"Commander..." Obi Wan said, attempting to lighten the mood with some humour "Was that you?"
"Me, sir... I don't..." before the clone caught on and Jango Fett's, DNA, replicated, sarcasm, came to the fore "Oh right, of course it had to be me".
The smell down here had just hit them and Obi-Wan felt obliged to comment about it, to distract himself from the horrors above, down here it was quieter, pitch black without the light from the two Jedi Masters' lightsabre's and the clone's head torches they'd thrust into a world where they couldn't see a thing. Yet despite the rumbles of the battle above, they could see what was happening here and that was absolutely nothing other than the smell of waste and who knew what else.
"Smells like something died down here" Shaak commented, covering her nose.
"Do you eat anything dead Commander Hap?" Boil commented.
"Yes, your chances at a promotion Boil" the commander replied, to many sniggers from his fellow brothers, while Obi-Wan finally had a name to put to the commander that had replaced Cody.
"If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the name Hap?" Obi-Wan felt compelled to ask.
"My squad thought it was funny sir" Hap replied "On Kamino I'd always be so serious to know what was happening, granted whenever I asked I'd always get interrupted, so I'd end up saying What's hap... half the time, henceforth my name"
"I see, are you new to this position? I haven't heard of you before".
"I was with 340th" Hap replied, "As it's Captain, a mission went wrong on Jakku, I lost my squad and most of my men. Spent around a month recovering on Coruscant, rather than terminate me however, I was deemed fit to go back into battle and with no other commanders to spare and being the highest ranked official nearest to you when the Jedi Council gave you this mission, I was promoted to Commander and left to lead the squad here".
"You clones are strange" Korkie commented when the newly, elected, commander had finished his story.
"Strange but ever so effective" Obi-Wan said.
"Myself and Commander Appo and Cody have worked together in the past however" Hap continued "So I already know the men in the 212th and 501st, the men need someone to feel comfortable around and I was the only candidate".
"Well your doing well so far Commander" Obi-Wan reassured him.
"If I did well, those kids would still be alive" Hap snapped at himself.
"They're different Hap, you cannot blame yourself" Shaak Ti said, joining the conversation, as they led the way through the tight sewers, "What they've done on Kamino, I don't even want to think about, but with Cody stationed there we can only hope things are going well".
Obi-Wan sighed "Hope..." he thought to himself bitterly, because that had gotten them so far.
"So... let me get this straight, this Commander Cody led these men, before he was sent off to Kamino?" Korkie asked.
"Yes"
"So Hap here has replaced him, but now on Kamino, they're breeding brainwashed children for war?"
"Yes"
"and the republic is just happy with this?"
"Yes"
"and the Jedi Council too?"
"Yes" Shaak Ti responded once again, but her tone was bitter.
"and these clones, why did you say they were 8 and 7 year olds Jedi Master?" he inquired of Shaak "I heard you screaming it on the battlefield, but even the youngest one's looked about… well 14 or..."
"We age twice as fast as you" Hap said, to silence his inquires, but this only startled the young politician even more.
"So... they were only 7 or 8!?" he gawped in disbelief "Wait, how old are you Commander!?"
"I'm 12"
"12!?"
"Yes" he said, echoing Shaak Ti.
There was nothing more to be said, the clones, Korkie and the two Jedi Masters continued further onwards, remembering the way through these complex systems was a challenge, but Obi-Wan had committed it to his memory and the silence pressed more heavily on them, the further they proceeded, the air seemed to get warmer, the smell more humid than ever. These tiny tunnels may have had some waste water pumping through them, but right now they were bone dry... so where was that smell coming from?Something was wrong here, he felt it the further they proceeded onwards.
"There should be people down here" Korkie eventually said, "Myself and the others, we evacuated them down here, those that couldn't reach the bunkers in time".
"They're not going to shoot us, are they?"
"No" Korkie said "They were unarmed, you don't think Maul and the others, that they'd...?"
"I don't know" Obi-Wan said "But I don't..."
An inhumane screech cut him off, it sounded like it came from the distance, but instantly Goosebumps exploded all over Obi-Wan's skin. Blasters were raised, lightsabre's held closer. Korkie instantly shuffled closer to the centre of the group, as an instant circular formation formed, some looking up at the ceiling of the place. But most of whom had their weapons pointed at the tunnels in front of and behind them. Another screech echoed out, it was getting closer this time, whatever it was had caught their scent, Obi-Wan had felt it.
"What is that kid, any idea of what it could be!?" Hap snapped, his gun locked on the tunnel behind him from where the screeches were coming from.
"No" he muttered nervously "Nothing monstrous lives in the city... but outside of Sundari, in the wastes, the wildlife was said to have mutated, but..."
Another screech, followed by two more.
"...they've never been seen in the city before" Korkie finished weakly.
"Well they're here now thanks to Maul" Obi-Wan concluded instantly "I knew he wouldn't leave these sewers unguarded, he knew someone would attempt this route and if you don't know what they are Korkie than no one will".
"We didn't learn a great deal about the mutated wildlife on the outside" Korkie gulped "I... I led people down here..."
"Don't think about that now, we have to move" Shaak Ti said, her voice betraying her emotions, as she broke out into a steady jog, the other clones followed her, all as eager to be out of this hellhole as soon as possible, Obi Wan followed, but agreed to take the rear of the group along with the commander.
"I can hold them off, if they catch up" Obi Wan told him, "Get behind me and not beside me..."
"Sir, it's my duty to protect the remaining men" Hap told him simply "I'm not suicidal like those kids were, but... I wasn't made Commander for nothing. I might not be Commander Cody but..."
"Don't compare yourself to him" Obi-Wan told the clone "You are fine on your own and have been doing better than me..."
"But sir..."
"You've been pushing the men onwards, not me" Obi-Wan told him "You've been the one leading them, I just been hesitating... I..."
"LOOK OUT!"
They came out of nowhere, they moved impossibly fast, scaling the walls and ceilings like deformed, colourless crabs, Hap raised his blaster and managed to blast away the one that had screeched and leapt at him, Obi-Wan took care of the other two, but the impossibly long legged, large jawed creatures weren't dead. They stumbled as Obi-Wan gave the order to run, which every clone did, Shaak Ti leading them all and announcing they were getting close to the exit now...
More screeches, screams from Shaak...
"SHAAK WHAT'S...!?"
"ARRRGGGGHHHHHH!"
Obi-Wan turned around, too little and too late, five of them had swarmed over Hap, before Obi-Wan could even lift his lightsabre, Hap's head rolled towards him, coated in blood, before that body part was snatched back into the ravenous swarm devouring the new commander. Obi-Wan wished he had time to mourn the new commander already but felt himself sprinting onwards, past the clones that had already fallen. These spider-crab like insects, or creatures, were now descending on them in every direction, pulling apart any clone that lost their blaster or who didn't react fast enough.
"OBI-WAN THE LADDER UP IS JUST THERE!" Shaak Ti yelled, it was becoming increasingly dark as the clones died around him, yet Obi-Wan focused for a second, he found the ladder and quickly used the force to remove the manhole, which sent a beam of almost heavenly looking light, to illuminate their only escape from this horror.
"EVERYONE UP THE LADDER AND OUT NOW!" He roared.
Clones barrelled towards their escape, covering their brothers and their Jedi Commanders as they went, Obi-Wan stayed until he could be certain everyone was safe.
"MASTER KENOBI, HELP!"
He slashed his lightsabre through one of the creatures descending upon Korkie, it's black blood coated him and stank of all things vile. He guessed he knew what the smell was now, it was these things polluting the sewers and not leaving a trace of any of their victims, because once the clones were swarmed not even their armour or a drop of their blood was left, these things devoured everything. If they were placed here before the assault, from the outside of the Bio-Dome it would make sense they'd probably not eaten such a ravenous supply of meat for their entire lives.
"Come on, let's go, let's go...!" Obi Wan exclaimed, he helped Korkie to his feet and pulled him to the ladder, as the boy began to ascend, Obi-Wan felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, one of the things had grabbed him and was pulling him back towards a swarm, he tried to slash his lightsabre at it, but it missed and dropped his weapon, panic set in as...
BANG!"
A blaster shot, Korkie was above him, weapon raised, as Obi-Wan quickly grabbed his weapon and...
"ARRGGGHHHH...!"
Korkie had hesitated, allowing one of the things to plunge it's sword like legs into his chest, furiously bellowing, Obi-Wan sliced until the limb was detached and carried the now fatally injured, young man up the ladder, as he himself took his final steps towards freedom, but the last cries of the clones tugged at his ears and he looked down one final time to see Boil surrounded and weapon less, cut on his shoulder, his helmet removed and bloodied up...
"No, no one else!" Obi-Wan thought harshly to himself.
Ignoring his own bleeding shoulder, he clenched his eyes shut and used the force to propel Boil through the air, the clone soared upwards and too freedom, as Obi-Wan leapt up (Korkie still in his grip) and quickly slammed the cover of the manhole back in place, the things under there didn't even make an attempt to follow him, or bash at the manhole to achieve freedom. They must have relied on their senses to see, or had a natural aversion to sunlight.
Whatever the case, it didn't matter now, as Boil regained his breath, Obi-Wan looked up to see they were surrounded by fellow clone troopers, a makeshift blockade of debris and vehicles had been set up by them, giving them plenty of cover from the sercuity forces surrounding...
Obi-Wan gulped, they were here.
In the shadow of the palace itself.