to score any hits at such a long distance.
"Interesting, the Supers are grouped together; this definitely won't take long," One-Four remarked as he fired another two shots in rapid succession. He ejected the magazine from his 15x and reached for another placed along his belt – locked in, he readied the scope again.
"Let's see…hits confirmed, just two more now…" One-Four muttered.
"Look out, soldier!" Sarge yelled as he tapped one of the Chi unit troopers with his foot.
Too late to notice it now – a round hit that Clone in the chest. The large, black, smoldering burn mark vastly contrasted with the pureness of his white armor as the shot thrusted his body to crash back into the desert sand.
"Damn gearheads…" One-Four whispered to himself as he fired again. He moved the rifle across slightly, pressing the scope upon the eye portion of his visor, "Last target…" the tip of the barrel flashed, his final bolt soured into the spire perimeter. We only had to assume One-Four scored the hit, because the droid fire suddenly halted. Sarge took up his macrobinoculars to oversee the base of the spire, nodded, and leaned forward to pat One-Four on the shoulder.
"Hits confirmed, nice shooting as always."
"What about him?" I asked, referring to the fallen comrade as our group eased our positioning.
Eight-Seven took up the Clone in his arms, injecting some emergency bacta into his neck. We all knew he was dead, so I guess you can say what he was trying to do was unnecessary and a waste of time. However, I could honestly say it lifted a weight off our shoulders – at least we didn't leave our brother behind to die.
"…go, we'll back you up from here," the Chi leader assured us, his voice grim over the loss of another teammate. "Good luck."
We took up our blasters as we charged for the spire, just in case the Droid Army decided to replace the fallen guard.
Behind us, we heard the Chi leader, "Heads up, incoming droids. For our fallen – all units, forward!"
There was silence among the squad as we made our way for the spire – nothing except the blaster fire traded between the two armies as the battle drew on.
Nothing needed to be said.
"The door is locked, sir," Seven-Two remarked as we reached the foot of the spire and a large, sealed metallic hatch.
"Well thank you, I never would've realized that otherwise!" Three-Nine answered, pulling a charge from his belt. "Stand back."
He planted it upon the control panel along the side of the door, hitting a few keys on the explosive and backed away. It only produced a small detonation effect, but it was enough to blow the lock and open the door…
…to be met by a squad of four Battle Droids.
"What the…?" one of them began.
"Shoot to kill!"
"Roger ro-" he was quickly silenced by the bolt that punctured his torso from the barrel of my rifle. Sarge, Three-Nine, and Seven-Two took care of the others; One-Four and I moved ahead, taking up defensive positions.
"Clear," One-Four reported.
"All clear, no hostiles sighted," I followed up.
"Alright squad, listen up," Sarge began as the formation was re-joined and we all shifted our attention to him, "This mission was already attempted by a squad of commandos – they never made it out. Our other special forces are tied up at the moment, so command had to pick-and-choose from the regular infantry. We were chosen for our performance in training."
"So we were selected for a mission that even commandos failed at – makes me feel all warm and special inside, clearly," One-Four remarked.
"Our target is a Geonosian production facility based at this spire."
"So why can't we just utilize the quick method – call Nine-Eight and have him bomb it?" Three-Nine asked.
"It's underground, laser-brain," Sarge countered. "We're not entirely sure how deep it extends; the commando squad didn't get very far. However, we have three primary objectives; first objective is the facility's main power plant, we need to either destroy it or shut it down. Second objective is to target and destroy the loaded Droid Dispensers before they could be shipped out; remember that there is a Core Ship attached to the spire, so we have to work quickly before the majority can be shipped off-planet. Our final objective is the Battle Droid factory itself – it needs to be destroyed by any means necessary."
"Resistance level?" Eight-Seven asked.
"Very high – expect no less."
"Speaking of which, rifles up!" I warned as I did so, having spotted a Super Battle Droid slowly advancing on our position.
"Do not move, Republic scum," he ordered in its deep, monotone voice as it proceeded to raise its wrist blaster.
I was the first to start filling the corridor with blaster fire, soon joined by the rest of the squad. We were in the entrance corridor, meaning we had no place to take cover in; that droid had to go down quickly before it was able to counterattack. Luckily, that's just what we did – the droid toppled face-down with smoking punctures all throughout its body.
As we continued down the corridor, One-Four lightly tapped his foot on the fallen droid, enough to flip it over.
"Poor thing, he could've made a great protocol droid."
"Or a bartender," Three-Nine added.
"Keep your focus ahead you two!" Sarge disciplined. "We could be attacked by Seps at any moment."
"Any intelligence on what direction we're going?" I asked.
"I have a datapad with a limited map loaded on it…but when I say limited, I truly mean it. It only lasts down to the end of this corridor; that's where contact with the commando squad was lost," Sarge explained.
"Great, really looking forward to that," One-Four unenthusiastically remarked.
"At least we know where we can find a potential trap, we can stage a method to counter after a little recon," Sarge attempted to reassure as we reached another sealed door.
"Right, breaching the door now," Three-Nine informed the squad as he activated a charge, placing it in the middle of the door. Same as the last one, it was only enough to blow the lock on the door and force it open.
One-Three and I immediately took up our rifles in the doorway. We scanned the area to find another short corridor leading to what looked like a war room, filled with several consoles and hologram displays. Strangely enough though, no one was occupying it – Republic or Separatist.
"Sir, look over there!" Seven-Two directed Sarge as he pointed to the war room's floor – occupied by the corpses of three Clone commandos spread throughout the room. All were lying on their backs, arms sprawled while still grasping their DC-17m blasters.
"I don't understand; I'm not picking up any hostiles…" contemplated One-Three.
"Maybe the ones that got them already retreated deeper into the facility," Three-Nine theorized.
"But why would the Seps just abandon this block?" asked One-Four.
"If they're trying to evacuate Battle Droids into the Core Ship, it's not entirely unheard of," I added. "I'll check it out."
"No, we'll take the safe method. Eight-Seven, don't you have a recon droid on you?" asked Sarge.
"Good thinking sir, I doubt we'll see much use of it anyway since someone doesn't seem to want to use it when they should," he remarked as he referred his thumb to One-Four.
"Hey, when a sniper's as deadly and efficient as me, recon droids and spotters are a thing of-"
"Later, One-Four; Eight-Seven, send out the R-1 and have it survey the area – and don't forget to tap its visuals into our displays." Sarge commanded.
Eight-Seven reached for a palm-sized sphere nestled on the left side of his belt, raising it to eye-level. The droid's antennas extended from the main body as Eight-Seven took his hand away; the R-1 floated in front of the squad as its main sensor turned for the war room. A small display showcasing things from the droid's point of view appeared in the top left corner of my visor display.
"Alright, I'm sending it on ahead…" informed Eight-Seven.
The droid proceeded down the short corridor, coming upon the war room rather quickly. It shifted its visuals around the room, giving me a better idea of just how filled this room was consoles, displays, and other seemingly important equipment one could use to direct the battle. Of course, it wasn't the main one – we all knew that from intelligence – but it still seemed to be a crucial area. I contemplated over just how the Seps could merely leave such an important area to be captured as the droid continued its surveillance, when suddenly, I got my answer.
Automated turrets emitted from the ceiling in all directions and swiftly dealt with our droid by blasting it into a million pieces, taking the entire squad by surprise.
"Take cover!" yelled Sarge.
We split ourselves and pressed against both sides of the corridor as a few of the stray rounds passed between us, ending up impacting the floor. With the droid finished, the fire halted and the turrets retracted to their hidden positions in the wall.
"No doubt, it has to be a security system the Seps left in the room before they evacuated," I concluded.
The squad left their cover positions, and I took up the lead. Proceeding slowly and carefully into the small corridor beyond the doorway, I switched my visor setting to its thermal setting, uncovering a series of sensor beams laid out across the war room. Sarge came up to me and did the same; we both examined the area for a good moment.
"The security sensors are horizontally placed across the room – looks like five levels," I explained.
"Enough to catch anyone trying to head through by means of walking easily, but take a look at the bottom," Sarge pointed out.
He was right; there was a space between the floor and the first sensor beam – enough for one to crawl between.
Sarge turned about to the squad, "Alright, we're proceeding through."
"With all due respect, sir…did you happen to be asleep when those turrets blasted our droid?" Three-Nine asked.
"There's enough room for us to crouch through the security system; we have to go now, time is short. We have to shut this place down before the Seps can ship this army off-planet."
Not waiting for objections any longer, Sarge got onto his stomach and proceeded to crawl into the war room. I joined in behind him; there was no other way through, and our objectives were waiting in the path up ahead. I could hear my teammates behind me get on the ground and do the same; soon enough, there we were, a line of Clones crawling through a Geonosian war room. Proceeding through the room, I knew there was enough room to not hit the sensors (provided no sudden movements of course), but I can't say I wasn't fearful. With the security system activated, this room was a death trap waiting for any unsuspecting passer-through. A few drops of sweat ran down my face, dispersing as they touched my helmet. Luckily, the turrets hadn't revealed themselves; I carefully ran my fingers across the side of my helmet and switched to thermals again to see how much further we needed to crawl – only a few rows of sensors to pass now.
Sarge was the first through, immediately taking up a defensive position as the rest of us were still crawling through. Soon enough, I cleared the security system and joined Sarge; rifle and knife to the ready as the others continued on their way through.
And good timing, too – six Battle Droids and two Supers were on their way from up ahead.
"Located the source of the intruder alert; commencing Security Protocol five-two-seven."
"Roger, roger."
"I wonder what Security Protocol five-two-seven could possibly be," I muttered sarcastically.
"Two-Five and I can handle the droids, squad; the rest of you must proceed through the war room as carefully as possible." Sarge rose his rifle to eye-level, "Two-Five, think we can take so many on by our lonesome?"
I formed a hidden smile behind my helmet as I did the same with my own blaster, "It's what we were trained to do, right?"
Sarge chuckled, "You have a point there."
We took that as a call to arms; those Battle Droids soon found themselves on the receiving end of a massive spray of fire as Sarge and I opened up our barrage. Four of the B1s were dropped immediately as the others responded in kind, forcing the two of us to take cover behind the walls of the war room on both sides of the doorway.
"We can't let them get a clear shot at the squad!" Sarge yelled through the droids' blaster fire.
"Yeah, that would be nice!" One-Four added from the line.
"I'll head in close and take them from there, I just need you to provide covering fire sir," I quickly offered.
Sarge only nodded in reply, breaking his cover to fire at the droids as I rushed in, rifle barrel ablaze with the fatal bolts that heavily punctured and knocked down one of the Supers.
Three left.
The Super Battle Droid narrowed its wrist cannons on my position, relentless in its assault. As I rushed into the droid formation, I leaned aside to evade the blaster cannons and leveled my sights upon the droid's torso. The next few shots sent it reeling, collapsing to the ground as the two standard Battle Droids took its place. As luck would have it though, I was in proper melee combat range – and proceeded to thrust my knife into the chest of one of the droids. Simultaneously, I planted my rifle upon the stabbed droid's shoulder and quickly took it down with a few shots at point-blank. As both droids fell, I turned to see my squadmates clearing the war room, forming up with Sarge.
"Two-Five, below you!" yelled Seven-Two.
I turned my gaze to the Super Battle Droid on the ground, struggling to rise as it leveled its wrist blaster upon me. Before it could act, I slammed my foot on the droid's torso and brought my rifle on its head, touching the droid with its barrel. One shot was all it took.
Sarge waved his fingers ahead, motioning to the corridor laid out before us.
"Let's press on."