This was the very first this ever happened. A Padawan graduated four years too early, an at-mission merge, and a reassignment before even meeting beforehand. It caught many off guard, including poor Lea Elmorton. Especially Commander Grey. This was such an unpredictable series of events, but their mission, however, was quite predictable.
Christophsis was, once again, overrun by Separatist droids.
The LAAT/i jolted tremendously with the aversion of cannon blasts. Lea held onto the descent handholds. Crouching, she lay low to keep from falling and make herself look wimpy. The small squad of infantry troopers in the gunship with her were easy in the hailfire.
The Riot Squadron consisted of five troopers she had just met. Their names were Aurek, Step, Crash, Catchol, and Bolo. Each and every one was as wild as a rabid Nexu and twice as dangerous. Bolo was an expert shot with any gun he was given, Crash's favorite pastime was headbutting droids into inexistence, Step was always in front, Catchol's favorite weapon was whatever made him feel more alive than his enemies, and Aurek's greatest talent was being able to keep his brothers in check.
In short, this wasn't a comfortable ride for herself.
"Here's our drop, boys!" Aurek yelled over the sound of blaster fire and chaos.
"Yay," mumbled Lea.
The doors opened and five anxious clones jumped out, greeted by two more Jedi, their commanders, and one more, who waited for Lea. His helmet was tucked under his arm, and he stood at attention. His armor was painted with a deep sunset purple, and his helmet sported two ram horn designs on the front.
"Sir!"
The newly dubbed general shook her head vigorously. "General's enough, sir."
Still at attention, the commander smirked at her. "Sir's insulting, or what?"
Lea rolled her eyes. Mairin Tesbin and her former Padawan, the Rodian Sayne Ikon, stood with their respective legions, awaiting her.
"The Council decided it would help if you weren't alone," Mairin said, smiling slightly. "I thought so, too."
"Thank you greatly, Masters." Lea bowed respectfully.
"This is Commander Grey." Sayne motioned at the commander behind Lea. "He's under your orders now."
Lea turned. "At ease, soldier."
Grey obeyed, which made her feel authoritative. She straightened herself out with pride.
"What're we up against, Grey?" Sayne asked, his starry eyes glinting with anticipation.
"The Seppies have taken The Route of Glass, a central supply route that goes through the whole of Christophsis. If they can keep it, they can starve out the residents, leading to their victory. The easiest way to take back the bridge that starts the route is to blow up the two Separatist command towers on either side, but that would lead to the whole Bridge falling. Our best option is to take control of both command towers."
"Sounds simple," said Lea.
"What sounds simple is the most complicated, young one." Mairin shook her head. "We need a detailed strategy. If the command towers are so close, they have ways of protecting each other. We have to take them down at the same time."
Lea nodded. "We can do that with one legion."
Mairin frowned at the Knight's pride. "One cannot be too careful, young one."
The Master had called her a 'young one' a bajillion times already.
Grey snuck her a small shrug and a confused expression. He had never seen such a paranoid Jedi before, but not one so careless as Lea's confidence. Anything could go wrong on a sabotage mission, but then again, it was textbook stuff for himself and his brothers. They could take a bridge in their sleep.
Not that they had done it as of yet, but they could.
The Master opened a hologram on the 3D map of The Bridge of Glass. "The two Separatist command towers are half a klick away from each other, each on the edge of the Bridge. My troops can cut off one tower, while the 618th can take the other, correct?"
Grey nodded. "Yes, General."
"Good. We need to time this exactly, should we fail to, the late tower will blast with you on it."
The commander nodded again. "That wouldn't be as bad as you make it sound, but I understand, General."
Mairin looked back at Sayne. "Are you ready for an adventure?"
Sayne smiled. "As always, Master."
"Lea, Grey, time yourselves. We should attack at fifteen hundred precisely."
The Knight bowed, and the party disbanded.
"So," Grey started, not knowing what to say. "You're new in the field?"
"Yep. Are you?"
"Not really. Served two years under General Tom-Go. That's known as a long time for us clones." Grey walked past her, his helmet still under his arm.
"Really?" Lea rose an eyebrow. "How long's really long?"
The commander paused a second. "So far, no one's gotten past four years of service."
Lea frowned. "Do they push you pretty hard?"
Grey looked down at the girl. She was shorter than most human Jedi he knew, about up to his chest. Her bleach blonde hair was shaved off on one side, then the other was straightened and cut to her small chin. The tips of her hair were dyed blood red, the color of her lips. Her eyes blue crystal blue and hooded by dense, black eyelashes. What he found interesting were the piercings on both her ears. She had four small hoops through the tip of her ear, each bearing a different color, and a charm. The first was a black spear, the next was a red varactyl, the one after that being a purple Acklay, and finally, a gray bow and arrow.
"You ask a lot of questions," he stated. "I can only hope to keep up, kid." He smirked and proceeded.
Kid? she thought. I'm technically three years older than you.
Rolling her eyes, she followed him, jogging to keep up with his long strides.
"Hey." She walked beside him, taking very long steps to keep in pace. "If we're going to bomb this command tower to Havan, can I join?"
Grey laughed. "We're not bombing it. We're taking it simultaneously with General Tesbin and General Ikon."
"And how do you plan on going around doing that?"
The commander paused a second time. "Um… I don't… we haven't gotten that far."
Lea smirked. "I could help."
Grey turned to face her. "How so?"
He never meant any offense in his little faith in her, but he and his brothers knew what it was like to be under faulty authority. If this girl, this kid, managed to make one mistake, it would cost more lives from the 618th Legion. He wanted Lea to be right, but he wanted her to be as meticulous as possible. Judging by her pride and confidence, she could make every single mistake in the book.
