"The Malevolence, huh? Seriously, with a name like that how do the Separatists think they're the good guys?" Deadshot said as he sat at his new station, looking over a report that Jack sent him a few days ago. "A shame Grievous got away though, could've ended this war a lot sooner with that Clanker gone."
"I could've… taken him no problem." Hevy, one of the clones stationed with Deadshot responded. Currently, the clone was arm wrestling with Cutup, a member from his batch and squad. Music was currently playing in the background, keeping the troopers entertained while they either slacked off or were doing the minimum required work.
Normally, a relay station would have a much tighter crew. But then most relay stations aren't on Rishi, a moon within the Outer Rim. It was a horribly dull position, one Deadshot despises being put on due to the time it took to fix his injury. But even with it healed, he was left on the moon, and the bickering squad that were stationed with him.
"Ah hahahahaha!" Hevy laughed as he beat Cutup, now standing as he looked around. "Okay, who's next? Fives?"
"Shouldn't you be watching your scope, Hevy?" Echo, a by-the-books clone asked. Personally the one Deadshot could stand the most, but it was just by how he never bothered him.
"Yeah, let's take a look." Hevy responded rhetorically, going to his console and pulling up the space scope. The sight being nothing but the moon's surface. "Hmm, what do you know? All clear, just like the last hundred times I looked at it."
"Personally, I like that it's so quiet out here." Echo commented, tapping on his datapad. "I can catch up on the reg manuals."
"Echo, what is wrong with you? We should be out on the front lines blasting droids."
"Ah, leave him alone." Fives, the most independent of the clones on the station Deadshot's met said to Hevy. "They kept him in his growth jar too long."
"Yeah." The two then laughed, getting Deadshot to sigh as he placed his datapad down on his console.
It was annoying for the sniper to be stationed on this moon, especially with troopers that clearly don't seem to understand how to follow orders well. It was like dealing with rebellious cadets back on Kamino. 'Even Jack wasn't this bad and he's an actual kid.'
"You may not realize it yet Fives, but we've landed on the most boring outpost within the Outer Rim."
"And one of the most important." Sergeant O'Niner said as he walked into the room, spooking all of the clones to stand and turn off the radio.
"Attention! Sergeant on Deck!"
"At ease." O'Niner responded. "Even though you're all new here, I shouldn't have to remind you that this quadrant is key to the Outer Rim. If the droids get past this station, they can surprise-attack the facilities where we and our batch brothers were born on our home world of Kamino."
"Most of our batch brothers." Hevy whispered under his breath, getting an irritated glare from Deadshot. By now Jack had made a small name of himself within the Republic from the missions he was a part of. The majority of citizens don't see much of him, but the other volunteers see him as an icon. As for the clones, well, a lot still have warming up to do. Clones like Hevy, gun-ho and unwilling to accept that kind of help, still despise him being added into the clones' rank.
A problem that Deadshot hasn't been allowed to drill into his head for being worthless.
"There are some officers on the way, so I want everything squared for inspection. Understood?"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Alright, Pastil checks out." Ray said as he and Cody climbed aboard the shuttle, with Rex flying it off the ship and out to space.
"Where to next?" Rex asked, prepping the hyperdrive.
"The outpost on Rishi." Cody answered, sitting in the copilot seat. "Shouldn't be anything too bad, the last ten inspections came up with nothing wrong but clones slacking off."
"Can't blame them, the post is the most boring one you could have." Ray spoke up, standing in the doorway to the cockpit. "We're lucky we don't run in finding a bunch of skeletons with writing on the walls saying 'died of boredom, add television next time'."
"I seriously think something went wrong when you were grown." Rex responded, turning to the Kamino guard commander.
"And as I said before, you aren't entirely wrong."
"Just make the report."
"Spoil sports." Ray muttered as he walked back to the crew hold, activating the holo-projector and waited for the Jedi to pick up from both lines. Once brought up, Ray stood ready as Obi-Wan, Anakin and Shaak Ti all appeared as holograms. "General Skywalker, General Kenobi, Master Ti. The tracking station in Pastil is fully operational. Rex, Cody and I are proceeding to the outpost stationed at Rishi. Expect a complaint in lack of entertainment in the report, it's what we usually get."
"Well, at least you're on time right now." Obi-Wan responded. "Report back once you've arrived."
"Understood sir." Ray nodded. "But seriously though, anything for them would be good. Like a TV, or maybe just a deck of cards." The hologram then ended, leaving Ray alone in the back. "They cut me off. I get the sneaking suspicion they find my attitude weird."
"We all do."
"Quiet Rex."
"Sir, incoming meteor shower." Deadshot informed as the alarms were going off.
"Raise the shield." O'Niner ordered, and in seconds Deadshot set up the shielding.
"You wanted excitement Hevy." Fives said, turning to the trooper for a second.
"Right." Hevy said back before whispering to himself. "Ohhh, meteor shower."
"Quiet back there." Deadshot said over his shoulder, having heard Hevy's sarcastic remark. The shower was brief, only four having come down and only one hitting the shield. Once it was over, Deadshot turned off the shield, knowing it was best to save the power just in case.
"CT-327, report in." O'Niner ordered over comms, wanting the guard to give the report on the shower. "Sentry, do you copy?"
"Interference from the meteor?" Echo guessed.
"I don't see him down there, Sarge." Fives added, seeing nothing on his scanners.
"You two, go find him." O'Niner ordered Droidbait and Clip, the two putting their helmets on and running down the staircase to the front door.
The two only made it to the bottom of the stairs when the door opened, revealing a large squad of new commando battle droids. "Droids!" That was the only thing Droidbait could say before the droids had completely riddled him and clip with blaster fire.
O'Niner was the only one able to respond quickly, grabbing his 15S rifle and getting halfway down the staircase before taking cover. "Sound the alarm!" He ordered Echo as he fired back at the droids, hitting one in the chest only for it to get back up a second later.
Echo attempted to hit the alarm, but got no result from it. "They disabled the beacon." Fives, Cutup, Hevy and Echo soon joined Echo, all having put their helmets on. Out of all of them, Deadshot's was the only one with dust and dirt on it, having been the only one to see real combat.
"Get a message to the fleet! We have to warn-Ahh!" Before he could finish, O'Niner was shot in the leg, knocking him down to his chest out of his cover. He attempted to roll and blast at the droids, but as he turned his gun was knocked away and three commando droids blasted him, ending the sergeant.
"Sarge!"
"Move Echo!" Deadshot shouted as he grabbed the rookie and pulled him back to the observation deck with the rest of the squad.
Once they were all through, Cutup closed the door and ripped the circuits out from the console, jamming the door. "That should slow those buckets down."
Echo then put his helmet on and ran to a vent shaft, opening it. "This way, hurry!"
Fives and Cutup quickly went through, with Hevy and Deadshot having stayed near the door. "No, we can still-!" Hevy tried to argue, but stopped as soon as the droids started to cut through the door.
"There's too many, we have to leave!" Deadshot ordered, pushing Hevy before grabbing two DC-17 blaster pistols. The rookie and sniper then headed for the vent, the latter going in last and putting the grate back into place before moving to conceal their exit point.
It was a pain to leave, but Deadshot knew better than to try and mess with an entire squad of commando droids. Maybe with more troops and weapons, but not with four rookies and himself only armed with two pistols. All they could do is make their way through the vents to outside and wait for an opportunity to arise.
Once they were out, Deadshot handed Hevy one of his two pistols and took the lead, checking ahead to make sure everything was clear. "What do we do without the sarge?" Fives asked.
"The reg manual says the next-" Echo started before Deadshot held his hand up, his ears picking up a faint hissing noise.
"Did any of you hear that?" He asked, getting a nod from Hevy.
"Yeah, what is that?"
"It doesn't sound like droids." Cutup commented, living up to his name's reputation.
Deadshot then heard small rumblings, having his pistol up and ready for whatever was making the noise. "Don't forget about those giant eels." Hevy said to Fives.
"Eh, I've never seen-"
"AHHHHHH!"
"Cutup!" Hevy shouted as he and Deadshot tried to kill the Rishi eel, the bolts doing nothing against it's hardened hide as it descended into the caves of Rishi. "What the hell was that!?"
"That was an eel." Echo answered, having been the only one to see the physical description of one. "N-now that's why we have the regulation not to go outside."
"There's nothing we can do now." Deadshot spoke up. "Let's move before it decides it's still hungry."
"Poor Cutup." Echo said as the troops started to move again, this time fully aware of their surroundings for any more eels.
After a minute of walking, the team was just underneath the base's landing pad and stopped at the sound of engines whirring. "Look!" Fives said as he pointed up to a Republic shuttle. "It's Commander Cody!"
"It's the inspection team."
"This is bad." Deadshot spoke to himself before going next to Echo. "We have to try and warn them that it isn't us in the base right now. Pass me a droid flare."
"What makes you think I…" Echo started before turning to Deadshot, seeing the clone's helmet tipped to give off the 'who else' vibe. "Right, fair point."
As the group began to prepare the attack flare, the shuttle landed and the ramp extended down. Not long after Commanders Cody and Ray walked out with Rex coming next to them, all armed with DC-15s rifles.
"This is not good." Cody commented as they walked across the landing platform. "I don't see the deck officer anywhere."
"These boys are sloppy." Rex concluded.
"Boredom does that to a clone." Ray added as he shrugged his shoulder, catching the sight of glowing white optics at the corner of his eye. "I'm telling you we at least should leave them a deck of cards."
"Do not tell me you actually have…" Rex started before turning to see Ray pull out a deck from his shoulder guard's left chest pocket. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Who knows?" Ray responded, taking one of the cards and throwing it to a box of crates, lightly drawing the other clone's gaze to where he saw the optics without them fully turning. "I just like to come prepared."
"What do you think it is?" Cody asked, having seen the optics Ray had before.
"I'm not sure, but keep your guard up." Ray ordered, actually having more authority then Cody in this situation. Both were commanders, yes, but Ray was actually an older clone and the only one in the whole group who fought during the first battle of Geonosis. As such, he has more experience and has ARC trooper training to boot.
The door to the base then opened as the three officers were halfway across the platform, revealing a trooper walking towards them "I have a bad feeling about this."
"Does no one in this army understand the word jinx?" Ray asked to himself, shaking his head as they approached the trooper.
"Welcome to Rishi, Commander." The trooper said, his tone sounding expressionless. "As you can see, the outpost is operating at peak efficiency. Thank you for visiting, and have a safe trip back." The whole time he talked, the trooper was moving his arms, reminding Ray of the apparent stereotype droids had of organics liking to move their limbs while talking.
"We need to inspect the base just the same." Cody said, getting the clone to take a step back.
"Uh, there is no need. Everything is fine and fully operational."
"Take us to the sergeant in command." Rex ordered.
"Roger, ro-" The trooper was unable to finish as Ray fired three bolts into him, one in the stomach, chest and head each.
"Ray, what the hell do you think you're doing!?"
"Relax Cody." Ray responded as he knelt to the fallen body and removed the helmet, revealing a commando droid's faceplate. "Bingo, commando droids. That explains why there was white optics across this whole platform."
"You knew?"
"I had an idea, but it's been awhile since I saw one. Plus a perk of being a guard on Kamino is you figure out a lot of tricks droids can try to pull on you. Oh, and we may want to get to cover." A flare then went off, and at the same moment the commando droids across the platform began to fire, revealing themselves to the clones.
"Ambush!"
"No, really?" Ray responded casually as they fire back and retreated to a set of two boxes. While Cody and Rex knelt behind the one facing the outpost, Ray took the one that covered their flanks, firing twice to a commando's head and taking it out. "Commando's have hardened armor! If you want to take it out quickly you aim for the head!"
In response to the advice, Rex fired three times at a commando, hitting the chest twice before the third hit its head, effectively scrapping it. "Good to know!"
"We're cut off!"
"It won't matter if we can't figure out exactly how many!" Ray shouted back as he ducked behind the crates, feeling it recoil from the multiple blasts being taken. Popping back over it, he fired three more rounds, taking out two of the commando's with higher ground.
Rex then looked up to see two thermal detonators being thrown. "Off the platform!"
"Don't have to tell me twice." Cody responded as several more were thrown to the shuttle. As Cody and Rex set up cables at the edge and go down, Ray quickly fired four shots as he jumped off, managing to destroy a commando before going below the platform.
"Commander!"
Without responding, Ray punched his right arm forward, firing a cable out that stuck underneath the platform. Both Rex and Cody looked at the ARC trooper for a second before descending down their cable along with Ray. Once their feet touched the ground they all disconnected, with Ray's cable pulling itself back into place in his forearm bracer.
"Well that sure complicates things, Commanders." Rex said. "No worse than that time on Tibrin."
"We had Jedi with us on Tibrin. They helped." Cody responded.
Rex then held his hand out as four shadows formed in view, and four clones came out of the smoke of the destroyed shuttle. As they saw them, the three aimed their weapons at them, not willing to risk falling for another trap. "Hands above your heads." The four approaching troopers complied, raising their hands up. "Take your sun bonnets off."
"Uh, sir?"
"Take 'em off! Now!"
The four then took off their helmets, revealing their identical faces. Just after they did, the Rishi eel from before emerged once more, it's attention set on the clone captain. Unfortunately it chose the wrong target, as Rex shot it directly in the before it could even move, killing it and causing it to crash to the ground.
"Nice shot." Hevy commented as Rex went to check the eel, getting its blood all over his left hand.
"The name's Rex." He said back, standing and turning to the four. "But you'll call me Captain or sir."
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"I'm Commander Cody, and this is Commander Ray, your new boss." Cody introduced, getting a neck roll from Hevy.
"My designation is trooper 27-55-55, sir."
"We call him Fives." Hevy added on. "I'm Hevy, and this is Deadshot and Echo."
"Oh boy, four of the clones from the almost doomed squads I've trained." Ray said as he walked up to the four.
"Where's your sergeant?" Cody asked.
"Dead, sir. We're all that's left." Echo answered.
"Looks like we almost have a full batch of shinies, Commander." Rex concluded, walking up next to Ray.
"Almost?"
"Shinies, sir?" Echo questioned, Hevy's seeming to be ignored.
"That's right. Your armor, it's shiny and new." Rex responded before placing his hand on Echo's chest, removing the blood and leaving a handprint. "Just like you."
"Sir, me and my batchers are trained and ready." Hevy spoke up. "We'll take back our post, shiny or not."
That got a smirk out of Rex, the Captain turning to Hevy. "There's hope for you yet rookie."
"Good to see you're a team player again Hevy." Ray said as he patted the clone's shoulder. "I swear you were as bad as Blitz was."
"Save the reunion talk for later Ray." Cody said. "First we have to take the post back, understood?"
"Sure thing Cody boy."
The squad then began to make their way up, with Rex and Cody taking the lead while Ray and Deadshot covered the rear. As they free climbed up the cliff side, Ray spoke to the sniper. "I'm surprised to see you got sent out here without the rest of your team."
Deadshot stopped for a second, recollecting his thoughts before climbing again. "Most of the squad's dead sir. There are only two of us left."
"So you got split up?" Ray asked, looking down to the sniper. "I assume that's because you were injured?"
"Took a shot to the leg. We didn't have the supplies so I was shipped out. Once I was clear, the last of us were assigned a Jedi and I was without a squad. So they sent me here."
"Who's the other survivor?" Ray asked, having an idea of whom in the squad of misfits was the other one standing.
"Jack, sir." Deadshot answered. "Tacs died back in the first mission, then Blitz and Stiches died the day after during a droid assault protecting me and Jack. The kid was put out of commission for a bit because of debris hitting him, but from the reports he's been sending me he's okay."
"You said he was assigned a Jedi right?" Deadshot nodded once, getting Ray to continue. "Are they at least getting along?"
"Ehhhhhhh…"
"No, no, no!" Jack shouted, taking a metal cylinder from Ahsoka before she set it into the Twilight's wing cannon. "I told you to put the Z4TF8C in the wing's gun! This is the Z4TF8C-2!"
"What's the difference!?" Ahsoka shouted back.
"The difference being this wing doesn't blow up into stardust you half-witted Togruta!"
"Enough?"
"You don't sound very sure about your answer."
"I'm not to be honest."
"Look sharp, rookies." Rex said as they made it to the top. "As long as those tweezers occupy this outpost, our home planet of Kamino is at risk." He and Cody then gave Echo and Hevy their rifles, while Fives and Deadshot stuck with the pistols.
"But there's so many of them." Echo said back.
"Numbers don't matter in a battle like this kid." Ray said, standing in front of the whole squad. "What matters is the drive to win. Droids like commandos don't have the same drive as us, they just simply follow orders and do what they're told. We however know that we must take back this base. So we will retake the base." The answer was more than enough for the rookies, as they and Deadshot all prepared their weapons for the coming battle.
"How do you purpose we get past those blast doors, Rex old boy?" Cody asked.
"I have a few ideas."
"I like this idea." Ray whispered as he, Cody, and Deadshot waited on one side of the blast doors, while Echo, Fives and Hevy waited at the other side. Currently, Rex was walking up to the panel to the door in a similar fashion as the droid did disguised as the clone earlier.
The droids inside noticed him and pressed the panel on their side, having the camera move up to get a better view. "Unit 2-6, is that you?"
"There are about 10 to 15 then." Ray reported, knowing that most commando squads consist of 5 to 8 units each.
"Roger, roger." The ARC trooper chuckled quietly at Rex's response to the droid, finding humor in using the droid's key phrase.
"You sound strange. Is something wrong with your vocabulator?"
"Roger, roger." Rex responded, putting his hand on his neck.
"The vocabulator's in their head." Ray commented, getting a glare from Cody.
"Take off your helmet." The droid ordered. "Let me see your faceplate."
"Roger, roger." Rex then ducked down below the camera and picked up a commando droid's head, holding it up for the droids to see.
"This is never gonna work." Cody said, shaking his head.
Much to the commander's surprise, however, the blast doors soon opened, allowing Rex to aim one of his pistols at the commando in the middle. "Clones!"
"Roger. Roger." Firing a quick shot, Rex took out the commando droid before Hevy and Ray got out of cover and blasted the other two. "Alright, let's move!"
Running forward, the clones stopped just before going up the staircase, preparing for the ambush likely set for them. "Permission to take point, sir?" Hevy asked.
"I'm always first, kid."
"Overruled!" Ray shouted, sprinting up the stairs past the Captain and rookie. Rex swore under his breath and the squad ran to catch up to the commander, getting to the top just in time to see Ray blast two commandos in the head before elbowing a third to get to the observation room's side. The one knocked over was shot by Fives and Rex, the group taking more attention away from Ray.
As the firefight started, ray was quick to dodge back and forth from blaster bolts, drawing a DC-17 pistol quickly and blasting a commando three times before throwing the pistol and the commander commando. The droid brought it's sword out and cut the pistol away before rushing at Ray, knocking his 15s out of his hands.
Dodging from side to side, Ray easily kept up with the commando droid before punching its faceplate, getting it to recoil for a second. As he reared his fist back to deliver another blow, the droid recovered and swung the sword horizontally, aiming to cleave the ARC trooper in two. As Echo aimed to aid the commander, he stared in shock as Ray bent his body back as far as he could, paralleling it to the ground while remaining solid on his feet.
Once the blade went over him, he quickly pulled out his remaining pistol and shot at the droid, hitting its chest once. The droid then moved to swing down on him, almost landing the blow before the blade was caught between Ray's hands. "That all, Clanker?" Ray asked before kicking the droid away and standing upright, flipping the blade to hold it's grip before cutting the droid diagonally, cleaving it apart.
As the droid fell to pieces, Echo and Hevy were blasting the last commando droid, taking it down in five shots. "I got one!"
"Sorry Echo. I junked that one."
"Like hell you did."
"You both did equally sad jobs of taking out a single commando droid together." Deadshot said as he elbowed Hevy as he walked past, taking his helmet off.
"Rookies feeling high and mighty right now." Ray said as he took his helmet off and went to the console, checking all of the scopes.
"Looks like that ARC trooper armor isn't just for show." Rex commented as he stood next to Ray. You can actually back up all the talk you dish out."
"Rex, you have only seen the surface." Ray responded before stopping on scope 8, Hevy's usual scope. "Everyone, head to the window. We have more guests who want a crack at the party."
Heading up, Echo put his helmet back on to use his attachable scope, and almost took a step back from what he saw in the sky. "It looks like a whole Separatist fleet."
"That's why they commandeered the outpost." Cody concluded. "They're mounting a full scale invasion."
"We have to warn command."
"Not happening Rex." Ray said from the console. "Looks like they burned the comms, nothing is getting out except for wrist communications."
"Blast."
"What's worse is they have the all-clear signal stuck. It'd take time to get it fixed and get the warning out."
"We don't have time." Rex informed as a droid transport ship was coming down.
Echo came down to help Ray, trying to see if the two could somehow fix the communications fixed. But even with the added help they were far from ready by the time the transport landed.
"We can't protect the outpost long against that army of clankers."
"Then we'll destroy the outpost instead." Rex said after Cody, getting a mix of reactions from his brothers.
"But sir, our mission is to defend this facility at all costs." Echo responded.
"We have to warn the Republic about the invasion. They'll take notice when the all-clear signal stops."
"And come running to aid push the Separatists away." Ray concluded, smirking up to the captain. "I seriously wonder how you haven't become a commander at this point Rex."
"We'll need every thermal detonator in the inventory."
"It'll take more than a few detonators to destroy this outpost."
"We can use the LT." Echo spoke up, getting the group's attention. "This moon freezes for over half the year. We use liquid tibanna as fuel to heat the base."
"Echo." Ray said, patting the rookie's shoulder. "You're gonna make it far in this army. Come on, let's gather the tanks and get it primed."
"Yes sir!"
"Everyone else, with me. We're loading up." Rex ordered as the clones all put their helmets on. The five headed into the armory, Deadshot feeling the large grin on Hevy's face as they piled in.
"I think we can even the odds a bit, commander." Fives said. "Especially since they don't know we're here."
"This one here is mine." Hevy spoke as he lifted his Z-6 rotary canon, spinning the barrel with excitement.
"Just because you have a big gun doesn't mean you're a big man." Deadshot said as he picked up his DC-15X. Checking the clip, he jammed it in a picked up a belt of magazines, hooking it around his body diagonally to offer the most freedom to grab them.
"I'd rather fight up close then from afar." Hevy said back.
"Let's just see if that attitude of yours gets you farther then it did my team leader." Deadshot responded as he pulled the bolt back on his sniper, priming it for fire.
Once they were loaded up, Hevy took the front and took guard just behind the blast doors, ready to start firing the moment it opens. Cody and Fives were ready to assist, the latter armed with dual 15S rifles while the former had a 15A rifle. AT the back of the hall was Deadshot on one knee, eyes down his sniper's scope and aimed right over Hevy's shoulder.
The sniper was determined more than ever before. He didn't so much as enjoy the last of Domino squad, but he refused to let any more soldiers die because he couldn't cover them properly. "Not twice."
"Reinforcements reporting. Open up." A battle droid said on the outside.
Cody opened up the door without a moment's hesitation, and in doing so revealed Hevy to the droids. "You didn't say please." Unloading, Hevy decimated the six droids in seconds, leading to the rest of the platoon to charge towards them. Before they got far Deadshot sniped one of the super battle droids, quickly changing his target and taking out the closest battle droid.
As Hevy, Fives and Cody all sprayed bolt after bolt at the droids, Deadshot took precision and was switching from targets at high speeds. Popping his empty clip out, he grabbed a fresh one and loaded it in seconds, pulling the bolt back once more and shooting a droid right between its optics.
"We could use a Jedi about now." Cody said as they began to be overrun, hitting the blast shield and closing it. As the clones were falling back, an explosion went off and destroyed the blast doors, allowing the droids to walk in and fire at the clones. "Fall back to the OP center!" Cody ordered. "Move!"
As they retreated, Hevy and Deadshot were covering them, firing left and right at the approaching droids. Once they reached the stairs, they turned and ran up to catch up with Cody and Fives, who were now in the OP center and heading towards Rex and Ray.
"We got a problem sir." Rex said, getting Ray's attention as he finished prepping the LT. "The handset isn't linking with the detonator."
"Well that causes a few problems." Ray muttered under his breath.
"Hevy." Rex called out to the clone. "The detonator isn't working."
"I'll take care of it sir." Hevy said as he was handed the handset. "It'll be fixed in no time. You guys get out of here."
"Just make it fast." Rex ordered as he followed Fives through the vent shaft. One after the other, each clone was piling in with Deadshot being the last one through.
Hevy worked on the detonator for a solid minute before trying to link it to the handset again. "This should do it." Testing it, he saw that the link was still busted. "This isn't good. I'm going to have to fire it manually."
"Not today rookie." Ray said, surprising his brother as he pulled Hevy up.
"Commander, you're supposed to be with the others."
"Rule number one." Ray responded, catching the clone off guard. "Well? You know the rule, or have you forgotten it already."
"We fight together." Hevy muttered.
"That's right, no man is left behind." Ray then moved his head to the door, hearing the incoming droids. "Hevy, how long would it take to get through the vents to outside?"
"About two minutes sir."
"Well then…" Ray started as he opened the second pouch on his chest plate, pulling out a thin prism from it. "It's time to set a record and go for one."
"Sir?"
"Better move fast kid." Ray said, pressing a button on the prism, causing it to start beeping. "58 seconds."
It finally dawned on Hevy what the commander did. When it did, he threw his Z-6 down and booked it to the vent, causing the commander to chuckle as he made his way in the vent. "You always were a slow one Hevy." Sliding it below the LT, Ray was now entering the vent and kept going. Instead of closing the vent, he left it open to serve as a distraction. Droids investigate what they see rather than what they hear.
49 seconds
Ray was being risky, but he knew that it had a chance of working. Seeing Hevy ahead, he knew that the rookie had a guarantee of making it, albeit by a few seconds.
30 seconds
Something that always made Ray a unique trooper was how risky he was. He had no idea how quickly he could make it through the vents, but he'd rather take that risk then lose such a promising candidate as Hevy. With time, he felt as if the troops they've picked up could become ARC troopers. They obviously lack experience, but their unique personalities and relationships were key to making amazing soldiers.
10 seconds
"Commander, where are you?" Deadshot questioned over the comms.
"Doing something either really cool or really stupid!"
"Commander?" As he asked, Hevy had dropped out of the vent, calming Echo and Fives from worrying of their batch brother dying. Just after however, the explosive device went off, taking the LT destroying the whole base. Fire shot out from the vent rapidly, sending the ARC trooper flying over the cliff side. "Commander!"
"Come on ace." Ray muttered as he held an ace card in his hand, aiming his cable hook at the cliff. "Give me a bit of luck here." Firing, the cable bolted over to the cliff, sticking into the wall and stopping Ray's descent. The clone sighed in relief and started to climb, but stared in shock as the hook disconnected.
Before he could fall, however, Rex and Cody caught the cable, saving the ARC trooper. "We got you sir." Rex groaned as the rest of the group went to help them, pulling Ray up in a matter of seconds.
Ray laid back on the ground, panting as debris fell around them. "Hehe, another successful mission."
"I take it back, I don't think something's wrong with you." Rex said as he smirked down to the commander. "I know something's wrong now."
"Don't make me pull rank on you."
"And that's the last of the report." Ray said, staring at the hologram of Shaak Ti from the console. After the base was destroyed, a Republic fleet was quick to appear, forcing the outnumbered Separatists to retreat.
"Commando droids, must have been exciting for you." The Jedi Master said, knowing how Ray's attitude would normally take at the situation.
"Sometimes I remember the thrill of being on the front lines." Ray responded, rolling his shoulders. "Been awhile since I fought those clankers too, haven't seen one since Geonosis during my squad's assault on a droid factory."
"You mean Ace's squad that you were the tactical weapon's expert for." Shaak Ti corrected.
"Hey, I might as well of been the leader of the squad if Ace's track record was anything to go by." Ray countered. "But besides that, I'd say we got something pretty good out of that dull station."
"Yes, the troops that survived." Shaak Ti said, remembering the mention of the clones recently let out. "Hevy, Fives, Echo and Deadshot all managed to survive, impressive given their experiences."
"They're as natural as I said they'd be." Ray commented. "But they need to learn in smaller groups, which is why I gave the clear for Rex and Cody to take two each."
"Was that wise though?"
"The 501st and 212th work together very often. I doubt they won't be apart for too long. If anything, this will strengthen their bond further and improve themselves even further."
"You're trying to make more ARC troopers."
"They all have potential to be some of the best ARCs out there. I'm hoping Rex can give Echo and Fives the idea of thinking on their feet more while Cody gives Hevy and Deadshot their need to follow orders better." Ray explained. "Other than that, they're almost perfect for the ARC troopers."
"Interesting hearing about following orders from you Ray." Shaak Ti smiled at the clone, who pulled at his armor, caught in his own trap. "I just hope your plan works, it would be a shame if they suffer from this."
"We both know I'm willing to take those risks."
"Of course."
"I'll be back by tomorrow ma'am." Ray nodded, taking his helmet off. "Make sure the cadets don't think they can get away with slacking off with me not there."
"I'll pass the message." Shaak Ti lightly laughed as the connection cut. She'd never say it, but the clone helped make most people feel normal. She had her duty as a Jedi and kept to it no matter what, but Ray made it seem almost more of a choice then her job.
Jedi were often paired with clones to balance each other, yet Ray didn't official balance with anyone. He chose to be under her, to serve on Kamino. She wasn't sure if it was for the assignment, or because he felt the need to repay her after their short meeting on Geonosis, but either way the duo worked well together. She couldn't of asked for a better second, even if his creation was a mistake.
That unique mistake to him is what makes him who he is. And thanks to it, he's proven himself to be worth keeping. Even if he lied about the exact details of that mistake. She knew it the moment she saw his ID number.
CC-01-01-25