Chapter 36: Last Trip (19 BBY)

The plan proved to be impossible to carry out with the current manpower and equipment they had. The original idea was for them to sneak through the sewers right under the palace perimeter and then go on from there – simple. But from the reports of scout teams there were mines everywhere and their best slicers couldn't even get past a normal door leading to a supply room, leading them to believe that the encryptions on the locks had been changed. But as it tended to happen with Cindo the starts aligned.

There was one squad that could do the unthinkable and have been known to do so over the entirety of the Clone Wars. Viper squad.

"Oh great, another barren dustbowl," Fisk deadpanned, his gun rested on his shoulder. The squad's transport had just landed and unloaded them and some extra supplies. They were on Coruscant the day before helping in the defensive efforts. Ultimately the attack on Coruscant was repelled and they got ready for a short break until they were called to Mandalore.

"This isn't the vacation you dreamed of huh?" Glitch deadpanned. He himself was also not really enthusiastic.

"Can you two stop crying already. We have a job to do," Lek said irritably, shaking her head.

Hawker chuckled slightly. "This'll be fun." Although he wasn't a man of many words he did like to put out random comments from time to time, although they were usually pretty quiet and reserved only for himself to hear.

"Well there is a reason to cry!" Fisk protested with a sigh. He turned around and spotted Ahsoka standing in front of him, her arms crossed over her chest. Fisk immediately stood at attention. The rest of the squad positioned themselves to his left and right.

"Viper squad, at your disposal General," Razer said, saluting her.

"I wish you were at my disposal," she commented under her breath.

"What do you mean, General? We were assigned to you," Glitch said, confusedly.

"You're exactly the people I would need in the initial assault but you'll be under someone else's command," she explained, turning around and gesturing towards the tent behind her. "They're waiting for you inside." It took a whole day to bring Viper squad there which left them with little time before the main assault on the capital began.

"Well would you look at that," Fisk said, bug eyed. The rest of the team entered the tent behind him.

"Welcome to our humble abode," Cindo said, gesturing around the tent. The tent they got was equipped with two beds, some boxes with various assortments of supplies and a small holotable. Naomi was standing to his left, her face covered. It was for the better because if they figured out who she really was things might've become heated. Luckily for Cindo, the scarf did a good job of concealing her as she had no notable features except for being red, which was a rare color for a Twi'lek. And Cindo had to admit to himself that it made her look pretty cool and menacing as well.

HK in the meantime was standing behind Cindo, staring at the holographic projection of the sewer system and memorizing the route they would take.

"Didn't expect you to be here," Fisk said, taking off his helmet.

"Well that wasn't the plan at first but as well all know things tend to change in war time," Cindo commented.

"Fisk quiet down will you," Razer said, moving past the team. "It's good to be working alongside you again, Commander," he said, saluting him.

"Likewise Major. Let's get straight to business shall we," Cindo said, gesturing at the map.

"Is that all?" Razer asked after the briefing.

"Yeah, that should be all of it. Can you do it?" Cindo asked.

Surprisingly Hawker jumped in to answer. "Aye. We've been through worse lad. Ain't that right Razer?," he assured him. That reminded Cindo that it was the first time he saw him without his helmet, even after the two years he spent in somewhat close vicinity to him. The man had a chiseled face which sported a thick and medium length beard. His eyes were a mixture of brown and slightly orange. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with him and he acted confidently, so Cindo couldn't really figure out why he tried to hide his face as much as possible.

"Yeah, much worse," he said, trying to hide the sorrow from the past battles. After a short pause he gained his composure and went back to his normal self. "Fifteen minutes. Prepare your gear, stock up on anything you need. We'll meet outside this tent. Got it?" he said, eyeing his teammates. Some of them nodded and others vocally expressed their agreement. The whole team but Fisk left the tents only a few seconds after.

He approached Cindo as he was turning off the holo. "Hey, can we have a really fast chat?" he whispered.

"Sure. Why are you whispering?" Cindo asked in a normal tone. Fisk hushed at him and Cindo raised his hands in defeat and followed him out of the tent.

"What's wrong?" Cindo asked once they were outside. Fisk took a quick look into the tent, making sure nobody was listening in.

"Who's the girl? She taken?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Damn," Fisk said disappointedly. "Because she is damn fin…" He stopped talking once he saw Cindo's scowl. That and combined with Cindo's height it made him visibly uncomfortable. "I'm gonna stop talking now and go prepare," he said carefully.

"It's for the better," Cindo said, giving him a quick nod.

"That it is," he said with a forced smile. He tapped Cindo on the shoulder and awkwardly walked away. Cindo's eyes followed him until he turned the corner. He felt bad whenever he did that to people. He sighed and retreated back into the tent where Naomi awaited him with her hands on her waist.

"You know I heard all of that," she pointed out. Cindo didn't know how to respond. After a few moments she relaxed, walked up to him and hugged him. "You don't have to be so protective."

"I don't know why it happens," Cindo told her, wrapping his arms around her.

"Don't worry I won't leave you," she said, pulling back and looking him into his eyes. "Unless you do something stupid of course," she said with a grin.

Most of the squad showed up at the tent as expected. They were prepared, their weapons in their hands and their helmets placed firmly on their heads. Cindo always thought it was weird that they had black and green markings on their armor instead of blue, seeing as they were part of the 501st special forces detachment. The detachment consisted of two commando teams, one of which was wiped out and a recon section.

"Of course, those two are late," Razer exclaimed, rubbing where his forehead would be under his helmet.

"Ah'm no surprised," Hawker commented, shaking his head. Cindo could sense Glitch and Fisk approaching them. A few mere seconds after they sprinted around the corner, almost tripping over each other.

"Sorry we're late sir. We got lost," Fisk said, standing at attention in front of Razer, Glitch next to him.

"You got lost?" Lek asked, not believing the statement.

"We don't have time for this. The assault begins in one hour and we're already losing time. Let's move," Razer ordered and they took off towards the dark sphere in the distance.

It was early in the morning, so it was still a bit dark. As much of an advantage as the darkness was when approaching the sphere, it also gave host to a few new problems. The ground was in some places cracked and it was very easy to twist an ankle and there were also snakes hiding in some of the bigger cracks. Luckily they made it close to the sewer entrance without any problems.

"I think I'm not ready for the smell," Glitch commented under his breath. All of them were laying down on a low ridge that overlooked the entrance to the sewer. The door itself was small and it looked like any other part of the sphere only that it had a console on its right side.

"You see anything?" Razer asked Hawker who was checking out the area with his macrobinoculars. He shook his head as an answer. "Keep watch." He then pulled himself backwards and the rest followed. Once they could safely stand up he spoke again. "Me and Hawker are gonna stay here and watch your back. I need you three to go with them and clear a path."

"But sir shouldn't you go in?" Glitch asked confusedly.

"Well lieutenant I would, but I'm not important. You and Fisk are more needed than me and Hawker," he explained before turning his head to Lek. "Don't let them do anything stupid."

"I can keep them under control… hopefully," she muttered.

"They seem like a good bunch of people," Naomi said over the bond.

Razer relayed the rest of the orders he had and soon they were standing at the entrance. "Glitch work your magic," Cindo said and not a second later Glitch was already fiddling with the panel.

"This one seems relatively," he began saying before the door popped open, making him flinch slightly in surprise. "Simple."

"Good job little dude," Fisk said, punching him in the shoulder as usual. He then began moving into the doorway but he was pulled back by Lek.

"What?" he asked aggressively. Lek pointed at the bottom part of the doorway. Upon closer inspection he figured out that there was a small laser going from one side of the door to the other probably action as an early alarm or something worse. "Oh," Fisk said, slamming his hand on his forehead.

"Can you use your brain for once," Lek said with an exasperated sigh.

"As I told Glitch over here many times. The brain is the source of fear and nervousness, hence why I don't use it much," Fisk explained. His statement was met with chuckles from Cindo and Naomi.

"Well I'll take the lead then. It will lower the chance of us dying," Lek said, pushing him to the side and entering the sewer.

The rest of them followed. The three soldiers turned on their weapon mounted flashlights while HK turned on the one on his head. "Always wondered what that thing was for," Cindo commented more to himself than anybody. He and Naomi didn't bring any flashlights, so they walked in the middle of the group. But it wasn't like they needed them. They had their lightsabers and the Force to sense their surroundings.

The stench became stronger and stronger the deeper they went into the sewer system. The place where they entered from seemed to be the part of the sewer that was no longer in use.

The ceiling was low and the corridors were built in a half circle. They were wide enough that if they had to they could walk in rows of 2. The middle of the corridor was where the sewage flowed.

"This air filter isn't working," Fisk cried out. The deeper they got into the sewer the more he began to cough and even gag.

"Because it's made to filter out toxins and smoke not smell," Glitch explained irritably. Cindo sensed that Glitch himself had trouble dealing with the smell but he was holding out. To be honest everybody had at least a bit of trouble dealing with it, except for HK because he was a droid.

"HK how close are we?" Cindo asked the droid. HK was in front as he was the one who memorized the route.

"At this pace I calculate that we will arrive at our destination in fifteen minutes," HK said. "And one more thing. According to my built-in chronometer the assault is about to begin right now." He was right. As soon as he said that the ground began shaking lightly and faint sounds of explosions could be heard.

It took more than fifteen minutes. Countless mines had to be deactivated and numerous doors sliced, each bearing a more difficult encryption. At the end it took them twice the time to get to the final destination and with all of the distractions on the way Razer and Hawker caught up to them.

"Do we all remember our next objectives?" Cindo asked one last time before they would ascend the ladder.

"We draw them to the courtyard, blow a hole to help the main force move in," Glitch said.

"May the Force be with you," he said before they began climbing up the ladder. The ladder led directly to the back side of the palace. Cindo, Naomi, and HK were left alone as Viper squad began heading towards its objective.

"How do we know where to start looking?" Naomi asked. Cindo looked up to get a better look at the entry points. There were rows upon rows and columns upon columns of windows.

"Our best bet is to try and sense it," Cindo said, reaching out with the Force, looking for any signs of dark side energy. There were two sources very close together.

"I can sense it but it's faint," Naomi said.

"It's deeper in the palace," Cindo explained before turning his head toward HK. "Do you have anything that's quitter than a saber?"

"I have a small torch that can cut through glass," he said, retracting his left hand and replacing it with said torch.

"You really are equipped for everything," Naomi muttered quietly, looking around for any patrols.

"Well I am the best and most well equipped HK model of all time," HK exclaimed proudly.

Cindo rolled his eyes. "Just start cutting already."

After a couple hours of thinking it through i decided to separate the story into multiple volumes or whatever you call that. Each will focus on one period. This one focused on the prequel/Clone Wars era and the one that follows will logically focus on the OT/Galactic Civil war era and later on the sequel era.

After I finish the next chapter I will start writing Vol. 2 but at the same time I will also be writing the story of Viper Squad. All in all I have also made the decision to release chapters slower but I will try to make them longer and more entertaining and not this crap that you've been reading that looks like a 10-year-old wrote it.

One day I might even return to rewrite bits of this volume as something is obviously wrong here. Everything from the tenses, to the flow and the actual story is badly written, used and thought out.