Hi everyone, I finally got around to making my own star wars story. I've wanted to do this for a long time, so this is really exciting. I just want to thank everyone in Ghost squad for giving me the motivation to not only start this, but follow through with it. I don't have a set update schedule planned out, but expect a new chapter every 1 to 2 weeks. Without further ado, I give you: Chapter one of Shadow of 66
Koriena squad was silent as their gunship descended to their destination. They'd been on this planet for almost a year now but it never got easier. Each deployment was a gamble, a dice roll to determine the fate of themselves and the brothers they had fought alongside for so long. ARC trooper Hyetal could see the others' nervous glances around at one enougher, knowing that this could very well be the last time any of them made eye contact with one another. His thoughts were interrupted as the clone piloting the ship announced that they would be dropped off momentarily. As the blast doors slid open Koriena squad silently activated their jet packs and drifted down onto the nearest roof.
"Company of supers at 10 o'clock!"
Hyetal heard someone to his left shout. Reacting on instinct, he swiveled with the rest of the group. There were a few curses let out by those around battle droids were harder to kill and had a lot more firepower than your average battle droid.
Quickly assessing the situation, the squad's commanding officer, Corporal Anra called out instructions,
"Hyetal, I want you to take Nexu and Tyko and draw their fire. Eso, stay up here with Hindsight, pick them off once they are distracted. The rest of you, come with me, we've got some flanking to do."
With that the squad sprung into action. They had done this maneuver countless times before so it was practically instinct at this point. Silently running through an alley, The ARC held out his hand to signal silence, as if the two men behind him needed reminding. Nexu had served in the rescue missions during the first battle of geonosis, and it was there that he first saw the beast whose name he would adopt. Similarly, Tyko was Nexu's batchmate, and the two had transferred into the 104th a year ago were good soldiers and as he readied the courage to leap into the line of fire, Hyetal thought there were very few clones in the army he'd rather have watching his back. After checking that his DC-17s were fully loaded one more time, Hyetal gave the command and the three of them rolled into the street.
Esoteric, or 'Eso' as he was often called, watched as the three clones dashed into the street, trying his hardest to avoid the urge to attack right away, they needed the droids to get closer in order to be the most effective. He looked at Hindsight next to him, his brother already organizing detonators on the roof so that they'd be within reach, not having a blaster in hand was a risky move, but Hindsight was counting on him to provide cover fire. He looked off to his right, towards the top of the alley Anra, Dalen and Ehr were in, it would be less than a minute until they were passed by the back of the droid column. Needing something to do, he fiddled with the scope of his DC-15x sniper rifle, it wasn't necessary, the scope was wired to his HUD and would adjust based off of what he was looking at, but he was anxious and needed to calm his nerves with a familiar motion.
The sound of laser fire told him it was time. Taking a quick glance around, he saw the three 'bait' troopers duck behind some sort of overturned vehicle, one that had met its fate in the earlier stages of this siege. They occasionally popped their heads up and fired off a salvo of bolts before ducking back to safety. Behind the column of droids, the flanking group was on either side of the main street, peeking out of the various alleys they had positioned themselves in and doing their best to stay safely behind the buildings. The troopers were putting on an impressive show, but they would be overrun by the sheer numbers of the company of droids they faced. That was where he and Hindsight came in. The moment the droids started to open fire on the troopers ahead and behind them, Hindsight sprung up from where he was crouched on the roof and began raining grenades on the cluster of droids. Every so often one of them would notice where these detonators were coming from and attempt to take a shot at the grenadier, only to be reduced to smoldering circuitry by Esoteric's rifle. The plan was flawless, it had worked in the past, but they made sure to cycle strategies so droid commanders wouldn't recognize it and the clones would be able to reuse the method.
As the last battle droid was blown apart by a succession of shots fired by Hyetal, the two rooftop ambushers glided down to reconvene.
"Haha! Did you guys see Dalen out there? A battle droid had him pinned down and I swear I saw him try to use the force to save himself!"
Ehr cackled, jabbing the accused trooper with an elbow. Ehr was always looking for something to joke about and was one of the only troopers Eso knew who could act so bubbly and cheerful just moments after facing down an entire company of droids.
"You're making things up, I was just trying to get the sun out of my-"
His defense was cut off by Anra. When the corporal started talking you didn't interrupt.
"I've just received orders from Captain Pri, it appears we've broken through seperatist defenses, they're holding a last stand of a sort and we've been ordered to support the efforts to crush them. You all did well just now, let's use that momentum and claim a few more droids before the day is over!"
Anra riled the group up with the skill of an experienced officer, and Esoteric could feel the energy in the group skyrocket.
Blasting into the sky with their jetpacks the troopers rushed towards the main group to assist in crushing what was left of the separatist resistance.
The orders to assist Captain Pri had come three hours ago. The seppies were holed up in Senator Dod's Palace and were making things highly difficult for any troopers who attempted to enter. On top of that, Pri expressly forbade any attempts to enter through the main entrance, not wanting to give the enemy the benefit of choosing the grounds. Koriena squad had just attempted to enter through an upper window but narrowly escaped with their lives after discovering a droideka guarding the small entrance. They were in the midst of refuelling while they waited for General Plo Koon to arrive with his Platoon.
Plo Koon arrived fifteen minutes later. Everyone seemed to let out a sigh of relief. The seppies had been quiet for a while, clearly planning something and none of us were too inclined to be the one who found out what that was. After Pri informed the Jedi and commander Wolffe about the situation, the two approached the main entrance alone. It was always a treat to watch the Jedi work, especially one as tactical and respectful as Plo Koon. Reaching into a pocket on his belt, the commander pulled out a flash grenade. Then in one fluid movement he activated it, rolled it under the door and drew one of his pistols. There was a muffled bang and the cracks in between the door and the frame glowed violently bright. As if they were mirror images of one another the two each grabbed one of the doors and threw them open in perfect unison. Then moments later scrambled away as fast as possible.
"Troopers, get as far away from that doorway as you can"
The general shouted as he passed, and for good reason. Inside of the doorway sat a recently moved J-1 Proton cannon that had been waiting for some unfortunate clone to open it's enclosure.
They were able to get a few paces to their right when the blast struck home. Due to the jets they had equipped, all of Koriena got far enough away to withstand the explosion, but the same could not be said for some of the other troopers working with them. As Shattered pieces of plastoid, debris and durasteel rained down we could only hope nothing landing on us was organic. An ordinary soldier might have frozen with fear right then, or taken a moment to throw up against a wall. But Koriena squad weren't ordinary soldiers, they were bred for this. Bred to keep moving forward even when faced with events that would stun normal people.
Rocketing in front of the doorway, Hindsight and Dalen lobbed detonators into the hall, rocking the foundation and clearing the way for everyone else to finally commit to an attack. Reaching for the rifle slung across my back, I charged in with everyone else who had survived the cannon.
The entrance was a long hallway, at the end of the hallway was a wide atrium with two large staircases leading upwards into the building, that was no doubt where the leaders of this stubborn resistance planned to make their last stand. We moved as one, sweeping through the halls, shooting any metal that moved. Everything felt like it was in slow motion. My thoughts cleared at some point, and all that was on my mind was aiming and blasting. Hyetal'd always felt disturbed by how soothing he found war, once the waiting was over and he was in the heat of the battle and all that mattered was him and the enemy, the world would start to fall away. It was a nice break from the procedure and uniformity of the life he lived.
His solo world was shattered by a scream, it was Captain Pri. Calling out for a medic, Hyetal stopped hitadvance and stood over his body. Now he had to worry about two bodies instead of just his own. While this complicated things, it was nothing he couldn't do or hadn't done before. His mind went back to ARC training and the vigorous training exercises they put them through to enhance their awareness and reflexes. He would need them now.
A clatter was heard in front of the rapidly advancing line of clones and within moments three droidekas had rolled down the stairs in front of them, now they blocked off the entrance to the atrium and had a direct line of fire at every clone in the hall. They were all going to be blown to pieces.
Or at least they would have been if not for the jedi accompanying them. General Plo leapt over the front lines and shoved outwards with the force, knocking the destroyers back into the steps and temporarily disabling them.
The troops behind him needed no further instructions, leaving Pri to the medics that would arrive momentarily, Hyetal pushed forwards with the tide of troopers, each running as fast as they could to reach the atrium entrance before the droidekas got back up. Streaming into the Atrium they found it filled with droids, fortunately however, they hadn't expected the assault force to get down the hall so quickly and were taken aback.
There were too many of them to take down without taking massive casualties, but that was why many clones carried droid poppers. As the EMPs hurled by the first to enter the room disabled the lines of droids in the front, the droids near the rear of the horde were forced to push their way through their deactivated comrades in order to get a clear shot. We didn't.
The separatist leader was found cowering beneath the staircase with his aides. It was a truly pitiful sight, the cowering neimoidian already trying to strike a bargain with the general minutes after his capture. It was times like these that he almost pitied the droids, no soldier deserved a general who would rather switch sides and betray the cause than allow themselves to be taken into custody. He chuckled softly to himself, the battle must have really worn him out if he was feeling bad for battle droids of all things. The laugh drew a concerned look from Anra but Hyetal brushed it off with a slight hand gesture. He and Anra were the only ones left of their batchmates, and his friend always doted over his safety like a mother hen. He looked around, it was the aftermath of battles like these that everything started to sink in, and he suddenl;y felt drained.
Walking through Cato Neimoidia's streets after their victory felt phenomenal. Eso recognized many of the streets they passed by on the way to the extraction site, either having scouted them from afar with his pair of macrobinoculars or having actually been in them, hugging the walls for dearlife as he attempted to fend off blaster fire. Whichever it was, he couldn't wait til the day he never had to see them again, and it looked like today was finally that day.
"Oi Eso!"
Hindsight called out from behind him. He shortened his stride to allow the clone to catch up.
"I'm telling you, you're going to get seared if you keep rushing in with that sniper of yours like it's an assault rifle."
The clone berated him, causing a sigh to let out of Eso's mouth.
"See here's the thing Sight, you're forgetting that I'm not an officer, it would be against regulation to carry a second blaster and there's no way I'm giving my current one up."
This was one thing he had always been adamant about, he knew the 15x and it felt comfortable in his hands, he had tried using other weapons in the past, but none ever gave off the same vibe to him.
Hindsight sighed, raising his hands in defeat.
"Can you at least tell me before you do something like that again, I don't want you charging to your death without letting me at least mock you in the process." he quipped, getting the last word in the argument.
Squad tradition was that the way back to the gunships was a time for analysis. The battle was still fresh in all of their minds, and there was always more they could improve. There would be an official squad meeting later on that day, but it was important to stop bad habits as soon as possible. Even if they weren't necessarily detrimental.
Contrary to the ride down to the surface, the ride back up to the venator was noisy, almost festive in tone. About halfway up Anra cleared his throat, commanding complete silence from the battle-dizzy troopers. Hyetal knew what was going to happen, Anra always used the same speech after they finished a major deployment, and the words always seemed to bring everyone down to earth and on the same page.
"Koriena, I cannot express just how proud I am of each and every one of you. We've been deployed here for almost a year now, and while we may not have been seeing combat every single day, it's been enough times that I've lost count. Despite all of this, you lunatics have managed to avoid being droid fodder, whether it be through skill, the cover provided by your teammates, luck, or in Dalen's case…the force."
That last comment brought about a few quiet jeers as the squad recalled the unfortunate grunt's supposed defense mechanism. After giving a moment for everyone to get back to paying attention, Anra continued. Hyetal was always impressed by the clone's ability to capture an audience, it was this, paired with his skill with a Z-6, that had landed him the rank of squad leader after all.
"Jokes aside, you lot are the finest men I have ever had the pleasure of serving with and as this war draws close to its end, let's finish off whatever scrap metal the seppies can afford to throw at us and be on our way."
The speech was perfectly timed and the LAAT landed down just moments after he finished his last sentence.
The last line of the speech however, lingered in his head. What would they do once the war was over. Hyetal had never actually thought that far. All of his goals were short term and military based, pass training, get placed into a legion on the front lines, qualify for ARC training, and his most recent one, surpass Assaulting, the legendary ARC commander who had trained him. He figured he'd probably stay in the military afterwards, it was all that he knew.
Then, as he walked back to the barracks to change out of his armor and possibly touch up on the paint job he had on, he had another thought. Would he even be given a choice? He had always fought for the republic with everything he had, and truly supported their cause, but there was no denying that he had not been given a choice in the matter. He would have to worry about that when, if, it came to it. For now there were more important matters to attend to, such as lunch.
Eso and Dalen made their way down the line, dealing themselves portions of what was being served, the meal was a simple nutrient rich porridge, nothing special but enough to fill you up. The other clone was trying to explain that he had merely been trying to block the sun out of his eyes, that his visor malfunctioned and hadn't worked properly. Eso simply shook his head.
"You shouldn't let these things get to you so much, so what if you tried to use the force, we've all done it at some point… That being said, I don't think I've ever seen anyone try to deflect blaster fire on their first attempt"
Dalen looked him square in the eye, clearly acting far more annoyed than he actually was.
"How about I test ya. You stand over there and think very hard, and we'll see if it prevents your eyebrows from being soldered together by my blaster!"
The statement must have been a bit loud because it attracted quite a few concerned looks from nearby troopers, all of which were quickly dropped when they saw how hard Eso was laughing.
"Oh man remind me to thank Ehr for telling us all, you are never living this down, mark my words, Darth Dalen."
The unfortunate butt of the joke was about to make one last retort when all of a sudden every clone in the mess hall's comlink beeped simultaneously. A voice, made louder by the hundreds of speakers playing its message in sync with one another said only three words. Eso didn't make anything of them at first, but after his brain had time to process them, he suddenly felt strange, like he was seeing out of a stranger's eyes. Starting to panic he realized he didn't have any control of his body, without willing it, he stood up and marched back to the barracks in unison with everyone else.
Just what exactly was this 'Order 66'