A/N: Chapter Four for you. The 230th finally get into some action, though...it may not go so well for them.
Thanks for the continued reviews, guys. And, I'll probably include more details on Neesh Nok and his brief command of the 230th in later chapters.
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Chapter Four
Even the best laid plans...
Four months ABG
"Loyalty is not given freely. It is earned"
The Justice came out of hyperspace, and into a massive space battle. Acclamator-class assault ships filled the view ports, exchanging fire with the IGBC gun platforms. V-19 Torrent class star fighters were engaged in dogfights with separatist fighters, filling the void with silent fireballs. The Justice opened up with its' own considerable turbolaser batteries, shattering a gun platform in moments. Drake didn't stop to admire the view offered by the open hangar bays. He was too busy overseeing the loading of troopers onto their designated LAAT/is'. "First company, mount up and move out, escort is already in the air!" He barked, hardly listening to captain Vyres' acknowledgement.
Commander Starsong was the last aboard, on one of first companys' ships. The gunships lifted off, and tore towards the planet, their fighter escorts falling into defensive formation around them. "Okay, second company, mount up. We're dusting off in three" inside his helmet, he could hear Edge repeating his orders. Drake felt bad about taking command of the company, but he'd find some way to make it up to the man. "Ready to go, commander" reported Edge, from his place in the lead gunship. General Adraxis was already there, and Drake began making his way towards the ship as well. Once inside, the doors slid shut, sealing the atmosphere inside. Edge nodded at him, and he mirrored the movement.
The gunship shuddered slightly as it left the Justices' artificial gravity. Through the transparisteel slots in the door, Drake could glimpse the Torrents forming up around the gunships. 'Let's just hope we don't get swarmed' the 230th was moving in apart from the 212th and 91st Recons' larties'. If their ships were attacked by the massive amounts of separatist fighters, they'd be out gunned in seconds. With a click of his teeth, he opened the internal helmet comm to his men. "Alright, lads. Keep an eye on your ammo, and watch each others backs out there. Everybody comes home today" the reminder was unnecessary,but the men acknowledged anyways. The general began speaking, then,reviewing the battle plan.
"Our job, is to get to the factory. Once there we'll meet up with the rest of the battalion. Then we destroy the factory. Any questions?" There were none. The men all knew what they needed to do. And they were all ready to do it. The gunship shook, and Drake instinctively reached for the grab rail over his head. Not that it would do him much good if the separatists got lucky. The ship shook again, harder, and more of the troopers grabbed nervously at the rails for some reassurance, and in order to keep their balance. Only the general remained on his feet without assistance, and Drake suspected he was using the Force to remain unmoved. "Pilot! What's going on out there?"
The pilots' voice was slightly strained when he replied " we're approaching the atmosphere. The seps aren't too happy with that" Drake imagined the ship exploding, or being rammed, like on Geonosis. An involuntary tremor snuck into his hands, immediately,he smacked down the rising fear . 'Can't panic about the past. Have to remain focused' he reprimanded himself. The gunships doors opened as they entered the atmosphere, and Drake realized the pilots' statement was...more than valid. Flak from anti air cannons shredded the area surrounding the gunship, and it jinked and juked to avoid being blown apart. Below him, the commander could see the buildings of Hairnaidan, one of the more impressive Muun cities on the planet.
Well, it had been impressive, before the war had found it. Now many buildings had been reduced to rubble by artillery fire, and others were burning. "Just a heads up: the landing zone is hot!" Announced the pilot, and the two bubble-turret gunners opened up, their composite beams slicing through the metal that made up B1 battle droid parts. 'Of course the kriffing landing zone is hot' thought Drake, wincing as blaster bolt shrieked past his helmet. Someone in robes, and a tan tunic leapt from the descending gunship, lightsabre blazing. Drake cursed, and turned to Edge, who motioned to his men.
"Second company, give them hell!" Blue blaster fire rained down on the landing zone, covering the general, and reducing the amount of enemies he had to put up with.
Once the gunship was a metre above the ground, Drake and the others spilled out, several other nearby gunships disembarking the rest of second company. The now empty larties' screamed for space, their pilots pushing the engines to the limit. Besides the occasional burst of anti-air cannons, no enemy pursued the ships. Drake levelled his DC-15s, the shorter, lighter version of the standard DC-15a, and opened fire on the incoming battle droids. The troopers of the 230ths' second company formed into a square formation, the LZ in the centre, with the troopers facing outwards, firing at the separatists. "We need to push forward!" Bellowed the general, over the roar of blaster fire. Drake agreed, knowing that while the troopers may have held off the first wave of droid assault, more were coming, and already five white armoured soldiers lay unmoving on the permacrete.
"You heard the general! Move it!" Ordered Drake, firing into a droid that was slower than he was to fire. The clanker hit the ground hard, and the commander moved forwards, leaving Edge to order his men into formation. The company entered a fairly narrow street, and the droids followed, firing at them. Edge approached Drake and the general
"sirs. I recommend we attempt to seal off the street entrance. Otherwise, the droids can storm up behind us and overwhelm our position"
Drake scowled, underneath his helmet, at the situation they were in, rather than his brother. "We've got no explosives, Edge. At least, nothing strong enough to take down buildings" he reminded the captain.
The 230th was an infantry unit. That meant explosives were limited to thermal detonators, and EMP grenades. The squads were line squads, rather than specialist squads. The general, however, stepped past the two clones, and examined one of the buildings. " A good plan, captain. Let's get it done" Drake frowned at the Jedi. 'Perhaps he's losing his hearing..'
"sir. I said-" the general cut him off with an upraised hand, and glanced back at him.
"I know what you said, commander. Leave this to me." Edge looked at him and shrugged, and Drake sighed. The two of them made their way to the rear of the double column Edge had his men moving in, and Drake brought his rifle up as the sound of blaster fire reached him.
Two squads of troopers were attempting to hold off...well, a lot more droids. "Sergeant Den! Sitrep!" Snapped Edge, hunkering down beside some makeshift cover, comprised of heaped up rubble.
A clone with a green sergeants markings on his chest plate and arms turned towards them. "What you see is what you get, sir. Massive droid forces pushing in at us. Some chakaar must have sounded some sort of droid-alert. Jai'galaar went up in one of the buildings to take a look, and he guessed they're coming in from the three nearest sectors" Edge cursed softly, and Drake glanced at one of the troopers, with a likeness of a hawk on his back plate. Clearly, mando'a was alive and well in second company.
"Okay. The general wants to try something. We need to buy him enough time to do it"
Dens' body language showed that he was less than reassured. Given the scumbag their last general had been, Drake didn't blame him. "Okay. I'll tell my men to hold out a little longer, but we're running low on droid-poppers, and I've ordered them to conserve as much ammo as possible" as the sergeant turned to rejoin the fighting, someone started screaming. Turning, the commander saw one of the men down, a blaster hole punched through his lower torso. He was the one screaming. One of his brothers was attempting to drag him to safety. Droids began storming the gap the two men had left.
"Plug that hole!" Ordered Edge, opening fire on the first droid through.
"Everyone, get back!" General Adraxis shouted, his voice amplified, most likely through the Force. Drake didn't waste any time considering how, he simply started repeating the order. The two squads pulled back, taking their wounded with them. An ominous rumbling vibrated the permacrete beneath the boots of the clones, and the building on the right side of the street began to fall, leaning in, so that the mass of rubble would effectively seal the street. From about two hundred metres away, Drake,Edge, and the two squads of troopers watched in awe as the building fell, crushing dozens of droids, and sending up a cloud of debris thousands of feet high. "He actually did it...brought down an entire building..." muttered Edge, his voice hushed.
The general approached, looking drained, lightsabre dangling limply from his hand, and grinned at them. "Gentlemen. Shall we continue?"
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Jag knew they were in trouble, as soon as the gunships left. No droids waited for them at the landing zone, nor did they approach as first company made its' cautious way through the streets of the war torn city. They were up at the front, behind captain Vyre and commander Starsong. "Okay, is the lack of droids trying to blast us down to our atoms make anyone else nervous?"
"Shut it, Jag" said Tor, from beside him. The other trooper was tense, to say the least. He scanned the windows and balconies cautiously. Sharp was doing the same on the opposite side of the line, though, his two brothers vigilance simply made him more uneasy. The little commander, Starsong, didn't seem as nervous. Then, she had the Force, where all clones had were their weapons and sensors.
Having a weapon that could cut through most metals probably was a major confidence booster as well. "I'm just saying..."
"Cut the chatter" Ice said, in what Jag considered his 'command voice'. Immediately, all conversation stopped. Jag wrapped his hands around his deece, and glanced around, feeling very exposed with towering durasteel and permacrete buildings on either side of them. 'Perfect for snipers. Or a tank' he thought, imagining one of the AATs', an armoured attack tank, hovering down the street, wreaking havoc among the men of first company. Then he realized why he, and the others were so on edge.
Esson. AATs' had decimated the 230ths' fourth company during the battle on the industrial planet. And the city looked alot like the industrial avenues of Esson. 'This is different. Besides, the general hasn't started screaming at us to stop the droids or die trying' alot was different. For one, they weren't going in with AATs' firing all guns at them, they weren't rescuing civvies, and they weren't serving under a general with osik for brains. But he knew what they said, and he'd said it himself, numerous times. Even the best laid plans fell apart after the first shot was fired.
Jag wondered if the 91st Recon had swept through this area. Being a trooper, he didn't get that information unless the sergeants, lieutenants, and the captain decided he should. So far, no one had said anything. Which meant they were going in with little, to no intel, besides what Republic intelligence had told them. "Of course there's a kriffing droid factory" he muttered. "This is a separatist planet" in his mind, Republic intelligence was brilliant at pointing out the obvious, less brilliant at doing their jobs.
His less than kind reflections about the Republics intelligence service was interrupted by the high pitched whine of a sniper round. Then another. And then another. "Ten is hit!" Someone shouted, and someone else said
"Bek is down". Jags' training and instincts took over, just as more sniper fire rained down on them.
"Snipers!" That was captain Vyre "trace trajectories and take 'em down!" Jag lifted his rifle, and scanned the buildings for the glint of sun on a sniper scope, or perhaps a glimpse of the rifles long barrel.
"I see one!" Announced Sharp, and the rest of the squad followed his pointing, gloved hand to the third story window. Immediately, nine rifles opened up on the window, and the droid collapsed backwards, damaged or destroyed.
"Good one, Sharp. See any more?" Asked Ice, keeping his visor tilted towards the upper buildings.
" Upper balcony, your two o'clock" responded Sharp. Blaster fire claimed another sniper, but hard experience had taught the men of the 230th Battalion, that where there was one droid, there were usually dozens more. This scenario was no different. Battle droids, followed by their bulkier, stronger cousins, super battle droids, stormed down the streets. Commander Starsongs' lightsabre activated, the humming blue blade slapping blaster bolts back towards the approaching droid forces.
"First squad, take cover, second squad, move up!" Ordered Vyre, his voice calm and controlled as he fired his own rifle into the ranks of clankers coming towards them.
Second squad was already moving when Jag and the others hunkered down in the rubble. "Pick your targets" said Ice, "I don't think we can afford to waste ammunition" Jag knew the sergeant was right. Droids might not be smart, or particularly threatening, or able to strategize, but that hardly mattered when there were hundreds of the damned things! Jag fired twice into a battle droids chest, slammed his armoured shoulder into a second droid, and fired point blank into that ones bird-like face. He could hear men from second squad screaming as they were wounded, and the soft gasps of dying men. 'Kriffing tin-cans. Kill my brothers, will you?' He felt an uncharacteristic rage come over him as the droids kept coming, marching over rubble, and their own dead, to kill troopers.
Droids didn't feel fear or anger or pain. You couldn't intimidate them like you could an organic army. They didn't need food or water, didn't suffer from low morale. Worse, they were almost completely silent. Except for the monotone orders of droid officers, there was no noise. It was the same with clones, except, they used their internal helmet commlinks to communicate. As far as Jag knew, droids did no such thing. River, kneeling to for better accuracy, took down one of the SBD's that had been tearing into second squad. Then a blaster bolt tore through his shoulder, spinning him around, and sending his rifle clattering across the permacrete. Tor and Dagger leapt up, Tor providing cover fire, while Dagger helped his wounded brother to safety.
"Medic! We need a medic over here!" Dagger was shouting, while other men echoed his shouts. Now the engagement had spread, with more squads moving up to help their brothers. Cross left his position to take a look at Rivers' wound, and Dagger returned to his own firing position.
"We won't win a battle of attrition. There are too many of them" sergeant Ice was saying, and Vyre responded with a stream of expletives in mando'a and Huttesse.
"You're right. All squads, pull back, look for side streets" he ordered. Jag glanced up from the barrel of his rifle, and noticed the commander standing in droid parts up to her knees. 'She knows how to use that lightsabre, I'll giver her that' he thought. One of the troopers reported that he'd found something, and Vyre gave the order to fall back.
"Sir!" Jag said, "the commander!" Vyre swore again, and trotted up behind the girl. Apparently, she couldn't hear him, or wasn't listening to the captain.
"Sarge, hold up. The commander and the captain are still up there" he reported to Ice, who'd been overseeing the squads retreat.
The sergeant turned towards the advancing droids and the clone and Jedi. "Jag, Hazard, with me. We're not leaving them to the droids. We've lost enough brothers already" Hazard left the squad, and trotted over, hefting his rifle. The three clones moved in, opening fire on the closest droids, arriving beside the Jedi and captain Vyre.
"Let's go!" Ice shouted, on external speakers. Starsong glanced at him, looked back at the retreating clones and nodded.
Jag grabbed her forearm, and assisted her from the small mountain of droid pieces that had built around her. "Nice job, commander" he said, noticing Vyre moving to cover her as they fell back. Then Hazard cursed, and someone cried out in shock and pain.
"Captain's down!" Alanna spun on her heel, her lightsabre batting away several more blaster bolts that had come far too close for comfort. Hazard was hauling the captain over his shoulders in a standard rescuers' carry, and Ice had scooped up Vyres' blaster. "Commander, we need to move" Jag said, blasting a battle droid that was aiming at Hazards' back. She nodded, and the three of them hurried to the side street.
Despite Vyre not moving, and trying to be a good burden, he was still wearing his armour, which weighed about forty kilos' added onto his own body weight. Plus, Hazard had been fighting for the past half hour or so. Now, it was starting to take its' toll on the trooper. He stumbled every other step or so, and his breathing was starting to get ragged.
"Hazard, put me down, I can walk" Vyre said, his voice weak and pained. He'd been hit twice, once in the upper torso, another in the thigh.
"The kriff you can, sir. I saw where you got hit" growled Hazard. If Hazard was known for anything besides his penchant for getting into dangerous situations, it was his stubborness.
"Trooper..." growled Vyre, sounding annoyed. Jag sighed, wondering if the captain had ever seen Hazard when he was determined. Trying to change his mind was like trying to stop a turbolaser blast. Alanna stopped, turned, and put a hand on Hazards shoulder. "Let me carry him, Hazard" Ice, who'd been leading the group, froze and turned around. His expression was hidden behind his visor, but Jag was guessing it was surprise. Because he was pretty sure his jaw was hanging open.
"Commander...I can't let myself be burden for you" Vyre said.
Hazard looked like he had something to say as well, but Alanna cut him off. "Trooper. That was an order. Hand him over, or I'll take him" Hazard shrugged and gingerly lowered his wounded captain. Vyre hissed in pain as he put weight on it. The commander bent, grabbed an arm, and his unwounded leg, and hauled him onto her back.
Vyre grunted in surprise, and Hazard laughed. "Impressive, ma'am. Really impressive"
the small girl smiled at him. "It's nothing, trooper. Now, let's move before the droids catch up with us, okay?"
"No objections here, commander" Ice replied, and the group set out again. Jag could hear the metallic crunch-crunch of marching droids approaching at an unhurried pace. Then, droids never seemed to be in a rush to go anywhere.
"I see them" reported Hazard, pointing. At first, Jag thought his squad mate meant he'd seen droids, but then realized he was pointing ahead, towards a building that was still standing. A pair of white armoured troopers stood guard. They entered, and Cross approached, from where several other medics worked on their brothers. He helped the commander set Vyre on the ground, and began removing his armour. "You did good getting him here when you did, ma'am" the medic said. Jag removed his helmet, and glanced around, noticing that the troopers had erected small barricades, and that the droids hadn't yet arrived. It appeared they were safe, for now
