Chapter 9
"Alright gentlemen" Anakin spoke up "You have your first mission, Rex" he said motioning to Rex.
"You will be deployed behind enemy lines on Felucia, you will take out a Separatist camp, there are reports of a HVT on site, you will be tasked with eliminating the target of they are present, but your main objective will be to completely shut down the camp, in whatever ways you choose" Rex explained.
"Does that mean I get to blow stuff up?" Buck asked excitedly.
"Yes, you can blow up the entire base if you choose to do so" Anakin said.
"That's very good to know" Buck said while smiling.
"Make sure he doesn't blow you all up Sergeant" Rex said to Hawk.
"I will sir" Hawk said.
"Now, you have been assigned a pilot for your future missions, his name is Vol" Rex said and motioned to the clone standing beside him.
Vol spoke up "I am Captain Vol, I will be working with you for now on" he said.
"Vol is the best pilot in the GAR, he is the leader of Shadow Squadron" Anakin said.
Ashoka spoke up "Try not to scare them too much Vol" she joked.
"I'll do my best commander" the green haired clone said.
"You will all be leaving tomorrow, so get anything you have to do done tonight" Anakin said.
"Yes sir, we will" Hawk said.
Hawk, Buck, and 88 went to the armory, Scythe and T6 went back to the barracks, nobody saw where Mute went.
Hawk's pov
Buck was almost drooling at the sight of all the explosives in the armory.
"Ooh! I want that!" Buck said as he went for a rocket launcher.
"Buck! This is a covert mission, we are setting the charges and blowing them as we leave, we don't need that" Hawk said.
"Fine" Buck grumbled, he then started loading a backpack full of explosive charges to blow up the camp.
Hawk grabbed a backpack and started to grab ammo for his DC-15x blaster rifle, he made sure his twin DC-17s were in working order.
NEXT DAY
The squad was assembled at the ship, Anakin, Obiwan, and Rex were going over last minute details with the squad. They had recently learned that the weather would be very bad during the mission window.
"I know the weather is not ideal, but you must complete the mission, this will be a strategic hit to the separatists" Anakin explained.
"We understand sir, we'll be fine" Hawk said.
The generals then walked away. The squad then walked into their shuttle, minus Hawk, Rex then walked up to him.
"You need to be stealthy, at least until you take out the HVT, the weather should help conceal you, be careful" Rex said.
"We will sir, we'll get it done" Hawk said.
"Good, you best get going" Rex said.
"Of course sir" Hawk replied, he then turned and walked up the ramp into the ship. The ship then started up and lifted up and flew out of the hanger, it would be about an hour trip to Felucia.
On the ship
"We need to come up with a plan, it's not like we can just walk up to the compound without being spotted" Hawk said.
88 spoke up "we have some camouflage netting, we can make some suit of ghillie suit to go over our armor" he explained.
"That's good, when we land we will have to land a few clicks away from the compound, we should split up and sneak up to the compound for better stealth" Hawk said.
"What's the plan for taking out the HVT?" Scythe asked.
"Once we land, I'm going to put on one of the ghillie suits 88 makes, and stalk up to the compound, I'll set up a snipers nest and wait for the HVT to arrive, Buck, you and the others can sneak in and set up the charges while I provide over-watch, then we just wait for the target to arrive" Hawk explained.
"I'll get on to making the ghillie suits" 88 said "Scythe, can you help me?" he asked.
"Sure" Scythe said going to help 88.
"Mute, you're on perimeter security, I expect you can handle it?" Hawk asked.
Mute just stood up and nodded to him, he then walked off to his and Scythe's shared room.
"T6, you, Buck, and Scythe will be placing the explosives around the camp, stay hidden, if you have to kill use your vibroblade and keep it quiet" Hawk explained.
"Yes sir" T6 said.
"Hawk, we have 45 minutes until we come out of hyperspace" Vol announced through the comms
Hawk lifted up his wrist and spoke into his commlink "Thank you, when we arrive set up down a few clicks from the compound" he said.
"Got it" Vol replied.
45 minutes later
The ship comes out of hyperspace into Felucia's orbit, Vol can see the storms on the planet from orbit. "Uh, guys, the weather looks pretty bad, even from space" he said.
"It'll help conceal our presence, our armor should keep us dry" Hawk said.
"Sir, what am I doing?" 88 asked.
"You're with me, you'll be my spotter" Hawk said.
"Yes sir, and here" 88 said while grabbing the makeshift ghillie suits "everyone put them on, make sure you're well camouflaged" he said.
The squad felt the ship set down "we've landed" Vol said as his seat lowered from the cockpit "I'll stay here and keep the ship ready, in case you need a quick extraction" he explained.
"Ok, good, if something goes wrong we may need it" Hawk said "remember to stick to internal comms only, we can't give away our presence until I take the shot" Hawk explained.
"Understood" 88 said.
"Alright, me and 88 are going to head out, the HVT is supposed to arrive tomorrow, we will be set up when he does, the rest of you should head out in pairs after we leave, wait in between each pair so you are less likely to be found" Hawk explained.
"Yes sir, we'll make sure nothing goes wrong" T6 said.
Hawk and 88, walked out to the ramp of the ship, Hawk hit the button to lower the ramp, as soon as the ramp began to lower thunder struck, the pair then walked out into the storm and disappeared in the jungle.
The squad talked for a few minutes, then Buck spoke up "We'll wait 30 minutes and then head out" he said to Scythe "hey, where did Mute go?" They looked around but couldn't find the nonverbal clone.
Back with Hawk and 88
"There's a small ridge near the compound, we can set up there" Hawk said.
"Wait, get down, commando droid patrol" 88 said while taking cover.
There were 4 commando droids in the group, their path was going to come very close to the two clones, one of the droids decided to move away from the group, he stopped just two feet from Hawk "there's something here" he said in a monotone voice.
Hawk spoke through his internal comms "I'm going to take this one, suppress the others while I'm busy" he said before he pulled out his vibroblade, he slowly stood up and lunged at the droid, he quickly took out the droid, 88 started moving to the other 3, he quickly took down one and started to fight off the other two when suddenly, a gray shape dropped down on one of the droids crushing it, 88 the snapped off the head of the second droid, Hawk looked of to see Mute and 88 standing by 3 dead droids.
"What are you doing here?" Hawk asked.
"You're welcome" Mute said before he disappeared into the trees again.
"He's going to be a problem" 88 said.
"I agree, we'll handle it after the mission" Hawk said, the pair then continued their trip to the ridge, they arrived after a 20 minute hike, they then began moving foliage and debris to make a proper snipers nest, one they set it up Hawk and 88 laid down and looked out over the compound.
"This is a lot more impressive than the generals described, this looks like a labor camp for the locals" Hawk said.
"We'll have to get out all the civvies before we blow it" 88 mentioned
"I know, that just made this a lot more difficult" Hawk replied "we need to regroup and talk about what to do" Hawk switched channels so he would be heard by all of the squad "everyone needs to regroup around me and 88, we just had a big change of plans" he said into the comms.
"On the way Sarge" Scythe replied.
"Be there shortly" T6 said
The pair heard bushes rustling and they both aimed their blasters, ready to shoot, just then, thunder struck and when they looked back Mute stepped out of the bushes.
"You need to follow orders trooper" Hawk said to Mute, Mute just stared at him, he then walked over to them and sat up against a tree. A few minutes later the rest of the squad showed up.
"We were supposed to stick together, you should have followed orders" T6 said walking up to Mute.
"Relax T6, he saved my shebs from some commando droids" 88 said.
"Look, we just found out this is a labor camp, they're using locals as slaves, we have to get them out before we blow it up" Hawk explained.
"Well that complicates things" T6 said.
"Do you want me to do some recon sir?" Scythe asked.
"Sure, make sure you don't get spotted, there seems to be droid and humanoid guards, if you have to take someone down, do it quiet" Hawk said.
"Of course, just keep me covered" Scythe said as he started down the ridge to the compound. He was moving slowly through the grass in his makeshift ghillie suit.
"Commando droid to your 4 o'clock, he's got his back turned" Hawk told Scythe.
Scythe turned and pulled out his vibroscythe, he slowly crept up on the droid, then in one quick motion the droids head left its body and the body crumpled to the ground.
"Nobody saw that, you're clear" Hawk said.
"Roger that" replied Scythe.
Scythe slowly worked his way to what looked like a back door, he put his vibroscythe back in its sheath, he switched to his DC-19, he cut open the door panel to see if he could hack it, it was a lot more complicated than the basics he was taught on Kamino. "Sir, I can't hack this, I need Mute" he said.
Just then Mute appeared beside him, he made his way to the panel, he sliced and crossed a few wires and the panel turned green, Mute looked at Scythe and nodded.
"Sir, Mute and I are heading in" Scythe relayed to Hawk.
"Keep your guard up boys" Hawk replied.
The pair open the door and crept in, it was almost pitch black in the room, they both switched on their night vision, it looked to be a storage room, it was full of food and other resources the separatist had stolen from the natives, there were also a few racks of blasters.
"Sir, we found a storage room, it's full of food, there also some blasters" Scythe relayed to Hawk.
"That could be useful" Hawk replied.
The pair continued to look around, suddenly they heard voices coming from a door, the voices got closer and the door opened.
"Get down" Scythe said as he dove behind a crate.
Two Trandoshians walked in, they seemed to be slavers, possibly the ones that captured the locals, they slavers looked around like they knew someone was there, they looked at each other and nodded, one pointed to the crate that Scythe was behind, they aimed their blasters and slowly crept up to the crate, Scythe was ready for a fight, then, suddenly, Mute appeared and ejected his vibroblade into one enemy and then into the other, and the bodies dropped.
Scythe looked around the crate and saw Mute "we need to hide them" he said as he started to open a crate. The pair put the bodies in the crates and made for the exit.
"We're coming out sir, are we clear" Scythe asked.
"One Trandoshian coming up on the left side of the door" Hawk said, he timed his shot with a thunder crash, the blue bolt pierced the enemy's head, he fell to the ground "you're clear" Hawk relayed to the pair. They both crept out of the door and made straight for the ridge, they arrived and crouched down with the rest of the team.
Scythe spoke up "It looks like the seppies are working with Trandoshian slavers to keep the locals in check " he said
"If we free the prisoners we can arm them and they can help, but we can't do anything until the HVT arrives" Hawk explained.
"I suggest we get some rest, we can take shifts" T6 said.
"88, you and I will take first watch" Hawk said.
Early the next morning, Mute woke the squad up, they heard the sound of a shuttle overhead, it was heading to land at the compound.
"This is the HVT, now we can set the plans into motion" Hawk said.
The shuttle ramp opened and it was none other Nute Gunnray. He walked off the ship looked around, he then walked to a building that looked like a command center.
"We need to find a way to free the prisoners, Mute, go back to the ship and see if there's anything there to help us scout around without being seen" Hawk said.
Mute just nodded and disappeared back into the forest.
End Chapter
A/N: I may split up the rest of the mission into two chapters, I haven't decided yet - REBEL