Chapter X-Day 899-Clone Wars-0400 Hours-Planet is Unkown
The hologram in the middle of Republic Gunship #298 lit up the entire ship, even with all doors and panels shut. It was a dark, cold morning, I could tell by the way my HUD was fogging up.
"Rise and shine, Delta Squad. First of all, I would like to introduce the commando with you. He will be replacing 07, his number is RRC-93/122." Said the Advisor, who was showing himself through the hologram.
"RRC?" Fixer asked.
"Republic Reserve Commando." I replied.
Scorch was already in a form of anger, "You got us a replacement?"
"We have to Scorch," said Fixer, "All squads that loses a squad member, must have him replaced." He paused for a moment, "Regulations."
Scorch did not reply, none of us wanted a replacement, but we needed one. We held ourselves pretty good as a squad of three on Kashyyyk, but we had good help with the A.R.C. troopers.
"Second of all, you may wonder where you are." Continued the Advisor.
"Then where are we?" I said trying to get to the point.
"This is Dxun, a planet full of forestry."
"Great, another forest mission." Said Scorch.
"Unlike Kashyyyk, this place is known to only contain creatures, and the jungle is far more dense."
Known?
"A few days ago, we got a large power reading coming from this planet."
"So it's a recon mission." I replied.
"Sort of, we suspect if there is anything on this planet besides nature, it would be Mandalorians."
"A large group of Mandalorians?" Fixer asked.
"Yes Four-Oh. The last known time large Mandalorians were seen was during a war that took place nearly five thousand years ago."
Twenty-Two spoke out, "The Mandalorian Wars."
"Correct Twenty-Two. So your mission is to verify what is here, Mandalorian or not, whatever it is is probably shouldn't be here. After that, you will receive new orders."
The four of us hooked our cabels up and slowly repelled down the Republic Gunship into pure darkness. We turned on our headlamps and moved into a box formation. I took the top right, Scorch was next to me, Fixer was behind me, and Twenty-Two was to his right.
"The large power reading is to the north. Republic Cruiser Striker will be orbiting the nearby planet Onderon, we don't want to alarm you friends down there." The Advisor commented.
"We'll try to contact you as soon as possible." I replied.
"Roger that, Advisor out."
We watched the Gunship fly away and began moving north.
"So," Scorch called out, "you're a Republic Reserve Commando?"
"Yes, sir." Twenty-Two replied.
"Does that mean, you have been in other squads besides this one?" Fixer questioned.
"Yes, sir."
I decided to come in, "You don't have to say 'sir' at the end of every sentance commando. You're one of us now, you're not part of a regular army. You are a part of a brotherhood. You have been in other squads, right?"
"Yes, s..." he stopped before he could say "sir".
"They were Commando squads, right?"
"Yes."
I could hear Scorch whisper to himself angrily, "Does he say anything else than 'yes' and 'sir'?"
"Settle down Scorch," Fixer said.
Twenty-Two heard him through the comlink. "Yes, I can."
"Ooo, he says 'I can' as well. Two more words," Scorch said snotfully.
"Anyways, didn't these squads welcome you as well? Didn't they make you feel like a normal brother?" I continued.
Twenty-Two replied shyly, "Not really. I'm a Reserve Commando. I don't stay with squads for too long, I stay until the squad dies or gets a full replacement."
Scorch spoke angrily and under his breath, "Hope he leaves soon then."
I could not take it anymore. "All right Scorch! If you have an attitude about this, don't take it out on him! As hard as it is for you to take this guy, he's..."
I was interrupted by Fixer who had been quiet most of the time, "Sir, detecting movement! Right ahead."
The four of us immediately went prone and started aiming down our DC sights.
"Where, I don't see anything?" said Twenty-Two.
"Switch to heat mode. Headlamps off boys." I commanded.
The squad reacted perfectly, but we saw nothing in heat mode.
"I don't see anything," Scorch applied.
"All right, put headlamps on." I said.
Finally we could see what our motion sensors picked up. Right in front of us, was a large beast with scrawny arms, spikes protruding out of it's back and razor sharp claws. Just as it was about to launch a blow right at my face a shadowy figure leaped off of a tree and flew onto the creatures neck. Holding on as tight as it could, it pulled out a sword-like object and repeatedly stabbed the head. The beast cried out in agony as it was dying. It did everything it could to save itself, swinging it's large clawlike arms at the back of it's head. But it didn't help, he couldn't reach behind his head. The figure took one last stab, and the beast finally fell.
"Stay low Delta's." I said.
The shadowy figure walked over to the body and cut out one of the large spikes coming out of the creatures back. It then left, and dissapeared into the forest.
Once we noted that the area was clear of any movements we walked towards the body.
"What is that thing?" Scorch asked.
"A Terenterak," Twenty-Two answered, "a deadly, viscious beats. It has been known to hunger on things high in the force. A single cut from it could poison you."
We saw some green looking smoke coming out of the deep wounds in the head. It smelled terrible, even through the filter system.
"Um, yeah," continued Twenty-Two, "they're bodily fluids are also, poisonous. So what do you think that thing was?"
"A Mandalorian." Fixer replied.
"A Mandalorian saved us?" Twenty-Two replied.
"That's what it looked like," Scorch commented, "though I have to say I have not seen armor like that before."
"I'm surprised a Mandalorian would try to save us."
"Why?" I asked Twenty-Two.
"Well, aren't most Mandalorians ruthless, savage, killers, practically beasts in human form?"
"No," I said slowly, "where did you hear that?"
"Mandalorian history, where else?" There was a lull in the conversation. "What, you guys think opposite?"
"Very opposite," Scorch replied.
"I guess I was trained different."
"Forget about it, we need to get to our objective. We need to keep moving." I said, trying to get everyone back on track. But I could not help but wonder why a clone, a Mandalorian for that matter, would be trained to think our nationality was savage beasts.
We continued north, hoping to follow the Mandalorian to his camp. Twenty-Two decided to ask something, "Why did the Mandalorian take the spike out of the Terenterak's back?"
Fixer decided to answer, "Well..."
He was interupted by Scorch, "Get down!"
"What is it?" I asked as the four of us flipped the headlights off and threw ourselves onto the ground.
"A fire, about fifteen meters ahead."
"That's our Mandalorian friends," I added.
I quickly made a plan. "Okay, they're surrounded by bushes, easy fight. Twenty-Two and I will flank right. Fixer, Scorch take the left, we'll all jump them on my command."
We moved to our positions and stayed low. "Fixer and I are ready," Reported Scorch.
"Okay, on three we jump in. Try to take one hostage," I said.
"Got it." Fixer replied.
"One..."
"Two..." Like it always happens when I count down, I was immediately shot. The large pain hit my shoulder, stabbing pain. I grabbed my shoulder when the pain hit my back. I was down. I looked over to see Socrch and Fixer incapacitated also.
"Twenty-Two, revive me!"
Once I was revived I went prone, and ordered Twenty-Two to revive Scorch and Fixer.
"I'll keep them busy." I assured him.
I began shooting in the direction the Mandalorian camp was in, but that wasn't where the shooting was coming from, because I was shot in the back again. My shields were down, and if I was shot again, I would be incapacitated once more. I rolled over and began shooting at the tree above me. A Mandalorian tumbled out of the tree and fell dead.
I then heard Twenty-Two, "We're all up sir."
"Go now!"
I jumped in right away and started blasting. But my gun was knocked out of my hands not too long afterwards. A Mandalorian and I began mele fighting with our Vibroblades. Back and forth we were knocking each other over. Finally, I got help from Scorch who took out his sniper rifle and shot the Mandalorian in the head. I quickly grabbed my gun and shot down another Mandalorian. I then saw the one that killed the Terenterak. He pulled out his vibrosword and began charging for me. But he stopped right in front of me, leaning over, coughing. He fell over and died. Next to him I saw a blue static of some sort change into Twenty-Two.
"How did you do that?" Scorch asked.
Twenty-Two pointed near his waist and we saw a belt. "Stealth Field Generator," He answered.
"Good job men," I said, "Twenty-Two, keep it up."
"Thank you," He replied.
"Call me Boss. It's my nickname, we'll find one for you soon."
Fixer came up with a great idea. "Sir, we could use the armor to infiltrate the base."
I accepted his plan. "Good idea Fixer. Everyone, pick a Mandalorian and exhange everything you have. I mean everything, even the Bacta Processing Handhelds."
"Boss, that's a little crazy getting rid of our BPHs," Scorch said.
"They will tip us off. We can't afford that, everything goes."
"Ok, I call the guy with the spike though."
I went over to the Mandalorian I killed in the tree and exchanged with him. He had green armor, vibroblade gloves, and a sniper rifle for his main weapon. The armor was equipped with a Stealth Field Generator. The sniper rifle had holo-scopes on top, which was odd. It has been known that only Commandos carry Holo-scoped rifles. I also found two scary looking Mandalorian Heavy Blaster pistols.
"Scorch, catch." I said and tossed him one of the pistols.
I found the Mandalorian's backpack and opened it up. I found extra clips, health kits, and a map. All seemed of use so I did not discard any of them.
When I was finished exhanging I went back to the campfire and took a look at my squadmates. Twenty-Two had blue armor, a light assault rifle which had a clip on top that looked like a grip.
"The clip can lock or unlock so you can use it as a grip." Twenty-Two said, noticing that I was looking at his rifle.
Scorch was wearing golden armor and carried a light assault rifle as well. He also had the pistol I gave him and the sword that nearly killed me.
"Want my sniper rifle?" I asked.
"Sure." Scorch answered and we exhanged.
Fixer was the last one I looked at and wore red armor. He carried a support rifle which looked like the light assault rifle. But instead of a grip clip he had a sort of spinning handle that carried about six clips in one. The bullets from each clip would shoot out of the gun as they spun around. And instead of taking one clip off, he could release the entire group as one clip.
"Where next?" Fixer asked.
I checked the map we had and it had a circled area that appeared to the northwest of where we were.
"Northwest. This map has a circled area there."
We began walking northwest. The sun was beginning to rise. We eventually came to an opening of forest area where a road appeared. Two large pillars were visible and a Mandalorian was at one of them.
The Mandalorian saluted Scorch at the first sight of him. Fixer and I looked at each other in confusion.
"Good to see you Zeb," The Mandalorian said, "And your squad. You find anything?"
"We ran into a Terenterak," Scorch answered. He pulled out the spike, "I have his spike."
"Nice." The gaurd responded, "Oh, Zeb, you and Zephur are to report to Mandalore for a meething in two hours. You got that."
"Yes, carry on," Scorch said.
We walked on past the gaurd not paying attention to the area we started talking,
"Ok, I'm Zeb," Said Scorch, "and Fixer is Zephur."
I joined in, "Don't forget we need to find who is sending off the huge power signals."
"Right Boss," Twenty-Two added.
"Scorch, Fixer, you two alrady have your orders. Twenty-Two and I will do what we can."
When we finished our discussion and came back to looking around us instead of just walking around. We noticed we were surrounded by a whole camp of Mandalorians.