Hi Readers,
I love the Zillo beast.
Enjoy.
Sued13
CHAPTER Twenty Seven
The Confederacy of Independent Systems had arrogantly taken a while to regroup but still anything the Republic threw at them, they continued to repulse.
Given the numbers they had deployed; they thought Malastare was a foregone conclusion but the Dugs wanted nothing to do with them and needed the Republic to hold them off. The Republic needed the Dugs fuel to keep fighting.
It was symbiotic.
When the CIS deployed such a large invasion force on Malastare, the GAR could not force them back and there were no more Clones available, within reasonable travelling distance, to be deployed as reinforcements.
It was stalemate.
Palpatine didn't want stalemate on this occasion, contrary to his previous actions; he needed the Treaty signed to enable the war to continue. It was only the tenacity and ingenuity of the Clone troopers and their Jedi Generals that prevented them being swept away totally by the overwhelming number of droids. They couldn't go on forever and reinforcements were not forthcoming, both the Jedi and Clones were spread far too thin across the galaxy yet again.
The orders had come through, the data and the scientist, had arrived separately; they were to use the experimental Electro Proton bomb she had invented, to diffuse the stalemate and Palpatine would get his prize. The Treaty would be signed and he would get his fuel.
The bombs creator, Doctor Sionver Boll, assured the generals and the Doge Nakha Urus, that the weapon would only affect droids, and that the clone troopers and other organic beings would not be harmed by its use but Master Windu had demanded more evidence. This was supplied in the form of additional test results sent by the Republic R and D. The native Dugs eventually agreed to the bomb's deployment, as the only way to defeat the CIS invasion army.
They were all the pawns on this chessboard, in fact the whole galaxy was a chess board but only a few knew that at this time.
All this for a treaty signature.
A'den, and his brothers were already having trouble with some of the orders they were receiving from Palpatine, as were the Jedi; A'den wasn't sure yet if he was an imbecile or master manipulator. He was erring towards the latter but needed to do more research on him. The Chancellor's biographical data was sketchy at best; it came from a period when Naboo was in a sort of dark ages, and not in the Republic main sphere of influence.
.
The troopers sat waiting for the results of the planning meetings, this was the boring part of being a soldier; you were either fighting for your life or waiting to be sent to fight for your life. Hardcase hated the waiting and was getting tetchy; he joked he was hyperactive as a result of his growth tank having a leak, now he had managed to challenge the Null to a sparring match and bets being made on the result.
The two clones faced each other, pacing around in a circle, clad only in their blacks, on a piece of sandy ground that had been cleared and marked out for them.
Hardcase had finally realised he had made a mistake, a big mistake but it was too late to back down and keep his rep. The man he faced was big, fekking big, nothing at all like him in build and he was smiling; he didn't like it when his opponents smiled, that was his prerogative.
Hil counted down, "Three, Two, One.. go."
The two combatants circled each other, warily until and A'den made the first move: he grabbed Hardcase with a nerve lock onto his shoulder and then twisting quickly with the sheer force of his strength lifted him off the ground and slammed him back down again holding him hard on the ground by the shoulders, Hardcase made a sort of "ooof" noise as he hit the floor, at least he managed to turn his face to the side. L'leth liked his profile and he didn't want to spoil it, even though Kix could probably fix it good as new. But sometimes he could be awkward with self inflicted injuries.
Hil and Kix visibly winced as they watched.
The Null held him down, all the time smiling, not even breaking sweat. Hardcase finally slapped the ground to submit and A'den released him, holding out his hand to pull him up.
"Best of three, Vod?" Asked A'den.
Hardcase nodded.
They started again, Hardcase was even more wary this time but he had never run from a fight and wasn't going to start now.
He tried to work out his opponents strategy but he didn't even see the arm coming and the next thing he was on his back, with the Null on top of him.
"Fek!"
The Null was smiling again.
Hatdcase bucked; it did nothing.
"Submit?"
He shook his head.
"C'mon Hardcase."
His squad mates were cheering him on but he was having trouble breathing; the Null had moves he had never even imagined.
"Submit?"
The Null had an even bigger smile now.
Hardcase was going nowhere; he had to regroup. He slapped the ground to groans from his assembled brothers.
The Null offered his hand again, this time Hardcase refused and rose from the ground under his own steam.
There was a lot of muttering from the watching brothers, although one watched from afar. Captain Rex liked to see a good sparring match himself, although this seemed a little one sided. He watched with interest, especially at the Null.
Hil counted down again.
This time there was no wariness by Hardcase, he was straight in with a jab to the jaw; he scraped the right side of the Null's face and followed immediately with a swinging kick, which caught the Null but he blocked it and retaliated with a boot to the back of Hardcase's knee, taking him down. Hardcase rolled and was up again but breathing hard.
They circled each other; the Null smiling, still.
"That's more like it lad, now you're fighting."
"Ignore him Hardcase." came a shout from the audience.
Hardcase took the initiative again and came out fighting but this time the Null was ready for him. He ducked, swept his leg around but only just caught Hardcase off balance, who bounced back and gave him a jab to the kidneys. He didn't seem to even feel it and the next thing Hardcase knew he was flat on his back again, winded. The Null holding him down.
"That was a good try lad." Complimented the Null, as he pulled Hardcase up for the third time. Hardcase assumed the stance. A'den stood with his hands on his hips and stared at him the corners of his mouth twisted up in yet another smile. "Do you ever give up lad?"
"Sir, no sir."
The Null shook his head; "I think we need to take a rain check on this, otherwise you won't be fit to fight and I don't want to argue the toss with Captain Rex on that issue."
"I'll second that Sargeant." The Null stood to attention at the sound of that voice; he still had to follow the chain of command, or some semblance of it, besides this was the Captain Rex.
"Sir," he saluted his superior. "Sargeant, A'den N12, reporting for duty, Sir." and remained at attention. "Somewhat belatedly, Sir."
"At ease Sargeant." The Captain wasn't going to give an inch, these were his men, his Company, "Walk with me."
"Yes, Sir", The Null armoured up and followed Captain Rex as they left the camp, both walking with hands clasped behind their backs.
"I thought you had completed your mission?"
"I had Sir, but it looked as if you needed some additional blasters and it seemed pointless to leave what looked like a good fight."
"Hah." Rex laughed in agreement, "always spoiling for a good fight myself, Sergeant but I'm not sure on this one."
"No sir?"
They set off away from the ears of the squad he had been with, who were currently exchanging credits from the result of the sparring match.
"You have reservations then, Sir?" A'den had found this was a trooper who thought for himself, tactically on a par with Cody, although he had the same problems with hero worshipping a Jedi. He would have loved to cure him of that, if he could but he thought it was something very like what he and his brothers had for Kal. Something the Kaminoans did to them, so they imprinted with the Jedi. The Nulls had imprinted with Kal, while Clone Commanders and Captains imprinted with their Jedi Generals.
Loyalty.
"This bomb?" The Captain started again, he seemed uneasy talking like this, "What can you tell me about it. I know you're cleverer than most people give you credit for. So I know you understand how it works, you could probably build it if need be." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "Now here's the rub, old boy. I need to know how it works, will it work and will it affect my men?"
"Don't you trust the good Doctor?"
"I trust my experience and my experience doesn't run to this kind of ordnance."
"So, why do you need to know?"
"I like a good fight but don't want to lose any more brothers than I have to, especially if it can be avoided." He paused, "And I don't like saying this, but I have a bad feeling about all of this."
A'den looked at his younger, slightly smaller brother and decided he liked him; in fact the more clones he met from Torrent Company, the more he liked and he thought a lot of that was due to the brother standing in front of him. They took their cues from him.
"So, how long have you got?"
"A couple of hours….max."
"Let's go then, the squad tent'll be ok."
.
Captain Rex, his blonde hair buzzed to within a millimetre of his skull, pored over the holographic blueprints that the Null had pulled up for him on his datapad. And transferred it to a holographic display.
"Do you always keep copies?" He was beginning to regret this conversation he had initiated with the Null, they were sailing close to treasonable actions and he was not a traitor but he was being pulled more and more in different directions in this war. The need and urge to fight and win, just as he was engineered, as opposed to the urge to protect his brothers and reduce the number of casualties.
"Just depends." Came the non-committal reply, as the Null rotated the holographic display.
Spooks!
"Developed by the scientists of the Republic, but mainly Sionver Boll; she's a genius, a child prodigy with a list of achievements as long as your arm. She's Republic through and through."
"You did your homework."
"Always."
"Now, the bomb."
"It's basically a gigantic EMP grenade." Continued the Null.
"A bit like droid poppers?" Queried Rex.
"Huh, Huh. It's designed to be deployed onto the battlefield by bombers, and once dropped, releases a powerful electromagnetic pulse shock wave capable of disabling or destroying any droid and vehicle within the blast radius."
"So if it's like a big droid popper why are the Dugs so against it?" Rex had done his own digging.
"There were questions as to whether it would affect organics and the final results were late coming in from the R and D people."
"Who queried it?"
"Windu."
Rex just nodded, he had been privy to some of the conversations between the Jedi.
"The results had to be hand delivered; there was evidence of a leak from Republic R and D."
"Not Boll?"
"No."
Rex snorted his derision; "No surprise there then." The Null smiled; he was appreciating his brother clone more and more.
"The leak's been taken care of by one of my brothers. There won't be any more."
Rex understood exactly what he meant.
"And that's where you come in."
A'den nodded.
Rex didn't need to know any more about that.
"Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had authorised the use of the bomb and he's getting a bit tetchy with Windu procrastinating about its use."
"I can imagine." Commented Rex. He hadn't heard of many Jedi disagreeing the Chancellor but Master Windu always seemed top of the list.
"My package was the information for Windu."
"And?"
"The information indicates it's safe." The Null saw Rex hold his hand to the side of his bucket and nod imperceptibly, receiving some more instructions.
"Time to prepare for the Big Bang, Sergeant. I'd be more than happy for you to join us."
"Thought you'd never ask, Ner Vod." Answered The Null, clasping his brother by the forearm.
.
Captain Rex attached him to Coric's Squad ready for the next offensive; the droids had been regrouping for the whole of the previous night. The squad were up and ready. A'den approached Coric who visibly stiffened, expecting a confrontation. Two competing Sergeants could cause problems.
"Sergeant, I am at your disposal. There's only room in the squad for one Sergeant and that's you, Sir." A'den saluted and let him know he would follow his lead, the chain of command agreed; Coric saluted back just glad that that had been sorted out first. They synchronised their channels and headed off to the coordinates as per their instructions.
The massive droid army approached the royal palace on a nearby plain; A'den had crawled up besides Coric at his request, they focused their binoculars on the tactical droid.
"T series tactical droid." Commented Coric; he saw it give the command to open fire and thousands upon thousands of battle droids started to fire and march on the palace.
"Incoming." Shouted A'den, as the Separatists also launched several squadrons of Hyena class bombers and Vulture Class Starfighters to bomb the Republic's forces. The Dug forces shot down many of them, but this led to several ATTE's being destroyed by crashing Starfighters. Coric and his squad hunkered down and waited patiently for their orders; A'den's appreciation of the 'meat cans' went up several notches during this time; He doubted whether Mongrels could withstand this sort of action.
Coric tilted his helmet and held his hand to the side; he was obviously being given orders.
"Air strike coming up. We have to hold the line till then, come on Ner Vode."
They were off, A'den kept pace with the grunts, keeping the majority of the tinnies back; they had to be held in one place to allow the boys to do its job
The Republic finally sent out Y wing fighter bombers escorted by ARC 170 Starfighters. The hundreds of Armoured Assault Tanks attempted to shoot them down, but failed. A group of Dug warriors who attempted to charge the enemy lines were obliterated by Spider Droids.
A'den had not been in a fight like this for months and it felt good to be with these brothers; he took the head off one tinnie, who was aiming for Hardcase and another one straight after aiming for Coric. Both reciprocated within a few minutes; Kix was treating Hil, when a tinnie headed for him; A'den's blasters charge were depleted and he didn't have time to replace them.
He tackled the tinnie down and twisted its head off; Kix acknowledged it with a nod. A'den strode off to the next set, ejecting his blaster charge packs as he walked off and replaced them without dropping his blasters or missing a stride.
He'd forgotten just how good it felt to be in a battle like this; this was what he was engineered for.
Striding at the side of him, was Hardcase, toting a Z-6 blaster cannon, with ease, making mincemeat of swathes of tinnies in his path. They appeared to be heading towards Captain Rex's coordinates; he heard the orders.
"Hold the line, Ner Vode, we have to hold the line."
The droids marched forwards.
Despite heavy casualties, some good men were lost, they held the line.
The Y wings finally reached the drop site and the bomb was released. The electro-proton bomb initially created a large explosion that further grew into an even larger electro magnetic field. The boom when it came was big and effective; the droids fell over, in a wave, like a child's set of dominoes. It also caused all electronics to shut down, including the HUD interfaces, so coms were out.
A'den arrived at the edge of the detonation zone just in time to see the wave from the detonation hit them.
Then it went quiet; they were deaf and blind. The EMP had affected their HUDs.
He pulled his off and turned to see others had done the same.
Then there was a rumble and the earth shook; A'den heard some colourful language from his vode, as they attempted to stay upright.
He next saw Captain Rex racing back towards his own lines, being blown off his feet; He landed and got straight up again. He was lucky, when the dust cleared, there was a massive sinkhole formed from the original blast and several Republic vehicles and troopers had disappeared into it.
There was a deadly silence on the battle field and the squad returned to their quarters to await further orders but first, like any good trooper, they headed for the Mess Tent. A'den tucked into the meagre rations with as much gusto as anyone else.
The news spread like wildfire through the ranks; the bomb had caused the Zillo Beast to awaken and troopers had been lost to it; Windu had arranged a search party, with Commander Ponds, at least he didn't just write their brothers off, whilst Skywalker ratified the Treaty to authorise the fuel purchase from Malastare.
.
More boredom for Hardcase.
He and A'den sat cleaning their kit.
"So, I heard Coric and Kix talking about you."
"You did?" It was to be expected.
"Heard you survived a Magna staff attack by one of Grievous droids."
"I did. But only with the help of your Vode, Kix and Coric. Never underestimate, how much you need them."
"I don't, they're my family."
"Aliit ori'shya tal'din."
"Aliit ori'shya tal'din."
Meanwhile Windu and his team were searching for survivors; hand marks and a clone helmet in the sinkhole were found and then finally, some of the troops that had fallen in the hole; one of the survivors spoke of something down in the chasm with them. Windu, Ponds and troopers Hawkeye and Trapper continued the search.
Hardcase looked up as he saw General Skywalker enter the search in his fighter;
"Something's happening, the General's in his fighter."
He watched as Skywalker headed towards the hole, even Hardcase and A'den felt the ground tremors.
"Not another one." muttered Hardcase as they braced themselves trying guess where the next hole would appear. It stopped but in the distance an animalistic roar erupts;
"That doesn't sound good." noted A'den.
Unknown to them, the beast was free.