"My lord! Silent Death's void shields are all down!" Shouted an astropath over the multitude of noices on the bridge. Officers, crew, servitors and servo-skulls ran around the bridge trying to perform their duty.

"Contact the inquisitor," Siro commanded, the bridge shuddered as another massive volley of enemy fire hit the battleship's failing void shields. Soon enough a vox channel was established, "inquisitor, we will no longer be able to hold orbit. You will be on your own now. We will be able to make another run in 8 hours."

"Acknowledged captain," came the inquisitor's voice over the vox.

"The shuttles, are they all launched?"

"They are my lord."

"Then contact the grand cruisers, we are leaving."


Eanulf cringed visibly as the transport he was on made another evasive maneuver and shook violently. The machine spirit of the craft moaned as anti-air rounds blew off chunks of its armor, just as the transport dodged another stream of incoming fire a stray round punctured its engine block, badly damaging it.

"Prepare for crash landing!" Boomed the pilot's voice.

"Frak!" Cursed Eanulf as he hold onto his restraints even tighter. He sat at the end of a row of seats, on each a guardsman with full battle gear sat.

"Relax, this is the fun part!" Shouted Estmar, Eanulf's squad's sergeant. The veteran laughed even as the massive transport spiraled out of control.

"We are going to DIE!" Eanulf shouted back as he tried to stop his meal from escaping.

"Stop acting like a child! You are going to embarrass our regiment! And I don't want to be looked down upon by some Vagan!"

Just before Eanulf could reply the pilot's voice returned, "impact in five seconds!" He closed his eyes and prayed to the Emperor. The seconds passed by slowly, and Estmar's laughter was ruining what Eanulf thought was his last moments. Inevitably the transport crashed, the craft tumbled and mow through buildings. Its armor gave up and was torn apart, fire burst out in several places as the craft broke apart.

"Uhhh," grunted Eanulf as he tried to regain his orientation. Focusing his sight he took in his surrounding. He was still strapped onto his seat, however the entire row had dislodged from the floor, and he was hanging almost upsidedown in midair. Not the best position but still better than others. Most if not all of his squad mates were dead, their body broken. Even his sergeant was dead, a metal rod sticked out of his forehead. The transport had been bisected, he was certain of that, for he was seated in the middle of the transport and now he could see the alien sky.

"Dammit, Emperor dammit," Eanulf cursed. He quickly release himself from his harness and climbed down to the ground carefully. He tried not to step on or look at his dead squad mates. He signed up to escape working as a cargo hauler and for some adventure, he had expected to stay onboard the Eternal Trader for the rest of his life as a security guard. The Emperor had a different plan for him however, he was conscripted into the Imperial Guard just a few months ago, and now he was on his first deployment, a deployment that was not going well.

"Hel.. Help," came a faint voice. Eanulf turned his head to the source, under some rubble lay another guard. Her legs was crushed by fallen blocks of ferrocrete from a building crushed by the transport, her face was stained by blood from a deep cut across her forehead.

"I'm coming!"

Eanulf quickly jumped down to the ground and ran towards a twisted supply crate. He tried to force the crate open but was unable to do so. Looking around frantically he found a lasgun laying on the ground. He ran towards it and picked it up, returning to the locker he fired a few shots at it. The high energy laser burnt away parts of the deformed crate and with a mighty heave tug he pulled away the lid. Inside the crate lied various supply, rations, power pack and most importantly medical supplies. Eanulf was not trained to be a field medicus, but he knew some basic. He took out what he needed and rush back to his injured comrade.

"Hold still," said Eanulf as he tried to lift the ferrocrete block up. He spent his childhood working with his family, and the long hours hauling things around had made him strong. With a grunt he lifted the block up. The trapped women quickly crawled out before Eanulf drop the block. He return his attention to her and took some bandages out. He wrapped them around her wounds to stop the bleeding.

"Frak, stay here, I... I can't fix everything I'll find a medicus," he said. The injured woman could only nod in response. Eanulf looked around, there was a vox unit laying in front of him, but he do not know how to operate it. Turning around he saw two guards that was walking towards him. He was about to call them for help but was stopped by a shout and the sound of falling debris. He decided that the two would arrive soon enough and inspecting the cause of the sound would be more important so he turned back and walked towards the source of the sound. Carefully stepped around the guards-woman and climb up a rather large pile of debris.

"What the..." Was all he managed to murmured out before shaking his head violently. Below him was a group of xenos, they were almost human like, almost. Instead of hair the xenos had two tentacles on their head, and instead of normal human skin colors they had blue and green skin. Do not fall for their deception Eanulf thought, xenos and daemons will try to tempt you with beautiful forms, I will not fall. For I am a loyal servant of the Emperor. Emperor protect me. He brought forth his lasgun and pointed at the groups of xenos, he almost fall for the beauty of the xenos, and now he need to redeem himself in the all encompassing gaze of the Emperor. He aimed at a blue xeno, the one that almost made him thought about heresy, and pulled the trigger. A beam of orange light shot forth with a snap-hiss, and missed. The xenos turned their head and looked at Eanulf with fear, before they ran screaming in terror.

"Frak!" Eanulf cursed, he quickly turned the firing mode into full auto and aimed at the group of xenos again. Orange laser shot out at quick succession, the few initial shots missed but due to the nature of laser weaponry the rest quickly found their mark. The laser burned away flesh as it connected with the fleeing xenos. After almost ten seconds of continuous shooting all the xenos were lying on the ground, dead.

"What are you shooting at?" Came a familiar voice behind Eanulf. He turned and saw Vas, a friend he made while he was still in training.

"A group of xenos," he replied the older man and pointed towards the wounded woman, "please call for help we need a medicus to heal her."

"Help is on the way, we took quite a beating from the crash. I lost 4 people already."

"I... My hole squad is dead..." Eanulf said softly, only now he fully realized what had happened. Before he could think more about it a blue bolt glanced past his shoulder guard, melting it partially.

"Dammit, the xenos are coming!" Shouted Eanulf as he drop to the ground and peak over the edge. In the distance several dozen white armored forms was approaching.


"Do you think this might be an Imperial dropship?" Asked Metal, a clone trooper who might sometimes be overly enthusiastic about combat.

"Of course it is, it does not match any Republic or Separatist design," replied lieutenant Task as the group stalked towards the crash site carefully.

"What do you think they are like?" Asked Quick Shot.

"I don't know, command said to be careful around them, seems like they are easily provoked."

"The crash site should be just around the corner in front," reported another clone.

"Are those shouts?" Asked Task, "Metal go ahead and check it out."

"Yes sir!" Acknowledged Metal before he ran forth and rounded the corner, "sir! Come quick!"

"Forward!" Commanded Task as he motion the others to hurry up. When he round the corner the screams turned much clearer. Within a second he had located the source, it was coming from a group of Twi'leks. The group of civilians was running towards them while being shot at, beams of orange light impact around them. Those who were hit screamed in pain as their flesh was burned and vaporized. Before Task could react only a small Twi'lek boy was left, the boy could be no more than 6 years old. He tried to call out but before he could do so one last beam of orange light connected with the back of the boy's skull, and the boy's head exploded in a shower of gore.

"Kriffing murderer!" Shouted Metal as he ran forward to check on the civilians. He still have some hope that maybe some survived, he was not disappointed. Looking back up he saw the being responsible and opened fire at a distant figure standing on top of a pile of rubble. A shot almost hit the figure before it dropped down and gone out of sight.

"You two, go check on the civilians, see if there are any survivers. The rest move forward, catch the one responsible alive if possible, I don't care if they are Imperials or not. That person shot at civilians, move it!" Commanded Task as he moved forward carefully, always prepared to drop into cover.

Tapping into his comm unit he reported back to base, "command, a group of civilians was just attacked by unknown targets. Most likely Imperials, how do we proceed?"

"Try to establish contact, it may be a mis..."

"TAKE COVER!" Shouted a trooper as the target resurfaced and opened fire. Orange beams cut through the air around them, forcing the clones into cover. A clone who was helping a gravely injured civilian was hit on his back, for all the damage it did against exposed flesh the shot failed to penetrate the plastoid armor, but it did leaved a blackened crater. The civilian was not so lucky, she barely survived a shot to her lower back and now a second shot to her shoulder sealed her fate.

"We are being shot at! But we will still try to establish contact if possible," said Task before terminating the comm and relayed the command. Glancing out of cover he saw the others had returned fire and was forcing the enemy into cover.

"Stop shooting, we need to try to talk to them first, but don't let your guard down."

"They just killed over ten civis!" Metal protested.

"Orders from command," replied Task before switching to his external speaker and turned the volume to the max, "We are clone troopers of the Republic, we may have a misunderstanding here. Please lower your weapons, we do not want to fight!"


"What the warp is a clone?" Asked Vas, confusion evident on his face. The three guards were laying down behind cover, with Eanulf in the center, Vas a few meters to the left and the other guard at the far right.

"Its not important," said the other guard, "we are outnumbered here, they are asking us to surrender."

"What if they just want to talk?" Asked Eanulf.

"Talk!? Are you suggesting us to talk with xenos! They can't be trusted, this must be a trick. A trick to let us lower our guard!"

Eanulf cursed inwardly, how could he had forgotten? Xenos cannot be reasoned with, they are full of lies and trickeries, and worse still, consorting with xenos was a grave heresy. He did heard rumors about the inquisitor onboard consorting with xenos though, was the Inquisitor a heretic? No, such thoughts are heresy too, the inquisitor must had his reasons. He is the agent of the Emperor after all. He risked a glance over his cover and saw that the 'clone troopers' were still pointing their weapons at them, frak he's correct, the damned xenos.

"We will be lowering our weapons, we mean no harm. Please come out and talk." Said the same voice. He risked another glance out and true to their word the xenos had lowered their weapons.

"They lowered their weapons, why not we use their trap against them?" Offered Eanulf, "we use this chance to take out a few of them. That will show them their petty deception won't work."

"Good idea, we need to move, I bet they had marked our positions," said Vas.

"And I'll call for reinforcement."


"What is taking them so long?" Asked Metal, clearly impatient, "they must be up to something."

"You need to be less suspicious about other people, they might just be discussing this with their command that's all," said Quick Shot

"Still, I have a bad feeling about..."

"Watch out!" Before anyone could react two consecutive lasgun shots connected with the visor of Quick Shot, the first blasted away the eyepiece while the second shot penetrated his skull and boiled his brains. Another series of beams hit a crouching clone in his chest. The first two shot punched a hole through his armor and the last killed the clone.

"These scums!" Cursed a clone while diving into cover behind a fallen wooden cupboard. Another two clones were shot down before the assailants were forced back into cover. It was impossible to dodge the beams for they travel at the speed of light unlike blaster bolts.

"Metal! Bring a squad with you and flank them from the right, we will distract them!" Commanded Task, "Capture alive if possible, command will want them for questioning."

"Sir, yes sir!"


The clearing was a messy place, debris from crushed buildings, shattered supply crates and the unmoving bodies of dead guardsmen. Fire was burning in several locations around the clearing, in the middle was a table and several figure gathered around it.

"Where are we?" Asked the commanding officer of the guards on the fallen transport.

"We should be around 35 kilometers away from the intended landing zone," replied a tech-priest in her mechanical voice, "we are still attempting to establish a vox channel with the main force. It should be done soon."

"Dammit, what are our losses?"

"Current estimate put 62% of our Imperial Guard dead. A further 17% are incapable of combat."

"Hmmpphh, incapable of combat, more like finding excuses to run away from battle," said a commissar, "I'll decide whether they are fit for combat or not."

"We are in the middle of unknown territory commissar, we need as many soldiers as possible, I hope you understand," said the commander.

A heavily panting guardsman with a large vox unit on his back ran towards the group, "Captain some survivers had voxed us. They have engaged hostile xeno forces."

"I thought all vox channels are down? Where are they?"

"Only short distance vox works, they are about one kilometer from our location lord."

"I want a defensive line set up around this area, when the xenos come we will be prepared."

"What about those survivers outside?" Asked the guard.

"Tell them to fall back to the defense line, we will hold the xenos here."


"Sector 23B are being overrun! They are requesting immediate reinforcement," reported a clone to Buzz. Commander Buzz was standing in a command pond within an AT-TE, tactical data was displayed on all the surrounding screens. Clones were moving about, sending updates about the ongoing battle. They moved with a precision only people trained since birth were able to, there was no confusion or chaos, it was proof of the clone program's success.

"Send back up battalions 14 to 17 to assist them," said Buzz while studying a tactical display of the surrounding area.

"The crashed Imperial ship are between us and them sir, and the squads sent to investigate reported hostility. They had sustained several casualties."

"Send them around, we cannot let that sector to fall, else we loose an entire quadrant!"

"There are no other ways sir,"

Buzz paused, the general had asked to not antagonized the Imperials, but he could not reinforce the crucial sector without passing through where the Imperials had crashed. If the sector was lost then the Separatist could strike deep into Republic territory, and the entire quadrant would fall. That could not be allowed to happen.

"Very well, try to talk to the Imperials. If it fails then we have no choice but to force our way through. Send an additional battalion with the reinforcements just in case."


"When will reinforcement arrive!?" Shouted Vas, "we can't hope to hold them if they decide to advance!"

True to his words the three guardsmen were pinned down. Blue blaster bolts shot pass their heads, preventing them from retaliating.

"I just received orders to retreat!" Vas's companion shouted back while firing his lasgun randomly over the cover.

"How are we suppose to move the wounded?" Asked Eanulf

"Leave her!"

Eanulf turned his head, a look of surprise was on his face, "You can't just..." Eanulf was interrupted by Vas's surprised shout from his back. "Contact!" Eanulf rolled over to face Vas, to his horror white armored figures was emerging from a half collapsed building. Glowing blue bolts shot forth from their guns, Vas was hit first in his chest. The blaster rounds punched through his flak armor leaving molten holes behind, the vulnerable flesh beneath burnt and charred. With a pained yelp Vas felled to the ground, dead. Panicking Eanulf raise his lasgun and fired wildly into the squad of clone troopers. He was only able to get off a few shot before super heated plasma slammed into his lasgun, vaporizing the outer metal and destroying the inner mechanisms. Eanulf quickly jumped down from where he was lying and hid himself behind a block of ferrocrete, almost breaking his leg in the process. He heard the scream of the other guard and saw him fell to the ground holding a cauterized stump where his right hand used to be. His screams was silenced soon when another round hit his face, leaving an unidentifiable charred mass behind.

"Oh Emperor please help me," whispered Eanulf fearfully, "protect me from the vile xenos. Please mighty Emperor, give me strength."

"Lay down your weapon Imperial," came an amplified voice, "we outnumber you 10 to 1. Surrender peacefully and you will be taken as a prisoner of war. You will not be mistreated."

They are just trying to trick me, Eanulf thought, they had already killed my friends, why spare me? In that instant he remembered a childhood memory, the memory of the raid by dark eldar pirates. No, no no no no. His fear was rising, his mind switching between trying to determine what to do and the gruesome scenes he had witness over a decade ago. With nowhere to run his fight instinct took over, fear turned into anger, anger turned into hatred. His breath quickened as adrenalin rushed into his bloodstream, his senses heightened and his pain dulled. He could made out the sound of footsteps, as they closed in Eanulf tighten his grip on his damaged lasgun. Damaged, but not useless. When the footsteps reached a few meters away he took a deep breath and flicked a switch at the side of his lasgun. All that was left in his mind was training and a single phrase: for the Emperor!


"He is not replying, what do we do?" Asked a clone trooper through the comm.

"Switch your blasters to stun," Metal ordered and pointed at two clones who was crouching behind a fallen wall, "you two, storm his position."

The two clones acknowledged with nods and rose, carefully they moved forward blaster raised. When they were almost there they heard an audible click, then without warning the last Imperial rushed out of cover, momentarily stunning the clones. His damaged gun was held in his hand, a hole visible at its side and was still glowing a dull red, what caught the clones' attention however was a sharp blade that sticked out of the front of the gun. Bayonet charge, a tactic unheard outside of the most primitive of armies. The two recovered immediately and pressed their triggers. In a blink of an eye two blue rings impacted against the guardsman, overloading his nervous system. However it was already too late, the Imperial's inertia carried him forward and the bayonet plunged into the clone's unprotected neck. Blood gushed out of the clone's broken artery and seeped into his black bodysuit. Carried on by the inertia both the guardsman and the clone tumbled down into the edge of a small opening. To the other clones' surprise a female scream was heard after the two disappeared from sight.

"Squad follow me," said Metal over the comm while he ran down to his fallen comrade. Tapping into his comm he contacted Task, "targets had been neutralized, we managed to stun one of them but lost one of our own. Also there may be a civilian here."

"Good work, the rest will be joining you soon."

"Sir! There is another injured Imperial down here!" Shouted a clone who had already reached the ground. Jumping over a crate Metal saw them. To the right was the body of the stunned Imperial, beside the Imperial was the unfortunate clone, and being crushed below the clone was another Imperial Guard, she was badly injured and had resumed bleeding after being crushed by the fallen clone.

"Get a medic over here! Stop her bleeding first," commanded Metal, "and someone tie the Imperial up. We don't want him to do more damage."

Metal knelt down beside the now dead clone and checked for a pulse, he was still clinging to the unreasonable hope that the clone might somehow survive a 7 inched bayonet being stuck into his neck. Disappointed he turned around and motioned two clones to carry the body away. As the two clones approach a field medic took out his med kit and prepared to tend to the injured Imperial's wounds. Her face was contorted in pain and anger, but was unable to voice her thoughts. Just as the two clones lift the dead body of their comrade up Metal noticed something wrong. The female Imperial was holding something in her hand, previously concealed by the body.

"Grenade!" Shouted Metal as he tried to dive away from the explosive. He only managed to leap into the air when the frag grenade exploded in a shower of metal fragments. The blast cracked his armor and propelled him forward at great speed while tiny metal pieces tore through unprotected region between armor plates. He landed on his back with a sickening crack, blood ooze out from his wounds, forming a small puddle. The other clones nearby did not fare any better, the field medic was blown into gory pieces and scattered around the area, the two troopers who are carrying their dead comrade suffered a similar fate. Their bodily fluids and innards decorated the ground in a gruesome display. The clone binding Eanulf was shielded from the fragments by the medic, but was still hit hard by the shockwave. He was thrown back and impacted a large debris, falling unconscious. Eanulf was gone too, a shrapnel had found its mark and buried itself deep into his brain.

"Metal report, what happened? I heard an explosion," asked Task through the comm, "Metal, Metal do you copy? I've almost reached the top, will be joining you soon."

True to his words Task arrived at the scene soon, turning to a trooper he asked, "what happened here? Where's Metal?"

"We found a forth Imperial, she was injured. Metal ordered us to heal her, but she detonated a grenade. He was... Killed by the blast."

"Kriff! What is wrong with these Imperial? How many had we lost?"

"4 sir, another was knocked unconscious, he should be fine."

Task walked around the area, it was particularly gruesome. Almost all sentients in the known galaxy used blasters as weapons, all the wounds were cauterized leaving little to no chance to bleed. Of course Task had seen other gruesome scene where people got mangled and impaled, but those are usually caused by the environment, not the weapons the enemy used. Blasters and thermal detonators leave relatively clean wounds behind, the heat they generate burnt the flesh and usually stop excessive bleeding. Come to think of it Task realized the Imperial's guns are not blasters. They shot beams of light that, like blasters, vaporized flesh but did not cauterized the surrounding area. Imperial weapons are inhumane, Task thought before he contacted command.

"Command this is Task, we are the team sent to investigate the crash."

"Go on Task, is your mission successful?"

"Yes, the Imperials appeared to be hostile. Our attempts to establish understanding failed, and we are unable to capture any Imperials."

"Okay then, join forces with the approaching reinforcement unit. Your experience may be helpful if battle is inevitable."

"Understood, Task out."


A gentle wind was blowing across the grass field, the sea of grass was swaying from side to side. Some trees was scattered around here and there. It would be a wonderful scene if the Imperial war machines and landing crafts were not present. Across the field large transports hundreds of meters long were touching down and unloading their contents. Row after row of Imperial Guards marched in unison across the field, massive tanks rolled along beside them. At the forefront, at the edge of the field halfway to the top of a small hill stood the inquisitor. An injured xeno was lying on the ground in front of the inquisitor's massive form. Around them stood part of the inquisitor's retinue, the Vagan's 36th special force platoon's command squad.

"Please let me go, please. I've told you all you asked," pleaded the lizard like xeno. It was in bad shape, cuts and burnt flesh littered its form, blood flowed openly from the wounds.

"Disgusting," was all Anzio said before he raised his holy bolter. With a pull of the trigger the holy bolter barked and a sanctified bolt round shot forth, the round easily penetrated the Ssi-ruuk's thick hide and detonated deep in its brain. Splattering blood and brain matter all around it.

"Prepare to march North," Anzio said through the vox to the overall commander of the Imperial ground forces, "we had located the xeno's commander."

"We will be ready to move soon my lord."

"Good, I'll be advancing first, the Emperor protects," replied the inquisitor before turning to face Craig, "have you sent forth the reconnaissance units?"

"Servo-skull units had been deployed my lord."

"Good," turning around Anzio strode up the path towards the top of the hill, his men following close behind. Soon enough data of the surrounding area collected by the floating servo-skulls flooded into his armor's HUD, the tech-priests are doing their job well, just as he expected.


"Watch out! To the right!" Swift shouted to two clone troopers taking cover behind a large boulder just as a B2 super battle droid fired a rocket at them. The two jumped away just in time to escape the resulting explosion. Taking a few more shots at the advancing droids Swift ducked back into cover. "We need to retreat!"

"There is nowhere to go! Hold your ground!" Neimoxin shouted back. The two scouting clones had caught up with the general almost an hour ago, since then they had been trekking towards the city, that was until they were ambushed by a group of droids. They had bunkered down in a circular formation of rock just at the feet of a grassy hill. Their back faced a wood filled with orange vegetation. Trying to run into the woods would be a suicide attempt, there was too many open ground between them and the trees. "Draw the droid's attention! I will rush them!"

Acknowledging the command the clones started pouring shots into the ranks of droids. As fire over his area reduced Neimoxin leaped out of cover, doing a flip in mid air he landed between the clones and the droids. Red bolts of plasma screamed past the jedi with their characteristic zip, swinging his lightsaber around in loops bolt after bolt was deflected away or back to the droids. Running with force enhanced speed Neimoxin was upon the droids in no time, striking out with his lightsaber two B1s was sliced in half by the green blade instantly. Swinging the blade around Neimoxin plunged the blade into a super battle droid, destroying its central processor. Reaching out with the force he lifted the B2 up and threw it at a group of battle droids, the metal form crossed the distance rapidly, and before any of the targeted droid could response they were crushed by their dead comrade's bulk. Neimoxin dashed between the droids with inhuman agility and speed, slashing and slicing with his lightsaber. The force imbued plasma blade danced around the master jedi with grace, deflecting shots and severing droid parts.

As he finished off another group of B1s a rocket launcher wielding B2 turned to face him, a rocket raced towards him a second later. Unable to jump out of the way he raised his hand and erected a barrier. The rocket exploded harmlessly on his barrier but still managed to disorientate him for a while. As he recovered 5 super battle droids was already advancing on him their arm blaster canon fired without stop, taking a defensive stance he started deflecting the incoming rounds, and in the process managed to take two of the droids down. Just as he was about to charge the SBDs two droidekas rolled into position beside the advancing droids, adding their firepower into the fight. Lashing out with the force again the jedi sent a devastating force push to the droideka on the left and sent it flying backwards into a rock. Turning is focus to the other droideka Neimoxin reached out with his hand and close it. The droideka suddenly experienced abnormally high pressure around its metallic body and was crushed, sparks flew out of its damaged form. With only 3 SBDs left he decided to disable them conventionally. Jumping high up into the air he did a flip before falling down towards the droids. Holding his lightsaber out he landed just behind the leading SBD, bisecting it in half from head to toe. Before its two companion could react he cut off one's weapon wielding arm and proceed to stab it in the head with his lightsaber. Without even looking back he sliced the last SBD diagonally across its body.

"Well that was easy," said Neimoxin to himself. He started to walk back to the clones, who were now comming out of cover. When he was almost at the stone formation one of the clones pointed towards the hill.

"Look! Whats that?"

"Look at what? I don't see anything," said Box Head as he scanned the area the clone was pointing at.

"I don't see anyth... Wait! Is that a skull?" Asked Swift before he crouched and took a defensive stance, "be carful, it might be some separatist droid."

"Well its not shooting at us," said the first clone, "a spy droid?"

"Most likely, but its not trying to stay out of sight though," said Swift as he raised his blaster, "eliminating."

"Wait!" Shouted Neimoxin as he arrived at the clones' location, "that don't look like anything we had encountered before."

The unidentified object drifted closer towards the group, as it came closer the clones could examine its details. The objects appeared to be a floating skull, most likely human. Glowing red lenses could be seen in the empty eye sockets, making the object even creepier. Mechanical parts and wires could be seen on the skull, either attached or embedded. Tiny texts was inscribed on its white forehead, with a stylized 'I' in the middle. Below it hung multiple mechanical tentacles that ended in claws or some equipment of unknown purpose. The mechanical tentacles move around a little too organically as if they were scanning and probing the surrounding.

"That symbol, the symbol in the middle of its forehead," said Neimoxin while pointing at the floating object, "belongs to the inquisitor man. This thing must belong to him or his Imperium."

"What is it? A probe?" Asked Box Head while backing away from the approaching skull.

"Why is it designed to look like a skull?" Asked another clone.

"To instill fear?" Suggested Swift.

"Maybe, but I doubt its a fake skull..." said Neimoxin, "the cracks, it looked too real."

"But they couldn't used real skulls could they?" Asked Swift.

"You had seen what some of their soldier, I wouldn't be surprised if that was a real skull," said Box Head. Swift frowned at the memory, the things they saw was unpleasant, very unpleasant.

"Alright people, we can discuss whether that is a real skull or not later. We need to move on, we don't want to stay here when the Separatist return."

"I'm afraid we are already too late general. That was just their scouting group."

"What?" Neimoxin turned to where Box Head was pointing and saw an entire army of Separatist droids emerging from the horizon.

"Tanks too? Well this is going to be interesting, what are you waiting for? Run for it!"


"Red's down!" Shouted Swift as he ran away from the tree that he was using as cover, and not a second too late as a tank blew the tree into splinters.

"Kriff! We can't continue on like this! There are too many!" Shouted Box Head, the clone rolled on the ground to avoid fire from a pair of B1 battle droids that tried to flank him. After a small burst from his blaster the offending droids was scrap metal.

"We can't stop!" Neimoxin shouted back, "reaching the city is our only hope!"

He was in the heat of combat, evading blaster and tank rounds by a hair's breadth. Deep into the enemy's ranks the droids were dealing more damaged to themself than the group of six clones and one master jedi.

"Keep moving! I will distract them as much as possible!" Ordered Neimoxin while he punched a tank commander in the face, his force enhanced punch overpowered the magnetic lock that kept the droid's head in place and made it flew off far into the distance. Quickly priming and dropping a thermal detonator he had acquired from the clones into the open hatch he leaped away from the doomed tank. A massive explosion was heard as the tank was destroyed, an explosion that should not had been that loud, thermal detonators are relatively quiet weapons.

"What was that?" Asked Neimoxin to nobody in particular, he was still moving around the ranks of droids as if he was on a flat open plain. Just as he finished off a SBD by severing all of its limbs he heard a roar from the sky. He turned his head upwards just in time to see a trio of boxy aircrafts soared past guns blazing. The aircrafts are unlike anything the Republic had in its arsenal. A elongated blocky body with a pair of wings attached to side. 4 giant turbines are attached uner the wings close to the body. Turbines! Why not use anti-gravity? Or are those some exotic weapon? Neimoxin wondered. 6 cannons are mounted at the aircrafts' nose, busily spewing death at the Separatists. Sensing danger Neimoxin quickly force jumped away from the droid tank he was about to engage. Not a moment too soon as missiles that hung under the aircraft's wing detached and sped towards the tank, ripping it apart in a deafening explosion. The resulting shockwave knocked the jedi onto his back, who quickly got back onto his feet while masterfully deflecting shots directed towards him, he even managed to force crush a group of B1s in that time.

Looking back up into the sky, Neimoxin saw the 3 aircrafts retreating back to where they came from, still dropping over sized bombs and ripping infantry apart with their nose mounted cannons. That was not what Neimoxin was interested in though, the pressure the Separatist droids was putting on him decreased substantially, not because they are dead, no, which means something else was distracting them, something in their back. Neimoxin quickly disengaged and fall backed to regroup with the clones. Something big had came up at their rear, and the droids are being called back to deal with it.

"Come on! Lets get out of here before they return, the city is not far away," said Neimoxin as he caught up with the clones.

"What happened back there?" Asked Swift, who was, as his name suggest, leading the group.

"Something distracted them, I'm almost certain its an attack by the Imperials."

"Imperials? The people we are warned about? How do you know its them?"

"I saw 3 aircrafts that match no known designs, if its not them I don't know who it belongs to."

"What are they doing here anyway? Pirates usually try to avoid such heavy fighting," commented Box Head.

"According to this inquisitor man they came to exterminate the Ssi-ruuk, and I doubt they are merely pirates. You haven't saw the reports."

"Soooo they are another group the Republic had never met before that want to exterminate our current enemy."

"Yes."

"Sounds like we got new friends!"

"We do not know if they will remain friendly towards us, their spokesman sound rather hostile" replied Neimoxin, "but enough of this, focus on moving. We are almost there."