A/N: Revival. Like nearly two years later. I put this on hold, meant to revive it sooner, then 2020 happened and yeah...so here we are. Bravo Squad returns. Also, I'd like to announce that back in January I created some headshot face profiles for each of the squad members. You can check it out on my DeviantArt profile, StarWars1319.
Chapter Three:
"Commando Bravo Squad, report to command within the hour. Bravo Squad, report to command within the hour." A voice came over the intercom of the mess hall.
"Hey, that's us." Slate remarked.
"Hurry up and eat, Bravos." Mars advised. "We're needed."
That's how Oh-Nine found himself in formation, Sunny, Slate, and Jem lined up alongside him, standing in the position of attention just inside the meeting hall they'd been redirected to upon entering the Army command subdivision of the Kamino base.
"At twenty-two hundred next rotation, you are to be deployed on your first mission." Their advisor stood centered on the formation, facing them. "You will be sent to the planet of Geonosis, and your mission will be to recover some missing troopers from the battle. General Skywalker tells me that the battle is coming to a close and that the men stationed there need some time to get some rest before their next mission."
Geonosis? Mars hid a frown. That dustball?
Despite his distaste for the planet, he had to admit that he was a bit excited. After all, Geonosis was where the war began. It would be almost sacred to visit such a place, where so the first of his brothers had lost their lives, where so many Jedi had also fallen. He never imagined that his first mission would take him there, even if it was only for a search and rescue mission.
"You will be given another briefing on the dropship, before you land on the surface." The advisor continued. "Your barracks have been outfitted with proper gear in advance. You might want to customize the armor a bit to make it easier to distinguish yourselves on the battlefield.
"You are dismissed."
*X*
"Hey, Mars. What color are you going to paint your armor?" Slate asked as they entered their quarters; they'd been moved out of the standard barracks after they'd passed their final test a few rotations ago.
Oh-Nine pondered the question, opening his personal locker and pulling out his new helmet. "I don't know. What color are you doing yours?"
"Blue."
"Slate blue?"
Seven-Six forced a laugh, but his brother could see him wince. "No. Five-Oh-First blue."
Mars raised an eyebrow, remembering their last conversation about the famed division. "Oh really?"
"Yeah. I mean, like you said, we oughta show more respect to them. They get put through all the tough work out there. No one can live up to those boys."
The squad leader smiled a little, patting his brother's arm. "Good job, you're learning."
"Very funny."
"Come on, let's go catch up with Sunny and Jem before they've chosen all of the good colors."
*X*
There were four hours left until they were to leave Kamino and fly out to Geonosis.
The other commandos were well asleep, getting some rest that they would certainly need for whatever they would come to face on the desert planet. But not Mars.
In the dim light, he looked at the helmet that sat on the table before him, the brownish-orange paint nearly done drying. The others had teased him about trying to blend in with the environment of Geonosis for their first mission. No, that was not why he'd chosen that color at all; too much white showed anyway, there was no way it'd blend in enough to help. He'd decided to paint it after the planet, as another connection to his name, even if it was the god Vau said he'd named him for.
Slate had stayed true to his word, going with a blue shade not unlike that of the Five-Oh-First Legion. Jem went with a dark red, the color almost a reflection of the dark comments he made on the few occasions he spoke. Sunny, ironically, went with a yellow. It definitely suited his personality, Oh-Nine knew that much. He wasn't very surprised by their choices.
Mars found that despite being tired, he could not sleep. Anticipation of the mission ahead ate away at him. The squad had never been off world of Kamino before. And they didn't really know what to expect on Geonosis. Would they encounter any of the inhabitants? Dust storms? Would they even find the missing troopers? What if one of the other commandos got injured and they ran out of bacta, like back in the test? Anything could happen.
He climbed to his feet and quietly exited the squad's quarters. A walk would do him good. The hallways were busy for the hour, full of clones coming back from and preparing to go out on missions. Among them, he noticed lots of orange, blue, and desert operation armor; the men from Geonosis had returned.
He found himself heading back towards Vau's training unit, his feet instinctively following the familiar path without consoling him about it. He paused briefly, moving out of the way of a squad of battle-weary Two-Hundred-Twelfth troopers. He gave them a respectful nod as they passed by him, then continued on his way.
When Oh-Nine entered the training unit, he was surprised to find that some of the lights were still on- that meant Vau was still around. It was almost as if that Mandalorian was expecting him to stop by before the squad shipped out.
"Hay, Vau." He called as he headed for the warrior's office.
But he received no response. He knocked on the door of the office, but it did not open.
He frowned, slipping over to the monitors that showed the inside of a small training arena. He shook his head at the sight of the proud Mandalorian donned in his full blacks suit of armor, walking towards the exit of the room. A few training droids lay scattered about, disabled from stun shots.
Mars greeted the man at the door. The warrior had removed his helmet and appeared surprised to see him.
"What're you doing here, son?" Vau asked him. "You're shipping out soon, you should be trying to get some shut-eye while you can."
"I know." He trailed his superior as they headed back towards the office. "I'm just...worried. It's our first mission, Sarge. We don't know what to expect on Geonosis. What if we're not good enough?"
"Mars, always the doubter." The Mandalorian mused, recognizing him for which squad member he was. "Do you trust your squad?"
"Yes, sir. Of course."
"Then you won't fail. You'll do fine."
"That's not it, sir." Oh-Nine confessed. "I'm worried about losing them."
Vau nodded grimly. "That's always a risk out there, son. You just have to cover each other's backs and trust them not to let themselves get downed. You boys have been trained well, I've taught you all I know. Bravo Squad is all kinds of stubborn. If you do go down, it won't be without a good fight, you hear?"
"Yes, sir. I understand." Mars nodded in reply. "Thank you, sir."
He slipped out of the office to head back to the squad's quarters.
*X*
Oh-Nine looked through a window in the cruiser's bridge in awe, his helmet under his arm. The stars blurred into white lines, a spectacular sight, as the ship blasted through hyperspace.
The other commandos watched in varying degrees of interest. Sunny looked enchanted by the view, his eyes wide in wonder and his jaw open. Jem, who had kept his helmet on, watched the yellow-armored trooper in amusement. Slate just shook his head at the pair and gazed past them, out the window.
"First time in space, boys?" A crewmember asked knowingly.
"Yeah." Seven-Six responded. "Something like that."
"What do you think?"
Sunny grinned. "It's great!"
"We should be arriving at Geonosis shortly." Someone else informed them. "You boys might want to be in the hanger beforehand."
Mars gave him an obedient nod. "You heard him, Bravos. Let's move."
*X*
"Welcome to Geonosis, Bravo Squad. I will be your eye in the sky, until further notice- or until you get killed." The advisor began, his voice barely audible over the hum of the dropship. "Once you are on the ground, you will scout out the path that General Mundi's men took during the battle. Your goal is to find the missing men and either report their deaths or bring them home alive. I'll issue any further orders as you go. Good luck, boys."
The hologram of the clone advisor faded, the device turning off as he disconnected from the other end.
"Well, this is gonna be fun." Jem muttered.
"Don't worry, we'll find them." Sunny patted the red-armored commando on the shoulder.
Mars silently waited for the ship to close in on the drop off point. Slate pulled his helmet on, glancing over at him. The tone of the ship's whine changed as it stopped moving forward and came to a hovering halt in the air.
"This is your stop, boys!" The pilot called back to them as the doors opened up to reveal the dusty climate of Geonosis. "Don't get killed out there!"
Oh-Nine donned his helmet and joined his brothers in hooking up grappling cables. He gave them the signal to slide down to the planet's surface.
He stepped back, his feet leaving the platform of the floor of the dropship. He could feel the cable sliding through his gloved hands, though he kept it to a controlled pace. His feet touched the surface of the planet of Geonosis less than a moment after leaving the ship.
He gave a quick salute up to the pilot after he made sure the whole squad was gathered on the ground. The ship resumed moving, turning back upwards to leave the atmosphere and return to the cruiser.
"It's no Kamino." Jem remarked.
"Alright, Bravos, keep your eyes peeled for any signs of life." Mars warned.
"Copy that, Bravo Lead." Sunny replied. "Eyes peeled."
"Where are we headed, Oh-Nine?" Slate asked as the group began moving.
"That cliff face over there." He pointed ahead. "General Mundi took his men through a cave up in there. If the missing men are anywhere, they'll be in those caves."
The desolate landscape was silent. There were no signs of life anywhere. The sky was clouded, blotting out the sun. Dust clung to the white armor of the clones, and Mars wasn't happy knowing that he'd have to clean his own armor once they returned to Kamino. He heard Jem complain about it too.
As they grew nearer to the cliffside, the squad happened across a few motionless bodies, both clone and Genosian. They quickly checked the unmoving clones for signs of life, found none, and continued on. Mars turned down Slate's request to make a burial for the fallen regular soldiers; there was no time for it. Their mission was to look for the missing survivors, not to gather up the bodies of the men who had fallen and pay them tribute.
Sunny removed his helmet to take a sip of water from the container strapped to his hip.
"Watch how much of that you drink. It's all you have." Mars advised.
The commando nodded as he put his water container back in place and pulled his helmet back over his head. "Copy that."
"I see why the regs hate it here." Slate commented. "Boring, blasting hot. And they had to fight out here twice."
"Delta Squad too." Two-Seven reminded him. "I'm glad we're just on an extraction mission and not blasting at things the whole time."
"Don't jinx it." Jem warned the yellow-armored commando.
It was a short while before they finally reached the cliff face, turning to walk alongside it, over to where another small collection of clone bodies lay. A quick check proved them all dead. Mars glanced up the jagged rocks, spotting a cave entrance up above. He backed off a good few yards, peering at it in search of an easy way up. He caught sight of a path extending out from the right, coming to touch the level that the commandos were on a little ways off.
"Bravos, follow me." He commanded, starting towards the base of the natural ramp.
"Sir, yes, sir." Eight-Three huffed.
The peace remained for a couple of minutes, until there was a thud as something hit one of the commando's helmets.
"Gah!" Sunny exclaimed as the others turned to face him in concern. "Something dropped a rock on my head!"
"Bugs. Blast." Slate glanced back up towards the trail.
"Jem, eyes on the sky. Warn us if they try to drop anything else on our heads." Mars ordered.
The red-striped commando nodded his acknowledgement.
Two-Seven took off his helmet to make sure it wasn't damaged and to ensure his head wasn't bleeding at all. "Don't worry, I'm fine." He assured them as he put his helmet back on, though his usual cheerful tone had dropped and been replaced with grim acceptance. "I miss Kamino."
Oh-Nine couldn't agree more; Geonosis was not a very welcoming planet.
The air was tense, each commando holding their fingers on the triggers of their blasters. If one of the soldiers who'd gone missing in action appeared, they'd probably accidentally shoot him without stopping to think who had approached them.
It was a few more long minutes before they reached the end of the natural ramp and began to trek up it. Mars was pleased to find that it was rather wide and that they would not have to worry about falling over the edge. The regs could easily fit their AT-RTs up it, possibly even AT-TEs, though that would be quite the tight squeeze. Not that they'd bring the vehicles up to the cave anyway. The width of the trail almost made the squad leader forget that they weren't even down at ground level any longer.
The commandos were about three-fourths to the way up the path when a sudden static came through his comm link, the advisor speaking up to address him. He pulled up short, holding a hand up for the others to do the same and await orders.
"When your squad enters that cave, our contact will be severed with you until you return out beneath the sun. As soon as you find the men, try to regain connection and report back with their status. Copy that, Bravo Lead?"
"Affirmative. See you on the other side, sir."
"Good luck in there."
There was a crackle before the line went silent.
Mars relayed the information to the others, then they pushed on.
*X*
"Oh boy, looks like the regs used some flamethrowers in here." Slate observed as the squad entered the cave.
"Yeah." Mars agreed. "General Mundi's men must've been desperate during the battle."
The dusty orange rock of the cave floor had been charred black, as had many of the rock columns extending down from the ceiling and a good portion of the unmoving Geonosian bodies laying around.
"I don't like it here." Sunny informed them.
"Look alive." Oh-Nine advised. "There's at least one bug in here somewhere. We can't let it get the jump on us."
"Hey, is there anyone here? We've come to rescue you!" Slate called.
"What are you doing?" Mars hissed, turning to glare at him. "Do you want the bugs to know we're here?"
The blue-armored commando bowed his head in shame for a moment. "No, sir. Sorry, sir."
"Too late." Jem informed them, a gloved hand pointing out before the squad.
Oh-Nine's head snapped forward just in time to see a large number of creatures flying towards them, screeching over the sound of their fluttering wings. He heard Sunny make a remark about how the bugs were as ugly as the regs made them out to be as the clones opened fire. Blue blaster bolts lit up the air as they flew towards the horde of the planet's native species.
When hit, the Geonosians shrieked as they fell from their flight, collapsing to the ground. From there, the injured ones dragged themselves toward the squad. One of the other clones behind Mars, presumably Slate, targeted the fallen creatures to ensure that they would not inflict any harm upon his brothers.
The Geonosians weren't a particularly strong species, mentally or physically. They fell like dominoes, their efforts unorganized and without any signs of strategy. Oh-Nine almost felt bad for them. He probably would have if he and his brothers weren't under attack from them. In another lifetime, perhaps the creatures would have been their allies and would have helped them search for the missing men. The Geonosians would have been a powerful army against the Separatists, if only in numbers.
But the fact that the creatures could fly was a bit problematic.
Their feet grabbed at the clones' limbs, trying to get ahold of them. No matter how many of the natives fell to the ground in lifeless heaps, there were always more to take their places. At one point, Mars felt his feet leave the ground. He couldn't bite back the terrified scream that left his throat as the creatures began to fly him away from the others.
But, as they began to take him away, the Geonosians dropped him without warning, their bodies jerking forward and falling to the rock ground. He gripped to one of the stone pillars and slid down it safely, quickly retrieving his blaster from the cave floor and turning to see who had shot his would-have-been captors from behind.
There, coming from deeper in the cave, was a group of five armored men. Clones. The missing men that the squad had been searching for had jumped in to assist them!
Oh-Nine's relief was short lived, for he had to dive roll to the left to avoid one of the Geonosians leaping at him. He quickly dispatched it, looked towards the regs, and nodded in the direction of the cave entrance. "Fall back! Regroup outside! Jem, Slate, protect General Mundi's men until we're clear of all hostiles. Don't let anyone get carried off. Sunny, set up some explosives at the entrance. We're going to lock these bugs in their tomb."
"Sir, yes, sir!" Sunny chirped in acknowledgement, falling back to the cave entrance as ordered.
"Come on!" Slate called over to the rescuers as he fired at some of the Geonosians. "We've got you covered!"
"Bravo Lead, watch your ten." Jem warned.
Mars leapt aside as one of the native creatures lunged at him. He fired a round into its skull and its body crumbled. "Good call, Eight-Three!"
Firing towards the shrinking mob of Geonosian natives, he backed up towards the others. He spotted the regs racing beneath the flying creatures to join the commandos in their escape of the cave. One tripped on a body and toppled to the ground with a cry. Slate pushed forwards, beneath the hostiles, and grabbed ahold of the soldier's arm. He hauled him to his feet, giving him a gentle shove in the right direction as he covered his retreat.
Oh-Nine did a brief scan, ensuring that the other eight men were behind him. He fired a few final shots at the Geonosians as he backed out of the cave.
Sunny pulled out alongside him, detonator in hand. "Give the word and they're goners, sir."
"Fall back to the bottom of the trail!" Mars ordered the group, then gave his squadmate a knowing look. "Hit it, Sunny. And then run like the whole Separatist army's on your tail."
He watched his brother's finger press down on the button. Without so much as a glance back at the cave, they took off after the others. The explosion rattled the whole cliff trail, several rocks falling down towards them from above as the cave entrance gave way and collapsed in on itself behind them. The screeching of natives caught up in the explosion was not audible over the rumbling of the falling rocks; there were some round-ish ones tumbling down the path after the retreating soldiers.
The clones didn't stop to catch their breath until they were a good ten or twenty yards away from the edge of the bottom of the cliff. They removed their helmets to wipe at their brows, which had formed sweat in the heat of the action. Slate and Sunny handed their canteens over to the regs to allow them to rehydrate after so long without supplies. They offered their thanks to the commandos.
"Katarn-class armor." One of the regs noted. "You're commandos. Mighty young to be on the battlefield, aren't you?"
"Yeah, well, the Republic called on us to rescue a few missing regs. We weren't going to deny them our assistance." Slate commented, almost mocking the trooper.
"That's enough, Seven-Six." Mars intervened before the blooming conversation could escalate into an argument. "Commandos, regs, we're all the same. The only difference is our training."
"We were beginning to think they'd forgotten about us. We appreciate the rescue, sir." Another one of the basic troopers saluted him in thanks. "We wouldn't have lasted long if you hadn't come for us."
"No brother will ever be forgotten." He promised him.
Oh-Nine barely caught the crackle of static coming from the comms of his helmet. He pulled the armor piece back on, listening.
"Bravo Lead, do you copy?"
"This is Bravo Lead. I hear you loud and clear, sir."
"Mission report?"
"We've successfully extracted General Mundi's men. Send in a ride out of here, we're all set to return home to Kamino."
"Transport inbound. Well done today, Oh-Nine."