From Mykle's viewpoint Kamino never experienced any other kind of weather besides harsh rainfall. The droplets of water combined on the canopy, making it hard for the pilots to see, communication also varied from barley audible to an endless screeching that battered the eardrums. The fleet of X-Wings, Y-Wings and A-Wings flew close to the roaring waters in effort to hide themselves from being detected by the Imperials radar system. "Once we go up do not leave any of your soldiers to die, we fight for one another." Ahsoka told the other pilots. Mykle wanted to make a wisecrack, like the days before, but his clenched throat wouldn't allow it.
On word they split, attacking the support of the island being propped up over the water, and zeroing in on the cannons placed under the Helipad, the blasts hitting their targets. "We got a safe zone." Krueger informed through his jovial manner. Now if a fighter was in danger of being shot down they could escape through the toothless area. "Lieutenant!" A officer called for Irwin. "Our facility is under air attack, what shall we do?" It must be those sickly rebels looking to play hero. Lieutenant Sod ordered the scrambling of TIE Fighters and the manning of stationary machine guns. These gunners weren't to be trifled with, in moments Kreuger and Mykle's wings were nicked, unable to get to same gravity as before, their fighters favoring their right side. "They got us back." Mykle said, noticing Kreuger ran into the same dilemma. "We'll be fine, see if your R2 unit can stop the leakage." Kreuger told him. Mykle didn't know what he was talking about until he saw his screen flash with a notification telling him of engine leak, not oil, but coolant. His canopy began to fog up, so much he had to pull out of the action. "I gotta get out of here, Kreuger, I can't see nothing." Kreuger understand and told Mykle to thank his stars it wasn't an oil leak.
Hovering over the action it dawned on to Mykle that this is his first time visiting Kamino, he never had the pleasure of visiting the cloning facilities during the war. When he was younger he didn't look at the Clones he served with in the Clone War as anything less than a life. But the older he got, the more distant he became from that innocent boy who dreamt of adventure. The foggy canopy mercifully cleared, now able to see the tides of the battle have turned in favor of the ambushed Imperials.
"Mykle!" Ahsoka's voice sounded horsed coming out of the intercom. "Where are you?" Catching a TIE Fighter riding her wings, Mykle turned the nose of his fighter and dove for the enemy fighter, shooting it out of the sky. "Right behind you." He couldn't contain the smug satisfaction he was feeling at having saved her backside. His moment was short lived, a TIE Fighter managed to blow off his left wing engine, flying uneven he had to either eject and swim... to somewhere. With no island in sight, Mykle opted to make a harsh turn crash landing into the Kamino cloning facility. Hearing his name ring over and over, buzzing sharply, Mykle added he was "fine" but dizzy. Opening the hatch to breathe. "Looks like I crashed through the cloning room." He noted the outstanding coincidence, stopping to admire the endless line of Jango Fett Clones. "Shame you don't have any charges." Kreuger sighed. Looking back, Mykle saw his R2 unit remained in tip-top shape despite what had transpired. "No." Mykle concurred, but the wheels were sent into motion.
"R2," He signaled for the astrodroid to eject himself from the starfighter. "See if you can get into the system and effect the process." Immediately he connected himself to the system, overriding the firewalls, though it took some time. The doors slide open to show Stormtroopers ready and loaded to kill. Mykle instantly took action and gave the R2 unit covering fire. "Hurry up!" He yelped, not knowing if he could hold them back for long. But, as always, shortcuts were taken and instead of halting the cloning process, accelerated, one-by-one the underdeveloped clones fell on the floor slowly gaining consciousness. Mykle had hoped they weren't programmed to serve the Empire, yet, but their gimpy, deformed limbs marched towards him wiped that idea. Out of ammo, he turned to his old lightsaber, slashing and hacking at anyone who came within reach. Some of the underdeveloped Clones turned their attention simultaneously towards the Stormtroopers, which gave Mykle a window to escape the tight situation.
"Mykle!" He's heard his name shouted in his ear so much he's surprised his eardrum didn't pop. "What was that?"
"The clones..." he said breathlessly, before regaining composure. "When released into the open air underdeveloped, their minds can not comprehend anything and are killing machines." He summarized from reading the warning label on the wall right next to him. Though it said nothing about "killing machines". "I'm trapped here."
"We can't come get you." Ahsoka told him.
"Not asking you to, but I could use some help." He specifically asked for her assistance. "Underdeveloped Clones aren't programmed to fight for the Empire, they don't have the chip in their brains yet. If freed they can make life easier for us." Ahsoka agreed to this, telling Briggs to hang tight where he was. Mykle didn't like this, seeing as he had Stormtroopers aware to his presence and Zombie-Clones also there. But he relented.
Hello, there." He turned around, seeing K.C standing tall, Mykle saw the itchy index fingers stretching for the holstered blaster.
These lowly starfighters annoyed Kreuger, the star pilot was used to the best aircrafts during The Clone War, flying what belongs in a circus - much less a aerial dogfight kept him on his toes. "How's it handling?" One asked Kreuger. "Sluggish." He groaned. "There isn't one thing in the cockpit that doesn't predate the war." Which is terrible considering during warfare technology changes by the day. The big flaw with the TIE Fighter was their durability was nonexistent, in exchange for speed and handling. Kreuger shot one from the sky - his third one.
"Kreuger," Ahsoka called for. "See that hole in the building." She asks. "Give me some cover," she saw distraught Stormtroopers trying to get rid of the deformed Clones off their backs, to stop them from clawing at their eyes, it was all to easy to make them bite the dust. Ahsoka elected to eject from her chair and let R4 take the control.
Mykle couldn't fight with a lightsaber to save his life, seeing as this was a life or death situation he elected to flee. A stab at his own pride, but in all honesty a two-on-one fight wasn't up his alley. Pushed backwards by an ambushing small band of Stormtroopers, just for K.C to swipe him across the face, his back to the wall, bottom lip busted. "Just like before", K.C chuckled. "Once a coward," he started. "Always a coward." But Mykle wasn't at a loss, he took out his knife and punctured a nearby radiator, letting out a blinding amount of steam, which gave Mykle the opening necessary to jump on the offensive, dashing forwards, getting K.C to stumble backwards, his jaw broken, left cheek swelling as he fell forward.
By the time K.C had gotten back to his feet - albeit they wobbled noticeably. Ahsoka was there by Mykle's side ready to take over. "I'll unleash the next wave." He told her.
"Why isn't it Skywalker's apprentice." K.C couldn't believe his luck the last few days. First he kills a Jedi Master. Then runs into Mykle after so many years. Now, he's reacquainted with another former rival. "He'll certainly be happy to see you." He hissed.
"I'm not going quietly." She teased. "Ohhh." K.C pretended to be fascinated. "But you will be brought to him." The reward for Ahsoka's capture would far outweigh any payment Irwin could provide. It might even land K.C a promotion to be Vader's attack dog, given more prominent targets rather than lowly rebellion sympathizers.
"Get Lord Vader on transmission, this is a code-red." Irwin admitted the situation had officially gone out of hand and needed outside assistance. Pushing aside his illusions of gaining higher standing within the empire. "Yes, Lieutenant."
In mere moments Skywalker stood in front of Irwin, looking tense as he didn't really care for their conversations, since he could sense the brown-nosing. "My Lord-" Irwin said with a lump in his throat. "Spare me the formalities Lieutenant." He curtly interrupted. "Ah, yes." Irwin cleared his throat. "We're under attack, we need your help."
"How bad is it?" Anakin wanted to know before he plucked resources from one side of the galaxy to go to Kamino. "I thought you were able to handle this task to preserve our facility."
"We were surprised." Irwin admitted. "We suffered heavy damage to our base and casualties already."
"My intelligence tell me the ships they're using are outdated relics from The Clone War. How is it you're unable to shoot them down?" Anakin coldly asks. Irwin didn't have an answer for that. Standing still, fidgeting, he figured he'd start to feel his throat being sown shut at any moment. But to his pleasant surprise, Anakin's expression only grew harder and announced assistance would be on the way. Right after the transmission ended, the door opened in a loud whoosh, shots fired from all directions as the people around Irwin fell at his feet. At first, Irwin thought it was Vader sending a message to him from the other side. But the smoke cleared revealing a smaller figure Irwin couldn't make out. "Who are you?" Irwin spoke with a tone that also said "now what?"
Mykle held the Lieutenant at gunpoint, fully focused. "Release the clones." Mykle ordered Irwin. Befuddled, Irwin stood still, unsure why Mykle was really asking. He reiterated. "Open the pods now and release your clones." Irwin still didn't understand. Wouldn't that help him? Almost downright giddy, Irwin gave the order to release the rest of the clones in the midst of the development process. Mykle turned to leave, it wasn't in his nature to kill in cold blood. "You rebellious scum are always the dullest tool in the drawer!" Irwin cackled. "You went through all this trouble just to further worsen your odds?"
Little did he know...
Ahsoka never fought someone in lightsaber combat that wasn't able to utilize Force augmentation. Her white lightsaber blade collided against K.C's vibroweapon, it's appearance reminiscent of a baton. Capable of resisting the plasma blade of a lightsaber. K.C held he weapon above his chest and knew how to use it, slashing and slashing. Ahsoka began to break a sweat, her legs wobble. K.C targeted specifically her sensitive montrals, while they can sense someone from a good distance, they're very fragile and any whistle of the wind can cause her to shiver. The constant ringing of the baton right next to her, the sparks flying from her blade, tiny burn marks started to show. She grimaced, groaning in obvious pain, though not structural, it took her out of her zone letting K.C delivered a swift kick to her solar plexus, her back hit the wall. "I thought you'd be more of a challenge." K.C relished in his victory, though it wasn't what he was expecting.
The hallway became subsumed by moans briefly taking K.C's attention away. Neither of them knew where it was coming from, or whom. It unsettled both, K.C's stomach tightened. The window was opened for Tano to regain the upper hand, she rose to her feet and handed a spinning kick to K.C's right cheek so hard it knocked a tooth to the ground. Regaining her lightsaber, now she held K.C at the point of mercy. "You are beaten." She declared. Again, K.C allowed himself to be distracted, lose the upper-hand and be at someone else's mercy. He mentally cursed himself, raising his hands cautiously, accepting defeat.
"Ahsoka," Mykle called for her through the com-link. The clones have been released, the charges have been placed. We need to get out of here. "I'm where you left me. Hurry." She told him, knowing they only had so much time before they sank to the bottom of the Kamino sea.
Mykle showed up shortly after, relieved to see she handled K.C, who remained subdued. She did not have handcuffs with her, so they stayed in their exact spots, K.C having to throw his weapons to the side. "What are we gonna do with him?" Mykle asked. Ahsoka looked at him in a funny way.
"What do you mean?" She assumed they'd arrest him, then begin the process of interrogating. Mykle shook his head. "We can't fit him into your starfighter." He told her point blank. "We'll call for Kreuger." Mykle was about to comment, when the Zombie-Clones intervened, gashing Mykle's back, he shot it before it could get to Ahsoka. This gave time for K.C to escape, utilizing not only the distraction, but the numerous other Zombie-Clones making their way towards them. Mykle pushes Ahsoka out the way as the numbers became overwhelming for either to handle. Mykle shot until his cartridge was empty, Ahsoka tried to save him. "NO!" He told her it wasn't worth it. "THE UNIVERSE NEEDS A JEDI." Like a wave the clones swept him away, ripping him apart, but there was no screaming, it was quite, besides the incessant moaning from the clones. Ahsoka turned around and headed for her starfighter, with a heavy heart she departed and told her crew to do the same.
There was pandemonium back at the base, cheers louder than a screaming starfighter. Everyone was delirious in joy, Kreuger called for their attention gone unheard of drowned out by congratulatory yells. A few of the pilots brought out their hidden liquor, pour drinks for their fellow soldier or downing the bottle themselves. Pilots were dowsed in champagne, Ahsoka, too. Kreuger, a little tipsy, wrapped his big arms around Sadie, harsh breath making its way to Sadie's nostrils. "Just like old times." He patted his chest. Ahsoka never remembered a moment in the Clone War that was so joyous than this.
Finally, Sadie was able to break free and grabbed their attention, all eyes turned to her tall figure. "The Empire was dealt a hurtful blow today, now they know who we are and will surely track us down." The words put a dour feeling to the overall jovial mood. "Enjoy today, because tomorrow we run." Deelo stepped down, unaware of the hijacking he just committed to the celebration. To save the moment Kreuger hoped on his personal soapbox, drink in hand.
"You should be proud of yourselves! You stared death in the face and didn't cower, we keep the spirit of the Republic alive and put the imperials on notice. Our work isn't done, it won't be for a long time. But we've told the other systems on the fence whether to subjugate themselves to the horrendous rule of the Empire, they don't have too."
Applause rang through the hanger bay. A new day had begun, one of uncertainty... but of also hope. Later that day, Ahsoka snuck out to just stare at the stars. To get lost in their twinkle. Jania joined her, liquor in hand, he offered the Jedi a cup, but she declined the offer. "Are you okay?" Jania asks, only receiving a nod in response as Ahsoka continued to look up. "I'm sorry for your loss." Jania softly said her.
"He was always directionless." She admitted. "But he had a good heart. Always."
"But he didn't die for nothing." Jania said optimistically. "Last week he worked at a gun shop, only a couple months removed from doing circus acts." What Jania said got a modest laugh from Ahsoka. "What about Tiana?"
"I don't know." Ahsoka confesses she wants to take Tiana under her wing, when they briefly met she felt the Force through her. "I'm just not sure."
"Why?" Jania asks. "Who do you have to run it by?" Jania was right. But that wasn't the conflict inside Ahsoka. "It isn't that. I don't want to be responsible for one of Mykle's family being lost."
"Don't you think he would want a future for his sister, not to have her grow up in the life he did?" Jania retorted, leaving Ahsoka speechless.