Thanium Sector/Felucia System/Felucia Surface/Firebase 42

Day 19/Month 3/19 BBY [Galactic Standard Calendar]

The night sky was lit up by the far too usual blue and red light streaking overhead. Felucia's dense fauna was ablaze as we clung to our defensive line. The few hours had provided no rest for me or my men, a majority of which I had not seen or heard from. In the chaos of the day, most were scattered along the frontline. But I had sent Tropic out to get word from anyone. Miraculously, no one was killed or injured.

And the jedi, Jayce, had been helping clean up the trench by using the force to push or throw the droid scrap heaps out into no man's land. And the fact that he and Captain Jayce shared the same name would only help confuse me. We were well supplied at the moment but there was one thing that we all were missing.

Sleep.

I was going on forty-eight hours almost nonstop. Now, I had been through longer, but it was never as beaten up as I was. Dislocated shoulder, bruised hand, a small concussion, and tons of scratches all over my body. I wouldn't say the adrenaline was wearing off, but my movement was starting to ache. Like a lot.

The clankers had been pushed back slightly but we were in no shape to call it a day yet. There would be no way I'd be able to sleep with fighting this close. Or loud. Those TX-130s were loud, especially those beams they had on top. At least they were good at slicing up droids. But regardless of the noise, I started to nod a bit. Almost…

"Don't think now is a great time for that, sir," Buzzard stated.

"Dammit Buzz."

"I aim to please."

"Well please go get me some rations before I wring your neck." It was more of a threat than an order. And I've got to hand it to him; he got back with some MREs pretty damn quick. I sat in the trench and made him guard me in case any enemies got near the trench.

"Any left for me, sir?"

"Nope." I took what little crumbs I could and ate them before adorning my helmet yet again. My visor had officially cracked, leaving the smallest of marks in the bottom corner. It really irritated me, even though I had seen a lot worse. Tropic practically had an 'X' right in the middle before he ditched it. He considered it bad luck, not that I really blame him. So I just tossed him one off a dead trooper to keep him safe.

I got up and stood back along the trench next to Buzz, who was firing his blaster at a damaged super battle droid. We both ended up taking potshots before switching onto bigger and better targets. The fighter tanks were holding the enemy to the slope, but neither side was really advancing. I watched one of our fighter tanks explode a vulture droid flew past. The anti-air came to life and tore it to pieces. The sound of those lasers was frightening, like the sound of a rabid animal's growl. As quickly as they awoke, they fell silent yet again.

The skies themselves had been fairly quiet for the last few hours. Our squadrons had cut up their air power pretty bad, but our air support was temporary. The boys up in the air were severely overstretched when it came to the territory they covered. They probably had been fighting just as long as we had, jumping from hot zone to hot zone. And their losses were just like ours. Reports were dismal on all fronts. Heavy casualties, low results. The usual.

My rifle was steadied along the trench as I fired at the unknowing battle droids that were unfortunate enough to grace my scope. I fired relentlessly, cutting them down one by one. Gearbox had found 78, the other surviving ARC, and they had opted to stay with me and my platoon. So I had Buzz to my left and two ARCs to my right. Basically, any clanker within range was dead, whether it knew it or not.

Another hailfire burst into flames before igniting into a fireball. Gearbox had reloaded his new missile launcher.

"Damn," 78 said, "That's your third one."

"Hey you're pretty good at that," Buzz replied, "That whole killing thing."

"It comes with the job. You aren't pretty bad yourself." Gearbox fired another missile, slamming it directly into snail tanks tread. The tread came undone and the tank exploded, wiping out a couple more infantry in the process.

Buzz nodded. "Oh he's good." 78 and I nodded in agreement. When killing the enemy becomes a game, you know you're doing it right. I steadied myself and aimed for the eyes of one of the remaining hailfire. Feeling lucky, and admittedly jealous of Gearbox, I aimed for an eye. It was a fairly challenging shot. I fired one burst into its right eye. The thing jerked around a bit, having lost partial sight. I fired a second burst, shutting its light out for good.

"Not bad, sir." 78 patted me on the back. The hailfire, now sightless had lost any sense of direction and began to fire its missiles. It didn't even realize that it had fired towards the jungle and friendly forces. Then, the nearby droids ganged up on it, taking out one of their own tanks. "Not bad at all."

The TX-130 Saber fighter tanks gave us a hefty amount of relief as they began to push the Separatist forces back. They were retreating back into the jungle, in attempts to fall back and counterattack. But the Sabers were relentless as they constantly blasted at the enemy. The enemy armor was decimated and the clankers had lost any initiative. Their lines had broken. But with one swift stroke, our luck had changed.

The enemy artillery had been silent. We had thought it was out of commission from the gunships' air strike the previous day. But we were wrong, and when it hit, it hit hard. They dropped their salvo right on top of their lines and our advancing Sabers. The ensuing fireball blinded any vision. But when the smoke cleared, all I saw was wreckage. Not one Saber was left, even after checking my HUD twice. The Separatists had sacrificed their armor as well. Every last hailfire and snail tank was a pile of smoldering scrap.

Then their infantry rallied behind new units; ones that seemed even more humanoid. They were clearly mechanical, as they moved with inhuman speed and agility. They sprinted ahead of the main body of droids and came straight towards us. I caught a glimpse of their beady red eyes and their ignited electrostaffs.

"MagnaGuards!" I shouted, aiming my rifle at their heads. Nearly a company's worth of MagnaGuards came charging at our trench. They were durable and the blaster fire seemed to nearly scratch them as they made it closer and closer to our position. I fired nearly everything I had and barely did any damage. The things just weren't going down.

The padawan force pushed all that he could to keep as many MagnaGuards at bay. 78 and Gearbox lobbed every thermal detonator they could, but soon the MagnaGuards had gotten too close. We had taken out a few but the panic along the lines as well as the bulk of the droid forces advancing had made organizing a proper counter next to impossible. We couldn't even stay up on the trench's fire-step because the MagnaGuards were that close. So with no ability to see over the trench, I kept my blaster rifle fixed on the top of the trench.

And they leapt right over like an animal pouncing on its prey. I emptied everything into one as it tried to land on top of me. I rolled to my right. As it landed, the MagnaGuard's head swiveled to look at me. I took the butt of my rifle and smashed its face. The MagnaGuard's electrostaff had become stuck in the ground where it had hoped to pierce. I pulled it out and as the droid tried to recover from blow to its head, I swung at its head with the staff. It fell to the ground and a couple clones opened up on it as I continued to beat its head in. A few seconds later, its head was clean off.

Then the thing got up. It tried to go for its weapon but I was prepared. I pierced it chest with the electrostaff and it collapsed. As I tried to thank the troopers for helping me out, another MagnaGuard pounced on them, killing the first. As the second clone backed away from it, the droid silenced him with a spear-like throw to his chest. I ran at it and stabbed the droid in the back, sending the staff straight through it chest.

"Get down!" I heard Jayce yell and my instincts took over. The green lightsaber missed my head by mere inches. He lopped the head off the droid and another MagnaGuard before dicing them up with extreme precision.

A storm rolled in that very moment and the rain poured down. The lightning and the crack of thunder followed. Red and blue blaster fire traced over the blackened sky. The trench became muddier as I stumbled along. The MagnaGuards engaged us in hand-to-hand combat. Buzzard was slicing up one particular droid with his vibroblade when I found him. He had a nice burn on his arm but it didn't stop him in the slightest.

He recovered his blaster and gave me a nod. We fired on another MagnaGuard, who carried an impaled trooper on his staff. It didn't last that long. Nearly every weapon was fixed on it and it went down in a hail of our gunfire. But there were many deaths not as glorious. Many clones died in that trench. Some clones were trampled, left in the mud. They were walked on top of, pushed deeper and deeper into the mud until they drowned. Others would be left wounded and unaided, dying to minor superficial wounds that could have been easily treated.

Some wounded tried crawling out of harm's way, but the droids were efficient. We tried getting a few out of the way but in truth, there was nowhere for them to go. 78 and Gearbox covered my back while Buzzard and I trudged after Jayce. We followed the trench, coming upon another command post. This one hadn't been nearly as damaged as mine had. It still had two of four DF.9s up and running. They fired endlessly into the enemy.

The MagnaGuards had caused untold chaos in our lines. They were extremely durable and were jedi killers. Clones were easy picking for them. And I had never seen them in such numbers. Fortunately for us, the padawan knew his footwork at fighting these things. We were holding, albeit rather poorly.

One trooper in particular was impaled on the trench wall. He primed a thermal detonator in his hand and laughed a little as the three MagnaGuards got up close to him. He coughed a little before the explosion engulfed him and the droids.

"Two more up top," Buzzard said, pointing to them as they came lunging into the trench. The hail of blaster fire knocked them back a little before Jayce cut them right up the middle. Then the clankers started to pour over the trench. B-1s at first, followed by the super battle droids, started to pour over the top.

"We can't stay here, sir." Gearbox primed his shotgun, blasting at as many droids as he could.

"We die here or we die running away."

"We can make it, sir. If we get far enough away, our artillery can take care of it."

"Too late!" 78 pointed towards our lines, and through the thunder and lightning, the smoke trails were unmistakable. "Artillery!"

It came raining down on us a few seconds later. The crack of thunder was so loud that even the shrieks couldn't be heard. The command post was pulverized, followed by the top of the trench. The droids were blasted back by shear strength of this strike. Then it landed in the trench. To my left and right, the artillery landed all around me. Droids and clones alike were thrown around like ragdolls. I was knocked off my feet by the fifth or sixth blast. Dirt and mud was flung everywhere. I tried crawling towards where I though Buzzard and the others were. I was being pelted by rocks, dirt, and all kinds of scraps from droids and clone armor. I tried to get as low as possible. As I lay in the mud, I felt someone grab me and yank me out of the trench. I looked up and saw the padawan as he pulled out me and my other troopers.

"You aren't dying yet, clone," he said.

"I'm starting to lose count of the times you saved me," I replied.

"Then stop needing to be saved."

So the bulk of our forces trudged up the muddy slope. Any droids had been decimated by the artillery barrage. As I looked around, it was clear that most of our troops in the trench were left behind. 78 and Gearbox carried one clone on their shoulders while Buzzard and I each carried one in our arms. The padawan kept picking people out of the trench. You couldn't see much through the smoke but it appeared that he had found all the survivors.

An arm reached up through the smoke. A mechanical arm. I handed off the injured clone I was carrying as I tried to get Jayce's attention. He turned towards me, the opposite of what I wanted. I ran down the slope as fast as I could. The droid picked itself out of the trench, a blaster in hand. I slid for an electrostaff left discarded on the ground. The padawan had begun to turn around as the MagnaGuard trained the blaster on his head. I grabbed the staff and threw it as fast and hard as possible. It flew through the air, right past Jayce who had reacted instinctively. The blast missed him completely and the staff pierced the MagnaGuard's chest. It twitched for a few seconds before collapsing into the trench.

"We aren't even. Not yet," he said. I just shook my head and we ran back up the slope. The frontline had been lost with extremely heavy casualties. Another trench had been taken by the Separatists, who were pushing us up to the plateau. They were hell-bent on taking this base, if it meant losing an entire droid army. Even if we won at that point, it would be more of a pyrrhic victory. No one still had a clue what was so important about this place. But the clankers wanted it and we wouldn't let them have it.

When I woke the next morning in my new trench, the fighting had subsided. I stepped onto the fire-step and aimed my rifle to get a glimpse of the new enemy positions. But wouldn't you know it, our old trench was empty. Completely abandoned by both sides. I was confused at first until Jayce said something.

"They're toying with us." Jayce walked up next to me.

"Huh? I thought they wanted our positions."

"Oh they do. But they want inside our heads first. They want us to go back, to see what they can do to us. To see the destruction they can cause."

"I don't need to see it, I experienced it."

"It's their attempt to lower morale. They want inside your head."

"They're gonna have to try harder than that."

"They've got plans for us. To whoever is in charge, this is all a game. He probably has enough units to take this base, but that's not fun enough for him. He wants to watch us squirm."