The Burning Earth
I do not own Star Wars the Clone Wars. It belongs to LucasFilm and The Walt Disney Company.
ANNOUNCEMENT: I made a 'Promo' video for this story! Go to my profile to find the link or type in The Burning Earth Promo on YouTube. It was a lot of work but it was fun to make :)
A/N: I've decided to up the rating to M because I am paranoid with where this story will be going very soon. Also, SURPRISE I put up this chapter early. Explanation at the end.
Chapter 10 - Hammer Down
PART 1
Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. ~ Ernest Hemingway
Washington D.C.
Day 2: Monday, July 22 - 2:24am
Army Ranger Sergeant Cedric Dawson slowly opened his eyes, looking around at his surroundings. He was still within the Republic gunship but it was clear they weren't going to be flying anytime soon. His ears were ringing but he could hear the all too familiar muffled sound of a firefight occurring right outside the downed transport.
Steadily, Dawson got to his feet, looking down at the blood on his left arm and shoulder. He grunted in slight discomfort as he reached for his discarded SCAR-H assault rifle. After securing his equipment, the Ranger made his way out of the sparking aircraft, dropping down a few feet to reach the sidewalk. Apparently, after losing altitude, the gunship crashed into the roof of a building, along with several other flaming ships littering the street. It was at that moment that his ears finally decided to stop ringing, allowing him to hear the full extent of their predicament. Down the road was a large group of Russian paratroopers and battledroids all bearing down on their position.
Quickly regaining his scrambled senses, Dawson rushed to take cover behind a car where he found Lieutenant Appo, Tup and Hardcase.
"Glad to see you're alright, Sergeant." Tup stated, flinching as an explosion occurred a few meters away.
"What's our situation?" Dawson asked, taking a moment to fire at the enemy.
Appo shook his head. "The battle seems to have taken a turn for the worst, sir. After that Separatist orbital bombardment, D.C. Command initiated Evacuation Order April."
Dawson sighed. "So that's it, then. We're on our own now."
Operation Order April, a command no one in the U.S. military wanted to hear. In short, this order meant that all air support units were to return to the National Mall, if possible, and get as many soldiers out of the city as possible before retreating far northwest to a safe area. The remaining defenders will be forced to hold out and try to stay alive. Alone.
Hardcase nodded to the American. "We've got no air cover, the Orbit is destroyed, no backup is coming anytime soon, not with the entire eastern seaboard on fire." He then sighed and tapped his wrist comlink. "All comms are down, they're jamming all communication across the entire eastern portion of the North American continent."
"Crap, man, that's a huge amount of space to jam... Have we tried all channels?"
Tup nodded. "All of them. Nothing but static."
"What about General Skywalker?"
Tup gave a small shrug. "Haven't seen or heard from the General since the Memorial."
"We're down to only eight clones and about ten of your Rangers." Appo said, gesturing to the men all around the street, exchanging fire with the enemy invaders.
"Incoming!" A clone shouted, followed by a large explosion occurring behind them from a Russian tank shell. Everyone took cover as debris flew at high speed in every direction from the blast radius.
• • • • •
A droid commander held up his hand and the battledroids and super-battledroids immediately stopped firing their weapons. "Retreat! Retreat!" It called and of course they all complied without a hint of hesitation.
"Roger, roger."
The Russian paratroopers looked on in confusion upon seeing their robot counterparts running back down the street in full-on retreat. They had the Americans by the throat and the droids just decide to run away?
However, the Russian CO spoke into his radio for a moment before turning to his men. "We're going back to the White House. Retreat." He said in the Russian language.
Quickly, still questioning why they were leaving, the paratroopers regrouped and moved towards Pennsylvania Avenue after their lifeless droid companions.
• • • • •
"They're falling back!" A clone trooper shouted, lowering his weapon along with everyone else.
Dawson sighed in relief. "Now what do we do?"
As if the very heavens decided that now would be a great time to screw around with the battle-weary soldiers, a crack of lightning lit up the night sky, followed by the roar or thunder.
"Ah, come on!" An Army Ranger exclaimed in disbelief right as the heavy downpour of rain started.
"We need to regroup and find shelter. Move it, men!" Appo ordered and rushed down the street, finding a relatively intact shoe store. The clone lieutenant crouched at the entrance and gestured for everyone to take defensive positions. "Hardcase, you're up."
"Yes, sir." The trooper acknowledged and stealthily entered the medium sized store, followed closely by three other clones.
Once the four of them swept the area, Hardcase returned. "We're clear, sir. Come on in."
Nodding, Appo waved everyone inside.
Earth's Upper Atmosphere
2:10am
Republic Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin stood on the bridge of a Venator-class destroyer, watching with satisfaction as the Separatist fleet was being forced into disarray. "It would appear Commander Tano's contribution to the plan was worthwhile." He said to himself. It was the Padawan's idea to send a few cruisers in first to surprise the Seps and cause confusion when they appeared dangerously close to the enemy ships. He then pulled in the rest of his impressive fleet and the battle truly began.
When they first arrived, they had a perfect attack pattern, but that all went out the window when the Separatist surprisingly met them head on, throwing caution to the wind it would appear. He'll admit, their formation wasn't ideal but it was effective all the same. Republic ships were scattered about protecting the Acclamator II-class assault ships and shredding the Separatist at the same time.
Behind him, Jedi Master Quinlan Vos entered the bridge and stood beside him. "I've spoken with the techies and they've reported that the hyperwave transceivers we strung out across hyperspace are operational. So basically this entire system has access to the HoloNet... Or at least they will when we set up down there."
"Very good, General Vos." Tarkin stated, still observing the battle raging around his ship. "All that's left is for us to blow a hole in their defenses."
"Easy." Vos said.
"Perhaps, General, perhaps. Has Commander Tano left yet?"
"Yep. She's leading the bombers."
• • • • •
"Alright, boys, follow me." Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano said, piloting her Y-wing bomber into the thicket of battle. "We're going in."
"Right behind you, Red-1." One of her fellow pilots, Red-2, responded.
Nodding to herself, Ahsoka accelerated to attack speed and led the bombers for their first target, a Providence-class destroyer.
"Let's get this over with. Squads 3 and 4 aim for the starboard hangers. Squad 2 hit their forward engines. Squad 1 follow me to the command bridge."
"Copy that, Red-1."
United States Capitol - Visitor Center Entrance
1:46am
"General, we've got rollers!" Commander Cody shouted above the intense gunfire to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The Jedi turned to face East Capitol Street and saw four destroyer droids rolling towards them, stopping about 40 meters away before opening fire. Kenobi brought his lightsaber up and quickly batted aside the hailstorm of laserfire. "We need rocket launchers!"
"Get up there, soldiers!" Cody ordered a pair of Marines who rushed to their position, wielding RPG-7s. "Fire!"
The two simultaneously fired their projectiles, hitting the destroyer droids and destroying them in powerful explosions.
"Good work, men." Cody said with a nod.
"Cody, what's the word on Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked, deflecting another stray blaster bolt away from him.
"Near as I can tell General Skywalker has pulled back from the Department of Commerce and declared it a lost."
"Really?" The Jedi said, mildly surprised. "I wouldn't have guessed Anakin would pull away from anything... Where is he now?"
"I'm afraid I don't know, sir." Cody said, shaking his head. "Our communications have been fuzzy for a while. Based on the fluctuating static it seems like the techies at Command are trying to get our comms back up."
Obi-Wan sighed. "We'll have to hold out then. We've been doing it for hours so I'm sure we'll be fine."
There was a sudden CRASH sound, followed up with a loud explosion that put everyone on edge. Then another explosion. And another.
"What's going on?" A clone asked and was answered as streaks of red slammed into the Orbit to their west.
Obi-Wan's eyes widened and he turned to his men. "It's an orbital bombardment! Move, now!"
Without having to be told a second time, the clones and Marines quickly retreated back inside the Capitol Building as Washington D.C. was fired upon from high above.
• • • • •
"I believe the coast is clear, sir." Cody stated, breaking the almost chilling silence in the building. They'd held out within the Capitol for almost ten minutes now, having had listened to the initial bombardment and the sound of crashes before it simply ceased.
Obi-Wan nodded. "Let's head out, men. Be careful."
Cody stalked towards the doors and opened them, waving the soldiers outside. The scene that greeted them was unexpected. Multiple aircraft, Republic, U.S., and Russian, littered the streets. A handful of buildings were ablaze in sizable fires, smoke drifted through their surroundings. In the distance, you could see the smoke and flames from the Orbit's crash site rising high into the clouds.
"It's too quiet man..." A Marine said quietly as they moved through the Capitol's plaza and down to East Capitol Street and 1st Street.
"I don't like this..." Clone trooper Waxer whispered. "Where are the droids?"
"I don't know." Obi-Wan said, holding up his fist. The clones heeded the signal and stopped where they were. The Jedi Master then turned to his Commander and the Marine leader. "Cody, take Lieutenant Colonel Max and four of your best men. I want you to scout ahead and report back here by 0230."
Lieutenant Colonel Max nodded and called over two of his Marines. "Private Justin! Private Alex!"
Justin made his way to the front and saluted his commanding officer. "Sir! Private Justin reporting."
Alex appeared next to him and did the same, followed by two other clone troopers. "Private First Class Alex Ferguson reporting."
"Waxer, reporting for duty, sir." The first clone said, snapping to attention.
"Boil, reporting, sir." The second said.
Cody nodded in approval. "Alright, soldiers, we've got a mission. General Kenobi wants us to scout ahead and see what the droids are planning. Comms are down so we're going in blind."
"Understood, Commander." Boil acknowledged with a curt nod.
Lieutenant Colonel Max spoke up. "Alex, Boil, you're with me. Waxer and Justin, with Cody."
The two small groups split up and headed their separate ways. Max led his team north up 1st Street, while Cody went south.
• • • • •
"It's too quiet around here, Commander..." Justin said, feeling increasingly uneasy.
"Yeah, it's been like this ever since that orbital bombardment." Waxer added, crouching behind a car with his two comrades. The three of them had managed to get further down Independence Avenue, finding themselves behind the relatively untouched United States Botanic Gardens.
Cody turned to them. "Area seems clear, let's move up."
Nodding to himself, Justin followed the two clones.
But suddenly, a hailstorm of blasterfire rained down on them from their left, pelting the street and very nearly killing them.
"Sh**, take cover!" Justin shouted, dive-rolling out of the line of fire and ducking behind another vehicle with Cody while Waxer hid behind a second car across the street.
"See anything!?" Cody inquired from Waxer who peeked out from cover only to be fired upon again, forcing him back.
"They're on the roof of that building over there!" He responded, jamming his thumb at the structure behind him.
"The Department of Health and Human Services Building." Justin clarified, aiming his rifle at the building and shooting at the barely visible enemy.
Cody did the same before putting a finger to his helmet, activating the rangefinder built into the side of his Phase II. "Hmm, hey, it's-" He was interrupted as another barrage of laserfire struck the ground in front of him. He scrambled back for cover, snatching his helmet off in frustration. "Fierfek! You almost hit me, di'kut!" He shouted loudly.
The blasterfire stopped soon after he said this and Waxer peered over the car he was behind. He touched the side of his helmet and focused on the building's rooftop, seeing two clone troopers dressed in yellow-striped armor with a Separatist double-barrel repeating blaster. "What the heck are you doing?!"
One of the clones produced a pair of binoculars and looked down at them. "Commander Cody?"
"Yes! Why shoot at your own officer?!"
"Sorry, sir! We thought you were Russian...!"
"Well, we're clearly not! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Cody sighed, shaking his head. "Shinies..." He gestured for Justin and Waxer to follow him and the three of them rushed across the street to the Hubert H. Humphrey Building, the headquarters for the Health and Human Services. As soon as they made it to the entrance, a squad of clones greeted them, their weapons drawn.
"Take us to whoever's in charge, troopers." Cody demanded, unfazed.
The clones lowered their weapons and the sergeant nodded. "Apologies, sir. We're a little... on edge." He led them into the main lobby where they found an entire company of clones.
Waxer removed his helmet, saluting the figure that walked over to them. "Commander Sapphire."
Jedi Padawan Alix Sapphire nodded. "Waxer, Cody, boy am I glad to see you two. Sorry we shot at you but I'm kinda paranoid at the moment... Just a little..."
"Of course, sir." Cody said. "We're on a scouting mission for General Kenobi."
"Give me a status report on what's happening cause I'm completely in the dark."
"Yes, sir. After that brief orbital bombardment most of our air support were caught in the laserfire and are out-of-action. They also hit the cities power source." The clone commander sighed. "All comms are down and our forces are scattered showers without a solid command structure."
"The droids and paratroopers have seemingly disappeared as well." Waxer added.
Alix nodded, stroking his chin in thought. "We've noticed the absence of enemy activity and retreated here to be safe. Without any power we're going nowhere fast."
"Actually, sirs," Justin spoke up, drawing Cody and Alix's attention, "there are a few places that I know for a fact still have power."
"Oh? Please, by all means, tell us." Alix said, listening intently.
"The U.S. Capitol Building and most of the buildings in the Smithsonian Institute have back-up generators to withstand power loss across the board. But, most importantly, the White House is definitely operational."
"That actually makes a whole lot of sense... If we can retake the White House, then we have a direct link to Central Command." Alix mused, snapping his fingers. "We need to gather as many forces as we can." He then looked back at the Marine. "Most of Washington's most important buildings are linked underground, correct?"
Justin nodded. "Yes, sir, the tunnels and bunkers were completed a few years ago."
"Is this structure apart of this linkage?"
"I believe so, yes."
A smile formed on the young Jedi's face. "Cody, head back to General Kenobi and tell him to bring his forces here to my position." He looked over at two other clones in the large room. "Longshot, Tail, I want you to head to the Mall and see if you can find Master Yoda. Tell him to bring their remaining men to our location."
"Yes, sir." Longshot stated and rushed out of the building with Tail following close behind.
"I think I like this plan, Commander." Cody said with a smile, putting his helmet back on. Outside, a crack of lightning could be heard, proceeded shortly by the heavy rain. "And now it's raining..."
Waxer laughed, also replacing his helmet and following after Cody and Justin. "Nature just loves to mess with our emotions, sir."
• • • • •
"I don't know what's worst. The embarrassment of getting our butts handed to us by the droids or freezing my a** off in this Force-forsaken typhoon." A clone trooper muttered to himself as he and four other clones quickly moved down the now wet streets of D.C., looking for a high-profile target.
"Cut the shatter, trooper." Sergeant Jag ordered. They were all speaking on internal comms as to keep their presence a quiet. "They're up ahead."
"You sure, sir?"
"Not really."
"That's refreshing to know..."
Jag held up his fist and the five-man squad stopped instantly. He made a series of hand gestures before tapping on his helmet.
Nodding, the men activated their headlights and continued forward much slower.
"I've got movement, sir." One trooper announced quietly. "I think it's one of our HVIs."
Jag moved a little faster up the street and stopped at the corner of a building, crouching down. One of his men crouched next to him and produced a pair of binoculars. "I see her. She's behind that car across the street... I believe she's looking for something."
"Let's go, try not to startle her." Jag said, signaling for everyone to fan out and approach the girl.
As they got closer, Jag saw her up close. A small girl, obviously shaken with long, dark hair, looked up at them. Quickly, faster than he thought possible from someone as small as her, she tossed a medium sized rock in his direction. Ducking, he hears a curse as one of the men behind him were hit in the head. Jag held up his hand to stop them and dropped his blaster. "She thinks we're the enemy. Probably droids." He said, the girl backing up from them, her eyes full of fear and sadness.
He slowly reached up and took hold of his helmet, pulling the bucket off his head. "Hey, it's okay kid. We're friends." He reached his hand out to her and she shrank away, backing into the car behind her. "We aren't gonna hurt you, little one. We just want to help."
Around him, some of the other clones removed their helmets as well, looking at the girl kindly.
Hesitating, the girl finally spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. "My brother is hurt."
"Where is he?" Jag asked, getting closer and crouching down to her level.
She pointed at a store three buildings down.
Nodding, Jag replaced his helmet and gestured for the others to do the same. "Lead the way, kid. We'll help him."
The girl timidly took Jag's hand, surprising him, and led them towards the building.
When they reached the store, some sort of clothing department, they did indeed find a boy, no more than at least 15 years old.
"My, God," a trooper breathed, seeing the condition of the boy and immediately knelt down, producing numerous medical supplies. The kid was unconscious and his right arm was wrapped around his left abdomen. Moving the arm, the medic took an intake of breath. It was a nasty looking wound, clearly from blasterfire. "What happened to him?" He said, the question directed at the girl but he held his attention on the wound.
The girl shuffled on her feet, tears in the corners of her eyes. "T-The bad robots..." She tightened her hold on Jag's hand, "they chased us."
The medic nodded, not needing to hear the rest to know what happened. He quickly started to do as much as he can to alleviate some if the pain the boy must obviously be experiencing and clean the wound to prevent infection.
Jag knelt next to the girl, "what's your name, kid?"
"...Jennifer..." She said, looking into his helmet's visor. "My brother is Jason."
"Well, Jennifer, my names Jag, we're gonna fix your brother up and keep you both safe. Okay?"
She nods, still timid. Of course she's timid, Jag, she's traumatized...
"Which way did the droids—I mean robots—go?"
Jennifer shivered a little. Jag couldn't tell if it were from the cold rain or the memory of the droids. Probably both. "They chased us but then they left."
Jag nodded to himself. "Probably towards the White House..." He said, more to himself than the girl. One of his troopers walked over.
"I scouted ahead, sir. All's clear for three blocks both ways."
"No Russian or droid activity?"
The clone shook his head. "Dead silence outside, sir."
"Hm, they may be regrouping. We need to get these two somewhere secure and fast. It won't stay quiet for long."
Suddenly, they heard shouting outside and rushed to the stores entrance to see what was happening. Two of the team's clones were aiming their weapons at a figure who was running straight for them down the street. "I said halt! Identify yourself!"
The figure finally slowed down, stepping close enough to see through the heavy rain. Upon realizing who he was the men relaxed and lowered their weapons.
Jag pulled his helmet off and greeted his fellow trooper as he stopped in front of him and gave a crisp salute.
"What are you doing here, trooper?"
"I'm a runner for Commander Alix. I was ordered to search out as many of our forces as possible and direct them southbound."
Jag nodded. "What's happening out there?"
"The droids and Russians seem to have halted their attacks but we haven't had eyes on them in quite some time. The Commander has a plan to take back the White House but he needs everyone at his position."
"Understood. We'll head out as soon as possible."
The trooper nodded, moving around them and continued down the street.
"Where are you off to?" Jag asked.
"Got to tell as many people I can find! Just head south till you find the Department of Health and Human Services Building!" The trooper answered before disappearing into the foggy rain.
• • • • •
"See anything?" Lieutenant Colonel Max called up to Private Alex, who was scanning the area with a pair of binoculars. They were within a multistory store on 15th and New York St. Nearby was the White House complex. They could see much of it from their fourth story position.
"Hmm, yep. The droids are definitely here." Alex answered with a nod.
Boil was next to her and nodded as well. "There's a lot of enemies between Pennsylvania Avenue and The Ellipse." He zoomed in with his electrobinoculars. "I count a dozen Separatist tanks, plus a few Russian ones."
"How many droids?" Max asked.
"A lot. Thousands maybe and that's just the ones we can see." Alex stated, turning her attention to the building itself. "I have a visual of three Russian snipers on the rooftop… Wait I see two commando droids with them. There has to be more though."
"We'll have to tell the General." Max said, picking up his rifle. "Let's head back."
• • • • •
Longshot and Tail continued to stalk down Pennsylvania Ave towards the Command Center in the National Mall.
"I tell you man, we weren't as prepared for this as we thought." Tail muttered as they passed a smoking, clearly disabled M1 Abram tank.
"We were as prepared as we could be. Our only mission was to slow their advance and get the civvies out of harm's way."
"Well we succeeded on getting everyone out. As for slowing their advance… I'm gonna have to say no…"
They made their approach to the National Mall, sprinting through the courtyard behind the Smithsonian Castle and up to Jefferson Drive.
"Halt!" A voice called out.
Both clones did as they were told, watching as a squad of 501st troopers appeared. A clone captain stepped forward, putting away his weapons.
"Commander Sapphire sent us, Captain Rex. We have a message for General Yoda."
Rex nodded. "I was beginning to wonder when someone would show up here." He motioned for the two to follow him, ordering the rest of the squad to stay at their posts.
"What happened here, Captain?"
"After that bombardment from space the droids took off. We set up a perimeter around the entrances into the park but we're spread pretty thin."
"Well, if the Commander's plan works, we'll have the White House under our control in the next four to five hours at the least."
Bronx, New York City, New York
2:00am
The night sky briefly lit up as explosives went off across the length of the Alexander Hamilton Bridge. Large sections of the bridge crumbled into the Harlem River while National Guardsmen looked on.
This was one of many bridges to be severed across the Bronx. The military and police wanted as little entrances into the borough as possible to limit the mobility of the droids and Russian paratroopers. University Heights Bridge and Washington Bridge were virtually the only connection the Bronx has to the besieged Manhattan. Queens was also cut off by land thanks to significant defensive measures set up by the U.S. in southern Bronx.
The enemy has taken well over half of Manhattan, Staten Island, and Queens while Brooklyn was a smoking mass of nothing. It was just gone. You wouldn't be able to recognize it as the lively borough it once was.
Nearby, JFK International Airport was now firmly in enemy hands, serving as the Separatist/Russian command post for Attack Group North, the group responsible for the northeastern half of the U.S.
Driving north in the Bronx was a convoy of military Humvees and police cruisers. They were coming from war-torn Manhattan, transporting many injured civilians and military personnel.
"This is freaking madness." A middle-aged man said. He was sitting inside one of the Humvees, alongside another man. "Why couldn't this have happened on my day off?"
The other man shook his head. "So sorry the aliens decided to screw over your break, House. Which consists of you sitting in the house watching General Hospital reruns."
"Very good reruns." The man, House, added.
The Humvee came to a stop and a National Guardsmen opened the door. "Dr. House, Dr. Wilson." He said in greeting, allowing the two doctors to exit the vehicle. "We've arrived at the hospital."
House and Wilson looked up at the large complex. "Well, here we go." Wilson said as they were ushered into the building. The scene that greeted them was horrific to say the least.
Men and women screamed and cried in agony, both military and civilians. The smell of burning flesh and open wounds was strong here from the droid's relentless attack. One section of the hospital was full of crying children, more than half of them parentless. Their mothers and fathers were either injured, dead, or missing. Hundreds of military medics and civilian doctors rushed around, treating the more severely injured first and making their way down.
And this was just the first floor of the hospital.
"Oh, this is much worse than I thought." Wilson said, looking around in shock. He knew there would be horrible injuries, this is war after all, but what was before his own eyes was nothing he could have imagined.
A female doctor ran over to them and handed over two lab coats. "You two can start down there." She said, pointing to the far side of the room before rushing off again.
House slipped into the coat. "Well, this is slightly more exciting then General Hospital reruns."
"Shut up." Wilson responded as the two put on gloves and got to work.
Department of Health and Human Services Building
3:40am
"I still can't believe you thought up this plan, Alix…" Obi-Wan said as he and the Padawan both made their way deep below the building through a series of stairwells. Marine Private Justin and two other Marines led the way, with the Jedi using their lightsabers for light.
"So, I'm the only one who can't come up with a plan?" Alix asked.
"Well, no… You just rarely do from what I can remember."
"That hurts…"
They finally made it to their destination, a large steel door.
"This is it?" Obi-Wan asked, turning to the Marines.
Justin nodded. "Yes, sir. This door connects to the underground tunnel network throughout the city. We should be able to get to the White House through here."
"Good." Alix said with a nod. "Open the door and get some men down there. Sweep the first hundred meters or so then wait for further orders. We'll go back upstairs and wait for Master Yoda."
"Yes, sir."
• • • • •
Almost thirty minutes later, Yoda, Rose, Captain Rex, U.S. General Alexander and the rest of their forces arrived at the building. Hundreds of clones and U.S. soldiers set up outside and inside the complex.
Yoda and Rose met Alix and Obi-Wan in the lobby. "Received your message from troopers Longshot and Tail we did, Padawan." Yoda said as the four Jedi bowed to each other.
"Good to see you masters. We found the tunnel entrance several stories below us and the Marines are sweeping it as we speak."
Rose nodded. "Very good, we can start mobilizing whenever you're ready."
"Has anyone seen Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked out of the blue.
Rex shook his head. "No, sir. We lost contact with him hours ago. Last we heard the General was retreating from the Department of Commerce building."
"Fine, young Skywalker will be. He always is." Yoda said, bringing the conversation back to the task at hand. "Focus on recapturing the White House we must. Only way to contact reinforcements it is."
"Master Yoda's right, Anakin is probably fine. We need to move forward with Alix's plan." Rose reasoned.
"Quite right." Obi-Wan agreed and turned to his Commander. "Cody prepare the men in 30 minutes."
"Yes, sir."
• • • • •
"Sir! Are you alright in there?!" A voice shouted. "General Skywalker?"
Anakin groaned and opened his eyes. "Ugh, my head…" He complained, holding his head. Looking around, it didn't take him long to realize he was inside a gunship. Or, at least, what used to be a gunship. The clones and U.S. Rangers that were with him were either dead or injured.
"General Skywalker?!" The voice called again outside the ship. Anakin finally recognized it as a clone's voice.
"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a headache." He said, hearing footsteps as a group of troopers came to his position and began prying the jammed gunship doors. "Four of us are alive down here."
The clones finally peeled open the doors and two of them stepped inside. "Good to see you, sir." They helped Anakin out if the wreckage while the others assisted the remaining clones.
"What's our status?"
"We've got no air cover; all our gunships are either down or gone."
"Do you know where we are?" Anakin asked, looking around as the clones led him into a shop nearby. At least two dozen clones and U.S. Rangers were in and around the building.
"North of the White House, sir. As far as we can tell. Communications are down, the droids are jamming us."
"What about the rest of our forces?"
The clone shook his head and shrugged. "We're not sure, sir. We can only assume the rest of our men are scattered or… dead."
Anakin sighed, but then had a look of inspiration. "The Separatist wouldn't set up a jamming tower at the White House complex, it's too big of a target. So that means they placed it somewhere else. We take that out, we'll have communications again."
"So I guess we're going hunting then." One of the clones said, holding his blaster against his shoulder.
White House, Situation Room
4:00am
General Grievous stormed into the room filled with computers and monitors. In the center of the room was a portable holoprojector, with the blue image of Count Dooku already there.
"Ah, General Grievous, I'm afraid we have a problem." Dooku said calmly. "The Republic has returned in force with a fleet. They will soon break our blockade."
"Are you suggesting we flee, Count?" Grievous accused, clearly not pleased with the thought of retreating.
At this, Dooku only chuckled. "Of course not, General. This is only a minor inconvenience."
"Then what shall be done, my Lord?"
"For now continue your attack of the U.S. east coast. Our forces in the west are being driven back and will be defeated, let them have that victory. I, on the other hand, will deploy the last of the droids to the continents of Europe and Asia."
Grievous nodded. "A truly global war, my Lord."
"Precisely, General." Dooku said and cut the connection.
• • • • •
Private Brick was awoken by a light kick to his leg. He looked up to see Colonel Rachael standing over him.
"On your feet, Marine. We're moving now." She said, handing him his SCAR-L rifle.
They were on the third floor of the Health and Human Services building, with many other Marines there as well, resting for the inevitably long fight ahead. But now, everyone was gathering their weapons and ammunitions, heading down the stairwell.
Getting to his feet, the private followed the line of Marines down the stairwell and finally into the sublevel basement.
"Come on, soldiers, pick up the pace!" A clone captain in red and white shouted. He and another trooper were flanking the large double doors that led into the labyrinth of tunnels. "Everyone goes in two-by. There's a trooper every few meters with headlamps, follow them to our destination. Give them Hell soldiers."
Brick paired up with another Marine and headed into the dark hall. "Well, this is gonna be intense."
The Marine chuckled. "Intense is an understatement. I hear there's gonna be thousands of droids up there."
"Don't forget the Russian paratroopers."
"This is gonna be one hell of a fight." The Marine held out a hand. "Private Hayden Reed."
Brick gave his hand a firm shake. "I'm Brick. Ready to fu** up their night?"
"Always."
Well, that's a good place to stop. I actually planned to keep writing but this is already getting pretty long and it's only going to get longer. So, I'll stop here and continue in a new chapter.
Anyway, the remaining clones and U.S. soldiers are preparing to attack the very heavily defended White House complex. They're going to need a lot of luck for this.
Next Chapter: Hammer Down: PART 2
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Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime. ~ Ernest Hemingway